Responding to Changes in How the US Wages War
Poisonous gas in the first "world war;" nukes in the second; napalm against the Vietnamese people; and white phosphorous in the Gulf War are technologies so heinous that at least millions of people recoiled, and removed their support from the imperialist belligerents.
Such is the case with the Reaper, Predator and Global Hawk drones produced by global multi-national munitions makers, and designed to terrorize whole populations. Murder by Drone is the strategy, and the debate rages.
Barack Obama is seeking "rules" for the use of drones (mainly for a Republican successor, of course), which really amounts to an agreement in the ruling circles of this country on how far permanent war on sovereign countries can go within the current global "war on terror."
U.S. commentators are fighting for pro-U.S. public opinion in Pakistan, where the drone war is correctly seen as a big power invasion in land of a sovereign country. Three U.S. professors in The Atlantic challenged whether Pakistanis are really against the drones, quoting a Pew study in the most smug, servile way. They were answered by Murtaza Haider, a professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, who shows the flaws in how people were questioned in that study, and argues that support for the drone war in Pakistan is more like 1%.
Last week, PBS, in its NOVA series, broadcast "Rise of the Drones," introducing many more people to the argument of the President and the war-makers that drones are "effective." Kevin Gostzola says the ‘Rise of the Drones’ Is Mostly a PBS Infomercial for the Military Defense Industry.
And the United Nations will investigate the "exponential rise" in U.S. drone strikes. Maybe they should start with the report Living Under Drones from NYU and Stanford University.
Our challenge is to reach the people in this country with the basic illegitimacy of this direction in war-fighting. This is a call to join in
APRIL DAYS of ACTION – A Political Uprising to Stop Drone Spying & Killing
The Network for Stopping Drone Spying and Warfare plans April Days of Action 2013 to generate a public uprising across the United States to stop drone spying and drone warfare.
We urge you to select one or more of the days in April listed below to organize actions in your community to focus on the institutions which are part of the massive army of drones in the U.S. war on the world. People around the U.S. are urged to learn more, speak out, and act in visible protest of:
April 4 – 6: Drone Manufacturers Identify and protest drone manufacturing facilities, using demonstrations, teach-ins and other actions calling for an end to drone attacks and an end to the manufacture of weaponized and surveillance drones.
►San Diego – April 4 – 7: protest at the plant of General Atomics, maker of the Predator and Reaper drones, the workhorses of drone killing.
April 16 - 18: Drone Research/Training Identify colleges and universities in their regions doing drone research and/or training of drone pilots and to call for an end to research and training related to drone warfare.
April 27 – 28: Drone Bases Protest at Air Force and National Guard bases which control the U.S. military drone program in their regions.
►April 26-28 protest at the Reaper drones based at Hancock Air Base near Syracuse, NY.
URGENT: Conference calls for April organizing are now underway. Please contact Joe Scarry as soon as possible so that you can participate. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Want to be part of the drones protest action that's happening in state after state? Connect with other members of No Drones Network! People in areas across the country are making big plans for the April Days of Action to Stop the Drones!
Please provide contact info (including your locale) and a volunteer coordinator will contact you. More info at nodronesnetwork.blogspot.com.
