Know Drones Tour to Visit Dayton and Springfield Sept. 13-16

PHOTO UPDATES
OVERVIEW
SCHEDULE
PRESS COVERAGE
ENDORSING ORGANIZATIONS


PHOTO UPDATES

Talking with students at Wright State (September 13, 2012)

At the Wright State Student Union (September 13, 2012) -- Unidentified representative of Young Democratic Socialist Campus organization at Wright State, with Steve Fryburg (Veterans for Peace) and George Guerci and Nick Mottern (Know Drones).









OVERVIEW


The Know Drones Tour, a national sidewalk education project aimed at informing the public on impacts of drone war and drone surveillance, will visit the Dayton and Springfield areas September 13 – 16, 2012.

“People in Dayton-Springfield are being asked to be part of more and more drone development,” said Nick Mottern, director of the tour. “We will be raising questions about where drones are taking us as a nation, as communities and individuals and whether we want to go there.”

“Drone attacks by the US have killed, mostly in Pakistan, over 2,000 people, including women and children,” said Jim Lucas, a member of Daytonians Against War Now (DAWN). “These attacks are violations of international law, they infringe on the national sovereignty of other nations and are intended to target any military-age males in a strike zone,” he said. “This fuels more anti-American sentiment and increases rather than decreases the likelihood of terrorism against the US. The US should be a role model for the rest of the world, rather than a bully trying to subjugate it.”

“Dayton and the surrounding area is becoming home to drone technologies that are being used to carry out executions in faraway countries and to spy on U.S. citizens,” said Steve Fryburg, a local member of Veterans for Peace. “We should be honoring the creative legacies of the Wright Brothers and Paul Laurence Dunbar by creating a future for Dayton that provides jobs in life-giving technologies like renewable energy systems rather than in drones and other weapons that create new enemies, all of whom we will seek to kill in never-ending wars.”

Phillip Logan, president of the Young Democratic Socialists of America – Wright State University Chapter, said: “I think it’s another sign of our nation’s decline that they would accept the continued use of this highly controversial technology because of the false promise of jobs. Have we truly become this desperate?”

The tour visit to Dayton-Springfield is endorsed by: Daytonians Against War Now (DAWN); Unitarian Fellowship for World Peace; Missing Peace Art Space; Wright State Chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America; and local members of Veterans for Peace.

Contacts:
Nick Mottern - nickmottern [at] earthlink.net
Steve Fryburg – steve [at] missingpeaceart.org
Phillip Logan - phillip.logan [at] gmail.com



TOUR SCHEDULE

This is the tour schedule in the Dayton and Springfield area:

Thursday - Sept. 13 - Wright State University

10:30 am - 1 pm – Set up a drone replica and conduct a teach-in in the Wright State University (WSU) Student Union.

2:00 – 4:00 pm – Set up on WSU Quad for sidewalk education.

Friday - Sept. 14 - Dayton

9:30 am – Drone replica set-up and visit to the office of Congressman Michael Turner (R- OH), 120 W. 3rd St. Suite 305, asking Cong. Turner to stop accepting campaign contributions from the drone industry, to send the $147,525 in such contributions he has already received to organizations aiding drone strike victims and to publicly call on President Obama to end drone killings and drone spying, as well as other steps. [READ FULL LETTER TO REP. TURNER]

11:30 am – Set up drone replicas at the campus of Sinclair Community College, 444 W. 3rd Street and do informal education.

3:00 pm - Visit University of Dayton for a drone replica set-up and sidewalk education.

Saturday - Sept. 15 - Green Energy Information Center

10:30 am. Set up drone replicas for an 11 am press conference at the Green Energy Information Center, 10404 National Road, Brookville, OH, near the Dull Homestead Farm to address the choice between developing renewable energy and materials versus non-stop war to control non-renewable resources, such as oil and minerals.

Remain at the energy center through the afternoon to talk with visitors to the Center.

Sunday - Sept. 16 - Wittenberg University

10:30 am – Set up a drone replica at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio at student union for informal drone education.

1:00 pm - Formal presentation on current and future drone use, particularly as drones relate to controlling resources, labor and populations.

2:00 pm – Presentation of a reading of the play The Predator, by Jack Gilroy, followed by discussion.

4:00 pm – Informal discussion.

The tour will travel to Columbus September 17-19 and then to Bethlehem, PA for Sept. 20 – 22.


PRESS COVERAGE

Dayton Daily News, September 7, 2012, Anti-war drone tour to make local stops: " 'The current militarization of the world, and especially the United States, is just not the way to solve problems,' said Steve Fryburg, 58, of Bellbrook, a member of the Dayton chapter of Veterans for Peace. The group will be among several taking part in the tour. 'The drone program is only making the United States more enemies, not solving our problems.' The Miami Valley was chosen for the tour because Wright-Patterson Air Force Base manages Air Force UAV programs and the drones are flown remotely from Springfield Air National Guard Base, said Fryburg, an Army veteran and a retired police officer."

WDTN News, September 14, 2012 , Know Drones Tour lands in Dayton: "This area has a lot invested in the technology for both military and non-military uses, but a handful of protesters questioned the decision Friday. ... Drone research continues here in the Miami Valley, so stakes are high in the area for their success."

ENDORSING ORGANIZATIONS

The tour is endorsed by:

American Civil Liberties Union (Philadelphia)
American Friends Service Committee
Brandywine Peace Committee
Brooklyn For Peace
Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition
Catholic Peace Fellowship (Philadelphia)
Central Ohioans for Peace
Central Ohio Peace Network
Coalition for Peace and Justice (Southern New Jersey)
Code Pink
Columbus (Ohio) Campaign for Arms Control
Daytonians Against War Now
Delaware Pacem in Terrris
Free Press
Faith Communities United for Peace (Coumbus, Ohio)
Franklin County (Ohio) Green Party
Interfaith Peace Network of Western New York
Granny Peace Brigade (Philadelphia)
International Action Center
LEPOCO Peace Center (Bethlehem, PA)
Missing Peace Art Space – Dayton, Ohio
National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance
Occupy Fredrick (MD)
Occupy Wall Street – Anti-War
Pakistan Solidarity Network
Pax Christi – Greensburg, PA
Peace Action New York
Peace Center of Delaware County (PA)
Peace Resource Center (Frederick, MD)
Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore
Progressive Peace Coaltion (Columbus, Ohio)
Unitarian Fellowship for World Peace – Dayton, Ohio
United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)
Upstate NY Coalition to Ground the Drones & End the Wars
Veterans for Peace Chapter #128 (Buffalo, NY)
Veterans for Peace – Dayton, Ohio
Veterans for Peace (Philadelphia)
Voices for Creative Non-Violence
War Resisters League
WESPAC Foundation
Western New York Peace Center
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (Philadelphia)
World Can’t Wait
Wright State University (Ohio) Chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America

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Top Image: Know Drones drone replica during a recent event in Chicago.

Wittenberg to Perform Gilroy's "The Predator" September 16

Members of the Wittenberg University community will perform Jack Gilroy's play, The Predator, as part of a series of events about drones on September 16. (For performance details, see Wright State, Wittenberg to Participate in No Drones Education.)

Jack Gilroy is a full time human rights/peace activist and former Prisoner of Conscience for the School of the Americas Watch. Gilroy’s two novels of young men who refused to be part of the United States military, "Absolute Flanigan" and "The Wisdom Box", received gold medal awards by OMNI Center for Peace & Justice.

The Predator is part of a dramatic trilogy about moral challenges and conscience, especially related to war and violence. The Pax Christi website (where the full plays can be downloaded) provides brief summaries of the three plays:

The Predator: A Jesuit college junior is being encouraged to serve the country in the military by her mother, an Air Force Major Drone Pilot, and a US Senator. Her mother pushes for an Air Force career path and her Senator visualizes drones as an economic answer to unemployment. Is there a relevant moral question?

Sentenced to Death For Not Killing: The Ben Salmon Story: Ben Salmon, a WWI, Denver, Colorado Catholic, refused to partake in the killing of another human being. He was arrested, sentenced to death (reduced to 25 yrs hard labor) and tortured for his humanitarian and religious belief that killing is immoral.

Render to Caesar? The Story of Franz Jagerstatter: Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian Catholic peasant was the only person in his village who, in 1938, refused to support Nazi annexation. When he said no to induction into the German Army in 1943, Franz knew the justice of his conscience would be challenged by the power of the state.

Past performances of The Predator have included:

Georgetown University, Washington, DC - during November, 2011, Ignatian Family Teach In
Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church, Syracuse, NY
St Lucy's Church, Syracuse, NY - a performance in which Kathy Kelly took a reading role, since she was in town facing charges for an anti-drones action at the Syracuse drone base
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY - part of a Spring, 2012, workshop in a peace studies conference.

The Predator will be performed at the Wittenberg Student Union on Sunday afternoon, September 16, time TBA. (For performance details, see Wright State, Wittenberg to Participate in No Drones Education.)

Wright State, Wittenberg to Participate in No Drones Education

As part of the No Drones! education tour in Ohio in September, to be carried out by Know Drones, members of Dayton Anti-War Now (DAWN), Veterans for Peace, and others, there will be several events on Ohio college campuses.

WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY - Thursday, September 13, 2012

In collaboration with Occupy Wright State, Know Drones will display their 1/5-actual size Reaper drone replica and do a teach-in.

Time: 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Venue: Wright State Student Union

Join the Facebook event page for the drone day at Wright State and invite your friends!



WITTENBERG UNIVERSITY - Sunday, September 16, 2012

Display and informal discussion: Know Drones will display their 1/5-actual size Reaper drone replica and answer questions about drones, drone warfare, and the movement to stop the drones.
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Venue: Wittenberg Student Union



Presentation: Current and future drone use, particularly as drones relate to controlling resources, labor and populations.
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Venue: Wittenberg Student Union

Performance: The Predator, a play by Jack Gilroy. Discussion to follow.
Time: TBA
Venue: Wittenberg Student Union
Read more about Jack Gilroy and The Predator.

Note: Just a few miles from Wittenberg University is the Springfield National Guard Air Base, one of bases from which Predator drones are controlled.

Join the Facebook event page for the drone day at Wittenberg and invite your friends!

Contact Peggy Hanna (phanna [at] wittenberg.edu) for more information on the Wittenberg events.

To get involved with either of these events, contact Steve Fryberg at steve [at] missingpeaceart.org .