Call for "No Drones" in Ohio Colleges, Universities, and Research Institutions

Friends,

A national call has been made for “April Days of Action” to focus on three key components of U.S. drone work: Drone Manufacturers, Drone Bases in the U.S., and Drone Research. (See the list about nationwide actions and post your own planned actions for April.)

Given the fact that drones are now the primary weapons of warfare used by the US, and for surveillance both domestic and abroad, the research and development of this warfare is growing rapidly at academic institutions, in our towns and neighborhoods. Drones are the perfect instrument for endless war that kills civilians, even as they target “militants” in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan.

Academic institutions often receive large grants from the U.S. Department of Defense, enabling them to build labs within schools of engineering, for instance. We are well aware that without this research in robotics, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), and the accompanying accessories, these drone warfare projects would probably not take place. So there is an interdependent relationship between the universities and the U.S. government and or its Department of Defense and CIA. (CIA drones are used in countries with which the U.S. is not “at war”, ie Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, Mali, and others.)

While universities tend to publicize some information on their respective websites regarding the drone work, it is most often said to be for non-military purposes. And there are students working in the labs who are convinced that all the research is for humanitarian purposes. However, history has told us that non-military can quickly and easily become military. Moreover research has shown drones make mistakes on recognizing their targets.

We are therefore asking organizations and individuals, nationwide, to explore any drone research that might be going on at their local university. We are calling for local actions between April 16 and 18, 2013 (Suggested actions are listed below) Our limited research into University and Academic UAV programs indicates that research centers are operating in Ohio:

Ohio State University - Columbus, Ohio
University of Dayton - Dayton, OH
Wright State University - Dayton, OH

Before those dates in April we will need to know what information you have acquired about the research and what actions and events your group is planning.This will be shared among groups in the Network. You can send this information to us at notodrone@gmail.com.

We will have a press committee that will receive your press release and any articles you are able to publish before or after the event.

This project will complement other outreach, education and action projects that will be launched in April, focusing on drone bases, April 27-28 and drone manufacturers , April 4-6.

Suggested actions:

1. Learn what research is being done by searching on a university website. Look especially at the Engineering Dept. 
2. Organize a forum, preferably on campus, with speakers and discussion. Be sure to publicize in campus newspapers, and possibly include a professor as one of the speakers. Also include local activists.
3. Plan a small meeting with the appropriate persons in the department working on drone research, both professors and students.
4. Hold vigils and leaflet on or close to the campus, as well as in town.
5. Let us know if you need further tools for your research.

Thanks in advance for your reply to notodrone@gmail.com.

With all good wishes,

Marge Van Cleef, WILPF, Philadelphia
Leila Zand, For USA
Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence


Related posts

 Do we really want the American heartland serving as the brain-trust for the U.S. global project of drone surveillance and killing?

Here is a round-up of research, development, and training activity connected to drones at Midwest colleges and universities. I've indicated those schools that are land-grant universities. There appears to be a high concentration of drone work at land-grant universities.

(See Do We Have a Drone Problem at Midwest Colleges and Universities? )



What are some of the forms that campus activism might take? Since Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has a contract to do drone research, the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR], on May 1, sent a letter to Ronald J. Daniels, JHU president, and Dr. Ralph Semmel, director of the APL, seeking a meeting . . . .

(See Anti-Killer Drone Activists Seek Meeting with Johns Hopkins University President ) 

Preliminary research into University and Academic UAV programs indicates that a research centers are operating in dozens of locations.

(See List of U.S. Drone Research Sites)

Drone Jobs, Drone Bubble, Drone Distraction

The reflections below on the penetration of drones activity into Ohio by business and government is excerpted from Challenging Dronotopia, by Nick Mottern, director of the Know Drones project. The report followed a tour of Dayton/Springfield and Columbus in September, 2012. (Download the full "Challenging Dronotopia" report.)

by Nick Mottern

Classified ads for UAV (drone) positions in the
Dayton/Springfield area. (Indeed.com - retrieved 10/24/12)

Drones are being promoted by the Dayton Development Coalition and the State of Ohio as jobs makers. But, as we pointed out on the tour, a 2009 report from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) finds that spending on weapons produces fewer jobs than spending on green energy, health, education and other non-military work.

As indicated in the statement of [Ohio] Congressman [Michael] Turner, the prospect of drone jobs is a big deal in the Miami Valley. The Examiner.com of July 30, 2012 estimated that 30,000 people in the Dayton area lost their jobs between 2006 and 2012 because of the closing of the General Motors Moraine assembly plant and other business and public-sector layoffs.

We found that Miami Valley people with whom we spoke were willing to consider our arguments about better alternatives for job spending. But the reality is that there are about 29,000 people employed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base with more in drone and aerospace businesses clustered around the base. Criticism of the drone attacks was most often rejected because of the view that drones are keeping Americans and America safe, but one suspects that this was also a surrogate argument for keeping jobs safe.

At the same time, it is very possible, if not probable, that the hype for drone business and drone jobs is generating an unsustainable bubble of drone expectation.

The Stanford/NYU study finds that drone attacks are almost certainly creating more enemies for the US. It is also becoming very obvious that drone warfare in Afghanistan and Pakistan are not curbing attacks against US military forces or helping to “win” the war for the US in Afghanistan.

The weapons-loaded surveillance drone can be an extremely powerful weapon of threat and intimidation, but it can quickly become, it has become, a hated symbol of the desire by the US for dominance. Moreover, drones cannot seize and hold ground or control populations. So while the drone may lead the US into war with the expectation of easy victory at minimal cost, it appears that, as in Afghanistan, it can create fantasies of easy triumph that are militarily and politically impossible. Libya is also a case in point. Drones are said to have contributed mightily to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, but Libya remains in conflict, and US drones are going back into play there.

Alberto Munoz from the AFSC
Windows and Mirrors exhibit

US military action is directed at securing zones of safety and profit for US and other western corporations in resource-rich parts of the world where there is little government or where governments have been destroyed. But people in these lands are knowledgeable and resistant. Drones will not cow these people. In addition, the movement for an international ban on weaponized drones and drone surveillance will grow. As this becomes clear, and the military limitations of drones become clear, enthusiasm for drone investment may dim and with it, the prospect of a surge in drone jobs.

Drone business on the US domestic side may also be less than anticipated. We found that the overwhelming majority of people with whom we spoke do not want drone surveillance or weaponized drones in US airspace, nor do they feel comfortable with drones flying in the company of airliners.

Talking about alternatives to drones at Wright:
(l-r) Philip Logan; Steve Fryburg (Veterans for Peace, Dayton);
George Guerci and Nick Mottern (Know Drones)

Phillip Logan, a political science major at Wright State University, just outside of Dayton, who arranged for us to speak there, told us that rather than look to drones to “save” the local economy, attention should be focused on basic issues like: the need for a major jobs program (high tech jobs like work on drones is likely to leave out many in the African-American and Hispanic communities); the need to move away from property taxes as the main support for local education to make education more equal among neighborhoods and districts; national health care; reducing student debt; development of a high-speed rail link between Cincinnati and Cleveland (a project killed by Governor John Kasich); development of green technology.


To read the rest of the report, download "Challenging Dronotopia: A report of the 2012 Know Drones Tour to Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia and suggestions for further action" from the Know Drones website.

Additional excerpts available at:
No Drones Network: Challenging Dronotopia: Part One - What We Experienced On the Road
No Drones Virginia: Discussing the Deep Issues of Drones in Charlottesville with Nick Mottern from Know Drones

Read more about the 2012 Know Drones tour in Ohio:
Know Drones Tour to Visit Dayton and Springfield Sept. 13-16
Know Drones Tour to Highlight Choice: Green Energy or Non-Stop War for Resources?
Ohio Congressman Michael Turner: Stop the Drones!
Wittenberg to Perform Gilroy's "The Predator" September 16
Wright State, Wittenberg to Participate in No Drones Education
Columbus: Saying No Drones at Ohio Legislature, Ohio State, Columbus Law - AND to BARACK OBAMA!

* * * * *

Image by Alfonso Munoz, from Windows and Mirrors: Reflections on the War in Afghanistan: The aftermath of war is rarely envisioned by the powers that trigger such events. Such views are usually blinded by greed and massive egos. Those who survive will continue to live with a lifetime's worth of emotional damage beyond the healing of physical wounds. Photography has captured more images than I can mentally handle (and I am the lucky one living removed from such places). I wanted to convey the atrocities like an investigator who outlines the bodies on the scene of a crime, leaving behind a silhouette on the ground where the horrific events have taken place.

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

* * * * *

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

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 .