September 21-22 - Campaign Nonviolence Focus at Heritage Festival in Tiffin

Nonviolence Education!
September 21-22, 2014 10am
Downtown Tiffin, OH on the Old Courthouse Square

Sr. Paulette Schroeder teaches two nonviolence 6th. grade classes at the Tiffin Middle School. This year she plans to groom all her lesson plans around Campaign Nonviolence.

Josie Setzler and Sr. Paulette are planning along with their advisory committee for Project Peace–Imagining a World without War — to set up two booths at our Seneca County Heritage Festival featuring Campaign Nonviolence and especially the reality of drone warfare.

Contact:
Paulette Schroeder osf
projectpeacetiffin.com

This event is one of the dozens of Campaign Nonviolence actions

taking place nationwide during September, 2014, many of them

organized by groups with a strong history of protesting drones

killings and drone surveillance.
See the full list of actions nationwide.

Related posts

Perhaps the single most significant consequence of the advent of killer drones is that they allow the state to efficiently separate war-making from the emotional involvement of the people of the country using them. In other words, with the coming of drone warfare, we have been denied the opportunity for empathy with those affected by our (direct and indirect) actions.

(See Why is "Ending the military drone program" a pillar of Campaign Nonviolence?)

In Pennsylvania, demonstrations to stop the establishment of the Drone War Command Center at the Horsham Air Guard Station, outside of Philadelphia, have been going on monthly. There will be a protest on September 27, 2014, in conjunction with the Campaign Nonviolence week of actions.

(See September 27 - Stop Drone War Command Center at Horsham )



If we can make a difference in Dayton, Ohio, Middle America, we can make a difference anywhere since Dayton region has become the epicenter for military UAS [drone] technology.

(See "Not In My Name": Know Drones Action - April 5, 2013 )

"Not In My Name": Know Drones Action - April 5, 2013

VOLUNTEER for No Drones Ohio today! (volunteer form here)

"Not in My Name" April 5: Why Dayton, OH

Dayton, Ohio sits at the crossroads of two major interstate highways, I75 & I70, in the heartland of America. It is home to Wright Patterson Air Force Base (the logistics center for the Air Force) with the greater Dayton region having a population of approximately 840,000 people. With the decline of rust belt industries the area lost thousands of jobs when GM, Delco and other general manufacturing companies pulled out.

Since then political leaders and corporate giants have offered a new golden calf of economic hope for the citizens of the region to worship. They promise them better times and jobs with this new idol, but they have to sell their souls to get it.

Poster designed for a protest on Easter Sunday foreshadowed
the message of Friday's demonstration- embracing the drone
industry as an economic savior means accepting very
 real moral consequences.

What is it that will turn around the plague of bad times to hit the area? It’s UAVs or “Drones”: their research, manufacturing and training, at least this is what we are told, and most people have swallowed this message without the slightest doubt or question, because it has been wrapped in the flag of patriotism and justified by the all-encompassing “War on Terrorism.”

Let’s look at this closer . . .

“Since 2000, the Dayton area has lost about 30,000 manufacturing jobs, said Richard Stock, director of the University of Dayton Business Research Group.”  - USA Today, 2009

Any jobs that will be created by the Unmanned Air System Technology coming to the region will be in the 100’s, maybe if we include support companies low 1000’s, and the majority of these jobs will be highly technical, not average blue collar jobs.

What is our payoff for these jobs? Participating in an industry that has been perverted into a tool for targeted non-judicial killings that have a 30%+ civilian/innocents kill rate.

UN and Human Rights NGOs have reported that these uses are in violation of international law and even military commanders have spoken out recently about the negative affect these attacks are having in our global “War on Terror”

So how is the unemployed Delco, GM worker or High School graduate going to benefit from this; they aren’t.

The CEO's and stockholders of companies like Lockheed Martin, SAIC and other UAS associated companies will benefit greatly, especially since the state is spending $1,500,000 in taxpayer money to get them here. Some of our local universities and colleges will get some DOD money for research and to promote UAS training programs, and some politicians, especially Congressman Mike Turner, who sits on the U.S. House Unmanned Systems Caucus and received over a $100,000 in political contributions from the UAS industry will be smiling too.

But the general public will left with a myth of prosperity and how drones are the new way of having a war without all that mess, but in reality todays use of armed drones is only guaranteeing a future of perpetual conflict because of the hatred it is spawning globally against the U.S.

If we can make a difference in Dayton, Ohio, Middle America, we can make a difference anywhere since Dayton region has become the epicenter for military UAS technology.

• Wright Patterson Air Force Base provides the logistical support for the Air Force UAV program and because of that several of the major drone manufacturing and research companies have facilities/offices here.
• Wright State University and University of Dayton are doing DOD research on UAV technology and artificial intelligence, even to the point of developing software to allow UAVs to make targeting decisions.
• Sinclair Community College has a UAV piloting program.
• Springfield Beckley Municipal Airport (considered part of the Dayton Springfield Metro Area) has an Ohio Air National Guard Base adjacent to it that is currently flying drone missions in Afghanistan, that we know of, probably more.
• Dayton region is one of six regions in the U.S. being considered by FAA for UAV testing airspace.
• Wright Patterson Air Force Museum has an exhibition for the Predator Drone and UAVs, a possible place for an action.

"Not in My Name": The Activities/Actions

Friday April 5th

1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. -- Mass Demonstration at Congressman Mike Turner’s Office - 120 West 3rd Street

This will be a follow up to our demonstration/meeting with his representative in September, 2012, requesting he give his UAV/Drone contributions to the families of innocent victims of drone bombings. We will bring attention to the large amount of money he has accepted from the drone industry and his position on the Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus.

There is also a plan to deliver a citizen indictment for crimes against humanity/war crimes at the office.

The demonstration at Congressman Turners office will be until 3 pm. Join the Facebook event and invite friends!

5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. - "Not In My Name" Drone Opposition Presentation

We will meet at the Third Street Peace Fellowship/MLK Community Center, 2720 E 3rd St Dayton.

Here there will be food, a video and discussion on where do we go from here on this important issue.

Out of area guests are welcome to stay the night. Check with us on possible help with accommodations. (sleeping bag style in at the Fellowship Center)

The list of supporting organizations is in formation.

These are just some very basic ideas and logistics for others to consider for the April Know Drones Month.

Peace,

Steve

Steve Fryburg
Veterans for Peace, Dayton OH

VOLUNTEER for No Drones Ohio today! (volunteer form here)

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.

Columbus: Saying No Drones at Ohio Legislature, Ohio State, Columbus Law - AND to BARACK OBAMA!

Attendees at the Obama 2012 campaign rally in Columbus on September 17
got a reminder of what the Obama presidency is all about --
in the form of a 1/5-actual size Reaper drone model.

The Know Drones tour proceeded from a series of appearances in the Dayton/Springfield area to take the No Drones! message to Columbus. In addition to visiting the Ohio Legislature, Ohio State, Columbus Law, and other locations in the Columbus area September 17-19, the tour was present at the campaign event for President Obama on Monday, September 17 to remind Obama supporters what they will be voting for!


MONDAY - September 17

11:00 a.m. - Northern Lights Shopping Center (Cleveland & Innis)
Display drone replica and distribute information

1:00 p.m. - Schiller Park
Display drone replica and distribute information

Know Drones tour director Nick Mottern
with two emblems of how Empire deals
death to ordinary people (past and present).

(In advance of President Obama's 2:00 p.m. appearance at Schiller Park. The entrance to the event at Schiller Park will be on the corner of 3rd Street and East Whittier Street.)

7:00 p.m. - Presentation – Central Ohioans for Peace, Columbus Mennonite Church, 35 Oakland Park Avenue.

TUESDAY - September 18

8:30 a.m. – State Legislature offices

11:00 a.m. – Ohio State University campus

WEDNESDAY - September 19

8:30 a.m. – Columbus School of Law


At the conclusion of the Columbus events, the tour will continue in Pennsylvania.

Know Drones Tour to Highlight Choice: Green Energy or Non-Stop War for Resources?

As part of the No Drones! education tour in Ohio in September, representatives of New York State-based Know Drones held an event at the Green Energy Information Center in Brookville on Saturday, September 15, 2012. They were joined by other tour sponsors: members of Dayton Anti-War Now (DAWN), Veterans for Peace, and others.

There was a press conference to address the choice between developing renewable energy and materials versus non-stop war to control non-renewable resources, such as oil and minerals. (Read more below.)

Members of the tour displayed a 1/5 actual size model of a Reaper drone, and stayed through the afternoon to talk with visitors to the Center.

Green Energy Information Center
10404 National Road
Brookville, OH
(near the Dull Homestead Farm)

For information, contact Steve Fryberg at steve [at] missingpeaceart.org .

More information on the entire No Drones! education tour in Ohio.

THE CHOICE: ENDLESS WAR FOR RESOURCES? OR RENEWABLE ENERGY?

The Race for What's Left by Michael Klare describes the increasing struggle among industrialized nations for access to oil with the full intention of burning up as much of it as possible. Klare calls for a crash plan to develop renewable energy sources and other basic materials. Clearly a dramatically urgent program to cut burning of fossil fuels is needed.

In spite of this, the US is bent on using its military to gain and hold access to oil resources worldwide. The drone has a unique role in this drive for control because unlike any other weapon, it can monitor the lives of individuals and groups for days on end and kill at a moment's notice. Government and business leaders around the world are well aware of this and must certainly be influenced in their decisions by the knowledge they can be easily assassinated by drones.

If we are to begin a serious, effective mobilization to get off fossil fuels, we must close the door to the use of the military to "capture" oil. The military option for access to oil must no longer be an option.

The removal of the military option for acquiring resources would, of course, be revolutionary in the history of the world. A ban on drone surveillance and weaponized drones worldwide can be and must be the first step in that direction, and by describing the ban as such, we may be able to encourage people to think about the existential choices that we are now making on a daily basis, at this point by default. The advent of the drone may help us to understand where we are headed and where we want to go.

* * * * *

Image: American Legacy by Steve Fryburg: "The cloud of an atomic bomb in the background, a weapon that allows the near annihilation of an enemy without exposure to the horror and suffering inflicted. The Predator Drones flying in the forefront, today’s latest way of extending the distance between us and the 'enemy'; so that the horrors of war can be isolated to those who we inflict it upon.

"It has been said that the A-Bomb saved the lives of 50,000 or more soldiers and today the killer drone is said to keep soldiers out of harm’s way. If we can impose our wrath without exposure or apparent risk, the easier it is for war and state terrorism to continue with the blessings of the citizens.

"The oil rig is an icon for the resources US corporations have, and are still pillaging from other countries under the shadow of America’s military might. And the cross for the pseudo-Christians that wallow in self-righteousness in the US, but fail miserably to live up to the ideals of the man who died on that cross after teaching such things as 'Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God' …"

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 .

Ohio Prepares to Protest Drones!

We met with representatives of Know Drones, as well as our counterparts from No Drones Illinois and No Drones Wisconsin, on Saturday and Sunday, July 14/15, to discuss educational and protest events in Columbus, Dayton, and other Ohio cities concerning drones killing and drones surveillance.

Drone activity has already started in Ohio: a July 10 report describes drone testing at Wilmington Air Park. In addition, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton is likely to be a key link in the plans to expand drone activity in the United States.

But public questioning of the U.S. drones program has already started in Ohio, too. For instance, read the editorial in the June 10, 2012, Akron Beacon Journal, "Drone Warrior".

To learn how you can help spread the word in Ohio about the need to stop drone killing and drone surveillance, please email us at nodronesohio [at] gmail.com.

UPDATE: July 22, 2012
According to the Department of Defense Report to Congress on Future Unmanned Aircraft Systems Training, Operations, and Sustainability (April 2012), Ohio has two locations that have been designated as potential basing locations for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) [i.e. drones] (p. 8 ff.): Lacarne (for the RQ-11B Raven) and Wright Patterson Air Force Base (for the RQ-11B Raven and the Wasp).