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Drone nose (photo: Feuillu / flickr)
Once again nonviolent protesters of U.S. drone wars have been arrested at the gates of Hancock Air Field in New York State. Thursday morning, 19 people blocked the three gates to the base for a period of hours beginning at 8 a.m. Eventually, the front gate was opened after 11 people were arrested, including Elliott Adams of Veterans For Peace, as well as James Ricks, Bonny Mahoney, Paul Frazier, Ed Kinane, Mike Perry, Judy Bello, Andrea Levine, Dan Vergevin, Paki Weiland, and one other.
Signs held up to block the gates said: “Drone war crimes: extrajudicial killing,” “Drone war crimes: killing civilians,” “Drone war crimes: wars of aggression,” “Drone war crimes: violations of national sovereignty,” and “We will not be complicit in our government’s war crimes.”
Eight people continued to block two other gates after the first 11 arrests. Four of them were arrested at around 10:15 a.m., including Brian Hynes, Clare Grady, Mary Anne Grady, and Martha Henessy. Henessy is Dorothy Day’s granddaughter. Adams is a descendant of Sam Adams, as well as being Past President of Veterans For Peace, and current Nonviolent Training Coordinator. Adams has been arrested repeatedly at Hancock. Adams told a judge earlier this year:
“I am proud to accept the consequences of my acts and any jail time. I do not want any suspended sentence. If you give me one, also please let me know how I can violate it before I leave the courtroom.”
“It is outrageous,” Adams remarked upon one of his arrests last April, “that on the other side of this fence people are being murdered, albeit at long distance, and the Sheriff will not even investigate. On this side of the fence we are arrested for a ‘violation of permit requirement.’”
Present on Thursday were the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Department, the DeWitt Police, and the New York State Police.
BACKGROUND:
Veterans For Peace Members Arrested Protesting Drones
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/pressroom/news/2012/06/29/veterans-for-peace-members-arrested-protesting-drones
Veterans For Peace Among 33 Arrested Outside Drone Base in New York State
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/pressroom/news/2012/04/23/veterans-for-peace-among-33-arrested-outside-drone-base-in-new-york-state
Veterans For Peace was founded in 1985 and has approximately 5,000 members in 150 chapters located in every U.S. state and several countries. It is a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization recognized as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) by the United Nations, and is the only national veterans’ organization calling for the abolishment of war.
11 Comments
In a democracy, the citizens are responsible for justice, which explains courts, laws and juries. In tyrannies, the executive is the arbiter and executor of justice. Because we have decided that the US President has the power to kill without due process citizens suspected of crimes, our system is the latter.
“U.S. Drone Manufacturers Contribute Millions to Congressional Campaigns” (TheNewAmerican.Com, by Joe Wolverton, II, J.D., July 14, 2012)
I wonder that investors realize that they can’t ride the nuclear gravy train anymore so drones are their replacement. All corruption is local. Like Kansas City, MO, folks have to face up to looking at the underpinnings of it in their own backyards and dealing with it before it’s too late.
The structure of our “American” society will be subverted into a totalitarian State for the benefit of the uber wealthy who are not smart enough to sustain a government or system even for the benefit of just themselves. The people will prevail.
Indeed. A society is healthy when it maintains symbiotic relationships between its members, reciprocal altruism, balances of power, and practical interest in the common good via a social contract. The lack of intelligence you mention is the inability to see this, to see that we are all connected to one another whether we like it or not. Unfortunately, a lot of the people have taken their cue from these uber wealthy authority figures and embrace the same ignorant selfishness.
ottogrendel is right again ..
put differently – and expressed long ago..
“The means of production being the collective work of humanity, the product should be the collective property of the race. Individual appropriation is neither just nor serviceable. All belongs to all. All things are for all men, since all men have need of them, since all men have worked in the measure of their strength to produce them, and since it is not possible to evaluate every one’s part in the production of the world’s wealth…All things are for all.” – peter kropotkin 1907
the moral choice; in the 1960s Mario Savio implored, “lay your body on the gears”
theCCC says … “homes for the homeless & shame for the shameless…”
‘all is for all’ from the album #resist on acme records
The best thing that could happen for freedom rights would be to have a GOP president.
THEN, protests and activation would be huge against drone strikes, poverty, Gitmo, warrentless wiretapping and the rest. And, lots of press action.
Until then, only a few dedicated freedom fighters and a mild yawn from everyone else.
Look at Manning. If a GOP president were in office, you’d have huge protests, front page articles and tons of attention. And, maybe a freed Manning.
Looks like James Cameron’s “Dark Angel” TV program is finally becoming a reality in Seattle. It featured killer drones with facial recognition software. It didn’t even require the EMP incident to make it happen.
Such sorry times we live in.
Hopefully, this might curb the zeal for Drones…
UN to investigate civilian deaths from US drone strikes…