October 29 at Penn: Living Under Drones! Report from Pakistan

October 9th, 2012. Fasting for peace in Islamabad.

NOTE: PROGRAM TO BE RESCHEDULED DUE TO STORM

Living Under Drones! Report from Pakistan
RESCHEDULED - Look for notice over the coming days for the re-scheduled program.
Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall, Room 109
UPenn's Wharton School, 3620 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Hear more about the Code Pink peace delegation to Pakistan, its mission, and what you need to know to stop the wars and this lethal new era of U.S. drone technology. Hear more about the killer drone research going on at UPenn and Drexel.



Be part of the discussion what we can do for peace!

Featured Speakers:

Joe Lombardo at a meeting
during the Code Pink Pakistan trip

• Joe Lombardo, National Co-coordinator, United National Antiwar Coalition,and a participant in the peace delegation to Pakistan;


• Peter Lems, American Friends Service Committee's Afghanistan/Iraq program, speaking on the geo-political situation of southern Asia and the use of drones in the continuing "war on terror".


• Marjorie Van Cleef, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, speaking on drone research and development at Penn and Drexel universities.

Other speakers, including student members of the Penn Pakistan Society, will be announced.

Organized by Philly Against War and Penn Pakistan Society

Co-sponsored by: Brandywine Peace Community; Penn for Palestine; Temple Students for Justice in Palestine; Philadelphia International Action Center; Socialist Action; Green Party of Philadelphia; Muslim Peace Coalition, and Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom

For additional photos of the Pakistan trip, see the Code Pink delegation photo site.

'Drone-ing On' in the Philadelphia area:

• U.S. Representative Bob Brady of Philadelphia is a member of the large pro-UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or 'drones') Congressional caucus, promoting military drone manufacturers and federal research dollars.
• Lockheed Martin, the world's largest war profiteer, receiving more than $42 billion annually in Pentagon contracts, manufacturers drone planes, the assault missiles they carry, and the satellite systems that enable their remote control control from the continental U.S. to targets in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia. (See, for instance: Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel.)
• University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and Drexel are receiving million dollar grants from the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security in drone research and expanding technology applications for killer and surveillance drones, the latter for U.S. domestic spying as well. (See, for instance, L.A. Times: Boeing technology enables drones to swarm like insects.)

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Brandywine Peace Community
P.O. Box 81
Swarthmore, PA 19081
(610) 544-1818

Philadelphia Area Drones Protests During Keep Space for Peace Week (October 6 - 13)

On the anniversary of 11 years of U.S. War in Afghanistan ...

Stop the Killer Drone Strikes in 
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia;

Keep Space for Peace Week (October 6 - 13)

Sunday, October 7, 1p.m. - Vigil/Demonstration/Kite Flying at the University of Pennsylvania - 34th & Walnut Streets, Philadelphia, PA. Speakers, Music, and more; followed by kite flying in Woodland Walk field between UPENN and Drexel University.

Vigil at University of Pennsylvania and Kite Flight for Peace on the anniversary of the U.S.'s longest war. University of Pennsylvania (UPENN) and Drexel University are receiving millions of dollars in Federal research grants for killer and surveillance unmanned aerial vehicles, 'drones'.

Followed by Kite flying with anti-drone/anti-war peace messages between UPENN and Drexel, in the field behind 34th & Walnut Sts. Kite flying is a widespread form of play throughout Afghanistan, expressing the children's hope for an end to war. Stop killer drone research at UPenn and Drexel!
Demonstrate for peace, vigil against drone research at UPENN). Bring your children and your child's heart to the Kite Flight for Peace. A few kites will be available, but bring your own if you can. And don't forget your umbrella in the event of rain.

Join with Bruce Gagnon, International peace organizer; Coordinator,Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and Keep Space for Peace Week; Vietnam-era veteran; Cable TV talk show host, Author, Come Together Right Now: Organizing Stories From Fading Empire

A Decade plus of War, Drones, and more: Empire and the Militarization of Space

October 7, 5:30p.m. Potluck Supper, Presentation and Discussion at Peace Center of Delaware County, 1001 Old Sproul Road, Springfield, PA. For more information or directions, www.delcopeacecenter.org.

October 8th, Noon, Brown bag lunch presentation at Friends Center, 1501 Cherry Street, Phila., PA,


Death from Above; Resistance from Below

Saturday, October 13, Noon - Blow the whistle on Lockheed Martin and the Militarization of Space@Lockheed Martin in King of Prussia, Mall & Goddard Boulevards (behind the King of Prussia Mall), PA.

Receiving more than $43 billion a year in Pentagon contracts, Lockheed Martin is the world's #1 war profiteer, the U.S.'s chief producer of nuclear and space weapons, and is among the chief manufacturers of drone warfare technology. Lockheed Martin produces drones vehicles, the Hellfire missiles they carry, and the satellites which enable their remote control from the continental U.S. to targets on the other side of the world.

There will be kites to loft (bring one if you can), balloons to release, and whistles (bring your's if you can) to blow. There's a corporation whose lethal impact must be brought to the public light and stopped. It's making a killing! And, you know its name: Lockheed Martin! (See: Lockheed Martin Chosen For Defense Systems Network)


For more information: Brandywine Peace Community (610) 544-1818

Co-sponsors of above events:
American Friends Service Committee (Afghanistan/Iraq program);
Brandywine Peace Community;
Catholic Peace Fellowship;
Granny Peace Brigade Phila;
Green Party of Philadelphia;
Muslim Peace Coalition;
Peace Center of Delaware County;
Phila. Catholic Worker;
Philly Against War;
Veterans for Peace, Chapter #31;
Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF), Phila./Delco Chapter.
(List in formation.)

Top image: Mountain Kites by Ann Northrup (Philadelphia, PA), from the Windows and Mirrors: Reflections on the War in Afghanistan, a project of the American Friends Service Committee. "For my contribution to the Windows and Mirrors mural exhibition, I wanted to make a painting that looked to a past where human aspiration was possible, and to a peaceful future where children can play. I feel that it is hard for many who have comfortable lives to identify with people trapped in a war situation and see them as 'just like me.' I wanted to show the beautiful Afghanistan that still survives the violent incursions of war, and show ordinary Americans that here is life and value that must be respected and loved. I wanted an image that people could identify with, a child that they could fall in love with and that they would want to cherish and protect."

Time for Liberation ... from Drones?

Anyone from Philadelphia has been to see the Liberty Bell ... and anyone who has been to see the Liberty Bell has learned that, in its history, the Liberty Bell has actually stood for three different aspects of liberty:

First, as a general symbol of liberty, particularly the religious liberty granted under William Penn's Charter of Privileges ...

Second, liberation from slavery, when the bell was designated the "Liberty Bell," and adopted as a symbol of the abolition movement in the United States in the 1830s ...

Third, as a retrospective symbol of liberation from the tyranny of British imperial rule ...

Has the time come for Pennsylvanians to volunteer this potent symbol to be adopted once again ... as a symbol of liberation from the tyranny of drone killings and drone surveillance?

(signed)
Publius


Related posts

"On Saturday, November 10, 2012, Lars Prip and myself, David Soumis, held the Vietnam era burial flag on the square during the Farmer's Market. This video is of Lars explaining the flag and what we're doing."

(See No Drones: Lars explains the upside down American flag )