April Days of Action Against Drones in PHILADELPHIA

Saturday, April 20, 2 p.m.
A Free Public Forum on Drone Warfare...
and Why We Must Oppose It Tabernacle Church, 3700 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (located near University of Pennsylvania at the corner of 37th & Chestnut Street, enter on 37th Street; easily accessible by SEPTA bus #23, and Market Street subway.  See www.septa.org )


U.S. unmanned drones, remotely controlled from command centers throughout the U.S. and through space  by satellites built by Lockheed Martin, firing Lockheed Martin produced Hellfire missiles, have killed thousands of civilians in Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen.This month, demonstrations have taken place around the nation in protest of this imperialistic killing and the industry that makes it possible.

Demonstration in front of the White House on Saturday, 4/13 as
 part of the April Days of Action Against Drones.

 More killing awaits in this new era of robotic warfare, and the Philadelphia region is poised to be complicit in this.There are now plans to open a new command center at the Horsham Air Guard Station (formerly the Willow Grove Naval Air Station), outside of Philadelphia, from which to conduct drone warfare from the continental U.S. to targets on the other side of the world.  Meanwhile, drone research and technology application continues at UPenn and Drexel.

Forum will include:
• Hamzah Saif, Pakistan-Afghanistan Editor at Ajam Media Collective; authors the Pakistan column at the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs; frequent contributor to political commentary journals.
• Peter Lems, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
• Marjorie Van Cleef, Womens’ International League for Peace and Freedom

Sponsored by Philly Against War.  Endorsers: Brandywine Peace Community, Philadelphia International Action Center, Philadelphia Green Party, Socialist Action, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
For more information: (610) 544-1818 or (856) 220-7188

Upcoming Anti-Drone War Action:
Thursday - Saturday, April 25 - 27, UPenn drone research protest display and leafleting during the Penn Relays at University of Pennsylvania. Noon - 2p.m., each day( 34th & Walnut Streets in University City/West Phila., PA 19104.) 
Thousands of people from around the country and the world each year come to the celebrated Penn Relays.  Let them know about about the drone side of UPenn.

April Days of Action Against Drones continue! Learn more about events going on around the country!

September: Know Drones in Pennsylvania: Bethlehem and Bucks County

OVERVIEW
SCHEDULE
ENDORSING ORGANIZATIONS

OVERVIEW

Know Drones will do an educational tour in Pennsylvania in cooperation with local peace groups in Bethlehem and Bucks County, September 21-22, 2012. The tour will include sidewalk display of a 1/5 actual size replica of a Reaper drone (8' length, 11' wingspan), elevated on a lifter, and include video displays showing various aspects of drone operations as well as simulation of drone targeting.

The United States operates at least sixty drone bases inside the U.S. and around the world. U.S. drone attacks have taken place in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Uganda, and the Philippines. Hundreds of people, including civilians, have been killed in U.S. drone attacks.

The Know Drones Tour provides information, hoping to create more public discussion and debate about the wisdom, legality, and morality of using war and spy drones.


SCHEDULE

The public is invited to attend all of these events. The local visit of the Know Drones Tour is organized by the Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern (LEPOCO), the 47-year-old local citizens organization with a Peace Center in south Bethlehem. For more information contact LEPOCO at 610-691-8730 or lepoco [at] fast.net

Thursday, September 20 - Lehigh University

2:00 pm - Drone set-up and sidewalk education on the Green at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA

4:10 pm - Presentation:“Endless Warfare: Where Are Drones Taking Us?”
Maginnes Hall, Room 101, Lehigh University, south Bethlehem
Sponsored by the Dialogue Center at Lehigh University

Read coverage of the Lehigh events: Lehigh University students warned about the local use of drones - "Hino Haitham, a Lehigh University grad student born in Yemen, said the problem with the drones is not its planned use as law enforcement tools locally, but its current use as military weapons. Haitham's experience with drones came in 2009, when a drone strike in a village where she had family killed 40 civilians. 'They hadn't heard of Osama bin Laden or al-Qaida or anyone else like that,' she said. An international rights group has a lawsuit in the works regarding that strike, Haitham said."

Friday, September 21 - Lafayette College

Noon - In observance of the International Day of Peace
“Peace One Day: Know the Drones”
Farinon Student Center, Marlo Room, Lafayette College, Easton
Sponsored by the Landis Center and FYS158: Nonviolence, Lafayette College

3:00 - 5:30 pm - Drone display and public education
City Center Plaza, on Church St. (between City Hall and the Public Library), Bethlehem

6:30 pm - Potluck Dinner & Talk
“Where Are Drones Taking Us?”
Lehigh Valley Friends Meeting, Route 512 (½ mile north of Rt. 22), Bethlehem

Sponsored by the LEPOCO Peace Center

Read coverage of the Lafayette events: Speaker wants to take down drones - "Mottern noted that every time innocent civilians are killed or terrorized by drones, more people turn against the U.S. His comments were echoed by Asad Akram, associate facilities supervisor for Lafayette's recreation services department. 'I'm from Pakistan, and [using drones] is a bad sort of foreign policy,' he said. 'You're trying to win hearts and minds, and then you blow up people at a wedding the next day?'

Saturday, September 22 - Bucks County/Lahaska

10:30 am to 4:00 pm - Quaker Peace Fair
Buckingham Friends Meeting, 5684 York Rd. (Routes 202 & 263) near Lahaska, PA

Read about the Ohio portion of the tour: Dayton/Springfield September 13-16 and Columbus, September 17-19.


ENDORSING ORGANIZATIONS

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 (Columbus, 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

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