One Year in Prison: Sentence in Connection with "Order of Protection" Directed Against Stop Antiwar Protest

For Immediate Release:

Contacts:
Carol Baum, Syracuse Peace Council (Syracuse), 315.472.5478 (SPC), 315.383.5738 (cell)
Ellen Grady, Ithaca Catholic Worker (Ithaca), 607.279.8303
Jim Clune, Broome County Peace Action (Binghamton), 607.773.0246
Judy Bello, Upstate Drone Action (Rochester), 585.733.4058
Vicki Ross, Western New York Peace Center (Buffalo), 716.884.0582
John Amidon, Veterans for Peace (Albany), 518.312.6442
Mark Colville, Amistad Catholic Worker (New Haven, CT), 203.415.5896

Drone Resister Sentenced to One Year in Prison
Base’s Order of Protection Begs Judgement

On July 10, grandmother of three, Mary Anne Grady Flores was sentenced to one year in prison after being found guilty of violating an Order of Protection. A packed courtroom of over 100 supporters was stunned as she was led away, and vowed to continue the resistance.

These Orders of Protection, typically used in domestic violence situations or to protect a victim or witness to a crime, have been issued to people participating in nonviolent resistance actions at Hancock Air Base since late 2012. The base, near Syracuse NY, pilots unmanned Reaper drones over Afghanistan, and trains drone pilots, sensor operators and maintenance technicians. The orders had been issued to “protect” Colonel Earl Evans, Hancock’s mission support commander, who wanted to keep protesters “out of his driveway.”

Mary Anne began her sentencing statement with, “Your honor, a series of judicial perversions brings me here before you tonight.” She concluded that the “final perversion is the reversal of who is the real victim here: the commander of a military base whose drones kill innocent people halfway around the world, or those innocent people themselves who are the real ones in need of protection from the terror of US drone attacks?”

The orders of protection are being challenged on many legal grounds.

Mary Anne had been issued a temporary order in 2012. The following year, she photographed a nonviolent witness at the base, but not participating herself because she did not want to violate the order. The irony is that those who actually participated in the action were acquitted, while Mary Anne was charged with violating the order.

Even though the pre-sentencing report recommended no jail time, Judge Gideon sentenced Mary Anne to the maximum of a year in prison. As he imposed his sentence, the judge referred to his previous Hancock decision. He had stated then and insinuated now, “This has got to stop.”

In addition, Mary Anne was fined $1000 plus a $205 court surcharge and a $50 fee to have her DNA collected.

Her verdict is being appealed.

For information on how to support Mary Anne, contact Ellen Grady at demottgrady6@gmail.com.


Related posts

A very important series of trials is proceeding in the coming weeks in upstate New York. These trials follow in a line of previous trials of peace activists who have been working to stop the commission of war crimes by the drone kill chain, part of which is based a Hancock Air Force Base. What is particularly significant about the upcoming trials is that they are part of a government plan to put a chill, once and for all, on citizens' exercise of Constitutional rights.

(See The Hancock Show Trials: Quashing Dissent Against America's Criminal Drone Killing Program )

Syracuse grandmother facing a year in prison for photographing anti-drone warfare action at Hancock AFB

Sentencing: July 10^th

Drone Attack Victims Need Orders of Protection!

Syracuse, NY.  Drone activist, Mary Anne Grady Flores, is facing 1 year in jail for violating an order of protection. She will be sentenced at 6pm, Thursday, July 10, 2014,by Judge Gideon of De Witt Town Court (5400 Butternut Dr., East Syracuse, New York). The grandmother of 3 had been issued a temporary order of protection for participating in a nonviolent civil resistance action in 2012 at Hancock Air Base. Col. Earl A. Evans, the base’s mission support group commander, was granted the order from local judges, to shut down protests at the base.  

Mary Anne Grady Flores, facing a 1 year jail term for violation
 (by photographing a demonstration) of an "order of protection"
 against the Commander of Hancock AFB, notorious hub
 of drone warfare activities.

The base is a hub of reaper drone activity – drones are piloted over Afghanistan from the base; and reaper pilots, sensor operators and maintenance people are trained there. Who actually needs an order of protection – the base commander, behind a barbed wire fence and surrounded by military might, or families in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere subject to the terror of drone strikes?

On Ash Wednesday 2013, while standing in the public intersection, Mary Anne, in a support role, photographed eight Catholics who participated in a nonviolent witness at the base. She did not participate in the witness because she had intended not to violate the order of protection. She understood the order to mean that she was forbidden to join the protest or be on base property. Following the arrests the activists learned that the base property line went out to the double yellow line in the middle of the road. The irony is that those who actually participated in the action were acquitted of their charges. Mary Anne was charged with violating the order.

Fifty activists have received orders of protection on behalf of the base Colonel, signed by the DeWitt Town Court Judges. The orders, typically used to prevent domestic violence and abuse of victims, are being challenged for their blatant abuse of the First Amendment, shutting down free speech and the right to protest at the base and for their inappropriate application of NY State Law. In a recent ruling, acting NYS Supreme Court Judge Brunetti ruled the order of protection was invalid. The Assistant District Attorney is currently appealing that decision.

In spite of Mary Anne’s conviction and upcoming sentence, the protest will continue. No one can stand silent and ignore the pleas from victims of drone attacks.

The Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars is a coalition of antiwar organizations in Upstate New York that formed around resistance to the MQ-9 Reaper Drone program at Hancock Base, where they train pilots and technicians with local missions from Fort Drum and fly lethal Reaper missions over Afghanistan.

Contacts:

Ellen Grady, Ithaca Catholic Worker, 607-279-8303

Carol Baum, Syracuse Peace Council, 315-472-5478 (SPC) or 315-383-5738 (cell)

Mary Anne Grady Flores, Ithaca Catholic Worker, 607-280-8797

(All are a part of The Upstate NY Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars)

Protest over drones draws many after civil rights activist Cornel West energizes crowd in Syracuse

After speaking to a crowd of about 500 at Syracuse's Tucker Missionary Baptist Church, academic Cornel West joined upwards of 300 in a massive demonstration at the nearby Hancock AFB in the town of Dewitt, from which the 174th Attack Wing of the Air National Guard operates killer drones. Police and soldiers were present in large numbers, but no arrests were made.

Cornel West melted into the crowd, joining the People
 in speaking out against the drone atrocities being
 perpetrated at Hancock and elsewhere.

The theme of the protest was the delivery of a "People's Order of Protection" against all those complicit in U.S. drone terror. After West drew connections between racism, poverty, and drone killing, the Peoples' Order of Protection allowed those taking part in the protest to ally themselves with the victims of drone killing as part of a global 99%, standing up against murder and surveillance by the wealthy and powerful. It also made a mockery of the recent ludicrous abuse by Dewitt town judge Gideon of the Order of Protection against those engaging in peaceful protest at Hancock.

Demonstrators stood in vigil to remember
 those killed by U.S. drone strikes.

As West said: "We're seeing the unfolding of a movement in Syracuse to view drones -- which kill children especially -- as a crime against humanity," West said during the march. "It's a moral and spiritual awakening with political consequences."

Major sponsors of the event were the Syracuse Peace Council  and the Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars.

Read more at PopularResistance.org

The Spring Days of Drone Action are in full swing!
 CLICK HERE to learn more.

Cornel West to Speak on Poverty, Racism, and Drones in Syracuse

Dr. Cornel West- “Connecting the Dots: Poverty, Racism and Drones”

April 27, 2014 at 2 pm (doors open at 1:30)

Tucker Missionary Baptist Church

515 Oakwood Ave, Syracuse, NY.

 The Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars is pleased to present Dr. Cornel West, a prominent and provocative populist intellectual.  Dr. West will be speaking at the Tucker Missionary Baptist Church, in Syracuse, NY on the links between poverty, racism, and killer drones.  The event is free and open to the public.

Dr. Cornel West will present:
 "Connecting the Dots: Poverty, Racism and Drones."

Following the talk we will have Rally and a short Walk to Hancock Air National Guard Drone base** themed "The People’s Orders of Protection Against Drone Terror".  The rally will begin at 4:30pm at the BOCES parking lot (6820 Thompson Rd, Syracuse, NY, near the east gate of the base.)

*Dr. Cornel West is a Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He has also taught at Yale, Harvard, and the University of Paris. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard in three years and obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy at Princeton. He has written 20 books and has edited 13. He is best known for his classics Race Matters and Democracy Matters, and his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. - See more  here. 

"There is a cloud of witnesses that say that those innocent persons, especially the precious babies, who are killed by US drones in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen have exactly the same value as those priceless white children who were killed in Newtown, CT; as those black brothers and sisters in the south side of Chicago; brown brothers and sisters in barrios; red brothers and sisters on reservations; yellow brothers and sisters.  We are here to bear witness and to say we will not allow the kind of callousness toward catastrophe and indifference to criminality to become the norm and routine in America... We remember the legacy of Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Philip Berrigan, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Grace Boggs; these are names that constitute figures in movements that say, it's time to straighten our back up, it's time for us to try to awake our fellow citizens; No More Sleep Walking in America when it comes to  militarism, when it to comes to consumer market materialism, when it comes to racism, antisemitism, anti arab, anti muslim, homophobia any form of xenophobia, and most importantly when it comes to imperial crimes that emanate from Washington, DC around the world." 

                              -Dr. West, International Drone Summit.   Washington, DC  11/10/13

  

**Hancock Airfield is just outside of Syracuse, NY in the Town of Dewitt. It is the home of the 147th Attack Wing of the Air National Guard and the national maintenance and training center for the MQ9 Reaper drones. These drones are operated by remote control from the base, and are used to carry out attacks in Afghanistan and possibly other countries. Over the past 4 years there have been on- going demonstrations at the base by The Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars, an organization made up of groups from Upstate NY including Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, Albany, Ithaca and other towns.

For more info, visit The Upstate NY Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars

For Flyers, click here.

         

Syracuse: Carol Baum at the Syracuse Peace Council, (315) 472-5478

Rochester: Judy Bello, (585) 733-4058

Buffalo: Vicki Ross, (716) 884-0582

Ithaca: Ellen Grady, (607) 279-8303

Binghamton: Jim Clune (607) 773-0246

Sponsored by: The Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars; The Syracuse Peace Council, The Buffalo Peace Center, The Ithaca Catholic Worker, etc.

The Spring Days of Drone Action continue! Click here to learn more about events nationwide!

Attack Drones, Cyber-Weapons and Autonomous Robots: Law and Morality

7 p.m., Wednesday, March 26
Panasci Family Chapel, LeMoyne College, Syracuse

The computer revolution has made possible the development of extraordinary new weapons. Although our current legal and moral principles do not permit force in any but the most serious situations and as a last resort, government officials and certain academics are arguing for new interpretations of the rules.

Mary Ellen O’Connell, professor of law and research professor of international dispute resolution at the University of Notre Dame, will address these arguments, which she believes are inconsistent with the fundamental right to life. 

Mary Ellen O'Connell, who will argue that
 attempts to reinterpret legal and moral principles to
 expand the use of force are incompatible with the
 fundamental right to life.

This lecture is part of “The Faith That Does Justice Series” sponsored by the College’s Office of Mission and Identity.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE NATIONWIDE SPRING DAYS OF ACTION AGAINST DRONES.

Spring Days of Drone Action 2014

April Days of Action Against Drones in NEW YORK STATE

Upstate New York State has long been the center of resistance to drone militarism in the United States. The Upstate NY Coalition to Ground the Drones has led protests at Hancock Air Force Base and other locations for years.

Now, actions throughout New York State will be instrumental in a nationwide month of resistance to drone killing and drone surveillance - the April Days of Action Against Drones. In addition, events will be taking place in New York City, and elsewhere in the state. Find an event near you in the list below and GET INVOLVED!

UPDATE: Judy Bello of Upstate NY Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars appeared with Noor Mir of CODEPINK on Clearing the Fog Radio to discuss the impacts of drone warfare and promote the upcoming Convergence for Inspiration and Actions in Syracuse!

SYRACUSE - April 26, 2013 - Resisting Global Wars, Drones and Empire, A Convergence for Inspiration and Actions: April 26-28: Syracuse NY Friday evening we will come together Saturday we will have speakers and activities throughout the day Chris Hedges, Ann Wright, Kathy Kelly, David Swanson, Bruce Gagnon, Debra Sweet, Nick Mottern are among our speakers Sunday we will protest at Hancock National Guard Air Base Refer to http://upstatedroneaction.org for updated information

UPDATE: Hancock Air National Guard Base commander requests restraining order against peaceful anti-drone demonstrators.

GREENLAWN - April 30, 2013 - Not In My Neighborhood! Expose BAE's Drones! Street Theatre Actions: Looking for MORE participants! DATES/TIMES: whatever's good for all participants! (ACTUAL DATES/TIMES is NOT NECCESARILY APRIL 30). Across the street from BAE on the public grass buffer strip along the south side of Pulaski Rd in Greenlawn. We have done this before in this same location, with an installation of a mock graveyard of drone victims, complete with headstones and dark-clothed mourners and message signs, on the buffer strip facing commuter traffic. It was a really successful head-turner/car-stopper! Contact Occupy Huntington at 631-486-4818 or woodge1'at' hotmail.com

NEW PALTZ - April 13, 2013 - Drone Protest: Join our picket line with signs visible to busy traffic at 10:30 a.m. in front of the Elting Library (Main St. across from Starbucks). At 12 noon, march with signs and leaflets through the business district (about a half hour). Organized by the Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter. Info jacdon@earthlink.net, activistnewsletter.blogspot.com/. Two public parking lots on Plattekill Ave., including at Village Hall.

NEW YORK CITY - April 3, 2013 - Peace Grannies Anti-Drone protest: All New York City peace grandmothers and supporters and other interested parties will met April 3 from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Grandmothers Against the War vigil site at Rockefeller Center, the west side of 5th Ave. between 49th and 50th Sts. So far, Col. Ann Wright has agreed to speak. We will have drone models, banners and signs and, hopefully, some media. Participants will include the Granny Peace Brigade, Raging Grannies, Grandmothers Against the War, Grey Panthers, and many others.

April 9, 2013 - Protest Cornell-Technion Partnership in NYC: New Yorkers Against the Cornell-Technion Partnership will conduct their monthly protest, which will include a protest of Technion's development of drones. See: http://nyact.net/

April 25, 2013 - DRONE PROTEST L-3 COMMUNICATIONS: Join the protest at the headquarters L-3 Communications, of one of the 10 largest military contractors, 600 Third Avenue, calling out their work on attack drones and drone surveillance.

PORT JEFFERSON - March 30, 2013 - A March to End War and Violence: Join the North Country Peace Group as we march to end war and violence and to end the killing of innocent people using drone warfare.

ROCHESTER - April 10, 2013 - Ground the Drones: We will protest drone murders, around the world, at our bi monthly anti drone vigil. Our model Reaper will hover over us, as we hold signs with photos and names of some of the drone murdered. We will hand out informational flyers, and talk to people who are only now finding out about drone warfare. 12 Corners, at Monroe Avenue, Brighton

(Add additional New York State events to the master list of national April Days of Action actions.)

Read about ALL the ways YOU can be involved 

in the April Days of Action Against Drones!

April Days of Action Against Drones Culminates with a conference in SYRACUSE and a massive demonstration at Hancock AFB- 31 arrested

Following the Convergence to Action, a weekend of workshops, panels, and organizing meetings in Syracuse headed by the Upstate NY Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars, nearly 300 activists came out to Hancock AFB on Sunday (4/28) in a massive demonstration that helped to cap the nationwide April Days of Action Against Drones, which included events all throughout the state.

Over 275 people marched in a solemn funeral
 procession to demand that Hancock Air National Guard
 Base cease drone strikes. 

People carrying banners and coffins identified countries
 where U.S. drone attacks have killed over a thousand innocent civilians.

Vivid reminder that many of the civilians
 killed by drone strikes are children.

Demonstrators came from all over the country to raise an outcry against the proliferation of drone strikes abroad, including in countries with whom the US is not "officially" at war. Drone use violates article 6 of the US Constitution as well as International Law. Demonstrators also objected to the militarization of the police and the growing domestic use of drones. The protesters raised the issue that drone use globally actually perpetuates terrorism by stoking anti-American sentiment.

"STOP KILLER DRONES"

Veterans for Peace played a significant role in the demonstration,
as it has throughout the April Days of Action Against Drones.

The history of  demonstrations against the use of
 drones at Hancock apparently created the
 perceived need for a large police presence.

An account by Bruce K. Gagnon describes what happened next:

"After we had moved to the base in a slow funeral procession four of us from Veterans For Peace (VFP) stood next to the yellow crime scene tape the military and the local police used to mark the point we were not allowed to pass without risk of arrest. 

"A large number of activists crossed this line and
 performed a die-in blocking the entrance to the base.
  They covered themselves in white sheets smeared in red."

"While a policeman was issuing a warning with a bullhorn
 the four of us from VFP began reading the names of children
 killed by US drone strikes in Pakistan."

  "Once we finished reading the names we stepped over the line
 and were quickly grabbed by the cops, handcuffed, and
 escorted to the waiting big black police bus."  

Demonstrators delivered a war crimes indictment to the base. It reads:

"We, the people, charge the US President, Barack Obama, and the full military chain of command, to Commander Colonel Greg Semmel, every drone crew, and service members at Hancock Air Base, with crimes against humanity, with violations of part of the Supreme Law of the Land, extrajudicial killings, violation of due process, wars of aggression, violation national sovereignty, and killing of innocent civilians."

Even with 31 demonstrators arrested, hundreds remained to
 deliver the message that "We STILL Will not be Complicit"
 in war crimes committed in the name of U.S. imperialism.

The thirty one arrestees were arraigned in De Witt Town Court before Judges Benack, Gideon, and Jokl, who imposed bails ranging from $500 - $3500, totalling $34,000. As Bruce Gagnon notes, the bails were punitively high and were accompanied by abusive treatment of those in jail and waiting for arraignment. Some of the defendants were released with appearance tickets   Others are refusing to post bail and will be held in jail until the next court date of May 7th & 8th.

Those Arrested:

Beth Adams, Levertt, MA

John Amidon, Albany, NY

Cynthia Banas, Vernon, NY

Ellen Barfield, Baltimore, MD

Russell Brown, Buffalo, NY

Kate De Mott Grady, Ithaca, NY

Beatrice Dewing, New York City, NY

Max Farhi, Ithaca, NY

Sandra Fessler, Rochester, NY

Daniel Finley, Ithaca, NY

Bruce Gagnon, Brunswick, ME

Jack Gilroy, Binghamton, NY

Charlie Heyn, Damascus, PA

John Honeck, Hamlin, NY

Rae Kramer, Syracuse, NY

Joanne Lingle, Indianapolis, IN

Mary Loehr, Ithaca, NY

Bonnie Mahoney, Buffalo, NY

Harry Murray, Rochester, NY

Valerie Niederhoffer, Buffalo, NY

Julienne Oldfield, Syracuse, NY

Jules Orkin, Bergenfield, NJ

Elizabeth Pappalardo, Crystal Lake, DE

Joan Pleune, Brooklyn, NY

Beverly Rice

Grace Ritter, Ithaca, NY

Matthew Ryden

Andrew Schoerke, Shaftsbury, VT

Mary Snyder, Johnson City, NY

Eve Tetaz, Washington, DC

Patricia Wieland, Northampton, MA

Donations may be sent to the Syracuse Peace Council, with checks made out to Syracuse Peace Council, note: Upstate Drone Action Bail Fund.  2013 E. Genessee St., Syracuse, NY 13210.

For more information:

Carol Baum, Syracuse Peace Council, 315-472-5478, 315-383-5738

Ellen Grady, Ithaca Catholic Worker, 607-279-8303

To see the report in local news, click here.
For video of the demonstrations, click here.

April Days of Action Against Drones are only the beginning of the fight against U.S. imperialism and the illegal killing that perpetuates it.

To get involved, check out the No Drones Network or subscribe to get e-mails about impending anti-drone actions.

April Days of Action Against Drones in New York

Noor Mir

Judy Bello of Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones joined Noor Mir of CODEPINK  April 15th on Clearing the Fog Radio with Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, MD. Mir discussed at length the challenges of documenting civilian casualties of Drone Strikes in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA): 

"what people don’t often realize is that these tribal territories are already so excluded from the urban centers of Pakistan that when these drone strikes happen it’s really very difficult to have a record of them or to bring that kind of narrative out to larger news sources, so these stories get lost."

Mir continued by describing in detail the traumatic effects of living under drone warfare:

"It is a visceral hatred…if you kill civilians and ruin [a home] you’re bound to create enemies”

“On the ground I see anxiety about the violation of their sovereignity and just a general fear and terror…just the psychological effects on the families of the victims I’ve spoken to, they talk about how the buzzing just never goes away…the administration targets group of people that are moving, so that’s why children never go to school and why funerals just aren’t held anymore."  

Judy Bello

Bello applied her experience visiting the FATA to communicate a sense of the isolation of the region, even from the urban populations of Pakistan. 

The remainder of the show focused on how activists in the U.S. have been protesting the killing of civilians in violation of international law, through the April Days of Action Against Drones. Mir gave accounts of the recent protests in San Diego and Washington, D.C..

Bello described the ways in which the anti-drone movement, with the help of the Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones, has been bringing the anti-drone message to upstate New York. She gave her account of a recent protest at Hancock AFB near Syracuse, a site of drone operation. Many of those demonstrating were arrested while blocking the gate to the base, and Bello described how they used their day in court as a platform to highlight the violations of international law entailed by U.S. drone warfare. 

Demonstrators arrested while blocking the gate to Hancock AFB

The momentum will continue with a Convergence to Action taking place at Syracuse's Southwest Community Center from April 26th-28th. The weekend will include panels on drone warfare, workshops on political organizing, and social events and will conclude on Sunday, 4/28 at 12:30 with a demonstration at Hancock AFB followed by a solemn procession around the base at 2.

To hear the full show, click here!

To learn more about the Convergence, visit the Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones

(For rides to the Convergence, contact Ann Glick at aglick@hotmail.com)

April Days of Action Against Drones continues nationwide! How will YOU get involved?