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!

Drones & Dirty Wars: Prelude to Drone Days of Action 2014

While the Spring Days of Drone Action are already well underway in New York with events in Syracuse, the Hudson Valley, and elsewhere throughout the state, their beginning will be marked on Wednesday, April 2 at 7 PM with a web-cast & live event in Manhattan. The event will take place at the Community Church at 40 E. 35th Street

In attendance will be:

Madiha Tahir, film maker, Wounds of Waziristan

An independent journalist reporting on conflict,
culture and politics in Pakistan, she has
 followed the U.S. drone attacks there for years.

   

  Maria LaHood, Senior Staff Attorney, 
Center for Constitutional Rights who
 specializes in international human
 rights litigation, seeking to hold
 government officials and corporations
 accountable for torture, extrajudicial
 killings, and war crimes abroad.

  

    Carl Dix, Vietnam War resister and member of  the Revolutionary Communist Party.  A leader of protests against police brutality, stop-and-frisk, and founder, with Cornel West, of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network.
















    
The event will be sponsored by Knowdrones, World Can't Wait, the Action for Justice Committee of The Community Church of New York Unitarian Universalist

For more information, check out the Facebook event page.

The nationwide Spring Days of Drone Action are just beginning! Click to learn more about events in New York and throughout the nation!

Spring Days of Drone Action 2014

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

NYC Screening of Wounds of Waziristan in NYC

Join Amy Goodman of Democracy Now and Madiha Tahir, the film's maker, for a screening of Wounds of Waziristan, a documentary chronicling the impact of the U.S. drone campaign in the tribal regions of Pakistan, this Wednesday March 12 from 6-8 PM at Lerner Hall on the campus of Columbia University. 

Wounds of Waziristan: to be screened 3/12/14, 6 pm at Columbia University

While the event is free, seating is limited, so click here to reserve a spot.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE UPCOMING SPRING DAYS OF ACTION AGAINST DRONE WARFARE!

Relentless Anti-Drone Action this month in the Hudson Valley!

Drone-Alert Hudson Valley is hosting a series of what promise to be powerful opportunities to educate the public more about drone killing and surveillance this month.

A rally and sidewalk march will be held on Saturday, March 22 at 3 pm in Peace Park (behind Village Hall) in New Paltz. Bring signs, kites, balloons, drums, and any other means to get attention and educate passersby about drone injustice and atrocities.

Wounds of Waziristan to be screened 3/23 at 4:30 PM in the Elting
 Library Community room in New Paltz

A screening and discussion of Wounds of Waziristan, Madiha Tahir's powerful 25 minute documentary about the impact of drone strikes on people in the tribal areas of Pakistan, will take place on Sundaym March 23 at 4:30 pm in the Elting Library Community Room in New Paltz.  This documentary features Karim Khan, a Pakistani who was recently kidnapped and tortured by his government for his attempts to speak out about drone atrocities in his community and subsequently released after great public protest.

Kareem Khan, tortured and detained by the Pakistani government for
 speaking out against the American drone war.

On Sat March 29 at 2:45 pm there will be a rally and march on the Walkway over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie. We will gather at either end of the Walkway and set off at 3 pm, to meet at the flagpole for a rally. No signs are allowed on the Walkway so wear buttons/slogans on clothes (tape signs, bumper stickers on clothing). Bring kites, balloons, your well-behaved dog on a leash!(Heavyrain/snow date: Sun March 30, 2:45pm) 

The flagpole in the middle of the walkway will
 remind us to speak out forcefully against the perversion
 of American ideals that is drone killing.

For more information about these events, please e-mail Barbara Kidney of Drone-Alert Hudson Valley at bask999@yahoo.com

To learn more about the upcoming nationwide Spring Days of Action against Drone warfare and surveillance, visit http://springdaysofdroneaction.org

Hancock 17 Drone War Crimes Resisters' Verdict Is In

On Friday, February 7, Town of DeWitt Court Judge David Gideon found twelve of the Hancock Drone War Crimes Resisters guilty of disorderly conduct, but acquitted them of Trespassing. They had gone to Hancock Air National Guard Base near Syracuse, NY, on Oct. 25, 2012, to bring a Citizens War Crimes Indictment to the base and symbolically block the gates.  Their nonviolent action had called for an end to drone warfare.

Hundreds marched in a funeral procession in front of Hancock last April
 in commemoration of those killed by drone strikes.

 Saying, "At some point this has to stop," the judge gave the defendants the maximum sentence - 15 days in jail (starting immediately) and a $250 fine with a $125 court surcharge. He also imposed a two-year Order of Protection, prohibiting the defendants from going to the home, school, business or place of employment of Col. Earl A. Evans, Commander of Hancock's mission support group. Considering that the defendants had never met or knew of him before their arrest, it is clear the intent is to keep people away from the base.

Defendant Rae Kramer stated, "No person on the base was
 intimidated by us, that is clear. But the end result is to
 deprive me of my 1st Amendment Rights."

In their sentencing statements, the defendants spoke from their hearts and minds. Some reaffirmed their legal duties as citizens to stop war crimes:

Clare Grady said, "We went there to stop the war crimes. That was our intent." 

James Ricks hoped the judge would "sentence us to community
 service to investigate the war crimes they are committing at the base."

 Judy Bello said, "The people suffering are so
 significant...this requires a persistent response."

Mark Scibilia-Carver quoted the Pope saying "violence is a lie,"
 and "Faith and violence are incompatible."

Mark Colville challenged the Court, stating, "This
 court has been found guilty of stopping its ears
 to the laws that are in place to protect life.
 This court has been found guilty of stopping
it's ears to the voices of the victims of the drones."

The defendants were prepared for whatever sentence the judge imposed.

  In the words of Ed Kinane, "Any penalty this court

 can impose on me is trivial compared to the 

 sentences imposed on the drone victims."

Visit Upstate NY Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars to see inspiring videos of all of the sentencing statements.

New York State's 21st Congressional District: Living Under Drones?

by Joe Scarry

So here's an interesting question: the Federal Aviation Administration recently designated Griffiss International Airport near Rome, NY, as the hub of one of the first six designated drone testing locations in the country, in New York State.

Griffiss is located NW of Utica, near the southern edge of
New York State's 21st congressional district.

But where, exactly, are they going to be flying those drones?

If I lived in the northeast corner of New York State, I would be very concerned that I will soon be "living under drones."

You see, it takes a lot of space to test drones.  In fact, the military has grabbed so much of the states of New Mexico and Colorado for their test site that activists there have begun calling it "the Pentagon's 51st state."

Which is not to say that drone testing and training leaves people alone.  An infamous profile of drone training in New Mexico, published in The New York Times, shows just how "hands off" these activities are:

When I visited the base earlier this year with a small group of reporters, we were taken into a command post where a large flat-screen television was broadcasting a video feed from a drone flying overhead. It took a few seconds to figure out exactly what we were looking at. A white S.U.V. traveling along a highway adjacent to the base came into the cross hairs in the center of the screen and was tracked as it headed south along the desert road. When the S.U.V. drove out of the picture, the drone began following another car. 

“Wait, you guys practice tracking enemies by using civilian cars?” a reporter asked. One Air Force officer responded that this was only a training mission, and then the group was quickly hustled out of the room.

(See "The Drone Zone" by Mark Mazzetti, New York Times, July 6, 2012.)

And the new test site is not all. The district also lies a short distance from the site of Hancock Air Force base near Syracuse -- one of the main drone warfare operating centers in the U.S. and the site of ongoing protests by the large and growing community of antiwar activists in that area.

Hmmm ... drone base ... drone test site ... lots of space to test drones .... Will New York's 16,000 square mile 21st congressional district soon be claiming the state's motto -- "Excelsior!" (upward) -- for its exclusive use?

Excelsior!

A lot of candidates and party operatives are eying the 21st and pinning their political hopes on it.  If the people of the 21st want to stop the drones, now's the time.

In recent days, the state GOP has designated its chosen candidate to run for the House seat in the 21st district. Will Elise Stefanik put her foot down about drones over the skies of the 21st?

Or perhaps that task will fall to the GOP "rebel," Joe Gilbert, who says he will continue to run against Stefanik. says he expected the endorsement of Stefanik by the region’s GOP chairs.

“My campaign is rooted in our founding principles. It is the individual freedom, the individual political sovereignty where we the people are the masters of government, not the other way around. My guiding principle is the Constitution. My guiding principle is the Bill of Rights. Government exists to protect the individual rights of its citizens. And if I feel it is not doing that any longer, then I am going to stand up very strongly and say no. My mission all along has been to bring my message to the people and to the voters and that’s what I’m going to do.”

And there is no news yet who will run on the Democratic ticket. The seat in the 21st is expected to be heavily contested: the incumbent, Democrat Bill Owens, is retiring, and the seat has traditionally been held by a Republican. Moreover, due to redistricting the borders of the district are different than in recent years.

The primary in New York State is expected to be held June 24. 

Related posts


There will be elections for 435 House seats in 2014. In at least some of those races, U.S. surveillance, secrecy, and assassinations will be an issue.

Herewith an Insider's Guide to the 7 S's (surveillance, secrecy, and assassinations) in the 2014 Midterms.

(See Will the 2014 Midterms be a Referendum on Obama's Surveillance, Secrecy, and Assassinations? )

April 2013 -- 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 in a massive demonstration that helped to cap the nationwide April Days of Action Against Drones, which included events all throughout the state.

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

Events throughout New England were part of the April Days of Action Against Drones in 2013.

(See Boston, Maine, NH events during April Days of Action Against Drones)