April’s Days of Action Against Drones

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5) Reduce the workweek to 30 hours with no cut in pay, and cut the retirement age to 55. Provide unemployment and retirement payments at We propose an EMERGENCY CONGRESS OF LABOR to discuss and 6) To combat inflation: A sliding scale of wages and pensions that match­ 1) Bail out the people, not the bankers! Open the account books of the es the rises in comsumer prices. To combat high medical costs: A free, banks to full public inspection. Nationalize the banks to be supervised by 7) Immediate citizenship for all undocumented workers. No job discrimi­ 2) No foreclosures! No forced evictions! Cancel usurious debt payments, nation; equal pay for equal work — regardless of gender, sexual orienta­ and reduce mortgage payments in proportion to their capitalist-caused 8) Nationalize manufacturing, big agribusiness, energy, and transporta­ 3) Full employment at union wages! An emergency public works program tion corporations and place them under the control of elected committees to employ all jobless workers and youth! Employ people to build what we need — low-cost quality housing, efficient mass transportation, cheap and 9) To mobilize support for the demands it adopts, the EMERGENCY renewable sources of power, schools, clinics — and to conserve our water, CONGRESS should organize ACTION COMMITTEES in every workplace and neighborhood threatened by the crisis. These committees can draw up 4) Immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops and mercenaries from Iraq & Afghanistan! No war on Iran! Close all U.S. bases abroad! No money for 10) To put all these measures into effect, we need a LABOR PARTY — the military — use funds instead for public works! Convert the war indus­ based on a fighting union movement and all people who are oppressed tries to making products for people’s needs and to combat global warming.

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April saw a coordinated series of pro­ tests against the Obama administra­ tion’s steadily escalating drone-warfare campaign. The National Days of Ac­ tion Against Drones was endorsed by a number of U.S. groups, including United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), No Drones Network, Code Pink, the Ameri­ can Friends Service Committee, and AN­ SWER. Thousands of people in U.S. cities from New York to Seattle to Honolulu participated in the protests, while other protest actions took place in Europe and in Pakistan and Yemen.

The latter two countries are frequent targets of CIA drone attacks. According to the Bureau of Investigative Journal­ ism, 316 confirmed drone strikes have taken place in Pakistan since Obama was elected president in 2008, resulting in from 2541 to over 3500 deaths. During the same period, there have been 44 to 54 confirmed U.S. drone strikes in Yemen, with from 232 to 333 re­ ported dead. A June 2011 report to Congress indicat­ ed that the great majority of people killed by drone strikes (as much as 98 percent!) were civilians.

Drones allow the military to easily cross borders and carry out attacks and extra-judicial assassina­ tions without the necessity of training and mobiliz­ ing troops, risking U.S. casualties, or even declaring war. Their use has allowed the Obama White House to pretend to disengage from the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while vigorously stepping up its ag­ gression in Africa, Southern Asia, and elsewhere.

The Pentagon has some 7500 drones in its arsenal, and the U.S. Air Force uses the mechanized “hunterkillers” to fly at least 40 round-the-clock patrols ev­ Editor: Michael Schreiber Canada Editor: Barry Weisleder designed, and laid out entirely by volunteer labor.

­— $37 for two years Name Address City State Phone E-mail Emily Sorensen / Pomerado News ery day. The U.S. has established drone-launching installations throughout the oil and mineral-rich re­ gion of Northern Africa—including in Libya, Somalia, Ethiopia, and most recently in Niger—and around the Indian Ocean and Southern Asia.

On April 29, several dozen protested in front of the U.S. embassy in Yemen. According to The New York Times (May 2), civilian deaths caused by the attacks have bred increasing local resentment: “The drone program is terrorizing our people,” the embassy pro­ testers wrote in an open letter to Obama. “One never knows where the next drone will strike or how many innocent victims will die.”

On April 27-28, some 600 antiwar protesters marched and rallied outside the Lincolnshire air base in England. British drone flights in Afghanistan are controlled from the base. The protest took place as the British government admitted that the Royal Air Force has carried out over 2000 missions using “bor­ rowed” U.S. armed drones. Also, British personnel Zip • Ashland, Ore.: [email protected] • Boston: [email protected] (781) 630-0250 • Carrboro, N.C.: (919) 967-2866, [email protected] • Chicago: P.O. Box 578428 Chicago, IL 60657, [email protected] • Connecticut: (860) 478-5300 • Duluth, Minn.: [email protected]. www.thenorthernworker.blogspot.com • Kansas City: [email protected] (816) 221-3638 • LOUISVILLE, KY.: [email protected], (502) 451-2193 • Madison, Wis.:

[email protected] • Mankato, Minn.:

[email protected] • Minneapolis/St. Paul: (612) 802-1482, [email protected] • New York City: (212) 781-5157 “embedded” with the U.S. Air Force employed drones in the recent wars in Libya and Iraq. In the United States, rallies, picket lines, and vigils against drones continued throughout the month in over 50 cities and towns. San Diego, which carries the dubious distinc­ tion of being the drone production capital of the world, saw a couple of hundred activists from throughout the Western region take part in four days of protests in early April outside the drone-manufacturing facilities of General Atomics and Northrop Grumman, as well as at other locations. The San Diego activities drew attention to the fact that drones are being used along the increasingly militarized U.S.-Mexico border, as well as for warfare abroad.

Several hundred, including a contingent of people from Africa who are temporarily resi­ dent in the U.S., rallied in Washington, D.C., on April 13 in an anti-drone action sponsored by ANSWER and endorsed by many other orga­ nizations, including the Council on AmericanIslamic Relations (CAIR). On April 29, the Anti-war Committee of Chicago sponsored an anti-drone pick­ et line outside the stockholders’ meeting of the Boe­ ing aircraft corporation, which was being held at the Field Museum.

The drone command base at Hancock Field, near Syracuse, N.Y., has been a focal point for many anti­ war activists in the Northeast. On April 28 close to 300 marched, beat drums, and carried mock coffins; the sheriff’s department arrested 31 protesters on spurious charges of loitering, disorderly conduct, and obstructing government administration.

On April 27, Philadelphia-area activists picketed the former Willow Grove airbase in Horsham, Pa., which has been designated as a drones command center due to open in October. The Philadelphia anti­ war movement has vowed to organize monthly pro­ tests throughout the summer to put a stop to the new base. n • Philadelphia: [email protected] • Portland, Ore.: (503) 233-1629 [email protected] • Providence: [email protected] (401) 592-5385 • Salem, Ore.: [email protected] • San Francisco Bay Area:

P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, Ca 94610 (510) 268-9429, [email protected] • WASHINGTON, DC: [email protected], (202) 286-5493 National Office

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