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PANDEMIC NOTICE OF CANCELLATION! STOP DRONE WAR KILLING, RESUME THE PROTEST IN HORSHAM…U.S. Endless War Continues… Protest the Drone War Command Operation. Tell Gov. Wolf: Ban PA Drone War Operations. Support the UN Secretary-General’s Appeal for an International Ceasefire during the Pandemic
April 25, 2020 @ 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
PANDEMIC NOTICE OF CANCELLATION CONTINUES! The Resumption of Protests in Horsham at Horsham Air Guard Station has been CANCELLED TIL FURTHER NOTICE.
Protests will resume as soon as they can. Check back. In the meantime, stay safe, stay healthy, stay at home, practice peace and social distancing .
Support the UN Secretary-General’s Appeal for an International Ceasefire, including the U.S. Drone warfare , during this Pandemic that is killing thousands. See the appeal and more information at page’s end.
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Send a message to PA Governor Wolf.
*Monthly demonstrations in Horsham, now in their 7th year, are held the last Saturday of the month except for the January – February winter pause.
*Saturday, April 25, Noon – 2p.m., Protest the drone war command operation at the Horsham PA Air National Station, Route 611/Easton & County Line Roads, Horsham, PA. *
Tell PA Governor Tom Wolf, 717-787-2500 : BAN PA DRONE WAR OPERATIONS!
The heart of drone war operations in Pennsylvania IS at the Horsham Air National Guard Station.
Protest the Continuing Policy of U.S. Endless War and Killer Drones.
One of the country’s 14 drone command centers operates at the Horsham Air Guard Station
https://www.theintell.com/article/20160407/NEWS/304079778
Banners, signs aplenty, nearby parking, stand, sit (bring a chair), make a song, speak-out. IGNITE PEACE!
“Therefore Choose Life, so that you and your children may live.”
(Book of Deuteronomy)
Dear Drone Operators: Just Walk Away; Stop the Killing! Peace, Your Neighbors
And furthermore,,,
Appeal to the Governor of Penna., the civilian head of PA Air National Guard
*Tell PA Governor Tom Wolf, : BAN PA DRONE WAR OPERATIONS!
Governor Wolf can really do something to stop drone warfare.
“Our appeal is that the PA Air National Guard be removed and banned from all participation in U.S. drone war policy, domestically and/or around the world. This appeal includes but is not limited to the drone war remote command operation at Horsham Air Guard Station, and to training of drone war computer pilots (operators), and stationing of drones for training at Fort Indian Town Gap headquarters of the PA National Guard and PA Air National Guard. The killing must stop. Let it begin here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, called by its founder, William Penn, ‘a divine experiment’.”
See Nick Mottern’s piece in KnowDrones.org piece on this step for bringing the PA Governor to account for the PA Air National Guard’s hosting and participation in ongoing drone warfare operations internationally, domestically, and throughout Pennsylvania. https://www.knowdrones.com/updates/2019/4/3/taking-drone-war-protest-to-the-state-level
For more informatiion, call the Brandywine Peace Community, 484-574-1148
Nonviolence Discipline for Demonstration Participants
To assist in the unity of demonstration participants, and to project justice, our humanity, and moral message:
1. We will not carry weapons.
2. We will not vandalize or destroy property.
3. We will not use or carry alcohol or illegal drugs.
4. We will not run or make threatening motions.
5. We will not insult, swear at, or attack anyone, refraining, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from “the violence of fist, tongue, or heart.”
6. We will not assault, verbally or physically, those who oppose or disagree with us.
7. Our attitude, conveyed through our words, symbols and actions, will be one of peace, openness, and respect toward everyone.
8. We will remain focused on the message of the demonstration, cooperate with the planning of the demonstration, and help maintain its nonviolent discipline.
9. If an individual has a serious disagreement with the organizers of the action that cannot be resolved, the individual will withdraw from the action.
10. We will maintain — in word and deed — our nonviolent resolve for peace and justice.
Initiated by the Brandywine Peace Community, the nonviolent campaign to stop the drone war command operation has the endorsement of the following groups and activists: Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition; BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action; Catholic Peace Fellowship; Coalition for Peace Action (Princeton, NJ); Death Walk Against Drones; LEPOCO (Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern); Germantown Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers); Global Women’s Strike/Phila.; Granny Peace Brigade—Philadelphia; Green Party of Philadelphia; Greens of Montgomery and Bucks County; Main Line Peace Action; Pacem in Terris (Wilmington, DE); Payday men’s network/Phila.; Peace & Justice Ministry of St. Vincent’s Roman Catholic Church in Germantown; Philly Against War; Peace Center of Delaware County; Philadelphia Catholic Worker; Shalom House/Circle of Hope; Veterans for Peace; Vietnam Veterans Against the War; Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF), Phila-Delco.
Background
March 2013 the U.S. Air Force announced, along with local, state, and federal officials, plans to establish a drone war command center within the 111th Fighter Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, at Horsham Air National Guard Station.
The purpose of the drone war command center in Horsham is remote-controlled killing. From Horsham, computer piloted “Reaper” drones are directed to targets thousands of miles away.
These attack drones carry deadly Hellfire missiles and laser-guided bombs that are fired by computer “pilot” command from the U.S. against people in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, and Somalia. Drone strikes have killed thousands of people, mostly civilians and children whose images and faces may have appeared on the pilot’s computer monitor.
The multi-million-dollar drone command center in Horsham is a central part of the growing network of drone bases, training sites, and command centers, crisscrossing the U.S, funded by billions of U.S. tax dollars, and enabling remote-controlled drone strikes around the world.
Millions in federal dollars were appropriated in October 2013 for the drone command center at the Horsham Air Guard Station, which became fully operational in 2016 and is now conducting drone killing ‘missions’ from Horsham, PA.
https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/
More on drone warfare, see www.knowdrones.com
‘Meet the Reaper’, the MQ-9 Reaper DroneUnmanned, remote-controlled, 66 foot wingspan, 4,900 lbs., 230 mph cruise speed, 1,150-mile range, 50,000 max. altitude, $53.5 million (FY 2006 dollars)=cost of four aircraft with sensors, (not counting weaponry and remote-control technology)
Reaper Weaponry: Hellfire Missiles (Lockheed Martin); Paveway/GBU-38 Laser-Guilded Bombs (Raytheon)
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s proposed global ceasefire:
Our world faces a common enemy: COVID-19.
The virus does not care about nationality or ethnicity, faction or faith. It attacks all, relentlessly.
Meanwhile, armed conflict rages on around the world.
The most vulnerable, women and children, people with disabilities, the marginalized and the displaced pay the highest price.
They are also at the highest risk of suffering devastating losses from COVID-19.
Let’s not forget that in war-ravaged countries, health systems have collapsed.
Health professionals, already few in number, have often been targeted.
Refugees and others displaced by violent conflict are doubly vulnerable.
The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war.
That is why today, I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world.
It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives.
To warring parties, I say:
Pull back from hostilities.
Put aside mistrust and animosity.
Silence the guns; stop the artillery; end the airstrikes.
This is crucial.
To help create corridors for life-saving aid.
To open precious windows for diplomacy.
To bring hope to places among the most vulnerable to COVID-19.
Let us take inspiration from coalitions and dialogue slowly taking shape among rival parties in some parts to enable joint approaches to COVID-19. But we need much more.
End the sickness of war and fight the disease that is ravaging our world.
It starts by stopping the fighting everywhere. Now.
That is what our human family needs, now more than ever.