Category Archives: Drones

Peace for the World, Healing for the Climate

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My dear friends,

Yesterday I was arrested once again at Beale Air Force Base, along with seven others, and charged with trespassing.  This video was filmed after we crossed the line onto the base.  In it I begin to explain the connections between US military policy and climate change.  The letter that we attempted to deliver to the base commander gives a more detailed explanation of our concerns and our reasons for demonstrating.

As many of you know, I have been arrested at Beale several times for protesting against the Global Hawk drones that are operated from Beale and against the U.S. drone warfare program.  Far more civilians than terrorists are killed by U.S. drones, including many children.  Terrorists use anti-drone sentiment to recruit more terrorists, creating an escalating cycle of violence and the rationale for endless war.  There have been regular anti-drone protests at Beale and at drone bases around the country for several years now, and we aren’t going away.  Seven more arrests were made today.

The demonstrations yesterday and today were timed to coincide with the conclusion of the Paris Climate talks.  These past few days there have been “red line actions” in Paris and around the world, demonstrating that our leaders must not cross the many red lines that will lead to climate chaos and that people will continue to demand action for climate justice.

I am a person of faith and a follower of Jesus.  I pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, and I am sure that the divine will is for peace, for justice, and for the flourishing of creation.  I know that the Spirit, called by so many names, is at work in the world even now, in people who haven’t succumbed to the greed, violence, and despair of our times.  I have hope that the world can change, that another world is possible.  But for that to happen, we the people will have to rise up and work together fearlessly, regardless of our spiritual or philosophical beliefs, to make real what is possible.

Rise up.  Live in hope.

Sharon

 

Follow Sharon’s blog by clicking the “Follow Sharon Delgado” button at the right or by “liking” the Shaking the Gates of Hell Facebook page.  

See other blog postings about actions and trials related to Beale demonstrations. 

Other blog postings about climate change can be found here.   Order Sharon’s CD– Climate Change:  What Do We Know?  What Can We Do? or download a free MP3 version. 

Letter to Beale Commander

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December 14, 2015

Dear Colonel Douglas J. Lee:

We are here today to demonstrate at Beale because of the links between the US military and the grave threat of climate change.  World leaders who met in Paris have reached a global climate agreement, but it fails to take account of greenhouse gases generated by the military.  The US military is the single largest user of petroleum in the world, emitting a massive amount of greenhouse gases, and is the main enforcer of the global oil economy. Yet the Pentagon has a blanket exemption in all international climate agreements.

A Pentagon report asserts that climate change poses an immediate threat to national security, with increased risks from terrorism, infectious disease, global poverty, and food shortages. It also predicts rising demand for military disaster responses as extreme weather creates more global humanitarian crises.  According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, climate change will soon become the biggest factor driving population displacements.  This, too, creates the potential for humanitarian disaster, population upheaval, and an increase in anti-immigrant hysteria.

In spite of these security risks, the U.S. military is not working to mitigate the release of greenhouses gases.  Instead, it is beefing up its fossil-fuel intensive infrastructure and using drone warfare and other attacks to respond to problems militarily, fueling hate and creating more terrorists.  Violence breeds violence.

We oppose the Global Hawk Drones that are housed here, which provide surveillance that help identify targets for attacks by the US military, including killer drone attacks.  We oppose the Pentagon plan to increase its drone fleet and double its number of drone pilots.  We oppose all offensive US military action, and are especially outraged by the US attack on the Doctors without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan.  We join with people around the world in calling for an impartial investigation on this matter.

With the recent disclosures by new whistleblowers and former drone operators, we know that drone strikes are 1) not as effective as our government claims they are, 2) killing thousands of innocent civilians, 3) creating more enemies than they are killing, and 4) damaging the health & morale of our military personnel.

Colonel Lee, we challenge you and your military and civilian superiors to begin the conversion of all military assets to peacetime use and to spend most of the bloated military budget to develop alternatives to fossil fuels and to work for goodwill and a just peace among all nations and peoples.  The only way to create the will for peaceful solutions to global problems like climate change and terrorism is to simultaneously work for justice and peace. Another world is possible, but waging wars of domination will not get us there.

We are attempting to deliver this letter to you in person.  Since you represent the leadership of the US. Air Force at Beale, we request to meet with you personally to explain our concerns.

In Peace,

Sharon Delgado                                  Mauro Oliviera                        Shirley Osgood

Flora Rodgers                                     Susan Pelican                          Pamela Osgood

Barry Binks                                         Jane Kesselman

 

 Follow Sharon’s blog by clicking the “Follow Sharon Delgado” button at the right or by “liking” the Shaking the Gates of Hell Facebook page.                                                                 

See other blog postings about actions and trials related to Beale demonstrations. 

 

Goodkill… Or Not

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Sharon with Janie at Beale AFB

Memorial Day seems a fitting time to review the movie “Goodkill,” now playing at the Magic Theater in Nevada City.  The movie, based on actual events, portrays a morally-conflicted and psychologically-tormented operator of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or “drones”), played by Ethan Hawke.

Even though the plot includes some obvious Hollywood enhancements, it presents some basic facts about drone warfare, facts that are little known to the US public.  For instance, drone operators accidentally kill civilians, but sometimes see that civilians (including children) are present and proceed (or are ordered to proceed) anyway.  “Signature strikes” do not target individually-recognized terrorists, but groups that fit a particular profile.  A “double tap” means that after a drone attack, a second drone targets rescue workers or people attending the funeral of victims from the first attack.

The movie allows the viewer to enter into the discordant life of a drone “pilot”—wearing your flight suit even though you’re not going to fly, entering the cramped but air-conditioned “cockpit,” holding joysticks and looking at computer monitors, endlessly watching people thousands of miles away, being given the order to strike a particular target whether you think it’s right or not, calling “goodkill” when a target is obliterated, stepping out after a shift into the sunlight and driving home to your family, not being able to talk about it without breaking security clearance, silently processing what you have done.

Several drone pilots in the movie clearly believe that they are “protecting American lives” and congratulate each other when they are successful in their targeted killings.  The commander, played by Bruce Greenwood, struggles with the morality of some of the killings, but articulates the official view.  He says to the trainees:  “Do any of you think that if we stop killing them, they’ll stop killing us?  No way.  That’s not going to happen.  So we can’t stop.”  There is one lone voice of conscience, a female drone pilot, asking questions throughout:  “So we can never stop?”  “Did we just commit a war crime?”  “They are 7,000 miles away.  What immanent threat could they pose?” She also states the obvious—that we are creating more terrorists through drone attacks.

The Ethan Hawke character brings to life the studies showing that  drone operators suffer from stress disorders as much as those in combat do.  On this day of remembrance, let us resolve to do everything in our power to end the nightmare of war for military personnel, civilians, and the earth itself.  “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”

Follow Sharon’s blog by clicking the “Follow Sharon Delgado” button at the right or by “liking” the Shaking the Gates of Hell Facebook page.

Read Sharon’s previous blogs on drone warfare here. 

From Beale to Baltimore:  No Justice, No Peace

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Beale April

On Tuesday sixteen of us were arrested as we demonstrated against drone warfare at Beale Air Force Base, where pilots at computer stations guide Global Hawk Drones in identifying targets for Predator and Reaper “killer drones.”  Advanced robotic long distance killing machines are not only cruel, unethical, and illegal; they are a waste of the precious lives of our brothers and sisters in other lands and a waste of tax dollars that could be used to create better lives here and goodwill around the world.

Before crossing the line onto base property, we stood holding panels with drawings of children killed by U.S. drones, while someone read aloud the names and ages of some of the hundreds of children whose lives have been cut short.  As we called to mind each child by repeating their names and ages, many of us were in tears.  We were also mindful of the bereaved families and communities, including Baltimore and Ferguson, where black and brown men are so often abused and killed while in police custody.  The domination and violence of our military, police, and prison systems will never bring peace.  Instead, they contribute to an ongoing cycle of violence that is spinning out of control.

Kathy Kelly and Brian Terrell, co-coordinators of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, joined us for this action.  They have both had recent, first-hand experience with the injustices of the prison system.  Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly was released just days earlier after spending three months in federal prison for an anti-drone action at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri.  Peace activist Brian Terrell recently spent six months in prison for nonviolent action against drone warfare.

As we crossed the line and were arrested on Tuesday, we delivered a letter addressed to the Base Commander, which said in part:  “Our purpose in delivering this letter is to urge you and other military and civilian leaders to end your participation in the U.S. drone warfare program and begin to work for peace. Drones have become the preferred weapons to conduct war…but these drone strikes have led to the death of hundreds of innocent civilians, including countries where we are not at war, such as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.” After being arrested, we were all cited for trespassing and released.

I believe that the ongoing anti-drone protests at Beale and at other Air Force bases around the country are helping to touch people’s consciences about the cruel immorality of drone warfare.  Just a few days ago, the Sacramento Bee Editorial Board wrote Deeply Flawed Drone War Takes More Innocent Victims, a strong critique of the U.S. drone program.

This was a touching and tearful ritual, undertaken in solidarity with the children and families who live their lives in terror of the “killer drones” hovering above.  It was also a joyful celebration of nonviolent resistance to militarism, economic exploitation, and hardness of heart. We cannot dehumanize “others” and make them expendable, not in Pakistan or Yemen, not in Iraq or Afghanistan, not in Guantanamo or in U.S. prisons, not in Baltimore or Ferguson.

No one is expendable.  All lives matter.

No justice, no peace.

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Follow Sharon’s blog by clicking the “Follow Sharon Delgado” button at the right or by “liking” the Shaking the Gates of Hell Facebook page.

Find updates about various actions at Earth Justice Ministries Facebook page.  Stay current with Beale activities at the Occupy Beale AFB Facebook Page.

 

Videos of Ash Wednesday at Beale

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Arrested at Beale on Ash Wednesday

Arrested at Beale on Ash Wednesday

On Wednesday, February 18, we held an Ash Wednesday service at the front gates of Beale Air Force Base.  Beale is home of the Global Hawk surveillance drone, which identifies targets for “killer drones” like the Predator and Reaper.

I led the service, together with The Rev. Elizabeth Griswold, pastor of Parkside Community Church (United Church of Christ) in Sacramento;  The Rev. Timothy Leighton, United Church of Christ pastor and Campus Minister at UC Davis, Rev. Dave Bunje, retired United Methodist pastor of Nevada City, California, Marcus Page-Collange from the Catholic Worker Farm in Calaveras County, and The Rev. Dr. Jerry Pedersen, a retired Lutheran pastor from Sacramento, a member of Veterans for Peace and former U.S. Marine.  The service included an acknowledgement of our dependence on God, our interrelatedness with people of all spiritual traditions, and our interdependence with the whole web of life.  It also included prayers of repentance, the use of ashes to represent mortality and repentance, and Holy Communion.

After the service, six participants crossed the line onto base property, carrying an open letter to the base commander and sprinkling ashes representing the ashes of children killed by US drones.  We were held for a short time, cited with trespassing charges, and released.

The short videos below can give you a sense of the service and the nonviolent action following the service, including the loud sounds of the U2 spy planes taking off.  Peace to all during this holy season of Lent.

Ash Wednesday at Beale-Marcus and Tim

Ash Wednesday at Beale-Sharon

Ash Wednesday at Beale-Dave

Ash Wednesday at Beale-Jerry

Ash Wednesday at Beale-Elizabeth

Ash Wednesday at Beale-Crossing the Line

 Read the story of these events on the Nuclear Resister website.

Follow Sharon’s blog by clicking the “Follow Sharon Delgado” button at the right or by “liking” theS  haking the Gates of Hell Facebook page.  Other blog postings about actions and trials related to Beale demonstrations can be found here.   Stay up to date about ongoing Beale protests at the Occupy Beale AFB website or Occupy Beale Facebook Page.