June 3-14 - Join Voices for Creative Nonviolence - On the Road to Ground the Drones!

Voices for Creative Nonviolence is making preparations to set off on a 160-mile protest walk from Chicago to Michigan Air National Guard Base in Battle Creek between June 3 and 14, 2014. Read the full description here, and contact VCNV to get involved:

If you're willing and able to walk . . . email info@vcnv.org - with the word "walker"

To be an overnight host . . . email info@vcnv.org - with the word "host"

To help organize events . . . email info@vcnv.org - with the word "events"

To provide food . . . email info@vcnv.org - with the word "food"

To design and make signs . . . email info@vcnv.org - with the word "signs"

To help with outreach . . . email info@vcnv.org - with the word "outreach"

More updates to follow!

Trip reports

"We started on June 3 at Boeing corporate headquarters in Chicago, where the manufacture of drones and conventional war planes are managed and designed. We finished on June 14, with about 100 people holding an action at the Michigan Air National Guard Facility at the Battle Creek Airport, site of a new drone command center. Along the way, we talked to lots of people, made presentations to local groups and reached out to local media . . . ." (See Report Back from "On the Road to Ground the Drones" Walk by Bob Palmer)

"Over the last 8 days, I have walked 121 miles with a group of peace activists from around the country. On Saturday, we are closing in on the Battle Creek Air National Guard base where the operation of drones is imminent. Please join me and other peace advocates . . . . " (See On the Road to Ground the Drones: Peace Walkers Reach Battle Creek Air National Guard Base this Sunday, 6/15 by Jessica )

Other related posts

Protestors came out in force from Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, and neighboring states to protest the newly approved mission of Battle Creek Air Force Base: directing targeted killings using MQ-9 Reaper drones. As reported on WWMT local news, "The Battle Creek Air National Guard Base hasn't even started its new mission and already protestors are lining up to oppose it."

(See April Days of Action Against Drones in BATTLE CREEK)





Voices for Creative Nonviolence organized a walk of about 190 miles from the Rock Island Arsenal (where drone and bomb parts are made and stored) to the Iowa Air National Guard Facility at Des Moines Airport, planned site of a new drone command center, between June 8 and June 24, 2013.

(See Summer Days: Covering Ground to Ground the Drones in Iowa with VCNV )

Joining events on the same day in places as diverse as Iowa and California, there will be a demonstration in Philadelphiaon Friday, March 14 from 4p.m.- 5p.m. We will demand that, in his capacity as the head of the PA Air National Guard, Governor Corbett pull the plug on the Drone War Command Center planned for Horsham Air National Guard base outside the city.

(See Stop the Drone War Command Center at Horsham Air Guard Station, in Horsham, Montgomery County, PA )

Write or Call Your Member of Congress Today: Make the U.S. Come Clean on Drone Killings

[UPDATE: June 5, 2014 - Support for the "Come Clean on Drone Killings" bill is growing! There are now 9 co-sponsors, in addition to the original 2 sponsors -- most recently Illinois representative Mike Quigley.  See the list below - where does your representative stand?]


Today, people in Illinois protesting drones are contacting their representatives to encourage support for H.R.4372: the Targeted Lethal Force Transparency Act.

For example: see An Open Letter to Congressman Mike Quigley on H.R.4372: the Targeted Lethal Force Transparency Act . Mike Quigley representatives the 5th Congressional district, on the north side of Chicago.

If passed, the bill will require the Obama administration to come clean about the killings it has carried out using drones -- killings that, up until now, the administration has been able to pretend don't exist.

So now's the time: write or call your member of Congress today. 

To determine what district you live in, go to http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/


Illinois Congressional Delegation

(Members of the Progressive Caucus are presumed to lean in favor of the bill and are marked Progressive Caucus.)

IL01 - Bobby Rush - (202) 225-4372 email
IL02 - Robin Kelly - (202) 225-0773 email
IL03 - Daniel Lipinski - (202) 225 - 5701 email
IL04 - Luis Gutierrez - (202) 225-8203 email (Progressive Caucus)

IL05 - Mike Quigley - (202) 225-4061 email  CO-SPONSOR - 5/30/2014

IL06 - Peter Roskam - (202) 225-4561 email
IL07 - Danny Davis - (202) 225-5006 email (Progressive Caucus)
IL08 - Tammy Duckworth - (202) 225-3711 email
IL09 - Janice Schakowsky - (202) 225-2111 email (Progressive Caucus)
IL10 - Bradley Schneider - 202-225-4835 email
IL11 - Bill Foster - 202-225-3515 email
IL12 - William Enyart - 202-225-5661 email
IL13 - Rodney Davis - 202.225.2371 email
IL14 - Randy Hultgren - (202) 225-2976 email
IL15 - John Shimkus - (202) 225-5271 email
IL16 - Adam Kinzinger - (202) 225-3635 email
IL17 - Cheri Bustos - 202-225-5905 email
IL18 - Aaron Schock - 202.225.6201 email

[SEE: hub page for all Resources to SUPPORT the "Come Clean on Drone Killings" Act (Schiff/Jones HR 4372: the Targeted Lethal Force Transparency Act)]

Related posts

First Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) called the U.S. on the carpet for dodging the call from the international community to come clean about its drone killings. Then Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Walter Jones (R-NC) submitted a bill calling for drone transparency. So ... are we finally going to get the truth?

(See REAL Progressives Demand that the U.S. Come Clean on Drone Killings)

A 2013 U.N. report makes it clear that the U.S. has to report fully on all its drone attacks.

(See 2014: The Year of Transparency (for U.S. Drone Use)?)

The reason the Administration is hiding truth about drones is that they don't have a satisfactory answer for how decisions about drone strikes are made.  As we have known all along, we need the public to think about how crummy the whole drone program is, and then they will be ready to be on our side. The best way to get them really thinking is to shine a spotlight on the secrecy, evasiveness, and deceit involved in the U.S. drone program.

(See Drone Killings: Come Clean )