BALTIMORE ACTIVISTS JOIN OTHERS IN A DIE-IN NEAR U.S. CAPITOL TO PROTEST KILLER DRONE STRIKES

Photograph is courtesy of Mark Goldstone.


National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 PHONE: 410-366-1637

PRESS RELEASE-FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Jan 21, 2013

CONTACT: Max Obuszewski 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net

Joy First 608 239-4327

BALTIMORE ACTIVISTS JOIN OTHERS IN A DIE-IN NEAR U.S. CAPITOL TO PROTEST KILLER DRONE STRIKES

WHO: The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore is a part of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR], which organizes direct action against U.S. wars and a destructive foreign policy. For example, NCNR members went to the office of Ronald J. Daniels, the president of Johns Hopkins University, on May 8, 2012 to protest swarming drones research at JHU’s Applied Physics Laboratory. Eight NCNR activists sat in the office for eight hours without being arrested.

WHAT: While hundreds of thousands of people came to celebrate the second inauguration of Barack Obama, peace and justice activists instead marched down 16th Street in Washington, D.C. in the morning to protest many of his policies including the use of killer drones. Then a demonstration was organized with about 40 people designed to catch the attention of the general public. As hundreds of people watched, ten NCNR members engaged in a theatrical die-in simulating a drone strike. Baltimore residents Maria Allwine, Max Obuszewski and Stephen Roblin joined the other activists on the ground. While initially the police placed Obuszewski under arrest and moved the others off the street, some official made the decision to release all without charges.

WHEN: January 21, 2013 around 1 PM



WHERE: Near the Russell Senate Office Building, close to the U.S. Capitol

WHY: As NCNR activist Joy First noted, “It is ironic that Obama was sworn in on the very day we celebrate the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King talked about the three evils of poverty, racism, and war being perpetuated by the US government. Those three evils are seen so clearly in the U.S. drone warfare program. We must remember the words of King, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ We have fallen so far from a nation of justice with the drones.”

NCNR sent a letter to President Obama seeking a meeting to express the message to end the use of killer drones. When there was no response, the organization decided to present their concerns to the people during the Inauguration. The protest called attention to the hypocrisy of President Obama taking an oath to uphold the Constitution while he continues to ignore its most basic principles by engaging in extra-judicial killing of children, women, and men, including US citizens, through drone warfare.

There is a growing group of concerned citizens who are speaking out and calling for an end to drone warfare all across the United States. For example, people are mobilizing across the country for actions against drone warfare in April. Activists with the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance will continue to do civil resistance actions to highlight the illegality and immorality of killing citizens in several counties. The long-term goal is to pressure the U.S. government to abandon this misguided and deadly foreign policy.

Joseph Gerson, with the American Friends Service Committee in Cambridge, MA, watched Obama’s inauguration speech and expressed this opinion:

"It was a treat to witness a U.S. president invoking the memories and inspiration of Seneca Falls, Selma and Stonewall and his appeal that we continue the collective journey for greater justice, equality and security. There was the balm of his announcement that the era of permanent war is at an end. But, can we forget his kill list, the drones, the costly military buildup to contain China and U.S. support for strategically located and repressive monarchies in Bahrain (home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet) and Brunei, not to mention Saudi Arabia."

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