A report of the 2012 Know Drones Tour to Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia and suggestions for further action.
By Nick Mottern October 20, 2012 www.knowdrones.com 2 Introduction This is a report about an educational expedition on US drone warfare and drone surveillance that George Guerci and I undertook into parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia in September and October 2012.
This was the final leg of the 2012 Know Drones Tour1, the purpose of which was to not only to educate the public about drones but to learn what people are thinking politically across the country and to explore ways of increasing peace activism.
We carried with us two, eight-foot-long replicas of the MQ-9 Reaper drone; the Reaper is the workhorse of US global campaign of drone assassination and terror2. The replicas were extremely valuable in emotionally engaging a public immersed in an America-First culture, desperately trying to avoid the sadness of war and trying to survive economically and emotionally amidst the wreckage of a manufacturing economy.
Our method was to talk to people for as long as they wanted, to be respectful and not argumentative, and to explain what drones are, what they are doing and what they will be able to do. We said that the drone is an extremely dangerous weapon in part because it energizes fantasies of killing without consequences. We constantly had to respond to the argument that drones are saving lives.
In our presentations and conversations, we provided the following information and analysis, much of which may be familiar to you:
Drones, unmanned aircraft, have been used in various forms on a very limited basis since the early 1900s. For instance, Joseph Kennedy, a brother of President John Kennedy, died in World War II while flying a drone bomber that exploded just as he was about to bail out and have control of his plane shifted to radio control. At the beginning of the 21st Century advances in micro-technology and satellite communication have enabled a dramatic expansion in the use of drones. The US Air Force is now training more drone pilots than pilots for manned aircraft; indeed there is a shortage of drone pilots. New drone control bases are being opened in Nashville, Tennessee and at Fort Benning, Georgia, adding to existing bases in the West and East.
1 For itinerary and other details on the Know Drones Tour see www.knowdrones.com 2 To date, 15 replicas have been built and distributed to local organizers in the U.S. and four more are under construction to meet other requests.
Further information is at www.knowdrones.com as well as a video, Less Distance from War, that lays out in a simple direct way, fundamental concerns about drone war and surveillance.
Editor’s Note: This report is 62 pages long, with photos, and well-worth looking at.
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