Protest Drones In Germany, Protest Destroyers In Bath

Source: RT.com Protest in Pakistan by those targeted in drone strikes flown out of Ramstein.

Crowds numbering in the thousands are expected to protest the operation of flying killer robots from Ramstein Air Base in Germany tomorrow, June 11, 2016. Even Stars and Stripes, a military publication, is publicizing the protests while assuring its readers that the Antiterrorism (sic) force on the base will be ready to handle the peaceful protesters.

The last time they gathered, in September, 2015, protesters were responding to leaks by NSA whistleblower Ed Snowden indicating that officials who deny that Ramstein participates in drone strikes are lying.  It was a peaceful protest, unlike what goes on inside the base. In its coverage of the 2015 protest, RT characterized German sentiment thus:

Polls show that the majority of Germans have consistently disapproved of drone strikes, saying they are secretive, do not follow a legal process, and can prove ineffective if the wrong targets are eliminated. 

I'm not sure if any acts of civil disobedience are planned for tomorrow. There are often arrests at drone bases in the U.S., such as Hancock Air Base in NY and Creech Air Base in Nevada as activists attempt to block access to the base, or deliver messages to those in command.

Civil disobedience is planned for the protest June 18 at General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine. General Dynamics is launching another Zumwalt destroyer, a weapon that cost enough to send 40,000 kids through four years of college debt-free.

According to a press release from Bruce Gagnon, an organizer with Global Network Against Nuclear Power and Weapons in Space:

Maine peace activists have announced their intention to commit acts of non-violent Civil Disobedience at the planned June 18 ‘Christening’ of the $4 billion Zumwalt ‘stealth’ destroyer at Bath Iron Works (BIW).

The activists maintain that the Zumwalt is a provocative escalation of the already out-of-control arms race aimed at China and Russia. “It is time for us to stand up and call for the reversal of this endless and illegal war cycle that our country is engaged in,” the peace activists maintained in a statement released to the media. “It is the children that these weapons are ultimately aimed at as we see the growing refugee crisis from countries where the US has been waging war.  “We stand in solidarity with people around the world who are protesting at bases where the US will port these warships.  Not only would these destroyers kill innocent people but their sonar also severely impacts ocean life and the toxic materials released by these ships pollute the seas and the local environments where they are ported. “Christ would not approve of his name being used to ‘bless’ such violence and the massive waste of the public treasury, especially when so many are hungry, homeless and without jobs and medical care.”  

A University of Massachusetts-Amherst Economics Department study reveals that military spending is actually the worst way to create jobs.  At the very time we face the coming ravages of climate change our tax dollars should be spent on building commuter rail systems, offshore wind turbines, tidal power systems, and solar power – all of which would create more jobs at BIW. “We intend to stand at BIW on June 18 for those who can no longer stand or speak out, like Fr. Daniel Berrigan who left this world in May. Our elected officials don’t seem to hear the many calls for the conversion of the war machine to peaceful and sustainable purposes.  We feel we must risk arrest to wake up all those whose hearts are closed to the real message of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.”  

A legal demonstration will also be held on June 18 at BIW from 9:00 am to noon along Washington Street in Bath.  Speakers and music will be featured.

I will emcee the program outside the gates which will feature songs, artwork and messaging from Maine's vibrant peace community. 

Our program in Bath will likely be ignored by the corporate press covering the Zumwalt launch and the many politicians who will attend. General Dynamics has told reporters in the past that if they leave the shipyard to speak to demonstrators, they will not be allowed back in.

Zumwalts thus destroy the freedom of the press while menacing the world and gobbling up resources. Artist Russell Wray detailed the many things that Zumwalts destroy in an eloquent op-ed published by the Bath-Brunswick Times Record:

Zumwalt-class a Destroyer of Lives

I am writing regarding the christening of the Navy’s Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer that is going to take place on June 18 at Bath Iron Works. I do not believe many things that the Navy, or the Pentagon states. Those two entities are masters of deception in many ways. However, the designation of the ship as a “destroyer” is one instance where they speak the truth. Does it strike anyone else as being sadly ironic that a vessel that is designed for destruction, including the destruction of who knows how many human beings, would be blessed in the name of Jesus Christ, also known as the Prince of Peace? 

Human being are not all this destroyer will destroy. How many opportunities for the betterment of the lives of people are being destroyed as our government chooses to spend over $4 billion for this destroyer of lives? That money could do an amazing amount of good if it were funneled into things that actually improve people’s lives, such as education and health care. The government could even put that money into dealing, for once, in a realistic manner with a genuine threat to our national security...the very real threat of climate change, which even the Pentagon understands and acknowledges (not withstanding the fact that it does have the single largest carbon boot-print on the planet). 

How many lives, among those beings who live in the sea, will be destroyed by this destroyer? It is well known that the Navy’s use of sonar can wreck havoc on the lives of marine species, disrupting biologically important behaviors such as feeding, breeding, migration, and communication. It can raise stress levels, lowering animal’s ability to successfully reproduce, and making them more susceptible to disease. And sonar use can and does result in hearing loss and other injuries, as well as death. Not all sonar victims wind up mass-stranded upon some shore: those that do are likely just the tip of the destruction iceberg. 

And what of the lives of people living in places such as Gangjeong Village on Jeju Island in South Korea? Although the people there overwhelmingly opposed the building of a navy base on their shore, and have non-violently and heroically resisted its construction on a daily basis for going on 9 years, sustaining fines, imprisonment, and injuries at the hands of police, the base is now complete and soon will port US Navy warships. Perhaps this very same destroyer. Those people, who even today continue to resist, have had their village, their sacred places, and their once-beautiful environment destroyed by this base. 

Yes, this Zumwalt is a Destroyer … of lives, opportunities, and peace. I do not believe the Prince of Peace would ever bless such a thing. 

Russell Wray, Hancock, Maine

Has The N-Word Now Become A Generic Insult In The USA?

My husband wearing his Maine Natural Guard t-shirt protesting the war last tax day in Portland.

It was Sunday and, once again, we went to the bridge. We went to protest the endless wars that scores of people used to join us in protesting, before they decided to look away. We went because the "cruise missile liberals" won't go, and because we don't care who is in the White House deciding to kill brown skinned children with oil under their sands. We went because that's what we do to keep our heads from exploding.

My husband holding the banner we tie to the bridge railing on Sundays.

This Sunday, there were only three of us. My husband attached the large banner that says Bring Our War $$ Home to the bridge railing, and held a sign I had hastily made the night we met 13 years ago. On that night my sign read NO WAR but in later years I appended the phrase FOR OIL. 

This Sunday, juggling our granddaughter and a stroller, I wasn't holding a sign. Heading back to the car for something or other, I heard yelling and turned around.

A man around age 30 was hanging out of the driver's side window of a passing car shouting at my husband: "Why don't you do yourself a favor and jump off the fucking bridge, you fucking nigger!"

There were other passengers in his car, including a child in the seat behind him, small enough so that the top of her head was just visible through the window.

I imagine that the shouter perceived my husband as being alone on the bridge. I was down at the far end of the pavement and could have been a random passerby. I imagine that I will continue to puzzle over this latest in a long string of insults and threats we've heard on the bridge over the years. My first thought was this:

Has the N-word become a generic insult since the demagogue with the bad hair rose to media-annointed prominence?

A family member suggested another explanation: that the shouter meant to say "nigger lover" -- that is, Obama supporter -- but flubbed his line. This is plausible, I think. For years people have shouted things at us such as "You voted for Obama!" as they drive by on the bridge. This is ironic since my husband has been the target of invective for years from liberals who insist (in error) that his vote for Nader caused the Bush victory in 2000 which in turn led to 9/11 and a cascade of invasions that roll murderously onward.

And I will leave you to ponder why calling someone a "lover" of any race would be considered disparaging.

Also, our friend wasn't there last Sunday with his usual sign: Nobama Depleted Uranium Equals War Crime. A message which I am sure perplexes many who drive by it. Because if we're lefties we must be for Obama --- right?

But I'm not ready to give up the generic insult theory, either. My husband isn't quite as pale as I am, but he's a blue eyed guy with two English grandparents and two Slovak grandparents. People are unlikely to see him as other than white.

Black families walking down the street with ice cream cones get the N-word shouted at them in Maine's largest city. Their young children have to hear and process the ugliness. They live and sometimes die in fear of the shouters and haters. Nothing new, yet heart breaking just the same.

Will it be better or worse for them if the N-word now gets yelled at anyone deemed undesirable?

Arabs, Afghans and other non-Africans have been called "sand niggers" by U.S. soldiers and marines for years now. It's part of the dehumanizing process in place to keep a soldier's finger on the trigger and his or her conscience in cold storage.

My husband and I will keep going to the bridge. We'll vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein for President. Our friends may or may not vote that way due to the fear factor that the race-baiting demagogue with the bad hair could win, but they will keep protesting the wars for empire that are killing us and the planet -- whoever is at the helm. Our grandson who is almost twelve won't stand on the bridge with us anymore, because he is embarrassed when people yell at us or flip us off.

We'll go the bridge anyway, and people can yell what they want. I'm listening.