Spring Days of Drone Action 2014:

Former National President of Veterans For Peace Arrested at Beale

 

Eliot Adams as he is handcuffed outside Beale AFB

As reported by local news outlets, Elliott Adams, past National President of Veterans For Peace and international peace activist, was arrested during a nonviolent anti-drone action at Beale Air Force Base on Tuesday, April 1.  Adams lives in New York and is currently on a nationwide tour, speaking out about the importance of banning drone attacks, stopping war, and building a culture of peace.  He has also been conducting Unarmed Peacekeeping Skills Training & Strategy Sessions around the country with the Meta Peace Team, whose goal is "pursuing peace through active nonviolence."

 

Eliot Adams, happy to be engaging in civil
 disobedience to protest drone terror.

Also arrested was Adam's friend and fellow
 Veteran for Peace member Richard Gilchrist.
  Gilchrist served in the army in Vietnam
 and has also travelled around the country speaking and taking action for peace. 

Adams and Gilchrist walked across a line onto base property and were detained for an hour.  Other demonstrators, including several other Veterans for Peace, stood in a downpour until the two were released.  Later that evening Adams spoke in Grass Valley about "International Law, Drone Warfare, and Strategies for Peace."

Beale is home of the Global Hawk Drone, a surveillance drone that demonstrators claim helps in the targeting of Predator and Reaper armed drones.  Increasing numbers of demonstrators have been arrested at Beale over the past several months.  On March 5, Ash Wednesday, arrests included several members of the clergy.  Other actions are scheduled for later this month. 

At this April Fool's day demonstration,
 a sign that seemed too good to be true...

Sadly was.

Find out more about Beale actions
 at OccupyBealeAir Force Base

The Spring Days of Drone Action are just gearing up nationwide! Click here to find out more!

Spring Days of Drone Action 2014

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Spring Days of Drone Action at BEALE AFB

APRIL 1ST- Join Veterans for Peace, CODEPINK, and "Nonviolent Warrior" Elliott Adams for a demonstration at Beale AFB followed by a speech by Adams in Grass Valley.

Elliott Adams served as a paratrooper in Vietnam, Japan, Korea, and Alaska.  He now utilizes international and domestic law as a means to end our war culture. He has served as a nonviolence and social movement trainer  for Fellowship of Reconciliation, School Of Americas Watch, Peacemakers of Schoharie, Student Environmental Action Coalition, Veterans For Peace, and War Resisters League. He currently works with the Meta Peace Team, and is co-chair of Creating a Culture of Peace. Adams now travels throughout the country and internationally in his peacemaking work. He has testified before the US Congressional Judiciary Committee and the Canadian Parliament, and has been arrested repeatedly for the cause of peace. In  2013 he engaged in an 80-day fast of 300 calories or less in solidarity with the Guantanamo Bay Prisoners and the Pelican Bay Hunger Strikes.  Most recently he was imprisoned for 8 days following a nonviolent anti-drone action at Hancock Air Force Base in New York. 

 Past National President of Veterans For Peace and international peace activist Elliott Adams will join locals for an anti-drone vigil at 2:30 PM at the Wheatland Gate of Beale Air Force Base at 3960 S. Beale Rd.  Adams is currently touring the country,  and will speak about the importance of banning drone attacks, stopping all war, and building a culture of peace. Some supporters are meeting Adams at the Brick coffeehouse at 1  p.m., then joining a car caravan out to the demonstration at Beale. For directions and to find out more click here.   

Later that evening, Elliott Adams will speak in Grass Valley on "International Law, Drone Warfare, and Strategies for Peace," following brief presentations by local anti-drone activists.  The program will take place at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains, 246 S. Church Street.  Find out event details here.

APRIL 18th-19th- International peace activist Kathy Kelly to join Good Friday Peace Vigil at Beale on April 18 and to speak in Grass Valley on the following day

Kathy Kelly is coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a campaign to end U.S. military and economic warfare.  In 2011, Kathy Kelly was a passenger on "The Audacity of Hope," the U.S. boat in the international flotilla to break the illegal occupation of Gaza.  She has taken nine trips to Afghanistan. She has joined activists in the United States to protest drone warfare outside of military bases in Nevada, New York, and Missouri. She is author of Other Lands Have Dreams. Kathy has worked nonviolently on a range of peace and social justice issues.  Her arrests include draft board actions, opposition to U.S. support of the Contras and other Central American death squads, crossing the line at Fort Benning's military training school, and a number of anti-nuclear protests at various sites, including planting corn on nuclear missile sites. She was also a member of the Gulf Peace Team, an international encampment of peacemakers at the Iraq-Saudi border in 1990. In 1995 she served for three months as a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams in Haiti.  She was one of the founders of Voices in the Wilderness, which broke the sanctions against Iraq by bringing in relief supplies and medicines to children and families.  She and other members lived in Baghdad throughout the 2003 "shock and awe" bombing.  They have also lived alongside people in war zones in Gaza, Lebanon, Bosnia, and Nicaragua. She has been nominated more than once for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Good Friday, April 18, 3 to 5 p.m, Kathy Kelly at Beale:  Kathy Kelly, a world renowned peace activist, will join anti-drone demonstrators at Beale for a Good Friday prayer vigil that will include songs, prayers, Holy Communion, and words from Kathy. Several people will attempt to deliver a letter with "A Call from People of Faith to Stop Drone Killings." This will take place at the main (Schneider) gate of Beale, at 4875 N. Beale Road. 

Saturday, April 19, 1 to 2:30 p.m.  Kathy Kelly will speak in Grass Valley on "Seeing through the Smokescreen:  War and Peace in the 21st Century."   The program will be held at 1 p.m. at Sierra Mountain Coffee Roasters/Tomes at 671 Maltmann in Grass Valley.  This is being sponsored by Earth Justice Ministries, the Peace and Justice Center of Nevada County, Occupy Beale, and other local organizations.

MAY 17TH-27TH- Join CODEPINK for a 10 day Walk to Peace from San Francisco to Beale AFB. More details coming soon. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR PARTICIPATION ON ONE OR MORE DAYS.

Excellent article in the Sacramento Bee regarding the ongoing demonstrations at Beale.

The Spring Days of Drone Action Continue! CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT EVENTS IN CALIFORNIA AND WORLDWIDE!

Spring Days of Drone Action 2014