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Do US Drones Kill Civilians?
By maudeaster on 2014-10-24 13:27:07
The powerful exhibit of Drones Quilts, now in the Capital District for a month, supplies the sad answer to this question:
Somalia — and now are menacingly hovering over, dropping their bombs on,
Iraqis and Syrians. Each quilt square memorializes a civilian victim of our drone warfare. Maureen Baillargeon Aumand,
coordinator of this Women Against War project, spoke movingly at this week’s launch of the quilts’ display at Empire State
Plaza, asking us all to think about how the civilian deaths commemorated by the quilts are carried out in our name:
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“’., the names which surround us today in each square of each quilt are the
names of women, children, grandmothers, elders, farmers, teachers...our sisters and brothers in life...whose own life force
was snuffed out in an instant from on high....leaving only a name and tears and memory in the wake of burned, charred,
dismembered flesh, no longer warm with the mystery of pulsing life, left cold, dead forever to embrace. For they were, each
and all, victims of recent drone strikes, unmanned aerial vehicle strikes, sanctioned and conducted (though most often
unacknowledged) by our own government and thus in our name.” Maureen’s talk reinforced the questions raised by each
quilt square:
e “Did these innocents die at the hands of the political calculation, behind a technology developed so that American
citizens will continue to turn a blind eye to our nation's waging of an endless war because after all our children aren't
dying?”
e “... how (do) we as a nation, whose very bedrock is the 'rule of law', laud, employ, continue to defend, develop and
expand the weaponized drone program which is premised on the perverse and inherently immoral, illegal and
dangerous principles of preemptive war, extrajudicial execution, signature (that is murder by profiling) strikes, and
non respect of basic human rights including territoriality?”
The ceremony to welcome the quilts closed with an eloquent Call to Action by Mickie Lynn . Among Mickie’s challenging
questions: “What of the children who dread blue skies because they bring the clear view that allows drones to target their
homes and schools, destroy their loved ones, their communities, their fields, their places of work and play, their places of
worship? Air carries the sound of incessant buzzing telling the children: We’re watching you. We can kill you anytime.
Don’t go out. Don’t play. Don’t learn. Don’t expect a safe world.” Mickie reminded us all: “This is the time to make a
commitment. To do something to change this behavior. It could be something small. Just one action, one letter, one phone
call, or one petition. It could be something larger like setting aside time and energy to lobby, act with others, educate,
mobilize direct action. Or it could be fierce dedication to non-violent civil disobedience, or something else that requires risk
or imagination. Whatever it is — Let’s sink our roots down into the Earth and make the commitment to do something.” The
quilts, a model drone and photos of some of the civilian victims GAO TN ere on
display this week in the Concourse of the Empire State Plaza and in the Legislative Office Building. See articles and photos
in the Times Union and The Record . The display moves this Saturday, Oct.
25" to Troy, to The Chapel + Cultural Center at Rensselaer, 2125 Burdett Ave, through Nov. sth, Special events in Troy in
connection with the exhibit:
¢ Two performances of GROUNDED, an award winning play which tells the story of a female drone pilot, presented
in connection with The Theater Institute at Sage, Directed by Leigh Strimbeck. Free and open to all: Thurs, Oct 30.
7PM, at the Chapel + Cultural Center. and Tues, Nov 11, 7PM, at the Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River St.
e “Taking it to the Base”: A panel of activists who have been protesting the flying of weaponized drones out of upstate
New York’s Hancock Air Force Base. Fri, Oct 31, 2-4 PM, Chapel + Cultural Center.
e¢ A Drone Quilt Workshop: Materials provided to make squares to contribute to this traveling exhibit. Led by Connie
LaPorta, at the Chapel + Cultural Center, Fri, Oct 31, 4-5 PM.
From November 5-14, the Drones Quilts with be back in Albany with more special events. See the full schedule at
www.WomenA gainstWar.org.
