Lambert to Clergy: On Drones, "Silence is Betrayal"

Indiana antiwar activist Dave Lambert threw down the gauntlet in an opinion piece published Friday in the Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel:

On April 4, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his antiwar speech at Riverside Church to an audience of Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam. You can read it on the Web at www.tinyurl.com/mlk1967. In that speech, entitled “Beyond Vietnam,” he said that “silence is betrayal.” He was imploring members of the clergy, as well as lay people, to speak out against the war, which he considered obscene and “an enemy of the poor.”

Today, we have no one of his prominence speaking out against the war in Afghanistan, now in its 12th year, nor against the illegal use of drones. Unfortunate.

Lambert continued: "Dr King, at Riverside, said 'the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today (is) my own government.' It would be wonderful, in my estimation, if caring clergy and lay people could heed Dr. King’s message and speak out against the slaughter in the name of 'fighting terrorism.' (Emphasis added.)

(Read the full opinion piece here: Speak out against the slaughter inflicted by 'fighting terrorism'.)

Dave Lambert is a member of Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, and for the past few months, he has been transporting a one-fifth model of a Reaper drone from Know Drones to towns and cities throughout Indiana, and handing out information leaflets, "in an effort to educate people about what their tax dollars are paying for as well as the wanton destruction this machine of war causes." You can see more of Dave Lambert's work on the Indiana Drones Project blogsite:

Veterans Day in Angola, Indiana: STOP THE DRONES NOW!

Indianapolis: Hoosiers Protest Raytheon Role in Drone Killings

Veterans Day in Angola, Indiana: STOP THE DRONES NOW!

This latest demonstration takes place in the small conservative town of Angola, Indiana, hosted by Women in Black. If they can do it there, you can do it anywhere.

"STOP THE DRONES NOW!"
Veterans Day, 2012, Demonstration
Angola, Indiana

War - What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!

What are YOU prepared to do?

In Indiana, Manchester U Peace Studies Takes on the Drone Issue

The Peace Studies program at Manchester University (North Manchester, IN) has taken on the issue of drones.

With the help of the Indiana Drones Project, Hoosiers for Peace and Justice, and local activist Cliff Kindy, leaders at Manchester arranged to bring the drone replica supplied by Know Drones and hold a series of presentations and discussions. As reported in the Manchester University Oak Leaves,

According to peace studies coordinator Becca Creath, the model drone was intended to “spark a conversation” about the use of drones domestically and internationally. “The purpose of the model drone is partly to raise awareness about the fact that the U.S. government is using drones,” she said. “We wanted it to be an opportunity to spark a conversation about how we use [drones] and why we use them."

According to the Oak Leaves report, "Three classes dedicated class time to visiting the drone—two international politics classes and one first-year seminar—and many students took time out of their busy schedules to chat about the drone."

In addition to bringing home the effect of drone killings on victims abroad, the discussions about drones at Manchester helped bring attention to another of the "dirty secrets" of the U.S. drone war: the psychological damage done to the people operating them:

Both Creath and Kindy stressed that drone operators still suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder despite operating from a remote location. This was an issue that hit close to home for Manchester’s student body. According to Kindy, four students had friends or family members that operated a drone, and three of those suffered from post-traumatic stress.

Before the drone left North Manchester, the town had a chance to join in on the conversation when the drone appeared at the local farmer’s market.