CODEPINK

SHUT DOWN CREECH, Spring Action, April 4-10

Published April 13, 2021 | By Toby Blom'e

“Stopping Business as Usual at Creech Killer Drone Base”

MINI-REPORT: (Longer report to come soon).

Fantastic week of drone resistance at SHUT DOWN CREECH!

Incredible and committed peace activists from coast to coast contributed in amazing ways.

3 out of 5 mornings included “soft blockades” that impeded commuter traffic into Creech killer drone base, communicating to the military that the drone crimes being committed daily at Creech in the Nevada desert are intolerable, illegal and must be stopped. We honored the courage of drone whistleblower, Daniel Hale, throughout the week. Daniel faces up to 10 years imprisonment for leaking classified military documents that exposed war crimes of the secret U.S. drone program. His sentencing trial is in July.

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Shut Down Creech: Short Mid-week Report

Published April 8, 2021 | By Toby Blom'e

April 6, 2021, Tuesday Night

by Toby Blomé

It’s been an awesome week so far, with activists arriving from as far away as Florida, New York and Missouri. Many new folks and everyone working together with great teamwork overall. Lots to share, but for now:

–MONDAY

AM: We had an amazing non-violent direct action during the first morning vigil during commute hours, where peaceful, anti-drone protesters, made up mostly of CODEPINK and Veterans For Peace members, totally surprised law enforcement, BLOCKING BOTH GATES and causing a chaotic traffic jam and delay that lasted about 45 minutes. “Time to break the silence amidst so much violence!” Activists blocked the entrances for as long as they could, through the “riot act readings” by police, and just until the 2 and 3 min. warnings expired. Arrests were avoided by all due to health risks from the pandemic. No one wants to take great risks and end up in jail right now.

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SDG April: Good Health and Well-Being

Published April 7, 2021 | By editor

This month Sustainable Development Goal the Local Peace Economy is working on is Good Health and Well-Being to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages within our local communities. Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being is important to building prosperous communities.

The pandemic has shown that in rich and poor countries alike, a health emergency can push people into bankruptcy or poverty and most countries, especially poor countries, have insufficient health facilities, medical supplies and health care workers for the surge in demand. It has also come apparent that global pandemics requires a global response. First trying to control the virus, second developing a vaccine and third vaccinating people around the earth in order to bring the virus under control. Likewise to keep people healthy in local communities around the earth will also take a global effort.

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SDG March: Gender Equality.

Published March 24, 2021 | By editor

This month Sustainable Development Goal the Local Peace Economy is working on is Gender Equality within our local communities. We also celebrate International Women’s Day. This year’s 2021 ” Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World.” Women play a disproportionate role in responding to the virus, including as frontline healthcare workers and carers at home. Women’s unpaid care work has increased significantly as a result of school closures and the increased needs of older people. Women are also harder hit by the economic impacts of COVID-19, as they disproportionately work in insecure labour markets. Nearly 60 per cent of women work in the informal economy, which puts them at greater risk of falling into poverty.

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SDG Feb. Reduced Inequalities & Black History Month

Published February 14, 2021 | By editor

This month Sustainable Development Goal the Local Peace Economy is working on is reducing inequalities within our local communities. We also celebrate Black History Month and International Day of Women and Girls in Science. This year’s 2021 Black History theme: “Black Family: Representation, Identity and Diversity” explores the African diaspora, and the spread of Black families across the United States.” By studying the history of Black families in America we can learn how the non-violent democratic struggle for equality can bring change and make us hopeful for the future.

Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. The central role played by black families reducing inequality in American history can be experience in Martin Luther King’s book: Why We Can’t Wait. The book tells the story of the 1963 successful non-violent Campaign of Black families in Birmingham Alabama against segregation, Bull Connor’s police dogs, firehoses and white citizens that eventually led the municipal government to change the city’s discrimination laws. The language he uses to tell the story of the struggle is a fire that smolders in the soul: “Summer came, and the weather was beautiful. But the climate, the social climate of American life, erupted into lighting flashes, trembled with the thunder and vibrated to the relentless, growing rain of protest come to life through the land. Explosively, America’s third revolution-the Negro revolution-had begun…Propelled by a burning need for justice, lifting itself with sudden swiftness, moving with determination and a majestic scorn for risk and danger, created an uprising so powerful that it shook a huge society from its comfortable base.”

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