11th Annual National Mobilization to Peacefully Stop U.S Drone Wars

Published September 30, 2020 | By Toby Blom'e

September 27 – October 3, 2020
(Sunday through Saturday)

Please Register HERE

UPDATE: Our 2020 weeklong fall convergence to resist U.S. killer drones in the Nevada desert has been scheduled! We can’t wait to work together again to nonviolently oppose the barbaric and deadly drone assassination program at Creech AFB that terrorizes communities around the world.

There are a group of us who are committed to SDC Fall 2020, in spite of the pandemic. We will observe social distancing, tent camp and take other precautions to keep everyone safe. We ask that you weigh the risks carefully. The registration form articulates the measures we will follow. We ask that participants drive and not fly or use other forms of transportation to arrive to Creech. For further details please check the Housing & Transportation page on this website.

.GREAT NEWS: We are pleased to announce that National Veterans For Peace is back again as a co-sponsor, and will collaborate with CODEPINK to help make this the strongest resistance ever against killer drones.

This year marks the 11th anniversary of Bay Area CODEPINK’s twice yearly resistance to killer drones at Creech Air Force Base. In 2015 additional organizations began collaborating with us, working on the national mobilizations that came to be known as Shut Down Creech. Please join us to make our upcoming resistance even more exceptional!

Special theme: This October will be the 19th Anniversary of the War on Afghanistan. We will commemorate that event and stand in solidarity with the Afghan people and their right to live without U.S. occupiers. We also deeply hope that by the time our fall action approaches, we will NOT be at war with Iran. Bring all the troops home now! WAR IS NEVER THE ANSWER!

Please come for part or all of this amazing Peace Convergence to nonviolently resist the illegal U.S. drone targeted assassination program. We will stay at the relocated CAMP JUSTICE, our peace encampment now set up on the “Goddess Temple” grounds, 3 miles from Creech AFB. More detailed information will follow. All meals are provided.

For detailed info about Housing, Transportation, Camp Justice, Meals, Sponsorship, Registration, etc, please click on tabs at the top of this homepage.

Please DONATE HERE

– 2020 SHUT DOWN CREECH, Fall Action. We now organize two Shut Down Creech weeklong anti-drone mobilizations every year, spring and fall. This year the spring action was canceled due to transitional changes taking place at the Goddess Temple, but we hope to return to twice annual protests in 2021. We are promoting a bigger mobilization for the Fall Action (September 27 – October 3) because the weather tends to be more welcoming in the fall. Please encourage friends and family to join us to help make our fall mobilization a huge success.

– CAMP JUSTICE: The Goddess Temple (also called “Temple of Goddess Spirituality”) is located 3 miles north on highway 95, from where we vigil daily at Creech AFB. This welcoming refuge offers us shade trees, running water, showers, cooking facilities and much more. The Peace Pavilion provides a perfect outdoor meeting place, and our sacred “Goddess Temple to Sekhmet” offers a unique place to seek solace, and for healing, prayer and meditation. The Guest House is not available due to COVID-19. In normal years, beds are available first for those most in need: our elders (70 & over) and those with physical limitations that make camping difficult. Early reservations encouraged. There is a “Bed wait list” for others. (Not applicable this fall.)

Info on Camping, Guest House and other accommodation options.

– Nonviolent civil resistance (tentative) planned for Wednesday, Sept. 30, with preparation & planning taking place on Mon. & Tues., Sept. 28 & Sept. 29. An online scheduled program will be available later in the summer. If you can only participate for a few days, we recommend arriving by late Mon. night and departing in the morning or afternoon on Thurs, Sept. 28 to Oct. 1.

Peaceful vigils daily, Monday – Friday, Sept. 28 – Oct. 2, during rush hour commute times. 6:30 – 8:30 am and 3:30 – 5:30 pm. On Friday, there will only be a morning vigil, and we will have closing activities in the afternoon. All departures must take place by noon on Saturday, Oct. 3.

Thousands of cars enter and exit at commute times, and we will stretch ourselves out along Highway 95 with large signs, banners and other visuals/props throughout the week. We are developing vigil themes that will vary each day and we welcome any creative ideas for themes or offerings of help to make visuals & props. .
A pledge to nonviolence guidelines and participation in nonviolence training, if needed, is required for full participation.

Activists who can only participate in part of the week’s activities are urged to arrive by the evening on Monday, Sept. 30, so we will all be together on Tuesday to make final preparations for a large peaceful civil resistance action tentatively (due to COVID-190) planned for Wednesday.

Creative and fun activities happen between the vigils and after dinner. These activities are optional, but give us time to rejuvenate ourselves and help foster a more connected peace community. They include informal walks in the beautiful desert, visits to see the “wild horses,” trips to local hot springs, visits to nearby nature preserves and more. We also have informal presentations/workshops given by participants who have personal talents, experiences or expertise to share. If you have something special to offer, please contact us.

#SHUTDOWNCREECH

Please sign up on this Registration Form, if you hope to participate.

Join us September 27 – October 3, 2020 at Creech Air Force Base, Indian Springs, Nevada for the Fall Action of our 6th year of national mobilization to nonviolently shut down killer drone operations in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan,Yemen, Somalia, Libya and everywhere.

Thanks to excellent journalism, it has been revealed that there are over 900 drone pilots operating out of Creech Air Force Base. That means that there is a disturbing amount of remote murder on a daily basis happening at Creech alone. A recent military official reported in 2018 that over 80% of all U.S. air strikes involve U.S. drones, either for surveillance and targeting, and/or for direct strikes, and approximately 80% of all drone strikes go UNREPORTED. These are mostly strikes off any “battlefield,” killing people as they are eating dinner in their homes, sleeping in their beds, driving their cars on the highway, worshipping in a mosque, attending a wedding parties or funerals….living their lives. Innumerable unarmed civilians, including women and children are being slaughtered by these cowardly weapons of destruction. This is unconscionable! Let’s make the this SHUT DOWN CREECH fall action a very powerful stance against the brutality of covert U.S. drone killing. Please join us, and help spread the word. We will organize together a large nonviolent civil resistance at Creech on Wednesday, September 30. People who aren’t able to risk arrest are equally needed as support and as witnesses. Come one, come all.

Together we are PEACE!

Shut Down Creech Team,
Toby, Eleanor, Maggie, Garett, and Sam

(Scroll down for more on: WHY WE PROTEST AT CREECH)

Inspirational Videos of past Anti-drone Resistance at Creech AFB:

By Mauro Oliveira:

Shut DownCreech 2016, (Drone Strike on Funeral Procession) (4 min)

ShutDown Creech 2015, “Drone Strikes – United States Terrorism” (25 min)

By Nico Colombant:

MusicVideo #1, Mike Rufo’s “Streets of Plenty” (4 min)

Music Video #2, Zoya Amarey, “Citizen’s of the World” (3 min)

Fall 2016 CODEPINK Action, “Citizen’s Arrest” of Base Commander (6 min)

By Chris Knudson:
Spring 2019 Shut Down Creech, DRONES = BLOOD ON OUR HANDS!
(11 min)

WHY WE PROTEST AT CREECH:

In 2005, Creech Air Force Base secretly became the first U.S. base in the country to carry out illegal, remotely controlled assassinations using the MQ-1 Predator drones, and in 2006, the more advanced Reaper drones were added to its arsenal. Creech drone personnel sit behind computers in the desert north of Las Vegas and kill “suspects” thousands of miles away. The more primitive Predators have been mostly phased out. Independent research indicates that the identity of only one out of 28 victims of U.S. drone strikes is known beforehand. Though officials deny it, the majority killed by drones are unknown civilians.

In 2014, it was leaked that the CIA’s criminal drone assassination program, officially a separate operation from the Air Force’s, has been piloted all along by Creech’s super-secret Squadron 17. In November 2015, four Air Force drone veterans (3 of whom were based at Creech) wrote to President Obama, “We came to the realization that the innocent civilians we were killing only fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like ISIS, while also serving as a fundamental recruitment tool similar to Guantanamo Bay. This administration and its predecessors have built a drone program that is one of the most devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world.”

Since 2009 dozens of activists have been arrested for allegedly trespassing at Creech, while attempting to peacefully interrupt the indiscriminate killing and burning of innocent people by drones.

The US drone program is rapidly proliferating as air bases are being converted to drone bases across the U.S. and abroad, but Creech remains a key drone base in U.S. state-sponsored global terrorism. Creech is where the killer drone program started–it is where we shall end it.

We must put an end to this desecration of our Mother Earth and all creatures who inhabit it.
We must put an end to the dehumanization of lives from Ferguson to Palestine to Syria and Yemen.
We must close all foreign U.S. military bases. Money should be prioritized for human needs, not war profiteering.
We must put an end to drone murder, drone surveillance and global militarization.