photo by Sharon Delgado
Eleven people, including clergy and veterans, were arrested during two days of peace demonstrations at Beale Air Force Base in California, site of the surveillance drone Global Hawk, which performs reconnaissance for armed drones. The demonstrations at Beale were coordinated with Campaign Nonviolence, a national campaign calling for an end to war, poverty, and climate change. Over 250 nonviolent actions have been carried out in coordination with Campaign Nonviolence in the past week alone.
Two people were arrested at Beale on Monday, September 29, at 3:45 p.m. The Reverend John Auer, a retired United Methodist pastor from Fresno, was assisted in his wheelchair by Guarionex Delgado, a veteran from Nevada City. Mr. Delgado pushed Rev. Auer’s wheelchair the length of the mile-long road to the Wheatland Gate. Rev. Auer stated that he was attempting to deliver a letter to Colonel Phillip A. Stewart, the Base Commander, informing him of a recent anti-drone resolution passed by United Methodists in the California-Nevada region.
After he was released, Reverend Auer explained, “I oppose drone warfare because the more we depersonalize war the easier it is for us to fight, and to act as if it is not costing us anything. When we mechanize war it makes others expendable. Everyone becomes collateral damage… I want to be able to say that we offered some kind of resistance and some kind of hope.”
Guarionex Delgado explained, “I am opposed to all forms of violence. Climate change is violence against the earth. Poverty is violence against the people. War is violence against both people and the earth.”
On Tuesday, September 30 at 7 a.m., several demonstrators gathered in a circle and began singing and dancing in front of Beale’s Main Gate. They explained that the dances were “Dances of Universal Peace,” taken from many different faith traditions, and that their purpose in dancing was to “demonstrate peace.”
photo by Janie Kesselman
Nine people were arrested while dancing, including Barry Binks, a veteran from Sacramento; Shirley Osgood from Grass Valley; Pamela Osgood from Grass Valley; Andrew Hayes, a veteran from Grass Valley; Flora Rodgers from Marysville; Lorraine Reich from Nevada City; MacGregor Eddy from Salinas; Toby Blome from the Bay Area, and Sharon Delgado, a United Methodist minister from Nevada City.
Anti-drone demonstrators have kept up a regular presence at Beale Air Force Base over the past three years. Over fifty arrests for civil disobedience have been made; eight people have been convicted in U.S. Federal Court. Thirty-one arrests were made in March and April of 2014 alone. Sixteen of the demonstrators were summoned to be arraigned on September 9, but at the last minute all charges were dismissed.
Demonstrators vow to continue to nonviolently resist the violence and inhumanity of drone warfare. Find out more about past events and upcoming events at the Occupy Beale Air Force Base website or the Occupy Beale FaceBook Page.
by Sharon Delgado, reprinted from her blog on September 29
On Monday afternoon, September 29, two anti-drone demonstrators were arrested for trespassing onto Beale Air Force Base. My good friend, The Reverend John Auer, a retired United Methodist pastor from Fresno, offered a prayer for peace and for the earth. Then he crossed the line onto base property, assisted by my beloved, Guarionex Delgado. He pushed John’s wheelchair the length of the mile-long road to the Wheatland Gate. Base personnel detained them when they reached the guard house. I also walked with them, taking pictures, but turned back when they entered through the gate.
John stated that he was attempting to deliver a letter to Colonel Phillip A. Stewart, the Base Commander, informing him of a recent anti-drone resolution passed by United Methodists in the California-Nevada region. (I had also signed on to the letter.) The letter also included The World Council of Churches’ Statement on the Use of Drones and the Right to Life. Beale is the home of the Global Hawk Drone, a surveillance drone that helps find targets for armed drones.
This action was one of over 250 nonviolent actions carried out in coordination with Campaign Nonviolence, calling for an end to war, poverty, and climate change. John and Guari stated concerns for the children, for humankind, and for the earth as reasons for walking onto base property. John carried a sign with a picture of the earth that said, “No War, No Warming,” a reference to the relationship between war and climate change. They both wore light blue scarves that represent solidarity with others around the world who are suffering the effects of war and who are working for peace.
John spoke of his reasons for taking this action: “I believe in the recuperative powers of the earth and of the people. We can’t stop trying. We can’t stop making an offering of our lives and of our hope.
“I oppose drone warfare because the more we depersonalize war the easier it is for us to fight, and to act as if it is not costing us anything. When we mechanize war it makes others expendable. Everyone becomes collateral damage.”
“I am committed to a better world for our children and grandchildren, and I mean all our children and grandchildren. They will ask us one day what we did in this time. I want to be able to say that we offered some kind of resistance and some kind of hope.”
Guari said, “I am opposed to all forms of violence. Climate change is violence against the earth. Poverty is violence against the people. War is violence against both people and the earth.”
“When I was younger and uninformed, I served the Empire. Now that I’m older and clearer, I serve my brothers and sisters who are working for peace and healing. In this case I had the strength to accompany a brother in the struggle.”
xxx
Arrested While Dancing at Beale
On Tuesday morning I was arrested again at Beale, this time while dancing at the main gate. Eight others were arrested with me, while demonstrating peace through the Dances of Universal Peace. We were cited and released.
Two other demonstrators had been arrested the day before, on Monday: John Auer, another ordained United Methodist minister, and my husband Guari. Guari had pushed John’s wheelchair one mile onto the base to the guard booth at the Wheatland Gate, where they were arrested, cited, and released.
Both of these actions were coordinated with Campaign Nonviolence, through which over 230 nonviolent actions took place around the country at the end of September. The focus of the Campaign Nonviolence actions was to call for an end to war, poverty, and climate change.
Why did I risk being arrested again at Beale? I answered that question in Why I Crossed the Line at Beale, when I crossed the line at Beale the first time, almost two years ago.
This time, however, we have just begun another war, this time against ISIS, as if bombing and killing people could somehow lead us to security and peace. We are told that we are targeting terrorists, but we are also killing innocent civilians, including children, in Iraq and Syria. Have we learned nothing from our endless pursuit of endless war? Have we forgotten the roots of the current crisis, and the U.S. role in it? We are sowing ill will and creating future terrorists by terrorizing people through war. Meanwhile we are spending billions on weapons of destruction, billions that could be used to meet human need and to heal the natural systems of the earth.
Insanity has been described as doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. As a nation and as a culture, our priorities are wrong. It is time to repent, to change direction, to turn around. It is time to focus on peacemaking, on feeding the hungry and welcoming the stranger, on healing the earth. This will take a major shift in values, in investments, and in systems of power. It will take a great awakening of the earth’s people, sustained resistance, and ongoing demonstrations of peace.
This transformation is already taking place, and I am certain that God is with us in this struggle. This is a struggle worth living and dying for. We need you. Wherever you are, there are kindred spirits nearby. I invite you to join us.