The Interfaith Network on Drone Warfare (INDW), a coalition of national denominations and faith groups, sponsored a national training conference to equip people of faith interested in organizing on this issue within the faith community on ways to advocate and educate against drone warfare. Click here for a full report and more pictures, along with relevant resources!
Blank Slate: At approximately 9:45 am on October 7th a crowd gathered outside the United Nations on 1st Avenue when from across the street approached a nearly to-scale replica of a US Air Force Predator Drone. A single voice could be heard yelling the words, “Double Tap!” After which the gathering replied, “Drone Strike!” and all fell to the ground. This is Blank Slate, a public art intervention coinciding with the start of the First Committee meetings as well as the anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan, where drones are a mainstay in combat and could soon be joined by autonomous weapons of war.
Blank Slate represents the civilian casualties caused by U.S. drone strikes. With accountability standards weakening and proliferation on the rise, the performance serves as a warning of a future with robotic weapons if we don’t take action immediately.
At the end of the performance a lone standing individual held signs that read, “by March 2019 1725 civilians have been killed by robots of war. Then we stopped counting. Ban Autonomous Weapons.” It is time to act and Blank Slate is here to remind us all how serious the problem is. We must clean the slate and begin anew our relationship with robotics, using their proliferation for good and putting an end to the death, destruction and intimidation they so often cause.
Click here to see a video of the performance.
Created in collaboration with: ESSAM, Know Drones, Veterans for Peace, Lisa Ling, Reaching Critical Will, Interfaith Network on Drone Warfare, United National Antiwar Coalition, Peace Action NY, Control Arms
Moral and Safe? War, Peace, Drone Warfare and the Religious Community
An Introduction to Drone Warfare: This film describes the history, the nature, use and moral challenges posed by drone warfare. It features Col. Lawrence Wilkerson (U.S. Army retired), former Chief of Staff for General Colin Powell; Dr. Mary Ann Cusimano Love, Catholic University; Diane Randall, Friends Committee On National Legislation; Andrea Prasow, Human Rights Watch; and Jamal Jaffer, Columbia University Law School. The challenges facing drone operators are also described. Religious leaders, including a Catholic, Protestants, a Muslim, a Sikh, and a rabbi tell us about their traditions’ views of drone warfare.
The Religious Community and Drone Warfare
The Religious Community and Drone Warfare is for congregations who wish to go into more depth into the concerns expressed by denominations, religious organizations and religious leaders.
Faith leaders from a wide range of traditions are interviewed on this 27 minute video, including representatives of the U.S. States Conference of Catholic Bishops, United Church of Christ, New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, a rabbi from Interfaith Action for Human Rights, the Unitarian Universalist Association, United Methodist Church, American Sikh Council, Islamic Society of North America, Friends Committee on National Legislation and Church of the Brethren.
Print out the flyer and make enough for your religious organization or judicatory (regional body) or your congregation.
Click here to download any of the five films. Please send us an email to tell us that you have shown a film in your congregation. Please send an email to cfpa@peacecoalition.org to tell us the name of the congregation, the denomination and the date of the screening.
Click here to watch!
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Unmanned: America’s Drone Wars
A half hour version – edited for education classes in congregations
In Unmanned: America’s Drone Wars, by Brave New Films, director Robert Greenwald investigates the impact of U.S. drone strikes at home and abroad through compelling interviews, including a former American drone operator who shares what he has witnessed in his own words, Pakistani families mourning loved ones and seeking legal redress, investigative ...
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National Bird
A half hour version – edited for education classes in congregations
The Interfaith Network on Drone Warfare has produced a 34 minute version of National Bird, a documentary by Sonia Kennebeck. The film follows the dramatic journey of three whistleblowers that are determined to break the silence about America’s drone war. This version features two military veterans of drone warfare: Lisa and Heather. Plagued by guilt over ...
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Drone
A half hour version – edited for education classes in congregations.
A commentator says at the beginning of the film, Drone by Tonje Hessen Schei, “If you can get a high level Al Qaeda guy, isn’t it worth about any costs?” Schei raises several concerns about that conclusion, including the fact that other nations, including China, Russian and Iran have developed ...
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Contact Us
<p">Interfaith Network on Drone Warfare
Peace Action Education Fund
40 Witherspoon Street
Princeton, NJ 08542
Phone: (609) 924-5022
E-Mail: Send us an Email
