SHUT DOWN CREECH
National Mobilization to Nonviolently Resist Killer Drones
Fall Action: October 15 - 22, 2022
(Saturday through Saturday)
Sponsored by CODEPINK, Veterans For Peace & Ban Killer Drones
REGISTER HERE! Join Us for all or part of the week!
Exciting News: We now have Shut Down Creech Travel Stipends!
Thanks to generous donations from Ban Killer Drones and CODEPINK! Want to come to Shut Down Creech, but can't afford the traveling costs? FMI: Please email Denise Hingle, preferably by Sept. 20: dhingle@mindspring.com Put "SDC Travel Stipend" in the subject heading of the email.
Special Film Screening, Thurs. Oct. 20, Las Vegas: Battles Beyond the Horizon
Sneak preview of new drone documentary, featuring "Shut Down Creechers," interviews with experts and panel discussion. More details HERE!
Covid UPDATE: (8/22) Although the Covid pandemic is waning, our fall action will be primarily an outdoor event, with mostly tent/car camping, to minimize risks. Our COVID GUIDELINES will be revised as the event draws nearer. A limited number of beds are available for those most in need. Early reservations advised.
Shut Down Creech is a community of like-minded people from across the United States who adamantly oppose the practice of remote-controlled killing, known otherwise as "targeted assassination" or "drone warfare." We call ourselves "Creechers" and we gather twice a year, in spring and fall, in the beautiful Nevada desert to coordinate a week of nonviolent resistance to the illegal, brutal and very racist U.S. Drone Program.
Our focus: Creech Air Force Base, a key killer drone control base an hour north of Las Vegas, where our military, directed secretly by CIA officials, execute extrajudicial killings of human beings in countries thousands of miles away, killing people who pose no imminent threat to U.S. citizens. Shockingly, the vast majority of victims are not the "intended targets" and many are unarmed civilians, including women and children, and primarily people of color.
Watch & share:
101 Children Killed by Drones (5 min.)
A memorial by Barbara Briggs-Letson, a SF CODEPINK activist.
Barbara Briggs-Letson !PRESENTE! Thank you for your compassionate activism!.
We "Creechers" are opposed to all forms of militarism and violence, but recognize U.S. armed and surveillance drones as heinous tools of the U.S. Empire that are used to terrorize people in foreign lands, creating more "enemies" than they eliminate and destabilizing the world we live in. Ultimately we want to abolish all war, but for now, banning killer drones is a good first step!
Shut Down Creech, (SDC) is a national campaign to "shut down" the criminal U.S. drone terror
program, one base at a time, starting with Creech AFB, where it all began. It is a coast to coast mobilization, marking 13 years of ongoing resistance. Our success is measured by the reported fast turn over of U.S. drone operators and pilots at Creech, and the fact that Creech ceased being a drone training base a few years ago. We ARE having an impact!
Won't you join us? Come for part or all of the week.
Registration Here. Please
fill out this online form even if you are not yet sure about coming. A transportation form, asking about your travel plans to/from SDC,
will be
available by early October. We guarantee rides from/to the Las Vegas airport or bus stations, as needed.
Please note: A pledge to nonviolence is required for participation.
by Denise Hingle (5 min.)
*Please note: Participation in our nonviolent civil resistance action is not required to participate in Shut Down Creech.
Many other non-arrestable activities, incl. daily vigiling and jail support are equally important and much needed!
SHUT DOWN CREECH CORE VALUES AND GOALS: In the spring of 2022, the "Creecher community" held two formal meetings to develop, through consensus, our core values & goals, bringing more clarity to our ongoing campaign to Shut Down Creech and ban militarized drones. Read our Core Values & Goals Here.
SHUT DOWN CREECH CORE VALUES AND GOALS: In the spring of 2022, the "Creecher community" held two formal meetings to develop, through consensus, our core values & goals, bringing more clarity to our ongoing campaign to Shut Down Creech and ban militarized drones. Read our Core Values & Goals Here.
WHAT DOES SHUT DOWN CREECH LOOK LIKE:
-Daily Themed Vigils, Monday - Friday, during commute hours, 6:30-8:30am and 3:30-5:30pm. All participants are expected to participate in these vigils, as they are an important part of our resistance to the U.S. drone program. Using street theater, banners, signs and other visuals, we stretch ourselves up and down the highway, as hundreds of military commuters enter and exit Creech AFB. Please contact us if you have ideas for vigil themes.
-Education and resistance through creative vigils, banners, signs, leafletting, and peaceful nonviolent direct action, to collectively oppose and interrupt remote-controlled killing by drones.
-Support to military personal, through messaging, leafletting and dialogue, to encourage GI resistance and offer resources to get help. We communicate through our actions and words that we also recognize that military personnel are themselves victims of a violent, racist and sexist institution and culture that can cause immeasurable harm to themselves as well, both physically and psychically, often leading to great moral and physical injury, and at times death. RESIST! We will assist you!
-Creative and fun optional activities between the vigils and after dinner. They include informal walks in the beautiful desert, educational workshops by fellow "Creechers," music & drumming circles, optional excursions to see "wild horses," local hot springs, nearby nature preserves and more. If you have something special to offer during the SDC week, please let us know and we will contact you.
Let's make this SHUT DOWN CREECH spring action a very powerful stance against the covert U.S. assassin drone program. Please join us, and help spread the word.
Our Peace Encampment is a Creecher community, and we depend on each other for its overall success. Please be prepared to take on some tasks that you are most comfortable with, through the week, to help us in our overall success. Together we are modeling a healthy peace community.
For detailed info go to:
The beautiful Sekhmet Temple, (AKA: "Temple of Goddess Spirituality" or "The Goddess Temple") inhabits sacred Western Shoshone land, and is located 3 miles north on Hwy 95 from Creech AFB. Much gratitude always to the Western Shoshone for providing this special place to all of us.The Sekhmet Temple grounds is where our peace encampment is located. This welcoming refuge offers us shade trees, running water, outdoor showers & toilets, and cooking facilities. In addition, the outdoor Peace Pavilion provides a perfect setting for meetings and meals. We give special thanks to the two awesome stewards of the Temple, land and habitat, MaryClare and Areeya, who consistently provide tremendous support to our peacemaking efforts throughout our stay. Lastly, the Sekhmet Temple itself is always a unique and precious space to seek solace, healing, and meditation.
COVID SAFETY
Due to the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, we will take the needed precautions to minimize health risks for everyone participating in Shut Down Creech. Activities will take place outdoors, including camping, except for limited indoor beds for those most in need. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated participants are welcome to participate, as the organizers respect an individual's right to choose, and all individuals can spread infection. Please Read our COVID guidelines, which we will update as the date draws nearer.
We recommend face masks when physical distancing is not possible. The event is open to those who must fly or take other public
transportation to Las Vegas to attend, but we ask those who fly to be
extra diligent in abiding by covid precautions while on route. We ask that all
Creechers weigh the risks carefully, and assume full responsibility for
their health. If arriving via plane, train or bus, we recommend a Covid rapid self-test 2-3 days after arrival to minimize risks to our Creecher community. A handful of these tests will be available. Thank you!
TRAVEL
We will offer assistance with
transportation from/to Las Vegas/airport and bus terminal and to/from Camp
Justice/Goddess
Temple in a COVID safe manner. For further details please check the
Housing &
Transportation page, and await the final transportation form, which will be emailed to all registered participants by early October. All flight departures must take place by October 22, if you want our assistance to the airport for your flight out of Las Vegas.
MEALS
All meals will be provided at our peace encampment at the Goddess Temple. Please fill out the registration form so that we can get a headcount for meal preparation, and best assist with special dietary needs. We are asking for a donation of $10/day to help cover our food costs. Nobody will be turned away for inability to pay.
#SHUTDOWNCREECH
WHY PROTEST DRONE WARFARE?
We protest drone warfare to stand in solidarity with all people living under the terror of militarized drones and support their right to live under drone-free skies, without U.S. surveillance and drone attacks. We stand in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan, the most droned place on earth, and we stand in solidarity with the people of Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, and all other peoples and nations who have been subjected to or been threatened by the covert, unjust and deadly U.S. Killer Drone Assassination Program.
Thanks to excellent journalism, it has been reported 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 and illegal and invasive surveillance on global communities on a daily basis from Creech alone. A 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. U.S. Drone attacks occur mostly away from any "battlefield," killing people as they are eating dinner in their homes, sleeping in their beds, driving their cars on the highway, worshiping in a mosque, attending wedding parties or funerals....living their lives.
The vast majority of victims are unarmed civilians,
including women and children, or "unintended targets." This is unconscionable! We give special thanks to Daniel Hale and all other drone whistleblowers who have taken great risks to expose the criminality and injustice of the U.S. Drone Program. Daniel Hale is currently serving a 45 month sentence in a Federal Prison for acting out of conscience to inform the public. Please support Daniel Hale: StandWithDanielHale.org
WHY WE PROTEST AT CREECH:
Since at least 2002, Creech Air Force Base secretly became the first U.S. base in the
country to carry out illegal, remotely controlled assassinations using armed drones. Currently the Reaper drones are the primary killer drones controlled from Creech to murder people with "hellfire missiles" in foreign lands, without due process. Creech personnel sit behind computers
in the desert north of Las Vegas and kill "suspects" thousands of miles
away. Most of the victims are "unintended targets" and unarmed civilians.
One independent study indicated 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, and many are civilians who happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. THIS MUST STOP! By participating in Shut Down Creech we become a united voice against this insanity and inhumanity. With organized nonviolent action we halt the criminal "business as usual" at Creech AFB for as long as we possibly can. Sign the petition at BanKillerDrones.org
In
2014, it was leaked that the CIA's drone assassination
program was not a separate operation from the Air Force's, but was instead
piloted all along using Creech's super-secret 17th Attack Squadron. In November
2015, four Air Force drone veterans (3 of whom were based at Creech)
wrote a public letter 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 anti-drone activists have been arrested while nonviolently blocking morning traffic into Creech AFB, peacefully interrupting this indiscriminate
killing by drones. At times we have successfully blocked up to 1-3 gates for nearly an hour or more. We will continue our nonviolent resistance until this brutality ceases.
Noteworthy Victory: Creech drone base ceased training drone operators and pilots a few years ago: most evident in the dramatically decreased number of visible Reaper drones practicing take offs, landings, and flight over the desert landscape during our vigils, and the decreased number of vehicles streaming into the base in the morning commute. However, Creech personnel are still intimately involved in illegal drone assassinations overseas, often ordered by the CIA, and there are still hundreds of military commuters streaming into the base each day from Las Vegas. This must stop.
The
US drone program is rapidly proliferating, as air bases have
converted to drone bases across the U.S. and abroad, but Creech remains a
key player 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 the desecration of our Mother Earth and all creatures who inhabit it. War is toxic to the planet.
- We must put an end to the dehumanization of lives from Minneapolis to Afghanistan, Ferguson to Syria. Militarized drones are racist tools.
- We must close all foreign U.S. military bases. Money should be prioritized for human needs, not war profiteering and global domination.
- We must put an end to drone murder, drone surveillance and global militarization. If the planet is to survive, we must also abolish all war.
We organize two Shut Down Creech weeklong anti-drone mobilizations every year, spring and fall. We promote a bigger mobilization for our fall actions because the weather tends to be a bit more welcoming in the fall. Springtime can be beautiful in the Nevada desert too, so please consider joining us for spring and/or fall. Encourage friends and family to join, helping to make our peace mobilizations a huge success.
