International Week of Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space
October 6-13, 2012
Satellites: the eyes, ears and brains of modern warfare.
Imaging satellites capture the visual images of the targets (including individual people) that warmakers wish to destroy. Signals satellites pick up voices and other sounds which further identify a target, while the GPS system provides the gunsight or bombsight which directs the bullet or bomb to its destination. All these same orbiting instruments of war help the Pentagon assess damage, often leading to more strikes repeating the same process. The addition of drones and other new age weapons bring us close to having no human being in the loop at all.
There is a perception among those aware of space that most orbital activity in the past five years has shifted to the private sector, and that federal government satellite activity has declined during the Obama administration. While civilian government agencies like NASA are facing cutbacks, satellite launches have kept up with a Bush-era pace. The satellites that manage spying, navigation, targeting, and military communications are launched by agencies such as the National Reconnaissance Office and the Defense Information Systems Agency, whose budgets are larger than ever, but whose activities take place largely out of the public eye.
While the satellites orbiting miles above our heads may be out of our sights, the ground stations they depend upon, in locations such as Menwith Hill, UK; Pine Gap, Australia; and Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado are vast bases that play a large role in local economies worldwide.
–FROM http://www.space4peace.org/actions/ksfpw12.htm
Keep Space for Peace Week is co-sponsored by the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK), Swedish Peace Council, and the Drone Campaign Network (UK).
CALIFORNIA ACTIONS
Santa Barbara, California (Oct 18-21) Challenging Robotic Warfare Technology: Education, Organizing, Strategy & Resistance Statewide Conference tierralinda@live.com
Vandenberg AFB, California (Oct 22) Back country non-violent resistance action to occupy Pentagon’s global drone and missile nerve center. tierralinda@live.com