Protesters Arrested at Drone Base While Distributing
Leaflets with Photos of 7 Afghan Children Killed in US Strike

Toby Blomé / Press Release: Ban Killer Drones et al.

MARYSVILLE, CA. (November 22, 2021) — A small group of anti-drone activists, with Codepink, Ban Killer Drones and Veterans For Peace, held demonstrations at two gates Monday at Beale Air Force Base, a drone base in Marysville, during am and pm commute. Flyers and banners were used to educate military personnel about two critical issues: 1) The August 29th US drone attack that killed 10 members of the Afghan Ahmadi family, all civilians, at their Kabul home, and 2) The US Military’s critical role in the global climate crisis, that leaves a gigantic carbon footprint annually, due to the 800+ foreign bases worldwide, and the ongoing state of “endless wars.”

One banner read: “Creechers Say: END WAR, 4 the CLIMATE,” with activists dressed up as and holding puppets of animal creatures, in response to the recent

COP 26 global climate conference that excluded the US military’s major role in green-house gas emissions in the global solution agreements.

One of their leaflets, titled “Don’t Look Away,” included color photos of the 7, mostly very young, children of the Ahmadi family killed in Kabul by a US drone attack. The protestors say that this was not an exceptional “mistake”, but a common reality in drone attacks, where victims of US drone strikes are most often civilians or “not the intended target.” This reality was revealed in military documents leaked by drone whistleblower Daniel Hale, who is currently serving 45 months in jail for exposing drone war crimes, they say.

The group was successful at distributing flyers and bannering at the Wheatland gate at Beale AFB during Monday’s early morning commute, but, plans at the afternoon vigil at the Doolittle Gate was quickly disrupted by Beale security police.

Peace activist and grandmother, Toby Blomé, wearing a white bunny suit with tail, attempted to distribute her flyers while holding a heart-shaped sign: “Love Not War.” Within minutes of arriving to an area she has frequented for over a decade, that has easy access to military pulling out onto a highway, base security police claimed she was on military base property and had to leave.

This “gore” area, separated from traffic flow by a double yellow-lined triangle, has been in dispute between the military and peace activists for over a decade, with the military repeatedly changing their claims as to where the invisible base property line crosses the entrance road. However, in 11 years of dispute, Beale security officers have never arrested Ms. Blomé and she has always asserted her free speech rights to be there.

This time she was handcuffed and removed very quickly, eventually taken onto the base for fingerprinting. She was detained for about 2.5 hrs before she was cited and released into the dark of the night at the gate.

“I’ve been passing out leaflets at this same Doolittle Gate location, monthly, for most of the last 11 years now, and have never been arrested,” says Toby Blomé. “Why did Beale security police on this day decide to violate my cherished 1st Amendment rights and arrest me unjustly? I was not on the base property, though this is what they claim.”

The Beale military refused to give the name of the supervising officer ordering the arrest, though Ms. Blomé requested the identity several times during her detention. Near her release time one “Tech Sgt.,” officer Beck, finally took responsibility, but it is unclear to Ms. Blomé whether he was covering for someone else or not. A plain clothed officer, “Kyle,” who gave much of the direction and guidance to other officers during Ms. Blomé’s on base processing refused to give his last name.

“Why was today different?” ponders Ms. Blomé. The only thing different is that thistime her leaflet included colored photos of the 7 children killed by a recent USdrone attack. “Could this be too much truth for the US military to be exposed to?”she asks. The military refused to offer any explanation, except claiming that Ms.Blome was “trespassed on base property.” Ms. Blomé says that she has probablydistributed from 1-2 thousand leaflets to base personnel over 11 years, at this samelocation, in spite of past military harassment.

“The public and military personnel all have the right to know the truth about USforeign policy and human rights violations committed by these policies, and freespeech rights have to be strongly defended, if our fragile democracy is going to endure. In addition, if soldiers are going to risk their lives in foreign countries, supposedly to “defend our freedom,” they should never be asked to violate ourfreedom at home,” said Ms. Blomé.

Beale Air Force Base Background

Beale AFB controls the Global Hawk surveillance drone that identifies, surveils and tracks suspected targets for the secretive US drone assassination program. Military who work in the Global Hawk program at Beale collaborate with personnel at Creech AFB, a key killer drone base in Nevada, as well as with the CIA, as part of this expansive covert program.

Thousands of civilians have been killed remotely by US drones, including hundreds of children in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and elsewhere.

Daniel Hale, a drone whistleblower, leaked military documents revealing that, at times, 90% of the victims of drone attacks are not the intended target. He is currently serving a 45 month sentence for exposing the criminal side of the US drone program. To date, not a single US official or drone operator has been held accountable for the many innocents killed by US drone attacks.

Protestors Arrested While
Passing Out Educational Leaflets!

Tlby Blomé / Press Release   MORE PHOTOS HERE!

Just Moments Before Toby Blome Arrested for Leafletting (Photo by Susan Witka)

 (November 24, 2021) — It was a glorious fall day. Four of us got up at 3:00 am in the morning in the Bay Area to arrive for the early commute traffic at 6:00am at Beale Drone Base, near Marysville. We weren’t planning to blockade any roads on Monday. In fact, we weren’t planning to do anything to put us at risk for arrest at any point in the day. 

With banners and leaflets, our goal was two-fold:

To educate the Marysville community and Beale AFB personnel about some important topics,

1) The August 29th US drone attack that killed 10 members of the Afghan Ahmadi family, all civilians, at their Kabul home. 

 Flyer #1: Don’t Look Away (Includes color photos of the 7 Ahmadi children killed)

2) The US Military’s critical role in the global climate crisis, that leaves a gigantic carbon footprint annually, due to the 800+ foreign bases worldwide, and the ongoing state of “endless wars”… Following the failed COP 26 climate conference, it felt timely to point out the exclusion of US military’s carbon emissions from solution finding efforts at global climate conferences!

Flyer #2: What Keeps Us Safe?  (by Eleanor Levine)

We dressed in “Creecher” costumes and held animal puppets to help underline the growing and irreversible tragedy of mass animal extinction due to the worsening climate disaster. We received many smiles and chuckles in response to our visuals.

MORNING VIGIL:

After a very successful morning vigil at the Wheatland/South Beale Rd gate, that included passing out leaflets to commuters, while enjoying the wintering birds above us (snow geese, sand hill cranes flying), a casual breakfast at the Brick Coffee House nourished and warmed us up.

After breakfast, Susan and Toby stood near the WalMart entrance, a place where many military families shop, and successfully handed out about 25 more leaflets in about 40 min. The highlight of the day was the many diverse community members we spoke with of all ages and backgrounds, including two elder veterans who greeted us warmly, and a Pakistani father, with his two middle-school-aged children. The father reacted enthusiastically to our “Love Not War” sign, and then even more so when he saw the other side: “MUSLIM LIVES MATTER.” “I’m Muslim,” he declared with a smile!

We enjoyed a delightful respite from activism, after discovering and then hiking the two-mile Black Swan Trail……that included a lovely foot trail up to the top of a bluff that overlooked the pond/lake below, with scattered live-oaks and a green grassy rolling landscape.

Afternoon Vigil:
Grandmother in Bunny Suit Arrested for Leafletting!

After helping to put up three large banners about militarism, war and the climate/environment, Toby Blomé entered the “gore” area near the stop sign where military exit the base. It is an area she has stood in for 11 years, almost monthly, to distribute educational leaflets to the military.

The gore is a triangle area at the end point of the road, where it meets a highway. It is marked by double-yellow lines, offering the only meaningful place to stand to successfully distribute leaflets to military exiting the base. 

Toby has probably distributed 1-2,000 leaflets at that same location, over 11 years. The military often dispute our rights to stand in the gore, and at times harass us and threaten us with arrest, claiming it is “not safe” or “it is on base property,” etc. The military claims of where the base boundary line is across the roadway constantly changes, but in 11 years of dispute, the military has never arrested us for standing there, even though we have always “stood our ground.”

This time was different. Within minutes, military police arrived and threatened to arrest Toby if she didn’t leave the gore area.. Toby commented on the absurdity of the situation where military personnel risk their lives to supposedly “defend our freedom” in foreign wars, and are now trying to violate our free speech rights to distribute literature to Beale personnel.

Toby remained in the gore area, asserting her free speech rights. Military police then left the area to seek advise from their superiors. The officers returned, recited formal orders to Toby to disperse, and then immediately handcuffed Toby’s wrists, and escorted her off the roadway. Susan Witka was present to document the arrest in these photos.

It initially appeared that Toby was going to be released after a short detention on the side of the road, but then she was re-handcuffed and taken deep onto base property for fingerprinting and processing because she didn’t have an ID on her. After 2.5 hrs of total detention, she was finally released, with a “trespassing” citation, in the dark of the night. Huge thanks to Fred Bialy and Susan Witka who waited patiently for Toby’s release at the gate.

Throughout the “processing”, Toby used every opportunity to educate Beale personnel about US foreign policy as occupiers, torturers and drone assassinators. She repeatedly asked for the name of the officer in charge who gave the orders to arrest her unlawfully. She was never given that information, until just before her release, a “Tech Sargeant” named officer Beck, who newly appeared near the end, said, “you can put my name down.” When Toby asked him if he actually gave the orders, he just parroted back, “You can put my name down.” 

The public and military personnel all have the right to know the truth about US foreign policy and the devastating human rights violations committed by these policies. Free speech rights have to be strongly defended, if our fragile democracy is going to endure. In addition, if soldiers are going to risk their lives in foreign countries, supposedly to “defend our freedom,” they should never be asked to violate our freedom at home.

May we one day celebrate the last militarized drone vehicle to be grounded to a permanent resting place.

Huge gratitude to Eleanor Levine, Susan Witka and Fred Bialy for all your contributions to this day of resistance to drone killing and US militarism at Beale AFB.