SHUT DOWN DRONE WARFARE
SPRING ACTION: April 5-11, 2026
Report Back: Day 1, Sunday
Shut Down Drone Warfare
Holloman Drone Training Base, Alamogordo, Southern NM
Dear Peace Loving Friends,
Since we have the luxury this year of the entire Shut Down Drone Warfare (SDDW) crew staying in our large “CAMP JUSTICE” rented house in Alamogordo, we also have the luxury of sending out daily reports from different participants each day. It is guaranteed to be an amazing week of collective nonviolent resistance to drones and war that will include much community outreach and education!
In a recent online teach-in on nonviolence, Mahatma Gandhi’s granddaughter Ela emphasized that Gandhi felt it was important to do extensive education and outreach in the community FIRST in order to get the necessary support to make his nonviolent campaign of resistance successful. We are applying this wisdom to our week ahead in Alamogordo, NM. We need the community to join us, military and non-military alike! Our overlying theme this week is a call for military personnel to “Stand Down” and REFUSE ILLEGAL ORDERS.
Full Details: www.ShutDownDroneWarfare.org
REPORT BACK: Day 1
Fred Bialy / Shut Down Drone Warfare
Four of the Shut Drone Warfare crew arrived in Alamogordo already Saturday evening and moved into our rental house for the week. We found that the house’s Wifi network was not working, but resolved the problem on Sunday morning after several back-and-forth texts with the property manager.
The morning was spent emptying our car of signs, banners and other visuals and unpacking those delivered by a local activist who stored many of our supplies from last year. We wanted to go grocery shopping, but found the local Albertson’s and Lowe’s grocery stores closed for Easter. A phone call verified that Walmart was open so we went there in the mid-afternoon to wander the parking lot and pass out to shoppers about 200+ flyers created by Nick (attached below).
The flyer contained an open letter to Colonel John T. Etheridge, the Holloman base commander, encouraging him, drone crew trainers and drone crews to take a conscientious stand against participating in any way in drone attacks. The flyer also contained a list of references for the letter, a list of public events we have arranged for the week as well as resources for military personnel who wish to say NO. We ended up having interesting conversations with many of the flyer recipients, nonmilitary and military alike.
By the end of the evening we were six. Virginia made a tasty Mexican dinner fortifying us for Monday’s early morning vigil at the base. During an after dinner trip back to Walmart, 20-30 more flyers were passed out. We ended the evening preparing our visuals for Monday morning’s vigil.
Anti-Drone Activists Stage Weeklong Protest at Largest U.S. Drone Training Base; Call to End War on Iran, Lebanon and Gaza Genocide-Demand Military Refuse Illegal Orders
Where: Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, Southern New Mexico
When: April 6-10, 2026
Nonviolent Resistance Action planned mid-week.
In the 4th annual spring peace convergence at Holloman AFB, NM, known as Shut Down Drone Warfare, a national mobilization, twice daily protests at the largest US drone training base during commute hours will highlight the total illegality of the Trump Administration’s U.S. foreign policies that violate numerous national and international laws.
The illegal and covert US drone program plays a critical role in the current conflicts in the Middle East. This year activists will call for the US military to refuse illegal orders, a duty required by their military code of conduct – See legal concerns about U.S. foreign policies and the Covert US Drone Program at end of release.
The week will include a community distribution of flyers in Alamogordo to educate people about the US drone program. The flyer includes a public letter to the base commander, Col. John T. Etheridge, asking him to stop enabling U.S. drone attacks and to stop training drone operators and pilots. It also gives resources where US military can get legal support in refusing illegal orders. (flyer attached)
One of the visuals to be used during the week, a large pile of children’s shoes, will be a moving memorial to the 165+ Iranian children killed from two consecutive US missile attacks on their elementary school on the first day of the Iran war.
Activists will call on US military personnel to follow their conscience and disobey all illegal orders. Resources will be made available to those military seeking legal support for their right to refuse illegal orders. Daily commute hour vigils (6:30 – 8:30am, 3:30 – 5:30pm) will be multi-faceted, connecting the dots between unbridled US militarism and it’s critical role contributing to ecocide, climate chaos, global instability, and the illegality and immorality inherent in the covert US drone program.
One vigil will be devoted to addressing the lies that are used to promote these unjust policies.
The week will include many other activities and events to educate and engage the public, including:
• A day of nonviolent resistance, mid-week, to interrupt the daily illegal drone war machinery at Holloman Drone Base that violates international law.
• Free educational film screenings: National Bird, featuring US drone whistleblowers and Abby Martin’s new film, Earth’s Greatest Enemy, addressing the U.S. military’s role as # 1 polluter of the earth.
• Fri. April 10, 10am- Noon: Peace March & Rally in Alamogordo, organized and led by 5 Las Cruces peace & justice organizations.
From the 2.5-year-long US-Israeli genocidal war on Gaza that has desecrated the land, leaving 2 million Palestinians homeless and gravely deprived of basic human needs, to the recent unprovoked wars on Iran and Lebanon that has destabilized the region, caused massive displacements of people (3+ million in Iran and 1+ million in Lebanon), and created an immediate global economic crisis, there are no winners under these policies, except for the war profiteers.
Because there are no longer any meaningful checks and balances and accountability within our branches of government, organizers believe that it is necessary for the people in the military to take an active role to reverse the hazardous trajectory that we’re on as a nation.
“We are here this week to personally appeal to members of the U.S. drone program to stop drone killing because Congress has failed in its responsibility to protect the world from U.S. drone attacks,” charged Nick Mottern, co-organizer of Shut Down Drone Warfare week.
Legal Concerns of Covert US
Drone Program and US Foreign Policy:
Each year, Holloman AFB trains about 600 operators of the MQ-9 Reaper drone, the workhorse of U.S. drone surveillance and killing. Reaper drones have provided visual and electronic monitoring for the U.S.-Israel bombardment against Iran, and undoubtedly have also attacked with Hellfire missiles and bombs. Since the bombardment started on Feb. 28, 2026, Iran has shot down at least 11 Reapers, at an average cost of $30-35 million each.
The U.S.-Israel attacks against Iran violate international laws and U.S. domestic laws.
U.N. experts have “stressed that the unprovoked attack by the United States and Israel on Iran – carried out while negotiations were still ongoing and with the implicit or explicit endorsement of numerous States – is entirely illegal under international law and constitutes an act of aggression.”
The U.S-Israel attack also violates international laws against slaughter of civilians, assassination, killing without due process, destruction of civilian infrastructure and assaulting Iran’s right to self-determination. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/03/un-experts-denounce-aggression-iran-and-lebanon-warn-devastating-regional
The attack also violates the U.S. Constitution against going to war without approval of Congress https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/trumps-iran-strikes-are-unconstitutional , the U.S. War Crimes Act of 1996 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/14/analysts-say-us-threat-of-no-quarter-for-iran-violates-international-law and U.S. laws prohibiting shipment of weapons to Israel because it is a perpetrator of genocide, assassination and other violations of human rights.
Reaper drones and all weaponized drones are weapons that violate international law in being, implicitly, terrorizing, indiscriminate, disproportionate and in spreading armed conflict more widely than would be possible using conventional weapons, manned by humans, and in prolonging armed conflict longer that would otherwise be possible using conventional weapons and human armed forces. These assertions are supported by the experience of the use of weaponized drones in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, the Ukraine-Russia, Gaza and Iran. See also: https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2025/09/ukraines-drone-milestone-shows-drones-prevent-defeat-dont-secure-victory/407846/
The introduction of AI into the identification of targets, selection of targets and selection of weapons promises greater civilian casualties and gross military errors; Defense Onereports: “As Pentagon rushes to deploy (AI), research suggests (AI) can undermine human thought and communication.” https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2026/03/military-ai-troops-judgement/412390/
SHUT DOWN DRONE WARFARE urges U.S. drone operators and their commanders to refuse what are, in their judgement, illegal orders, as supported by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. (UCMJ) https://www.ucmjlaw.com/disobey-a-superior-officer/ and https://nlgmltf.org/military-law/2025/faq-on-refusing-illegal-orders/
Shut Down Drone Warfare week is co-sponsored by Veterans For Peace, CODEPINK, and Ban Killer Drones. For more info: ShutDownDroneWarfare.org
Huge thanks to these Las Cruces peace & justice organizations leading the Fri, April 10 Peace March & Rally in Alamogordo:
• Party for Socialism & Liberation – Las Cruces
• Las Cruces for Palestine
• Students for Palestine – NMSU-Las Cruces
• Food Not Bombs – Las Cruces
