November 15, 2013
News Release
Peace activist Medea Benjamin to visit Germany
As a supporter of the campaign „No Combat Drones,“ the Peace Coordination of Berlin is pleased to announce that the world-renowned drones expert and activist Medea Benjamin will visit Germany from December 9 – 16, 2013 upon invitation by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Berlin. The Foundation and supporters of the German Drone Campaign are planning lectures, readings and discussions with Ms. Benjamin in Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Hamburg, and Leipzig. They seek thereby to foster cooperative international efforts to achieve a worldwide ban of armed drones and to raise public awareness regarding the implications of the use of these weapons.
Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK: Women for Peace, hopes that in addition to meeting with peace activists in Germany, she will be able to engage in substantive discussions with representatives of the German government and representatives of all the parties in the German Parliament (Bundestag). She would like to discuss with them the role of Germany in the current US drone wars as well as the German government’s proposal to include armed drones in the arsenal of the German military (Bundeswehr). „Killing by remote control is just the latest consequence of the militarization of life in our society,“ says Benjamin. „This militarization starts with all-encompassing surveillance and spying on all forms of protest. It is but a small step from surveillance drones to armed UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). A ban on the weaponization of drones would be life insurance for all of us.“
The German Drone Campaign’s petition „No Combat Drones“ has already been endorsed by more than 140 organizations and signed by over 15 000 individuals in Germany. The petition rejects the German government’s proposal to acquire armed drones and furthermore opposes any use of drone technology for combat, surveillance and oppression. Among the political parties represented in the Bundestag, the Left Party, the Green Party, and some members of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) have endorsed the petition. This coming weekend the Berlin peace activist Elsa Rassbach will participate in the „Drone Summit“ conference in Washington, representing the German Drone Campaign.