DRONE PROTESTS PLANNED IN DES MOINES

Organizers for two groups say they plan a non-violent mass demonstration against drone warfare Saturday and Monday at the Iowa Air National Guard Base in Des Moines. The events are designed to protest drone warfare and U.S. military occupations overseas and Monday's gathering likely will be followed by civil disobedience actions, according to organizers. Saturday's 10 a.m. rally -- organized by the Des Moines Catholic Worker and the Des Moines Veterans for Peace chapter -- will feature several speakers who will address workers from across the Midwest who are slated to converge on the Iowa Air National Guard Base at 3100 McKinley Avenue on Des Moines' southwest side. Aaron Jorgensen-Briggs, a Des Moines Catholic Worker who just returned from two months working as an international solidarity and protective accompaniment activist in occupied Palestine, said the Iowa Air National Guard's 132nd Fighter Wing is being given the mission of piloting and controlling armed Reaper Drones. “President Obama uses drone warfare as an alternative to the more heavy footprint of foreign military occupation, but the basic result is the same – hundreds of innocent men, women, and children in the Middle East are being murdered by the American government in the service of a capitalist empire-building project,” Jorgensen-Briggs said in a statement. “Drones are also being used to spy on everyday Americans right here at home, and the violence drones can inflict on poor brown people around the world can also be turned on U.S. citizens during times of significant economic inequality and social unrest.”