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Day of Action

March 5, 2013
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The quilt will be finished by the 1st May and, on the 6th, will be taken on a pilgrimage for peace, calling for an end to the use of armed drones. We’ll be delivering books containing pictures of every quilt square to businesses and institutions who have links to the manufacture of drones and have also prepared one to present to the government. We hope these will be a strong challenge that will force people to confront the real human lives wasted by drone warfare. The day of action will finish with a service of rememberance in a central London church, and we’re in the process of arranging that. Please join us, for all or part of the day. We will be taking the quilt itself with us and hope that it’s presence will raise awareness as we travel. The more people that can join us, especially for the London vigil, the more impact our protest will have.

After the day of action, the quilt will tour the country and be used as an educational aid. We hope its tour will be accompanied by non-violence workshops and talks, please get in touch if you, or your church, would be interested in hosting us.

Monday May 6th 2013
10: Leave Yardley Hastings
10.30: Deliver a book of Drones Quilt photos to Cranfield University
11.30: Deliver a book of Drones Quilt photos to RAF Northwood
12.15: Picnic in Richmond Park: a time to raise awareness and perhaps a little money!
1.30: Leave for central London
2.30: Deliver a book of Drones Quilt photos to General Atomics
3.30: Prayer Vigil and Remembrance Service (venue tbc- Central London Church)

Press Release- 1st March 2013

March 1, 2013
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The Drones Quilt is a project of the Fellowship of Reconciliation that hopes to challenge decision makers and the public to think about the real people, and their stories, who are killed by drones strikes.

We are inviting people to make a square of a quilt decorated with their name and the name of someone killed by a drone. People from everywhere and anywhere have got involved: university students, church groups, activists and individuals of all shapes and sizes. They are all individually advocating for someone whose voice has been stifled. We want to remind the government that people are not just thermo sensitive dots on a screen in a military base, but real people with real lives and real names.

We believe drones are inhumane, not only are they ineffective and imprecise, but they reduce human beings to statistics, little red dots on a black screen. The psychological distance between soldier and victim, the fatal risk to one party compared to the total absence of risk to another is unacceptable. It encourages a video game mentality where humans cease to be viewed as humans and become just targets. It is an injustice and an insult to our shared, common humanity.

Our project wants to restore a bit of that lost humanity, a bit of that dignity, love and compassion that was negated by a kind of warfare that dehumanises and degrades.

You can take part up until the 1st May, details are on our website at dronesquilt.wordpress.com and we would love people to join us on our Peace Pilgrimage in London on May 6th, were we will present companies and businesses associated with drones with a book of photos of the quilt. We hope we will then be able to present another book of pictures to parliament. The quilt will then tour the country, raising awareness and being used as an educational tool with school aged children.

For more information, please contact jessica@for.org.uk