Report on nonviolent Action at Travis Airforce Base

[David Hartsough]

Friends,

Some of you have asked how our nonviolent action at Travis Airforce Base went on Nov 20. Four of us associated with SF Friends Meeting participated in the action.

Here is a brief report. 

Twenty eight of us were arrested and many of us spent the whole day in jail and have court dates in January. Jail felt like a  very good place to be in the midst of the horrors we see in Gaza and the world moving closer and closer to  World War III. We hope our ongoing action will be duplicated in other areas around the country which are also supporting the war effort.

Peace,
David Hartsough, San Francisco Friends Meeting

Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024 ( 11:30 am, Update)

Contacts:  Wynd Kaufmyn, kau...@aol.com, (510) 714-8687

 Toby Blomé, toby4...@sonic.net, 510.501.5412

         David Hartsough, davidrh...@gmail.com, (415) 359-8343

 Janie Kesselman, jani...@gmail.com, 530-288-3600

VIDEOS & PHOTOS:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1k0wWD5oDWAi2PWdHQfo-QDiHjPHvelrZ

28 ARRESTED AT MASS BLOCKADE ON WEDNESDAY PROTESTING SENDING WEAPONS TO ISRAEL AT TRAVIS AFB 

TRAVIS AFB/FAIRFIELD, CA  (UPDATE 11:30 A.M. ) – As reported by police authorities yesterday, 28 people were arrested on Wednesday in a mass nonviolent rally and "human blockade” that blocked all 4 entrances into Travis Air Force Base, the state’s largest air base, to “Nonviolently stop the supply chain for weapons to Israel.”  Travis, an hour from San Francisco, has been a key air base transporting US weapons to Israel in it’s yearlong military offensive in Gaza, which many experts, nationally and globally, are calling a genocide. 

In the early rainy morning, base personnel heading for work were confronted by about 100 demonstrators, some carrying “bloody” shroud-covered (mock) baby or child corpses because, “This is what genocide looks like.”

To institute a “People’s Arms Embargo,” peace protestors ultimately blocked all four Travis AFB gates, successfully putting “our bodies between these bombs and the children of Gaza by blocking workers loading these bombs onto planes headed to Israel,” said longtime Quaker peace activist and co-organizer, David Hartsough.  Reported by authorities, 20 were arrested at the Main Gate/Hospital Gate, 5 at the Commercial Gate (South Gate) and 2 at the North gate. All 28 were cited and released by 4:00 pm yesterday and charged with “failure to comply with a lawful order."

The People’s Arms Embargo is a new campaign at Travis, sponsored by over 20 organizations:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Jb45jUdRkv6vv9vx7IPaODjR6mqKyA8Yoe1aVOWnXL4/edit?tab=t.0

Nov. 20 was “World Children’s Day,” and protest organizers noted that even by conservative numbers more than 12,000 children – and 700 infants – have been confirmed killed by Israel in the war in Gaza. "Many thousands more are starving, wounded and traumatized," say protestors.

“Some experts estimate the total death toll nearing 200,000, with most bodies still under the rubble; 70% are women and children,” charges co-organizer Toby Blomé.  “Our conscience calls us to act to halt the worst humanitarian horrors of the 21st century.” 

In related national and global news

Today the International Criminal Court issued warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes, including “starvation as a method of warfare.”  In contrast, just yesterday the US Senate overwhelmingly rejected 3 separate resolutions, sponsored by Bernie Sanders, that would have blocked or limited shipment of specific weapons and military equipment to Israel.

“After over a year of US funded genocide in Palestine, and mass protests across the country, our government is STILL ignoring the will of the majority of Americans who say no to tax $$ and weapons to aid Israel’s ongoing slaughter in Gaza:  Congress is preparing to send $20 billion MORE in military aid to support this horrific violence on mostly civilians.” say organizers.  “We say: Join the People’s Arms Embargo."

The coalition emphasizes that sending arms to Israel violates numerous Federal and International laws, including the Nuremberg Principles that prohibit crimes against humanity: 
"We appeal to the workers at Travis and the American people to help us stop this madness,"  said co-organizer and Quaker, David Hartsough, San Francisco.

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