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War Machine Protest in Pittsburgh Update

The Pittsburg Organizing Group has declared their planned blockade of the National Robotics Engineering Center a success.

They succeeded in closing the research facility for the day on Friday and drawing attention to military connections to the center.

They blocked various entrances to the site with people connected together with PVC pipe and duct tape. There was also a person on a 20 foot high tripod set up in front of the main entrance.
The action started around 7 AM and lasted until about noon. 13 (or 14) people were arrested for "failure to disperse, obstructiong of a public highway, and possession of instruments of a crime with criminal intent."
The "instruments of crime" were reportedly the PVC pipe that they used to bind themselves together.

There were about 20 people directly involved with the barricade plus over 100 supporters and observers.
News reports said that CMU officials told police that a few of the protesters who were on CMU property, rather than a public road, could stay of they wanted. They were not arrested.

There was a moderate amount of local news coverage but they had to compete for television attention with the funeral of that rich blonde chick. People have their priorities.



I do not know personally whether the work done at NREC is good or bad for world peace, etc. But I do appreciate the efforts of these few protestors to raise the issue and maybe cause people to ask questions about the consequences of their engineering work. Many times engineers become so enamoured with the elegance of their technology that they forget to ask for what it is to be used.

Barricade the War Machine in Pittsburgh

Planned Action

Anti Robot Action Planned

An olde time civil disobedience action is planned for Pittsburg on March 2.
The organizers, Pittsburg Organizing Group, plan to shut down the National Robotics Engineering Center, at Carnegie Mellon University with a blockade. Uh oh.

They chose ths target because, "The military research done by CMU and NREC is a glaring example of the increasing militarization of academia; students and faculty are knowing, and often unknowing, cogs in an expanding and terrifying war machine."

The schedule so far:
7:00am: Gather in Friendship Park (Friendship Ave and Mathilda St in Bloomfield)
7:30am: March to barricade NREC facility (40th and Willow St in Lawrenceville)

But there will be some surprises in store.
"Alongside large marches, there is a need for actions that are direct and compelling: actions that speak to public refusal of the war, that are demands -- not requests, that directly confront militarism itself rather than one particular manifestation of it."

They seem like they are planning for a loud event. The webpage even includes tips on how to prepare - like dressing in layers and bringing quarters for a phone call after you are arrested.

I applaud their efforts. Someone needs to raise the ethical issues and force engineers and scientists to confront them.
However, unless they bring some robots of their own, they won't stand a chance.

Barricade the War Machine in Pittsburgh

See more information at Infoshop News

UAV Development Draws Protests

Aberporth, Wales.
"Non-violent direct action" are planned for the site of a UK national UAV center.
The West Wales UAV Centre is a partnership of West Wales Airport and defense corporation QinetiQ for testing and coordinating unmanned and autonomous flying machines. The center is part of the national ASTRAEA (Autonomous Systems Technology Related Airborne Evaluation and Assessment) program with the goal of getting UAV's to routinely fly unrestricted in UK airspace. The Welsh Assembly Government has given its full backing to the programme and is providing approximately £3M (US$5.6M) over 3 years to help industry open up UK airspace for routine operation of UAVs.

The protests were called for at the monthly meeting of activist group Bro Emlyn for Peace and Justice. The reason for the demonstrations are to raise awareness of the nature of the work being done at parc Aberporth.

Harry Rogers of BEPJ is reported as saying, "This project is extremely worrying for we ordinary mortals living in west Wales as most of us only get to hear about the... trumpetings of new jobs and economic development opportunities, but nothing about what is actually being planned at Parc Aberporth.
To put it simply, what kind of jobs are they going to be and what will the products arising out of this industrial development be used for?"

This shows that not everyone is impressed by the recent innovations in unmanned warfare. To many, flying robots are just another weapon.

Peace Demo For Uav Sites (from Tivyside Advertiser)

Roboticist to Start Post-Apocalypse Commune

"For the past few years, I've been conducting research in robotics, and teaching the subject at various universities. But now I've decided to give it all up because it has become clear to me that this technology is not going to improve the lot of the human race. In fact, it's going to make things worse."

Dylan Evans, author and Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Autonomous Systems at University of the West of England, UK, has decided to quit everything to start a ‘learning community’ commune in northern Scotland.

The community will be founded on the vision of harmony that harkens back to Thomas More’s Utopia and beyond. The vision of the community includes three principles:

1. It will be a LEARNING COMMUNITY - each member must have a distinctive skill or area of knowledge that they can teach to the others.

2. It will be a WORKING COMMUNITY - no money is required from the members, but all must contribute by working.

3. It will be strictly TIME-LIMITED. This is not an attempt to found an ongoing community. Members may stay for up to three months, but may also come for as little as two weeks.

The community will be a sort of training mission for post-apocalypse life. Dr. Evans believes that the mechanization of our society will not only make our situation worse but will lead to the total destruction of civilization:

Is it possible that global civilisation might collapse within our lifetime or that of our children?
Until recently, such an idea was the preserve of lunatics and cults. In the past few years, however, an increasing number of intelligent and credible people have been warning that global collapse is a genuine possibility.

The new doomsayers all point to the same collection of threats…What makes them especially afraid is that many of these dangers are interrelated, with one tending to exacerbate the others.

It is only prudent to start training for a post collapse life now.

The Utopian Experiment will begin in March 2007 but if you are interested you should contact Dr. Evans now, while you still can.

The Utopia Experiment