Friends,
FOR affiliate the Stony Point Center is inviting people of faith and conscience to the Multifaith Anti-Drone Conference this Friday and Saturday. Attendees will be working to shape regional faith-rooted responses to drone warfare -- and they want your voice included!
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Featured speaker Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink.
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Featured speakers include Medea Benjamin of Code Pink; Arun Kundnani, author of The Muslims Are Coming!; Ray McGovern, a former CIA officer; Nick Mottern of KnowDrones.com; and Mary Ann Grady Flores of Upstate Drone Action and past political prisoner.
And with this special invitation from the Stony Point Center to FOR supporters, you can attend this conference for half price! Read on for details.
Decolonizing faith from racism while we build anti-war organizing
Hosted by the Community of Living Traditions -- a multifaith intentional community dedicated to social justice -- this working conference will link anti-war organizing with the struggle to decolonize our faith traditions from racism, Islamophobia and empire. It will be an interactive conference that will follow up on the work done at the Interfaith Conference on Drone Warfare held at Princeton Seminary in January 2015, including building on the "Interfaith Letter on Drone Warfare" which was sent to President Obama and the U.S. Congress.
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Featured speaker Arun Kundnani, author of "The Muslims Are Coming! Islamophobia, Extremism and the Domestic War on Terror."
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Organizers created this conference specifically to focus on building links between international organizing against war and militarism, and domestic organizing against Islamophobia and racism. As you may know, Muslims are the only targets of extrajudicial killings by lethal drones. We must call for the end of drone production and deployment from our own back yard at Hancock Air Force Base near Syracuse.
Regular conference registration is $150, but thanks to a special invitation from Stony Point to FOR supporters, you can attend for just $75!
This registration includes housing, meals and entertainment this Friday and Saturday, April 8 and 9. If you're planning to commute to the conference each day, you can attend for just $60 -- or even less if you're only able to attend one day. No one will be turned away due to lack of funds; please contact the conference organizer (information at bottom) to inquire.
If you haven't been to the Stony Point Center before, you can get details on traveling by car or public transportation.
Full conference program
Friday, April 8
- 6:00pm: Dinner, welcome and interfaith prayer
- 7:30pm: Screening of the documentary "DRONE," followed by discussion with whistleblower Christopher Aaron, former CIA officer Ray McGovern, and Kambale Musavuli of Friends of Congo
- 10:00pm: Interfaith prayer
Saturday, April 9
- 8:00am: Breakfast and interfaith prayer
- 9:15am: Keynote address by Arun Kundnani: "Violence Always Comes Home: Terrorism, Empire and Islamophobia" followed by discussion and Q&A
- 10:45am: Keynote address by Medea Benjamin: "Drone Warfare: It's a Matter of Faith" followed by discussion and Q&A
- 12:00pm: Lunch
- 1:15pm: Multifaith perspectives on drones and Islamophobia -- featuring Muhammed Malik of Muslims for Ferguson, Rabbi Michael Feinberg of the Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition, Imam Hamin Rashadah of the Masjid Al-Ikhlas in Newburgh, and Aaron Stauffer of Religions for Peace
- 3:15pm: Regional grassroots coordination and mobilization -- featuring Nick Mottern of KnowDrones.com, Joe Lombardo of United National Anti-War Coalition, Mary Anne Grady Flores of Upstate Drone Action, Brian Trautman of Veterans for Peace, and Barbara Kidney of Drone Alert Hudson Valley
- 5:30pm: Articulation of mobilization strategies and commitments
- 5:45pm: Closing interfaith prayer
- 6:00pm: Dinner and music by Omnia Hegazy, Egyptian American vocalist and guitarist, and Stephen Sayeed, Pakistani American vocalist and guitarist
The conference is being organized by Peace Action Education Fund, Interfaith Drone Network, KnowDrones.com, and the Community of Living Traditions; and co-sponsored by the Center & Library for the Bible and Social Justice, and Rockland for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel.
For more information, you can contact conference organizer Sue Smith at (845) 786-5674 x106 or ssmith@stonypointcenter.org.
I hope to see you there!
 Linda E. Kelly
Director of Communications
Fellowship of Reconciliation
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