For nearly 9 years, the Wisconsin Coalition to Ground the Drones has held monthly vigils at the gates of Volk Field in Camp Douglas, Wisconsin to protest the RQ-7 Shadow Drones housed there and the US program of drone warfare in general — a program the UN has called a war crime, because many of the people killed are innocent civilians.
Our guest, Bonnie Block, is one of seven antiwar activists who was arrested for trespassing at one of these protests in November 2019, and now is set to stand trial later this month. The activists, who are all senior citizens, filed motions to postpone the trial, citing concerns about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But Judge Stacey Smith of the Juneau County District Court in Mauston, Wisconsin, denied their motions — and Bonnie says due to her high-risk status and the current elevated risk of COVID, she won’t appear in court on Monday.
