Mary Anne drone resister fund

SUPPORT GRANDMA DRONE RESISTER

Ithaca, NY grandmother Mary Anne Grady Flores -- who has been protesting the US’ drone assassination program for several years -- was taken into custody on January 19th to serve a 6-month sentence in the Jamesville Correctional Facility, Onondaga County. At this stage of her case, her conviction is being appealed at the NYS Court of Appeals.

Your support will help her pay for phone calls, commissary needs, standard bills that she’s unable to pay due to loss of income, and home healthcare costs for her mother (who is still healing from a severe fall and needs home care in the absence of Mary Anne -- a primary caretaker).

Mary Anne, her family, and supporters would be grateful for your support.

For video on Mary Anne and her actions (in English with Spanish subtitles) https://youtu.be/3V8ElSbrEHg

“… who is the real victim here: the commander of a military base whose drones kill innocent people halfway around the world, or those innocent people themselves who are the real ones in need of protection from the terror of US drone attacks?”
-- Mary Anne Grady Flores                  
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BACKGROUND

On May 16, 2014, Grady Flores was convicted of violating an order of protection while taking photos of eight protesters resisting the US drone assassination program at Hancock Air Base in DeWitt, New York on February 13, 2013. DeWitt Judge David Gideon sentenced Mary Anne to one year in prison and fined her $1,000, but she was released on bail while her appeal was pending.  All eight drone resisters were acquitted by a judge who asserted that they intended to uphold law, not break it.

 On January 12, 2016, Grady Flores received a letter saying that Onondaga County Court Judge Thomas Miller upheld her lower court conviction but had reduced her sentence to six months. In the same letter she was informed that Justice Miller also upheld the Hancock 17 nonviolent drone resisters’ orders of protection, convictions of disorderly conduct, and 15-day sentences. 

Ms. Grady Flores and other members of The Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars, have been protesting the drone assassination program since 2010.
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MEDIA COVERAGE OF MARY ANNE’S CASE (JANUARY 2016):

·       Bill Moyers: http://billmoyers.com/story/a-drone-protestor-heads-to-jail/

·       Democracy Now! exclusive web interview: http://www.democracynow.org/2016/1/19/web_exclusive_drone_war_protester_mary

·       Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mary-anne-grady-flores-drones_us_569e78a1e4b00f3e9863073d?utm_hp_ref=politics

·       Ithaca Voice: http://ithacavoice.com/2016/01/standing-ovation-thunderous-applause-for-ithaca-protester-taken-into-custody/

o   http://ithacavoice.com/2016/01/12-photos-of-ithacas-anti-drone-grandmother-supporters-at-courthouse/

o   http://ithacavoice.com/2016/01/ithacas-grandma-drone-protester-will-begin-serving-6-month-sentence-tuesday/

·       Syracuse Post Standard: http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index.ssf/2016/01/dewitt_drone_protester.html

·       Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/activism/grandma-drone-protester-be-jailed-six-months

·       Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2016/01/15/grandma-drone-protester-remanded-jail-6-months

·       Popular Resistance: https://www.popularresistance.org/grandma-drone-protester-remanded-to-jail-for-6-months/

·       Brave New Films: https://www.facebook.com/bravenewfilms/posts/10153207342527016

·       Center for Media and Democracy: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/01/13018/pacifist-drone-protestor-heads-jail-while-armed-militants-oregon-act-impunity