Drones Installation

Zohra Ahmed
Summary

I plan to install replicas of Predator drones on the sidewalks1 leading to ground zero on
9/11. These drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) will be modeled after the
General Atomics MQ-1B Predator (click here for images), which routinely enter
Pakistani airspace on tenuous legal basis and obliterate villages, resulting in heavy
civilian casualties. Styrofoam and plaster will be used to construct 4 scaled down
replicas of these aircrafts. These will be mounted on the sidewalks 7 feet above the
ground. For clarity, small placards will be placed under the drones stating the number of
civilians drones have killed since September 11th, and the location of the attacks in
northwestern Pakistan. As people remember what took place 9 years ago on September
11th, the piece seeks to evoke how violence has been displaced, exported, but yet persists
in eerily similar forms.

Objectives

I want to recreate, in a modest way, the sinister effect of these aerial bodies as they
hover and exercise their radical capacity to kill anonymously. Predator drones are
unmanned, piloted from far distances, and used to launch missiles so far in the sky that
their presence undetected by those living below. These robots serve to enlarge the
geographic breadth and scope of swift state sponsored violence that is inherently
asymmetric- machine over blood. Its installation on September 11th puts into view the
persistent continuity of large-scale industrial violence. 9/11 for Americans and for
Pakistanis was a day of tragedy. For the latter, it meant the surrender of national
sovereignty to the U.S., and a carte blanche to kill. UN special representative on
extrajudicial killings, Philippe Alston has called for greater clarifications on the legal
limits of American warfare outside of declared zones of conflict2. But more than mere
clarifications are needed. By exposing the technologies of destruction employed in
waging this unending war on terror, this installation means to reveal its sole rationale;
that is, the very perpetuation of terror itself. In simulating the experience of life under
these machines, this installation aims to awaken senses, as well as opposition to the use
of drones and to the Global War on Terror (GWOT).

Background

The tragic events that took place on September 11th need no further elucidation. What
does need spelling out are the parallel and devastating other terrors that have been
carried out in the name of Infinite Justice - the original name given to the invasion of
Afghanistan, a campaign that has swelled into a broad ranging offensive in the “AfPak”
region.

1
The exact location for installation is to be determined. Should there be issues with permits the
alternative location is Central Park.

2 Horton. Sam. “Rules for Drone Wars: Six Questions for Philip Alston”. Harper’s Magazine.
June 9 2010. http://harpers.org/archive/2010/06/hbc-90007190.

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In Pakistan, the GWOT is being waged by automated aircrafts-surely a symbolic parallel,
the weight of which needs further consideration. More drone attacks have been
launched by the Barak Obama administration than by President Bush3. Preferred for
their “antiseptic, high-tech appeal and their secrecy”4, drones hover over target areas for
up to 17 hours, survey and discern, and then, kill, swiftly from 5 miles in the sky5. Those
deliberately targeted are said to be members of diverse groups: Al-Quaeda, Haqqani
Network or Taliban; the majority of the attacks have taken place in Waziristan, see here
for map. However, according to an exhaustive media survey by the New American
Foundation’s Counterterrorism Strategy Initiative, a third (33%) of deaths are civilian6.

Suffice it to say that US’s war-making agencies are not being held accountable for
violence perpetrated against civilians, and for their use of unmanned armed aircrafts as
part of their arsenal. While there is no dearth of imagery surrounding 9/11, no shortage
of references in our collective memory to recall our grief, there is a severe shortage of
information, knowledge and consciousness about the drone attacks.

The rationale behind the drone program picks up on a central paradox of the
Washington consensus. The drone program is expected to rid Pakistan of its militancy,
and save the state from its unraveling. Upon closer inspection, it is clear that at the root
of militancy are a string of opaque and undemocratic policies, strong executive
centralized power at the expense of local, regional governance, class struggle and
repeated military interventions. What is evident is that the drone program only
polarizes the Pakistani public, fueling a cycle of violence. Given the weakness of the
democratic infrastructure and the relative strengths of the military-bureaucracy,
American involvement wreaks havoc and destabilizes, opening the stage for yet another
military coup, perhaps with American backing. The drone attacks operate with the tacit
consent of the Pakistani government, but without the approval of the Pakistani people.
The Pakistani government repeatedly denies its involvement, while the US government
affirms the Pakistani government’s approval. These confusions and half truths underline
a persistent truth: The drone program is another example of the US government’s
support of opaque, antidemocratic, and brutal policies in the region.

Wanted!
This is an ambitious project. I am looking for volunteers to help with sculpting the

3 Shane, Scott. “C.I.A. to Expand Use of Drones in Pakistan”. New York Times,
December 3 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/world/asia/04drones.html?
ref=unmanned_aerial_vehicles.
4
Ibid.
5 BBC News. “Mapping US drone and Islamic militant attacks in Pakistan”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10713898 22. Last updated July 21
2010.
6
Bergen, P. and Tiedemann, K. “The Year of the Drone” An Analysis of U.S. Drone Strikes in
Pakistan”. Counterterrorism Strategy Initiative Policy Paper. February 4 2010. Available
http://counterterrorism.newamerica.net/drones.

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drones, adding plaster, mounting them, and assisting with their transportation and
installment on the day. Moreover, I would welcome any advice from those with
experience with protests in New York. Particularly welcome are tips for navigating
permits in the Financial District on September 11th. Most importantly, I would love for
you to help me publicize this event to all your contacts and organizations that may be
interested.

Some more information on the use of drones- I especially recommend the 5th link:

1. http://www.janes.com/news/defence/air/jdw/jdw080424_1_n.shtml
2. http://www.janes.com/news/defence/jdw/jdw090422_1_n.shtml
3. http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=122
4. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10713898
5. http://counterterrorism.newamerica.net/drones
6.http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/unmanned_aerial_
vehicles/index.html