This short article first appeared in the November issue of Gangjeong Village Story. In the Fall of 2015, I traveled to Okinawa for the first time and to Jeju Island for my second visit. On my return to Chicago, I spent a sleepless jetlag night listening to one of the Democratic debates. In it, I heard Governor Webb rattling sabers time and time again over the specious “threat” of China. Nobody else on the presidential line-up challenged his remarks.Continue reading
Month: November 2015
Exposing the Killer Drones of Hancock Airbase’s 174th Attack Wing
Every first Tuesday of the month since 2010 a handful of us have been protesting the weaponized Reaper drone at Hancock Air Base. In milder weather – from April to November – we also protest on third Tuesdays. We call this work, “street heat.” Why such persistence? Hancock AFB, near Syracuse, our home town, hosts the 174th Attack Wing of the New York Air National Guard. Although its operations and the identities of its drone personnel are classified, several yearsContinue reading
Merciless
An Op-Ed by Frank Pauc first printed in the Milwaukee Journal President Hollande of France stated that his country’s response to the the Paris massacres would be “merciless”. That is an interesting choice of words. The men who murdered 129 people could also be described as “merciless”. I would be interested in knowing what President Hollande actually plans to do militarily. What sort of ruthless action does he have in mind? Hollande also commented that the brutal violence the residentsContinue reading
Life Goes On Under the Helicopters and the Terrible Cost of Avoiding the Dangers of Kabul
When I arrived at the Kabul International Airport on November 4, I was unaware that the same day the New York Times published an article, “Life Pulls Back in Afghan Capital, as Danger Rises and Troops Recede.” My friends Abdulhai and Ali, 17 years old, young men I have known since my first visit five years ago, greeted me with smiles and hugs and took my bags. Disregarded by soldiers and police armed with automatic weapons, we caught up onContinue reading
Henoko takes on U.S. Imperialism
by Maya Evans, in Japan Henoko Town, Okinawa, around one hundred and fifty Japanese protesters gathered to stop construction trucks from entering the U.S. base ‘Camp Schwab’, after the Ministry of Land over-ruled the local Governors’ decision to revoke permission for construction plans, criticizing the “mainland-centric” Japanese Government of compromising the environmental, health and safety interests of the Islanders. Riot police poured out of buses at six a.m., out-numbering protesters four to one, with road sitters systematically pickedContinue reading