NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

I have been working for the past week on answering some questions for an antibase group in Italy. Through David Vine, best known for his book Islands of Shame about Diego Garcia, they held a virtual meeting amongst demilitarization activists from around the Pacific and Europe. A physical gathering of antibase activists in Italy coordinated virtual presentations from speakers representing struggles in Guam, Okinawa, South Korea, Hawai'i, Diego Garcia and elsewhere. It was an inspiring and invigorating moment even though because of time differences I was hunched over my computer at 2 in the morning. The group found the exchange of information so interesting they decided to produce a book that would give a road map to the struggles that are happening around the world, to help us better see how we are connected. Here is the text for the short presentation that I made during last year's demilitarization network solidarity meeting.  ***************** --> I apolog

Two urgent messages about the situation in Gangjeong, Jeju: ************************** From Save Jeju Dear friends, Starting today, Gangjeong is in an emergency situation. Nearly 700 police have arrived from the mainland in Gangjeong village to monitor the blasting of Gureombi, the volcanic rock coastline, and the dredging of the seafloor. Not only will the marine life, including endangered crabs and coral reefs, be swept away, the blast has already impacted the fresh water springs that the majority of the island is dependent upon. Though our numbers are small in the village, we will do our best to fight to stop the blast of Gureombi. It is still uncertain whether the Seogwipo Police will allow the Navy to blast Gureombi on Monday, when the Governor of Jeju Island is supposed to make his decision. Please send an email to the Governor NOW asking him to please stop the blast of Gureombi. Thank you for one minute of your time. We urgently need international solidarity NOW. In p

Another update from Brue Gagnon on the international peace conference that took place in Jeju, South Korea over the weekend. I've pasted it below: ************************* The Navy is expanding its effort to put razor wire all along the rocky coastline so the villagers cannot any longer stand on their sacred ground. But the people keep coming by swimming or on kayaks. They are determined. They continue to be arrested. As I write this a group will find their way there for the Sunday morning Catholic mass. Yesterday we had a joint meeting between the villagers and our international guests. Our folks shared stories about U.S. and NATO space technology expansion into Sweden and Norway, the effort by the U.S. to get India to create their own aggressive Space Command to help "contain" China, and the Vandenberg AFB in California space missile launching center. One elderly man from Gangjeong village told us he can't sleep at night, suffers from depression, and sees

I wish I was in Jeju, South Korea this weekend. If I was I would be attending this conference.

Although you can call both Guam and Okinawa colonies, there have been historically different in terms of decolonization discussion. Both were incorporated into a colonial country which took steps to destroy the culture and dictate the levels of the colonized people. Both of them receive benefits from the colonial relationship, but have also been mistreated or afforded a lower status. Although both have a high level of inclusion with their colonizer, and have assimilated and accepted much of the way their colonizer wanted them to exist, they nonetheless still struggle with very practical feelings of difference. Both feel that they have not just a casual difference with their colonizer, but one that their history of colonization insists be taken seriously. But while Guam has spent the past 30 years developing a lexicon for discussing political status and decolonization there, has Okinawa undergone a similar way of creating a framework for speaking of their colonial status and how it migh

If you have the means, consider donating to this cause below. The Global Network is a very important organization who is doing important work in terms of promoting peace in the world (and the heavens above). ********************** Dear Friends, I hope this letter finds you doing well.  I have just returned from Washington DC where I was part of a trial of those arrested at the White House on March 19 opposing the endless and growing string of U.S. wars.  On that day 113 people (including many veterans) were arrested but only 18 of us went to trial.  We were found guilty by the judge but he chose to impose only a minor fine, which was a victory of sorts. I am writing to ask for your help.  As you may know the Global Network will be 20 years old in 2012.  We’ve been asked by the leaders of the Gangjeong village on Jeju Island, South Korea to hold our annual space organizing conference there next year.  Our Board of Directors/Advisers has agreed and we will travel to the villag

October 1-8, 2011 Keep Space for Peace Week: International Week of Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space Stop the Drones No Missile Defense End the wars & occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya Bring Our War $$ Home Convert the Military Industrial Complex Local Events (List now in formation) Albuquerque, New Mexico (Oct 5) Showing documentary Pax-Americana & the Weaponization of Space 6:00 pm at the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice. Contact Stop the War Machine at 505-268-9557 or citizen@comcast.net Albuquerque, New Mexico (Oct 8) Anti-war and use of space for war protest at the University of New Mexico bookstore plaza, Central Avenue. Contact Stop the War Machine at 505-268-9557 or citizen@comcast.net Andover, Massachusetts (Oct 3) Vigil at Raytheon (where Patriot PAC-3 missile defense interceptors are made) at 7:00 am For more info call 978-686-4418 Bath Iron Works, Maine (Oct 1) Vigil across from administration building on Washington S

This came via Bruce Gagnon at Organizing Notes and The Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. ************************* Dear Friends: This morning I received an urgent message (see below) from Jeju Island, South Korea saying that yesterday eight leaders of the protest effort against construction of a Navy base had been arrested. Global Network board member Sung-Hee Choi was one of those arrested - her second time in recent months. Gangjeong village resident Professor Yang Yoon-Mo is now in his 45th day of his hunger strike while in jail for trying to block a construction truck. He has vowed to die in jail unless base construction is halted. We need your help. We must show the South Korean and U.S. governments that people all over the world are following the story on Jeju very closely and care what happens. You can write to the South Korean Defense Attaché assigned to Washington DC. at this email and demand an end of the Navy base construction. defenattache

As I wrote about last week in my post Mount Fuji in Red , it is important to remember admist all the outpouring of support and compassion for the people of Japan, that the nuclear danger there cannot be solved or helped by fundraisers. It is something which has largely been forgotten as the usual humanitarian tendencies take over the way you understand or don't understand something. It is serious issue not just in terms of the potential hazard that other places face, as in whether or not the radiation will reach Guam, but it is important because of the question of whether or not nuclear energy is safe. Below is a petition from some progressive groups about the Fukushima meltdown and beneath that is a statement on the tragedy and meltdown from the organization The Global Network. ************************ Fukushima Update This petition is from concerned Japanese citizens, who would appreciate an international show of support. Radiological Impact of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear