No War Base on the Island of Peace
In this month’s issue:
Soft corals of Gangjeong dying, Jeju after the elections, Sydney Harbor, Solidarity with Okinawa for the Battle of Okinawa, police disturb Catholic mass, village bus gets painted, nonviolent direct action workshop in Gangjeong, remembering the Korean war, noisy construction, prison updates, trial updates, international solidarity, and more!
Dear Brother and Sisters in Okinawa
We, people who fight against naval base construction in Gangjeong village, Jeju Island, South Korea, want to stand together with Okinawa people on June 23rd to memorize, to reflect and to feel the pain and shame together that how we humans allowed ourselves to walk on the way of war preparation and to dehumanize each other under the war.
We don’t want this kind of tragedies to be repeated. However, we recognize that now the atmosphere in East Asia is very similar with that before WW2. Under the US strategy of Asia pivot, our island, Jeju, is also being further militarized, which means the value of Island of World Peace gained over the pain of 43 has been reversed by the nationalism, US militarism, and a long tradition of difficulties as the border islands. Your island, Okinawa, not to mention the long struggle against the US bases, is also facing the new tide of militarization even by the Japan Self-Defense Force, which indicates the painful lessons which supposed to be learned from the WW2 and battle of Okinawa have been diluted by the nationalism, US militarism, and a long tradition of difficulties as the border islands too.
We recognize your effort to stand up against war in the memorable day on June 23rd as here in Jeju, we also don’t want our historical lessons to be twisted. If we Jeju islanders choose the way of development with military base and feel the necessity for national security, we are alarmed that we might already be on the way which led to the experiences of Battle of Okinawa.
Some argue that Jeju Naval Base is not US Base, but we are aware that US militarism trickily makes a use on the nationalism as we couldn’t yet overcome lots of disputed islands in our region. Under both US militarism and our nationalism, our islands, Jeju and Okinawa, are overwhelmed by double centers, US and our own center governments, to defend for. We are alarmed that could lead to the result of another present experience of Battle of Okinawa, a more complex mode with double centers. We appreciate your continuous effort to remind the war memory on the date of 6/23. The peace wind today already blow to our village, and we want to blow this peace wind to all the coner of our island.
Base is Base. There’s no difference between your base and our base because there’s no difference between your peace and our peace. The peaceful lives which we want to sustain in our island is the same with yours. That’s why we are in solidarity with your peace action, and we also want to actively invite you to come to our beautiful Gangjeong village, Jeju Island anytime, especially on this August 3-6 to join to the Peace for the Sea International Peace Camp building not only solidarity but also action plan for peace in our region.
Gangjeong International Team
Inter-Peace Islands Solidarity Team
The time for the annual Gangjeong Grand March for Life and Peace is almost here! From July 29 to August 2, Gangjeong friends and supporters will march across Jeju from Jeju City to Gangjeong. Then in Gangjeong there will be a festival and celebration.
The Grand March is one of the highlights of the year here in Gangjeong. Watch a video from the 2013 Grand March or the human chain around Gureombi following the march. And here are some pictures from the 2012 Grand March.
Join us! Internationals are welcome! See the poster above for details and contact us at gangjeongintl@gmail.com & peace@pspd.org for info! It will be very helpful if you inform your participation to us through email in advance for the logistics purpose though your participation fee can be paid in the march site.
For the international friends who can physically join the march: For more concrete guide, please see the below. Any peace flags and talents that you may bring and share with the marchers would surely encourage the villagers and activists here. Thanks for joining us in march!
For the international friends who cannot physically join the march: Even though you may not be able to physically join the 2014 Gangjeong Grand March for Life and Peace, you may join us by sending us international solidarity messages(up to 100 words)/photos/videos through gangjeongintl@gmail.com by no later than July 23. As in 2012 and 2013, the village international team thankfully receives solidarity messages from the friends in the world upon the 2014 Grand March for Life and Peace which is followed by the Peace for the Sea International Peace Camp(Aug. 3 to 6), and boosted by other campaigns like writing a letter to Pope campaign . All the messages you send will be publicly shared. Please check the solidarity messages collected in 2012 (Click here) and 2013(Click here) . We want to let you know how Kang Dong-Kyun, ex-mayor of the Gangjeong village, has much appreciated all your messages, sitting and reading all the translated messages printed in 20 pages, with awe and gratitude, without moving for a while. None of your messages will go in vain. We also want to display some of your messages with translation in the Village Peace Center where many villagers and activists always gather. Thanks for encouraging us.
………………………………. Guide to 2014 March ……………………………….
1. Accommodation and meal:
Tent and food are provided during march but you may bring your personal tent and/or sleeping bag(s). Please bring your personal washing tool (tooth brush, tooth paste, shampoo, towel etc) , You may also bring jacket, umbrella etc.
2. Brief schedule July 29 (Tues.):
Please gather across the main gate of the Jeju Island government hall by noon. If you join march in the middle of it, please contact Jungjoo (English,010-8560-3734), Emily (Chinese, 010-6469-9413 ), and Dongseok(Japanese, 010-9334-0933) for information.
Aug. 1 (Fri.):
There will be a Peace Bus in the Jeju airport at 2 pm. The bus directly goes to the village where there will be events (see the below) Once arrived in the village around 5 pm, there will be a Great gathering for people’s talk in the Gangjeong soccer field from 8 to 9 pm. Then movie night after it.
(* 6-7 pm: dinner 7-9 pm: Great gathering for people’s talks (Maningongdonghoe)
9:30 pm ~ : Movie night with Yang Yoon-Mo and Grace)
Aug. 2 (Sat.):
In the morning, there will be various program such as peace mass and human chain. From 7 pm, there will be a Cultural Event for the Stop of the Jeju Naval Base Project and Citizens’ Prayer for Peace in the Gangjeong Soccer Field.
(* 9-11 am: Gangjeong village tour
11 am -12 pm: Life and peace mass
12-1 pm: Human chain, Peace ribbons
1-2 pm: Lunch
2-6 pm: Peace prayer tower building, Peace-Protection Totemic Pole building, Writing wishes, peace prayer ceremony, Ieodo-ro Peace Market, Treasure-search (peace book village team), water play in the Gangjeong stream(watermelon party)
6-7 pm dinner
7-9 pm Cultural Event for the Stop of the Jeju Naval Base Project and for Peace Prayer )
Aug. 3 (Sun.):
Breakfast together at 8 am. You may join Seeding Flowers, Wish tower-building. The official events end on Aug. 2. Therefore Aug. 3 program is optional.
3. Schedule in detail
July 29(Tues.): Jeju Island Government Hall-A small park in the Halla University four way intersection- A Funeral House, Hagwi Agricultural Cooperative(Nonghyup)-Youngmowon-Gosungri Sports Field-Hangpaduri July 30(Wed.): Hangpaduri-Yusooamri Small Park-Saemangreu Research and Training Institute-Saebyul Oreum(Oreum-climbing. Please notice that there is no bathroom here)
July 31(Thur.): Saebyul Oreum-Dongkwangri Welfare Hall-Seogwang Elementary School-Deoksou Elementary School-Sanbang Mt. Resting Place-Hwasoon Beach
Aug. 1 (Fri.): Hwasoon Beach-Andeok Valley-A Small Park-Cheonje Fall-International Convention Center-Yakcheon Temple-Gangjeong Soccer Field (Arriving around 5 pm)
4. Guide on the Peace Bus (At 2 pm, Aug. 1, Jeju Airport): The bus directly goes to the village to join the events that start 7 pm on the day. If you need to use this bus, Please contact gangjeongintl@gmail.com andpeace@pspd.org in advance for the reservation of the bus seats! It is mandatory!
5. Elementary school students For the elementary school students, participation fee is free but a t-shirt should be purchased at the price of 10,000 KRW. Please contact gangjeongintl@gmail.com and peace@pspd.org in advance.
6. Support for the participation fee For the participants who come from the outside of the Jeju and join more than three nights four days, 20,000 KRW of participation fee will be supported.
Peace Concert to mark the 64th anniversary of the Korean War
“Presents from The Remembrance of War”
We hope to encounter the past of One Korea through remembering the Korean War, reflect on the current problems that our society has and dream of a peaceful future of two Koreas that have been divided for many years through this concert.
Stories of Peace:
‘At the time, Jeju Islanders were quite conscious people who made a right decision and acted for right cause to oppose the divided, two Koreas. However, the government massacred them by ideology, who were not ideological at all.” – Jeong Seon-nyo
Songs of Peace:
“Yes, the long memory is the most radical idea in this country. It is the loss of that long memory which deprives our people of that connective flow of thoughts and events that clarifies our vision, not of where we’re going, but where we want to go.” Utah Phillips (a Korean war veteran, folk musician and peace activist)
Dear Sisters and brothers who work for peace
Hello,
In contrast to our dream of a peaceful world without war, the reality we face causes us continuous suffering with more war bases and weapons being built and sold, and more and more soldiers being trained. In order to save Jeju, the island of peace, villagers and peace activists in Gangjeong, Jeju Island have been resisting the construction of the naval base and militarism for 8 years.
Islands in East Asia are facing increasing challenges of militarism and political tensions. Not very far from Jeju, Okinawa has suffered under the presence of the US army bases for 70 years. People in Okinawa have long suffered due to the United States’ military base camp. Additionally, Economic and military expansion of China are certainly challenging to Taiwan’s peaceful future and the conflict between Japan and China have with the territorial sovereignty over Senkaku/Diaoyu Dao and also Korea and Japan’s Dokdo/Takeshima problems. Furthermore, Korea and China have different views on the Ieo-do (or Socotra Rock) under the surface of the water which is located in the southern ocean area from Jeju Island. All these conflicts and tensions should act as a call for action for peace in the region.
The United States government has promoted the Pivot to Asia project and strengthened the Missile Defense System with its military alliance in East Asia. We would like to protect the seas of East Asia surrounding the islands. However, it is impossible to achieve our goal with only a few participants from one or two islands. Rather the people of the whole islands of East Asia should stand with one another in solidarity and cooperation. For this purpose, we plan to host the international Peace Camp, Sea for Peace in Gangjeong, Jeju Island of South Korea from the 3rd till the 6th of August 2014. Please come join us and share the difficulties and harmful effects caused by the militarization that your islands have gone through. In addition, please inspire us for sustaining our hope for Islands of Peace.
The program will include an exchange of knowledge and resources related to the reality of the destruction of oceanic ecologies and the US military expansion. Also, we will offer a variety of outdoor activities including kayaking and scuba diving. We will also set a time for participants to get to know one another by introducing their own cultures in a culture night and a peace concert.
We would like to invite you all to the Sea of Peace. Through this Peace Camp, we wish to create a wind of hope for peace that can blow into the seas and islands across East Asia, which are shadowed with clouds of soaring military tensions.
Here’s Each Session’s Objective:
1. War Bases Caused Environmental Destruction
Our ocean’s ecosystem has been destroyed by many different causes. In this session, we will examine several cases of environmental destructions caused by wars, military training and expansion of war bases. There will be presentations to report first the current situation of Jeju Gangjeong Sea where the naval base is being built, then to report the long struggle against the US bases on Okinawa Sea and finally the destruction of Taiwanese islanders’ marine culture and ecosystem.
2. Struggle Stories from Okinawa, Taiwan and Jeju
Three Islands have similar experiences in being victimized by the state power in their history. At the same time, there were also peace activists who courageously resisted the unjust state power. In this session, we will share stories of peace movements that have taken place in the three islands against militarism in order to create a shared understanding for continuous cooperation and solidarity.
3. US Militarism
In this session, we will identify the newly reoriented map of the military strategy for East Asia which has been affected by the changes of the US military policies such as the promotion of the pivot to Asia. In addition, we will discuss the threats to national securities of the countries in East Asia by the US militarism.
4. Inter Island Solidarity for Just Peace
Participants will discuss long term plans for our next gatherings in order to develop and sustain the solidarity with the islands of East Asia. It will entail further discussions to think of practical ways to promote the movement for solidarity of the demilitarized islands.
For more information, please visit this website: https://sites.google.com/site/peaceforthesea/
or directly contact to peaceforsea@gmail.com
Host Organizations: Gangjeong Peace School Team, The Frontiers, Gangjeong Village Association, Gangjeong International Team, HotPinkDolphins, Jeju Federation of Environmental Movements, Inter-Island Solidarity for Peace Team
In this month’s issue:
Protesters refuse fines; go to prison, article by Kathy Kelly, updates on the Pope’s visit, reports from Okinawa and Yonaguni, Tour of Gangjeong’s sacred sites, ocean protest, trial updates, international solidarity, and more!
From May 12th- 19th, Gangjeong people visited Okinawa in the solidarity with Okinawa people against the US base and learned about the tragic war experiences of Okinawa. Also, Gangjeong team brought the documentary ” Gureombi-The Wind is Browing” made by Director Cho, SungBo to show in Okinawa as one of the main program in the “2014 Peace March and Okinawa-Korea solidarity Assembly”. After showing the movie, Movie Critic Yang, YunMo and other Gangjeong peace activists had presentation about Gangjeong.
The following is the presentation draft of Taiwanese Peace activist Emily on the Inter-island solidarity for peace including the advertisement of the August Peace Camp in Jeju island.
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Inter-Island Solidarity for Peace
May 17th, 2014
My name is Emily. I am from Taiwan. As the international peace activist, since 2011, I have been living in Gangjeong and struggling together against the naval base project in Gangjeong, Jeju Island. Through the Gangjeong struggle, I got to learn the painful history of Jeju and also got to realize the suffering reality of Okinawa. These experiences have given me a lot of big question marks on my island Taiwan where I born and grow up, and that drives me to study more about Taiwan, and that’s how I began to know that Jeju, Okinawa and Taiwan are actually under the same flowing of history tide. Finally it provided a background to dream the peace making with all these islands involved.
Jeju and Okinawa are both struggling against US base and militarism.
Now the naval base is under construction in Jeju island, and in the future, we worry the airbase will soon be settled up and Jeju might be more and more militarized like Okinawa. ( Alttre airbase was built by Japanese colonizer and now the land ownership still remain under the Ministry of Defense of Korea, which means anytime, the Korea government can use that land to rebuild the airbase again. )
When we look at the Okinawa and think of the Jeju’s situation, it’s easier to think that these two islands and probably other islands which suffer from the US base should build up solidarity for each other to kick out the US military. Sure, I agree with that too.
But the situation in Taiwan is a bit different that there’s no more US base in Taiwan. Actually in the past during the cold war, there were lots of US bases in Taiwan too since ROK government in Taiwan was the US’s partners. While Okinawa transformed its times from US military colonization into the governance of Japanese government in 1972, Okinawa didn’t get rid of US bases but was being loaded with more US bases, and in Taiwan, that the US troops left didn’t mean the end of the cold war.
With the theory of China Threat, Taiwan is still under the umbrella of US military. We altogether just went on from the times of cold war to the new cold war. Under the competition and balance of the military power between China and US, Taiwan is pathetically enjoyed the peace of suffering. Our suffering has been resulted under the same structure though it looks different.
In the region of North East Asia, these three islands are all at the same corner of conflicts which has its historical dimension and the resource-driven economic dimension. As we are existing in the same region, I think Taiwan, Okinawa, and Jeju should realize the ‘DMZ Peace Islands movement’ together.
The history already told us that our fates are connected. We can never make the DMZ Peace Island alone, and we can never enjoy the peace alone. I think the peace realized through the victimization of another island is a shame, and finally we can only sink one after one under the militarization tide.
<Website of Peace for Sea International Peace Camp: https://sites.google.com/site/peaceforthesea/>
We need the strong will and creativity to overcome the conflict in our region. So that, in this August, in Jeju, we prepared the program called “Peace for Sea International Peace Camp”. We want to invite many people especially from Okinawa and Taiwan to participate as one of the small step to develop the “Inter-island Solidarity for Peace”
To recognize the destruction brought by the war base, to learn and exchange an oceanic view of the islanders’ stories and to grow up the oceanic peace actions under the concept of Inter-island solidarity for peace are our goals. This year Jeju will be the host island, and we would like to see this activity under the concept of inter-island solidarity for peace take turn to be held in Okinawa(2015) and Taiwan(2016) too.
Jeju, Okinawa, and Taiwan are not the border islands of Korea, Japan, and China. They are simply our beloved hometown. Yesterday, I saw this sign when we climb up a tower to watch the whole Futenma base. Here, the people are not just fight for the returning of the base land, here people are already dreaming the plans how they will use these base land to be returned.
I think we three islands need to draw the plans together how we will make our islands the DMZ peace islands. For this, in this August, please come to Jeju Island!
Let’s sail in the sea of peace.
It’s that time again!
In this month’s issue:
Yang Yoon-Mo Free at last, April 3rd Remembrances, 4 catholics arrested, letter from David Hartsough, Trial Updates, Peace for the Sea Camp, Peace Book Cafe anniversary, international solidarity, and more!
Yang Yoon-Mo was released at midnight (00:00 am of April 12th) after 435 days in prison, which is his 4th time imprisonment on the way opposing to the Jeju naval base.
“It was a really great and joyful celebration. Although he was released after midnight, many people from around Jeju and Korea came as early as 9 p.m. to begin waiting and also having a small party. By the time he was released there were more than 100 people even though it was late at night and the Jeju Prison is not really easy to get too. It was an amazing time and we are so happy he was released.”… by Paco Booyah
Gangjeong People held a welcome party for Yang yoon-Mo at the Gangjeong village association hall.
For more of Emily’s photos, see : http://cafe.daum.net/peacekj/496a/1348
Fwd by SungHee Choi:
“Video of Yang Yoon-Mo’s speech in front of Jeju Prison after 435 days in prison, which is his 4th time imprisonment on the way opposing to the Jeju naval base : He declares his will on 10 million people’s petition campaign for the legislation on ‘Demilitarized Life and Peace Island,
(Video by Song Dong-Hyo )
As soon as Yang Yoon-Mo made an exit out of the Jeju Prison, he warmly hugged with each person who came to the site for welcoming him. The 1st words he shouted in his speech were “Absolutely no naval base!”He also thanked many people naming each of them including Bishop Kang U-Il.
“It is thanks to your sharing spirit in which you have daily given your core ability for me who is insufficient, despite your keeping desperate struggle field while each of you maintains individual pride. That is how I can return back to you with healthy and stronger struggle will after the life of warm sunlight inside the prison.”
“ I had once thought from ignorance that our struggle is disadvantageous as time goes but I realized in prison that it would be rather advantageous with the time.”
“ I became to bear a dream to make this struggle trustworthy. I will start 10 million people’s petition campaign in which all the nationwide citizens join to set the Jeju to be Demilitarized Life and Peace Island. The petition also aims to get signature from 200,000 people of Jeju, one third of the Jeju population. And the petition is to build a legislative campaign for the Jeju to be the demilitarized peace Island in 2017, the next Presidential election.”
Yang Uoon-Mo said that there have been encouragement letters to him from about 30 countries. He appealed to people to build Gangjeong as the global life and peace village by not stopping our struggle. ”
It’s that time again!
In this month’s issue:
Government’s “development” plan, Catholics concerend about Pope’s Korea visit, Anniversary of Gureombi blasting, Solidarity from Benj and Global Network, Visting dancers, a play about Gangjeong, environmental destruction reports, another Gangjeong wedding, and more!