(English translation is thanks to People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy)
Let’s Walk Together Again! 2015 Gangjeong Grand March for Life and Peace! A Cultural Event to commemorate 3,000 days of struggle against Jeju Naval Base!
The Grand March starts from Jeju City Hall on 27 July. The group will be divided into two groups, one marches towards east coast of Jeju Island, while the other group marches towards west coast of Jeju Island. Two groups will meet together at Gangjeong village on 1 August. On 1 August, villagers and participants will commemorate 3,000 days of struggle against the Jeju Naval Base. We will cheer each other up who tirelessly worked to maintain peace in the village. We will continue to work on maintaining peace in East Asia by opposing Jeju Naval Base!
Participation Info
– Participants fee: 10,000 KRW per person per day (Full participation will be 60,000 KRW). For foreign participants, it can be paid on the site. (Cash only)
– International participants’ fee (cash only) can be paid on site
– Food, accommodation, souvenir will be provided. No participation fee for elementary school children and younger.
– T-shirt is 10,000 KRW and you can buy it on the site with cash.
– Please bring your own cup and toiletories.
Grand March Course
27 July 9am Meeting in front of Jeju City Hall, 10am Press Conference, 11am Start!
East coast: Hamduk beach – Gimnyung beach – Jongdal-ri – Pyosun beach – Haryeh primary school – Gangjeong Village (1 Aug)
West coast : Jeju province government building – Hypjae beach – Sanbang Mt. – Hwasun beach – Yakchun temple – Gangjeong Village (1 Aug)
South Korea constructs new Naval Base on Jeju Island, U.S. Plans to Expand Military Base on Okinawa and China Builds on South China Sea Atolls
By Ann Wright
The international community is extraordinarily concerned about the Chinese construction on small islands and atolls in disputed waters off China, Vietnam, Taiwan and Japan. Over the past 18 months, the Chinese government has created islands out of atolls and larger islands out of small ones.
With the Obama administration’s “pivot” of the United States military and economic strategy to Asia and the Pacific, the Chinese have seen military construction in their front yard.
I’ve just returned from my third trip to Jeju Island, South Korea. Jeju is called the Island of Peace. However, its where the South Korean military has almost finished construction of a new naval base, the first military base on this strategically located island south of the mainland of Korea that is littered with U.S. and South Korean military bases, leftover from the Korean war and that are a part of the U.S. “defense” of South Korea from “aggression” from North Korea.
The Jeju Island naval base will be the homeport for ships that carry the U.S. Aegis missiles. Many on the island call it a U.S. naval base since it will be a key part of the U.S. “pivot” to Asia and the worldwide U.S. missile defense system. They believe that the naval base will be used as frequently by U.S. warships as by South Korean ships and submarines. With a naval base on Jeju Island, they believe that Jeju Island becomes a target should military hostilities breakout in Asia and the Pacific.
The naval base was built in the pristine waters off Gangjeong Village midst seven years of intense civic outrage. The destruction of the marine environment off the village where the famous women divers for decades have harvested by hand the “fruits of the sea” is one of the cultural and economic losses the construction of the naval base has caused.
The destruction by huge dynamite explosions of a unique geologic rock formation called “Gureombi” is a cultural and spiritual loss to the islanders. Its tide pools, crystal clear springs and lava rock formations made “Guremobi” a favorite area for villagers and visitors to the island.
Photo by Ann Wright. Only section of Gurombi rocks left.
The construction of the naval base in spite of strong local opposition is a part of the history of oppression of the people of Jeju Island from the mainland government. After the Korean War, South Korean and United States military forces which conducted the infamous April 3 massacres of over 30,000 islanders who were believed to be opposed to the right wing Syngman Rhee government, dissidents and sympathizers for reunification of Korea. The April 3 “incident” left a deep scar on the people of Jeju Island and made them very sensitive to mainland government policies, particularly those which “target” them again.
The South Korean government has built the naval base in one of the most inhospitable areas of Jeju Island. The naval base faces the open ocean and has already been battered by two typhoons which have displaced huge concrete caissons which form the foundation of the quarter mile breakwater created to protect the base from the sea. The government attempted to put the base at two more favorable geographic locations on Jeju Island but were deterred by citizens who successfully refused to allow the base to be constructed in their part of the island.
Despite large and continuing protests in Gangjeong village against the construction of the naval base, the South Korean national government reportedly with intense pressure from the United States decided that they had to begin construction somewhere on the island and chose to ignore the strong local opposition.
However, the decision has come at a great cost to the national government. Daily demonstrations and frequent large demonstrations with planeloads of mainlanders flying into help islanders, have resulted in the government having to deploy hundreds of police from the mainland to counter the demonstrations. Local police on Jeju Island are felt to have too much sympathy for the demonstrations and therefore police from the mainland are needed. Islanders see this as an historic throwback to the April 3, 1948 oppression of opposition to mainland government policies.
Each day at Gangjeong village begins with a 7am demonstration of 100 “bows” at the front gate of the naval base. Protesters block one lane of the base forcing a slowdown of traffic of concrete trucks and other vehicles entering the base. For almost an hour, the demonstrators silently offer thoughts on the militarization of their island as they bow or kneel. At 11am Catholic priests and laywomen conduct a daily mass across from the front gate as other priests and activists sit in chairs blocking both lanes into and out of the base. Every 20 minutes, a platoon of young police men and women march into the seated protesters and carry the chair and the person sitting in it to the side of the road, opening the road for traffic for five minutes. Then the police march back into the base and the protesters immediately move their chairs back to block the lanes into the base. After an hour of blocking the entrance, the protest ends with an energetic dance—and traffic resumes. Long time activists recognize that the hour protest is a small delay in the construction of the base, but consider the two daily protests as extremely important actions to remind the national government of their continuing opposition to the military base.
Photo with Ann Wright’s camera. Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Maguire, Ann Wright, Catholic sisters and other Gangjeong activists after having been lifted up and carried in chairs out of the road to allow steady stream of concrete trucks to enter the naval base.
My first visit to Jeju Island was in 2011. At that time, activists still had their camp on the Guremobi rocks on the edge of the ocean. The camp consisted of a long educational tent, a sleeping tent and a cook and eating tent. Every day activists would conduct workshops and ceremonies on the rocks.
When I returned in 2013, despite the intense efforts of the activists, the Guremobi rock formation had been blown up with dynamic and construction had begun with two huge facilities built on the remains of the rocks to create the massive concrete caissons that would be lowered into the ocean to form the quarter mile long breakwater to protect the base from the open ocean.
Returning two years later in 2015 with eight women from the Women Cross the DMZ walk www.womencrossdmz, including Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Maguire and CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin, I was devastated to see the vastness of the naval base which is nearing completion. Although statistics on the amount of concrete that has been poured into the ocean and into the buildings on the base are unavailable, the sheer scale of the base leads one to guess that a road around the world could have been built with that volume of concrete.
Photo by Ann Wright Jeju Island Naval Base Huge Breakwater
And its not just on the base itself that construction has proceeded. As villagers suspected from the beginning, the base would expand into other parts of the community. More land near the base is now being condemned by the government so it can be used to build housing for military personnel and their families.
After seven years of large protests against the construction of the military base, the base has been built—and the Chinese know it as they have watched the construction—up close—as, remarkably, the South Korean government allows Chinese tourists to visit Jeju Island without a visa. The Chinese tourist trade is large—as is the purchase of land by Chinese on Jeju Island. A big area on Jeju Island is now a Chinese “health” vacation area with condos and other facilities for Chinese—even the road signs in the area are in Chinese!
The Chinese are watching another construction project in the Pacific. This time a United States military base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. Despite massive Okinawan opposition, including a visit in May 2015 of the governor of Okinawa to Washington, DC, the U.S. is planning to begin expansion of Camp Schwab, a U.S. Marine Corps base and construction of an airfield runway on Okinawa. The runway will project out into the South China Sea into pristine waters with endangered coral formations and into the habitat of the dugong, a manatee-like marine mammal. Okinawa makes up 1% of Japan’s land mass but is the location of 74% of all U.S. military bases in Japan.
Okinawans have been protesting for years the expansion of Camp Schwab, a U.S. Marine Base. Only last month, over 35,000 Okinawans gathered to voice their opposition to their national government’s approval of the base despite the opposition of all levels of the Okinawan provincial government and island civil society. http://rt.com/news/259373-okinawa-protest-us-base/
In 2007, I visited the activists on Okinawa at their seaside camp where they have a daily presence to remind the U.S. military that they do not want the naval base. The senior citizens of the village of Henoko moved their Senior Citizens center to the beach so they could participate each day in attempting to preserve their village from another military base. (RT footage)
The Chinese have been watching the process for the building of another U.S. base in the Pacific, as they have watched the expansion of U.S. military forces on the U.S. territory of Guam. The projected increase in U.S. military personnel and their families is expected to increase the population of the small Micronesian island by 30 percent.
In another interesting economic considerations versus foreign policy posturing between sparing countries, Russian tourists to Guam do not need a visa to the United States to visit the island.
The bottom line is that the Chinese see the expansion of the United States military forces and capabilities in their front yard and are constructing their own projections of power on the tiny disputed islands and atolls off their coast. Neither the United States nor China need any of these bases as both have more than enough air capability in the form of aircraft or missiles to initiate or counter any military move by the other.
All of this construction is another example of the never ending, massively expensive war mindset of political leaders and their financial backers who profit from a hostile world.
About the Author: Ann Wright served 29 years in the U.S. Army/ Army Reserves and retired as a Colonel. She served 16 years as a U.S. diplomat in U.S. Embassies in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. She was on the small team that reopened the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan in December, 2001. She resigned from the U.S. government in March, 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq.
Re-blogged from here. Other posts related to the WCD women’s visit to the village will be put into this website in time.
Pave Paradise, Put Up a Naval Base: South Korean Activists’ Extraordinary Struggle to Save Jeju Island
By Medea Benjamin,
May 29, 2015
South Korea’s Jeju Island is a popular tourist destination full of spas, resorts, golf courses, sandy beaches, waterfalls and hiking trails. But if you really want to get rejuvenated, skip the tourist hotspots and go directly to the village of Gangjeong to support the extraordinary community that has been opposing the building of a naval base since 2007. You’ll get your morning exercise at 7am bowing 100 times facing the base, praying for an end to its construction. You’ll get spiritual nourishment from the noon mass outside the base (no religion necessary). And if you really want to feel like royalty, join the activists in their daily ritual of sitting in plastic chairs blocking the base entrance, then having the police gently lift you up in your chair and cart you away so the cement trucks and traffic can flow in and out of the base. When the traffic ebbs you grab your chair and scurry back in place—starting the ritual all over again. Want aerobic exercise? Join in the jubilant dancing and drumming that liven up the protests. Want good food? The village cooks at the communal kitchen make fantastic, healthy meals with heaps of fresh vegetables and homemade kimchi.
After a long journey to cross the DMZ from North to South Korea with a group of 30 peace women, some of us—including Nobel Prize winner Mairead Maguire and retired Colonel Ann Wright—stopped on Jeju Island and fell in love with this community of farmers, fisherpeople, city officials, small shop owners, florists, artists, poets, students and grandmothers. Over the years they have attracted peace activists from the mainland and internationals, including members of the Catholic Workers, Veterans for Peace, Amnesty International, and prominent figures like Gloria Steinem, Oliver Stone and Korean-American activist Christine Ahn.
The struggle dates back to 2007, when the South Korean government began construction of a $970 million naval base in Gangjeong, a village of less than 2,000 people on the southern tip of Jeju island. The government had tried to build the base in two other villages but was thwarted by widespread protests—especially by the haenyeos, the island’s women divers renowned for spending hours in the chilly waters harvesting conches, abalones, and other marine wildlife, as well as for their history of fierce resistance to Japanese occupation.
So the Korean government secretly cut a deal with the Gangjeong mayor at that time, who, to secure village “consent,” set up a little-publicized meeting that only 87 residents attended.
When the rest of the villagers discovered what happened, they began to protest. Thousands have participated in sit-ins and blockades. The more radical folks chained themselves to heavy machinery to halt construction or surrounded the base with kayaks. About 700 people have been arrested and charged with hefty fines that amount to over $400,000, fines that they cannot or will not pay. Many have spent days or weeks or months in jail, including a well-known film critic Yoon Mo Yong who spent 550 days in prison after committing multiple acts of civil disobedience. “The only thing that kept me from utter despair during my long imprisonment and hunger strikes,” he told us, “was the global outpouring of support I received.”
While the number of villagers involved has decreased over time, with people exhausted or resigned or won over by government promises of economic gain, there is still an extraordinary resistance community bursting with positive energy. Three generations work together, sharing their wisdom and the unique contributions. Their activities are infused with ritual, art, dance, music—and lots of joy and laughter. Artists create magnificent exhibits, murals, banners, puppets and sculptures. Poets, writers and filmmakers produce works that have drawn worldwide attention to the struggle. Mainland writers have been so inspired that they raised funds to build an elegant library, brimming with donated books, where local children whose parents are divided on the issue (pro- and anti-base) can study and play together.
The group has a deep spiritual component that comes from Catholics (including priests like lifelong activist Father Moon, Benedictine sisters and visiting US Catholic Workers), Buddhists and goddess worshipers, but secular people are embraced.
Despite the dedication, creativity, persistence and sacrifice of the activists, they have not succeeded in stopping the base. It is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2015 but will probably take another year due, in part, to the protests. The immense complex is designed to accommodate 20 warships, nuclear-armed submarines, and two 150,000-ton vessels. While the government—to sweeten the pot—says the base will also have civilian uses, like the docking of cruise ships, the primary purpose is military.
The South Korean government denies that the US will have access to the base, but under the terms of its Status of Forces agreement, Washington can deploy its military forces at any South Korean military facility. Activists say the base is designed to accommodate Aegis destroyers that will likely become part of an integrated missile defense system under US command. They think the US directed South Korea to build the base to intimidate both North Korea and China, and to protect US economic interests. “This increased militarization is not making the region more secure, as the South Korean government claims,” said activist Jungjoo Park as she gave us a tour of the island, “but more tense, unstable and unsafe.”
Villagers also fear the rape, prostitution, and drugs associated with naval bases and their operating personnel, and decry the waste of $1 billion that could have been put to useful purposes.
They also see the base as a violation of their pristine environment, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Farmers and fisherpeople worry that the pollution generated by the base will destroy their livelihoods. Gangjeong’s coral reefs and estuaries, home to many endangered species, have already been destroyed. Particularly painful to the activists is the destruction of the Gureombi rockbed, which was a stretch of unique topography that was home to a diversity of life forms. In 2012 it was blasted to pieces and replaced by a massive concrete floor. “This was a sacred site, a dwelling place of the gods, a place where people gathered to picnic, swim, play and pray,” said Tera Kim, who spent nine months living on the rockbed trying to save it. Every year the villagers hold Gureombi Remembrance Day to mark the anniversary of its destruction.
As our group of visitors stood by the base looking out at the ocean, we saw the women divers in the distance, divers who over decades have been swimming alongside schools of dolphins and maintaining a harmonious relationship with the ocean and coral reefs. The concrete hulks of the base facilities, the ugly walls topped with concertina wire, are a desecration of the island’s stunning beauty and moved us to tears.
“Some say we are fighting a losing battle,” said Father Moon, a Catholic priest with a flowing white beard. “But for the sake of our ancestors and future generations, we must resist. This place should be a sanctuary for peace, not the site of a future military confrontation.”
“Maybe mother nature herself will help us,” Yong-beom Choi, vice mayor of the village, told us half-jokingly “Jeju is famous for huge typhoons. Maybe mother nature will unleash a very localized typhoon that will wipe away this monstrosity and allow us to live in peace.”
But the activists themselves are a powerful force of nature. Rather than waiting for a typhoon, you can support their efforts by going there or sending a donation to this heroic community of peacemakers.
Medea Benjamin is the co-founder of the peace group CODEPINK and the human right organization Global Exchange. Follow her on twitter at @MedeaBenjamin.
Originally published in Korean on 2015.02.03
By Ddalgi (Gangjeong villager, member of Peace Wind)
( Thanks for Fr. Pat Cunningham, Tom Raging Smith and Jude Lee for their collaboration work for the wonderful translation.)
At dawn on the 31st of January, we climbed the watchtower. Despite having thrown it up haphazardly in the icy winds that blew all night, we erected it knowing that we could trust it to defend our village. In protest against the naval construction, we raised a kayak that had previously circled the seas of Gangjeong to the very top of the platform; a kayak that should travel on the sea was lifted to the sky. It was our destiny to be with the old village bus that has carried villagers to the provincial hall, city hall, and mainland next to the sit-in protest tent that has already endured 99 days of hardship. A barricade had been erected around the sit-in protest area.
Private contractors who had come from the mainland for the crackdown were said to be staying at a minbak (traditional Korean lodging house) only 100 meters away. Someone informed us that a light had been turned on at the lodging house and they were on the move. We could hear the marching of the police as they approached the four-way protest intersection. The military housing sit-in protest site had been cornered off even before sunrise. The people who had been told to move by the police headed onto the watchtower, bus and in front of the tent. We were tense as we couldn’t recognise what was the sound of chains clanging in the darkness. We stoked the log fire, but were unable to drive out the cold. As dawn broke and we could start to make out the people around us, the Navy appeared and said they were there to carry out the order to remove the protest encampment. Private contractors who had appeared with the Navy began shoving us back on ourselves bit by bit.
The powerful private contractors used their bulky bodies to force people back one by one. They used all of their strength and every part of their bodies to drive us back, even smacking into us with their helmets, to narrow in on us little by little. There was a lot of screaming and cursing. The police nearby looked on and did nothing. However much we shouted, we were simply left to suffer helplessly without the aid of a single policeperson. Among the private contractors there were some who looked as if they had only just turned 20 or were even younger. The younger women cried out of anger and sadness.
Then they began to drag us away one or two at a time. There were people with cut heads, twisted arms and clothing torn off, and we didn’t know if the screaming would end. We heard the shatter of the glass from the village bus windows. The police smashed the glass and entered the bus in order to drag out the people from inside and arrest them. Some members of the press who were recording or taking photos of the police violence during the crackdown were also dragged away kicking and screaming. Only the village mayor, vice mayor, a local villager, Jeju resident, priest and clergyman remained sitting atop the watchtower. The police and the private contractors working for them occupied the sit-in protest area and tore the whole thing down. Very dangerously, the police tried to get onto the watchtower. They tried to climb up without putting down any safety mats or taking any other safety precautions. Unexpectedly, they brought out a construction crane and dug up the land surrounding the tower. Following this, they immediately placed a fence around the tower. Those police standing beside the police bus then tried to climb the tower again.
It was so very, very dangerous!! People’s screams had reached fever pitch when the police started to bring out mattresses and began laying them down around the place. However, the mat they roughly spread on top of the bus was only sliding around the place. Many possible things could have gone wrong that we couldn’t have protected against. It had gotten really dark by the time Bishop Kang Woo-Il had visited and negotiated for the release of all those arrested on the condition that the protestors come down and clear the site themselves. We relieved ourselves after holding it in for more than 10 hours. A day of not sleeping, eating, or pissing had drawn to a close.
It was assumed the sit-in would be all over in a couple of hours but such was the intensity of the resistance that it lasted for about 14 hours. However, a day and then two days slipped by and there was still no sign of two people of the 24 who were to be released. Finally after two days we heard the news that a warrant for the arrest of four detainees including the mayor and deputy mayor had been requested. There seems to be no end to the lies and deceit in which the village has been enveloped. Yesterday a siren was raised in the village and today a petition signature campaign was initiated in order to counter the lies the government is feeding the people.
Due to strong resistance from the villagers the Navy held numerous public meetings on the issue of military housing which ultimately ended in failure, and in 2013 the navy chief of staff directly assured the villagers by saying that “the Navy would not build military housing without the consent of the villagers.” The villagers assumed this to mean that plans to build 532 units of military housing would be scrapped. Instead 72 units of housing were abruptly steamrolled through and land containing rows of lily greenhouses was cleared overnight and ring fenced to make way for military housing! The protest tent which stood for 99 days in front of the designated construction site was then pulled down so that construction could begin.
The struggle of a village with a population of 1,900 people engaged in an 8-year-long campaign against the construction of the Naval Base seems to have flown by in the blink of an eye. However, the once very solitary and lonely struggle suddenly became a country-wide issue and a magnet drawing many people to Gangjeong to put down roots in the village while supporting the struggle. The fence encircling Gureombi which was erected on Sept 2, 2011 suddenly became the focal point for police from the mainland who descended on the village in their droves to unleash a suppression strategy during that hot and sweltering summer. March 7, 2012 saw the beginning of the blasting of Gureombi and the resulting blockade of all entrances to the village and those moments of horror and despair as we witnessed the construction begin in earnest. The police who descended from the mainland violently sought to isolate and arrest those citizens who came in solidarity with the villagers. The huge burden of fines amassed by villagers during the years of struggle has resulted in villagers being forced to contemplate the sale of the village hall during their recent annual general meeting.
The forcible expropriation of farmland, the stolen abalone and shellfish from the sea which has fed families for generations, and Gureombi Rock, the playground for children and the depository of many childhood memories, have now became places harboring great sadness and tears. What more can be stolen from us, what more can they take we were left to ponder.
We were foolish to believe them when they promised not to build military housing. We were foolish to believe them when they promised to release all who were detained. We have no one to appeal to now and no one can resolve the issues forced upon us and all we are left with is a feeling of further isolation and frustration. Today Mt. Halla stands in great clarity over the village as it witnesses our home and our land being taken from us by the Navy, the police and the government. Where do we go from here, to whom do we turn to? However, today we continue to sing…
Il-Gangjeong (Gangjeong, the Best Village)
Where both the big Gangjeong and Akgeun streams flow
Let’s go hand in hand to beautiful Il-Gangjeong
Where the song of Tiger Island is echoed by Seogun Island
Let’s go to the Sea of Gangjeong where the waves have danced
Since ancient times, the wonderful waters of Il-Gangjeong
Let’s go together hand in hand to the village of Life and Peace.
Ground Zero holds mock funeral for the Earth at at Bangor Trident base
By Leonard Eiger
Over sixty people participated in Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action’s annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr’s life and legacy on Saturday, January 17, 2015. The event concluded with a vigil and nonviolent direct action at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Silverdale, Washington.
Under the theme “Building the World House,” the day focused on Dr. King’s commitment to nonviolence and his opposition to war and nuclear weapons. Dr. King’s essay “The World House” may very well be the best summation of Dr. King’s teachings.
While some participants maintained a peaceful vigil at the Main Gate to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Silverdale, Washington on Saturday afternoon, others dressed in black monk’s robes carried a coffin containing a globe representing the earth to the side of the road. People walked up to the casket and placed flowers on it, and then another robed participant recited a eulogy, “Mourning the Death of the Earth after Nuclear Annihilation.” A funeral dirge completed the ceremony.
When the ceremony was finished participants carried the casket onto the roadway, blocking traffic entering the base. Washington State Patrol officers ordered the resisters to move the coffin out of the roadway. They complied, and carried the coffin to the median where they were detained. All received citations for being in the roadway illegally, and then released.
Those cited were Mary Elder, Seattle, WA; Peter Gallagher, Seattle, WA; Raghav Kaushik, Kirkland, WA; Mona Lee, Seattle, WA; Bernie Meyer, Olympia, WA; Michael Siptroth, Belfair, WA; and Rick Turner, Seattle, Wa;
Following the initial action more protesters entered the roadway and blocked traffic. Gilberto Perez, Bainbridge Island, WA carried a sign calling for no naval base on Jeju Island, Korea. Jonathan Landolfe, Tacoma, WA carried a sign saying “Sea Hawks, Not War Hawks.” Bruce Gagnon, Bath, ME carried a sign saying “Human Needs, NOT WAR$”. All were removed from the roadway by State Patrol and cited for being in the roadway illegally.
Gagnon, the Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, gave the keynote address earlier in the day at Ground Zero Center. Gagnon spoke of the unsustainability of the US Navy’s shipbuilding budget, and how “entitlement” programs including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are being defunded in order to fund the newest ships that include a new fleet of ballistic missile submarines. The OHIO Class Replacement Program alone (12 new Trident submarines) will cost an estimated $100 billion.
Members of Ground Zero Center also participated in the Seattle MLK Rally & March on January 19th, carrying a full size inflatable replica of a Trident II D-5 thermonuclear armed missile. Accompanying the missile was a banner with a famous quote by Dr. King: “When scientific power outruns spiritual power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men.” Participants handed out leaflets with facts on Trident.
The Trident nuclear weapons system was designed during the height of the Cold War and was predicated on the theory of Strategic Nuclear Deterrence, a doctrine that no longer applies long after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Continued deployment of Trident increases the risk of either accidental or intentional nuclear war, and building a new generation of ballistic missile submarines is increasing global proliferation of nuclear weapons at a time when the nuclear armed powers should be reducing reliance on nuclear weapons and making good faith efforts toward disarmament.
The Trident submarine base at Bangor, just 20 miles from Seattle, contains the largest concentration of operational nuclear weapons in the US arsenal. Each of the 8 Trident submarines at Bangor carries up to 24 Trident II (D-5) missiles, each capable of being armed with as many as 8 independently targetable thermonuclear warheads. Each nuclear warhead has an explosive force of between 100 and 475 kilotons (up to 30 times the force of the Hiroshima bomb). It has been estimated that by the time the new generation of ballistic missile submarines are put into service, they will represent 70 percent of the nation’s deployed nuclear warheads.
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action holds three scheduled vigils and actions each year in resistance to Trident and in protest of U.S. nuclear weapons policy. The group is currently engaged in legal actions in Federal court to halt the Navy’s construction of a Second Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor. Ground Zero is also working with other organizations to de-fund the Navy’s plans for the next generation ballistic missile submarine.
For over thirty-seven years Ground Zero has engaged in education, training in nonviolence, community building, resistance against Trident and action toward a world without nuclear weapons.
Re-blogged from here. To see the related post, see here.
By Steve Maynard, Nov. 28, 2014
The Rev. Bill Bichsel, center, is moved from his protest site by police during the Tacoma priest’s trip to South Korea earlier this month. COURTESY OF EUNMI PANG
The Rev. Bill Bichsel, an 86-year-old Tacoma priest known for his acts of civil disobedience, has returned from a trip to South Korea to protest construction of a naval base there.
Just three months ago, Bichsel was seriously ill and in the hospital in Tacoma. But his health — while still frail due to a heart condition — improved to the point he was able to make the trip using a wheelchair.
He said his doctors didn’t try to stop him from traveling.
“They just shake their heads,” Bichsel said. “They know I’m going so they don’t make a big fuss.”
For nearly 40 years, the Jesuit priest known as “Bix” has protested against U.S. military programs and weapons. He’s been arrested dozens of times for trespassing during protests and jailed more than a half-dozen times.
He wasn’t arrested in South Korea, but he realized the 12-day trip could set his health back.
“I know I could go anytime,” Bichsel said.
He was weak upon returning Nov. 20, but has gotten stronger since. And he was inspired by the trip.
Bichsel and nine other people — nearly all from the Puget Sound area — traveled to Jeju Island to commit what he called “acts of civil resistance” against construction of a base by the South Korean Navy. The base has been under construction on the island off the southern tip of Korea for eight years.
The efforts to stop it has been underway at Gangjeong Village since construction started, Bichsel said. The movement has united Catholics, Buddhists and those of no religious affiliation.
“It’s the most inspiring, unified resistance that I’ve experienced,” he said.
Bichsel said residents of the area believe the base will be used to service U.S. Navy ships. Some of those vessels could be armed with missiles as part of a defense system, he said.
The base is a few hundred miles from China.
The group joined other protesters — including Korean Catholic nuns and local villagers — to block cement trucks from entering the base.
They sat in chairs in front of the gate. Bichsel sat in a wheelchair. While they blocked the entrance, a priest celebrated the Mass across the street about 50 yards away as part of the resistance.
The protesters didn’t move until Korean police carried them away so the cement trucks could enter.
Three police officers picked Bichsel up in his wheelchair four or five times a day and pulled him to the side, he said.
He and the others would then go back and resume sitting in front of the gate.
“It’s sort of like a choreography,” said Bichsel, who uses a wheelchair because he can’t walk long distances.
The protesters, who numbered on average about 20, slowed the trucks but didn’t stop them from entering the base. No one was arrested, Bichsel said.
He also protested at the Jeju Island base during another trip in September 2013.
The priest said he’s demonstrating against the “continual militarization of South Korea, as well as our world, through the U.S. military.”
Local residents “know eventually the base will be built, but that doesn’t stop the villagers from standing up against it,” he said.
Bichsel, whose trip was financed by donations, said he was inspired by the commitment of Koreans who oppose the base.
“We get from them just a tremendous sense of faithfulness, living out what you believe, trying to stop the militarization.”
Bichsel has no immediate plans to return to South Korea. He’s planning his next act of civil disobedience much closer to home Jan. 17.
That’s when he plans to take part in an annual protest against nuclear weapons at the Navy’s Bangor submarine base on Hood Canal.
The nine person Washington state peace delegation to Jeju Island, South Korea is nearing the end of their solidarity visit. Last night they held a meeting with villagers and supporters for extended sharing. Here is a brief report from Emily Wang:
Yesterday night, we had a really inspiring sharing and dialogue with 9 foreigner visitors including Father Bix. With this chance, they shared their experiences and people here also expressed our thankfulness. We encourage each other in this long struggle and have question to each other. For instance, how to deal with anger, trauma…? What we gonna do if the [Navy] base construction is finally completed etc…?
Mira Leslie, one of the delegation who lives in Seattle, writes from Jeju Island:
In less than 24 hours we will depart Gangjeong village. Jean left this morning. The goodbyes started yesterday. There is tremendous gratitude to us for coming here. In some ways I don’t understand that – hosting and feeding ten people for 10 days is a tremendous task. We have had ‘special meal’ almost everyday – and the regular food at the communal kitchen is delicious – but not too varied. Kimchee varieties, rice and soup- yum. We have been taken to tourist spots including the amazing Buddhist temple grounds and there have been several meetings with key leaders of the movement – each imparting intense information.
The community of resistance receives support from visitors – it helps them to have people doing 100 bows and blocking the gate during mass-Eucharistic resistance. The sister nuns are a steady presence – rotating through here from diocese throughout Korea. Foreign visitors are embraced warmly. The community is tired, but still very together (from an outsider perspective). For me, this time will be impossible to forget – and I am sure I’ll ruminate on it after leaving.
How can we to bring this back to our communities – and honor all we have learned?
The town is decorated with natural images – of peace. Peace Zone, dream catchers, sea creatures, Gureombi rock. We learned yesterday at the stone museum and grounds “the very deep meaning of stone here’ – much of it volcanic. It is building material, fencing, tools, food prep, sinks, toys and games, water vessel, art, music….
Last night we sat at the peace center with the activists, priests, and a few towns people. Father Bix and I described some of our peace work in the US and then they asked questions to all of us. They had 2-3 sentence bios of each of us that had been translated and printed. At one moment an activist said – everyone sees the damage done to the environment here – but no one can see the deep anger and damage in our hearts. She asked Sonya who works with trauma teams internationally for advice. You could see the reactions – it wasn’t expected – Korean people don’t talk too much about their feelings.
The village produces lillies for Japan, a sister told me as we walked to the gate today – but many of the lilly greenhouses were destroyed when they started the base. There is still fishing – but it is diminishing as the sea is being altered with destruction of the fragile soft coral reefs, damage from concrete, blasting, construction toxins/waste and later with ship pollution – oil, fuel, human waste.
We were gifted t-shirts today by the international team. The image is of Jeju island with an open mouthed shark on one end – the shark is in US stars and stripes with the Korean script word ‘Imperialism’.
Police surround Art Laffin and other activists as they protest at the main entrance of a U.S.-backed Korean naval base on Jeju Island.Fr. Mun Jeong Hyeon, Art Laffin, and another protester during the Mass at the main entrance to the construction site of a U.S.-backed Korean naval base on Jeju IslandConstruction continues on a U.S.-backed Korean naval base on Jeju Island.
I had the opportunity to travel to Jeju Island off the coast of South Korea in the East China Sea from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4. I previously spent four days in Manila, Philippines, where I was invited to speak at the first Asia Pacific Dialogue on Human Rights and Respect for the Dignity of Life with the theme: “No Justice Without Life.” I left an amazing community in Manila standing for life and justice and saying “No” to state-sponsored killing. In coming to Jeju Island, I met another extraordinary gathering of people who are saying “Yes” to creation and “No” to the construction of new naval base that is a crime and a sin.
For several years, I have been closely following this inspiring nonviolent campaign led by local islanders along with priests and sisters to stop the construction of this U.S.-backed Korean naval base on Jeju Island (named the “Island of Peace” by the Korean government).
UNESCO considers Jeju Island and nearby Beom Island, Moon Island, Seop Island, and Hallasan National Park biosphere reserves. The construction of this base, which is a joint Korean, U.S. and Japanese venture with Samsung as the main contractor, is destroying the beautiful ecosystem of the island as well as the majestic soft coral reefs and surrounding ocean life.
The ancient Gureombi rock formation no longer exists, having been blasted away two years ago. Inthe March 2014 issue of the Gangjeong Village Story monthly newsletter, the lead article lamented the second anniversary of the destruction of this sacred formation: “For thousands of years, Gureombi has been a playground, a garden, and a mother’s arms, embracing and embraced by the people of Gangjeong. Thus it was perhaps the most painful and sorrowful moment of this 8 year struggle to experience the partial destruction of Gureombi Rock. Still, though we cannot see Gureombi anymore, it lives on in our memories.”
Ultimately, the U.S. wants to use the base as an outpost to contain China. Peacemakers from the United States, including Bruce Gagnon, Regis Tremblay, David Hartsough, Ann Wright, Jesuit Fr. Bill Bichsel, Nick Mele, Kathy Kelly, Brian Terrell and Michele Naar-Obed, have come here to offer support over the last several years, and the local campaign has been deeply appreciative for this friendship and solidarity.
Upon arriving in Jeju City, I received a very warm welcome by Fr. Pat Cunningham and the Columban religious community, who offered me hospitality for the night. The next morning, Father Pat and I took as bus to Gangjong Village, about an hour from Jeju City. We arrived just in time for the daily 11 a.m. Mass that occurs directly outside the entrance to the base construction site.
Father Pat and I joined with other friends, including longtime renowned peacemaker Fr. Mun Jeong Hyeon, who has spent nearly three years in prison for his resistance, in sitting on plastic chairs stretched out across the base entrance. As grace would have it, I also became reacquainted with two of the local organizers whom I had previously met in D.C.: Sung-Hee Choi and Jung Joo.
There were at least eight people from the community sitting in chairs, blocking the center of the entrance. As streams of cement and supply trucks entered and exited the base, police carried those blocking to the side of the entrance. Then the police permitted those forming the blockade to return to the entrance, where they continued the witness. This back-and-forth went on for at least one and a half hours.
Celebrating Mass and receiving the Eucharist in this context was a very powerful experience. In the face of this monstrous base, which is now halfway complete, the power of eucharistic love, borne out in nonviolent witness, is the means by which true conversion and transformation can occur. Those gathered at the base entrance, along with at least 30 people who also attended the Mass a short distance away, truly believe in miracles and that with God all things are possible.
Following the Mass, the gathered community prayed the rosary. This was followed by a press conference by the Gangjong Village Association, calling for an end to the expansion of military housing units being built in the village as a result of the new naval base. I then was invited on a tour of the port area of the island, where one can see a panoramic view of the massive base construction.
Cranes are visible everywhere on the site, while in the port, there is constant dredging to accommodate future warships. The Korean government has described the new base as a joint military port complex meant to encourage tourism in the beautiful landscape. Despite this and other attempts to deceive the public about the real purpose for the base, local villagers and their supporters refuse to be duped.
In the late afternoon, I met Yang Yoon-Mo, a well-known former film critic who has endured long-term imprisonment and hunger strikes for trying to stop the construction of the naval base. He is one of the more than 650 people who have been arrested for saying “No” to the naval base construction. There have also been 550 indictments for resisters, and about 45 people have served jail sentences for their courageous resistance. Yang and several others have set up a new vigil site at another part of the base perimeter where supply trucks are being redirected from the main entrance. Many villagers are upset that these trucks are now diverted through their neighborhood.
On Nov. 1, All Saints Day, I joined two other friends, Jesuit Fr. Kim Song Hwan and Gayun, in blocking the cement and supplies trucks. Moments after receiving the Eucharist, four police from the base hoisted me in my chair, banner in hand, and carried me over to the side of the road as they had done with Father Kim and Gayun. It was indeed a moving experience in more than one way! Once the traffic cleared, the three of us resumed our positions blocking the main entrance. This would happen two more times, once during the rosary and once when the human chain was formed across the road.
The Eucharist and the rosary have taken on a whole new meaning for me here as they occur in the context of an act of nonviolent resistance. In the face of this new port of death being constructed, I feel a power here that is far greater, that can truly overcome the idolatrous forces of military violence: the self-emptying, transforming love embodied in a living Eucharist.
The resiliency of this community is quite remarkable, and they remain deeply committed to a spirited resistance despite overwhelming odds. After the rosary ended, a human chain of about 30 people stretched across the entire entrance to the construction site. As I was still being surrounded by police who had carried me to the side of the entrance, I was handed the mic to lead several songs. I started off with “When the Saints Go Marching In,” which was followed by “Down By the Riverside” and “Seek Peace and Pursue It,” singing with police literally hovering over me as I sat in my chair. Following the human chain, there was an enthusiastic snake dance, then some exuberant dancing. The police, for the most part, let all this go on but continued to move anyone impeding supply vehicles from going into the site.
On my last day in Gangjeong Village, I joined the blockade at main entrance to the construction site and was carried off four times. After the rosary, I was carried off as I sang “We Shall Not Be Moved.” I later asked Father Kim about the history of having the Mass at the base construction site. He told me that in 2009, Bishop Peter Kang U-il of Jeju Island, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, first celebrated Mass on the land designated to be the base. In 2011, Father Mun initiated having the Mass outside the main entrance of the construction site for the base. Father Kim also shared with me that he is assigned to be part of this nonviolent witness to stop the base construction and has been joined by other Jesuits, including his provincial, in blocking the base entrance.
My friend Bruce Gagnon, longtime peacemaker and coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, was the first one to introduce me, as well as countless others, to the nonviolent struggle in Jeju Island to stop construction of a new U.S.-backed naval base. His inspiring peace work has not only included stopping construction of this new base, but campaigning to stop the militarization of space and for the closing of the nearly 1,000 U.S. military bases worldwide. When addressing the struggle on Jeju Island, Bruce makes an important point that bears repeating: This nonviolent campaign to stop the construction of the new naval base on Jeju Island is an important symbol for the international peace movement. It brings together all the issues — militarization, disarmament, the environment and human rights. I couldn’t agree more with him.
Hopefully, before it’s too late, more people will join and support the courageous people of Gangjeong Village in the struggle to stop the building of this base meant for death and destruction. I encourage people to see Regis Tremblay’s excellent documentary, “The Ghosts of Jeju,” which is the most important resource available about the nonviolent struggle on Jeju Island. For updates about the campaign and ways you can support it, go to savejejunow.org.
[Art Laffin is a member of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in Washington, D.C.]
The Gangjeong international team has requested toAustralian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalitionfor an article inJune 2014 newsletter. The excerpts from the long version was put in the 2nd page of it. We put the whole article here as it provides much information. Thanks to Julie Marlow and friends in the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign to take time on the article.
Won Hee-Ryong, a conservative and right wing, and a new Island governor(who was elected on June 4 and started his term on July 1)has written a reply to the Gangjeong Village Association’s question on the possibility of realization of civilian-military complex port on May 24 that he thinks co-existence of civilian and military port is possible, making examples of Sydney, San Diego, Manhattan, and Rome. His whole short answer was:
“As I know, there are examples of big ports such as Sydney, San Diego, Manhattan, Rome etc that use dock facilities where civilian and military are located next to each other. Especially, in case of Sydneyy, I heard that there is an example of using navy-only dock pier facility when 150,000 ton cruise ship enters[..]If there is any part that civilian-military port is not properly working, it should be fixed.”
His answer is very much in line with the South Korean governments and navy propaganda that deceives people. The navy used to make sugar-coat words on the Jeju naval base project (A so called ‘Civilian-Military Complex port for Tour Beauty’ in another title), projecting false illusion on the ecological conservation and economic development with the base project)
The truth is that 95% of the base-building budget comes from the ROK Ministry of National Defense (which makes the port, in fact, a pure military port); that many UNESCO soft corals have been dying with the base building; that the construction will only benefit big corporations like Samsung; and that the port will be a home to US Nuclear aircraft carriers and Aegis Destroyer etc…, let alone two 150,000 cruises that the gov. has advertised for the future prospect of the base use (It has been already disclosed that the base layout fits to the US nuclear aircraft carriers.. and the layout will never properly work for such big cruise. Yet. the Gov. still pretends and lies as if it would work)
Sydney Harbour: an unlikely exemplar of military/civilian cooperation
Won Hee-ryong, Jeju’s new Governor, has stated that Sydney Harbour is an example of a port comfortably combining civilian and military uses. This is highly debatable, particularly on past and present environmental evidence.
The new Governor also has suggested that the big cruise lines enjoy an accommodating relationship with Sydney Harbour’s naval base. This is simply wrong. The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has made clear that guaranteed access to its terminals by cruise ships is incompatible with the ‘primacy’ of naval operations.
Sydney Harbour has been a naval base since 1788, when Britain’s Royal Navy first arrived and hoisted the British flag. The harbour’s colonial history is tragic, with its Indigenous people largely displaced within a few generations, many murdered or dead of introduced diseases.
A more recent disaster—Sydney Harbour’s dioxin contamination— also has a strong military component. Australian-produced Agent Orange, manufactured by Union Carbide at a site on the western reaches of the harbour, was sold to the US and Australian armed forces for chemical warfare during the Vietnam-America War. Carcinogenic and teratogenic dioxins, originating from the Union Carbide site, now extensively contaminate the harbour’s marine life and sediment, and will continue to do so for decades. Since 2006, commercial fishing in the harbour has been banned and recreational fishers are warned not to eat fish caught in its western waters, and to strictly limit what they eat of their catches in other areas.
Sydney Harbour’s sad history belies the claim made by Won Hee-ryong. So does the nature of Australia’s current military build-up. Most of the build-up is in the north of the country and along the west coast, following recommendations of the government’s 2012 Force Posture Review, developed in sympathy with the USA’s Global Force Posture Review. Nonetheless, Sydney and the east coast are not being spared. Naval activities in the harbour are increasing and these activities are resource-greedy and polluting. It is hard to see how such activities can easily dovetail with civilian uses of the port.
Sydney Harbour, home port for Australia’s newest and biggest warships
The most conspicuous military presence in Sydney Harbour is the Garden Island defence precinct, comprising the RAN’s Fleet East Base and facilities of arms corporations, Thales Australia in particular. Fleet East Base is Australia’s principle east coast naval base. Thales, providing extensive maintenance and other services to the base, operates Australia’s largest dry dock, which artificially connects Garden Island to the mainland. Other corporations have a presence on the base, such as the Naval Ship Management (Australia) Pty Ltd, a joint venture between UGL and Babcock.
Fleet East Base is the home port for at least 12 of Australia’s larger warshipshttps://www.navy.gov.au/establishments/fleet-base-east. The latest to arrive is Australia’s biggest ever warship, the 27, 000-tonne, 230-meter long ‘Nuship Canberra’, an amphibious assault ship called a Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD).
Under strong pressure from the US military, with which Australian armed forces are becoming ever more deeply integrated, the RAN is rapidly expanding. Garden Island’s share in the expansion is a substantial revamp to accommodate more large vessels, including a second LHD and three Air Warfare Destroyers (AWDs) equipped with Aegis Combat Systems (sister ships to the US AWDs to be docked at Jeju). Sydney’s AWD and LHD training and sustainment facilities are costing $170.2 million. Favoured status of Defence means legislative environmental approval for this work is not required.
The navy is also considering using Fleet Base East as a supplementary home port for the planned expanded submarine fleet.
Foreign, especially allied, warships are frequent visitors to Sydney, and given the US military’s so-called re-balance to the Asia-Pacific, likely to become more frequent. These vessels require berthing and servicing at Garden Island, adding to its environmental footprint. Further, despite the City of Sydney’s status as a nuclear-free zone, nuclear-powered and unconfirmed nuclear armed US Navy ships arrive without compunction. Years of protest by peace, anti-nuclear and green groups has been of no avail.
Increased naval operations at Garden Island as well as infrastructure upgrades inevitably add to existing pollution and disturbance of contaminated sediment. The NSW Government’s recent $21-million harbour decontamination project included attempts to clean up sediment around Garden Island. However, “heavy metal contamination in soils and shallow sediments around the [Garden Island] precinct” continues to be reported
Commercial/military clash over use of ship terminals
Berths at the Garden Island naval base are among the most accessible in the port, and the RAN keeps a jealous grip on them. Contrary to the suggestion by Jeju’s new Governor, RAN shares its berths with the commercial sector very reluctantly and on an ad hoc, temporary basis.
Today’s huge cruise ships are too tall to pass under Sydney Harbour Bridge. Since 2007, the cruise industry, the fastest growing segment of Australian tourism (and admittedly an environmentally undesirable industry), has been calling for guaranteed access to the navy’s terminals. In 2012, the Australian Government directed the navy to make available three berths to passenger ships per year, but this arrangement does not meet demand and is bound to stop as soon as the next procurement of naval vessels arrives.
In its April 2013 review of cruise ship access to Garden Island, the Department of Defence concluded: “The current and future naval capability requirements at Garden Island are essentially incompatible over the longer term except on the existing ad hoc arrangements that we are following. The provision of the guaranteed shared access sought by the cruise industry would impact on the primacy of the naval operations from Fleet Base East.”http://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/house_of_representatives_committees.html?url=pwc/cpofitout/report%202/chapter5.htm
Conclusion
Sydney and eastern Australia is a climate change hotspot. Sea levels are rising and the East Australian Current is strengthening. Larger storm surges are predicted, as is the possibility of a southward shift of tropical cyclones.
Such hotspots are proliferating throughout the Asia-Pacific. Climate change is the outstanding security risk of the region, indeed the world. The environmental destructiveness that is caused by the construction of the Jeju Naval Base and, to a lesser extent by naval upgrades in Sydney, demonstrates that the military expansionism of the US and its allies ROK and Australia, can only compound the crisis that is facing our planet.
Dr. Hakim, born in Singapore (a man in blue scarf in the photo) who has been doing peace works in Afghanistan for seven years by now delivered a blue scarf to the village representatives. The letters in the scarf read ‘Border Free’ in Dari and English. The village presented him two yellow flags in the photo. It was after the press conference in refusal to pay fines for anti-base struggle in front of the Jeju court on May 22. The people in Afghanistan concern about that nine bases in Afghanistan would be used by the US military in coming years. For more information, see here . End US/ NATO occupation in Afghanistan! (Photo by Toran)
South Korean police were clamping down on a villager who was resisting the construction of a Korean/U.S. naval base at her village. Mi Ryang managed to turn the police away by taking off her blouse and, clad in her bra, walking toward them with her clear warning. Hands off! Mi Ryang is fondly referred to as “Gangjeong’s daughter” by villagers who highly regard her as the feisty descendant of legendary women sea divers. Her mother and grandmother were Haenyo divers who supported their families every day by diving for shellfish.
Mi Ryang, in white cap on the right, challenging a construction truck driver at the naval base gateMi Ryang, standing with Ganjeong Village Association members and Gangjeong’s mayor, outside the Jeju Courts, to refuse paying fines for protests against the U.S. naval base construction
In doing so, she confronts giants: the Korean military, Korean police authority, the U.S. military, and huge corporations, such as Samsung, allied with these armed forces.
Mi Ryang and her fellow protesters rely on love and on relationships which help them to continue seeking self-determination, freedom and dignity.
Jeju Island is the first place in the world to receive all three UNESCO natural science designations (Biosphere Reserve in 2002, World Natural Heritage in 2007 and Global Geopark in 2010). The military industrial complex, having no interest in securing the Island’s natural wonders, instead serves the U.S. government’s national interest in countering China’s rising economic influence.
The U.S. doesn’t want to be number two. The consequences of the U.S. government’s blueprint for ‘total spectrum dominance,’ globally, are violent, and frightening.
I recently attended a conference held at Jeju University, where young Korean men told participants about why they chose prison instead of enlisting for the two-year compulsory Korean military service. “I admire these conscientious objectors for their brave and responsible decisions,” I said, “and I confess that I’m worried. I fear that Jeju Island will become like Afghanistan, where I have worked as a humanitarian and social enterprise worker for the past 10 years.”
When the Korean authorities collaborated with the U.S. military in 1947, at least 30,000 Jeju Islanders were massacred.
How many more ordinary people and soldiers will suffer, be utilized or be killed due to U.S. geopolitical interests to pivot against China?
As many as 20% of all tourists to Jeju Island are Chinese nationals. Clearly, ordinary Jeju citizens and ordinary Chinese can get along, just like ordinary Afghans and citizens from the U.S./NATO countries can get along. But when U.S. military bases are built outside the U.S., the next Osama Bin Ladens will have excuses to plan other September 11th s!
A few nights ago, I spoke with Dr Song, a Korean activist who used to swim every day to Gureombi Rock, a sacred, volcanic rock formation along Gangjeong’s coastline which was destroyed by the naval base construction. At one point, coast guard officials jailed him for trying to reach Gureombi by swimming. Dr. Song just returned from Okinawa, where he met with Japanese who have resisted the U.S. military base in Okinawa for decades.
The Okinawan and Korean activists understand the global challenge we face. The 99% must link to form a strong, united 99%. By acting together, we can build a better world, instead of burning out as tiny communities of change. The 1% is way too wealthy and well-resourced in an entrenched system to be stopped by any one village or group.
‘We are many, they are few’ applies more effectively when we stand together. Socially and emotionally, we need one another more than ever, as our existence is threatened by human-engineered climate change, nuclear annihilation and gross socioeconomic inequalities.
The governments of South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan and even my home country Singapore, have dangerously partnered with the U.S. against China, in Obama’s Asia pivot, dividing human beings by using the threat of armed force, for profit.
The non-violent examples of the people of Gangjeong Village should lead people worldwide to make friendships, create conversations, build alternative education systems, promote communally beneficial, sustainable economies , and create peace parks where people can celebrate their art, music, and dancing. Visit Gangjeong Village and you’ll see how residents have created joyful ways to turn the Asia War Pivot into an Asia Peace Pivot, as you can watch in this video.
Alternatively, people can choose the “helpless bystander” role and become passive spectators as oppressive global militarism and corporate greed destroy us. People can stand still and watch destruction of beautiful coral reefs and marine life in Jeju, Australia and other seas; watch livelihoods, like those of Gangjeong and Gaza fishermen, disappear; and watch, mutely, as fellow human beings like Americans, Afghans, Syrians, Libyans, Egyptians, Palestinians. Israelis, Ukranians, Nigerians, Malians, Mexicans, indigenous peoples and many others are killed.
Or, we can be Like Mi Ryang. As free and equal human beings we can lay aside our individual concerns and lobbies to unite, cooperatively, making our struggles more attractive and less lonely. Together, we’re more than capable of persuading the world to seek genuine security and liberation.
The Afghan Peace Volunteers have begun playing their tiny part in promoting non-violence and serving fellow Afghans in Kabul. As they connect the dots of inequality, global warming and wars, they long to build relationships across all borders, under the same blue sky, in order to save themselves, the earth and humanity.
Through their Borderfree effort to build socioeconomic equality, take care of our blue planet, and abolish war, they wear their Borderfree Blue Scarves and say, together with Mi Ryang and the resilient villagers of Gangjeong Village, “Don’t touch me!”
“Don’t touch us!”
Hakim, ( Dr. Teck Young, Wee ) is a medical doctor from Singapore who has done humanitarian and social enterprise work in Afghanistan for the past 9 years, including being a mentor to the Afghan Peace Volunteers, an inter-ethnic group of young Afghans dedicated to building non-violent alternatives to war. He is the 2012 recipient of the International Pfeffer Peace Prize.
VCNV, or Voices for Creative Nonviolence, has deep, long-standing roots in active nonviolent resistance to U.S. war-making. Begun in the summer of 2005, Voices draws upon the experiences of those who challenged the brutal economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and U.N. against the Iraqi people between 1990 and 2003.
