Peace for the Sea International Peace Camp, aimed to build up the inter-island solidarity for peace among three islands, Okinawa, Taiwan, and Jeju, in East Asia has been successfully held from Aug 3rd to 6th in Gangjeong village, Jeju Island with around 50 participants from Indonesia, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Spain, Unites States, Korea, not to mention Okinawa, Taiwan, and Jeju.
On Aug 3rd, participants visited Jeju 43 Peace Park to get the basic introduction of the traumatic history of Jeju island.
Presentation about Nuclear Issue in TaiwanOkinawa’s presentationParticipation in the Human Chain activity and sing the beautiful songs by Peace Camp participants.Ocean Activities
On the morning secession from Aug 4th-6th, people learned and exchanged the different stories on Okinawa, Jeju, and Taiwan following the different topics on each days. Every day, the presenters from Okinawa, Taiwan and Jeju brought us their different but connected island stories. And in the last day, we even have the Peace activist from Hawaii to present one of the most representative case of the evilness of the US militarism in Hawaii. And through the volunteering discussion in the late night of Aug 5th and part of the time in morning secession on Aug 6th, the peace camp participants made the common statement and presented it in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and English language in the press conference during the Daily Human Chain Time in front of the Naval Base Construction gate with the shouting in 4 languages of NO Base, No Violence, No Killing, No War, No Nukes, No Destruction of Nature.
The following is the statement by the Peace Camp participants.
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“Peace for the Sea, From the Islands to the World”
Statement by Korean and Overseas Delegates to the 2014 Peace for the Sea International Peace Camp
We have gathered here in Gangjeong Village as witnesses of conscience who have also formed new bonds of friendship. We are peacemakers from across four different continents who have gathered to help promote inter-island solidarity among Okinawa, Taiwan, and Jeju. As part of our “Peace for the Sea” International Peace Camp, we feel moved to join together to issue this statement of solidarity.
We believe that the building of this naval base is wrong and a clear violation of local and international law. As members of the global community who love Korea, we are appalled that the construction of this naval base is poised to destroy the fragile ecology of an island renowned throughout the world for its natural beauty and geological significance. The projected impact of this base would forever change the character of the island and could potentially cripple Jeju’s thriving tourist economy. We emphasize in the strongest terms that militarizing this island stands to ruin Jeju’s pristine environment with toxic pollution, and would dishonor the island’s character as a sacred island of peace and a place of collective healing from historical trauma.
Here in Jeju, we are furthermore inspired by the courage and integrity of those who have long opposed militarism and state violence in Okinawa and Taiwan and on other islands in East Asia. We share parallel backgrounds and many common experiences, and we stand in solidarity as we engage in a common struggle against anti-democratic militarism.
We also share a close kinship with the sea, and we embrace our duty to protect the right to peaceful oceans, which is our common human inheritance.
We therefore challenge the manifestations of state violence on Okinawa, Taiwan and Jeju. Given that reducing military tensions in Northeast Asia is essential to promoting peace throughout the world, all three islands must be demilitarized and restored to their former long-standing existence as peaceful communities at the maritime crossroads of Northeast Asia. For the sake of a more secure future in the region and for the world, we urgently call for a newly Demilitarized Peace Area without military bases in Okinawa, Taiwan and Jeju.
This statement was written collaboratively among all of the participants of the International Peace Camp.
August 6, 2014
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In the afternoon from Aug 4-6, the ocean activities had been carried out in the Gangjeong port, Gangjeong river and Gangjeong sea. The activities includes having fun in the Gangjeong river, swimming and riding the kayaks in the sea, Peace Demonstration in the sea…
Peace Camp participants held the sign of “DMZ Peace Island”
In the night, the peace festivals were held. In the first day’s “Welcoming night”, Gangjeong villagers, Go, GwonIl, the vice mayor of Gangjeong, and Jeong YoungHee, the chairwoman of Gangjeong anti-base committee gave the welcoming speech to these domestic and international peace delegates. In the second day’s “Cultural Night”, people learned and enjoyed the Gangjeong, Okinawa, and Indonesia traditional dances. And in the movie night, we watched the Gangjeong documentary–“Gureombi, the Wind is blowing” and had the dialogue with Director Cho, SungBo. In the last night, the music concert was held and the closing speech had been done by the other Gangjeong vice mayor Mr. Choi, Yong-Beom and the video message from the Jeju Bishop Mr. Kang U-Il to the Peace Camp participants. Through these festival nights, people got time to exchange and share our cultures from different islands and areas and some also use this time to give the solidarity to the palatine people who is now suffering by war.
All the participants in this peace camp are the precious presents who make the inter-island solidarity for peace be on the way of realization. We exchange our promise not to let one struggle alone against militarism. And the 2nd, and 3rd Peace Camp in Okinawa and Taiwan are under preparation.
Collection of links: messages with Korean translations (see here)
As in 2012, 2013, many international peace activist friends have thankfully sent us solidarity messages. (click for 2012 messages and 2013 messages) The below is the collection of each message. The Columban JPIC has been willing to initiate a petition for solidarity with Gangjeong (click here). Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space (space4peace.org) and Angie Zelter (tridentploughshares.org), 2012 Nobel Peace Award nominee, have sent us video messages and they were screened in our Aug. 2 cultural event, the end of our march program. Some early messages were put in our march literature that was distributed to the march participants today. Some messages were put in excerpts in our July-August newsletter (click here, page 5) and will be put in our Peace Center to remind people here of your friendship and solidarity.
Thanks so much Eun-young Lydia Park to translate many messages. Thanks so much, all the international friends who sent us messages, again.
Angie Zelter(UK) and Bruce Gagnon (US)
Sherrin (Australia)
Keep fighting the good fight. Though i can’t march by your side my thoughts and prayers are with you every step. Much love Sherrin
Bayan (New Patriotic Alliance – Philippines) and Ban the Bases (Philippines)
Dear Friends in GangjeongWarm greetings from Bayan ( New Patriotic Alliance – Philippines) and Ban the Bases!Attached are photos of our solidarity action for the Gangjeon 2014 March for Peace and Life.We carried paper placards that made the following calls:Save Jeju Island! Ban the [ROK]US Naval Base Now!Resist US Militarism and War!Ban the US Bases Now!Stop [ROK]US Naval Base in Jeju!We wish success to the Gangjeon March for Peace and Life on July 29 – August 02.Long Live International Solidarity!Yours Sincerely,Rita Baua, International Solidarity OfficerBoyette Jurcales, Coordinator, Ban the Bases
–> See the Korean translation and more images, here.
HOBAK & friends/diasporic Koreans in the Bay area (United States)
stay strong, gangjeong! we stand in solidarity with you, and others around the world struggling for self-determination! 투쟁! sending love, hobak & friends/diasporic koreans in the bay area
We, the KEEP-ROK 2014 delegation, stand in solidarity with the people of Gangjeong in the struggle for peace and justice. 해군기지결사반대! 생명평화강정마을! As Koreans in diaspora living in the US, we absolutely object and denounce the naval base construction, the extreme militarization of the Asia Pacific, and the immense violence perpetrated by US imperialism. Your strength and fierce resistance is deeply inspiring, and our spirits are with you on the Peace March! Love & Solidarity, KEEP-ROK 2014.
–> See the Korean translation and more images, here.
Jack and Felice Cohen-Joppa (The Nuclear Resister, United States )
To our friends who so steadfastly oppose the construction of a naval base on the Island of Peace: With every step of your peace walk, our thoughts are with you. Every day when you sit in the road at the entrance gate, our thoughts are with you. During each act of conscience and resistance, many of us – near and far – stand in solidarity with you. Every day we remember and are thankful for the activists who are in a prison cell. Your persistence and faithfulness is an inspiration to so many around the world. Our struggle for a peaceful and disarmed world is one struggle! Jack and Felice Cohen-Joppa, The Nuclear Resister, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Dear friends,i am traveling… [..]Today sleeping all day.Bu never forget Gangjeong.Wherever I go I talk about Gangjeong. My experience of Gangjeong. And your experience as I know.And the Gangjeong peoples life and hopes and decidedness and courage…Peace does not come by itself, we have to fight for it (fight and peace?!).So please send me pictures and stories from the march. I will put those on our Homepage.[..]Peace be with you,PaulPaul Schneiss, Heideberg, Germany
My dear villagers Greetings from Washington, D.C. Where I am just leaving a historic march and rally at the White House on the occasion of the 61st anniversary of the Korean War armistice. Hundreds of Koreans from the us and South Korea along with their American allies marched to urge president Obama to end the Korean War and to sign a peace treaty. At the rally in front of the White House I challenged Obama’s notion that the Korean War was a victory. How are 10 million families separated victory? How is the militarization of korea a victory? How is the repression of democracy on both sides of the Dmz a victory? There were over 50 youth there and I told them seeing their faces gave me great hope, that we need them to carry the torch for peace so that like me who learned from my elders they can help educate my two year old jeju whom I named after the fierce resistance against the naval base. From Washington, D.C. To honolulu hawaii coast to coast across the United States the people are moved and inspired by your courage and belief in a different future, a peaceful future that isn’t militarized. Thank you for risking your whole lives for peace. May justice rain down on you soon. With love Christine Ahn, Executive Director of the Korea Policy Institute, co-founder of the National Campaign to End the Korean War
There are so many heroes in Gangjeong, that it is difficult to count them all. By “hero,” I mean a person with great courage and strength who makes unlimited sacrifices for the good of all humanity. One such hero is Father Mun Kyu-hyun. During last year’s march, he was asked by the film director Oliver Stone why he crossed the DMZ to North Korea, even though he knew that it would result in long-term imprisonment. Father Mun grinned bashfully and tilted his head. Then he explained, “That is the road to peace.”
The Grand March for Peace and Life is another road to peace. Every summer, people come from all over Korea and even the world, to join the Jeju Islanders in this weeklong march. The parade of yellow-shirted men and women, boys and girls, never fails to inspire all onlookers. They are inspired because they are seeing something rare in our world — a vision of real democracy. Korea is so lucky to have Jeju Island, and all the brave, strong, beautiful heroes who will never stop fighting to save her. Thank you, Gangjeong, for inspiring me, too. Koohan Paik, Hawai’i
Seeing the current insanity towards ordinary people in Gaza and Uklaine, struggles in Gnagjeong remind us of the conscience and the sensibility of human beings. As we citizens here are powerless, Japan is being arbitrarily and fundamentally changed, from defensive to offensive. One predictable consequence to that might emerge on the Korean Peninsula. The tragic horrible history must not be repeated. In our hearts, we would walk for peace and young lives. We would stand by those courageous local citizens in Gangjeong.
I wish I could join the Walk, but it might be too hot for me.
In the near future I would like to visit Gangjeong again.
We, me and my friends in Osaka, always remember you and
think of you.
Your work for peace encourages us to keep fighting against
militarism in Japan.
Only peace can make the world peaceful, not weapons.
Thank you for all the work you, Gangjeong people, do for peace.
Best wishes,
Kiyoko Matsuno, Japan
–> See the Korean translation and more images, here.
Lindis Percy ( UK)
MESSAGE OF SOLIDARITY TO THE GRAND MARCH FOR LIFE AND PEACE 2014
Sent by Lindis Percy – Coordinator on behalf of the CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF AMERICAN BASES (CAAB) www.caab.org.uk also on Facebook and Twitter
We send you greetings, solidarity and love as you march for life and peace. We will be with you in spirit – every step of the way!
We are so inspired and impressed by your persistence and resistance – peaceful and steadfast. You shine a light in a very dark and troubled world. Along the way many people will have had their minds and hearts opened by you as to what the US military are doing on the beautiful island of Jeju.
Your flag flies at the Tuesday weekly demonstration when we gather at the American base – NSA/NRO Menwith Hill. PEACE friends.
With much love
Lindis
–> See the Korean translation and more images, here.
‘Your flag is with us every Tuesday pm opposite the main entrance to NSA/NRO Menwith Hill – crucially connected to the US Missile Defense System.’‘We have been at the gates of NSA/NRO Menwith Hill every Tuesday pm (except 4!) for 14 years. The number of people who come varies very much. This night there were just 3 of us….but we were there! It is very hard in the UK to get more. We are concerned with the presence of the US Visiting Forces and their Agencies here and world wide. That is why we are in solidarity with you in your struggle.’
Kelly, Kathy (United States)
Dear Friends,
From here in Kabul, we’re grateful to catch courage from you. Wars and threats of increasing violence afflict Afghanistan, and so we are all the more grateful for your insistence that we can nonviolently resist the war makers. Thank you for your vibrant, creative and tenacious witness. Your commitment to peaceful seas inspires us here in landlocked Afghanistan as we share in your dreams and your efforts to be guided by your visions of a better world.
Sincerely,
Kathy Kelly
co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence
–> See the Korean translation and more images, here.
Hakim with the Afghan Peace Volunteers (Afghanistan)
“No Naval Base!”
Your yellow banner of protest adorns the wall of our library in the Borderfree Community Centre of Non-violence in Kabul, Afghanistan.
The Afghan Peace Volunteers seek to emulate your beautiful community’s resilience in resisting the global military industrial complex.
With you, we wish to sing against the militarization of Mother Nature and our common spaces, and dance with you for a world without war.
When you walk, know that you’re strengthening us across all borders.
Thanks for showing us that even if we were the defenseless underwater soft coral not seen by the world, we can remain soft, we can insist on being colorful, and we can link hands to enrich a part of the vast, untamable sea.
–> See the Korean translation and more images, here.
Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition Pax Christi Australia, and MSC Justice & Peace Centre (Australian Province)
To all those taking part in the 2014 Gangjeong Grand March for Life and Peace, we send a message of solidarity and hope.
Unable to be with you in body, we stand with you in heart and mind, and thank you for the opportunity to do so.
We condemn the cultural and environmental damage that Gangjeong is suffering at the hands of the ROK and US navies, and the injustices being imposed on its people, especially activists.
Your bravery, creativity and determination not to be silenced are sources for strength and inspiration for peace activists throughout the world.
We share your goal of preserving Jeju’s status as the world’s Island of Peace.
We share your goal of bringing to an end the construction of the naval base within you precious waters.
We share your dream of a region whose constituent nations pursue peace together through disarmament, mutual respect, cooperation and dedication to non-violence and justice.
We share your passion for peace.
AUSTRALIAN ANTI-BASES CAMPAIGN COALITION
PAX CHRISTI AUSTRALIA (Fr. Claude Mostowik)
MISSIONARIES of the SACRED HEART JUSTICE & PEACE CENTRE (AUSTRALIAN PROVINCE)
Gangjeong villagers and internationalists: your eight years of struggle and sacrifice against the interests of the South Korean and U.S. military/industrial complex are an inspiration to peace and earth-loving people everywhere.Your unbreakable will and spirit, not Korea’s corporate prestige, technological achievements or K-Pop, are the nation’s true gifts to the world.
In solidarity for people’s justice on the Island of Peace,
Kyle Kajihiro, Hawaiʻi Peace and Justice and the DMZ-Hawaiʻi / Aloha ʻĀina network
Aloha dear friends in Jeju!
From Hawaiʻi Peace and Justice and the DMZ-Hawaiʻi / Aloha ʻĀina network, warm greetings and solidarity!
Congratulations on the commencement of your 2014 Grand March for Life and Peace! Thank you for your tireless efforts. As you begin your march, the U.S. military and the militaries of twenty-two other countries continue their RIMPAC military exercises in our islands, an example of the unbearable costs and consequences of endless war.
Do not believe the lie that mili-tourism has been good for Hawaiʻi. While some people reap the benefits of the military-industrial complex, most local residents and the environment pay a very high price: environmental destruction, displacement from the land, rising costs of living, sexual violence, and accidents. You walk for all the people of the world who dream and struggle for peace and justice. Peace for Jeju! Peace for the world!
Columbans and friends in Chile support the campaign against the building of the naval base in Gangjeong,Jeju! They are in solidarity with you this week as you walk for the life and peace of the beautiful island of Jeju! This is the message I was asked to convey to you below! The link below to the protest letter handed in at the Embassy in Santiago is in Spanish!‘This morning, a group of representatives of the columban family in Chile (Lay missionaries, co-workers, friends ofSaint Columban and Columban Youth) presented a letter in solidarity with the people of Jeju Island to the embassy of Korea asking the government to stop the construction of the naval base in Jeju, all this in the context of the celebration of“2014 Gangjeong Grand March for Life and Peace”you can see the report in Our website, here.or in our facebook, here. Cesar Correa Valenzuela Justice Peace & Integrity Of Creation Co-ordinator Society of St. Columban. ChileFamilia columbana entrega carta a embajada de Corea por situacion en la isla de Jeju.#columbanosPuedes revisar la carta en
–> See the Korean translation and more images, here.
Yuichi Kamoshita(Japan) : An impression on joining march after it
Since I started to think about a Peace in my life, Korea, China, and Taiwan as well as Asian counties
where were invaded by Japanese imperial army and corporations are often in my mind. As our grand
or great-grand parents helped to invade these countries. I always have some pain in my deep heart.
The millions people of Korea lost their lives and livelihood.
Also, millions of Chinese, Germany, Russian, Japanese and more countries.
There are no borders that all civilians are victims and people still suffer from that war.
We still have difficult relationships between countries.
And this issue is always played on the political games which disturb a mutual understanding between
civilians.
In order to avoid this brain washing, we civilians need to avoid the mass-medias who are sponsored by the government and big corporations or powers.
The importance of international solidarity in grass roots level is now getting higher.
Communicating and sharing the experiences by visiting each other would be a very helpful to lift up
our awareness of understanding other life styles which a fact of all societies are depend on the natural environment and human culture from ancestors.
I joined the Grand March 2014 in Jeju. I had mainly 3 reasons to walk this island.
1, Of course, to express against naval base,but also offering a prayer for the victims of 4·3 and victims of Japanese colonization.
2, to feel Jeju, to understand the way of life. the great nature gives a life to the people of this island.
3, to meet and communicate with people of Korea and international friends.
And as I understood that this is a most front line of the peace action.
By visiting Gangjeong village and joining the movement, I was inspired by the leadership of religious
people, and a presence of international team. also a lot of young people take a part of this movement
which I couldn’t see in Okinawa’s movement.
It is my hope that more religious people stand up and dedicate their lives to the peace and social
activities.
Now Okinawa’s struggle is facing a turning point. a construction of expounding the Camp Schwab at
Henoko now started. at the same time Takae (Yanbaru forest)
Jungle warfare training center(U.S marine corp.) has been expounding the helipads by cutting down the forest life.
I consider that people of Okinawa need more international solidarity now.
Humbly,I ask people of Korea to come to stay in Okinawa for support and encourage the movement.
I also would start working for inter-island solidarity.
Photo by Dir Cho Sung-Bong , which is told to be taken around 6 pm on July 9. For more photos, see here.Photo by Dir Cho Sung-Bong (1, 2) , which is told to be taken around 6 pm on July 9. For more photos, see here.
If you remember the seven destroyed caissons (*a caisson is a huge concrete structure for building breakwater) by the big typhoons in 2012, you will also remember how unreliable the caisson construction has been; how wrong the base location is as the village is located on the very way of typhoon; how dumbfounding is waste of people’s tax for war base; and how the sea has been polluted by the navy who has illegally destroyed those seven without any environmental concern… Here are a few words (excerpted) by some witness who are observing another damage on caissons by a medium typhoon that hit Jeju on July 9…
…………………………………………
‘It is the 1st typhoon since the [navy’s] caisson construction in the area of South breakwater, an area operated by the Samsung C & T.’ (By Kim Kook Nam, peace keeper, July 9)
‘Neoguri, the 1st level typhoon in Okinawa has become weaken into the 2nd level when it affected the Jeju Island. [..]’ (By Go Gwon-Il, co-vice mayor, July 9)
‘Due to the typhoon Neoguri influence, two caissons at the end of the naval base (currently built) south breakwater were completely separated. A one-story caisson at the end of south breakwater, which is barely exposed on the sea surface, is slant, as well, while the two caissons next to it become separated from the existing ones with the great gap from those and looking slant, too. It is likely to take lots of time for those to be restored..” (By Fr. Kim Sung-Hwan, July 10, 8:30am)
‘According to Koh Sung-Shik, Yonhap news reporter who inquired to the naval base project committee, the 1st caisson has been filled with about 40% inside while the 2nd with 100%[..] There seems no way except for smashing those. Steel rods in those became all crooked with the concern of getting rusty in the sea water.. (By Go Gwon-Il, co-vice mayor, in the morning of July 10)
The naval base project committee got tens of billions of damage by total destruction of seven caissons when the typhoon Denvin and Bolaben hit the Jeju in 2012. At the time, the navy said, “The naval base caisson is laid out to stand against big typhoon every 50 years.” (Jeju Sori, July 9)
”The damaged caissons shown from the land is No. 1 and 2. But when I accessed to the site, today, the No. 3, following 1, 2, became slant, too, toward the Beom Island(Tiger Island) about 15 degree. The last picture is the front of No. 3. ( Writing and photos By Kim Kook Nam, Peace Keeper, on July 10)’ (See also Yonhap News, July 10)
‘1. Three caissons in the south breakwater were damaged and distorted. Though the size is different, each costs from 1.5 to 3 billion KRW. It is our tax.
2. The same scene with No. 1, taken from the Moetppuri,[ the eastern tip of the base project]
3. All steel rods along the south breakwater became to be laid
4. Same with tetra pods that have been piled up at the end of the east breakwater.
The villagers used to say,
“The Gangjeong Sea will settle what we cannot do with our struggle.”
(Writing and photos by Cho Sung-Bong, July 10. For more photos by Dir. Cho, see here. )
A Jeju media reminds the words of Yang Hong-Chan, the chairman of the villagers’ anti-base commitee in the earliest period of the struggle: “Do you know why there is no tree in the sunny south side on the top of the Beom Island? It is because the sea wave even over rides the top of it during big typhoons. How there can a base be built up in such location? ( Jeju Internet News, July 10)
Soft corals seriously were damaged in two years in violation of the EIA: The base construction should be immediately stopped!
Before (2012) and AFTER (2014): Serious damage has occurred in soft corals in the directly impacted areas due to the Jeju naval-base construction. Source provided by people’s team by the result of monitoring from June 11 to 13, 2014Before (2012) and AFTER (2014): Serious damage has occurred in soft corals in the directly impacted areas due to the Jeju naval-base construction. Source provided by people’s team by the result of monitoring from June 11 to 13, 2014The sites that people monitored this time. A is the area of a light house and B is the area of the Seogeon Island.
The wrong sites the ROK navy has conducted monitoring. Compare it from the image above.
On June 18, the widely reported in Korean media was the result of the international workshop to investigate on the impact on Jeju sea soft corals caused by the naval base construction, which was a follow-up of the ‘International Symposium on the Conservation of Soft Corals in Asia-Pacific: Impact of Military Bases on Soft Coral Communities,’ National Assembly seminar hall, Seoul, June 10.
The whole workshop and site investigation (June 11 to 13) was organized by the Gangjeong Village Association, Jeju Pan-Island Committee for Stop of Military Base and for Realization of Peace, National Network of Korean Civil Society for Opposing to the Naval Base in Jeju Island, and Office of Jang Hana, National Assembly Woman .
The task force team on the monitoring of the soft corals in the Jeju naval base construction area included Dr. James E. Maragos, U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, a member of the soft coral expert group, IUCN; Dr. Simon Ellis, Marine and Environmental Research Institute of Pohnpei; Dr. Abe Mariko, The Nature Conservation Society of Japan; Office of Jang Hana; Green Korea United; PSPD (People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy); Gangjeong Village Association; and specialist divers.
The team pointed out above all that the navy’s post-environmental impact assessment has been conducted in the wrong sites.
The ROK navy has assessed in its ‘post environmental impact assessment result report,’ that there is ‘no impact due to naval base [construction] in the numbers of soft coral species, density of floating stuffs, and change of current etc., since the 2009 EIA and its following period of post-EIA (2011 to the current)
The team, however, pointed out that the navy’s ‘post-EIA result report shows the navy has not processed on the monitoring on soft corals and measuring on current & floating material in the areas of the Gangjeong lighthouse and Seogeon Island, which are located within the 4~500 m or there about from the [currently built] naval base breakwaters and within the direct impact zones due to the naval base construction.
The team reported from their own investigation that ‘in the areas directly impacted by the naval base construction, a symptom of the maritime environment change that seriously threatens the soft coral habitats is found.’ According to them, the changed environment is VERY WORRISOME, compared to the period in Aug. 2012 when the maritime construction has not been taken in earnest, yet.
Simon Elise who has monitored the same areas, visiting Jeju in 2012, pointed out that ‘the expansion and the increment of the sediments that are filed up on soft corals interrupt their feeding activities. Not only that, it seems that the ROK navy is not properly carrying out its role enough even though management on the sediments is necessary because they are the threatening element for their poison effect.’ (* translation from Korean media)
.According to the team, the current in those areas has weaken like a lake [even though the monitoring was carried out in the period when the current is the strongest] The experts say that the weakened currents bring concern about the coral ecology as soft corals have habits to take feeding activities by expanding themselves when current is strong.
Following the monitoring, Yoon Sang-Hoon, Green Korea United claimed:
“The species that are protected by law is in crisis. We demand the stop of construction(destruction) and accurate investigation above all..
Shin Yong-In, a law professor of the Jeju University reminds that the naval base construction is processed with conditions attached:
“Shouldn’t the construction(destruction) be stopped and re-examined when natural memorial is damaged? Isn’t the reason why the Ministry of Environment and Cultural Heritage of Administration of Korea exist? Just for the pretext that the naval base is a national security project, the rest problem has been indulged. If you look at the current EIA, there should be no damage on soft corals.”
The Kookmin TV on June 17 is one of the media that reported on the people’s monitoring activity, its results and their evaluations. You can watch experts’ diving, sea condition and Simon Elise’s won words, here.
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
War and Peace in Korea and Vietnam – a Journey of Peace by David Hartsough
May 15, 2014
I have recently returned from three weeks in Korea and Vietnam, countries which have in the past and are still suffering from the ravages of war.
Korea – North and South are caught in the tragic cold war mentality with a divided country imposed on them by the United States (and not opposed by the Soviet Union) back in 1945 and solidified in 1948. Ten million families were separated by the division of North and South. People in South Korea cannot phone, write or visit relatives or friends in North Korea and vice versa. One Catholic Priest from South Korea I met spent three and a half years in prison in South Korea for visiting North Korea on a peace mission. The border between North and South Korea is a battle zone where hot war could break out at any moment. The US and South Korean military regularly do full scale live fire war games invoking up to 300,000 troops simulating both defensive and offensive war including armed war planes right up to the border of North Korea. North Korea regularly makes threats of war as well. The Soviet Union is no more and it is time for the United States to ask forgiveness of the people of South and North Korea for imposing this state of war on the two countries, sign a peace agreement with North Korea to officially end the Korean war,recognize the government of North Korea and agree to negotiate all differences at the conference table, not on the battlefield.
I spent most of my time in Korea on Jeju Island, a beautiful island 50 miles south of the South Korean mainland where between 30,000 and 80,000 people were assassinated back in 1948 under orders from US military command. The people of Jeju island had strongly resisted the Japanese occupation during World War II and along with most people in Korea, were looking forward to a free and independent nation. However, instead of a unified country, the US imposed a strongly anti-communist government on South Korea and especially on Jeju Island, all who resisted a militarized and anti-communist South Korea were assassinated (more than 1/3 of the population at that time). Because of the anti-communist dictatorships for decades after 1948, the people of Jeju Island were not allowed to even talk about this past or they would be suspected of being communist sympathizers and severely punished., Only in 2003 President Roh Moo-hyun apologized on behalf of the Korean government for the massacre of the people on Jeju island in 1948. Jeju Island was then declared an “Island of Peace” and was also declared a “World Heritage Site” because of its coral reefs and natural beauty.
But now the US government has decided on the “pivot to Asia” and plans to move the focus of US military operations to Asia – presumably to encircle China with military bases and prepare for the next war. The village of Gangjeong has been chosen as the port for a massive military base which officially will be a Korean military base, but in reality is seen as a place for US military ships to help “contain” China. Thus, the fear is that Jeju Island could become a focal point for a new war – even a nuclear war between the US and China.
Since plans for the base were first announced seven years ago, the people of Gangjeong have been resisting the construction of the base and for the past four years have been nonviolently blocking bulldozers and cement trucks coming onto the base. Activists from South Korea (many in the Catholic church) have joined in this nonviolent resistance. Every day there is a Catholic Mass in which priests and nuns block the main entrance to the base and each day are carried off by the police when many cement trucks are lined up trying to get onto the base. When the police step aside after the trucks have entered the base, the priests and nuns carry their chairs back to continue blocking the entrance to the base – all the time in deep prayer. I joined them for the last two days I was on Jeju Island. After the mass each day which lasts about two hours, the activists come and do a dance blocking the main gate for another hour or so. Some of the people acting on their conscience blocking the entrance have spent over one year in prison. Others have had heavy fines imposed on them for their acts of conscience. But still the nonviolent resistance continues.
Some Koreans are working hard for reconciliation and peace between North and South Korea. But the governments of the US, South Korea and North Korea continue their military confrontation and now if this base is built, there will be another very large military base in South Korea. Concerned Americans need to support the nonviolent movement of the people on Jeju Island to stop the construction of the military base there.
I believe that the American people need to demand that our government stop the Pax Americana way of relating to the rest of the world. We need to settle our differences with China, North Korea and all nations by negotiations at the conference table, not through projecting our military power through threats and the building of more military bases.
And now on to Vietnam.
Vietnam
In April I spent two weeks in Vietnam as part of a Veterans for Peace delegation hosted by a group of American Vietnam Veterans living in Vietnam. The focus of our visit was to learn about how the people of Vietnam continue to suffer from the American war in Vietnam which ended 39 years ago.
Some of the impressions/highlights of my visit to Vietnam included:
The friendliness of the Vietnamese people who welcomed us, invited us into their homes and have forgiven us for all the suffering, pain and death our country inflicted on them in the American war in Vietnam, with a hope that they and we can live in peace with one another.
The horrendous suffering, pain and death caused by the war in Vietnam. If the United States had abided by the Geneva accords which ended the French war with Vietnam in 1954 and had allowed free elections in all of Vietnam in 1956, three million Vietnamese (two million of them, Vietnamese civilians) would not have had to die in the American war in Vietnam. The US military dropped over eight million tons of bombs (more bombs than were dropped by all sides in World War II) killing, maiming and forcing people to flee their homes and many of them to live in tunnels. In Quang Tri province four tons of bombs were dropped for every person in that province (the equivalent of eight Hiroshima –sized Atomic bombs).
The people of Vietnam are still suffering and dying from the unexploded ordinance and Agent Orange dropped on Vietnam by the US during the war. Ten percent of the bombs dropped on Vietnam did not explode on impact and are still exploding in people’s back yards, in their fields and in their communities, causing people of all ages including many children to lose their limbs, eyesight or be killed or otherwise maimed. Eight hundred thousand tons of unexploded ordinance is still in the ground in Vietnam. Since the end of the war, at least 42,000 people have lost their lives and another 62,000 have been injured or permanently disabled due to unexploded ordinance. We witnessed one unexploded anti-personnel bomb found being safely detonated after being found about ten feet behind a home in a village when they were cutting weeds the day before we got there.
Over 20 million gallons of herbicides were sprayed on the people and country of Vietnam, including fifteen million gallons of Agent Orange to defoliate the trees and crops. There are three million Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange with deformed bodies and minds three generations later who are still suffering from this very toxic chemical which gets into the genes and is passed from generation to generation so children are still being born deformed in mind and body. We visited orphanages of children tragically affected by Agent Orange who will never be able to live a normal life. We visited homes where children were lying on the bed or floor not able to control their bodies or even recognize there were people nearby. A Mother or Grandmother spends 24 hours a day with the child loving and comforting them. It was almost more than our hearts could bear.
The (American) Veterans for Peace Chapter 160 in Vietnam is helping support projects like Project Renew in which Vietnamese are trained to safely remove or detonate bombs or ordinance which are found in the communities. They are also supporting the orphanages and families where one or more family members cannot work by buying them a cow or putting a roof on their home or helping start enterprises like growing mushrooms which can be sold on the market for income for the family. Or projects where blind people can make incense and toothpicks which can be sold and help support their families. Our delegation contributed $21,000 toward the orphanages and in support of families suffering from Agent Orange and unexploded ordinance- a drop in the bucket compared with the need, but it was deeply appreciated.
The US government should take responsibility for alleviating the suffering and pain our war is still causing the people of Vietnam and contribute the hundreds of millions of dollars necessary to clean up both the Agent Orange and unexploded ordinance and support the families and victims still suffering from the war. The Vietnamese are ready to do the work, but need financial assistance. We Americans have caused this tragedy. We have the moral responsibility to clean it up.
It was powerful to experience Vietnam with US veterans, who had been part of the killing and destruction in Vietnam and who were now finding healing from the pain of their war experience 40 or more years ago, through reaching out to the people of Vietnam who are still suffering from the war. One US veteran told us that after the war he could not live with himself or with anyone else and lived as far away as he could from other people – about a hundred miles north of Anchorage, Alaska working on an oil pipeline by day and was drunk or high on drugs the rest of the time to escape from the pain of his war experience. He said there were hundreds of other Veterans also in the back woods of Alaska who were going through the same experience. Only after thirty years of hell did he finally decide to go back to Vietnam where he has gotten to know the people of Vietnam and has found profound healing from his experience in the war – trying to bring healing for the people of Vietnam as well as for himself. He said the worst decision of his life was to go to Vietnam as a soldier and the best decision was to come back to Vietnam as a friend of the people of Vietnam.
There is a bill which has passed Congress allocating 66 million dollars for commemorating the war in Vietnam in 2015, the fortieth anniversary of the end of the war. Many in Washington hope to clean up the image of the war in Vietnam – that it was a “good war” and something for which Americans should be proud. After my recent trip to Vietnam I feel very strongly that we must NOT allow our government to clean up the image of the Vietnam war. The Vietnam war was a horrible war as are all wars. Hopefully we will learn from history as well as from our religious teachings that War is Not the Answer, that war does not solve conflicts, but instead sows the seeds of future wars. War is a moral disaster for everyone including those who do the killing. (There is a very high number of suicides by both active duty soldiers and veterans, and the souls of all the rest of us are also wounded.)
The United States could be the most loved nation in the world if we moved from our Pax Americana way of relating to the world to a worldview of a global human family. We need to work for “Shared Security” for all people on earth and act on that belief by spending the hundreds of billions we currently spend on wars and preparations of wars for human and environmental needs in the United States and worldwide. We could help end world hunger, help build schools and medical clinics in communities around the world – help build a decent life for every person on the planet. That would be a much more effective means of fighting terrorism than our present effort to find security through ever more armaments, nuclear weapons and military bases circling our planet.
I invite you to join many of us who are building a Global Movement to End All War –www.worldbeyondwar.org , to sign the Declaration of Peace, look at the ten minute video – The Two Trillion dollar question – and become active in this movement to end the insanity and addiction to violence and war which is so endemic in this country and around the world. I believe that 99% of the world’s people could benefit and feel much safer and have a much better quality of life if we were to end our addiction to war as a means of resolving conflict and devote those funds to promoting a better life for all people on the planet.
My experiences in Korea and Vietnam have only strengthened my belief that this is the path we must take if we are to survive as a species and build a world of peace and justice for our children and grandchildren and for all generations to come.
For more information about the struggle on Jeju Island, Korea, see the www.savejejunow.org website and the film, Ghosts of Jeju.
For more information about the situation in Vietnam and what the Veterans for Peace are doing to help support those suffering from Agent Orange and unexploded ordinance, see http://vfp-vn.ning.com/
David Hartsough is a Quaker, Executive Director of PEACEWORKERS in San Francisco, a Co-Founder of the Nonviolent Peaceforce and a veteran of peacemaking work in the US and many other parts of the world. David’s book, WAGING PEACE: GLOBAL ADVENTURES OF A LIFELONG ACTIVIST will be published by PM Press in October 2014.
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!
Gangjeong villagers and activists decorate the streets with colorful woolen squares knitted by supporters of the anti-base struggle. Traditional drummers play in the foreground.
I recently spoke with two members of Veterans for Peace, who had become involved with Korea issues in only the past few years. Each of them came to know Korea through their support for the Gangjeong villagers who have been battling, for nearly eight years straight, construction of a huge, high-tech navy base being built on their Jeju-Island coastline. Both men said that before Jeju, their work with northeast Asia was Japan-centered, and that “no one ever talked about Korea.” But through their engagement with Gangjeong, they have learned about the April 3 massacre, about the unending Korean War, about the unprecedented tonnage of bombs that the U.S. levied upon the Korean people in the early 1950s, and about modern Korean history, in general. Today, they recognize that the Korean War was certainly as consequential in U.S. history as the war in Vietnam. It now perplexes them that Korea had been effectively erased from the books.
The sad truth is, the vast majority of even the most progressive Americans know very little about Korea, let alone that the U.S. has been at war with it for the past 60 years. Many don’t even know where Korea is. This absurd knowledge void presents a challenge so daunting for those working toward unification, that nothing short of alchemy would seem to hold any promise for peace on the peninsula.
On the other hand, it appears that the tragedy unfolding at Gangjeong village might offer just the sort of alchemy that could conjure Korea into the wider consciousness. Ecumenical groups, environmental groups, artists, lawyers, social workers, peace-studies groups, student groups, indigenous-rights groups, and food-sovereignty groups have all passed through the tiny village whose fame is now of global proportion. Numerous articles on the villagers’ plight have been published in Europe, South America, the Asia-Pacific and the U.S. Last summer, I was at the San Francisco airport with Gangjeong’s charismatic Mayor Kang Dong-kyun on his first foray outside of northeast Asia, when a woman behind him in line said, “Aren’t you Mayor Kang? From Gangjeong village?” It turned out she had studied Gangjeong as part of a peace-studies program in Virginia, and recognized him from internet videos. Little Gangjeong has put Korea “on the map” and affirms that the Korean War is indeed alive and well.
Then, in fall of 2013, the City of Berkeley, California, was the first city in the world to formally declare its support of the Gangjeong villagers in the form of a resolution opposing the navy base. Shortly thereafter, in Madison, Wisconsin, the National Board of Veterans for Peace passed a similar resolution to “Stop the Second U.S. Assault on Jeju Island.” The document not only describes what is at stake if the base project is allowed to proceed, but also gives historical context, such as the 1948 genocide on Jeju and how the ever-increasing militarization of Korea violates the 1953 Armistice. It reads like an overview of modern Korean history vis a vis the United States.
One of the most poetic declarations in support of the Jeju struggle was made by a group of Afghani peace activists based in Kabul who have established a Skype relationship with their counterparts in Gangjeong. They write: “We are confident that if ordinary Chinese or North Koreans ever gave you trouble, you would have tea with them, using your imagination and citizen diplomacy to calm the troubles, non-violent paths which are far more effective and kind, and a far better use of tax-payer money (it takes no tax-payer money to drink tea!) than the multi-million premises, personnel and war equipment.”
The global draw of the Gangjeong village struggle owes much to the fact that the land, water, heritage and culture at stake have already garnered international recognition. Gangjeong’s culture and environment have earned UNESCO designations. It is one of Korea’s few remaining traditional, indigenous villages; it contains some of Korea’s best farms and richest soil, its purest water and its haenyo diver tradition; its coast was home to Korea’s only pod of dolphins and one of the world’s finest, soft-coral forests (now being dredged); and its 1,900 residents practice authentic local democracy.
True, all these elements attract an international crowd. But the most enduring appeal of the humble village sits squarely in its remarkable community spirit. The community is comprised of an eclectic mix of villagers, clergy and Seoul activists, who strategize and carry out campaign after campaign. There are cooks, videographers, and kayakers who monitor environmental violations by construction crews. There are people setting up for “Hundred Bows” every morning, or for a music concert in the evening. There are people manning the Peace Center, ready to welcome new arrivals disembarked off the public bus steps away. There are people printing up information pamphlets to disseminate at any one of the big, international conventions that regularly take place on Jeju. It is no exaggeration to say that the village is as fueled on dynamic love as it is by donation.
Most recently, there have been scores of knitters – yes, knitters! – sitting crosslegged in the Peace Center for hours at a time, lashing together enormous woolen quilts in rainbow hues, out of over a thousand knitted squares sent to them by supporters from all over Korea. December 2013 in Gangjeong saw the streets festooned with the quilts, and even the skeletal trees were given cheery, colorful “sweaters” that fit snugly over their trunks and branches. The sight of this whimsical riot of color splashed across winter’s dreary landscape, in contrast with the phalanxes of stern and smooth-faced cops who robotically pull away every protestor from blocking cement trucks, is indeed chilling — yet somehow, transcendent. Even an atheist once commented that life in Gangjeong was the closest one could come to living with God. Maybe that’s why, when visitors return to their own countries, either voluntarily or through deportation, they are compelled, almost evangelically, to “spread the word” through events, writing articles, and making films. Something special is going on in Gangjeong.
But it wasn’t always this way. Initially, the villagers were highly suspicious of outsiders, particularly those from the Korean mainland. They carried the trauma of the April 3, 1948 massacre in living memory, when the South Korean army, under U.S. orders, unleashed wholesale terror on the island and murdered at least a third of the population. Understandably, the South Korean government’s announcement that their village would be the site for a navy base only reinforced their mistrust of outsiders. In those beginning years, the Gangjeong villagers battled alone, in total obscurity. But at a certain point, with everything at stake, they had no choice but to embrace the support of mainlanders who seemed authentically sincere. One such mainlander was artist Sung-hee Choi, board member of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and the pivotal person in exposing the struggle internationally. She started a blog, No base stories of Korea, in December 2008 which first introduced Gangjeong outside of Korea in 2009. Choi moved to Gangjeong in 2010 and has been there ever since.
Today, almost eight years since the announcement of the base project, the Gangjeong coastline is unrecognizable, carpeted with enormous stacked cement forms of varying shapes and sizes that resemble a giant’s erector set. The 86 species of seaweed and over 500 species of mollusks – once food for the village – have all but perished. The sea is no longer a clear dark blue, but grayish brown. Gargantuan concrete cubes called “caissons,” 10 stories high apiece, sit on the ocean floor where biodiverse coral habitats once thrived. On land, an enormous rebar mold for manufacturing the caissons looms hideously over the horizon. The rumbling and scraping sounds of construction fill the air night and day. The base is slated to start operation in 2015.
To add insult to injury, resistance leaders are jailed for months on end, often caught in a revolving door of multiple prison sentences. Currently, three beloved individuals languish unjustly behind bars: 22-year-old Kim Eun-hye, Brother Park Do-hyun, and film critic Yang Yoon-mo, who has been incarcerated for about a year.
Depression and suicidal tendencies have skyrocketed in Gangjeong, according to the Jeju media. Women weep in the streets. Often, there are scant visitors to boost morale (and the visitors really do make a positive difference). During the winter when it’s off-season for tourists, they feel alone and helpless against the cranes, dredges and cops of the transnational defense industry’s destructive juggernaut.
Community Creativity
Someone once asked Gangjeong Mayor Kang Dong-kyun, “What keeps you going?” He said, “Knowing that this is not just for me, not just for my children, or my children’s children, or for my ancestors. It is for world peace.” But Mayor Kang left out a key component as to how the villagers have maintained their resilience for as long as they have: through dance. As silly as it may sound, a series of four wacky dances that celebrate Gangjeong has served as an indispensable catharsis ritual that ends each day. The villagers will also spontaneously break out into the Gangjeong dances when times get tough, such as what happened upon the tearful announcement at the IUCN convention that a resolution to stop base construction had been defeated. It’s how they let off steam so they can keep going.
In a certain sense, Gangjeong uses creativity as a weapon in psychic self-defense. Once the villagers mounted a film festival of anti-war videos directly in the gaze of a row of riot cops surrounding the base. It is as if, for every harsh blow, every broken bone, every dead dolphin, every prison sentence, and every fine levied upon them, they emerge with a surprising rejoinder of equal, positive force. Recently they lined the village streets with six-foot high stacks of books, 30,000 in all, creating both political art and a library al fresco — a stunning visual juxtaposition against the squadrons of police.
The Gandhi-esque villagers seem to have captured the hearts and imaginations of the world. When a former attorney with the Clinton administration came to Gangjeong, he marveled, “In the face of brutal opposition, they display only grace and persistence.” When a German IUCN bioethicist spent several days in the village, he remarked, “their joy is infectious.” When a Hollywood film director was asked what he liked best about his visit to Gangjeong, he said, “The dancing.” At the core of such astonishing creativity is – again — the community. Perhaps this is the alchemy that can heal all of Korea.
One could say that the villagers have metamorphosed Gangjeong into a premiere destination for political tourism. Gangjeong is an excellent place for foreigners starting at a zero knowledge base, to learn about Korea’s place in history and in the region. And the benefits are reciprocal; while visitors learn about Korea, they invariably take their lessons home and spread the information, which, in turn, supports the movement. Professor Rob Fletcher gave a seminar at Costa Rica’s University for Peace on the base struggle. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, one of the original drafters of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, has been in communication with villagers about staking out their identities as indigenous Tamna (which could lead to advantages through processes at the UN). British attorney Harry Jonas wrote a case history of Gangjeong as an example of how legal constructs violate what he calls “natural justice.” Such developments have given new hope to villagers who have lost all faith in their own government.
As a result of such exchanges, villagers have become extraordinarily sophisticated about other Asia-Pacific islands also under assault by militarization and the Pentagon’s “Pacific Pivot.” Solidarity has been built with Taiwan, Okinawa, Guam, Hawaii, and elsewhere. Now, when President Park Geun-hye echoes her father’s dream of turning Jeju into “Korea’s Hawaii,” a tourist mecca complete with navy base, the villagers steadfastly oppose. They do not want to see militarization kill all life in their sea, as it did in Pearl Harbor, which is now a toxic Superfund site. Like all indigenous people, they know that without their natural resources, they die — economically, culturally, spiritually.
Recently, an American pragmatist looked out at the machines bulldozing the coast and said to me, in a defeated tone, “You’re not going to stop the base.” He’s likely right. But maybe I’m not looking only for linear cause-and-effect results – like I used to. The way of life here has connected me with my own humanity and the humanity of others. Just as its residents have transformed this physically disfigured place into a village of spiritual beauty, I, too, have been transformed. And I know many others who have been similarly changed. Gangjeong is like the Chinese character that means not only “crisis,” but also “opportunity.”
Koohan Paik, who was raised in Korea during the Park Chung-Hee era, is a journalist, media educator, and Campaign Director of the Asia-Pacific program at the International Forum on Globalization. In 2011 and 2013, she helped to organize the Moana Nui conference in Honolulu, which brought together international activists, scholars, politicians and artists to consolidate Asia-Pacific discourse as it relates to geopolitics, resource depletion, human rights and global trade. She is the co-author of “The Superferry Chronicles: Hawaii’s Uprising Against Militarism, Commercialism and the Desecration of the Earth,” and has written on militarism in the Asia-Pacific for The Nation, Progressive, and other publications.
*Reblogged posts do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Save Jeju Now
Update: Dr. Song Kang-Ho was released on Nov. 29. Please see here. And Mr. Kang Bu-Eon was released on Dec. 3.
Regis Tremblay, a movie director of ‘The Ghosts of Jeju,’ thankfully made these images for the English speakers. Bruce Gagnon writes in his blog:
“These good people are right now languishing inside the jail house on Jeju Island, South Korea. And there are more on the way.
Their crime? Trying to non-violently block the construction vehicles from entering the Navy base “destruction” site in Gangjeong village. In the case of Yang Yoon-Mo he got an 18 month sentence. And many people are being given severe fines to pay.
One activist from Hawaii, who spent considerable time in Gangjeong village in solidarity with the villagers, has reported: “There is no heat for male prisoners (I do not know about the women’s section of the jail) during the frigid months of winter. The conditions are inhumane.”
We can’t ever forget these good people who are fighting for peace, the environment, and human rights. See more at the official Jeju web site Save Jeju Now.‘
# Among the five, Mr. Kang Bu-Eon is a village elder, who has spent lots of time in his childhood on the Gureombi Rock. He had taken care of his sick wife who fell down for a stroke eight years ago. He himself takes four medicines for illness.
Banner image by Haku Kim/ photo by Choi Hye-Young. The banner reads, “these are no-guilty. Immediately release all the prisoners imprisoned for their crying for the peace of Gangjeong~”
Fwd by Pamela K Brubaker, Professor Emerita of Religion, California Lutheran University
To see the PFPL statement, ‘In Solidarity with Gangjeong Villagers Say No to the Jeju Naval Base!’ go to HERE.
Photo by Jo Yak Gol, Oct. 27, 2013
Affirming Life Together in the Face of Belligerent Empire
We the participants of the 3rdPeoples Forum of Peace for Life gathered at the April 3rd Peace Park in Jeju Special Self-Governing Province in the Republic of Korea from 23rd to 27th of October 2013. We had a women-led solidarity mission to Jeju and to Gangjeong Village, and shared common experiences of threats to life in our respective societies and throughout the world. Inspired by our faith traditions’ shared affirmation of life, we issue this call to solidarity and action.
In Solidarity with Gangjeong Villagers and Say No! to Jeju Naval Base
We note with concern that the government of the Republic of Korea has enforced a naval base construction in Gangjeong village, Jeju Island since 2007, without proper consultation with villagers and consideration of villagers’ right to environment, land and peace. We are distressed to witness how a large-scale development profiting big corporations can destroy peace in a village under the name of protecting national security. For seven years the people of Gangjeong village have resisted the base construction and suffered unjustly from abuse by authorities in response to their non-violent campaign against the construction of a naval base which will militarise the sea of East Asia. We witnessed the strong resistance of the historic tradition of Jeju women lived out in the Gangjeong village struggle against the base construction. They have been accompanied by activist groups from around the world. The Catholic Church, in particular, has been a presence for the last two years, offering mass every day to draw attention to this travesty.
We, the participants of the 3rd People’s Forum, stand in solidarity with the people of Gangjeong village in their peaceful struggle against maritime militarisation. Jeju people have a full right to resist the repeat of the last century’s tragedy, the April 3rd massacre in 1948 of tens of thousands of Jeju islanders. The people of Gangjeong village present a strong call to open a new era of peace and cooperation in East Asia for themselves and for all of us.
The Not-so-Innocent Language of Empire: Toward a Counter-Narrative
The emerging US national security state is a symptom of an increasingly desperate empire seeking to maintain its hegemony, harming the living conditions of many of its own and other peoples while repressing dissent at home and in politically “hot” regions. The imperial system wages war on the people of the world. It is defined by the nexus of the national security state and predatory corporate capitalism.
Beginning with the end of the Second World War, the US led imperial model has been imposed in several parts of the world, in Central and Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Key instruments of the imperial system are militarization and coups, capture of international financial and trade institutions, neoliberal market economy, and socio-cultural controls of media, communication, and education.
The Empire employs deceptive language and consciousness to legitimize its ambitions. In the solidarity mission to Jeju, we noted the ruthlessness of the innocent-sounding “US pivot to Asia.” Instead of increasing friendly relations with Asia, it involves the new geo-political imperatives of Empire regarding China and the American presence in this economically dynamic region.
Nuclear weapons and nuclear power are two dimensions of one reality, which the nuclear military industrial complex promotes and benefits from. There is no peaceful use of nuclear power (“Atoms for Peace”), as the disaster at Fukushima shows. Forced evacuation of 150,000 people continues, highly radioactive contaminated water has not been brought under control, and efforts to restart nuclear power plants are underway, as well as export of such plants.
The Empire claims to “fight terror”, “protect national security,” and “advance democracy and human and women’s rights.” These discourses of “Western” values advance imperial dominance. Activism for justice and peace is branded as “terrorism”, and Muslims resisting colonization and wars in their lands are termed terrorists. The imperial promotion of human and women’s rights has the opposite effect of what is proclaimed.
We need to expose the moral and political-intellectual bankruptcy of these imperial claims, and advance a counter-understanding of the threats to the lives of both the human- and non-human living world, as well as the life of the planet. We must offer alternative approaches in order to live justly, sustainably, and peacefully in this world.
Toward an Interfaith Praxis of Resistance to Empire
We are at a time when a global, powerful, and meaningful phenomenon like religion can no longer ignore the multiple crises surrounding it and catastrophically affecting its adherents. In particular, the “war on terror” has harmed Muslim-Christian relations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. One of the most effective legitimating factors for the violence of the powerful in the world today is religion in general, and especially some powerful institutional actors located within the various religious traditions.
This trend needs to change and there are increasing voices which are calling on their religious leaders and communities to rekindle the real liberating spirit and ethos of their religious traditions. This is a time when all of the great, lively religious and spiritual traditions that provide fundamental values of justice, sustainability, and peace are under pressure to be co-opted by the powerful to support ongoing injustice and inequality in the world.
We meet here to affirm that these traditions must have no tolerance for the widespread, unfolding genocide taking place against the world’s peoples, and the concomitant ecocide of our home, planet Earth. The peoples of the world are suffering layer upon layer of injustice and brutality, and our religious and spiritual communities can no longer maintain their silence or just pay lip service to justice and peace. These communities must continue their prophetic and authentic missions of forcefully challenging the empire and its powerful allies, institutions, and policies and practices – in cooperation with like-minded social movements and peoples movements. We call upon our religious and spiritual communities to commit their leadership, constituencies, and resources to mobilize against these trends of domination, subordination, and destruction of peace-loving peoples, societies, and our ecosphere.
Our Common Call
We continue to be inspired by the heroic resistance waged by social movements in Latin America, the Philippines, India and many other places against neoliberalism and US hegemony, and call for meaningful support for and solidarity with these progressive forces.
Inspired by the long history of ecumenical witness for improved North-South Korean relations, particularly between the two Christian communities, we offer our solidarity to a reinvigorated process of dialogue and exchange with a view to generating a political environment conducive for reunification, beginning withrenewed engagement between the two sides to turn the Armistice into a peace treaty.
We urge resistance to financial instruments and trade agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which undermine our commitment to place people and the environment before profit.
We strongly condemn the corporate violence leashed out in Odisha, India, on the struggling communities and the environment by the POSCO company hand-in-glove with the Indian government. We demand the immediate release of people who are arrested and accused on fabricated cases. We demand the withdrawal of POSCO so that the communities can live in peace with nature. We ask the people of Gangjeong village in Jeju and other citizens of Republic of Korea to be in solidarity with the people in Odisha, India.
We call on people of faith and conscience to continue their support of the Arab people’s resistance against tyranny and occupation, and to oppose the regional and global counter-revolutionary political actors denying their aspirations for human dignity and social justice. We especially reaffirm the need for steadfast support for Palestinian national liberation and maintain our commitment to our Palestine solidarity work.
We call on the faith communities to actively combat the rising tide of Islamophobia, which facilitates greater imperial violence against Muslims.
We strongly denounce the growing network of the U.S. military power both through building bases and expanding access through Visiting Forces and Status of Forces Agreements throughout the world, including here in the Republic of Korea, and the accompanying patriarchal and sexual violence, exploitation, and suffering inflicted on women. We are inspired by and give our unconditional solidarity to the heroic resistance waged by women against such barbarism.
We deplore the state and private financing of bloated military budgets and the arms trade, and call for significant reduction in military expenditures and an end to the arms trade, so that these funds may be invested in life affirming programs.
We call on religious communities and peoples committed to peace to condemn the introduction and use of drone warfare, and demand an end to their use.
We affirm movements against nuclear power plants in Japan, India, and many other countries, and support their efforts to hold accountable governments and corporations for harm they have caused.
We call on the peoples of the nuclear armed states and those states protected by them to join with the 124 nations resolving to never use nuclear weapons.
We strongly encourage equitable negotiations between the US and Iran with a view to additional subsequent agreement on the imperative of establishing a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in the Middle East. We affirm that establishing similar zones in South Asia and Northeast Asia is also urgent.
We remain committed to our critique of global injustices and global hegemony, although this in itself does not offer an alternative to the prevailing world order. Alternative structures, institutions, laws and policies must be premised upon an all-embracing alternative consciousness which privileges attitudes and values that the Empire has hitherto ignored or downplayed. Love, for instance, should be foregrounded as a defining attribute of the individual and collective consciousness of the human family. When love begins to shape our behaviour and action in a profound manner, it will have a huge impact upon all spheres of society including economics and politics. For love has the potential to demolish ego-centric attitudes that boost the insane drive for power and wealth that often leads to hegemony.
Adopted 27 October 2013
Jeju April 3 Peace Park, Republic of Korea
An Indian activist presents on the ‘corporate violence leashed out in Odisha, India, on the struggling communities and the environment by the POSCO company hand-in-glove with the Indian government. You can see a video presented by him, here. To be co-incident, POSCO is another main company for the Jeju naval base construction. See here. For the two presented videos on people’s struggle opposing the POSCO, see here and here.
