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Tag: Bruce Gagnon


  • Gangjeong Village Story: Monthly Newsletter | July and August 2015 Double Issue

    July August first section_Page 1In this this July and August Special Edition:
    Reflections on 2015 Gangjeong March (domestic and international/ writings and photos),  Gangjeong as the co-recipients of the IPB award, U.S. Ships and Fighter Jets are are here, the 23rd Global Network conference in Kyoto,  Connecting Bath and Jeju,  Returning to Jeju, Taiwan anti-nuclear activist’s solidarity with Gangjeong, The Ghost of Yasukuni Cancelled by Jeju City,  a miracle in relation to the Sewol Ferry incident, trial updates, anti-naval base struggle shown in numbers,  Peace for the Sea international Sea Camp in Okinawa, 2015 , navy’s outrageous move, Captive dolphins return to Jeju Sea, Jeju’s soft coral suffering from damage, ‘Black Eagle’ Airshow invades village,  international solidarity, and more!

     

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    Here is a clear view of the table in the page 7.

    Shown in numbers

     

     

    September 12, 2015

  • Navy Trying to Kill Gangjeong Village

    Re-blogged from here
    By Bruce Gagnon
    jejuhuman
    blue2

    I was invited to come to Jeju City today to appear on live radio show for 20 minutes at 6:00 pm.  As we were preparing to leave Gangjeong village we looked into the sky as a formation of Navy Blue Angel war planes came screaming over the village.  For the next 15 or so minutes they went back and forth directly over Gangjeong doing various stunts.  One of the stunts brought the planes very low in an ear splitting maneuver.

    The Navy was sending a message to Gangjeong village.  The message was loud and clear. “We own you now.  Your village will become a war base.  There is nothing you can do.  We will project power against China from Jeju Island.  You’d better get used to the idea.”  This is the way the US military empire thinks and the way they treat people who stand in their way.

    Just before we went on the air for the radio interview we learned that the Navy is planning to demand that Gangjeong villagers pay $20 million (USD) in fines for disruption of construction operations on the base now nearing completion.  Some activists believe that the Ministry of Defense in Seoul is actually controlled by the Samsung corporation which is the lead contractor for the Navy base construction operation.  Just as in the US, where Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon and General Dynamics control our government, the Park administration inside the Blue House in Seoul is actually the pawn of corporate interests.

    By demanding this outrageous amount of funds from a small fishing and farming community the South Korean puppet government is saying that democracy does not actually exist anymore.  In a true democratic nation people who protest oppressive government policies are not fined and driven into poverty – especially an entire village.  What was the crime of Gangjeong?  They wanted to protect the environment, sacred Gureombi rock, the offshore endangered soft coral forests, the water, the sea life and more.  The villagers wanted to protect their way of life – their 500-year old culture.

    I’ve learned that only South Korea and Japan have this kind of punishing policy that obviously smacks of fascism.  The government of South Korea is controlled by corporations and Washington.  How can they claim in Seoul to be a democracy and then turn around and treat citizens this way?  How can the government claim they need a Navy base to defend the people and then attack the people who use non-violent protest to challenge the destruction of their village?

    This will have to go to court but the courts are ultimately under the control the the same corrupt corporate state.  When the Navy demands that the village must pay $20 million in fines that means every man, woman and child owes that debt.  It means they would be naked without any land after the court would take all they owned.  This is nothing more than an illegal and immoral attempt to finish off Gangjeong village.  Every living and breathing human being on this planet should be outraged at this crime against the human rights of the people in Gangjeong village.

    After the US directed April 3 massacre on Jeju Island soon after WW II was over a new program was put into place called the ‘Involvement System’.  This meant that anyone who was labeled a communist by the US run puppet government could get no job and would have no future.  It also meant that any family member would suffer the same fate.  This demand for $20 million by the Navy is an attempt to reinstate this ‘Involvement System’ once again.  The only way out for a person is to commit suicide.

    I am told that the South Korean regime is using this same punitive program to go after striking auto workers on the mainland and other activists around the nation.  The decision has been made to kill democracy in South Korea.  We are seeing the same method of operation in Japan today as the right-wing government kills their peaceful constitution against popular will.  We see the same system in Okinawa as the people demand US bases there be closed.  We see the same system underway inside Ukraine where Washington has installed a puppet government.

    For those out there sitting on the fence this is the time to wake up and see the writing on the wall.  Democracy is being drowned globally by corporate capitalism.  Who will be next?

    Take Action:  Call the South Korean Embassy in Washington DC and demand that they leave Gangjeong village on Jeju Island alone.  Call  (202) 939-5654.

    August 28, 2015

  • Morning with the Mayor | Organizing Notes

    Reblogged with permission from: MORNING WITH THE MAYOR | by BRUCE K. GAGNON *

    On my first trip to Gangjeong village Mayor Kang (just behind me in dark jacket) took me to see the place where the fresh water stream flows into the sea.  This was to be one end of the massive Navy base now being built in the village.  At that time I was able to see the undisturbed beauty of the coastline.
    On my first trip to Gangjeong village Mayor Kang (just behind me in dark jacket) took me to see the place where the fresh water stream flows into the sea. This was to be one end of the massive Navy base now being built in the village. At that time I was able to see the undisturbed beauty of the coastline.

    I arrived in Berkeley, California last night about 7:30 pm and was able to join a group of conference participants at a Chinese restaurant where they were having dinner together. When Gangjeong village Mayor Kang saw me he rose and gave me a big hug. At that time there was no translator available so we didn’t get to have much conversation.

    This morning at breakfast Mayor Kang arrived with a Korean professor from the university. The mayor had just come from doing an interview for Democracy Now which is supposed to air on Monday. Koohan Paik (Hawaii) was on the radio with the mayor. Koohan has been a great Jeju supporter and made it possible for the mayor to speak at this event on behalf of the village.

    During breakfast the mayor told me that when I first came to visit Gangjeong he remembers me talking about space technology. He told me that he now understands much better what I was saying. He said he believes that the US is bringing the South Korean government into the military space program as a junior partner to help control China. I was happy to hear that he has put all the pieces together.

    A translator took the mayor and I for a long stroll through the vast University of California campus. We went to the top of a huge bell tower that enabled us to see the entire San Francisco bay area. While we were looking out over the bay I told the mayor how much their non-violent resistance has inspired people all over the world due to their strong spiritual grounding. He told me that they made a conscious decision to act in that way to help them deal with the obvious depression and sadness that comes from the Navy base construction project. He said that if they were going to resist then they had to find a way to stay connected to what was good in nature and in each other. He offered to teach me the dances…


    *Reblogged posts do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Save Jeju Now

     

    May 31, 2013

  • A Jeju Kind of Weekend Here in Maine | Organizing Notes

    Reblogged with permission from: A JEJU KIND OF WEEKEND HERE IN MAINE | by BRUCE K. GAGNON *

    vets

    gang

    On Saturday Regis Tremblay held the first public showing of his new 80-minute film about Jeju Island called The Ghosts of Jeju at the Brunswick, Maine public library. At least 70 people turned out and much to the delightful surprise of everyone, at the end of the documentary, the audience rose as one and clapped along with the lively music that played as images of protesting South Koreans flashed across the screen. People loved the film and some of the comments included things like: This is the best documentary I’ve ever seen. High praise indeed.

    Then early this morning members of PeaceWorks and Maine Veterans for Peace gathered in Topsham for the annual Memorial Day parade that passes through that town, crosses the river, and ends in Brunswick where the crowd along both sides of the road is always quite big. We carried the yellow “No Navy base” flag from Gangjeong village with us – particularly since the theme of the Topsham-Brunswick parade this year was 60th Anniversary of Korean War Armistice.

    So this weekend we held the struggling people on Jeju close to our hearts.


    *Reblogged posts do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Save Jeju Now

     

    May 27, 2013


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