Military bases

11a.m. Sunday, 11th and I am back in Gangjeong – it really feels like home. I had a quick change of clothes and then I was grabbed by a reporter for an interview and then told the SOS team (they are the ones that organise the boat and swimming actions of which I am a part) wants to meet me at 4p.m. But there is a press conference before that at 2 p.m. And loads of people to hug ….. so it is a good idea I had a nice rest in the police station! As there is no work being done on the site today there are no blockades – thank goodness.

I am so tired as the last 2 days have been very intense so excuse me if this is a bit rambling. The evening of 6th March was a busy time as the town was called for an emergency meeting to decide what to do as the dynamite was to be delivered the next day. The Mayor called on the whole village to come out with their cars and lorries and block the roads early the next morning to try and stop it being delivered. I heard later that around 20 vehicles were used by the village and several hundred people blocked the road at 2 or 3 places.

Professor Yang Yoon-Mo is now on his 27th day of hunger strike in prison on Jeju Island in South Korea. He is back in jail for interrupting Navy construction vehicles. Last summer Yang, while in jail for lying under a construction truck, nearly died as his 71 day hunger strike only ended when Jeju Island Catholic Bishop Kang convinced him to stop.

The days pass so quickly here. On Tuesday 28th February I was needed to give interviews with a progressive Korean military publication who asked searching questions about how South Korea can protect itself from North Korea and China without US bases, what I think about South Korea getting nuclear weapons to protect itself from North Korea (this is something being seriously considered!) and why I was here. It was an opportunity to discuss the ever expanding US military presence in north-east Asia, what real security consists of and ways to stop proliferation.

Yesterday we internationals went into Jeju City for a press conference so that the Mayor of Gangjeong could explain the situation and internationals could make statements as to why they were supporting the villagers struggle against war and for peace.

Angie Zelter is in Korea supporting the people of Ganjeong Village in their struggle to stop the destruction of Jeju Island where the South Korean military has begun construction of a naval base which will be the port for the US Navy’s Aegis Destroyers.

135 full bows of prayers for peace at Destruction Gate

Trident Ploughshares member Angie Zelter is supporting villagers in their fight to stop the building of a US nuclear base on Jeju, the South Korean “Island of Peace”. The new base just 300-miles from the Chinese mainland will become a port for U.S. Navy Aegis destroyers fitted with the missile defence systems that are key elements in Pentagon first-strike attack planning. Gangjeong village and endangered soft-coral reefs will be destroyed to build the base. Here is Angie’s first report.

Trident Ploughshares Press Release: 23rd February 2012
The anti-nuclear campaign group Trident Ploughshares is among a number of international groups and individuals who are supporting villagers in their fight to stop the building of a US nuclear base on Jeju, the South Korean “Island of Peace”.

The anti-nuclear campaign group Trident Ploughshares is among a number of international groups and individuals who are supporting villagers in their fight to stop the building of a US nuclear base on Jeju, the South Korean “Island of Peace”.

Gangjeong is a small, quiet village of 1,900 residents on Jeju Island. The area has a lot of natural beauty and scenery. There is a UNESCO-designated biosphere preserve, Gurumbi, the only volcanic broad and flat rock in South Korea, which is one kilometre long beside the sea, and the Route 7 of the Ole' trekking course, which is a popular walking tour of Jeju Island.

The Fellowship of Reconciliation announces Militarism Watch, a project to increase the capacity in social change movements and academia for research that serves activism and campaigns against US militarization at home and abroad.

Each fall the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space organizes a week of local actions called Keep Space for Peace Week. This year events were held from October 1-8 and the theme chosen by our leadership was the expanding use of drones in U.S. wars in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.

Protest actions took place throughout the U.S. and in six other nations at major space weapons installations and factories like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics.

Majken Sørensen

2 August

One week ago I participated in a civil disobedience action together with three friends from the anti-militarist network Ofog. As part of a campaign to mark the places where war starts, we went into the NEAT military test area near the town Luleå in the north of Sweden. Well inside NEAT, we marked a radar station at Palja with a pink banner saying “War Starts Here”. Immediately afterwards we were arrested by a security guard, on suspicion of entering what is called a “protected area”.