Organizing Notes

Bruce Gagnon is coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. He offers his own reflections on organizing and the state of America's declining empire....

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Location: Brunswick, ME, United States

The collapsing US military & economic empire is making Washington & NATO even more dangerous. US could not beat the Taliban but thinks it can take on China-Russia-Iran...a sign of psychopathology for sure. We must all do more to help stop this western corporate arrogance that puts the future generations lives in despair. @BruceKGagnon

Thursday, December 03, 2015

VFP Delegation Arrives on Jeju Island

Sacred Gureombi rock on Jeju Island before the Navy base destruction began


I arrived on Jeju Island, South Korea at noon today as part of a Veterans For Peace (VFP) delegation I helped organize along with national board member Tarak Kauff.  All together 12 VFP members from around the US have come on this delegation in order to stand in unity with the Gangjeong village struggle to oppose the Navy base being built here for US warships that will provocatively encircle China's coastline.  After six days here our group will then head to Okinawa where we again will stand with people there opposing US bases and their expansion on that beleaguered island.

We had some concern that some VFP members might be turned away so we did not mention the Jeju trip publicly until we all safely arrived.  Only one of our group had any difficulty but in the end everyone made it into the country.

Immediately upon arriving in the village we discovered that there were extended protests going on at the Navy base gate due to the fact that yesterday a woman got hit by a construction vehicle and had to be rushed to the hospital for an operation on her foot that was severed to the bone.  In addition the police arrested two activists so Catholic priest Fr. Mun decided to go on a hunger strike until they were released from jail and stayed at the Navy base gate all through last night and all day today.

Upon arrival I quickly dumped my gear at the traditional Korean-style house where most of us are staying and made my way to the protest.  Luckily I had the good sense to bring along my long underwear because it is very cold here and the wind was driving a very hard rain.

We will have a busy schedule while here that will include briefings from various activists and leaders of the Jeju protest.  I'll try to report as best I can on what is happening and thankfully we have professional photographer Ellen Davidson with us to ensure that we get lots of visuals to share with people around the world.

1 Comments:

Blogger Zinn Reader said...

Immense thanks to all those who made the journey to Jeju for standing in solidarity with people of Jeju. Your voices (our voices as members of VFP) must be present and we, hope, heard by many of our citizens and by our political and military "leaders." "Stand up for your Rights, Don't Give Up the Fight!"

12/3/15, 6:27 PM  

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