INT'L SUPPORT FOR JEJU VILLAGERS GROWS

Jeju Island supporters hold an action in Kimpo Airport in Seoul, South Korea

INTERNATIONAL STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF GANGJEONG VILLAGE

We, the undersigned organizations, stand in complete solidarity with the Gangjeong villagers on Jeju Island, South Korea in their struggle to stop the construction of a Navy base.

As we can already see, the Navy base construction effort has begun the destruction of this fishing and farming community’s natural way of life. This construction process will irreparably harm the soft coral reefs, the fish, the rocks, the vegetation, the water, and other life forms.

When Gangjeong supporters have called the South Korean embassy in Washington DC they have been repeatedly told, “Call the U.S. government. They are pushing us to build this Navy base.”

It is evident that as the U.S. expands its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region it needs more ports of call for its naval arsenal. China transports 80 percent of its oil on ships that pass through the Yellow Sea alongside Jeju Island. A base on Jeju Island would give the U.S. Navy greater access, and thus, potential control, of those shipping lanes.

The people of Jeju Island wish to be an island of peace. The building of a Navy base for U.S. warships will only make Jeju Island a target and a zone of conflict.

We demand that construction of the Navy base at Gangjeong be halted and the village be left to its natural state.

· Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Maine, U.S.
· Nebraskans for Peace, Nebraska, U.S.
· Citizens for Peace in Space, Colorado, U.S.
· American Friends Service Committee-Maine, U.S.
· Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, London, United Kingdom
· Yorkshire Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Leeds, England
· Swedish Peace Council, Stockholm, Sweden
· Stop the War Machine, New Mexico, U.S.
· Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
· Greater Brunswick PeaceWorks, Maine, U.S.
· The Taos Group, New Mexico, U.S.
· SS. Francis & Therese Catholic Worker of Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.
· Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, New York City, U.S.
· Peace Action Maine, U.S.
· Maine Green Independent Party, U.S.
· Oakville Community Centre for Peace, Ecology and Human Rights, Ontario, Canada
· CodePink Maine, U.S.
· Atsushi Fujioka, Professor of Economics at Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan
· Peace Not War, Tokyo, Japan
· Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition
· Lynda Williams, Physics Teacher, California, U.S.
· Makiko Sato, Global Network board member, Oita, Japan
· Granny Peace Brigade, New York City, U.S.
· CodePink National, U.S.
· OMNI Center for Peace, Justice & Ecology, Arkansas, U.S.
· Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, International, Geneva, Switzerland
· AFSC Peace & Economic Security Program, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
· WarIsACrime.org, U.S.
· Bouny Andre, president of the International Committee of Support for Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange, Saint-Jean-Lespinasse, France
· Los Alamos Study Group, New Mexico, U.S.
· Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, California, U.S.
· Radio Free Maine, U.S.
· Guadalupe Catholic Worker, California, U.S.
· Nashville Greenlands, Tennessee, US
· Brandywine Peace Community, Pennsylvania, U.S.
· Nuclear Resister newsletter, Arizona, U.S.
· Military Space Transparency Project, Massachusetts, U.S.
· Oxford Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Oxford, United Kingdom
· Oxfordshire Peace Campaign, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
· Maine Veterans for Peace (Chapter 001), U.S.
· South Dakota Peace and Justice Center, U.S.
· Woodstock Peace Economy, New York, U.S.
· Darmstädter Friedensforum, Germany
· Greater Manchester & District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, England
· Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group, England
· Veterans For Peace, Chapter 9, Smedley Butler Brigade, Massachusetts, U.S.
· CamPeace, Cambridge, England
· Peace Philosophy Centre, Vancouver, Canada
· Seal Beach Senior Patriots Against the War, Seal Beach, California, U.S.
· Australian Peace Committee, Australia
· Network for Okinawa (closethebase.org)
· ACT for the Earth, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
· Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Berkeley Branch, California, U.S.
· Holly Gwinn Graham, GN Board member, Olympia, Washington, U.S.
· Campaign for Peace and Democracy, New York City, U.S.
· NeedtoKnow
· Maine Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, U.S.
· John Rensenbrink, president of Green Horizon Foundation, Maine, U.S.
· Western States Legal Foundation, California, U.S.
· NO to Nukes and Missile Defense Campaign, Tokyo, Japan
· Gray Panthers of Greater Albuquerque, New Mexico, U. S.
· Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Aberystwyth, Cymru
· Physicians for Social Responsibility, Kansas City, Kansas, U.S.
· Peace Action, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.
· Jennifer Kwon Dobbs, assistant professor of English and director of American Racial and Multicultural Studies at St. Olaf College, Minnesota, U.S.
· Blooming Lilac Sangha, New York, U.S.
· Midcoast Peace & Justice Group, Maine, U.S.
· LEPOCO Peace Center, Pennsylvania, U.S.
· Tom Neilson Music, Greenfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
· Kaua`i Alliance for Peace and Social Justice, Hawai`i, U.S.
· Alaskans for Peace and Justice, Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.
· Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action, Kurtistown, Hawai’i, U.S.
· Stop the War Coalition, Manila, Philippines
· Citizens Peace Watch, Manila, Philippines
· Kickapoo Peace Circle of Viroqua, Wisconsin, U.S.
· Green Party Peace Network, U.S.
· Canadian Branch of the Registry of World Citizens
· West Midlands Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Birmingham, UK
· Union Pacifiste de France
· Green Party of the United States
· Fredericton Peace Coalition, New Brunswick, Canada
· Network of Oxford Women for Justice and Peace, England
· Orono Friends Meeting, Maine, U.S.
· Merrimack Valley People for Peace, Massachusetts, U.S.
· Green Party of Florida, U.S.
· Manchester Central CND, England
· Kalamazoo Non-violent Opponents to War, Michigan, U.S.
· Foreign Bases Project, New York, U.S.
· Trident Ploughshares, UK
· Pax Christi Metro New York, U.S.
· Veterans For Peace-Korea Peace Campaign, U.S.
· Pax Christi Long Island, New York, U.S.
· Peace Action New York State, U.S.
· Social Justice & Peace Commission of Sacred Heart/St. Dominic Catholic Church, Portland, Maine, U.S.
· Church Women United of New York State, U.S.
· Pax Christi Maine, U.S.
· Asia-Japan Women's Resource Center
· Pax Christi Elmira, New York, U.S.
· DMZ-Hawai'i/Aloha 'Aina, U.S.
· Hawai'i Peace and Justice (AFSC-Hawai'i), U.S.
· Susumu Naito (Vice-representative of Kobe Office, Labor Union, Kansai, for Dispatch Laborers & Part-Timers) Hyogo, Japan
· United Coalition Council for dismantlement of military bases Central Kanagawa, Japan
· Consecutive Study Circle in Solidarity with Okinawa's struggle for dependence and liberation, and in struggle against the Security Treaty, Kanagawa, Japan
· Plutonium Action Hiroshima, Japan
· Center for Nonviolent Solutions, Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.
· New Zealand Peace Council
· Pax Christi Florida, U.S.
· Nevada Desert Experience, U.S.
· War Resisters League, New York, U.S.
· Boundary Peace Initiative, Grand Forks, B.C., Canada
· Union Pacifiste de France
· North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice, Massachusetts, U.S.
· Pacific Green Party of Oregon, U.S.
· Oxford Network for Global Justice & Peace, England
· Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, New York, U.S.

REFUGEES FROM WAR PUT IN JAIL

The European parliament will vote on whether Bulgaria and Romania can join the region's free travel zone, known as the Schengen agreement, this week.

The agreement allows people from member countries to travel without the need for any sort of visa.

In return for open borders in Europe, the European Union is demanding that Bulgaria makes it very difficult for people to immigrate from countries to its east like Turkey.

There's equipment that can tell if anyone is trying to breath in the back of a truck or to check for someone's heartbeat through metal walls

The strict measures have also led to the creation of Bulgarian migrant detention centres, designed to look like fortresses.

A group of detained Afghan women told Al Jazeera that they have put themselves and their children on a hunger strike against the inhumane conditions at the detention centre.

One of them said, "We want freedom. Our children haven't eaten for three days. We want to know what our fate is. We don't understand what will happen to us. This is torture. What have we done to deserve this?"

Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee reports from a detention centre in the first of our special series on European border controls.

KEEPING HAITI DOWN

WikiLeaks documents reveal how Washington keeps its boot on the weary necks of the Haitian people. Is there any doubt that the U.S. is a nasty backyard bully?

ASSORTED GLOBAL NETWORK PIECES

• The Catholic Diocese of Jeju Island has decided to hold a mass on the rocky coastline of Gangjeong village each Thursday in support of the opposition to the Navy base.


• Global Network board member MacGregor Eddy (Salinas, California) flies to South Korea tomorrow. She will arrive in time to attend the June 10 trial of another GN board member Sung-Hee Choi. Sung-Hee gathered signatures of support from Korean activists after peace protesters were arrested at Vandenberg AFB in California a couple of years ago protesting space launches at events that MacGregor organized. MacGregor will stay in Gangjeong village with a local family and be there during our 19th annual space organizing conference. She will share videos and information from the village and we hope to be able to post some videos from the conference on the Internet that can be seen in Gangjeong.


• I am speeding up my work on the June 17-19 conference and ticking off items on my long list that needs to get done before the event. Today I was getting our banners ready for the Friday, June 17 vigil that we will hold at Raytheon Company from 3-5 pm.


• Looks like we'll have our members present at the confab from at least eight countries.


• GN board member Regina Hagen (Germany) will come here to Maine sometime this weekend or early next week for a visit before we head to Andover, Massachusetts for the conference. While here I will do an interview with her for my public access TV show This Issue. Rarely do I get to have an international perspective on the show so I don't want to miss that opportunity. GN member Eric Herter (Brunswick), who produces the show, will film the interview which we will have to do at our kitchen table because we couldn't get studio time during her visit.


• GN board member Lynda Williams (California) has suggested we consider holding our annual space organizing conference in Hawaii next year. Hawaii is a major "missile defense" testing area so peace groups there are very interested in discussing the possibility of hosting the event. Lynda has family in Hawaii and will pursue this idea when she visits them in the near future. If we have our meeting in Hawaii I imagine it will be the most attended conference ever! Bring your surfboards, mask, and snorkel.


• We are very lucky in that we have a great core of leaders in the GN from around the world. We've become like a family in all these years of working together. But it's not a clique as everyone goes out of their way to always be welcoming to new people who come into the group. We know that the issue of space weaponization is so vast that we've got to keep building and keep extending a welcoming hand to new friends.

HACKER SPREADS THE WORD

LOCKING UP THE UNEMPLOYED AND SUPERFLUOUS POPULATIONS

IRAN NEXT TARGET?

In his latest article for The New Yorker magazine, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh says the United States might attack Iran based on distorted estimates of Iran’s nuclear and military threat—just like it did with Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq. Hersh reveals that despite using Iranian informants and cutting-edge surveillance technology, U.S. officials have been unable to find decisive evidence that Iran has been moving enriched uranium to an underground weapon-making center.

FULL DAY OF GOOD WORK

MB and I went to Augusta yesterday for our Bring Our War $$ Home planning meeting. We had 14 folks present from around the state and we got some good work done in that three-hour meeting.

We did a bunch of brainstorming about the next steps for the campaign. Lisa Savage recorded three full pages of ideas on paper as we each threw our thinking up onto the wall. We took a poll to see how each person felt about the various ideas that we had posted. We were looking for common themes that might help direct us toward some unified activities.

One action that really resonated with me was a recent California caravan through the state that ended up with a week long teachers union occupation of their state capital. I proposed that we do something similar here in Maine. Calling it, for now, the Pilgrimage from Poverty, I suggested we start at Kittery Naval shipyard on the Maine-New Hampshire border and work our way north stopping along the way to leaflet about student tuition increases at colleges, meeting with local elected officials and poor peoples organizations, leafletting at BIW, bannering at highway overpasses, and a whole lot more. People seemed to like the idea since it would incorporate virtually every idea on our comprehensive list. I suggested the event could take place between September 11 - October 6 making it a focused 27 days of intense anti-war activity up and down the state. Local people and groups could plug in what worked best for them.

We decided to meet again soon and to invite every peace group in the state to send a representative to to help flesh this idea out. So we set the date of June 25 to meet in Waterville from 9:30-12:30.

After we finished the meeting in Augusta MB and I jumped in the car and drove south to York, Maine where members of the Massachusetts Veterans for Peace were having a BBQ at the summer house of one of their leaders. We arrived just in time to eat and I was able to have five minutes to talk about the Global Network's upcoming space organizing conference in Andover, Ma. on June 17-19. We've got leaders coming from eight countries and people are now starting to register in greater numbers which is a relief to me since I have the impossible task of ordering three meals during the event.

We've got some great speakers and musicians going to be at this event. Of particular interest to people will be the discussions about current U.S. global military strategy and the new trends in robotic, nanotechnology, and cyber warfare. Also going to have an exciting workshop where three women student leaders are going to speak about space technology developments impact on social progress. One of the young women is from India.

SUNDAY SONG

UNCOMMON COURAGE AWARD

Senate page fired for anti-Harper protest

By: Bruce Cheadle, The Canadian Press

June 3, 2010

OTTAWA - Paging all protesters!

A 21-year-old Senate page put her job on the line Friday in a silent call for Canadians to give some sober second thought to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's majority Conservative government.

Brigette DePape staged an unprecedented protest on the floor of the Senate chamber, walking out into the red-carpeted centre aisle carrying a red "Stop Harper" sign that she'd pulled from beneath her skirt as Gov. Gen. David Johnston read the new government's speech from the throne.

The University of Ottawa graduate stood silently holding her hand-painted sign for at least 20 seconds — while the vice-regal made a barely perceptible hitch in his address and a stunned room full of dignitaries and invited guests stared in mute astonishment.

With Harper, RCMP Commissioner William Elliott and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk — among others — looking on, the sergeant-at-arms of the House of Commons finally escorted DePape out of the Senate.

Six seated justices of the Supreme Court of Canada sat in their ermine robes with their backs to DePape, seemingly oblivious to the drama unfolding three paces behind them.

DePape was nearing the end of her year-long job as a page, and the Senate communications staff said her employment has been terminated.

The stunt was well planned, with a news release popping up in the emails of Parliament Hill reporters minutes after the event.

"Contrary to Harper's rhetoric, Conservative values are not in fact Canadian values," DePape, calling herself Brigette Marcelle, said in the release.

"How could they be when three out of four eligible voters didn't even give their support to the Conservatives? But we will only be able to stop Harper's agenda if people of all ages and from all walks of life engage in creative actions and civil disobedience."

In an interview later, DePape said she was "extremely nervous."

"But, I don't know, there was something inside of me that said, 'You have to do this.'"

Reaction from senators and MPs was decidedly cool, although Sen. Pierre Claude Nolin, a Progressive Conservative, noted that the Senate floor is supposed to be a place of free speech.

"One of the principal rules is free speech," Nolin shrugged. But he noted the security staff "are scratching their head today."

Being a page is highly coveted part-time job in which university students run errands for MPs and Senators in parliament — everything from fetching a glass of water to exchanging messages.

Veteran Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett called the protest by a security-cleared employee "an abuse of parliamentary privilege."

"That's lots of room for that out on the lawn, or whatever," she said.

And Green party Leader Elizabeth May lauded DePape for her bravery but suggested that by interrupting the Governor General she'd used it in the wrong venue.

"Essentially, in theory, we're in the presence of Her Majesty, that is the sovereign," said May. "That isn't Stephen Harper's room. That's somebody else's room."

It's not the first protest for DePape, who graduated this spring after an award-winning four years studying international development at the University of Ottawa.

She worked as a summer intern last year for the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in Winnipeg and took part in last June's G20 protests in Toronto.

Afterwards, DePape wrote an op-ed in the Winnipeg Free Press where she opined about the impact of protesters.

"My dad told me that protesting at the G20 was unproductive and ineffective. I was crushed. Suddenly, riding in my parents' car, I felt powerless ... But my question for him and his generation is: what will change things, then? If protesting is meaningless, as he suggests, what can we do to create a more just society?"

She also made the environment a prominent feature in a one person play she performed at an Ottawa youth event last March. At one point she expressed her frustration with political leaders.

"Our government needs to change," she said in her skit performed at Ashbury College last March.

DePape exhibited no signs of remorse when speaking of her latest exploit.

"I've been learning a lot about politics and being on the Hill, I really got to see first-hand the politics of Harper and his agenda going forward," she said, adding "I decided that I could not just sit idly by any longer and decided this was a good time to take action."

Liberal MP Justin Trudeau said DePape had stepped on the "sense of respect and decorum" that goes with a throne speech and he'd rather the protest hadn't happened.

"Dissent is part of our democratic system," added Trudeau.

"I don't think she'll be too badly punished for it, either — concretely here, or in her future endeavours."

In fact, the buzz on social networking site Twitter was largely positive, and DePape appeared to have a job offer from someone at the Public Service Alliance of Canada before the day was done.

"Brigitte Marcelle contact me for a job at the #PSAC," said the message. "We are looking for gutsy organizers."

LATEST NEWS ON YANG

The news these days from Jeju Island is that Yang Yoon-Mo did not end his hunger strike until yesterday. He was visited by Catholic Bishop Kang at the hospital where he has been since being released from jail.

Bishop Kang told Professor Yang, "You were in a life-risking hunger strike and I was so sorry that I couldn't join you. During my last visit in jail, your pure soul came into my sight and I have had great respect for you. Through the 59 day-long hunger strike, God seemed to be always with you. ...... I hope you stop the hunger strike and try to recover your health so that you can go back in solidarity with the people...... Your sacrifice has given many people a momentum to think about the naval base nationwide."

Professor Yang responded, "I'll do so as you wish. . .... After recovery, I'll come back to Gangjeong village for struggle."

Kang is Bishop of the Jeju diocese and also chairperson of the Korean Catholic Bishops' Conference. Catholics make up about 40% of the South Korean population. Bishop Kang and the Catholic Conference have been supporting the Gangjeong village for some time. They have held several masses along the rocks of the village shoreline.

GIVE KUCINICH CREDIT

Got to give Kucinich credit for forcing this debate and vote on the constitutionality of Obama's Libya war.

KUCINICH OUT OF LIBYA RESOLUTION FAILS IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR HOUSE RESOLUTION 51

3-Jun-2011

QUESTION: On Agreeing to the Resolution

BILL TITLE: Directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove the United States Armed Forces from Libya

Yeas-Nays-Present-Not Voting
Republican 87-144-0-8
Democratic 61-121-0-11
Independent
TOTALS 148-265-0-19


---- YEAS 148 ---
Adams
Akin
Amash
Bachmann
Baldwin
Bartlett
Becerra
Benishek
Berg
Bishop (NY)
Braley (IA)
Brooks
Broun (GA)
Buchanan
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Camp
Campbell
Capito
Capuano
Cassidy
Castor (FL)
Chaffetz
Cicilline
Clarke (MI)
Clarke (NY)
Clay
Cleaver
Coble
Cole
Conyers
Costello
Davis (IL)
Davis (KY)
DeFazio
Doyle
Duffy
Duncan (SC)
Duncan (TN)
Farr
Fincher
Flake
Fleming
Foxx
Frank (MA)
Garrett
Gibson
Gohmert
Gonzalez
Gosar
Gowdy
Graves (GA)
Grijalva
Guinta
Gutierrez
Hall
Hanabusa
Harris
Hastings (FL)
Hinchey
Holt
Huelskamp
Huizenga (MI)
Jackson (IL)
Jackson Lee (TX)
Johnson (IL)
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Keating
Kingston
Kucinich
Labrador
Landry
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Lewis (GA)
Luján
Lummis
Lynch
Mack
Manzullo
Markey
McClintock
McGovern
McHenry
McKinley
Michaud
Miller (MI)
Mulvaney
Nadler
Napolitano
Noem
Nugent
Pastor (AZ)
Paul
Paulsen
Payne
Pearce
Perlmutter
Petri
Pingree (ME)
Pitts
Poe (TX)
Posey
Price (GA)
Rangel
Reed
Ribble
Richardson
Rigell
Roe (TN)
Rooney
Ross (FL)
Roybal-Allard
Royce
Schmidt
Schrader
Schweikert
Scott (SC)
Scott (VA)
Scott, Austin
Sensenbrenner
Serrano
Sherman
Southerland
Speier
Stark
Stearns
Stutzman
Terry
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Tonko
Towns
Upton
Velázquez
Visclosky
Walberg
Walsh (IL)
Waters
Webster
Welch
West
Westmoreland
Wolf
Woodall
Woolsey
Young (AK)


---- NAYS 265 ---
Ackerman
Aderholt
Alexander
Altmire
Andrews
Austria
Baca
Bachus
Barletta
Barrow
Barton (TX)
Bass (CA)
Berkley
Berman
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (UT)
Black
Blackburn
Blumenauer
Bonner
Bono Mack
Boren
Boswell
Boustany
Brady (PA)
Brady (TX)
Brown (FL)
Bucshon
Buerkle
Butterfield
Calvert
Canseco
Cantor
Capps
Cardoza
Carnahan
Carney
Carson (IN)
Carter
Chabot
Chandler
Chu
Clyburn
Coffman (CO)
Cohen
Conaway
Connolly (VA)
Cooper
Costa
Courtney
Cravaack
Crawford
Crenshaw
Critz
Crowley
Cuellar
Culberson
Cummings
Davis (CA)
DeGette
DeLauro
Denham
Dent
DesJarlais
Deutch
Diaz-Balart
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Dold
Donnelly (IN)
Dreier
Edwards
Ellison
Ellmers
Emerson
Engel
Eshoo
Farenthold
Fattah
Filner
Fitzpatrick
Fleischmann
Flores
Forbes
Fortenberry
Franks (AZ)
Fudge
Gallegly
Garamendi
Gardner
Gerlach
Gibbs
Gingrey (GA)
Goodlatte
Graves (MO)
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Griffin (AR)
Griffith (VA)
Grimm
Hanna
Harper
Hartzler
Hastings (WA)
Hayworth
Heck
Heinrich
Hensarling
Herger
Herrera Beutler
Higgins
Himes
Hirono
Hochul
Holden
Honda
Hultgren
Hunter
Hurt
Inslee
Israel
Issa
Jenkins
Johnson (GA)
Johnson (OH)
Johnson, E. B.
Jordan
Kelly
Kildee
Kind
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kinzinger (IL)
Kissell
Kline
Lamborn
Lance
Langevin
Lankford
Larsen (WA)
Latham
LaTourette
Latta
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Lipinski
LoBiondo
Loebsack
Long
Lowey
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Lungren, Daniel E.
Maloney
Marchant
Marino
Matheson
Matsui
McCarthy (CA)
McCarthy (NY)
McCaul
McCollum
McDermott
McIntyre
McKeon
McMorris Rodgers
McNerney
Meehan
Meeks
Mica
Miller (NC)
Miller, Gary
Moran
Murphy (CT)
Murphy (PA)
Neugebauer
Nunes
Nunnelee
Olson
Olver
Owens
Palazzo
Pallone
Pascrell
Pelosi
Pence
Peters
Peterson
Platts
Polis
Pompeo
Price (NC)
Quayle
Quigley
Rahall
Rehberg
Reichert
Renacci
Reyes
Richmond
Rivera
Roby
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Rokita
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Ross (AR)
Rothman (NJ)
Runyan
Ruppersberger
Ryan (OH)
Ryan (WI)
Sánchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Scalise
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schilling
Schock
Scott, David
Sessions
Sewell
Shimkus
Shuster
Simpson
Sires
Slaughter
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Smith (WA)
Stivers
Sullivan
Sutton
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tiberi
Tipton
Tsongas
Turner
Van Hollen
Walden
Walz (MN)
Wasserman Schultz
Watt
Waxman
Weiner
Whitfield
Wilson (FL)
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Womack
Wu
Yarmuth
Yoder
Young (IN)


---- NOT VOTING 19 ---
Bass (NH)
Frelinghuysen
Giffords
Granger
Guthrie
Hinojosa
Hoyer
Kaptur
Lofgren, Zoe
McCotter
Miller (FL)
Miller, George
Moore
Myrick
Neal
Rush
Schwartz
Shuler
Young (FL)

THE SHINERS

Click on photo for better view

Peter Woodruff and I went to the state capital in Augusta yesterday for the labor union rally called to defend collective bargaining rights for public employees. The Republicans in the state legislature have introduced a bill to make Maine a "Right to Work" state, or as the unions called it "A Right to Work for Less" state. The media reported that more than 600 were there and I'd venture a guess that was about right.

Peter and I brought our own signs. We were one of the few that did as most people carried the union mass produced signs as you can see in the photo above. Throughout the large crowd I noticed at most six home-made signs.

Before the speeches began Peter and I climbed the stairs behind the podium as we usually do when we go to these events. Once there we noticed two leading staffers (a man and a woman) from the state AFL-CIO down below talking and pointing to our signs. The woman then climbed the stairs and told Peter, "We don't want to send that kind of message. We still need some GOP (Republican) votes to kill this bill. We want you to put it down."

Peter was shocked. At first he put his sign down. Then he turned it so the blank side was facing the audience. Then when the speeches began he turned it back around so the "offending" words could be seen by the large crowd standing before us. On the way home a perplexed Peter said, "I wasn't calling for revolution. I was calling for participation in the system, for people to vote."

When I read the story published in the Portland Press Herald today about the rally I had a good laugh. The article reported, "Protesters held signs that read: 'Next time vote them out!,' 'Solidarity' and 'It's a war on the workers.'"

Peter's sign was the one that said "Next time vote them out!" and mine said "It's a war on the workers." Not bad.

I've talked before on this blog but can't say often enough that this way of accommodation, of trying not to anger the Republicans, is a sure-fire strategy for failure. But I strongly believe that this is supreme evidence of how the labor unions (in Maine and by and large across the nation) have become appendages of the Democratic Party. And the Democrats have sent the unions in Maine a message - don't come on so strong that you piss off the GOP.

It's the GOP though that is cutting the throats of the workers and poor people in this state and across the land. And, sad to say, it is the servile Democrats (with a few noteworthy exceptions) that are unwittingly, or not, helping them do so by their displays of timidity.

Years ago in Florida when I was an organizer for the United Farm Workers Union I learned about shiners. When a fruit tree was picked, no matter how hard they tried, workers usually found that they missed one piece of fruit and it really stood out in the otherwise barren tree. They called them shiners.

Yesterday Peter and I were the shiners in the crowd behind the podium. We didn't plan it that way. We both are union members and answered the call to come to a labor rally. We made our signs and showed up. Little did we know that the mass produced signs were one way to "control" the message. So our "out of place" message stood out for sure.

As it turned out the 600 workers in attendance were way ahead of their leadership. When the State House sound system couldn't be heard by the workers the assembled began chanting slogans on their own. They too were shiners.

ESCALATION COMING IN LIBYA

LETTER TO KOREAN GOVERNMENT

I wanted to share this letter from long-time peace activist (and Veterans for Peace member) Brian Willson. It is a remarkable letter and included important historical information about Jeju Island. It was posted on May 26.


Honorable Li Tae Sik, Ambassador
Embassy, Republic of Korea
2450 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

Dear Sir:

As a former US military officer who participated in our illegal war against the Vietnamese people, I am outraged over the decision of the South Korean government, under relentless pressure from the United States government, to contract with Daelim and Samsung Engineering Construction companies to build a Navy base at Gangjeong Village on Jeju Island (Island of Peace). This decision goes against the expressed wishes of the citizens of Gangjeong. Korea represents itself as a democratic republic that upholds human rights of its citizens. How can this be? The stated purpose is to create a deep water port for additional Korean Aegis Destroyers ($1 Billion each), and porting new US Aegis Destroyers. This mentality toward evermore war and militarization creates insecurity, not security! And that you consent to such tyrannical US pressure is shameful!

Well known South Korean movie critic, Prof. Yang, is on his 53rd day of a water only fast and has chosen to die unless construction of the Navy base is permanently cancelled. Korean citizen Sung Hee Choi is in jail on her 10th day of a hunger fast. At least seven other Koreans have been illegally jailed in Jeju for their nonviolent protest. And now, in the USA, there are a number of people who have begun fasts in solidarity with the villagers of Gangjeong who are vehemently opposed to construction of this base in their peaceful, beautiful village.

I have traveled to Korea on eight different occasions learning more of your history, and the history of US presence since our first intervention on the Korean Peninsula in August 1945, and our continued militarizing/controlling influence on your people and culture.

I am aware of the horrendous massacre in 1948 of at least 30,000 Jeju villagers by Syngman Rhee's ruthless death squads, under the direction and oversight of US ground advisers and US air support. The continued influence of the US in South Korean affairs, including the obstruction of a permanent peace treaty with North Korea, perpetuates a mentality of hatred, motivated by immense profits for the military industrial complex while threatening peace for both Korean people, and the rest of us.

Please stop construction of the Navy base on Jeju Island, the Island of Peace.

Sincerely,

S. Brian Willson
Portland, Oregon 97206
bw@brianwillson.com


US Military Photos in National Archives: Some of the thousands of Jeju citizens rounded up in 1948 by Korean Constabulary and right wing vigilantes under orders from the US military. Islanders opposed the partition of Korea and US puppet Syngman Rhee's undemocratic elections in the South VS wishes of the vast majority of Koreans. 30,000 - 60,000 Cheju (Jeju) Islanders were murdered in the scorched earth repression ordered and overseen by Colonel Rothwell Brown, US military commander on Jeju, in concert with Captains James Hausman and John Reed, using US weapons and air power. One of the Korean collaborators with the US military was Park Chun Hee, later to become dictatorial ruler of South Korea, who escaped execution by helping identify his former associates, including his own brother. This, despite the fact that commander of US armed forces in Korea at the time, US General John Reed Hodge, acknowledged that the vast majority of Jeju’s inhabitants were poor farmers and fishers living a marginal existence but who lived democratically in a "truly communal area that is peacefully controlled by the people’s committees.”

REGISTRATION FOR 19TH ANNUAL SPACE ORGANIZING CONFAB

Raytheon, Missile Offense, and Endless War
June 17-19
North Andover, Massachusetts

Working together to demilitarize and create a sustainable future

2011 marks the 19th anniversary of Global Network’s organizing efforts to build an international constituency to Keep Space for Peace. Each year we gather to share the latest international developments on Pentagon and aerospace industry plans for the militarization of space. We approach this conference with clarity that U.S. “missile defense” programs are actually key elements in overall Pentagon first-strike planning. The Raytheon Company, which had 2009 sales of $25 billion, is a leading builder and promoter of the missile “offense” program. Headquartered in Massachusetts, Raytheon has a manufacturing plant in Andover that builds the Patriot (PAC-3) system that is now being used by the Pentagon to help encircle Russia and China.

Speakers/Singers: Dave Webb (UK), Agneta Norberg (Sweden), Regina Hagen (Germany), J. Narayana Rao (India), Tamara Lorincz (Canada), Atsushi Fujioka (Japan), Manashi Mohanty (India), Tetsu Kitagawa (Japan), Joseph Gerson (Massachusetts), Alice Slater (New York), Carol Urner (Oregon), Loring Wirbel (Colorado), Bill Sulzman (Colorado), Matthew Hoey (Massachusetts), David Meieran (Pennsylvania), John Schuchardt (Massachusetts), Lisa Savage (Maine), Paki Wieland (Massachusetts), Joyce Katzberg (Rhode Island), Marty Nathan (Massachusetts), Nicole Moreau (Maine), Vanessa Lynch (Massachusetts), Mary Beth Sullivan (Maine) and Bruce Gagnon (Maine).

Plenary Panels & Workshops: Local Space Organizing Reports from key Global Network activists from around the world; Raytheon & the Military Industrial Complex: Consequences of Missile Offense Deployments in Europe and Asia; Cyber Warfare, Drones, and other new space directed technologies; Missile Defense in Europe: U.S., NATO and a New Cold War; Missile Defense Deployments in Asia: Provocative Strategy & a New Arms Race; Bring Our War $$ Home Campaign; Students Speak Out: Space Weapons Technology Impacts on Social Progress

Vigil: On Friday, June 17 from 3:00 - 5:00 pm a vigil will be held at the gates of the Raytheon production plant as the workers leave for home. Local activists have been holding vigils at the facility for years. (NW corner of Rt 133 and I-93 intersection)

Conference: Saturday, June 18 day-long conference with panel discussions and workshops held at Merrimack College. Key Global Network activists from around the world speaking about current U.S. and allies space weapons technology developments and strategies.

Concert: Tetsu Kitagawa, one of Japan's leading peace and justice singer/songwriters has been described as Japan's Bob Dylan -- early Dylan, the one engaged with people's movements. On tour in the U.S. as part of his 100 consecutive concerts for peace, nuclear abolition, and defense of Japan’s peace constitution, Kitagawa will be joined by Pat Scanlon and other musical friends for a concert on June 18 at 8:15 pm (North Parish Old Center Hall, North Andover). Open to the community, as well as to conference participants, tickets will be available at the conference and at the door for $10.

Cost: Registration for the conference is on a sliding scale. Please pay what you can best afford between $15 - $100. Registration fee includes three meals on June 17-18. (Suggested fee is $50 which covers our basic costs.)

Event Co-Sponsors: AFSC Disarmament Program; Alliance for Peace & Justice, Western Mass.; CodePink Maine; Essex Unitarian Universalist Church; House of Peace; Maine Campaign to Bring Our War $$ Home; Maine Veterans for Peace; Merrimack Valley People for Peace; New England Peace Pagoda; New Hampshire Peace Action; North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice; Office of Mission and Ministry, Merrimack College; Peace Action Maine; Salem Peace Committee; United for Justice with Peace (Greater Boston); Veterans for Peace Chapter 9 Smedley Butler Brigade; Veterans for Peace Chapter 45 Samantha Smith; War Resisters League New England; WILPF

Registration Form:

Get the full conference program, schedule and registration brochure at: http://www.space4peace.org/

Name_____________________________

Organization__________________________

Address__________________________

City______________State______

Postal Code__________

Country_______________Phone ( )_____________

Email________________

□ Enclosed is my conference registration in the amount of $_______ . I/We will eat these meals: June 17 supper___

June 18 Lunch ___ June 18 supper ___ (Checks payable to Global Network)

□ Enclosed is $10 each for June 18 evening concert _______

□ Please sign me up for home hospitality on ________ for ______number of people

□ Please send me local hotel information

□ I live in the Andover area and can offer hospitality to ______guests. Contact me

□ Sorry I can’t come, but here is a donation to help cover conference expenses

Return to:
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
globalnet@mindspring.com
http://www.space4peace.org/

OPEN FOR CONTROVERSY

Maine's new Tea Party Republican Gov. Paul LePage has opened the state to "business" and to endless controversy. As one enters Maine the state welcome sign has been "augmented" by the governor to include an additional sign that reads "Open for Business". This past weekend someone took the sign down and it is now missing.

While at the state capital today I learned that the sign is now available for "trade" - an even swap for the labor mural that Gov. LePage recently pulled down from the walls of the Maine Department of Labor. Will the governor agree to the deal?

BREAKING BREAD

Gloria Steinem shouts "No Navy base" with villagers

The latest news from Jeju Island by way of Regina Pyon at SPARK is:

Yang Yoon-Mo was hospitalized for medical check up and to recover. It will take quite a long time to recover to "eat" actually, but he can talk and sit. Talked on phone just now and conveyed all your warm messages and wishes. On June 4, Bishop Kang U-il of Jeju Catholic Diocese, who is also chair of Korean Bishops' Conference, will visit him to the hospital.

Other reports are:

Sung-Hee Choi delivered thanks so much to everyone for their international solidarity and support. Her health is not good because of low blood sugar and low blood pressure. That's why she stopped her fasting yesterday on 14th day.

I went back to Bath Iron Works (BIW) again on Wednesday and was able to hand out 10 flyers. As one worker passed by he asked, "How is your friend?" I told him that Yang was released from jail and had stopped his hunger strike. I was very moved that he asked and it made me certain that there was quite a discussion happening inside the bowels of BIW. One woman, who on Tuesday had taken my leaflet and had given me a kind word as she took it, waved to me yesterday as she left work. Another called out to me as the 15-passenger van he was in with other workers was locked in traffic in the far lane. He said, "Can I please have one of those papers?" I weaved my way through the rumbling cars to hand him one and watched him begin to read the contents of the leaflet to the others in the van.

In the moments following the opening of the BIW gate at 3:30 pm, when the workers pour out of the shipyard and rush toward the street where I was standing, a wave of love washed over me. It was a transformative moment as I felt such affinity for these people who work hard to feed their families. It is not their fault that our nation's priorities are in my opinion so far out of whack. Of course many of them feel good about the work they do and that is understandable. But in the end they are human beings, my brothers and sisters, and I feel no ill will toward them. As I stood there I hoped that they could feel this respect I have for them. Far too often workers and peace activists are divided from one another. I feel no such division from them.

I want to frequently return to BIW for these afternoon vigils where I raise serious questions on my signs and hand out information. My hope is that over time the walls that separate us can fall.

Today I will head to the state capital in Augusta to join union members from across the state for a rally to oppose our governor's proposal to create a "right to work" law that would allow people to reap union benefits without paying union dues. It's one of the right-wing strategies being pushed nationwide to defund the unions who often put big money into campaigns to defeat Republican candidates in state and national elections.

I am a member of the National Writers Union (UAW Local 1981) and support the rights of all workers to organize.

Solidarity forever. Solidarity with workers and solidarity with people who struggle to save their land and their way of life from the expansion of militarism. It is all the same to me.

A LESSON FROM SHERIFF TAYLOR

As the Patriot Act is extended in the U.S. we turn to Mayberry, North Carolina and Sheriff Taylor for a fundamental lesson in Constitutional law.

YANG SPRUNG FROM JAIL BY GROWING PRESSURE ON SOUTH KOREAN GOVERNMENT

A weak and thin Yang Yoon-Mo (right) released from jail after 60 day hunger strike

Gloria Steinem bows along the Gangjeong coastProfessor Yang was released from jail today. He was sentenced to one and one-half years in jail with a suspended sentence but with two years probation. There can be no doubt that the international outcry on his behalf has helped spring him from the jailhouse.

Regina Pyon, staff person at SPARK in South Korea, reports, "Yang didn't mention yet about his hunger strike. The first word he spoke was 'Is Gangjeong peaceful?' and 'My struggle will be continued to the end. Gangjeong villagers are the teacher who led me to the road of justice.'

Sung-Hee Choi will go on trial June 10. She has ended her hunger strike and urges others to end their hunger strikes at this time.

We are thrilled at the release of Professor Yang Yoon-Mo but deplore the strict conditions of a two year probation which is obviously intended to silence him politically.

Our plan to send MacGregor Eddy to Jeju Island on behalf of the Global Network remains in place. She will be there for the June 10 trial of fellow Global Network board member Sung-Hee. People are already responding to our fund appeal to pay for her travel. We must not let our voices die down now. People must continue to spread news about Jeju Island and keep the heat on to halt the Navy base construction.

American feminist activist Gloria Steinem visited the Gangjeong village in recent days along with a delegation of Korean women. I am certain that her visit was a huge lift to the villagers who have been working so hard for the past four years to bring this issue to the world's attention.

We are so proud of our friends in Gangjeong village and all the South Korean activists who have worked so hard to support them. It is an honor for us to work together in this good struggle for peace.

Many NGOs in South Korea launched the "Korean National Committee against Jeju Naval Base Construction" on June 1. They plan to hold a press conference on June 8 and are requesting that international activists send a joint statement for the news conference. We will begin now to put that statement together. Let me know if your organization would like to be listed as a signatory on this basic statement of our support for the Gangjeong village struggle against the Navy base.

We will keep you posted as we get more news about Yang and Sung-Hee. Thanks for keeping up with all this.