BLASTING BEGINS

Leading opposition party political leaders came to the village to offer supportSwam to Gureombi rock

The Navy did its first blast of the Jeju coastline today. More than 100 villagers and supporters blocked the streets with buses, cars, motor cycles and their chained bodies. At least 20 were arrested. God knows how many were roughed up by the police.

Thanks to many of your letters Jeju Island Gov. Woo has asked for a delay in Navy base construction but the right-wing government of South Korean President Lee is pushing ahead with his destruction knowing that national elections in the spring could overturn his dastardly plans. So now a provincial verses national government battle is also underway.

Jeju Island is an early spark in the coming dangerous and expensive super-power confrontation between the ever-expanding U.S.-NATO military empire and China. The intent is to "contain and control" China and fully submerge that nation under corporate globalization. Our coordinated international peace response to these moves on the grand chessboard is timely and crucial.

Sending international peace workers to Jeju Island at this time signals to everyone involved that the global peace movement clearly understands the strategic nature of this local struggle. Obama's announced "pivot" toward the Asia-Pacific means a virtual doubling of U.S. military operations in that region - thus the Navy needs more ports-of-call near China's coast. In this case Gangjeong village is only 300 miles away.

To that end I have been calling for activists around the planet to immediately send delegations to Jeju to offer witness and support. I've just been told that two leaders from Veterans for Peace (VFP) in the U.S. are willing to go. I've pledged to raise $3,000 immediately to get them there. Can you help with a donation? If so just click on the green Donate Now button on the left side of this blog. Or you can send a check to the Global Network at the address just below.

I had my computer guy come yesterday because my desktop had become very slow and irregular. He took it away and discovered a big spyware originating in South Korea had attached itself to my computer. He was able to remove it and gave me a print out to detail the story.

This is serious biz and the blast of the Gangjeong village coastline is not the end of this fight. It's only the start. Let's all do what we can.

Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011