- I had a nice long chat with Benji Monnet this morning who is back in France after being deported from Gangjeong village and South Korea. His tired and sore body is recovering from 10 months of intense solidarity work with the villagers and from the very rough treatment by the South Korean police. He told me he feels like a tree pulled up from the ground. I asked him to consider organizing a speaking tour around Europe on the Jeju Island issue and said I'd help him make contact with people there. It would be a huge help to bring this issue to an important part of the world.
- I am going to participate in two workshops at the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) national conference this weekend in Stamford, Connecticut. Then when I get back I have to go full out to get ready for my west coast speaking tour which will begin in San Diego on April 2. I've got my first draft of my basic talk outlined and just need to refine it. Much to do though to get ready.
- Emily Wang writes from Gangjeong:
I would like to share something else about yesterday (March 22nd). Yesterday for supporting navy's blasting work on Gureombi, countless police were deployed in small Gangjeong village, and what made me feel even worse was that these police men were mostly new faces, so that they have even less pity on Gangjeong's struggling. (somehow actually I could feel some police men who had stayed longer time in Gangjeong grows their sympathy on us and that's what the authority is afraid.) But one thing awesome yesterday was that a lot of villagers really showed their anger yesterday. Many villagers ran to port with farming clothes on. For blocking people from going to Gureombi, the police men even didn't allow one villager to enter his own garlic farming land near the port. That was too ridiculous so even one of the pro-naval villager who runs a restaurant in front of the garlic farm also got angry at police men. He said to police how you can block the land owner from enter his own farming land?......
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