Getting Ready for Huntsville Events April 7-9

Rev. Seonghye Kim from South Korea (left) and Juyeon Rhee from New York who will serve as interpreter for Rev. Kim during her speaking tour of the U.S.

We are happy to hear that Rev. Seonghye Kim (Co-chair Seongju Struggle Committee to Stop THAAD Deployment, South Korea)  has arrived in the US – a relief as we were concerned that she might have problems from immigration authorities.  She will be doing a national speaking tour and we are grateful that a visit to Huntsville, Alabama could be included in her itinerary.

In addition to Huntsville the speaking tour will visit Berkeley, Oakland, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, New Brunswick, NJ, New York City, Washington DC, and Fairfax, Va. 

VFP member Will Griffin made a video to promote the Global Network's 25th annual space organizing conference and in so doing learned that virtually 1/3 of the local population in Huntsville are connected to the military industrial complex.  See the video here

Like so many other communities across the nation that are dependent on Pentagon spending (including mine here in Bath, Maine) Huntsville has a very small peace community. So we are grateful to local folks for generously helping us out the way they have done.

Calls and emails are still coming into our office as people let us know they are planning to attend the events.

We should have a good crowd with activists coming from seven countries and 16 states across America.

In recent days we've also been hearing from local media in Huntsville.  I am certain this conference and protest should be a big story in a community that is so dependent on military spending - thus their nickname 'The Pentagon of the South'.

How can the peace movement ever flourish and grow in the US unless and until we go into the deep south and give support to local activists who often feel isolated and in a sense forgotten by the larger movement? 

I know that during my fifteen years as Coordinator of the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice our membership was always grateful to those who came down from the north to attend our frequent space center protests at Cape Canaveral.

See y'all soon.....