I am on an Amtrak train from Boston heading south to Richmond, Virginia where I will join the UNAC national conference over the weekend. While there I am scheduled to speak on a panel in a plenary session about the highly controversial Pentagon deployment of the THAAD 'missile defense' system in South Korea. In addition Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran Will Griffin and I will conduct a workshop on the broader US militarization of the Asia-Pacific region.
Washington and its NATO allies are now moving that cancerous 'alliance' into the Asia-Pacific and have signed up Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore as 'partners'. All of this is aimed at Russia and China - conveniently using North Korea as the excuse for the war mobilization.
UNAC is a very interesting coalition - the Global Network decided to affiliate with it a couple years ago. I'd say it is the most dynamic national peace coalition going these days - holding an annual conference and bringing together not only white peaceniks but also many activists of color who work in the peace, justice, human rights and environmental movements.
I've attended many meetings over the years where a roomful of white activists inevitably mumble about needing to get 'people of color' to the meetings but UNAC is one of the few organizations that I've seen actually do it on a regular basis.
Some of the greatest Black, Hispanic, and Muslim activists in the country and from around the world will be featured at the event.
I understand there will be live Internet feeds of some of the speakers. You can find out more here.
Bruce
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