Ariel Ky's Open Salon Blog

[nousbase] [Gangjeong, Jeju] Weekly Appeal for May 20

Tue, 22 May 2012 19:05:40 -0400

I am providing a copy of the Jeju Island newsletter below in its entirety. When you have a chance, I advise you to read it slowly and savor all of the information it presents about one of the most valiant ongoing efforts in the global paradigm shift of unending war to world peace, the international struggle to stop construction of a naval base on a sacred island in South Korea.

Read this and you will find out:

what the rice ball represents in the context of a people's struggle to be free
how resistance is expressed in peaceful actions
villagers bowing for peace 1000 times for three days
traveling candlelight vigil
U.S.-led war games presently going on in South Korea
how construction of the military base seriously violates environmental restrictions
Jesuits continue to celebrate mass in support of the villagers (which they've been doing for 8 weeks now)
how the people of Okinawa are showing solidarity with the Jeju Islanders

You can subscribe to the English version of the Gangjeong Village newsletter at gangjeongintl@gmail.com

Created by The Extended International Team of Gangjeong Village

Weekly Appeal for May 20, 2012:

Gwangju in 1980 is Gangjeong in 2012!

No Military Base! Yes, Life and Peace Island!

The “civilian-military dual-use” base is a lie!

Stop the destruction, human rights violations andpro-nuclear MD policy!

“Be aware. Now Gangjeong is Gwangju!” TheHankyoreh newspaper, citing Fr. Mun Jeong-Hyeon’s words, wrote on May 18: “Gwangju was an isolated island. It was both a metaphor and simile at the sametime. 32 long years have passed. […But] the cry of Islands is not only for May 1980. We have heard cries from the islands of Daechuri, Pyeongtaek; the Ssangyong workers’ strike site; the watch tower of Yongsan, Seoul; and crane No. 85 of Hanjin Heavy Industry, Busan. And in Gangjeong, Jeju! What does it mean that Mun Jeong-Hyeon, ‘the priest of the street’, has been given the 5.18Human Rights award this May? ‘Be aware. Now Gangjeong is Gwangju!’ Fr. MunJeong-Hyeon moans. [..]”

According to Fr. Mun, the spirit of the Gwangju uprising, when hundreds were killed and thousands were wounded by the South Korea military with support from the US government in 1980, is the rice ball, a simple food with which poor people’s street struggles are able to sustain themselves. He hopes democracy, human rights, and peace will be kept through such poor people’s voluntary solidarity.

Meanwhile, the Lee Myung-Bak administration conspires to designate the whole Gangjeong base project area as a military protection zone, while simultaneously continuing to promote the false dual civilian-military port propaganda. At the same time, the annual LIMPAC war exercising between South Korea, the U.S. and other countries are beginning, intensified with the excuse of North Korea’s satellite launch on April 13, which the U.S., Japan, and South Korea, claim was an attempt to test launch a long range nuclear missile.

The villagers, praying for the Peace Island, bowed 1000 times for three days on the cement in front of government hall demanding that the Island governor order the navy to stop construction (destruction). And on the very anniversary date of the Gwangju massacre and uprising, May 18, they were suppressed by the Island government whose governor has continued only to betray the Island people, although he himself is also totally ignored by the central government.

Daily Summaries:

May 14:

Photos from the May 5-12 international solidarity protest days were covered on a whole page of Hankyoreh, a Korean leading progressive daily newspaper.

Jesuits Korea celebrated Monday Catholic mass in support of Gangjeong in Seoul Jesuit center. "The Destruction of Gureombi rock is a bad example of the relationship between human beings and the Nature". The Mass has run for 8 weeks now.

Gangjeong villagers and peace activists made an Okinawa solidarity video with Japanese subtitles to send to Okinawa for their May 15th Memorial Day events. May 15th is the day that Okinawa was returned to Japan from the U.S. in 1972. An activist who has been to Okinawa and Mayor Kang Dong-Kyun both gave short solidarity messages. The video also included pictures of many villagers and activists holding signs of solidarity between Jeju and Okinawa.

Meanwhile in Okinawa there was an Okinawa-Korea International solidarity rally, which showed a film about Gangjeong and its struggle and also Korean traditional dance and music performances. Another rally was held in the seaside park of Ginoawan City, near the U.S. Futenma Air Station.

May 15:

The village presented the Jeju Island government with 11 CDs worth of proof that the construction of the Jeju naval base project has not been following environmental laws and regulations as laid out in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). First, despite major damage to the silt protection layers surrounding the water of the site, the result of strong winds on April 23rd, the blasting of Gureombi Rock and dredging of the sea continued without stop. Second, despite an EIA agreement that construction should be halted when wind speed is above 8m/sec,in order to prevent excessive air pollution due to construction dust,construction continued in all wind conditions. Third, despite an EIA agreementthat should noise from construction exceed 65db during the day and/or 50db at night, construction must be limited to 3 hours a day, construction at high volumes has been ongoing day and night. Fourth, despite the fact that the allowed number of excavator construction vehicles is limited to two, there are at least 14 currently in the construction site. The Gangjeong Village Association says that the Jeju Island government, which is in charge of management of public water and adjacent surfaces, must order a halt to construction until the complete repair of silt protection layers. They also say that, due to these gross violations, if Governor Woo does not follow the proper procedures, it is considering to indict him as a criminal for his dereliction of duty.

May 16:

Villagers and activists did 1,000 life and peace bows in front of main entrance to the Island governmenthall in Jeju City, which took more than seven hours. It was the 1st day of three days of 1,000 bows in the government hall yard. In front of the KORDI, the co-representative of the Daejeon-South Choongcheong province branch of Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea (SPARK) held a one-person protest for two hours, saying “The civilian-military dual port is a fabrication and the entry and exit by 150,000 ton cruise is impossible. Stop the construction of the Jeju naval base project.” The Daejeon branch of SPARK has been holding one-person protests in front of the Gyeryongdae navy headquarter on the first Tuesday of every month. It is also holding a traveling candle vigil throughout the region.

Real time simulation verification of the base layout plan by the Ministry of National Defense andIsland government was supposed to be held at the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI) in Daejeon at 11:30 am. The villagers have called for the Island government not to join such meetings but instead immediately order a halt to construction. The Jeju Island government held a breaking news briefing at 10 a.m., where Yang Byong-shik, executive director for the Jeju civilian-military dual port for the Jeju Island government said, "Among the 5 cases of simulation regarding the safe maneuver of the two 150,000 ton cruise ships suggested by civilian experts recommended by the island government, 3 cases were not received by theprime minister's office, so we decided to boycott [the planned simulation at KORDI]."

Hearing that, Lee Chang-Hee, head of the Industry Promotion department of the Prime Minister Office, visited the Island government and strongly criticized them in his 1:30 pm press conference which Yoon Seok-Han, naval officer and chief of construction management of the Jeju naval base business committee also attended. Lee declared that the Central government will continue its current construction (destruction) of the civilian-military dual port regardless of what happens.

May 17:

In the early morning some members of the Save our Sea (SOS) team entered Gureombi Rock to pray, continuing the daily morning prayer ritual done by Brother Song (Dr. SongKang-Ho) before his arrest on April 1st.

Bows for Life and Peace continued in the Island government hall yard for a 2nd day. Despite a physical scuffle in the beginning as police tried to block people from bowing directly in front of the hall the bows were carried out. In the afternoon, around 10 police buses came but there were no clashes this day.

Brother Song had two trials onMay 17 and in one trial, he made a beginning statement, which was moving.

Otherwise, the Island government held its 3rd meeting for the ‘Promotion and Support Headquarter for the 2012 WCC Jeju’ composed of 16 Jeju institutes of the Island government, Education Office, Police Office, Immigration Office, Customs House, Meteorological Office, Tour Association and more at the auditorium of the Island government hall at 2 p.m. The WCC (World Conservation Congress) is the biggest international environmental meeting held by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation ofNature) every four years and will be joined by about 10,000 people from 1,100 government institutes and NGO from 180 countries. (The first meeting was on Feb. 15 while the 2nd meeting was on March 29. On April 25, The IUCN made a public statement in support of the so-called “civilian-military dual port” being built on Gangjeong.)

Lee Kang-Deok, chief of the Korean Maritime Police ordered severe punishment for any ‘obstruction of construction.’ Is it to target those courageous SOS members? Not only them, the whole political situation is very urgent for everyone, as the central government is expected to designate the project area as the military protection zone in June which will bring much more severe restrictions.

The Dong-A Ilbo, one of the most conservative media outlets in Korea falsely claimed that the Neutbom Unification School, in Gangjin, Jeolla province, is pro-North Korea. The school sent about 90 teenage students to the village in April for eight nights and nine days to experience the daily life of Gangjeong. The school immediately made public a detailed response to the vicious distortions of Dong-A Ilbo. Such fact-twisting ideological attacks by pro-base conservatives are nothing new since the struggle became a national issue last year, but it is noticeable that they targeted a school this time.

The “Reset KBS News” movement produced by striking KBS (Korean Broadcast System) workers reported that a U.S. military Boeing 337 plane carrying high ranking U.S. officials, secretly landed at the Soonahn airport in Pyeongyang, North Korea on April 7, days before the North Koreanlaunch of “Gwangmyeongsepng No. 3”, very likely to stop its launch.

May 18:

The 32nd the anniversary of the Gwangju massacre and people’s uprising in 1980. Father Mun received the 5.18 Human Rights prize in Gwangju, Jeolla province. About 15 people from Gangjeong led by village vice-mayor Cho Kyung-Chul came to Gwangjuto campaign for the struggle against the Jeju naval base, amidst Gwangju citizens’ ardent welcome of them. The 15 also went to share the honor of Father Mun.

Meanwhile the tragic history and resistance of Gwangju can be seen again in Gangjeong, Jeju Island. Around 100 government officers and police were mobilized to suppress people doing peaceful bows in front of the government hall. Not just men but old femalevillagers and young woman activists were forced out of the government hall yard by police in plainclothes. Four women activists were arrested by the policeunder the charge of “refusal to leave”. Still the 1000 bows continued at thefeet of the police who blocked the government hall and across the street where the Pan-Island committee activists have been holding a street sit-in since March 26. The people strongly denouncing the Island governor and government, declaring that if the governor does not immediately make an order to halt construction, they will begin a strong movement to push for his resignation. Meanwhile, Governor Woo delayed again (for the fourth time!) to make a final decision about the construction.

Oh Choong-Jin, chairman of the Island council strongly demanded Governor Woo promptly decide in his closing speech at the 2nd general meeting of 294th temporarysession of the Island Council. However, Woo Keun-Min didn’t respond to this and instead promoted the island government’s private simulation (as opposed to the Ministry of National Defense’s simulation) which will (in around a month) confirm, or not, the safe entry and exit of 150,00 cruise ships.

This came after the Island government was shocked to discover that the Ministry of National Defense cheated them and had already finished its own simulation secretly, declaring no problems and leaking the news without any official notice even to the Island government who found out through the media. Despite this, the Governor still makes no action.

Members of AWC-Japan who have been denied entry to South Korea started regular protest in front of South Korean Consulate in Osaka. They are demanding the stop of construction of new naval base in solidarity with struggling people in Gangjeong. They also demanded immediate withdrawal of unjust entry-ban against foreign peace activists.’

May 19:

The movement to get 100,000 people’s petition to be submitted to the National Assembly that opens on June 1, is growing. The petition (http://100kpropose.com/home/members) has four demands: Halt the Jeju naval base construction (destruction) / Carry out investigations into government affairs, especially regarding violations of human rights and forced illegal construction (destruction) / Cut totally the naval base project-related budget / Carrying out a Special Prosecution System. So far the petition site has more than 13,000 signatures on-line and many more as yet uncounted offline signatures, making the current count much higher.

In Seoul, a rally to denounce the Lee Myung-Bak government’s policies including the Jeju naval base issue was held.

May 20:

On Sunday, Kim Mi-Hwa, a famous comedian and initiator of the DKKK movement (Don’t Kill Kangjung Kurumbi [Gangjeong Gureombi]) visited the village, looked around naval base construction (destruction) area, and gave encouragement to the people.

Otherwise, even though there has been no rain fordays, muddy water is flowing out from Gureombi Rock into the sea, bringing concerns about contamination. Since the beginning of the blasting began onMarch 7 muddy water has flown from Gureombi Rock into the sea many times. The village association is investigating.

---------------------------------

Take Action:

---------------------------------

1. Please take some time to write protest letters to the government and the naval base planners and contractors. Demand that they revoke the Jeju naval base project in the Peace Island; that they should stop lying that the port will be a civilian-military port; and that they should not enforce the revision of the two acts which would establish the construction (destruction) zone as a closed military facility,which is illegal and a violation of government’s promises to the people. Please tell them that the base construction (destruction) continues at the cost of destruction of a community, democracy, human rights, the environment, and the peace of the Gangjeong villagers. Tell them that the base being built in the Jeju will make Jeju a target of war, contribute to political instability in Asia, and only profit the arms industries such as Samsung and Daelim who employs thugs to oppress protesters. Please remind that the current government oppression to people is reminiscent of a 2nd 4.3.

Appropriate addresses can be found here:

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:33867.7483820829/rid:c5c744865a7b372e77e36ea5fb216220

http://www.secc.co.kr/eng/html/customer/contactus.asp (SamsungC & T)

2. Please write aletter to Woo Keun-Min, Island governor, to immediately order the halt of the construction (destruction); to stop the deceptive propaganda regarding the so-called “Beautiful tourism port for mixed civilian-military dual-use” which in reality is only 100% a military base; to revoke the navy license for reclamation of the coast and sea in the base project area; and to restore the absolute preservation area that was annulled for the naval base project through undemocratic procedures in 2009. Also please demand that he give a sincere apology to the villagers and activists whom he ordered to be attacked on March 26 and May 18.

Mr. Woo Keun-Min,Jeju Island Governor: kmj5369@jeju.go.kr or jejumaster@jeju.go.kr

3. Please write to the Democratic United party members to work harder to revoke the Jeju naval base project. Please tell them that the so-called “Beautiful Tourism Port for Mixed Civilian-Military Use”, has been confirmed as a fraud and that the party should resolutely reject the Lee Myung-Bak government’s enforcement of Jeju naval base project under such deceptive propaganda. Please remind them that the party’s election pledge was to “re-examine the project from the beginning point” and that they should also consider a special inspection system for the Jeju naval base issue, regarding crimes committed by the government. Pressuring them is very important, as their party is the main opposition party:

Park Ji-Won, Representative of Democratic United Party, Democratic United Party Representative within the National Assembly, Supreme member of the Democratic Party: jwp615@hanmail.net

Moon Jae-In, Permanent Advisor, Democratic United party, possible presidential candidate: moonriver365@gmail.com

http://www.minjoo.kr/members/memberLeaders.jsp

4. Please also consider signing the petitions on Avaaz (http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_jeju/?vl) and distributing this letter among your networks.

5. For more immediate situation updates, join the Facebook group, ‘No Naval Base on Jeju’.

6. Please write encouraging letters to Dr. (or Brother) Song in Jail.

Dr. Song Kang-Ho (No.611)

Jeju Prison

161 Ora-2 dong, Jeju City,

Jeju, the PeaceIsland, Korea

Thisnewsletter/appeal is updated every week.

[nousbase] [Gangjeong, Jeju] Weekly Appeal for May 20

Tue, 22 May 2012 19:05:25 -0400

Read this and you will find out:

what the rice ball represents in the context of a people's struggle to be free
how resistance is expressed in peaceful actions
villagers bowing for peace 1000 times for three days
traveling candlelight vigil
U.S.-led war games presently going on in South Korea
how construction of the military base seriously violates environmental restrictions
Jesuits continue to celebrate mass in support of the villagers (which they've been doing for 8 weeks now)
how the people of Okinawa are showing solidarity with the Jeju Islanders

You can subscribe to the English version of the Gangjeong Village newsletter at gangjeongintl@gmail.com

Created by The Extended International Team of Gangjeong Village

Weekly Appeal for May 20, 2012:

Gwangju in 1980 is Gangjeong in 2012!

No Military Base! Yes, Life and Peace Island!

The “civilian-military dual-use” base is a lie!

Stop the destruction, human rights violations andpro-nuclear MD policy!

Daily Summaries:

May 14:

Photos from the May 5-12 international solidarity protest days were covered on a whole page of Hankyoreh, a Korean leading progressive daily newspaper.

May 15:

May 16:

Real time simulation verification of the base layout plan by the Ministry of National Defense andIsland government was supposed to be held at the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI) in Daejeon at 11:30 am. The villagers have called for the Island government not to join such meetings but instead immediately order a halt to construction. The Jeju Island government held a breaking news briefing at 10 a.m., where Yang Byong-shik, executive director for the Jeju civilian-military dual port for the Jeju Island government said, "Among the 5 cases of simulation regarding the safe maneuver of the two 150,000 ton cruise ships suggested by civilia nexperts recommended by the island government, 3 cases were not received by theprime minister's office, so we decided to boycott [the planned simulation at KORDI]."

Hearing that, Lee Chang-Hee, head of the Industry Promotion department of the Prime Minister Office, visited the Island government and strongly criticized them in his 1:30pm press conference which Yoon Seok-Han, naval officer and chief of construction management of the Jeju naval base business committee also attended. Lee declared that the Central government will continue its current construction (destruction) of the civilian-military dual port regardless of what happens.

May 17:

In the early morning somemembers of the Save our Sea (SOS) team entered Gureombi Rock to pray,continuing the daily morning prayer ritual done by Brother Song (Dr. SongKang-Ho) before his arrest on April 1st.

Bows for Life and Peacecontinued in the Island government hall yard for a 2nd day. Despitea physical scuffle in the beginning as police tried to block people from bowingdirectly in front of the hall the bows were carried out. In the afternoon,around 10 police buses came but there were no clashes this day.

Brother Song had two trials onMay 17 and in one trial, he made a beginning statement, which was moving.

Otherwise, the Islandgovernment held its 3rd meeting for the ‘Promotion and SupportHeadquarter for the 2012 WCC Jeju’ composed of 16 Jeju institutes of the Islandgovernment, Education Office, Police Office, Immigration Office, Customs House,Meteorological Office, Tour Association and more at the auditorium of theIsland government hall at 2 p.m. The WCC (World Conservation Congress) is thebiggest international environmental meeting held by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation ofNature) every four years and will be joined by about10,000 people from 1,100 government institutes and NGO from 180 countries. (The first meeting was on Feb. 15 while the2nd meeting was on March 29. On April 25, The IUCN made a public statement insupport of the so-called “civilian-military dual port” being built onGangjeong.)

Lee Kang-Deok, chief of theKorean Maritime Police ordered severe punishment for any ‘obstruction ofconstruction.’ Is it to target those courageous SOS members? Not only them, thewhole political situation is very urgent for everyone, as the centralgovernment is expected to designate the project area as the military protectionzone in June which will bring much more severe restrictions.

The Dong-A Ilbo, one of themost conservative media outlets in Korea falsely claimed that the NeutbomUnification School, in Gangjin, Jeolla province, is pro-North Korea. The schoolsent about 90 teenage students to the village in April for eight nights andnine days to experience the daily life of Gangjeong. The school immediatelymade public a detailed response to the vicious distortions of Dong-A Ilbo. Suchfact-twisting ideological attacks by pro-base conservatives are nothing newsince the struggle became a national issue last year, but it is noticeable thatthey targeted a school this time.

The “Reset KBS News” movement produced by striking KBS(Korean Broadcast System) workers reported that a U.S. military Boeing 337plane carrying high ranking U.S. officials, secretly landed at the Soonahnairport in Pyeongyang, North Korea on April 7, days before the North Koreanlaunch of “Gwangmyeongsepng No. 3”, very likely to stop its launch.

May 18:

The 32nd theanniversary of the Gwangju massacre and people’s uprising in 1980. Father Munreceived the 5.18 Human Rights prize in Gwangju, Jeolla province. About 15people from Gangjeong led by village vice-mayor Cho Kyung-Chul came to Gwangjuto campaign for the struggle against the Jeju naval base, amidst Gwangjucitizens’ ardent welcome of them. The 15 also went to share the honor of FatherMun.

Meanwhile the tragic historyand resistance of Gwangju can be seen again in Gangjeong, Jeju Island. Around100 government officers and police were mobilized to suppress people doingpeaceful bows in front of the government hall. Not just men but old femalevillagers and young woman activists were forced out of the government hall yardby police in plainclothes. Four women activists were arrested by the policeunder the charge of “refusal to leave”. Still the 1000 bows continued at thefeet of the police who blocked the government hall and across the street wherethe Pan-Island committee activists have been holding a street sit-in sinceMarch 26. The people strongly denouncing the Island governor and government,declaring that if the governor does not immediately make an order to haltconstruction, they will begin a strong movement to push for his resignation.Meanwhile, Governor Woo delayed again (for the fourth time!) to make a finaldecision about the construction.

Oh Choong-Jin, chairman of theIsland council strongly demanded Governor Woo promptly decide in his closingspeech at the 2nd general meeting of 294th temporarysession of the Island Council. However, Woo Keun-Min didn’t respond to this andinstead promoted the island government’s private simulation (as opposed to theMinistry of National Defense’s simulation) which will (in around a month)confirm, or not, the safe entry and exit of 150,00 cruise ships.

This came after the Islandgovernment was shocked to discover that the Ministry of National Defensecheated them and had already finished its own simulation secretly, declaring noproblems and leaking the news without any official notice even to the Islandgovernment who found out through the media. Despite this, the Governor stillmakes no action.

Members of AWC-Japan who havebeen denied entry to South Korea started regular protest in front of SouthKorean Consulate in Osaka. They are demanding the stop of construction of newnaval base in solidarity with struggling people in Gangjeong. They alsodemanded immediate withdrawal of unjust entry-ban against foreign peace activists.’

May 19:

The movement to get 100,000 people’s petition to be submitted to the National Assembly that opens on June 1, is growing. The petition (http://100kpropose.com/home/members) has four demands: Halt the Jeju naval base construction (destruction) / Carry out investigations into government affairsespecially regarding violations of human rights and forced illegal construction(destruction) / Cut totally the naval baseproject-related budget / Carrying out aSpecial Prosecution System. Sofar the petition site has more than 13,000signatures on-line and many more as yet uncounted offline signatures, makingthe current count much higher.

In Seoul, a rally to denounce the Lee Myung-Bakgovernment’s policies including the Jeju naval base issue was held.

May 20:

On Sunday, Kim Mi-Hwa, a famous comedian and initiatorof the DKKK movement (Don’t Kill Kangjung Kurumbi [Gangjeong Gureombi]) visitedthe village, looked around naval base construction (destruction) area, and gaveencouragement to the people.

Otherwise, even though there has been no rain fordays, muddy water is flowing out from Gureombi Rock into the sea, bringingconcerns about contamination. Since the beginning of the blasting began onMarch 7 muddy water has flown from Gureombi Rock into the sea many times. The village association is investigating.

---------------------------------

Take Action:

---------------------------------

1.Please take sometime to write protest letters to the government and the naval base plannersand contractors. Demand that they revoke the Jeju naval base project in thePeace Island; that they should stop lying that the port will be a civilian-militaryport; and that they should not enforce the revision of the two acts which wouldestablish the construction (destruction) zone as a closed military facility,which is illegal and a violation of government’s promises to the people. Pleasetell them that the base construction (destruction) continues at the cost ofdestruction of a community, democracy, human rights, the environment, and thepeace of the Gangjeong villagers. Tell them that the base being built in theJeju will make Jeju a target of war, contribute to political instability inAsia, and only profit the arms industries such as Samsung and Daelim whoemploys thugs to oppress protesters. Please remind that the current governmentoppression to people is reminiscent of a 2nd 4.3.

Appropriate addressescan be found here:

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:33867.7483820829/rid:c5c744865a7b372e77e36ea5fb216220

http://www.secc.co.kr/eng/html/customer/contactus.asp (SamsungC & T)

2. Please write aletter to Woo Keun-Min, Island governor, to immediately order thehalt of the construction (destruction); to stop the deceptive propagandaregarding the so-called “Beautiful tourism port for mixed civilian-militarydual-use” which in reality is only 100% a military base; to revoke the navylicense for reclamation of the coast and sea in the base project area; and torestore the absolute preservation area that was annulled for the naval baseproject through undemocratic procedures in 2009. Also please demand that hegive a sincere apology to the villagers and activists whom he ordered to be attackedon March 26 and May 18.

Mr. Woo Keun-Min,Jeju Island Governor: kmj5369@jeju.go.kr or jejumaster@jeju.go.kr

3. Please write tothe Democratic United party members to work harder to revoke the Jejunaval base project. Please tell them that the so-called “Beautiful Tourism Portfor Mixed Civilian-Military Use”, has been confirmed as a fraud and that theparty should resolutely reject the Lee Myung-Bak government’s enforcement ofJeju naval base project under such deceptive propaganda. Please remind themthat the party’s election pledge was to “re-examine the project from thebeginning point” and that they should also consider a special inspection systemfor the Jeju naval base issue, regarding crimes committed by the government.Pressuring them is very important, as their party is the main opposition party:

Park Ji-Won,Representative of Democratic United Party, DemocraticUnited Party Representative within the National Assembly, Supreme member of theDemocratic Party: jwp615@hanmail.net

Moon Jae-In,Permanent Advisor, Democratic United party, possible presidential candidate: moonriver365@gmail.com

http://www.minjoo.kr/members/memberLeaders.jsp

4. Please alsoconsider signing the petitions on Avaaz (http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_jeju/?vl) anddistributing this letter among your networks.

5. For more immediatesituation updates, join the facebook group, ‘No Naval Base on Jeju’.

6. Please write encouraging letters to Dr. (or Brother) Song in Jail.

Dr. Song Kang-Ho (No.611)

Jeju Prison

161 Ora-2 dong, Jeju City,

Jeju, the PeaceIsland, Korea

Thisnewsletter/appeal is updated every week.

Dennis Kucinich's Terrific Commencement Speech

Sat, 12 May 2012 01:05:31 -0400

I consider Dennis Kucinich heads above all the other politicians today in the U.S. He is remarkably intelligent. He actually represents the people and their interests. He's a visionary who can see how to lead us out of the morass we're in. Dennis has also known real hardship, and kept going in the face of adversity; he stands for everything I believe in.

In this commencement speech to the graduating class of 2012, at American University in Dubai, he talks about the power of now. Lately I've been feeling like an utter failure in many respects, as a mother, a lover, a daughter, a sister, a teacher, an American living abroad, as an entrepreneur, as an idea person who can't manifest my ideas, as a writer, as a peace activist and lightworker, as a person who makes their own living. I know, it's been kind of overwhelming to face so much failure. It's especially difficult for someone who has always considered themselves a success.

So I like what Dennis says about failure; it speaks to my condition today. I think it's important to keep the word fail as a verb, and not to make it a noun, not to ever describe ourselves as a failure.

In his speech, Dennis writes about what it is to try and fail. Reading this inspires me to persevere. I found it inordinately helpful, just the concept of failure as a friend that helps prepare you to realize your dreams is powerful.

"I ran for Congress five times in a period of twenty-five years before I was elected. I know what it is to try and to fail. Do not fear failure. Let failure be your friend. It prepares you for what you desire to achieve and you arrive at your new destination with growing beauty and wisdom, thanking your friend for the visit."

Here's the full text of his speech:

Dear Friend,

I want to share with you this Commencement speech I gave this week to 5000 attendees from over 100 countries at American University in Dubai (AUD). Previous AUD Commencement speakers include President Clinton and Secretaries of State Powell, Albright and Baker. In the speech I strive to inspire the graduates to embrace the power of NOW and to move forward to build communities of peace -- as we all must endeavor to do.

Thank you.

Dennis

Dennis J. Kucinich
United States Representative to Congress
Commencement Speech
American University in Dubai
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

His Highness, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum; Members of the Royal Families of the United Arab Emirates; Dr. Lance de Masi, President of American University in Dubai, Mr. Elias Bou Saab, Executive Vice President, Members of the Board, Members of the Faculty of American University of Dubai, Esteemed Officials, Parents and Sponsors, Students, Alumni and Friends and especially you, our dear Honored Graduates:

Thank you for the great honor of addressing this esteemed gathering upon an occasion of singular importance in the lives of each and every one of you. This day announces you are prepared. The journey which brought you here has conferred upon you a commencement to the future of your dreams.

For when you ascend this stage you are confidently passing through a portal in the time and space of your life, presenting yourself to the world as a person of accomplishment, as an individual prepared to tap the transformative power of this moment which brings to bear every talent and ability you have developed, pouring it into the moment when you present yourself at the door of opportunity, the moment which is called NOW. The NOW which contemplates that the past, the present, and the future exist simultaneously, the power of NOW as it connects with eternity, your timeless self which finds its power in expression of self recreation, self actualization. "Come my friends," wrote the poet Tennyson, " 'tis not too later to seek a newer world."

Behold the new world being born in the moment. The NOW which comes again and again and again in each and every day forward as you watch for it, recognize it, be mindful of the possibility it presents, be grateful for its immanent unfolding potential. The NOW which bids you to think, to speak, to act, to challenge, to create, to change. The NOW which declares that years of preparation have come to meet the seedling of a single moment. The NOW which whispers: "Do not spill a single seed." The NOW which makes joyous the challenge of venturing forth in faith. The NOW which bids you, "Come, you are ready!" And reminds you there is no time to waste. The NOW which unveils your deepest potential when you summon the courage to knock upon an unfamiliar door. The NOW which has been secretly awaiting your arrival.

"What you seek, is seeking you," wrote the poet Rumi. The NOW which waits for you to embrace its endless possibilities, its extraordinary beauty of presence. Yours, the restless quest of the human soul for true purpose, for a place in the world, for life, for love, for a spiritual home all awaits your attention, your touch, your gaze. Your place in the scheme of things is unfolding and even resistance can be your friend as you align with the time signature with which the hand of destiny inscribes your name. Be relentless in pursuit of excellence. Though your reach exceeds your grasp every moment, "What's a heaven for?" asked the poet Browning.

What do I know? From my earliest, I heard my life's drummer banging out a rapid tempo, a quick march to college, to work, to public life, all at the same time, twenty years old working two jobs, going to school, running for city council. When I put my ear to the ground I could hear the heart of the world beating and I rushed excitedly to embrace it fully, no apprenticeships, only the experience of trying and failing, trying and succeeding, climbing the mountains outside or the mountains within, looking up, walking up, running up one path, then another, then still another, sometimes pausing as the crowd passed me by. Then, a new moment, sensing a new possibility, stepping out into the crowd, coursing with it, stepping briskly to meet it, to embark upon a new destination, a new life, the unfolding of each and every day: I chose a career in public service while I was still in college in Cleveland, Ohio, and was elected America's youngest Mayor at age 31.

I ran for Congress five times in a period of twenty-five years before I was elected. I know what it is to try and to fail. Do not fear failure. Let failure be your friend. It prepares you for what you desire to achieve and you arrive at your new destination with growing beauty and wisdom, thanking your friend for the visit.

My dear graduates, the world needs you. I know how important you are. The raw, kinetic, intellectual and spiritual power here from one hundred countries can save our planet from destruction.

We are constantly being told that there is nothing we can do about war, nothing we can do about global climate change, nothing we can do about poverty. Those who accept the self-fulfilling prophecies of doom may have a stake in the status quo or, fearing a new order, delay change. Life, however, is not inert. The human heart is not inert. Its rhythms excite to the call of the future. The soul is not inert. Its eyes see the future.

George Bernard Shaw wrote in Back to Methuselah "You see things and say 'Why'? I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not'?" He spoke to the capacity of vision, of possibility thinking, of the certainty that life is a profoundly creative experience, an expression of the workings of the mind, the heart and the soul -- the nonphysical, spiritual world which sanctifies the physical world. Ideas come through our senses, bathing in a world of dreams, imagination, the magical, mysterious province of poets and prophets, inventors and painters, the realm of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam where man receives from the divine the spark of life.

A photograph by the Hubble Telescope has captured a picture of the Eagle Nebula: "Pillars of Creation," that place in deep space where stars are born. Quantum physicists have identified gluon particles which exist in interstitial space, the space between the spaces, the unseen element of our physical universe which holds together the world with the primal energy of the Big Bang.

We travel back and forth upon the bridge between spirit and matter, at large in a physical universe, we breathe in the eternal spiritual sustenance. Inspired, we fling our dreams back into the physical world and create islands in the sea, buildings which reach to the heavens, new structures in society, and new ways of living. Possibility thinking is a science grounded in old truths. It is the capacity to call forth new outcomes.

Let me share with you a few examples from my own experience. Again and again in my public career I have confronted circumstances where I was told there was nothing I could do about a given condition: a city electric system sold to a giant private utility under indecent conditions. "Nothing you can do," said my top advisors. I saw something else, organized a civic movement and a three year struggle resulted in regaining for the people of my community a light system which recently observed its 100th anniversary. Two hospitals were to be closed. "Forget it," I was told. There is nothing you can do. I saw another possibility. Creative legal action ensued, the community rallied, hospitals were saved one still stands. A steel mill which provided thousands of jobs was about to be closed. Again I was told, "there is nothing you can do." Long story short, we organized the community, intervened in court, stopped the shutdown of the mill long enough for a buyer to emerge and that mill today is the largest integrated steel mill in the world.

There is a practical physics to civic involvement and action. Look deeply into the appearances of things. Deeper within is another possibility. Envision it, call it forward, act upon it, drawing upon that same elemental energy which comes from where the eternal first touched us and where we touched the eternal, where stars are born.

What I have learned from experience is this -- when you see a condition you desire to see change, when you seek to make something happen and you are told it is not possible -- that may be exactly the place to put your energy, to change the outcome. When you do, people will say a miracle occurred. We live in a world where miracles are waiting to be welcomed.

This brings me to a thought I would like to share with you, my fellow citizens of the world; We have inherited a world where war is dropped on our doorstep and we are asked to adopt it as our own. We are told deadly force must be used to change people's conduct. Violence to stop the violence, war to prevent war, war to end war. When we believe war is inevitable, we come to accept the self-fulfilling prophecy of war. War happens. We wonder why.

We must call forth from this world which is so fraught with fear and foreboding that which is beautiful and glorious, a new possibility, a new thinking, a new physics, if you will, of peace. We must do it with courage. We must do it in fulfillment of salaam, the peace which comes from the unseen, the peace which comes from the heart, the peace which comes from our collective yearning, the peace which comes from an awareness that the world is one. That all people are interconnected, interdependent, one with the human family, one with the world, one with the spirit, one with the divine.

War is never inevitable. Peace is inevitable if we desire to call it forward, if we approach it as a science. I speak of peace not simply as the absence of war, but as a practice of the science of human relations, as a capacity of human evolution and human development. But if we call peace forward from the unseen we must name it, we must give it structure, we must prepare for it a place to exist - a space to breathe, to be nurtured - to flower, so that it can be appreciated as an expression of that divine spark of creation.

In writing of the unfolding potential of nature, the poet Lowell celebrated the month of June: "Every clod, [or piece of earth], feels a stir of might, an instinct within it that reaches and towers, and groping blindly above it for light, climbs to a soul in grass and flowers." His poem was about the search for the Holy Grail, a sacred vessel said to contain drops of the blood of Christ. Peace is a Holy Grail and the quest for peace is empowered by thoughts of peace, words of peace and actions for peace and attainment of peace. It is a temporal question. It is also a spiritual journey: "Wherewith Allah guideth all who seek His good pleasure to ways of peace and safety, and leadeth them out of darkness, by His will, unto the light, guideth them to a path that is straight." -- Qur'an 5:16

Think of the possibilities if we could create within every nation a place where the best minds and hearts are brought together within the context of a cabinet level position or ministry wherein resides the power to develop social structures for peace and strategies to avert conflict between groups and between states.

Such a proposal exists; I brought it to the United States Congress two months before 9/11. In its simplest expression, it seeks to develop an organized approach to make the daily work of our nation engage our top social and economic scientists to deal with the root causes of domestic violence, spousal abuse, child abuse, gang violence, gun violence, violence against gays, and racial violence. It would develop skills for non-violent conflict resolution on a domestic level, as well as internationally, where such a ministry would be prepared to assist to ameliorate the causes of violence inherent in poverty, lack of access to food, water, shelter and the instability caused by environmental disasters.

As violence is learned, so is peace. Education has a powerful social purpose. A ministry of peace would create the resources for peace education within every culture and within each government to construct a world where we learn to settle differences by tapping the spiritual principles of salaam, sholom, of peace. We are then within reach of creating cultures of vision, cultures of creativity, cultures of unlimited wealth and cultures of sustainability.

I have been in Congress for 16 years and involved in government for the better part of 45 years. I am told, "Dennis, such an idea is so impractical." After all, my nation spends more money for weapons and war than all the other nations of the world put together. We spend so much time, so many resources human and financial preparing for war. Why not begin to spend time and resources preparing for peace?

Will this vision be realized for creating new structures for peace? I was reading a speech given in Dubai in 2007 by His Highness, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, observing the challenges facing his new organization, the Foundation His Highness created. He quoted a friend: "... in this Foundation you are like one ploughing the sea. The challenge is huge; the gap of knowledge in most of the Arab and Islamic countries is bottomless. There is a lot of talk about building communities of knowledge, but little action. The pit is too wide to be seamed, so why should you weary yourself over this matter?"

At a time when the technology of destruction and the capacity of human destructiveness is so great, this is exactly the time to create a common global effort to build communities of peace, to provide structures in every country to help peace issue forth and flourish. I, too, believe that if we will make of human development a new art, we will set our eyes to the distant horizon and plough the seas with wondrous effect. We can then lift up our eyes to the heavens and, with our imagination, with joyous abandon, plough the stars, and a thundering universe will burst forth with new possibilities and we will make heaven on earth. "Come my friends, 'tis not too late to seek a newer world."

From the Edge of Asia: An American Reports from Malaysia

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:04:52 -0400

I'm starting a weekly newsletter, From the Edge of Asia: an American Reports from Malaysia, to help carry me over for the next few months until my new position as an ESL teacher begins at UCSI in Kuala Lumpur. Help a starving writer! I am asking for a love offering of $50 or more.

By helping support me through this rocky transitional time, you will receive weekly reports from the other side of the world about a life that is guaranteed to be quite different from yours, at least up until I start teaching, and perhaps even longer if time allows.

I will write about building sea altars, messages from the Earth, observations of a tribe of spider monkeys, descriptions of colorful local characters, musings on poverty, politics, and a wide range of topics... you should always find something in every newsletter that makes you more aware of things you haven't given much thought to before, or that shifts your point of view.

Money can be sent through Paypal or you can contact me by my private email at libertyferall@gmail.com for details about my Wells Fargo account in the U.S.

Here is a sample of the kind of thing you might read about in this report:

So I have a few irons in the fire, but everything is going very slowly and in the meantime I went on a visa run to Singapore last week to get a 90-day renewal on my tourist visa. I've been sick ever since with a virulent flu virus, you don't want to know the details. Moan-groan-stench!

So I've decided to offer a weekly newsletter to anyone who wants to support a struggling writer/misfit/failed entrepreneur/out-of-work ESL teacher. I've been feeling so isolated, for a lot of reasons. Usually, I enjoy my own company quite well, but enough is enough. So you will get something for your money, a look into my world, which I can guarantee you, doesn't look like yours.

The local band of spider monkeys has taken pity on my isolation and befriended me. I'll be writing about my interactions with them. I make sea altars on the beach with shells and stones, driftwood, and bones, whatever I find, and commune with the spirits of the the hill, the trees, the sea and the wind. Sometimes I get telepathic messages from the earth. I'll share those.

Mostly I'll share my observations, and whatever I'm thinking about when I sit down to write the newsletter, about the people here, such as the village idiot who has four wives (because Muslims are allowed that many) who empties the trash and burns it in fires, big and small. His wives all work as maids here and sometimes they empty the trash, also. I see the children working, too. He's been a nuisance for me as he's also something of a peeping tom.

Today he did the stupidest thing. There was a gas tanker parked at the short dirt road that leads to the beach behind our resort. Unfortunately, it was parked right next to the place where he burns trash. He never put two and two together, such as that was a really bad idea, and built a heaping fire.

I just happened to go out at that time, and was alarmed by what I saw. A young man who works here was coming to the same conclusion as I was about the danger and idiocy of a raging fire next to a fuel tanker. He took quick action, and carrying water in a small tub, put out the fire. It was right behind my beach hut. I would have lost everything I owned if that tanker had blown, and there probably wouldn't have been much left of the resort either.

There's another American woman here, although you'd never guess her nationality by her humble and modest, almost pious demeanor, or by the Muslim long-sleeved long dresses and head-scarves she wears. She manages the family tourist shop and runs a library and ticket agency as well. Although she graduated with three majors(!), this is the life she has chosen for herself, raising six children with the youngest still a newborn.

I've had several visitors through the night in my bathroom, a large centipede, a sinuous dull green snake that disappeared with a flick of his tale into a part of the door frame that had rotted, a large bug about two inches long which was totally new to me, and today a lizard that ran into the room up the wall as soon as I opened the door, as though he'd been waiting to get in. What is this? Is my humble beach hut suddenly the Mecca for critturs?

The Sharing Principle

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 03:04:52 -0400

The sharing principle is the core of the new economic business model, just as profit is the bottom line of capitalism.

If you drew a shape for capitalism, it would be a triangle... you know the model.

If you drew a shape for the new economic system we're creating, let's call it genesis, it would be a toroidal donut. Why? Because what goes around, comes around? Because King Arthur decided to have a circular table for his knights? Because you can eat donuts, but you can't eat triangles? No, although those are possibly all true, the REAL reason is that 2012 is all about the collapse of the time space continuum as we've known it.

Along with that collapse, we are also seeing the collapse of the patriarchy, the collapse of capitalism, the collapse of the U.S. economy, the collapse of the middle class, the collapse of ecological systems, the collapse of the consumer model, the collapse of the U.S. dollar, the collapse of the endless growth model, and most important of all, the collapse of popular support for governments and corporations and the rule of the world by wealthy people.

As systems collapse, we face total chaos. However, fractal geometry shows us that out of chaos, patterns inevitably emerge and order always ensues, just as stars die and are born again, just as we die and are born again, and life continues eternally.

Nobody trusts each other any more to do business. Even though business goes on, this hampers matters considerably. Nevertheless, people are endlessly adaptive, and are continually finding ways to make things happen.

Here's a possible way for a pattern to emerge out of all the collapsing arond us, a model of cooperation, of sharing and prospering by helping each other. First of all, everyone who takes part in this system has to agree to the principles of sharing and caring for others, as well as making quality of life the priority rather than profit. In this system, altruism is greatly rewarded, and we'll see how that can happen.

What I propose begins the shift into a new model through international trade. The people of the world will have to work out the details of how this new model of genesis gets fully implemented. It's not appropriate for any one individual to project how it can all be worked out. However, I can lead the way in the new direction with some ideas.

First, let us consider our toroidal donut as our model, a donut that you can hold in your hands and turn and turn and turn so that the inside moves to the outside and the outside moves to the inside.

We could begin anywhere, all points on the donut being equal, but let's begin with a woman married to a farmer in a developing country. They live in a small house without electricity, indoor plumbing or running water. The woman spends all her time caring for their children and cooking meals. She also works in the fields.

Surely in today's modern world, nobody lives like that any more. Wrong.

So first, if we are to empower this women to lead a better life for herself and her family, they need electricity. Maybe the town gets a solar panel display that provides electricity to 200 or so households. The children can stay up later studying now. A work center is built in the town with office space and computers.

University graduates, usually women, come and organize production, marketing and distribution, gaining experience as they go along. Training classes are held for women to learn to use sewing machines, computers, cameras and other household appliances, toilets, refrigertors, bicycles, etc.. They are issued these products on a credit basis, to become their own over time based on credit they earn with their work.

A woman can take a sewing machine home, pick up five or ten bags of pieces of garments and bring them home to sew during the week. When she's done, she returns to the work center with the finished garments, collects her pay/credit, and picks up another lot. The work is done between meal times.

With a little more cash to spend, she has a little more time because she picks up the bread from the bakery or soup from a stall. She no longer has to spend all of her time cooking everything for her family. The bakery and food vendors have more custom now.

The work center grows as a training center as well as an office. Young people can get training in work trades, electrical, carpentry, masonry, etc. They can also get training in business skills. University graduates get management training by spending a few months in each department.

After a year, they can remain in the village, move to another one, or go to a city to start their own business. A website will connect them to the trading network where they can always get help, if needed, from a small business mentoring group.

Small businesses grow from this work center like blossoms on a tree. Microloans help the young people get started. They are not obliged to make payments until they reach a certain level of profitability. However, after another level of profitability has been reached, they are obliged to contribute a certain level of credit that is part of their income into the central bank to help others get started.

Workers gain credit as well as pay that they can use to start their own business or to help a friend start one. Credit can be earned from good ideas as well, and from helping others. There are many, many ways for individuals to get credit in addition to pay.

The trading network uses barter as well as trade. When the apples are falling off the trees in one place, others can come help harvest them and take some home, or get them shipped in exchange for potatoes, perhaps... or credit or cash, be that as it may.

Also the trading network can include other countries. Communities can come in, still abiding by their own countries' laws, regulations and practices, to participate in a loosely arranged trading cooperative and its central bank/credit cooperative. Although certain principles and core practices are common to everyone, at least half of the business is organized to flourish in the local environment.

The beauty of this economic system is that anyone and everyone can participate at some level, get training, get equipment, have access to office space and support systems, and move around freely to try different kinds of jobs, to create a work day that suits them.

Highly skilled workers from Western countries who want to take part in this, can provide training, skills and funding, and move around freely, trying out different kinds of jobs and projects, and even starting their own businesses with credit they earn in this new system by helping out others.. Workers in a company can choose to join this cooperative.

However, the key to making this work so that it benefits the people at the bottom the most, is keeping it small and attuned to their desires and needs. Everyone gets paid the same for their time. Value added, especially with helping others, gains credit.

Credit can be given away to help others, which earns the giver some additional credit (to be added at a later date when certain conditions are met), or it can be used to start their own business or project or for training in new skills.

So we have an economic model that encourages helping others, that rewards work on community projects, that gives people a lot of freedom in determining the combination of work/study/leisure they want or need, and which can be continually adjusted.

The genesis collective could have shipping arrangements with select companies that are subsidized. Or it could build its own container shipping fleet of ships with solar panel arrays and sails powered by computers that uses sun and wind power to supplement its engines.

There are many kinds of mutual benefit that could be derived from many town centers and small businesses forming a global international trading network that uses a combination of credit, barter and cash for deals, and has its own bank that the most successful members support the most.

Ariel Ky's Open Salon Blog

[nousbase] [Gangjeong​, Jeju] Weekly Appeal for May 20

Gwangju in 1980 is Gangjeong in 2012!

No Military Base! Yes, Life and Peace Island!

[nousbase] [Gangjeong​, Jeju] Weekly Appeal for May 20

Gwangju in 1980 is Gangjeong in 2012!

No Military Base! Yes, Life and Peace Island!

Dennis Kucinich's Terrific Commencement Speech

From the Edge of Asia: An American Reports from Malaysia

The Sharing Principle

[nousbase] [Gangjeong, Jeju] Weekly Appeal for May 20

[nousbase] [Gangjeong, Jeju] Weekly Appeal for May 20