International Women's Network Against Militarism 8th Gathering: "Forging Nets for Demilitarization and Genuine Security”

DECLARATION

International Women's Network Against Militarism

8th Gathering: "Forging Nets for Demilitarization and Genuine Security”

February 19-25, 2012 – Puerto Rico

The 8th Gathering of the International Women's Network Against Militarism, that occurred on February 19-25, 2012, united 26 women representing 8 countries gathered in Puerto Rico.  Delegates from the Philippines, Guahan (Guam), Japan, Okinawa, South Korea, Hawaii, and the United States joined their counterparts in Puerto Rico to evaluate the growing military threat and develop strategies to counter the impact of militarism, military contamination, imperialism and systems of oppression and exploitation based on gender, race, class, nationality and sexual orientation.

First, we express our dissatisfaction and anger at the situation faced by our colleague from the Philippines, Corazón Valdez Fabros, who was denied entry into the U.S. despite the fact that she was issued a valid visa beforehand. No adequate explanation has been given to justify this violation of her freedom of movement.

Ms. Fabros is an internationally known and highly respected advocate, researcher, and expert on conflict resolution, democratization process, human rights and security. She is a regular speaker at international conferences and meetings, particularly in the Asia-Pacific, on peace building, nuclear disarmament, and environmental clean-up of former U.S. bases in the Philippines.

Although Ms. Fabros was issued a multiple entry visa last October, Delta Airlines was instructed by the Immigration and Border Protection to not let her board the flight leaving Manila en route to Puerto Rico on February 17, 2012. We are grateful that a U.S. representative of Puerto Rican descent, Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), is investigating and requesting an explanation.

As a result of the discussion at our meeting we declare the following:

• The United States must demilitarize the Asia-Pacific region, clean up military environmental contamination, and compensate affected communities. Further, we advocate the creation of economies of peace rather than perpetual preparation for war.
• We, delegates of the 8th Gathering of the International Women's Network Against Militarism, have visited communities in Puerto Rico and are incensed at what we have learned about the commercial auction of land at the former Roosevelt Roads Navy Base and the exclusion of the people of Ceiba from future use and control of this land. We learned about the lack of cleanup and the ecologically hazardous detonation of unexploded ordnance used by the U.S. Navy on land and water on and surrounding the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. We condemn the recent federal court ruling in Boston that dismissed the lives and health claims of 7,000 Viequenses injured by the Navy presence. Furthermore, we denounce the precarious situation that Viequenses confront. The negligence of the government has caused a maritime crisis that severely affects their health and quality of life.
• We oppose the repression and incarceration of people who fight for genuine peace and human rights.  By unanimous resolution, we call on President Barak Obama to order the immediate release of Oscar López Rivera who has been unjustly imprisoned for almost 31 years. The U.S. Parole Commission recently denied his application for parole and ordered that he serve an additional 15 years in prison. By that time, he will be 83 years old and will have been incarcerated for 45 years for politically motivated offenses where no one was hurt. We condemn the inequity in his treatment, compared to his co-defendants. He is now the only one of the 1980's pro-independence prisoners still in prison.
• Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has asserted that the U.S. military plans to remain in the Asia Pacific region as the primary center of its strategic positioning. We denounce the building of any new bases or military installations in the region.  This includes the proposed Navy base at Jeju Island in South Korea that will house U.S. Aegis destroyers built at Bath Ironworks in Bangor (Maine), and will serve as a key component of the U.S. military's ballistic missile defense system. We call for the immediate closure of Futenma Marine Air Corps Station (Okinawa) and adamantly oppose the plan to replace this base with a new heliport facility at Henoko. We denounce the U.S.-Philippines Visiting Forces Agreement and the deployment of U.S. forces to the Philippines, which violates the terms of the Philippines constitution. We are against the plans to move 4,700 Marines and their dependents from Okinawa to Guahan. We object to the construction of a “Ballistic Missile Defense System,” berthing docks for nuclear aircraft carriers at Apra Harbor, and “firing range complex” on ancient Chamorro lands.  In Hawai‘i, we oppose the expansion of military bases and activites. In particular, we oppose the use of Stryker Brigade tanks at Schofield Barracks (Lihue, Oʻahu) and the proposed basing of 48 aircraft including the Osprey at Kaneohe Marine Corps Airstation (Mokapu, Oʻahu), that will bring in 1,000 Marines and 1,000 of their dependents.   We also oppose proposed training of these aircraft at Bellows Airforce Station (Waimanalo, Oʻahu), Kalaupapa (Molokaʻi) and Pōhakuloa (Hawai‘i island).  In all these locations, overwhelming numbers of local residents have used all available democratic means to dispute this military expansion that would destroy native cultural sites  and cause contamination, overpopulation, over consumption of the islands' limited resources. 
• Military training has a devastating impact on the environment and people's health, leading to serious illness and early death. Failure to clean up the hazardous toxics caused by military operations is an environmental justice issue and reflects the racist belief that some people are more valuable than others. It also shows deep disrespect for the earth.

Therefore, we, the participants of the 8th Meeting of the International Women's Network Against Militarism demand the cleanup of closed and current military bases and land used for military purposes in all our countries. This land must be returned to local community control. We demand full compensation to victims of military contamination, including Guahan downwinders of atomic testing in the Pacific, residents of Vieques and other communities of Puerto Rico, communities in the Philippines around former Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base. We also demand that the United States take full responsibility for the negative social impacts caused by the U.S. military presence in the region, in particular gender-based/sexual violence by US military personnel. Sexual crimes by US military personnel have occurred for many decades in the host communities, and they are often go unpunished. For example, Amerasian children born in the Philippines and abandoned by U.S. military fathers lack the support, care, and human rights that all children deserve.

We recognize that the current economic recession created by capitalism has created rising poverty, massive joblessness, and a lack of decent and affordable education and healthcare in the United States and its possessions and territories. We denounce the use of economic resources to further military activity.  We denounce the disproportional recruitment of poor young people and young people of color to sustain senseless wars that only protect the interest of the wealthy.  Instead, we call for an economy of peace, an economy that will support our communities in sustainable ways, with an emphasis on providing for basic human needs, health and wellness, solidarity, and respect for the land and all peoples.

February 25, 2012

San Juan, Puerto Rico

No gasoducto!

On February 19, 2012, a Sunday, we got very little rest. After getting to Dominga's farm around 2am, we were still excited to wake up at 6:30 to leave for a rally in San Juan, Puerto Rico. That morning we had the most delicious breakfast of organic eggs, fruits, and fresh baked bread. We needed the energy!

The protest was attended by thousands of people against the building of a natural gas line line through the city. (The story can be read at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/22/us/puerto-ricos-plan-for-gas-pipeline-has-many-critics.html?pagewanted=all.)

Locals told us that although they supported green energy, they felt that this project was rushed, not well planned, and posed a health threat for the communities where the gas line was being built.

We hear ya Puerto Rico!

Even more impressive than the size of the protest and people's commitment to the cause, was their commitment to having fun while they were doing this work.

Thank you for the inspiration.

Day 1 - radio station or march?

February 19, 2012  [images will be added]

Day 1 and we have already separated.  While my Hawai‘i sisters were rising and dressing to march in solidarity with Puerto Ricans protesting their governor’s endorsement of an underwater pipeline to bring in more fossil fuel from the United States, I awoke from my first morning in Puerto Rico in the hills of Aibonito. 

Aibonito comes from an old Taino name, Hatibonito.  The drive is long and windy, like the road to Kahukūloa, but inland through the mountains, like the road to Big Bear.  It’s peppered with little villages along the way, and cold increases with the altitude, as if you’re going to Volcano.  It also has a river called Cojonesdos, which poetically translates to “home,” but literally means “testicles.”
Aibonito is where Ornellia Perez lives, and where I spent Saturday night.  Breakfast was 2 eggs laid by the neighbor’s hens, salad greens, toast with sunflower seed spread, orange-carrot juice, Puerto Rican coffee, and a view of the ocean.  Muy delicioso.
Ornellia had an opportunity to fill in for the regular host of radio talk show called Canto Libre, Freedom Song, and promote the conference in which I’ve come to Puerto Rico to participate.  Others were committed to march in old San Juan, but willing to call in to the show.  As the primary language is Spanish, I couldn’t really have a big role with the radio program, but thirteen years in Hawai‘i talk radio should’ve enabled me to kōkua some of the technical aspects, or help develop the program.
We drove an hour-and-a-half to Ponce (POHN-seh) in the south of La Isla Grande, the main island.  Ponce people are like Texans, claiming everything is bigger there, always trying to outdo non-Ponceians.  The welcome sign upon entering the township is 5 huge letters spread out across the road.
Ornellia had developed an outline for the 90 minute program, and we dove right in.
Ornellia introduced herself and the important work she does with women at Centro Mujer y Nueva Familia in Baranquitas where she works.  Immediately, the president of her board of directors called in to report on the march in which our IWNAM sisters were participating.  We also had call-in interviews with María Reinat-Pumarejo (Puerto Rico), Terri-Lee Keko‘olani (Hawai‘i) and Aida F. Santos-Maranan (Philippines).  All three were able to provide historical context to today’s movement, and their activities.
Ornellia did a beautiful job reviewing the materials from across the years with International Women's Network against Militarism.  We threw in a few songs by Korean singer Ahn Hea Kyong: Warrior, Uno and others.  And we closed with a beautiful poem by David Whyte, first in English and then translated to Spanish.  Following this call-in show, an elderly man called in to tell us to tell all the women that the work is so important, that everyone in his family has cancer.  He was crying. 

Here's the poem.

Sweet Darkness

When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone
no part of the world can find you.

Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.

There you can be sure
you are not beyond love.

The dark will be your womb tonight.

The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.

You must learn one thing.
The world was made to be free in.

Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn

anything or anyone

that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.

~David Whyte

We made it!!

Mahalo nui to all of your support and love. We safely arrived at our first home in Puerto Rico. We are being graciously hosted by sister Dominga on her farm in Vega Baja. We have already been joined by sisters from South Korea, Phillipines, and Okinawa. We set to leave at 8 am tomorrow to join our hosts in our first adventure. On the way here it was easy to see signs of globalization throughout our ride into the country. KFC. Walgreens. CVS. Burger King. The "American Dream" has spread.

UPDATED! Support Hawaii Women to Represent at the 8th IWNAM meeting, Puerto Rico

Dear friends of Women’s Voices Women Speak, Third Path Movement for Reproductive Justice-O’ahu & Hawai‘i Peace Justice,

Please help our organizations send Elise, Eri and Terri to be Hawai‘i's delegation to attend the 8th International Women's Network Against Militarism (IWNAM) meeting entitled “Encuentro/Nets for Genuine Security.” This meeting will take place in Puerto Rico between February 19-24, 2012. We are participating because we believe that genuine security in Hawai‘i is about ending Hawai‘i's dependence on the war economy. We believe that genuine security lies in our communities creating sustainable, community-based alternatives that cultivate, instead of exploit, people and resources. Identifying, implementing, and advancing these local alternatives also needs a collaborative international effort. Our work seeks to raise awareness on the systemic issue of militarism that cuts across cultures and lands, and to build international solidarity that connects our struggles.

This past year our organizations collaborated on the Passionista Fashion Show: Undressing Globalization and Militarism, which was a part of Moana Nui 2011:Pacific Peoples, Lands and Economies, an alternative conference to APEC. On September 11, 2011, we organized a solidarity action to support Jeju Island communities’ resistance to the development of military facilities that would house Aegis missile systems, which are interconnected to the missile facilities at Barking Sands on Kaua‘i. Also, after the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, WVWS wrote a statement of solidarity with the IWNAM to demand that the U.S. and Japanese governments shift the spending of taxpayer monies from the upkeep of U.S. military facilities in Japan and other territories to helping victims of the earthquake, tsunami, and radiation poisoning. We also demanded the creation of employment opportunities that transcend militarism. 
 

Please help us raise money to pay for air fares for these Hawai‘i women to serve as delegates to the next IWNAM meeting, and to represent Hawai‘i in this effort for international solidarity. During this conference, attendees will have the opportunity to network with women from the Pacific, US, Caribbean and Asia. In addition, we will visit and talk to the community of Vieques, an island whose struggle to stop military weapons testing parallels Hawai‘i’s Kaho‘olawe. 
 

Following the return from the conference, delegates will hold a public presentation to share lessons learned at the conference and help facilitate our organizations to strategize and create a mission and vision for genuine security in Hawai‘i. To learn more about the 8th International Women’s Network Against Militarism meeting, visit http://www.genuinesecurity.org/projects/meeting.html. 
 

To donate:

• By Cash: Hand-deliver to Eri (808)542-0348
• By Check: Make checks out to "Collective for Equality Justice and Empowerment" and mail to Eri Oura 3161 Ala Ilima St. #809 Honolulu, Hawai’i 96818
• By Credit Card: Click on the Donate button below
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  (Please note that donations to this project are not eligible for tax write-offs as we are not sponsored by a non-profit.)
  
  

For more information about these organizations:
Women’s Voices Women Speak: http://wvws808.blogspot.com/
Hawai‘i Peace and Justice: http://hawaiipeaceandjustice.org/
International Women's Network Against Militarism: http://www.genuinesecurity.org/projects/meeting.html

The members of WVWS, Third Path Movement for Reproductive Justice-O’ahu, and HPJ would like to wish all of our supporters a happy new year! Mahalo nui loa!

UPDATE:
Big mahalo to those who have donated!

Kat Brady
Craig Howes
Nicki Garces
Brandy Nalani McDougall
Aiko Yamashiro
Monisha Das Gupta
Stephen Dinion
Patricia Koge
Darlene Rodrigues
Tricia Lee Tolentino
Nancy Aleck
Deja Ostrowski
Dina Shek
Hilary Chen
Christine Lipat & Tagi Qolouvaki
Vernadette Gonzales
Kim Compoc & Joy Enomoto

Makana Preparations

Hau & Puka Shell Jewelry

Hand-stripped and prepared strips of hau (above) and puka shells, or shells with holes, handmade into jewelry.

Kim Kuʻulei Birnie and Marion Ano crafting a necklace

Leotele Togafau creating puka shell earrings

Atlas curiously inspecting the strips of hau

Marion and Nicki Garces putting together a bracelet

Mahalo to Grace, Lydi, Jane & Marion for helping pick shells at Ke Iki beach in Pupukea!

Kāwika

In preparation for our journey to Puerto Rico, the 2012 Hawaiʻi delegation is learning a traditional kahiko hula from Kumu Hula James Dela Cruz, co-founder of Nā ʻŌpio o Koʻolau Hula Halau. The song was hakuʻd in honor of King David Kalākaua, the "Merrie Monarch" who brought back the hula after colonial influences had suppressed this cultural practice and tradition in Hawaiʻi. We learn this hula to honor ancestors who value expression and representation beyond conventional norms set in place by colonial influence and imperial force.

Kāwika (David) - Mele Inoa for King David Kalākaua

King Kāwika Kalākaua

 

-->

Eia nō Kāwika ea O ka heke aʻo nā pua Ka uwila ma ka hikina ea Mālamalama Hawaiʻi Kuʻi e ka lono Pelekani ea Hoʻolohe ke kuʻini ʻo Palani Na wai e ka pua i luna ea O Kapaʻakea he makua Haʻina ʻia mai ka puana ea Kalani Kāwika he inoa

This is David The greatest of all flowers (He is) the lightning in the east That brightens Hawai`i| News reached England Also heard by the French queen Who is this flower of high rank? Kapa`akea is his father Tell the refrain King David, is his name

ONLINE SOURCE: http://www.kalena.com/huapala/Kawika.html

About the 2012 Hawai'i Delegation

Meet the 2012 Hawaiʻi Delegation to the 8th Meeting of the International Womenʻs Network Against Militarism in Puerto Rico and Vieques 

Ellen-Rae Cachola was born and raised on the island of Maui.  She is a grand daughter of Ilocano sugar and pineapple plantation workers who came from Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, Luzon, Philippines.  Ellen-Rae was one of three delegates from Hawai'i who participated in the 5th East-Asia-U.S.-Puerto Rico Women's Network Against Militarism (former name of the International women's Network Against Militarism) meeting in Manila, Philippines in 2004. Since then, this women's network is raising her consciousness on the interconnected histories of imperialism and colonization between the Philippines and Hawaii; the Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Caribbean at large. Ellen-Rae is currently a doctoral student at UCLA's Archival Studies program, to understand how recordkeeping systems participated in the colonization of Ilocanos, but also, how recordkeeping systems can be created to support liberatory social movements. 

Terri Kekoʻolani (bio to come)

Elise Leimomi Davis
 is a kanaka maoli and filipina, born and raised in Hawaii before living in New York and California for school and work. She is currently an Assistant Researcher at `Imi Hale Native Hawaiian Cancer Network, in Honolulu, HI. Elise received a BS in Biology with a concentration in genetics and development and a Masters in Public Health with a concentration is social and behavioral health sciences. She also worked as a Community Intervention Specialist and as an Evaluation Research Assistant with the Office of Public Health Studies at the University of Hawaii. Her interests include community health education, community capacity building for health promotion, healthy food systems, and reducing health disparities.

Kim Kuʻulei Birnie:

Mother, grandmother, daughter, auntie and sister, her professional and community work has centered on issues of social justice and aloha ‘āina. She has worked in Hawai‘i’s public health arena addressing health disparities among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. She has been accessing the island of Kaho‘olawe for more than 20 years, and is active with the Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana. 

Eri Oura is a womyn, born and raised in Hawai′i, of Japanese ancestry, but raised by a Korean woman from Daegu. In 2008, Eri co-founded the Collective for Equality, Justice & Empowerment (a student group at the University of Hawaiʻi), and has worked with various anti-violence, justice-oriented, women- and queer-focused organizations. She works on the administrative side of non-profits in Hawai′i and have worked on different projects and programs that encourage peaceful resistance in communities where injustice is the norm.

Special Thanks:

Our delegation would not be able to go to Puerto Rico without the support of our communities here in Hawaiʻi. There have been countless powerful and fearless sisters and brothers in Hawaiʻi nei who have supported work towards genuine security and continues to lift up this delegation to be able to be on this journey. Special mahalo nui to Grace Caligtan, Darlene Rodrigues, Marion Ano, Kyle Kajihiro, Pete Doktor, Monique Yuen, Gigi Miranda, Nicki Garces, Leotele Togafau, Darshan Mendoza, the Passionista! Fashion Show Project, Hawaiʻi Peace & Justice, liberated cuts, Kānehūnāmoku Voyaging Program and Third Path Movement for Reproductive Justice!

Message from the International Women’s Network Against Militarism to the peoples movement for No Naval Base on Jeju!

September 1, 2011

Dear friends in the struggle against US military expansion at Jeju Island,

We women from Okinawa, mainland Japan, the Philippines, Marshall Islands, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Australia and west-coast USA send our greetings in solidarity with the people of Ganjeong who oppose the construction of a new naval base to house Aegis destroyers.

We understand that 94 percent of the residents do not want this base. We admire and respect your strong opposition by occupying land seized by the government and by blocking roads in an attempt to stop construction. We deplore the fact the South Korean government has ordered police to take further measures against you, especially as you have used every possible democratic means to overturn the decision to construct the base in the pristine waters and land that have been your livelihood for many generations.

We agree that this base and the increased militarization of the island of Jeju will create new security threats in an increasingly tense region.

We also live in communities that experience increased militarization and the effects of enormous military investments that distort our local economies and take resources needed for our communities to thrive. The political and military alliances between our governments and the United States jeopardize our genuine security. Indeed, U.S. military expansion in the Asia-Pacific and the Caribbean relies on these alliances to tie our communities together according to their version of security that is not sustainable.

The plan to relocate U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam includes military construction projects that involve labor from Hawai’i, Micronesia and the Philippines. In addition to the destruction and loss of life caused by continued wars in the Middle East, these wars are also destabilizing our economies. For example, Filipinos who have been recruited to work on military construction projects are laid off during times of crisis and return to the Philippines where they have no jobs. On Guam, local companies cannot compete with larger military contractors and are seldom able to get contracts for base construction projects. The establishment of the U.S. military base at Ke Awa Lau o Pu’uloa, or Pearl Harbor, has transformed Oahu's food basket into a toxic “Superfund” site where many of Hawai’i's poorest communities live along its contaminated shores. In Puerto Rico, Governor Luis Fortuño has unleashed brutality against citizens, and suppression of their civil liberties because of protests against budget cuts to public services and education. In the continental United States a new campaign is calling for new priorities in federal spending away from war and toward services to support local communities.

We see your struggle as part of a wider pattern of people’s protest against increasing militarization.
Although we are far away, please know that we stand with you. We thank you for your courage to resist the militarization of your home. Your example inspires and strengthens us.

In solidarity,

Signed, on behalf of the IWNAM:

Kozue Akibayashi, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Japan
Ellen-Rae Cachola, Women for Genuine Security/Women's Voices Women Speak, U.S. & Hawai'i
Grace Caligtan, Women's Voices Women Speak, Hawai'i
Lotlot de la Cruz, KAISAKA, Philippines
Cora Valdez Fabros, Scrap VFA Movement & Philippine Women's Network for Peace and Security, Philippines
Annie Fukushima, Women for Genuine Security, U.S.
Terri Keko'olani, Women's Voices Women Speak, Hawai'i
Gwyn Kirk, Women for Genuine Security, U.S.
Rev. Deborah Lee, Women for Genuine Security, U.S.
Bernadette “Gigi” Miranda, Women's Voices Women Speak, Hawai'i
Eri Oura, Women's Voices Women Speak, Hawai'i
María Reinat Pumarejo, Colectivo Ilé: Organizadoras para la Conciencia-en-Acción
Aida Santos-Maranan, Women's Education, Development, Productivity and Research Organization (WEDPRO), Philippines
Dr. Hannah Middleton, Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition, Australia
Suzuyo Takazato, Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence, Okinawa
Lisa Natividad, Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice, Guahan (Guam)
Ana Maria R. Nemenzo, WomanHealth Philippines.
Darlene Rodrigues, Women’s Voices Women Speak, Hawai’i

The International Women’s Network Against Militarism was formed in 1997 when forty women activists, policy-makers, teachers, and students from South Korea, Okinawa, mainland Japan, the Philippines and the continental United States gathered in Okinawa to strategize together about the negative effects of the US military in each of our countries.  In 2000, women from Puerto Rico who opposed the US Navy bombing training on the island of Vieques also joined; followed in 2004 by women from Hawai’i and in 2007 women from Guam.  The Network is not a membership organization, but a collaboration among women active in our own communities, who share a common mission to demilitarize their lands and communities. For more information, visit  http://www.genuinesecurity.org.

Musas Desprovistas

Women in Puerto Rico resist the privatization of their government, which is cutting public services, such as the Office of Women's Affairs