OPEN LETTER #3.
TO: IUCN Leadership, Participants, and Global Environmental Organizations.
FROM:Emergency Action Committee to Save Jeju Island
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UPDATE:
IUCN OFFICIALLY BLOCKS PARTICIPATION
BY JEJU VILLAGERS WHO OPPOSE NAVAL
BASE CONSTRUCTION NEAR CONVENTION
IUCN leadership still refuses to
criticize Korea's destructive naval base, though construction work is
killing rare soft corals, numerous endangered species (including from
IUCN's Red List), and destroying indigenous communities and livelihoods.
This stance from IUCN defies its traditional mission, conserving nature
and a "just world."
NEW RESOLUTIONS ARE NEEDED FOR EMERGENCY VOTE OF ALL IUCN MEMBERS
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ABOUT A MONTH AGO, this committee was joined by dozens of
co-signers from around the world, in circulating open letters to the
leadership of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature
(IUCN), and its associated members. The statements were remarking on
recent actions of IUCN that directly conflict with its important
historical mandates.
While continuing to proclaim its devotion to protecting Nature,
including the planet’s endangered places and species, IUCN leadership
has ignored or whitewashed projects that are assaulting these wonders,
and undermining human rights and sustainable livelihoods. For example,
the organization inexplicably planned its giant September convention
only a few minutes’ bus ride from one of the world’s great current
outrages---the construction of a large new naval base near the village
of Gangjeong, on Jeju Island, the “jewel” of South Korea. The naval
base project, meant to become home-port for Korean and U.S.
missile-carrying warships 300 miles from China, is threatening one of
the planet’s last great soft coral reefs, and other coastal treasures,
killing numerous endangered species (including one on IUCN’s famous Red
List), and destroying centuries-old sustainable communities of local
farmers and fishers. The Gangjeong villagers have
been protesting the base project for years, and are being met with
daily police brutality. Such activities represent all that IUCN has
traditionally opposed.
Then, a few days ago (August 22), an official letter arrived
from IUCN leadership informing the indigenous villagers that their
application to host a small Information Booth at the convention was
denied, though dozens have been granted for corporations and other
groups. No explanation was offered. (More details below.)
In our earlier communiques we referred to public statements from
IUCN Director-General, Julia Marton-Lefevre, supporting the Korean
government’s environmental policies, including its decisions vis-à-vis
the military base and the infamous Four Rivers Project (also discussed
below.)
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Her praise encompassed the government’s seriously flawed
“Environmental Impact Assessment” (EIA) for the base project. This,
despite that the EIA ignored three of the most critically endangered species at Gangjeong, the Red-footed Crab, Sesarma intermedium; the Jeju Freshwater Shrimp Caridina denticulata keunbaei),
endemic to Jeju Island, and the Boreal Digging Frog pictured here (an
IUCN Red-List species.) It also ignored effects upon Korea's only pod
of Indo-Pacific Bottle-nosed Dolphins which swim regularly through the
area. Neither did it explore crucial impacts upon 40 species of soft
coral, including nine that are seriously endangered, and five that are
already protected by CITES (Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). This activity takes place
only 250 meters from a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Tiger Island.
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(In an upcoming letter we will report on a far more authoritative environmental impact statement now being conducted, secretly,
by a team of well-known, non-governmental volunteer scientists from
several countries---some with prominent IUCN member organizations. They
have already documented a spectacular enormous coral garden, 7.4
hectares large, within a mile of where the destruction is now advancing.
The only other place in the world where there may exist a soft-coral
forest of this magnitude is in the Red Sea. (The divers are operating
secretly because the government deported several prior researchers.)
On a related matter, the Director General has praised the government’s “Four Rivers Restoration.” Alas, however, this is not “restoration.”
As the Korean environmental community has made clear, it’s a re-routing
of Korea’s four great wild, winding rivers into straight-line channels,
partly encased in concrete, combined with extensive dam
building, and dredging, to make them more business-friendly. The effects
on riparian communities are devastating. In four years the population
of Korea’s migratory birds, such as white-naped cranes, has been reduced
by two-thirds and in many areas, the rivers have become algae-infested
cesspools. At the recent Ramsar Convention in Bucharest (July, 2012),
the World Wetlands Network announced a “Grey Globe Award” to the Four
Rivers project, ranking it among the five worst wetlands projects in the world. The IUCN community should publicly denounce it, too.
Throughout the run-up to the Convention, neither Director-General
Marton-Lefevre, nor President Ashok Khosla, has expressed any
disapproval of the above ongoing assaults on Nature. Neither have they
made mention of the police beatings and arrests of the indigenous
protestors from Gangjeong village who are trying, every day, to protect
Nature’s treasures from being destroyed---activities that the IUCN was
actually created to protect.
90% AGREEMENT
The response to our earlier e-mailers was enormous, with at least
90% of respondents supporting our positions---including many from
mid-level IUCN leadership. In a brief burst of democratic openness, the
IUCN’s web-page reprinted our letters, while responding with
generalities about its great concern for Nature, and democratic process,
and it opened the page for public comments. But after the first 20
comments appeared, all of them critical of IUCN’s position, the
responses were erased off the page. On the other hand, the Korean
government's manifesto on its dubious "green" development policies
continues to be displayed. So much for democracy.
IUCN also announced that it will propose that attendees pass a proclamation (“Nature+”)
concerning the glories of Nature, but which still does not mention
what’s going on ten minutes away, and while also denying permission for
the local community to formally state their views in the Congress
meetings. Up to this moment, the leadership of IUCN continues to avoid
any expression of concern or even awareness of the impacts on Nature and
community, just down the street, though such concerns are central to
the organization’s mandate.
Why is IUCN leadership remaining so silent? For the
leadership, it may be more of a financial and political matter than one
of conservation or social justice, which is what IUCN was supposed to
be about. There is also an underlying reality: A large percentage of the cost of this WCC convention in Jeju is being covered by the very people building the military base. Those would be the Korean government, and several giant global corporations, notably Samsung.
Having accepted the funding, it is difficult to criticize the funders.
But the organization has gone still further. IUCN has granted the
Korean government (the “Korean Organizing Committee of the 2012 WCC,”
the chair of which, is Lee Hongkoo, the former Prime Minister of Korea, a
supporter of the base) approval-power over any South Korean
organizations wanting to present alternative views. These include
whether to grant permission to speak on the issues at the meeting, even
when they are invited to do so by bona-fide IUCN member organizations,
or merely to host an information table at the event. (See #2 below.)
IUCN has also agreed to partner with its Korean financial sponsor in
constructing and presenting the formal program of the Convention. So
now, the government, eager to advertise its green initiatives, will be
represented on every one of the five “prime-time” plenary panels of the
convention, either by government or corporate officials. It is the only
country in the world to be so
privileged. None of those panels will focus on the Gangjeong military base construction, or the Four Rivers fiasco.
Finally, the questions become these: Whose IUCN is this? Does the complicity of IUCN leadership truly represent IUCN membership? Can anything
useful still be achieved at the WCC in Jeju? On the latter point, we
actually think YES, there still is. We call upon the IUCN participants
to use the occasion to take stands on the following:
FOUR STEPS TO
CHALLENGE MILITARY BASE DESTRUCTION & TO RE-ESTABLISH IUCN'S
HISTORIC MISSION TO PROTECT NATURE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
#1. Assembly Resolutions: Shut the Base; Make a New EIA; Stop the Four Rivers Project.
Since our prior letters, our committee has become aware of the
great work of several independent groups of environmental attorneys,
representing IUCN-member organizations. They are working toward a
series of Draft Resolutions to be presented at the WCC Assemblies,
including all members. Among them are these:
Shut the Base. The first Resolution will demand
that Korea end its military base construction, and that all ravaged
lands be restored to their former condition. The Resolution will speak
in behalf of the endangered species, the rare soft corals, the sacred
sites, and the local villagers who are putting their lives on the line
to protect these treasures.
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It will also describe the many IUCN rules and prior decisions that
have been violated. These include, for example, the important principles
of the Earth Charter passed by the 2004 Congress, as well as the UN
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Convention on
Biological Diversity, the World Heritage Convention, the UN Declaration
on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic and Social
Rights, among many others.
New Environmental Impact Assessment. A second Resolution may demand preparation and acceptance of a new Environmental
Impact Assessment of the naval base construction near Gangjeong---free
of government control and censorship---that will include a truly
accurate assessment of the dredging and other impacts on the soft coral
reefs, and the killing of rare species that are all absent from the
government’s document. (As indicated above, a new independent EIA is already being prepared by several outraged IUCN scientists.)
End The Four Rivers Project. A third Resolution
will demand that Korea immediately discontinue its notorious Four Rivers
Restoration project, and begin to actually restore the great rivers to their prior condition.
There is one potential complication. Unsurprisingly, the attorneys
were told by some IUCN management not to bother with these motions.
They will be “too late,” past deadline, they were told. And yet, the
historical record of IUCN offers many examples of last minute
submissions. They have always been permitted if they raise new, urgent, unforeseen
issues, and if at least ten IUCN members co-sponsor the request. There
are already more than ten willing IUCN co-sponsors. And they certainly
qualify as urgent new matters for IUCN. If we don’t stop this
destruction now, by the time IUCN meets again in four years, the corals,
the Boreal Digging Frogs and other species, and many local people will
be dead. We must not let that happen.
#2. Let the Gangjeong People Speak.
Information Booth Crisis. As briefly mentioned
above, the Gangjeong villagers, working to save habitats, biodiversity,
and the Red-List species from the military’s destruction, applied a few
months ago through official IUCN channels for permission to set up one
“information booth” among the dozens of others that have been okayed
within the convention center throughout the meeting. That would seem a
benign enough request, but a runaround ensued. Instead of routinely
okaying the application, the IUCN passed it to the Korean government
(the KOC, mentioned above) which is heavily invested in silencing
any and all opposition to the base or the Four Rivers project. Korean
newspapers have also been silenced on these matters. Repeated efforts
over recent weeks to confirm permission for the information table were
ignored. Finally, a few days ago, they received an official letter from
the Director of
IUCN’s Constituency Support Group, Enrique Lahmann. He said this:
“Unfortunately, we are not able to accommodate your request for an
exhibition booth at the WCC.” That’s it. No reason was given. And no
explanation of how this fullfills official IUCN proclamations of
democracy and inclusiveness.
No Protest Allowed Within Two Kilometers.
Meanwhile, the Korean government announced that it would not permit any
demonstrations or even picketing within two kilometers of the
Convention. So, no information table inside. No demonstrations
outside. Where are we again? Isn't South Korea supposed to be a
democracy?
During the upcoming Assemblies, IUCN leaders must at last
denounce the government for these appalling moves, and permit the
villagers, who are actually doing IUCN’s work, to not only have their
information table inside the convention, but if they so choose, to go
ahead and demonstrate freely outside, just as if this were a democratic
society.
Addressing the Full Assembly. All of the above is not enough. The Gangjeong community should be permitted ----no, invited by
IUCN leadership---to address the opening and/or closing plenary of the
IUCN convention, to provide the full story of this local disaster and
what they are going through. If the government resists, the IUCN
leadership should insist. We all need to hear from the indigenous local
farmers and fisher-people, and the custodians of the sacred sites,
about what they have seen and experienced. Everyone needs to
hear this. After all, we are meeting on their indigenous soil, on their
island, on the coast that has nurtured them for thousands of years.
So, our own group inquired as to the possibility of the villagers
speaking at the assembly, but we were told by IUCN officials, as above,
that all South Korean presenters have to be approved by the government.
Here’s some good news. Several IUCN member groups have already
(quietly) invited local leaders to participate in some of the groups’
own scheduled workshop panel time to tell the Gangjeong story. (In
our next letter, we will brief you on who is speaking and at what time.
By delaying this announcement, we hope to avoid government crackdowns
against the groups.)
#3. Go Visit the Destruction Sites, and the Sacred Sites.
Members of our committee, and our Korean colleagues, will be
arranging tours of Gangjeong village, the sacred sites that are
threatened, and the front-lines of the ongoing confrontation between the
villagers and the police at the construction site. It is horrifying and
inspiring. (If you want to join those outings, please respond to: gangjeongintl@gmail.com.) It’s very easy to get there---ten minutes by local bus.
#4 Institutional Self-Examination.
Finally, we suggest that all IUCN members take this moment to
assess what is happening in Jeju, and to initiate a process of
institutional self-examination, questioning and re-organization. None
of us can afford to lose the moral and ethical leadership of one of the
world’s greatest organizations. We need to do whatever is necessary to
assure that IUCN will revive its historical mandate to place Nature
first, and to protect social justice.
Thank you for your attention.
Please let us know if you want to see the proposed resolutions;
we will forward you the final texts when they are complete. We can also
forward you the new independent Environmental Impact Assessment, when it
is completed. And you can sign up for a visit and tour of Gangjeong
Village and the military construction site. (OUR EMAIL ADDRESS IS
BELOW.)
EMERGENCY ACTION TO SAVE JEJU ISLAND
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
Christine Ahn
Global Fund for Women; Korea Policy Institute
Imok Cha, M.D.
Jerry Mander
Foundation for Deep Ecology; International Forum on Globalization
Koohan Paik
Kauai Alliance for Peace and Social Justice
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT GROUP:
Maude Barlow
Food and Water Watch, Council of Canadians (Canada)
John Cavanagh
Institute for Policy Studies (U.S.)
Vandana Shiva, Ph.D.
Navdanya Research Organization for Science, Technology and
Ecology (India)
Douglas Tompkins
Conservation Land Trust, Foundation for Deep Ecology (Chile)
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
Tebtebba Indigenous Peoples' International Centre for
Policy Research and Education (Philippines)
Anuradha Mittal
Oakland Institute (U.S.)
Meena Raman
Third World Network (Malaysia)
Walden Bello
Member, House of Representatives (Philippines)
Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher
Environmental Protection Authority (Ethiopia)
Lagi Toribau
Greenpeace-East Asia
Mario Damato, Ph.D.
Greenpeace-East Asia
Debbie Barker
Center for Food Safety (U.S.)
Pierre Fidenci
Endangered Species International (U.S.)
John Knox
Earth Island Institute (U.S.)
David Phillips
Int'l Marine Mammal Project, Earth Island Institute (U.S.)
David Suzuki
The David Suzuki Foundation (Canada)
Robert Redford
Actor, founder of Sundance Institute (U.S.)
Mary Jo Rice
Int'l Marine Mammal Project, Earth Island Institute (U.S.)
Bill Twist
Pachamama Alliance (U.S.)
Jon Osorio, Ph.D.
Chair, Hawaiian Studies, Univ. of Hawaii (U.S.)
Sue Edwards
Institute for Sustainable Development (Ethiopia)
Galina Angarova
Pacific Environment (Russia)
Bruce Gagnon
Global Network Against
Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space (Int'l)
Andrew Kimbrell
Center for Food Safety (U.S.)
Jack Santa Barbara
Sustainable Scale Project (New Zealand)
Gloria Steinem
Author, Women’s Media Center (U.S.)
Medea Benjamin
Code Pink, Global Exchange (U.S.)
Randy Hayes
Foundation Earth (U.S.)
Noam Chomsky
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (U.S.)
Renie Wong
Hawaii Peace and Justice (Hawaii)
Kyle Kajihiro
Hawaii Peace and Justice and DMZ-Hawaii (Hawaii)
Terri Keko’olani
Hawai’i Peace and Justice and International Women's Network Against
Militarism (Hawaii)
Wayne Tanaka
Marine Law Fellow, Dept. of Land & Natural Resources (U.S.)
(signing independently)
Tony Clarke
Polaris Institute (Canada)
Sara Larrain
Sustainable Chile Project (Chile)
John Feffer
Foreign Policy in Focus (U.S.)
Victor Menotti
International Forum on Globalization (U.S.)
Arnie Saiki
Moana Nui Action Alliance (U.S.)
Nikhil Aziz
Grassroots International (U.S.)
Lisa Linda Natividad
Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice (Guam)
Rebecca Tarbotton
Rainforest Action Network (U.S.)
Kavita Ramdas
Visiting Scholar, Stanford U., Global Fund for Women (India)
Raj Patel
Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First (U.S.)
Alexis Dudden
Author, Professor of History, Connecticut University (U.S.)
Timothy Mason
Pastor, Calvary by the Sea, Honolulu (U.S.)
Katherine Muzik, Ph.D.
Marine Biologist, Kulu Wai, Kauai (U.S.)
Claire Hope Cummings
Author, Environmental attorney (U.S.)
Ann Wright
U.S. Army Colonel, Ret., Former U.S. Diplomat (U.S.)
Buffy Sainte-Marie, Ph.D.
Educator, Singer-Songwriter (U.S.)
Yong Soon Min
Professor, University of California, Irvine (U.S.)
Eugeni Capella Roca
Grup d’Estudi I Protecció d’Ecosostemes de Catalunya (Spain)
Jonathan P. Terdiman, M.D.
University of California, San Francisco (U.S.)
Evelyn Arce
International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (U.S.)
Brihananna Morgan
The Borneo Project (Borneo)
Frank Magnota, Ph.D.
Physicist (U.S.)
Delia Menozzi, M.D.
Physician (Italy)
Aaron Berez, M.D.
Physician (U.S.)
Begoña Caparros
Foundation in Movement: Art for Social Change (Uganda)
Antonio Sanz
Photographer (Spain)
Cindy Wiesner
Grassroots Global Justice (U.S.)
Gregory Elich
Author, “Strange Liberators" (U.S.)
Joseph Gerson, Ph.D.
American Friends Service Committee (U.S.)
Piljoo Kim, Ph.D.
Agglobe Services International (U.S.)
Peter Rasmussen
He-Shan World Fund (U.S.)
Wei Zhang
He-Shan World Fund (U.S.)
Harold Sunoo
Sunoo Korea Peace Foundation (U.S.)
Soo Sun Choe
National Campaign to End the Korean War (U.S.)
Angie Zelter
Trident Ploughshares, (UK)
Ramsay Liem
Visiting Scholar, Center for Human Rights, Boston College (U.S.)
Kerry Kriger, PhD
Save The Frogs (U.S.)
Marianne Eguey
Jade Associates, (France)
Claire Greensfelder
INOCHI-Plutonium Free Future (U.S.-Japan)
Laura Frost, Ph.D.
The New School (U.S.)
Chris Bregler, Ph.D.
New York University (U.S.)
David Vine
Assistant Professor, American University (U.S.)
Simone Chun
Assistant Prof., Gov’t Department, Suffolk U., Boston (U.S.)
Matt Rothschild
Editor, The Progressive magazine (U.S.)
Henry Em
Professor, East Asian Studies, NYU (U.S.)
Eric Holt-Gimenez
Institute for Food and Development Policy (U.S.)
Maivan Clech Lam
Professor Emerita of Int'l Law, CUNY (U.S.)
Mari Matsuda
Professor of Law, Richardson Law School, Univ. of Hawaii (U.S.)
Beth Burrows
The Edmonds Institute (U.S.)
Aileen Mioko Smith
Green Action (Japan)
Susan George, Ph.D.
Transnational Institute (The Netherlands)
Marianne Manilov
The Engage Network (U.S.)
S. Faizi
Institute for Societal Advancement, Kerala (India)
Syed Ashraf ul Islam
Ministry of Food & Disaster Management (Bangladesh)
Manaparambi Koru Prasad
Kerala Local Self Government Department (India)
Hernán Torres, Director
Torres Asociados Ltda. (Chile)
Carlo Modonesi
Environmental Biologist, Parma University (Italy)
Andrej Kranjc
Secretary-General, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Slovenia)
Ning Labbish Chao
Bio-Amazonia Conservation International (U.S.)
Perumal Vivekanandan
SEVA (India)
David Newsome
Environmental Science and Ecotourism, Murdoch University, Perth (Australia)
And:
Korean Federation for Environmental Movement and
Citizen Institute for Environmental Studies (South Korea)
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UPDATE: IUCN OFFICIALLY BLOCKS PARTICIPATION BY JEJU VILLAGERS WHO OPPOSE NAVAL BASE CONSTRUCTION NEAR CONVENTION
People's Movement Responses to U.S. Military Activities in the Philippines
Beyond the Fence airs every Friday at noon on
Public Radio Guam-KPRG 89.3 FM, immediately following Democracy Now.
This one hour locally produced program features coverage of public
events and interviews with diverse individuals that explore the
complexities of the US military presence in Guam and the Northern
Mariana Islands and the challenges of building community 'beyond the
fence.' Info on free audio podcasts available below.
Ep.
117 “People’s Movement Responses to U.S. Military Activities in the
Philippines” (hosted by Dr. Vivian Dames with production assistance of
Joy White) was recorded in Manila on 3/17/12 and airs 6/8/12.
In recognition of the 114th anniversary of Philippines Independence (June 12) and the ongoing struggle for territorial sovereignty against US military intervention, our program guest is Corazon Valdez Fabros (corafabros [at] gmail.com), a lawyer and organizer who has been centrally involved with the anti-bases, anti-nuclear and peace movements in the Philippines for more than 40 years. She is currently the Lead Convenor of Citizens Peace Watch and the STOP the War! Coalition Philippines, a multi-sectoral coalition of Philippines social movements, trade unions, women’s organizations. non-governmental organizations, political parties, student formations and other concerned organizations and individuals in solidarity with the movement for peace and justice. She is an an internationally known advocate, researcher, and expert on conflict resolution, democratization process, human rights and security and 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 to attend the 8th Gathering of the International
Women's Network Against Militarism which has been the focus of Beyond
the Fence for the past two episodes. This network denounces 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.
In
this interview Ms. Fabros talks about learning to “go beyond myself”,
the anti-bases movement, the “toxic legacy” of the US military, what it
takes to organize constituencies, lessons from the struggle, the role
and function of her organizations, the denial of her entry to the US,
and the importance of international solidarity and global resistance.
Music selection is “A Pair of Voices” from the The Essential Gary Granada Collection, Polyeast Records, 2011.
Audio podcasts
of all episodes are available for free and may be downloaded within
five days of the original broadcast date by going to the Beyond the
Fence program link at www.kprgfm.com or directly to http://kprg.podbean.com/.
WVWS Presents... Community Report Back 2012
With the support of our community, Women's Voices, Women's Speak and Hawaiʻi Peace & Justice were able to send a delegation of four women from Hawaiʻi to the 8th meeting of the International Women's Network Against Militarism held on the islands of Puerto Rico and Vieques in February. The delegation will be sharing their experiences and the information gathered at this week long meeting. Please join us and be part of the conversation to address the growing issue of militarism through the lens of women in Hawaiʻi. Come prepared to learn and share as this is an open space for dialogue.
2012 Delegates: Terri Kekoʻolani, Elise Davis, Kim Kuʻulei Birnie, & Eri Oura
This event is a pre-event to the Umematsu & Yasu Watada Lecture Series on Peace, Social Justice & the Environment.
For more information, email Eri Oura at eriola808@gmail.com.
Mahalo nui!
COMPLETE PRESS PACKAGE AVAILABLE AT: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-K0TmHJlFSUU19WaGk2WUZzeWM
.jpg)
Official Press Release for the event.
WOMEN’S VOICES WOMEN SPEAK
C/O HAWAI‘I PEACE & JUSTICE
2426 O‘AHU AVENUE
HONOLULU HI 96822
WVWS808.BLOGSPOT.COM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 21, 2012
Contact: Terri Keko‘olani 808-227-1621
Eri Oura 808-542-0348 eriola@gmail.com
Hawai‘i Women Share Experiences from Puerto Rico (Honolulu, O‘ahu). Four Hawai‘i women returned home recently after meeting with other members of the International Women’s Network Against Militarism (IWNAM) at the organization’s 8th annual meeting in Puerto Rico. They will share their experiences with the community Friday evening, June 1, 6:00 PM at the Church of the Crossroads in Honolulu.
The International Women’s Network Against Militarism (IWNAM) was formed in 1997 when forty women activists, policy-makers, teachers, and students gathered in Okinawa to strategize about the negative effects of the US military on their respective communities. The network—a collaboration among women active in their communities and who share the mission to promote, model and protect genuine security—includes women from the Philippines, South Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Guam, the continental United States, Puerto Rico and Hawai‘i.
“With the increasing militarism in so many of our communities, the opportunity to stand in solidarity with others who face issues similar to ours here in the islands,” said long time activist Terri Keko‘olani, “helps us to put our work into perspective.”
In addition to meeting around organization and strategic planning for the near future, the attendees participated in excursions to several storied places of Puerto Rico, such as El Yunqué Forest and a healing labyrinth in the mountainside village of Barranquitas. They participated in a protest against the building of a natural gas line in the city, met with survivors of domestic violence, former political prisoners, various women’s groups for peace, and others leading their communities in providing health screenings and services.
“Puerto Rico and Hawai‘i have much in common, as island economies that are dependent on importing basic necessities and vulnerable to unsustainable development and military interest,” Elise Davis, a public health educator, was particularly struck by the health concerns brought up by communities that experienced extensive military weapons testing. “Vieques has a 27% higher rate of cancer than mainland Puerto Rico, and no one can say with certainty that it is not related to the weapons testing.”
Communities, such as Ceiba, introduced them to the struggles to reclaim and reuse land no longer being used by the U.S. military. “There are so many similarities between Vieques and Kaho‘olawe,” shares Kim Ku‘ulei Birnie, a member of Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana. “They have Ceiba, Culebra and Vieques; we have Kaho‘olawe, Mākua and Pōhakuloa. We have so much to share with one another.”
The group also made presentations on the status of militarism in their respective countries, held at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan, and at the museum on Vieques.
“There’s a strong partnership between the local communities and the university among the network in Puerto Rico. We met Puerto Ricos most involved and passionate activists and scholars who believe in the right to self-determination and actively resist further Americanization of their people and lands,” explained Eri Oura. “We were even greeted by the mayors of Barranquitas and Vieques.”
Terri Keko‘olani, Eri Oura, Elise Davis and Kim Ku‘ulei Birnie will share their impressions on Friday, June 1st, from 6:00-8:00 PM at the Church of the Crossroads in Honolulu, 1212 University Avenue.
This is a pre-event to the Umematsu & Yasu Watada Lecture Series on Peace, Social Justice & the Environment. The public is invited.
Women’s Voices Women Speak is a group of Hawai‘i women who organize around Kanaka Maoli sovereignty and demilitarization in Hawai‘i from women's perspectives.
www.wvws808.blogspot.com
Women for Genuine Security is the U.S.-based partner in the International Women’s Network Against Militarism.
www.genuinesecurity.org
# PAU #
Philippines International Women's Day Statement
a message from our sisters in the Philippines on International Womenʻs Day 2012....
Philippines International Women's Day Statement:
Unity Statement, March 8, 2012
Filipino Women March against US Military Expansion in the Philippines and the Pacific
On the occasion of the International Women’s Day 2012, we, Filipino women declare in strongest terms possible, our opposition not only to increased presence but to U.S. military presence per se on Philippine soil.
The United States is increasing its military presence in Asia-Pacific, in particular in the Philippines, and the Philippine government is showing no qualms in allowing this to happen.
A news account recently reported of the United States’ plan to increase its military aid to “boost” Philippine defense; the promised aid will amount to US$144 million, reflecting an increase of more than US$20 million on the previous amount. In another earlier news article, U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas was quoted as saying his government had spent US$50 million for the upgrading of Philippine military facilities.
The Washington Post in January 2012 also reported that Philippine officials were in the United States to conduct initial talks with representatives of the Obama government “about expanding the American military presence in the island nation…” More high-level and intense discussions will take place this March.
The same Washington Post piece quoted a senior Philippine official as saying “We can point to other countries: Australia, Japan and Singapore. We’re not the only one doing this, and for good reason. We all want to see a peaceful and stable region. Nobody wants to have to face China or confront China.” The US has “about 600 Special Operations troops in the Philippines, where they advise local forces in their fight with rebels sympathetic to al-Qaeda,” the report also confirmed.
But really disturbing news was on the use of U.S. drone in the January bombing in Parang, Jolo, which came out in Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online. “A United States-supported airstrike that destroyed with causalities an Abu Sayyaf hideout on the remote island of Jolo in the southern Philippines represented the first known use of the unmanned aerial assault craft in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) counter-insurgency operations against terrorism-linked rebel groups,” said the article.
We recognize the continuing insecurity in the Asia-Pacific due to the contending claims of Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines and China over the Spratly Islands. But time and again it has been the call of people’s movements and civil society groups throughout the region that this territorial conflict must be resolved by multilateral dialogue among the countries involved and not with the intervention or through the posturing of a military power like the US.
We don’t deny the reality of terrorism that continues to unfold in many parts of the world, even as many of these have been a result of and have been further intensified precisely by U.S. policies, but the Philippines should not be drawn into this US-led war on terror. The Philippine government should instead stand side-by-side with other nations and peoples who call for multi-polar ways of looking at and resolving these conflicts. Without being isolationist and immune to geopolitical realities, the Philippine government must not at all costs surrender our sovereignty.
Why a stand against militarization? Militarization is not only about the presence of warm uniformed bodies, as it spills over other aspects of women’s lives. It exists and persists because of force that turns into violence—which is not anymore just about fighting the enemies using destructive weapons, but about militarization itself as a weapon that creates and supports a culture of violence; the same force underpinning rape, assault on women’s bodies and minds, trafficking and prostitution, domestic abuse, discrimination against those with differing gender orientation.
This is not at all different from another form of violence that also oppresses and ravages Filipino women—economic marginalization resulting from the neo-liberal policy orientation of government.
Neo-liberalization has meant for Filipino women labor contractualization or flexibilization, which hasn’t only further decreased employment opportunities, but has also caused many women to labor in oppressive situations, mainly characterized by depressed wages and insecure working conditions.
Privatization and deregulation, even of basic services and resources considered national patrimony, are also cornerstones of a neo-liberal economy. And it’s not only women in the labor sector and urban areas who are continuously assaulted by these economic policies, which have also opened the agriculture sector to big business, private investments, easing out small and medium-scale landholders and producers. Until now, women in the agriculture sector have remained invisible and their contributions un-quantified in official statistics; yet the more privatization occurs, the more they lose whatever access to lands and land resources they have been able to fight for inch by inch. With privatization and foreign investments becoming the order of the day, the completion of the land and distribution aspect of the agrarian reform program is becoming more and more a distant reality, even as it has been made clear that the current government is no longer prioritizing agrarian reform.
On another level, the persistent intervention of religious fundamentalism in the realm of public policy-making results in depriving women of vital health services, which could cause them their life.
The P-Noy government cannot claim to be on the “straight path” as long as it continues to ignore the economic, social and sexual violence committed against women, while it upholds the primacy of neo-liberalization and militarism. The alignment of the P-Noy regime with the US, as shown by its support for increasing US troop presence in the Philippines, is of deep concern to us and we will continue to struggle against it.
To the powers that be, we say NO to U.S. military expansion in the Philippines and Asia-Pacific! NO to the Philippine government’s support for this expansionism! On March 8, 2012, and beyond, listen to the sounds of our feet marching, to our voices singing protest, to our poetry, stories, testimonies and speeches shouting out our opposition, and watch us transform this opposition into more actions of resistance!
Signatories:
Akbayan–Youth • Amnesty International • Alliance of Progressive Labor • Asian Circle 1325 • Bagong Kamalayan • BATIS • Batis-AWARE • Buklod • Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino – Kababaihan • CATW-AP • Center for Migrants’ Advocacy • Center for Overseas Workers • Development Action for Women Network • Focus on the Global South • Free Burma Coalition • Freedom from Debt Coalition • Initiatives for International Dialogue • Kababaihan-Pilipinas • KAISA-KA • KAMP • LRC-KSK/FOE-Phils. • MATINIK • Medical Action Group • Partido Lakas ng Masa • Partido ng Manggagawa • PAHRA • PEACE • PKKK • Piglas Kababaihan • PREDA • SARILAYA • Transform Asia • WEDPRO • WomanHealth Phils. • Women’s Legal and Human Rights Bureau • Welga ng Kababaihan • Women’s Crisis Center • YSAGE • World March of Women – Pilipinas
Philippines International Women's Day Statement:
Unity Statement, March 8, 2012
Filipino Women March against US Military Expansion in the Philippines and the Pacific
On the occasion of the International Women’s Day 2012, we, Filipino women declare in strongest terms possible, our opposition not only to increased presence but to U.S. military presence per se on Philippine soil.
The United States is increasing its military presence in Asia-Pacific, in particular in the Philippines, and the Philippine government is showing no qualms in allowing this to happen.
A news account recently reported of the United States’ plan to increase its military aid to “boost” Philippine defense; the promised aid will amount to US$144 million, reflecting an increase of more than US$20 million on the previous amount. In another earlier news article, U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas was quoted as saying his government had spent US$50 million for the upgrading of Philippine military facilities.
The Washington Post in January 2012 also reported that Philippine officials were in the United States to conduct initial talks with representatives of the Obama government “about expanding the American military presence in the island nation…” More high-level and intense discussions will take place this March.
The same Washington Post piece quoted a senior Philippine official as saying “We can point to other countries: Australia, Japan and Singapore. We’re not the only one doing this, and for good reason. We all want to see a peaceful and stable region. Nobody wants to have to face China or confront China.” The US has “about 600 Special Operations troops in the Philippines, where they advise local forces in their fight with rebels sympathetic to al-Qaeda,” the report also confirmed.
But really disturbing news was on the use of U.S. drone in the January bombing in Parang, Jolo, which came out in Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online. “A United States-supported airstrike that destroyed with causalities an Abu Sayyaf hideout on the remote island of Jolo in the southern Philippines represented the first known use of the unmanned aerial assault craft in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) counter-insurgency operations against terrorism-linked rebel groups,” said the article.
We recognize the continuing insecurity in the Asia-Pacific due to the contending claims of Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines and China over the Spratly Islands. But time and again it has been the call of people’s movements and civil society groups throughout the region that this territorial conflict must be resolved by multilateral dialogue among the countries involved and not with the intervention or through the posturing of a military power like the US.
We don’t deny the reality of terrorism that continues to unfold in many parts of the world, even as many of these have been a result of and have been further intensified precisely by U.S. policies, but the Philippines should not be drawn into this US-led war on terror. The Philippine government should instead stand side-by-side with other nations and peoples who call for multi-polar ways of looking at and resolving these conflicts. Without being isolationist and immune to geopolitical realities, the Philippine government must not at all costs surrender our sovereignty.
Why a stand against militarization? Militarization is not only about the presence of warm uniformed bodies, as it spills over other aspects of women’s lives. It exists and persists because of force that turns into violence—which is not anymore just about fighting the enemies using destructive weapons, but about militarization itself as a weapon that creates and supports a culture of violence; the same force underpinning rape, assault on women’s bodies and minds, trafficking and prostitution, domestic abuse, discrimination against those with differing gender orientation.
This is not at all different from another form of violence that also oppresses and ravages Filipino women—economic marginalization resulting from the neo-liberal policy orientation of government.
Neo-liberalization has meant for Filipino women labor contractualization or flexibilization, which hasn’t only further decreased employment opportunities, but has also caused many women to labor in oppressive situations, mainly characterized by depressed wages and insecure working conditions.
Privatization and deregulation, even of basic services and resources considered national patrimony, are also cornerstones of a neo-liberal economy. And it’s not only women in the labor sector and urban areas who are continuously assaulted by these economic policies, which have also opened the agriculture sector to big business, private investments, easing out small and medium-scale landholders and producers. Until now, women in the agriculture sector have remained invisible and their contributions un-quantified in official statistics; yet the more privatization occurs, the more they lose whatever access to lands and land resources they have been able to fight for inch by inch. With privatization and foreign investments becoming the order of the day, the completion of the land and distribution aspect of the agrarian reform program is becoming more and more a distant reality, even as it has been made clear that the current government is no longer prioritizing agrarian reform.
On another level, the persistent intervention of religious fundamentalism in the realm of public policy-making results in depriving women of vital health services, which could cause them their life.
The P-Noy government cannot claim to be on the “straight path” as long as it continues to ignore the economic, social and sexual violence committed against women, while it upholds the primacy of neo-liberalization and militarism. The alignment of the P-Noy regime with the US, as shown by its support for increasing US troop presence in the Philippines, is of deep concern to us and we will continue to struggle against it.
To the powers that be, we say NO to U.S. military expansion in the Philippines and Asia-Pacific! NO to the Philippine government’s support for this expansionism! On March 8, 2012, and beyond, listen to the sounds of our feet marching, to our voices singing protest, to our poetry, stories, testimonies and speeches shouting out our opposition, and watch us transform this opposition into more actions of resistance!
Signatories:
Akbayan–Youth • Amnesty International • Alliance of Progressive Labor • Asian Circle 1325 • Bagong Kamalayan • BATIS • Batis-AWARE • Buklod • Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino – Kababaihan • CATW-AP • Center for Migrants’ Advocacy • Center for Overseas Workers • Development Action for Women Network • Focus on the Global South • Free Burma Coalition • Freedom from Debt Coalition • Initiatives for International Dialogue • Kababaihan-Pilipinas • KAISA-KA • KAMP • LRC-KSK/FOE-Phils. • MATINIK • Medical Action Group • Partido Lakas ng Masa • Partido ng Manggagawa • PAHRA • PEACE • PKKK • Piglas Kababaihan • PREDA • SARILAYA • Transform Asia • WEDPRO • WomanHealth Phils. • Women’s Legal and Human Rights Bureau • Welga ng Kababaihan • Women’s Crisis Center • YSAGE • World March of Women – Pilipinas
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
"Jam Docu Gangjeong" Hawaii Premiere
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For Immediate Release
February 23, 2012
Contact: Renie Wong
Hawai'i Peace and Justice
(808) 988-6266
hawaiipeaceandjustice.org
“Jam Docu Gangjeong” Film Shorts: A Jeju Island Village Struggles with the Imposition of a South Korean/U.S. Naval Base
Documentary Film Shorts “Jam Docu Gangjeong” premiering for the first time in Hawai‘i will be shown at The ARTS at Marks Garage on March 17, 2012 6:30-8 PM in a free screening co-sponsored by Hawai'i Peace and Justice in collaboration with Hawai‘i Women in Filmmaking and DMZ Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina. Light refreshment will be offered.
Banned from theater showings for 40 days by the Korean Film Commission, Jam Docu Gangjeong just recently received approval (January 31st) for showing in South Korea. Although Jeju was named an “Island of Peace” in 2005 by the South Korean government and listed as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site, the Korean government has pushed ahead with plans to build a huge naval base in Gangjeong Village for the use of both the South Korean military, as well as US naval warships and destroyers.
The island is home to a unique dialect and culture off the tip of South Korea, but also presents a microcosm for the tragic legacies of the Korean War. Residents of Gangjeong Village have put up peaceful resistance to the base construction, but faced brutal suppression by the police and mainland military, and been heavily fined for the "obstruction of governmental affairs." For the villagers, the naval base threatens to disrupt not only the reef ecosystem, and the way of life by elderly haenyo (women divers), but to destroy the social fabric of the village, recalling the scars of the Korean War and Jeju’s treatment during that period. While the ostensible justification for the base is the North Korean threat, the implications for a shifting geopolitical balance in the region is that the US would gain access to a base in proximity to China.
For Docu Jam Gangjeong, eight independent filmmakers in South Korea responded to the situation by making short films about the people’s struggle over the course of 100 days. The filmmakers present an array of stories from their time living among the villagers and capturing the beauty of the threatened coastline.
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International Women's Day 2012
Save the date!
Macrch 8, 2012
Join us on International Women's Day (March 8th) for a special rally at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki where we will be featuring a special "fashion show." Please see the attached flier for more details!
To learn more about how Hyatt Hurts, you can visit www.HyattHurts.org
Check out the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/HyattHurts
Macrch 8, 2012
Join us on International Women's Day (March 8th) for a special rally at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki where we will be featuring a special "fashion show." Please see the attached flier for more details!
To learn more about how Hyatt Hurts, you can visit www.HyattHurts.org
Check out the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/HyattHurts
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