"Corporations and Democracy" looks at disarmament and the defense industry

On the July 9 edition of "Corporations and Democracy" radio, hosts Steve Scalmanini and Annie Esposito talked about nuclear disarmament with Jacqueline Cabasso, executive director of the Western States Legal Foundation in Oakland, and an internationally-known expert on nuclear disarmament. Jacqueline deconstructed Obama's recent statements on nuclear weapons, discussed the corporatization of nukes and warned that while progress has been made on reducing numbers of weapons, there are still more than enough of them out there to destroy civilization.

You can listen or download the show on our radio page, here.

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Bruce Gagnon on weapons and nukes in space, Jeju Island, and the corporatization of the US military

Bruce Gagnon, co-founder and coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, recently toured the northwest, where he spoke to David Delk, AfD co-chair and host of the Portland OR chapter's show Populist Dialogues.

Bruce and David talked about the US military industrial complex, which now serves as a "resource extraction service" for global corporatism. The need to control gas and oil resources--including access to oil by China--is driving US military expansion in Asia, while space technologies developed by taxpayer dollars are now being seen as a means for private corporations to generate wealth by mining planets and asteroids.

You can watch Bruce's wide-ranging, fascinating, and frightening report here, and learn how to rebroadcast this show on your local public access station here. If your station would prefer receiving shows on dvd, please email the Alliance for Democracy office.

  In addition to hosting Bruce on Populist Dialogues, Alliance for Democracy joined several organizations in sponsoring Bruce and South Korean artist and peace activist Gillchun Koh at a demonstration at the Seattle South Korean Consulate.

The protest targeted the naval base currently under construction on Jeju Island, South Korea. This naval base is unnecessary, a drain on our economy, will destabilize both US and South Korean relations with China, and will put the people of Jeju Island at risk as a strategic target. We're posting a short history of the resistance to the base construction and commentary containing some good reasons for bringing this project to a halt. We've excerpted them from writing by Leonard Eiger, coordinator of Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon Free Zone. 

 The April 3 Massacre

30,000 people murdered!!! Jeju Island is known as the "Island of World Peace," a name that does not begin to tell the story of the Island's extensive history of conflict, occupation, repression and genocide. The most horrific episode in this history began in 1948 when the South Korean military and national police hunted down and slaughtered approximately 30,000 people. The U.S., which was the occupying power at the time, did nothing to stop what is now known as the April 3 massacre.

Why did the government do such a horrific thing? 1948 was a tumultuous time of establishing two governments in Korea. The people of Jeju Island rose up to protest the long-term division of the nation by boycotting the elections that were occurring in Seoul. For this they were branded as Communists, and the terror began.

For decades following, public discussion of the April 3 massacre was ruthlessly repressed. Following democratization, the slow and painful process of fact finding and truth telling began, and continues today. In 2003, South Korean President Noh Moo Hyun travelled to Jeju Island and officially apologized.

History Repeats Itself 

Now, over 60 years after the April 3 massacre the people of Jeju Island are once again protesting. This time they are protesting the U.S. Missile Defense System and a provocative new naval base being built on their island.

Why? If you look at a map of Jeju Island, you can see that it lies about 500 kilometers West of China. This military base is intended to project force towards China and to provide a forward operating installation in the event of a military conflict between the U.S. and China. For five years, South Korean activists have been protesting the plans for the new naval base on Jeju Island. During that time the response by the South Korean police and military has become more heavy-handed and brutal. Col. Anne Wright (former United States Army colonel and retired official of the U.S. State Department) reported that earlier this month "police broke arms of activists who had locked arms inside PCV pipes, beat up activists and threw them from kayaks."

A Global Context
(Excerpt from article by Noam Chomsky and Matthew Hoey)
The last thing the world needs is a military confrontation between the U.S. and China. On that dreaded eventuality, there is no need to elaborate. In terms of its implications, what is now taking place on Jeju island counts as one of the most critical struggles against a potentially devastating war in Asia, and the deeply-rooted institutional structures that are driving the world towards even more bitter conflict than is raging in all too many places today.

It is important to become aware of what is happening on Jeju Island and to find ways to help the residents to prevent this very dangerous and destructive project. The consequences of losing the struggle to prevent the base construction might impact not only Asia but the United States and the rest of the world as well. The project is naturally seen by China as a threat to its national security. At the very least, it is likely to trigger confrontation and an arms race between South Korea and China, with the U.S. almost inevitably drawn in.

The immediate threat is to Jeju Island civilians, whose home was recently described in a South Korean daily as “the spearhead of the country’s defense line,” a line recklessly located approximately 500km from China. We need not speculate about how the U.S. would react were China doing something similar near its coast.

For more information:
Save Jeju Island website
Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space

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Private contractors are the big winners in Iraq and Afghanistan

Jeremy Scahill speak at a labor meeting at the G20 last week--25 to 40 cents out of every dollar of the $2.5 billion spent every week on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan go to private, for-profit corporations, including the infamous Blackwater Corp., and construction companies paying foreign workers mere dollars a day. Thanks to Martha Speiss for posting.

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United for Peace with Justice asks for action to prevent escalation of US-Iranian conflict

The violent suppression of election protests by the current Iranian government should not be used as an excuse for cancelling direct talks between the US and Iraq. The official White House position supports these talks, and United for Peace with Justice asks that you call and sign an on-line petition to keep communication on track and to emphasize the protesters' calls for non-interference in Iran's internal affairs.

1] Call the White House at 202-456-1111 and let it know that you want Obama to stick to his promise of direct talks with Iran.

2] Sign-on to Just Foreign Policy's petition to President Obama, which urges him to keep to the principle of non-interference in Iran's internal affairs.

And to show solidarity with the people of Iran and their elementary right to protest their government's actions, UFPJ urges supporters to join up with the non-partisan United For Iran Global Day of Action, for a national rally July 25--check the website to see if there is an action near you. (Blog editor's note: The web address is http://united4iran.com, but we couldn't access the page today.)

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Petition on depleted uranium munitions from Veterans for Peace

Veterans for Peace chapter 116, in Boonville, California, is asking people to sign on to a call to Congress for a moratorium and ultimate ban on the use of depleted uranium munitions. If you'd like a copy of the petition, please email the office at afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org, or call 781-894-1179.

John Pitts, chapter president, and John Lewallen, chapter vice president, write:

Depleted uranium munitions (DU) is an illegal weapon and its use by the US Military and other countries must be stopped. We are gathering signatures on a petition to Congress to call for a moratorium leading to a ban on the use of depleted uranium munitions. The European Parliament has passed a resolution calling for a ban, the United Nations has declared depleted uranium an illegal weapon and we are now asking our Congress to call for a moratorium leading to a ban.

We are asking all veterans groups and all organizations and individuals that cherish life and want to protect our planet to join in collecting signatures on the enclosed petitions. ... We will amass and forward petitions to the proper congressional committee demanding they begin hearings... thank you for your help in obtaining signatures. We also encourage you to mail a copy of this letter with blank petitions to other organizations, your friends and family.

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Million Doors for Peace, September 20

On Saturday, September 20, join thousands of volunteers across the U.S. in knocking on a Million Doors for Peace. This national canvas is organized by United for Peace and Justice, US Action/True Majority, Win Without War, and other organizations, and it is hoped it will be the biggest peace action of 2008.

As a volunteer, you'll ask people to sign an antiwar petition directed to Congress. The message: End this immoral war, bring our troops home, and invest in America's future. In addition, we will encourage people to join local anti-war groups, engage in voter education work, and become a part of the organized antiwar movement in their area.

In order to reach a million people in a single day, we must organize at least 25,000 volunteers in all 50 states. Peace groups have never implemented such an elaborate communication and organizing plan before now, but with new and traditional communications tools available, we anticipate success with this groundbreaking, grassroots project. This project will not end on September 20, but it will be a new beginning of a more organized grassroots movement for peace and justice.

Training materials, petitions, local groups to canvass with in your area, and handouts will be provided. To find out more, or join the effort, click here.

And scroll down to the bottom of this page on the United for Peace site for info on candidate report cards--how does your member of Congress score on peace issues?

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RNC update

We received an email this morning from United for Peace and Justice on the situation in St. Paul. Briefly, demonstrators there have been met with a heavily armed and aggressive police presence. Police have on occasion deliberately provoked peaceful protesters, used excessive force, harassed people simply walking along the street, stopped and searched vehicles for no clear reason, and raided houses used by organizers.

Leslie Cagan, UFPJ national coordinator, writes:

On Tuesday afternoon, they literally pulled the plug and turned off the electricity at a permitted outdoor concert. The timing of this led to a situation where hundreds of understandably angry people ended up joining a march being led by the Poor Peoples Campaign for Economic Human Rights, a march that organizers were insisting be nonviolent. In other words, the police set up a dynamic that could have turned ugly, but the skill of the organizers kept things calm and focused.

All of this - and much more - needs to be understood in the context of the overwhelming presence of police. Police from all around the Twin Cities have been put to work, and they have also brought in police units from around Minnesota and from as far away as Philadelphia, PA. The National Guard and state troopers are in the mix, to say nothing of the Secret Service, Homeland Security and who knows who else from the federal government!

Clearly our rights to assemble, protest, and speak freely are under attack. With two more days of convention scheduled, UFPJ urges everyone to take two actions:

First, to call the Mayor of St. Paul, Chris Coleman, at 651-266-8510. Tell him you are watching events and that he must stand up for Constitutional rights and reign in the police.

Second, this is a story that's gotten scant play in the media--call the mainstreamers and tell them you have had enough of the Sarah Palin show. Demand they tell the real story of what's happening in St. Paul this week.

For background, UFPJ recommends Marjorie Cohn's Counterpunch article, "Raiding Democracy in St. Paul."

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Global fast against weapons in space

In May, two Czech peace activitst began a three-week hunger strike to protest plans to install a US radar military base in the Czech Republic. When their strike ended, other activists continued the fast. Their actions have led to a global on-day fast called for Sunday, June 22. You can let organizers from the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space know you're participating by emailing globalnet@mindspring.com.

At their website (www.space4peace.org) you can read about international resistance to the proposed expansion of US space weaponry to the Czech Republic, and find out which corporations are players in the space/arms race, thanks to Reaching Critical Will, a project of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/corporate/dd/ddannex.html#aeroastro.

Bruce Gagnon, secretary/coordinator of the Global Network, fasted for two weeks in solidarity with Czech hunger strikers, reminds participants that fasting "is a political act." Please make sure other people--neighbors, elected officials, newspapers--know what you're doing and why.

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