Live theater performers from Iraq and Tunisia bring deep emotion, human connection to Tokyo stage

While living in Tokyo for nearly the past decade as a community peace activist, I have had several opportunities to interact with people from Iraq (human rights journalists, pediatricians, and visual artists, to be precise) during their visits to Japan on grassroots-level exchanges organized by local peace groups. Each time, I came away from the experience with marvelous memories and new friendships.

Last week, a fellow member of the Iraq Hope Network alerted members to two short theater acts taking place at Tiny Alice, a cozy theater in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district. The only available information was a short blurb including the names of the performers and the titles of their pieces: “Abu Ghraib Prison” from the Mustaheel-Alice theater troupe in Baghdad, Iraq; and “Woman Sindyan” from SINDYANA in Tunisia. Knowing from experience that this could be an opportunity for another interesting encounter, I headed together with one of my most engaged university students to check out the shows.

As we entered the diminutive theater, three foreign men who I assumed to be the Iraqi actors were standing in the doorway—one of them bedecked in all camouflage and wearing an extremely stern expression on his face. Still unsure of what to expect, my student and I took a seat in the only available spots, which were on the floor directly in front of the stage.

We soon learned from a pre-show announcement that the three men were in fact the play’s writer, director and musical composer, and that the show was inspired by the story of one of the writer’s friends—a musician who was jailed in Abu Ghraib Prison during the reign of Saddam Hussein. The play began shortly thereafter, immediately shocking the full range of our senses. The camouflaged man, who was clearly acting the part of the guard, cast a brutal gaze as the two prisoners writhed around on the ground, enshrouded alternately inside white sheets and silver tubing material. Also taking center stage were several musical instruments encased in chains and plastic wrap, which all three men took turns reaching for—and then violently throwing aside—to the backdrop of a screaming cacophony of dissonant music. While the abstract, chaotic nature of the short work (as well as the fact that the only fleeting dialogue was in Arabic) precluded any fast conclusions about what precisely it might have been trying to convey, the general themes were hard to miss by virtue of their universal resonance: the pain and confusion of imprisonment; the resilience of the human spirit even in instances of severe repression; the blurred borders between captive and capturer.

The second work began after a brief intermission, when we were still reeling from the dramatic effects of the first. As it turns out, the Tunisian performance was in fact a one-woman show, with the actor embodying several personas—male in addition to female—and French phrases occasionally mixed in with the mostly Arabic dialogue. While the Japanese subtitles beamed above the stage were somewhat sporadic, we were able to understand that her various characters were expressing anger and indignation at certain times toward colonialist repression, and at others toward gender-based objectification. With a fire and passion that literally seemed to engulf the entire tiny theater house, the full range of characters and emotions embodied by this actor may as well have been those of an entire theater troupe.

The limits of language and theatrical understanding were finally transcended after the final curtain call, when all four performers immediately reassembled onstage for a fully interpreted discussion with the audience. We learned that the Iraqi prison guard had indeed been in character when greeting us at the door, as his previously steely expression had melted away to reveal an entirely different personage of warmth and friendliness. We also learned—as I had begun to suspect—that the Tunisian woman, Zahira Ben Ammar, was a well-respected, world famous performer.

“As actors, we serve as mirrors of society, expressing what is often left unsaid,” she told the audience. “As a female actor, I have the privilege of being able to express myself in ways that are normally not possible for women in other Arab countries. In addition, my show also tries to give voice to the profound pain that has touched all colonized peoples—whether in Tunisia, Gaza or Iraq. I suspect that some of these themes may also resonate with Japanese people, due for example to your painful history in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

Anas Abdhul Sammad, the stage director for Mustaheel-Alice, continued, “The first time that I saw Zahira Ben Ammar perform, in Morocco, I was moved beyond words. I am not a person who cries much, but after seeing her I actually went back to my hotel room and wept. I knew that I wanted to bring her with me to Japan to share her work with audiences here, and I am so grateful that she took time out of her incredibly busy schedule to join us.

I would also add that at the same time as the theater allows us to express the deep pain of things like oppression and war, I also find it very disheartening that the television in other countries only shows things like bombs and violence. Of course this is happening and it’s real, but what the TV does not show is the reality of ordinary people living our day-to-day lives. We are one small acting company among countless others in Baghdad, and we try to use theatrical expression to portray various aspects of the human condition.”

Echoing Iraqi visual artist Qasim Sabti, he continued, “The profession of acting, which has been around since the age of Babylon, will long outlive technologies such as modern weaponry. It has always been there to provide support and comfort to people during difficult times—even though the historical contexts are different—and it will continue to do so into the future.”

“I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for being here tonight, and for allowing me to express a part of myself,” Zahira Ben Ammar said at the close of the nearly hour-and-a-half long discussion session. “I felt a strong energy in this room tonight connecting me with all of you---and this is the reason why we continue to do what we do.”

Before leaving the theater, my student and I were able to have a friendly engaged conversation and e-mail exchange with all of the actors, which served to confirm what I already knew: that the real relationships which matter most are not the unhealthy and destructive ones perpetuated by governments and militaries—but the deep connections that take root in intimately engaged spaces such as the one we created in the theater that evening. Zahira Ben Ammar and the Mustaheel Alice Theater Troupe
Photo: Kimberly Hughes

--Kimberly Hughes
Performance photos: Tsukasa Aoki

“Mr. Truman Meets Hiroshima on the Future of Nuclear Weapons, 1945-2020" -- Live Global Videoconference/Webcast March 1 (US), March 2 (Japan)

From Satoko Norimatsu at the Peace Philosophy Centre blog:

“Mr. Truman Meets Hiroshima on the Future of Nuclear Weapons, 1945-2020" -- A Live Global Webcast & Open Forum Originating from The Harry S. Truman Library & Museum (Independence, MO, USA) and The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (Japan)

Schedule

Monday, March 1, 2010 7-9 PM (CST-Missouri)

March 1, 2010 8-10PM (EST - Toronto,Washington DC,New York)

March 1, 2010 5-7 PM (PST - Vancouver, San Francisco, LA)

Tuesday March 2, 2010 10AM - 12PM (Japan)

Originating from the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum (Independence, Missouri, USA) and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (Japan).

This historic webcast, presented by Webster University and the Holden Public Policy Forum, will be the first meeting between the museum representing the first head of state to use atomic bombs and the people in the city where the first atomic bomb was used. The live webcast and open channels for audience participation via Chat, Facebook and Twitter can be accessed at: this site or at other “watch party” locations.

The speakers and participants in this meeting discuss the basis for working toward a common vision about the future of nuclear weapons. For the world-wide citizen audience, this event is an awareness raising forum and opportunity to participate in working toward a secure, peaceful and sustainable future for humanity and the planet.

AGENDA

Introductory Video: "The Future of Nuclear Weapons: Voices & Images" (Webster University student video project)

Opening: Dr. Elizabeth (Beth) J. Stroble (President, Webster University)

Meeting Moderator: Governor Bob Holden (Holden Public Policy Forum)

"The Harry S. Truman Library & Museum and the Future of Nuclear Weapons" - Dr. Michael Devine (Director, Harry S. Truman Library & Museum)

Historical Context:

"Truman, Hiroshima & Nuclear Weapons" - Dr. John D. Chappell (Associate Professor of History, Webster University, and Author of Before the Bomb: How America Approached the End of the Pacific War (1997))

"Hiroshima’s Take on the Future of Nuclear Weapons" - Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba (Mayor of Hiroshima; and President, Mayors for Peace, NGO); Steven Leeper (Chairman, Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation); and Testimonials from "Hibakusha" (A-bomb witnesses)

Questions & Discussion

Online questions & comments moderated by Satoko Norimatsu
(Director, Peace Philosophy Centre, Vancouver, B.C.) and Dr. John Chappell

Conclusions and Next Steps

Letter from Women for Genuine Security to President & Michelle Obama: "Please meet with Guam Senators & Community Members in March"

An open letter to President & Michelle Obama from Women for Genuine Security:

February 14, 2010

Dear President & Michelle Obama,

As you prepare to make a stop over in Guam next month, en route to Australia and Indonesia, we ask that you take the opportunity to meet with Guam Senators and community members including women of Fuetsen Famalao’an.

As commander-in-chief of the military and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and with your experience growing up in Hawaii and working as a community organizer you are uniquely qualified to listen to what they have to say about the proposed military build up on Guam, a small island with an already fragile ecosystem.

We are writing this letter on behalf of 100 women who gathered in Guåhan (Guam) September 14-19, 2009 for the International Women’s Network Against Militarism conference entitled, “Resistance, Resilience and Respect for Human Rights” (Chinemma, Nina’maolek, yan Inarespetu para Direchon Tao’tao). We came from Australia, Belau, Chuuk, Guåhan, Hawai’i, Japan, Okinawa, Northern Marianas Islands, Palau, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, South Korea and mainland United States.

We are mothers, grandmothers, young women, students, teachers, professors, social workers, religious workers, and community organizers in our respective communities.

We gathered in Guåhan for our 7th international women’s conference because of the imminent transfer of some 9,000 U.S. Marines, plus their 20,000 dependents and a further 20,000 foreign contract workers to Guåhan under the proposed Military Re-alignment plan. During our weeklong meeting, we heard testimony and panel presentations, visited important sacred sites, and observed numerous U.S. military installations around the island.

We heard many local concerns about the extensive military installations that already cover 1/3 of this small island (30 miles long and 8 miles wide, comparable to the size of Moloka’i), and some of the negative effects associated with them, such as contamination, crime and prostitution. Already the local population cannot eat the fish, drink the water, or grow their own food. Guåhan has twice the infant mortality rate as the U.S. mainland, and 1997% times the rate of nasal-pharyngeal cancer. We were touched by the Chamorro people’s deep love for their land, honoring their ancestors and providing for their future generations. They expressed deep concern about the impact of an additional 9,000 troops (potentially an additional 50,000 people) and the impact this would have on their already weak infrastructure, fragile ecosystem, and quality of life.

As you have lived in Hawai’i you are probably aware of how a major military presence can impact the local community, although some effects may be hidden from plain view.

In our discussions in Guåhan we noticed a pattern that brings about increased insecurity, particularly for women and for local communities that host U.S. bases or military personnel. What we observed in Guåhan is occurring in the other partner locations in our network: the Philippines, Korea, Okinawa, mainland Japan, Hawai’i, and Puerto Rico. The following are patterns we observed and heard repeatedly about the impact of U.S. military bases:

1. Violence Against Women

Local women live in fear because of the harassment, crime and violence committed by U.S. military personnel. For example, U.S. troops commit 95% of abductions and rape cases in Okinawa. In February 2008, a U.S. Marine sexually assaulted a 14-year-old Okinawan girl. A week later, a 22-year-old Filipina woman in Okinawa was raped by a U.S. soldier. And these are not isolated cases.

Under Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs) and Visiting Forces Agreements with the United States, governments that host U.S. bases, such as Japan, Korea, and the Philippines, do not have adequate authority to protect local women, prosecute U.S. military personnel, or provide redress for crimes committed against local women.

Beyond this issue, a rise in prostitution and trafficking goes hand in hand with U.S. military bases and R&R sites, especially in the Asia Pacific region. Increasingly, poor women are being trafficked into the sex industry, and those working in this industry typically experience life-long trauma.

2. Environmental Harm

U.S. military bases generate noise and many negative impacts on air, soil, water and human health, threatening the sustainability of the environment and people’s lives, both now and for future generations.

Bases that have been closed such as in the Philippines (1992) and the bombing ranges in Vieques (2003) have still not been decontaminated and devolved for use by local communities.

Environmental contamination has been linked to high rates of cancer in communities alongside military fencelines. Guåhan and Vieques have no cancer treatment facilities, so people must spend their limited resources to travel elsewhere to receive the costly medical care they need.

3. Economic Impacts

Current U.S. military spending is more than $2 billion per day. This is a huge burden and expense, especially during these severe economic times -- in the U.S. and globally -- where these resources could be used to meet the many needs in health care, education, and economic development.

The U.S. delegates to the Guåhan conference came from California, where state budget cuts have taken a toll on many social services such as education and health care. This school year $580 million was cut from public higher education in California, with huge increases in costs of tuition and student fees. Academic departments have been shut down, classrooms are overcrowded, and teachers are being laid off. 10,000 eligible students were denied admission to public higher education this year. For youth who cannot afford to go to college, or who cannot find employment, joining the military is increasingly their only option.

Internationally, the U.S. military presence has distorted economic development in other countries because people’s access to land is cut off by bases, and local economies become geared towards servicing the U.S. military. For example, prior to WWII, Guåhan was self-sufficient in agricultural production. Today, 90% of its food is imported. Prostitution, bars and a service economy dependent on exploitation of cheap labor or trafficked persons typify the distorted economic development that accompanies U.S. military bases in the countries in our network.

4. Socio-cultural Impacts

U.S. military bases have a large impact on social-cultural development, democracy, and the voice and self-determination of local communities.

In Guåhan, Hawai’i, Okinawa, and other places, ancestral lands and burial sites are currently occupied and even being used for bombing and firing practice by the military.

Guåhan remains a non-self governing territory of the United States and the Chamorro people have no right of self-determination. Guåhan is on the United Nations list of 16 remaining colonies worldwide. An additional influx of outsiders, due to the military buildup, would further strain the culture, voice and sovereignty of indigenous Chamorro people on Guam.

As we observed these things and understood that they are part of a larger pattern, we were overcome with feelings of fear, sadness, pain, frustration, and anger. As women and as leaders in our communities, we are concerned about basic human needs, primarily the everyday security of our families and communities. Women in all our communities need safety, health care and prevention from harm, as well as the protection and care of our environment. We need to be able to participate in decisions affecting our communities and homelands. We need respect and consideration for our people’s land and our ancestors.

We believe that you may be able to understand these needs and request that you use the authority of your position to do the following:

1. Please consider and address the environmental, social, and community impacts the planned military build-up will have on Guåhan and do everything you can to stop it. When you visit Guåhan, please talk to members of Fuetsen Famalao’an, an organization of respected women (Guam Senators, University of Guam professors, and other professionals) who have come together out of concern about the military buildup. Dr. Vivian Dames, former Guam Senator Hope Cristobal, and Dr. Lisa Natividad are all at the University of Guam. As residents of a U.S. territory, none of them have any representation with voting power in the U.S. Congress.

2. Please consider the burden of Okinawan communities that disproportionately host U.S. bases in Japan. Okinawa is 0.6% of the Japanese land area, yet bears 75% of the burden of U.S. bases in Japan. It has been repeatedly stated that 8,000 Marines will be transferred to Guam to “reduce the burden” of Okinawa, but Okinawans are wondering why this is tied to building a new Marines base in Henoko? Please consider measures to reduce the numbers of troops overall, stop the building of yet another new base in Okinawa, and do not redirect Okinawa’s burden to Guåhan.

3. Re-examine and follow the existing Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the U.S. and the Philippines. Serious violations have taken place that require detailed review, such as the presence of bases in Mindanao and jurisdiction over U.S. soldiers who commit crimes in the Philippines. Investigate the arguments of the numerous women’s and community groups who are pushing for the VFA to be repealed.

4. Support and promote legislation comparable to HR 1613 that has been introduced in Congress to amend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include the Territory of Guam in the list of affected “downwind” areas with respect to the atmospheric nuclear testing that took place in Micronesia.

5. Support the Republic of the Marshall Islands Changed Circumstances Petition submitted to Congress for adequate compensation for personal injuries, property damage, medical care programs, and radiological monitoring related to the nuclear testing program conducted in the Marshall Islands.

6. Reduce future U.S. military aid to the Philippines government and enforce existing human rights conditions on current U.S. military aid to the Philippines. The clearly orchestrated massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao and countless other disappearances and extra-judicial killings reveal that there is very little accountability for U.S. weapons, military training, and military funding going to the Philippines Armed Forces.

7. Champion the clean up of toxic waste left behind in the Philippines and Puerto Rico since U.S. bases closed so that devolution to local communities can take place. The U.S. is building new bases when old bases still have not been cleaned up.

As recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, we ask you to consider these requests as part of the work of creating peace and genuine security in this world. Any decision to go to war, to send more troops for training or deployment has effects on thousands of other local communities, and long-term impact on the land and health of our global future.

Sincerely,

Delegates of the 2009 International Women’s Network Against Militarism meeting in Guåhan (Guam), active with the following organizations:

Guåhan: Famoksaiyan and Fuetsen Famalao’an
Hawai’i: DMZ-Hawai’i/Aloha ‘Aina
Korea: Du Rae Bang (My Sister’s Place), the National Campaign to Eradicate Crime by U.S. Troops in Korea, and SAFE Korea
Okinawa: Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence
Philippines: Philippine Women's Network on Peace and Security
Puerto Rico: Ilé, Inc./Organizers for Consciousness-in-Action and Alianza de Mujeres Viequenses (Viequenses Women's Allinace)
United States: Women for Genuine Security

What is Genuine Security?

"We envision a world of genuine security based on justice and respect for others across race, class, gender and national boundaries. We strategize for economic planning that meets people's needs, especially women and children. We work toward the creation of a society free of militarism, violence, and all forms of sexual exploitation, and for the safety, well-being, and long-term sustainability of our communities."

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calls Guam Build-up DEIS environmentally unsatisfactory

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) called the US Department of Defense (DOD) Guam Build-Up Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) "environmentally unsatisfactory," according to this report by Pacific News Center reporter Clynt Ridgell that harshly criticized the plan's water, sewage, damage to coral reefs, and air quality that would result from a huge influx of foreign construction workers, troops and their dependents to the small island:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reviewed the 9 volume long Draft Environmental Impact statement of the Guam / CNMI military buildup. Their assessment is that the DEIS is "Environmentally Unsatisfactory". The USEPA gave the DEIS an EU-3 rating. This is the absolute worst rating that the USEPA could have given to the DEIS.

Here's some of their reasons for this rating. For the EU rating the USEPA cites the lack of a specific plan to address the wastewater treatment and water supply needs of the construction workers and induced population growth. The USEPA says this may result in "significant adverse public health impacts."

The second reason is that the "project will result in unacceptable impacts to 71 acres of high quality coral reef ecosystem in Apra harbor."

Then there are the reasons for the 3 rating. The category 3 rating is also the worst rating that they can give it means that the DEIS is inadequate. The first reason for this is that the DEIS offers no specific workable plan for addressing the enormous increase in Guam's population. Finally, the methodology used in the DEIS for evaluating the full extent of impacts to coral reef habitat is not adequate. That is the DEIS does not present an adequate plan for mitigating the unavoidable loss of coral reef habitat.

The EPA's evaluation is another of many road blocks to the Clinton-era US and Japan plan to relocate 8,600 Marines from Okinawa to Guam and to build a new "floating" base over an ecologically sensitive coral reef (the home of the critically endangered dugong) in pristine northern Okinawa to replace the noisy Marine base now located at Futenma in central Okinawa.

Japanese LDP members closely associated with US politicians, such as former Prime Minister Koizumi, and Guam Governor Felix Camacho (supported by Japanese and Guamanian businesses that would financially benefit from military contracts) welcomed the defective plans for new bases.

But ordinary citizens in both places at the grassroots, supported by many hundreds of transnational environmentalist and peace NGOs, including Women for Genuine Security--who held their 2009 conference in Guam--mounted persistent and growing resistance against the proposed massive US military build-up on Guam and the new "floating" base in Henoko.

Most Okinawans and Japanese citizens want the closure of the US military base at Futenma--not its relocation to another part of Okinawa. The beautiful, pristine, ecologically sensitive area at Henoko (home of the critically endangered dugong, a marine mammal related to the manatee) is especially out-of-bounds.

Many of these Okinawans and Japanese, in solidarity with each other and residents of the Mariana Islands in the Northern Pacific, also do not want an alternative relocation to the Japanese mainland or Guam or any island in the Marianas.

2010 International Year of the Dugong • Report from Save the Dugong Campaign Center

IUCN Congress report from the Save the Dugong Campaign Center from Mio Yamane on Vimeo.

A Japanese NGO, Save the Dugong Campaign Center joined the 4th World Conservation Congress held by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

During the congress, the IUCN adopted a recommendation to protect the Okinawan Dugong during the UN 2010 International Year for Biodiversity.

The Japanese and the US governments has been planning to expand a US Marine base located at a biologically sensitive coral reef on the northwest coast of Okinawa, the last habitat of the Okinawa Dugong.

This video explains the situation in Okinawa; what Save the Dugong Campaign Center has done to appeal this situation in the other part of Japan, during the congress: and the meaning of this recommendation.

Related articles:

"US military base may wipe out unique mammal"（Terra Viva)

"U.S. Judge Extends Act's Protections: New base must consider effects on dugong" (The Japan Times)

"Internationalizing the Okinawan Struggle:Implications of the 2006 Elections in Okinawa and the US" by Yoshikawa Hideki (Japan Focus)

Women from Guahan, Okinawa, Japan, US, Korea, Philippines, Hawai'i, Puerto Rico, Australia & Worldwide--Join in Demilitarization Gathering

From the Seventh Meeting of the International Network of Women Against Militarism Blog--with a message of solidarity for the people of Haiti.

"If we look deeply into the weapons, we see our own minds--our prejudices, fears, and ignorance."

If we look deeply into the weapons, we see our own minds - our prejudices, fears, and ignorance.

Even if we transported all the bombs to the moon, the roots of war and the reasons for bombs would still be here, in our hearts and minds, and sooner or later we would make new bombs.

Seek to become more aware of what causes anger and separation, and what overcomes them.

Root out the violence in your life, and learn to live compassionately and mindfully.

Seek peace. When you have peace within, real peace with others will be possible.

--Thich Nhat Hanh

US Marines "prepared to die for Japan" • But didn't too many people (including 100,000 Okinawans) already die for Japan--65 years ago?

A US military spokesman said that US Marines are "prepared to die for Japan."

But 12,000 US Marines have already died because of Japan in Okinawa. And 100,000 Okinawan civilians have already died for both Japan and the US. Caught in the cross-fire of the Battle of Okinawa during the Pacific War. Haven't enough innocent people and soldiers already died in war for Japan (and the US? Before, during, and after the battle, thousands of Okinawan women were raped by both Japanese and American soldiers. During the past sixty years of US military colonization, Okinawans have endured continued violent crimes committed by American soldiers, including rapes of children.

Isn't it time for Okinawans to experience the peace for which they've sacrificed and been waiting for? And for both Japan and the US to respect them, their beautiful island and peaceful, democratic culture.

There are plenty of nonviolent methods of international conflict resolution in case of any "security threats" in the Asia-Pacific (and elsewhere). And they work. As Albert Einstein said, "The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them."

Okinawa, Japan, Korea, China, the Marianas, Indonesia, and the rest of the Asia-Pacific have still not psychologically recovered from the senseless, devastating Pacific War.

Over 50% of the young men who served as US soldiers in the Pacific War were discharged because of psychiatric reasons.

Former Okinawan governor Ota Masahide, in a 2007 essay, "The War is still going on for People in Okinawa," published in Magazine 9, said it's time to end the "Old War" and let Okinawans live in peace:

In Okinawa, many people who went through extreme conditions under the war are even now experiencing extreme anxiety and depression.

The remains of 4000-5000 dead Okinawans have yet to be collected.

Unexploded bombs are all over, without being treated.

Some experts says that it will take 50-60 more years to complete the treatment of unexploded bombs of the battles in Okinawa.

Not only that, even after the war, at least 5,200 Okinawans have been the victims of crimes committed by American soldiers.

Thus the war is still going on for the people in Okinawa.

Why shall we start preparing for a new war, while the old war is not over yet

I truly don’t understand.

The Japanese people have supported their Peace Constitution for sixty years because they don't want anything like the horrific Battle of Okinawa again to happen to Okinawans--or anything like the Pacific War to happen again.

No more Nanjings. No more Pearl Harbors. No more Guadacanals. No more Bataan Death Marches. No more Iwo Jimas. No more Battles of the Coral Sea. No more Midways. No more Firebombings. No more Hiroshimas. No more Nagasakis. No more Battles of Okinawa.Detail of Kinjo Minoru relief depicting the consequences of massacres which took place during the Battle of Okinawa. (photo: Futenma Henoko Action Network)

Video from the Save the Dugong Campaign Center • Scientific American: Will the US Military do right by the dugong?

The Okinawa Dugong: Save the Dugong Campaign Center from Mio Yamane.

A recent blog at Scientific American by John Platt reports on the unanimous global environmentalist support of the dugong who live in Henoko: "Will the US Military do right by the dugong?"

"Could a plan to build a 2.5-mile-long airfield in Okinawa, Japan, doom a rare manateelike species to extinction? That's the assertion of more than 400 environmental organizations which recently sent a letter to President Obama urging him to cancel the plans to expand Camp Schwab, a U.S. Marine Corps base on Okinawa island...

(This was first posted Jan.10, 2009 and we're resposting to amplify what's at stake in beautiful and biodiverse Henoko, Okinawa.)

Sixty-year Battle of Okinawa: US Militarism versus Okinawan Democracy • Mayor Inamine wants "Reduction" not "Relocation" of US Troops

In the past couple of days--a flurry of news reports on Okinawa:

Mayor Susumu Inamine rejected a new proposal to build a runway for US Marine helicopters within Camp Schwab--located on land the US took over during the Cold War period in Henoko, a beautiful coastal area of northern Okinawa.

Inamine also repeated his rejection of an earlier plan to build a controversial and "floating" base over Henoko Bay's coral reef that would destroy the only habitat of the critically endangered dugong (cousin to the manatee) and ruin Henoko Beach forever.

The recently-elected mayor of Nago, where Henoko is located, advocates "reduction--not relocation" of US military bases in Okinawa.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said he would reconsider the new base in light of Inamine's winning platform and resolve the issue by May as promised. Before becoming prime minister, Hatoyama said he was against the new base.

NHK, the Japanese public television channel, reported on Mayor Inamine's refusal to accept a new Marine airfield anywhere in Henoko:

The mayor of Nago in Japan's southern prefecture of Okinawa says he will continue to oppose plans to relocate a US Marine air station from central Okinawa to his city...

A panel of the government and 3 ruling parties are due to decide by the end of May where to relocate the US Futenma Marine Corps Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa.

The mayor dismissed the proposal by the New People's Party, a small governing coalition party, to build a runway for Marine helicopters on the premises of US Marine Corps Camp Schwab in his city.

He also opposes the 2006 Japan-US agreement to build an alternative airfield at Camp Swab in a coastal area of Nago, with the runways partly offshore...

Because this ill-conceived plan would destroy the coral reef which is the home to the critically endangered Okinawan dugong, milllions people throughout Okinawa, Japan and the world and hundreds of NGOs worldwide have rallied against its construction..

NHK also reported on Senator Jim Webb's visit to Okinawa and his thanks to Nakaima for Okinawa's "effort to maintain" security. However, Webb did not explain what this hypothetical security threat exactly is. Moreover, he did not discuss the US military's record of actual damage to people, property, and the environment in Okinawa.

Notably, the US senator did not bring up the notorious 1995 gang rape of a little girl followed by huge protests throughout Okinawa insisting on the closure, (not relocation) of US military bases in Okinawa. He also did not discuss the thousands of other crimes US military troops have committed against Okinwans, or the damage to Henoko's sensitive and unique biodiversity,

Since the end of the Second World War, when the US began its forced confiscation of Okinawan land for military bases, the official US stance has been unresponsive to the democratic popular will in Okinawa. This time Senator Jim Webb echoed U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's insistence--the same, not any change from the Bush era--on this unwanted relocation.

Repeating an official US buzzword "densely populated" to describe Futenma, Webb expressed concern for resident safety for people in Nago, but did not express similar concern for residents of Nago or the survival of the dugong:

A visiting US senator says the relocation of the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa should be implemented as planned as part of the US military realignment scheme...including the relocation of the Futenma base to Nago City, also in Okinawa.

Nakaima responded to Webb by stating that Okinawa will wait for the government and governing parties to come up with an alternative site for the relocation by May.

The US said that the purpose of the Occupation was to democratize Japan's militarist wartime regime that forced its will upon Okinawa.

Then why has the US replaced Imperial Japan's militarist regime in Okinawa with a US military regime--one that Okinwans have resisted nonviolently and democratically for over sixty years?

How long is the postwar battle for democracy in Okinawa going to continue? For the best, in-depth reporting on Okinawa in English, go to Satoko Norimatsu's Peace Philosophy Centre blog and to Japan Focus.

15th anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol

On February 16th, the15th anniversary for the coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol (2005), students of Hakodate La Salle Jr. & Sr. High School and citizens of Hakodatecame together to create a sand message at Ohmori Beach.

Their crossword of "KYOTO" and "350" signifies their importance of the Kyoto Protocol as a first step towards returning to a world where CO2 levels are below 350 parts per million in the atmosphere.

For more information about the importance of reducing C02 emissions to below 350, check out 350.org, an international organization building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis. On October 24th, 2009 they organized what is considered "the most widespread day of political action in the planet's history," with more than 5200 events in 181 countries to raise awareness of climate change.

- Posted by Jen Teeter

Okinawan & Japanese citizens: No military base in critically environmentally sensitive Henoko & no helipads in nearby Yanbaru Forest

Globally renowned musician and Japanese MP Shoukichi Kina and others speak about the US military occupation to filmmaker Linda Hoaglund in this clip from her upcoming film, ANPO:

ANPO opens as a squadron of F-16 fighter jets thunder directly over local traffic to land on Kadena, the largest U.S. airbase in Asia. Ten miles south, the urban homes that crowd Futenma Marine Corps Air Station shake from the numbing drone of C-130 cargo planes whose novice pilots repeatedly practice “touch-and-go” take-offs and landings.

The U.S. base at Futenma is one of 30 bases in Okinawa, an island that makes up only 1% of Japan’s land mass while shouldering the burden of 75% of the U.S. military installations in Japan. That presence includes over 28,000 American troops, rivaling the number deployed to the active war zone of Afghanistan.

America’s military presence was negotiated in 1951 under the terms of the lopsided U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Treaty, known in Japan as “ANPO.” Under its provisions, American soldiers who rape Japanese women and girls are often protected from local prosecution. Prime farming lands have been confiscated from farmers to extend air force jet runways. Civilians are killed in hit-and-run accidents by drunken US servicemen with few held to account. In one particularly egregious case, a woman collecting shell casings to sell was shot in the back and killed by a US soldier who served no time for her death.

Hoaglund said this film is a sequel to her first documentary, Wings of Defeat (Tokko in Japan), and that her most pressing issue is to get "the word out to the world about the current situation in Okinawa and the base they’re trying to move from Futenma to the emerald waters off Henoko."

ANPO will open in Japanese theaters in June 2010--on the 50th anniversary of the 1960 ANPO struggle.

We will be reposting this video clip regularly so it doesn't disappear in the archives--because outside of Okinawa and Japan--most don't know about the US-Japan plan to expand a US military base in the environmentally sensitive area of Henoko--home of the endangered dugong, pristine forests, and coral reefs.

Filmmaker Linda Hoaglund is keeping a blog of recent, underreported news on Futenma, Henoko, and other Okinawa news at the "ANPO" website.

For the best, in-depth reporting on Okinawa in English, go to Satoko Norimatsu's Peace Philosophy Centre blog and to Japan Focus.

Andy Couturier: A Different Kind of Luxury: Japanese Lessons in Simple Living and Inner Abundance

The Kyoto Journal News Page is featuring a book that demonstrates the kind of quality of life that many people in Japan (especially ecological peacebuilders) want to maintain and encourage:

Andy Couturier’s A Different Kind of Luxury: Japanese Lessons in Simple Living and Inner Abundance has just been published by Stone Bridge Press.

"Raised in the tumult of Japan’s industrial powerhouse, the eleven men and women profiled in A Different Kind of Luxury have all made the transition to sustainable, deeply fulfilling lives in the mountains of Japan.

Based on Andy Couturier's popular articles in The Japan Times, this lushly-designed volume is a treasure chest of stories about real people who have created an abundance of time for contemplation, connecting with nature, and contributing to their communities."

Read the great discussions between author and readers at the book blog here.

Is Your Valentine's Chocolate Child-Slavery-Free--thus supporting Positivity & Love?

From International Labor Rights Forum:

Is Your Valentine's Day Chocolate Bitter or Sweet?

While consumers buy chocolate for their sweethearts this Valentine's Day, child labor, trafficking and other abuses continue on cocoa farms throughout West Africa. Click here (Stop Child & Forced Labor--Cocoa Campaign) to read ILRF's new report on industry efforts to end child labor in the cocoa industry.

According to a 2009 story posted at Japan for Sustainability. 17.6 % of Japanese knew about "fair trade" in 2009.

Team Choco-Revo!!, the executive committee of Chocolate Revolution conducted a national survey on awareness of fair trade among Japanese in November 2008. The committee is a non-profit organization, and is engaged in campaign activities environment-friendly and labor-friendly chocolate. According to the survey, 17.6 percent of respondents knew the expression "fair trade", and also knew that it was a keyword relating to poverty and environment...

Fair trade is a system that supports producers in developing countries to improve their standard of living by continuously trading crops and products at fair prices. West African countries generate most of the world's cacao beans used for chocolate production; however, the reality is that many children work longer hours and surrounding forests are being cut down. To improve the situation, international fair trade organizations set restrictions on child labor and standards for environmental conservation.

With the current situation in mind, Team Choco-Revo!! is making efforts to deliver a message to consumers that choosing "environment-friendly and labor-friendly chocolate" brings about changes for a better world, while encouraging companies and organizations to further promote or introduce fair trade chocolate.

Posthumous justice awarded in Yokohama Incident Trial

The Japan Timesreported on Feb. 5, that the Yokohama District Court ordered compensation to be paid to the families of five now deceased men who were wrongfully imprisoned in wartime Japan. According to the article:

The Yokohama District Court ordered the government Thursday to pay compensation to the relatives of five now-deceased men for falsely imprisoning them in the "Yokohama Incident," often described as Japan's worst case of repression of free speech during the war.

The three-judge panel ruled that the wartime "tokko" thought, or political, police launched a one-sided, speculative investigation that prosecutors and judges endorsed.

The police, the prosecution and the court all bear heavy responsibility for the outcome, it said. In the decision, (Presiding Judge) Oshima accused the political police of conducting an "illegal" investigation, including the torture of suspects.

The five defendants were convicted in August and September 1945 of procommunist activities based on the wartime Peace Preservation Law.

Another articleThe Japan Times published last year reported:

In the Yokohama Incident, the Kanagawa thought-control police arrested about 60 journalists on suspicion of spreading the idea of communism in violation of the Peace Preservation Law during the Pacific War; more than 30 were indicted. Torture was employed during interrogation and four died while in detention. Most of the defendants were given suspended sentences right after World War II ended. The former defendants are all dead.

A longer article at Z-Net entitled "The Retrial of the 'Yokohama Incident': A Six Decade Battle for Human Dignity" may be read here.

- Posted by Kimberly Hughes

Abolition Flame to join Peace Walk from Tennessee to the United Nations--starts in Oak Ridge, Sat., Feb. 13 • Obama Ups Spending on Nukes

The International Peace Walk Towards a Nuclear Free Future, organized by Footprints for Peace begins a journey of more than 700 miles--stepping off from the Scarboro Road gate of the Y12 Nuclear Weapons Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on Saturday, February 13.

Over the next three months, walkers will follow a route through Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, arriving in New York City on May 1, 2010. The Abolition Flame--which travelled with the Global March for Peace and Non Violence--will continue its journey to the Nuclear Nonprolferation Treaty review conference that will begin on the 2nd of May at the United Nations..

Y12 enriched the uranium used in the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan, in August 1945. Y12 still being used-- upgrading and refurbishing the US nuclear arsenal.

Footprints for Peace, an Ohio based organization, has drawn together people from Australia, Japan and Europe, along with people from across the United States--including Indigenous peoples, religious leaders, Buddhist monks, students, artists and families—all joining to demonstrate their commitment to a nuclear-free world for future generations.

The Peace Walkers are carrying a letter from Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima and Director of Mayors for Peace, endorsing the walk and encouraging mayors along the walk’s route to become a part of Mayors for Peace campaign and join the effort to create a world free of nuclear weapons.

Footprints for Peace Australian organizer Marcus Atkinson:

While nuclear disarmament is something the world must achieve, we can only do it if we all work together to demand our leaders fulfill the promises made decades ago in the Nonproliferation Treaty.

We also need to use this time to look at the whole cycle of the nuclear industry. Nuclear weapons are the final product of an industry that has destroyed Indigenous people’s lands throughout the world, caused the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people and left whole cities uninhabitable.

There is no “peaceful use” of nuclear power, as the process from the very beginning of the cycle is so destructive. This walk will bring attention to all aspects of the nuclear industry and will be demanding progress on negotiations to create a nuclear weapons free world, while also creating debate on the nuclear industry as a whole.

Related News:

DMZ Hawai'i:Obama talks about ‘disarmament’ but seeks increased spending on nukes

The US-based NGO Email Action We've Been Waiting For: Just Foreign Policy Supports Democracy in Japan & Okinawa

(Photo: Just Foreign Policy website)

Just Foreign Policy, a US-based NGO, has initiated an email-action for US citizens who would like to support democracy in Japan:

Voters in Japan have spoken. They don't want the Futenma US military base in Okinawa. But instead of respecting the will of the majority of Japanese voters, US officials have tried to bully the newly elected reformist Japanese government into reneging on its election promise to remove the US military base from Okinawa.

Join us in urging President Obama and Congress to respect democracy in Japan.

The Article We've Been Waiting For--Christine Ahn & Gwyn Kirk: Democracy Thwarts U.S. Base Plans in Asia-Pacific

Two members of Women for Genuine Security, a US-based peace and justice NGO, Christine Ahn and Gwyn Kirk have written the article we've been waiting for--showing multiple linkages between democratic resistance to plans for a naval base in Jeju Island, South Korea and parallel plans for US military expansion in Okinawa and Guam.

They also demonstrate that a few more environmentally destructive bases will only damage, not enhance "genuine security" in the Asia-Pacific.

"Democracy Thwarts U.S. Base Plans"--posted at Foreign Policy in Focus:

This March, the Obamas will touch down in the U.S. territory of Guam, en route to Australia and Indonesia. It’s a big deal for this tiny Pacific island seven-and-a-half hours by plane from Hawaii and, according to airport placards, “where America’s day begins.” Two senators from Guam, Judith P. Guthertz and Rory J. Respicio, have already written to ask the president “to meet a few of your fellow Americans,” instead of the typical orchestrated “pit stop” behind the gates of Andersen Air Force Base.

Obama’s stop-over may be designed to smooth the difficult road ahead for the U.S. military. The Pentagon is shifting bases and soldiers in the Asia Pacific — not surprisingly, without consent of the residents of these countries. But it’s not just local people in Guam, South Korea, Okinawa, and elsewhere who are affected by the increased militarization of the region. The natural environment is at risk through military contamination and through the high military use of oil, an important factor in climate change.  

Guam-Okinawa Connection

The Bush administration made plans to shift 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa (Japan) to Guam. In addition to support staff, contractors and family members, the total number will be closer to 50,000 people.

This overall deal between the United States and Japan is estimated to cost $26 billion, with the tab largely picked up by Japan. According to the agreement, the Japanese government must fund a new state-of-the-art Marines base to be built alongside an endangered coral reef in Nago (northern Okinawa). This new facility would replace Futenma Marine Corps Air Station, which is currently situated in a dense urban area. The land would then return to Okinawa — presumably after the cleanup of environmental contamination — and 8,000 Marines would go to Guam.

Okinawans have been campaigning for years to be rid of U.S. bases, which were established at the end of World War II. These bases have been the source of noise and environmental pollution, accidents, and crime committed by U.S. soldiers, including violence against women and girls. In a 1998 referendum, Nago voters opposed the new base. When Japanese authorities tried to go ahead with the plan, activists took to their kayaks and fishing boats to block construction, and ultimately disrupted exploratory drilling of the coral reef. The Japanese government tried to find another location in Okinawa or even mainland Japan, but no community agreed to have the new Marines base in their area.

Despite the efforts of the two governments, democracy continues to get in the way of this multi-billion dollar deal between Washington and Tokyo.

On August 30, 2009, the patient and determined campaigning by the Japanese peace movement paid off. The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which promised to review the U.S.-Japan military alliance, defeated the ruling coalition that had been in power for over 50 years. Many of the newly elected representatives criticized Japanese acquiescence toward U.S. foreign policy; others resented U.S. “occupation mentality.” In response, both U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Obama made hasty visits to Tokyo, invoking the importance of the alliance and pressing the new government to keep the Okinawa-Guam deal afloat. But the tide of public opinion had turned; the Japanese media branded Gates a “bully” and bridled at such “high-handed treatment.”

The political momentum against the relocation of the U.S. Marines base has continued to build. At the end of January 2010, Nago voters elected a mayor who is also against the base. Japanese representatives came to Washington to meet with their congressional counterparts, while in Tokyo thousands protested the proposed Marines base, thus reopening what the military assumed was a done deal.

Resistance in Guam

Despite increasing opposition to the transfer of thousands of U.S. troops, the people of Guam are constrained in their ability to influence the political process. Since the Spanish-American War of 1898, the United States has controlled Guam (or Guåhan in the Chamorro language). With a population of 173,456 represented by one non-voting delegate in the U.S. Congress, the island is one of 16 remaining non-self-governing territories listed by the United Nations. Residents are U.S. citizens, but they are not entitled to vote in presidential elections. Most federal-territorial affairs are made in Washington, nearly 8,000 miles away.

The voices of the Guam Chamber of Commerce and other business leaders have been elevated in this process. In their view, the militarization of the island is the only viable boost to Guam’s weak economy. Contractors, from Washington, DC and Hawaii to the Philippines and Japan, are jockeying for a piece of the action. "On Capitol Hill, the conversation has been restricted to whether the jobs expected from the military construction should go to the mainland Americans, foreign workers or Guam residents," says Democracy Now reporter Juan Gonzalez. "But we rarely hear the voices and concerns of the indigenous people of Guam, who constitute over a third of the island’s population."

The U.S. military already takes up a third of the island. The additional troops will bring this up to 40 percent. Formed from two volcanoes, Guam’s rocky core constitutes an unsinkable aircraft carrier, 30 miles long and eight miles wide. Not only is the economy geared toward servicing the military, the bases are now occupying once productive land. Prior to WWII, Guam was self-sufficient in agriculture. Today, the island imports 90 percent of its food.

Listen to the People

Following the Nago election, The Washington Post quoted Lt. Gen. Keith J. Stalder, commander of U.S. Marine forces in the Pacific as saying, "National security policy cannot be made in towns and villages."

Really? Do national security and military objectives trump democracy?

Obama is both commander-in-chief of the U.S. military and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. His experience growing up in Hawaii and working as a community organizer also uniquely qualify him to listen to Guam senators and community members such as We Are Guåhan, a grassroots organization. We Are Guåhan include the voices of people from diverse ethnic and professional backgrounds, who advocate for transparency and democratic participation in decisions regarding the future of their island. Obama should hear their deep concerns about the impact of 50,000 extra people on their already weak infrastructure, fragile ecosystem, and island culture. These have been much expressed in town-hall meetings and in community responses to the military’s 11,000-page environmental impact statement.

Obama should also listen to respected historians like Hope Cristobal, a former Guam senator, and to women professional and community leaders active in Fuetsen Famalao’an, who came together out of concern over the military buildup. He should visit the Hurao School that teaches young children Chamorro language and culture. He should hear the Chamorro people’s deep love for their land as they seek to honor their ancestors and provide for their children.

The president should do more than just listen, of course. The Obama administration should rethink the expansion of bases in Okinawa, Guam, and South Korea. Washington has repeatedly stated that the transfer of 8,000 Marines to Guam will “reduce the burden” on Okinawa. So then why does the military want a new Marines base in Nago?  The United States should stop the building of yet another base in Okinawa and not redirect Okinawa’s burden to Guam.   

The Obama administration should do more by allocating a small fraction of the $700 billion-plus Pentagon budget to underwrite job training across the entire nation, including Guam. This money could provide residents of Guam with needed medical facilities, clean up contaminated water supplies (Andersen AFB sits on top of an underground aquifer), and provide for sustainable projects.

The U.S. Congress can also play a positive role by amending the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include Guam on the list of “downwind” areas affected by atmospheric nuclear testing in Micronesia in the 1950s. At the same time, Congress should support the Republic of the Marshall Islands Changed Circumstances Petition for adequate compensation for personal injuries, property damage, medical care, and radiological monitoring related to nuclear testing conducted in the Marshall Islands.   

Elsewhere in the region, the United States should rethink the imminent plan to build a new U.S. Navy base on Jeju Island in the southern part of Korea. Villagers of Gangjeong have resisted this construction by blocking roads until their arrest by South Korean police in January 2010.  This proposed base would house Aegis destroyers, outfitted with missile defense systems to target China. It would also destroy local people’s way of life and coral reefs designated by UNESCO as world heritage environmental sites.

More generally, the United States must commit to policies that support sustainable use of resources, rather than using military means to secure oil supplies and other scarce resources. The U.S. military is the greatest consumer of oil worldwide. It makes no sense to fight for oil so that the military can guzzle even more of it. Such a new policy on sustainable use of resources also requires Washington to move beyond the stalemate of the Copenhagen summit.

Obama: Be the change you promised. Someone has to have the courage to initiate a paradigm shift, using the Earth’s resources and people’s skills to provide for genuine security.

Global Art Project 2010: Artists Join Worldwide to Promote Tolerance and Non-violence

In times of conflict and misunderstanding, art provides a transformative and healing power that enables people to overcome personal and interpersonal divides.

Art has also supplied the glue that bonds friendships together that may never had stuck without it. To that effect, the Biennial Global Art Project has been providing a common canvas for friendship building and mutual understanding for eight years. The ninth GAP facilitated art exchange will take place in March and April 2010.

Nominated for a UNESCO Peace Prize for Tolerance and Non-violence, GAP matches artists (professional or amateur, performing or visual, individual or groups) with like-minded people from other countries. In March, each participant creates a piece of artwork to be exchanged by mail with an overseas match, resulting in thousands of messages of peace and goodwill simultaneously encircling the Earth during the week of April 23-30th. The works of art are then displayed locally with the purposes of promoting tolerance and friendship across cultural divides. Check out previous galleries or order prints of previous art work by clicking here.

Over 90,000 people have already participated in GAP worldwide, including people in Japan:

• Children from a small, private English conversation school in Yasu, Shiga created a group artwork using traditional Japanese katasome paper. The work was then exchanged with a Visual Arts League in New York, USA.
  
  
• A group from the International Division of Mino, Osaka’s Community Education Center used washi paper for their collage in their exchange with a high school the U.S. Yoko Matsuda of Osaka said that although the members of her group had no art training whatsoever, they decided to participate because they were impressed by GAP’s message of global unity.
  
  
• A troupe of 80 dancers called the International Dance Network choreographed and recorded a performance for exchange.
• 280 people represented Hiroshima, a city which serves as a symbol of peace, reconciliation, and healing after the path of non-violence it chose after surviving U.S. atomic attack, with their submission of an art project for peace.
  
  

This is a piece of artwork created in 2008 by students at Tainan Community University in Tainan City, Taiwan. For more information, click here.

Shiga resident Gwyn Helverson, a repeat participant in the Global Art Project, explains how GAP removes barriers by opening the world of art to all peoples:

The great thing about GAP is that it actually bridges gaps. A participant’s desire for peace; to promote peace in the world, takes on a tangible form in a work of art. Then by exchanging that art, a bridge is created which links them with other participants. Over the years I’ve tried to ‘bridge the gap with GAP’ by exchanging mini-art books of illustrated poetry with people who’ve painted, collaged, or lithographed their hopes for peace onto paper.

Other participants who say they don’t really consider themselves artists have created all kinds of art (such as seed balls or origami cranes) for the exchange. It is always amazing fun to see with whom you’ve been matched, and finally, to open the surprise present that is their artwork. Then it’s put on display-not just for you but for everyone- in the name of peace.

Persons or groups involved with the arts, languages, peace studies, or volunteer work may be interested in participating in the Global Art Project. To join in a multicultural celebration of global peace and goodwill through art, to find out how to volunteer, or simply for more information, including on-line registration can be found at www.globalartproject.org or email peace@globalartproject.org.

2010 Global Art Project for Peace Time-Line

• February 28: Registration deadline.

• March: Creation of art expressing global peace (any medium-visual, literary, performance, etc.)

• April 1-22: Local community exhibitions/performances of art created.

• April 23-30: Worldwide art exchange.

• Ongoing after April: Community exhibitions of art received.

-Posted by Jen Teeter

A Planetary View, a Close View, & Sounds of Guahan

Guam's location on our planet. For a larger image, click university.uog.edu/botany/474/GE/Guam-in-Pacific.jpg.

Patch Reef in Guam.

Before learning news of the planned military build-up there, the only thing I knew about Guam was that it was a beautiful, small island that Japanese tourists like to visit and that there were some US military bases there. No idea that these bases covered 1/3 of the island.

A young artist who lives in Guam commented at this blog, "So much of it is fenced up. The wonders and beauty behind the fence are shoved in our face, but kept out of reach.

"All the land on Guam has significant and historical value.

"There are beautiful beaches and archeological sites inside the fences. There is even an endangered tree, Hayun Lagu (Serianthes Nelsonii), that is only found there. One tree on the whole island and it is in that fence."

This island turned into a military base is the largest and southernmost island in the Mariana archipelago in the western North Pacific Ocean.

Of volcanic origin, Guam (206 square miles) is surrounded by coral reef and a flat imestone plateau that is the source of most of the island's fresh water. There are with steep coastal cliffs and narrow coastal plains in the north, soft hills in the middle, and mountains in the south.

The indigenous people are the Chamorro, who came to the island 4,000 years ago, and their name for their island is "Guahan."

Origin of the Belembaotuyan from Guampedia on Vimeo.

The Guampedia website reveals much more about Guahan's long, rich history and culture, arts, and music. There are photos of young children venerating elders and people whose smiles reveal they know joy in life. There's a video telling the Chamoru creation story and stories of suffering during World World II.

Learning of the decency and humanity of Guahan traditional values and the creative genius of the culture, hearing the sounds of the Belembaotuyan and Chamorro voices, I feel like a new window inside of me has been suddenly opened, and my own humanity has gotten larger.

My favorite work in American literature is Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird --a central theme is that it's a sin to destroy what is natural and beautiful in our world. That's how I see fencing and destroying Guahan (and Okinawa and Jeju Island)--and other places of irreplaceable natural biodiversity, history, and indigenous and traditional cultures throughout our world that are also under the gun of neoliberal destruction: Hawai'i, Tibet, the Appalachians (the oldest mountains in North America), Sakhalin, the ancient cities (Kashgar) and regions (Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan...) of the Silk Roads (now the Oil Roads), the Amazon, the Boreal Forest in Canada (the Amazon of the North)...


-- Jean Downey (Originally posted in February 10, 2010)

2010 Re-Invasion of Guam by a Monstrous Fish (military construction contractors) in the Pacific Pond -- as seen by a young Guamanian artist

Some insightful and beautiful posts from a soulful young Guamanian artist's blog: Waiting for Wonderland:

"Found in Wonderland; the invasion of Guam?" comments on a wartime photograph that appears to ominously reveal the US government's real intent for Guam--not just liberation from the Japanese Imperial military and temporary use as an Allied base during the rest of the Pacific War--but also for use as a permanent site for US military bases.

Invasion???

I'm sorry, but I thought we were LIBERATED.

Now I'm just confused.

The second post: "Sleepless in Wonderland: The Real Big Fish:"

As a child growing up on Guam, I heard many legends. Some I learned at school and some my parents told me. One legend that has been on my mind this past month, is the legend of thebig fish that ate Guam. You remember the legend, don't you? It explains why Guam is so narrow in the middle. As I was told, many many years ago a very large fish was eating away at our island. Many strong men tried to stop the fish, but none succeeded. At this time, the young women of Guam had beautiful long hair. One day the women decided to weave their hair in to a net. With the net made from their hair the women caught the big fish and saved the land and people from the monstrous fish.

The reason this legend has been on my mind, is because I've been looking at many maps of Guam recently. Yes, our island is narrow in the middle, but I've also noticed that there are many parts of our island that is innaccessible to the people of Guam. It's as if the big fish has returned. This big fish is feasting on the graves of our ancestors and land that is lush and beautiful. Sometimes this big fish spits out the the land, returning it to us, but by that time much of the land is contaminated.

What will our island look like 4 years from now? How much of it will be contaminated by the big fish? Where will we be 20 years from now? Will we be telling our grandchildren the story of the fish that annhilated our island?


We must gather together, like the women in the original legend, to defend our home, before there is nothing left to defend.

This is an image of Guam, with the areas our new big fish has eaten photo shopped out, by Nella. Remember much of the "eaten land" is coastal. This was created from a map of Guam that showed DOD (US Dept. of Defense) land as of 1991. I had a hard time finding a more current map.

Martin Frid: Dali, Hiroshima, & Okinawa

Spanish artist Salvador Dali was deeply terrified by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and his exact, detailed style was very much suited to show the horror of the A-bomb, which the U.S. government tried to keep a secret by classifying photos and descriptions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki until the end of the U.S. military occupation of Japan in 1952. (The Bureau of Atomic Tourism has more details if you want to know more about the legacy of nuclear weapons in the U.S.)


Even today, do people understand the real horror of atomic bombs? If not, then, why not?


Dali's paintings are on display in Fukushima prefecture, where you can view Melancholy Atomic and Uranium Idyll and The Three Sphinxes of Bikini at the Morohashi Museum of Modern Art.

This video from the Nihon University (Nichidai) channel features an interview with Morohashi Eiji, the son of the founder of the unique museum, and scenes from the Morohashi Museum (29:20):#271美術館への誘い ダリの世界

Is there a hidden message in Dali's 1947 Bikini hydrogen bomb painting? Morohashi Eiji has the details in the video interview ( around 12:30-14:00).

Wishing to find out more about Dali's inspiration around this time: The Triangle offers this quote:

During the post World War II era, Dali found new inspiration in the person and the ideas of Werner Heisenberg and his Uncertainty Principle. Along with this came a renewed interest in spirituality for which Dali coined a new term: "Nuclear Mysticism". In his "Anti-Matter Manifesto" of 1958 Dali wrote: "In the Surrealist period I wanted to create the iconography of the interior world and the world of the marvelous, of my father Freud. Today the exterior world and that of physics, has transcended the one of psychology. My father today is Dr. Heisenberg."

Dali Planet notes:

The atomic bomb that levelled Hiroshima in 1945 had an enormous impact on Dali’s way of looking at the world. He was certainly among the first artists to recognise that the arrival of the nuclear age had fundamentally altered man’s perception of nature. In the decades to come Dali immersed himself in physics and produced dozens of works depicting objects exploded into their component particles.

In the year of Hiroshima he painted “Melancholy Atomic and Uranium Idyll”... In a bombed bunker intermingling atoms and electrons seem to draw a connection between aerial assault and baseball, one critic noting that the New York Yankees were known as the Bronx Bombers.

Dali also sculpted a statue, 'The Sun God Rising In Okinawa," to express his wish for peace and healing for Okinawa.


When it was loaned to Urasoe City Museum in Okinawa for a 2008 exhibition, people called upon the owner to give it to the prefecture permanently. (Photo from Okinawa daisuki na ningen)

Strange, but I cannot think of even a single American artist who compare to Salvador Dali. Is there even one man or woman who stood up and made a case against nuclear weapons?

Classified Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by Hiroko Takahashi (pdf)

Written by Martin J. Frid and originally posted at Kurashi News from Japan. http://martinjapan.blogspot.com/2010/01/salvador-dali-hiroshima-and-okinawa.html

(Co-blogger and reader of Kurashi, Pandabonium responded that African American visual artist Jacob Lawrence did a series of prints entitled "Hiroshima" accompanied by text by John Hersey. )

Voices from Vanessa Warheit's The Insular Empire: America in the Marianas

From Vanessa Warheit's lively blog on her film and related resistance to the proposed US military expansion in Guam: a glimpse of poignant stories of older men in Guam--pulled into the US military-industrial complex there during their youth (working as golf caddies and gate guards).

Hafa Adai, Mr. President! Can we have Guam, Okinawa, Jeju Island, & Vicenza back, please?

At her blog at the The Insular Empire: America in the Marianas website, filmmaker Vanessa Warheit connects the dots between last weekend's huge protest against US military bases in Okinawa and Japan and resistance by Guamanians who don't want US military expansion on their island (1/3 of the island is already covered by US bases):

Marianas Variety just published an article on Obama's upcoming visit to Guam. The fact that the US President has decided to fly 9000 miles to visit the Marianas is HUGE news... and speaks to how vital these tiny islands are to America's global strategy.

On the same day, the Associated Press reported this story about thousands of protestors in Tokyo (not Okinawa - Tokyo), asking the US military to GO HOME.

Something tells me these two things are related.

The real question now is: how do we get Obama to watch The Insular Empire? I've read Obama's book Dreams From My Father, and I really believe that Obama understands, first-hand, what it means to be colonized. I'd like to believe that if he understood the Marianas' colonial history, he'd start doing something to help the people of Guam - and the Northern Marianaas - achieve true self-determination.

Meanwhile, there are more dots in this global picture of popular democratic resistance to the expansion of US military bases--there are already over 1,000 US military bases throughout the world.

At Jeju Island, a biodiverse World Heritage site south of the Korean peninsula, villagers at Gangjeong are now experiencing a month of respite after days and nights of protests protesting the confiscation and destruction of their tangerine groves and the coral reef off their pristine coastline.

They're waiting for a court decision on whether South Korea can proceed with the construction of a naval base intended to port U.S. and South Korean Aegis destroyers outfitted with missile defense systems that the villagers say will be used to surround China's coast--potentially making their once peaceful island a target if hostilities break out.

And at the same time--In northern Italy, local residents and their supporters are continuing protests against the expansion of the US military base in the historic city of Vicenza. New video footage at Bruce Gagnon's blog shows Italian protesters entering the Dal Molin site and hanging rainbow flags from cranes and other equipment. This nonviolent protest comes near the two-year anniversary of a march attended by tens of thousands of people to oppose US plans to double the size of the Vicenza base.

Here's a message from tens of thousands of Vicenza residents and other Italians who make up the "No Dal Molin" movement to President Obama--asking him to leave their city alone--not because of "anti-Americanism." They just don't want their city destroyed and polluted by a military base.

Video of Jan. 30 rally in Tokyo against US military bases in Okinawa

From Satoko Norimatsu's Peace Philosophy Centre blog:



Slogans in this video are:

"We don't need Futenma Base!"
"We won't allow construction of a new base!"
"We don't need a base in Henoko!"
"U.S. bases, leave Okinawa!"
"We will take back the peaceful island!"

Read Kim Hughes' report on the Tokyo rally (and the next day's US FOR OKINAWA rally) at this link.

Background & Update on Bat Nha Monastery by Velcrow Ripper

(Courtesy of Helpbatnha.org)

Filmmaker Velcrow Ripper made this beautiful short film to provide background and an update on the status of Bat Nha Monastery, created by Thich Nhat Hanh in the tradition of Plum Village--when the Zen master made his historic return to Vietnam in 2005.

The monastery flourished, until late 2008, when the Vietnamese government began a renewed attack on the freedom of religion (Christians are also being persecuted, along with Buddhists). Hired thugs brutalized and intimidated Bat Nha sangha members, forcing them to leave the monastery.

Throughout the world, supporters of human rights and the free expression of religion are encouraging the Vietnamese government to end its persecution of Christians and Buddhists.

The international spiritual leader introduces this short film at the Plum Village website:

Dear friends,

Let us continue to send our energy of practice, our peace and calm to the Bat Nha Brothers and Sisters who are still under surveillance and without a clear resolution to their situation.

Sangha Brother Velcrow Ripper has made this little film as a prayer to our BN Monastics.

Let us also send our energy to the Abbot of Phuoc Hue Temple and his Sangha who has compassionately taken our young brothers and sisters in for refuge; to the many lay friends and supporters of Bao Loc who are fearlessly bringing food and coming to help with cooking and bringing the sick to the hospital at the risk of persecution; and to our elder Brothers Phap Hoi, Phap Sy, and Phap Tu, who can not return to their Bat Nha Community of younger monks and nuns; and to all beings who are still covered in the cloud of misunderstanding and suspicion.

Love is born from understanding – understanding the suffering of the other person, his or her suffering and deep aspiration; and that understanding brings about true love. And in order to understand, we must have the time to look deeply and to listen deeply.

- Thich Nhat Hanh

The short film is taken from clips from (Velcrow Ripper's feature documentary, "Fierce Light: Where Spirit Meets Action" which tells more about Hahn's journey from Vietnam to Plum Village in France and his return visit to Vietnam, along with other stories of inspired nonviolent action.)

--Jean Downey