Women's Int. League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF) Message of Solidarity to Villagers of Jeju Island

WILPF message of solidarity to the villagers of Jeju Island | August 17, 2011

From its International Congress in San José, Costa Rica, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) expresses solidarity with the people of Ganjeong on Jeju Island, South Korea in their struggle to stop the construction of the naval base.

Military bases are a visible structure of militarism and imperialism; they waste economic resources of the “home” country and destroy environmental, social, political, and financial resources of the “host” country; and they undermine the lives and livelihoods of local people. Violence against women and girls around military bases is a particularly aggravated problem that results from the interconnections of militarism, imperialism, racism, and sexism. Overseas bases also undermine more constructive forms international cooperation and engagement and perpetuate militarism and military spending.

On 6 August 2011, WILPF lends its voice to the local villagers and their international supporters standing up to the power of the military to protect their homes, livelihoods, the environment, and peace. On a day that we have marked every year since 1945, deploring that the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, we take strength in knowing that the struggle for peace and against militarism continues all over the world.

For more information about the proposed naval base and Jeju Island, please see www.savejejuisland.org.