Editing, excerpting, notes by Carolyn Bennett
“Abolishing foreign military bases around the world and working toward demilitarization is essential in the struggle against war ─ one step to establishing another world that is possible and necessary,” asserts the International Network for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases.
Bringing home the case are foreign military bases in Afghanistan and Iraq, torture at the bases in Guantanamo [Cuba] and Diego Garcia [Indian Ocean], construction of new bases in Okinawa [Japan], ‘realignment’ of military alliances in Asia, dramatic increases in joint military exercises ─ as part of the so-called ‘global war against terror.’ These acts of aggression and occupation demonstrate how foreign military bases, other forms of military presence, and militarization of whole societies are being used to secure the interests of particular states and corporations ─ to the detriment of democracy, justice, and sovereignty around the world.
“Another world will not be possible,” the Network continues, “without abolishing these bases and demilitarizing global and national societies.…
“Around the world, communities, social movements, women’s organizations, political parties, environmental groups, intellectuals and religious groups have been campaigning in various ways through the years against foreign military presence, militarization, and military interventions. In some cases, such efforts have taken the form of specific single-issue campaigns. In others, the campaign has been part of broader movements for independence and social justice.
“For these campaigns, the issue of foreign military presence has served as a rallying and unifying cause that has driven grassroots organizing, educational campaigns, and political mobilization. In a number of places, notably in the Philippines or in Puerto Rico, popular movements against foreign bases succeeded in adding to the social pressure that led to the termination of basing agreements with the United States. Even then, campaigns to force the U.S. to clean up the toxic legacy of their vacated military bases continue. In many places, such as Korea or Japan, the campaigns have been going on for generations. In others, such as Ecuador, Paraguay, Uzbekistan or Bulgaria, the struggle has only recently begun.
“Until 2004, most of these movements and campaigns have been mostly local or national in character ─ even if the reach of foreign military presence itself is global. While often very vibrant and dynamic, these movements were often isolated and disparate.
“Given the similar tactics the U.S. uses to guarantee its military presence, as well as the similar experiences of those hosting them, much can be gained from greater and deeper linkages among local and national campaigns and movements across the globe.
“Local groups around the world can learn and benefit from sharing information, experiences, and strategies with each other.…
“Globally coordinated actions and campaigns can highlight the reach and scale of the resistance to foreign military presence around the world. With the trend of rising militarization and resort to the use of force around the world, there is now an urgent and compelling need to establish and strengthen an international network of campaigners, organizations, and movements working with a special and strategic focus on foreign military presence and, ultimately, working towards a lasting and just system of peace.
“…In an international anti-war meeting in Jakarta in May 2003, just a few weeks after the start of the invasion of Iraq, a global campaign against military bases was proposed as a priority action of the global anti-war and justice and solidarity movements.…
“A project to comprehensively map the locations and forms of foreign military installations around the world is currently in full operation. Efforts to organize and expand the Network are also ongoing, with workshops and seminars on foreign military bases now a regular presence in various Social Forums such as the European Social Forum in Paris in 2003 and in London in 2004, the Americas Social Forum in Ecuador in August 2004 and the Mediterranean Social Forum in Spain 2005.
“One of the biggest gatherings of anti-bases activists … has been the series of workshops on military bases held at the World Social Forum in India in January 2004. …One year after the gathering in Mumbai, four sessions were organized by the Network during the World Social Forum in Por to Alegre, Brazil. The sessions managed to draw in new participants, and exchange updated analyses between Network members. …”
This past week, Marc Becker reported to Free Speech Radio News from Asuncion, Paraguay, “Ten thousand people gathered in Paraguay for the Americas Social Forum,” part of World Social forums that began as civil society’s response to neoliberal economic policies and militarization. “Even under sympathetic ‘leftist’ governments, the struggle for demilitarization in Latin America remains a key issue at World Social forums.”
Sources and notes
Free Speech Radio News, Marc Becker reported from Asuncion, Paraguay, August 16, 2010, http://www.fsrn.org/audio/americas-social-forum-targets-militarization-latin-america/7325
No Bases, The international network for the abolition of foreign military bases
http://www.no-bases.org/, March 2007, Call to an international gathering for the abolition of all foreign military bases, Ecuador, March 5 - 9, 2007
NO BASES NETWORK
International Network for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases
No Bases Coalition Ecuador
American Friends Service Committee (USA) Asian Peace Alliance - Japan
Bangladesh Krishok Federation Bangladesh Sramajibi Kendra (Bangladesh)
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK) Focus on the Global South (Filipinas)
Campaña por la Desmilitarización de las Américas (CADA) For Mother Earth (Belgium)
Fellowship for Reconciliation (US) Gathering for Peace (The Philippines)
Japan Peace Committee (Japan) LALIT (Diego Garcia / Mauritius)
Movimiento cubano por la Paz y la Soberanía (Cuba) Nonviolence International (US)
Pakistan Peace Coalition (Pakistan) SEATINI (South Africa)
People's Task Force for Bases Clean-Up (Philippines) Stop the War Coalition (Greece)
Transnational Institute US Peace Council (US)
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/American_Empire/NO_BASES_Network.html
“The Americas Social Forum (ASF) is part of the World Social Forum (WSF) process initiated in 2001 and has become the largest space for the articulation of social initiatives, the development of critical thinking, and the construction of alternatives to the neoliberal order, under the common belief that ‘Another World is Possible,’” http://www.forosocialamericas.org/the-americas-social-forum
Britannica notes:
Diego Garcia is the largest and southernmost member of the Chagos Archipelago in the central Indian Ocean. It occupies an area of about 10.5 square miles (27 square km) and has a waterway that is open at the north end. In the late 1990s, islanders from the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia, sued for the right to return home. In 2000, a British court ruled that the 1971 ordinance banning them from the islands was unlawful. U.S. and British officials fought attempts for resettlement. In 2003, a British court rejected the islanders’ lawsuit.
Jakarta whose area is 256 square miles (664 square km), estimated. Population 9,604,900, was formerly (until 1949) Batavia or (1949–72) Djakarta. It is the largest city and capital of Indonesia. Coextensive with the metropolitan district of Jakarta Raya, it lies at the mouth of the Ciliwung (Liwung River) on the northwest coast of Java. Jakarta has long been a major trade and financial center and has become an important industrial city and a center for education.
Pôrto Alegre city, the capital of the Rio Grande do Sul state, is in southern Brazil. Pôrto Alegre lies near the Atlantic Ocean coast at the northern end of the freshwater Patos Lagoon [shallow connecting waterway] along an arm of the lagoon known as the Guaíba River. The city sits at the junction of five short but deep rivers that flow into the Patos Lagoon. Colonists from the Azores [Portuguese in North Atlantic] founded it in 1742–43, first known as Pôrto dos Casais (or Pôrto dos Cazaes). German immigrants settled near the site in 1825 and Italian settlers followed. The administrative centre of Rio Grande do Sul moved in 1773 from Rio Grande to Pôrto Alegre, officially becoming the state capital in 1807.
Rio Grande is a port city of southeastern Rio Grande do Sul estado (state) in southern Brazil. The city lies along the Rio Grande (river), which is the outlet to the Atlantic Ocean of the Patos Lagoon. Rio Grande sits on a low peninsula, barely 5 feet (1.5 metres) above sea level and 8 miles (13 km) from the river’s mouth.
Geographical and geopolitical notes (2008) Encyclopedia Britannica Deluxe Edition. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica
No comments:
Post a Comment