(Re)Collection
A WGS Quarterly Publication

If you can't see the video, visit link below.
http://current.com/items/88967762_suffering_without_suffrage

HAWAII

The US Role in Iraq: Can an Occupier Become a Peacemaker?
Friday, May 23 2008
University of Hawai'i
A talk by Iraqi political analyst Raed Jarrar, with a response from Jon Osorio, director of UH Center for Hawaiian Studies. Raed Jarrar is an Iraqi political analyst and consultant to AFSC's Iraq Program currently based in Washington D.C. After the U.S.-led invasion, Jarrar became the country director for CIVIC Worldwide, the only door-to-door casualty survey group in post-war Iraq. He also hosts a blog (www.raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com). This dialogue drew parallels between the present war and occupation in Iraq and the U.S. invasion and occupation of Hawai'I, which began more than a century ago.

IRAQ

Luxury Hotels and Golf: Welcome to the Green Zone
The Guardian/UK
by Michael Howard
May 6, 2008
Picture, if you will, a tree-lined plaza in Baghdad's International Village, flanked by fashion boutiques, swanky cafes, and shiny glass office towers…[This] $5bn (£2.5bn) tourism and development scheme for the Green Zone being hatched by the Pentagon and an international investment consortium would give the heavily fortified area on the banks of the Tigris a "dream" makeover that will become a magnet for Iraqis, tourists, business people and investors. About half of the area is now occupied by coalition forces, the US state department or private foreign companies.

U.S. sailor indicted for murder
April 25, 2008
The Asahi Simbun
YOKOHAMA--U.S. Navy seaman Olatunboson Ugbogu, 22, was indicted Thursday for murder-robbery in connection with the March 19 stabbing death of a taxi driver in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. Ugbogu, a Nigerian national, has admitted to stabbing Masaaki Takahashi, 61, after a taxi ride from Shinagawa in Tokyo.

U.S. airman in Japan arrested, accused of groping woman
Associated Press
May 2, 2008
Japanese police say a U.S. serviceman has been accused of sexually assaulting a Japanese woman. Police say James Littlejohn, a 22-year-old Airman 1st Class at an air base in northern Japan, was arrested today on charges of groping a 19-year-old woman while she was walking home. A police spokesman says Littlejohn fled in his car, but was taken into custody after police stopped the vehicle based on a description from the woman.

Japan passes law allowing military use of space
By Yoko Kubota
Wed May 21, 2008
Japan passed a law on Wednesday allowing military use of space, ending a decades-old pacifist policy as it casts a wary eye on North Korea's nuclear ambitions and China's rising spending on its armed forces.

Japan may end Iraq military mission in 2009-media
May 25, 2008
REUTERS
Japan may end its supply support mission for U.S.-led forces in Iraq next year, partly because of objections from the powerful opposition, according to media reports on Monday. This is due to Japan’s pacifist constitution to expire in July 2009.

Victims Finally Learning to Speak Out Against Japan's Outdated Rape Laws
By Karryn Cartelle
Tokyo, Japan
For the last six years, “Jane,” a survivor of rape in Japan, has been fighting to change the way Japan deals with its rape victims. She has recently broken her media silence and, in the past several months, held numerous press conferences and spoken to crowds of thousands of activists. Yet until Japan’s century-old laws are changed and the support network for victims improves, women like Jane will be forced to watch their attackers walk free while enduring what amounts to a second assault by the criminal justice system.

KOREA

1950 Korea Mass Killings
Associated Press
This series of photographs by the U.S. Army, provided by the U.S. National Archives in College Park, Md., on Monday, May 5, 2008, is one of a series of declassified images depicting the summary execution of South Korean political prisoners by the South Korean military and police at Daejeon, South Korea, over several days in July 1950.

LATIN AMERICA
U.S. Navy Depoloys Around Latin America
By Lamia Oualalou
Truthout
April 28 2008
Choosing to confront the rise in power of left-leaning governments in its backyard, the United States is recreating the Fourth Fleet. Based in Mayport, Florida, the fleet will operate under the double orders of the American Navy and the Army's Southern Command, responsible for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Ecuador Opposes Outpost in American War on Drugs
By SIMON ROMERO
May 12, 2008
Manta Journal
The American air station in Manta is a critical component in the war on drugs in the Andes. The 180 service members based here conduct about 100 flights a month over the Pacific looking for drug boats from Colombia, the source of about 90 percent of the cocaine used in the United States.

MARSHALL ISLANDS

U.S. congressman: We must make good obligation to nuclear test victims
April 1, 2008
By Giff Johnson
Variety News Staff
An American congressman visiting the Marshall Islands last week, Delegate Eni Faleomavaega, D-American Samoa and chairman of the House International Relations Subcommittee on Asia, Pacific and the Global Environment, said the U.S. government needs to “make good” on its obligations to compensate nuclear test victims in this western Pacific nation and asked island leaders to provide him with evidence to convince the U.S. Congress to provide more funding for compensation, health care and radiation cleanups.

Congressional Staff Prevents GAO from Issuing Final Report on Federalization Legislation
APRIL 2, 2008
Press Release
Governor Fitial authorizes authorizes release of legal comments on the report “Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands: Pending Legislation Would Apply U.S. Immigration Law to the CNMI with a Transition Period (GAO-08-466)” to the public.

PHILIPPINES

Anti-rape/anti-VFA Activists Urge CA not to Yield to Pressure on Smith-Call for Letter of Solidarity
By Yuen Abana, Lotlot Requizo, Pangging Santos
Members of Task Force Subic Rape (TFSR) went back to the streets to pressure Court of Appeals to ask the justices not to yield to pressure to acquit L/Cpl Daniel John Smith, who was found guilty of raping a 21 year-old Filipina in 2005. Kaisa Ka calls for letters of solidarity.

KAISA KA to hold National Congress -- Call for Support
Corazon D. Requizo
March 2008
KAISA KA, a radical women’s group in the Philippines fighting for social justice and societal transformation, plans to hold its first National Congress. This congress will take three days and attendees will have to come from as far away as Zamboanga and Davao. They are currently seeking international support for food, transportation, and rental expenses.

RIP Ka Bel, Representative of the Working Class
By Emmi DeJesus
The 75-year-old Beltran, also knows as Ka Bel died on May 20, 2008. He was a long time trade unionist and chairman of the Kilusang Mayo Uno before he became representative of Anakpawis party-list. He was arrested by the Arroyo regime in Febuary 25, 2006 for protesting at the Bataan Export Processing Zones, but granted temporary liberty on June 2007.

USA

Silenced in the Barracks: The Pentagon fails to protect US troops from sexual abuse
Jessica Pupovac
March 3, 2008
In These Times
In 2003, a firestorm of media reports and investigations, prompted by an anonymous whistleblower at the Air Force Academy, exposed the prevalence of sexual assault in the armed forces and its training centers. That same year, the results of a study conducted by Dr. Anne Sadler of the Iowa City VA Medical Center found 28 percent of female veterans having suffered military sexual trauma (MST) while on active duty.

DVD Release: Iraqi Women: An Interview with Nadje Al-Ali
Iraq seen through the experiences and history of Iraqi Women
March 31, 2008
Wild Iris Media is proud to present Iraqi Women: An Interview with Nadje Al-Ali, a film about Iraqi society and Iraqi women that clarifies the underlying causes of today's violence against the women of Iraq. Based on an interview with sociologist Nadje Al-Ali, author of Iraqi Women: Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present, this 44 minute DVD is a discussion of Iraq , its history and culture as it relates to women, and is suitable for all audiences including schools.
Contact: David Perasso
Tel. 1-206-417-0440
Email: dp@wildirismedia.com

Longshoremen to close ports on West Coast to protest war (occupation)
By Jack Heyman
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Last week's New York Times/CBS News poll indicated that 81 percent believe the country is headed in the wrong direction - key concerns being the war and the economy - the war machine inexorably grinds on. Amid this political atmosphere, dockworkers of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union decided to stop working for eight hours in all U.S. West Coast ports on May 1, International Workers' Day, to call for an end to the war.

End Foreign Bases
April 17, 2008
American Friends Service Committee, Veterans for Peace, and American Legion Post 315
The United States maintains more than 737 publicly recognized military bases as well as hundreds of secret bases and installations in 140 countries around the world. Special guest speakers were Andrea Licata, Italian editor and organizer, and Sabina Perez, a cultural activist in Guam and the Bay Area, to discuss the impact of US militarism on civilian communities throughout the world.

Immigrant Troops Important to Military
By Keith Morelli
The Tampa Tribune
Published: April 18, 2008
This article explores the role of immigration and militarism. Some facts shared include, but not limited to: Their numbers amount to about 7 percent of the U.S. military and more than 660,000 people have been granted citizenship in the past 146 years because of military service, CNA said. This article also illuminates Arturo Huerta-Cruz's experience who died in a blast about 100 miles north of Baghdad, the second Bay area resident who wasn't a U.S. citizen to die in action in Iraq.

Senate Passes the Veterans Benefits Enhancement Act of 2007: Provides benefits for Filipino Veterans
By Kawika Riley
Blackanthem Military News
Apr 26, 2008
After defeating Senator Burr's Amendment to remove benefits for Filipino WWII Veterans, the US Senate voted 96-1 to pass S. 1315, the Veterans Benefits Enhancement Act of 2007. would provide a veterans' pension to Filipino veterans of World War II residing in the U.S. and in the Philippines. Under the proposed bill, veterans residing in the Philippines would receive a smaller pension than those residing in the U.S., to account for differences in cost-of-living in the two countries.

Post-War Suicides Exceed Combat Deaths, U.S. Says (Update 1)
May 5th, 2008
The number of suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care, the U.S. government's top psychiatric researcher said.

U.S. Military Launches Alternative-Fuel Push: Dependence on Oil Seen as Too Risky; B-1 Takes Test Flight
By YOCHI J. DREAZEN
May 21, 2008
With fuel prices soaring, the U.S. military, the country's largest single consumer of oil, is turning into an alternative-fuels pioneer.

Chevron: Fueling Wars and ABusing Human Rights & the Environment
BY FACES
WEDS, May 28, 7-10:30 am. Click link to see other events pertaining to this issue.
Join FACES, local Richmond groups, Ecuadorian, Nigerian and other international communities and tell Chevron Executives and Shareholders: WE DEMAND PEACE, CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS at Chevron World Headquarters, 6001 Bollinger Canyon Road, San Ramon, CA. FACES For questions, please contact: aileensuzara@ gmail.com, 808-896-7299.

4th Annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival
June 13 to 15, 2008
By Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (QWOCMAP)
30 brand new films burst on screen in 4 film programs that showcase queer women of color in and our communities in San Francisco.

Yes on Prop F/Stop the land grabs in Black communities everywhere
By Bay View National Black Newspaper
May 21, 2008
Stop land grabs in Black communities everywhere! Spread the word to San Francisco voters: On Tuesday, June 3, vote YES on F (Prop Fairness), NO on G (Prop Greed)!