Women for Genuine Security Statement on Syria and Militarisms

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September 11, 2013
Women for Genuine Security works toward the creation of a society free of militarism, violence, and all forms of exploitation. We affirm the safety, well-being, and long-term sustainability of all peoples. We advocate for nonviolent solutions to the violence in Syria. We believe that violence begets more violence, and that alternatives are urgently needed. Despite the push by the Obama administration to use military force to secure peace in the region as an ultimatum should peace talks not work, we stand with the larger U.S. public who opposes military intervention. We believe that non-violent solutions are not an alternative, but rather, the decisive way to encourage international peace. Read more…

Military Sexual Violence Beyond the U.S.

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by Gwyn Kirk
Originally Posted on the Oregon WAND
August 22, 2013

I believe that no woman should be a victim of rape or sexual assault. So it’s been heartening, this summer, to see women speaking out about the epidemic of military sexual violence and demanding change. Their testimonies and official complaints, lawsuits against Pentagon top brass, media reports, Congressional hearings, and an award-winning documentary, The Invisible War, have all forced this issue into the spotlight.

Read more at http://www.oregonwand.org/blog

Sign on to the Demand the Right to Heal Campaign

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[From the Right to Heal website.]

Petition for a hearing on the human rights impacts of U.S. wars

Iraqis and U.S. military veterans are coming together to hold the U.S. government accountable for the lasting effects of war and to demand the right to heal.

Iraq Veterans Against the War, the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq, represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights, are working together to highlight the lack of accountability for the serious, widespread, and ongoing human rights violations of Iraqis, Afghans, and U.S. military veterans, from more than ten years of U.S. war with the Right to Heal Initiative. Read more…

Women and militarisms: Culture of denial: historical forgetting and making of a national memory

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by Ikehara Ariko, Ginoza Ayano

A part analysis and reflection piece written by two women of Okinawan heritage about the recent statement made by Toru Hashimoto, the mayor of Osaka, regarding his public statement on the issue of “comfort women” and the current situation on US military sexual assaults in Okinawa.

On May 13, 2013, the mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, made a deplorable comment about the necessity of a prostitution system in Okinawa and asked US military officials to enact such a policy in order to “take control of the libidinous energy of the US Marines stationed in Okinawa.” There is a colonial impulse and imperial undercurrent running through his statement. Okinawa has been shouldering the burden of the legacy of WWII by hosting approximately 75% of US bases in Japan today, which is a precarious situation after being occupied by the US military from 1946 ~ 1972, and reinstituting its governance as part of Japan in 1972. The current focus by the media on the rise of military-related sexual assault is not new. On the contrary, the problem has been going on in Okinawa since 1945 as reported by the Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence, which was established in 1995 after the highly publicized rape case of a 12-year-old girl by three service men in Okinawa[1]. Furthermore, the Osprey deployment to Okinawa, not mainland Japan, continues to position Okinawa as the “dumping ground” for Japan’s unwanted problems. [2] By ignoring the colonial and the imperial markings in the present, the mayor continues to recreate a hierarchy that maintains Japan’s hegemony over Okinawa. Read more…

Military Sexual Violence: From Frontline to Fenceline

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By Annie Isabel Fukushima and Gwyn Kirk

As more U.S. military women break the silence about sexual violence committed by their comrades in arms, it is clear that sporadic “scandals”—at the Tailhook Naval Aviators’ Convention (1991), Aberdeen Proving Grounds Ordnance Center (1996), the U.S. Air Force Academy (2003)—are not isolated incidents, but spring from the mycelium of U.S. military culture and ideology. Read more…

Moana Nui 2013: Currents of Colonialism & Healing

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Moana Nui 2013 revealed how the currents of the great Pacific Ocean are layered with colonialism after colonialism, lapping up onto every shore. Palm oil plantations in Papua New Guinea, the redefinition of Gross National Product in Vanuatu, and the Tongan diasporic activists reconnecting to their roots in the U.S., are filled with meanings of mimicry and resistance to colonialism. Through stories of pain and struggle, we were shown paths of healing—paths not far from our own here in the U.S. Read more…

Provide adequate resources to address the health crisis in Vieques and fully clean up the island

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http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7743

 

This year we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the closing of the U.S. Navy bombing range in Vieques, Puerto Rico.  For six decades prior to 2003, approximately one trillion pounds of explosives were dropped by the U.S. military, NATO and other military allies in practice exercises.

After decades of protest and a campaign of non-violent civil resistance that began in 1999 and included the arrests of over 1,500 people, the Navy was forced to close the bombing range on May 1, 2003.  Peace-loving people had defeated the most powerful military force in history without firing a single shot. Read more…

 

Reject Renewed US Militarism in the Philippines

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To: President of the Philippines
Region: Philippines
Web site: http://scrapvfamovement.wordpress.com/

Allowing the US military presence in the Philippines has proved to be very detrimental to the country’s interests.

It has heavily militarized the Philippines!

Last year, a minimum of 70 US warships docked in Subic. And every year, around 100 US aircrafts use the runway in Clark. And these figures preclude those warships and aircrafts that go directly to Mindanao and Sulu where the US has three Task Forces of elite Special Forces.

This year, from January to March 18, warships docked in Manila, Subic and Cebu. These include submarines, destroyers and frigates. These warships carried 5,000 military men. And for the Balikatan 2013, the US is now employing the MV-22B Ospreys, F/A 18 fighter jets, 19 other aircrafts and 270 Marine Corps tactical vehicles and amphibious assault vehicles. Read more…

KAISA KA Stands with Okinawan Women in Denouncing Rape by US Military Personnel

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KAISA KA
(Unity of Women for Freedom– Philippines)

Kaisa Ka National Office: # 22-A Domingo Guevarra St. Highway Hills, Mandaluyong City, Philippines 1501

Telefax: (632) 717 3262 Email: kaisakakalayaan@gmail.com

Press Statement
October 23, 2012
Contact Person: Atty. Virginia Suarez-Pinlac #639209190267

KAISA KA Stands with Okinawan Women in Denouncing Rape by US Military Personnel

KAISA KA, a transformational, multi-sector women’s organization in the Philippines is enraged by another rape committed by two US servicemen against a Japanese woman in Okinawa, October 16 this year. It is sending the victim its sincere sympathies. Its members stand in solidarity with all the Okinawan and Japanese women who have been opposing US militarism and abuse. Read more…

 

Protest Statement against Sexual Assault by US Sailors and Demand for Withdrawal of US Military from Okinawa

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***Please see Japanese Translation below***

Hirokazu Nakaima, Govenor of Okinawa Prefecture
Yoshihiko Noda, Prime Minister
Koichiro Genba, Foreign Minister
Satoshi Morimoto, Defense Minister
Barack Obama, President of the United States
John V. Roos, U.S. Ambassador to Japan
Kenneth Glueck, Okinawa Area Coordinator and Commanding General of III Marine Expeditionary Force
Alfred Magleby, U.S. Consul General of Naha, Okinawa

October 17, 2012

Protest Statement against Sexual Assault by US Sailors and
Demand for Withdrawal of US Military from Okinawa

We, people of Okinawa, particularly women, have suffered as a result of the long-term stationing of US military and their bases in Okinawa. We are deeply shocked and outraged at the alleged gang-rape and injury committed by US sailors on October 16th. It has been reported that the victim was attacked as she was walking home alone from work and that she had a mark of possible strangulation on her neck. We strongly deplore such a crime that targeted a woman, violating her freedom and safety. We remember another recent sexual assault case by a US soldier in Naha in August this year, and hundreds of others over many years. Read more…