GLOBAL NETWORK 20TH ANNIVERSARY REQUEST FOR HELP

Dear Friends,

I hope this letter finds you doing well. I have just returned from Washington DC where I was part of a trial of those arrested at the White House on March 19 opposing the endless and growing string of U.S. wars. On that day 113 people (including many veterans) were arrested but only 18 of us went to trial. We were found guilty by the judge but he chose to impose only a minor fine, which was a victory of sorts.

I am writing to ask for your help. As you may know the Global Network will be 20 years old in 2012. We’ve been asked by the leaders of the Gangjeong village on Jeju Island, South Korea to hold our annual space organizing conference there next year. Our Board of Directors/Advisers has agreed and we will travel to the village on February 24-26 for what will be an extraordinary event.

The mayor of Gangjeong village is now in jail for standing on top of a crane. Several others, including a handful of Catholic priests, have recently been arrested for blocking cement trucks from entering the Navy base construction zone where they would pour concrete over the rocky coastline to build the piers. The ships to be ported at this proposed base will primarily be U.S. Navy Aegis destroyers, outfitted with so-called “missile defense” systems, that are being used by the U.S. to surround China’s coast in a provocative move to give the U.S. first-strike capability.

It is crucial that the Global Network go to Gangjeong to show support for the small village (population about 1,900) that has been non-violently resisting this base for the past few years. The problem, as you can imagine, is that it is not cheap to fly to South Korea and it is my job to raise funds so we can help get some of our key leadership from India, Sweden, England, U.S., Australia, Japan, and other places to this event.

I am thus writing to ask you to consider making a special donation to the Global Network for our travel fund for our 20th anniversary conference – probably one of the most important space organizing events we’ll ever hold.

Little did the villagers of Gangjeong on Jeju Island ever realize that their fight to save their fishing and farming way of life, they’ve been in this village over 400 years, would have such global strategic implications. As you know the Global Network has been doing everything we can for the past two years to build international support for the village. We want to honor their invitation by bringing a strong and diverse delegation to this important conference. It will be a great opportunity for us to show that peace groups all over the world support the noble efforts of the Gangjeong village.

Please send your tax-deductible donation for our special travel fund either by using our regular mailing address (see just below) or by using the secure Donate Now button on our web site home page.

Let me know if you have any questions about this request or if you might be interested in traveling to Jeju Island with us for the conference.

I thank you in advance for your support and promise we will send you a full report about the conference. Best wishes.

In peace,

Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011

Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth.
~Henry David Thoreau