Tag: Women

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Air Force Sergeant called a sexual predator

On top of the  spate of F-22 Raptor accidents and hypoxia incidents, the Air Force is also contending with a high profile sex predator trial.   The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports “Air Force Sergeant in base sex-assault scandal is a predator, prosecutor says” (July 17, 2012):

A sergeant charged with sexually assaulting female recruits at the Texas Air Force base where U.S. airmen go through basic training is a “consummate predator,” a military prosecutor told jurors today at the outset of the officer’s court-martial.

Staff Sgt. Luis Walker, who faces the most serious charges in a burgeoning sex scandal involving Lackland Air Force Base instructors, raped one female recruit and sexually assaulted or inappropriately had sex with nine others whom he was training, the prosecutor, Major Patricia Gruen, said in her opening statement today.

“He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Gruen told the seven-person jury comprised of military personnel.

But characterizing individual perpetrators as the exceptional deviant deflects attention from the aspects of military culture and institutional practices that foster predatory sexual attitudes and behaviors.

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Hawai’i Delegation Report Back from the 8th Meeting of the International Network of Women Against Militarism

WOMEN’S VOICES WOMEN SPEAK
C/O HAWAI‘I PEACE & JUSTICE
2426 O‘AHU AVENUE
HONOLULU HI 96822
WVWS808.BLOGSPOT.COM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 21, 2012

Contact: Terri Keko‘olani 808-227-1621
Eri Oura 808-542-0348 eriola@gmail.com

Hawai‘i Women Share Experiences from Puerto Rico (Honolulu, O‘ahu). Four Hawai‘i women returned home recently after meeting with other members of the International Women’s Network Against Militarism (IWNAM) at the organization’s 8th annual meeting in Puerto Rico. They will share their experiences with the community Friday evening, June 1, 6:00 PM at the Church of the Crossroads in Honolulu.

The International Women’s Network Against Militarism (IWNAM) was formed in 1997 when forty women activists, policy-makers, teachers, and students gathered in Okinawa to strategize about the negative effects of the US military on their respective communities. The network—a collaboration among women active in their communities and who share the mission to promote, model and protect genuine security—includes women from the Philippines, South Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Guam, the continental United States, Puerto Rico and Hawai‘i.

“With the increasing militarism in so many of our communities, the opportunity to stand in solidarity with others who face issues similar to ours here in the islands,” said long time activist Terri Keko‘olani, “helps us to put our work into perspective.”

In addition to meeting around organization and strategic planning for the near future, the attendees participated in excursions to several storied places of Puerto Rico, such as El Yunqué Forest and a healing labyrinth in the mountainside village of Barranquitas. They participated in a protest against the building of a natural gas line in the city, met with survivors of domestic violence, former political prisoners, various women’s groups for peace, and others leading their communities in providing health screenings and services.
“Puerto Rico and Hawai‘i have much in common, as island economies that are dependent on importing basic necessities and vulnerable to unsustainable development and military interest,” Elise Davis, a public health educator, was particularly struck by the health concerns brought up by communities that experienced extensive military weapons testing. “Vieques has a 27% higher rate of cancer than mainland Puerto Rico, and no one can say with certainty that it is not related to the weapons testing.”

Communities, such as Ceiba, introduced them to the struggles to reclaim and reuse land no longer being used by the U.S. military. “There are so many similarities between Vieques and Kaho‘olawe,” shares Kim Ku‘ulei Birnie, a member of Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana. “They have Ceiba, Culebra and Vieques; we have Kaho‘olawe, Mākua and Pōhakuloa. We have so much to share with one another.”

The group also made presentations on the status of militarism in their respective countries, held at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan, and at the museum on Vieques.

“There’s a strong partnership between the local communities and the university among the network in Puerto Rico. We met Puerto Ricos most involved and passionate activists and scholars who believe in the right to self-determination and actively resist further Americanization of their people and lands,” explained Eri Oura. “We were even greeted by the mayors of Barranquitas and Vieques.”

Terri Keko‘olani, Eri Oura, Elise Davis and Kim Ku‘ulei Birnie will share their impressions on Friday, June 1st, from 6:00-8:00 PM at the Church of the Crossroads in Honolulu, 1212 University Avenue.

This is a pre-event to the Umematsu & Yasu Watada Lecture Series on Peace, Social Justice & the Environment. The public is invited.

Women’s Voices Women Speak is a group of Hawai‘i women who organize around Kanaka Maoli sovereignty and demilitarization in Hawai‘i from women’s perspectives.

www.wvws808.blogspot.com

Women for Genuine Security is the U.S.-based partner in the International Women’s Network Against Militarism.
www.genuinesecurity.org

# PAU #


Media documents can be downloaded here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-K0TmHJlFSUU19WaGk2WUZzeWM/edit

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Soldier suicides hit record high in 2011

The social and human costs of U.S. wars and military policies are coming due.  The New York Times reported that “Active-Duty Soldiers Take Their Own Lives at Record Rate”:

Suicides among active-duty soldiers hit another record high in 2011, Army officials said on Thursday, although there was a slight decrease if nonmobilized Reserve and National Guard troops were included in the calculation.

A Disturbing Trend

The Army also reported a sharp increase, nearly 30 percent, in violent sex crimes last year by active-duty troops. More than half of the victims were active-duty female soldiers ages 18 to 21.

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Accidents, Rapes, Murders, Suicides, Guns and Explosives

Here is a sampling of recent news stories related to crimes and accidents involving military personnel.

The city Medical Examiner’s Office today identified the 27-year-old Schofield Barracks soldier who died in a motorcycle accident Thursday as Aaron Bennett.

Bennett, from Parma Heights Ohio, died at the crash scene on Fort Weaver Road near the recently closed Hawaii Medical Center-West. Witnesses told police that he was speeding and weaving in and out of traffic before losing control and crashing at about 5:30 a.m.

Bennett was an Army sergeant who joined the service in January 2007, and served as an infantrymen assigned to 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, according to the Army.

In June, he finished a year-long deployment to Iraq with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, where he was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, an Army Commendation Medal and the Iraqi Campaign Medal with two campaign stars for his service.

[…]

The 2009 Yamaha motorcycle he was driving apparently sideswiped a 2001 Nissan sedan near the Farrington Highway junction, causing the motorcyclist to lose control, police said.

Bennett, a 25th Infantry Division soldier, was thrown from the vehicle and slid about 30 feet into a guardrail, severing his arm.

And KITV reported that “Man Commits Apparent Suicide In Police Custody: 27-year-old Schofield Resident Arrested For Drunk Driving Saturday Morning” (1/07/2012):

A 27-year-old Schofield man was found dead in a Wahiawa Police Substation holding cell from an apparent suicide Saturday morning.The man was arrested around 4:10 Saturday morning for drunk driving, reckless driving and speeding near Kamehameha Highway and Whitemore Avenue.He was then booked and processed at the Wahiawa Substation. His body was found alone and unconscious in the holding cell around 7 a.m. with his t-shirt next to him. It is believed that he hung himself with the shirt.

[…]
Police say the man is a husband of a Schofield based soldier.

In San Diego, four people were killed in an apparent murder-suicide involving two Navy pilots and the sister of one of the pilots. The AP reported “2 Navy Pilots Among Dead in Murder, Suicide” (1/03/2012):

Two Navy pilots and the sister of one of them were among four people killed in an apparent New Years Day murder-suicide on the wealthy island of Coronado off the coast of San Diego, officials say.

The two F/A-18 pilots were in training at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, the base said. The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office initially posted on its website that the pilots were both 25-year-old males and that a third male among the dead was a 31-year-old resident of nearby Chula Vista.

The AP also reported that “Jealousy Eyed for Possible Role in Murder-Suicide” (1/06/2012):

Authorities were looking at all aspects of what could have led up to the gunfire at a Coronado condominium, including whether there was a relationship or romantic feelings between the Navy pilot who committed suicide and the sister of the other pilot who died, sheriff’s Capt. Duncan Fraser said.

John Robert Reeves shot himself in the head, and the three other people with him, including the sister, were murdered. They included Navy pilot David Reis, Karen Reis and Matthew Saturley.

[…]

Retired Naval pilot Steve Diamond said the case is shocking because it involves such high achievers.

“The first thing that most people think of even within the Navy community is how could such an enormously tragic thing happen involving people … who are the cream of the crop, highly trained, highly educated, national assets basically,” he said.

It takes years of training to get one’s wings as a Navy pilot, and fighter-jet pilots are considered to be among the top in that group.

They undergo a battery of rigorous physical, psychological and background tests before finishing the highly competitive program. Their top-notch skills and mental toughness were featured in the movie “Top Gun” — parts of which were filmed at Miramar.

Despite the recent dismissal of Cioca v. Rumsfeld, a class action lawsuit to hold Secretaries of Defense Rumsfeld and Gates accountable for the epidemic of sex assault in the military, another Navy commander was convicted for raping two female sailors. The AP reported “Navy Cmdr Gets Prison in Rape of Female Sailors” (10/29/2011):
A Navy ship commander pleaded guilty Friday to sexual assault and rape of two female sailors, and a military judge ordered his dismissal and sentenced him to more than three years in prison.

Cmdr. Jay Wylie was given a 10-year term but will serve 42 months as part of a plea agreement, said Sheila Murray, Navy spokeswoman.

[…]

Twenty officers have been relieved of command by the Navy this year.

It seems that the epidemic of sexual violence begins in officer training school.  The Colorado Springs Gazette reported that “3 Air Force Academy Cadets Charged in Sex-Assault Cases” (1/06/2012):

Commanders on Thursday charged three Air Force Academy cadets with sexual assault in separate cases that occurred over the past 15 months.

Charging documents obtained by The Gazette show the three cases involve acts allegedly committed on the campus, including acts against fellow cadets.

Meanwhile, the military is losing control of its weapons and explosives.  The AP reported that “US Rep.: Soldier Had 5 Pounds of C4 in Carry-On” (1/06/2012):
A congressman says two 2.5-pound blocks of a powerful, military-grade explosive were found in a Soldier’s luggage at a West Texas airport. Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway of Midland said Thursday that federal officials gave him details of the Saturday find in Trey Scott Atwater’s luggage at Midland International Airport.

And the Daily Press in Victorville, California reported in December “Military Weapons in Gangsters’ Hands” (12/05/2011):

Gangs are acquiring highpowered, military-grade weapons more frequently, according to the latest National Gang Intelligence Center Report. And FBI and law enforcement officials suggest gang members — both enlisted and those working at military bases as contract civilians — may be funneling the firearms to their street-level counterparts.

In late July, 27 AK-47s were stolen from a Fort Irwin warehouse, officials said.

Weapons getting loose could be really bad.  In San Diego, the AP reported “Police: Navy SEAL Accidentally Shoots Self in Head” (1/06/2012):

San Diego police say a Navy SEAL is on life support after accidentally shooting himself in the head.

Officer Frank Cali tells U-T San Diego that officers were called to a home in Pacific Beach early Thursday morning on a report that a man had been playing with a gun and accidentally shot himself.

Cali says the man was showing guns to a woman he’d met earlier at a bar and put a pistol he believed was unloaded to his head. Cali says he then pulled the trigger.

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Rape in the US military: America’s dirty little secret secret

The Guardian published an excellent article on the epidemic of rape in the U.S. military. Here are some astounding facts:

Rape within the US military has become so widespread that it is estimated that a female soldier in Iraq is more likely to be attacked by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. So great is the issue that a group of veterans are suing the Pentagon to force reform. The lawsuit, which includes three men and 25 women (the suit initially involved 17 plaintiffs but grew to 28) who claim to have been subjected to sexual assaults while serving in the armed forces, blames former defence secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates for a culture of punishment against the women and men who report sex crimes and a failure to prosecute the offenders.

[…]

Last year 3,158 sexual crimes were reported within the US military. Of those cases, only 529 reached a court room, and only 104 convictions were made, according to a 2010 report from SAPRO (sexual assault prevention and response office, a division of the department of defence). But these figures are only a fraction of the reality. Sexual assaults are notoriously under-reported. The same report estimated that there were a further 19,000 unreported cases of sexual assault last year. The department of veterans affairs, meanwhile, released an independent study estimating that one in three women had experience of military sexual trauma while on active service. That is double the rate for civilians, which is one in six, according to the US department of justice.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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Pearl Harbor-Hickam man held in alleged sex assault at Ala Moana

Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that a 24-year old man, “who lives at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, was arrested pending charges of first-degree sexual assault, unauthorized entry into a vehicle, fourth-degree theft and criminal property damage.”  The victim alleges that “the man entered her vehicle without her permission and sexually assauilted her about 3 a.m. The man also stole money from her and damaged her vehicle, police said.”  The incident occurred at Ala Moana Center.

Meanwhile, the paper also reports “Federal agent from mainland arrested for killing man in Waikiki”:

A U.S. State Department law enforcement agent from the mainland was arrested for fatally shooting a man in his 20s early this morning on Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki, sources said.

Honolulu police identified the alleged shooter as Christopher W. Deedy, 27, and sources who asked to remain anonymous confirmed that he is a federal agent who was off-duty at the time of the shooting. The victim was identified by family and friends as Kaneohe resident Kollin K. Elderts, 23, a Kalaheo High School graduate.

[…]

[A State Department spokeswoman] would not confirm whether he was here for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference which begins Tuesday.

But Deedy’s LinkedIn web page identifies him as a special agent working for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security at the State Department and from the Washington D.C. area.

According to the State Department’s website the bureau is responsible for providing a safe and secure environment for the conduct of U.S. foreign policy. President Barack Obama and 20 other world leaders are expected to attend the APEC Leaders’ Meeting next weekend.

Is this the kind of flotsam that will wash up on our shores with APEC?

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“Living Along the Fenceline” in Jeju

The Stars and Stripes reports that “Naval base puts S. Korea’s ‘island of world peace’ in hot spot”:

JEJU ISLAND, South Korea — This country’s southernmost major island is a study in contrasts.

A popular tourist destination, Jeju boasts some of the world’s most beautiful scenery and is one of 28 finalists in an international competition for selection as one of the “New 7 Wonders of Nature.” Yet it’s also home to a number of cheesy tourist stops, including Jeju Love Land, a sexual theme park.

In 2005, the South Korean government officially recognized Jeju as the “island of world peace,” and then-President Roh Moo-hyun said he would do his best to make it a “center of peace in Northeast Asia.” But South Korea is now building a naval base on the island for the expressed purpose of enhancing its ability to police its vital shipping lanes and respond faster to any North Korean threats.

Critics suggest that once the base opens in 2014, the U.S. will use it extensively, with the goal of keeping an eye on China. That, they say, could make the “island of world peace” a target the next time hostilities erupt in the region.

[…]

The base could also prompt China to hasten the buildup of its naval firepower, further heightening tensions on the Korean peninsula, [Yang Mu-jin, a professor of politics and unification studies at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul] said.

The South Korean government has tried to downplay the social and political implications of the base and have even drawn comparisons to the U.S. military in Hawai’i as an example of good military-civilian relations:

“The project is not aimed at building a military-only base for war,” the ministry’s August report said. “It is targeted at preventing war by strengthening maritime sovereignty, realizing peace and supporting other naval warships of South Korea.”

Pointing to other “successful civilian-military harbor complexes” like those in San Diego and Hawaii, the defense ministry said the naval base and the island of world peace “both can coexist in (a) mutually complimentary manner.”

But in Hawaiʻi, we know that this is rubbish.   The military has taken a terrible toll on local communities and the environment.  It was the force that drove the regime change and occupation of the sovereign and independent Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.   The South Korean Defense Ministry erroneously referred to “successful civilian-military harbor complexes” in Hawaiʻi.   Pearl Harbor is not accessible for civilian use.   Warning signs along the shoreline of Ke Awalau o Pu’uloa make it clear that despite Hawai’i’s otherwise strong shoreline public access laws, the water is off limits.

Meanwhile, the documentary film “Living Along the Fenceline”, which was screened at the 12th annual Women’s Film Festival in Jeju, exposes the social and environmental costs of military bases around the world, including Hawaiʻi.  Director Lina Hoshino and Co-producers Gwyn Kirk and Deborah Lee attended the film festival.  The Jeju Weekly reports:

One expat asked the most provocative question of the evening. He asked Ms. Kirk if she thought Jeju Island and its forthcoming naval base represented an inevitable pattern around the world for the creation of more military bases. Ms. Kirk answered she believed the US will inevitably want to build more bases if US imperialism continues to grow. She conveyed that if we can imagine a different kind of future that actively addresses climate change, use of resources, etc… then it is not inevitable. We need a change in leadership and attitude in the US and US allies, including South Korea, who should refuse to have a US military base in the country.

Answering another question, Ms. Kirk said today the United States government spends half of its tax dollars on the world military system, not including the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A grassroots campaign advocates spreading the money from the defense budget to other social programs including education, health care, care for children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, and domestic violence shelters. Unfortunately, these programs are being cut because of the economic crisis. But, the military budget remains intact.

Secondly, Ms. Kirk said there is another campaign to educate people about the military worldwide. People are unaware about the US’s worldwide military presence and are often shocked by the actual number of bases. This film is part of this education campaign.

Ms. Kirk hopes the film inspires people to think about what a military base means in their communities. She said it is important for people to be clear what happens when a military base is installed in a new location. She said, “It is tempting to think military bases will bring jobs. The reality is military spending generates the fewest amount of jobs of any government spending.” The military is a capital intensive industry, not a human capital intensive industry. The same amount of money spent on a military base spent on education or health care would generate far more jobs.

Terri Keko’olani with Hawai’i Peace and Justice and DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina is featured in the film.

 

 

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Korea: U.S. soldier accused of raping teen released without arrest

The Hankyoreh newspaper reports:

A female student in her teens was allegedly sexually assaulted by a drunk U.S. soldier in the middle of the night at her residence in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province. The same town was the site of a physical assault and attempted sexual assault on an old couple in February, also by a U.S. soldier.

The incident is expected to have a major impact, as it was reported that although the soldier responsible for the latest assault made a complete confession to police, he returned to the base without being placed under arrest due to the terms of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).

Blaming the inequality of the SOFA’s terms for the inability to arrest a U.S. soldier who committed a serious crime, civic organizations and political parties, including the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) and minor opposition Democratic Labor Party (DLP), urged the swift establishment of measures to prevent additional crimes by U.S. forces, including a full amendment of the SOFA and enactment of legislation to prohibit nighttime travel by U.S. forces.

The Dongducheon Police Station reported Thursday that “K,” a 21-year-old private with the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, was questioned on charges of entering a Dongducheon gositel apartment while intoxicated at around 4 a.m. on Sept. 24 and threatening and repeatedly sexually assaulting 18-year-old “G,” who had been watching television at the time. Following the questioning, the private was handed over to U.S. military police, the police station reported.

The case reveals the legal inequality of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the U.S. and South Korea, a common situation for many foreign base agreements with the U.S.:

Unable even to request an arrest warrant for K because of the SOFA, police forwarded the case to prosecutors Wednesday. According to the police manual for SOFA cases, they are empowered only to incarcerate and investigate soldiers who are caught in the act perpetrating heinous crimes such as rape, without transferring the suspect to U.S. military authorities.

Dongducheon Police State investigation chief Hwang Ui-min explained the reason for K’s release without arrest, saying, said, “For U.S. forces crimes, the SOFA permits us to have detentions and investigations in cases where [the suspect] is caught in the act or before he has returned to base, but once he has returned to base we have to submit a separate transfer request to the U.S. military.”

U.S. military and state department officials immediately issued statements to express regret and cooperation.   This is an indication of how volatile this issue could become in Korea:

The U.S. State Department expressed its profound regrets Wednesday (local time) and said it would cooperate with the South Korean government for a thorough investigation. Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell called South Korean Ambassador to the United States Han Duck-soo on Thursday to express their dismay over the incident, telling Han that the U.S. government would cooperate closely with the South Korean government to ensure a thorough investigation of the incident, the South Korean Embassy in Washington reported.

It is unusual for senior U.S. State Department authorities to express their regrets so quickly, less than one day after the United States Forces Korea (USFK) sexual assault case came to light. Observers attributed this to the U.S. having learned the lesson that incidents involving the U.S. and USFK in particular, such as the 2002 death of two female middle school students from being crushed by a U.S. armored vehicle, could lead to an uncontrollable situation of spreading anti-American sentiment.

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Hawaiʻi women’s action in solidarity with Jeju islanders

 

http://www.facebook.com/notes/womens-voices-women-speak/womens-voices-women-speak-stand-in-solidarity-with-jeju-island-activists/10150310281896460

Women’s Voices Women Speak Stand in Solidarity with Jeju Island Activists

On Sept. 4, 2011, Women’s Voices Women Speak, Ann Wright, and a few friends gathered at the Korean Consulate of Hawai’i to hold a vigil in solidarity with peace activists on Jeju Island. This action was catalyzed by the current military and police encroachment on the Peace Camp at Gangjeong Village, Jeju. As we prepared for this event, Ann Wright reported back on her recent trip to Jeju Island.  Despite the fact that Jeju island activists are being arrested and harassed for protecting the island from the naval base construction occurring on the island, they continue to protest.

Women’s Voices Women Speak read the International Women’s Network Against Militarism letter of support to Jeju Island activists to contextualize the vigil. They left messages of opposition to the Naval Base at Jeju on the Korean Consulate compound. Some wrote letters to the Korean Consulate.  The Naval base on Jeju is to house Aegis destroyers, equipped with U.S. anti-ballistic missile and radar systems.  This construction matters to Hawai’i because the Barking Sands Pacific Missile Range on the island of Kaua’i is also part of the anti-ballistic missile defense system network. In 2009, Hawai’i Senator Daniel Inouye pushed for funding for Aegis Ashore test facility at Barking Sands. Women’s Voices Women Speak stand in solidarity with peoples of Jeju island to expose how Asian and Pacific island nations are being used to connect networks of U.S. Military weaponry.

Read the Message from the  International Women’s Network Against Militarism to the peoples movement for No Naval Base on Jeju!

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“Unfinished Business” – Twenty years since the Philippines kicked out U.S. bases, what is the Status of Forces?

The Interaksyon news website has an excellent two-part series entitled “Unfinished Business: Transforming the former U.S. military bases into zones of peace and development remains a challenge, 20 years after a historic Senate vote scrapped the PH-US bases treaty.”

“Unfinished Business” by Joel C. Paredes begins:

Veteran nationalist lawmaker Wigberto Tañada still vividly recalls when his father, the late Senator Lorenzo Tañada lost in the 1957 election where he ran as vice presidential candidate of Don Claro M. Recto, the standard bearer of the short-lived National Citizens Party.

Their tandem was rallying the people behind the need to fight for sovereignty against continued US intervention in the country, and for that they lost in the elections. The younger  Tañada, who by then had completed his law studies, joined the campaign sorties, convinced that they had to push for the removal of all US military installations  on the islands.

It was the least he could do for a father who had gambled his political career, leaving the Liberal Party in order to help organize an obscure party which had dared challenge the US’ continued interference in its former colony. For Don Claro Recto, their fight was one meant to liberate government from a “mendicant foreign policy.”

“Our foreign policy was conducted from the very beginning, and is being pursued, on the erroneous assumption of an identity of American and Filipino interest or more correctly of the desirability, and even the necessity, of subordinating our interests to those of America,” he said.

Roots of our insecurity

It was policy that was actually crafted on July 4, 1946, when the Philippines was granted independence by the United States, but with the condition – embodied in the Bell Trade Act – that it must accord the American entrepreneurs “parity” rights to land ownership, resources exploitation, and other business activities.

According to Philippine scholar Patricio Abinales,  the destruction of Manila during the war, the displacement of landlord power in the adjoining provinces, and the plantation  agriculture had that time posed a combined challenge enough to destabilize the country. “The United States contributed to the problem when it demanded that the new government accept a ‘free trade’ treaty  heavily favoring the industrialized United States over the agrarian Philippines.”

A year later, the RP US Military Bases Agreement was forged, giving the United States the right to maintain military bases for 99 years and their military  advisers a major role in the development of the Philippine armed forces.

The article gives an excellent history of the Phlippines-U.S. bases agreement and the successful effort to terminate the treaty.

The second article is “Economics of conversion: the best is yet to come”.

But as previously reported on this site, despite the prohibition on U.S. bases and combat operations in the Philippines, U.S. troops have been engaged in combat operations in Mindanao.

Meanwhile, women in Mindanao employed a Lysistrata strategy to end violence.  They staged a “sex strike for peace” until the men stopped fighting:

Women in the southern Philippines brought peace to their strife-torn village by threatening to withhold sex if their men kept fighting, the UN refugee agency documents in a video posted on its website.

The “sex strike” in rural Dado village on the often lawless southern island of Mindanao in July helped end tensions and bring some prosperity to the 102 families living there, said UNHCR national officer Rico Salcedo.

“The area is in a town which is subject to conflict, family feuds, land disputes (locally referred to as ‘rido’). The idea came personally from the women,” Salcedo told the Agence France-Presse.

The idea was conceived by a group of women who had set up a sewing business but found that they could not deliver their products because the village road was closed by the threat of violence, Salcedo said.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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