Women – Page 2 – DMZ hawaiʻi

September 5, 2011

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

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

September 1, 2011

Dear friends in the struggle against US military expansion at Jeju Island

We women from Okinawa, mainland Japan, the Philippines, Marshall Islands, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Australia and west-coast USA send our greetings in solidarity with the people of Ganjeong who oppose the construction of a new naval base to house Aegis destroyers.

We understand that 94 percent of the residents do not want this base. We admire and respect your strong opposition by occupying land seized by the government and by blocking roads in an attempt to stop construction. We deplore the fact the South Korean government has ordered police to take further measures against you, especially as you have used every possible democratic means to overturn the decision to construct the base in the pristine waters and land that have been your livelihood for many generations.

We agree that this base and the increased militarization of the island of Jeju will create new security threats in an increasingly tense region.

We also live in communities that experience increased militarization and the effects of enormous military investments that distort our local economies and take resources needed for our communities to thrive. The political and military alliances between our governments and the United States jeopardize our genuine security. Indeed, U.S. military expansion in the Asia-Pacific and the Caribbean relies on these alliances to tie our communities together according to their version of security that is not sustainable.

The plan to relocate U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam includes military construction projects that involve labor from Hawai’i, Micronesia and the Philippines. In addition to the destruction and loss of life caused by continued wars in the Middle East, these wars are also destabilizing our economies. For example, Filipinos who have been recruited to work on military construction projects are laid off during times of crisis and return to the Philippines where they have no jobs. On Guam, local companies cannot compete with larger military contractors and are seldom able to get contracts for base construction projects. The establishment of the U.S. military base at Ke Awa Lau o Pu’uloa, or Pearl Harbor, has transformed Oahu’s food basket into a toxic “Superfund” site where many of Hawai’i’s poorest communities live along its contaminated shores. In Puerto Rico, Governor Luis Fortuño has unleashed brutality against citizens, and suppression of their civil liberties because of protests against budget cuts to public services and education. In the continental United States a new campaign is calling for new priorities in federal spending away from war and toward services to support local communities.

We see your struggle as part of a wider pattern of people’s protest against increasing militarization.

Although we are far away, please know that we stand with you. We thank you for your courage to resist the militarization of your home. Your example inspires and strengthens us.

In solidarity,

Signed, on behalf of the IWNAM:

Kozue Akibayashi, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Japan

Ellen-Rae Cachola, Women for Genuine Security/Women’s Voices Women Speak, U.S. & Hawai’i

Lotlot de la Cruz, KAISAKA, Philippines

Cora Valdez Fabros, Scrap VFA Movement & Philippine Women’s Network for Peace and Security, Philippines

Annie Fukushima, Women for Genuine Security, U.S.

Terri Keko’olani, Women’s Voices Women Speak, Hawai’i

Gwyn Kirk, Women for Genuine Security, U.S.

Rev. Deborah Lee, Women for Genuine Security, U.S.

Bernadette “Gigi” Miranda, Women’s Voices Women Speak, Hawai’i

María Reinat Pumarejo, Colectivo Ilé: Organizadoras para la Conciencia-en-Acción

Aida Santos-Maranan, Women’s Education, Development, Productivity and Research Organization (WEDPRO), Philippines

Dr. Hannah Middleton, Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition, Australia

Suzuyo Takazato, Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence, Okinawa

Lisa Natividad, Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice, Guahan (Guam)

Ana Maria R. Nemenzo, WomanHealth Philippines.

Darlene Rodrigues, Women’s Voices Women Speak, Hawai’i

Abacca Anjain-Maddison, Marshall Islands

Brenda Kwon, Women’s Voices Women Speak, Hawai’i

Anjali Puri, Women’s Voices Women Speak, Hawai’i

The International Women’s Network Against Militarism was formed in 1997 when forty women activists, policy-makers, teachers, and students from South Korea, Okinawa, mainland Japan, the Philippines and the continental United States gathered in Okinawa to strategize together about the negative effects of the US military in each of our countries. In 2000, women from Puerto Rico who opposed the US Navy bombing training on the island of Vieques also joined; followed in 2004 by women from Hawai’i and in 2007 women from Guam. The Network is not a membership organization, but a collaboration among women active in our own communities, who share a common mission to demilitarize their lands and communities. For more information, visit HYPERLINK “http://www.genuinesecurity.org/”www.genuinesecurity.org.

August 28, 2011August 28, 2011

Another military domestic violence case?

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that:

A 32-year-old Ewa Beach man was arrested Friday for beating his wife over the course of several months, police said.

The woman, 23, told police the man since January had subjected her to several episodes of assaults, at all hours, including choking her and injuring her with an undisclosed dangerous instrument.

The man was arrested about 10:50 a.m. at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe on suspicion of kidnapping, felony abuse, assault, abuse of a family member, and terroristic threatening.

July 18, 2011August 10, 2011

Making Waves: Defending Ka’ena

Making Waves: Defending Ka’ena, Episode 55

Length: 0:27
Social issues & cultural programming dedicated to peace and social justice.
7/19/2011 Tue 9:30 am, Channel NATV Channel 53
Or streaming online: http://olelo.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=30&clip_id=21987

I speak with Summer Mullins and Uncle Fred Mullins about their efforts to protect Ka’ena from the scourge of off-roaders destroying the sand dunes with their mud bogging, drunken crashes, bonfires and garbage. According to Uncle Fred Mullins, 90% of the offenders are military. We show some video and photos from Ka’ena.

Also, you can watch past episodes online.

Making Waves, Episode 54 “No Can Eat Concrete!”

I speak with Wai’anae kupuna, Auntie Alice Greenwood (Concerned Elders of Wai’anae) and Candace Fujikane (UH Manoa English Professor) about the struggle for environmental justice to preserve Wai’anae’s cultural sites and agricultural lands from industrial encroachment.

Making Waves, Episode 51, “Violence and the Military Culture”

Darlene Rodrigues speaks with Col. Ann Wright about the epidemic of violence against women in the military and discuss how the military culture exacerbates the violence.

July 6, 2011

Relief and Recovery in Japan: U.S. Should Decline Monies from Japan’s “Sympathy Budget” and End Military Dependence Globally

http://www.genuinesecurity.org/actions/notosympathybudget.html

Press Statement

Contact: IWNAM Secretariat, genuinesecurity [at] lists.riseup.net

April 11, 2011

Relief and Recovery in Japan: U.S. Should Decline Monies from Japan’s “Sympathy Budget” and End Military Dependence Globally

The International Women’s Network Against Militarism (IWNAM) demands that the U.S. and Japanese governments stop spending U.S. and Japanese taxpayer monies for the upkeep of U.S. military facilities in Japan and other territories. During these times of natural disasters, funds should directly help the needs of victims of the earthquake, tsunami, and radiation poisoning from damaged nuclear power plants in Japan, and also create alternatives for employment world wide that do not rely on militarism, or further interpersonal and ecological violence.

The IWNAM, formerly named East Asia–US-Puerto Rico Women’s Network Against Militarism, has called for reallocation of global military spending in order to achieve genuine security for people. We call for the cancellation of the “sympathy budget,” a part of the host nation support provided by the Japanese government to maintain the U.S. military stationed in Japan (See Final Statement, International Women’s Summit to Redefine Security, June 2000.) The “sympathy budget” has been criticized for covering much more than Japan’s obligation under the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. It covers the salaries of Japanese employees, utilities for U.S. military personnel, and building costs for luxurious leisure facilities on US bases in Japan. In 2010, these expenses totaled 189 billion yen (about $1.6 billion). If the Japanese government kept this money it could be used to help victims of the recent earthquake in the Tohuku region, people near Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants who were forced to evacuate their communities, and farmers and fishers whose products can not be sold because of the risk of radiation contamination. Japan is in need of this money for reconstruction of the vast disaster-stricken areas, and recovery from economic and human losses. It is no longer sustainable for the Japanese government to maintain U.S. military bases in Japan. We believe that if the U.S. government would decline the “sympathy budget,” it could be used to help those people directly and to help create a more sustainable world.

In addition, IWNAM demands that the Japanese government should stop building new military infrastructure at Henoko and Takae in Okinawa, and also in Guam, and use that money for survivors of these natural disasters. Since the earthquake in March, the U.S. military and Japanese Self-Defense Forces have become increasingly visible in Japan. While their rescue efforts are recognized, we should not forget that the primary purpose of the military is not disaster rescue. Their primary training is to destroy the “enemy.” These natural disasters should not be used as opportunities for military forces to justify occupation of a country, as if they are heroes. This obscures current military developments. According to Lisa Natividad of Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice,

“On Guam (Guahan), the Japanese government has incrementally funded roughly $10 billion dollars, totaling 70% of the total cost of the relocation of U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam. The island’s people suffer poor health outcomes largely due to environmental toxicity and degradation from the presence of U.S. military bases and installations since the U.S. assumed colonial rule in 1898. For example, cancer rates are excessively high on the island, with the largest number of cases living near military bases. In addition, the U.S. currently occupies roughly 1/3 of the island, and is in the process of “acquiring” an additional 2,300 acres to construct a live firing range complex on ancient Chamorro sacred ground in the village of Pagat. The acquisition of the additional land will increase U.S. control of the island to nearly 40%, thus leaving only a small portion of the island for its native people.”

Furthermore, after Hurricane Katrina in the Southeast U.S., earthquakes in Haiti, and flooding in the Philippines, corporate and military interests capitalized on these natural disasters to further their own interests in the rebuilding process. Afterward, these places were no longer economically accessible for communities who were previously living there, and they also experienced an increase in military surveillance. We still need disaster troops and recovery plans to help people in times of natural disaster. But, we should also have a critical awareness of the cooperation occurring between militarist and capitalist forces who do not change structures of power when they take advantage of these vulnerable times to advance to geopolitical agendas of neo-liberal interests.

Dependence on militarism occurs when institutions that perpetrate violence provide employment for people. Interpersonal and ecological violence that manifests in military-dependent societies is not often seen as a product of the larger militarized society. A recent case in Ohio, where a former U.S. Air Force member beat his Okinawan-born wife to death, illustrates interpersonal violence in militarized societies. The two met in Nago, Okinawa, while the man was stationed in Okinawa. They were married and moved to Cleveland, Ohio. On March 11, 2011, the wife was severely beaten by the husband and taken to the hospital where she was treated, but died from the injury. The local paper reported that this man had a history of violence with a former partner, but she was able to leave the relationship. This example highlights the recurring pattern of interpersonal violence perpetrated by service members.

In Hawai’i, there is a proposal for an increase in helicopters at Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station (Oahu). A squadron of Ospreys (a hybrid helicopter and plane that transports troops), Cobra attack helicopters, and a squadron of Hueys are planned to be housed on Mokapu, Oahu, and deployed for practice on the Big Island. On March 30, 2011, a helicopter crashed killing one Marine, and injuring 3 others. The push for increased housing and training areas for of military aircraft in Hawai’i is a product of the U.S. military strategy in the Asia-Pacific, moving bases and troops from one island to another. Yet these decisions disregard the impact this has on local communities and environments in Hawai’i, Okinawa, and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region where military developments increase everyday violence and insecurity.

In 2009, global military spending was estimated at $1,531 billion, an increase of 6% from 2008 and 49% from 2000. On April 12, 2011, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) will release its calculations of global military spending for 2010. We estimate that this figure could reach $1.6 trillion. We join peace groups, budget priority activists, arms control advocates, and concerned citizens the world over in public demonstrations, solidarity actions and awareness raising events to call attention to the disparity between bountiful global investments in war-making and the worldwide neglect of social priorities. Please visit the website for Global Day of Action on Military Spending at http://demilitarize.org/.

The IWNAM demands that U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration

1) Decline the Japanese “Sympathy Budget.”

2) End the military build up in Okinawa, Guam, Hawaii and other territories.

3) Stop the justification of militarism in times of natural disasters

4) Fund alternative jobs that end dependence on militarism

Signed, on behalf of the IWNAM:

Kozue Akibayashi, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Japan

Ellen-Rae Cachola, Women for Genuine Security/Women’s Voices Women Speak, U.S. & Hawai’i

Lotlot de la Cruz, KAISAKA, Philippines

Cora Valdez Fabros, SCRAP VFA Movement, Philippines

Terri Keko’olani, DMZ-Hawaii/Aloha ‘Aina/Women’s Voices Women Speak, Hawai’i

Gwyn Kirk, Women for Genuine Security, U.S.

María Reinat Pumarejo, Ilé Conciencia-en-Acción, Puerto Rico

Aida Santos-Maranan, Women’s Education, Development, Productivity and Research Organization (WEDPRO), Philippines

Kim Tae-jung, SAFE Korea, South Korea

Suzuyo Takazato, Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence, Okinawa

Lisa Natividad, Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice, Guahan (Guam)

July 2, 2011

Man with Marine Base address arrested for alleged sex assault of woman in Waikiki

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports “Officers arrested a 23-year-old man of an address at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe at 2:11 a.m. Friday” for allegedly sexually assaulting a 20-year old woman in Waikiki on June 23. The man arrested and booked on suspicion of first-degree sexual assault and kidnapping was one of two men who allegedly sexually assaulted the woman.

June 15, 2011June 15, 2011

Korea women want nature instead of naval base on Jeju Island

Jeju island off of South Korea is a gem of beauty, abundant natural resources and resilient people. It is a recognized as world peace island and an endangered soft coral marine environment. The island is also made famous by the women pearl divers who have always been cultural and community leaders. Jeju has a long tradition of activism against Japanese imperialism as well as the American-backed dictatorship in South Korea. For this fighting spirit many have been massacred by the South Korean state. The proposed naval base on Jeju, which will be used to support the US missile defense encirclement of China, has been met with growing resistance. A beautiful statement against the military base construction in Jeju Island from a coalition of women’s organizations in Korea was posted on the Women News Network:

Korea women want nature instead of naval base on Jeju Island

Gyung-Lan Jung – Women News Network – WNN Opinion

Gangjeong Village on Jeju Island must be a place of peace, life and healing for the Korean Peninsula!

For the past ten years, the issue of the naval base on Jeju has changed from Hwasunri to Wimiri to Gangjeong, totally destroying the communities of these villages who have been living together like family for generations.

This issue has caused deep frictions within the residents of the island, and not only the residents of the proposed base area, but the majority of the Jeju Prefecture population are against the base construction.

The ocean around Gangjeong Village, the proposed base site, borders a UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserve, and is also designated as Natural Memorial 442, a natural protection area home to clusters of soft coral.

This place is now being destroyed by the military’s unilateral forced construction.

In the local ecosystem, as the precious rocks of Gureombi, many lives of Gangjeong are dying, including the crab designated by the Ministry of the Environment as an endangered species, Sesarmops intermedium.

The beautiful scenery and nature is being covered by garbage indiscriminately disposed of by construction companies, and the underground water which is the source of much life is being tainted by dust and foreign objects discharged in the construction process, left neglected with holes.

Professor Yang Yoon-Mo, who settled by the sea of Gangjeong on his own and spent over three years with the local people trying to protect their village, was jailed and even now more than 60 days since he began a hunger strike is putting his life on the line, asking “If I die, scatter my ashes in the Gureombi sea.” Choi Sung-hee, who has also dedicated herself fully to protecting the peace of Gangjeong, is also in jail on the 12th day of a hunger strike.

As popular opinion throughout Korea strengthens against the base, and as activities by people around the country supporting actions in solidarity against the base construction such as sending support items, banners, donations and volunteers continue, the navy is becoming more frenzied to build this military base – with no clear purpose – and continues its oppression, reacting to protests with more military violent methods.

Knowing these facts, we women strongly condemn the navy for forcing through the naval base construction, and the Jeju Prefectural Government for silently allowing this to happen.

Jeju still has the memory of the massive state violence of 4.3. Despite losing their parents and siblings, every day the people had to hold their breath and hide their tears. Furthermore, through the “guilty-by-association” restrictions, innocent people had to live as if guilty. Even now 60 years on, the people of Jeju Island who lost members of their families and have been living with grief for years are not able to raise their voices, and their bitterness cannot be brushed away.

However, the new form of massive state violence in the form of the naval base is threatening our lives and peace.

We deeply share the concern of the Jeju Islanders that the animosity and conflict amongst the community as a result of the forced construction of the naval base may once again repeat the pain of the 4.3 Incident.

Having experienced the tragic history of the 4.3 Incident, and still feeling the pain of this experience, Jeju understands just how important peace is. Thus, we do not want such a difficult past to be once again brought upon the next generations of Jeju through the naval base. We do not hope for a village without peace, with the blessings of nature destroyed and the community broken down.

We hope that the ocean will be able to retain its current form, generously providing us all we ask for when we need a rest or when our stomachs are empty. We hope that will remain a place where the mothers of mothers connect lives, and many stories and breaths are left. We hope Jeju Island to be left as a peaceful place where we ourselves and our children can continue to live.

We women, deeply hoping for peace and not war on this land, oppose the military base. Peace is not just a value that cannot be seen, but is an extremely important, real thing that can change the fate of a community or a country.

And, as people who can shape Jeju, want to ask about the Jeju naval base: Can peace and military bases coexist? Is a wrong choice being rationalised with the excuse of supposed practical advantages?

Jeju Island, the island of peace, does not belong to a few politicians or military officials. The many islanders of Jeju are the custodians of Jeju Island, and they have a right to live in peace and safety. It is necessary to guarantee the future of the children.

We intend to work together with the people of Jeju Island to build a path of solution for Jeju, where life and peace breathe. As well as national actions in solidarity to stop the construction of the naval base, we will spread word of the naval base issue internationally, and actively stand together with the residents of Gangjeong to protect the beautiful natural legacy and realise Jeju as the Island of Peace.

_________________

Women Making Peace located Seoul, South Korea, is part of 34 Korean women’s groups who have come together in agreement to work with the people of Jeju Island to create peace. Below is the list of those who have signed on to this plea:

34 Women’s Groups – Korea

Women Making Peace
Kyunggi Women’s Association United,
Gwangju-Jonnam Women’s Association United,
Daegu-Kyungbuk Women’s Association United,
Busan Women’s Association United,
Kyungnam Women’s Association
Korean Association of Christian Women for Women Minjung
Daegu Women’s Association
Daejun Women’s Association
Busan Counseling Center Against Sexual Violence
The Korean Catholic Women’s Community for a New World
Suwon Women’s Association
Ulsan Women’s Association
Jeju Women’s Association
Jeju Women’s Human Rights Solidarity
Chungbuk Women’s Association
Pohang Women’s Association
Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center
Korea Women Workers Association
Korea Women’s Associations United
Korean Womenlink
Korea Women’s Studies Institute
Korea Women’s Hotline
Korea Women Migrants’ Human Rights Center
National Solidarity for the Solution for Sexual Trafficking
The National Association of Parents for Charm/education
Women’ Social Education Center
Kyungnam Women’s Associations United
Chonbuk Women’s Associations United
Pusan Women’s Center for Social Research
Saewoomtuh for Prostituted Women
Korean Differently-Abled Women’s United
Korean Association of Women Theologians
Housewives Movement for Togetherness

_________________________________

Ms. Gyung-Lan Jung is the Chairperson of South Korea’s Women Making Peace Commission.

June 14, 2011

Around the Globe, US Military Bases Generate Resentment, Not Security

Writing on the Nation blog, Katrina vanden Heuvel zeroes in on the social and financial costs of U.S. foreign military bases:

As we debate an exit from Afghanistan, it’s critical that we focus not only on the costs of deploying the current force of more than 100,000 troops, but also on the costs of maintaining permanent bases long after those troops leave.

This is an issue that demands a hard look not only in Afghanistan and Iraq, but around the globe—where the US has a veritable empire of bases.

According to the Pentagon, there are approximately 865 US military bases abroad—over 1,000 if new bases in Iraq and Afghanistan are included. The cost? $102 billion annually—and that doesn’t include the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan bases.

In a must-read article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Sciences, anthropologist Hugh Gusterson points out that these bases “constitute 95 percent of all the military bases any country in the world maintains on any other country’s territory.” He notes a “bloated and anachronistic” Cold War-tilt toward Europe, including 227 bases in Germany.

She describes the global anti-bases movement:

Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) fellow Phyllis Bennis says that the Pentagon and military have been brilliant at spreading military production across virtually every Congressional district so that even the most anti-war members of Congress are reluctant to challenge big Defense projects.

“But there’s really no significant constituency for overseas bases because they don’t bring much money in a concentrated way,” says Bennis. “So in theory it should be easier to mobilize to close them.” What is new and heartening, according to Bennis, is that “there are now people in countries everywhere that are challenging the US bases and that’s a huge development.”

[…}

IPS has worked diligently not only with allies abroad but also in the US to promote a more rational military posture with regard to bases. Other active groups include the American Friends Service Committee and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the latter focusing on bases in Latin America.

In 2010, IPS mobilized congressional opposition to the building of a new base in Okinawa by working with groups in the US and in Japan. This campaign included the creation of a grassroots coalition of peace, environmental and Asian American groups called the Network for Okinawa, a full-page ad in the Washington Post, articles in various progressive media, and a series of congressional visits. (The East Asia-US-Puerto Rico Women’s Network Against Militarism also played a key role, linking anti-base movements in Okinawa, Guam, Puerto Rico and Hawaii.)

Yes, that’s right. U.S. bases in Hawai’i are foreign bases in an occupied country. As Thomas Naylor writes in Counterpunch “Why Hawai’i is Not a Legitimate State – What the Birthers Missed” (There’s a typo in the title of the original article.):

Notwithstanding a series of clever illegal moves by the U.S. government, Hawaii cannot be considered a legally bona fide state of the United States. In 1898 the United States unilaterally abrogated all of Hawaii’s existing treaties and purported to annex it on the basis of a Congressional resolution. Two years later the U.S. illegally established the so-called Territory of Hawaii on the basis of the spurious Organic Act. After a period of prolonged belligerent occupation by the U.S., Hawaii was placed under United Nations Charter, Article 73, as a “non-self-governing territory” under the administrative authority of the United States. Then in 1959 the U.S. falsely informed the U.N. that Hawaii had become the 50th state of the United States after an illegal plebiscite. Among those allowed to vote in this invalid election were members of the U.S. military and their dependents stationed in Hawaii. In other words, Hawaii’s occupiers were permitted to vote on its future.

[…}

Hawaii became an alleged state of the United States as a result of a foreign policy based on full spectrum dominance and imperial overstretch – the same foreign policy employed by Obama over a century later in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, and Palestine.

May 22, 2011

Breaking the conspiracy of silence

Betsy Kawamura is originally from Hawaiʻi. She writes about being sexually assaulted in Okinawa by a man she believes was an American stationed at Kadena. She campaigns internationally for human rights for women. Her organization is Women4Nonviolence.

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Breaking the conspiracy of silence

Betsy Kawamura, 20 May 2011

“I was 12 years old…..my anguish ended when my family left Okinawa after this man had paid me $5 during our last encounter for my ‘services’,” Betsy Kawamura

In the 1970’s in Okinawa, an island south of mainland Japan, a middle aged Caucasian man in civilian attire stopped me outside a bookstore in the city of Koza, now called Okinawa City near the U.S. Kadena Air Base. I was 12 years old. Though I could not identify the man explicitly as being part of the U.S. armed forces, it would have been likely as most of the Americans living in Okinawa were directly or indirectly part of the U.S. military in those years during the Vietnam War. The tiny island of Okinawa was often a training ground for U.S. military personnel who were sent to Vietnam then, and still serves as a main base for U.S. armed forces for Asia Pacific regions. Lured by his smooth talk and fearful of disobeying an older man as an ‘authority figure’, I tragically agreed to go for a ride in this man’s car. Without going through traumatizing details, the perpetrator sexually assaulted me, found out where I lived, and took me out of my house to repeatedly assault me for several days in remote areas in Okinawa. He also told me openly about his sexual abuse of other young girls, including his own daughter and told me he found ‘nothing wrong’ with what he was doing to me at all. My anguish ended when my family left Okinawa after this man had paid me $5 during our last encounter for my ‘services’.

I had felt disgustingly dirty and traumatized but I received no care or attention from those closest to me. Nearly two decades later, after prolonged neglect of this early traumatic situation, I ended up institutionalised, temporarily clinically disabled, and was forced to survive on the streets homeless.

Twenty years later, when I was able to return to my professional work in Japan, I met some journalists and activists working with trafficked and tortured defectors from North Korea. I attended the second annual conference on North Korea human rights violations in Tokyo, complete with raw drawings of children depicting their lives in the gulags. The depiction of torture in the drawings and testimonies of the trafficked women triggered in me such a powerful and overwhelming response that I was never able to return completely to the corporate world. As I researched further the plight of trafficked women out of North Korea, the tortuous consequences reminded me of my own encounter of sexual assault in Okinawa. Women of Okinawa then did not have an adequate ‘voice’ or power to prosecute perpetrators and I realized then that survivors of sexual violence globally need strong political advocacy and socio-economic support to empower them. This realization ignited my will to come out as a visible survivor and a ‘voice’ to support severely stigmatised groups, as well as NGOs and journalists who try to assist in such efforts.

Like many oppressed groups in the world, I feel that many Asian women and those of minority ethnic backgrounds are still conditioned to be ‘less empowered’ than the opposite sex. I want to prevent gender based violence through grass-roots level engagement, and create awareness of the problem by approaching government, civil society and military representatives; and to support survivors toward highest-level peace negotiations globally.

I have been deeply disappointed with many of the military decision-making bodies globally because of their lack of accountability in dealing with violence against women, and lack of foresight in focusing on preventing armed conflicts. For example, although things in Okinawa have improved since 1995, there is still room for improvement in the cases of the thousands of woman and children in Asia Pacific who have survived violence since the second World War under US military presence. The 1995 Okinawa rape incident refers to a rape that took place on September 4, 1995, when U.S. Navy Seaman Marcus Gill and two U.S. Marines Rodrico Harp and Kendrick Ledet, all from Camp Hansen rented a van and kidnapped and raped a 12-year-old Japanese girl. Okinawan activist Suzuyo Takazato, and other women who were present at the Beijing Platform then investigated the incident and later generated a list of several hundred cases of sexual crimes committed by the U.S. military in Japan over the years. The 1995 rape case caused a huge public outcry in Okinawa and resulted in some changes in the handling of U.S. military crimes.

More provisions still need to be made for rape victims, such as changing the nature of Status of Force Agreements between the USA and host countries globally that leave loopholes that prevent the effective prosecution of rapists. The fact that the USA, along with other global super-powers like China and Russia, are not part of the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court, though they are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, leaves room for concern for survivors/victims of sexual violence like myself, who question the provision of ‘security’ by U.N. Security Council members.

Other territories such as East and West Africa and Balkans have also suffered from the gendered impact of armed conflicts, including militarised prostitution and human trafficking. In observing the current unrest in the Middle East and Far East Asia (North Korea in particular), it would be unfathomable not to look at how implementing UNSCR 1325 could help prevent further armed violence.

UN Security Council Resolution 1960 passed on December 17, 2010 to name and shame parties to armed conflict “credibly suspected” of committing rape or other forms of sexual violence, is a very welcome move. It is also critical to look at longer range legal consequences of accountability for super powers such as China, USA, and Russia, who are not part of the Rome Statute.

One of the greatest challenges in empowering survivors of gender based violence lie sincreating a paradigm shift in the minds and hearts of people universally who wrongly believe that survivors are disempowered and can not both give and receive love. I was asked recently whether I still belived in ‘love’. I remain committed to my belief int he transcendent powers of agape, including its ability to heal society from violence against women.

When I attend the Nobel Women’s Initiative conference on ending sexual violence against women in conflict, I hope I will be able to catalyse efforts with like-minded individuals and survivors to create a global network of survivor empowerment programs that will be survivor-steered and driven, designed to support efforts at The Hague and to evaluate National Action Plans on UNSCR 1325. As a survivor from the small island of Okinawa during the Vietnam War, I hope that I can inspire others to engage in empowering programs to lessen the burden and stigmatisation of the violence that is still disproportionately borne by female survivors. I thank the powerful and critical engagement of men in assisting us such as partners of women who were sexually abused, who stand tall and proud by them, instead of marginalizing or stigmatising them.

Gender-based violence is a weapon of mass destruction fuelled by generations of grief and ‘conspiracy of silence’ abetted by perpetrators. Such violence will continue to fuel and perpetuate wars unless there is a paradigm shift for change in the hearts and minds of the survivors, witnesses, and everyone globally. This is the message I will be taking to the Nobel Women’s Initiative conference on ending sexual violence in conflict

Betsy Kawamura is the founder and director of Women4NonViolence

April 25, 2011

“Living Along the Fenceline” screenings and talks in East SF Bay Area

Women for Genuine Security and UC Berkeley, Center for the Study of Sexual Cultures present:

LIVING ALONG THE FENCELINE

MILITARY VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, DEMILITARIZATION, & FEMINIST CONCEPTS OF SECURITY

Speaker: Suzuyo Takazato

LOCATION: 370 DWINELLE HALL, UC BERKELEY

DATE & TIME: APRIL 26TH @ 12PM

Suzuyo Takazato is a greatly respected feminist activist in Okinawa (the southern-most prefecture in Japan). Formerly a social worker with victims of gender-based violence, she founded a domestic violence project, and the first rape crisis hotline in Okinawa— REICO. Ms Takazato is a founder of Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence and still co-chairs this organization. She is one of the founding members of the International Women’s Network against Militarism, which held its first international meeting in Okinawa in 1997. She is one of 1,000 women nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, Her article, “Report from Okinawa: Long term military presence and violence against women” is published in Canadian Woman Studies 2000 (19) #4: 42-47.2005.

Female soldiers’ suicide rate triples when at war

The March 4, 2011 suicide by Schofield Barracks soldier Pvt. Galina M. Klippelunderscores the high human cost of militarization and war on our families and communities. The rate of suicide by female soldiers is three times higher when they go to war. As Col. Ann Wright says “Reasons for never starting these wars!!!”

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2011-03-18-1Asuicides18_ST_N.htm?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d8375dbf1546b32%2C0

Female soldiers’ suicide rate triples when at war

By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY

The suicide rate for female soldiers triples when they go to war, according to the first round of preliminary data from an Army study.

The findings, released to USA TODAY this week, show that the suicide rate rises from five per 100,000 to 15 per 100,000 among female soldiers at war. Scientists are not sure why but say they will look into whether women feel isolated in a male-dominated war zone or suffer greater anxieties about leaving behind children and other loved ones.

Even so, the suicide risk for female soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan is still lower than for men serving next to them, the $50 million study says.

Findings also show that marriage somehow helps inoculate male and female soldiers from killing themselves while they are overseas. Although these death rates among GI’s who are single or divorced double when they go to war, the rate among married soldiers does not increase, according to the study.

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