"No Star Wars" Conference in Berkeley
Bruce Gagnon
The Global Network's (GN) tenth anniversary international No Star Wars conference and protest was held in Berkeley, California on May 10-12.
Two hundred fifty persons from 12 countries attended the weekend of events that began on Friday, May 10, with a protest vigil at Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale. At the Sunnyvale site, Lockheed Martin is now testing the space-based laser and airborne laser programs. Military satellites for war fighting are also under development at the facility.
Conference proceedings began on May 11 with Sally Light (Nevada Desert Experience) welcoming people to the conference and she explained the role that the University of California plays in the development of nuclear weapons and space projects.
The first plenary session, called "International Perspectives on Preventing an Arms Race in Space," featured the following persons:
Regina Hagen (International Network of Engineers & Scientists Against Proliferation, Darmstadt, Germany)
Satomi Oba (Plutonium Action, Hiroshima, Japan)
Jacob Grech (Australia Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition, Melbourne)
Susan Pineda (People's Task Force for Bases Clean Up, Central Luzon, Philippines)
Edward Appiah Brafoh (Green Earth Organization, Ghana)
Regina told how Europe is now moving into space militarization, not wanting the US to have total "control and domination" of space. Satomi spoke about how most Japanese do not know about the space issue and her determination to change that fact. Jacob spoke of the feeling of isolation of the Australian peace movement but their commitment to hold actions at Pine Gap in October. Susan gave a moving presentation about how the US was putting troops back into the Philippines long before September 11 and the war on terrorism. Edward spoke strongly about how Africa suffers from AIDS and neglect while the US wastes precious resources on Star Wars.
Dr. Michio Kaku, professor of physics at the City University of New York was unable to attend, but on the huge video screen overhead Michio analyzed current Bush administration plans to escalate the arms race, both with new "mini" nukes and space weapons.
Other keynoters included:
Karl Grossman (Professor of Journalism, State University of New York, USA)
Stacey Fritz (No Nukes North, Fairbanks, Alaska)
Kathy Kelly (Voices in the Wilderness, Chicago, IL, USA).
Karl reminded us how the US is expanding plans to move more nuclear power into space during the coming years and about NASA's new major commitment to the nuclear rocket. Stacey reported on plans for a peace camp at Fort Greely in Alaska, June 12-16, to protest US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty and planned NMD deployments at that location. Kathy moved us all with her report from her recent trip to Palestine and concluded by saying that even though she was riding first class on this train to hell she was refusing to pay for it by her resistance to paying taxes.
Following two workshop sessions, an afternoon plenary session, called "Alternatives, Actions & Strategies to Keep Space for Peace," was held and this rousing session capped off a good spirited day of events. The presenters were:
Dave Knight (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, UK)
Ardeth Platte (Jonah House, Baltimore, MD).
Sri Raman (Movement Against Nuclear Weapons, Chennai, India)
Kimberly Ead (Vermont Peace & Justice Center, Burlington)
Dave stated that he was staying positive in the midst of all the insanity and believes that we have to work every possible angle, every non-violent path available to us. Ardeth, a Roman Catholic nun and a member of the Sacred Earth and Space Plowshares, spoke about the need to step forward into nonviolent resistance to the plans for global domination. Sri reminded us about the enormous tensions between India and Pakistan and reported on the extraordinary efforts of the growing Indian anti-nuclear movement. Kimberly gave a great rendition of Vermonters efforts to stop a pro-Star Wars resolution introduced by right-wing forces into the Vermont legislature and warned us all to be on the alert in our states for similar resolutions.
Our dinner that evening was hosted by the Korean Truth Commission which shared with us the horrible story about US massacre of Korean civilians at No Gun-ri and they concluded by playing the BBC documentary (never shown on US TV of course) that revealed US government documents ordering the execution of civilians during the Korean war.
Our final day together, May 12, was the regular business meeting of the GN. Following various reports, a wide ranging strategy discussion was facilitated by Dave Knight from the United Kingdom.
It was decided at this meeting that the 2003 GN international meeting would be held in South Korea and Australia (two days in each country) in late-May. The Bush administration is now moving to provoke tensions in the Asian-Pacific region. Confronting North Korea, as a way to incite China, now seems the likely scenario so it was agreed that the GN should make a real effort to meet in this part of the world. Australia also is a key in this scenario as the US spy base at Pine Gap in Australia is instrumental to operations in the Pacific region.
Throughout the weekend the dates of October 4-11 came up. This is the time that the GN will hold the "Keep Space for Peace Week: International Days of Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space". Already several of the groups present at the conference were announcing plans for activities during the week. The GN pledged to send an official representative to the large action at Pine Gap that is 2,000 miles out in the bush of Australia. "Beat the bushes" should be the rally cry for sure!
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, PO Box 90083, Gainesville, FL 32607, USA; tel. +1-352337 92 74; globalnet@mindspring.com; www.space4peace.org.
