Brothers & Sisters from Hokkaido, Japan visit Kelly AFB community

Film Screening:
Marines Go Home: Henoko, Maehyang-ri, Yausubetsu

Wed. Nov. 1^st at 7pm
Ruta Maya Riverwalk
107 E. Martin

Leaders from the community near Kelly Air Force Base and Japan will highlight commonalities in the struggle for justice around US military installations and renew the call for community-led decision making and environmental cleanup for all bases around the world. Representatives and filmmakers from Japan are in San Antonio to exchange community struggles, movements and realities living around US military bases. The four Japanese leaders are here to premier their film, “Marines Go Home” showcasing the decades-long struggle against military occupation and bases in Hokkaido, Japan, Okinawa, Japan and South Korea. They are hosted by local organizations, Southwest Workers Union and the Committee for Environmental Justice Action and will to collect testimony from local residents about the impact and resistance to the contamination of the former Kelly Air Force Base to share with the global community.

Synopsis of “Marines Go Home-Henoko, Maehyang-ri, Yausubetsu”

Both Japan and Korea have U.S. military bases on their soil since the end of WWll. Japan and South Korea are both allied with US and sending troops to Iraq. Henoko, Okinawa continues a desperate campaign to block the construction of a new U.S. Marine Corps base. They keep on stopping the construction by encampment on the land and sea for more than 8 years and 500 days. A bombing practice site for the U.S. Air Force exists in Maehyang-ri, Korea. People of Maehyangi-ri through their tireless struggle, finally achieved the closure of the bombing practice site in August 2005 after 54 years of occupation. Yausubetsu, Hokkaido has the largest Self-Defense Forces maneuvers training ground in Japan. From 1997, the US Marines come to Yausubetsu from Okinawa for real shell training every year. Kawase Hanji is the farmer who refused to sell his land and has been living in the midst of the training area for more than 40 years. The article 9 of Japanese constitution which renounces all forms of war is his spear and shield. This film shows facet of militarization in Japan and South Korea as it follows people living protesting in each region.

This is a report from the front line of the struggles from 2003 to 2005.

SWU confronts CNN's Lou Dobbs

transcript explains itself -- Note the convenient use of CROSSTALK to omit the statementt

DOBBS: ...We have questions from the audience. Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Good evening my name is Chad Lopez (ph). I represent Southwest Workers Union here in San Antonio, Texas. I'm a community and labor organizer and first of all, I want to clarify that no one is an illegal alien. I feel we should change the language that we use and refrain to how we classify people.

No human is illegal and no one is an alien. One is that why do you support racist immigration laws and the construction of the death wall along the U.S./Mexico border when we should be spending the billions of dollars to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina and all the poor working class people struggling to survive here in the United States and we're also here bringing a list of people's demands. We feel that every migrant.

(CROSSTALK)

DOBBS: I apologize.

(CROSSTALK)

DOBBS: ... to take your question.

(CROSSTALK)

DOBBS: Sir, I apologize, but we really need to get your question in. We thank you, sir.

Congressman, your thoughts.

MCCAUL: Let me say, I think first we need to be very responsible in the rhetoric as we engage in this debate. This is not about -- it's not about race. You know we have the border share standing right here. They're on the front lines in this war on terror. This is the last line of defense. They're Hispanic. This is not about race.

Reflections on 1st Border Social Forum

La llegada
The journey of 35 members of SWU to the Border Social Forum in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico came to a grinding halt when our charter bus broke down at mile 231 along I-10 west at 3:30am. For those unfamiliar with west Texas, this essential means we were in the absolute middle of nowhere. Chilled by the cool dry air under the starry night, we waited with tumble weeds, coyote howling and the soothing sound of passing diesel trucks. We watched the sun rise, still no one came. Eventually an ambulance went by acting on a report that a drunk diabetic bus driver was passed out at the steering wheel. While the driver was completely useless (bus is still broken down), he was awake and functioning. At 10:30am, there were no vans, buses or repairmen in a 150 mile radius. Facing near hopelessness, salvation came in the form of a large white bus. Responding to our erradatic arm movements, the driver actually pulled over. As we arrived running to the door, it opened with a smoothness one would associate with a spaceship. Joyous screams followed his agreement to take us to El Paso. 10 hours later, we saw the broken arrow (our bus) fade away as the San Antonio delegation was once again on the road.

El Foro
The Border Social Forum served as a open space to converge social justice organizations from both sides of the border to discuss how to improve the region on both sides. Hosted in Ciudad Juarez, this border city of many millions is a modern day neoliberal experiment, plagued by extreme violence and poverty. Far away from both DC and DF (Mexico City), the border and its communities face increasing attacks, militarization and is the newest front on the 'war against terror.' To counteract these trends, grassroots leaders came to discuss themes like migration, women, worker justice and indigenous rights. From Latin America to the US South to New York, representatives flocked to Juarez. Throughout the forum there were 100s of workshops, panels and films organized and attended by over 90 organizations and 750 delegates. SWU and its members organized a workshops of Living Wage, Migrant Rights, Black-Brown Alliance Building and Climate Justice. SWU's own member's band, Time of the Month, performed live. The forum was funded and coordinated by volunteers and organizers from both sides of the border from food to transportation to progrmas. We made it possible and endless thanks goes out to all the supporters of the event.

La Marcha
The energy of the forum was carried to the streets on Saturday evening. Occupying the streets of downtown, hundreds marched to drum beats demanding to 'tear down the border walls.' SWU marched in style with our red shirts carrying the same message. Arriving at the International Bridge, that once passed over the flowing Rio Grande River, we took it over to give statements and demands for a just and dignified border.

Shout Outs
Many thanks to SWOP for transporting us, Cipri for letting us take over her house and office, Carlos & Blanca for their endless support, Lara for all her energy and patience, Antonio at UACJ for his late nights and dedication, Gero & Lalas for the website coordination, all the translators, and everyone who volunteered to pull this event together.

Media
The forum also showed that another media is possible. Radio Bemba, Radio Bilingue, Pacifica Radio and Indymedia all produced live broadcasts and provided constant feeds about the forum. Media from Telesur (Venezuela), Sweden and across the US documented the event. Local residents established a pirate radio station so all the Juarez could listen to the happenings and constantly updated the website. Check out some of the links below, both indy and mainstream media coverage...

Indy
RadioBemba, Radio Bilingue, Houston IndyMedia, Pacifica Radio, SWOPblogger, Ciranda, Narco News, No Racism.net

News Articles
Cimac Noticias: 1
Corrientes Noticias: 1
El Diario (Juarez): 1, 2, 3, 4
El Diario CoLatino: 1, 2
El Manana de Matamoros: 1
El Provenir: 1
El Sol de Mexico: 1
Granma: 1, 2, 3, 4
International Herald Tribune: 1
La Opcion de Chihuahua: 1
La Prensa Latina: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
People's Daily Online (China): 1
Por Esto: 1
Pulsar: 1
Tiempo: 1
Universal: 1, 2
Univision: 1

Union Pacific Crushes 2 Houses

Wanted: Union Pacific
for crimes against the people of San Antonio

A rude awakening on Tuesday afternoon for the folks just north of downtown -- Union Pacific cars came crashing into the neighborhood as they accordioned off the tracks. U.P. once again narrowly averted extreme disaster. The latest derailment in San Antonio, the 15th of 2006, raises a sounding alarm for the health and saftey of all communities that live along the railways. SWU demands the rerouting of U.P. rails and all hazardous materials as well as the immediate development of an emergency evacuation plan to ensure safety of these families. While the City breathed a sigh of relief that people were not injured, we do not know what will happen the next time. The inaction of the railroad and elected officials leave residents to live in fear. While the tracks are being cleaned, U.P. has offered nothing to assist the families whose homes they recklessly destroyed.

News:
Officials demanding answers in UP wreck

Toxic Barrels at Kelly to be Removed

... a bit better than just making the toxic landfill a golf course...

The toxic barrels underneath what was once Kelly Air Force Base will be dug up and removed the U.S. Air Force announced in its environmental cleanup plan Wednesday night, News 4 WOAI learned.

In early November, the Air Force will dig up an area about the size of a football field and transport the hazardous waste to a landfill near Corpus Christi, officials said.

The old Kelly golf course that is now part of Lackland Air Force Base in the 1940's was a landfill. Drums were buried there containing a cleaning solvent which contained a toxic substance called TCE, officials said.

“The drums have leaked and have released some of the contents to the soil and surrounding groundwater,” Dr. Ravi Razichandran with the Air Force said.

The site is close to Leon Creek, and there was concern the pollution would migrate into the creek. So Lackland officials built wells that capture and treat contaminated groundwater.

“There's really no impact to the community because the groundwater impact is limited to an area of landfill swells,” Dr. Razichandran said. “It has not gone beyond the property boundaries.”

A community group overseeing the restoration learned Wednesday the barrels will be removed next month. Lackland neighbors who were at the meeting did not appear to be overly concerned.

“I feel completely safe,” neighbor Mary Dunagan said. “I have confidence that Lackland is a good neighbor and they're going to take care of any problems we might have.”

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