Category Archives: Climate Rally

Who is the Evil One on the Korean Peninsula?

dprk-for-minDeputy Foreign Minister of North Korea, Park Gilyeon gave a speech at the United Nations this week that Neo-Cons, warmongers, and the United States government will ridicule just as they did when the new president of Iran held out an olive branch last week. They will say that it is just a propaganda stunt and disingenuous. The U.S. has used that tagline against everyone that opposes it…forever!

Evo Morales, the President of Bolivia, in his speech at the United Nations, focused on respecting the rights of Mother Earth and said that the rights of Mother Earth in the 21st Century will be more important that human rights.

Pres. Morales, said “the origin of this crisis (Climate) is the exaggerated accumulation of capital in far too few hands. It is the permanent removal of natural resources and the commercialization of Mother Earth. The origins come from the system and an economic model of Capitalism. If we don’t share the truth of this crisis with one another nor the international community, we will disseminate a lie to our people whom expect more from their presidents, governments and these kinds of forums.”

Not a word from Obama about protecting Mother Earth, global warming, or climate change.

And prior to speaking at the United Nations, President Morales said in a press conference in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz, “I would like to announce that we are preparing a lawsuit against Barack Obama to condemn him for crimes against humanity.”

Morales has filed a lawsuit against the US government for crimes against humanity wherein he decries the US for its ‘intimidation tactics’ and ‘fear-mongering’ after the Venezuelan presidential jet was blocked from entering US airspace.

As if this US bashing wasn’t enough, President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil castigated the U.S. for violating Brazil’s sovereignty with what she called a “grave violation of human rights and of civil liberties.” She was referring the the NSA spying on governments and people in her country and the world.

In contrast, President Barack Obama gave an embarrassing, hostile speech filled with lies and innuendo. (David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/top-45-lies-obamas-speech-un). Nothing new for the United States to lie and continuously abuse the United Nations. It has been going on for more than 60 years!

But, back to what North Korea’s, Park Gilyeon had to say. First, he said the UN is being abused by high-handedness and arbitrariness where infringement of sovereignty, interference into internal affairs and regime change continue to go unabated under the pretexts of “non-proliferation and human rights protection. Wonder who he’s referring to? Iraq, Afghanistan, Lybia, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, Columbia, etc etc etc

Second, he stated that it is the unanimous demand of the international society to completely eliminate all nuclear weapons and to build a nuclear weapon free world through disarmament. Again, no surprise here who wants it both ways. Holding that “BOMB” over everyone’s head is the most egregious act of terrorism ever.

Third, he said despite international efforts for human rights protection and promotion, high-handedness and double standards are becoming ever more undisguised in the UN human rights fora, targeting developing countries selectively as before. I wonder, who could he be referring to with this swipe?

Fourth, he suggested that the UN General Assembly (not the Security Council) should be empowered to have the final say as it represents the general will of the entire membership and UN Security Council resolutions affecting peace and security such as sanctions and use of force should be made effective only under the authority and approval of the UN General Assembly. “The instances of the UN Security Council being abused by a certain state as a tool of its strategic interests should never go unchallenged.” Hmmmmmmm Can’t imagine which state that might be.

Continuing in the same vein, he said “The UN Security Council reform which is the key component of UN reform should be undertaken on the basis of principles of ensuring accountability, transparency and impartiality in its activities and ensuring full representation of developing countries in its composition.” And, why not?

Fifth, he states emphatically, “nothing is more precious than a stable and peaceful environment for the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and the Korean people….as the general objective of the government.” What? They want peace and stability and not war?

Sixth, “60 years have passed since the end of the ….3-year-long war and the singing of the Armistice Agreement….Yet, a mechanism that guarantees peace fails to be in place, as a result of which the unstable situation neither of war nor peace continues on the Korean peninsula.” This is because the U.S., not Russia and China wanted it so. Only the USA did not remove its forces after the Armistice as did both Russia and China.

Then he blasts the U.S. directly and unequivocably…”With an aim of militarily dominating the northeast Asia with the Korean peninsula as a stepping stone, the United States, having designated the DPRK as its first attack target, beefs up its military presence in South Korea and its vicinity and on the other hand, stages a series of war exercises against the DPRK every year with massive builds up of hundreds of thousands of troops and modern military equipment, thus aggravating confrontation and tension without letup.” He must be talking about Obama’s “Pivot to Asia” committing 60% of America’s naval might to the region….not a secret operation, but a bold pronouncement. (The Ghosts of Jeju)

Mr. Park, reminds us that “The United Nations Command,”  is the illegal manipulation and bullying of the U.S. and has nothing to do with the United Nations, and that “UN Command” claimed by the U.S. is the outdated legacy of the Korean War and continues to serve the U.S. military strategy by abusing the name of the United Nations even today.

He then moves in with the knockout punch when he states, “the repeated vicious cycle of mounting tension on the Korean peninsula has its roots in the hostile policy of the U.S. on the DPRK. He goes on to say, “the United States designated the DPRK…as its enemy from the very first day of its foundation and has been refusing to recognize its sovereignty and imposing all sorts of sanctions, pressures and military threats on the DPRK for more than a half a century. The only way to ensure lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula is to bring the U.S. hostile policy to and end.” AMEN to that!

We don’t see Russia or China, Iran or N. Korea staging war games off Manhattan, L.A. and in the Gulf of Mexico. We don’t see anyone placing missiles and radar installations on our borders. Why is it that America’s strategic military efforts always seem to be on other sovereign nations’ borders?

But Park concludes with a plea for a peace mechanism dismantling the “UN Command” and the lifting of all sanctions and military threats without delay, and for the reunification of the country.” That’s precisely what the Korean people….I say, people want! Unlike the puppet S. Korean government which is controlled and held hostage by the USA. But, the people want unification and peace.

Was any of this reported in the American media? Think again! These are hardly threatening words coming from a rogue state threatening the security of the United States. In contrast, Obama continues to threaten anyone who doesn’t go along. He threatens with drones and his own personal “kill list.” He threatens with over 1,000 bases in more than 130 countries.  He threatens with sanctions and military threats everywhere on the planet.

Here at home, in “the land of the free” he imprisons whistle blowers like Bradley (Chelsea) Manning, and hunts down others like Julian Assange and Eward Snowden, even trying to intimidate China and Russia in the process. Furthermore, he extends the Patriot Act and the NDAA whereby he can detain anyone indefinitely without charges for protesting the illegal and immoral behavior of his administration, and he funds and empowers the militarization of local law enforcement to beat down popular uprisings like Occupy.

As if this isn’t enough to prove who is the “evil” in the world, he refuses to shut down Guantanamo and approves of torture and rendition for suspected “terrorists.”

President Morales put his finger on the root cause of all the problems facing human existence: “the exaggerated accumulation of capital in far too few hands. It is the permanent removal of natural resources and the commercialization of Mother Earth. The origins come from the system and an economic model of Capitalism.”

Capitalism, the military industrial complex, and a government of puppets bought and paid for by big money and large corporate interests. Far from being “exceptional,” the defender of freedom and human rights, America today looks more like fascism than a force for good in the world.

And as all of this plays out in the United Nations, this corrupt government is shut down and threatening to default on its debt payments which will throw the entire global economy into chaos. But fear not! Essential services like the War Department are exempt.

What an example of democracy, freedom, and exceptionalism!

 

 

 

 

We Like War

As President Obama and the war hawks beat the drums for war, the American people overwhelmingly oppose any military intervention in Syria’s civil war. Right now, Obama is chastising the international community in St. Petersburg Russia claiming that their credibility, not his, is at stake. This is not only outrageous and embarrassing, be despicable from someone who has won the Nobel Peace Prize, from someone who tortures people, persecutes the likes of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, has his own “kill list,” and continues to strike with drones anywhere he pleases.

Obama claims he has irrefutable proof – evidence – that President Asaad used chemical weapons on his people. I say, prove it. Show US all the evidence. Who provided it? Can it be corroborated? Russia submitted a 100 page document to the United Nations proving otherwise. I am no longer willing to accept their proof on faith any more. I do not trust this government. They asked us to just “trust them” when Bush-Cheney and his gang took us to war in Iraq. They lied. The reason was really oil.

Obama and his gang, include the military industrial complex, the big banks and all those who make money from war want us to just “trust them” again. Once again it is abot OIL. I say no more. Never again.

The Ghosts of Jeju proves unequivocally the U.S. plan to dominate the world through full-spectrum dominance – read brute military force. It has never been about spreading democracy and freedom. Never been about championing human rights. Those claims are disgusting and patently false. The government has lied to us for over 200 years.

Only America has committed genocide repeatedly beginning with the Native Americans. Just in my life time, America has used weapons of mass destruction designed to kill large numbers of civilians with the carpet bombing and fire-bombing of Germany. America followed that up with the carpet bombing and napalming of Japan in 1944-45, then carpet bombed and napalmed Korea into oblivion. Remember, it was General Curtis LeMay who directed those bombings who said, “if you kill enough of them they quit fighting.”

America didn’t stop there but carpet bombed, napalmed, and used Agent Orange in Vietnam. America didn’t object when Israel used white phosphorus on the Palestinians. We didn’t complain, but actually aided our ally at the time, Saddam Hussein when he used chemical weapons on the Iranians and his own people. American has single handedly destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan using cluster bombs, white phosphorus, and depleted Uranium causing irreparable damage to the DNA and genetic composition of those innocent people who are suffering from incidence of cancers and birth defects never before seen.

America has been killing innocent civilians, mostly all people of color and indigenous since the early days of this country all in the name of the biggest lie ever to be perpetrated, that of the American Way of Life. The American Way of Life has duped us into believing that consumption based on the evil of capitalism has been good for us.

It is rather obvious to anyone who is paying attention that the middle class is disappearing; all the good jobs have been shipped overseas; our Constitutional rights have been trampled upon; corporations are now “people” with more rights and power than real people; our educational system is in shambles and college creates unbearable debts on students and families; our infrastructure and social programs are sacrificed when 65% of our discretionary spending goes to the war machine…to making war, perpetual war.

The American Way of Life has always and only been about making the “few” more money and all-powerful. The American Way of Life has never been for the poor, people of color, the middle class. It has never been about spreading democracy and freedom around the world. The American Way of Life really means wealth, prosperity, and power for the elite oligarchs, who ironically refused to be subjects of the totalitarian government they rebelled against in 1776.

Freedom and voting rights for women, Blacks, Native Americans, and the working class were never entered the minds of the “founding fathers.” Those rights had to be fought for, and those rights are being systematically reversed right in front of our very eyes today.

If Americans knew and were paying attention to what the people we elect and this government has been doing, we would not only march on Washington, we would burn it down.

America’s number one export product is war…weapons of war which we sell to friend and foe alike, and perpetual war. The only good jobs left in America are in the research, manufacture, and use of the weapons of war.

Perhaps the worst crime of all: America has been making war on the planet. Every war destroys ecosystems that sustain life. War destroys wildlife and poisons water necessary for life. The U.S. military, in addition to killing the planet through war has the largest carbon footprint on the planet. It takes oil, lots and lots of oil to fuel planes, tanks, armored vehicles, drones, and war ships. It takes oil to manufacture and build all of the weapons of war.  America is the worst offender in global warming with no intention of stopping or slowing the process, which by the end of the century will see temperatures rise to a level that life as we know it will be unsustainable.

Rather than spend our money, our creativity, our ability to solve problems on taking care of rebuilding America, relieving human suffering and poverty world-wide, on making peace in the world, in halting climate change, America can only make war.

I believe it is time for Americans to wake up and take this country back. It already may be too late. Hopefully the fall of the Roman Empire will not be a precursor of what awaits the American Empire and the world. “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we shall die.”

Are you ready for some football?

Enjoy one of America’s real prophets who speaks truth to power, George Carlin on “We Like War.”

 

 

 

 

Bill McKibben on Global Warming: Have We Passed The Point of No Return?

On Saturday, July 20th, I spoke with Bill McKibben the founder of 350.0rg. Prior to a terrific talk he gave to the crowd of more than 100, he spoke with me on camera about global warming. He answered my second question in this very short clip with a blunt and somber answer. The question was: do you think we’ve passed the point of no return.

Watch this short clip for his answer.

Gangjeong Village Video Documentarian Jailed

Dungree-1Park Sung-Soo has been documenting the daily struggle in Gangjeong Village since the summer of 2011. He was accused of trespassing when he entered the navy base complex to protest the harassment of two young women reporters with sexual remarks by the base security personnel.

The two young women reporters appealed the incident to the Korean Human Rights Committee, but their case was dismissed.

Dungree

Park Sung-Soo, AKA Dungree, was not able to pay his fine amounting to $1500 U.S. dollars, so he decided to serve out his fine in jail for 28 days. Dungree is resolute in not wanting anyone to pay his fine. He is willing to bear the sufferings he will encounter for the month in prison.

Dungree is a victim of the new government’s strategy to oppress people with  fines and to put down the protest against the illegal construction of the base.

Since the beginning of the struggle in Gangjeong Village in 2007 to February 2013, there have been upwards of 700 arrests with 500 indictments. 22 activists have been imprisoned. All have been released with the exception of Prof. Yang Yoon-mo who has been sentenced to 18 months, this being the fourth time he has been jailed. Prof. Yang agreed to end his 52 day old hunger strike on March 24, the third since his protest began.

The average fine against the activists has been approximately $3,000 U.S. dollars, and some have had fines as high as $9,000 U.S. dollars bringing the total amount of fines to $450,000 U.S. dollars. But, that’s not all. The total compensation fee for “damages” is approximately $290,000 U.S. dollars.

All of the activists are willing to go to jail because they cannot afford the fines.

There is no way to sugar coat these gross violations of human rights and the total disregard and disdain for the civil rights of these people who are fighting for self-determination, a transparent and open democratic process, justice, peace, and the survival of their culture, not to mention their livelihoods.

To blame for this most recent displacement of indigenous people, the violation of human rights, the destruction of the environment, the beating of war drums, and the escalation of tensions around the world is the government of the U.S., the U.S. war department, and the military industrial complex.

Meanwhile, the Village is protesting the navy’s military residential housing project which will effectively obliterate this 400 year old village with accommodations for 8,000 military personnel.  This base will require maintenance facilities, an airport, radar, fuel tanks, bars, restaurants, shops, and brothels, and probably missile silos.

What is happening on Jeju Island, and in so many other places around the world, are crimes against humanity.

America! Now they are coming for us! Not only is the #1 U.S. export weapons and “security,” but now the corporations are fast at work to get us to pay for their lust for power and profits. They want (Congress will do their bidding) to pay for all of it on the backs of the middle class and the poor.

Every state in this country owes thousands of jobs to the corporations who produce the weapons and supplies of war. Because of this, there is hardly a person in Congress who will oppose their lust for more and more and more. They threaten to close down their factories and move if Congress doesn’t keep increasing the war budget that feeds the military industrial complex.

Just a cursory glance across this land reveals their ugly job-creating lies from coast to coast, and from border to border: tar-sands, Keystone pipeline, the East-West Highway in Maine, the proposed LNG tank in Searsport, Maine, hyrdo-fracking wherever they can find gas. They are stealing our own precious resources like water and selling them for profit.

Meanwhile our states are broke and can no longer maintain critical infrastructure; provide quality education; and protect the social safety net, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

There is only one answer to this suicidal march: more than 60% of the discretionary spending of the U.S. (our taxes) go to the military aka the war department. If one includes veteran’s benefits and NASA, the percentage is much higher. Bush’s wars will cost us more than $4 TRILLION. There are more than 800 U.S. military “bases” in every corner of the globe……supposedly for national security. Read: the interest of the corporations who extract resources and exploit other nations.

The Villagers of Gangjeong along with the Catholic Bishop of Jeju, Bishop Kang, have the answer: “Peace is the way. No Naval Base on the Island of Peace.” It is the moral obligation of every human being to oppose war and work for peace and justice in the world.

For those who are not able to travel to Jeju to support this struggle, you can send donations to www.savejejunow.org to help pay the fines and to support the activists who represent us in this global struggle against the U.S. imperial march towards domination of the world by force.

Largest Climate Rally in U.S. History

Capital Mall MonumentBill McKibbin, founder of 350.org, organized a rally in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, February 17, 2013 to pressure President Obama into not approving the Keystone XL Pipeline. Upwards of 40,000 people attended from all over the country and Canada.

The participants braved temperatures in the 20’s with a wind chill of zero or below and stood for hours listening to speakers, chanting, and marching from the Washington Monument to the White House. They started gathering around 9 am with the last ones leaving some time after 4 pm.

There were people of all ages and nationalities from neighboring states and from faraway. Many traveled overnight in buses and returned home as soon as the rally ended. I attended with my son Tanner. We combined the rally and a trip to the National Archives in College Park, MD to research material for my film.

I had a little fun with the video below, wanting to capture the flavor and spirit of the day. Enjoy and please share.