Urgent: Stop the U.S./S Korean Attack - Know the Facts and take action
International Action Center and General Joe | 28.11.2010 15:11 | Anti-militarism | History | Social Struggles | World
"Tuesday, Nov 30 is the date that more than 2 million workers in the U.S. will loose all extended jobless funding or unemployment benefits. They will be left totally destitute. So we were working with some of the workers loosing benefits on that day. So one proposal was to refocus with signs and flyers this action to include more prominently the U.S. threats against DPRK, the cost of sending nuclear powered aircraft carriers, destroyers, jet aircraft half way around the world while continuing to cut the most basic necessities here at home."
Urgent: Stop the U.S./S Korean Attack - Know the Facts and take action
by International Action Center
Once again U.S. imperialism has chosen a holiday weekend time in the U.S., when workers are preoccupied, Congress is in recess, and any opposition or even questions are difficult to raise, to orchestrate a political and military crisis.
On Nov. 23, the government of South Korea mobilized 70,000 troops for a week of military maneuvers just off the border of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. The DPRK said that these military maneuvers simulated an invasion of the north. The military deployment was provocatively held right off the sea borderline between the north and the south. This is an area considered to be disputed territory.
We can not be caught off guard. We need to discuss what actions we can prepare to take if this U.S. manufactured crisis escalates.
New and more provocative military maneuvers are planned by the Pentagon against Korea this coming week from Monday Nov 29 to Friday, Dec 3.
Here in New York City we were immersed at the IAC in planning an action on Tuesday, Nov 30 at 5:00 pm at the Tree Lighting Ceremony at Rockefeller Center at 50th and 5th Ave with the slogan: "Take back our Trillions from the War Corporations. Bring all Troops Home! Jobs or Unemployment Benefits for all". This holiday event traditionally draws many tens of thousands of people.
Tuesday, Nov 30 is the date that more than 2 million workers in the U.S. will loose all extended jobless funding or unemployment benefits. They will be left totally destitute. So we were working with some of the workers loosing benefits on that day. So one proposal was to refocus with signs and flyers this action to include more prominently the U.S. threats against DPRK, the cost of sending nuclear powered aircraft carriers, destroyers, jet aircraft half way around the world while continuing to cut the most basic necessities here at home.
From the IAC want to urge antiwar, peace and justice and human rights activists, progressive forces to be on alert and actively considering what antiwar actions are possible and how we can widen the political response in the movement among friends and allies. It is important to consider how we can go out of our way to include this issue in all of the other events that we may be involved in, in the days ahead.
Due to the enormous weight of 3 generations of U.S. political propaganda and the isolation of the DPRK it is never an easy task to counter the Pentagon's threats against the people of Korea. But it is an essential task. It is important to remind the political movement of today that more than 3 million Koreans died in the U.S. war on Korea from 1950 to 1953 and that tens of thousands of troops of occupation continue in S Korea to this day.
Solidarity,
Sara Flounders
International Action Center
International Action Center - iacenter.org
STOP THE WAR PROVOCATIONS AND ATTACKS ON THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF KOREA NOW!
KNOW THE UNDISPUTED FACTS!
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION to the Obama Administration and s. Korean Govt.
at
http://www.iacenter.org/korea/stopattackondprk NOW!
PLAN PROTESTS IN THE DAYS AHEAD TO COUNTER THE GROWING WAR THREAT
Tell the Obama Administration and the south Korean Government you want the U.S./south Korean war maneuvers and provocations against the DPRK stopped immediately, the removal of south Korean and U.S. war ships including the U.S. aircraft carrier George Washington, an end to the U.S. sponsored sanctions against the DPRK, the signing of a peace treaty NOW to end the state of war that has existed since the Korean war, and the immediate withdrawal of the 30,000 U.S. troops that still occupy south Korea, so that the Korean people can freely decide their own destiny.
THESE ARE THE UNDISPUTED FACTS: On Nov. 23, the government of South Korea mobilized 70,000 troops for a week of military maneuvers just off the border of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. The DPRK said that these military maneuvers simulated an invasion of the north.
The military deployment was provocatively held right off the sea borderline between the north and the south. This is an area considered to be disputed territory.
On Nov 23, at 1:00 p.m., South Korean forces fired many shells into waters right off the DPRK. This is an area that the north has a longstanding claim to be within its territory. This claim had been accepted by prior south Korean governments.
An hour and a half later, the DPRK retaliated to what it saw as an attack on its territory by firing shells at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong.
And now the U.S. has announced plans to send the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington and its battle group including war ships, destroyers and hundreds of fighter jets back into the area to participate in new war maneuver provocations.
It is urgent that all who stand for peace and justice make plans now for immediate protest actions in the days ahead.
The U.S. military has been involved in all the war maneuvers by South Korea, going back to the 1950-53 war, and has occupied South Korea since the end of World War II.
Why doesn’t the media ask why the U.S. was orchestrating a massive military deployment of troops, ships and aircraft right on the border of the DPRK?
The provocation here clearly comes from the U.S. government and the right-wing south Korean regime, not the DPRK. The regime of Lee Myung-bak has undone earlier moves that improved relations between the two halves of the Korean nation and has brought increased confrontation.
It can never be forgotten that U.S. imperialism waged a horrendous war against the Korean Revolution from 1950 to 1953, one that resulted in millions of deaths and total devastation of the Korean Peninsula.
For there to be peace on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. should end its support of expansionist, right-wing forces in the south, sign a peace treaty with the north (a state of war still exists after 57 years!) and withdraw its troops so the Korean people can decide their own destiny.
Join us in the days ahead in taking to the streets to protest these U.S. war threats and sanctions that have created a powder keg in Asia. End the military occupation of South Korea! Sign a peace treaty and bring the troops home!
SIGN ONLINE AT http://www.iacenter.org/korea/stopattackondprk NOW!
SAMPLE PETITION TEXT:
To: President Barack Obama, President Lee Myung-bak, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
CC: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, U.N. member delegations, U.S. Congressional leaders, members of the media.
Stop the U.S./South Korean War maneuvers and provocations against the DPRK (north Korea) immediately!
Remove the south Korean and U.S. war ships! DO NOT SEND ADDITIONAL U.S WARSHIPS AND PLANES INCLUDING THE U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIER GEORGE WASHINGTON!
End the U.S. sponsored sanctions against the DPRK!
Sign a peace treaty NOW to end the state of war that has existed for 57 years since the Korean war!
Withdraw all of the 30,000 U.S. troops that still occupy south Korea, so that the Korean people can freely decide their own destiny.
It is an undisputed fact that on Nov. 23, the government of South Korea mobilized 70,000 troops for a week of military maneuvers just off the border of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. The DPRK said that these military maneuvers simulated an invasion of the north.
On Nov 23, at 1:00 p.m., South Korean forces fired many shells into waters right off the DPRK. This is an area that the north has a longstanding claim to be within its territory. This claim had been accepted by prior south Korean governments.
An hour and a half later, the DPRK retaliated to what it saw as an attack on its territory by firing shells at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong.
And now the U.S. has announced plans to send the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington and its battle group including war ships, destroyers and hundreds of fighter jets back into the area to participate in new war maneuver provocations.
The U.S. military has been involved in all the war maneuvers by South Korea, going back to the 1950-53 war, and has occupied South Korea since the end of World War II. AND THE WAR DANGER IS GROWING!
Clearly the military provocation is from the U.S. government and the south Korean government of President Lee Myung-bak.
For there to be peace on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. must withdraw its troops so the Korean people can decide their own destiny.
Sincerely,
(Your signature appended here)
SIGN ONLINE AT http://www.iacenter.org/korea/stopattackondprk NOW!
About the IAC | Donate | IAC Books & Resources | Contact Us | Sign the Petition!
International Action Center
c/o Solidarity Center
55 W 17th St Suite 5C
New York, NY 10011
212-633-6646
iacenter@iacenter.org
www.iacenter.org
And:
Obama's Bush Doctrine in Korea
By Workers Action
A key reason that Obama was elected President was his promise to abandon the Bush doctrine of unilateral foreign policy, meaning that Obama would work with other countries toward a more cooperative, peaceful world. The threat of war in Korea exposes Obama -- yet again -- as a dangerous copycat of Bush's approach to global politics. ??A simple way for Obama to live up to his campaign promise would be to immediately agree to China's request to continue the six party talks over the Korean situation, involving North and South Korea, Russia, Japan, China, and the U.S. The last such meeting was held at the end of Bush's term. Here is what Obama said about the six party talks on Veterans day while visiting Seoul:
Keywords:
"President Lee [right wing President of South Korea] and I have discussed this extensively and our belief is that there will be an appropriate time and place to re-enter into six-party talks, but we have to see a seriousness of purpose [concessions] by the North Koreans in order to spend the extraordinary time and energy that's involved in these talks. We're not interested in just going through the motions with the same result."
Obama thus uses the same Bush-like logic with North Korea as he does with Iran: The U.S. will not talk with Iran or Korea until they first give into extensive U.S. demands. Obama places the cart in front of the horse and acts shocked when the horse -- North Korea -- does not budge. Never mind that it would be absurd for North Korea to abandon its only real deterrent, nuclear weapons, after the U.S. invaded two non-nuclear nations.
Oddly, when it came to North Korea, Bush acted much more responsibly, i.e., multilaterally, than Obama; he attended the six party talks and took the threat of nuclear war seriously (while starting non-nuclear wars elsewhere). After naming North Korea part of the "axis of evil," Bush back-stepped and took North Korea off of the list of countries that are "state sponsors" of terrorism.
Obama on the other hand, began his Presidency with a "get tough" attitude on Korea, outgunning Bush from the right- wing. The first shots were fired when Obama pressured the U.N. to adopt harsher, provocative sanctions against North Korea. These are on top of the already strict, cold war-era sanctions that Obama refuses to remove, in the same way he maintains the embargo against Cuba that, in both countries, produces innumerable miseries.
On top of maintaining past conflicts, Obama's get-tough policy is producing the conditions for a potentially catastrophic war.
After employing the new sanctions, Obama agreed to large-scale war games with South Korea that both China and North Korea protested. During these war games, a highly sophisticated South Korean war ship sank, and a western-only investigatory team concluded that an unsophisticated North Korean submarine was the culprit, a claim disputed by Russia, China, and other prominent sources.
Recently, the U.S. blamed North Korea exclusively for the fighting that broke out during a South Korean-only war games. But the Associated Press told a different story:
"The skirmish began when Pyongyang [i.e. North Korea] warned the South to halt military drills in the area, according to South Korean officials. When Seoul [i.e. South Korea] refused and began firing artillery into disputed waters, albeit away from the North Korean shore, the North retaliated by bombarding the small island of Yeonpyeong, which houses South Korean military installations...." (November 23, 2010).
How did Obama respond to this crisis, which could very possibly evolve into a nuclear war? By ignoring the Chinese call for a resumption of the six party talks and by announcing that the giant U.S. aircraft carrier, George Washington, would come to the contentious area to participate in yet another U.S.-South Korea war games, the equivalent of pouring gasoline on a blazing fire.
War games are a direct provocation to the surrounding area, which includes China and North Korea. They are a show of force in a disputed area that China is claiming as its sphere of influence. The U.S. has no right to be in the region but floods the sea with warships all the same.
Obama has vowed to defend South Korea in case of war, while the assumption is that China would intervene if North Korea were under attack, a situation that could easily spiral out of control into nuclear conflagration.
The people of North and South Korea want to be united into a single country but are held hostage by larger forces outside of their country, while their situation is exploited by ruling political groups domestically.
If Obama were serious about his multilateralism, he would immediately remove all 29,000 U.S. troops from South Korea and re-join the six party talks with no conditions. North Korea has been vocal in wanting to repair relations with the U.S. Obama's current approach inevitably leads to a regional war, with China and the U.S. eager to jump in.
By Workers Action
www.workerscompass.org
Download Article (PDF)
Add to PDF Compilation
Download PDF Compilation
Email Article
-----
Spread Widely Please. General Joe
by International Action Center
Once again U.S. imperialism has chosen a holiday weekend time in the U.S., when workers are preoccupied, Congress is in recess, and any opposition or even questions are difficult to raise, to orchestrate a political and military crisis.
On Nov. 23, the government of South Korea mobilized 70,000 troops for a week of military maneuvers just off the border of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. The DPRK said that these military maneuvers simulated an invasion of the north. The military deployment was provocatively held right off the sea borderline between the north and the south. This is an area considered to be disputed territory.
We can not be caught off guard. We need to discuss what actions we can prepare to take if this U.S. manufactured crisis escalates.
New and more provocative military maneuvers are planned by the Pentagon against Korea this coming week from Monday Nov 29 to Friday, Dec 3.
Here in New York City we were immersed at the IAC in planning an action on Tuesday, Nov 30 at 5:00 pm at the Tree Lighting Ceremony at Rockefeller Center at 50th and 5th Ave with the slogan: "Take back our Trillions from the War Corporations. Bring all Troops Home! Jobs or Unemployment Benefits for all". This holiday event traditionally draws many tens of thousands of people.
Tuesday, Nov 30 is the date that more than 2 million workers in the U.S. will loose all extended jobless funding or unemployment benefits. They will be left totally destitute. So we were working with some of the workers loosing benefits on that day. So one proposal was to refocus with signs and flyers this action to include more prominently the U.S. threats against DPRK, the cost of sending nuclear powered aircraft carriers, destroyers, jet aircraft half way around the world while continuing to cut the most basic necessities here at home.
From the IAC want to urge antiwar, peace and justice and human rights activists, progressive forces to be on alert and actively considering what antiwar actions are possible and how we can widen the political response in the movement among friends and allies. It is important to consider how we can go out of our way to include this issue in all of the other events that we may be involved in, in the days ahead.
Due to the enormous weight of 3 generations of U.S. political propaganda and the isolation of the DPRK it is never an easy task to counter the Pentagon's threats against the people of Korea. But it is an essential task. It is important to remind the political movement of today that more than 3 million Koreans died in the U.S. war on Korea from 1950 to 1953 and that tens of thousands of troops of occupation continue in S Korea to this day.
Solidarity,
Sara Flounders
International Action Center
International Action Center - iacenter.org
STOP THE WAR PROVOCATIONS AND ATTACKS ON THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF KOREA NOW!
KNOW THE UNDISPUTED FACTS!
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION to the Obama Administration and s. Korean Govt.
at
http://www.iacenter.org/korea/stopattackondprk NOW! PLAN PROTESTS IN THE DAYS AHEAD TO COUNTER THE GROWING WAR THREAT
Tell the Obama Administration and the south Korean Government you want the U.S./south Korean war maneuvers and provocations against the DPRK stopped immediately, the removal of south Korean and U.S. war ships including the U.S. aircraft carrier George Washington, an end to the U.S. sponsored sanctions against the DPRK, the signing of a peace treaty NOW to end the state of war that has existed since the Korean war, and the immediate withdrawal of the 30,000 U.S. troops that still occupy south Korea, so that the Korean people can freely decide their own destiny.
THESE ARE THE UNDISPUTED FACTS: On Nov. 23, the government of South Korea mobilized 70,000 troops for a week of military maneuvers just off the border of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. The DPRK said that these military maneuvers simulated an invasion of the north.
The military deployment was provocatively held right off the sea borderline between the north and the south. This is an area considered to be disputed territory.
On Nov 23, at 1:00 p.m., South Korean forces fired many shells into waters right off the DPRK. This is an area that the north has a longstanding claim to be within its territory. This claim had been accepted by prior south Korean governments.
An hour and a half later, the DPRK retaliated to what it saw as an attack on its territory by firing shells at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong.
And now the U.S. has announced plans to send the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington and its battle group including war ships, destroyers and hundreds of fighter jets back into the area to participate in new war maneuver provocations.
It is urgent that all who stand for peace and justice make plans now for immediate protest actions in the days ahead.
The U.S. military has been involved in all the war maneuvers by South Korea, going back to the 1950-53 war, and has occupied South Korea since the end of World War II.
Why doesn’t the media ask why the U.S. was orchestrating a massive military deployment of troops, ships and aircraft right on the border of the DPRK?
The provocation here clearly comes from the U.S. government and the right-wing south Korean regime, not the DPRK. The regime of Lee Myung-bak has undone earlier moves that improved relations between the two halves of the Korean nation and has brought increased confrontation.
It can never be forgotten that U.S. imperialism waged a horrendous war against the Korean Revolution from 1950 to 1953, one that resulted in millions of deaths and total devastation of the Korean Peninsula.
For there to be peace on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. should end its support of expansionist, right-wing forces in the south, sign a peace treaty with the north (a state of war still exists after 57 years!) and withdraw its troops so the Korean people can decide their own destiny.
Join us in the days ahead in taking to the streets to protest these U.S. war threats and sanctions that have created a powder keg in Asia. End the military occupation of South Korea! Sign a peace treaty and bring the troops home!
SIGN ONLINE AT
http://www.iacenter.org/korea/stopattackondprk NOW! SAMPLE PETITION TEXT:
To: President Barack Obama, President Lee Myung-bak, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
CC: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, U.N. member delegations, U.S. Congressional leaders, members of the media.
Stop the U.S./South Korean War maneuvers and provocations against the DPRK (north Korea) immediately!
Remove the south Korean and U.S. war ships! DO NOT SEND ADDITIONAL U.S WARSHIPS AND PLANES INCLUDING THE U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIER GEORGE WASHINGTON!
End the U.S. sponsored sanctions against the DPRK!
Sign a peace treaty NOW to end the state of war that has existed for 57 years since the Korean war!
Withdraw all of the 30,000 U.S. troops that still occupy south Korea, so that the Korean people can freely decide their own destiny.
It is an undisputed fact that on Nov. 23, the government of South Korea mobilized 70,000 troops for a week of military maneuvers just off the border of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. The DPRK said that these military maneuvers simulated an invasion of the north.
On Nov 23, at 1:00 p.m., South Korean forces fired many shells into waters right off the DPRK. This is an area that the north has a longstanding claim to be within its territory. This claim had been accepted by prior south Korean governments.
An hour and a half later, the DPRK retaliated to what it saw as an attack on its territory by firing shells at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong.
And now the U.S. has announced plans to send the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington and its battle group including war ships, destroyers and hundreds of fighter jets back into the area to participate in new war maneuver provocations.
The U.S. military has been involved in all the war maneuvers by South Korea, going back to the 1950-53 war, and has occupied South Korea since the end of World War II. AND THE WAR DANGER IS GROWING!
Clearly the military provocation is from the U.S. government and the south Korean government of President Lee Myung-bak.
For there to be peace on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. must withdraw its troops so the Korean people can decide their own destiny.
Sincerely,
(Your signature appended here)
SIGN ONLINE AT
http://www.iacenter.org/korea/stopattackondprk NOW! About the IAC | Donate | IAC Books & Resources | Contact Us | Sign the Petition!
International Action Center
c/o Solidarity Center
55 W 17th St Suite 5C
New York, NY 10011
212-633-6646
iacenter@iacenter.org www.iacenter.org
And:
Obama's Bush Doctrine in Korea
By Workers Action
A key reason that Obama was elected President was his promise to abandon the Bush doctrine of unilateral foreign policy, meaning that Obama would work with other countries toward a more cooperative, peaceful world. The threat of war in Korea exposes Obama -- yet again -- as a dangerous copycat of Bush's approach to global politics. ??A simple way for Obama to live up to his campaign promise would be to immediately agree to China's request to continue the six party talks over the Korean situation, involving North and South Korea, Russia, Japan, China, and the U.S. The last such meeting was held at the end of Bush's term. Here is what Obama said about the six party talks on Veterans day while visiting Seoul:
Keywords:
"President Lee [right wing President of South Korea] and I have discussed this extensively and our belief is that there will be an appropriate time and place to re-enter into six-party talks, but we have to see a seriousness of purpose [concessions] by the North Koreans in order to spend the extraordinary time and energy that's involved in these talks. We're not interested in just going through the motions with the same result."
Obama thus uses the same Bush-like logic with North Korea as he does with Iran: The U.S. will not talk with Iran or Korea until they first give into extensive U.S. demands. Obama places the cart in front of the horse and acts shocked when the horse -- North Korea -- does not budge. Never mind that it would be absurd for North Korea to abandon its only real deterrent, nuclear weapons, after the U.S. invaded two non-nuclear nations.
Oddly, when it came to North Korea, Bush acted much more responsibly, i.e., multilaterally, than Obama; he attended the six party talks and took the threat of nuclear war seriously (while starting non-nuclear wars elsewhere). After naming North Korea part of the "axis of evil," Bush back-stepped and took North Korea off of the list of countries that are "state sponsors" of terrorism.
Obama on the other hand, began his Presidency with a "get tough" attitude on Korea, outgunning Bush from the right- wing. The first shots were fired when Obama pressured the U.N. to adopt harsher, provocative sanctions against North Korea. These are on top of the already strict, cold war-era sanctions that Obama refuses to remove, in the same way he maintains the embargo against Cuba that, in both countries, produces innumerable miseries.
On top of maintaining past conflicts, Obama's get-tough policy is producing the conditions for a potentially catastrophic war.
After employing the new sanctions, Obama agreed to large-scale war games with South Korea that both China and North Korea protested. During these war games, a highly sophisticated South Korean war ship sank, and a western-only investigatory team concluded that an unsophisticated North Korean submarine was the culprit, a claim disputed by Russia, China, and other prominent sources.
Recently, the U.S. blamed North Korea exclusively for the fighting that broke out during a South Korean-only war games. But the Associated Press told a different story:
"The skirmish began when Pyongyang [i.e. North Korea] warned the South to halt military drills in the area, according to South Korean officials. When Seoul [i.e. South Korea] refused and began firing artillery into disputed waters, albeit away from the North Korean shore, the North retaliated by bombarding the small island of Yeonpyeong, which houses South Korean military installations...." (November 23, 2010).
How did Obama respond to this crisis, which could very possibly evolve into a nuclear war? By ignoring the Chinese call for a resumption of the six party talks and by announcing that the giant U.S. aircraft carrier, George Washington, would come to the contentious area to participate in yet another U.S.-South Korea war games, the equivalent of pouring gasoline on a blazing fire.
War games are a direct provocation to the surrounding area, which includes China and North Korea. They are a show of force in a disputed area that China is claiming as its sphere of influence. The U.S. has no right to be in the region but floods the sea with warships all the same.
Obama has vowed to defend South Korea in case of war, while the assumption is that China would intervene if North Korea were under attack, a situation that could easily spiral out of control into nuclear conflagration.
The people of North and South Korea want to be united into a single country but are held hostage by larger forces outside of their country, while their situation is exploited by ruling political groups domestically.
If Obama were serious about his multilateralism, he would immediately remove all 29,000 U.S. troops from South Korea and re-join the six party talks with no conditions. North Korea has been vocal in wanting to repair relations with the U.S. Obama's current approach inevitably leads to a regional war, with China and the U.S. eager to jump in.
By Workers Action
www.workerscompass.org
Download Article (PDF)
Add to PDF Compilation
Download PDF Compilation
Email Article
-----
Spread Widely Please. General Joe
International Action Center and General Joe
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