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This rampant, arrogant, and care-less US militarism has nowhere been
more evident than here in South Korea, especially in the village of
Daechuri, near Pyong-taek City. The loathing for George Bush, America,
Americans, irresponsible capitalism, corporatism, imperialism and
militarism is a planetary phenomenon, but above what the US is doing to
the wretched countries of Iraq and Afghanistan, I have never been more
ashamed of the US government than when I visited the village of
Daechuri with 17 other American peace and social justice activists and
a campesino from Colombia.
Miles before our bus reached the village on the evening of November
20th, we were stopped by approximately 200 South Korean riot-police who
were decked out in their full riot regalia with bullet proof shields.
We were traveling with Father Moon, an elderly Buddhist priest who has
been an advocate for the villagers for a few years now. Father Moon got
out of the bus and negotiated with the police captain for what seemed
hours in the near freezing cold, but was only about 20 minutes.
Finally, in what the villagers said was an unprecedented move, they
allowed us entry into the village (after we passed another heavily
guarded checkpoint). Villagers must present ID to get into their own
village and visitors are rarely allowed to go in. Why? Because the
village of Daechuri is under-siege in a criminal collaboration between
the governments of South Korea and the United States of America and the
governments don't want the world to see what their crimes are doing to
yet more innocent civilians.
The village of Daechuri has the unmitigated gall to be located next
to a US military base, Camp Humphreys, which is slated for an
eleven-billion dollar expansion that would include a golf course for
the use of soldiers stationed there. The only problem is (not for the
governments) that the village of Daechuri and their thousands of acres
of farmland, mostly rice paddies, are in the way of the juggernaut of
US military expansion. The people of Daechuri have been cut-off from
their farmlands by razor wire, guard towers, and armed foot patrols.
Over two-thirds of the residents have left the small village, but that
leaves about one-third of them there to stand against the mightiest
Army and the greediest government in world history.
In the '80's, Ronald Reagan famously said: "tear it down!" regarding
the Berlin Wall. There are many more walls on Earth that separate
people from their farmlands, families, jobs and country that need to be
torn down, but so-called civilized nations are building more walls and
fortifications to contain and control free human movement and
expression and curb populations that are just trying to live their
lives in the traditional ways that they always have.
After our tour bus pulled up into the village, we were ushered into
a large warehouse where the villagers were holding their 811th nightly
candlelight vigil in protest of the US incursion. We joined their vigil
and heard their stories. We heard stories of May 4th, when 20,000
Korean police descended on the village with heavy-hands and strong arm
tactics that allowed the barbed wire fences to be constructed, thereby
effectively cutting the farmers off from tens of thousands of dollars
worth of un-harvested rice. We heard stories from village elders who
lived through Japanese imperialism and occupation to the US Korean
police action that killed 2.5 million Koreans, and are now having their
lands and ways of life robbed of them by "Pax Americana." My heart
broke for the people of Daechuri and was filled with disgust for whom
the people of Korea call "Georgie Bushie" and whom I call "BushCo."
Daechuri has become "ground zero" in the struggle against violent US
military extremism. We Americans can no longer sit idly by and turn
ignorant blind eyes to what Georgie Bushie does around the globe. The
people of such places as Daechuri, Shannon, Pearl Harbor and Iraq are
our brothers and sisters whom we are allowing our governments to
oppress and suppress.
In all my life, I have never witnessed such courage, strength, and
determination. 150 people are standing firm and will not be moved no
matter how many acres of their familial land is seized, how many of
their homes are bulldozed or how close the razor wire gets to their
homes. They have decorated every fence with bright and cheery paintings
of hope for the future and they have erected monuments and memorials to
what they have already lost. Their determination and courage should be
inspiration to all people around the world who also struggle for basic
human rights.
This week, 18 Americans chose to give up their family holiday
celebrations to come to Korea to stand with the people of Daechuri and
the Korean peace movement.
On the day after Thanksgiving when most Americans were watching
football, trampling each other in Wal-Mart in a frantic feeding frenzy
to get the newest cheap toys that are made off of the backs of virtual
slave labor all over the world and/or spend most of the day circling
parking lots at malls across the country to find a coveted parking
space, four women from our delegation, myself, Medea Benjamin (founder
of Global Exchange and Code Pink), my sister, Dede Miller (co-founder
of GSFP) and my assistant, Tiffany Burns, walked across about 2 acres
(up to our armpits) of ruined rice crops toward the "dmz" between the
village and Camp Humphreys to hang a sign that said: "Farms not Arms"
on the nasty looking razor wire, despite the warnings of the Korean
guards who were waving their arms and screaming something at us from
behind two rows of the barbed wire.
The people of Daechuri have very little to be Thankful for. Our
soldiers in the field and innocent people in Bush-torn countries have
very little to be Thankful for. For me, on the third Thanksgiving I
have had to bear since Casey was killed, I can't think of anything else
that I would rather have done than help the people of Daechuri struggle
against the very same thing that took Casey's life. The villagers
honored us with a "Gold Star Families for Peace/Code Pink" Peace House
that had been abandoned by an owner that took the cash settlement to
leave. The villagers that remain don't want the government's blood
money; they just want to keep their lands and homes.
The villagers who walk the narrow streets of Daechuri, bowed by
lifetimes of carrying heavy burdens and children on their backs, are
now carrying burdens placed there by American imperial gluttony, and I,
as an American want to help them carry this burden, as many kind people
all over the world have tried to help me carry mine.
Not only is the expansion of Camp Humphreys hurting the people of
Daechuri, but it will have the effect of further de-stabilizing a
region already on pins and needles due partially to US intervention.
You can bet your turkey leftovers that North Korea is watching these
developments very closely and only the people of Korea and this region
will pay for US infiltrations in South Korea. I know I don't feel any
safer by the raping and pillaging of Daechuri∑in fact the expansion of
Camp Humphreys will only do what Georgie Bushie is becoming infamous
for: making America and the world less safe and secure. As an aside: I
took a straw poll of about 400 South Koreans and 100% of them said that
Georgie Bushie is far more frightening than Kim Jong-Il and they want
the US out of Korea so they can put their divided country back together
again.
With the complete destruction of Daechuri scheduled by the end of
this year, our efforts may be too little, too late for the ill-fated
villagers who are going through long-distance BushCo callousness, but
we can prevent other villages, towns, countries from experiencing the
same fate with the exposure of what is happening here. We are in this
together. Making the sacrifices of the villagers count for justice is
as important as making US troop and the Iraqi civilian's sacrifices
count for peace. Peace and justice are two values that are intertwined
and inter-connected and they are the responsibility of us all.
What can we do stateside to help these people? We can lobby our
congressional reps to hold hearings into the tragedy of Daechuri. We
can donate money to help the villagers get fuel for heating their homes
during the bitter Korean winter and to obtain food, since they can't
access their fields for harvest. We can turn off our TVs and educate
ourselves on US, corporatism, imperialism and militarism by reading
such books as: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins, or
Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky. We can do with less, especially
in the season of over-the-top consumerism and waste. We can support
organizations financially who work for peace and justice in lieu of a
seemingly obscene over-abundance of presents or decorations.
I hope when Americans play golf on the golf course that will be
constructed over the rice fields that sustained and gave sustenance to
the villagers for generations, they stop and reflect for even a brief
moment that an entire village was destroyed and hundreds of people were
displaced for their recreation.
Golf! A village was obliterated for golf. If this is the "American
way" then we obviously need a new way, as speedily as possible.
View Pictures from Trip HERE
Mail your tax deductible donation for the villagers of Daechuri to:
Gold Star Families for Peace
2010 Linden Ave
Venice, Ca. 90291
Earmark the donation for the villagers.
Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Sheehan who was killed in Bush's war of terror on 04/04/04.
She is the co-founder and president of Gold Star Families for Peace and the Camp Casey Peace Institute.
She is the author of three books, the most recent is: Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey Through Heartache to Activism. | 
