HUMOUR:

DARTH HARPER:

ANTIMILITARISME/ANTIMILITARISM:
CONTRE LE RADAR DE 'STAR WARS' DANS LA RÉPUBLIQUE TCHÈQUE/MANIFESTATION À BRUXELLES///AGAINST THE 'STAR WARS' RADAR IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC/DEMONSTRATION IN BRUSSELS:
Ce qui suit est du site Web tchèque ' ; La force de Non-Violence' ;. Ils sont un groupe opposé à la guerre en général et spécifiquement à la construction de le radar anti missile dans la République Tchèque. Ils espèrent faire pression sur le nouveau gouvernement des États-Unis pour abandonner ce projet provocateur.
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The following is from the Czech website 'The Force of Non-Violence'. They are a group opposed to war in general ans specifically to the construction of the anti missile radar in the Czech Republic. They hope to pressure the new US Administration to abandon this provocative project.
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Bulletin de News - 02_2009 / News Bulletin:
February 02_2009‏

Chers amis,
[The English version of the newsletter is below.]
Dans l’attente que le Président Obama prenne position clairement, pèse un climat d’incertitude par rapport à la réalisation en Europe du dénommé « Bouclier spatial ». Néanmoins, notre protestation continue et elle a permis que le Gouvernement tchèque n’ait pu ratifier définitivement à ce jour l’accord avec les USA.Nous vous remercions tous pour le soutien reçu.




À Bruxelles, le 18 février 2009, une rencontre au Parlement Européen aura lieu entre plusieurs députés et 20 maires de la république tchèque, membres de la Ligues des Maires contre le radar, Giorgio Schultze (Europe for peace) Jan Tamas (Humanistes tchèques contre les bases) et des délégations de plusieurs pays européens. À l’initiative de Bruxelles, participeront aussi des maires de plusieurs villes de Belgique et seront également remis à cette occasion des messages de soutien de maires italiens en solidarité avec les protestations en République tchèque.




À 14 heures, une manifestation commencera devant le Parlement et tout au long de la journée des manifestations similaires auront lieu dans de nombreuses villes européennes.




La manifestation s’appellera « Les invisibles » car 70% de la population tchèque est contre la base radar des usa. Ils sont invisibles pour les médias, de même que restent invisibles à leurs yeux 95% de la population mondiale qui sont contre les guerres.




Vidéo de la manifestation déjà réalisée à Prague :
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/news.php?id=1036&country=




Mais surtout nous voulons vous informer de la Marche Mondiale pour la Paix et la Non-violence, la Marche la plus grande jamais organisée dans l’histoire humaine. Elle commencera en Nouvelle-Zélande le 02 octobre 2009, proclamé journée mondiale de la non-violence par les Nations Unies. Elle traversera une centaine de pays sur les cinq continents et se terminera dans les Andes argentines le 2 janvier 2010.




Des centaines d’organisations et de personnalités ont adhéré telles que la Président du Chili, Michelle Bachelet, le Dalaï Lama, l’équipe de football de l’Inter de Milan, l’acteur Viggo Mortensen (« le Seigneur des anneaux ») et beaucoup d’autres...




Participez et rejoignez la Marche pour dire définitivement non aux guerres et à toute forme de violence !
Informations :
http://www.marchemondiale.fr/
Conférence internationale contre « la Défense par les Missiles » à Séoul, en Corée du Sud, du 16 au 18 avril 2009 :Informations :
http://www.space4peace.org/actions/gnconf_2009.htm
Autres informations Brève présentation sur le bouclier spatial, utile pour informer de façon simple des institutions, des amis, des associations :
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/documents-detail.php?id=1050&country=fr
Lettre ouverte aux maires et aux organisations à propos de l’activité du 18 février :
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/news.php?id=1044&country=fr
Appel de la présidente du Chili à participer à la Marche Mondiale et pour un monde sans guerres (en espagnol - en anglais) :
http://www.nenasili.cz/en/3039_video-president-bachelet-endorses-the-world-march-for-peace-and-nonviolence
Entretien avec Noam Chomsky sur le bouclier spatial en Europe (en anglais, en italien)
:http://www.europeforpeace.eu/video-detail.php?id=1034&country=it
Entretien avec Noam Chomsky sur rôle possible de l’Europe pour éviter une catastrophe nucléaire (en anglais) :
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/video-detail.php?id=1029&country=
Conférence au Parlement Tchèque du député euro-parlementaire G. Chiesa : “Le bouclier divise l’Europe“ (en anglais)
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/video-detail.php?id=1030&country=
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Dear Friends,
With the expectation that President Obama may take a clear position, there is an air of uncertainty regarding the materialisation of the so-called Space Shield in Europe. Nevertheless, our protest continues, and this has allowed that until today the Czech Government has been unable to definitively ratify the agreement with the USA. We thank everyone for the support received.




In Brussels, on the 18th of February 2009, there will be a meeting in the European Parliament among various MEPs and 20 Mayors of the Czech Republic, members of the League against the Radar, Giorgio Schultze (Europe for Peace), Jan Tamas (Czech Humanists against the bases) and delegations from various European countries.Mayors of various Belgian cities will participate as well in the initiative in Brussels and messages of support will be handed in from many Italian Mayors expressing their solidarity with the protests in the Czech Republic.At 2 pm, a demonstration will start in front of the Parliament and throughout the same day similar demonstrations will be carried out in numerous European cities.




The demonstration will be called “the invisibles”, because the 70% of the Czech population that is against the US radar base are invisible for the media, as are the 95% of the world’s population that are against wars.
Video of the demonstration already held in Prague:
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/news.php?id=1036&country=




But above all, we would like to inform you about the World March for Peace and Nonviolence, the biggest march ever organised in human history.It will start in New Zealand on the 2nd of October 2009, proclaimed by the United Nations as the International Day of Nonviolence. It will pass through a hundred countries on five continents and will end in the Argentinean Andes on the 2nd of January 2010.




Hundreds of organisations and personalities have already endorsed the March, like Michelle Bachelet, Chilean President, the Dalai Lama, the Italian football club Inter Milan, the actor Viggo Mortensen (from “the Lord of the Rings”) and many others. Participate and join us in this March to say “no” decisively to wars and any form of violence!
Information:
http://www.worldmarchforpeace.org/
International conference against Missile Defence in Seoul, South Korea, between the 16th and 18th of April 2009. Information:
http://www.space4peace.org/actions/gnconf_2009.htm
Other information:
Video bulletin about the World March:
http://www.marchamundial.org/en
Brief presentation about the Space Shield, useful to inform institutions, friends and groups in a simple way:
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/documents.php?country=&keyword=documents
Open letter to Mayors and organisations about the activity on the 18th of February:
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/news.php?id=1040&country=
Call of the Chilean President to participate in the World March and for a world without wars:
http://www.nenasili.cz/en/3039_video-president-bachelet-endorses-the-world-march-for-peace-and-nonviolence
Video with Noam Chomsky about the Space Shield in Europe:
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/video-detail.php?id=1027&country=
Video interview with Noam Chomsky about the possible role of Europe in order to avoid a nuclear catastrophe (in English):
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/video-detail.php?id=1029&country=
Conference in the Czech Parliament with the MEP G. Chiesa: “The shield is dividing Europe”:
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/video-detail.php?id=1030&country=
VIDEO: Interview of Russia Today with Jan Tamas - US Radar provokes wars:
http://www.nenasili.cz/en/2921_us-radar-provokes-wars
http://www.nonviolence.cz/

CZECH REPUBLIC:

HUNGER STRIKES AND OTHER PROTESTS AGAINST US PLANS FOR MISSILE INTERCEPTORS IN EASTERN EUROPE:

Over the past two years the US government, in cooperation with the governments of Poland and the Czech Republic, has moved slowly and inexorably towards the stationing of an anti-missile system in the territories of the two east European countries mentioned. This project has proceeded much more quietly than the Reagan area 'Star Wars' circus- which amounted to nothing substantial-, and the Bush administration has probably been wise to move via stealth rather than rhetorical fireworks in this case. For an overview of the Reagan era 'Star Wars' overhyped project see THIS WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE. Also consult 'National Missile Defense' for an overview of the general subject.

The present plan is that the radar station for the project will be situated in the Czech Republic while the interceptor missiles themselves will be situated in Poland. The location of the installations makes it quite obvious that they are aimed as a threat towards Russia rather than what the US government claims- that they are meant to intercept missiles that might be launched from so-called "rogue states". To date only North Korea has demonstrated both missile and nuclear capacity. The idea that interceptors based in Poland could overtake missiles launched from North Korea eastwards is, of course, ridiculous. Iran presently has neither nuclear capacity nor missile capacity to reach western Europe. Of course the interceptor missiles involved will not be anywhere near as capable as their proponents claim them to be. What they are,however, is a device to "thin" any Russian launch, perhaps even- perish the thought- simply a retaliatory strike against the only state which has both used nuclear weapons in warfare and threatened to use them on many other occasions. Perhaps the missiles that would be launched from Russia wouldn't be aimed at western and central Europe at all but rather at some unnamed "rogue state" that has demonstrated its willingness to both use and, especially, threaten nuclear annihilation numerous times in the past.

But if these installations are built they will automatically become necessary targets. This project hasn't been without opposition in both Poland and the Czech Republic. It is certain that the majority of Czechs oppose the construction of the radar base on their territories, and it is probable that the majority of Poles oppose the location of the interceptor missile on theirs. Presently some of the opposition to this "Star Wars Version 2" has taken the form of a series of hunger strikes carried out by Czech citizens to bring the world's attention to the situation. Ongoing news about these protests can be found at the Europe for Peace website. These hunger strikes are undertaken by humanists who hold to the philosophy of "non-violent direct action". Molly might quibble about whether their self-applied description is indeed "direct action". To my lights it is merely another form of "petitioning", just as pointless riots at economic gatherings are. Neither tactic directly changes the situation. Both merely try and force the hand of established power to comply with ethical demands. Both are protest rather than "direct action", but the tactics of the hunger strikers at least have the advantage of occupying the moral high ground.

In their own words, here is the underlying philosophy of the humanist protesters against the location of tracking radar in the Czech Republic, from The Strength of Non-Violence website.

What is active non-violence?

Non-violence generally refers to some or all of the following: a system of moral concepts that disavows violence; the mass movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in India in the first part of the twentieth century; the struggle for civil rights by African-Americans in the United States under the leadership of Martin Luther King; and the activities carried out by Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana. The activities of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Andrei Sakharov, S. Kovalev, and other famous dissidents opposed to Soviet totalitarianism are often included as well.

The idea of non-violence is expounded in the Bible and the writings of other religions in the exhortation not to kill. This idea has been developed by numerous thinkers and philosophers; Russian authors Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky expressed it in profound formulations. Tolstoy's formula proclaiming the supremacy of love and the “non-use of violence against evil,” or better, the impossibility of fighting one evil with another, found worldwide resonance, inspiring a somewhat singular sect of “Tolstoyists.”

The non-violence movement developed by Gandhi prepared the ground for Great Britain to renounce its supremacy in India, though Gandhi himself was killed by a paid assassin. Also M.L.King's struggle ended without victory. He was assassinated in the balcony of his hotel in Memphis, while assisting a protest which denounced the low salaries of the black people who collected the trash. Nonetheless, the concept of non-violence , including non-violent forms of protest, continues to be a vital, evolving force in the world. Daily mass actions by lower strata of workers, meetings and protest demonstrations, strikes, women's and student movements, farmworker and peasant demonstrations, leaflets, neighborhood newspapers and periodicals, appearances on radio and TV, all these constitute the contemporary forms of the ethic and practice of non-violence.

New Humanism, developed by Silo(Who???-Molly) since the 1960s until today, strives to reduce violence to the greatest extent possible, to create perspectives which go completely beyond violence , and to use all possible methods and forms of bringing resolution to conflicts and dichotomies along the path of creative non-violence.

Non-violence is frequently equated with pacifism , when in reality the latter is neither a method of action nor a style of life but rather a sustained protest against war and the arms race. From the above it follows that non-violence and active non-violence (1) consist of a personal commitment, a style of life and a methodology for social change.

The two pillars of the methodology of active nonviolence are civil disobedience and non-participation.

Civil disobedience has the following ideological and philosophical justification: If the State imposes laws which are violently unjust, discriminatory, etc. and the application of such laws affects people negatively because it transforms people into agents or receivers of injustice or discrimination, then people have the right and the moral obligation to not comply with such laws. Civil disobedience and non-cooperation intentionally break the unjust law and accept the punishments, for example imprisonment, as a dignified consequence of their actions.

Non-participation or vacuum towards violence implies avoiding involvement in violent situations – which usually has a negative economic effect to the transmitter of violence – proclaiming publicly the moral posture of both parties.

In the cases of Gandhi and M.L.King, the interest was in changing unjust laws or social realities, and only when the searched for steps could not be achieved through negotiations and persuasion, direct action with planned activities was used. (Examples of Gandhi, Salt Law and Salt March; Martin Luther King, state laws of racial segregation, bus boycott, sit-ins, marches, etc.).We can see that these predecessors of active non-violence, and many others, were people who also had a strong and vital spiritual and religious feeling. This shows that historical moments of great changes have been accompanied by new feelings of religiosity. They are moments of hope. In such moments a great moral force is put into motion and the human landscape changes.
(1) ACTIVE NON-VIOLENCE: The strategy for struggle of New Humanism, which consists of the systematic denunciation of all the forms of violence exercised by the System. Also, a tactic for struggle applied in specific situations in which discrimination of any type is occurring.

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There is presently an international online petition, which has so far gathered over 100,000m signatures, against the US plans for this project. The following, from the Europe for Peace site gives the text of the petition and a backgrounder. If you'd like to read more and sign the petition go to the EfP site.

Petition Text:
"I do not agree with the installation of a US military base on Czech Republic territory, as part of their NMD (National Missile Defense) project. The implementation of this project is increasing international tensions, generating a new arms race and is the first step towards the militarization and control of space. Since more than two thirds of the Czech population are against this project, I think it is only fair that the Czech people have the right to decide on such an important question by means of a referendum."
Declaration
The NMD project of the United States – their national missile defense system, is a very complex project which involves the production of new weapons, and the installation of US military bases in different parts of the planet. In particular, in Europe, the first step is the installation of a radar system in the Czech Republic, as well as a base for interceptor missiles in Poland.

This plan has divided Europe, which at the moment is not able to give a united, coherent and nonviolent response to the United States’ aggressive policies. The reaction of Russia and China has created a “cold war” atmosphere. International tensions are increasing, and the crazy arms race (both conventional and nuclear) has restarted. Above all, the bases are being installed to militarize and control space. More than two thirds of the Czech population are against the presence of United States military on Czech territory. Despite this, the Czech and US governments are continuing the negotiations which are, by now, reaching their concluding phase.

The Czech people will declare that any contract that the Czech government may sign with the US Government concerning the project to install US military bases on Czech territory will have no legal value. And so the Czech people will not feel in any way bound to any type of commitment. The formal respect for laws passed in Parliament by a relative majority is not enough to be considered as real democracy. When a Government takes a decision which clearly goes against the will of a majority of its citizens, it is not respecting either the spirit or deepest essence of democracy.

The US government must clearly understand that it is not carrying out a dialogue with the Czech people, but with a minority that does not represent the will of the majority of Czech citizens. For this reason, any agreement will have no legal value. Our American friends must clearly understand that their government’s policies are generating a widespread feeling of “anti Americanism” which was not present before in Czech culture, and in this way, their aggressive policies will only turn against them. We know that a nonviolent action to boycott American products has already begun, and that this phenomenon could quickly spread beyond the boundaries of the Czech Republic.

The majority of Czechs do not want foreign military bases on their territory.

The majority of Czechs want to decide these problems themselves by means of a referendum: a fundamental instrument of any democracy.

Jan Tamáš

Nonviolent Movement against US bases in the Czech Republic

Dana Feminová

Europe For Peace