The bases of resistance
You may have been misled by the announcement made by US President Bush in August this year that 70,000 US troops serving overseas will be brought home and a third of US military sites will be shut down over the next 10 years. While troop numbers may be reduced in obsolete Cold War bastions like Germany and South Korea, plans are afoot to construct dozens of ‘leaner and meaner’ military facilities and access agreements throughout what the US has dubbed the ‘arc of instability’: running from Latin America through most of Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Central and Southeast Asia. In an estimated 890 sites around the world, US bases have led to evictions, environmental destruction and the undermining of democracy. An ‘arc of solidarity’ is developing in opposition. The Philippines set an example in 1992, when the country booted out the US. Then, after years of protest in Vieques, Puerto Rico, the US was evicted last year. Now anti-bases protest has taken hold in Japan: after a US military helicopter crashed in Okinawa in August, the largest anti-US rally in nearly a decade demanded that the troops go home. Meanwhile, at the nearby fishing port of Henoko, communities have staged a continuous sit-in since 19 April against the planned construction of a military airport.
As local struggles continue, a global resistance strategy is being mapped out, demanding the closure of all military bases. Read more at http://www.nobases.net
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Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
New Internationalist (NI) workers' co-operative exists to report on issues of world poverty and inequality; to focus attention on the unjust relationship between the powerful and the powerless worldwide; to debate and campaign for the radical changes necessary to meet the basic needs of all; and to bring to life the people, the ideas and the action in the fight for global justice.
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