Women’s Peace Day on Korea, Okinawa and the Philippines

The Bay Area Women’s Initiative for Peace and Justice will hold its first Women’s Peace Day on July 9th at the San Francisco Women’s Building. The event will focus on Korea, Okinawa and the Philippines — areas in Asia with long-term experience of occupation by the US military.

The Initiative is a project of GABRIELA Network USA, a Philippine-US women’s solidarity mass organizations; Korea Solidarity Committee, Nikkeis for Peace and Justice, and the Asian Pacific Coalition Against the War.

The event will feature speakers from the three communities, including the award-winning writer Ninotchka Rosca whose new book "Jose Ma. Sison: At Home In The World" portends to be a challenge to the US Patriot Act. Co-author Prof. Sison has been included in the US State Department’s "list of terrorists," even though he is in exile in The Netherlands. Prof. Sison is currently suing the European Union for violation of his human and civil rights in following the US in this alleged terrorist label. Prof. Sison led the re-establishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the 20-year resistance to the Marcos Dictatorship. He was imprisoned for eight years and brutally tortured.

The event will also feature Dohee Lee, a Korean musician and dancer. She will perform Honpuri — Repose for the Souls. The Skinny on the Proletariat Bronze, a poets collective, will also perform. Evelie Posch, a Filipina-American singer, will add to the pathos of the evening.

In addition, the event will feature a Spam Iron Chef, mock-contest of recipes for this canned meat, one of the most readily recognizable and common legacies of war and US militarism. 100 million cans of Spam are sold annually around the world, with Hawaii consuming the highest at 5.5 cans per Hawaiian, and South Korea.

The event has been endorsed by the American Friends Service Committee, Asia Japan Women’s Resource Center in Japan, Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, "Children of the Gulf War" Project, Moving Forward for Peace, GABRIELA Philippines, Korean Amricans United for Peace, Women in Black (Tokyo and San Francisco), Women’s Anti-Imperialist League (WAIL) and a host of other organizations.

More information can be seen at www.koreasolidarity.org or obtained by emailing sfbayarea@gabnet.org.