>our esteemed leader ... he was young, gifted, articulate
>and Black, but I loved him because he was a man--a proud
>Black man. He was as multifaceted and every bit as
>beautiful as the rarest of diamonds."
>
>A 1996 video clip of Kamau being interviewed by Peoples
>Video Network was shown. Teresa Gutierrez, a leader of the
>National Committee to Send Elian Gonzalez Home to his
>Father in Cuba, ended the memorial by paying tribute to
>Njeri Shakur and sending a clear message that "Kamau's
>assassination will one day be avenged."
>
>
>
>Kamau Wilkerson, presente!
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>
>Message-ID: <005e01bfa419$563c3ff0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Forum on Korea: U.S. role in crushing 1948 uprising
>Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 20:52:11 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Apr. 13, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>FORUM ON KOREA: U.S. ROLE IN CRUSHING 1948 UPRISING
>
>By Workers World New York bureau
>
>More than 100 people, many from the Korean American
>community, came to an April 1 public forum held at the
>International Action Center in New York about the Korean
>people's struggle for independence and reunification.
>
>The forum commemorated the April 3, 1948, Cheju Island
>uprising. Cheju is an island just south of mainland Korea.
>The uprising began when an election was announced in south
>Korea separately from the north.
>
>In the eyes of Korean people--who wanted their country
>reunified now that it was liberated from Japanese
>colonialism--a separate election was seen as a way of
>strengthening the pro-U.S. Synghman Rhee regime.
>
>Just three years earlier Washington had divided the Korean
>Peninsula at the 38th parallel after 5,000 years of Korean
>unity, and set up a military regime in the south with Rhee
>as head of state.
>
>To quell the Cheju uprising, the south Korean military
>unleashed an assault that took the lives of between 35,000
>and 80,000 people. The Pentagon had command of the south
>Korean military, and did nothing to stop the violence
>against the Cheju population.
>
>Information about the Cheju uprising and many other
>episodes of the Korean people's resistance to U.S.
>domination have been blotted from the history books--but
>not from people's memories.
>
>The featured speaker at the event was Dr. Lee Do-Young, a
>Flushing, N.Y., researcher who recently unearthed documents
>and photographs from U.S. government archives of south
>Korean military executions of thousands of political
>prisoners at the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War.
>
>The evidence shows that U.S. military officers witnessed
>and were complicit in these executions--which are said to
>have numbered 100,000. Dr. Lee's father was killed at
>Cheju. His moving presentation gave a sense of what the
>Korean people were fighting for at that time.
>
>Lee said, "All we want is to be united as a nation
>governed by our people." Of course, what the U.S.
>occupation forces had in mind during the time of the Cheju
>uprising was to replace Japan as the new colonial power.
>
>A video about the uprising and ensuing anti-communist
>rampage entitled "Red Hunt" was also part of the program at
>the forum.
>
>In the fall of 1999 the Associated Press published an
>article that exposed a massacre of Korean peasants by U.S.
>troops at the village of Nogun-Ri at the outbreak of the
>war.
>
>Since that article appeared the media have revealed much
>more information about the repressive role of the United
>States against the Korean people. More needs to be
>uncovered. For instance, there is evidence that the United
>States used spy planes and passed information on to the
>south Korean regime during the Cheju uprising about the
>whereabouts of guerrilla fighters.
>
>All of this shows that as they attempted to establish a
>foothold for U.S. imperialism in the region following World
>War II, the U.S. occupation forces saw the Korean people as
>an enemy.
>
>The 50th Anniversary Committee to End the Korean War
>sponsored the public forum. The committee consists of the
>Congress for Korean Reunification, the Korean American
>National Coordinating Council, Nodutdol for Korean
>Community Development, the U.S. Out of Korea Committee and
>Veterans for Peace/NYC.
>
>There are plans for a war-crimes hearing on June 24 in New
>York. There the U.S. military will be investigated and held
>accountable for its crimes against the Korean people.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>
>Message-ID: <006401bfa419$71c225f0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] WW interview with Colombia's FARC-EP, part 2
>Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 20:52:57 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Apr. 13, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>PART 2: WW INTERVIEW WITH FARC-EP:
>"BUILDING A NEW COLOMBIA"
>
>[Workers World submitted questions about the situation in
>Colombia to the International Commission of the
>Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-
>EP). Below is part two of their reply, prepared by Marco
>Leon Calarca and Olga Lucia Marin.]
>
>
>
>THE FARC-EP HAS IN THE PAST DEMANDED RECOGNITION OF ITS
>"COMBATANT STATUS," THAT IS, REQUIRING THAT RULES OF WAR
>ARE FOLLOWED. COULD YOU EXPLAIN THIS DEMAND? HAVE YOU MADE
>ANY PROGRESS TOWARD THIS GOAL?
>
>As the FARC-EP, we have met all conditions to be
>recognized as a belligerent force in fact and in practice.
>This recognition has been given, by the government and the
>Colombian state, and not only in the final stage of talks.
>This has not been recognized juridically, however. As is
>known, that has to do not only with the law and its
>different consequences, but even more with the political
>aspect.
>
>While it is true that we have not specifically signed
>every part of the codes of International Humanitarian
>Rights, specifically the international legislation
>contained in the Geneva Convention of Aug. 12, 1949, and
>especially the additional Protocols to the Convention, all
>our norms are very close to them. As a revolutionary
>movement, one of our logical pillars is humanism.
>
>Our objectives are peace, social justice and defense of
>the interests of the vast majority of Colombians. All the
>norms found in the fundamental documents of our
>organization are guided by the principles, ethics and
>revolutionary morals binding all our members, without
>distinction or exception.
>
>We are an integral part of the people. We are its
>revolutionary army. The reason for our struggle is to solve
>the problems of all Colombians. Hence we do not have as a
>policy harming the interests or rights of the people.
>
>WHAT HAS BEEN THE SITUATION FACING THE REVOLUTIONARY
>PRISONERS OF WAR?
>
>We have made a proposal to President Andres Pastrana to
>gain the freedom of all prisoners of war--those held by the
>Colombian state as well as by us. We are waiting for the
>Colombian Congress to approve a permanent law on the
>exchange of prisoners that will allow this and the
>resolution of cases that may arise in the future. After
>all, the confrontation continues until we win a peace with
>social justice.
>
>There is a continued lack of political will on the part of
>the three branches of the state to pass this law, which
>would allow the prisoners of war on both sides to return to
>their respective sides. An advance in this area would show
>that it is feasible to pave the road for much more
>controversial themes as part of the core of the talks. The
>stinginess shown in this area indicates what we can expect
>on other topics. While the soldiers, police and officers of
>all ranks held by the FARC-EP receive dignified and humane
>treatment, according to our norms of conduct, it is known
>that the men and women guerrilla fighters held in the
>prisons of the regime--like all the political prisoners--
>are not given the status of political prisoners and are
>kept in subhuman conditions without respect for their
>rights.
>
>IN 1999, THE FARC-EP ISSUED A DOCUMENT CALLED
>"PARAMILITARISM AS STATE COUNTER-INSURGENCY POLICY." WHAT
>HAS BEEN THE IMPACT OF THAT REPORT? HAS THE ROLE OF THE
>PARAMILITARY GROUPS EXPANDED OR DECLINED IN THE PAST YEAR?
>
>The document proves incontrovertibly that paramilitarism
>is an official policy--it is the development of state
>terrorism. Unfortunately, the current government has done
>little to nothing about this theme. They continue to carry
>out the U.S. policy of "draining the ocean to kill the
>fish," that is to say, unleashing a wave of bloodshed
>against the civilian population in areas where the
>guerrilla has a presence. Remember, that is the whole
>country. The so-called paramilitaries are dedicated to
>murdering the unarmed population.
>
>For example, on the morning of March 5, a group of 150
>heavily armed men violently stormed into the San Luis
>Beltran magistrate building in the municipality of Yondo,
>department of Antioquia. They identified themselves as
>members of the [paramilitary] Peasant Self-Defense Units of
>Cordoba and Uraba. They murdered eight peasants: Pedro
>Chacon, Pastor Chacon, Dagoberto Mendez, Leonel Pedroso
>Villareal, Oscar Mauricio, Pedroso Villareal, Pedro Chacon
>Albarracin, and Alfredo N (no other identification).
>
>The events took place nine minutes away from Yond� and 25
>minutes away from Barrancabermeja [a major port city]. No
>action was taken by civil, military or police authorities
>in either of these places, despite their being alerted by
>social and human-rights organizations.
>
>Eight days later, and despite continued promises by the
>government and armed forces to combat paramilitarism, the
>so-called self-defense units murdered 11 more peasants in
>the south of Bolivar--more precisely in La Cuchilla de
>Guamanga, between the municipalities of Maria la Baja and
>San Juan Nepomuceno. This makes yet another massacre in the
>Los Montes de Maria region, which has been converted into
>an epicenter of paramilitary violence. There is never any
>military intervention by the military authorities against
>these attacks, although the military has a heavy presence
>in the zone.
>
>On the other hand, to complete the circle of impunity,
>Captain Diego Fino Rodriguez, quartered in the Juan del
>Corral Mechanized Battalion installations in Rionegro
>(Antioquia), continues to elude military custody. Fino is
>accused of being one of those responsible for the murder of
>Alex Lopera, peace commissioner of Antioquia.
>
>Weeks earlier, Major David Hernandez, also implicated in
>that crime, escaped to the same garrison. Hernandez
>declared that he would link himself to the "self-defense"
>units.
>
>To this day there have been no clear responses from the
>commander of the Fourth Brigade, Gen. Eduardo Herrera--much
>less explanations. The announcements always go: "There will
>be penal investigations and discipline." This usually ends
>up with some sanctions against low-ranking soldiers while
>the officers continue in their posts with complete
>impunity.
>
>THE U.S. GOVERNMENT IS CURRENTLY DEBATING A $1.7 BILLION
>AID PACKAGE TO THE COLOMBIAN MILITARY. WHAT WOULD BE THE
>IMPACT OF SUCH A POLICY ON THE CURRENT TALKS?
>
>The FARC-EP is among those Colombians who do not share the
>objectives of the Plan Colombia. We consider the plan to be
>opposed to the social investment needed for peace, and as
>another resource for the war between Colombians and the
>interference of the United States in our internal affairs.
>The Plan Colombia, or Plan of War, is fundamentally
>destined to improve the combat capacity of the military
>forces in the state repression of workers' social protest,
>with the facade of fighting drugs.
>
>The Plan Colombia is a strategic alliance with which the
>United States is trying to regulate, through military and
>economic intervention, the terms of an internal solution
>and agreements with the IMF and World Bank for credits to
>strengthen the globalizing, neoliberal model that Pastrana
>is putting forward. It imposes a policy that targets the
>Colombian people's hope for change and threatens the north
>Andean countries that are seeking free and original
>solutions to the crisis.
>
>As a means of financing a war plan, the impact would be
>disastrous. The enemies of peace would be strengthened--
>those who believe the only solution is wiping out all forms
>of opposition. It makes war possible.
>
>THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT CLAIMS THAT THIS "AID" IS
>AIMED AT FIGHTING DRUGS. HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND TO THIS
>CLAIM?
>
>The distribution of this "aid" is telling: $600 million
>for the functioning of three anti-narcotic battalions of
>the Army; $96 million for the National Police; $341 million
>for Naval and Air Force interdiction; $145 million for
>alternative development, on the premise that killing half
>of the Colombians will solve the problem of hunger; $92
>million for "strengthening democratic institutions," pale
>reflections of what democracy really needs to be.
>
>All this despite the fact that the narcotraffickers have
>no military force. So what are the helicopters, the ships
>and the anti-narcotic battalions for?
>
>THE U.S. GOVERNMENT RECENTLY DENIED A FARC-EP
>REPRESENTATIVE'S REQUEST TO VISIT THE UNITED STATES--
>SUPPOSEDLY ON THE BASIS OF THE THREE NORTH AMERICAN
>ACTIVISTS KILLED LAST YEAR. THIS QUESTION ALSO COMES UP
>AMONG HONEST ACTIVISTS OPPOSED TO U.S. INTERVENTION IN
>COLOMBIA. WHAT IS THE FARC-EP'S POSITION WITH RESPECT TO
>THOSE KILLINGS?
>
>Part of our policy as an organization, which we are also
>carrying out through the discussion table, is to give
>information about the Colombian reality and the proposals
>for a solution. We do not discount the possibility of
>travelling to the U.S. to do that, as we have done in many
>other countries and in the European tour discussed earlier.
>
>The unfortunate deaths of the three citizens cannot be
>analyzed in isolation. It is necessary to understand that
>this took place amid conditions of war that our people have
>lived in for more than 50 years; high levels of violence
>sponsored by the U.S. and Colombian governments; the
>imposition of the doctrine of internal security, generating
>violence and repression against the people. The clear
>threats of direct intervention by the U.S. empire in our
>country, anti-imperialist sentiment, the sinister
>penetration of Indigenous communities for acculturation and
>intelligence activities, and reactions without consultation
>by one of our commanders are also some of the reasons that
>explain--but never justify--the deaths of these three
>people.
>
>Remember that Colombia is notorious for its policies of
>state terrorism and for the violent actions of the
>paramilitaries--an extension of the official armed forces
>used as a tool for the dirty war.
>
>Without dismissing the magnitude of this error, we cannot
>permit the most backward "hawk" sectors of the U.S.
>government to use this situation to discredit the struggles
>aimed at building the new Colombia that all Colombians need
>and deserve, regardless of ethnic background. Nor can we
>accept this from their lackeys on a world scale, many
>disguised as NGOs, which profit from the violation of human
>rights and the pain of many peoples of the world.
>
>For that reason, all the biased and manipulative reports
>following the deaths of Terence Freitas, Lahe'ena'e Gay and
>Ingrid Washinawatok are unacceptable and slanderous. The
>deaths of these environmentalists, Indigenous people and
>Indigenous supporters were a regrettable error that we
>accept soberly.
>
>DO YOU HAVE ANY MESSAGE FOR THE ACTIVISTS IN THE UNITED
>STATES WHO ARE OPPOSED TO U.S. INTERVENTION IN COLOMBIA?
>
>The case of Colombia has been the subject of massive
>disinformation in the world and particularly in the United
>States. This is a result of manipulation of public opinion
>by reactionary and pro-war sectors.
>
>Our struggle is just and necessary. Our objective is the
>building of a new Colombia in peace with social justice and
>sovereignty. We are a revolutionary organization that has
>nothing to do with drug trafficking or terrorism. We do not
>target the interests of the people, of which we are an
>integral part.
>
>The war we are living through is the responsibility of the
>state, because it has left no other road. The battles that
>we carry out are against the organs of the state and the
>promoters of the dirty war.
>
>It is not true that we carry out so-called "takeovers" of
>towns. Our objectives are the army barracks and police
>stations that the state irresponsibly locates in the
>interior of towns. Generally the neighbors of these targets
>are themselves part of the state security organisms, not
>civilians as it is presented.
>
>Neither does the FARC-EP carry out "armed strikes" [work
>stoppages]. Rather, we call on the people to mobilize
>themselves and struggle in every form. The stories of armed
>strikes correspond to the manipulation of information in
>order to justify whatever actions are taken against the
>people participating in strikes, blockades or meetings.
>With this excuse they murder leaders and pass them off as
>guerrillas infiltrating the campaigns of mass struggle.
>
>Military intelligence and enemies of the current talks and
>the FARC-EP have mounted a campaign of threats against many
>people, which are broadcast by the big media in order to
>de-legitimize us. But they never talk about the hundreds of
>people in exile and the nearly two million displaced
>people. This is clear proof of their well-defined class
>conception, where on one side there are those beyond
>reproach and on the other those of secondary importance--
>the ignored, the poor.
>
>We thank Workers World for the possibility of bringing
>this information to the U.S. people. We are sure that the
>people of the United States will know how to display their
>solidarity with the Colombian people in this struggle for
>the construction of peace and for national liberation.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>
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