FOREIGN BASES: The Impact of US Military Presence Abroad
The presence of US armed forces abroad has been a concern of EPF for many years. We have often joined with others in protesting when a crisis arises, especially when the misbehavior of troops in a host country has raised again the issue of our continued occupation of another country. But it is not just in crises that we should be asking questions. The day-to-day impact of US military presence goes unnoticed by us but has long-lasting political, social, environmental and psychological effects upon the people who live near our bases.
EPF's Foreign Bases Interest Group monitors what is happening where US military bases and personnel are found, especially in the Pacific region and in Latin America. We network with organizations who are dedicated to the work of mitigating and reducing the US military presence around the world. When there is opportunity to do so, the Foreign Bases Interest Group also works with the Episcopal Church's Peace and Justice Ministries, the Bishop for the Armed Services, Healthcare and Prison Ministries, and the Standing Commission on Anglican and International Peace with Justice Concerns.
The Standing Commission has US military presence abroad on its agenda this triennium (between General Conventions). A subcommittee site visit to Japan and Korea in April 2002 included meetings with peace people in Yokohama, Japan to talk about the work they are doing around the Yokosuka US Naval Base; conversations with Anglican Church in Korea representatives about the impact on the Korean peninsula of the continuing US presences; a visit to the De-Militarized Zone between the Republic of Korea (south) and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (north) with a tour led by a young US soldier; a trip to a village near a US base where training and weapons testing occurs regularly; and a visit to My Sister's Place, a center for women in the shadow of another US military base. In all these conversations, the damage to the environment and to the well-being of the people loomed large. Water, land and noise pollution are extensive and damage often very long-lasting if not permanent. They include poisonous residue and unexploded ordnance. In addition, the social costs are enormous. The visit to My Sister's Place was especially sobering since the work focuses on women who are or have been prostitutes "serving" US troops and who want to change their lives. This work, supported heavily by the Presbyterian Church of Korea, gives the women - many of them Russian and Philippine nationals - a chance to recover from trauma, to learn new work skills so they can become independent, and a safe place in which to grow into new people. It is literally in the shadow of the wall around a US military base in the middle of a town north of Seoul.
The Korean Anglicans put together a 3-day conference on Peace in Northeast Asia in which a number of papers were presented and we had good discussions about the place of the United States in the future of the region. The relationships among Japan and the Koreas have been impacted severely by President Bush's inclusion of North Korea in the "axis of evil:" connections are fragile and the language coming from Washington has heightened the edginess. The US "war on terrorism" has affected negatively the diplomatic and social relationships in the whole area. There are signs that all parties - including the US - want to re-start the various discussions and projects such as light-water reactor power plants, a connecting south-north railroad and family reunions. Indeed, there were 3 days of family reunions shortly after our trip. It is noteworthy that our hosts in Seoul consistently referred to "the Korean Peninsula" rather than separate South and North Korea. The reunification of the Korean Peninsula is a priority for the Korean Christian community in which the Anglican Church of Korea fully participates.
A common reality of militarized societies includes uniforms and weapons everywhere and an assumption that this is just the way it is and will be (and ought to be). In Korea and Japan, US military presence is 50-60+ years old. In both countries, a major - though not a majority - of the citizens would like to see the US military leave. In both countries, the US military presence has major economic implications, with local people working on our bases, for our military families, dependent on our dollars for local businesses, submitting to our presence. It will be difficult to unweave this matrix of occupation. But only when we imagine something different, will anything different be possible - and then peace will be within reach. So in both Japan and the Republic of Korea there are people who plan and lobby for the reduction and departure of the US military and for conversion of the land to peaceful uses including the return of lands to the original owners.
The Standing Commission expects to bring forward resolutions related to its work on the impact of US military presence in northeast Asia and will need EPF's help in getting new policy adopted for the Episcopal Church. It will be hard work in the current atmosphere of the "war on terrorism."
If you would like to work with EPF's Foreign Bases Interest Group, contact coordinator Mary Miller directly at maryh.miller@verizon.net who is working to continue the long and dedicated labors of Fr. Mike Yasutake.
- Mary H. Miller, Baltimore MD
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