[Peace-discuss] [cpd@igc.org: Stunning Victory for Czech Anti-Radar
Campaigners!]
Stuart Levy
slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu
Wed Mar 18 15:51:08 CDT 2009
Cheering news from the Czech Republic...
----- Forwarded message from Joanne Landy <cpd at igc.org> -----
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:09:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: Joanne Landy <cpd at igc.org>
Subject: Stunning Victory for Czech Anti-Radar Campaigners!
To: slevy at new.math.uiuc.edu
For immediate release
Contact: Joanne Landy, Campaign for Peace and Democracy,
jlandy at igc.org
STUNNING VICTORY
FOR CZECH OPPONENTS
OF U.S. RADAR BASE
NEW YORK, March 18, 2009 - In a major setback for Pentagon plans to
install a U.S. military radar base in the Czech Republic, the Czech
government yesterday withdrew, at least for now (and possibly for
good), its proposal to ratify an agreement on the base. Czech Prime
Minister Mirek Topolanek halted the ratification process when it
appeared that the Chamber of Deputies was likely to vote to reject the
agreement. According to Jana Glivicka, a leader of the grassroots "No
Bases Initiative" that has been active in opposing the radar for more
than two years, this was a very significant retreat, since the radar
has been promoted as one of the key accomplishments of the current
government.
Two thirds of Czechs have consistently opposed the radar ever since it
was first proposed in 2006. Anti-radar activists have repeatedly
called for a referendum on the issue, but have been rebuffed.
Meanwhile, in 2008 the Czech government signed the agreement with the
United States to proceed with the installation of the radar, and the
Czech Senate approved the accord. However the agreement could not be
implemented until the Czech Chamber of Deputies ratified it. Thanks to
the tireless activities of anti radar groups in the country, the No
Bases Initiative and the Nonviolence Movement, popular opinion
remained strongly mobilized against the radar. This public opposition
culminated in a likely "no" vote in the Chamber.
The anti-radar movement has drawn support from around the world from
people alarmed by the dangerous military escalation of the proposed
European "missile defense" program of the Czech radar and its
companion Interceptor missiles in Poland. In the United States, the
Campaign for Peace and Democracy has since November 2007 supported the
movement with public statements, letters published in The New York
Times and The New York Review of Books, visits to the Czech Mission to
the United Nations, demonstrations, a hunger strike, and, over the
past weekend, an open letter to members of the Czech Chamber of
Deputies signed by more than 550 people in less than 48 hours.
The CPD open letter was sent on Monday March 16 to all 200 members of
the Chamber of Deputies. A member of the Chamber planned to read the
letter aloud from the floor of the Chamber if the ratification had
come up for a vote, Signers included public figures such as Noam
Chomsky and Ariel Dorfman, and leaders of many major U.S. peace
organizations. Most signatories were from the U.S., but there were
some international signers including the Polish intellectual Adam
Chmielewski, Iranian human rights activists, and a number of
individuals from the United Kingdom, Japan and other countries. The
text of the letter and list of signers are available at the CPD
website, [1]www.cpdweb.org
Czech Prime Minister Topolanek said that the government has not
abandoned its plan for the radar. "This does not mean we would give up
on the ratification process," Topolanek said in a live television
address. "We will return to this issue after talks with the U.S.
administration and after the NATO summit in Strasbourg and Kehl."
(This information is from a Reuters story. Up until now there has been
no significant U.S. media coverage of the withdrawal of the Czech
government proposal.) It is by no means clear that the government will
in fact reintroduce the radar for a vote after the NATO summit in
early April. In any event, anti-radar activists in the Czech Republic
and their international supporters are committed to continuing their
campaign until such time as the proposal to install the radar is
decisively and permanently withdrawn.
THE CAMPAIGN FOR PEACE AND DEMOCRACY (CPD) advocates a new,
progressive and non-militaristic U.S. foreign policy -- one that
encourages democracy, justice and social change. Founded in 1982, the
Campaign opposed the Cold War by promoting "detente from below." It
engaged Western peace activists in the defense of the rights of
democratic dissidents in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and
enlisted East-bloc human rights activists against anti-democratic U.S.
policies in countries like Nicaragua and Chile. The Campaign sees
movements for peace, social justice and democratic rights, taken
together, as the embryo of an alternative to great power politics and
to the domination of society by privileged elites.
Other current CPD campaigns are an open letter to Iranian officials in
defense of human rights leader Shirin Ebadi, published by the New York
Review of Books at [2]http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22511, and a
statement on Gaza entitled "No More Blank Check for Israel!,"
available at the CPD website.
Campaign for Peace and Democracy, 2790 Broadway, #12, NY, NY 10025.
Email: cpd at igc.org Web: [3]www.cpdweb.org
To subscribe: [5]click here.
Campaign for Peace and Democracy
2790 Broadway, #12
New York, New York 10025
References
1. http://m1e.net/c?96292136-dn2N.rTNlJQ9Y%404080105-27.0jB53v6Cl%2e
2. http://m1e.net/c?96292136-rTyhZCM9Db0hg%404080106-g54kuqpXh9bjo
3. http://m1e.net/c?96292136-y/NIljQXDydVE%404080105-yM2EMe/z9H/KY
5. http://www.mailermailer.com/x?oid=1011883b
6. http://MailerMailer.com/
More information about the Peace-discuss
mailing list