------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the March 29, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- GROWING MOVEMENT DEMANDS: "STOP U.S. STAR WARS MADNESS!" By Dianne Mathiowetz Huntsville, Ala. Activists from around the country traveled to Huntsville, Ala., home of the Army's Redstone Arsenal and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. They traveled there in mid- March for three days of meetings and protests called by the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. Much of the development for the space-based laser, a key component of the Bush plan for a national missile defense system, is being conducted here. The conference participants included many who have spent years researching and mobilizing against nuclear weaponry. Also there were Huntsville residents, like the young mother who brought her child because she wanted a peaceful future for her daughter. Speakers drew comparisons to the burgeoning anti- globalization movement that is sweeping the world with its direct action protests. Person after person raised examples to illustrate how giant military-industrial corporations such as Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon and TRW are getting multi-billion-dollar contracts to develop space weaponry to establish U.S. military control of the planet. Speakers such as Professor Karl Grossman, author of numerous articles and a recent book on the militarization of space, cited official documents released by the U.S. Space Command and Congress to show that the stated goal of the United States is "dominating the space dimension of military operations to protect U.S. interests and investment." Treaties, such as the Outer Space Treaty, originally adopted in 1966 and reaffirmed Nov. 20, 2000, by 163 nations, specifically forbid the introduction of weapons in space. Only three countries--the U.S., Israel and Micronesia-- refused this past fall to support this resolution which "recognized the common interest of all mankind in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes." Interestingly, the U.S. helped develop this treaty following the 1957 launching of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to circle the Earth, by the Soviet Union. It was an attempt by the U.S. to curb space exploration by others until it gained dominance in the field. Instead the U.S. has spent over $95 billion so far in numerous attempts to develop space-based lasers and other weapons that will operate through and from space. These include satellites that can provide 24-hour global surveillance of communication and monitor and impact weather conditions on earth. They can also detect human movement and concentrations of metals, water, heat and natural resources on and below the earth's surface. According to Bill Sulzman, director of Citizens for Peace in Space, a Colorado Springs, Co. group, the U.S. Space Command is "readying itself to be the enforcement arm for the global economy." As current proof of that, Peter Lunsdaine of the Vandenberg Action Coalition pointed to the role of Vandenberg Air Force base in Santa Barbara County, Calif. >From this base, the largest facility in the world of the U.S. Space Command, surveillance and targeting satellites are being launched that provide military intelligence for the defoliation spray planes that are devastating large areas of Colombia. This massive, poisonous defoliation is being used to side with that country's elite in its war against the millions of impoverished workers and peasants who are fighting for justice. Lunsdaine encouraged support for the May 19 direct action at Vandenberg where like the peaceful occupation of the island of Vieques, activists concerned with human rights and peace will converge to challenge and disrupt business as usual at the base. Just as consistent and persistent actions at Ft. Benning, Ga., exposed the role of the School of the Americas in the violent repression of the peoples of Central and South America by U.S.-trained and supplied militaries, Landsdaine said the May 19 action will focus attention to the fact that information from the intelligence and guidance satellites launched at Vandenberg is used to direct counter-insurgency operations from Turkey to Indonesia to Colombia. For more information, contact the Vandenberg Action Coalition at (831) 421-9794 or go to www.geocities.com/vafb_m19/ According to Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, grassroots groups all around the world are mobilizing to stop U.S. efforts to turn space into a war zone. The network has issued an international call for coordinated actions around the world on Oct. 13, 2001, demanding the end to the militarization of space. Suggested sites for local actions include U.S. military bases, Department of Energy facilities, NASA installations, U.S. embassies and offices of aerospace industry corporations or academic institutions working on military space projects. For more information, go to www.space4peace.org or call (352) 337-9274. The Huntsville conference was another sign that more and more, the issues of economic and social and political justice in each country are intertwined with and impacted by U.S. military domination--whether by conventional weapons and troops on the ground or by the threat of nuclear bombs or by the control of outer space. Gagnon concluded, "The people of the U.S., the people of the world, must learn what the U.S. is up to--and stop it." - END - (Copyright 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) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. 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