Women Cross DMZ 10 Year Anniversary Trek Day 5! 📍4.3 Peace Park, Jeju Watch Diné Human Rights Advocate Janene Yazzie reflect on the April 3rd Jeju “Incident” — a series of indiscriminate mass killings of civilians by US-backed Korean police forces from April 3,1948 through May 1949. Historian Bruce Cumings writes that through Jeju 4.3, “the postwar world first witnessed the American capacity for unrestrained violence against indigenous peoples fighting for self-determination and social justice.” In the aftermath of Korea’s division, Jeju civilians organized protests against the division and a strike against the forced elections in the US-occupied half of southern Korea. In response, US-backed Korean police forces and paramilitary groups perpetrated a massacre, with an estimated 30,000 people killed in what newly formed Republic of Korea (ROK) and US military leaders themselves described as “collective punishment” and “eradication campaign.” Scorched-earth campaigns destroyed an estimated 95 percent of mountain villages, displacing 80-90,000 villagers to internment camps along the coastline. US military and Korean government authorities stoked intense anti-communist fervor, referring to Jeju as a “Red Island.” U.S. Col. Rothwell Brown infamously said, “I’m not interested in the cause of the uprising. My mission is to crack down only.” Multiple ROK governments heavily censored and covered up any evidence of this massacre. Survivors were silenced, disappeared, and imprisoned. After years of civic activism, the National Committee for Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju 4.3 Events was established in 2000, and among its findings concluded that the US military played an active role in overseeing the mass executions, forced displacement, and starvation of civilians. While President Roh Moo-hyun issued an official apology for the atrocities, the U.S. has yet to take accountability. In 2008, the Jeju 4.3 Peace Park opened to memorialize this history, showcasing interviews, scholarly work, and artistic installations. Learn more at jeju43peace.org Follow our journey! @womencrossdmz 📽️ @arash87films (fb)

Women Cross DMZ 10 Year Anniversary Trek Day 4! 📍Gangjeong, Jeju Island Watch Arash Azizzada, co-director of Afghans for a Better Tomorrow @afghansforabettertomorrow reflect on his time in Gangjeong, Jeju Island. “For many years, I thought it was Afghanistan that had the deep dishonor of being America’s longest war, but after a few days on the Korean peninsula, I realize that Afghans and Koreans have so much in common: the deep effects of U.S. militarism, displacement, expansion of military bases. . . .  As I return to the United States – also stolen land, ‘the belly of the beast’ – I want to continue to honor the revolutionary spirit and resistance of the people on [Jeju] island and think of a world that is caring, loving, feminist, and not rooted in U.S. militarism.” The South Korean naval base in Gangjeong was completed in 2016, but activists continue to oppose its presence. Activists hold a human chain rally everyday in front of the base to protest the ongoing human costs and environmental destruction due to the base. They are calling for the true and complete demilitarization of Jeju and refuse to be pawns in U.S. forever wars! Longtime Gangjeong activist Seung-hee Choi reminds us that the fight for Jeju is also the intersectional fight against U.S. militarism: “Jeju is important for the peace of Northeast Asia, but I also want to remind people that Jeju is one of many islands that are militarized by the United States as part of its Indo-Pacific military strategy. If you are concerned about Jeju, you should also consider the plight of all sites of U.S. militarism across the globe.” Learn more and support at savejejunow.org Follow our journey! @womencrossdmz 🎥 @arash87films & @g.a.m.s.a (fb)