An Empty Plate Picnic to Protest “Star Wars”

Join in a symbolic “empty plate” picnic — part of a worldwide non-violent action to protest the US’s Star Wars plans in the Czech Republic.

Discuss how we can transform the war economy in order to meet unmet human needs and reaffirm the value of “real” democracy.

Let our government know that we will not accept its inversion of our basic values. We are NYers who “hunger for peace”!

Sponsored by: The Campaign for Peace and Democracy, The Humanist Movement, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation/NY, CodePink NYC, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space

dennisredmond@gmail.com / 212-501-0188 / www.humanism.org / www.nonviolence.cz

Although ostensibly designed to intercept missiles from “rogue states,” principally Iran, the system will, in reality, allow the United States to attack other countries without fear of retaliation. It will also put host countries, such as Poland and the Czech Republic, on the front line in future U.S. wars.

Well below the radar screen for most Americans, a major and unexpected resistance movement has emerged in the Czech Republic in opposition to the U.S. military radar base. Although polls show that 70% of the population opposes the base, the Czech government might have been able to ignore the wishes of its own people had it not been for the emergence of active resistance. Recently, this resistance was dramatically strengthened by the three-week hunger strike of two Czech peace activists.

Hunger Strike

Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar are part of the new wave of Czech activists. Too young to have participated in Charter 77 and the Velvet Revolution of 1989, they have helped to revive the peace movement in their country. They got involved in the anti-radar base movement in 2006. Frustrated at the insistence of the Czech government to go over the heads of the people, they embarked on a hunger strike on May 13.

On June 2, the two suspended their hunger strike, But, according to Tamas, “there were others who “took over” from us and started the “chain hunger strike,” where each person goes on a symbolic hunger strike for 24 hours. These people are all known people in the Czech Republic: actors, dissidents of the former regime, athletes, politicians including MPs, intellectuals, singers and many others.” 

In the past few weeks the chain hunger strike has spread globally, including to Western and Eastern Europe, Australia, and the United States. Strikers are determined to oppose the dangerous military escalation represented by the radar, along with the proposed companion U.S. interceptor missiles planned for Poland. A one-day international day of protest has been set for June 22, when dozens, likely hundreds, of people around the world will renounce food for one day.

Rice in Prague

June 22 has taken on a special urgency. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had originally planned to go to Prague on May 4 to sign the radar base treaty between the United States and the Czech Republic. Because of the uncertainty about the radar created by the upsurge against it, she was forced to cancel the trip. Rice just announced that she now intends to go to Prague on July 10 and sign the agreement.

Whether or not the treaty is signed in July, the fight against the radar will continue. With all its flaws, Czech democracy is in certain respects healthier than ours. President Bush maneuvered to make the radar base the subject of an "executive agreement" rather than a treaty, thus neatly circumventing the need for Senate approval. But the base cannot be built unless and until the Czech Parliament votes to ratify the agreement, and thus far the parliament has been evenly divided.

The sustained and innovative oppositional campaign has undermined Czech parliamentary support for the base to the point where it may well be defeated. In particular, the campaign has succeeded in mobilizing the membership of the Czech Green Party to pressure their parliamentary representatives to withdraw their de facto support of the radar. There is now a good chance that some of the Greens will defect from the government on this issue, which will deny the government its majority. Indeed, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwartzenberg recently admitted for the first time that the Czech parliament might not ratify the radar plan. He has threatened to resign if the measure is defeated. The Czech hunger strikes are also bringing their fight to the European Union level. Tamas went to Brussels to meet with members of the European Parliament. On July 9, he plans to deliver an online petition against the radar, which currently has more than 110,000 signatures. “We would like this number to reach 200,000 signatures by that time,”Tamas says. “So please help us spread the word and get people to sign the petition.”

Underlying Motives

The proposed radar base has more to do with Washington’s growing rivalry with Moscow than with any perceived threats from Iran, a fact about which Russia’s rulers are in no doubt. Although the projected radar in the Czech Republic and the 10 missile interceptors in Poland don't constitute an immediate threat to Russia's nuclear deterrent, with its thousands of warheads, the Kremlin believes that the system in Central Europe is the first part of a more advanced missile defense that could blunt the Russian nuclear force. Predictably, in a further act of Cold War escalation, Moscow has threatened to direct missiles toward Europe if the United States proceeds with the system, thus placing millions under heightened threat. Russia has also said it will suspend participation in a separate treaty limiting the deployment of conventional forces in Europe.

As for Iran, there is no credible evidence that a nuclear threat exists today. And the bellicose stance of the United States, far from guarding against such a threat in the future, only enhances its likelihood by creating even stronger inducements for Teheran to seek nuclear weapons for its defense. In general, the United States can best reduce the danger of nuclear warfare by taking major steps toward both nuclear and conventional disarmament and renouncing "preventive" war -- not by expanding the nuclear threat. This would create a political climate that would powerfully discourage new countries from developing their own nuclear weapons.

The Czech radar base is not the only attempt by Washington to get compliant governments to sign agreements that sidestep the wishes of their own people In Iraq, for instance, the Bush administration has been trying to obtain dozens of permanent military bases, impunity for its troops and contractors, and the right to launch military strikes and arrest Iraqis without authorization from any Iraqi official.

Opposition in the Iraqi parliament may scuttle Washington's plans. The Bush administration, which never ceases to proclaim its commitment to global democracy, is distressed that the Iraqis and Czech parliaments have the final say on the matter of foreign military bases. The Czech anti-radar activists, in fact, don't think this goes far enough. They are demanding a referendum so that the 70% of the population who oppose the radar treaty can decide. Washington, however, does not want any democratic control in other countries over the installation of U.S. military bases, whether by parliament or by referendum.

There is a good chance, then, that domestic and international opposition will force the postponement of the Czech decision to accept the radar until after the U.S. elections in November. This will give activists in the Czech Republic a chance to marshal their forces, and activists in the United States to put pressure on the incoming administration to abandon this dangerous plan.

For More Information

Bruce Gagnon of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, who went on a hunger strike himself for two weeks in support of the Czechs, has compiled a partial list of June 22 hunger strikers.  If you wish to add your name to the list of June 22 fasters or organize an event in your area, please notify Bruce Gagnon at the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space -- globalnet@mindspring.com 

Contact CPD at cpd@igc.org if you are interested in participating in the campaign against the Czech radar military base.

Sources

Thanks to Steve Shalom and Jesse Lemisch for their helpful comments

Videos from Prague:
How to do a hunger strike - video report (Some in English)
http://www.nol.hu/cikk/494303/

News report announcing change in strategy (All in English) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzMjOls-6PI

Day 13 of my solidarity hunger strike

We had six people on the street today for my vigil in Brunswick. Only one more day for me before I hand the hunger strike over to Mary Beth Sullivan who will take my place.

I have begun to hear from folks who are going to join the one-day fast against Star Wars on June 22. I've decided to compile a list of people who contact me. Many more of course will be fasting all over the world that day.

This morning I got an email from the group Stop the War Machine in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They are organizing to participate in the June 22 fast and will hold a day-long vigil at the gate of Kirtland Air Force Base in their city that day. Kirtland AFB is testing laser weapons for Star Wars and has many aerospace corporations located nearby doing the research and development work on these space weapons systems.

New Mexico has a long history with military space weapons work. Right after World War II former Nazi rocket scientists (100 of them along with 100 copies of Hitler's V-2 rocket) were brought to the New Mexico desert to create the U.S. military space program.

Maj. Gen. Walter Dornberger was in charge of Hitler's program and was one of those brought to the U.S. to work on these systems. It was Dornberger that had the "vision" to put orbiting battle stations in space. The former Nazi rocketeer went on to become Vice-President of Bell Aerospace in New York.

The proposed U.S. Star Wars radar deployment in the Czech Republic would be one key piece in this larger program of Pentagon "control and domination" of space. The Czech radar would help communicate with orbiting military satellites and give the U.S. the ability to launch first-strike attack on Russia. Nearby "missile defense interceptors" in Poland would then pick off any remaining retaliatory strike that Russia might fire.

This new arms race in space has long been in the making. The Pentagon clearly understands that whoever controls space will control the Earth below.

It is our job to stop them. Our taxes should be spent for health care, education, and dealing with climate change not creating a deadly and destabilizing arms race in the heavens.

June 22 will signify a day of education about Star Wars and global resistance to it. Please join us.

It's raining steadily outside today so we have cancelled my daily hunger strike vigil in Brunswick. Tomorrow should be better.

I got an email this morning from a friend in Maine who I knew when we both used to live in Florida. She is asking her friends to join her in the June 22 day of fasting in solidarity with people in the Czech Republic. A second friend in Maine wrote me saying he was going to fast that day as well. A woman from Gainesville, Florida wrote today to say she will strike from June16-23.

I have to admit I love to eat. I love the preparation of food, the smells, and the joy of eating. In fact I like to eat just a bit too much. When it comes to pasta I have few boundaries. Seconds, thirds, you get my drift.

This hunger strike has been very hard for me but at the same time much easier than I would have expected. I don't think I could have ever come this far on my own. But having the inspiration of knowing that the strike is connected to something larger, something important that I really believe in, has made it almost easy for me at times.

There are some really good cooks in our intentional community house. Levi blows my mind with some of the Oriental fragrances he can whip up. Karen knows how to spice up a dish. Even Mary Beth, who denies that she can cook, was reluctant to share with me that she made herself one of my favorite pasta dishes last night.

Not having eaten in 12 days though has given me a chance to reflect on and appreciate how much we over eat. I've thought alot about how our culture has taught us that meal time is just another consumer experience when instead it is a spiritual practice. We've largely lost the sacred connection when we commodify our mealtimes.

If you decide to join this hunger strike against Star Wars on June 22, or even for longer, please just remember one thing. It is a political act. As you strike please find 1-2 things you can do to make public your reasons for acting. Write a letter to your newspaper, to the politicians, share your story with others, stand on a street with a sign, speak up at church or at a meeting and tell people what you are doing, climb to the top of the tallest building around and drop a 20-foot banner (just don't fall).

Your single act might seem small to you. Someone might say you are being silly or infantile - you are wasting your time. But just tell yourself that on June 22 you are connected to a beating heart around the world that confidently understands you are planting a good seed of consciousness. You are acting to prevent the next arms race before it happens.

We have nothing to lose except the sacred sky.

The U.S. government, in collaboration with the governments of Poland and the Czech Republic, is very close to sealing a deal for a “defensive missile shield.” According to the plan initiated by the U.S., ten GMD-variant interceptor missiles will be located in Poland, and an X-band radar will be located in the Czech Republic, 55 miles southwest of the capital of Prague. But there is a catch.

In April, an opinion poll showed that two-thirds of Czechs were against the U.S. missile shield plans.  Two Czech protesters, Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar, as of June 2, have ceased their three week hunger strike in favor of a chain hunger strike that will involve groups and individuals in the global community taking turns fasting.  Head of the Social Democrat senators Alena Gajduskova has volunteered to be one of the first participants.   A worldwide fast in solidarity is presently being planned for June 22.

Tamas and Bednar occupy a storefront operation in the center of Prague where e-mails and visitations continue on a daily basis. An online petition has garnered over 109,066 signatures from around the globe.1   As part of the nonviolent protest initiated by Tamas and Bednar, they have made four simple requests:

1) radar base negotiations with the U.S. should be interrupted for one year;

2) the E.U. should issue an official stance on the proposed missile shield;

3) a Czech parliament session should convene around this issue; and

4) a televized discussion of the radar base with four opponents and four supporters of the plan should be organized.

On May 21, the government approved the plans though the basic document has yet to be ratified by parliament and signed by President Vaclav Klaus; the Czech-U.S. treaties are to be signed by July. At this crucial junction, Tamas and Bednar hold out for democracy. They are not alone.

On May 5, an estimated gathering of 1,500 protesters assembled in Prague, marching to the Government Office. Some participants carried banners that read "No to American radar colonization," and "Say No to radar."

In April, Greenpeace protesters set up a tent city, referred to as “Spot Height 718,” at the exact location of the proposed radar site in the Brdy forest. They have erected an overhead banner with an image of a large target.

Tamas and his group, the No to Bases initiative, proceeds simplistically and with straight forward demands. Yet what this protest represents is very complex. It is a situation has been upon the human race since the the dropping of the first atomic bomb. We have returned to the scene in history in 1983 where President Ronald Reagan first uttered the words, “Star Wars,” in the world arena.

According to a recent report in Ethics & International Affairs written by Philip Coyle and Victoria Samson, there is one glaring problem, among many, with the proposed missile defense systems: “tests have failed roughly half the time.” 2

Coyle and Samson’s report, “Missile Defense Malfunction: Why the Proposed U.S. Missile Defenses in Europe Will Not Work,” is both a explanation of technical and diplomatic failures. One can extrapolate from its contents that the urgency on the part of the U.S. to establish a missile defense in Europe before the current administration is out of office is predicated on political posturing--with a big emphasis on Iran. The report is clear in enumerating what has been lost so far in the arms race and the militarization of space and why the world has been placed on a precipice of untold consequences by virtue of this unilateral push to locate missiles in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic.

In summary:

Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty. Signed by Presidents Bush and Putin on May 2002. The present proposal is in direct violation of the treaty which calls for joint research and development between the U.S. and Russia on missile defense for Europe.

Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. U.S. unilaterally withdrew from treaty in 2002. The treaty had been signed in 1972 by U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet Communist Party Secretary Leonid Brezhnev.

Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty. Russia is no longer abiding by the treaty as of December 2007, citing as partial reasons, the U.S. missile defense plans for Europe.3

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Russia’s threat to pull out of the 1997 INF Treaty is exacerbated by the proposed U.S. missile defense. (The treaty bans a wide range of ballistic missiles and ground-launched cruise missiles.)

The tenuous relationship between the U.S. and Russia over the proposed European missile shield, located in Poland and the Czech Republic, stands to jeopardize a whole host of established treaties as well as block much needed future treaties in regard to the militarization/weaponization of space.

If this plan is a U.S.-centric geopolitical strategy aimed at threatening Iran (with a system that does not work consistently against intercontinental ballistic missiles that Iran doesn’t have), what is possibly gained? At this point in time, it is perhaps more worthwhile contemplating what could be lost.

The foremost treaty among all, the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is put in considerable risk by tensions between the U.S. and Russia. It is possible that Russia would be the strongest negotiator in regard to Iranian nuclear weapons capabilities.4

Tamas and Bednar are making simple requests that may seem unachievable but there is recent precedent. In 2004, the Canadian government declared it would not join the Pentagon’s missile defense program though it continues in its capacity as a partner in the the U.S.-Canada North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

According to Coyle and Samson: “Canada understood correctly that U.S. missile defenses represent the first wave in which the United States could introduce attack weapons into space—that is, weapons with strike capability. While the militarization of space is already a fact of life—the U.S. military relies on space satellites for military communications, for reconnaissance and sensing, for weather, and for targeting—the weaponization of space has not happened: there are no strike weapons deployed in space.”

While it would be irrational to think that the geopolitical strategizing of superpowers will diminish in favor of the greater good any time soon, citizens compelled to take nonviolent action wherever they may be and in whatever ways they can, offers hope on incalculable levels.

Laray Polk is an artist and activist in Texas. She can be reached at: laraypolk@earthlink.net

Notes:

1. No Star Wars online petition at www.nonviolence.cz; for news updates visit http://www.nenasili.cz/en/829_news

2. Philip Coyle and Victoria Samson, “Missile Defense Malfunction: Why the Proposed U.S. Missile Defenses in Europe Will Not Work,” Ethics & International Affairs, Vol. 22.1, 23 April 2008,

3. see international appeal to “Bring the CFE Treaty into Force,” under “Appeals on Preserving the CFE Treaty,” Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, http://www.pugwash.org/

4. “Russia ships nuclear fuel to Iran,”  BBC, 17 December 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7147463.stm; see also George Monbiot, “The Treaty Wreckers,” The Guardian, 2 August 2005

This article first appeared on 3quarksdaily, 2 June 2008

Day 10 of my solidarity hunger strike

We heard from the Czech Republic today that Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar will end their hunger strike tonight. Others in their country and around the world will then join the strike in their place. In their statement from Prague today they concluded, "We call on all the people who disagree with this plan [U.S. radar deployment] to show their disagreement, not to stay silent, and to start being active. Because 'democracy' is not just a word, putting a vote into a ballot box once every four years, democracy is about the active participation of every individual. "

In Brunswick, Maine today we had 14 folks on the street to once again hold signs and hand out leaflets to the public. I will continue on the hunger strike until June 7 and at that time Mary Beth Sullivan will take my place. Global Network member Sung-Hee Choi, who began the hunger strike on May 24 in New York City, will also continue until June 7. We are now hearing from other leaders in the Global Network who will also be joining the strike in their communities.

Recognizing that the U.S. is determined to twist the arm of the Czech government into submission to accept the deployment of the provocative "missile defense" radar, Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar are urging others around the world to help expand this effort.

They say, "Today at midnight we will suspend our hunger strike, however, a chain hunger strike will start in our country at the same time, when various people covering the whole social spectrum will be symbolically fasting for 24 hours. Tomorrow, a dissident, former Charter 77 and Independent Movement Activist, Peter Uhl will strike for us. In the following days the relay will be taken over by, among others, the sociologist Jan Keller, artist Anna Geislerova, Senator Alena Gajduskova, member of the Czech Academy of Science Petr Pokorny, Member of Parliament Olga Zubova, journalist Jakub Patocka, artist Lenka Vlasakova, radio editor Jeronym Janicek, and many others. "

"On an international level, for example Dennis Kucinich, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, continues fighting, as well as the U.S. Green Party presidential candidate, Cynthia McKinney. Here in the EU we have a meeting on this topic with the vice-president of the European Parliament, Luisa Morgantini next Thursday, who has promised to open a discussion on this topic in the European parliament. Today, Giorgio Schultze, the spokesperson for New Humanism in Europe, who is starting an open-ended hunger strike with the aim of getting a clear EU statement on this U.S. plan, takes the relay baton from us into Europe. Apart from this, hunger strikes to support our struggle are on going in Australia, the USA, Italy, Spain, Germany and Austria."

"All of you, who agree with our protest, can help us to spread it further and join the 22nd June one-day worldwide hunger strike against the Star Wars system, part of which is the planned base in the Czech Republic. This protest is the reaction to our hunger strike, and it is its strong follow-up on a world-wide level. It is already clear that people from all continents will participate."

So our Czech friends are challenging all of us to step up. It is obvious that instead of winding down, this effort against the radar is expanding and each of us can now play a role by joining the hunger strike for one day or more and by helping to spread the word to our organizations and personal networks.

Last Sunday here in Bath, Maine the Rev. Bill Bliss spoke about the hunger strike as the theme of his sermon at his United Church of Christ. Others have been urging people to sign the on-line petition at http://www.nonviolence.cz/ Still others are writing letters to the editor of their newspaper and planning to hold public vigils.

In the coming days the U.S. government will once again be debating their annual Pentagon spending appropriations. The military budget will be well over $600 billion in the coming year and the largest single project is for Star Wars "research and development." Now is the time for those who live in the U.S. to be calling on Congress to defund Star Wars.

This campaign is growing daily as people worldwide learn more about U.S. plans to move the arms race into space.

The aerospace industry often brags that Star Wars will be the largest industrial project in the history of the planet. But in order to make it so they must first drag other countries like the Czech Republic, Poland, Japan, South Korea, Britain, Italy, Canada, Australia, and others into the program.

The resistance we are now seeing from the Czech Republic must be matched with similar efforts all over if we hope to have the resources to effectively deal with climate change and maintain social progress in our communities.

We must join the fight now to keep space for peace.

Just click here: http://www.nenasili.cz/en/701_homepage

Peace in space and here at home on Mother Earth.
Convert the global war machine now before it is too late.
 

Dear friends,

On May 29, I left home early at about 8am, returned home at 10: 30 pm. It was my 6th day hunger strike. Reading the blog by Bruce Gagnon(space4peace.blogspot.com), the news about Jan Bednar made me enough to tear.  I was also angry at the inhuman Czech government who does not care about the human life. The majority of politicians in the world, how same everywhere, spineless, merciless, arrogant, coward and inhuman, as in Korea!

17 days hunger strike, I can not imagine. How many more suffering you have to go through!  By now I am still fine. I am forgetting about my hunger. These critical days strangely make me forget about food.  And lots of love and help from the friends also help me to keep myself warm and strong.

Dear Jan Bednar and Jan Tamas, I send you lots of love like many people in the world.

I made one more sign last morning. I drew the European map on the cardboard. You can see it in the photo. I also printed 300 sheets. One side was from the US Humanist movement, the other side from the Bruce Gagnon's May 25 blog about Jan Bednar's liver failure and international solidarity.

I arrived the Hammarskjold Plaza crossing the UN, New York, 25 minutes earlier. It was windy and I struggled to set up my signs for more than 30 minutes. There were lots of UN workers and visitors passing by during the lunch time. It was interesting to notice when I say,  "Hunger strike in the Czech! ", many people who first ignored the print began to pay attention. One man said he was glad to see the signs against missile defense that was
seldom the issue in the plaza.

I got three friends yesterday.  The friend first arrived was one of Korean Americans who gratefully came for the protest after reading my last report. Mrs. Kim, Chun-Hee, 58, working at the library, NY, published a book in Korean last year. It is the collection of the diary and essays of her dead lover 30 years ago, who was one of the most devoted activists under the military dictatorship in the South Korea. 70s. He died at age 27. Because of her help, all the prints were out by 1: 30. She gratefully printed 50 copies more with her own money. So for two hours, we distributed 350 prints.

Emiko whose name I miss-spelled last time also dropped by.  Originally from Japan, she belongs to the US Humanist movements. She again helped us with such kindness and care as last time.

The last one was one of my best friends in the art world.  I got lots of help from her during my art institute years in the NY more than eight years ago. She is from the Greece and already accomplished artist there.  (It was magic that I also happen to meet the other best friend in the art world, after the protest. She is an American sculptor and was the art institute technician)

About 5pm, I alone went to the Union Square, carrying the bag of signs, I began to get the signatures from the people who were sitting there. It took more than 4 hours that I got the 108 signs. I found even if people at first ignored the request, if you say in urgency, they think again, agree with you and sign. Carrying the prints also helped. I printed 120 copies more. Many people wanted to know what it really meant about once they got to pay attention.

Returning back home, my happiness changed to heavy-heart because of reading
the news from Prague. I am, of course, tired and feel weaker. But as the two Jan  inspired us, I don't feel hardship in my  hunger strike. This experience of solidarity levels my soul up.

Korea has already experience of war, division, military dictatorship and heroic struggle of people.  What I know is that only by people's small step for peace and struggle (and compassion and love for one another), we can defer and differentiate the evil of the imperialism. The relative peace that we enjoy in the Union Square was only possible by people's rising-up lead by the great figures, such as Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. Jan Tamas and an Bednar  remind us again.

I will continue my hunger strike beyond this Saturday. And will continue the protest every Thursday until two jan finishes their hunger strike. I am returning to Korea on July 1.  This is the time to stand up. Let's show the world that we are not divided by national borders.

Thanks very much, everyone.

Sung-Hee Choi
from Brooklyn, NY

Reporter for the Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea (spark946.org)
Friend of Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in space (space4peace.org)

# For more petition sign(below) and info. (go to homepage) on Hunger Strike
by Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar in the Czech republic: www.nonviolence.cz
 

Day 6 of my solidarity hunger strike

It is day 17 for Jan Bednar and Jan Tamas in their hunger strike. The latest report from the Czech Republic is that Jan Bednar's liver failure is critical. He was taken to the hospital today but will not end his hunger strike.

In a meeting today with Czech Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg it became obvious, despite his cordiality with the two strikers, that the government will not accept any of the peace movement demands.

Jan Tamas urged him to suspend talks with the Bush administration, since their country is divided and the political atmosphere in the Czech Republic is poisoned. Jan told him that it is much more sensible to wait for the next U.S. administration and in the meantime begin a real and transparent debate on the issue, involving all social forces in the country.

Opposition Social Democratic Party Secretary Jiri Paroubek, the former Czech Prime Minister, visited the protesters today and made a heartfelt appeal that they stop the strike. He assured them that his party is committed in their opposition to the radar agreement with the U.S. and that they will do everything possible to stop it.

Crowds are swarming to the Prague hunger strike headquarters, people bringing flowers and fruit drinks.

At today's news conference in Prague a journalist started crying when Jan Bednar, now almost completely yellow, told them "the Prime Minister declared on television today that he has 30 days to answer us. This is the domineering attitude of our government which will impose it's will at any cost. I cannot stop, it is an issue of democracy."

Protests have now spread from Prague to over 30 cities around the world.

Today in Brunswick, Maine we had 10 people at my daily vigil on the street during the lunch hour. The local newspaper sent a reporter and photographer to interview me and earlier in the day I did a radio interview with the progressive station WERU in northern Maine.

More than a 100,000 people have now signed the http://www.nonviolence.cz/ online petition.

Unlimited hunger strike today: Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar in Prague since May 13, Dino Mancarella in Trieste since May 14, Federica Fratini and Eduardo Calizza in Rome since May 19, José Alvarez in Spain since May 22. Bruce Gagnon and Sung-Hee Choi in the USA, Gareth Smith in Australia, Joaquin Valenzuela in Bologna since May 24. Ivan Marchetti and Andrea Casa in Turin since May 26 and Dr. Hassan Nayeb Hashem in Austria since May 29

My heart is heavy tonight because at the same time we learned about Jan Bednar being taken to the hospital I also learned that our longtime dear friend Peg McIntire, who is 97 years old and lives in Florida, is nearing death. I've worked with Peg in the peace movement for well over 20 years and she has come to Maine to visit us each year since we moved here in 2003. Just weeks ago she was asking if she could come again this summer, even as her health was failing.

The loss of Peg is just too hard to imagine. In my heart though I know she would be proud that I am participating in this hunger strike and I know she would be cheering me on.

Prague, May 27 (CTK) - Two Czech activists, Jan Bednar and Jan Tamas, who have been on hunger strike for 15 days in protest against the plan to station a U.S. radar base in the country, will continue their strike despite Bednar's bad health, they told journalists Tuesday.

Bednar said he had a high billirubin level, which pointed to some problem with his liver. He said doctors recommended him to start eating again, but he said he would not end the strike.

Bednar and Tamas said they have had no reaction from the government so far. They have received no answer from Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek to the letter they sent to him some ten days ago.

However, they said Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg promised to meet them, but he did not confirm the meeting until now.

Bendar and Tamas demand that the Czech-U.S. talks on the base end and a national referendum is held on the issue.

Bendar is a leading activist of the No To Bases group that has been campaigning against the base for some time.

Opinion polls show that a majority of Czechs are against the base.

The Czech government has been negotiating with the U.S. representatives on the base for more than a year. It wants the two treaties on the base to be signed within two months. However, the Czech parliament in which the government holds only a shaky majority is yet to ratify the documents afterwards.

The U.S. radar base to be stationed 90 km southwest of Prague is to be an element of the U.S. missile defence shield and included in NATO's defence structures later on. It is to be connected with a silo with interceptor missiles that is to be constructed in Poland.

Unlimited hunger strike: Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar in Prague since May 13, Dino Mancarella in Trieste since May 14, Federica Fratini, Isabel Torres, Eduardo Calizza in Rome since May 19, Josa Alvarez in Spain since May 22. They have been joined on May 24 by Bruce Gagnon, the Korean Sung-Hee Choi in New York, Gareth Smith in Australia and Joaquin Valenzuela in Bologna (Italy).

Solidarity messages pour in daily from hundreds of organizations and personalities such as: Noam Chomsky, Dario Fo and Franca Rame, Giorgio Schultze, Giulietto Chiesa (European Parliament member), Luisa Morgantini (Vice President of the European Parliament), Nichi Vendola, president of Puglia Region in Italy, French bishop Jacques Gaillot and Pulitzer prize winner Chris Hedges.

Protests against the military occupation of the Czech Republic by the U.S. and Europe's nuclear rearmament policies are continuing in Amsterdam, Berlin, Bologna, Budapest, Copenhagen, Florence, London, Malaga, Milan, Bologna, Paris, Toulouse, Trieste e Turin. They are echoed in Australia, New York City, and Brunswick, Maine.

Please take a small step and sign the petition to oppose the radar in the Czech Republic. http://petice.nenasili.cz/?lang=en

STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FROM NOAM CHOMSKY

I would like to express my strong support, and great admiration. for the tWo brave Czech humanists. Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar, who have initiated a hunger strike in protest against the plans to extend the US "missile defense" system to the Czech Republic. over the objections of the large majority of the population. I place the words "missile defense" in quotes because it is understood by Strategic analysts on all sides that "missile defense," if at all feasible, is an offensive weapon. In the words of the major Pentagon-affiliated research agency. the Rand Corpo­ration, it is "not simply a shield but an enabler of U.S. action," Endorsing a common understanding. the prominent strategic analyst Lawrence Kaplan writes that "missile defense is about preserving America's ability to wield power abroad, It's not about defense, It's about offense. And that's exactly why we need it." It is also understood by US analysts that if the system is emplaced in Eastern Europe. it is a potentially serious threat to the Russian deterrent, so that Russia will reaCt. as it already has begun to do, by expanding its own offensive military capacity. These perfectly predictable developments significantly increase the threat of terminal nuclear war. For such reasons. the honorable and courageous aCtions of Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar will. I hope, encourage others to ensure that a referendum Is held and that these very threatening developments will be terminated.

How do we shine the light of publicity on these brave hunger fasters, who are taking a stand not just against war in space, but for democracy as overwhelming percentages of people in the Czech republic DO NOT WANT THE BASE, but their government is ignoring them ??

Please spread the word—particularly to media and celebrity contacts.  There must be no expansion of Star Wars to eastern Europe.  The last thing we need is a revival of the cold war with Russia.  We need to cooperate with them on nuclear disarmament, alternative energy, ending poverty—or we may lose our very biosphere.

See also article in Prague Daily Monitor May 14 2008 - "Activist protesting radar goes on hunger strike"

Contact:
Jan Tamas, tel. +420 776 785 839, email: jan.tamas@humanisti.cz