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Global Network in Sicily From: Bruce Gagnon's Blog: Organizing Notes November 10 - 15 2015 |
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http://space4peace.blogspot.co.uk/2015_11_08_archive.html | |||
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Wednesday, November 11, 2015 Still Atop US Navy Sat Dish in Sicily
Update on Satellite Dish Climber: Last we heard Sicilian activist Turi was still on top of the US military war fighting satellite dish surrounded by police standing at the bottom pleading with him to come down. Turi is well known for having previously entered the base numerous times by cutting holes in the fence. I’ve seen videos of him trying to plant seeds inside the base which was illegally built upon a oak nature preserve. We spent today touring two ancient towns in southern Sicily - Modica and Scicli.
We had lunch in a home in Modica with a great view of the town (which also had Wifi access which is so far hard to come by).
Our walking tour of Scicli was quite amazing – this is a place where people lived inside caves in the mountain sides right up until the 1960’s. Once relatively unknown, a popular film about the cave dwellers brought the tourists to Scicli.
Our evening was spent at the home of a young man who recently won an award for his own film making which was his final project as he graduated college. He cooked a lovely pasta meal for Dave, Yosi and I along with one of his lifelong friends. Beginning supper at 8:00 pm, which has been normal for us so far, we sat around talking about the politics behind Italian wine and olive oil as well as US war mongering around the world. We also discussed the growing military confrontation between the US and Russia-China as the later challenge Washington’s desire for unipolar global control.
By 11:15 we were still going strong and finally wrapped
it up at 11:30 pm as we still needed to get a ride back to our digs in Ragusa 20 miles away. So the three of us made it into bed just at
midnight – another night on the political circuit in Sicily – with bellies
full of wine, cheese and pasta. |
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Thursday, November 12, 2015 Relaxing in RagusaToday we have a day off in Ragusa - we have come to the square by the cathedral where Wifi is available.
This evening a community supper is being organized for us. We are learning much while here and eating well, drinking abundantly, and loving the passion of the Sicilian people. Our first talk is tomorrow night in Ragusa and then on Saturday we visit the US MUOS satellite warfare base. |
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Friday, November 13, 2015 Public Meeting in Ragusa
Dave and I spoke in Ragusa in the evening to about 50 people. Yosi did the translating and we had a vigorous discussion afterward. People in the audience clearly are tired of the constant US military presence in several parts of Sicily including the US naval base located in Catania. They don’t trust the US any further than they can spit and expressed deep concern about Pentagon weather modification programs that they believe are having severe impacts on the soil quality and weather patterns throughout Sicily.
One woman asked if the Global Network has had any ‘victories’ over the years and I answered that getting people to know about, and begin to understand, the US military space domination program was our primary mission. Until the people of the world understand what the US Space Command is doing we won’t have much of a chance to stop anything. As Noam Chomsky often says, “How can you expect people to stop something they don’t know anything about?” It is the work of the Global Network to change that dynamic and over the years I’d say we’ve had some success in helping to create this international awareness and some level of public protest.
Dave did a very good job with his PowerPoint presentation showing how the
MUOS base in Niscemi fits into the larger Pentagon space warfare program.
Few of the folks in the audience had seen this larger picture before and
now more clearly understand how this one military installation in Sicily
is another key link in the expanding and provocative military program of
‘Full Spectrum Dominance’. |
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Saturday, November 14, 2015Visiting the U.S. Base in NiscemiThis morning we made the one-hour drive from Ragusa to Niscemi and took a tour of the MUOS base where Turi just days ago climbed the giant satellite dish. As you look at the photo above it is the satellite dish on the left that he climbed onto.
Right after we arrived at the base three local Sicilian police and national military police cars drove up and seven officers got out and demanded our identification. After they took our names and did background checks on us we were allowed to hike through the beautiful surrounding countryside to the fence for a good look at the satellite dishes.
After that we visited the front gate and called inside using the convenient intercom. A couple of vehicles arrived with US military personnel. We asked to speak with the commander of the base and they phoned back inside from their vehicle but then drove off with out replying to our request for a contact phone number for the commander.
Following the base tour we went to the local library in Niscemi to do our talks to a second audience of 25 people.
In the evening we travelled back to Ragusa and dinner of pizza and beer at the home of loa artist and activist Pippo Gurrieri and family.
In the morning Dave and I leave Sicily and fly to England where for the
next week I will do a speaking tour taking me to Bradford, NSA listening
post at Menwith Hill, Leeds, London, US early-warning radar at Fylingdales
and the US space communications base at Croughton. |
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No MUOS Documentary
The whole documentary (Italian only) can be viewed here Even though you might not understand Italian you can still get a great feel for the Sicilian culture and countryside and come away with a much greater understanding about their campaign to oppose the US space warfare communication base.
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