Armistice Day - Korean Americans walk for peace
Armistice Day 2017
Korean Americans walk for peace
Saturday, November 11th was Armistice Day, celebrating the cease fire at the end of World War I, and to commemorate it, several of us from Veterans for Peace attended a Korean peace walk in Oakland. I've been looking online for articles or reports about it, but not finding any, I'm writing this brief account.
This walk was organized by KPI (Korea Policy Institute) and HOBAK (Hella Organized Bay Area Koreans). They are Korean Americans who are worried by Trump's threat to rain North Korea with "Fire and fury like the world has never seen."
About seventy people took part; a third or maybe half were Asian. Most were young people as one might expect for a long 2 ½ hour march. We walked up Telegraph Avenue from 23rd street to 40th, an area with Korean shops and restaurants, along the way pausing to hold rallies at various historical locations. These included the former site of a military recruiting office, and a church at 26th Street which was of major significance in the Back Panther movement back in the 1960s.
The procession was led by eight drummers, mostly women. The drums were of several sizes, and one or two were of brass, and the drummers pounded them furiously, the sound echoing back from buildings around us. This was a colorful display in itself, and I wondered if this was a traditional Korean style for events.
A Korean person afterwards confirmed that was true. "HOBAK uses traditional drums used for folk festivals; these have become part of protest culture in Korea," he told me.
We took turns carrying large banners reading: "No war on Korea." and "Peace and Reunification in Korea" and "Corea is one." These were written both in English and in Korean. At the same time we chanted, "No war -- Peace Now!" and "U.S. troops out now -- Korea is one land."
The Korean war took place nearly seventy years ago; the shooting ended in a cease fire, but U.S. warmongers have still not reconciled themselves to not having won that war.
DANIEL BORGSTRÖM
Veterans for Peace
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ARMISTICE DAY RE-CAP from VETERANS FOR PEACE chapters around the country press here
ARTICLES ON KOREA BY ANN WRIGHT AND BRUCE CUMINGS
Ann Wright -- A Path Forward on North Korea press here
Bruce Cumings -- The US air force subjected North Koreans to three years of ‘rain and ruin’. press here
Jeremy Kuzmarov -- Review of Bruce Cumings's "The Korean War: A History" (Random House, 2010) press here
