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After holding their last candlelight vigil on March 24th (see previous post), Daechuri and Doduri farmers began to leave their homes. The farmers came back on Saturday, April 7th for a parting ceremony. During the ceremony, a procession of farmers and supporters walked from Doduri to Daechuri. When they reached Daechuri, the villagers buried a time capsule in front of the rubble of the Dachuri elementary school, destroyed by police last May. The time capsule contains messages from villagers and supporters, some written on paper and others painted on wood.
The farmers have never stopped opposing the base expansion or demanding their right to stay on their land. The time capsule was buried under flags that read “return!”. The time capsule expressed their hope that one day soon, the machines of death and empire that have destroyed their community will fall silent, and that they will be able to come back to reclaim the time capsule and rebuild their homes.
The activists who have made Daechuri and neighboring Doduri their homes will also begin to leave this week. Some of them will set out this week on a “Peace march” from Daechuri to the Blue House (the president's house) in Seoul. The KCPT alliance of Korean social movements is planning a similar march in May, and will continue to organize against the base expansion.
The farmers will live in temporary housing for two years, and many will then move to a new village. When they came back to say goodbye to their homes on April 7th, they found that the destruction of their town had already begun. Many of the murals and poetry on the walls of their village were already rubble. While villagers and supporters shouted “stop base expansion” around the banners and other objects that they had lit on fire as part of the ceremony, demolition equipment smashed a nearby house.
An amazing center of community, art, and hope is being destroyed to make way for a center of war and repression. But Daechuri and Doduri villagers' strength and determination, and the memory of what was created in Daechuri and Doduri, will live in all of our struggles. Wherever there is global empire and exploitation, there will be a thousand Daechuris ready to resist, and next time, to win. Daechuri lives!
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(The KCPT and saveptfarmers sites will continue to carry updates about the ongoing fight against the base expansion. It ain't over yet!)
See also:
Photos of the villager's parting ceremony: http://antigizi.or.kr/zboard/view.php?id=news&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=419
Photo collage video of art in Daechuri and last candlelight vigil:
http://cafe205.daum.net/_c21_/bbs_read?grpid=187bd&mgrpid=&fldid=4kJK&page=1&prev_page=0&firstbbsdepth=&lastbbsdepth=zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz&contentval=0002uzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz&datanum=180
Photo collage video of Daechuri villager's parting ceremony and the Pyeongtaek activist's peace march to Seoul:
http://cafe205.daum.net/_c21_/bbs_read?grpid=187bd&mgrpid=&fldid=4kJK&page=1&prev_page=0&firstbbsdepth=&lastbbsdepth=zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz&contentval=0002vzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz&datanum=181
Photos of the the villagers preparing to leave their homes:
http://antigizi.or.kr/zboard/view.php?id=news&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=416 |
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