European Peace Action Forum, Saturday 20 September 09.30-12.30
The US "star wars" missile system requires both radar and missile bases in Europe.
This workshop will look at the new bases being built in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary and the resistance to them. It will also look at the role of existing bases (such as Menwith Hill in the UK).
Resource persons:
Jan Tamas, spokesman for the No to Bases initiative against a US radar base in the Czech Republic
Dave Webb, chair of Yorkshire CND and Convenor of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space
Introduction by Dave Webb
Although a lot of developments are happening in central and eastern Europe, we must not forget that there are two Star Wars bases in the UK: Fylingdales and Menwith Hill.
The European Space Agency (ESA) started in 1975 as a purely civilian agency, just like NASA in the beginning. Now it is militarised and many of its developments are for "dual use", which means they can be used both for military and civilian purposes.
The ESA is now a part of the EU.
ESA's Galileo project, which is a satellite system similar to GPS, was also civilian to start with, but is now part of military plans. It has got an encrypted channel for military communication.
France is pushing for a European militarisation of space and has doubled its space budget for the next year. Partly this is because the US is giving out the coordinates for french spy satellites, so France wants a system independent from the US.
The way space technology is used in warfare is to guide missiles and give coordinates and guiding to the ones who controll the battlefield. It is a so called Network Centric Warfare.
The EU is starting to develop a single space policy.
The US shot down a satellite in January to test it's missile system. This kind of anti satellite technology has been tried by the Chinese one year earlier.
Introduction by Jan Tamas
In 2006 we found out that the US was looking for a place for a permanent base in the Czech Republic. We were outraged and organised the No Bases initiative, with 60 organisations and 100 private supporters. We now have groups in many cities in our country and run the website www.nobases.eu.
Our aim is a referendum about the planned base. 70% of the Czech population is against the base. We have collected 130 000 signatures, which is over 1% of the population. Many MPs and the trade unions support us. We have had big demonstrations, but the governments doesn't listen. As a desperate measure, me and one other person held a 3 weeks hunger strike in June.
On the 8th July Condoleezza Rice signed a treaty with the government about building the new base. The treaty also has to be signed by the parliament, which will happen in a few months time. We also have local elections soon, and we are campaigning for candidates who oppose the base.
We urge our friends in other countries to send letters to Czech embassies.
We also have an online petition on www.nonviolence.cz which you all can sign.
In Poland, the last government went along with the plans for US bases, but the current one wants security guarantees from the US. More than 50% were against US bases before the Georgia conflict, but that percentage has dropped a bit now. The US is pushing for missile interception bases in Poland and has already granted 4 billion dollars for the project. It has not yet been ratified by the Polish parliament.