Hello friends,

here are latest news from our struggle against the US Missile Defense:

This week was a very important week in our struggle. Both chambers of our parliament planned to vote on this issue. And none of them did!!!

Yesterdays and todays meetings of the chamber of deputies were a success for us – the government didn’t manage to get to the actual voting on the treaty ratification (due to the time constraints and the big number of speakers from the oposition). It seems that they won’t vote on it tomorrow, either (that will be the last day of this session), so this session will end without this issue being voted on.

Also, the Senate has decided not to vote on this issue today. We think that the letters that we all have sent to many of the senators had a strong influence on their final decision.

Both chambers may vote on this issue during their next sessions. However, there will be a very different situation in the Senate by then, since about one third of all senators will be replaced by the newly elected senators (most of whom are radar opponents!) The people in the chamber of deputies will be the same, but with the current turbulence within the government many things will surely change, so we may have much better chances then than we have now.

The Prime minister announced during the Wednesday session that he would like the debate about this issue in the chamber of deputies to be expanded by 60 more days. So it could take 120 days before the final ratification vote would take place in this chamber. The lower chamber of the parliament will probably meet again around November 11th, so we have time until then to continue our pressure. So far so good!

Thanks for your support! We won one very important battle. But the war is not over yet! So let’s keep the pressure strong.

With very warm greetings from Prague

Jan

PRESS RELEASE

Europe for Peace www.europeforpeace.eu

SILENT COUP D’ETAT IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Contract for the US military base to be ratified tomorrow despite lost election
– Jan Tamas’s appeal

Despite heavy losses in last week’s Regional and Senate elections, the Czech
government intends to ratify the contract for the US military base tomorrow. The
radar base, right outside Prague is pivotal to the US NMD system for space
militarization and control.

The Chamber of Deputies is scheduled to vote on the contract tomorrow and the
Senate on Thursday October 30th. The Government wants to take advantage of the
outgoing Senators’ vote who still maintain their seats for a few more days, even
though they no longer represent the will of the Czech people. A silent coup
d’etat.

70% OF CZECHS OPPOSE BASE

On Thursday, October 30 at 8:00 a.m. a protest will be held in front of the
Czech Parliament building. Ever since secret agreements between the Czech and US
governments were exposed by Jan Tamas in 2006, 70% of Czechs have taken a stand
against this project and have not been swayed by the million dollar political
propaganda in favour of it.

Last May, Jan Bednar and Jan Tamas went on a 20 day protest hunger strike. A
relay hunger strike has continued ever since then. Every single day, a Czech
personality - artists, politicians, scientists, doctors, sportsmen and women –
has fasted for 24 hours to ask for a one year pause before a final decision is
made on the construction of the US base.

The protest has spread to other European countries and the issue has been
addressed by the European Parliament. No official stand has been taken on this
issue even though it is crucial to Europe’s future.

The dissent has caused the fall of the government coalition parties in last
week’s elections. The Government’s decision to force the contract’s ratification
means political suicide for these parties. This would be hard to understand if
not for documents circulating on the internet showing close ties between certain
Czech politicians and companies standing to gain from the construction of the
new US military base: http://www.nenasili.cz/cs/2026_kdo-prosazuje-radar-v-cr
(Czech only).

REQUEST

“With the complicit silence of the most important media, including state
television, we are impotent witnesses to the darkest page of our history since
1989. Ours is a cry of pain and we hope someone will listen,” declared Jan
Tamas, leader of the nonviolent movement against the bases.

Finally, I would like to reiterate the requests of those taking part in the
hunger strike:

“Suspending negotiations for one year, to open a deeper discussion on this topic
within the Czech Republic, to get the position of the EU on this plan, and to
wait for the position of the new US administration.”

“To place or not to place the radar in the Czech Republic is a historical
decision, which should be made only after a wide public discussion with the
agreement of a majority of citizens. However, making such a decision in this
poisonous atmosphere full of mistrust would negatively influence Czech society
for a long time. Hope for freedom and real democracy, which we gained after the
Velvet Revolution, would be changed again to a feeling of mistrust in
institutions, a feeling of helplessness and betrayal.”

Jan Tamas’ appeal in full is found in:

http://nenasili.cz/en/2120_star-wars-in-the-czech-republic-are-we-in-the-presence-of-a-silent-coup-d%E2%80%99etat

Letter of Giorgio Schultze, President of the European Region of Humanist
International, to the Czech President, Deputies and Senators is found in:

http://www.active-nonviolence.org/20081028_gschultze.doc