The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space is inviting our neighbors in MidCoast Maine to join in solidarity with the Czech Republic hunger strikers against building a U.S. Star Wars radar base in their country.
 
A number of citizens from the Czech Republic began a hunger strike on May 13th in order to non-violently protest the planned installation of the U.S. base.   They have since been joined on the hunger strike by Bath residents Bruce Gagnon for 14-days and and then by Mary Beth Sullivan for 7-days as well as many other people throughout the world.

Sunday, June 22, has been named as a worldwide day of fasting.  To date, more than forty-five Mainers have agreed to join the 24-hour Solidarity Fast on that day.

To show support, MidCoast residents will gather for an "empty plate picnic protest" on the downtown mall in Brunswick from 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. on June 22.  A table with empty plates will be set up.  People will sit in a circle and they will speak to each other -- about Star Wars and endless war; about unmet human needs; about what "democracy" means in these early years of the 21st Century.

All are welcome to participate in the Brunswick gathering -- whether or not they plan to fast on that day.

Other communities in Maine will hold their own events on June 22. They will all be calling for an end to the weaponization of space and especially calling for an end to the proposed U.S. "missile defense" bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. The U.S. and NATO are now moving bases eastward in Europe and attempting to surround Russia, which happens to have the world's largest supply of natural gas.

This hunger strike is a world-wide event in support of the 70% of Czech citizens who have expressed their outrage via mass demonstrations, opinion polls, petitions; yet the Czech government refuses a public referendum.  See http://www.nenasili.cz/en/701_homepage for more information about the growing international movement.

Contact:  Bruce Gagnon (207) 443-9502