This letter was sent out by Paco this morning in an email to supporters of the campaign to Save Jeju Island in South Korea. I’m posting it under Paco’s author account here on YAR - TimN

Hello Again,

Things have gotten very crazy around here. Yesterday we had a 10 hour long stand off against around 300 riot police. I apologize for bad grammer and spelling but I’m very tired.

Here is a short summary of the last 23 hours of our still on going struggle. If you want to follow more closely, as well as see pictures and videos, check the facebook links that I gave you before [http://www.facebook.com/groups/Saveprofyang/], or if you are a twitterer follow #gangjung or #savejejuisland (many of the posts are in korean but there are also pictures)

None of this is sensitive information so it can be shared freely.

Shortly after 2 p.m. yesterday the navy/police made what we believe to be a trap to arrest Village Leader Kang. They began assembling an illegal crane in the construction area. This led Village Leader Kang and several activists and village people to the area where they began to argue that this crane was illegal. As Village Leader Kang climbed on the crane, the police immediately came claiming that he was “interfering with public business” (the charge most people get arrested with). The police where very organized and knew what they were doing, which leads us to believe that it was a trap. The siren sounded and the village people began to gather. Then began a long struggle to prevent the arrest of Mayor Kang. Finally though he was arrested along with the four other activists (reasons for their arrests are still not entirely clear, although likely to be resisting arrest or interference with business) and moved into the navy office. At that time, the village people and protestors began to block off all exits from the construction site. I’m not good at estimating numbers but perhaps around 300 riot police were called in and the stand off began. They tried to sneak the village leader out a side entrance but were caught and the stand off moved from the main construction gate to the middle of the road. Cars were brought in to block the exits and the village people surrounded the police while the police surrounded the police van with the village leader inside.

The stand off lasted until 11 p.m. at which point a negotiation occurred between a priest and the police. It was agreed that the priest would drive Village Leader Kang to the police station but that all arrested people would be released that night. Also it was agreed that the police would stay in Gangjeong until they returned. However both of these promises were broken by the police. They forced their way out around 30 minutes later and the stand off was finished. Finally many people moved to Seogwipo Police Station (about 10 minutes away) to await the release of the prisoners. But it never happened and many people spent the night on the street. In the morning they resumed their protest calling the police to fulfill their promises and not be liars. But the police did not do this. Instead 2 prisoners were released and three more, including Village Leader Kang were transfered to the main police station in Jeju City (about an hour away). During the transfer 400 riot police came to help the car leave the station. During this elderly priest, Father Moon was arrested, his clothes torn, and his cane broken.

The situation here is very tense. People are very tired from the long struggle yesterday and the long night last night. They are also very angry at the police’s underhanded and violent tactics and their lies and broken promises. They have been lied to again and again by the government, the navy, and the police.

Thanks for praying and sharing this with others. I know that explanation was very short but I hope it will at least keep you up to date. Again if you are interested in knowing more please join the facebook groups (http://www.facebook.com/groups/Saveprofyang/) or follow the twitters that I mentioned (http://twitter.com/?q=Jeju#!/search?q=%23jeju).

Part 1: The Introduction

Despite being a member of the Original cast, I have remained in the shadows, a lurker, secretly, greedily taking your thoughts and keeping them, without so much as an insightful comment, an empathetic pat, or a hearty guffaw. But today I join the ranks of YAR, and walk anew into the light!

So, I’m Paco, a friend of TimN. There were some legit reasons for not posting before. For instance, I was living in Afghanistan for more than half of the last two years. But now I am in Korea which is like the internet capital of the world, so there aren’t as many excuses left available to me.

But enough of that, the reason I am posting, aside from merely getting one in, is to introduce this virtual community to my physical one, and introduce myself here, in hopes to meet some of you in person, when I return to tour the US in about a month.

As has been hinted at, I have been working for an organization called The Frontiers for the last two years. We are an international nondenominational peace and reconciliation group/community/non governmental organization/funtimeparty originally based here in South Korea. Our mostly in correct English website is here.

Our blurb is here:

The Frontiers was founded in 1993 to give help for rehabilitation and encouragement and hope for peace. The focus of our work is education focused on peace building and reconciliation, helping to unite people separated physically, mentally, and spiritually by war and violence. Additionally, our projects stress community living. We believe that living side by side with people in places torn apart by conflict is essential to both local restoration of peace and broader future establishment of peace. Thus we are not merely a development/educational organization but people attempting to live truthfully in a world of falsehood, hate, and injustice. Our aim is to open up new possibilities for peace, locally and internationally, and envision together a new story of life.

Aside from our 2 intentional communities here in Korea (one rural, one urban), we live/work in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Aceh, and East Timor. Basically we do various programs, largely educational, according to the need of the region, all which have a focus on community living, reconciliation, peace, and the intertwining of all of these in attempts to live truthful and nonviolent lives. Also we do some disaster relief and some disaster area reconstruction. And whatever else we can get our hands on.

Basically we seek to be not merely a church in the traditional modern sense but a true community, informed and inspired by Christian principles, but not limited to such. In this community we can learn how to truly live, joyfully and nonviolently. But we are a missional community, missional not meaning evangelism, and so believe we must also live and work communally in places of violence, war, and hardship. Or we are a neighborhood community with the whole world as our neighborhood.

We feel that most traditional communities are too inwardly focused, sacrificing our call to go into the world in a real way. Even those that do recognize this call generally relegate it to a separate entity. Thus, we have today an unnatural divide. The church/community and the Christian NGO. Yet, we want to propose that the community is God’s tool for change and rebirth. That a false divide has been created by a misunderstanding of the church and therefore Christian community, words that should in fact have the same meaning. The work of these two groups (NGO and Church) cannot be divided and do so is to serious impair real reconciliation and right living. So for The Frontiers, nonviolent community is our life and our work. Peace-building being our journey, community being our vehicle. Ever aspect of our life and work is intertwined, one part being no more valuable than the other. Thus there is no difference between our life and our work.

The typical NGO does nothing to teach us how to live and there is a serious disconnect between their work and the communities that supposedly “benefit” from their activities. Those connect with local communities tend to do so only superficially. The typical community is only involved in one place, locally, and with its own members, and tends to serve others only peripherally. The Frontiers hopes to combine these in a rediscovery of the holistic (and yes, probably over-glorified) Christian community of the early church. We seek to be a worldwide network of nonviolent communities living simultaneously personally, communally, locally, globally. We seek true peace in our lives in all aspects of our persona.

That’s the Frontiers. At least that is what our hearts look like at their most hopeful and shiny.

Part 2: The Request

Thing is we want to extend our “network” to North America. The purpose of this would be expanding the possibilities of global peace-building and connecting peace-building in North America with that of East Asia. Also we are looking for volunteers and workers from North America, both long term and short, as a way of becoming a more truly international organization, and also connecting North Americans to places where their governments policies often wreak havoc, and connecting people from economically well off nations, with those of lesser means.

So here is where your help comes into play. I am hoping to come to the U.S. in March. At this time my plan is to travel around the joint, meeting like-minded groups and organizations and interested individuals. I also hope to do some speaking to promote our group and attempt to get some more volunteers and workers. Basically touring around, visiting groups, schools, churches and whatever else.

My schedule looks like this:
March 7-17: LA and Fresno
March 18-22: Denver
March 24-April 7: Midwest (Chicago, Indiana, Michigan)
April 8-22: East Coast (NJ, NY, MA, PA, Maybe Virginia)
April 24-> Midwest Again

So I know YARies are interested in these sorts of things and may have access to jobs, universities, groups, churches, that might want to engage with me, or failing that you might know people who do. So if you wish, please assist me.

More concisely here are my aims for the trip:

1. Getting workers and volunteers for short or long term programs or community living.

2. Networking with like-minded groups and communities in North America. Making friends, sharing ideas and inspiration. Trying to connect North American peace building with Asian peace building.

3. Getting the word out about our work and or things going on in our areas of work, and peace and community type work happening in Asia in general.

4. Raising financial and prayer support.

If you have a place I can visit for meeting any of these aims or if you want to just meet me and chill, please email me: paulphilipmichelson AT yahoo.com . I realize time is short, but that’s the way it goes around here. Additionally, I hope to set up early for a similar tour next year.

That’s all. Sorry for the Novel. And thanks for welcoming me to YAR.

(The title of my post comes from Daniel Smith of the awesome art-rock band, Danielson Famile. It’s a description he gave in an interview once of his work and band and perhaps True Christianity.)