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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
October 23, 2006
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| October 10, 2006 |
Former US Marine Fights for Demilitarization – Allen Nelson |
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| Allen Nelson |
Allen Nelson was first invited onboard the Peace Boat as a guest educator in July 2005. Participants on that 49th voyage were privileged to share his very personal experience as he returned to Viet Nam for the first time, 38 years after he had been there as a US Marine. Allen apologized to the Vietnamese people for the violence he had brought to their land during the Vietnam War.
“I did not go to Viet Nam to ask for forgiveness,” he told his audience during his lecture. “I went to apologize. Only I can forgive myself.” |
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| Allen Nelson at a panel discussion onboard concerning Article 9 of the Japanese constitution. From left to right: Rika Watanabe (staff), Norio Kaifu (guest educator), Allen Nelson, Atsushi Yoshioka (guest educator) |
As a peace activist in his life and work, Allen has been traveling to Japan for half of almost every year since 1996. On these visits, he protests against the threat that US military bases bring to the people of Japan, speaks with Japanese youth about the importance of Article 9 of the Japanese constitution, and speaks with US soldiers and Marines about their options for leaving the military. He works to motivate people to be critical of their government when harm is done to their people or others, and is a great advocate of peace through reconciliation. |
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| Allen Nelson in a jam session with Ken Iijima (staff) |
Among Allen’s many talents, he is a blues musician. The haunting sound of his guitar and voice were sometimes heard drifting through the ship, welcoming people to stop and listen for a moment, just as he always had time to stop and chat with anyone who had a moment to share with him. |
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| Peace Boat participants at the Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai’i |
During his time on Peace Boat, from Acapulco until Honolulu, Allen held a series of lectures, and joined participants for a tour in San Francisco that visited the NGOs Code Pink and Global Exchange. In Hawai’I, Allen joined the Global University students to meet with Hawai’ian activists working for an independent and demilitarized Hawai’i. |
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