Stop war on Iraq and foil contingency bills

Peace activists from around the country, from the southern prefecture of Okinawa to the northern prefecture of Hokkaido, assembled in Tokyo from November 21 to 24 to discuss peace efforts to avert a war on Iraq and block wartime legislation that may involve the whole country in U.S. wars.

The 2002 Japan Peace Conference, organized annually by a joint committee made up of the Japan Peace Committee and other peace and labor organizations, began with an international symposium, followed by an opening plenary and group discussions.

The closing rally at the Hibiya Amphitheater was attended by 3,000 people, young and old, calling for a peaceful solution to the Iraq question within the U.N. framework and demanding that the United States give up plans to attack Iraq.

Ichida Tadayoshi, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat head, gave a speech in solidarity with the rally participants.

After the rally, participants marched in a demonstration through the Ginza district.

Panelists at the international symposium on Nov. 21 and 22 focused their discussion on how to block a U.S. attack against Iraq and defend the international peace. Panelists Nato Isao (Japan Peace Committee, lawyer) and Takahashi Kazue (New Japan Women's Association) were joined by three overseas participants: Joanne Comerford (American Friends Service Committee, U.S.A.), Lee Yujin (Green Korea United, South Korea), and Gan Teik Chee (International Movement for a Just World, Malaysia).

Secretary General Takakusagi Hiroshi of the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo ) delivered a special report. He said, "The movement to achieve a nuclear-free and peaceful world has become the major current."

The five panelists agreed to send a message to U.N. Security Council members in the hope that the Iraq question will be solved peacefully based on UNSC resolution 1441.

Chisaka Jun, Japan Peace Committee secretary-general, made the keynote speech at the opening plenary on Nov. 22, which was attended by about 1,800 people. He emphasized that Japan's peace forces have stopped the contingency bills from being enacted in the previous Diet session, that the world's movements are isolating the U.S. Bush administration, and that the struggle for nuclear weapons abolition has been developing with the cooperation of many governments of the world.

Chisaka proposed a national struggle to urge the Japanese government to oppose the U.S. war plan against Iraq and call for a peaceful solution within the U.N. framework. Pointing out that the lawlessness of the U.S. war plans is clearer now and that the wartime bills are becoming more contradictory, he stressed the need to develop an even larger national movement to frustrate the government's war cooperation plan.

At the symposium and workshops on Nov. 23, panelists reported that since the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, U.S. bases in Japan have been used more frequently as sortie bases for U.S. wars, and that opposition to the contingency bills has developed through broader cooperation with local government heads as well as some conservative forces.

Some participants in groups took part in inspections of the U.S. Yokota Air Base in Tokyo and the U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base and the U.S. Atsugi Naval Air station in Kanagawa.

The participants decided to carry out two rounds of street activities during Dec. 18-25 and Jan. 17-25; a "Let's send peace cards" campaign to U.S. President George W. Bush; and "Christmas candle parades" for peace in Iraq and the world. (end)