Calls for 'No war, no nuclear weapons' resound around the world
Amid the increasing danger that the United States may launch a war on Iraq without ruling out the possible use of nuclear weapons, the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) had its 75th board meeting on February 8 and 9 in Tokyo.
The conference room was filled with participants' firm determination to work harder to increase the grassroots movement in opposition to a U.S. war and use of nuclear weapons.
Gensuikyo Secretary General Takakusagi Hiroshi, laying out Gensuikyo's role, proposed an action plan.
Pointing out that the U.S. Bush administration's threat of war and the possible use of nuclear weapons is giving rise to waves of protest across the world, Takakusagi called on Gensuikyo representatives to take advantages of this world trend to push forward Gensuikyo's agenda to prevent the United States from making a preemptive attack on Iraq in violation of the U.N. Charter.
Takakusagi suggested that a campaign be set up to denounce the Koizumi Cabinet's submissive attitude toward the Bush administration with disregard of U.N. efforts to solve the Iraq question peacefully.
A representative of Kanagawa Gensuikyo reported, "One day in Yokosuka, when I was collecting signatures calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons, a crew member of Blue Ridge came to write down his name. The man told me that one third of the crew members is in opposition to a war against Iraq."
A representative from Hiroshima reported that the local Gensuikyo succeeded in organizing an anti-war rally with a broader range of people with differences in political stance, religion, ideology, and beliefs. (end)
