 50th Mothers' Congress resolves to prevent constitutional revision The annual Japan Mothers' Congress, which has represented Japanese mothers' wishes for peace, was held August 21-22 in Tokyo and its neighboring prefecture of Saitama. On the first day, about 8,300 people took part in group discussions on 56 issues/subjects, including peace and the defense of the Japanese Constitution as well as problems of children's refusal to attend school, juvenile delinquency, and child abuse. The plenary session held in Tokyo on the second day was attended by 12,000. It adopted a declaration stating that mothers in Japan, with Article 9 of the Constitution, "refuse to be either mothers of aggressors or those of victims." Addressing on behalf of the Organizing Committee, Kimura Yasuko called on the participants to have confidence in the 50-year history of the Japanese Mothers' Movement and develop grassroots action to defend the Constitution and eliminate nuclear weapons. The Declaration called for the Self-Defense Forces to be withdrawn from Iraq and expressed opposition to their participation in the multinational force in Iraq, and called for contingency-related laws to be revoked. Agnes Chang, singer and Japan UNICEF Association ambassador, gave a commemorative speech entitled, "We all live on the Earth -- Let lives of children shine." Jung Gyung-lan, Chair of South Korea's Women's Making Peace, spoke in solidarity with the Japanese Mothers' Congress, stating, "The Japanese people can take pride in Article 9 of their Constitution as a treasure. It is important to let the world know more about Article 9." (end) |