 Let us cause a groundswell of calls for nuclear weapons abolition on the 60th anniversary of the A bombings The year 2005 marks the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference scheduled for May. The review conference will focus on how the "unequivocal undertaking" for nuclear weapons abolition pledged in the 2000 NPT review conference should be achieved. Takakusagi Hiroshi, secretary general of the Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Gensuikyo) in an interview with Akahata (published on Dec. 16-17) stated as follows: The all-out attack on the Iraqi city of Fallujah has illustrated how dangerous the U.S. Bush administration is! It has also caused increasing isolation of the United States from the rest of the world. In the United Nations discussions last autumn on nuclear disarmament, the U.S. isolation was made obvious. Non-proliferation is only a pretext The Bush administration tries to use next year's NPT Review Conference and U.N. disarmament conferences to promote its "counter nuclear proliferation" strategy. Its aim is to use the danger of "nuclear proliferation" as the pretext for urging other countries to support U.S. preemptive attack strategy, while strengthening its overwhelming nuclear and conventional military forces. At the same time, in an attempt to undermine U.N. discussions, the United States is trying hard to organize U.S. supporters to set up a regime to "enforce nuclear non-proliferation". The U.S. proposal for the proliferation security initiative (PSI) is based on this intention. With this intention in mind, the United States has insisted that the U.N. General Assembly First Committee, which is devoted to disarmament issues, should focus on common action against Iran, Libya, and North Korea, instead of discussing nuclear disarmament. Against this backdrop, the New Agenda Coalition worked hard to ensure that its resolution calling for the promotion of efforts to achieve the agreement on nuclear disarmament get support from the largest possible number of countries. The resolution is based primarily on the call to achieve the "unequivocal undertaking" for nuclear weapons abolition which was unanimously agreed on at the 2000 NPT Review Conference, with nuclear weapon states included. After passage through the UNGA First Committee, the resolution was adopted by the full session of the UNGA with 151 countries in favor and only six, including the United States, Britain, France, and Israel against. Of the NATO member countries, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Turkey, which voted against last year voted in favor this year, following Canada. Japan also changed its position to vote in favor in the latest session. The action of non-aligned countries was noteworthy. The United States tried to reduce the role of the First Committee by ceasing to adopt resolutions of the same themes every year under the name of "streamlining" or "reform". The group of non-aligned countries raised the major issues that should be addressed by international politics. Malaysia emphasized more strongly than ever the need to immediately begin negotiations for the abolition of nuclear weapons in a resolution which was based on the International Court of Justice advisory opinion, and proposed a new U.N. resolution aimed at implementing agreements of the September 2000 U.N. Millennium Summit. Mexico demanded that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's proposal for a major international convention on the elimination of nuclear weapons be headed. Indonesia requested a 4th Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly Devoted to Disarmament. Pressed by other nuclear weapons possessing countries, the United States proposed beginning negotiations on the treaty banning the production of fissionable material which was agreed on in 1995. However, the U.S. proposal didn't refer to the need for verification and to its own accumulation of fissionable material, and soon faced criticism. After all, the draft resolution calling for the start of negotiations for the "cutoff" treaty, which requires verification, and another resolution calling for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) to come into effect, were adopted with only two countries, the U.S. and Palau, voting against. In the latest U.N. session, the United States reportedly moved to divide the new Agenda Coalition by using the nuclear proliferation issue as a weapon, but the governments which have no nuclear weapons have stood firmly with the worldwide current toward the complete ban on nuclear weapons. During Japan Gensuikyo's petitioning at the U.N., many governments expressed their hope that the anti-nuclear weapons movement develop successfully. Cooperation between various governments and NGOs is increasingly important. The world's anti-nuclear movement shows a new development. Although U.S. President George W. Bush was reelected, calls for peace, opposition to nuclear weapons, and justice grew louder than ever. Interviewed by Japan Gensuikyo, Jacqueline Cabasso from the U.S. "United for Peace and Justice" which has organized the anti-Iraq war campaign stressed that ending the dangerous U.S. nuclear policy needs to develop grassroots nuclear disarmament efforts that go hand in hand with the movement to achieve peace and justice. The European Social Forum in October showed that the movement for nuclear abolition, linked with various other movements for peace and social justice, are growing as we prepare for the 60th anniversary of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In this context, Japan's peace movement has an even greater role to play. From abstention to voting in favor For the past few years, the Japanese government has abstained from voting on New Agenda Coalition (NAC) resolutions on the ground that they put emphasis on no-use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear countries. This year, however, the NAC narrowed its direct demands on the nuclear weapons possessing countries, while urging them to implement the 2000 agreement reached at the NPT Review Conference, thus forcing the Japanese government to vote in favor, which in itself is welcome. However, the Japanese government did not support the non-aligned group's resolutions calling for commencing negotiations aimed at abolishing nuclear weapons, banning the preemptive use of nuclear weapons, and guaranteeing no-use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear countries. Also, the Japanese government's proposal didn't regard the 2000 agreement of a "definite promise" of eliminating nuclear weapons as an urgent present-day task. Behind such a government posture lies its position of regarding Japan's alliance with the U.S. as absolute. Look at the report the "Council on Security and Defense Capabilities Global Partnership Plan of Action" issued in preparation for a review of the National Defense Program Outline. It states that in order to cope with threats from nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, expanded U.S. nuclear deterrence is indispensable. This means that Japan continues to depend on the U.S. "nuclear umbrella" or the U.S. nuclear deterrence policy even though the United States maintains a policy of preemptive strike strategy. The new "outline" retains this basic policy, and the government is accelerating the development of the Missile Defense System that will lead to exercising the "right of collective self-defense." This policy is inseparable from the plan to adversely revise the Constitution. No U.S. allies except Japan willingly depend on a U.S. "nuclear umbrella" or accept a preemptive nuclear strike strategy while advocating nuclear disarmament in the international political arena. As we enter the year of an NPT Review Conference and the 60th anniversary of the A-bombings, we should develop a major effort to raise public awareness and increase actions that will help stop the dangerous policy. Joint action in May On May 2, when the NPT Review Conference will open, an international joint action will be held to submit to the UN signatures calling for a complete ban on nuclear weapons. On May 1, a big rally will be held at the call of the World Conference of Mayors for Peace, with the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as chief promoters. As a major international anti-nuclear network, the "Abolition 2000" website carries the contents of Japan Gensuikyo's slogan, "Abolish Nuclear Weapons Now! Let there be no more Hiroshimas and no more Nagasakis." Thus the signature drive has been accepted internationally. In Japan, Gensuikyo is calling for greater efforts to collect signatures for this. Many democratic organizations throughout the country are increasing the signature drive along with the effort to send their representatives to the NPT Review Conference. With the United States fiercely trying to foil the conference, it will not be easy for the NPT talks to succeed. However, the U.S. government has to face the world's overwhelming calls for nuclear weapons abolition. Despite the conference being aimed at nuclear non-proliferation, a regime has been imposed by the five nuclear powers to maintain their monopoly of nuclear weapons. But this NPT Review Conference has been changed to a forum to promote nuclear weapons abolition. There is no justification for clinging to nuclear weapons and to their possible use. We must deal a blow to nuclear powers by making real the call for abolishing nuclear weapons. Gensuikyo will make every effort to bring a success to all actions concerning the NPT Review Conference, by collecting as many signatures as possible, so that the anti-nuclear movement will make a new leap in the year of the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings. (end) |