November 11, 2018

Akahata 'current' column

In memory of the victims across France, reportedly, French President Macron has visited former battlefields of WWI, a war which started with an assassination in Sarajevo in late June 1914.

The war using modern weapons is said to have taken more than 15 million people's lives in four years. All the people and industries nationwide, no matter how they felt about the war, were mobilized in the all-out fighting.

Early on the morning of November 11, 1918, an armistice signed in a railcar in the Compiegne Forest ended the war. A hundred years after the armistice today, many anniversary ceremonies have taken place in Europe, calling for unity amid increasing public divisions.

The extent and cruelty of the war led the world to establish the League of Nations and move toward restricting war by deeming it to be illegal. However, its attempt failed with the outbreak of a world war again. These two world wars made the global call for non-use of arms even stronger.

The preamble of the United Nations Charter requires all state parties to unite in their "strength to maintain international peace and security"; unity which has occasionally put a brake on the tyranny of great powers is now spreading to many countries and regions around the world.

The Japanese Constitution, which came out of the remorse over the devastation caused by WWII, is committed to pacifism. Now that Japanese Prime Minister Abe is seeking to alter the most important pacific principle of this constitution, Japanese people's determined efforts to foil his aspiration will contribute to achieving humanity's goal of creating a world without wars.