2,700 elderly people rally to defend peace and social services

The 17th Convention on the Elderly took place on September 28 and 29 in Hamamatsu City in Shizuoka Prefecture.

About 2,700 senior citizens resolved to defend peace and the social services system by confronting the government which has cut back pensions and other social services and is planning to send the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.

They had discussions in 16 group sessions on pensions, nursing care, the Constitution, and environmental protection. In the discussion on the pension system, an expert stated that the present system has a pension fund of 200 trillion yen (1.8 trillion dollars), but that the government falsely argues that cutbacks in pensions are necessary to deal with a shortage of funds.

Kajita Goro, an 85-year-old from Nagoya City, said, "We must do all we can to defend the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution and Article 25 guaranteeing the minimum standards of wholesome and cultured living to all people." Half of his contemporaries were killed in their 20s during the Second World War.

A keynote report of the Convention called for future annual conventions to take place on the regional or prefectural level. (end)