High school students discuss peace

About 200 students from Tokyo's high schools took part in an annual assembly entitled Peace Talk in Tokyo on November 16. The event, which was the ninth since 1995, was organized mainly by members of high school peace circles.

Speaking on behalf of the Organizing Committee, Shiraki Maho said, "We high school students must act now to stop the planned dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq and an adverse revision of Article 9 of the Constitution, learning the value of life and peace."

Sato Maki from the Japan International Volunteer Center showed footage of Iraqi children under harsh conditions. Explaining that the Iraq War is not over yet, she called on the students to think about what people at the scene feel and to take initiatives to create a peaceful future.

A third-year male student said he thinks that changing the war-renouncing Constitution is tantamount to saying yes to war, which most Japanese do not want.

A 23-year old student from Turkey said she believes that the Japanese Constitution has evolved into an ideal for the world and that getting it regressively revised does not make any sense.

A 19-year-old student from the United States said he was worried about what people think about his country invading Iraq. In response, a second-year female student said, "At first I thought everything in the United States was evil, but after I got to know about anti-war movements in the United States, I began to think President Bush is the one to blame."

The students also listened to WWII survivors' stories and exchanged opinions on the SDF dispatch to Iraq and the wartime legislation. (end)