Japan Press Weekly

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2022 October 12 - 18 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

14K women in Mother’s Congress: Let’s work hard to hand down peaceful future to children

The 67th Mother’s Congress took place on October 15-16 in Saitama and Gunma prefectures with 14,000 people participating. The congress on the final day adopted an appeal calling on the participants to work together to pass on to children a peaceful and brighter future without nuclear weapons, military bases, nuclear energy, and wars.

At the closing plenary held in Gunma’s Takasaki City on the final day of the congress, organizing committee chair Funabashi Hatsue, who also heads the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) women’s section, delivered a speech. She pointed out that even during the COVID-19 pandemic, women stood up to voice their opposition to ex-Prime Minister Abe’s state funeral and the government’s other anti-people policies. She said, “Let’s work hard to further increase public criticism of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s ties with the Moonies and drive the Kishida administration, which has already suffered a sharp drop in its approval rating, into a corner. As women in the only A-bombed nation, we need to work to increase public support for our claim that we can’t co-exist with nuclear weapons and military bases.”

On the first day, workshops were held at various venues in Saitama Prefecture and the participants exchanged their views on themes such as how to defend peace, efforts to tackle climate crisis, and ways to realize gender equality.