Japan Press Weekly

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2008 March 5 - 11 [CIVIL RIGHTS]

‘Article 9 Association’ holds a speech assembly

The national “Article 9 Association” (A9A) held a public assembly on March 8 in Tokyo to commemorate Oda Makoto, writer and one of the 9 founders of A9A who died in July last year.

Seven of the A9A founders were present at the assembly and called on an audience of 2,300 to carry on Oda’s pacifism.

Oda Makoto was a well-known public figure and peace activist from the Vietnam War era.

Critic Kato Shuichi said, “To take Oda’s ideas means that we will not allow any regressive interpretational revision to the Constitution.”

Playwright Inoue Hisashi spoke about Oda’s idea of a “nation of conscientious military objectors”. He also stated that Japan has a commendable Constitution and we should apply it to international relations, citing examples of neutral countries that played a humanitarian role during World War II.

Other founders including Oe Kenzaburo, Nobel Prize writer; Tsurumi Shunsuke, philosopher; Okudaira Yasuhiro, constitutional scholar; and Miki Mutsuko, the widow of former Prime Minister Miki Takeo, also spoke.
- Akahata, March 9, 2008