Youth organizations call for non-military approach toward eliminating terrorism

Japan's major youth and student organizations launched a joint appeal on
October 9 calling for every effort to eradicate terrorism by non-military
means. They warned that the U.S.-led military retaliation will only add
fuel to violence and hatred and produce a vicious circle of military
exchanges.

The Japan Seinendan Council and 19 other organizations took the
initiative which included the National Confederation of Trade Unions Youth
Department, the All Japan Federation of Student Unions (Zengakuren), the
Japan League of Socialist Youth, and the Democratic Youth League of Japan.

Referring to the bill the government has submitted to the Diet to allow
the Self-Defense Forces to go to war, the appeal pointed out the danger of
deploying the SDF in foreign countries and easing restrictions on their use
of weapons, meaning putting the SDF in foreign wars, far beyond "surrounding
areas of Japan."

The appeal insisted that Japan act in line with the Constitution and call
on the international community to settle the matter legally.

Danger of nuclear weapons being used

Japan Seinendan Council Chair Higashi Kazufumi and five prominent people
published a joint appeal on the same day calling on the international
community to eliminate terrorism using legal means and requesting the
Japanese government to take a lead in taking non-military steps to deal with
the problem.

The appeal warned that the U.S. retaliation would victimize ordinary
people and bring about the next retaliation. It expressed concern about the
danger of nuclear weapons, saying that their use or threat to use them
cannot be contained.

The five people who jointly sponsored the appeal were Anzai Ikuro, Kyoto
Museum for World Peace, Ritsumeikan University director; Ikeda Masanori,
lawyer from the Japan Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms;
Umebayashi Hiromichi, Peace Depot (non-profit institution of peace research)
director; Teruoka Itsuko, professor emeritus at Saitama University; and
Yamaguchi Senji, Japan Confederation of A and H Bombs Sufferers
Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) representative director. (end)