5,000 attend rally to keep on fighting against wartime laws
About 5,000 workers and other concerned citizens held a rally on June 10 in Tokyo to renew their determination to prevent the war-contingency laws from being invoked. The wartime bills were railroaded through the House of Councilors by a majority of the ruling coalition and the opposition Democratic and Liberal parties and became law on June 6.
The rally was held at Hibiya Amphitheater in the heart of Tokyo by a group of 20 ground, maritime, and air transport workers' unions, the Religious Network for Peace, the Christian Peace Network, and the Citizens' Action as well as 102 public figures.
Representatives of the All Japan Seamen's Union. the Federation of Newspaper Workers' Union, and other unions will be mobilized by the government in the event of "national emergencies."
Addressing the rally on behalf of the Japanese Communist Party, Keiji Kokuta, Lower House member, said: "This rally will be remembered as the day on which the struggle began to prevent the invocation of the contingency laws." He called for an increased struggle to block new legislation on Japan's support for the U.S. forces and on national mobilization as well as the proposed bill allowing the Self-Defense Forces to be sent to Iraq. (end)
