Task now is to foil Iraq law

In a comment reported in the June 18 issue of Akahata, Kawamura Toshio, secretary general of the Liaison Council for Prevention of Mal-Revision of the Constitution, emphasized the urgency of the struggle to foil the new law on special measures to send the Japanese Self-Defense forces to Iraq.

A woman in the gallery shouted disapproval when the Upper House committee on contingency legislation voted to approve the set of war-contingency bills, including one that requires Japan to take military action with the U.S. forces and mobilize the Japanese people for U.S. wars.

That was on June 5. The woman must have been overwhelmed by anger and mortification at lawmakers violently trampling on the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution.

Crucial struggle is ahead of us

We must not forget that the crucial stage of the struggle is yet to come. In the Upper House board meeting preceding the committee meeting, the Japanese Communist Party expressed opposition to rushing to the vote on the contingency bills on the grounds that the government had not specified details of the type of assistance Japan would give to the U.S. forces and of "protection" for the citizens.

But the Liberal Democratic Party rushed these bills through, saying that the bills are only concerning "pillars" of contingency measures and that specific details would be discussed later. Clearly, they were afraid that if the details of the wartime legislation are known to the public, people will realize how dangerous it is and they will oppose the bill. Make no mistake; the burst of public anger has only been delayed till some time later.

The bill to assist the U.S. forces will only prove that the contingency legislation paves the way for the Self-Defense Forces to use force abroad to take part in lawless wars based on U.S. preemptive attack strategy, instead of centering their focus on the nation's defense. It will also become clear that the proposed "law for protecting the people", contrary to its title will compel people into U.S. wars, depriving them of their basic rights and freedom under the threat of punishment. Many new laws will become necessary to facilitate SDF actions and to control economic activities.

Under the enacted law on response to armed attacks, the prime minister will order local municipalities and designated public institutions to perform certain duties, and if his orders are not accepted he will override rejections in order to implement them. But this provision will not take effect unless a new law stipulates the date of enactment. The government has a plan to enact such new laws in a year or two, but without such new laws, the wartime legislation will not be activated.

No more U.S. lawless wars

It's essential, in this regard, to stop any further occurrence of U.S. lawless wars. The contingency legislation is basically designed to enable Japan to participate in U.S. wars. If the U.S. war policy is thwarted, Japan's wartime laws will not be invoked.

A huge united anti-war movement is emerging throughout the world. When the United States moved to wage its lawless war on Iraq, the anti-war movement developed on an unheard-of scale in Japan and the rest of the world. Even after the United States won the war militarily, the movement continues even in the United States to question the legitimacy of the war and the war responsibility of the United States. Such was not the case with the Vietnam War in the 1960s or the air strikes against Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Greatly increasing the movement in Japan, an important U.S. ally, against lawless U.S. wars in solidarity with the world's movements will increase the possibility of recovering the U.N.-led rules for peace. It will virtually tie up the contingency laws and pave the way for their abolition.

Public opinion is fortress of peace

The first step toward this goal will be to increase the struggle to foil the bill on special measures on Iraq, which the Koizumi Cabinet is aiming to have enacted in the extended current Diet session in order to allow the SDF take part in the military occupation of Iraq by the U.S. and British forces.

The proposed bill approves the Iraq war by the U.S. and Britain as a legitimate accomplished fact. What is more, the bill involves the danger of the SDF using force abroad for the first time if the SDF is sent to Iraq where armed conflict is still going on. Sending the SDF to Iraq will contravene the world trend of disallowing lawless U.S. wars and at the same time will consolidate the wartime legislation aimed at allowing SDF troops to use force abroad.

The need now is to heighten public opinion in opposition to legislating new laws. It is necessary to strengthen and develop the achievements of big and small rallies, meetings, and signature drives in which people have cooperated for more than one year to oppose the contingency legislation and the U.S. war on Iraq.

Not only in Japan but also in other countries in Asia people are alarmed at the Koizumi Cabinet moving towards building the nation into a "war-fighting" state. Let us take pride in the world-renowned Article 9 of the Constitution, and let us demonstrate the Japanese people's strength in defense of peace. (end)