Japanese photo journalist's exhibition opens people's eyes to Iraq war

In countries which have joined the U.S. forces in the invasion of Iraq, many people had second thoughts about the Iraq war after they visited an exhibition of pictures taken by Japanese photo journalist Morizumi Takashi.

The exhibited pictures were mainly about depleted uranium shells used by the U.S. forces during the 1991 Gulf War. In Iraq, many children have leukemia and cancers caused by radioactive material in DU shells.

Japanese women living in the United States, Australia, and Britain, in cooperation with local peace activists, have held these exhibitions at 30 locations over a total of 380 days.

The exhibition started in November 2002 at a public library in Berkeley, California. It took more than a month for the library director to persuade the city authority into permitting the exhibition.

The event was originally scheduled for four weeks but was extended to six weeks in response to increasing public interest. Lauren Moret, who organized the Berkeley exhibition, said the photos were very powerful, adding that visitors said, "That is a real complement in Berkeley where activism and major events have happened for 60 years."

Commenting on the Berkeley exhibition, a 19-year-old woman student at University of California - Los Angeles, wrote, "I am not saying that I disagree with the United States' policy toward Iraq, but I do feel that it is necessary to understand the repercussions of actions taken.

After California, Morizumi's pictures were taken to nine other states, including New York , Wisconsin, and Georgia.

In Australia, the first exhibition was held by Louis Porter, a Melbourne City employee, who thought it is necessary to hold the exhibition as early as possible to stop the reckless war.

The exhibition was also held in seven other cities, including Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, and Brisbane.

The mayor of Brisbane wrote a letter to other mayors, telling them about the exhibition and encouraging them to join a "Mayors for Peace" initiative.

In London, Fujisawa Midori cooperated with a group of students studying the issue of depleted uranium shells at London University in holding an exhibition in front of British Parliament on March 18, the day Parliament was going to take a vote on the authorization for the invasion of Iraq. (end)