Peace activists take to the streets to call for opposition to Japanese troop dispatch to Iraq

While the Japanese government prepares to send the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq, the Japanese Communist Party and peace organizations carried out activities in several cities on November 16 to let the public know how dangerous it is to send troops to Iraq.

Naha City, Okinawa

On November 16, as U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Okinawa for talks with Okinawa Governor Inamine Keiichi, the Okinawa United Action Liaison Council's activists assembled in front of the prefectural office to call for opposition to the SDF dispatch to Iraq. In their speeches from the campaign car, activists from the Japanese Communist Party, the Peace Committee, and other member groups of the coalition expressed their strong protest against Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro for promising Rumsfeld the earliest possible dispatch of Japanese troops to assist in the occupation of Iraq. About 220 people gave their signatures in support of these calls.

Toyota City, Aichi

On the same day in Toyota City in Aichi Prefecture, JCP members led by a city assembly member carried out a signature collection campaign at a railway station. About 100 people, including an American student studying in the city, signed the petition.

Nagano

In Nagano, about 20 people from the JCP carried out a signature campaign on November 15 in front of the city's main railway station, calling for Japan's contribution to be guided by the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution. (end)