 Citizens gather to block extension of SDF dispatch About 180 people took part in a rally on December 7 in protest against the government plan to extend the term of the Self-Defense Forces dispatch to Iraq after it expires on December 14. The rally was jointly called by three union leaders: Uchida Taeko, chair of the Japan Federation of Aviation Worker's Unions; Japan Federation of Medical Worker's Unions President Tanaka Chieko; and Myochin Miki, former president of the Mass Media Information and Culture Unions. In the opening address Uchida said, "What Japan should have done as the country with Article 9 was not the dispatch of the SDF," and called for the rally to exert power to block the extension of the SDF deployment in Iraq. Journalist Torigoe Shuntaro criticized the SDF dispatch to Iraq as infringement of the war-renouncing Article 9, stating, "To renounce the use of force as the means of solving conflicts is what people demanded after experiencing the last World War." On behalf of the Japanese Communist Party, House of Representatives member Akamine Seiken spoke. Representatives of the Central Action Committee against the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty on the same day made representations to the Cabinet Office, demanding that the government immediately bring the SDF troops home from Iraq. They handed signatures supporting their call to end the SDF dispatch to Iraq. (end) |