 Mayors and citizens discuss how to develop anti-nuclear movement Mayors, political party representatives, and citizens on February 19 discussed how to strengthen Japan's anti-nuclear movement in order to pressure member states to start a concrete discussion for the abolition of nuclear weapons at the NPT Review Conference in May. In the NPT citizens' rally held in Tokyo, Hiroshima Mayor Akiba Tadatoshi, who is also the president of the Mayors for Peace group, took part in the rally with Nagasaki Mayor Ito Iccho, said, "The world calls for the same thing as us," adding that the U.S. Conference of Mayors decided to call on the U.S. President George W. Bush to start negotiations on the elimination of nuclear weapons. Four panelists, including Japanese Communist Party House of Councilors member Inoue Satoshi and Susi Snyder, director of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), discussed the issue. Stating that the nuclear deterrence theory has led to further nuclear proliferation, Inoue stressed the need to call for the total elimination of nuclear weapons. (end) |