military

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Redirect military expenditures to poverty relief and education!
Akahata editorial (excerpts)

In 2004, world military expenditures reached 140 billion dollars (about 106 trillion yen), a 30-percent increase from 2000. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in Sweden revealed this in its 2005 Yearbook.

The rise in the world military expenditures was due to the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. U.S. military spending accounts for about 44 percent of world military expenditures. If Japan and Britain are added, the figure will be more than 52 percent.

According to the SIPRI Yearbook, Japan's military spending in 2004 was 42.4 billion dollars (about 5 trillion yen), the fourth largest after the United States, Britain, and France.

In the present world, more than one billion people, which is one-sixth of the world population, are forced to live on less than one dollar a day. Many are dying of famine and diseases. It is a global priority to cut military spending and instead spend more for eradicating poverty and improving welfare services and education.

The 2000 U.N. Millennium Summit decided to halve the world poverty and starvation rates by 2015, calling for an extra 48 billion dollars to be used for that purpose, which is only five percent of the world military spending.

Japan's participation in the Iraq war is in violation of the Constitution that declares that Japan renounces war and does not possess war potential. It is also unacceptable to use tax money to dispatch Japan's Self-Defense Forces abroad in order to globalize Japan's role under its military alliance with the United States.

A drastic cut in military expenditures can help improve national programs for social welfare, education, and better living conditions. It can also help tackle the problem of poverty throughout the world, contributing to saving many lives. - Akahata, July 4, 2005