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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

9,500 people attend Article 9 Association speech assembly

A major speech assembly was held in Tokyo's bay area on July 30 with the aim of further developing the movement to defend the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution.

About 9,500 people who attended the assembly chanted, "Land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized," a passage from the Constitution's Article 9.

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo and other JCP Dietmembers attended the event with Dietmembers from the Social Democratic, and Democratic parties.

The Association announced that about 3,000 local Article 9 associations have been established, including those set up in specific professional fields.

Speakers included six out of the nine founders of the Article 9 Association.

Miki Mutsuko, former prime minister Miki Takeo's wife, said, "I'm here with a seething anger to know that Article 9 is in a precarious state. My wish is that Japan will be in peace and be happy with a flowering of its civilization."

Writer Oda Makoto said it is important to remember that China's Sun Yat-sen in 1924 asked Japan to choose between "seeking hegemony with military force, and seeking a high road with morals." The present Constitution represents the latter in order for Japan to survive in Asia and the rest of the world, he stated.

Oe Kenzaburo, a Nobel Prize novelist, denounced the health ministry for urging hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as Okinawa's war victims to accept their being victims of the war.

"The average life span for males in 1945 was less than 24," said playwright Inoue Hisashi, who expressed concerns about people who are in favor of war as justifiable means and who are reminiscing the wartime past as the good old days.

At the end of the rally, the Association secretary made the following four proposals: (1) establish associations in all municipalities, school areas, workshops, and universities; (2) develop information networks and hold a national rally to exchange activities; (3) hold study meetings on Article 9; and (4) individually carry out various activities with posters, emblems, signature campaigns, opinion advertising, and sending cards to politicians and mass media. -- Akahata, July 31, 2005