BikiniDay2

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

Anti-nuclear struggles exchanged at international forum

The Japan Council against A & H Bombs on February 27 held the International Forum "For a Peaceful and Just World Free of Nuclear Weapons" in Shizuoka City in Shizuoka Prefecture with about 180 people attending.

It was carried out as part of a series of Bikini Day events commemorating the 52nd anniversary of the U.S. hydrogen bomb test explosion at Bikini Atoll in 1954.

Joanne Comerford from the American Friends Service Committee in the U.S. reported that the Massachusetts State Legislature expressed support for the call of the Mayors For Peace for a total ban on nuclear weapons by 2020 and that a peace march started in the state on February 19.

Kang Je-suk, representing the Peace Project Network of South Korea, spoke about the joint effort by South Korean researchers, lawyers, National Assembly members, and citizens' groups to hold activities questioning Japanese and U.S. responsibility for war crimes and calling for their compensation for war victims, including Korean atomic bomb survivors.

Corazon Fabros, secretary-general of the Nuclear-Free Philippines Coalition, reported on Philippines' struggles against the RP-U.S. Agreement Regarding the Treatment of U.S. Armed Forces Visiting the Philippines and an adverse revision of the nuclear-free Constitution.

Sugimori Nagako, president of the Japan Section of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), reminded the participants that after the U.S. hydrogen bomb test explosion in 1954, the Japan WILPF submitted to the U.N. a request for a ban on A and H bomb testing. She expressed her determination to develop activities in defense of peace and human rights by increasing the number of women taking part in the decision making process in local administrations.
- Akahata, February 28, 2006