Challenge the G8 Summit: 5,000 people join peace walk

Japan Press Weekly

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Challenge the G8 Summit: 5,000 people join peace walk

Shouting, “Let’s eliminate poverty and economic inequalities and leave the Green Earth to our children,” environmentalists, peace activists, and people from various other NGOs took part in actions in Sapporo and other cities in Hokkaido before and during the G8 Summit at Lake Toya in Hokkaido (July 7-9).

Demonstration held in central Sapporo, about 50 kilometers northeast of Lake Toya

On July 5, about 5,000 people, including many environmental activists, held a rally and conducted a “Challenge the G8 Summit” Peace Walk, organized by the Liaison Association for a “Peace Summit” and two other organizations in Hokkaido.

Speaking on behalf of the organizers, Ishida Akiyoshi, Hokkaido Peace Committee director, said, “We urge the G8 governments to work to solve the urgent issues such as war, environmental destruction, and poverty. We want peace and justice to prevail the world.”

Minneie Degawan, representing the Indigenous Peoples Network for Change in the Philippines, said that the market-oriented policy of neo-liberalism has robbed the Philippines of its forests.

Gustave Assah from the Civic Commission for Africa in Benin emphasized that all the G8 summit states must be held responsible for the present food crisis.

After the rally, participants walked in demonstration through the city, shouting, “Cut the military budgets of the world powers and take steps to eradicate hunger!”

International symposium

On July 5, an international symposium was held in Sapporo by the Liaison Association for a “Peace Summit” that includes the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), with about 280 people from six countries, including Greece, South Korea, and the Philippines, attending.

Secretary General Taka Hiroshi of the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) in his speech said that as the only A-bombed country, Japan has the responsibility to take action at the G8 summit to demand the abolition of nuclear weapons. To this end, people participating in the peace marches visited 180 local governments in Hokkaido, in which 101 local government heads and local assembly chairs expressed their support for the call, he added.

Takada Kimiko, New Japan Women’s Association president, spoke about an effort in cooperation with farmers’ organizations to provide children with locally grown produce for their school lunch programs.

Zenroren Secretary General Odagawa Yoshikazu stated that the effort to overcome poverty and economic inequalities requires regulation of the global activities of major corporations, such as Toyota.

“Citizens’ Summit”

A “Citizens’ Summit 2008”, co-sponsored by a citizens’ forum in Hokkaido and an NGO forum was held in Sapporo City on July 6-8. The opening address was delivered by Hoshino Masako, representative of the NGO.

At a speech session on July 6, Hashimoto Yoshihito, secretary general of the Citizens' Association to Protect Wildlife of Mt. Takao (from a highway tunnel) in Tokyo, appealed to G8 leaders to listen to the call to protect rare species of animals and plants on Mt. Takao.

A fisher from the Sea of Ariake in Kyushu demanded that the government accept a local court ruling to open a sluice gate so that a reclamation project that separated a tideland in Isahaya Bay from the Sea will be discontinued.

Oishi Toshio, head of the plaintiffs’ group calling for compensation for the victims of Minamata disease caused by mercury poisoning, reached Hokkaido after completing a tour of the Japanese archipelago. He stated, “I must say that our 50 years of struggle against pollution has not come to an end.”

- Akahata, July 6, 7, 2008