September 20, 2018

Shouts of “Weapons don’t make peace!” echoed across Tokyo’s Hibiya Amphitheater filled with 4,800 people on September 19, the third anniversary of the forcible enactment of the war laws (the national security related legislation).

On this day, a rally took place to abolish the unconstitutional legislation. This event was organized by the All-Out Action Committee and other civil organizations.

Takada Ken of the All-Out Action Committee delivered a speech on behalf of the organizers and stressed that the war laws must be scrapped. Concerning Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s intent to have the Diet initiate a constitutional revision in the next session, Takada said that concerned citizens and opposition parties need to further cooperate to thwart Abe’s attempt.

Along with scholars and citizens who oppose the war laws, representatives of the Japanese Communist Party and four other opposition parties gave speeches in solidarity.

JCP Secretariat Head Koike Akira in his speech noted that the Abe government intends to send the Ground Self-Defense Force to join non-UN multinational forces operating on the Sinai Peninsula. He also noted that the government recently made it public that the Maritime SDF had conducted antisubmarine drills in the South China Sea. Koike said that the government intends to dispatch SDF units abroad based on the war laws just for the sake of establishing precedents.

Koike stated that in the summit meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un which started on the previous day, the two leaders agreed to never allow war to take place again on the Korean Peninsula.

Koike said, “Recent developments between South and North Korea prove that it is not armed forces but diplomacy that brings about peace. It is anachronic to change Article 9 amid the ongoing trend to engage in diplomatic negotiations to establish peace.”

Touching on the next year’s Upper House election, Koike insisted that concerned citizens and opposition parties should make earnest joint efforts in order to defeat the ruling Liberal Democratic-Komei coalition and its supplementary forces in the election and drive them into a minority force in the Diet.

Past related articles:
> Shii hopes 3rd inter-Korea summit will be successful [September 7, 2018]
> PM Abe increases pro-revision remarks in regard to Article 9 [September 5, 2018]