Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2008 April 30 - May 13 [PEACE]

22,000 people attend ‘Global Article 9 Conference’

About 22,000 people, including 150 lawyers and NGO representatives from 31 countries, took part in the Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War held from May 4-6 in Chiba City, near Tokyo.

They participated in various events, including symposiums and musicians’ live performances, concerning the significance of the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution incorporating global viewpoints.

About 30 workshops and symposiums were crowded with standing room only audience.

Speaking at a workshop entitled “Article 9 in crisis and our future”, Shinagawa Masaji, permanent director of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai), said, “To say no to revise Article 9 means changing Asia and the U.S. global strategy. The Japanese people are in a position to change world history.”

In another workshop on the “Nuclear era and Article 9”, Asai Motofumi, Hiroshima City University Peace Institute president, said, “Article 9 and the elimination of nuclear weapons are inseparable,” emphasizing the importance of Article 9 that provides the idea of achieving “peace without using force.”

At some panel discussions, some panelists proposed establishing a global network concerning Article 9, but many insisted that the important thing is that people in each country make independent efforts according to their peculiar political situations.”

The Global Article 9 Conference was also held in Osaka, Sendai, and Hiroshima with many people participating. - Akahata, May 5 & 6, 2008