Japan Press Weekly

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2014 April 9 - 15 [POLITICS]

5,000 say ‘No!’ to Abe’s move to use collective self-defense right

“Mr. Prime Minister, protect the Constitution!” “Don’t fight abroad!” - the angry shouts of 5,000 demonstrators echoed through the streets near the Diet building on the evening of April 8.

Prior to the demonstration, they took part in a rally held at Hibiya Amphitheater in protest against Prime Minister Abe’s move to allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense by revising the conventional interpretation of the Constitution.

In the rally, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo delivered a speech as one of guest speakers along with the Social Democratic Party chair, Nobel Prize author Oe Kenzaburo, and a representative of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.

Shii pointed out that authorizing the country to use the collective self-defense right by changing constitutional interpretation is tantamount to virtually erasing the war-renouncing Article 9 from the Constitution. “If we fail to block this move, it will cause the destruction of the very foundation of the Constitution,” said Shii.

Citing recent opinion polls which show the rapid growth of public opposition to Abe’s move, Shii called on the 5,000 participants to increase efforts to protect Article 9 and surround the Abe administration with enormous public opposition.

Nobel laureate Oe in his speech said, “Japan established a principle of a new era of the Japanese society 67 years ago, which is the current Constitution. It represents a spirit of the new era: democracy and no more war. Let’s work hard to protect this spirit which the present administration is trying to bring down.”