Japan Press Weekly

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2014 June 11 - 17 [PEACE]

A9A celebrates 10th anniversary

The Article 9 Association (A9A) on June 10 held a lecture meeting in Tokyo to mark the 10th anniversary of its founding amid the tense political atmosphere with the government moving to claim the right to collective self-defense.

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has shown his strong intention to force through a Cabinet decision within the current session of the Diet ending in eleven days in order to give Japan the right to collective self-defense.

Defending the war-renouncing constitutional clause as an absolute objective, nine public figures founded the A9A ten years ago. The association has now increased to 7,500 A9A groups throughout the nation. Four of the initial founders have since passed away.

Three of the remaining five active figures showed up at the event to which philosophers Tsurumi Shunsuke and Umehara Takeshi sent messages of support.

Nobel Prize novelist Oe Kenzaburo expressed his determination to concentrate his energies on the A9A. Okudaira Yasuhiro, an academic specializing in constitutional law, said, “PM Abe describes the contentious right as if it were to defend Japan. It is a big and urgent challenge ahead of us to hamper him from making Article 9 a dead letter. Non-fiction writer Sawachi Hisae said, “Let our voices be heard! We don’t want our country to resort to force as a means to resolve disputes.”

Former Director-General of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau Sakata Masahiro in a video message said, “If we give way to constitutional revisionists, it will mean the end of constitutionalism.”

Past related articles:
>7-year old Article 9 Assn. : Constitution can lead Japan away from nuclear energy [June 5, 2011]
>Article 9 Association calls for pacifist Constitution to be fully respected [June 20, 2010]
>Nobel laureate speaks on peace at scientists’ circle for Article 9[March 9, 2009]