July 2&3, 2014
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2014 July 2 - 8 [POLITICS]
Citizens resolve to retract gov’t decision to enable Japan to use collective self-defense right |
On July 1 just after the Cabinet decision, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations issued a statement signed by the association president calling for the retraction of the decision. The statement protests that with the Cabinet decision, the Abe government totally changes Japan’s course from being a peaceful nation. It also points out that it is a violation of constitutionalism that executive branch top officials, who must be bound by the Constitution, effectively revised Article 9 of the Constitution only by their executive power.
Various religious organizations expressed opposition to the Cabinet decision. The Japan Buddhist Federation consisting of 105 major Buddhism denominations and organizations in Japan in its statement stressed that the Cabinet decision could pave the way for Japan abandoning the war-renouncing policy under the Constitution. The Japan Baptist Convention in a statement criticized the government move to exercise the right to collective self-defense and in effect abolishing Article 9, thus breaking faith and trust with other Asian nations and the rest of the world. The statement urged the government to withdraw its decision.
The National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo), the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), the Japan Congress of Journalists, and many other organizations have also published statements demanding that the government revoke its approval of Japan’s exercise of the right to collective self-defense.
Meanwhile, on the night of the Cabinet decision, protesters who assembled near the Prime Minister’s Office and the Diet building resolved to continue increasing their efforts to have the decision overturned. They waged a protest action also on the day before the decision was announced.
The number of citizens who converged at the two-day protest from across Japan reached nearly 100,000 in total. This figure included many young people in their late teens and early 20s as well as former Japanese Self-Defense Forces members who took part in the protest action for the first time in their lives.
A 22-year-old female student, who came from Mishima City in Shizuoka Prefecture, said, “I decided to join the action because I’m worrying about the possibility that my friends will have to go to war.”
Another demonstrator, a 21-year-old student living in Tokyo, said, “Although the Cabinet made the decision, it is not the end. Our struggle to have the prime minister realize the extent of our anger has just begun.”
Past related articles:
> Letters from young people to PM against right to collective self-defense [June 23 & 24, 2014]
> Majority in media polls oppose Abe’s attempt to enable Japan to use collective self-defense right [June 24, 2014]
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