Japan Press Weekly

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2015 May 20 - 26 [POLITICS]

Pro-Article 9 citizens launch weekly demonstration against Abe’s war legislation

A citizens’ group working to protect the war-renouncing Article 9 in Japan’s constitution held their first weekly demonstration on May 21 near the Diet building seeking to have war legislation-related bills scrapped. Meanwhile in the Diet, the House of Representatives Steering Committee decided to begin discussing the bills next Tuesday.

The group consisting of trade unions, women’s groups, other civil groups, and individuals, including Nobel-winning author Oe Kenzaburo, will hold the demonstration every Thursday night in front of the Diet building.

In the demonstration on May 21, using a microphone, representatives of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations and the Japan Confederation of Trade Unions as well as many concerned participants in turn expressed their determination to continue to make their utmost efforts to block the bills from being passed in the Diet.

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Ikeuchi Saori delivered a speech in solidarity.

A 19-year-old university student joined the action, holding a placard that read, “We flunk you, Mr. Prime Minister ignorant of the Potsdam Declaration!”

Another participant who is a member of a construction workers’ union said, “In WWII, many construction workers were mobilized to build military facilities and died on battlefields. It is important for us to express our angry at the government.”

Later on the same day before a press gathering, JCP Chair Shii Kazuo commenting on the Lower House Diet Steering Committee decision expressed his resolve to have the bills scrapped after insisting on thorough Diet deliberations.

Asked by reporters about his participation in a special committee on the security-related bills, Shii said that it represents his party’s firm determination to defeat the controversial bills with an all-out fight.