PAGE TWO--Japanese mourn A-bomb victims: 'NO WAR ON IRAQ OR KOREA'
Since World War II there has been a Peace Constitution in Japan, U.S.-imposed, but also supported by a war-weary population. Now, however, the U.S. government needs allies for the endless wars it has projected. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, representing Japanese militarists and industrialists, is trying to bend the constitution to allow the dispatch of 1,000 Japanese troops to Iraq, despite the opposition of over half the population, who are expressing strong anti-imperialist feelings more and more openly.
On Aug. 6, at the official commemorative ceremony in Hiroshima, Koizumi's speech met only scattered applause. The entire ceremony was punctuated by cries of "No war!" and "Remove Koizumi!" from a protest just outside Peace Park.
Street Action youth demonstration in Hiroshima on August 5
Street Action, a youth organization, held a spirited march through Hiroshima. They chanted "Don't send soldiers to Iraq," Stop the nuclear war drive," "Block the road to war on North Korea," "Remove Koizumi" and, in English, "No war! No more war!" Many demonstrators wore ANSWER's "No War on Iraq" buttons and stickers on their backpacks and guitar cases. One poster featured a huge photograph of an ANSWER rally in San Francisco. All had been obtained well before the delegation arrived.
Poster featuring photograph of an ANSWER rally in San Francisco
Later, a larger meeting listened to a scientist debunk the idea that North Korea was a nuclear threat and contrast its defensive arsenal to the vast weaponry of the U.S. This sentiment was also demonstrated at the Hiroshima Peace Museum on a three-dimensional model that compared the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal to all other nuclear countries to make the same point.
In a PVN interview, physics professor Yohisi Yoshida explained that depleted uranium, which today coats many of the weapons and ammunition used by U.S. forces around the world, has been known by U.S. scientists as a weapon of mass destruction since 1943, according to recently declassified information.
The next day, 2,500 people listened to representatives from Korea, China and the ANSWER delegation, all united in opposition to imperialism--both U.S. and Japanese. The crowd grew to 3,000 as it then marched through the streets of Hiroshima. More marches and rallies took place in Nagasaki.
Pre-march rally in Hiroshima on August 6th, 2003
A small group, tailed by six worried police cars, took the ANSWER delegates to view the Sasebo Naval base, where they were shown ongoing military collaboration between U.S. and Japanese naval vessels.
Sasebo Naval base
On guard at the entrance to Sasebo Naval base
Audiences throughout the week enthusiastically supported ANSWER's call for simultaneous activities against the occupation of Iraq on Oct. 25. Organizers expressed commitment to building actions all over Japan on that day.
Both delegates said that the generosity, determination and bravery of their anti-imperialist comrades in Japan renewed their conviction in the unity of struggle throughout the world.
Photo credits except where indicated: PVN and IAC.
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