This is the translated version of the Japanese edition (No.207 dated June 21st, 2015). It is published by Katsuyuki Naraof the New English Teachers Association (or Shin-Eiken, http://www.shin-eiken.com/)and Stuart McLelland.The translationis on our own．
Uploaded June 25th, 2015 English version No.141
Creative grass roots activities change public opinion
Commotion has spread within the ruling Liberal Democratic andKomeitoparties as their arguments over the war legislation bills have failed one after another and public opinion against the bills has mounted. LDP lawmaker Murakami Seijurosaid in a LDP meeting, “Is it right for us to flatly discard scholars’ views?”In Hananomakimunicipal assembly in Iwate prefecture, even a Komeitoparty member supported the approval of a written opinion seeking cautious deliberations on war-making bills.
The following aredaily activities of provincial A9A groups.
Hidaka Town group in Wakayama
On June 3rd the group submitted a petition against the war legislation to the municipal assembly. The petition with 1332 signatures included submission of a written opinion to the central governmentwhich says “Do not enact a bill which could cause war abroad”. The number of signatures accounted for 20% of the townspeople.
Hida Group in Gifu
On June 13th they held an emergency study meeting “Say ‘No’ to war.” It was hosted by Hida-area A9A groups, HidaYouth Association of Buddhism and Gifu Teachers and Staff Association. 106 people took part. Lawyer Kawazu Satoru delivered a lecture entitled “Type of war the Abe Cabinet envisages.”
Akiruno group in Tokyo
On May 31st, the group held a meeting celebrating the 10thanniversary of its founding. It was attended by 210 citizens. Three citizens told about their wartime experiences. One of those who found “Itsukaichi draft of the Constitution” gave a lecture on the draft.
Women’s group
Women’s A9A Group plans to hold a meeting celebrating the 10th anniversary of its founding on June 27th at Ginza Blossom. They issued the following statement:
The Abe Cabinetadvocates the exercise of the right to collective self-defense which every former cabinet has branded unconstitutional since the end of last war. The cabinet submitted to the Diet a bill for “International support for peace” and other security-related bills.
Those bills include phrases such as“peace and security,” but in reality they are nothing but war-legislation which could make the Self-Defense Forces join any kind of war the U.S. causes and legalize their acts of fighting and killing. Such acts cannot be tolerated under Article 9. It is feared that these bills will incite acts of terrorism within Japan, and make our land a battlefield. Moreover, they could threaten the lives of SDF members. If the number of rookie SDF members decreases, it would lead to compulsory conscription.
We, theWomen’s A9A Group, are determined to defend the spiritof peace the Japanese Constitution advocates, and continue to fight in order not to have our children sent to battlefields in the future.
June 27th2015
Founders of Women’s A9A Group :
Ikeda Kayoko (translator), Utsumi Aiko (professor emeritus of Keisen Jogakuin University), Osanai Mieko (scenario writer), SetouchiJakucho (writer), and others