This is the translated version of the Japanese editions (No.301, No.302 and No.303 in March 2018). It is published by Katsuyuki Nara of the New English Teachers Association (or Shin-Eiken, ) and Stuart McLelland. The translation is on our own．
Uploaded on April 25th, 2018 English version No.209
Latest events about Article 9
March 25th: The Liberal Democratic Party held the party convention, and finalized the party policy about how they should proceed to revise the Constitution.
March 30th:The secretariat of the Article 9 Associationheld a press conference, and announced ★the following appeal. Also, Sawachi Hisae, a founder of A9A, and six facilitators of A9A expressed concerns over the LDP’s attempt to revise the Constitution. April 7th We are determined to fight back against LDP. As the first step, we decided to hold a nationwide meeting in Tokyo on to plan a strategy with unity of purposes.
★Article 9 Association’s urgent appeal (summary)
Let’s say ‘No’ to Abe’s attempt to revise the Constitution and complete the 30-million signature drive.
Prime Minister Abe expressed his resolution to revise the Constitution at the party convention on March 25th while the party was severely criticized with the falsification scandal of the Ministry of Finance. LDP as a whole also finalized the party policy to introduce a proposition to realize the long-cherished constitutional revision. The Constitution stands at the crossroads.
The draft Article 9 that the LDP compiled is strongly affected by Abe’s idea, that is, making Article 9 a dead letter by adding the role of the Self Defense Forces to Article 9 leaving Clause 1 and 2 unchanged. We must not forget that the SDF can be sent overseas after the cabinet approved the war laws in 2016. It is highly likely that the new constitution will pave the way for a full exertion of the right of collective self-defense, which even the war laws do not approve.
We also must be careful of the clause related to national emergency. The new constitution will make it possible for the government to redefine what emergency means to expand the competence of the Prime Minister or to restrict human rights.
The Abe administration has been trying to transform Japan into a nation that can engage in warfare again under the influence of the United States. The constitutional revision, which must instigate the armaments race in North East Asia, is the final step for Abe to accomplish the mission.
We cannot allow the Constitution, especially Article 9, to be revised with such a hideous intention. It was created based on our deepest remorse over the war dead: 3.1 million of us Japanese and 20 million people in Asian countries, who were killed by our attacks.
We must force Abe to step down. We can make it by creating an atmosphere in which Abe and other LDP members have to give up the idea of introducing a proposition to amend the Constitution and by completing the 30-milllion signature drive. We sincerely hope that you all join this historical movement.
April 7th: The public lecture held by the secretariat was attended by approximately 1,000 people ranging from Hokkaido to Okinawa took part in the meeting full of excitement. They determined their will to booster our campaign early to force Premier Abe Shinzo to resign.
Here is a speech made by one of the 9A founders that day.
Sawachi Hisae (writer)
We stand on a crucial stage. Abe has been trying to fundamentally amend the Constitution thereby giving the SDF a legitimate status. Lately Defense Minister Onodera said in an interview that new hidden documents were “recovered” in the Defense Minster building. This incident is the rarest-ever in the history. Japanese politicshas been tattered.We have decided to hold a “candle demonstration” in front of the Diet buildings from 14thand on in order to have PM Abe resign and defend Article 9. We have seen no war dead for 73 years since the end of last war by the power of Article 9. I want to do this whatever happens.
April 19th:
Core members of Review council of the Constitution of the ruling and opposition parties met together to discuss an itinerary of their deliberations. The ruling parties proposed that they would hold a meeting to discuss an amendment of the National Referendum Law before May 2nd, but the members of the opposition parties refused it.
The following are the latest activities of provincial A9A groups.
Kanagawa group
On March 29th the group sponsored a gathering in Yokohama to exchange opinions on the 30-milliong signature drive. It was attended by 47 people. Okada Nao, lawyer and the group’s representative, made a lecture entitled “The aim of Abe’s constitutional amendment and the significance of our 30-million signature drive.” He said, “The agreed aim of our drive is to block the Abe’s evil scheme.” After the lecture, participants exchanged their experiences of campaigns. A man from Totsuka said, “We did ‘door-to-door visit operation,’” asking for signatures in which citizens have terribly invigorated us.”
Tottori group
On April 11th, they held a meeting to exchange signature-collecting experiences. Up until the April 1st, the number of the signatures has reached 12,000. They confirmed the significance of proceeding with a continued effort toward more campaign in a situation where the Abe Cabinet has been driven into the corner of “Mori-Kake Scandal.”
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