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NEWS & LETTERS, December 2001Japanese peace activists visit the U.S.
Oakland, Cal. - The U.S.-Japan NoWar Network held a forum on peace movements in
Japan and the United States at the Asian Resource Center in Oakland on Nov. 5.
Speaking for the Kansai district chapter of the All Japan Postal Workers Union (Zentei),
secretary Hideaki Natsukawa told the audience that the horrifying images of
Sept. 11 reminded him of the 1995 Kansai earthquake which levelled large areas
of Kobe and Osaka. Most of the 6,000 who died in the quake had been forced to
live in wooden shacks under highway and railway overpasses. Like those who lay
under the rubble at the World trade Center they were hardworking people.Natsukawa reported that no labor union has yet officially opposed the U.S.
"war on terrorism," and that Japan's biggest labor union
confederation, Rengou, has come out in support of it. Rengou also backs the
Diet's plan to change the constitution to allow Japan's Self-Defense Forces
offshore to participate in U.S./British military operations. Grassroots anti-war mobilization has only managed to muster up to a thousand
for demonstrations. Natsukawa said that it was the goal of the visiting peace
activists to go beyond nationality, race, religion and other divisions to deepen
solidarity among working people in condemning the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11
and the terrorist attacks by the U.S. and its allies since then. A woman from Nosei Network said its members sensed a responsibility to speak
out against racial scapegoating and war since Japanese Americans are not as at
risk for doing so as their predecessors were during World War II or as Arab and
Muslim communities are today. A Sansei man representing both Asians and Pacific Islanders For Community
Empowerment and 9.11 Solidarity Committee told of the Committee's Nov. 3 event
at the Youth Empowerment Center in West Oakland chronicling U.S. imperialism in
Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa and other parts of the world. They
collected over $300 in donations and sent it to New York City to help families
of undocumented aliens killed in the World Trade Center attacks. David Mizuno'Oto |
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