October 2003
-Need Help Using TokyoPogressive?
-Talk by the Japanese Ambassador Fired by Japanese Government
-Peace Study Walking in Yokosuka Oct 19/‘æ‚S‰ñƒs?[ƒX?EƒXƒ^ƒfƒB?EƒEƒH?[ƒLƒ“ƒO
-NETWORKING SYMPOSIUM?Eƒlƒbƒgƒ??[ƒLƒ“ƒO?@ ƒVƒ“ƒ|ƒWƒEƒ€
-Japan is a laughing stock of the world
-Cluster of U.S. bases in Metropolitan Tokyo
-Edward Said-Palestinian, intellectual, and fighter, Edward Said rails against Arafat and Sharon to his dying breath
-Israel’s attack is a lethal step towards war in Middle East
-When is a Terrorist not a Terrorist? (When he is ISHIHARA Shintaro?)
-Conscientious Objectors and Jailed NonViolent War Protestors
-Radio LavaLamp Osaka

All THESE stories are HERE

PLUS: Index of YOUR stories

AND: YOU are the reporter

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September 2003
-PEACE DEMONSTRATIONS
-Lies and More Lies (John Pilger)
-Treatment of Japan’s International Residents/?‘?Û?Z–¯?v‚ɑ΂µ21?¢‹I‚Ì“ú–{?E’n•ûŽ©Ž¡‘Ì‚Ì‚ ‚é‚ׂ«Žp
-•s“–‘ß•ß’eŠN?E–¾“ú‚Ì?R‹c?s“®‚É‚²ŽQ‰Á (IMF Demo Arrest in Tokyo)
-‘æ‚V‰ñ?w˜pŠÝ?푈‚ÌŽq‚Ç‚à‚½‚¿?xŽÊ?^“WUK‚ð9ŒŽ27“úƒgƒ‰ƒtƒ@ƒ‹ƒK?[?EƒXƒNƒGƒA‚ÅŠJ?µ‚Ü‚·
-Children of the Gulf War” at Trafalgar Square
-Korean Farmer Who Killed Himself Speaks Out Against WTO
-Top 25 Censored (and/or Under-reported) Stroies of 2002-2003
-9-11 First responders, Deceptions Then and Deceptions Now
-Former Weapons Inspector Accuses Bush of Seeking Global Hegemony
-Gender Awareness in Language Education
-Cancun WTO Special Coverage
-Human Rights Rap (from Akko)
- 9/11 and Aftermath: Tragedy and Deception (Families of Victims Speak Out)
-Information Clearing House latest issue (please visit their page for articles)
-9/11: What Did the EPA Know and When Did It Know It?
-Japan wheat buyers warn against biotech wheat in US
- ƒcƒoƒ‹ƒGƒRƒcƒA
-?g—t‚Ì–kƒAƒ‹ƒvƒXŽR˜[?E?X—уXƒ^ƒfƒBƒcƒA
-ƒlƒbƒgƒ??[ƒLƒ“ƒO2003?@ƒVƒ“ƒ|ƒWƒEƒ€
-"The Other 9/11”—30-Year Anniversary of Coup in Chile
- Constitution revision call analyzed/Missile Defense (Akahata)
-U.S. Military Bases and Environmental Problems by UI Jun
- Book Review: Nanking 1937: Memory and Healing (Review by Herbert Bix)
-This war on terrorism is bogus (former UK Environment Minster)/This story censored in U.S.
-Defying the U.S. Death Machine: Support Voices in the Wilderness
-The Lonliness of Noam Chomsky (Arundhati Roy)
-Iraqi Liberation, Bush Style Jensen and Mahajan)
-A Change of Heart About Animals (Jeremy Rifkin)
-Japan Treats refugees like Criminals
-Japanese photo journalist’s exhibition opens people’s eyes to Iraq war
-Iraq ?EA Nuclear Polluted Land (Toyoda Naomi)
-Other Sites we recommend
-Former Secretary General Condemn U.S....Hiroshima/Nagasaki Mayors’ comments...IMC Japan: Palestine, Chile 9-11Film/lecture, Reclaim the Streets...Fair Trade Petition…
-Japanese Emergency Laws/Human Rights of “Foreigners”...Pilger: Who are the Extremists?...Bringing Blair, Bush and Koizumi to trial...Is there a Tomorrow for Japan?...Japan ODA?@Suit, Iraq and SDF, Japanese Textbooks (All here)

July 2003
-Films on Afghanistan, Chomsky, etc....
-?X?Z‘ì‚̃Cƒ‰ƒNƒŒƒ|?[ƒg
-Takashi Morizumi,photographer, back from Iraq
-Troops show uranium sickness signs
-Jul 03 Ž×–‚‚È“z‚ÍŒ‚‚¿ŽE‚·‚µ‚©‚È‚¢
-US troops ‘shoot civilians
-02 Jul 03?Z–¯‚̈À‘S–³Ž‹‚̃Cƒ‰ƒN?è—Ì•ÄŒR
-Deadly waste returned to US forces
-U.S. Colonel Admits 500 Tons of D.U. Were Used in Iraq
-5ŒŽ30“ú]•Ä‰pŒR‚Í500ƒgƒ“ˆÈ?ã‚Ì—ò‰»ƒEƒ‰ƒ“’e‚𓊉º‚µ‚½
-IRAQ WAR INTELLIGENCE:?@MoveOn.org
- World’s Weather Extremely Abnormal: UN Agency
-North & South Korean/Japanese Kids’ drawings

June 2003
-Alternative to Capitalism and Traditional Marxism: Parecon
-Globalization and Privatisation: Tokaimura and British Rail
-Japanese NGO/Progressive Sites
-Articles on/about Japan/Asia (many in translation)
-Kikkoman and GM Soybeans
-ƒJƒiƒ_”_–¯ƒVƒ…ƒ}ƒCƒU?[‚³‚ñ—ˆ“ú-Canadian Canola farmer Percy Schmeizer in Japan
-ƒJƒiƒ_”_–¯ƒVƒ…ƒ}ƒCƒU?[‚³‚ñ—ˆ“ú-Canadian Canola farmer Percy Schmeizer in Japan
-Spencer Kagan Japan workshop tour schedule/ƒXƒyƒ“ƒT?[?EƒPƒCƒKƒ“”ŽŽm‚̃??[ƒNƒVƒ‡ƒbƒvƒcƒA?[ƒXƒPƒWƒ…?[ƒ‹
-The Meaning of Rachel Corrie, Of Dignity and Solidarity
-Shukan Kinyobi article on 13-year old Charlotte Aldebron
-10 Appalling Lies We Were Told About Iraq
-North Korea: TV Program
-Worse than a world with unjust trade rules
-Japan IndyMedia/TokyoProgressive Special
-Dr Vandana Shiva: Food Freedom Vs. Food Slavery
-Student Requests: Israel/Palestine, Independent Media
-IndyMedia Japan/TP in UK’s Peace Now
-New Philippine Indeymedia site
-Radio producer seeking to contact transsexual city assembly member
-Reader Question: Independent media study in Japan
- ZNet Commentary Britain: Not Quite A Parallel Media Universe
-Debito Arudou on Japanese Human Rights Bureau Deceptions
-A Joint Appeal to End Ethnic Discrimination in Japanese Education
-‚U?E18‰@“à?W‰ï ?u?‡“¯‹LŽÒ‰ïŒ©?v?•?u‹³ˆç‚ÌŒ —˜‚ÉŠÖ‚·‚éŠO?‘?Ð?Z–¯Œö’®‰ï?v
-Ishihara’s Racism, ‚à‚¤‚¾‚ê‚à‚Æ‚ß‚È‚¢‚Ì?H?ÎŒ´“s’mŽ–‚Ì?·•Ê”­Œ¾?B?B?B
-Video Activism
-English as a Foreign Language and the Occupation
-SARS by Greg Nigh
-Patenting Life?
-From International Green Network Japan
-Spencer Kagan Japan workshop tour schedule
-Introducing Znet Youth Watch
-Texas Pledge Of Allegiance Law Undermines Democracy And Critical Thinking
-Tony Blair in trouble for using forged documents
-On medical orthodoxy and AIDS/SARS (by Greg Nigh)
-Introducing Japan IndyMedia
-Introducing CounterPunch Magazine
-Introducing Jay’s Progressive Internet Resources
-Introducing the Left Business Observer
-Introducing Red Pepper (UK)
-Japan Press Service News
-Journalistic Fraud is the Norm at the N.Y. Times
-Introducing Brian Small’s Page
-Introducing Ken Masuoka’s Page
-Introducing Makiko Nakano’s English and Japanese sites
-Introducing Debito Arudou’s site
-Recent News from Akubi’s diary/ƒAƒNƒr‚³‚ñ‚Ì‚Ó‚ç‚Ó‚ç“ú‹L

May 2003
- Ignoble peace prize
-Multimedia source for real info on U.S. invasion of Iraq
-GREENPEACE FILES MEDICAL ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST SENATOR FRIST FOR BLACKMAIL
-Police Attacks Against Activists, Indymedia in St. Louis and Urbana-Champaign
-’Love of country’ curriculum hit
-PATRIOT GAME: Love marks
- JCLU Proposes Anti-Discrimination Law
-Democracy is the Free World’s Whore
-NY Times: Big and Small Lies
-Backlashes and Bare Asses: Anti-War Dixie Chicks Take Off All Their Clothes
-Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” Contaminating Danmark’s Water
-Reject Nomination of Bush and Blair for Nobel Prize
-Taking Action: Bhopal Survivors Confront Dow
-The Daughter I Can’t Hear From (Rachel Corrie’s Mother)
-Support Nuke and War resisters
-Save our Schools from Budget Disaster
-Do We Really Have Free Speech? (Charlotte Aldebron, age 13)
-GMO OPPONENTS GATHER TO BLOCK CONTROL OF GLOBAL FOOD SUPPLY
-Howard Zinn: My Country--The World
-ACTION ALERT: U.S. Media Not Concerned About U.S. WMD
-An intro to Znet (many features of this great site)
-The Real Casualty Rate from America’s Iraq Wars
-South Korea and Human Rights in North Korea
- Licensed to Kill, Inc. May 06, 2003
-Fake Photos of Iraqis Welcoming Bush and Blair
-The End of Arms Control and the Normalization of War
-Free our high school from US occupation
-Vandana Shiva: Trade First is Suicidal for Farmers AND Food Security
-Henmi Yo-The Iraq war deeply invades our souls
-Walking through life with your eyes closed: Fighting Alienation
-U.N. Pact Sinks on Issue of Violence Against Women
-Corvin Russell: Artists Against Empire
-?R‹c•¶: ƒAƒ?ƒŠƒJ?‡?O?‘‘å“?—Ì ƒWƒ‡?[ƒW?E‚v?EƒuƒbƒVƒ…?@Št‰º
-Letter to President Bush from the Mayor of Hiroshima
-Michael Moore on Osaka’s Radio Lava Lamp Internet Radio
-Global Internet Liberty Campaign Newsletter
-Clusters of Bombs: War, Death, Disability: In Iraq and at Home
-ACTION ALERT: ABC’s Weapons “Scoop” Turns Up Empty
-U.S. Government Uses fanatical Rightwing Christian Broadcast Company in Iraq
-Military-Industrial Complex, Nike, Water privatization....more from Corporate Watch
-“ú–{‚É‚¢‚é“ï–¯‚ð?•‚¯‚éˆ×‚É?AŽ^“¯?l‚É‚È‚Á‚ĉº‚³‚¢?IPlease sign to support refugees
-Terror BY the Government and Police
-International Green Network Japan
-TV News Reporter Criticizes Corporate Media
-How Systemic Media Pressures Keep Us From The Truth
-Many News Stories from Information Clearing House
-FEDERMAN ARREST REVEALS DIVIDED JEWISH COMMUNITY

April 2003
-(2001) A BRIEFING ON THE HISTORY OF U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTIONS
-From Wounded Knee to Afghanistan-U.S. Interventions
-History of Biochemical Weapons
-The History of American Occupations
-Journalism, by John Pilger
-A Different Look at SARS
-Information Clearing House
-Korea, South and North, at Risk from U.S. Policy
-Dyke labels US war coverage ‘too patriotic’
-On Philippines, its language and culture, specifically the use of English
-Russian official predicts ‘catastrophic’ events in North Korea within 24 hours
-Protest: Resisting Defeatism and Sectarianism (by Paul)
-MSNBC Reveals Facts on Israel’s Weapons of Mass Destruction
-US Undermined Inspectors-Hans Blix
-Maine Protesters Blockade General Dynamics
-US Used Far More Dioxin on Vietnam Than It Admitted
-Ex-U.S. Official Says CIA Aided Baathists
-Anthrax, Chemicals and Nerve Gas: Growing evidence of Washington Lying
-Mark Twain Speaks to Us: “I Am an Anti-Imperialist”
-The saving of one little boy must not be a cover for the crime of this war
-Give Us Back Our Democracy: Edward Said
-U.S. Use of Clusters in Baghdad Condemned
-NASA’s Strategic Plan” * Military * Nuclear
-New Tobacco Company, Licensed to Kill Inc., Aims to Kill 4.9M Worldwide Annually
-Voices in the Wilderness Banned from Palestine Hotel in Baghdad by U.S. Military
-Bush Nominee Refuses to Condemn Japanese Internment
-Kraft Investors and Celebrities Raise Concerns about Genetically Engineered Foods at Shareholder Meeting
-Elderly Couple Fined For Having Boat Repaired in Cuba After Storm Left Them Stranded
-Kraft Foods Censors Tobacco Talk at Annual Meeting
-US Sugar Industry Threathens World Health Organization Over New Healthy Eating Guidelines
-Local Officials Rise Up to Defy The Patriot Act
-Rumsfeld Calls for Regime Change in North Korea
-US Plan to Bomb North Korea
-Blix: ‘US Undermined Inspectors’
-Tim Robbins Censored on the NBC TODAY TV show
-IGN ECOSTUDY GROUP (May 9): Ethnic Minorities in Japan”
-FOE Japan--?‰‰Ä‚Ì“ìˆÉ“¤?E‹Œ?d’Y—Ñ‚Å‚ÌŒ¤?CƒcƒA?[‚Ì‚²ˆÄ“à
-Hasbro to Make “Family” War Game
-Sony to drop ‘Shock and Awe’ game
-U.S. Kills 10, Injures 100 as They Fire on Protestors
-What Next? (from DENNIS FOX WRITES: http://www.dennisfox.net)
-Canadians: Call to Action: If Bush Visits Ottawa, Shut Down the City!
-Naomi Klein- Iraq:Privatisation in Disguise
-?ÕŒ‚‚ƈؕ|: Sony to cash in on Iraq with ‘shock and awe’ game (BOYCOTT SONY)
-The Rape of Mesopotamia-Museums versus Oil Wells At the “End of History”
-For Self-determination In Iraq, The U.S. Must Leave
-No Coke, No Pepsi: Pakistanis Boycott Western Products
-Large Protests Greet US-Backed Talks on Post-Saddam Iraq
-US Blamed for Failure to Stop Sacking of Museum, Protecting Only Oil
-’Impeach Bush’ (Lawrence Eagleburger, US Secretary of State under George Bush Sr)
-Blix Enraged by U.S. and U.K. Fabrications and Advance War Plans
-Japan and Japanese (also Asia)
-New Political Video site: brightpathvideo.com
-Israeli soldiers shoot another ISM
-ƒ}ƒ“ƒ`ƒFƒXƒ^?[?o?g‚̉p?‘?l?Aƒgƒ€?Eƒnƒ“ƒh?[ƒ‹‚³‚ñ‚ªƒCƒXƒ‰ƒGƒ‹ŒR‚ÉŒ‚‚½‚ê‚Ä?A?d‘Ì?B?iƒpƒŒƒXƒ`ƒi?AƒKƒU’n‹æ?j‚»‚Ì?󋵂ð’m‚点‚éISM?i?‘?Û˜A‘щ^“®?j‚̃Œƒ|?[ƒg
-Wonderful site: [url=http://www.sniffylinings.com]http://www.sniffylinings.com[/url]
-Events in Iraq Do Not Change Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance to War and Occupation
-Howard Zinn: A Kindler, Gentler Patriotism (from Newsweek)
-More Israeli War Resisters in Prison
-[ZNet/Japan: 008] Zƒlƒbƒg?V’…?î•ñ | ZNet/Japan Newsletter
-Thousands Engage in Nonviolent Civil Disobedience
-Chomsky on Weapons Inspections and U.S. Role
-We refuse to serve the Occupation (Jewish Peace New)
-Links to underground us media
-U.S. Stages Fall of Statue?
-ACTION ALERT: Conscientious objector sent to Iraqi War Zone
-The Battle of Baghdad: ticket for more aggression/Parenting During War-Time
-Streets of Tokyo Erupt in Antiwar Fervor
-History scholars fight present war
-Israeli army sniper leaves British peace activist brain-dead
-"USA Encouraged Ransacking”
-Voices in the Wilderness April 10 report from Bagdhad
-Alternative Resources on the U.S.- Iraq Conflict
-MEDIA ALERT: HORROR, CRUELTY AND MISERY - THE REAL MEANING OF “LIBERATION”
-Institute for Public Accuracy
-The Twisted Language of War Used to Justify the Unjustifiable
-We Said It Would Be a Nightmare. And Yes, That’s Exactly What It Is
-The Images They Choose, and Choose to Ignore
-Will US Fabricate WMD Evidence?
-Protests Build Over Journalists Murder in Iraq
-Press Watchdogs, Amnesty International Protest U.S. Killings of Journalists in Baghdad
-Fisk: Does The US Military Want To Kill Journalists
-Michael Moore: Dissent Works
-U.S. said to execute two Iraqi POWs by Belgian Dr
-War Crimes of George Bush and company (Marc W. Herold)
-International Criminal Court petition: Indict Bush as War Criminal
-Daily News from the Middle East
-Some Critical Media Voices Face Censorship
-Media
-Even Robin Cook (A Hawk in Kosovo) Oppses War, Resigns
-Peace Websites in Japan
ƒ?ƒƒWƒXƒg‹³‰ï‚Ì–q Žt‘ß•ß
-IGN Japan Newsletter
-Susan Sarandon Cancelled, Michael Moore on Academy Awards
-Other News
-Iraq
-Commentary
-Other News

March 2003
IRAQ WAR NEWS YOU --DON’T-- SEE ON TV
Protests
-Japanese and Other Human Shields to Remain in Bagdhad
-Japanese Police Arrest Peace Protestors: Please Sign Statement
-Institute for Public Accuracy
-Lack of Skepticism Leads to Poor Reporting on Iraq Weapons Claims
-Japanese ZNet
-Warning from history (And Japan Occupation)
-Our Streets, Their Telescreens
-The Courage of Their Convictions
-On NPR, Please Follow the Script
-Anti-War Protestors Target Coca Cola as Demonstrations Grip Asia
- Egypt Torturing Anti-War Activists, Group says
- Marines Losing the Battle for Hearts and Minds
-ANSWER is NOT Whole U.S. Peace Movement
- Truth About Geneva Conventions Violations, More
- Press and Government Lying About War
- What a great day! Saturday in Manhattan
-ASH WEDNESDAY AT BOEING WORLD HEADQUARTERS
-Confronting the War Machine-April 5-6 2003
-An Appeal from Dr. Helen Caldicott to the Pope
-North Korea and the U.S. Spy Plane
-Mobilize For The Next Phase
- Where do we go from here
- Month Python’s Terry Jones: “I’m going to blow up my street”
-On The Winning Side
- U.S. Diplomat’s Letter of Resignation
- US, Iraq, Korea, Japan and nuclear weapons
- WORLD PEACE NOW 3.8/ƒs?[ƒXƒ‰ƒŠ?[
- Japan and North Korea
- Anti-War Petition/“–?«‚È‚«•Ä?‘‚̃Cƒ‰ƒN?UŒ‚‚Ö‚Ì“ú–{?­•{‚ÌŽÀŽ¿“IŽxŽ?‚Ì“P‰ñ—v?¿

- Emergency Petition to the Security Council
-U.S. Spying on UN Delegates: Fallout
- “ú–{ŒêŠw?Z–K–âŒð—¬ƒvƒ?ƒO ƒ‰ƒ€ by TAE
- ‘æ‚R‰ñ?…ƒtƒH?[ƒ‰ƒ€ Water Forum
- Musicians Band Together Against War Threat (Billboard Magazine)
- Analysis / there is still hope by David McReynolds
-“ú–{•½˜a±¸¼®Ý/Peace Action Japan March-April 2003
-Voices in the Wilderness Iraq Peace Team: Sand in the machine
-Asia And The War With Iraq
-Civil Disobedience
-Anti-War Interviews From The Guardian
-Peace and Justice Activism
- Why I am going to Iraq
-Stop That Train!
-So, Bush Wants Civil Disobedience?
- War by Howard Zinn
-Turkey’s Refusal Stuns US
-Bush and Blair to Ditch UN if France Blocks Intervention
-US Prepares to Use Toxic Gases in Iraq
-Revealed: US Dirty Tricks to Win Vote on Iraq War

February 2003
- Zƒlƒbƒg?V’…?î•ñ [24.Feb.2003]
-IndyMedia Links
-ZNet In Many Languages
-ZNet Main Page Offerings
-Iraq on ZNet
-Watching Mainstream Media
-Japan and Asia: Introducing JAPAN FOCUS
-The 2002 Defense Ministry White Paper: Full speed ahead to the national warfare state
-Japan: 51st state? (Interview with rightwing party politician)
-Sunshine, Containment, War: Korean Options
-Plan could kill millions in 48 hours. Why don’t Americans Care?
-Resistance To Ireland’s Support For War
-How The News Will Be Censored In This War
-U.S. GIs in Japan. you DON’T have to go to Iraq
- Zƒlƒbƒg?V’…?î•ñ [19.Feb.2003]
- N.Y. Times Lies on Lack of Turkish Opposition to the War
-Weapons Inspectors Going to Work in America
-Activist Calendar/ƒJƒŒƒ“ƒ_?[
-Reader Protest Announcements/ƒs?[ƒXƒAƒNƒVƒ‡ƒ“‚ð“ü‚ê‚Ä‚­‚¾‚³‚¢
- –{?­•{‚̃Cƒ‰ƒN?UŒ‚•sŽx Ž?‚ÌŽ^“¯??–¼‚Ì‚²ˆË—Š‚ɂ‚¢ ‚Ä
- Robert Fisk, Robert Jensen and Michael Albert on the peace movement and media
- Audio: World Says No to War
- TERAO Terumi on Demonstration in Nagoya, Japan
- Victor Grossman on Berlin Demo
-Richard Wilcox in Tokyo (Demo Report)
- Anti-war statistics
- World Protests (Japan too)
- Urgent Appeal on Iraq by Scholars of Allied Occupation of Japan
- The Disquieted American by Chalmers Johnson
- DEMOS: NIIGATA...HIROSHIMA....OSAKA, SHIGA, EHIME, HOKKAIDO, SHIZUOKA, TOKYO, NAGOYA..
- Japanese Peace Group Puts Ad in Washington Post
- Justice Dept. Drafts Sweeping Secret Expansion of Anti-Terrorism Act
- A U.N. Alternative to War: “Uniting for Peace"/General Assembly
- ZNet | Iraq | Tortured Liberals (on media war cheerleaders)
- ZNet Commentary: Responding to Colin Powell
- Laura Bush Cancels poetry reading, fearing war of words
- Powell, Blair and Bush Push for War Built on Lies
- (1) Woman Disables U.S. Death Plane/ (2) Gloucester Weapons Inspectors
- Activists in Iraq/Media is cheerleading for war
- Anti-war demonstration pictures
- Peace Action 2/15/‚Q?D‚P‚Tƒs?[ƒXƒAƒNƒVƒ‡ƒ“‚‰‚Ž“Œ‹ž
- Experts Warned Of Budget Cuts, Safety Concerns
- The Manufactured And Real Iraq Crisis by Edward Herman
- Columbia: Budgeting for Disaster by Geov Parrish
- NY City witholding permit for anti war demo? Demo info here
- Guernica Reproduction Covered at UN

January 2003
- Adam Lebowitz: Japan and the War on Terror
- IndyMedia and more from HOTWIRED Japan
- Arundhati Roy | Confronting Empire (Port Alegre)
- Zƒlƒbƒg?V’…?î•ñ [17.Jan.2003]
- Student Strike on March 5th
- US Librarians See ‘Big Brother’ in Monitoring of Library Patrons Under ‘USA Patriot Act’
- Poets Against Bush call for poems to counter war
- A Call For Conscientious Objection to War and War Preparations
- Denis J. Halliday/Normon Solomon on Bush War Plans: Obscene
- Iraq: legal challenge to Norwegian Government
- Will Nuclear Ship be located in Japan?
- Oakland and San Francisco Teachers Organize Teach-Ins on the War
- John le Carre: The United States of America has gone mad
- New ChocoPaul News Radio: Stop the War!
- 1.18?@WORLD PEACE NOW 1.18 ‚à‚¤?푈‚Í‚¢‚ç‚È‚¢?@?`‚킽‚µ‚½‚¿‚̓Cƒ‰ƒN?UŒ‚‚É”½‘΂µ‚Ü‚·?`?i“Œ‹ž?j
- Which country poses the greatest danger to world peace in 2003?
- NOT ALL WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS ARE PUSHOVERS
- Peace is made with enemies
- 9-11 families Visit Iraq in Solidarity with Civilian Targets
- ‹ž“s‰ï‹c‚É?…‚Ì?³‹`?iWater?@Justice?j‚Í‚ ‚肤‚é‚©?H
- Water justice in Kyoto?
- Denis Halliday, Former UN Official, in Iraq
- North and South Korea, the U.S. and Japan
- Bush’s policies could set back relations with North Korea
- Chalmers Johnson/Tim Shorrock on the Korean Crisis
- Quiz on the History of Korean-American Relations
- Past and present stories
- Zƒlƒbƒg?V’…?î•ñ [29.Dec.2002]
- Zƒlƒbƒg?V’…?î•ñ [11.Dec.2002] (ZNet/Japan Information in Japanese)
-Dow sues penniless Bhopal survivors: How low can Dow go?
- American Towns Oppose War
- Bush Plan for War Against Iraq Provokes Growing Hostility Toward U.S in Arab World (and other stories)

December 2002
- Recent Additions (until 25/12 2002)
- Japan Supporting U.S. Invasion of Iraq
- Japanese Americans Express Solidarity with American Muslims
- An open letter to BBC News Online by Harel Barzilai
- China, U.S. Australia, Google. Panama (etc.) Censor Internet
- Bush Humor
- Venezuelan Elite Attack President Chavez
- Israel/Occupied Territories: Conscientious objectors jailed while soldiers who commit grave violations enjoy impunity
- MEDIA ALERT: BBC CHANNELING GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA
- Hundreds of Muslim Immigrants Rounded Up in Calif.
- Penn’s Words Distorted (Institute for Public Accuracy)
- MEDIA ALERT: MESSAGE FROM AMERICA: ITN DECLARES WAR ON IRAQ
- U.S. Intervening Against Democracy in Venezuela
- NORTH KOREA
- TEN QUESTIONS ABOUT THE KYOTO PROTOCOL
- BUY NOTHING DAY BOARD GAME AND SONG
- Truth in the Crossfire - ‘Live from Baghdad’
- Celebrities tell Bush NO WAR

April-December 2002
July 2001-March 2002

Thursday, November 13, 2003

-Recent Japan articles in English

All of the below are here:

http://www.zmag.org/asiawatch/japan_focus.htm

About Japan Focus

Keiichi Tsuneishi, Disposing of Japan’s World War II Poison Gas in China (Nov. 10, 2003)

Hiratate Hideaki, Teacher Suicides and the Future of Japanese Education (Nov. 4, 2003)

Asahi Shimbun, Article 9, Iraq and Revision of the Japanese Constitution (Nov. 4, 2003)

Yoshida Tsukasa, The Ishihara Statement and the 1930s: Japan’s National Psyche Adrift (Nov. 2, 2003)

David McNeill and Andreas Hippin, Has the right hijacked the abductee issue in Japan? (Oct. 12, 2003)

Linda Hoaglund, Stubborn Legacies of War: Japanese Devils in Sarajevo (Oct. 11, 2003)

Fujiwara Kiichi, Prioritizing Japan-U.S. Relations or a Multilateral Diplomacy? (Sept. 28, 2003)

Tessa Morris-Suzuki, When is a Terrorist Not a Terrorist? (Sept. 24, 2003)

Ui Jun, U.S. Military Bases and Environmental Problems (Sept. 2, 2003)

Herbert P. Bix, Remembering the Nanking Massacre (Sept. 2, 2003)

Toyoda Naomi, Iraq - A Nuclear Polluted Land (Aug. 28, 2003)

Amanda Suutari, Sumatran Villagers Sue Japan Over ODA Dam (Aug. 14, 2003)

Doi Toshikuni, Baghdad under U.S. Occupation and Iraqi Anger (Aug. 10, 2003)

Itoh Iccho, Nagasaki Peace Declaration, 2003 (Aug. 9, 2003)

Yoichi Funabashi, The Third Atomic Bomb (Aug. 7, 2003)

Akiba Tadatoshi, Hiroshima Peace Declaration 2003 (Aug. 6, 2003)

Kaneko Masaru and Kaneko Masaomi, Is There a Tomorrow for Japanese Society? (Aug. 6, 2003)

Gregory Clark, The SDF’s Shabby Cause to Shed Blood (July 13, 2003)

Terashima Jitsuro, Japan Should Not Follow U.S. Logic of Force (July 12, 2003)

Mizushima Asaho, A New Security Framework for Northeast Asia (July 8, 2003)

Ishiyama Hisao, Japanese Textbooks Censored to Support US Wars (July 8, 2003)

Keiichi Tsuneishi, Japanese Government Should Dispose of World War II Vomiting Gas (June 23, 2003)

David Wall, Foreign Aggressors Target North Korea Again (June 20, 2003)

John W. Dower, The Other Japanese Occupation (June 20, 2003)

John Barry Kotch, U.S. Occupation of Iraq Recalls Failure in Korea (June 18, 2003)

Yukiko Yamazaki and Andrew Dewit, Fiscal Cuts or Common Sense? Fiscal Decentralization in Japan (June 17, 2003)

Gregory Clark, Finding Shortcuts to Conflict (June 15, 2003)

Umebayashi Hiromichi, Achieving a Nuclear-free Northeast Asia (June 13, 2003)

Asai Motofumi, The Bush Strategy and Japan’s War Contingency Laws (June 2, 2003)

Yoichi Funabashi, Emerging From the Shadow of the Black Ships (May 29, 2003)

Yakushiji Katsuyuki, Japanese Foreign Policy in Light of the Iraq War (May 21, 2003)

Asahi Shimbun, Japanese Chemical Weapons Left in China in 1945 (May 20, 2003)

Wada Haruki, The Era of Northeast Asia: Prospects for Peace (May 9, 2003)

John Dower, Occupations and Empires: Why Iraq is not Japan (May 9, 2003)

Wada Haruki, Recovering a Lost Opportunity: Japan-North Korea Negotiations in the Wake of the US War on Iraq (May 2, 2003)

Eriko Arita, Japanese Discrimination Against Korean and other Ethnic Schools (April 30, 2003)

Desaix Anderson, Korea Crisis and the US Strategic Future in East Asia (April 20, 2003)

Chalmers Johnson, Korea South and North at Risk (April 17, 2003)

Henmi Yo, The Iraq War Deeply Invades Our Souls (April 12, 2003)

Christian Scherrer, Depleted Uranium and the ‘Liberation’ of Iraq: Report from Hiroshima (April 10, 2003)

Ito Ruri, Engendering the Concept of ‘Peace’ - On Violence Against Women (April 2, 2003)

Letter from Okinawan Citizens to the UN Security Council on Removal of Nuclear Weapons (March 14, 2003)

John Dower, A Warning from History: Don’t Expect Democracy in Iraq (March 9, 2003)

Nakamura Tetsu, “Before My Very Eyes.” Afghan Children Killed by Bombing (March 7, 2003)

Maeda Akira, The Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal on Afghanistan (March 3, 2003)

Antiwar Leaflet from Okinawa. The Wolf and the Lamb (Feb. 25, 2003)

Gavan McCormack, Sunshine, Containment, War: The Korea Options (Feb. 23, 2003)

Takashima Nobuyoshi, Abduction and the New Nationalism (Feb. 23, 2003)

Kyuma Fumio, The 51st State? Show Understanding, Not Support for the US War (Feb. 23, 2003)

Maeda Hisao, Toward the National Warfare State (Feb. 13, 2003)

Maeda Tetsuo, The Japanese Military and Constitutional Crisis After 9/11 (Feb. 13, 2003)

Urashima Etsuko, New Okinawa Base Dooms the Dugong (Feb. 6, 2003)

Tanaka Nobumasa, Yasukuni Shrine, Japanese Nationalism and the Constitution (Feb. 6, 2003)

Tanaka Nobumasa, High School Students Challenge “National Anthem Enforcement” (Dec. 15, 2002)

Gavan McCormack, North Korea - Coming in from the Cold? (Dec. 14, 2002)

Abe Takeshi, The Feud Behind the Scenes: Relocating the Futenma Air Base (Dec. 14, 2002)

Hoyano Hatsuko, Nagano as Japan’s First Citizen Revolution (Dec. 4, 2002)

Kang Sangjung, The Historical Significance of the Japan-North Korea Summit (Nov. 10, 2002)

Medoruma Shun, “From the Islands of the Rumbling Sea” (Nov. 10, 2002)

Jack Moyer, Farming out Death - Habitats Pay the Price of Progress (Oct. 31, 2002)

Wada Haruki, Can North Korea’s Perestroika Succeed? (Oct. 16, 2002)

Antiwar Leaflet from Okinawa, “GIs This Means You!” (Sept. 28, 2002)

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Declarations: Against Nuclear War and WMD (Sept. 25, 2002)

Nakamura Tetsu, Words on the Occasion of Receiving the Okinawa Peace Prize (Sept. 24, 2002)

Nakamura Tetsu, An Omen. The Death of a Young Afghan Child (Sept. 23, 2002)

Japan ZNet Japan Watch… last updated 2001

All of the above are here:
http://www.zmag.org/asiawatch/japan_focus.htm

-Thousands Try to Stop Nuclear Train

A convoy of highly radioactive nuclear waste started the last and trickiest stage of its journey by rail to a German dump, as thousands of protesters plotted to disrupt the transport.

Anti-nuclear campaigners dragged police into running confrontations as the train rumbled slowly from Lueneburg to Dannenberg in northern Germany.

Full Story

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1111-03.htm

-London Plans to protest bush, Bush Seeks to Stop Protests

LONDON - President Bush may be subjected to the humiliating sight of an effigy of himself being dragged to the ground by anti-war protesters in London’s Trafalgar Square next week.

But if police and White House officials have their way, the president, who had the staunch support of Britain’s Prime Minister during the Iraq war, will be spared the embarrassment of seeing a re-run of the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue during the Iraq war.

British police refuse comment on media reports of demands by White House security staff for vast central London exclusion zones for Bush’s trip, which starts next Wednesday and will be the first official visit to Britain by an American president since that of Ronald Reagan in 1982.

Full story here:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1111-04.htm

-You can fool some people sometimes… Fighting Neo Liberalism in Germany

By Andrea Noll

Hurrah - we’re export champion again! Germany is the largest export nation in the world - larger than the U.S., larger than Japan. We’re the greatest! And at the same time we cut old people’s pensions and blow our social security systems to kingdom come.

October 17th was a big day for the dismantlers of the German welfare state. They won their crucial vote in Parliament. Chancellor Schröder and his Green Foreign Minister Fischer were able to hush the Socialdemocratic/Green conscience into subordination. Earlier this year, we saw deep cuts into statutory health insurance and with ‘Hartz IV’ now they go for the throat of the 4,3 million (official!) German unemployed.

“… Working men need to much feeding and that makes a man’s work dearer

(...) By the way, what is a man? Don’t ask me what a man is. Don’t ask me my advice. I’ve no idea what a man is; all I have learned is his price...”

(‘Song of Supply and Demand’ (‘September Songs’) by Brecht/Eisler)

Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956) was probably the greatest German poet and playwright of the 20th century. When he wrote this song, in 1930, Germany was in a critically unstable political/economic situation (1929 stock market crash!) with massive unemployment and poverty - three years later Hitler came to power. Nowadays Brecht seems more relevant than ever:

“What kind of times are they, when a talk about trees is almost a crime because it implies silence about so many horrors?” (B. Brecht: ‘To those born later’). Brecht was hated by the Nazis threefold: as a political author, as a Socialist, and as a Jew. They chased him through Europe till he ended up in the U.S. - in 1941. After having to give evidence before the House Un-American Activities Committee Brecht left the “land of liberty” in 1947 - heading for Switzerland. In 1949 he immigrated to the GDR where he died in 1956.

Two themes are of the most relevance in Brecht’s work: the fight for social justice, and the fight for peace. As a consequence, he wrote plays about social injustice and of war - “Lehrstucke”, as he called them. According to his theory people are intelligent enough to know for themselves what’s best for them - if you strip away the blinding web of lies and propaganda before their eyes. Brecht regarded his avantgardistic plays as didactic spectacles, to see more clearly through the mist of media blurr, and Governmental smokescreening.

The “reforms” (deep cuts into the German social security systems: statutory health, pension, and unemployment insurance) are necessary to save the German welfare state, so we are told by the Administration. Well, would you call a butcher a ‘surgeon’? But there is one good side to it: They have tried this before, and didn’t get away with it. Like Captain Ahab in Melville’s ‘Moby Dick’ they went down with the thing they tried to destroy.

Think of New Zealand’s “reformers” - where are they now? Thatcher very “effectively” restructuralized Britain according to neoliberal principles. Remember the Tories? Gone with the wind. (By the way, as I write this, in the past 48 hours two trains jumped out of their privatised rails in the London Tube, injuring more than six people).

Ronald Reagan, and later Bush senior, were hailed worldwide for their relentless neoliberal reforms. But the ungrateful people of America replaced Reagan-Bush with the Democrat Clinton (much good did it do them). Captain Ahab Schröder’s Socialdemocratic Government ranges at disastrous 35% in recent polls. Still he’s franticly and self-destructively driven to hunt down the white whale German “Sozialstaat” - a more than one hundred year old weather all creature. When he’s finished the job, there will be no Chancellor Schröder, no Socialdemocrats, and no Greens left. So, why should we follow their suicidal drive?

“Famines don’t simply exist. They are organised by the grain trade” (B. Brecht).

In the Middle Ages the plague killed two thirds of the European population. Neoliberalism is the plague of the 21th century. Brecht wrote:

“It is true I still earn my keep but, believe me, that is only an accident… By chance I’ve been spared. (If my luck breaks, I’m lost.) They say, to me: Eat and drink!… But how can I eat and drink if I snatch what I eat from the starving, and my glass of water belongs to one dying of thirst? And yet I eat and drink” (To those born later’).

Global neoliberalism is killing people all over the world on a massive scale - through wars, famine, and environmental catastrophes.

In 1999 Ismail Seralgedin, President of the World Water Commission (and a WB official!), stated a dramatic warning that the number of refugees produced by environmental causes had already reached 25 millions - that was 4 millions more than refugees of war!

Seralgedin prophesized that in 2015 the number of environmental refugees will be four times as high as the number of refugees of war (and the number of the latter is growing too, as we all know).

By the way, has the U.S. finally signed the Kyoto Protocols for the reduction of greenhouse gases? (It hasn’t). In Western Europe people are not dying from neoliberal causes (well, some die earlier) - they impoverish from them. The structural “reform” of the German statutory unemployment system that passed Parliament on 17th October - shame on all those Socialdemocratic/Green Quislings - will deliberately (!) produce 1,7 million new German poors (among them many children), additional to the number of people already living on welfare (2,8 million). So, we will have more than 5% of all 80 million Germans living in real poverty. And since unemployment’s still on the rise their number will grow further.

“Who has turned us in? The Socialdemocrats!” a popular German slogan runs.

Killer arguments

But we had no choice, the thugs say. The German (in fact, European) welfare state has grown much too fat. Our solidarity-based, statutory social security systems are too expensive. We had to re-form them. And this reform had to be structural and painful, sorry, but without this emergency operation all would have been lost.

Isn’t unemployment already at 10%? And then the downward economic trend. Pensioners live too long, women don’t produce enough babies, and workers are too lazy. Economy’s under high pressure. Big companies threaten to leave the country for ‘cheaper countries’ where employee on-costs are smaller. So let’s drop social ballast, let our economic balloon rise to prosperous heights. We all - you too, believe us - will benefit from the change. Look, how prosperous neoliberal countries like the U.S. are, or Great Britain! (No, wait, forget Great Britain.)

It’s time to do away with all that rubbish from the employers’ camp, and answer a few questions:

- How can Germany be world export champion if companies are dissatisfied and wages too high? The cold truth is: Germany’s a gangster’s paradise when it comes to big companies. They meet first class conditions and pay virtually no taxes. Germany’s problem is the domestic market. Due to our high rate of unemployment, and - yes - due to the “reforms” people are simply in no mood to consume. A vicious circle - that calls for Keynesian intervention. Germany’s leftist party (PDS), trade unions, social movements, and many individuals have demanded ‘deficit spending’ for a long time.

- But aren’t the planned tax cuts the solution? “If you let us do away with all that expensive social luxury”, so ordinary people are lied to, “we’ll be able to cut your taxes. We put your money right back in your pockets, so you can consume and the domestic market will flourish.” Rubbish. Only the rich und superrich profit from tax cuts. Normal people profit very little to zero from that instrument.

You have to understand: In order to profit from tax cuts you had to be very rich. The riches of the majority of the people: the sum of services you get for free, the health benefits paid for you in solidarity, safe and sustainable statutory pensions, and unemployment benefits in case of need. That’s normal people’s treasure chest. Your tax cut will cost you very, very dear when paid for with the dismantling of your social security systems.

- And what with the argument that Germans are too old, too sick, that they work too little, that our welfare state is therefore unaffordable? Nonsense. Just put the pyramid from the top to the basis. Let more people pay into the system - not just workers and employees, but all professional groups (‘Bürgerversicherung’) - and the pyramid will stand solid as a rock.

- Fighting unemployment by fighting the unemployed, as now with the decided Hartz IV bill? Well, I hope the unemployed fight back.

“(We went) through the wars of the classes, despairing when there was injustice only, and no rebellion” (B. Brecht).

What the masses in the Western world have to learn - and they have to learn quick - neoliberalism in all its forms is a disease, not only in the countries of the global South but right here, where they live. Sure, some people profit from that disease but for the overwhelming majority it’s a sickening condition.

It’s up to us to open people’s eyes to the truth - like Bertolt Brecht did in his days. People in the West have to realize they won’t get rich from the crumbs from their neoliberal masters’ table - in the long run they won’t even be able to feed on them. Forget the stock market, forget privately securing your risks!

Our Western European social security systems are majestic creatures that have proved their strength and vitality in over a hundred years. Why kill those white whales - and suicidally sink with them to the bottom of the sea? Why can’t it be the other way round: that we show people all over the world the advantages of real Socialdemocracy - the people in the global South as well as the people of Japan, and, yes, the U.S.?

People have to realize that those they put their trust in - New Labor, and even some of their unions - are now in the enemy’s camp.

Don’t listen to them! And don’t listen to brokers and tax cut prophets who try to seduce you with their fata morganas. The illusion of getting rich at the stock market, or through decent work, reminds one of a greyhound race: all those hardworking people racing after a dummy (hare) they can’t possibly reach. I once read, if you don’t put away that hare before the dogs’ eyes, they’ll run till they drop dead. Dead Captain Ahab is waving to us, strapped to the body of the harpooned whale - don’t follow him to his suicidal grave!

‘Nein zum Sozialkahlschlag!’ Attac, labournet and many other social groups are calling up for a central rally in Berlin/Alexanderplatz on November 1. against the dismantling of the German social security systems. Please come and support us!

-The Ishihara Statement and the 1930s:Japan’s National Psyche Adrift

by Yoshida Tsukasa

Translation for Japan Focus by Richard Minear and Michael Molasky

[Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro, and a man widely considered a leading candidate to succeed Koizumi as Prime Minister, is notorious for shooting from the hip, that is for making inflammatory and racist statements. Perhaps none so resonated with the logic of assassination that marked 1930s Japan, however, as a recent statement tacitly supporting the bombing of the home of a Foreign Ministry Counselor. As the non-fiction storyteller Yoshida Tsukasa makes plain in the following piece, this caps a long history of irresponsibility by the novelist turned politician. Reveling in the publicity accorded each of his outrageous statement, by the press, the Governor, in response to China’s successful launching o a manned rocket into space, said: “The Chinese people are ignorant, so they get all excited about it. But that kind of thing is already behind the times. If Japan wanted to [launch a comparable rocket], we’d be ready within a year.” The present article appeared in the Asahi Shinbun, September 24, 2003, evening edition.]

He’s done it again. The man’s incorrigible. Referring to a time bomb set at the home of Foreign Ministry Counselor Tanaka Hitoshi, Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro remarked that the bombing attempt “was perfectly understandable” in view of the Ministry’s “spineless foreign policy” toward North Korea. On September 12, Tanigaki Shin’ichi, then Chief of the Public Safety Committee, criticized Ishihara for making “a statement that appears to endorse terrorism.” That same day, even the conservative newspaper, Sankei Shinbun, sounded the warning, “This is clearly going too far. It would be wise to retract those phrases that represent a slip of the tongue.” Since that time, the repercussions have spread.

Yet this was no “slip of the tongue.” Governor Ishihara is widely known as a “linguistic felon” with an ideological mission. His explosive statements up to this point include trotting out the old epithet for Chinese residents of Japan as “Third Nation People,” referring to a prominent woman as “an old bag,” and, with respect to North Korea, Ishihara rhetorically asked, “why shouldn’t Japan stand up to them and go to war?” Statements such as these are dangerous, even if the linguistic explosives that he constantly drops do sometimes feel refreshing in this stagnant era.

Nonetheless, Ishihara’s recent remark about the bombing being “perfectly understandable” is especially dangerous because it catalyzes the latent “problem of the 1930s” hidden in the deep recesses of the postwar Japanese psyche.

At that time, when the ripples from the Great Depression reached as far as Japan, bringing about “the Showa Slump,” political power was wielded by Hamaguchi Yuko, the “Lion Prime Minister,” and the Communications Minister was Koizumi Matajiro (grandfather of Prime Minister Koizumi). Unemployment was rampant across the nation, and the Mitsui zaibatsu engaged in massive speculation by buying up dollars with yen?Equot;traitorous acts"—which earned them huge profits and nationwide reproach. These events led to the February 26 Incident—the shooting of Prime Minister Hamaguchi and the assassination of Mitsui chief Dan Takuma—and to the establishment of ‘Manchukuo.’ The road to Asian aggression, soaked in Japanese blood, began when national outrage at the effects of deflation joined hands with right-wing terrorists exhorting, “Punish the traitors!” and “Divine punishment!”

To the extent that it threatens to revive the ghost of militarism from the dark history of the 1930s, Ishihara’s recent pronouncement is incomparably more serious than were his rash of earlier statements.

The Collapse of Fantasy

Gov. Ishihara should take a good look at the world. The national outrage in response to widespread government corruption, to the illegal disposal of bad loans by Japan’s major banks, and to the North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens has nearly reached 1930s levels.  Moreover, with the ‘activist right’ now putting in frequent appearances (rather than vanishing after the collapse of the left, as anticipated), he should know that statements condoning “terrorism” have the ‘demonic power’ of pouring oil on fire.

Since his book Season of the Sun appeared in 1955, Ishihara Shintaro has won widespread popularity for poking fun at feudal authority and common sense. As a “trickster” who takes delight in upending social values, he likes to create a stir. Why? Because he is exceptionally brave when it comes to talk, but lacks the actual power to really shake things up in the world. His utterly feckless “buffoonery” is hardly deserving of comment: it evokes smiles and entertains. Yet in 25 years as a member of the Diet, Ishihara has no conspicuous achievements to show for himself. Now in his second term as governor, his proposals for an external tax on the banks and a floating casino have met with little success. Precisely because he is such a hopeless buffoon, most Japanese are quite fond of Ishihara and grant him considerable latitude. His greatest appeal lies in his braggadocio—his dangerous yet safe fantasy language, the “unreal.”

But since the world has now come to resemble that of the “1930s,” his words have rapidly begun to shed their fantastic quality.

For example, his remark “why shouldn’t Japan ?Ego to war (with North Korea)?” seemed dangerous because it “overturned values.” In fact, it remained safe precisely because the Self-Defense Forces had long abided by the Peace Constitution. But then on May 20, Prime Minister Koizumi pronounced that “In reality, the Self-Defense Forces are an armed force.” Shintaro’s “war” statement was thus rendered “real” by becoming linked to Koizumi’s pronouncement. It deteriorates into a mere opportunistic assertion and clearly attests to the fact that the ‘power of words’ to upset values has been overtaken by the times, and fantasies like his are no longer tenable.

So the root of the problem lies not so much with Shintaro himself but rather with “the era.” We Japanese have “re-elected” with overwhelming support these two men—Prime Minister Koizumi with his armed forces pronouncement and Gov. Ishihara with his war statement; and now, with Cabinet Secretary Abe Shinzo of the “revise the Constitution wing,” the “new hawk” wing has entered entered the arena as well. The rest of the world can’t be blamed if it suspects Japan of shifting gears and becoming an aggressive country. Is this really acceptable? Particularly, in the Liberal Democratic Party election for Prime Minister, the Diet members looked pitiful as they clambered onto the bandwagon, practically shouting “Me too! Me too!” Or, as an editorial in the Sept. 21 edition of the Asahi put it: “Members of the opposition forces who had opposed structural reform all stepped in line to support the prime minister.”

The nation moves en masse

But the problem is not merely with the LDP. One year after the Japan-Pyongyang Declaration, Sato Katsumi, Chairman of the “National Council for the Rescue of Japanese Abducted to North Korea,” commented on the shift in Japan’s attitude toward North Korea: “The fickleness is truly alarming. When the abductions were still unconfirmed, there was absolutely no movement on this issue whatsoever; then, after it was confirmed, everyone got all excited, but in reality not a thing has changed.” (Asahi, Sept. 13)

The Diet members, sensing a change in the atmosphere, all move in lockstep; and the Japanese populace moves en masse. With no individual or system to put the brakes on this type of mindless Japanese group behavior, the “1930s conditions “grow more intense. The danger lies not in the Ishihara statement. The danger lies in the national psyche adrift without check, having lost the historical consciousness of war and the military.

-Protest At the School of the Americas

COLUMBUS, GA - November 11 - Thousands are planning to take nonviolent direct action to close what they call a terrorist training camp on U.S. soil - the School of the Americas, renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (SOA/WHISC), a combat-training school for Latin American soldiers. On November 22-23 thousands will gather at the gates of Ft. Benning, Georgia, site of the school, to expose a double standard. SOA grads continue to be implicated in egregious acts designed to terrorize and coerce civilian populations throughout Latin America.
The gathering will culminate on Sunday, November 23 with a solemn “funeral” procession to the gates of Ft. Benning. Many will negotiate a barbed-wire fence to enter the military base in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. Since protests against SOA-WHISC began over ten years ago, over 170 people served or are now serving federal prison sentences for civil disobedience.

The weekend’s program will feature music and speakers from Latin and North America, including Pete Seeger; Llajtasuyo; Francisco Herrera; Jon Fromer; Amy Goodman from Democracy Now!; Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking; Kathy Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness; Bob King, VP of the United Auto Workers International; and many others.

SOA graduates return to their countries to utilize their training domestically and are consistently cited for atrocities against their own people. Critics say President Bush used this same argument against Saddam Hussein to leverage an invasion of Iraq, while ignoring U.S. culpability in gross human rights violations throughout Latin America. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others working for human rights and economic justice. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared”, massacred, and forced into refuge by SOA graduates.

There has never been an impact-assessment of the training offered at the school. SOA-trained soldiers have returned to their countries to commit atrocities, both as soldiers and as renegades, forming paramilitaries, death squads and drug trafficking operations. A few weeks ago the Mexican Secretary of Defense revealed that SOA-trained ex-soldiers, once part of an elite Mexican army division, are now working as highly trained hired assassins for the Gulf Cartel.

Organizers of the convergence in Georgia are working in solidarity and coordinating with organizers of the protests to oppose the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) in Miami (Nov. 19-21). Critics of the SOA/WHISC argue that the school’s underlying purpose is to clear the way for U.S. corporate interests.

“The SOA is part of a corporate-hijacked foreign policy that’s making us a lot of enemies,” said Fr. Roy Bourgeois, founder of SOA Watch. “If we want lasting peace and security we need a foreign policy that reflects our values of justice and democracy.”

-Protest Against Israel’s Separation Wall

PHILADELPHIA - November 10 - The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), an international humanitarian service organization, joins Palestine, Israel, and organizations and coalitions around the world for the International Week of Action Against the Wall, November 9 - 16.
During the next week groups are mobilizing their communities for a series of educational activities and actions to bring down this Wall and other walls and barriers.

13,000 Palestinians have already been made homeless as their homes and communities have been demolished to build the wall. Built entirely on Palestinian land, the Wall will encompass 54% of the West Bank occupied after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. In some places the Wall is built of concrete 25 feet high. In other places it is a fence with sensors, watchtowers, roads, and 70 yards wide.

According to Israeli sources the Wall is a security fence protecting the Israeli population living in Israel and settlers living in the West Bank from Palestinian violence. Palestinians see the Wall as an imprisonment of the population living in the West Bank — dividing communities and families from each other, their land and livelihood.

“This Wall will devastate the Palestinian people,” said Kathy Kamphoefner, Quaker International Affairs representative, based in Jerusalem. “It will isolate Palestinians living in the West Bank, intensifying the economic, social, and cultural hardships they face.”

Those opposing the construction of the wall call on citizens of the U.S. to:

1. Contact their Congressional representatives and ask that they withhold all US money that keeps the occupation going, including money that is being used to build the Wall by calling the Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 or 1-800-839-5276.

2. Write letters, op-ed pieces, and articles about the devastating effects of the Wall.

3. Learn more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the US role. Organize meetings in your community, home, place of worship and show a video and talk about what people can do to make US policy in the Middle East fair and balanced.

The Wall is a continuation of the “matrix of control” Israel has exercised in the territories it occupied in 1967. According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, an occupying power is not allowed to change the status of the territory it occupies, including moving its own population into the occupied areas. Israel has violated this since 1967 by confiscating Palestinian land, building Jewish settlements, building by-pass roads for Israeli use, destroying Palestinian homes as a matter of collective punishment, and destroying crops and trees of Palestinian farmers.

The American Friends Service Committee is has worked for a just and lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis and a just U.S. policy in the Middle East for decades. Best known for organizing massive programs to feed millions of starving children in post-war Germany, the Service Committee has worked internationally for peace, justice and human dignity for more than 85 years. With its European counterpart, the British Council of Friends, The Service Committee won the Noble Peace Prize for humanitarian service during World Wars I and II. AFSC administered relief for over 200,000 refugees in the Gaza Strip in the 1940s on behalf of the United Nations. Supporting Palestinians and Israelis working for peace with justice.

We invite all those who are working to bring down walls and build bridges instead to join in this important work. For more information on international activities visit [url=http://www.endtheocccupation.org]http://www.endtheocccupation.org[/url] or [url=http://www.stopthewall.org]http://www.stopthewall.org[/url]

-Protest calendar

http://www.radicalendar.org/group/imcjapan/all/

29 nov
Buy Nothing Day Japan

-Indymedia Japan (Protest Rumsfeld/—ˆ‚é‚ȃ‰ƒ€ƒYƒtƒFƒ‹ƒh?I ‹–‚·‚ȃC�

from Noiz on IndyMedia

I’m glad if you join the following anti war action and circulate the information to your friends. Thank you !

No to Rumsfeld’s Visit Japan!
Stop SDF Dispatch to Iraq!
Nov. 15 Rally & Demonstration

Place: Ebisu Park; about 5 minutes walk from JR Ebisu Station
Date: Saturday, November 15
Rally start: 14:30
Demo Start: 16:00

We are strongly against Rumsfeld’s visit Japan, OKinawa and then Korea. Rumsfeld has been always with Bush and responsible for brutal aggresive war in Iraq.

We held protest actions against Bush’s visit Japan in October 17. Against U.S. War of aggression and Japanese goverment support, we are going to stop the planning SDF (Self Defence Force = Japanese Army) dispatch to Iraq! Plese join our anti war action!

Solidarity yours

Nov.15 Action Committee
anti_bush1017 (at) hotmail.com
http://yurayura.mine.nu/call/20031115.html
(Sorry in Japanese)

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-Disposing of Japan’s World War II Poison Gas in China

by Keiichi Tsuneishi
In addition to disposing of the weapons that have already been found, Japan is required to promptly find and destroy those whose whereabouts remain unknown.

In late September, the Tokyo District Court ruled in favor of Chinese plaintiffs demanding compensation for damages caused by chemical weapons left behind in China by the Imperial Japanese Army. Referring to the Japanese government’s plans to dispose of the abandoned weapons, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda made the following comment the next day: “Since we don’t know if we can complete (the disposal) at the current pace, we must think about expediting our plans.” This is a welcome decision.

But how can the disposal process be hastened? For abandoned weapons that have already been discovered, it is possible to advance the pace of removal if Japan promptly implements the plans that have been agreed upon between the Japanese and Chinese governments in April. However, such a method is no more than a makeshift measure to dispose of the weapons as they are discovered. Instead, what Japan needs is to clean up the entire mess it left behind in China up to the end of World War II in 1945.

As the court ruling also demands, in addition to disposing of the weapons that have already been found, Japan is required to promptly find and destroy those whose whereabouts remain unknown.

How is that possible? In 1995, I accompanied a group of Diet members of the Social Democratic Party of Japan and visited Haerbaling in China’s Jilin province, where an estimated 700,000 chemical shells are buried, to look into the local situation.

After the visit, I released a report in which I made a number of proposals. They include the following:

1. Japan should identify people who discarded chemical weapons before and after the war and interview them to find out the kinds of weapons they buried, their locations and any other details that would help find them.

2. Japan should find and disclose government documents that show information concerning the deployment of chemical weapons before and after its defeat in the war.

The report was submitted to then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama. International treaties officially recognize blistering agents such as mustard gas and lewisite as poison gases. Traditionally, Japan has maintained an ambiguous stance about its past use of such gases. In the report, I also indicated that in order to implement the first proposal, before anything else, the government must publicly recognize that it used them. Had the first proposal been implemented, it might have been able to prevent the recent poison gas incidents in Ibaraki Prefecture and Qiqihar in China’s Heilongjiang province.

To see if there is anything I could do to put the 1995 proposals into practice, with the help of Seiya Matsuno, a Meiji University graduate student, in 2000, I looked into the records kept by the Defense Agency office of war history to find out how many chemical weapons had been sent overseas.

During the course of my research, I learned that the records are very limited.

Only those between fiscal 1937 and 1941 were available. According to them, during that time, a total of 839,956 chemical shells were shipped overseas. Of these, 571,946 were sent to China and the remaining 268,010 went to Southeast Asia.

Judging from the actual situation, it is natural to assume that a larger number of chemical weapons were sent overseas in fiscal 1942 and 1943. However, as no records were available for those years, I could not verify this point. I don’t know whether the records are missing or being kept confidential.

If the latter is the case, they should be immediately declassified. If that is not possible, the government is urged to inquire into the situation and notify the results to relevant prefectures and countries.

Such surveys also provide basic data for an ongoing project of the Environment Ministry to look into domestically abandoned chemical weapons. Furthermore, the findings may prevent future harm by abandoned Japanese chemical weapons across Asia.

However, to find out more about chemical weapons that were dumped when Japan lost the war, it is necessary to hear the first-hand accounts of the people who actually did the dumping.

For that, the government needs to officially recognize its use of poison gas and extensively call on former military personnel to volunteer information. Doing so paves the way to provide useful information for a reinvestigation of domestically abandoned chemical weapons; prevent damage in Asian countries; and help restore Japan’s international trust.

[The author is a Kanagawa University professor specializing in the history of science. He contributed this comment to the Asahi Shimbun.(IHT/Asahi: Nov. 1, 2003). See also an earlier comment on chemical weapons by the author.]

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=17&ItemID=3823

-Recent Asia Watch

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