Citizens’ groups stage protests against new security laws
Apr. 19, 2016
by Daisuke Neishi and Yoshiaki Kido, Staff Writers
A protest rally was held in front of the A-bomb Dome in downtown Hiroshima on March 29, the day Japan’s new security laws took effect. The laws enable Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense. Around 200 people took part in the rally, which was organized by citizens’ groups that include a group calling for Article 9 of the Constitution to be preserved.
Sumiko Fujii, who leads the citizens’ group called the Article 9 Association Hiroshima, said, “We will continue speaking out against the laws.” Tadatoshi Akiba, the former Hiroshima mayor and a co-leader of the Hiroshima Anti-War Committee of 1000, called on the participants to “Take one more step forward so we won’t have to regret being unable to prevent a war.”
After the rally, the participants engaged in a signature-collecting campaign that calls for the laws to be repealed. Working with other groups across the nation, they plan to gather 20 million signatures and send them to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the speakers of both Houses of the Diet.
Meanwhile, in the city of Miyoshi in northern Hiroshima Prefecture, six members of a group opposed to “laws that condone war” also spoke out. The group is comprised of retired teachers living in the cities of Miyoshi and Shobara. In addition, a group of Jodo Shinshu Buddhist monks and followers sent a letter of protest to Mr. Abe, calling for the security laws to be abolished.
(Originally published on March 30, 2016)
A protest rally was held in front of the A-bomb Dome in downtown Hiroshima on March 29, the day Japan’s new security laws took effect. The laws enable Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense. Around 200 people took part in the rally, which was organized by citizens’ groups that include a group calling for Article 9 of the Constitution to be preserved.
Sumiko Fujii, who leads the citizens’ group called the Article 9 Association Hiroshima, said, “We will continue speaking out against the laws.” Tadatoshi Akiba, the former Hiroshima mayor and a co-leader of the Hiroshima Anti-War Committee of 1000, called on the participants to “Take one more step forward so we won’t have to regret being unable to prevent a war.”
After the rally, the participants engaged in a signature-collecting campaign that calls for the laws to be repealed. Working with other groups across the nation, they plan to gather 20 million signatures and send them to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the speakers of both Houses of the Diet.
Meanwhile, in the city of Miyoshi in northern Hiroshima Prefecture, six members of a group opposed to “laws that condone war” also spoke out. The group is comprised of retired teachers living in the cities of Miyoshi and Shobara. In addition, a group of Jodo Shinshu Buddhist monks and followers sent a letter of protest to Mr. Abe, calling for the security laws to be abolished.
(Originally published on March 30, 2016)
