Let’s storm with tweets on President Obama’s twitter handle and and tell him: “Do not support unconstitutional Security laws, which was passed undemocratic way.”
Phone Call/Email: “President Obama: Please withdraw your support for the new Security Rules passed in Japan both unconstitutionally and undemocratically. Honor Japan’s 70 years of pacifism and the tremendous grassroots opposition to these changes.”
Message in Japanese:
安倍晋三首相：
議事録も採決記録もない #安保法は無効 です。
今すぐに撤回してください。
戦後70年間守った平和憲法を破壊しないでください。#ImNotAbe
You can leave a message for President Obama on phone: 202-456-1111
And on the contact page of the White House website.
We demand immediate abolition of unconstitutional new security laws of Japan.
We urge the United States government and the military-industrial complex to stop pressuring the Japanese government to “reinterpret” Article 9 to break our nation’s no-war pledge.
WE SHALL NOT ABANDON OUR PACIFIST PLEDGE.
Join the protest event on Facebook for further information and updates.
To coincide with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s speech at UN General Assembly on 9/29, the Japanese peace activists organised under the banner of OVERSEAs and also pro-pacifism U.S. citizens will protest against dilution of the pacifist constitution of Japan.
The Japanese PM has pushed through security bills in the parliament earlier this month in a move that was opposed vehemently by more than 1,50,000 people who came out to protest on Tokyo streets.
AsiaProgressive.com interviewed Ms. Ayumi Imagawa, one of the key organisers and a peace activist associated with OVERSEAs and NJ Peace Action, about the protest planned in NYC:
AsiaProgressive: Why are activists protesting against Abe during his US visit?
Ayumi Imagawa: Because we are outraged that LDP led by Prime Minister Abe passed the “Security Bills” both unconstitutionally and undemocratically before his visit to U.S. We know that Prime Minister Abe came to the US with new Japan’s security laws as a gift for the U.S. government. We want to express our pledge: “We will protect Japan’s pacifism” to the world.
AsiaProgressive: Does the group include only Japanese expats or people from other countries as well?
Ayumi Imagawa: Majority of us are Japanese expats, but many American, including Chinese American support us and join our actions.
AsiaProgressive: The US government has also been pushing Abe to re-militarise for a long time. Do you have any message for them too?
Ayumi Imagawa: Absolutely. Please withdraw your support for the new Security Rules passed in Japan both unconstitutionally and undemocratically. Honor Japan’s 70 years of pacifism and the tremendous grassroots opposition to these changes.
AsiaProgressive: What would be your form of protest?
Ayumi Imagawa: Peace Vigil on the ground coinciding with Mr. Abe’s speech at the UN. We are also urging people to create social media storm in our solidarity- Twitter, e-mail and Phone call storm to Mr. Abe and Mr. Obama.
AsiaProgressive: What is your core message?
Ayumi Imagawa: Abolish the new Japan’s security laws immediately! We will not give up Japan’s 70 years of pacifism. In fact we have issued a call to the American citizens urging them to support our efforts to stop re-militarisation of Japan. We call upon the citizens of United States to support us because the United States government and the military-industrial complex are pressuring the Japanese government to “reinterpret” Article 9 to break our nation’s no-war pledge. U.S. foreign policy is a major cause of international violence and environmental destruction also around the world.
But we believe that you too yearn for a world without war.
Together, if we could cut down the ugliest and the most indiscreet tree named “war,” together, with your hands and my hands, we could weaken the roots, which neglect our lives, growing everywhere underground. Our wish may not come true today. Yet, the world cannot wait any longer. We, ordinary people will start the change. A true participatory civil society cannot be realized without our intentions or actions. We also do our best. Our friends please urge your members of Congress and Senate to change the military control of security policy and to stop controlling the policy of foreign countries, including Japan.
AsiaProgressive: Now that the security bills have been passed, what hope do you have of reversing Abe’s decisions?
Ayumi Imagawa: Thanks to Mr. Abe, ordinary Japanese citizens, including us, have realized a true meaning of “democracy.” Also, we are getting know that Japan’s security policy has been directed by the U.S. government. The hope is here among us. Along with the citizens in U.S. and the rest of the world, we will make a global “Satyagraha.”
Japanese Peace Movement will “Never Give Up!”
Here is the full statement adopted by the Blue Vigil in Solidarity with Okinawa in NY’s statement on 7/29/15
What is a true security? Protection of life and protection of the commons that sustain life is true security.
The role Japan should contribute to global society is reaffirming our pledge for peace in Article 9 of the Japanese Peace Constitution, which the Japanese people have supported and protected for 70 years after World War II. And we should bring about a real pacifist nation so that we can be a forerunner of abolition of the threat or use of force from not only within Japan and East Asia but also in the world.
Japan is the only nation on which nuclear bombs have been dropped twice directly on civilian populations.
More than 210,000 were killed in the nuclear attacks. We have suffered enormous damage and long term agony that is ongoing, as the impacts of radioactivity are passed to the next generation. Regardless of the circumstances and reasons, nuclear weapons are the gravest example of war crimes; their use must never be forgiven. As the only nation that has experienced the horror of nuclear bombs in war, we must be a herald in the call for nuclear weapons abolitions, and a beacon to navigate this difficult process.
Also, as a nation that has been releasing radioactive contamination on a global scale as a result of the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, we must take a leading role in abandonment of nuclear energy, which results in unfathomable radioactive waste and contamination.
At the same time, we must actively tackle solving the “climate change” that many experts have warned about.
In order to solve global climate change and environmental destruction that is threatening all life on the earth, developing a framework whereby Japan will cooperate with East Asian countries with all our efforts and wisdom should be a top priority in security.
We urge that the Government of Japan to withdraw “the war bills” immediately. We urge that Japan, instead, serves in a role as a peace mediator in the international community, and along with the neighboring countries, make efforts to stop climate change and environmental destruction.
Our call to American citizens
Right now, the United States government and the military-industrial complex are pressuring the Japanese government to “reinterpret” Article 9 to break our nation’s no-war pledge. U.S. foreign policy is a major cause of international violence and environmental destruction also around the world.
But we believe that you too yearn for a world without war.
Together, if we could cut down the ugliest and the most indiscreet tree named “war,” together, with your hands and my hands, we could weaken the roots, which neglect our lives, growing everywhere underground.
Our wish may not come true today.
Yet, the world cannot wait any longer.
We, ordinary people will start the change.
A true participatory civil society cannot be realized without our intentions or actions.
We also do our best.
Our friends please urge your members of Congress and Senate to change the military control of security policy and to stop controlling the policy of foreign countries, including Japan.
![[Sign petition on White House Website] – Stop landfill work in Okinawa until a referendum can be held!](https://www.asiaprogressive.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Okinawa-landfill-henoko-90x75.jpg)
