2014年12月24日水曜日

Share Article 9 worldwide

                     Share Article 9 worldwide
                     Our resolution toward Nobel Prize acquisition
                      日本語⇒http://nobel-peace-prize-for-article-9.blogspot.jp/2014/11/9.html

To our regret, our campaign to “Award the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize to the Japanese citizens who have maintained Article 9 of the Constitution” was not fulfilled, but we believe that we successfully drew worldwide attention and we were just one step away from winning the prize. On October 10th, we awaited the formal announcement of the Nobel Prize Committee before over 100 news reporters and many TV cameras. The result was regrettable. However, we would like to confirm with the more than 440,000 people who gave signatures and those who take pride in Article 9 that we will continue our campaign.

Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite, established the Nobel Peace Prize. He wished for the progress of humanity and world peace. The Constitution of Japan came into being on the basis of the deep sorrow Japan derived from the atrocities it perpetrated upon Asian peoples during WWII, and the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb tragedies. Our resolution that we will never again repeat war is included in Article 9. But with the passage of 70 years since the last war, the Japanese people seem to have forgotten the significance of the article, almost as if we forgot the importance of air and water, even though we live our daily lives protected by it. Reading the Constitution again, we feel profound history and wisdom  included in it. Haiku poet Matsuo Basho advocated “Fueki-Ryuko” (Immutability and fluidity). Immutable principles of universal humanity are included in the Constitution, especially in Article 9. But as we all notice, that “Oath of no-war” is gradually being broken down.

On July 1st, the Abe Cabinet greatly damaged the noble ideals of the Constitution by making a decision allowing the exercise of the right to collective self-defense. We wonder if Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who always advocates Japan as a law-abiding country, notices that he has gravely violated this supreme law. His decision is nothing short of a serious crime which might endanger the fate of the nation. Song writer Nakanishi Rei says, in his lyric “Youngsters, never go to the battlefield”:
“Why is that the Supreme Court voices no complaint toward such a crucial constitutional violation?” 
The Abe Cabinet, without going through the correct procedures for constitutional amendment, has been  pushing forward with breaking down the Constitution and trying to make Japan a country that can wage war.          

Right now however, the Constitution of Japan is still alive and well. We need to resist this outrageous act “through every conceivable democratic way based on the Constitution.” Otherwise, Japan may become involved in a disastrous war again. We think that when the Japanese people have successfully defended the Constitution against Abe’s law-breaking scheme, the people will truly be worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. This year the Nobel Prize Committee selected as the two awardees people who have risked their lives fighting to improve human rights situations in their countries, and maybe they were trying to show us, the Japanese people, the way forward.           

Looking back at the activities of the past year, we find we have reached a new perspective. The world is in a deep confusion and turmoil. The wealth of the world is concentrated among a handful of people, and the rest are afflicted with poverty. Amid disputes of increasing frequency, hatred produces hatred. We wonder how mankind will overcome this cycle of hatred and disparity between rich and poor. The Nobel Prize Committee may itself be seeking a resolution.

We want to end conflicts around the world. We also want to eliminate poverty all over the world. The Constitution of Japan stands on a noble ideal that liberates every people of the world from oppression and discrimination, and aims for a society where everyone can be respected as a person. In particular, Article 9 matters most since it clearly stipulates renunciation of war, non-possession of arms and denial of belligerence. We believe that spreading of the article in all the countries of the world will stop these problems from getting worse and lead to dialogues for solving them.

Every year nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize are received between September 1st and February 1st. Signatures of support can be accepted until just before the announcement of the year’s awards in October. In 2015 we will renew our campaign to “Award the Nobel Peace Prize to Japanese citizens who have maintained Article 9 for nearly 70 years”.  

Our aim will be to collect 1 million signatures for the day when all the people of the world can share Article 9!
                                             October 11th, 2014
Executive Committee for
“The Nobel Peace Prize for Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution”