The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee, Baltimore Quaker
Peace and Justice Committee of Homewood and Stony Run Meetings and Chesapeake
Physicians for Social Responsibility are continuing the FILM & SOCIAL
CONSCIOUSNESS DVD SERIES. The DVDs will be shown at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse,
3107 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21218, usually on the First Friday. After
the Black Lives Matter vigil, there will be a potluck dinner. At 7:15 PM, from
September through December, a DVD will be shown with a discussion to
follow. There is no charge, and refreshments will be available. The
series theme is REACTING TO WARS ON CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTIONS, PEOPLE AND THE
ENVIRONMENT.
On Fri., Sept. 9 see “Embracing Article 9 of the Constitution of
Japan” [2013, Allen Nelson Peace Project]. It is in Japanese with English
subtitles. Allan Nelson, an ex-marine, talks about war and peace: “Article
9 is more powerful than any nuclear weapons.” Article
9 of Japan's Constitution reads as follows:
“Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order,
the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the
nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international
disputes.” However, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called for changing
Article 9. This has resulted in protests. Contact Max at
410-323-1607 or mobuszewski at Verizon.net.
Japan
could change pacifist constitution after Shinzo Abe victory
Prime minister wins upper
house elections, giving his coalition enough seats to push ahead with
controversial changes
Shinzo Abe
has called for a debate on rewriting Japan’s constitution, including an article
renouncing war. Photograph: Kiyoshi Ota/EPA
Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Monday 11 July 2016 05.34 EDT Last modified on Monday
11 July 201617.00 EDT
Japan’s prime minister,
Shinzo Abe, has called for a debate on rewriting the country’s pacifist
constitution after his Liberal Democratic party [LDP] and its allies secured a supermajority in
upper house elections on Sunday.
The LDP, its junior coalition partner Kōmeitō,
and several like-minded smaller parties and independent MPs now control
two-thirds of the 242 seats in the upper house. The ruling coalition already
has a similar majority in the more powerful lower house.
Conservative MPs have enough seats to push ahead
with constitutional changes, including scrapping the war-renouncing article 9 –
a prospect that has caused alarm in China and among many Japanese who value
their country’s postwar pacifism. Any amendments passed in parliament would
then require approval by a simple majority in a nationwide referendum.
Abe had studiously ignored the constitution
issue during the upper house campaign, insisting that the election was an
opportunity to reaffirm public support for his troubled economic policy, as he
sought to capitalise on the lack of a credible alternative offered by the
opposition.
The LDP won 56 of the 121 seats – half the upper
house total – being contested, while Kōmeitō secured 14 seats. Abe had set a
goal of winning a combined 61 seats.
But speaking soon after his landslide victory,
Abe said his party had always been committed to rewriting the postwar constitution.
The Asahi Shimbun newspaper quoted him as saying that he hoped deliberations by
expert panels and a deeper public debate would lead to a consensus on which
parts of the constitution needed changing.
The most controversial move would be a revision
of article 9 to allow Japan’s self-defence forces to act more like a
conventional army. The clause forbids Japan from using force to settle international
disputes and restricts its land, air and naval forces to a strictly defensive
role.
Rewriting the constitution, imposed by the US
occupation authorities after the second world war, has been the ideological
driving force behind Abe and other conservatives who believe it unfairly
restricts Japan’s ability to respond to new threats such as international
terrorism, an increasingly assertive China and a nuclear-armed North Korea.
However, Abe risks losing the political capital
he has built over the past three and a half years if he is seen to be
neglecting the economy in favour of constitutional reform.
“The key question will be whether he can carry
out structural reforms,” said Nobuhiko Kuramochi, chief strategist at Mizuho
Securities. “If Abe fails to do so, despite the political freedom he has
gained, that will be negative for foreign investors’ appetite for Japanese
stocks.”
Xinhua, China’s official news agency, described
Sunday’s election result as a threat to regional stability, as it had given MPs
who support constitutional reform an unprecedented advantage.
“With Japan’s pacifist constitution at serious
stake and Abe’s power expanding, it is alarming both for Japan’s Asian
neighbours, as well as for Japan itself, as Japan’s militarisation will serve
to benefit neither side,” Xinhua said in a commentary.
Some analysts played down the prospects for
change, noting that the loose collection of pro-reform parties and independents
had yet to reach a consensus on which parts of the constitution should be
altered.
“It’s the first time to have two-thirds in both
houses of parliament, but you can’t find any issue on which the two-thirds can
agree,” said Gerry Curtis, professor emeritus at Columbia University.
But Curtis added: “With these numbers … he [Abe]
is going to want to see what he can achieve. That means less attention to the
economy and a lot of spinning over the constitution.”
The LDP’s dovish coalition partner, Kōmeitō, is
cautious about any change that would expand the role of the military, while the
public remains deeply divided. An exit poll conducted by the Asahi on Sunday
showed that 49% of voters supported constitutional revision, with 44% opposed.
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Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives."
Eugene Victor Debs
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