I have been to the conference.

I have just been to the "GLOBAL ARTICLE NINE CONFERENCE TO ABOLISH WAR," held on May 4th and 5th in Chiba.

It was a great conference and I am still excited about it. (I was happy to go with my husband, elder son and his wife. My younger son was attending as a staff member.）

At the conference, we could hear speeches and talks by people who are working for peace in many areas of the world . Some of them were Nobel Peace Prize Laureates . Their words were so powerful and impressive because they are really acting and they know the truth.

The most impressive scene for me was the session about the Iraq War. There on the stage were an American who went to Iraq as a soldier and a Iraqi young man who was a former soldier of the Iraqi Republican Guard. The American left Iraq as a conscientious objector after he found what was going on in Iraq, especially at Abu Ghraib prison. The Iraqi man expected peace after Iraq's defeat, but the US army kept occupying his country and the conditions got worse. His family members and friends were killed during the occupation, but he is acting as a humanitarian aid worker, not with guns. I could feel his sorrow through his voice, and while he was talking, the American young man was gazing at and listening to him sincerely. And, at the same table, there was a Japanese woman who has been working as a Japan/Iraq aid volunteer. Each one of them said, " Weapons cannot make peace."

On the first page of the program, this is written:
"Throughout the world, wars are still being waged and weapons are still being produced, with no end in sight. Drastic changes in the earth's environment threaten the lives of millions, and poverty is rampant. Faced with such a world, global citizens have started to realize the importance of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution.
'To build peace without force'
This is the concept of article 9 that we want to ring throughtout the world. "

Cora Weise, an American woman who is working for International Peace Bureau said, "Now is the time to abolish war. The 'www' we are using for the Internet is not 'world wide web' , but ' world without war '."

Peace activists from overseas said, "We see Article 9 as a hope for the world. Article 9 is an issue not only for Japan, but for all the world. Every nation should have Article 9 in its constitution."

The call to "Change the Constitution! Delete Article 9! " is loud and strong from the LDP, right wing, and the USA as they prepare this kind of legislation. As people who believe in the importance of Article 9, we sometimes feel like a minority in Japan. It has been difficult to stop the movement. But we could have hope through this conference, with the fact that too many people went to the conference to enter the big hall, and with the recent poll stating that the majority(more than 60%) want to keep Article 9.

The situation is not easy. Many young people can't find good jobs and they don't have hope for the future, so they are easily recruited for the army (SDF). However, issues of peace and war should be the most important for young people.

I wish we could work together to make a beautiful world without weapons and wars.
Thank you for reading.