Ash Woolson has been busy speaking about his trip to Japan for the Article Nine Peace Walk. On Friday the 18th the Whatcom Peace and Justice center hosted the event above. On Wednesday the 23rd Woolson spoke on KUOW, an NPR Affiliate for a show the following tuesday. Soon his website (www.ashkyrie.com) will also have a selection of images from the peacewalk.
Filed under: Uncategorized on July 24th, 2008 | No Comments »
After a successful Article Nine Global Peace Conference in Makuhari, “The Walk” is officially over. Eleven of us walked over 1,600 Kilometers, over 7,000 people total came out to walk in support of Article Nine, and many more people put in countless hours organizing and preparing support for the peacewalkers. We want to thank you all for the work you put in to make this walk possible.
The Global Article Nine conference in Makuhari sold out; the event held 15,000 people, and we heard that there was another 2,000 people outside waiting to get in. This shows the dedication that the people in Japan have for peace.
I believe that the Japanese people see the necessity of Article Nine, and that they will not faulter in their decision. Although the vote isn’t for two more years and minds can be changed, as it stands now, it is a very small group of people that want to eliminate article nine from the Japanese Constitution.
I have heard these people talk, and what they say is almost unbelievable. As the peacewalkers were coming out of a train station in Tokyo and we saw a black van with loud speakers on the top. Standing on the van was a man speaking into a microphone. He was vehemently screaming, that the Japanese people need war! “The Japanese people need war?”, is what I thought. Why would anyone “need” war. Humans need to eat food, drink water, and breathe air, but no one needs war. I was wondering why would anyone listen to this man, why would anyone believe this man.
War is only necessary for companies and people that make money off of war, it is only necessary for this profit. No one benefits from war except these profiteers!
Peace
Filed under: Article 9 on May 15th, 2008 | No Comments »
Today we received news that a Japanese high court ruled that the Japanese involvement in Iraq is unconstitutional. The outcome can be looked at as a victory for the people of Japan, and a step forward in the pursuit of peace for the world.
For over sixty years the court has never sided against the Japanese government, until this weeks ruling. The plaintiffs sued for 10,000 yen each claiming that the government was infringing upon their right to live peacefully, which is guaranteed under article nine. Judge Kunio Aoyama ruled that the government did not have to pay the plaintiffs but that the Security Defense Force’s(Japan’s current military) involvement was unconstitutional. This ruling was worded in a way that the Government is not allowed to bring the case to the supreme court.
Before he gave his ruling judge Kunio Aoyama said that he would be retiring after this case was over. Judge Kunio`s replacement read the historical ruling which upholds the importance of Article nine of the Japanese Constitution.
Filed under: Article 9 on April 18th, 2008 | No Comments »
There are no two ways about it, everyday on this trip is amazing. Last night Jugon Kato and Chihiro Seki played guitar and sang in the Catholic church courtyard. I want to thank the church for putting a roof over our heads for the last couple days. Yesterday I was part of a parade through Osaka one of Japan’s largest cities. Walking down the streets with these peace believers I was looking at the faces of the people that walked through the city on their everyday schedule, and I noticed their expressions.
I looked at the people I was walking with and I saw how we looked, our attitude and faces. The archers all looked ecstatic, grinning from ear to ear to be in the peace movement. People were laughing the whole walk, their laughter and their smiles made me believe that we must be extremely convincing to people, that peace is the solution to a lot of our problems. If people would only look at our faces and realize that our happiness is what the car commercials promise but never deliver. That a new cell phone won’t make you happy, no matter the color or style. Happiness comes from trusting each other and loving ourselves. People cannot love themselves if they promote killing, even if they are a continent away, no matter what the reason. I think that our faces are a testimony to this truth.
Ash Kyrie Woolson
Ch. 32 President IVAW
www.ashkyrie.com
Filed under: Photos, Uncategorized on April 4th, 2008 | No Comments »
We started the day by walking up to the Kyoto Museum for World Peace at the Ritsumaikan University.
It was beaytiful day, sunny and warm with some clouds floating about.
The museum addressed some of the very serious problems that arise a Pref.(Kyoto) and a country(Japan) committ itself to all out war. Documented was the 15 years of war — from 1931 until 1945 — that Japan initiated against its neighbors.
The university itself played an important supporting note in the war effort; repressing academic freedom and willingly sending students to train and then off the fight.
As a result, at the end of war, the university acknowledged the negative note of played by whole heartedly supporting the goverment’s efforts to make war. It rewrote its mission statement to anounce that Ritsumeikan University would never again participate in state spencered warfare, that it would never again send students to war: A reamarkable statement in and of itself. An 1992 they opened the Kyoto World Peace Musium to help realize this ideal.
We had lunch in a student cafeteria and then we drove on took train to Shiga Pref. where we began the next phaze of our walk, our time in Kyoto finished, for now.
Thomas Heineman
Filed under: Photos, Uncategorized on April 4th, 2008 | No Comments »
Constitution of Japan
Preamble
We, the Japanese people, acting through our duly elected representatives in the national diet, determined that we shall secure for ourselves and our posterity the fruits of peaceful cooperation with all nations and the blessing of liberty throughout this land, and resolved that never again shall we be visited with the horrors of war through the actions of government, do proclaim that sovereign power resides with the people, and do firmly establish this constitution. Government is a sacred trust of the people, the authority for which is derived from the people, the powers of which are exercised by the representatives of the people, and the benefits of which are enjoyed by the people. This is a universal principle of mankind upon which this Constitution in founded. We reject and revoke all constitutions, laws, ordinances, and re scripts in conflict herewith.
We, the Japanese people, desire peace for all time and are deeply conscious of the high ideals controlling human relationship, and we have determined to preserve our security and existence, trusting in the justice and faith of the peace-loving peoples of the world. We desire to occupy an honored place in an international society striving for the preservation of peace, and the banishment of tyranny and slavery, oppression and intolerance for all time from the earth. We recognize that all peoples of the world have the right to live in peace, free from fear and want.
We believe that no nation is responsible to itself alone, but that laws of political morality are universal; and that obedience to such laws is incumbent upon all nations who would sustain their own sovereignty and justify their sovereign relationship with other nations.
Chapter II: Renunciation of war
Art. 9 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 means to settle international disputes.
In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.
Filed under: Article 9 on April 3rd, 2008 | No Comments »
