史上最悪の差別とは何なのか! Photo Exhibit & Talk with Kenji Higuchi: What is the Worst Kind of Discrimination?

From left to right: Japan for a World BEYOND War Coordinator Joseph Essertier, NISHI Eiko, KANBE Ikuo, and HIGUCHI Kenji.

11月10日に名古屋の東別院ホールでワールド・ビヨンド・ウォーはフォトジャーナリストの樋口健二さんに講演してもらいました。「毒ガス島」で働いた日本人の労働者について教えてくれました。興味深い講演でした。未来の人々が毒ガスという大量破壊兵器を使わないように彼は記録を取りました。 

In honor of the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, World BEYOND War, in collaboration with Mamademo, organized a special photography exhibit and lecture with renowned photojournalist, Kenji Higuchi, in Nagoya, Japan on November 10, 2018.

Kenji Higuchi’s exhibit exposes the Empire of Japan’s manufacturing of poison gas on a secret island in Japan. Various chemicals were manufactured and used against Chinese during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1931-1945). Kenji Higuchi interviewed Japanese workers who suffered severe health problems from working in the poison gas factories during the war. Their suffering was covered up by the Empire of Japan, which makes Kenji Higuchi’s work so essential in revealing the truth.

An Armistice Day Message from Joseph Essertier, coordinator of Japan for a World BEYOND War:

Click for English version.

ジョセフ・エサティエ

2018年11月10日

休戦記念100周年について考えたこと

序文
100年前にアメリカ大統領ウッドロウ・ウィルソンは「十四か条の平和原則(Fourteen Points)」という演説のなかで平和原則を発表しました。その演説は評価されて、ウィルソンはノーベル平和賞を受賞しました。受賞理由の一つはその演説の影響です。彼は次のことを言いました:アメリカが「求めるものは、我々特有のものではない。それは、この世界を住み良く安全なものにすることである。そして、己(おのれ)の生活を送ることを望み、己の制度を決定することを望み、力と利己的な攻撃とではなく正義と公正な待遇とを他の諸国民から保証されることを望む、全ての平和を愛好する国民、とりわけ米国民のような国民にとって、世界を安全なものにすることである。」

自分の国の制度を外から決められるのではなく、自分の国民たちと一緒に決定し、安全に暮らしたいですね。ウィルソンは「利己的な攻撃」を止めようと言ってます。「民族自決」という概念はこの「十四か条」のスピーチで有名になりました。彼はこの演説をした日の一ヶ月後にもう一度強調してさらにはっきりと言いました: 2月11日に “National aspirations must be 
respected; people may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent. ‘Self determination’ is not a mere phrase; it is an imperative principle of action.” 簡単に言うと「それぞれの国の国民の意志を無視してはいけません。国民の許可を得なければ、その国民を支配してはいけません。「民族自決」は口だけではありません。実施する大切な原則です」とウィルソンは言いました。

この原則は、大日本帝国の植民地支配下にあった朝鮮半島の人々の民族自決の意識を高め、次の年1919年の3月1日、3・1運動という独立運動が始まりました。しかし、アメリカや西洋の国々は、朝鮮半島、中国、フィリピンなどの非白人の国には「民族自決」を認めませんでした。

この100年間、朝鮮半島の人々は真の民族自決をまだ実現できていません。在韓米基地はその証拠です。日本も日米安保が続けば、本当の意味で民族自決ではありません。私はアメリカが多くの人々の自由と尊厳を踏みにじってきたことに憤りを感じ、一アメリカ人として深くお詫びします。

英語圏の色々な草の根の活動家はよく “No justice, no peace!”といいます。朝鮮半島や沖縄、北東アジア全体の、この100年間の歴史を振り返ってみると、正に “No justice, no peace!”です。酷い不正義はいつも戦争と繋がります。

休戦記念日とワールド・ビヨンド・ウォーと毒ガスの関係 
岐阜県の現在白川町「黒川開拓団」の一員だった安江菊美さんのことばを引用します:「戦争なんて結局ね、弱い人のところに来ちゃうから、やっちゃいけない。話し合いは何年かかってもいい。武器を使っちゃいけない。」[i]

安江さんは10歳の時に、満州に住んでいました。その当時、ソ連軍の「性接待」として黒川開拓団の女性たちが強制的にソ連軍に「差し出」されていました。安江さんは、戦争は弱い立場の女性や子供が被害者となることを知っている人です。彼女のことばは、一言で言うと、ワールド・ビヨンド・ウォーと私の考えそのもの、だと思います。「武器を使っちゃいけない」という考えです。一人一人の命はとても大切だから、「話し合いは何年かかってもいい」です。ワールド・ビヨンド・ウォー は戦争の無い世界を目指してます。

なぜワールド・ビヨンド・ウォーはアメリカで2014年に始まったか、なぜ休戦記念日を大切にしているかというと、一つはアメリカでは平和を祝う祝日は休戦記念日しかないからです。戦争を祝う祝日はたくさんありますが、戦争という悲劇を認めて、戦争で亡くなった人々や苦労した人々を思い出す日は休戦記念日しかありません。今アメリカでは休戦記念日を「ベテランズ・デー」(復員軍人の日)といいますが、朝鮮戦争が始まった1940年代の終わりまではアーミスティス・デー(休戦記 念日)と呼ばれていました。米政府は勝手に休戦記念日を復員軍人の日と意味を変えてしまいました。私たちワールド・ビヨンド・ウォーは元の意味に取り戻そうとしています。

アメリカだけではないですが、今、平和を愛する多くのアメリカ人は “Let’s reclaim Armistice Day as a day of peace” と言っています。(「休戦記念日を平和の日として取 り戻しましょう」)[ii] 日本では「世界平和記念日」ともいいます。その言い方の方がいい かもしれません。100年前の明日に第一次世界大戦という「大戦」は終わりました。その次の年1919年に世界中のたくさんの国々の人々は「平和になってよかった」と祝いました。「戦争を止めよう!」という声が多かったのです。ある歴史家が言うには 「経済的な面から言うと、第一次世界大戦で勝ったのはアメリカと日本です。」[iii] 正確にいうと、アメリカと日本の政府が勝ちました。アメリカと日本の一般市民の中で、帝国主義を望む人はきっと少なかったでしょう。この二つの政府の権力拡大はうまくいきました。大日本帝国という帝国が拡大できましたし、アメリカの軍事産業が拡大されました。

第一次世界大戦でヨーロッパの国々は、人的、物的にも大きな被害を受けました。日本は日露戦争でロシアに勝利し、20世紀の始めに正に帝国となりました。1914年ごろにアメリカと同じように三国協商側から参戦した大日本帝国海軍はドイツのミクロネシアの島を取り、ヨーロッパの企業は日本の企業に負け始めました。第一次世界大戦後の大日本帝国の経済拡大は日中戦争と繋がりましたが、日本では休戦記念日はあまり知られていません。第一次世界大戦はヨーロッパでも第二次世界大戦と繋がりました。 (https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2008/11/09/national/history/from-heroes-to-zero-with-fateful-strings-attached/#.W-Esvi2B2qB) 大切な歴史なのに、アメリカ人も日本人と同じようにあまり学校でその歴史を教えてもらっていません。


毒ガスで苦労した中国人 

中国での毒ガスの歴史について、私はまだ勉強し始めたばかりです。大日本帝国の政府は実際に毒ガスを日中戦争で使い、大勢の中国人死傷者が出ました。例えば以下の記事をインター ネットで見付けました: 

https://apjjf.org/-Eric-Johnston/1776/article.html  この記事はAsia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focusに載った記事です。(日本語で「アジア太平洋ジャーナル:ジャパンフォーカス」。私はとても信頼していて自分の記事も載せてもらったことがあり、『東京新聞』や『週刊金曜日』の翻訳も載せてもらいました。) 中国の歴史家によると1万人の中国人は日中戦争で毒ガスによって殺されたと書いてあります。(Chinese historians say some 10,000 people were killed in over 2,000 gas attacks carried out by Japanese forces between 1931 and 1945. Today, unexploded shells continue to surface in China).

https://apjjf.org/2011/9/36/Vivian-Blaxell/3596/article.html  この記事によると、中国・チチハル市で2003年、大日本帝国が中国に残した毒ガスが漏れて1人が死亡、43人が負傷しました。今も日本が遺棄した毒ガスは中国の人々を苦しめています。

https://www.foxnews.com/story/japanese-world-war-ii-era-poison-gas-bombs-unearthed-in-china   今、日本政府は中国政府と共に残された毒ガス兵器の回収や廃棄処理作業を始めていますが、作業の進捗状況は遅く、さらに多くても10%程度しか処理しない方針です。(桜花学園大学の高文軍先生に教えて頂きました。)

ワールド・ビヨンド・ウォーって何の団体? 

175ヶ国の7万人はワールド・ビヨンド・ウォーの平和宣言に署名してくれました。このことは私にはジョン・レノンの「イマジン」の歌詞“I’m not the only one”(私だけではない)を思い出させます。ワールド・ビヨンド・ウォーの平和宣言は日本語でもお読みいただけます: 

ワールド・ビヨンド・ウォー関係の活動家はたくさんいらっしゃいますが、今回は二人だけ紹介致します。ワールド・ビヨンド・ウォー代表、およびアメリカ支部長は、デイビッド・スワンソンさんです。彼は今年U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation(アメリカ平和メモリアル基金)から平和賞を受賞しました。[iv] 表彰盾には「インスピレーションを与えてくれるあなたの反戦のリーダーシップや文章、思想、組織は平和の文化を築き上げることに貢献しました。」と書いてあります。[v] この10年間で受賞したのは、例えばメディア・ベンジャミンさんやチェルシー・マニングさん、ノーム・チョムスキーさん、アメリカ合衆国下院のデニス・クシニッチさん(エリートの政治家の間で珍 しいですが、彼は反戦政治家です)、キャシー・ケリーさんです。[vi]

アフィリエイトになった団体:コード・ピンク。コード・ピンクはメディア・ベンジャ ミンさんが始めた、アメリカの有名な平和団体です。[vii] メディア・ベンジャミンは『もう 戦争はさせない!—ブッシュを追いつめるアメリカ女性たち』の著者です。彼女は ドローン(無人の暗殺飛行機)についてアメリカ人に知らせてくれた反戦活動家です。 最近彼女はイランに対してのアメリカの軍国主義者を批判した、非暴力直接行動をしました:
a) http://parstoday.com/ja/news/world-i47976  これは日本語のウェブサイトです。 

b)  https://therealnews.com/stories/in-viral-video-medea-benjamin-confronts-trump-official-on-iran  イラン人は以上の映像をたくさん見たそうです。英語圏の人々も大勢見たでしょう。

c)  ベンジャミンさんはワールド・ビヨンド・ウォーの今年のカナダ・トロント市での反戦カンフェレンスに参加しました。私も参加し、イランへの攻撃に反対する彼女の素晴らしい講演を聴きました。ワールド・ビヨン ド・ウォーのHPにもYouTubeにも載ってます。

それ以外に私の尊敬している人々 

この100年間を振り返って考える時に、戦争の全ての被害者を忘れないようにしましょう。騙された兵隊たちが亡くなりました。そして罪の無い多くの一般市民が亡くなりま した。さらに障害者となった人々や難民になった人々、軍事的な性暴力被害を受けた女性たち、PTSDで苦労した人々、戦争のせいで男性が少なくなり結婚できなかった女性たち、 孤児(こじ)になった子どもたち、友人を亡くした人々。

これらの戦争で苦しめられた人々をおもい、国家暴力に反対してきた人々に感謝しましょう。明治時代の日本では『平民新聞』のジャーナリストたち。(私は明治 時代の日本文学について研究しているので、明治時代の反戦の立派な政治家を思い出します。)アメリカではIWWやユージン・デブス、ヘレン・ケラーは第一次世界大戦に反対しました。(IWWは「世界産業労働組合」、英語でIndustrial Workers of the Worldです。) その戦争の前と後で反対したのは例えばヘンリー・デイヴィッド・ソローやローザ・ルク センブルク、キング牧師、ジョン・レノン、金大中(キム・デジュン)、アルンダティ・ロイ氏、サーロー節子氏、山城博治氏がいます。

何とか生き残った被爆者の声を忘れないようにしましょう。彼らは「ノーモアナガサ キ、ノーモアヒロシマ」と英語でこのスローガンを繰り返しました。長崎と広島の虐殺に付け加えて「ノーモアファルージャや、ノーモアソンミ村、ノーモアグアンタナモ、ノー モアキリング・フィールド、ノーモア南京」という気持ちで戦争を無くし、戦争を実際に禁止する運動をしましょう。


[i] https://apjjf.org/2017/18/Masaru.html   The original article appeared in Tokyo Shimbun on 2 July 2017:  佐藤大「軍国主義全体反対だ」『東京新聞』朝刊(2017年7月2日)の中で82歳の時の安江菊美様が引用された。

[ii] https://worldbeyondwar.org/veterans-group-reclaim-armistice-day-as-day-of-peace/

[iii] Quoted in Paul L. Atwood, War and Empire: The American Way of Life (Pluto, 2010), Chapter 7,“A World Made Safe Only for More War.” Original quote from William R. Keylor, The Twentieth Century World: An International History (Oxford UP, 1984), p. 73.

[iv] https://worldbeyondwar.org/2018-peace-prize-awarded-to-david-swanson/

[v] https://i2.wp.com/davidswanson.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/peaceaward.jpg

[vi] キャシー・ケリー氏は非暴力反戦団体 Voices for Creative Nonviolence(創造的非暴力の声)の コーディネーターです。http://democracynow.jp/video/20100913-2

[vii] 英語ではベンジャミンさんはたくさんの本を書きました。米イラン関係の歴史についての本が今年出ました: Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran (OR Books, 2018).

 10 November 2018

Joseph Essertier, Coordinator, Japan for a World BEYOND War“
On the Occasion of Our Armistice Day 100 Event at Higashi Betsuin Hall in Nagoya, Japan”

Introduction

100 years ago US President Woodrow Wilson gave his “Fourteen Points” speech, with his principles for peace. Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition for this contribution. The impact that his speech made is one of the reasons he was awarded the Prize. He said the following:  “What we demand in this war, therefore, is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is that the world be made fit and safe to live in; and particularly that it be made safe for every peace-loving nation which, like our own, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of justice and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force and selfish aggression.”

Yes, everyone wishes to live in safety. They want to determine their own institutions with the people of their own country, and not have those decisions made by people outside their country. Wilson is saying, let’s put an end to “force and selfish aggression.” The concept of “self-determination” was made famous by his “Fourteen Points” speech. About one month later, on February 11th, he emphasized this point, making it even clearer:  “National aspirations must be respected; people may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent. ‘Self determination’ is not a mere phrase; it is an imperative principle of action.” Wilson was saying, in essence, “The will of the people of each and every nation must not be ignored. Nobody can govern the people without their permission. ‘Self-determination’ is not a mere phrase to which we should give lip service. It is an important principle that must be actualized.”

The people of the Korean Peninsula took Wilson’s words to heart and started a movement for independence called the “March First Movement” on the 1st of March 1919. Sadly, however, for the people of the Korean Peninsula, China, the Philippines, and many countries around the Pacific, the elites of Europe and the United States did not actualize “self-determination”; it was a mere phrase to which they gave lip service. Washington and other states of the West did not apply “self-determination” to countries whose people were not white.

Despite the fact that millions of people of the Korean Peninsula have demanded self-determination and worked hard for it, they have still not achieved it. The existence of US military bases on their soil is proof of that. As long as (the US and Japan) continue to uphold the US-Japan Security Treaty, Japanese cannot enjoy self-determination in the true meaning of the word. The country in which I was born and raised is causing you trouble. For that, I sincerely apologize.

Many kinds of grassroots activists in English-speaking countries say, “No justice, no peace!” Looking back on the past 100 years of history on the Korean Peninsula, in Okinawa, and in Northeast Asia as a whole, that is indeed true, isn’t it? Horrible injustice always leads to war.

Connections between Armistice Day, World BEYOND War, and Poison Gas

“Well, war, you know, since it always comes to the weak, it’s something that must never be done. It doesn’t matter how many years it takes to talk it out, you must never use weapons.”[i] These are the words of Ms. YASUE Kikumi from the Kurokawa Settler Community. Kurokawa is now part of Shirakawa-cho, Gifu Prefecture.  (Adolescent girls and young women were dispatched by their own community to provide sexual “services” to Soviet Red Army soldiers in hope of assuring the survival of the Kurokawa Settler Community and the Community’s safe passage back to Japan in the wake of Japan’s defeat in 1945).

At the age of 10, Ms. Yasue was living in Manchuria. (AKA, “Manchukuo” in Chinese; “Manshūkoku” in Japanese. Manchukuo was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China and Inner Mongolia from 1932 until 1945). At the age of 10, she learned that girls from her community, the Kurokawa Settler Community, were being made to perform “sexual services” for Soviet Red Army soldiers. Her words express briefly the thinking of World BEYOND War and my thinking. It is the idea that “you must never use weapons.” Since each and every person’s life is important, “It doesn’t matter how many years it takes to talk it out.” World BEYOND War aims for a world where there are no wars.

As to why World BEYOND War began its work in America in 2014, and why Armistice Day is important to us, well, one reason is because there are hardly any holidays when we celebrate peace. Armistice Day is all we have. There are many days when war is celebrated, but the day when we recognize the tragedy of war, and when we remember the people who died in war and the people who suffered in war, is Armistice Day. Armistice Day is called “Veterans Day” in the US now, but up until the late 1940s, when the Korean War was beginning, (the 11th of November) had been called “Armistice Day.” It was the US government, not ordinary Americans, who changed the original meaning of Armistice day. We at World BEYOND War want to return the day to its original meaning.

This is not only in the US, but many Americans who love peace are now saying, “Let’s reclaim Armistice Day as a day of peace.”[ii] In Japan, this day is also called “World Peace Day” (i.e., Sekai Heiwa Kinenbi). That name for the day might even be better. 100 years ago tomorrow (i.e., 11 November 1918), the “great war” (taisen 大戦) of World War One came to an end. A year later, in November 1919, people in many countries celebrated with the feeling of “I’m so glad that peace has come.” They said, “let’s not have any more wars.” As one historian wrote, “From an economic point of view, the First World War was won by the United States and Japan.”[iii] He was probably right. The US and the Empire of Japan won. Well, to be precise, the governments of the US and Japan won. I doubt that there were many ordinary Americans and Japanese who wanted to engage in such imperialism. The power of these two governments was successfully expanded. The empire of the Empire of Japan was expanded. The US arms industry was expanded. 

Most of the European powers were devastated by World War I. Japan, having defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05), became a true empire at the beginning of the 20th century. Once the Empire of Japan had become a (de facto) member of the Triple Entente some time around 1914, it took away from Germany islands in Micronesia, and European companies began to lose market share to Japanese companies. (The American historian Bruce Cumings writes that, “The twentieth century began with Japan’s defeat of Russia and its slow rise toward global stature, which also drew Japan toward disaster like a moth toward a flame”).[iv]

In spite of the fact that there are important connections between the economic growth of the Empire of Japan after World War I and the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45), there is little consciousness of Armistice Day in Japan. There are important connections between World War I and World War II in Europe, too.[v] Although this history is important, Americans, too, like Japanese, are not taught much about it in school.

Chinese Victims of Poison Gas

I have just begun to learn about the history of poison gas in China. The government of the Empire of Japan did use poison gas in their battles against Chinese. Of course, many Chinese died and were hurt. For example, here are some articles I found on the Internet:

1. https://apjjf.org/-Eric-Johnston/1776/article.html This article “Okunoshima: poison gas past belies isle’s bucolic serenity” appeared in Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. (In Japanese this journal is called アジア太平洋ジャーナル:ジャパン・フォーカス. In my opinion, the Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus is very reliable. They have published some of my writings and they have published my translations of articles from Tokyo Shimbun and Shukan Kin’yobi ). “Chinese historians say some 10,000 people were killed in over 2,000 gas attacks carried out by Japanese forces between 1931 and 1945. Today, unexploded shells continue to surface in China.”

2. https://apjjf.org/2011/9/36/Vivian-Blaxell/3596/article.html “Late in the summer of 2003 construction workers on a site in Qiqihar (Heilongjiang province) dug up a cache of gas weapons buried by Japanese soldiers 58 years earlier. The badly decayed weapons leaked yperite gas [i.e., mustard gas]. One worker died and 43 were permanently injured by exposure to the gas. Forty-eight Chinese filed suit against the Government of Japan in the Tokyo District Court, claiming ¥1.4 billion in compensation. In 2010, the judge ruled against them. He acknowledged that the weapons were Japanese, had been buried by Japanese military personnel, and that the Japanese government could have predicted the consequences for human beings exposed to the weapons. Nonetheless, the judge ruled that the Government of Japan was not responsible for the leakage of gas, and thus not liable for death and injury caused by it.”

3. https://www.foxnews.com/story/japanese-world-war-ii-era-poison-gas-bombs-unearthed-in-chinaThe Japanese government has begun gathering up poison gas bombs and cleaning them up along with the government of China, but apparently the government of China is demanding that Japan speed up the work. (I heard from Professor Gao Wen-jun of Ohkagakuen University in Nagoya that at most, only ten percent of the poison gas in China is scheduled to be cleaned up by the government of Japan).

4. https://apjjf.org/-Kato-Takeo/2106/article.html “Legacy of Japanese Island’s World War II Poison-Gas Plant Lives On”

5. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2017-08/18/content_30780546.htm “Documentary in Japan reveals dark history of ‘poison gas island’”

What Kind of Organization Is World BEYOND War?

70,000 people in 175 countries have signed World BEYOND War’s Declaration of Peace. This makes me think of the words in John Lennon’s song “Imagine”:  “But I’m not the only one.” Our Japanese Declaration of Peace page is at https://worldbeyondwar.org/japanese/ .

I would like to introduce to you now just two of the many activists who work for or are affiliated with World BEYOND War:  David Swanson and Medea Benjamin. David Swanson is the director of World BEYOND War and the Coordinator of US for a World BEYOND War. He was awarded the peace prize from the US Peace Memorial Foundation this year at a Veterans for Peace conference. His plaque reads “Whose inspiring antiwar leadership, writings, strategies, and organizations help to create a culture of peace.”[vi] Others who have received this award during the last 10 years include Medea Benjamin, Chelsea Manning, Noam Chomsky, and Dennis Kucinich (born October 8, 1946, who is an antiwar politician rare among elite politicians in the States), and Kathy Kelly.[vii]

Code Pink is an affiliate of World BEYOND War. Code Pink is a famous peace organization in the United States founded by Medea Benjamin. Medea Benjamin is one of the authors of the Japanese book 『もう戦争はさせない!ブッシュを追いつめるアメリカ女性たち Stop the Next War Now』 (Translated into English, the title would be something like We Won’t Let Them Conduct War! The American Women Who Drive Bush into a Corner: Stop the Next War Now ).[viii] She is the antiwar activist who has informed Americans about drones. In a recent action, she engaged in non-violent direct action to criticize US militarism against Iran:

https://therealnews.com/stories/in-viral-video-medea-benjamin-confronts-trump-official-on-iran I heard that many people in Iran have seen this video. I’m sure that many people in English-speaking countries have also seen it.

Ms. Benjamin was a keynote speaker at World BEYOND War’s antiwar conference in Toronto, Canada. I, too, participated, and heard her give two lectures. She gave wonderful speeches opposing attacks on Iran. You can view her speeches on the World BEYOND War webpage.

Others I Respect

When we look back on the last 100 years, let’s remember all the victims of war. Soldiers who were deceived by others have died. Many innocent civilians have died. Furthermore, people have been disabled by war; people have been made refugees by war; women have been sexually assaulted in military sexual violence due to war. There are the people who suffer from PTSD, the women who were not able to marry because there were not enough male partners as war killed so many men, the children who were orphaned, and the people who lost their friends.

So let us feel thankful toward the people who thought about these kinds of people who suffered from war and who made efforts on behalf of those killed through state violence. In Japan during the Meiji period (1868-1912), there were the journalists of the Heimin Shimbun newspaper. (I study the Japanese literature of the Meiji period, so I remember the great antiwar activists of the Meiji period). In America, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Eugene Debbs, and Helen Keller opposed World War I. Before and after that War, there have been others, such as Henry David Thoreau, Rosa Luxembourg, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lennon, Kim Dae-jung, Setsuko Thurlow, and YAMASHIRO Hiroji.

Let’s remember the voices of the victims who barely survived war. They have repeated the words, “No more Nagasakis! No more Hiroshimas!” in English. Let’s contribute to a movement in which we actually eliminate war and ban war, with the feeling of adding to our list the massacres in Nagasaki and Hiroshima:  “No more Fallujahs! No more My Lais! No more Guantanamos! No more killing fields! No more Nankings!”


[i] https://apjjf.org/2017/18/Masaru.html   The original article appeared in Tokyo Shimbun on 2 July 2017:  佐藤大「軍国主義全体反対だ」『東京新聞』朝刊(2017年7月2日)の中で82歳の時の安江菊美1 様が引用された。

[ii] https://worldbeyondwar.org/veterans-group-reclaim-armistice-day-as-day-of-peace/

[iii] Quoted in Paul L. Atwood, War and Empire: The American Way of Life (Pluto, 2010), Chapter 7,“A World Made Safe Only for More War.” Original quote from William R. Keylor, The Twentieth Century World: An International History (Oxford UP, 1984), p. 73.

[iv] Cumings, Korea’s Place in the Sun, p. 140.

[v] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2008/11/09/national/history/from-heroes-to-zero-with-fateful-strings-attached/

[vi] https://i2.wp.com/davidswanson.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/peaceaward.jpg

[vii] Kathy Kelly is the coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a non-violent antiwar organization called Voices for Creative Nonviolence. http://democracynow.jp/video/20100913-2

[viii] Medea Benjamin is also the author of the new book in English Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran (OR Books, 2018).

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