Opinion

Article 9: Hello/Goodbye

By DOUGLAS LUMMIS

Let me relate to you an experience I had recently, a parable for our times.

I was asked by a newspaper to do an interview for Constitution Day. I agreed, and met the reporter at a coffee shop. He asked me my thoughts for this year's Constitution Day, and I answered as follows:

I said that May 3, 1999, was probably Japan's last peace Constitution Day; if the legislation supporting the new guidelines passes the Diet, as expected, there will be no peace Constitution. I said the only portion of Article 9 that remains effective as law is the renunciation of the right of belligerency, and that the guideline legislation is designed to restore that right. And, therefore, if Self-Defense Forces are dispatched abroad under this legislation, they will be acting not as peacekeepers but as combatants.

As a result, I said, it will be necessary to abandon as hypocritical the campaign to promote the idea of Article 9 abroad. And it will be time for school teachers to quit teaching their students that "Japan is blessed with a peace Constitution." Article 9 will have to be taught as history.

If this legislation passes, Japan will have a new Article 9: that of the "Shuhen Jitai Ho," which authorizes Japan's military to take various measures in the event of emergencies near Japan. This new Article 9 gives the government the power to order both local governments and civilian organizations (for example hospitals and trucking companies) to cooperate in future military operations.

Anti-war activity will shift from the old to the new Article 9. That is, the issue will not be the government obeying or disobeying the Constitution, but members of local organizations obeying or disobeying orders to cooperate in military actions. (In fact, this shift has already begun.)

Well, that is what I said. The reporter liked it and skillfully organized it into an article. But the newspaper did not print it. In stead it printed a different article. The headlines read: "For the Globalization of Article 9"; "400 Delegates from Japan Attend Hague Peace Conference"; "Appeal [in Name of] Peace Constitution."

It is easy to imagine why the newspaper would not want to print my article alongside this one.

As a matter of fact, the delegation from Japan met with great success. The Peace Conference, sponsored by NGOs on the centennial of the Hague Peace Conference of 1899, adopted a resolution (the "Hague Agenda") that, in part, appeals to legislatures of the world to pass legislation based on the principle of Japan's Article 9. This is a splendid achievement. It is also a great historical irony. After half a century of being mostly ignored by the outside world, Article 9 has finally made a major appearance overseas — just at the moment it is disappering for good in Japan.

Shukan ST: June 4, 1999

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