Article 9: Hello/Goodbye
By DOUGLAS LUMMIS
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憲法9条の新しい姿
憲法9条の新しい姿
先月15日まで開催されたハーグ平和市民会議で、
憲法9条を見習おうという動きがあったが、
24日に成立したガイドライン法によって、
憲法9条が平和の意味をなさなくなったのは
皮肉なことだ、と筆者は言う。
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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
(C) All rights reserved
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