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News Archive |
LAST UPDATE
July 11, 2005
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| May 11, 2005 |
From Fighting War to Renouncing War: Iraq and Article 9 |
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Peace Boat welcomes two friends from Iraq in speaking event to hear perspectives of civilians living through war.
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| Learning first-hand about the impact of war, economic
sanctions and depleted uranium munitions on the health of the Iraqi
people at a hospital in Basra, February, 2003 |
Working to overcome the gulf between how the situation in Iraq is represnted in the mediaand the actual reality, Peace Boat has invited two friends from Baghdad to Japan to share their experiences with the public, as well as join Peace Boat onboard its 49th Global Voyage between Japan and Aqaba. The guests, Fadi, a young company employee and Dr. Waqar, an established medical doctor and professor, will speak at Seisen University in Tokyo this Sunday May 15, and then travel to Osaka, Fukuoka and Sapporo to share their own perspectives on the war and occupation, and raise awareness of impact of the war on the health of the Iraqi people. |
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When four Peace Boat staff and photojournalist Hirokawa Ryuichi visited Iraq in February 2003, Fadi and Dr. Waqar were instrumental in helping to ensure the group had a successful and meaningful experience. Over the past two years, they have provided an invaluable partnership, particularly in supporting a Peace Boat delivery of medicine and blankets to a hospital in Falluja. Two years have also passed since the war that Dr Waqar and Fadi lived through was declared [by the US] to be over.
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| School kids in Baghdad welcome the Peace Boat delegation in
February, 2003 |
And yet, security continues to worsen, and shootings, bombings and violence against civilians has but increased. The message from governments and mainstream media to the rest of the world is that the Iraqi war is far away; is under control; and that civilians are represented by numbers killed, and not by their own voices. And for Japan, having sent troops, the war in Iraq is not “somewhere far away,” but a problem here and now that Japan is complicit to.
At the same time, some people say that Article 9, the “Peace” clause of Japan’s constitution is idealistic and too unrealistic. Those people should consider the voice of those killed in war: the Iraqi people who are dying and suffering under war and occupation. But by speaking with someone who has experienced violent conflict you are likely to hear the opposite sentiment; that Article 9 and the spirit of non-violence and non-militarism it represents is more important today than ever before.
This is a chance for people to re-consider the relationship between the war in Iraq and the meaning and importance of Article 9. Japan’s participation in the war in Iraq is arguably illegal and in violation of Article 9. Hearing from Dr Waqar and Fadi provides a rare chance for us to hear another side to the story, the civilian perspective on the situation in Iraq, and to think about how we can avoid such war in the future.
Joining Fadi and Dr. Waqar in this event will be photojournalist and editor of photojournalism monthly magazine Hirokawa Ryuichi. Following the event, Fadi and Dr. Waqar will undertake a short speaking program in Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka and Sapporo before joining Peace Boat’s 49th Global Voyage.
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| When: |
May 15, 2005 |
| Where: |
Seisen Women’s University, Shinagawa Campus, #2 Building, 4th Floor, Rm. 240 |
| Time: |
14:00 – 16:00 (Door open at 13:30) |
| Nearest Stn: |
10 min. walk from Gotanda Stn. (Yamanote Line, Asakusa Line) and Osaki Stn. (Yamanote Line and Saikyo Line) |
| Language: |
English and Japanese |
| Information: |
(03) 3363 – 8047 (English / Japanese) |
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