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News Archive |
LAST UPDATE
February 24, 2007
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| January 28, 2007 |
Peace Boat Brings the Global Campaign for Article 9 to the World Social Forum 2007, Nairobi, Kenya |
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In January of this year, Peace Boat focused on internationalizing Japan’s peace constitution by promoting Article 9 at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa. This year marks the seventh year of the World Social Forum, which was founded in Porto Alegre, Brasil in 2001 to promote justice, international solidarity, gender equality, peace and defense of the environment.
The 2007 WSF took place at the Moi International Sports Complex in Kasarani, located in the Northeast of Nairobi. On the 20th of January, the Opening ceremony of the WSF included thousands of participants, NGO activists, organizations, cultural groups, musicians and local Kenyans. Keynote speakers for the opening ceremony represented a diverse range of nationalities and backgrounds. Former Zambian president Kenneth D. Kaunda, who led Zambia to independence, spoke along side local Kenyan women and NGO activists from Brasil, Italy and various other parts of the world.
The following days of the forum were organized around the activities and workshops being held by each participating organization. During the day, the stadium was filled with music, cultural shows, protests and artistic movements by various community groups and organizations. The vibrant flow of people between the booths, activities, and workshops created a great space for networking and social activism. |
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| The Article 9 banner was hung at the Kasarani stadium in Nairobi, Kenya
to promote the Global Article 9 campaign to Abolish war |
During the forum, Peace Boat held two workshops to encourage WSF participants to get involved with the Global Article 9 campaign. On January 22nd, a workshop entitled “ Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution: Common Treasure of Humankind for Peace” attracted more than 50 participants and featured four main speakers which included Akira Kawasaki and Roberto Zamora from Peace Boat, Shoji Umeda (JALISA, Japan) and Francis Daehoon Lee (ARENA, South Korea). The workshop focused on the significance of Japan’s Article 9 as a global common value in promoting disarmament, demilitarization, human security and a culture of peace in the world, as well as a foundation of regional peace.
The second workshop, held on January 24th, was entitled “The Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish War” and had a more international focus with guest speakers such as Michael Seigel from Australia, Pablo Anguiar Molina from the International Catalan Peace Institute, Hannelore Tolke from Germany, and Roberto Zamora from Costa Rica. The Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish War aims, in support of Japan’s Article 9, to encourage governments and global civil society to adopt similar peace provisions in their own legislation and/or constitutions and to establish Demilitarization Mechanisms to realize the concept of Article 9 at international, regional, national and local levels. This includes the drastic reduction of armaments, military spending, armed forces, military bases and military industry and the conversion of resources into peaceful, civilian use for sustainable development and human security. More than 70 participants from many countries attended the workshop and recognized the importance of Article 9 and hoped to introduce it in their own countries. There was a raised concern about the arms trade in Africa and the role that Article 9 could also play in ending the arms trade and providing security in African nations. This will be a new topic for Peace Boat to consider in the future while developing the Global Article 9 Campaign to abolish war. |
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Peace Boat staff members met with Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize
Laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya. (Left to right) Emilie McGlone, Wangari Maathai, Akira Kawasaki, Roberto Zamora |
In addition to the workshops, Peace Boat also organized a campaign to collect signatures in support of Article 9. In collaboration with members of JALISA, Peace Boat created a booth to help raise awareness and provide a space to talk about Article 9 outside of the organized workshops and activities. Throughout the forum, more than 950 signatures and messages of support for Article 9 we gathered. The statement in support of Article 9 reads as follows:
“We, the undersigned, express our support for Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which renounces war forever as a means of settling disputes and prohibits the maintenance of armed forces and other war potential. We believe that it is time for people of the world to unite around Article 9 principle to abolish war and work towards demilitarization, promoting human development and realizing a sustainable world. To achieve this, we commit to establishing and upholding peace laws and principles in our own countries, cities, communities, and places of work and learning”
The initial steps of the Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish war at the World Social Forum were a success and have opened the door to international organizations who are working on similar projects and who hope to join Peace Boat’s efforts to raise awareness and increase the global visibility of the Article 9 campaign. To follow up on the campaigning efforts, Peace Boat will work towards the 2008 Global Article 9 Conference to be held in Tokyo, Japan. International supporters, such as Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Jody Williams will also be attending the conference in Tokyo for the Article 9 Campaign. |
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| Various International guest speakers joined the Global Article 9 Campaign
workshop to promote the Japanese Peace Constitution in Asia and around the
world. (Left to right) Akira Kawasaki, Michael Seigel, Pablo Anguiar Molina,
Hannelore Tolke, Roberto Zamora |
At the World Social Forum in Nairobi, the Nobel Women’s Initiative hosted a panel discussion with 3 of its founders; Nobel Peace Prize Winners Wangari Maathai (Kenya, 2005), Shirin Ebadi (Iran, 2003) and Jody Williams (US, 1997). In the event, “Women Building another World”, the laureates shared their vision of a democratic world possible for women that is free of physical, economic, cultural, political, religious, sexual and environmental violence and the constant threat of these forms of violence against women. We hope that the Article 9 Campaign can contribute to creating such a world and we look forward to the support of the laureates attending the conference in May of 2008. |
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Peace Boat collected more than 950 sigatures at the World Social Forum in
support of the Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish war |
During the WSF, there were also various events held by the Green Belt Movement, which was founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai of Kenya, and has inspired a new effort to help mitigate global warming with an appeal to the international community to plant a billion trees around the world this year as part of a project to save the planet. Peace Boat staff member, Emilie McGlone, took part in the tree planting ceremony that was held at the WSF. All three Nobel Peace Laureates also planted trees in an effort to show international solidarity to end Global Warming and protect the environment. The Greenbelt Movement is also very active in Japan and will be creating an office in Tokyo this year, which will enable them to continue their promotion of the “Mottainai campaign” which encourages conservation and recycling as a means of environmental action.
Other environmental campaigns at the WSF included action by FOEI (Friends of the Earth International), of which Peace Boat is also a member. This year, FOEI focused their campaign on exposing the failures of the oil company SHELL to clean up their environmentally hazardous oil spills in various countries in Africa. Peace Boat joined the efforts to collect signatures in support of the campaign to make SHELL take responsibility for their environmental destruction and negative impact on communities, collecting more than 3,000 signatures in support of the campaign. |
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Peace Boat staff, Emilie McGlone, joined the Green Belt Movement tree
planting ceremony held by Wangari Maathai, founder of the GBM and Nobel
Peace Prize laureate. |
Both Peace Boat and FOEI finished the forum by collecting signatures and making their presence known at the closing ceremony which took place at Uhuru park in Nairobi city on January 25th. Music, dance and social messages took the stage and thousands of participants gathered to show that they too believe “Another World is Possible!”
Regarding the future of the WSF , it was decided that there will be no World Social Forum in 2008, but rather an international and decentralized “Day of Mobilization” on January 26th and 27th to encourage local civil society movements to regain momentum and promote activism at the national levels. Peace Boat will continue to work towards the upcoming WSF events and participation in the international “Day of Mobilization”.
For information about Article 9 of Japan’s constitution and Peace Boat’s Global Article 9 campaign, please click HERE – www.article-9.org/en/index.html)
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