http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/letters/feb-10-battling-islamic-state-plus-other-letters-to-the-editor/article28680041/
Here is the entire letter.
Japan’s pacifism
Brahma Chellaney advocates Japan’s recent departure from postwar pacifism as a precondition for peace in Asia (A Resurgent Japan Can Ensure Lasting Peace In Asia, Feb. 2). However, he fails to grasp the political conditions in Japan and neighbouring countries. Recent polls show that 75 per cent of the Japanese public are dissatisfied with the government ramming through legislation that would allow “self-defence forces” more active military roles outside Japan, and only 38 per cent support revision of the pacifist constitution.
With the constitutional pledge that renounces war (known as Article 9), the people of Japan have chosen to solve international disputes with diplomatic solutions. It is the people of Japan, not the United States, who decide how they defend their country and right to live in peace.
Tomoe Otsuki, Montreal (on behalf of Article 9 groups in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver)
The Globe and Mail is Canada's national quality paper.
掲載された投書の訳は以下。
「ブラーマ・チェラニー氏は日本が最近戦後の平和主義から脱却したことをアジアの平和への条件であるとして擁護した（２月２日付記事「再起する日本はアジアの恒久平和を確実にする」）。しかし、チェラニー氏は日本とアジア隣国における政治的状況を把握していない。最近の世論調査によると、日本国外で自衛隊により大きな役割を許す法律を強行成立させた政府に対し日本市民の７５％が不満に思っており、平和憲法を改定することに賛成しているのは３８％だけである。日本の人々は、憲法による戦争放棄の誓約（９条として知られる）によって、国際紛争は外交的手段で解決することを選んだのである。自分たちの国と、自分たちが平和的に生きる権利をどう守るかを決めるのは日本の人々であって、米国ではない。
トモエ・オオツキ （モントリオール）
トロント、モントリオール、バンクーバーの９条の会を代表して」
@PeacePhilosophy
I cannot imagine such biased, American-centric and pro-war opinion can be written by a so-called "professor of strategic studies at the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research".
ReplyDeleteBrahma Chellaney's article on Pacifist Japan is grounded on fact and fiction. Most post World War Two pundits and journalists fail to note that there is nearly incontrovertible evidence that Japan's 1946 peace constitution was more a collaboration between Prime Minister Baron Kijuro Shidehara and General Douglas MacArthur than it was imposed upon the Japanese people. Also it has become common that modern far right academics and journalists choose to ignore that the Security Alliance between Japan and the U.S., began in secret. Both Japanese and American nationals had no clue this pact was being negotiated without their knowledge, public debate and political support. In addition Professor Chellaney fails to mention that Japan, like the rest of the world is living in the nuclear age. Under the Abe Doctrine, Japan must compete with at least 9 other major industrial nations, all of whom are proponents of nuclear weapons. Can Japan compete and survive on the venerable world stage without nuclear weapons? Fukushima was an accident, a tragedy that Japan has not resolved. A nuclear armed Japan poses a far greater threat to the Japanese people than a natural disaster like Fukushima. Approximately 18,000 people lost their lives in a two week period at Fukushima. The man-made disaster of Hiroshima took 140,000 lives in a matter of seconds in 1945. The Abe Doctrine is another form of "nuclear roulette" that Japan and other major powers continue to play with their own people and the world. As a footnote to progress, it should be noted that the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the Jane Addams Peace Association and Veterans For Peace are mounting a campaign to bring a version of Article 9 as an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
ReplyDelete