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(This article is a tribute to the academics , jurists , intellectuals and working people of Japan who contributed significantly to an analysis of the forces presently ranged against humanity in Afghanistan and Iraq and to the investigation of the nature of the weapon systems being used in the region of West Asia and Central Asia , the most destructive in world history )
Even as the world is threatened with another nuclear attack by the US administration in the first decade of the 21st Century , in a futile bid by the US led alliance to avoid and divert from impending financial collapse , to the consternation of the majority of its citizens, successive governments of Japan under pressure from powerful financial and corporate interests in the United States with interlocking interests in Japan , have forged from 1995 even closer co-operation with the United States and agreed to revised guidelines to the US-Japan Security Treaty for its alliance " facilitating closer wartime coordination between the Japanese and US militaries including use by the United States of Japanese territory in case of war with a third country ". Japan is also a collaborator with the United States in developing missile defence technologies with a five year plan for joint production and a contribution of $ 10 billion*1 sustaining the US military industrial complex and the arms race in North East Asia including in space in which China and South Korea are also participants . Japan has provided refueling facilities for US aircraft , logistic and other technical facilities from US bases in Japan and from its ships for the military invasion and continued occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq , though the small contingent of troops in Iraq was withdrawn a year ago . Japan has recently entered into a Security pact with the government of Australia , seen as a military predatory force by the people of South East Asia and the Pacific , evidenced by the stationing of Australian troops in the Pacific islands and in East Timor , for the seizure of hydrocarbon among other resources of the region .In this context it would appear ,that the policy makers in Japan looking at history through the fog and mist of memory, have forgotten that war brought destruction to Japan whereas peace brought unusual prosperity .
Simultaneously with these developments , there has been a concerted move from political and militarist lobbies in more than one political party , to reassess the utility of Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan , which commits Japan to renounce war as a means of settling disputes , by mandate of the fundamental law governing the structure and organization of the State of Japan in the post second world war period, prohibiting in substance and spirit 'militarization' or a state 'armed to the teeth', and the pursuit of war as state policy , which the people of Japan , emerging from the ashes of the fire bombing of its cities and the US nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki , having witnessed the devastation of their own country and far greater destruction of large parts of Japan 's neighbourhood of Asia , with millions killed as the direct consequence of intense rivalry for colonies between the colonial powers of the USA-UK-France and Japan , vowed never to repeat .It would almost appear as though the government of Japan is buying its peace against those powers who would stop at nothing to devour targeted regions and hiring those forces for self-protection , apprehensive of newly emerging forces in its region.
Article 9 does not stand in isolation within the constitutional framework of Japan 's post war constitution and is a logical extension of the Preamble, * 2 which declares its determination to preserve security and co-existence , trusting in the justice and faith of the peace loving peoples of the world , as a consequence any proposal for amendment is relevant not only for the people of Japan but a matter of concern for the people of Asia ,even as desperate US led finance and corporate policy perceiving the US military 's inability to control vital regions of the world's hydrocarbon resources, to pacify the resistance of Iraq and Afghanistan , to subdue Iran, to encircle the USSR , or to make China as pliant as before to its financial ,geopolitical and military objectives , is threatening to resort to nuclear attack pursuant to nuclear doctrines already in place for US forces.
The contradiction in the situation is that despite the incorporation of Japan into the US alliance system in the post war period, the Japan -US relationship has not been free from stress and tension . Succeeding governments in Japan due to an inflexible policy of over dependence on US markets by Japanese corporations for exports , have played along with US requests alternating with coercion , carrying forward the trauma of the nuclear attack , based on their understanding that the Anglo-American axis has never allowed any society to rise to its full potential, economic and political. The irony of the US administration now urging the abandonment by the government of Japan of Article 9 and the commitment to pacifism , is not lost on the people of Japan who were the real victims of the US atomic attacks intended to send signals to the rest of the world , even as their government had initiated moves for surrender, having lost the war . The singling out of Japan was deliberate and racist, which the governments of Japan have glossed over , despite the arm twisting by this adversary cum ally even after Japan emerged in the post war world as the new economic powerhouse loyally supporting the "Reagon era budget deficits and spending excesses… Tokyo's loyalty and purchase of U.S treasury debt, real estate and other assets were rewarded at the beginning of the 1990's by one of the most devastating financial debacles of world history..to undercut Japanese economic influence in the world"*2 Japan was pressured as much as China is to-day to revalue the Yen . The direct consequence was a colossal inflating stock market bubble resulting from low interest rates and an inflated financial system , with a decade and more of recession. Economist Lawerence Summers , later Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration summed up the ambiguity of the US -Japan relationship in the eighties stating that -
" An Asian economic bloc with Japan at its apex is in the making …..raising the possibility that the majority of American people who now feel that Japan is a greater threat to the U.S than the Soviet Union are right " .*4
The economic destruction of the former USSR after the Reagon - Gorbachev and the Margaret Thatcher -Gorbachev negotiations at the end of the so called cold war, is an example to the friends and foes of the US and UK , including India and China ; the latter was raised to most favoured nation status as a quid pro quo for acceptance of the geopolitical objectives of the US corporations , now targeted, even as it seeks to protect its economic interests in view of the rapid decline in the dollar and rising energy prices .Establishing that not even an alliance partner is safe. It is time to recall that the Anglo-American alliance hoped at the outset of the Second World War that Japan and Germany would destroy themselves and the USSR.
The fact that most of the candidates , Republican and Democrats , contesting the primaries , the prelude to elections of the US President ,in an open televised debate , did not rule out the use of nuclear weapons by the US military , should alert the people of Japan already suspicious of the moves of their governments in respect of Article 9 , as to which path they are now being led up to , despite the importance of this article reflected in the first clause of the ten principles for a ' Just Peace ' adopted by the Hague Appeal for Peace of 15th May 1999 calling upon nation states to incorporate in their Constitutions the following words;
" Every Parliament should adopt a resolution prohibiting their government from going to war ." *5
Undoubtedly for over sixty years since the Second World War, the leaders of Japan have avoided the status of a belligerent power at war . However the vacillations and ambiguity of Japan 's position in extending technical and logistic facilities for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq , including the funding of the earlier Gulf War along with Europe , Saudi Arabia and the UAE , leaves the government of Japan open to complicity in War Crimes, in conformity with the verdict of the of the International War Crimes Tribunal, pronounced in May 1967, ( widely known as the Bertrand Russell War Crimes Tribunal ) in which there was participation from many countries including Japan , which on the issue of the complicity of Japan in US War Crimes held by a majority verdict of 8 to 3 that :-
" The US forces have a right to use all the territories from the military bases of the US Army , Navy and Airforce located in Okinawa. By making use of Japan's highly developed technology and abundant supply of materials for the repair of U.S warships , commercial vessels and aircraft as well as procurement of all the equipment, the U.S government put Japan in complicity an important element which constitutes the U.S. strategy in the Vietnam War."
The International Criminal Tribunal for Iraq held at Tokyo (2005) , a civil society initiative of Japanese jurists has also held by its verdict , that the government of Japan was complicit in war crimes in Iraq for contributing a contingent of troops and logistic facilities, pronouncing the US - Japan Security Treaty and the US bases in Japan as a violation of article 9 of the Constitution of Japan .* 6
Despite the passage of time and the insistence from leaders in Japan that the past is now the distant past . The present debate on Article 9 will be incomplete without a reference to that historical past, as Article 9 constituted a solemn assurance given collectively by the people of Japan to its neighbours in Asia and other countries, that the past would not be repeated.
It is now over a hundred years when a Japan rapidly modernized by the Meiji period to prevent Japan being colonised , *7 electrified Asia with a victory over Tsarist Russia, spurring Asian nationalism , as several countries of Asia under the occupation of European powers, hailed the emergence of an Asian country , as did the foremost Indian and Russian revolutionaries from different political perspectives , necessary to recapitulate.
In a brilliant piece of political writing titled ' The Fall of Port Arthur', relevant to the contemporary period which once again sees the emergence of new industrial powers in Asia and the decay of US military and economic power and that of its alliance systems , the foremost Russian revolutionary of the then Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( Lenin ) described the reaction to the emergence of Japan -
"……… the European bourgeosie , which has taken no part in the war , feels humiliated and depressed . It has grown accustomed to identify Russia 's moral strength with the military strength of the gendarme of Europe. This disaster implies a tremendous world wide capitalist development , a quickening of history 's pace . Advancing progressive Asia has dealt backward and reactionary Europe an irreparable blow ……the military debacle which the autocracy has suffered from has deeper implications ; it signifies the collapse of our entire political system ." * 8
In the nineteen thirties, Jawaharlal Nehru one of the eminent leaders of India 's freedom movement , later India 's first Prime Minister, in Glimpses of World History , vividly described the emergence of Japan in 1853 in the Meiji period , after 200 years of cutting herself off from the outside world - 'made up for lost time, caught up with the nations of Europe and beat them at their own game ……. The Western powers were by no means pleased at this rise of a powerful country in the Far East ."
Despite Nehru's admiration for the technology and scientific skills acquired by Japan , the Imperial trajectory of Japan the occupation of Korea , the war forced on China , the annexation of Manchuria , Port Arthur , Formosa( now Taiwan ) and other islands was highlighted by one of the most reflective writers on international issues that India has produced , second to none in his commitment to peace , in the following words:-
" Japan not only followed Europe in industrial methods , but also in Imperialist aggression …"
Recording events taking place in 1938, Jawaharlal Nehru gives us a contemporary report of what happened , relevant to the people of Japan caught up presently in the controversy on history books :
" Japan 's aggression in Manchuria was continuous…In 1937 Japan launched a major offensive …..Japan met with fierce resistance and tried to break it by vast and horrible massacres from the air and other methods of unbelievable brutality. But in the fiery ordeal a new nation was forged in China ……. Great cities were reduced to ashes by Japanese bombers and vast numbers of people slain. The strain on Japan was great and her financial and economic system showed signs of cracking up ……… Japan occupied Shanghai and Nanking and when she approached Canton and Hankow, the Chinese themselves set on fire and destroyed their great cities ".* 9
The events of the Second World War are too well known to recount here with historical memories in China , Korea , South East Asia, the Pacific and Japan as to what the rival armies of Japan , the United States , Britain and France inflicted on the people of the region. Against this backdrop, the inspiration for Article 9, the constitutional mandate against resort to war, was in its quintessence Japanese though incorporated in the post war constitution adopted in occupied Japan and came at a watershed in the modern history of Japan , even as the intellectuals and working people of Japan decided to make a determined and reasoned break from the history of one century of war and colonisation , recalling the renunciation of war as policy, by the great Indian Emperor Ashoka who became a Buddhist after the bloodshed in the Kalinga war which he won .This policy brought peace and prosperity to his realm.
A review of policy pronouncements by members of the US government in the last decade indicates, that Article 9 has become an obstacle for US financial institutions and Corporations with interlocking financial interests in Japanese Corporations and financial institutions , desiring to incorporate Japan along with other oligarchies , into its strategy for recolonisation of regions , to postpone financial and economic collapse. This policy commenced in the aftermath of the war in Vietnam , when a defeated United States no longer had the moral, political , economic or military strength to wage a war on its own resources.
Thereafter a coalition of the willing , of NATO powers and of those governments closely bound to the interests of US Corporations , Banks and financial institutions was a necessity , if Wall Street and London City were to perpetuate their economic domination of the world and to protect the status of the dollar as a reserve currency . In the seventies an economic and strategic relationship was forged with China , in addition to NATO , Canada ,Australia and Japan .After the capitulation of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at the end of the eighties , acquiescence of all permanent of the Security Council and other governments such as Saudi Arabia , the UAE and others was forged for the first Gulf War and the imposition of sanctions on Iraq to starve the people of Iraq into submission, to surrender hydrocarbon resources . However with the economic decline of the USA , the emergence of China and a change of guard in Russia which increasingly secured its interests in its energy resources ,a considerably weakened coalition replaced the earlier coalition for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 , opposed by Russia , China , France and Germany. The debacle in Iraq and the reverses in Afghanistan has heightened the desperation for a wider coalition apart from NATO, among other traditional allies , to be extended to the ruling classes of countries like India among others.
The move towards acceptance by the financial oligarchy of Japan of their need to move away from a pacifist constitution , commenced actively with Prime Minister Koizumi and a few other leaders posturing with highly publicised visits to the Yasukuni temple enshrining Japanese soldiers and generals , dedicated to those who died in the Second World War , in an attempt to evoke an emotionally charged dialogue with the leaders of China also interested in keeping such issues alive as suitable diversions ;in addition there are repeated orchestrated accounts of the alleged kidnappings of a few citizens of Japan by North Korea .This was done despite the presence of a sizeable community of people from Korea in Japan and the fact that except miniscule right wing fascist groups, who from time to time stage high profile attacks and protests ,well funded by interested sections , the majority of the citizens of Japan do not see the Yasukini shrine as representing the past glory of Japan. The Yasukini shrine (visited solitarily by me on two to three visits to make an assessment of its present role in Japanese society ) is largely deserted , except on special days of ceremony when there are more people . In Japan to-day war is seen as destructive and cruel and far from heroic. These moves were made by successive governments to move away from constitutional principles ,to legitimize Japanese participation in "UN Peace keeping Operations ' , provide logistic facilities for the US occupation in Iraq, position a small military contingent in Iraq and refuel US aircraft from Japanese ships in support for the invasion of Afghanistan .The more important changes were to establish a ministry of defense against the nomenclature of 'self -defense ' used in the post war period .
The drift towards the acceptance by the government of Japan of the need to amend Article 9 came to a climax , when a prominent Minister of Prime Minister Abe's government declared that the " bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after all brought to an end the Second World War ', echoing the propaganda from the United States as a justification for rehabilitating in the minds of the American people the Nuclear Posture Review for nuclear attacks even on non nuclear states . This statement was subsequently retracted in the face of universal anger in Japan .( The proceedings of the Argonaut Conference, December 1943 at Washington D.C.are relevant to determine the objectives of the nuclear attack on Japan ).
To-day what confronts Japan is a complex global situation exacerbated by the financial collapse of the Anglo-American world, seeking to survive by the military capture of region after region , seeking to control hydrocarbon and other vital resources , with the adverse impact of excruciatingly high energy prices affecting even Japan . On the other hand is the enhanced rivalry for energy resources between the United States , UK and the NATO powers threatening three states of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization, Russia , the People's Republic of China and Iran ( an observer state seeking membership) among others , pursuing independent energy policies . Japanese investments and diversification on the trade and energy fronts in East Europe , Russia , Iran , West Asia and Central Asia among other regions have been held up on account of US pressures , not in the interest of the people of Japan and its economy .
Succeeding governments of Japan, representing the interests of major Japanese financial institutions and corporations , with financial and commercial linkages to the United States , have over decades following the occupation of Japan by US forces , dovetailed its policies in several spheres with the United States, while attempting not to offend the interest of other States .The impending financial collapse of the United States and UK compounds the dilemma of the government of Japan , even as independent projections and analysis confirm that the recession is not a temporary phase but a long drawn out period of economic decline. The prolonged Japanese recession was itself an indication of the economic conundrum facing Japan , which despite the back breaking labour of the Japanese people, the high level of their skills and advanced technology , their legendary frugality and savings rate , Japan has had difficulties in overcoming.
Despite the determined efforts to Americanise Japanese society ,the people of Japan remain overwhelmingly committed to Article 9 and the preservation of peace and tranquility and trade on the basis of mutuality of interests . It is the intellectuals and the working people of Japan who have regained by example the esteem of the people of Asia, even as they accepted with rare humility that they were responsible for the sufferings of each of the countries colonized and occupied by Japan and did not hesitate to express this sentiment , apologising again and yet again .Economic and technical co-operation in the nature of assistance programs for special projects could materially complement the expressions of regret .
To say that North East and South East Asia have forgotten the past , would be an oversimplification, painful memories remain and erupt from time to time .On the other hand the attacks on Japanese citizens and businesses in China cannot be justified with reference to events that took place more than 60 years ago. Tensions of a diplomatic nature have erupted with China related to claims in offshore hydrocarbon resources , which both Japan and China in the interests of economic prosperity have wisely kept contained .It is also necessary to state that no country in Asia has questioned the right of Japanese society to maintain defense forces in the interest of the self defense of Japan as distinguished from a militarized state .
Any government in Japan , which believes that the people of Japan will accept a status of military belligerence in the 21st Century for unjust wars unrelated to self -defense ,even as a quid pro quo for a seat in the Security Council which is no longer seen as protecting the security of nations, is miscalculating the fierce commitment to peace of the people of Japan ,who have set their minds against any kind of invasion and military occupation of other societies and against the use of Nuclear and related weapon systems such as Depleted Uranium weaponry.
What presently preoccupies the people of Japan is the stagnancy of their economy ,the lost gains of social security , the thousands of annual suicides related to unemployment, and consequently the heightened competitiveness in education and in the employment market, leading to gross overwork, destructive of family life, with serious effects on the demography of Japan .Despite these adversities Japan remains a technologically advanced society, with sophisticated engineering skills ,a high standard of living, with the rate of savings one of the highest in the world .
The political sky is overcast in Japan as well as all over the world. Whether the people of Japan will find the political intensity to retain Article 9 in spirit and substance and battle their own passive reactions to violations of their Constitution and transform the industrial and financial collective for the accumulation of private capital by transforming the phenomenal energy of the people of Japan into a new collective and a new civilization remains to be seen . Few societies are in a position to accomplish this transformation as effortlessly as the working people of Japan .
Ms Niloufer Bhagwat
Advocate , India
16th April 2008
References :
1. Asad -Ul Iqbal Latif , Between Rising Powers , China, Singapore and India , Institute of Southeast Asian Studies , Singapore, 2007.
2. Professor Dr. Asaho Mizushima , Judgement at the International Criminal Tribunal , At Tokyo , March 2004.
3. William Engdahl , A Century of War, Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order , Pluto Press ,2004 edition .
4. William Engdahl , A Century of War, Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order , Pluto Press, 2004 edition .
5. Professor ( Dr) Asaho Mizushima, Supplementary Opinion at the International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan , at Tokyo, March 2004.
6. Judgement of the International Criminal Tribunal for Iraq , at Tokyo , 2005.
7. Paul Kennedy , The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Fontana Press 1989.
8. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin , ' The Fall of Port Arthur ' Collected Works , Vol. 8 , January -July 1905, Foreign Language Publishing House Moscow , 1962 .
9. Jawaharlal Nehru , Glimpses of World History , Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund ,1980 .
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