135 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 18 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
Exclusive to OpEd News:
OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 9/28/15

Japanese War Act, Made in U.S.A., Assembled in Japan

By       (Page 1 of 1 pages)   1 comment
Message Hiroyuki Hamada

(Image by Hiroyuki Hamada)   Details   DMCA


Under strong pressure by the U.S. establishment, Shinzo Abe's ultra right wing Japanese regime violently forced passing of the illegal, inhumane, undemocratic Legislation for Peace and Security, which many of us call the War Act (1), (2).

Along with Abe's other initiatives to remilitarize Japan, the new regulation has the potential to turn one of the leading economies into a war economy. It can force many people to earn their living by making tools of killing and destruction, holding their livelihoods hostage to the death and suffering of wars. Once the lives of the workers are locked in place, the capitalistic pursuit and the hierarchy of money and violence will give the newly born military industrial complex a life of its own. Imagine a nightmarish future filled with Japanese-made high tech weapons.

This remilitarization has the potential to give huge profits to multinational weapon makers and colluding ruling elites in Japan and the US. It will support ongoing colonial wars and interventions across the globe, which have killed millions, displaced far more, and destroyed communities and countries. It will pave the road for corporate restructuring and privatization to suck the blood and souls out of the war torn people and terrorized people in neighboring nations who are subjected to the same neoliberal plundering.

The Imperial Japan of WWII hasn't really gone away. It was absorbed into the US imperial hegemony profiting from the devastating Korean war, Vietnam war, wars in the Middle East, and other colonial interventions and structural violence against the global south.

This dark age must end. Half of our tax money should not go to wars. What country needs 1400 military bases across the planet? The worst things have already happened to millions who lost their family members, friends, cultures and countries; how could we keep going for more?

As Martin Luther King Jr. said, those bombs being dropped in far away lands are exploding in our cities --- destroying our communities, social safety nets, infrastructures, our healthcare, our educational system, free higher education, homes for everyone and food to feed our children. The normalized notion of drone killings, "humanitarian interventions" and racism against enemies blind our conscience and feed our helplessness. Meanwhile our friends, many Black and Brown friends, continue to endure wholesale violence by the street cops, mass incarceration and economic war against them.

Let's stand with the victims of those wars. Let's join their struggles to renounce the colonialism, imperialism and corporatism of the U.S. /Japan criminal team against humanity.

With more of us opening our minds and hearts, another world is inevitable, where we share what our planet can offer and what we the people can offer each other.

Peace.


1. 8/19/2015 "The national security bills are an exact copy of the third Armitage Nye Report"

www.taro-yamamoto.jp/english/5168

2. 8/19/15 "The Sunagawa Ruling, the Japanese Government's Pretext for Allowing the Collective Self-Defense, Was Ordered by the US"

www.taro-yamamoto.jp/english/5304
Must Read 2   Supported 2   Well Said 1  
Rate It | View Ratings

Hiroyuki Hamada Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Hiroyuki Hamada is an artist. He has exhibited throughout the United States and in Europe and is represented by Lori Bookstein Fine Art. He has been awarded various residencies including those at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, the (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

The Shape of the Imperial Cage

An Interview With Ted Larsen

Torture and Killings By Police-- The Psychopathic Audacity of Fear Aimed At Breaking Human Spirit

Would Anyone Read the Pentagon Papers on the Floor Today?

End of the Empire

An Interview With Charles McGill

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend