日本被団協

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From monthly paper HIDANKYO, November 2001

An excerpt of the report on peace movement in the US has been appeared in the paper. The following is full text of the report by Dr. J. Gerson.

Organizing for Peace in the Wake of September 11

[Dr. Joseph Gerson is Director of Programs of the American Friends Service Committee in New England and the initiator of United for Justice With Peace, a coalition of more than twenty organizations in the Boston area.]

Although many of the reasons that contributed to the brutal September 11 attacks are now quite clear, like the rest of U.S. society, the U.S. peace movement was deeply shocked and initially somewhat confused about how best to respond. Some of us have lost friends and neighbors in the planes, the World Trade Center, and in a very few cases the Pentagon itself. Part of the shock and continuing confusion in the country as a whole, relates to the issue of national identity. For the first time in 225-year history of the United States, civilians of this country have been killed in their homeland by forces from abroad.

Many of us in AFSC, and I suspect other organizations, began organizing the day of the attacks. Those in New York were preoccupied with finding ways to help the victims and survivors of the attacks and their families, and organizations across the New York metropolitan area responded with essential material assistance.

Here in Boston, AFSC organized a meeting of long-time activists, including Arab and South-Asian Americans to share what we knew and to begin organizing in ways that would condemn the attacks but calling for punishment of those responsible by means of law and diplomacy, not war. We called for a vigil on September 12 to grieve the loss of people in the attacks, to condemn the attacks while saying that "war is not the answer"; we called for protection of civil liberties and communities at risk in the U.S. (Arabs, Arab-Americans, Moslems, and South Asians), and for the root causes of the attacks to be addressed. This vigil brought together more than 700 people, many of them students, on very short notice and also received wide press coverage. We have subsequently held weekly vigils, and several days after the U.S. and British bombings of Afghanistan began, about 2,500 people gathered in Boston for a protest rally and peace march. Perhaps more than in other parts of the U.S., in New England, we have been able to break through the initial media efforts to marginalize or voices and popular protest opposing government calls for World War III, the "ending of states", and the warfare that has now begun in earnest.

Across the country, students have responded with teach-ins held on hundreds of campuses, and as in Boston (where we continue to hold a weekly peace vigil), there have been similar vigils held in countless cities and communities across the country. In New York, Union Square, near the World Trade Center, was transformed into an informal peace memorial, and several weeks after the attacks a coalition of peace and justice organizations came together to organize the "Not In Our Name" coalition which subsequently held a peace march which drew hundreds of people. In Washington, the meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund were canceled, but several thousand activists went to Washington anyway, marching and holding religious services calling for peace with justice.

Peace activities have not been limited to the traditional peace student movements. As indicated above, broad sectors of the movement protesting corporate globalization, many religious activists and communities of faith have found ways to bring people together, to call for "justice not war", and have found their way into the growing movement.

As the full page ads signed by several thousand people - including hundreds of Japanese peace activists - which the American Friends Service Committee placed in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Roll Call Magazine, at least one other major U.S. newspaper, We have been clear that war is not the answer. Killing more innocent civilians will not bring security to anyone. Worse, the war threatens to widen the crisis, raising the possibility of a military coups in (nuclear-armed) Pakistan and in a number of Middle East nations. The early Bush Administration rhetoric of World War III, of toppling multiple states, and of a "Crusade" has been extremely dangerous.

What is the movement calling for. The six principles of the Not In Our Name Colaition, which brings together the American Friends Service Committee, War Resisters' League, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Peace Action, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and other national organizations are quite succinct:
1. We mourn the victims and condemn the attacks of September 11.
2. We stand in defense of civil liberties.
3. We oppose anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and all forms of racial, ethnic, and religious violence and bigotry.
4. We oppose military intervention and war.
5. We seek global peace through social and economic justice.
6. We support justice not vengeance; bring the perpetrators to justice through established principles of international law.

These principles have been adopted, modified, or expanded upon by a number of state and local coalitions, as the longer statement of principles of United for Justice With Peace - a coalition of more than 20 organizations in Boston, and which appear below - illustrate.

How to create justice? There are no easy or simple answers. The crisis grows from a long history of U.S. support for the Mujahadeen and Taliban in Afghanistan (as part of the Cold War and later to increase its access and domination over Central Asian oil and gas), and from the U.S. recruiting, training, and supplying Islamic fundamentalists from many countries to fight in Afghanistan and Bosnia. It also grows from the U.S. practice of hegemony in the Middle East which has included coups, support for dictatorial governments, the presence of U.S. foreign military bases, and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Other contributing causes include the poverty and misery in which many are forced to live in order to support the wealth of the U.S. and other northern post-industrial societies.

In many ways, the attacks of Sept. 11 and the subsequent anthrax attacks, should be dealt with as terrorist crimes, not war, in much the same way that terrorism has been punished and minimized in Japan and Europe over the last three decades. This is a matter for the police and intelligence agencies, working within the limits of constitutions and the law. Capturing Osma Bin Laden will not fully resolve the dangers. As long as the conditions, forces, and injustices which generated the attacks of September 11 continue, those who are oppressed are likely seek ways to end their oppression, including the use of criminal and unjustified means such as terrorism. Work for justice will, in time, create peace.

PRINCIPLES OF United for Justice with Peace

The individuals and organizations that comprise United for Justice with Peace express our profound grief for the thousands whose lives were cut short in the September 11, 2001 attacks, and extend our heartfelt condolences to all those who suffered losses in the event. We stand with people of conscience the world over in condemning unequivocally these horrendous acts of violence. In pursuit of a world without terror, the Coalition adopts the following principles:

We seek global peace through social and economic justice.

We will not support war, no matter what reason or rhetoric is offered by politicians or the media. War in our time and in this context is indiscriminate, a war against innocents and against children. Further militarization or restrictions of our society will also have dire consequences on human rights and civil liberties at home.

We are opposed to the use of military and economic aggression that targets countries and peoples to apprehend the few who are culpable. Those responsible should be brought to justice through genuine international cooperation and through judicial process based on the rule of law.

We oppose the diversion of positive human energy and material resources away from basic needs of health, education and affirmative social supports and toward the destructive and dangerous uses by the military.

We stand in defense of our constitutional civil liberties and reject the rush to repressive measures. We cannot be secure by limiting our liberties, as some of our political leaders are demanding, but only by expanding them.

We oppose anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and all forms of racial, ethnic, and religious violence and bigotry.

We call for addressing the serious humanitarian crises in Afghanistan and other affected regions through genuine international cooperation under the leadership of neutral, independent aid organizations.

We call for root causes to be addressed. Millions of ordinary people in the Middle East are angered at US support for the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the inhumane economic sanctions against Iraq, US support for repressive regimes, and the actions of unaccountable global economic institutions dominated by the United States, which have perpetuated poverty and despair at home and abroad. U.S. cultural domination over a pluralistic world and the unwanted forward deployment of U.S. foreign military bases are also a source of anger. Until these policies have been changed we will never be safe, and we will continue to betray the ideals of freedom, justice, and democracy which we rightly prize.

We are committed to nonviolence in all actions done in the name of the coalition.

We are committed to being a coalition which welcomes new voices and collaborates with other communities working for similar goals.
As those who have long struggled for social justice on many fronts, we are united in our resolve to demand policies which support human needs, not weaponry, exploitation and repression. More strongly than ever, we believe that democratic processes provide the only way forward. As we strive to remake the world in the image of a beloved community of global citizens, no one of whom suffers from the scourge of terror, we stand with those everywhere who are committed to justice, peace and the recognition of human dignity for all.

These principles are a work in progress. As more communities and individuals join our work for justice with peace, our principles will continue to evolve.

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