International Women's Day in Japan
Workers World interviewed Phebe Eckfeldt, an anti-war
activist from the ANSWER coalition in Boston who toured Japan
for four days around the time of International Women's
Day.
Workers World: Who invited you to speak in Japan and what
meetings took place?
Phebe Eckfeldt: The National Feder a tion of Women's
Democratic Clubs of Japan invited us to speak at a series of
meetings to celebrate International Women's Day. From March 5
through March 9 I spoke at four different meetings--in Sendi,
Nagoya and two in Tokyo.
Representatives from anti-war groups, farmers fighting U.S.
bases, youth groups, unions, teachers, survivors of U.S.
bombings spoke at these meetings, which were well attended and
had very enthusiastic audiences. Many participants were
surprised to hear that the U.S. had an anti-war movement. The
pro-government capitalist media has deliberately kept this
quiet, so there were many questions about ANSWER's work.
The NFWDC is actively organizing for March 20 along with
other progressive Japanese organizations. The main
demonstration will be in the heart of Tokyo at Hibiya Park.
Many, many cities and towns around Japan will hold actions on
March 20.
What is the women's group history?
The NFWDC office in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture in
Tokyo, is right across the street from a huge military base the
U.S. military has occupied since 1945. They used it to ship and
repair military equipment and dispatch U.S. troops during the
Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and now the war
against Iraq. The base goes on as far as the eye can see,
taking up acres and acres of prime land in the middle of the
city.
Military drills and flight practice are conducted here
regularly, creating noise and pollution. There are dangerous
chemicals stored at the base. The women, some now in their 70s
and 80s, have been fighting this base for many years. They
recently staged demonstrations and sit-ins against the dispatch
of Special Defense Forces troops to Iraq, succeeding in
convincing some of the Japanese soldiers not to go.
During the Vietnam War the base was a battlefield when the
women helped organize anti-tank protests and for 100 days sat
in front of the tanks, stopping the U.S. from sending them to
be used in Vietnam. Their slogan was, "We won't participate in
the Vietnam slaughter!" They built a tent city and unions,
housewives, students participated in the struggle. The NWDC
office was used as a hospital to treat injured activists beaten
by the police.
Is the issue of U.S. military bases important?
It's at the forefront of the Japanese anti-war movement.
Most people in the U.S. have heard of Okinawa--from which in
February 3,000 U.S. troops were dispatched to Iraq--but most do
not know that there are somewhere around 78 military bases in
Japan. Japan is a densely populated island with very little
open space. These bases take up a lot of land, land the
Japanese people treasure and revere, land they could cultivate,
so they are very angry about it.
One of the highlights of my trip was going to Mt. Fuji, much
revered by the Japanese people and the highest mountain in
Japan. It is a beautiful snowcapped extinct volcano but there
is a U.S. Army training camp right there at the base of it!
Live artillery training, with guns and shells exploding, goes
on there constantly.
Mothers Against the Field Firing Practice at Northern Foot
of Mt. Fuji have been fighting this base since 1960, holding on
tooth and nail to their traditional lands. Their slogan at the
beginning was, "Don't let them use Mt. Fuji for war in Korea or
the Middle East!" They continue to use guerrilla tactics to
stop the exercises, including digging holes in the firing range
and staying there, building huts and towers in the middle of
the firing range, sending their goats into the range with red
letters sprayed on their backs, lying down in front of military
vehicles, etc.
In November of last year, Marines who were going to be
shipped to Iraq came there for firing practice. The mothers
continued to interrupt their training.
The majority of Japanese people were opposed to the U.S.
invasion and war on Iraq. More than 80 percent of the
population was opposed to Prime Minister Koizumi sending 1,000
Japanese SDF troops to Iraq earlier this year. The people are
very upset because Article 9 in their Constitution specifically
states that Japan will never go to war again.
What are conditions for women in Japan?
Women workers in Japan are increasingly facing similar
conditions as women workers in the U.S. Social services are
being cut, leaving women to desperately struggle to find a way
for their families to survive.
Giant sweatshops are cutting the work force, so that, for
example, the work of 12 women is now done by five. Many women
are being forced into part-time work that gives no benefits.
The government is telling them it is now a sexually equal
society and that women should actively work for the war.
Is organized labor involved in the anti-war
movement?
Representatives of two important unions that are actively
opposing the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq spoke at the
International Women's Day meetings: the National Railway Motive
Power Union of Chiba or Doro-Chiba, which represents the Japan
Railway workers, and the Japanese Federation of Aviation
Workers Union, which represents the flight attendants.
Doro-Chiba just conducted a two-day strike that shut down most
of the railway to protest the war as well as U.S. attacks on
North Korea.
Reprinted from the March 25, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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