2015年02月06日発行 1365号
【Statement】
We Denounce the Heinous Terrorist Acts on Hostages by ‘the Islamic State’.
Abe Should Stop the Provocation of War and Prioritize Saving Lives.
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On January 20th, a video was released in which two Japanese men were taken hostage by a terrorist group who call themselves ‘the Islamic State’, and on the 24th, in yet another video, they claimed that one of the hostages was executed. We condemn this heinous terrorist act using human life as a means of intimidation. At the same time, we demand that the Abe administration pursue a solution based on the principle of saving lives.
The Abe administration had known about the capture of the Japanese hostages long before the videos were released. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Abe dared to travel to the Middle East and visited the countries which were bombing ‘the Islamic State’. He provocatively announced there that Japan would collaborate with, and make financial assistance to, those countries.
On January 17th, Prime Minister Abe pledged to offer $360 million in loans to Egypt, which is under military control, $ 2.5 billion in grant aid to help stabilize the Middle East, and also $200 million in grant aid for stepping up efforts against ‘the Islamic State’. Abe met Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, the slaughter of Palestinian citizens, and promised his positive commitment for stability in the region.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Kishida, who visited Paris on the 19th, promised that Japan will offer to Iraq $7.5 million for counterterrorism measures against‘the Islamic State’ . On the same day, Defense Minister Nakatani, who visited the SDF base in Djibouti, announced the expansion of military operations of the SDF there. Djibouti hosts a military base that the SDF shares with the French and the US military, which are currently bombing ‘the Islamic State’. The SDF’s fleets and jets, which continue to carry out sorties from the Djibouti base, are already regular participants in the joint military exercise in the Persian Gulf, which targets ‘the Islamic State’. Moreover, Nakatani visited the SDF stationed in southern Sudan for the UN PKO, where an SDF commander on the ground ordered soldiers get ready to fire last year. There, Nakatani announced the extension of the SDF’s military stationing there.
These actions were a proclamation of Japan’s will to participate in the anti-terror war against ‘the Islamic State’ together with the US, UK, and others. Abe prioritized the preparation to exercise the right of collective self-defense, not to rescue the lives of the two Japanese hostages.
Even after the release of the video of the hostages, Defense Minister Nakatani and Foreign Minister Kishida attended the UK-Japan Defense and Foreign Ministerial Meeting held in London January 21st , where they agreed to cooperate militarily with the UK, which continues to bomb ‘the Islamic State’. This shows that they have no intention of respecting and protecting the lives of the hostages.
The Abe administration endorsed, before anyone else did, the start of the bombing of Iraq and Syria by the Obama administration. It now supports and instigate the military intervention into Iraq and Syria by global capitalists upon the pretext of battling ‘the Islamic State’, and is watching for a chance to exercise the right of collective self-defense.
Abe stated on the 25th that he will prepare the relevant legal framework for the SDF to conduct a rescue mission of Japanese citizens in jeopardy overseas, for the capabilities of the SDF can’t be fully utilized under the present laws. Abe sees this hostage crisis as a golden opportunity to revise the legal framework to enable Japan to exercise the right of collective self-defense, to join the war, and to exercise its military forces. Let us stop Abe from provoking participation in war, and foil his war policy.
We demand that the terrorists should immediately release the hostages.
Also, we demand that the Abe administration should;
1. pursue the solution of the crisis prioritizing the lives of the hostages.
2. stop immediately any forms of assistance to the terrorist state of Israel as well as to the military, corrupt government of Iraq.
3. remove the SDF base from Djibouti, and withdraw any forms of cooperation in ‘anti-terror war’.
4. stop preparing to exercise the right of collective self-defense and stop introducing war related bills.
5. try to counter terrorism not through exercising military forces, such as bombing, but through eradicating poverty which is the breeding ground for terrorism.
January 25th, 2015
Movement for Democratic Socialism (MDS)
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