A.N.S.W.E.R. Appeal to Sanrizuka-Shibayama
farmers League Alliance 
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A.N.S.W.E.R. Appeal to Sanrizuka-Shibayama
farmers League Alliance
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Japanese translated text How
to Contact Us
Dear Sanrizuka-Shibayama farmers League Alliance fighting against the expansion
of the Narita Airport,
I am honored to be here on behalf of the A.N.S.W.E.R coalition. The word A.N.S.W.E.R
stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism.
We are greatly inspired by the Sanrizuka-Shibayama farmers League. We are in
solidarity with the heroic struggle you have been waging against the expansion
of the Narita Airport, against U.S. and Japanese imperialism. I bring messages
of solidarity from groups in the U.S. that are also fighting airport pollution
and expansion; groups who gain strength from your protracted struggle.
My great respect for Japanese farmers goes back to my high school summers in
the 1950's and 60's in the state of Oregon where I grew up. There are many farmers
of Japanese origin in the Pacific Northwest. One Japanese family named Hasuike,
owned many acres of strawberries and raspberries. I earned money to pay for
my clothes by picking berries in their fields every summer. I still have fond
memories of those berry fields each time I smell the first strawberry of the
season.
Solidarity between workers around the world is especially important at this
hour. The Bush Administration has followed through on its promise to "Shock
and Awe" Iraq by dropping thousands of bombs and missiles on the 5 million
people living in Baghdad.
The world couldn't imagine an act of terrorism as horrible as the instant annihilation
of 200,000 Japanese by U.S. Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in
1945. But with Iraq, this horrible unprovoked assault on a nation already weakened
by 12 years of sanctions is one of the most extreme terrorist acts of modern
times.
Cruise missiles launched from submarines and aircraft carriers hundreds of miles
away and 3,000 lb. bombs dropped from 30,000 ft. up. It should be clear by now.
The U.S. government claims they want to liberate the people of Iraq, to set
up a democracy and enforce the just demands of the world. Their real goal is
to set up a military occupation of Iraq under the command of Gen. Tommy Franks
who led the first Persian Gulf War. Washington's democracy is riddled with holes.
The world has entered a new phase. The war on Iraq is a signal to the everyone
on the globe that the Bush Administration plans to use brutal violence and terrorism
in order to achieve its objectives of conquest and occupation: To create a new
era of the U.S. Empire: And Iraq is a stepping stone on this path of conquest.
The National Security Strategy Document issued last September by the Bush administration
blatantly and arrogantly states their objectives. They say" that the president
has no intention of allowing any foreign power to catch up with the huge lead
the United States has opened up since the fall of the Soviet Union more than
a decade ago."
They say, "Our forces will be strong enough to dissuade potential adversaries
from pursuing a military buildup in hopes of surpassing, or equaling the power
of the United States."
The document is filled with military threats, including the right to first strike.
To the right-wing military in the U.S. establishment, this document is their
dream come true.
The U.S. rulers are driven by their capitalist system. But markets are drying
up. Big Money is unable to turn around the growing worldwide capitalist economic
crisis. Global corporations and imperialist ruling classes have become pitted
against each other.
The Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz gangs have a plan. It is a plan to use the
overwhelming military might of the Pentagon to establish their economic dominance.
They want not only to rule the Third World, but also to squeeze their rival
imperialist powers into submission, in Europe and here in Japan.
The war against Iraq, as well as the threats to Iran and the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea, the Palestinians, and Zimbabwe are about stopping any regime
that challenges the right of U.S. corporations and the pentagon from dominating
the world.
The U.S. has given Israel $100 billion in military support since 1967,making
the Israeli army among the top 5 in the world.
But, they consider it a high crime if the Palestinian people get one shipload
of small arms to resist U.S./Israeli F-16s, helicopters and warships.
They want everyone to play by U.S. rules; force them to help build the U.S.
Empire. But its a dangerous strategy-it is mostly dangerous now for the people
of Iraq and people around the world. It is even risky for their own stability.
To Washington's shock and awe, they are awakening the hatred of people all over
the world. Their plans have ignited a worldwide movement of opposition and solidarity.
They have lost all legitimacy and they are isolated. The people's movement has
deprived them of the any thin claim to legality.
They have lost even in the United Nations. This world body had given in to U.S.
wishes for over 50 years. It backed U.S. military intervention in Korea. It
backed the first Gulf war in 1991. But the UN could not go along with this latest
case of outright naked aggression.
The war abroad is accompanied by a sharp escalation in the war at home in the
U.S.--a racist war of the billionaire class to intensify its exploitation of
the workers of this country.
The ruling class in the United States depends on the loyalty of the workers.
But in the last two years more than 2 million jobs have permanently disappeared.
The official poverty rate has doubled. The U.S. Constitution has been shredded
by repressive laws.
Workers are beginning to see that their enemies are not in Baghdad but in Washington.
That's where decisions are made to divert hundreds of billions of dollars from
social programs, education and health care. This money is instead used to fund
an unjust war. Every poll shows declining support for the war.
We want to build firm solidarity with all of you here today as well as with
workers and farmers all over the world. We are in the same struggle against
the global banks and corporations who have been destroying our local economies,
robbing us of jobs, health care, education, clean water and air, and stealing
the farm land to build military airports like Narita. To understand how A.N.S.W.E.R
was born, it helps to look at events in the U.S. before September 11
I am a member of the International Action Center, one of 11 groups on the steering
committee of the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition.
Before A.N.S.W.E.R. began, the International Action Center organized a demonstration
on Bush's first official day in office, January 20, 2001. Tens of thousands
of people gathered in Washington to protest the illegally elected president,
representative of the most reactionary, racist group in the U.S. ruling class.
Later that year we began organizing a protest for September 29 to coincided
with the major annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank. Tens of thousands were expected to converge in Washington DC, as they
had a year and a half before in Seattle. They would protest the destructive
role played by the IMF and World Bank around the world. This protest was gaining
tremendous momentum when, on September 11, something that no one expected happened.
The World Trade Tower Event.
Our main office is located in lower Manhattan in New York City. Many of our
friends worked in or near the World Trade Center. Some walked up to our office
covered in dust and soot. Others had planned to go in late that day.
Some who we know never made it out and were among the thousands of missing whose
pictures plastered every lamppost and bus stop in the city. Others were Emergency
Medical Workers and doctors who began working around the clock to help the wounded.
We could tell it would be a major political event even before the dust settled.
It soon became clear that the Bush administration was using this as an excuse
to head towards a major, open-ended war in Afghanistan and possibly the Middle
East.
Before the bombs dropped in Afghanistan, another war began within the United
States. In the weeks following September 11, thousands of attacks took place
against Arab, South Asian, Muslim and Sikh people. The federal government immediately
stationed police and Natural Guard troops all over cities, arresting what is
now over 1,000 people--most of Middle Eastern descent--who are still being held
without charges or access to attorneys.
Many progressive groups retreated or even collapsed in the face of this dramatically
changed political environment. Some denounced those who wished to protest. Some
said that it was no longer appropriate to hold street protests.
They said the public would not understand demonstrations anymore, that we would
be brutally repressed, that this was different, that the U.S. had been attacked,
that we couldn't just start protesting like we did with other U.S. wars of aggression.
In the face of this massive war threat there were those of us who disagreed,
who felt that action was not only important but also imperative. We formed a
new coalition called International A.N.S.W.E.R. Act Now to Stop War & End
Racism.
Within days it was joined by over 500 organizations and prominent individuals
from all over the U.S. and the world. It includes major social justice organizations,
religious leaders, high school and college student organizations, antiwar groups
and more.
On September 29 just 2 weeks after 9-11, over 40,000 people came into the streets
across the United States to say no to a war in Afghanistan or in the Middle
East. In Washington DC, our protest against Bush, the IMF and the World Bank
became a protest of 25,000 people against war. 15,000 more demonstrated in San
Francisco, and thousands more in Los Angeles; Denver, Colorado; Chicago; and
Houston, Texas.
Many of us who protested the Vietnam war are asking. How are these antiwar demonstrations
different than those during the 60's and 70's?
During the Vietnam War a U.S. commander explained that U.S. soldiers were burning
a peasant village in order to save it from communism. Today Bush, Cheney, and
Rumsfeld have announced they are burning Baghdad to save it from the Iraqi Government.
How is the development of a movement in the United States against the war on
Iraq different from the movement at the time of the Vietnam War? How is the
social situation in the U.S. different now?
The first obvious difference is the rapid rise of this peoples' movement. It
has involved hundreds of thousands of people in street protests even before
the main assault against Iraq began.
At the first antiwar demonstration in September, there was already a consciousness,
especially in New York City, that the painful World Trade Center event would
be used to promote war and a racist assault against Muslims and Arabs. The several
organizations that came together as A.N.S.W.E.R kept building the movement.
It called national antiwar demonstrations on April 20, Oct. 26, and then January
18.
Each time the numbers doubled from the previous protests, so that by this January
half a million people demonstrated in Washington, D.C. and a quarter of a million
on the West Coast. Fourteen million people around the world.
Other coalitions also began forming as the war came nearer. This Feb. 15, in
coordination with a worldwide call issued from European antiwar groups, all
the coalitions opposing the war organized a massive protest in New York City
of half a million.
Since the horrendous bombing of Baghdad and other cities started, there have
been protests large and small all over the United States, with the largest taking
place on March 22 in New York and San Francisco again.
There has been more participation from the Workers' movement than during the
Vietnam War. A growing number of labor unions are passing resolutions against
the war. Students have been walking out of high schools and colleges. Dozens
of unions have gone on record against the war. Antiwar resolutions have passed
in over 100 city councils.
During the Vietnam era, it took more than five years of war and many, many casualties
of both Vietnamese and U.S. forces for the movement to reach this level of intensity.
Why is there such widespread antiwar sentiment in the United States today?
Part of it has to do, with the widespread perception that the presidency of
George W. Bush is illegitimate. That he did not win the popular vote in 2000
and used electoral fraud and intimidation to steal the election, especially
in the state of Florida where his brother, Jeb Bush, is governor.
Black voters in particular had been disenfranchised, and the right-wing Cuban-Americans
had been used to intimidate election boards. When the U.S. Supreme Court refused
to order a recount of the votes, however, the Democratic candidate, Al Gore,
conceded the election.
If Bush had stayed within the channels of previous presidents on foreign policy,
this might have been forgotten. But instead he took advantage of the September
11 attacks and immediately began an aggressive, expansionist foreign policy.
The war on Afghanistan, supposedly to destroy Al-Qaeda and its leader, Osama
bin Laden, was really waged to expand U.S. military control in Central Asia.
And it was only the opening in a much larger quest for world domination. The
war on Iraq is phase 2 of this plan.
Is the U.S. public aware of all this? Not the majority. But the antiwar movement
is, and they also know of the intimate connection between members of the Bush
administration and powerful U.S. corporations.
This includes Bush himself, vice president, Dick Cheney, and national security
adviser Condoleezza Rice. They and their corporations will gain huge profits
from control over Iraqi oil and from the contracts being handed out by the Pentagon
right now for reconstruction of Iraq under U.S. domination.
A second difference between now and the Vietnam era is that in 1968 the ruling
class here was split on the war. This allowed a large part of the antiwar movement
to follow behind a bourgeois politician or political party that was tactically
against the war but not against imperialism.
Today, the ruling class and all the politicians and media all support Bush.
The movement has grown up in opposition to the ruling class public opinion.
This has made it easier for a clearly anti-imperialist coalition to play a big
role in organizing the demonstrations.
A third difference between now and 1968 is the economic situation of people
in the United States. There is a deeper understanding that this war is not about
freedom and democracy but about huge profits for the U.S. capitalist class and
its political agents. This awareness is growing at a time of spreading economic
suffering.
Official unemployment is at 6 percent and mass layoffs are taking place every
week. Almost 45 million people are without health coverage of any kind. The
diversion of hundreds of billions of dollars every year to the military budget
is responsible for a critical budget deficit, especially of state and local
governments.
Tens of thousands of government workers are losing their jobs as essential social
programs are cut. Social Security, which includes government pensions and assistance
to the disabled, is facing a crisis manufactured by this administration. So
is Medicare, which provides health insurance to the elderly.
Add this to the hundreds of billions of dollars lost from worker's company and
private pension plans because of the falling stock market and corporate bankruptcies
and it is clear that seniors now face real disaster.
Personal debt is at an all-time high in the United States. The average household
owes $8,500 in credit card debt alone not counting home mortgages, automobiles
bought on credit, and so on.
Many, workers depend on working overtime or two jobs to make ends meet. The
average married woman with children at home works 46 hours a week at a paying
job in addition to her tasks at home.
Millions of workers are unemployed and the number is growing. Homelessness is
on the rise again. Many of those sleeping on park benches, in autos and under
bridges are veterans. Some are veterans of the first Gulf War.
During the Vietnam War many high school friends were drafted. At this time,
there is no military draft in the United States. But poverty has driven many
young men and women to enlist.
They are promised an education and skills to improve their lives once they complete
their tour of duty. But instead they are being given guns and told to invade
someone else's country. All these conditions are combining to bring people of
all ages and ethnic backgrounds together into the antiwar movement.
For years, the Vietnam movement was characterized by a generation gap. Young
people, especially draft-age men, were militantly opposed to the war while their
parents supported it or were quiet. That is no longer the case.
Today, along with thousands of youth, demonstrations are filled with old lefties
that protested Vietnam 35 years ago. We are marching along side our children.
The movement is multigenerational and our chants are: No war in our name, Money
for jobs, housing, and health care, Social Security and Medicare, not for war.
One last difference that must be mentioned is that organizing has been revolutionized
in the new millennium through the use of the Internet. Using the worldwide web
has had a profound effect on the speed at which demonstrations are organized.
Leaflets are quickly downloaded, reproduced and distributed simultaneously in
many locations.
Demonstrations can be organized almost spontaneously. What an irony because
the Internet was first developed by the Pentagon to meet its own needs for high-speed
communication for military research and development.
People don't trust the media anymore. Many get their news on-line. People can
see pictures of what's actually happening all around the world. The U.S. media
can no longer hide the truth. Answer puts out news updates with our take on
the demonstrations and our political analysis--a real alternative to the New
York Times and CNN.
I want to report on the most recent events taking place in the U.S. since the
war began.
On the day first day of the war, 5,000 to 10, 000 people packed into Times Square
in New York City in the pouring rain chanting:
The biggest terrorists in the USA are the FBI and the CIA and What we need in
the world today is regime change in the USA.
On March 22, coordinated demonstrations took place across the U.S. Hundreds
of thousands protested against the invasion of Iraq. In New York City more than
250,000 people took over the streets in a march that spanned more than 40 blocks.
In San Francisco, 75,000 people demonstrated and there were thousands in Los
Angeles, Chicago, Seattle and other major cities.
Since March 20, there has been a tremendous outpouring of people marching in
local demonstrations and performing civil disobedience actions all over the
U.S. Almost daily, hundreds of thousands demonstrate in the streets.
Since March 20, no part of the planet is free from mass protests. A wave of
antiwar protests has been circling the globe since Washington launched its missiles
at Baghdad. The movement that showed its strength Feb. 15 has grown broader
and deeper. Never before have people in the U.S. and worldwide expressed their
opposition to a war with such fervor and in such overwhelming numbers.
All around the world U.S. flags are burning. U.S. embassies in major capital
cities have been blown up or set on fire.
In the 19th century British imperialism boasted that the sun never set on its
empire. Since March 20 the sun hasn't set on antiwar protests against U.S. imperialism.
ANSWER's plans for the future depend on many things.
First there is the question of whether the Iraqi people can resist the U.S.
military machine. This depends on how the movement develops in the rest of the
world. In countries like Greece, Italy, Spain, even Germany or Britain, they
might be able to hold a general strike. This would help our movement at home.
The longer the Iraqis are able to resist the more the worldwide antiwar movement
will grow and the more militant and anti-imperialist it will become.
The struggle against imperialism is complex on the one hand but on the other
hand it is simple. It's like going to the kitchen to boil water for a cup of
tea. You turn on the stove. You put water in the pan and wait.
You wait and wait for the water to boil. Nothing seems to happen for a long
time. Then all of a sudden it's boiling. Human society is the same way. There
are long periods where you are working for change and working for change but
things but nothing seems to happen.
Then. All of a sudden the water starts boiling and lots of things start to happen.
Like in these hard but important times right now. People are losing sleep, working
day and night to quickly organize the mass demonstrations erupting in the streets,
to write and distribute literature, negotiate and battle with the cops, talking
with other organizations and making new contacts.
But we have to remember that 10 years ago was the real hard time. With the fall
of the Soviet Union the U.S. increased its militarization and worldwide aggression.
We had to fight the demoralization of a whole movement and wait. But we knew
the pot would boil. We knew the flame was under the pot.
Now our movement is beginning to boil. In the days ahead our job in New York
is to bring the war home. Into the streets. Make it political.
The next step for the A.N.S.W.E.R. is a call for massive and coordinated demonstrations
to take place around the world on April 12. Protests are already scheduled for
Brazil, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, South Korea, the Philippines, Italy,
Sweden, England, Germany and the U.S. Other protests are currently in the planning
stages and will be announced soon.
In England the group organizing for April 12 is the Stop the War Coalition UK.
They are the ones that organized over 1.5 million people to demonstrate in London
on February 15.
In the U.S. we are calling on people and organizations to surround the White
House on April 12 and hold local demonstrations in cities across the country.
Our plan is to keep up the pressure. Turn up the heat. Urge everyone to stay
in the streets. We will to continue to organize against Bush whose economic
policy is now clear: Steal from the poor and give to the rich.
Now is the time to organize, organize, and organize. The flag waving-support
of the troops is shallow and many more workers are about to enter the antiwar
fervor. We want to be there to greet them.
I am very moved by the strong will and stamina of the Sanrizuka-Shibayama farmers
League Alliance and your tenacious fight against the expansion of the Narita
Airport
Before coming to Japan I discovered that there are 3,000 airports undergoing
expansion in the U.S. 400 of these are in major cities. I made contact with
a few of the hundreds of groups, which have formed to fight airport expansions.
One of these struggles took place in 1966 just 20 miles from where I live. There
was an attempt to turn a large wetland into a major international airport called
The Great Swamp airport. However, it was defeated after 5 years. The group that
grew out of this struggle became the New Jersey Conservation League now buys
land to keep it from being developed. They have prevented 4 other airports from
being constructed.
Just outside New York City they are trying to expand a smaller airport. This
would pollute the Kensico Reservoir, which supplies 9 million New Yorkers with
90% of our drinking water. Besides using up land around the reservoir, expansion
of this airport would pollute the actual water supply.
If this happens, New York City will have to build a $BILLION water--treatment
facility! A group of activists is opposing ANY effort to expand the airport.
They have prevented the building of a hangar and a "deicing facility."
One leader in this movement, was familiar with the Sanrizuka-Shibayama farmers
League Alliance and your struggle here at Narita airport.
I brought a message of solidarity from a group at O'Hare airport in Chicago
called AReCO (Alliance of Residents Concerning O'Hare). Their website has information
about struggles across the United States, and many health problems caused by
airports such as noise pollution and increased rates of cancer among residents
living around airports.
According to O'Hare's own data, the airport produces more than 18% of the known
carcinogens in their county of 5.4 million people. The county suffers some of
the highest cancer and respiratory-problem rates in the whole country! AReCO
found that the highest cancer rates were concentrated in the areas around the
airport.
I would like to read a letter of solidarity Jack Saporito wrote.
It begins: To the courageous members of the Sanrizuka-Shibayama Anti-Airport
League . . .
I have learned much reading the history of your struggle against the Narita
airport. You have given me strength.
What inspires me most is that you are a collective and have been organizing
collectively.
Second, your group is extremely dedicated and committed. You have kept going
through many ups and downs and it's made a difference.
Third, you are working on many fronts and using a variety of tactics.
Fourth, that you are building alliances with others. You link your fight with
the other struggles of the people who are also fighting for a decent life
And fifth, you have so clearly linked your fight to save the microorganisms
in your soil with the bigger issues of exploitation, globalization and imperialistic
war!
We in A.N.S.W.E.R are grateful for this chance to build solidarity with the
hard working, steadfast workers and farmers of Japan.
Long live the struggle of Sanrizuka-Shibayama farmers League against the expansion
of the Narita International Airport!
Long live solidarity between workers and farmers of Japan the United States!
Long live the solidarity of all the peoples of the world!
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