Japan: Guilty of doing good

"Here in Tokyo, Japan, 3 peace activists, Toshiyuki Obora, Nobuhiro Onishi and Sachimi Takada were found guilty on April 11, 2008 by the Supreme Court for putting anti-war fliers into the mail boxes of the families of the Japanese soldiers who were dispatched to Iraq on the orders of Uncle Sam to assist the shameful U.S.-led coalition in its illegal invasion and occupation of Irak to free it of its oil."

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Historic vote in Parliament for war resisters

Canadian MPs ? the majority opposition representing the majority of Canadians ? stood in support of Iraq war resisters when they voted to pass an asylum motion yesterday in Parliament.

Liberal, NDP and Bloc MPs (137 in total) stood in favour – literally stood up to vote as procedure dictates, though for a second the line of MPs could be confused for a makeshift honour guard of sorts – of the "war resister" motion. From the ranks of the Conservative Party, 110 MPs stood against. They did not look happy. Perhaps because they knew Bush would not be happy (first it was former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's wicked Iraq criticisms and now this northern dissent. Someone is going to bed angry!)

The motion, first presented to Parliament on May 29 by NDP MP Olivia Chow, was based on an earlier Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration motion (Standing Order 108(2)) in December 2007.

It called for the creation of a special government program to "allow conscientious objectors and their families ... who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations … to apply for permanent resident status."

The motion also called for the government to immediately "cease any removal or deportation actions that may have already commenced against such individuals."

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Arrests for War Resistance Increase Again

We can never forget that everything that Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal,’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did was ‘illegal.’ It was ‘illegal’ to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany, but I am sure that if I lived in Germany during that time I would have comforted my Jewish brothers even though it was illegal… we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

There have been over 15,000 arrests for resistance to war since 2002. There were large numbers right after the run up to and invasion of Iraq. Recently, arrests have begun climbing again. Though arrests are a small part of anti-war organizing, their rise is an indicator of increasing resistance. The information comes from the Nuclear Resister, a newsletter that has been reporting detailed arrest information on peace activists and other social justice campaigns since 1980. Felice and Jack Cohen-Joppa, publishers of the Nuclear Resister, document arrests by name and date based on information collected from newspapers across the country and from defense lawyers and peace activists. Since 2002, the Nuclear Resister has documented anti-war arrests for protestors each year: 2002 – 1800 arrests 2003 – 6072 arrests 2004 – 2440 arrests 2005 – 975 arrests 2006 – 950 arrests 2007 – 2272 arrests 2008 – 810 as of May 1 READ MORE HERE

Is the Antiwar Movement Scaring People Away?

If you’ve been involved in building the antiwar movement during the last couple years, chances are that you’ve asked yourself what it will take to involve more people in organizing to bring the troops home from Iraq. It’s been 18 months since the antiwar movement last held a high-profile national demonstration–on January 27, 2007, in Washington, D.C.–and across the country, local activists and coalitions report a lower level of activity as compared to late 2005 and 2006. READ MORE HERE