MESSAGE for August 6, 2023 – Hiroshima Day Rally
2023 World Conference Against A & H Bombs
Corazon FabrosThank you very much for this opportunity to speak at this gathering today
and with deep appreciation and gratitude for more than 3 decades ofengagement, friendship and solidarity with the Japan peace and justice
movements, that Nihon Gensuikyo has nurtured in me and for many
peace activists and movements throughout Asia and the Pacific and theworld. Warm greetings!
We live in dangerous times. The covid pandemic has made our lives
worse and oftentimes unbearable. But we continue to gather not only
because there is so much work and challenges that we face but because
we know that it is always the important thing to do in moments of crises,
and the continuing wars of aggression in our region and in many parts of
the world. This gathering that we do every year provides the opportunity
for us to collectively take stock of the lessons we learn from the past; tounderstand the current situation we are in so that we can muster thecourage to move forward in the right direction.
The Hibakushas, the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who wehonor as our inspiring compass in holding the World Conference every
year, continues to inspire us with their determination to ensure that
Hiroshima and Nagasaki will not ever happen again. I am also happy that
more and more young peace movement leaders are taking on more
active roles in organizing and making our gatherings possible. Theenergies, enthusiasm, skills and commitment that they bring are vital in
our continuing work for now and in the future.
The Asia and the Pacific has been for a long time a Theater of War, andsadly, continues to be so, where communities suffer the impacts ofcolonialism, militarism, patriarchy and the rise of fascist and authoritarianregimes. These issues converge in ways that should strengthen ourunity, work towards inclusivity, respect and solidarity, providing us withthe capacity to care for each other especially for those who suffer
persecution and human rights violations because of the work that they doin the midst of the continuing militarization that are happening not only in
Ukraine, as we witness the increasing militarization in the Pacific islands
including the Philippines, and here in Japan especially Okinawa. Yet, wealso bear witness to the increasing and continuing courageous struggles
in these places that bear witness to the reality that organizing peoples
1movements in the frontline of our struggles, to create a critical mass, iskey to a resistance that gives hope for a victory to carry us forward.
In the Philippines, we face a resurgence of a government
accommodation of U.S. expanded EDCA (Enhanced Defense
Cooperation Agreement) putting back on tract and highlighting “thesignificance of the bilateral defense relations between the Philippines
and the US in light of new and emerging challenges that confront ourNation.”
China’s rise as economic and military power, its aggressive military
actions in the West Philippine Sea is an urgent concern in Southeast
Asia and the rest of Asia and the Pacific. This situation challenges theunity and cooperation among the ASEAN that brings to the fore the needfor the serious implementation of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons
Free Zone Treaty.
For us in the Philippines, we will hold on to our determination andaspiration expressed in our Constitution (the reason for the Philippinesratification of the TPNW): THE PHILIPPINES, CONSISTENT WITH THE
NATIONAL INTEREST, ADOPTS AND PURSUES A POLICY OFFREEDOM FROM NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN ITS TERRITORY” Andwith the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone Treaty (1995)
and the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by the UnitedNations.
(To close, allow me to lift lessons from struggles in the Philippines:
1. SOLID ORGANIZING at the national level and local communities.
2. Involve ALL SECTORS for a broad, popular struggle.
3. Wage a CULTURAL STRUGGLE to SIMPLIFY and popularize ourmessage;
4. Initiate LEGAL PROCEEDINGS in courts as well as initiate/lobby for
LEGISLATIVE efforts to institutionalize victories. People Power!
5. Initiate campaigns locally and internationally against the financing andsupport ofharmful nuclear energy technologies, and weapons of war.
6. Activate world-wide networks for INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY;
7. Creatively expose and critique the continuing rise of military spending
and theweaponization of our laws, education, governance and social structures;
8. POPULARIZE development alternatives that respect and uphold life,dignity andhuman rights.)
2Finally, on behalf of the Nuclear Free Philippines as well as theInternational Peace Bureau and the Asia Europe Peoples Forum, I
express our commitment to support the campaigns for theimplementation of the TPNW; the reduction of military spending; theopposition to foreign military bases, the Korea Peace Appeal Signature
campaign and peace in the Korean Peninsula and the important work offormulating a common security policy that involves social movements
and governments, across sectors and regions.
No more Hibakusha! No to nuclear weapons! No to War! And yes tojustice, to a life sustaining climate and to people’s health and humanrights!
Corazon Valdez Fabros
Nuclear Free Philippines Coalition
And International Peace Bureau
Note; Highlighted – NOT TO BE READ

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