Give peace a chance!

[thomas]

Antiwar protesters march in Tokyo

Thousands of people took to Japan's streets Saturday to protest against a probable war in Iraq. The events were part of an international day of action that may have involved as many as 10 million people in at least 400 cities around the world. Several hundred people packed the narrow street in front of the American Embassy in Tokyo to express anger at the United States for moving closer to military action.

=> http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/...20030216a5.htm

Antiwar demonstration attracts 5,000 protesters in Japan

=> http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content...at=1&id=249635



More info:

=> http://www.labornetjp.org/NewsItem/0...ntiwar-gallery

=> http://tokyoprogressive.org/news/tpn...d=P190_0_2_0_C

[ava]

but dont you think it was better if they do that to ask from saddam to leave and let us ....
just in that way we can feel like human

[ava]

im from iraq (kurdistan)
and i dont know how to chang my country to iraq

[ava]

please why i can not change my flag
i am trying but i cant

[thomas]

Hi ava, welcome aboard. I've changed your flag to Iraq. However, you're IP reveals that you posted from Iran, that's why you got the Iranian flag.

13 years ago I visited Iraqi Kurdistan, spent most of the time in Mosul. I still remember how friendly people were. In Mosul I met the only tourists I have encountered in Iraq, two young Japanese guys, lol.

[den4]

whattup with the scary face, Thomas? You trying to scare away Saddam that way?

[thomas]

Nope, that's my face after eating natto. ;)

[ava]

hi thomas
thank you so much for your help....
wooooooow you were here in kurdistan???
did you visit dohuk or arbil or sulaimani or kerkuk?
coz mosul is not a kurdish city although there are many of kurds living there...
you must come here and see kurdistan in spring how much beautiful is it....
by the way are you from japan???

[Maciamo]

May I ask you Ava, are you for or against military intervention by the US in Iraq ? I guess Kurds are against Saddam. Is there any talk of an independent Kurdistan if the US were to occupy Iraq ?

[thomas]

Originally posted by ava

coz mosul is not a kurdish city although there are many of kurds living there... you must come here and see kurdistan in spring how much beautiful is it.... by the way are you from japan???

Hi Ava, I spent a night in Irbil and also visited the ancient Niniveh. Well, it's been a long time, but I will never forget how friendly we were treated by the local Kurdish population. Hehe, I even bought traditional Kurdish clothes. Oh, and I'm from Austria.

Maciamo, the Kurdish are opposed to Saddam, but they are probably more opposed to a possible Turkish intervention in the framework of a NATO military action.

[den4]

Originally posted by thomas
Nope, that's my face after eating natto. ;)

I'd hate to see what it looks like after eating shiokara, then..... :P

seems like the Ides of March will be when they bring Caesar down in Iraq? That's when Brutus, I mean Bush, will stick 'im in da ribs... :O

[thomas]

We all know what happened to Brutus, don't we?! ;)

Former Monty Python Terry Jones:

"I'm going to blow up my street"

=> http://www.zmag.org/content/showarti...15&ItemID=3181

World Peace Now on 03-08-2003

=> http://give-peace-a-chance.jp/118/ (J/E)

[ava]

hi everybody
maciamo yes we are against saddam he killed thousands of us just because we want our rights like all the people in the world...
and we are against military intervention by the US if there will be
a military ruler here in Iraq...but if US will do the same he did in Germany we accept it ...and there is not any talk of an independent Kurdistan , in fact now we don稚 want to independent Kurdistan because turkey , Iran , Iraq , Syria and all the world will stand-up against us because we are a very unlucky people and we have no friends .... I don稚 know why all the world hate us ...what we did to deserve these???
why we couldn稚 live like other peoples???
even we couldn稚 do any protest (like you) against Turkish intervention because they threat us and I am very sad because it was supposed that we do our protest tomorrow (Saturday) .....
but we can not do that anymore .... you can see how wronged we are .....
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh my god
many times I wish to die not just me but all the Kurds .... because death is more better than this life...........

[ava]

thomas you must come here and see how kurdistan is changed to better during this 10 - 11 years that we had our government you can not belive...

[thomas]

Ava, lately I have watched a lot of documentaries about Iraqi Kurdistan which has de facto become a state within the Iraqi state. They impose their own taxes and rebuilt the infrastructure with U.N. support, but also with financial support from Kurdish organisations abroad. Despite the embargo there's active trade with Turkey (oil) and Iran (consumer products). It's really impressive what has been achieved so far.

Also, I don't think that the world hates the Kurdish, as you stated, but Oecalan and his PKK have left a very negative impression in the West. Please forgive me my bluntness, but it's also about time Kurdish leaders stop their squabbling and start to cooperate in their own people's interest.

As for visiting Kurdistan: insha'allah, I'd really love to!

[thomas]

Back to the original topic:

Tokyo anti-war demo draws 14,000 as Japan backs UN ultimatum

Tokyo: An anti-war protest by some 14,000 Japanese filled Tokyo's Hibiya Park on Saturday even as the government approved a new UN resolution setting March 17 as a final deadline for Iraq to disarm or face war. Carrying signs urging Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi not to "sell" Japan, protesters rallied in the downtown park before setting off on a peace parade. "Most Japanese are against war, but Koizumi is acting as if we are all part of the American system," said a 71-year-old retired man, who called himself Kei. "Even if we do not participate in an attack, we will be asked to help pay for the reconstruction of Iraq. In this economic slump, it's worrisome that we just support whatever the United States says." A poll released Monday by Jiji press news agency found 84 per cent of Japanese opposed a US-led attack on Iraq, while Koizumi's support dropped eight points to 45 per cent. Seemingly unfazed by public hostility to its position, the government said that Japan, while not among the 15 members of the UN Security Council, supported a resolution sponsored by the United States, Britain and Spain that challenged a sharply divided Security Council to authorise war if Iraq does not disarm within 10 days. "We support this resolution as the final effort by the international community to pressure Iraq to disarm on its own," Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said in a statement. Protesters remained hopeful, however, that war could a least be postponed to give diplomatic efforts a chance to succeed.

=> http://www.manoramaonline.com/servle...7&channel=News

Tens of thousands rally across Japan to protest war on Iraq

=> http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content...at=1&id=252051

[Kikuchiyo]

Hm.. it also appears United States goverment workers are also resigning as well as ones in Australia to protest what their govermnets are doing. Unfortunately I dont have any reference links on-hand T_T so maybe soon I'll be able to pull them up and post^^;

And perhaps a fitting image for this topic: Click me >_<

[den4]

I always thought having the leaders and the various representatives (politicians) of the nations that insist on fighting wars ought to enter an international gladatorial ring and just bash each other to a pulp....the victor deciding the rule of the nation until the next challenger comes in.....
When you get them out of their comfy UN cusion chairs and out in the ring, they may have a change of heart about the bloodlust and battle.....when you can push a button and blow people away, it makes it all a statistic, so very impersonal.....nothing like showing people the bread and circuses of real battle, up front and personal....unedited, to make sure those pencil pushers in the government know the real price being paid for warfare in general.....

[Kikuchiyo]

Originally posted by den4
I always thought having the leaders and the various representatives (politicians) of the nations that insist on fighting wars ought to enter an international gladatorial ring and just bash each other to a pulp....the victor deciding the rule of the nation until the next challenger comes in.....
When you get them out of their comfy UN cusion chairs and out in the ring, they may have a change of heart about the bloodlust and battle.....when you can push a button and blow people away, it makes it all a statistic, so very impersonal.....nothing like showing people the bread and circuses of real battle, up front and personal....unedited, to make sure those pencil pushers in the government know the real price being paid for warfare in general.....

To quote Joseph Stalin

"The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic."

[thomas]

Oh, is that an actual quote by Stalin? I mean, that would make him one of the greatest statisticians in the world.

[Kikuchiyo]

Originally posted by thomas
Oh, is that an actual quote by Stalin? I mean, that would make him one of the greatest statisticians in the world.

keke^^;;

Obviously some resentment against the communist dictator but yeah, its a quote by him >_<

Its funny how he isnt pictured worse then Hitler. Hes responsable for the death of about eight-million Ukraines, but I guess he isnt pictured as evil since he was apart of the Allied effort during World War II -_-;

[thomas]

Welp, there's not a lot of communist doctrine to be found in his rule. Lenin hated him from the beginning and wanted him to be removed from all party positions after his (Lenin's) death. Lenin's last will was ignored.

[den4]

there are a lot of people in russia that still have high respect for Stalin, despite having their own families massacred by him.....this seems to indicate that if you brainwash people long enough, they'll think fondly of anything in the past as a friendlier time.....

[den4]

kind of makes you wonder how N. Korea would go, after Kim's rule ends... :O

[hennagaijin]

Even I am against the war, I wouldn't go this far.

About 40 more Japanese have recently applied for Iraqi visas to serve as human shields in the face of a looming U.S. invasion of the country, the Iraqi Embassy in Tokyo said Wednesday.

Read more.

It might be more understandable if going there as a human shield would make a difference...