Tag Archives: G8

Japan Resources No 145

Japan Resources, ,

cuj-jr-145 (pdf) Japan Resources No 145

We are in the middle of a very busy fall campaign season here at CUJ’s office in Nishi-Waseda, Tokyo, as the leaves are turning dark orange and red. We are pleased to announce our latest issue of Japan Resources, with articles from our trip to Australia, the World Foodless Day event, and CUJ’s response to the rice scandal here in Japan. – Editors

CONTENTS:

  • No-GMO: Message from Namiko Ono
  • No- GMO: Speech by Michiyo Koketsu
  • World Foodless Day in Tokyo
  • Stop Aerial Spraying of Banana Plantations!
  • Rice Scandal
  • International Conference on Consumer Policy
  • No-GMO: Californian Rice
  • No-GMO: Australian Dairy Cattle
  • Hokkaido G8 Summit Declaration

G8 Action Network: Declaration of Participants in the International Solidarity Days

North-South, Trade

Make the Hokkaido Summit the Last Summit of the G8!–Declaration of Participants in the International Solidarity Days of the G8

The G8 Summit opened in Hokkaido in July, 2008 with the usual rhetoric of concern about conditions in Africa. These are statements that few people in Africa and the rest of the world take seriously, given how far the G8 governments are from raising the $20 billion they pledged for Africa at the Gleneagles Summit in 2005.

Indeed, if there is anything that distinguishes this particular G8 summit, it is its low credibility. In George Bush, Gordon Brown, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Yasuo Fukuda, we have a group of discredited leaders who are very unpopular with their own electorates. Moreover, in addition to their broken promises on Africa, the G8 have also failed miserably to deliver on their other pledges, notably, canceling the debt of the poor countries, raising aid levels to 0.7 per cent of the GDP of the G8 countries, promoting development through trade, and tackling climate change.

As the G8 meet, the world is reeling from four crises that are unfolding simultaneously: the skyrocketing price of oil, the massive rise in the price of food, the financial crisis that is bringing the global economy to its knees, and the acceleration of global warming. To expect the G8 to come up with solutions to these crises is to expect the impossible since these are the inevitable consequences of the G8’s promotion of a project of globalization that has mainly benefited and enriched their corporate elites.

Read the entire declaration on the G8 Action Network website.

Japan Resources No 144

Japan Resources, ,

jr-144 (pdf) Japan Resources No 144

On a hot day in July we finished compiling the latest issue of Japan Resources. Many articles about our consumer activities, the large peace conference to support Article 9 of Japan’s Constitution, the trip to the Planet Diversity Conference in Germany and the campaign to keep Australia GMO-free. – Editors

CONTENTS:

  • About Food Mileage
  • Book Review: Another Japan is Possible
  • Global Article 9 Declaration to Abolish War
  • Evaluate the Food Safety Commission before Establishing a Consumer Agency
  • Yes to Non-GMO Feed
  • No to GMO Sugar Beet Crops
  • Report from the Planet Diversity Conference in Bonn, Germany
  • Tokyo Actions Against the G8 Meeting

Tokyo Actions against the G8 summit

Trade, , ,

The G8 summit will be held in Hokkaido, Japan. On July 7-9, head of states from just eight of the world’s countries will gather together at Lake Toya. There they will make decisions on the future in the world, protected by the police and military. While the Japanese government welcomes the summit, many people who are dissatisfied with the decisions plan various actions against the summit.

Opposing the summit, NGOs are organizing actions against the summit. This event will take place in Tokyo on June 28-29, 2008.

G8 Action Network (English)

We welcome the opportunity to collaborate in actions with people who tackle with issues of poverty, labor, discrimination, war, violence, gender inequality, social exclusion, environmental destruction, abuse of human rights, food safety, agriculture, minority, and public order. Our aim is to spread our dissent to as many as possible people immediately before the G8 summit.

Among the speakers is Yasuaki Yamaura from CUJ, who will discuss the opposition against WTO and Free Trade Agreements, food safety and food security, in light of the current global food crisis.

More information with a video here (in Japanese).

Global Article 9 Declaration to Abolish War

Japan Resources

080504-tokyo-global-article-9-conference

Ms. Yoko Tomiyama, CUJ’s veteran activist and chairperson, participated in the huge Global Article 9 conference at Makuhari, Chiba on May 4-6, 2008.

A Declaration (pdf) was adopted by participants of the Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War, endorsed by Nobel Peace Laureates Mairead Maguire, Jody Williams, and by the Nobel Women’s Peace Initiative. To read all the outcome documents of the Conference, click here.

Global Article 9 Conference Statement (pdf) towards the Non-Proliferation Treaty PrepCom meeting in Geneva, Switzerland (April 28 – May 9, 2008)

Global Article 9 Conference Statement to the G8 Summit (pdf) taking place in July 2008 in Hokkaido, Japan under Japanese presidency

This three-day event attracted over 33,000 participants nationwide: over 22,000 in Tokyo, 8,000 in Osaka, 2,000 in Hiroshima and 1,000 in Sendai. Close to 200 international guest speakers and participants came from 40 different countries and regions to represent all continents at the conference.