Category Archives: East Asia

On remote Philippine island, female forest rangers are a force to be reckoned with

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

A blog by Molly Bergen, Conservation International

In honor of International Women’s Day (March 8), Human Nature is spotlighting “conservation heroines” around the globe. In this piece, we meet Nolsita Siyang, an indigenous farmer and mother of 10 who also finds time to patrol her community’s ancestral home as a forest ranger.

rangers
Nolsita Siyang, a forest ranger who regularly patrols the protected area surrounding her village on the island of Palawan, Philippines. (© Conservation International/photo by Tim Noviello)

Nolsita Siyang has not had an easy life. A member of the Palawan indigenous group on the southern end of the Philippine island of the same name, she has spent most of her nearly five decades farming a small plot of land on the slopes of the Mount Mantalingahan mountain range.

Siyang lives in Raang, a mist-shrouded, thatch-roofed village accessible only by a winding footpath that becomes a river of mud during the rainy season.

About 10 years ago, her husband, Federico, had a stroke, leaving him mostly incapacitated. Now the family relies primarily on the income she brings in. Each week, Siyang — usually accompanied by several of her 10 children — trudges several kilometers down the footpath from her village to the market in the lowlands, carrying surplus corn, peanuts and other wares on her back in hopes of making a sale.

Between caring for her land, making trips to the market and looking after her family, Siyang doesn’t have a lot of spare time, yet she chooses to spend it volunteering as a forest ranger, patrolling the protected area surrounding her village.

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Questions for this article

Indigenous peoples, Are they the true guardians of nature?

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Why does she do this? Siyang’s community is linked to the land by tradition, spirituality and survival. If the land isn’t protected, life as she knows it will cease to exist. Together with her only daughter, she is proving that women play a vital role in securing their community’s future.

The Palawan people are believed to be the descendants of the first settlers of the island, who may have arrived more than 50,000 years ago. Even today, the island’s sparse, pot-holed roads and lush greenery feel far removed from the air-conditioned shopping malls and urban sprawl that characterizes much of modern Philippines.

Most of the 12,000 or so people who identify as Palawan live in small villages around Mount Mantalingahan, the highest peak on the island and considered sacred by locals. In Siyang’s words: “The forest is our home, and has a direct connection to our daily lives.”

Palawan people observe a traditional boundary system called bertas, which identifies sacred sites based on myths passed down by their ancestors. These areas are left undisturbed based on the belief that the nature they contain has unseen guardians. These parcels of forest are interspersed with areas where indigenous people regularly hunt, grow crops and gather forest products, from wild vegetables to medicinal plants to reeds used for weaving intricate Palawan baskets.

Recognizing the need to conserve this vital place, Palawan communities were instrumental in establishing the Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape (MMPL) around their villages in 2009. The park covers more than 120,000 hectares (almost 300,000 acres), and is jointly managed by a protected area management board composed of representatives from local and national government, NGOs (including Conservation International), religious groups and the indigenous community.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article)

East Asia, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Fishing ban in remote Pacific waters is working, report finds

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

A blog by Bruno Vander Velde, Conservation International

A ban on commercial fishing in one of the world’s most significant hotspots of marine biodiversity appears to be working, according to a new report. The proof is in the pictures — in this case, satellite images compiled by Global Fishing Watch, a web-based platform developed by the marine conservation organization Oceana, in partnership with Google and SkyTruth.

Fishing
A lively reef in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, set aside as a marine protected area by the island nation of Kiribati in 2006. Commercial fishing was banned there in 2015. (© Keith A. Ellenbogen)

The hotspot in question, the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) — a Montana-sized swath of ocean set aside as a marine protected area by the island nation of Kiribati in 2006 — was declared off-limits to all commercial fishing in 2015. According to the report, Global Fishing Watch revealed a stark reduction in the number of fishing vessels detected there after the policy was enacted.

Monitoring and enforcing a ban on fishing in such a vast and remote area of ocean was all but impossible without recent advances in satellite technology and ship tracking. The new report shows the promise of this technology as a crucial piece of the puzzle for protecting oceans, proponents say.

“When sound policy, effective monitoring and reliable enforcement work together, we can truly protect important ocean ecosystems,” Jacqueline Savitz of Oceana said in a statement released Thursday. “With a fishing ban in place in PIPA, commercial fishing vessels seem to have gone elsewhere, giving tuna and other important fish stocks a chance to recover and seed other fishing grounds.”

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Question for this article:

If we can connect up the planet through Internet, can’t we agree to preserve the planet?

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Applying the same formula of policy, monitoring and enforcement in other marine protected areas, she said, might help to protect other marine ecosystems from illegal fishing of the kind chronicled recently in a recent New York Times report on poachers in the Pacific.

Located within the Republic of Kiribati in the heart of the Pacific Ocean, the Phoenix Islands are one of Earth’s last intact oceanic coral archipelago ecosystems, boasting more than 120 species of coral and 514 species of reef fish. The ecosystem has remained intact in large part due to its relative isolation, but the growing reach and sophistication of commercial fishing had begun to put increasing pressure on one of its most prized resources: the tuna that spawn in the region. The west central Pacific, which includes PIPA, is home to the largest tuna fishery on the planet.

This tuna is crucial both to Kiribati’s economy and to its own food security, and for years, groups including Conservation International have been working with Kiribati to better manage and protect its territorial waters, an area the size of India. Revenue from commercial fishing and licensing in other parts of Kiribati’s waters amount to almost half its national income; however, due to its large span and limited monitoring capacity, Kiribati loses untold millions of dollars of income per year from illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in its surrounding ocean waters.

Experts are hopeful that the tide may be turning.

“It is beautiful when a plan comes together the way PIPA has, and the data [that] Global Fishing Watch has provided us is a sign that large-scale ocean management can work,” said oceans expert Greg Stone, an executive vice president at Conservation International (CI) and an adviser to the government of Kiribati. “The government of Kiribati, the New England Aquarium and CI have been working for the better part of two decades to get PIPA to this point, and though we are seeing validation of success, we know PIPA’s story is just beginning and we need to remain vigilant.”

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article)

East Asia, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

David v Goliath: Marshall Islands take on nuclear powers at UN court

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from RT.com

The Marshall Islands launch a legal campaign against the UK, India and Pakistan this week [March 6] in a David versus Goliath battle to achieve the goal of a “nuclear free universe”. The islands accuse the nuclear states of failing to halt the nuclear arms race, and are urging the UN’s highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), to pursue a lawsuit against all three.

marshall-islands
Video: Tony de Brum Explains Marshall Islands Lawsuits

The Pacific Ocean territory, used as a US nuclear testing site for 12 years, filed applications with the ICJ in April 2014 accusing the world’s nine nuclear-armed states of not respecting their nuclear disarmament obligations under the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and customary international law.

The nine nations possessing nuclear arsenals are the US, the UK, France, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel – though Israel is the only one which never acknowledged holding nuclear weapons.

The court admitted the cases brought against the UK, India and Pakistan because the three states have already recognised the ICJ’s authority.

The islands’ former Minister of Foreign Affairs Tony de Brum said they commenced “this lawsuit with the greatest respect and the greatest admiration for the big countries of the world, but we think it must be done”.

Hearings will take place in The Hague Monday to examine whether the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is competent to hear the lawsuits against India and Pakistan. Another hearing will take place on Wednesday to examine “preliminary objections” raised by London in the case against Britain, according to AFP.

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Question related to this article:

Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

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De Brum has said the people of the Marshalls suffer quietly but they take this suit in “the cause of a nuclear free universe”.

“We are fighting for what we believe is the only solution in terms of peace and prosperity in the world.”

Olivier Ribbelink, senior researcher at the TMC Asser Institute in The Hague says “the case is in a very preliminary stage at this point”, but added: “Either way the outcome, the case has certainly sharply refocused attention on the dangers of nuclear proliferation.”

De Brum and the Marshall Islands legal team have been nominated for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.

De Brum was nine years old when the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb was dropped by the US on Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954 during the Cold War nuclear arms race.

The 15-megatonne bomb was the largest US nuclear test on record at 1000-times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

The resulting characteristic mushroom cloud reached a diameter of 7km (4.5 miles) and a height of almost 40,000 meters (130,000ft) within six minutes of detonation.

The US carried out 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958.

Bikini Islanders lived in exile since they were moved for the first US weapons test, though some returned in the early 1970s after government scientists declared Bikini safe for resettlement.

However, residents were removed again in 1978 after ingesting high levels of radiation from eating local foods grown on the former nuclear testing site.

The Marshall Islands is appealing to the US Supreme Court after its case against the country was dismissed by a US federal court last year.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, East Asia

ASEAN urged to formulate policies on women, children in conflict situations

. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION .

An article from InterAksyon

ASEAN should formulate policies on women and children in conflict and post-conflict situations, said participants to the ASEAN institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR) symposium on the topic. Policies should include action plans on women in relation to peace and security in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1325, said participants to last week’s symposium in Tagaytay organized by Philippine Permanent Mission to ASEAN Ambassador Elizabeth Buensuceso.

ASEAN

In her message to the participants, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman emphasized the need to work together to formulate a responsive framework for peace to be eventually supported by policies and programs to which every ASEAN Member State will adhere.

“Women and children are the most vulnerable and most affected when fighting erupts. But they must not be viewed as the weak sectors, because they are not. Children and women are the potential strongest tools of nations in peace-building, peace-making and peace-keeping,” Soliman said.

Ambassador Buensuceso, for her part, echoed Soliman’s call, suggesting that the main recommendations of the conference be forwarded to the various ASEAN mechanisms and fora for possible inclusion in their work programs and plans of action.

Participants also urged ASEAN to support the development of preventive measures to conflict, such as the advancement of a culture of peace and the promotion of moderation in the region. They said that this can be implemented through activities and initiatives in education, culture, human rights, and political-security, among others, under the various ASEAN-led mechanisms.

The two-day symposium discussed the following: surfacing the plight of women and children in conflict situations; the abuses women and children are exposed to, such as sexual violence, threats to their lives, identity and property, and others; women and children as active participants in conflict resolution and the peace process; and programs and mechanisms to ensure protection and promotion of the rights and welfare of women and children are protected during armed conflict and/or in post-conflict situations.

Speakers included Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Evan P. Garcia, AIPR Governing Council Chair and Malaysia’s Ambassador to ASEAN Hasnudin Hamzah, Ambassador Buensuceso, Ambassador of Norway to ASEAN Stig Ingemar Traavik, Switzerland Ambassador to ASEAN Yvonne Baumann, Dr. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto of Indonesia, and UN Women (Myanmar) Head Dr. Jean D’ Cunha.

Other speakers from Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and the Philippines presented actual experiences and case studies.

ASEAN Deputy Secretary-General for Socio-Culutural Community Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee also attended the symposium.

Representatives from all ASEAN Member States, including members of the AIPR Governing Council, the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), and the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC), participated in the symposium.

The AIPR was established to serve as the ASEAN institution for activities and research projects on peace, conflict management, and conflict resolution. The AIPR Governing Council oversees the overall functions and policy direction of the AIPR. It consists of senior representatives from all 10 ASEAN Member States, the Secretary General of ASEAN, and an Executive Director to be appointed by the members.

Questions for this article:

Regional organizations: do they promote a culture of peace?

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, East Asia

Peace in Wellington, New Zealand

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

by Celia Wade-Brown, Mayor of Wellington, in Wellington Peace Newsletter

When Wellington became a Nuclear Free capital in 1982, I was protesting against nuclear missiles at Greenham Common in the UK. Given my interest in ending nuclear warfare, it’s a real pleasure to write this first annual newsletter as Wellington’s Mayor for Peace

Wellington

Wellington City has been a member of Mayors for Peace since 1988. Mayors for Peace started in Japan, there are now 6,940 cities in 161 countries around the world who are part of Mayors for Peace. The Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign pushes for a nuclear-weapon-free world by the year 2020.

The Mayor of Hiroshima, Matsui Kazumi, invited me to become an Executive Leader of Mayors for Peace. The other thirty New Zealand Mayors for Peace supported me taking up this coordinating role. This newsletter is one outcome.

Wellington City Council endorsed the invitation and recognised that, internationally, Mayors for Peace “strive to raise international public awareness regarding the need to abolish nuclear weapons and contribute to the realisation of genuine and lasting world peace.”

This year’s Wellington Women’s Walk for Peace theme was, “Peace is everyone’s responsibility.” It was an opportunity for women of all ethnicities and beliefs to send a message to the rest of the world that we care about peace.

Peace is something that everyone here has a part in creating. It is noisy, protest-filled and democratic. It is full of debate and differing opinions. From this active view of peace, we can build collective wisdom, common action and collaboration against nuclear weapons. There are many excellent organisations and individuals acting in the interests of peace in New Zealand. Coordinating communication, events and conferences has been busy in 2015.

I also called on cities around the world to join with me in sending a simple post of a “wave goodbye to nuclear weapons” on social media on 27 April 2015 as part of Global Wave 2015.

Our pledge, as Mayors for Peace, is to engage our constituencies and cooperate in eliminating nuclear weapons. The Council focuses on supporting a number of peace events, especially International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Hiroshima Day, International Peace Day and Gandhi’s birthday, the International Day of Non-Violence.

There is a strong link between peace and resilience and I’m delighted Wellington was chosen to be part of the Rockefeller 100 Resilient Cities. Resilience is about social cohesion, neighbourhood connections and access to resources as well as physical infrastructure and long-term planning.

The Climate Change talks in Paris also highlight how, like nuclear weapons, emissions and effects are not confined by national boundaries.

Resilience, nuclear abolition and greenhouse gas emission reductions are three issues, among many, where cities can take a lead, whatever their country’s national policies. Citizens and Mayors can consider wisely, commit positively to the community’s future and act locally with a global perspective. Enjoy the following snippets about 2015 events here and abroad and I look forward to working with you in 2016!

Questions for this article:
DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, East Asia

2015 MacBride Prize to Lampedusa (Italy) and Gangjeon Village, Jeju Island (S. Korea)

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

A press release by The International Peace Bureau

The International Peace Bureau is delighted to announce its decision to award the annual Sean MacBride Peace Prize to two island communities who, in different circumstances, show proof of a profound commitment to peace and social justice.

ipb prize

LAMPEDUSA is a small island in the Mediterranean and is the southernmost part of Italy. Being the closest part of the territory to the African coastline, it has been since the early 2000s a primary European entry point for migrants and refugees. The numbers of persons arriving has been rapidly increasing, with hundreds of thousands at risk while travelling, and over 1900 deaths in 2015 alone.

The people of the island of Lampedusa have given the world an extraordinary example of human solidarity, offering clothing, shelter and food to those who have arrived, in distress, on their shores. The response of the Lampedusans stands out in stark contrast to the behaviour and official policies of the European Union, apparently intent only on reinforcing their borders in the attempt to keep these migrants out. This ‘Fortress Europe’ policy is becoming more and more militarised.

Aware of its multi‐layered culture, which epitomizes the evolution of the Mediterranean region where over the centuries different civilizations have blended and built on each others’ developments, with mutual enrichment, the island of Lampedusa also shows the world that a culture of hospitality and respect for human dignity are the most effective antidotes to nationalism and religious fundamentalism.

To give but one example of the heroic actions of the people of Lampedusa, let us recall the events of the night of 7‐8 May 2011. A boat full of migrants crashed into a rocky outcrop, not far from the shore. Although it was in the middle of the night, the inhabitants of Lampedusa turned out in their hundreds to form a human chain between the shipwreck and the coast. That night alone more than 500 people, including many children, were carried to safety.

At the same time the people of the island are very clear that the problem is a European one, not theirs alone. In November 2012, Mayor Nicolini sent an urgent appeal to Europe’s leaders. She expressed her outrage that the European Union, which had just received the Nobel Peace Prize, was ignoring the tragedies occurring on its Mediterranean borders.

The IPB believes that the dramatic situation in the Mediterranean – constantly visible in the mass media ‐ must be at the top of Europe’s urgent priorities. Much of the problem springs from social injustices and inequalities resulting in conflicts in which the West has – over centuries ‐‐ played an aggressive role. We recognise that there are no easy solutions, but as a guiding principle, Europe should be honouring the ideals of human solidarity, over and above the cynical considerations of governments and profit/power/resource‐seeking entities. When Europe contributes to the ruining of the livelihoods of people, as for instance in Iraq and Libya, Europe will have to find ways to help rebuild those livelihoods. It should be below the dignity of Europe to spend billions on military interventions, and yet not to have the resources available to meet the basic needs. The most vital question is how to develop cooperation between people of goodwill on both sides of the Mediterranean in a long‐term, constructive, gender‐sensitive and sustainable process.

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Question for this article

The refugee crisis, Who is responsible?

Readers’ comments are invited on this question and article. See below for comments box.

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GANGJEON VILLAGE is the site of the controversial 50‐hectare Jeju Naval Base being constructed by the South Korean government on the southern coast of Jeju Island, at a projected cost of nearly $1 billion. The waters around the island are protected by international law as they are within a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (in October 2010, nine geological sites on on the island were recognised as Global Geoparks by the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network). Even so, the construction of the base continues, although building work has been halted many times by mass protests of people concerned about the base’s environmental impact. These people see the base as a US‐driven project aimed at containing China, rather than enhancing South Korean security In July 2012, the South Korean Supreme Court upheld the base’s construction. It is expected to host up to 24 US and allied military vessels, including 2 Aegis destroyers and 6 nuclear submarines, plus occasional civilian cruise ships on completion (now scheduled for 2016).

Jeju Island has been dedicated to peace ever since around 30,000 were massacred there from 1948‐54, following a peasant uprising against US occupation. The South Korean government apologized for the massacre in 2006 and the late President Roh Moo Hyun officially named Jeju an “Island of World Peace”. This violent history helps to explain why the people of Gangjeon Village (population 2000) have been protesting non‐violently for around 8 years against the naval base project. According to Medea Benjamin of Code Pink, “About 700 people have been arrested and charged with hefty fines that amount to over $400,000, fines that they cannot or will not pay. Many have spent days or weeks or months in jail, including a well‐known film critic Yoon Mo Yong who spent 550 days in prison after committing multiple acts of civil disobedience.” The energy and commitment shown by the villagers has attracted the support (and participation) of activists from around the world. We endorse the construction of a permanent Peace Center on the site which can act as a focus for activities reflecting alternative views to those represented by the militarists.

IPB makes the award in order to increase the visibility of this exemplary non‐violent
struggle at a crucial time. It takes great courage to physically oppose the government’s growing aggressive and militaristic policies, especially as they are backed by, and at the service of, the Pentagon. It takes even more courage to maintain that struggle over a period of many years.

CONCLUSION
There is an important connection between the two situations. Not only do we recognise the common humanity of those who resist without weapons the forces of domination in their own island. We make the argument that public resources should not be spent on massive military installations that only increase the tension between nations in the region; rather they should be devoted to meeting human need. If we continue devoting the world’s resources to military rather than humanistic purposes, it is inevitable that we will continue to witness these inhuman situations with desperate people, refugees and migrants, at risk while crossing the seas and at the prey of unscrupulous gangs. Thus we repeat also in this context the basic message of IPB’s Global Campaign on Military Spending: Move the Money!

East Asia, Europe, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY,

New Zealand: International Day of Peace

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from Scoop Independent News (reprinted as Creative Commons)

The UNANZ [United Nations Association of New Zealand] celebration for the International Day of Peace will take place on Monday 21st September 2015, 5.30 – 8.30 pm at Parliament in the Legislative chamber.

new newzealand

Our Keynote Speaker, Dr Kennedy Graham MP, will set the scene by speaking on the ‘invincible power of community spirit’.

The event will take the form of a panel discussion of ideas contributed from various community groups around NZ on actions which can be taken to create a culture of peace locally. The basis for the discussion will be the 9 point summary of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals – “Transforming the World by 2030 – A New Agenda for Global Action” – to be presented for adoption at the United Nations at the end of September 2015.

The outcome of our discussion will act as a contribution from New Zealand, and will be sent to the NZ Permanent Representative to the UN and the government of NZ.

The evening will conclude with a lively performance by the Multicultural Council of Wellington; highlighting how New Zealand continues to emerge as a kaleidoscope of multiculturalism, peace and unity among nations.

Event outline

5.30pm

* Refreshments

* Welcome:

– Maori welcome

– City welcome – Her Worship the Mayor, Celia Wade-Brown

* Key-note speaker: Kennedy Graham MP, on “The Invincible Power of Community Spirit”

* Panel Chair: Dr Graham Hassall (President of the United Nations Association of New Zealand)

Questions for this article:
DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, East Asia

Freedom of Expression and Assembly in Vietnam and Cambodia

… HUMAN RIGHTS …

An article from Amnesty International Canada

On September 2, 17,000 prisoners are expected to be released in an act of mass amnesty marking Vietnam’s National Day. This is the largest expected prisoner release in Vietnam’s history.

amnesty
Housing rights march, Cambodia, December 2013

We are working to ensure that the governments of Vietnam and Cambodia adhere to international human rights laws and standards related to freedom of expression and assembly. We will not only take action ourselves towards government officials but we will support those parts of civil society in each country which are aware of their rights under international law and are attempting to enforce them. In particular there is an increased willingness on the part of many Cambodians to stand up for their rights. Information about the lack of access to freedom of expression and assembly – and its place in international human rights law – will be shared with local activists.

Vietnam has at least 75 prisoners of conscience and 100’s of political prisoners, in addition to many national human rights defenders and activists whose activity is criminalized rather than seen as acceptable under international standards. Also Cambodia harasses, intimidates and imprisons those who attempt to exercise their right to expression and assembly – and offers impunity to those who perpetrate human rights abuses against them.

We will work through online awareness campaigns and individual actions on behalf of prisoners of conscience and those in need of urgent action.
In 2014 we managed to initiate a mission to Vietnam – the first in decades. In both countries there were welcome releases of small numbers of individuals for whom Amnesty had campaigned. 2015 will see us continue our research leading to action on behalf of individual prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders. A report on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in Cambodia is planned.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

Question(s) related to this article:
East Asia, HUMAN RIGHTS

In Japan, Tens of Thousands Anti-War Protesters Reject Return to Militarism

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by Jon Queally, Common Dreams (reprinted according to guidelines of Creative Commons)

Tens of thousands of people gathered outside the Japanese parliament building on Sunday to reject plans put forth by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that would see an aggressive expansion of the nation’s armed forces despite a long-standing constitutional mandate for a “defense only” military posture.

japan
Protesters hold up banners reading ‘No To War,’ during a rally to protest against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s drive to enact two controversial security bills on Sunday in Ogimachi Park in Osaka’s Kita Ward. (Photo: KYODO)

The enormous crowd—estimated by organizers as more than 120,000 people—is opposing a set of bills moving through the country’s legislature which would allow the country’s military to engage in overseas fighting and ratchet up spending on new weapons systems. Despite loud public protest against the plan, Abe has continued to defend the plan. Demonstrators carried banners reading “Peace Not War” and “Abe, Quit!”

“Sitting in front of TV and just complaining wouldn’t do,” Naoko Hiramatsu, a 44-year-old associate professor in French and one of the Tokyo protesters, told Reuters. Holding his four-year-old son in her arms, she continued, “If I don’t take action and try to put a stop on this, I will not be able to explain myself to my child in the future.”

As the Asahi Shimbum reports:
In one of the largest postwar demonstrations in Japan, tens of thousands of protesters swarmed in front of the Diet building in Tokyo on Aug. 30 to oppose the Abe administration’s contentious security legislation.

Following a wave of weekly protests near the Diet building in recent months, rally organizers had worked to mobilize 100,000 participants from across the nation.

Amid the gloomy and rainy weather, protesters held up placards and banners and chanted slogans against the legislation, which is being pushed through the Diet.
A huge banner hanging from dozens of balloons read: “Abe, Quit!”

Opponents blasted the security bills on concerns that they would drag Japan into unwanted conflicts overseas.

Organized by a union of three different anti-war citizens’ groups, the Japan Times reports Sunday’s rally was arguably the most massive in a string of similar protests in recent months.

Question for this article:

Should Japan be allowed to militarize?

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, East Asia

The Global Movement Of Moderates: An Effective Counter To Islamic State? – Analysis

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article by Kumar Ramakrishna, Eurasia Review (Reprinted by permission)

International concern at the rapidly metastasising global threat of the brutal Al Qaeda “mutation” known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has generated concerted discussions on effective strategies to counter its highly virulent ideology that has been widely disseminated through the Internet.

moderates

High-level summits on countering violent extremism (CVE) were held in Washington and in Sydney in the first half of this year, while more recently British Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled the United Kingdom’s new multi-faceted CVE strategy as well. In Southeast Asia, one potentially powerful idea – moderation – has been promoted as a means of neutralising the extremist appeal of ISIS.

The Global Movement of Moderates

First mentioned by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak at the UN General Assembly in September 2010, the concept of moderation gained traction at the 18th ASEAN Summit in Jakarta in 2011 when ASEAN leaders endorsed the initiative to establish the Global Movement of Moderates to help shape global developments, peace and security. Subsequently the ASEAN Concept Paper on the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) was adopted at the 20th ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in 2012.

Most recently, at the 26th ASEAN Summit in Langkawi, Malaysia on 27 April 2015, ASEAN leaders reiterated in the so-called Langkawi Declaration that the GMM initiative promotes a culture of peace and complements other initiatives, including the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations. The GMM Concept Paper recommended establishing dedicated ASEAN units to coordinate and evaluate all GMM-related activities within ASEAN and globally.

The Langkawi Declaration Programme

The Langkawi Declaration identifies several clusters of functional activities to promote the moderation norm, via collaboration between the GMM, the ASEAN Foundation and the ASEAN Institute of Peace and Reconciliation. The first cluster of activities includes organising outreach programmes, interfaith and cross-cultural dialogues at the national, regional and international levels. The second cluster involves the convening of forums to share best practices in understanding and countering violent extremist ideologies. An example is the East Asia Summit Symposium on Religious Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration held in Singapore in April 2015.

A third cluster encourages enhanced information-sharing on best practices in promoting moderation among ASEAN member states. A fourth cluster involves creating mechanisms to cultivate emerging leadership especially amongst women and youth that can help invigorate ASEAN’s drive and innovation in effectively addressing CVE issues as well as other global challenges. Importantly, a fifth cluster recognises education as an effective means of socialising the moderation norm and associated values such as respect for life, diversity and mutual understanding; this is a means of preventing the spread of violent extremism whilst addressing its root causes.

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Question for this article

Islamic extremism, how should it be opposed?

Readers’ comments are invited on this question and article. See below for comments box.

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Another cluster seeks to foster formal scholarly exchanges to amplify the collective voices of moderate intellectuals, while a seventh recognises the need for exchanging ideas with extra-regional dialogue partners, international organisations and other relevant stakeholders on successful case studies of engagement and integration policies that support moderation.

“God is in the Details”: Operationalising moderation

While this multifaceted plan of action by the GMM to promote the norm of moderation as a means of countering the violent extremism is commendable, as an ancient saying goes, “God is in the details”. A roundtable held in Singapore on 29 July 2015 identified several issues that need to be addressed for moderation to be effectively operationalised at the grassroots level, where the “immunisation” of vulnerable Southeast Asian Muslim constituencies against the digitised, apocalyptic-tinged Salafi Jihadism of ISIS is most needed.

But first, what exactly is “moderation” anyway?

Within Islam – from whose intellectual and theological resources a sustained counter-narrative campaign against ISIS must be fashioned – the idea of wasatiyah or the “Middle Way” of a “just and balanced community” seems to be one possible elucidation of the moderation norm. In this sense a true Muslim embodying wasatiyah effectively preserves his religious integrity whilst embracing tolerance toward both co-religionists of differing convictions on certain matters, as well as members of other – or even no – faiths.

Importantly, operationalising moderation must also involve developing clearer legal principles for regulating the ISIS penchant for takfir or excommunication of other groups – a habit that has all too frequently religiously legitimised their subsequent acts of extermination in grisly fashion.

Operationalising moderation further implies that Southeast Asian Muslims should be wary of uncritical acceptance of certain puritanical strains of the faith emanating from the Middle East. It has been suggested that Southeast Asian Islam – famously, Islam with a “smiling face” – is “lived Islam” which possesses ample religious authenticity vis-a-vis the imagined, virulently re-interpreted “desert Islam” of ISIS.

It is hence timely that in early August 2015 the two largest Islamic groups in Indonesia, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama – boasting 90 million members between them – affirmed their desire to promote a “progressive” Islam and more tellingly, an “Islam Nusantara” or “Islam of the archipelago” and that these ideas will be promoted in cyberspace as well.

Moderation is not for Muslims only

Finally, it should be recognised that the norm of moderation is not just an issue for the Muslim community alone. ISIS aside, Southeast Asia and the world has witnessed violent extremism of other religious and ethnic stripes as well. Hence within Southeast Asia at least, encouraging broader participation in further “ASEANising” the moderation concept so that is applies beyond regional Muslim constituencies would also help ensure it gets embedded in the socio-cultural and political DNA of the nascent ASEAN Community.

Ultimately, how would we know if the GMM initiative has succeeded? One clue would be when a Southeast Asian – although it is his right of “free expression” – voluntarily decides not to say or publish anything that might hurt the religious sentiments of a fellow Southeast Asian of another faith. Ancient religious texts summarise this as the principle of “not stumbling my brother”. Hence, rather than cynical self-censorship, what really lies at the heart of genuine moderation is quite simply, charity. Once Southeast Asians and others imbibe this idea, the days of ISIS and its ilk would surely be numbered.

East Asia, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY