I attended yesterday's (2 May 2010) anti-nuke demonstration in Manhattan, at which the Japanese contingent out-numbered all others by three or four to one. Some of the Japanese were handing out small packets of facial tissue, like this:
I can't read Japanese, but I recognize the number 9 when I see it. In this context that means Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, the constitution imposed on them after WWII. Article 9 prohibits the state from waging war. Perhaps the Japanese are telling us that the U.S. Constitution needs a similar article? Here's the other side of the pack of tissue:
. . . where you found this insert:
The Hibakusha are the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Bill, I woke up this morning so happy that we made the effort to be there and to put as much sound and energy as we could into the process. And I was so sad and so grateful all at the same time. Sad that the US doesn't have a bigger peace movement. Grateful to you, Bill, and to Jon Grusauskas for anchoring the rhythm, and to our young trumpeter, and to Steve Swell and his trombone, and to the bell players, and to everyone who came out. Clearly, we live in a world of survivors. The Japanese people, and the Korean people, have seen the worst of what wars do and are more dedicated to peace. They came half way round the world to bring their pleas and petitions, and origami cranes, to the United Nations.
ReplyDeleteI listened carefully to Steve Swell telling me to keep at it, keep a brass band calling for peace. OK. So I'll keep asking, keep suggesting, keep protesting, keep putting words to melodies. Here in the USA it seems increasingly difficult to seek peace, ask for peace. "They", the money makers, the feeders at the tax trough, want us to accept war as . . . . acceptable! Normal. Everyday life. How it is. Necessary. Who we are. On and on.
The front page of today's NY Times has NO coverage of peace and anti-nuke march involving thousands of people from all over Japan. It does have three headlines: "Police Seeking Man Taped Near Bomb Scene" is biggest and boldest with photograph. Then "A Longime Threat Arrives: Terror in the Trunk". Then "Suspicious Behavior Cited -- No Sign of a Larger Plot" with three reporters reporting. Couldn't one of them have covered our demonstration?
Big stories continue on page 22, 23, and more headlines and stories: "Street Vendors' Keen Eyes Alerted Police to Threat" and "In Progress, A Network to Observe Midtown" and "For Bomb Squad, a Century of Handling Crisis." I guess it is all one "crisis" not a series of crises. Big map fills a third of a page. 2 color photoes, 4 black and white photos.
All the possible "smoking bomb" news fits into piles of print and many images. Not a word or and image of the thousands of people from Asia who traveled half the world to visit us with millions of petition signatures for peace.
The NYTimes is a disgrace.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for all the work and heart.
BTW, young Murray was blown away. He thought the drum was awesome. Too bad you aren't on Facebook so you could see all the flix.