Declaration of Refusal to Participate in War
Adopted in the 49th Congress of DORO-CHIBA, June 28th, 2003

Japan is again stepping into war by recent legislation of three laws on Emergency.
The 9th article of the Constitution, a product of painful reflection on the latest war, is trampled and the brake on war drive is finally going to be blown off. The time has come to prevent war with all our strength.
Emergency Laws have been carried with 90% of the parliamentary members in favor, in an alarming situation created by historical betrayal of the Democratic Party, a largest opposition party. Has history not shown us that many political forces that had hitherto been opposing to war suddenly went into national partnership and became war collaborator once war broke out? Now history repeats itself. Even RENGO, a national center of Japanese organized labor, has expressed its view in favor of the Laws: "Emergency Laws are essentially necessary"
Chauvinist propaganda against North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is covering Japanese society, concealing from public eyes the essence of what is really happening. Thus hatred and fear are unnoticeably penetrating public feeling.
But when the one carefully watches, the essence of what is really happening is quite evident: the Emergency Laws are war execution laws and national war-mobilization legislation, actually aiming at launching aggressive war on North Korea. According to the provisions of these laws, railways are "designated public facilities". When the government declares 'emergency under armed attack', we, working on the railways, are put under instruction of war-time duty , that is, incorporated in a war machine as its simple gear.
We should note also that the war drive overseas is closely united with the war against workers at home. In fact, at the same time with the legislation of the Emergency Laws, drastic amendment of labor laws has forcibly been carried in the Diet, which enables to shift a large numbers of workers in a state of unstable employment, giving the employers the right of dismissal and paves the way for all-out attack on labor rights. Already 10% of the households are forced to live with the annual income under one and a half million yen (approximately 12,000 US dollars). The right of workers to live has been threatened seriously under the pressure of impending war.
Suppression on labor movement, unlawful arrest and long-term imprisonment, have been taking place successively, such as crackdown on national railway workers in a frame-up case on the excuse of protest in the convention of National Railway Union on May 27, 02. Everywhere war has been propagated.
War and large-scale unemployment have common root. Capitalist system has no way of survival other than resorting to a violent measure, war and sacrificing workers.
We are now facing a decisive turning point of history. Labor movement must tackle the task of preventing completion and implementation of the Emergency Laws, that is, stopping outbreak of war, and task of not obeying instructions of war-time duty provided in the Emergency Laws, that is, to refuse to participate in war. These are vital mission of peace-seeking working class. We are conscious of the difficulties confronting the struggle to achieve this mission. Without strong unity the struggle cannot be achieved. Solidarity with wide range of people is indispensable. When the Emergency Laws are put into practice, the struggle would be a hard one; we must keep on long-term resistance to stop war in severe confrontation with concentrated reactionary forces .
By no means we should not be traitors in the history of mankind
20 organizations headed by the labor unions of transport workers on land, sea, air and longshore, that have gathered to prevent the Emergency Laws beyond difference of the national organizations they belong to, have issued a new declaration of struggle. We in DORO-CHIBA have risen up for a strike [from March 27 to 29] to oppose to the war on Iraq and to prevent legislation of the Emergency Laws. Now is the decisive moment to develop vigorously and strengthen the struggle for the revival of labor movement.
Railways should never be used for war. We refuse to participate in war flatly. United struggle of workers is the fundamental power to stop war. We rise up for anti-war struggle in solidarity with the people of Asia and of the rest of the world. To fulfill our duty for peace, we refuse every kind of participation in war. For our own hopeful future, we are firmly determined not to repeat the historical failure.

The end of the resolution.

DORO-CHIBA