At the 3rd World Social Forum held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on 23-28 January 2003, ZENROREN representative appealed for developing world trade unionsﾕ united actions against the US Bush administration onrushing to a war on Iraq. It was on 24 January at the seminar on the ﾒRole of the trade union movement in the struggle against neo-liberal globalization and against the war," sponsored by the WFTU in the framework of the WSF, that Masuo Kato, chief of international affairs department, spoke. Excerpt of his speech is as follows:
"The danger that the United States will start a war against Iraq is real. Clearly, preemptive armed attacks by the Bush administration would bring the world peace as well as its economic and social order to the brink of collapse. And now, not to bring about such a situation, public opinion and peoples' campaign against a war in Iraq and for a peaceful solution in the framework of the United Nations are swiftly spreading and intensifying in the U.S. itself, and in Europe and all over the world, involving national governments in some cases.
"However, of all the countries in the world, it is shameful for the Japanese government to have deployed the Aegis destroyer to the Indian Ocean to support U.S. military activities. In addition, it is planning to enact new legislation to support the U.S. forces in the event of a war and on a post war settlement. ZENROREN demands the U.S. to suspend its plan of unilateral military attacks on Iraq and do the same to Iraq to implement unconditionally and in good faith the UN Security Council resolutions. We are promoting campaign hand in hand with broader strata of the people demanding the Japanese government: to express its opposition to the U.S. military attacks on Iraq; to reject the U.S. demand for cooperation in any form in an unlawful war; to stop military buildup to support the U.S. attacks on Iraq as well as to withdraw immediately the Self Defense Forces deployed overseas; and to scrap the three bills to participate in an unlawful war of the U.S. forces.
"It is a time for workers and trade unions of the world to stand at the forefront of the struggle so as to further strengthen the public opinion and campaign against military attacks on Iraq and for a peaceful solution of the issue in the U.N. framework."