Article 9 Conference and Party

On May 4-6th, the Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish War will hold a conference on Japan's peace constitution (see previous blog on Article 9 here) and more specifically "to realize the principle of Article 9, through promoting disarmament, demilitarization and a culture of peace." Already, big names in the field of peacebuilding and conflict resolution will be in attendance, such as:

Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate, Peace People, Northern Ireland;

Cora Weiss, Lifelong peace activist and President of the Hague Appeal for Peace, USA;

Ban Zhong Yi, movie director and strong advocate of justice for Chinese former "comfort women" of the Japanese imperial army, China;

Emmanuel Bombande, Executive Director of the West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), Ghana;

Beate Sirota Gordon, co-writer of the Japanese Constitution and author of the disposition granting equality between men and women;

Kasim Turki, former soldier in the Iraqi Republican Guard, journalist and peace activist, Iraq;

Hans von Sponeck, former UN Assistant Secretary General & United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq;

Carlos Vargas, Vice-President of International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms and professor of International Law, Costa Rica;

CG Weeramantry, former judge in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and President of International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, Sri Lanka;

Ellen Woodsworth, former Vancouver City Councillor, co-founder of the World Peace Forum (2006), and President of WILPF-Canada;

Ann Wright, retired US Army colonel and diplomat, now antiwar activist;
(taken from the Global Article 9 newsletter)

I have been helping out a little bit editing short video clips of some of the participants on their views on Article 9. If you are interested in attending or learning more about the upcoming conference visit the website at Why Not 9?

Also on Sunday, Feb 24th, Parties4Peace, which aims to promote peace through music and dance, will be having an Article 9 party in Shimokitazawa. The peace art exhibition party will be showcasing artwork on the theme of the environment and its connection to peace. If you are interested in submitting any artwork, send an email to them by Feb 14th. They'll be showing three of my short films at the event, so don't miss out!


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ARTicle 9 Festa vol.3
「peace x art = eARTh」
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Date: February 24, Sunday
18:00（DOOR OPEN）18:30（EVENT START）

Venue: Shimokitazawa Alley Hall
2-24-8, Kitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
Shimokitazawa Alley Building 3F
**3 minute walk from Shimokitazawa Station