Union Now! Newsletter Autumn 2011
Cindy Sunday
Renowned American peace activist Cindy Sheehan gave free training on how to make change on Sunday, August 14th. The event was put on by Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union in Shinjuku. Sheehan gained notoriety in the States when she began protesting President George W. Bush’s ranch after her son was killed in Iraq.
Eiji Suzuki, a Gaba instructor who is not a member of the unoin, wrote of the event, “I just have to express my admiration for activists like her who put so much of their energy for the greater good. I hope I could do half as much good for the world… It’s tough sticking to your beliefs but let’s hope life has a way of rewarding you … I learned a great deal about … the UK and US governments misleading or lying to the public. I expected Cindy to be self-righteous and over intense, instead she was charming, modest and generous.”
Sheehan was in Japan for the 66th anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She went to rallies in both cities with the union’s president, Louis Carlet.
Louis Carlet Testifies in Berlitz Case
On July 25th, Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union Executive President Louis Carlet testified in Berlitz Japan‘s ¥110 million lawsuit against five teachers and their union, Begunto. Carlet is one of the union officials being sued for what Berlitz argues was an illegal strike.
The testimony drew a crowd of Tokyo General Union supporters. There were about five from the union’s ALT branch, three from the individual branch, two from the Philippine National Bank branch, two each from Linguaphone and TUWU (Tozen University Workers Union), and one each from Simul, Japan Times, and SEI. In addition, several non-Tokyo General Union members were present.
In addition to the people from Tokyo General Union, there were approximately eight from Begunto, eight from non-Begunto Nambu (National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu), two from other unions, and ten from management. There were only forty seats in the courtroom – for more than forty people, but several only stayed part of the time.
Union Now! will continue to follow the case.
「Cindy Sunday」の報告
Report on Cindy Sunday
Cindy Sheehanさんは、ヒロシマ、ナガサキ、オキナワ、と日本のかつての戦場を回って、各地で忙しく活動をされていました。
Cindy Sheehan had toured and spoke at WWII sites around Japan the previous week, including Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Okinawa.
初めての日本ということもあり、途中で体調を崩されたこともあったようですが、14日は、とてもリラックス した様子で、終始笑顔でした。
Although she fell ill, perhaps due the stress of coming to Japan for the first time, on the 14th she was smiling and relaxed.
また彼女は、「Cindy Sunday」というイベントの名前をとても気に入ってくれたようです。
She was also quite pleased with the name of the event: Cindy Sunday.
新宿区の大久保地域センターで開催されましたが、結局、会場は満席となり、後で椅子を追加するほどでした。
The venue at Okubo Chiiki Center filled to capacity, and we further had to bring in extra chairs.
メトロポリスを見て来た人や、マシューさんの紹介で来てくれた大学生などもいました。
Guests included those who had seen our Metropolis ad and university students invited by Matthew.
また、ビルマ労組のミンスイさんや、高須さんも来られました。
Min Sui from the Burma Union Federation and Mr. Takasu also joined us.
高須さんは、東ゼンのがこのような大きなイベントを開催したことにとても感激されていました。
Takasu spoke of how impressed he was that the union is able already to host such a major event.
パネリストはCindyさんと指宿昭一さんのお2人です。
Our panelists were Cindy and Attn. Shoichi Ibuski.
指宿さんは、「弁護士資格をもつ活動家」という立場から、発言してくださいました。
Ibuski spoke as a lawyer/activist.
日米、それぞれ制度や背景は異なるものの、2人とも、「正しい活動をしていれば、必ず支援してくれる人は出てくる」 という信念をもっていることがわかりました。
Discussing the differences between activism in the US and Japan, the two panelists noted that in both countries, “if you do the right thing, supporters will emerge.”
あと、2人には「１７」という共通のキーナンバーがあることも判明しました。 Cindyさんは、「これまで17回逮捕されたこと」、指宿さんは、「17回目の受験で司法試験に合格したこと」で、会場は笑いに包まれました。
Both also explained that 17 is a key number for them. Cindy has been arrested that many times, while Ibuski took 17 times and 17 years to pass the bar exam.
指宿先生の50歳の誕生日でした。参加できたのは『素晴らしいプレゼントだった』と、言った。
It chanced to be Ibuski’s 50th birthday. He said being a part of the event was “a great birthday present.”
参加者からは、たくさんの質問が出され、結局、時間を30分延長しましたが、Cindyさん、指宿さん、そして参加者も大いに 楽しんでくれたと思います。
Questions flooded in from the floor, forcing us to go 30 minutes overtime. It was clear that panelists and participants alike had a great time.
なお、イベント終了後は、Cindyさんを東ゼンのオフィスにお招きして、打ち上げパーティをしました。
After the event, Cindy came back to the Tozen office for a mixer.
Cindyさんは本日アメリカに帰られますが、今後もますます精力的に活動されることと思います。
Although back in the US, I’m sure she will continue to be more and more active.
東ゼンは、これからも、彼女の活動に連帯していきたいと思います。
I think Tozen should ally ourselves with her movement.
最後に、今回のイベントに関して、ヒロシマ、ナガサキから東京までの間、Cindyの同時通訳をしたルイスと、Cindyをエスコートしてくれたジェロームの尽力に感謝します。
I also want to thank Louis who interpreted for her throughout Japan and Gerome who escorted Cindy and arranged the event.
以上、報告でした。
Thank you.
全国一般東京ゼネラルユニオン
奥貫 妃文
Hifumi Okunuki,
Paralegal, Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union
August 6th, 1945: A Day that will live in Infamy
by Cindy Sheehan
This will be a short piece, since I am getting ready to go to the anti-nuke/peace rally here in Hiroshima in a few hours (it’s the 6th here), but I will give my impressions of that when I get back to my hotel.
Last night, I dreamed about my grandmother (Mamaw). I haven’t dreamed of her for years. I dreamed she came home to my house and I was going to get to take care of her. My Mamaw was my favorite person in the world until she died in 1969 and her loss hit me, a 12 year-old 7th grader, very hard. My Mamaw was a Rosie the Riveter for the war effort and a survivor of the Great Depression—and while she was so amazingly loving, I thought she must have also been incredibly strong.
I arrived in Japan on Wednesday the 4th and arrived here in Hiroshima on the 5th (by a four hour bullet train ride from Tokyo). Since I arrived here, I have been thinking about the people from “The Greatest Generation” that I have known—because I am here to help the peace community commemorate two of the “Greatest” crimes against humanity perpetrated by the US Government.
I have been thinking how, before I left California for Japan, I got into an argument with a sweet octogenarian that takes water aerobic classes with me at my gym—how she claims that Truman had to slaughter hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians to “save the lives of US soldiers.” (Same justification used for the demented use of UAVs–Unmanned Aerial Vehicles–in the US’s current wars of choice).
I have been thinking of my now deceased mother, Shirley, who was 10 on the day that Japan attacked a military facility on Pearl Harbor, (an attack that my mother told me FDR knew about and allowed to happen to lift the US out of the “Great” Depression). My mother Shirley had a best-friend named, Shirley (Shirley was a popular name back then due to Shirley Temple)—Shirley Number Two was Nisei a second generation Japanese immigrant to the US. My mother, Shirley, grew up in Hawthorne, California where Japanese immigration was large and my mother picked strawberries on the Japanese farms to earn extra money.
Anyway, one day, after the declaration of war against Japan, my mother’s best friend, Shirley, was gone: sent to an internment camp with her family. My mother never saw her again.
I met an elder last night at a rally against nuclear power that I gave a short speech to who was a fisherman around the Bikini Atolls and who was exposed to radiation—that made me think of my former father-in-law, Frank Sheehan, who was in the Navy during WWII in the Pacific and who worked as a ship fitter on the ships that were part of the Bikini Atoll atomic tests and is still alive, with healthy Sheehan generations of children, grand-children, and great grand-children scattered around him.
Here in Hiroshima, I have been thinking of the Americans and that’s why I dreamt about my grandmother, but I am also thinking of today and our children and grand children.
Yesterday, I toured the Peace Museum close to the hypocenter of the bomb, “Little Boy,” and the story, among all the tragic stories, that struck me the most, was the one of a little boy, Shiniki, a little three year-old who was riding his tricycle 66 years ago today—in an hour and a half, he would be horribly burned by “Little Boy” and die later that night—Shiniki’s heartbroken father buried him and his tricycle in the family’s backyard and that trike is in the Peace Museum: a rusted memorial to man’s profound cruelty to man and the tragic day that my government decided to use a vibrant, living and bustling, town as an experiment of its barbarism.
Then, I can’t help thinking of my own three year-old grandson, Jonah, a happy, healthy cherub and the affect that the Robber Class’s dependence and lust for power and greed is having on his little life.
Sixty-six years ago right now—Hiroshima, indeed the world, had no idea what was about to hit it.
Peace out, for now.
(August 6th, is also the day, six years ago, that I and about 75 other peace activists descended on Crawford, Texas for the first time to confront George Bush so I could ask him, “What Noble Cause.” Six years later, and one administration change, the wars continue, with new ones thrown in. Our leaders will never “Give Peace a Chance.”)
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Union Now! Newsletter Autumn 2011
- Cindy Sunday
- Louis Carlet Testifies in Berlitz Case
- 「Cindy Sunday」の報告 Report on Cindy Sunday
- August 6th, 1945: A Day that will live in Infamy
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Union Now! is published quarterly by Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union and is intended for both union members and non-union members alike. Members are encouraged to forward it to non-members. Some of the opinions expressed my not be the official position of the the union.