Dear Friends and Supporters of Article 9,

With little over a month left until the Conference, we have strengthened the conference program and are in the thick of preparations. Many of you have written to express your interest and indicate your intention to participate in the conference. We are delighted and grateful for your support!

"GLOBAL ARTICLE 9 CONFERENCE TO ABOLISH WAR"

World renowned experts in the field of Peace and Disarmament Education will conduct two participatory and interactive workshops.

Leading theorist and designer of pedagogic materials and processes in peace education Betty A. Reardon, along with Kathy Matsui from the Hague Appeal for Peace - Northeast Asia, will engage participants in a process of inquiry into constitutional approaches to world peace and consider possibilities for the legal prohibition of war and armed conflict. What are the legal precedents and norms that provide potential foundations for the abolition of war? What has to be done to realize the possibilities they offer? What do we need to learn to be able to engage in effective action toward their realization? What should we do now, as individuals, to push forward this process of learning toward action to legally abolish war? These are some of the questions that participants will consider together, using Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution as the core principle of constitutional renunciation of war. The workshop "Article 9 and Global Citizenship: Educating for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy through a Pedagogy of Engagement" will welcome 30 participants.

Disarmament educator, author, activist, producer and consultant to the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, Kathleen Sullivan has been committed to the nuclear issue for over 20 years, during which time she has worked with youth, community organizers, academics, government representatives and nuclear industry officials. In the dynamic workshop, "Education for Disarmament - the future of nuclear abolition", Dr. Sullivan will educate participants about nuclear dangers and engage young people in taking an active role in making our world a better place. Realizing that there is a choice other than violence to resolve conflict, participants will use their imagination and energy to constructively respond to nuclear proliferation, and create the conditions for disarmament.

Both workshops will take place on May 5, 2008 as part of the Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War.

Professor Isezaki Kenji has considerable field experience in the areas of development, conflict resolution and peace-building. He has worked in many of the world's most affected regions.

After devoting himself to regional development projects in various countries as Director of the non-governmental organization PLAN International and as a member of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Professor Isezaki joined the United Nations.

He served in 2000-2001 in the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) as District Administrator in the sensitive Cova Lima area, where he worked closely with UN Peacekeepers, UN Civilian Police and UN Military Observers, as well as with the Indonesian Army.

He led the Disarmament, Demobilization & Reintegration (DDR) Coordination Section of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone from 2001 to 2002. He was also a Senior Advisor to the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, coordinating the political and military process of disarming nearly 50,000 members of pro- and anti- government militias and overseeing their re-integration into society.

Appointed Special Representative of the Japanese Government for DDR in Afghanistan, he directed until 2004 the difficult political process of disarming various factions, including Northern Alliance forces, in the efforts to end warlordism in the war-torn nation.

Since 2006, Professor Isezaki Kenji heads the interdisciplinary Peace and Conflict Studies graduate program at Tokyo University. He has published four books and numerous articles on NGO management and UN peacekeeping operations.

Professor Isezaki is a co-initiator of the Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War, and will share his extensive first-hand experience at the symposium "Providing Non-Violent Alternative to Contemporary Conflicts" on May 5, 2008.

For more information about the program, guests and venue of the conference, please visit: http://www.whynot9.jp/_programme

From Vancouver to Vladivostok, groups have come together around the world in support of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution. In Germany, a group was formed in Berlin in November 2007, followed by an other one in Tuebingen in February 2008.

The German peace movement has long been interested in Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, in part due to the fact that Germany also has a peace clause (Article 26).

"More than 6.000 initiatives in Japan are so far engaged to uphold Article 9. We want to support these groups," says Antje Kroeger, a student of Japanese Studies and member of the Tuebingen Article 9 Group.

The idea to set up Article 9 groups in Germany first arose in 1987, when the German-Japanese Peace Forum first visited Berlin. In 1995, groups launched initiatives to lobby for peace constitutions worldwide. Berlin and Tuebingen welcomed the launch of the Global Article 9 Campaign in Japan, seeing it as an impetus to the Global Peace Movement.

"We hope for more initiatives in Germany and Europe to join the Campaign", says Christoph Marischka, a political scientist who works for the German Information Centre on Militarization. Actually in Germany too, there is a ban on planning and waging wars, he states, and according to the Constitution, the German army's only raison d´etre is defence in a very narrow sense. Yet as in Japan, the reality is quite different. Under the Treaty of Lisbon - a new version of what was once called "the European constitution" - member states are in fact to increase their spending on "defence," a European Defence Agency has already been set up, and out-of-area missions are multiplying.

Peace initiatives in Germany are pledging their support to the Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish War. They have actively been collecting material and translating them into German. Delegations from Berlin and Tuebingen will participate in the Global Article 9 Conference in Tokyo in May. Upon their return, these delegates will present the positions and decisions developed at the conference across Germany.

For further information about the Article 9 Group in Tuebingen, see: http://www.imi-online.de/seite.php3?id=15

BOLIVIA TO CONSTITUTIONALLY RENOUNCE WAR?

During an official visit to Japan in March 2007, Bolivian President Evo Morales declared that his country should protect the lives of all its citizens without possessing any army, and he announced to the press that he would push for the new Bolivian constitution to renounce war as a way of settling international conflicts.

Elected in December 2005 as Bolivia's first indigenous president, Evo Morales committed to establish a new constitution that recognizes the rights of all citizens, including the poor Indian majority, and that favors a democratic and decentralized political system. In July 2006, Bolivia established a constituent assembly composed of a wide range of groups, including human rights organizations, indigenous women's groups, educational and cultural institutions, and trade unions among others, to draft the proposed text of the new constitution.

During a speech at the United Nations Human Rights Council in March this year, Bolivia's Vice-Minister for the Coordination of Social Movements and Civil Society Sacha Sergio Llorenti Soliz reiterated that the new constitution would include a war-renouncing clause, linking it to the democratic social revolution occurring in the country and calling on the international community to recognize the human right to peace.

The popular referendum on the Constitution will take place on May 4, 2008 - the day of the opening of the Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War. If the referendum succeeds, Bolivia will become the largest country in the world without an army.

PARTICIPATE IN THE CONFERENCE

Tickets are now on sale in Japan. They can be purchased at Lawson convenience stores throughout the country or by post office transfers.

If you are not located in Japan, please fill out a registration form to reserve tickets to be collected upon payment at the designated reception areas at Makuhari Messe on the day (in Japanese yen or US dollars).

Please download the registration form at http://www.whynot9.jp/_participate/register.html

In addition to the registration process, the Conference's website also provides practical information regarding participation in the Conference, such as visa, accommodation, access, and more.

Please visit:
www.whynot9.jp/doc/A9_Practical_Info_and_Registration.pdf

Guests officially invited by the Conference's Organizing Committee do not need to register. Their transportation, accommodation and visa are being taken care of on an individual basis.

Thank you for your interest in and support for the Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish War. We look forward to seeing many of you at the conference from May 4-6 in Tokyo. In the meantime, feel free to contact us to share your ideas, support, experiences and expertise!

In Peace,

The Article 9 Team