Sister Arlene Inouye, an US fighter against military recruiters, is coming

August 10 International Solidarity Rally in Miura

Sponsor: Education workers’ committee of Miura Peninsula

Endorsement: Coordinating Center of Labor Unions of Kanagawa

Campaign for one Million Signature (Kanagawa Liaison Committee)

In the US under the war on Iraq, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, legislated in 2001) allows military recruiters to walk around freely in schools to send students to the battlefields.

Facing this terrible situation, sister Inouye and her colleagues courageously rose up and formed Coalition against Militarization of Schools (CAMS). Together with other members of the teachers union, parents and also students, they have successfully developed a struggle to drive out military recruiters from schools, giving a substantial damage to the war policy of the Bush administration.

Our participation in the national convention of National Education Association (NEA), the largest teachers union in US, in 2007, brought us together, Miura Peninsula education workers and sister Inouye. It was motivated by a letter sent to Doro-Chiba International Solidarity Committee to offer an opportunity to report on Japanese teachers’ struggle on the occasion of the NEA convention. We went over to the US with the petition calling for signature to support sisters Nezu and Kawarai who were under menace of discharge.

The struggles of fighting education workers in Japan and the US instantly joined together at the first encounter: the struggle to refuse to stand and sing Kimigayo in front of Hinomaru, with a slogan, “Never send our students to battlefields”; the struggle to refuse to deliver students to military in the US under Iraqi war. International solidarity of Japan- US education workers has thus been established!

Stop Yokosuka to be a home port of US nuclear carrier George Washington!

The world is now in a revolutionary situation!

The world is indeed in a revolutionary situation now! In face of skyrocketing rise of oil and food prices, working people is rising up worldwide, shouting, “We must live”.

In Africa the “poverty and disparity” caused by neo-liberal policy has become a lot more unbearable than any other part of the world, and people there has no choice but to rise up for riots.

In Korea, ignited by the issue of imported US beef, the anger of people exploded in a huge demonstration with 800,000 participants who occupied the city center of Seoul for several days. The struggle is developing with the initiative of Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) into a political move to overthrow Lee Myuen Bak administration.

In the US on May Day, brothers and sisters of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) waged a work-stop, demanding an immediate stop of Iraqi war and shut down all the ports on the West Coast. Most importantly, in response to the US workers’ action, Iraqi oil workers went into strike on their workplace in an international solidarity. It is a historical achievement. The workers of the war-waging country and the workers of the invaded country have joined together in a common fight against aggression, forging an international unity.

On June 8, Union of Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) to which sister Inouye belongs waged an one-hour strike to protest against the cut of education budget by California governor, Schwarzenegger.

The new trend of the US labor movement is being carried out by the “rank and file” movement, a movement of workers fighting on workplaces. They are gathering to the annual November Workers Rally in Tokyo sponsored by Doro-Chiba, Metal and Machinery Workers’ Union (Minato-Godo) and Solidarity Union of Japan Construction and Transport Workers Kansai Area Branch (Kan-Nama).

Sister Inouye is coming to Japan to join us in our summer events. After participating August 6 Hiroshima Rally and August 9 Nagasaki Rally, she will come to Yokosuka where the struggle has begun to boil up against the attempt of making Yokosuka a home port of the US nuclear carrier George Washington

Now is the time for education workers to occupy a central role in building up unity of working class because they are most severely confronted with the neo-liberal offensive that brings about war and poverty. Only the united power of workers worldwide can construct a new society without nuke, military base, war and exploitation.

Let’s build up international solidarity of education workers

In the November 3 Rally last year we learned much from the speech of sister Inouye emphasizing how important it is to be confident in ourselves and in our colleagues. “Maybe I’m great!”―she articulated her belief in such expression. Encouraged and invigorated by the international spirit of unity, we have succeeded in stopping discharge of sister Nezu and in developing nationwide the struggle against Hinomaru and Kimigayo.

The victory of the struggle against the attempt of making Yokosuka a home port of the US nuclear carrier George Washington can be achieved through international solidarity of workers in Japan and the US and reestablishing militant labor unions based on workplace struggles.

Join us in August 10 International Solidarity Rally in Miura Peninsula together with your colleagues of your workplace!

Our hope lies in our unity!