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We, the Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC), express our sorrow at the tragedy caused by the "simultaneous terrorist attack" on September 11, in which countless thousand of precious lives were lost and many more were injured. We extend our sincere and heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives on September 11. We cannot accept such a horrific violent attacks.

Our movement, PARC, was established in the late 1960s, stemming from the Anti-Vietnam war citizen movement. We have been working to build equal relations among the people of Japan, Asia and the Pacific Ocean, and Third World countries. Based on this position, we express our opposition both to the "simultaneous terrorist attack" and to political responses against this attack both by the US and Japan.

First, regardless of what group prepared and implemented this violent attack - although the US government seems to have identified the criminal - we strongly oppose that this attack be called an Act of War, and we oppose the US claim that it has a state right to retaliate using military power. We also strongly oppose US plans for a violent military retaliation.

We believe that it is important that a thorough investigation be conducted by international justice authorities and civil police of several countries, and that any response should wait until the release of the results of this investigation. Blind military retaliation by a single nation or by mobilizing allied countries might lead to the sacrifice of as many innocent citizens as this attack or more. And such military retaliation will produce a vicious military escalation.

Secondly, whoever conducted this attack, we should not identify them with the ethnic groups and religion they belong. Ethnic and religious prejudice and discrimination should be prevented.

It has been reported that hate crimes (crime based on prejudice or hatred) have occurred and that the one-sided information spread by the mass media has inflamed prejudice in the United States. We want to sound an alarm bell against prejudice against Islam and the Third World, which is spreading in parts of Western and Japanese society.

Thirdly, no matter how cruel and miserable a situation was caused by this "simultaneous terrorist attack," we should not defend the cruelty and miserable violence, war, and terrorism committed by the US (both government and army).

Without even going back to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it is clear that millions of innocent people were killed in Vietnam, Iraq, Sudan, Nicaragua, Panama, the Balkan Peninsula and other places by war and state terrorism carried out by the US which has appointed themselves as the policeman of the world and believes that all justice and good are in its hands. Furthermore, the governments of many countries which have received U.S. military and material support have murdered many of their people using their own armies. Indonesia under the Suharto Regime, with the support of the West and Japan, carried out the military occupation at East Timor, and a number of people equal to the victims of the atom bombing of Hiroshima have fallen victim there. State terrorism in the Third World supported by Europe, the U.S. and Japan have received no or little coverage compared to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center Building in New York. While we express profound condolences to the victim of this "simultaneous terrorist attack," we think that unless we expand our condolences equally to people who were victimized by
the countless wars and state terrorism led by the US in the past, we cannot guarantee the security of innocent peoples from any violence.

Fourthly, we are deeply concerned about the effect of the globalization of the market economy, pushed mainly by the US after the Cold War. This process is dividing the world more than ever into the powerful and the powerless, and this drives marginalized people to despair. There is a mechanism through which marginalized people can find hope in terrorism from a situation of despair. The arms these people hold are weapons exported by the strong, and through these
exports, the arm traders have become even stronger. And armed terrorism victimizes many innocent citizens. What we need to do now is to cut this vicious circle of economic globalization and terrorist attacks. In order to make the 21st century one of hope, it is crucial to build alternative logic among people based on solidarity and friendship as global citizens against the logic of the nation states, international institutions and giant global corporations.

Finally, we must refer to Japan's moves toward militarism using this "simultaneous terrorist attack" as a pretext. Japanese politicians, most of whom belong to the LDP, plan to enact a new law for emergency situations and establish a notion of the right of collective self defense, which has so far not been acknowledged in Japanese society. We strongly oppose such moves towards the strengthening of military force and the approval for Japan's Self-Defense Forces to participate in the joint military action.

We understand that stopping terrorism and providing people with security is needed in order to abolish structural violence around the world and to realize solidarity and confidence among global citizens. We cannot abandon pacifism and the confidence that all nations love peace, which is mentioned in the preface of Japan's Constitution, as a means to attain this purpose.

September 17, 2001

Pacific-Asia Resource Center (PARC)
2F Toyo Bldg. 1-7-11 Kanda Awaji-cho Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 101-0063 Japan
Tel: 81-3-5209-3455　Fax: 81-3-5209-3453
E-Mail: parc@jca.apc.org
http://www.jca.apc.org/parc/index-e.html