MIYAZAWA Action & Parade in Tokyo

Report by ASEED Japan

On 7 March, we counted 300 days up to the year 2000, when the JUBILEE 2000 campaign spreads the appeal "for the cancellation of the unpayable debts of world's poorest countries by the end of 2000." The campaign has finally started moving in Tokyo, linking up with more than 40 countries.

The march and action (called 'MIYAZAWA Action') was organized by the A SEED

JAPAN, a student-led organization. Some wore costumes to draw the attention of the people on the street, while others came with banners with messages and balloons with slogans: "free", "fair", or "debt". Members of NGOs, unions, and churches all turned up and marched with name-plates of their organisations to demonstrate the multicultural character of the campaign.

The march, with more than 60 people, began from the Yoyogi park and finished in

Miyashita Park (about 1.5km). We marched in the heavy rain, which made us look as if we were crying in anger over the severe injustice in our society.

Jubilee 2000 campaign is not well known in Japan partly because the mass media have hardly covered the issue, and the Japanese Government has not made its position on third world debt clear yet. Few people have been informed of what is going on around the debt, including the actions in the rest of the world so far. The aim of the action in Tokyo was to raise the awareness of the people as well as to bring the individuals and organisations involved in the campaign together.

'MIYAZAWA Action' involved a street play on the pedestrian precinct at the heart of Tokyo. "Bad guys" from the WTO/IMF chained the world and people in the Third world, before the "good guy", Miyazawa, the finance minister came along and cut the chain to set them free by paying a 1500 billion yen cheque. Everyone else sang songs about cancelling the debts, transforming the chain of debts to the hands of a human chain.

This event was the first step to ground our campaign in Japan. In spite of the heavy rain, the street performance drew the attention of more people than expected. Some of them stopped and received the flyers and fact sheets the campaigners gave out. It was also covered by the news media.

This "Global Chain Reaction" was part of various actions organised around the

world, and encapsulates the basic principle of the Jubilee 2000 campaign. It shows that change must occur from the bottom, involving individuals all over the world with simultaneous and continuous actions in order to change the most powerful decision makers' minds.

The campaign is being promoted in over 120 countries. The action of each person will build the human chains that will move the G8 in Cologne. In the year 2000 the summit will be in Japan. Jubilee 2000 in Japan will extend the deadline of the petition until the end of April to deliver the strongest people's voice we can.

(RYO/MIHO)