The War Fever in the Superpower U.S.
by S. Michael Yasutake
October 28, 2001

As a Japanese American Nisei who lived in Japan just before World War II — between 1939-40 during the Sino-Japanese war — the present war fever in the U.S. brings to mind the image of militarism in Japan during that time.

As a young man of military draft age, I was exposed to the military and patriotic fever in Japan. Having become adequately fluent in Japanese, I read Japanese newspapers and listened to many a patriotic speech over the radio by Japanese political and military leaders. The presence of soldiers was evident wherever I traveled in Japan. Anti-foreign propaganda was noticeable, including distorted descriptions of the U.S. in the Japanese media.

Then, upon my return to the U.S. after 1 1/2 years of extended stay in Japan, I was exposed to anti-Japanese propaganda in the U.S. media, much of which I knew personally to be false, based on my personal experience in Japan.

Japan, then in the midst of Sino-Japanese war, was boasting that it had never been defeated in wars — that it was invulnerable. Japanese children were taught that when the mighty Genghis Khan attempted an invasion of Japan in the 5th century, a great storm destroyed the Khan's war fleet. Japanese history claimed that this storm was the divine wind ("kamikaze" in Japanese - the term used for the Japanese suicide piloted "zero" planes of World War II) that saved Japan. Gods were on the side of righteous Japan against the evil forces of mighty Genghis Khan conquering other parts of Asia.

Japan developed a slogan of "Asia for the Asians," whereby the ever righteous Japan would unite Asia under Japan’s benevolent rule… the Japanese people, who were celebrating Japan’s military victories during those years, never experienced war within Japan itself. Japan’s war was always fought someplace else.

During the 20th century, to counter European domination of its next-door neighbor China, Japan intensified its militarism in "self defense." Japan developed a slogan of "Asia for the Asians," whereby the ever righteous Japan would unite Asia under Japan’s benevolent rule. It thus justified the conquest and colonization of Korea and proceeded to invade China during my teenage years. In all of Japan’s military exploits, the Japanese people, who were celebrating Japan’s military victories during those years, never experienced war within Japan itself. Japan’s war was always fought someplace else.

Likewise, in all the wars that the U.S. has fought, the U.S. people have known the havoc of war only as it has been inflicted on others and not on the soil of the U.S. continent. When the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon took place on September 11th, as people mourned, the whole nation was in a state of shock mixed with the wrath of nationalism ("God Bless America") against the perpetrators who had invaded their homeland. Similarly, the Japanese learned directly of war on their own soil only when attacked by the U.S. How tragic it is that the spirit of nationalism such as in Japan and in the U.S. has seemed to dull sensitivity to the suffering of other peoples who have been invaded, victimized and brutalized.

Now the U.S. military is invading Afghanistan. The U.S. leaders are proclaiming that this is the war of the good against evil. Civilization and democracy that the U.S. and its allies represent are under attack. As the U.S. television and media so prominently displays, "America Strikes Back" — the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan is to get at the terrorists, it is claimed. The war fever in the U.S. now reminds me of the kind of militarism which I sensed in Japan during my stay there in 1939-40 and then in the United States following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.

The war fever in the U.S. now reminds me of the kind of militarism which I sensed in Japan during my stay there in 1939-40 and then in the United States following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.

As the war rages on, we face the horrifying prospect of millions in Afghanistan people starving to death and dying of disease (based on the UNICEF estimate, upwards of 5.5 to 7.7 million people, 70% of them women and children). Aggravated by U.S. military actions, this does not yet seem to have worked itself into the consciousness of the people in the U.S. The mainline media, for most the only source of information, is not reporting much about the disastrous consequences of the U.S. invasion on the Afghanistan people.

In the midst of this massive national and worldwide catastrophe, those of us who are opposed to the present U.S.-declared "war on terrorism" are faced with a formidable challenge. But unlike during World War II and other recent war eras (with the exception of the latter part of the Vietnam War), there seems to be more vocal and assertive peace and human rights activism today in the U.S. Herein lies hope for the cessation of war and for winning of peace. These groups around the nation are small in size but nevertheless numerous and committed. They seem to be working ever more closely together, and could ultimately succeed in communicating to others, including some in the mainline media, the insane nature of the U.S.’ unilateral violent military action. It is to be hoped that more people within the superpower U.S. will help this nation to learn to resolve problems in peaceful collaboration with other peoples, and not to resort to violence and brute force as response to crimes against humanity, thereby compounding violence with more violence.

The U.S. as superpower is used to unilateral actions. It has relied on its powerful status to pressure other individual nations as well as the United Nations to implement policies favorable to U.S. interests. Aware of this dominance of the U.S. in international relations, increasingly peace and human rights groups are calling on the U.S. to act as a responsible member of a worldwide community. There are calls for the rules of international law and morality to prevail to which all parties would be accountable. Thus crimes against humanity when committed — whether by so called "rogue groups" or by superpower nations such as the U.S. — would be judged according to internationally agreed upon rules of justice applicable to all.

There are always underlying causes in conflicts. In international relations, there are histories of longstanding and deep-seated injustice. Wars have been waged by nations and groups as means to supposedly restore justice. However, it will hopefully become evident to more people (particularly in the superpower U.S.) that wars create more problems, and lead to future wars. With the world becoming more closely interrelated and with technological advances in war weaponry, wars only succeed in destroying people and ultimately the planet earth.

One modest recent attempt by the international community to deal with past injustices was the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) in Durban, South Africa this past summer. In particular, Non-Governmental Organizations brought pressure on the WCAR to deal with the massive injustice of the history of slavery of Africans. This took the form of consideration for reparations to people of African descent. The U.S. government, in opposition to the desires of third world nations and justice groups within the U.S., refused to discuss the issue. Sending only low-level representatives (and those appeared only at the beginning of the conference), the U.S. refused to participate in the reparations issue, and walked out of the WCAR for the remainder of the conference.

The World Conference Against Racism was an example of how the international community can attempt to deal with deep-seated injustices of the past. It was also an example of how such injustices, when not resolved, become the source of conflicts, even centuries later.

While claiming to be concerned about racism, the U.S. refused to consider concrete actions that might have been the beginning of repairing history. However inadequate the conference may have been in dealing with some issues, nevertheless the WCAR was an example of how the international community can attempt to deal with deep-seated injustices of the past. It was also an example of how such injustices, when not resolved, become the source of conflicts, even centuries later.

When the United States "walked out" of the WCAR to oppose the agendas of reparations to blacks and of Palestinian/Israeli issues, the "whole world" watched. On this topic, the Boston Globe newspaper had a headline, "U.S. Runs from Conference, But It Can’t Hide (Derrick Z. Jackson)."

We must hope that the recent trend of efforts dedicated to human rights, justice and peace, particularly in the U.S., will continue. Activists must to come together to call for change in the U.S.’ relation to the world, particularly to the third world and its peoples. Regardless of the present state of hostility and suspicion of the Arab/Muslim world that seems to prevail in the U.S. today, the peacemakers and human rights workers will continue their struggle, knowing that there is no alternative but peace on earth for the survival of us all.

The Rev. Seiichi Michael Yasutake is the director of Interfaith Prisoners of Conscience, an organization particularly focused on the rights of political prisoners in North America. As a "Nisei" (second generation U.S. resident) Japanese American, he has worked for decades to connect issues of social, economic, and racial justice between the Pacific Rim, the Americas, and the Caribbean. Mike lives in Evanston, Illinois and can be reached by email at yasutake@interaccess.com