We are sorry to say that we temporarily stop the Publication of our 'Libero International'. We thank you, those individuals arid groups who have written to us, subscribed to 'L.I.1', and exchanged materials with us. And now we must add that we also closed the PO Box of Kobe. From now on please send all materials and letters to: ( * * * )
Although 'Libero' shall sleep for a while, this does not mean that CIRA-Nippon will cease all its activities. We are very pleased to continue to have your periodicals, pamphlets etc. if you kindly send them to us. Those we receive shall be sent to the CIRA-Nippon library at Fujinomiya just as they have been, and will be available to anyone who wants to see them. We can still supply some copies of 'Libero' issues 2,3 and 4. but No. 1 is out of Print and No. 5 running short.
To subscribers: do we have any debt to you? If you think so, please say so. But now we don't have any money to pay you back (!) We hope you kindly await the day when we can re-start.
Now please let me explain the reasons for our closing 'Libero'. Firstly, we are now interested in a new project, a translation of a history of the Korean Anarchist Movement. The first volume of the original Korean edition is a large book of 460 pages including many documents, from which we want to make the abridged Japanese and English translations. This work is too big for us to treat as a sidejob. (Please see Hiroshi Ozeki's article later in this issue.)
Secondly, we are now able neither to have much time for the magazine, nor to add new members to the collective. Five years have passed since the first issue, and much water has passed under the bridge. At the starting-point we had four members with a few supporters, and now have only three; one was married but is now out of employment, and other two have become fathers with two children each. They are busy with their jobs and their children.
These children are still too young to help us. We hope they will help us to publish 'Libero' in some days: maybe after fifteen years at least. But now these babies disturb us with their angels' smiles and devils, crying. The situation will be improved in a few years, we hope.
In other ways too, the situation has changed much compared with that of our starting-point. We are sorry that we have failed to attract new members, partly because of our own weak activities; but we are also sorry that few young Japanese have shown their concern for publishing a revue in English. And these years the general social movements, especially the student movement, became weak, though we have some small exceptions.
Finally, let me speak of myself. I have been semi-unemployed these four years and now I am a little tired, because I have to take on much part-time teaching to make money. I feel that I have some danger to make it an excuse for myself to treat the daily affairs of SIC. Every week our post-box received so many periodicals, pamphlets and letters. I was very interested in this work, but now I came to feel this a heavy duty. This isn't a good tendency, I think. This is why I handed the work to Wat, who will do it when he has time.
Six years ago when I intended to make a bulletin of CIRA-Nippon, the result was a tiny news letter with only eight pages ('Libero' No. 0). But we made an editorial collective and so came about the 'Libero International' that you know. The result surprised me very much and so did the responses to it. This taught me how little information had flowed out of Asia, even from Japan. I think that 'Libero' is a necessary channel for both you and us, though I am afraid, it has carried rather few articles on up-to-date situations of Asia and Japan.
We hope to and will re-start our publication of 'Libero'; the restarting issue will be the first part of the translation of the history of the Korean Anarchist Movement. I myself want to issue some kind of newsletter instead of 'Libero', even if only once a year, but I/we can't promise it. But anything we publish will of course be sent to you.
You have some information channels from Asia in English, one of which was our 'Libero'. Though 'Libero's editorial collective will continue their activities, both joint ones (publication of the Korea book) and independent ones (commune movement, anti-nuclear movement, coop movement etc.), 'Libero' for the time being goes to bed. So, we say "Goodnight", not "Goodbye"; and "See you later", not "Sayonara".
Kusaura Naohide
PS from Wat Tyler: as KN says above, in the future I will be handling correspondence and coping with the remaining bureaucratic tasks. I'd like to apologize in advance for the delays and mix-ups that this is bound to cause.
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