Published on Linchpin - website of Ontario anarchist organization Common Cause (http://linchpin.ca)

By EdwardW

Despite being held on a Friday night, a reasonable turnout showed up to listen to Japanese anarchist activists, Sabu Kohso and Go Hirasawa, here as part of a speaking tour, discuss the current political situation in Japan, with topics like anti-Japanese imperialism, article-9, Japanese free-trade agreements, as well as, organizational efforts around the upcoming G8 meeting near Lake Toya.

The talk began with an explanation that Japan was not an island but an archipelago. The importance of this statement may not seem clear at first, but it was later explained that this was one indication of Japan's history of imperialism, which arguably continues to this day. It has often been expressed by right-wing leaders and nationalists that Japan is an island with the existence of a 'pure' Japanese race; this conceals the historical facts that Japan had colonized nations and peoples like the Ainu of Hokkaidō and Okinawa. This is in addition to imperialist actions against China - spheres of influence, colonization of Taiwan, Korea, Manchuria etc. A major focus of the anarchist, anti-fa movement in Japan has been to oppose the continued misconception of Japan's imperialist past. This opposition is illustrated by demonstrations against state visits to the Yasukuni Shrine – a Shinto shrine where Japan's 'war dead' are commemorated and a number of war criminals are memorialized as “Martyrs of Shōwa”.

Unfortunately, the anti-Japanese Imperialism movement across East Asia has turned towards nationalist, anti-Japanese sentiments, with a decisively right-wing flavour. For example, I distastefully remembered an incident in Hong Kong during the demonstration against the rewriting of Japanese history textbooks. As Szeto Wah, former member of legislature and chairman of The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, made a speech in attempt to connect the issues of authoritarianism and the rewriting of history to the Tienanmen Square Massacre in China, he was quickly booed down with murmurs of, “why the hell is he talking about China”, and the chanting of anti-Japanese slogans. On the question of whether attempts have been made to reconcile with the anti-Japanese Imperialism movement across East Asia, and primarily in Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Go Hirasawa expressed that this is taken very seriously, and that comrades have travelled to many of these places to connect with these social movements and that these meetings have been largely fruitful. He explained a desire for East Asian activists to use this G8 meeting as a platform to promote this opposition.

Other topics discussed included attempts by the United States and the Right-wing in Japan to “reimagine” Article 9 the “Anti-war clause” of the post-war constitution, which prohibits acts of war and the creation of a Japanese military force. Although already interpreted fairly loosely, there has been attempts to reinterpret the law to allow for further rearmament to allow for interventions and possible contributions to American imperialist activities in the Middle East, in addition to opening up new markets for American weapon suppliers.

The free-trade agreement between Japan and Philippines was also cited as an example of modern-day Japanese imperialism, where as Philippines have effectively been used as a dumping ground. The speakers expressed opposition to Japanese regional dominance.

The speakers moved on to describe the current organizational efforts around the G8 meeting. They explained that the No G8 Coalition consisted of various advocacy groups spanning issues of homelessness, day labour, anti-war activism, international solidarity, and that there was a desire to bring more groups into the fold. Major leftist parties like the Socialist Party and Japanese Communist Party have yet to proclaim opposition to the G8 and major unions, with close ties to the major political parties, have done likewise. Unlike in the past, Japanese anarchists have taken a leading role in organizing this year's events.

Facilities and accommodations will be provided for foreign activists and recommendations for travel to Japan will be posted on the website [2]. Although there have been no cases of arrest for foreigners and the level of violence is considerably low compared to Europe and North America, activists are urged to be careful. Japanese activists have been known to be locked up for as long as 23 days.

Workshops, talks, and demonstrations with a focus on various issues, including farmers, poverty, indigenous people, neo-liberalism, etc., will be occur in the lead up to the meeting.

With the last G8 demonstration held in Okinawa attracting 30,000 people, Sabu Kohso and Go Hirasawa are hoping for an even larger crowd this year.

The G8 meeting will occur from July 7 – 9, 2007, with advocacy action beginning on July 1.

For more details, visit the No G8 2008 website.