Hatoyama to Protect Life, except that of Koreans

Last summer, there was a change of government here in Japan, from the Liberal Democratic Party (自由民主党) to the Democratic Party (民主党). From the leftist perspective, it is difficult to see any substantial difference between the two, aside from the extra word in the name of the former, but the new administration does employ some new rhetoric. A keyword here is fraternity (the gender insensitivity is something that hasn't changed).


The fraternal spirit is decorated with some modest socialist policies. One of them is to make high school education "free"(高校無償化): if things go as planned, there will be no tuition for all public schools, starting April; all private schools, international schools included, will receive government subsidies so that they will be more affordable. I just used "all" twice, because that's what the government and the ruling parties had been telling us until very recently. Then just weeks ago, Hiroshi Nakai (中井洽), a cabinet member, showed up out of nowhere and opened his mouth. He wants to exclude Korean schools (朝鮮学校) as part of economic sanctions against North Korea. Thank God we have Yukio Hatoyama (鳩山由紀夫), someone who believes in fraternity, in power. One would expect him not to listen to such racist nonsense and go ahead with the plan, the plan for all. As it turns out, the prime minister is also inclined to make an exception to "all."


Let me give you a paragraph of a Far East modern history lesson. In the nineteenth century, Japan started aggression against Korea and incorporated it in the early twentieth century. Under the colonial rule, a lot of Koreans were taken to Japan as forced laborers. Others had to migrate because of the economic mess created by the invaders. In 1945, the Empire of Japan was defeated, which was a liberation for Korean people. Then the cold (and hot) war. As a result of all this, there are hundreds of thousands of permanent residents of the Korean origin in Japan. Since the defeat of the Empire failed to amount to a significant break with the past, Japan still is a racist society, hostile to the non-Japanese. On the other hand, as early as just after the liberation, some Koreans decided to build their own schools, teaching their own children their own culture and language. From the very beginning, their efforts were met with the government suppression: arrests were made, a young person killed, the schools closed down. And yet they didn't give up. Korean schools still continue to exist in this racist nation, a testament to their struggles.


The exclusion of Korean schools from this new policy should be situated in this context. In his policy address earlier this year, Hatoyama said he wants to protect life and argued "we must guarantee all children ways of life in which everyone can drink healthy water and enjoy basic education free from discrimination and prejudice with their human rights protected." Well said. In light of the recent events, however, Myungsoo Kim (金明秀) suggests a revision to his statement: Hatoyama should say "I want to protect life, except that of Koreans."


A lot of permanent residents of the Korean origin with some Japanese and other people are enraged. They are collecting signatures, handing out leaflets, holding meetings, and expressing their opinions on the street, calling against discrimination. I hope the international community will take interest in this issue and start to participate in the calls against exclusion of Korean schools.


p.s.
A revised and expanded version of this entry has been published at Dissident Voice.

Is Haruki Murakami an Anti-War Figure?

In an earlier post,  I criticized Haruki Murakami (村上春樹) for his bad faith or self deception about the choice he made regarding the Jerusalem Prize. shaymaa kindly provided a supportive comment, to which I responded and said:

Pretending to take no side, he clearly takes the side of the State of Israel, which continues its aggression towards Palestinians. It is sad that some "pacifists" in my country see him as some kind of an anti-war figure, which he is not.

With the latter part of which Gottahavawa disagrees. S/he says:

You also state he is not anti-war, yet admit you have not read his works (and, I would guess, his interviews and essays -- in journals like Eureka and bungakukai). While I too must admit to finding his position on the Palestinians troubling, you should not so easily dismiss the author or his works. In terms of Japan, his works are very much anti-war, and his political stance in many ways resembles your views. Read a few pages of "Hitsuji wo meguru boken" or "Nejimakidori no kuroniruru" and this should be readily apparent.

Well, Gottahavawa, thanks for the recommendations. I will try to read those books when I have a chance.

But I was not talking about subjective pacifism. Ask Obama, Bush, Blair, Hatoyama, or even Hirohito; I bet they would all say without hesitation or equivocation that they are against war and stand for peace. As this thought experiment makes clear, being an "anti-war" in and of itself does not amount to much. Remember, the IDF stands for Israel Defense Force. When they drop a bomb in Gaza, they are doing so to end war and make peace. In a sense they are against war.

However, if you start using the term "anti-war" that way, then it loses its critical edge; if it is to be retained, you need to ask against what war, against which side, for which side. And on these questions, Haruki's acceptance of the Jerusalem Prize provided a clear answer: he takes the side of the State of Israel. His speech included some mild criticisms, but bringing up white phosphorus is in no way subversive of the Israeli civil society, which is quite ready to tolerate even stronger internal dissidence. Every once in a while, they make movies like Waltz with Bashir and yet continue to do what they do. The bottom line is, Haruki chose not to boycott the Prize, and whatever he said at the speech, it was an act of endorsement for everything the IDF is doing from an international author with fans and followers around the world (although he did lose at least one, shaymaa, for his choice).

Haruki also referred to Japanese past aggression:

My father passed away last year at the age of ninety. He was a retired teacher and a part-time Buddhist priest. When he was in graduate school in Kyoto, he was drafted into the army and sent to fight in China. As a child born after the war, I used to see him every morning before breakfast offering up long, deeply-felt prayers at the small Buddhist altar in our house. One time I asked him why he did this, and he told me he was praying for the people who had died in the battlefield. He was praying for all the people who died, he said, both ally and enemy alike. Staring at his back as he knelt at the altar, I seemed to feel the shadow of death hovering around him.

My father died, and with him he took his memories, memories that I can never know. But the presence of death that lurked about him remains in my own memory. It is one of the few things I carry on from him, and one of the most important.

Here again, you see his trick. Death is not an appropriate concept in a war situation as it lacks any political positionality. No, it was not just death; it was a murder; it was a massacre; it was a rape. The difference the last three terms have in common with death is they all imply the presence of a perpetrator. The War was no natural disaster; it was the Empire of Japan and its people who started it; we invaded Asia, colonized it, killed people, and raped women. 

Most Japanese people are like Haruki: they would likely say they are anti-war if asked. But to be an anti-war in any meaningful way requires more than just making a simple statement. We need to confront our past and present,  and take a side. Whose side are you on? I side against the nation of Japan, which, without any clear break with the past Empire, continues its aggression now under the American hegemony and racist violence institutional or otherwise within its territories.




Oh by the way, here's something I did on the eve of Haruki's visit to Jerusalem:

YouTube Revenue Sharing

"Gays in the Military? No, Thanks" Video

Here's my vlog:

Judith Butler Impersonation

The following is my attempt at Judith Butler impersonation at my twitter, inspired by the Habermas imposter:

If identity is a tentative effect of discursive activity which only appears retroactively, then what does it mean to be a Judith Butler? It is troublesome to claim to be Judith Butler even if that name has been attached to the person that I occupy whole life. Indeed, this tweet itself, which purports to assure the statement I am Judith Butler, is a manifestation of anxiety about identity. There is no Judith Butler before these tweets; it is a mere produced effect that nonetheless has socio-political consequences. If that is the case, then the fact that I am actual Judith Butler fails to provide any material or discursive guarantee. In fact, there is always the possibility of impersonation: what if a person other than myself is using discursive strategies to be me. That possibility exposes the fact that I, actual Judith Butler, has always been impersonating Judith Butler. If, as I am, someone is subject to the interpellation, to the hailing, "Hi Judy," from behind and if she makes a 180 degree turn it does not necessarily imply total surrender to ideology; the subject so produced still can maneuver to take advantage of the imposed subject position. To take up a personal example, people [in Japan] worship Judith Butler without bothering to read her books, so they offered me a free trip there. Being an impersonator of Judith Butler, I took that offer of luxurious travel, enjoyed meals, and went to Akihabara. They asked me to give a lecture, but it was no big deal;since no one there actually reads my books, I got away with just reading aloud a manuscript of a chapter that had already been published. They seemed to like it; I got applause from an audience of more than a thousand. Kazuko Takemura was my host. She was using her students like slaves. But it was OK because she acted like a slave to me. Anyway, I recommend a trip to Japan for fellow American professors; there you sort of feel like you were a French.

Mediact, Seul

I signed the petition Media and democracy in South Korea: Save Mediact. My comment:

I come from a country, Japan, which is relatively underdeveloped in terms of the freedom of press and political activism. Mediact has been something we've aspired to. I hope it will continue to be a role model for all of us in Asia.

The Racists Shall Not Pass! Shinjuku, 1.24

One of the recent developments in the Japanese political landscape is the increasing visibility of openly racist grass roots groups, such as Zaitoku-kai（在特会） and Shukenkaifukuwo-Mezasu-Kai（主権回復を目指す会）. To get a taste, watch this:

In this video, the racist activists are attacking an elementary school (Yes, an elementary school) for residents of Korean origin in Kyoto. That happened early last month. The police were called, but you can see they weren't much of help. The school later brought charges, but no arrests have been reported. The incident was a case in point, exposing the racist nature of the society itself. As Kim Gwang-sang （金光翔） points out, it was the police themselves who first started the persecution of Korean schools and community organizations in the 1990's, after all. As he goes on to say, "What the state was doing, now a private organization （在特会） is doing."

So that was last month. Today, those groups are alive and well, and planning a relatively large-scale conference and a march inciting ethnic hatred in Tokyo this coming sunday, January 24. I will participate in a counter-event (details below). I don't think racism will go away just by opposing an event; I do believe, however, it is important not to let them walk peacefully without protest, not to let them define the situation. I hope you can join us countering the racists and calling for the civil rights for all. I'm afraid that the title of the counter-event, "The Racists Shall Not Pass," taken from the traditional anti-fascist slogan "No Pasaran," might strike a little ironic in light of the fact that the whole of the society, not just exceptional bigots, is inherently racist, but I hope this will be a small step towards recognizing our problem instead of a ritualistic game to assure ourselves of our good nature against their hatred. This is our society, and they are a symptom of this racist-patriarchal-capitalism called Japan.

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There Comes the Hate Crime!

The Racists Shall Not Pass! An Emergency Action in Shinjuku on 1.24

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Where & When: The South Exit, the Shinjuku Station, 11:00 a.m. onwards (The venue could be subject to change, so check our blog frequently)

What is planed: We will protest "Zaitokukai's" hate march through free speeches and other expressions against racism on the street.

Your participation is called for by: The Association against Hate Speech (ヘイトスピーチに反対する会)

Organized by: The Racists Shall Not Pass! An Emergency Action on 1.24 Planning Committee

Contact: livingtogether09@gmail.com

*Those groups are not welcome who have sought to resolve differences in opinion through the use of physical force and have continued to justify such acts.

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One of the political topics today is a bill to recognize voting rights for foreigners with permanent resident status. To make it clear, the voting right is a right, not a privilege. It is not something that is given from the above, but is a right for everyone to represent themselves equally through voting; it should be respected as a right in a society by each other.

"Zaitokukai," an ultra-conservative group, still insists on holding a large-scale special meeting and marching towards the Shinjuku Station on January 24 in calling against the foreigners' right to vote. For them, it is as if the demand for the enfranchisement is a request for a "privilege," and is a crime enough to be expelled from this society. They are quite open about their hatred against foreign residents in the Japanese society and have been active in inciting xenophobia against ethnic and racial minorities. We should remember their racist violence targeting the family from overseas and their child’s school in Saitama, the threat against the Utoro District, Kyoto and a Korean elementary school. Their coming march is also a part of those.

How come they got it all wrong? Quite a few are tackling this puzzle.

Putting the question aside for a moment, we should pay attention to this: the conservatism in this society has only served to discriminate among people by birth and to disdain and hate each other. In the society where the minority are treated as second class citizens, where they are deprived of the civil rights, the "rights" enjoyed by the majority exist only as "privileges" ready to be taken away.

We are calling for all those enraged against the ethnic and racial hatred and sexism. We are calling for all those seeking for a society in which no one has to go through humiliation because of their origin. Let us protest against their march. Let us stand on the street and show our will to protest.

Circulation welcome.

For updates, visit: ヘイトスピーチに反対する会