Let's make a fresh start toward building a big JCP in preparation for the Upper House election: Shii
Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo used the 2004 JCP New Year Assembly to call for a fresh start of the campaign to secure a JCP victory in the House of Councilors election. The following is the translation of the Shii speech at the JCP head office on January 5:
Happy New Year! My greetings also go to those who are watching this meeting via the communication satellite broadcast.
It is Important in Times of Turmoil to Understand Contradictions that Underlie the World
We have ushered in a new year as we prepare for the JCP 23rd Congress that will discuss and adopt a revised JCP Program. A fierce six-month race for the House of Councilors is already underway between parties. We will do our utmost to make the JCP Congress a success and secure the seats the JCP now has in the House of Councilors, five in the proportional representation constituency and seven in prefectural constituencies.
The past year has been tumultuous indeed, both in Japan and internationally. There has been a sharp confrontation concerning Iraq between two currents: peace and war. In Japan, with Liberal Democratic Party politics facing a crisis, a movement suddenly began toward establishing another conservative party. Calls for a viable alternative to the Liberal Democratic Party as a governing party made the campaigning more complicated and difficult, and the JCP suffered a setback in the general election.
In the present tumultuous situation, the need is to grasp the political situation in depth. In other words, we must know what the contradictions are in the changing world and carry out the struggle to promote the cause of social progress. The draft JCP Program that will be discussed and adopted by the Congress provides a solid basis for our efforts.
Clashes between War and Peace Underlies the Present-day World
What is the main cause underlying our work to exert our influence in the world? The draft of the revised JCP Program states, "More importantly, the choice facing the world is between two international orders: one for peace based on the U.N. Charter and the other plagued with intervention, aggression, war, and oppression that are at the disposal of the U.S. acting tyrannically." Looking at the past year's world events from this viewpoint, you will understand that these two conflicting currents underlie them and which one has a future.
U.S. suffered defeat or failure in three instances
Using its unrivaled military strength, the United States in the past year has done everything to assert its hegemony, but the events show clearly that the United States suffered defeat or failure in three instances.
One is that it failed to be supported by the United Nations before it started the war against Iraq. In the diplomatic battlefield, the United States for six months put pressure on the U.N. Security Council to support the United States, but permanent UNSC members France, Russia, and China rejected the U.S. demand. The United States then launched the war of aggression by making a preemptive attack on Iraq without a UNSC resolution.
Second, even after the war brought down the Hussein regime, the international community, and in particular the United Nations, has not endorsed the war. Following the collapse of the Hussein regime, the JCP Standing Executive Committee published a statement calling on the international community to not condone the war. The United Nations has never regarded the Iraq war as legitimate. This is a very important point. The U.S. Bush administration apparently underestimated its failure and believed that the international community will follow the United States if the latter achieves military victory. But the United States not only failed to get an ex post facto approval of the Iraq War but also came under fire at home and abroad over Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction which the United States used to justify its war. The United States thus had to face international criticism instead of getting international support. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in the U.N. General Assembly in September 2003 criticized the U.S. strategy of preemptive strike as "a fundamental challenge to the principles (of the United Nations)", followed by a burst of criticism of the lawless war itself.
A country that prosecuted the war of injustice cannot build peace by itself
Third, the U.S. military occupation of Iraq has got bogged down and reached an impasse. This is due chiefly to the U.S. and British forces continuing their illegitimate occupation of Iraq in disregard of the call of the majority of the international community for reconstruction assistance to be carried out in a U.N.-led framework. This attitude deepens U.S. isolation in the world and faces tough resistance from the Iraqi people. This shows that a country can win a war but cannot build peace after waging an unjust war.
The three instances of U.S. defeat or failure show that whatever military strength the United States uses as a lever to establish a uni-polar world under U.S. domination, the world in the 21st century does not respond as the United States wants.
Popular Struggles for a Peaceful Order are the Driving Force to Influence the World in Depth
What is the motive power that influences the world in depth? Recently, I've read an article by James P. Rubin, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs (1997-2000) under the Clinton Administration. Entitled "Stumbling Into War", the article severely criticized the U.S. Bush administration for a serious diplomatic debacle, stating that it lost the moral authority of the United States.
World's popular struggles caused a major U.S. diplomatic failure
Mr. Rubin's analysis of the U.S. failure caught my attention. He said that the United States failed because the United Nations functioned properly. Non-permanent U.N. Security Council members acted on behalf of the public they represent.
In the heated U.N. Security Council discussion in the run-up to the outbreak of the Iraq War, the statements by non-permanent UNSC members from the middle-of-the-road group drew attention. The U.S. received no support for its move to start a war. Explaining why the U.S. was cornered into such a stunning diplomatic defeat, Rubin wrote (Foreign Affairs, September/October 2003) that Angola, Cameroon, and Guinea accurately represented Africa's overwhelming opposition to the war as did Mexico and Chile for Latin America. Although Mr. Rubin didn't mention it, Pakistan remained opposed to the war on Iraq, representing the call of the Islamic world for peace. The point is that last year, calls and actions for peace arose throughout the world and helped the United Nations discharge its function, resulting in a stunning diplomatic defeat for the U.S. It is significant that a former U.S. official who used to be in the center of the U.S. administration acknowledged this U.S. defeat.
Looking back on 2003, we can see clearly that popular struggles calling for the establishment of a world order based on the United Nations Charter contributed to moving the world in depth toward peace. In this regard, the JCP last year played a significant role. Its opposition party diplomacy achieved a significant advance. The peace protests the JCP held throughout the country are also significant as an effort to promote the hopeful current in cooperation with the rest of the world.
SDF dispatch to Iraq not only destroys the constitutional principles of peace but defies the peace currents of the world
I stated that the United States suffered a setback or failure in three instances. I want to emphasize that this is also a setback and failure for the Koizumi government, which has been uncritically following the U.S. administration. The Koizumi Cabinet is preparing to send the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq without conceding its failure. I want to point out that it not only destroys the Japanese Constitution but runs counter to international calls for peace and to international popular opposition to the lawless war and occupation.
In Japan, the struggle is increasing extensively against the SDF dispatch to Iraq. This struggle has just cause. Let us further develop the struggle throughout the country to stop the plan to illegally send the SDF to Iraq and defend the Constitution.
Our Struggle in Japan Stands for Democratic Change to Remove the Two Root Causes of Misgovernment
What is our great cause in our struggle? The JCP Program states that it is a struggle to "end Japan's extraordinary subordination to the United States and the tyrannical rule by large corporations and business circles." It is a democratic change aimed at doing away with the two root causes of misgovernment.
The people have seen through the undemocratic color of the Koizumi Cabinet at its third year
The Japanese ruling forces have used and are now using every possible means to prolong their system of domination. But I must stress that the two root causes of misgovernment and contradictions between the government and the interests of the majority will never be solved within the old framework of LDP politics whatever means they employ, such as changing players or the governing team.
"Koizumi politics" was also part of the desperate efforts to prolong the crisis-ridden LDP regime. Many people held high expectations for the prime minister when his shouts of the slogan "Destroy the LDP" were falsely depicted as something that represents a hopeful trend aiming for change. However, the government in its third year has revealed its true colors. Many Japanese people are now realizing that this government is no different from past LDP cabinets and that it is rather the worst kind of LDP cabinet.
Heavier burden is being shifted onto people while wasteful use of resources continues, giving rise to doubts about "reform" promise
The cabinet has said, "A hopeful future will come after the people endure pains." But it is now clear that more pains are awaiting the people who are enduring present hardships. Looking at the set of economic policies, including the FY 2004 budget proposal which the Koizumi Cabinet and the ruling parties approved late last year, you will realize that people will be forced to shoulder more burdens without limits. The Koizumi Cabinet has already railroaded through bills that force the people to pay an extra four trillion yen. In addition, it has approved the draft budget which, if enacted, will force the people to shoulder an additional three trillion yen in each of the next three years.
Furthermore, the government will abolish the fixed rate tax cuts through shifting 2.5 trillion yen in tax burden onto the people. It also intends to impose further tax increase measures. The ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties have agreed on a "drastic tax reform" to be achieved by fiscal 2007 that will include a consumption tax rate increase.
What about the cabinet's promise "to cut wasteful expenditure"? The government-proposed plan for "reform of the public highway corporations", which was its major "selling point", shows that government policy is one of continuing to squander tax money. New expressways totaling 9,342 kilometers will be constructed as scheduled. The government will use 16 trillion yen to continue to construct most of the remaining 2,000 kilometers of expressways, which will be routes that will not pay. What's more, the debt of 40 trillion yen will be shouldered by tax payers. Even mass media reported that this government plan represents a "miserable failure".
Shifting heavier burdens onto the people and retaining the structure of waste and loss is what the government's "reform" is about. There is nothing that can be called "reform" in the government plan.
Koizumi Cabinet deepened LDP crisis instead of salvaging the party from the crisis
The Koizumi Cabinet used many phrases to cover up its true color. A critic was adept in characterizing Koizumi's method as "monotonous repetition and screaming". But, no matter how many times he continues the monotonous repetition and screaming, Koizumi has been unable to resolve the contradictions between the Japanese people and LDP politics. In other words, the present state of Koizumi politics shows that he has only contributed to worsening LDP politics instead of salvaging the LDP from its crisis.
The JCP from the outset of the Koizumi Cabinet has constantly exposed its old dangerous politics in new attire. Standing firmly for true political change away from LDP politics, we will continue to confront the Koizumi-led government of the LDP Komei Party coalition.
Business Circles-led Efforts to Create 'Two-party System' to Promote Conservative Agenda will Deepen Contradictions between the People and the Government
While the crisis of LDP politics was deepening from 2002 through 2003, business circles took the initiative in forming a conservative "two-party system". This move created a significant adverse current in Japan's politics. Riding this new move, the Democratic Party of Japan joined together with the LDP in calling for a consumption tax increase and a revision of the Constitution. This has marked a significant change in Japan's political map.
Japan Business Federation praises its successful control of politics
After the November 2003 House of Representatives general election. business leaders touted the change in the political map as a "success". The "Economic Trend", a monthly magazine published by the Japan Business Federation (JBF or Nippon Keidanren) in its first issue of the new year carried a round-table talk by Chairman Okuda Hiroshi and other JBF executives. In the discussion, Vice-chair Miyahara Kenji, who chairs the JBF Committee on Business and Politics, said, "In the recent general election, political parties announced their manifesto (election platform) after the JBF published a list of 'policy priorities'. This is how JBF activities wielded a great influence upon the election which focused on policies."
The JBF on September 25, 2003 published a 10-point policy priority list, which included a consumption tax rate increase, to provide guidelines for donating money to political parties. Then the DPJ on October 5, followed by the LDP on October 10, called for a consumption tax rate increase and Constitutional revision in their election platforms. The JBF is now boasting of its success in manipulating the election platforms of the LDP and the DPJ.
LDP and DPJ compete for allegiance to business world
Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro and Democratic Party President Kan Naoto each contributed an article to the "Economic Trend". Koizumi avowed his commitment to a "revision to the Constitution and the Fundamental Law of Education. As regards the Constitution, a move is now under way toward the enactment of a referendum law at the initiative of Dietmembers in the coming Diet session with the view of revising it. We must stop such legislation.
Kan of the Democratic Party, citing the JBF's high evaluation of the party's "manifesto", said it was an "unheard-of positive action" and a "great progress in Japan's democracy". He went on to say, " We haven't done much in the fields of foreign policy, tax reform, and industrial policies, but we are now determined to make every effort to formulate policies on these issues." He further said, "We are ready to establish a think tank if business organizations help us," implicitly requesting political donations. This explains how both the LDP and the DPJ are competing for allegiance to business leaders.
They are trampling on the wishes of the majority
I keenly feel how prompt the business circles are in trying to dominate the political world. I wonder if their moves will help solve contradictions between the stalemated politics and people's livelihoods. If both the LDP and the DPJ try to promote undemocratic politics together with business circles, these contradictions will become sharper in a wider perspective.
Many people of good will are concerned that the minority view will be disregarded under the two-party system. I think they are right. But I would say, not only the minority opinion will be neglected, but even a majority view is in danger of being ignored. We would like to make great efforts in response to the voices of the majority of the people.
LDP and DPJ incapable of solving causes of two root causes of undemocratic politics and contradictions with the people
"Koizumi politics" at its third year is beginning to decline and a "two-party system" is going to replace it. But within the same framework of the two parties, no one can expect that good politics will be produced, even if they may try hard to work out political realignments. Within this framework, the two root causes of misgovernment, subservience to the United States and the business circles playing the key role will persist, and contradictions will never be solved between such politics and the people who try to survive in Japan.
A path of resolving them can only be found in the JCP's policy proposal for remaking Japan. Let's join forces and strive to achieve the policy goals of remaking Japan by breaking through the stalemated politics with a firm conviction in our policies.
JCP Congress is Near at Hand --- Let us Strive to Achieve our Goal in the Upper House Election
The historic JCP 23rd Congress is just around the corner. Let us fulfill the historic task to work out the draft JCP Program. Let us make a dash from the very beginning of the year toward our goals in the House of Councilors election. Let us renew our resolve to build a stronger JCP.
I hope that this year will be a good one for the JCP as well as the people and wish you good health. Let us continue to struggle together. (end)