column

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Denounce prime minister's reasoning
Akahata 'Current' column

"What kind of part-time job do you want Prime Minister Koizumi to experience?"

In July, Intelligence, Ltd., a staffing service, put this question to 4,728 people throughout Japan.

The largest number (638) of respondents chose "mail or newspaper delivery." Presumably, they wanted him to get a taste of post-office jobs because of his strong advocacy of postal privatization. "Construction worker" came in second, followed by "cleaning and sanitation worker."

At the start of his campaigning for the September 11 general election, Prime Minister Koizumi asked voters, "Don't you wonder why the interests of a tiny privileged class are protected?" The "privileged class" that Koizumi refers to includes mailmen and post-office counter workers.

To Prime Minister Koizumi, post office workers are refusing to give up their status as public service workers and they dominate the entire political world and block postal privatization. A Liberal Democratic Party flyer calls for "fighting these 'enemies' and putting 'public interests' first." How devious this argument is! The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) has expressed its support for the LDP in the election. It will provide extra political donations to the LDP and start gathering votes for the LDP. It is nothing but a corporate-managed election campaign.

Using political donations as bait, business circles and large corporations are controlling the political world in order to gain "privileges" while going against "the interests of the public." Business leaders want to see the LDP-led government led by Prime Minister Koizumi do everything for their benefit, such as postal privatization and deeper corporate tax cuts, while on the other hand imposing heavier tax burdens on the general public.

The Japanese Communist Party, of course, has nothing to do with political donations from corporations, not even from labor unions. Without any constraints, the JCP pursues "the interests of the public." The JCP has put up 39 candidates in proportional representation constituencies and 275 candidates in single-seat districts. Campaigning has begun to achieve a JCP victory. -- Akahata, August 31, 2005