Rally of 3,000 held to block Japan's entry into TPP

Japan Press Weekly

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

Rally of 3,000 held to block Japan's entry into TPP

Protesting against the Kan Cabinet's decision to start negotiations for Japan's entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), an urgent rally to block Japan's entry into the TPP and to defend agriculture in Japan was held on November 10 in Tokyo.

About 3,000 farmers and agriculture-related workers took part in the rally organized by the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-Zenchu) and other organizations.

Six political parties were represented. Ten Dietmembers of the Japanese Communist Party from the Upper and the Lower Houses attended, and JCP Chair Shii Kazuo gave a speech.

Shii criticized the TPP, saying: If tariffs on agricultural, forestry and fishery products are completely abolished, Japan's food self-sufficiency rate will drop from the present 39 to 13 percent, according to agricultural ministry estimates. To destroy Japan's agriculture, forestry and fishery, despite their possible role in helping to avoid possible food shortages on a global scale by participating in TPP will be detrimental not only to Japan but also to the rest of the world.

Shii also criticized Foreign Minister Maehara Seiji's remark that primary industry which accounts for merely 1.5 percent of Japan's gross domestic product (GDP), must not be allowed to sacrifice the remaining 98.5 percent. Shii said, "Agriculture, forestry, and fishery play indispensably multiple roles in defending local economies and related industries, as well as supporting jobs, conserving land, and protecting the natural environment."

He stressed that only a handful of large Japanese multinational corporations can gain from Japan joining the TPP.

Shii expressed the JCP intention to struggle to the end to block Japan's entry into the TPP because that would lead to the destruction of Japanese agriculture.

At the rally site, straw-mat flags, which symbolized peasants' rebellions in feudal Japan, were displayed by many participants. After the rally, participants marched to the Diet building to petition legislators.

- Akahata, November 11, 2010