May 5, 2016
Akahata editorial (excerpts)
May 5 is Children’s Day in Japan. Its purpose is to respect and cherish children’s individual personalities and help them find happiness. All parents want to see their children grow up healthily and imagine a bright future for them. Under the Abe regime, however, parents’ wishes and children’s futures are threatened by the unconstitutional national security legislation and the increasingly widening income gap and increase in poverty among the population. Over the past year, many adults, especially young parents, have raised their voices in protest and taken action to protect children’s lives and their future.
Under the slogan “We won’t let any child die in war”, many groups of young mothers are active across the country. Working and raising small children, they have lifted their voices out of concern that Japan may be involved in U.S.-led wars, and have connected with one another using social media. They have also organized various actions around the nation, such as holding coffee parties to learn about the pacifist Constitution with children, standing in shopping streets holding anti-war placards, and staging rallies and demonstrations near the Diet building in Tokyo.
Even after the war legislation was forcibly enacted, young mothers’ activities are continuing to gain momentum, expanding to more than 100 locations in all 47 prefectures. Along with their commitment to the 20-million signature campaign calling for repealing the war laws, the mothers’ movement has strongly been encouraging opposition parties to field joint candidates in single-seat constituencies in the upcoming Upper House election.
Those groups’ slogan describes young mothers’ determination to work to prevent every child around the globe, not restricting themselves to their own children, from being killed in war.
Senior high school students calling for the abolition of the war laws are organizing teenagers in their group called T-ns SOWL. They recently launched a weekly protest action in front of the Diet building with the aim of pushing PM Abe to resign. High school students have become more aware of their desire to have their opinions reflected in government policies. An opinion poll that NHK conducted on 18-19 year olds showed that 70% of the respondents answered that they are “disaffected” by the current government and that nearly 90% expressed their hope for a government change.
A civil group working to protect children’s right to education in 2015 surveyed 10,000 secondary school students. In the survey, 61.9% of senior high school students and 66.7% of junior high school students said they will vote when they turn 18 years old. The percentage of students who answered that Article 9 of the Constitution has contributed to Japan’s postwar peace stood at 72.8%, up 8 percentage points from the previous survey seven years ago.
Seeds of grassroots movements have been spread and fertilized among young fathers and mothers as well as among teenagers. Those movements are now playing a major role in protecting constitutionalism and pacifism and in opposing the war legislation.
In addition, calling for an increase in the number of authorized childcare centers and an improvement in childcare workers’ working conditions, more and more young parents are joining in the movement demanding better childcare services.
Change political direction for sake of children
It is the children who will create the future. Children are hoping to exercise their rights as sovereign citizens to create a better society. In order to fulfill their hopes, the JCP will work hard jointly with concerned citizens of all generations to establish a new government guaranteeing children an environment where they can grow in peace and advance forward toward the direction of their dreams.
May 5 is Children’s Day in Japan. Its purpose is to respect and cherish children’s individual personalities and help them find happiness. All parents want to see their children grow up healthily and imagine a bright future for them. Under the Abe regime, however, parents’ wishes and children’s futures are threatened by the unconstitutional national security legislation and the increasingly widening income gap and increase in poverty among the population. Over the past year, many adults, especially young parents, have raised their voices in protest and taken action to protect children’s lives and their future.
Under the slogan “We won’t let any child die in war”, many groups of young mothers are active across the country. Working and raising small children, they have lifted their voices out of concern that Japan may be involved in U.S.-led wars, and have connected with one another using social media. They have also organized various actions around the nation, such as holding coffee parties to learn about the pacifist Constitution with children, standing in shopping streets holding anti-war placards, and staging rallies and demonstrations near the Diet building in Tokyo.
Even after the war legislation was forcibly enacted, young mothers’ activities are continuing to gain momentum, expanding to more than 100 locations in all 47 prefectures. Along with their commitment to the 20-million signature campaign calling for repealing the war laws, the mothers’ movement has strongly been encouraging opposition parties to field joint candidates in single-seat constituencies in the upcoming Upper House election.
Those groups’ slogan describes young mothers’ determination to work to prevent every child around the globe, not restricting themselves to their own children, from being killed in war.
Senior high school students calling for the abolition of the war laws are organizing teenagers in their group called T-ns SOWL. They recently launched a weekly protest action in front of the Diet building with the aim of pushing PM Abe to resign. High school students have become more aware of their desire to have their opinions reflected in government policies. An opinion poll that NHK conducted on 18-19 year olds showed that 70% of the respondents answered that they are “disaffected” by the current government and that nearly 90% expressed their hope for a government change.
A civil group working to protect children’s right to education in 2015 surveyed 10,000 secondary school students. In the survey, 61.9% of senior high school students and 66.7% of junior high school students said they will vote when they turn 18 years old. The percentage of students who answered that Article 9 of the Constitution has contributed to Japan’s postwar peace stood at 72.8%, up 8 percentage points from the previous survey seven years ago.
Seeds of grassroots movements have been spread and fertilized among young fathers and mothers as well as among teenagers. Those movements are now playing a major role in protecting constitutionalism and pacifism and in opposing the war legislation.
In addition, calling for an increase in the number of authorized childcare centers and an improvement in childcare workers’ working conditions, more and more young parents are joining in the movement demanding better childcare services.
Change political direction for sake of children
It is the children who will create the future. Children are hoping to exercise their rights as sovereign citizens to create a better society. In order to fulfill their hopes, the JCP will work hard jointly with concerned citizens of all generations to establish a new government guaranteeing children an environment where they can grow in peace and advance forward toward the direction of their dreams.
