June 22, 2024

Japanese Communist Party Chair Tamura Tomoko, after the 213th ordinary session of the Diet was adjourned on June 21, in her address to the general assembly of JCP Dietmembers called for strengthening the joint struggle between opposition parties and concerned citizens to oust the LDP-led government. She also called for making all-out efforts to increase the party strength in order to achieve a major JCP advance in the upcoming general election.

Tamura began her address by referring to JCP lawmakers’ efforts to engage in Diet debates demanding that the government provide sufficient support and relief measures for victims of the Noto Peninsula earthquake that occurred on New Year’s Day. She urged the JCP lawmakers to “continue to do everything they can to bring hope for post-disaster reconstruction.”

On the issue of “money corruption,” Tamura emphasized that the JCP had consistently worked to get to the bottom of the LDP slush-fund scandal in Diet debates, revealing that it was “an organized crime by the LDP”. Tamura said that the JCP had submitted to the Diet a bill to ban all forms of corporate donations and a bill to repeal the Political Party Subsidy Law, and that the JCP Dietmembers had developed arguments for political reforms that would disenable money-for-favor politics.

Tamura pointed out that during the parliamentary debate calling for a change in the present ineffective economic policy, “it became clear how unfair the policy of prioritizing the interests of large corporations over the interests of the general public actually is, and that this policy is a complete failure.” Tamura called for expanding the points made in the JCP debate, which had presented a counterproposal based on the JCP economic revitalization plan, to become a national movement.

Tamura said that the JCP Dietmembers had argued head-on against the Kishida government intent to create a war-capable Japan, exposing that the Japan-U.S. summit and its joint statement as a step toward the unprecedented strengthening of cooperation between the U.S. military and the Self-Defense Forces. She added that the JCP lawmakers had presented a counterproposal showing that true security is with peaceful diplomacy based on Article 9 of the Constitution.

Tamura stated that Japan is a backward country when it comes to human rights, such as on joint custody, immigrant, and gender equality issues, and that new movements were emerging among the general public, which is shaking up the LDP government. She added, “It became clear that the root cause of Japan’s ‘backwardness in human rights’ is that the LDP still clings to the old values held under the Meiji Constitution.”

Past related articles:
> Put end to LDP gov’t sticking to outdated family values to create gender-equal Japan [June 17, 2024]
> Two revised laws leading to violation of human rights of foreign residents in Japan enacted [June 15, 2024]
> Amid mounting opposition, revised law to introduce controversial post-divorce ‘joint custody’ enacted [May 18, 2024]
> JCP Chair criticizes Japan-U.S. summit meeting for seeking more aggressive bilateral military alliance [April 12, 2024]
> JCP publishes economic revival plan [September 29, 2023]