Japan Press Weekly

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2016 November 16 - 22 [POLITICS]

Citizens take to the streets across Japan to say, ‘Don’t send SDF to South Sudan for risky new duties!’

Protest actions to oppose the government decision to assign risky new duties to Self-Defense Force units in the UN Peace Keeping Operation in South Sudan took place on November 19 at various locations across the country.

On this day, the SDF held a send-off ceremony for units which will be dispatched to South Sudan in rotation. They will be the first to assume the controversial new duties based on the war laws.

In Tokyo, about 3,800 people took part in a rally held in front of the Dietmembers’ Office Building of the House of Representatives. Lawmakers, scholars, lawyers, journalists, U.S. veterans, and representatives of citizens’ organizations delivered speeches. They said that the SDF units should not be sent to South Sudan to carry out the risky new duties, such as “kaketsuke-keigo” which translates to rushing to remote places to offer military support to foreign troops or civilians under attack.

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira in his speech said, “The JCP condemns the Abe government for assigning these new tasks to the SDF. The war laws must be abolished.” He expressed his determination to turn the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties into a minority force in the Diet in the next general election. Koike called on the participants to work together to achieve this goal.

The rally was also joined by JCP Dietmembers Hatano Kimie (House of Representatives) and Yamazoe Taku (House of Councilors), Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives Hatsushika Akihiro, and Social Democratic Party Secretary General Mataichi Seiji.

In Osaka, citizens took to the street in the city’s major shopping district of Nanba to speak out against the government decision. They shouted, “Don’t send the SDF units to South Sudan!” and “The SDF should not conduct ‘kaketsuke-keigo’ duty!” Similar actions were also held in other locations in Osaka.

In Nagano Prefecture, a protest rally was held to demand the cancellation of the Cabinet decision to assign the “kaketsuke-keigo” mission to the SDF and the abolition of the war laws. After the rally, the participants marched in demonstration near Nagano Station.

Past related articles:
> Aomori residents rally to oppose planned SDF dispatch to South Sudan [October 31, 2016]
> Abe gov’t decides to extend SDF participation in UN PKO in crisis-ridden South Sudan [October 26, 2016]