Japan Press Weekly

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2017 November 29 - December 5 [JCP]

Shii in 3rd CC Plenum calls for national movement to block Abe’s attempt to alter Article 9

The Japanese Communist Party held its 3rd Central Committee Plenum on December 2 and 3 at the JCP head office in Tokyo. JCP Chair Shii Kazuo gave the Executive Committee report, calling for launching a national movement to foil PM Abe’s attempt to change the pacifist Article 9 of the Constitution.

Shii began his report with an analysis of the October 22 general election results. Shii said that the collaboration between opposition parties and concerned citizens produced an important outcome which should help to achieve future success. However, the party had a limited capacity to simultaneously pursue a JCP advance and a victory of the opposition/citizens alliance in the election, Shii pointed out. He emphasized the importance of carrying out activities for future elections on a daily basis in addition to efforts to increase the number of JCP members and Akahata subscribers.

Shii moved on to a report on how to grasp the political situation following the general election under the Abe administration.

Shii first pointed out that although the PM Abe-led ruling block, the Liberal Democratic and Komeito parties, obtained two-thirds of the seats in the Diet, it is an “unrepresentative majority” enabled by the single-seat constituency system and the LDP’s tactics used to distract public attention from the “Moritomo” and “Kake” scandals and PM Abe’s ambition for constitutional revision. Shii said that the Abe government was not fully endorsed by the voters.

Noting the Abe government’s irresponsible responses to opposition parties’ questioning in the current Diet session, Shii said that it appears to be desperate to escape facing criticism from the general public and opposition parties. “This shows that the Abe-style of strongarm politics has reached an impasse,” Shii added.

Reporting on PM Abe’s intent for constitutional amendments, Shii criticized PM Abe for strengthening the support of his ambition by the pro-revision, rightist group Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference) and rushing headlong on the path to take the teeth out of the pacifist clause. Shii said that this move illustrates the dangerous nature of the Abe government.

In the report, Shii also talked about the Abe government’s handling of the North Korea crisis and clarified the JCP stance.

Explaining the party activities in the run-up to the ordinary Diet session scheduled to begin in January 2018 and the 2019 Upper House election, Shii proposed nine themes which are: a national movement on the single issue of protecting Article 9; thorough investigations into PM Abe’s alleged misuse of power; a reform of the unfair economic system in order to eliminate social inequalities and poverty; people’s fight for political commitment to a zero-nuclear power policy; nationwide solidarity with Okinawans on U.S. base issues; and a grassroots movement to urge the government to sigh the UN treaty banning nuclear weapons.

Shii said that in order to help to develop public movements addressing on these issues, it is necessary for the JCP to play a leading role in implementing joint policies agreed upon by opposition parties and concerned citizens and in advancing the opposition parties/concerned citizens alliance. He also stressed the need to engage in activities to discuss the party’s vision for the future with the JCP Program.

Past related articles:
> JCP Standing Executive Committee issues statement on general election results [October 24, 2017]
> Civil Alliance confirms common election agenda in preparation for selecting united opposition candidates [September 27, 2017]