Japan Press Weekly

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2024 August 14 - 20 [JCP]

JCP Kira meets online with Danish youth activist

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Kira Yoshiko on August 7 met online with Frederik Dahler, former head of the youth wing of the leftist Danish political party “Red-Green Alliance”.

They exchanged views on the current situation in Japan and Denmark regarding young people’s awareness of political participation and on how to reach out to younger generations.

The meeting took place through a proposal by Nojo Momoko of “No Youth No Japan,” an organization working to increase the political participation of young people. JCP member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly Ikegawa Yuichi took part in the meeting.

Dahler said that Denmark has 12 major political parties, and that each party organizes an independent youth wing. He explained that mock elections called “school voting” are held nationwide in Denmark as an effort to bring politics closer to students.

Kira said that school education in Japan, unlike in Denmark, does not fully respect students’ independence and self-motivation.

Ikegawa asked Dahler about the Red-Green Alliance youth wing’s efforts to realize free public transportation. Dahler pointed out that the free-of-charge transportation initiative will lead to measures to combat climate change, which is of great interest to the younger generation, and measures to help needy people at the same time. He stressed the need to promote climate policies in parallel with policies for workers.

Kira said, “The role of politics is to create a society in which young people as sovereign citizens raise their voices freely. I will utilize what I learned from today’s meeting and will continue to make efforts to change Japanese politics.”