Japan Press Weekly

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2016 April 27 - May 10 [POLITICS]

Koike: let’s increase united efforts between citizens and opposition parties to restore constitutionalism

The pacifist Japanese Constitution came into force on May 3, 1947. Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira issued a statement commemorating the 69th anniversary of the Constitution.

The full text of the statement is as follows:

On the occasion of the 69th anniversary of the Japanese Constitution, the JCP expresses its determination to work hard together with the general public to achieve further progress in opposition parties’ cooperation, abolish the unconstitutional national security legislation (war laws), and restore constitutionalism in Japanese politics.

The enactment of the war laws allows members of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to join in battles on foreign soil for the first time since the end of WWII, which raises the risk of “killing and being killed”. The Abe administration bulldozed through the war legislation by trampling on constitutionalism. This has destabilized the very foundation of Japan as a nation governed by the rule of law. Allowing state power to ignore the Constitution and run out of control will open the way for a dictatorship.

The JCP calls for united efforts to bring constitutionalism, democracy, and pacifism back into Japanese politics and create a society where the dignity of each individual is firmly protected.

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is proclaiming that his party, the Liberal Democratic Party, drafted a new constitution and will present it in the coming national election. This shows his persistence in implementing constitutional revision. The LDP draft constitution displaces the current Clause 2 of Article 9 with the establishment of the national defense military and enables Japan to limitlessly use military force overseas. In addition to an emergency clause which makes it possible to declare martial law, it incorporates provisions which deprive the people of their freedom and human rights. Regarding the current Article 13, the LDP draft constitution seeks to replace the phrase, “respected as individuals”, with the one, “respected as persons”. This is nothing but a denial of fundamental principles of constitutionalism which accept each other’s differences and respect each person as a unique individual without exception. The LDP draft imposes restrictions on basic human rights under the name of the “public good and public order”, transforming the current constitutional law authorizing the people to restrict state power to one under which the state has power to control the people. The LDP draft constitution will outrageously turn back the clock to the era of militarism.

The JCP will make its utmost efforts to foil the Abe government’s attempt to revise the Constitution through winning a fierce verdict in the coming election by strengthening collaboration on the single issue of blocking this attempt.

What Japan should do now is to strongly promote peaceful diplomacy by making full use of Article 9 of the Constitution. When looking at issues of eliminating terrorism from the world by breaking out of the vicious cycle of terrorism and war, solving problems related to North Korea, and settling disputes in the South China Sea, militaristic responses in these issues will only provoke a negative cycle that can lead to war. The JCP has proposed an initiative for peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia. The only way to ensure future hope is to concentrate efforts on peaceful settlement through diplomatic talks.

The Japanese society is also facing serious problems of growing economic inequalities and expanding poverty. Under the so-called “Abenomics” economic policy, only a handful of the richest people are accumulating a huge amount of wealth while expansion of poverty has increased dramatically.

In order to eliminate poverty and growing economic gaps, and to move forward for an equal and fair society, the need is to realize a government based on the Japanese Constitution, one of progressive constitutional law as it stipulates the rights to live, pursue happiness, and to education. The JCP determines to work even harder to establish a government which fully embodies these constitutional rights in people’s everyday lives.

A wide range of people are standing up as sovereign citizens. They are also raising their voices, saying “We are in charge of politics because it is ours to take!” and “It’s our turn to have the government listen to us!” These moves rely on the principles embodied in the Constitution. This surge in the popular movement, which can be regarded as the first widespread citizens’ revolution in postwar Japan’s political history, is becoming a driving force of Japanese politics.

In collaboration with all political parties, organizations, and individuals who share the national goal of the abolition of the national security legislation and the restoration of constitutionalism, the JCP will do its utmost to pave the way for bringing down the Abe government and creating a new direction in politics under a national coalition government.