Japan Press Weekly

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2017 May 10 - 16 TOP3 [POLITICS]

New action against ‘anti-conspiracy bill’ starts outside Diet

A new daily action in opposition to an “anti-conspiracy bill” currently under Diet deliberation started on May 9 outside the Diet building. Demonstrators in the first-day rally argued that the bill would allow Japan to move toward becoming a surveillance society leading to democratic breakdown.

A civic group resisting the bill and another civic group working to defend Article 9 will co-host this campaign. The two groups are planning to invite many organizations to join in the action.

On this first day of action, concerned citizens assembled in front of the Dietmembers’ No. 2 Office Building of the Lower House and chanted, “The bill is unconstitutional! Scrap the bill together with war laws! Protect the Constitution!”

Lawyer Kaido Yuichi, a member of the “Organizing Committee for No! to Conspiracy Charges”, said, “The state secrecy law, the national security legislation, and the expansion of the wiretapping authorization law are all tied to constitutional revision. And now, a finishing touch to preparations for war is the anti-conspiracy bill. I will continue fighting with you until the Abe government gives up on its outrageous aims.”

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Yamazoe Taku spoke in solidarity with the participants. He said, “Prime Minister Abe is trying to blind the general public to both the anti-conspiracy bill and constitutional amendments using the excuse of the need to tighten security for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Using the quadrennial cerebration of peace for Abe’s political purposes is unforgivable. I will work even harder in the Diet to bury the bill.”

Mataichi Seiji, the secretary general of the Social Democratic Party, and Osaka Seiji, a Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives, also gave solidarity speeches.