Japan Press Weekly

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2009 January 28 - February 3 [JCP]

Akahata for 81 years brings hope and courage

Akahata editorial

Akahata turned 81 years old on February 1. We want to take this opportunity to thank our readers and supporters for their daily support and cooperation and renew our determination to make efforts to attract more and more readers.

Since its first appearance, Akahata has always reported the news in the interests of the people, firmly opposing war and defending people’s living conditions, under often difficult circumstances.

Akahata, the organ paper of the Japanese Communist Party, is also a newspaper representing the interests shared by the public. As a people’s compass for their struggles, Akahata has continued to give people hope and courage to struggle for a better life.

Amid financial and economic crisis

The role of Akahata stands out amidst the deepening financial and economic crisis facing the present-day world.

Since last year, many temporary workers and fixed-term contract workers throughout the country have been forced out of work and left without places to live in after being driven out of their company dormitories. Job offers to college and high school students have been withdrawn by many companies. Akahata in its reports and comments has criticized major corporations for cutting jobs and has encouraged the people involved in various struggles to block corporate lawlessness and defend jobs.

The commercial newspapers report on corporate decisions to carry out mass dismissals only to discourage people from resisting such dismissals by reporting on the global economic downturn as inevitable. Their reports could exhort large corporations to do more to streamline themselves. Aakata has revealed that laying off fixed-term contract workers before their contract terms end is illegal and that large corporations can avoid firing workers if they use a tiny fraction of their internal reserves. It has also reported that the current situation has been caused by the government decision to lift restrictions on the use of temporary workers in order to meet major corporations’ demands.

Labor unions are campaigning both for wage increases and for jobs. Contingent workers, including dismissed temporary workers, have established their own unions to press their employers to withdraw dismissal notices.

The daily Asahi Shimbun on January 11 carried a special report featuring the Japanese Communist Party. The story was about an unemployed man who approached a JCP office for consultation in order to have his company retract his dismissal and about the many people joining the JCP. It is a great pleasure for the JCP to hear that the JCP has been doing a good job in not only helping people in need but in attracting more memebrs.

During the New Year holidays, the “tent village for temps” opened in Hibiya Park in Tokyo, and various actions in support of jobless people, who are also often in a state of homelessness, attracted major media attention. Akahata gave extensive coverage everyday to the issue.

While commercial media reported less about the issue after the ‘tent village’ was closed, Akahata continued reporting on developments in the aftermath of the ‘tent village’. Akahata’s campaign calling for securing places to live and jobs for ‘villagers’ shows clearly that it is a newspaper that continues to expose the hardships of the newly homeless with readers and the general public.

JCP paper that can speak out against major corporations

History shows that wherever and whenever the public is having to endure hardships, the Japanese Communist Party and the daily Akahata are there with them. How is it possible for Akahata to report on the corruption of power? Because Akahata has no ties with major corporations and therefore can criticize them, directly confronting their arrogance.

Expectations to and support for the JCP are on the rise. At a time when commercial newspapers have become powerless in reporting the truth as a watchdog monitoring state power, Akahata has even a bigger role to play.

Further advances in Akahata readership will help to ensure a drastic change to improve the living conditions and policies affecting the general public.