Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe: Does he flirt with right-extremism because
it helps him politically,
or is he in fact trying to revive imperial Japan?
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a Threat to Democratic Japan (Rue 89,
France)
"In 2013, nobody would imagine Germany electing a
chancellor who supported an openly-revisionist scheme, and who regularly denied
Nazi atrocities. ... In 2013, nobody would imagine the German people remaining
silent if, once elected, this chancellor dared say that those deported during
the war had gone to the [concentration] camps of their own free will. ... Yet
this is what is happening in Japan - a country where the political system is
completely dominated by families who played a central role in Imperial Japan."
Co-chair of the Japan Restoration Party,
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto: Part of Japan's new right-wing leadership, Hashimoto recently lebeled sex slavery a 'necessity' for Japan's former Imperial Army.
I
have complained here before about the apathy and inaction of the Japanese
people in the face of their leaders' refusal to apologize to the surviving
victims of sexual slavery at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army during WWII.
Since
that time, Japan has changed its leaders, and they remain determined to take
action. Unfortunately, such action will lead them even further into the realm
of public ignominy.
In
2013, nobody would imagine Germany electing a chancellor who supported an
openly-revisionist scheme, and who regularly denied Nazi atrocities.
In
2013, nobody would imagine the German people remaining silent if, once elected,
this chancellor dared say that those deported during the war had gone to the [concentration]
camps of their own free will, or that using the term "invasion" is
the wrong way to qualify the aggression against Poland in 1939.
In
2013, no one would imagine such a chancellor parading around in the manner of Josef Mengele,
the Auschwitz doctor nicknamed the "Angel of Death."
Shinzo Abe spells
end of democratic Japan
Yet
this is what is happening in Japan - a country where the political system is
completely dominated by families who played a central role in the years of
lead under Imperial Japan. [The French expression Années de plombor "years of
lead," is a Cold War term referring to a period of extremism.]
That
is why no Japanese prime minister can obtain or retain power without pledges
of proper conduct, by, for example, visiting the Yasukuni
Shrine, where [war] criminals are commemorated amidst heroes.
The
latest prime minister to author such appalling provocations is named Shinzo Abe, a fascist
who dreams of destroying democracy and seeing a rebirth of imperialist
Japan.
Abe
succeeded Yoshihiko Noda, whose 481-day reign ended on December 26 - an honorable
score in a country in which only two leaders since 1970, Yasuhiro Nakasone and
Junichiro Koizumi, have passed the 1,000 day mark.
Shinzo
Abe himself barely held on for a year in his last term (2006-2007), at which
time he did the "best" he could in the furtherance
of his grand plan, for example, by supporting the (ultranationalist) Japanese
Society for History Textbook Reform.
In France, such policies
would be outlawed.
Let's
remember that in France, negationist and revisionist activity
like this would feel the full weight of justice. But in Japan, the corruption
of the political class since the war has guaranteed that no similar legal
framework has emerged.
Just
one prime minister, Tomiichi Murayama, has dared put forward the beginnings
of an ersatz, semi-proto-excuse, for the atrocities committed by the Imperial
regime during the Second World War. And even that was just a personal apology.
It came in 1995, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the end of the
conflict.
Could
it be that Tomiichi Murayama - a socialist - considered
the November elections already lost, after the criticism he received for the
way he managed the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake? In the mean time, his
declaration continues to irritate those with nostalgic thoughts of empire. For
the 60th anniversary of the war in 2015, Shinzo Abe has
expressed the clear wish to replace Murayama's declaration - we’ll come back to
this.
Abe
also wants to revise the Fundamental
Law of Education, so that schools inculcate a "love for the country"
in Japanese schoolchildren - in other words, he wants to promote nationalist
indoctrination of the younger generations.
Shinzo
Abe is also fighting to modify Article
9 of the Constitution - which clearly states that Japan is a pacific
nation. Needless to say, the local neo-Nazi sympathizers abhor this
constitutional safeguard - we’ll come back to this as well.
[Editor's
Note: Article 9 says: (1) Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on
justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign
right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling
international disputes. (2) To accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph,
land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be
maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.]
Comfort women a
'necessary evil'
During
his first passage leading the country, Shinzo Abe was unable to pursue his
dreams, when he was torpedoed by scandals in his own government.
This
time, in an increasingly stifling political atmosphere, he has returned to
power at the fore of a strongly right-wing majority.
Noda,
his predecessor, who was supposedly center-left (Democratic Party), played on
nationalist sentiment all he could to remain in power, without hesitation risking
war with China to guarantee his place at the top of the election list.
Of
course, in doing so, he ventured into the territory of more extreme politicians,
by whom he was then thrashed. Abe’s party may not on its own have an absolute
majority, but with its extreme-right allies the Your Party and the Japan Restoration
Party, it controls everything.
The
leader of the latter grouping, the young mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, recently provoked a global outcry by saying that, all things considered, "comfort
women," the victims of sex slavery organized by the Imperial army, had
been "necessary."
This
provocation was meant to reinforce control over his party, which was on the
verge of imploding at the time. His co-chairman Shintaro
Ishihara was once again threatening to go it alone. The former Tokyo governor
has the requisite pedigree for going far in politics: he is racist and considers
the Nanking Massacre
a myth.
Nationalist
provocations to retain power
Such
provocations, which immediately trigger indignant reactions from countries victimized
by the Imperial regime’s acts of violence - first and foremost Korea and China -
have, unfortunately, become the only way to exist politically in Japan.
The
day after Hashimoto's 15 minutes of fame, to remind everyone who’s boss, Shinzo
Abe thought it would be a good idea to take things even further.
With
a huge grin, he posed as a pilot in a jetfighter - and by choosing aircraft number
731, he was making an unequivocal reference to notorious Unit 731, in which Japan's
version of Josef Mengele, Shiro
Ishii, carried out his abominable experiments on human beings.
Provocation or strange
coincidence?: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
poses in a fighter jet
numbered 731 - the number of a secret unit -
Unit 731 - which conducted
genocidal experiments on human
beings during World War
II.
Just
to make sure that the world didn’t think he chose the aircraft by chance, the prime
minister, just above the number, added the words "Leader S. Abe" in
English.
A
proven war criminal, the leader of Unit 731 avoided trial by negotiating his
release with the Americans in exchange for the results of his more minor
experiments.
Posted
By Worldmeets.US
Moral
bartering like this continues to cost us dearly today. Not only does it
represent one of the most shameful moments in the history of American democracy,
but the absence of justice and condemnation for a large number of Japanese imperial
war crimes has, from the beginning, made possible the corruption of Japanese
democracy and the impunity of revisionists like Abe.
Shinzo
Abe's "flight 731" succeeded so well that the international press
brought the atrocities of Unit 731 back to the public eye, turning everyone's
attention to the very events that he and his friends are seek to deny and erase
from memory.
U.S., South
Korea and China outraged
Japan's
extreme right is never very subtle. Last year, pressure put on the United
States to remove a memorial in Palisades Park to victims of sexual slavery, had
already provoked a backlash.
Not
only did New Jersey authorities obtain even stronger support from its citizens,
but the international media again took up the affair, shedding light on a
period of history little known of in the West.
In
the same vein, the visit of [right-wing French politician] Jean-Marie Le Pen and
his entourage to Yasukuni resulted in some pretty toxic
fallout.
This
time, the United States joined South Korea and China in voicing its
indignation. The next day, Abe was forced to issue a small clarification, which
was to say the least vague, but at least no a complete step backwards.
It
concerned Murayama’s 1995 declaration. Abe said that in 2015, he would not take
back what had been said after all. That is good, but quite frankly it comes as
no surprise: even among the ranks of Abe’s party, some thought it risky to take
on the issue before dealing with Article 96.
Article
96 sets out the conditions for any modification of the Constitution: a
two-thirds majority in both chambers, the wording having to be ratified by
popular referendum.
This
technical article is easier to do away with than Article 9, and would open the
floodgates for more spectacular alterations.
Posted
By Worldmeets.US
Concerning
the definition of the word "invasion" to refer to Imperial aggression,
Abe said that he "never said Japan hadn't invaded other countries."
The thing is, neither did he say that he thought Japan had in
fact invaded other countries ...
And
on the subject of Hashimoto’s remarks on the Imperial Army’s sex slaves, Abe
said that neither he nor anyone in his party shared Hashimoto’s views. But
there again, Abe is not offering a full picture of his thoughts on the matter.
In
reality, Abe has momentarily put things on hold, but he's not retreating. He
has simply become aware of the red lines he shouldn't cross before he modifies the
Constitution to give himself complete freedom.
He
continues to make more and more provocations, and comes up against no
noteworthy opposition in his country, and hasn't given in an inch to
international pressure.
And
Shinzo Abe isn’t leaving anything to chance. Losing his post due to a financial
scandal or an economic crisis is out of the question.
On
the contrary - the artificial propping up of the economy in the short term (yet
another strain on the balance sheets) reinforces public support. While his
predecessors had fallen between 20 and 40 points in the opinion polls after
five months in office, Abe has managed to fiddle a few additional points, up to
72 percent.
Make
no mistake about it: Shinzo Abe is democratic Japan's worst enemy.
*Stephanie Mot
is an Author & 'Chief A to Z Officer'
