JC Helary
Date: Fri, 26 May 2000 01:33:53 +0900 (JST) From: Tony Laszlo <laszlo at gol.com> Subject: [ISSHO] Statement on Mori's "Divine Nation" comment (fwd)
* Posted with the permission of the author; feel free to crosspost * - T.L., ISSHO
To: Friends and Colleagues defending human rights and peace From: Kinhide Mushakoji Subject: The Statement of Prime Minister Mori about "the Divine Nation, Japan and the Okinawa G8 Summit"
This is to request your kind support in calling the attention of the international media, especially the press of the countries which plan to participate in the Okinawa G8 Summit about the need to reconsider holding the Okinawa G8 Summit under the chairmanship of Japan. The statement by the new Japanese Premier Yoshiro Mori shows that he is at least as serious a threat to the international community as the Prime Minister of Austria. If the G8 would not meet in Austria why should they in Japan? Premier Mori made the following statement on 15 May 2000, on the occasion of the 30 aniversary of the Parliamentarian Association for Shinto Politics, a caucus of the shintoist parliamentarian including 230 members of the Liberal Democratic Party. His statement included the following remark." I have promoted ideas which the Government tended to avoid, and have continued to affirm to the Japanese people that Japan is a Divine Nation headed by the Emperor." Premier Mori did not use the term "race" which has never been used by the Japanese Fascists in the 1930s and 40s, but his reference to the "divine nation" is claiming the supremacy of the Japanese, under the Emperor, over all the other nations and peoples of the world.
This is a fundamentally racist position excluding non-Japanese as people who are inferior to the Divine Japanese Nation. This statement is especially scary in connection with another racist statement, recently made by the Mayor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara who has told the Japanese army division stationed near Tokyo that they will have to be prepared to pacify possible uprising by Koreans or "illegal foreigners" in case of natural calamities (e.g. earthquakes). Ishihara statement opposing bad foreigners to good Japanese is further strengthened by Mori treating the Japanese as a divine nation united in trust under the Emperor as opposed to inferior and suspicious foreigners. Premier Morti's racist position is shared by the 230 members of the Shinto Parliamentarians, which is claiming the preeminence of the Japanese over other nations is in fundamental opposition to the Convention against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism and threatens the security of foreigners living in Japan. It is also perceived as a threat by Japanese neighbors like Korea and China.
Unfortunately this alarming reality is not well understood in North America and in Europe, and Premier Mori will use the Okinawa Summit to strengthen his position and promote the cause of the Racist position of the Shinto Parliamentarians, even if he has now decided to dissociate himself from it under the pressure from the Japanese opinion. This appeal is to call the citizens of the countries whose leaders are planning to attend the Okinawa Summit under the leadership of a fascist and racist leader, Primier Mori. Could you write to your newspapers' editors to raise the question of whether it is appropriate for their country to become unintentional supporters of this Japanese leader who, if not stopped now, may accelerate the dangerous resurgence of Japanese fascism. Even if fascism could be stopped in time, Mori and Ishihara will undoubtedly strengthen the anti-foreigner racist trends of the Japanese people whose "homogeneity" and conformity (perceived by Mori as the unity of the Divine Nation) is disturbed by the global economy.
This request is not meant to oppose the holding of the Summit, which can provide a good occasion for the international civil society to manifest its presence after Seatle and Washington. It is rather to alert the world opinion about this racist danger, and make aware the Governments of the G8 that their stated "dedication" to the great cause of human rights and democracy will be put into question by their acceptance to meet under the chairmanship of Premier Mori. I hope that you will take any action to alert the international opinion on this issue which concerns us all, in or out of Japan, divine or mundane(!?), but human after all, and therefore concerned about the raise of any inhuman and anti-human trends.