私の日本のアンチファシスト経験

0
4330

アンチファシズムはファシズムの反対です。ファシズムは右翼のナショナㇼストの政治のイデオロギーです。ファシズムの一番分かりやすい例はドイツのナチズムです。しかし、今もファシズムは世界的な問題です。例えば最近、アメリカで色々「ALT-RIGHT」というファシストな集団をよく活動しています。アンチファシストはこんな集団を全力で反対します。例えば、アンチファシストはファシストの身元をみんなに分かるようにしたり、デモンストレーションを反対したりします。

日本にもファシストの集団があります。最近、よく活動している集団は2006年に始まった在特会という集団です。この集団が日本人は一番最高の人種だと信じているので、日本に住んでいる外国人が嫌いです。特に韓国人が大嫌いです。この集団はヘイトスピーチをするし、ヘイトクライムをするし、意地悪です。この集団のリーダーは桜井誠と言います。桜井さんは在特会を降りてから、2016年にファシストな日本第一党を始めました。日本第一党はジャパンファーストパーティーと呼んでいることもあります。この間、日本第一党は慰安婦の展覧会を反対しました。慰安婦というのは、第二次世界大戦の時に、日本人の兵士に何度もレイプされた韓国人の女子です。慰安婦がいたことは事実ですが、桜井誠と同じ考えている人はその事実を信じていないので、慰安婦のことに反対しいています。

2019年10月27日に、名古屋に日本第一党は名城公園でデモンストレーションをして、桜井誠は自分の展覧会をしました。前に愛知県で慰安婦の展覧会があったので、慰安婦が嫌いな桜井さんはアーチストじゃないのに、自分の展覧会を発表しました。それで、日本のCRACという集団はカウンターデモをしました。

CRACは「Counter Racist Action Collective」と言います。CRACのウェブサイトによると、この対レイシスト街頭行動、言論、アート、音楽などレイシズムに反対します。

カウンターデモの前にCRACのメンバーに会いました。CRACの皆さんはメガホンやプラカードを持って来ました。最初のヘイトデモが始まってから、ファシストはひとつのメガホンでヘイトスピーチをしました。しかしカウンターデモの皆さんはたくさんのメガホンで「レイシスト帰れ」と言いましたからヘイトスピーチが聞こえなかったです。ヘイトデモをやめるために、カウンターデモのみなさんはヘイトデモの前に座り込みました。警察はファシストを守りましたから、私たちはヘイトデモをやめさせられませんでした。でも、公園で遊んでいる子供たちにファシストのヘイトスピーチが聞こえなかったから、カウンターデモは勝ったと思います。

その日、最初のカウンターデモは勝ちましたが、次のカウンターデモは負けでした。カウンターデモの皆さんは桜井さんのヘイトスピーチの展覧会を取り止めたかったけど、取り止められませんでした。「ウィル愛知」という建物で展覧会を開いていました。そこは女の人と子供のために政府が立てた建物ですから、そんな所でヘイトスピーチが全然できないのに、建物は桜井誠の展覧会を中止しませんでした。皆さんはがっかりしました。しかし、朝日新聞によると、10月29日に愛知県の大村秀章知事は桜井誠の展覧会はヘイトと言いました。しかも、大村秀章知事が愛知県は桜井誠に訴訟を検討していると言いました。カウンターデモは失敗じゃありませんでした。

ファシストは最低ですが、日本のアンチファシストに会えてよかったです。その日の経験から色々習いました。言語は違いますが、アメリカでも日本でもファシズムと戦う気持ちは同じです。

My experience with antifascism in Japan

Note: The original article was written for an audience with an elementary-schooler level understanding of Japanese, and therefore the English translation may sound basic or overly generalized. Some clarifying details have been added.

Antifascism is the opposite of fascism. Fascism is a right-wing nationalist political ideology, the most obvious example being Nazism. While this seems far-removed in the past to some, today fascism is still a worldwide problem. For example, recently in the United States various “alt-right” groups are active, which antifascists oppose with full strength, through methods like exposing fascists’ identities to the public and holding counter-protests.

In Japan as well, there are fascist groups. Recently, the hate group Zainichi Tokken o Yurusanai Shimin no Kai, or Zaitokukai, has been active since 2006. The name Zaitokukai roughly translates to Association of citizens against special privileges for ethnic Korean residents in Japan. This hate group believes Japanese are the “superior race” and discriminate against anyone deemed to be a “foreigner” living in Japan. They especially discriminate against zainichi Koreans, individuals who fled to Japan during the Korean War and have neither North Korean, South Korean or even Japanese citizenship. Since 2006, Zaitokukai has become notorious for hate speech and hate crimes against minorities in Japan. The founder of the group was Makoto Sakurai, who in 2016 stepped down from leadership and decided to pursue party politics, starting the Japan First Party (JFP). In October 2019, the JFP protested against an art exhibit dedicated to comfort women located in Nagoya, Japan. A comfort woman is a woman who was forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese imperial army during World War II. Notably, most of these women were Korean. Even though it is documented that this system of sexual slavery existed, Sakurai and those who think like him do not believe that comfort women existed, and therefore oppose any commermorations in their memory.

On Oct. 27, 2019, the Japan First Party planned a protest in Meijo Park, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, followed by Sakurai’s own personal art exhibit. Previously, in Aichi Prefecture, an art exhibit dedicated to comfort women was held, therefore inspiring Sakurai to create his own racist counter-exhibit (despite his lack of artistic ability). In response, the group Counter Racist Action Collective (CRAC) planned a counter-demonstration. According to their official website, CRAC defines itself as an “antiracist street action” group that uses tactics like speech, art, music, and more to oppose racism.

Before JFP’s hate demonstration began, I met members from CRAC, who showed up prepared with placards with slogans like “NO HATE SPEECH” and megaphones stickered with antifascist art. As the JFP’s march kicked off, the female leader began reading hate speech through her single megaphone. CRAC and allies heavily outnumbered her with shouts of “racists go home,” drowning out her speech with their megaphones. In order to stop the march from proceeding forwards, CRAC members staged a sit-in in front of the march, getting trampled by police who were protecting the fascists. As a result, we were unable to stop the march from proceeding on its designated route, but we were loud enough to drown out the hate speech so the children playing in the park couldn’t hear it, and that was enough for us. 

While we won in the morning, the afternoon was a different story. The goal of CRAC and its allies were to cancel Sakurai’s “art exhibit” due to the fact that 1. it would certainly include hate speech and 2. such hate speech is not permitted in a government building. The venue, Will Aichi, is a women and children’s center, but on that day it was filled with fascists waiting for a chance to meet their icon, Sakurai. Despite hours of struggle, the building administrators refused to cancel the exhibit, claiming they couldn’t make decisions without executive permission.

While the counter-protestors were disappointed, a few days later our hopes were reignited. On Oct. 29, 2019, the Asahi Shinbun reported that Aichi Prefecture Mayor Hideaki Ohmura made a public statement declaring Sakurai’s exhibit to be hate speech, and that the government would consider litigation against him. CRAC’s efforts were not a failure.

Even though fascists are the worst, I was grateful for the chance to meet Japanese antifascists. I learned a lot from the experiences I had and people I met that day. Even though our language is different, the feelings of the fight against fascism in both America and Japan is the same.

+ posts

Emily is a junior at Muhlenberg and majors in neuroscience with a focus on the pharmacology of traditional herbal medicines. She is also an organizer with the Young Democratic Socialists of America and the DSA Libertarian Socialist Caucus.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here