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Japan & Asia-related/日本とアシア関係
Other Asian Stories below:
(1) PARC自由学校2006受講生募集中！(2) 根津公子さんの停職「出勤」日記 (3) The Diene Report on Discrimination and Racism in Japan (4) Korean Peace Village Targeted by Private and Police Thugs (5) AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL-South Korea: Elderly farmers forcibly evicted for US army base (6) Ginoza village assembly chair: We want to see birds fly in, not U.S. military planes
Other News and Activism below:
(1) “Israel Lobby” (2) Seymour Hersh on Attacking Iran (3) Selective Attacks on Islamic Law and the Hypocrisy of the West (4) Honor crimes actually strengthened by occupation and a continuing legacy of colonialism
MAIN STORY: An interview with film-maker David Rothauser on “Hibakusha: our life to live”
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE Also, find out how you can help.
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David Rothauser was in Japan in the summer of 2005 and may be back this summer again in connection with his documentary scheduled for release in Japan and the U.S. later this year, probably around December. In the U.S. look for it on PBS. Our cooperation consisted of making initial contacts with various people and groups active in the anti-nuclear and peace movement as well as facilitating communication between the Japan-based documentary producer Yu NEGORO, the Nagasaki coordinator Naoko GOTO, the main translator, Tomoko KAJIKI, the America-based crew (Julie O’NEIL, Werner GRUNDL, and David), and the US-based coordinators/translatorsWakana YOKOTA and Naomi TORII.
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The Diene Report on Discrimination and Racism in Japan
Some positive, some negative in this review of a UN Rapporteur’s vist to Japan. Part of the problem, as William Wetherall (one of the panelists most critical) seems to suggest is sloppy work based on the fact that one sectarian and often reactionary activist group, BLL, did not allow the writer access to other groups who have a more class-based view of inequities past and present. From the introduction: Japan Focus has asked several Japan-based writers to respond to the Diene Report. Oda Makoto who has been campaigning against war, injustice and discrimination for over half a century, welcomes the report’s findings while pointing out that all developed countries have similar problems. He hopes the report will push debate beyond the national point-scoring that he believes is all too prevalent. The second-generation Korean essayist Pak Kyongnam provides by far the angriest analysis of the pervasiveness of Japanese discrimination, one informed by her own experience. She believes the report will be heartily welcomed by Koreans in Japan. William Wetherall, a veteran commentator on Japan, by contrast, finds the Diene report fatally flawed by, among other things, the special rapporteur’s lack of familiarity with the country he was investigating. Tanaka Hiroshi, who has long worked to protect the rights of foreigners, views the report as a welcome step in the long march toward a racism-free Japan. He notes the positive effect of Japan’s previous adoption of UN conventions in extending human rights. Journalist-author Honda Katsuichi, who has addressed issues of discrimination against the Ainu in Japan and American Indians, welcomes the report but warns that in the absence of vigorous treatment of the report by major media it will have little effect.
Read the full Wetherall Counter-Report
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Korean Peace Village Targeted by Private and Police Thugs
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE
AI Index: ASA 25/001/2006 (Public) News Service No: 067
17 March 2006
South Korea: Elderly farmers forcibly evicted for US army base
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Ginoza village assembly chair: We want to see birds fly in, not U.S. military planes
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Other news and activism/その他のニュースと活動関係
There are some leftists I know who seem obsessed with what they see as an obsession by other leftists with people like Noam Chomsky (I agree ANY obsession is not a good thing). But in attacking the obsession they seek to paint those with nuanced views on Israel and Palestine as “Zionist apologists”. Some websites go so far as to accuse Chomsky and his friends of being CIA agents or in the pay of Israel, and they come close to sounding like closet rightists with their Jewsish conspiracy theories as they end up hiccoughing over whether the “Israel lobby” controls US foreign policy or U.S foreign policy is the problem. Thankfully, even leftists who the above conspiracists see as being on opposte sides on this so-called question actually agree with one another who controls who is less important than the fact that the murderous policies of the U.S. and Israel are an affront to the Paestinian people and humanitarian values. Some comments from various people: link
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The Iran Plans, by Seymour M. Hersh
The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack. Current and former American military and intelligence officials said that Air Force planning groups are drawing up lists of targets, and teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups. The officials say that President Bush is determined to deny the Iranian regime the opportunity to begin a pilot program, planned for this spring, to enrich uranium.
Also:
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Selective Outrage by Sonali Kolhatkar and James Ingalls
Daily media reports over the case of Afghan Christian convert Abdul Rahman have revealed a sudden concern over Afghanistan’s repressive human rights environment. But routine human rights reports of the ongoing oppression of Afghan women, suppression of the media and underlying Western complicity have barely been noticed.
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‘Honor Crimes’: A MADRE Position Paper
“Honor crimes” are sometimes assumed to be sanctioned by Islam since they occur most commonly in the Middle East. But while perpetrators of “honor crimes” often cite religious justification for their acts, these crimes are not rooted in any religious text. ” Since the US bombing of Afghanistan in 2001, the Bush Administration has resurrected the hackneyed colonial notion that Western intervention is intended to “save” Muslim women from their oppressive societies. Few Muslim women believe this (the line is really intended for people in the US). Women in Muslim countries know that their work against “honor crimes” — and for women’s rights generally — has always been undermined by European colonialism and, more recently, by US intervention.
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