Police Repression

This video was submitted by a user. A judge issues an order to seize land belonging to Narita Airport protestors/famers. Supporters in court angry at the decision arrested in court.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d54jmGBVEDk

Our position:   This is typical Japanese repressive behavior. We have strong reservations about some of the groups involved, such as Chukaku-ha which have a PAST history of political violence against other left groups and also were involved in other public acts of violence, such as the flamethrower attack on LDP headquarters, which TokyoProgressive aboslutely opposes despite the fact that the LDP is a party with a fascist history.

Even now, the groups (which have largely left behind their past of violence) tend to use a lot of revolutionary rhetoric which get them very little following. As one student said in an article by David McNeil on an affiliated group at Hosei University, that has been similarly harrrassed by the polic and university authorities,  “The information on their flyers was a bit extreme: ‘Privatization of university facilities is the road to war,’ ‘Topple the Aso administration’ — that kind of stuff,….. Most of us thought: ‘What the hell are they going on about?’ But you should be able to criticize things in a  university to some extent.”REFERENCE: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20090609zg.html

And therein lies a problem. Japan’s left is allergic to helping those in other factions, such as this one, which means that police repression goes undetected by most in the larger society.  You do not have to love the ideology of Chukaku followers or some of their behavior, but is this an excuse for the police to crush non violent dissent by these same people? 

Recently we have seen the same tactics being used on protestors at anti-nuclear rallies, meaning police repression will be used against any who oppose the statsus quo.

Hosei University employed gangster thugs in 2009