Strengthen movement demanding state compensation for victims of wartime suppression

Japan Press Weekly

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Strengthen movement demanding state compensation for victims of wartime suppression

In its recent congress, the League to Demand State Compensation for Victims of the Public Order Maintenance Law adopted a new course of action and elected new representatives. The following is an excerpt interview with the new chair of the league, Yanagase Tadashi:

Our league’s successive chairs have all been the victims of the notorious wartime public order maintenance law that repressed anti-war activists. I am the first head who is not either victim or having a family member who was a victim. The number of surviving victims has become less than 100. Our activities need to pursue a new course of action.

The killing of Kobayashi Takiji (author of the novel “The Factory Ship”) and other acts of torture executed behind closed doors by the Special Higher Police, known as Tokko, are unforgivable. Even worse, those Tokko bureaucrats who had directed the crimes during the war remained at key posts in the postwar political and bureaucratic fields, enjoying impunity.

Throughout the world, an increasing number of countries have offered apologies for their past crimes against humanity. The governments of Australia and Canada apologized to indigenous peoples for their assimilation policies. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution apologizing to African-Americans for slavery and segregation policies. Italy apologized for its colonization of Libya. In Spain, the “Historical Memory Law” was established to restore the honors of the victims of the Franco regime. The German government, which has long provided compensation to Nazi regime victims, recently enacted a law to clear the names of those branded as traitors by the Nazi government.

On the other hand, the Japanese government has never offered any apology or compensation to the victims of the notoriously suppressive law.

The League has collected signatures calling for enactment of a law to provide state compensation to the victims and made representations to the Diet in this regard. Many members of the Japanese Communist, Social Democratic, and Democratic parties have introduced our petition to the Diet. The new political condition that has emerged after the latest general election provides us with a possibility to realize our call for justice.

Up to now, 356 local assemblies have adopted resolutions calling for national compensation to the victims.

What the victims called for during wartime was enshrined in the principles of people’s sovereignty and peace as stated in the Japanese Constitution. We hope to strengthen the movement to honor their achievements and pass on the importance of their resistance to future generations.

- Akahata, November 12, 2009