JCP Shii talks with Consumers’ Co-operatives Union President

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

JCP Shii talks with Consumers’ Co-operatives Union President

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on March 2 talked with Japanese Consumers’ Co-operative Union (JCCU) President Yamashita Toshifumi about cooperation on the tasks of eliminating nuclear weapons and defending public living standards.

The talks were proposed by the JCCU and held at the JCP head office.

JCCU President Yamashita said that the United Nations General Assembly last December declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives, which indicates an increasing expectation for cooperatives to increase their influence in the light of the worldwide recession and failure of free market principles.

He also explained that the JCCU will send its delegation to New York to take part in actions associated with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in May. Together with the Japan Confederation of A- and H- Bombs Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo), the JCCU will hold an atomic bomb photo exhibition.

JCP Shii said, “Neo-liberalism and free-market-first economics have failed. Moves toward an economy governed by rules are developing in Japan as well as the rest of the world. That’s why there are growing expectations for co-ops.”

He also stated, “The JCP also attaches great importance to the NPT Review Conference, and the JCCU is supporting the common demand for an international treaty to ban nuclear weapons. We want to cooperate with you toward achieving that goal.”

They also talked about the business conditions of co-ops, efforts to secure food safety and restore public trust based on reflections triggered by the issue that arose concerning Chinese-made dumplings containing poison, and improvement of co-op workers’ labor conditions.

- Akahata, March 3, 2010