2003年03月18日 火曜日

Peace and Protest

by Jane Pinckard

Politics

nowar.jpg
Who says Japanese don't protest? All over the world the anti-war movements have been heating up, and Tokyo is no exception. This sort of passionate, almost ebullient public demonstration reminds me of some of the amazing millenarian protests in the Meiji era (about which Imamura made a film) or the explosive student protests in the sixties (read PDF file).

What I find most Japanese, though, are the people wearing white cotton face masks with "No War" painted on them. I find this so quintessentially Asian that it makes me smile.

peace mask

What makes me shiver by comparison are the photos of US flags modified to replace the field of stars with a swastika, or with a big black swastika painted over the stripes. I can't help but think that this is overkill. Surely it lessens the impact of Hitler's outright racist evil to compare it to the greedily corporate evil of the Bush administration. On the basis of, at the very least, rhetoric, if nothing else, no one in the Bush administration has called for genocide, or even the gbanning of Islam in the United States. Aside from whatever personal prejudices the members of the cabinet may have, they know better than to voice them publicly, and people who do - like Trent Lott - find themselves in untenable positions. By contrast Hitler's Mein Kampf in which he openly discussed the need to expel Jews from the Fatherland was freely available by the time he was elected.

We are not like the Nazis. Not yet. It saddens me to see these unwarranted comparisons, because rather than reflecting badly on US policy, I think they have the effect of making those who use them appear uneducated in history and insensitive to its consequences.

While it heartens me to see citizens taking to the streets for a cause, new symbols are in order. The Nazi symbolism has too easily become shorthand for evil or anything we might choose to criticize. Moreover, such symbolism invites all too quickly a comparison between Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan - a similarity I hope is not entirely lost on the Japanese protestors.

Posted by Jane Pinckard at 2003年03月18日 04:34

Comments

Unfortunately, I think the similarity probably is lost on most of these protestors...

But with regard to the nazi symbolism, I agree wholeheartedly. Exaggeration of this magnitude leads to summary dismissal of the protestors by many. If they equate the U.S. with Nazi Germany, how can we take their views on Iraq seriously?

This sort of <i>reductio ad absurdum</i> seems to be increasingly common in political debate, and it detracts from the legitimacy of the arguments on both sides...

2- jane

apropos your comment about that kind of useless argument is a great document by Don Lindsay: <a href="http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skeptic/arguments.html">A List of Fallacious Arguments</a>.

something of a cynic's game to count how many were pressed into service by Bush during his address to the Nation tonight.

3- Erika

It is pure metaphor, allusion to an evil that has not been surpassed.
When you are that angered at the current regime of which you are a mere citizen, people will make comparisons that may seen "too" much. Nonetheless, it is my opinion that one can take serioisly these people. Protests aren't fashion shows or contests of creativity. Although at the Los Angeles protest I attended I saw a great many signs indicative of the mass ingenuity in us all.

4- Alex

Protests become fashion shows and Wars become Hollywood movies complete with tacky looking logo adorned "command center"s... next at 11.

Which was it again? Art imitates life? Life imitates art?

Don't know where blogging from Iraq fits into that...
<a href="http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/">Where is Raed</a>
Well, as long as they have electricty.

5- Mimi

I am struck in the photos by the juxtaposition of scathing political critique and as Jane says, ebullient matsuri-kibun. Even at the Santa Monica "peace on the beach" protest that I went to, I didn't see so much of this ebullience. Maybe I would have seen more of it if I had gone to the Hollywood protests. The closest thing I saw were two stunt men in jump suits with a sign saying "TWO EVILS TO NOT MAKE AN EVIL KNIEVAL." Otherwise, most people were pretty low-key.

6- Greg Werner

Hmmmm, I find the Japanese stand on the war quite intriguing.

As of yesterday, Yomiuri was reporting that about 76% of Japanese citizens support Koizumi san's decision to back the United States.

Meanwhile, Yomiuri also reported (a week prior) that 70% of Japanese citizens do not agree with the war.

Now, let us just put North Korea aside here for a moment. Anyone who has does a compulsory study of Japan can understand that the United States needs Japan for business and military position, while Japan is relies on the United States for a decent amount of business, and military protection/assistance. That is a given.

So let us not digress to the idea, "Japan supports Koizumi's decision merely because they have no choice."

No, I am afraid that does not fly. Rather, it has been my observation that the majority of Japanese citizens are caught somewhat in the middle and in a state of confusion with regard to dealing with war, and by that, I mean any war.

Ask any average Taro Yamaguchi if they hate war. They will reply with an emphatic, "Yes!" Then ask them if they agree with terrorists and say, for example, what they tried to accomplish on September 11, 2001. They will respond with an emphatic, "No!" And finally, ask them how to deal with the disarmament of a madman butcher that may not be linked to terrorists like Al Qaeda, but has the ability to unleash acts of genocide on the world, as fast as humanly possible, while trying to preserve human life to the best of their abilities. Mr. Yamaguchi will stare at you blankly, with perhaps a nice driblet of drool hanging down his mouth. Give him enough time and he may respond, "Well there must be another way!", sounding more like a pacifist-obsessed idealist from a Japanese animation.

Are Japanese people ignorant to war? Ooh! I can feel the skin rising on the back of your neck. "How dare this foreigner contend such an issue!", well I can say that perhaps some of them are, and some of them aren't. The number of people that have memory of the events of World War II are swiftly passing away with time. These are the Japanese citizens who truly know what war is, what causes, what pushes it on and what ends it. As the Japanese were subject to one of the most powerful weapons known to mankind, it is not hard to believe their belief that war only brings death and destruction, it is perhaps their perogative.

On the other hand, the youth of Japan have grown up in a country, (and an age), that has produced nothing but huge successes, perhaps even a second Heian jidai. And although that period has now tripped and stumbled, Japan is certainly not overflowing with depression (yet). These are a cheerful people whose major concern is when North Korea decides to launch dud missiles into the Sea of Japan every couple of years (so it seems). And even so, the US is with them, and even now working with them to prevent devastation should North Korea actually make good on its (obviously false) plans to "Invade Japan". So essentially the youth of Japan have only heard of war, and been brainwashed by one too many trips to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, that nothing good comes of war, and all war is unjust.

So we have a country of innocents, and hardened memories protesting a war with a just cause. So what? There will always be voices of dissent, and those voices are always the loudest (and most irritating). Much like that certain glasses-wearing "political" "commentator" who recently received a shiny gold little man, those protesting in Japan should wake up and smell the coffee. Love it or leave it, the war is on. That is reality. They will not stop it, their actions will not cause the US military to see any kind of "light" and leave Iraq as it stands, (a godawful place). Instead, I suggest they sit down with a few books and learn a thing or two more than what they have been taught in school about WWII and a place called Nanking, while simulataneously indulging themselves in considering what became of their own country, after the second World War.

7- jane

greg, i wonder, have you asked "Taro Yamaguchi" the questions you propose? i think that is a great idea. i'm not so sure you - or anyone else for that matter - can put words in other people's mouths. i for one find that people continually surprise me with new ideas, new ways of approaching problems, and new perspectives. i would be extremely interested in what Japanese protestors have to say, because i don't know; and i suspect that we'd hear a lot of different answers.

part of being a good social scientist is keeping one's mind open to multiple possibilities, retaining sympathy and empathy for the groups one studies, approaching questions with an open mind free from preconceptions, and learning to re-examine "the facts".

facts can point the way, but only talking to people will reveal what they think.

i think your post shows that you've done some reading, and some observation (give me more info - do you live in Japan? are you studying there currently?) but perhaps you ought to examine your assumptions. it's too easy to draw the sorts of cause-and-effect conclusions you seem to fall into. although it would be nice to have clear answers, the world is rarely so cut and dried.

finally, your argument that "the war is on. it is reality" and therefore people should not act doesn't hold water. there are lots of things which are real today that groups of people continually seek to change. <i>a priori</i> condition is not a reason, but all too often a justification, for inaction.

Stumbling around the net - trying to make sense of myself and my world (it is my world too, right?).

Surreal is it not, that people across the world - staring blindly into the suns of modern days, discuss - debate - communicate - the rain of death upon a people few of us will ever know.
And it is - i believe - not for the people dying, the unborn children we could (should?) prepare the world for or simply to make sense of it all.
It is to forget. Ahh the sacred therapy of words - what is written, read, written and read again is easily dismissed as artifacts of another reality - as history. A process once requiring years, generations - turning present into past - but now, yesterday is far away. Read - comment - debate, and move happily on to the present.

Do we fear facing history?
Or are we simply doing what everyone before us did - just so much better, efficient at forgetting?
But no - someone, somewhere, sometime, chose to act, not look. I do believe this.
Perhaps the protesters - millions now realizing the power of millions - are starting to do just that?

Or maybe this is just ramblings from a world halfway between here and sleep.


Find your strength. Fight for life.
If you ever despair - seek power in the smile of an infant.

9- Greg Werner

Jane-

Hi! Have I actually asked "Taro", well yes actually, numbers are irrelevant because how can any number of people I know personally ever represent a nation? So really saying that 76 of my best friends and dozen previous host families live on Shikoku while hundreds of others live on Honshuu, and a few in Hokkaido, really can't account for how Japan is, (or reacts for that matter).However it does paint a vague picture. And the most common response I've received every time I get a letter, meet with a friend, or get an e-mail is, "I really don't like war, so I wish it would end." and when I inquire how they would conduct the immediate disarmament, they usually reply, "I'm not sure, but there must be another way." Which ideally would be lovely, but we lives in a world of reality, not the ideal.

However, please be reassured that I am not saying to protest is "wrong" (what is "wrong"? Perhaps when a Columbia professor calls the people who kill Americans heroes?) I would not take away anyone's right to peaceful protest that doesn't interfere with daily routine and safety. My purpose was rather to explore how Japanese citizens, or rather, citizens of the world view this war.

Can I as a foreigner truly understand everything Japan does? Since most Americans don't even understand the purpose of this war, how can we expect people outside America to understand the cause, effect and details of it?

23% of the country is calling out that this war is for oil, and if that false image reaches foreign citizens, of course they will accept it as fact, unless they truly dig deep and find out all the details.

I am not anti-peaceful protest, I am just questioning if the Japanese people, who are being raised and reared in a nation that renounces all war, truly understand what they are protesting. The loss of human life? Certainly a worthy cause to be certain! But the brave and precious lives that are lost now, will save how many in the future? If the terrorists who blew up the Twin Towers were shot by snipers as they entered planes, almost 3000 lives would have been saved. If the coalition forces free a nation and rid it of illegal weapons, then how many innocent, non-military lives will be saved in the future?

I certainly do not question the intelligence of the average Japanese citizen, Merely as an observational and curious individual, I question how they receive information, and how their own cultural biases are affecting that information and in turn their opinions.

10- Mimi

Greg, Taro Yamaguchi may not feel comfortable fully articulating opinions about the war to someone they perceive to be a nationalistic American. I think self-awareness is important when judging others.

The civil rights and feminist movements among other things have shown that people who hold power can be notoriously clueless about their own abuses of power. This may be something to remember when considering "cultural bias."

On a different note, three is another article on the peace movement in Japan in <a>Japan Media Review</a>

11- Greg Werner

Mimi-

Hi! "Nationalistic American"? Hmmm, I hardly think they perceive me that way as every time we discuss our countries, I make note of how I am disgusted by modern American society.

For example, a President who has oral sex in the Oval Office, and yet there are people that remain apathetic. Drugs and alcohol are abused in every corner of schools, smoking begins in elementary level children, pre-marital sex is everywhere and made normal by programs like Friends.

I am certainly not a "Nationalistic American" and I make this very clear, I genuinely do not like Americans. I do love my home, but far too many of the people living here disgust me. Not that Japan doesn't have these same problems,but I know that the vast majority of Americans are on a lower moral level in comparison to the rest of the world. I make my negative views of Americans well-known to all of my friends, especially my girlfriend from Sendai.

I don't support the war because I think America should "lead the world".

I support the war because I don't think leaders that cut up their own people and bury them in mass graves, develop chemical weapons for terrorist use, lie to their own people, and put people under oppressive reign should be leaders.

And I genuinely hope America stays out of the reconstruction of Iraq beyond aid. I sincerely wish that as Henry Kissinger suggested, Japan will be at the front of a group to help Iraq get used to its freedom.

12- Mimi

It's tough when somebody makes a blanket assumption based on a reading of one's political position. This drooling inarticulate poorly-informed average Japanese citizen peacenik certainly feels so and I guess a warmongering might-makes-right we-know-best nationalistic American might too. C'mon, the whole point of this site is to get past the idea that you can describe "a culture" and "a people" in a unified way.

13- Greg Werner

Precisely, as I mentioned earlier, how can any number of people I know in Japan, ever create a clear picture of the "real" Japan, or more accurately, Japan as it exists, not as viewed from the outside.

However, the question I was attempting to raise was not what Japanese citizens feel about the war, rather, what influences and misinterpretations can be created when a culture receives news from a people alien to them. Truly, this question applies to all nations, not just Japan.



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