|
|
|
| June 28, 2011 |
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| Causes of Confusion in State's Politics |
|
|
|
|
It is three months since the devastated earthquakes and tsunami hit the north-eastern region of Japan. Those who suffer from extraordinary consequences have not yet found a way out to reconstruct their livelihood while the nation's politics goes into a mess of power struggles. The nuclear accident as well as the earthquakes has been made a political catastrophe. A once rescued life is exposed to a verge of death due to the absurd fuss. We must reject irresolute politics.
SINCERE EXAMINATION IS NOT MADE ON TODAY'S PLIGHT
State Is Responsible for Supporting People's Life
The existing Disaster Rescue Act provides articles to help those affected by natural disasters to survive; to supply temporary residences, food & water and necessary articles, extend medical service and give a preferential access to employment and financial assistances. Though the law is far from perfect, as it has not incorporated lessons from the 1995 Earthquakes which hit the western region of the country, it embodies the state's responsibility specified under Article 25 of Constitution, which stipulates that the government must guarantee people a healthy and cultured minimum level of livelihood. The March 11 tremble was far more powerful than that of 1995 in magnitude.
Therefore it is crucial for politicians to apply the current rescue act in the much broader context to help people in the north-eastern region to rebuild their livelihood. But facts are: housing projects go behind schedule, once they remove to a temporary house, residents cannot enjoy free food service and recipients of services of Life Protection Act lose the status when they receive money from the disaster fund - these are examples of negligence of the people's right to survive. The government cut off disaster-hit people, taking advantage of the existing laws.
Some victims are still looking for their family members and they do not have a house or a job. Debris has not yet been cleared up.
Nation's politics, however, is unable to respond right. It cannot control administrative decisions which destroy victims' decent hope for safety. A typical, illicit example is the government's attitudes to the nuclear power generation policy, including the accident. The administrations have omitted common understandings: the Japanese archipelago is volcanic and the country is vulnerable to earthquakes, and nuclear power generation goes wildly beyond control. They created a safety myth, which consequently has bound government officials and scientists. They concealed information and manipulated it, which, ultimately, delayed in adopting optimum measures to overcome the crisis. An extensive level of radiation has been emitted since then.
Nobody can foresee how to close the nuclear failure yet, which hinders people's efforts for recovery and reconstruction. That brings despair to the survived people. Fukushima is the origin of radioactive contamination which expands on the global scale. The nuclear accident is a man-made, political calamity: who will take responsibility for it and how? This is an acute duty of politicians, but they remain silent.
Surge of Consumption Tax Rate for Financing - No Solution
It is right for people to demand TEPCO, or Tokyo Electric Power Co., to owe responsibility for the accident. It is more important, however, to condemn the successive governments of the Liberal Democratic Party which has faithfully followed policies of the US governments, though Japan was atomic-bombed by the former, and produced a safety myth on nuclear power generation in the context of peaceful use to organize politics, finance, bureaucracy and academism into a convenient body to enhance the relevant industries. Without this notion and without a sincere review over the country's contemporary history, we cannot reach a right decision to indemnify damages and seek a path to bring an end to nuclear power generation.
In fact we are seeing a political mess: lawmakers set norms (discriminative standards) of damage compensation that nobody can measure its extent and keep going on the current nuclear policy direction so that the operation might not fail to endure safely huge earthquakes and tsunami. They argue which decision to make.
Citizens have the right to live as a human being. What is needed in the politics is how the state should achieve full responsibility to assist the needy in compliance with the constitutional principles: the state should redress without discrimination whether sufferings come from the earthquakes, tsunami or nuclear crisis and help victims to recover.
Financial sources are available. The first contributor is the nuclear power industry, including TEPCO, which has made enormous profits. If the crisis is regarded as national emergency, then, the government should commit in revising the unfair taxation to have Big Business and the rich cooperate as they possess over 200 trillion Yen in cash and deposits.
A hike of the consumption tax rate will affect on the disaster victims, too. Such a decision should not be made.
|
|
|
|
|
|
