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| August 9, 2011 |
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| New Socialist Party Elected New Leadership |
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The New Socialist Party of Japan (NSP) has made a fresh start after the national congress held on July 23 and 24. It had the first presidency election before opening the annual meeting and Matsueda Yoshihiro was elected as President, and the congress approved nominations of Tomiyama Eiko as Vice-President and Osanami Hirokuni as Secretary General. It is the crucial time for the NSP and for people of the country to launch political changes. The new leadership stands at a historic juncture whether it could successfully organize and encourage solid mass movements and win people's trust.
EACH PARTY MEMBER MUST ORGANIZE OWN MOVEMENT
The NSP was founded in 1996. The top leaderships have been held by incumbent parliamentarians or those who had had experiences and the party has enjoyed their intellectual and strategic legacies as well as human resources in leading party activities. However, it is 14 years since the NSP has lost Diet members, though it has challenged state level elections. The party has appealed to all the members a necessity to create movements of their own. The recent 16th Congress elected a new leadership and confirmed that the party has the sole way to go forward, organizing mass movements.
'State' Reveals Its Nature
The very nature of the state has been disclosed in the measures taken to cope with the aftermath of the March 11 Earthquakes and subsequent nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. The norm to define Magnitude, or a size of earthquake, was revised to impress people that the disastrous incident had been beyond the anticipated scale, while, intentionally, the severe nuclear accident was underestimated in reporting to people. Radiation exposure limits set for water and food, as well as for school facilities, have been deregulated one after another.
All the interest groups linked to nuclear power generation, which extend to various industry sectors, have made utmost efforts to defend Tokyo Electric Power CO. (TEPCO) as it used to be a hen to produce golden eggs: they established a legal mechanism, Nuclear Power Indemnification System Act, to 'divert risks onto people' in the ways to surge the electricity rate and increase taxes in order to save stock holders and financial institutions.
It is almost five months since the disastrous trembles and tsunami took place. The time period has eloquently proved a fact that the state authority ignores or overlooks human life and health while it clings to vested interests shared by a small group of the elite.
The market-superiority policy package has led to depletion of employment, a vital means of workers, massive unemployment and an increase of irregularly-employed workers. It has produced social gaps and poverty. A man, if he loses his job, immediately becomes a homeless or a recipient of Life Protection Service benefits. The nation lacks a secured, social safety.
The government altered in the 2009 elections and the electorate had a good prospect that negative phenomena could end. But the hopes have suddenly been shattered. As a result, political distrust spreads and grows and the two-big-party system has become defunct which the small constituency election system has formulated. It is not an exaggeration that people's sincere expectation toward politics is moribund.
Under these circumstances, in the April local elections, new political groups have won popularity, including the Osaka Restoration Association led by Governor Hashimoto Toru and the Minna-no-To (=Your Party), a newly organized nationwide political party. The Osaka's local party has gained the majority in the prefectural assembly and it enforced to approve a resolution to reduce the number of local assembly members. In Osaka Prefecture 80% of the constituencies candidates are forced to compete for a single seat. Thus Governor and the ruling party can easily manage the assembly. That reminds us the days of Nazism.
Crisis Tries Us
The New Socialist Party faces a critical phase of the history. How should we change today's politics? The NSP could win sympathy of workers and citizens both inside and outside the Party to share the common idea? It could struggle in solidarity with people? These are our vital tasks.
Every party member, whether in the workplace or the community, has a duty to study and learn current issues, tell the truths to people and organize movements so that he/she could be a focus. Of course a sole person has a limit. Let's develop human networks inside and outside the party to encourage ourselves.
For the Sake of Constitutional Principles
This year commemorates the 66th anniversary of the Japan's defeat in the WWII. It is the critical time for us to carry out the principles of Constitution. They are outcomes of dozens of millions of people's sacrifices in Japan and the rest of the world: renunciation of a war, democracy and the basic human rights. It is we ourselves who should create phases to materialize constitutional rights.
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