Lessons from annus horribilis: a voice from Japan pleads good riddance to progressive politics as usual
The year
2016 would probably be referred to as an annus
horribilis by now if the future didn’t seem to be holding worse things to come.
One half of the American electorate was so alienated from politics that they
didn’t vote at all, while a neglected constituency, voting with an ethic of
total retaliation against the status quo of the Democrat-Republican
establishment, chose an unqualified president who is highly unlikely to solve
the problems of his supporters, nor any of the major problems that afflict the
United States and the world.
One
positive outcome of this terrible year is that the “consensus view” about free
trade, common currency, open borders, the EU, identity politics, and the
unipolar US world order has finally had its reckoning with reality. More people
are waking up to the deep flaws in what has been viewed in recent decades as “progressive”
politics. In reality, the pragmatic third way was based on the unsustainable
belief in “sustainable” development. It was instead a trail of compromises that
destroyed prosperity and social equality, and ended up in the political
equivalent of a geomagnetic reversal. Democrats became the war party spouting
McCarthy-era paranoia about Russia, while Trump was to the left of the
Democrats on free trade and foreign policy.
Many
self-styled progressives still don’t understand this shift, and they are
doubling down on their support for the old system, but doing so now involves
regurgitating the ridiculous scapegoating for the decimation of the Democratic
party (losses of the federal executive, both chambers of congress, state
governorships and state legislatures) and the absurd propaganda that now flows
directly from intelligence agencies to The Washington Post and The Guardian and
other papers of record.
From now
on, more people will recognize that the crises of this age require radical
change. Until now, when it has not been an election year, American progressives
have always agreed that there is a looming ecological crisis that requires a
radical green revolution, but when it comes time to vote in a federal election,
they vote for the lesser evil shade of the status quo. Logic dictates that the
Green Party, in spite of its imperfections, should have long ago become the
most powerful political party in every advanced nation, but the hostility to
the Green Party as a spoiler for the Democrats proved that almost no one is
serious about preserving the environment.
Perhaps the
pathetic uncommitted version of progressivism will continue to sputter away.
Perhaps warmongering and demonizing of other nations will work to deflect the
masses from examining the depths of the world’s problems, but there is some
hope that the annus horribilis has
been drastic enough to shatter illusions for a growing portion of the
population.
This trend
is not confined to Europe and North America. Japan is a nation that has lived
under effective American occupation since 1945, and in recent years there has
been growing dissent against the presence of American military bases,
especially in Okinawa. Some Western journalists and historians cover this
issue, but rarely do Japanese voices from the fringe get translated into other
languages to be heard outside of Japan. An author with the pen name “de-nuclearize”
(脱発), tweeting with the handle
@battlecom, has written extensively about how Japanese progressives have also
failed to make the essential connection to roots of the issues they protest.
What follows are twenty-seven selected tweets by @battlecom over the past year.
Selected tweets by @battlecom during 2016
Translated
by Yuki Natsui
A note on tweets in Japanese:
Twitter limits tweets to 140 characters yet these English translations of
Japanese tweets are much longer than 140 characters. This discrepancy arises
from the difference in the two writing systems. One of these tweets, for
example, was 114 characters in Japanese, but the translation required 266
characters in English, excluding spaces. The ratio is 1:2.33. A sampling of six
tweets showed the average ratio was 1:2.37. So if you want to tweet longer,
learn Japanese.
1. People
who despise government-patronized scholars of atomic energy must not become “self-styled
pacifists” who carry a torch for imperialism when it comes to Syria.
_____
2. It seems
that fourteen US coalition military officers hiding in a bunker in East Aleppo
were captured by Syrian Special Forces. This is what the G7’s UK, US, France,
Germany, Italy, et al. wanted to avoid at all costs when some time ago it
requested an immediate cease-fire in a statement on false account of a ‘genocide’.
_____
3. America’s
imperialistic regime change operation in Syria has failed. The crime of
manipulating ISIS terrorists from the shadows and plunging Syria into turmoil
must be charged as a war crime. We must stop uncritically sharing puff pieces
that disseminate “war” coverage favorable to America in a slovenly manner. By
doing so, we become accomplices.
_____
4. Iraq,
Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen. In order to overthrow the anti-US regime, the
United States is attempting to supply weapons and funds to pseudo-democratic
forces to raise a rebellion, and if that doesn’t succeed, make false
accusations about weapons of mass destruction, bomb the country and assassinate
the leader. Japan is supporting this.
_____
5. Defeating
Iran and overthrowing the Assad government of Syria, Iran’s ally, is the
earnest wish of the United States and the Saudi monarchy. Backed by the United
States, Saudi Arabia, with not an ounce of ‘democracy’, is similarly bombing
Yemen, a friendly nation of the Syrian government. The same goes for the United
States.
_____
6. Amidst
the conflict between the United States and the Syrian government, I am unable
to understand those who blindly follow imperialism and talk about Syria’s ‘Assad
problem’. It is ultimately Syrians who should decide on matters pertaining to
Syria. We cannot permit foreign nations to intervene. To start with, the
disturbances of the phony democratic front contrived by the United States
should be quelled by having the United States suspend its support.
_____
7. The
United States, which aerially bombed Syrian Arab Army positions during the
cease-fire and torpedoed the Syrian cease-fire agreement, must immediately
withdraw from Syria. The self-appointed “Free” Syrian Army, a terrorist group
that has been militarily supported by the United States, must immediately
suspend military activities in Aleppo and surrender. It must put an end to the
cruel ‘resistance’ that uses civilians as human shields.
_____
8. People
should have noticed by now. The United States admitted that the weapons of mass
destruction were not found in Iraq and that it was a strategy of the United
States to eliminate Hussein. It has already become public knowledge that the
strategies used in Syria and Libya were sham strategies to inveigle civilians
by arming them. They should stop covering America’s rear end over the Aleppo
issue.
_____
9. To all
those so-called “anti-war/pacifists” of Japan: A considerable number of you
supported the Iraq war, didn’t you? Where were the weapons of mass destruction?
Perhaps you may be forgiven for being deceived by the United States on one
occasion. But with regard to Syria, the second time is a farce and not to be
tolerated.
_____
10. We read
puff pieces in the US media in which the UN secretary general confessed that
there was no basis for his statement of opposition to a Syrian ‘massacre.’ The
last tweets of the Syrians are allegedly sent from East Aleppo where there was
no internet access. Do you not think that everything is strange? How foolish to
go along with this. Shame on you. Those who took part in the bombing of Iraq on
the lie of weapons of mass destruction are obliged to repent. More so in the
case of Syria.
_____
11. Are you
always deceived by the power of the mass media? Is it not because you are
giving assent to the plot of the United States to overthrow a foreign
government by force? Each and every time, you follow the puff media campaign
and refer to UN principles. It is not the appearance of “peace or opposition to
violence,” but rather ‘what kind of people’ are in conflict with ‘what kind of
people’ that should be identified.
_____
12. During
the Gulf War, Japan’s opposition parties were criticizing “dictator Saddam.”
Such is the actual situation of the anti-war peace movement in Japan. It is to
blindly imitate and hold a candle to the imperialist. The left was astonished
at such a state. We cannot repeat the same in Syria anymore.
_____
13. This is
the statement of the Syrian Communist Party engaged in struggle with the Assad
government: “The Syrian Communist Party asserts that events in Syria are
neither a revolution nor a civil war. They are proceeding according to the plan
of imperialism. NATO cannot bring a revolution to Syria. We cannot afford
internal dissension. Let us stand alongside each other and resist the
imperialist forces.”
_____
14. People
in Syria have long argued that the ‘Arab Spring’ is imperialist aggression and
are beginning to fight against it. Who were the careless people that became
America’s dogs and mercenaries and caused an armed insurrection? The faces of
people in the democratic front certainly do not seem to belong to those who are
struggling for ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’.
_____
15. The
Communists in Syria who truly struggle for democratic life will never become
dogs of NATO and would not engage in terrorism using its funds and weapons. We
should carefully investigate who is supporting the terrorists and spreading
information about self-proclaimed “anti-war activists” that amuse themselves in
criticizing the Assad government.
_____
16. Cuban
internationalists will fight against all imperialist intrigues to dominate
developing countries. We absolutely should not allow imperialist intrigues
against developing countries. We must continue struggling to do away with
neo-colonialism and imperialism.
_____
17. There
is only one reason why I am trying to spread Cuban internationalism. As
embodiments of twenty-first century Marxism-Leninism, the attitude, conduct and
struggle of the Cubans have truly been assessed by history. It is because I
believe that fighting not only against imperialism but also against the
inseparable “neo-colonialism” is precisely what will bring about a world
socialist revolution.
_____
18. Lenin
anticipated that Western counterrevolution or advanced capitalism would gain
total control over the domestic socialist revolution and triumph, and that
socialism could not endure in the Soviet Union, but he still chose the path of
struggle to the end. It was a tragic resolve. Only one country, Cuba, carried
on the legacy of Lenin.
_____
19. Marxist-Leninists
will address the focused issues raised by the situation in the era. If it is
different from the New Left who say it is a revolutionary situation all year
round, it is also different from the Nihilists who say the revolution is still
not coming. This country now faces the full-scale offensive of the Japan
Conference aiming to return Japan to its prewar status. We must counteract
their attacks by every conceivable means.
_____
20. In my
own reflections on Tokyo’s gubernatorial elections, in order to confront the
special political situation in the capital of this Empire, it is necessary to
have a principled Marxist-Leninist ideological confrontation against Japanese
imperialism itself. A fundamental Marxist-Leninist definition for Japanese
imperialism is indispensable there. Especially after the war.
_____
21. In
Lenin’s theory of imperialism, his analysis showed that modern capitalism
dominated by the financial oligarchy is at the root of imperialism. Japanese
capitalism matured in the form of imperialism economically and politically
before the war. Japan’s defeat in the war has not changed the essence of
Japanese imperialism. Zaibatsu, financial capital and the military-industrial
complex continue without interruption.
_____
22. Lenin
has explained many times over that democracy simply means bourgeois
dictatorship if the term “democracy” excludes the class essence. Democracy
under capitalism means bourgeois democracy and means bourgeois dictatorship. It
involves the same as in the class struggle between the bourgeois and the
oppressed classes.
_____
23. People
tamed and brainwashed into thinking marking a ballot is the height of
participation in politics mistake capitalism for the best form of democracy. I
cannot imagine selecting judges, high-level bureaucrats or enterprise managers
through elections. Not only that, Lenin insisted many years ago that we dismiss
corrupt candidates at any time. Democracy undergoes its last evolution through
socialism.
_____
24. There
are two reasons the Japanese communist movement is in a theoretical confusion.
One is bourgeois prejudice against Marxism-Leninism in general. The other is
theoretical apologia for Japanese capitalism captured from the Meiji
Restoration. There is a lack of understanding about the continuity of
feudalism. The fundamental struggle has continued for five hundred years. That
is to say, a mistake was made on the Buraku issue.*
_____
25. The
blackest flames are emitted by the masses at the most base level; that is, the
Buraku of this country are further below the root of the order that the
proletarians are trying to drive out. Only the science of materialism and
dialectic law can unravel the underlying mechanisms of discrimination. However,
the self-professed ‘communists’ of this country, far from being aware of
anything, are oblivious to the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism.
_____
26. As
imperialism attains full maturity today, its excess profits are keeping the
working class of the advanced countries in a state of slumber. The theory of
imperialism and revolution that Lenin elucidated needs to be further developed.
With imperialism having succeeded in devouring enormous wealth from the
developing countries, the flames of the revolutions in the developing countries
shall not disappear.
_____
27. The
Cold War consigned the Soviet Union to oblivion. However, in a war without ‘indemnities’,
the United States naturally exhausted itself. The strategy of the United States
to make up for the ‘indemnities’ by fostering regime change in the developing
countries of the Soviet sphere is at a standstill due to the turbulence that
followed their overthrow. That exhaustion has reached a peak and brought about
domestic division and crisis in the United States. The time has come for the
flag of Marxism-Leninism to be aggressively pursued.
_____
* Burakumin is an outcast group at the bottom
of the Japanese social order that has historically been the victim of severe
discrimination and ostracism. They were (are) composed of those with
occupations considered impure or tainted by death (such as executioners,
undertakers, workers in slaughterhouses, butchers or tanners), which have
severe social stigmas attached to them. Traditionally, the Burakumin lived in their own communities, hamlets or ghettos.
Discrimination has been greatly reduced by activism and legislation, but it
persists in contemporary Japan, in some regions more than in others.
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