Perhaps in trying to keep up with their American counterparts (see previous post), the Japanese LDP political party announced yesterday that they want to specifically exclude the right to free speech in the new Japanese constitution. There is a full article on the issue over at Japan Today, but here are some excerpts:
…a subcommittee of the LDP’s constitutional drafting committee says, “It should be permissible under the law to restrict or ban publication or sale of books that have a detrimental effect on young people’s upbringing’…
As if that wasn’t bad enough, they also want to add the following:
“There should be restrictions on forming associations that aim at damaging the state or social order.”
So, under the proposed Japanese constitution, citizens of Japan would have no right to free speech and no right to form any organization that might damage “social order” or the “state”. What is the state and what is social order?
If the state is the current government, then under this constitution, even rival political parties could theoretically be banned. “Social order” could be just about anything, which would give them freedom to ban just about any group they wanted banned for any reason.
As far as speech, they could ban any speech that anyone in the country thought might not be good for young people. In what country in the world do people agree on what might have a “detrimental effect on young people’s upbringing”? In fact, this constitution itself would have a detrimental effect on young people, old people, and every people in between, by denying them all the right to free speech.
In the year 2005, we are seeing an attack on free speech around the world - mostly in the name of “protecting the children” or “fighting terrorism” or some other bullshit excuse. Free speech doesn’t hurt anyone, anti-freedom politicians do.
Let’s hope the Japenese people are willing to stand up for their own freedom and those of their children.
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