Upper House election is just around the corner! Rally to demand poverty measures to each party

On June 9, 2010, approximately 300 people participated in a rally of the Anti-Poverty Campaign held at the Seiryo Kaikan hall in central Tokyo with the title, “Upper House election is just around the corner! Are poverty measures satisfactory?” (photo). Representatives of nearly all of the seven major and opposition parties joined the meeting. Suzuki Muneo, leader of New Party Daichi (the earth), said with applause from the audience, “More than 30,000 persons have committed suicide every year. In the past, there were 10,000 traffic accident victims a year with a headline “traffic war”. Compared with this figure, the current number of suicides symbolizes “terrorism”, even more terrible than war”. Respective representatives of the parties expressed their opinions based on remarks of three participants who were a single mother, a patient of an intractable disease, and a dispatched worker. The representatives mostly had positive views on the poverty issue but were sharply divided on the revision of the Worker Dispatch Law, with some appreciating it to a certain extent and the others saying, “It is totally insufficient”. (M) Webpage of Nati-Poverty Campaign

参議院選挙目前！各党に貧困対策を問う集会開かれる
　6月9日、東京・星陵会館で「参議院選挙目前！どこまでできたか？貧困対策！」と題した反貧困ネットワークの集会が開催され、約300人が集まった（写真）。与野党ほぼ全ての7党の代表が出席した。新党大地の鈴木宗男議員が「毎年3万人以上の自殺者が出ている。昔は1万人の交通事故死者が出て“交通戦争”と騒がれた。それと比べれば、この自殺者の数は戦争どころか“テロ”だ」とぶつと大きな拍手が起きた。政党討論では、母子家庭・難病・派遣で苦しむ3人の当事者発言を受けて、各議員が持論を展開。貧困問題については前向きの発言が続いたが、派遣法改正については一定評価する意見と「まったく不十分」とする意見とで大きく分かれた。（М） 反貧困ネットワークHP