Labornet TV Broadcast: A Look Back at Japan’s 2017 Election

 

The drama of this year’s snap election of the Lower House—which seemed to exemplify the saying, “in politics, no one knows what the future holds”—has ended. The day after the results came in, newspapers were plastered with headlines reading “Ruling Bloc Secures Over 300 Seats, Prime Minister Remains in Office.” At the same time, however, the rise of the newly formed Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) was widely reported in the media. After securing her seat, TSUJIMOTO Kiyomi surmised about CDP’s success in an interview with NHK: “Our message that politics exists to prevent war has resonated with a wide range of constituents who have led us to victory.” To vote for Kibo no To (Party of Hope) meant greenlighting security reforms—“war laws”—and therefore pushing Japan towards a country that could wage war. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) took advantage of the tensions with North Korea to garner support while pushing the Kake Gakuen and Moritomo Gakuen scandals under the rug. Perhaps the major point of contention that underlay this year’s election was whether Japan will become a country that could wage war, or hold onto its pacifism by protecting Article 9 of the constitution. On October 25^th, Labornet TV hosted a live discussion program through the night on what the election results entail and where to go from here. (TV project)

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レイバーネットTV放送 : 総選挙を総括！みんなでディスカッション

「政治は一寸先は闇」という言葉を地でいった「2017総選挙」のドラマが終わった。開票翌日の新聞には「自公300議席超へ 首相続投」の大見出しが躍る。しかし同時に「立憲民主 躍進」が大きく報じられた。当選確実にした辻元清美氏はNHKのインタビューに「政治は戦争をさせないためにあると訴え、多くの皆さんの輪が広がり、そして当選をさせていただいた」と勝因を分析した。希望の党の踏み絵はまさに「安保法制＝戦争法の容認」で「戦争できる国」をめざすものだった。自民党はモリカケを隠し北朝鮮問題を使って支持を伸ばした。今回の総選挙の底流に流れていた大争点は、じつは日本を「戦争できる国」にするのか、9条を守って「戦争しない国」を堅持するのかの、せめぎ合いだったのではないか。25日のレイバーネットTVは「夜生ディスカッション」形式で、あなたは総選挙をどうみるか、これからどうしていったらいいのか。大いにディスカッションしました。（TVプロジェクト） 

アーカイブ録画（74分・特集は29分から）　

Labornet TV program No. 124 How do we view the general election 2017?--Our Choice at the election

 

The upcoming election will be featured on the Labornet TV program on Oct.11.

“Abe will win if he calls a snap election now!” “Abe wants to fend off criticism over the favoritism scandals involving Kake Educational Institution and Morimoto Gakuen.”  For these very reasons, the Abe administration forcefully dissolved the Lower House at the extraordinary Diet session without Diet deliberations., provoking political turmoil.  The establishment of a new political party, Kibo-no-to (Party of Hope) on Sep.27 and the alignment of the Democratic Party of Japan with Kibo-no-to made the main opposition party disappear in just one night.  Before joining Kibo-no-to, DPJ members were forced to sign an allegiance pledge, in which they were asked to stand by the party’s policies, such as agreeing on the security legislation and the constitutional revision. Although Kibo-no-to is losing momentum, the possibility has been raised that an ‘Imperial Rule Assistant Association (Taisei Yokusankai)’ type of coalition aiming for the constitutional revision will be born among four political parties---Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Komeito, Nihon-Ishin-no-kai and Kibo-no-to.  Will Japan change quickly into a country that can wage a war?  It was a new political party, the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDC) that stood up resolutely in midst of such a political crisis.   The lower house election battle has now come to take the shape of a battle between the three opposition parties--CDC, Japan Communist Party (JCP), and the Socialist Democratic Party (SDP) together with ‘Shimin Rengo’ (Civil Alliance for Peace and Constitutionalism) vs advocates of  Constitutional revision.  How should we see and respond to such a political situation?  We would like to think about it together with Koichi NAKANO (facilitator for the Civil Alliance for Peace and Constitutionalism) as our guest. (Labornet TV Project)

レイバーネットTV番組案内 : 総選挙をどうみるか、私たちの選択は？

11日のレイバーネットTVは「総選挙」を取り上げる。「今なら勝てる」「モリカケから逃げたい」。それだけで理由で、国会審議を吹っ飛ばして臨時国会冒頭に解散を強行した安倍政権。ところがそのあと政局は大激震となった。9月27日の「希望の党」結成と民進党の合流で、野党第一党が一夜にしてなくなってしまった。希望の党入党にあたって民進党議員に突きつけられたのは「安保法制賛成・改憲」の踏み絵だった。希望の党が失速ぎみとはいえ、今回の選挙で「自公希維」の「改憲・大政翼賛会」が生まれる可能性が出てきた。日本は戦争する国に一挙にすすむのか？ その危機的状況のなかで毅然と立ち上がったのが立憲民主党だった。いまたたかいの構図は「野党3党（立憲民主党・共産党・社民党）＋市民連合」vs「改憲勢力」となった。私たちはこの事態をどうみたらいいのか、どう関わっていったらいいのか。市民連合世話人の中野晃一さんをゲストに一緒に考えてみたい。（レイバーネットTVプロジェクト）