No 00009

date:May./28/2003

What is the Emergency Legislation?

The Emergency legislation is a wartime bill. It is a bill of actually waging war of aggression. When this bill is enacted, Japan will become a war state. Main aim of this bill is apparently starting war on North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea).

According to the prescription of the Emergency Legislation, only by the declaration of the prime minister of “Emergency ”, Japanese society is put into a wartime system. When the prime minister recognizes that Japan faces “probability of being attacked”, he can declare ‘the state of Emergency’ and the SDF (Self Defense Forces), namely Japanese army, would instantly be dispatched to the allegedly affected area including overseas. In short, on the pretext of “probability of being attacked”, Japanese Army will be able to make a preemptive attack on any country, for example on North Korea.

A preemptive attack has already been practiced in the recent war on Iraq by the US and UK forces, and the Japanese warship, Aegis destroyer, has logistically supported the aggressive war by refueling the belligerent navy forces of the two countries. Likewise, in the case of North Korea the Japanese government is ready, with possible help of the Emergency Legislation, to go to preemptive attack on its arbitrary judgment that “North Korea is about to launch missiles” or “there is a probability of Japan being attacked by North Korea”, without any objective proof. SDF would then invade into North Korea. As has been demonstrated in the Iraq war, preemptive attack is nothing but a one-sided aggressive war without even declaration of war. .

In the meantime, Japanese society would be transformed into a war system in ‘Emergency’ as is stipulated in the Emergency Legislation. The prime minister and the head of the Army, the SDF, assume the full power of execution.. Democracy is brutally suspended. Thus the Emergency Legislation is the equivalent of the Empowerment Act of Nazi. Civil rights are trampled, private houses and lands are confiscated by force in the name of ‘Emergency for the defense of the country’. General war mobilization will take place including first of all those workers who work in ports, railways, medias, hospitals as well as administrative and municipal bodies. The bill prescribes punishment for the refusal of the ‘duties’ to be performed in the wartime. Moreover, the government is entitled in ‘Emergency’ to introduce economic control, wage control and rationing etc, thus converting Japanese economy into wartime economy. The aim of the Koizumi administration in introducing the Emergency Legislation is to set up once again a complete national mobilization system as 1940’s during Japanese aggression on Asia.

In essence, Emergency Legislation kills once for all Japanese Constitution that declares renunciation of war, and clears the way for Japanese transformation into war country, which wages quite legally preemptive attack, that is aggressive war, and forces workers to engage in war practices. With systematic racist propaganda everyday about North Korea over the media backed by the enforcement of the Emergency Legislation, Japanese imperialism is now definitely preparing an aggressive war on North Korea in cooperation and competition with US.
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We in Anti-War Joint Action Committee are firmly determined to struggle against Emergency Legislation, against mobilization of workers for war.