Japan Enveloped in Sentimentalism in the Name of Humanitarianism
YOSHIDA Suzuka / Journalist
June 14, 2002
The Japanese government, Foreign Ministry and the media alike seem to have panicked over the dramatic asylum bid involving a family of North Korean refugees that occurred in Shenyang, China. With the gate in between them, armed policemen were using brute force to pull the refugees outside. A two-year-old girl was thrown off her mother's back and began crying amid the screams of the mother and another woman - the Japanese people witnessed the spectacle over and over again on their TV screens. Politicians who also saw the scene pronounced it a "serious incident which warrants the resignation of the Consul-General, Ambassador and perhaps even the Foreign Minister." Television joined in the chorus of criticism. The reason - rejecting pitiful people asking for protection was inhumane, and in particular, the women and the child had risked their lives and yet the Foreign Ministry had failed to act. Some offered indifferent commentary on the theatrical nature of today's asylum bids. And the Foreign Ministry chose to resolve the impasse from a 'humanitarian' standpoint.
The impertinence of covering it all up in 'Humanitarianism' instead of pursuing the defects in the government's refugee policy, the banality of arguing that women and children are a pitiable existence, and tear-jerking coverage by the media as if it had come across the plight of the North Korean people for the first time - all aptly reflect the current state of Japanese society. The government, the people and the media alike lack first-hand knowledge about global conflicts and the outflow of refugees, nor had they been interested. And so a single utterance of "how pitiful" is enough for them to give in to sentimentalism.
The number of refugees multiplied several-fold in the decade following the end of the Cold War. Such refugees and conflicts were the results not of war between nations, but of civil war. And here, the common tactic is to make shrewd use of women and children who are the social underdogs. The hard-and-fast rule among rebels is to deploy women and children along the frontlines of military conflict. In Bosnia, ethnic groups which had co-existed in the past were overwhelmed by a single ethnic identity from some point, and those who suddenly found themselves in the minority were ordered to dig trenches on the battlefront. This included men, women and children old enough to hold a shovel. Without food provisions, they were treated as slaves. Meanwhile, across the river in enemy camps confronting them, there is anger against such inhuman treatment of members of their ethnic group, as well as hesitation that any rash provocation may lead to their deaths. However, in the end fighting did broke out, leading to an escalation in the atrocities. A similar pattern is found all over the world.
In our world today, where human rights has become the accepted philosophy and saving the weak a keyword for the international community, it can be used as a tool for instantly toppling the power structure. Who operates the South Korean NGO (Non-Governmental Organization), where lies their source of funding and what are their aims? - Has there been an adequate effort at gathering such information? I feel deep despair rather, that there was a near-complete absence of any media that appealed for reorganizing diplomatic policy without falling into sentimentalism and explaining it to the public. How does a mass media that serves the government by avoiding the heart of the matter expect to contribute in any meaningful way to the current debate over the Emergency Security Bills?
The writer is a journalist and representative of SUE International, Ltd.
The impertinence of covering it all up in 'Humanitarianism' instead of pursuing the defects in the government's refugee policy, the banality of arguing that women and children are a pitiable existence, and tear-jerking coverage by the media as if it had come across the plight of the North Korean people for the first time - all aptly reflect the current state of Japanese society. The government, the people and the media alike lack first-hand knowledge about global conflicts and the outflow of refugees, nor had they been interested. And so a single utterance of "how pitiful" is enough for them to give in to sentimentalism.
The number of refugees multiplied several-fold in the decade following the end of the Cold War. Such refugees and conflicts were the results not of war between nations, but of civil war. And here, the common tactic is to make shrewd use of women and children who are the social underdogs. The hard-and-fast rule among rebels is to deploy women and children along the frontlines of military conflict. In Bosnia, ethnic groups which had co-existed in the past were overwhelmed by a single ethnic identity from some point, and those who suddenly found themselves in the minority were ordered to dig trenches on the battlefront. This included men, women and children old enough to hold a shovel. Without food provisions, they were treated as slaves. Meanwhile, across the river in enemy camps confronting them, there is anger against such inhuman treatment of members of their ethnic group, as well as hesitation that any rash provocation may lead to their deaths. However, in the end fighting did broke out, leading to an escalation in the atrocities. A similar pattern is found all over the world.
In our world today, where human rights has become the accepted philosophy and saving the weak a keyword for the international community, it can be used as a tool for instantly toppling the power structure. Who operates the South Korean NGO (Non-Governmental Organization), where lies their source of funding and what are their aims? - Has there been an adequate effort at gathering such information? I feel deep despair rather, that there was a near-complete absence of any media that appealed for reorganizing diplomatic policy without falling into sentimentalism and explaining it to the public. How does a mass media that serves the government by avoiding the heart of the matter expect to contribute in any meaningful way to the current debate over the Emergency Security Bills?
The writer is a journalist and representative of SUE International, Ltd.
The English-Speaking Union of Japan
人道という名の人情主義が日本を覆う
吉田 鈴香 / ジャーナリスト
2002年 6月 14日
中国・審陽で起きた北朝鮮一家の亡命劇をめぐって、政府と外務省、メディアは大いに慌てたようである。門を間に武装警官が力づくで亡命希望者を押し出そうとする。母親の負ぶい紐から放り出された2歳の女の子が泣き叫び、母親ともう一人の女性が絶叫する――というシーンを国民は繰り返しブラウン管で観た。同じようにそれを観た政治家たちは「領事、大使、場合によっては外務大臣まで更迭するべき大事件」と言い立てる。テレビも同様の批判である。理由は、庇護を求めてきた可哀想な人々を追いやることは人道に反する、いわんや女・子どもは死を覚悟の決行だったのに外務省は何もしなかった、というものであった。現代の亡命は劇場型だ、などという第三者的評論をするものもあった。そして、外務省も「人道」的見地から事態を解決する道を取った。
本来政府が備えておくべき難民政策の不備を取り上げず、「人道」でことを片付けようとする小ざかしさ。女・子どもはかわいそうなものだとする論調の陳腐さ。北朝鮮の人々が陥っている苦境に初めて触れたといわんばかりの、メディアのお涙頂戴節。それは今の日本をよく表している。政府も国民もメディアも、そろって世界の紛争と難民流出の現場を知らず、関心をもって接してこなかったのである。だから「可哀想だ」の一言で情にほだされる人情主義に陥る。
東西冷戦後の十年で難民の数は冷戦前の数倍に達した。国家同士の戦争よりも、内戦による紛争と難民流出なのである。そこで繰り広げられるのは社会的弱者である女・子どもを巧妙に使った戦術だ。権力者に抗しようという者の鉄則は、戦いのフロントラインに女・子どもを配置することだ。ボスニアでは混住していたはずの民族があるときから一つの民族の色に席巻され、突如少数派となった民族が前線で塹壕堀を命じられた。男も女も、スコップを持てる子どもも。食料はあてがわず奴隷同様の扱いである。川一つ挟んで対峙する敵方は、同じ民族が非道な扱いを受けていることを怒るが、軽々に手を出せば彼らを死に追いやることになると、逡巡する。しかし、陣地奪還のため戦いの火蓋は切られ、残虐行為は進んだ。同じようなことは世界各地で起きている。
人権思想が広まり弱者救済が国際社会のキーワードになった現代、それは用い方によっては権力構造を瞬時に覆す道具にもなりうる。韓国のNGOが何者なのか、資金源と狙いはどこか、情報収集はしているのだろうか。情にほだされず、外交政策を整え、国民にそれを説明するよう訴えるメディアがほとんどなかったことに、むしろ私は深く絶望する。問題の核心に迫れないオカミ好みのメディアに、有事立法など論ずることができるのだろうか。
（筆者はジャーナリスト、スー・インターナショナル代表）
本来政府が備えておくべき難民政策の不備を取り上げず、「人道」でことを片付けようとする小ざかしさ。女・子どもはかわいそうなものだとする論調の陳腐さ。北朝鮮の人々が陥っている苦境に初めて触れたといわんばかりの、メディアのお涙頂戴節。それは今の日本をよく表している。政府も国民もメディアも、そろって世界の紛争と難民流出の現場を知らず、関心をもって接してこなかったのである。だから「可哀想だ」の一言で情にほだされる人情主義に陥る。
東西冷戦後の十年で難民の数は冷戦前の数倍に達した。国家同士の戦争よりも、内戦による紛争と難民流出なのである。そこで繰り広げられるのは社会的弱者である女・子どもを巧妙に使った戦術だ。権力者に抗しようという者の鉄則は、戦いのフロントラインに女・子どもを配置することだ。ボスニアでは混住していたはずの民族があるときから一つの民族の色に席巻され、突如少数派となった民族が前線で塹壕堀を命じられた。男も女も、スコップを持てる子どもも。食料はあてがわず奴隷同様の扱いである。川一つ挟んで対峙する敵方は、同じ民族が非道な扱いを受けていることを怒るが、軽々に手を出せば彼らを死に追いやることになると、逡巡する。しかし、陣地奪還のため戦いの火蓋は切られ、残虐行為は進んだ。同じようなことは世界各地で起きている。
人権思想が広まり弱者救済が国際社会のキーワードになった現代、それは用い方によっては権力構造を瞬時に覆す道具にもなりうる。韓国のNGOが何者なのか、資金源と狙いはどこか、情報収集はしているのだろうか。情にほだされず、外交政策を整え、国民にそれを説明するよう訴えるメディアがほとんどなかったことに、むしろ私は深く絶望する。問題の核心に迫れないオカミ好みのメディアに、有事立法など論ずることができるのだろうか。
（筆者はジャーナリスト、スー・インターナショナル代表）
一般社団法人 日本英語交流連盟