For information about the upcoming G8 Summit In Japan go to the addresses above or click here. Big respect to the IRA for the images and co-ordination!!

Between 7/7 - 7/9 An unelected assembly met at Toyako, Hokkaido, Japan to further the interests of the corporate world. It was known as the G8 Summit.

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  Anti G8 Protests Kick Off in Sapporo

On Saturday 5 July the first large sized protests against the G8 summit in Hokkaido - set for July 7-9 at Lake Toyako - hit the streets with a multitude of leftist groups and NGO's making their presence felt in the Odori Koen area in the centre of the city. Four arrests were made as the police provoked demonstrators and arbitrarily opted to haul the driver of a sound truck from his cab - smashing the glass in the process and arresting him for "traffic violations" and "on suspicion of obstructing police officers in the performance of their duty" - a common charge here in Japan and a tactic used by police to disrupt peaceful protests. Also arrested was a Japanese Reuters cameraman.


Anti-G8 Demonstrators Sapporo July 5.

The protestors as usual were colourfully dressed, in high spirits and peaceful, displaying their disdain for the G8 through costume, music and dance as well as placards and banners with messages such as "G8 = war", "G8 = Empire", "G8 = poverty". In the meantime articulate spokespeople gave media interviews on topics ranging from the repression of indigenous peoples ( with special focus on the Ainu of Hokkaido - islands invaded and colonised by the Japanese whereby the Ainu people were forcibly assimilated to Japanese culture) to the problems of global warming, and of course to the age old issue of wealth disparity. Further to these issues La Via Campesina issued a statement protesting against the refused entry of nineteen South Korean activists at Chitose Airport near Sapporo. La Via Campesina is a worldwide group that protests and campaigns on behalf of the world's farmers, fighting the big biotech companies and unjust agricultural policies imposed on them by the WTO, World bank and IMF. The Japanese authorities have routinely been denying entry, harrassing, detaining and delaying activists on their way to alternative G8 forums.


One of Japan's finest greets the police in Sapporo.

More protests are expected today ( July 6 ) and on consecutive days throughout the summit and activists have established two campsites for a "Lake Toya Camp" with workshops and cultural events.

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Tokyo Police Deny Freedom of Expression: Police Arrest Several at Yoyogi Park Anti-G8 Rally 6/29

On June 27 the National Committee for Organizing a Rally on June 29 Against the G8 Summit, called by Doro Chiba, the Chiba Railway Workers Union demanded that there be no restrictions placed on the right of the people to use public roads for free speech activities. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department had undertaken an initiative to exclude a march from the downtown area of Shibuya which was scheduled to take place on Sunday 29 June. The marchers had initially been granted  permission by The Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Commission, however, at the last minute the course of the march which had been filed under the Tokyo Public Safety Ordinance, was unilaterally changed without any legitimate reason. Furthermore, permission was only granted after 2pm on July 27 making it practically impossible for the organisers to file a lawsuit to get a provisional injunction which would have allowed the march to go ahead legally on the orginal course.
The organising committee strongly opposed this outrageous violation of freedom of expression guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution and called for the march to go ahead as planned. Followng the call, over a thousand people rallied at Yoyogi Park including many overseas visitors. The area was heavily policed by cops in full riot gear and snatch squads randomly pulled people from the crowds and numerous arrests were made. There will more news here as it comes in.....

Top Photo: Riot police block the path of demonstrators at Yoyogi Park, Tokyo. Bottom Photo: Demonstrators eventually march in Shibuya.

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22 Hosei Students Released,15 Indicted for "Trespass", 1 Convicted & Jailed

Earlier in the month we reported on the plight of Hosei University students arrested for trespassing on their own campus at Iidabashi in Tokyo after handing out leaflets calling for freedom of movement and expression as well as anti-G8 material.

On June 18, three of the five students who had been arrested on May 28 were released and two indicted. Another student was arrested on June 18 for alleged "trespassing on May 29."

On June 19, the prosecution released 19 of 38 students who had been arrested on May 29. However 13 students were indicted for "trespassing." One was sent to a family court and then to a juvenile corrective institution.

On June 24, one of the 13 students indicted on June 19 （who had not been released) was "rearrested" for "obstructing officers from performing their duty."

All of the above-mentioned detainees, including very young and inexperienced students,  have been resolutely exercising their rights to remain silent during interrogation by police; they have uttered no word whatsoever and should be commended for their conduct in the face of harsh tactics and bullying form their interrogators.

Please visit the web site of Houdai Kyuenkai (Support Committee for the Arrested and the Accused for the Hosei University Dispute) for more information by clicking here.

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Sunday July 6

For quick updates on what's going on in Hokkaido go to our front page. Stories from there will be transferred later. We apologise for the "news aggregates" nature of the coverage but we only have a few people on the ground in Sapporo and they are active..i.e not reporters or reporting..

Wednesday June 18

A week or so ago mysterious posters began to appear on the walls of Subway stations in Tokyo......How much is this costing the taxpayer and does the average citizen even understand what the G8 is? Unfortunately we don't have any answers to the first question, as lots of telephone calls to city offices and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government have resulted in a wall of silence. The bureaucrats just don't seem to know who is in charge or who did the printing! It's amazing where your money goes these days! When one phone handling, pen wielding, expense account spending suit behind a desk was asked if he knew who paid his salary he hung up! As for the second question about what the G8 is, we have received responses varying from "a new kind of car" to " a meeting about North Korea"!!!!?!!!!!? These replies were gleaned from a completely unscientific poll conducted by three English teachers who were paid peanuts and asked to work on their days off - all without health insurance and pension contributions!

On a more serious note, however, there is something to be said here about surveillance society and the propagation of fear and consumption working in tandem to maintain the social, economic and political status quo. The posters on display here were photographed in full view of CCTV cameras in the station - a disturbing trend that is developing in Japan following the example of Britain's Orwellian society.If we consider Japan's position during the war in Iraq and its desire to rescind article nine of the constitution renouncing war, then we have clues as to where Japan is heading ( somewhat belatedly ) - towards the military - industrial - security - technology economy. With traditional jobs in the manufacturing industries gone and China, India and Korea coming to the fore, Japan has to look for a way to ward off its impending societal meltdown. As Japan excels in IT and hi-tech gadgetry the bureaucrats are keen, along with right wing politicians to jump on the surveillance bandwagon with the US, the UK and Israel. The first signs of this are evident in the use of CCTV in streets and of course, the new biometric data gathering technology employed at Narita airport.

When we consider that surveillance technologies don't actually create anything of benefit for the average citizen - not even security - then you have to come up with a way to sell this stuff. This is where fear comes in, but fear of what? Initially it was fear of crime - but Japan has low crime rates compared with other countries and even police hype about increased foreign crime and statistics padded out with visa violations isn't enough  when it comes to invading peoples privacy and fundamental civil rights.The "war on terror" employed by the US, the UK and the EU proved to be the answer and indeed has been a key factor in the boom in military industrial security technology (MIST) around the world. With article nine seen as a giant impediment to Japan's getting in on the act the right wing fruitcakes at Kasumigaseki set about trying to rewrite the constitution, almost willing an attack on Japan that would enable them to get a bigger piece of the pie. As Japan is blessed with a population that has largely taken the war renouncing constitution to heart and which loves nothing more than consuming in ignorant bliss, it has been hard for the government to convince the public that fighting wars on foreign soil is a good idea - they tried it once before. With all this in mind, the powers that be are stubbornly churning out the crime and terror rhetoric, wasting money on posters like the ones mentioned here, as well as fuelling a domestic surveillance boom partly aided by the occasional maniacal murders like that witnessed at Akihabara in Tokyo on 8 June 2008 whereby a truck driving, dagger wielding victim of Japanese society decided to take revenge and create even more victims, killing seven and wounding at least seventeen others.

There is nothing like fear to fuel consumption and acceptance of restrictions on civil liberties, freedom of movement and expression and surveillance. Commenting recently with colleagues at work on the Akihabara killings and noting that CCTV ensured that the murderer had all the publicity he needed for his vengeance to be seen and understood by everyone, as well as the fact that it was a case in point that demonstrated that CCTV is ineffectual when it comes to preventing crime, I noted the presence of CCTV cameras in the lifts, corridors and offices of our workplace. Arguing that MIST had nothing to do with crime or terror and everything to do with the control of people in and around their workplaces, I referred to productivity and time efficiency at work. Explaining that workers can be tracked from the moment they leave home to when they enter a building for work and that they can then be monitored by CCTV in their workplace and that the number of keystrokes they make on a computer at a workstation can be monitored and used to analyse their work output as well as their internet and intranet communications, faces around me began to turn pale while others exhibited expressions of disbelief. I was confronted by a mask of bamboozlement and disbelief when I outlined my ideas on surveillance society.I refer to "a mask of bamboozlement" with good reason. What I am really talking about here is cognitive dissonance and the unwillingness of people to deal with uncomfortable realities whereby they block things out that may make their lives a little more difficult - a reaction which also means not having to take action to confront those who exercise power over us. The bureaucrats who blindly follow orders, waste tax payers money and who unwittingly enforce the decisions of politicians acting on behalf of the MIST corporations are only exhibiting the traits of cognitive dissonance that most of us subconsciously choose to employ at some time or another.

It is far easier to accept surveillance techniques and argue that CCTV makes us safer and cuts crime ( it doesn't - crime has increased in the UK where CCTV is widespread and has been for the last twent five years ) than to challenge and overthrow the governments that have made them a part of our daily lives. If we couple my observations above with the article below on what has been going on at Hosei University, would it not be too unrealistic to talk of a new era of Global Electronic Fascism being ushered in, where governments, corporations and trade unions cooperate to manage the interests of the privileged few? We need look no further than the G8 at Toyako for clues.

Tuesday June 17

The Last Days of May: 38 Activists Harrassed and Arrested at Hosei University

During the last days of May things heated up in a G8 related series of events at Hosei University, where ultimately, 38 students were arrested for leafletting on campus at Hosei University in Tokyo. Protesting the G8 and in addition their right to freedom of movement and political expression at the university, the students and activists hadn't banked on University officialdom hiring thugs to physically assault and eject them from the University - or that the said authorities would call in the police to act with impunity at a peaceful action.

Following moves by the university - a private corporation - to limit the activities of student circles on campus which effectively infringed on constitutionally guaranteed rights, Zengakuren, a federation of self-governing associations of students ( known as Jichikai ) decided to organise and fight moves by the university to limit the activities of student groups. 

The background of the events that are unfolding is relatively straightforward.Up until several years ago, there was in every faculty at Hosei a very powerful self-governing association of students (Jichikai), in which every student was a
member with voting rights, eligibility for election and due obligation. The Jichikais got dues from a check off system. Jichikais represented the students and negotiated with the University administration. Student Jichikais  functioned
like trade unions for workers. They held general assemblies of students and passed resolutions--sometimes strike decisions. Most of the Jichikais in Hosei were affiliated to Zengakuren but the level of support for Zengakuren in each faculty changed from year to year. From 2006 the administration of Hosei attacked and destroyed the Jichikais--not only the check-off system and the negotiation system but also took away offices, notice boards and so on.Further to this the university installed 60 or more surveillance cameras, instituted ID checks, prohibited the use of bullhorns, the handing out of flyers or the posting of notices,  discussions in classrooms without prior consent from the administration and so on.The administration now oppresses virtually every and any meeting of students, whether political or not, whether leftist or not. Cultural activities other than a very few "authorized" activities are now prohibited with the result that the students of "Bun-Ren" i.e. the Federation of Cultural Club Activities in Hosei, has become angry and now enthusiastically supports Zengakuren in its quest to restore lost freedoms.

The attacks on student circles and groups within Hosei university were fundamentally politically motivated - Hosei is/was a well known leftist university, with radical left factions having been active over the years in most social, economic and political crises endured by Japan. With the rise to prominence of Shintaro Ishihara as governor of Tokyo, the university authorities have increasingly been pressurised to deal with leftist students and any form of dissent, regardless of whether or not the dissent is expressed in explicitly political terms.

Since March 2006, there have been several expulsions of left wing students from Hosei University, and in late May 2008 some of those expelled students returned to Hosei with current students to leaflet and campaign for freedom of movement and expression and to oppose the G8 summit to be held in Hokkaido. There followed a melee in which 38 people were arrested, all of whom were held individually at separate police stations around Tokyo making legal representation difficult - some have been interrogated without the presence of lawyers. Spokespeople for those being held argue that the police intend to hold the students for 21 days and then charge them with misdemeanors which would result in their further detention and that the tactics are politically motivated - the aim being to prevent the students from participating in anti-G8 protests at the end of June.

You can view video footage shot by the students at the time of the arrests which clearly shows university employees and hired hoodlums striking and wrestling with students by clicking the links here .

Friday March 21

As the G8 Summit warms up Japanese Authorities Act Against Freedom of Movement, Speech & Expression: Antonio Negri Prevented from Entering Japan

Mr. Antonio Negri was to visit Japan from March 20 to April 4, 2008, and would have spent time on a  residency engaged in various cultural and intellectual dialogues including a lecture at I-House, which runs the I-House Ushiba Fellowship.The program  invites to Japan distinguished contemporary thinkers and intellectuals for the purpose of bringing humankind closer together and transcending the North-South / East-West divides through the enhancement of international understanding and mutual trust. It was made possible by the endowment subsequent to the dissolution of the Ushiba Memorial Foundation, established to promote international cooperation for the realization of harmonious relations between the developed world and the underdeveloped world. In addition to this, the I-House Ushiba Fellowship aims at encouraging cross-cultural dialogue which critically examines various problematics of the 21st century, in particular those issues that arise from the problems left unresolved ("negative legacy") from the last century, and suggesting a creative vision for human development from an alternative perspective.

However, after consultations with International House the Foreign Ministry of japan advised that negri should apply for a visa as he may not be allowed to enter the country without one, even though Italian nationals do not require visas for short visits. As result of further consultations with Negri and IH it was decided that Negri should not travel to Japan due to the obstacles put in his way by the Foreign Ministry, which would have delayed his tour and set back carefully made preparations on the part of IH. Negri was planning to give lectures on labor and other issues at  Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo in addition to IH.

Antonio Negri

Born in Padua, Italy, 1933. Starting off his academic career as a scholar of political philosophy centering on Marx, Mr.Negri shaped the theoretical foundation for a new social movement known as “Autonomia” supported by the socially disadvantaged. The movement jolted all parts of Italy. When it was in a stage of further development, however, he was accused of masterminding the kidnapping and murder of Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by the militant organization “the Red Brigades” and plotting to overthrow the government. Shortly afterward, although no link was established between Negri and the Red Brigades, he was convicted for his political activities and critical discourse against the government. During his imprisonment awaiting trial, he announced his candidacy for and was elected to the Italian legislature. Owing to parliamentary privilege, he was permitted to leave prison, but this was abrogated a few months later. Before being arrested, he sought for political asylum in Paris. During his exile in Paris, he became acquainted with such French intellectuals as Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, was engaged in global intellectual movements and prolific political writings, and developed a new theory of human emancipation in a rapidly globalized world. Later, he voluntarily returned to Italy to serve his remaining sentences and was released from prison in 2003 after serving his full sentence of 17 years.

As an eminent scholar, he has held teaching positions at the University of Padua, the Ecole Normale Supérieure, the Universities de Paris Ⅶ,Ⅷ, and College International de Philosophy. In the widely acclaimed works of “Empire” and “Multitude” under his co-authorship with Michael Hart, Negri grasped the new political global order, which emerged with the acceleration of “Globalization,” as “Empire,” and reconfigured it as de-centralized network system of domination, which differs from a sovereignty of traditional “nation-states” presupposing physical territory and which accepts no boundaries or limits. In so doing, Negri conceptualized “Multitude” as the democratic forces and alternative paradigm to resist against a new imperial order and the power of “Empire.”

His major publications include Political Descartes: Reason, Ideology and the Bourgeois Project (New York: Verso, 2007), Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire (co-authored with Michael Hardt, New York: Penguin Press, 2004), Time for Revolution (New York: Continuum, 2003), Empire (co-authored with Michael Hardt, Harvard University Press, 2000), The Savage Anomaly: The Power of Spinoza's Metaphysics and Politics (University of Minnesota Press, 1991), Marx Beyond Marx: Lessons on the Grundrisse (New York: Autonomedia, 1991) and The Politics of Subversion: A Manifesto for the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1989).

Monday March 17
Sunday March 9

S. Korean activist refused entry at Narita airport allowed to enter after all.

On Saturday 8 March we headlined the case of Kim Ae Hwa who was denied entry at Narita Airport on Wednesday 5 March - She was allowed to enter that same day, Saturday  8 March after protests began to be heard.

The South Korean civic group leader who arrived Wednesday at Narita airport, east of Tokyo, to participate in a Tokyo meeting of Asian nongovernmental organizations was refused permission to enter Japan. However,　Kim Ae Hwa, a representative from the Committee for Asian Women, who was to discuss regional disparities and the protection of farmers in developing countries at the meeting ahead of the Group of Eight summit in July was allowed to enter after returning to Japan on Saturday.She had returned home after being told she had been refused entry following an interview at Narita airport on her arrival Wednesday evening.Kim was scheduled to take charge of issues related to woman at the forum. According to sources with knowledge of the matter, she may have provided insufficient explanations to immigration officials regarding the purpose of her visit. As is to be expected, an official at the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau said, ''We cannot comment about an individual case".

The case clearly highlights the intention of immigration officilas to harrass, delay and disrupt the plans of anyone even remotely suspected of entering Japan in order to protest or contribute to the opposition to the G8 summit in July. Kim Ae Hwa was part of a respected, peaceful delegation in Japan to discuss agriculture. It speaks volumes for the way in which any form of dissent is regarded in Japan and the difficulties that social, economic and political activists face when dealing with the authorities here. Lacking a seat on the Un Security council, being opposed by the world's nations on whaling, under a perceived threat from China and it's Asian neighbours, the Japanese ruling class is desperate to put on a show at Toyoko and to feel self important. While addressing global warming and the environment at the summit and at the same time not taking any realistic measures to deal with such problems and ignoring the plight of the poor and the homeless at home while actually pursuing neo-liberal economic policies and privatization which add to the woes of people living and working in Japan, the Bureaucracy,Corporations and those who serve them - the politicians of the LDP and DPJ only add fuel to the fire. A fancy show in Hokkaido will not alleviate any of Japan's domestic problems or lessen the effects of  impending global environmental disasters.

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Here are some external links to articles about what the G8 is, previous summits and protests, as well as video of last year's demos in Heiligendamm, Germany and pages about Hokkaido 2008.

The "Official Version"  ( Have Your Bullshit Detector Tuned to Maximum ).

Germany 2007 

G8 Information Centre ( University of Toronto ) 

G8  US Department of State 

WTO:Word Trade Organisation 

IMF:International Monetary Fund 

World Bank

IPO: International Permanent Observatory 

Ethical Corporation

The Real Version



Economy Tutorial by Robin Hahnel

Dollars and Sense

The Shock Doctrine:Naomi Campbell 

The Corporation

The Take

Global Exchange


G8 TV:Information for the Resistance/Japan info