Event Report: Rights Make Might: Global Human Rights and Minority Social Movements in Japan
On February 10th from 2:00pm-3:00pm (EST) / 11:00am-12:00pm (PST) the Centre for the Study of Global Japan welcomed Kiyoteru Tsutsui, a Professor of Sociology at Stanford University and the Director of the Japan Program at Shorenstein APARC, to deliver a talk about his recent publication “Rights Make Might: Global Human Rights and Minority Social Movements in Japan.”
Professor Tsutsui commenced his talk with a robust discussion of the three minority groups in Japan his book focuses on, including the Ainu, Zainichi, and Burakumin peoples, all groups who have expanded their activism and have made gains in Japanese public life since the 1970s. Tsutsui followed by explaining the development of global human rights starting from the time periods of the 1940s with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights of the 1960s. He notes that these developments “Influenced Japanese politics of the 1970s by starting on the local level and spread from Northern Japanese regions into the consciousness of mainland citizens.” While the idea of entrenched global human rights was spreading in the later decades of the 20th century, Tsutsui notes that minority groups like the Ainu had been advocating for themselves 100 years prior to this development, notably in 1869 with the Hokkaido incorporated into the Meiji government as a part of a larger plan to secure the nation’s borders.
Tsutsui further explained that language used when minority groups fought for recognition was key, stating that “The language of global human rights broke down the barrier between the North and the South, and that between citizens and non-citizens in Japan.” The use of anti-discrimination rhetoric and the promotion as the Japanese coming together under shared values led to progress for several groups. For example, Tsutsui stated that strong social opposition encouraged the Japanese government to abandon strategies such as the fingerprinting practice in 2008, a policy that saw the fingerprinting of foreigners in the country in order to advance anti-terrorism measures, a procedure that was described as “the most infamous symbol of discrimination for the Zainichi peoples.” Professor Tsutsui concluded his talk by noting that the empowering capacity of global human rights is often overlooked due to general pessimistic claims, however the subject matter is indeed often too subtle to be picked up in cross-national analyses, thereby making it of utmost importance to carefully identify conditions of improvement and progress when researching such topics.
Following the presentation, a lively question and answer period was moderated by Professor Phillip Lipscy, the Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Japan. Tsutsui answered questions about structural factors leading to policy changes in Japan, the occurrence of crimes against national minorities and the response these actions illicit, and the potential for transnational fights for human rights inspiring the activism of minority groups in Japan.
We would like to thank Professor Kiyoteru Tsutsui for sharing his important publication, as well as the virtual audience that was in attendance from around the globe for an engaged Q&A session.
