Nihon Kagakusha Kaigi

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The Nihon Kagakusha Kaigi ( Japanese 日本 科学 者 会議 , short: 日 科 , Nikka ; English The Japan Scientists' Association , short: JSA) is a scientific organization, which is committed to the social responsibility of scientists and a uniform and independent development of Science in Japan has committed. The organization has been a member of the World Federation of Scientific Workers since 1971, a global association of scientific associations from industrialized nations. The Japan Scientists' Association also works with the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility . Its headquarters are in the Bunkyō district in Tokyo Prefecture .

overview

After the end of the war, the "Association of Democratic Scientists" ( 民主主義 科学 者 協会 , Minshushugi Kagakusha Kyōkai ) emerged in Japan in 1946 as a politically left-wing association of scientists and humanities scholars. Under the impression of militarism and the massive repression against the political left during the war, the aim was to create a forum that expressed the desire for a free, democratic and pacifist social order.

In July 1965, Bokurō Eguchi (1911–1989), along with 14 other scientists, was of the opinion that it was time to set up an all-Japanese organization of scientists. For this purpose, a general assembly was called on December 4th in the same year to found such an organization, in which 461 scientists from 18 prefectures took part. The Japan Scientists' Association was founded with 1,186 members and was entrusted to the leadership of Kamiyama Keizo. The communication organ has been the magazine Nihon no Kagakusha ( 日本 の 科学 者 , roughly "Japanese scientists") since March 1966 . The aim of the newly founded science society is primarily to stand up for independent science and the peaceful use of research. In the sense of the social responsibility of scientists, the participation of science in any criminal or war-like context that is life-threatening is vehemently rejected. These include, for example, technologies for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, questions of environmental pollution , malnutrition or, currently, questions of bioethics .

The Japan Scientists' Association expressed these goals, for example, in May 1968 when they joined forces with the Kokumin Bunka Kaigi ( 国民 文化 会議 , National Congress of Culture or Peoples Culture Council ) and with the Beheiren movement ( ベ 平 連 , short for ベ ト ナ ム に 平和を！ 市民 連 合 , betonamu ni heiwa o shimin rengō , for example: " Civil Association Peace for Vietnam") demanded the immediate end of the Vietnam War from the USA .

The JSA now has 47 branches and is therefore represented in all Japanese prefectures.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Interestingly, the Society of Japanese Women Scientists , or SJWS ( 日本 女性 科学 者 の 会 ) for short , was founded as early as 1958 , which, in addition to working for peace, also endeavors to promote the exchange of women academics and gender equality, especially in science.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hara: Japanese Scientists Movement Against SDI and Military Research (I) Section 2: Refusal to participate in military research
  2. ^ Introduction of the Japan Scientists' Association. JSA, accessed April 6, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Wesley Makoto, Sasaki-Uemura: Organizing the Spontaneous: Citizens Protest in Postwar Japan , 2001, p. 98
  4. ^ Mari Yamamoto: Grassroots Pacifism in Post-War Japan: The Rebirth of a Nation , 2004, p. 73
  5. ^ Shelton Stromquist: Labor's Cold War: Local Politics in a Global Context , 2008, p. 289, FN 88

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