Zengakuren

Zengakuren ( Japanese全 学 連, abbreviation of 全 日本 学生 自治 会 総 連 合Zen-nihon gakusei jichikai sō rengō , dt. All-Japanese General Association of Student Self-Government ) is a radical left-wing umbrella organization of students in Japan . It was founded in 1948 and organizes marches and protests. In the 1960s the Zengakurs split up, so that today there are 5 organizations under their name.

The 1960 student riots

The zengakuren played a key role in the struggle of the political left against the security treaty with the USA . At the height of the demonstrations and street battles with the police, Zengakuren organized a storming of the parliament building on May 20, 1960 . On June 10, the visit of US President Dwight D. Eisenhower's press spokesman , James Hagerty , led to a large demonstration by students at Haneda Airport . A planned visit by Eisenhower was canceled - but only after an employee of the Imperial Court Office intervened because the safety of the Tennō was also endangered when Eisenhower visited. On June 15, over 500 students were injured and one female student was killed during a large-scale demonstration on the Tokyo University campus . Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi resigned on July 15 .

During this phase of increasing radicalization, Zengakuren split into various groups, some of which were associated with certain currents of the CPY and other communist groups.

Protests 1968/69

In 1968 Japan had moved to the third place among the industrial powers.

At the same time, after isolated nationwide protests, unusually violent nationwide student unrest broke out, which took up the demands of the international student movement, but were also directed against specific Japanese problems. When in 1968 the US Student Mobilization Committee called internationally to protest against the Vietnam War , 72 Japanese universities and colleges took part. The protest was also directed against environmental pollution and increasing urbanization , such as the expropriation of farmers . The democratization of universities was called for.

The so-called attack on Tokyo in October 1968 led to days of unrest in which workers also took part: the parliament , the police stations, the US embassy and Shinjuku train station were attacked or occupied by protesters.

See also

May riots , Free Speech Movement

literature

• Johannes Ernst Seiffert , Zengakuren; University and Resistance in Japan , Trikont, Munich, 1969 (Writings on Class Struggle, No. 13).
• Zengakuren: Japan's revolutionary students. Edited by Stuart J. Dowsey, Berkeley, Calif., Ishi Press, 1970

Web links

• Official websites of the individual Zengakuren of different factions:
  • Japanese Communist Party, Democratic Youth League of Japan (Japanese)
  • Japan Revolutionary Communist League, Chukakuha (Japanese)
  • Japan Revolutionary Communist League, Revolutionary Marxist faction (Japanese)
• Student Movement in Japan 1968 ( Memento from November 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ JAPAN: The Expendable Premier. In: Time . June 27, 1960, accessed December 10, 2009 .