Confronting Japanese Right-Wing Organizing in Southern California: A FeND Workshop
WHERE: UCLA Bunche Hall, room 10383
WHEN: Friday, November 14th @ 6-8pm
Emi Koyama, a co-founder of Japan-U.S. Feminist Network for Decolonization (FeND), presents a workshop/seminar on confronting Japanese right-wing nationalist mobilization in Southern California and beyond. This workshop is especially designed for members of Japanese- and other Asian American communities, but is open to all.
Mostly unnoticed by English language media, right-wing nationalist/historical revisionist organizing among some Japanese expats and “shin issei” (new migrants) in Southern California is growing. They have stormed city council chambers of municipalities that have considered resolutions supporting former “comfort women,” the women forced into sexual servitude for the Japanese military during the WWII, and have filed multiple lawsuits against the City of Glendale, which has enacted a memorial dedicated to them. They are closely connected to right-wing nationalist groups and politicians in Japan, and starting to dominate what Japanese people hear about Japanese Americans and Japanese people in the United States.
Japan-U.S. Feminist Network for Decolonization (FeND) was formed in response to this emerging Japanese right-wing organizing in the U.S. by scholars and activists who have been monitoring Japanese right-wing activities for years. FeND works with Japanese and other Asian Americans and allies to confront Japanese nationalists in the U.S. and to oppose Japanese and U.S. militarisms and (settler) colonialisms in Asia and the Pacific.
This workshop provides information about who these right-wing nationalists are, what they believe, and how they are connected to Japanese right-wing groups and even government. It also addresses what we can learn from how Japanese progressives have resisted them in Japan and articulates how best we can confront Japanese right-wing nationalist organizing in the U.S.
For more information about FeND, please see:
http://www.fendnow.org/
http://www.facebook.com/fendnow
If you have any questions, please contact info@fendnow.org or message us on facebook.
(RSVP isn’t required, but it would help us know how many people are planning to come if those of you who plan to attend send us a note or “join” on facebook.)
thank you so much for organizing this and i’d like to join this effort, there are a handful of us here in the bay and US-Japan capacity mostly minorities from within Japan (buraku, zainichi korean, some ainu, and okinawans) that have been working together against right wing revisionists in Japan and trying to expose them in the US… so happy to learn about this group. Cant make it to LA but hope to connect, we have a grassroots zainichi group here Eclipse Rising in the US that we can stay connected through —
ML – Thank you for being the first person to comment on FeND’s website! I live in Portland/Seattle but hope to connect with Bay Area folks soon… Please tell your LA contacts about the event!