2017: The word ‘terrorism’ can help pass a bill

The State Secrets Protection Bill (2013)
Published on Tuesday, March 29, 2016 by Common Dreams
Mit freundlicher Erlaubis der Japan Times, 25.03.2017

The word ‘terrorism’ can help pass a bill

BY PHILIP BRASOR
SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES

"During the recent Diet grilling over his alleged involvement in the Moritomo Gakuen land purchase scandal, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe accused his opposition party tormentors of resorting to inshō sōsa. The most accurate English translation is probably “image manipulation,” which, in the age of fake news, sounds like a term that should be in heavier circulation. Tokyo Shimbun has already flung it back at Abe in its reporting of the anti-conspiracy bill that was approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday.

The bill will soon be debated in the Diet. It’s the fourth time that has happened. Under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the Liberal Democratic Party tried twice to get it approved, and the Democratic Party of Japan once pushed its own version. Those efforts failed because many felt the law’s interpretation of what constitutes a criminal conspiracy would allow the authorities to use it to spy on citizens ...."

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