BY AARON BENEDEK
TOKYO — Activists here are preparing to launch a Japanese chapter of ATTAC, Action for a Tobin Tax to Assist the Citizen, which calls for a tax on speculative capital flows.
Thirty socialists, unionists and non-government organisation representatives met on June 2 to launch the Japanese edition of The Re-emergence of the Social Question, by French activists Christophe Aguiton and Daniel Bensaid, which gives an account of the strengthening of social movements in France over the last 15 years.
Of particular interest to participants was the account of the birth and phenomenal growth of ATTAC which, since its inception in 1998, has swelled to over 30,000 members in France. Sister organisations have been set up in over 15 countries around the world.
The meeting heard that ATTAC was the culmination of growing collaboration between trade unions and other social actors in France, in opposition to neo-liberalism.
Yoko Akimoto, a member of the Asia-Pacific Workers Solidarity Union and the feature speaker at the meeting, said he believes that the formation of an ATTAC group in Japan could play an important role in developing international awareness amongst Japanese workers, as well as drawing Japanese non-governmental organisations into more collaboration with the labour movement.
Whilst discussions between various progressive organisations are still in their embryonic stage, all participants at the meeting seemed keen to form an ATTAC group in Japan.