The Olympic Games are to be held under the emergency situation stemming from the pandemic. Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide is not confident. Having been dragged into a trap of the commercial sports games, he has no choice but to cling to hosting the event. He cannot directly look at risks that people are exposed to. Political maneuvers, however, are being held inside the power elites’ group to envisage the post-Suga government.
LET’S CONTINUE SHOUTING ‘STOP THE SPORTS EVENT!’
What did the prime minister make decide on holding the sports event in anyway? – One is an illusion to maintain state’s power by enhancing national prestige and the other is opportunism to respond well to the international circle of stake-holders, in which the IOC, International Olympic Committee, is situated in the center. The national prestige of Japan, however, has been shattered. It was only three weeks later when the fourth round of emergency situation was declared over the pandemic. The previous three crisis calls had been issued for the purpose to host the Olympics as scheduled.
Injection plan unaccomplished
The government has been hasty in vaccination to hold the sports event with enough safety and feeling at ease. The injection campaign at workplaces, however, has been suspended in late June due to supply shortage of vaccine, which eventually has cut off a group of workers engaged in the small-sized businesses. A furnishing schedule cannot be foreseen at the moment of early July: as a result, injection application calls from residents are being closed down one after another at the municipal level. The government’s pledge to complete vaccination of the elderly by the end of July is not to be accomplished. In many of the municipalities elderly citizens feel uneasy.
Recently election was held of the Tokyo metropolitan assembly; the results have shown severe criticisms concerning the Olympics, which shook down the governing party of Premier Suga. Following the new round of an emergency declaration, the government was forced to prohibit sports fans to enter the stadiums in the metropolitan area of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama and, in addition, Hokkaido and Fukushima.
The IOC, however, will not compensate for ticket expenses. The committee will gain a tremendous sum of broadcasting fee when the games are cast on air. Confusions were made months before on arranging timetables of sports matches; some are scheduled in midnight to react to the on-air requests. What was the fuss? The stake-holders, or the IOC’s Chairman and the Olympic aristocrats, want the games just to be held.
The Olympics will be held, exposing people’s lives to risks. Will the game be held for their sake? The sports event has been made commercialized since the 1980s, and in many of the countries citizens have enhanced criticisms for hosting it.
The Tokyo Olympics will leave an extraordinary sum of debts, which means necessary human and financial sources are treated as secondary to cope with the pandemic. The Tokyo event represents the worst case of hosting. If Japan, as a host nation, proclaims not to hold the games, the rest of the world will certainly get relieved. The games’ opening ceremony will soon come. Many experts, including Kayama Rika, a psychiatrist, keep insisting to cancel the event.
Small-sized food-drink service industry faces difficulties
A lingering emergency situation brings bankruptcies and unemployment. Distribution of official benefits and grants usually delay though the amounts are not high. Under the circumstances the government openly ill-treats managers of restaurants and bars.
The government’s tax revenue was the biggest in the last fiscal: it comes from corporate taxes of well-earning industries under the lockdown and the increased consumption tax. The surplus of 2020 budget counts as much as 4.5 trillion Yen, but the government’s aids are very small. It will present an enormous, supplementary budget during the coming extraordinary session of the Diet in order to try to avert criticisms.
It is foreseen that prime minister will be replaced before the general election, a new Koike-led party will arise in a background of a certain hope, and the Kokumin-minshu (People’s Democracy) Party will leave the united opposition front. The ruling elites seem to undergo a reorganization process.
In anyway it is vital to keep opposing the Olympics, which is a necessary struggle to be waged before the general election.
菅首相を五輪開催に突き進ませたのは、「国威発揚」による権力維持の幻想と、ＩＯＣを核とする国際的利権集団への迎合だ。その「国威」は失墜した。五輪開催のため、３回目の緊急事態宣言後わずか３週間で再宣言を余儀なくされた。
｢７月末完了｣破綻
「安心安全」開催の唯一の根拠としたワクチン接種を急ぐあまり、職域接種はワクチン不足で小企業を見捨て６月末に打ち切った。７月初めにはワクチン供給の見通しがたたず、各自治体で接種の新規予約の停止が相次ぎ、政府の「高齢者は７月末完了」公約は頓挫。各地で不安が広がっている。
五輪強行への強い批判を示した都議選の結果は、菅政権を揺さぶり、「宣言」再発令の決定と合わせ４都県と北海道、福島は「無観客」にせざるをえなかった。
しかし、チケット払い戻し費用をＩＯＣは負担しない。放映できれば巨額の放映権料が入る。放映に合わせた夜中の競技のため、深夜ダイヤまで組ませた大騒ぎは何だったのか。「ぼったくり男爵」ら五輪貴族と世界中の利権集団は、開催さえすればいい。
連中のために、国民の命を危険にさらしても開くのか。80年代後半から商業化した五輪には開催国で激しい反対運動が起きてきた。
巨額の負債を残し、パンデミック対策に必要な人的・財政的資源を祭りに回す東京五輪は、今後の開催国に最悪の前例となる。日本が中止を宣言すれば世界中が安堵するに違いない。開会間近でも、香山リカさんはじめ各界から中止のアピールが広がっているのも当然だ。
飲食店いじめ強化
また、長期の「宣言」は倒産・失業を深刻化する。ただでさえ少額の給付・支援金の支給が大幅に遅れているのに、国は飲食店いじめを居丈高に強めている。
巣ごもり産業の法人税と消費税増税の結果、税収は過去最大で20年度予算の剰余は４兆５千億円もあるのに支援は雀の涙。政権は臨時国会で巨額の補正予算を組み、批判をそらそうとするだろう。
しかし、総選挙前の首相交代、「小池新党」再待望、野党共闘からの国民民主分断など、支配体制の再編もうかがえる。いずれにせよ、五輪中止の声を上げ続けることが総選挙の前哨戦に欠かせない。
英訳版↓
No. 1218 Olympics Go with Extraordinary Risks
The Olympic Games are to be held under the emergency situation stemming from the pandemic. Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide is not confident. Having been dragged into a trap of the commercial sports games, he has no choice but to cling to hosting the event. He cannot directly look at risks that people are exposed to. Political maneuvers, however, are being held inside the power elites’ group to envisage the post-Suga government.
LET’S CONTINUE SHOUTING ‘STOP THE SPORTS EVENT!’
What did the prime minister make decide on holding the sports event in anyway? – One is an illusion to maintain state’s power by enhancing national prestige and the other is opportunism to respond well to the international circle of stake-holders, in which the IOC, International Olympic Committee, is situated in the center. The national prestige of Japan, however, has been shattered. It was only three weeks later when the fourth round of emergency situation was declared over the pandemic. The previous three crisis calls had been issued for the purpose to host the Olympics as scheduled.
Injection plan unaccomplished
The government has been hasty in vaccination to hold the sports event with enough safety and feeling at ease. The injection campaign at workplaces, however, has been suspended in late June due to supply shortage of vaccine, which eventually has cut off a group of workers engaged in the small-sized businesses. A furnishing schedule cannot be foreseen at the moment of early July: as a result, injection application calls from residents are being closed down one after another at the municipal level. The government’s pledge to complete vaccination of the elderly by the end of July is not to be accomplished. In many of the municipalities elderly citizens feel uneasy.
Recently election was held of the Tokyo metropolitan assembly; the results have shown severe criticisms concerning the Olympics, which shook down the governing party of Premier Suga. Following the new round of an emergency declaration, the government was forced to prohibit sports fans to enter the stadiums in the metropolitan area of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama and, in addition, Hokkaido and Fukushima.
The IOC, however, will not compensate for ticket expenses. The committee will gain a tremendous sum of broadcasting fee when the games are cast on air. Confusions were made months before on arranging timetables of sports matches; some are scheduled in midnight to react to the on-air requests. What was the fuss? The stake-holders, or the IOC’s Chairman and the Olympic aristocrats, want the games just to be held.
The Olympics will be held, exposing people’s lives to risks. Will the game be held for their sake? The sports event has been made commercialized since the 1980s, and in many of the countries citizens have enhanced criticisms for hosting it.
The Tokyo Olympics will leave an extraordinary sum of debts, which means necessary human and financial sources are treated as secondary to cope with the pandemic. The Tokyo event represents the worst case of hosting. If Japan, as a host nation, proclaims not to hold the games, the rest of the world will certainly get relieved. The games’ opening ceremony will soon come. Many experts, including Kayama Rika, a psychiatrist, keep insisting to cancel the event.
Small-sized food-drink service industry faces difficulties
A lingering emergency situation brings bankruptcies and unemployment. Distribution of official benefits and grants usually delay though the amounts are not high. Under the circumstances the government openly ill-treats managers of restaurants and bars.
The government’s tax revenue was the biggest in the last fiscal: it comes from corporate taxes of well-earning industries under the lockdown and the increased consumption tax. The surplus of 2020 budget counts as much as 4.5 trillion Yen, but the government’s aids are very small. It will present an enormous, supplementary budget during the coming extraordinary session of the Diet in order to try to avert criticisms.
It is foreseen that prime minister will be replaced before the general election, a new Koike-led party will arise in a background of a certain hope, and the Kokumin-minshu (People’s Democracy) Party will leave the united opposition front. The ruling elites seem to undergo a reorganization process.
In anyway it is vital to keep opposing the Olympics, which is a necessary struggle to be waged before the general election.
July 20, 2021