CAMPAIGN GRADUALLY ATTRACTING THE ATTENTION OF JAPANESE MEDIA (25/4/1998) "NO TO MAI JAPAN CAMPAIGN CARAVAN" just Completed (23/4/1998) RESOLUTION ADOPTED AT A MUNICIPAL COUNCIL (19/3/1998)

CAMPAIGN GRADUALLY ATTRACTING THE ATTENTION OF JAPANESE MEDIA (25/4/1998)

The Japanese mass-media has been completely ignoring the fact the MAI is being criticized and strongly opposed by citizens� groups so we have been struggling to get even a tiny bit of coverage. At last, however, an article appeared in early April in a prestigious monthly magazine thanks to the actions organized in France. The magazine 'Sekai', which means "world" in Japanese, is reproducing articles translated from 'Le Monde Diplomatique'. Sekai finally realized the 'legitimacy' of the widespread opposition to the MAI and decided to run an article prepared by our group.

The campaign tour in Japan and a meeting between the campaign group and the vice chair of the government's MAI negotiation group, Mr. Ishikawa of the Second International Institutes Division, Economic Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), was covered by several major Japanese-language daily newspapers such as Asahi and Mainichi. This has stimulated some public debate on the issue. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei), Japan's most influential daily business newspaper, ran an article on April 24 by a well known university professor who defended the need to have a multilateral agreement on investment. A newspaper which deals with environmental issues, the Kankyo Shimbun, will feature articles from both camps, i.e. MOFA and the "No to MAI Campaign".

"NO TO MAI JAPAN CAMPAIGN CARAVAN" just Completed (23/4/1998)

We have just finished a 10 day campaign tour around the country (April 11 - 19). Street campaigns and symposia were organized in nine different cities which focused on publicizing the issue and encouraging municipal councils and local governments to pass resolutions against the MAI during the upcoming session (June). What surprised participants most was that the MAI would dismantle most of the local economic measures already in place which support small and medium scale local industries. A municipal councilor of Edogawa Ward (Tokyo) emphasized in her speech the contradiction between the national treatment principle of the MAI and the fundamental mandate of municipalities to protect the well-being and property of their residents.

Concerns were also raised on the planned amendment of a national law on farmland ownership which would allow joint-stock (public) companies to own farmland as well as on the dismantling of a restriction on the establishment of large-scale retail stores. If these changes coincide with the MAI, many fear that foreign investors can readily purchase the most productive farmland, convert them to commercial zones and then build amusement and shopping malls at the expense of local commerce. The farmland law is now on the reservation list, however, that is only for future negotiations.

On the final day of the campaign tour, we met with the vice chair of the MAI negotiation group, Mr. Ishikawa, to urge a halt to the negotiations. As expected, our demand was immediately turned down. The discussions later centered around information disclosure and democratization of the process itself. Mr. Ishikawa and his assistant invited us to comment on the current negotiation text, but he could not promise us any concrete measures regarding information disclosure and democratization of the process. Many of us were very frustrated by the attitude of these bureaucrats who were obviously convinced of their outright authority to negotiate international economic treaties in secret on behalf of the rest of the Japanese general public, including Diet (Japanese parliament) members. They think they are the only ones who can make decisions concerning what is good for the Japanese people !!

One positive development was that the campaign was finally covered by a number of media organizations after almost a year of campaigning. Asahi Shimbun, the second largest newspaper in Japan, with a daily circulation of about 8 million, wrote;

"The deadline for the MAI is now in serious trouble of being postponed again at the up-coming OECD Ministerial Meeting because of opposition from an international coalition of NGOs. The Japanese government wants to continue the MAI negotiations at the WTO level, but Japanese NGOs are claiming that "the MAI will make it impossible for local governments to give favorable treatment to small, local companies or introduce conditions requiring foreign corporations to protect the environment and create jobs locally. While the MAI will expand the rights of big multinational corporations, it will weaken social regulations that are necessary for protecting the environment and human rights." Japanese NGOs met with the government on April 20th to demand a halt to the MAI negotiations. NGOs around the world are now using their own network to intensify the pressure on OECD countries to stop the negotiations" (Asahi Shimbun, April 23, 1998).

We are planning to prepare a guide for local municipalities on how to pass resolutions against the MAI and send a questionnaire on the issue to political parties as well as individual candidates who will be running in the Upper House election in July.

RESOLUTION ADOPTED AT A MUNICIPAL COUNCIL (19/3/1998)

The first resolution lodging reservations on the MAI was adopted by the Edogawa Ward Council in Tokyo on March 19th. Although it is rather a small step forward, the members of several other municipal councils are questioning the MAI and proposing similar resolutions in Japan. We are hoping to see more resolutions appearing at the local government level since we are distributing questionnaires to educate municipalities.

Edogawa Ward, one of the 23 wards in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, has a population of 590,000 and an annual budget of about US$ 1.4 billion.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government consists of 23 wards (the main part of Tokyo), 26 cities, 5 townships, and 8 villages, and has a total population of 12 million. Edogawa Ward, which has a fair degree of administrative autonomy, has its own council and mayor. It enjoys autonomy except for sewage & waste management that are now under control of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. However, sewage & waste management will be transferred to the ward in 2000.

Given Japan's huge population of about 125 million, it could be argued that the resolution is quite insignificant. However, the resolution comments on various negative aspects of the MAI, such as that it gives greater 'freedom' and 'rights' to multinational corporations and thus enhancing the on-going deregulation, and that it prohibits local authorities from giving preferential treatment to local and traditional industries, even if the aim is environmental protection or employment security.

The resolution also mentions some of the possible negative consequences of the MAI, such as the potential for corporations to sue the Japanese government for not allowing domestically prohibited products such as pesticides to be sold in Japan by foreign corporations, the possibility of deterioration of food and environmental standards, or the serious impacts on local small scale producers and vulnerable sectors of the society or people in developing countries. The resolution concludes that corporations who seek economic interests at the expense of environmental destruction and/or labor exploitation should be 'regulated' instead of being 'freed' and that liberalization and deregulation which sacrifice the environment and employment should not be allowed, even if they succeed in decreasing prices for the consumer.

The resolution also strongly urges the Japanese government to negotiate the MAI with proper and open deliberation among Japanese society.