Cornell Workshop International Tribunal on Crimes against Women and the NHK censorship 3:00 pm - 6:30 pm On December 8 - 12, 2000, the International Tribunal on Crimes against Women was organized in Tokyo by the VAWW-NET Japan and many other women's groups around the world. The main issue discussed, examined and judged at this tribunal was the sex slavery instituted and maintained by the Japanese military and government during the Asia-Pacific War. Although this event was privately organized after the model of the Bertrand Russell tribunal over the Vietnam War, it was also meant to be a corrective to the Tokyo Tribunal ( the International Military Tribunal for the Far East ) of 1946-48. It was organized in view of the two fundamental shortcomings of the Tokyo Tribunal. First, though unambiguous evidence was available to testify to the existence of sexual slavery, the responsibilities of the Japanese government -- not to mention the responsibility of Emperor Hirohito not only for sexual slavery but also for war crimes in general -- for systematic crimes against women were largely overlooked there. Second, for the last fifty five years, the Japanese government has neglected its obligation for the prosecution of those responsible, for apologies and reparations to the victims. Since, at this moment, this tribunal on Crimes against Women is not sanctioned by any existing state sovereignty and does not have the warranty of due process, the judgment the tribunal issued has no effective binding force. Nevertheless, its significance was widely recognized by many people and the mass media of the world. In Japan, however, the broadcasting of this event has encountered a number of obstacles, many of which share the characteristic of what one may call "postcolonial anxiety" and are not particularly unique to Japan. One such obstacle was the rightwing pressure exerted upon the content of the NHK ETV 2001 series "Senso dsabakuka (How to judge wars)" to be aired on January 29, 30, 31 and February 1, 2001. The second episode of this series, which was going to focus on the International Tribunal on Crimes against Women, was mostly edited out and replaced with new scenes by the NHK staff who yielded to the external as well as internal intimidation just a few days before broadcast. At the planned workshop, we are going to show the first two episodes of this series. I hope we will be able to show a video recording of the International Tribunal on Crimes against Women as well. Based upon these video showings, we will have a panel discussion at which the panelists will offer their historical analyses of the major topics and the new principle of international law, the Crimes against Humanity clause, that were addressed at the International Tribunal on Crimes against Women and in the NHK ETV 2001 series. Of course, the audience will be invited to join the discussion. After the workshop, we are going to have a reception at Vic Koschmann's residence. Since we have to prepare copies of the information package for the participants of this workshop and to order food for the reception afterward, please answer the following questions by Thursday, May 3rd. 1) Do you want to receive a package of materials? 2) Do you want to attend the reception? Thank you. J. Victor Koschmann and Naoki Sakai PROGRAM 3:00 pm NHK ETV 2001 series "Senso dsabakuka (How to judge wars)" episodes 1 & 2 (in Japanese with English summary) 4:30 pm Video summary of the International Tribunal on Crimes against Women 4:45 pm Presentations and Discussion Panelists: Hairhin Diffloth (Asian Studies, Korean Language) 6:30 pm Concluding remarks |