E. Johnston, The Japan Times 15 janvier 2016
OSAKA – The city of Osaka passed the nation’s first ordinance by a major city against hate speech late Friday.
The text is a watered-down version of a proposal that the assembly made last year and will serve merely to name and shame perpetrators.
It does not provide city funds to victims of hate speech for use in fighting the perpetrators in court. Nor does it fine those who make racial slurs and threats of violence.
Instead, the ordinance creates a committee that investigates allegations of hate speech filed by Osaka residents.
The committee is expected to consist of five academic and legal experts whose appointments must be approved by the assembly. If the committee judges that a particular group is engaged in hate speech, its name will be posted on the city’s website.
Last year’s version of the ordinance failed to win the assembly’s approval because of disagreement over a provision that would have given the city the authority to loan money to victims who secure recognition by the committee and who want to take their case to court.
Although the ordinance was supported by then-Mayor Toru Hashimoto and his Osaka Ishin no kai (One Osaka) local party, the measure was opposed by the LDP and Komeito.
Earlier in the session of the the municipal assembly deliberating the ordinance, a man in the gallery threw two colored balls filled with orange paint onto the floor, bringing the discussions to a standstill.
When the man was subdued by guards, he resisted by shouting, “Protect the self-esteem of Japanese people,” Kyodo News reported.
After the disruption, the session resumed late Friday night.
Osaka became the international focus of hate speech in 2013, following an incident that February in which the anti-Korean group Zaitokukai held a rally in the city’s Tsuruhashi district, home to many ethnic Koreans.
In a video that was translated into numerous languages and placed on YouTube, a 14-year-old was shown screaming insults, death threats and racial slurs about Koreans as Zaitokukai members applauded.
That led to calls by Hashimoto for crackdowns on hate speech, which intensified after the mayor squared off in a heated debate with the head of Zaitokukai in October 2014.
Korean activists in Osaka welcomed Friday’s decision by the city assembly, saying it was an important step forward but that more needed to be done.
“It’s a shame that there are no penalties imposed on those who engaged in hate speech. But we welcome it as the first ordinance of its kind in Japan,” said Kwak Jin Woong, head of the Osaka-based Korea NGO Center.
How effective the new ordinance will be in stopping hate speech is difficult to determine. But city assembly members said last year that even without an ordinance, local bureaucrats could already use existing rules and regulations about public welfare to refuse permission for certain groups to use public buildings and spaces for such gatherings.
This is basically the policy that Kadoma, a city in Osaka Prefecture, has been pursuing since 2014, when it said it would not approve applications for use of public facilities by those who habitually engage in violent and discriminatory behavior. The city also said it may revoke permission for rallies if applicants are likely to engage in such behavior.