POLITICAL ACTIVISM OF INTELLECTUALS IN POST-WAR JAPAN

Year 2023, Volume: 11 Issue: 2, 141 - 150, 21.12.2023

Uğur Sermet , Mücahit Avcı

Abstract

After World War II ended to Japan's disadvantage, the period of occupation of Japan by the United States officially began. During this period, General Douglas MacArthur was appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP) to act as the representative of the United States in Japan. The SCAP ruled Japan from 1945 until 1952, when the San Francisco Peace Treaty formally ended the occupation. During this period when the US tried to export democracy to Japan, the emperor's powers were restricted by making them symbolic, while important arrangements were made regarding fundamental rights and freedoms, especially judicial reform. Although the process of exporting American democracy seemed to work smoothly in Japan in general with the influence of the intellectual movements that started with the Peace Question Symposium during the occupation period, the Security Treaty and the renegotiation processes of the treaty caused the voices of progressive intellectuals to rise. The disagreement with the emperor and pro-government liberal intellectuals and the fact that some progressive intellectuals, finding their colleagues docile, established academies outside the universities they were affiliated with and lectured to the public led to the spread of the movements to the grassroots. The grassroots movement reached its peak in the Anpo Protests of 1960 with the review of the security agreement and the government's ratification of the agreement. Among the intellectuals who supported democracy and peace since the occupation period, a division of opinion emerged between the liberal intellectuals who were in favour of the US-led emperor and government in the Security Treaty and its revision processes, and the progressive intellectuals who did not want the deployment of foreign armies on the territory of the country and supported universal peace, including communist countries. In this context, the aim of this study is to analyse the politicisation process of intellectuals in Japan from the occupation period onwards and the impact they had on the grassroots through their public activism that led to the 1960 Anpo (Security Treaty Review) Protests.

Keywords

Japan, Post-World War II, Security Treaty, Intellectuals Activism, Progressive Intellectuals

SAVAŞ SONRASI JAPONYA’DA ENTELEKTÜELLERİN SİYASİ AKTİVİZMİ

Abstract

II. Dünya Savaşı Japonya’nın aleyhine sonuçlandıktan sonra ABD tarafından Japonya’da işgal dönemi resmen başlamıştır. Bu dönemde General Douglas MacArthur Amerika Birleşik Devletleri'nin Japonya'daki temsilcisi olarak hareket etmek üzere Müttefik Kuvvetler Yüksek Komutanı (SCAP) olarak atanmıştır. SCAP, Japonya'yı 1945'ten San Francisco Barış Antlaşması’nın işgali resmen sona erdirdiği 1952'ye kadar yönetmiştir. Amerikan’ın Japonya’ya demokrasi ihraç etmeye çalıştığı bu süreçte imparatorun yetkileri sembolik hale getirilerek kısıtlanırken yargı reformu başta olmak üzere temel hak ve hürriyetlerle ilgili önemli düzenlemeler yapılmıştır. İşgal döneminde Barış Sorunu Sempozyumu ile başlayan entelektüel hareketlerinin de etkisiyle Amerikan demokrasisi ihracı süreci Japonya’da genel anlamda sorunsuz işlemiş görünse de Güvenlik Anlaşması ve anlaşmanın yeniden görüşülme süreçleri özellikle ilerici entelektüellerin sesinin yükselmesine neden olmuştur. İmparator ve hükümet yanlısı liberal entelektüeller ile yol ayrımına varan anlaşmazlık ve bazı ilerici entelektüellerin de diğer meslektaşlarını uysal bulup bağlı oldukları üniversiteler dışında akademiler kurarak halka ders vermeleri hareketlerin tabana yayılmasına yol açmıştır. Tabana yayılan hareketler, güvenlik anlaşmasının gözden geçirilmesi ve hükümetin anlaşmayı onaylaması ile 1960 Anpo Protestolarında zirveye ulaşmıştır. İşgal döneminden itibaren demokrasiyi ve barışı destekleyen entelektüellerin arasında, Güvenlik Anlaşması ve anlaşmanın yeniden gözden geçirilmesi süreçlerinde ABD güdümlü imparator ve hükümetten yana olan –liberal- entelektüeller ile ülke topraklarında yabancı ordunun konuşlanmasını istemeyen ve komünist ülkelerin de dahil olduğu evrensel barışı destekleyen –ilerici- entelektüeller arasında fikir ayrımı doğmuştur. Bu bağlamda çalışmanın amacı, Japonya’da işgal döneminden itibaren entelektüellerin siyasallaşma sürecini ve 1960 Anpo (Güvenlik Anlaşmasının Yeniden Gözden Geçirilmesi) Protestolarına neden olan kamusal aktivizmleri ile tabanda oluşturdukları etkiyi analiz etmektir.

Keywords

Japonya, II. Dünya Savaşı Sonrası, Entelektüel Aktivizmi, İlerici Entelektüeller

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