The student executive committee member of HItotubashi
University Festival shared his experience that a scheduled speech presented by
an author, Naoki Hyakuta, was canceled due to a massive amount of complaints by
anti-Abe sentiments. He explained, “As I respect the freedom of speech, I
wanted to have a opportunity to hold a conversation session between Hyakuta and
anti-Abe group. However, I had to cancel it due to avoiding a risk of a
possible injury and trouble during the event. Personally I wanted to have it
but I needed to decide it for the safety rerason.”
The male student was one of the
members planning to hold Hyakuta’s speech. The speech was expected to be held
on the first day of two-day university festival on June 10th. He said about his
decision to cancel the speech and aftermath of the cancel, “I did not know this
problem got so big. I am scared of it.”
He also mentioned to the
author, Hyakuta, “I would like to show my apology for him because we cancelled
his speech for our security reason even if he accepted to hold it.” He has been
planning to have another speech with him on another day.
According to the male student, his
student executive committee started planning to invite Naoki Hyakuta to the
speech in last December. The speech was expected to have three main topics, the
contemporary concept of mass media, his observation of Japanese youth, and his
half-life as an author. Eventually, he was supposed to talk about what the mass
media should be.
He did not planned to discuss
about his political stance in the speech. In addition, he said, “I asked him
not to talk about any other thing out of the planned topics. I did not intend
to hurt anyone in the speech.”
He also planned to make time
for question and answer session so as to create a chance to change the socially
offensive image of the author, and he said, “Mass media manipulate the image of
him in my opinion. So, I decided to have the speech session because our student
can properly understand who is the author is.”
He negotiated with the vice
president for the speech and got the permission. However, simultaneously the
university received a lot of anonymous complaints.
Mostly anti-Japanese groups
complain to the university of the speech. The dissident group, Anti Racism Information
Center, ARIC, whose representative was a student at Hitotsubashi University,
submitted a petition with 10,000 signatures to order the university to cancel
the speech because the group prejudged the author as a racist against the
Chinese and Korean. A student association, “Volunteer association to demand
cancelling Hyakuta’s speech,” submitted a petition and demanded the university
to regulate the hate speech against the Chinese and Korean. Some teachers took
an opposite stance against the speech. The executive committee has received
many negative messages via E-mail screaming, “Hyakuta’s speech will lose the
university’s elegance,” “Stop having his speech.”
Even if he received many
negative feedbacks on the plan for the speech, the male student, “I have had no
idea to cancel the speech because of the freedom of speech in the democracy.”
However he was exhaust from the heatless messages and action by the oppressing
group against the speech although he was thinking about strengthening the
security system during the festival.
He talked with the members of
ARIC twice in late may. The members of ARIC which has foreigners, threatened
him with harsh words, “Will you take the responsibility for that if a person
commit the suicide because of the speech?” “What can you do if the hate crime
is infused by the speech?” He said, “ I was stunned when they attacked my
responsibility for potential troubles.”
The executive committee decided
to cancel the speech on 2nd in this month. When the reporter asked him if he
was defeated by the oppression, he answered, “the student council finally
decided to cancel it. It is up to you which oppression made us decide to cancel
it.” He added, “I carefully respect the freedom of speech, but I decided to
agree with the student council to cancel the Hyakuta’s speech for safety reason.
I believe we had a right compromise.”
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