What is The Racist Politician Database?
In order to promote the elimination of racial discrimination, ARIC monitors hate speech made by politicians in Japan. The Racist Politician Database allows us to showcase the results of our research to the rest of the world.
Goals of The Racist Politician Database
Hate speech is a major social problem in Japan. What is more serious, however, than the hate speech that can be heard on the streets is that politicians and public figures openly engage in hate speech and historical negationism.
Racism by politicians and public figures justifies and encourages discrimination in civil society. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), which Japan ratified in 1995, stipulates that state parties “[s]hall not permit public authorities or public institutions, national or local, to promote or incite racial discrimination.” However, the Japanese government has never made an effort to confront the hate speech made by politicians and public figures.
To eliminate hate speech in civil society, it is necessary to monitor hate speech made by politicians and public figures. Thus, ARIC created this database to provide information on speeches or comments made by politicians that violate ICERD.
Definition of Words Used on this Website
Politicians and public figures refers to the members of the Diet / local assemblies (including candidates and former members), civil servants, members of the government council, and professors.
Racism refers to statements or behaviours of politicians and public figures that fall under the definition of “racial discrimination” as defined by the ICERD article 1, as well as the those in the following categories:
1) Hate speech that the ICERD article 4 defines
2) Historical negationism/revisionism that results in (1)
3) Discrimination related to continuous or chronological monitoring of racism by politicians and public figures
Regarding the Legitimacy of Sources
Items included in the Racist Politician Database are limited to the following categories and verified by the stuff of ARIC:
1) Publications or reports, such as newspapers, theses, magazines, books, and records of the Diet.
2) Records of statements or behaviors made by politicians and public figures on their official websites or social media accounts.
3) Records of statements made on websites or social media accounts where the identity of the author is verifiable.
Other types of testimonies, notes, or memos that we establish as admissible and include in the Database come with a note that explains the method of verification.
On English Translation
Statements made by politicians and public figures are translated by the staff of ARIC, and revised by our collaborators, Mark Ealey and CM. We are very grateful to them for their invaluable cooperation. All remaining errors and inadequacies are, of course, our own.
ja