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Abstract
This article analyzes a Kurd refugee sit-in protest staged in front of the United Nations offices in Tokyo in July–September 2004 and its implications for the interaction between political society and civil society. The refugees' protest is viewed as a moment where the line between citizens and non-citizens is redrawn. Citizens possess an exclusive right to political speech and action. Protests by refugees undoubtedly question citizens' monopoly of this right. By organizing protests, refugees, who do not have citizenship status, raise their voices, make demands, and thus request a right to speech and action. In doing so, they blur the line between citizens and non-citizens. In this process, how do citizens and refugees interact with each other? By using Partha Chatterjee's concept of political society, I examine the different tactics employed by the refugees, who are part of political society, and the citizens of civil society. The case shows that when different voices meet, the voice of civil society drowns the voice of political society: the refugees' tactics were de-legitimized by the citizens. This interaction suggests that encounters between citizens and refugees are not simply events where the refugees claim a right to speech and action, but that such encounters also involve citizens in effect struggling to secure their monopoly of the same rights.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Jenny Edkins, Jeroen Gunning and Peter Nyers for comments and suggestions on earlier drafts.
Notes
1. This figure is from a Ministry of Justice press release. See http://www.moj.go.jp/PRESS/070306-1/070306-1.html [Accessed 20 December 2008].
2. It is widely suspected that the reason the Kurds from Turkey are not recognized as refugees is because of the friendly relationship between the Japanese government and the Turkish government.
3. This is quoted from the English version of the Kurd refugees’ statement. See http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/∼pyonpyon/fjc/04/sit-in2e.htm [Accessed 15 March 2007].
4. During the sit-in protest, the refugees camped in the UN space.
5. Aside from these NGOs, there were many people who joined the sit-in on an individual basis. They were concerned citizens, foreigners (both illegal and legal), activists, neighbours and pedestrians. They assisted the refugees with various means: providing necessary materials including food and water, donating some money for the Kurds, disseminating information regarding the progress of the protest on websites and blogs, collecting signatures to show their solidarity with the Kurds, helping the Kurds to set up their own web-site, washing laundry for the refugees or letting the refugees use their bathrooms at home.
6. I am grateful to Carolina Moulin and Peter Nyers (Citation2007) for their inspirational analysis on the Sudanese sit-in protest: they analyzed the refugee protest by using Chatterjee's concept of political society.
7. The term ‘subaltern’ can be defined in various ways. Therefore, in this paper, this term is loosely defined as people who are subordinated and oppressed. Chatterjee uses the term in the similar way (Chatterjee Citation2004, p. 39).
8. As many scholars point out (for instance, Kato Citation1993, Endo Citation2001), the definition of civil society depends greatly on the context. Regarding civil society in Japan, there are different understandings of when and how the concept of civil society emerged and developed (see Garon Citation2003, Apter and Sawa Citation1984). This question is further complicated by how the concept of ‘NGOs’ was adapted and incorporated into Japanese ‘civil society’. For the purpose of this paper, I will use the term civil society as defined by Chatterjee.
9. The dominant usage of civil society can be seen in the articles by the Commission on Human Security (Citation2003), Kurusu (Citation2006), and Onishi (Citation2006).
10. The book, Nanmin wo oitsumeru kuni, is written by several members of the Supporters Meeting of 2 Kurdish-Refugee Families, all of whom joined the sit-in. It includes interviews with the refugee protesters and provided a detailed account of the Kurd sit-in protest.
11. This point is elaborated in the section, Civil society pushing back the boundaries of normal and acceptable behaviour.
12. I was guided to Ranciere's understanding of ‘politics’ by the following article: Moulin and Nyers (Citation2007).
13. Although Amnesty is an international NGO, AI Japan's involvement with the Kurd refugee protest was not directed by the international office.
14. The quote is translated by the author.
15. The book, Amemiya and Dogan (Citation2006), Watashi no jinsei, kore nani?, is an account of the Kurd refugee sit-in protest written by the refugee protesters and the citizens who joined the sit-in.
16. See the English version of the Kurd refugees’ statement: http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/∼pyonpyon/fjc/04/sit-in2e.htm [Accessed 15 March 2007].
17. The quote is translated by the author.
18. The quote is translated by the author. http://www.freewebs.com/kurdjapan/exp_world.html [Accessed 21 October 2007].
19. APFS (http://www.jca.apc.org/apfs/) is an NGO established in 1987 by Japanese and Bangladeshis. It aims to promote friendship between Japanese and foreigners. In its statement, it specifically states that the purpose of APFS is ‘not creating a society where “petty foreigners” are helped by the Japanese unilaterally’ (http://www.jca.apc.org/apfs/whats_apfs.html). Instead, it attempts to build a society where both Japanese and foreigners help each other. The staff consists of Japanese, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Iranian people. The vice president and the secretary general are both Bangladeshis. The activities of APFS range from providing consultancy on health, work, and life in Japan to organizing demonstrations and seminars. APFS is also known for its activity in requesting special permission for residence for undocumented foreigners. Breaking with the conventional practice that undocumented foreigners hide in public, undocumented foreigners appeared before the Immigration Bureau. This practice started in 1999, which was the first time in the Japanese refugee activities when such action was taken. Among those who appeared at the Immigration Bureau, some have been granted special permission for residence.
20. In the past, there were some cases where those who were in the process of seeking asylum in Japan were deported to their countries of origin despite their wishes to remain in Japan (Amemiya and Dogan Citation2006).
21. The quote is translated by the author. http://www.freewebs.com/kurdjapan/exp_world.html [Accessed 21 October 2007].
22. The quote is translated by the author. The book, Amemiya (Citation2005) Watashi no jinsei, kore nani?, is written by the refugees and citizens who joined the Kurd sit-in protest. It presents both the refugees’ and the citizens’ accounts of the protest.
23. The quote is translated by the author.
24. UNHCR, Statement by UNHCR on the demonstration outside the UN House, http://www.unhcr.or.jp/protect/comment.html [Accessed 17 October 2007]. Also see UNHCR, Higo kibousha (nanmin shinseisha) no suwarikomi ni tsuite no UNHCR no kenkai [UNHCR's comment on the sit-in carried out by asylum seekers], http:www.unhcr.or.jp/news/press/pr040729.html [Accessed 17 October 2007]. UNHCR, Kougi koudo ni kansuru tsuchi [Notification regarding the sit-in protest], http:www.mkimpo.com/image/walk/2004/kurd_sit_in/notice_2004-09-08.pdf [Accessed 10 August 2007].
25. Also see http://www.ngy1.1st.ne.jp/∼ieg/ieg/inter/vol7-4/72.htm. [Accessed 15 October 2007].
26. The quote is translated by the author.
27. The quote is translated by the author.
28. The quote is translated by the author.
29. http://www.refugee.or.jp/nl/nl14b.html [Accessed 16 October 2007]. The quote is translated by the author; my italics.
30. The quote is translated by the author.
31. The quote is translated by the author.
32. http://www.freewebs.com/kurdjapan/exp_introduction.html [Accessed 20 November 2007].
33. The quote is translated by the author.
34. In this paper, I use the term ‘hospitality’ as follows: hospitality is a manner in which ‘we relate to ourselves and to others, to others as our own or as foreigners’ (Derrida Citation2001, p. 16–17). Following Derrida, the Kurd refugees created a place of hospitality where people related to one another and openly accepted others who were strangers at the sit-in site. Also see Derrida (Citation2000).