Ainu Revolution Theory

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Map showing the distribution of the Ainu people in Hokkaido

The Ainu Revolution Theory (アイヌ革命論, Ainu Kakumeiron) is a left-wing political concept in

Ota Ryu
in particular made Ainu Revolution Theory well known.

History

In the early 1970s, a certain tendency of

Zenkyoto groups and the Zengakuren began to emerge among other New Left activists in reaction to the stalemate of the All-Campus Joint Struggle League Movement (Zenkyoto). They believed that the lumpenproletariat could be the main body of the revolution, and that the Ainu people of Japan were also included inside this group. They believed that the Ainu people lived in a primitive communist system and were deemed worthy of being the "leaders of the Communist revolution".[1]

In the mid-1970s, a number of violent incidents that appeared to have been influenced by the Ainu Revolution Theory occurred in various parts of the country (mainly in

Attack on the Mayor of Shiraoi, the Hokkaido Shrine Arson Incident, the Bombing of Hokkaido Police Headquarters, the Hokkaido government bombings, and the Bombing of Higashi Honganji. However, many of these incidents were carried out by the wider Japanese New Left.[2]

The Ainu people's own ethnic movements, such as the Removal of the Old Earth Protection Law of Hokkaido movement, became active in the 1970s, but the development of Ainu Revolution Theory was not related to these movements. Ota Ryu was criticized for appropriating these movements. The Ainu Revolution discourse within leftist circles in Japan criticized Ota, saying that "by making the Ainu into the stock of the revolutionary movement, you are bothering them."[3]

Ainu political activists

Sapporo Olympics held in 1972 helped inspire militants to become more active in Hokkaido. Yuki became acquainted with Ota around 1972, accompanying him when he read out a public questionnaire at the Japanese Anthropological and Ethnic Association Congress at Sapporo Medical University. Yuki later criticized that Ota's Ainu Revolution Theory was inconsistent with Ainu beliefs and circumstances. After both were arrested in 1974 for inciting riots (Nolle prosequi), Ota and Yuki mutually criticized each other, with Ota being insulted and isolated.[4]

Eventually, Ota's decline, conversion to becoming an ecologist, and subscription to conspiracy theories led to a rapid decline in the popularity of Ainu Revolution Theory.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ota, Ryu. Ainu Revolution: "Retreat" to the Yucala World. Ainu Republic Information Department (Shinsensha), 1973. ASIN 72006019
  2. ISBN 978-4803714081
    .
  3. ^ a b Editorial Committee of the Post-war Revolutionary Movement Encyclopedia (eds.) (Koji Takazawa, Shiro Sacho, Ryoichi Matsumura et al.) Encyclopedia of the Post-war Revolutionary Movement. Shinsensha, 1985. ASIN 85037622 (Renamed and revised new edition of Encyclopedia of the Modern Revolutionary Movement (1982))
  4. ^ Winchester, Mark. A Study of the History of Ainu Thought in the Modern Age: With a Focus on the Writings of Masao Sasaki. Hitotsubashi University Graduate School, 2009 (Doctoral Dissertation). p. 72-73.
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