El Furibundo
3rd September 2009, 00:25
From DemocracyNow.com:
In Japan, voters have ousted the right-leaning Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, after fifty-five years of nearly uninterrupted governance. In elections on Sunday, the populist Democratic Party of Japan captured a record 308 of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament. Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama, who is expected to become Japan’s new prime minister, has questioned the role of the 50,000 American troops deployed throughout Japan and, in a recent New York Times op-ed, blamed the global financial meltdown in part on what he called US “market fundamentalism.” It was the LDP’s worst election performance since its founding in 1955.
Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama is expected to become Japan’s new prime minister. Calling his victory a, quote, “revolution,” Hatoyama addressed supporters in Tokyo just after midnight on Monday.
During the campaign, Hatoyama questioned the role of the 50,000 American troops deployed throughout Japan. He also vowed to reject a new mandate for Japanese ships on an Indian Ocean refueling mission in support of US-led military action in Afghanistan. Hatoyama has also said Japan will stay nuclear-free and that he will seek a US pledge not to bring nuclear-armed vessels into Japanese ports.
But Hatoyama’s party was mainly elected on a platform of expanding the Japanese welfare state, addressing corruption, and undoing the neoliberal policies of the successive LDP governments.
In a recent New York Times op-ed piece, Hatoyama blamed the global financial meltdown in part on what he called US “market fundamentalism.” He wrote, quote, “In the fundamentalist pursuit of capitalism people are treated not as an end but as a means… Unrestrained market fundamentalism and financial capitalism… are void of morals or moderation,” the incoming prime minister of Japan wrote.
In Japan, voters have ousted the right-leaning Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, after fifty-five years of nearly uninterrupted governance. In elections on Sunday, the populist Democratic Party of Japan captured a record 308 of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament. Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama, who is expected to become Japan’s new prime minister, has questioned the role of the 50,000 American troops deployed throughout Japan and, in a recent New York Times op-ed, blamed the global financial meltdown in part on what he called US “market fundamentalism.” It was the LDP’s worst election performance since its founding in 1955.
Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama is expected to become Japan’s new prime minister. Calling his victory a, quote, “revolution,” Hatoyama addressed supporters in Tokyo just after midnight on Monday.
During the campaign, Hatoyama questioned the role of the 50,000 American troops deployed throughout Japan. He also vowed to reject a new mandate for Japanese ships on an Indian Ocean refueling mission in support of US-led military action in Afghanistan. Hatoyama has also said Japan will stay nuclear-free and that he will seek a US pledge not to bring nuclear-armed vessels into Japanese ports.
But Hatoyama’s party was mainly elected on a platform of expanding the Japanese welfare state, addressing corruption, and undoing the neoliberal policies of the successive LDP governments.
In a recent New York Times op-ed piece, Hatoyama blamed the global financial meltdown in part on what he called US “market fundamentalism.” He wrote, quote, “In the fundamentalist pursuit of capitalism people are treated not as an end but as a means… Unrestrained market fundamentalism and financial capitalism… are void of morals or moderation,” the incoming prime minister of Japan wrote.