Bandie: Fireflies to Illuminate Movement on Japanese Military “Comfort Women” Issues
Bandie: Fireflies to Illuminate Movement on Japanese Military “Comfort Women” Issues
Since early May, aggression against the movement on the Japanese military sexual slavery issues has become markedly overt. Baseless speculations and accusations regarding organizations, activists, and researchers who have committed themselves to the movement since its emergence are feeding the flames. The most worrisome concern is that aggression against activists and researchers has exacerbated after the conservative media have taken the words of victim-survivor Lee Yong-soo out of context and distorted them to create a schism between the victims and activists.
Conservative media has taken the lead in producing these unfounded accusations to create suspicion that organizations, activists, and researchers who have committed themselves to the movement may be corrupt. These rumors then fed the skepticism about the movement’s goals, such as legal reparations from the Japanese government and appropriate history curriculums. Drowned in a deluge of false information, international news media outlets are also taking part in reproducing and reinforcing the negative discourse by largely failing to screen problematic accusations. Ultimately, the dissemination of false information about the organizations and individuals in the movement is being used by those who hope to invalidate the accumulated efforts to form domestic and global solidarity for the victims of Japanese military sexual slavery. For instance, a right-wing Japanese organization recently sent a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council insisting that the steps the international community has taken[1] needed to be completely reconsidered, disregarding all of the procedures through which the survivors’ testimonies and historical records had been confirmed to be true.
What is missing within the plethora of confusing information is an effort to assess the situation and create a constructive discourse that will help the movement to grow and expand. Recognizing the need for such critical and informative voices, a global network called Bandie[2] has been formed. Bandie currently includes researchers and activists based in Korea, Japan, and the United States, and allies itself with the movement to resolve the issues of Japanese military sexual slavery. The Japanese military “comfort women” system is not only one of the most well-recognized historical examples of human rights violations in the global community, but it also has significant implications on multiple major topics including violence against women and girls, imperialism, colonialism, and war-time sexual violence. Bandie hopes to convey valuable voices related to the issue and the movement to international audiences who might find it difficult to access information due to language barriers. Most of our work will revolve around providing interesting and critical analyses from experts as well as accurate information against the attempts to undermine the public’s trust in those who commit to resolve the issues.
Please stand with us on our journey to redress the issues of Japanese military sexual slavery by following our blog: https://bandieforjustice.blogspot.com/. For more information, please contact bandieforjustice@gmail.com.
[1] These steps include recommendations to the Japanese government from the United Nations Committee on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR), Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Committee against Torture (CAT), Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), and the International Labour Organization to recognize its legal responsibility and to prosecute and penalize the perpetrators
[2]Bandie stands for firefly in Korean.