Don't allow the effort to enact an "anti-espionage law"!

This evil law will inevitably target the entire nation.

The Workers Party for the Liberation of Labor (Japan)
August 28, 2025

As Japan's imperialism advances, Sanseitō leader Kamiya stated in a post-election press conference that he aims to submit an "anti-espionage bill" ahead of the extraordinary Diet session this fall. He also said, "We have begun negotiations with other parties to a certain extent."

The specific contents of the "anti-espionage bill" have yet to be revealed, but during a street speech in Matsuyama City on July 14th during the House of Councillors election, Kamiya addressed civil servants, saying, "People with extreme ideologies need to stop. The purpose of the anti-espionage law is to weed them out," and added, "I believe that people with extreme left-wing views have infiltrated deep into the core of society through infiltration operations."

Kamiya's remarks, which equate public servants with left-wing ideology with foreign spies, even negate Article 19 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of thought and belief, and are reminiscent of the prewar military fascists who hunted down and oppressed the Communist Party and those who sympathized with it as "unpatriotic."

Kamiya says that the Anti-Espionage Act targets public servants working for the state and local governments. However, it is inevitable that it will extend beyond that and target the entire nation. This was also expressed in the "Bill for the Prevention of Espionage and Other Activities Relating to State Secrets" (which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment or the death penalty) submitted to the House of Representatives by the then Liberal Democratic Party in 1985 as a private member's bill.

The LDP bill immediately sparked backlash from the public and the media, and the Japan Federation of Bar Associations issued a statement of opposition at the time stating the following:

"This bill broadly criminalizes the reporting and activities of the media, as well as the everyday actions of ordinary citizens. It violates fundamental human rights, including the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution, and contains extremely dangerous content that could undermine the very foundation of popular sovereignty.
The definition of state secrets in the bill is extremely broad and unlimited, and the elements of its constitution are clearly unclear. Moreover, the designation of something as a 'secret' is at the sole discretion of the government and other administrative authorities. For this reason, in light of past and current practice, there is a significant risk that the bill will be pushed through as is, even in the context of administrative authorities' arbitrary judgments about what constitutes a 'secret'. In other words, anyone who discloses 'illegal secrets' that should be disclosed to the public will have to be prepared to face severe penalties." 

The LDP's "Anti-Spying Bill," which would have unilaterally decided what constitutes a "secret" and left the application of penalties to the state's arbitrary discretion, was forced to be scrapped due to strong opposition in the Diet.

Not only political parties but also LDP member Takaichi have called for the need for an "Anti-Spying Law," with the opposition Democratic Party for the People stating that "we must protect our own country" and "effective legislation is necessary," and the Japan Innovation Party also taking a proactive stance, stating that "it is absolutely necessary."

There are once again attempts to enact an "Anti-Espionage Law" that would stifle freedom of speech and stifle workers' struggles under the pretext of "preventing the leakage of state secrets to foreign countries" and "for the sake of national security," but these attempts must be firmly crushed.

🔁Translated from the following page:
https://wpll-j.org/japan/others/etc/message-42.html#631