H199 Setsu Shigematsu, Scream from the Shadows, Ch. 3 Notes

 

Ch. 3 “The Liberation of Sex, Onna, and Eros"

Ribu refers to a social movement, a political identity, and a living philosophy.

From its rupturing moment of emergence in 1970, to its rearticulations four decades later, its dynamic construction has been forged through a collective contestatory process.

Ribu is both a collective and a subjective identity, and its political significance and relative cohesion inheres in the tension between how different subjectivities articulate and animate its collective politics.  Ribu's organizing principles—The Liberation of Sex, Onna, and Eros—fostered autonomous action, multidirectional organizing, and a centrifugal dynamic that produced multiple forms of protest. (65)

KEY MOMENTS:

On April 26, 1970, Tama Fine Arts University organized a political rally at which 4 women, wearing black helmets with white letters S-E-X emblazoned on them, hijacked the event by jumping onstage to announce the formation of their group: Thought Group SEX (Shisô shûdan Esuiiekusu　思想集団　エスイイエクス). Two founding members were Mori Sestsuko and Yonezu Tomoko who continued as key figures in the movement over the next decade. Sei kaihô (性解放) or the liberation of sex was their determinative concept. Mori recalls how it was her visceral and cognitive dissonance within the male-dominated student movement that catalyzed her to form the new women-only group. During “training,” Mori quit over the use of gebabô or bamboo poles and lead pipes. These were the tools of the older, male dominated approach to political change. So, these formative experiences in the All Campus Joint Struggle campaign incited these women to create their own space and redefine a new kind of struggle for liberation.  After graduating from Tama, Mori and Yonezu began their own communal living collective and later became key activists in the Ribu Shinjuku Center or the “Ribu-Cen.”

In June 1970, at a Yoyogi Park Rally against Ampo, a new political group—calling themselves the Committee to Prepare for Women’s Liberation—distributed a 1-page mimeographed pamphlet called “The Declaration of the Liberation of Eros,” one of the first widely distributed ribu manifestos. It was authored by Tanaka Mitsu who performed a unique role in the movement as leading theorist and activist. (67) Sex-based discrimination was seen as “the oldest form of class conflict rooted deeply in the core of human consciousness,” criticizing the assumption that such forms of discrimination “will disappear after the overthrow of Japanese imperialism.” It emphasized that this was a call “from onna to onna.” Onna—written in hiragana—had been considered a sexual being so ribu called for the liberation of sex. Now, women could turn to her sex as a form of liberation not subjugation. “In order to create from our sex (sei) we need to be conscious of our class as onna.” (68)

On October 21, 1970, ribu staged its first public protest on International Antiwar Day demonstration at a large rally opposing the Vietnam War.  250 women linked arms and shouted “liberate onna,”as they clashed with police.


The Committee to Prepare for Women’s Liberation articulated the movement’s key concepts:

  1. Let’s protest our internalized onna-consciousness.

  2. Let’s liberate onna from all her oppressions.

  3. Let’s smash all discrimination between men and women.

  4. Let’s achieve true liberation and autonomy.

  5. Let onna herself organize other onna.

  6. Smash Anpo!

 

So, onna, the relationship between men and women, and Anpo were parts of an interlocking system that connected ribu to the state and to international politics.

Tanaka Mitsu’s famous manifesto, “Liberation from the Toilet,” declared the ideological gender structure that divided Japanese women into toilets and idealized wives and mothers was responsible for the production and the violation of women sex slaves known as “comfort women.” Onna were identified as both victims and accomplices. This is the core of onna’s subjectivity—the duality or (non)contradictory doubleness.

Leading up to the October 21, 1970 demonstration, the Committee to Prepare for Women’s Liberation began to use the name “Group of Fighting Women” or Grurûppu Tatakau Onna.

Nov. 14, 1970 in Shibuya the group gathered 200 women for a six-hour women only forum to theorize the new women’s liberation movement. Long, free-flowing discussions ensued.

Next came the Lib Summer Camps Aug. 21-24, 1971 in Shinshu ski-lodge known as Shinnohei. 250 women came from all over Japan—not just the Tokyo area!  Self-Introductions were followed by women joining whichever subgroup they desired. As we see in the video, different psarked busses housed different themed discussion groups. All of thius, taking place in a consumate "safe space" was very empowering for the women who participated.

August 17-21, 1972, second summer lib camp held in Hokkaido.  One theme was that women needed to face their own contradictory, imperfect selves. Onna had to be each other’s mirror.

These Lib Camps led to a blossoming of more than 50 lib cells all over Japan 1972-73. A place to encounter other onna and new philosophies.