Turning logic upside-down

Regarding the May 12 editorial, "Who's to blame in Bangladesh?": Globalization will inevitably proceed no matter what we want, but why must we hastily remove the boundaries that restrict the movement of money when borders prevent us from saving millions of people from abuse by their governments.

Neoliberalism has turned the order of priorities upside-down. Movement of money should be confined within national borders until human rights are honored by every government.

Are we satisfied with punishing only the managers responsible for forcing a thousand women to work and perish in a destined-to-collapse building in Bangladesh? How about those who have been making money by investing in such a lawless country?

Unfortunately we Japanese are governed by politicians with such a perverted, topsy-turvy mentality. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto advocate globalization for the sake of money, but say nothing about observing global standards for human dignity. They are eager to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, for example, and to boost the global circulation of money, but decline to denounce the state crime of sending troops into other countries and killing civilians.

Hashimoto is brazen enough to say that sex workers are needed in order to keep up soldiers' morale so that they will fight in the field. The "necessity" of sex services is one of the many evils of war. War is about destroying humans physically and spiritually. These are precisely reasons for denouncing war.

Besides promising to never resort to violence in resolving international conflicts, Japan must squarely face the consequences of coercing women into sexual slavery and committing other crimes during World War II. But the heads and hearts of Abe and Hashimoto, which seem positioned below their waists, turn conventional logic upside-down.

The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.