2024-07-15 03:00:00
Rumors and hatred once morest the Kurds have been growing for more than a year. Much of it was spread online, which has long been a breeding ground for serious racism. Someone patrolling the Internet said: “If not curbed, false rumors may be mistaken for facts.” I paid attention to the current situation. (Tomoyuki Morimoto)
◆“The Internet is like a crime city” Residents were surprised by malicious posts
“If you just search for ‘Kawaguchi’, hate speeches will appear one following another.” Koji Yoneyama (55), who has been supporting foreigners living in Japan in Kawaguchi City, opened the social networking site (SNS) X (formerly Twitter ) and explained.
“The murderer of the Kawaguchi City shooting must be a Kurd anyway” “The Kurds are a barbaric race and should be forcibly deported” “The Kurds are a terrorist organization”… They baselessly linked the incident reports to the Kurds , labeling the Kurds as the culprits, and mocking photos of foreigners taken at the scene of traffic accidents, baselessly calling them “Kurds.” In some cases, they even uploaded secret videos and photos of children in Kuder’s apartments and parks. Another supporter said: “Kawaguchi on the internet is like a criminal city overrun by dangerous Kurds.”
However, this impression is far from reality.
◆The Kurds are an ethnic minority in Kawaguchi City, accounting for 1/200 of China’s population
Kawaguchi City and Warabi City, where Kurds live, are also cities where foreigners live. As of January this year, approximately 43,000 foreigners lived in Kawaguchi City, accounting for 7% of the total population, an increase of nearly 1.9 times in the past 10 years.
However, the largest number are Chinese (approximately 24,200), followed by Vietnamese (approximately 4,900), Filipinos (approximately 2,900), while Turkish nationals, including Kurds, are a minority, approximately 1,200. In addition, the number of confirmed criminal offenses in the city will be 4,437 in 2023, a 43% decrease from the past 10 years.
There are indeed problems in daily life such as noise, garbage disposal, and sometimes Kurds commit crimes. However, on social media, individual crimes are posted and discussed over and over once more, as if Kurdish crimes are a regular occurrence. Takeshi Ohashi, a lawyer at the Kurdish Refugee Lawyers Association, said: “People of different races commit crimes, and some people criticize people of different races based on the criminal behavior of a few people. This is discrimination in itself.”
◆The Immigration Control and Refugee Law has attracted attention and has become a target of xenophobes.
Yoneyama said such posts have become more prominent once more since June of this year. The revised Immigration Management and Refugee Law, which allows for forced repatriation even if one applies for asylum, has come into effect, and news reports regarding the Kurds, who have a large number of asylum seekers, have increased. Hatred once morest the Kurds began regarding a year ago, when the Kurds were thrust into the spotlight during a legal reform process. The attention it receives might make it a target for xenophobes.
On June 14, the Senate plenary session passed and implemented the revised Immigration Management and Refugee Law.
“‘I’m sure’, ‘I think so’ and ‘It’s for sure’, the vast majority of comments have no factual basis and label someone as a criminal.” Mr. Yoneyama took the time to check and asked X’s Report from the operating company and write rebuttal opinions. Kawaguchi is the town where I was born and raised. I know a lot of expats who have roots in the city and live with them. “If someone doesn’t take action, it will continue to spread. If things continue like this, whoever tells the story regarding the scam will win.”
◆ “I will not tolerate slurs that continue to lump them together.”
Yu Taguchi, a writer living in Tokyo, began posting on X to refute false rumors this spring following reporting on Kawaguchi’s hatred of Kurds.
A typical example of criticizing the Kurds is posting photos of trucks full of waste materials, modified buses, etc., which are called “Kudish cars.” Taguchi collected the published photos and checked the license plates, which included “Hamamatsu,” “Maebashi,” “Kasukabe” and “Saga.” They pointed out, “This has nothing to do with Kawaguchi City” and “Does the person who posted it really care regarding Kawaguchi City?”
Yu Taguchi examines photo number X = partial image processing posted as “Kud Auto”
Taguchi said: “The Internet said Kawaguchi was dangerous, so I walked around the city conducting research, but was calm. When I wrote regarding this in an article, I became the target of slander, and I interviewed The Kurds. Trash and the Japanese are providing support in the area but the support group is receiving threatening emails which I think is out of character for everyone involved.
So far, he has interviewed many social minorities. “Obviously, there are all kinds of people. I don’t like how we judge them by saying, ‘I feel sorry for disabled people,’ or ‘They’re like that because they’re homeless.’ So, I can’t forgive them. Confusing them with ‘Kurds’ and continuing to slander them, I didn’t think so, but now I know.
◆It’s scary how inaccurate information spreads and how prevalent it is.
There is a personal blog called “Cyber Dust”. As the name suggests, it constantly verifies information of unknown authenticity, just like picking up garbage floating in cyberspace. In June this year, a Kurdish refugee who applied for asylum showed what their home looked like in a TV interview, saying that the family received a lot of “welfare” and was described as a “senior old man with a lot of money.” The post “It seems that he is called a Kawaguchi noble” attracted attention on X.
A blog that discusses “Kawaguchi nobles” and “elderly people” “Internet Dust” = some image processing
There is little public support for asylum seekers in need. Although the government provides “protection fees”, the conditions are strict and the payment amount is insufficient, and it is pointed out that it “does not function as a safety net.” After carefully studying the system, the blog concluded that it was a scam.
The operator responded to the interview via email. Regarding the hatred once morest the Kurds, analysts believe that certain individuals are spreading false rumors. “The current situation in which people are actively spreading and receiving inaccurate information online is simply frightening, and the resulting state of speech has deteriorated significantly,” he said.
◆Even if it’s not worth it, “leaving a verification message is still important”
On the other hand, an “intellectual desire” to check facts is an important factor in continuing to blog, but he noted that while false information is repeatedly circulated as hate material, there is a lack of accurate rebuttal online. “I think it’s important that there are people online who can refute or search for information,” he wrote.
On SNS, information is released and covered one following another. He also said it was “important to preserve information,” including which false rumors were popular. “If I complain, I can’t say it’s worth it, and it’s troublesome.” Although he didn’t reveal his true feelings when answering the question, his determination was obvious, and he said: “As an individual, I can do something”, such as Point out small rumors that the mass media will not report.
◆ “You may get used to the amount of content, but you’ll never get used to the hateful content.”
Countermeasures once morest online hate have become a major issue everywhere, but effective measures have not yet been taken.
“We can’t keep up with the extent of the damage online. We’re used to the volume of cases, but we’ve never been used to their content.”
On June 27, on the fourth anniversary of the full implementation of Kawasaki City’s anti-discrimination regulations, Mr. Cui (right) and others expressed their thoughts at the city hall.
In June, Choi Young-ja, a third-generation Korean living in Japan who was a victim of hatred in Kawasaki City, held a press conference to complain. In July, Kawasaki celebrated the fourth anniversary of the country’s first ordinance to include criminal penalties for hate speech. It gained attention as a groundbreaking attempt to counter hate, despite the fact that regulated hate speech has been suppressed on the streets over the past four years, but discriminatory posts online have not.
The city commissioned a company to conduct cyber patrols. Under this decree, we will require online bulletin board operators to remove discriminatory posts once morest Kawasaki citizens. The total number of cases in four years is 386. It is said that this number is increasing every year. “The number of discriminatory posts seems to be increasing. The ordinance has taken hate out of the streets, but that doesn’t mean the hate itself has gone away,” a city official said. “It’s a cat and mouse game. We There is no choice but to move on.”
◆Desktop memo
I live in a small town where 10% of the population are foreigners. While there were some complications due to cultural differences, such as smoke from a barbecue being mistaken for fire, the students learned how to cook beans, the language, and realized they were neighbors living together in a community. I want to put an end to false rumors and ill-will being spread on social media without considering the plight of the Kurdish people. (Beijing)
1721068654
#Specific #people #creating #trend #false #rumors #investigate #truth #falsehoods #rampant #hate #Internet #track #movement #fight #Tokyo #News #Tokyo #Network
