Japan's Student Protest Movement History

Have you guys seen these videos coming out from Japan?

But there's one key detail that people online keep focusing on.

A lot of the protesters in these videos are wearing matching construction helmets.

But why? Let's rewind. Japan's anti-war student movement

dates all the way back to the 1950s and '60s.

With the collapse of Japanese fascism in 1945, a new generation of students

began organizing across the country against both the remnants of fascism

and US occupation. In 1948, the Japanese Communist

Party helped unite many of these student groups into a single nationwide student

organization known as the Zengakuren.

This was basically a network of self-governing student associations that

fought against tuition hikes and the conservative elements of the

university

system.

By the 1960s, there was a chapter of Zengakuren in nearly

every Japanese

university, public or private. Over the next few decades, the Zengakuren

would lead some of the biggest and most militant protest movements Japan

has ever

seen,

and in the process, the image of the helmeted student

militants became

iconic. But eventually, the Zengakuren started to

factionalize. After breaking with the Communist Party

over its shift to

reformism, the movement itself would manufacture into

dozens of rival

factions from the '60s and onwards.

The infighting became deeply sectarian and, at times, outright violent.

Students turned against each other over ideological disputes, and these conflicts

were sensationalized by the press.

This led to stigma around political activism amongst students,

and it persists to

this day. But the Zengakuren still exists.

However, it's divided into competing factions

and is largely a shadow of its

former self. Yet as Japan makes a push for

remilitarization

under Kishida, those helmets are suddenly showing up everywhere online.

So what do you think? Could the Zengakuren return?