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NEW DAWN RISING History and Summation of the Japan Town Collective (3 of 7)
These activists formed a "work-study collective" which developed the name of the Japan Town Collective. The JTC was seen as a preliminary and transitional step to joining a larger revolutionary organization. Some of the first actions by the JTC were participating in anti-war marches, support for struggles in Japan, especially the anti-military base struggle in Okinawa, and working in different coalitions. One of the first organizing and propaganda tools used by the JTC as guerilla theater skits performed in the community to highlight the struggles against those military bases in Okinawa, about how the bases were expanding and how they affected the people living around the bases. One particular struggle was around the Sanrizuka airbase near Tokyo and its expansion, bringing in more war planes, and how this was opposed by revolutionary students and workers in Japan at the time.
Because the JTC initially did not have a base in the community, the focus was placed on having a center, and from there, developing a broad propaganda and outreach about the Vietnam War, the struggles of Third World people. This center was in a building threatened with demolition by redevelopment. It was located next to a community church. The center was in a building that belonged to the church. A couple of people in JTC had ties to the church, so the church let JTC have use of the building.
The center was used as a base to do propaganda and organizing around opposing the U.S. imperialist war in Vietnam, to do film showings, hold forums, and run a revolutionary bookstore. JTC also worked in the Asian Women's Health Team and did high school organizing through the Asian Alliance at Washington High School. Following the example of the Black Panther Party "survival programs," the JTC offered legal services, health care, a prison program, etc. We started a revolutionary newspaper called New Dawn which featured articles about Third World liberation struggles and local community issues. All these activities were aimed at promoting revolutionary education and connecting all the struggles internationally with the Japanese American community.
New Dawn 4- Building the Struggle
