This week protests are taking place all across Britain against the visit of George Bush. You can see read about what is happening at INDYMEDIA UK. While Japan is not the UK, there is certainly enough happening in Japan as well. The mainstream media has people convinced that only the most extreme people protest (it is easy to find people in masks and sunglasses and make it seem they are the only ones crazy enough to demonstrate). And police treatment (actually a form of harrassment) of protestors in Japan can result in detentions of nearly a month or more, making people afraid to protest.

But while the public is led to believe that only the most extreme or violent people engage in protest and that normal people can only shake their heads and say "shoganai", the reality is that many people are concerned by the extreme behaviour of politicians, bureaucrats and corporations who help to perpetuate things like war, racism, poverty, and the "rights" of the corporation taking precedence over the rights of people. THESE are the REAL extremists, and they are running the show. But while NHK or FUJI TV or even Asahi and TBS MIGHT include coverage of the protests in the UK, when was the last time they covered protests in Japan?

Websites like TokyoProgressive and IndyMedia Japan are YOUR media. In many cases, you won't find the news anywhere else. But to make it work, YOU have to become active and be more than just a CONSUMER of news. You have to be a reporter and chronicler.

Please upload articles here on actions and events that are taking place where you are. Let's liberate the media, and--in the process--help to make Japan a healthier society.

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What's at the CNN website today (Thursday 20 November)? Michael Jackson. The ONLY thing visible on their page about London is a relatively minor story about a reporter who pretended to be working at Buckingham Palace. nothing about George Bush, the number 1 terrorst in the "free world". You wont see scenes like these because they don't WANT us to think about how we can affect the course of history.