Osaka (Japan): The Kyodan Buraku Liberation Center (BLC) is deepening international understanding of and solidarity with the buraku liberation movement. Its founding director, Imai Kazu Ichi, went to India and the US for that purpose, “and the present director, Rev. Sumihi Heiichi, visited various liberation groups in India in 1984. In return, the BLC has helped persons from India and other I countries learn about buraku discrimination and the buraku liberation movement.
Recently, D. Henry Thiagaraj, a Dalit Christian and Managing Trustee of the Dalit Liberation Education _ Trust of Madras, India, spent three weeks in Japan under the sponsorship of the World Council of Churches Program to Combat Racism (WCC- – PCR). Arriving on May 7, Thiagarajah was introduced to various human rights issues in Japan such as the situation of day-laborers, ‘resident-Koreans, the discriminated buraku and Okinawans. He also spoke of his organization in India which supports Dalits in self-awareness education, solidarity building and self-help projects. (Dalit is a word used by the oppressed persons to refer to themselves. The official Indian term is “scheduled castes”, but “outcaste” or “Harijan” are also used. (Crowned With Thorns, Buraku. Liberation Centre Newsletter June 1, 1991).
