最後のオウム逃亡者の逮捕に潜む本当の怖さ

[From August Issue 2012]

 

The last Aum fugitive, TAKAHASHI Katsuya, was arrested on June 15. Aum Shinrikyo was responsible for numerous atrocities and is known overseas as a cult organization. Seventeen years ago they carried out the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in which 13 passengers died and more than 6,000 others were injured.

Aum preached the attainment of enlightenment through yoga, its founder ASAHARA Shoko (real name: MATSUMOTO Chizuo) took in young people who felt suffocated by society and cleverly brainwashed them into becoming his followers. Furthermore, in the guise of training, he created a hierarchy, in which followers had to obey the orders of their superiors without question.

Believers were not welcome in society and gradually they began their anti-social and anti-political activities. Asahara even incited murder, by using the term “phowa,” which means execution. They killed a lawyer – who was perceived as being hostile to their cause – and his family in a coldblooded act.

Furthermore, Aum manufactured sarin for the purposes of terrorism. The sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway targeted the Kasumigaseki area, which houses Japan’s governmental departments. Afterwards, the chief of the National Police Agency, was shot. A series of criminal cases lead to the indictment of 189 Aum members, the death sentence for 13 executives and life imprisonment for five others. The majority of these had some form of higher education and had lived ordinary lives before entering Aum.

The media gave a lot of coverage to this, the worst crime in Japanese history, whenever a new development arose. After this crime, people have been extremely suspicious of new religious groups that are soliciting for large donations. However, the new religious organizations “Aleph” and “Hikari no Wa,” formed by former Aum followers, are still active.

Aum Criminal System can be Found Wherever you Look

This kind of abnormal criminal activity occurred before Aum. The Japanese Coalition Red Army, which advocated simultaneous world revolution, brutally killed 12 of their comrades in group lynchings. The coalition adhered to a hierarchical system with strict rules, and those violating the rules were executed.

These two cases share a common feature. Both these organizations had strict rules and those found to be in violation were strictly punished. Furthermore they were forced to watch each others’ movements and advised to inform on each other in secret. It is not easy to get out of such a group. Conversely, the system is set up so that the leader can exercise absolute power.

This system can be found not only in the yakuza (gangster) world, but also in military regimes and in some socialist nations. The Aum incident teaches us that we are constantly in danger of being brainwashed to become the puppet of an ambitious leader, or of being forced to live in a world without freedom.

[2012年8月号掲載記事]

 

最後のオウム逃亡者、高橋克也容疑者が6月15日に捕えられました。オウム真理教は数々の凶悪事件を引き起こし、外国ではカルト集団として知られています。17年前には東京の地下鉄にサリン攻撃を仕掛け、乗客ら13人が亡くなり、6,000人以上が被害者となりました。

オウムはヨガを通じて悟りを説き、教祖の麻原彰晃(本名、松本智津夫)は社会に息苦しさを感じる若者を取り込むと巧みに洗脳し、信者にしました。そして、修行の名のもとに上司の指示には絶対に従わなければならない階級制をつくりました。

信者たちは、世間から受け入れられず、次第に社会や政治を敵とする活動を始めます。麻原は処刑を意味する「ポア」という言葉で殺人の指示もしました。そして集団と敵対する弁護士一家らを殺しました。

オウムは、テロを行うためにサリンを製造しました。地下鉄サリン事件は、国家機関が集まる霞が関周辺を狙ったものでした。その後、警視庁長官も狙撃されました。この一連の事件で教団信者189人が起訴され、麻原をはじめ幹部13人の死刑、5人の無期懲役の判決が下っています。彼らの多くが高学歴で、オウムに入る前は普通の生活をしていました。

メディアはこの史上最悪の事件を新しい動きがあるたびに大きく報道しました。事件後、巨額の寄付を求める新興宗教団体に対する世間の目は厳しくなります。しかし、オウム真理教の元信者でつくる「アレフ」「ひかりの輪」は、今も活動を続けています。

どこにでも見られるオウム事件の犯罪原理

このような異常な事件は、オウムの事件以前にも起きています。世界同時革命をかかげた日本の連合赤軍は、集団リンチで同志12人を残酷に殺しました。連合赤軍の上下関係や規律は厳しく、それに違反した者は処刑されました。

二つの事件には共通する特徴があります。二つの組織には厳しい規則があり、違反した者は厳しく処罰されます。さらに互いの行動を監視させられ、密告がすすめられます。組織から脱退することは容易ではありません。逆にリーダーが絶対的権力を使える仕組みです。

これらのシステムはやくざの世界ばかりでなく、軍事政権、社会主義国でも見られます。オウム事件は、人間は洗脳されて野心家の操り人形になったり、自由のない生活を強いられたりする危険に常に直面していることを教えています。

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