Quote
DavidM
However I've been trying to understand why SGI hasn't changed its 'tact' in the US and Europe. As far as I'm aware (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) membership in the US and Europe has been pretty much staying static. Now either SGI has realised it will never be able to grow any larger in these areas or is puposefully remaining at such a level.
This could be for a number of reasons, all of which would be made easier by having a relatively small membership because, a) they will be easier to contol and manage, b) less likely to appear on the 'national radar', keeping SGI nice and quiet. These reasons could be, 1) keep just enough members to have official charity tax exempt status, 2) keep a presence in these countries to allow back-door influence of Government officials, 3) have a watchful eye on academics and media organisations which might be critical of SGI, giving them the 'heads up' and time to prepare a counter in advance.
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--------------Quote, page 130 of this thread, January 21, 2010-----------------------------------------------------------
Re Shakubuku and election campaign for Komei :
It is absolutely true that the election campain activities is stronger than
Shakubuku in daily Gakkai activities in Japan a lot more than 20-30 years ago.Even after Gakkai declares that ‚"hey separate religion from politics, all
people know but never mention that they do activities in Zadan kai or in Culture
Centers in Japan. Even candidates come in and ask for their vote both in those
places. It is true, but no one has no spirit to say that in public.
--- In
SokaGakkaiUnofficial@yahoogroups.com, "queequeg1812" <lateshuvit@...>
wrote:
>
> I'll just put some facts out there to frame what I am about to say.
>
> SGI-USA is a membership of what, 30,000? 150,000 by some very suspect claims.
OK, let's say its 150,000. Heck, 200,000. Makes no difference where this is
going.
>
> SG in Japan is what, at least 7,000,000 HOUSEHOLDS, not individuals, if the
claims are accurate, maybe 10,000,000 households. Whatever. Go to any decent
sized Japanese city and you will find at least one kaikan that is bigger than
the biggest kaikan in the United States, if not several kaikans and a
Makitodakeda Hall or two.
>
> DO NOT DISREGARD THIS:
That SG membership is an energetic and motivated bunch.
Tell them to vote and they will vote. In DROVES. SG has so much wealth and
influence that they were part of the ruling coalition of the Japanese government
for 10 years before the LDP coalition was knocked out by the Democratic Party
this past year for chronic mismanagement. And I will bet everything I have, the
DPJ is making overtures to SG right now to try and lure them into the fold of
the present coalition to make up for the threat by the hard left parties to
withdraw from the DPJ coalition. Yes, I know Komeito is independent of SG.
That's on paper. Go live in Japan, practice in Japan with SG for a few years,
at least an election cycle or two, and tell me that is true with a straight
face.
>
>
In the SGI-USA, there is a very different image of what the SG parent
organization is. We don't see that they are like the Mormons in Utah, with TV
commercials and the whole bit. We don't hear about how SG is a regular topic of
discussion on the news programs the way say, the Moral Majority was a few years
ago
>
>
We are talking about serious political, economic and social power in Japan.
The needs and concerns of 200,000 sincere Americans really does not rank that
high on their list of concerns. They know we have no dog in the political fray
in Japan, that we just want to learn about this Buddhism, but to be open with us
means they have to be open at home and they CANT DO THAT[. > I'm not trying to say that all the ideals of SG are false. What I'm saying is
that behind that idealism is a lot of realpolitik, and its no joke. Its not an
arena for innocent idealists to get caught up in.
>
My suggestion is this, stop turning your brain inside out to make the SG
recommended practice make sense to you. You can stay in SG and just cut out the
parts of the practice that don't make sense to you.
-------------------------End of Quote-----------------------------------------------------------------------
David, I used to wonder why SGI kept doing things that alienated their American membership too. After having read quite a bit on the subject, my conclusion is -- the American (Canadian, European, Ghanian, etc.) members do not really matter to the senior leadership of the Soka Gakkai International. Ikeda's real interest is 1) his wealth, and 2) his power in Japanese society, via the Komeito Party. Sure, I think he would love to rule the world -- but Japan will always come first to him. Other countries are useful for what they can contribute to Japan.
The American, British, Dutch, Argentinian etc. members are useful to SGI for contributing money and work. Also, it's a foothold. Having a presence in those countries gives SGI the opening to add foreign real estate and other investments to its portfolio. There are probably lots of creative, (and mostly legal) things you can do with tax exemptions and investing if you are a multinational corporation. Soka University in California appears to be an excellent vehicle for money laundering and shifting various funds around. Otherwise, what's the sense of so much money for so few students?
I think Queequeg1812 offered excellent advice: do what works for you, and don't worry about what SGI wants...SGI certainly doesn't care what you want.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2010 10:55PM by tsukimoto.