Please sign the international petition.
Go to: http://chn.ge/1ecQPUJ
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| One of the signatories, filmmaker Oliver Stone visiting elders at the sit-in tent at Henoko, August 14, 2013 (Photo by Ryukyu Shimpo) |
PRESS RELEASE
Over One Hundred
International Scholars,
Peace Advocates and Artists Support Local Residents’ Decision to Refuse New
Military Base Construction in Okinawa
For Immediate Release
January 28, 2014
For
More Information Contact:
Joseph
Gerson: 1-617-661-6130/ jgerson@afsc.org
Peter
Kuznick: 1-202-885-2408/pkuznick@aol.com
Gavan McCormack: 61-2-6125-3164/gavan.mccormack@anu.edu.au
Our statement (http://p.tl/vZzS) of January 7, signed by 29 prominent scholars and
artists, received wide international media attention, especially from outlets
across Japan. It helped to empower and invigorate the people of Okinawa, who
were appalled by Governor Nakaima’s year-end capitulation to forces who want to
build a large new U.S. Marine base on the island. One Okinawan resident emailed
us, “You don't know how much this statement has meant to me and many fellow
Okinawans who are in this struggle. I wish you were here to see this.”
Initial signatories included linguist Noam
Chomsky, academy award winning film makers Oliver Stone and Michael
Moore, Nobel Laureate Mairead
Maguire, historian John Dower,
former U.S. military officer and diplomat Ann
Wright, and United Nations Special Rapporteur for Palestine Richard Falk.
We now have over one hundred signatories, including the pioneer of peace
studies Johan Galtung, physician and
anti-nuclear activist Helen Caldicott,
biologist and science broadcaster David
Suzuki, peace educator Betty Reardon,
political scientist Karel van Wolferen,
and Pulitzer-prize winning historian Martin
Sherwin. Other signers are leading authors, scholars, and filmmakers,
representatives of various peace organizations, and citizens who have been
committed to ending military colonization of Okinawa.
January 19 marked a triumphant moment for Okinawa when residents of Nago
City re-elected Mayor Susumu Inamine, who has consistently opposed the base construction
“on land or on sea.” According to a pre-election poll, only 9 percent of Nago
residents supported the new base plan. The rejection of the new base by a majority
of the residents represented a vote of no-confidence in Governor Hirokazu Nakaima,
who supported the pro-base candidate, and in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who
pressured Nakaima to go along with the U.S. relocation plan. And as the New York Times rightly said, Mayor
Inamine’s win dealt “an embarrassing blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,” who
attempted to buy votes with talk of more subsidies and public works projects.
In the electoral history of Okinawa, no candidate has ever won by actively
supporting a new base. The last Nago election was no exception. Citizens of
Okinawa have filed a lawsuit to nullify Governor Nakaima’s approval of the massive
land reclamation needed to build the base. They are seeking a way to recall the
governor. The prefectural assembly passed a resolution to demand Nakaima’s
resignation. The Abe and Obama
governments, however, appear to be preparing to crush all resistance in
Okinawa. Only two days after Mayor Inamine’s re-election, the Japanese
government started soliciting bids for preliminary work on the base
construction.
Okinawans will continue to protest, as they have in the past, in the ways
of demonstrations, petitions, elections, lawsuits, sit-ins, academic and
artistic activities, and direct actions to stop construction. On occasion they
have paddled canoes and tied themselves to scaffolding towers to successfully
obstruct a government survey of the ocean. We support them in their ongoing
struggle for peace, dignity, human rights, and protection of the environment. We
are now launching a petition drive calling for international opposition to new
base construction in Okinawa and immediate return of Futenma and challenging
Abe and Obama’s contempt for the democratic and human rights of the people of
Okinawa.
The URL for the on-line petition is http://chn.ge/1ecQPUJ.
The Japanese language version is http://chn.ge/1glVJSw.
(The
original statement and the list of signatories follow.)
STATEMENT
We oppose construction of a new
US military base within Okinawa, and support the people of Okinawa in their
struggle for peace, dignity, human rights and protection of the environment
We the undersigned
oppose the deal made at the end of 2013 between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and
Governor of Okinawa Hirokazu Nakaima to deepen and extend the military
colonization of Okinawa at the expense of the people and the environment. Using
the lure of economic development, Mr. Abe has extracted approval from Governor
Nakaima to reclaim the water off Henoko, on the northeastern shore of Okinawa,
to build a massive new U.S. Marine air base with a military port.
Plans
to build the base at Henoko have been on the drawing board since the
1960s. They were revitalized in 1996,
when the sentiments against US military bases peaked following the rape of a
twelve year-old Okinawan child by three U.S. servicemen. In order to pacify
such sentiments, the US and Japanese governments planned to close Futenma
Marine Air Base in the middle of Ginowan City and move its functions to a new base to be
constructed at Henoko, a site of extraordinary bio-diversity and home to the
endangered marine mammal dugong.
Governor
Nakaima’s reclamation approval does not reflect the popular will of the people
of Okinawa. Immediately before the
gubernatorial election of 2010, Mr. Nakaima, who had previously accepted the
new base construction plan, changed his position and called for relocation of
the Futenma base outside the prefecture. He won the election by defeating a
candidate who had consistently opposed the new base. Polls in recent years have
shown that 70 to 90 percent of the people of Okinawa opposed the Henoko base plan.
The poll conducted immediately after Nakaima’s recent reclamation approval
showed that 72.4 percent of the people of Okinawa saw the governor’s decision
as a “breach of his election pledge.” The reclamation approval was a betrayal
of the people of Okinawa.
73.8
percent of the US military bases (those for exclusive US use) in Japan are
concentrated in Okinawa, which is only .6 percent of the total land mass of
Japan. 18.3 percent of the Okinawa Island is occupied by the US military. Futenma
Air Base originally was built during the 1945 Battle of Okinawa by US forces in
order to prepare for battles on the mainland of Japan. They simply usurped the
land from local residents. The base should have been returned to its owners
after the war, but the US military has retained it even though now almost seven
decades have passed. Therefore, any conditional return of the base is
fundamentally unjustifiable.
The
new agreement would also perpetuate the long suffering of the people of
Okinawa. Invaded in the beginning of the 17th century by Japan and
annexed forcefully into the Japanese nation at the end of 19th
century, Okinawa was in 1944 transformed into a fortress to resist advancing US forces and thus to buy time to
protect the Emperor System. The Battle
of Okinawa killed more than 100,000 local residents, about a quarter of the
island’s population. After the war, more bases were built under the US military
occupation. Okinawa “reverted” to Japan in 1972, but the Okinawans’ hope for
the removal of the military bases was shattered. Today, people of Okinawa continue
to suffer from crimes and accidents, high decibel aircraft noise and
environmental pollution caused by the bases. Throughout these decades, they have
suffered what the U.S. Declaration of Independence denounces as “abuses and
usurpations,” including the presence of foreign “standing armies without the
consent of our legislatures.”
Not unlike the 20th century U.S. Civil Rights struggle,
Okinawans have non-violently pressed for the end to their military
colonization. They tried to stop live-fire military drills that threatened
their lives by entering the exercise zone in protest; they formed human chains
around military bases to express their opposition; and about a hundred thousand
people, one tenth of the population have turned out periodically for massive
demonstrations. Octogenarians initiated the campaign to prevent the
construction of the Henoko base with a sit-in that has been continuing for
years. The prefectural assembly passed resolutions to oppose the Henoko base
plan. In January 2013, leaders of all the 41 municipalities of Okinawa signed
the petition to the government to remove the newly deployed MV-22 Osprey from
Futenma base and to give up the plan to build a replacement base in Okinawa.
We
support the people of Okinawa in their non-violent struggle for peace, dignity,
human rights and protection of the environment. The Henoko marine base project
must be canceled and Futenma returned forthwith to the people of Okinawa.
January 2014
Matthew Allen, Researcher, James Cook University
Gar Alperovitz, Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy,
University of Maryland
Kozy (Kazuko) Amemiya, Independent scholar specializing on Okinawan
emigration
Colin Archer, General Secretary, International Peace Bureau
Norman Birnbaum, Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University
Herbert Bix, Emeritus Professor of History and Sociology, State
University of New York at Binghamton
Daniel Botsman, Professor of Japanese history, Yale University
Jan Boudart, Nuclear Energy Information Service Chicago
Reiner Braun, Co-president International Peace Bureau and
Executive Director of International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms
Jane Cadarette, Pax Christi USA
Helen Caldicott, Foundation for a Nuclear Free Future, Founding
President, Physicians for Social Responsibility
Tony Castanha, Lecturer in Indigenous Studies, University of Hawaii
Sung-Hee Choi, Gangjeong Village Opposition to Jeju Naval Base
Noam Chomsky, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
Vivian Dames, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of
Guam (Retired)
Winnie Detwiler, Sacramento Area Peace Action
Kelly Diez, Assistant Professor, Department of Politics, Ithaca
College
John W. Dower, Professor Emeritus of History, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
Jean Downey, Attorney and author
Alexis Dudden, Professor of History, University of Connecticut
Joan Ecklein, College of Public and Community Service, University
of Massachusetts (retired)
Daniel Ellsberg, Senior Fellow at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation,
former Defense and State Department official
Cynthia Enloe, Research Professor, Clark University
Richard Falk, Milbank Professor of International law Emeritus, Princeton
University
Pat Farell, Sisters of St. Francis of Dubuque, Iowa
Thomas Fazi, Writer and filmmaker (Italy), co-director of Standing Army
John Feffer, Co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus
(www.fpif.org) at the Institute for Policy Studies
Gordon Fellman, Professor of Sociology, Brandeis University
Norma Field, Professor Emerita, East Asian Languages and
Civilizations, University of Chicago
Carolyn Forche, Professor of English and Director of the Lannan
Center for Poetry and Poetics, Georgetown University
Bruce Gagnon, Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons
& Nuclear Power in Space
Johan Galtung, Sociologist, Founder, TRANSCEND: A Peace Development
Environment Network
Irene Gendzier, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science,
Boston University
Joseph Gerson (PhD), Director, Peace & Economic Security
Program, American Friends Service Committee
Gary R. Goldstein, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Tufts University
Laura Hein, Professor of Japanese History, Northwestern University
Chicago
John Hocevar, Oceans Campaign Director, Greenpeace
Glenn D. Hook, Professor, School of East Asian Studies, University
of Sheffield
Kate Hudson(PhD), General Secretary, Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament.
Mickey Huff, Professor of History, Diablo Valley College;
Director, Project Censured
Vincent J. Intondi, Associate Professor of History, Montgomery College
Jean E. Jackson, Professor of Anthropology, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology
Paul Jobin, Associate Professor, East Asian Languages and Civilizations,
University of Paris Diderot
Sheila Johnson, Japan Policy Research Institute, Cardiff California;
widow of Chalmers Johnson
Peter J. Jones, Lecturer in Asian Studies at the University of
Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
Paul Joseph, Professor of Sociology, Tufts University
John Junkerman, Filmmaker, director of Japan’s Peace Constitution
Louis Kampf, Professor of Humanities Emeritus, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
Bruce Kent, Past President International Peace Bureau and past
Chair of CND UK
Assaf Kfoury, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science,
Boston University
Peter King, Emeritus professor and convener of Human Survival
Project at University of Sydney
Naomi Klein, Author and journalist
Joy Kogawa, Author of Obasan
Peter Kuznick, Professor of History, American University
John Lamperti, Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus, Dartmouth
College
Steve Leeper, Professor, Hiroshima Jogakuin University
Diane Levin, Professor of Education. Wheelock College
Peter Limb, Professor of History, Michigan State University
Douglas Lummis, Lecturer at Okinawa International University
Catherine Lutz, Professor of Anthropology and International Studies,
Brown University
Kyo Maclear, Writer and children’s author
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace laureate
Kevin Martin, Executive Director, Peace Action
Robert and Julia K. Matsui Estrella, Videographer/photographer
Keiko Matsui Higa, Author
Gavan McCormack, Professor Emeritus, Australian National University
David McReynolds, Former Chair, War Resisters International, Socialist Party candidate for President, 1980, 2000
David McReynolds, Former Chair, War Resisters International, Socialist Party candidate for President, 1980, 2000
Zia Mian, Princeton University
Michael Moore, Filmmaker
LisaLinda Natividad, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of
Guam
Agneta Norberg, Swedish Peace Council
Eiichiro Ochiai, Professor Emeritus, Juniata College
Satoko Oka Norimatsu, Director, Peace Philosophy Centre (Canada)
Koohan Paik, International forum on globalization, San Francisco
Enrico Parenti, Filmmaker (Italy), co-director of Standing Army
Lindis Percy, Coordinator, Campaign for the Accountability of
American Bases (UK)
Sophie Quinn-Judge, Associate Professor of History, Temple University
Steve Rabson, Professor Emeritus, Brown University/ Veteran,
United States Army, Henoko, Okinawa, 1967-68
J. Narayama Rao, Secretary, Centre for Cultural, Educational, Economics
(India)
Betty Reardon, Professor of Education and Founding Director
Emeritus, International Institute of Peace Education
David Rothhauser, Korean vet, WILPF Article 9 Campaign, director of Hibakusha – Our Life to Live
Aurelie Royon, Mouvement de la Paix
Mark Selden, a Senior Research Associate in the East Asia Program
at Cornell University
Martin Sherwin, Professor, George Mason University, recipient of
Pulitzer Prize
Alice Slater, Abolition 2000, Coordinating Committee
Mark Solomon, Professor Emeritus of History, Simmons College
John Steinbach, Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National
Capital Area
Oliver Stone, Filmmaker
David Suzuki, Biologist, science broadcaster, author and
environmental activist
Koji Taira, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Roy Tamashiro, Professor, Webster University
Michael True, Professor Emeritus, Assumption College
Jo Vallentine, Former Greens Senator in the Australian Federal
Parliament
Karel van Wolferen, Emeritus professor, University of Amsterdam, author
David Vine, Associate Professor of Anthropology, American
University
Vanessa Warheit, Filmmaker, director of "Insular Empire: America
in the Marianas"
Dave Webb, Emeritus Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, Leeds Met University,
UK, Chair, CND
The Very Rev. the Hon. Lois Wilson, Former President, World Council of Churches
Lucas Wirl, Program Director, International Network of Engineers
and Scientists for Global Responsibility, Germany
Lawrence Wittner, Professor Emeritus of History, State University of
New York/Albany
Ann Wright, Retired US Army Colonel and former US diplomat
Angie Zelter, Trident Ploughshares, UK
(In the
alphabetical order of family names, as of January 28, 2014)
Please join us in this cause and sign the international petition. Go to: http://chn.ge/1ecQPUJ
Please join us in this cause and sign the international petition. Go to: http://chn.ge/1ecQPUJ
Media Reports
ＡＦＰ
Oliver Stone, Michael Moore, others rally against Okinawa base plan
http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/oliver-stone-michael-moore-others-rally-against-okinawa-base-plan?utm_campaign=jt_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=jt_newsletter_2014-01-30_AM
Ｐｒｅｓｓ ＴＶ
US activists rap Okinawa base plan
海外識者声明１０３人に 広がる辺野古新基地反対http://ryukyushimpo.jp/news/storyid-218589-storytopic-53.html
賛同２０００人１０カ国超 海外識者の新基地反対声明
http://ryukyushimpo.jp/news/storyid-218688-storytopic-53.html
Okinawa Times 沖縄タイムス
辺野古ノー 海外賛同著名人１００人超す
http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/article.php?id=61608
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