JAPAN – NO to US base in Japan, demilitarise the whole region!
15 December 2009 5:56 am

jp_henoko_09_janjan.jpgThe
Japanese government continues its dialogue with the US government on
relocation of a US base in Okinawa, southern Japan. Violence against
Women in War Network, a civil society organisation in Japan, voiced in
a letter on 2 December 2009 to the Prime Minister to dismantle all the
US bases in the country.

jp_henoko_09_janjan.jpgThe
Japanese government continues its dialogue with the US government on
relocation of a US base in Okinawa, southern Japan. Violence against
Women in War Network, a civil society organisation in Japan, voiced in
a letter on 2 December 2009 to the Prime Minister to dismantle all the
US bases in the country.

The landslide victory of
the Democratic Party (DPJ) in the general election in August 2009 put an end to
the prolonged and stagnated regime of the Liberal Democratic Party
(LDP) and has brought hope for
positive change in Japanese society. DPJ has presented the review of realignment
of the US forces and the
future of the US bases in
Japan as well as revision of the
Japan Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) in its election manifesto. Further,
forming a ruling coalition, the Social Democratic Party, the People's New Party
and the DPJ have agreed that they should be reviewed from the aspect of reducing
the burden historically shouldered by people in Okinawa.

In the post-war era, the US occupation army displaced people
and grabbed their land to expand their military bases by "bayonet and
bulldozer".
Since then, the US military
forces have occupied the land of Okinawa for more than 60 years.
With
less than one percent of Japan's land area, Okinawa hosts 75 percent of
the US bases in Japan.
The
failure of the gang-rape case of 12-year-old girl by three US
marines in September 1995 exposed irrational nature of the SOFA, under which
suspects do not need to be handed over to Japanese authorities until they are
charged. It sparked outrage among people in Okinawa and brought on multiple
congressional resolutions to protest the US
military. On Oct 21,
1996, 85,000 people came together from all over Okinawa and held the anti-base protest rally as is
well-known.

As
a response to the political uprising, Special Action Committee on Okinawa (SACO)
or the SACO agreement was established in November 1995 by both governments to
review the US bases in
Japan including the Futenma base
relocation plan. Based on the SACO report, Henoko, the east coast of Nago-city,
was chosen as a location for the relocation, despite the result of the Nago-city
referendum in 1996 which proved more than 50% of the locals are against the
relocation to Nago-city. Persistent protest against construction of a new base
has been carried out by Ojie (old men) and Obaa (old women) among people in
Henoko to the present.

Violence
against women by US servicemen in Okinawa has never ended while Kevin Maher,
Consul General in Naha expressed, "No incident like this is
good". Violence and discrimination against women intrinsically link to
militarism. Women and girls are always threatened by violence by the
US military personnel as long
as the US bases remain in
Okinawa.

DPJ
has not demonstrated its clear position on the relocation of the Futenma base,
but letting various proposals to continue, such as consolidating it into the
Kadena base or relocating it to Guam or
Iwo-Jima. The issues of relocation of the Futenma base and withdrawal of other
bases in Okinawa cannot be a 'package'. We
demand the Hatoyama government to respect sovereignty of people in Okinawa and adhere its policy consistent with the Japanese
Constitution which stipulates the renunciation of war. We strongly demand the
government to:

  • Stop
    allowing the US' military
    use of Okinawa for its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been adversely
    impacting people in Pakistan and other
    countries;
  • Stop
    threatening people's lives by the military in Okinawa and assert immediate abolishment of the Futenma
    base; and
  • Dismantle
    all US military bases from
    Japan, contribute to
    de-militarisation of the region and put an end to violence and discrimination
    against women.
(Photo courtesy of Janjan)