Text Fwd: A letter to Clinton from Okinawa

Fwd from: Teruo Onishi "大西　照雄" bingo@y5.dion.ne.jp, No Bases, Agatha Haun

Text Fwd: A letter to Clinton from Okinawa

'From the Sea Dugongs in OKINAWA　
（Okinawa is a strategic colony of the Japanese government and the U.S. government!）

Okinawa journalists representing 13 political scientist who Statement
Nakasone, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Clinton, "U.S. Marines
in Okinawa to Guam relocation agreement" represents a political scientist to
conclude Okinawa, said that 13 journalists are Si release was sent to
Clinton.

Teruo Onishi's contact address

Home page: http://www.geocities.jp/teruo024/
E mail: bingo@y5.dion.ne.jp
FAX : 81(Japan)-980-53-5081
Home: 3-8-20 Okita, Nago-City, JAPAN905-0019'

February 14, 2009

Dear Madame Secretary,

The people of Okinawa have never welcomed the continuous presence of United States
military bases since the end of the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. We have been deprived of
opportunities to express our own will regarding the bases. In his famous Fourteen
Points speech, President Woodrow Wilson stated that “a free, open-minded, and
absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of
the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the
populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the
government whose title is to be determined.” Yet even today the people of Okinawa do
not fully own the right of self-determination which President Wilson saw as an essential
condition for world peace. The very origins of the military base issue in Okinawa lie in
the lack of this right of self-determination.

No matter how many times or how strongly the President and Congress would express
their gratitude to Okinawa people for the hardships of letting US military bases operate
in Okinawa, their words have never reached the Okinawa people’s hearts. Please
imagine what we have experienced and try to understand why we would not accept your
words of gratitude. For example, most of the US military bases were built on land that
was forcefully taken away. SOFA is another cause of anger because SOFA severely
limits Japanese judicial authority over crimes committed by US soldiers, even serious
crimes like rape. And consider astonishingly beautiful coral reefs that would be
destroyed to construct your new base in Henoko. The US government has refused to
take any responsibility by claiming that the new base construction is solely under
Japanese jurisdiction.

Another example: USMC Futenma does not meet the US operational safety standards
for Navy and Marines airfield. Local residents are exposed to high risk flights and noise
pollution, experiencing constant fear, while aircrafts fly over residential areas late at
night and early in the morning. Okinawa, a small island, has lived under such great
stress for over sixty years. The presence of US military bases has distorted not only the
politics and economy of Okinawa, but also its society itself and people’s minds and pride.
Do you think we would accept your gratitude in exchange for accepting these ongoing
hardships?

We do not need to remind you that Okinawa is not your territory. Your fifty thousand
military members act freely as if this is their land, but, of course, it is not. Please
remember that we, the Okinawa people, own “the inherent dignity” and “the equal and
inalienable rights of all the members of the human family,” which is stated in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, just like your family and friends do.
These equal and inalienable rights are not respected in Okinawa. The governments of
the United States and Japan legitimized the US military occupation of Okinawa with
the San Francisco Treaty in 1952, and the reversion of administrative rights in 1972
created a structure of economic and financial dependency in exchange for the presence
of US military bases on Okinawa. The governments have changed their strategy for
maintaining the base presence from using force to using money.

This is a very cruel treatment. The people of Okinawa have increased dependency on
such money. The money has created a system which has corrupted our minds. It has
taken away alternatives. The acceptance of US bases is seen as the only way to live.
Furthermore, US military bases in Japan are highly concentrated in Okinawa and this
condition clearly shows discrimination. This is an absurd situation, isn’t it? It is as if the
Japanese government has made Okinawa a drug addict and the US government takes
full advantage of the addiction, in order to maintain its military presence. Violations of
human rights and the destruction of coral reefs, a treasure of human kind, are taking
place in Okinawa, despite the fact that it is a part of Japan which is a highly
industrialized democracy.

“The world order” based on the American values and the “security of Japan” depend on
the structure that deprives the Okinawa people of the “inherent dignity”. Those who are
concerned with world peace should pay attention to this structure. Okinawa’s situation
is one of the cracks of the world community that should be mended. Maybe Okinawa’s
problems are small ones among the entire challenges that mankind is facing today. But
it is a big issue for the people involved. When you have military bases on a foreign soil
that does not accept and support them, you constantly need to be worried about the long
term stability of the bases, and the potential crisis continues. This is a burden not only
for Okinawa but for the US as well.

In 2005 and 2006, the governments of the United States and Japan reached agreements
regarding the reorganization of US military bases in Japan. They agreed on the
construction of new bases and it seems that they are trying to make the US military
presence in Okinawa permanent. This plan would add a further burden on the people of
Okinawa who have suffered long enough. In other words, something that other parts of
Japan refused to accept would be dumped on Okinawa again. Most of us are opposed to
the executive agreement that you would sign during your stay in Japan.

Here we state our tenets:

1. We demand that the governments of the United States and Japan cancel the
construction of the new airfield in Nago City and helicopter landing pads in Higashi
Village.

2. We demand that both governments materialize the immediate and unconditional
return of USMC Futenma. We consider the “Package” policy that integrates
Futenma’s return with the construction of new bases in Okinawa and Guam a mere
cover for the forceful execution of their own will by stronger parties on Okinawa.
3. We demand that both governments further reduce US military bases on Okinawa,
including the prompt return of bases south of USAF Kadena, whose return plan was
already announced.

Please look into Okinawa’s situation from the standpoints of democracy, human rights,
and environmental concerns during your visit to Japan. We hope that you will take new
initiatives in U.S. policy toward Okinawa during the Obama administration.
President Obama states he would learn from Japan’s experience of “the lost decade of
the 1990s” in his efforts to revive the US economy. The Okinawa people wish for you and
President Obama to bring about the end of “the lost sixty-four years” forced on us by the
US military bases.

Seigen Miyasato
Chairperson
Okinawa Foreign Policy Study Group