[Texts Fw] April 25, Okinawa Erupts in Yellow!

* Image source: Peace Philosophy Center_

_______________________________________________________________

* Forward from Jean Downey on Apr 24, 2010

'From: Sayo saruta on April 23, 2010'

'You can see the Okinawan Rally by relay with the following website.
It is from 3 pm Japan time (2am DC time) until the end of the rally.

다음 웹사이트에서 오키나와 집회를 연달아 볼 수 있읍니다. 일본 시간으로 3시부터 (DC 시간으로 2시부터) 집회 끝까지 입니다.

http://ryukyushimpo.jp/news/page-148.html

Live Streaming by Ustream.TV

Sayo'
________________________________________________________________
* From Makiko Sato on April 24, 2010

'Something in yellow color is desirable, if you show solidarity with Okinawa,
Jeju, Guam, Tinian, Hawaii, Vicenza, on, around or even after April 25th.
How about holding a yellow-colored paper with slogans on it?
Below is an email from Etsumi Tahira, a woman aged 75, who has been conducting
sit-ins for long with local women on the beach of Henoko, Okinawa.
Cheers'

'4월 25일 또는 그 이후라도 오키나와, 제주, 괌, 티니안, 하와이, 빈센차에 대한 연대를 표현하기 위해 노란색이 좋습니다. 구호가 쓰여진 노란색 종이를 들면 어떨까요?
아래는 75세된 여성, 에추미 타히라가에게서 온 이 메일로 오키나와 헤노코 해안에서 오랫동안 지역 여성들과 연좌 시위를 진행했습니다.
힘내세요. '

Below is an email from Etsumi Tahira, a woman aged 75, who has been conducting
sit-ins for long with local women on the beach of Henoko, Okinawa.

아래는 75세된 여성, 에추미 타히라가로 오키나와 헤노코 해안에서 오랫동안 지역 여성들과 연좌 시위를 진행했습니다.

....................( Estumi Tahira's email ).................
I hear SDFs bases throughout Japan are under the joint use with the US forces.

저는 일본 전역에 걸쳐 일본 자위대 기지들이 미 군대와 공동 사용되고 있다는 얘기를 듣습니다.

Those who visit Henoko talk about their anxiety about this situation.

헤노코를 방문하는 사람들은 이 상황에 대한 그들의 우려를 말합니다.

Does Japanese central government think that Japan is safe as long as it is a subject state under the US power ?

일본 중앙 정부는 일본이 미국의 권력을 따르는 한 안전하다고 생각하는 걸까요?

I do an early morning sit-in in front of the gate of Camp Shuwab every Friday,
then later move on to the Henoko Beach to conduct a vigil there.

저는 매주 금요일 이른 아침 캠프 슈와브 정문 앞에서 연좌를 하고 침번을 하기 위해 헤노코 해안으로 갑니다.

On the occasion of such morning sit-ins, about 90 banners are tied to the fence.

그러한 아침 연좌 때마다 약 90여 깃발들이 울타리에 묶여집니다.

American soldiers soon try to cut or burn them,
then, we take them away and bring them back. I bring to the sit-in site a flag in which
I wrote the Chinese letters of ' non-war Ryukyu Kingdom.'

미국 병사들은 그것들을 곧 자르거나 불태웁니다. 저는 ‘류큐 왕국 전쟁 반대’라고 제가 한자로 쓴 깃발을 연좌 장소에 가져갑니다.

At the planned rally on 25th by inhabitants of Okinawa Prefecture, we are supposed
to show our consolidated will by using the color of yellow.

오키나와 현 거주인들의 25일 계획된 집회에서 우리는 노란 색을 사용함으로서 우리의 뭉쳐진 의지를 보이기로 되어 있습니다.

Those unfortunate who cannot come over will do the same, wearing something yellow.
I'll go, with a yellow parasol, wearing a white one-piece dress of my own making, with
a lot of messages on it written in yellow water-paint.

안타깝게도 오실 수 없는 분들도 노란 색을 입고 같은 행동을 할 것입니다. 저 역시 노란색 양산에 노란색으로 쓰여진 많은 메시지들을 담은 제가 만든 하얀 옷을 입고 갈 것입니다.

________________________________________________________________
* Message forwarded from Makiko on April2 4, 2010

‘It is from Yumi Kikuchi, who has been for several years making continued efforts to look for and convey the truth of 911 to the Japanese. She thinks if Japan doesn't financially support the US' wars, which it does in various ways, then the world will become more peaceful.

아래는 유미 기구치에게서 온 것으로 그는 911의 진실을 몇 년간 꾸준히 찾고
일본인들에게 911의 진실을 알렸습니다. 그는 일본이 미국의 전쟁을 다양한 방면으로 재정적으로 돕지 않으면 세계는 좀 더 평화적으로 될 거라 생각하고 있습니다.

Dear People of Okinawa, Jeju, Guam, Hawaii and Vecenza ,

오키나와, 제주, 괌, 하와이, 그리고 빈센차의 사람들에게

I am sending my photo with one of my children to show my solidarity to your action on April 25, 2010. Imagine all the bases on Earth turned into organic gardens and parks for people!
Imagine Peace, Imagine Ministries and Departments of Peace in all nations.

저는 2010년 4월 25일 당신들에게 저의 연대를 보이기 위해 제 자녀들중 하나와 찍은 사진을 보냅니다. 지구의 모든 기지들이 유기농 정원들과 사람들을 위한 공원으로 바뀌어 지는 것을 상상해 보세요. 모든 국가들에 있을 평화 장관들과 부서들을 상상해 보세요.

love and peace, Yumi Kikuchi
author, peace & environmental activist
from her organic farm in Chiba.

사랑과 평화로,
유미 기구치
작가, 평화 및 환경 활동가
지바에 있는 유기농 농가에서

________________________________________________________________

* Fw from Jean Downy on April 24, 2010
2010년 4월 24일 진 다우니로부터

Gavan McCormack: Okinawan rally on 25th-unprecedented event in Japanese & World History

"The 25th becomes an unprecedented event in modern Japanese history, if not the world history," Gavan McCormack, Professor of Australian National University, shared his thoughts on the upcoming mass rally in Okinawa.

25일은 세계 역사가 아니라면, 현대 일본 역사에서 전례없는 날이 될 것이다. 개번 맥코맥, 호주 국립 대학 교수는 다가오는 오끼나와 군중 집회에 대한 자신의 생각을 다음과 같이 나누었다.

"Never before in Japanese history has an entire region stood up and said 'No' to the central state authorities. And it is so much the more remarkable because they are actually saying 'No' not just to Tokyo but to Washington."

"일본 역사상 지역 전체가 일어나 중앙 정부 당국에 아니오라고 말한 적은 이 전에 결코 없었다. 그리고 그것은 한층 더 주목할 만한데 단지 도쿄뿐만 아니라 워싱턴에 '실제로 아니오' 라고말하기 때문이다."

"And, not only that, they now almost certainly are going to win: they are going to impose their will upon the two most powerful governments in the world. For citizens to assert, successfully, their moral authority and their right to dictate to government(s) is really something to celebrate!

"그리고 그것뿐만 아니라 그들은 거의 확실히 이길 것이다: 그들은 세계에서 가장 힘있는 두 정부들에 그들의 의지를 개입시키고 있다. 시민들이 자신들의 도덕적 권위와 정부를 다스릴 권리를 성공적으로 주장하는 것은 진실로 축하할 만한 일이다.

"This may be a new phase in democracy. "

" 이것은 민주주의 새로운 국면이 될 것이다."
http://closethebase.org/
________________________________________________________________

* Text Fw from Kyle Kajihiro on April 24, 2010

[ap-nobases] Solidarity Statement from the Members of the Network for Okinawa


http://closethebase.org/2010/04/22/solidarity-statement-from-the-members-of-the-network-for-okinawa/

Solidarity Statement from the Members of the Network for Okinawa


April 25, 2010

Network for Okinawa

We, the members of the Network for Okinawa, represent many hundreds of thousands of Americans and people around the world who support democracy and environmental protection in Okinawa. Our grassroots network draws together representatives from U.S. and international peace groups, environmental organizations, faith-based organizations, academia, and think tanks.

Today we proudly announce our stand with the governor, the mayors, the media, the Henoko village elders, and the one million citizens of Okinawa; the thirty thousand residents of Tokunoshima, and the hundreds of thousands of citizens across Japan who support Okinawa. From across the Pacific Ocean, we support their demand for the closure of the Futenma U.S. Marine Base and opposition to any new military base construction in Okinawa and Tokunoshima Island.

We appeal to Prime Minister Hatoyama to keep his promise to the Okinawan people and honor their rejection of any new construction in Camp Schwab. This includes a proposal to build a runway within the base already rejected in the 1990’s. The mayor of Nago, Inamine Susumu reiterated this rejection this year. We also ask Prime Minister Hatoyama to reject the U.S.-Japan 2006 proposal to construct partially offshore runways. This expansion would destroy the coral reef which is the home to the Okinawan dugong, blue coral, and other species, It would damage beautiful Yanbaru Forest, home of many beautiful animals and plants, including endangered species.

We call upon President Obama, as the commander-in-chief of the U.S. military, to honor the Okinawan democratic decision to remove the U.S. Futenma Marine base out of their prefecture and their call for no further U.S. military base construction.

The U.S. military built its first military bases during the Battle of Okinawa to serve as a platform for an invasion into Japan, then ruled by an imperial militarist wartime regime. Over two hundred thousand Okinawan civilians, American soldiers, and Japanese soldiers died in the crossfire between the U.S. and Japan in that battle. It was the bloodiest in the Pacific War.

But the war’s end did not bring peace to Okinawa. The U.S. never dismantled its military bases and began to use them under its own Cold War military regime with a never-ending succession of enemies: Korea, Vietnam, Laos, China and the Soviet Union. Some U.S. and Japanese officials again imagine China a threat—despite détente and ever-increasing economic integration between China and the U.S., Japan, South Korea, Australia, and other nations that deems war very unlikely.

Former Okinawan governor Masahide Ota stated—that for Okinawans—the war never ended. Many Okinawans still experience anxiety and depression from wartime trauma. The remains of 4,000-5,000 dead Okinawans have yet to be collected. Unexploded bombs remain throughout the island. Over 5,000 Okinawans have been the victims of crimes committed by American soldiers. Mr. Ota, therefore, asks: “Why shall we start preparing for a new war, while the old war is not over yet?”

Network member Peter Galvin, Conservation Director of the Center for Biological Diversity states, “Destroying the environmental and social well-being of an area, even in the name of ‘national or global security,’ is itself like actively waging warfare against nature and human communities.”

The US government has repeatedly promised reform in Okinawa. The 1972 “reversion” of Okinawa from the U.S. to Japan did not result in promised demilitarization. Their latest proposal—first made in 1996 and renegotiated in 2006—does not “lighten a burden.” It instead would move U.S. military pollution, noise, and assaults from Ginowan City to untouched Henoko.

How many elections, resolutions, and mass-scale rallies does the Japanese government and US government need before they hear the message of the Okinawan people?

We, the many people in the U.S. and worldwide, of the Network for Okinawa–hear and support these messages for removal, not relocation of military bases from Okinawa.

To illustrate, we would like to share some individual remarks from our supporters:

Gavan McCormack, Australian National University professor states, “An alliance that treats the opinion of Okinawans with such contempt is not an alliance of or for democracy. The ‘free world’ used to be fiercely critical of Moscow for trampling on the opinions of Poles, Czechs, and Hungarians; now, in the name of ‘freedom,’ it is about to act in precisely the same way. Does freedom mean so little to those who pretend they defend it?”

John Lindsay-Poland, Director of Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Latin America program, states: “Military bases in Japan and other countries are material projections of the will of the U.S. to use war and violent force. War is not only brutal, unjust, and ecologically devastating, but unnecessary to achieve legitimate aims.”

Kyle Kajihiro, Program Director, American Friends Service Committee – Hawai’i Area Office, states: “The powerful Okinawan demand is clear: peace is a human right. The Okinawan people are an inspiration to our own movement. We stand with them in solidarity for peace across the Pacific.”

In a speech she gave in Stockholm, Japanese Canadian author Joy Kogawa paid tribute to Okinawa’s peace-loving traditional culture that honors the sanctity of life:

“There is a certain small island in the east, where the world’s longest living and intensely peaceable people live.

“My brother, a retired Episcopalian priest, was in Okinawa for a few years in the 1990’s. He told me that in 1815, Captain Basil Hall of the British navy steamed into Naha, Okinawa and was amazed at what he found. The story goes, that on his way back to England, he dropped in to the island of St. Helena and had a chat with Napoleon.

“’I have been to an island of peace,’ the captain reported. ‘The island has no soldiers and no weapons.’

“’No weapons? Oh, but there must be a few swords around,’ Napoleon remarked.

“’No. Even the swords have been embargoed by the king.’

“Napoleon, we’re told, was astonished. ‘No soldiers, no weapons, no swords! It must be heaven.’

“A unique culture of peace had developed in one tiny part of our warring planet…

“When Japan, that once warring nation, took over the kingdom, there was an entirely bloodless coup. No soldiers were found to help later with the invasion of Korea. A disobedient people, Japan concluded. A kingdom without soldiers was clearly impossible. Okinawa, with its history of peace, must surely have had a culture as close to heaven as this planet has managed. And perhaps therefore a special target for the forces of hate.”

Today our world stands at a crossroads between survival and self-destruction. We must transform from a world dominated by a culture of war into a world led by cooperation and nonviolent conflict resolution. Instead of forcing more unwanted military violence upon this peaceful island, the U.S. and Japan would be wise to model Okinawa’s democratic culture of life.

http://closethebase.org/

CONTACT: John Feffer, Institute for Policy Studies

johnf@ips-dc.org, 202-234-9382, cell: 510-282-8983