Text Fwd: [famoksaiyanfriends] Okinawa City Elections Reveal Strengthening Anti-U.S. Base Stance 오키나와 선거, 강화되어 가는 반 미군 기지 자세를 드러내다

* Below texts thankfully provided by Martha Duenas on Sept. 13, 2010
_______________________________________________________________
Stars and Stripes
Okinawa City Elections Reveal Strengthening Anti-U.S. Base Stance
By David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida
September 13, 2010

GINOWAN, Okinawa — Opposition to a plan to relocate military air operations to Camp Schwab from Marine Corps Air Station Futenma is growing stronger and becoming more polarized, according to results of Nago city assembly elections Sunday.

U.S. base opponents in the northern Okinawa city near in which Camp Schwab lies won a 60 percent majority in the elections. Of 27 seats anti-base candidates won 16 seats and 11 went to pro-base candidates. Before the election the city assembly consisted of 12 anti-base members and 12 who were considered pro-base, with three members neutral on the issue.

The Nago vote boosts the power of Mayor Susumu Inamine, who was elected on an anti-base platform last January.

In May the U.S. and Japan reaffirmed a 2006 agreement to close Futenma, in urban Ginowan, and move the air units to Camp Schwab and build runways stretching onto landfill in pristine Oura Bay.

Although the mayor and city assembly have no powers to block the move, Sunday’s election shows it will be difficult for the national government to win local understanding, let along acceptance, for the Futenma relocation project.

“It’s like scoring an insurance run (in a baseball game),” Masaaki Gabe, professor of International Relations and director of the International Okinawa Studies at the University of the Ryukyus, said Monday. “Securing the majority in the council makes it easier for Inamine to pursue his agenda.”

The election could also affect the Okinawa governor’s race, where Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima, who reluctantly supported the relocation plan in 2006 but now says he’s opposed to it, faces Ginowan Mayor Shoichi Iha, a fervent opponent of the project. That election is scheduled for Nov. 28.

Okinawa’s governor can hinder the progress of the relocation plan by refusing to allow dumping tons of landfill into Oura Bay, known as the northernmost feeding ground of the endangered dugong, a saltwater manatee. If the governor refuses to approve the landfill project, the national government would have to pass special legislation to bypass his veto.

Sunday’s election comes two days ahead of the national election for presidency of the Democratic Party of Japan, which could also affect the Futenma relocation plan. The DPJ is Japan’s ruling party and the race is seen as a toss-up between Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who supports the base project, and Ichiro Ozawa, who says the U.S., Japan and Okinawa need to have new discussions before proceeding with any construction.

If Kan wins, he remains prime minister and his focus will be on finding ways to have Okinawa officials accept the plan.

In that vein, a panel of local and national officials met in Tokyo Friday to discuss measures to improve the prefecture’s economy and reduce the noise, crime and other problems associated with the military bases, which cover about one-fifth of the main island of Okinawa.

Since the initial 1996 bilateral agreement to close MCAS Futenma and move the air operations elsewhere on Okinawa, Tokyo has allocated about $117.6 million in economic stimulus for northern Okinawa, including Nago.

In addition, $32.66 million was earmarked from the Ministry of Defense for economic projects for the communities affected by the base project.

The current stimulus allocations for the northern area expires in March. The stimulus package for the Camp Schwab area communities was suspended by the Ministry of Defense in January when Inamine was elected.

okibureau@pstripes.osd.mil
______________________________________________________________
Kyodo News
Base Opponents Win Majority in Nago Assembly Election
Sep 12 11:25 AM US/Eastern

PanOrient News
Anti-Base Candidates Win Nago City Assembly

Dispatch Japan
Monday, September 13, 2010
Maehara, Ministry of Defense nervous about upcoming Okinawa local election
by Peter Ennis
09/09/2010

Dispatch Japan
Simmering Okinawa problem could boil over
by Peter Ennis
07/29/2010

NHK World
Voting Underway in Nago City Assembly Election
2010/09/12 12:23(JST)

Text Fwd: Italian film questions U.S. troop presence [in Vicenza and Okinawa]

* Text sent from J. D. on July 7, 2010
________________________________________________________________

Below is the Youtube Video of Standing Army film documentary (Video URL)



________________________________________________________________

Italian film questions U.S. troop presence

BY SHINYA MINAMISHIMA
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
2010/07/07

ROME--Two young Italian filmmakers have posed an intriguing question in a documentary that focuses on a U.S. Army base in their country and touches on the situation in Okinawa Prefecture.

They sought to find out why U.S. troops continue to be deployed worldwide more than six decades after the end of World War II. The documentary "Standing Army" was completed recently by filmmaker Enrico Parenti, 31, and Thomas Fazi, a 28-year-old researcher and translator. The two were first drawn to the topic of the U.S. armed forces through a January 2007 decision by the Italian government to authorize the expansion of a U.S. Army installation in the city of Vicenza, in northern Italy. The base is the home to the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and a staging area for troop deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Some 2,750 U.S. soldiers are assigned to the base. Under the expansion plan, an additional 2,000 troops stationed in Germany were to be transferred to Vicenza by 2012. That would make it the largest U.S. military base in Europe.

The filmmakers set out by interviewing local residents opposed to the expansion. Although an opponent to the plan was elected mayor of Vicenza in April 2008, a plebiscite he initiated against the base issue was crushed by a decision by the Council of State, Italy's highest administrative court. According to an unofficial survey of 25,000 residents by the city government, 95 percent opposed the base expansion. Coupled with the fact that 25 countries around the world, aside from Iraq and Afghanistan, now host units with 100 or more U.S. military personnel, with a total 120,000 servicemen and women scattered worldwide, the base expansion prompted the two to seek answers.

Their theme had a special meaning, particularly as Italians remain ambivalent about the continued U.S. presence after Italian fascist forces were defeated by U.S. and British troops in World War II. Many Italians sided with the Allies as part of the partisan movement. Parenti's mother is a U.S. citizen and his maternal grandfather and uncle fought in the Korean War, while Fazi's mother is British, making the issue especially poignant. Through their work with anti-base activists, Parenti and Fazi learned about a similar situation that has been facing an island halfway around the world.

The two traveled to Okinawa Prefecture to see for themselves the situation surrounding the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in the city of Ginowan. There, they watched military aircraft taking off and landing, noting that classes at a nearby school were constantly interrupted because of the roar of the engines. Including news footage of the 2004 helicopter crash at the campus of Okinawa International University near the Futenma airfield, the two sought to better understand the situation facing Okinawan residents.

The film, which has been shown at several events in Europe, was released on DVD in June.

Parenti and Fazi say they are hoping to find people willing to help show the movie and distribute the DVD in Japan.

Those interested can contact the two in English or Italian at (info@standingarmy.it).