Japan: Two arrested as Battle for Okinawa heats up

Two activists were arrested on February 20 at a demonstration outside the US Embassy in Tokyo. The activists were taking part in a demonstration against the construction of a United States military base in Okinawa.

The activists were released from custody on March 5. Their supporters are campaigning for the charges against them to be completely dropped.

The demonstrators had received police permission to rally. But on reaching the embassy, protesters were greeted by a wall of police.

Police arrested the two activists without apparent cause. When asked by bystanders for the reasons for the arrests the police response was that “the reason would be given after the arrests”.

Police refused the men access to a lawyer during the first day of their detention.

The US maintains an extensive network of military bases in Japan. About 75% of the bases are on the small island of Okinawa.

About 24,600 US military personnel are stationed in Okinawa out of a total of 38,000 in all of Japan. Many of the soldiers live in gated “American towns” complete with schools, gymnasiums, golf courses, shopping centres and churches.

Lying in the far south-west of the Japanese archipelago, the island of Okinawa has long suffered under the yoke of both Japanese and US militarism.

After the “Battle of Okinawa’” in the final stages of World War II, the US military seized control of the island, interned local residents and built new military bases.

Japan regained its sovereignty in 1951, but Okinawa remained under US military control until 1972.

Marine Corp Air Station Futenma is in the heart of busy Ginowan City, (population 91,000) to the north of the Okinawan capital, Naha. Between 2000 and 4000 marines from the 1st Marine Aircraft Division are stationed there.

Low-flying aircraft continually pass over homes, schools and hospitals during take-off and training exercises. In 2004, a heavy helicopter from the base crashed into a nearby university building.

In 1995, three US soldiers raped a 12-year-old Okinawan girl. This prompted protests of up to 100,000 people against the bases.

The US and Japan developed a “relocation” plan in response, which, it was claimed, would reduce the impact of the bases on Okinawa.

In reality, the plan involved relocating the Futenma base “within five to seven years” to another site within Okinawa: to the pristine north-east Henoko peninsula near Marine Corps Camp Schwab.

In 2006, Japan and the US agreed to a “roadmap” to relocate most of the marines based in Okinawa to Guam by 2014. The plan was premised on the relocation of the Futenma base to Henoko.

Japan is to foot more than 60% of the relocation costs, amounting to US$6.09 billion. The plan has not been implemented due to ongoing opposition by Okinawan residents.

The issue has been at the centre of national politics since the fall of the Liberal Democratic Party government, which had ruled almost without interruption since the end of World War II. The Democratic Party of Japan won a landslide victory in 2009.

DPJ leader Hatoyama Yukio promised during his campaign to secure from the US the return of the Futenma base in Okinawa without replacement.

But he capitulated on May 4, 2010, claiming the marine base could not be relocated outside Japan.

Hatoyama was subjected to enormous pressure from defence and foreign affairs ministry bureaucrats, as well as from US officials.

Hatoyama resigned on June 4, having served as prime minister for only eight months.

The relocation of the marine airbase to the village of Henoko has been met with stiff opposition from local residents and their supporters all over Japan and the world.

The frontline of the battle over US military bases lies in the small Okinawa community of Takae, in the Yanbaru forest.

The Yanbaru forest, which is rich in biodiversity, is already host to 22 US military helipads. The frequent use of these helipads causes numerous problems for the communities scattered throughout the forest.

Residents of Takae, a small community of about 160 people, have been protesting against the construction of six new military helipads near their homes since 1999.

The new helipads are designed to support the MV-22 Osprey, an accident-prone helicopter which claimed the lives of 30 US personnel in its testing phase alone.

Takae residents began a sit-in protest against the construction on February 23, 2006. The Okinawan Defence Bureau (ODB) tried to start construction of the helipads in July 2007.

In November 2008, the ODB took 15 protesters, including an eight-year-old child, to court for “obstruction”.

Two of the accused were found guilty. Residents have appealed the decision and court action continues.

More than 10,000 people have taken part in the sit-in protests that have blocked the construction of the helipads.

In December, the ODB used violence against the peaceful protesters. At 6am on December 22, about 100 members of the bureau barged into the site without warning to restart construction.

The next night, a US helicopter hovered just 15 metres above the sit-in tent, causing it to collapse. Construction crews have continued to visit the site, bringing in materials and cutting down trees.

At Camp Schwab, where another sit-in protest is being maintained, barbed-wire fencing has been replaced with a temporary wall to prevent protesters from viewing construction activity.

With the US economy languishing under a mountain of debt, questions are being raised in Washington over the future of overseas military bases.

Last May, Democrat Congressperson Barney Frank and Republican Ron Paul convened the Sustainable Defence Task Force. The Task Force proposed $1 trillion of cuts to the defence budget over the next 10 years, including reducing the number of US forces stationed in Asia and Europe.

Frank said: “We don’t need Marines in Okinawa. They’re a hangover from a war that ended 65 years ago.”

As opposition to the base relocation plan builds, it seems less and less likely to happen.

The arrests outside the US embassy and the attacks on the Takae residents appear to be the desperate acts of a government with little room to move.

[Statements in solidarity with the arrestees can be sent to the Rescue Committee for the February 20 Repression in Front of the U.S. Embassy in Japan at ametaiq@gmail.com .]