Okinawa has been a mostly unhappy host of American military bases, and the issue has been prominent at times on the agenda of the Japanese peace movement.
When President Barack Obama visited Hiroshima in May of 2016, there was an effort to persuade him to put Okinawa on his travel itinerary, but as has happened frequently throughout the long tortured history of Okinawa, the request was ignored, and the people of the island were once more disappointed. In an important sense, Okinawa is the most shameful legacy of Japan’s defeat in World War II, exceeding even the sites of the atomic attacks by its daily reminders of a continued colonialist encroachment on Okinawan national dignity and wellbeing.
Actually, Okinawa is being victimized by overlapping exploitations with that of the United States reinforced and legitimized by mainland Japan. For the United States, Okinawa serves as a hub for its strategic military operations throughout the Pacific, with at least 14 separate military bases occupying about 20% of the island. Kadena Air Base was used for B-29 bombing missions during the Korean War more than a half century ago, and the island was used as a major staging area throughout the Vietnam War. It has also been used as a secret site for the deployment of as many as 1,000 nuclear warheads in defiance of Japanese declared no-nukes policy. Actually, in recent years Okinawa rarely receives global news coverage except when there occurs a sex crime by American servicemen that provokes local outrage and peaceful mass demonstrations followed by the strained apologies of local American military commanders.
Japan’s role in the misfortunes of Okinawa is more than one of a passive acceptance of the enduring side effects of its defeat and humiliation in World War II. After a series of military incursions, Japan finally conquered Okinawa and the Ryukyu island chain of which it is a part in 1879, and then imposed its rule in ways that suppressed the culture, traditions, and even the language of the native populations of the islands. What is virtually unknown in the West is that Okinawa was the scene of the culminating catastrophic land battle between the United States and Japan in the spring of 1945 that resulted in the death of an astounding one-third of the island’s civilian population of then 300,000 and its subsequent harsh military administration by the United States for the next 27 years until the island was finally turned back to Japan in 1972. Despite an estimated 60-80% of Okinawans being opposed to the U.S. bases, confirmed by the recent election of an anti-bases governor of prefecture, the government in Tokyo, currently headed by a dangerous militarist, Shinzo Abe, is comfortable with the status quo, which allows most of the unpopular continuing American military presence to be centered outside of mainland Japan, and hence no longer a serious political irritant within the country.
What the plight of Okinawans exemplifies is the tragic ordeal of a small island society, which because of its small population and size, entrapment within Japan, and geopolitical significance, failed to be included in the decolonizing agenda that was pursued around the world with such success in the last half of the 20th century. This tragic fate that has befallen Okinawa and its people results from being a ‘colony’ in a post-colonial era. Its smallness of current population (1.4 million) combined with its enclosure within Japanese sovereign statehood and its role in pursuing the Asian strategic interests of the United States, as well as joint military operations with Japan make it captive of a militarized world order that refuses to acknowledge the supposedly inalienable right of self-determination, an entitlement of all peoples according to common Article 1 of both human rights covenants. In this respect, Okinawa, from a global perspective, is a forgotten remnant of the colonial past, which means it is subjugated and irrelevant from the perspective of a state-centric world order. In this respect, it bears a kinship with such other forgotten peoples as those living in Kashmir, Chechnya, Xinjiang, Tibet, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Palau, Marianas Islands, among many others.
There are other ways of being forgotten. I have for many years been concerned about the Palestinian ordeal, another geopolitical and historical casualty of Euro-American priorities and the colonialist legacy. Here, too, the indigenous population of Palestine has endured decades of suffering, denials of basic rights, and a dynamic of victimization initiated a century ago when the British Foreign Office issued the Balfour Declaration pledging support to the world Zionist movement for the establishment of a Jewish Homeland in historic Palestine, later placed under the tutorial role of the United Kingdom with the formal blessings of the League of Nations until the end of World War II. Instead of Japan playing the intermediate role as in Okinawa, it is Israel that pursues its own interests and teams with the United States and Europe as a strategic partner to carry forward its shared geopolitical goals throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Of course, there are crucial differences. Japan is constrained as a partner by its postwar peace constitution, which Abe is keen to circumvent and dilute, while Israel has become a military powerhouse in the region, enjoying a special relationship with the United States that includes the incredible assurance by Washington of a military capability capable of defeating any foreseeable combination of Arab adversaries. Also, unlike Okinawa, there are no American military bases in Israel. There is no need for them. Israel acts as an American surrogate, and sometimes even vice versa. Yet the result is the same—force projection unconnected with self-defense, but vital for upholding regional strategic interests that involve maintaining a visible military presence and offering allies in the region credible promises of protection.
When we raise questions about the future of Okinawa, we come face to face with the role and responsibility of global civil society. The Palestinian goals appear to remain more ambitious than those of the Okinawans, although such an impression could be misleading. The Palestinian movement is centered upon realizing the right of self-determination, which means at the very least an end to occupation and a diplomacy that achieves a comprehensive, sustainable, and just peace. For Okinawans, long integrated into the Japanese state, earlier dreams of independence seem to have faded, and the focus of political energy is currently devoted to the anti-bases campaign. Taking moral globalization seriously means conceiving of citizenship as borderless with respect to space and time, an overall identity I have described elsewhere under the label ‘citizen pilgrim,’ someone on a life journey to build a better future by addressing the injustices of the present wherever encountered.
In this respect, acting as citizen pilgrims means giving attention to injustices that the world as a whole treats as invisible except when an awkward incident of lethal abuse occurs. Okinawa has been effectively swept under the dual rugs of statism (Okinawa is part of the sovereign state of Japan) and geopolitics (Okinawa offers the United States indispensable military bases), and even the mainly Japanese peace movement may have grown fatigued and distracted, being currently preoccupied with its opposition to the revival of Japanese militarism under Abe’s leadership. Whether attention to the plight of Okinawa will give rise to false hopes is a concern, but the aspiration is to produce an empowering recognition throughout the world that for some peoples the struggle against colonialism remains a present reality rather than a heroic memory that can be annually celebrated as an independence day holiday. Until we in the United States stand in active solidarity with such victims of colonialist governance we will never know whether more can be done to improve prospects of their emancipation. This awareness and allegiance is the very least that we can do if we are to act in the spirit of a citizen pilgrimage.
This article was originally published at RichardFalk.Wordpress.com. An earlier version first appeared in the Japanese publication Ryukyu Shimpo.
Okinawans are probably the most laid back and friendly people I have ever lived amongst. Tokyo and Washington are taking advantage of this. There is no earthly reason for the US military to be on this small group of islands in such numbers. They occupy nearly 20 percent of the land mass. If the US had to pay rent for the land area they occupy at the same rate as Japanese people do, they would be broke in half a year. They are on prime land here. Okinawans need their land back. The US bases are HOLDING DOWN the economy here. Without them, this tourist paradise would prosper.
And please, NO MORE EMPTY PROMISES and don’t try to fob us off with a parcel of land in the north of the island that you don’t want and that is almost inaccessible.
1. “This tragic fate that has befallen Okinawa and its people results from being a ‘colony’ in a post-colonial era. Its smallness of current population (1.4 million) combined with its enclosure within Japanese sovereign statehood and its role in pursuing the Asian strategic interests of the United States, as well as joint military operations with Japan make it captive of a militarized world order that refuses to acknowledge the supposedly inalienable right of self-determination, an entitlement of all peoples according to common Article 1 of both human rights covenants.”
Although the sense of colonialism does exists, the other half of truth must be also emphasized.
The US has been continuing their foreign policies based on the concepts of “National Security” and “National Interests”. They repeat this course of action without any doubt over and over again, for it looks serving her purposes, but only in the short run.
This is repeated in the form of close association with the local oppressive government in the Middle East regardless of how much citizens are suffering from the reign and hence the objects of hatred, “the built-in structure of recruitment for terrorists”.
It is a mistake on the part of the US in the long run, for their hatred will be directed more to the US since they once saw her the savior.
Okinawa has been struggling with the oppressive government of Japan and now the US supposedly a champion of democracy has been repeating the same pattern here.
While in the short run the US Govt may see their treatment of Okinawa serve their purpose, in the long run Okinawa may be forced to turn their attention from the Futenma and its Henoko relocation to “opposing the entire US bases in Okinawa”.
Is it really serving “National Security” and “National Interests” for the US?
2. “Okinawa has been effectively swept under the dual rugs of statism (Okinawa is part of the sovereign state of Japan) and geopolitics (Okinawa offers the United States indispensable military bases)…”
Okinawan wish for independence may not be dismissed that easy.
a. The Ryukyu Kingdom that had been rather free-spirited marchant state was taken militarily and reigned long by Satsuma,
b. had been treated indigenous with forced adoption of mainland cultures,
c. had to suffer from only land battle in Japan, the Battle of Okinawa, losing 1/4 of residents and land confiscations without consent afterward, whose tragic stories were shared and carried down to the present generations
d. had to bear with all kinds of crimes committed by the US military personnel, most of whom was prevented from indictment by the intentional adoption of the SOFA by the USFJ leadership, especially shocking case of three soldiers raping a 12 years old girl and going free escaping indictment
e. had to participate indirectly in war by sending the US soldiers to Vietnam as well as staging them on the way to the battle grounds in the Middle East against their wish not to have others experience their own tragedy
f. had to accept subsidiaries from the central govt representing them to act against the progressive who were opposing its policy to keep the US bases in Okinawa, opposing those who emphasized Okinawan spirit and conscience for the sake of economic gain
Finally the conservative politicians including the present Gov Onaga along with 3 out of 7 powerful business groups reached the other side to announce their objection to the relocation site of Futenma, Henoko.
The present movement against the Henoko Plan led by the Gov Onaga and supported by over 80 % of people, who gave all five positions in the upper house election of late to those against the plan should not be taken lightly.
Those who support Gov Onaga may be feeling the situation approaching “either-or” state, with options including all out appealing to the UN Human Right Council and application to UN Trusteeship. The success on such endeavors may not be great, yet Okinawa must pursue such hoping that either Govt would succumb to the case of bringing them to the world attention of “insincere treatment of people”.
Traditionally Okinawans who wanted to be independent has been 6 to 8 %, but most of Okinawan may accept that to be alternative if the above fails.
Yet or along with the above actions Gov Onaga may decide to lead Okinawans in attempt to physically halt the construction in Henoko. That is the time when Okinawan will and desire be really tested.
This author knows nothing about Okinawa and I doubt that he’s never been to Okinawa.
It is totally nonsense to bring Palestine while several cities of Okinawa are passing resolution to claim that they are not indigenous people even at the United Nations.
The governor of Okinawa has deep relationship with China communist party as his daughter studied and married with high level officer in the China communist party. He is bribed by China.
Those activists in Okinawa are even not Japanese.
Koreans and Chinese are pretending to be Japanese but we all know that those are foreigners and paid activists.
Don’t be deceived by this type of Propaganda.
If you see Philippines, what happened after US left? China came in and took islands for their own profit.
Writing this type of stupid article is only contributing communists in China and North Korea.
There are terrorist organizations called “Kakumaru” and “Chukaku” who are supporting Chinese activities in Japan.
Buddy you seem a bit late on current affairs.
Ive seen your “they aren’t even japanese/ or whoever” before.
This time it’s on the lighter scale.
In other situations the west reports deceased people being from different ethnicities, to suit their interest.
Fascism, it’s fascinating.
Ease of the Chinese, there’s always the Russians.
Here is a novel idea, if you did not attack the US first, this would not have been a issue, further now that you depend, nor more demand that the US come to your aid if attacked, you should be happy this is all we are asking for, you sure are not paying us for protecting you.
And there is a huge difference between here and the so called Palestinians. First, one can go do a dig in the area and pull up archaeological evidence to the fact these people have settled in the land and lived there for centuries. That does not include the fact that there are Census that counts them and names them by name, documented eye witness accounts and historical records, exactly what there is none of with the fiction known as Palestinians.