Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa

94 Myth, protest and struggle in Okinawa
In 1964, the OPP followed the JCP and conducted a joint long march scheduled
to take place from 28 April to 15 August – the Japanese anniversary of the end of
WWII. The participants departed from Okinawa on 28 April, and ended the event
with an offshore boat rally. On 28 April, independently of the OPP, OSMP, and
OSP members held a boat rally as usual, co-operating with the JSP-affiliated organizations
(Tōyama 1987: 412–13). This split collective action reflected differences
over whether to place emphasis on 28 April, Okinawa’s ‘day of humiliation’, or
15 August, which was a date that had little to do with the end of the Battle of
Okinawa. So, was Okinawa’s reversion primarily part of Japan’s anti-Ampo struggle,
or an indigenous struggle against Okinawa’s history of marginalization? Of course,
it was both, but each side assigned different weights to the two dates and what they
represented. A similar issue exists between Okinawa’s absolute pacifism and its
synchronicity with the Japanese pacifism which has its spiritual bases in Hiroshima
and Nagasaki (see Chapter 4). In so far as the Ampo movement and its solidarity
with the Okinawan activists continues, there continues to be disagreement over
strategy selection and organizational affiliation.
The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War forced many Okinawans to reconsider their ‘absolute pacifism’
(see Chapter 4) and a new form of consciousness surfaced. This stressed Okinawa’s
position as an aggressor for contributing to America’s war – a war also supported
by Japan. A 45-year-old male farmer in Koza City wrote to the Okinawa Taimusu
in August 1965:
It is understandable that we (Okinawans) have a big victim mentality
considering the pressure from the US and Japan . . . [However,] Okinawa
provides the United States the bases, and co-operates with the US forces.
Does it not make Okinawa the oppressor of the Vietnamese people? . . . It is
important that we should realize that we are not victims now, but are
contributing to the sufferings of other Asians. Otherwise, I do not feel it is
possible to find a true path to reversion and peace.
(Nakano and Arasaki 1970: 34)
The self-perception of Okinawans as victims was tempered by a realization
that, in a war situation, anyone, including Okinawans, could turn into aggressors.
This realization strengthened their aversion to imposing the pain and killing
they had experienced in the Battle of Okinawa on the Vietnamese people.
The growing aversion towards self-victimization was shared with the mainland
Japanese anti-war activists and intellectuals. It was also represented by the anti-
Vietnam Beheiren movement, the influence of which had been growing throughout
Japan. 38
By the mid-1960s, Okinawan anti-militarism was increasingly inclined to stress
opposition to generic war and military bases against the Japanese government’s
support for America’s war. This redefined anti-militarism forced many Okinawans