Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa

7 The anti-war landowners
and the progressive coalition
The constitutional framing
of protest
Introduction
In 1972, Okinawa returned to Japan, and everything apart from the US military
base presence changed. It marked the start of a long ‘low’ period in terms of mass
protest that lasted until the third ‘wave’ of island-wide protest, triggered by the rape
of a 12-year-old girl in 1995. During the first and second ‘waves’ of protest, the
campaign for reversion was led by the Council for Reversion, which engaged in
successive mass rallies and campaigns, and gave substance to the idea of a united
Okinawans’ political movement, described in terms such as the ‘Okinawa Struggle’.
Reversion as an overall goal was achieved and a goal that once held the coalition
of protest organizations together no longer existed. The victory was, for many, more
bitter than sweet. The US military bases were there to stay.
Nor did the Okinawans’ history of marginalization come to an end with reversion.
The ‘trough’ between the second and the third ‘waves’ was an important phase, a
period when protest actors redefined agendas for protest, as well as finding new
approaches and strategies. This process involved redefining ‘why we protest, what
is at stake, and who “we” are’, across various struggles in different regions and
communities.
What stands out during this long ‘trough’ period is burgeoning diversity:
differently defined struggles in Okinawa led to a splintering of protest groups and
individual struggles. As indicated in previous chapters, this had been constantly
the characteristic of the Okinawan community of protest. But in the post-reversion
period, these differences became more explicit in terms of organizational structure
and strategies. At the same time the island-wide – or even progressive – coalition
towards one ‘Okinawan Struggle’ became much weakened. Having said that, the
idea of an ‘Okinawan’ struggle as a continuous and united political ‘movement’
survived. The myth had momentum and survived despite the increased splintering
of the organizations, priorities, and reform agendas. To understand the dynamics,
changes, and tensions at work here I want to distinguish three ‘framings’ of protest
in Okinawa: constitutional, environmentalist, and gender.
This chapter focuses on the constitutional framing of protest, represented by the
struggle of the anti-war landowners and the progressive coalition. It also reflects
on the ‘low’ period of protest, following the reversion, before the rise of the ‘third