Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa

126 Myth, protest and struggle in Okinawa
The anti-war landowners were strengthened by the birth of One-tsubo anti-war
landowners, a movement led largely by politically well-connected or experienced
activist, middle-class, urban-dwelling citizens. The One-tsubo landowners’ movement
elevated the anti-war landowners’ struggle to the stature of a citizens’ pacifist
and anti-militarist movement.
The anti-war landowners’ strategy to directly influence, and negotiate with,
the formal political organizations through legal and judicial battles has involved
extremely slow processes. At the same time the struggle, often confined to
courtrooms, became highly technical, limiting wider public participation. Attachment
to the constitutional principles of democracy and pacifism, furthermore, made
it harder to distinguish the Okinawan progressives from the mainland Japanese left.
This contributed to the decline of the ‘Okinawan’ progressive coalition. In July 2002,
Iken Kyōtō closed its office, because of the lack of funding and absence of major
activities (Ryūkyū Shimpō 3 July 2002). However, the decline of the old progressive
movement did not result in the end of the idea or myth of a unified ‘Okinawan
struggle’. New types of protest organizations and strategies were developing at the
same time, and these ‘new social movements’ were no less ‘Okinawan’. And they,
too, are now variously drawing from and extending the myth.