Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa

thinks that the Shiraho struggle against the airport was also a campaign against
militarism (Interview, May 1999). 36 Only 0.2 per cent of the Yaeyama region is
occupied by the US military, compared to about one-fifth of Okinawa Main Island
(Okinawa Ken Soumubu Chiji Koushitsu Kichi Taisakushitsu 2000: 5). However,
‘absolute pacifism’, rooted in the residents’ experience in the Battle of Okinawa,
existed in the Shiraho struggle too. Anti-militarism and the new concept of a
Ryūkyūko region as an amalgam of individually unique island societies constitute
unifying themes, joining together many struggles in the community of protest in
Okinawa. In this sense, the Shiraho struggle, like the Kin Bay struggle, extend the
lineage of the Okinawa struggle in a new direction.
As it expanded into a larger citizens’ movement from a regional conflict confined
within Ishigaki Island, the Shiraho struggle drew sympathy from and participation
by many left-wing, anti-militarist and progressive Okinawans. Workers’ unions
were initially disengaged, but gradually started to show support for the Shiraho
anti-airport residents and their struggle. External organizations were in a better
position to state their views in support of the world heritage natural asset because,
unlike the locals and unlike the progressive unions in Yaeyama, they could disregard
the local economic benefits attached to the airport. However, in 1981, even the
Yaeyama District Workers’ Union, which included the Yaeyama Teachers’ Union
and High School Teachers’ Union, withdrew from the New Ishigaki Airport Construction
Promotion Organization, after careful internal discussions (Yaeyama
Mainichi Shimbun 26 August 1981). In 1984, public workers’ unions elsewhere in
Okinawa, such as the Municipal Council Workers Unions of Yonabaru Town, Nago
City and Naha City, publicly supported the Shiraho anti-airport struggle (Haemi
1984: 21). The Public Workers’ Union (jichirō) Okinawa Prefecture Headquarters
directly negotiated with the Ishigaki mayor and requested respect for the Shiraho
residents’ opposition (Yaeyama Nippō 14 April 1984).
Organizations and individuals based in other places participated in the anti-airport
protest as supporters, as environmentalist and anti-militarist citizens. However,
regardless of the influence outside supporters had, the local residents remained the
‘subjects’ of the struggle. Similar dynamics existed in the relationship between
anti-war landowners and One-tsubo landowners and later, also, between residents
and external supporters, in the anti-heliport struggle in Nago.
Conclusion
Kin Bay and Shiraho 147
The anti-CTS residents’ movements in the Kin Bay area and the Shiraho anti-airport
struggle extended the horizons of collective action. Residents in individual
communities, no matter how remote or small, became the central actors. The centre
of gravity of protest tipped towards the residents and a loose network of non-resident
supporters, away from the left-wing political parties and workers’ unions who
became followers rather than leaders. As indicated in Chapter 6, the coalition of
left-wing parties and unions made an effort to maintain the coherence of one
‘Okinawan’ protest. This chapter, however, highlights a different dynamic within
the community of protest: fragmentation in both identity and organizational terms.