Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa

4 Myth, protest and struggle in Okinawa
Reading protest in Okinawa: focus on diversity
On my first visit to Okinawa, I could not find an umbrella organization encompassing
the whole of the locals’ anti-US military protest. As Matthew Allen first
found on his field trip, it was also difficult to trace evidence of an ‘Okinawans’
movement’ committed to political action to demand secession from Japan (Allen
2002: 3). 2 Rather, my impression was that the local activists tended to accept, and
even appeared proud of, the chaotic complexion of organizations engaged in protest.
Allen Nelson, a former US Marine and now a peace activist, frequently visits
Okinawa, meets local anti-base and peace groups, and gives talks about his
experiences in the military, of the Vietnam War, and about the actual war practices
of the US military, in the bases located on Okinawa. 3 On his trip in 2002, I met
Nelson at a private function where he gave a talk on ‘what the US forces really do
in the training grounds in Okinawa’. He was physically exhausted and had been
lying down until immediately before the talk. Nelson explained:
When I come to Okinawa, I have an extremely busy schedule, because I give
talks for so many different groups. I am asked to give a talk by this group and
that organization and I don’t want to say no. The Okinawan peace groups are
so splintered. Why can’t they all be together? Personally I don’t think they will
have a substantial voice strong enough to move the US military unless all those
small different groups are able to come together in one united front.
(Personal communication, February 2002)
A substantial body of research shows how, through an historical micro-focus on
particular issues, periods, regions, and individuals in Okinawa, valuable insights
into the complexity of today’s protest action can be gained in English-language
literature. 4 The voices of Okinawan activists (Ōta Masahide, Carolyn Francis,
Miyagi Yasuhiro, Arasaki Moriteru, and Medoruma Shun) have demonstrated the
diverse backgrounds and perspectives of the activists (JPRI Staff 1998b). Work of
this kind is especially useful for revealing the diversity which comprises ‘Okinawa’
and the dramatic social and political changes in postwar history contributing to
this. It also helps to correct the mistaken perception that the local populace is
uniformly opposed to the US military presence, as simpler accounts sometimes
suggest. 5
The protest actors today include anti-base labour unions, local socialist and
communist parties who compose a local anti-base coalition, anti-war landowners
who refuse to contract with the US military, women’s organizations, and locally
based groups against the relocation of the Futenma Air Base to the eastern region
in Nago.
The ‘Okinawa struggle’: persistent representations of unity
All of that said, in the context of national and international politics and analysis of
the US, Japan and Okinawa relationships, internal differences within Okinawan