Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa

52 Myth, protest and struggle in Okinawa
in the war can also work to obscure crucial historical issues, such as the emperor’s
responsibility, colonial subjugation of Okinawa by Japan, Okinawa’s economic
dependency, and the danger of the continuing presence of the US forces for
Okinawan citizens. In order to oppose war seriously in the contemporary context,
past responsibilities of the state and the military for causing unnecessary deaths
need to be constantly acknowledged. They are often suppressed in public
commemorations of the Battle of Okinawa.
The other important question is this: can ‘absolute pacifism’ itself be an effective
vehicle of protest against the bases? The person who most clearly articulates this
point is, again, the activist and historian Arasaki Moriteru. He urges that Okinawans
should revisit the Battle of Okinawa because it is a method of anti-base struggle,
‘though it may sound like a simplification and may create misunderstanding’
(Arasaki 1994: 17). However, Arasaki is still hesitant here about directly identifying
the two struggles. This hesitation, perhaps shared in the community of protest,
reflects the feeling that the activities of commemorating Okinawans’ loss in the
Battle of Okinawa has not necessarily been successfully represented or understood
publicly as opposition to the US military bases.
This hesitation is in fact necessary for keeping the war experience at the heart
of the historical narrative of Okinawa’s marginalization. The connection between
the past experience and the present anti-war struggle is implicit in the activities of
the citizens’ groups – and an important element of the myth of a unified struggle
of the Okinawan people. Thus one commentator has observed:
At least in Okinawan public discourse, to engage in the history and
memorialization of the battle is – whether intended or not – to engage in (the
politics of) peace promotion. These politics inevitably raise the issue of US
bases regardless of one’s position on them . . . And this in turn has everything
to do with past, present and future relations between Okinawa and the central
Japanese government that has presided over a history of invasion, annexation,
subordination, devastation and occupation of the Ryūkyū Islands.
(Figal 2001: 65)
The link between the past and present is left to the audience of a peace tour to figure
out, which is, perhaps, more effective than relying on didactic political slogans.
Peace guides, citizens’ groups, and concerned individuals are doing what they
can, using the informal and personal connections to keep the memory of this
experience alive. As a result, the legacy of the Battle of Okinawa and the ideology
of ‘absolute pacifism’ as a contemporary protest frame are widely shared in the
community of protest, if not in the entire Okinawan society. The unique Okinawan
brand of pacifism remains inseparable from the protest against the continuing
presence of the military bases in the island.