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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

5,000 Okinawans protest new U.S. military base

About 5,000 people on October 30 held a rally in Okinawa Prefecture to protest against the plan to construct a new U.S. military base in the Henoko District of Nago City. They marched in demonstration through the prefectural capital of Naha City, shouting, "Don't turn Okinawa into a stronghold for U.S. wars! Give us back an Okinawa without military bases!"

Rally organizer Yamauchi Tokushin, former Yomitan Village mayor, criticized the Japanese government for bulldozing through the construction plan in defiance of opposition by Okinawans and for trying to revise the related-laws in order to transfer the authority to give the green light to reclamation operations from the governor of Okinawa to the national government.

Ginowan City Mayor Iha Yoichi said, "Nobody wants to see beautiful Henoko turned into a concrete runway for wars. What we want is the immediate closure of the U.S. Futenma Air Station."

Japanese Communist Party representative Akamine Seiken stressed the need to increase the struggle to stop the new base construction that will serve the U.S. preemptive attack strategy. Representatives from the Okinawa Social Mass Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party of Japan also spoke.

A participant said that Okinawans want the removal of U.S. bases from Japan. Another participant said, "Many Okinawans wonder why U.S. forward bases for wars are concentrated in Okinawa."

On October 29, the Japanese and the U.S. governments held a Japan-U.S. Security Consultative Committee (two plus two) in Washington and agreed on an interim report that indicates the plan to relocate the U.S. Futenma base from Ginowan City to offshore U.S. Camp Schwab in Nago City. In contrast, municipalities concerned as well as the Okinawa Governor and the Nago City mayor are expressing their opposition to the base construction plan. -- Akahata, October 31, 2005