US activists rap ‘military colonization’ of Okinawa

Over 100 prominent American activists have expressed solidarity with the Japanese people, who are against a US military base hosting thousands of US troops in Japans’ Okinawa Island.

In a Wednesday statement, the activists, including the filmmakers Oliver Stone and Michael Moore, voiced their support for the residents of the island in their struggle for peace and dignity.

“Not unlike the 20th century US civil rights struggle, Okinawans have non-violently pressed for the end to their military colonization,” the statement said, adding, “We support the people of Okinawa in their non-violent struggle for peace, dignity, human rights and protection of the environment.”

The US military base in Okinawa has been a thorny issue in relations between Japan and the United States.

Washington and Tokyo agreed in 1996 to relocate the Futenma air base from a more congested part of Okinawa to the southern city of Nago, but opposition from local people and environmental groups has prevented construction in the small town of nearly 60,000 people.

According to the relocation plans, the Futenma air base would be moved from Ginowan city to the thinly populated Henoko district in Nago, due to concerns over high levels of aircraft noise, accidents in civilian areas and rampant crimes, such as rape, by the US soldiers stationed at the base.

The move is reportedly part of a broader plan to reduce the US military’s presence in Okinawa, currently home to thousands of American troops.

Latest opinion polls by Okinawa media outlets indicate that about 84 percent of Nago’s residents oppose moving the base to Henoko, but Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which supports the move, is trying to win voters with pledges of more development funds for the city.