1,400 people bid farewell to Senaga Kamejiro

About 1,400 people on November 7 bid farewell to the late Senaga Kamejiro, former Naha Mayor, People's Party chair, and Japanese Communist Party vice chair.

The gathering to pay respects for Senaga, who died on October 5, was held in Naha City by Oyadomari Kosei (former Naha mayor), Toyohira Ryoichi (Okinawa Times president), Miyazato Akiya (the Ryukyu Shimpo president), and others.

Akamine Seiken, JCP House of Representatives member and JCP Okinawa Prefectural Committee chair, gave a memorial address.

Arasaki Moriteru, Okinawa University president, and others gave speeches to bid farewell to Senaga.

Telegrams of condolences came from Watanuki Tamisuke (House of Councilors President), Inamine Keiichi (Okinawa Prefectural governor), and many other persons.

In his speech, JCP Central Committee Chair Fuwa Tetsuzo recalled the struggle led by Senaga and Okinawans from 1945 to 1972 against the U.S. military occupation of Okinawa.

Citing a speech by Senaga, who ran in the September 1950 prefectural gubernatorial election campaign the year before the conclusion of the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Fuwa quoted:

"You, within 50 meters around me, can hear me if I Senaga shout alone. If all the people gathering here shout en masse, it will resound through Naha City. If the whole 700,000 Okinawa islanders shout simultaneously, it will reach Washington across the Pacific, and will move the American government."

This is one of the great lessons we want to learn from Senaga, who is saying this to those in the 21st century that as long as all the prefectural people unite, there is no obstacle that can't be overcome, Fuwa said.

Referring to the task still remaining before Okinawa, a task to establish an Okinawa without military bases, Fuwa said:

"Deep into the new century, Okinawans will remember Senaga as a man who embodied the traditional struggle of Okinawans. I'm convinced that the way for a new Okinawa will be opened by the united strength of Okinawans. We JCP members will also make every possible effort to achieve this end." (end)