U.S. commander's lecture canceled following residents' protest

In Okinawa, the board of education's plan to invite a U.S. commander to give a lecture in an elementary school and a junior high school was foiled as a result of parents' protests.

The head of Chinen Village on February 26 held a press conference to announce that the planned lecture would be canceled "by taking into consideration how it might affect children."

The lecture by Commanding General Wallace C. Gregson, who coordinates activities of the four services of the U.S. forces in Okinawa, had been planned by the local board of education as part of its English classes.
Soon after parents learned of the plan on February 25, they rushed to the board of education and the schools to protest against the lecture.

Ikezawa Natsuki, a writer who is a resident of Chinen Village, said that the board of education must be aware of the worldwide protests against the U.S. plan to attack Iraq. "At this time, holding an event to promote friendship with U.S. forces contradicts what the majority of Okinawans believe is right."

The Japanese Communist Party Okinawa Prefectural Assembly members' group has demanded that the prefectural board of education cancel the plan. (end)