November 26, 2017

The "All Okinawa Council against Henoko New Base" has won a Sean MacBride Peace Prize 2017 awarded by the International Peace Bureau (IPB).

All Okinawa Council's Co-Leader Takazato Suzuyo and its Chief Representative Ashitomi Hiroshi attended the prize-giving ceremony held at Barcelona's City Hall in Spain on November 24.

Takazato delivered an acceptance speech and said that about 70% of Japan-based U.S. military facilities are concentrated in Okinawa. She claimed that this situation has long been posing a threat to the safety of local people's lives, disturbing the peace, and violating the human rights of Okinawans. She also criticized both the Japanese and U.S. governments for lying or playing dumb about the return of the U.S. Futenma base (Ginowan City, Okinawa) and the construction of a new U.S. base in Henoko (Nago City, Okinawa). In order to achieve peace and justice by resisting violence, militarism, and discrimination in Okinawa, she asked for international solidarity and support for the struggle by Okinawans.

Many peace activists from around the world took special note of the progress of separated activities becoming one integrated "All Okinawa" movement among local municipalities, the business community, and citizens. All the participants in the ceremony applauded Okinawans' non-violent and tenacious efforts against U.S. military bases in their communities.

Other Sean MacBride Prize winners were Noam Chomsky, an anti-capitalist philosopher in the U.S., and Jeremy Corbyn, a vice-president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the leader of the Labour Party in the U.K.