June 23, 2014
Akahata editorial
Okinawa on June 23 marked the 69th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa. In 1945 on this day, systematic fighting of the Japanese Imperial Army in Okinawa ended. Okinawa now has a prefectural ordinance resolving that it will reject the horrors of war and holds the memorial service every year on this day.
Prime Minister Abe Shinzo came to attend the ceremony at the Peace Memorial Park located on Mabuni Hill, the last bloodiest battlefield, in Itoman City. Aiming for Japan to become capable of engaging in war again, how can Abe speak of peace before the Cornerstone of Peace in which more than 240,000 names of war victims are etched?
Okinawa peace museum
The peace museum near the ceremony site displays the following passage on the wall of an exhibition room:
“Whenever we look at the truth of Battle of Okinawa
we think there is nothing as brutal, nothing as
dishonorable as war.
In the face of this traumatic experience
no one will be able to speak out for on idealize war.
To be sure it is human beings who start wars.
But more than that isn’t it we human beings who must
also prevent wars?
Since the end of the war, we have abhorred all wars,
long yearning to create a peaceful island.
in our unwavering devotion to this principle,
we have paid a heavy price.”
One out of every four Okinawans was sacrificed in the Battle. Out of this appalling experience, Okinawans have come to long for peace and cherish their culture. They deny any acts leading to war. The Japanese Constitution embodies their hearts and minds, stipulating that the Japanese people resolve that “never again shall we be visited with the horrors of war through the action of government”.
PM Abe, in order to make it possible for Japan to resort to military action collectively abroad, schemes to force through a constitutional reinterpretation in an autocratic manner. His aim is to ruin the very basis of the non-belligerency principle of Article 9 of the Constitution and also violently tramples on not only the hearts and minds of Okinawans but all concerned citizens.
Their peace-oriented nature grew during their resistance against postwar U.S. military control and in their longstanding struggle against U.S. military bases after its reversion to Japan in 1972.
Morton H. Halperin, former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense, visited Japan in May to give a lecture and quoted a U.S. captain saying during the period of the U.S. rule over Okinawa, “There is no military base in Okinawa because Okinawa itself is a base.” The American expert in foreign policy said, “The U.S. forces gave no consideration at all to citizens of Okinawa at that time.” However, the situation is still the same in essence. Both governments never listen to the voices of Okinawans. Instead, with an iron fist, they are pushing forward the plan to have Okinawa host another U.S. base, seeking to establish a new strongpoint in the Henoko district in Nago City as a replacement for the U.S. Futenma base in Ginowan City.
Written petition
Last January, all 41 municipal mayors and local assembly heads in Okinawa and a majority of Okinawa prefectural assemblypersons submitted a written petition to the prime minister. They demanded that accident-prone Ospreys be immediately removed from Okinawa and that the Futenma base be dismantled.
Late last year, Okinawa Governor Nakaima Hirokazu gave in to the strong pressure from the government and the Liberal Democratic Party. He approved the landfill work to build a new base in the Henoko district. He betrayed the trust of Okinawans.
All Okinawans should now unite together in support of the written petition, keeping in their hearts the following passage:
“But more than that isn’t it we human beings who must also prevent wars?”
Okinawa on June 23 marked the 69th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa. In 1945 on this day, systematic fighting of the Japanese Imperial Army in Okinawa ended. Okinawa now has a prefectural ordinance resolving that it will reject the horrors of war and holds the memorial service every year on this day.
Prime Minister Abe Shinzo came to attend the ceremony at the Peace Memorial Park located on Mabuni Hill, the last bloodiest battlefield, in Itoman City. Aiming for Japan to become capable of engaging in war again, how can Abe speak of peace before the Cornerstone of Peace in which more than 240,000 names of war victims are etched?
Okinawa peace museum
The peace museum near the ceremony site displays the following passage on the wall of an exhibition room:
“Whenever we look at the truth of Battle of Okinawa
we think there is nothing as brutal, nothing as
dishonorable as war.
In the face of this traumatic experience
no one will be able to speak out for on idealize war.
To be sure it is human beings who start wars.
But more than that isn’t it we human beings who must
also prevent wars?
Since the end of the war, we have abhorred all wars,
long yearning to create a peaceful island.
in our unwavering devotion to this principle,
we have paid a heavy price.”
One out of every four Okinawans was sacrificed in the Battle. Out of this appalling experience, Okinawans have come to long for peace and cherish their culture. They deny any acts leading to war. The Japanese Constitution embodies their hearts and minds, stipulating that the Japanese people resolve that “never again shall we be visited with the horrors of war through the action of government”.
PM Abe, in order to make it possible for Japan to resort to military action collectively abroad, schemes to force through a constitutional reinterpretation in an autocratic manner. His aim is to ruin the very basis of the non-belligerency principle of Article 9 of the Constitution and also violently tramples on not only the hearts and minds of Okinawans but all concerned citizens.
Their peace-oriented nature grew during their resistance against postwar U.S. military control and in their longstanding struggle against U.S. military bases after its reversion to Japan in 1972.
Morton H. Halperin, former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense, visited Japan in May to give a lecture and quoted a U.S. captain saying during the period of the U.S. rule over Okinawa, “There is no military base in Okinawa because Okinawa itself is a base.” The American expert in foreign policy said, “The U.S. forces gave no consideration at all to citizens of Okinawa at that time.” However, the situation is still the same in essence. Both governments never listen to the voices of Okinawans. Instead, with an iron fist, they are pushing forward the plan to have Okinawa host another U.S. base, seeking to establish a new strongpoint in the Henoko district in Nago City as a replacement for the U.S. Futenma base in Ginowan City.
Written petition
Last January, all 41 municipal mayors and local assembly heads in Okinawa and a majority of Okinawa prefectural assemblypersons submitted a written petition to the prime minister. They demanded that accident-prone Ospreys be immediately removed from Okinawa and that the Futenma base be dismantled.
Late last year, Okinawa Governor Nakaima Hirokazu gave in to the strong pressure from the government and the Liberal Democratic Party. He approved the landfill work to build a new base in the Henoko district. He betrayed the trust of Okinawans.
All Okinawans should now unite together in support of the written petition, keeping in their hearts the following passage:
“But more than that isn’t it we human beings who must also prevent wars?”
