February 3, 2015

Akahata editorial (excerpt)

In the sea area off Nago’s Henoko district in Okinawa Prefecture, the central government is using violent measures to push forward with preparatory work for the construction of a new U.S. base, ignoring damages to the natural environment and the strong opposition from Okinawans and the governor. The Defense Ministry’s Okinawa Defense Bureau is dropping huge concrete blocks into the sea as part of the reclamation project for the base construction. The Abe government, which exhibits openly hostility to Okinawans’ demands, has no qualification to be called a democratic government.

Last summer, with the aim to mark areas for a drilling survey at the planned reclamation sites in the sea off Henoko, the Okinawa Defense Bureau installed floats with 248 anchors weighing up to 160 kilograms. But 120 of the 248 anchors were washed away due to a typhoon that hit in October last year, leaving 36 scars on the sea floor.

In January, the government started to drop concrete blocks weighing more than 10 tons in order to use them as supplemental anchors. This will cause further damage to the precious natural environment, including the coral reefs.

In addition, the bureau plans to build a huge temporary pier to conduct the drilling tests. The temporary pier will be 300-meter long and 25-meter wide, and will require 5,000 fully-loaded dump trucks with landfill materials to construct it. The defense authority says it will remove the pier after finishing the drilling survey. It, however, is obvious that the marine ecosystem will suffer extensive and lasting damage.

Okinawa Governor Onaga Takeshi on January 26 announced that he will set up an independent panel to review his predecessor’s approval of the central government application for the reclamation work in Henoko. Onaga said that if the panel finds flaws in the approving procedure, he will withdraw the approval and even if not, he will keep calling for the cancellation of the base construction plan. It is the Abe government that is now driven into a corner. Now is the time to strengthen people’s movements to stop the construction of a new U.S. base.