FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2010
CONTACT: John Feffer, Institute for Policy Studies
johnf@ips-dc.org, 202-234-9382, cell: 510-282-8983
New U.S.-Japan coalition demands closure of the Futenma U.S. Marine
Corps base and opposes the construction of new bases in Okinawa and
Tokunoshima; Holds rally in Washington and posts full-page ad in
Washington Post
Washington – April 19 – In the past six months, the governor, mayors,
media, and citizens of Okinawa have joined to demand the closure of
the Futenma U.S. Marine Base and oppose any new military base
construction—in historic solidarity.
On this side of the Pacific Ocean, the Network for Okinawa (NO), an
unprecedented grassroots network, has drawn together representatives
from peace groups, environmental organizations, faith-based
organizations, academia, and think tanks to support these same goals.
The coalition represents hundreds of thousands of Americans concerned
about democracy and environmental protection in Okinawa.
On April 23, 2010, the Washington-based coalition will send President
Obama and Prime Minister Hatoyama a letter signed by more than 500
organizations demanding the immediate closure of Futenma and the
cancellation of plans to relocate it to Henoko Bay.
Network for Okinawa member, Peter Galvin, Conservation Director at the
Center of Biological Diversity, explains what is at stake, “Destroying
the environmental and social well-being of an area, even in the name
of ‘national or global security,’ is itself like actively waging
warfare against nature and human communities.”
On April 25, 2010, members of the Network will rally in front of the
Japanese Embassy in Washington D.C. at 2 p.m. They are demonstrating
to demand the immediate closure of Futenma and to oppose new military
base construction at any site in Okinawa, including the island of
Tokunoshima. (Tokunoshima is a small northern island in the Ryukyu
archipelago; historically a part of Okinawa.) The D.C. protest is an
American expression of solidarity with the expected 100,000 Okinawans
marching on the same date.
John Lindsay-Poland, of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, advocates
nonviolent conflict resolution instead of war to resolve international
disputes: “Military bases in Japan and other countries are material
projections of our nation’s will to use war and violent force. War is
not only brutal, and ecologically devastating, but unnecessary. I want
our country to have a different relationship with other peoples of the
world.”
During the week of April 26, 2010, the Network and its Tokyo-based
affiliated coalition, the Japan-US Citizens for Okinawa Network
(JUCON), will place a full-page ad in the Washington Post. JUCON
(http://jucon.exblog.jp/) is a coalition of Okinawa and Japan-based
NGOs, citizens groups, journalists and prominent individuals
“The Washington Post ad will draw attention to this critical issue. It
will put pressure on both Washington and Tokyo to do the right thing:
respect the democratic desires of the Okinawan people and the fragile
environment of this beautiful island,” says John Feffer, spokesperson
for Network for Okinawa.
BACKGROUND:
Most Americans have heard of the Battle of Okinawa. However, most
don’t know Okinawa’s location; or that the U.S. maintains thirty U.S.
military bases and facilities on twenty percent of this island, the
size of Rhode Island. U.S. troops constructed the first U.S. military
bases for the planned invasion of Japan and never left—even after the
U.S. “reverted” Okinawa to Japan in 1972.
The U.S. Marine Futenma base—made infamous by the 1995 Marine gang
rape of a twelve-year-old girl—generates noise pollution, accidents,
and crimes on a daily basis. In fact, former Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld called Futenma the “most dangerous U.S. base in the
world.” The next year, the United States and Japan announced Futenma’s
closure and the construction of a new base on the east coast of
Okinawa in Henoko, a tiny fishing village.
Local residents immediately challenged this plan. During the past
fourteen years, Henoko has become a lightning rod for Okinawan
grievances over 65 years of unwanted U.S. military bases and over 130
years of unwanted colonial domination by Japan. That’s because
Henoko’s emerald waters and coral reef are home for about fifty
critically endangered dugongs, a symbol of Okinawan peaceful culture
based on the sanctity of life (nuchido takara) and reverence for
nature. In 1966, Okinawans designated the dugong (cousin to the
manatee) as their living national monument. Nuchido Takara directly
translates as “Life is a treasure.”
Okinawa’s unique biodiversity (the island known as the “Galapagos of
the East”) captured the attention of transnational environmentalists.
In 2003, a coalition—including the Japan Environmental Lawyers
Federation (JELF) and U.S.-based Center for Biodiversity, represented
by Earth Justice—sued the U.S. Department of Defense to halt the
construction of the base. This marked the first-ever international
lawsuit under the U.S. National Historic Preservation Act, as the
dugong is protected under Japanese cultural properties law. On January
24, 2008, a U.S. Federal District Court in San Francisco delivered a
historic ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, finding that the DoD plan
had violated the NHPA. Despite this ruling, the DoD has continued to
insist upon Henoko as a site for a Futenma “relocation.”
The Network for Okinawa (http://closethebase.org/) is sponsored by the
Institute for Policy Studies in Washington. Members include: American
Conservative Defense Alliance, American Friends Service Committee,
Center for Biological Diversity, Fellowship of Reconciliation,
Greenpeace, Institute for Policy Studies, Just Foreign Policy,Pax
Christi USA, the United Methodist Chuch, Veterans for Peace, and Women
for Genuine Security.
Members of the Network for Okinawa available for interviews:
• Peter Galvin, Center for Biological Diversity.
pgalvin@biologicaldiversity.org; 520-907-1533.
• Kyle Kajihiro, Program Director, American Friends Service Committee
- Hawai’i Area Office. kyle.kajihiro@gmail.com; O: 808-988-6266; C:
808-542-3668.
• John Lindsay-Poland, Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation Latin
America program, Oakland, California, is active in the global No Bases
network and author of Emperors in the Jungle: The Hidden History of
the US in Panama (Duke). johnlp@igc.org; C: 510-282-8983.
• Doug Bandow, Robert A. Taft Fellow, American Conservative Defense
Alliance and former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan.
ChessSet@aol.com; 703-451-9169.
• Ann Wright, Retired Army Colonel, former US. Diplomat.
microann@yahoo.com; C: 808-741-1141.
Official Press Release – April 20, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2010
CONTACT: John Feffer, Institute for Policy Studies
johnf@ips-dc.org, 202-234-9382, cell: 510-282-8983
New U.S.-Japan coalition demands closure of the Futenma U.S. Marine
Corps base and opposes the construction of new bases in Okinawa and
Tokunoshima; Holds rally in Washington and posts full-page ad in
Washington Post
Washington – April 19 – In the past six months, the governor, mayors,
media, and citizens of Okinawa have joined to demand the closure of
the Futenma U.S. Marine Base and oppose any new military base
construction—in historic solidarity.
On this side of the Pacific Ocean, the Network for Okinawa (NO), an
unprecedented grassroots network, has drawn together representatives
from peace groups, environmental organizations, faith-based
organizations, academia, and think tanks to support these same goals.
The coalition represents hundreds of thousands of Americans concerned
about democracy and environmental protection in Okinawa.
On April 23, 2010, the Washington-based coalition will send President
Obama and Prime Minister Hatoyama a letter signed by more than 500
organizations demanding the immediate closure of Futenma and the
cancellation of plans to relocate it to Henoko Bay.
Network for Okinawa member, Peter Galvin, Conservation Director at the
Center of Biological Diversity, explains what is at stake, “Destroying
the environmental and social well-being of an area, even in the name
of ‘national or global security,’ is itself like actively waging
warfare against nature and human communities.”
On April 25, 2010, members of the Network will rally in front of the
Japanese Embassy in Washington D.C. at 2 p.m. They are demonstrating
to demand the immediate closure of Futenma and to oppose new military
base construction at any site in Okinawa, including the island of
Tokunoshima. (Tokunoshima is a small northern island in the Ryukyu
archipelago; historically a part of Okinawa.) The D.C. protest is an
American expression of solidarity with the expected 100,000 Okinawans
marching on the same date.
John Lindsay-Poland, of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, advocates
nonviolent conflict resolution instead of war to resolve international
disputes: “Military bases in Japan and other countries are material
projections of our nation’s will to use war and violent force. War is
not only brutal, and ecologically devastating, but unnecessary. I want
our country to have a different relationship with other peoples of the
world.”
During the week of April 26, 2010, the Network and its Tokyo-based
affiliated coalition, the Japan-US Citizens for Okinawa Network
(JUCON), will place a full-page ad in the Washington Post. JUCON
(http://jucon.exblog.jp/) is a coalition of Okinawa and Japan-based
NGOs, citizens groups, journalists and prominent individuals
“The Washington Post ad will draw attention to this critical issue. It
will put pressure on both Washington and Tokyo to do the right thing:
respect the democratic desires of the Okinawan people and the fragile
environment of this beautiful island,” says John Feffer, spokesperson
for Network for Okinawa.
BACKGROUND:
Most Americans have heard of the Battle of Okinawa. However, most
don’t know Okinawa’s location; or that the U.S. maintains thirty U.S.
military bases and facilities on twenty percent of this island, the
size of Rhode Island. U.S. troops constructed the first U.S. military
bases for the planned invasion of Japan and never left—even after the
U.S. “reverted” Okinawa to Japan in 1972.
The U.S. Marine Futenma base—made infamous by the 1995 Marine gang
rape of a twelve-year-old girl—generates noise pollution, accidents,
and crimes on a daily basis. In fact, former Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld called Futenma the “most dangerous U.S. base in the
world.” The next year, the United States and Japan announced Futenma’s
closure and the construction of a new base on the east coast of
Okinawa in Henoko, a tiny fishing village.
Local residents immediately challenged this plan. During the past
fourteen years, Henoko has become a lightning rod for Okinawan
grievances over 65 years of unwanted U.S. military bases and over 130
years of unwanted colonial domination by Japan. That’s because
Henoko’s emerald waters and coral reef are home for about fifty
critically endangered dugongs, a symbol of Okinawan peaceful culture
based on the sanctity of life (nuchido takara) and reverence for
nature. In 1966, Okinawans designated the dugong (cousin to the
manatee) as their living national monument. Nuchido Takara directly
translates as “Life is a treasure.”
Okinawa’s unique biodiversity (the island known as the “Galapagos of
the East”) captured the attention of transnational environmentalists.
In 2003, a coalition—including the Japan Environmental Lawyers
Federation (JELF) and U.S.-based Center for Biodiversity, represented
by Earth Justice—sued the U.S. Department of Defense to halt the
construction of the base. This marked the first-ever international
lawsuit under the U.S. National Historic Preservation Act, as the
dugong is protected under Japanese cultural properties law. On January
24, 2008, a U.S. Federal District Court in San Francisco delivered a
historic ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, finding that the DoD plan
had violated the NHPA. Despite this ruling, the DoD has continued to
insist upon Henoko as a site for a Futenma “relocation.”
The Network for Okinawa (http://closethebase.org/) is sponsored by the
Institute for Policy Studies in Washington. Members include: American
Conservative Defense Alliance, American Friends Service Committee,
Center for Biological Diversity, Fellowship of Reconciliation,
Greenpeace, Institute for Policy Studies, Just Foreign Policy,Pax
Christi USA, the United Methodist Chuch, Veterans for Peace, and Women
for Genuine Security.
Members of the Network for Okinawa available for interviews:
• Peter Galvin, Center for Biological Diversity.
pgalvin@biologicaldiversity.org; 520-907-1533.
• Kyle Kajihiro, Program Director, American Friends Service Committee
- Hawai’i Area Office. kyle.kajihiro@gmail.com; O: 808-988-6266; C:
808-542-3668.
• John Lindsay-Poland, Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation Latin
America program, Oakland, California, is active in the global No Bases
network and author of Emperors in the Jungle: The Hidden History of
the US in Panama (Duke). johnlp@igc.org; C: 510-282-8983.
• Doug Bandow, Robert A. Taft Fellow, American Conservative Defense
Alliance and former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan.
ChessSet@aol.com; 703-451-9169.
• Ann Wright, Retired Army Colonel, former US. Diplomat.
microann@yahoo.com; C: 808-741-1141.