Peter Galvin & Yoshikazu Makishi: "Saving Okinawa Dugong from US Base Building"

Peter Galvin & Yoshikazu Makishi: "Saving Okinawa Dugong from US Base Building"


Peter Galvin: U.S. plaintiff of Dugong case in Okinawa, a founder of the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and director of programs / Yoshikazu Makishi: Okinawan plaintiff of Dugong case in Okinawa

2000 people form human chain in front of Camp Schwab in Henoko

July 22, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

2000 people form human chain in front of Camp Schwab in Henoko to demand cancellation of construction of new U.S. base


Participants in the human chain rally seeking to block the construction of the new base sing songs of protest, at 2:54 p.m. on July 22, in front of the gate of Camp Schwab, Henoko, Nago City

At 2:00 p.m. on July 22, in front of the gates of Camp Schwab in Henoko, Nago, citizen groups formed a ‘human chain’ to protest the construction of the new U.S. base that is part of the replacement of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan. The protestors called for the reclamation of Oura Bay to be blocked. According to the organizer, about 2,000 people took part in the protest rally.

Participants bound their hands together in a 1.2 kilometer-long line along the fence and surrounded the base. They raised their voices in protest, saying, “No new Henoko base”.

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VFP-ROCK and VFP Hawai'i Deliver Letter to Japanese Consulate

March 03, 2017

Today (3/2/17) representatives of HOA, Veterans for Peace, Hawai`i Peace & Justice, Amnesty International & Womenʻs Voices, Women Speak met with the Consul of Defense at the Japan Consulate in Honolulu and issued the following statement.

They will share response. Much gratitude to Beatriz Cantelmo Amnesty Intʻl Hawai`i Chairperson for issuing Amnesty Intʻlʻs Statement of Concerns ref: political prisoner Hiroji Yamashiroʻs health & civil rights.

Today, there was also a rally in NYCʻs Japan Embassy, as well as VFP-ROCK members delivering similar statements to Members of US Congress in DC. Letʻs continue this coming together internationally to stand for indigenous communities like Okinawans, as well as Native Hawaiians & Native Americans for human/political/civil rights & genuine security: may the human peace chains that have encircled entire military bases in Okinawa extend across the planet!

March 2, 2017
The Government of Japan
C/o Consulate General of Japan
Attn: Yuri Higashi, Consul of Defense Affairs
1742 Nu`uanu Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii 96817-3201

Aloha Consul Higashi,

A coalition of concerned people within Hawai`i, including the NPOs the Hawai`i Okinawa Alliance (HOA), Veterans for Peace and Hawai`i Peace & Justice are alarmed about the use of force and arbitrary arrests of non-violent peace activists, such as Hiroji Yamashiro, while exercising their human right of peaceful assemblage in Okinawa. We are concerned by the mandated military base construction in Henoko and corresponding helipads at Takae that precipitated Okinawan citizens to assemble in the first place, for the following reasons:

* It is undemocratic. The people of Okinawa have unequivocally expressed their opposition to more military facilities, given they already suffer under disproportionate military stationing on their congested island. Governor Onaga- elected by a landslide, along with the Mayor of Nago City, all five National Diet members from Okinawa and no less than 80% of the Okinawan people according to innumerable polls are united across parties in opposition to these top-down government mandates. Forcing these projects against the will of the citizenry flaunts a blatant disregard for the democracy and rights the US and Japanese governments claim they protect.

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Japan to start offshore work at planned new Okinawa airbase

Kyodo
Feb 1, 2017

FUTENMA, OKINAWA PREF. – The government plans to start maritime construction work as early as next week at the planned relocation site for a key U.S. airbase in Okinawa, a government source said Tuesday.

The move, which is likely to trigger further local opposition, comes after the government’s resumption in late December of land construction work at U.S. Marines Corps Camp Schwab located adjacent to the relocation site.

The maritime work is part of the central government’s plan to relocate the operations of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from densely populated Ginowan to the Henoko coastal area in Nago, farther north on Okinawa Island.

Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga has vowed to stop the plan, reflecting the calls of many Okinawa residents who want the Futenma base to be moved outside the prefecture. Okinawa hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan.

The planned maritime construction work involves placing more than 200 concrete blocks weighing around 10 tons each undersea to hold screens used to prevent the spread of debris and sediment.

The government plans to soon dispatch ships carrying the concrete blocks as well as vessels to conduct undersea surveys, the source said.

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CBD statement for Okinawa Dugong

photo:CBD(Center for biological diversity)

Okinawa Delegation Seeks Support for Stopping U.S. Military
Project That Threatens Endangered Dugong

SAN FRANCISCO― A delegation of 27 political and community leaders from Okinawa, Japan is visiting the United States to seek support for its efforts to stop the U.S. military from building a large new base in biologically rich and sensitive Henoko and Oura Bay, home to the dugong ― a marine mammal related to manatees that is an ancient cultural icon in Okinawa ― and other endangered species. That project is strongly opposed by residents of the island, which has had a tremendous U.S. military presence since the end of World War II, and Okinawan Gov. Takeshi Onaga, who last month withdrew local consent for the project.

The Bay Area portion of the delegation’s visit on Nov. 15-18 includes meetings with representatives of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, receptions at the city halls in San Francisco and Berkeley, a press conference at San Francisco’s War Memorial Building (401 Van Ness Avenue, 2nd Floor, on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 11 a.m.), and meetings with the Center for Biological Diversity and other conservation groups that are challenging the project in U.S. federal court. That case is now before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, with oral arguments expected in spring 2016.

“Okinawa dugongs are facing extinction, a sad fact that the approval process for this project ignored. We stand with the Okinawan people in calling for a real environmental review and respect for local concerns,” said Peter Galvin, director of programs at the Center. “We shouldn’t let the U.S. military continue to trash this biologically important region.”

During a meeting at the Center’s Oakland office, delegation members said that American and international popular support is crucial to stopping a project that is being pushed by the U.S. Department of Defense and the national government in Japan. “We need to reach as many people in the United States as possible and get them to stand up and say this is wrong,” Naha City Council member Emiko Miyagi said.

Yoshiaki Nitta, a member of Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, recalled the long history of U.S. military occupation of the island and called for new era of mutual respect. “What’s happening now is unreasonable and unjust and not the way things are supposed to go,” said Nobutake Yasutomi, a member of the Kin-Town Assembly. “We feel like there is discrimination and oppression against the people of Okinawa.”

The Okinawa delegation travels next to Washington, D.C., where it will meet with the Marine Mammal Commission, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and other groups before leaving the country on Nov. 21.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 900,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.