Okinawa files new lawsuit to stop “outrageous” Henoko base relocation, ・・・

Okinawa files new lawsuit to stop “outrageous” Henoko base relocation, claims “government construction illegal”

July 25, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo


Wave-dissipating blocks are submerged as construction continues at the K9 levee.
July 24, U.S. Military Camp Schwab, Henoko, Nago (photograph taken by drone)

The Okinawan government filed a lawsuit in the Naha District Court against the Japanese federal government July 24, to prevent the destruction of rock on the seabed off the coast of Henoko in Nago as part of the new U.S. base construction. The prefectural government claims that continuing the construction without obtaining permission to damage the rock is illegal. Okinawa has also filed an injunction that halts construction until a decision is reached in the lawsuit. This will be the fifth legal battle between the Okinawan and central governments.

Governor Takeshi Onaga held a press conference at the prefectural office at 5:00 p.m. on July 24, criticizing the government’s position, saying, “the central government has arbitrarily changed its stance on fishing rights for the sake of the Henoko issue. We have drifted away from a being a nation of laws.” He added, “[This trial] is not to question if base construction is right or wrong, but rather questions the state for its stance to push through the new construction while disregarding the feelings of Okinawans.” Onaga stressed the importance of the lawsuit was to highlight the central government’s forceful position.

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Fighting for Okinawa — My Home, Not a Military Base

The Zinn Education Project
July 27, 2017


　　　Police remove Okinawans protesting the planned expansion of a U.S. military base at Camp Schwab, Nago, Okinawa.
　　　Image: © Masaya Noda / Greenpeace.

By Moé Yonamine

My family moved to the United States from Okinawa when I was 7. But Okinawa is still home — and I’m hurt and angered at how the United States and Japan continue to treat Okinawa as little more than a colonial outpost. As a teacher, I’m even more dismayed at how the conventional school curriculum keeps young people in this country ignorant about the abuse, but also about the resistance, in my home islands.

“They are burying our beautiful ocean,” read the recent message from my mother in Okinawa, as though she was grieving the loss of a loved one. After decades of protest by Okinawan people to completely get rid of all U.S. military bases that occupy a fifth of the Ryukyu Island chain, the United States and Japan signed a treaty to evacuate one of the most contested bases located in the center of the main island, Futenma Marine Corps (MCAS) base. In exchange for the removal, both governments announced that they would construct a floating military base off the northeast coast of Henoko. Okinawans expressed vehement opposition, with a majority voting in a referendum for the complete removal of all bases. Still the construction continued and the people persisted in protest — marching for miles down main streets, creating human chains for peace, linking arms around military bases, elders repeatedly lying down in front of bulldozers. Governor Takeshi Onaga demanded the Japanese government terminate the heliport construction and city mayors prevented access of U.S. military construction vehicles through their districts — later overturned by federal court order last December sought by the Japanese federal government.

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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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