Okinawa

Thousands Protest At US Bases On Okinawa After Japanese Woman’s Murder

June 20, 2016 Justin McCurry, www.theguardian.com Resist! Japan, Murder, Okinawa, Protests, US military

By Justin McCurry for The Guardian - Tens of thousands of people on the Japanese island of Okinawa have taken part in one of the biggest protests against US military bases in recent years, weeks after the arrest of an American base worker in connection with the murder of a 20-year-old local woman. The protesters, many of whom wore black, braved scorching heat to call for an end to the island’s role as host to more than half the 47,000 US troops in Japan.

Okinawan Women Demand US Forces Leave After Rape & Murder

June 14, 2016 Takazato Suzuyo, www.apjjf.org Resist! Japan, Murder, Okinawa, Rape, US military

By Takazato Suzuyo for The Asian-Pacific Journal - A 20-year-old woman missing since late April was found dead on May 16, 2016. The suspect is a former Marine who is a civilian employee of the U.S. military at Kadena Airbase. Local police report that he confessed to the woman’s rape and murder, and told them the location of her corpse. This crime comes barely six weeks after a U.S. sailor assigned to Camp Schwab was arrested for the rape of a Japanese woman in a Naha hotel.

Newsletter: Using Courts To Build The Movement

March 6, 2016 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Cimate, Climate Change, Courts, Exxon, FERC, Fracking, France, Fukushima, GMOs, Japan, Okinawa, Zapatistas

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers. The worst crimes of US history have been protected by law – slavery, taking of Indigenous lands, attacks on unions, denying women the vote and money as speech in elections. As a result, when politicians say we are a nation of laws, it often means the courts will be used to protect corporate interests in making a profit even if doing so destroys communities, people and the environment. But, courts do not always side with the corporations and government. There are times when an enlightenment comes to the judiciary and some begin to rule for the people or their communities. This happens because even courts reflect the political moment – or zeitgeist – when the culture takes a turn thanks to people organizing to express their interests wherever they can. We may be at the beginning of such a moment, perhaps too soon to say and perhaps we are being optimistic. It shows the importance of the movement building national consensus because such consensus impacts everything.

Victory: Okinawa Navy Base Construction Stopped

March 4, 2016 Reiji Yoshida, www.japantimes.co.jp Resist! Japan, Military bases, Okinawa, Wars and Militarism

By Reiji Yoshida for Japan Times. In a surprise about-face, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday agreed to an out-of-court settlement for three lawsuits filed over the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. The settlement requires Tokyo to suspend land reclamation off the Henoko coast in Okinawa Prefecture, and Abe complied by ordering a halt. Later in the day, the Okinawa Prefectural Government accepted Abe’s offer. It had indicated earlier that it would be willing to do so. Acceptance of the settlement is a big compromise for Abe, who had insisted that Tokyo would continue construction work regardless of the battle in the courts. During a news conference later Friday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga admitted that the relocation of Futenma will be delayed beyond the target year of 2020, even if everything goes well from now on. Okinawa saw fierce ground battles during World War II, and anti-military sentiment remains strong in the region.

Thousands In Japan Rally Against U.S. Base On Okinawa

February 22, 2016 Minami Funakoshi, www.reuters.com Resist! Japan, Okinawa, Protests, US military

By Minami Funakoshi for Reuters - TOKYO - Thousands of people surrounded Japan's parliament on Sunday to protest against government plans to relocate a U.S. military base on Okinawa island, local media reported. Kyodo news agency said some 28,000 protesters had ringed parliament house in central Tokyo, holding hands and shouting: "Don't build the base". Hundreds more held similar protests across the country, it also reported.

‘Okinawans Have Been Treated Like We Are Disposable For Too Long’

February 11, 2016 Anna Fifield, www.washingtonpost.com Resist! Japan, Okinawa, Protests, US military

By Anna Fifield for The Washington Post - Between several dozen and several hundred Japanese people have been gathering at the gates to Camp Schwab, a U.S. Marine Corps base on the southern island of Okinawa, every day for 18 months to protest the expansion of the base into an air station. The project involves two runways being built on reclaimed land out into Henoko Bay, a pristine area that is home to the dugong, an endangered manatee-like mammal. Almost all Okinawans want the current Marine air station further south on the the island at Futenma to be shut down. But there is fierce opposition to relocating it elsewhere on the small, crowded island.

Blocking The US Marines Gate With 1400 Blocks

January 31, 2016 Staff www.henokononviolentaction.blogspot.com Resist! Japan, militarism, Okinawa

By Henoko Nonviolet Action. How amazingly a Nonviolent struggle in Henoko has been a success to close 2 days a week. People started to pile the concrete blocks in front of the gate for stopping the construction vehicles. How amazingly a Nonviolent struggle in Henoko has been a success to close 2 days a week. People started to pile the concrete blocks in front of the gate for stopping the construction vehicles. Henoko Block Protest 2 A friend from US arrived yesterday to join the Henoko sit-in. We appreciate people from outside of Japan come and join this struggle. We hope that more & more foreign friends come and join us. How amazingly a Nonviolent struggle in Henoko has been a success to close 2 days a week. People started to pile the concrete blocks in front of the gate for stopping the construction vehicles. Henoko Block Protest 2 A friend from US arrived yesterday to join the Henoko sit-in. We appreciate people from outside of Japan come and join this struggle. We hope that more & more foreign friends come and join us. Henoko Block Protest 3 Finally, Henoko is becoming an artistic. We started to paint on concrete blocks. Please come & paint a block for peace.

Solidarity With People Of Japan Opposing TPP & US Militarism

November 21, 2015 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Japan, Militarization, Okinawa, TPP

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. The final stop on the Embassy Row protest in Washington, DC “The World is Rising to Stop the TPP” was the Japanese Embassy. Japan is the largest economy in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) after the United States. It is the third largest economy in the world, but the Japanese economy has been stagnating for all of this century and is desperate to find a way out of its economic problems. In 2012 Abe ran for office as an opponent of the TPP but within three months joined the negotiations. Prime Minister Shinzō Abe has become a puppet of the United States not only on the TPP but also on the military pivot to Asia. His conservative Liberal Party has enough seats in the Diet, the Japanese legislature, to force through Abe’s agenda despite widespread opposition and protest by the public. He tries to hide is position as a US puppet in nationalist rhetoric of a strong Japan, but more people are seeing through it and his popularity is plummeting. The only way to defeat the TPP and other corporate trade agreements is unity across geographic boundaries and uniting all of the issues that will be adversely impacted by the TPP.

Newsletter – Black August, End Neo-Slavery, Resist

August 30, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter Arctic drilling, Carbon, Drought, Environmental racism, Fight for 15, Finance and the Economy, Fracking, Gas, Guaranteed basic income, Hurrican Katrina, Iran, Japan, Jeju Island, Korea, Living Wage, Minimum Wage, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Oil, Okinawa, Peace, Political Prisoner, Prison, Prison Labor, Private Prisons, Racism, Solar Energy, Sustainable energy, TISA, TPP, TTIP, Wars and Militarism, Wind, Worker Cooperative, Youth imprisonment

By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance - Black August is coming to an end as we commemorate the ten year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. As many head back to school, a full season of actions are being planned for the fall to stop the corporate takeover of our communities and world and the push toward neo-slavery. There is a lot of resistance going on. We hope that you have an opportunity this summer to relax and build up your energy for the many actions that are being planned for the fall. If you go to a park, there is one more thing you can do: take a moment to think about the people who inhabited the land before it became a park.

Reality Check: Is This Base Even Necessary?

June 19, 2015 Shunji Taoka, www.popularresistance.org Petitions and Online Actions Democracy, Environment, Okinawa, Wars and Militarism

By Shunji Taoka in Asahi Shimbun. Okinawa, Japan - Japan pays the U.S. some 600 billion yen (about six billion dollars) every year as part of its so-called "sympathy budget," covering base-related construction, services, maintenance, and local employees' compensation, as well as the rental on lands occupied by the U.S. bases. If, in fact, American forces are in Japan to prevent the country from becoming a major military power, this practice is tantamount to prisoners paying the salaries of their guards. Thus, the U.S. military's explanation for their presence in Japan does not go down well in the "host country." An April 1999 public opinion survey conducted jointly by polling organizations in both countries and published in the Asahi Shimbun, revealed that 49% of the Americans responding also said that the purpose of stationing U.S. forces in Japan was "to prevent it [Japan] from becoming a major military power."

Okinawans Reject New US Air Base, Call It ‘Base Laundry’

June 16, 2015 Staff, www.japantoday.com Educate! Asian Pivot, Okinawa, US Empire, Wars and Militarism

By Yoshio Shimoji in Japan Today. Okinawa, Japan - Constructing a replacement facility for the Futenma Air Station in Henoko on northern Okinawa Island is nothing but an act of selling Japan's sovereign soil to a foreign power. The U.S. side says that, unless Futenma is relocated to Henoko, it will remain at the current site forever. As I have repeatedly said, Futenma sits on stolen property, because the lands it sits on were confiscated illegally from private landholders. Washington knows this well enough and wants the base to be relocated to Henoko, thus vindicating themselves across the board. This is why one can call the Henoko relocation plan "base laundry."

Okinawan Delegation To Washington, Part 1

June 11, 2015 What's Okinawa, www.whatsokinawa.wordpress.com Educate! Imperialism, Japan, Okinawa, usa, Wars and Militarism

By What's Okinawa - English-language news media, most notably the Washinton Post, recently reported on Okinawa Governor Onaga Takeshi’s recent visit to Hawaii and Washington, DC to express his opposition to the relocation of MCAS Futenma to Henoko, Nago. Senator John McCain as well as the U.S. State Department released statements immediately after their meetings with Governor Onaga declaring their unwavering support for the Henoko relocation. Along with Governor Onaga, a delegation of more than 20 representatives from Okinawa, including mayors, prefectural assembly members, city council members, and business leaders also visited Hawaii and Washington DC at the same time.

«1 2 3 »

Daily movement news and resources