May 15 Sat. International Solidarity Peace Rally in Okinawa

There will be two big events in Okinawa from May 15-16.

On May 15th, one day before May 16 Human Chain around Futenma Air Base, there will be the International Solidarity Peace Rally in Ginowan City Hall.

There will be guests from Phillipines (No Base Network), Guam (Chamorro Nation), and Korea (National Campaign for Eradication of Crime by U.S. Troops in Korea).

Mayor Yoichi Iha, Keiko Itokazu (a member of the House of Councilors), Yasunari Fujimoto (Peace, Human Rights, and Environment Forum: Secretary General) will give welcome messages.

Let's voice out our message of solidarity and No new bases in the Pacific!

Peace Event at Miyako Island: Nmyaachi（Welcome）,PEACE SHIOMOJI JIMA

We are united!
We express our firm solidarity with shimanchu/island people all over pacific!
http://nmyachipeace.ti-da.net/d2010-05.html

15日、宮古島です。

案内（ゴーゴー）
�　日時　2010年5月１5日(土）　11時〜17時
�　場所
伊良部島平成の森公園　（雨天　伊良部中央公民館）
�　内容　平和イベント「んみゃーち（ようこそ）　PEACE 下地島」
ライブ　古謡・佐良浜元つかさ（神女）　劇・龍神イラブー
ミュージシャン　ダンサー　他
ゲーム　勝ち抜き島クイズ　賞品島産商品十点
しゃべり場　　今の平和・軍事を問う　　戦争体験を聴く
出店　　大海老料理ライブ・マグロ料理ライブ・各店自慢の島料理
(家は300円絶品ハーブランチ100食だします！）
主催　　んみゃーち　PEACE 市民の会　代表　高浪隆一

若者が発想した素朴なイベントです。
また、沖縄の基地問題がどうなっていくのかの正念場で、正直に表現しあう機会です。
地球の圧倒的声は平和を求めて、焦点化してきているように思えます。

詳細他は、伊良部島ハーブベラ畑
http://herbvera.ti-da.net/Youth Peace Rally (from Miyako Island),

Youth Rally at Miyako Island on May 15th, 2010


This will be the opportunity to talk and listen to simple questions of Peace & Militarism!
Please, come and tell us what you think of the Base Issue of Okinawa!
We can hear the voices from the world...the overwhelming majority of the earth is now going to quest for the peace(demilitarized world)....

Date: May 15th, 2010
Time: 11:00-17:0
Place: Irabu Island Peace Mori Koen (Forrest Park) or Irabu Community Center(if it rains)

-old chant by　Priestess Sarahamamoto
-performance by Ryuujin Irabuu
-musicians, dancers, and others
-island quiz game tournament, (Prize:indigenous products, local specialities)
-talk story, " question to peace & militarism, and listen to the story of war experience "

Rally to Demilitarize Pasifika: 5/14, Fed. Bldg.(Hawai'i)

PAN-PACIFIC RALLY TO DEMILITARIZE THE PACIFIC:

SOLIDARITY WITH OKINAWA, GUAM, TOKUNO ISLAND, KOREA & HAWAI`I

END THE OCCUPATION OF FUTENMA!

PRINCE KUHIO FEDERAL BUILDING, HONOLULU (300 ALA MOANA BLVD & PUNCHBOWL)

FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2010 4:30-6:30

 

On April 16, 2010, Okinawans will be encircling Futenma Marine Corps Air Station in Ginowan City, Okinawa, forming a human chain around the enormous military base as a vote of mass opposition and solidarity against further base expansion in Okinawa, particularly Henoko in northern rural Okinawa, the proposed site of Futenma's relocation.   On April 14, diverse people of O`ahu will gather in solidarity with the Futenma rally and other people's movements throughout the Pacific.

However, this isn't just about Okinawa.  This is an international problem.  US military forces are deployed in 130 countries around the world, with permanent bases in 50 nations and growing.  Because of local resistance in Okinawa, alternative sites have been proposed, such as in Guam and Tokuno Island in the Ryukyu Archipelago (north of Okinawa).  From the illegal overthrow and military occupation of Hawai`i in 1893, the US, along with other colonizers, have occupied nations throughout the Pacific with military forces and agendas.  We stand with our Pasifika sisters & brothers united against further military occupation and expansion, including localities not mentioned in this appeal. 

We demand the clean-up and return of lands back to civil societies to restore true human security and self-determination throughout our island homes.  Recent proposals to relocate forces from Okinawa to Guam, the Marianas, and Tokuno Island are just spreading this problem.  This is not a "not in my backyard" movement, but a "no militarism anywhere" unity rally.  To date, policy makers have not listened to island residents, so we unite as an ohana (family), defending our rights, our homes, our human security and our legacies.   Similarly, we want occupation armed forces to return to their home fronts, to help rebuild their communities and ultimately our collective human security.

US Armed Forces invaded Lu Chu (b.k.a. Okinawa) in 1945, and have never left.  Taking over and expanding Imperial Japanese airfields built by conscripted Okinawans, US military continued to occupy almost 20% of the island of Okinawa, including Futenma Marine Corps Air Station.  Called "the most dangerous airfield" by former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, the Japanese and US governments agreed to Okinawan demands for the reduction of military occupation, including Futenma MCAS, which sits in the middle of urban Ginowan City, surrounded by neighborhoods, schools, hospitals and local business that must live with overhead jets and constant fear of accidents, such as the helicopter crash into Okinawa International University in 2004.  In addition to inevitable accidents and the social problems resulting from foreign military occupation, communities around Futenma must endure up to 200 decibel-shrieking flights a day over their neighborhoods and studies have found disproportionate low-weight births and lower academic outcomes in surrounding schools attributed to the noise pollution.  Slated for closure by 2014, Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama recently announced that complete closure of Futenma is now somehow "impossible."

Among the tired excuses for continued military occupation of Okinawa is the Cold War relic North Korea.  For 60 years, militarist strategies have failed to end the war between the Koreas.  It is clear that these militant policies don't resolve conflict, but acerbate tensions, suffering and militarism on all fronts.  We call for peaceful resolution to such conflicts through diplomatic, cultural and economic exchange towards our collective security, as militaristic approaches have failed.  We link our struggles for peace with the people of the Koreas, sisters and brothers divided by failed, archaic politics.

Guahan, better known as the US colony of Guam, has shown widespread opposition to the resettlement of occupational forces from Okinawa to Guam that will overwhelm the fragile ecology of this even smaller island and reef system.  Meanwhile, other Micronesian and Mariana islands have been considered for relocation, while islanders disproportionately serve and die as fodder for a foreign commander-in-chief they could never vote for as non-citizens, nor serve as officers in this military poverty draft.

As island cousins, we sound the call to unite for our common defense against all forms of militarism and colonization, and our collective aspirations for international peace through social justice, sustainability, self-determination and mutual support.  After WWII, Okinawans in Hawai`i came together to help war-torn Okinawa; it is time we come support again.  Supporters include: DMZ-Hawai`i Aloha Aina, AFSC-Hawai`i, Ohana Koa NFIP and Buddhist Peace Fellowship-O`ahu; contact us to add your associations.

Parking is limited to streets, so consider carpooling and bus.  Feel free to bring signs, banners, instruments, friends and family to this unity rally committed to non-violence and popular sovereignty.

Yuimaaru/Laulima/Solidarity,

HOA (Hawai`i Okinawa Alliance)

Pete Shimazaki Doktor dok@riseup.net

Jamie Oshiro 808-728-0062

http://www.dmzhawaii.org/

http://hoa.seesaa.net/

Dugong was seen in Henoko Bay!

See the following link from Ryukyu Asahi Broadcasting news report!

http://www.qab.co.jp/news/2010051217881.html

Ryukyu Asahi Broadcasting (QAB) captured a Dugong, swimming in the Eastern Coast of Nago City.

Both Environmental Ministry and Defense Ministry have admitted that the ocean area from Henoko Bay to Kayo Bay is "the important sea area for the inhabitant of Dugong."

The Nature Conservation Society of Japan is warning that, "seagrass beds, which feed dugong, are distributed in the shallows in front of the Camp Schweb. Therefore, even the pier plan proposed by the government, surely vanish the seagrass beds. Moreover, change of sea current would possibly vanish the distribution of the seagrass."

Messages from Okinawa

Many people in Okinawa, who have struggled against Futenma and further base construction in Okinawa, have given inspiring messages after Hatoyama's disclosure of his idea of relocating Futenma to Henoko.

ARASAKI, Moriteru
Ryukyu Shimpo, May 5, 2010
--Hatoyama's visit to Okinawa made us aware of the reality of the Prime Minister Hatoyama or Hatoyama Administration. However, it also urge us to redetermine that we are the one who achieve "Closure and Return of Futenma, and Anti-New Military Base Construction."--

安次富浩さんからの談話 message from Ashitomi-san

Very powerful message from Ashitomi-san.

http://henoko.ti-da.net/e2857305.html

ヘリ基地反対協代表の安次富浩さんからの談話です。

鳩山の裏切り（公約違反）に対して、絶望しない。

金持ちボンボンの鳩山に失望したけれど
わたしたちは、子どもたちのため、この海を守る夢があります。

埋立の代わりに、環境破壊しないという杭打ち提案は、環境を知らない無知の戯言である。
徳之島は、琉球弧の兄弟島である。琉球史を知らぬ官僚どもの提案は、断じて許せない。
徳之島は琉球圏内であり、県外ではない。

新たな闘いを徳之島の皆さんと沖縄県民、全国の人々とともに立ち上がっていきます。
勝利は、主権者たるわたしたち住民の側にあり、決して政治家の側にあるのではない。

国会議事堂前行動 4.30 PROTEST in TOKYO

移設ではなく撤去を！！