Center for Okinawan Studies Lecture Series

“Constancy & Change: The Movement to Demilitarize Okinawa – from the 1950s to the 21st Century”

Two doctoral students at the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa will make presentations on sixty-five years of diverse resistance by the movement to demilitarize Okinawa.

Mami Hayashi’s presentation, “Military Bases in Okinawa: A Pressure for Migration,” covers the contrast between pre-war and postwar emigration and how a desire to defuse domestic dissent led the pre-Reversion U.S. military and the U.S.-controlled Ryukyu Government to encourage migration from Okinawa.

Rinda Yamashiro’s presentation, “Women’s Rights Perspective: A New Direction in the Anti-U.S. Base Movement in Okinawa,” draws on empirical research to articulate how the contemporary Okinawan women have engaged in resistance against U.S. military bases.

Presenters:

Mami Hayashi (Ph.D. Student, American Studies)

Rinda Yamashiro (Ph.D. Student, Sociology)

Discussant:

Vincent Pollard (Lecturer, Asian Studies)

Vincent Pollard teaches in the Asian Studies Program and conducts research on anti-bases movements.

Date: January 21, 2010 (Thursday)

Time: 3:00-4:30 pm

Location: Center for Korean Studies Auditorium

Event is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Center for Okinawan Studies, tel. 956‐0902 / 956-5754

For disability access, please contact the Center for Okinawan Studies.

University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution

January 13, 2010

AP: Clinton was met by protesters

The AP reported:

Speaking on a hillside terrace at the East-West Center on the campus of the University of Hawaii, Clinton was met upon arrival by a few dozen protesters lining the street and shouting “End the wars!” and hoisting signs demanding that the U.S. withdraw its military forces from Okinawa. None attended the speech.

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http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation_world/20100112_ap_clintonacceptsjapansdelayonusbasedecision.html

Posted on Tue, Jan. 12, 2010

Clinton accepts Japan’s delay on US base decision

ROBERT BURNS

The Associated Press

HONOLULU – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday the Obama administration feels assured of Japan’s commitment to a continuing security alliance with the United States, even as Tokyo weighs abandoning a 2006 deal on a U.S. Marine air base.

“The Japanese government has explained the process they are pursuing to reach a resolution” on relocating the Futenma air station, “and we respect that,” she told a news conference after meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada at a Honolulu hotel.

Clinton apparently received no explicit promise from Okada that Japan would not force Futenma off its territory entirely. The U.S. military views Futenma as critical to its strategy for defending not only Japan but also reinforcing allied forces in the event of war on the Korean peninsula.

Okada told reporters that he reiterated his government’s pledge to reach a decision on relocation of Futenma by May. He said Tokyo would determine the future of the air station in a way that would have “minimal impact on the U.S.-Japan alliance.”

In a nod to Japanese sensitivities, Clinton said it was important for the U.S. to maintain its role in contributing to stability in the Asia-Pacific region while keeping in mind the need to reduce the impact of jet noise and other inconveniences to local communities near U.S. bases.

Clinton also delivered a speech designed to clarify the Obama administration’s views on modernizing the groupings of Asian and Pacific nations in ways that would enhance their cooperation on a wide range of issues, including regional security, trade and the environment.

Speaking on a hillside terrace at the East-West Center on the campus of the University of Hawaii, Clinton was met upon arrival by a few dozen protesters lining the street and shouting “End the wars!” and hoisting signs demanding that the U.S. withdraw its military forces from Okinawa. None attended the speech.

Clinton stressed that the first U.S. priority in the Asia-Pacific is to maintain the country-to-country alliances it already has, while exploring ways in which the United States can play a role in any new or reconfigured associations.

“The ultimate purpose of our cooperation should be to dispel suspicions that still exist as artifacts of the region’s turbulent past,” she said.

No country, including the U.S., should dominate in the region, she said. But the role of the United States is irreplaceable, she added.

“We can provide resources and facilitate cooperation in ways that other regional actors cannot replicate, or in some cases are not trusted to do.”

She described the region as a source of potential instability.

“Asia is home not only to rising powers, but also to isolated regimes; not only to long-standing challenges, but also unprecedented threats,” she said.

For decades the main U.S. ties to the Asia-Pacific region have been through security and trade agreements with individual countries, such as the 50-year-old security treaty with Japan that allows the basing of U.S. forces on Japanese territory.

The case of Futenma air station, on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, has become particularly sensitive. That it must be moved is not in dispute , the two countries signed a deal in 2006 to relocate it on the island. The problem is where to put it. And the U.S. position is that it cannot be shut down until a replacement is established elsewhere on Okinawa , an idea most Okinawans oppose.

A new left-leaning Japanese government that took office in September is reassessing the U.S.-Japan alliance.

It also is investigating agreements long hidden in government files that allowed nuclear-armed U.S. warships to enter Japanese ports, violating a hallowed anti-nuclear principle of postwar Japan. The findings are due out this month.

At her news conference with Okada, Clinton played down the friction over Futenma, stressing the many other areas of long-standing cooperation between the two countries. And she made clear that satisfying U.S. needs for the Marine base is equally in Japan’s own interest.

“We look to our Japanese allies and friends to follow through on their commitments, including on Futenma,” she said. “I know Japan understands and agrees that our security alliance is fundamental to the future of Japan and the region.”

The Hawaiian setting for Tuesday’s meeting, in the 50th year of the U.S.-Japan defense alliance, inevitably stirred memories of darker times. After her session with Okada, Clinton visited the World War II memorial to the sunken USS Arizona, which still lies in Pearl Harbor with its dead. She chatted briefly with two survivors and laid a wreath before a wall containing names of those who died on the ship.

Nearly 2,400 Americans were killed and almost 1,180 injured when Japanese fighters bombed and sank 12 naval vessels and heavily damaged nine others on Dec. 7, 1941. The Arizona, which sank in less than nine minutes after an armor-piercing bomb breached its deck and exploded in the ship’s ammunition magazine, lost 1,177 sailors and Marines. About 340 of its crew members survived.

January 13, 2010

“Once you take our lands away, we lose it forever”

The website We Are Guahan has been posting selected testimonies from the ongoing hearings on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the military buildup. There have been powerful statements that the world and U.S. leaders need to hear. DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina will be reposting some of these testimonies. Here is a testimony submitted by a retired Army Colonel from Guam. His family’s land is threatened with condemnation by the military. One statement he made is almost exactly what people in Hawai’i have said about the military: “Once you take our lands away, we lose it forever.”

My name is Raymond L.G. Taimanglo. I am a retired Colonel in the U.S. Army, a resident of Guam, 53 years old and reside in the village of Yigo.

My mother Vicenta L.G. Taimanglo owned 18 hectors of land in the vicinity of AAFB(S) which was taken by the U.S. Navy after WWII. These lands are now recorded in the Wills of my siblings and me, since my mother passed away several years ago. We hope that one day our children will receive this property back. Our children will always know that the land is their own and that our nation needs it for now and that “Now” is a relative word and that “Now” could mean forever.

Once again our family is faced with another possible land taking. My wife Gwendolyn Nelson Taimanglo is a land owner in the Sasayan Valley. I am disheartened with the thought that we will lose our land once again.

In the interest of time I will begin my presentation.

The DEIS did not fully explore viable military sites for training and weapons ranges (firing ranges) because it dismissed them for various reason which raises some concerns. The military sites reviewed to construct firing ranges on the West Coast were easily dismissed. As a result, these sites or a combination thereof did not go through the rigorous step 2 alternative analysis, which may deny the decision makers the option to select a site or a combination thereof. The reasons given to dismiss the West Coast sites didn’t seem justified enough to drop them as an alternative. Concerns such as denying the use of recreational areas, restrictions on favorite dive spots, restricted ocean travel for boaters, restricted hiking trails, and possible impact on tourism, all hold true when applied to the East Coast alternative, which is the only alternative given in the DEIS. The advice given by the Office of the Governor to explore the eastern side of the island for possible alternatives made it easier to dismiss a host of sites located in the west coast of Guam. In addition, all military sites had a common caveat in dismissing potential sites that were considered, “…incompatibility with future missions.”

To simply dismiss the alternative to put a range at Tarague Valley because it was incompatible with future military missions is questionable especially when this line is used to dismiss all military sites that were considered. Once again the decision makers could be denied the benefit of selecting this alternative because of one catch all statement, “..incompatibility with future military missions’.

The Tarague Valley alternative is a good alternative since it is a convenient location for training and ranges. The Tarague Valley compliments the activities as described in the requirements list of the DEIS. This alternative must be explored and if possible selected for training and range operations in lieu of the East or West Coast alternatives. The military must strive hard to resource the buildup from within their land inventory. In addition, this alternative is consistent with the initial statement made by JPO that only existing Federal land will be used for the military buildup.

The reason to dismiss the Tarague site without undergoing the step 2 alternative analysis is suspect. Because it is not being explored as an alternative and a vague reason given for dismissal, it leads us to belief that the military is only trying to protect something. I venture to say that it could be the panoramic view and pristine beaches, parks and recreational facilities that military, dependents and their guest enjoy. If this is so, to take away more land from the people of Guam is unconscionable.

You should not take lightly the fact that a viable alternative within the military reservation has been dismissed. You have a duty to inform the approvers of the EIS prior to the Record of Decision that there are other viable alternatives besides the East Coast alternative even if the Tarague alternative possesses some constraints. I call upon the decision makers and responsible Federal officials and military leadership to challenge their planners and staff to make this alternative work for the military.

The only two alternatives offered for training ranges are in the East Coast of Guam and is really just one alternative. In reality it is an alternative within an alternative. The only real difference is the rerouting of Rt. 15 and number of acres. This is the only alternative that received a step 2 alternative analysis because all other military sites were dismissed.

The two alternatives presented in the DEIS appears to take the easy way out. As a matter of fact, the impact tables shown in the DEIS seem to communicate that in all assessment categories there were no real impact. Very one sided, if you ask me. All in favor of the preferred alternative which is the East Coast alternative.

Contrary to the impact analysis of the DEIS of the East Coast alternative, many families and users of the land within the area will be impacted. Although the land tracks are few, many people are affected. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of families that will be denied use of their family and ancestral lands. Thousands of race car enthusiast and fans will not be able to enjoy the entertainment and recreation that it already provides. Hundreds and hundreds of local, military and tourist will be restricted or not be allowed to hike to natural caves and coast lines. The potential of these lands are starting to manifest themselves. Mining of gravel to make concrete for homes and roads in support of the growth of Guam, installed infrastructure for a private golf course already exist, paved roads, power poles, and water wells that are in place but capped, all are value added to the area. All these and more are signs that the land within the East Coast alternative are viable and have potential to provide good things for Guam. It would be a travesty to use it for military training and ranges.

The Military buildup is so large of a project that it warrants close scrutiny and review. The consolidation of all the military buildup projects into one DEIS document serves no justice for the environment, military and the people of Guam.

As I go over the DEIS I noticed a pattern of cut and paste. Many of the writings are used typically in every volume. This indicates to me that the level of effort and scrutiny needed to produce a good EIS might have been jeopardized. Each major project should be a stand alone project with its own EIS so it receives a good review and all viable and feasible alternatives explored and weight so the best decision is made. It is evident by some of the tables that the buildup will have little to no impact on our environment or people. The impact tables are too supportive of the buildup that almost nothing is affected. The DEIS is so voluminous that short cuts could have been taken just to end the misery of preparing such a large document. I urge you to relook the DEIS as it is prepared. The DEIS should be redone with the approach of one project – one EIS. Although there is a sense of urgency to get the DEIS approved, you must also recognize that we can only do this once. Once you take our lands away, we lose it forever.

I want to thank the panel for the opportunity to submit my input to the DEIS. I hope that you will appreciate the points made in this presentation and take appropriate action to examine the process and out come of the DEIS as it is presented. Moreover, that this presentation and others like it will influence the decision makers and our people’s resolve that no more private land be taken and that the military buildup be kept within property boundaries of the military.

RAYMOND L.G. TAIMANGLO

Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired)

January 13, 2010January 13, 2010

Clinton: APEC meeting is a chance for Hawai’i to showcase its ‘diversity’

“Diversity”! I guess that’s our cue to bust out the flower shirts and grass skirts. Cliches like “aloha spirit” and “diversity” have been so overused and abused by powerful interests in Hawai’i that they have lost their meaning, become empty, irritating and even dangerous ideas, weapons to be used against the rebellious. When Native Hawaiians express anger at the historical injustices that continue to afflict them, they are scolded: “where’s your aloha spirit?” But when business or politicians want to window dress their event or program, they wrap themselves in the idea of Hawai’i’s mythic “diversity” without having to deal with the messy inequalities, contradictions and conflicts that always simmer below the surface stoked by Hawai’i’s troubled past. APEC will highlight Hawai’i’s dual nature as victim and accomplice of Empire.

Oh, yeah. The following article mentions that a “small group” held a solidarity demonstration. It added to the “diversity” of the event.

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http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20100113_Isles_should_grab_spotlight_Clinton_says.html

SECRETARY OF STATE VISITS HAWAII

Isles should grab spotlight, Clinton says

Next year’s Asia-Pacific forum is a chance to demonstrate the state’s potential, she says

By Susan Essoyan

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jan 13, 2010

Hawaii has a chance to showcase its diversity and act as a model for the region when it hosts the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum next year, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday at the East-West Center in Manoa.

“The opportunity for Hawaii, which is such a meeting place for East and West, is just extraordinary,” Clinton said after giving a speech that stressed the need to strengthen regional institutions such as APEC.

The 50th state, Clinton said, can display not only its “culture and the history, but the diversity, the extraordinary mixture of people from across the Asia-Pacific regions.” “Certainly with the values that our country has and the aloha spirit that Hawaii exhibits, this could be a model for the imagination of what could be in the 21st century for many of the countries who will be visiting,” she said.

Clinton spoke on the lanai of the Hawaii Imin International Conference Center, overlooking its picturesque Japanese garden, to an invitation-only audience of about 150 people. Among the guests were East-West Center students, alumni and staff, as well as Gov. Linda Lingle, Mayor Mufi Hannemann, U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, former Govs. George Ariyoshi and John Waihee, ambassadors and consuls general.

The East-West Center was chosen as the site for her speech in part because it is marking the 50th anniversary of its founding by Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations among nations of Asia, the Pacific and the United States.

“I think it’s wonderful that we have this opportunity at the very beginning of our anniversary year to have a visit by such an important person,” said Gordon Ring, alumni officer at the East-West Center. “The Asian countries are aware of the East-West Center, but people on the U.S. mainland aren’t as aware of it. I think this really is going to help build our profile in the United States.”

Honolulu is the first stop on Clinton’s Pacific tour, her fourth trip to Asia since becoming the chief U.S. diplomat a year ago. She leaves today for Papua New Guinea. “I don’t think there is any doubt that the United States is back in Asia, but I want to underscore that we are back to stay,” she said.

“We are starting from a simple premise: America’s future is linked to the future of the Asia-Pacific region, and the future of this region depends on America,” Clinton said. She said the United States intends to play an active role, adding with a smile, “I don’t know if half of life is showing up, but I think half of diplomacy is showing up.”

Clinton emphasized the need to make organizations such as APEC and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations more efficient and effective. “No country, including our own,” she added, “should seek to dominate these institutions, but an active and engaged United States is critical to the success of these institutions.”

She highlighted dramatic changes in the region, “from soybeans to satellites, from rural outposts to gleaming mega-cities, from traditional calligraphy to instant messaging and, most importantly, from old hatreds to new partnerships.”

“We believe that Asia’s rise over the past two decades has given the region an opportunity for progress that simply didn’t exist before,” she said. “There is now the possibility for greater regional cooperation, and there is also a greater imperative.”

“APEC has been very focused on trade, which is important, but I am also focused on sustainable prosperity, broadly shared prosperity,” she said in response to a question. “We do not want to see the inequalities of the previous century being replicated among the steel and glass skyscrapers of a new age.”

Across the street, a small group held signs calling for the United States to shut its military bases. “Asia Pacific Vision: Peace,” read one. “U.S. bases out of Guam, Okinawa and Hawaii.”

January 13, 2010January 13, 2010

“New Architecture” in the Asia-Pacific or just more hegemony?

Terri Keko’olani, AFSC Hawai’i and DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina. Photo: Eri Oura

Below is another story from the KITV newscast about Sec. of State Clinton’s speech yesterday at the East West Center. Footage on the 10:00 pm news included the demonstration by AFSC Hawai’i, DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina, Gaza Freedom March, World Can’t Wait and others. The protest targeted the escalating U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and military realignment and expansion in Okinawa, Guam and Hawai’i, as well as the U.S. policies on Israel and Palestine.

Clinton’s speech was hyped as revealing the “new architecture of Asia”, but at its core, it just rehashed a centuries-old theme of America “power projecting” its “manifest destiny” across the Pacific to shape the security and economic environment in Asia. In this imperial vision of the Asia-Pacific region, what really matters is Asia. The Pacific is not seen as a real place, just a big protective moat to keep enemies at bay and a place to build strategic military bases within easy striking distance of potential Asian rivals.

Of course, quoting Obama, she made obligatory reference to the Pacific ocean binding us together rather than dividing us. But this metaphor was ripped off from the peoples movements in the Pacific such as the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific (NFIP) which popularized the concept of the Pacific Ocean as Ka Moana Nui (The Great Ocean) that forms a liquid continent uniting the peoples of the Pacific. If Obama felt truly bound to the peoples of the Pacific, then he would have supported the more aggressive climate change initiatives put forth in Copenhagen by drowning island states like Tuvalu.

No, at its heart, the U.S. vision of the Pacific is still the “American Lake”. The islands and peoples of the Pacific are just beautiful places to vacation or strategic locations to build military bases. How else do you explain the arrogance with which the U.S. violates the sovereignty of the small islands and imposes its military bases? First Hawai’i, then Guam, American Samoa, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Okinawa, all the way to Puerto Rico and Diego Garcia.

I am reminded of Henry Kissinger’s notorious 1969 quote about U.S. nuclear tests in the Pacific: “There are only 90000 people out there. Who gives a damn?”

The U.S. peace movement should recognize the pivotal role small islands like Hawai’i, Guam and Okinawa play in the American Empire and its global network of military power. To prevent wars from happening in the future, it is critical that Americans force their government to stop using small islands as military platforms to wage wars.

Photo: Eri Oura

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http://www.kitv.com/news/22222221/detail.html

Clinton Discusses Asia-Pacific’s Importance

Secretary On 10-Day Trip Through Region

POSTED: 5:05 pm HST January 12, 2010

UPDATED: 9:23 pm HST January 12, 2010

HONOLULU — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made a major policy speech in Honolulu on Tuesday at the East-West Center in Manoa about America’s future relationship with Asia.

Clinton celebrated the 50th anniversary of the East-West Center. She talked about how Asia is changing, and how the U.S. should respond.

Local politicians, Hawaii military leaders and people who work at the center attended her address.

Clinton is on a 10-day trip through the Asia-Pacific Region. Clinton said the Asia-Pacific region is important to America. She talked about the major changes in Asia in recent decades.

“It is a region that has gone from soybeans to satellites, from rural outposts to gleaming mega-cities, from traditional calligraphy to instant messaging and most importantly, from old hatreds to new partnerships,” Clinton said.

The U.S. and Asia are now linked economically and America will continue to maintain a presence in the region, Clinton said.

“The United States has a strong interest in continuing its tradition of economic and strategic leadership, and Asia has a strong interest in Asia in the U.S. remaining a dynamic, economic partner and a stabilizing military influence,” the secretary said.

The East-West Center audience was receptive and happy to host the Cabinet member.

“It was a tremendous honor the East-West Center 50th anniversary. So, we were overjoyed to hear her speech, get her illumination of the Asia-Pacific region,” said Floren Elman-Singh, of the East-West Center.

A group of about three-dozen people rallied outside of the East-West Center about the war in Afghanistan and Iraq and the move of a Marine base to another part of Okinawa, Japan.

Clinton also visited Pearl Harbor, where she presented a wreath aboard the USS Arizona Memorial to commemorate the Americans who died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Earlier in the day she met with Japan’s foreign minister. Read more about that here.

January 12, 2010January 13, 2010

Protest greets Hillary Clinton at the East West Center

Angela Hoppe Cruz, a Chamorro student at UH, demonstrates her solidarity against U.S. military bases in Okinawa as well as Guam, her homeland. Photo: Eri Oura

Today in Honolulu, a lively protest outside the East West Center greeted U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who delivered a speech on the U.S. vision for the Asia-Pacific region. Protesters represented a wide range of groups and issues including anti-bases movements in Okinawa, Guam, The Philippines and Hawai’i, Palestinian support groups, peace and anti-war groups and Hawaiian sovereignty groups.

Col. Ann Wright (Retired) and the American Friends Service Committee – Hawai’i called the action with very short notice to send a message to the Obama administration that the peoples of the Asia-Pacific demand peace, not endless war and militarization.

A critical issue for Clinton on this visit was the disagreement between the U.S. and Japan over the fate of U.S. military bases in Okinawa. Earlier in the day, she met with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada to discuss Futenma air station, but was unable to reach a deal.

The U.S. has urged Japan to stick to an earlier agreement negotiated by the previous Japan and U.S. administrations that would relocate Futenma base to the pristine coral reefs of Henoko, Okinawa, and move thousands of marines and other facilities to Guam. However, the new ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which recently ended a fifty-year reign by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, has called for abandoning the agreement and seeking the complete removal of the Futenma base from Okinawa. The Japanese government has delayed its decision on the fate of the Futenma air station. If Futenma were to be moved off of Okinawa, it would most likely be relocated to the American colony of Guam, although the Japanese government has been scouting several of Japan’s smaller off-shore islands as possible relocation sites.

However many of Guam’s indigenous Chamorro people are deeply concerned about the devastating environmental, cultural and social impact of the proposed military expansion. They feel that Chamorro culture would drown in the flood of militarization. Ongoing public hearings on a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed buildup have been packed, with the overwhelming majority opposing the military expansion.

Photo: Eri Oura

Today’s demonstration in Honolulu highlighted solidarity between movements in Hawai’i, Okinawa and Guam and called for a different alternative: the reduction of the U.S. military footprint in the Pacific. This would allow for bases to be removed from Okinawa, without moving the impacts and problems to Guam, Hawai’i or another location.

Kisha Borja-Kicho`cho` and Angela Hoppe Cruz, Chamorro students at the University of Hawai’i, sang a song in their native language. Borja-Kicho’cho’ also recited an angry poem opposed to the military expansion. “We don’t want your military bases!” she said over the bullhorn as Clinton was greeted at the East West Center.

Ann Wright said “We want peace in the Pacific, not more militarization and wars. Get your bases out of the Pacific!”

Prior to Clinton’s arrival, security was thick. Only invited guests were allowed within 100 feet of the Imin Conference Center. However the line of banners and signs were visible to the attendees, and demonstrators chanting “Stop the wars! Bases Out!” echoed between the buildings as Clinton was whisked from her car. The chants continued to disrupt the event until security gave a final warning to the group to turn off the bullhorn.

The main banner read “Asia – Pacific Vision: Peace”, “Bases Out – Guam – Okinawa – Hawai’i”, and “End the Wars.” Another sign out in the shape of the endagered Okinawan Dugong, said “Peace for Okinawa”, “No Bases in Okinawa”, “Save the Dugong” and “Nuchi du Takara” (Life if most precious). Another sign had the outline of Guam with “Asia – Pacific Vision, No Military Build-up”. Groups also held signs opposing the militarization of Hawai’i, calling for an and to the wars and torture, and calling for the U.S. to stop supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. One demonstrator waved the upside-down Hawaiian flag, a sign of the nation in distress.

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Other coverage of Clinton’s visit and the demonstrations:

Hawaii News Now mentioned the demonstration: “Protestors also showed up. About two dozen people held anti-war signs and chanted to attract attention. They weren’t allowed in to hear the speech.” The full story is here: http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11813005

The Honolulu Advertiser coverage of Clinton’s visit is here: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100112/BREAKING/100112045/Clinton+reaffims+U.S.-Japan+relations

And here: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100112/BREAKING01/100112050/Clinton+pledges+to+strengthen+Asia-Pacific+relationships

The Honolulu Star Bulletin coverage quotes Clinton as she restates the “indispensable nation” thesis:

“We are starting from a simple premise: America’s future is linked to the future of the Asia-Pacific region and the future of this region depends on America,” she said.

In an AP article published in the Honolulu Star Bulletin, the headline was failure: “Clinton accepts Japan’s delay on US base decision”

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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60B5AE20100112

Military base deal eludes Clinton, Okada in Hawaii

HONOLULU

Tue Jan 12, 2010 3:52pm EST

HONOLULU (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada failed to reach a deal on Tuesday on a dispute over a U.S. military base, but pledged not to let it derail the broader relationship.

Clinton, after an 80-minute discussion with Okada in Hawaii, said she had again urged Tokyo to follow through on a deal to relocate the Marines’ Futenma base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, but allowed that this could take time to fully resolve.

“This is an issue that we view as very important,” Clinton told a news briefing. “But we are also working on so many other aspects of the global challenges that we face and we are going to continue to do that.”

Okada repeated that the government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama had pledged to make a final decision about Futenma by May, and remained committed to the broader U.S.-Japan security pact, which marks its 50th anniversary this year.

“We will come up with a conclusion by May so that there will be minimum impact on the Japan-U.S. alliance,” Okada said through a translator.

U.S. officials say relocating Futenma to a less crowded part of Okinawa — rather than off the island as many residents demand — is an important part of a broader realignment of U.S. forces amid China’s rising power and uncertainties over North Korea.

(Reporting by Andrew Quinn; Editing by Eric Walsh)

January 11, 2010

Send a Message to Secretary of State Clinton

URGENT ACTION ALERT TUESDAY

Message to Secretary of State Clinton: We Want Peace!

Sign holding to declare our vision for the Asia-Pacific at Clinton’s policy speech

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2010

1:00 – 2:30 pm

East-West Center Imin Conference Center at the UH Manoa campus, East West Road.

A Peoples’ Vision for the Asia Pacific:

We demand peace!
End the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan
U.S. Bases Out of Guam, Okinawa, Hawai’i!
Free Hawai’i
End the Israeli Occupation of Palestine!
End the torture!
End the Korean War!
Abolish Nukes!

Contacts:
Kyle Kajihiro, 808-542-3668
Ann Wright: 808-741-1141
(Bring your own signs. Or join us in signmaking at AFSC at 11am, 2426 Oahu Ave.)

January 11, 2010January 13, 2010

Close US Military Bases in Japan and Okinawa; Rally During Secretary of State HIllary Clinton’s Foreign Policy Speech

Posted on Common Dreams:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 12, 2010

4:22 AM

CONTACT: Grassroots Organizations

Kyle Kajihiro, American Friends Service Committee andDMZ Hawaii/ Aloha ‘Aina

Impacted Sites

808-542-3668, (KKajihiro@afsc.org)

Ann Wright, Gaza Freedom March, www.gazafreedommarch.org

808-741-1141, (microann@yahoo.com)

Close US Military Bases in Japan and Okinawa; Rally During Secretary of State HIllary Clinton’s Foreign Policy Speech

HAWAII – January 12 –

WHEN: 1 PM, Tuesday, January 12, 2010

WHERE: In front of the Imin Center, East West Center, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will make a major foreign policy address on the U.S. vision for Asia-Pacific multilateral engagement on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010 at 2pm, at the East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii.

During her visit to Hawaii, she will meet with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada to discuss the fate of the U.S. Marine Corps airfield at Futenma in Okinawa. The U.S. and Japan agreed in 2006 to move Futenma to another part of Okinawa. However, Okinawa residents oppose the move and want the airfield to be shut down. The U.S. military is planning on moving 8,000 U.S. Marines and 34,000 Marine families and contractors to Guam increasing the population of the island by 25%.

Members of American Friends Service Committee, DMZ Hawaii and other grassroots organizations will rally at 1pm in front of the Inman Center of the East West Center in support of demilitarizing Japan and Okinawa and not moving U.S. Marines to the Pacific Island of Guam.

AFSC coordinator Kyle Kajihiro said, “The U.S. is relying on Japan building an additional airbase in a pristine area of Okinawa and transferring some Marines from Okinawa to Guam. The U.S. is also depending on Japan to kick in $6 billion to help fund the buildup on Guam. However, Japan doesn’t want to build another base and it has been questioning the exorbitant expenses of the buildup, such as $775,000 per housing unit. We support efforts of citizens of Okinawa to remove US bases and of citizens of Guam to not move US Marines to Guam.”

Ann Wright, retired US Army Reserve Colonel and former U.S. diplomat, who just returned from ten days in Egypt with the Gaza Freedom March, said that Clinton’s presence in Hawaii “is an opportunity for citizens to raise their voices on international policies with which they disagree. I can not be silent as the United States continues to blindly support Israeli aggression on Gaza and refuses to take strong measures against Israeli theft of Palestinian land in illegal settlements.”

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January 11, 2010

Shimojijima islanders protest possibility of U.S. military base

The new ruling party in Japan is trying to uphold its campaign pledge to reject relocation of Futenma Marine base to Henoko in Okinawa. The new government is scouting alternative sites, including small offshore islands such as Shimojijima. But residents of Shimojijima are protesting even the aerial inspection of their island by a top official. The bases are a threat to the security of host communities. It’s time to rethink the oxymoron of militarized security.

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http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/10_14.html

January 10, 2010

Shimojijima islanders protest Hirano’s inspection

Dozens of islanders have protested against an aerial inspection by Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano, the head of a coalition panel on the relocation of the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.

On Sunday, more than 50 residents and unionists of Shimojijima Island, Miyakojima City, gathered along the fence enclosing Shiojishima Airport, and put up signs.

Shimojishima Airport is used to train airline pilots, and is one of the sites being considered for relocating the operations of the US Futenma Air Station.

On seeing the Self-Defense Force aircraft carrying Hirano, the protesters shouted that they reject the military use of Shimojishima Airport.

The plane circled the area twice before flying away.

A demonstrator said the island has a memorandum with the government which states that the airport will only be used for civilian purposes.

A couple said they took part in the demonstration because they do not want to see military aircraft flying over such a beautiful island.

The Miyakojima City council plans to convene an extraordinary session next week to vote on a resolution and a statement protesting the transfer of the base.

January 11, 2010

Waihopai Spybase Protest Saturday, January 23rd

Chief Reporter

WAIHOPAI SPYBASE PROTEST SATURDAY JANUARY 23rd

END NZ INVOLVEMENT IN US WARS

People from all around New Zealand will be converging on Blenheim and the super-secret Waihopai satellite interception spybase, in Marlborough, on the weekend of January 22-24. The war in Afghanistan, in which the NZ military is directly involved, has got dramatically worse and President Obama’s surge of 30,000 extra US troops will escalate it further. Already it has spread across the border into Pakistan. Hillary Clinton’s NZ visit this week is aimed at whipping America’s allies into shape and to get more troops out of the Key government, whilst simultaneously dangling a Free Trade Agreement as the “reward” – nothing has changed since Holyoake’s “guns for butter” catchcry of the Vietnam War years.

The theme of our activities, both at the spybase and in Blenheim, will be anti-war. The US says that Intelligence is the key component of all the wars that it is fighting, or planning to fight, throughout the world (Yemen is the latest target in this endless war). The Anti-Bases Campaign points out that Waihopai, an important source of intelligence for the Pentagon, is New Zealand’s most important contribution to the American war machine and it means that we New Zealanders have blood on our hands. To symbolise that, our props will include crosses, coffins and white masks.

This will be the first protest at the spybase since the April 2008 deflation of one of its domes by the Ploughshares peace activists. In solidarity with them, we will be popping white balloons at the base (and we will be at their Wellington trial, for the week starting March 8).

Waihopai, of course, is a “New Zealand” base – or so the Government says. The fact is, however, that in everything but name it is an outpost of American Intelligence – paid for by the long suffering NZ taxpayer. More than $500 million of public money has been spent on the NZ Government Communications Security Bureau (the agency which runs Waihopai) in the 22 years of Waihopai’s operation. That money could have been much better utilised on health and education, not spying on behalf of Uncle Sam.

On Saturday 23rd we will meet in Blenheim’s Seymour Square at 11 am. From there we will march through central Blenheim, with speeches at the band rotunda in the Forum.

This will be followed by a visit to the Waihopai spybase itself at 2 pm. Information will be provided on the function of the base and there will be a peaceful protest, calling for its closure. Speakers, either in Blenheim and/or the spybase, will be: Keith Locke, Green MP; John Minto, of Global Peace and Justice Auckland; and Murray Horton of ABC.

Waihopai does not operate in the national interest of New Zealand. In all but name it is a foreign spybase on NZ soil, paid for with hundreds of millions of our tax dollars, and directly involves us in America’s wars. Waihopai must be closed. (For details on Waihopai and what it does, go to our Website www.converge.org.nz/abc <http://www.converge.org.nz/abc> ).

Murray Horton,

for ABC

Anti-Bases Campaign

Box 2258, Christchurch, New Zealand

cafca@chch.planet.org.nz <mailto:cafca@chch.planet.org.nz>