辺野古新基地建設をめぐる

一連の政治的手続きに関する抗議声明

The construction of the new US military base at Henoko in Okinawa has recommenced. On October 13th, the current governor of Okinawa, Takeshi Onaga, withdrew approval for reclamation work to take place in Okinawa’s public waters. The following day, the Okinawa Defense Bureau responded with a request to examine and suspend the decision in accordance with the Administrative Appeal Act. On October 27th, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism ordered the suspension of the governor’s decision, thereby allowing construction work at Henoko to resume.

Although the Okinawa Defense Bureau is a government body, it made its appeal to examine Governor Onaga’s decision as a ‘private individual,’ and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism accepted it as such. This is clearly an arbitrary abuse of the Administrative Appeal Act which was originally designed to protect people’s property and rights from government tyranny, and numerous Japanese scholars of administrative law have declared that this outrageous act violates the rule of law. Governor Onaga was elected with support from an overwhelming majority of Okinawa’s population in spite of differences in party affiliation and political beliefs. To reject the governor’s decision in such an unjust way is to undermine local autonomy and the basic tenets of democracy.

Okinawa has been subject to institutional and systematic discrimination and inequality, and its people have been forced to bear an excessive share of the burden imposed by the Japan-US alliance. While Okinawa accounts for only 0.6 percent of the surface area of Japan, 74 percent of US military facilities in Japan are concentrated there. Moreover, the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement, which has been widely criticised as an unequal treaty, has not been revised, and numerous accidents and incidents caused by US military forces remain unsolved. In spite of the terrible violence of war and land seizure, the people of Okinawa have responded with a peaceful anti-war movement and protests against US military bases. In effect, resuming the construction of the new base means that the government is trampling on the people’s struggle for peace. It can be seen as a statement of the government's intent to continue imposing an extraordinary burden on Okinawa, as a consequence of Japan's national security policy.

The high-handed actions of the Japanese government over the construction of the new US military base constitute an issue that concerns not only Okinawa but the whole of Japanese society. We are all responsible for the decisions made in the Diet (Japanese Parliament), and therefore all of us are responsible for making Okinawa bear this burden through the Diet’s decision making process. Thus, it is clear that the issues faced by Okinawa and its people concern all of us living in Japan, especially in the light of the current political climate under the Abe administration, exemplified by the legislation of the Act for Protection of Specially Designated Secrets and the Security Bills, which undermine freedom, democracy and pacifism in this country. Okinawa is posing fundamental questions about Japan’s politics, our attitude towards the constitution, and our behaviour.

As supporters of liberal democracy, we oppose the way the Japanese government has acted in regard to the construction in Henoko. We demand that the government calls for a halt to this construction. Each one of us is making a stand against the unacceptable behaviour of the present administration.

November 6, 2015

SEALDs

SEALDs KANSAI

SEALDs TOHOKU

SEALDs RYUKYU

SEALDs TOKAI