Okinawans want reduction of US base

I, Nobumasa, received "Statement on U.S. Troops and Bases in Japan" below. I was deeply impressed that vioces of Okinawans have reached to U.S. people. Thanks to people supporting us. I think there is no way for humans to live peacefuly on earth without having sense of sympathy on other people who are suffring on behalf of others.

Below is a copy of a statement we have prepared on the U.S. military bases in Okinawa and Japan. It has been signed by a number of peace and justice leaders in the United States.

The statement calls for removal of the U.S. bases and supports those actively working toward that goal.

Please feel free to redistribute.

Thank you

Statement on U.S. Troops and Bases in Japan

As residents of the United States, we condemn the rape of an Okinawan schoolgirl by U.S. servicemen. This crime has intensified Japanese opposition to U.S. troops and bases -- and calls for action by U.S. peace advocates.

Washington has over 100 military installations in Japan and some 45,000 troops; Okinawa has three-quarters of the bases and two-thirds of the troops. Not long ago a government survey found 80 percent of Okinawans favored removal or reduction of U.S. troops and bases.

We can understand the opposition by the Okinawans. A peace-loving people, they suffered greatly in the battle of Okinawa near the end of World War II. They are mainly a farming people, and the U.S. military occupies 20 percent of their land. The recent case of rape is not the first of its kind. According to Stars and Stripes, a U.S. military newspaper, Americans in Okinawa accounted for 4.2 percent of the population but 11.5 percent of felonies like rape, murder, and robbery. Other ills associated with the U.S. troops and bases include ear-splitting noise from low-flying U.S. military aircraft, crashes by these aircraft that kill and injure civilians, and U.S. artillery practice over a public highway.

The U.S. government formalized its military presence in Japan early in the Cold War with the avowed purpose of protecting Japan from the Soviet Union. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, so has that rationale.

Today, security for the United States, Japan, and other Pacific nations lies in a demilitarized region, free of nuclear weapons. That this goal could one day be made a reality is indicated by growing popular movements like that in Japan against U.S. troops and bases and the widespread opposition to French nuclear testing. The maintenance of U.S. troops and bases in Japan works against the goal of a demilitarized and nuclear-free Pacific by stimulating and reinforcing militarist tendencies. U.S. bases in Japan still support Washington's continued commitment to nuclear warfare.

We endorse the efforts of the Okinawans and Japanese to evict the foreign military personnel and installations and lift the burden of U.S. military occupation. We urge the Clinton administration to remove U.S. troops and bases from Japan. This would be in our own best interests as a nation.

John M. Miller, Director, Foreign Bases Project

Boone Schirmer, Friends of the Filipino People

Olivia Abelson, Massachusetts Peace Action

Jo Becker, Executive Director,

Fellowship of Reconciliation

Medea Benjamin, Director, Global Exchange

Ruth Benn, War Resisters League

Lynn Cheatum, Peaceworks, Inc.

Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor,

Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT

Abraham Cohen,

South Shore Coalition for Human Rights

Marc Cohen

Sister Marie Danaher, O.P., Executive Director,

Intercommunity Center for Justice & Peace

Michael J. Dodd, Director,

Columban Justice and Peace Office

Nancy C. Doub, co-managing editor,

Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars

Bill Doub, co-managing editor & publisher,

Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars

Theresea Fitzgibbon, Friends Peace Committee

Joseph Gerson, Program Coordinator,

AFSC/New England Regional Office

Kathy Gilberd, Military Law Task Force

of the National Lawyers Guild

A. Tom Grunfeld, Professor of History,

SUNY/Empire State College

Jesse Heiwa, Japanese American Citizens League;

Asian & Pacific Islanders Lambda Chapter

John Hill, Boston Mobilization for Survival

Ruth Hubbard, Professor Emerita,

Harvard University

Carol Jahnkow, Executive Director,

Peace Resource Center of San Diego

Chuck Johnson, Executive Director,

Nuclear Free America

Rev. Kathryn Johnson, Interim Director,

Asia Pacific Center for Justice and Peace

Sarah R. Koritz, Community Church of Boston

LI Progressive Alliance

Tim McGloin, Coordinator,

Friends of the Filipino People

David McReynolds, former co-chair,

Socialist Party USA

Military Law Task Force

of the National Lawyers Guild

Gail Omvedt, Dept of Sociology,

St. Olaf College

Robert Perkinson, journalist

Michael Ratner, Board of Directors,

Center for Constitutional Rights

Rev. Nancy Rockwell, United Church of Christ

Charles Scheiner, Co-chair, WESPAC

Dr. Ted Schettler, MD

Abigail Schirmer, Boston Teachers Union

Peggy Schirmer, Concerned Educators

for a Safe Environment

Christi Seemann, editorial assistant, BCAS

Ken Sehested, Executive Director,

Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America

Mark Selden, Sociology Department,

Binghamton University

Steve Shalom, Dept. Of Political Science,

William Patterson College

Vivien Sharples, Nonviolent Action

Community of Cascadia (NACC)

Joanne Sheehan, War Resisters League/New England

Mark Solomon, Simmons College

Pauline Solomon, Harvard University

Union of Clerical & Technical Workers

Craig J. Simpsom, War Resisters League

H. Kyo Suh, Editor of Korea Report,

Korea Information & Resource Center

Nancy Small, National Coordinator, Pax Christi USA

Joe Volk, Friends Committee on National Legislation

George Wald, Nobel Laureate,

Harvard University

Cora Weiss, Peace Action International

Women Against Military Madness

Rev. S. Michael Yasutake, Director,

U.S./Japan Committee for Racial Justice

Howard Zinn, historian

Roslyn Zinn

Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics,

University of San Francisco

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