"Our brothers and
sisters in the peace movement around the world, in Japan and
elsewhere, are of extraordinary importance to us in the United
States right now. Since September 11th, it has seemed
like we are engaged in an almost impossible uphill fight against
newly reinforced walls of ignorance, indifference and denial. One of
the most difficult things for Americans to do, it seems to me, is to
grasp what U.S. behavior towards the rest of the world looks like
from outside the borders of our own country. This is a form of
blindness that is not uncommon in the privileged and powerful. It is
an overwhelming psychological tendency of those who are fortunate
enough as yet, to be able to suffer the delusion of continuing
national independence in an increasing interdependent world. We need
your help to provide an antidote to this type of shortsightedness."
- Marcia Morris,
excerpts from remarks at the International Symposium and Japan Peace
Conference held in Okinawa, November 29-December 2, 2001.
AFSC-CT Program
Coordinator Marcia Morris represented AFSC at an International Symposium
and Peace Conference sponsored by the Japan Peace Committee that was
held in Nago City, Okinawa November 29 - December 2, 2001. Marcia, and
Myrna Pagan from Vieques Puerto Rico, were the sole Americans at the
Symposium which hosted a seven member international delegation from the
U.S., Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Australia. The
conference was attended by over 1,500 Japanese peace activists.
While the
overriding concern of the proceedings was the ongoing work in Asia to
organize against the presence of U.S. military bases in the region, the
work of the conference was also deeply influenced by the impact of the
terrorist acts of September 11th and the ongoing war in
Afghanistan which the delegates unanimously referred to as the "War of
Retaliation".
In Nago City
itself, peace activists are organizing to oppose the construction of a
new deep water naval base off Henoko Bay. Environmentalists warn that
the fragile coral reef that will be destroyed by the new base
construction is the habitat of the beloved Dugong (or Pacific Manatee)
which is an endangered species. Nago citizens rejected the offshore base
and proposed sea heliport in a 1997 referendum, but plans move forward
despite local opposition.
Japanese activists
also expressed overwhelming concern about the participation of the
Japanese Self Defense Forces in support of the U.S. war in Afghanistan,
and over the use of bases in Okinawa as a staging area for the war.
Hiroshi Suda, the General Secretary of the Japan Peace Committee
observed that the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk was immediately
dispatched to the war with some 10,000 strong personnel from U.S. bases
in Japan.
Sato Mitsuo,
Secretary General of the National Campaign Committee for the Abrogation
of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty expressed his indignation at what he
considered the Japanese government's "subservient participation" in the
war on Afghanistan. He stressed that "The participation of the Self
Defense Forces has significant implications. This is the first time that
Japan has cooperated in war since WWII, in outright defiance and
violation of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution which renounces war
as a sovereign right of the nation".
Delegates from the
Philippines expressed concern that the U.S. war on terrorism has setback
their struggle to recover from the environmental damage left when the
U.S. withdrew form Clark and Subic Bases in 1992. (To date the People's
Task Force for Bases Clean-Up has documented more than 100 fatalies and
over 300 cases of chronic disease from the toxic chemicals left behind
at the U.S. bases.) In the immediate aftermath of the September 11th
attack, U.S President George Bush called for all-out support from the
Philippines in the war against Afghanistan. As a result of discussion
with the Philippine government, the US has entered into a Mutual
Logistics Support Agreement that would allow U.S. forces access to the
former military bases at Clark and Subic.
Alexander Lacson
from the Peoples' Task Force for Bases Cleanup reports that "we are
afraid that this will mean that Clark and Subic cannot be truly
transformed into the business and commercial centers envisioned by the
Philippine Government for the benefit of the Philippine economy".
Filipino delegates
to the 2001 Japan Peace Conference held in Nago City, Okinawa were
Alexander Lacson, legal counsel of the People’s Task Force for Bases
Clean Up (PTFBC) for the toxic waste victims and Corazon V. Fabros,
Chairperson of the PTFBC and Secretary General of the Nuclear Free
Philippines Coalition (NFPC).
