Whereas, Okinawa, the colonized independent Kingdom of Ryūkyū, has long borne a disproportionate burden of U.S. military bases, with over 18% of Okinawa Island occupied against majority local opposition, but ignored by both the U.S. and Japanese governments; and
Whereas, plans to construct a new U.S. military port at Urasoe City, first proposed in 1966 and recently revived, threaten one of the island’s last intact coastal shallows, is used by locals for gathering seafood, and
Whereas, as the U.S. military already maintains three operational ports at White Beach, Tengan Pier and Naha Pier, a fourth port is less military necessity, than a demonstration of U.S. and Japan will over indigenous Okinawans, and
Whereas, the Urasoe project mirrors the imposed Henoko base project, where thirty years of make-work has produced nothing of military value--only irreversible environmental destruction from lucrative contracts with no end in sight, and
Whereas, these projects represent wasteful both public spending in its most extreme and continued joint U.S.-Japan hegemony over Okinawan democratic opposition, as repeatedly expressed through referenda, lawsuits, civil disobedience and protests;
Now Therefore Be It Resolved, that Veterans For Peace:
1. Urges the U.S. Department of Defense to scrap plans to build another military port at Urasoe City, and rescind new base construction at Henoko;
2. Calls for independent investigations by the GAO and U.S. Congress into the waste, legality, environmental impact, and strategic necessity of these projects;
3. Stands in solidarity with the people of Okinawa in their call for peace, ecological protection, and the restoration and return of their lands and self-determination.
Submitted by
Makishi Yoshikazu, Associate Member, VFP-ROCK
Pete Shimazaki Doktor, Co-Founding Member
VFP-ROCK Douglas Lummis, Member, VFP-ROCK
Endorsed by: Veterans For Peace Ryukyu/Okinawa Chapter Kokusai (VFP-ROCK)