Over 91 percent of Okinawans participating in a referendum Sept. 9 voted for a reduction in U.S. military bases on the island. There could be no clearer demonstration of public sentiment.
What was the response of the U.S. government, which chastises so many countries for not holding "free elections"?
The next day, the United States and Japan both said the vote would not affect the U.S. presence on Okinawa. And the governor of the island, Masahide Ota, who built his political reputation as a leading opponent of the bases, bowed to their will.
Pentagon bases still occupy Okinawa over 50 years after the U.S. captured the island from Japan at the end of World War II. The people of Okinawa have opposed the presence of U.S. troops there for decades.
Once an independent kingdom, Okinawa was annexed by Japan in the 1870s. Many Okinawans are treated as second-class citizens. Okinawans are among the poorest people in Japan.
After the war, a U.S. military governor controlled the island until 1972. Then it was returned to Japan on condition that the U.S. bases remain.
The bases take up 20 percent of the land. The Pentagon subjects residents to noise from high-tech jets, accidents from plane crashes, environmental destruction, and abuse from military personnel.
Three quarters of the U.S. military bases in Japan are in Okinawa. Over 47,000 soldiers occupy the island.
What does it mean to have your home environment dominated by a foreign military? Resentment against U.S. bases in Okinawa has been mounting, especially after a 12-year-old schoolgirl was raped a year ago by two GIs whose commanding officer told them they should have "gone to a prostitute" instead.
The struggle of the Okinawans represents the struggles of the Asian peoples to be liberated from U.S. imperialism. Not long ago, the Philippine masses, through tenacity and sheer will, were able to force out both Subic Bay naval base and the Clark airbase from their islands.
The corporate media are dismissing the 10-to-one vote of the Okinawan people against the bases, saying it will not make an impact because it is not legally binding on Japan.
Japan's capitalist leaders, like Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, want Gov. Ota to renew land leases permitting continued U.S. use of the island, even though these leases have long expired. Short of an outright revolt by the Japanese and Okinawan people, the Pentagon will continue to use these islands as strategic bases in Asia.
(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@wwpublish.com. For subscription info send message to: ww-info@wwpublish.com. Web: http://www.workers.org)