Domestic and International Interview with Takeshi Onaga: Counterattack Rooted in History

Published in Ryūkyū Shimpō
(Japan) on 22 May 2015
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Stephanie Chiu. Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.
The Japanese and American governments have both ignored the popular will of the Okinawan people, and embraced the new American base. In response to this, a declaration to launch a full-blown counterattack rooted in history has been sounded. Prefectural Governor Takeshi Onaga’s strong will and sometimes even anger rests within the words he has fired.

The target of this argument is considered to be the acceptance of the new base in Henoko, Nagoya, but it’s also pointed at the domestic media, which picks up only the confrontation between Okinawa and the Abe administration, and the mainland citizens who are apathetic to Okinawa’s suffering.

In a press conference with Tokyo’s Japan National Press Club and The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ), Governor Onaga squelched the popular will and unraveled a chain of absurdities that had amassed on American bases during the postwar period. Gazing over our history with a cool head, he refuted the Japanese government’s treatment of Okinawa as discriminatory, and voiced a universal complaint that prospective Japan-America relationships and Japan’s future were being jeopardized.

While waiting to visit America, Onaga told domestic and international media directly of his determination to prevent the construction of the new base in Henoko. This action also served as a strategic move to gauge public opinion in America. Some 238 members of the Japan National Press Club and about 150 members of the FCCJ crowded around. Global news agencies from America’s AP to Britain’s Reuters distributed related news articles, playing a significant role in informing the media of many other countries.

Japan has ignored Okinawa’s popular will, which was clearly displayed in its prefectural elections and more, and enforced the creation of the new base. Isn’t that strange, given that they are a democratic nation? This question should carry persuasive power, and resound throughout.

In preparation for successive conferences with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani, Onaga prepared a great number of words that would prove key, and faced them in careful fashion.

On this day too, Onaga spun symbolic words, saying “they are using bayonets and bulldozers to forcibly build a military base in the sea,” and “the only reason you can say the Japan-U.S. alliance and Anpo are important is because you won’t take responsibility for them yourselves.” *

The governor became irritated at the domestic media, who viewed Okinawa in an indifferent light and questioned what he could do. When asked whether Okinawa will move toward independence from Japan, Onaga declared back, “Despite the fact that Okinawa is being driven there out of necessity, will we cut loose? If we do so in the distant future, it would fill even the master with terror.”

Tension hung in the air, yet Okinawa’s direct display of its capable will and resolution will no doubt connect us from here on out. Okinawa has a history of being unable to control its own fate, but the governor has shown his determination to close the books on this. Against him, the former aces of the conservative political world, the reporters who chose to give in to harsh governmental pressure, will no doubt disappear.

*Editor’s Note: Anpo is an abbreviated reference to the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United State and Japan.


<社説>翁長知事内外会見 歴史に根差す反転攻勢だ
2015年5月22日 6:02

 沖縄の民意をないがしろにし、新たな米軍基地を抱え込ませようとする日米両政府に対し、歴史に根差した本格的な反転攻勢をかける-という宣言に聞こえた。翁長雄志知事の強い気概が時折怒気をも込めて発する言葉に宿っていた。
 その矛先は、名護市辺野古の新基地受け入れを当然の落としどころのように見なし、沖縄と安倍政権の対立構図ばかりを取り上げる国内メディアにも、沖縄の苦しみに無関心な本土の国民にも向けられていよう。
 東京の日本記者クラブと日本外国特派員協会で記者会見した翁長雄志知事は、民意を押しつぶして米軍基地が築かれた戦後の不条理の連鎖をひもといた。歴史を冷徹に見据え、日本政府の沖縄への差別的処遇は正義に反し、将来の日米関係と日本の未来を危うくするという普遍的な訴えだった。
 訪米要請行動を控えた時期に、名護市辺野古への新基地建設を不退転の決意で阻む姿勢を国内外の報道機関に直接伝えたのは、米国世論もにらんだ戦略的動きである。
 日本記者クラブには238人、特派員協会には約150人が詰め掛けた。世界的な通信社である米国のAP通信や英国のロイターなどが記事を配信し、多くの国外メディアが報じた意義は大きい。
 知事選などで明確に示された民意を無視し、新基地建設を強行する日本は民主主義国家として異常ではないのかという問い掛けは説得力を持って響いたはずだ。
 菅義偉官房長官、安倍晋三首相、中谷元・防衛相と相次いで会談してきた知事は鍵となる言葉を幾つも用意し、周到に臨んできた。
 この日も「(新基地建設は)海上での銃剣とブルドーザーの基地建設だ」「日米同盟や安保が大切と言えるのは自ら負担しないからだ」などの象徴的な言葉を紡いだ。
 沖縄を冷淡に見据えて何ができるのかと問う国内メディアの質問に知事はいら立った。「独立論に行き着くのでは」と問われると、「沖縄が切羽詰まっているのに、切り離しますか。先々切り離されるのではとの恐怖さえある」と言い切った。
 緊迫感が漂ったが、それでも沖縄の毅然(きぜん)たる意思を直接示したことは今後につながる。自らの運命を自ら決められない沖縄の歴史に終止符を打つ決意を示した知事に対し、保守政界のエースだったからいつか政府に妥協すると見立てを持つ記者はいなくなっただろう。
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