Season's Greetings!
Season’s Greetings,
I hope all of you are safe and well.
I want to take this opportunity to update you on the situation of Henoko-Oura Bay and express my appreciation to you all in the international civil society for your support, solidarity, and friendship for our fight for our environment and human rights and a peaceful world.
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| Quite Oura Bay on Dec. 30, 2020 (No construction work due to year-end and New Year holidays) |
Appallingly, amidst the pandemic, the Japanese government has continued its base construction work at Henoko-Oura Bay. In so doing, the government has shown its blatant disregard for its construction workers and security guards' safety. It has also shown its continuing indifference to Okinawa's democratic voice and the environmental destruction the construction work has been causing.
Amazingly, however, we have been able to continue our protest and fight against the base construction. At the Gate of Camp Schwab, sit-in protesters have re-organized their strategies. They have kept the size of protest gatherings small and making sure everyone wears a mask and practices social distancing. They have occasionally broadcasted their sit-ins for those who could not participate in person. Meanwhile, environmental NGOs have carried out a series of meetings with the Japanese government in Tokyo, in person and via Zoom. In fact, we have been able to get broader participation, including ones from overseas, to witness “live" the Japanese government's disregard for scientific evidence and insincerity as well as our fight against them. All that was unimaginable a year ago.
Equally amazingly, throughout the year, we have received tremendous support from international civil society members despite the spread of COVID 19 in their own countries. Some in the U.S. have fought along with Okinawan and Japanese plaintiffs in the U.S. Court and have ensured that the U.S. law applies to U.S. bases in Okinawa. Others in the U.S. have also engaged in meetings with their Congress members, asking them to reconsider the construction project. Many have engaged in various petitions and a public-comment-writing campaign, urging the Japanese and U.S. governments to cancel the base construction project and urging Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki to keep his fight against the base construction. Such international support has encouraged us in Okinawa to continue our struggle with our heads high.
And importantly, we have seen that nature is on our side. From February to August 2020, near the construction site in Oura Bay, the Japanese government recorded sounds of what appeared to be a dugong(s), an endangered marine mammal, Japan's Natural Monument, and Okinawa's cultural icon. Having long denied the importance of Oura Bay for the dugong, the government now must explain these recordings and review its previous evaluation of the bay for the dugong.
Moreover, Oura Bay has revealed its secret: the presence of an extremely fragile seafloor at the construction site. The Japanese government now admitted that to reinforce the seafloor, it would have to implant 71,000 piles, 5 to 6.5 feet in diameter, into the sea-bottom as deep as 300 feet below the sea surface. As the government has had difficulties explaining how to proceed with this absurd landfill work without destroying the environment, the construction project appears more and more unattainable and unrealistic.
As the year 2020 is coming to an end and the year 2021 will begin soon, I want you to know many many many of us in Okinawa and Japan are determined to renew our fight for our environment and human rights, and a peaceful world. And I want you to know how deeply we appreciate your continuing support, solidarity, and friendship.
Please stay safe and have Happy Holidays!
Hideki Yoshikawa
Okinawa Environmental Justice Project
