ガッティンナラン!

There are, of course, constantly new news articles about various aspects of the ongoing military base issue in Okinawa, and I cannot take the time (or energy) to read them all. In fact, I’ll be honest, I rarely read any of them at all.

But the image in this article (originally from the Ryukyu Shimpo, reposted by Yahoo News) happened to catch my eye, for some of the phrasing on the sign. The middle line, which was the first to catch my eye, reads 「日米のやりたい放題を許さない！」(Nichibei no yaritai hо̄dai wo yurusanai!), or roughly “We do not permit” or “We will not forgive,” “Japan and the United States doing what they want as much as they want.” Perhaps if I followed the protests more closely, I might be more familiar with this phrasing, but in my personal experience, I think this was the first time I’ve seen this, and I just love the phrasing. I’m not sure that my translation quite captures it, but in Japanese it feels rather compact and to the point to me – hо̄dai 放題 means “as much as you want” or “as much as you can,” and is a phrase we see all the time, e.g. at restaurants advertising a flat price for “all you can eat” (食べ放題, tabehо̄dai) or “all you can drink” (飲み放題, nomihо̄dai). But here it’s やりたい放題 yaritai hо̄dai, “all you can want to do,” which I think captures the apparent attitude of the Japanese gov’t and American military pretty well. This is of course seen in the now 25+ year long refusal to close the Futenma Air Station, and insistence on building a new base in Henoko Bay, despite extensive local protest, as well as decades of the military’s endangerment of the Okinawan people and their land through the transport and storage on Okinawa of sarin and other chemical weapons, nuclear weapons, and experimental aircraft, and through the countless never-ending cases of physical and sexual violence and other crimes committed by servicemembers. If the military is protecting Okinawa in some grand geopolitical or regional security sense, is it really doing enough to protect the Okinawan people locally, on the ground, from itself? … We see this, too, in the secrecy and denials surrounding the number of Covid cases on-base in Okinawa over the past several years, when new daily Covid cases among the civilian population were in the single or very low double digits each day for months at a time, and then on multiple occasions exploded due to outbreaks on-base when then spread into the population; and we see it paralleled as well in the Red Hill fuel leaks, in which military jet fuel was leaking into the main watershed for the City of Honolulu, on and off, from time to time, over the course of the last 80 years, and even after the military finally declassified it, they then continued to downplay it, distract, deny, and delay taking the necessary responsible actions.

In any case, I did have to look up the first big word in red on this protest sign, which reads ガッティンナラン (gattin naran). My Okinawan is sorely rusty, and was never more than a very beginner level to begin with, but if I’m understanding correctly, it basically just means “there is no consent!”

The words in black, 日本「復帰」50年 (Nihon fukki gojūnen) translate to “Fifty years since Japanese ‘reversion.'” I can’t be sure if these brackets are intentionally being used the way we would use quotes in English, to sort of question the veracity or meaning of the word “reversion,” but I would imagine we can take it that way. This year, 2022, does in fact represent the 50th anniversary of the end of the US Occupation of Okinawa and the “reversion” of Okinawa to being a part of Japan, in the sense of being ruled by a civilian government, elected officials in municipal, prefectural, and national government just like all other parts of Japan. I am not expert at the precise ins and outs of just how much support there was in Okinawa for which eventualities, and under what assumptions. But my general impression is that, yes, there was a lot of popular support in Okinawa for “reversion,” for a few key reasons: (1) who wouldn’t want the end of a military occupation, rule by a foreign military under essentially martial law? (2) the belief that the end of the Occupation would bring a very significant reduction, if not total removal, of the US military presence in the islands, and (3) looking at how comparatively democratic and economically prosperous Japan was becoming at the time, Okinawans wanted a part of that. At least, this is the basic story I’ve heard. Someday maybe I’ll read more deeply and gain a more nuanced, complicated, understanding of the whole thing – postwar is not my period of expertise. But, even if a majority of the Okinawan people did want reversion, the fine details were worked out entirely by Tokyo and Washington, without Okinawan leadership at the negotiating table. Ultimately, reversion took place when and how Tokyo and Washington agreed it would, and Okinawa had to simply go along with it – and go along with, in particular, the US military presence not being reduced very much, if at all. (I think it may have grown considerably, in fact, though I may be confusing that with a slightly different time period.) Further, I imagine that at least some Okinawans today question the notion of “reversion” as a notion that erases the history of Ryukyuan independence and sovereignty, and of Japanese (and American) imperialism and colonialism. I am reminded again of a pamphlet I was very lucky to get my hands on in the Okinawa Prefectural Library, entitled “Japan is Not Our Fatherland” (Yamazato Eikichi, 1969).

The final line on this sign, in blue, reads 命どぅ宝 (nuchi du takara, “life is a treasure”), and then the name of the organization, 琉球の自己決定権の会 (Ryūkyū no jiko ketteiken no kai). I am not sure if the group has an official English translation of their name, but I’d venture to call it something like “The Association for the Ryukyuan Right of Self-Determination.” I must admit, I’m not sure I’d come across the Japanese word for “right of self-determination” before. So, they’re not pulling any punches. Admittedly, they haven’t included any words pointing to indigeneity, but they’ve come right up as far as that line, with the term “rights of self-determination.”

…….

A very rough translation of the news article itself:

Prior to welcoming (meeting) the 50th anniversary of Okinawa’s reversion to Japan, a rally (held by the Nuchi du Takara! Association for Ryukyuan Rights of Self-Determination) took place on the 3rd in Yogi Park, holding signs saying “Gattin naran! Japan reversion 50 years! We won’t forgive Japan and the US doing as they wish as much as they want!” Speakers expressed voices such as that the continued US military base burden and movements toward the strengthening of Japan Self-Defense Forces bases since after reversion perpetuate a situation completely opposite to the desires expressed by the Reversion Movement for a peaceful Okinawa devoid of bases. And they appealed for the establishment of rights of self-determination, for Okinawa to decide its own future.

Yogi Park sits next to the Naha Civic Hall* where the Reversion Ceremony took place on the day of reversion, fifty years ago. Anti-reversion protests took place in the park that day; it was the very center of the reversion [and anti-reversion] movement. Amid intermittent rain, those attending the rally held up umbrellas and turned their ears to what the eight speakers were emphasizing. Yonamine Yoshio pointed out that even though the burden of the military bases, and sacrifices for maintaining the US-Japan Security Treaty order/system are concentrated in Okinawa, the people of Okinawa are not able/ready to be aware of this truth. He argued that since the reversion movement itself was based in assimilation to Japan, the contradiction has become difficult to see. Yokota Chiyoko (93) recalled that when she was living on Saipan during the war, people were unable to secure safe water, and many children died. Touching upon the pollution of the water supply caused by PFAS chemicals that is, incident by incident, becoming public knowledge in Okinawa, she criticized that even fifty years after reversion, even the situation of the dangers of drinking water continues. Following the rally, participants marched down Himeyuri Avenue.

沖縄の日本復帰から50周年を迎えるのを前に「ガッティンナラン！　日本『復帰』50年！　日米のやりたい放題を許さない！」と題した集会（命どぅ宝！琉球の自己決定権の会主催）が3日、那覇市の与儀公園で催された。登壇者らは復帰後も続く米軍基地負担や自衛隊基地増強の動きに、基地のない平和な沖縄を願った復帰運動とは「真逆の状況に置かれている」（主催団体の与那嶺義雄共同代表）などと声を上げ、沖縄の前途は沖縄で決める自己決定権の確立を訴えた。 　与儀公園は復帰当日に記念式典が行われた那覇市民会館に隣接し、当時復帰に抗議する「5・15抗議県民総決起大会」が行われるなど、復帰運動の拠点となった場所だ。時折雨が降る中、来場者らは傘を差して登壇者8人の主張に耳を傾けた。 　与那嶺氏は日米安全保障体制維持のための基地負担と犠牲が沖縄に集中しているにもかかわらず、「その事実を県民が自覚できていない」と指摘。復帰運動自体が日本への同化を基調としていたために「矛盾が見えづらくなっている」と問題視した。 　横田チヨ子さん（93）は、太平洋戦争当時に暮らしたサイパンでは、安全な水を確保できず多くの子どもが亡くなったと振り返った。県内で次々明るみになる有機フッ素化合物（PFAS）による水質汚染に触れ「復帰50年たっても飲み水さえ危ない状況が続いている」と批判した。参加者らはその後、ひめゆり通りをデモ行進した。

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*This Naha Civic Hall (那覇市民会館, Naha shimin kaikan) is, I believe, either currently slated for demolition or has already been demolished. I don’t know anything about whether there are or were plans to keep it intact until, or renovate it or replace it in time for, the anniversary of Reversion on May 15, 2022, but the last I saw it, it was surrounded by high construction fences and looked entirely derelict and abandoned. Not that it ever looked like it was in good shape to begin with, ever since my first time coming across it in 2013 or 2016 or so. I wonder what the plans are for it, in fact. If it has been, or will be demolished, then what might be built in its place. I guess we’ll see. Hideous building, in any case.