Hawaii-Okinawa Alliance: Solidarity action to stop Henoko military expansion

Today the Hawai'i Okinawa Alliance and a number of groups in Honolulu held a solidarity action for Henoko at the Japanese Consulate in Honolulu.

We held signs and picketed in front of the Consulate. We made one giant sign cut out in the shape of a Dugong with the words: "Peace for Okinawa, Nuchi du takara, Save the Dugong and No U.S. Military Bases".

Several weeks ago, we had requested a meeting with the Consul General and the consultative document prepared by the Japanese Defense Facilities Administration Bureau describing the activities of the pre-survey and survey for construction of the U.S. military base expansion at Henoko. The Consulate denied both requests.

So we showed up in person and requested to meet the consulate staff. This time Yamada-san came out to talk with us. They tried to shoo us off their property, but we maintained that we had official business and stood our ground. Yamada offered to meet with two persons inside, away from the media, but we said that we would like everyone to hear and participate in the discussion. He seemed quite shaken by the action. Last time we tried to talk with them, they were quite dismissive of our small delegation. We told them at that time that we were offended by the lack of respect and that "We'll be back."

We read the message to Prime Minister Abe aloud and handed it to Yamada to deliver to the Japanese national government.

Yamada said he would convey our message to the government. We asked when we might hear a reply, but he was noncommittal. I gave him a red ribbon as he left.

Then, on cue, everyone fanned out in the parking area and began tying hundreds of red ribbons inscribed with solidarity and peace messages onto the consulate fence. The security guard scurried around in vain to try to stop us but soon the fence was aflutter with red messages of resistance, solidarity and hope. We told them that these were prayers for peace and that the red color referred to the red card in soccer signifying that the player is out of the came. We told them to convey these to the Japanese government as well.

Mahalo to AFSC Hawai'i, DMZ-Hawai 'i / Aloha 'Aina, Anakbayan - Honolulu, Not In Our Name Hawai'i, Kapakaukau, Save UH / Stop UARC coalition, the Korea Truth Commission in Hawai'i, and the Hawai'i People's Fund, all of whom helped organize and sent representatives to the action.

In addition to a television station, a reporter from the Okinawa Times was there to do a story.