By Sumie Sato, World BEYOND War, February 29, 2023
Sumie is a mom, a translator, and a World BEYOND War volunteer with our Japan Chapter.
Japanese below, and video below.
On the 26th of February in Naha City, [Uchinaa, the Island of Okinawa], Okinawa Prefecture, people gathered for a rally entitled “Don’t Make the Islands a Battlefield! Make Okinawa a Place of Messages of Peace! 26 February Emergency Rally.” In front of 1,600 people at the Okinawa Prefectural Citizen’s Plaza (Kenmin Hiroba) adjacent the Okinawa Prefectural Office, Mr. GUSHIKEN Takamatsu said, “This is not just a political rally. It is a gathering to appeal for the survival of the people of Okinawa. We want you to participate, even if only for a short time, for the sake of your children and grandchildren.”
Mr. Gushiken is the executive committee chairman of Gamafuya (“cave diggers” in Uchinaaguchi, the indigenous language of Uchinaa). Gamafuya is a volunteer group that recovers the remains of those who perished in the Battle of Okinawa in spring of 1945, just before the end of the Pacific War in August 1945.
During the speeches at the Citizen’s Plaza, some 20 people from various groups spoke. We heard the voices of people who have been threatened by war, island residents, religious people, ex-soldiers of the SDF. And we heard a speech from Douglas Lummis, the Veterans for Peace—Ryukyus/Okinawa Chapter Kokusai (VFP-ROCK) . He is also the author of a new book entitled War Is Hell: Studies in the Right of Legitimate Violence (2023). After the speeches, the participants marched with a chorus of chants, appealing to the people of Naha City to generate messages of peace.
Many of the messages at the rally were addressed to the people of Uchinaa. The majority of the participants were probably Uchinaa residents. Many of them were elderly, but there were a few families with children as well as some young people. For the elderly people, who actually experienced the Battle of Okinawa, the war has never ended there, with the U.S. military bases and fighter jets flying overhead an everyday sight. They must fear that the flames of war are coming closer and closer. They continue to work resolutely because they do not wish for their children and grandchildren, who have never known war, to experience it.
The real and powerful messages I heard that day are precious to me—I who did not experience the war. The messages weighed heavily on my mind. And I could not help but feel responsible for the indifference of the mainland that has given birth to the current situation.
YAMASHIRO Hiroji, who was once incarcerated and mistreated for many months in jail for simply protesting in a peaceful way the violence of the governments of the U.S. and Japan.
One thing that left a deep impression on me was when Mr. YAMASHIRO Hiroji, one of the executive committee members, said that in preparing for this emergency meeting, the seniors and young people on the committee had repeatedly engaged in dialogue with each other. There is a generation gap between seniors and young people in terms of war. The senior generation, which has experienced the war firsthand, has sent a message of hatred and anger toward the Japanese government and the war, but the younger generations do not feel comfortable with that kind of message. How can people of different generations join hands and expand the movement? Through a process of multiple group dialogues, the senior generation conveyed and accepted the thoughts and feelings of the younger generation, and in the end, the message “Love rather than fight” was made the central slogan of this rally. A symbolic scene was when Mr. Yamashiro bowed his head at the end of the rally to express his gratitude for the participation of the young people.
２月２６日沖縄県那覇市で「島々を戦場にするな！沖縄を平和発信の場に！２.２６緊急集会」
が開かれました。貝志堅隆松実行委員長（沖縄戦遺骨収集ボランティア ガマフヤー代表）は「
これは単なる政治集会ではない。県民の生き残りを訴える集まりだ。子や孫のため、短時間で
もいいので参加してほしい」と呼びかけ、県民広場に１６００もの人たちが結集しました。県
民広場でのリレートークでは様々な団体から２０人余りの人たちの話があり、戦争に脅かされ
る県民の声、島住民の声、宗教者の声、元自衛隊の声などを聞くことが出来ました。その中にはベテラン フォー ピースのルミス ダグラスさんの声もありました。
そして、リレートークの後には参加者とシュプレヒコールをあげてデモ行進し、街の人達へ平和発信のメッセージのアピールをしました。
集会での訴えは県民ウチナンチューに向けたメッセージが多く参加者の大多数は県民と感じま
した。参加者の多くはご高齢でしたが、その中にチラホラと子供ずれの家族や若い人たちの姿
も見られました。沖縄戦を実際に体験した高齢の方達にとって、米軍基地を抱え頭上を戦闘機
が飛んでいる日常がある沖縄では戦争は今も続いている。そしてその戦火がまた目の前に近づ
いて来ているという恐怖心。戦争を知らない子供や孫たちに絶対にさせてはならない経験だか
らこそ断固として活動し続ける。それらのリアルで力強いメッセージは戦争を体験していない
私にとってはとても貴重なもので、どれもが心に重くのしかかりました。そして、本土の無関
心さが今の状況を生んでしまっていると責任を感じずにはいられませんでした。
一つ印象に残ったのは、この緊急集会の準備をするにあたり、実行委員のシニアと若者が繰り
返し対話を重ねて来たと実行委員の一人の山城博治さんが話していた事。シニア世代と若者の
戦争に対するギャップ。戦争をリアルに体験したシニア世代が発信する日本政府や戦争に対し
ての憎しみや怒りのメッセージ、しかし若者世代はその中には入っていけない。けれど異なっ
た世代の人たちがどうやって手を取り合って運動を広げていくのか。対話を何度も重ねる中
でお互いの思いを伝え合い受け入れ合い、シニア世代が若い世代の人たちの言葉や想いを汲み
取り、今回の集会のメッセージ “争うよりも愛しなさい” が第一スローガンになったという。山
城さんが最後に若い人たちの参加に感謝の意を示して頭を下げていたシーンが象徴的でした
。
