沖縄・地上戦から80年　

       戦後80年目の慰霊の日「６月23日」―。沖縄・地上戦の最大の教訓である「軍隊は住民を守らない」を、どのようにして全国に広げていくか、南西諸島から全国に広がる戦争準備の中で考える。

       沖縄戦80年の全戦没者追悼式。平和の詩は小６の城間一い歩ぶ輝きさんが「おばあちゃんの歌」を朗読する。「うんじゅんわんにん艦砲ぬくぇーぬくさー（君も僕も艦砲射撃の食い残し）」と涙ながら歌う祖母に思いを寄せた。　

        具志堅隆松さんは、石破茂首相に「戦没者遺骨が残る南部土砂を辺野古基地建設に使わないと表明した上での参加」を求め、今年もハンストを予定する。　

沖縄に委ね過ぎて　

       この間、陸上自衛隊による第32軍賛美、西田昌司自民党参院議員や参政党代表による沖縄戦の実相を歪曲し否定する暴言が続いた。　

      沖縄戦最大の教訓「軍隊は住民を守らない」。それは所与のものではない。生き残ったひめゆり学徒らの証言をはじめ、戦後の地域史（字あざ誌し ）編纂や「平和の礎いしじ」刻銘のための悉しっかい皆調査等、住民視点からの実相解明の努力によって、さらには27年間の米軍統治と今日まで続く基地被害の体験の中から、県民のなかに「獲得されたもの」だ。　

      本土側の運動は、沖縄の声をどれほど真摯に受け止めてきたか。歪んだ歴史観、政権と米軍の強権への抵抗を、沖縄に委ね過ぎてこなかったか。問われているのは、本土側の軍隊・戦争観、歴史認識の曖昧さということを改めて自覚したい。

「山小屋で２週間」　

       今、沖縄・南西諸島を覆うのは、台湾有事への日本の参戦を前提とした軍事化・戦場化のシナリオだ。米軍基地は機能強化され、自衛隊基地は復帰時の５倍近くに膨らむ。　

      米戦略国際問題研究所の台湾有事シミュレーション（23年１月）に、住民保護の想定がないことを問われた担当者は、「中国軍は軍事目標を爆撃するので、山にある小屋で２週間ほど耐えればいい」と答えている。　

       政府は沖縄島を除く南西諸島の住民ら12万人を九州に避難させるというが、九州では、敵基地攻撃能力を有する基地強靱化、弾薬庫の新増設、民間空港・港湾の軍事利用の整備が進み、全国化しようとしている。　与那国島では、台湾有事懸念で診療所医師確保が困難になっているという。政府のいう「抑止力」こそが、日々の暮らしを破壊し戦争を引き寄せている。参院選で大軍拡を阻止し、憲法に基づく政治に転換しよう。

英訳版↓

No. 1407 Eighty Years after Ground Battles in Okinawa

June 23 is a memorial service day in Okinawa. This year commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII. How can we convey the lesson learnt from the ground battles in Okinawa – ‘armed forces do not protect residents’ – to people across the nation? War preparations are being made rapidly from the southwestern islands of Japan to the rest of the archipelago. We solemnly think about our duties.

WE THINK OF PEACE AMID RAPID PREPARATIONS FOR WAR

Here we are in the memorial service for those who perished in the ground offensives in Okinawa. A sixth-year schoolboy, Shiroma Ibuki, reads aloud Song of My Grandmother. He thinks of his grandmother who sang with tears, saying ‘you and me, both of us, have survived of the air raids and naval gunfire.’

Mr. Gushiken Takamatsu will go hunger strike this year, too, requesting Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru to attend the ceremony ‘after expressing his pledge that soil taken from the southern region of the Okinawa Island where remains of the perished are scattered inside should not be used for construction job of the military base at Henoko.’

People in Main Islands are ignorant

Recently dishonest remarks were made about Okinawa; the Ground Self Defense Forces (SDF) praised the 32nd Troop, which had committed in genocides of inhabitants and other war crimes during WWII, and an Upper House lawmaker from the Liberal Democratic Party Nishida Shoji, and an another one, President of the Sansei-to political party, made comments which twist or deny what had happened during the combats in Okinawa.

The biggest lesson from the battles in Okinawa – ‘armed forces do not protect residents’ – is not naturally given, but ‘learned’ from the harsh experiences and shared by local people. Testimonies given by the survivors of the Himeyuri Female Students Troop, the post-war compilation of local historiography and the detailed investigation of the dead for a purpose of inscription of the names of people at the Cornerstone of Peace tell the truth. The moral is attained from the local efforts from their own viewpoint, the 27 years of US occupation of the islands and the lasting crimes committed by personnel of the military forces up to today.

How sincerely have the social movements in the main islands responded to the voices from Okinawa? People in the main islands have distorted ideas on the history and resistance of Okinawan people against the violent reign of the Japanese administrations and the US Forces. People in the bigger islands have ambiguous views over military forces, wars and history. We must admit again this fact honestly.

No protection of residents – ‘evacuation in a mountain hut’  

The most threatening issue in this region of Japan today is the scenarios of militarization and possibility to be a battleground in relation with emergencies around Taiwan, with a premise that Japan should join. Functions of the US bases have been strengthened, the SDF’s bases have grown by almost five times bigger, compared with the level in 1972 when the Okinawa archipelago returned to the sovereignty of Japan.

According to the simulation over the Taiwan contingency made by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), no assumption is made on evacuation of inhabitants. A person in charge replied, after he had been asked about the absence of hypothesis, that ‘the Chinese military would bomb military targets, and so, people could stay in a hut in the mountains to endure for about two weeks.’

The government of Japan says it has a plan to evacuate 120 thousand of residents of the Southwestern Islands, excluding those in the Okinawa Island, to Kyushu. But there in Kyushu military bases are being reinforced with capabilities to attack targets of adversaries, new ammunition depots are being built, and civilian ports and airports are to be shared with the military authorities. The processes are spreading nationwide.

Reportedly, in the Yonakuni Island, doctors are reluctant to work there and local hospitals have difficulties to secure personnel. It is the ‘deterrent’, which the government of Japan emphasizes, that undermines daily livelihood of people and welcomes a war.

Let’s fight against the extensive military build-up and convert to politics based on the Constitution at the occasion of the election for the House of Councilors!

June 18, 2025