We appeal to every one of you who are focussing your attention on Okinawa.
Particularly, we call on friends who are waging antiwar anti-military base struggles over the world!
We are now in fights against the Summit meeting in Okinawa. We fight because this meeting is a gathering of war criminals named 'heads of G8' and just a deceptive ceremony for imposing the 'coexistence with US military bases' upon the people in Okinawa and for appealing to the world the need to strengthen the US-Japan Security alliance. Moreover, while voicing a 'international peace' in chorus, the power-holders of G8 are rather fermenting the crisis of warfare. This is symbolized by the fact that a focus of the talk is the disagreement over the America's NMD [National Missile Defence] project between the US and its opponents, Russia and European powers.

The evil case happened before the dawn on the morning of July 3rd. A drunken US Marine trespassed on a private house in Okinawa City and assaulted a 14-year-old girl sleeping with her family members. This case reminded every person in Okinawa of the unpardonable incident in September1995, when a 12-year-old girl was abducted and raped by two US Marines. The US military authorities announced a 'stricter disciple' and 'preventive measures' as they did every time; however, on July 9th, just three days after their announcement, a staff sergeant of the US Air Force's Kadena base committed a hit-and-run. Indignation of people in Okinawa is now reaching its peak.
Crimes related to American soldiers rapidly increased this year by 1.5 times in comparison with the last year's total. On top of this, the US Forces officially acknowledged their storage of depleted uranium bombs and arrogantly justified it. This was followed by the public revelation that used shells of depleted uranium bombs have been carried out of bases for disposal as wastes. (This is eloquent of the fact that US Forces had carried out their shooting drills using this 'devil weapon' again and again.) And recently the US Marines conducted shooting exercises in a private cane field outside of their training area. Such an escalation of military training threatens the lives of people in Okinawa day after day.
Notwithstanding, on July 21st, Bill Clinton comes to the Peace Memorial Park in Mabuni Hill, the former battlefield where the names of over 200 thousand victims are inscribed on the monuments. It was told that he expresses 'his thanks to the residents in Okinawa'. He is going to say, 'Thank you for accepting US bases', just to make fun of the toiling people in Okinawa!
Remember that it is Clinton who dared to say last June 'I do not want to go to Okinawa before the dispute over the relocation of the Futenma base was not settled.' The 'settlement' meant construction of highly sophisticated new facilities for the US Marines at Henoko in Nago City in place of the outmoded Futenma base. Faced with this bluff, the Japanese government gave pressures and bribes to Okinawa Prefecture and Nago City; as the result, the both municipalities announced to accept the 'relocation' in the end of the last year. Therefore, with full satisfaction, Clinton will praise 'Okinawa's contribution to the international peace'. This show is planned not only for urging people in Okinawa to accept a new Marine base but also for imposing on them a permanent 'coexistence with American military bases'. And, another aim of him is to show the world that the US-Japan security alliance is a 'fortress for international peace'. But OKINAWA is in fact an assaulting base for the imperialist America; from this base the US state committed the aggression in Vietnam and is now warmongering in Middle East and other places in the world as killing innocent people. We never allow Clinton to perpetrate such a hypocritical propaganda.
And his partner in Japan is Prime Minister Mori, who made that notorious remarks, 'Japan is the land of Gods with the Emperor as its core', thus showing the world his nature as a rigorous statist. When he visited Okinawa this March, just before taking the office, he made a speech: 'Teachers union here must be blamed for neglecting to teach Kimigayo* to our kids' and 'local newspapers are against the government on every occasion.' (* Last summer a bill was forcibly passed in the Japanese Diet to give legal statuses to Hinomaru [rising sun] as the national flag and Kimigayo [reign of the Emperor] as the national anthem, both of which symbolize the militarist education during Japan's wartime and the war of aggression committed by its imperial forces, in spite of the opposition movement with educational workers as its core.) The speech provoked anger among the toiling people in Okinawa. Not satisfied with this, however, he dared to state at a press conference, which was originally set for his 'explanation', that he would like to sweep away the repulsive sentiments in Okinawa against the government through hosting the Summit. This is a vivid expression of the Japanese rulers' aim in their choosing Okinawa for the main spot of the Summit.
In fact the Japanese government have urged the Prefectural authorities to try to involve all the residents here in 'campaigns for welcoming G8 leaders' by saying, 'Okinawa Summit can be a bridge to a peaceful world for the coming century'. They have also developed an official propaganda extensively. This includes the controversial paper, "Okinawa Initiative", presented by pro-government local 'academicians' (University of the Ryukyus professor Takara Kurayoshi etc.), who say, 'Get rid of the narrow-minded local sentiments based on historical problems' or 'Give a positive re-evaluation to the Security Treaty and US bases in Okinawa and fulfill our contributors' role for the world security!' According to Higa Yoshihiko, a councilor to the Prefectural government, the Summit can be regarded as 'a rite of passage for Okinawa to accept the international common sense that peace must be safeguarded by force' and as a good occasion to 'urge the people to change their view on the security'. At any rate, by immersing the whole Ryukyu Islands in the artificial atmosphere for welcoming the Summit, the Japanese rulers are trying to sweep away antiwar and anti-base sentiments or ill feelings against the government.
This is more than a problem special to Okinawa. The 'Okinawa's struggle' is a symbol of the Japanese antiwar peace movement; therefore its emasculation is also schemed for terminating the whole opposition movements in Japan. The reason why Japanese rulers have launched this offensive is that they seek to promote Japan to a 'state capable of waging wars together with the US', or a 'militarily powerful state like a Asian leader' and, for this purpose, scheme to annihilate the Article 9 of the Constitution that declares Japan's 'renunciation of war and no maintenance of war potential'.
That is why the government applies thoroughly oppressive measures to those who raise questions about the Summit while asking the residents in general with a 'smiling face' for cooperation. (The extraordinary security order has reached as far as to search into families' tombs for checking 'suspicious figures' or to ban any protests nearby G8 representatives.)

Japan and American rulers are praising OKINAWA as a 'keystone for peace and safety in the Asian-Pacific region'. But what is the true actuality of the islands? They say 'it is not that bases are in towns but towns are in bases here'. Residents in Okinawa have been forced to endure the monstrous pressures of US military bases since the end of WWII, and even more so now when functions of the bases are drastically strengthening. The existence of OKINAWA as an assaulting base for American and Japanese imperialism in their war of aggression exactly rests on numerous victimizations of the toiling masses.
The area of Okinawa Prefecture is only 0.6 % of the Japanese territory; however, here concentrated are 75% of the US bases in the country and stationed are 27,000 troops of the US Forces. The American military bases from the Futenma and Kadena bases to the northern training field occupy 20% of the area of the main Okinawa Island. The US Forces occupied the Ryukyu Islands after the indescribably cruel battles there, where they confiscated the vast area of lands from residents and constructed military bases after pushing people into a concentration camp. Moreover, the US Administration of the Ryukyu Islands forcibly outcast numbers of residents from places of their daily lives with 'bayonets and bulldozers' to expand the bases.
The gigantic American bases in Okinawa functioned as a 'keystone' for the nuclear military strategy of the US throughout the period of occupation and have continued to do so even since the Okinawa's return to Japan in 1972. Every time the US Forces launched their war of aggression in Korea, Vietnam or Middle East, or during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, OKINAWA came to be an assaulting base for them and the people were mobilized for the 'rear-area supports'. In 1968, in the midst of the Vietnam War, a strategic bomber B52 crashed and exploded just before the public eyes. The other tragedies include the accident on June 30th in 1959 that killed 17 people including 11 pupils at Miyamori Elementary School in Ishikawa City onto which a US jet fighter fallen down. Despite that, OKINAWA did never stop being strengthened as a US nuclear military base.
As concealing all the 'history', the American and Japanese rulers insist that improving US military bases in Okinawa and the Security Treaty makes the 'foundation of peace'. Is there anything more hypocritical than this? It's just a trick to beautify the American imperialist ambition for the world domination through 'force' and the Japanese imperialist scheme to build a new version of the Great East-Asian Co-prosperity Sphere. We never allow them to make a vicious attempt to emit such a deceptive message to the world. To smash this attempt is an international task for us who have been struggling in solidarity with antiwar peace movement over the world on the basis of proletarian internationalism.

The Japanese government encourages the welcoming campaign for the Summit. However, what on earth are the attendants at this meeting? Including Clinton from the US as well as Blair from the UK and Schroeder from Germany, all the representatives of G7 are the heads of imperialist states or those of social-democratic governments, who carried out the 78-day-long bombing of Yugoslavia last spring and killed numerous innocent people. Chirac from France conducted nuclear tests in its colony Tahiti in 1995 disregarding worldwide protests. And Putin from Russia is the very perpetrator who directed the military invasion in Chechnya and sank the people in a sea of blood.
Concealing their bloodstained hands, these war criminals are gathering here to make mutual cheatings and manoeuvres for their state interests opposing over the situation in Korea etc. And what is a 'peace' that they are to voice in chorus? Its nature is symbolized in the reality in Kosovo and Yugoslavia today one year after the bombing. The military control by the multi-national forces has all the more aggravated ethnic / religious antagonism, far from ceasing the bloodsheds. And the soil of Kosovo has been contaminated with radioactivity from thousands of depleted uranium bombs shot by NATO forces, imposing radioactive illness on residents from generation to generation. Disregarding deepening anguish endured by nations / ethnic groups in the Balkans, the American rulers are gloating over their successful construction of a gigantic military base in southern Kosovo aimed at Russia's westward expansion. What underlies the disagreement at the Foreign Ministers' Meeting between the US-led western states and Russia over the condemnation against Milosevic is an ugly expression of their opposition over the domination of the Balkans. These eloquently show what the 'humanitarian and peaceful world order' is like although the heads of G8 praise it to the utmost.
In the summit meeting they are going to state that they welcome and encourage the Korean dialog. Behind the curtain, however, Russian and US governments are intensifying their opposition; the former demands the latter should give up developing the NMD for the 'Korean detente', while the latter rejecting it. To begin with, behind the acceptance of the Korean summit by the Kim Jong Il administration, North Korea was strongly urged to take a 'peaceful' attitude by China and Russia, which had a common agenda to block the US's NMD [National Missile Defence] and TMD [Theatre Missile Defence] projects. (China assumes a fierce repulsion against not only NMD but also the America's TMD plan for supporting Taiwan headed by pro-independent Chen Sui-bian.) The 'Korean summit' was realized precisely in connection with the newly emerged nuclear military race shown in the opposition between China-Russia and the US over the NMD and TMD. It is, as such, can never be regarded as 'trends of peace'.
It is a strategic goal for the imperialist America today to deter China and Russia from emerging as its 'competent rivals' and to sweep away anti-American states, which it branded 'rogue states'. For this purpose, the Clinton administration alarms against 'threats of proliferated mass-destructive weapons' on the one hand, and, on the other, pursues NMD and TMD projects to safeguard its supremacy in nuclear military power. The imperialist Japan also aims for military containment against China and Russia and for its leap into a 'military big power' appropriate for the 'Asian leader'. It is for this reason that the Mori administration is rushing to build a US-Japan joint war-operation system and introduce TMD. On the other hand, Russia assumes repulsion against the east expansion of NATO as well as the strengthening of the US-Japan Security alliance. The Russian government now stresses, together with Jang Zemin's China, the need to 'break the world domination by the sole superpower (implying the US)'. For this reason, the Putin administration has launched a 'peace offensive' to block the NMD and TMD on the one hand and, on the other hand, is busy strengthening its nuclear military power on the basis of its new military doctrine that openly declares the possibility to take a 'first nuclear strike'. There are also German and French imperialist states, which seek for the political and military independence of the EU because of their repulsion against the sole world domination by the US. They are advancing the eastward expansion of NATO in cooperation with the US for military containment against Russia, while expressing their concern with NMD that can give the absolute supremacy to the America nuclear power and sow seeds of a new nuclear arms race between China-Russia and the US.
The current intensification of military and political conflicts should be called exactly a 'new cold war between the East and West'. And it is connected with religious / ethnic wars in various areas in the world including the former Soviet sphere and with struggles over the share of the oil resources in Middle East and the Caspian Sea. That is why Clinton has to make desperate efforts to initiate a 'peace process' in Middle East and Putin struggles to tie Central Asian states together. This conjuncture bears danger of provoking a worldwide warfare.
The 'host nation' is no exception. Japan is irritated at its loss of authority as an imperialist state, which has been revealed by its own incompetence in coping with drastic developments of today's world including the Korean summit and by what is called 'passing Japan' attitude by rulers of the US, Russia and China. Driven by their sense of crisis, the Japanese rulers are struggling to take the attitude of a 'representative of the Asian nations' aiming to recover its authority as the 'Asian leader'. All this is based on their desire to build a today's version of the Great East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere.
Now, one of the agendas for the summit meeting is the encouragement of the 'IT revolution' as a 'booster for economic growth'. The so-called 'new economy based on the IT revolution', however, is just an encouragement of further greedy development of 'globalization' for hyena-like finance capital of each country following the jungle's law that the stronger prey upon the weaker. This necessitates much crueller exploitation and storms of restructuring against the working people and explosively aggravated divisions between rich 'developed countries' and poor 'developing countries', or between classes / strata, including 'digital divide'. Through the meeting they merely intend to make a deal to 'adjust' the contradictory interests between the US as a forerunner in the IT revolution and the late starters, European and Japanese imperialism and to present alibi-like 'relief measures' to deceptively ease the dissatisfactions of 'developing countries'.
Similarly, as to the issue of 'reducing debt for poorest nations', they take only a makeshift measure for 'relief' from the point of view that they have to exclude 'dangerous factors' that can bring the collapse of the international financial system in order to continue their neo-colonialist invasions named 'development assistance'. Though the unpayable debt has caused exactly by neo-colonialist policies of imperialist sates, they talk about the issue leaving the point untouched.
Today what to be called a new cold war is intensifying between the American, European and Japanese imperialist powers and their opponents, the remnant Stalinist state of China and ruinous Russia, who are strengthening their tie against the former. Economic struggles among imperialist states are also intensifying. The Okinawa Summit is held in the midst of these brutal confrontations, which are intensifying as victimizing the toiling masses throughout the world. The meeting is just a place of manoeuvring where each ruler cheats the other for his state interests. There is no reason for the working people to 'welcome' it. It is, rather, the object to be smashed with class indignation.

Though faced with this historic offensive, all the leaders of political parties and trade unions that claim themselves to be 'progressive' have been trapped with the hypocritical propaganda from the government, saying 'Let us emit a message of peace from Okinawa'. Even concerning a human chain to surround the US Kadena Base, the official leadership not only stress that it's not an anti-Summit action' but also completely shelve the anti-Security treaty cause. Therefore, regrettably, what is schemed by Japanese and American rulers in the Summit is now about to be realized. This degeneration has arisen because the leaderships of the SDPJ and JCP have made right-wing revisions of their political lines.
It's not recently that the SDPJ changed their policies into those to 'hold fast the Security Treaty and accept the Self-Defence Forces'. The JCP, a Stalinist party that has completed its social-democratic conversion, is also busy in limitless right-wing elaborations of their 'realistic alternatives' driven by their desire to enter a dreamy coalition government led by the Democratic Party. Today their patriotic nationalism has gone so far as to openly say, 'it's natural to use the SDF forces in the event of emergency' or 'forces for self-defence is not against the Constitutional'. They have also made a vow before monopoly capitalists in reality not to take an antagonist position against big businesses'. As a matter of course, this right-wing degeneration has provoked repulsions among conscientious workers and people. It's too natural that they fatally declined in the latest general election.
We have been developing struggles "against the Okinawa Summit and strengthening the security alliance" by exposing and transcending these criminalities with SPDJ and JCP leaders who committed betrayals to workers continuously.

We appeal to our friends all over the world! Through the Okinawa Summit Japanese and US rulers seek for a permanent maintenance and strengthening of US bases here and try to paint as if the US-Japan security alliance is a 'keystone for global peace'. Fight together to smash these schemes!
We express our ardent solidarity with friends who are struggling for removal of US military bases in various areas including South Korea, Philippines and Puerto Rico. Let us fight against imperialist military alliances led by the US (including NATO and the US-Japan alliance) as well as NMD and TMD; also oppose nuclear military build-ups by China and Russia who are strengthening their ties against the imperialist powers on the basis of their treaty of mutual friendship. Let us advance antiwar struggles for creating class-based forces that can give a radical break to the new east-west cold war.
We send our greetings of solidarity to all the friends in struggles against neo-colonialist rules and oppressions by imperialist powers. We call on every one of the friends to overcome the limitations in being satisfied with a campaign for asking G7 leaders to reflect the 'debt cancellation' demand on their agenda. Give no credit to imperialist leaders' 'conscience'! For the only forces that can smash the neo-colonialist rule lie in the international unity centring the working class to break the iron chains of exploitation and expropriation by international finance capital.
The deceptive meeting of G8 leaders can never make a 'peaceful world for the coming century'! The only way to realize a truly 'peaceful world' is a worldwide advancement of antiwar struggles based on proletarian internationalism to break the military policies of these war criminals.