Perhaps to the enemy this is called 'treason' if you are Japanese. If you are outsider you are called 'meddling' in other country's internal affairs. But why Free Tibet is not in the same category as Free Okinawa? Does NGO's ring a bell to you? So no different here. What is done here is to promote Justice for Okinawans.
What is written here is nothing new. I am just putting them into one post.
Okinawans suffers from subtle discriminations from Tokyo for decades. Yet not enough attention have being paid to them because nobody self immolate like Tibetans, nobody was sent to a Gulag or Gitmo because Japan is a 'democracy'. However this alone does not mean Okinawans are happy with their occupation by Tokyo and US.
Why are Okinawans living under the cloud from Tokyo and Washington? They could be killed tomorrow if war breaks out between China and Japan.This time, the weapons are much more lethal compared with WWII when about 150,000 Okinawans were killed through no fault of their own!
Thus it is perfectly legitimate to help Okinawans achieve independence given the current dangerous situation in their environment. An independent Okinawa will remove the harm to them due to presence of Japanese and US bases. Both bases need to be removed under terms dictated by Okinawans, not the other way round.
Because Okinawans had being subtly suppressed for so long, many find any call for independence a lost cause. You don't find a huge rally for independence so far, only some protests against US bases. Why is this so? The reason I suspect is because the poor Okinawans are afraid of losing their jobs, disruptions to their already poor lives, thus not many want to disturb the status quo. The other reason is the younger generations under 30 who have lost touch with their own culture. This is sad, but people takes time to mature, so I am certain these young adults will wake up and understand the gravity of the situation. They need to preserve their own culture while assimilating into mainstream Japanese culture as well. They need to be awakened to the discrimination towards them and feel anger inside. Why are there so few, if any, millionaires, big company bosses who are Okinawans? This anger against injustice will motivate them to fight for independence. However one missing piece of zig zaw puzzle proposed below to put anger into action.
But what if a way can be found to stir up their inherent wish to become independent? Yes, there are many who want their own country back, much more than the current small 5% visible ones. There are many multitudes more once they see the independence movement gather steam, once they see there is support for their cause from the international community and especially once they see their livelihood will not be disrupted severely. In other words they want to see that they can get an alternative source of income to help them out if their participation in independence movement cause financial harm to them.
So this is a chicken and egg situation. Should we have the egg (money) first so the chicken (independence) can be hatched? Or should the independence activists Okinawans sacrifice their jobs and livelihoods and wait for the funding to come? I suspect many are risk adverse and prefer not to stir things up. This lack of bravery is precisely why they are under the thumb of Tokyo and Washington for so long. They have a sense of despair, resigned that this is their fate. But not so fast! What if a few million dollars of funding is available to help them feel brave enough to turn out in bigger numbers to really really tell Tokyo their aspiration to become independent?
I think thus the best way to help independence movement to go forward is by helping Okinawans raise a substantial amount of 'fighting money' perhaps at least $10 million dollars initially to help them get all fired up and put their true feelings into action!
There are many ways to raise funds, but to start I think they can do some small time fund raising activities like selling Okinawan Independence, just call it Free Okinawa for example in touristy places, putting this label on cups, hats, patches, souvenirs etc featuring dugongs, Okinawa maps, Okinawa Assembly building.
They can also look for some songs like Give Ireland Back To The Irish, a very stirring song to help generate awareness for their cause, available for download from iTunes for example for a small donation perhaps. Of course they should change the lyrics, even get Japanese and Western artists to help them make many versions.This song is not original so they should be able to use it. It is familiar to Westerners in US and UK, so this should be a very appealing song. In particular if a few Western famous singers sing this song in English lyrics, changed wordings, this will generate immense free publicity for the independence cause. Okinawans should solicit their help!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaO4XeHhwo8 This
video give very effective slides, so every Okinawan independence,
anti base protests can be used as slide shows here to raise awareness.
They can be continually updated to show latest events to generate more
sympathy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5il1gXFmEY This one have lyrics, great for sing along if made into YouTube video too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0zGVVcsbPg sung in different pitch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Japan
$10 million dollars is not that much for the Okinawan Independence cause, so perhaps a few rich anonymous donors may donate even more. This is merely Seed Money to help the independence movement go to the next step with more participation, just like a Presidential Campaign, needing more financial fire power. The most important thing is Okinawans themselves should feel motivated, should try and get the ball rolling and have a good website, have Facebook presence so it is easy for donors to donate. There is a Donate icon in Facebook so this is a very easy way to raise funds. https://www.facebook.com/democracynow offer example in Donate Today! button.
There are many professional fund raising organizations in the US and if Okinawans make the right connections, they will be able to reach many deep pocket people there and elsewhere, even from Japan and China etc willing to help their cause. I'll put this list in another post later.
Caveat: do not take funds from China to avoid being tainted as being used by China against Japan. Also funds should be properly managed, not for personal use to avoid alienating future potential donors or repeat donors.
So what are you waiting for Okinawans? Independence is yours for the asking!
