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彼らがまた沖縄にやってくる
沖縄県の普天間飛行場移設にかかわる海域の事前調査に市民が反対する中、
海上自衛隊の掃海艇が現地に向けて出動した。
自衛隊が「自国を守る」という本来の大義名分の下、初めて赴く先が沖縄というのは歴史の皮肉だが、
その実態は「市民から政府を守る」ことにあるのではないだろうか?
Here they come again
As I write this, a Maritime Self-Defense Force (SDF) warship is heading for, sailing at top speed. Maybe it's here already, I'm not sure. Anyway, it will have arrived long before you read this.
The SDF is coming to Okinawa — to do what? Is it to protect the Okinawans against some terrible enemy? No. It's to protect the Japanese government against the Okinawans.
OK, OK, I'll put it more accurately. It's to protect a government project against Okinawans who oppose that project. The government wants to build yet another U.S. military base here — a heliport at the fishing port of Henoko, in northern Okinawa — and present it to the U.S. Marines. To do this they mean to reclaim a part of Oura Bay. "Reclaim" means dumping dirt, rocks, busted concrete or any other junk into the sea (killing the coral or whatever other life there is underneath) until the sea becomes land.
Most Okinawans are against this. Some are so passionately opposed that they have been going out in sea kayaks to prevent the construction physically (though nonviolently). And in fact they have succeeded in putting the project way behind schedule (Hurray for them!).
These people are the "enemy" the SDF has been sent out to defeat. The dispatch of SDF troops to Okinawa is an event of major historical significance. This is the first time since their founding in 1950 that the SDF has been deployed as a defense force. Until now they have been used for "goodwill" visits, for disaster relief, for pretend peacekeeping (without the right of belligerency, they can't do real peacekeeping), and for supporting the U.S. invasion of Iraq by going there and hiding away in bunkers.
Now for the first time ever, they are going to live up to their name and actually defend something. For the first time, the fact that they have weapons will be important to their job.
But to repeat (it's worth repeating): What they are going to defend is not the people. They are going to defend the government against the people. All right, again I'll say it more accurately: against a part of the people. Thus, the SDF is revealing to us what it's really for, what it really is.
Remember that the SDF was first established as the Police Reserve. It was founded at the beginning of the Korean War for the purpose of enforcing "law and order" in Japan while the U.S. troops that had been occupying Japan were off making war in Korea. In other words, its original target was not foreign, but domestic.
So by being sent to Okinawa, the SDF returns to its roots. Its primary target, it turns out, does not live in some foreign land. It's right here, where we live. It's us
Or is it? The SDF has roots that go deep into Japan's past. Burned into Okinawa's collective memory is the fact that during the Battle of Okinawa members of the Imperial Army, far from protecting the Okinawans, killed many of those who got in their way. And now, the very first place the SDF has been sent to use their weapons to coerce people is — guess where? But you already know the answer. Here they come again.
- Maritime Self-Defense Force
- 海上自衛隊
- warship
- 掃海母艦
- is heading for 〜
- 〜へ向かっている
- long before 〜
- 〜のかなり前に
- to do what?
- 何のために?
- Okinawans
- 沖縄県民
- enemy
- 敵
- put it more accurately
- もっと正確に言う
- oppose 〜
- 〜に反対する
- yet
- さらに
- Henoko
- 辺野古(名護市)
- U.S. Marines
- 米海兵隊
- mean to 〜
- 〜するつもりだ
- reclaim 〜
- 〜を埋め立てる
- Oura Bay
- 大浦湾(名護市)
- dumping 〜
- 〜を投げ入れること
- busted
- 砕いた
- junk
- くず
- coral
- サンゴ
- whatever other life
- そのほかの生き物を何でも
- passionately
- 必死に
- sea kayaks
- シーカヤック
- prevent
- 阻止する
- physically
- 物理的に
- nonviolently
- 非暴力的に
- putting 〜 way behind schedule
- 〜を計画よりずっと遅らせること
- Hurray
- 万歳
- defeat
- 打ち負かす
- dispatch
- 派遣
- troops
- 部隊
- event of major historical significance
- 歴史的に大きな意味を持つ出来事
- founding
- 創設
- has been deployed
- 配置された
- goodwill
- 善意
- disaster relief
- 災害救助
- pretend
- 偽りの
- right of belligerency
- 交戦権
- invasion
- 侵攻
- hiding away
- 隠れること
- bunkers
- 掩蔽壕
- live up to 〜
- 〜に従って行動する
- weapons
- 武器
- is revealing to 〜
- 〜に明かしつつある
- what it's really for, what it really is
- それが本当は何のためのものか、本当は何なのか
- Police Reserve
- 警察予備隊
- Korean War
- 朝鮮戦争(1950-63)
- for the purpose of 〜
- 〜のために
- enforcing
- 施行する
- law and order
- 法と秩序
- were off
- 離れていた
- roots
- 本質
- primary
- 主要な
- collective memory
- 集合記憶
- Battle of Okinawa
- 沖縄戦(太平洋戦争末期、沖縄に上陸した米軍と日本軍の間で行なわれた地上戦)
- Imperial Army
- 帝国陸軍
- got in their way
- 立ちはだかった
- coerce 〜
- 〜に強制する