Opinion

Down the Memory Hole

By DOUGLAS LUMMIS

In George Orwell's novel "1984," the job of the protagonist, Winston Smith, is to rewrite history. He works for the government's Ministry of Truth, and his specialty is lying. It is the policy of his government that history must contain nothing that might be used to criticize the ruling party's policy.

For example, if Oceania (Winston's fictional country), after a long war, makes peace with Eastasia, history must be rewritten to show that Oceania and Eastasia have always been at peace. All historical records that show that the two countries were ever at war are put down the Memory Hole — that is, the incinerator — and replaced by new ones.

Moreover, since the government exercises perfect mind control over the people, the people's memory of the war is also erased. With both the records and the memories gone, the history itself disappears. It is the same as if it had never happened.

One is reminded of Orwell's novel by the recent news coming out of Okinawa. The prefecture's newly elected Liberal Democratic government has apparently been caught in a badly blundered attempt to rewrite Okinawan history to fit the policies of the ruling party in Tokyo.

The scandal centers on the prefecture's New Peace Museum, which is scheduled to open in March next year and which is intended to preserve the memory of the terrible Battle of Okinawa. According to The Okinawa Times, the planners of the museum were called into the governor's office, told to take no notes and make no recordings, and then told to make some 20 changes in the museum's planned displays.

Most controversial was a model of figures of Japanese Imperial Army soldiers and Okinawan civilians hiding in a cave. In the original plan, a soldier is shown pointing a rifle at a civilian, driving the civilian out of the cave. The governor's office demanded that the soldier be shown unarmed, "persuading" the civilian to leave.

Other changes included replacing the words "mass death" with "people were victimized," "massacre" with "victims," and "root-and-branch mobilization" with "mobilization of prefectural people." The displays "Korean comfort women" and "Those who spoke [Okinawan] dialect were considered spies" were to be cut altogether.

The governor was quoted as saying that it would be inappropriate to include displays that are critical of national policy.

Quite naturally, when The Okinawa Times revealed these things, there was great public outrage. The governor's office is learning that it is not so easy to erase historical memory in Okinawa, as it is (for example) in some departments at the University of Tokyo.

Some three weeks after the scandal broke, the vice-governor held a press conference and denied everything. (The Okinawa Times is sticking to its story , insisting that it is based on interviews with witnesses.)

At the same time, the prefectural government is announcing that at least some of the proposed changes are being canceled. One is reminded of the thief who protested his innocence by saying, "I never stole anything — and anyway, I gave it back."

Shukan ST: Oct. 1, 1999

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