---------- From: "Le Bras" <eh5e-lbrs at asahi-net.or.jp> To: "Jean-Christophe Helary" <helary at eskimo.com> Subject: Okinawa Date: 2000年 5月 11日 (木) 7:38 AM
http://www.asahi.com/english/asahi/0508/asahi050802.html
NGOs target G-8 Okinawa summit
Asahi Evening News By TARO KARASAKI and KOICHI IITAKE May 8, 2000
With good reason, the Japanese government is haunted by the security nightmares that marred World Trade Organization talks in Seattle late last year and the clashes outside the meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington last month. ``What is expected in the United States can be expected in Japan,'' said Mike Dolan, organizer of a 30,000-strong demonstration in Seattle by union members and activists of various causes, ranging from the environment to human rights. The tear-gas filled demonstration stalled the start of the WTO talks. Bracing for a similar nightmare, Japan has planned its biggest security operation in police history for July's Okinawa-Kyushu Summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations. ``We would have to prepare for cases in which wrongdoers run wild in the name of nongovernmental organizations under such banners as anti-globalization,'' said a Foreign Ministry official. But how will police differentiate between the ``good'' and ``bad'' NGOs? The Okinawa summit will be the biggest test case ever, not only for the Japanese police but also in terms of awareness in the human rights cause, many NGOs say.
``There are groups that excel at legislating, and those that are willing to confront and cross the (legal) line,'' said John Sellers, director of the Ruckus Society, a Berkeley, California-based group that trains NGOs for effective and peaceful confrontations, such as scaling structures, raising banners and forming human chains. The NGO groups can be classified by whether they are willing to take action that does not break the law, Sellers said. ``There is a wide spectrum,'' he said. Sellers said organizers had set guidelines for the 35,000 activists in Seattle that forbade physical and verbal violence, destruction of property, and use of drugs and alcohol. ``The vandals were not considered part of the movement, but opportunists who had taken advantage of the situation,'' Sellers said. Rita Baua, deputy secretary-general of Bayan, a Philippine-based group advocating the rights of Filipino laborers and students residing overseas, said her group is not afraid of arrest in confrontations with police. ``Our activities will definitely be militant, but not anarchist,'' she told Asahi Evening News. ``We are not into throwing rocks at buildings'' but if push comes to shove, Bayan has a record of resisting overt police action with retaliatory violence, she said. Baua said she hopes to send dozens of representatives of her group and other affiliated activists to Okinawa Prefecture. She is now working through migrant-worker organizations and churches in Japan to gather resident Filipino laborers to join the protest activities. The purpose is to address the ``imperial globalization by the rich countries that is partly to blame for the crisis'' in developing economies, including the Philippines, she said. The California-based Sierra Club, a group involved in various issues ranging from environment to disarmament and a participant in the Washington protests, also has Okinawa in its sights, a member said. The government fears the potential anti-globalization campaigns by world NGOs.
But Japan also has a domestic concern. Okinawa, the only battleground in Japan during World War II, currently plays host to 75 percent of U.S. military facilities in Japan. Many local NGOs have been campaigning against U.S. bases for a long time. Some of those NGOs are planning to organize a human chain of about 25,000 people around the U.S. Kadena Air Base, without resorting to violence. JUBILEE 2000, an international movement calling for industrialized nations to forfeit massive development loans to the poorest nations by the end of this year, plans to bring about 500 people from 70 countries, both creditors and debtors, to a meeting in the Okinawan capital of Naha, just before the summit. Some of the participants will join the local NGO's human chain. About 22,000 police officers will descend on Nago for the summit meeting. Tens of thousands more will be deployed to Fukuoka, Miyazaki and Tokyo where other meetings and related events are scheduled. The total number of police involved at July's summit is likely to exceed the 37,000-strong force deployed for the 1990 ascension ceremony for Emperor Akihito, according to Yukinori Morita, deputy director of the National Police Agency's Security Division. Atsuyuki Sassa, former director-general of the Cabinet Security Affairs Office, said Japan's police system faces the challenge of whether it can effectively cooperate with other countries' police authorities. To prevent the entrance of potential lawbreakers to Japan, detailed information of those who apply for visas, such as their criminal records, must be obtained. However, Japanese police might overreact, leading to an embarrassment for the government. NGO activists warn that tight security will not necessarily guarantee smooth proceedings at the summit site. Many say everything depends on whether Japanese authorities are willing to provide a stage for the activists. ``If Japan shuts us out, it will definitely cause problems,'' said Reiko Inoue, the Japanese representative of JUBILEE 2000. Although she sets her group apart from the rabble-rousers in Seattle and Washington, she does have some sympathy for those who defy the law for a cause. ``Pie throwing or obstructing traffic with human chains, they're all peaceful forms of protest aimed at prying open otherwise closed doors,'' said Inoue, describing the tactics adopted by many demonstrators in Seattle and Washington. ``Perhaps Japan needs to get used to that.'' Mari Kushibuchi, a leading member of the executive committee of Peace Boat, a Tokyo-based NGO, said, ``If Japan launches excessively tight security, foreign activists who plan to act in line with the international security standard may end up being labeled as wrongdoers, even though they believe they have been involved in ordinary action.'' Kushibuchi said her group plans to carry out a demonstration for peace in Okinawa, although she did not disclose any details. Other activists say Japan has demonstrated an intolerance of novel forms of demonstrating.
Sanae Shida, head of the Japan branch of Greenpeace, said her office and home were subjected to ``absurd'' searches after three volunteer activists for Greenpeace unfurled a giant banner from the top of an exhibition hall at a toy fair held in Tokyo in March 1999. The group was calling on toy makers to stop using suspected hormone-disrupting chemicals in toys. The activists were arrested on suspicion of trespassing and obstructing business after exhibition hall operators, not the toy makers, filed a complaint. ``I suspect they were particularly anxious because we had embarrassed the hall operator by pointing out their failure to conduct security adequately,'' Shida said. ``Greenpeace has had members arrested for more serious activities. An arrest and ensuing investigation would be unheard of for an action like this in the West,'' Shida said. In principle, the Japanese government is ready to hear the opinions of NGOs and other civic groups, said Ichita Yamamoto, state secretary for foreign affairs. As a lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's younger generation, Yamamoto said he is well aware of the increasing presence of NGOs in dealing with international issues, such as environmental protection. ``It is now the time when not only Japan, but the international community as a whole, must seriously discuss how to get along with NGOs,'' Yamamoto said. ``I personally would even like to propose holding a meeting in which Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori directly discusses issues with NGO people, although there has been no official decision,'' said Yamamoto, who belongs to the Mori faction in the LDP. Norio Umahashi, Chubu University professor of international relations, said the core issue is the Japanese government's lack of experience in dealing with NGOs as key entities that can have a say in decisions concerning such sensitive issues as human rights. ``The Japanese government's ties with NGOs have been limited to such areas as Official Development Assistance and relief activities in natural disasters, and have not gone as far as allowing NGOs to have a say,'' he said. He said NGOs from the United States and Europe believe it is quite natural for them to be involved in active demonstrations.