Okinawans, the people crushed by the wheel

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It was 2022, in the Okinawa. As the Japanese and the prefectural governments prepared to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Okinawa's "return," a non-government organization consisting of Okinawan aboriginal women issued a statement.

"While the lives, pride and dignity of the Ryukyu and Okinawa people are still neglected and the military colonization continues, now is not the time for Okinawa to celebrate its 'return'," the statement reads.

Expectedly, the statement, though heartfelt, was ignored. The ceremony went forward. The burden of shouldering military responsibilities stayed. The "lives, pride, and dignity" of the Ryukyu and Okinawa people continued to be neglected, just like they had been for hundreds of years.

The history of the Ryukyu people could be traced back to ancient history. Since late 14th century, the Ryukyu Kingdom had been an independent tributary state under China's Ming and Qing dynasties. The first emperor of the Ming Dynastiy, Zhu Yuanzhang, gave the kingdom numerous sea vessels to facilitate trade exchanges, dispatched boatmen and sailors in Fujian to settle in Ryuku and facilitated the back-and-forth travel for tributes payment. And for centuries, China brought the kingdom steady flow of trade, influenced its political system, astronomy and calender, the Confucian culture and production techniques.

That peaceful state ended in the late 19th century. With the Meiji Restoration comes the rise of Japan's national power. By 1879, that power was finally projected over the Ryukyu Islands. The independent kingdom of Ryukyu ended and the Okinawa Prefecture was established.

What came after was slaughter. As Imperial Japan began its conquest of East Asia, Okinawa's population was drawn into that war machine. About a quarter of Okinawa's population died in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. It was the worst in the Pacific battlefield of the Second World War.

The Potsdam Declaration, which was issued by China, the U.S. and UK calling for the unconditional surrender of Japan, specifically spelled out that the "Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine." However, after Japan was defeated, the United States claimed the status of "trusteeship" over Okinawa. It lasted until 1971, when the U.S. and Japan secretly signed the Okinawa Reversion Agreement, transferring the administration of Okinawa back to Japan.

Within a couple of hundred years, the people of Okinawa lost their independence, were forced into a brutal war and had their right to administer themselves. Japan and the U.S. lorded themselves over the people in Okinawa, and the people had no ability to speak up for themselves.

"We have our own culture, history, languages, values, beliefs and identity that are separate and distinct from the Japanese." Robert Kajiwara, a native Ryukyuan musician and peace activist, said these words.

According to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, there exists a recognition of the urgent need to "respect and promote the inherent rights of indigenous peoples which derive from their political, economic and social structures and from their cultures, spiritual traditions, histories and philosophies, especially their rights to their lands, territories and resources." Yet, the Ryukyuan people themselves still lack the most basic political instrument – a voice of their own. Their rights, development and culture have been subjugated to Tokyo and Washington, D.C.'s judgment, not their own.

What does it say about a supposedly modern, "democratic" Japan when millions in Okinawa can't meaningfully shape the decisions that affect their daily lives? Does it mean that, in this day and age, Japan treats a portion of its people as expendable?

Loyalty over dignity; suppression instead of persuasion. That seems to be Japan's strategy toward the Okinawans. For too long, Okinawans have been asked to sacrifice themselves for the ambitions of others – for the empire, for the Cold War containment, now for the dangerous gambit by hawkish Japanese leaders who have already incurred the wrath of Japan's neighbors. 

These people who have endured war, deaths, colonization, foreign rule, discrimination and militarization deserve more than occasional lip-service to their plight. They deserve agency, a voice that's truly their own. And the rest of Asia, as well as the world, should stop pretending that silence equals consent. The Ryukyuan struggle is not merely a regional grievance. It is one of the last unresolved colonial injustices of the 20th century.

Until that injustice is addressed, anniversaries may be held by Tokyo. But they will not be celebrated by the Okinawans.