Land seizures for military bases and negotiations for compensation in 1950's Okinawa : From the le-Shima land seizures until the "Beggars" declaration

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  • 1950年代の沖縄における軍用地接収と生活補償 : 伊江島の強制接収から「乞食」宣言まで
  • 1950ネンダイ　ノ　オキナワ　ニ　オケル　グンヨウチ　セッシュウ　ト　セイカツ　ホショウ　イエシマ　ノ　キョウセイ　セッシュウ　カラ　コジキ　センゲン　マデ

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Abstract

Since 1945, the United States has been constantly seizing land in Okinawa in order to construct military bases. During the early 1950s, there was, in practice, no self-government in Okinawa, and it was a difficult time for the residents themselves to oppose land seizure or negotiate for compensation. In the history of postwar Okinawa, this kind of situation in the early 1950s is often described in terms of the "bayonets and bulldozers" which symbolize the extreme explicit violence by the U.S. forces. This symbolic way of referring to the situation was an important element of the early stages of the popularization of the people's movement against the military bases and the "island-wide struggle" (shimagurumi tōsō). This struggle has been considered the starting point of the contemporary Okinawan resistance movement. This article focuses on the process of negotiation for proper compensation concerning land seizure in le-Shima, and it also attempts to consider how the landowners participated in political meetings and created a space for their voices even in the period of the "bayonets and bulldozers". It is said that the protest movement of le-Shima was one of the most influential factors of the "island-wide struggle". In 1955, as the U.S. forces forcibly destroyed their homes, agricultural lands, and livestock sheds, landowners had to negotiate for both "perpetual compensation" and a "provisional guarantee", and they started to advocate for their demands through declarations, "sit-ins", and by farming inside the forbidden bombing practice areas. In spite of these protests, the voices of the landowners which strongly demanded "perpetual compensation" (for the land seizure) failed to be heard by the government, and the problem on le-Shima came to be treated as a matter of social relief; that is, the issue in le-Shima began to be treated not as a land problem, but as a "social problem". In order to demonstrate their rejection of this situation, the landowners declared themselves to be "beggars" and began to appeal to public opinion. Other residents of Okinawa had the opportunity to see the landowners and hear their voices, and the protests of the residents of le-Shima influenced a great number of these people. This is one key to the development of the desire of the Okinawa public for autonomy.

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