The Presidency of the World Peace Council joins the peace loving organizations commemorating a great victory achieved by the Japanese people, who avoided the construction of yet another US military base in Okinawa.

Japanese social movements and local residents have been protesting for decades against the US military presence and, more recently, against the plans of the allied governments in Tokyo and Washington to install another military base in Japanese soil, where dozens of such structures are already rooted.

The local government sued Japan's central government to avoid the relocation of a US air base to the Henoko bay, which was announced by the Japanese government despite the persistent protests against the massive US military presence.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had to accept the judicial decision against the new US military base in that place. Still, peace movements expressing solidarity to the Japanese people must follow up the matter, since the alliance between the Japanese government and US imperialism is persistent.

Inhabitants of Okinawa have struggled for the complete withdrawal of US troops from the island, denouncing the intrusion in their lives and even crimes committed by the soldiers against the population. Japan has a security treaty with the US and almost 50,000 US troops are in the country - approximately half of them in Okinawa. In total, according to the website of the US Forces in Japan, US troops are spread amongst 85 facilities (military bases and other kinds).

We express our solidarity and congratulate the Japanese people mobilized against this expression of the dissemination of these imperialist tools of threat and coercion. We remain determined in a global campaign against all foreign military bases!

Socorro Gomes
President of the World Peace Council