Brothers & Sisters from Hokkaido, Japan visit Kelly AFB community

Film Screening:
Marines Go Home: Henoko, Maehyang-ri, Yausubetsu

Wed. Nov. 1^st at 7pm
Ruta Maya Riverwalk
107 E. Martin

Leaders from the community near Kelly Air Force Base and Japan will highlight commonalities in the struggle for justice around US military installations and renew the call for community-led decision making and environmental cleanup for all bases around the world. Representatives and filmmakers from Japan are in San Antonio to exchange community struggles, movements and realities living around US military bases. The four Japanese leaders are here to premier their film, “Marines Go Home” showcasing the decades-long struggle against military occupation and bases in Hokkaido, Japan, Okinawa, Japan and South Korea. They are hosted by local organizations, Southwest Workers Union and the Committee for Environmental Justice Action and will to collect testimony from local residents about the impact and resistance to the contamination of the former Kelly Air Force Base to share with the global community.

Synopsis of “Marines Go Home-Henoko, Maehyang-ri, Yausubetsu”

Both Japan and Korea have U.S. military bases on their soil since the end of WWll. Japan and South Korea are both allied with US and sending troops to Iraq. Henoko, Okinawa continues a desperate campaign to block the construction of a new U.S. Marine Corps base. They keep on stopping the construction by encampment on the land and sea for more than 8 years and 500 days. A bombing practice site for the U.S. Air Force exists in Maehyang-ri, Korea. People of Maehyangi-ri through their tireless struggle, finally achieved the closure of the bombing practice site in August 2005 after 54 years of occupation. Yausubetsu, Hokkaido has the largest Self-Defense Forces maneuvers training ground in Japan. From 1997, the US Marines come to Yausubetsu from Okinawa for real shell training every year. Kawase Hanji is the farmer who refused to sell his land and has been living in the midst of the training area for more than 40 years. The article 9 of Japanese constitution which renounces all forms of war is his spear and shield. This film shows facet of militarization in Japan and South Korea as it follows people living protesting in each region.

This is a report from the front line of the struggles from 2003 to 2005.