Film Screening: ‘Our Island’s Treasure’ (Okinawa)

EastSide Arts Alliance, the Global Uchinanchu Alliance (GUA) and the Okinawa Kenjinkai Study Group (OKSG) present:
Final Fridays Films of Solidarity & Resistance
“Our Island’s Treasure”

film screening, Q and A with the filmmaker, and yuntaku/talk story

Have you heard about what’s been going on in Henoko, Okinawa? What is #RiseForHenoko? Maybe you’ve heard about how local residents have been protesting the building of a new U.S. military base in Oura Bay? The ongoing landfill work to create this base is destroying thousand-year-old coral reef structures, and threatens the aquatic life in the bay, including the Dugong, a manatee-like marine mammal that is close to extinction.

Maybe you’ve heard about the February 2019 Okinawan prefectural referendum, where 71.7% of Okinawans voted in opposition to the new base? Despite the democratic opposition of the indigenous Okinawans, the Japanese government continues to push forward with the land reclamation process.

A lack of U.S. media attention has meant that most people in the United States don’t know about the social and environmental crisis in Okinawa that worsens every day. Teenaged filmmaker Kaiya Yonamine created a documentary this year to shed light on what’s going on. She explains on her website, https://www.riseforhenoko.com:

My name is Kaiya, and I am a 17-year old Okinawan-American high school student from Portland, Oregon. I recently went back to Henoko this spring because I was frustrated with the silence of the media around this crisis.

I wanted to make a documentary to show the world what’s happening. My documentary, “Our Island’s Treasure,” focuses on the current destruction of the beautiful Okinawan ocean in Henoko and the fight by native Uchinanchu people to protect it. Please help spread awareness.