The Shibokusa women of Japan used nonviolent tactics to defend their farmland at the base of Kita Fuji (North Fuji). The Japanese Imperial Army had taken it over in 1936 for military exercises. After World War II, U.S. forces occupied this base, which retained special privileges even after a 1952 treaty. Little did the soldiers know that some very tough women would become their worst nightmare. After most farm families gave up and moved to the cities, these tough, steadfastly antiwar grandmothers formed the Shibokusa Mother’s Committee in 1955, determined to fight for their land and disrupt business-as-usual on the military base. They knew that militarism meant death to people and animals and violence to the earth. An intentionally mischievous, bothersome, embarrassing presence at the military base, they dressed in baggy trousers and wide straw hats and found countless ways to disrupt training exercises. They flew kites in flight paths, sent up smoke signals to obstruct artillery tests, lay down in the road to block trucks. They created secret paths from their cottages to the military exercise areas and jumped out of the bushes to startle the soldiers. They planted scarecrows, sat in circles to sing and clap, stood pointing and laughing at the men in their military uniforms. Sometimes, riot police were sent to arrest the women in a futile attempt to evict them and put an end to their resistance. The elders were unfazed. activistswithattitude/this-work-is-our-whole-life/
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 06:56:01 +0000
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