Almost 50 years ago on a small island, a peaceful civil rights campaign demanding equal rights with regard to housing, employment and voting rights was met with violent opposition by the state — a reaction that ensured the movement's moderate leaders were quickly sidelined as demonstrations gave way to petrol bombs, shootings and explosions. The descent into chaos was swift, and it took some 30 years, almost 4,000 deaths, countless injuries and massive destruction before any semblance of peace re-emerged.

I am talking about Northern Ireland and its Troubles, but it seems to me there are parallels with what is currently happening in Okinawa in the south of Japan. Just as in Northern Ireland almost five decades ago, how the government responds to the current protest could determine whether the future will be calm or marred by conflict.

The ongoing nonviolent campaign against the construction of a new U.S. military airstrip in pristine waters off Henoko, in Nago city on Okinawa's northeastern coast, is increasingly being met with force by the Japanese authorities. Media reports tell of elderly protesters being knocked off their feet at the entrance to Camp Schwab, while younger waterborne activists have found themselves and their kayaks being towed 5 km out to sea by Coast Guard motor launches.