On April 28, 2018, the Philippine government ordered workers to remove the statue recently erected in Manila to the memory of the “comfort women.” They did it in the middle of the night, so that no one would see what was happening. By removing the statue, they removed the memory of hundreds of thousands of women throughout Asia who were sexually enslaved during WWII by the Japanese Imperial Army. By removing the statue, they denied the history of over 1000 Filipina women who were wrenched from their homes during the Japanese occupation and forced to serve the Japanese military. By removing the statue they ignored the work of countless women’s and human rights organizations who struggled to build a statue to remember those who had suffered and to stand for women’s basic human rights. By removing the statue they denied history.
When the Philippine government gave in to Japanese demands for the statue’s removal, it cooperated in Japanese denialism. The Japanese and Philippine government claim that the issue of the “comfort women” is settled and therefore a statue is not needed. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Japanese government has refused to officially apologize to the surviving grandmothers nor has it given any restitution. The issue of state sponsored rape and state sponsored sexual slavery cannot be “settled.” It must be remembered, talked about and officially acknowledged.
San Francisco now has its own memorial: The “Comfort Women:” Column of Strength presents a trio of “comfort women/girls: a Filipina, Chinese and Korean and stands in a public park, owned by the city. As the organization that built the memorial, the “Comfort Women” Justice Coalition strongly condemns the action of the Philippine government. We will never allow our statue to be taken down. It will stand with the many others around the world as a remembrance and as a warning : Sexual Violence during war is a crime against humanity. The memory of the comfort women speaks to us through the generations: Sexual violence, sexual slavery and sex trafficking must be eradicated once and for all.
