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Ka La Ho'iho'i Ea (CLICK & LEARN ! )

This FRIDAY
`Awa Circle + Talk Story: Sacred Landscapes
Friday, July 25, 2008
7PM to when pau
at StudioBe
corner of Beretania + Smith
63 N. Beretania St., 2nd Floor

More information see our blog

A night for share `awa and talk story with Mauna Kea conservation and cultural rights activist, Kealoha Pisciotta.
We will also screen excerpts from the Na Maka o ka `Aina film Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege.

WHAT IS HAPPENING ON MAUNA KEA?
Mauna Kea, on the island of Hawai'i, is sacred as an elder ancestor and kinolau (physical embodiment) of spiritual deities. The summit area is also ecologically unique.

On a summit long untroubled by humans, today thirteen telescopes and related facilities crowd the sacred landscape of Mauna Kea. Even after 30 years of community opposition, a consortium of institutions led by the UH Institute for Astronomy (IFA) continues to propose even more new telescope construction. Currently, over 1,000 IFA employees regularly drive to the summit, leaving behind some 500,000 gallons of human waste annually and reported spills of toxic chemicals such as ethylene glycol and liquid mercury over Hawaii Island's only aquifer. The University of Hawaii currently pays only $1 per year for their mis-use of this sacred summit, while profiting from charging 13 of the world's wealthiest nations to use these facilities

Construction has damaged and leveled the sacred mountain peaks, spewing dust and facilitating more human intrusion that is wreaking havoc on this fragile and unique Hawaiian ecosystem. These impacts, coupled with the introduction of invasive predatory insects, are decimating populations of the rare Wekiu beetle, one of 11 endemic and imperiled species that call the mountain home.

"In our worldview, we cannot support de-creation. It is against the law of the universe and creator to eliminate a species. Mauna Kea is vast, but it is also a finite resource. You cannot keep abusing it." -Kealoha Pisciotta

Kealoha Pisciotta, who dat? Our hero. A Hilo kupa'aina, cultural practitioner and former telescope tech, Kealoha's tireless activism has helped to protect Mauna Kea's sacred summit from unmitigated telescope development. She is the president of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou.

This SUNDAY
Honor KA LA HO'IHO'I EA (Sovereignty Restoration Day)

Sunday, July 27, 2008

10 AM to 5PM
at Thomas Square, Downtown Honolulu
between Beretania & King + Victoria & Ward

Come to celebrate and support the ongoing movement for Hawaii's independence!

AWESOME Event Activities include: keiki fun, art exhibit, community booths (like Us Guys at KAHEA!), and plenny Kanaka Maoli culture to enjoy! Music from: Ka La Ho'i All Star Band, Ernie Cruz Jr, Kupaaina, Jon Osorio and Ikaika Hussey, Oiwi, Kupaukolu....
Hope to see you there, don't forget your chair (or lauhala mat)!

The Story of Ka La Ho'iho'i Ea
For generations, Hawaiians have celebrated & honored the date of July 31, the day in 1843 when Hawaii's sovereignty was returned to the Hawaiian Kingdom after five months of illegal British occupation by a Lord George Paulet, a rogue British naval commander. Paulet was seeking to coerce special land and rights for British subjects. Under duress & protest King Kamehameha III was forced to cede his kingdom to Paulet, but then the king appealed to Queen Victoria for justice. In response, Queen Victoria send British fleet commander Adm. Richard Thomas to enforce the British law which stated that 'native government be treated with forbearance and courtesy, and their laws and customs be respected.'

Admiral Thomas restored native rule in Hawaii on July 31, 1843 by raising the Hawaiian flag at Kulaokahua, known today as Thomas Square- the first public park on Oahu. On that same day, King Kamehameha III proclaimed, "Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono." The precise translation of this now State-motto is "The sovereignty of the land continues because of our righteousness."

On November 28 of that same year, 1843, France and England jointly recognized the Hawaiian Islands as an independent, sovereign country, at that time the United States also recognized the independence of the Hawaiian kingdom. This became Hawaiian Independence Day. The Hawaiian people continue to press for the United States to end the occupation of Hawaii and restore Hawaiian independence.

With Aloha, a hui hou,
Us Guys at KAHEA: The Hawaiian Environmental Alliance
www.kahea.org
blog.kahea.org
toll-free phone/fax: 888-528-6288

E ho`omalu kakou i ka pono, ke `ano o ka nohona a me ka `aina mai na kupuna mai
Protecting Native Hawaiian Traditional and Customary Rights and Our Fragile Environment