Aloha aina kakou:
The following piece ran in The Nation, the oldest US magazine and a pillar of the US progressive movement. It's part of a special issue The Nation is publishing about Hawaii. I haven't seen it in print yet, but hope to in the next couple of days. (Apparently The Nation opposed the US annexation of Hawaii in 1898.)
Hawaii Needs You
An open letter to the US left from the Hawaiian sovereignty movement.
The confluence of two forces--a massive military expansion in Hawai'i and Congressional legislation that will stymie the Kanaka Maoli [Native Hawaiian] sovereignty movement--will expand and consolidate the use of Hawai'i for US empire. We are calling on the US left to join our movement opposing these threats and to add our quest for independence as a plank of the broad US left strategy for a nonimperialist America. If you support peace and justice for the United States and the world, please support demilitarization and independence for Hawai'i.
Since 1893, the United States has malformed Hawai'i into the command and control center for US imperialism in Oceania and Asia. From the hills of the Ewa district of O'ahu, the US Pacific Command--the largest of the unified military commands--directs troops and hardware throughout literally half the planet. Since the late nineteenth century, the US military has multiplied in our islands, taking 150,000 acres for its use, including one-quarter of the metropolitan island of O'ahu. Moreover, the National Security Administration is building a new surveillance facility nearby, not far from where urban assault brigades, called Strykers, will train for deployment throughout the world. The US Navy is also increasing training over the entire archipelago, including populated areas and the fragile northwestern whale sanctuary. This militarized occupation has a long history. Ke Awalau o Pu'uloa--known now as Pearl Harbor--became one of the very first overseas bases, along with Guantánamo, around the time of the Spanish-American War. We still hold much in common with prerevolution Cuba--a sugar plantation economy and status as the playground for the rich of North America.
We have suffered from the effects of being the pawn for US wars on the world. Our family members languish from strange diseases brought by military toxins in our water and soil. Our economy is a foreign-run modern plantation serving multinational shareholders and decorated generals. We salute a foreign flag, and the education system instructs us to yearn for a distant continent called the Mainland. Tourists imbibe in sunny Waīkikī, while the beaches in the native-inhabited regions are littered with chemical munitions.
But amid our suffering, we have survived. Our tenacity and resilience have historical roots: in 1897, 95 percent of the Kanaka Maoli population signed petitions that helped to defeat a treaty to forcibly annex Hawai'i to the United States.
The last forty years have seen remarkable change for our people, through the advancement of a grassroots struggle against the political occupation and mental colonization of our homeland. We have been successful in several campaigns: in stopping the bombing of Kaho'olawe Island and Makua Valley, in revitalizing the Hawaiian language and culture in our schools and families, in returning to our indigenous spiritual practices and in making Hawaiian sovereignty a dinner-table topic and an actual possibility. These hard-fought wins are successes in the movement for self-determination and also a threat to America's use of Hawai'i as the purveyor of its empire.
It is against this backdrop that the Akaka bill (the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act) is being discussed in the halls of Congress. Named for US Senator Daniel Akaka, the bill is being promoted by Hawai'i's corporate and political elite as a vehicle for racial justice. Yet the bill would turn back one of the most important victories of the last four decades--the rise of Hawaiian self-determination, including independence, as a political possibility--replacing it with the extinguishment of our historic claims to land and sovereignty.
Our conundrum puts us squarely in opposition to the middle ground of American politics, which has arrived at a consensus that Hawai'i will remain a military colony of the United States. Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye is a major purveyor of pork barrel spending for military appropriations and defense contractors. All three presidential contenders have signaled their support for the Akaka bill. And while the far right wing of the Republican Party opposes the Akaka bill, both major parties have no quarrel over the continuance of the empire's use of our homeland.
In light of this American consensus on Hawai'i, we turn to our nearest political allies, US progressive movements, and seek your solidarity for our independence because it is congruent and essential to your hope for a better world. Please join us in opposing the Akaka bill and the militarization of Hawai'i, and please support Hawai'i's independence as part of your vision for a more humane United States and a more just world.
Ikaika Hussey, convenor, Movement for Aloha No ka Aina (MANA)
Terrilee Keko'olani, Ohana Koa/Nuclear-Free and Independent Pacific
Noelani Goodyear-Kaopua, assistant professor of political science, University of Hawaii, Manoa
Jon Osorio, director, Center for Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawaii, Manoa
Kekuni Blaisdell, convenor, Ka Pakaukau
Andre Perez, Hui Pu
Kelii "Skippy" Ioane, Hui Pu
Kai'opua Fyfe, director, The Koani Foundation
It's great that The Nation is doing a special issue. Wow indeed! I can't wait to see it! And a big cheer to the writers of the above letter. I hope American leftists really respond with energy and solidarity!
As a member of the "American Left" (actually, American Radical Left is more like it!) I've been really frustrated by the lack of attention and concern paid to the Hawaiian struggle. Perhaps The Nation will be a tipping point. Another problem, from way over here, is knowing the fine points of the struggle. It's very complex, and trying to figure out "who or what" to support can be a problem. I finally came to the conclusion that all I could do was support the people, because I had no business trying to figure out the details. That part is not my kuleana.
As for Amy Goodman, yeah, she needs to hear from all the anti-Akaka bill folks especially, because a few months ago she apparently had Sen. Akaka on her show and I don't know who was representing the opposing view. She's great -- I really love her -- but she needs to hear the real stuff!
I can offer some recent history about bringing the issue of Hawaiian independence into the Berkeley scene. In 2004 Clarence Ku Ching came out to do a workshop on Hawaiian independence and culture, along with David Ingham, and they were on Pacifica Radio's KPFA talking about sovereignty. (Ku, David and I had just co-written an article called America's Tibet, which we'd hoped would be published in American mainland papers as an opinion piece, but it didn't happen. Hawaiian Island Journal published it though, April 2004.) Paul Kealoha Blake, who runs the East Bay Media Center, got them on the air and also videotaped the entire workshop.
Paul also made sure to show Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege at his annual Berkeley Video and Film Festival. Paul also is involved with a Native American storytelling event every year and is responsible for bringing Hawaiian folks to this program as well. (Wanna give him a lot of credit!)
A few months later, I gave a showing of the Mauna Kea video at the Long Haul Info Shop (publishers of Slingshot, an anarchist newspaper). Paul Kealoha Blake spoke very eloquently to the folks at Long Haul that evening. I also was able to get an article written for Slingshot, and they published it.
A couple years ago I also drove my Free Hawai'i car in the How Berkeley Can You Be parade, handing out bumperstickers and info with the help of a well known local activist.
And of course the big march a couple years ago in San Francisco was wonderful! It was in support of Kamehameha Schools, and people were outwardly unified, so the independence activists were there along with Akaka bill supporters. It was an amazing day, really! A lot of folks from local halau hula were there. The Kapalakiko Hawaiian Band performed, led by Saichi Kawahara, who is an independence supporter too, as well as one of our most beloved cultural lights in the Bay Area.
Jan. this year, Lynette Cruz and Ku did a presentation at the Redwood Room in Berkeley. (It turns out several years ago Lynette had been in town and she had also done a presentation at the Long Haul too! And networked with the Wobblies Labor Union!)
So there it is, we all have lots to do and too many places to do it in. But the word must spread and Maoli World is a great place for this kind of networking to happen! Now we just have to get that groundswell of public support mobilized... Malama pono!
Wow - I just saw that article now! Your letter is incredible! Great work. I also look at "MotherJones" and "Democracy Now." I wonder if we can ever write to Amy Goodman and get the word out through her show.
Comments
As a member of the "American Left" (actually, American Radical Left is more like it!) I've been really frustrated by the lack of attention and concern paid to the Hawaiian struggle. Perhaps The Nation will be a tipping point. Another problem, from way over here, is knowing the fine points of the struggle. It's very complex, and trying to figure out "who or what" to support can be a problem. I finally came to the conclusion that all I could do was support the people, because I had no business trying to figure out the details. That part is not my kuleana.
As for Amy Goodman, yeah, she needs to hear from all the anti-Akaka bill folks especially, because a few months ago she apparently had Sen. Akaka on her show and I don't know who was representing the opposing view. She's great -- I really love her -- but she needs to hear the real stuff!
I can offer some recent history about bringing the issue of Hawaiian independence into the Berkeley scene. In 2004 Clarence Ku Ching came out to do a workshop on Hawaiian independence and culture, along with David Ingham, and they were on Pacifica Radio's KPFA talking about sovereignty. (Ku, David and I had just co-written an article called America's Tibet, which we'd hoped would be published in American mainland papers as an opinion piece, but it didn't happen. Hawaiian Island Journal published it though, April 2004.) Paul Kealoha Blake, who runs the East Bay Media Center, got them on the air and also videotaped the entire workshop.
Paul also made sure to show Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege at his annual Berkeley Video and Film Festival. Paul also is involved with a Native American storytelling event every year and is responsible for bringing Hawaiian folks to this program as well. (Wanna give him a lot of credit!)
A few months later, I gave a showing of the Mauna Kea video at the Long Haul Info Shop (publishers of Slingshot, an anarchist newspaper). Paul Kealoha Blake spoke very eloquently to the folks at Long Haul that evening. I also was able to get an article written for Slingshot, and they published it.
A couple years ago I also drove my Free Hawai'i car in the How Berkeley Can You Be parade, handing out bumperstickers and info with the help of a well known local activist.
And of course the big march a couple years ago in San Francisco was wonderful! It was in support of Kamehameha Schools, and people were outwardly unified, so the independence activists were there along with Akaka bill supporters. It was an amazing day, really! A lot of folks from local halau hula were there. The Kapalakiko Hawaiian Band performed, led by Saichi Kawahara, who is an independence supporter too, as well as one of our most beloved cultural lights in the Bay Area.
Jan. this year, Lynette Cruz and Ku did a presentation at the Redwood Room in Berkeley. (It turns out several years ago Lynette had been in town and she had also done a presentation at the Long Haul too! And networked with the Wobblies Labor Union!)
So there it is, we all have lots to do and too many places to do it in. But the word must spread and Maoli World is a great place for this kind of networking to happen! Now we just have to get that groundswell of public support mobilized... Malama pono!