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Aloha Kakou.

                          Last Friday (April 1st) marked the first anniversary of the creation of the Chagos Marine Protected Area. For Hawaiian Nationals events involving island communities in the Indian Ocean may not be a priority concern at this time given the significance of the the HCR 107 debate locally, however residents of archipelagos globally often share historical commonalities and the study of these are oftentimes disputed and contested particularly at the legal level (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7104266.ece) which can lead to a rewarding transparency of events locally in Ko Hawai'i Pae 'Aina particularly in the pursuit of justice arena.

In the latter part of the 1960s and early 1970s inhabitants of these coral atolls were forcibly displaced to make way for a U.S. military base on Diego Garcia the largest of the islands. Many of these 1,500 to 2,000 original inhabitants are now deceased with their descendants residing in Mauritius, Britain, and the Seychelles. To its credit Wikipedia have an extensive article on Diego Garcia with a number of external resources for information to comprehend the issue for the novice and interested parties available by clicking here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Garcia

Chagossians as the islanders are known remain divided as to the benefits and disadvantages of the Chagos Marine Protected Area, many believe the Protected Area the largest marine reserve on Earth, at a whopping 545,000-square kilometers will prevent the Chagos Islanders from ever returning ostensibly the purpose of the Reserve is to prevent deep-sea mining, industrial fishing, and protect corals and wildlife. According to Allen Vincatassin, President of the Government in Exile of the Chagossian People (a.k.a. Diego Garcia and Chagos Islands Council) the Government will make good that the MPA will be adjusted to incorporate fishing livelihood rights in the event the Chagos Islanders do return. This has been queried by a Wikileaks U.S. cable revelation last December which revealed that Colin Roberts of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office for Overseas Territory allegedly said the MPA should have quote: "no human footprints" or "Man Fridays." The historical strategic value of the Chagos Islands as with Hawai'i is immense to the powers of domination and can be understood on the larger canvas by clicking here:

http://www.us-uk-interventions.org/Chagos_Islands.html

One is reminded of the U.S. army spy General John Schofield's secret task to the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1872 to conduct an investigation into the viability of a U.S. military presence on the islands and under this pretext he later testified: "If we do not occupy and fortify Pearl Harbor our enemy will occupy it as a base from which to conduct operations against our Pacific coast." The campaign tactics of the Chagossians are worthy of monitoring by Hawaiian Nationals in order to draw comparative analysis locally. Further data on the Chagos Islands is available here: http://www.chagossupport.org.uk.

April 22nd marks International Mother Earth Day, the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth adopted at the Cochabamba summit in Bolivia last year (http://motherearthrights.org) provides a legal framework in the preservation and protection of this wonderful home we call Earth and encourages us all to actively participate in the banquet of life.

-Onipa'a.