[Marxism] Appeal for US solidarity from Sovereignty Movement in colony/State of Hawaii

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080428/open_letter 


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Hawaii Needs You
by _NONE

[from the April 28, 2008 issue]

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 GuantÃnamo, 
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 WaÄkikÄ, 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 Ainaâ (MANA) 

Terrilee Keko'olani, Ohana Koa/Nuclear-Free and Independent Pacific 

Noelani Goodyear-Kaopua, assistant professor of politicalâ 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 




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