December « 2008 « Hawaiian Independence Action Alliance

December 31, 2008

Pictures from December 31 Protest

Kekuni Blaisdell is interviewed for public access tv regarding sign-holding demonstration in Kailua, near President-elect Barack Obama’s rented vacation home in Hawaii.

Sign holders, members of Hawaiian Independence Alliance, demonstrate in opposition to federal recognition (known as the Akaka Bill) in Kailua.

Sign holders block the road into and out of the back gate of the Marine Corps Base in Kailua calling attention to lands taken from the Hawaiian Kingdom at the time of the so-called annexation (1898) of Hawaii. For more information see www.hawaiiankingdom.org and www.hawaii-nation.org.

photos: Lynette Cruz

December 30, 2008

Native Hawaiians Protest “Native Son” Obama’s Support Of Akaka Bill

Filed under: Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 30, 2008

NATIVE HAWAIIANS PROTEST “NATIVE SON” OBAMA’S SUPPORT OF AKAKA BILL
Hawaiian Independence, Not Federal Recognition Focus of Demonstration

Kailua, Hawaii – Native Hawaiians and their supporters will gather tomorrow morning (December 31st) at 10am outside Barack Obama’s vacation home to protest his endorsement of the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, commonly known as the Akaka Bill.

The protest will occur on Kailuana Place, at the security checkpoint just before Obama’s house in Kailua.

Soon in control of both the Administration and Congress, Democrats are seeking to pass the Akaka bill, federal recognition for Native Hawaiians, which many Hawaiians and others oppose.

“We are not Native Americans and we will never give up our Nation or our rights,” proclaimed Lynette Cruz, event co-coordinator. “What part of stolen don’t they understand?”

The Akaka Bill would legally legitimize the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, complete the theft of the Hawaiian Nation, and wipe out Hawaii National sovereignty, which even the Akaka Bill itself admits has never been relinquished.

Moreover both the United States and the United Nations acknowledge the illegality of Hawaii’s incorporation into the US.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the Apology Resolution, US Public Law 103-150, in which the United States apologized and acknowledged their “active participation” in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

In 1988, the Justice Department issued a memo to the State Department admitting the annexation of Hawaii required a two-thirds vote, which never took place.

In 1998, United Nations Special Rapporteur Miguel Martinez recommended that Hawaii be placed back on the United Nations list of non-self-governing-territories.

For more information visit www.hawaiianindependence.org or call Lynette Cruz at (808) 284-3460 or Dean Saranillio at (808) 250-5016.

December 26, 2008

Pictures from December 26 Protest

Filed under: Events/Actions,Images

Richard Kinney holds the Hawaiian national flag upside down, signaling the Hawaiian nation in distress

Dean Saranillio leads a group of protestors holding signs that say “SEIZED NOT CEDED” in response to the state of Hawaii’s desire to sell lands that were supposedly ceded to the U.S. at the time of the so-called annexation of Hawaii in 1898. Those lands were held by the U.S. until 1959, at the time that Hawaii was admitted into the union of the United States as the 50th state. The use of the term “seized” is to remind the state of Hawaii and the United States that there was no legal annexation, rather a law internal to the U.S. was used to take Hawaii, to “seize” lands and people without their consent. Thus, today, the issue is NOT the sale of “ceded” lands, as no cession ever took place, but the continued seizure of lands still under the jurisdiction of the Hawaiian Kingdom. For more info, see www.hawaiiankingdom.org.

Richard Kinney’s flag frames sign holders protesting across from Washington Place, the home of Hawaii’s last reigning monarch, on Beretania St.

Protestors gather in front of Kamehameha Statue on the grounds of the Judiciary Building on King St. to signal to passersby their displeasure with the U.S. government and the state of Hawaii’s attempts (via numerous versions of the Akaka Bill) to classify Hawaiians as “indigenous native people of the United States” and thus eligible for federal recognition. What’s the message? “NO TO AKAKA BILL”.

In front of Iolani Palace protestors, flanked by red and black banners with the words HAWAIIAN INDEPENDENCE fluttering from tall poles, flash their “SEIZED NOT CEDED” signs, another reminder of an illegal overthrow in 1893 and the theft of a nation in 1898. Demonstrators call for maluhia me ka pono, peace with justice, remembering Queen Liliuokalani’s stance on peaceful negotiation to resolve the wrongs done to her and to the nation.

photos: David Ma

Koani Foundation Statement

Filed under: Statements

The Koani Foundation is a Kauai-based Kanaka Hawaii Maoli rights organization dedicated to carrying forth our Queen’s mission – the restoration of a free Hawaii… [ continued (pdf) ]

December 24, 2008

Native Hawaiians Protest Obama

Filed under: Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 24, 2008
Press Conference: December 26, 10:30am @ Hawaii State Capitol
Contact: Lynette Cruz, (808) 218-5357

HAWAIIANS PROTEST OBAMA AND GOVERNOR LINGLE TO NOT SELL NATIVE LANDS AND PASS AKAKA BILL FOR STATE BAILOUT

Organized to coincide with U.S. President elect Barack Obama’s visit to the Hawaiian Islands the Hawaiian Independence Alliance, a group comprised of over nine different Hawaiian groups, will gather Friday, Dec. 26th, in front of the State Capitol to protest:

(1) Republican Governor Linda Lingle’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Hawaii Supreme Court ruling that barred the State of Hawaii from selling or transferring “ceded lands”—lands belonging to the once independent Hawaiian Kingdom seized at the time of the 1893 U.S. backed overthrow and currently held in trust by the State of Hawaii.

(2) The U.S. Congressional Akaka Bill would extinguish the international sovereignty never relinquished by the Native Hawaiian people. Hawaii, which was an internationally recognized sovereign state before the 1893 U.S. backed overthrow, has international claims to sovereignty, which U.S. domestic legislation seeks to obscure. Obama has officially endorsed the Akaka Bill.

Protestors are linking the economic recession taking hold of much of the U.S. and the State of Hawaii to the state’s attempts to sell ceded lands and resolve Native Hawaiian international rights to self-governance. As a means to make up for an over two-billion dollar deficit facing the State of Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle and Attorney General Mark Bennett are attempting to overturn a ruling by the Hawaii Supreme Court that barred them from selling “Ceded lands.” The court, citing the “Apology Bill” Public Law 103-150, ruled that the state must preserve these lands “until such time as the unrelinquished claims of the Native Hawaiians have been resolved.”

Dec 26 Program Schedule:

10:00am – Opening pu (trumpet) and chant to aumakua (ancestral gods) to cleanse and restore the stolen Native lands.

10:15am – Ceremony and prayer to Queen Liliuokalani for Independence and international recognition.

10:30am – Press Conference Kekuni Blaisdell, Andre Perez, Kaiopua Fyfe, and Dean Itsuji Saranillio will speak to the long history of the U.S. colonization of Hawaii. At Beretania and Richards Street.

Hawaiian Independence Alliance is comprised of Pro-Kanaka Maoli Independence Working Group, Ka Pakaukau, Komike Tribunal, Hui o Na Ike, Ka Lei Maile Alii Hawaiian Civic Club, Ohana Koa, NFIP – Hawaii, Koani Foundation, Spiritual Nation of Ku – Hui Ea Council of Sovereigns, Living Nation.