Hawaiian Independence Action Alliance

Contact: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lynette Cruz
(808) 284-3460
palolo@hawaii.rr.com

50th STATE or HAWAIIAN STATE UNDER OCCUPATION?
Demonstration for the History the State Does Not Want Remembered

Honolulu, Hawaii – The Hawaiian Independence Action Alliance (HIAA) is calling a press conference at 11a.m, March 18, in front of the Queen Lili‘uokalani statue between ‘Iolani Palace and the State Capitol. HIAA, comprised of more than 10 different Hawaiian groups, will peacefully draw attention to the wrongs committed against the Hawaiian nation and the fraudulence of the history being celebrated at the capitol.

Statehood is memorialized as a civil rights victory, where Hawai‘i defeated a notion that it was unqualified for statehood because of its largely Asian population and rumors of communism. Lynette Cruz organizer of the demonstration argues, “the human rights violations committed against Hawaiians do not warrant celebration. Why should we commemorate theft?”

Hawai‘i was listed as a Non-Self-Governing-Territory by the United Nations in 1946, and the United States had a “sacred trust” obligation to promote self-determination. In 1953 the U.N. General Assembly passed Resolution 742, which stated that offering “independence,” “separate systems of self-government,” and “Free Association” were factors that would determine “whether a Territory is or is not a Territory whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government.” The federal ballot used in 1959 did not afford the people of Hawai‘i several possibilities besides statehood, and thus violated U.N. Resolution 742.

Furthermore, on January 17th 1948, the 55th anniversary of the overthrow, Alice Kamokila Campbell filed a lawsuit against the Hawaii Statehood Commission in Campbell v. Stainback et. al. Her lawsuit won an injunction against the legislature for using taxpayer money to advertise nationally for statehood, which the Hawai‘i Supreme Court ruled in 1949 “are to the exclusion and detriment of citizens and taxpayers …opposed to statehood for Hawaii.”

Indeed, in 1998, United Nations Special Rapporteur Miguel Martinez, after reviewing the process by which Hawai‘i was made a territory and state of the U.S., recommended that Hawai‘i be placed back on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing-Territories.

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

For more information visit www.hawaiianindependencealliance.org or call Lynette Cruz at (808) 284-3460.

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SEIZED NOT “CEDED”

Queen’s Protest Shows Title over Land Requires International Court

Honolulu, Hawaii – The Hawaiian Independence Action Alliance (HIAA) is holding a press conference at noon, Feb. 25, in front of the State Capitol on Beretania St. to point out the US Supreme Court has no legal standing in the so-called “ceded” lands matter.

HIAA, comprised of more than 10 different Hawaiian groups, is calling attention to the fact that the so-called “ceded” lands issue is based on a false understanding of history, and thus the issue of ownership can only be resolved in an international court of law.

Formal protests written by Queen Lili`uokalani at Washington D.C. in 1897 and 1898 address the present U.S. claims to what are, in reality, crown lands, currently and incorrectly called “ceded lands.”

The Queen stated,” I call upon the President and the National Legislature and the People of the United States to do justice in this matter and to restore to me this property, the enjoyment of which is being withheld from me by your Government under what must be a misapprehension of my right and title.”

She further remarked, “I…hereby call upon the President of that nation to whom alone I yielded my property and my authority to withdraw said treaty (ceding said Islands) from further consideration.”

History shows that no such treaty was ever enacted, thus the issue of lands ‘ceded’, or given over to the United States in 1898 via treaty between two countries recognized under international law, never took place.

Yet Governor Lingle and Attorney General Bennett are seeking a US Supreme Court ruling to settle who owns title to the “ceded” lands.

Both the U.S. and the United Nations acknowledge the illegality of Hawai`i’s taking.  In 1993, President Clinton signed the Apology Resolution, a U.S. Public Law, where the U.S. apologized and acknowledged Hawaiians never relinquished sovereignty over Hawai`i.

In 1988, the U.S. Justice Department issued a memo stating the annexation of Hawai`i` required a two-thirds vote, which never took place.

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.