November 13, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2011
“We’ll occupy the streets, we’ll occupy the courts, we’ll occupy the offices of you, till you do the bidding of the many, not the few.”
November 13, 2011
APEC World Leaders Dinner Gets Occupied
Contact:
November 12, 2011
A MANIFESTO FOR APEC ECONOMIES
A MANIFESTO FOR APEC ECONOMIES
In honor of our ancestors and our Queen, Liliuokalani, we make this recommendation: A manifesto for APEC economies from the people of Hawai`i and throughout the world. We are faced with the impacts of globalization of the world’s resources via planning that fails to include us. We assert that globalization is our responsibility, too, and that globalization must be made compatible with localization. We advocate for wellness and balance to prevail in the face of greed and the philosophy that profits overrule fundamental rights and responsibilities for all people. We advocate for wellness and abundance for the natural resources of the world.
We advocate for the globalization of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, including a globalized consciousness of the interconnectedness of all things, and a respect for all people and all resources, including air, water, land, cultural practices.
We advocate for fair trade for all local communities and protection of labor’s right to organize
We advocate for a base standard of wages and safe employment conditions, as well as representation for labor separate from capital
We advocate for fair wages for decent living conditions, proper nutrition, adequate health care, and built-in programs for age-related end-of-work
We advocate for protection from unrestricted flow of capital across national borders when such flow is invasive and harmful to health, economy, environment, culture, political stability, and historical consciousness of the people of the local community
We advocate for protection of the community’s right to organize in opposition to the unrestricted invasion of capital, with the expectation of full support from local political authorities
We advocate for protecting lands and oceans so that they flourish; this must be the primary consideration for decisions made at the global level
We advocate for local communities to have the right and responsibility to protect the lands, oceans, and resources under their care
We advocate for environmental restoration programs; to be developed and implemented to improve natural resources and reverse whatever degradation of these resources occurred the prior year
We advocate for controls on mineral extractions from our earth; they must be counteracted with remediation leading to restoration as much and as completely as possible, with proper disposal of waste products that cause harm to any part of the environment
We advocate for food as an expression of culture, spirituality, nutrition, medication, and well-being; food must be honored and protected, as it is directly connected to our environment
We advocate for food to be recognized as the medium by which people honor their ancestors and worship their gods; thus, alteration of food products must be done with a sacred consciousness of the importance of food to people, without use of additives or chemicals that compromise nutritional value.
We advocate for appropriate food preparation, especially commercial food; food must always be prepared in a manner that respects and enhances the health and well-being of the consumer
We advocate for food production and distribution at the international level as appropriate to meet the needs of the hungry, undernourished, sick, and poor. Thus, a consciousness of the humanity of the world must be seen as a singular reality. Any division by race, religion, economic status, political beliefs, gender, class, or any other kind of separation is both harmful and illusory, and must not be permitted when considering who has the right to access food
We advocate for food support that includes development assistance for people to provide food for themselves, thus assistance should be provided that takes into consideration social development, appropriate environmental realities, cultural beliefs, appropriate education, and gender appropriateness, in terms of who labors to prepare and deliver food.
We advocate for people receiving proper nutrition derived from natural foods for optimum wellness
We advocate for the ability to access the environment (to physically interact with the world) as paramount for environmental and cultural connection so that our social, spiritual, and economic selves can thrive
We advocate against depriving the people and resources from interacting with each other in a balanced and caring way; this is a threat to the wellness of the whole
We advocate for recognition that new professions of medical specialties, of pharmaceutical products and introduced systems of medical care, cannot adequately remedy the negative impacts of global economic capital-based policies that promote profit above community wellness
While we recognize the usefulness of new medical knowledge and technology to advance the wellness of communities, such knowledge and technology must be used with care, recognizing and avoiding the dangers of creating dependency on modernity at the expense of self-sufficiency, and that transnational corporations in the health/medical fields should adjust their practices and policies in accordance with this sentiment
We call upon all nations and states to be mindful that the principles of self-determination can only be effectuated “on the ground,” one instance at a time, to be addressed as we face each violation in each local arena
The colonization practice over countries and peoples is a direct affront to the principle of self-determination. Colonization may raise its head in many different circumstances, from the invasion, overthrow, and establishment of puppet regimes that act on behalf of the colonial entity to grant largess, territory, or other favors to the colonial party, to the territorial invasion by capital interests into indigenous territories for extraction of minerals or timber or other resources, to a multitude of other like actions that threaten the concept and the right to self-determination
We call upon APEC not to be a pawn to the practice of colonization, not to close its eyes to what has occurred and continues to occur as member APEC nations threaten the right of smaller countries and communities to self-determination, not to be a participant or to sit idly by as colonization is being practiced within those very boundaries in which APEC conferences are held.
APEC participants must use the opportunity to meet in a foreign land as an open invitation, indeed as a duty, to investigate the inviting member state’s conduct in such lands, and to hold that state accountable for behaviors that are colonial and block the right to self-determination.
In the case of Hawaii, APEC participants must recognize the U.S. military-based occupation of our homeland for over a century.
Finally, we propose that Hawai`i, where the United States has convened APEC members for its most recent meetings, is an apt beginning point in meeting globalized responsibility to Human Rights.
November 10, 2011
APEC: American Empire joining forces with Asian Empires at the expense of the people…
NO ALOHA FOR APEC
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 10, 2011
From: Hawaiian Independence Action Alliance
Contact: Lynette Cruz
Phone: 284-3460
Email: Palolo@hawaii.rr.com
Website: http://www.hawaiianindependencealliance.org/
ACTION ALERT! NO ALOHA FOR APEC
The Hawaiian Independence Action Alliance is honoring Queen Liliuokalani on her death day on Nov. 11, 2001 at Kahi Hali`a Aloha, the burial mound in Waikiki, corner of Kalakaua and Kapahulu Avenues at 5 pm. This event is free and open to the public.
We honor Queen Liliuokalani on the 94th anniversary of her death. She reigned as Queen in 1893, when the government of the Hawaiian Kingdom was illegally overthrown by the United States and subsequently ‘annexed’ to the U.S. without benefit of an annexation treaty. We assert our genealogical, spiritual and cultural rights as a people, and through this act of remembrance we defy the psychological and political oppression that has resulted from prolonged military occupation of our homeland.
We support and uphold the political and cultural legacy our queen and all the ali’i before her have handed down to us over the past centuries. We stand with the kupuna, whose iwi (bones) are being unearthed, desecrated, and removed from their final resting places to make room for corporate development in the interest of capitalist agendas. We condemn the policies of APEC that cause harm to us in Hawaii and to native peoples throughout the world.
We stand in solidarity with people throughout the world today who acknowledge the injuries of globalization and the tyranny of the 1%. As part of the 99%ers who are committing acts of civil disobedience through occupation, we are uniquely positioned here in Hawaii because we are the ones who are occupied in our homeland.
Despite all appearances and the false history perpetrated by the U.S government for over a hundred years in our homeland, we know, and we want the world to know, that the Hawaiian Nation remains in place and exists at this time under a belligerent and illegal occupation by the United States.
Today, as we commemorate the passing of our beloved queen, we also mourn the passing of all our kupuna who were forced to live under the fraudulent identity of so-called U.S. citizenship for over a century.
We know who we are, the ancestors of those who resisted the U.S. takeover and affixed their signatures in 1897 to a document known as the Ku’e Petitions to resist annexation of Hawaii to the U.S. Like the Declaration of Independence Americans used to proclaim their right to freedom from England, the Ku’e Petitions proclaim our responsibility to be who we are and to move toward our manifesting our independence from the U.S.
APEC represents the colonial, American Empire joining forces with Asian Empires at the expense of the people of the land in and around the Pacific.
As Queen Liliu’okalani urged her people to “onipa’a” be steadfast and speak truth to power, we honor her and our ancestors by standing against the giant called APEC and in support of liberation from the United States.
APEC: HAWAIIAN ANCESTRAL LAW VERSUS PARK RULES
Can one Hawaiian woman stand up against the entire State of Hawaii’s laws criminalizing homelessness?
From: Laulani Teale, Law of the Splintered Paddle
Contact: Laulani Teale
Phone: (808)256-6637
Email laulani@gmail.com
Video: http://youtu.be/JkZjDkd4WZ8
APEC: HAWAIIAN ANCESTRAL LAW VERSUS PARK RULES
Can one Hawaiian woman stand up against the entire State of Hawaii’s laws criminalizing homelessness?
Laulani Teale is a Hawaiian woman, a mother and educator, and her political activism is motivated by her spiritual and cultural knowledge, experience and inheritance. The spiritual context of heraction is in her estimation as important as the act itself. “I am here,” she says,” for cultural survival, for the houseless people and because of APEC.”
Teale is standing for human rights and Hawaiian rights during this week of APEC. While nearly every political group in Hawaii is staging some form of public protest, panel or conference type of gathering in the shadow of the APEC events, Teale sits quietly with her daughter, Li’a, playing nearby, and anyone who cares to stop by and talk-story beneath her bamboo canopy near the end Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki in front of the Honolulu Zoo and the statue of Ghandi is welcome. And she’s been there since Monday afternoon, despite the fact that every “homeless” or “houseless” person in Waikiki has been swept out and away by law enforcement.
“This is a pu’u honua (refuge) until Sunday,” she says, as Li’a rolls by on her scooter. When asked about the police she says, “Most police have been helpful. But the larger picture is that the police work for the system which is doing hewa with APEC, perpetuating hewa.” Hewa is the Hawaiian word for “wrong.” “The higher law is our ancestral law,” she says.” “They are trying to enforce park rules, that conflict with their own constitutional laws and values.” But King Kamehameha the Great decreed ‘Moe i Ke’ala,’ meaning people can sleep on the road without threat of harm.”
What Teale is putting to the test is called “Kanawai Mamalahoe,” which translates to mean “The Law of the Splintered Paddle.” It dates back to the days of Kamehameha, but it was adopted as part of the Hawaii State Constitution in 1978, Article 9, section 10. In part, it reads: “The law of the splintered paddle, mamala-hoe kanawai, decreed by Kamehameha I – “Let every elderly person, woman and child lie by the roadside in safety– shall be a unique and living symbol of the State’s concern for public safety.”
In fact, the symbol of The Law of Splintered Paddle appears as two crossed paddles and a triangular flag on every badge worn by a Honolulu police officer.
“It is the law of the land and it has never been repealed,” says Teale. “The law of our land is human rights or bust. If a government cannot respect that, it has to come down.”
When asked what the difference is between what she is doing and what homeless people do in Waikiki and other places in Hawaii every day, she answers, “There is very little difference. I don’t want to get arrested, but I won’t give up my rights.”
So far, Teale has been able to stand her ground without being arrested and physically removed by law enforcement from her encampment by the statue of Ghandi, a man whose life was devoted to peaceful resistance against a foreign power in his homeland. “I respect people who have stood for pono (righteousness), taken a risk and worked at a level of a higher law.”
Laulani Teale can be reached at 808-256-6637.
Information about The Law of the Splintered Paddle can be found here.
October 16, 2011
“…the interests and welfare of the local people must be protected from one-sided economic policies…”
“We are deeply concerned that APEC’s trend toward economic globalization is often counter-productive and even destructive to the interests and welfare of the people at the local level…”
