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ONE NATION UNDER GOD WITH
LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL
I am a child of God end w personal and.inalienable rights and powers revealed by
the Declaration of Independence and secured.by the Constitution of the United States of
America. The First Amendment and `the Religious: Freedom: Restoration Act of 1993 I
empower the people t� practice religtonand exercise it freely. As an officer of the law you
have the right, "and moral obligaation, NOT to' arrest, burden or. : interfere with my
religious use of!:ganja . (also known as martuana: =or hemp) You :have sworn under oath to
uphold the United States Constitution at all times and under all circumstances. Should you
choose to deny ' me religious freedom to,grow, use, trade and/or share you
are hereby given notice that I may use this d olatbori as a claun or defense in judicial
proceedings and obtain appropriate relief againstyou as nowprovided by law.
Reference...Section 3(c) Religious Freedoms Restoration Act: (RFRA) of 1993
"My faith is healed with the sacramental, religious use of Cannabis Hemp.
Igain ever- living communion with personal, private use ofganja. "
iF y As stated in the Bible....Genesis, 1:29, God said, iV
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"Behold I have given you (mankind) every seed - bearing
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f, � f ► - ,1 herb. They shall be for your food." t� Ezekial, 34 :29, "And
1 ,, , , .' . , _ I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall
£e ` % �� no longer be consumed by hunger or bear the shame of
i t t x + 1 1 � t the persecutors no more." Revelations, 22:2, The tree
�`� N..,„,---- of life, the leaves of which will heal all the nations."
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Kingdom of Hawai'i
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O S '
N A TI s N . N DER THE N • •
Militarism and Resistance in Hawa
i
By Kyle Kajihiro 0
a
0 0 c .33
The occupation of the military reservation is not so much:a a?it is a
responsibility to express our legitimate concern for the landdof thecHaw a n . .
.. We are against warfare but more so against imperialism ;-c —
-ri n cr. .
George Helm, President of the - Protect.) C
Kaho'olawe `Ghana, "disappeared" in_ 977
it co
"An empire doesn't ask, it takes. A colony has no choice in the matter; it gets
taken."
Mumia Abu Jamal, the black political prisoner on
death row, on the recent U.S. bombing of
Vieques, Puerto Rico
Militarism and colonialism are inseparable forces which have shaped modern Hawai`i. Over a hundred
years since the U.S. military participated in the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893,
militarism continues to distort the cultural and political environment like a magnet pulling at particles
of iron. Militarism in Hawaii is the product of "manifest destiny," the racist ideology which drove the
U.S. expansion into the Pacific and the Caribbean in the nineteenth century. Located at the crossroads
of Asia - Pacific commerce and military routes, Hawai`i's geopolitical importance makes it a centerpiece
of U.S. military strategy.
GUARDIANS OF THE EMPIRE
Today, Hawaii is the "linchpin" of U.S. military strategy in the Asia - Pacific region and the command
center of what Walden Bello calls "a transnational garrison state." From its headquarters in Honolulu,
the Pacific Command (U.S.PACOM) and the Commander -in -Chief U.S. Pacific Fleet (U.S.C[NCPAC)
. manages a vast network of overseas bases and enforces U.S. hegemony in the Asia - Pacific region.
Hawai`i has also served as the staging area for the U.S. to launch its wars in Vietnam and Iraq.
U.S.PACOM has 300,000 military personnel in the theater (one fifth of the total U.S. active duty
military force), including 100,000 forward deployed forces in the western Pacific. U.S.PACOM
oversees 105 million square miles, 43 countries, and over 60% of the world's population. In 1998, the
military had 47,064 active duty personnel and 85,350 dependents stationed in Hawai`i. Together the
military population made up I I% of Hawai`i's 1,193,001 residents. By comparison, the Kanaka Maoli
(Native Hawaiian) population was 220,748, or 18.5 per cent of the total population.
The current status of U.S. military forces in Hawaii reflects the convergence of a number of factors.
With the break up of the Soviet Union, the U.S. has shifted its posture from the Cold War Soviet threat
to a so- called "terrorist threat" from the Third World. Joseph Gerson of the American Friends Service
Committee wrote, "The Asia/Pacific region is the geopolitical center of the struggle for world power ...
Pursuit of economic advantage has largely replaced ideology as the driving force of foreign and
military policies." At the same time, U.S. economic interests in the region and pressures from inside
the military- industrial complex have driven the military to seek out new enemies such as China and
28
so
I a I arw
,� t
rY
■ r- North Korea to justify the proliferation of forces and new weapons in the region.
For the colonized peoples of the Asia - Pacific region, the U.S. military represents a global "super -cop"
which suppresses insurgencies and local conflicts that might destabilize conditions for transnational
capital. While U.S. colonies are told that the military presence is for their protection, the military's
rs actual function is to maintain order and protect U.S. interests, often in spite of the local population. The
military also maintains U.S. hegemony in the Pacific through support of foreign militaries, like the
:.z murderous Indonesian military, which has been linked to the slaughter of over 200,000 East Timorese
• with the help of hundreds of millions of dollars INA
,• \ MILITARIZATION OF THE AINA
The central conflict between indigenous Hawaiians and the military is over the control of land, an issue
which is intrinsically tied to the question of sovereignty and cultural survival. • •
The military expropriated and occupied the richest and most strategic
.:j locations, including important religious sites, fishing, farming, hunting, and
;' gathering areas. ' �I' - I
■ As a result, Hawaii is one of the most densely militarized regions under U.S. tw. it t+
control, with the military controlling 205,925 acres, or roughly 5% of the -/.... � ' it '
• land. On Cl`ahu, the most densely populated island, the military controls ' ' ' . $ > , U n'S
85,718 acres out of 382,148 acres, or 22.4% of all the land. Statewide, the Q- r 1 ).. , sP Or . ' � r
� s �t
r combined armed services have 21 installations, 26 housing complexes, 8 a� T a .
I r
training areas, and 19 miscellaneous bases and operating stations. e , -� t ^'$ty ' f w t' ` The largest percentage of the military's land holdings are made up of so- = i=:,., � � e{,. _i. 41', ,: , called "ceded lands." In 1898, nearly 1.8 million acres of former national and
I crown lands of the Kingdom of Hawaii were illegally taken by the United States. In 1959, when One of the first protests of
s Hawaii was admitted as a state, the military retained control of approximatelyl80,000 acres of ceded the post - statehood period
lands ,while the rest reverted to the state. The law required surplus lands to be retumed to the state after in O'at evictions of farmers
n Oahu.
World War II, but with the exception of Kaho`olawe and Barber's Point, very little has actually been
4. returned. Today, the military controls approximately 112,173 acres of ceded land, representing 54% of
its land holdings.
Militarization has also impacted Indigenous Hawaiians access to Hawaiian Home Lands. The Hawaiian
■ - Homes Commission Act of 1920 set aside 187,000 acres for Native homesteading. A 1983 Federal -State
Task Force concluded that 13,580 acres of Hawaiian Home Lands were improperly withdrawn through
presidential executive orders. Of these improperly transferred lands, 1,356 acres in Lualualei were
'' removed from the Hawaiian Home Lands inventory and turned over to the Navy. In 1999, under a land
4,:44: swap agreement to settle the improper transfer, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands received 580
?s acres at Barber's Point in exchange for the land at Lualualei. Although the land at Barber's Point was
supposedly more valuable than the Lualualei parcel, 770 acres were lost from the Native land base •
' j' through this deal between the state and federal governments.
r
f'y
-, - CULTURAL GENOCIDE
c HI'
i The militarization of land in Hawaii negatively impacts the cultural survival of Native Hawaiians,
]if whose genealogy, spirituality, and livelihood depend on having direct and vital connections to the land.
By displacing Kanaka Maoli from their homelands, militarism in Hawai`i perpetrates cultural genocide.
. Statistics illustrate the legacy of colonization: 40% of the homeless or houseless are Kanaka Maoli;
'I. 31% of Kanaka Maoli receive annual incomes less than $4000; 32% drop out of high school; only 5%
'i7 have college degrees; and approximately a third of welfare recipients and persons in prison are Kanaka
- • Maoli. Kanaka Maoli have the lowest life expectancy (5 years less than all other groups in Hawaii),
' -r: t and the highest infant mortality and suicide rates. In 1998, out of a total of 197,673 acres of Hawaiian
XFr '
x,. Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 2000 29
�<'.fr
-- — -_ Home L. only 40,703 acres, representing 6,547
H • NAI(A MAOLI homestead awards, were actually used by Kanaka
Maoli homesteaders. Between 1920 and 1990.
(- fi ' S �I NAK'A MAO[ approximately 30,000 Kanaka Maoli died while
' I '1 e4.4 ' { waiting for homestead land. As of June 1998, there
Jj�'� C were 29 applicants on the waiting i
i" 29,702 a PP g lst.
",'r � • '( Military uses of the land conflict with fundamental
i,. ;EA
1 1 �'.; p i " • Hawaiian values of aloha 'aina ( love for the land) • • t )�) and malama 'aina (to care for the land). Typical
environmental impacts include the destruction of
E � ' l 1 ecosystems and protected species and contamination
pp • t- by solvents, organic compounds, fuels, explosives,
0 P `v i T,•; �� .' • s z . chemical weapons, heavy metals, radioactive
Hawaiians gather to assert substances, and unexploded ordnance. Large scale construction projects associated with the military
the Native claim to self have destroyed agricultural lands and cultural sites. As a result, traditional and customary practices
government at 'lolani
Palace. The sign reads '9 such as farming, fishing, hunting, gathering and worship have been irreparably harmed or extinguished
am a Native Hawaiian'. in certain areas. The following are some examples of military impacts on the 'aina (land).
• At Mokapu, site of a U.S. Marine Corps Base at Kaneohe Bay, hundreds of iwi - ancestral bones
- were unearthed and displaced by military housing.
• After a twenty-year struggle, the controversial H -3 freeway was completed, the most expensive
roadway ever built in the United States. Paid for by U.S. defense funds, it destroyed important
archaeological sites in Halawa Valley and Kine`ohe.
• Ke'awalau o Pu'uloa (i.e. Pearl Harbor), once the center of one of the most productive agricultural
and aquacultural systems in Hawai`i with over 36 fishponds in production, was destroyed by the
dredging of the Pearl Harbor Naval Station. Today, Pearl Harbor is one of the most contaminated
military installations in the nation, with six Superfund sites, and contaminants that include lead,
TCE, mercury, and petroleum. Furthermore, Navy ships have flushed radioactive cobalt and '
chemicals into the harbor. Subsistence fishermen in the harbor, which include mostly Hawaiian,
Pacific Islanders and Filipinos, are at the greatest risk of exposure to toxins.
PATTERNS OF DEPENDENCY
Despite the military's enormous power, militarism could not exist in Hawai`i without collaboration, or
at least acquiescence from the local community. A key factor in the maintenance of militarism in
Hawai`i is the high degree of economic dependency on military expenditures. In their single- minded
pursuit of military funds, government officials and business leaders have glossed over the "hidden"
costs of militarism, and have been willing to trade the long term economic security of the people of
Hawai`i for short term economic gains. This dependency has skewed the economic and social priorities
of the State, stifled economic diversification and sustainability, and in the process, has made Hawaii
more economically vulnerable to decisions and events far beyond the control of the people of Hawaii.
SITES OF RESISTANCE
Because of the military's overwhelming presence in Hawai`i, resistance to militarism was relatively
individualized and spontaneous until the 1970s, when an organized movement against the military
occupation of certain lands first emerged in Hawai`i. Emboldened by Third World liberation struggles
and the U.S. Civil Rights, ethnic power and anti -war movements, and inspired by the Hawaiian cultural
renaissance, Kanaka Maoli and progressive activists began to push for a more radical, anti - militarist
and anti - colonialist agenda. The various elements of the movement came together in the effort to free
Kaho'olawe. As communities began to demand access and control over their lands, new conflicts with
30
the military materialized, includalkohili, Mokapu, Waikane, Pu'uloa, Wa alo, Makua,
Pehakuloa, and Lualualei.
Kaho`olawe and Makua are two examples of how the Kanaka Maoli movement has resisted militarism.
The first example of Kaho'olawe is important because it was critical to the development of the
Hawaiian movement. The second case describes the ongoing struggle over Makua and reveals
opportunities as well as the complexities and challenges for demilitarization and sovereignty.
KAHO'OLAWE
In the 1970s, Kaho`olawe became a potent symbol of Kanaka Maoli cultural revival as well as anti -
imperialist struggle in the emerging Hawaiian movement. The island is considered to be kinolau (a
physical form; an embodiment) of Kanaloa, god of the sea, and thus sacred to Kanaka Maoli. The Navy
bombed Kaho`olawe relentlessly for over thirty years, which caused severe damage to the ecology and
cultural sites.
Beginning in 1976, the Protect Kaho`olawe `Ghana (PKO) staged bold land occupations during
scheduled Naval exercises to protest the bombing and to assert Kanaka Maoli cultural rights. That same
year, PKO also filed a lawsuit against the Navy. These actions politicized many Kanaka Maoli, and
made the phrase "aloha 'aina" (love for the land) a slogan of the movement. In addition, international
solidarity was critical in the campaign, including the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific movement's
efforts to force foreign governments to withdraw from joint military exercises on Kaho`olawe.
In 1977, two young activists "disappeared" crossing the channel between Kaho`olawe and Maui:
George Helm, the president of the PKO and a musician, and Kimo Mitchell, a commercial fisherman
and National Park Service manager. While many suspected foul play, their disappearance increased the
sense of urgency in the movement and generated wider support.
After discovering a wealth of prehistoric sites, archaeologists confirmed what Kanaka Maoli had said
all along, that Kaho`olawe is culturally and spiritually important to Hawaiians. This led to a 1980
consent decree which required the Navy to limit its use of the island and begin cleaning up certain
areas. It also allowed PKO to have monthly access to the island. Following the consent decree, the --
entire island was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1990, President Bush ordered the discontinuation of Kaho'olawe as a training range. The
Kaho`olawe [stand Conveyance Commission recommended that the island be returned to the state.
Congress later appropriated $400 million to clean up and restore the island. In 1993, a state law created
the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission (KIRC) to oversee clean up, restoration and resource
management. This statute also specified that the island would eventually be incorporated into a Native
Hawaiian nation upon recognition from the U.S. government.
In 1998 the Navy began to clean up unexploded ordnance (UXO). The clean -up calls for removal of
UXOs from 100% of the surface area and to the depth of four feet in selected areas. However, with just
three years left under the clean -up plan, only 400 acres have been cleared, out of a total of 28,600 acres.
Although the Kaho`olawe movement succeeded in winning the return and partial clean -up of the island,
some have criticized the movement for having compromised its stand against militarism in order to
cooperate with the Navy and Congress on clean -up and restoration. The lessons of Kaho`olawe are very
relevant to the continuing struggle to free Makua Valley, a live -fire training area located on the west
side of O`ahu.
MAUA
Kanaka Maoli occupied Makua for at least 1,000 years and consider it to be wahi pana (sacred area).
Makua means "parents" in the Hawaiian language, suggesting its genealogical significance to Kanaka
Maoli. The valley contains at least three documented heiau (temple) sites and numerous other ancient
Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 2000 31
• •
•
_- sites, whi•beach contains many burials. Waters offs l 'ere important fishing grounds and the
protective walls of the valley, a training area for traditional martial arts. Makua also contains a critical
habitat for numerous native species.
In the 1930s the military began using the valley as a gun emplacement. Subsequently, the military
expanded into the entire valley during World War II, evicting several hundred residents and destroying
their homes. Former valley residents recount how the military painted a white cross on a Makua church
and bombed it for target practice. Although the military was supposed to release the land after the war,
none was returned. In 1964, over the objections of Hawaii's Governor, President Johnson signed
Executive Order 11166 designating 3,236 acres of the valley as a training facility. The state then leased
an additional 1,515 acres to the Army for 65 years for a mere dollar.
', , 1 k Military exercises at Makua have included ship -to -shore and aerial
�`rr "� 5.,i�rn"�+i ''''" . „. Z77 tt t"a tai ' " - „, t„'” r' t 'f- bombardment, amphibious assault, mortar, napalm and rocket training,
"` , ~ and ordnance disposal. Many fear that toxic chemicals from the
+ - - •;/ '1V explosives contaminate the soil and groundwater. Large fires have caused
I — y serious harm to endangered species and human settlements. Recently, in
r - J } _ 1995 a fire scorched over half of the valley's 4,700 acres and burned the
it
1 shelters of families living across the highway.
er+ A _-` ;.' .. . _ In the 1970s, as the movement to free Kaho`olawe was building, activists
" ,.. _ „.... ,, . ,., and residents of the Wai`anae area began to push for the return of Makua.
Green In modern times, Hawaiian families have used Makua beach as a
Arrests of Native Hawaiian temporary residence, a pu 'uhonua (refuge; sanctuary) for homeless families, who see the beach as a
beach villagers, 1979. place to heal their lives. These settlements have been under assault by the military and the state. Since
the 1970s, the state has carried out at least three mass evictions of Kanaka Maoli families from the '.
beach. The last eviction took place in June 1996 when the state, complying with terms set by the
military, evicted over 280 people and arrested sixteen. This has made Makua a symbol of resistance and
sovereignty, and has also exposed the contradiction of Kanaka Maoli poverty and homelessness
alongside the military occupation of Hawaiian lands.
In 1997 activists won major victories, blocking two Marine Corps amphibious landings at Makua. On
Easter morning, an interfaith prayer service on the beach stopped a scheduled exercise. Then, in the
fall, the Marines announced another amphibious landing only days after a memorial service for popular
Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwo`ole was held at Makua. The community, outraged at the
Marines' arrogance and disrespect, braced for a confrontation. Cultural practitioners built two religious
altars on the beach, and groups held demonstrations and prepared for civil disobedience. After holding
an unprecedented meeting with about thirty community members at Camp Smith, Admiral Prueher,
CINCPAC, ordered the military exercise be relocated.
Community groups have made progress in other areas. The Army has stepped up its environmental
protection programs, including propagation and out - planting of endangered species. The Army also
established a Kanaka Maoli advisory committee to develop protocols for access to religious shrines. In .
1998, activist groups Malama Makua and Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit to compel
the Army to do an environmental impact statement for all of its activities in Makua, in compliance with
the National Environmental Policy Act. In an out -of -court settlement, the Army agreed to halt live -fire
training until it completed an environmental assessment. There has been no live -fire training in Makua
for nearly two years.
CONCLUSION
Although the military is deeply entrenched in Hawai`i, conditions and circumstances are constantly in
flux, creating opportunities for demilitarization.
32
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The Kanaka Maoli sovereignty movement he -.
greatest stake in demilitarization, and will
probably continue to be the most direct and potent Note on Contr
challenge to militarism in these islands. Land -
based struggles will probably continue as the
main mode of resistance in the near future Edward Halealoha Ayau, Native Hawaiian nationalist, Attorney, Member
because these struggles confront injustices most
directly. However, struggles over economic and of Mama 1 Na Kupuna, Native repatriation organization.
environmental justice may also become more Kyle Kajihiro, Organizer, Chief Staff for American Friends Service
prominent.
Committee, Hawaii Office.
Nevertheless, planning for demilitarization Lehua Kinilau and Jade Danner are young, Native Hawaiian community
requires accurate information. As a first step, '
•
independent parties should conduct a true organizers for Ka Lahui Hawaii.
accounting of the costs and impacts of militarism. David E..Stannard, Professofof American Studies, University of Hawai`i
The military must be made to disclose all
pertinent environmental, economic and social at Manoa. Author of Before the Horror: The Population of Hawaii on the
data that may be necessary to assess the true Eve. of Western . Contact.(1989); American Holocaust: The Conquest of
impacts of its presence. Community groups could the New Wdrid (1992).
use this information to educate the public and Haunanr Kay Trask, Native Hawaiian nationalist, Professor of Hawaiian
policy makers and to agitate at every opportunity. Studies, University of'Hawai`i at Miinoa: Author of From a Native
Beginning with areas that pose the greatest risk to Daughter Colonialism and Sovereignty m Hawar..r(1999)
health and the environment, the military should t - ' . ` t i tt r a
clean up all lands that it has contaminated, and Mthlt B an Trask Nattve'Hawaiian nationalist A ttorney; Founder of Ka
must be held to the "polluter pays" principle. La6ui Hawar`i, elected repr to the Office of Hawaiian Affai
Clean up funds should help to employ and retrain
workers who are transitioning out of military- (oculist information
dependent jobs. Furthermore, the Department of p lease , took at our web site www.cs.org, for more information about Kit l.ahai, x ""
Defense should prepare contingency plans for the resources, andJinks blather sites
reduction and withdrawal of its forces, in �. ' • anticipation of the day when the military must ask ` `
permission of a sovereign Hawaiian nation even
to exist in Hawai`1. Lind, Ian. 1984/1985. Ring of Steel Notes on the Militarization of Hawaii. " Social
Process in Hawaii. 31:25-47.
REFERENCES Ferguson, Kathy E., Phyllis Turnbull and Mehmed Ali. 1994. "Rethinking the Military in
Hawaii." Ulla Hasager and Jonathan Friedman. (eds.). Hawaii: Return to Nationhood.
Albertini, Jim, Nelson Foster, Wally Inglis, and Gil Roeder. Coppenhagen: International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs. Document no. 75.
1980. The Dark Side of Paradise: Hawaii in a Nuclear p183 -193.
World. Honolulu: Catholic Action of Hawaii / Peace
Education Project. Ferguson, Kathy E. and Phyllis Turnbull. 1999. Oh, Say Can You See? The Semiotics of
the Military in Hawaii. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Aluli, Noa Emmett, and Davianna Pomaikai McGregor.
1994. "The Healing of Kaho'olawe. " Ulla Hasager and Morales, Rodney. (ed.). 1984. Ho'iho'i Hou: A Tribute to George Helm and Kimo Mitchell. '
Jonathan Friedman. (eds.). Hawaii: Return to Honolulu: Bamboo Ridge Press.
Nationhood. Coppenhagen: International Working Group
for Indigenous Affairs. Document no. 75 p197 -208. United States Department of Defense. 1998. Hawaii Military Installations and Training
Areas. Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii: US. Pacific Command
Kelly, Marion, and Nancy Aleck. 1997. Makua Means
Parents: A Brief Cultural History of Makua Valley. Witeck, John. 1999. "The Rue of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawaii: Anti -War,
Honolulu: American Friends Service Committee Hawaii Student and Early Community Struggles. "Ibrahim G. Aoude et al. (eds.). Social Process
Area Program. in Hawaii. 39:10 -19.
Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 2000 33