/* Written 12:41 pm Jul 11, 1993 by lofstrom@uhunix3.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu in
igc:alt.politics.g */
/* ---------- "Help Hawaiian Sovereignty Tribunal" ---------- */
Our co-chair, Ira Rohter, is now reading this newsgroup and tried to post
the following statement on Hawaiian sovereignty. He couldn't get it to
work, so sent it on to me to post. Here goes:
THE HAWAI`I GREEN PARTY POSITION ON JUSTICE FOR NATIVE HAWAIIANS
{Internet Comments}
by Ira Rohter State Co-Chair
Recently, representatives from the Hawai`i and California Green
Parties attended the European Green Federation in Helsinki. They
appealed to their European Green colleagues to support the
Hawaiian sovereignty movement. Many Europeans held the mistaken
impression that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) was THE
voice of the Hawaiian native people. No so. The Office of
Hawaiian Affairs is a State agency best understood as a vehicle
controlled by the Democrat Party Machine and a powerful network
of corporations, developers, land estates, labor union officials,
and other elites. Their common goal is, I would argue, to retain
as much control over Hawaiian lands as they can, granted that
some form of self-determination is coming. A strong independent-
from-State-control, grassroots-based Hawaiian Sovereignty
movement has grown up, however.
The Hawai`i Green Party is allied with this grassroots movement.
The Platform of the Hawai`i Green Party contains the following language:
"Hawai`i's history since Captain Cook is marked by the assault
on the Islands' indigenous culture and people by missionaries,
soldiers, traders, and businessmen. In 1893, U.S. troops aided
American businessmen in forcibly overthrowing the legitimate
government of Queen Lili`uokalani. The homelands and sovereignty
of native Hawaiians were finally lost. Since annexation in 1898,
the federal and state governments have cheated and neglected the
Hawaiian people. Greens demand justice for native Hawaiians. We
support:
* protecting sacred or culturally significant native Hawaiian
sites
* efforts to nurture native Hawaiian culture
* return of or adequate compensation for Ceded Lands
* immediate distribution of Hawaiian Homelands; federal and
state funds to be allocated for the necessary infrastructure
* return of Kaho'olawe to the Hawaiian people, under the
guardianship of the Protect Kaho'olawe `Ohana
* Hawaiian sovereignty in a form fair to both native Hawaiians
and other citizens of Hawai`i"
Many Hawai`i Greens prefer an even stronger stand on Hawaiian
Rights than these statements. But in a consensually-based
process, the above positions were commonly agreed upon for the
Hawai`i Green Party 1992 Platform.
HGP members have been invited participants in direct actions led
by the Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement, and have testified before
the state legislature, county councils, and the U.S. Select
Committee on Indian Affairs on measures designed to promote
justice for native Hawaiians and facilitate the return of their
lands.
The Kanaka Maoli International Tribunal is an in-your-face
confrontation with the OHA and nice-nice types, asserting the
right of native Hawaiians to have the many injustices committed
against them acknowledged, publicized, and remedied. The State,
Federal, and International legal systems, unsurprisingly, have
not allowed these voice - often bitter and angry - to be heard.
Nearly all major Hawaiian Sovereignty groups are sponsoring this
Tribunal, including the largest organization, Ka Lahua Hawai`i
(18,000 citizens), Pele Defense Fund, the Protect Kaho`olawa
`Ohana, the Native Hawaiian Advisory Council, the Native Hawaiian
Legal Corporation, Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific, the
Hawai`i Ecumenical Coalition, and a host of others.
U.S. Greens Martin and Feinstein were explicitly asked by leaders
of the Kanaka Maoli Tribunal Planning Committee to present their
case to the European Greens, to inform them of what many non-
state-controlled Hawaiian Sovereignty advocates were saying and
wanting.
Our role has been one of providing information to the larger
community about effort by Hawaiian activists that advances the
cause of Hawaiian self-governance, control of their own lands,
and remedies for injustice. The documents presented by the
Tribunal Committee, and posted by Dale McMillen, tell the story
in the Committee's own voice. The Tribunal is totally the
Committee's own event. Tho individual Greens are associated with
the Tribunal, the Hawai`i Green Party is not an official sponsor.
We support the right of all Hawaiian groups, including those
involved in the Tribunal, to have their concerns heard. Great
injustices have been done against the kanaka maoli's rights of
self-determination and political independence, economically,
against their culture, and the lands and oceans of Hawai`i.
Having been asked by the Planning Committee, we will continue to
help the Tribunal Committee with their efforts to communicate the
rationale and goals of this historic event. We will encourage
our own members, and others, to attend the Tribunal and learn the
truth about the past and present plight of Hawai`i's indigenous
people, the kanaka maoli.
We also are working together to build a better future. As
advocates of a Green Hawai`i, many of us are working with kanaka
maoli groups to create sustainable communities, community-based
economic development, decentralized governance, sustainable
agriculture, and a lifestyle in accord with the values of malama
`aina (loving the land), the sense of `ohana (living in close
community with one another), and pono, living in balance with
man, nature, and the gods.
--
--- Karen Lofstrom lofstrom@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.edu
K.Lofstrom on GEnie