I think we all have seen the going ons in Tibet the last fews. Couldn't happen to a better country in my opinion.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080320/ap_on_re_as/china_tibet

BEIJING - China sent additional troops into restive areas and made more arrests in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in an effort to suppress anti-government protests even as the Dalai Lama offered face-to-face negotiations with Chinese leaders.

Government officials acknowledged for the first time that the sometimes violent protests against Chinese rule of Tibet have spread to Tibetan communities in other provinces after sweeping through Lhasa last week.

Hundreds of paramilitary police aboard at least 80 trucks traveled along the main road winding through the mountains into southeastern Tibet. Others set up camp and patrolled in riot gear, helmets and, for a few, rifles in the area above Tiger Leaping Gorge, a tourist attraction that usually sees little unrest.

Such scenes were repeated across far-flung towns and villages in Tibetan areas of adjacent provinces to reassert control as sporadic demonstrations continued to flare. Foreigners were barred from traveling there and tour groups were banned from Tibet, isolating a region about four times the size of France.

The protests against Chinese rule started peacefully in Tibet's capital, Lhasa, early last week, but erupted into riots last Friday, drawing a harsh response from Chinese authorities. Authorities say 325 people were injured and 16 people died.

China says the riots and protests were plotted from abroad by the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader revered by Tibetans, and his supporters. They have denied Tibetan exile groups' claims that 80 died in the violence and ensuing crackdown.

Speaking from the seat of his government-in-exile in Dharmsala, India, the Dalai Lama reiterated that he was not seeking independence for Tibet. He offered to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders, though said he would not travel to Beijing unless there was a "real concrete development."

"The whole world knows Dalai Lama is not seeking independence, one hundred times, thousand times I have repeated this. It is my mantra — we are not seeking independence," the 72-year-old Dalai Lama told reporters.

"The Tibet problem must be solved between Tibetan people and Chinese people," he said.

The Foreign Ministry expressed "grave concern" over a planned meeting between British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Dalai Lama, telling Brown not to offer support to the exiled leader.

At a tense news conference, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the government suggested that foreign tourists stay out of western Gansu and Sichuan provinces, the scene of additional clashes earlier this week between Tibetan protesters and security forces.

After a long pause, he added: "But I shall assure you that our government is fully capable of maintaining social stability and ensuring the security of tourists."

In Sichuan's Aba county, a Tibetan woman reached by phone Thursday said she had heard of numerous arrests of protesters in the area.

"There are many, many troops outside," she said. "I'm afraid to leave the house," said the woman, who refused to give her name for fear of retaliation by authorities.

Police were checking ID cards at checkpoints and could be heard shouting for protesters to turn themselves in.

Troops blocked roads also in nearby Serthar, also in Sichuan, confining residents to their homes, said a woman reached there by phone.

The London-based Free Tibet Campaign reported that troops had been sent to the county after local residents blew up a bridge near the village of Gudu.

Protests were reported also in neighboring Qinghai province, which is heavily Tibetan.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the protesters attacked shops and government offices on Sunday in Aba, known as Ngawa in Tibetan, but made no mention of allegations by pro-Tibet groups abroad that troops fired on protesters, killing several.

Zhang Yusheng, a spokesman for the Gansu provincial government, said a "small number of lawbreakers shouted reactionary slogans, raised the flag of separatism and adopted violent methods."

Shops, schools, homes, vehicles and government offices in Gansu's Gannan prefecture — a predominantly Tibetan area — were attacked, posing an "extremely grave threat" to social order, Zhang was quoted by state media as telling reporters on Wednesday.

Reinforcements were brought in and order was restored, he said. He mentioned no arrests.

Despite those reassurances, a hotel receptionist in the regional center of Luqu said employees and guests had been holed up inside since Tibetan protesters marched through the area on Sunday.

"The streets are now filled with police officers. Our hotel is booked out with tourists, but no one feels safe enough to set foot outside," said the woman, who refused to give her name or that of her hotel for fear of retaliation by authorities.

A police officer in the nearby town of Maqu refused to answer questions about the situation.

The reports confirm previous claims by Tibetan exile groups that the protests had spread. Foreign journalists have been banned from going to Tibet and have found it increasingly difficult to travel to areas in other provinces with Tibetan populations.

The Tibet Daily reported that 24 people had been arrested for endangering state security and for other "grave crimes" for their roles in last Friday's riots in Lhasa. Another 170 people have reportedly turned themselves in to police.

The protests have been the biggest challenge in almost two decades to Chinese rule in Tibet, a Himalayan region that the People's Liberation Army occupied in 1950 after several decades of effective independence.

But authorities appeared to be regaining control in Tibet and surrounding provinces where more than half of China's 5.4 million Tibetans live. Moving from town to town, police checked IDs and set up roadblocks to keep Tibetans in and reporters out.

On Thursday morning, an Associated Press photographer was turned away from a flight to Zhongdian in Yunnan province. There were 12 policemen, some with automatic weapons, at the check-in counter. The police said no foreigners were allowed to travel to Tibetan areas due to the protests.

The unrest has prompted discussion of a possible boycott of the Aug. 8 opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics and calls for China to address Tibetans' grievances and engage in direct talks with the Dalai Lama.

Despite China's relentless vilification, the Dalai Lama — winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize — remains widely revered by Tibetans, traveling widely and meeting an array of politicians and celebrities.

China has ignored calls for dialogue, casting recent events as evidence that the Dalai Lama could not be negotiated with.

Tibet's hard-line Communist Party boss Zhang Qingli this week labeled the Dalai Lama a "wolf in monk's robes" and said Beijing was in a "life-and-death" struggle with his supporters.

Adding to Beijing's worries, activists said Thursday they would demonstrate in Beijing during the Olympics to press China to help end bloodshed in Sudan's Darfur region.

I don't know if we should boycott the Olympics or not, but the world should just not give Beijing a pass on this.

China has gained too much power and too little maturity. People forget that China basically started in 1949 due to a rejection of its past and never had to mature because of isolation and authoritarianism. With the economic power China wields how much pressure can be brought to bear? In any event this needs to be protested loudly.

Right now the people of this forum could not be more quiet about this. Too many more important things to discuss, I guess.

At this point, arneoker, why bother?

It will be like when we cared about Katrina

Sure enough some took the other side

One would think it's a given, we 100percent should care about the same thing here

But sure enough, someone will argue the other side.

I am reminded of the lonely man and the tank in T-Square a decade or so ago.
One of the most courageous acts of defiance...

Very few do that...Cindy Sheehan did here for a while...she was our man holding off a tank

But not many have picked up that mantle since have they?

And Dick Cheney when asked, said SO what

I would say if we boycott the Olympics, well, the rightwing usual crew belittled Jimmy Carter for years on that

We have to live in the end with China
They are not going to go away
And we cannot defeat them either

So what choices are there?

No, we should not boycott the Olympics. It was a mistake on our part to do so in 1980, and we should not compound that mistake now.

A. The Olympics are a *sports* event.
B. China is way too important to snub.

I tend to agree with not boycotting the Olympics (I supported that back in 1980, but I think perhaps I was wrong about that). And I know we cannot isolate China. But it seems that we cannot just ignore this and do nothing. We cannot effect direct and immediate change over this huge country, but at the least we should be standing for common decency here. So I think it bears asking of how we square this circle, as hard a task as it is. And I am hardly start enough to do more, at least right now, but try to sketch out the issues.

BTW Graham, your remembrance of the one guy facing the tank was touching and quite appropos. Thanks for that.

I'm really of two minds about this, your points have absolute validity but it might be the only effective protest. Right now China seeks 2 things externally, prestige and profit. They've been able to withstand pressure to stop supporting genocide in Darfur because the loss of face hasn't been enough to offset profits from oil deals. They're spending a fortune on the Olympics, they'd have to sell a lot of tainted food and lead based toys (executing people who are caught doesn't mean they don't support such cost saving measures to increase profits, they did the same with antiquities smuggling) to offset what our boycott could cost them and the loss of face would be profound. It's not without economic risk and may temporarily harden their stance, but what measures are there that can be as effective in sending a message and improving future behavior?

Perhaps more than any other Olympic host -- well, at least since the then Soviet Union in 1980 -- China's NATIONAL PRIDE is tied to the Olympics. To boycott the Games would be a profound insult. It could set our relationship with China back for decades.

There are other diplomatic channels to protest China's action.

And it also should be noted that the Tibetan protests are likely being timed at least partially in an effort to achieve just that effect.

Just a thought, shoot it down if it is hopelessly wacky: (Yes, even an outraged, pompous person as myself can admit he doesn't know it all.)

Participate in the Olympics, but insist that certain team officials will be making statements that will be picked up by the world, if not the controlled Chinese press. Say if they cannot do that they do not come. Make the Chinese officials choose between two things they would hate.

I agree.

We should not say we are going to boycott, but we should say that China should change its approach, and say all responses are on the table.

We have a short window to demand action.

Once the Olympics pass that opporutnity will be lost.

We should have our corporations do likewise...

Mia Farrow was loudly asking for Americans who are participating in the publicity of the Olympics to withdraw in protest. While he didn't to it immediately, Steven Spielberg, who was serving as some sort of emissary, did exactly that.

I think that should be the mnimum.

Otherwise, we set Taiwan to be next...

Whatever we do, we should attempt to get other nations to join us (for a change).

Arne --- people on this forum are quiet about a lot of things --- most of them consequential...

I have posted on Iraq --- major developments with the 5 year anniversary --- there are economic issues --- there is the Israel/Palestine issue -- and very few show any interest...they are more interested in the Reverend Wright thing....

What of the Soviet Union in place to join China as the dominant economic/energy power in the world...

And what of our troops...they are being treated like crap with a Pentagon study showing 700 died because of delays in the Pentagon...with the MRAPs....Marine is pretty silent on this --

And there are other issues too...

I guess people have so much time...and its more fun with the election politics -- but we have to remember we are electing candidates to solve these problems....

A very wise suggestuion.

You know, we are in some people's mind just as bad here as in China

Maybe what the Monks need to do is have the China leader's pastor's speeches brought up and argued ad nauseum for weeks

But who can say we are freer here than they are there?

When asked yesterday about the fact that the public is so against us being in Iraq, our own leader Cheney said SO and said the people be damned.

What are we going to do? Go to war with them? We would be nuts if that were the case.
Will they some day on their own change their viewpoints?
I would think so.

And eventually we are going to have to respect the fact that China is a major entity and they will be more and more dominant
But on the other hand, at some point, all those people will be viable customers for America and other nations

We need to worldwide come together in peace and be accepting and tolerant, something we are woefully short of, don't you think?

And with regard to the toy problem- is there more than meets the eye with this problem? Are we too quick to blame China? Are we being manipulated by the normal sources???

Yes, the Tibetans are not perfect, even if they are clearly oppressed.

What if a Tibetan monk gave a speech damning the Han Chinese as oppressors? Would some people here call it hate speech? Or would they understand the context of that speech?

No, the situations have huge differences, but really only in degree. The same principle operates.

And I don't want war with China, and I know we are going to have to respect them as a rising power. And we are not perfect. But I still think we need to stand for basic justice. Someday we may have to do it as something less than the number one power in the world, in criticizing the new top dog. Of course we now get flak (deserved or not) from all over the world, why would that essential dynamic change once the players switch some roles?

Oh, absolutely. We may still be the leader of the free world, but collegiality is only going to be more necessary as time goes on, and imperialism, besides being wrong, will only become more and more stupid as a policy.

Want opinions ? Got opinions.

Frankly, as long as athletes bear national flags, I couldn't care less about the olympics.

The olympics are an institution founded at the height of colonialism to assert the dominance of then imperial powers and support theories of racial inequality, in the indoctrination of masses by the ruling classes, namely the Habsburg-Hohenzollern dynasties and their lackeys, in their wider plan to establish Capitalism in the ideological battle of governing systems, and disguise Capitalism's own version of enslavement, that provides the cheap, free labor to give it an economical advantage over other social, namely egalitarian, systems, to give the illusion that the superior economical performance that benefits the masses is the result of this system itself, while claiming Capitalism iself to be egalitarian.

That's for the second part of the "Tibet-Olympics" concept.

For the first part, not saying how much autonomy Tibet deserves, I'll just say that until 1904, before the existence of a body that recognizes and establishes the sovereignty of people, and about the same time the Olympics were founded, what western civilizations knew at most about Tibet, when it's existence was even known, was that it was part of the Chinese empire, ruled at the time by the Manchu dynasty.

Back in 1904, as part of the imperial plan of conquest dubbed "The Opening of Trade with China", on the pretext that incursions of tibetians herdsmen and their flocks were a threat to the security of British interests in India, Britain invaded Tibet with a force of 3000 professionals, equipped with "10-pounders" artillery and Maxim machine guns. Eventually, they met the Tibetian Army, a medieval peasant army, roughly 2000 conscripted serfs carrying swords, spears, matchlocks and a few dozens of antic rifles. The outcome was a cold blooded mow down of the Tibetians, non-british reports asserting more than a 1300 killed in a matter of minutes. British casualties mounted to the loss of the Daily Mail correspondent's left hand. Incidentally, The Tibetans were aware of the expedition and made the Tibetian commander to publicly pledge that if the Tibetans make no attack upon the British, no attack should be made by the British on them. The British commander, Colonel Younghusband on December 6, 1903 replied “we are not at war with Tibet and that, unless we are ourselves attacked, we shall not attack the Tibetans.”

After the mow down, whatever government representative was left in Lhassa signed an agreement that gave the British "trading advantages", while cancelling other agreements Tibet had with other nations.

Incidentally, the commander of the expedition, Colonel Francis Younghusband, is remembered as a thoughtfully religious man and the founder of the World Congress of Faiths.

Eventually, strategically, China controlled Tibet may be compared to US controlled Panama, . There is no doubt that the US would send thousands of troops in Panama if it's authority was ever challenged.

Incidentally, more than 3000 panameans were killed during the 1989 US invasion of Panama, (which was part of Colombia until 1903, when the US organized the separation of the region and it's independence by a Revolutionary Junta on Wall Street's payroll), undertaken to remove from power just one man, placed as head of the country by the US and on the CIA's payroll for more than 20 years.

Thanks to Noriega who penned laws to suppress his critics, freedom of the press is nothing more than a myth in Panama. President Moscoso promised to repeal these laws if she was elected, but has done nothing since her election and actually used them to silence her own vocal dissenters and her political accomplices:

n August of 2003, two journalists from El Panama America were sentenced to a year in prison for "harming the dignity and honor" of a Supreme Court justice by the name of Winston Spadafora. The article in question described the judge's use of public money to build a road to Iturralde, a road that led almost exclusively to the judge's private estate.

In 2002, a political cartoonist for La Prensa by the name of Victor Ramos was arrested for a cartoon that involved the former president Perez Balladares. In the illustration, Ramos depicted a list of the president's "little toys" - such as a private oceanfront home, airplane and helicopter - alongside a list of the scandals that had surfaced during his political career.



As to how much Panameans are subject to US-ification ...

The Olympics is an institution that promotes capitalism, nationalism and imperialism, 3 -isms that apply to 2008-China.

Sports come second after being a national exhibition.

The chinese governments and chinese nationalists deserve to be snub. Unfortunately it may have consequences for the chinese masses who don't have a say, like those tens of thousands who were expelled at gunpoint from their lodgings in the century-old neighborhoods of Bejing that were razed to make room for the Olympics facilities.

I'll concede though that China should not be ignored.

An "official statement" for non-chinese consumption, that will be fed back to the chinese via western media like VOA ?
Any message containing double or multiple meaning is ambiguous.
Any ambiguous message is prone to misunderstanding, or translation into anything meaning what people want it to mean.
What's the the point of showing off more US ambiguity ?
Isn't the US occupation of Iraq while denouncing China's crackdown in Tibet a prime example of ambiguity ?

While carrying such a burden of ambiguity, any official US blurb is no more than meaningless US labelled noise thrashing the headlines and prime time news bandwidth.

The Tibetans have nothing to do with China's "Tibet policy."

For what it is to Chinese authorities and what it means to the chinese people, it's just a police crackdown on a public protest that would be ordered the same anywhere in China these days.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for a free Tibet as much as a free Hawaii.

Chances are most Hawaiian natives would prefer Hawaii without all the continental americans who established there.

When it comes to the Olympics...I defer to the athletes.
Politicians should play politics. Athletes train, compete...hard.

Some may not have another Olympics to compete...their time is now.

Support Tibet...they are wonderfully peaceful, spiritual people.

Support athletics and athletes. They pay a high personal price to play.
I respect that...they walk the walk...and neo-politicians who want to tell
them if they can compete...ought to train for 10 years...then talk.

--------------

picadilly:

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for a free Tibet as much as a free Hawaii.

Chances are most Hawaiian natives would prefer Hawaii without all the continental americans who established there.

Does that include Senator Obama?

Among those I referred to as Hawaiian natives or continental americans ?

Anyways the implication is plainly rhethorical, my writing process misunderstanding my thinking process where I should have written "would have preferred", referring to the period when Hawaii was brought under US administration.

It's their free choice to do what they do, and still their free choice to compete.

The competition itself is set up by third parties to exploit the attendance for money or politics.

Perhaps I should reconsider my perception of native Hawaiians's opinions on the matter ...


Free Hawai'i. Free Palestine.
Palestine-advocating films and forums, and an expression symposium
By: Kumari Sherreitt
Posted: 3/3/08
As you read this newspaper, Palestinians are being forced out of their homeland without the chance to return. These seven million refugees are being stripped of their basic human rights by the countries that they end up in, say the organizers of a symposium that will take place on campus this week and next.

The Hawai‘i Symposium on Palestine, "Who are the Palestinians? Remembering the Nakba," will feature faculty, guest speakers and community members sharing a narrative about Palestine that organizers say rarely gets attention.

The focus of the event is "not to convince people one way or another, but to inspire people to start talking and start learning about (Palestinian issues)," said Maria Sgroy, a University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa graduate student and one of the UH student coalition organizers.

"We are just asking (the audience) to think, and this is a good starting point," she said, adding that the Palestinian and Israeli conflict will be talked about openly during the symposium.


Speakers from all over the U.S. will sit on panels, addressing topics ranging from the politics affecting the Palestinian government by the U.S. to a comparison of the native people of Palestine and the native people of Hawai‘i, the latter featuring UH Hawaiian studies professor Haunani Trask.

"The corollaries are there," Trask said. "Both are occupied, indigenous, forced to leave their country, and divided by blood quantum" as a part of the bigger "elimination of the native" plot.

Trask is a Native Hawaiian advocate who finds the situation of natives to be generally the same in most cultures. She believes that the state of Hawai‘i is not "as bad as the Palestinians because they are at war," but the future of Hawai‘i is not far behind Palestine if change is not pursued now.

Trask, organizers and panelists hope the event will draw out difficult questions and important issues and encourage the student body to take up the activism they feel is missing.

Remembering the Nakba

Nakba is the official Arabic term for the Palestinian history of the events leading up to and the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Nakba literally translated means "catastrophe," a term symptomatic of the disjointed account of the Israeli history and the Palestinian, say organizers.

Politics are entangled within the thousands of years of history, culture and disagreement over the rightful ownership of Palestine and the created state of Israel. But beyond this, said Dr. Zahi Damuni, co-founder of al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, is the task at hand: providing for the safety of his people and the fair treatment of Palestinian refugees worldwide.

Palestinians are one of the largest displaced peoples in the world, with more than a third forced into exile from their native land, Damuni said.

In his panel discussion last week, Damuni discussed the rights of Palestinians and refugees to return home, based on the "six instruments of international law" of fundamental human rights that are being denied, despite the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, as well other human rights treaties.

The symposium, Damuni said, is a chance for the students of Hawai‘i to hear about the country and peoples of Palestine, while developing relationships to better understand the communities that are around you.

The symposium is sponsored by UH departments of ethnic studies, English, political science, American studies, anthropology, Hawaiian studies and women's studies. For more information, go to http://hawaiiandpalestine.googlepages.com.

Schedule for UHM campus
All events are free and open to the public
More info: hawaiiandpalestine@googlepages.com

Tuesday, March 4

* Film: "Palestine for Beginners," 7 p.m. - 8:12 p.m., Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, room 202.



Wednesday, March 5

* Films: "The Easiest Targets," "End Israeli Occupation - No Apartheid In Palestine," and "Sacred Space Denied--Bethlehem and The Wall," 4:30 p.m. - 5:20 p.m., Hālau o Haumea Auditorium.

* Panel discussion on "Palestine and Hawai‘i: Occupied Countries," featuring UH's Dr. Ibrahim Aoude and Dr. Haunani K. Trask and moderated by Dr. Laura Lyons. 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m., Hālau o Haumea Auditorium.



Tuesday, March 11

* Colloquium sponsored by UHM English, Ethnic Studies and Anthropology departments present a talk by Dr. Jess Ghannam: "Orientalizing Palestine and the Arab World: Narratives of Self-Determination, Freedom and Internal De-Colonization." 3 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., Kuykendall 410.

* 8:00pm - 9:00p.m. Channel 54 Ōlelo, ŌLELO TV Interview with Dr. Jess Ghannam on "Island Connections" with Dr. Ibrahim Aoude live.



Wednesday, March 12

* Film: "Occupation 101," 2:30 p.m. - 4 p.m., St. John Auditorium.

* Divestment Workshop, held by George Hudes and Dr. Noel Kent, 6:15 p.m. - 7:15 p.m., Hawai‘i Institute for Geophysics, 110 Auditorium.



Thursday, March 13

* Film: "Searching for Peace in the Middle East," 4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m., followed by a panel discussion. "The US Role and Peace Prospects," featuring UHM Professor Dr. Farideh Farhi, Dr. Irahim Aoude and Al-Awda's Dr. Jess Ghannam at the Hawai‘i Institute for Geophysics, 110 Auditorium.



Friday, March 14

* Dramatic reading of "My Name is Rachel Corrie," about the young American woman crushed by an Israeli bulldozer on March 16, 2003. 7 p.m., Church of the Crossroads, Weaver Hall. 1212 University Avenue, 949-2220.

NEW!
> Subject: Hawaii Declares Independence From All Foreign Powers
> Samuel Keolamauloa Kaluna, Jr.
> Regent, Prime Minister
> P.O. Box 359
> 96-3148 Pikake Street
> Pahala-Kau, Kingdom of Hawaii 96777
>
>
> PRESS RELEASE JULY 15, 2003
>
>
> The Sovereign Kingdom of Hawaii

Announces Independence from all Foreign Powers
>
> A Declaration of Independence, authored by His Majesty Edmund Kelii Silva, Jr. and signed by Prime Minister and Regent Samuel Keolamauloa Kaluna, Jr. and the Hawaiian House of Nobles, proclaims the Kingdom restored and states the intent of the Kingdom of Hawaii to purchase back its lands and govern them under an independent constitutional monarchy.

The Declaration calls upon the United Nations to supervise the transfer of power
> and monitor the attendant transactions under international law.
>
> On January 17, 1893, armed forces of the United States overthrew the Hawaiian government. Since the taking of our beloved islands, the indigenous Hawaiian people have experienced the vicissitude of adverse foreign occupation and suffered a genocidal decline in population. Today we are but a mere fraction of our former numbers.
>
> Now, however, the Kingdom of Hawaii is, phoenix-like, resurgent. On November 22, 2002, the House of Nobles appointed His Royal Majesty Edmund Kelii Silva, Jr. -- direct lineal descendent of King Kamehameha the Great -- Alii Nui (High Chief and King) of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
>
> On June 24, 2003, the Hawaiian Declaration of Independence was hand delivered to the White House in Washington, D.C. On June 26, 2003 it was hand delivered to the United Nations.
>
> The United States State Department responded quickly to the Declaration and contacted His Royal Majesty Silva and Prime Minister Kaluna to schedule talks. Response from the community of nations has been favorable.
>
> Many Hawaiians have expressed support of the Declaration of Independence announcing the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hawaii. We fully expect that the United States shall endorse the principal of self-determination in this matter, ending more than a century of unlawful occupation.
>
> For further information contact: Samuel Kaluna, Jr. at (808) 928-6188.
> For a copy of the Declaration of Independence Email:
> newsdesk@kingdomofhawaii.org

More info on the Nation Of Hawaii can be found at http://www.hawaii-nation.org/

The Haleakala Times.

No peace in paradise
Kyle Kajihiro

Tuesday, May 08, 2007 4:36 PM


The military presence in the Hawaiian Islands

Kanaka Maoli activist Kaleikoa Kaeo described the U.S. military in Hawai’i as a monstrous he‘e (octopus), its head represented by the Pacific Command Headquarters, its eyes and ears the mountaintop telescopes, radar facilities, and underwater sensors, and its brain and nervous system the supercomputers and fiber optic networks that crisscross the islands. The tentacles of the he‘e stretch from the west coast of North America to the east coast of Africa, from Alaska to Antarctica.

Today the enormity of the U.S. military presence in Hawai‘i is staggering:
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the combined military branches in 2004 have 161 military installations in Hawai‘i. The military controls 236,303 acres in Hawai‘i, or 5.7 percent of the total land area. On O‘ahu, the most densely populated island, the military controls 85,718 acres out of 382,148 acres, or 22.4 percent of the island. The military also controls vast stretches of ocean, including Defensive Sea Areas in Kane‘ohe Bay, from Pearl Harbor to Koko Head, and off the west shore of Kaua‘i. The entire Hawaiian archipelago is surrounded by 210,000 square miles of ocean military operating areas and 58,599 square miles of military special use airspace.

Combined with the 116,000 retired military personnel living in Hawai‘i, the military-connected population totals 217,030, or 17 percent of Hawaii’s total population. The 2000 U.S. Census found that Hawai‘i has the largest percentage of its population in the military among the states.


Taking Land
The military land grab is a major source of conflict in Hawai‘i. In 1898, the U.S. seized nearly 1.8 million acres of government and crown lands of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i. These so-called “ceded lands” are held in a quasi-trust status by the Federal government and the State. In 1959, when the U.S. incorporated Hawai‘i as a state, the military retained control of approximately 180,000 acres of the “ceded lands”, while the rest reverted to the State as trustee. Approximately 30,000 acres of the land returned to the State were simultaneously leased back to the military for 65 years. In most cases, the rent paid by the military was a token one dollar for the term of the lease. Today, more than 112,173 acres, or roughly 54 percent of military-controlled land in Hawai‘i consists of the former government and crown lands of the Hawaiian nation. During World War II other private parcels of land were seized by the U.S. to further its war aims.


Threats to Native Hawaiian Cultural Survival
The displacement of Kanaka Maoli from their ancestral lands has resulted in the loss of subsistence and cultural resources. The cultural conflict over ‘aina (land) goes much deeper than a simple matter of property rights or land use. There is a fundamental contradiction between Kanaka Maoli and western world views about the environment itself. In the Kanaka Maoli cosmology, the ‘aina is the ancestor of the people, the physical manifestation of the union between the gods Papahanaumoku (Papa who gives birth to islands), the earth-mother, and Wakea, the sky-father. As a living ancestor, the ‘aina could not be owned, sold or defiled. By severing the genealogical ties between Kanaka Maoli and their ‘aina and by disrupting their ability to practice and transmit their culture to future generations, the military seizure of land continues to have profound impacts on the cultural survival of Kanaka Maoli. Military destruction of land is a form of violence against the people themselves.

Forced cultural assimilation of Kanaka Maoli has contributed to cultural disintegration. Statistics illustrate the legacy of this occupation: Kanaka Maoli have the highest rates of homelessness, poverty, disease and crime in Hawai‘i. They have the lowest educational achievement and life expectancy in Hawai‘i. Kanaka Maoli make up 36.5 percent of persons incarcerated for felony charges. In the century since the U.S. occupation began, the flood of settlers stripped Kanaka Maoli of their self-determination. The scenario resembles the population crises of other occupied nations like Tibet, East Timor, and Palestine. A combination of economic, cultural and political pressures has pushed nearly one third of Kanaka Maoli into diaspora.

By generating population transfer of U.S. nationals to Hawai‘i, the military has also had a profound impact on Hawaii’s culture and political demographics. Between 1900 and 1950, migration to the Hawaiian Islands from the continental U.S. and its territories totaled 293,379.


Environmental Contamination
The U.S. military is arguably the largest industrial polluter in Hawai‘i. The 2004 Defense Environmental Restoration Program report to Congress listed 798 military contamination sites at 108 installations in Hawai‘i, 96 of which were contaminated with unexploded ordnance. Seven of the military contamination sites were considered “Superfund” sites. According to the Navy, the Pearl Harbor Naval Complex alone contains approximately 749 contaminated sites and is treated as a giant superfund site. numbers are low because they do not include contaminated sites that have not yet been listed for cleanup responses. Military installations made up five of the top ten polluters in Hawai‘i responsible for releasing persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals, which include lead, dioxins mercury, and polycyclic aromatic compounds. Military contamination hazards include unexploded ordnance, various types of fuels and petroleum products; organic solvents such as perchloroethylene and trichloroethylene; dioxins and PCB; explosives and propellants such as RDX, TNT, HMX and Perchlorate; heavy metals such as Lead and Mercury; napalm, chemical weapons, and radioactive waste from nuclear powered ships.

Cobalt–60, a radioactive waste product from nuclear-powered ships, has been found in sediment at Pearl Harbor. Between 1964 and 1978, 4,843,000 gallons of low level radioactive waste were discharged into Pearl Harbor. 2,189 steel drums containing radioactive waste were dumped in an ocean disposal area 55 miles from Hawai‘i. The military recently disclosed that from 1941 to 1972 it had dumped more than 8,000 tons of chemical munitions, including blistering agents mustard gas and lewisite, in the shallow seas off O‘ahu island.

Fishermen have been burned when they accidentally raised this toxic catch. For many years, the military denied ever using depleted uranium in Hawai‘i. However in January 2006, activists forced the Army to admit the presence of depleted uranium contamination on O‘ahu. Military contamination sites are concentrated in and pose the greatest threat to Kanaka Maoli, immigrant Asian and Pacific Islanders and other low income communities. Many Asians and Pacific Islanders subsist on fish and shellfish from Pearl Harbor’s contaminated waters. The Wai‘anae district, where a third of the land is occupied by military installations, has the largest concentration of Kanaka Maoli and some of the worst health, economic and social statistics in Hawai‘i. In the late 1980s, powerful Navy radio transmitters in Lualualei valley were suspected to be the cause of a childhood leukemia cluster in the nearby Hawaiian Homestead.


Prostitution
As with other military base towns, prostitution in Hawai‘i is fueled by the large military presence. During World War II, the military regulated prostitution in designated red-light districts. In recent years, prostitution has become more decentralized. A proliferation of strip clubs, massage parlors, escort services, hostess bars as well as street prostitution caters to military, tourist and local customers. One former prostitute estimated that in the downtown area at least 60 percent of those seeking prostitutes were from the military, and in Wahiawa, near Schofield Barracks, she estimated that the percentage jumped to 70 to 80 percent. She recounted how she was strangled by a military client until she hit him and escaped. According to an agency that helps prostitutes to get out of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE), Hawai‘i is particularly susceptible to CSE and the trafficking of women and children due to the large tourism industry and military presence.


Threats to Native Ecosystems and Endangered Species
Hawai‘i is considered the endangered species capital of the world. Because of its geographic isolation, unique species and ecosystems evolved in Hawai‘i over millions of years. More than 1,100 species, which represents around 82 percent of all native species in Hawai‘i, are endemic to the islands. Military training activities threaten native ecosystems with fires, erosion, the alteration of habitats and the introduction of alien species. Makua valley, for instance, where the military has conducted live fire training for more than 70 years, is home to over 40 endangered species. More than 270 military fires over the last 10 years have destroyed most of Makua’s dryland forests except for the highest ridgelines.


Militarization of Youth
Hawai‘i has historically had a high rate of military recruitment. In 2006, Hawai‘i ranked 13th among states in the number of Army recruits per 1,000 youth. Military recruiters have targeted low income communities of color who lack educational and career opportunities and are especially vulnerable to the economic enticements offered by recruiters. Military recruiters now have unprecedented access to students through the military recruiter access provisions and student personal information disclosure requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. Furthermore, the Pentagon has hired private data mining companies to compile a database on students. In Hawai‘i, the militarization of youth through reserve officer training corps (ROTC) programs, the proliferation of military imagery in popular culture and aggressive recruitment practices have also functioned to accelerate the assimilation and Americanization of local populations. In the 1920s, Commanding General Summerall of the Army Hawaiian Department created Hawai‘i’s second Reserve Officers Training Corp (ROTC) unit at McKinley High School, which was nicknamed “Little Tokyo” for its predominantly Japanese student body. Summerall wrote, “There is no better way of securing the loyalty of such people than to incorporate them in our military forces.”


Economic Dependency
Hawai‘i’s extreme economic dependency on military spending has distorted the social, environmental and cultural priorities of policy makers, a condition some have likened to an addiction. Since September 11, 2001, U.S. military spending in Hawai‘i has increased. As a result, in 2003, military expenditures, the second largest “industry” in Hawai‘i behind tourism reached $4.5 billion, a 13 percent increase over 2002. “In 2003, Hawaii ranked second in the United States, with $2,566 in per-capita defense spending…. behind only one other state, Virginia, home of the Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense.” The high rate of federal spending in Hawai‘i has boosted industries like construction which have been detrimental to the preservation of cultural sites and natural resources. Housing subsidies for military personnel are indexed to market values, which tends to inflate the cost of housing, exacerbating homelessness in recent years. Military personnel in Hawai‘i do not pay state income taxes. So the costs of public services are subsidized by local residents. This adds particular strains on the public school system which depends on state general funds. Federal Impact Aid that is supposed to offset the cost of providing services for military families, only makes up one tenth of the actual cost of educating military children.


Past Resistance to Militarization in Hawai‘i

Kaho‘olawe
Kaho‘olawe measures approximately 128,800 acres and is the smallest of the eight major islands in the Hawaiian archipelago. The island is sacred to Kanaka Maoli as an embodiment of the sea god Kanaloa. Kaho‘olawe was also key to Polynesian navigation and settlement of Hawai‘i. Kaho‘olawe contains some of the richest cultural sites in Hawai‘i. Originally part of the government lands of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the Navy seized the entire island for target practice on December 8, 1941. In 1976, the Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana launched the first of several rescue landings on Kaho‘olawe to protest the bombing. After years of direct action, demonstrations and lawsuits, President George H.W. Bush stopped the bombing in 1990. $400 million was appropriated for the clean up unexploded ordnance and restoration of the cultural sites and native ecosystems of the island, but the Navy failed to clean up the island to its stated goals. Instead only one tenth of the island is now safe for human use. The movement to protect Kaho‘olawe was seminal to the Hawaiian cultural renaissance, the emergence of the contemporary Hawaiian sovereignty movement, and other demilitarization struggles.


Makua Valley
The Kaho‘olawe movement helped to inspire resistance to the Army in Makua valley on the west end of O‘ahu. The name “Makua” means “parents.” It is believed to be one of the places where Papa and Wakea came together to create life on Earth. Makua has been used as a military training area since 1929. In 1942, the remaining residents of Makua were forcibly evicted by the military. Their homes and a church were used as targets. All types of munitions have been fired and disposed of in Makua. As a result the valley is littered with unexploded ordnance and toxic chemicals. The rich cultural sites and native forest have been destroyed or seriously damaged. Since the 1970s Kanaka Maoli have fought for the clean up and return of Makua valley. The struggle continues today as the Army pushes for expanded training in Makua.


Halawa Valley / H- Freeway
The H-3 Freeway project was conceived in 1963 as a defense highway to connect the Marine Corps Base in Kane‘ohe with Pearl Harbor. Although activists successfully asserted cultural and historic preservation laws to block the freeway from passing through Moanalua Valley, the project was realigned to Halawa Valley instead. Despite initial successes at challenging the new route, activists were trumped by Senator Daniel Inouye who passed legislation that exempted the H-3 project from applicable environmental laws. The Halawa Coalition, which was led by Kanaka Maoli women, occupied the Hale-o-Papa heiau – a women’s temple in the path of the freeway from April 1992 until their arrest in August of that year. Hale-o-Papa was saved but other sacred sites were destroyed. After a 37-year struggle, the H-3 was completed at a cost of $1.3 billion, or $80 million-a-mile, the most expensive roadway ever built.


Nohili / Pacific Missile Range Facility
In the early 1990s, a coalition of Native Hawaiian and environmental organizations mobilized to block the Army Strategic Target System (STARS) missile launches at the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF). At issue were Kanaka Maoli burial sites in the sand dunes of Nohili, endangered species and contamination and accidents from the missiles. Thirty-five protesters were arrested for civil disobedience during the first two missile launches. Although the STARS program was de-funded by President Clinton in 1996, new threats emerged as PMRF’s capabilities were expanded and as work on missile defense programs later accelerated under George W. Bush. Post-September 11 security measures have blocked cultural, subsistence and recreational access to beaches at Nohili and have sparked new activism. The Navy is expanding ocean training maneuvers and intensifying its use of sonar, which would be extremely dangerous to marine mammals.


Waikane Valley
Waikane in windward O‘ahu contains many Kanaka Maoli sacred sites and traditional agricultural production. During World War II, the military leased 1,061 acres in Waikane and adjoining Wai‘ahole for maneuver and live fire training until 1976. The Kamaka family, which owned 187 acres of the most heavily impacted areas, asked the Marines to clean up the unexploded ordnance as stipulated in the original lease. Instead, the Marine Corps condemned the parcel over the objections of the Kamaka family. In 2003, the Marine Corps announced plans to conduct “jungle warfare” training in Waikane as part of its war on terrorism in the southern Philippines. This triggered strong protest from the community. In a public meeting held in March 2003, the community demanded that the Marine Corps cleanup and return the Kamaka family lands in Waikane. Another important development was the solidarity from Filipinos/Kanaka Maoli youth protest against a Marine Corps amphibious landing at Bellows Air Force Base in Waimanalo. Many of those living in Hawai‘i challenged U.S. intervention in the Philippines as well as the training in Waikane. The Marines eventually cancelled their plans for training in Waikane citing safety concerns, but they have not cleaned up the unexploded ordnance.


Pohakuloa
Pohakuloa on the island of Hawai‘i is a vast plain of lava fields and native dryland forest located on the “saddle” between three sacred mountains – Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa and Hualalai. Established in 1956, the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) encompasses 116,341 acres, of which 84,815 acres are “ceded lands.”

PTA is the largest U.S. military training area in Hawai‘i and the largest outside of the continental United States. Although the range is used for all types of live fire training, thousands of cultural sites have been identified within the PTA. It is the home to 21 endangered species of plants and animals. With Army proposals to expand the training area by 23,000 acres, Pohakuloa has again become a focus of resistance.


Current Military Expansion Threats
The U.S. strategic rivalry with China, its hostility toward North Korea, the “second front” war on terrorism in Southeast Asia and the realignment of U.S. military forces and bases in East Asia has created added pressures to militarize Hawai‘i.

Stryker Brigade
The Army is proceeding with plans to station a Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) in Hawai‘i that would bring 328 Stryker vehicles, 800 additional soldiers plus their dependents, and 28 construction projects to upgrade training, maintenance and housing facilities. One reporter called it “the biggest Army construction project in Hawai‘i since World War II.”

Strykers are 20-ton light armored combat vehicles designed for rapid deployment and suppression of urban unrest. They will be stationed along with a new squadron of C-17 cargo aircraft and new high speed attack ships to provide transport for the brigade.

The Army plans to seize an additional 25,000 acres of land – 1,400 acres in Central and Northern O‘ahu and 23,000 acres adjacent to the Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawai‘i Island. The extent of the Strykers’ impacts would stretch the entire length of the North Shore of O‘ahu. On Hawai‘i Island, the Stryker trail would go from the port at Kawaihae on the western flank of Mauna Kea to the Pohakuloa Training Area.

Despite the discovery of numerous hazardous chemicals from live fire training, proposed munitions use in Hawai‘i would increase by 25 percent. The Army’s own studies concluded that cultural sites will be destroyed and that there will be serious impacts due to fire, erosion and other environmental damage. Navy University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) The University of Hawai‘i (UH) administration wants to establish a Navy University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) at UH.

The proposed Navy UARC would conduct Navy weapons related research, including development and testing of various components of the “star wars” missile defense program and other advanced military research programs. This would have harmful impacts to Mauna Kea and Haleakala where astronomy and astrophysics research is conducted, and the sand dunes of Nohili and the oceans off the north shore of Kaua‘i, where missile launches and undersea warfare and sonar experiments are conducted. A coalition of students, faculty and community launched a series of actions to protest the UARC that culminated in a week-long occupation of the UH President’s office demanding cancellation of the UARC. The UH Administration has continued to pursue the UARC, but contract negotiations have been delayed due to the continued protests.


“Star Wars” Missile Defense
Hawai‘i used to test a number of missile defense programs including the Groundbased Midcourse Defense, the Aegis Missile Defense, and Theater High Altitude Area Defense programs. U.S. officials have continuously demonized North Korea as an “axis of evil” country that poses a threat to Hawai‘i in order to generate fear and justify the expansion of these missile defense programs.

The ‘star wars’ facilities span the island chain: Pacific Missile Range Facility in Nohili, radar tracking stations at Koke‘e, Makaha Ridge, and Ka‘ena Point, the Air Force Optical Tracking Station on Haleakala mountain, and the supercomputer at Kihei, Maui. Lasers are tested on Haleakala. Target missiles are launched from Kaua‘i.


Aircraft Carrier Strike Group
One of the largest militarization threats facing Hawai‘i is the proposal to homeport an aircraft carrier strike group in Hawai‘i or Guam. A carrier strike group would include a nuclear powered aircraft carrier, a cruiser, two destroyers, an attack submarine and a fast combat support ship and aircraft. In addition to the 3,000 officers and crew of the carrier, the air wing would bring 2,600 persons. Overall, the carrier strike group could increase the population by as many as 20,000 military personnel and their family members. Because Pearl Harbor is not large enough to homeport an aircraft carrier, major dredging and construction would be required, causing adverse environmental impacts. Due to the insufficient air base facilities to house the fighter air wing, politicians have offered to turn over the recently closed and transferred Barber’s Point Naval Air Station back to the military. The final decision will be determined in the near future.


Ku‘e: Current Resistance to Militarization
DMZ-Hawai‘i / Aloha ‘Aina is a network of organizations and individuals working to demilitarize and reverse the negative impacts of the enormous military presence in Hawai‘i. The network was conceived at the Rethinking Militarism in Hawai‘i Conference in 2000, organized by American Friends Service Committee that brought together activists representing various movements and communities in Hawai‘i as well as international resource people. The DMZ-Hawai‘i / Aloha ‘Aina network united environmental, peace, anti-nuclear, womens’, religious and Kanaka Maoli sovereignty and independence groups for the common purpose of demilitarization.

The term “DMZ” stands for Demilitarized Zone, a term reclaimed from its usual military context. “Aloha ‘Aina” expresses the core Kanaka Maoli value of “love for the land” and places Hawaiian cultural and political struggle at the center of this diverse grouping.

The main campaigns of DMZ-Hawai‘i / Aloha ‘Aina are: opposing the Stryker Brigade, opposing the Navy UARC at the University of Hawai‘i, and supporting the struggle for clean up and return of Makua valley. Actions have included pickets, marches, civil disobedience, lawsuits and Kanaka Maoli cultural forms of resistance.

Is there a reason why this thread has gone from Tibet to Hawaii...?

Yes, I took west because I didn't want to go through Palestine again.

I think it rather unrealistic that we could get much word out to most of the Chinese people. But the government does want good relations with the rest of the world, and getting the word out to them could have potential consequenses.

As far as the U.S. denouncing oppression of Tibet while we have troops in Iraq, you raise a very good point. Which is just another reason why our occupation of Iraq is a burden which is not worth it, and another reason why we would want any reaction against these actions to be an international, not made in U.S. affair.

Is actual independence for Tibet ever going to be likely? Probably not, at least not in this century.

However, perhaps some real autonomy and freedom is realistic, if certainly not any time soon.

Hawaii raises interesting, and I think important, historical questions, but I think the issue of their independence has long since passed, no matter how once it might have been a realistic issue. You can say similar things about our invasion of and land grab from Mexico over a century and a half ago.

It's not really whether the issue "has passed" as if there was some arbitrary date until which any independence or autonomy demands would be considered void. Look at Kosovo.

The movement in Hawaii is there, exists, and is active.
How their demands are addressed is more about the size and extent of the support behind them.

Or Delaware. Or was it Vermont ?

In Kosovo the majority are ethnic Albanians. In Hawaii the native people are about 10% of the population, with the majority consisting of those of White, Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian backgrounds. That is how things are different.

Puerto Rico has been controlled by the U.S. for almost as nearly as long a time, and their separation from the U.S. is a heck of a lot more likely as they are certainly still a distinct culture.

Got balls ?


"China stomps freedom"