A proposed strategy for action.
We will impede the use of Hawaii as a launch pad for US wars on the world. The US sees Hawaii as a key part of a strategy for global hegemony. Hawaii plays a role both in the organizing and execution of warfare, as the headquarters for the Pacific Command, and as the ‘host’ to several key bases, including Pearl Harbor. In the US imaginary, Hawaii’s location within the United States is assumed and unquestioned: Pearl Harbor and Hawaii are “as American as apple pie.” By directly confronting the use of Hawaii in this imperialist logic, we start to problematize and throw into relief the very relationship of Hawaii to the United States, as well as slow the ability for the United States to conduct its wars.
We will end the exploitation of our lands and resources for corporate agendas. Since the 1830s, Hawaiian lands have been targeted by foreign capitalists for their economic benefit, leading directly to the conflict of 1893 and the subsequent occupation. In the 21st century, the leading industry to exploit our land and culture is the tourist industry. Tourism represents the most advanced form of colonization, because it turns the purpose and raison d’etre of the occupied land away from the needs and desires of the native population, and re-purposes it for the pleasure and benefit of the mass-market tourist. The brilliance of the tourist industry is that can also provide a space for native to ‘share their culture’ with the tourist, placing both the native and her/his culture in the service of the consumer. Through a campaign of disruptions and noncooperation, we will diminish Hawaii’s attractiveness as a safe, domesticated tourist locale, which will erode profitability and also increase repression of our movement, which will in turn make Hawaii less attractive as a destination. Ultimately, our goal should be to use the disruptions of the tourist industry to force the state to negotiate with us for key demands – land, sovereignty, a process for phased withdrawal, native ownership of economy, etc.
We will stop the attempts to foreclose on our native and national rights through “federal recognition.” The Akaka Bill is a clear and present danger to the possibilities of self-determination and independence. Through a combination of people-power, community education, protest, and fostering of international solidarity, we will prevent the Akaka Bill from becoming law. As an alternative, we will propose a bill that creates a “reconciliation process,” flowing from Public Law 103-150 (the Apology Bill).
We will nourish and expand international relationships, through bilateral and multilateral solidarity and agreements. International recognition is the crowning goal of an independence movement. We will engage with peoples movements throughout the world, encouraging Hawaiian independence to be part of a global strategy for peace, justice, and equality. When appropriate, we will also enter into creative partnerships for economic and political solidarity, such as the pan-Latin American ALBA alternative trade pact.
We will increase the capacity of our community to comprehend and take action on issues affecting us. The purpose of political organizing is to raise the political consciousness of the oppressed, and to increase the peoples’ capacity to act on that consciousness. We will use classic community organizing techniques – tested throughout the world in factories, barrios, rural and urban settings, and in our own historic political movement – to build political power for social change and independence. This must include a process for national debate, dialogue, and collective decisionmaking, to examine the effects of 150-years of racial and national oppression, and to decide on a way forward.
We will develop clear alternatives for economic opportunity, de-linked from the exploitative military-tourism economy. To supplement the Ku’e work, we will develop community-oriented enterprises and institutions to provide an alternative lifeway for our community.
Ke Aloha Aina 