Hawaii: Colonized or Occupied? Latvia comparison...

Received via email from Derek Kauanoe...

Aloha mai kakou,

We will be having Ph.D. Candidate David Keanu Sai present at a lunchtime discussion at the law school on Wednesday, February 15. Please consider attending, especially after reading this e-mail.

For decades, the prevailing school of thought, in regards to Native Hawaiians and how the U.S. came to be here was described as a colonization of the Hawaiian Islands. Within the last several years, an emerging school of thought has permeated through, not just the Univ. of Hawai'i and within the State of Hawai'i, but supposedly has been attracting the attention of international scholars around the glob. This more contemporary school of thought proposes that the U.S. is not here as the result of colonization, but rather that of a military occupation.

Below, is an excerpt of an article I found online in regards to the Occupation of Latvia by the former Soviet Union. Please read this excerpt and think about how similar or different it is when compared to the Hawaiian Kingdom. You'll notice that I've included helpful comparative text in red.

Read the excerpt in the extended entry...

On 17 June 1940 the Soviet Union (a world super power), which at that time was an official ally of Nazi Germany, "carried out unprovoked military aggression (42) against Latvia and occupied it" (43). On January 16, 1893, the United States Marines, unprovoked, invaded Hawaiian Kingdom territory and on January 17, overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy. Latvia thus came under complete domination of the Soviet (i.e. foreign) armed forces, which under Article 42 of the Laws and Customs of War on Land (the Hague, 1907) is an essential criterion of occupation (44).  Queen Lili'uokalani, with the threat of US military force present, yielded her authority to the US gov't. The government of Latvia was rendered powerless to act and the situation in the country was controlled by the USSR Embassy in Riga. On June 18 Andrei Vishinsky, as an official representative of the Soviet Union, arrived in Riga and assumed the reins of power over Latvia. The sending of a Soviet emissary to Riga to form the new government in Latvia was in clear breach of the Mutual Assistance Treaty between the USSR and Latvia; according to Article 5 of that treaty, the implementation of the treaty must not have any impact on the sovereign rights, the governing, economic and social systems and military activities of the signatory states (45). The invasion of the Hawaiian Kingdom was a clear breach of the treaties between the US and the Hawaiian Kingdom.

The illegal change of government took place on 20 June 1940. In the Hawaiian Kingdom, the illegal change of government took place on January 17, 1893, with the help of U.S. military troops. The illegal gov't was known as the Provisional Gov't. In 1894, the Provisional Gov't changed its name to the Republic of Hawai'i. Replacing Kārlis Ulmanis as head of government, Augusts Kirhensteins became the leader of People's Government of Latvia, as the Soviet government of marionettes was officially called. In 1898, without a treaty of annexation, the US unilaterally purported to annex Hawai'i as a territory with the Newlands Resolution 55, a domestic law that has no extra-territorial force.

This government represented the interests of the USSR and its functioning facilitated the implementation of Moscow's plans including the annexation of Latvia.  The Territorial Gov't, to a degree, represented the interests of the U.S. and the fuctioning of that territorial gov't facilitated the 1959 Statehood vote. The Soviet side actively interfered in Latvia's internal affairs. A special Soviet security apparatus was created which was controlled by individuals who had come to Latvia from the USSR (46). Soviet officials took over Latvia's institutions of political direction and began to spy upon, arrest and deport people (47). An unprecedented example of interference was the creation of the Baltic Military District with its seat in Riga. It was ordered on 11 July 1940 by the USSR People's Commissar of Defence (48). This meant that a military administrative unit of another state, i.e. the Soviet Union, was established on the territory of an independent – albeit formally – state. Since 1893, a number of U.S. military installations have been established here in Hawai'i (Fort Ruger, Pearl Harbor, Ft. Shafter, Hickam Air Force Base, Scholfied). "The U.S. Pacific Command was established as a unified command on 1 January 1947, and it is the oldest and largest of the United States' unified commands." See http://www.pacom.mil/about/history.shtml.

The Soviet Union devoted considerable effort to mislead the people throughout the world about what was actually taking place in the three Baltic States.  On May 31, 1898 the US Congress held a secret session in which it discussed "the Hawaii situation." The US had violated the Neutrality of the Hawaiian State and discussed the implications of such a violation. Recognizing that the Republic of Hawai'i would be subject to suit (with the Alabama Claims as a precedent), for assisting the US in its war against Spain in the Spanish-American war, the US decided to conceal what happened by giving the appearance that it legally annexed Hawai'i as a territory, although it failed twice to ratify a treaty of Annexation. [The Soviet Untion] tried to create the impression that the annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was legitimate and that they "joined voluntarily" the Soviet Union. In addition to giving the appearance that Hawai'i was annexed legally as a territory, the US gave the impression that Hawaiians legitimately wanted to become a state of the Union through the 1959 statehood vote. In violation of the Constitution and existing laws, all three states had to organize new elections, which took place in the presence of the Soviet occupation troops. The 1898 annexation of Hawai'i as a territory, through a domestic municipal law (Senate Joint Resolution) and as a unilateral act was done in violation of the US Constitution and International Law. Furthermore, the 1959 Statehood vote took place in the presence of a strong US military here in Hawai'i and after an obscene influx of American citizens to the islands, significantly outnumbering Hawaiian Nationals. In Latvia, the government of Augusts Kirhensteins adopted a new law on the election of the parliament (in Latvian – Saeima) instead of following the relevant norms and procedures in the Constitution; this action violated the basic principles of the Constitution (49).

. . .
The incorporation of the Baltic States into the USSR was completed in early August 1940. Incorporation of Hawai'i into the US was completed on August 21, 1959. It was a hostile act of appropriation of territory belonging to other countries; it was annexation, which is forbidden under modern international law (57). Incorporationof Hawai'i as a state was preceded by both a hostile act (1893) and was purportedly annexed (1898) in a manner inconsistent with fundamental principles of international law in 1893 and 1898. It was carried out by violating many international and bilateral treaties, without adopting a voluntary treaty of union, and by ignoring principles of international law, including the right of self-determination of nations. Annexation of Hawai'i as a territory was also carried out by violating many international and bilateral treaties.  From 1826 until 1893, Hawai'i had entered into more than 20 treaties and had over 80 consulates and legations across the world. As the eminent German scholar of international law, Boris Meissner has fittingly noted, "The Soviet Union seemingly adopted a contract with itself and with the act of annexation clearly violated not only the sovereignty of the Baltic States but also the right of self-determination of the Baltic nations which was the basis of the 1920 peace treaty [with Soviet Russia]." (58) The US arguably created a puppet gov't first through the Provisional Gov't/Republic of Hawai'i and more clearly through the Territorial Government and subsequent state of Hawai'i and in essence, "seemingly adopted a contract w/ itself and clearly violated the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom and its right of self-determination.

The annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is fundamentally illegal: it is based on intervention and occupation. The annexation of Hawai'i too is also fundamentally illegal and based on intervention (when US troops landed on 1/16/1893 to assist traitorous subjects) and subsequent occupation in 1898. That is why the annexation did not elicit juridical consequences (59). There was no change of sovereign power: the annexed state retained its sovereignty which the annexing state did not acquire (60). The status of the Baltic States as subjects of international law did not disappear. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania continued to exist de jure and their existence was recognized by 50 countries throughout the world (61). The non-recognition of the annexation was very important for the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian nations. President Grover Cleveland refused to recognize the Provisional Government and in an address to Congress, December 18, 1893, described the Provisional Gov't as being a gov't neither de facto nor de jure. He went on to say that the US Minister in Hawai'i, John L. Stevens, was wrong in recognizing the Provisional Gov't. It served as the basis for their unceasing demand for the restoration of the independence of their countries. For academic scholars familiar with the issue of Hawaiian nationalism, sovereignty and history, like the Latvia Nationals, rely on the earlier actions of the US Gov't as "serv[ing] as the basis for their unceasing demand for the restoration of the independence of their country.

The policy of non-recognition of the legality of the incorporation of the Baltic States into the USSR continued for 50 years – unprecedented in the annals of international law – until Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania reasserted their independence. An occupation lasting from 1898 up to the present day (as is happening in Hawai'i) is also unprecedented under international law. On January 1932 US Secretary of State Henry Stimson objected to Japan's aggression in Manchuria. In the official note of protest to the government of Japan, the American government stated that it cannot accept as legal the situation which has been created de facto in the territory of China. The steadfast implementation of the policy of non-recognition of the legality of the incorporation of the Baltic States into the Soviet Union shows that since the enunciation of the Stimson doctrine in the 1930s the world has been becoming increasingly intolerant of territorial changes achieved through the use of force or the threat thereof.

The above was taken from http://www.am.gov.lv/en/latvia/history/occupation-aspects/

So, I pose the question, after reading this article (with comparisons inserted) was Hawai'i Colonized or Occupied?

Posted: Sun - February 5, 2006 at 12:53 PM

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Hawaii: Colonized or Occupied? Latvia comparison...

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