This blog is about Hawaii's status as an independent country under prolonged illegal occupation by the United States, and the history, culture, law & politics of the islands.
President Barack Obama arrived in Hawaii on Thursday for a holiday vacation in the state where he was born and lived as a child.
The president, first lady and their daughters came to the island of Oahu for a more-than-weeklong vacation away from Washington. The Obamas have no public schedule and are expected to celebrate the holidays in private at a rented compound in Kailua.
A crowd of about 75 military servicemen and women and Hawaii politicians including Gov. Linda Lingle greeted Air Force One when it landed at Hickam Air Force Base. Obama took several minutes to greet military personnel and their families before getting in a black SUV for the ride to his vacation home.
People carrying cameras, dogs and children lined the streets along the road as his motorcade made its way to Kailua from the air base.
Some flashed the shaka or “hang loose” sign at the nation’s first Hawaii-born president. Others held placards wishing the Obama family a Merry Christmas.
A group of Hawaiian sovereignty activists standing near Pinky’s restaurant in Kailua spelled out “End US Occupation of Hawaii.”
Jerry Burris has an commentary in the Advertiser discussing the revision to the bill that was passed through committee in the Senate version, and the differences between the two versions.
In short, the first version had Hawaiians enabled to negotiate self-government rights and powers with the state and federal government. The latest version set up a system in which Hawaiians might choose to negotiate away certain rights in pursuit of the larger good. For instance, it is likely that a Hawaiian “nation” would cede to the federal government certain powers of national defense.
How did this sea change come about? Some say the new, activist Department of Justice under the Obama administration was convinced by activists in Hawai’i that shifting the status of Hawaiians to something akin to an Indian tribe made good sense. Rather than negotiating for each and every aspect of sovereignty, the bill would accept sovereignty and contemplate Hawaiians granting back some aspects to overlapping systems of government. A side effect, not insignificant, is that this new version would set the Office of Hawaiian Affairs on the back burner as the default Hawaiian political entity.
Worth following Trisha Kahaulani Watson’s He Hawai’i Au blog at the Advertiser, where she has several recent posts related to the Akaka Bill. She published a long letter from Kawehi Kanui giving some history of the movement and her reasons for opposing the bill, a post on the anatomy of the bill and the amendments that Akaka made, her stand on the bill which includes frustration with the process but not feeling like she can align with the radical right who oppose it. Her posts are generating some comments so go join the discussion.
Kuhio has a new post on his blog, Awakening a Sleeping Hawaiian Giant, that is worth reading, about the distinction between the national and native/ethnic definition of “Hawaiian” and the role of various agencies and organizations in expressing the will of Hawaiian nationals and facilitating the transition to restored independence.
The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2009 (aka Akaka Bill) last week passed through the House Natural Resources Committee and Senate Indian Affairs Committee. But there are two different versions now. The Senate version was amended by Akaka which has caused a bit of a firestorm. Yesterday’s editorial in Star-BulletinAkaka Bill Needs Airing kind of summarizes it…
Sen. Daniel Akaka surprised observers of the Hawaiian sovereignty bill bearing his name by injecting controversial changes that drew opposition from Gov. Linda Lingle, a longtime supporter of the bill. The congressional delegation needs to conduct hearings during the present holiday recess to clear the air and, if it can, justify the bill’s changes.
Akaka appears to have left many in the dark about the changes to the bill in the days preceding action by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Rep. Neil Abercrombie decided against presenting the changes to the House Natural Resources Committee, which approved the bill in its original form, following a blistering letter by Hawaii Attorney General Mark Bennett and an extraordinary rebuke of Akaka by Sen. Daniel Inouye.
In a prepared statement on the eve of the House committee action, Inouye said “events of the past 24 hours were totally unexpected.” He added that he was “very surprised” that the revisions “were not shared” with Lingle. Inouye did not say whether he had been aware of the pending changes.
The Akaka Bill has been regarded in recent years as one that would give Hawaiians sovereignty similar to that of Indian tribes, while retaining federal and state jurisdiction of civil and criminal laws. The changes just passed by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee would recognize the Hawaiian governing council as “an Indian tribe,” with all that comes with that status except legalized gambling. For example, many Indian laws rather than state or federal laws are enforced on their reservations.
[…]
Bennett, who received the changes on the eve of the House committee action from Republican committee staffers, also noted that the newly-changed Senate bill has a new term — “Qualified Native Hawaiian Constituent” — defined in six pages of the bill. No public hearings on that term have ever been conducted.
Here’s a few other links about the protest held last week and the call for hearings on the bill.
The occupations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania occurred during and after World War II, first from 1940 to 1941, then following World War II until the early-1990s, as the Soviet Union subsumed these countries within its territorial borders. Similar to the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States, the US has occupied the Hawaiian Islands twice, first from January 16 to April 1, 1893, and then beginning on 12 August 1898. The US occupation of the Hawaiian Islands still continues.
This dissertation combines Power Transition Theory, Historical Institutionalism and Etzioni’s Power Classifications to examine the prolonged occupations of the Baltic States and Hawai‘i. Integrating the above theories with the inter-temporal application of international law, this study offers a comparative analysis of prolonged occupations.
Aloha kakou, after going dormant for a couple months due to blog software problems, I’m finally getting this blog active again on a new platform. All of the old archives are still available and as I have time I’ll customize the blog and fill in the sidebar with all the links and features I had before. Lots to catch up on, but for now just wanted to let everyone know that I’m back, so you can start checking here again for further updates. 🙂 Also, mahalo to everyone who emailed me during my absence to express your appreciation for my efforts and encourage me to get it going again!
