Opposing paradigms converge on Hawaii

Post Date October 07, 2011

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Environmental Impacts, Global Justice and Peace Movements, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights, International politics & law, Militarization of Society, Projects and Campaigns, Social and Economic Impacts, Spying and surveillance

Opposing paradigms converge on Hawaii
Hawaii is center stage for a meeting between the all-business APEC and international environmental conference Moana Nui

Jon Letman Last Modified: 07 Oct 2011 10:36

Speaking earlier this year on US National Public Radio, Intel CEO Paul Otellini suggested that the global power shift that occurred from the United Kingdom to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century is now replaying itself, as power moves away from the United States to the Asia-Pacific region, specifically China.

If that’s true, then Hawaii is well poised to serve as the place where the proverbial baton is handed off. This November (8-13), Honolulu will host the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) 2011 summit where 21 member economies will discuss region issues.

Read the full story here.

Connecting the Aegis dots between Jeju, Okinawa, Guam, Hawai'i

Post Date September 05, 2011

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Global Justice and Peace Movements, Guam / Northern Marianas, Projects and Campaigns

Koohan Paik, co-author of the Superferry Chronicles and member of the Kaua’i Alliance for Peace and Social Justice wrote an excellent op ed in the Garden Island newspaper connecting the dots between the military expansion at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua’i, the struggle to stop a naval base in Jeju, South Korea, and protest movements in Okinawa and Guam.

True defenders

When I was a child in South Korea during the 1960s, we lived under the repressive dictatorship of Park Chung-hee. Anyone out after 10 p.m. curfew could be arrested. Anyone who tried to protest the government disappeared. A lot of people died fighting for democracy and human rights.

Today, the South Korean people carry in living memory the supreme struggles that forged the freedom they currently enjoy. And after all they’ve sacrificed, they are not going to give that freedom up.

So it is no surprise that the tenacious, democracy-loving Koreans have been protesting again — this time for over four years, non-stop, day and night. They are determined to prevent construction of a huge military base on S. Korea’s Jeju Island that will cement over a reef in an area so precious it contains three UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

This eco-rich reef has not only fed islanders for millennia, but it has also been the “habitat” for Jeju’s lady divers who are famous for staying beneath the surface for astonishing periods of time, before coming up with all manner of treasures. Even during South Korea’s times of unspeakable poverty, subtropical Jeju Island was always so abundant with natural resources and beauty that no one ever felt “impoverished” there.

There happens to be a very strong connection between Jeju’s current troubles and business-as-usual on the Garden Isle. You see, the primary purpose of Jeju’s unwanted base is to port Aegis destroyer warships. And it is right here, at Kaua‘i’s Pacific Missile Range Facility, that all product testing takes place for the Aegis missile manufacturers.

On Aug. 29, when Sen. Dan Inouye was here to dedicate a new Aegis testing site, he said, “We are not testing to kill, but to defend.” It would have been more accurate if Inouye had said, “We are not testing to kill, but to increase profits for Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, no matter how many people are oppressed or how many reefs are destroyed.”

Four days later, on Sept. 2, I got a panicked call from a Korean friend that there had been a massive crackdown on the peace vigil in Gangjung village to protect Jeju’s reef from the Aegis destroyer project.

More than 1,000 South Korean police in head-to-toe riot gear descended upon men and women of all ages blockading construction crews from access to the site. At least 50 protestors were arrested, including villagers, Catholic priests, college students, visiting artists and citizen journalists. Several were wounded and hospitalized. My friend told me, “We fought so hard for democracy. And now this. It’s just like dictatorship times.”

Another reason the Koreans are so angry is that their government has been telling them that the Aegis technology will protect them from North Korea. But Aegis missiles launching from Jeju are useless against North Korea, because North Korean missiles fly too low. In a 1999 report to the U.S. Congress, the Pentagon verified that the Aegis system “could not defend the northern two-thirds of South Korea against the low flying short range Taepodong ballistic missiles.”

So if Aegis is no good against North Korea, why build the base? Again, this is not about defense, this is about selling missiles (and increasing profits for Samsung and other major contractors on the base construction job).

There is a strong similarity between resistance on Jeju (where a recent poll showed 95 percent of islanders are opposed to the base) and concurrent uprisings on Guam and Okinawa, as well. All three islands are slated for irreversible destruction to make way for Aegis destroyer berthing.

And who wouldn’t protest? Like us, these are island peoples who care passionately for their reefs, ocean ecosystems and fisheries. I have heard certain Jeju Islanders say they will fight to the death to protect their resources.

Today, the mayor of Gangjung himself, along with many others, languish in prison because of their uncompromising stance against the Aegis base. Fortunately, people across the Korean peninsula and beyond, are heading to Jeju to support the resistance movement.

Without peaceful warriors like them, there would be no more reefs, no more coral, no more fish, no more nothing. They are our true defenders, not the missile manufacturers, as Inouye’s sham logic would have us believe.

As the Pentagon conspicuously ramps up militarization in the Asia-Pacific region, individuals of good conscious should pursue de-militarization. In the words of Aletha Kaohi, “Look to within and get rid of the ‘opala, or rubbish.”

Koohan Paik, Kilauea

Read more: http://thegardenisland.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_16c56936-d6d5-11e0-8938-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1X7Cxfvwf

Message from the International Women’s Network Against Militarism to the peoples movement for No Naval Base on Jeju!

Post Date September 05, 2011

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Global Justice and Peace Movements, Guam / Northern Marianas, Projects and Campaigns, The Military in Hawai'i (All Islands)

Message from the International Women’s Network Against Militarism to the peoples movement for No Naval Base on Jeju!

September 1, 2011

Dear friends in the struggle against US military expansion at Jeju Island

We women from Okinawa, mainland Japan, the Philippines, Marshall Islands, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Australia and west-coast USA send our greetings in solidarity with the people of Ganjeong who oppose the construction of a new naval base to house Aegis destroyers.

We understand that 94 percent of the residents do not want this base. We admire and respect your strong opposition by occupying land seized by the government and by blocking roads in an attempt to stop construction. We deplore the fact the South Korean government has ordered police to take further measures against you, especially as you have used every possible democratic means to overturn the decision to construct the base in the pristine waters and land that have been your livelihood for many generations.

We agree that this base and the increased militarization of the island of Jeju will create new security threats in an increasingly tense region.

We also live in communities that experience increased militarization and the effects of enormous military investments that distort our local economies and take resources needed for our communities to thrive. The political and military alliances between our governments and the United States jeopardize our genuine security. Indeed, U.S. military expansion in the Asia-Pacific and the Caribbean relies on these alliances to tie our communities together according to their version of security that is not sustainable.

The plan to relocate U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam includes military construction projects that involve labor from Hawai’i, Micronesia and the Philippines. In addition to the destruction and loss of life caused by continued wars in the Middle East, these wars are also destabilizing our economies. For example, Filipinos who have been recruited to work on military construction projects are laid off during times of crisis and return to the Philippines where they have no jobs. On Guam, local companies cannot compete with larger military contractors and are seldom able to get contracts for base construction projects. The establishment of the U.S. military base at Ke Awa Lau o Pu’uloa, or Pearl Harbor, has transformed Oahu’s food basket into a toxic “Superfund” site where many of Hawai’i’s poorest communities live along its contaminated shores. In Puerto Rico, Governor Luis Fortuño has unleashed brutality against citizens, and suppression of their civil liberties because of protests against budget cuts to public services and education. In the continental United States a new campaign is calling for new priorities in federal spending away from war and toward services to support local communities.

We see your struggle as part of a wider pattern of people’s protest against increasing militarization.

Although we are far away, please know that we stand with you. We thank you for your courage to resist the militarization of your home. Your example inspires and strengthens us.

In solidarity,

Signed, on behalf of the IWNAM:

Kozue Akibayashi, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Japan

Ellen-Rae Cachola, Women for Genuine Security/Women’s Voices Women Speak, U.S. & Hawai’i

Lotlot de la Cruz, KAISAKA, Philippines

Cora Valdez Fabros, Scrap VFA Movement & Philippine Women’s Network for Peace and Security, Philippines

Annie Fukushima, Women for Genuine Security, U.S.

Terri Keko’olani, Women’s Voices Women Speak, Hawai’i

Gwyn Kirk, Women for Genuine Security, U.S.

Rev. Deborah Lee, Women for Genuine Security, U.S.

Bernadette “Gigi” Miranda, Women’s Voices Women Speak, Hawai’i

María Reinat Pumarejo, Colectivo Ilé: Organizadoras para la Conciencia-en-Acción

Aida Santos-Maranan, Women’s Education, Development, Productivity and Research Organization (WEDPRO), Philippines

Dr. Hannah Middleton, Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition, Australia

Suzuyo Takazato, Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence, Okinawa

Lisa Natividad, Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice, Guahan (Guam)

Ana Maria R. Nemenzo, WomanHealth Philippines.

Darlene Rodrigues, Women’s Voices Women Speak, Hawai’i

Abacca Anjain-Maddison, Marshall Islands

Brenda Kwon, Women’s Voices Women Speak, Hawai’i

Anjali Puri, Women’s Voices Women Speak, Hawai’i

The International Women’s Network Against Militarism was formed in 1997 when forty women activists, policy-makers, teachers, and students from South Korea, Okinawa, mainland Japan, the Philippines and the continental United States gathered in Okinawa to strategize together about the negative effects of the US military in each of our countries. In 2000, women from Puerto Rico who opposed the US Navy bombing training on the island of Vieques also joined; followed in 2004 by women from Hawai’i and in 2007 women from Guam. The Network is not a membership organization, but a collaboration among women active in our own communities, who share a common mission to demilitarize their lands and communities. For more information, visit HYPERLINK “http://www.genuinesecurity.org/”www.genuinesecurity.org.

Kulani saved? Possible win for environmental, peace and justice advocates!

Post Date June 24, 2011

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Environmental Impacts, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights, Projects and Campaigns, Youth and Militarization

CORRECTION: I was originally informed that the resolution passed by the Hawai’i State Senate effectively reversed the reset aside of Kulani Prison to the Hawaii National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program. However, I was informed by another source that the senate vote alone may not have been sufficient to overturn the executive order by itself. We’re digging into this to confirm. We know that the intention of the Department of Community Safety and the Department of Land and Natural Resources is to reopen the prison. Stay tuned to what unfolds.

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The Hawai’i State Senate passed a resolution that disapproved of the reset aside of Kulani lands to the Hawaii National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program. This is a big win for advocates of peace, justice and the environment.

The former governor Linda Lingle abruptly closed the Kulani prison, one of the most successful sex offender treatment programs in the country, and transferred the facility to the Hawaii National Guard for its youth program and, we suspected for training purposes:

The state plans to allow the U.S. Department of Defense to begin using the 20-acre Kulani facility at the end of November, he said.

The goal is to turn the prison into a Hawai’i National Guard Youth Challenge Academy for teens ages 17 and 18 who are not going to graduate from high school, Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, the state’s adjutant general, announced in July.

Prison reform activists opposed the closure of this successful prorgram. Native Hawaiians opposed the transfer of the land to the military and sought to create a culture-based pu’uhonua (place of refuge) and healing center for nonviolent offenders. Environmentalists wanted to preserve the 7000 acre forest that surrounded the prison facility. DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina opposed the military land grab.

In 2009, we called the closure a land grab:

Governor Lingle suddenly and unexpectedly closed Kulani Prison, one of the most successful offender treatment programs in Hawai’i. Why? She said it was to save money. She then said that the facility would be turned over to the Hawaii National Guard to convert it into a Youth Challenge military school. However, this article reports that the National Guard has neither the funds nor the plan to implement this convesion. So what’s the real reason for the transfer to the military? Prison reform, environmental, Hawaiian sovereignty and peace activists now suspect that the land transfer may have more to do with the military gaining access to 8000 acres of Waiakea forest for training purposes. Stay tuned…

In September 2010, the National Guard expanded its request to include various types of military training. The community blasted the proposal. The Board of Land and Natural Resources voted against allowing training in the area, but approved the transfer of the Kulani prison facility to the National Guard. DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina, the Community Alliance on Prisons and cultural practitioner Michael Lee petitioned for a contested case hearing to challenge the Board’s decision.

In November 2010, I wrote on this website:

Yesterday Governor Lingle was on hand to dedicate the new Youth ChalleNGe facility at the former Kulani prison site on Hawai’i island. This was reported in the Honolulu Star Advertiser and Hawaii News Now.

But wait.

The Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) decision to transfer the land from the Department of Public Safety to the state Department of Defense is being challenged by three parties: Kat Brady of the Community Alliance on Prisons, Michael Lee, a Kanaka Maoli cultural practitioner and lineal descendant with ties to the lands in question and DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina. Read more here and here

The three parties requested a contested case hearing before the BLNR. This should place a hold on the BLNR decision going into effect. To date, there has been no correspondence from BLNR to the intervening parties.

The Kulani prison lands, which are zoned for conservation, were set aside decades ago by executive order of the Governor exclusively for a prison. No other uses are permitted. When Governor Lingle closed the Kulani prison she announced that she was giving the facility to the National Guard for the Youth ChalleNGe program. The Department of Public Safety and the Department of Defense signed a memorandum of agreement to transfer the occupancy of the facility. But the previous executive order has not been officially terminated. And a new executive order has not been issued nor approved by the legislature. So the the new Youth ChalleNGe facility is illegal.

DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina and the Community Alliance on Prisons issued a statement denouncing the move.

Now Kulani has come full circle. The National Guard will have to pack up and leave the facility. Kulani prison will reopen. And the pristine forest surrounding it will be protected as part of the Natural Areas Reserve. Mahalo to all who testified, educated, lobbied and spoke out against the military land grab at Kulani.

A Win for Environmental Justice! People of Wai'anae Save Farmland

Post Date April 21, 2011

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Ho’ola Hawai’i – Environmental Justice, Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae, Projects and Campaigns, Wai'anae

The people of Wai’anae won a big victory for environmental justice. KAHEA reports, “Tropic Land’s petition for a boundary amendment to allow an industrial park on fertile farmland was DENIED today, April 21, 2011.” The post continues:

The Petitioner recognized that Commissioners had concerns about the proposed industrial park, especially whether they had access to use the Navy-owned road to leads to the property site. So in a last minute hail-mary, the Petitioner told the Commission that the Navy was now considering dedicating the land to the City. Interestingly, the City’s attorney did not know about the proposed dedication.

The Elders reminded the Commission that for six years the Navy and the City negotiated over dedicating the Lualualei Naval Access Road, which did not result in any change in the ownership or use of the road. The question of proper access to the property is something Tropic Land should have figured out long before proposing a permanent change in the land use designation of their property.

This is a campaign that began back in 2009 when the Wai’anae Environmental Justice Working Group was formed. Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae youth participated in documenting and raising awareness about the issues related to the encroachment of industrial and military activity into farm land, protection of cultural sites, including the important sites pertaining to Maui the demigod, and health effects of environmental contamination.

Congratulations and thanks go out to the Concerned Elders of Wai’anae, the Wai’anae Environmental Justice Working Group, KAHEA, MA’O Farms and the many groups and individuals who worked on this campaign. For now the agricultural land in Lualualei will be spared an industrial onslaught. However, the threat is still looming, and struggle continues on another front. The City and County of Honolulu Planning Commission is in the process of reviewing and receiving public comments on the Wai’anae Sustainable Communities Plan (WSCP). The community has long fought to preserve the natural, cultural and human waiwai (wealth) of Wai’anae, but this latest version of the plan includes an invasive ‘spot’ of industrial use where the Tropic Land LLC industrial park is proposed in the middle of agricultural land. Yesterday, I testified in the second of two long days of hearings on the WSCP. The Planning Commission will make a decision on the plan in May.

Hawai'i Island Appeal for Solidarity

Post Date February 03, 2011

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category American Empire, DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Environmental Impacts, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights, Media Releases, Projects and Campaigns, War and Peace

Activists from Hawai’i island issued an appeal for solidarity in the face of a massive military expansion planned for Pohakuloa. Please send solidarity statements to ja@interpac.net. Mahalo!

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For Public Release concerning U.S. military training at Pohakuloa
See list of individual signers below

Further contact: Jim Albertini 966-7622
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622. Email ja@interpac.net http://www.malu-aina.org

Appeal for Solidarity!

We (the undersigned) appeal to all Hawaii peace, justice, environment, and independence activists, to the general public, and to local and state government officials. We ask that you stand in solidarity with us on Moku O Keawe in resistance to major U.S. military expansion at the 133,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area, and now even helicopter assault training for Afghanistan on our sacred mountains –Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

We congratulate the Malama Makua community organization for its victory in stopping all military live fire in Makua Valley on Oahu. But Makua is still held hostage by the military and used to train for ongoing U.S. wars of aggression.

We are opposed to pushing U.S. desecration and contamination from one site to another. We want an end to U.S. occupation in Hawaii and the restoration of the Hawaii nation. We want the U.S. to stop bombing Hawaii and clean up its opala. We want to put an end to U.S. desecration and contamination of all sacred cultural sites. We do not want the U.S. training anywhere to do to others what the U.S. has already done to Hawaii: overthrow and occupy its government and nation, desecrate its sacred sites, and contaminate its air, land, water, people, plants, and animals with military toxins.

Restore the Hawaii Nation!

End U.S. Terrorism!
Military Clean-Up NOT Build Up!
Stop all the Wars! End all Occupations!

Signers
Isaac Harp, Kelii “Skippy” Ioane, Hanalei Fergerstrom,
Kihei Soli Niheu, Ali`i Sir Kaliko Kanaele, Calvin Kaleiwahea,
Lloyd Buell, Danny Li, Stephen Paulmier, Ronald Fujiyoshi,
Moanikeala Akaka, Tomas Belsky,
Samuel Kaleleiki, Jim Albertini

Use of former prison draws group's protest

Post Date October 11, 2010

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Environmental Impacts, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights, Militarization of Society, Projects and Campaigns, Youth and Militarization

Source: http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20101009_use_of_former_prison_draws_groups_protest.html

Use of former prison draws group’s protest

By Leila Fujimori

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Oct 09, 2010

A community group that opposed the state’s shutdown of a Big Island prison is formally contesting the transfer of the Kulani Correctional Facility site to the Department of Defense for the National Guard’s Youth Challenge program.

“The board (Board of Land and Natural Resources) didn’t do their due diligence,” said Kat Brady, coordinator of the Community Alliance on Prisons.

The group questions whether the Land Board overstepped its bounds by turning the land over to the Defense Department — in effect, canceling Executive Order 1225, which established its use as a prison. This action was taken without a formal document from the governor withdrawing the executive order, the petition said.

Community Alliance filed on Sept. 20 a request for a triallike hearing to contest the board’s Sept. 9 decision.

A hearing officer will assist the board in determining whether the group has any standing to bring a contested-case hearing before it. There is no timetable on when the board must rule.

Brady’s group opposed the shuttering of the facility, alleging the Department of Public Safety gradually decreased the number of inmates being sent to Kulani, resulting in its population shrinking from 200-plus inmates to 120 to help justify the decision. “What it looked like is it inflates operating costs,” she said.

With only 120 prisoners, Public Safety Director Clayton Frank cited the per-inmate cost at $110. A comparable Oahu low-security prison costs $65.

“The Department of Defense has had the keys since Nov. 20, 2009,” Brady said. “I don’t know what went on behind closed doors, but they were not ready to do anything with it.”

Frank said, “When the budget was spiraling downwards last year,” the department looked at the closure of Kulani, and the Defense Department contacted Public Safety about acquiring it.

Brady said Land Board Chairwoman Laura Thielen said at the Sept. 9 hearing that Kulani sits in the middle of a pristine rain forest.

“Then why just hand it over?” Brady asked. “They transferred the land to the state’s largest polluter. It’s a dangerous door to open.”

The board and its chairwoman would not comment on the petition, Ward said.

Brady said by transferring the land to the Defense Department, the board forecloses the option of reopening the prison or any other alternatives.

Hawaii National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony said the Guard requires an existing, nearly turnkey facility to start up a new Youth Challenge campus.

He said transfers from one state agency to another are nothing unusual, and there was never any intent to use the facility for anything other than the youth program.

“We gave our word,” Anthony said. “There are no plans to do anything other than the Youth Challenge Academy.” To do anything other than that would require going before the board again, he said.

After public opposition, the Defense Department quickly pulled its request to also use the prison site for military training. But it was simply a way of maximizing the use of that facility and not the primary purpose, Anthony said.

Protest greets Hillary Clinton at the East West Center

Post Date January 12, 2010

Comments 1 Comment

Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Global Justice and Peace Movements, Guam / Northern Marianas, Projects and Campaigns, The Military in Hawai'i (All Islands), War and Peace

Angela Hoppe Cruz, a Chamorro student at UH, demonstrates her solidarity against U.S. military bases in Okinawa as well as Guam, her homeland. Photo: Eri Oura

Today in Honolulu, a lively protest outside the East West Center greeted U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who delivered a speech on the U.S. vision for the Asia-Pacific region. Protesters represented a wide range of groups and issues including anti-bases movements in Okinawa, Guam, The Philippines and Hawai’i, Palestinian support groups, peace and anti-war groups and Hawaiian sovereignty groups.

Col. Ann Wright (Retired) and the American Friends Service Committee – Hawai’i called the action with very short notice to send a message to the Obama administration that the peoples of the Asia-Pacific demand peace, not endless war and militarization.

A critical issue for Clinton on this visit was the disagreement between the U.S. and Japan over the fate of U.S. military bases in Okinawa. Earlier in the day, she met with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada to discuss Futenma air station, but was unable to reach a deal.

The U.S. has urged Japan to stick to an earlier agreement negotiated by the previous Japan and U.S. administrations that would relocate Futenma base to the pristine coral reefs of Henoko, Okinawa, and move thousands of marines and other facilities to Guam. However, the new ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which recently ended a fifty-year reign by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, has called for abandoning the agreement and seeking the complete removal of the Futenma base from Okinawa. The Japanese government has delayed its decision on the fate of the Futenma air station. If Futenma were to be moved off of Okinawa, it would most likely be relocated to the American colony of Guam, although the Japanese government has been scouting several of Japan’s smaller off-shore islands as possible relocation sites.

However many of Guam’s indigenous Chamorro people are deeply concerned about the devastating environmental, cultural and social impact of the proposed military expansion. They feel that Chamorro culture would drown in the flood of militarization. Ongoing public hearings on a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed buildup have been packed, with the overwhelming majority opposing the military expansion.

Photo: Eri Oura

Today’s demonstration in Honolulu highlighted solidarity between movements in Hawai’i, Okinawa and Guam and called for a different alternative: the reduction of the U.S. military footprint in the Pacific. This would allow for bases to be removed from Okinawa, without moving the impacts and problems to Guam, Hawai’i or another location.

Kisha Borja-Kicho`cho` and Angela Hoppe Cruz, Chamorro students at the University of Hawai’i, sang a song in their native language. Borja-Kicho’cho’ also recited an angry poem opposed to the military expansion. “We don’t want your military bases!” she said over the bullhorn as Clinton was greeted at the East West Center.

Ann Wright said “We want peace in the Pacific, not more militarization and wars. Get your bases out of the Pacific!”

Prior to Clinton’s arrival, security was thick. Only invited guests were allowed within 100 feet of the Imin Conference Center. However the line of banners and signs were visible to the attendees, and demonstrators chanting “Stop the wars! Bases Out!” echoed between the buildings as Clinton was whisked from her car. The chants continued to disrupt the event until security gave a final warning to the group to turn off the bullhorn.

The main banner read “Asia – Pacific Vision: Peace”, “Bases Out – Guam – Okinawa – Hawai’i”, and “End the Wars.” Another sign out in the shape of the endagered Okinawan Dugong, said “Peace for Okinawa”, “No Bases in Okinawa”, “Save the Dugong” and “Nuchi du Takara” (Life if most precious). Another sign had the outline of Guam with “Asia – Pacific Vision, No Military Build-up”. Groups also held signs opposing the militarization of Hawai’i, calling for an and to the wars and torture, and calling for the U.S. to stop supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. One demonstrator waved the upside-down Hawaiian flag, a sign of the nation in distress.

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Other coverage of Clinton’s visit and the demonstrations:

Hawaii News Now mentioned the demonstration: “Protestors also showed up. About two dozen people held anti-war signs and chanted to attract attention. They weren’t allowed in to hear the speech.” The full story is here: http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11813005

The Honolulu Advertiser coverage of Clinton’s visit is here: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100112/BREAKING/100112045/Clinton+reaffims+U.S.-Japan+relations

And here: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100112/BREAKING01/100112050/Clinton+pledges+to+strengthen+Asia-Pacific+relationships

The Honolulu Star Bulletin coverage quotes Clinton as she restates the “indispensable nation” thesis:

“We are starting from a simple premise: America’s future is linked to the future of the Asia-Pacific region and the future of this region depends on America,” she said.

In an AP article published in the Honolulu Star Bulletin, the headline was failure: “Clinton accepts Japan’s delay on US base decision”

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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60B5AE20100112

Military base deal eludes Clinton, Okada in Hawaii

HONOLULU

Tue Jan 12, 2010 3:52pm EST

HONOLULU (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada failed to reach a deal on Tuesday on a dispute over a U.S. military base, but pledged not to let it derail the broader relationship.

Clinton, after an 80-minute discussion with Okada in Hawaii, said she had again urged Tokyo to follow through on a deal to relocate the Marines’ Futenma base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, but allowed that this could take time to fully resolve.

“This is an issue that we view as very important,” Clinton told a news briefing. “But we are also working on so many other aspects of the global challenges that we face and we are going to continue to do that.”

Okada repeated that the government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama had pledged to make a final decision about Futenma by May, and remained committed to the broader U.S.-Japan security pact, which marks its 50th anniversary this year.

“We will come up with a conclusion by May so that there will be minimum impact on the Japan-U.S. alliance,” Okada said through a translator.

U.S. officials say relocating Futenma to a less crowded part of Okinawa — rather than off the island as many residents demand — is an important part of a broader realignment of U.S. forces amid China’s rising power and uncertainties over North Korea.

(Reporting by Andrew Quinn; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Women Activists Explore Post-military economy

Post Date September 18, 2009

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Global Justice and Peace Movements, Guam / Northern Marianas, Projects and Campaigns

Activists explore post-military economy

Friday, 18 September 2009 03:18 MVG Reporter

PEOPLE will have to work together if they want to sustain an economy after the military. This was emphasized during the fourth day of the 7th Meeting of the International Network of Women Against Militarism at the University of Guam in Mangilao.

The morning a panel focused on the topic “Beyond the Military Economy: Exploring Alternatives for Sustainability.”

Participating were Alma Bulawan of the Buklod Center Philippines, Dr. Hannah Middleton of the Australian Anti-Base Campaign, Dr. Miyume Tanji of Curtin University of Technology in Australia, and Isabella Sumang of Palau.

Each panelist gave a perspective of the impact the military has had on their respective regions.

Bulawan had indicated that when there were bases in the Philippines, businesses were set up to cater to the military as well as prostitution. It appears now that with those bases closed, businesses and the prostitution still remain.

She referred to the Subic Bay and Clark Freeport Zones, which formerly hosted the U.S. Naval Base and the Air Force Base and have each seen the creation and development of businesses.

Despite the conversion of the old bases, Bulawan said the Philippines continues to face economic challenges.

As for Australia, Middleton explained how millions of Australian dollars are spent on military defense and other armed forces programs. A recent poll showed that 70 percent of Australians do not want any more money spent on the military.

She added that the Australians believe the money should go on helping the environment, improving hospitals and even to create jobs.

“We expect one million Australians will be unemployed in 2010, money should be spent to help them find jobs,” she said.

During the open forum, several concerns were brought up including a question on whether they felt that the threat of an invasion and war is real here in Micronesia.

Sumang responded that it could be the case especially when there is a military presence. “You have that threat hanging over your head,” she said.

Middleton offered another perspective saying that the threat is an excuse to keep military bases in the region.

“It’s not real,” she pointed out.

The women’s conference concludes today at the Carmel on the Hill Retreat Center in Malojloj or the former Carmelite Convent.

Participants are expected to discuss Human Trafficking and Prostitution and gather together in group meetings to develop short term and long term goals.

The conference wraps up with an art celebration featuring music, visual artworks and poetry reading starting at 6 p.m.

Source: http://mvguam.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8568:activists-explore-post-military-economy&catid=1:guam-local-news&Itemid=2