OPINION SECTION
Written by: Leon Kaulahao Siu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands
Siu is a 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee
On Wednesday, January 17, Hawaiians will be remembering a day of infamy.
Note: This article was written and submitted to HuffPost prior to this past Saturday’s mass text alert of a nuclear missile approaching Hawaii. Though it was a false alarm, the confusion and panic that ensued showed that Hawaii is still highly susceptible to a sneak attack by America’s enemies. Government and military officials apparently had no idea what they were doing.
For Hawaiians, January 17, 1893 was a day of treachery and betrayal. It was the original “day of infamy,” when U.S. Marines landed in Honolulu to back a small group of traders-turned-traitors in their scheme to dethrone Queen Liliuokalani and seize control of the Hawaiian Kingdom government. The purpose? So the sugar barons could get richer by having absolute economic and political control over the islands; and the United States could grab Pearl Harbor and gain strategic control of the Pacific.
The acts of treachery in Honolulu on that day 125 years ago, set the stage for the illegal takeover of the Hawaiian Islands by the United States. To Hawaiians, that sneak attack on the Hawaiian Kingdom by the United States military is the real “day of infamy,” not the one that happened 48 years later on December 7, 1941.
The unwarranted regime change triggered by the United States intervention would adversely affect not only ethnic Hawaiians, but all who were subjects and residents of the Hawaiian Kingdom. From that point forward, succeeding generations of Hawaiians lived and suffered under the foreign (U.S.) control of their country.
To have a strong foreign power reach into another country to cause a regime change is by itself a serious violation of international law. But to do it to a peaceful, friendly, defenseless and trusting country like the Hawaiian Kingdom is a truly heinous act. What happened not only up-ended the Hawaiian Islands, it created a template for the U.S. to repeatedly interject itself with impunity into the affairs of many foreign countries. Since they got away with such an outrageous act in Hawaii, why not everywhere else?
The lawless behavior of the United States toward the Hawaiian Kingdom over the past 125 years has kept the Hawaiian people at an economic and social disadvantage as well as in grave jeopardy for their lives. Pearl Harbor would not have been attacked in 1941 had the U.S. Pacific Fleet not been tantalizingly anchored there. Today, enemies of the United States with nuclear capabilities place a big red X on Hawaii as a prime target. Should a nuclear conflict erupt, the Hawaiian people — the people of Aloha — and beautiful Hawaiian Islands would be among the very first to be annihilated.
Yes, Hawaii is paradise. But it is marred by runaway development, exploitation, subjugation, displacement, a high cost of living driven by the habits and priorities of foreign interests. Then, there is the ubiquitous presence of the U.S. military bristling with bravado and weapons of mass destruction.
But because the United States came to be in Hawaii in such an underhanded way, it has no legal or moral right to be here. The United States presence in and claim to the Hawaiian Islands is a massive fraud. All the U.S. has in Hawaii is an elaborate cover-up of the treachery and betrayal that began on January 17, 1893, the real “day of infamy.”
Realizing that the U.S. claim is fraudulent and that the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands, was never extinguished and so technically still exists, many Hawaiians have been repatriating to their Kingdom, embracing who they are as Hawaiian nationals and mounting a vigorous campaign to Free Hawaii from U.S. occupation.
The campaign exposes the fraud perpetrated by the United States and calls on the United States to comply with its obligation under international law to peacefully end its illegal occupation of the Hawaiian Islands, to gracefully withdraw in an orderly manner and to fully cooperate in the restoration of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
The time to resolve this long-standing offense is now and Hawaiians believe it can happen. Indeed, they believe it must happen.
The Campaign to Free Hawaii is not just a feel-good slogan for political justice or liberation or entitlement. It is an urgent survival measure for Hawaiians to regain control of their lives, their lands, their safety, their sustenance, their wellbeing and their future. It is an opportunity to show the world that even such a severe, long-standing offense, can be met and overcome in the Spirit of Aloha. It is an opportunity to create a new paradigm for Peace.
Thus, we Hawaiian nationals invite the United States to engage with us in making peace between our two nations so we can restore and resume a proper, friendly and mutually beneficial relationship with one another.
Written by:
Leon Kaulahao Siu