[News] Hawai'i Kingdom suing to end U.S. Occupation
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Sat Jul 31 12:46:12 EDT 2021
National Lawyers Guild
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21901&qid=6299199>
Header of the Amicus Brief in Support of the Hawaiian Kingdom reading
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21902&qid=6299199>
WPLC, IADL, and NLG file joint Amicus Brief Supporting the Hawaiian
Kingdom’s Complaint against the US Requesting a Declaratory Judgment and
Effective End of U.S. Occupation
https://www.nlg.org/wplc-iadl-and-nlg-file-joint-amicus-brief-supporting-the-hawaiian-kingdoms-complaint-against-the-us-requesting-a-declaratory-judgment-and-effective-end-of-u-s-occupation/
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21902&qid=6299199>
*Contact:*
Natali Segovia, Staff Attorney, WPLC: defense at waterprotectorlegal.org
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21903&qid=6299199>
NLG International Committee: international at nlg.org
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21904&qid=6299199>
Honolulu—The Water Protector Legal Collective (WPLC), alongside the
International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) and National
Lawyers Guild (NLG), filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”)
brief <https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21905&qid=6299199>
today in support of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s complaint
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21906&qid=6299199>against
the United States government, President Joe Biden, and other defendants,
due to the unlawful occupation of Hawai‘i by the United States since
January 17, 1893. The complaint and the amicus brief request Declaratory
and Injunctive Relief, namely for the US to end the occupation of the
Hawaiian Kingdom.
Hawai‘i has been illegally occupied by the US since 1893, when
businessmen and politicians helped John Stevens overthrow Queen
Lili‘uokalani and the Hawaiian government. One-hundred years later,
President Clinton would apologize
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21907&qid=6299199> and the
US would acknowledge that Hawaiian Kingdom never relinquished their
land. That is not enough. The people of the Hawaiian Kingdom have
remained continuously opposed to the illegal occupation of the US and
its effects, including de-nationalization, the exploitation of natural
resources
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21908&qid=6299199>, legacy
of racial unrest sown by colonialism
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21909&qid=6299199>, and
over-tourism
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21910&qid=6299199> at the
expense of Native Hawaiians.
Mr. Dexter Ke`eaumoku Ka`iama, Acting Attorney General for the Hawaiian
Kingdom who filed the original complaint, described the amicus brief
filed by the three legal organizations: “The amicus transcends over 128
years of the illegal occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the violations
of international law and international humanitarian law and political
pressures and trappings brought to maintain this illegality. Instead,
the amicus rightly directs our attention to the undisputed history of
the Hawaiian Kingdom and proper application of international law, US
Constitutional law and compacts (treaties) between the sovereign States
of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the United States.”
While relief in this matter would seemingly be barred by the political
question doctrine, the amicus brief states the federal and state courts
of Hawai'i are /de facto/ Article II courts since 1893 because the US
occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom has never ended or been resolved
through an operative peace treaty. Experts in international law and
human rights have determined that without some type of transfer of
sovereignty, the Hawaiian Kingdom and its people have the sole right to
that land. There is judicial precedent of at least 12 Article II
executive “occupation” courts in U.S. legal and political history since
the Mexican War in 1846, provisional courts during the Civil War, and
through 1971 when the United States returned Okinawa and Ryukyu Islands
to Japan after WWII.
“At its core,” says WPLC Staff Attorney Natali Segovia, “this case is
about the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the right of
self-determination of an entire Nation. I don’t mean luke-warm
self-determination within the boundaries of a settler state; I mean the
self-determination that is at the heart of international law: the right
of nations to self-govern to freely determine their political status,
their economic, social, and cultural development within their own
territory. Standing Rock, Line 3, and the #Landback movement share this
in common. WPLC began at Standing Rock, where the fight for the water
and for future generations was a manifestation and exercise of
self-determination of the Oceti Sakowin Oyate and Indigenous Peoples and
allies around the world that answered their call. WPLC is committed to
supporting those struggles for sovereignty and self-determination of
Indigenous Peoples and Original Nations wherever we can.”
"As an organization that values human rights and the rights of
ecosystems over property interests, the NLG supports all Native peoples'
right to self-determination and resistance against settler-colonial
oppression—whether it be in Palestine, Standing Rock, or Hawai'i. The US
is no exception to standards set by international and humanitarian law,
and must end its occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom, said NLG President
Elena Cohen."
IADL President Jeanne Mirer said, “As an international organization of
human rights lawyers dedicated to the furtherance of peace, justice, and
the rule of law, the IADL reiterates its support for the Hawaiian
Kingdom and the people of Hawai‘i in their ongoing struggle for
sovereignty, and self-determination. The United States has an obligation
to comply with international humanitarian law and the law of occupation.”
Mr. Ka`iama concluded, “Filing of the amicus coincides with the formal
restoration of the Hawaiian Kingdom from the British Government on July
31, 1843. A day that is remembered and celebrated as Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea
(“Restoration Day”). So too, this amicus will be forever marked and
fondly remembered in the annals of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Aloha ‘Āina.”
“Aloha ‘Āina” is Hawaiian for “love of the land.” As legal organizations
committed to human rights, international law, and the rule of law, we
stand — for the land, for the water, and for future generations.
Counsel for /Amici Curiae/ NLG, IADL, and WPLC are Natali Segovia,
Joseph (Joey) Chase, and Charles Heaukulani.
#Landback #HawaiianKingdom #AlohaAina
*The International Association of Democratic Lawyers (“IADL”)*
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21911&qid=6299199> is an
international organization of human rights lawyers and jurists founded
in 1946, with member associations and individual members in over 90
countries and with consultative status in ECOSOC. IADL is dedicated to
upholding international law and promoting the tenets of the UN Charter
in furtherance of peace and justice.
*The National Lawyers Guild (“NLG”)*
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21901&qid=6299199> was
formed in 1937 as the first national racially integrated bar association
in the U.S. to advocate for the protection of constitutional, human, and
civil rights/./
*The Water Protector Legal Collective (“WPLC”)*
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21912&qid=6299199> is an
Indigenous-led legal non-profit organization that began in 2016 as the
on-the-ground legal team at Oceti Sakowin camp at Standing Rock in
defense of Water Protectors in frontline resistance to the Dakota Access
Pipeline.**WPLC continues to provide legal support and advocacy to
Indigenous Peoples and Original Nations, the Earth, and climate justice
movements.
*Support the Hawaiian Kingdom*. To learn more, visit:
hawaiiankingdom.org/blog
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21913&qid=6299199>
#
Read this press release on the NLG website
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21902&qid=6299199>
National Lawyers Guild - National Office
<https://www.nlg.org/civicrm/mailing/url/?u=21901&qid=6299199>
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