Archive for December, 2013

The Militarization of Christmas & Everything!

Wednesday, December 25th, 2013

End the U.S.

 National Security

State!

wisemen      According to the Biblical account, when the three wise men from the east, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, alerted King Herod of the birth of Jesus, the long awaited Messiah, Herod saw trouble. He saw a Messiah, in Roman occupied Judea, as a threat to his throne and to the overall power of the Roman Empire. Herod’s response, like that of all empires, was to send in the military. Herod had every baby boy under the age of two in the Bethlehem district of Palestine summarily slaughtered. The Christian church commemorates this tragic day annually on Dec. 28th as the Feast of the Holy Innocents.

      In the U.S. people are rightly horrified when innocent children are gunned down in U.S. school shootings. But that same sense of horror doesn’t seem to apply when innocent children are slaughtered by U.S. Predator and Reaper drone attacks in far away places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, etc. Or Palestinian children dying in the Holy Land today under Israeli occupation with $3 billion annually of U.S. military aid.

      The U.S. is addicted to violence and war. Assault weapon sales, even “AK-47 Christmas sales” continue to skyrocket. Military Christmas propaganda videos have F-18 Fighter jets escorting Santa with NORAD tracking his moves to prevent attack from bad guys. The U.S. military has even begun to use the term “harvest” to describe the killing done by drones. The U.S. has now become a National Security State, a global empire, “harvesting” children – Holy Innocents, at home and abroad. When will it end? It will end when we stand with the children and say…

No More Violence – No

More War!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawai`i 96760.

Phone (808) 966-7622Email ja@malu-aina.org  http://www.malu-aina.org

Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (December 27, 2013– 640th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

REMINDER: Hilo ANNUAL SILENT CANDLELIGHT-VIGIL FOR PEACE Christmas Eve

Monday, December 23rd, 2013

Please pass the word.  Mahalo and Merry Christmas!
Jim

ANNUAL SILENT

CANDLELIGHT-VIGIL

FOR PEACE

 

Christmas candle

 ALL ARE WELCOME

WHEN:  Tuesday, December 24th, 4:00 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
WHERE: Hwy 11, Hilo (between Ross and Walgreens)

Let’s overcome the holiday message of materialism and instead hold a light to its spiritual message of loving kindness, peace and good will to all.  Global,AND LOCAL suffering is increasing with on-going wars, poverty, and destruction of our environment. May the glow of our candles and our SILENT presence serve as testimony that a better way is possible. Let us strengthen our resolve to end suffering and dedicate our lives to caring for each other and working for justice, peace, and aloha ‘aina (love for the land), here in Hawaii and around the world.

COME JOIN US

AS WE RAISE A CANDLE FOR PEACE

AND THE HEALING OF OUR PLANET

If you can, please bring a peaceful sign and a wind-protected candle or lantern, and be prepared for a chance of rain. 

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone
(808) 966-7622.  Emailja@malu-aina.org   http://www.malu-aina.org

Please choose Malu ‘Aina for your year end giving

Monday, December 23rd, 2013

Annual Christmas

Appeal!

Dear  friends,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        December, 2013

      Christmas, with its message of “Peace on Earth, Good Will to all,” is a special time of year to pause and reflect. It’s a time to take stock of what is really important in life, the values we hold dear, including our family and friends. It is during this season that I send out an “Annual Appeal” to help sustain Malu ‘Aina’s work for justice, peace, and aloha ‘aina (love for the land). It’s also a time to say thank you for the solidarity over the long haul.

      Malu ‘Aina has been planting seeds and sharing food with people in need, the least among us, for 33 years, and all of you have been part of that effort in one way or another. This sense of caring for one another, providing mutual aid, is one of our core values. Oh how I wish we were seeing less need and more justice and joy, but that is not the case. The gap between rich and poor is widening. It appears that personal gain for the .1% has displaced concern for the common good. For many, hope of a better life, is in short supply.

     Malu ‘Aina is now in its 637thconsecutive week of sponsoring a Friday Peace Vigil at the downtown Hilo Post Office/Federal Building. Each week a new peace leaflet is prepared for worldwide distribution on the internet and on the downtown street corner. 637 weeks is more than 12 years of ongoing wars and trillions of dollars spent for death and destruction. There seems to always be enough money for new weapon systems and wars, but never enough money for building a more just world, meeting basic human needs and caring for the earth.

      Together, we want to see a change in priorities, a world where we fight less and talk more; where love and kindness, not violence, is affirmed as the law of our being; where everyone has the basic necessities of life; where “justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream;” and where we treat the earth, our mother, with the respect she deserves.

      In this Holy season, and the year around, we are truly blessed by the gifts of your solidarity – your peace, good will, aloha, and financial help.  Thank you for the sharing of your lives. Together, we help each other keep the faith and never give up the promise of peace and hope for future generations. The English philosopher, Sir Francis Bacon, said centuries ago that “wealth, like manure, only does good when we spread it around.” Today, even Pope Francis agrees. Amen!

With gratitude and aloha,

Jim Albertini for Malu ‘Aina

peace dove
PS Please sign up to receive the Malu ‘Aina weekly peace leaflet and other posts for peace, justice and the environment.
Click on “Subscribe” on the Malu ‘Aina home webpage
www.malu-aina.org

Donations are tax deductible if checks are made to: Center for Non-violent Education & Action

P.O. Box 489 ‘Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawai’i 96760. Phone (808) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.

Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (December 6, 2013– 637th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

Hilo Annual Candlelight Vigil for peace on Christmas Eve

Friday, December 20th, 2013

Please help pass the word. Mahalo and Merry Christmas!

Jim

ANNUAL SILENT

CANDLELIGHT-VIGIL

FOR PEACE

Christmas candle

 
ALL ARE WELCOME

WHEN:  Tuesday, December 24th, 4:00 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
WHERE: Hwy 11, Hilo (between Ross and Walgreens)

Let’s overcome the holiday message of materialism and instead hold a light to its spiritual message of loving kindness, peace and good will to all.  Global,AND LOCAL suffering is increasing with on-going wars, poverty, and destruction of our environment. May the glow of our candles and our SILENT presence serve as testimony that a better way is possible. Let us strengthen our resolve to end suffering and dedicate our lives to caring for each other and working for justice, peace, and aloha ‘aina (love for the land), here in Hawaii and around the world.

COME JOIN US

AS WE RAISE A CANDLE FOR PEACE

AND THE HEALING OF OUR PLANET

If you can, please bring a peaceful sign and a wind-protected candle or lantern, and be prepared for a chance of rain. 

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone
(808) 966-7622.  Emailja@malu-aina.org   http://www.malu-aina.org

“LAWSUIT SEEKS PU’UHONUA NOT PRISON AT KULANI”

Friday, December 20th, 2013
MEDIA ADVANCE for MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2013
Dated and released, Friday December 20, 2013
PRESS CONFERENCE:    Monday, December 23, 2013
                     10:00 a.m.
                     Third Circuit Court, Hilo District Court
                     777 Aupuni St.  Hilo, HI
                     at the Kanawai Mamalahoe Statue
Contact:  Palikapu Dedman (808) 959-4930
          Ronald Fujiyoshi (808) 959-9775 & (808) 345-9688
“LAWSUIT SEEKS PU’UHONUA NOT PRISON AT KULANI”
HILO, HAWAII – The nonprofit Ohana Ho`opakele announced today that three Hawaii County residents presently incarcerated at Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona have joined a lawsuit to prevent the State’s planned reactivation of Kulani prison unless and until it has considered a Kulani pu`uhonua as an alternative.
     According to Ho`opakele President Palikapu Dedman, “Hawaii prisons already are filled disproportionately with native Hawaiians.  Isn’t it time the State of Hawaii does something different and stops feeding this so called criminal justice system that thrives on the misery of the Hawaiian people.”
     On August 2, 2013, Ho`opakele filed a complaint in Hilo District circuit court requesting an injunction to prevent the proposed reactivation of Kulani prison unless and until such time the State prepares an environmental impact statement that specifically considers activating a Hawaiian pu`uhonua at Kulani camp and grounds. Ho`opakele filed the complaint after the State Office of Environmental Quality Control published on July 8, 2013 a “Final Environmental Assessment” and “Finding of No Significant Impact” prepared by the State Dept. of Accounting and General Services for the Dept. of Public Safety’s proposed Kulani prison reactivation project.
      “In 2012, The State Legislature passed Act 117 that specifically directed the Dept. of Public Safety to work with Ohana Ho`opakele in developing a plan for a pu`uhonua at Kulani camp and grounds,” Dedman said.  “The Department has not worked with us to develop a plan, and instead has called Act 117 ‘an unfunded mandate.’”
     Ho`opakele considers the State’s plan to reactivate Kulani prison as the ground floor of a scheme envisioned by the State Dept. of Public Safety announced on November 14, 2013 to expand prisons and prison populations throughout the Hawaiian islands.
     “I think we have all heard at one time or another that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” Dedman continued.  “Either insanity has taken ahold, or anyone proposing more prisons and more prisoners in Hawaii simply does not desire or expect any different results.”
     According to Mr. Fujiyoshi, who also serves on the Ho`opakele Board of Directors, the three new plaintiffs are among a total of one hundred thirteen Saguaro pa`ahao that had contacted Ohana Ho`opakele seeking to join the lawsuit.   “These island men incarcerated at Saguaro that have joined our case are native Hawaiian, local residents, and serving sentences imposed by our Third Circuit courts.  Also, each of these men had signed on to Ohana Ho`opakele’s Kahea for building Hawaiian pu`uhonua, not State prisons, well before the lawsuit had been filed.  Two of them have been writing to state officials to formally request placement in a Kulani pu`uhonua.”
     Ohana’s Kahea was issued on March 21, 2011 and presently has received 1,856 endorsements from Hawaii residents and international supporters.
     “On November 7, 2013, on the steps of the Kuhio federal building in Honolulu, Ho`opakale petitioned U.S. attorney General, Eric Holder to come to Hawaii to investigate the disproportionate number of native Hawaiians in Hawaii state jails and prisons.  Today, we file this amended complaint in our Hilo District circuit court asking for justice from Judge Glen H. Hara. A State Prison is based on punishment.  Hawaiian pu`uhonua is based on healing, and healing the individual, family, and community.   Pu`uhonua can never be one program in a prison.  It is the very alternative to prison,” said Dedman.
     Copies of Ohana Ho`opakele’s amended complaint will be made available to members of the media at the above-captioned conference on Monday, December 23, 2013, or upon request.

 

Excerpts from Ho`opakele’s Amended Complaint, Civil No. 13-1-0474, filed December 23, 2013
·       DAGS environmental assessment did not consider a single alternative, including pu`uhonua, to the Dept. of Public Safety’s proposed reactivation of Kulani Prison, or any alternative uses for the Kulani campus and grounds, or any other sites to locate a prison in Hawaii County or elsewhere.
·       DAGS did not consult the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Dept. of Hawaiian Homelands, Kulani campus and grounds neighbor Kamehameha Schools, or Ohana Ho`opakele in preparation of the environmental assessment.
·       The environmental assessment did not consider the issues of traditional Hawaiian usage and practice, preservation of specific endangered and threatened plant and animal species, use of federal funds, public recreational access, road-building, fencing, and multi-user conflict that were identified in DLNR’s environmental assessment of the Pu`u Maka`ala Natural Area Reserve Management Plan wherein Kulani camp and grounds is wholly located.
·       In 2009 when Kulani Prison was closed it had capacity to house one hundred sixty pa`ahao, and the Kulani prison reactivation plan proposes a capacity for two hundred twenty eight pa`ahao. The environmental assessment did not consider any effects and impacts of, or alternatives to, incarcerating 37.5% more prisoners than the seven (7) dormitories were designed for and last most recently housed.
·       The environmental assessment not consider that in June 2010, native Hawaiians comprised 41% state prison population, or that since the mid 1990’s, native Hawaiians have been receiving longer prison and probation sentences than persons of other races and ethnicities, and that with the exception of Native Americans, native Hawaiians have been the most likely to receive a sentence of imprisonment.
·       The environmental assessment did not consider that, by county, excepting only Kalawao (Kalaupapa, Moloka`i), Hawaii County’s population is constituted by the greatest percentages of Native Hawaiians, Other Pacific Islanders, and Persons of Two of More Races, collectively 42% County population.
·       The environmental assessment did not consider that Hawaii County’s population is experiencing the deepest money poverty, at 16% population, and lowest per capita and money incomes in the state of Hawaii.
·       The environmental assessment did not consider that in each of FYS 2011 and 2012, Hawaii County jails were occupied by one point eight (1.8) men for every one (1) jail bed the facility was designed for.
·       The environmental assessment did not consider that during FYS 2011 and 2012, while Hawaii County’s adult population comprised 13.5% state population, Third Circuit courts sentenced 25% felony convictions to prison, 21% Misdemeanor convictions, and 33% Violations convictions, and supervised 20% state adult probation caseload.
·       The environmental assessment did not consider, and the Dept. of Public Safety has not developed a community benefit and enhancement package to mitigate the negative aspects of reactivating Kulani Prison in the District of South Hilo, County of Hawaii, State of Hawaii.
·       The environmental assessment did not address any reactivation of the helipad facility and, therefore, may have failed to consider any of diverse direct, secondary, and cumulative effects and impacts of helicopter transportation to and from a reactivated Kulani Prison.
·       The environmental assessment did not consider that the United States of America did not annex the Hawaiian Islands in 1898, and that there existed no “public lands” for the Republic of Hawaii to transfer to the USA and no “ceded lands” for the USA to transfer to the State of Hawaii.
·       The environmental assessment did not consider that Tax Map Key (3)2-4-008:009 spans nearly 8,000 acres of Hawaiian Crown lands and that the State of Hawaii is obligated to use Crown lands to benefit native Hawaiian heirs to this land.
·       Even if Kulani camp and grounds is contained within ceded lands, the environmental assessment does not address how the proposed disposition of ceded lands containing Kulani camp and grounds as a minimum security prison contributes to the betterment of the native Hawaiian people or any of the other federally prescribed uses of ceded lands.
·       The environmental assessment did not consider that Act 117 states, in part the legislative finding that “a pu`uhonua, or wellness center, based on Hawaiian cultural practices will help the native Hawaiian community and community at large. . . .  The cultural practices of pule, ho`oponopono, aloha `aina, mahi`ai, la`au lapa`au, and aloha will help create a sensitive setting.  A culturally based pu`uhonua will restore and maintain a better atmosphere and relationship between family, friends, community, and society.”
·       The environmental assessment did not consider that Act 117 states, in part, the legislative finding that “the site formerly used as the Kulani correctional facility. . . . is a place of deep spirituality for the Hawaiian people, and pragmatically, it has the infrastructure and historical precedent for use in sustainable living.”