Please see the beautiful tribute to Bernard Punikai’a of Kalaupapa and Hale Mohalu below by Valerie Monson of Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa.
Bernard is the person who named Malu ‘Aina and was a dear friend. I was a pallbearer at his funeral at Kalaupapa.
Jim Albertini
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Food NOT Bombs!
Photo: $250,000 Javelin anti-tank missile being fired at Pohakuloa while 40% of families on Hawaii Island (1 in 3 families statewide) are food insecure.
It’s election season and few politicians are talking about the Elephant in the center of Hawaii Island – the massive 133,000 acre Pohakuloa Toxic Area (PTA). Pohakuloa has been bombed and shelled for more than 80 years, Millions of live rounds, from a wide variety of weapon systems, are fired annually at PTA. The US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and foreign countries, bomb and shell Pohakuloa. Many of the weapons fired at PTA contain toxins such as lead, Depleted Uranium (DU) radiation, perchlorate, etc. With continued bombing and shelling in the dry, high-wind Saddle Area, these toxins can be resuspended and blow long distances in the wind.
Since 1975, the US military has admitted to starting 892 wildfires at Pohakuloa from military activities. One fire started in August 2022 (1 year before the Lahaina fire) and burned more than 17,000 acres, including more than 12,000 acres off base in an endangered species habitat. What toxins blow in the dust and smoke coming off PTA?
All Hawaii residents have recently become aware of Navy jet fuel leaks from Red Hill storage tanks contaminating Oahu’s water wells. Thousands have been sickened by fuel in their water. Are military toxins at PTA, at 6500 feet in the center of our island getting into our water? Pohakuloa spends over a million dollars a year hauling water to the base. More than 10 years ago PTA drilled 2 water wells on the base and hit water at shallow depths – 750 and 1200 feet below the surface. But they are still not using water from those wells? Why? Are military toxins in those water wells? We all know that whatever you do mauka, eventually comes makai. We are all downhill and downwind from Pohakuloa. It’s time we demand candidates and elected officials speak out — Stop Bombing and Shut Down Pohakuloa, Cancel, don’t renew, the state military land lease at PTA, Make the military clean up its toxic mess, and return the land to the Hawaiian people. Shift the Trillion dollar US military budget to meet human needs – food, housing, education, healthcare, child care, elder care, and addressing the global climate crisis. The US military is the largest consumer of oil and emitter of CO2 on the planet. No More Wars — in Gaza, the wider Middle East, with Iran, with Russia, with China. Make the US Empire heel to a new multipolar world of civilized nations! There will be no winners in a nuclear war! Peace is a Victory for All.
Election Candidates:
Malu ‘Aina 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 to receive our posts. 2 on the planet.
For more information see https://www.malu-aina.org
Aug. 30, 2024, Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1196– Fridays 3:30-5 PM downtown Post Office
Not One More Bomb!
On Gaza, Pohakuloa, etc.
The death toll in Gaza from US/Israel bombs has now officially topped 40,000, with suggestions that the actual number of deaths could be much higher. On Monday, Aug. 19, Biden told the Democratic National Convention in Chicago “We’ll keep working, to bring hostages home, and end the war in Gaza, and bring peace and security to the Middle East. As you know, I wrote a peace treaty for Gaza. A few days ago I put forward a proposal that brought us closer to doing that than we’ve done since October 7th.” What Biden did not say is just six days earlier he approved sending $20 billion worth of more weapons to Israel. Talk about hypocrisy! A bomber disguised as a peacemaker!
Presently, there is a massive US military build-up in the Middle East of ships, planes, and troops preparing for a possible widening war, that could quickly go nuclear. While claiming to be a peacemaker, the truth is that Biden is a longstanding warmonger on behalf of the US Empire. I know of no war in more than 50 years he hasn’t supported. And Biden does not stand alone. The US Congress recently gave Israel’s Prime Minister and war criminal, Bibi Netanyahu, repeated standing ovations in the US Congress. There appears to be endless funding for wars in the Middle East, in Ukraine, and for a future war against China, while 40% of families on Hawaii Island, and in many other places, are food insecure, in need of decent housing, health care, etc.
Hawaii’s Congressional delegates are big military and war supporters too. Don’t let them kid you. Their voting records speak loudly. None of them have done a thing to investigate and clean up the many military toxins used at the 133,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) in the center of Hawaii Island. PTA has been bombed and shelled for 75 years with millions of live rounds fired annually. Depleted Uranium (DU) radiation contaminates the land and blows long distances in the wind. It has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. Small DU oxide particles when inhaled can travel through the lymph system to various organs causing cancer, birth defects, and genetic damage that can be passed to future generations. Are military toxins contaminating Hawaii Island’s drinking water like fuel spills at Red Hill on Oahu? We don’t know. If you don’t look you won’t know. 23,000 acres at Pohakuloa are coming up for State lease renewal. The same is true with State leases to the military on Oahu. What politicians at all levels are calling for an end to US warmongering, military leases, and a return of the land to the Hawaiian people? It’s time to end our collective addiction to war. We are living in a state of denial.
It’s Time We Wake Up!
Speak Up! Stand Up!
Stop the Bombing Now!
1 . Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject violence & war as solutions. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination: anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, anti-Black, anti-Asian, anti-Russian, anti-LGBTQ, etc. 5. Seek peace through peaceful means and work for 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) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org to receive our posts. 2 on the planet.
For more information see https://www.malu-aina.org
Aug. 23, 2024, Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1195– Fridays 3:30-5 PM downtown Post Office
