Restore Hawaii County’s

Historic

Nuclear–Free Law!

Repeal the Military

Exemption!

Support Bill 206

Send an email in support to counciltestimony@hawaiicounty.gov

There is a first hearing on Bill No. 206 at 3 PM on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 3 PM in the Hilo Council chambers before the Policy Committee on Health, Safety and Well-Being.  Call the County Clerk’s office 808-961-8255 to ask how you can testify via video from various places around the island.

Hawaii County’s historic Nuclear-Free Law #665 was passed in February 1981. Hawaii County was the first municipality in the U.S. to pass a law declaring itself a Nuclear-Free Zone. Since then, more than 100 or 200 other municipalities have passed similar laws.

     Forty years ago, on July 18, 1984, hundreds of people gathered peacefully on the Hilo docks to protest a visiting US Navy Nuclear-armed warship – the USS Ouellet. After 3 years of requesting the US Navy to respect our country’s Nuclear-Free law without success, (leave your nuclear shoes in Pearl Harbor) our organization announced a month in advance that we planned a non-violent peaceful swimming protest of the next Navy Nuclear ship visit. A Navy Nuclear ship visit was planned for the July Hawaii Japanese Chamber of Commerce Festival of the Pacific.

     On July 17, 1984, the day before the nuclear warship’s scheduled arrival, the Hawaii County Council, under the leadership of Council chair, Stephen Yamashiro, passed an emergency amendment “exempting the military” from the Nuclear-Free law.  Having an amendment to the Nuclear-Free Law to exempt the military is like having an exemption for smokers from the No Smoking laws.  It makes no sense.

     On July 18, 1984, the day the Navy Nuclear ship arrived, the US Coast Guard established a Federal security zone for the entire Hilo Bay at the request of the Navy. Anyone putting their toe in the water with a protest sign was subject to a felony violation. July 18. 1984 Hilo Bay was like a war zone.  Coast Guard Cutters escorted the Navy Nuclear warship.  Military helicopters patrolled overhead.  Naval Seal teams in zodiacs were in the water.  Hundreds offered pule on the docks, sang peace songs, and held signs — Respect County Law!  Nuclear-Free Zone! No Nukes! Peace Now! Approximately 100 people were prepared to enter the water in protest.  (For more on the Hilo Bay Warship Peace Blockade, see https://malu-aina.org/?p=10305

Make Hawaii Nuclear Free!  It’s in YOUR Hands!

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.

For more information see https://www.malu-aina.org

Sept. 27, 2024, Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1200– Fridays 3:30-5 PM downtown Post Office

Nuclear Never!  Hawaii Forever!

Nuclear-Free & Independent Pacific March through Waikiki in 1980. Hawaiian activist Moanikeala Akaka is on the far right, Angel Pilago is above “Hawaii” on the banner, and Lopeti Senatule of Fiji on the left.

The Waikele Nuclear weapon depot (now closed) was located in central Oahu. West Loch of Pearl Harbor is where all Navy ships load, or unload weapons. It is a major weapons depot on Oahu.  ASROC nuclear warheads were carried on US surface ships like the USS Ouellet that visited Hilo on July 18, 1984.

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.

Please join the weekly Friday Hilo Peace Vigil from 3:30 – 5 PM at the downtown Post Office—also, Sat. Sept. 21, 2024, Join the sign holding to STOP BOMBING POHAKULOA at the Hawaii County Mayoral Forum OUTSIDE the Hilo Yacht Club on Kalanianaole (just past Onekahakaha Beach Park)10:30 AM till Noon. Also Join the Peace organizing meeting on Monday, Sept. 23rd 6-8 PM at the Keaau Community Center. Meetings are held on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month, at the same place and time. Please pass the word. Mahalo.

Call Off World War III

     The word is that the US and Great Britain have already given the go-ahead for Ukraine to use long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russia.  Russia says this amounts to NATO waging war on Russia, a war that could quickly go nuclear. There is also a risk of nuclear war with China over Taiwan and the South China Sea and with a widening war in the Middle East. Sign the petition here to Call off WWIII: http://www.codepink.org/wwiii?recruiter_id=408867

View the 1982 film Puhipau  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3ZAlHky-YQ about the Effects of a 20 megaton nuclear blast over Pearl Harbor described by the Hawaii Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility. This is a timely film to revisit in light of increasing nuclear war threats.

     The Pohakuloa Toxic Area (PTA) is a 133,000-acre training ground for nuclear war in the center of Hawaii Island. Depleted Uranium (DU) radiation spotting rounds for the US nuclear weapon system named Davy Crockett, were fired at PTA in the 1960s. A wide range of weapon systems continue to be fired at PTA involving millions of live rounds annually spreading military toxins around the island by the strong winds that blow through the Saddle Area where PTA is located. B-52 and B-2 strategic nuclear bombers fly training missions from Louisiana, Missouri, and Guam to practice bombing Pohakuloa. Read the excellent Sept. 2024 OHA articles on “Pohakuloa – A Land Besieged” pp 14 – 17 https://kawaiola.news/cover/pohakuloa-a-land-besieged/ https://kawaiola.news/aina/the-army-and-pohakuloa/

     Stop Bombing and Shut Down Pohakuloa, Cancel 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 & elder care, and addressing the global climate crisis. The US military is the largest consumer of oil and emitter of CO2 on the planet. See two important videos on Pohakuloa – 11 min, How the US Army got to bomb Hawaii for $1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nsn4Sxy8r8 and 14 min, Now That You Know, Do You Care? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r10eRMjIRw

Remember Kaho’olawe! A grassroots Hawaiian movement stopped the bombing there more than 30 years ago. We need a similar movement now to Stop Bombing Pohakuloa!

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.

For more information see https://www.malu-aina.org

Sept. 20, 2024, Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1199– Fridays 3:30-5 PM downtown Post Office