Malu 'Aina

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
December 9, 2010

National Catholic peace organization honors
Jim Albertini with 2010 Teacher of Peace Award

Albertini is coordinator of the Center for Non-violent Education and Action in Hawaii

Washington, D.C.—Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement, has recognized the life and witness of Jim Albertini, by naming him the 2010 recipient of the Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace Award.  Pax Christi USA first gave the award to Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, in 1978 and has since recognized some of the most significant U.S. Catholic activists for peace and justice of the past 3 decades, including actor Martin Sheen; poet and priest Daniel Berrigan, S.J.; and Dead Man Walking author Sr. Helen Prejean, C.S.J.  Albertini’s work has included non-violent resistance to war and injustice, the practice of hospitality and sustainability through the Center for Non-violent Education and Action and its Malu ‘Aina (Land of Peace) farm in Hawaii, and co-author of The Dark Side of Paradise: Hawaii in a Nuclear World.

“Jim’s long-time witness against nuclear weapons in an inspiration to all of us working for a nuclear weapons-free world,” stated Dave Robinson, Executive Director of Pax Christi USA. “We are honored to recognize him with the 2010 Teacher of Peace Award.”

Albertini was born in Pennsylvania and is the product of a Catholic education, graduating from Villanova University in 1968. He has been arrested dozens of times for non-violent resistance to war and injustice, including serving more than 20 months in prison for his civil disobedience actions. In 1972 he was arrested with author Jim Douglass for pouring blood on top secret electronic warfare files at the headquarters of the Pacific Air Force at Hickam Air Force Base. In 1984 he attempted to block a nuclear armed warship from entering Hilo Harbor in violation of Hawaii County’s historic nuclear-free zone law.

“The history of Pax Christi USA is built on the committed actions of people being true to the call of their conscience,” stated Sr. Josie Chrosniak, HM, Chair of the Pax Christi USA National Council. “Jim stands in that tradition that includes people like the Berrigans, Kathy Kelly, Jim and Shelley Douglass, and so many others who have shown us the importance of speaking truth to power.”

In addition to Albertini’s work for nuclear disarmament, he is a founding member and coordinator of the Center for Non-violent Education and Action and its Malu ‘Aina (Land of Peace) farm in Kurtistown on the island of Hawaii. The all-volunteer farm is modeled on Catholic Worker principles and grows organic fruits and vegetables to share with people in need and support the work of justice, peace and preserving the earth. Malu ‘Aina has hosted activists from around the world, including Fr. Dan Berrigan and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Jose Ramos-Horta. Currently, Albertini’s efforts focus on a campaign to stop the bombing at the Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii Island, an area that is contaminated with depleted uranium, unexploded ordnance, and other military toxins.

Albertini received the 2010 Teacher of Peace Award at the Pax Christi USA gathering at the annual action and vigil at the School of the Americas in Columbus, Georgia.

“My message is simple,” stated Albertini. “Keep your eyes on the prize and never give up!”

For media interviews or for more information, please contact Johnny Zokovitch, Pax Christi USA Program Director, at 352-219-8419 or johnnypcusa@yahoo.com

Pax Christi USA is a section of Pax Christi International, the international Catholic peace movement with consultative status at the UN. Pax Christi USA’s membership includes over 700 Catholic parishes, 700 religious communities, 120 U.S. Catholic bishops, and reaches more than a half-million Catholics each year.

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Dear  friends,                                                                                                     Dec. 6, 2010

Blessings of this holy season to you and your ohana.

Recently, Rebecca, a mother of three small children, called and said she lost her job and was down to her last bit of food.  She tried to contact several churches and social service agencies for help but said none were available. “You’re my last hope.”  When I asked for her address to deliver a box of food she said. “Thank God.  You’re my angel.”

There are more and more Rebeccas in need this holiday season.  Meanwhile trillions of dollars are squandered on illegal wars and militarism.  At Malu ‘Aina’s all volunteer peace farm we try our best to help meet the needs of others and work for justice, peace, and a liveable world.  Farming and activism are a juggling act.  We’ve been at it for 30 years, but it doesn’t get easier.  The times are getting increasingly tough for most people, especially those at the bottom of the economic ladder, and those in expanding war zones around the world.

To continue our work we need angels too.  You are Malu ‘Aina’s angels!  Like Rebecca, we thank God –and we thank you –for being there with us to keep hope alive for the least among us, for those bombed, already broke, and near broken.

With gratitude and aloha,

Jim Albertini for Malu ‘Aina

PS.  This year we have an added need for funds  We are in the final stage of trying to purchase adjoining acreage to be kept in perpetuity for cooperative food growing.  Please share what you can toward this effort.  Mahalo.

Feed the people –not the banks and the war machine!

Donations are tax deductible if checks are made to:
Center for Non-violent Education & Action
P.O. Box AB ‘Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawai’i 96760.  Phone (808) 966-7622
Email ja@interpac.net   Visit us on the web at: www.malu-aina.org

Why Wikileaks is Good for Democracy!

“Since 9-11, the US government, through Presidents Bush and Obama, has increasingly told the US public that “state secrets” will not be shared with citizens. Candidate Obama pledged to reduce the use of state secrets, but President Obama continued the Bush tradition… By labeling tens of millions of documents secret, the US government has created a huge vacuum of information.

“But information is the lifeblood of democracy. Information about government contributes to a healthy democracy. Transparency and accountability are essential elements of good government…

“Into the secrecy vacuum stepped Private Bradley Manning, who, according to the Associated Press, was able to defeat “Pentagon security systems using little more than a Lady Gaga CD and a portable computer memory stick.”  Manning apparently sent the information to Julian Assange of  Wikileaks – a non profit media organization, which specializes in publishing leaked information. Wikileaks in turn shared the documents to other media around the world including the New York Times and published much of it on its website.

“Despite criminal investigations by the US and other governments, it is not clear that media organizations like Wikileaks can be prosecuted in the US in light of First Amendment. Recall that the First Amendment says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

“Outraged politicians are claiming that the release of government information is the criminal equivalent of terrorism and puts innocent people’s lives at risk. Many of those same politicians authorized the modern equivalent of carpet bombing of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, the sacrifice of thousands of lives of soldiers and civilians, and drone assaults on civilian areas in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. Their anger at a document dump, no matter how extensive, is more than a little suspect.

“Everyone, including Wikileaks and the other media reporting the documents, hopes that no lives will be lost because of this. So far, that appears to be the case…

“The US has been going in the wrong direction for years by classifying millions of documents as secrets. Wikileaks and other media which report these so called secrets will embarrass people yes. Wikileaks and other media will make leaders uncomfortable yes. But embarrassment and discomfort are small prices to pay for a healthier democracy.  Wikileaks has the potential to make transparency and accountability more robust in the US. That is good for democracy.”

The above are excerpts from an article by Bill Quigley, Legal Director at the Center for Constitutional Rights and a law professor at Loyola University. See the full article at http://act.commondreams.org/go/3353?akid=292.56000.5cBnQo&t=22

Defend Wikileaks!   Defend Manning & Assange!
“Information is the currency of democracy.” –Thomas Jefferson.

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622.  Email ja@interpac.net   http://www.malu-aina.org
Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (Dec. 3, 2010 – 481st week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

Malu `Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action
P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawaii 96760
Phone 808-966-7622
ja@interpac.net  Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org

Office of Conservation and Coastal Management
Department of Land and Natural Resources
P.O. Box 621
Honolulu, Hawaii 96809

December 2, 2010

Re: CDUA HA 3568  for the Thirty Meter Telescope

The TMT project has the same smell as the fast track DLNR plan years back to put geothermal development in the Natural Area Reserve Conservation district known as the Wao kele O Puna Rainforest –the last remaining intact lowland rainforest in Hawaii.   That misguided effort resulted in hundreds of arrests for non-violent civil resistance and was stopped over the failure to do a Federal EIS.  The same may be required for the TMT.  Federal funds are involved and no Federal EIS has been done.

Our non-profit organization, Malu Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action, grows food to share with people in need and to support the work of justice, peace, and preserving the environment.  We stand in strong opposition to the Conservation District Use Permit requested for the Thirty Meter Telescope on sacred Mauna Kea.  We recommend that the Board deny the permit request for the following reasons.

The current state of Mauna Kea represents a microcosm of our planet heading off the cliff of Global Warming due to over-development.

For our planet, the evidence is crystal clear that the present course of industrial development is heading for unprecedented catastrophe.  But are we willing to seriously change the way we live, and the decisions we make day to day.  Are we willing to put conservation before development?

On Mauna Kea —
1.  We know that the cumulative impacts on Mauna Kea according to the 2005 EIS done by NASA are “substantial, adverse and significant” yet we still go forward with more building: 5 meter telescopes, 10  meters, now 30 meters, with no end in sight.  The “bigger is better” logic will eventually put a mirror over the entire summit.
2.  We know that No study has been done to assess the carrying capacity of the mountain for development.
3.  We know that the University of Hawaii and its self appointed Mauna Kea Management Board  are in a position of conflict of interest.  The University benefits financially from telescope development yet it is suppose to be a management entity for conservation on the mountain.  The record is clear: development trumps conservation.  When will we learn?  When will we reverse course and put conservation before development?

For our organization the bottom line is this.  The host culture of Hawaii tells us that the summit of Mauna Kea is the most sacred temple in all Hawaii.  In fact, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa are two of the most sacred sites in all the Pacific.  Do we simply hear those words but have no understanding of their meaning?  Or do we understand but disregard the meaning out of other concerns –science, prestige, development money and jobs?  In any case, to proceed with further development in the summit area of Mauna Kea is desecration of the most sacred temple in Hawaii.  It is disrespectful.  It is shameful.  In the Judeo/Christian sense, it is sacrilegious.  It is sinful.  The irony is that looking into the heavens will be our downfall because we have not shown respect.  We look into space but not listen to the native people of this place.  If we want to be pono, the means we use must be in line with the end that we seek.  It is time to live aloha — live the principles of non-violence in Hawaii and around the world.  Aloha demands justice. The conflict over expanding construction on Mauna Kea, like the expansion of militarism and warfare training at Pohakuloa represent sores/infections on the ‘aina.  They are symptoms of a deeper problem.  What is truly needed to heal is to end the ongoing illegal U.S. Occupation of Hawaii.  I am confident that a reinstated independent nation of Hawaii would never permit the desecration of its most sacred temple.

Deny this permit request.  Mahalo.

James V. Albertini
President