Hawaiian independence movement

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The term Hawaiian independence movement ( English : Hawaiian sovereignty movement , Hawaiian : ke ea Hawai'i ) encompasses various political and social autonomy movements on the island group of Hawaii , which include complete state independence, separation as an Associated State or greater autonomy within the USA strive for.

background

In 1893, with the overthrow of the last Queen Liliʻuokalani, supported by the United States , the Kingdom of Hawaii was converted into a republic. This was ruled by Sanford B. Dole until the formal annexation in 1898 . During his reign, this was mainly based on the predominantly white large landowners. Already in 1887 the right to vote was changed in the constitutional monarchy, which completely excluded people of Asian origin from the elections and tied the right to vote to a minimum income, whereby a large part of the Polynesians was excluded from co-determination and the power structure shifted in favor of the wealthy Europeans. Sanford promoted the westernization of Hawaiian culture and society.

Hawai'i was then a US territory between 1898 and 1959 and was recognized as the 50th and so far last US state in 1959 .

Proponents of independence argue that the annexation of the island state had no legal basis and would therefore be an illegally occupied nation.

In 1993, 100 years after the overthrow, the US Congress passed the Hawaii Apology Act , which formally condemns US interference.

In 2008 a group of ethnic Hawaiians occupied the 'Iolani Palace and declared the archipelago independent from the United States. The occupation was ended by the police, and several people involved suffered minor injuries. In the same year, the Russian functionary Alexei Avotomonov spoke out in favor of the "decolonization" of Hawaii.

In 2009, the Hawaiian political scientist Noenoe K. Silva demonstrated the explosiveness of the topic under international law with his reappraisal of the island's history ( Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism ) . US President Obama (himself born in Hawaii) was in principle open to efforts for more independence.

In 2010, Congress was about to pass the Akaka Bill (after Senator Daniel Akaka ), which would have recognized the Hawaiians as one of the American peoples . However, this would not include certain rights, such as those to gambling and questions of property, unlike the native peoples of the American continent. Differences in content and a rejection of the draft law by the Hawaiians ultimately made it fail. With the signature, the Hawaiians also formally recognized the annexation of the island and renounced independence.

On May 11, 2015, Pakistan proposed to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that the proposal of Alfred de Zayas (UN expert on promoting a democratic and just world order) should be followed, who in 2013 proposed that Hawaii and Alaska be re-placed on the list of non- to set self-governing territories (Non-Self-Governing Territories), from which they were illegally deleted in 1959. Hawaii's indigenous peoples are represented at the council by Leon Kaulahao Siu as envoy of the Alliance for the Self-Determination of Alaska and Hawaii . Siu is also the "shadow foreign minister" of the Hawaiian Kingdom Government , a group that sees itself as the "surviving successors of the Hawaiian Kingdom". He cites the indigenous population, the majority of whom in 2014 spoke out in favor of the struggle for independence.

The upside-down flag of Hawaii is a symbol of Hawaiian independence .

groups

The independence movement is split up into several, sometimes heterogeneous groups. The independence is predominantly advocated by the descendants of the original population, with the remaining inhabitants the interest is rather low.

The two largest groups are the Nation of Hawai'i by Dennis Kanahele and the Hawaiian Kingdom , which both see themselves in the tradition of the Kingdom of Hawai'i and want to restore the monarchy in a constitutional form . There are also groups such as Aboriginal Lands of Hawaiian Ancestry , Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi and Ka Pākaukau , who advocate the independence or at least more autonomy and the rights of the indigenous people.

Political parties were or are the Home Rule Party of Hawaii , which was active in the 1920s, and the Aloha Aina Party of Hawaii . The Democratic Party of Hawaii is also campaigning for more autonomy, but is not aiming for secession.

One of the few non-indigenous independence groups is the right-wing libertarian Hawaiian Independence Party , which wants to turn the island into an offshore tax haven.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b Hannah Pilarczyk: Hawaii: Obama's home on the wrong track . on: stern.de , January 20, 2009, accessed October 3, 2015.
  2. Thomas Bargatzky: Nönö K. Silva. Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism. Review of the book of the same name in the Yearbook for European Overseas History 9. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-06164-3 , pp. 387–389.
  3. Helena Nyberg ( Incomindios ): The spark of a chance for self-determination. In: Coyote, Indian presence. No. 27th year - 106, Action Group Indians & Human Rights eV, Munich, summer 2015, ISSN  0939-4362 , p. 249.