[NYTr] Take Back Hawaii, Boyle Urges Natives Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2005 12:08:28 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Francis Boyle West Hawaii Today - December 30, 2004 http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2004/12/30/local/local09.prt Law expert Francis Boyle urges natives to take back Hawaii By Carolyn Lucas International law expert Francis Boyle walked hastily into Kona Outdoor Circle Wednesday morning. He was late by almost 30 minutes, but it didn't matter. About 60 people waited patiently in their seats to hear his three-hour speech, "The Restoration of Hawaii's Independence." Most favored the perspective of Nation of Hawaii and Hui Aloha Aina -- Na Wahine O Puna sponsors -- "He just makes sense." Boyle said the United States conceded it unlawfully occupied the Kingdom of Hawaii and has done so for more than 111 years. That fact alone, he added, "gives the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) the entitlement to restore their independent status as a sovereign nation state." To do this, Boyle urged the people to make an "educated" choice on whether they wanted to approve the Akaka Bill, which seeks federal recognition for Native Hawaiians. A man in a blue baseball cap stood up and asked Boyle if the Akaka Bill should be shot, chopped or passed. "I'm just a lawyer," Boyle responded. "I just provide advice, counsel and representation. You have to decide." The audience waited for the man's decision. "I already told them to chop it," the man said, slicing through the air with his right hand. The bill's proponents said it allows for self-determination in government. Boyle disagreed, warning the audience to pay attention to the bill's "carefully chosen" phrases. In the beginning, he said, the bill promises "a governing entity," not a government. Boyle, who served as counsel for the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Provision Government of the State of Palestine, defined entity as it was used in the negotiations between Israel and Palestine. "They offered entity to demonstrate utmost disrespect," he said. "It was the very bottom level of respect to use 'government' as an adjective." Boyle rhetorically asked if Native Hawaiians needed legislation, permission or approval from the U.S. government to be a self-governance. Under the U.N. Charter, Article 73, Boyle said the United States is "obligated to bring about self-government of people within territories deemed non-self governing." Hawaii was once designated as a territory, but was removed from the U.N. list of Non-self Governing Peoples, after becoming a U.S. state in 1959. Boyle then mentioned the Palestinians, who in 1988 decided on their own to "unilaterally proclaim their own state, in a declaration of independence. This eventually led to the Palestinian state being recognized today by 125 nation states in the world." He said Native Hawaiians, like the Palestinians, are striving for "their right of self-determination," which is afforded to them by the U.N. Charter, Article 1. It states, "The purpose of the United Nations is to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace." Boyle further suggested the audience "exercise their right of self-determination," instead of asking the permission of the U.S. Congress to declare their independence. To create an independent state, territory, population, government and international relations must exist. Hawaii already has a fixed territory -- the Hawaiian Archipelago -- and a population of distinguishable people -- the Native Hawaiians, who trace their ancestry back before the Europeans' appearance on the lands. Government, Boyle said, is in the kupuna council, but how the people are governed has yet to be organized. He added, "You don't need a government along the lines of a federal government of the United States or the State of Hawaii to have a government." Boyle said Hawaii also need the capacity to "enter into international relations, to deal with other states, and to keep your commitments," which meant establishing diplomatic relations as an independent state. He did not know how long this creation would take, what the consequences would be or how many states would recognize Hawaii. However, Boyle said "the plight of the Hawaiian people is generally well known in the world and there's a great deal of sympathy." He ended his speech, saying "Hawaii should send the strongest message to Washington it can. Letters carry no weight. The number of people in the street do. Ghandi threw the mighty British out of India with peaceful, nonviolent force. People power, submit to it." Copyright (c) West Hawaii Today, 1997 - 2004 * Search the NYTr Archives at: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ To subscribe or unsubscribe or change your settings via the web, visit: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org =================================================================