Mauna Kea controversy stirs activists on divergent paths

The telescope protests atop Mauna Kea have spurred increased political activism by Native Hawaiians, but it’s heading in different directions.

At last weekend’s Aloha Aina rally in Waikiki, leaders urged more Hawaiian involvement in state and county politics to preserve lands they consider sacred.

Molokai activist Walter Ritte said sovereignty remains the long-term goal, but Hawaiians must assert themselves in state politics to save diminishing resources.

“We’re losing them much too fast,” Ritte said. “By the time we get to our long-term goals, we’re not going to have any natural resources to pass to our future generations.”

He was rebuked on Facebook by nationalist leader Bumpy Kanahele, who accused Ritte of never supporting Hawaiian independence and asked mockingly, “You still believe in the American Dream?”

“Desecration, evictions, homelessness, poverty, abuse … overcrowding, traditional and customary rights will never win in the federal and state judicial system,” Kanahele declared. “I guarantee you when we form our own independent Hawaiian government, all these separate fires will stop.”

Kanahele is urging nationalists to focus on “taking over” the upcoming constitutional convention sponsored by the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which they’ve shunned until now.

Nationalists have seen the convention as an attempt to impose OHA’s vision of state-within-a-state sovereignty, giving President Barack Obama a pretext to recognize Hawaiians as the equivalent of an Indian tribe, which Hawaiians overwhelmingly opposed during hearings.

Kanahele believes nationalists can use the constitutional convention to create a provisional Hawaiian government, complete with a military, to negotiate Hawaii’s independence from the United States.

The Hawaiians-only election and convention face a legal challenge in federal court, and it remains very much to be seen if a majority of Native Hawaiians support independence in which they give up their U.S. citizenship.

Kanahele has the logistical challenge of getting enough nationalists registered for the Hawaiian Roll and accredited as convention candidates before the filing deadline, Sept. 15.

His effort is at odds with other nationalists who believe Hawaii wasn’t legally annexed by the United States and already is an independent nation. They shun state and federal negotiations and press their claims at the United Nations and other international forums.

The Hawaiian Roll, called Kanaiolowalu, has been considered a farce after signing up only 40,000 of more than 500,000 Native Hawaiians worldwide despite years of soliciting and millions spent.

The majority of the 95,000 Hawaiians now on the roll didn’t voluntarily register, but were filched from other lists.

Nevertheless, if the ConCon survives in court, it could be lively if Kanahele and others with hard nationalist views are elected as delegates.

And the 2016 state and county elections will become a lot more interesting if Hawaiians who share Ritte’s views get involved with the energy they’ve brought to the Mauna Kea protests.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.