[nativestudies-l] forthcoming film on The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai`i

[jkauanui at wesleyan.edu]

Greetings,

I am writing to let people know about this important film that Anne Keala
Kelly (Native Hawaiian) is working to complete, "Noho Hewa: The Wrongful
Occupation of Hawai`i."

"Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai'i is a documentary film that
began as a project about resistance to the post 9-11 military expansion
happening in Hawai'i, the largest expansion since WWII. The Army is
bringing a Stryker Brigade to Hawai'i, which consists of about 300 urban
assault vehicles that weigh 20 tons each, scheduled to arrive here by the
end of the year. The amount of land being taken by the military to
accommodate the Stryker is roughly the size of the island of Kaho'olawe,
which was destroyed by the military. In addition, the state of Hawai'i is
currently trying to bring a nuclear aircraft carrier group to Pearl
Harbor, a site that history has shown us is a prime military target."

"Noho Hewa has evolved into a mo'olelo (story) that is about much more
than the military expansion or the state's desire to bring nuclear weapons
to Hawai'i. It explains how the US came to occupy Hawai'i, and how the
military and other industries, such as real estate and tourism, are
economically dispossessing Hawaiians of their land, desecrating sacred
sites, and destroying the environment. Some parts of Hawai'i have more
endangered species per square mile than anywhere else on the planet,
including an area that will be used by the Strykers. And as some of the
most delicate ecosystems in the world are being trampled on, so too are
the rights of the indigenous people of Hawai'i. More than 65% of the
homeless on Oahu and other islands are Hawaiian, and in some areas of
Hawai'i, the cost to own a home went up over $250,000 during just the last
part of 2005, making rents skyrocket. Over 40% of the Hawaiian population
is economically forced to live away from their homeland. Noho Hewa
documents the Native perspective on the connections between these issues
through interviews with Hawaiian scholars, filmed protests and public
testimony against the military expansion and the damage done to Hawaiian
burials and sacred sites. There is a struggle taking place in Hawai'i
right now: it is a struggle for the hearts and minds of all the peoples
who have come to call Hawai'i home, and for the soul of this place. Noho
Hewa is just one mo'olelo, but it stands in resistance to the hewa (the
wrong) that is happening to Hawai'i."

http://www.nohohewa.com

Keala is at the tail the end, and needs as many financial contributions as
possible to finish the work.

http://www.nohohewa.com/donate/

Mahalo for anything you can do to help, Kehaulani