Hawaiʻi

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DMZ-Hawai’i/Aloha ‘Āina
DMZ-Hawaii’i/Aloha ‘Āina is a network of organizations and individuals representing various movements and communities, as well as international allies.  DMZ stands for demilitarized zone. Aloha ‘Āina means love for the land.  DMZ-Hawai’i/Aloha ‘Āina has united environmental, peace, anti-nuclear, women’s, religious and Kanaka Maoli sovereignty and independence groups. Its current campaigns are opposing the Stryker Brigade, Navy University Affiliated Research Center and the University of Hawaii, and supporting the struggle to clean up and return of Makua Valley.  The network has carried out these campaigns through pickets, marches, civil disobedience, lawsuits and Kanaka Maoli cultural forms of resistance (Kajihiro, 2007).
The four key demands and points of unity for DMZ Hawai’i/Aloha ‘Aina are:
1) No Military Expansion in Hawaii.
2) Clean up and return military occupied lands.
3) Develop sustainable economic alternatives to military dependency.
4) Provide just compensation for harm caused by the military in Hawaii.
Women’s Voices Women Speak
Women who are connected to DMZ Hawaii/Aloha ‘Āina organized Women’s Voices Women Speak.  The mission of WVWS is to organize around Kanaka Maoli sovereignty and demilitarization in Hawai’i from women’s perspectives.  The group emerged out of a delegation of women who attended the 5th East-Asia-U.S.-Puerto Rico-Women’s Network Against Militarism meeting in Manila, Philippines. WVWS has continued to mobilize and expand its reach to more women, and has sent delegates to subsequent gatherings of the International Women’s Network Against Militarism in San Francisco (2007), Guam (2009), Puerto Rico (2012) and Okinawa (2017).
To read more about the herstory and work of WVWS, visit their blog at wvws808.blogspot.com.

  • Key Facts on Hawaii
    The Kingdom of Hawaii was invaded and militarily occupied by American business interests. They used illegal laws and coup d’etats, like the 1887 Bayonet Constitution and Treaty of Reciprocity, to increase their power and disenfranchise most of the Native Hawaiian population.

On July 6, 1898, U.S. Congress authorized the seizure of Hawaii as a U.S, territory because of its strategic position for American imperial interests. Between World War II and the Cold War, the Pacific Command (PACOM) has made Hawaii into a military surveillance center of the Pacific.

The military controls 236,303 acres, or 5.7% of total land area in Hawaii. On the island of Oahu alone, 22.4% is controlled by the military.The federal and state government continue their seizure of government and crown lands of the Hawaiian kingdom.

54 percent of the military-controlled lands are former crown lands. Kanaka Maoli have highest rates of homelessness, poverty, disease and crime in Hawaii.  They make 36.5 percent of persons incarcerated for felony charges.

Military installations are among the top 10 polluters releasing lead, dioxins, mercury, and polycyclic aromatic compounds. Dumping has been concentrated in Native Hawaiian and low-income Asia-Pacific communities.

Hawaii’s youth are highly recruited into the military due to the No Child Left Behind Act and ROTC programs in their schools.  In 2003, military expenditures have been the second largest industry in Hawaii, after tourism.

Resistance to Militarization in Hawaii has been to resist the bombings and clean ups of Kaho’olawe, the return and clean up of Makua Valley,  Resistance to the H-3 Freeway, Navy expansion at Nohili, military training at Waikane Valley, military training in Pohakuloa, Navy University Affiliated Research Center, “Star Wars Missile Defense” at Nohili, Aircraft Carrier Strike Group at Pearl Harbor.

For More Information
Kajihiro, Kyle 2007 A Brief Overview of Militarization and Resistance in Hawaii.  A DMZ-Hawaii/Aloha ‘Aina Paper.  Accessible at: www.dmzhawaii.org.

Women’s Voices Women Speak. Blog. http://wvws808.blogspot.com/