Save Rapanui Benefit Los Angeles

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Lono Kollars, Kaleponi Advocates for Hawaiian Affairs
Phone: 951.534.3750
E-mail: lono.kollars@yahoo.com

SAVE RAPA NUI: EASTER ISLAND IN CRISIS
with Rapa Nui Film, Music, Art and Discussion to Support the Indigenous People in Crisis

When: Thursday, October 28, 2010, from 6:00PM - 11:00PM

Where: Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd, LA, CA 90027

VIP Reception and Seating: $50 (at 6:00pm)
General Admission: $25

Info: Santi Hitorangi, United Nations Representative for Rapa Nui and Longtale International will be co-hosting a screening and panel discussion of the documentary “BEING RAPANUI,” a Rapa Nui perspective, with an exhibition and silent auction of Rapa Nui Petroglyphs rubbings as well as other art donated by La Luz de Jesus Gallery to help support the struggle of the Rapanui indigenous people to keep their ancestral homelands on Easter Island.

The event is sponsored by: KAHA, (Kaleponi Advocates of Hawaiian Affairs), Imipono Projects, VC (Visual Communications), Longtale International and La Luz de Jesus Gallery

Traditional Pacific Island haka and entertainment, live musicc and DJ Ninja Simone (Soul Sessions).

Los Angeles, CA—

Rapa Nui, also known as Isla de Pascua, but better known as Easter Island, is part of the Polynesian Triangle that stretches from Hawaii to the North, Rapa Nui to the East and New Zealand to the South. Easter Island has long been the subject of curiosity and speculation. How and why did its inhabitants carve and transport the massive statues (Moai) which surround the island? What remains of this culture today, and what lessons can we learn from their legacy?

Rapa Nui is one of the most remote places on the planet. Their closest neighbor, Pitcairn Island with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, is about 1,300 miles to the West. Continental Chile is about 2,200 miles to the East. It is a U.N. World Heritage site, famous for its monolithic Moai, stone statues created and moved by the islanders’ ancestors.

Until 1888, Rapa Nui was unclaimed by any foreign country. The island lacked rivers and trees, and a safe anchorage. Chile annexed the island under the impression that it had agricultural potential and strategic possibilities as a naval station. Formal annexation brought little change to the island until 1896 when Chile placed the island under the jurisdiction of the Department of Valparaiso. The island was turned into a vast sheep ranch under the direction of a Valparaiso businessman, Enrique Merlet, who confiscated buildings and all animals left to the Rapanui by the missionaries who had fled the island in the wake of Dutrou-Bornier's reign of terror. Islanders were forced to build a stone wall around the village of Hangaroa and, except for work, permission was needed to leave the area even to fetch water from the crater. Those who revolted against these perverse rules were exiled to the continent, few returned.

As of August 4th, 2010, the people of Rapa Nui have non-violently re-occupied the lands that had been unlawfully taken by Chile from their grandparents. The Chilean government has responded by sending in armed forces. As the Rapa Nui people strive to reclaim their island and independence, the islanders may be on the brink of extermination at the hands of Chilean forces.

A peaceful resolution would be the hope for restoration to the world and a new beginning for Te Pito O Te Henua “the Navel of the World,” what the early settlers called Rapa Nui.

The Indian Law Resource Center in Washington D.C. has agreed to represent the Rapa Nui families and the Rapa Nui Parliament.

Although many people think the island is deserted and the Moai are a mystery, the Rapa Nui are very much alive and has been a civilization of master engineers, artists and survivalists for nearly 2000 years.

For more information about Rapa Nui, contact Susan Hitorangi: (845) 596 5403,
Tepitoproductions@mac.com or go to SaveRapa Nui.org.

The Barnsdall Gallery Theater is owned and operated by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs

All Power To The People (1996) Part 1

A film by Lee Lew Lee Opening with a montage of four hundred years of race conflict in America, this powerful documentary provides the historical context for the establishment of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in the mid-1960s. Organized by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton, the Party soon embodied every major element of the civil rights movement which preceded it and the Black, Brown and Red power movements which it helped pioneer. The Party struck fear in the hearts of the white capitalist power structure, which feared it as a terrorist group. During the Nixon years, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, with the cooperation of the CIA, used all means at their disposal to infiltrate and derail the Black Power movement. Methods of state repression included assassination, frame-ups, dirty tricks and black propaganda. Witnesses include not only Party veterans and other Black Power pioneers and political prisoners such as Mumia Abu-Jamal, Dr. Muthulu Skakur and Dhoruba Bin Wahad, but also "establishment" figures like former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, CIA officer Philip Edward Agee, and retired FBI agents. Yet, the documentary is not a paean to the Panthers, for it criticizes the megalomania, corruption, and narcissism of some Party leaders, while it praises their courage and idealism. Whether or not one is sympathetic to the Black Panthers, the film is an important historic look at the political and racial turmoils of the 1960s and an up-close look at the leading players

Kolumbus Day in Amerikkka

Event Guide BPP History Month Oakland Public Libraries

See Also : http://www.itsabouttimebpp.com/

AntiCapitalist Public Service Announcement

hooliganz revolution

Chilean Troops Flown In to Supress Rapanui

CHILEAN TROOPS FLOWN IN  TO SUPRESS  RAPANUI  - ON THE VERGE OF EXTINCTION  - September 29, 2010

 

Contact:               Kihi Tuki-Hito   011 56 9 88190047

                        Levanate Araki  011 56 9 81506843

                          Santi Hitorangi  1 845 596 5402

 

This morning a C-47 military plane arrived on Rapanui  (aka Easter Isalnd) with a contingency of SWAT teams to augment the already in-place armed forces set to remove indigenous Rapanui people from their ancestral lands..   Since July 31, the Rapanui have been non-violently re-occupied the land illegally taken from their grandparents and have been , asking for their legal title to be restored.

 

Tonight the Rapanui people are on high alert – expecting what may come in the wee hours of the morning. 

 

This afternoon Marisol Hito, spokeswomen of the Hitorangi clan,  presented the Rapanui case to the Human Rights Commission of the Chilean House of Representatives.     The Commission unanimously voted to stay any order to harm or remove Rapanui people from their claims.

 

Marisol Hito stated that,  “We have been asking to negotiate for 60 days with the Chilean government, but they have refused to negotiate and instead sent in armed troops to cause psychological and physical duress .  From day one we have been expressing that our claim is for recognition of title to our lands, and the ability to manage  our sovereignty.   Under Chilean law  only Rapanui people can legally hold title to land on the island.”

 

 The Human Rights Commission filed a protective order for the 18 children that are in occupation at the Hanga Roa Hotel,  reclaiming their land title and future.    The Hanga Roa property was illegally sold during the Pinochet regime to a non-Rapanui  person, and was subsequently transferred to a non-Rapanui corporation, in violation of Chilean law.

 

Kihi Tuki-Hito  showed the Rapanui flag on the back of his jacket and spoke to  press after the 8 hour meeting with the Human Rights Commission.  He said,  “  We want  to peacefully restore our rights to our land and self government”.

 

Chile has refused to conduct serious and meaningful peaceful negotiations and has criminalize all the Rapanui claimants in  violation of human rights and  of  the Universal Declaration of Indigenous Rights,  to which Chile is a signatory.

 

Ironically  Chile uses the Rapanui moai, the well-known monolithic stone statutes,   on its currency and passports  as a symbol colonial supremacy over Rapanui people. 

 

Only 5,000 Rapanui people exist today .   Any violence against them is an act of extinction to these legendary people who are a heritage and treasure of humanity.  In 1994 UNSECO declared Rapanui as a “heritage of humanity.”

 

If we as humans can save the smallest inhabited place on the planet earth, Rapanui, then when we  can learn how to heal and save our entire human existence on this  planet.

 

This is a an S.O.S. for the world to save itself.

 

For more information go to SaveRapanui.org

UB40 One In Ten

From Aotearoa to Gaza with Love

Kia Ora Gaza, he tira tenei no Aotearoa tonu e haere nei ki Gaza ki te awhina i te hunga o reira, a muri tonu i nga mahi whakatumatuma i waenga i te iwi o Iharaira.

The Bobby Seale Exhibition

Greetings Comrades: The Bobby Seale Exhibit opens October 2 @ the W. Oakland Library. The program starts at 1pm with Bobby speaking about 1:45pm. James Mott will host the program for the day

Keeping our Legacy alive
It's About Time

Kanaky iwi want their land back from the French

Life and Death of Steven Biko

Lest we forget  Today is the 33rd anniversary day of the brutal murder, in apartheid police custody, of Steve Biko

Day of Action planned for October 20 2010

The Maori organiser for the Council of Trade Unions is encouraging Maori workers and their whanau to get involved in the union movement’s national day of action next month. Helen Te Hira says low income Maori workers have been hit hard by government actions. She says they will get a chance to speak out on what’s being called 20-10 2010. “So on the 20th of October there will be actions up and down the country led by unions but also whanau who are really feeling what’s been a cascade of attacks on working rights,” Ms Te Hira says.

Moana Jackson PRIMER ON THE FORESHORE AND SEABED

A FURTHER PRIMER ON THE FORESHORE AND SEABED.

‘I once spoke of our people who have their mana attacked being like a beached whale struggling to live…what I say now is to remember how often the sea casts the whale on the shore’.

                                   

     - Te Ataria, 1889.

‘The question that must always be asked of legislation is not whether it is a legislative compromise or even whether it is practical, but whether it is just’.

                                            - Justice Thurgood Marshall, U.S. Supreme Court, 1970.

ABSTRACT.

This Primer is part of material produced for hui within Ngāti Kahungunu on the foreshore and seabed that began with the original proposals put forward on the issue by the last government in 2003.

It addresses some of the main parts of the new Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill and asks questions about the new regime it establishes for the foreshore and seabed.

It tries to provide some context for the Bill by considering the grounds that have compelled Māori to so forcefully and consistently voice concern about the issue over the last several years - it considers the attempts the people have made to avoid being ‘beached’ by the various Crown proposals since 2003.

It also tries to apply the test for legislative legitimacy outlined by Justice Marshall and assesses whether the Bill is just.

It regrettably concludes that it is not.

It further concludes that the proposed Bill simply consolidates the main inequities of the 2004 Seabed and Foreshore Act that the Waitangi Tribunal found to be problematic in terms of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination held to be racially discriminatory.

In that context the Prime Minister’s statement that the Bill will be a full and final settlement of the issue is simply inaccurate because rather than removing the injustice it actually compounds it.

- Moana Jackson.

What was the context of Maori opposition to the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act?

There were three main grounds of opposition.

1.     The Act was a confiscation of Iwi and Hapū rights to the foreshore and seabed because it removed title and vested it in the Crown on behalf of ‘all New Zealanders’.

    

2. The act was discriminatory because it required Iwi and Hapū to allow access over areas of foreshore they had an interest in but did not place the same responsibility on Pākehā. It created a basic inequality of obligation.

3. The Act was also discriminatory because it denied Māori access to the Courts to seek clarification of rights. It created a basic inequality of legal opportunity.

What did Iwi and Hapū seek?

Repeal of the Act and a replacement piece of legislation that

(a)   removed the possibility of confiscation and

(b)  was non-discriminatory.

Does the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill Repeal the 2004 Act?

Yes.

There has been a lot of work done by the Māori Party and others, including the Ministerial Review Panel chaired by Justice Edward Durie and countless submissions by Iwi and Hapū to ensure its repeal.

Does the new Bill remove the inequities in the 2004 Act?

No.

Indeed in many ways it simply enshrines them in new language.

How does the new Bill address the issue of confiscation?

The Bill does remove the idea of vesting the foreshore and seabed in the Crown.

However it still takes Iwi and Hapū interests off Māori and vests them in a new construct called a ‘common space’ in the marine and coastal area.

It remains a confiscation because it is still a taking from Iwi and Hapū. The only difference is that the final destination of the confiscated land is given a new name.

What does the ‘common space’ mean?

It is a legal fiction denoting an area that nobody owns and within which no-one is allowed to have new private title.

Does the ‘common space’ apply to all the foreshore and seabed around the coast?

No.

It effectively only applies to area in which Māori might have an interest and specifically excludes the large majority of foreshore currently held by others under private title.

Does the new Bill have rules around the ‘common space’? 

Yes, which is why it is a legal fiction.

For example on one hand it says it is a common space no-one owns and on the other it outlines in great detail the authority and control the Crown has over it.

It thus has specific provisions for absolute Crown ownership of certain minerals in the ‘common space’ with the associated power to grant licenses for those minerals. It asserts Crown ownership rights over an area that no-one is supposed to own.

How does it address the issues of discrimination?

It doesn’t really.

The continued confiscation is itself discriminatory because areas held by others are not subject to the same taking and subsequent vesting in the ‘common space’. Only Māori are discriminated against in this way.

The Attorney General Chris Finlayson has nevertheless stated that ‘the Bill, unlike the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 which it replaces, treats all New Zealanders, including Māori, without discrimination’.

Yet the Bill clearly discriminates between Māori and other New Zealanders in all sorts of other quite specific ways.

For example while our people have always been willing to allow access we have always asked that Pākehā in similar situations be required to do the same. Under the Bill they do not have to do so, which thus maintains the basic inequality of obligation.

Does the Bill restore the right of access to the Courts?

Yes.

It establishes a new ‘customary title’ in the ‘common space’ that Iwi and Hapū may seek to have recognised in court.

However to establish the title Iwi and Hapū have to prove continuous use of the relevant area since 1840. Because the ability of most of our people to use the foreshore since 1840 has been taken away or limited by actions of the Crown it is going to be almost impossible for most Iwi and Hapū to meet the test.

Indeed research conducted into the previous regime suggested that at least 98% of Iwi and Hapū have been denied undisturbed possession since 1840.

The acceptance by the Prime Minister that the threshold was so high most wouldn’t meet it is both an accurate assessment of the test and a perhaps unwitting acknowledgement of its basic discriminatory nature.

Due process is restored but in a way that maintains the basic inequality of access.

Are there other provisions regarding due process?

Yes.

The newest provision sets a time frame of six years for Māori to prove their so-called ‘customary title’.

This is a particularly odious provision as it introduces something new into the whole discourse of civil and human rights, namely that a right or interest can only exist if people can establish it within a certain time limit.

It is rather like saying for example that the basic right to freedom of speech can only exist if you can prove you have it in six years. Rights are meant to be universal and their universality depends upon them being free of time constraints.

It simply introduces another discriminatory process applicable only to Māori.

Can Iwi and Hapū negotiate ‘customary title’ in the ‘common space’?

Yes, direct negotiations can be held with the Crown but will in practice only be available those few Iwi and Hapū that can meet the relevant test.

It excludes most Māori and will therefore be divisive and create further inequalities.

What is the nature of the ‘customary title’?

It is a new form of title that is neither the customary title recognised in Māori law nor even that recognised in the Pākehā law of aboriginal title.

It is also quite specifically defined as being less than freehold title.

It is therefore a discriminatory title in that others may have freehold in their land contiguous to the moana but Iwi and Hapū can’t – it is a subordinate title predicated on a notion of essentially subordinate Māori rights.

These few issues alone make the Bill discriminatory, unjust, and in continuing breach of Te Tiriti and other relevant international Human Rights Conventions.

Is there a period for submissions?

Yes, although the dates and times have yet to be announced.

Hasta Siempre Commandante-Buena Vista Social Club

Dedicated to Dad on Fathers Day Love & miss you much Papa.
Love & Respect Always