Monthly Archives: June 2024

Hawaiian Regency to Leverage Hawaiian Sovereignty to Compel the Establishment of a Military Government of Hawai‘i

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We are now at 131 years of an American occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom. If the American military in Hawai‘i complied with the international law of occupation when Queen Lili‘uokalani conditionally surrendered to the United States on January 17, 1893, the occupation would not have lasted 131 years. Consequently, everything since 1893 that derives from American authority, that would otherwise be valid within U.S. territory, is invalid and void in Hawaiian territory because the United States has not been vested with Hawaiian sovereignty by a treaty. U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10, which regulates military occupations of foreign countries states:

Being an incident of war, military occupation confers upon the invading force the means of exercising control for the period of occupation. It does not transfer the sovereignty to the occupant, but simply the authority or power to exercise some of the rights of sovereignty.

The function of the military government is to provisionally administer the laws of the occupied State until a peace treaty comes into effect where the occupation comes to an end. Paragraph 62 of U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10 states that “Military government is the form of administration by which an occupying power exercises governmental authority over occupied territory.”

In the Island of Palmas arbitration, which was a dispute between the United States and the Netherlands, the arbitrator explained that “Sovereignty in the relations between States signifies independence. Independence in regard to a portion of the globe is the right to exercise therein, to the exclusion of any other State, the functions of a State.” And in the S.S. Lotus case, which was a dispute between France and Turkey, the Permanent Court of International Justice stated:

Now the first and foremost restriction imposed by international law upon a State is that—failing the existence of a permissive rule to the contrary—it may not exercise its power in any form in the territory of another State. In this sense jurisdiction is certainly territorial; it cannot be exercised by a State outside its territory except by virtue of a permissive rule derived from international custom or from a convention [treaty].

The permissive rule under international law that allows the United States to exercise authority over the territory of the Hawaiian Kingdom is Article 43 of the 1907 Hague Regulations and Article 64 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, that mandates the occupant to establish a military government to provisionally administer the laws of the occupied State until there is a treaty of peace. For the past 131 years, there has been no permissive rule of international law that allows the United States to exercise any authority in the Hawaiian Kingdom, which makes the occupation illegal under international law.

The only way to bring order to this calamity is by establishing a military government of Hawai‘i where the military governor has centralized command and control allowable under the law of occupation in order to make command decisions. We are at the cusp of transitioning the State of Hawai‘i into a Military Government of Hawai‘i. It is not a matter of “if” but rather “when.” It is also not a question of “choice” but rather a “duty” that has profound ramifications. A duty is a legal obligation called duty bound.

The current practice of the United States military is that it is the responsibility of the Army to establish a military government to preside over occupied territory. Not the Navy, Marines or the Air Force. U.S. Department of Defense Directive 5100.1 states that it is the function of the Army in “[occupied] territories abroad [to] provide for the establishment of a military government pending transfer of this responsibility to other authority.” And U.S. Department of Directive 2000.13 states that the Army’s “Civil affairs operations include…[e]stablish[ing] and conduct[ing] military government until civilian authority or government can be restored.”

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the U.S. Army took steps to prepare for military occupations by publishing field manuals—FM 27-10, The Law of Land Warfare, FM 27-5, Civil Affairs Military Government, FM 3-57, Civil Affairs Operations, and FM 6-27, The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Land Warfare.

Paragraph 3, FM 27-5, states that the “theater command bears full responsibility for [military government]; therefore, he is usually designated as military governor […], but has authority to delegate authority and title, in whole or in part, to a subordinate commander. In occupied territory the commander, by virtue of his position, has supreme legislative, executive, and judicial authority, limited only by the laws and customs of war and by directives from higher authority.”

In other words, the highest-ranking officer in the theater of occupied territory is duty bound to transform the civilian government of the occupied State into a military government that would be presided over by the Army theater commander to be called a “military governor.” The civilian government of the occupied State remains intact, except for the legislative branch, because the military governor “has supreme legislative, executive, and judicial authority, limited only by the laws and customs of war and by directives from higher authority.”

If the theater commander refuses to establish a military government, he can be held accountable by court martial or by non-judicial punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). There are two offenses under the UCMJ that would collectively apply. The first offense is willfully disobeying a regulation where the maximum punishment is dishonorable discharge and up to 2 years in prison. The second offense is willful dereliction of duty that carries a maximum punishment of bad conduct discharge and up to 6 months in prison. Collectively, the theater commander could face a total of 2.5 years in prison.

For the occupied Government, there is a duty to protect the population from war crimes committed on occupied territory. Rule 158 of the International Committee of the Red Cross Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law specifies that “States must investigate war crimes allegedly committed by their nationals or armed forces, or on their territory, and, if appropriate, prosecute the suspects. They must also investigate other war crimes over which they have jurisdiction and, if appropriate, prosecute the suspects.”

Under international criminal law, the willful failure to establish a military government is a violation of article 43 of the 1907 Hague Regulations and article 64 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. This is especially egregious when the failure to establish a military government to administer the laws of the occupied State allows the imposition of the laws of the occupied State within a foreign country’s territory is the war crime of usurpation of sovereignty. So, the willful refusal to establish a military government is the war crime by omission.

To prepare for the transition to a military government, the Council of Regency, on October 10, 2014, proclaimed provisional laws for the Hawaiian Kingdom in order to bring the laws of 1893 up to date. The proclamation stated that all Federal, State of Hawai‘i and County laws shall be the provisional laws of the Hawaiian Kingdom so long as these laws do not run “contrary to the express, reason and spirit of the laws Hawaiian Kingdom.” On August 1, 2023, the Minister of the Interior published a memorandum on the formula to be applied in determining which American laws can be considered provisional laws of the kingdom.

After the Council of Regency was made aware that the State of Hawai‘i Attorney General instructed Major General Kenneth Hara to ignore the call to establish a military government, Dr. Keanu Sai, as Head of the Royal Commission of Inquiry sent a letter on June 22, 2024, to the Army National Guard Staff Judge Advocate, Lieutenant Colonel Phelps. The letter opened with:

It has been brought to my attention, that State of Hawai‘i Attorney General Anne E. Lopez has instructed Major General Kenneth Hara and Brigadier General Stephen Logan to ignore my efforts in calling upon MG Hara to perform his military duty of transforming the State of Hawai‘ into a military government. This baseless statement by Mrs. Lopez has criminal repercussions for herself and MG Hara for the war crime by omission. She has no lawful authority in the Hawaiian Islands because American laws do not apply here. There is no treaty of cession whereby the Hawaiian Kingdom ceded its territorial sovereignty to the United States. Therefore, sovereignty remains in the Hawaiian Kingdom, which the Permanent Court of Arbitration (“PCA”) recognized in 1999 in Larsen v. Hawaiian Kingdom. The PCA recognized the continued existence of the Hawaiian Kingdom as a “State,” and the Council of Regency as its government. At the center of the international dispute was the unlawful imposition of American municipal laws.

This interference by a civilian of a clear military duty is a very serious matter in military law for MG Hara. For MG Hara to not perform his duty of establishing a military government, Lopez would have to show him clear and irrefutable evidence that the Hawaiian Kingdom does not exist as an occupied State under international law. She did not show any such evidence. In closing, the letter stated:

As a result of the continuing and ongoing violations of the law of armed conflict, the law of occupation, and Army regulations, the Royal Commission of Inquiry is left with no choice but to take this particular course of action in order to compel the performance of a military duty to transform the State of Hawai‘i into a military government under the law of armed conflict, the law of occupation, and Army regulations. At present, there are two scenarios for MG Hara.

FIRST SCENARIO: Since the public announcement by MG Hara that he will be retiring in October of 2024, the third element of the offense of dereliction of duty—willfulness would appear to have been met. As a result, the Royal Commission of Inquiry (“RCI”) will publish a war criminal report on MG Hara for the war crime by omission for his failure to transform the State of Hawai‘i into a military government. Mrs. Lopez would be included in this report as an accomplice.

After the RCI’s publication, BG Logan to assume the chain of command to perform the duty by establishing a military government according to the Council of Regency’s operational order dated August 14, 2023. BG Logan shall reach out to the 322nd Civil Affairs Brigade, Fort Shafter, to advise him on the function of a military government. It is a function of Civil Affairs to advise commanders on military governments. BG Logan will also hold MG Hara accountable for dereliction of duty by court-martial or nonjudicial punishment, under Article 15, UCMJ. The information in the RCI war criminal report will be the evidential basis for punishment. To not hold MG Hara accountable for dereliction of duty sets the wrong standard for the entire National Guard.

SECOND SCENARIO: To relieve MG Hara from criminal culpability and for the RCI to refrain from publishing a war criminal report, MG Hara must delegate his authority to BG Logan to perform his duty, and, thereafter, MG Hara immediately resigns. This delegation of authority is authorized under paragraph 3, Army Field Manual 27-5, that states the “theater command bears full responsibility for [military government]; […] but has authority to delegate authority and title, in whole or in part, to a subordinate commander.” This regulation provides a window for MG Hara to delegate authority because he is currently the theater commander. The second scenario is time sensitive. When the RCI concludes, with evidence, that MG Hara refuses to delegate authority, the first scenario will be implemented.

Should BG Logan be derelict of his duty, a war criminal report on him will be drafted and published, and the next officer in the Army National Guard’s chain of command, Colonel David Hatcher II, commander of the 29th Infantry Combat Brigade, will assume the chain of command. This process of publishing war criminal reports will continue down the chain of command to the last enlisted soldier in the Hawai‘i Army National Guard, after, which, it will begin anew with the chain of command for the Hawai‘i Air National Guard down to the last enlisted soldier.

The American occupation is now at 131 years, which is unacceptable. I provided MG Hara and yourself more than enough time to falsify the information and legal basis for the American occupation and the continued existence of the Hawaiian Kingdom under international law. Falsification would have rendered MG Hara without this military duty to perform. Neither yourself nor the State of Hawai‘i, to include Mrs. Lopez, has ever provided rebuttable evidence as to the presumption of the continuity of the Hawaiian State under international law. Because he is aware of his duty under military law, MG Hara, as the theater commander, is directly responsible for all the war crimes being committed by members of the State of Hawai‘i. There are no statutes of limitations for the prosecution of war crimes. The RCI’s published war criminal reports provides the necessary evidence of the actus reus and mens rea for prosecution. As the Staff Judge Advocate, I recommend that you advise your senior military leadership not to take this communication lightly. I am including, with this letter, an RCI memorandum on bringing the American occupation of Hawai‘i to an end by establishing a American military government.

I am also attaching two recent law articles that were published by the International Review of Contemporary Law by myself as Head of the RCI, and by Professor Federico Lenzerini as the Deputy Head of the RCI. I am including these documents to inform you of the military duty to establish a military government and the legal consequences for not performing the military duty.

Attached to the letter to LTC Phelps was an RCI memorandum on bringing the American occupation of Hawai‘i to an end by establishing an American Military Government.

Royal Order of Kamehameha I Calls Upon Major General Hara to Transform State of Hawai‘i into a Military Government

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On June 15, 2024, the Royal Order of Kamehameha I sent a letter to State of Hawai‘i Adjutant General Major General Kenneth Hara to perform his duty of transforming the State of Hawai‘i into a Military Government. Here is a link to download the letter.

Aloha Major General Hara:

We the members of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I (including Na Wahine O Kamehameha), was established in the early 1900s to maintain a connection to our country, the Hawaiian Kingdom, despite the unlawful overthrow of our country’s government on January 17, 1893, by the United States.

Our people have suffered greatly in the aftermath of the overthrow, but we, as Native Hawaiian subjects, have survived. Our predecessors, who established the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, had a national consciousness of their country that we didn’t have because of the Americanization of these islands. We, today, were taught that our country no longer existed and that we are now American citizens. We now know that this is not true.

When the Government was restored in 1997, the Council of Regency embarked on a monumental task to ho‘oponopono (right the wrong) from a legal standpoint. Their success to get the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, to recognize the continued existence of our country and the Council of Regency as our government was no small task. When the Council of Regency returned from the Netherlands in 2000, they embarked on an educational campaign to restore the national consciousness of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the minds of its people. This led to classes being taught on the American occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom at the University of Hawai‘i, High Schools, Middle Schools, Elementary Schools, and Preschools throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

In 2018, the Hawai‘i State Teachers Association was able to get their resolution passed at the annual conference of the National Education Association in Boston, Massachusetts. The resolution stated, “The NEA will publish an article that documents the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy in 1893, the prolonged illegal occupation of the United States in the Hawaiian Kingdom and the harmful effects that this occupation has had on the Hawaiian people and resources of the land.” The HSTA asked Dr. Keanu Sai to write three articles, which were published on the NEA website. Dr. Sai is the Chairman of the Council of Regency, and he led the legal team for the Hawaiian Kingdom at the Permanent of Court of Arbitration in Larsen v. Hawaiian Kingdom.

Because of this educational campaign, we are now aware that our country still exists and, as a people, we must owe allegiance to the Hawaiian Kingdom as our predecessors did. This is not a choice, but an obligation as Hawaiian subjects. We also acknowledge that the Council of Regency is our government that was lawfully established under extraordinary circumstances, and we support its effort to bring compliance with the law of occupation by the State of Hawai‘i on behalf of the United States, which will eventually bring the American occupation to close. When this happens, our Legislative Assembly will be brought into session so that Hawaiian subjects can elect a Regency of our choosing. The Council of Regency is currently operating in an acting capacity that is allowed under Hawaiian law.

We have read the Minister of the Interior’s memorandum dated April 26, 2024 (https://hawaiiankingdom.org/pdf/Memo_re_Rights_of_Hawaiians_(4.26.24).pdf), and the Council of Regency’s Operational Plan for the State of Hawai‘i to transform into a Military Government (https://hawaiiankingdom.org/pdf/HK_Operational_Plan_of_Transition.pdf), and we support this plan. After watching Dr. Sai’s presentation to the Maui County Council on March 6, 2024 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-VIA_3GD2A), we were made aware of your reluctance to carry out your duty to transform the State of Hawai‘i into a Military Government.

Because of the high cost of living brought here because of the unlawful American presence, the majority of Native Hawaiians now reside in the United States. The U.S. Census reported that in 2020, that of the total of 680,442 Native Hawaiians, 53 percent live in the United States. The driving factors that led to the move were not being able to afford a home and adequate health care. Dr. Sai, as the Minister of the Interior, clearly explains this in his memorandum where he states,

While the State of Hawai‘i has yet to transform itself into a Military Government and proclaim the provisional laws, as proclaimed by the Council of Regency, that brings Hawaiian Kingdom laws up to date, Hawaiian Kingdom laws as they were prior to January 17, 1893, continue to exist. The greatest dilemma for aboriginal Hawaiians today is having a home and health care. Average cost of a home today is $820,000.00. And health care insurance for a family of 4 is at $1,500 a month. According to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ Native Hawaiian Health Fact Sheet 2017, “Today, Native Hawaiians are perhaps the single racial group with the highest health risk in the State of Hawai‘i. This risk stems from high economic and cultural stress, lifestyle and risk behaviors, and late or lack of access to health care.”

Under Hawaiian Kingdom laws, aboriginal Hawaiian subjects are the recipients of free health care at Queen’s Hospital and its outlets across the islands. In its budget, the Hawaiian Legislative Assembly would allocate money to the Queen’s Hospital for the healthcare of aboriginal Hawaiian subjects. The United States stopped allocating moneys from its Territory of Hawai‘i Legislature in 1909. Aboriginal Hawaiian subjects are also able to acquire up to 50 acres of public lands at $20.00 per acre under the 1850 Kuleana Act. With the current rate of construction costs, which includes building material and labor, an aboriginal Hawaiian subject can build 3-bedroom, 1-bath home for $100,000.00.

Hawaiian Kingdom laws also provide for fishing rights that extend out to the first reef or where there is no reef, out to 1 mile, exclusively for all Hawaiian subjects and lawfully resident aliens of the land divisions called ahupua‘a or ‘ili. From that point out to 12 nautical miles, all Hawaiian subjects and lawfully resident aliens have exclusive access to economic activity, such as mining underwater resources and fishing. Once the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is acceded to by the Council of Regency, this exclusive access to economic activity will extend out to 200 miles called the Exclusive Economic Zone.

On behalf of the members of the Royal Order, I respectfully call upon you to carry out your duty to proclaim the transformation of the State of Hawai‘i into a Military Government so that all Hawaiian subjects, and their families, would be able to exercise their rights secured to them under Hawaiian Kingdom law and protected by the international law of occupation. We urge you to work with the Council of Regency in making sure this transition is not only lawful but is done for the benefit of all Hawaiian subjects that are allowed under Hawaiian Kingdom law, the 1907 Hague Regulations and the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention.

International Law Journal Publishes Articles by the Head and Deputy Head of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s Royal Commission of Inquiry

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The International Review of Contemporary Law released its volume 6, no. 2, earlier this month. The theme of this journal is “77 Years of the United Nations Charter.” The Head, Dr. Keanu Sai, and Deputy Head, Professor Federico Lenzerini, of the Royal Commission of Inquiry that investigates war crimes and human rights violations committed in the Hawaiian Kingdom, each had an article published in the journal.

Dr. Sai’s article is titled “All States have a Responsibility to Protect their Population from War Crimes—Usurpation of Sovereignty During Military Occupation of the Hawaiian Islands.” Dr. Sai’s article opened with:

At the United Nations World Summit in 2005, the Responsibility to Protect was unanimously adopted. The principle of the Responsibility to Protect has three pillars: (1) every State has the Responsibility to Protect its populations from four mass atrocity crimes—genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing; (2) the wider international community has the responsibility to encourage and assist individual States in meeting that responsibility; and (3) if a state is manifestly failing to protect its populations, the international community must be prepared to take appropriate collective action, in a timely and decisive manner and in accordance with the UN Charter. In 2009, the General Assembly reaffirmed the three pillars of a State’s responsibility to protect their populations from war crimes and crimes against humanity. And in 2021, the General Assembly passed a resolution on “The responsibility to protect and the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.” The third pillar, which may call into action State intervention, can become controversial.

Rule 158 of the International Committee of the Red Cross Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law specifies that “States must investigate war crimes allegedly committed by their nationals or armed forces, or on their territory, and, if appropriate, prosecute the suspects. They must also investigate other war crimes over which they have jurisdiction and, if appropriate, prosecute the suspects.” This “rule that States must investigate war crimes and prosecute the suspects is set forth in numerous military manuals, with respect to grave breaches, but also more broadly with respect to war crimes in general.”

Determined to hold to account individuals who have committed war crimes and human rights violations throughout the Hawaiian Islands, being the territory of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the Council of Regency, by proclamation on 17 April 2019, established a Royal Commission of Inquiry (“RCI”) in similar fashion to the United States proposal of establishing a Commission of Inquiry after the First World War “to consider generally the relative culpability of the authors of the war and also the question of their culpability as to the violations of the laws and customs of war committed during its course.” The author serves as Head of the RCI and Professor Federico Lenzerini from the University of Siena, Italy, as its Deputy Head. This article will address the first pillar of the principle of Responsibility to Protect.

Professor Lenzerini’s article is titled “Military Occupation, Sovereignty, and the ex injuria jus non oritur Principle. Complying with the Supreme Imperative of Suppressing ‘Acts of Aggression or Other Breaches of the Peace’ à la carte?” After covering the Iraqi military occupation of Kuwait and the Russian military occupation of Ukraine, Professor Lenzerini’s article draws attention to the American military occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Professor Lenzerini writes:

As a factual situation, the occupation of Hawai‘i by the US does not substantially differ from the examples provided in the previous section. Since the end of the XIX Century, however, almost no significant positions have been taken by the international community and its members against the illegality of the American annex­ation of the Hawaiian territory. Certainly, the level of military force used in order to overthrow the Hawaiian Kingdom was not even comparable to that employed in Kuwait, Donbass or even in Crimea. In terms of the il­legality of the occupation, however, this circumstance is irrelevant, because, as seen in section 2 above, the rules of international humanitarian law regulating military oc­cupation apply even when the latter does not meet any armed resistance by the troops or the people of the oc­cupied territory. The only significant difference between the case of Hawai‘i and the other examples described in this article rests in the circumstance that the former oc­curred well before the establishment of the United Na­tions, and the resulting acquisition of sovereignty by the US over the Hawaiian territory was already consolidated at the time of their establishment. Is this circumstance sufficient to uphold the position according to which the occupation of Hawai‘i should be treated differently from the other cases? An attempt to provide an answer to this question will be carried out in the next section, through examining the possible arguments which may be used to either support or refute such a position.

In the next section, Professor Lenzerini undermines the argument that international law in 1893 allowed the occupying State, in this case the United States, to have acquired the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom because the United States exercised effective control over the territory. He wrote:

The main argument that could be used to deny the illegality of the US occupation of Hawai‘i rests in the doctrine of intertemporal law. According to this doctrine, the legality of a situation “must be appraised […] in the light of the rules of international law as they existed at that time, and not as they exist today”. In other words, a State can be considered responsible of a violation of international law—implying the determination of the consequent “secondary” obligation for that State to restore legality—only if its behaviour was prohibited by rules already in force at the time when it was held. In the event that one should ascertain that at the time of the occupation of Hawai‘i by the US international law did not yet prohibit the annexation of a foreign territory as a consequence of the occupation itself, the logical conclusion, in principle, would be that the legality of the annexation of Hawai‘i by the United States cannot reasonably be challenged. In reality even this conclusion could probably be disputed through using the argument of “continuing violations”, by virtue of the violations of international law which continue to be produced today as a consequence of the American occupation and of its perpetuation. In fact, it is a general principle of international law on State responsibility that “[t]he breach of an international obligation by an act of a State having a continuing character extends over the entire period during which the act continues and remains not in conformity with the international obligation”.

However, it appears that there is no need to rely on this argument, for the reason that also an intertemporal-law-based perspective confirms the illegality—under international law—of the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands by the US. In fact, as regards in particular the topic of military occupation, the affirmation of the ex injuria jus non oritur rule predated the Stimson doctrine, because it was already consolidated as a principle of general international law since the XVIII Century. In fact, “[i]n the course of the nineteenth century, the concept of occupation as conquest was gradually abandoned in favour of a model of occupation based on the temporary control and administration of the occupied territory, the fate of which could be determined only by a peace treaty”, in other words, “the fundamental principle of occupation law accepted by mid-to-late 19th-century publicists was that an occupant could not alter the political order of territory”. Consistently, “[l]es États qui se font la guerre rompent entre eux les liens formés par le droit des gens en temps de paix; mais il ne dépend pas d’eux d’anéantir les faits sur lesquels repose ce droit des gens. Ils ne peuvent détruire ni la souveraineté des États, ni leur indépendance, ni la dépendance mutuelle des nations”. This was already confirmed by domestic and international practice contemporary to the occupa­tion of the Hawaiian Kingdom by the United States. For instance, in 1915, in a judgment concerning the case of a person who was arrested in a part of Russian Poland occupied by Germany and deported to the German ter­ritory without the consent of Russian authorities, the Su­preme Court of Germany held that an occupied enemy territory remained enemy and did not become national territory of the occupant as a result of the occupation.

Professor Lenzerini when on to state:

In light of the foregoing, it appears that the theories according to which the effective and consolidated occupation of a territory would determine the acquisition of sovereignty by the occupying power over that territory—although supported by eminent scholars—must be confuted. Consequently, under international law, “le transfert de souveraineté ne peut être considéré comme effectué judiquement que par l’entrée en vigueur du Traité qui le stipule et à dater du jour de cette mise en vigueur”, which means that “[t]he only form in which a cession [of territory] can be effected is an agreement embodied in a treaty between the ceding and the acquiring State. Such treaty may be through the outcome of peaceable negotiations or of war.” This conclusion had been confirmed, among others, by the US Supreme Court Justice John Marshall in 1928, holding that the fate of a territory subjected to military occupation had to be “determined at the treaty of peace.”

There is no treaty where the Hawaiian Kingdom ceded its territorial sovereignty to the United States. The American military occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom is now at 131 years.

CHANGE IN SCHEDULE: Dr. Keanu Sai to Present at FestPAC Tomorrow at 10:30am to 12:00 noon in the Kaua‘i Room 311

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There’s been a change in schedule for Dr. Keanu Sai’s presentation at the Festival of the Pacific Culture and Arts held at the Hawai‘i Convention Center. Dr. Sai was previously scheduled to present on the American Occupation at 11:00am to 12:30pm in the Kaua‘i Room 311. It is now changed to 10:30am to 12 noon in the same Kaua‘i Room 311.

Dr. Keanu Sai to Present on the American Occupation at FestPAC on Thursday June 13 from 11am to 12:30pm at the Hawai‘i Convention Center Kaua‘i Room 311

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Dr. Keanu Sai will do a presentation on the American occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom at the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture. Dr. Sai’s presentation will be on Thursday, June 13, 2024, from 11:00am to 12:30pm in the Kaua‘i Room 311 at the Hawai‘i Convention Center.

The Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture (FestPAC) is the world’s largest celebration of indigenous Pacific Islanders. The South Pacific Commission (now The Pacific Community – SPC) launched this dynamic showcase of arts and culture in 1972 to halt the erosion of traditional practices through ongoing cultural exchange. It is a vibrant and culturally enriching event celebrating the unique traditions, artistry, and diverse cultures of the Pacific region. FestPAC serves as a platform for Pacific Island nations to showcase their rich heritage and artistic talents.

The roots of FestPAC trace back to the 1970s when Pacific Island nations commenced discussion on the need to preserve and promote their unique cultural identities. The hope was to create a space where Pacific Islanders could convene to share their traditional arts, crafts, music, dance, and oral traditions with the world. This initiative was driven by the desire to strengthen cultural bonds among Pacific Island communities and foster a greater understanding of their cultures.

The inaugural Festival of Pacific Art and Culture took place in 1972 in Suva, Fiji. Over the years, FestPAC has evolved and grown in stature, becoming a highly anticipated event for both Pacific Islanders and visitors from around the world. The festival has not only preserved traditional arts and culture but has also served as a platform for contemporary Pacific Island artists to express their creativity and address contemporary issues.

One of the festival’s most important objectives is to promote cultural exchange and understanding among the participating nations. It provides an opportunity for artists and cultural practitioners to learn from each other, share stories, and forge lasting connections. FestPAC serves as a reminder of the common heritage that binds Pacific Island nations and highlights the importance of preserving and celebrating their heritage.

Since its inception, FestPAC has been hosted by different Pacific Island nations on a rotational basis. Each host country takes on the responsibility of organizing and hosting the festival, providing a unique opportunity to showcase their own culture and hospitality. Host nations have all played a pivotal role in the festival’s success. They have worked tirelessly to create a welcoming and vibrant atmosphere for artists and visitors alike, ensuring that FestPAC remains a foundation of cultural exchange and celebration in the Pacific.