DEFIANT HAWAIIAN UNFURLS THE FLAG OF FREEDOM
The London Telegraph - July 15, 2006
The Stars and Stripes is nowhere to be seen.
Among the neat bungalows beneath the steep green mountains of Ko`olau only the flags of the Hawaiian state are on display.
They are all upside down.
"It is the international maritime signal of distress," said Bumpy Kanahele, who has devoted much of his life to a seemingly quixotic quest for independence from the United States. "It's saying, 'We're in trouble.' "
Mr Kanahele, wearing a T-shirt reading "Hawaiian by birth" on the front and "American by force" on the back, is the inspiration behind the beautifully situated village.
Mauka is a patch of 45 acres where Hawai`i's original inhabitants hold sway and Washington's writ has little force....
Here, among banana and coconut trees and blood red hibiscus, 100 people live a life in contemptuous rejection of the American dream.
"This is not America," Mr Kanahele said. "That is 3,000 miles away...."
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