“Protest Na`i Aupuni” is the name of a group of Hawaiians who have come together to educate, organize, and protest Na`i Aupuni - the State of Hawai`i’s initiative to establish a puppet governing entity. The purpose of Na`i Aupuni is to create a process that will lead to a universal settlement of the Hawaiian people’s entitlement to our national lands, the 1.8 million acres mistakenly referred to as “ceded lands.”
Despite a US Supreme Court ruling on December 2, 2015 that stopped the fraudulent Na`i Aupuni election process, this state sponsored organization is moving forward with the “`aha” or conference set to take place throughout February at the Royal Hawaiian Golf Club in Kailua.
There are over 150 self-appointed paid “delegates” participating in this event, including Kana`iolowalu Native Hawaiian Roll Commissioners (NHRC) and State elected officials including a trustee from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), all of whom have supported federal recognition for many years. They also endorse the Department of Interior (DOI) draft rules for “reestablishing a formal government-to-government relationship with the Native Hawaiian community,” which is federal recognition.
Hawaiian kupuna and supporter of Protest Na`i Aupuni, Sweets Matthews, said, “This entire process has been corrupt on so many levels. These 154 fake delegates do not represent the 527,000 Hawaiian people.”
Protest Na`i Aupuni members and supporters will be at the opening day of the Na`i Aupuni `Aha to hold signs against Na`i Aupuni, a process that continues to spend millions of Hawaiian trust dollars in an effort to extinguish our rights to our national lands.
Matthews states, “There is no question that the Na`i Aupuni `Aha has a pre-determined outcome that will lead to federal recognition. This is not true self-determination as defined by the United Nations. Under international law self determination is a legal and human right, something the Hawaiian people have been consistently denied by the United States. We, as a people, are supposed to determine who our leaders are and what form of government we want.”
Kaukaohu Wahilani, a Wai`anae resident and Mauna Kea protector will be one of the many holding signs in protest to the Na`i Aupuni `Aha on Monday. As a Kingdom of Hawai`i subject and Kanaka `Ōiwi, he states “We don't need federal recognition, we were already recognized in 1843 by England and France and the so called United States. No treaty, no annexation, no title!!!”
