Hawaiians stage A small group of about 20 native Hawaiian protesters held signs and passed out flyers supporting Hawaiian independence across the street from the Hawaii Convention Center where the Asian Development Bank is meeting this morning.
peaceful protest
at ADB
It is the first of a series of
marches and rallies planned for
today at the Convention CenterBy Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin
The gathering at about 9 a.m. was the first of what was expected to be a day of marches and rallies against the bank's policies, which protesters say displaces indigenous people and hurts the environment.
The biggest march was planned to start at about 10:30 a.m. Organizers with ADBwatch, a coalition of protest groups, expected "hundreds and hundreds, maybe thousands" of people to march from Magic Island to a noon rally in front of the convention center.
Matt MacKenzie, of ADBwatch, said at least 50 people flew in for the march many from other countries, but the majority of protesters will be local.
Overnight, police put up more barricades on Atkinson and Piikoi streets to keep protesters away from the lanes closest to the convention center. Both streets were to be closed when the march passes by.
Two officers in aloha shirts with orange arm bands identifying them as police watched over this morning's Hawaiian independence rally.
"It's going good. It's going very good. No problems at all," said one of the officers, Sgt. Joseph Dowson. He said their job was to address any protester's complaints and to make sure that there's no interference with the protesters or the people attending the conference.
Demonstrator Lynette Cruz said they were hoping to get exposure for their Web site with a big sign showing the Internet address www.hawaiiankingdom.org.
"If we have two seconds on national or international TV, hopefully the two seconds will focus on that Web site," Cruz said.
Demonstrators yesterday invited Gov. Ben Cayetano and Asian Development Bank President Tadao Chino to come out and accept petitions from them this afternoon.
Representatives of Hawaii labor unions and native Hawaiians said protesters will be nonviolent.
"We expect police to recognize and honor the native people of Hawaii," said Hawaiian activist Haunani-Kay Trask at a news conference yesterday. "We do not expect to be brutalized; we do not expect to be harassed. We are the native people and we will protest. Demonstrating is our civil right and our human right."
Trask joined speakers from local unions and labor organizations from Asian countries and Australia in attacking negative effects of ADB-backed projects on the poor and indigenous people of Asian countries.
International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142 "opposes ADB loans that do not give priority to workers' rights and the social and environmental needs of the people in debtor countries," said union spokesman Eric Hanould, reading a resolution by the executive board.
Police Chief Lee Donohue said: "Am I nervous? Maybe a little bit edgy, like all of us are. We want to get this thing over with and, like I said, we hope it's very peaceful."
Trask commented on police security measures, which included an officer videotaping yesterday's press conference: "It does not bode well for freedom of speech, the future of protests in Hawaii. My concern is that this episode with the ADB is going to leave all of us with an ... extremely militarized police force.
"Another concern is the prostitution of Hawaiian culture to welcome these people who are impoverishing people all over Asia through dam development, through exploitation of the poor and their removal from their homes," Trask said.
She criticized activist Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele, former appellate Judge Walter Heen and others attending the convention.
"How can you support indigenous sovereignty and the Asian Development Bank? That is a contradiction in terms. The ADB is uprooting indigenous people all over Asia."
Asian Development Bank