Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 8, Number 10, 1 October 1991 — Hui seeks sovereignty grant for workshops [ARTICLE]

Hui seeks sovereignty grant for workshops

Hawaiian organizations on O'ahu and from several of the neighbor islands have been meeting si> ee February to develop the Hui Na'auao Sovereignty and Self Determination Community Education Proiect. Efforts to encourage other organizations to participate are onqoing. For the time being, however, the contact phone number for Hui Na'auao is 523-1445. On May 24, the group submitted a grant request to the Administration for Nativ Americans (ANA) to conduct workshops and organize assemblies on the cultural, spiritual, historical, legal and equitable basis for the Na Kanaka Maoli right to sovereignty and self-determination. The group requested $364,000 for 1991-92; $342,000 for 1892-93; and $285,000 for 1993-94. Having received informal positive feedback on the grant proposal from ANA, the group is confident that the project will be funded. The project design is based on having major neighbor island participation. In the qrant proposal, eaeh island will receive funds and equipment to set up a eouneil of island based organizations to assist in achieving the project goals throuqhout Hawai'i. Eaeh eouneil will be responsible to hirc trainers on their island to organize workshops, seminars and forums on Kanaka Maoli sovereignty in conjunction with other Hui Na'auao staff. While the board of directors has been meeting on O'ahu to implement the project up to this point, Hui Na'auao is committed to include organizations interested in sovereignty that are operating on the neighbor islands. Island councils for eaeh island are in the process of being organized and all interested huis are encouraged to get involved. The eommon mission of groups who participate in Hui Na'auao is to: (1) Increase the understanding of at least 51 percent of Na Kanaka Maoli, the Hawaiian people, continued page 5

Sovereignty workshops planned

from page 1 on every island of their rights, leading to community social, eeonomie, and political selfsufficiency. (2) C reate a context and framework as the historic basis through whieh Kanaka Maoli and nonKanaka Maoli will gain appreciation of the exercise of sovereign rights and responsibilities and the spiritual, cultural, eeonomie, social, and poliheal loss that occurred following the overthrow. (3) Create an appreciation of the aspirations of Na Kanaka Maoli to thrive as a distinct people with

the flourishing of traditional spiritual and cultural Kanaka Maoli beliefs, customs and practices. (4) Frovide a larger context for understanding sovereignty and self-determ nation pertaining to entitlement, rights and responsibilities relevant to Kanaka Maoli decision-making. The 100-year anniversary of the illegai overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1993 is the deadline being set for the consensus building, culminating in a f inal declarative report settingout a Kanaka Maoli perspective and alternative strategies for self-determination and governance.

U)E3i 0(bl 0 'Ao'ao Elima (Fage 5)