Peace For Okinawa Coalition Slams University of Hawaii Over Mauna Kea Telescope

Press Release

MEDIA ALERT: Peace For Okinawa Coalition Slams University of Hawaii Over Mauna Kea Telescope

June 4, 2019 For immediate release

The Peace For Okinawa Coalition has formally condemned the controversial construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii’s tallest and most sacred mountain.

In an email to University of Hawaii President David Lassner and the Board of Regents, the Peace For Okinawa Coalition criticized the project for violations against Native Hawaiians, environmental destruction, and for failing to benefit the local people of Hawaii.

“Okinawans, as well as Okinawa supporters, stand with our indigenous cousins in protecting our rights, our culture, our ancestors, and our environment,” wrote the Coalition.

ROBERT KAJIWARA, President of the Peace For Okinawa Coalition and University of Hawaii alumnus, has pledged not to give any alumni donations to the university until all plans for construction on Mauna Kea are scrapped and President Lassner is removed from office.

“It’s crucial for Okinawans and Hawaiians to work together towards our shared endeavors,” said Kajiwara. “Native Hawaiians have very strongly supported Okinawan issues. It’s time for Okinawans to return the favor.”

The University of Hawaii Board of Regents has acknowledged receipt of the message.

The Peace For Okinawa Coalition is a transnational, multi-cultural think-tank and cultural organization headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. It promotes peace, diplomacy, justice, and human rights through advancing Okinawan history, culture, language, and issues. Circulation: 200,000.

 

 

 

President David Lassner

University of Hawaii

2444 Dole Street

Bachman Hall 202

Honolulu, Hawaii 96822

June 4, 2019

Dear President David Lassner,

The Peace For Okinawa Coalition is writing to inform you that we strongly condemn the University of Hawaii’s construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Mauna Kea.

Mauna Kea is a sacred mountain to Hawaiians, and is also a rare and fragile ecosystem. Your decision to violate the rights of Hawaiians shows a blatant disrespect and lack of understanding of Hawaiian values. Okinawans, as well as Okinawa supporters, stand with our indigenous cousins in protecting our rights, our culture, our ancestors, and our environment.

Additionally, the TMT would have little-to-no benefit for the local people of Hawaii, and would primarily benefit those from elsewhere. Your decision to support malihini over kamaʻaina is a great disservice to all of the local people of Hawaii.

I, Robert Kajiwara, President of the Peace For Okinawa Coalition, am an alumnus of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where I graduated summa cum laude, as well as Leeward Community College, where I graduated with honors and a 4.0 GPA. Due to your disrespect towards Hawaiians and to all of the local people of Hawaii, I am calling for your immediate resignation, and am asking the University to install a Hawaiian president who truly understands Hawaii. I pledge to withhold all alumni donations from the University of Hawaii until the plans to build the TMT on Mauna Kea are permanently abandoned and you are removed from the University of Hawaii system.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Robert Kajiwara

President

The Peace For Okinawa Coalition

Circulation: 200,000

Press Release – UN Geneva Presentation

 

May 27, 2019 For immediate release

Robert Kajiwara and Catherine Jane Fisher will be speaking at the United Nations Human Rights Council from June 24-28 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Robert Kajiwara, President of the Peace For Okinawa Coalition, will be requesting UN intervention in the current situation in Okinawa surrounding the military bases at Henoko and Futenma, where thousands have called for their immediate closure.

“Okinawa is a perfect example of a peaceful movement for change,” said Kajiwara, a fourth-generation Okinawan Hawaiian. “We have always used peaceful methods to assert our rights. If the UN is unwilling or unable to intervene in a non-violent situation such as this, they are by default encouraging violence, and if they encourage violence, then the very purpose of the UN is rendered obsolete.”

On December 8, 2018 Kajiwara started a petition calling for a stop to the construction of the base at Henoko. The petition quickly garnered over 100,000 signatures in its first ten days, and currently has over 211,000 signatures. Both the U.S. and Japan governments, however, have ignored the petition, as well as the many other calls for the construction to stop, including a referendum held in Okinawa in February 2019 in which 72% of the population voted against the base and another 8% voted undecided.

Catherine Jane Fisher, the Peace For Okinawa Coalition’s Special Advisor on the Rights of Men, Women, and Children, will join Kajiwara in speaking at the UN. Fisher, who was born in Australia and moved to Japan with her family during the 1980s, was the woman who first broke the silence of rape in Japan in 2002.

Fisher advocates for victims of heinous crimes committed by US Military personnel on the island of Okinawa and elsewhere in Japan which have occurred for over 70 years. Fisher has also exposed the lack of action by the government of Japan to properly handle cases of sexual violence and ensure the support and well-being of victims.

Kajiwara and Fisher previously spoke together on February 20 at the National Diet of Japan in Tokyo.

The Peace For Okinawa Coalition is a U.S.-based multi-national, multi-ethnic non-profit think tank and cultural organization aimed at promoting peace, diplomacy, justice, and human rights through advancing Okinawan history, culture, language, and issues.