Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai'i is a documentary film that began as a project about resistance to the post 9-11 military expansion happening in Hawai'i, the largest expansion since WWII. The Army is bringing a Stryker Brigade to Hawai'i, which consists of about 300 urban assault vehicles that weigh 20 tons each, scheduled to arrive here by the end of the year. The amount of land being taken by the military to accommodate the Stryker is roughly the size of the island of Kaho'olawe, which was destroyed by the military. In addition, the state of Hawai'i is currently trying to bring a nuclear aircraft carrier group to Pearl Harbor, a site that history has shown us is a prime military target.
Noho Hewa has evolved into a mo'olelo (story) that is about much more than the military expansion or the state's desire to bring nuclear weapons to Hawai'i. It explains how the US came to occupy Hawai'i, and how the military and other industries, such as real estate and tourism, are economically dispossessing Hawaiians of their land, desecrating sacred sites, and destroying the environment. Some parts of Hawai'i have more endangered species per square mile than anywhere else on the planet, including an area that will be used by the Strykers. And as some of the most delicate ecosystems in the world are being trampled on, so too are the rights of the indigenous people of Hawai'i. More than 65% of the homeless on Oahu and other islands are Hawaiian, and in some areas of Hawai'i, the cost to own a home went up over $250,000 during just the last part of 2005, making rents skyrocket. Over 40% of the Hawaiian population is economically forced to live away from their homeland. Noho Hewa documents the Native perspective on the connections between these issues through interviews with Hawaiian scholars, filmed protests and public testimony against the military expansion and the damage done to Hawaiian burials and sacred sites. There is a struggle taking place in Hawai'i right now: it is a struggle for the hearts and minds of all the peoples who have come to call Hawai'i home, and for the soul of this place. Noho Hewa is just one mo'olelo, but it stands in resistance to the hewa (the wrong) that is happening to Hawai'i.
Contact
For questions and information about the film,
please contact:
Noho Hewa
c/o Anne Keala Kelly
45-934 Kamehameha Hwy
Box C123 / Kaneohe, HI 96744
nohohewa@nohohewa.com
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Facts about the Millitary in Hawai'i
  • Hawai'i is one of the most militarized groups of islands in the world.
  • The military controls over 20% of all land in the Hawaiian Island chain.
  • The military population makes up over 11% of the state of Hawai'i, as opposed to less than 1% of the U.S. population.
  • The U.S. Army secretly tested chemical, biological, and deadly nerve gas agents in Hawai'i watershed/forest reserve areas, facts repeatedly denied but later confirmed.
  • Currently 7.1 million live rounds of various weapons are fired annually on sacred Hawaiian lands at the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) on the Big Island of Hawai'i.
  • More than 400 square miles (250,000 acres) on Hawai'i Island may contain live arms and other military toxins and should be considered military hazard areas.
  • In 1995, there were 405 toxic sites in 122 military facilities statewide.
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