News & Letters, June 2001

Hawaiians protest bankers' meeting

Honolulu--Over 500 angry protesters, many in native Hawaiian dress, greeted 3,500 delegates from 49 countries who gathered here last month for the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The ADB is an entity, like the World Trade Organization, that undemocratically makes economic and development decisions that negatively affect working people, the poor, and the environment.

Native Hawaiians and others--including many youth, and union members from the Teamsters and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union--came together under the umbrella group ADB Watch for a "March for Global Justice and Hawaiian Rights."

Hawaiian sovereignty activists led the march, carrying the Hawaiian Kingdom flags upside down--the international sign of distress. They raised issues of land rights, federal recognition of Hawaiian self-rule, and independence. Another issue local law enforcement forced activists to raise, as sovereignty rights activist Haunani-Kay Trask said, is "the militarization of the Honolulu Police Department (HPD)."

In the land of Aloha, 500 protesters faced a police force with $500,000 worth of new riot gear; sidewalk barricades separating protesters from those who needed to hear their message; over 200 police; plus private guards; plus National Guardsmen; and police helicopters. While National Guard Maj. Chuck Anthony claimed, "I haven't seen any intimidation at all," police filmed a press conference with protesters, and HPD Chief Lee Donohue unbelievably claimed he knew nothing of the filming but that it was warranted to protect the rights of officers accused of wrongdoing! In fact, some marchers turned out because they were angry that the city had tried to stop the march by refusing to issue a permit. ADB Watch had to go to court to force Honolulu to let the march proceed. Security for this 100% peaceful protest will cost Hawaiian taxpayers over $4 million.

But it was not only a hostile police force that protesters encountered. The local press, especially the HONOLULU ADVERTISER, vilified the protesters while touting the ADB to the skies, referring to it as "a Manila-based bank [that] distributes $5 billion a year in loans to address poverty in developing nations." Protesters in Seattle, Quebec and elsewhere were called "bused-in thugs." When the paper was swamped with letters and calls from citizens angry that local people were being intimidated from marching, the ADVERTISER'S editorial slandered the letter writers, saying: "Our mail has brimmed with organized write-ins complaining..."

Despite this orchestrated attempt to present only the capitalist side, activists made their voices heard. Phoy Bun Nyor (or Poy Bun Nyok--the Advertiser failed to spell it consistently!) came from Cambodia to tell of how the 59 villages and 20,000 people along the Se San River are experiencing severe flooding since an ADB-financed dam has been built. She is fighting an ADB project that would create a series of dams which would displace thousands, flood rain forests, and destroy fisheries. Another Cambodian, Mon Mon, a farmer, was forced off his land by ADB-funded logging projects.

Beverly Longid from the Cordillera Peoples' Alliance is opposing an ADB project in the Philippines that is building roads--the infrastructure that international capital needs to expand--when the real need is irrigation and help in stopping the introduction of crops that are crowding out native plants. She says, "The biggest problem is that native people are not consulted first." Haunani-Kay Trask said it most succinctly: "The ADB is uprooting indigenous people all over Asia."

While Honolulu Governor Ben Cayetano was greeting the ADB as the first of what he hopes will be many similar meetings held in Hawaii, what was beneath his notice, but will make the difference in the long run, is that the ADB meeting was the opportunity for activists from several Asian countries to meet together with native Hawaiian and U.S. youth and labor activists who are forming part of the movement from below that is directly challenging capitalism.

--Terry Moon