ʻAHA ALOHA ʻĀINA
Purpose and History
`Aha Aloha `Āina is a coalition of more than 40 Kānaka Maoli (aboriginal Hawaiian) organizations, businesses, and Hawaiian leaders dedicated to collectively determining the path forward for the healthy governance of our people. We have undertaken this process through a series of public meetings that utilize the traditional framework of Kino Kālaimoku; a process that is independent of control by the State of Hawai`i.
The `Aha Aloha `Āina began as a response to the resounding community feedback from the Department of Interior (DOI) 2014 Hearings and Hālāwai Aloha `Āina informational meetings that Hawaiian leaders held from October to November, 2015 throughout Hawai`i. A key unifying concern was protest to the State of Hawai`i sponsored initiatives to undermine the Hawaiian sovereignty movement and rights to Self-Determination and Independence (i.e. Kana`iolowalu and Na`i Aupuni). The Hawaiian leaders who initiated the Hālāwai held the first `Aha Aloha `Āina gathering in February, 2016. Since then gatherings have been held and are being planned throughout the islands of O`ahu, Hawai`i, Moloka`i, Kaua`i, Maui and Mokuhonu (the Continent). This series of meetings is to identify the very broad movement in the Hawaiian community for Independence and educate ourselves on the various pathways for Hawaiian governance.
Through the support of our community we have been able to hold 26 free and open to the public `Aha (gatherings) throughout the islands and on the continental United States, among our Hawaiian diaspora community. Over the last nine months over 2,000 participants have been documented with four more `Aha planned
The SIMPLE GOALS of the ʻAha Aloha ʻĀina are to:
2) Resist and oppose Naʻi Aupuni’s claims to be the representative voice of our people
3) Reject the current DOI endeavor to Federally Recognize na Kanaka Maoli as a Native Hawaiian Tribe
4) Unite our people and reveal the many different ways that our people have been building and rebuilding our Nation over the past several hundred years up to the present
President Eisenhower’s 1959 statement on “self-determination” for Hawaiians
For more information or to join the coalition please email: ahaalohaaina@gmail.com.
ʻAha Aloha ʻĀina 