Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 20, Number 12, 1 December 2003 — Marines must elean up bombs in Waikāne [ARTICLE]

Marines must elean up bombs in Waikāne

Community resistance forced the Marine Corps to eaneel jungle warfare training plans in Waikāne, an important victory for Windward communities and for all people opposed to military expansion. Unfortunately, the Marines' decision does not go far enough to address the community's demand for the eleanup of unexploded ordnance in Waikāne. Like the Navy, whieh failed to elean up Kaho'olawe, the Marine Corps broke its promise to elean up unexploded ordnance in Waikāne, and instead condemned the land from the Kamaka family. DMZ-Hawai'i/Aloha 'Āina holds the military responsible for the complete eleanup of unexploded ordnance and toxic chemicals it expended in Waikāne, as well as other military contaminated sites. The appropriation of $800,000 for a fence with no funds for eleanup is an insult to the community. We oppose any military expansion in Hawai'i, including the Army's 25,000-acre Stryker Brigade land grab, the 6,000-acre expansion by the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua'i, and Senator Inouye's and Gov. Lingle's bid for a nuclear aircraft carrier in Pearl Harbor. And we will resist any attempt by the Marine Corps to expand its

training to another Hawai'i community. Communities struggling to protect themselves from militarization have consistently demanded that the military elean up, restore and return the 'āina that it now occupies, that the government should pursue sustainable, community-based social and eeonomie development alternatives to the present military-dependent economy, and that the military must pay just compensation to the victims of militarization, including those who have suffered health problems due to military toxins and those whose land was seized and damaged by the military. Community resistance stopped the military bombing of Kaho'olawe and the Marine Corps training in Waikāne. Massive protests by the people of Vieques, Puerto Rico ended Navy bombardment of their island. Now we continue the struggle for the eleanup of Kaho'olawe, Vieques, Waikāne, Mākua and other military-contaminated lands. Aloha 'Āina! Clean up, not build up. Take care of the land — take care of the people. Ikaika Hussey Kyle Kajihiro DMZ-Hawai'i/Aloha 'Aina

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