The Illegal US Occupation of Hawaii

Fight for the Pacific

Al Jazeera (2025)

Film Review

This film profile indigenous Kanaka Maoli women who view Hawai’i as territory illegally /the US has occupied illegally for over 100 years without a legal annexation treaty. In 1893 US Marines invaded to help a few mainland sugar planters launch a coup. Most native Hawaiians believe the US just wants Hawai’i for its deep ocean harbor at Pearl Harbor, essential for launching Pacific wars. At present Hawai’i is the command and control center for all US military operations in Asia. This makes the state’s civilian population extremely to enemy attack.

One quarter of the state’s land base Is used for US military operations, with all service branches represented. The area around Pearl Harbor used to be the the country’s bread basket and is now totally contaminated with toxic waste.

The external economies of tourism and the US military substantially inflate the cost of living for native Kanaki, forcing many to work two full time tourist jobs to survive. The state has the highest homeless rate in the US, and many homeless Kanaka are military veterans.

Kanaka activists are also extremely concerned about the AUKUS nuclear submarines docking at Pearl Harbor, especially in light of the deplorable nuclear colonialism the US practiced on the Marshall Islands. Between 1946 and 1958, the US dropped the equivalent of 1.6 Hiroshima bombs annually on the islands. During the same period they forcibly and secretly exposed a group of Marshall Islanders to the nuclear tests to study the human health effects. Because their soil continues to be contaminated with radioactive nucleotides, Marshall Islanders must import canned and processed food, leading to an epidemic of diabetes.