Hawaiian protesters get in ADB's face
by Kaua'i IMC Team 12:46am Thu May 10 '01
http://hawaii.indymedia.org/
Hawaiian protesters get in ADB's face
Anti-democracy security forces in Honolulu ensured minimal disturbance to ADB ministers who are meeting to impose structural adjustment on still more client states, yet the made-up Hawaiian welcome was overshadowed by native calls for independence from a militaristic America
A few hundred protesters accompanied thousands of security forces past the meeting place of the ADB and through Waikiki, as most folks stayed away from this armed camp this day.
That's about $14,000 per protester spent by local police and tourism groups to ensure tranquility here.
The media coup of the day was a web address for hawaiiankingdom.org on a banner held by Lynette Hi'ilani Cruz of the Ahupua'a Action Alliance, that flashed across global TV.
What news there was came mainly from Hawaiian independence activists expressing solidarity with peoples in ADB client states because of similarities with their own U.S. status.
A Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiian) march blowing the pu (conch shell) led the March for Global Justice, and noted anti-globalization expert Walden Bello got some face time with the ADB president as marchers decamped briefly and without incident in front of the Hawai'i Convention Center.
Local cops unabashedly photographed each marcher.
Meanwhile, the alternative NGO forum called "Another World Is Possible" is drawing huge crowds all week and providing an outlet for global NGO's who are boycotting the "kinder, gentler" ADB's call for meetings with NGO leaders.