Aloha 'Ãina (Love of the Land): The Struggle for Land and Power in Hawai'i

from East Wind Magazine Vol. 1 No. 1 Spring/Summer (1982) Subheadings were added to the original publication to make this more readable on the web.

by Tracy Takano

This image of foreigners became a reality, and today native Hawai'ians and other local people–the people of Hawai'i from Asia, Puerto Rico and Portugal first brought over as contract laborers by the plantation owners–are locked into a fight with the graspers for every beach, valley and piece of land in Hawai'i.

The struggle for land began when the foreigners from the U.S. and Europe came to exploit and colonize Hawai'i in the early 1800's. The graspers saw that to take the land, they also needed to replace the ali'i, the Hawai'ian chiefs who controlled the land. They were able to do this by the end of the century when the haole (white) capitalist planters and merchants overthrew the Hawai'ian monarchy in 1893. As the land was lost, the foreigners' grasp grew tighter on the sovereignty of Hawai'i. Similarly, the struggle to regain the land today is part of the struggle for revolution and to gain political power.

The Hawai'ians had a very developed feudal society by the time British explorer James Cook came to the islands in 1778. The Hawai'ian land system was based on use rather than private ownership – the ali'i controlled the land, but the maka'ãinana (people of the land, commoners) had the right to use the resources of the land and sea. The relationship between the people and the land was expressed in the concept aloha'ãina –love of the land. Hawai'ians took care of the land so that the land could continue to sustain them. The Hawai'ian economy, culture, religion and political system were based on shared use and respect for the land.

Aloha 'Ãina 2 (The Great Land Grab)

"Do not shelter foreigners for they are graspers of the land"

- a British foreigner to
King Kamehameha I

East Wind