Freedom Now - Saturday, June 6, 2026

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1. at 7 p.m. and both shows begin at 8 p.m.
2. Further information and tickets are available
3. at definitelydead.com, kpfk.org
4. and Definitely Dead Band on Facebook.
5. So gather your beautiful people,
6. follow the dancing lights
7. and let the music carry you into the stars.
8. KPFK 90.7 FM, Los Angeles.
9. And don't let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world.
10. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment.
11. and it seems that I can hear God saying to America,
12. you are too arrogant.
13. If you don't change your ways,
14. I will rise up and break the backbone of your power.
15. Otep, which in the language of ancient Egypt
16. means we come with justice and peace.
17. Welcome to Freedom Now,
18. a Saturday Pan-Africanist
19. and internationalist world affairs program.
20. Freedom Now is committed to the principle
21. of the rights of all peoples and nations
22. to self-determination.
23. We thank you deeply for your contribution to KPFK,
24. which permits programs like Freedom Now
25. to stay on the air.
26. In this era of corporate acquisition
27. and co-optation of all dissident media,
28. we provide the microphone,
29. challenging their corporate and racist point of view.
30. So stay tuned for Agenda here at Freedom Now.
31. This is Sister Thade with Freedom Now's Agenda for the week of June 6, 2026.
32. Today is Nick Gabaldon Day in Santa Monica at Tower 20 until 1.30 p.m.
33. and Nick Gabaldon was an Afro-Mexican surfer
34. and to honor our community
35. the Black Surfers Collective kicks off
36. its 14th summer series of
37. Pan-African Beach Days
38. which our ancestor Didan Kamati
39. had started a few years prior in 2009
40. with a small group of people over at
41. Dockweiler Beach
42. and so the Black Surfer Collective social media pages
43. have more details about today
44. and Pan-African Beach Days this summer
45. our central theme for today's program
46. is Pacific Nations
47. at the United Nations
48. fight for sovereignty and climate change.
49. Our first guest is Pa'ele Kiokona,
50. an organizer with Lahaina Strong
51. and a member of the Maui Board of Water,
52. who recently presented at the United Nations Forum
53. on Indigenous Issues,
54. representing the nation of Hawaii,
55. along with his ohana,
56. whose statements we'll also hear from,
57. John Kealoha-Garcia,
58. DeAndre Makakoa,
59. and Moses Goods.
60. Brother Pa'ele joins us this hour
61. to discuss sovereignty,
62. Hawaiian homelands, and more.
63. Then, we'll go to our prison radio commentaries with political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal speaking on spaces for dislocation and they want it all.
64. We close out this Freedom Now Hour of Power with our guest, Watna Mori, who joins us from Papua New Guinea.
65. She's an international lawyer working with the Melanesian Law and Governance.
66. She joins us to discuss the recent case at the International Court of Justice that led to the recent United Nations Climate Justice Resolution spearheaded by Vanuatu that was voted on on May 20th of 2026
67. Our music clip mix includes MLK, Zap Mama, Kool-Aid Music, Bob Marley, Dead Prez, Tupac Shakur,
68. and more. So sit back, phone a friend, and as always we stand ready for revolution.
69. I'm proud of all that you are, fearless warriors equipped with knowledge, oh, you're the colonized
70. descendants of the stars.
71. Mama kakaua o ku'a aina
72. Mama, mama, aina
73. Always defend
74. Face against the concrete
75. Pressure till I can't breathe
76. Sacrifice my life
77. Cause this ain't not all I am
78. And now you'll hear four brief statements
79. made by the Nation of Hawaii delegates
80. on April 24, 2026
81. at the United Nations.
82. First is John Kealoa Garcia, then DeAndre Makakoa, then Moses Goods, and Paele Kiyokona.
83. The representative of Nation of Hawaii seated in nameplate 42, Indigenous Peoples Organization.
84. Aloha, Madam Chair, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, NRIP members, and all delegations.
85. We ground our position in U.S. Public Law 103-150, which acknowledges the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and affirms that our Hawaiian national sovereignty was never relinquished.
86. Almost 33 years later, Hawaii remains unaddressed within formal United Nations processes as an active case of unresolved decolonization.
87. Since our last engagement with the United UNPFII in 2023, the nation of Hawaii continues to operate as an independent indigenous sovereign government.
88. At our sovereign land base, Puʻuhonua o Waimanalo, the Nation of Hawaii engages in ahupua-based
89. restoration through Aina Days, where community members help with restoring ancient lo'i,
90. taro patch, and agroforestry, in collaboration with GoFarm Hawaii and other organizations
91. to strengthen local food systems.
92. This work restores our relationship to land, water, and one another through our own systems
93. of stewardship.
94. We are advancing local economic development through community markets and makeke on our
95. sovereign lands, restoring indigenous systems of exchange, grounded in reciprocity and aloha.
96. In parallel, we continue to build international relationships with other indigenous nations
97. through diplomacy and peace and friendship treaties, and also with governments and
98. businesses in Southeast Asia. At the same time, we are building indigenous controlled systems that
99. support our government and economy, ensuring that sovereignty extends into the digital environment
100. shaping our futures. The systems are not separate. They are a continuation of how we have always
101. governed. The fires in Lahaina, recent Kona low storm flooding events, and ongoing environmental
102. and climate pressures continue to expose the limitations of state systems to protect our
103. peoples, land, and water resources. These are not isolated events. They reflect systemic
104. vulnerability where Indigenous governance has been displaced. What we are witnessing is not
105. only environmental change, but the result of long-term disruption to our land, water, culture,
106. and ways of knowing. What we are witnessing, our question for the Special
107. Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and NRIP members are what pathways exist within your mandates to formally engage with Indigenous sovereign governments such as the Nation of Hawaii in cases where
108. our sovereignty is acknowledged yet unresolved due to the failure of our member state to
109. engage in formal Hawaiian sovereignty resolution negotiations?
110. And how can we initiate a direct dialogue, responsive reporting, and or a visit to Hawaii
111. by the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the NRIP?
112. Mahalo nui.
113. Aloha mai kakou, Madam Chair and all delegations.
114. I'd like to begin by sharing an important Hawaiian proverb.
115. Ola i ka wai.
116. Water is life, and the health and well-being of all living things is intrinsically tied to the health of our natural water systems.
117. As indigenous peoples, we all understand that from the watersheds to the estuaries, everything is connected.
118. Yet, for generations, extractive industries and colonial greed have been diverting the freshwater streams all across the Hawaiian islands.
119. Lush green golf courses and resort swimming pools can be found just five minutes from our local neighborhoods
120. who are living in a dry tinderbox and put on drought restrictions.
121. It is this same system that has been stealing our waters for over a century
122. that caused one of the deadliest wildfires in modern history,
123. which killed over 100 people, destroyed over 2,200 structures, and displaced thousands of us.
124. My pregnant wife, son, and I were forced to flee from the flames
125. as the town my ancestors have called home for centuries was burned to the ground.
126. Today, around 55% of our native Hawaiian people live in diaspora, separated from the mountains,
127. sands and waters that we are deeply connected to, displaced from our homeland and unable
128. to return due to this manufactured drought and debilitating cost of living.
129. This is the direct result of the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom by the United States
130. of America, who issued an apology in the form of Public Law 103-150, which affirms that
131. the long-range economic and social changes in Hawaii over the 19th and early 20th centuries
132. have been devastating to the population and to the health and well-being of the native
133. Hawaiians.
134. The fire in Lahaina was not a natural disaster.
135. It was the inevitable result of dismantling the highly organized, self-sufficient communal
136. and land water systems that this apology law acknowledges that we once flourished under.
137. We humbly recommend that the Permanent Forum, the United Nations, and member states recognize
138. water diversion in Hawaii as a violation of the human right to health and water, support
139. the upholding of the Hawaii State Water Code, and call for a human rights impact assessment
140. specifically focused on water equity in Hawaii.
141. We also urge coordination between the Special Rapporteurs to conduct a joint mission to
142. Hawaii to witness the frontline of indigenous displacement first hand.
143. The most frustrating part about all of this is that we know if we had the free prior and
144. informed consent to manage our lands, waters and resources, then our home would be flourishing
145. right now.
146. Another Hawaiian proverb is, I ka wa maa mua, I ka wa maa hope.
147. The answers to creating a better future can be found in our past.
148. We don't need AI, artificial intelligence, to solve our problems.
149. We need AI, ancestral intelligence.
150. Indigenous wisdom knows how to manage this planet best.
151. And the way we save this planet is by standing in solidarity as a global indigenous community
152. and enlightening the rest of the world to this truth that is inherent to all of us.
153. Mahalo nūnui a ke aloha nō.
154. This is Moses Goodes. I'm an actor and a storyteller,
155. and I speak on behalf of the nation of Hawaii to affirm
156. that the human right to health includes something too often ignored,
157. the right to remain who we are.
158. For Native Hawaiians, language is not just communication.
159. It is memory. It is identity. It is medicine.
160. My grandfather George Kanawai Pi was born in 1889 into the kingdom of Hawaii but at the age of four our kingdom was illegally overthrown resulting in the banning of the Hawaiian language in schools Children were punished for speaking their language including my own mother who grew up in a generation that was disconnected
161. from their language, their culture, and themselves. This was not accidental. It was policy. We
162. have an olelo no eau, a proverb which says,
163. The branches of the tree grow because of the trunk, that trunk being our elders, through
164. whom our knowledge and our identity is transmitted. But when poison seeps into that trunk, what ends
165. up being transmitted is intergenerational trauma, cultural loss, and profound disparities in mental
166. and community health. Under Article 13 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
167. Indigenous Peoples, we have the right to revitalize and transmit our language. Under Article 24, we
168. have the right to traditional medicines and health practices, yet when our communities are displaced,
169. As they are now in Lahaina, language transmission is disrupted.
170. When families are separated from their land, culture is weakened.
171. When culture is weakened, health declines.
172. And the International Covenant on Economics, Social and Cultural Rights
173. affirms that the right to health includes cultural integrity and dignity.
174. These are not abstract principles.
175. These are conditions for survival.
176. We therefore recommend that the Permanent Forum and the United Nations
177. • Recognize Indigenous language revitalization as a core component of health and policy.
178. • Support sustained funding for Native Hawaiian language immersion,
179. cultural education, and land-based healing programs.
180. • Ensure that post-disaster recovery efforts prioritize cultural continuity and community
181. cohesion. • Protect Indigenous peoples from displacement that severs language transmission
182. across generations and advance international recognition of cultural erasure as a determinant
183. of health inequity. We further call for collaboration between the Special Rapporteur
184. on Indigenous Peoples, Cultural Rights and Health to address these intersection violations.
185. And we invite Dr. Albert K. Varumé to Hawaii to witness both the harm and the resilience of our
186. people. Because despite everything, our language lives, our culture lives, and through them we heal.
187. Health is not only the absence of illness, it is the presence of identity, it is the continuity of culture, it is the ability to say who we are in our own language, on our own land.
188. Mahalo nui.
189. Aloha Madam Chair, Distinguished Delegates and Relatives.
190. I stand before you as a native representative of an occupied sovereign nation whose overthrow in 1893 remains unremediated under international law.
191. Many know our homeland as the 50th state of the United States, but we know it as the nation of Hawaii.
192. I'm here today representing my hometown of Lahaina, which in August of 2023 was devastated by wildfire.
193. Lahaina, once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, now has the reputation as the place where the deadliest wildfire in recent U.S. history took place.
194. More than 13,000 people were displaced and scattered overnight, including Native people.
195. of the United Nations Declaration of Rights of its Indigenous People, but decisions still
196. have been made without us, disregarding both Articles 19 and 32, leaving us where we are
197. today.
198. Lahaina was reopened only two months after our fire, despite 18,000 people signing a
199. petition to dispute the decision, and this points to a broader pattern that has been
200. going on for generations globally.
201. To some, this may look like oversight, but to us, it's just part of the same system that
202. has always forced more than half of our native Hawaiian population to live far from our homeland.
203. And we believe the prolonged displacement of our people demands international scrutiny
204. on the highest level.
205. We respectfully request that
206. The United Nations investigate the human rights and health impacts of the Lahaina fires and their aftermath
207. to ensure rebuilding is indigenously led and compliant with the free and prior and informed consent
208. and to recognize the ongoing displacement of the native Hawaiians as a violation of international human rights.
209. We also want to extend a formal invitation to Special Rapporteur of Rights of Indigenous People, Dr. Albert K. Verrumi,
210. to conduct an official visit to Hawaii.
211. To us, Lahaina Mekapai'aina o Hawaii is a test of whether indigenous people will be protected or erased under the guise of recovery.
212. Our people are still here, still standing, and still fighting.
213. And we're not going anywhere. Aloha.
214. This is Sister Paige with Freedom Now, KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles, part of the Pacifica Radio Network.
215. And we're so deeply honored to be joined on the line by Brother Paele Kiyokona, who you just heard a clip of.
216. He was the last of the Nation of Hawaii speakers at the recent United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples.
217. Brother Paele is involved in sovereignty advocacy, Lahaina recovery, water governance, and international indigenous diplomacy.
218. He is an organizer with Lahaina Strong, president of Save Honolulu Coalition, and currently serves on the Maui Board of Water Supply.
219. as he felt called to lead the community after his grandmother lost her Lahaina home in the 2023 fires.
220. Aloha and welcome to Freedom Now, Brother Paele Kiyokona.
221. Aloha and thank you so much for having me.
222. Really appreciate the opportunity to come and talk stories and share some of the things that are going on on the ground here.
223. We mahalo you so much because you are on the front lines in Hawaii, at the United Nations, and building internationally as well.
224. So first we wanted to get started for our Freedom Now listeners.
225. If you can give a brief overview of the Nation of Hawaii's delegation presence, from presentations to panels to a documentary film screening event you had at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and share what the core message was that you wanted the international community to recognize and to hear.
226. And if you can include also some of the organizing that went on behind that led up to this moment.
227. Yeah, thank you.
228. Thank you for the question.
229. Yeah, I mean, we definitely had no intention of going there.
230. like that wasn't part of the plan, like the grand plan, I guess.
231. There was a film specifically, you know, out of Lahaina after what happened to our town.
232. And one of the very few documentaries, especially post-disaster,
233. that is made by community and is centered around community.
234. And a lot of our issues that are highlighted within the film
235. are the things that, of course, led to the fire,
236. but are things that have compounded over time due to the colonization of Hawaii and everything that was taken,
237. the mismanagement of resources and all of these things are included in the film.
238. So we saw this opportunity, you know, with the United Nations permanent forum on indigenous issues.
239. And of course, where we weren't a delegation in ourselves,
240. but we have a lot of collaborative efforts across all of Hawaii and the success after the fire with
241. the community was largely due to our collaboration and working together as a as a community and as a
242. ohana so that was actually how we ended up manifesting that and being able to be present
243. in New York for that forum is due to these collaborated efforts we were able to speak with
244. the Nation of Hawaii, which is like Brandon, Maka'awa'awa folks,
245. Uncle Bumpy Kanahele and they are the ones basically holding this line of sovereignty And they have participated multiple times within the United Nations Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues
246. but they had no plans of being there and being present this time around.
247. So we reached out to them because we saw an opportunity for us to also screen our film.
248. Given that a lot of the Indigenous peoples of the forum itself are experiencing a lot of the same things that we are,
249. you know, a larger power coming in, pushing their agenda upon the smaller people.
250. But at the end of the day, it is the indigenous people who know that land and that space the best.
251. So we saw an opportunity to help to uplift people and also share this message of working together as a family.
252. And we reached out to them. They were very willing and stoked to allow us to go there.
253. So part of our team with the film now basically turned us into an extension of the Hope Nation of Hawaii delegation.
254. And that is how we went there.
255. And that message, you know, like I said, just community, making sure that we're not overlooking what is truly important.
256. You know, take away all of your Western luxuries.
257. What do you have left?
258. You have the land around you and the resources that is there.
259. and that's the reality that you have to face sometimes especially after disaster so that was
260. the the message we wanted to share and highlight also and it played right into you know giving our
261. interventions itself and the message basically the same as what it was in the film and there
262. was a lot of hard work of from our team of like amber and keely who are both part of the the film
263. the impact producers for the film and yeah they worked night and day to get us all signed up and
264. ready to go we needed to make sure that we were representing ourselves well that we weren't just
265. walking in there without a clear understanding of how things flowed there so yeah it was an
266. amazing opportunity and hopefully it is something that lives far beyond just those few minutes that
267. we were able to speak and for the film that we were able to scream afterwards right and it was
268. such an honor to be there standing behind you also and watching your solidarity with the young
269. brother from Aotearoa, New Zealand as well and just being in that space of all of the Indigenous
270. solidarity that was very very very powerful regarding just Indigenous sovereignty as well
271. around the world. Yeah it was it was amazing just to see all of the Indigenous peoples and
272. especially once they started to speak their passion and what they're facing it just sounded
273. like another day in Hawaii.
274. You know, we've got an indigenous culture
275. and a culture here that is largely overlooked,
276. but utilized for financial and capital gain.
277. They want just the pretty parts of our culture,
278. but do not want to encapsulate
279. and help to uplift and even manifest
280. some of what else is included in all of our cultures.
281. So it was amazing to stand there,
282. stand shoulder to shoulder,
283. even with people that weren't from Hawaii,
284. that were just brothers and sisters from across the world
285. that understand how important it is to take care of the land around you.
286. So we want to also tap into the Hawaiian sovereignty movement.
287. What can you share with our Freedom Now listeners about its activity?
288. Yeah, it is a touchy subject and a hard one to get an answer towards.
289. There are so many movements happening all over Hawaii
290. and more or less people are trying to move in the same direction.
291. but for people who are unaware,
292. Hawaii was once an independent sovereign nation who was forcibly overthrown by the United States businessmen who organized the coup gathered a bunch of resources utilized the military surrounded our queen palace at the time
293. and threatened to open fire unless she was to sign Hawaii over to the United States.
294. And, you know, since then we've basically seen Hawaii turn into this luscious, beautiful place
295. where, you know, the diversity of wildlife was, you know, exceptional.
296. It was a beautiful place.
297. Even just as I was a kid, things were a lot different,
298. a lot more vibrant and full of life.
299. And at one point in time, Hawaii housed over 2 million people.
300. And we were able to sustain ourselves 100% without any Western contact,
301. without any Western aid.
302. and we were able to navigate throughout the Pacific using nothing but the elements around us,
303. the stars, where they would rise and set, where the sun rises and sets,
304. the tides, the winds, the waves, the swells, the birds, certain types of birds,
305. which way were they flying, like all of these little things were incorporated into that.
306. So we were by far very advanced for a nation who only had the resources around them to utilize.
307. And all of that went out the window once we were forcibly overthrown. And since then, we have been actively trying to restore that sovereignty because 90% of the issues that we are facing in Hawaii right now are largely due to the system that has forced their way into Hawaii.
308. this capitalistic mindset of you know me my and i but that is not how we get through this because
309. that's what we saw after the fire everything all of our issues with one another went right out the
310. door and for us to survive we needed to take care of one another and what was around us
311. so you know that also is incorporated into the film but when it comes to sovereignty in itself
312. the longer you know the more that we continue on through time it's it's harder to think about it
313. and manifest that just because now in Hawaii you know over half of our native Hawaiian population
314. were forced to move from this place so given that statistic who takes up the space now that
315. they're gone and it is people who do not really uh wouldn't say not fall in line but they do not
316. do not they do not see eye to eye with us you know they only want hawaii for its beauty
317. they want to put their beat their home right up against the ocean but us local people we want to
318. protect right that's what for us that's what sovereignty looks like us having the ability to
319. to say and do what we need to do for our place to survive because at the end of the day if the
320. ships stop coming and the planes stop flying in they're screwed we import 80 to 90 percent of our
321. food now we have enough food to supply us for about four days and if we ration that you know
322. for a little bit longer but at the end of the day if the whole world just was like i forget hawaii
323. let's not help them at all what are we going to do yeah so by us thinking about what hawaiian
324. sovereignty is and this Hawaiian sovereignty movement it's about us regaining that grounding
325. and that footing in our own home to take care of it so that everybody is well off at the end of the
326. day we have enough food to supply one another we have our systems up in the mountains that can help
327. to alleviate the stress of how much flooding and rain that comes down so it can absorb that water
328. that the water seep back into the aquifer instead of it all pulling up and coming down all one time and wiping people out like we been seeing And not only that the fire The fire was largely due to a colonial system that diverted 100 of our streams
329. created this tinderbox that we were forced to live in.
330. And then when the time came for us to put that fire out, we couldn't do anything about it.
331. So sovereignty is not just us gaining our freedom back as a people,
332. but it is also for us to protect our place and the people around us.
333. And, you know, I get questioned and criticized a lot about this,
334. is that we are, as Hawaiians, yes,
335. we believe that our way is the way that things should be,
336. I guess, pushed forward and governed in this space.
337. But our way benefits everybody.
338. The colonial way only benefits one or a very few select set of individuals when
339. the Hawaiian way is put the water back in the stream so it can help to rebuild
340. the aquifer so that the rainforest can start to grow again bringing the cloud
341. line further down adding more rain so everybody gets more water. Where's the
342. direct benefit to us? I see it I don't see any of that. The benefit is for
343. everyone for life for continuation for resiliency and that's the the Hawaiian
344. sovereignty looks like. And there are multiple different efforts across Hawaii to restore some
345. of that. We're, you know, actively fighting and, but now we're trying to bring that all together,
346. you know, focusing all of our efforts into one point, because, I mean, at the end of the day,
347. there's only very few of us left here, but we're going to fight to the very end. And at the very
348. least, we've been able to share a lot of these things and a lot of the reality and the truth
349. behind what we're facing here. So to continue to talk about some of the attacks on Indigenous
350. Hawaiians, can you talk about what's happening with Indigenous land rights regarding the Hawaiian
351. homelands? Because they often get framed as quote-unquote equal treatment rather than as
352. efforts to preserve settler control over land and resources. And currently there is a growing
353. concern about legal challenges affecting Hawaiian homelands. And so Brother Paele, how do you see
354. these lawsuits fitting into the broader struggle over Hawaiian self-determination? And do these
355. lawsuits reveal the limits of seeking justice solely through U.S. legal institutions?
356. So Hawaiian Homes, Hawaiian Homelands was created, so it was championed by Prince Kuhio,
357. Jonah Kuhio, Kalani'ana'ole. He was a delegate to Congress and he went and fought for this right
358. for Hawaiian homelands because it was aimed, so this act was aimed at addressing Native Hawaiian
359. displacement, right, especially after we were illegally overthrown and annexed by the United
360. States. This was basically an effort to address the displacement of Native Hawaiians to ensure
361. that these crown lands were remained in the hands of its local people and also it was a condition
362. of statehood. So without Hawaiian homes, we would not become a state. Now that is all at stake here.
363. And given that statistic already, 55% or even more at this point of our native Hawaiian population
364. no longer lives here due to displacement, due to the price of living. We have the highest median
365. home price in the nation on these little islands where there is no opportunity for you to even make
366. enough money to buy that home. People are forced to work two to three jobs just to make it by
367. to pay their rent, let alone try and buy a home, right? So at $1.8 million for a
368. Ingo family home or a family home is out of control and ridiculous.
369. And a lot of that is largely due to us being where we are geographically, but also due to the colonial colonization and the colonial system itself.
370. Now, Hawaiian homes is somewhat a potential to help alleviate some of that stress on the native Hawaiian population who is here.
371. you have to be a specific blood quantum which in my opinion off the top of my head is not correct
372. to begin with because that fifth you have to be at least 50 percent hawaiian and prove that through
373. your genealogy and present it um to the department of hawaiian homelands and they go through and
374. they double check to make sure that you're telling the truth and if you get it then you're put on the
375. wait list you don't even get a home yet so that was also an effort that blood quantum that amount
376. 50 percent in the minds of the colonizer they already knew that over time where when are there
377. even going to be any more full hawaiian people when most of them were either wiped out due to
378. different types of diseases um and then forced out due to the price of living and the high cost
379. there aren't very many half hawaiians even left and i'm lucky to even call myself half hawaiian
380. but the reality is there aren't very many left but long story short there is a list of people
381. who are on a waiting list to get a home so you won't even own the own the property that your
382. home is on you'll own the home that is built there for you but anyway all of this to say
383. this is an effort to keep our Hawaiian people housed because if they deserve anything that's
384. the very least that they do deserve after what happened to us over these generations and now
385. it is all that through at you know there's a potential for it to all be lost because of
386. mindset of the colonizer once again the one thing that we have left to give just specifically to
387. our people who was taking everything was taken away from us and taken away from them
388. now it's trying to be taken away from them again because of discrimination
389. and if we're going to say anything to discrimination how about you look back into
390. the history itself of how we even became a state you know if you're going to go and criticize
391. anything you're going to try to take anything away maybe you should take away the the the
392. annexation of hawaii there is no treaty of annexation to begin with there is no receipts
393. to prove or even show that right so if anything is going to be taken away and readdressed it
394. should be hawaii statehood in its entirety you know but this is a fight that we're going to
395. fight to the bitter end as our people you know we we've been tossed around and pushed around
396. and kicked to the side way too often and now this very uh be careful with how i say it
397. these greedy people people are very greedy it's all they care about making more money
398. putting more in their pockets and taking away from the people who need it the most
399. i hope i answered that question thank you and as we get ready to wrap up here we just wanted
400. to remind our listening audience that we've been speaking with our brother Paele Kiakona.
401. He's an organizer with Lahaina Strong, president of Safe Honolulu Coalition, and is currently
402. serving on the Maui Board of Water Supply.
403. And so mahalo, Brother Paele, for joining us today here on Freedom Now.
404. Of course.
405. Thank you so much for having me.
406. And up next, our prison radio commentaries.
407. We in a moment right now And I gave him my epoch speech about this is a turning point in the nation history And for the first time Capital has you know they got the whip
408. hand and they're whipping and they're trying to get it all. And they, you know, they have
409. a shot.
410. Nothing is certain, but this
411. AI will decimate
412. working class and middle class
413. life in this country
414. and in the world following
415. this country.
416. Because capital
417. can, for the first time,
418. take the lion's
419. share of the profits
420. and
421. screw the working class because they don't
422. need human workers
423. as they have before, you know.
424. And, you know, this is like, and I told them,
425. this is like the griftopia age where everybody is stealing
426. the largest amounts their hands, their pockets, their mouths can carry.
427. Because this is that moment.
428. And Capitol recognized it, you know.
429. and I think the whole idea behind
430. sentient yet non-human labor
431. was to deprive the working class
432. and the middle class
433. of everything they needed for life
434. so that they would be more servile
435. and this is that moment now
436. this is that moment
437. and we're about to see something
438. I think perfectly monstrous
439. in the months and years to come.
440. And they could not have
441. a more perfect exemplar and avatar
442. in the fat boy,
443. Donald Demon Trump.
444. And, you know,
445. because he's, you know,
446. he's grasping with both hands
447. and taking it all
448. and throwing it down his gullet as quick as he can
449. because he wants it all, you know.
450. These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
451. Well, in that moment, in that time of complete dislocation,
452. you know, people can get together and create new spaces
453. for the dislocations that are coming.
454. and only people can do that
455. because it's only in people's human interest to do that
456. and once they do that
457. new things are born
458. you know I remember reading about
459. the French Revolution
460. and you know they had strikes
461. and they had you know
462. real big groups of people
463. gathering in resistance
464. and you know in many ways
465. the old France was transformed.
466. And when you think about even something like the move confrontation
467. in Philadelphia back in the 1980s,
468. during those periods of high tension and high stress,
469. people didn't recognize that crime fell.
470. You know what I mean?
471. Now, part of it was because part of the city was occupied
472. by huge numbers of cops.
473. but it also that people were looking in ways and at things they had never seen before right And when people turn their attention from the individual to the collective they see things that their minds has never prepared them to see
474. They see people working together, fighting together,
475. and struggling together against the state.
476. When that happens, consciousness will change for some of us.
477. It'll expand and people will sense and see and begin to taste and smell new possibilities, new ways of living with each other and new ways of resistance to the empire and the billionaire class and the ruling clique.
478. That will be transformative.
479. That will be transformative.
480. And, you know, it answers the question about why is the fat guy organizing military to attack Americans internally and non-Americans externally?
481. Because military is the tool, right?
482. a force. It is the state using force
483. to intimidate others so that they can steal
484. better, quicker, you know, more
485. voluminously, you know. We used to say
486. back during the Iraq war days, no war for
487. oil. Now, what are we seeing before our very eyes?
488. You know, Venezuela, it was
489. all about oil.
490. Because when they gave this cat
491. billions
492. and billions of dollars in oil,
493. he was happy
494. as a cat on a hot tin roof.
495. He was like in
496. heaven. And I got so much
497. oil, I don't know whether to
498. drink it or just sell it
499. to somebody and make money.
500. You know.
501. When Iran talks about
502. and they gave a few tankers
503. to these people. They went cuckoo with delight because oil equals money. Money equals capital.
504. And to capitalists, the most important thing on the planet is capital, not people, not
505. things even, but capital because it makes them richer. And that's their only, only interest.
506. that's the world we're looking at
507. but it can be changed
508. if people organize
509. get together
510. fight not against each other
511. but fight together
512. against the powers that be
513. with love
514. not fear
515. this is Mumia Abu Jamal
516. This is Sister Thej with Freedom Now, and our guest today is our sister Watna Mori,
517. a Melanesian lawyer, Indigenous rights advocate, and climate justice expert,
518. whose work sits at the intersection of international law, human rights, and Pacific
519. customary knowledge. As part of the legal effort supporting the landmark climate proceedings before
520. the International Court of Justice, the ICJ, she's helped amplify the voices of Pacific communities
521. facing the front lines of the climate crisis. Her work challenges the world to
522. rethink law not only through the institutions and treaties but through
523. responsibility to people, place, culture, and future generations. Her tireless work
524. resulted in a historic advisory opinion from the ICJ affirming that states have legal obligations under international law to protect the climate system and that failures to do so can carry legal consequences
525. And just last month on May 20th, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted
526. to welcome that opinion, marking a significant moment in the global struggle for climate justice.
527. And for our Freedom Now listeners, we got to give the tally. There were 141 yes votes,
528. The eight no votes came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Israel, Iran, Yemen,
529. Liberia, Belarus, while major fossil fuel producing countries such as India, Qatar,
530. Nigeria, and Turkey abstained.
531. And so with all of that, it is such an honor to welcome our sister, international lawyer,
532. Watna Mori to Freedom Now.
533. Thank you, Tash.
534. And thank you for all that you do.
535. And so as we jump in, can you give a little bit of a story for our listeners who are just learning about this?
536. If you can give some background on how a youth-led movement from the Pacific helped bring the climate crisis before the world's highest court and led to this historic vote at the United Nations last month on May 20th.
537. Yes, thank you.
538. So this, the whole initiative to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice started with a group of students at the University of South Pacific who sort of set an assignment about what were the most effective paths to climate justice.
539. And they came together and formed the Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change and advocated for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice.
540. But in order to do that, in order to get that opinion, they needed a state to back them and a state to take that to the UN General Assembly and for a resolution to be passed by the UN General Assembly referring that question to the International Court of Justice.
541. They were, so they advocated amongst the states that they were from.
542. So, you know, you had students from the Solomon Islands, from Vanuatu, from Samoa, Tonga.
543. And Vanuatu was the state that responded.
544. And Minister Ralph Rene Vanu was the climate minister for Vanuatu.
545. So he took that on board and the government of Vanuatu took that on board.
546. And then they started this quite extensive exercise, diplomatic Pacific diplomacy exercise, first starting with the Pacific themselves and then moving out to other small island nations, African states to get support around this resolution.
547. And the firm that I was with, Blue Ocean Law, which is a firm that's led by Julian O'Gwan, was from Guam, is a Chamorro man from Guam.
548. He and Ralph had worked together on various campaigns in the Pacific, environmental campaigns in the Pacific.
549. And so I had that relationship.
550. And Vanuatu wanted the law firm that sort of led this work with them to be from the Pacific so that we represented our people and our world's views.
551. and really what our people were going through,
552. the impacts of climate change that they were facing.
553. And so Julian and the Ocean Law worked with Vanuatu to draft
554. what this proposed resolution to the General Assembly would look like.
555. And Vanuatu really did an amazing exercise in Pacific Diplomacy
556. to get all these countries on board to then have this resolution
557. passed by consensus through the General Assembly
558. to have the question, there were two parts to this question
559. referred to the International Court of Justice,
560. asking the court what state's obligations were
561. towards protecting the environment and climate systems,
562. and then what were the legal consequences, basically,
563. as of breaching those obligations.
564. And the Pacific Island students fighting climate change
565. with them all the way through doing that advocacy and garnering that support through the world.
566. So that question was referred to the ICJ in December of 2024.
567. There were oral submissions before the ICJ.
568. So before then, states had participated in submitting written submissions and there were
569. oral submissions in December 2024.
570. And then July 2025, the ICJ delivered its advisory commune unanimously.
571. and it was an outstanding, a landmark advisory opinion.
572. And now what you referred to most recently is that one who has gone back
573. and done that work with states and then gone back to the UN General Assembly
574. with a resolution where states have affirmed,
575. with the numbers that you've said that I can't remember off the top of my head,
576. have affirmed this decision and have also asked for a report from the UN
577. basically setting up how states can, for the UN to come back with a report
578. setting up how states can hold themselves to those obligations.
579. Part of that resolution, the most recent one,
580. where the states have affirmed the ICJ's advisory opinion,
581. the states have also then requested the UN produce a report
582. setting out how states can keep to the obligations
583. that the ICJ set out in its advisory opinion.
584. None of the obligations that the ICJ advisory opinion sets out,
585. none of them are new law. It's all existing law. But what the ICJ decision does is to see,
586. set out how those obligations apply in the context of climate change.
587. Can you go ahead and expand on that with the context of climate change? And what are the
588. measures for accountability? So I think one of the most, one of the most, so the ICJ set up what were
589. the sort of the key international treaties that applied in climate change. It wasn't exhaustive.
590. They said there were other treaties that applied, but it sets out the foremost international treaties that are applicable.
591. And then it talks about what customary laws are applicable.
592. So customary international law are laws that are not in treaty, but that states have shown through their practice and as well as their behavior that they find that this law is binding.
593. So even if you're not party to a treaty, if there is a customary international law, even if you're not party to a treaty, you're still bound by that law.
594. So one of the customary international laws that the ICJ said was one of the core laws that were applicable in climate change was this duty to prevent transboundary harm.
595. And in the past, some of the arguments around this, I mean, it's still present now, but the ICJ decision as well as this resolution now makes this argument, it sort of takes the power out of that argument, was that states' duties to prevent transboundary harm, so activities that happen in your jurisdiction causing harm to another state or another jurisdiction, that that duty only applied to, you know, harm that basically you can see.
596. an oil spill. So the oil spill might happen
597. here in one state, but the impact was based in
598. another state. And that for climate change, this was
599. not possible because the whole rhetoric
600. about climate change being caused by everyone and everyone
601. is responsible for it because we've all let up greenhouse gas emissions and who's
602. to say which greenhouse gas emission belongs to whom and which
603. one is causing the climate impact.
604. That argument has basically been laid to rest by the ICJ who said that obligation that customary duty applies also to climate change So that been I think one of the most important findings by the ICJ
605. And the ICJ named fossil fuels as the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and therefore to climate change.
606. And the ICJ also talked about emissions that are not just scope one and two emissions or emissions within your own jurisdiction,
607. but emissions that come from you producing fossil fuels and that the emissions that are
608. that eventually arise from those fossil fuels to whichever country that fossil fuel ends up going
609. to and being burned so those are still three emissions so the decision is really broad and
610. it talks about all facets of international law including human rights law which some countries
611. before the ICJ tried to argue that only the climate treaties were applicable to this case.
612. When you're talking about climate obligations that states have towards preventing harm to the climate system
613. and the environment, that you should only be talking about obligations that arise out of the Paris Agreement
614. and the UNFCCC, and that you can't go beyond.
615. And that argument is a less specialist argument,
616. this argument that there's a special set of rules for climate change and only those rules should apply.
617. And the court basically dismissed that and said, you know, the whole corpus of international law is applicable to climate change.
618. We're going to focus on these sort of core laws, these core treaties and this core customary international law.
619. We think are the most important, most applicable to climate change.
620. But that doesn't mean any that we don't mention here are not applicable to climate change.
621. Thank you. Just to remind our listeners, we're speaking with our sister Watanamori. She's an international lawyer speaking on the recent United Nations climate change vote on May 20th.
622. So you talked about how the impact kind of moves around the globe and that many climate vulnerable nations and communities have contributed very little to the crisis, yet face some of its worst impacts.
623. And so what does this mean for climate justice for those communities on the front lines today, now that this vote has come to fruition? And if you can also tie into that, how does this opinion look through a Pacific and Indigenous lens?
624. So the advisory opinion from the ICJ that, you know, it's not binding per se, and neither is this resolution, right? But they're both, you know, the ICJ is the highest court in international law in state relations.
625. And so I think, and a lot of people, a lot of other lawyers are saying this, is that it's almost like there's no point talking about it being not binding, really, because if it's the highest point, it's coming with a lot of persuasion and a lot of strength.
626. So we're wasting our time really talking about whether it's binding or not.
627. We should basically, for all other intents and purposes, it is binding and we should act like that.
628. And the resolution only affirms this.
629. So if you've got a resounding resolution, what were the numbers?
630. 114 yeses?
631. 141 yeses, 8 noes.
632. So if you've then got a resolution on top of that saying that we affirm this and we're going one step further and we're saying, let's get a report about what that means, what those obligations mean, how do states keep to those obligations?
633. So if you've got that, it's really arguing about whether these two instruments of binding
634. and non-binding the advisory opinion and the resolution, there's really no point to it.
635. And most people are taking that as and I may also be in the fire because I hanging around with a lot of people like myself But we taking that as a binding decision And now we got the resolution that adding even more weight to it
636. And in terms of how customer international law develops, that's two opinions now.
637. So it's for customer international law to develop and you have to have state practice
638. and then opinion yours, which is basically in the opinion of states, this is a law.
639. And we've got an advisory opinion that went to the ICJ with a resolution, you know, overwhelming resolution, Assembly, UN General Assembly.
640. We had the most participation in any ICJ proceedings ever from states before the ICJ.
641. And I got this overwhelming support for this resolution affirming this ICJ advisory opinion.
642. So that's already taking you towards establishing customary international law.
643. So whether a state has said that this is binding or not, once you've got it established as a personal international law, then you will be bound by it.
644. So that's amazing.
645. And then in terms of the communities that we work with, so I worked on submissions for Vanuatu and the Nations Ahead Group,
646. which is a sub-regional body that has Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia,
647. the Canuck people of New Caledonia, Solomon Islands,
648. Vanuatu and Fiji as member states to it.
649. And the work we did with communities, there's a lot of,
650. and it's important that this kind of work is led by Indigenous peoples themselves
651. when we work with our Indigenous communities,
652. because there's a lot of discussions you have to have with communities
653. that are really, you know, like one of the communities
654. which I've worked with for a long time is in the middle now of their fifth relocation that is
655. purely done by themselves, supported by themselves, planned by themselves. They're not getting any
656. government support, any UN, NGO support, nothing like that. So it's really difficult to have these
657. conversations with them about this ICJ advisory opinion, which is, you know, it's amazing all the
658. things that I've just said previously in this interview. But what does that mean for them on
659. the ground it doesn't mean anything for them right now it's not going to assist them with the relocation
660. it's not going to assist them with getting clean water that doesn't transpire for them but as
661. indigenous people they're doing seven to ten generational climbing all the time all the time
662. so they know that even though this is not going to bring them immediate impact that it will lead
663. to something for their future generations down the line and i think that's the but it's so important
664. to have these conversations with them to set expectations and also for them to be involved
665. in this process because they're giving their stories and some of the stories that they give
666. are sacred stories and so for them to be aware of where those stories are going what actual impact
667. it will have for them now what impact it may have for them in the future so for the communities that
668. we work with that impact from the ICJ advisory opinion is a future impact it's not an impact
669. that's going to assist them right now.
670. And it's a future impact
671. that still has to take a right together.
672. We still have to keep states accountable.
673. We still have to get fossil fuel,
674. keep fossil fuel companies accountable
675. and the states that support
676. those fossil fuel companies.
677. So there's still work to be done
678. to get that ICJ advisory
679. to mean something on the ground.
680. Thank you, Sister Watna.
681. And as we get ready to wrap up here,
682. can you talk to our listeners
683. about some of the things
684. that you're working on now?
685. Yes, so I am now developing what's called the Central Melanesian Law and Governance.
686. And that work has come out I mean it work I always been interested in but it also coming off of the back of working on this ICJ Advisory opinion really realizing the limitations of international law and even our state laws that are pinned to Western constructs of law
687. And a lot of us in the Pacific also came out of colonization.
688. So a lot of the legal systems that we've adopted, foreign legal systems.
689. So we were colonized by the Germans and then the British and Australians.
690. So we've adopted this sort of common law system.
691. But when we were going through decolonization, there was a lot of aspiration to see, you
692. know, what are other ways that we can create our nation state, like even recognizing that
693. the nation state is a foreign concept to us.
694. We are in Papua New Guinea, 800, 850 different languages.
695. So we have vastly different nations within a nation.
696. And with Papua New Guinea as well as some African states and other Pacific states, there
697. So our aspirations in our constitution for deep legal pluralism, for our customary laws, our customs.
698. So there's customary international law, which we spoke about earlier.
699. And then when I spoke about customary law here, I'm talking about our own laws, our traditional laws, our indigenous laws.
700. So we aspired for that in our constitution that it's been really difficult to make it work because obviously we're trying to make it work within a system that's mostly an imported foreign system.
701. So part of the work for the Center for Melanesian Law and Governance is to really expand that space and try to make those aspirations that we had when we became nation states work for us.
702. Because right now, how our countries operate is that in your communities, everyone is going by their own custom laws, their own indigenous laws.
703. and where the state comes in,
704. when there's impact with the state
705. or development,
706. I'm using air quotes,
707. that's when the state laws come in.
708. So we live compartmentalized
709. and now we're talking about,
710. well, how do we not do that?
711. How do we live as all of who we are?
712. And these are the questions
713. the Center for Language and Law Governance
714. looks at.
715. And that ties into international law
716. because international law,
717. I mean, its idea of,
718. let's say the right to life
719. is limited to your physical life.
720. Well, what happens when your life and your ability to live with dignity is related to your environment and your non-human kin?
721. So what does the right to life look like then?
722. That was literal mic drop.
723. This is where our interview recording got cut due to a power outage in Papua New Guinea.
724. And so we want to thank our sister Watanamori for joining us on this Freedom Now Hour.
725. She's an international lawyer and works with Melanesian law and governance.
726. and in closing today we'd also like to thank our first guest paele kia kona the nation of hawaii
727. special thank you to amber bobbin and nikio kook for bringing us all together for today's program
728. thank you to our producers dr gerald horn and brother brandon thank you to our board up sly
729. and please stay tuned for our brother dino coming up next with the signal signing off for freedom
730. now this is sister thage and until next week as always we stand ready for revolution
731. Tune into Cantos Sin Fronteras.
732. That is, song without borders.
733. the best music with a political edge from Latin America and the world
734. every Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. right here on KPFK
735. Sintoniza Canto Sin Fronteras.