Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. News, and Other Relevant Links
3. Related Organizations and Resources
4. Featured Resolutions
5. Timeline: Hawai‘i County Nuclear Legislation

Hawai‘i –– in particular the “Big Island” and O‘ahu –– has a decades-long history of local action against nuclear weapons in the Pacific.

Since 1893, when the U.S. forcibly annexed Hawai‘i, the islands have been increasingly militarized. Given its location in the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. military has strategized Hawai‘i as the “Bridge to Asia.” Since the end of World War II, Hawai‘i’s military units have been tasked with many roles, including: defending the islands from air, sea, and “amphibious” attack; “denying the mid-Pacific to any hostile power”; and being prepared for wartime expansion, transit, and mounting to deploy troops to “any location in the Pacific within ninety days from the ‘date of warning’ order.” 

The U.S. military controlled 221,981 acres of Hawai’i’s land as of 2021. This includes trust lands — Native Hawaiian land controlled by the state that cannot be freely sold or developed without restrictions — leased to the U.S. military for 65 years at the cost of $1, which begin expiring in 2029. Additionally, tens of thousands of military personnel from around the world are brought to Hawai‘i for various “exercises,” most famously RIMPAC, held on O‘ahu and the Big Island every two years.

Community members and activists have questioned military land-stewardship, citing examples such as the Big Island’s Pōhakuloa Training Area (PTA), which is part of a land lease expiring in 2029, the renewal of which conservationists are advocating against. The training exercises conducted at Pōhakuloa have introduced toxic materials, including depleted uranium, into the environment. 

Additional examples include Kaho‘olawe, a Hawaiian island the U.S. military used as bombing target practice from 1941 until 1990. While activists with the Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana succeeded in returning Kaho‘olawe to the state in 1994 after nearly twenty years of protest and actions, restoration of the land remains unfinished to this day.

History of Anti-Nuclear Activism

Much of Hawai‘i’s engagement with nuclear disarmament has centered on issues of militarism broadly, as well as land and ocean-based environmental protection. These engagements have taken the form of activism, organizing, and civic participation, including the Golden Rule’s voyage in 1958, anti-nuclear legislation adopted on the “Big Island” in the 1980s and 2020s, and the Nuclear Free Pacific Conference held in Hawai‘i in 1980. 

Golden Rule Project – O‘ahu

The Golden Rule was a two-masted boat sailed by peace activists in 1958 to protest nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. The crew was affiliated with the Committee for Nonviolent Action, an antiwar group, and in alignment with the nonviolent ethics behind the voyage, two of the four members were Quaker. The crew aimed the voyage towards Bikini Atoll, but before they could reach their destination, the U.S. Coast Guard apprehended them near Hawai‘i. The members were arrested and incarcerated in Honolulu, sparking protests on the U.S. continent, igniting other waterborne protests, and drawing global attention to the issue of nuclear testing.

Today, the Golden Rule is operated by Veterans for Peace, who restored the vessel to complete anti-nuclear voyages around the world.

The Nuclear-Free and Independent Pacific Movement 

The Nuclear-Free and Independent Pacific (NFIP) movement began in conjunction with independence movements in the Pacific during the 1970s. The NFIP movement, in resistance to nuclear colonialism, began organizing indigenous Pacific peoples and nations. At the fourth Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Movement Conference 1983 in Vanuatu, attendees ratified The Peoples’ Charter for a Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific, which denounced colonial and imperialist control of these peoples and their land. 

Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) were central to the movement in several ways. Their involvement included attending nuclear-free conferences, hosting the third NFIP conference in Honolulu in 1980, and contributing to literature and media about these issues, such as Pacific Women Speak Out. 
Since the height of the NFIP movement, there have been several organizations, collectives, and groups promoting anti-nuclearism in Hawai‘i. These include Veterans for Peace chapter 113, International Women’s Network Against Militarism affiliate Women’s Voices Women Speak (WVWS), and DMZ Hawai‘i/Aloha ‘Aina. Activists, scholars, and leaders are still seeking nuclear freedom and justice, questioning the role of allyship and solidarity movements in working toward anti-militarism.