Law School to host ‘Bombs in Paradise’ symposium April 17

Event covers militarization in the Pacific and its impact on culture and peoples

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Beverly A. Creamer, 808-389-5736
Media Consultant, William S. Richardson School of Law
Posted: Apr 17, 2015

Militarization in the Pacific – and  its impact on cultures and peoples – is the topic of a day-long symposium to be held Friday, April 17 at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai’i. It’s free and open to the public.

Indigenous Chamoru attorney/activist/author Julian Aguon ’10 will deliver the keynote address, and he will also moderate one of the four panels. Richardson Law Professor Melody MacKenzie ’76 will moderate the Hawai‘i panel, which will also include law student Jordan Inafuku ’15.

Entitled “Bombs in Paradise: A Legal, Social, and Political Discussion of Militarization in the Pacific,” the symposium, organized and hosted by the student editors of the Law School’s Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal (APLPJ), will focus on four regions. They are:

  • Kwajalein and the Republic of the Marshall Islands
  • French Polynesia
  • Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
  • Hawai‘i

The symposium will cover the history of militarization; the social, economic, and environmental impacts of military testing; the indigenous rights movement; and proposals or alternatives for moving for the future.

The symposium takes place from 9 am to 4 pm in Classroom 2 off the central courtyard at the Law School. To ensure that adequate refreshments are available for the event, please RSVP if you plan to attend at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XHVM77C

Event co-sponsors include: Center for Pacific Islands Studies; SEED Diversity & Equity Initiative; Jon Van Dyke Institute; and the Richardson Law School’s Student Bar Association, its Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law, and its Environmental Law Program.