Zuckerberg, the fifth richest man in the world, has become the "face of neocolonialism" for some Native Hawaiians, who see the land as an ancestor.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently filed a number of land lawsuits in the Kauai region of Hawaii targeting properties that have been in the hands of local families for generations, prompting some to declare his actions are “the face of neocolonialism” in the archipelago.
Hawaii state representative Kaniela Ing of Maui told The Guardian that Zuckerberg, the fifth richest man in the world, is “using the same legal loopholes sugar barons in Hawaii exploited centuries ago."
His “quiet title” suits impact hundreds of Hawaiians who likely own an interest in small pieces of land that are within the boundaries of his US$100 million, 700-acre property in Kauai, which he purchased over two years ago.
Since colonization of the island, land ownership has been a murky concept — and suits like Zuckerberg's have often forced many Native Hawaiians to sell their land at auction, as well as pay the legal fees of the plaintiff.
Locals have responded angrily, seeing the CEO’s actions as embedded within a long, brute history of Western conquest and systematic dispossession of Native Hawaiians.
“This is the face of neocolonialism,” Kapua Sproat, a law professor at the University of Hawaii, told The Guardian. “Even though a forced sale may not physically displace people, it’s the last nail in the coffin of separating us from the land.”
“For us, as Native Hawaiians, the land is an ancestor. It’s a grandparent,” she added. “You just don’t sell your grandmother.”
Kauai council member Mason Chock also weighed in, telling The Guardian, “People have always seen the value of living in Hawaii, in paradise, and for many gener
Thought he was one of those Valley liberal Cacs .... They all the fukking same
.....
