Youcef Aden (Mohamed Youcef Ihaddaden)known in Ibiza for presenting himself as ambassador of Hawaii among other multiple and dubious positions and for managing the private club You and other cultural spaces such as the Youcef Aden Galleries and Love Ibiza, has resigned from his multiple and alleged positions within the Nation of Hawaii .
The reality behind this hoax is that the Hawaiian nation that the fake diplomat claims to represent is an organization that defines itself as sovereign and whose leader is Pu’uhonua activist Dennis “Bumpy” Kanahele who appears in a photograph with Youcef Aden in Vara de Rey in Ibiza. A kind of indigenous reservation where less than a hundred people live and which, moreover, is not the only independence movement in Hawaii. The fake diplomat has refused to offer explanations to La Voz de Ibiza, limiting himself to threatening legal action against this media. Aden claimed to hold such pompous titles as ambassador, minister of Foreign Affairs, minister of the Treasury and director of the Financial Police Agency (Security and Crime) of the alleged country with which Spain obviously has no diplomatic relations and which enjoys no international recognition.
80 people
The Nation of Hawai’i, which claims to represent the Hawaiian people in their struggle for sovereignty, is limited to a territorial base located in Pu’uhonua or Waimānalo, an autonomous refuge on O’ahu that by 2017 had just 20 households and about 80 people. This contrast, between the small size of the community and the “diplomatic” and financial structure Aden has supposedly set up (a Hawaiian dollar, a dummy central bank, and even a gold-backed NFT) raises questions about his true purposes. After claiming to have assumed most of those positions in August 2021, in recent days he has given an account of his disengagement by touching up the plaques that are located at the entrance of an office he rents on Carlos III Street in Ibiza. This development has left unanswered questions about the reasons that led him to join this movement, which combines a government structure with a historical struggle for the self-determination of the Hawaiian people.
Radiography of The Hawaii Nation
The Nation of Hawai’i presents itself as the legitimate government of a state occupied since the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893. Based in Pu’uhonua or Waimānalo, an autonomous refuge on the island of O’ahu, the organization operates as an unrecognized sovereign entity that advocates for the restoration of their territorial and cultural rights, using international forums such as the UN Human Rights Council to expose what they consider an illegal occupation by the United States. This organization has an official flag, composed of three horizontal bars: at the top the white, representing the sky, the positive and the spiritual; in the middle the gold, referring to humanity (ohana) and the purity of life, and below the black, representing the earth, the negative and the balance with the white. In the center is a Kahili, symbol of a sacred plant with powers of protection and healing. Hawaii is not a nation state and lacks international recognition as such. The Kingdom of Hawaii was annexed to the United States in 1898 by a joint resolution of Congress called the Newlands Resolution. It subsequently became a territory of the United States in 1900, and finally, a state in 1959.
The flag of the Nation of Hawai’i organization. (www.nationofhawaii.org)The Nation of Hawai’i has been a member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) since 2017 and has been recognized as an “Indigenous Peoples Organization” in 2018. According to the questionnaire answered by the organization for the purpose of being integrated into the Forum, the main purposes of its existence are “to correct injustice, restore the National Sovereignty of Hawaiians and help our people exercise their right to self-determination in a meaningful and practical sense.” In addition, that document specifies that the Nation of Hawai’i conducts many of its operations through its U.S.-based, Hawaiian-led nonprofit organization called “Aloha First,” whose charter focuses on facilitating the development of a “comprehensive plan and roadmap” for “Hawaiian reconciliation and restitution.” “The Nation of Hawai’i’s sovereign territorial base, Pu’uhonua or Waimānalo, has approximately 20 households and about 80 people currently living there, although we also have citizens distributed throughout the state of Hawai’i, the U.S. mainland and the rest of the world,” they consigned at the time. According to their account, a constituent act of the organization dates back to 1993, when the U.S. government recognized the claims of the Hawaiian people through the Apology Bill, in which it admitted that 1.8 million acres of land were ceded without their consent or compensation.
Bumpy Kanahele, your leader
At the head of this organization is Pu’uhonua Dennis “Bumpy” Kanahele, a Hawaiian activist who serves as president and other ministerial positions. However, his legitimacy is not accepted by all Hawaiians, since parallel to the Nation of Hawai’i is the Hawaiian Kingdom, which also has representation in international forums, is based on the Hawaiian constitution of 1864 and operates under a Regent’s Council headed by David Keanu Sai. Hence, there is a conflict in determining or agreeing on who has representation in sovereignty claims.
