Florine M. Hofschneider

Florine M. Hofschneider

President, Tinian Women’s Association
No Nukes! Women’s Forum 2015

Hafa Adai from the island of Tinian! On behalf of the Tinian Women’s Association, we extend a sincere appreciation for the invitation and support that the Women’s Peace Fund has extended to us.  We are truly humbled by such generosity and THANK YOU.

The late Connie Fleming Power was one of the founders of our organization in 1991 when she and a few other women came together and talked about some of issues that we felt were important.

One of the first project that we did as the most critical need was an ancient Hispanic-influence tradition that did not recognize the right of women to own property during marriage.   Tinian Women’s Association injected the final push for its passage.

The second most significant contribution of the Tinian Women’s Association was the blocking of a very silent move to legalize prostitution.  The women sponsored a conference and brought in the entire members of our state legislature to attend the conference. The anti-prostitution law was introduced immediately after the conference.

The third major accomplishment of the association is the building of the Children’s Park.  Connie Power was very, very instrumental in taking the role of a liaison between the Mayor’s Office and the women to get this project funded.  This project included playground equipment for the children.

Today, the association is very focus on the opposition of the U.S. Dept. of Defense plan to turn Tinian into live firing range and “full spectrum weaponry”  ….this means that biological warfare as well as nuclear weapons will find their way into Tinian; this terminology is opened for any military interpretation it wishes to make.  It is wide opened….including what we know today as “weapons of mass destruction”…different terms…same meaning.  Two-third of the island as well as the island of Pagan, a very pristine and cleaned island will be turned into bombing, amphibious and other military exercises.

We’ve held demonstration with all public school children, we’ve circulated on-line petition as well as hard copy and we visited homes, we go to the beaches, fairs and festivals to get signatures to our petition.  As of the last count, we secured 106,000 signatures from our on-line petition.  We attended public hearings sponsored by both the U.S. Military as well as those conducted by the Office of the Governor.  It is important that the people of the Northern Mariana Islands; Saipan, Tinian, Rota and Pagan…write their opposition to the militarization of the islands.   With this in mind, we have stationed our women at the local municipal council chamber every day from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. to provide assistance to students, women and any one needing help to write their comments and upload unto a website.

Before we left Tinian, Senate Bill 19-42 was introduced in the Senate.  Tinian Women Association appeared at the public hearing and commented that all land belongs to those of Northern Marianas Descend and that there is no need for a referendum.

With the military build-up issue, it was very clear that we needed to piggy-back on organizations outside Tinian and the Northern Marianas to give louder voice to our cause.  Gensuikyo’s invitation and the assistance from the Women’s Peace Fund are those organizations that would provide us with the exposure to the global community.  We are humbled with this assistance and sincerely appreciate that both organizations and all organizations embraced us into their umbrellas of their organization taking our voices to take greater depth and breadth in the global community.

Thank you for your time, your commitment and your assistance to us.  It comes to us like answers to the many prayers that these women have offered.