A rally for the rest of us
The “People Not Profits” rally brought together grassroots organizations lobbying on a variety of issues, all unified by the message that our government should serve the people, not corporations and developers.
“People, not profits.” This is the unifying principle behind a coalition of community groups that marched on the state capitol and gave speeches inside the rotunda on Wednesday, January 29, 2014.
The organizations represent a diverse set of interests, from building Kakaʻako “better,” to protecting ʻiwi kūpuna from the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) and other developments; from Hawaiian Sovereignty to respecting the rights of mothers to give birth at home—but all of them shared the message that government must make its decisions in the best interest of the people and the planet, and not corporations.
Longtime activist for Hawaiian self-determination Walter Ritte of Molokai was the main event organizer. As a gentle rain blessed the crowd of around 300 people, he gestured to the capitol rotunda—the “people’s house”—and spoke about why this diverse coalition had showed up for a march and rally on a Wednesday morning.
“We have come today to begin the process of taking back this house,” said Ritte. “We want the politicians that work here to know that we are tired of this house being controlled by the corporations that have come to Hawaiʻi.”
“The same arguments—whether it’s regarding Kakaʻako, or Turtle Bay, or windmills on Lānaʻi, or geothermal fracking on Hawaiʻi Island—it’s the same thing: It’s about money—stepping on people and the environment,” echoed Kauaʻi County Council Member Gary Hooser.
Hooser led the participants in a repeating chant of “shame on you,” directed toward the agrochemical and biotech companies currently suing Kauaʻi County over its recently passed Ordinance 960 (formerly Bill 2491). “That’s not enough for them,” he added. “Now they’ve introduced bills to the state legislature to take away the power of the counties; to take away home rule; to take away the hard work done by our community. This is not about GMOs [Genetically-Modified Organisms]. This is about people over profits.”
State Representative Kaniela Ing (House District 11, Kīhei, Wailea, Mākena) was present and spoke to the crowd about what the GMO fight is really about, and of the power grassroots movements actually have to influence the decision-making at the legislature concerning GMOs.
“No one has the right to strip control of the future of these islands from the people who live here,” Ing said. “No one knows the ʻĀina better than the people who live on it and live from it. No matter what your stance is on GMOs, allowing the counties to determine the future of their own agriculture is simply the right thing to do.
He continued, “GMOs aren’t about feeding the world, no. It’s about chemical companies selling chemicals. This struggle is about returning the power to people like you. Last year, the notorious PLDC [Public Lands Development Corporation] was repealed because of people like you. Hawaiʻi’s House of Representatives became the first chamber in the nation to pass a GMO labeling bill because of people like you. And two years ago, a 23-year-old nobody who was outspent $40,000 to $5,000 in the primary election became the youngest elected official ever from Maui because of people like you. Anything is possible with the power of people like you.”
Maui Community College instructor and Hawaiian Sovereignty activist Kaleikoa Kaʻeo delivered a powerful opening address he called “The Grassroots State of the State.” Introduced by event co-organizers from MANA (Movement for Aloha no Ka ʻĀina)—the major driving force behind assembling the various participating organizations—Kaʻeo eloquently tied the groups and their various iterations of the “People, Not Profits” message into a larger context centered around the Hawaiian right to self-determination.
“What was so astounding about [Governor Neil Abercrombie’s] so-called State of the State address? Let me ask you, what did the governor say about Native Hawaiians in his address? He said nothing—did not mention one word,” began Kaʻeo. “We have been erased from the politics; thrown to the side; we have been ignored.
“And there are two reasons for that,” Kaʻeo continued. “The first, of course, is that they already see the situation and condition of we Hawaiians as settled. The governor looks at the Hawaiian registry; looks at the $200 million so-called settlement with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and believes that those things have ended the question of Hawaiian self-determination.
“The second, I believe, is true fear. He is fearful of addressing the Hawaiian concerns because he knows and the state knows and the power-wielders know that the core to the resistance to what is going on in Hawaiʻi is the Hawaiian voice. This voice is the voice which will challenge—which is challenging—the powers that be in their efforts. Efforts not just to wipe out the so-called Hawaiian question, but to continue to profit from our so-called demise. So although they may think of us as something from antiquity; as artifacts of Hawaiʻi’s history—that somehow they have moved on—we are here to remind them that we are here. We are giving them public notice that we are organizing; that we are reawakening; that we will fight; that we will struggle; that we will resist; and that we will be, in fact, victorious.”
The speakers from the various groups stood before a banner proclaiming “Aloha ʻĀina” on a stage that featured kalo plants around the edges. On the sides of the “Aloha ʻĀina” banner were two vertical flags. One read “Solidarity,” while the other read “Kuleana.”
Joshua Noga of the Koʻolau Loa Hawaiian Civic Club spoke about the Mormon Church and Brigham Young University (BYU) Hawaiʻi’s planned expansion via the “Envision Lāʻie” plan. Noga has organized a sister rally, “Aloha ʻĀina no Koʻolau Loa,” for February 16 with the goal of stopping that development along with the Turtle Bay expansion. Both projects go against the wishes of the majority of people living in the Koʻolau Loa area and both are major money-making opportunities for the developers.
Pua Case, who has been fighting a contested case with the Department of Land and Natural Resources over the land-lease on Mauna Kea for the TMT, spoke of the importance of respecting sacred sites and Hawaiian culture from development and science for the sake of money. Her speech was followed by a protest song sung by Hāwane Rios of Hawaiʻi Island.
Jon and Jamaica Osorio, of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, were also present and also sang a protest song, together, after Jamaica presented two poems she had written comparing the dangers Hawaiian people and Hawaiʻi face today to other imperialist and neo-colonial issues around the world.
Representatives of the AiKea Movement, a labor organizing group embedded within the local chapter of the UNITE HERE hospitality and healthcare union, spoke about the closure of the Ilikai Hotel and its conversion in to a leisure condo for the wealthy, many of whom are not from Hawaiʻi. They convincingly argued that the conversion comes at the expense of the local people who worked in the hotel industry.
Ron Iwami and other members of Kakaʻako United advocated for abolishing the Hawaiʻi Community Development Authority (HCDA), a state agency that is allowing “out-of-control development” in Kakaʻako. Iwami also addressed the need to preserve the Kakaʻako Makai are from developers who care more about making money than making healthy, sustainable, liveable communities for the people.
Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, chair of the Native Hawaiian Burial Council and candidate for Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) trustee at-large, spoke about the importance of repealing Act 085 (formerly SB1171) which allows phased archaeological surveys and jeopardizes ʻiwi kūpuna.
Former OHA trustee Moanikeala Akaka and University of Hawaiʻi law student Khara Jabola-Carolus each criticized the state for letting the military industrial complex spiral out-of-control, specifically referencing the Pōhakuloa Training Are (PTA) on Hawaiʻi Island. They argued the state is prioritizing the securing of federal defense dollars at the expense of the environment and impacted communities.
A group of Hawaiʻi midwives and mothers who gave birth at home spoke about current legislation (SB 2569) that would make giving birth in a hospital setting the only option for expectant mothers. Proposed as a health bill by Senator Josh Green (Senate District 3, Kona, Kaʻū), the midwives argue that it takes away a woman’s right to self-determine how she wants her child brought into the world, and renders illegitimate a traditional and wonderful method of giving birth that midwives have successfully practiced since Hawaiians first came to the islands, and before. For them, hospitals are a money-making engine, and this bill is another example of the government putting profits above people.
Finally, Kat Brady, Executive Director of the Hawaiʻi Alliance on Prisons, spoke about the importance of passing legislation to reform the prison system and change it from a punitive, money-making industry to a community-based, restorative justice-based service.
Said Ritte: “We want control over this building and over our own futures. The politicians in this building should be serving you. They should be protecting you. Not the corporations. That’s what this rally is all about.”
