Since my last post on this site, I’ve been working on a new project, Why The Mountain. Long story short, after participating in stopping the so-called “Hawaiian blessing and ground-breaking ceremony” for the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) on Mauna Kea on October 7th, that mauna has been on my mind and in my heart more than usual. In December, after returning from a couple of weeks in the Bay Area, I began piecing together fundraising material and reaching out in hopes of making a film before construction began on the summit.

But I was unable to get it together in time, as the TMT work started almost 3 weeks ago. However, while this film’s fundraising has been slow going, the consciousness of Hawaiians and anyone else who is now aware of Hawaiian resistance to the TMT being built on the summit, has moved like wildfire.

Largely, this is due to the protective presence of hundreds of people on the mountain since work began on the site. And their devotion to saving that mauna has inspired thousands of people across Hawaii Nei and throughout the world.

“Noho Hewa” is going to be available free on Vimeo for one- week in part to support the mass education […]

I will be on a panel with Jeanette Armstrong and Chief Caleen Sisk (moderated by Derrick Jensen) at the Earth at Risk Social Justice and Sustainability Conference this weekend in San Francisco. It’s sponsored by the Fertile Ground Environmental Institute. Go to  Fertile Ground Institute  for information on how to watch the conference online. 

The day before the conference there will be two screenings of Noho Hewa in Berkeley. One at the university from noon-2:30 in Anthony Hall, the other in the evening at Berkeley Community College auditorium at 6:30.

And on Tuesday, November 25th, I will be a guest on KPFK’s “Uprising” with host Sonali Kolhatkar. The show can be watched online at Uprising and  Free Speech TV.

*Here is a link (Maui Screening talk-story) to part of the talk-story that took place after the screening event mentioned below. Over 100 people attended. Mahalo nui to John Kaia for taping and uploading this. Keanu and Kaleikoa are discussing the differences between “decolonization” and “de-occupation.” It’s really important to clarify this right now because there appears to be a lot of confusion about what our options are.

CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION…

6:15 pm Friday, Aug 1, 2014 Kaunoa Center

Please join us for a screening of

“Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai‘i”

“Annexation” Scene from Noho Hewa

This is a link to a scene from “Noho Hewa.” It speaks to the confusion over annexation and makes the case for Hawaii as an independent, occupied nation state on par with all other nation states, despite 120 years of the uninvited presence of Americans who have settled on top of us. 

I’ve also attached PDFs of a 5-part series I wrote A DECADE AGO. Like “Noho Hewa,” the article is fresh– it reads like it was written recently. The relevance of these things is due to the fact that nothing has changed in a good way for Hawaiians. In countless ways, things have only become worse. Hawaii is being swallowed up, and in some very important, visible and trackable ways, Hawaiian resistance has diminished. And that’s in the wake of 40 years of education and over a decade of a very public discourse about our rights to independence.

If the DOI, the formal representative of President Obama, is able to have its dog and pony show, able to get away with making Hawaiians believe they are being heard, when really they are being herded, then the selling off of our Crown and Government lands, aka the […]

This link is now showing up on FB pages and blogs (ku’e petition). 

I include it here, along with one of the pages that has signatures from my ohana– my grandfather and my grandmother’s side are on this page.

The Ku’e petition is Hawaiian political genealogy.  It’s linked here in case people coming to this site are interested in the ORIGINAL unified protest/activism of Kanaka Oiwi. 

 The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom held it’s Pacific regional meeting in Auckland, and along with Peace Movement Aotearoa they sponsored a screening on Friday, April 25th at Auckland University Tech in downtown Auckland. 

This is a 100- year old organization that was established during WW1, and their interest in Noho Hewa is something to take notice of because they are serious activists with an international reach. 

Roti Make, Sina Brown-Davis, Rose Greaves, mois, and Marama Davidson.

It was an honor to be a part of the 3-day long gathering, and being there with the film was an opportunity to highlight the occupation of Hawaii; I was surprised to find that most of the attendees were unaware of the illegal occupation of Hawaii and grateful that they embraced the message of the film.

Closing remarks by the organizers included the following:

“Militarisation in the past has caused the colonisation of countries which are still under domination,” said Roti Make from WILPF Polynesia section. She specified Hawai’i under the USA, Rapanui under Chile, French Polynesia/Te Ao Maohi, Kanaky (New Caledonia), Wallis and Futuna annexed under France, and West Papua under Indonesia.”

It’s great that […]

The 21st Annual Women’s Studies Conference at Southern Connecticut State University was a beautiful, intellectually and spiritually uplifting experience. It was small enough to be intimate and large enough to be very diverse, and the panels I was able to attend and speakers I heard inspired me and reminded me that there are women all over the world with ku’e and fearless minds and spirits.

Mahalo nui loa to las professoras Virgina Metaxas, who instigated my participation and made sure to secure the funding for me to attend and hosted me at her home. I rode all over Connecticut with Ginny and it was kind and stimulating and yes, inspiring. I also want to mahalo Tricia Lin and Rosalyn Amenta, the co-chairs of the conference and two unbelievably inspiring women– their personal AND political stories are why they are such leaders in the women’s studies community of scholars and activists.

I am honored to have been able to screen “Noho Hewa” at this conference, and to have been on the opening plenary with an amazing Puerto Rican artist and scholar, Imna Arroyo.

Spoken Word artist, […]

Aoloani and Keanu were on a panel about Connecticut missionaries in Hawaii during the 19th century. It was taped by the Hartford Seminary Library and will be uploaded to YouTube. It was the kind of conversation that is interesting and frustrating at the same time– always hard to hear about Hawaiians converting (!) and haole missionaries judging!

Aolani talks, which she said was not what she had prepared, was mainly about Hawaiian world view, and it was beautiful. She spoke to how Hawaiians saw (and still see) their world in layers of space that begin from different points of view. For instance, she spoke to the way Hawaiians envision the horizon, and the difference between something from here (Hawaii) and something or someone from the outside. In that context, whatever missionaries or anyone else brought can be understood in a completely different way if the concept of Hawaiian cosmology and is understood, even if only on the most subtle level.

Another interesting part of the conversation was when she and Keanu spoke about Captain Cook, and how when he died it wasn’t […]

Hosted by Professor Katherine Hermes, the screening was sponsored by the Departments of History, Psychology, and the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity.

There were a few other Hawaiians present for the screening and a really good talk-story afterwards. from left they are: Jeremy (whose last name I can’t recall, but he’s in graduate school at Central), Aolani Kilihou, who teaches at Nawahi School in Hilo and is a graduate student at UH Hilo, and Keanu Sai, who was on the east coast giving talks at NYU and UMass Boston.

Professor Carol Austad and her husband, Bob, hosted a party for all of us at their lovely home.

 The screening at Connecticut College was hosted by Charles Cocores at the Department of Education in the Blaustein Humanities Building. About 65 students were in attendance and the discussion was very intense. It’s differs from campus to campus, depending on the students and faculty who are present. At CC it was almost entirely an audience of students. Whereas the screening at Central was about 20% faculty, most of whom stayed for the conversation that followed.

NOHO HEWA screening in Connecticut

On April 8th, Noho Hewa will screen at Connecticut College in Bausten Humanities Center at 7PM

April 9th, screening at Central Connecticut State University in Vance Hall, 7PM.

At the Southern Connecticut State University’s  21st Annual Women’s Studies Conference, I will be a speaker on the Plenary, Friday, April 11th, 2PM. The conference title is “Ecology, Spirituality and Sustainability: Feminist and Indigenous Interventions.”

The film will screen the following day on Saturday, April 12th, 3:15PM at the Adanti Student Center Theatre.