Aloha from the island of Maui. Today, Maui saw a wonderful outpouring of expression. Over 150 gathered at Maui Community College (the small college on the island, our only one) and we marched almost 2 miles (1.5 hours!) to the State Office Buildings in Wailuku, making a few poignant and deliberate stops along the way. Everyone had a sign – a lot of them home made…and many of which were the signs sent to us from WCW Headquarters – thank you for sending them to the most remote place on earth! It was a sweltering hot day with very little wind. Clear skies and hot sun. We started at 10am. Within 2 minutes, I was drenched with sweat. First, I read the WCW Call over a megaphone to the entire group. It was very well received. Then we started marching. Drums, a trombone, a singer on megaphone, chants, and a lot of noise. Our first stop was at the Army Reserve Center (which acts as an armory, training center, and “PX”), where we gathered together for a minute of silence, so that the people inside could clearly listen to their conscience. Then, we walked up the walkway to their front gate (the property was surrounded by barbed wire fencing) and via megaphone, I invited them to join us, acknowledging how much we loved them and that we understand that they are being battered and spread thin from the Bush Regime’s shameful, relentless pursuit of world domination. Then, I let them know that if they resisted we would not only support them with words, but with our actions. Our group cheered to show their agreement. No one came out, but it was reported that several of the staff were hiding in the bushes and spying on us. I read a long quote from Lt. Ehren Watada (a Hawaii resident) about how the military must refuse to serve an illegal war.We continued further up the road (this is all uphill, mind you) to a bridge crossing, and all of us gathered on either side of the bridge and hung banners supporting Lt. Ehren Watada and asking for an end to the killing. Billionaires for Bush were with us, and they had a few banners about Big Oil. The music continued and we all danced and got a lot of people to honk.Then we moved to our next stop at Maui’s IRS headquarters. There I read a statement, asking them to join us. I listed all of the things we could have purchased if the State of Hawaii if 1.1 billion of our tax dollars hadn’t gone to the war. Children’s Health Care, College Education, Affordable Housing, etc. I announced that we refuse to allow out tax money to be spent in this way.Our last stop on the march, before the rally, we stopped at the State Office Buildings to deliver a message to Governor Linda Lingle. This was a message that included The Call, as well as a bunch of statistics about how the percentage of Hawaii’s National Guard that has been deployed in this war is the highest in the U.S. – and that this happened under Lingle’s watch, leaving Hawaii completely vulnerable during a very wet rainy season – which included major flooding on Kauai. I told her “Those who know better, do better. And with all due respect, Ms Lingle, you know better.” Then, we assembled in a public park directly across the street, and had:
– Guest speakers from local peace groups Codepink and Maui Peace Action, welcoming new members
– A voter registration table
– Mariana Esperalda doing a haunting, heavily accented rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War”,
– powerful poetry (including one of the best slam poets I’ve ever seen
– a West Coast Anti-Bush Slam champion, I’m told),
– a message delivered on behalf of the Prime Minister of the reinstated Kingdom of Hawaii
– Several speakers dropping tons of knowledge including a speech about impeachment, and another about the “meaning of power” After that, local band The Easy played a kick-ass set. We did interviews with the press, they took photos and quotes. Right now Joe is dubbing footage to send to the local news stations out here in Hawaii – they’re going on two different airlines over to Channel 2 and Channel 4. Local radio was there recording, and local magazines and weeklies were gathering info for pieces they plan to do.Overall, it was a massive success unlike anything Maui has seen. Elders in the peace community were coming to me and thanking me with tears in their eyes. I think most of the people who joined us were proud to be a part of this event, this National Day of Resistance. We have started some momentum on this sleepy island. Many people who said they’d be joining us weren’t there…which makes me think – if those people had come too, we’d have had at least 300. THAT WILL BE NEXT TIME!Much aloha to everyone – and mahalo to all of the WCW chapters out there for inspiring us out here in the middle of the Pacific. It was a special day.Sara
World Can’t Wait – Mauiworldcantwaitmaui@gmail.com