Obama, Tea Party Populists, and the Progressive Response

How is the Right organizing to build power in the U.S.?

What are the ramifications for the peace and social justice movements?

How do these trends affect us in Hawai‘i?

Obama, Tea Party Populists, and the Progressive Response

Speaker: Chip Berlet, Political Research Associates

Friday, February 5^th, 2010

6:30 – 8:00 pm

Honolulu Friends Meeting

2426 O‘ahu Avenue

Free admission

The Right-Wing Populists who spawned the Tea Bag and Town Hall protests against Obama are a growing force and working to take over the Republican Party. Meanwhile, centrist Democrats are dominating the Obama Administration and dismissing populist anger at government bailouts that feed the wealthy and starve the poor.

Now, Ultra-Right activists are recruiting from among the angry Tea Bag Populists and targeting immigrants, people of color, Muslims, Arabs, reproductive rights activists, and lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered persons. And they are spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories about economic woes & foreign policy.

Chip Berlet spent over fifteen years as a radical journalist and organizer with student, community, and labor groups before joining Political Research Associates as Senior Analyst in the 1980s. He is co-author of Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort, and penned the cover story on this topic in the current issue of the Progressive magazine.

Sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee – Hawai‘i, World Can’t Wait Hawai‘i, MANA UH Manoa chapter, and Truth 2 Youth. For more information contact: 808-988-6266

Download pdf of leaflet

January 15, 2010January 21, 2010

“Constancy & Change: The Movement to Demilitarize Okinawa – from the 1950s to the 21st Century”

Download leaflet here

Center for Okinawan Studies Lecture Series

“Constancy & Change: The Movement to Demilitarize Okinawa – from the 1950s to the 21st Century”

Two doctoral students at the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa will make presentations on sixty-five years of diverse resistance by the movement to demilitarize Okinawa.

Mami Hayashi’s presentation, “Military Bases in Okinawa: A Pressure for Migration,” covers the contrast between pre-war and postwar emigration and how a desire to defuse domestic dissent led the pre-Reversion U.S. military and the U.S.-controlled Ryukyu Government to encourage migration from Okinawa.

Rinda Yamashiro’s presentation, “Women’s Rights Perspective: A New Direction in the Anti-U.S. Base Movement in Okinawa,” draws on empirical research to articulate how the contemporary Okinawan women have engaged in resistance against U.S. military bases.

Presenters:

Mami Hayashi (Ph.D. Student, American Studies)

Rinda Yamashiro (Ph.D. Student, Sociology)

Discussant:

Vincent Pollard (Lecturer, Asian Studies)

Vincent Pollard teaches in the Asian Studies Program and conducts research on anti-bases movements.

Date: January 21, 2010 (Thursday)

Time: 3:00-4:30 pm

Location: Center for Korean Studies Auditorium

Event is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Center for Okinawan Studies, tel. 956‐0902 / 956-5754

For disability access, please contact the Center for Okinawan Studies.

University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution

January 14, 2010

Art & Poetry Exhibit commemorating the overthrow of Queen Lili’uokalani

ONIPA’A

Aloha ‘Aina, Malama ‘Aina

Art & Poetry Exhibit

January 14 to February 14, 2010

Samuel Manaiakalani Kamakau Room Hawaii State Library

Downtown Honolulu, diamond head side of ‘Iolani Palace

Opening & Award Ceremony

Saturday, January 16, 2010, 1-4pm

Courtyard Area, Hawaii State Library

Join Master of ceremonies Palani Vaughn, keynote speaker Haunani Kay Trask, activist and musician Skippy Ioane and talented keiki artists and writers at the opening of this art exhibit. Awards ceremony and readings will be part of the opening.

January 17, 2010 marks the 117th anniversary of the 1983 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Queen Lili’uokalani relinquished her throne, turning her authority over to the president of the United States in order to avoid any bloodshed. Queen Lili’uokalani spent the remainder of her life being steadfast, ‘onipa’a, in her efforts to restore the Kingdom of Hawai’i, and the rights of her people. We remember her today for her legacy of unwavering love of her people and her beloved country.

Sponsored by Native Hawaiian Advisory Council, Pu’uhonua Society, Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Native Books/Na Mea Hawai’i. For any additional information call Ho’oipo Pa, 808-430-7333

Download poster for Onipaa

January 11, 2010

Send a Message to Secretary of State Clinton

URGENT ACTION ALERT TUESDAY

Message to Secretary of State Clinton: We Want Peace!

Sign holding to declare our vision for the Asia-Pacific at Clinton’s policy speech

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2010

1:00 – 2:30 pm

East-West Center Imin Conference Center at the UH Manoa campus, East West Road.

A Peoples’ Vision for the Asia Pacific:

We demand peace!
End the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan
U.S. Bases Out of Guam, Okinawa, Hawai’i!
Free Hawai’i
End the Israeli Occupation of Palestine!
End the torture!
End the Korean War!
Abolish Nukes!

Contacts:
Kyle Kajihiro, 808-542-3668
Ann Wright: 808-741-1141
(Bring your own signs. Or join us in signmaking at AFSC at 11am, 2426 Oahu Ave.)

January 11, 2010

Waihopai Spybase Protest Saturday, January 23rd

Chief Reporter

WAIHOPAI SPYBASE PROTEST SATURDAY JANUARY 23rd

END NZ INVOLVEMENT IN US WARS

People from all around New Zealand will be converging on Blenheim and the super-secret Waihopai satellite interception spybase, in Marlborough, on the weekend of January 22-24. The war in Afghanistan, in which the NZ military is directly involved, has got dramatically worse and President Obama’s surge of 30,000 extra US troops will escalate it further. Already it has spread across the border into Pakistan. Hillary Clinton’s NZ visit this week is aimed at whipping America’s allies into shape and to get more troops out of the Key government, whilst simultaneously dangling a Free Trade Agreement as the “reward” – nothing has changed since Holyoake’s “guns for butter” catchcry of the Vietnam War years.

The theme of our activities, both at the spybase and in Blenheim, will be anti-war. The US says that Intelligence is the key component of all the wars that it is fighting, or planning to fight, throughout the world (Yemen is the latest target in this endless war). The Anti-Bases Campaign points out that Waihopai, an important source of intelligence for the Pentagon, is New Zealand’s most important contribution to the American war machine and it means that we New Zealanders have blood on our hands. To symbolise that, our props will include crosses, coffins and white masks.

This will be the first protest at the spybase since the April 2008 deflation of one of its domes by the Ploughshares peace activists. In solidarity with them, we will be popping white balloons at the base (and we will be at their Wellington trial, for the week starting March 8).

Waihopai, of course, is a “New Zealand” base – or so the Government says. The fact is, however, that in everything but name it is an outpost of American Intelligence – paid for by the long suffering NZ taxpayer. More than $500 million of public money has been spent on the NZ Government Communications Security Bureau (the agency which runs Waihopai) in the 22 years of Waihopai’s operation. That money could have been much better utilised on health and education, not spying on behalf of Uncle Sam.

On Saturday 23rd we will meet in Blenheim’s Seymour Square at 11 am. From there we will march through central Blenheim, with speeches at the band rotunda in the Forum.

This will be followed by a visit to the Waihopai spybase itself at 2 pm. Information will be provided on the function of the base and there will be a peaceful protest, calling for its closure. Speakers, either in Blenheim and/or the spybase, will be: Keith Locke, Green MP; John Minto, of Global Peace and Justice Auckland; and Murray Horton of ABC.

Waihopai does not operate in the national interest of New Zealand. In all but name it is a foreign spybase on NZ soil, paid for with hundreds of millions of our tax dollars, and directly involves us in America’s wars. Waihopai must be closed. (For details on Waihopai and what it does, go to our Website www.converge.org.nz/abc <http://www.converge.org.nz/abc> ).

Murray Horton,

for ABC

Anti-Bases Campaign

Box 2258, Christchurch, New Zealand

cafca@chch.planet.org.nz <mailto:cafca@chch.planet.org.nz>

www.converge.org.nz/abc <http://www.converge.org.nz/abc>

January 8, 2010

DEPLETED URANIUM PROCEEDING, JANUARY 13, HILO, HAWAI’I

PRESS RELEASE

Cory Harden

PO Box 10265, Hilo, Hawai’i 96721

808-968-8965 mh@interpac.net

For immediate release

January 8, 2010, Hilo, Hawai’i

Attachment:

Memorandum and Order, January 7, 2010, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board

DEPLETED URANIUM PROCEEDING, JANUARY 13, HILO, HAWAI’I

A legal proceeding on an Army application for a depleted uranium (DU) license will be held Wednesday, January 13, from 9 AM to about 3 PM, by videoconference between Hilo, Hawai’i and Rockville, Maryland.

The proceeding is oral argument on standing and contention admissibility before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding hearing requests by four petitioners: Jim Albertini of Malu Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action, Cory Harden, and Isaac Harp, all from Hawai’i Island, and Luwella Leonardi of O’ahu.

The Army denied having DU in Hawai’i until 2006, when citizen groups obtained information from Army e-mails, then announced the Army found DU spotting rounds the previous year at Schofield Barracks on the island of O’ahu. The spotting rounds were from a classified Davy Crockett weapon system used in the 1960s. The Army acknowledged the find, and later also found spotting rounds at Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) on Hawai‘i Island. The rounds were also distributed to twelve other states and three foreign countries in the 1960s. There were about 75,000 rounds, each about eight inches long and containing about six and a half ounces of DU alloy.

“It’s unclear whether the Army didn’t know, or didn’t tell, that it had DU in Hawai’i,” says Harden. “But it is clear that information about military hazards in Hawai’i is unreliable.”

Albertini and Harden say that Army searches, reports, and air monitoring plans for DU at PTA are inadequate, so airborne DU from live-fire and dummy bombs impacting undiscovered spotting rounds may go undetected. The same concerns have been expressed by a geologist, a consultant to Los Alamos National Laboratory, and a former Army doctor who is a consultant to the World Health Organization, all from Hawai‘i.

Albertini and Harden call for a search of classified and unclassified records by all military forces in Hawai’i for other forgotten radioactive hazards. Harden asks why an Army report cites a 1996 document about a Davy Crockett DU spotting round at Schofield, when the first find was supposedly in 2005.

Albertini says reports of animal tumors around PTA should be investigated, and says the Army has ignored Hawai‘i County Council resolutions concerning DU.

Albertini and Harp say the Army has not fully disclosed the extent of its DU use in Hawai’i. Harp says there are high cancer rates around PTA, says the Army has violated Federal law, and calls for removal of DU munitions and waste from Hawai’i.

Leonardi says the Army excavated contaminated soil at Schofield, then transported and deposited it near her home, impacting health in her community.

Due to the limited size of the videoconference room at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo, the public may not attend. However the proceeding will appear via live webcast at http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=65044. The webstream will be available for viewing for up to 90 days, and a transcript of the hearing will be posted on the ADAMS system on the NRC website.

A decision on the proceeding is anticipated in February.

###

December 31, 2009January 23, 2010

The Place of Hawai‘i in American Studies II

March 11-12, 2010

Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, Halau o Haumea

2645 Dole Street

University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Thursday, March 11

3:00-4:30 p.m.

ROUNDTABLE 1: “Occupied Hawai‘i: Issues of Nationhood and Colonialism”

Jonathan Kamakawiwo‘ole Osorio
Ty Kāwika Tengan
‘Ilima Long Seto

4:45- 5:45 RECEPTION

6:00-7:00 p.m.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

J. Kēhaulani Kauanui

Friday, March 12

9:00-10:30 a.m.

ROUNDTABLE 2: “Red Shirts: Anti-colonialism, Queer Politics, and HB 44”

Jon Goldberg-Hiller
Caroline Sinavaiana
V. Kalei Kanuha
Blake Oshiro

10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

ROUNDTABLE 3: “Sustainability and the Environment”

Alani Apio
Jeff Mikulina

1:30-3:00 p.m.

ROUNDTABLE 4: “Education and the Occupied Nation/Plantation State”

Noelani Goodyear-Ka‘opua
April Hōkūlani Drexel
Patricia Halagao
Kūhiō Vogeler

3:15-4:45 p.m.

ROUNDTABLE 5: “Where do Hawaiian Studies and American Studies meet?”

A moderated discussion that will assess the symposium’s goals of bringing into dialogue the paradigms and politics of American Studies and Hawaiian Studies.

Protest the War, Torture and Militarism at Obama’s Kailua vacation getaway

World Can’t Wait and other peace groups are calling for a demonstration near President Obama’s winter vacation site in Kailua, O’ahu:

Spread the Word!

Tell Obama what’s on YOUR mind!

Speak Out Against War, Torture and Militarism!

Saturday, December 26

10am

President Obama is scheduled to arrive in Hawai`i on December 23rd and will be staying in Kailua. We urge people to take this opportunity to speak out against the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, the continuation of the U.S. occupation of Iran, torture, support for Israel’s war against the Palestinian people – and the expansion of U.S. militarism everywhere everywhere (including in Hawai`i and Guam). And there are many more issues you may want to speak to!

Where? Kailuana Pl. in Kailua If you’re driving from Honolulu, go across the Pali and through Kailua town to Kalaheo Avenue (you’ll dead end and have to go left or right). Turn left on Kalaheo Avenue. Kailuana is just before Mokapu Blvd and runs along the right side of the canal so if you cross the canal you’ve gone too far. Turn right on Kailuana and go as far as you can. We’ll be at the security check point. From Kaneohe or the H3 take a right turn on to Kalaheo Ave off of Mokapu Blvd, cross over bridge. You’ll probably see police vehicles. Then right after crossing the canal take a left turn onto Kailuana Pl. There will be limited parking because this is a neighborhood. We strongly suggest carpooling. You may have to drop your passengers off near the checkpoint and then go back and park your car in the neighborhood. If you can’t figure out these instructions, just enter Kailuana Place, Kailua, 96734 in mapquest.

BRING SIGNS! We’ll have a limited number of signs against the wars in Afghanistan, the bombing of Pakistan, the occupation of Iraq, torture, and U.S. support for Israel. Bring your own signs with the message you want heard.

There’s a possibility that the plans will change. Today there’s some talk that Obama will delay his Christmas trip until after the health care vote (expected Christmas Eve?). If you have any doubt about whether the protest will happen go to 534-2255.

December 14, 2009January 13, 2010

National Call for March 4 Strike and Day of Action To Defend Public Education

Education is a right! Fund education, not wars, prisons or bailouts!

National Call for March 4 Strike and Day of Action To Defend Public Education

California has recently seen a massive movement erupt in defense of public education — but layoffs, fee hikes, cuts, and the re-segregation of public education are attacks taking place throughout the country. A nationwide resistance movement is needed.

We call on all students, workers, teachers, parents, and their organizations and communities across the country to massively mobilize for a Strike and Day of Action in Defense of Public Education on March 4, 2010. Education cuts are attacks against all of us, particularly in working-class communities and communities of color.

The politicians and administrators say there is no money for education and social services. They say that “there is no alternative” to the cuts. But if there’s money for wars, bank bailouts, and prisons, why is there no money for public education?

We can beat back the cuts if we unite students, workers, and teachers across all sectors of public education — Pre K-12, adult education, community colleges, and state-funded universities. We appeal to the leaders of the trade union movement to support and organize strikes and/or mass actions on March 4. The weight of workers and students united in strikes and mobilizations would shift the balance of forces entirely against the current agenda of cuts and make victory possible.

Building a powerful movement to defend public education will, in turn, advance the struggle in defense of all public-sector workers and services and will be an inspiration to all those fighting against the wars, for immigrants rights, in defense of jobs, for single-payer health care, and other progressive causes.

Why March 4? On October 24, 2009 more than 800 students, workers, and teachers converged at UC Berkeley at the Mobilizing Conference to Save Public Education. This massive meeting brought together representatives from over 100 different schools, unions, and organizations from all across California and from all sectors of public education. After hours of open collective discussion, the participants voted democratically, as their main decision, to call for a Strike and Day of Action on March 4, 2010. All schools, unions and organizations are free to choose their specific demands and tactics — such as strikes, rallies, walkouts, occupations, sit-ins, teach-ins, etc. — as well as the duration of such actions.

Let’s make March 4 an historic turning point in the struggle against the cuts, layoffs, fee hikes, and the re-segregation of public education.

– The California Coordinating Committee

(To endorse this call and to receive more information contact march4strikeanddayofaction@gmail.com and check out www.defendcapubliceducation.wordpress.com )

December 9, 2009

PBS to air program on military expansion on Guam

Why Are We Sending Thousands of Military Personnel to Guam?

Tuesday 08 December 2009

by: NOW | t r u t h o u t | Programming Note

Why are we sending thousands of military personnel to Guam? Next on “NOW.” Over the next five years, as many as 30,000 service members and their families will descend on the small island of Guam, nearly tripling its presence there. It’s part of a larger agreement that the US signed with Japan to realign American forces in the Pacific. But how will this multibillion-dollar move impact the lives and lifestyle of Guam’s nearly 180,000 residents? On Friday, December 11, at 8:30 PM (PBS Hawaii will air the program at 8:00 pm), “NOW” on PBS travels to the US territory of Guam to find out whether their environment and infrastructure can support such a large and quick infusion of people, and why the buildup is vital to our national security.