Hawai`i Joins the Global Climate March!

On Sunday, November 29th, more than 700,000 people across the globe joined actions to demand that world leaders take real actions to stop climate change.  50,000 in London.  45,000 in Sydney.  8,000 in Madrid.  Thousands and hundreds in cities and towns across the planet, and Honolulu was in the mix.


Almost 200 people converged at the Kalakaua statue at the intersection of Kalakaua and Kuhio for a signholding, followed by a march through Waikiki.  The weather was beautiful, belying the seriousness of climate change and the fact that the land we were standing on will be underwater if decisive action is not taken to divert a catastrophic climate crisis. 


The crowd was diverse, and most people brought their own creative signs.   "Stop Fossil Fools."  "Save the Arctic"  "Lives Not Profit", Capitalism is Destroying the Planet; We Need a Revolution",  "No to Next Era" "Save the Pacific Islands" and dozens more.   Many people stopped to take photos of World Can't Wait's beautiful banner: "Humanity and the Planet Come First."   Keiki crowded around a polar bear for a photo, and everywhere people were talking about their concerns and possible solutions. 


The march, which went along Kalakaua Avenue through Waikiki, was loud and colorful.  People made up chants as they went and passed out leaflets to pedestrians on the sidewalk.  One side of the street was led by a spirited group of Pacific Islanders who drew focused on the urgency of acting now to save their island homes.  


The march ended at the Gandhi statue in front of the Honolulu Zoo, where organizers had set up a tent, stage and sound system and marchers.  As marchers settled in on the lawn to listen to the rally, Liko Martin and Laulani Teale sang songs about climate change and their love for the `aina.  Many of the beginning talks at the rally focused on Hawai`i issues:  NextEra, renewable energy, and current laws but the urgency of the day was really made real by Chamorro poet, Craig Santos Perez, who spoke of the destruction caused and being caused by the U.S. military in Pacific island nations and challenging people see the interconnectedness of militarism with climate change, and protest both. 


World Can't Wait Hawai`i's spokesperson, Liz Rees, closed the rally with a powerful talk addressing the hypocrisy of Obama and placing the blame for the global climate change squarely on the system of capitalism-imperialism.   She ended with a challenge to the audience to see the interconnectedness of all of the attacks on the people: militarism, climate change, police terror, and more, and to build resistance to all attacks. 


Following are a few photos:

World Can't Wait-Hawai`i Responds to the Attack on Planned Parenthood

Signholding for Abortion Rights and Women's Lives


On Saturday, November 28th, more than a dozen people responded to a Call for an Emergency Response for Abortion Rights and Women's Rights.  The action, originally called for by Stop Patriarchy's Sunsara Taylor, was called on the day of the horrific attack on the Planned Parenthood Clinic in Colorado Springs and we were on the streets the day after. 


Our signholding was at the corner of Kapiolani and Keeaumoku, from 4-6pm on the day after Black Friday, so the streets were congested and the pedestrian traffic was heavy.  Thousands saw our signs.  Many drivers honked their horns or gave us a thumbs up, and some pedestrians stopped to thanks us or give us a quiet "I agree."   One woman initially walked by but then returned saying: "I'm a devout Christian and a strongly support you.  Thank you!."   Another man saw us, went into Walgreen's, and then returned with bottles of water and his thanks.  There were a few who expressed disagreements - some with a middle finger or a shout-out from their cars, and a few pedestrians who gave short negative nods.  In the face of the horror of Colorado Springs, it seemed few really wanted to stop and engage.  

One year after the murder of Tamir,
DEMAND JUSTICE FOR TAMIR RICE!
Sunday, November 22, 10am-noon
Ala Moana Park near entrance to Magic Island

Look for our tent with big photos of Tamir Rice near the entrance to the Magic Island parking lot.  The tent will have information about Tamir Rice's case as well as about other victims of police murder.  World Can't Wait activists and supporters will take information about the police murder of Tamir Rice to beachgoers and invite them to join the movement against police terror everywhere. 

As the Call to the National Day of Action for Justice for Tamir Rice states:

ONE YEAR ago, Tamir Rice was killed in less than two seconds of police arriving to the park where he was playing. The whole world has seen the video. First you see Tamir, a child playing by himself with a toy gun, with no one else in sight. At one point he puts the ‘weapon’ down on the sidewalk, makes a snowball, throws it, picks up the toy gun again. If you didn’t know what was coming, it would just be this cute scene of a child being... a child! Then a police car suddenly appears. Tamir walks towards it, the toy in his waistband. The car stops, and within two seconds a cop shoots Tamir. Though he is still alive, the cops do nothing to assist him or even to try and make him comfortable.

“Will the police get away with the murder of Tamir Rice? NO! This cannot be allowed!

“One year since the murder of Tamir Rice with NO justice for his family. A Grand Jury investigation has begun in Cleveland, OH but actions of county prosecutor Timothy McGinty have greased the skids to a repeat of the decision not to indict the officers responsible for murdering Tamir, as we saw with the police that murdered Eric Garner and Michael Brown and too many others.”

The cold-hearted police murder of Tamir Rice, the obscene refusal of authorities to even charge the police who murdered him for a whole year, and now the outrageous moves by the prosecutor to manipulate a grand jury exoneration of the killers—this is an intolerable outrage... and it is bigger than that. What is at stake here is what kind of society are we going to be living in? Let’s be real: If police can murder an unarmed 12-year-old boy playing in a park, a child posing no threat to anyone, and get away with it, what Black person, or Latino person, or Native American, anywhere, doing anything, can feel that they do not have a target on their back for police to aim at?

Nobody should turn their head and go about business as usual while Tamir’s murderers go unpunished. We cannot sit back and wait and see what the authorities are going to do here because they have ALREADY covered up this murder for nearly a year and they are sending out signals they are about to let the murdering police go free.

Which side are you on?"

Join us at Ala Moana Park on Sunday, November 22nd!   Hang out at the tent and talk with people, or join the teams going out to leaflet.  But be there!