Asia Pacific Forum

Over the past week, from Jakarta to New York, Global Strike reported that 7.6 million people mobilized to strike for climate action, a more just world, and an end to fossil fuels, one of the main contributors of climate change. Cecilia Lim discusses the environmental issues in Queens, New York, growing up in the diaspora, global capitalism's effect on climate change, organizing in Queens and her most recent project, Remember Y(our) Connection / Tandaan Ang Ating Ugnayan: Filipino Wisdom in the Face of Climate Change.

GUESTS:

Cecilia Lim, Queens, NY based (Lenape territory) community artist and organizer

For Native Hawaiians, Mauna Kea is the sacred center of the island: a place of worship, a portal to the ancestral realm and celestial home to Hawaiian deities. Mauna Kea is also a dormant volcano and although most of the volcano is underwater, at 33,500 feet, it is the tallest mountain in the world when measured from its underwater base. Unprecedented views of deep space and cosmic objects, clear skies and easy access to the mountaintop means that it has become a prime target for monied interests and astronomers. The Thirty Meter Telescope, or TMT, is one of them. TMT is a $1.4 billion project would be the largest visible-light telescope designed and developed by partnerships in the United States, Japan, China, India and Canada and includes universities like the University of California and is largely funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

There are already 13 observatories on the mountain-- the construction and maintenance of which have already contributed to more traffic, sewage and chemical spills, pollution, and the disruption of cultural and religious practices. Another telescope, this one more massive than the existing ones, funded primarily by foreign corporations and institutions, is one that has echoed the violent displacement of Hawaiians and the taking of land during colonial times. The struggle over Mauna Kea is decades long. In 1950, Mauna Kea was part of lands ceded as part of a land trust with Native Hawaiians. So, there is also a long history of not only protecting and defending sacred land, but also fighting for Native Hawaiian sovereignty. In 2015, Mauna Kea protectors the procedural issue of whether the permit for the TMT's construction comported with due process. In 2018, the Supreme Court of Hawaii ruled that the telescope construction permit was valid. And since July of 2019, and now for approximately 3 months, protectors have peacefully resisted the construction of the TMT. A reported 35 elders were arrested on the third day of protecting the sacred mountain.

Frontline and longtime protectors have inspired action from Mauna Kea to New York City. From the APF Radio archives, you'll hear an excerpt with Pualani Case discussing the call to action to protect sacred land and water. Audio from a Mauna Kea rally at Union Square in New York and discussion with Joanna Pruett a massage therapist and reiki healer, who, inspired by Pualani Case and other protectors, organized her first rally alongside indigenous communities and supporters in New York City and has since organized a series of actions throughout the city as an act of solidarity to the Mauna Kea protectors and across indigenous struggles.

GUESTS:

Joanna Pruett, Massage therapist, reiki practitioner and Native-Hawaiian-Chinese woman living in New York answering the call to protect Mauna Kea.

Jeffrey Ngo on Hong Kong, Kham Moua on SE Asian Refugees.

Hong Kong has been embroiled in pro-democracy raging protests for the past several weeks, wreaking havoc of the local council, rattling its distant rulers in Beijing, and throwing the future of self-government on the island into further doubt. The protests began as a revolt against a pending bill to establish an extradition treaty with Beijing, which would have allowed mainland Chinese authorities to take individuals on Hong Kong territory to the mainland for criminal prosecution. The public was outraged at the perceived encroachment on Hong Kong's autonomy under the so-called one country, two systems framework. The demonstrations intensified in early July, when a group of protesters stormed the Legislative Council (LegCo) building. Although the bill has been suspended, HK Chief Executive Carrie Lam still faces intensifying backlash. And the tensions show no signs of abating, as protesters have remained on the streets, braving fierce police crackdowns. Jeffrey Ngo, Hong Kong-based activist with Demosisto, discusses the future of young Hong Kongers' struggle for self-determination.

GUESTS:

Jeffrey Ngo, Hong Kong-based activist with Demosisto

Eddy Zheng, a community educator in some of America's hardest-to-reach communities, got his own education in unlikely places. At age 12, he emigrated to Oakland, California, from China with his family, and was quickly plunged into poverty, cultural alienation and social dislocation. At 16, he was convicted as an adult for armed robbery and kidnapping, and faced a life sentence. During the two decades he ultimately spent in California's San Quentin prison, Zheng developed a political consciousness forged through radical thinkers and writers of color -- from historical pioneers such as Frederick Douglass to his mentor, Japanese American revolutionary Yuri Kochiyama. It was a grassroots education that, in his words, saved my life.

As a grassroots activist and youth organizer, Zheng is focused on the impacts of criminalization and immigration enforcement on Asian and Pacific Islander communities. He works across racial and ethnic lines to bring Asian diaspora and immigrant experience into a dialogue on mass incarceration that is often devoid of such voices. He also advocates for solidarity between Asian Americans and African Americans, maintaining that a unified resistance is critical in the struggle against structural racism and pointing to the role played by the prison system and police brutality in aggravating tensions between minority groups. It is crucial, he says, for API communities to reach out to black communities to ask: How can we be a better ally to you, so we can create more solidarity when we come together to fight for criminal justice and comprehensive immigration reform?

Read more at The Guardian

GUESTS:

Eddy Zheng, racial justice activist, community educator