A conversation about protecting ʻāina by analyzing and intervening in government processes with Shelley Muneoka, Marti Townsend, and Logan Narikawa from KAHEA: the Hawaiian Environmental Alliance.

KAHEA works to address the failure of government to protect Hawaiʻi communities and natural resources. Their members include Hawaiian cultural practitioners, aloha ‘āina advocates, and environmental conservationists. Mobilizing aloha ‘āina communities in ways that realize their collective strength, intelligence, and vision, the hui seeks to build networks of politically conscious folks across Hawai’i by providing cogent analyses of government and administrative processes involved in furthering extractive capitalism, settler colonialism, and white supremacy.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

A conversation about circular economic practices on Maui with Nicole Huguenin, Lehua Simon, and Leo Nahe Smith from the Circular Hawaiʻi Collective.

Circular Hawaiʻi is a conduit and connector of dots in Maui’s circular economy, centering the reestablishment of indigenous models of circularity and incubating collaborative efforts to increase participation in circular-based economic practices. Circular Hawaiʻi is a collaborative effort between initiatives that emerged in 2022 to respond to the impact of the Covid pandemic. In the economic aftermath of the 2023 Maui wildfires, Circular Hawaiʻi seeks to support residents by informing them about the free, subsidized, and affordable local resources available to them.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

A conversation about graduate worker organizing with Dianne Deauna and Ken Reyes, two Executive Committee members of Academic Labor United (ALU).

ALU organizes graduate workers of the University of Hawaiʻi system to empower them to hold their employers accountable. Even as graduate worker labor is recognized by the University as fundamental to its success, their work is continually devalued by the State and University administration which refuse to pay them a living wage, have no viable process for addressing grievances, and have failed multiple times to keep graduate workers safe in their working environments. ALU is fighting to establish a graduate worker union, which would be the first new public employee union in Hawaiʻi in 50 years.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

A conversation about community care and shifting the perception of consensual sex work in Hawaiʻi with Doug Upp and Jin Kwak, organizers with the Hawaiʻi chapter of the Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP).

SWOP Hawaiʻi is a grassroots organization led by sex workers, advocating for the safety, healing, and liberation of marginalized communities engaged in consensual adult labor. Through direct support services, mutual aid, and community empowerment initiatives, they address systemic discrimination at the intersections of race, gender, and class. The hui’s work challenges stigma and advocates for the decriminalization of adult consensual sex work.

Instagram: @swophawaii

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

A conversation about Palestine solidarity organizing in Hawaiʻi with Cynthia Franklin and Imani Altemus-Williams from the Hawaiʻi chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace.

JVP Hawaiʻi works to educate Hawaiʻi communities about settler-colonialism in Palestine and the links to colonialism and militarism in Hawaiʻi. They organize Jewish and non-Jewish communities towards an end to u.s. funding to Israeli apartheid and the militarized occupation of Palestine. They work to build a loving and intersectional anti-zionist Jewish community in Hawaiʻi where everyone is welcome and feels safe in expressing their solidarity with Palestine, taking action for tangible social change for the liberation of both Palestine and Hawaiʻi.

Instagram: @jvphawaii

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

A conversation about creating spaces of reconnection for Black folks in Hawaiʻi with Dr. Akiemi Glenn and Jamila Jarmon from the Pōpolo Project.

Founded in 2017, the Pōpolo Project is committed to redefining perceptions of Black people in Hawai‘i and creating a deep reconnection to themselves as individuals, to their community, to their ancestors, and to the lands that sustain them. They build community power by strengthening collective memory, practicing cultures together, developing a vocabulary to talk about race in Hawaiʻi, and highlighting intergenerational efforts to connect the Black community in Hawaiʻi to the liberation efforts of others.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

A conversation about organizing for a rehabilitative justice system with Kaleihau Kamauʻu and Ron Fujiyoshi from ʻOhana Hoʻopakele.

‘Ohana Ho’opakele was founded by kūpuna as an intervention to the disproportionate number of Kānaka Maoli in Hawai’i’s prisons. The hui began this journey by opposing the building of new prisons on Hawai’i Island, and their research illuminated the goal of building pu’uhonua to provide healing for paʻahao (or people who are incarcerated) before they return back into society. ʻOhana Hoʻopakele rejects the punitive model of the current prison system, and they pursue multiple avenues to create change towards a rehabilitative system while building a strong base among pa’ahao, ex-pa’ahao, their families, and supporters.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

Announcing a new season of Hawaiʻi Rising featuring our 2024 grantee cohort, coming soon wherever you listen to podcasts.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

Each year for Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, two people are honored for their activism and commitment to ea. This year, the two honorees are Sparky Rodrigues and his late wife Leandra Wai of Mālama Mākua, who have fought for the care and reclamation of Mākua Valley since 1996. In this special episode, Sparky reflects on his and Leandra’s life, work, and legacy.

To learn more about Mālama Mākua, check out our previous interview with Uncle Sparky and Aunty Lynette Cruz in episode 17 Mālama Mākua: Piko of Peace as well as a special update from last December about the Armyʻs written statement that they don’t need Mākua for live fire training ever again.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii.

Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea is coming up at the end of July! In this special episode from 2023, learn about community celebrations of Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, or Sovereignty Restoration Day, in recent years. The 2024 Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea celebration at Pōkaʻi Bay, Waiʻanae, is on Saturday, July 27, and the celebration at Thomas Square, Honolulu, will be on Sunday, July 28. Come join us!

Guests in order of appearance: ʻĪmaikalani Winchester, Pōlani Kahakalau-Kalima, Wahinehula Kaeo, Ke‘alohi Quiamno, Kyle Kajihiro, Uʻi and Kalani Puaʻoi, Makaio Villanueva and Nani Peterson, and Lynette Cruz.

To learn more about Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, listen to our previous interview in episode 26. Lā Ho'iho'i Ea Honolulu: Visions of a Sovereign Future.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii