Oia wale no! Hawaii Peoples Congress

http://www.civilbeat.org/2016/11/the-hawaii-peoples-congress-building-a-progressive-movement/
Tyler Green

An upside down Hawaiian flag blows in the wind as demonstrators gather outside the Senate chambers earlier this year.
Photo: Cory Lum/Civil Beat

The hold of money on government seems to confound any possibility of legitimate progressive policy. And our school system is devastatingly underfunded and continues to fail to deliver the sort of civic education needed to sustain a well-working liberal democracy.

The people of Hawaii have had austerity policies forced down their throats for far too long. Changes are certainly needed. And with the oncoming Donald Trump administration spaces where the most vulnerable populations in Hawaii can be heard politically are urgently needed.

The Hawai‘i People’s Congress hopes to grow a progressive movement, betting that Hawaii is in fact ripe for a broad people’s movement, to “build a just, fair, and healthy future for Hawaii.”

The free and open to the public People’s Congress includes the support of a number of local progressive organizations: Hawaii’s Thousand Friends, Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, Unite Here! Local 5, Hawaii People’s Fund, Hawai‘i Alliance for Progressive Action (HAPA), Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, Hawaii Center for Food Safety Action Fund, Aloha Aina Project, Community Alliance on Prisons, Maui Tomorrow, HawaiiSEED, Sierra Club of Hawaii, Hawaii Teachers for Change and Hawaii Wildlife Fund. Occurring almost a month after Election Day (Saturday and Sunday Dec. 4 at the Kupu Net Shed), the Hawaii People’s Congress aims to articulate issues that people in Hawaii encounter and push for the implementation of solutions.