Hawaii People’s Congress To Meet
Organizations and individuals from across the islands working “to end systemic barriers to justice” are holding a statewide convening this weekend in Honolulu.
The Hawaii People’s Congress is seeking public input this weekend as it holds its first statewide conference.
Organizers of the congress, a newly formed a coalition of organizations and individuals from across the state “working to end systemic barriers to justice” in Hawaii, say the event is free and open to the public.
But pre-registration is required at www.PeoplesCongressHI.org. The conference begins Saturday at the KUPU Net Shed in Kewalo Basin at 725 F on Ala Moana Boulevard.
The groups involved include the Sierra Club of Hawaii, the Community Alliance on Prisons, Unite Here! Local 5, Hawaii Appleseed Center, the Hawaii Center for Food Safety, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, Maui Tomorrow and the Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action.
Here’s a rationale for the congress, according to the congress:
Hawaii residents are facing fundamental challenges: historic wealth inequality and a high cost of living, lack of affordable housing, an education system in crisis, and the 6th highest rate of poverty in the United States. And Hawaii’s lands and waters are at increasing risk: local funding for environmental protection is dropping as the climate crisis worsens; streams are diverted even as we face drought. Because Hawaii imports 80 percent of our food and much of our energy, we are vulnerable to high food and energy prices, shortages in basic necessities, and unstable job markets.
Sorta sounds like a Community Voices submission in Civil Beat, no?
Here’s a link to the conference schedule of speakers, panels and workshops.
The opening speaker is Kamanamaikalani Beamer, Ph.D., former president and CEO of The Kohala Center, faculty at the Hui Aina Momona Program at the University of Hawaii Manoa, former director of Aina-Based Education at Kamehameha Schools and a director of Stanford University’s First Nations Futures Institute.
As well, there will be poetry by Jamaica Osorio and “Creative Disruption with Artist Solomon Enos.”
The Hawaii People’s Congress also has a Facebook page, but then, who doesn’t?
