AUPUNI - GOVERNMENT

Students of Hālau Lōkahi charter school and others rally in support of a bill that would put a moratorium on genetic modification of kalo. - Photo: Lisa Asato

Legislature Opens: 'Sustainable' session begins
PROTESTERS SAY NO TO GMO KALO
Hundreds rally to protect Hāloa from genetic modification

By Liza Simon | Public Affairs Specialist

Sustainability will be all the rage during this year's state Legislature, House and Senate leaders declared last month on the opening day of the session amid the customary spectacle of food, entertainment and lei.

The 21st century buzz word once simply meant “planning for the future,” but the “lightning rod” controversy over the Superferry underscored the question of who has power in building the future, Senate President Colleen Hanabusa told the standing-room-only crowd in the Senate chambers. Hanabusa (D-Ko 'Olina, Wai'anae Coast) said the real conflict over the Superferry was “about people feeling irrelevant, ignored and helpless. It was about communities dividing, positions hardening and people losing hope.”

In the equally packed House chambers, Speaker Calvin Say (D-St. Louis Heights, Pālolo) characterized the Superferry confrontation as running counter to long-term solutions. “The right choice is for Hawai'i to find a balance between our environmental and economic concerns, a balance that is sustainable,” he said.

While both lawmakers pledged action on sustainability this session — Hanabusa citing Senate majority bills to meet housing and education needs and Say urging a united embrace of local renewable energy development as a way for geographically isolated islands to better control their own destiny — neither mentioned the sustainability of conventionally farmed kalo.

Demonstrators on opening day seek support of Hawaiian issues. - Photo: Lisa Asato

Lawmakers' failure last year to hear a bill that would ban genetic engineering of the crop that is both a traditional Native Hawaiian diet staple and a cultural symbol was the focus of a protest rally that filled the Capitol rotunda with supporters, including kūpuna from Hawaiian Civic clubs, kalo farmers, activists and students from Hawaiian charter schools.

Many carried potted kalo plants and delivered a stirring oli.

“We learned in school that we have a direct ancestral link to kalo and so genetic modification brings up the issue of who has the power to modify our identity,” said Imai Winchester, a senior at Hālau Kū Māna charter school. “So we are here today with more voice, more kalo, more people, more haumana, more 'ōpio, to show lawmakers that this not only affecting us, it could be affecting our future, the kids we will care for someday.”

Genetic modification aims to create crops with desirable traits like disease resistance, but critics say the practice might pose risks to availability and safety of the natural food supply.

While University of Hawai'i researchers last year responded to these criticisms by agreeing to drop the patents on three genetically engineered varieties of kalo, some demonstrators at the Legislature were disturbed by the news that the university is considering opposing the moratorium measure set to go before the House again this year. “They want to claim (the ban on research) violates academic freedom, but there needs to be government oversight if our health and safety are at risk,” said Moanikeala Akana, a former OHA Trustee of Hawai'i Island.

The demonstrators, who brought their concerns to a three-day encampment at nearby 'Iolani Palace, included Winona LaDuke, a former running mate of four-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader. A Native American from the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota, LaDuke successfully led a fight to ban genetic modification of wild rice. “Wild rice is part of our migration story and a nutritionally significant food that is as unique to us as kalo is to Hawaiians,” said LaDuke, adding that OHA should join the demonstrators in their cause, just as the Bureau of Indian Affairs helped support a policy ban on genetic engineering of wild rice in Minnesota.

Several House and Senate members of the Native Hawaiian caucus viewed the kalo rally as positive and in line with the theme of sustainability expressed by legislative leaders on opening day.

“If we are going to be sustainable, then why not go back to some practices that were sustainable in Native Hawaiian tradition long ago. That at least gives us a foundation to start from, instead of reinventing the wheel,” said Rep. Faye Hanohano (D-Puna, Pāhoa, Hawaiian Acres, Kalapana).

Hawaiian caucus member Sen. Kalani English (D-Hāna, East Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i, Kaho'olawe) said that sustainability problems involving kalo or any other environmental element can't be solved as stand-alone Hawaiian-only issues. “We are a dependent set of islands, and 99 percent of everything is imported. If everyone out there grew some food and reduced dependency, that is the strongest statement you can make about self-determination. You reduce your dependency on welfare, on fossil fuel, on the dollar, on the car. Suddenly, you are self-sufficient,” said English, who described Hanabusa's speech as a positive call to action for people to take everyday steps to maintain their precious quality of life. “For example, after years of wasting so much paper (in the Senate), we've now gone paperless,” English said, reffering to on-line publication of legislative notices and bills.

Meanwhile, many in the Capitol rotunda said they will be hoping that this year's Legislature will follow up a spirited first day by walking the talk throughout the session, which hasn't always been the case in the past, according to Meleanna Aluli Meyer, a Native Hawaiian teacher and artist who said often lawmakers disconnect from the people they represent. “Lawmakers really need to get to a place where they can feel the issues and what is not working. That's hard for people when they are removed — unless they are in a taro patch, unless they are in a school without pencils, unless they are dealing with young children from drug-affected families or parents in prison. 'Feel our pain,' I would say. It's the pain in so many communities and it's not just the Hawaiians.”

However, after surveying the scene in the rotunda, where UH athletes — including the members of the champion Warrior football team — mingled with high school TV crews in action, Meyer became optimistic. “It's a great thing to see all the children here because the children are learning to see and feel in different ways. I really believe that makes a difference,” she said. “They are telling their story with cameras. They are motivated. We need to witness for each other and bear witness to the things that we believe in.”