HAWAI‘I ACTIVISTS BREAK WORLD RECORD FOR CONCH SHELL BLOW, REVERBERATING A GLOBAL KAHEA (CALL) TO STOP THE TPP
HAWAI‘I ACTIVISTS BREAK WORLD RECORD FOR CONCH SHELL BLOW, REVERBERATING A GLOBAL KAHEA (CALL) TO STOP THE TPP
KA‘ANAPALI, MAUI — In a galvanizing call-to-action, hundreds gathered
today outside of secret Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations to
put out a global kahea (call) to stop the corporate assault on people
and planet. The TPP is part of the TPP-TISA-TTIP mega-treaty package,
which aim to lock-in international rules designed for and by the largest
corporations and banks.
At least four hundred people took part in a unified sounding of the
pū (Hawaiian conch shell), setting a new world record that will be
officially submitted to Guinness Records. Event organizer Trinette
Furtado said that in blowing the pū, “we are putting out a mighty kahea
(call), past the shorelines of Maui, to connect with others standing up
for their ‘āina (land) and people.”
Following the record-setting sounding of the conch, powerful ancient
chants echoed down the beach, beginning with “I Ku Mau Mau”—“Stand Up
Together.”
The gathering opened with a pule, a Hawaiian prayer, rooting the
event in indigenous culture and concerns. Long-time Native Hawaiian
activist Walter Ritte spoke, “This is nothing new we’re talking about
today. It’s nothing new for us Hawaiians. We don’t need another layer of
colonialism and bureaucracy. We had the sugar and pineapple barons, now
we have the chemical-GMO barons and the tourist industry. We don’t need
anymore. It’s pilau, pilau, pilau (rotten).”
Native Hawaiian Trinette Furtado similarly called the TPP, “an
affront to the sovereignty of all of us as individuals, and also an
affront to Hawaiian sovereignty.”
Hawai‘i activists asserted the need for charting new pathways in
international relations based on human solidarity, raising the
well-being of all, and maintaining local democracy and sovereignty.
