 Aloha, this is Kauai Lukas, host of Hawaii is my mainland, Friday is at 3 p.m., keeping it on the bright side and off the grid. This afternoon is part two of my talk with community activists, social justice organizer and Hawaiian scholar Andre Perez about the movement at Standing Rock to protect water and indigenous rights and values. We're going to go a little deeper into some of the strategies that have been so effective. Mahalo, Andre, for returning. Mahalo for having me, aloha. So we're, our backdrop today is one of the pictures you took of the yorts covered in snow with these beautiful, beautiful red painted elaborate doors. And so we're in Honolulu, we're not, we're not there, but you were there. And let's, let's talk about kind of the, what, just briefly, you know, what, what the energy of it was. Well, the energy, the energy of that place is, was profound, powerful. It makes me think about Hawaiian concepts and understandings of sacredness and mana, as I've learned it from my teachers. And there's this, there's this deeper understanding that we might say it's not the hail that makes the place sacred. It's the place that makes the hail sacred. So you know, feeling that, that mana and, and in, in, in this context at Standing Rock, you know, you're surrounded by the, the lake and the river. And there's these hills that have burials on them, these little hills ringing one side. There's, there's this larger poo or hill turtle mountain or turtle hill that is bordering, you know, the, the camp. So the camp is surrounded by this real positive, I think mana, you know, with the water, the river flowing on one side, the hills and turtle hill on the other side. And I think that's what creates the, you know, part of that energy and mana that, that we feel and the need to protect it. So, yeah, so, and then of course everyone coming there for the common cause, you know, sort of creates that synergy too, and, you know, amplifying. Keeping, keeping it focused. I mean, I think you said that there were like 7,000 people there one weekend. That's a lot. Yeah. I think there's actually more than that. When I got there, it was, you know, so-called Thanksgiving Day weekend and a lot of people had come because of the three-day weekend. So when I got there, they were estimating about 4,000, which was huge, but when the vets came the following weekend, they, there's estimates that it was well over 10,000 people. Wow. So. And the logistics of caring for that many people and just keeping it cool under those well, keeping it cool on those winter conditions wasn't hard, but to have it stay meaningful and stay focused on the, what kinds of activities were there to keep people really on point? I think one of the critical things was that early on, some community organizers and activist trainers like the Indigenous Peoples Power Project, who I was working with, and the tribe, the tribal elders, the council, the tribal council had collectively worked on these principles. And the principles were posted up in different areas on large, like, plywood signs. And it talked about, it was a, they served as these grounding principles that serve to remind people what you, why you were here and what the objective was. And of course, and it was real simple, nothing complex. We're here for water, to protect water. And they were here in prayer and ceremony. And on the screen now are, these are the lessons that I learned from Standing Rock. So I can kind of go through them, but to answer that question, the first one was having orientation on their cultural values and the things that were important and the focus, having nonviolent direct action training for everyone who comes into camp. And you were doing that. You were actively doing that. I was one of the trainers, yeah, for nonviolent direct action training. And the number two, one of the lessons that I see was they had clear principles about, again, guiding principles, what they were there for, what they were focused on, protecting water. The approach was prayerful and ceremony, grounded in their spirituality and cultural values. And other things that I saw that helped create that energy and focus was art. The art, the messaging. And it's important. We understand how narrative affects via media and via perceptions, how narrative can affect our behavior and our cognitive understandings. It's important to know that we need to have our own narrative and we need to put out our own media and pictures and things that are important to us. So a lot of that was done via art. And we have some pictures of the art tent that we'll get to. Oh, there they are. So they're beautiful, beautiful. Right. So what we see here is art that was done all over the continent, as different activists came in from different states, from as far as Washington and Alaska to Chicago to Denver, et cetera. People would bring their art and their silk screens and drop them off at the art tent. And so you had a group of artists who were cycling through the art tent and they were just putting out art in the form of silk screening for people's shirts, for these backpatches that they would pin on to banners and signage that were used on the front line in direct action, knowing that there's a lot of media coverage, understanding that, you know, that there's, well, there's a lot of media coverage, not all of its mainstream, but knowing that the importance of getting your narrative out on your terms, using your language, is important. So they came ready made with the art and then some of it, yeah, some of the screens, silk screens, for example, but a lot of the art was done right there in the art tent, you know, there was a lot of supplies, banners, et cetera. Here we have another picture of volunteers that just popped in one day. This is the kitchen in my camp, Indigenous People's Power Project, and these two girls showed up in aprons and started washing dishes, cleaning up, and they ended the day by making dinner for us, and then they were gone. And I was like, who are these people, you know? So the next day they came back and did the same thing. So I asked them, you know, who are you guys? What are you doing here? And they said, oh, we just came to help. And you know, we want to help keep the kitchen clean and cook a meal for you guys. You know, it's our contribution. Unbelievable. And they were students who were just there for the weekend. And so they came in for two days, cleaned up their dishes for us, cooked a meal, and then they left. And they said, we've got to get back home. We have finals. So, you know, those little things, kuleana, seeing where you can plug in and pick up and help to carry the load, I think, was what was crucial to the entire Ocetishako in camp at Standing Rock. People just coming in and seeing where they could fit in and how they could help. You know, a lot of initiative. And that takes a very, very grounded purpose. Grounded purpose, focus, and, you know, a lot of humility, you know. The ego thing. Yeah. Keeping the egos in check. Right. You did a good job. How did that happen? I mean, to be clear and fair and honest, Standing Rock wasn't without its ego. There's lots of egos going on. There's lots of power struggle and lots of dynamics going on. But the majority of people, I would say, the large majority, were average people like you and me who just showed up to help and went there and, you know, with a sincere desire to somehow make a contribution. And the training and the principles helped them navigate where they could plug in. Yeah. So were people assigned roles in any way, or was it...? Maybe early on, you know, on the upper leadership levels, I would say, yes, you know, there was security. There were representatives from the different tribes. There was elders and tribal council people and different, you know, in that context, the upper echelons of leadership. Sure. But the vast majority of people, people were just showing up every day at all hours of the day. They might roll in at 2 p.m. or 2 a.m. and just set up camp and try to figure out where they could plug in. But I think what was fundamental to that, I'll always go back to the camp orientation that was required and promoted every day. If you're new to camp, you need to go to the orientation at 9 a.m. at the dome. If you're new to camp, you need to go to the 2 p.m. nonviolent direct action training. So having that as a paramount expectation, I think, was what basically kind of funneled everyone through a process that gave them clarity and purpose to their being there. So things, basic things like energy, I saw there were some trucks set up that had solar panels, but then you were in snow, so maybe not so much sunshine. So yeah, and while it was decentralized a lot, there were a lot of tribes, for example, the Oglalas or the Cheyenne River people or the Apache or whatever, Navajos, would come in and set up their own camp. And they would set up their own kitchen. And so they would congregate around their tribal affinities. But what I saw was, you might, for example, the Oglalas had their own camp and own kitchen, but they would feed anyone, anyone who would come in and need food, or the tribes from California would come in and set up a camp. And there was this sort of openness, everyone was welcome, they might have their sort of cultural or tribal affinities, but there was also this open door kind of welcoming aloha spirit in a sense, their version of aloha spirit. Nobody was turned away. If you needed coffee or hot tea, or just to get out of the snow and to warm up in a tent, you could virtually walk into any camp and be welcomed. So I think that fundamental sense of humanity was paramount and permeated the entire camp. That's what came through in the pictures of the families and just even small babies. There was a baby born there even. There was babies born there. There was a midwifery tent, I guess, set up to help women who were hap'ai, who were pregnant. And yeah, I think there was some women who, as I left, who were expecting to give birth there. So you really had another, it's kind of bringing me to another value that we can relate to. Ohana. And Ohana kinship and understanding that we're all in a way connected and bound by our love for the land, for the water, ultimately for Mother Earth, protecting the resources. So these common values really kept people cohesive. Andrei, we're going to take a break for a minute and come back and talk about how you are infusing our land here with some of this knowledge. Okay. Aloha, I'm Carl Campania, host of Think Tech Hawaii's Movers, Shakers, and Reformers. I hope you join us over the next several weeks as we take a deep dive into biofuels in Hawaii and explore the alternative fuels supply chain necessary for the local and global transition towards transportation fuel sustainability. Join us as we have good conversations with our farmers, our producers, our conversion technologies, our investors, and our legislators as we try to achieve our transportation sustainability goals. See you soon. Hi, I'm Marianne Sasaki from Life in the Law. I'm so excited to be marching on Washington on Saturday, January 21st with a big woman's march on Washington. And here with me is Michael who's heading up the local march for women on Oahu. Come on out and visit us. We're going to be at the Capitol on January 21st starting at eight o'clock, gathering by 9.30 and March starts at 10. Welcome back to Hawaii is my mainland. I'm Kaui Lukasen with me here today as Andrei Perez, who made two trips to Standing Rock, North Dakota and participated in the nonviolent direct action trainings. And just the whole experience there of people really taking up their owning their Kuliana and doing what needs to be done to protect it. So Andrei, you and in your pictures of how people managed to live in this rather hostile environment was incredibly creative and beautiful and keeping that message out in front, like the one with Leonard Peltier who we thought might be headed toward a different life this week but not to be. Many people are hoping and praying that Obama would grant clemency or some kind of commutation to Leonard Peltier's life sentence and unfortunately that didn't happen. And so, you know, people held out hope but, you know, the struggle continues. The struggle continues and that's the main thing. You know, in your time there, people made it work, you know. People made it work, yeah, use what get, yeah, you know, mahalo kame aloha, you know, ay kame aloha, you know, thankful for what we have, we'll eat what's there, what's available. And it was just a collective sharing, caring, looking out for one another. And even in the level of the medicine, you had some pictures of the medics tent and making medicines there. Yeah, that was a very powerful component and, you know, I want to point out that we had one of our Hawaiian activist doctors, Dr. Kalama Nihil, who was involved in helping to organize that. She's a member of the Standing Rock Medic and Healers Council. And so it's important to, I think, to acknowledge that Hawai'i had some pretty good pies to the struggle. But they had a medic and healers camp and in that camp you had a yurt that had a regular MD doctor, then you had another yurt that had the naturopathic, homeopathic medicines and you'll see here in the pictures that they were well outfitted. You had people making tinctures and tonics and teas, you know, if you chose to go to the herbal tent you'd tell them what your ailment was and they'd whip you up something, you know, whether it was a tonic or a tincture or a tea or whatever. There was a mental health and emotional kind of trauma tent for people who were experiencing trauma because of the stress of the violence that the police were bringing on, the protectors. There was a place to go to talk to people about that. There was a lomi and a chiropractic tent that was set up as well. So the overall health care at Standing Rock, I think, might be better than what you'd find on the street in any given city or town, you know. It sounds like it, especially the part of you where you could just go in and they'll whip you up a tincture for what ails you and have it to be really for you. That's beautiful. Yeah, yeah. That's a vision to hold. Right. You know, I walked in and like... Yeah, 10 o'clock at night and said, you know, I'm coughing and I got, you know, congestion. Hold on, in five minutes later, you know, this brewing tea that was really custom made for me and what I was feeling, you know. And then they gave me a bottle of this tonic, I guess, you know, apple cider, they call firewater with olena and onions and garlic and chili pepper and stuff, you know. And that lasted me a week. So yeah, it was really, you know, organized. Within the larger disorganization, there's a lot of organization, if that makes sense. You use the word decentralized, and it sounds like that is the key to, you know, we don't have to have this really heavy, top-down, rigid kind of a thing that we can trust within our own groups that will be taking care of our respective Kuliana and that will work together. And taking care of each other, right? Yeah. If you needed firewood, people would share firewood with you. You know, if you needed a tarp because your tent ripped, somebody would, you know... And there was a central place to make announcements that, hey, this camp on the south side needs firewood or this camp needs help erecting a larger tent. So there was sort of this centralized communication over a PA system as well. So how did people power up their cell phones? So there was a central trailer, solar panel charging station that was bought in. And then many of the little camps had their own solar, a lot of solar power there. My camp, for example, had a trailer that had solar panels on it and, you know, battery packs. And it ran our whole camp. It ran power for all of the yurts, lights, and for our kitchen. Allowed us to charge our equipment, cameras, you know, batteries, whatever. And that was enough. Even though... That was enough. Yeah. It was enough. Wow. And then we burned wood in our wood burning stoves for heating and for heating up water and cooking, et cetera. Well, speaking of heating up water and cooking and camping, you're doing a project here back at home that is really interesting. Can you talk a little bit about that? Sure. Hanna Kehal. Yeah. Hanna Kehal. Learning Farm is our little family-driven stewardship, that piece of Aina, piece of land, that we have been fortunate, Kamehameha Schools, Bishop Estate in Wayava, Pearl City site on the shores of Poolewa, have given us the privilege, I would say, of being stewards of this little four-acre parcel of land. And partially because of my background in environmental restoration on Kaho'olavi, they saw that I had some experience in doing land restoration. So we were giving stewardship and we're reconverting this Aina back to sort of a Kanaka state, replanting native plants, doing weed control. But we're creating a kipuka of consciousness and resistance and empowerment for our Hawaiian community. So we were opening lo'i and in the process of opening lo'i, we're moving towards food security, but we're learning about planting and farming and growing. But we also don't just want to grow plants and food, we want to grow people. We want to grow consciousness. We want to use the place. We use the place for cultural practices, so I do workshops from IMO workshops to implement making kapa. I have a wahine kapa group that I teach them and share with them about making their implements. My wahine kameh is part of the group. We're having olelo-hava-i classes starting next month every Sunday for community-free, and we'll learn Hawaiian language around activities that we do on the land. We're opening lo'i. That's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. It's a labor of love, but it's an investment in the community. It's an investment in our future and our children and our culture and our la hui. And already I saw you, you're having sort of international visitors, the group from Brown? Yeah, so I had a student group from Brown University. We're constantly hosting student groups in this exchange of labor and service learning, and we share and teach about the restoration, as a student, the importance of research to land restoration for Hawai'i. Of course, we have the kuleana LCAs that we can research and learn about what the people were doing there. Land commission awards. Land commission awards. Even foreign testimonies tell us in the 1850s what they were doing on the land, what they were growing, what they were farming. So that research informs our restoration. It's beautiful. You're getting really deep into the old title and all that. Right. And it's important so that we know what our kupuna, what our ancestors were doing on the land, and that informs us to what we should be doing, what we should be growing, and what's sort of culturally contextualized. If somebody was interested in this sort of work, how do they find out more about it? We have hana ke hao at gmail.com and email. We have a hana ke hao.com website, and we're on Facebook, hana ke hao learning farm on Facebook. And we're small. We don't have any big grants or nonprofit funding. It's really family-community-driven and it's just this grassroots effort. For example, yesterday we were at the farm hooking up some electrical so we could have lights. And there was a classmate, a guy I went to high school with who just came out to kukua. And it's kukua-driven, really. And a lot of students come. Of course, Hawaiian students got to work off their scholarship hours, too. So we make it service-learning, and it's exchange of we're sharing what Ike we have, and they're coming out and helping us with manpower, wahine power. Thanks. That was a really interesting thing in that list of principles. I think it was pretty clear at the top there was something on that you were teaching about the patriarch. And I thought, wow, now here's an enlightened group. Yeah, and it's something that I'm moving into and learning about myself. The understanding of patriarchy and male dominance at Standing Rock was, to me, paramount. So in their upper levels of leadership meetings with the headsmen of the different tribes, and the elders and council people, what I witnessed and saw was the women there were educating the men on how patriarchy affects all of us, and how sexism and chauvinism is paramount, and that men usually make decisions. Men have leadership roles. And so they were starting to decolonize that and deconstruct that. And I think it's important, and it's something that we all come from. I come from a background of patriarchy and chauvinism, and it's unconscious, but we need to become conscious and learn about how it alters our interactions with each other and how it continues oppression, and how understanding and learning this liberates all of us and makes us stronger and more cohesive as a Lahui. So we don't get a lot of talk about patriarchy and oppression in terms of male-female interactions here in Hawaii, but I'm starting to learn about it, and I can't say that I know everything about it, but I know that I'm conscious of it, and that's the start. Hey, that's a huge start. Right. You begin to share about sharing power, it was what it boils down to. And actually our ancestors were pretty good about that. We had Kuhinanui, and even if there were roles that were gendered, there wasn't a sense of higher than or... I think we could look back at our ancestors and understand, I think see that they understood the importance of maybe not gender equality, but gender value and gender kuleana and that everybody makes a contribution. Men might do the imu, but wahine did the kapa that made the malo that men wore. So I like to sort of move into a better understanding of not just gender equality, but gender value and how in cultural context, collectively we bring the value to our Lahui and to our community. Thank you, Andrei. That is a beautiful place to end our talk here on January 20th, 2017. Thank you so much. Aloha. Aloha. Mahalo. Aloha. Aloha.