Wayne’s Sierra Club World: Organizing For Change
By Wayne Tanaka, Chapter Director | Reading time: 4 minutes
“The old formulas - coalition, organizing, building locally - work, because structures of inequality are inherently unstable. Picture Pharoah’s pyramid, built by slave labor, in its metaphoric reality: upside down. Balancing all that oppression on a pinhead, trying to keep it upright, with the inexorable call to justice rendering the ground evermore unsteady. Their job of keeping the unstable structure upright is harder and crueler to their souls than of putting a shoulder up against walls that seem, but are not, solid.”
- Mari Matsuda, Union Made, Social Policy (Winter 2004/2005).
Mass layoffs, massive and arbitrary funding cuts, and industry-driven rollbacks of protections for our communities and environment continue to leave many reeling, uncertain, and feeling as powerless as a raft adrift in a storm.
But are we really powerless? Or is this a moment where we can - or must - realize the potential power that is all around us, to truly turn the tide against the forces that are tearing at our social fabric and damning our children and grandchildren to an unlivable future?
Organizers know that everywhere there is people - people who may be struggling just to get by; people who know what it’s like to be ignored, lied to, outright oppressed; people who sense, at least on some level, that things are just not fair, or right, or just - there is power. Because in our very human fears and hopes, and our shared desire for dignity, and justice, and love, lies the will to strive for something better, to reject the humiliation of subjugation, to protect what we care deeply about. And crises and indignities and heartbreak and all the “bad” things that can shake our acceptance of the status quo are critical catalysts to people saying enough already, to hell with complacency: we won’t go down without a fight, and we are gonna fight until we win.
As Alinsky noted, “push a negative hard enough and deep enough and it will break through to its counterside.”
Roots and Resistance: Diversity in Aloha ʻĀina Mixer
We are already seeing some of this potential being realized, as people being pushed to the brink-or beyond-are coming together in unprecedented numbers, and standing defiant against the industry-driven actions trying to divide us against each other, and stifle us with fear. This includes last week’s “Roots and Resistance” pau hana mixer at the Church of the Crossroads, where nearly a hundred community members took over 200 actions in support of labor rights, environmental protection, public health, indigenous food systems, and other efforts vital to a livable, hopeful future in Hawai‘i.
This week Wednesday, another at-capacity event will similarly bring together concerned - activated - community members to examine what it may take to “secure Hawaiʻi’s future.”
But to truly take advantage of the opportunities in these crises - and we must, with everything that is at stake for us, and the future of humanity - much more must be done.
One vital need right now is for organizers - people willing to learn and apply the time-tested art and science of organizing, and coalition building, to help those around them realize their collective power. Whether through supporting ongoing community campaigns such as the fight to protect our keiki at Pu‘uloa, O‘ahu from the irreparable harms of lead exposure, or training our ‘ōpio to become organizers themselves - to give them the tools to fight for their own future (and ours) - the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi will continue to try to meet this need. The power of regular people to seize back control of our own fate remains our own best and last hope, as the only bulwark against corporate agendas that can otherwise too easily infiltrate the halls of governance.
With more and more cohorts of trained organizers empowering communities to alter the perceived relations of power, and win on discrete issues that concretely benefit their lives, we know we can create a greater understanding of our collective ability - and kuleana - to fight for what we, the people, care about. And with the right investments, the relationships that grow out of these efforts will only snowball into broader movements that can provide the safe harbors we will need, to regroup and fight back against the larger existential crises that threaten us all.
If you are an organizer, part of a community group fighting for concrete change, or someone who would like to learn more about this initiative, please feel free reach out to us at hawaii.chapter@sierraclub.org to learn more about getting involved. Or, consider making a donation to support this work at sierraclubhawaii.org/donate (or see our special offer for new monthly donors here) - and reach out via the same e-mail if youʻd like to make a tax deductible contribution specifically earmarked for our ʻŌpio Organizing for Change events coming up this summer.
And please stay tuned for more critical updates as we continue to seek out the opportunities in our crises - and harness our collective power to self-determine our own fate.