Aloha all,
Thanks for helping organize and for coming to the Shindig Saturday at Nawiliwili. For a backwardsly conceived event (starting from the poster, and planning from that), i think it was a success - a good time was had by many and as events turned out, I came along at just the right moment. DaGovling and DaFerry blinked.
How nice they blinked.
Sure it is fun to 'win', but more importantly, it gives us some breathing space, time to reflect and assess before making our next moves.
On Saturday, there were lots of good conversations comparing impressions from thursday... some talk of where we are, and what comes next. This is what I got out of my conversations this weekend:
OUR NEXT MOVES
Rather than sitting on our heels waiting for what DaGovling, her SpeedFerry Cohorts, and HIDOT Appointees will do next, i think we should quickly come to consensus on some points, and take determined actions of our own. Let them keep reacting.
i see two main avenues for defensive action, and one line of offense that i feel we can move forward on without concern of what they may or may not do:
Defense: Broadening the Base, Mending fences
Offense: Making the Break - hammering the weakest link
image above: A First Prize winner of the poster contest at the Nawiliwili Freedom Festival
DEFENSE
1) Broadening the base.
Still in spite of all the hub-bub, most people are still on the fence on this issue. By shifting from an 'Anti-Ferry' to a 'Pro-EIS' position, we moving toward majoritarian possibilities - we should grasp this more firmly to accelerate this process, sure via Indy Media outreach to Oahu, but even more particularly at home on Kaua`i. Our Island United has never Been Defeated.
We will do well to reach out, to step out of our comfort zone and gently speak out to people we don't know that well on Kaua`i. Only through speaking outside of our core can broaden support for the EIS First position. To the extent we begin to converse with unfamiliar faces, we will be broadening the base. This will inevitably serve us within the Ferry Saga, and in future campaigns, of which there will be many.
2) Mending Fences.
No matter how we may individually feel re: the KPD, and USCG, this is a small island, and eventually we will have to come to some kind of peace with them. In truth, there is no ‘Them’ or ‘Us’, there is just us. I suggest the sooner, the faster, and the more genuine we are as we go about this, the better off we shall be. The USCG may have been critical in this present reprieve. The Commander (with the gray bob haircut) was said to have
uttered "If she was in civilian clothes, she would be with us. After Thursday, she may not have been able to promise safety in the water if the ferry returned. This might have been the absent lynch-pin in the LingleFerry’s plan of Kaua`ian conquest.
Re: the KPD - At least Several of the KPD officers have been heard to say they are also with us, but have a uniform and a job to do. Rather than dwell on animosities, (macing, needless arrests, de-tarped machine gun etc), we will be advantaged by approaching these two forces, and saying whatever nice things we can actually say and really mean - "We appreciate your life-saving efforts at sea and the guarding of our coasts, USCG" or "We appreciate
the restraint many of your officers showed during a political confrontation, KPD”, or “Welcome to our island New Police Chief Guy."
I believe these small efforts at fence-mending will serve us as we move forward.
|image above: Another First Prize winner of the poster contest at the Nawiliwili Freedom Festival
OFFENSE:
Making the break.
The weakest link within the 'Unified Command' is inarguably Bryan Baptiste. He claims to be neutral to the Ferry - he is obviously not - He is on the Ferry Insertion Command Team! We should hammer and hammer and hammer away on this point. Baptiste claims neutrality - we should press and press and press for him to actually become neutral. It could be one small step for hizoner, but one great leap for a Pono Kaua`i.
Neutrality toward the Ferry is an honorable position - many feel we simply do not have enough information before an EIS is complete to come to any definitive conclusions. Fair enough. On the other hand, to be neutral towards Kaua`i when one claims to be the Mayor of Kaua`i is not only unacceptable, it may be treasonable and impeachable. The Mayor of Kaua`i CAN NOT be neutral towards Kaua`i. The mayor of Kaua`i must be aggressive in defense and protection of
the Garden Island. She or he MUST STAND UP FOR KAUAI`I. If you are not a staunch advocate for the people and the island of Kaua`i - a Partisan FOR Kaua`i - you should go be the mayor of somewhere else. Again, we should hammer and hammer and hammer away on this point too.
|image above: Another First Prize winner of the poster contest at the Nawiliwili Freedom Festival
There is a break that MUST occur here - it is either:
Between Baptiste and the 'Unified Command'
or
Between Baptiste and the Unified Community of Kaua`i
To be Mayor, a position of leadership, one must lead. One can not sit on the sidelines, one can not scowl and frown, one can not just follow orders from above, and one can not simply help cram policies determined elsewhere down our throats. To mislead like this is to show everyone how much you have really missed the boat. Baptiste can either rejoin with the people of Kaua`i and help us accomplish our goals for the preservation and re-vitalization of Kaua`i,
or he can be an utterly lame duck for the next three years until the Once and Future Mayor JoAnn returns.
The choice for Bryan is where this break will occur. He gets to pick. We must all live with the consequences. Either I think is fine, just so long as everyone sees what has occurred. Then we can all act accordingly.
Da choice is his to make. Our job is to help him make his choice, and then make sure the chips fall where they may.
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