I would like to think that if we hadn’t had such a deluge on Wednesday, we would’ve had an even larger turnout…! I shot that video during the lulls in the storm…!

Now, I would like to point out what prompted Occupy Hilo to occupy Helco…

…Occupy HELCO is a peaceful non-violent protest sponsored by Occupy Hilo to draw attention to local changes needed to provide abundant clean, affordable, reliable, renewable energy to our community at the lowest cost, and to show support and solidarity for a national day of action, #F29.

You might think HELCO is in the business of providing energy, but a closer look would inform you that its primary function is to provide PROFITS to its parent company, Hawaii Electric Industries, (HEI) and its shareholders. Selling electricity, charging fees for connections to the grid, and charging customers for expansions to the grid are the MEANS by which HELCO generates profits for its owners. HELCO recently complained that too many people were connecting solar electric panels to the grid and reducing its profits below levels it had planned, so it was going to have to raise rates, (HELCO Customers already pay the highest utility rates in the US, at 4x the average US cost for electricity.) Read the rest of this entry →

Occupy Hilo in solidarity for the West Coast Port action

As an active participant in my small, local Occupy, I would like to opine on some of the trials and tribulations experienced in trying to get an actual Occupy off the ground, and, also highlight the amazing efforts being exerted by even such a small entity, both on the National level and at the Local level…!

At the local level, we’re tackling two immediate problems that have arisen lately, the first is stopping the shenanigans being played out in the latest gerrymandering efforts by two County Council incumbents, and then in stopping a draconian bill to impose criminal and/or hefty financial fines to local home builders for deviating from the County Code! Fines of up to a $1,000 a day, for each day of non-compliance…! Read the rest of this entry →

The third time is always the charm…!

Occupy Hilo has finally set a hard date and site, to truly Occupy the public space…!

Despite a slightly smaller crowd than the prior GA’s, and, absent a few key leaders, Occupy Hilo still accomplished a whole lot last night. It was fascinating to participate in such an open and democratic process that truly does listen to all comers. Being a small Occupy, we’ve adopted the more informal ‘Social Circle’ methodology, rather than the traditional #ows pattern…! Read the rest of this entry →

I featured that TRNN clip to highlight a point I’d like to make about all the Occupies, from my perspective. Of which, there’s no one single entity behind each of the Occupies! Be it, Moveon, SEIU, AFSCME, Veterans for Peace, etc., not a single one of those groups could be considered the primary driver behind each and every Occupy…! But, all our efforts should be united, since we’re all part of the 99%…!

Here in Hilo, we have members from many of those same entities, and are all contributing to the same effort. Over the past week, since the last General Assembly (Mon.), many members have participated in three seperate events, sponsored by three very different entities. Thursday, we had a rally on UH-Hilo’s library lanai and marched through many of the classrooms in protest of student loan debt and tuition hikes, sponsored by the UHH Political Science Club, I should add, the subsequent march wasn’t approved of by the administration…! Read the rest of this entry →

First, I’d like to point out that Occupy Hilo is the first Occupy in Hawai’i to have a LiveStream account, if you’re so inclined you’ll see my ugly mug make a few appearances during both of the GA’s, I’m so ugly ya won’t have any problem figuring it out…!

Now, Occupy Hilo’s 2nd GA officially kicked off with a moment of silence for all of our fallen comrades at the many other Occupies, in particular, Scott Olsen and others. Unbeknownst to us at the time, the NYPD was already geared up and about to raze Liberty Park… Read the rest of this entry →

Last night, (Nov. 7th) sleepy little Hilo town held it’s very first General Assembly, we’d basically followed the #OWS general assembly pattern. We had held a preliminary meet up on the previous Fri. night to hash out the agenda, timeline, and, identified the individuals for the key roles, namely, the facilitator, stacker, timekeeper, and, the recorder. I had volunteered to be the stacker, and I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it flowed without much call for ‘stacking’, considering there were only 45 of us to stack…!

It was an eclectic mix in ages, that was basically split evenly between the old school, Nam era protestors, and, the young, chomping at the bit, college students! There were only a handful of ‘tweeners like myself…! We also had a good number of Vets, from Nam on, and our biggest gripe was the illegal Wars…! Read the rest of this entry →

Yesterday, I was finally able to participate in an OWS event, for even my sleepy little hollow, in the middle of nowhere, made some noise! Now, to be fair, Occupy Hilo has already made some noise in solidarity of OWS, but sadly, I was stuck on top of Mauna Kea stargazing during their previous events…!

For instance, last Saturday, they had a great little turnout… Occupy Hilo joins nation in show of support… The better half had later told me there was easily a couple hundred marching through Downtown Hilo…!

I’d arrived about 15 mins early and was delighted to see the main organizers were well organized and had a large contingent of signs on hand…! I had my own… ‘We are the 99% – #OccupyWallStreet‘ Read the rest of this entry →