The Scene . . .
All around us we see the ocean dying. The land bleeds into the water destroying even more during its own death. Crowds are out of hand, toxic fumes fill the air we breathe, concrete cancer keeps on spreading and growing, an epidemic of Developers Disease
We see the Hawaiians who used to pass their lives in quiet flow with the sea and the rest of nature evicted from their homes at gun point to build hotels. Hotels that fill the pockets of land owners and bosses and impoverish the workers within them, making servants of a once free people . . .
And out of the dust, decay and filth of a culture on a death trip, come movements of people who see something better than cement and gasoline fumes in their future. We see a place where people can live and flow with nature and with each other, but to get there we must struggle against those who are getting rich by causing us m'.sery.
As far as our own desire is concerned, we don't want to fight even for a single day. But if circumstances force us to fight, we can fight to the finish
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SOS has won some victories through mass struggle. For instance, getting Dilco off the reef at Kewalo and winning 140 acres of park on Sand Island.
The reason we think we've been winning is because of the way we approach these problems.
We don't see the plundering of Hawaii as someone's mistake or oversight; we see it as the result of a system which puts profit for the few ahead of what is good and healthy for the great masses of people. And it is these few men who control the money, the land, the factories, the hotels, the legislature, the judicial system, the administrative branch and the news media,
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If we fight alone we can be broken like the fingers of an open hand, but if we tight together we are like a a fist, with power to fight back.
Who are we to turn to for help?
The great masses of people just like us!
"We are many they are few-Unite our side and divide the other."
Uniting Our Forces
1. Respect the People's Intelligence
This means that we respect the people's ability to learn and to make decisions. Because of this we make sure we have the facts.
2. Get the Facts to the People
The People still need to get the information. To get it to them we use our own media, slide shows, speakers, printing presses, anything that we can communicate with and that we don't have to depend on the power-structure for.
But the people still feel alone. We must show them that they are not alone, that there are others who care, who are fighting back. To do this, we ...
3. Offer Action Program
Something for the people to do and get involved in. Pass leaflets, go to hearings, demonstrate, etc. Something where they can see that there are others like them.
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Now your forces are together, look at those who you are opposing, are they together? They work together when they can all get rich off it, but when one of them can screw the other one and get rich he' 11 do it. This is called competition.
If you have already talked to those involved in destroying whatever it is that you are trying to save, and they don't care about what you feel and what the facts are, then you are involved in a power struggle.
You now have an enemy..
Your enemy is weaker if you divide him up and concentrate full force on one part at a time. Officials are always eager to blame anything that goes wrong on someone else.
Read their reports, find their errors (usually they are gross), go see them, complain, and soon letters will be flying between departments. Find a crack and widen it. Divide and conquer.