IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT THE SUPERFERRY ANYMORE
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - November 4, 2007
By Steven Rosenthal
...Both sides of the Hawaii Superferry issue surprisingly agree on some important points.
Most important is that the conflict and dissent stem from larger issues than the ferry venture itself. It has become a touchstone, or more aptly the last straw, bringing out central issues regarding who we are as an island society.
Some of these issues, such as neighbor island attitudes towards O`ahu, have not been aired in such a public way in modern times, if at all.
The coming of the ferry struck a chord that has resonated so loudly it has brought together many disparate groups in protest and has left everyone else thunderstruck.
...In this way the ferry has made more relevant to the general population the same central issues as Native Hawaiian aspirations for sovereignty.
It has always been a tenet that there is a place for non-Hawaiians in sovereignty models for the future. But that place has always been vague.
The dramatic narrative of the ferry has shown that many of the most valid cultural claims of native Hawaiians are very similar to those that non-native groups are embracing in defense of their communities from the ferry.
As one Hawaiian activist commented to the press, "The protesters at Nawiliwili were there to protect the concerns of the kanaka. It wasn't just brown skin anymore...."
