KE AUPUNI UPDATE - FEBRUARY 2024
Pacific Way and the Future
One of the regular features on our program, Free Hawaiʻi News on ʻŌlelo TV is a discussion between Kumu Hina Wong and me, called “the Pacific Way”. It’s about looking at topics of concern from a Pacific islander perspective and it’s influence on how we do things and how we live. In contrast is the “Western Way” which has come to dominate the economic, political and social systems around the world. Some call it the legacy of colonialism. A recent United Nations resolution calls it, the negative legacy of colonialism.
But now, the colonial system is beginning to implode. Careless, reckless and relentless commercial pursuits of the Western Way has brought the world to the brink of a catastrophic collapse.
This is where the Pacific Way comes in. There is a rising awareness that the profound value of ancient knowledge and traditional practices could provide the answers to the grave issues facing the world today.
What if we were to apply the “Pacific Way”, or more specifically, “the Hawaiʻi Way”, to issues such as caring for the people (mālama i ka poʻe); for our land (mālama I ka ʻāina), and caring for our ocean (mālama i ke kai); and caring for the planet (mālama honua). It prioritizes food resources, housing, sustainability, relationships, caring for our earth, sky and sea. Pacific islanders have a way of relating to our surroundings that has sustained, nurtured and helped us to thrive on tiny specs of land scattered over a vast ocean covering a third of the globe.
For many years the people of Hawaiʻi have been suffering from a severe housing crisis. In the previous Ke Aupuni News we spoke of the diaspora of Hawaiians having to live not only in the U.S., but all over the globe.
In a conversation I had with the Kiribati ambassador to the UN a few years ago, he said, what if our goal as leaders is not to just provide a way for people to afford to live, but to provide the conditions to make people happy, and at peace with one another? To thrive and to see life pursuits not as a series of win/lose encounters or even win/win events, but as, happy/happy opportunities.
Think about it. By engaging with a “win-lose” or even a “win-win” mindset, the parties operate in a competitive and even adversarial mode. But in working for a happy-happy outcome, the parties operate in a collaborative mode of considering and caring for the welfare of the other party as well as their own. The platform becomes, sharing with aloha.
Happily, the conversation in our islands is beginning to shift toward the Pacific/Hawaiʻi Way of thinking… encouraging & supporting local residents to step forward into roles of responsibility of any size, small, medium or large, to let the U.S. occupiers of Hawai`i, especially the real estate developers and government agencies, know that, going forward, decisions must be made from the ground up, and local residents in their local areas must be the ones to decide their own futures.
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
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Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
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For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at
6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.
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"And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."
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Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
