#1582 Maui Fire Sale: Hawaiian Colonization, Disaster Capitalism, and the Climate Crisis Fueling Wildfires and Housing Insecurity in Native Hawaiian Communities on Maui and Beyond

Air Date 9/13/2023

This eye-opening episode will explore the complex web of colonialism, disaster capitalism, and climate change is ravaging Native Hawaiian communities. We explore how corporations and privatization going back to annexation have exacerbated wildfires, water scarcity and housing issues in Hawaii. We also discuss the role of tourism and its impact on local culture and resources and learn how community-led mutual aid efforts are offering a glimmer of hope for the unhoused and those struggling to reclaim their ancestral lands.

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Transcript

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Related Episodes:

#1401 That is a Texas-Sized Climate Disaster You Got There

#1546 Exist, Resist, Indigenize, Decolonize: A story of colonialism, cultural renaissance and modernity

SHOW NOTES

Ch. 1: Plantation Disaster Capitalism: Native Hawaiians Organize to Stop Land & Water Grabs After Maui - Democracy Now! - Air Date 8-18-23

We speak with Hawaiian law professor Kapuaʻala Sproat about the conditions that made the fires more destructive and what’s yet to come for residents looking to rebuild their lives.

Ch. 2: Why Maui burned - Today, Explained - Air Date 8-15-23

Hawaii’s landscape has been rapidly changing for the last 200 years thanks to plantations, tourism, and climate change. A reporter and climatologist explain how those factors fueled one of the worst wildfires in US history.

Ch. 3: We are concerned for you. - Read Choi - Air Date 8-4-23

A skit imagining a discussion between an elite property owner and a Native Hawaiian

Ch. 4: Disasters at every turn - Native America Calling - Air Date 8-28-23

Officials are still sorting out the human and financial toll of the unprecedented fire on Maui. Many Native Hawaiians remain missing, hundreds more sustained serious damage to their homes and businesses.

Ch. 5: “We’re Living the Climate Emergency”: Native Hawaiian Kaniela Ing on Fires, Colonialism & Banyan - Democracy Now! - Air Date 8-11-23

We speak with Kaniela Ing, national director of the Green New Deal Network and seventh-generation Kanaka Maoli, Native Hawaiian, about the impact of this week’s devastating wildfires and their relationship to climate change.

Ch. 6: As Fires Destroy Native Hawaiian Archive in Maui, Mutual Aid Efforts Are Launched to Help Lahaina - Democracy Now! - Air Date 8-11-23

In Lahaina, the area in west Maui that is of historical importance to Indigenous people, entire neighborhoods were wiped out by this week’s historic wildfires, including the Na 'Aikane o Maui Cultural Center

Ch. 7: Janine Jackson takes a quick look back at recent press coverage of the Maui fires and the climate crisis - CounterSpin - Air Date 8-25-23

Janine Jackson takes a quick look back at recent press coverage of the Maui fires and the climate crisis.

Ch. 8: Wildfires - This is Democracy - Air Date 9-5-23

This week, Jeremi and Zachary are joined by guests Randy Denzer and Dr. Alison Alter to discuss the increasing incidence of wildfires in the United States and what efforts have been made to mitigate them.

MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S)

Ch. 9: Relationships, Money, and Maui Tourism - The Amanda Seales Show - Air Date 8-18-23

Is Tourism helpful to the Hawaiian Islands? Is the tourism industry a byproduct of the colonization of Hawaii?

Ch. 10: How Native Hawaiians have been pushed out of Hawai'i - Bianca Graulau - Air Date 2-7-23

Native Hawaiians are struggling to afford to live on the land that was once stolen from their ancestors.

FINAL COMMENTS

Ch. 11: Final comments on the need for better systems to respond to predictable disasters

MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions)

 

Produced by Jay! Tomlinson

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