Return to Freedom: Anti-GMO Aloha ‘Āina Activism on Molokai as an Expression of Place-based Food Sovereignty

Abstract

This paper explores the concept of food sovereignty on the island of Molokai, where the Hawaiian value of aloha ‘āina, or love for the land, guides local efforts to preserve and promote local food production. This organizing concept also has political undertones—food sovereignty requires access to land and resources, both of which Native Hawaiians have historically been dispossessed of since colonial contact. In the paper, I examine current anti-genetically modified organism (GMO) activism as one example of the uniquely Hawaiian food sovereignty efforts taking place on Molokai. I present two key arguments. First, I show how the anti-GMO platform, which has garnered support from both native Hawaiians and more recent settlers, reflects a strategic alliance that gives greater momentum to Hawai‘i's food sovereignty movement, which in turn is viewed by a growing number of Native Hawaiians as a pathway toward Indigenous sustainable self-determination. I also draw from the Molokai case to illustrate a perceived tension between community-based work and political engagement that exists within both the food sovereignty paradigm and the contemporary Indigenous sovereignty framework. I argue that aloha ‘āina as a cultural and political praxis suggests ‘ways out’ of this apparent paradox, by showing how Hawaiians have historically engaged simultaneously in both community-based practices and political activism as a means to care for their land and people. While food sovereignty on Molokai calls for the privileging of place-based knowledge, there are lessons to be learnt for social movements elsewhere that are also struggling internally to deconstruct and define what is meant by food sovereignty, and how best to achieve it.

Extracto – El presente trabajo explora el concepto de soberanía alimentaria en la isla de Molokai, donde el valor hawaiano de “aloha ‘āina,” o “amor por la tierra” guía los esfuerzos locales por la preservación y la promoción de la producción local de alimentos. Este concepto de organización ha adquirido asimismo tonalidades políticas – la soberanía alimentaria requiere acceso a la tierra y sus recursos, de los cuales los hawaianos nativos se han visto desposeídos históricamente desde la época de los iniciales contactos coloniales. En este trabajo, se examinan los organismos activistas actuales modificados anti-genéticamente (GMO por sus siglas en inglés) como ejemplo de los especiales esfuerzos hawaianos por su soberanía alimentaria que tienen lugar en Molokai. Se presentan dos argumentos clave. Primero se muestra cómo la plataforma anti-GMO, que ha ganado apoyo tanto de los hawaianos nativos como de colonizadores más recientes, refleja una alianza estratégica que da un mayor momento al movimiento hawaiano de soberanía alimentaria, que a su vez se percibe – por parte de un creciente número de hawaianos nativos – como el camino para alcanzar una auto determinación indígena sostenible. También se toma al caso de Molokai para ilustrar la perceptible tensión entre el trabajo base comunitario y el compromiso político que existe tanto en el paradigma de la soberanía alimentaria y el marco contemporáneo de la soberanía indígena. Se argumenta que “ aloha ‘āina”, considerada como una práctica política y cultural, sugiere formas de escape de esta aparente paradoja mostrando cómo los hawaianos se han visto históricamente comprometidos, en forma simultánea, con prácticas basadas en la comunidad y con activismo político como medios para el cuidado de sus tierras y gentes. Mientras que la soberanía alimentaria de Molokai clama por el privilegio del conocimiento cimentado en el sitio, existen lecciones a ser aprendidas por movimientos sociales en otros lugares donde también se presentan esfuerzos internos para des-construir y definir cuál es el significado de soberanía alimentaria y cómo alcanzarla en la mejor forma posible.

Keywords:

• food sovereignty
• Hawai‘i
• genetically modified organisms

Funding

This work was supported by National Science Foundation [grant number 1215762].

Notes

1 ‘A‘ole GMO', meaning ‘No, GMO' has been the rallying cry at many of the recent GMO marches in Hawai‘i, including the Molokai march in March 2013.

2 Agriculture makes up as of 2009 1.1% of the state's GDP and 2.7% of the labor force (Bureau of Economic Analysis, US Department of Commerce).

3 Despite community documents that present a unified view, there are of course a diversity of perspectives held by Molokai residents as to their values and beliefs that defy any essentialized notion of 'the Molokai community'. These micro-politics are recognized but beyond the scope of this paper, which focuses on the articulation of long-standing vocalized values (exemplified by various community mission statements) with current anti-GMO organizing on the island by a prominent segment of Molokai's resident population.

4 ‘Aloha ‘āina warrior' is a term that has been used to describe Uncle Walter and more recently other activists fighting against GMOs. While the exact origin of this phrase is uncertain, it harkens back to resistance to the American overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. As a community organizer working to ‘build our nation' (Sanburn, 2007), Ritte is viewed widely as a key ‘warrior' in the fight to restore Hawaiian sovereignty.

5 Under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, Molokai Homesteaders are entitled to two-thirds of the water from the Molokai Irrigation System for their agricultural lands without charge.

Additional information

Clare Gupta is a National Science Foundation SEES (Science, Education and Engineering for Sustainability) postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Her dissertation work in the University of California Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management examined the implications of wildlife conservation for the livelihoods of rural communities living near protected areas in northern Botswana. She is now studying community-based efforts to shift toward diversified agriculture and greater food self-sufficiency in the post-plantation context of Hawaii, using a political ecology approach. Her recent publications include: ‘Elephants, safety nets and agrarian culture: Understanding human–wildlife conflict and rural livelihoods around Chobe National Park, Botswana’, Journal of Political Ecology (2013) and ‘Highlighting the shortcomings of CBNRM: The case of the Chobe Enclave’ in Environmental governance for social justice in Southern Africa (2013).