Aloha everyone, and thank you for joining me for the inaugural blog entry on the Aloha Activism website. My name is Jasmine, but most call me Jazzy, or Kahu (if they know
me for my Puna activism). As a proud Puna native, I have a deep affection and dedication to my homeland, its community, and its traditions. Our goal at Aloha Activism is to preserve these lands, and I encourage you to join us on this journey, no matter where you are tuning in from around the globe.
One thing you will quickly learn about me is: we are all one in my eyes. We are united , one race: the human race. There are so many causes around the world I want to help raise awareness for, and With that being said, I strongly believe that with enough determination, us as humanity can conquer any challenge. I also believe that currently, in this moment of history, the world is progressing and implementing positive changes, even though it may not be sufficient at present, we are definitely moving in the right direction.
Being a citizen of the Hawaiian Kingdom, I wish to emphasize that it has been unlawfully occupied for 131 years. This site contains a dedicated section addressing the overthrow and its inaccuracies. The primary focus of my efforts is to advocate for a FREE HAWAII. Here in Puna, Hawaii, situated on the lower east rift zone of Kīlauea volcano, Ormat, an Israeli-owned company, has been present in our community for decades while generations of native Hawaiians seek assistance and recognition beyond our region. However, this issue is one of the most concealed events in Hawaii's history since the overthrow. To have our voices heard, we must exert significantly more effort than usual to dispel the falsehoods surrounding clean energy. This issue traces back to the overthrow, where the queen enacted a law just three days before her removal, prohibiting any foreign ownership of Hawaii's energy resources (Tutu Pele, our cultural and traditional LIFE FORCE, HAWAII VOLCANOES).
Ok back to introducing me. I Figure , there are so many people out there who are wondering whi the person is behind Aloha Activism, behind KahuPuna ....
I was born in August 1988, at Hilo Hospital. A first-generation Puna native, I was born to a Swiss man who had fled his family in Switzerland, arrived in America with no knowledge of English and only around 50 Swiss francs. He pursued his musical drumming aspirations at the Musicians Institute of Hollywood, graduating with honors before unexpectedly settling in Pahoa, Hawaii, and a California biorn woman who had recently relocated to Hawaii to care for her ailing veteran father in Leilani Estates on Makamae Street...
One fateful night at the "Pahoa Lounge," these two unexpectedly met while my father was performing with one of his numerous bands. The rest is history! Or, as I like to say, HerStory! In my view, Hawaii bestowed upon them the perfect welcome home present: their very own Child of Hawaii, a daughter of Puna.
Mom and dad built a awesome home on mohala street when they had me, fron the ground uo they poured their love into making a home for us in our own little piece of Paradise , our very own Mohala Kipuka.. oh how I miss it (all of my fanily jokes I was raised in, 5 if them, are under 80 plus feet of lava from the 2018 eruption when Puna Geothermal Vebture blew up our neighborhood quenching their wells.) I go back and visit in my dreams alot. Shortly after they built our home, we had a new "friendly neighbor " called PGV . They started drilling in our backyards and under our neighborhood, on the weakest part of one of the world's most active volcanos, Kīlauea.
In 1991 there was a massive blowout ( https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-15-mn-503-story.html ) which almost cost my entire community their lives (one whiff of this stuff CAN kill a human at high enough concentration ) . During this blowout my mom and dad frantically tried to get us to safety, but there was nowhere safe to go down here , and still to this day in 2024, things are still the same, if not worse. There is no escape.
This event, which brought together my parents, many community members, and their young children on the Seaview lawn, caused significant trauma within the entire coastal community. People in the area at that time had to come to terms with the possibility of facing death right there. It's unacceptable for anyone to live in fear of being harmed by the air in their own community.
Still to this day , hundreds are calling out for better emergency plans, escape roads, and an end to the daily poisoning... I was still in diapers that first traumatic blowout, but we've has quite a few really really scary accidents here after that, including in 2014 during a tropical storm blowout. My own dad was knocked unconscious for over 12 hours as the entire neighborhood crumbled around him , and to top ot all off everyone was trapped inside leilani as they were getting gassed, not even the fire trucks could cut their way in through the huge downed forests
I am offering this website as a way to help others , snd hopefully help the world. Every day I will be on here updating with global news regarding this , as well as all on the ground actions in Puna , Hawaii . Right now we are about to enter a huge geothermal energy injunction (link to the injunction document is on main website, please check it out, read the declarations!) Which is set for July 26th 2024, first hearing. If you are on the island, please come stand in support .
To know me , is to know that my entire life surrounds this insanely cobered up and corrupt issue of israeli owned ormat, aka Puna Geothermal Venture in my backyard, and protecting my family, my homelands , and my community from it . I personally feel i get this extreme passion from my mom, who is a well known activist in Pahoa, Hawaii and a well known local artist hwre who has also been fighting this for 35 years, who also runs a successful non profit, Laulima Pahoa, and is the paralegal pro se who is heading the injunction.
Having witnessed my community's ongoing struggle against this external force throughout my life, enduring mockery, ridicule, gaslighting, and neglect, as well as facing severe health challenges myself, including my daughter's recurring lung issues and hypersensitivity to our polluted air, and my father's 90% mercury poisoning linked directly to Puna Geothermal Venture, I am resolutely committed and driven to rid Puna of this menace once and for all.
I have a right to worship down here, as my entire community, and if our health and human rights dont matter, our culturally sacred areas do. So please join me, join us as Puna , as we embark on a journey never before allowed here in our islands : standing uo to israel 🇮🇱 and forcing THEM off our lands , once and for all. #aolepgv
▪︎▪︎Please note, as of publishing date of this blog entry , the website is still under construction, and once it is revealed officially this summer, it will be a ever changing and growing site . This will be your one stop shop for all things Puna Culture and it's Wahi Pana (sacred historical sites, and our work to preserve and protect them), geothermal in Puna for the past 40 years and all of its cover ups and cultural erasure as well as the geothermal happenings all over the globe while volcano mining they are doing which is causing immense cultural erasure , and the ecocide and complete desecration of indigenous sacred lands all under the guise of "clean" or "green" energy... as well as all of the current Hawaii causes , specifically Moku O Keawe (Hawaii Island : #aolepgv #aoletmt #pohakuloa #punaluublacksands #wearemokuokeawe ##itstimewebreathe
EYE LAVA YOU ALL
THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE, we have LOTS to talk about .
XO
JAZZY
KAHU PUNA
ALOHA ACTIVISM
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