HANAPEPE — After playing a veiled game of cat and mouse, a pro-Hawaii Superferry rally on Wednesday greeted residents critical of the inter-island catamaran as they entered the Storybook Theatre in Hanapepe for the launch of a book on the
HANAPEPE — After playing a veiled game of cat and mouse, a pro-Hawaii Superferry rally on Wednesday greeted residents critical of the inter-island catamaran as they entered the Storybook Theatre in Hanapepe for the launch of a book on the beleaguered company.
The latter group arrived to hear co-authors Koohan Paik and Jerry Mander talk about “The Superferry Chronicles: Hawaii’s Uprising Against Militarism, Commercialism, and the Desecration of the Earth” (Koa Books).
The evening discussion — which included remarks from local fishermen, a state biologist and political activists — marked the pair’s first of three such events this week on Kaua‘i. But it was the sidewalk dialog prior to the book launch party that told the story of where this island may stand on an issue that has divided it since last year.
The two sides did not clash when they met outside the mostly closed stores along Hanapepe Road. Voices at times grew on edge as the sun set behind the historic town, but it remained a respectful exchange of viewpoints.
That there was a dialog, as opposed to the reported stone-throwing or hurling of insults at previous rallies, may reflect the healing power of time.
Fifteen months have passed since some 1,500 protesters lined the jetty road and clogged the harbor, forcing the 850-foot “Alakai” to return to Honolulu without unloading its passengers and vehicles on its second voyage to the Garden Isle. Paik and Mander refer to it in their book as “The Incident at Nawiliwili.”
A pro-Superferry crowd of some 15 residents rallied an hour before the book launch party was set to start. They waved signs saying “Save Superferry” and “Yes to Choice” and encouraged drivers passing by to honk their horns in support. Several did. Others shouted out the window, “Go to Maui.”
Kapa‘a resident Kimo Rosen has led the pro-Superferry cry. This was his most successful rally to date.
“The first time I did it I was alone,” he said.
A growing number of community members have joined his cause for different reasons. Some said they want the Superferry because an alternative form of transportation is needed. Others said they support the company because they were turned off by the actions of some of the protesters last year. Some said the ship would help local businesses and unite families and friends.
A few of the nearly three dozen residents who turned out for the book launch party engaged their opposition before heading inside the cozy theatre. They seemed to mystify the pro-Superferry crowd with an onslaught of questions to stimulate critical thinking.
Uncomfortable smiles accompanied literal backpedaling when a broad swath of common ground was revealed.
Some of the residents who protested at Nawiliwili underscored that they are against this company’s practices, such as its operating speeds, and the blow Gov. Linda Lingle’s administration dealt the democratic process when environmental laws were trumped to help a Mainland business come to Hawai‘i.
As Paik said in reference to a section in her book, “We love ferries.”
She called it a “false vision” to say “we’re not for alternative transportation or the economy.”
“We’re for an economy of sustainability,” Paik said, noting the state’s dependence on its natural resources to support tourism.
Eastside resident Jonathan Jay, who has been active in the Superferry debacle for more than a year, took a seeker-of-information approach. He asked the rally participants why they wanted the Superferry to resume service to Kaua‘i, which has been on hold since the Nawiliwili incident.
At times, he had difficulty getting a word in edgewise. At other times, he was cast into a “them” pile of “disrespectful protesters” despite never stating his position on the issue.
Jay was curtly denied when he asked an electrical engineer if he could give him his e-mail address to exchange information about more fuel-efficient ferries, such as sail-supported vessels.
If someone changed their position, it was not articulated then. Nonetheless, a dialog ensued.
Puhi resident Rachel Forer was on the Alakai with her husband when it made its inaugural trip to Kaua‘i. She said they were more against the Superferry at that point than for it and took advantage of the deeply discounted $5 fares to check it out.
When the boat pulled into Nawiliwili Harbor the evening of Aug. 26, 2007, Forer said they were greeted with profanity amid the chants and drums.
“I switched over that day,” she said. “We’re from like the ‘60s, dude, so I’m all for people protesting but you’ve got to respect different opinions. There are people who are afraid to say they’re for the Superferry for fear of messing up their contacts. That’s so un-American.”
Jennifer and Dave Houle of Kalaheo agreed.
“I don’t like to be dictated to by intimidation,” he said.
For others, it was more about the economic benefit and the unfairness of singling out a business.
“It’s a joke being an island community and not having a ferry,” Rosen said. “If it’s going to be successful, it’ll prove itself in a matter of time.”
He said while rocks have been hurled at him, it was not by the anti-Superferry folks gathered Wednesday evening. Rosen said Jay and community organizers such as Wailua resident Rich Hoeppner welcomed him at their recent celebration of the Nawiliwili protests.
Still, Jennifer Houle said the opposition has not been straightforward. For example, she said there have been no incidents of the catamaran hitting whales.
The Superferry has been running its daily O‘ahu-Maui route, with some weather- and mechanical-related stops, since the state untethered it last October. The company has not set a timetable to resume service to Kaua‘i.
Legal barriers were removed after the Legislature passed a law in a special session effectively overturning a state Supreme Court decision saying an environmental impact statement should have been required before the company began service.
An environmental assessment is underway as mandated by Act 2, but this has been criticized as an insufficient study that fails to follow the environmental law laid out in Chapter 343.
“What is this really about?” Houle said.
Paik and Mander’s book expounds on an alleged military link to the Superferry.
He pointed at Superferry board member John Lehman, a military financier and former Navy secretary.
“This is not a local business that cares about local people,” Mander said, noting the company is based in New York.
The book’s Web site links to a Nov. 13 Press-Register article about Alabama-based Austal winning a $1.6 billion Navy contract to build up to 10 high-speed transports like the two the shipyard built for the Superferry.
Mander said the Alakai may be a prototype and this is really about a military build-up for war against China. The author is director of the International Forum on Globalization, a San Francisco “think tank” focused since 1994 on exposing the negative impacts of economic globalization.
But for all the criticism of Lehman, the authors heaped more blame on Lingle.
“The Superferry was used as a stepping stone in her career at the expense of her constituency,” Mander said.
He called the protesters his heroes and said as a Mainlander he is trying to spread the word of their victories.
“The Superferry may not be the worst thing … but it’s the latest and maybe the most arrogant and self-serving,” Mander said.
Paik is a journalist, media-literacy educator and award-winning filmmaker based on Kaua‘i. Her work focuses on preservation of culture and language.
“We’re simply defending our land … our right to local sovereignty,” she said.
George Inouye, a Waimea kama‘aina and fisherman, said the community has to stick together.
“We have to keep our resources for our family,” he said. “They can come over here and visit but go back empty cooler.”
State Department of Land and Natural Resources aquatic biologist Don Heacok said it is about a top-down government versus a community-based government.
Paik and Mander take on the Superferry subject very broadly in their book, setting the context and incorporating testimonies from several key public hearings. They also detail the history of the project as “the evolution of a boondoggle.”
The book discusses the need to limit development and fight the “long arm of absentee landowners” who remove citizens’ rights, Mander said.
A ferry in Hawai‘i sounds great, he said. But it should be run at a slower pace by a “local operator with local values.”
The authors held a similar book launch event at Borders Books and Music last night in Lihu‘e and another is set for 6 p.m., today, at Malama Kaua‘i in Kilauea.
The Hanapepe book launch party and pro-Superferry rally were originally scheduled to be at Hanapepe United Church of Christ. Paik announced the change in venue last week; Rosen quickly followed suit.
When car horns briefly interrupted Paik’s reading at Storybook Theatre, she simply said, “See you at Borders.”
As a Hanapepe resident leaving the event said, the two sides are talking.
• For more information, visit www.superferrychronicles.com or www.hawaiisuperferry.com
