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The West Beach story
Annals o/Toutism Research, Vol. 19, pp. 619-622, Printed in the USA. All rights reserved.
1992 Copyright
0160-7383/92 $5.00 + .OO 0 1992 Pergamon Press Ltd.
FILMS IN REVIEW This Department publishes reviews of recent visual media, such ac film, uideo, still pholopraphy, and museum exhibits. Individuals inkrested in suaestins materials for r&w or in submitting reoiews themselves should inquire directly to the Associate Edilorfor Films in Review, Deirdre Eoans-Pritchard (2045 Pinehurst Road, Los An&es CA 90068, U&4). Unsolicited submissions are not awepled.
The West Beach Story The West Beach Sto7y, produced by Puhipau Ahmad and Joan Lander. Na Maka o Ku ‘Aim (The Eye of the Land, 3020 Kahaloa Drive, Honolulu HI 96822, $85.00 3/4n USA) 1987, 60 min., $35.00 individuals, $50.00 institutions, tape. University
Luciano Minerbi of Hawaii, USA
This video gives faces to the voices of indigenous and local people opposing the $2 billion West Beach luxury resort that is encroaching on the last remaining native Hawaiian rural community of the Wai’anae coast on the island of O’ahu (Hawaii, USA). The resort plan envisions 4,000 hotel rooms, 5,200 apartment units, and four artificial lagoons on a 640 acre site. A Hawaiian songwriter intermittently throughout the video sings of the hardship of the common people (Kunakus) and the need to resist the desecration of their ancestral land. The following is a sample of what the Hawaiians say and show in the video. Many native Hawaiian cultural practices keep the people and their identity alive in the rural setting of the Wai’anae valley. The aloha spirit, the love of the land, (aloha ‘aim), the spiritual association with nature and the self-reliance of the extended family (‘ohana) are possible when the traditional land base (ahupdu) provides the right of access to the mountain (mauku) and to the sea (makaz) for hunting, fishing, and gathering. An Hawaiian practitioner has restored the taro patches (lot) in the valley and teaches cherished cultural Hawaiian values to the younger generations. He emotionally suggests that “something genuine from deep down” is shared by way of this alternative tourism experience with the visitor, who learns about the sacredness of nature. But the West Beach resort will adversely impact the Hawaiians, four farmers say. They cultivate this dry land with drip irrigation and provide Honolulu with fresh produce. Soon the resort will compete for fresh water use. It will increase land values and the farmers will be forced out of the land. Wai’anae is their last sanctuary; literally there is nowhere else to go. They have already been displaced by development projects. The surviving local lifestyle is celebrated in the video with the true images of Hawaiian culture: sharing, working together, preparing the underground oven (imu), fishing, and farming. The massive West Beach resort development will destroy the natural reef and coastline with the dredging of the deep water harbor, the artificial lagoons, and the marina. With these disturbances to the reef, an abnormal growth of algae will cause the spreading of the Ciquatera poison through the 619
620
FILMS IN REVIEW
food chain to humans. The West Beach project spells trouble for the local people. The native Hawaiian woman already knows that very well, as she suggests that it will trigger displacement, evictions, cost of living increase, alienation, and crime. The country doctor corroborates her view, commenting that when people are uprooted and separated from their land and lifestyle, depression, disillusionment, drugs, abuse, psychological and physical illness, and even suicide follow. The scuba tour operator is also opposed to the project, arguing that when dredging damages the coral reef and siltation kills the coral, the fish leave and so do his clients, the tourists. A family of Hawaiian fishermen see the sanctuary of the turtle and of the god shark destroyed, together with their ancestral way of life that enabled them to lie in spiritual harmony with nature. The young fisherman declares that this is “What we do best professionally,” a proud self-reliant lifestyle, based on different fishing techniques, transmitted from fathers to sons. This lifestyle is now threatened to disappear forever. The old fisherman, with tears in his eyes, asks for the protection of his indigenous rights and explains that fishermen are considered trespassers by the large landowners who cut off access to the sea. Hawaiians find themselves in a situation where it has become humanly impossible for them to earn their livelihood within the context of the existing western rules. The native Hawaiian woman adds that the government and big developers implement resort projects with promises of jobs for local people, but the good jobs go to outsiders and the low paying and menial jobs go to locals. Too much tourism brings more immigrants, increases the cost of living, caters to the rich, creates a shortage of affordable housing, and even encourages organized crime. Alternative development projects which would really meet the needs of the local residents are not built, the woman and a young man elaborate. The Hawaiian Queen stood fast when American businesses illegally overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy. “So be strong now,” the songwriter sings. But how? Many Hawaiians are displaced in their own land, forced to live in tents on the beach. “Our fathers had a lot, and now we are not treated with dignity. Give us a piece of land to live off the land and the sea,” asks the homeless, but proud, young Hawaiian mother. Beach families and their children must now leave the public park. The alternative is to be arrested. The contradictions between the rich outsiders and the local people are glaring. A Hawaiian leader explains the significance of the historic sites encroached upon by the West Beach resort. A local activist shows the resort site to video viewers in an attempt to discourage potential investors to participate in this project, inappropriately located among a rural community, a polluting industrial park, power and garbage plants, dumping sites, and a military air base. The attempt is futile. Later on, the who’s who of government, big business, and grass-root activists glance at each other over the picket line: the former in their limousines headed for the ground-breaking ceremony of the resort, the latter holding signs of protest. The “cash poor and land rich” American estates and the “land poor and cash rich” Japanese developers successfully joined forces in inaugurating the resort and in the “crashing of the gates of Wai’anae” on December 2, 1986. The importance of this video is that it airs the views of local and Hawaiian people regarding inappropriate development decisions that adversely impact them. It shows beautiful images of the “other” Hawaii threatened by development. It is a voice dissenting from the tourism industry’s multimillion dollar advertisement of Hawaii as the “destination of choice,” the “place of escape,” and the “ultimate playground.” The information this video provides is at odds with the three-screen slide promotion of the West Beach Resort which was baptized by a most prominent Hawaiian minister Ko ‘Olina, “the place of joy”
FILMS
621
IN REVIEW
(for the would-be investors, new residents, and tourists). It is also at odds with the environmental impact reports written by professionals paid by the developers to assess the project. The dramatic content of the video is in the contrast of the rural scenery with the massive resort development, and in the indigenous people who tell their side of the story with a range of emotions. They speak, sing, or are close to tears, expressing sincerity, humor, or pain, but always with much dignity and humanity. The ethnographic value of this video lies in untold truths revealed with the authority of people who continue to bear the brunt of development and displacement. The projected audience is visitors and residents alike. The West Beach Story is not an isolated project for Nu Muku o Ku ilina. Their previous video, Wai’anae Throqh the Eyes of Her People, is a condensation of 16 hours of testimony gathered from the people of Wai’anae and produced as a presentation to the State of Hawaii Land Use Commission in 1985. The lasting value of The West Beach Story is that it records native Hawaiian cultural efforts to survive as indigenous people when their basic human rights are violated by resort development. This story is told as seen and as experienced by Hawaiians and locals themselves. Now, live years later, most of the concerns raised by Hawaiians in the video are likely to exacerbated by the implementation of the resort, even if the developers have provided some financing for one job training program and for one community-based corporation as a result of an out-of-court settlement with the grass-root groups opposing the project. Nu Maka o Ku ‘Aina has produced or coproduced about 60 videos on Hawaiian culture and arts, Hawaiian people and their struggle for survival and home rule. These videos are a more genuine source of ethnographic information than that provided by the staged entertainment of the resort enclaves in Hawaii. Tourists can start to ask for the option to see the videos of Na Muka o Ka ‘Aina on the airplane and on their hotel television to learn about the Hawaiians and enter into solidarity with them. 0 0 Luciano Minerbi: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Uniuersi~ of Hawaii, HI 96822, USA.
Honolulu
Submitted 12 December 1991 Accepted 5 January 1992
Freizeitblau Produced and directed by Heidi Umbreit and Bernd Umbreit. Studio Grossbottwar (Sonnenhalde 12, D-7141 Grossbottwar 3, Germany) 1990, 27 minutes, DM 1,000 (16 mm film), DM 250 (VHS video).
Freizeitbluu.
Regina Bendix Universitat
Basel,
Switzerland
Freizeitbluu translates into “leisure time blue” and semantically invokes two domains which also constitute the problem treated by this film. On the one hand, the title alludes to “a trip into the blue” which is a longstanding German recreational activity-a trip to a surprise destination in nature, far from the urban sprawl. Yet in Freizeitbluu, one also detects “leisure time blues,” and with this, producers Heidi and Bernd Umbreit point to the literal distress caused in nature through human leisure pursuits.
1992 Copyright
0160-7383/92 $5.00 + .OO 0 1992 Pergamon Press Ltd.
FILMS IN REVIEW This Department publishes reviews of recent visual media, such ac film, uideo, still pholopraphy, and museum exhibits. Individuals inkrested in suaestins materials for r&w or in submitting reoiews themselves should inquire directly to the Associate Edilorfor Films in Review, Deirdre Eoans-Pritchard (2045 Pinehurst Road, Los An&es CA 90068, U&4). Unsolicited submissions are not awepled.
The West Beach Story The West Beach Sto7y, produced by Puhipau Ahmad and Joan Lander. Na Maka o Ku ‘Aim (The Eye of the Land, 3020 Kahaloa Drive, Honolulu HI 96822, $85.00 3/4n USA) 1987, 60 min., $35.00 individuals, $50.00 institutions, tape. University
Luciano Minerbi of Hawaii, USA
This video gives faces to the voices of indigenous and local people opposing the $2 billion West Beach luxury resort that is encroaching on the last remaining native Hawaiian rural community of the Wai’anae coast on the island of O’ahu (Hawaii, USA). The resort plan envisions 4,000 hotel rooms, 5,200 apartment units, and four artificial lagoons on a 640 acre site. A Hawaiian songwriter intermittently throughout the video sings of the hardship of the common people (Kunakus) and the need to resist the desecration of their ancestral land. The following is a sample of what the Hawaiians say and show in the video. Many native Hawaiian cultural practices keep the people and their identity alive in the rural setting of the Wai’anae valley. The aloha spirit, the love of the land, (aloha ‘aim), the spiritual association with nature and the self-reliance of the extended family (‘ohana) are possible when the traditional land base (ahupdu) provides the right of access to the mountain (mauku) and to the sea (makaz) for hunting, fishing, and gathering. An Hawaiian practitioner has restored the taro patches (lot) in the valley and teaches cherished cultural Hawaiian values to the younger generations. He emotionally suggests that “something genuine from deep down” is shared by way of this alternative tourism experience with the visitor, who learns about the sacredness of nature. But the West Beach resort will adversely impact the Hawaiians, four farmers say. They cultivate this dry land with drip irrigation and provide Honolulu with fresh produce. Soon the resort will compete for fresh water use. It will increase land values and the farmers will be forced out of the land. Wai’anae is their last sanctuary; literally there is nowhere else to go. They have already been displaced by development projects. The surviving local lifestyle is celebrated in the video with the true images of Hawaiian culture: sharing, working together, preparing the underground oven (imu), fishing, and farming. The massive West Beach resort development will destroy the natural reef and coastline with the dredging of the deep water harbor, the artificial lagoons, and the marina. With these disturbances to the reef, an abnormal growth of algae will cause the spreading of the Ciquatera poison through the 619
620
FILMS IN REVIEW
food chain to humans. The West Beach project spells trouble for the local people. The native Hawaiian woman already knows that very well, as she suggests that it will trigger displacement, evictions, cost of living increase, alienation, and crime. The country doctor corroborates her view, commenting that when people are uprooted and separated from their land and lifestyle, depression, disillusionment, drugs, abuse, psychological and physical illness, and even suicide follow. The scuba tour operator is also opposed to the project, arguing that when dredging damages the coral reef and siltation kills the coral, the fish leave and so do his clients, the tourists. A family of Hawaiian fishermen see the sanctuary of the turtle and of the god shark destroyed, together with their ancestral way of life that enabled them to lie in spiritual harmony with nature. The young fisherman declares that this is “What we do best professionally,” a proud self-reliant lifestyle, based on different fishing techniques, transmitted from fathers to sons. This lifestyle is now threatened to disappear forever. The old fisherman, with tears in his eyes, asks for the protection of his indigenous rights and explains that fishermen are considered trespassers by the large landowners who cut off access to the sea. Hawaiians find themselves in a situation where it has become humanly impossible for them to earn their livelihood within the context of the existing western rules. The native Hawaiian woman adds that the government and big developers implement resort projects with promises of jobs for local people, but the good jobs go to outsiders and the low paying and menial jobs go to locals. Too much tourism brings more immigrants, increases the cost of living, caters to the rich, creates a shortage of affordable housing, and even encourages organized crime. Alternative development projects which would really meet the needs of the local residents are not built, the woman and a young man elaborate. The Hawaiian Queen stood fast when American businesses illegally overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy. “So be strong now,” the songwriter sings. But how? Many Hawaiians are displaced in their own land, forced to live in tents on the beach. “Our fathers had a lot, and now we are not treated with dignity. Give us a piece of land to live off the land and the sea,” asks the homeless, but proud, young Hawaiian mother. Beach families and their children must now leave the public park. The alternative is to be arrested. The contradictions between the rich outsiders and the local people are glaring. A Hawaiian leader explains the significance of the historic sites encroached upon by the West Beach resort. A local activist shows the resort site to video viewers in an attempt to discourage potential investors to participate in this project, inappropriately located among a rural community, a polluting industrial park, power and garbage plants, dumping sites, and a military air base. The attempt is futile. Later on, the who’s who of government, big business, and grass-root activists glance at each other over the picket line: the former in their limousines headed for the ground-breaking ceremony of the resort, the latter holding signs of protest. The “cash poor and land rich” American estates and the “land poor and cash rich” Japanese developers successfully joined forces in inaugurating the resort and in the “crashing of the gates of Wai’anae” on December 2, 1986. The importance of this video is that it airs the views of local and Hawaiian people regarding inappropriate development decisions that adversely impact them. It shows beautiful images of the “other” Hawaii threatened by development. It is a voice dissenting from the tourism industry’s multimillion dollar advertisement of Hawaii as the “destination of choice,” the “place of escape,” and the “ultimate playground.” The information this video provides is at odds with the three-screen slide promotion of the West Beach Resort which was baptized by a most prominent Hawaiian minister Ko ‘Olina, “the place of joy”
FILMS
621
IN REVIEW
(for the would-be investors, new residents, and tourists). It is also at odds with the environmental impact reports written by professionals paid by the developers to assess the project. The dramatic content of the video is in the contrast of the rural scenery with the massive resort development, and in the indigenous people who tell their side of the story with a range of emotions. They speak, sing, or are close to tears, expressing sincerity, humor, or pain, but always with much dignity and humanity. The ethnographic value of this video lies in untold truths revealed with the authority of people who continue to bear the brunt of development and displacement. The projected audience is visitors and residents alike. The West Beach Story is not an isolated project for Nu Muku o Ku ilina. Their previous video, Wai’anae Throqh the Eyes of Her People, is a condensation of 16 hours of testimony gathered from the people of Wai’anae and produced as a presentation to the State of Hawaii Land Use Commission in 1985. The lasting value of The West Beach Story is that it records native Hawaiian cultural efforts to survive as indigenous people when their basic human rights are violated by resort development. This story is told as seen and as experienced by Hawaiians and locals themselves. Now, live years later, most of the concerns raised by Hawaiians in the video are likely to exacerbated by the implementation of the resort, even if the developers have provided some financing for one job training program and for one community-based corporation as a result of an out-of-court settlement with the grass-root groups opposing the project. Nu Maka o Ku ‘Aina has produced or coproduced about 60 videos on Hawaiian culture and arts, Hawaiian people and their struggle for survival and home rule. These videos are a more genuine source of ethnographic information than that provided by the staged entertainment of the resort enclaves in Hawaii. Tourists can start to ask for the option to see the videos of Na Muka o Ka ‘Aina on the airplane and on their hotel television to learn about the Hawaiians and enter into solidarity with them. 0 0 Luciano Minerbi: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Uniuersi~ of Hawaii, HI 96822, USA.
Honolulu
Submitted 12 December 1991 Accepted 5 January 1992
Freizeitblau Produced and directed by Heidi Umbreit and Bernd Umbreit. Studio Grossbottwar (Sonnenhalde 12, D-7141 Grossbottwar 3, Germany) 1990, 27 minutes, DM 1,000 (16 mm film), DM 250 (VHS video).
Freizeitbluu.
Regina Bendix Universitat
Basel,
Switzerland
Freizeitbluu translates into “leisure time blue” and semantically invokes two domains which also constitute the problem treated by this film. On the one hand, the title alludes to “a trip into the blue” which is a longstanding German recreational activity-a trip to a surprise destination in nature, far from the urban sprawl. Yet in Freizeitbluu, one also detects “leisure time blues,” and with this, producers Heidi and Bernd Umbreit point to the literal distress caused in nature through human leisure pursuits.