WORLDTRENDSMONDAY,MARCH2, (^2020) THE NEWYORKTIMES INTERNATIONALWEEKLY 3
revealedfissuresthathavelong
existedinHawaii, aplacethat is all
butsynonymouswithtourism —the
most-populardestinationforhoney-
moonsinthe United States.The fight
hasinspiredactions aroundtheis-
lands, allrelatingtohowlandisused
andwho benefitsfromit.
Thespiritofprotestis mostvisible
in Oahu,wherein Kahuku demon-
stratorshavespent thelastseveral
monthsfightingthe construction of
eight wind turbines, each standing
at 173meters.Protesters saythe tur-
bineswillhaveadverse long-term
health effectsonthe population.The
companybuildingthemsaysthere is
no evidencetosupportthose claims
andpromises to bringjobs tothear-
ea.Morethan160 peoplehavebeen
arrested there.
In southeastOahu, in September,
28 peoplewerearrestedtryingto
block thebuildingofaparkand rec-
reationcenter inWaimanalo, alarge-
ly agricultural town.The developers
behindthe center sayitwillbring
jobsand create anewcommunity
space, but opponents fear it will be a
magnet for tourists andwilldestroy
theforest andbeach.
In Honolulu,inMay,Hiltonem-
ployees protested, demandingabet-
ter contractand job protections.In
July,hotel employees went on strike
to protest whattheysaidwere low
wagesand thefiri ng of45 workers
by DiamondResorts,anoperator of
propertiesinthe United Statesand
Europe. Thecompany said it would
turn one ofitshotels into atimeshare
resort,whichrequires fewerworkers
than atraditi onalhotel.
Most peopleinHawaii, especially
in thetourismindustry,workmore
than onejobtobarelyget by,said
Bryant de Venecia, communications
organizerfor UniteHereLocal5,
whichrepresents resortworkers.
“Mauna Keahas litafire forHa-
waiianswho aretired of watching
theirland, resourcesand work be
used at theexpense of theirwell-be-
ing,”hesaid.
MaileMeyer,the ownerofNaMea
Hawai’i, abookstore inHonoluluthat
sells localproducts,said: “People
aretired of beingdecorative—Ha-
waiiansaswellaspeoplewho live in
Hawaii.You’reseeingaphenomenon
of natives gatheringagain andcom-
pletelyfinding ourway back toeach
otheras part of thesolution.”
JobsAren’t Enough
Perhapsforthe first timeinrecent
Hawaiian history,localsare saying
jobsarenot enough.“We’rehaving
to move awayfrom quantityto quali-
ty,” said LaurienBaird Hokuli’i Hel-
frich-Nuss,the founderofConscious
Concepts,acompanythat works
to develop sustainabletourism
initiatives.
Tourismisthe biggest driver of
Hawaii’s economy, accountingfor 21
percentofjobs.Morethan10mill ion
peoplevisited thestate in 2019,are-
cord high.
Locals saythatresorts areoften
ownedand runbynon-Hawaiians,
with Hawaiian people employedin
thelower-paying service jobs, and
that developmentoften benefits out-
siders attheexpense oflocals.
“Therehistoricallyhasn’tbeen
enoughconsideration forhow tour-
ismand tourists cancontributeto
making life sustainableand really
livablefor thelocalswho serve them
here,” Mr.deVeneciasaid.
Mr.Kajihiro, theactivist, andhis
colleagueTerrileeKeko‘olani stud-
iedthe environmental andsocialef-
fectsof colonization,militarization
andoverdevelopmentofHawaii.
Tourismwas oneofthe industries
with someof themostdamagingef-
fects,hesaid, includingovercrowd-
ingand ahighercostofliving.
Thepairbeganofferingalterna-
tive toursofthe island,which they
call DeTours, in 2004. Thetours are
giventopeoplewho want to learn
about Hawaii fromtheperspective
of localHawaiians.Theyinclude a
historyonthe waysmilitary life is
hidden acrossthe isla nd.
“Peoplealready come herewith
so many images andideas about
what Hawaii is that it’s really hard
for them to seesomethingdifferent,
so that’swhy westartedcalling
ourwork‘DeTours,’” Mr.Kajihiro
said.“To swerve offthe paththat
mostpeopleare goingtosee or un-
derstandand consumeand shake
it up byraisingsomemorecritical
perspectives andintroducing alot
of historical facts that arenot so
pleasant.”
ANewTypeof Tourism
TheDeTours teamis part of a
movementlooking to change what
tourism meansinHawaii.
To give tourists amore authen-
ticexperienceof“therealHawaii,”
theartists RoxyandMattOrtiz
invite theminto theirstudiointhe
Kaka’ako district of Honolulu. The
coupleis knownfor theirmuralsof
fancifultreehouses.
Guestscan seethe couple’s work
in progress,but also learnabout ah-
upua’a,the ancientsystem ofland
division,inwhich theislandwas
separatedintoslices, with each slice
runningfromthe topofthe local
mountaintothe shore.
“Whenpeoplehavesome ofthe
historyand contexttheycan appre-
ciatethe artmoreand they canexpe-
rience theislandinamoremeaning-
ful way,”Mr. Ortizsaid.
Another waytouristscan learn
aboutthelandisbyvisitingalocal
farmlike Kahumana Farm,onthe
west side ofOahu.
In November,Chloe Anderson,
atherapistandteacher,visited the
farmfor fourdays. Sheshareda
room,did yoga,and learnedabout
theproduce grownand cooked on
thefarm.
“Wehad likethree or four differ-
entactiviti es we woulddo every
day,”she said.“Butsomanythings
were basedoff thefarmand at the
farm.Westill hadtheexperience
of beingatourist in Hawaiiand go-
ingonhikes andbeach excursions,
butalso of experiencing something
more.”
Some businessownersare trying
to be as environmentallyfriendlyas
possible.
“I don’tthinkit’sreasonableto
expectthat peoplejustwon’t work
in themainindustry thereis andI
don’t thinkHawaiianswanttostop
tourismaltogether, butweare all
workingtofindwaysofdoin gitre-
sponsiblyandthoughtfully,”said
Shane HiroshiGibler, whoco-owns
RoyalHawaiianCatamaran,which
is basedinHonoluluandoffers
snorkeltours, sunsetcruisesand
charters.
Mr.Giblereducatesguestsabout
fishing,foodandtheimportanceof
theoceanandthe land to Hawaiians.
TheRoyal Catamaranteamcleans
up theshorelineand hasbeenwork-
ingtoremove ghostnets—fishing
nets that have beenlostorleftbehind
by fishingboats.
Theidea, oneechoed by Mr.Kaji-
hiro, is to encouragetouriststothink
about howtheycancontribute.
“The pointistomakefolksmorere-
sponsiblewhenthey come hereand
to interrogatethis notion that Hawaii
is somehowaplacefor them,” Mr.Ka-
jihirosaid.“Ifyou arethinkingabout
coming here, askyourself:Who are
youinrelation to thisplace?Are you
bringingsomethingthatwill be of
valuetothe host,the peoplewho live
here?Whatwillbeyourimpactand
your legacybe?”
localofficials likemayorstakeon
outsize significance.Overthe last
year,there were 1,240politically
motivatedattacks on politiciansand
electedofficialsinGermany,accord-
ingtothe federalpolice.
Astudy conductedbythe German
Associationfor Cities andMunici-
palities showed that 40 percent of the
country’scitygovernments had to
contendwith stalking,harassment
or threats.Of the11,000mayors in
thecountry,atleast 1,500reported
threats. Andpeoplehavedied. In
June,WalterLübcke, aregionaloffi-
cial,was killed on hisfrontporch by
aknownextremist, thefirst far-right
assassination ofaGermanpolitic ian
sinceWorld WarII.
Supportersoffar-right ideology
were responsiblefor overathirdof
thereportedepisodes, nearly twice
as many as were committedbysup-
portersofthe extreme left, thegov-
ernmentsaid. But nearly half of such
attackscouldnotbe tied to aspecific
group,reflectingwhatexperts said
wasthe erosion ofcivilnorms.They
said theviolencestarted with the
2008economiccrisis,but took on new
dimensionsin2015, after Chancellor
AngelaMerkelopenedthe borders to
over amillion asylumseekers,most
of themMuslim,manyfromSyria,
IraqandAfghanistan.
AndreasZick, thedirector ofthe
Institutefor Interdisciplinary Re-
search on Conflict andViolence at
theUniversityofBielefeld,saidhe
firstnoti cedgroupsofpeoplecall-
ingthemselves“concernedciti-
zens”who were criti calofpoliticians
emergemorethanadecadeago.One
of theirconcernshas grownintoa
campaign of hateagainstlocal pol-
itic ians,he said,drivenbypopulist
forces suchasthefar-right party
Alternative forGermany,knownas
AfD.
“The populistshavedeclaredthe
‘elites’as theirenemy,and nowwe
areseeingthe rise of thispolitic sof
hate whichhas infectedthecenterof
society,”Mr. Zick said.
Barbara Lüke,mayor o fPulsnitzin
theeastern state ofSaxony,has been
targeted.“ Thearrivalof therefugees
wasacatalyst,”she said,“butitwould
have happenedregardless.” She
blamed an “anythinggoes” culture
on social media, adearthofsocial
servicesand alackofunders tanding
in theformerCommunist East about
representati ve democracy.
“Weasasocietyhavelost theabil-
itytorespectone another,orthose in
government,” said Ms.Lüke, an in-
dependent. “Therearenoboundar-
iesanymore andnounderstanding
for howtorespondwhenmyideaof
freedomis in conflict with someone
else’s ideaoffreedom.”
By some accounts,the atmosphere
hasbecomeparticularlytoxic in
easternGermany,where theAfD
wins onaverage oneinfourvotes.
Markus Nierth,who wasmayor of
theeasternvillageofTröglitz,want-
ed to integrate40refugees. Threats
were directedto him,thentohis wife.
He remembers whenhiswifeopened
alettersignedbythe “KKKGerma-
ny,” their5-year-oldsonsitting on
herlap.“Wewillcomeforyou and
nail youtothe cross,thenyou will
burn,” it read,“youare an embar-
rassmenttothe whiterace.”
When hisstory becamepublic,
Mr.Nierth received callsfromother
mayors ineasternGermanywho had
quit after similarthreats.Whatwas
hardest,hesaid, wasthathedid not
getmuchsupport fromthecommu-
nity:“People said Iwas giving the
villageabad name.”
In theend,Mr. Nierth resigned.
TheNierthsare planningtomove.
“There is adangerthatinparts of
thecountry thedemocratsare quite
literallyleaving thefield to thefar
right,”hesaid.
Theintimidationis notlimitedto
theeast. In KerpeninNorth-Rhine
Westphalia,the mayorhas said he
willnot runagain,citingfears for
hissafety. In Bavaria, theresidents
of Breitbrunn willhave to write in
acandidate formayor,asnoone is
running.
In thefiveyears sinceshe was
stabbed,Ms.Rekersays anonymous
deaththreats have pouredin.After
themurder ofMr.Lübcke, she re-
ceived aletter signed, “SiegHeil und
Heil Hitler!” I tstated: “The phase of
cleansinghasstarted.Manymore
will follow him.Includingyou.Your
life will endin 2020 .”
In January, she buried aCityHall
employeewho hadbeenstabbed
whileonthe job. But Ms.Rekerhas
refused to change hermessage.
Sherecentlyasked theCologne
City Counciltowelcomeanadditi on-
al 100refugees whoarestuck onthe
GreekislandofLesbos.
Themotion was passed. Butinre-
sponse,anAfDrepresentative, Sven
Tritschler, immediately took to the
microphone.“You have bloodon your
hands,”hesaid.
WhoGetstoBenefit From theParadiseofHawaii?
Continu edfrom Page 1ContinuedfromPage1Growingharassment
is drivingmore
mayors to quit.
CALEBJONES/ASSOCIATEDPRESS
ManynativeHawaiiansareopposedtoaplantobuild atelescopeonMaunaKea,Hawaii’stallest mountain.ProtestinginJuly.In Germany, aTollfor ‘PoliticsofHate’
KSENIAKULESHOVAFORTHENEWYORKTIMES
“Ourdemocracyisunder
attack atthegrass-roots
level.This isthefoundation
of ourdemocracy, anditis
vulnerable.”HENRIETTEREKER
MayorofCologne