lines of flight

Peace parades in Waikiki vary greatly in goals, turnout, funding

It caught my eye right away on Friday night as we’re driving into Waikiki to catch Johnny Fiasco at Lotus. There is a giant, blinking, orange sign right where Kuhio and Kalakaua split, a changing display that looked like: PEACE MARCH SUNDAY 6 PM ROAD CLOSED PEACE MARCH SUNDAY 6PM. Peace March? WTH? It struck me so odd that I twittered it.

Immediately conjured in my mind are earnest hippies in tank tops (armpit hair) and face paint playing drums and leading a small group in a tinny anti-war chant while sailors on leave curse and give them the finger. Some punk activists would probably be in the mix, cute revolutionaries with shaved heads and low-slung fatigues. But I’m thinking, isn’t the anniversary of the Iraq war past already? I put it out of mind, went to the club and danced the night away.

So Sunday around 6:20 PM, I bike into Waikiki expecting to see some hippies and home-made signs. I notice a fairly heavy police presence, with lots of the main roadways blocked. This must be some big-ass peace protest. It’s overcast and my hair is already wet from the swim I took earlier; I figure if I look a little bedraggled, I’ll blend. I picture myself riding alongside the protesters, easily mistaken for one of them, yet not slow to laugh if the street theatre gets too ridiculous.

As I head towards Kalakaua Ave, a red-bearded bum smiles and says “nice dreads.” Great, I guess I do blend. Just then surreality slaps me upside the head. A day-glo troupe comes dancing down the street, rows and rows of them, singing and smiling, looking like Falun Gong meets Up With People.

I’m a little frightened as I capture these short video clips. Focus!

That’s a Japanese school group from Sonoda Gakkuen, they’ve apparently eased on down the road the last few years of this parade. Close behind them came the ladies of the Japan 3B Gymnastics Association. I don’t pretend to know what is going on here.

Tourists and locals line the curb up and down Kalakaua Ave. Some Japanese are really into it, waving and calling out to the performers for pictures. I turn to the local kids next to me. “Do you know what this is about?” They both stare at the display in the street. The big one says, “No.” I move on. It begins to rain and there is not much shelter. The growing downpour is forcing me under the awnings, too close with people I mostly don’t want to be close with. I can’t take it. I’m outta here!

It wasn’t til the next day that I learned what the parade was really for, the grand finale of the Honolulu Festival, something I’d vaguely heard of. According to their website, the themes this year were “Pacific Harmony” and “Experience the Wonder.” I missed most of what looked to be the best part of this well-funded spectacle, but 808talk.com has slide shows and videos of the parade that give an idea of the full range of participants. Tons of Japanese groups participated, plus Hawaiian, Filipino, Okinawan, Taiwanese, Korean, Tahitian and Australian Aboriginal performers, plus high school marching bands, local Lions club members and Narcissus and Cherry Blossom beauty queens riding in new convertibles.

On the Honolulu Festival website, 17 groups from a half-dozen countries all over and around the Pacific are listed. In contrast, 75 groups from Japan are listed, including 17 Japanese hula associations or halau! Not all of the groups listed were participating in the parade, but it does give a sense of who the participants were for this event.

From the press materials:

The Honolulu Festival began in 1995 to promote cultural understanding and ethnic harmony between the people of Hawaii and the Asia-Pacific region. Last year, more than 49,000 residents and visitors attended Honolulu Festival events, spending $9.8 million and generating nearly $1 million in additional tax revenue for Honolulu.

Besides the parade, the Honolulu Festival includes a craft show, educational activities and performances at Waikiki hotels and Ala Moana Center. Yet this parade of harmony was rather different from the “peace march” I was expecting. Did I misread the sign? I suppose it’s possible.

As it turns out, the permitted anti-war march was on Saturday. Contrary to what I had pictured, people were not overly frivolous or demonstrative, at least in front of news cameras. “Protesters held signs, wore costumes and made a lot of noise as they marched threw[sic] the streets,” according to the KGMB write-up. KHNL had 2 minutes of coverage that shows the event more roundly, versus KGMB’s 30 second package.

Incidentally, the anti-war march organizers are planning another protest that might look more interesting to some, being that it is “a non-violent, non-permitted protest, and will include street theatre,” according to 5 Years Too Many. KGMB reports that this might involve laying down in the street and serving an Army Recruiting Station with a mock eviction. (You got served! But not really….)

Either of these parades could be analyzed using concepts we’ve studied in class–bricolage, minstrel tradition, disidentification. Discussions of hegemony and cultural appropriation seem apropos as well because basically what these people were parading about were the states two biggest industries: military and tourism.

While I can’t know for sure how the funding works, looking at the board of directors of the Honolulu Festival (included in their press kit) seems to be a list of people that stand to benefit: travel and tourism bigwigs, bankers, etc. I have nothing against tourist festivals in general, but when the spectacle is so well-supported–did I mention the mayor was one of the marchers?–and the anti-war demonstrators left to their own resources, well, it really shows where the priorities are. Or rather, aren’t.

Some of the ~5,500 singers, dancers and performers in Hawaii from all over the world might have actually heard the clamor of the anti-war protest as they shopped and slept and ate in Waikiki. But that ~$10 million they spent here is not even 2.5% of what the U.S. government spends in Iraq in a day. “Experience the Wonder,” indeed.