Impeach Linda Lingle-Official Petition and Articles of Impeachment

Aloha.

Would you like to impeach Linda Lingle? So would I. Here is a few things to get us all started. This is a free graphic that was offered to anyone who wanterd to use to, to make bumper stickers, tshirts, signs, whatever is needed. Good sites for that, are zazzle.com.

Here is the original site it was posted on:Impeach Linda Lingle Site

Here are the Articles Of Impeachment, I drafted up. We could probably add a few more things to this as well.

First, here is a petition page, ready to print up to get signatures.

To:

The House pf Representatives

State of Hawaii

2009 session

All Members Addressed

Re: Articles of Impeachment

re: Governor Linda Lingle

Governor of the State Of Hawaii

A call of a resolution, pray hear our case:

Brought forth by:

The People of the State of Hawaii vs. Governor Linda Lingle

By: Mandate, and Petition

Do hereby solemnly request relief.

OFFICIAL PETITION OF THE PEOPLE

We, the people to hereby declare that this is our will, according

to the Constitution of the State of Hawaii, we demand our right

to call for a recall of the Governor of the State of Hawaii

immediately, and pray that the House of Representatives of the

State of Hawaii act with immediate haste upon this matter. This

is an urgent situation, and immediate action must be taken due

to the nature of these Articles of Impeachment herein.

The People of the State of Hawaii.(et all)

*PLEASE PRINT LEGIBLY

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Next, Here are the Articles,  We will have to add all of the other things that have happened which of course just makes a stronger case for this.

o:

The House pf Representatives

State of Hawaii

2009 session

All Members Addressed

Re: Articles of Impeachment

re: Governor Linda Lingle

Governor of the State Of Hawaii

A call of a resolution, pray hear our case:

Brought forth by:

The People of the State of Hawaii vs. Governor Linda Lingle

By: Mandate, and Petition

Do hereby solemnly request relief.

ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT

The people pray for relief before you, on this day_________of the month________________of the year________________.

That the will and mandate of the people is a right ensured by the constitutional rights

of the people, as mandated by the State of Hawaii Constitution, Article 1, sec's

1-5,8 and 21 respectively. We do hereby and clearly request relief from the actions of

Governor Linda Lingle and request based on these items thus and duly outlined

proceedings to be forthcoming, and pray a judgment in favor of the people of the

State of Hawaii be rendered in the House of Representatives of the State of Hawaii to

permanently remove said above named appointed official from office, and cause the

Great Seal of the State of Hawaii to be rendered back to the people, of which it

comes.

ARTICLE 1

That said elected official, one Linda Lingle, Governor of the State of Hawaii did use the influence of her office knowingly to promote the interests of a certain company in the State of Hawaii above all others, and use excessive amounts of taxpayer dollars to achieve this purpose to the detriment of the people, and has been judged her actions to be deemed unconstitutional by the State Supreme court.

ARTICLE 2

That the above named elected official, Linda Lingle, Governor of the State of Hawaii, did knowingly go against the health, safety and welfare of her people by conspiring to remove rights and freedoms from the IndigenousPeople of the State, by praying an aggrevience in the highest court of the land to remove said such persons from claims to their land, and to all rights and pprivilegescontained ttherein. including their health, welfare, and civil rights.

ARTICLE 3

That the above named elected official, Linda Lingle Governor of the State of Hawaii did knowingly and with prejudice usurp the health, safety and welfare of her citizenry by removing vital programs for the health, safety and welfare of her citizens and with gross negligence and disregard for the health, safety and welfare of the people, including infants, pregnant mothers, and school age children, mental health patients, and others.

ARTICE 4

That the above named elected official, Linda Lingle, Governor of the State of Hawaii, did knowingly seek to transfer funds meant for the health, safety and welfare of the citizenry to balance shortfalls created by the spending for the benefit of a single company, and the grievance at the highest court of the land, to pay for those prejudiced actions. This action involves the attempt to funnel spending of funds earmarked for the public school system of the State of Hawaii by the Economic Stimulus Package Bill be remanded to another need, balancing the deficit caused by her actions in Articles 1 and 2 of these Articles of Impeachment., in order to pay for the enormous expenses incurred by her grievance against her own people, and the actions to favor a certain company in the State of Hawaii.

ARTICLE 5

That we, the people of the State of Hawaii feel that our health, safety and welfare may be irretrievably and irreparably damaged should said individual, the elected official, Linda Lingle Governor of the State of Hawaii remain in office, due to a continuing to refuse to fund vital services adequately, an intent to veto items which may pass through the Legislature to protect the freedoms and civil rights of the people of the State of Hawaii, and the equitable treatment thereof, and protect the people against further acts of discrimination and tyranny by her actions., we do pray for relief.

We, the people to hereby declare that this is our will, according to the Constitution of the State of Hawaii, we demand our right to call for a recall of the Governor of the State of Hawaii immediately, and pray that the House of Representatives of the State of Hawaii act with immediate haste upon this matter. This is an urgent situation, and immediate action must be taken due to the nature of these Articles of Impeachment herein.

The People of the State of Hawaii.(et all)

Now, it is up to you. Call or write your legislator today. INSIST that a session be held, send them these articles of impeachment, and get the petition signatures, as many as you can. Do it for our future, and for our children. Do it now.

Mahalo.

My Most Famous Letter

This was a letter that I wrote during the most critical point of the Superferry issue. It was written a few days after attending a family funeral, that of the Matriarch Auntie Kopeka Chandler. All of my heart was poured out in this letter with so much going on here at that time. I found it humbling and flattering that this letter was seen far and wide all over the internet, and I thank the sites that felt it was worth posting.

"These are indeed strange times in our state. I have never seen so many protests for so many things in the entire course of the brief history of this sacred land as a United States State. I for one am part of the make up of this state, but more so than that i believe that on behalf of my native Hawaiian kanaka maoli born and raised on Kaua'i keiki, i not only have an obligation but a right to speak out, to walk my walk and talk my talk, to move, imua walk fore ward and let my voice be heard loud and clear on what is happening on my island of Kaua'i.

It is a symptom of what is happening worldwide, and is now hitting our tender and fragile shores. The most harm it is doing to our true Kaua'i people, and that is fifth generation haoles, chinese, japanese, fourth, and third generation portuguese, spanish and puerto rican, and third and second generation filipinos, and others, not to mention 20th generation kanakas, or the maka ainana, the eyes of the land is that we are all suffering greatly. Not just physically but emotionally too. Our lives have been cruelly huli'd by those with nothing but corporate greed, and the pursuit of money to the detriment of all those others on whose backs they stand.

I'm not perfect, and i have made tons of mistakes in my life, and continue to make them, and probably will go on continuing to make them until the day i lay down for the last time. However, there are mistakes, and then there are outright abominations. Worldwide, people are feeling the pinch and bite of more than just issues like the super-ferry and overdevelopment. Kauai is suffering from a surge of people who do not care about Kauai, its values or its heritage. They do not care about our mana, our aina, our laau, our uluwehiwehi, our ia, our manu or our kinos. All they want is everything we have, and then some. They claim it is theirs we must bow down and give it to them and how dare we resist. How dare we rise up at the totality of what has been done to a peace-loving kauai.

A little history lesson, Kauai managed to get around the wars taking place all over the islands for almost 500 years, until Kamehameha. Kamehameha bowed to the expert and fine diplomacy of our beloved Kaumualii, a humble and great ruler who was not much prone to war, and his son even less so, and ironically he died in battle. His wife remarried, and co-founded a church and had another son, on the grounds of what has become to be known as Coco palms. Queen Deborah Kapule ran the first guest house on Kauai on the shores of the Wailua river, was a staunch christian, and a generous and kind ruler. A trait our current Governor would do well to attempt to emulate, as a women leader. His mother however was a completely different story. She chanted a powerful chant, passed down from great alii wahine mo'i over and over. This chant was so powerful no one dared step foot on Kaua'i. But she , (Kaua'i, for all islands in the Hawaiian beleif concept have genders. Guess which one O'ahu is? Male. Figures.), was coveted and drooled over from a distance especially by those of O'ahu, but they could never completely conquer true Kaua'i.. They always wanted to, and tried several times by using boats, several of which sank. The belief was that Kauai's force of nature has its own agenda, and no one can travel her waters without bowing to her superior force. Nature.

I recently went to two funerals in the span of two weeks both of which hit me very hard. These are the true Kauai families Let me just say that Kauai people, the true old Kaua'i lines speak in a soft melodic tone. They do not bark loudly like angry little lapdogs. They were kind and generous but tough and strong. They could be heard not by loud noise and shouting, but by quiet strength and determination. There has always been a limit to aloha on Kauai. Once you pass it there is no going back. Kauai people, the true old lines of genealogy demand respect because they are the oldest lines in Hawaii, and to many of us, they are the ruling alii class at this time. There are no more survivors of the Kamehameha lines, and it is generally concluded, that here on Kauai, with the Kawananakoa lines lie the true aliis of this generation, the ruling class. True aliis do not subjugate their people, they never could or under the system, they could be immediately deposed. You have to take care of the Makaainana, or you as an alii would not be fed. The aliis had a responsibility to care and protect the aina and ensure that the ahupuaas were safe from invasion, and that proper prayers were said and protocol done so that there would be adequate food supplies to feed the people. This also included proper logistics to make sure that kapus were in place in order to ensure that each type of food source and materials resources had the opportunity to properly propagate themselves. There was a system of justice, and familial hierarchies on Kauai that predates the imposed Kapus of the Tahitians by many generations. The meles, chants and moolelos held a highly intricate and intelligent language full of rich meanings, and interconnecting the entire polynesian, micronesian and melanesian triangle. This is the true people of Kauais heritage. A heritage that cannot be taken away from us.

You cannot rip out our hearts, although you may be able to dampen our spirits, but then a little rain could never stop Kauai, it just makes us stronger. But Kauai people are resilient, and have an innate sense of what is right, and good and pure, and we pursue that to the fullest. O'ahu people generally have a much different attitude, and always have. They are a little louder, a little brasher. a little more conservative, and this can be heard clearly in the difference in cadence when olelo Hawaii is spoken by an O'ahuan, it is hard and guttural, like the German language, although no less beautiful or rich in intelligence and meaning. It is very easy to tell someone from O'ahu from someone from Kaua'i. O'ahu people are always amazed that Kaua'i people can guess they are not from here even if they are "local". Yep, Kauai people are smart that way. Many many O'ahu kanakas have intermarried and joined with Kauais geneological lines, to mix up the geneologies, particularly from Kamehamehas infamous counselors of 13.

But the fact remains, that Kauai blood, the koko that surges through anyones veins that has soaked Kauai into their pores no matter what your race creed or nationality will never stand by and let kauai fall. We are warriors and proud of it. Weather it is with the pen which is mightier that the sword, the waa nui, the speaking out, the holoholo imua, the walking forward with pride, dignity and honor, holding our heads high and knowing that what we believe in the deep core of what is Kauai, which cannot be explained, but only truly felt will never ever fall. It will live forever. Our hearts will not be torn and ripped asunder by those whose only goal is greed, superiority and defilement. We stand po'ohiwi to po'ohiwi with each other, unmoveable, strong, nui ha'aheo. We do it for our children, the aina, and in a larger sense our own sanity as an island people. The respect due Kauai is absolutely undisputed. We will not be disrespected. We will maintain our island. period. this is not a call to battle by the way, but a call out to the heart. Remember who you are. Remember how you were raised. Remember what your kupuna suffered for you on this island to get you top where you are now, regardless of your ancestors race, this is not about race, but a heritage of a great blood mixed in with many others who have become the people of Kauai.

This is a call to fight for an ideal, a philosophy, a beleif, not a call to violence or conduct that will get anyone hurt. This letter is to appeal to your souls, your deepest tears of joy, of hurt, of pain, of relief, of remembrance of contentment and love, and remember why you live kauai. Remember, in practicing these ideas of nui waa, of writing, of walking forward, of fine tuning your minds, of negoitating, of learning, understanding, with these tools we are warriors that is what i mean when i say warrior. This is a battle of the mind, the heart the soul, and not a physical one. Use the gifts and talents that you have, that you have been taught, reawaken them and bring them forward. No one can pass kauai. No one. Kauai people are unique and blessed people. show that. step forward. speak out. resist. but stay lawful, don't get hurt, protect your family and your children because family comes first. But remember what you stand on, the land not concrete. remember what your ceiling is, the sky and not wood. remember what your clothing is, and your food, and what nourishes you. protect that. preserve that aloha no"

anne punohu

kalaheo

The Wailua Vigil-My Thoughts (From a Participant)

Aloha, kakou.

The vigil for me was an exiting event. I had no idea who would show up, or really how the ceremonies were going to be presented. To be sure, I was worried about my health, I had just gotten over a horrific bout with the flu, with temperatures of over 105 degrees, and an ambulance ride to the hospital. My legs, which have been swollen for months, but have begun to heal, it was still going to be very difficult for me to stand long.

The most important thing, was that I had outgrown my old pa'u, since I am now tipping the scales at about 320 pounds. Then of course there was a ride to be arranged, and the kids to take care of as well.

Running around trying to get two teenagers organized, packed, cell phones charged, family freinds rallied to the cause. One dear hanai sister and her husband driving me to and from the event, another fantastic couple, and hanai Ohana, Eric Taylor and his partner Ray, coming to the rescue, with a gorgeously sewn pa'u in 48 hours, and a beautiful guest room for my daughters to rest in, in right down the road from the event, making them pizza, spoiling them terribly and tucking them into a luxurious room all their own.

During all of these preparations, I had been franticlly trying to prepare my hand pounded tapa cloth, which had gotten stiff, and hadn't been used in awhile. I was very concerned about my largest piece for my kihei, and was franticlly trying to get it through three washings, and hangings on the outside line. It was a wonderful joint effort with my daughter, who was interested to learn about the process which was a very good sign.

I was praying that the sun would dry my tapa by some miracle, and it did. I had prepared several pieces as gifts to give to special family friends. This is the real Kauai style, soft as silk and thin. I hadn't dyed it yet, and it had no pounded markings on it, nor stampings, but I felt that the recipients could do that themselves.

I was exited as I arrived. My hearing isn't so good these days, and I think I blew out poor Auntie Nani's ears when I arrived, but it was exiting to have something like this going on. As Eric arrived, and we all fussed trying to get me dressed and ready, and I fussed over Kaulana, trying to impress upon her shorts were not appropriate, but in true teenager style, we covered them up with na kihei.

I had rushed around the night before, making my lei la'i, and preparing a hokupu for the ceremony not knowing if we would have a lele or not. It was wonderful to see so many dear friends, and what I consider hanai ohana. From the Kaleiohi to the Chandlers, there were so many dear friends there, and especially wonderful to have Uncle Nathan and Auntie Nani there, and of course, dear Louie!. These three are true dignified Kupuna. I admire them greatly.

It was wonderful to see the halaus show up, and their cooperation with the pahu drumming, and the chants selected. I had not gone to the pre ceremony, so some of the chants were unfamiliar to me. But believe me, after 24 hours of chanting them, I learned them, trust me. Puna Dawson, someone that I truly respect and admire was there, and The main Kumu, Kehau who had organized the event as well. I was impressed with her halau, as half the people in it were dear old friends of mine.

Later on, during our short break I had teased them, by saying we should all kanikapila. Louie, another family friend of ours laughed and said no, they were all under kapu, so me being the little imp I am tried to test their faithfulness to this ritual. They passed with flying colors and I was most impressed. I was also glad to see the lele dedicated to Lono, and to see the haumana dancing a wonderful "ki'i pohaku" kahiko. This is important to honor those important male ki'i pohaku at the front of the heiau.

I must confess though, this was a bit of an ordeal for me, but as the Kumu said, its not about our comfort but honoring the Gods and Godesses. I was also impressed with the inclusiveness of the halaus. 20 or thirty years ago, it wasnt that common. To see everyone, dancing so beautifully and very excellently of all ethnicities and nationalities really brings home the fact that hula has indeed gone global. For me, being a dancer for about three and a half decades, I was quite moved by this and extremely proud of these haumana.

Both the haumana and Uncle Nathan and Auntie Nani were very inspiring, as Uncle Nathan and Auntie never flinched when the lightning and thunder came, and the haumana stood still as statues proudly as the Kumus chanted. For my part, in the beginning , my daughter came with me, as I chanted a geneaology chant for them in their honor, chanting as I knew how to chant, with the wind. I'm sure I cracked a few eardrums, I tend to blow off a lot of wind when I chant, but I tuly love to chant though. I chanted at the end as well, and this time it was a chant of pride and honour for what we had done, and the mana that was there, and the pride, honour and mana of the people of Kauai.

One of the most amazing things about this event, besides the incredibly awesome mea 'ai that was fed us (Ulu Stew and Luau! YUM), was the fact that all during the night NO RAIN fell on us. It was completely DRY! It was amazing, as someone would pound the pahu and a flash of lightening would occur, or someone would chant or dance, and the heavens would answer approvingly with flashes of lightening and booming pahu sounds of its own. This to me was a miracle and we were in the middle of it!

In the belief of the old days, and now as well, it was always believed that when the Gods and Godesses approved of a hula, a chant, or a mo'olelo, they would answer with one of their own and the lightening was the pa'a or the pounding of the hand on the great pahus of the skies, and the thunder was the sound the great pahu's made. It is said that when Pele would dance, the skies would flash with thunder and lightening. We saw this happen in front of us, and we all felt the energy from that. It was as if, for the hours of the deep night and po, a veil was lifted between the two worlds and we all celebrated together.

Towards about 12 am, we were all feeling the pull of aching bones and being tired. Kehaus voice was tireless, and I admired the fact that her chanting was still so strong after so many hours. The Kumus had to carry all of the chanting and lead it all, so I was quite impressed with that. When we were given until 3 am to wake up, I must confess myself, and several others slept right through the three oclock call of the pu! But I was up at 5 for that pu kahea! Myn legs were literally on fire, and extremely sore, and I had had to sit down, with the Kupuna when they did, even though at times I did not feel it so much, my legs had swollen very painfully so the few hours of laying down had relieved that and I felt much better by 5 am.

At 6am we realized we had actually gone all through the magical night, and it was magical. FUll of deep old mana, that cannot be explained or put into words.

Jeff Chandler, our Ohana, had come down, and we spent a lot of the time talking story and catching up, with his wife as well, and more of the Chandlers showed up. It was so good to see ohana when we aren't at a funeral! There were several well known political figures that came down, the Mayor being one, then Tim Bynum and Lani Kawahara as well.

It was Joann Yukimura that impressed me the most. But then Joann has been raised around hula and protocol, so she came with a beautiful kihei, and a beautiful la'i hokupu and presented that as well. Several other groups also came forward to present their hokupu as well, and two other halaus came as well, all male so that it was a perfect balance. One was from Maui, the other from the Westside and they were very good.

Come morning light, I think we were all hoping to see the sun rise, and get in a good "E Ala E" chant, especially since we were here, at Hikina A Ka La Heiau, but the weather did not cooperate.

But what did happen instead was amazing! As we were doing the 6am or 7am round, the Iwa birds began to circle us carefully, flying extremely low, watching us, and blessing our group with their mana. I was extremely exited to see them, since that is my youngest daughters aumakua! The Iwas were so majestic and beautiful, and we were all abuzz afterwards, interpreting the special meaning of this phenomenon. This seemed to increase or excitement, and we seemed to be even more powerful in our next go around.

It was about this time that the weather decided to take a powerful and interesting turn. We took no breaks, and every hour on the hour we repeated the ceremony again, and again, as the weather picked up. But as this was ocvcurring more and more poeple were coming down, and the crowds were gathering. About 10 oclock we started to realize some amazing weather was ocurring literally all aroujnd us, but as yet we were still relatively dry although the wind had picked up. As the weather increased, so did our mana and our determination. With each go around, we would look at each other or look heavenwards, and chant even louder, feel even stronger.

I remember glancing at Uncle Nathan and Auntie Nani, truly for me the driving force of this event, as Uncle concentrated on the pahu, and Auntie Nani's face was lifted heavenwards, two beautiful Hawaiians, who stood for so much and had done so much for this island, and all of us. They seermed transfixed and ethereal to me, as did Louie, who stood like the old Ikaika guards of old, proud, strong and immovable. The haumana stood perfectly still, nothing would move them, their faces also turned towards the heavens with pride, dignity and honour.

I suppose when you are in the middle of something like this sometimes you dont really notice what is occurring around you. My daughters arived with Eric, looking well fed, well rested and exited but concerned about me. As it got to be 11 oclock, Kaulana joined me, but I didnt want her to get cold or wet, even though she wanted to hold me up. SHe had seen I waws definately feeling a bit of pain and standing was hard. But I encouraged her to go back under the tent, as I waved for Eric, then concentrated on the last round.

Amazingly the river, at that moment began to burst forth, and the skies literally opened up. As three of the Chandlers, our dear Ohana joined the others with pahu's and chanting, I can remember at one point chanting, and my mouth filling with water, so that I had to spit it out to keep going! I had never seen raindrops so fat and heavy! But we kept chanting. We never stopped. The rain pana'd us as hard as it could but we all stood firm, proudly and chanted even louder with even more pride. We were all thoroughly soaked, as the final offerings were made, mine included, of my last chant.

When I chanted, my daughter told me all went silent. The rain, thunder lightening, everything stopped, and it was dry. She said it gave her chicken skin. But I was in the zone, that place that cannot be described. When all i could think of was the air, the sky, the aina, the sacredness of it, and pouring my heart out my mouth from my na'au like I always do when I get the chance to chant. I suppose I am a bit unorthodox, as I chant in the moment, for what is happening at that point in time. To pour out the words of the pride of the people of Kauai, "I ka mana o ka po'e o Kauai nei!", oh that felt really good!!

As each one of the participants either chanted, danced or gave a hokupu, it was then that the rain descended on us in bucket fulls, absolutely relentless. The lightning was cracking close to us, and the full glory of what the Gods could dish out was unleashed. But we saw it as a blessing, and a reminder that the land truly is above us all, and that protecting it is our duty to do so.

When a tight cuirlce was called, we all huddled close. We hugged, held hands. I sheltered I think three of Puna Dawsons haumana under my huge girth, while hugging my Chandler Ohana on one side, and grasping Auntie Nani's hand on the other. We were al together. Hearing words of wisdom from the older Kupuna. And we did not budge, we stood through it all. It was an amazing thing, when we were all ha together, breathing at the same time as "I Ku Mau Mau!" rang out loud, clear and strong.

And then we broke apart, and we all started hugging each other like we had all won the Merrie Monarch Hula Competition! There was so much aloha! Relief, pride and honour, and something relizing that we had just done something very special.

I will never forget that Wailua vigil. Ever. Nor will anyone else who went through it. Our determination to protect, preserve the 'aina regardless of race, color, skin or nationality was completely increased a million fold. We were all blessed, equally, together, as one Ohana, as one hui. Let us not forget how we felt on that day, and carry it in our hearts together.

As I always say, "pa'a i ke kapu", the kapu is broken, we are allowed, it is alright, don't be afraid. You can step forward now. You have permission. Lets remember to do that, all of us.

Aloha

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Superferry Chronicles-I am in this book. Buy it to see what page!

Order The Superferry Chronicles from Amazon here

Big Mahalo to the authors for putting me in this book. I am honored to be a part of history in this epic struggle of a small island people against corruption.

FHLC Fair Housing Law Bill-My Proudest Moment

When I came up with this idea after seeing far too many ads in the newspaper stating that HUD recipients could not apply for many of the rentals in our newspaper, and with a tight housing crunch on our island I decided to do something about it.

Little did I know that it would end up with my dear friend and neighbor Pua Vidinha, my eldest daughter Kaulana Donovan(Punohu), and one of the most famous politicians on our island, Joann Yukimura getting on a planer to the capitol to testify on a bill that Gary Hooser was kind enough to write for me, and it had the support of the Civil Rights Commission, Oha a host of community organizations, and a bevy of other politicians, including Neil Ambercrombie(Congressman), and Mina Morita in the State House, who actually helped to make this video, and Kauai Council members Lani Kawahara, Tim Bynum, Dickie Chang, Jay Furfaro,  and Derek Kawakami. Not to mention the incredible support from the community and even from around the country as different internet news sources picked up the efforts of my little coalition. We had so much support for our cause, and all sorts of coverage from the media, including off the grid media, such as Andy Parx, and Juan Wilson and Aloha Analytics, Save Kauai and others.

To see this video I cannot tell you the swell of pride I feel, in all of the people, media, organizations and political personalities that helped us to get to that moment. I will be re introducing this issue after the 2010 Gubernatorial Election is over. We hope to have a more favorable political climate for the effort, and I believe that the second time around is a charm. 

A huge aloha to each and every one of you who helped us. I can never thank you enough.

And am I proud of my daughter? Yes. Mom is very proud of her girl!

GLOBAL WARMING SUMMIT-THIS 13 YEAR OLD BEATS THEM ALL CHECK THIS OUT!!

My Life As an Iran Revolution Re-tweeter(fishsilly1-my videos)

When the Iran Revolution began, I was ill at home, but I could type. As someone who was used to protesting injustice, and all that sort of stuff, I felt deeply for what was going on. But what could I do? I spoke to an Iranian friend of mine via telephone that I knew from the internet and I had never met. It was then, that I learned, along with all of the other "original 100" about how to re=tweet, do it safely, get stuff up on the internet, make movies, and otherwise keep the spirits of the people up in Iran as best as we could.

Being involved with this was extremely intense. I remember after it was all over, very carefully concealing my identity in order to protect those I was protecting in Iran. "Fishsilly1", was being followed by hundreds of people, even CNN; My posts were seen on national and world news wires, and even on Huffington post.  But no one actually knew who it was for security sake.

Now thats all over, I guess I can say that fishsilly1 was me. The amazing thing about all of that experience, besides the incredible feeling of being right in the middle of things, and getting pretty emotional when my Iranian "tweets" would dissappear on me, was the fact that I learned so much about technology.

It was through this experience, that I created the You Tube channel, in order to keep the videos on the internet, as they were being attacked and hacked and I was a "safe re-tweet". During this, I created several videos for the first time in my life. I went on to create one more for another issue but thats another blog entirely.

In the beginning, we all had to understand what was actually going on. As things went along, it was very stressful. People were desperate to get to us, and the government was constantly thinking of ways to prevent them from communicating with the world. Thanks to a few very brave Iran Re Tweeters, they sort of coached the rest of us in how to handle any situation that may come up, and things changed from minute to minute.

Well meaning Tweeters were making costly and sometimes deadly mistakes trying to help, but those in the original group who still had phone or internet contact in Iran warned everyone that doing certain things was not to be done.

Some of the things that people were doing which was putting the people in jeopardy was trying to Google Earth the area of the protestors to let the protestors know where the troops were. But the troops were using google earth too, and then going into houses and arr4sting people. There were "fake" tweeters, claiming to be from Iran, or creating channels, but they were really the military spying. Word would quickly go out, and several servers were dedicated to just us that were safe re tweeters, and we learned to warn others of fake channels, and tell them who was trustworthy.

This was really intense, as people tried to tweet me in Farsi. This brought up the issue that google had no good Farsi translator. Google came to the rescue, and added a special Farsi translator, which I used for the rest of the time.  In the beginning we would all just retweet the Farsi messages. We were warned that we were actually retweeting information that was identifying people. So a few of us dedicated ourselves to translating the re-tweets in Farsi, and then re-tweeting them again after we were sure there was safe information. I cannot tell you how many Farsi tweets I intercepted that were the Security Forces in Iran.

Then things really started to get crazy. We started getting loads of Farsi messages and retweets. People were being arrested. When you retweet don't say the retweeters name! Don't use google earth! Take out the batteries from your cellphones!! Cover your faces!! Don't go to this site, its a trap they are tracking you!!...that was coming from our side. Suddenly we were getting tweets like "They are coming into our house now. oOodbye", and "They are at our doors now. We don't know what to do." These ones just broke my heart. We were now waging a full scale war of our own, weeding out the people on twitter that were there to get information in order to find epople and kill them or arrest them. At the same time we were trying to encourage everyone. Most importantly we wanted them to encourage each other, as we carefully retweeted Farsi messages that were scrutinized first, and then passed along.

Then, the security forces went after us, trying to hack our accounts and shut us down entirely. A few true hero re-tweeters then figured out how to switch router addresses constantly to save the connections to Iran, as fast as the government forces were shutting them down. But one of the problems was, in the beginning we kept announcing them as re tweets which just alerted the security forces to the new router addresses. So a secure set up was created so we would only pass those along to certain tweeters from Iran only.

I think for me, it was the tweeters that I was constantly in contact with that were telling me exactly what was happening that was amazing. And their determination to photograph what was happening under pain of death. I can remember trying to stay on with some of them as long as I could. It was stressful for me, but I just kept thinking what they were going through.

Then, as artists all over the world began to respond, by putting up inspirational you tube videos, I decided to join them. As an artist myself, as crazy as this sounded, there was beauty and artistry in what was happening over there. Culturally, poetically musically and photography wise. I had no idea what I was doing, but it got my mind off worrying about some of my Iran tweets and if they were alive. We all seemed to collectively start sending them messages of encouragement just trying to keep their spirits up.

As things dragged on, and the crackdown became more intense and brutal, the tweets coming out of Iran began to be more hopeless, and they seemed exhausted and frazzled. We started posting all of the art and videos, and hopeful messages that we could. I remember just being so frustrated and upset and worried for them. As I said this was extremely intense.

WHen I was making these videos, I was understanding that th4e people that took these photos took their lives in their hands, and we believe some may have died getting these pictures out to the world. I took a crash course in Farsi culture, by translating some bigger Farsi websites, and learning about the Lions, and the true flag and some of the history. When I learned that Irans Poet Laureate was a woman called the "Lioness of Iran" I was inspired! THat became my third video, and was my most popular one.

But my first video, I saw a single picture that spoke volumes for me, so I used it for my first 2 videos. It was the face of a young child defiantly staring at the camera and holding his sign proudly. "We want freedom" it said. I wept, then got myself together and made the first 2 videos. It took me forever to find music that would convey the feelings I wanted, and to put the pictures together in some sort of an artistic order. In the end I was proud of what I had done. All of us were tweeting these videos, art, pictures and words of encouragement, in the midst of mass arrests, executions, and bloody shootings on the street all meant to beat the people down.

The most inspirational thing, in the end came from the people themselves. They would tweet us heartfelt thanks, and they would tell us how they were standing on the roofs and chanting "Allah Ahkbar!", god is great. They believed they would be saved if they did this. It came from a legend in their history that once before their people were saved in just this way.

Writing about this, now that this particular event is over has been a great release for me. It has instilled in me an even greater need to fight to protect the people, and to stand up for what I believe in. The brave epople of Iran taught us a lot of lessons with their defiance and taking to the streets. We all needed that lesson. I hope we will remember it for a long time to come. I know that I will.

This was the last video I made. It didn't upload properly but no one seemed to care. The point was made. By that time, this event was worldwide, the entire planet was horrified, and I felt I had an obligation to portray a people who needed help, since they were absolutely exhausted and worn out by this time.

My most well known video. Dedicated to the women that were out in the streets. They actually led this revolution, although the popular media will never admit it. But I know, because I was communicating with them on the ground. I was so proud and inspired by these amazing women. I still am.

This was actually my first video. It was difficult to make, and I pretty much cried every time I would watch it.

This was my second one. More somber, more funerary. OK this one still makes me cry. But it has a somber, driving dignity. As an artist, blending certain pictures and choosing the right music was important to set the mood for what I was trying to convey. This is actually a different video from the one above even though the same picture of the child is being used

This video was dedicated to the men that were in the streets. I called them the Lions of Iran, as this was culturally correct for them. I learned a lot about the culture during this.

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