Puerto Rico & Hawai'i: Building Power with Energy Democracy With Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, Ruth Santiago, Todd Yamashita, & Niki Franco
07/15/24 • 54 min
Today on the show: a special panel discussion addressing the questions: How can communities build power in the face of colonization, natural disasters, and corporate profiteering? In Puerto Rico and the Hawaiian island of Molokai, residents have been grappling with some of the highest energy costs in the nation, while for-profit utilities amass record profits. But communities on both islands have advocated for a different path, one that prioritizes care, democratic control, and resilience. Join us to hear how people are fighting back against disaster capitalism and the privatization of their energy utilities and building their own energy solutions.
Guests:
- Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, serves on the Maui County Council representing Molokai.
- Ruth Santiago, JD, LLM is a community and environmental lawyer who works with grassroots environmental advocacy groups in Puerto Rico, and is part of the We Want Sun (Queremos Sol) initiative.
- Todd Yamashita is a founding board member of Hoahu Energy Cooperative, a community owned and managed energy coop.
Moderator: Niki Franco, Partners for Dignity & Rights
FULL BIOS:
Ruth Santiago, JD, LLM is a community and environmental lawyer who works with grassroots environmental advocacy groups in Puerto Rico. She has sought to protect Puerto Rico’s South Coast aquifer, battled the country’s largest oil burning power complex and worked to expand rooftop solar energy projects in the Jobos Bay communities between Salinas and Guayama in southeastern Puerto Rico. Additionally, she is part of a civil society initiative to promote community-based solar projects and energy democracy called We Want Sun (Queremos Sol). She also serves on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
Born and raised in Molokai, Keani Rawlins-Fernandez is honored to serve the people and ‘āina of Molokai, Maui, Lāna‘i, and Kaho‘olawe on the Maui County Council. She is committed to ensuring that her community’s voice is put at the center of decision-making, that the ‘āina is protected, and that the people in her community are cared for.
Todd Yamashita is a fourth-generation resident of Molokai and serves on the board of Hoahu Energy Cooperative Molokai, which is committed to creating resilient, sustainable, equitable, culturally conscious energy for all.
Today on the show: a special panel discussion addressing the questions: How can communities build power in the face of colonization, natural disasters, and corporate profiteering? In Puerto Rico and the Hawaiian island of Molokai, residents have been grappling with some of the highest energy costs in the nation, while for-profit utilities amass record profits. But communities on both islands have advocated for a different path, one that prioritizes care, democratic control, and resilience. Join us to hear how people are fighting back against disaster capitalism and the privatization of their energy utilities and building their own energy solutions.
Guests:
- Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, serves on the Maui County Council representing Molokai.
- Ruth Santiago, JD, LLM is a community and environmental lawyer who works with grassroots environmental advocacy groups in Puerto Rico, and is part of the We Want Sun (Queremos Sol) initiative.
- Todd Yamashita is a founding board member of Hoahu Energy Cooperative, a community owned and managed energy coop.
Moderator: Niki Franco, Partners for Dignity & Rights
FULL BIOS:
Ruth Santiago, JD, LLM is a community and environmental lawyer who works with grassroots environmental advocacy groups in Puerto Rico. She has sought to protect Puerto Rico’s South Coast aquifer, battled the country’s largest oil burning power complex and worked to expand rooftop solar energy projects in the Jobos Bay communities between Salinas and Guayama in southeastern Puerto Rico. Additionally, she is part of a civil society initiative to promote community-based solar projects and energy democracy called We Want Sun (Queremos Sol). She also serves on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
Born and raised in Molokai, Keani Rawlins-Fernandez is honored to serve the people and ‘āina of Molokai, Maui, Lāna‘i, and Kaho‘olawe on the Maui County Council. She is committed to ensuring that her community’s voice is put at the center of decision-making, that the ‘āina is protected, and that the people in her community are cared for.
Todd Yamashita is a fourth-generation resident of Molokai and serves on the board of Hoahu Energy Cooperative Molokai, which is committed to creating resilient, sustainable, equitable, culturally conscious energy for all.
Previous Episode
Changing the World Through Abolition: Manju Rajendran of Durham Beyond Policing
Host Max Rameau talks with Manju Rajendran of Durham Beyond Policing. Together, they discuss the landscape of organizing in North Carolina, abolition, healing justice, and the work of building and maintaining community.
Manju Rajendran is a facilitator, trainer, conflict transformation practitioner, and organizer with 27 years of local, state, regional, and national-level experience. Her work is grounded in popular education pedagogy and healing justice. Manju is a trainer with Ready the Ground Training Team, member of Sanctuary Beyond Walls, and part of Durham Beyond Policing. Manju is a queer, working class, South Asian immigrant woman who grew up in North Carolina. Her father organized with the local NAACP chapter and her mother was active in public schools, so she was brought up in meetings and community gatherings. She brings an expansive network of intentionally-sustained relationships with peers and mentors with her, especially from across the Southeastern US, and remains accountable to the communities who raised her.
Links to topics mentioned on this episode:
Durham Beyond Policing
Budget Proposal on Policing
News article on 2023 protest
Community Safety and Wellness Task Force
Southerners On New Ground (SONG)
Interrupting Criminalization
INCITE
Critical Resistance
BYP 100 Durham
UE 150 City Workers Union
Manju's bio with AORTA
Next Episode
Grassroots Democracy with Molly Martin & Erika L. Anthony
Host Max Rameau is joined by Erika L. Anthony, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Cleveland VOTES, and Molly Martin, a member of the Cleveland Catholic Worker and the lead organizer for the People's Budget Cleveland grassroots ballot initiative campaign, for a conversation on Cleveland’s fight for participatory budgeting, and why sometimes losing an election is still a victory.
Earning 49.11% of the vote in 2023, the People's Budget amendment would have given Cleveland residents the ability to decide how 2% of the city budget is spent.
Molly Martin is a member of the Cleveland Catholic Worker community on the near west side of Cleveland. In 2023, Molly was the lead organizer for Issue 38, the People's Budget Cleveland grassroots ballot initiative campaign. Earning 49.11% of the vote in November 2023, the Issue 38 People’s Budget charter amendment would have given Cleveland residents the ability to decide how 2% of the city budget is spent. Molly also organizes with the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless on direct action campaigns for homeless civil rights and legal renter protections.
Erika L. Anthony, a native New Yorker, is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Cleveland VOTES. Cleveland VOTES is a nonpartisan, democracy-building movement that works to reconstruct and strengthen power through active participation of our collective partners. Prior to her full-time role with Cleveland VOTES, Erika most recently served as the Executive Director of the Ohio Transformation Fund (OTF). The OTF is a statewide funding collaborative developed by national and local funders that focuses on advocating for more fair and just policies and solutions to address the harms imposed by the criminal legal system. Additionally, Erika was the Vice President of Government Relations and Strategy for Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, Director of Business Development at Oriana House, Inc., Project Coordinator for a pilot reentry program at the Centers for Families and Children and held various roles in the legal sector.
In addition to her full-time roles, she also sits on a number of Boards, including: City of Cleveland Planning Commission, Midtown Cleveland Inc., Ohio Voice, and Red, Wine + Blue. Additionally, in the fall of 2021 Erika was selected to serve as a Co-Chair for then Mayor-Elect Justin Bibb’s Transition Team. Erika has served as an Adjunct Professor for a policy class at Case Western Reserve University, Mandel School of Applied Sciences. She has also participated in a number of leadership programs including: Cleveland Bridge Builders, Fellowship with New Leaders Council and Rockwood Leadership Institute. Erika holds a B.S. in Psychology from The Pennsylvania State University and a Masters of Public Administration from the Maxine G. Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University. Erika and her husband Brian reside in Cleveland; they enjoy traveling, biking and spending time with their family, friends and puppy.
Links to topics mentioned on this episode:
Public Budgetingrefundcleveland.com
Cleveland Votes
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