Hanalei Somar

Bio

Hanalei is the New York City coordinator for BAYAN USA, a founder of Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FiRE NYC, a GABRIELA USA organization), and a Steering Committee member of the May 1st Coalition for Immigrant Rights. She is a community organizer, writer, performer, and multi-media artist. Hanalei is also a member of the artist collectives everydayarmada and k-k, and has been awarded residencies and opportunities with Project Rowhouses, The Laundromat Project, and the Asian Womens Giving Circle.
This is life one week after the release of Invisible Children’s (IC) STOP KONY viral video. To be fair, IC has set the precedent for successful marketing and branding campaigns for human interest organizations, raised awareness for the atrocities…
Congratulations on the recent purchase of your $30.00 KONY 2012 action kit. While there is absolutely no doubt that Joseph Kony is a heinous human being, responsible for traumatizing a generation of young Ugandans, I want to let you know that this…
With close to 30 sponsors pulling funding from his show, a rare apology from Rush Limbaugh regarding his “choice of words” surfaced on his website Sunday afternoon. This was a useless response after calling Sandra Fluke, a law student who testified…
On March 1, thousands of students in the U.S. rallied for the National Day of Action for Education in response to the harsh conditions today’s students face amidst economic crisis, tuition hikes, and racial disparity. Ninty-four percent of polled…
The GOP carnival arrived in Michigan on Tuesday, and now prepares for the final stretch toward Super Tuesday. Romney won the Michigan primary by focusing on jobs and the economy, but there are a number of Michigan-specific issues that clearly affect…
Editor's note: We asked two of our pundits, one male and one female, to respond to the popular video "THE FLIP SIDE (BAR)," in which in an alternate reality, the gender roles of a night out are reversed. Men drink raspberry kamikazes and women dance…
While you were spending an average of $116.21 on a Valentine's Day gift, others celebrated love by participating in mass demonstrations across the world. Of course, many of these groups capitalized on the most obvious of themes. Same-sex couples…
SPOILER ALERT: This PETA ad shows an injured young woman, without pants, carrying home groceries.  The narrator then introduces the young woman as Jessica and says, "She suffers from 'BWVAKTBOOM,' 'Boyfriend Went Vegan and Knocked the Bottom Out of…