Two large signs were erected Saturday as Maui Indivisible held a rally at Malauka Beach in Makena to protest the “billionaire takeover.” The Maui News/Eli Pace

As protesters demanding better wages took to the streets in cities across the U.S. over the holiday weekend, a small group of Maui residents and activists went to the beach.

It wasn’t a day off for Maui Indivisible, which organized Saturday’s rally featuring a handful of keynote speakers and state officials, nor were they there working on a tan.

Rather, the group was at Maluaka Beach in Makena hoping to call attention to what they described as the systematic removal of working-class people and Native Hawaiians from the Makena community and beyond. Specifically, the rally took aim at Mākena Mauka, a large proposed luxury development on land owned by the Mākena Golf & Beach Club.

“We wanted to have (the rally) the Saturday of Labor Day weekend and really bring folks together to show how the billionaires who live here, at least part time, are an apparatus that supports and funds and even the architects of this fascist regime are right here on Maui,” said Marnie Masuda-Cleveland, the lead for Maui Indivisible who helped organize the lineup of speakers.

“Just little by little, working people here on Maui are being displaced, marginalized, beaten down by the needs and wants of the millionaire and billionaire class,” she added. “And it just has to stop.”

Groups supporting federal workers and unions marched in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and other U.S. cities in support of workers’ rights and other causes. One of the nationwide rally organizers, May Day Strong, said on its website that “billionaires are stealing from working families, destroying our democracy and building private armies to attack our towns and cities.”

Speakers at Saturday’s rally on Maui didn’t pull any punches on the billionaires either, as they likened what’s happening on Maui to the broader issues of fascism, big-money influence and the need for community solidarity.

Moreover, they blasted the planned Mākena Mauka development featuring as many as 900 new luxury homes, a golf course and beach club. According to rally organizers, each home is anticipated to have its own swimming pool and come with a price tag of $10 million or more.

After opening in the Hawaiian language, activist, educator and keynote speaker Kahele Dukelow called upon the crowd to fight back as she traced how development has pushed so many local families and Native Hawaiians out of the area while also harming the natural environment and only catering to the uber wealthy.

“Whether your ancestors came during the plantation or whether you came and immigrated here later on, there is no better time than now for us to unite and resist and work against the racist and fascist government of America,” Dukelow said. “What is happening in America, what is happening in Palestine and what is happening here on Maui have the same source: unchecked power, insatiable greed, all the evils of settler colonialism.”

Kahele Dukelow addresses the crowd while speaking at a rally organized by Maui Indivisible on Saturday at Maluaka Beach in Makena. The Maui News/Eli Pace

Dukelow said a small group of people “fought like hell” in the 1980s to prevent much of the development that’s taken place today at Makena and across Maui. She said that group had the foresight to see what was happening decades ago and they successfully fought to preserve beach access that allowed for the rally.

“They recognized that what was going to happen was the removal and erasure of Hawaiians and of working-class people from those communities,” she said. ‘They fought in the courts. They fought in our community meetings. They fought down here on the beaches, fighting to maintain access to these shorelines for our people.”

Near the end of Saturday’s rally, two large signs were posted on the beach criticizing “Tech Billionaires” and advocating for “People Over Profit.”

“What they feared was going to happen has happened, and you would think that it could not get any worse,” Dukelow added. “But like Marnie mentioned, it can get a lot worse. Developers like Wailea 670 and Discovery Land Company that surround us right now, they have plans. They have plans that don’t include us, don’t include people like us, except for exploiting our labor possibly.”

Dukelow said she has been organizing her entire life, and it has been hard going up against such deep pockets, but she’s not ready to give up either.

“They are not building a community for us,” she said. “Our labor should go into building communities for us. … If they can do this in Makena with no water and no community will for any of it, they can do whatever they want anywhere, and that’s what we have to stop.”

Other speakers included state Rep. Terez Amato and state Sen. Angus McKelvey, who took shots at the Trump administration as well as luxury development as they promised to fight for working-class people.

Hawaii state Rep. Terez Amato speaks during a Saturday rally at Maluaka Beach that took aim at luxury development projects. The Maui News/Eli Pace

Hawaii state Sen. Angus McKelvey addresses the crowd during a Saturday rally at Maluaka Beach. The Maui News/Eli Pace

Additionally, Laila Popata, one of the founders of Maui For Palestine, called for action against the ongoing genocide in Gaza in a passionate plea for more people to get involved.

“This is not about Hamas or about self-defense. This is ethnic cleansing,” she said. “Currently, an entire civilian population — 2.2 million people — are being starved to death and there are aid trucks sitting at the border crossing with much needed food and humanitarian supplies.”

Laila Popata, one of the founders of Maui For Palestine, raises her fist in the air after speaking out against civilian deaths and the ongoing blockade on food and humanitarian supplies in Gaza during a rally Saturday at Malauka Beach. The Maui News/Eli Pace

The rally was promoted by Maui Indivisible, the same group that’s been holding regular pro-democracy and anti-Trump rallies on Maui. Numbers at Saturday’s event were significantly lower than recent protests on the island, such as a rally in front of the Queen Ka’ahumanu Center in June that drew thousands, but those in attendance were no less adamant that action needs to be taken.

On Labor Day, demonstrations in Chicago and New York were organized by One Fair Wage to draw attention to the struggles laborers face in the U.S. Chants of “Trump must go now!” echoed outside the president’s former home in New York, while protesters gathered outside a different Trump Tower in Chicago. Large crowds also gathered in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. In New York, people gathered outside Trump Tower, and demonstrators waved signs and banners calling for an end to what they said is a fascist regime.

In Washington, a large crowd gathered with signs saying “Stop the ICE invasion” and an umbrella painted with “Free D.C. No masked thugs.” Hundreds more gathered at protests along the West Coast to fight for the rights of immigrants and workers.

Multiple groups joined together at the protests in Chicago to listen to speeches and lend their voices to the chants.

Along the West Coast from San Diego up to Seattle, hundreds gathered at rallies to call for a stop to the “billionaire takeover.”

John Fitzpatrick, the Maui board member of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, also offered remarks Saturday as he advocated for better investment in education and community infrastructure.