#tmtshutdown

Mauna Kea is special. On that much, every stakeholder can agree. But that’s where the agreement stops.

The dormant volcano, whose peak is the highest point in the state of Hawai'i at almost 14,000 feet above sea level, is a sacred site to indigenous Hawaiians. It’s also prime scientific real estate. Some hope it will soon be home to the world’s biggest telescope—the Thirty Meter Telescope or TMT—which could peer back more than 13 billion years in time to the universe’s beginnings.

What's happening?

All this has culminated in a historic conflict as attempts to construct the TMT get underway. A group of indigenous Hawaiians are peacefully protesting to protect their sacred site, while local authorities struggle with what action to take and the science community, including a number of indigenous Hawaiian scientists, works to figure out what to do next.

Local news source the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that more than 200 activists who blocked the access road to the mountain on Tuesday were prepared to be arrested if necessary. But the day ended with no arrests and no agreement between the authorities—who brought in non-local police as reinforcements—and the protestors. As of Wednesday morning local time, Hawaii News Nowis reporting that arrests have begun.

On Wednesday, July 17th, a heavily armed police force arrested over 20 Native Hawaiian elders who were peacefully protecting Mauna Kea from desecration.

#TMTShutdown#AoleTMT #KuKiaʻiMauna

Indigenous students and academics across Canada are calling on their universities to divest from a project that would see the construction of a giant telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

It's called the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT).

Since July 15, hundreds of Indigenous people in Hawaii have protested against its construction on the mountain they consider sacred.

"Indigenous people across the country stand with each other no matter what side of the [Canada-U.S.] border we fall," said Tomas Jirousek, the Indigenous affairs commissioner at the Students' Society of McGill University in Montreal.

Jirousek said he's just as concerned about the telescope in Hawaii as he would be if it were built on sacred land in Canada. It's why he's condemning McGill's affiliation with the project, and hopes to coordinate a letter campaign with student societies from universities that would use the telescope.

Continue Reading.

The ongoing protests against the construction of an 18-story telescope atop Mauna Kea, Hawaiʻi’s highest peak, reached a crescendo Wednesday (July 17) when police arrested elders, using wheelchairs and canes, as they blocked the mountain’s base, reports The Associated Press. There were an estimated 2,000 people speaking out against the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), which would be 12 times stronger than the Hubble Space Telescope and was scheduled for the start of construction on Monday (July 15).  

The elders, known as kūpuna, volunteered to be the first arrested; they formed a line blocking the road, Dan Dennison, a spokesperson for Hawaiʻi’s Department of Land and Natural Resources, told The AP. Kealoha Pisciotta, a protest leader, said that dozens of elders were ready to make the sacrifice to save Mauna Kea, which is sacred to native Hawaiians.

In honor of all those protesting and demonstrating for Mauna a Wākea — I wanna say how upset I am everyday about how all these intellectuals, politicians, “law-makers” and money-takers don’t give a single shit about the Hawaiian people, our interests, our beliefs, or our feelings. From the bombing of Kahoʻolawe to the stealing and diversion of our water, and all the other countless things that have been done to our islands and our people— I’m sick of it but not surprised at all. The constant disrespect and disregard for us is the only thing I can find predictable in these times. I can go on and on with how I’m feeling and what I think should be done. But unfortunately—Native people and the land itself are hardly respected and it feels sadly hopeless when those with the power and the money control everything.

alright i'm posting this because i am pissed the hell off.

so here's the situation. there's a plan to build a thirty meter telescope at the top of mauna kea on hawai’i island. great, you say, we'll be able to learn more about space! sen, why is this a bad thing?

learning more about space is great! i'm all for that, but can we do it some place that isn't sacred to hawaiian culture and doesn't already have thirteen fucking observatories on it?

do you want to know what these "terrorists" are doing? they're exercising their rights to peaceful protest, doing hula, chanting, singing, waving signs, and generally being unthreatenting. yes, they're blocking traffic. they're also directing it around them. they're not violent or dangerous. they're not even slinging hate around. in fact, all they're doing is loving. yes, they're angry. of course they are. but they're just throwing around love, for the mauna, for our people and our culture, even for the people who have wronged them.

do you want to know what the state is doing? they send heavily armed forces to arrest and scare us. the governor declares a state of emergency, vows that the public will be protected, no matter their beliefs. then he starts spewing lies about the protesters and what's really going on up there. no one is drinking. there are no drugs. no infighting. people who are confused on why they're there are being educated. nobody is violent, nobody is dangerous.

i want someone to explain to me why the FUCK my people, my kupuna, are being arrested for trying to protect a sacred place from further desecration. i don't care if they're being released almost immediately when they're back down the mountain, i want to know why the hell it's okay to send such heavily armed forces to a group of peaceful protesters. i want to know who made it okay to traumatize a group of people like that.

i want to know why it is that when brown people decide to stick up for themselves peacefully, we're called terrorists. i want to know why there is no place for my culture in the future.

more importantly, someone tell me where that aggression is for the people camping outside of planned parenthoods and other abortion clinics who make women feel so threatened that it's not safe for them unless they are completely covered and escorted into the facility. i want to know where that aggression is towards the people who shoot up schools and clubs and music festivals. i want to know where that aggression is for the goddamn concentration camps currently plaguing the usa. i want to know where the fuck this aggression is towards the actual terrorists. and i want to know why we haven't fixed our massive homelessness problem if we have the resources to spare on sending armed forces to arrest peaceful protesters, governor ige? why the hell aren't you protecting my people when that's your job?