Mauna Kea protest - what's happening here and local info.

[mahina]

Last edited Thu Jun 25, 2015, 05:05 PM - Edit history (2)

http://oiwi.tv


http://kahea.org/press-room/press-clips/mauna-kea2013sacred-summit-or-cash-cow-controversy-over-the-thirty-meter-telescope

http://www.civilbeat.com/2015/06/mauna-kea-telescope-protesters-arrested-as-tmt-resumes-construction/


http://oiwi.tv/maunakea/



The mountain has become a symbol and the foundation for a social movement.

Some of the most unassuming people in these videos are some of the heaviest in this community- kumu hula and their families, farmers, community leaders who speak softly but with very deep mana'o. It's not just a few fringe kooks.

There's a huge upwelling of resistance and the telescopes just happen to be a perfect context to act on it. Where other protests are ignored, protests there are news. There's one road up, and it can be blocked easily. The leaders of this action are deeply connected to all the islands.

When I was in Hilo during Merrie Monarch hula festival, there were protests on every major intersection, and horns were blasting continuously in support from passersbye who ordinarily don't beep their horns. The protests are not just on the mountain, they are all over, including a vigil in front of the state capitol.

It's a mistake to misread the protesters as just a few anything. Even yesterday a friend, flying to the Big Island yesterday, noted that the plane was full of mauna protestors. Young people have adopted the image which I can't post here that has come to symbolize resistance for the mauna. People feel like it's a "this far and no further" kind of moment. People have just frikken had it.

The last telescope was supposed to be the -last- telescope. This telescope would be so collossal, it would dominate the landscape. The impacts on the aquifers from the pounding the mountain would take to lay the immensely thick concrete foundation are a problem.

I am not speaking for them. I can see both sides of the matter. I don't even always agree with the protestors, at least not completely, but I understand them and I know they are not as characterized, cartoonish projections of backwardness that only reflects the colonial mindset of those who attempt to minimize them. Far, far from it. I hope other DUers here who would post about the matter or who care would check out the 'Oiwi footage. Lacking any other DUer who sees what's going on here and cares to post here, I'm giving a quick summary. I am not here to argue with anybody, but to share a local context as it has not been communicated at all in the national news.

I'm glad someone has been teaching nonviolent resistance, as the feelings run very deep on this matter here. So far, so good, thank goodness.

[mike_c]

1. in other news, superstition and ignorance, masquerading as "culture..."

...impedes the evil of scientific inquiry and progress. A thirty meter reflector is a triumph of human imagination and effort. Can't have that if it might anger some nonexistent mountain gods. Why don't we all just turn off the lights and heat and move back in with our live stock?

[mahina]

2. Exhibit A.

[mike_c]

5. I've yet to hear any compelling argument against building the TMT except...

...superstitious gobbledegook about angering the mountain. The environmental protection arguments are mostly specious and pasted on afterwards to justify knee jerk opposition-- the site is already developed and the impact of one more observatory is minimal, while the scientific gain is potentially enormous (and the engineering advances will be epic).

It's the twenty first century. Rational people understand that topography doesn't experience emotion. Mountains don't get angry or sad.

[salimbag]

6. I have to agree

This is a high profile opportunity for protestors, not a rational movement against some no-benefit project. I have protested in past years against rapacious development. I have protested against military occupation of our islands. This TMT is not in the same category. I was the first poster in this group about the TMT, and linked to articles concerning the protests. The state is proceeding with the utmost of respect for the right to protest. While I do not know the eventual outcome, I feel the concern for the "sacred" nature of the mountain is not valid, and the concerns about the project have been addressed during the seven year permitting process. Aloha

http://westhawaiitoday.com/sections/opinion/columns/search-knowledge-summit-mauna-kea-sacred-mission.html

[Stargazer09]

3. +1

It's really sad that so many Hawaiians are protesting the telescope. It makes them seem backward, uneducated, and anti-science.

I would celebrate the incredible gift of being able to see so much of our universe from that location.

[Stargazer09]

4. Look to the future

Being mired in the past does no one any good.

The telescope has so much to offer to everyone, including Hawaiians. It should be welcomed with open arms, not treated like a bad thing.