Protesters are calling for international support against the construction of the world's largest telescope on the Big Island of Hawaii's Mauna Kea Sacred Mountain.
At 13,700 feet above sea level, Mauna Kea Mountain is the highest point in Hawaii and is spiritually revered by the native Hawaiian people. It is considered a sacred location as it the site where the Hawaiian people scatter the ashes of the dead. In ancient Polynesian oral history, Mauna Kea Mountain was believed to be the meeting place for Sky Father and Earth Mother, the ancestors of the entire human race.
Although the choice of location has mired it in controversy, the TMT team says they picked the particular site with consideration, as it doesn't have any shrines and is not used for cultural practices. Moreover, there are another 13 giant telescopes on the mountain already in operation, which support jobs and education. The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is expected to enable scientists to make important observations and the project has secured funding of around $1.4 billion from the governments of Canada, the U.S., China, India and Japan, India.
In early April, law enforcement officers arrested about a dozen protesters who were blocking off the road from 15 trucks trying to make their way to the construction site. The incident left workers stranded for over eight hours. Similar protests started again recently and police warned that they would be forced to arrest more people.
The protest movement has gained more traction since — on Monday, April 13, several hundred faculty members and students from the University of Hawaii at Manoa staged a walk-out and thousands of people rallied on the island, calling for authorities to end the project.
The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) has also called for international support against the construction of TMT. The IITC stated that the protests will continue so long as development plans for TMT continue moving forward. It also called for a provisional Hawaiian government that would take actions to stop the construction.
"The Nation of Hawaii stands in full support of the frontline action to stop the cultural genocide of Mauna Kea," the IITC statement reads. "The only solution that will stop the construction of the TMT and ongoing desecration of Mauna Kea is to form a Provisional Government of National Unity (PGNU) immediately, a Hawaiian government will all the powers of an independent state."
Photo: Vadim Kurland | Flickr
