The movement to stop the construction of a 18-story, $1.4 billion telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea has grown in momentum as protestors in Hawaii and around the world have made #WeAreMaunaKea a trending topic on social media. Hawaii Gov. David Ige extended a construction moratorium for the telescope and on April 27 members of the opposition groups Mauna Kea Hui and Mauna Kea Ohana delivered to his office a thumb drive filled with “53,000 signatures against building the Thirty Meter Telescope on a mountain held sacred by Native Hawaiians,” reported AP. The day before on April 26, hackers disrupted the telescope’s website as well as the Hawaii state government’s website, says AP. “At no time was data comprised or were services at risk,” said Jodi Leong, the governor’s deputy director of communications. “The website was brought back up on a back-up server at 2 p.m. and full site availability was restored by 4:40 p.m.”Thirty Meter Telescope spokeswoman Sandra Dawson said its website was overwhelmed by hackers trying to attack the website, reported AP. She said the attacks are coming from people outside of Hawaii but there have been no breaches of the company’s secure files.Mauna Kea on the Big Island is the tallest mountain in the world when measured from base to summit, reports to BBC News. This telescope would allow astronomers and scientists to see up to 13 billion light years away, going back to the origins of the universe. People have gathered together to protest the placement of the telescope on Hawaiian sacred land, Mauna Kea. BYU-Hawaii History Professor Isaiah Walker explained the place Mauna Kea has in Hawaiian history. He said, “Mauna Kea is sacred for many reasons. First, it is a wahi pana, or sacred space. In Hawaiian mo‘olelo (oral histories), Mauna Kea was home to Wakea, Sky Father, and was the place he connected with Papa, Earth Mother (where the sky and earth meet). Together, Papa and Wakea created the islands, other forms of life, and eventually man. In regard to Hawaiian views of creation, I suppose Mauna Kea was a kind of Garden of Eden in the Kumulipo (Hawaiian creation story). Many Hawaiians see it as sacred in the same ways that others would look at church or temple grounds… “Second, the land is sacred because it is national conservation land, which is supposed to preserve it from over-development. Yet, this observatory, if built, will be the 14th observatory on the mountain.”Walker continued, “Third, Mauna Kea is on ceded land. Ceded lands are lands that belonged to the Hawaiian Kingdom, the Hawaiian government, the Hawaiian public before the Hawaiian nation became occupied in 1898. The University of Hawaii is managing the land of Mauna Kea and subleasing it to other countries to use for their various observatories.”Local Hawaiians and opponents of the telescope from all over the world have petitioned to stop the construction of the telescope. This controversy has also sparked a wave of social media support shown by photos of people with the words “We are Mauna Kea,” written on them or held up signs with the comment on them, reported BBC News. Celebrities such as “Game of Thrones” star Jason Momoa, Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger and San Francisco Giants’ pitcher Madison Bumgarner have all used #WeAreMaunaKea.The increase of members on the Facebook page “Stand for Mauna Kea” matches the increase in support and awareness of the issue around the world. Joshua Lanakila Mangauil, one of the administrators of the page, said, “I launched this page in October, shortly after the ground-breaking ceremony at the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) site. Until a few weeks ago, the group had only a couple hundred members and it was a place to communicate about the issues relating to the mountain and the planned construction of the TMT. In just a few short weeks, the group has grown to be 15,000 strong.” Mangauil continued, “The use of social media allows us to communicate about events happening all over the globe in support of halting the construction of the TMT. Having that global support and the ability to share information freely has surely been a big part of the visibility of our efforts. We will continue to work together to bring attention to this proposed desecration of our sacred mountain.” Attorney David Kimo Frankel, of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, said the cultural heritage of the land gives it legal rights, and telescope isn’t consistent with criteria in Hawaii’s state administrative rules. “If it is a sacred site, if it’s an important cultural resource, and the project would degrade that cultural resource, then it’s inconsistent with the law,” he said to Hawaii News Now.University of Hawaii professor and land use attorney David Callies disagreed with the protestors, arguing that the telescope’s developer “met all demands and are on solid legal footing,” according to Hawaii News Now. Callies said, “It’s the state’s land. It’s the university’s land. It’s for a scientific purpose. It’s for a purpose that fits the mission of the university. And it’s for one of the purposes that conservation land has been used in the past.” Protestor Isa Center said of the land, “Our ancestors believed that there were numerous gods and goddesses and Mauna Kea was their temple. They feel strongly that this will disrupt their temple,” wrote BBC News. She continued, “In Hawaii, the land is precious to our people. It’s a very strong cultural protest.” Accurate up to April 30, 2015
Writer: Alyssa Troyanek
