Friday, January 17, 2020

Hawaii Renaissance Protests






Hawaii Renaissance protests                                                                                              

            Hawaii’s Thirty Meter Telescope the government 

is all for, but the Native Hawaiians do not want the 

TMT to be built because the construction can and 

will desecrate the sacred Mauna Kea. Mauna Kea 

is home to special ceremonial practices and sacred ceremonies.  I went to Hawaii and 

got an incredible experience. Hawaii is all about preserving the land and keeping the 

indigenous land untouched, so when the Native Hawaiians find out that the indigenous 

mountain is getting slapped a big huge observatory right at the highest peak. There’s 

going to be angry people. 

     


              
         At a press conference July 16, 2018, 

the leader of the protests Kaho’ Okani 

Kanuha stated to the government “we are 

against the destruction of our Mauna”, this is 

when the Native Hawaiian blocked all the roads and the protests began. 

Following the day after  an emergency proclamation was signed by governer Joe 

closing multiple sections of the road leading to the construction  After the press 

conference, 

protests began on the roads leading up to the top of Mauna. Police arrested 

33 Elder Native Hawaiians because they were blocking the entrance to the TMT 

construction which was stated illegal by the police. All of them were released almost 

immediately. I felt like that was very wrong of the police to arrest the elders because 

they were not disturbing the peace harming anyone they were just simply blocking the 

road which is not illegal.

       


        




            The government wants the telescope on the Mauna Kea because it is the 

highest peak in Hawaii.  This high peak would let them see deeper into space and let 

them to see into the beginning of the universe. The TMT will have a dozen times the 

resolution as the Hubble space observatory. Planning  the Tmt started in 2009 and was 

issued a permit in 2011. A groundbreaking was halted when the protests began in 

2014. The protests consist of a tent city built right in the middle of the road blocking all 

of the construction. There even have been a few celebrities joining the protests to show 

their support. I feel like celebrities play a big part in the protests because they play a 

big part and getting the information around and they have a lot of followers that will 

follow in their footsteps giving more support for Hawaii’s. 

           



        In November Supreme Court of Hawaii 

approved the TMT construction and ignored 

the Native Hawaiians. This made Protest fight 

harder and blocked the entire road so that no 

construction can get through. The protesters 

have been sleeping, eating protesting and staying on that road until they get what they 

want. They have been doing since October 7, 2014. You can clearly tell how important 

Mauna Kea is to them because it has been 5 years. These people will never give up clearly 

and I support that this shows that they really do not want this telescope to be built on 

their lands. 

            

               There is a plan B for the telescope to be built in the Spanish Archipelago. The 

Spain minister and officials fully support the telescope being built on this land but they 

still want it to be built in Hawaii. I don’t like how they are still trying for Hawaii when they 

have another option with a place that actually wants to support the TMT being built. The 

only words they had is that they would prefer it to be in Hawaii, “the site that it is being 

built on (Mauna Kea)is an excellent place for astronomy.” officials say. A number of 

governments around the world support the telescope around the world. The U.S, Canada, 

India, China and Japan all support the government. 


          While the governments around the world 

support the telescope there are numbers of 

people around the world that support the 

protesters to save the Mauna kea. In Las 

vegas, Nevada former native residents posed 

under a sign to show their support for the protesters in Hawaii. Also other protesters 

chant and hold a sign in New York times Square. I love that Hawaii is getting all the 

support and love they need so that they can stop the desecration on Mauna Kea and 

Native Hawaiians are not scared to show their true feeling and speak out there and 

protect the special land. 

    
      Canada had an incident where protests happened last year in January. The protests 

were about the pipeline being built on the  Wet’suwet’ en territory. This compares to the 

Hawaii protests because the indigenous in Canada did not want the pipeline to destroy 

their natural land with a pipeline going through it.  There were protests all around 

Canada to stop the pipeline from being built right in the middle of the indigenous 

territory.



    

         I got to experience Hawaii and when I first stepped off the plane it was one most 

beautiful places in the world because I learned that Hawaiians try and keep their islands 

the most natural as possible.they do this by removing certain animals that will wreck 

the indigenous plants or land or even birds.  A lot of the lands are indigenous so they 

are told be untouched just like provincial parks in Canada  Mauna Kea is an indigenous 

mountain that is very special to the Native Hawaiians. There is so much work in 

protecting the land that all of it would be thrown away if they slapped a big telescope 

right in the middle the tallest peak of one of the prettiest mountains in the world.

    

    While I was Adventuring out in Hawaii I got to see the protesters themselves and got 

excited because they have tents everywhere in American flags there are food bases 

everywhere and signs everywhere that say “do not touch my Mauna Kea. I was very 

proud and I will always stand with the Native Hawaiians. I personally think that they 

should just give up at this point because it has been five years and these Hawians  are 

not giving up their lands for the telescope. 


       Finally, to end this blog I support the Native Hawaiians for them to save Mauna Kea 

and keep the naturalness of the island. I hope that they succeed as they are very 

powerful leaders right now. That is now the end of my blog post. 

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