Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

Full Version: Police arrest Hawaiian, senior protesters trying to block telescope
You're currently viewing a stripped down version of our content. View the full version with proper formatting.
https://www.apnews.com/41ffb293900c49ae951a4356f3f27eac

EXCERPT: . . . The $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope is expected to be one of the world’s most advanced. Native Hawaiian protesters and other opponents of the telescope say they are concerned construction will desecrate and damage the mountain. The project has been delayed by years of legal battles and demonstrations. Last year, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that telescope officials had legally obtained a permit, clearing the way for construction to begin. [...]

Police arrested elderly protesters, some using wheelchairs and canes, as they blocked a road Wednesday to Hawaii’s highest peak to try to stop construction of a giant telescope on land some Native Hawaiians consider sacred. About 2,000 people were at the intersection of the highway and the road that leads to Mauna Kea’s summit and the new construction site, Hawaii County Managing Director Wil Okabe said.

Protest leader Kealoha Pisciotta told The Associated Press that police took away about 30 elders who were prepared to be arrested. State spokesman Dan Dennison said he could not provide the number of people arrested or what charges would be filed. “They’re taking our kupuna,” said Pisciotta using the Hawaiian word for elders and sobbing. Around her, people sang “Hawaii Aloha,” a Hawaiian song that’s common at events.

Some of the elders used canes and strollers to walk, while others were taken in wheelchairs to police vans. Those who could walk on their own were led away with their hands in zip ties. One woman being arrested did a nose-to-nose greeting, called honi, with an officer before he walked her to a van, Pisciotta said. Another man chanted as an officer took him away.

[...] Kaho’okahi Kanuha, another protest leader, told reporters that efforts to stop the telescope were about protecting Hawaii’s indigenous people. “This is about our right to exist,” he said. “We fight and resist and we stand, or we disappear forever.”

Other Native Hawaiians say they don’t believe the project will desecrate Mauna Kea. Most of the cultural practices on the mountain take place away from the summit, said Annette Reyes, a Native Hawaiian from the Big Island. “It’s going to be out of sight, out of mind,” she said. (MORE)

RELATED: https://www.scivillage.com/thread-7248.html
In our municipality, a major development that would have improved the Lake Erie shoreline immensely here was shelved because of a toad*. Developer was smart though, they knew this area’s residents want no part of modernization (pisses me off) so their contract stated we, the taxpayer, had to buy out the contract for $millions if they weren’t  allowed to proceed after a certain time.

Hawaiians should have done the same, find an endangered species that sets foot on the site every now and then.

Fowler’s Toad...somebody either found one or planted one there. These toads are found in our area. I’ve even seen them in our backyard.

https://ontarionature.org/programs/citiz...lers-toad/
(UPDATE) Still blocked from Hawaii peak, telescope seeks Spain permit
https://www.apnews.com/8982201d53014053a600d9b6970d79b0

INTRO: The group behind a $1.4 billion telescope planned for Hawaii is applying for a permit to build in Spain as ongoing protests and a human blockade prevent them from starting construction on Mauna Kea, Hawaii’s highest peak that some people consider sacred. The plan to start construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on the Big Island has been thwarted for more than three weeks by a group of Native Hawaiian activists who say the construction will further desecrate a mountain that already has more than a dozen observatories.

Thirty Meter Telescope Executive Director Ed Stone said in a statement Monday that the group still wants to break ground on Mauna Kea, but they need to have a backup plan. “We continue to follow the process to allow for TMT to be constructed at the ‘plan B’ site in (Spain) should it not be possible to build in Hawaii,” Stone said. “Mauna Kea remains the preferred site.” The development bolsters the Native Hawaiian activists, who say they will not budge until the project moves elsewhere.

[...] Last week, Spain’s science minister, Pedro Duque, reiterated the government’s full support for the Canary Islands as a Plan B site for the telescope and said the country is well-prepared to host it. “We have all the necessary plans at all levels — the people, the speed, the systems, absolutely everything is ready if they want to come,” Duque said. The Canary Islands archipelago, located west of Morocco in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, is already home to several powerful telescopes. The Roque de los Muchachos Observatory hosts more than 20. (MORE - details)