A day on Mauna Kea

Since 2014, University of Hawaii’s effort to build the Thirty Meter Telescope on top of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii has met rising opposition from native Hawaiian communities. I went with three classmates to the Big Island during Winter 2019. At this time the Anti-TMT protesters have staged blockade and campsite on the mountain for over two hundred days. I previously lived on Oahu with my family for six years. Back then I would go stream cleaning and potlucks with the Aloha Aina restoration group with my teacher, or to the institute of astronomy to listen to astronauts and exoplanet researchers talk. But I did not feel like I can have a stance on the subject.

We drove to the protest site at noon. It was half way between normal highway and road up to the observatory on the top. We parked along the road and walked to the intersection, where they used to have the blockade. It was very cold, rainy, windy. We couldn’t see Mauna Kea crater. Two cops help direct pedestrians between the two big tents. On one side was most of the tents for daily functions, including Checkin, kitchen and cafeteria, shirt-making, medic, extra clothings. We talked to the organizers at the shirt-making tent. They told us there’s an Oakland branch of the ‘Aole TMT group.

Then we all went to the protocol which happens three times a day. It was on the other side, at the kupuna (elder) tent. A lot of people stood outside the classroom size tent, including many who camp there and many who drove up. First several members chant. Then they invite everyone to dance hula for five songs. Most people knew how to dance and sing to them. There was one about hog hunting that the kids liked. In the end everyone chant with gestures. And a Kupuna come out to talk story, about what they are up to today and about the emotions and will they have. Her voice was very dramatic and capturing. A soccer team that came to play on the island offered gifts to the elders.

After the protocol there was a talk given at the “Puuhuluhulu university“. They usually have a talk everyday there. It was by Prof Sy of UHM political science. He explains the perspective of Hawaii as a kingdom under a state of war, because the American republic coup was on the monarchy and not the nation. This was the first time I had heard of this theory, in contrast to the imperialists who believe the kingdom has been overthrown but should be rebuilt, and the rest who believe the US legally ceded Hawaii. We talked to several other campers. Michelle asked some questions related to her initiative with the One Word documentary, which seeks indigenous wisdom on climate change and environmental stewardship.

A week later we came to the camp again when our car was breaking down in the middle of our ride to the airport. We were afraid that the damage on the front from crashing into a hog two nights back broke the gas tank. The gas was running out very fast so we weren’t sure if we need more gas, or if we need to fix a leakage, or both. A camper helped us check the engines and motors. We concluded something about steam not working, I don’t remember. The medic also helped Ujeza look at her finger, and apply some antibiotics, since we hesitated to go to the doctors before hearing back from the police about how the car crash insurance would work. The medic was a retired doctor who volunteers at the camp. He said Ujeza is brave. They helped us a lot. We brought some throat candy and clothes to give back, and put the leis we made on the altar for pele.

The information I have about each side’s principles and possible negotiations is still limited. I am an outsider in the issue. UHM offers to replace five older telescopes using TMT, which promises no interference with sacred and environmentally conserved lands. Additionally, they pledge to fund native education programs to address socioeconomic hardships faced by native Hawaiians partly due to discrimination and land-taking by the government in the decades since statehood. The people side argument is more subtle. It is about police brutality, historical discrimination, anti colonialism, political sovereignty, indigenous culture preservation, a mix of many entangled conflicts, a need to be heard.

At the George Floyd protests in Oahu, many Mauli people, with some wearing Aole TMT shirts, spoke. They talked something about love across peoples. And not wanting to have to tell their kids about the danger of police misjudgment that many others don’t have to face.