A Native Hawaii commuity group protesting against the construction of a giant telescope on a sacred mountain are shocked at how police forcibly removed them from the site.
Kāko'o Haleakalā is an indigenous group set up specifically to protect the mountain on Maui, but the construction of a US$340 million solar telescope is expected to be the world's largest when it is completed.
But during a peaceful protest on the mountain last week, police arrested several people and one person was almost run over by a truck.
Charges laid included disorderly conduct, obstructing a highway, failing to obey a police officer and or resisting arrest.
Group member Tiare Lawrence told Sara Vui-Talitu that many indigenous Hawaiians feel passionately about protecting the sacredness of this mountain that this won't stop.
Haleakalā
Photo: Flickr/ Peak Shadow
Transcript
TIARE LAWRENCE : Because we have tried to go through the court system and we've tried to let our voices be known as we go through the various means leading up to the current status of Haleakala and time and time again the voice and will of the Hawaiian people fall on deaf ears.
Laws were put in place to protect our interests but are continuously broken. Haleakala is a conservation district and there are many criteria that needs to be met before anything can be developed but time and time again they get these permits and they are allowed to build and so we are kind of at a point where we are just kind of fed up where the government continually works against us and its the senator and colonialism that we continue to be oppressed as a people by the powers that be.
SARA VUI-TALITU: Whose project does this belong to, to build the world's biggest telescope?
TL: It is the Daniel J Inoue telescope with federal funding provided in conjunction in partnership with UH and other institutions developing this telescope on the mountain. It is also important to remember that there are other telescopes available for research purposes but we also have the airforce surveillance system on our mountain and a military presence on our sacred space on Maui.
SV: And it is sacred because it is an indigenous site?
TL: Well it is the home of our god. The house of the sun. Clearly it is identified as a sacred space. The mountain, our sky father. So this mountain top has significant meaning to us as tagata.
SV: How have protests been? Always peaceful?
TL: Yes we always have kapualoha. The police come with rifles, rubber bullets, tasers and guns. The only weapon that we bring is mass aloha and we always demonstrated peacefully.
SV: Given that protest how are people faring today?
TL: I think a lot of us are just in shock with one of our demonstrators who got injured but actually with what happened the other night, its inspired a lot of people are wanting to come out and the movement has really woken up a lot of people and what we have seen over the past couple of years is that people are getting more community engaged and wanting to be involved in decision making.
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