Opposing Construction of a Thirty Meter Telescope atop Sacred Mauna Kea Mountain in Hawai’i
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 29 Jun 2015
Masahide T. Kato, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service
Aloha, friends.
We are asking the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, the largest investor in the TMT, to divest from the project to save the mountain that is central to the existence of Native Hawaiians, Polynesians, and the oceanic ecosystems.
Please sign and pass on the Avaaz Petition below to protect Mauna Kea from the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) construction.
English
Japanese
https://secure.avaaz.org/jp/petition/petition_558a6ca424cf4/?nflxxjb
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Reasons:
- Mauna Kea is a sacred site. According to the Hawaiian cosmogony, Mauna Kea comes from the union between the Sky father (Wakea) and the Earth Mother (Papahanaumoku). Accordingly, Mauna Kea is considered to be a heavenly realm in which deities such as Snow Goddess Poliahu and her sisters are said to abide. Historically speaking, the only human activities allowed upon the mountain’s summit are rituals and ceremonies.
- Protection of ecosystems and endangered species. The ecosystems of Mauna Kea are endemic and unique, inhabited by endangered plants and insects. As such, it is designated as a “Conservation District” under federal and state laws. Spring water and the water from the glacier flow into the largest aquifer in the pacific, which turns through streams into the ocean. This aquifer is a vital source of fresh water for humans and other life forms. The environmental impact statement for the TMT project itself concluded that UH’s astronomy-industry development has caused “substantial, significant and adverse” impacts on Mauna Kea’s cultural, archaeological, and historical resources, and that the TMT would add to those adverse impacts. There have been several reports of environmental pollution incidents from the existing telescopes, including 7 liquid mercury leak incidents. Thus, there is a growing concern for the likelihood of a catastrophic impact on the fragile ecosystems and endangered species wrought by the construction of an 18-story building with 2 stories underground, taking up an expanse of 9 acres.
- International Legal Implications. With the coup d’etat of 1893 that purportedly overthrew the Hawaiian Kingdom, both the government and crown lands were appropriated and transferred from the Republic of Hawaii, and then the US territorial government, to the State of Hawai’i as “ceded lands.” However, due to the violation of international law at that time of the coup d’etat, the absence of a treaty of annexation, and to the absence of the conveyance of the titles of the kingdom government lands and crown lands, the representatives of Native Hawaiians and the Hawaiian Kingdom have been pursuing international legal actions through the United Nations, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Criminal Court, and the US State Department over the issues of land titles and sovereignty. Thus, any lease transactions over and the development on the lands that belong to the kingdom government and the crown may be considered unlawful, and will only complicate the process of resolving the international legal disputes.
- Domestic Legal Implications. In 1968, the State of Hawai’i leased the summit of Mauna Kea to the University of Hawai’i, along with permission to construct a telescope. Since then, the University of Hawai’i has allowed the construction of 13 telescopes. The court case against TMT, based on the Conservation District Use Permit, is still unresolved, as it is currently being heard by the Hawaii State Supreme Court. Nonetheless, the University of Hawai’i and the Telescope International Observatory have been very forceful in pushing forward the construction of TMT, without waiting for the high court to rule.
- Japan’s close ties with Hawaii, Native Hawaiians, and the Hawaiian Kingdom. Historically, Japan has had a very close relationship with Native Hawaiians and the Hawaiian Kingdom. The first article of the 1871 treaty between Japan and the Hawaiian Kingdom states: “There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between His Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands, and His Imperial Japanese Majesty, the Tenno, their heirs and successors, and between their respective subjects.” At the time this treaty was concluded, King Kalākaua met with imperial majesty Mistuhito, which marked the emperorʻs historical first meeting with a foreign head of the state during the Meiji era. At the present historical juncture, in which the Native Hawaiiansʻ movement for the revitatlization of their indigenous culture and the restoration of self-determination are developing on a global stage, we the undersigned belive that our support for Native Hawaiians in their struggle to protect Mauna Kea could bring a more just and peaceful future to the world.
Information Links:
Source, “Protect Mauna Kea: This Is a War,” OB RAG (June 23, 2015) http://obrag.org/?p=96366&cpage=1#.VYsrsXYqvVo
Kahea: the Hawaiian Environmental Allliance http://kahea.org/issues/sacred-summits
Protect Maunakea http://www.protectmaunakea.org/#!
Contact: protectmaunakea@gmail.com
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Masahide T. Kato, Ph.D. is a lecturer at the University of Hawai’i System and a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 29 Jun 2015.
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The article correctly points out that there are several facets to this scenario: cultural, ecological and most profoundly the continued violation of Hawaiian sovereignty that was NEVER surrendered. What happened was a three-stage sleight-of-hand: the coup against the queen in 1893, the fake (and fraudulent) “annexation” of 1898 and after 60 years of heavy Americanization, an illegitimate plebiscite regarding “statehood.”
Compounding the matter is the savage intrusion in recent years of the major chemical companies who are routinely poisoning the land and water with heavy pesticides in pursuit of GMO testing and seed production. Backing all this up of course is the presence of 118 military installations. However, sovereignty is on the march