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Amid Controversy, Construction of Telescope In Hawaii Halted
An anonymous reader sends word that Hawaii Gov. David Ige has asked for a week-long hold in the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope atop Mauna Kea. "After more than a week of demonstrations and dozens of arrests, Hawaii Gov. David Ige said Tuesday that the company building one of the world's largest telescopes atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea has agreed to his request to halt construction for a week. 'They have responded to my request and on behalf of the president of the University and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs have agreed to a time out on the project, and there will be no construction activities this week,' Ige said at a news conference. Thirty Meter Telescope is constructing the telescope on land that is held sacred to some Native Hawaiians. Scientists say the location is ideal for the telescope, which could allow them to see into the earliest years of the universe. Ige said he hopes the temporary pause in construction will allow the interested parties to have more discussions about the project. Native Hawaiian groups have been protesting the construction of the telescope since its inception last year."
The natives should have said something before the Mauna Kea Observatory was constructed in 1968. Making all this noise now is decades too late.
What could be more honoring, holy and sacred than a telescope peering out into universe?
The land is on top of a dormant volcano away from city lights. and the "bowl" at the top makes the perfect base for it...
And the reason why there are no cities nearby is precisely because the land is sacred. When the U.S. came to Hawaii, they took much of the native people's lands. The idea of mass demolition of a holy site simply because it does not appear to comply with angio-saxon definitions of what should and should not be holy is not a matter that should be taken flippantlyly. Consider various Native American tribes practices and and ideals with regards to respect for land. It is the source of life. The act of destroying it violently could be seen as offensive.
Thirty four characters live here.
Compromise. Allow them to name the facility after one of their gods and more importantly setup a scholarship in astronomy for native Hawaiians. In the future a few native Hawaiian astrophysicists or cosmologist would totally change the picture.
This is the most likely reason. You see a lot of the same people protesting this as you see against a lot of other things (like geothermal power, biotechnology, tourism, ect.). They don't care what they protest, as long as they make some noise to draw attention to their cause of re-establishing the Hawaiian monarchy...with themselves as the new kings no doubt...and recreating the Hawaiian kingdom for people with Hawaiian blood. That, of course, is an inherently racist proposition. And I've snooped around those independence rallies before; I've seen these Hawaiian community leaders and independence activists play the race card in manners that, quite frankly, I think are unacceptable in an enlightened society.
They're people who live in the past, and play identity politics and pointless localism to enrich themselves by giving people something to hate on, no matter the cost (really, no different than you see in the South with those 'The Confederate States will rise again!' assholes). Of course, the Hawaiian nationalists don't care if this place goes to shit after they do as much damage as possible to achieve their goals, as long as they're the kings of shit mountain, and tough luck for everyone else, including no doubt their supporters who would then be in a much worse off position without the US and all the economic drivers the nationalists would like to see gone. It's really sad that anyone gives these assholes the time of day.