Kaho’okahi Kanuha, a leader of the group, told CNN on Sunday that organizers believe more than 2,000 people have assembled at the Mauna Kea access road, where they’ve built a makeshift camp and blockade in hopes of preventing construction from getting underway.
It’s a conflict years in the making. Scientists see Mauna Kea as a prime location for peering into the deep reaches of space. But for some native Hawaiians, the dormant volcano, the highest peak in Hawaii, is sacred ground.
The barren landscape is rich with their history, and is believed to be the site of the genesis of the Hawaiian people. Many of their revered ancestors are buried there.
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“It is without a doubt one of our most sacred places in all of Hawaii,” Kanuha told CNN, saying it was home to sacred waters and native Hawaiian deities.
Mauna Kea is also considered “ceded land,” which means it’s to be held in a trust to benefit future generations of native Hawaiians.
And so the protectors have gathered there, Kanuha told CNN.
He pointed out that the mauna, or mountain, has already been “desecrated” 13 times by other observatories, and “many of them have been the so-called last telescope,” he said. Now, enough is enough.
Source: Protesters attempt to block construction of telescope on Hawaii’s tallest peak
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