On July 15, Governor of Hawaii, David Ige, announced that construction of the TMT (Thirty Meter Telescope) would begin on Mauna Kea. On July 25, 2019 ACURA (The Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy) issued a formal statement on the TMT in reaction to the blockade imposed by Kanaka Maoli to stop the telescope’s construction. As of the time of writing, this statement stands as the formal statement for all twenty Canadian Universities attached to ACURA, with the exception of two member universities. Two days prior, the University of Toronto issued a statement rejecting the “use of police “force” in furthering its research objectives,” but stopped short of calling for the project to be postponed. It did though, commit to “work to uphold those principles (of the TRC) as we engage with Indigenous communities beyond our borders as well as within them.” This statement was issued as a result of pressure from Indigenous faculty members such as Uahikea Maile, Eve Tuck, and others. On July 26, 2019, the Office of the President of UBC called for a 60 day moratorium on construction “to allow for fulsome consideration of other potential sites.” At the time of writing, UBC is it the only ACURA member university to make such a call.
That ACURA’s statement is, at the time of writing, the de facto position of the remaining 18 member universities, including my own home institution of the University of Lethbridge, is highly problematic on many levels, not least of which is the damage it does to the perceptions of these institutions’ avowed commitments to the recommendation and principles of the TRC, UNDRIP, and their own indigenization projects.
The statement, which is clearly marked as “ACURA’s position” states that:
We respect the rights of everyone – both supporters and protesters – to express their opinions. Maunakea is special and the TMT project is committed to being good stewards on the mountain and inclusive of the Hawaiian community. Great care was taken to identify the best location for TMT out of respect for Maunakea’s rich ancestral history and the project has gone through ten years of community consultations, environmental assessments, and legal and regulatory approvals. Significant investments have also been made to support educational opportunities for future generations of Hawaii residents.
ACURA shares the concern about the protests now taking place and has expressed to the TMT partners its desire to ensure the safety of all involved and to find a peaceful path forward that respects the wishes of Native Hawaiians. To that end, we were encouraged by a statement issued by the Governor of Hawaii on July 23 in which he asked Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim “to coordinate both county and state efforts to peacefully attempt to reach common ground with the protectors of Maunakea and the broader community,” adding that both the Governor and Mayor “understand that the issues underlying whatis taking place today are far deeper than TMT or Maunakea. They are about righting the wrongs done to the Hawaiian people going back more than a century.”
As a partner in the Thirty Meter Telescope project (TMT) since its inception, the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy (ACURA) and its members believe in the science behind the project. We want the project to be a source of pride for Hawaiians and to progress in the spirit of respect and reconciliation.
While the language here directly commenting on the blockade is perfunctory at best, (and will be discussed in greater detail later), it cannot be read without carefully examining the preamble which precedes it. When read in the context of the preamble, the formal position of ACURA presumes a much more insidiously dismissive and dishonest statement of pacification and self-absolution that lacks any genuine commitment to the stated “spirit of respect and reconciliation.”
ACURA’s complete Statement on the TMT is divided into several sections. Those I consider the preamble are: Overview, Site Selection, Current Situation, before the actual statement contained in ACURA’S Position (which is shown above).
In ACURA’s Overview the association asserts its support for, and active participation of Canadian astronomers in, TMT, calling it a project of which Canadians can be “proud.” Presumably, this includes the Canadian astronomers and scientists who spoke out against the criminalization of Kanaka Maoli protectors of Manua Kea. ACURA clearly identifies the project as an international collaboration in which the federal government of Canada has invested $243.5 million. On face value, this seems to be a simple statement of support and clarification, but given the circumstances under which ACURA felt compelled to release the statement, it is incredibly tone deaf to open with this statement of unqualified support for TMT before addressing the issue at hand.
The Site Selection segment is the most mendacious part of the statement. Here, several assertions are made which are clearly untrue and easily researched. The argument put forward is that during the ten-year consultation process prior to construction:
- No groups or individuals challenged the contents or process of the Cultural Impact Statement. This is easily refutable, even by visiting the TMT’s own website and scrolling down to Unforeseen Circumstances.
- There was ‘later’ a contested case before the Hawaii Circuit Court, “and so on.”
There are many problematic aspects of this section. Firstly, it seeks to minimize the extent of opposition to TMT and create the impression that the Current Situation is a new, somewhat opportunistic, situation caused by a radical minority. On TMT’s own website, it is acknowledged that the 2014 ground-breaking ceremony at the base of Maua Kea was “disrupted by protestors,” and that the 2016-2018 court proceedings over the permit for TMT faced opposition before the Hawaiian Supreme Court. It is inconceivable that ACURA, and its member active Canadian astronomers were unaware of these protests against TMT. To allow this statement to go unchallenged is to allow ACURA to lie to the public on behalf of the member Canadian universities. The closing addition of “and so on” adds to the sense of this being a viewed as a minor irrelevance of which ACURA wishes to wash its hands.
In the Current Situation, ACURA foregrounds that ‘all legal obligations” were met. It bears reminding that these legal obligations are to the State of Hawai’i, and not Kanaka Maoli, whose land Mauna Kea is on, and whose sacred mountain Mauna Kea is. It also positions any opposition or blockade of the construction as inherently illegal. The mendacity is supported by tactics of distraction in this section, again with the clear intention of painting those protectors currently blocking construction as a radical minority. As with the previous section there are unsupported, or easily disproven claims asserted here also:
- The majority of Native Hawaiians support TMT. This claim is based upon questionable polls in which self-identification was the sole arbiter of racial or cultural identity, in an exact replica of the tactics used by the owners of the Washington Redskins to ‘prove” Indigenous support for their racist name. This is also a tacit used generally in the majority society to render opposition irrelevant, while solidifying the idea that Indigenous voices are monolithic. The unspoken assertion is that if the majority are in support then this vocal minority are a radical, but ultimately irrelevant, minority not to be taken seriously. Also, that a “majority” can be discerned from a poll of 800 people, of whom only 10% identified as Native Hawaiian. is highly questionable mathematics.
- The inference that the protests are a new phenomenon (already disproven) and simply a matter of a “difference of opinion” which the TMT’ board “respects.”
- These protestors are “now” engaged in an international campaign to “stir up” opposition.
- The use (with enough room for claims of plausible deniability of intent) of such coded terminology as “never support” or “stir up” to suggest the unreasonably aggressive actions clearly display a lack for respect for the ‘opinions of the ‘protestors.’
As before, the framing of the ‘protests’ or opposition as ‘new,’ is a clear lie. There has been international social media support for the Kanaka Maoli opposition to TMT construction; including a “We Are Mauna Kea” campaign including public figures such as Jason Momoa; since at least 2015. This opposition is neither new, nor minor.
The assertion that this is simply a difference of opinion, renders the spiritual, cultural, and political reasons why Kanaka Maoli wish to block construction. It also highlights the level of commitment ACURA has to the Cultural consultations it claimed that the TMT project had undertaken. Plenty of community leaders and Kanaka Maoli scholars have spoken out against Mauna Kea enough times for the framing of the protests as being nothing more significant than a “difference of opinion” to constitute a deliberate insult.
This brings me back to ACURA’s Position. Before the segment italicized above (the italicization is ACURA’s own), ACURA asserts that the “protests are an internal Hawaiian matter and ACURA does not plan to comment on internal Hawaiian politics.” It also repeats the claim that the majority of Native Hawaiians support TMT. As stated earlier, this claim is easily refutable and deliberately asserted to undermine the validity of the protests.
This clearly situates the blockade and surrounding issues as an internal, and thus minor, issue that can, and will, be resolved solely by the State of Hawai’i. As elsewhere, the mendacity is clear, the deflection obvious, and the disavowal of responsibility breathtaking. In no particular order, the fallacy of this statement can be easily refuted:
- This sentence is part of a formal statement in direct reaction to the ‘protests.’
- The formal statement has already included several key moments of commentary on the protests and placed them as oppositional to the legal processes that TMT’s board undertook.
- The formal statement openly frames the TMT project as an international collaboration including multi-million dollar investment from the Canadian government and including the active participation of Canadian astronomers.
- The majority of protestors are Indigenous. Indigenous relations in the United States are not internal state affairs unless explicitly mandated. Formal relationships with Native Hawaiian issues are directed through the United States Department of the Interior, under the Office of Native Hawaiian relations.
- The language and articles of United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples clearly apply here, which situates this as an international, rather than internal/domestic, issue.
Perhaps, the statement reflects an opinion among ACURA universities that Indigenous Peoples in Canada are domestic populations, rather than sovereign nations, but I do not plan to comment on that…
So, to the statement itself. ACURA opens with a claim to respects the rights of both supporters and protestors, despite the clear disrespect shown to the ‘protestors’ in the preceding preamble. It follows by repeating the legal processes undertaken in the lead up to the construction of TMT while identifying Mauna Kea as special and asserting the project’s commitment to good stewardship, and respect for Mauna Kea’s “rich ancestral history.” This is all while disrespecting those Kanaka Maoli descendants of Mauna Kea who oppose the TMT construction. “Special” is also a rather poor substitute for “Sacred.” Kanaka Maoli scholars, such as Noelani Goodyear-Ka’öpua, Uahikea Maile, Iokepa Casumbal-Salazar, Williamson B.C Chang – and more – have spoken and written on this in more knowledgeable ways than I will ever be able.
The statement includes a note about ACURA “concerns” for the protest and a desire for a path forward that “respects the wishes of Native Hawaiians.” Given opening assertion of support for TMT, and the repeated assertion that the majority of Native Hawaiians ‘support’ TMT, it is clear what this path forward looks like.
The statement continues by championing a separate July 23rd, statement made by the Governor of Hawai’i, in which he expressed “understand(ing) that the issues underlying whatis taking place today are far deeper than TMT or Maunakea. They are about righting the wrongs done to the Hawaiian people going back more than a century.” This is a spectacularly tone-deaf quote to include in multiple ways. These wrongs include (and this is a very short snapshot):
- The 19th century illegal coup against the Hawaiian throne by US planters -supported by the US Marines.
- The subsequent illegalization of Kanaka Maoli language, culture, history and confiscation of land.
- The illegal annexation of the Kingdom of Hawai’i into a US territory.
- The subsequent imposition of US law over a sovereign people. This includes the very legal system that ACURA is using to support its claims for the validity and legality for the construction of TMT on Mauna Kea.
- Statehood
Therefore, through the simple act of including this statement from Governor Ige, ACURA is acknowledging that this situation is much more than an “internal Hawaiian matter.”
The statement ends with ACURA asserting its position as a partner in TMT, which clearly renders its previous positioning of separation from the issues around construction as false. It also asserts its belief in the science behind the project. None of the opposition to the construction on Mauna Kea is in opposition to the science. The inference that it is another insult to contemporary Kanaka Maoli, descendants and members of one of the most accomplished and sophisticated sea-faring cultures in world history.
The statement ends with a desire to “progress in the spirit of respect and reconciliation.” Unfortunately, there is little in the statement or its preamble to suggest that this desire is sincere.
Within this statement and its preamble ACURA affirms its support for and commits itself as a partner to the TMT project. It positions the protests as a minor difference of opinion, casts the protectors of Mauna Kea as troublemakers: a small, insignificant group of people determined to reject the majority view of their community/ies and determined to stir up international opposition. It ignores and belittles the reasons for the opposition to the construction of TMT, and pays lip service to respecting those voices of opposition. It acknowledges that the protests are peaceful, but fails to even mention the violent state responses to this peaceful opposition. It falls short of the University of Toronto’s rejection of police violence, and of the University of British Columbia’s call for a moratorium while alternative sites are considered. As a document in total, it is a litany of lies, insults, and misdirections, that are the common tactics of the public face of settler-colonial dispossession of Indigenous peoples.
The remaining 18-member Canadian universities of ACURA, including my own home institution of the University of Lethbridge, would do well to consider their decision to stand behind ACURA’s formal position. If they do not separate themselves from such a mendacious statement of self-interest at the expense of Indigenous sovereignty and spiritual autonomy, they invite questions about the veracity of institutional commitments to Indigenization on their campuses. They also risk alienating Indigenous students and community members who support the actions of Kanaka Maoli in protecting their sacred land.
If you read this, please ask your university, whether connected to ACURA or not, but especially those 18 member universities, to take a firmer stand in support of the sovereign rights of Kanaka Maoli to say NO without being criminalized by the settler-state.
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thescouseprofessor 