The Struggle for Mauna Kea

Mauna Kea, the tallest peak in Hawaii, is among the most sacred sites in Hawaiian cosmology — considered the piko (navel) or center of the universe. It is home to ceremonial sites and cultural practices grounded in love for the land, and is both spiritually and ecologically significant to Hawaii’s indigenous communities.

Last year, this profoundly revered site came at risk of being forever altered by the construction of a massive telescope project.

Native Hawai’ian protectors and elders rose up to defend the mountain in what would become one of the longest and largest land defense actions in modern Hawaiian history. The events are beautifully and powerfully captured below by cinematographer and producer Na’alehu Anthony.

The ongoing struggle to protect Mauna Kea, and the unyielding resolve of native, frontline communities, is a tale of solidarity and strength, indigenous sovereignty, care for the earth, and the preservation of all that is sacred.

It inspires optimism that with every act of collective resistance against the systems and structures that oppress not only ourselves but our planet, we come a step closer to a better world—a world that is yet to come.