DGR member Will Falk has written extensively on colonialism, racism, and patriarchy; the interconnections between them; effective resistance; and finding meaningful and ethical ways to live:

• Will Falk’s DIY Resistance series
• Will Falk’s Series on the Unis’tot’en Camp, an indigenous-led blockade of pipeline construction in so-called BC, Canada

In a characteristically insightful and moving essay, Falk explains he is coming to Hawai’i:

…to offer myself in support of resistance to the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project that would place a large telescope and stadium-sized structure on the peak of native Hawaiians’ most sacred place – Mauna Kea.

It’s been over a year since I gave up on the possibility that – as a white settler – I will ever truly be able to call stolen native land “home.” Instead of settling into one place, I believe I can be more effective traveling in support of indigenous sovereignty. So, after a wonderfully encouraging conversation with Anne Keala Kelly, I am resolved to go.

Before I go, however, it is important to articulate exactly why I am going. Why is stopping the construction of a telescope on top of a mountain thousands of miles away so important? Why, with all the social ills in the world, are you headed to Hawai’i, Will? Or, to borrow the phrase forming the title of Keala’s current documentary film project, “Why the Mountain?”

Falk goes on to relate the overarching US occupation of Hawai’i to the refusal to listen to Hawaiians who say “no” to the TMT, and to the refusal of men within patriarchy to listen to women who say “no” to sex or other unwanted intrusions. Abuse and violation of boundaries suffuses this entire “culture of entitlement.” The fight against the TMT is linked to resistance against many more of this culture’s injustices and violations.

Falk has a gift for cutting through false “claims to virtue” and the justifications presented for carrying out violations. He exposes a relatively simple choice: will you stand on the side of the living, or allow civilization to continue its abuses? We hope you, with Deep Green Resistance, will choose to stand with Hawaiians against the planned destruction and desecration of the TMT.

Read the entire essay by Will Falk: Protecting Mauna Kea: Why the Mountain? See all of Falk’s “Protecting Mauna Kea” essays, plus other resources, at our page Protect Mauna Kea from the Thirty Meter Telescope.