Access to Mauna Kea

[Guest]

Ironyak, I think you hit on an interesting point. Though maybe what you call lawlessness is civil disobedience turned into lawlessness by the government's inaction.

Had the county/state played along and arrested the protesters it would have been clearly disobedience met with the rule of law, which in turn might have given rise to greater support for the resistance, as you pointed out happened with Rosa. As it is the theatrical arrest of the kupuna had a large impact but nowhere near what seeing hundreds hauled off to jail would have. Maybe the state anticipated as much and nipped it in the bud by not playing into that hand. This way the protesters are self contained out in the middle of nowhere without any real impact on the community as a whole, and can be seen, as you suggest, as just a bunch of lawless folks clogging a road.

Will this tactic work? Will the protesters gain the support they need or will their standing diminish as time goes by? I don't fully understand the power of social media, but sense without it they risk being seen as unhappy folks in a road in the middle of nowhere. But still dignitaries come, Tulsi being the most recent, and add their names to the growing list of support that could reach a tipping point