Indian lands VS extraction - Printable Version +- Deep Politics Forum (https://deeppoliticsforum.com/fora) +-- Forum: Deep Politics Forum (https://deeppoliticsforum.com/fora/forum-1.html) +--- Forum: Energy Resources, Free Energy and Renewable Energy (https://deeppoliticsforum.com/fora/forum-10.html) +--- Thread: Indian lands VS extraction (/thread-2324.html) |
Indian lands VS extraction - Keith Millea - 05-10-2009 On Indian lands across the nation,tribes are forced to choose between selling their natural resources,or live in dire poverty.This battle largely centers on the divide between traditional Native beliefs,and those Indians who have assimilated into the main stream culture. The Northern Cheyenne Reservation is located in the State of Montana.They have coal............... http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2009-03-03-reservation_N.htm Quote:Gertrude Firecrow, 68, has had a dream twice in the past few weeks. "I see big machines ready to dig into the reservation. Their lights are coming toward my house," she says. "It's scary. In my dream, there's no place to go." Indian lands VS extraction - Magda Hassan - 05-10-2009 This is a continual problem for indigenous communities all over the world in having to deal with capitalist notions of property rights and the corruption that accompanies it. I received the following article this morning in my in box and I thought it belonged here: Quote:http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/indian/blackfoot.htm Indian lands VS extraction - Keith Millea - 05-10-2009 Coalbed Methane Extraction.Can the Northern Cheyenne save their water? http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200401/profile.asp Quote:Told that hers seems a rather long view, Small says, "Not really. History lives here. I can point behind my house to where my grandmother is buried up in the hills. What other people talk about as the Custer Battle, the Cavalry Wars—these are our grandparents’ stories. Cheyenne know their life on this earth is fleeting, and they look at the perpetuation of the tribe as the main goal. We want our culture, land, and language to live on. Getting methane wealth, seizing and conquering, living only for yourself—what do these things matter compared to the perpetuity of your people?" Indian lands VS extraction - Keith Millea - 05-10-2009 A Coup D'eta? BIA overturns Northern Cheyenne Constitutional Court. http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=7553170 Northern Cheyenne Tribal leader elected Posted: Dec 28, 2007 02:17 PM PST Updated: March 16, 2008 08:08 PM PDT BIA Regional Director Ed Parisian The Northern Cheyenne Tribe has elected a Geri Small as their next president. She was the Tribal President from 2000-2004 and tells us she is not sure when she'll take the oath for the presidency which she won in an election Thursday. Small's previous presidency ended with her election defeat by Eugene Little Coyote, who the Tribal Council voted to remove from the presidency last year. Members also named his former Vice President, Rick Wolfname, as Interim President. Back in October, the Northern Cheyenne Constitutional Court decided that the council meeting at which Little Coyote was removed was illegal. But on December 27th, the Bureau of Indian Affairs forcefully removed Little Coyote from office and put him in jail overnight. After Little Coyote's removal, Wolfname served as the Interim President. He will now resume his position as vice president. Geri Small must have been an interim President also.New elections have brought a Pro drilling President into power. The Merry-go-Round of tribal politics...... :hmmmm: Indian lands VS extraction - Charles Drago - 05-10-2009 During my undergraduate years I took a Political Science honors course called History of 19th Century U.S. Foreign Policy. The title of my thesis: "Continental Coup d'etat: 19th Century U.S.-Engineered Overthrows of Sovereign 'Native American' Governing Structures as Templates for U.S.-Engineered 20th Century Hemispheric Coups." My professor rejected the basic premise. I transferred to the English Department. And the rest is suppressed history. Indian lands VS extraction - Jan Klimkowski - 05-10-2009 Charles Drago Wrote:During my undergraduate years I took a Political Science honors course called History of 19th Century U.S. Foreign Policy. :rofl: :bandit: They marked your card very early on, Charlie.... Back in the days when Human Resources depts were called Personnel, and files were made of cardboard and paper rather than bits and bytes, the BBC attached a special sticky label to the personnel file of anyone suspected of subversive thought. Rather bizarrely, that label was the image and shape of a Christmas Tree. :canabis: No Christmas tree, you horrible little man... I've never understood the symbolism, if indeed there was any. Perhaps the marking of one's card was all that mattered... Indian lands VS extraction - Keith Millea - 06-10-2009 Hopi tribal council taken over by pro coal members."No Environmentalists Allowed".Can we see a pattern forming here? http://www.counterpunch.org/norrell10052009.html A Dirty New Low for Peabody Coal By BRENDA NORRELL Former chairmen of the Hopi Nation have revealed that the Hopi Tribal Council has been taken over by a pro-Peabody Coal faction. Further, Hopi reveal that the tribe's attorney and the media are being used to carry out Peabody Coal's agenda. Peabody Coal used the same tactic originally to seize Black Mesa for coal mining and bring about Navajo relocation for coal mining, by way of attorney John Boyden, who worked for Peabody and the Hopi Tribe. The media was also coopted in the original seizure of Black Mesa by Peabody Coal, with the media cheerleading and proclaiming the so-called Navajo Hopi land dispute. When the Hopi Tribal Council banned "environmentalists," and Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr., agreed last week, Navajos and Hopis defending the land were shocked and appalled. Vernon Masayesva, executive director of Black Mesa Trust and former Hopi Chairman, points out that Hopi are true stewards and the Hopi Tribal Council has been taken over by a pro-Peabody Coal faction. Masayesva, in a letter to Arizona Republic, also points out that the newspaper is printing only one-side of the story at Hopi, press releases written by a former employee of the newspaper. Tina May, former senior editor of Arizona Republic, is now the Hopi Tribal Council's press officer. Masayesva said the Arizona Republic's coverage is biased. "Arizona Republic has been carrying news releases by Tina May, public relations officer for the Hopi Tribal Council. She is reporting only one side of the story. We understand she is a former employee of the Arizona Republic," he said. "The real story on Hopiland, that is yet to be revealed, is the take-over of the government by pro-Peabody legislators with the support of their legal counsel, Scott Canty, and the ensuing corruption and abuse of power by an illegally constituted Council," Masayesva said. Referring to the ban, Masayesva said, "To be a Hopi is to be a conservationist, a caretaker and a steward of planet earth. So, by implication, the Council has banned all Hopi people from their land." Masayesva said the Grand Canyon Trust came to Hopiland to install photovoltaic panels on homes that have no electricity. "It is likely the project will now be suspended, thanks to our Hopi Tribal Council." Further, Masayesva said forty individual Hopis have filed a challenge to the U.S. Office of Surface Mining’s decision to issue a Life-of-Mine permit to Peabody. The permit would allow Peabody to continue the destructive surface mining for an additional 15 years after 2011. "Of special concern to the Hopi is the continuing drawdown of N-aquifer groundwater and the accidental and deliberate destruction of archaeological sites, burial sites, petroglyphs and other cultural resources." Klee Benally, Navajo, points out that the US puppet tribal governments are continuing to appease the United States and corporations. Benally responded to Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr.'s comments, stating that environmentalists are not welcome on Navajoland. Benally said, "I would expect this type of declaration from totalitarian government dictators, not those who are democratically elected leaders of Tribal Nations. Considering the history of colonization and BIA established puppet governments on Native American lands, Shirley's statement is not surprising. "Attempting to silence the voice and limit the rights of Dine' people to protect their life, land and liberty is not sovereignty, it is in the direction of totalitarianism." Benally points out that Shirley uses the catch word "sovereignty" to defend his stance against anything Shirley disagrees with. Benally said, "Does sovereignty really mean being dependent on non-renewable energy that destroys Mother Earth, pollutes drinking water and air and compromises our holy covenant with nature? Does it mean being dependent on casinos and outside corporate interests?' Benally also reminds Shirley of Benally's grandmother, the late Roberta Blackgoat resisting relocation, who defended the land until her end on this earth. "My grandmother Roberta Blackgoat once said, ‘I know each tree, each plant that grows right there. And they know me. The children, grandchildren, great grandchildren need to be right there. We need them to get back to the land and live on our ancestors' land.' She said that the ‘relocatees' die of ‘worriness,' ‘missing their traditional food and not knowing where to go to pray.' Blackgoat said, ‘As long as I live, I'm not going to sign' and continued to demand ‘(Peabody) stop destroying the Mother Earth's liver and blood; the coal and the water.'" "Until her passing she resisted relocation, still abandoned by the Navajo Nation government, ‘unwelcome' by the Hopi Tribal government, and as a testimony to the injustices of US law. "Would she still be unwelcome in her homeland Mr. Shirley --- as an environmentalist, that is a woman who loved her Earth?" In response to the Hopi Tribal Council ban, Alph Secakuku, Hopi council representative of Sipaulovi (Second Mesa), spoke of the sacred foundation and destiny of the Hopi people. "We made a sacred covenant with Maasaw, our Supreme Being, to be good stewards of the Fourth World we live in today. We, as people, all have the responsibility of being Caretakers of Mother Earth. You care for it and take from it only what you need, and it will provide for you. "I never thought I would see the day when being ‘Hopi' meant being anti-environment, pro-big corporate energy, and actually promoting pollution and global warming in favor of dollars/money." Secakuku said the ban was the result of the current political coup in the council. "It is a sad day for Hopi/Tewa people, and I am disappointed. We, the Hopi/Tewa people, have worked closely for many years with our allies from the environmental community to protect sacred lands from development and to stop uranium mining from poisoning our water. Water is life, therefore, it is sacred. We will continue to work together - tribal communities and other clean energy jobs advocates - to bring green economic development to our lands that respects our air and water." Former Hopi Chairman Ben Nuvamsa also points out the illegality, absurdity and indignity of the Hopi Tribal Council's ban. "For the record, Indian tribes have no jurisdiction over non-Indians on reservation lands (see Oliphant v. Suquamish). On the Hopi Reservation, only the Tribal Chairman has the authority to sign an exclusion order under Tribal Ordinance 46. So without a Tribal Chairman, no one can sign such an order. Without meeting these requirements, the resolution passed by this group is nothing more than a mean-spirited statement. "Our teachings as Hopi and Tewa people dictate that we should welcome everyone. It is not Hopi to exclude anyone. As Hopi and Tewa people, we are raised to be good stewards of our lands so we are all ‘environmentalists' by our cultural teachings and practices. "The ‘environmentalists' have stood by the Hopi Tribe when we opposed the making of artificial snow on our sacred Nuvatukyaovi (San Francisco Peaks). They assisted in our opposition to the proposed uranium mining near the Grand Canyon. They assisted in securing protections for the American Bald Eagle. So why the opposition to ‘environmentalists' now? Could it be financial and corporate greed? Absolutely," he said in a statement. Nuvamsa points out that it the elected tribal leaders compromising sovereignty. "Some say the ‘environmentalists' are compromising our tribal sovereignty. I disagree. It is our own ‘tribal leaders' that are the worst violators of compromising our sovereignty." Navajos at Black Mesa Water Coalition, creating green jobs on Navajoland, also responded. "We believe that President Shirley is misinformed as to the benefits of coal mining and coal-fired power plants and out of touch with the kind of economy the Navajo people want," said Wahleah Johns, also a Navajo citizen and Co-Director of Black Mesa Water Coalition. "Our organization has been working to support the traditional lifeways of weavers, ranchers, artisans and a new clean energy economy. After over 30 years of coal development on the Navajo reservation, most of our people still live below the national poverty line, and now there are increasing health problems due to fossil fuel development pollution and global warming." Black Mesa Water Coalition said that in July of 2009, the Navajo Nation 21st Council officially adopted the Navajo Green Economy Commission and Fund to begin a process of diversifying the Navajo economy and building thousands of well-paying Navajo jobs that do not pollute. "The Black Mesa Water Coalition formed the Navajo Green Economy Coalition, consisting of both Native and non-native organizations and individuals. This Coalition's partnership with the Navajo Nation's Speaker of the Council, Lawrence T. Morgan, was a large contributor to the successful establishment of a Navajo Green Economy plan and is a model for how tribal governments and tribal citizen's groups can work together." Calvin Johnson, Navajo in Leupp, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation, fighting the poisoning of the water, air and land by coal mines and power plants, said he was appalled by Shirley's statement. Johnson told Shirley that blaming and disrespecting traditional grassroots people is not the answer. Johnson said, "We are suppose to protect our people and mother earth from harmful contaminants that cause numerous health diseases, destroy sacred sites and deplete and contaminate precious water resources." Johnson said the Navajo Nation has been providing misinformation about the proposed Desert Rock power plant. There is no such thing as a clean coal fired power plant. He said no machine can remove 100 percent of the sulfur, mercury and other pollutants from coal and burn it free of emissions. The Sierra Club said it is an honor to work with Hopis and Navajos. "The Sierra Club is honored to work with our tribal partners in transitioning to a clean energy future, including the Black Mesa Water Coalition, Dooda Desert Rock, Hopis Organized for Political Initiatives (H.O.P.I.), the Navajo Green Economy Coalition, To' Nizhoni Ani, C-Aquifer for the Diné, and other community organizations," the Sierra Club said in a statement. While the mainstream media, including Associated Press, continues to distort and censor the voices of the Navajo and Hopi people, the full statements are online at Censored News: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/ |