#indigenousactivism — Public Fediverse posts

She's baaaack!

#CensoredNews Hits 13 Million Pageviews -- A Labor of Love!

By #BrendaNorrell
@bsnorrell.blogspot.com

"We're just about to hit the 13 million mark at Censored News! That's 13 million pageviews since we began more than 10 years ago! We did it without advertising, grants, salaries or revenues. Why did we do it? Because of the love of truth. Because of the censorship in the media. Because we wanted to be part of creating a better world. And because of our love of authentic journalism. We've been able to continue because people care, and the articles, photos and videos are given to you as labors of love. Thanks to everyone who has been part of Censored News.

We will be live at the American Indian Movement West Coast Conference in San Francisco, beginning Monday, with Govinda of Earthcycles. Our live show will include guests, and call-in guests, covering the issues from throughout Indian country. Our friends at radio stations are welcome to rebroadcast the programs and interviews.

We are reader supported news. Please donate to help us keep going!"

To donate:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2016/11/censored-news-hits-13-million-pageviews.html

#NativeAmericanNews #IndidgenousNews #ReaderSupportedNews #IndigenousActivism #IndigenousResistance

#ApacheStronghold #HolyGround Ceremony

March 28, 2026

"On Saturday, March 28th at 8 am, a Holy Ground Ceremony will be held in #SanCarlosAZ, at the 7 mile Holy Ground. Those who do not know the location are welcome to camp at the Nosie’s Residence Friday night or meet there at 7 am to follow us to 7 mile Holy Ground. More information about Sunday March 29th will be available tomorrow. Announcements will be made in person at ceremony."

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/03/apache-stronghold-holy-ground-ceremony.html

#SaveOakFlat #ChíchilBiłdagoteel #ProtectOakFlat #Arizona #RioTinto #CopperMining #Fight4OurExistance
#SacredLand #TontoNationalForest
#WesternApache #ProtectTheSacred
#IndigenousNews #IndigenousActivism #CorporateColonialism #DefendTheSacred #CensoredNews #ReaderSupportedNews

#ApacheStronghold 'We Are Still Fighting'

Statement from Dr. #WendslerNosie Sr.
March 20, 2026

"Many of you have heard that on Friday, the Ninth Circuit again refused to stop the Government from giving #OakFlat to #ResolutionCopper for destruction. This is sad news. But we will never stop fighting to protect Oak Flat and each place that is sacred to our people. And we are still fighting—in the courts, in Congress, and, most importantly, spiritually.

In the courts, there are still four lawsuits seeking to protect Oak Flat. All four cases are still going. And any one of these cases could still put a stop to the Government’s and Resolution’s plans to destroy Oak Flat:

- In Lopez v. United States, on the day after Friday’s ruling, seven brave Apache women filed an emergency appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court to stop the mine and protect Oak Flat. The Supreme Court could rule on that appeal any day. The women in that case can also ask the Ninth Circuit to reconsider its ruling in their case. The deadline to ask for reconsideration is April 27, 2026. That case focuses on religious freedom.
- In #SanCarlosApache Tribe v. United States, also part of Friday’s ruling, the Tribe can also ask the Ninth Circuit to reconsider its ruling and/or appeal to the Supreme Court. That case focuses on the Tribe’s rights, tribal consultation, and the inadequacy of the government’s decision-making process.
- In Arizona #Mining Reform Coalition v. United States, also part of Friday’s ruling, several environmental groups and the Inter-Tribal Association of Arizona can also ask the Ninth Circuit to reconsider its ruling and/or appeal to the Supreme Court. That case focuses on the government’s unfair appraisal of Oak Flat and inadequate #EnvironmentalReview.
- Apache Stronghold v. United States, which is our case, has been 'stayed' (or temporarily put on hold) waiting for the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, which came on Friday. Now that the Ninth Circuit has ruled, our case will start again in the district court. We will continue making every possible legal claim to protect Oak Flat.

In Congress, on Tuesday, Representative #AdelitaGrijalva introduced legislation to preserve public lands in the Chí’chil Biłdagoteel Historic District and fight back against the proposed mine. This bill is an important part of the fight to protect Oak Flat.

But even more than legally and politically, we are continuing to fight spiritually. This fight has never been primarily about law or politics. It is about who we are as human beings, religiously and spiritually. If we allow sacred places to be destroyed for profit, we are saying that nothing is truly sacred. We are losing something essential about our humanity—our ability to respect #MotherEarth, to honor what is holy, and to live in balance with the world around us.

That is why we are calling on all people to continue raising their voices, in prayer and protest, to protect Oak Flat—to protect the sacred. We, the Apache Stronghold, invite you to an upcoming spiritual gathering on March 28-29, 2026 at Oak Flat.

The legal system may try to reduce our struggle to questions of ownership and profit. But our connection to Mother Earth predates those systems. It is something each one of us is born into, something we carry in our prayers, our songs, and our way of life. No matter what the courts rule, no matter what the government tries to do, we will never stop fighting to preserve our sacred places. We will not lose our connection to the Creator."

Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/03/apache-stronghold-we-are-still-fighting.html

#ChíchilBiłdagoteel #ProtectOakFlat #SanCarlosApache #ResolutionCopper #Arizona #RioTinto #SaveOakFlat #CopperMining #Fight4OurExistance #SacredLand #TontoNationalForest #WesternApaches #ProtectTheSacred #IndigenousNews #IndigenousActivism #CorporateColonialism #DefendTheSacred #CensoredNews #ReaderSupportedNews

#OakFlat March and Run: #ApacheStronghold Photos

By Apache Stronghold, Censored News, Feb. 9, 2026

"12th Annual #OakFlatMarch/Run. The final day of the run, Saturday, February 7, 2026, the experienced runners passed through the final corridor, ending at the Oak Flat campground. The annual gathering followed, with speakers representing many tribes, backgrounds, and ages sharing their thoughts on Oak Flat and the importance of protecting this sacred and irreplaceable site. Photos by Molly Peters.

Apache Stronghold is battling to protect Oak Flat from becoming the gigantic crater of a copper mine, that would destroy the Sacred Ceremonial Place, seize and pollute the water, and poison the air and land."

Source (includes photos):
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/02/oak-flat-march-and-run-apache.html

#ProtectOakFlat #SanCarlosApache #ResolutionCopper #Arizona #ChichilBildagoteel #RioTinto
#SaveOakFlat #CopperMining
#Fight4OurExistance #SacredLand #TontoNationalForest #WesternApaches #ProtectTheSacred #IndigenousNews #IndigenousActivism #CorporateColonialism #DefendTheSacred #OakFlatRun #CensoredNews #ReaderSupportedNews

Coast #Salish Water Warriors: Voices for the Water at the #SalishSea Assembly in #Seattle

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews at #Indybay, Nov. 8, 2024

"The defenders are battling the dirty energy #corporations poisoning the land, water and air in western #Canada and #WashingtonState, and the waters of the Salish Sea. The rivers from British Columbia in Canada and Washington State come together in the Salish Sea on their journey to the #PacificOcean.

"The dead birds floating in the Alberta tar sands #TailingPonds, the #ManCamps linked to missing and murdered Indigenous girls, and the increased oil tankers in the Salish Sea -- are all parts of the dirty oil business of the Trans Mountain pipeline pouring out of Alberta's dirty tar sands in Canada, bound for #OilTankers in the Salish Sea.

"The destruction, and theft of land, is a continuation of the #genocidal residential school system. Native children were kidnapped, ripped from their families, and incarcerated in the abusive schools operated by Canada and the churches.

"'We can't drink water from there any more,' said Jean, who lives close to the Alberta tar sands in her homeland. 'I was born into this destruction.

"'Thousands of birds are dead in the tailing ponds.'"

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/11/coast-salish-water-warriors-voices-for.html

#WaterDefenders #LandBack #DefendTheSacred
#BigOilAndGas #CorporateColonialism
#ReaderSupportedNews #IndigenousActivists #IndigenousActivism #IndigenousNews #Resistance #MotherEarth #PacificNorthwest #WaterIsLife #PetrolState #PetroState #Oiligarchy #ResidentialSchools #StolenChildren #CulturalGenocide #MMIW #MMIWG

Coast #Salish #FreedomFighters: From Alberta #TarSands to the #SalishSea

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews Nov. 7, 2024

SEATTLE -- "The dead birds floating in the #AlbertATarSands #TailingPonds, the #ManCamps linked to missing and murdered Indigenous girls, and the increased #OilTankers in the Salish Sea -- are all parts of the dirty oil of the #TransMountainPipeline pouring out of Alberta's dirty tar sands, bound for oil tankers in the Salish Sea.

"'We are not just #activists, we are #revolutionaries and we're radical and militant and we want to keep it that way, we don't want to get soft in our older years,' said #KanahusManuel, #Secwepemc and #Ktunaxa, describing her family's struggle to protect their land and stop the Trans Mountain pipeline.

"Speaking at the State of Emergency for The Salish Sea in #SeattleWashington on Thursday, Kanahus said, 'We are the title holders to the land.'"

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/11/coast-salish-freedom-fighters-from.html

#LandBack #DefendTheSacred #BigOilAndGas #CorporateColonialism #ReaderSupportedNews #IndigenousActivists #IndigenousActivism #IndigenousNews #Resistance #MotherEarth #PacificNorthwest

Want to help support #ApacheStronghold's #PrayerJourney to the #SupremeCourt? Donate to their #GoFundMe #fundraiser!

Support #ApacheStronghold Prayer Journey to Supreme Court

"Apache Stronghold, San Carlos, Arizona, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit community organization of individuals who come together in unity to battle continued colonization, defend Holy sites and freedom of religion. We are currently in a battle to #SaveOakFlat from destruction by #ResolutionCopper (#BHP & #RioTinto). Chi’chil Biłdagoteel (also known as Oak Flat) is a sacred site for our Apache people and many other #NativeAmericans. This is a place that has special significance— a place where we pray, collect water and medicinal plants for ceremonies, gather acorns and other foods, and honor those that are buried here.

"We received the response from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Our request to be heard by the full 29-judge panel was denied, none of the judges requesting a vote for rehearing. The Court amended its decision to discuss a previous Supreme Court decision that hadn’t been considered, and the 9th Circuit’s decision on the case remained closely divided, 6 to 5, with five dissenting judges and over 240 pages of opinions. We have now completed the 9th Circuit appeal, and the next step is petitioning to be heard by the Supreme Court. I want to thank everyone for your endless support and prayers. I know capitalism had began as far back as when trade began. For over 500 hundred years, we #IndigenousPeople of America, have suffered equally to the rest of the world. What had started in the beginning between good and evil will again face each other. One, to protect the greatest gift god gave the world or the other.,to destroy every human life and the spirit that #MotherEarth gives birth to. The question is, where will you stand in this moment? We will all be judged. Blessings to all.

SUPPORTING APACHE STRONGHOLD AT THE U.S. SUPREME COURT

"Apache Stronghold is grateful for the outpouring of support for our efforts to protect Oak Flat. As our case heads to the Supreme Court, one way to support Apache Stronghold is for interested organizations to file an amicus brief (also called a friend-of-the-court brief) at the Supreme Court.

"The Prayer Journey to Supreme Court [began] July 12 beginning in Seattle, then to #ThackerPass, California, West coast, Arizona, New Mexico, .........and onwards toward Washington DC. This prayer journey will a couple months and visits many supporting organizations, Tribes, churches, religious sites and people for prayers as we cross this Country. The Supreme Court filing is set for September 11, 2024. Apache Stronghold vs United States."

Donate:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with-apache-stronghold-protect-sacred-sites

More info:
http://www.apache-stronghold.com

#SCOTUS #ProtectOakFlat #DefendTheSacred #SanCarlosApache #ChichilBildagoteel #CopperMine #ProtectOakFlat
#ProtectTheSacred #DefendTheSacred
#IndigenousActivism
#SaveOakFlat #WaterIsLife #SacredSite #CopperMining
#RecycleCopper #NoMiningWithoutConsent
#CulturalGenocide
#Ecocide #NativeAmericanNews
#CorporateColonialism
#WashingtonDC
#PrayerRide #PeacefulProtest
#FightForReligiousRights

#ApacheStronghold's #PrayerJourney to the #SupremeCourt [#SCOTUS] to Stop the Shattering of Human Existence and Protect #MotherEarth.

Join Apache Stronghold on Prayer Journey to Supreme Court: Sept. 8 -- Sept. 11, 2024 in DC Area

On the Journey to the Supreme Court

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/09/join-apache-stronghold-on-prayer.html

#PeeHeeMuhuh #NoCopperMiningWithoutConsent #IndigenousPeoples #IndigenousNews #RioTinto CopperMine #BHP #Apache #NDAA #BigMountain #CulturalGenocide #Genocide #Arizona #ChichilBildagoteel #RioTinto #CopperMine #SanCarlosApache #Arizona #ProtectOakFlat #protectthesacred #DefendTheSacred #IndigenousActivism #SaveOakFlat #WaterIsLife #SacredSite #CopperMining #RecycleCopper #MiningWithoutConsent #ProtectTheSacred #CulturalGenocide #Ecocide #NativeAmericanNews #Greenwashing #NoMiningWithoutConsent #CorporateColonialism #WashingtonDC #PrayerRide #PeacefulProtest #FightForReligiousRights

Going to the #ShiprockFair, #KleeBenally Remembered the #UraniumDump on the Banks of the #SanJuanRiver

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, August 29, 2024

SHIPROCK, #NavajoNation -- "In his book published shortly before his passing, Klee Benally writes of going to the #NorthernNavajoFair and the #UraniumDump in #Shiprock that no one talks about. It is along the San Juan River, the same river that flooded this week, now eight months after Klee's passing.

"'The Northern Navajo Fair at Tsé Bit A'í (#ShiprockNewMexico) has been held for more than one hundred years,' Klee writes in 'No Spiritual Surrender: Indigenous Anarchy in Defense of the Sacred.'

"Klee describes how the fair each fall marks the changing of the seasons and the #harvest. He describes the neon glow of the carnival in the cold, dusty nights, and the #uniper fires that burn.

"All of this revelry is held right on #UraniumBoulevard just a couple miles from a massive 105-acre #Radioactive dump containing 2.5 million tons of #RadioactiveWaste on a site that was a former #UraniumMill (which is just 600 feet from the San Juan River.)'

"The Shiprock Uranium Disposal Cell studies showed that more than 1.8 million liters of #groundwater were contaminated with uranium, #selenium, #radium, #cadmium, #sulfate, and #nitrate.

"Now the #NavajoNation again is targeted by the #Nuclear Industry and #DebHaaland's radioactive agenda is being ignored.

"Speaking in Farmington, Interior Sec. Haaland said the transition to green energy in the #FourCorners region will be led by the #AtomicBomb industry, #LosAlamos National Laboratory, which has already poisoned #Pueblo lands in northern #NewMexico.

"There is no mention of the fact that there is no safe way to store #NuclearWaste.
Now, adding to the layers of deception, the U.S. #EPA is deceiving the public. The EPA doesn't actually clean up the uranium dumps and strewn #RadioactiveTailings from #ColdWar #UraniumMining on the Navajo Nation -- it only announces plans and promises to do it.

"#EricJantz, legal director of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, told the Inter-American Commission on #HumanRights in March that the #EPA has not completed any of the cleanups.

"There are 524 uranium mine sites waiting to be cleaned up on the Navajo Nation. Zero -- none of these -- have been fully cleaned up, Jantz told the international commission.
The truth is people seldom talk about the uranium dump at Shiprock because there is so much strewn radioactive waste, and so many unreclaimed uranium mines, with radioactive waste strewn from Cameron to #MonumentValley, and across the Four Corners region.

"During the 1990s, on assignment for USA Today, I talked with #Dine' in #RedValley and Cove, south of Shiprock, down the mountain from where I lived. In every family, there was cancer. In every family, someone was dying of #cancer, or had already died, from cancer because of the uranium mining.

"One Dine' grandmother in her 80s was living in a stone home built of radioactive rock. We had a Geiger counter with us."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/08/going-to-shiprock-fair-klee-benally.html

#KleeBenallyRIP #KleeBenallyRestInPower #UraniumMining #NoSpiritualSurrender #IndigenousAnarchy #DefendingTheSacred #IndigenousActivism #HaulNo #CorporateColonialism #WaterIsLife #NoLithiumMining #CorporateColonialism #NoMiningWithoutConsent #CopperMining #Greenwashng #NuclearWeapons #NoNukes #NoWar #NoNuclearWeapons

California Coastal Tribes Share Bounty with #ApacheStronghold, on the #PrayerJourney to #SupremeCourt

Article and photos by Molly Peters, Apache Stronghold,
#CensoredNews

August 15, 2024

LOS ANGELES -- "The Apache Stronghold traveled to #LosAngeles on August 10 for the fourth stop of our journey of prayer to the Supreme Court to stop the shattering of the human existence and protect #MotherEarth.

"#IndigenousPeople from tribes across California and along the coast gathered with others from the local community at the Chief Ya’anna Learning Village and #Tuatukar #EcoCultural Center for #IndigenousRegeneration. Other groups who came to speak include the #RedRumRiders Motorcycle Club, who pledged their unconditional support for the ongoing journey, offering to accompany the Apache Stronghold as we go on."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/08/california-coastal-tribes-share-bounty.html

#SanCarlosApache #Arizona #ProtectOakFlat #DefendTheSacred #IndigenousActivism #SCOTUS #SaveOakFlat
#WaterIsLife #SacredSite #RecycleCopper #MiningWithoutConsent
#ProtectTheSacred #CulturalGenocide #Ecocide #NativeAmericanNews
#IndigenousNews
#Greenwashing #NoMiningWithoutConsent #CorporateColonialism #ReaderSupportedNews

How #NativeHawaiians Have Fought for #Sovereignty

Ever since the US overthrew the #Hawaiian monarchy in an illegal #coup, Native islanders responded with #protest, #activism and expressions of #cultural pride.

By: Kelli Y. Nakamura
Published: May 10, 2023

"Ever since white Christian #missionaries first arrived in Hawaii (Native spelling: Hawai‘i) in the 1820s, the islands’ Native people have found their sovereignty, culture and way of life under increasing threat. For two centuries, many have resisted.

"The threats began early. By 1840, some scholars estimate, the Native Hawaiian population had plummeted by as much as 84 percent, largely due to diseases introduced by Western #colonizers. In 1893, an illegal coup, orchestrated by a handful of white planters [#Dole] and #businessmen, ousted the sovereign Hawaiian monarchy. Five years later, the United States annexed Hawaii, viewing the islands as both a rich agricultural resource and a strategic perch in the Pacific.

"And in 1959, the U.S. legislature voted to make Hawaii America’s 50th state. During that time, colonizers confiscated lands and #militarized parts of the island. They suppressed traditional cultural and #spiritual practices. And they banned the Hawaiian language in schools and government.

"Native Hawaiians have responded with protest, activism and expressions of Indigenous cultural pride. In the 1880s, #KingDavidKalākaua kindled nationalism and promoted Hawaii internationally as an independent sovereign kingdom. He also fostered what came to be known as the First Hawaiian Renaissance, reviving traditional cultural practices like hula dancing, an integral part of Native Hawaiian storytelling—and outlawed since 1830, largely because missionaries did not understand its cultural importance and viewed it as a pagan ritual. The Second Hawaiian Renaissance flourished in the 1960s and ’70s. Today, Native #HawaiianSovereignty remains a critical issue, informing contemporary protests against militarism, imperialism and occupation.

"'Resistance and nationalism have been intertwined throughout the last two hundred years of the history of Hawaii,' writes Noenoe Silva, a scholar of Indigenous politics at the University of Hawaii and author of Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian #Resistance to American #Colonialism."

Read more:
https://www.history.com/news/native-hawaiian-sovereignty-protest

#CulturalGenocide #Sovereignty #CorporateColonialism #DolePineapple #HawaiianHistory
#History #Histodon #IndigenousPeople #IndigenousActivism

#ApacheStronghold at Peehee Mu'huh Locked Gates for People of Prayer

On the Journey to the Supreme Court

By Apache Stronghold, #CensoredNews
August 8, 2024

"Apache Stronghold visited Peehee Mu’huh (#ThackerPass), the second stop on the Prayer Journey to the Supreme Court [#SCOTUS] to Stop the Shattering of Human Existence and Protect #MotherEarth.

"We visited with the People of #RedMountain, who are fighting a #LithiumMine that is destroying their #SacredSite. When we arrived at the entrance to Peehee Mu’huh, we found a chain link wall with a locked gate, blocking everyone except those authorized by the mine.

"Security trucks came to go through the gate, and one of the drivers admitted that they knew the Apache Stronghold would be there with the People of Red Mountain.

"One truck drove off toward the mine, while the other driver re-locked the gate and left, emphasizing that the mining company has access to Peehee Mu’huh, but the Indigenous people who were stewards of the land since time immemorial, and all others who would go there to pray, are locked out.

"Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. said, 'It’s a sad reminder that people don’t know the day could come, if #OakFlat is ever transferred to #ResolutionCopper, that the acorns, #MedicinePlants, and water could be locked away behind a gate facing death at the hands of a corporation.

"'People need to come together to stop this desecration happening at Peehee Mu’huh and prevent it from happening everywhere else, before it’s too late.'

"Costanoan Rumsen #CarmelTribe said, 'We are honored to welcome and pray along side the Apache Stronghold and Protect Oak Flat on their Prayer Journey. Please join us in prayer this Saturday from 7 am-12 noon.' Chief Ya'anna Learning Village and Tuatukar Eco-Cultural Center for Indigenous Regeneration, 4500 Via Marisol, #Los AngelesCalifornia 90042.

"For those who can’t join us in person, please pray for us as we travel to the Supreme Court, and follow along on the journey here.

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/08/apache-stronghold-at-peehee-muhuh.html

#PeeHeeMuhuh #NoCopperMiningWithoutConsent #IndigenousPeoples #IndigenousNews #RioTinto CopperMine #BHP #Apache #NDAA #BigMountain #CulturalGenocide #Genocide #Arizona #ChichilBildagoteel #RioTinto #CopperMine #SanCarlosApache #Arizona #ProtectOakFlat #protectthesacred #DefendTheSacred #IndigenousActivism #SaveOakFlat #WaterIsLife #SacredSite #CopperMining #RecycleCopper #MiningWithoutConsent #ProtectTheSacred #CulturalGenocide #Ecocide #NativeAmericanNews #Greenwashing #NoMiningWithoutConsent #CorporateColonialism #PeacefulProtest

#ApacheStronghold Continues Journey of Prayer to the #SupremeCourt to Stop the Shattering of Human Existence and to Protect #MotherEarth

Apache Stronghold to #ThackerPass

Apache Stronghold, #CensoredNews, August 4, 2024

Contact: [email protected]

"Today, August 4, 2024, the Apache Stronghold will be continuing our prayer journey to stop the shattering of human existence and to protect Mother Earth. The prayer journey began in the #LummiNation, north of Seattle, in July, and it will conclude on September 11, 2024 when the Apache Stronghold files their appeal at the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, with stops along the way visiting tribes and supporters for prayer and ceremony. The full route is outlined [at the link below].

"We will be traveling to Thacker Pass, Nevada for a #PrayerGathering on August 6th. This will be our second stop of the journey. After Thacker Pass, we will be traveling to the #BayAreaCalifornia on August 8th for another prayer gathering. Please pay close attention to your emails as we will be updating along the way, as well as our social media @protectoakflat to follow along the journey with us.

"It is a very crucial time right now, so we ask if you cannot join us along the journey please continue to pray for our journey as we make our way across the U.S to the Supreme Court in Washington D.C. We are in this fight together, as we are one drum, one circle, one prayer."

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/08/apache-stronghold-to-thacker-pass-on.html

#RioTinto #CopperMine #SanCarlosApache #Arizona #ProtectOakFlat #protectthesacred #DefendTheSacred #IndigenousActivism #SCOTUS #SaveOakFlat
#WaterIsLife #SacredSite
#CopperMining
#RecycleCopper
#MiningWithoutConsent
#ProtectTheSacred
#CulturalGenocide
#ChichilBiłdagoteel
#Ecocide #SaveOakFlat #ReaderSupportedNews
#NativeAmericanNews
#IndigenousNews
#Greenwashing
#NoMiningWithoutConsent #ResolutionCopper #CorporateColonialism

#BigOil’s Plan To #Criminalize #Pipeline #Protests

By ExposedByCMD Editors
| June 18th, 2024
at 12:21 PM (CDT)

"#AnneWhiteHat found herself facing up to 10 years in prison after she was arrested for two counts of felony trespassing in September 2018 under one such law, which had just taken effect in Louisiana following pressure from oil and gas lobbyists.

She was one of four Native women who founded a resistance camp called L’eau Est La Vie, which was organizing nonviolent direct actions in protest of the #BayouBridgePipeline — a now-operating 163-mile pipeline owned by #EnergyTransfer that transports crude oil throughout the state. The protests ranged from a rendition of 'Crawfish the Musical' on the construction site to protesters locking themselves to pipeline equipment to tree sits in the centuries-old cypresses the company planned to tear down.

"The Bayou Bridge pipeline is the tail end of the #DakotaAccess route — White Hat had already joined her relatives to participate in the resistance camp at Standing Rock in North Dakota. 'I felt like it was a righteous cause, not to let them comfortably continue to threaten the waters of Indigenous #FirstNations,' she said. 'I was inspired from the work up North and just couldn’t let them continue down here unanswered and unchecked.'

White Hat had just finished leading a prayer ceremony when she was arrested at a boat ramp miles from the pipeline construction site. She was hauled into a sheriff deputy’s car with two other women and driven through tall sugar cane fields on the way to jail.

'It was terrifying,' said White Hat. 'We’re way out in the middle of nowhere. I was like, ‘Is this the point where I actually disappear?’

Investigative journalist Karen Savage was arrested that day, too — her second arrest under felony trespass charges as she reported on the Bayou Bridge protests. She was one of the only reporters to travel to the Atchafalaya Basin swamp, where the pipeline was being constructed.

By the time the water protectors got to the swamp, Savage said, they 'had done everything — they went to public meetings, they had petitions, they wrote letters, they tried to meet with the governor — they did everything they tell you in school, to participate and use your civil obligation in your community.' Despite their best efforts in one of the most oil- and gas-friendly states in the country, said Savage, 'nobody was listening.'"

https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2024/06/18/big-oils-plan-to-criminalize-pipeline-protests/

#BigOilAndGas #CriminalizingDissent #ACAB #HumanRightsViolations #IndigenousActivism #CorporateColonialism #IndigenousLandDefenders
#DirectAction #CorporateFascism #CriminalizingDissent
#WaterIsLife #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #EcoActivists #NoDAPL

[Photos] #PrayerHorseRide to Peehee Mu'huh

Nanesootuhina Pookoo Goobakatudu

#CensoredNews, March 28, 2024
Photos by Melissa Robles-Dyer

Peehee Mu'huh (#ThackerPass) -- "The Prayer Horse Ride, March 17-26, began in Schurz on its jouney to Peehee Mu’huh, Thacker Pass. The ride is in the traditional, ancestral and #unceded lands of the #Paiute, #Shoshone and #Bannock.

"'We do this prayer ride to reconnect our way of life,' said #JoshDiniSr., #WalkerRiverPaiute, #WaterProtector and #PrayerHorseRider.

"The Prayer Horse Ride is to raise awareness about #LithiumMining in #McDermittCaldera, and also #CopperMining in the #PineNutHills, in remembrance of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/People (#MMIW / #MMIP). Riders are revitalizing cultural identity, languages and lifeways in #Indigenous communities."

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/03/prayer-horse-ride-to-peehee-muhuh.html

#ProtectThackerPass #IndigenousActivism #IndigenousPeoples #PeeheeMuhuh #NoLithiumMining #EnvironmentalRacism #RecycleElectronics #RecycleLithium #LandBack #TraditionalLands #LithiumNevada #LithiumAmerica #RioTinto #CorporateColonialism

#PrayerHorseRide's Third Annual March Ride Begins March 17, in Schurz, Nevada

Reconnecting and Revitalizing #Traditional Ways of Life Threatened by Destructive #Mining Resource Extractions Supporting "#GreenEnergy"

By Prayer Horse Ride, via #CensoredNews

SCHURZ, Nevada -- "Prayer Horse Ride "#NanesootuhinaPookooGoobakatudu," is getting ready to begin our annual ride March 17th-26th, from Schurz, #Nevada through Yerington, Fallon, Wadsworth and Nixon, through Lovelock, then Orovada, and ending in #PeeheeMuhuh (#ThackerPass in the McDermitt Caldera), in the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the #Paiute, #Shoshone, and #Bannock.
The Riders, walkers, and runners carry the prayer with each community. They'll move forward to raise awareness regarding lithium mining in Peehee Mu'huh and the McDermitt Caldera; AND also raise awareness to #CopperMining in the #PineNutHills, a holy place known to the #Nuwu; in honor and remembrance of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women / People (#MMIW/P) in Nevada; and to revitalize and restore cultural identity, languages, creativity, and supportive lifeways in our indigenous communities.

"Northern Nevada is the home of the #NorthernPaiute, #WesternShoshone, #Washoe, and #Bannock people. We, as descendants of them, will continue to give voices to the voiceless on #MotherEarth. To all of our relations.

"'We do this prayer ride to reconnect and revitalize our way of life,' says Josh Dini, Sr, a member of Walker River Paiute Tribe, #WaterProtector and #PrayerHorseRider, and a member of #AmericanIndianMovement Northern Nevada (#AIMNNV).

"Indigenous communities in the Great Basin and McDermitt Caldera are experiencing fast-tracked #mining and industrial development to support 'green energy,' and are threatened by #ecologically and #sociologically destructive resource extraction processes, most notably, #lithium and #copper mining, in areas in proximity to or within #communities, #reservations and #LandTrusts, and #SacredSites.

"#HeavyMetals extraction #poisons lands, air, and water. Sacred sites for ceremony, where ancestors are buried, where medicines grow, and where lifecycles are anchored, are destroyed.

"'Copper mining in our Pine Nut Hills takes away our knowledge and our identity of who we are,' says Dini, who explained the mining threatens an important Paiute medicine food, as well as numerous traditional campsites and sacred places that have been used for innumerable generations.

"'We ride in honor of the people on the land before extraction industries, past - present - and future. Here in Nevada we have places important to the indigenous culture that are considered America's sacrifice zones in search of 'green energy.'

"'We are Paiute and Shoshone allied with many of the federally recognized tribes in Nevada. We lead this prayer for Mother Earth,' says Gary McKinney, a Duck Valley Shoshone Paiute, water protector and Prayer Horse Rider, People of Red Mountain spokesperson, AIMNNV council member, and SIRGE Coalition Steering Committee member.

Prayer Horse Ride will visit #Indigenous northern Nevada communities affected by these issues including #WalkerRiver Paiute Tribe, #Yerington Paiute Tribe, #Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe, #Lovelock Paiute Tribe, and #PyramidLake Paiute Tribe. As Riders reach each community, they may share meals, engage in ceremony, share stories and songs, and teach and learn traditional arts, bringing the communities together to celebrate and remember the traditional ways.

"McKinney says, 'We ride to honor the land and the people - of the past, present, and the future. #LifeOverLithium."

"About Prayer Horse Ride: Established in 2022 to honor the late #MyronDewey, Water Protector, Paiute Shoshone journalist and drone pilot, and to continue prayers for cultural sites like Peehee Mu’huh (Thacker Pass), we are an indigenous led prayer group and community service organization that advocates for our indigenous communities, to protect what we have left and to raise your awareness to what our communities face, and most importantly, in gathering tribes back together to stand in unity, not by separation.

"'We'll continue this ride in the Vision of our Ancestors, for Healing, Strength and Awareness, in Prayer and Unity.'

"Prayer Horse Riders have a story to tell and you can reach out to PHR media liaison André Wesner for inquiries: [email protected]

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/02/prayer-horse-ride-2024-in-honor-of.html

#PrayerRide #WaterIsLife #WaterProtectors #IndigenousLands #IndigenousActivism #EnvironmentalRacism #CulturalGenocide #NoUraniumMining #NoMining #LandBack #LandDefenders #CorporateColonialism

#Supai, #Ute, #Dine', #Arapaho, and #Lakota Testify on #Uranium #Exploitation before #InterAmericanCommission on #HumanRights

"The legacy of #UraniumMining in the #Southwest is death from #cancer and unreclaimed uranium mines. Now the contamination threatens the #ColoradoRiver. Tilousi urged the Commission to support the tribes efforts and pressure the #UnitedStates to change the #1872MiningLaw that allows international companies to seize #PublicLand for mining."

by Brenda Norrell, #CensoredNews
March 1, 2024

WASHINGTON -- "'There was no respect for the people living on these lands, and certainly no respect for #MotherEarth,' Edith Hood, Dine' from Red Water Pond Road community, told the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

"'The government was aware of the risks and the dangers but failed and neglected to inform our people.'

"Dine', Havasupai, Northern Arapaho, Oglala Lakota and #WhiteMesa Ute testified on uranium exploitation by the United States on Wednesday, during the session, 'Impacts of Uranium Exploitation on #IndigenousPeoples' Rights.'

"The #BIA, #EPA and #NuclearRegulatoryCommission praised themselves, and attempted to #CoverUp the legacy of death from uranium mining, strewn #RadioactiveWaste, and deadly uranium mills in Indian country.
Eric Jantz, legal director of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, disagreed with the United States assertions.
Jantz pointed out that the U.S. appears to want Native people to sacrifice more for 'national security' -- rather than to deal with the devastation. As for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it has not honored public comments. And as for the EPA, it's too late. There are more than 500 uranium mine sites waiting to be cleaned up on the Navajo Nation. Zero have been fully cleaned up, Jantz told the Commission.

"'Our ancestors remains were desecrated to build the mill,' Anthony Badback, Ute Mountain Ute at White Mesa, told the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights today in Washington. Badback testified that #EnergyFuels uranium mill has contaminated the #groundwater, plants, birds, #wildlife, and air in his community in southeastern #Utah.

"The young people are getting asthma, and the people can no longer use their spring water for ceremonies. Ute must buy bottled water to drink, and no longer hunt because of the contamination. Now, the mill is bringing in international waste and has become a low-level radioactive waste repository, because of the lax standards of the state of Utah. 'We want the mill to be shut down,' Badback told the Commission. 'Please help us.'

Read more: https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/02/navajo-ute-lakota-to-testify-on-uranium.html

#WaterIsLife #NuclearWaste #UraniumMills #Reprocessing #IndigenousActivism
#CulturalGenocide #EnvironmentalRacism
#NoNukes #NoNewNukes
#RenewablesNow #NoMining #UraniumMining

Sacred #Apache land 'on death row' in standoff with foreign #mining titans

Tribal members in #Arizona are fighting to protect a piece of land they consider their "#MountSinai."

March 3, 2021
By Christine Romo, Cynthia McFadden, Kit Ramgopal and Rich Schapiro

SUPERIOR, Ariz. – "The rugged patch of land known as #OakFlat sits in the #TontoNationalForest. To the #SanCarlosApache Tribe, the 740-acre swath of oak groves and sheer cliffs is sacred ground, a place where they have gone for centuries to hold religious #ceremonies and communicate with the Creator.

"'No different than Mount Sinai,' said Wendsler Nosie Sr., former chairman of the San Carlos Apache.

"But Oak Flat is on a path to destruction.

"The land is scheduled to be transferred to #ResolutionCopper, a company controlled by two foreign mining giants, and turned into one of the largest copper mines in the country. The transfer was set in motion by an eleventh-hour provision slipped into a 2014 defense bill by Arizona's two Republican senators at the time.

"The poverty-stricken San Carlos Apache Tribe is fighting back in court, alleging the land belongs to the tribe and holds special religious significance. But even they worry the path to victory is slim. Resolution Copper has poured $2 billion into the project and has had the U.S. government on its side.

"The dispute has turned into a David-vs.-Goliath-style standoff, drawing in environmental groups and reviving centuries-old questions over land rights involving American Indians.

"'We're still trying to defend who we are,' said Nosie, who has been camped out at Oak Flat for more than a year as part of his mission to stop the mine.

"He sees the conflict as the latest skirmish in his tribe's long fight to maintain its ancient way of life.

"The San Carlos Apache reservation, about 130 miles east of Phoenix, is among the poorest in the country. Four of every 5 families with children live below the federal poverty line, and the unemployment rate is 30 percent, according to a University of Arizona study.

"The reservation is on the outskirts of Tonto National Forest, which is named for the Tonto band of Apaches who lived in the area until the U.S. Army cavalry forcibly removed them in the 1870s.

"Many Apaches became prisoners of war. An untold number refused to surrender and instead jumped to their deaths at a ridge now known as Apache Leap.

"The Oak Flat area has been considered a holy place for thousands of years, the home of spiritual beings known as Ga'an. Apaches go there to pray, to seek personal cleansing and to hold ceremonies that connect them to their ancestors. It is also a popular campground and hiking destination.

"But Oak Flat has long been prized by mining companies. Beneath its surface lies a fortune — one of the largest #copper deposits in the world.

"Oak Flat has been protected under federal law since 1955, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower decreed the area off-limits to mining. President Richard Nixon's Interior Department renewed the ban in 1971, but it added a loophole that allowed for the area to be mined if it was traded to private interests.

"A bill proposing to trade away the land had repeatedly failed to pass both houses of Congress since it was first introduced in 2005.

"But in December 2014, Sens. #JohnMcCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona slipped a last-minute rider into a must-pass defense spending bill. The move amounted to a bonanza for Resolution Copper, which is jointly owned by two mining titans — the #RioTinto Group of the U.K. and #BHPBillitonLtd. of #Australia.

"The bill transferred 2,400 acres of national forestland, including Oak Flat, to Resolution in exchange for 5,300 acres of private land owned by the mining company.

"Flake declined an interview request. McCain, who died in 2018, touted the project in a 2014 op-ed in The Arizona Republic, saying that the mine would generate jobs and boost the local economy and that the land would remain open to tribal members and others until the company breaks ground.

"The legislation stunned and saddened #NaelynPike, a San Carlos Apache tribal member who first testified before Congress in opposition to the arrangement when she was 13.

"'Our cultural identity is being stripped away from us,' said Pike, 21, who is Nosie's granddaughter.

"'No tree can live without its roots,' she said. 'And we're that tree.'"

Read more:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sacred-apache-land-death-row-standoff-foreign-mining-titans-n1259331

#OakFlat #SaveOakFlat #IndigenousActivism #CulturalGenocide #EnvironmentalRacism #CorporateColonialism #CopperMining #Mining

Trial of #LandDefenders Fighting the #CoastalGasLink #Pipeline is Put on Hold as Canadian #Police Come Under Scrutiny for Excessive Force

The defense for three activists from #FirstNations argues abuse of process by security forces around the pipeline construction site, as the U.N. and Amnesty International allege excessive force, surveillance and #criminalization of land defenders.

By Keerti Gopal
January 24, 2024

"The trial of three Indigenous land defenders arrested at a pipeline construction site on #unceded #Wetsuweten First Nation land was adjourned until spring on Friday, as the court looks into potential abuses by Canadian police.

"In the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Smithers, B.C., the trial is the latest development in the nearly 12-year fight against the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline in the Canadian province.

"Land defenders #Sleydo’ #MollyWickham, #ShayLynnSampson and #CoreyJocko were found guilty of criminal contempt earlier this month, with Justice Michael Tanmen ruling that they broke a court injunction forbidding them from blocking access to construction for the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

"But immediately following the verdict, Tanmen began a week-long hearing to listen to the three individuals’ abuse of process applications, which allege that their Charter rights were violated during their arrests and detentions. During the hearing, the defense argued to stay the charges based on these applications, citing excessive force, aggressive behavior, offensive language and mocking by police.

"In Canada, the abuse of process doctrine allows courts to stay, or postpone, a proceeding on the grounds that some element of the process was unfair, and might undermine the legal system. In this case, the abuse of process application focused on treatment during and after arrests.

"The trial began on Jan. 8 and consisted mainly of witness testimony and evidence gathered in November 2021, during one of four major police raids at the pipeline between 2019 and 2023. The evidence included videos from social media and other videos taken by officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada’s national police service.

"The videos, and testimony from witnesses, including #RCMP officers, detailed the police using dogs and firearms and wielding chainsaws to cut down the doors of a cabin where Sleydo’ and Sampson were arrested. Jocko was arrested in another small structure close by.

"The activists allege police used excessive force to break down the doors and used offensive language, showing videos in which officers described arrestees as 'orcs' and 'ogres.' The abuse of process hearing will likely restart in June.

"Chief Na’Moks, a Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief and prominent advocate against the pipeline, said that the trial may serve as a template for future legal battles across Canada, where several other pipeline projects are underway.

"'This is going to affect everything else that happens, not only in #BritishColumbia but in #Canada,' Chief Na’Moks said last week. “This is the template that they want to use...and the harassment and constant abuse of #HumanRights has to stop.”

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24012024/first-nations-activists-fighting-coastal-gaslink-pipeline/

#ACAB #HumanRightsViolations #IndigenousActivism #BigOilAndGas #CorporateColonialism #IndigenousLandDefenders
#UncededLand #DirectAction #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent
#WaterIsLife #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #EcoActivists

#Wetsuweten Law Cannot ‘Coexist’ with BC Court Order, Judge Determines
Chief Dsta’hyl has been found guilty of criminal contempt.

by Amanda Follett Hosgood, #TheTyee

21 Feb 2024

"Wet’suwet’en hereditary leaders have opposed #pipeline construction through their traditional territory since before the #CoastalGasLink pipeline project was first proposed. In December 2018, the B.C. Supreme Court issued an interim injunction to the company, which prohibited anyone from blocking pipeline access roads or work sites. A year later, on Dec. 31, 2019, the court granted a permanent injunction for the duration of the project.

[...]

"Last month, Tammen determined there was sufficient evidence to convict three #Indigenous #LandDefenders — Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, Shaylynn Sampson and Corey Jocko. They were arrested the day after Dennis and later charged with criminal #contempt. Hearings have begun into an application by the defence to stay the charges based on police conduct during the arrests.

"#ChiefDstahyl’s arrest took place in October 2021, after a series of interactions with Coastal GasLink workers and security contractors on the Shea Forest Service Road on Likhts’amisyu Clan territory.

"During those interactions, Dsta’hyl and others blocked access to a work camp and 'seized and rendered inoperable' multiple pieces of machinery belonging to Coastal GasLink contractors by cutting electrical wires and removing batteries, according to evidence presented during the trial.

"When Dsta’hyl was arrested, he had four batteries from heavy machinery in the back of his pickup truck, the judge said.

"'There is little dispute concerning the basic facts,' Tammen said, noting that video evidence documenting the incidents was presented during the trial.

"'Chief Dsta’hyl, acting as an enforcement officer for the Likhts’amisyu Clan, participated in the decommissioning of a piece of heavy equipment owned by a CGL subcontractor on Oct. 17, 2021. That action consisted of removing the battery from the equipment, an excavator, thus rendering it inoperable.'

"Witnesses for the defence included other #Likhtsamisyu Chiefs, who described the Wet’suwet’en traditional clan system and its role in governing the traditional territory. Among the Chiefs’ duties is preservation and protection of the traditional territory, or #yintah, Tammen said.

"Tammen also summarized the Wet’suwet’en law of trespass, something described in detail by defence witnesses, saying permission is required to access territory belonging to a house group 'beyond just passing through it.'

[...]

"Criminal contempt penalties can include fines or imprisonment. Sentencing has been set for 9 a.m. on March 6."

https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/02/21/Wetsuweten-Law-Cannot-Coexist-BC-Court-Order/

#SLAPPs #IndigenousActivism #BigOilAndGas #CorporateColonialism #IndigenousLandDefenders #LandBack #2023PublicOrderAct #DirectAction #ACAB #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent #WaterIsLife #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #EcoActivists #HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #RightToProtest #SlowMarch