21st July 2011
Tree sits Block Mining Operations on Coal River Mountain
The RAMPS Campaign put a couple of tree-sitters up on Coal River Mountain to stop mountaintop removal coal mining. The tree-sit has stopped Alpha Natural Resources strip mining operations on Coal River Mountain. Catherine-Ann MacDougal and Becks Kolins currently are sitting in trees 80 feet off the ground about 300 feet from active blasting operations.
Their banners read “STOP STRIP MINING” and “FOR JUDY BONDS.”
Judy Bonds was an Appalachian leader in the anti-mountaintop removal fight who died of cancer earlier this year.
Judy’s daughter, Lisa Henderson, said in support of the tree-sit, “I hope that today’s actions serve as a symbol that the struggle to live peacefully and pollution-free in the Coal River Valley did not end when my mother’s life did. My mother and I often compared the fight to survive here on Coal River to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. I am sure that generations from now, our children will look back on this movement also and the actions of the people involved, and ask the question of their elders, ‘Whose side were you on?’”
Click here to read full story and full July 20, 2011 press release
The following is an excerpt from an Understory post by Scott Parkin. Image of Judy Bonds via americanswhotellthetruth.org
UPDATE:
Alpha Natural Resources halted all work on the Bee Tree surface mine while WV State Police and mine security spent over four hours attempting to locate the position of the four young people – even with the company helicopter. Upon discovering them, Walk and Schewel, were arrested, and Kolins and MacDougal remain in their respective trees. They plan to stay there as long as they are physically able, in order to prevent Alpha from conducting further surface mining operations on Coal River Mountain. Blasting on the entire Bee Tree site was shut down for the whole day.
Kolins and MacDougal sent periodic text messages throughout Wednesday to their supporters. Kolins reported that a helicopter, owned by Alpha Natural Resources, hovered dangerously close to their tree. The two tree-sitters also confirmed that a bulldozer is slowly grading a road towards their location from the mine wall bench. Despite their isolation, these two, strong, brave young people, in the spirit of the late Judy Bonds, have vowed, “We Won’t Stop Until They Do – Stop All Strip Mining!”
Walk and Schewel were released from Southern Regional Jail at around 9:45pm, each was held with a $1000 bail. As is evidenced by the picture below, they are in high spirits, and are looking forward to a good night of sleep.
RAMPS would like to extend its gratitude to the multitude of people across the country that have expressed their unwavering support for the tree sitters who have chosen to take a stand for mountains and communities. Please be assured that these words of encouragement are being passed on to the young people in the trees, and will be ever more necessary with each passing day they spend sitting and sweating in the muggy West Virginia heat.
If you are able, consider donating $5, $25, $50 or more to the RAMPS’ campaign general fund. All money in the general fund goes towards feeding and housing the large behind-the-scenes support crew that is necessary to pull off an action of this nature safely, securely, and effectively.
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Updates from the tree tops, coast to coast!
28 July
Eco-resistance from West Virginia and western Oregon
Coos County , OR— Early Tuesday morning a number of activists with Cascadia Forest Defenders and Cascadia Earth First! unfolded a series of road blockades in the Elliott State Forest closing access points to timber sales along the west fork of the Millicoma River. The blockades consist of an array of Tree-sits and ground level locking devices.
The sales are all slated for clear-cut logging, and are areas of native forest that have never before seen a chain saw. They exist on steep slopes where erosion from logging threatens to further damage Salmon habitat, as well as devastate protected species including Marbled Murrelet and Northern Spotted Owl.
“For decades, activists in the northwest pushed the forest service into changing there ways for the better, and we have seen dramatic improvements in the types of projects federal agencies are working on, The Oregon Department of Forestry has taken the opposite route, showing total disregard for life, and the health of these ecosystems, this is the beginning of a long term campaign that aims to see state lands managed for sustainability, bio-diversity and the overall health of the ecosystem, we will keep the pressure on in The Elliot, and all over the state of Oregon from this point forward” –Jason Gonzales, Cascadia Forest Defenders.
“The clearcutting in the Elliot is the worst in the state. They would never allow cuts like this on federal forest.” —Meredith Cocks of Cascadia Forest Defenders.
Activists in the canopy have issued the following list of demands for the State Land Board and the Oregon Department of Forestry that they say must be met before they will willingly leave the forest:
1) Cease all logging of native forests on public land in Oregon
2) Put a moratorium on all logging and road construction in the Elliot State Forest
3) Halt the export of raw logs from all Oregon forest, public or private
4) Reject the Oregon Department of Forestry’s 2011 Implementation Plan for the Elliot State Forest
5) Stop the use of herbicides and the slaughter of the native mountain beaver.
Contact ODF and tell them you support the demands: information@odf.state.o… Phone: 503-945-7200 Fax: 503-945-7212
This action is a culmination of last weekend’s Forest Defense Action Camp. Around 70 people from around Coos and Douglas county, as well as other areas of Oregon and the country gathered near the Elkhorn Ranch ORV Park in the Elliot for the three day camp. Attendants were educated on current threats to the Elliot State Forest as well as provided with trainings to engage in direct action, climbing and more.
UPDATE: On Wednesday Night, July 27th, Law Enforcement arrived at the Elkhorn Ranch Timber Sale tree-sit and blockade in the Elliot. Protesters at the site have been warned that Law Enforcement will attempt to forcibly extract anyone remaining at the blockade at noon today, July 28th. Although a bulldozer plowed through the slash piles the previous evening, as of this report, road blockades and canopy occupations continue.
Meanwhile in West Virgina…
Tree sitters at mine site celebrate 10 days of holding off the blasts
Photo from day one of the Coal River Mountain tree sit
While more ground support people have been arrested, the tree sitters are still holding out and calling for end of strip mining in Coal River watershed. Support continues to grow. Check out the new statement they released a yesterday.
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New blockades in the Elliot State Forest
27 July
Lives of blockaders threatened by rogue bulldozer operator
“This is Cascadia Forest Defenders with an urgent call out for support on the Treesit and road blockade currently protecting Native forests in the Elliott State Forest. We have a stronghold that is holding but nearly lost 2 sitters at another site this morning, when a rogue, still un-identified bulldozer plowed through the slash piles and anchors which were attached to the road and were holding there platform in the trees, these brave individuals fortunately had good training and survived the incident.
If you are trained and experienced in forest defense, we need your help. If you are able, Join us in the Elliott, we need you on the roads and in the trees, contact us if you can help out.
If you are not in the area, We would love to see some solidarity actions! If you are in a position to to do so, take action to let the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) and the State Land Board know that their behavior in our state forests is unacceptable and must stop now!
Please send this message along, spread the word, Make some noise, and RISE UP against ODF and their heinous ways!”
Find out more from the Cascadia Forest Defenders.
http://www.forestdefensenow.com/
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Statement from Coal River Mountain tree sitter Catherine-Ann MacDougal
23 July
UPDATE: Day 4 of the West Virginia tree sit on Coal River Mountain. Reports from the direct action group RAMPS say the new canopy residents are staying dry despite the rain and collecting rainwater with their tarp. Both sitters are very glad that the rain has brought some slightly cooler weather. A message this evening from the sitters: ”Our first visit from a cop! He was nice. Not as cute as the baby bears though.” Apparently he was “just making small talk. Wanted to see us. Asked if we were in it for the long haul.”
Excerpt from Catherine-Ann MacDougal’s statement:
[T]he fabric of these ancient and diverse forests is being torn apart. There is no way that I can begin to detail the comprehensive destruction that surface mining and mountaintop removal wreak on the forest ecosystem of the southern Appalachian mountains. Valley fills choke ephemeral, intermittent, and other headwater streams, eliminating their function in providing organic matter downstream, increasing the sediment load, and causing flooding. Sulfuric acid released during mining leaches heavy metals that poison aquatic life and humans. The forests that are clear-cut before a mountaintop is destroyed cannot begin to grow back on a reclaimed site; the geology, hydrology, topography, substrate, and chemistry of a strip mined site cannot be manipulated to resemble those of the original forest, making reclamation an empty promise. The soils will take a century to recover, and the mountain itself will be gone forever…
I feel, with the keen urgency of extinction, that Alpha Natural Resources cannot be allowed to tear apart Coal River Mountain and allow all those living below it to suffer for their profits. Legal resistance to strip mining has been failing for decades; we can’t allow ourselves to be gulled into believing that we should confine ourselves mildly to sanctioned channels for change while those who profit from exploitation set the terms. We need to throw everything we can into the gears of big coal, costing them as much money and shame as possible. To this end, I am going to sit about fifty feet up in a tree for as long as I can.
I do this out of passion, and I do it out of love. I do it as an act of anger and of penance. I do it out of obligation and out of freedom.
If you haven’t begun already, I invite you to join us in the fight.
GM wheat gets the chop, Australia
Update: offices raided week after decontamination / French scientist discovers signs of toxic effects relate
Update: offices raided week after decontamination / French scientist discovers signs of toxic effects related to eating GM foods / action video
14 July 2011
Two women used whipper snippers to remove a controversial genetically modified (GM) wheat crop before day break.
The activists constructed a decontamination area to safely dispose of the untested and potentially unstable GM organisms.
Safety in question
The activity follows the revelation that Australia’s peak scientific body, CSIRO, is conducting the world’s first human feeding trials of GM wheat, without adequate safety testing.
“This GM wheat should never have left the lab,” said activist and mother, Heather McCabe. “I'm sick of being treated like a dumb Mum who doesn’t understand the science. As far as I’m concerned, my family's health is just too important. GM wheat is not safe, and if the government can't protect the safety of my family, then I will.”
CSIRO’s wheat experiment came under recent scrutiny when eight international scientists and doctors questioned the ethics and scientific rigour behind it. In an open letter the scientists questioned the safety of human feeding trials planned for later this year in which Australians would be fed GM wheat from the Canberra based trials.
Conflict of interest
On 30 June, CSIRO rejected a Freedom of Information request by Greenpeace which requested further information to ensure the safety of the human feeding trials, along with transparent information about the commercial partnerships CSIRO has with foreign biotech companies to commercialise GM wheat.
In a July report – Australia’s Wheat Scandal Greenpeace detailed a major conflict of interest at CSIRO. Two directors of the biotech giant Nufarm – the distributor of Monsanto’s products in Australia – also sat on the CSIRO board at the time of the wheat experiment’s approval. View the infographic detailing the connections
GM wheat has already been rejected in Canada, North America, Russia and the EU. The CSIRO is being used as a front for foreign biotech companies; this has compromised its research and put Australia’s multi-billion dollar wheat industry at risk.
Inevitable contamination
All of the evidence shows that GM can’t be contained in the field. Greenpeace has taken action to protect our food supply being contaminated by experimental GM wheat. Now the Australian Government must step in and protect the health of Australian people.
“We had no choice but to take action to bring an end to this experiment,” said Greenpeace Food campaigner Laura Kelly. “GM has never been proven safe to eat and once released in open experiments, it will contaminate. This is about the protection of our health, the protection of our environment and the protection of our daily bread.”
Trials of potentially unstable GM wheat strains are currently planted in five states and territories across Australia
TAKE ACTION: Tell the government to end its controversial GM wheat trials
READ THE REPORT: The biotech takeover of our daily bread
MORE INFORMATION: Follow the story so far
Another attack on mining interests in the Philippines
MANILA : Suspected communist rebels in the Philippines attacked a mining company compound, while in another incident the rebels clashed with soldiers, the military said on Thursday.
MANILA : Suspected communist rebels in the Philippines attacked a mining company compound, while in another incident the rebels clashed with soldiers, the military said on Thursday.
GMA News reported that Major John Andrada, spokesman for the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, said about 40 New People’s Army (NPA) rebels on Wednesday attacked the compound of Drill Corp., a sub-contractor of Philex Mining Corp., in Nabulao village in Sipalay City in the central island of Negros. He said the rebels disarmed a security guard and burned the workers’ quarters as well as the personnel carrier truck.
According to Andrada, the rebels fled using a company’s vehicle, which was later found burned.
The Visayan Daily Star reported that the attack was an attempt to force the mining company to pay revolutionary taxes. Priest-turned-rebel Frank Fernandez said in an earlier statement that the revolutionary movement has been ordered to launch military and political struggles, aimed at stopping the ongoing mining explorations and operations of several mining companies that have pending mining rights applications in Negros.
He claimed that massive mining operations in the mountains of Negros Occidental and Oriental have already covered 40 percent of the total land area of the island, or 80 percent of the total agricultural land, adding that there is a possibility that Negros may soon be transformed into a desert…..
Activists Occupy Montana Capitol Building vs Tar Sands
Breaking News: Activists Occupy Montana Capitol Building Demanding Governor Schweitzer Publicly Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline and Tar Sands Megaload Shipments
Activists from across the nation and around the world join Montana and Idaho residents in demanding that Schweitzer finally stand up to “Big Oil.”
Breaking News: Activists Occupy Montana Capitol Building Demanding Governor Schweitzer Publicly Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline and Tar Sands Megaload Shipments
Activists from across the nation and around the world join Montana and Idaho residents in demanding that Schweitzer finally stand up to “Big Oil.”
On the morning of July 12th, six activists from Earth First! and Northern Rockies Rising Tide have risked arrest by occupying Governor Schweitzer’s office in an act of non-violent civil disobedience. The activists have locked their arms in a mock oil pipeline made out of PVC plastic pipe. In the wake of the Silvertip spill, Governor Schweitzer has publicly chastised Exxon Mobil, while simultaneously continuing to promote the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, megaload shipments bound for the Alberta Tar Sands and other extreme fossil fuel projects throughout the state.
“If the Governor has his way, Montana will be transformed into what is essentially an energy extraction colony for Big Oil. The Silvertip spill is simply a short preview of what this would mean for the lives and livelihood of all Montanans,” says Great Falls native Peter Dolan, one of the eight occupying the office.
Activists inside the Capitol are also demanding that Schweitzer stand up to TransCanada and other international criminal organizations by publicly opposing Alberta Tar Sands exportation. This project is widely known as the most destructive energy process on the planet by leading environmental organizations. According to a recent report by University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineering professor John Stansbury, neither TransCanada nor the regulators evaluating the proposed Keystone XL pipeline have properly considered the risks. Stansbury said TransCanada underestimated both the frequency of spills on the pipeline and the severity of the worst-case scenario spills.
“As the recent ExxonMobil pipeline disaster has made clear, Governor Schweitzer is attempting to turn Montana into an extraction state, while at the same time publicly proclaiming his supposed support for clean energy, protecting the environment and building healthy communities. It’s one or the other. You can’t be clean and dirty at the same time,” according to Bozeman’s Erica Dossa, who also took part in the action.
Earth First! was named in 1979 in response to a lethargic, compromising and increasingly corporate environmental community. Earth First! takes a decidedly different approach towards environmental issues by using all the tools in the toolbox, ranging from grassroots organizing and involvement in the legal process to civil disobedience. Northern Rockies Rising Tide is the Missoula based chapter off the international, decentralized, grassroots movement Rising Tide. They are an all-volunteer network of groups and individuals who promote local, community-based solutions to the climate crisis and take direct actions to confront the root causes of climate change.
Northern Rockies Rising Tide –
Fighting for things in the Northern Rockies
www.NorthernRockiesRisingTide.org
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_vd4QC_rB4
HELENA, Montana—Check out this new short film from the Earth First! occupation of the Montana capitol against the Tar Sands and other industrial energy infrastructure in the Northern Rockies, following the 2011 Round River Rendezvous.
Five people locked down, 20 danced on the governor’s table, 70 people occupied the office, business as usual was disrupted! If you can, please consider donating a bit of money to the arrestee’s legal fund HERE
Philippines anti-mining action
7.7.11 – 30 communist rebels torch Philex Mining’s vehicles, bunk house
At least 30 communist rebels raided on Wednesday afternoon the compound of Philex Mining Company in Barangay (village) Nabulao, Sipalay City in Negros Occidental.
7.7.11 – 30 communist rebels torch Philex Mining’s vehicles, bunk house
At least 30 communist rebels raided on Wednesday afternoon the compound of Philex Mining Company in Barangay (village) Nabulao, Sipalay City in Negros Occidental.
No shot was fired but the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels burned the firm’s three vehicles and bunk house and took six shotguns of their security guards, military and police officials said.
This was the second time in three years that the NPA attacked Philex Mining. In 2008, communist rebels torched millions of pesos worth of mine drilling and heavy equipment as well as the barracks of the workers.
Lt. Col. Rodrigo Sosmena, 47th Infantry Battalion commander, said about 30 armed rebels swooped down on the mining compound, disarmed guards of their service firearms and three hand held radios, at the their outpost located about three kilometers away from the compound.
The rebels, believed to be members of the Armando Sumayang Command, also torched a cargo truck rented by the mining firm, as well as a bunk house of the guards and workers.
The rebels also burned down a Kia Rio car and later commandeered the company’s service pickup vehicle, said Supt. Milko Lirazan, director of the 6th Regional Public Safety Battalion.
The rebels later withdrew towards the Philex airport site and burned the pick-up before fleeing in unknown directions, he added.
The police had yet to determine the extent of the damage, said Lizaran.
Sosmena said his troops were still tracking down the perpetrators as of Wednesday night.
The rebels conducted the raid in line with the campaign of priest-turned-rebel leader Frank Fernandez to enforce a revolutionary policy of completely banning “destructive” mining operations and explorations on Negros Island.
In late 2010, communist rebels raided the Maricalum Mining Company compound in Barangay San Jose, Sipalay City, and took 20 firearms from security guards and two policemen who responded to the raid, police records showed.
But ILt. Rey Balibagoso, 47th IB Civil Military Operations officer, said the NPA was just trying to project the raid as an anti-mining operation to cover up for its motive to extort money from the mining firm.
He said the attack was aimed force the mining firm to pay revolutionary taxes.
http://signalfire.org/?p=12134
More environment protests in Inner Mongolia
Chinese Mongolians protest again, herders beaten-rights group
BEIJING, June 30 (Reuters) – Chinese police beat up and detained ethnic Mongolian herders who protested over the weekend against pollution caused by a lead mine, an overseas rights group said on Thursday, in the latest unrest to strike China’s remote Inner Mongolia.
Chinese Mongolians protest again, herders beaten-rights group
BEIJING, June 30 (Reuters) – Chinese police beat up and detained ethnic Mongolian herders who protested over the weekend against pollution caused by a lead mine, an overseas rights group said on Thursday, in the latest unrest to strike China’s remote Inner Mongolia.
The New York-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Centre said the protest was sparked this month in Inner Mongolia’s Bayannuur after a lead mine expanded onto a piece of grazing land.
“After repeatedly petitioning the (local) governments expressing their concerns regarding the danger to their environment and health with no satisfactory response, on June 24 … frustrated herders marched to the area of the mine and shut down the mine’s water pump,” the group said in an emailed statement.
“On June 25, the (local) government mobilized more than 50 riot police and attacked the protesters. Many herders were beaten severely and taken away by police. Their health condition and status are unknown as of the date of this report,” it added.
An official reached by telephone at the Bayannuur government said he had not heard of any protests, and declined further comment. Calls to the lead mine went unanswered.
Bayannuur, more than 400 km (300 miles) northeast of Beijing, has been home to a lead mine since 1978, according to the Inner Mongolia government.
The vast northern region of Inner Mongolia was rocked by protests last month sparked by the death of an ethnic Mongolian herder who was hit and killed by a truck after taking part in protests against pollution caused by a coal mine.
Angry ethnic Mongolians took to the streets across Inner Mongolia demanding better protection of the environment as well as their rights and traditions.
This month, a court in Inner Mongolia ordered the execution of a man for murdering the herder.
Beijing, ever worried by threats to stability, is trying to address some of the protesters’ broader concerns about the damage done by coal mining to traditional grazing lands.
The authorities have launched a month-long overhaul of the lucrative coal mining industry, vowing to clean up or close polluters.
Ethnic Mongolians, who make up less than 20 percent of the roughly 24 million population of Inner Mongolia, have complained that their traditional grazing lands have been ruined by mining and desertification, and that the government has tried to force them to settle in permanent houses.
Latest Action Update
Climbing, blocking, stinking, sabbing earth defenders rock!
Roll on down to the EF! Summer Gathering in mid-August.
Paint-throwing, blockading, rioting, boarding up offices and gathering hundreds of thousands together – all ways to try and defeat the Nuclear Behemoth.
Climbing, blocking, stinking, sabbing earth defenders rock!
Roll on down to the EF! Summer Gathering in mid-August.
Paint-throwing, blockading, rioting, boarding up offices and gathering hundreds of thousands together – all ways to try and defeat the Nuclear Behemoth.
Blockading coal in Bangladesh, copper mining in Peru, Italian ecotage against incineration, Greek firebombs opposing landfill, pro-rickshaw car-smashing in India, actions and camping to protect the Tasmanian forests, and anti-mining trashing of many things in Indonesia…just a taste from around the world of how people campaign to stop the destruction of the earth and it’s inhabitants.
More news from the front lines: travellers digging in, mobile phone mast torching, a first time hunt sabber’s diary, the latest from the GM ‘anti-lobby’, and tracking new developments – UK fracking, FFS!
Plus with the latest advice from AUntie Miffy, contacts and dates to get you in the mood for Captain Swing, download, distribute, subscribe and get out there, and stuck in.
earthfirst.org.uk/efau
[- to subscribe & get the EF!AU as soon as it’s produced, rather than when we put it up here!]
Five killed in Peru’s anti-mining clashes
25.6.11
At least five people have died and more than 30 were injured in clashes between police and anti-mining demonstrators in southern Peru, hospital officials say.
Violence in the Puno region started when about 1,000 people were prevented from breaching a security fence around the international airport in Juliaca.
25.6.11
At least five people have died and more than 30 were injured in clashes between police and anti-mining demonstrators in southern Peru, hospital officials say.
Violence in the Puno region started when about 1,000 people were prevented from breaching a security fence around the international airport in Juliaca.
The protest was part of a two-day strike over a silver-mining contract given to a Canadian corporation.
The government cancelled the project as the protests were going on.
Demonstrators feared that it would increase pollution, while bringing few benefits to the local population.
Locals v multinationals
Flights were cancelled during the protest, stranding hundreds of tourists who had been visiting the town on the shores of the world’s highest navigable lake, Lake Titicaca.
The protesters attempted to storm Juliaca airport twice.
They later attacked a police station in the nearby town of Azangaro, Interior Minister Miguel Hidalgo said, adding that police there were in a “difficult situation”.
The BBC’s Dan Collyns in Lima says the Puno region on the border with Bolivia has been in the grip of a generalised protest against all mining activity for more than a month.
In May, indigenous Aymara protesters blocked roads between the two countries for three weeks.
The disputes over natural resources pit poor locals against multinational companies, our correspondent says.
The social conflicts have come to characterise the outgoing government of President Alan Garcia, with critics saying he often took the side of the large companies, he adds.
Incoming President Ollanta Humala also has promised to bring an end to such disputes.
Four officials taken hostage by Indian anti-hydro-project villagers
June 22, 2011
Four government functionaries associated with a mega hydropower project in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district [India] were taken hostage by villagers protesting over environmental issues and released after a day in captivity Wednesday, officials said.
June 22, 2011
Four government functionaries associated with a mega hydropower project in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district [India] were taken hostage by villagers protesting over environmental issues and released after a day in captivity Wednesday, officials said.
The protesters were demanding acceptance of their demands by state-run Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) executing a mega run-of-the-river hydropower project on a Satluj tributary.
“All the four government functionaries, including three senior officials of the HPPCL who were kept under house arrest by villagers since Tuesday, were released on the HPPCL’s assurance that most of their demands would be accepted,” Sub-Divisional Magistrate Naresh Thakur told IANS over phone.
He said the villagers demands included grant of construction contracts to locals and steps to prevent deterioration of environment.
The project of 130 MW is called Kashang hydropower project. It is being made on Kashang rivulet, some 275 km from state capital Shimla, and is being funded by the Asian Development Bank.
HPPCL General Manager S.P. Gupta said the released hostages included project’s Executive Engineer C.L. Dhiman along with a senior research fellow of the Himachal Pradesh University. They had been kept in captivity at the ‘panchayat ghar’ in Pangi village, the second largest in the district with a population of over 2,500 people.
The ministry of environment and forests has already granted an environmental clearance to the project.
Police used excessive force on San Francisco Peaks defenders
19.6.11
Protest Halts Snowbowl Waste water Pipeline Construction End Destruction and Desecration of Holy San Francisco Peaks
19.6.11
Protest Halts Snowbowl Waste water Pipeline Construction End Destruction and Desecration of Holy San Francisco Peaks
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Navajos and others defending sacred San Francisco Peaks said police used excessive force on those taking action to defend the Peaks from the use of sewage water for snowmaking on the mountain. Native American medicine men conduct ceremonies on the mountain, and gather herbs for healing ceremonies, on the Peaks, long sacred to 13 area American Indian Nations.
“Those who cut us out endangered our well being ignoring the screams to stop. They treated our bodies the way they’re treating this holy mountain. If they had their way, we wouldn’t even exist. There is more danger in doing nothing. To idly stand by and allow this destruction and desecration is to allow cultural genocide,” said one of the young woman who locked down.
At sunrise on Thursday, June 16, 2011, more than a dozen people stopped ski area construction on the Holy San Francisco Peaks. Six individuals used various devices to lock themselves to heavy machinery and to each other inside the waste water pipeline trench, the six arrested said in a statement released Sunday, June 19.
Kristopher Barney, Dine’ (Navajo) and one of the six who locked himself to an excavator stated, “This is a continuation of years of prayers and resistance. It is our hope that all Indigenous Peoples, and all others, throughout the North, East, South and West come together to offer support to the San Francisco Peaks and help put a stop to Snowbowl’s plan to further destroy and desecrate such a sacred, beautiful and pristine mountain!”
“What part of sacred don’t they understand? Through our actions today, we say enough! The destruction and desecration has to end!” said Marlena Teresa Garcia, 16, a young Diné woman and one of the six who chose to lock down. “The Holy San Francisco Peaks is home, tradition, culture, and a sanctuary to me, and all this is being desecrated by the Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort. So now I, as a young Diné woman, stand by Dook’o’osliid’s side taking action to stop cultural genocide. I encourage all indigenous youth to stand against the desecration that is happening on the Holy San Francisco Peaks and all other sacred sites,” said Garcia after being arrested and released.
Those arrested decribed the action and excessive police force in their statement released Sunday:
A banner was hung on the side of the trench that read “Defend the Sacred!” where two protesters were locked together. Over the half mile of open construction, the group chanted, “Protect Sacred Sites, Defend Human Rights!”, “No desecration for recreation!” “Stop the cultural genocide! Protect the Peaks!” and “Human health over corporate wealth.”
“This waste water pipeline will poison the environment and to children who may eat snow made from it. Snowbowl plans to spray millions of gallons of waste water snow, which is filled with cancer causing and other harmful contaminants, as well as clear-cut over 30,000 trees. The Peaks are a pristine and beautiful place, a fragile ecosystem, and home to rare and endangered species of plants and animals,” said Evan Hawbaker, one of the protesters who locked themselves to the excavator.
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Forest Service, the City of Flagstaff Mayor and Council, and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality are all responsible for permitting Snowbowl to endanger public health, destroy the environment, and desecrate the Holy Peaks,” said Nadia del Callejo, one of the protesters who locked themselves in the trench.
“Throughout history, acts of resistance and civil disobedience have been taken by young and old against injustices such as this. This action is not isolated but part of a. continued resistance to human rights violations, to colonialism, to corporate greed, and destruction of Mother Earth,” added Del Callejo.
A separate group of supporters, some wearing hazmat suits, “quarantined” the entrance to Snowbowl Road. Banners were stretched across the road that read “Protect Sacred Sites” and “Danger! Health Hazard – Snowbowl.”
Shortly after initiating the action, a Snowbowl security guard spotted two people locked to an excavator. By 6:00 a.m. more than 15 armed agents, including the Coconino County Sheriff’s Department, City of Flagstaff Police, and the FBI stormed the mountain.
At approximately 7:30 a.m., the Flagstaff Fire Department, assisted by County Sheriffs, started aggressively cutting two people from the excavator.
“We took every possible measure to ensure our safety. Our actions were taken to safeguard Indigenous Peoples’ cultural survival, our community’s health and this sensitive mountain ecosystem. Those who cut us out endangered our well being ignoring the screams to stop. They treated our bodies the way they’re treating this holy mountain. If they had their way, we wouldn’t even exist. There is more danger in doing nothing. To idly stand by and allow this destruction and desecration is to allow cultural genocide,” said one of the young woman who locked down.
“The police’s use of excessive force was in complete disregard for my safety. They pulled at my arms and forced my body and head further into the machine, all the while using heavy duty power saws within inches of my hand,” said Hawbaker.
After being cut out, the two were treated by paramedics and arrested for trespassing. The police, firefighters, and paramedics then proceeded to cut two people locked in a nearby trench.
Extraction took about forty minutes and the two were immediately seen by paramedics after being unlocked. One of the individuals sustained injuries to their arm from abusive force. Both were charged with trespassing, with an added charge of “contributing to the delinquency of a minor,” for one of the individuals. Police proceeded to unlock the last group who was also inside the trench nearby.
“Our only offense was resistance; resistance of the implications that’s Snowbowl’s development exudes. The police’s defense was to implement tactics of fear to reach a goal, essentially to continue construction as soon as possible. Our safety was prioritized second to Snowbowl’s demands. I was one of the demonstrators in the trench, locked at the neck with a partner. I was not aggressive. My lock was sawed through, inches away from both of our heads, secured solely and recklessly by the hands of a deputy. During the process, we were repeatedly asked to chant to reaffirm our consciousness. The police’s response was hasty, taking about ten minutes in total–it was dehumanizing,” said Haley Sherwood, one of the last protester to be cut out.
Both women were also seen by paramedics. One was sent to the hospital for heat exhaustion although she denied feeling dehydrated. She started to faint during the extraction when police, EMTs, and firefighters attempted to force the pair to stand and move them from their location. Both women repeatedly expressed that they were being hurt and choked by law enforcement officers and firefighters. Both of the protesters were arrested for trespassing, with additional charges to one of them for “contributing to the delinquency of a minor” and “endangerment.”
Four of the protesters were taken to County Jail. The two young people were taken to Coconino County Juvenile Detention Center. FBI agents attempted to question four of those arrested.
As word spread about the demonstration to protect the Peaks, overwhelming support and solidarity poured in from throughout the community and internationally.
Bail was raised shortly after the arrests. All demonstrators were released by 3:30 p.m. Three of the protesters, including Marlena Teresa Garcia, immediately filed a report for excessive use of force after being released.
“How can we be trespassers on our Holy Site?” questioned Barney. “I do not agree with these and the other charges, we will continue our resistance.”
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Press contact for those defending San Francisco Peaks:
Contact: Beth Lavely Tel: 928.254.1064 protectpeaks@gmail.com
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Background – http://www.indigenousaction.org/