Shoshone Defenders of Mount Tenabo Constructing Encampment (occupied North America)

Decem­ber 1, 2008
At some point today, sev­er­al men will begin con­struct­ing a per­ma­nent arbor on the South­ern flank of Mt. Ten­abo, where they will camp and mon­i­tor the Cana­di­an min­ing com­pa­ny Bar­rick Gold.

Shoshone protest placardShoshone mountain destructionDecem­ber 1, 2008
At some point today, sev­er­al men will begin con­struct­ing a per­ma­nent arbor on the South­ern flank of Mt. Ten­abo, where they will camp and mon­i­tor the Cana­di­an min­ing com­pa­ny Bar­rick Gold.

The encamp­ment was called on dur­ing last week’s protest, where Shoshone Grand­moth­ers and their sup­port­ers attempt­ed to con­front Bar­rick Gold and bring an end to the destruc­tion of the pin­ion for­est — which began almost imme­di­ate­ly after the com­pa­ny got approval to go ahead with its ‘Cortez Hills Expan­sion Project.’

A mas­sive cyanide heap leach gold mine, the project will ulti­mate­ly destroy approx­i­mate­ly 6,800 acres of land — frac­tur­ing along with it, the spir­i­tu­al life and cul­tur­al prac­tices of the Shoshone Peo­ple.

“This is our treaty land. It was a treaty made with the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment. It was not made with a for­eign nation. And it is a for­eign min­ing com­pa­ny that has come into our coun­try and is destroy­ing our moun­tain, our land, our food, our med­i­cine and they have no respect,” stat­ed one Grand­moth­er at the protest.

“…It can’t go on. It’s per­pe­trat­ing geno­cide against the Native Amer­i­can peo­ple. And we are not the only Native peo­ple suf­fer­ing this dis­tress,” said anoth­er. “It is hap­pen­ing world over; but we hap­pen to be West­ern Shoshon­es and this is our land and we’re protest­ing the poi­soned water, the destruc­tion of the land, the road we’re stand­ing on here, the big machines: every­thing that the min­ing indus­try stands for. They say they’re doing it respon­si­bly, but they’re not because when they leave the West­ern Shoshone peo­ple will still be here and the land will be bar­ren.”

To help make sure this doesn’t hap­pen, the West­ern Shoshone Defense Project (WSDP) asks that you help by mak­ing any of the fol­low­ing the dona­tions:

  1. 24 Nuts and Bolts (bolts need to be 1 foot in length with match­ing nuts)
  2. Gaso­line for saws and haul­ing costs.
  3. Food items such as eggs, bacon, meat, pota­toes, beans, etc. (includ­ing some sweets!)
  4. Helpers — to assist with con­struc­tion of arbor and for sup­port in the encamp­ment
  5. Mon­e­tary dona­tions for all of the above
  6. Moral sup­port and prayers

You can con­tact Joyce McDade for addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion, e‑mail: EJMcDade20@wmconnect.com