Found this floating on my computer, interesting example of the ability of an indigenous group of women to advance their own goals - leading themselves. I am most interested in these "ecofeminists" and have created a little email fwd group to mainly pass on information and if wanted have mini discussions on the topic. I am especially interested in being able to share information like this whenever I get it -especially with those who have expertise, experience and activism in the field because I would like to get some insights from you on the topic. Perhaps draw you into some united nations/non-governmental organization meetings/activism/advocacy on such topics and learn about, draw into your activities in the same arenas. A focus of my fowards will be on current activities/situations of "Third World" - especially African, Afro- Latino/Caribbean, Indian and Pacific Islander women in such areas. Nothing formal, no massive bursts of emails, just when you get something interesting, foward it and maybe you will get back something interesting, something to participate in, etc. The advantage is no drama, no regulations, no "saviour" complexes or erection manifestos to try to dominate the expressions. I am not at all obedient to, accepting of, or collaborationist with, such mindsets. Also, I just had more than a few important emails shoved out of my new box, and within weeks of traveling, I want to streamline - a bit of early Spring cleaning so to speak. Nicole ******************************************* Dineh People in Arizona Undermined by Coal Mining Interests Black Mesa is located in northeastern Arizona and includes the Dineh (Navajo) and Hopi Reservations. The region spans 3,000 sq miles and has a population of 3,000 indigenous people. Abstract The Black Mesa region in Arizona, USA is home to the indigenous communities of the Dineh (Navajo) and Hopi peoples. This region also contains major deposits of coal which are being extracted by North America�s largest strip mining operation. The coal mines have had a major impact on families in the region. Local water sources have been poisoned, resulting in the death of livestock. Homes near the mines suffer from blasting damage. The coal dust is pervasive, as well as smoke from frequent fires in the stockpiles. Not coincidentally, the people in the area have an unusually high incidence of kidney and respiratory disease. The Dineh (otherwise known as Navajo) were stripped of all land title and forced to relocate. Their land was turned over to the coal companies without making any provisions to protect the burial or sacred sites that would be destroyed by the mines. People whose lives were based in their deep spiritual and life-giving relationship with the land were relocated into cities, often without compensation, forbidden to return to the land that their families had occupied for generations. People became homeless with significant increases in alcoholism, suicide, family break up, emotional abuse and death. Cause of the Environmental Crisis In the 1930�s, the U.S. government tried to replace the traditional governing mechanisms on the reservations with Western-style governments, but these institutions quickly collapsed from lack of support by the inhabitants. In the 1950s, vast coal deposits were discovered in Black Mesa. Because no government existed with the power to issue leases to the mining companies, white attorneys with strong ties to the mining industry used legal provisions dating back to the 1930's to create new tribal governments. The people on the Hopi reservation did not recognize the validity of the government or of the coal leases, and filed a suit in the U.S. courts to overthrow the leases, on the grounds that coal mining violated the Hopi religion. U.S. courts dismissed the suit, stating that the industry-created tribal council was a sovereign power, and the Hopi people could not use the U.S. courts to appeal its actions. In 1974, the mining industry played a major role in passage of the Navajo-Hopi Settlement Act of 1974. This crucial piece of legislation resulted in the largest relocation of Native American people since the 1860's. The relocation effort has been a disaster. More than 12,000 people have been relocated over the past 22 years. Some were sent to cities where, unable to speak English or relate to a non-traditional economy, they quickly lost the small sums of money they were given at the time of the relocation. The rest were sent to the "New Lands", an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site contaminated by the nation's worst nuclear spill. But many families resisted orders to relocate, and 23 years later, several thousand still remain on their traditional homesites. This relocation has cost the U.S. taxpayers over $350 million. The people affected by the legislation were never directly informed of its adoption, never allowed to testify in any Congressional hearing and never allowed to be represented in any way through the process. All the decisions that led to partition of their land were carried out and enacted by newly created male-dominated tribal councils located 100 miles away from the directly affected people. With assistance from the U.S. government, the mining industry has supported a new faction on the reservations consisting of businessmen who profit from mining, large-scale cattle ranching, and other non-traditional economic activities. This faction controls the tribal governments and rejects traditional religious views about the sacredness of the land. It views the traditional Dineh living on the land as obstacles to the success of its business ventures. This faction is considered to be the sole legitimate voice of all the people and has been granted sovereign powers which deprive the people of fundamental civil rights. Impact Of the Environmental Crisis The mines threaten the sole source of water for the communities in the region. Ancient natural springs, washes and wells in the region are contaminated and have run dry, others have only a few years left. Mine soils, spoil and coal stockpiles are affecting surface water used for human consumption, as well as worsening potential plant and soil toxicity due to fugitive dust and airborne particulate from the stockpiles. The coal from the Black Mesa mine is transported to the Mojave Power plant through a slurry line that requires pumping 3 million gallons of water each day from the Navajo aquifer. The slurry line operates without any permit from the EPA. In a region where water is extremely scarce, the use of such a precious resource just to transport coal is a tragic waste. Coal strip mining and the burning of fossil fuels is one of the most unsustainable ways of land and resource management. The operations of Peabody Coal have destroyed countless sites that are sacred to the Dineh. Stripping the land years in advance of the planned mining operations has degraded the biota and caused displacement of the Dineh people, causing disruptions to their family life and health. Local residents living in the mining permit area have been told that they and the livestock upon which they are dependent for their survival can no longer drink from traditional water sources. Environmental degradation continues as multi-colored toxics seep onto their land. Some herbs used in traditional medicine were only available at places that have been destroyed by mining, rendering the herbs now unavailable. Since traditional medicine is closely interlinked with religion, this interferes with religious practice. Contaminated surface water discharge and elevated levels of selenium is causing livestock poisoning in the adjacent leaseholds. This has also threatened the livestock used for human consumption. Unlined coal stockpiles and fugitive dust blown from mining and reclamation activities have increased the incidence of respiratory illnesses. Coal-fired power plants in the region generate over 10% of the nation's electricity, and are the largest point-source of greenhouse gasses in a country that leads the world in their production. The plants (exempt from all environmental laws by grandfather clauses dating back to the 1960s) operate without scrubbers or other emission controls and emit 350 tons of sulfur compounds and 250 tons of nitrogen compounds into the atmosphere each day. The incredible volume of these pollutants reduces visibility in an area of thousands of square miles, including a 50% reduction of visibility in the Grand Canyon in the last 15 years, and causes desertification, and acidification of rain and surface water in the region. The Mohave Generating Station burning Peabody Coal Company's Black Mesa coal stands out as one of the worst offenders because of its large scale, lack of pollution controls, and excessive emissions due to burning of moistured coal. � The current laws deny the Dineh families who remain on their land a fundamental constitutional right enjoyed by other citizens of the U.S. They are not allowed to vote or in any way to participate in the government which controls their lives. They are not allowed to participate in the legal system other than as defendants. They have no right to appeal any police or government action. Mining company security personnel, harass and intimidate elders, threatening them with imprisonment if they try to protect their homes, property and burial sites from Peabody Coal's bulldozers. They can be arbitrarily thrown in jail for resisting actions by the mining company. People and their livestock are given trespass notices. Ceremonial hogans, houses, sacred sites and graveyards are bulldozed. Armed rangers visit elders at their homes and threaten and harass them and confiscate their livestock at the government's discretion. They are denied access to water, their water wells are fenced, capped off and dismantled. The struggle in Black Mesa is between two divergent viewpoints on the relationship between humans and their environment. One group, led by male- dominated mining corporations and tribal councils, views land as property that title-holders should exploit for the maximum profits regardless of the impact on the land or on people who currently inhabit the land. The other group, whose leaders are grandmothers in the matriarchal traditional Dineh culture, believe that the land is sacred and should not be violated by a strip mine. They believe that they must remain upon their lands, where their families have lived for countless generations and protect it from destruction. The Dineh grandmothers represent a different set of values. The earth is a mother who gives life and must be respected and protected in turn. And while they want to be able to continue their traditional way of life they are also open to exploring other sustainable technologies, such as solar energy or alternative organic agricultural methods. The grandmothers and other indigenous people in the area need a mechanism to participate in the policies affecting their community that is independent of the completely male-dominated, industry-established tribal governments. The coal strip mines do not represent a permanent solution to the economic problems of the Dineh and Hopi tribes. The coal-fired power plants in the Four Corners region are the largest single point source of greenhouse gases in North America. The enterprise for which the fundamental human rights of the Dineh families are being sacrificed is but a doomed scheme to make quick money. � The UN Conference on Environment and Development recognized in Agenda 21 that "women have an essential role to play in the development of sustainable and ecologically sound consumption and production patterns and approaches to natural resource management." It is essential to recognize the value of the Dineh grandmothers and the sacrifices that they have made to protect their land from destruction. Women in Dineh society play the pivotal role, culturally and religiously. It is women's primal role as protectors of the land that is traditionally responsible for their religion, government and economy. Women were mainly responsible for income produced through sheep herding and weaving. In contrast, the impact of mining has created a transition to a male-dominated set of institutions in society. Jobs that have arisen from the mining industry all go to men. The traditional self-sufficient economy has been undermined by coal mining jobs that have created a new society run by men. Royalties generated from coal mining go to male-controlled tribal councils, both Hopi and Dineh, and women have never been chiefs of either executive institution. Women who have historically been protectors of the earth now face male- dominated institutions that view the earth as a resource. Response to the Environmental Crisis In 1996, Congress passed a law endorsing a 75-year lease arrangement that would allow a few of the families to remain as tenants on the land. The law sanctions the relocation of families not eligible for these leases and forces the families who sign the leases to live without benefit of civil and religious rights exercised by other Americans. In April 1997, when all efforts to obtain justice in the U.S. judicial system failed, and in order to get the relocation laws repealed, the Dineh filed a formal request for the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to conduct an investigation of human rights violations against them by the U.S. government. Several visits to New York by Dineh helped create an Inter-faith coalition of faith-based Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). A delegation of NGOs traveled to Black Mesa to witness the historic meeting between the traditional Dineh and Hopi people and Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Mr. Amor traveled to Black Mesa in early February 1998 to investigate charges of human rights violations by the U.S. government. This is the first time the U.S. is being formally investigated by the United Nations for violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief. It is the hope of the Dineh people that the UN will cite the U.S. for violations of International Human Rights law. "The forcible relocation of over 10,000 Navajo people is a tragedy of genocide and injustice that will be a blot on the conscience of this country for many generations." -- Leon Berger, Executive Director, Navajo-Hopi Indian Relocation Commission upon resignation "I feel that in relocating these elderly people, we are as bad as the Nazis that ran the concentration camps in World War II." -- Roger Lewis, federally appointed Relocation Commissioner upon resignation "I believe that the forced relocation of Navajo and Hopi people that followed from the passage in 1974 of Public Law 93-531 is a major violation of these people's human rights. Indeed this forced relocation of over 12,000 Native Americans is one of the worst cases of involuntary community resettlement that I have studied throughout the world over the past 40 years." -- Thayer Scudder, Professor of Anthropology, California Institute of Technology in a letter to Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance The International Peoples Tribunal on Human Rights and the Environment, stated that the Dineh case along with 12 other cases presented in June 1997, demonstrated the globalization of unsustainable development particularly involving the exploration and extraction of fossil fuels. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which aims to reduce the production of carbon dioxide through limiting the use of fossil fuels was signed at Rio. The Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is the second-most widely ratified international human rights instrument. Women, both in their own right and as mothers and heads of households, have borne the heaviest burden of policies of globalization. Women have also suffered from unsustainable development and or developmental violence. At the UN World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, women finally gained unequivocal recognition that women's rights are human rights. The Beijing Platform of Action of the UN Conference on Women and Development sets out an agenda to make those rights a reality. Both CEDAW and the Beijing Declaration are crucial if women are to reverse the conditions they face as a result of unsustainable development practices. Dineh matriarchs have been active, traveling to Washington, DC, New York, California and Geneva, Switzerland. They have submitted hundreds of testimonies to the U.S. Congress but still they are denied access to water, the right to fix their homes, and protection of their land and livelihood. Over 100 Citizens Complaints have been submitted to the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining. This has resulted in federal regulatory inspections and numerous citations against Peabody Coal Company. Solar operated seismograph machines are now visible next to some traditional hogans. Nighttime blasting and some other practices have ceased. The Black Mesa issue is the first case of environmental justice brought by Native people to the executive branch of the U.S. government since President Clinton signed Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice in February 1994. The grandmothers request the human right to full and equal participation for all persons in environmental decision-making and development planning and in shaping decisions and policies affecting their community on the local national and international levels. When a government denies certain communities fundamental rights, it places the rights of all its citizens in jeopardy. Other obstacles include the fact that most of the women do not speak, read or write English and are unfamiliar with western society and U.S. governmental structure. They can't afford to buy computers, fax machines, pay for copying or finance activism. Outreach is difficult since they live in a vast remote region without paved roads, electricity, telephones and running water. � Recommendations for Action The Dineh people would like to see a future for their communities that is not tied to a unsustainable industry. They would like a future that is in harmony with the earth and which provides them the opportunity to pursue their traditional religion and values. It is their most fundamental human right to practice their religion, continue their culture, including the right to own, use and protect their land. It is this non-recognition of their rights to their ancestral territories and the resources found therein that perpetuates ethnocide and genocide against them. The distinct identity of the Dineh people is crucially linked to the lands they have occupied since time immemorial. Displacement from these territories means death, destruction of Dineh identity, culture and way of life. It will only be with the participation of women in the decision-making processes that their voices will be fully heard. U.S. government actions contradict paragraph 256 of the Beijing Platform for Action, which states among other things that all governments should: �Integrate women, including indigenous women, their perspectives and knowledge in decision making regarding sustainable resource management and the development of policies and programs for sustainable development, including in particular those designed to address and prevent environmental degradation of the land; �Evaluate priorities and programs in terms of women's equal access to and use of natural resources. NGOs must advocate that women�s human rights cannot be denied and should take precedence over national sovereignty -- whether it be the sovereignty of independent nations or the dependent sovereign status accorded to tribal governments. A strong statement to this effect would educate many people as to the nature of the struggle faced by indigenous women and would give encouragement to people and institutions who are hesitant about extending support in these circumstances. Concerns about development policies and their economic and ecological impact are human rights issues. Governments must reaffirm the universal right of every woman, man and youth to ecologically sound development, in marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. International human rights covenants and other human rights treaties and declarations are powerful tools necessary for implementing Agenda 21 and the commitments made in Rio. The goals of the matriarchs from the communities in the Dineh nation can be summarized as truth, participation, and sustainability. They would like to be given an opportunity to present testimony to an independent body that would look at the overall situation -- that would be open to information about the past so that it could understand the dynamics of the present and that would listen to the voices of the women and the indigenous families and not just the voices of the government lawyers. They would like direct participation in the decisions which affect their lives. The people have never had an opportunity to vote in any referendum on any of the issues that have devastated their communities. CASE STUDY PREPARED BY: The goal of the Sovereign Dineh Nation (SDN) is to ensure that the traditional Dineh are honored, respected and protected, and that they are able to remain on their land and continue their traditional way of life. SDN was founded ten years ago by a Council of Elders, with Roberta Blackgoat, an elder matriarch, the spiritual leader and chairperson of the organization.
