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Spring Gathering At Big Mountain
I n the tradition of resistance to relocation, a Spring Survival Gathering to honor the late Roberta Blackgoat, resistance leader and traditional matriarch, was held on her ancestral land at Big Mountain, just a few miles south of the Peabody Black Mesa coal mine in northeast Arizona.
Driving over 26 miles of dirt road, up and down steep canyons, across sandy washes, through a green desert bright with flowers and swept by spring winds, it’s easy to forget that water is in crisis throughout the Southwest. Many wells at Big Mountain and in nearby Hopi villages have run dry, which people of both the Navajo (or Dineh) and Hopi believe is due to the depletion of the Navajo aquifer that underlies Black Mesa, a depletion caused by coal slurry lines draining five million gallons of water a day from the aquifer.
The nearby Colorado River has been taxed to the limit by demands from such burgeoning cities as Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, and uncontrolled growth spurred by investors and developers supported in part by coal mined from the Black Mesa. The result threatens millions of people with drought and other consequences of non-viability.
The Gathering was treated with hostility by the Hopi tribal government and visited daily by armed Hopi Rangers, accompanied on one occasion by the FBI. In addition, non-signers of the Accommodation Agreement still living on Hopi Partitioned Lands (HPL) were visited at their homes by Hopi Field Monitors and questioned about the gathering. This hostile police presence is a fact of life on the HPL, part of a strategy to drive traditional Dineh (Navajo) from lands awarded to the Hopi Tribe under a 1974 law (PL 93-531), passed by an ill-informed Congress at the behest of the Peabody Coal Company.
(“Hopi Tribe” here refers to a tribal government imposed by the United States over the objections of traditional Hopi and still opposed by many Hopis who support the Dineh facing relocation.)
People living on the wrong side of the line, which Congress drew in 1974, both signers and non-signers of the Accommodation Agreement, face a bewildering array of government and bureaucratic forces. A woman at the gathering who lives near the coal mine expressed her frustrations. After obtaining approval from her Navajo chapter house to fund winterization of her mother’s home, she was then told, “If we go and fund that, we’re afraid the Hopi Tribe will come and file a lawsuit.” Thus far, no repairs.
She has made countless requests to the Hopi Tribe for electricity, easily shunted from nearby coal mine wires. The same hostile tribal government has for ten years ignored her requests to gravel her road or repair her dams, and has arbitrarily withheld essential firewood permits.
To gather wood from their own backyards, HPL residents must travel 50 or more miles to apply for permits and every month a new permit is required. Permits aren’t granted automatically. Non-signers in particular face delays and indifference. Failure to produce a permit at the demand of Rangers or Range Monitors can result in confiscation of firewood and/or chainsaws.
Any new construction on the HPL must be approved by the Hopi Tribe or is subject to removal. One resister testified at the gathering that he was forced to abandon his house when it became unlivable after Hopi Rangers punched through the foundation attempting to arrest supporters who had non-violently blocked a bulldozer threatening the house. Since his house was located near Hopi cattle grazing land and he was the object of close police scrutiny, he despaired of making the necessary repairs covertly or of being granted a permit. Livestock confiscation, based on arbitrary quotas imposed by the Hopi Tribe, remains a constant threat to HPL residents’ survival.
T he Survival Gathering was small, reflective of the distances supporters and local residents had to travel, reflecting as well a certain weariness that has settled in many hearts since the destruction of the Sundance arbor by Hopi bulldozers in August, 2001, and also reflecting some disunity that has been fostered and exacerbated by the pressures of trying to live and raise families in the harsh conditions of an occupied territory.
At one point in the meeting, some of the elders were having trouble deciding on a site for the next meeting and, after banging their heads together for a while, sisters Catherine Smith and Pauline Whitesinger, with laughter in their eyes, pleaded with Danny Black- goat who was hosting the gathering that they didn’t want to be leaders anymore, that it was time for the elders to pass the mantle of leadership onto the next generation.
That moment, poignant and whimsical at the same time, revealed what a crucible this gathering was. Here were gathered youth and elders whose very existence on their ancestral lands is an act of resistance. Supporters had traveled for a brief visit from as far away as France, as well as those who have spent years on the land serving the resistance—some having learned to speak the difficult Dineh language. Together we were able to laugh and look through the clouds to distant stars, understanding that we have no choice but to apply ourselves to our common resistance with all the forces of our being, for the sake of future generations.
We laughed, prayed, ploughed the land, herded sheep, cooked, ate, and confronted intruders together. On Thursday, Catherine Smith, who is half deaf and wearing sunglasses after an operation for cataracts, told us that two Hopi Rangers had come to her house that morning to ask about the gathering. “I think they are checking every home,” she said. “Yesterday I lost my other ear, so it’s good that the Rangers were talking to me today because I couldn’t hear them.”
The next day, an FBI agent drove up accompanied by three Hopi Rangers. He was wearing a bulletproof vest. When Danny Blackgoat refused to talk with him privately, the agent was forced to address the host while standing in the center of a circle of 20 or 30 people, cameras and tape recorders buzzing.
“The reason I’m here is because we’ve had an allegation that a bunch of non-Indians are squatting on Hopi land,” he began. “The reason we’re involved is because the Hopis would have a problem evicting non-Indians.”
He proceeded to fire off questions to our host with cavalier disrespect: “How old are you? Do you have a house here? Do you have a census number?” Danny Blackgoat sat with his hands folded above his head, staring him in the eye, answering with amazing deference and respect. “Are you Hopi? Navajo?”
“What nationality are you?” Danny asked the agent slowly.
“I’m pretty much Illinois redneck, a little bit of everything. Cherokee, Irish, German, whatever happened to be there at the time,” was the flip reply.
For an agonizing 20 minutes, he politely fielded a volley of impertinent questions. Finally, Pauline Whitesinger spoke up, addressing the FBI agent. Danny Blackgoat translated: “She says you look like a Navajo, not a Hopi. She says bring a traditional Hopi with you if you’re going to come here again. She says you’re a white person. None of you are Hopi leaders. If they come and tell me this is their land, then I’ll listen to them. This land, the Hopis don’t want it. I’ve been conversing with a Hopi who says, ‘We don’t want this land here. It was taken for no reason.’”
“Does she have a question?” the agent interrupted.
After a pause, Pauline gazed at him. “As to what you say, that there are some non-Indians squatting here, I want to tell you that there’s been non-Indians squatting on Native American lands since 1492. And your rent is due. So stop harassing us. This is our land.”
Paul Bloom is a longtime activist in support of the Big Mountain resistance.
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LABOR - May 1 is May Day. Workers of the world will celebrate the 124th anniversary of International Worker’s Day. Born out of a call for an 8-hour workday in the United States, this day is an opportunity for all workers to show their solidarity with one another, as well as to renew the call for labor rights.FARM CONFERENCE - The Farm Conference on Community and Sustainability will be held May 24-26 in Summertown, TN, in partnership with the Fellowship of Intentional Communities. Tour green homes, see sustainable food production, learn about solar installations, alternative education, midwifery, and more.
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PALESTINE - The Conference of the Palestinian Shatat in North American will be held June 3-5 in Vancouver. The conference will examine the future of the Palestinian liberation movement.
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LABOR - The Pacific Northwest Labor History Association’s 45th annual conference will be held May 3-5, in Portland, OR. This year’s theme is Labor Under Attack: Learning from the Past and Preparing for the Future. A call for presentations, workshops and papers is currently underway.
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RECLAIM THE DREAM - The 2013 Poor People’s Campaign & March from Baltimore to Washington D.C. will be May 11. Communities, schools and unions interested in participating are encouraged to contact the Baltimore People’s Assembly.
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MOTHER’S DAY - The 17th Annual Mother’s Day Walk For Peace will be May 12th, in Dorchester, MA. The walk began in 1996 for families who had lost children to violence. The day has become a way for thousands of people to financially support the work of the Louis Brown Peace Institute.
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NATO 5 - An International Week of Solidarity with the NATO 5 has been called for May 16-21. Supports call on supporters to raise awareness of the NATO 5 and support funds for the defendants on the one-year anniversary of their preemptive arrests.
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MOUNTAINTOP - The 2013 Mountain Justice Summer Activist Training Camp will be held May 19-27 in Damascus, VA. It will be a week of workshops, field trips to view Mountain Top Removal coal mines, direct actions, and service project.
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FEMINIST SCI-FI - The feminist science fiction convention WisCon 37 is scheduled for May 24-27 in Madison, WI.
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ANARCHY FEST - A month-long Festival of Anarchy is scheduled for May in Montreal. The festival includes The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair (May 19-20).
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SOCIALISM - The Socialism 2013 Conference is scheduled for June 27-30 in Chicago, featuring talks and panel discussions.
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LITERACY - The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) will hold its conference July 12-13 in Los Angeles under the heading, Intersections: Teaching and Learning Across Media.
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IWW - The North American Work People’s College will take place July 12-16 at Mesaba Co-op Park in northern Minnesota. The event will bring together Wobblies from branches across the continent to learn new skills and build One Big Union.
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PEACESTOCK - On July 13th, the 11th Annual Peacestock: A Gathering for Peace, will take place at Windbeam Farm in Hager City, WI. The event is a mixture of music, speakers and community for peace. Sponsored by Veterans for Peace.
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CHILDREN’S DEFENSE - July 15-19, join clergy, seminarians, Christian educators, young adult leaders and other faith-based advocates for children at CDF Haley Farm in Clinton, Tennessee, for five days of spiritual renewal, networking, movement building workshops, and continuing education about the urgent needs of children at the 19th annual Proctor Institute for Child Advocacy Ministry.
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ACTIVIST CAMP - Youth Empowered Action (YEA) Camp will have sessions in July and August in Ben Lomond, CA; Portland, OR; Charlton, MA. YEA Camp is designed for activists 12-17 years old who want to make a difference in the world.
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WOMEN/LYNNE STEWART- Radical Women is asking for support letters and cards to be sent to Lynne Stewart. Stewart is a civil rights attorney and political prisoner who is currently in jail. She has breast cancer and authorities have denied her request for transfer from her Texas prison to the New York City hospital where she received medical attention during a prior bout of breast cancer. Send messages and cards to: Lynne Stewart 53504-054, Federal Medical Center Carswell, P.O. Box 27137, Fort Worth, TX 76127.
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HAITI/WOMEN - Haiti’s government is considering a legal reform measure that would prohibit and punish all sexual assault, including marital rape. MADRE and the International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict are launching a petition to raise international support for this push to address violence against women in Haiti.
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FOLK FESTIVAL - The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival will be held August 2-4, in the Berkshires, NY.
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WAR RESISTERS - The War Resisters League will hold its 90th anniversary conference, Revolutionary Nonviolence: Building Bridges Across Generations and Communities, August 1-4, at Georgetown University. The event will focus on the U.S.’ long history of antimilitarism.
Contact: 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012; 212-228-0450; wrl@warresisters.org; http://www.warresisters.org.
POPULAR ECONOMICS - The Center for Popular Economics is holding its 2013 Summer Institute August 4-9 at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. No background in economics is needed for this intensive training. This year’s theme is, The Care Economy: Building a Just Economy with a Heart.
Contact: Center for Popular Economics, PO Box 785 Amherst, MA 01004; 413-545-0743; programs@populareconomics.org; www.populareconomics.org.
VETERANS - Veterans for Peace is holding the 28th annual convention August 6-11 in Madison, WI. This year’s theme is, Power To The Peaceful.
Contact: http://www.vfpnationalconvention.org/.
DEMOCRACY - The Democracy Convention will take place August 7-11 in Madison, WI. The convention brings together nine conferences including topics such as media, education, defense, race, environment and others.
Contact: https://democracyconvention.org/.
MEN - The 38th National Conference on Men & Masculinity: Forging Justice: Creating Safe, Equal and Accountable Communities, presented in partnership with HAVEN, will be held in Detroit, MI, August 8-10.
Contact: ccardinal@haven-oakland.org; http://www.nomas.org/.
OCCUPY - An Occupy National Gathering will be held in Kalamazoo, MI, August 21-25.
Contact: natgat2013@gmail.com; http://occupynationalgathering.net/.
COMMUNITIES - The Communities Conference is a networking and learning opportunity for co-operative or communal lifestyles, with workshops, events and entertainment; scheduled for August 30-September 2 at the Twin Oaks Community in Louisa, Virginia.
Contact: http://www.communitiesconference.org/.
LABOR DAY - The 29th annual Bread and Roses Festival, a celebration of the ethnic diversity and labor history of Lawrence, MA, will be held September 2, in honor of the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike. There will be music, dance, poetry, drama, ethnic food, historical demonstrations, walking & trolley tours.
Contact: PO Box 1137, Lawrence, MA 01842; 978-794-1655; http://www.breadandrosesheritage.org/.
OCCUPY WALL STREET - September 17 is the two-year anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Events are planned in New York City and worldwide.
Contact: http://occupywallst.org/.
TEACHERS - The 13th Annual Conference, “Teaching for Social Justice: The Politics of Pedagogy,” will be held October 12 in San Francisco, CA. The free event features workshops, resources, and free childcare.
Contact: 415-676-7844; teachers4socialjustice@yahoo.com; http://www.t4sj.org/.
HAITI - International Action, which brings clean water and chlorinators to Haiti, seeks office space capable of housing up to six people and their office equipment.
Contact: Zach Bremer, Zbrehmer@haitiwater.org; 202-488-0735; http://www.haitiwater.org/.
MEDIA - The Union for Democratic Communications and Project Censored are sponsoring a joint conference on media democracy, media activism and social justice to be held November 1-3 at the University of San Francisco. Proposals for presentations, workshops and panels from activists and critical scholars are invited.


