THE HUMANIST MOVEMENT RESOLUTION
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>SUPPORTING THE DINEH (NAVAJO) AMERICAN INDIANS

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>The Humanist Movement places the human being as the highest value and is
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>committed to preserve and protect all people, their families and
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>descendants, their traditional cultures and systems of belief as a
>right.
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>Therefore, we:
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>SUPPORT the protection and preservation of the human rights of the Dineh
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>People, including their civil and political rights, their health,
>safety,
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>welfare, livelihood and preservation of their cultural values,
>traditional
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>forms of self-government, and their natural resources;
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>CALL FOR the enforcement of all rights embodied in Indian treaties and
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>agreements with the United States, and all other rights to which they
>are
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>entitled under the Constitution of the United States;
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>CONDEMN the forced eviction of the Dineh (Navajo) people living in 45
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>resisting communities in the Black Mesa region of northeastern Arizona
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>commenced by the US government to clear the region for expansion of the
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>world's largest coal mine, which has resulted in the displacement of
>over
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>12,000 Dineh with thousands dead and thousands more homeless;
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>DENOUNCE the violations of the religious rights of the Dineh People. The
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>Dineh matriarchs and People have submitted testimonies to the United
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>Nations detailing desecration and destruction of sacred sites, shrines
>and
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>ceremonial hogans - homes that have been bulldozed - and religious
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>ceremonies violated. They are required to obtain highly restrictive
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>permits to conduct religious ceremonies done on a daily basis and to
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>dismantle ceremonial arbors needed to return to the earth. They are
>denied
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>the right to bury their dead;
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>DEPLORE the denial of all services including access to water. Their
>water
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>wells have been fenced off, capped off and dismantled while Peabody Coal
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>Company pumps 1.4 billion gallons of pristine water, from a sole source
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>aquifer each year, and surface springs and washes run dry;
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>DEPLORE the denial of the right to housing and to repair their homes
>which
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>has been denied for 31 years, and the maintenance of dirt roads that
>school
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>buses travel on.
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>THE HUMANIST MOVEMENT RESOLUTION
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>SUPPORTING THE DINEH (NAVAJO) AMERICAN INDIANS
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>Because the Dineh people have exhausted all remedies available in the US
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>legal system; the prime site for relocation, the "New Lands", is
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>contaminated from the Rio Puerco uranium spill in 1979 - the largest
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>radioactive spill in US history - and is not fit for people and future
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>generations to live there; we:
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>DEMAND the establishment of a committee to investigate gross and
>systematic
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>violations of the Dineh peoples' human, civil, constitutional and
>religious
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>rights, and the suffering they have endured to protect and remain on
>their
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>ancestral lands. We demand enforcement of all international laws
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>protecting Indigenous people and their rights to their land and that
>this
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>matter receive the urgent attention of the United Nations, specifically
>the
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>Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of
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>Minorities, the Commission on Human Rights, the Commission on the Status
>of
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>Women, the Commission on Sustainable Development and all international
>forums;
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>DEMAND a moratorium on evictions, threats of eviction and the bulldozing
>of
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>homes, ceremonial hogans, sacred sites and shrines. The moratorium must
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>include bans on livestock confiscation and other methods used by local
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>administrations to harass and intimidate the Dineh;
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>DEMAND the return of all those displaced both internally and externally
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>living in the New Lands, border towns and homeless.
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>The Dineh people should be honored and respected. Their teachings about
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>living as caretakers of the Earth provides a unique insight and should
>be
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>an inspiration to all as we strive to protect our global ecosystem. By
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>sanctioning the destruction of these Indigenous communities, the
>government
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>impoverishes itself and compromises the civil rights of all its
>citizens.
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>The Dineh People should be protected as living treasures and their land
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>designated a national heritage site.
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>Resolved by the Membership of the Humanist Movement
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>January 1998
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>E. Anthony Marquez
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>The Humanist Movement, Council K, New York City
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>Humanist Neighborhood Center, 210 West 83rd Street, Lower Level, NYC, NY
>10024
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>The Humanist Movement is an international, all volunteer, multi-cultural
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>network of organizations that develops grass-roots activities in over
>300
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>cities in 76 countires around the world. The aim of the Humanist Movment
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>is to apply in practice, at the neighborhood and city levels, the ideas
>and
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>propositions of Universal Humanism, promoting active non-violence and
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>non-discrimination in front of fanatacism and violence.
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