>>this is a translation from the German of an article
published
>>in Germany in 1998. A number of European organizations
have come out with
>>strong
>>support of the Dine' cause, and this article is a very
good summary of the
>>Black Mesa situation.
>>
>>Public Forum, Nr. 20, 1998
>>
>>The Greed of the White Man
>>
>>The struggle of the Navajo Indians against the USA superpower
>>
>>by Harald Ihmig
>
>Translated by Alan Frankel
>>
>> The author is Professor of Theology at the Protestant
Trade School for
>>Social Pedagogy of the Rauhes Haus in Hamburg. He traveled
through the USA
>>and Central America within the framework of a field research
semester.
>>
>> On a summer's day, armed rangers appear at the remote
farm on the Indian
>>reservation in Arizona and confiscate the sheep in the
pen. Chris, the boy
>>taking care of them, shouts: "Don't touch these
sheep! I'm responsible for
>>them. They're our living. Taking away our sheep is taking
away our life."
>>As he seems intent on "doing what must be done to
keep these sheep from
being
>>taken away," the rangers take him away as well.
This is not the first time
>>that the sheep have been taken away and Lawrence, Chris's
uncle, forced to
>>buy back his possessions. Before we fall asleep under
the open sky, he
tells
>>me that he has already paid $900 once before under the
same conditions. A
>>gigantic sum for people who live on the milk, meat, and
wool of their sheep,
>>who somehow find something to graze upon in the desert!
He can at least be
>>happy not to be forcibly "resettled," with his
house knocked down to the
>>ground, since the Navajo all of a sudden need a permit
to remain where
>>they've lived for generations and where, as they say,
"their umbilical cord
>>is buried." Repairing houses or building new ones
has been forbidden for 30
>>years in any case.
>> The process of treating the Navajo in their ancestral
land as undesired
>>aliens began with the Relocation Act of 1974. The official
title itself,
>>"Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute Settlement Act," shows
that the Americans are
>>painting the act of expulsion as the well-meaning mediation
of a territorial
>>dispute between two Indian tribes. Continual frictions
between the Navajo
>>and Hopi Indians following the creation of the reservation
in northeast
>>Arizona in 1882 are being settled, according to this official
version, by
>>splitting the land formerly used by both into two halves,
with the approval
>>of both tribal councils. The Federal government has allowed
itself to spend
>>almost half a billion dollars in its role as selfless
mediator to allow
those
>>inhabitants residing in the wrong half to resettle elsewhere
painlessly.
>> After the Accommodation Act of 1996 gave the remaining
inflexible
>>inhabitants the chance to obtain the right to remain for
75 years, the
>>operation could be
>>considered closed. If only it were not for these traditional
"Dineh", as
the
>>Navajo call themselves, who do not give in, who consider
the land between
the
>>four mountains holy and have acquired in the meantime
a colorful medley of
>>supporters. They told me an utterly different story.
Indeed, upon reading
>>the official version, one runs up against things that
do not square with one
>>another. Were tens of thousands of white people in the
USA ever forcibly
>>resettled due to property conflicts? If the Hopi settle
in villages in the
>>heights, growing grains on the surrounding fields, and
this area around the
>>Mesas has already been handed over to them as District
6 for their exclusive
>>use, while the Navajo pasture their sheep by families
strewn sparsely across
>>the wide lowlands, how is it that they dispute over land
possession?
Why, in
>>an area supposedly used by both, must over 12,000 Navajos
be resettled, but
>>only a few hundred Hopi? Why do tribal councils approve
regulations
>>boycotted by their elders and opposed by courts and international
committees?
>> Chris leads me along neckbreaking paths to meet some
of those who refuse
>>to budge, stubbornly proclaiming themselves a "Sovereign
Dineh Nation."
>>Chris himself has lived for a while in Phoenix, learned
English, and won
some
>>distance between himself and traditional customs; he listens
to modern music
>>and chooses his own girlfriends. When we reach Pauline
Whitesinger and Kee
>>Watchman, however, even the young automatically obey the
unpretentious
>>self-worth and authority that these figures radiate.
They decide what will
>>be said and when, and they set the rhythm of the meeting,
including the
>>pauses in which nothing is said. Pauline, unconcerned
by prohibitions,
is in
>>the midst of building a new hogan, one of these traditional
houses of clay
>>and wood, cool in summer, warm in winter, unprepossessing
from the outside,
>>comfortable from the inside. "We Hopi and Dineh
were good neighbors," says
>>Kee Watchman, "and we married each other. We have
the same religion: we
>>have inherited the earth and the elements of nature.
The rangers were the
>>first to drive the people against each other. Now there
are no more common
>>meetings." For him, there is no Hopi-Navajo Land
Dispute. They have used
>>and passed on the land together since time immemorial.
>> From the beginning, traditional Dineh and Hopi have
fought against
>>division
>>of the land and
>>resettlement. The lines of conflict do not run, as the
postcolonial power
>>would have it, along a tribal boundary between rebellious
natives now marked
>>by a barbed-wire fence over 400 kilometers in length.
The Hopi elder Thomas
>>Banyacya confirms, "The Navajo help the Hopi to take
care of the land.
We do
>>not want them to go. This is their holy land as well."
From whom do the
>>"old-fashioned" woman and man want to shield
their land?
>>
>> When one takes some time to study the history of the
conflict, it
becomes
>>apparent that the disputes have a strange way of piling
up around the
>>appearance in the 1950s of the Mormon lawyer John Boyden,
hired by the
leading
>>Mormonized Sekaquaptewa clan, who reactivates the Hopi
tribal council and
>>initiates in its name a series of suits, contracts, and
laws. Boyden brings
>>an interest into play carefully left unmentioned in the
official documents:
>>He also represents the Peabody Coal Company, a firm of
which the Mormon
>>Church owns eight percent. In 1966, he secures a 36-year
lease. The Black
>>Mesa, the northern part of the reservation, is the largest
open-cast coal
>>mine in the world, with an estimated deposit of 20 billion
tons of
low-sulfur
>>coal. The leasing of the land is made palatable to the
tribal council by
>>yearly payments of about 50 million dollars. Now Peabody
pumps five billion
>>liters of pure water out of the ground each year in order
to cheaply force
>>coal
>>sludge
>>to the Mojave power plant 280 miles away to serve Las
Vegas and Southern
>>California's immense demands for energy.
>>
>> Feisty, elderly Katherine Smith from Big Mountain
in the middle of the
>>Black Mesa tells us how the inhabitants see things: "I
live about 30 miles
>>from the Peabody coal mine, where they've put a fence
around us. According
>>to the law, we're in prison. We cannot repair our house,
even when the
>>windows break. We're not allowed to do it since it's
against the law,
>>against the flag. And our house is so old that all of
our floors are
falling
>>apart, and all because of the mine. You know, they explode
the ground with
>>dynamite so that the houses shake. We still have sheep,
a horse, a cow
and a
>>goat. That's what we live on. Good breeders can live
from their sheep,
from
>>their wool. That's how we get money to buy food or gas,
and that's how the
>>people in Washington, D.C., are trying to do us in. The
stick our sheep in
>>the pen and the horse and the cow, and they're not allowed
out again. If
they
>>break out, they take them away from us. They call that
'impoundment,'
and we
>>have to buy our own animals back." Nor do shovels
and bulldozers come to a
>>halt before burial places and holy sites.
>> The resistance of the traditional Dineh and Hopi has
not been directed
>>only against the effects of the coal mining, but also,
from the beginning,
>>against mining as such. Back in 1970, the Hopi leaders
explained: "The
>>greed of the white man for material possessions and power
has made him blind
>>to the suffering that he brings on Mother Earth with his
search for that
>>which he calls natural resources... Today the holy land
where the Hopi live
>>is being violated by people who want to have the coal
and water from our
soil
>>in order to create more energy for the cities of the white
man. This cannot
>>go on any further, for Mother Nature will react in such
a way that almost
all
>>humans will experience the end of life as we know it."
>> In addition to ecological effects -- air pollution,
sinking groundwater
>>levels, contaminated springs -- and the intrusion into
religious
relationship
>>with the land came deliberate harassment, which was to
make the life of the
>>remaining Navajo difficult: the prohibitions on building
and repair,
>>confiscation of herds, and imprisonment at the hands of
the paramilitary
>>ranger troops. It was not the first time that the Indians
had the dubious
>>luck of seeing the apparently worthless wasteland that
belonged to them
>>suddenly prove to be valuable, whether it be for coal,
uranium, or water
>>content, as a location for an observatory, or as an area
for atomic testing.
>> John Boyden, who himself has earned millions in this
business,
represents
>>what can be seen as a coalition of profiteers, among them
segments of
>>assimilated Indians. They enjoy political protection.
When this background
>>is recognized, the supposed Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute emerges
as a
conflict in
>>which the commercial exploitation of the land is being
pushed through
against
>>those of its inhabitants to whom the land is holy and
who want to watch over
>>it. The Relocation Act of 1974 does nothing to make this
context visible.
>>Boyden hires a public relations firm based, as he is,
in Salt Lake City,
which
>>mounts a big campaign, not shrinking from spreading false
information, and
>>which
>>succeeds in propagating in public the image of permanent
violent hostilities
>>and the threat of a war over pasture land. In other words,
he invents the
>>Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute. The Arab oil embargo and a
hysterical desire for
>>self-sufficiency in the USA create pressure for the securing
of resources.
>> Against this background, the "mediation"
of 1974 can be read as the
fatal
>>project -- funded by taxes -- for purging the settlement
area of the Black
>>Mesa of its inhabitants standing in the way of commercial
development. "The
>>US government think we are nothing. We have no rights.
Our leaders fail to
>>protect our rights -- in the name of profit. They just
sacrifice us," rails
>>Maxine Kescolli.
>> The business of legalized expulsion does not run as
smoothly as planned,
>>however. One year later, when the legally determined
demarcation line is
>>drawn, Katherine Smith grabbed her shotgun and dismantled
the fence
>>single-handedly. In 1986, the greatest part by far of
the Dineh remained on
>>the Hopi Partitioned Land, and President Reagan personally
stepped in to
>>prevent
>>the ugly, unforgettable image of forced deportation in
the presence of 2,000
>>supporters of elderly with their families, the image of
"a 70-year-old Dineh
>>grandmother openly involved in an armed conflict with
the armed forces of
the
>>United States of America," as one of the opponents
caricatured it. Instead,
>>a long, wearying process was initiated in order to give
the threatened
forced
>>measure the appearance of a voluntary decision via a compromise.
This
led to
>>an Accommodation Agreement and its legal ratification
in the Navajo-Hopi
Land
>>Dispute Settlement Act of 1996. This built the bridge
for the stubborn
Dineh
>>to secure their land for 75 years by signing a lease with
option to renew,
>>but the lease limits living areas (1.2 hectares[3 acres]),
farmland (10
>>acres),
>>and
>>livestock herd size and makes the expansion of pasture
land, the
collection of
>>herbs and wood, and the visiting of holy sites dependent
upon permits.
>>
>> The Dineh are also subjugated to civil and criminal
Hopi jurisdiction,
>>with which they are well experienced. Few would sign
such a contract
>>voluntarily; a Dineh assembly rejected the agreement by
a vote of 207 to 1.
>>"We don't want someone to supervise us while we sing
our prayers. We
want to
>>have peace and harmony. We want to be free on our own
land to do what the
>>holy people who brought us here gave us to do. We want
our children to grow
>>up and be at home here. We want our roots and seeds to
be here. We want
our
>>clan here from generation to generation. We do not want
to lose our
>>identity." (Avery Denny, medicine man [Dine' College,
Tsaile, AZ])
>> Confronted with this farsighted thinking in terms
of generations, the
>>age-old technique of individually pacifying those immediately
affected fails
>>to go far enough. The signatures often had to be collected
with a great
deal
>>of coaxing, generally beefed up with increased reprisals,
in order to be
>>accepted as the lesser evil. In order to avoid the oppression
and the
>>imminent forced resettlement, most of the remaining Dineh
ended up
signing or
>>choosing "voluntary" resettlement by the imposed
deadline of 31 March 1997.
>>Contrary to the promises, only a minority of those resettled
were placed in
>>lands
>>of equal value, many were relocated to an urban environment
which they
>>could not
>>handle, or
>>were settled in the area around the Rio Puerco [so-called
"New Lands"],
>>contaminated in 1979 by America's worst radioactive pollution
>>(Church Rock [spill of a uranium tailings dam]).
>> To the frustration of the advocates of a simple solution,
however, not
>>everyone went. Despite the quantitative success of a
mixed strategy of
>>pressure and promises, the small remainder of those remaining
is turning out
>>to be a problem that could be embarrassing. Their refusal
to yield is
>>interfering with the solution of the problem through their
gradual
>>disappearance.
>>In addition, they represent those expelled, of whom more
>>than 12,000 are registered, and up to 30,000 are estimated,
and prevent the
>>injustice done to them from being swept under the rug.
They bring the
>>cultural conflict to a focal point. The tough kernel
of their resistance is
>>proving itself to be their religion. This is what prevents
them from
>>surrendering to the daily pressure to give in or even
to join in the
profits.
>> Therefore, it is no coincidence that their claims
of civil rights
>>infringement on the part of the USA focus on religious
intolerance, even
>>though they also complain of offenses against their ecological,
social, and
>>political rights. The unyielding resistance of the traditional
Dineh and
>>their numerous supporters had an astonishing success in
the beginning of
>>February of this year [February 1998] in bringing about
the on-site visit of
>>Abdelfattah Amor, the Tunisian special rapporteur of the
UN Commission on
>>Human
>>Rights. In any case, this was the first time that the
USA was subjected
>>to such an investigation on its own soil. Whether the
UNO will actually
>>bring itself to pick a fight with the USA over civil rights
violations is
>>doubtful. However, the official version that would paint
the Navajo-Hopi
>>Land Dispute as being wisely mediated by the government
will hardly hold up
>>under the new public examination. The delegation of large
nongovernmental
>>organizations (NGOs), including the World Congress of
Churches, the national
>>church
>>council, and the United Methodist Church, which were witnesses
to the
meeting
>>with the Dineh elders, will also do its part. Kee Watchman,
one of the
Dineh
>>speakers, put his radical opposition to the interference
of the federal
>>government and his own "self-rule" concisely:
"The tribal councils are
>>created by the government. We reject them, since they
introduce laws
made by
>>humans."
>>
>> In his eyes, the churches are no better, since they
are focused on
>>assimilation, especially the Mormons who are rumored to
have stolen Indian
>>children in order to change the way they are raised.
Now what is the law
not
>>made by humans followed by these traditional Indians?
"As Dineh, we see
>>things as a whole," is the description chosen by
Avery Denny, who teaches at
>>a Dineh college. "Many people call it a 'primitive
attitude' or a 'savage
>>attitude,' but that is our intelligence: entering mutual
relationships with
>>nature and the elements, with the energy in these different
creations, the
>>natural resources we have... We still believe in the natural
cosmic order of
>>life, which still guides and rules our life, and we call
it 'natural law'...
>>It is the air we breathe, that is our belief, which gives
us life. If
that's
>>not what it were for, the air would be dead. The water
we drink, that is
our
>>belief. And the nutrition, the pollen we take and eat,
that is our food,
and
>>that is our medicine. That is how we remain healthy,
that is our
well-being.
>>And then the fire, the light we have, the sunshine, the
fire that burns in
>>our hogans, represents our homeland..."
>> Even Hopi elder Thomas Banyacya does not let himself
be steered off
>>course by the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute. Although his
own tribal council is
>>entangled in the coalition of profiteers, he can make
out the real
>>authorities and the cultural driving force of the conflict:
"The Great
>>Spirit made us the administrators of this land. This
is what our prayers
and
>>ceremonies are concerned with. You, on the other hand,
are poisoning and
>>raping and destroying the land with your coal mining,
the uranium extraction
>>and the power plants -- all on holy land! And you are
trying to chase off
>>the last few Indians so that nothing will stand in the
way of this dirty
>>business... There is no Hopi-Navajo land dispute. There
is only the
>>boundless greed of the white man. We, the traditional,
do not recognize the
>>Hopi and Navajo tribal councils established by your government
as puppets so
>>that you can sign over your land. And only because the
energy companies
want
>>the coal and especially the uranium to make nuclear weapons.
The white man
>>is the one who must go."
>> The staged land dispute seems to me the fatal undertaking
of replacing
>>this feeling of belonging with the concept of property.
The Hopi leader,
>>Martin Gashweseoma, Keeper of the Hopi Fire Clan Tablets,
has made the
>>point at
>>issue clear:
>>"We want everyone to know that the Navajos are not
the ones taking our
>>land, but
>>the United States. The Hopi and the Navajo made peace
long ago, and sealed
>>their
>>agreement spiritually with a medicine bundle. It is through
the puppet
>>governments, the 'Tribal Councils' forced upon both nations
by the United
>>States, that the illusion of a conflict has been created
on the basis of the
>>false modern concept of land title."
>> Boyden, with his juristic concept of property, meaning
disposal pure
and
>>simple, and his legal confiscation strategy, started the
dispute and with
>>it a dirty game in
>>which losers and winners will play it out until everyone
has lost. The USA
>>claims that it, not the Indians, is the full owner of
the land and degrades
>>them feudalistically to mere tenants, to whom the land
can be handed over or
>>from whom it can be withdrawn, according to its own interests.
The
coalition
>>of profiteers is degrading the land to a commercially
exploitable resource,
>>with no regard for the inhabitants who live in it.
>> A small group of resolute Dineh is fighting out a
battle against the
USA,
>>a world power. In doing so, they represent more than
the demand for
autonomy
>>of a small minority. The religious bond of these ancient
believers in the
>>land that is to be held as holy stands fundamentally opposed
to license to
>>evaluate land strictly according to market value and the
principle of
>>unlimited exploitation. Whether a modern human rights
idea and
organization,
>>even when it includes religious, social, and ecological
rights, can protect
>>or even keep alive an indigenous culture like those of
the Dineh is in
>>question. The call for help of these people, who are
fighting not only for
>>their survival, but of the survival of another form of
coexistence of earth
>>and human, deserves not to echo unheard.
>>
>
>-- Carol S. Halberstadt, Migrations (carol@migrations.com)
>Native American art and crafts
>http://www.migrations.com