New today at Mohawk Nation News. Read at MNN
May 30, 2025
May 29, 2025
Big Mountain Film Featured at Tokyo Global Film Festival
Big Mountain Film Featured at Tokyo Global Film Festival
By NaBahii Keediniihii, Censored News, May 28, 2:33 PM
Greetings All.
I hope your late Spring is going well.
The ONLY film festival so far that Selected the Big Mountain Film is Tokyo Liff Off Global Film Festival. Big Mountain feature documentary will end streaming on June 1st which is night time Saturday in the U.S., 5/31.
Greetings All.
I hope your late Spring is going well.
The ONLY film festival so far that Selected the Big Mountain Film is Tokyo Liff Off Global Film Festival. Big Mountain feature documentary will end streaming on June 1st which is night time Saturday in the U.S., 5/31.
Tohono O'odham and Apache Have Another Chance to Protect Ancient Sites in Court
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Tohono O'odham and Apache Have Another Chance to Protect Ancient Sites in Court
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| The Sobaipuri O'odham, ancestors of San Xavier O'odham, and their ancestors, the Hohokum, made their home in the San Pedro Valley. Bulldozers are now destroying the ancient sites, burial places and medicine grounds of the Tohono O'odham and San Carlos Apache for the SunZia wind project transmission lines, which was promoted by former Interior Sec. Deb Haaland. (Collage by Censored News) |
Tohono O'odham and Apache Have Another Chance to Protect Ancient Sites in Court
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, May 29, 2025
SAN PEDRO VALLEY, Arizona -- It is the land of ancient village sites of Tohono O'odham's ancestors of San Xavier O'odham, Sobaipuri O'odham. San Carlos Apache medicine grounds and burial places are here. And when Interior Sec. Deb Haaland personally promoted a massive wind project, and the transmission lines that ripped through these ancient Native sites, it was heartbreaking.
Now, the Ninth Circuit says a federal judge in Tucson was in error when she ruled against the tribes, and allowed Sun Zia Transmission line to rip through the San Pedro Valley east of Tucson.
The tribes' attorney Elizabeth Lewis accused the Bureau of Land Management of “wielding the statute of limitations like a sword” to fend off legitimate legal challenges, in a Phoenix courtroom in March.
The Ninth Circuit panel unanimously agreed.
SunZia is owned by Pattern Energy, which is owned by Canada's Pension Plan. When the wind energy project launched in New Mexico -- which cuts a path from New Mexico to California -- Sec. Haaland was there to promote it. Haaland was named in the lawsuit filed by the tribes.
Tohono O'odham and San Carlos Apache Nations accuse the Bureau of Land Management of violating the Administrative Procedure Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act, by incorrectly finding no adverse effects from the impending construction and violating a previous agreement to consult the plaintiffs on a historic property treatment plan, Courthouse News reports.
"A three-judge panel found Tuesday that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s 'final agency decision' in approving the 550-mile wind energy transmission line was its 2023 notice to proceed with construction, not the 2015 approval of the route as the defendants argue. So, the plaintiffs’ 2024 lawsuit didn't fall outside the six-year window for a National Historic Preservation Act claim."
The tribes are joined by the Center for Biological Diversity and Archaeology Southwest. They sued the Bureau of Land Management in 2024 to halt construction of the SunZia transmission line, carrying wind energy from New Mexico to California.
Read more at Courthouse News:
May 28, 2025
May 27, 2025
Supreme Court Refuses Plea to Protect Oak Flat
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Apache Stronghold said it will continue the fight in the courts
Wendsler Nosie Sr. said, "While this decision is a heavy blow, our struggle is far from over. We urge Congress to take decisive action to stop this injustice while we press forward in the courts."
By Becket Law, Censored News, May 27, 2025
crater, ending Apache religious practices forever (Watch this short video to learn more).
Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Thomas, dissented from the Court’s refusal to hear the appeal, saying that the Court’s “decision to shuffle this case off our docket without a full airing is a grievous mistake -- one with consequences that threaten to reverberate for generations.”
May 26, 2025
New! Peltier talks with AIM Minnesota about Treaty Rights and more
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| Leonard Peltier video interview by AIM Twin Cities Minnesota |
Leonard Peltier Speaks on Unified Action to Protect Treaties
"The American Indian Movement has been one of the most successful organizations, at least in my time, in getting our recognition back, in getting our culture back." -- Leonard Peltier.
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| Leonard Peltier shares a gift from Bolivia's Evo Morales, a tribute to Bolivia's great Indigenous warrior and rebel leader Túpac Katari, during today's interview with AIM Twin Cities Minnesota. (Video screenshot Censored News) |
Video interview by AIM Twin Cities Minnesota
https://www.facebook.com/AIMTwinCities/videos/572922935848584
Censored News, May 25, 2025
TURTLE MOUNTAIN, North Dakota -- Leonard Peltier spoke on the need for protecting the Treaties, standing in unity, and encouraged changing the name of the American Indian Movement to the American Indigenous Movement, in an interview with AIM Twin Cities Minnesota today.
"We're not Indians. We're not from India. What I would like to do, and I've thought about it for a number of years now, laying in my cell, that we should change our name to what we really are, the American Indigenous Movement."
Mohawk Nation News 'Message to King Charles'
New today at Mohawk Nation News. Read at MNN
https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2025/05/26/message-to-king-charles/
Mohawk Nation News 'The Rising'
New today at Mohawk Nation News. Read at MNN:
https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2025/05/25/the-rising/
May 23, 2025
Navajo Nation Targeted Again for Sacrifice Zone: 'Energy Companies Preying on the People'
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| Dine' defending Dinetah April 2025 at Navajo Nation Council. Photo Lydia Fasthorse, Censored News |
Navajo Nation Targeted Again for Sacrifice Zone: 'Energy Companies Preying on the People'
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, May 23, 2025
NAVAJO NATION -- Dine' on the Navajo Nation are now targeted with a push to revitalize dirty coal energy, after Navajo President Buu Nygren partnered with Trump in Washington to revitalize the coal industry.
A hydro-power project is being pushed in remote Dine' communities that would pump precious water from the aquifer. This comes as radioactive uranium ore trucks travel through the Navajo Nation, endangering everyone on the route, after President Nygren's secret deal with Energy Fuels for uranium transport.
Louise Benally of Big Mountain said the bottom line is greed. "They want to eat up everything but, don't know that even their lives depend on it too. Poisoning the natural cycle will come back and destroy them too."
The new stampede of parasitic energy companies to the Navajo Nation comes at the same time that radioactive uranium trucks, covered only with tarps, are traveling across the Navajo Nation, from the Grand Canyon uranium mine to the mill in the White Mesa Ute community in Utah.
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| Radioactive uranium truck passing through Tuba City on the Navajo Nation today, May 23, 2025, traveling from Energy Fuels Pinyon Plain uranium mine in the Grand Canyon, to Energy Fuels dump and mill in the White Mesa Ute community in Utah. The route endangers Havasupai, Paiute, Hualapai, Navajo, Hopi, and Ute who live along the route, and residents of the City of Flagstaff. |
At the same time, more than 500 uranium mines, and scattered radioactive debris, remain on the Navajo Nation, and was never cleaned up by the U.S. government. Dirty coal mines and power plants left the legacy of death and forced relocation.
Navajo Council Plans Meeting on Revitalizing Coal Industry
Citing Trump's push for new coal mining, the Navajo Nation Council plans to hold a public hearing on revitalizing the coal industry.
The Navajo Nation Council announced the public hearing, stating that on April 8 President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order entitled, “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241” aimed at reversing past federal policies, to boost the coal industry and to strengthen the country’s national energy security, according to the White House.
The public hearing is scheduled in Forest Lake Chapter on Friday, May 30.
The Navajo Nation Council announced the public hearing, stating that on April 8 President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order entitled, “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241” aimed at reversing past federal policies, to boost the coal industry and to strengthen the country’s national energy security, according to the White House.
The public hearing is scheduled in Forest Lake Chapter on Friday, May 30.
Louise Benally and her family spent their lives battling Peabody Coal and resisting forced relocation at Big Mountain on Black Mesa. She said what Trump is doing is another chapter in the assault on the land and people.
"Pl 93-531 is a law created by Barry Goldwater to target our rights to water and land base to be taken away. He developed that law so, with what Trump is trying to do is no different."
"They want to eat up everything but, don't know that even their lives depend on it too. Poisoning the natural cycle will come back and destroy them too."
"The American political system is not our government as traditional people which is where all our modern day problems come from in the form of an endless greed to keep eating up the earth and the natural resources."
"The American political system is not our government as traditional people which is where all our modern day problems come from in the form of an endless greed to keep eating up the earth and the natural resources."
Louise questioned Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren's support of Trump and coal mining in Washington, and Nygren's agreement for uranium trucks to cross the Navajo Nation.
"The Navajo Nation government is at a crossroads. Buu has been taken by Trump, and the people he is supposed to be responsible for are in question."
"He has been taken into the bag of greed -- uranium and coal yet, there is no water. We want accountability."
New Uranium Mines in New Mexico
Haul No! said the fast-tracked projects show two new uranium mines of concern bordering the eastern Navajo Nation: The Roca Honda and La Jara Mesa mines on the west side of Tsodził (Mount Taylor) in New Mexico. There is also the Velvet-Wood mine in Utah (for both uranium and vanadium).
Fast tracked projects: Federal infrastructure
Navajo President Nygren's agreement with Energy Fuels opens the door for uranium transport through the eastern Navajo Nation to the White Mesa Mill in Utah, if the mines start up in New Mexico.
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| (Above) Fact sheet: Navajo Nation agreement with Energy Fuels |
The new uranium mines will not only endanger Navajos, but Acoma and Laguna Pueblos, and have already suffered from decades of uranium mining, and cancer, from the Jackpile uranium mine.
Hydropower Project
The companies targeting the Navajo Nation include those flying under the banner of 'green energy.'
Navajo Council Delegate Shawna Ann Claw raised concerns about a project of Nature and People First, and its hydro-power project. Claw points out that the project plans to use water of the C Aquifer. Claw cited legislation from the 25th Navajo Nation Council that identified the Nation’s aquifers as critical resources.
“The project requires 2,500 acre-feet per year from the C Aquifer,” Claw said. “It needs support from all chapters located over that aquifer.”
Tó Nizhóní Ání said the Navajo Nation Resources and Development Committee heard from Nature and People First, a company wanting to do Pump Storage Hydropower projects at Chilchinbeto Chapter.
Last year, another Pumped Storage Hydropower project initiated by Nature and People First, for Black Mesa, was denied by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, after overwhelming opposition from Navajo Communities.
"Recently, Nature and People First has targeted Cameron as the next location for yet another Pump Storage Hydropower project. At the same time, Nature and People First is still pushing its Chilchinbeto Project, which the Resources and Development Committee heard on Monday."
"Recently, Nature and People First has targeted Cameron as the next location for yet another Pump Storage Hydropower project. At the same time, Nature and People First is still pushing its Chilchinbeto Project, which the Resources and Development Committee heard on Monday."
"The Chilchinbito Project seems to have garnered support from the local Council Delegate Shondiin Parrish and some of the members of Resources and Development Committee, who see it as a move to bring revenue back to the Navajo Nation," Tó Nizhóní Ání said.
Where is the Navajo Nation process to vet projects?
Where are the Navajo Nation priorities?
Why are we giving up limited and scarce water supplies for extractive industries?
Why aren’t other communities that share the same water supply being informed, and what will be the impact on those communities?
Why is the Navajo Nation allowing energy companies to prey on communities and individuals?
We know the Navajo Nation Department of Justice represents Navajo elected leaders, but who represents Navajo individuals being targeted and pressured for grazing permits and land use?
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Listen to Delegate Shawna Ann Claws’ comments and questions to Nature & People First at the recorded RDC Regular Meeting linked here: https://www.youtube.com/live/DxPQrU-iJjI?si=ErYRP1nkIcRor6sC
•
YouTube Recording Timestamps:
00:21:48 – 1:00:00 = Delegate Claws’ comments
00:04:33 – 01:46:44 = NPF Report Discussion to RDC
•
Learn more about the Black Mesa Pump Storage Hydropower Project by visiting www.tonizhoniani.org/no-bmpsp
"Unlike Delegate Parrish and other members of RDC, Shawna Ann Claw, Chinle Council Delegate- 25th Navajo Nation Council, made some critical points during the RDC regular meeting, questioning the integrity of this company, which has been known to pit communities against each other."
Tó Nizhóní Ání would like the Resources and Development Committee to ask the following additional questions:
Tó Nizhóní Ání would like the Resources and Development Committee to ask the following additional questions:
Where is the Navajo Nation process to vet projects?Where are the Navajo Nation priorities?Why are we giving up limited and scarce water supplies for extractive industries?Why aren’t other communities that share the same water supply being informed, and what will be the impact on those communities?Why is the Navajo Nation allowing energy companies to prey on communities and individuals?We know the Navajo Nation Department of Justice represents Navajo elected leaders, but who represents Navajo individuals being targeted and pressured for grazing permits and land use?•
Listen to Delegate Shawna Ann Claws’ comments and questions to Nature & People First at the recorded RDC Regular Meeting linked here: https://www.youtube.com/live/DxPQrU-iJjI?si=ErYRP1nkIcRor6sC
•
YouTube Recording Timestamps:
00:21:48 – 1:00:00 = Delegate Claws’ comments00:04:33 – 01:46:44 = NPF Report Discussion to RDC•
Learn more about the Black Mesa Pump Storage Hydropower Project by visiting www.tonizhoniani.org/no-bmpsp
May 22, 2025
Gwich'in Friend-Maker Sarah James is Goodwill Ambassador for Gwich'in and Caribou
Gwich'in Friend-Maker Sarah James Talks with AIM-West, Listen
Sarah talks about the birthing place, the place where the grass grows, where the calves learn to run from the wolves
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, May 15, 2025
Watch interview with Tony Gonzales, AIM-West https://www.aim-west.org/eagleandcondor
SAN FRANCISCO -- "I grew up on the land," says Sarah James, Neets’aii Gwich’in. It was fifteen miles from the nearest neighbor.
"I spoke only Gwich'in until I was thirteen years old, when I went to school."
"At that time there was no running water, there is no running water, just healthy running water, it's a river. There are no roads into Arctic Village, we hunt, trap, fish and gather, together."
UPDATE: Buried in History: The Native Children who Died in U.S. Boarding Schools and Were Not Reported in U.S. Interior's Report
The U.S. Interior Did Not Report Thousands of Children's Deaths in U.S. Boarding Schools
Geronimo's People: Chiricahua Apache children transferred from prison in Florida to Carlisle Indian School in 1886. Many died from tuberculosis.
Wichita and Washoe File Lawsuit over Boarding School Abuse
Geronimo's People: Chiricahua Apache children transferred from prison in Florida to Carlisle Indian School in 1886. Many died from tuberculosis.
Two tribes have now filed a lawsuit for boarding school abuse. However, the U.S. Interior's report failed to report thousands of deaths. With the Washington Post raw data, we examined many of the boarding schools deaths that were not reported by the Interior. Horrific abuse was routine in schools in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nebraska, Dakotas, Oregon and throughout the U.S. that was not reported by the U.S. Interior, which reported less than 1,000. The Washington Post found thousands more deaths.
Now, two tribal nations filed a lawsuit Thursday, May 22, 2025, stating that the government used the trust fund money of tribes to pay for boarding schools where generations of Native children were systematically abused. The Wichita Tribe and Affiliated Tribes of Oklahoma, and the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, filed the lawsuit in Pennsylvania, stating that Native tribes have never been compensated for the child abuse or for money taken from tribal trust funds to operate the schools. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Pennsylvania, where Carlisle Indian boarding school is located.
The U.S. Interior drastically under-reported the deaths of children in U.S. Boarding Schools
'Run, run as fast as you can'
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News
Thousands of Native children died in U.S. boarding schools that were not reported by the U.S. Interior Department in its report. Suffering from malnutrition, diseases and abuse, the largest number of unreported children's deaths were at Chemawa Indian Training School in Oregon, followed by Haskell Indian Industrial School in Kansas. The largest total number of deaths were at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania.
'Run, run as fast as you can'
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News
Thousands of Native children died in U.S. boarding schools that were not reported by the U.S. Interior Department in its report. Suffering from malnutrition, diseases and abuse, the largest number of unreported children's deaths were at Chemawa Indian Training School in Oregon, followed by Haskell Indian Industrial School in Kansas. The largest total number of deaths were at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania.
May 21, 2025
U.S. Border Patrol Harasses Tohono O'odham Community on Birthday of Murdered Raymond Mattia
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| Raymond Mattia, Tohono O'odham, was murdered by the U.S. Border Patrol at his home in Ali Jegk on May 18, 2023.
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By Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, Censored News, May 18, 2025
GU-VO District, Tohono O'odham Nation -- Harassment on Ray's birthday and a cultural meeting.
It's continuous intimidation warfare tactics on the community,
Also there is a death in the community.
They told the district officials that there was suspicious activities going on. We are preparing for the cultural meeting, getting firewood.
The family lost a young man in his 30's, we're in sad mourning.
It's continuous intimidation warfare tactics on the community,
Also there is a death in the community.
They told the district officials that there was suspicious activities going on. We are preparing for the cultural meeting, getting firewood.
The family lost a young man in his 30's, we're in sad mourning.
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| U.S. Border Patrol and Tohono O'odham Nation Police during Mourning Ceremony. Photo by Ofelia Rivas. |
Read and listen to more:
Ofelia Rivas describes the murder of her lifelong friend, Raymond Mattia, by the U.S. Border Patrol on Tiokasin Ghosthorse's First Voices Radio.
Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, speaks with First Voices Radio host Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Lakota. Ofelia describes how the U.S. Border Patrol murdered her friend Raymond Mattia, Tohono O'odham, at his home on the Tohono O'odham Nation.
Ofelia shares how Ray's father was her spiritual mentor and taught her about O'odham ceremonies. "Raymond is my ceremony brother, and I have a lot of respect for him."
Ofelia describes the moments leading up to Ray's murder when about 25 U.S. Border Patrol trucks arrived. After murdering Raymond, Ofelia could hear the U.S. Border Patrol agents laughing about murdering him. The gunfire included two shots from the back, and U.S. Border Patrol agents bashed in Raymond's body after he was shot and dying.
"He died such a painful death," Ofelia said. "He was unarmed."
Ofelia filed a civil rights complaint which was denied by the U.S. Justice Department. A Tohono O'odham Nation police officer, a non-tribal member, who had continually harassed Raymond, led the U.S. Border Patrol to Ray's home that night.
Ofelia said this tribal police officer's actions are a hate crime.
Ofelia Rivas website: O'odham Rights
Copyright Ofelia Rivas. Content may not be used without written permission.
May 20, 2025
Mohawk Nation News 'Kanienkehaka Mohawks Forever!'
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New today at Mohawk Nation News. Read the article at MNN
May 15, 2025
Indonesia Accused of Human Rights Crimes at the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
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| Tgk Fajri describes human rights crimes by Indonesia's government at the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 2025. Screenshot by Censored News. |
Indonesia Accused of Human Rights Crimes at the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, May 11, 2025
NEW YORK -- In the talk-polite world of the United Nations, Indigenous representatives for the people of Aceh, West Papua, and Maluku delivered a fiery speech, and described the human rights abuses by Indonesia's government.
The delegation also had their signs taken away by United Nations security, and were told not to offend anyone at the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York.
May 13, 2025
Mohawk Nation News 'On-Going Destruction of Turtle Island'
New today at Mohawk Nation News. Read at MNN
Guatemalan Youth Inspires at U.N. Permanent Forum, 'We are not the end of the road. We are the bridge.'
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Guatemalan Youth Inspires at U.N. Permanent Forum, 'We are not the end of the road. We are the bridge.'
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, May 13, 2025
NEW YORK -- "We are not requesting permission to exist. We are inviting you to walk with us -- hand in hand -- with the wisdom of our ancestors, while we still have time on this earth."
"We are not the end of the road, we are the bridge. We are inspired by our ancestors."
Those are the words of a Guatemalan youth to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, representing the Community for Latin America and the Caribbean.
"I am speaking from the global south, and expressing the hope and pain of Indigenous People."
She said this is not an issue of who suffers more, because all are suffering from the systematic injustice, and this must not be a competition for who is suffering most.
This Forum, she said, is not for some sort of prize, but was forged by generations of resistance. It is not to ensure a future for a small few -- but it is for the dignity for many, and reaching this point has not been easy.
"Many voices have been silenced by borders, by poverty, and simply forgotten."
Financing should be transformative, she said. It is not important to sustain what has always been there, but it is important to invest in those who are autonomous with community roots.
"We are not financing to see more reports, we are financing to see lives being transformed."
"We are not the end of the road. We are the bridge. We are inspired by our ancestors."
She urged those gathered to encourage youth leadership that is innovative.
"We are not requesting permission to exist. We are inviting you to walk with us, hand in hand, with the wisdom of our ancestors, while we still have time on this earth."
She is among the young emerging voices at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and delivered a collective statement from the Community for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Copyright Censored News. Censored News original series.
May 12, 2025
Rights of Nature Advocates Silenced at United Nations
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| The High-Level meeting of the UN’s Harmony with Nature and Living Well Programme Silenced International Rights of Nature Delegates. |
“A Slap in the Face” — Rights of Nature Advocates Silenced at the United Nations
“They want this to fail” says former UN program head
By Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
NEW YORK — Dozens of activists for the rights of nature who traveled to the United Nations to participate in a high-level meeting were unexpectedly barred from speaking on April 22nd, Earth Day, due to a supposed “security breach.”
The attendees, each of whom was personally invited by the Bolivian Foreign Minister, had previously been cleared by UN security personnel and issued access passes. Many had traveled thousands of miles — coming from Brazil, Poland, Canada, the UK, Germany, Netherlands, France, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Chile, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Colombia — to attend the meeting.
May 11, 2025
Indigenous Youth to U.N. -- Mexico's Desert is a Life Giver, Now Exploited for Lithium
Indigenous Youth to U.N. -- Mexico's Desert is a Life Giver, Now Exploited for Lithium
"They say there is nothing in the desert, but we are in the desert, and we have sowed life there."
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, May 11, 2025
NEW YORK -- An Indigenous youth from Mexico describes the beauty of life on the land when the rains come, and how the World Bank and the international financial system exploit Indigenous Peoples, pushing them off their land for lithium and cattle industries.
"I was raised in Mexico, in a land where people say nothing grows, a semi-desert."
"The rains when they do come show us the power of the cycle of life," an Indigenous youth told the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Peru's Muzzle Law Follows Murder of 60 Indigenous Peoples: Peru Extinguishing Rights and Life
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| (ONAMIAP) National Organization of Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Women of Peru. U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 2025. Screenshot Censored News. Peru's Muzzle Law Follows Murder of 60 Indigenous Peoples: Peru Extinguishing Rights and Life By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, May 11, 2025 NEW YORK -- Peru's government enacted a muzzle law as it seeks to cover-up the murder of 60 Indigenous Peoples who struggled to defend their rights. The law will leave victims of massacres defenseless and ensure impunity for the government, a representative of Indigenous Women in the Andes and Amazon told the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. "In Peru, we're actually moving backward," said the representative, pointing out Peru's failure to implement international standards that protect Indigenous peoples. |
"We are facing a government where a dictatorship is being imposed that seeks to make disappear Indigenous Peoples. This government is responsible for over 60 Indigenous brothers and sisters killed."
May 10, 2025
Federal court halts destruction of Oak Flat
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| Photo courtesy Becket Law |
BREAKING: Federal court halts destruction of Oak Flat
Judge blocks feds’ rush to transfer Indigenous sacred site to foreign mining giant for destruction
A federal court just temporarily blocked the federal government from giving an Indigenous sacred site, Oak Flat, to a Chinese-owned mining giant for destruction. The ruling comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether to hear an Apache group’s appeal to protect the site.
By Becket Law, Censored News, May 9, 2025
WASHINGTON – A federal court today blocked the U.S. government from plowing ahead with plans to hand over the Western Apaches’ most sacred site at Oak Flat to a multinational mining giant for destruction.
In Apache Stronghold v. United States, the federal government recently announced that as early as June 16, 2025, it would transfer Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, a Chinese-owned mining company that plans to turn the site into a massive mining crater, ending Apache religious practices forever.
Mohawk Nation News -- Revisiting Canada 'White Paper' of 1969 and U.S. 'Termination Policy' of 1954
New today at Mohawk Nation News
Read the article at MNN
May 9, 2025
Apache Stronghold at Phoenix Federal Court Defending Sacred Oak Flat
Apache Stronghold at Phoenix Federal Court
Photos by Lii Nchaa
May 7, 2025
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| Apache Stronghold at federal court today. Photo by Lii Nchaa. |
PHOENIX -- Apache Stronghold's attorneys argued their case in federal court today to protect Sacred Oak Flat from being turned into a massive copper mine. Attorneys for the U.S. government, and Resolution Copper, argued against the injunction, and to allow the land transfer to proceed.
Federal Judge Steven P. Logan took the case under advisement and said he will rule no later than May 14 at 5 p.m.
Apache Stronghold is seeking an injunction to halt the transfer of Oak Flat land to Resolution Copper, pending a ruling in its case now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has re-listed the case 13 times, the federal judge stated as the case began today.
President of Resolution Copper Vicky Peacey told the court that the land being transferred includes Resolution Copper's land that includes culturally-sensitive areas and Native American sacred places.
Apache Stronghold's attorney Luke Goodrich of Becket Law told the court that along with the Oak Flat campground, there are sacred springs, and sacred places in the area. There are no guarantees that any of the sacred places will be protected if the land transfer takes place and construction begins.
The U.S. government's attorney argued for the land transfer to proceed.
Resolution Copper says it is currently spending $11 million a month, to maintain the underground mine, to keep the mine area dry, to keep the lights on, and keep the workforce available, its attorney testified.
President of Resolution Copper Vicky Peacey told the court that the land being transferred includes Resolution Copper's land that includes culturally-sensitive areas and Native American sacred places.
Peacey said the copper mine process at Oak Flat would begin with tunnels constructed to the copper ore. This first process takes ten years. The next process of construction takes six years. She also described the existing mining structure which exists from previous mining. Four-hundred people report to work each day to maintain the area, she said.
Peacey told the court that the copper mine would operate for 40 years.
During questions, Peacey said she does not know the monetary value of the copper ore at the site.
In closing comments, Apache Stronghold's attorney said if the land transfer takes place, there would be an immediate loss of legal rights for Apaches to use Oak Flat, all Apaches legal rights would be lost.
The immediate construction would begin with new roads, and there would be damage and ground-clearing taking place. The yucca and oak acorns that are used in Apache ceremonies would be destroyed, he said.
Apache Stronghold asked that the land transfer be delayed until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the case.
In closing, the U.S. government and Resolution Copper both argued against pausing the land transfer and against the court issuing an injunction.
"On April 17, 2025, the government notified this Court that it intends to move forward with the land transfer—by publishing the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) that triggers a mandate to transfer Oak Flat—as early as June 16, 2025," Apache Stronghold told the court.
Apache Stronghold urges federal court to save Oak Flat
Apaches ask district court to pause government’s rush to transfer sacred site
By Becket Law, May 7, 2025
WASHINGTON – A coalition of Western Apaches, other Native peoples, and non-Native allies was in federal district court today to stop the U.S. government from handing over their sacred site at Oak Flat to a multinational mining giant for destruction. In Apache Stronghold v. United States, the federal government recently announced that as early as June 16, 2025, it will transfer Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, a Chinese-owned mining company that plans to turn the site into a massive mining crater, ending Apache religious practices forever (Watch this short video to learn more). Apache Stronghold filed an emergency appeal in the lower court to block the transfer while the Supreme Court considers the case. The judge said that he would issue a ruling by May 14.
Since time immemorial, Western Apaches and other Native peoples have gathered at Oak Flat, outside of present-day Superior, Arizona, for sacred religious ceremonies that cannot take place anywhere else. Known in Apache as Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, Oak Flat is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has been protected from mining and other harmful practices for seventy years. These protections were targeted in December 2014 when a last-minute provision was slipped into a must-pass defense bill authorizing the transfer of Oak Flat to the Resolution Copper company. Resolution Copper now plans to turn the sacred site into a two-mile-wide and 1,100-foot-deep crater. The majority owner of Resolution Copper, Rio Tinto, sparked international outrage when it deliberately destroyed 46,000-year-old Indigenous rock shelters at one of Australia’s most significant cultural sites.
“The federal government and Resolution Copper have put Oak Flat on death row—they are racing to destroy our spiritual lifeblood and erase our religious traditions forever,” said Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. of Apache Stronghold. “In the courtroom, we asked the judge to immediately block the land grab so that the Supreme Court can protect Oak Flat before it’s too late.”
Apache Stronghold filed this lawsuit in January 2021 seeking to halt the proposed mine at Oak Flat. The mine is opposed by 21 of 22 federally recognized tribal nations in Arizona, by the National Congress of American Indians, and by a diverse coalition of religious denominations, civil-rights organizations, and legal experts. Meanwhile, national polling indicates that 74% of Americans support protecting Oak Flat. The Ninth Circuit ruled 6-5 last year that the land transfer is not subject to federal laws protecting religious freedom. But five judges dissented, writing that the court “tragically err[ed]” by refusing to protect Oak Flat. Now the Supreme Court is considering whether to hear the case.
“The feds are brazenly rushing to hand Oak Flat over to Resolution Copper, even while the Supreme Court considers whether to hear the case,” said Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket. “We are asking the court to protect Oak Flat while the Justices consider whether to take the case.”
In addition to Becket, Apache Stronghold is represented by Erin Murphy of Clement & Murphy PLLC, Professor Stephanie Barclay of Georgetown Law School, and attorneys Michael V. Nixon and Clifford Levenson.
For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Ryan Colby at [email protected] or 202-349-7219.
The majority owner of Resolution Copper is Rio Tinto, an Australian mining company that blew up 46,000 years of Australian Aboriginal sacred history in caves. Further, Rio Tinto was forced to admit the widespread sexual abuse at its mines, and reported that the largest number of sexual assaults are at Rio Tinto's mines in Australia and South Africa.
(Below) The nearby Morenci mine shows the widespread damage from copper mining in the region, located north of Tucson, and east of Phoenix.
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| Wendsler Nosie, Sr. and Apache Stronghold. Photo Lii Nchaa. |
Apache Stronghold urges federal court to save Oak Flat
Apaches ask district court to pause government’s rush to transfer sacred site
By Becket Law, May 7, 2025
WASHINGTON – A coalition of Western Apaches, other Native peoples, and non-Native allies was in federal district court today to stop the U.S. government from handing over their sacred site at Oak Flat to a multinational mining giant for destruction. In Apache Stronghold v. United States, the federal government recently announced that as early as June 16, 2025, it will transfer Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, a Chinese-owned mining company that plans to turn the site into a massive mining crater, ending Apache religious practices forever (Watch this short video to learn more). Apache Stronghold filed an emergency appeal in the lower court to block the transfer while the Supreme Court considers the case. The judge said that he would issue a ruling by May 14.
Since time immemorial, Western Apaches and other Native peoples have gathered at Oak Flat, outside of present-day Superior, Arizona, for sacred religious ceremonies that cannot take place anywhere else. Known in Apache as Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, Oak Flat is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has been protected from mining and other harmful practices for seventy years. These protections were targeted in December 2014 when a last-minute provision was slipped into a must-pass defense bill authorizing the transfer of Oak Flat to the Resolution Copper company. Resolution Copper now plans to turn the sacred site into a two-mile-wide and 1,100-foot-deep crater. The majority owner of Resolution Copper, Rio Tinto, sparked international outrage when it deliberately destroyed 46,000-year-old Indigenous rock shelters at one of Australia’s most significant cultural sites.
“The federal government and Resolution Copper have put Oak Flat on death row—they are racing to destroy our spiritual lifeblood and erase our religious traditions forever,” said Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. of Apache Stronghold. “In the courtroom, we asked the judge to immediately block the land grab so that the Supreme Court can protect Oak Flat before it’s too late.”
Apache Stronghold filed this lawsuit in January 2021 seeking to halt the proposed mine at Oak Flat. The mine is opposed by 21 of 22 federally recognized tribal nations in Arizona, by the National Congress of American Indians, and by a diverse coalition of religious denominations, civil-rights organizations, and legal experts. Meanwhile, national polling indicates that 74% of Americans support protecting Oak Flat. The Ninth Circuit ruled 6-5 last year that the land transfer is not subject to federal laws protecting religious freedom. But five judges dissented, writing that the court “tragically err[ed]” by refusing to protect Oak Flat. Now the Supreme Court is considering whether to hear the case.
“The feds are brazenly rushing to hand Oak Flat over to Resolution Copper, even while the Supreme Court considers whether to hear the case,” said Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket. “We are asking the court to protect Oak Flat while the Justices consider whether to take the case.”
In addition to Becket, Apache Stronghold is represented by Erin Murphy of Clement & Murphy PLLC, Professor Stephanie Barclay of Georgetown Law School, and attorneys Michael V. Nixon and Clifford Levenson.
For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Ryan Colby at [email protected] or 202-349-7219.
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