Honor the Earth: Act Now: Archived Urgent Actions: 2003-09-05
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Honor the Earth: Act Now: Archived Urgent Actions: 2003-09-05
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The Western Shoshone Nation Requests Your Immediate Assistance!! Dear Friends and Supporters: The final hours appear to be upon the Western Shoshone. Western Shoshone land rights are being crushed; beautiful, Shoshone horses are dying senselessly; and the engines to gauge, pillage, and assault Newe Sogobia, Shoshone homelands, is revving up. Congress comes back to session on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2003 and Western Shoshone lands, site to the nation's largest gold production, nuclear dump and nuclear test site will be hot on the agenda. With no hearing date scheduled for the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill (HR 884/ SB 618) we know we have to be ready. Senator Reid has made clear the priority with which he is pushing this bill. In the House, the bill is geared for quick markup before the Committee on Resources. (As soon as next week.) In the Senate, the bill is on the way to the floor after being railroaded through the Committee on Indian Affairs. Both bills represent a "forced payoff" to Western Shoshone for their homelands. A delegation of Western Shoshone and WSDP will be in Washington, D.C. this coming week, September 2nd, to talk to members of Congress about concerns for their lands and their opposition to the forced payment for lands that have never been sold. They plan to tell their story in a press conference as well. We/they need YOUR help! Now is the time to stand in unity with the first people of this land to stop abusive government policies which violate fundamental human and environmental rights and which allow for corporate and military desecration of the earth simply for its resources. THIS IS TRUE HOMELAND SECURITY, SECURITY TIED TO JUSTICE! Please take a stand whether your concern is with indigenous rights, free and healthy Indian horses, protection of property rights, nuclear free Nevada, nuclear disarmament, or corporate empire building. Background Facts: The Western Shoshone Distribution Bill is highly controversial and has raised concerns about human rights violations both at home and internationally. In December, 2002 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States (OAS), found that the U.S. is in violation of fundamental rights to property, due process and equality under the law with regard to its treatment of the Western Shoshone. Western Shoshone issues are moving to the big screen with national and international organizations. Last winter, Amnesty International (AI) chose the Shoshone case as a highlight case of their Just Earth! Task Force on Indigenous Peoples. In April, AI issued a report calling upon the U.S. to respect the OAS decision. The political effect of the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill will be a "clearance of title" to approximately 26 million acres of land, in Nevada, Utah, Idaho and California, classified by the U.S. as "public" lands. The clearing of title will be used by the United States to open up these lands to privatization, "sale to the highest bidder" and ignore the Western Shoshone's decades-long struggle, legitimizing the government and corporate theft of these lands. Over the past 24 months, the U.S. Interior, Energy, and Defense Departments, have been gearing up on enforcement actions against Western Shoshone and readying for the multi-national corporate "give-aways" of Western Shoshone lands and resources, demonstrated by actions to remove Western Shoshone horses and cattle from their homelands, and the push for passage of the Claim's Distribution bill. Under the current Administration, plans have stepped up for increased gold mining; approval of Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, renewed nuclear weapons tests, a counter-terrorism facility; and plans to open up Shoshone lands for oil and gas production and geothermal energy production. The Western Shoshone are steadfastly opposing these immense powers and struggling to live on their sacred lands in their traditional and spiritual ways. Whether you are an indigenous person or a descendant of a stranger to these lands, acknowledge that the struggle is the same: human dignity, respect for the earth and the ability to continue your spiritual beliefs. For more information, go to www.wsdp.org. What You Can Do To Help 1. Pass this alert on to friends, family and organizations that may help AND DO IT NOW. Contacts with civil rights/legal organizations, the American Association for Retired Persons (AARP), veterans groups, native rights groups, peace activists, student organizations and environmental groups are key. This is especially needed if you have contacts in any of the states where key congressional people are located (i.e. Nevada, California, Utah, Idaho and Iowa). 2. Express your concerns by fax, e-mail or letter to the following officials. If you belong to an organization or citizens' group ask them to write letters in their capacity. A single letter can be written and copied to the various officials. (Please send us copies if possible, as well as any responses you receive). Sample letters, written by an individual supporter and an organization, are including at the end of this alert. Key to your request should be a call upon the United States to meet and negotiate in good faith with the Western Shoshone Nation to recognize the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley and to resolve this long standing land dispute. Let them know that you will know longer stand for the abuses against native peoples, fundamental human rights, and the rights of future generations government "officials" will be held accountable. 3. Encourage your state legislators and the media to gather information about the Western Shoshone situation. Meetings/interviews can be arranged with the Western Shoshone delegation in D.C. by calling 775-468-0230. Suggested officials to be contacted (as well as your state congressional people): House Committee On Resources
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov Richard W. Pombo, California, Chairman Republicans Democrats Key Senators The Western Shoshone Need To Meet With
Senator Daniel Inouye (Hawaii) Senator Dianne Feinstein (California) Senator Barbara Boxer (California) Senator Charles Grassley (Iowa) Administration President George W. Bush Secretary of State Colin L. Powell Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton Sample Letter September ___, 2003 Honorable Congressman/Senator _________. I write this letter in opposition to the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill sponsored by Senator Reid and Congressman Gibbons of Nevada. The bill has been introduced in the House as HR 884 and in the Senate as SB 618. The Western Shoshone Distribution Bill is a bad bill. If passed in its current form, the bill could have devastating impacts on the people of Nevada, the Western Shoshone and the United States. Such impacts include escalating disputes and litigation over native rights under the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, loss of economic benefits to tribal and local communities and loss of international respect for the United States on its policies regarding indigenous peoples. Rather than a meager distribution of controversial monies, the Treaty of Ruby Valley should be enforced. Enforcement of the Treaty of Ruby Valley would stop nuclear waste storage and transportation to Yucca Mountain, it would serve as a basis for good faith negotiations regarding land and resource rights for the Western Shoshone people and it would uphold U.S. treaty and international obligations. This bill also raises fundamental questions about how the federal government treats indigenous peoples and represents an appalling example of current U.S. policy. The Western Shoshone need to address their hunting and fishing and gathering of food and medicinal plants. Their children need to feel connected to the lands of their ancestors. The Western Shoshone are the caretakers of these lands and the Distribution Bill threatens their existence as Western Shoshone people. The Western Shoshone people's rights to property, to due process and to equality under the law are being violated they deserve good faith negotiations or a hearing in a fair judicial proceeding, not 15 cents an acre and spiritual genocide. Thank you for your attention to this serious issue and your opposition to the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill. Sincerely, ______________________ Additional Letters Sent By Organizations: From Citizen Alert: This is unfair and misdirected legislation and would be bad law. It is also, from our viewpoint, very shortsighted. Nevada is in the fight of it's life in trying to stop Yucca Mountain from becoming the nation's dump for nuclear waste and we have perhaps, the show stopper, the Treaty of Ruby Valley. We urge Representative Gibbon [Senator Reid] to "put on the brakes" and look at the possible ramifications of his actions. As important to us is the issue of righting a wrong. When the treaty was signed it was implicit in its language that the government take care of the land and to honor the wishes of the Shoshone peoples. Disregarding and trampling the sacred sites on the land, destroying the environment and contaminating our precious aquifer system with toxic waste is unacceptable and in violation of that treaty. There is still time to do the right thing. Respectfully, From the Oaks Institute: On behalf of the full Board of Directors and membership of The Oaks Institute, I am writing to voice our unified opposition to the pending legislation regarding payments to members of the Western Shoshone nation. We are a nonprofit organization composed of scholars, businesspersons, and concerned public leadership working to safeguard the environmental sustainability of our communities. As you may know, there are grave conflicts between government claims of title to Western Shoshone lands, and aboriginal title as recognized by several international bodies. It is the conclusion of The Oaks Institute, after a thorough investigation of historical documents, recent documents and testimony, that the present attempt to legislate payment is closely tied to the interests and lobbying efforts of the international mining corporations and possibly Bechtel corporation. This payment is not a just action, is not going to hold up in light of international law, and may leave US law makers in a moral quagmire themselves, as more documents related to conflicts of interest are brought to the press and the public. We urge a conservative, rational approach to this matter, one that does not bend the legitimacy of US legislatures and US law to serve the short term interests of international mining. If I can be of any assistance to you as you address this matter of great importance, I would be happy to speak with you. Sincerely, --------------------------------------------------- Western Shoshone Defense Project |
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