Arizona Navajos resist relocations
1985 1985-08Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 15 →
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Dineh (Navajo) family forced to leave their home, which is rich in uranium Hopis are in support of our resistance.
They know they will suffer, too, in the end. When the mining starts, that's it The government offered money to people who would sell their livestock.
S.A.: How many people have been No one would sell, so government Keediniihii: About 250 families have This was in 1978. Resistance by the been relocated since 1975, many to Indians was responsible for ending the urban areas—the border towns off resconfiscations. Now the government ervations. Most of the people have no agents just fly over every day and count job skills. Sheep herding and how to tend their corn fields is all they know.
The purpose of the Resettlement Act There is nothing for them. A lot of peois to starve the people out by stock ple move back and live underground on reduction, halting water development, and neglecting the people's needs. It's S.A.: Where is the resistance coming The government says the Navajo and Hopi are quarreling among themselves Keediniihii: Resistance comes from and that's why this law was passed. communities helping each other and Some cross the Mexican border into refugee camps. Some go North, like the brother and sister in the film "El Norte" to work as super-exploited labor in the United States. Others go to the cities where there's not enough work.
Many are taken into Vietnam-style refugee camps, "strategic hamlets," where they're used as slave labor to build In the Kollasuyo region of Bolivia, 90 to 95 percent of the people are indigenous, more than in any other country in Latin America. Victor Hugo Gonzalez stresses in the film that neither the ethnic struggle nor Marxism alone can solve their oppression. "Our movement is ethnic and Marxist both," he says.
A Peruvian delegate to the World Council of Indigenous People, an annual conference, is interviewed. We learn that an International Indian NetThe film misses the opportunity at this point to show that in early 1980, the First Congress of Indian Movements of South America took place in the Peruvian town of Ollantaytambo, near Cuzco. The congress resulted in the formation of the Directorate of the Indian Council of South America (CISA), July 8, 1985. are affected. uranium. land.
S.A.: What are the Resettlement Act? fences in front of fencing crews.
ranges." reserves.
animals through the There was also tion."
agents confiscated the animals.
the livestock.
psychological warfare. water supply. "voluntary reducfor the Hopi Nation.
relocated so far? the reservation.
from?
being driven off the land. roads. work is being established.
fully remove people.
Lionel Delevigne oppressed people.
eral interests.
are still one people.
from them. joining together. In 1977, Big Mountain was the only area that was resisting. Now other communities also are startFor more information or to San Francisco St., Flagstaff, 86001. Tel. (602) 774-6903.
organizations on the continent." rights, lands, and resources. offer Legal North Ariz.,