June 9th - Communities' Allies Gather to Support

Indigenous peoples and their supporters, young and old, speakers of many languages, travelers from near and from continents far away, are setting about their journeys to the 10th Annual Protecting Mother Earth Conference.

Thousands will be making the trek from North, Central and South America and other parts of the world, including Australia, and are preparing to convene with their allies near the Laguna and Acoma Pueblos in New Mexico.

Discussions, workshops and strategy sessions will center on environmental justice issues affecting the rights of indigenous peoples to protect their lands and to live in a healthy and safe environment. Because of language barriers translators of several languages will be present throughout the conference.

Plenary sessions, the first of which will be at 10 am on Thursday, June 10, will begin the work of each day. The theme of this year's conference will focus on uranium issues and the effects to indigenous peoples and will run through Sunday, June 13. Conference organizers of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), estimate 1,500 or more participants at the event, historical in that it is the largest outdoor gathering of indigenous people in North America.

This year's conference will take place at a native youth camp near the sacred mountain of Mount Taylor. "Mount Taylor is one of the four sacred mountains of the Navajo people," says Anna Frazier, coordinator of Dine' Citizens Against Ruining the Environment, a Navajo community-based environmental organization that is hosting the gathering.

The site of the conference is located in one of the most heavily impacted uranium mining areas of the world. The abandoned Jackpile mine at Laguna Pueblo is the largest open-pit uranium mine in the world leaving 5,000 acres of radioactive open pit and waste piles.

Besides the Jackpile mine, the Grants uranium district includes more than one hundred other uranium mines and five uranium mills, all on or near Navajo lands. "Navajo people have worked these mines and mills resulting in deaths from radiation contamination of our lands, water, livestock, health and our children", says Earl Tulley of Dine' CARE.

"Navajo Nation, Pueblo tribes, Dine' CARE, other Navajo groups and radiation victims have been urging Congress to pass just compensation legislation for Navajo uranium victims decimated by pulmonary diseases and cancer as a result of the radioactive waste from uranium mining", further stated Tulley. This will be only one area of uranium issues discussed at the conference.

Eastern Navajo Dine' Against Uranium Mining (ENDAUM), is an organization of residents of nearby Crownpoint and Churchrock communities opposing further uranium mining development.

ENDAUM and DINE CARE are regional groups that will be building alliances at the IEN conference with other indigenous delegations coming from the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Canada, Washington state, Nevada, Oklahoma and as far away as Australia to stop uranium mining and contamination within indigenous territories.

"This is our tenth year of sponsoring these conferences. We're organizing throughout North America and building networks with indigenous peoples throughout the world to stop unhealthy and unsustainable development and environmental injustice in our homelands", according to Tom Goldtooth, national coordinator of IEN.

Other focus areas of the conference will include persistent organic pollutants, nuclear waste, global warming, protection of sacred sites, border justice, solid waste, community and youth organizing and other environmental related topics.

For four days, June 10 through June 13, on the grounds of a native youth camp near the Acoma and Laguna pueblos, west of Albuquerque, indigenous peoples and their supporters will address the issues of continued uranium development and subsequent contamination of their people and lands.

"We want people to know that these issues are not isolated to this area. It is a global problem. Our tribal leaders must understand that consideration of the health impacts from radiation contamination have to be made a priority", proclaimed Dr. Manuel Pino of Laguna Pueblo.

Dr. Pino, is an IEN conference presenter and a prominent figure in the effort by Dine' CARE and other groups to push for just compensation legislation on behalf of uranium workers decimated by pulmonary diseases and cancer.

The site of the conference is located in one of the most heavily impacted uranium mining areas on Earth. In 1958 over 90,000 acres of tribal lands were leased for uranium exploration and development. Today there are over 1,000 abandoned and unreclaimed open-pit and underground uranium mines on Navajo land.

In 1979, in Churchrock, New Mexico, United Nuclear Corporation spilled 94 million tons of radioactive sludge into the Rio Puerco River that serves the Navajos. This was the largest accident of its kind in United States nuclear history.

Eastern Navajo Dine' Against Uranium Mining, or ENDAUM, is an organization of residents of Churchrock and nearby Crownpoint opposing further uranium mining development now under consideration.

ENDAUM members will be presenting information and exchanging strategies for dealing with such crucial issues, with other communities, some as far away as Australia, starting at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

IEN conference coordinator, Charlotte Caldwell, Ojibway from Minnesota, estimated that as many as 1,500 to 2,500 people will converge on-site by Friday. "Our grassroots communities are proactively addressing many diverse issues", Caldwell stated.

"Some conference participants will be working on other issues important to indigenous communities like protection of sacred sites, global warming, sustainable economic development, border justice, and many, many more including international indigenous trade efforts", Caldwell continued.

A large delegation of indigenous representatives from southern Mexico is expected as well as several delegates from Central and South America. Because of the diversity of languages spoken by the numerous conference participants and scientific and technical supporters, translators of several languages will provide simultaneous interpretation during general assemblies each morning.

Youth caucuses and several youth workshops on issues such as youth education, teambuilding and conflict resolution, survival skills, and traditional teachings and cultural learning will take place throughout the four days.

Other activities include hands-on educational demonstrations of adobe brick building, straw bale home construction, solar power, pueblo bread making and a solar oven baking demonstration.