Impacted Communities from North America Build United Strategies against Mining

Impacted Communities from North America Build United Strategies against Mining

Over 200 Indigenous Peoples and non-native allies from all over Turtle Island (North America) came together mid-June in Mole Lake, Wisconsin, the homeland of the Mole Lake Band of Sokaogon Chippewa, to begin building a united strategy against destructive mining on and near indigenous lands locally and globally.

Co-sponsored by the Sokaogon Chippewa Community of Mole Lake and the Indigenous Mining Campaign Project (a partnership between the Indigenous Environmental Network and Project Underground), the Indigenous Mining Summit brought communities currently experiencing the detrimental impacts of mining, like the Dine' (Navajo), the Hopi, and the Gros Ventre to meet communities that are fighting proposed mines like the Sokaogon Chippewa of Mole Lake, the Mohawk, the Menominee Nation, and the Quechan.

"We are evolving as a movement of native peoples. The program and goals of the summit encompassed our traditional values and responsibilities and provided a space for those of us impacted by the same issue to learn and organize together locally, nationally and internationally," said Tom Goldtooth, National Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network.

The summit was a traditional gathering that began with the lighting of the sacred fire. On the morning of each day there was a sunrise ceremony and prayers were said throughout to strengthen and support the intentions and work of summit participants. The opening invocation was done by Mole Lake tribal member/elder Fred Ackley, and the Mole Lake Drum group sang the opening songs. Tom Goldtooth formally opened up the circle as the Master of Ceremonies and everyone was welcomed to Mole Lake by tribal chairwoman, Sandra Rachel.

On the first day, summit participants gave an educational overview of mining and its impacts on indigenous communities in the United States, Canada, and internationally with a special focus on the Mole Lake community's struggle against the proposed Crandon Mine. Delegates returning from the World Summit on Sustainable Development, PrepCom IV meeting in Bali, Indonesia, helped to connect the struggles of Indigenous Peoples internationally who are facing increased threats of mining due to economic globalization.

For the last 26 years, the Sokaogon Chippewa community, along with other local tribes, environmental organizations, and citizens have successfully prevented the construction of the Crandon Mine, an underground copper/zinc mine proposed for a site just one mile away from the community's reservation. One of the key ingredients of success against the mine is the alliance between native and non-native peoples that crossed entrenched racial barriers to build a united resistance for the pristine Wolf River watershed.

"Our alliances brought together Indigenous Peoples with sports fishing groups, environmentalists with unionists, and rural residents with urban students. This is perhaps the broadest environmental alliance in the state of Wisconsin's history, and it would not have been possible without the tribe's treaty rights and sovereign rights," said Zoltan Grossman of the Midwest Treaty Network. The proposed mine, now owned by BHP-Billiton, has changed hands five times over the past 26 years, and each mining company that has attempted to push the mine forward has met with unprecedented native and non-native resistance.

A large number of summit participants were youth from affected communities, because mining impacts all stages of life, including elders and youth. Youth from all over the US and Canada attended the summit- like the Hopi/Dine' Black Mesa Water Coalition from Arizona, the Native Youth Movement (representing 36 chapters across Canada and the United States) and the San Francisco-based International Indian Treaty Council's Youth Program.

"We gathered to galvanize the urgency of youth organizations already fighting mining and the impacts on their land, culture and communities. We created a concrete plan of action for the next three years and our goals include becoming self-sufficient as we build the movement, creating support systems and empowering youth," said Heather Milton, Youth Coordinator for the Indigenous Environmental Network.

The final two days of the Indigenous Mining Summit focused on building a united strategy against unwanted and destructive mining that is proposed or currently taking place. The Sage Council, a community-based organization in New Mexico that works to stop the construction of an extension of the Paseo del Norte highway through the Petroglyph National Forrest, taught summit participants a method of strategizing called "power mapping".

Originally developed by Anthony Thingpen with the Environmental and Economic Justice Program, out of Los Angeles, California, power mapping is used to plot key decision makers, the kind of power they have, where the power of civil society lies, and what a community can do to change the power dynamics in a given situation.

"Everyone who experienced the power mapping process thought that it was very dynamic. It revealed to them where the actual power and decision making occurs. It clearly showed participants ways to access that power and what strategies to undertake to empower ourselves. We hope that everyone will be able to take home with them the power mapping process so that they can utilize it in their local struggles to access power," said Coleen Poler, on-the-ground organizer of the Indigenous Mining Summit, Board member of IEN and a Mole Lake Tribal Member.

Four working groups were formed at the end of the summit, called Youth, Metals, Uranium, and Coal. These working groups will continue the work of building a united strategy against unwanted and destructive mining and will use the base work of the Indigenous Mining Summit as a foundation.

"The Summit has helped to strengthen the struggles of all of our people against destructive mining practices. We want to share the success we have had in preventing the Crandon Mine from being approved. We want to assist other communities in building their campaigns and we want to combine our struggles into a powerful force," said Poler.

SOURCE: By Sayo':kla Kindness, Indigenous Mining Campaign Project mining organizer, June 28, 2002.