| Flyby News Home - Flyby News Archives - Casinni NoFlyby - Flyby Links |
DOE Interest to Expand Plutonium Production * Indigenous Peoples Day - October 12
1) The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has rescheduled the scoping meeting that was to be held in Arlington, Virginia for the programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) for accomplishing expanded civilian nuclear energy research and development and isotope production missions in the United States, including the role of the Fast Flux Test Facility.
The scoping meeting previously scheduled for October 26, 1999 has been canceled.
NEW MEETING DATE AND LOCATION:
Wednesday, October 27, 1999, 2-5 p.m.
The Mariott at Metro center
775 12th Street, NW
Washington, D.C.
202-737-2200
Please respond to this DOE consideration to expand Plutonium-238 production for the civilian space program. It is critical to stop such harmful directions. Please respond by going to the public meetings, calling (877-562-4593 or you can even add your statement by E-mail to:
For more information on the DOE proposal and how to respond visit this webpage:
http://www.greensense.com/Features/Action/n_pollute.htm
[In the next issue of Post Cassini Flyby News, we will send out many powerful statements responding to this critical call to respond. Thank you for those responding to this opportunity.]
**********************************************************************
2) Indigenous Peoples Day - October 12
The connection between the U.S. government's intent to expand Plutonium development relates to the injustices that have occurred in America for more than 507 years, since the landing of Columbus in the Carribean Islands. The beautiful American environment had been preserved by Native Americans and their way of life, resulting in prosperity for many and genocidal destruction for others. It is time for a change before we experience irreparable damage for everyone. The legacy of violence and genocide begun by Christopher Columbus still reverberates loudly today:
* In Leavenworth, Kansas where Leonard Peltier sits in his 23rd year of imprisonment for a crime the U.S. government admits they have no evidence that he actually committed. In reality, he was on the scene during a shoot-out with U.S. federal agents for the purpose of defending indigenous people on the Pine Ridge Reservation being murdered for uranium and other mining rights;
http://members.xoom.com/freepeltier/
* In Big Mountain/Black Mesa, Arizona where Native people fight government-supported efforts to remove them so that Peabody Western Coal Company can make huge profits from the exploitation of coal, uranium and other natural resources underneath their land;
http://www.visionquests.com/
* In the Black Hills of South Dakota where non-Indian private and federal squatters still keep the tribal treaty lands away from the rightful owners and prevent Native freedom of religion;
* In Fort Reno where the Oklahoma congressional delegation is tying to wipe out legal rights of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes to their Fort Reno lands, while a federal/private scheme is afoot to move 500 baboons onto the tribal land for "research;"
* In Nevada where the Western Shoshone people continue to oppose the presence of the National Nuclear Test Site and the development of the only long-term High Level Nuclear Waste Repository on their land;
* In Tucson, Arizona where the University of Arizona is building telescopes and an observatory on Mt. Graham/Dzil Nchaa Si An, holy ground of the Apache Nation.
Native Americans suffer from continuing thefts of land and natural resources; from a violent crime rate 150% higher than that for the U.S. as a whole; from one of the highest rates of arrest and incarceration; and from institutionalized disrespect through name-calling and stereotyping of Native Peoples in sports. Truly, the Columbus legacy is alive and thriving.
Yet, since 1992, people of all races and nationalities have fasted and organized in scores of localities throughout the U.S. as part of a growing movement in opposition to the Columbus way of racism, greed, violence, genocide and environmental destruction. We honor October 12th as Indigenous Peoples Day, a day to heal what 507 years of the Columbus way has done and continues to do for the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.
Participating in or supporting this effort and the struggles of Indigenous Peoples are much more than just the right thing to do. What has been done to those who are the original peoples of this land has been done in different forms to many of those who have lived here in recent times -- African Americans, Mexicanos/Chicanos, Asian Americans, other Latino people and low-income European-Americans. But today, the growing power and greed of transnational corporations like Peabody Coal that are behind much of what goes on in Indian country, affect the vast majority of people in the United States and the rest of the world. They further corrupt the already imperfect institutions of "democracy" that still exist. They pollute our air, food, land and water and are the primary cause of global warming that is already beginning to have devastating impacts worldwide. And they force workers to compete against fellow workers in other countries for the "right" to have low-wage jobs and terrible working conditions.
Leonard Peltier has written of what we must all do: "Speaking out is my first duty, my first obligation to myself and to my people. To speak your mind and heart is Indian Way. In Indian Way, the political and the spiritual are one and the same. You can't believe one thing and do another. What you believe and what you do are the same thing. In Indian Way, if you see your people suffering, helping them is an absolute necessity. It's not a social act of charity or welfare assistance, it's a spiritual act, a holy deed."
We will never be free until we face up to the historic record, set it straight and get it right. "Getting it right" means honoring, upholding and joining in solidarity with those who have much to teach us about living in harmony with the natural world, about working cooperatively for the good of all, and about steadfastness in struggle despite the most difficult conditions. We urge you to support changing the Columbus Day legacy and unite with Indigenous Peoples in considering seven generations in every major decision, the three present and four yet to come.
Please note: The main content of the above statement has been endorsed by:
Act Up/East Bay, Oakland, Ca.; David Acosta; Randi M. Bearden, Taylors, S.C.; Dennis Brutus, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Debora Bump, Schenectady, N.Y.; Janet Cavallo, Philadelphia, Pa.; Stuart Chen-Hayes, Ph.D., Bronx, N.Y.; Matthew Ciuccio, Nyack, N.Y.; Jenny Cochrane, Seattle,Wa.; Community Organizing Center, Columbus, Oh.; Maricke Van Copenolle, Belgium; Dave Dellinger, Board Co-Chair, Toward Freedom; Fellowship of Reconciliation; Five Hundreds Years of Indigenous Resistance, N.Y., N.Y.; George Friday, Kannapolis, N.C.; Ted Glick, Natl. Coord., Independent Progressive Politics Network; Susan Greywolf, Everett, Wa.; Roma Guy, San Francisco, Ca.; Suzan Shown Harjo, Morning Star Foundation; Rick Hauptman, Chair, Ca. Demo. Pty. Internet Caucus; Bill Hawkwatcher Hathaway; Howie Hawkins, Green Party, Syracuse, N.Y.; Healing Global Wounds, Tecopa, Ca.; Jesse Heiwa, N.Y., N.Y.; Ngati Hiikairo, Aotearoa; Jodi Hofmeister, Kettleby, Ontario; Delores C. Huerta; Allison Jack, Toronto, Ontario; Tracey Kingi; Allen R. LeCours, Belchertown, Ma.; League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations; Roger Leisner, Augusta, Me.; Leonard Peltier Defense Committee; Sally Light; Martin K. Manley, Schenectady, N.Y.; Esperanza Martell, Pro-Libertad: The Amnesty Campaign to Free Political Prisoners; Terry Martin, Phoenix, Az.; John Martinez, "Radio Chicana," Los Angeles, Ca.; Patrick Masterson, San Francisco, Ca.; Michael McEvoy, Austin, Tx.; Elizabeth McCleary-Kiffe, Chandler, Az.; Bill Means, International Indian Treaty Council; Matt Meyer, War Resisters League; Arthur Miller, Coordinator, Northwest Leonard Peltier Support Network; Sara Moore, Berkeley, Ca.; Ursula Mueller, Intl. Sec., Green Party of Sweden; Native Youth Alliance, Washington, D.C.; Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio; Beth Newberry, Chair, Indigenous Support Coalition of Oregon; Daniel Osuna, The Positive Revolution; Piscataway Indian Nation; Queers for Racial and Economic Justice; DeAnna Rivera, Port Jeff, N.Y.; Resistance in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Olivia Salazar, Olympia, Wa.; Sid Socolar, N.Y., N.Y.; David Swift, Perrysburg, N.Y.; Angel Torres, Phoenix, Az.; Jennifer Viercek, Tempe, Az.; S. Brian Willson, Wendell, Ma.; Farrell Winter, Graton, Ca.; Cynthia Young, N.Y., N.Y., Leonard Peltier Support Group of Greater New England and Jonathan Mark, Wendell Depot, MA.
(List in formation)
Contact: Ted Glick
**********************************************************************