This video – from Indigenous Media Action – shows the blockade by ‘Save the Peaks’ demonstrators on

the Snowbowl Road and how law enforcement officials, using industrial saws and a jack hammer, forcefully break apart the blockade.

Direct Action to Protect Holy Peaks Continues
By Klee Benally
Indigenous Action Media
Photos by Ethan Sing
Posted at Censored News

On Saturday, August 13th 2011, after a prayerful gathering on the Holy San Francisco Peaks, my friends Mary Sojourner, Rudy Preston and I were arrested by “law-enforcement” agents for standing against desecration and eco-cide caused by Arizona Snowbowl ski area.

Since June 16th, 26 arrests have been made during protests when Snowbowl started furthering desecration and eco-cide on the Holy Peaks.

As a Snowbowl hired excavator operator tore into sacred earth, plants and boulders to extend the wastewater pipeline trench further up the Holy Mountain, 40 people gathered in prayer in a meadow directly across from the excavation. At times, bulldozers and the excavator were no more than 200 feet from the gathering, so the machinery made it nearly impossible for elders to speak. The noise completely disrupted statements and prayers made by those in attendance.

Although I am not sure how it started, shortly after the prayer gathering a group of 30 people started pushing rocks and dug-up dirt into the pipeline trench. As I watched from a distance, every rock being placed back in the trench–to heal the scarring of desecration–appeared more powerful than any petition I’ve ever read.

Two Forest Service agents, who had apparently been monitoring the prayer gathering, emerged from the woods as the spontaneous action unfolded.

At that point I approached the excavator operator and stated, “Stop. You have interrupted and interfered with our prayers. You must stop.” I then chained and handcuffed myself to stop the excavator.

I was joined by more than 30 people who began chanting and singing. We sang in a way that was a continuation of our prayers. I was chained to the machine for approximately 2 hours.

Forest Service and Coconino County Sheriffs ultimately cut me out after Louise Benally, from Big Mountain, agreed that it was OK for me to do so. I was charged by a sheriff for “trespassing” and “disorderly conduct.”

How can I be “trespassing” on this site that is so sacred to me? This is my church. It is the Forest Service and Snowbowl who are violating human rights and religious freedom by desecrating this holy Mountain. Although an appeal is in the court system Snowbowl is attempting to undermine judicial process. Additionally, Snowbowl and the Forest Service are violating the 2004 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that was signed with Indigenous Nations. This MOA stipulates consultation must occur prior to any construction, this has not meaningfully occurred, if at has occurred at all. Not to mention, the Forest Service and Snowbowl are in violation of the Environmental Impact Statement, as they have followed none of the mitigation measures either. Their actions are far beyond “disorderly.”

After my arrest and release, Mary Sojourner who is a local author and activist, confronted Forest Service and Coconino County Sherrifs. She walked up to the excavator in an effort to stop pipeline construction and was immediately cuffed and put into a police van.

Mary stated, “I took action not just for the Mountain, but for my friend, Klee Benally, who I saw chained to a monstrous extractor, the pipeline trenching machine that had been ripping into the mountain and the peaceful morning air as thirty of us prayed for the Mountain; and so that older women and men would see that one doesn’t have to be young to stand up for a place and community that you love.”

Rudy Preston, local Peaks advocate, was also arrested and charged with two counts of “disorderly conduct” and “trespassing”.

Rudy offered this statement, “I feel like the world changed forever yesterday. Our actions on Nuvatukya Ovi (San Francisco Peaks in Hopi) have led to me seeing the true horrors perpetuated on the Indigenous cultures of our community every single day. Even without sewer water on the mountain, the desecration is a systematic perpetuation of genocide on local peoples for centuries and it is just as strong now as when peoples were forced onto the Longest Walk. My eyes will never again close to this injustice. And my body will not perpetuate it.
”

All that has happened in the last month was made possible by like-minded individuals taking action of all kinds. I hope that others move out of their comfort zone a bit and create actions that reflect their part in this. Not everyone can march in the streets, not everyone can lock down, not everyone has a car. But we all love the mountain and you don’t need to wait for a ‘known organizer’ to tell you what to do next.”

As I, Klee, was chained to the excavator I said, “This is not a game. This is not for show. This is not for media. This is to stop this desecration from happening.”

While construction was only stopped for just about 2 hours, it was stopped nonetheless. This is power.
This is a power that we all share. If one person, three, six, or nine, can stand in the way of machinery and say “enough,” imagine what would happen if it was every one of us who cared?

What is at stake is our prayers, our ways of life, our cultural survival. This is why this has to stop. This is why we say, ‘No desecration for recreation, protect the peaks!’

For more info, action and to donate for jail support: www.indigenousaction.org or www.truesnow.org

Protect the Peaks, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2011. The ongoing efforts are to halt the desecration of sacred San Francisco Peaks.

Photos by Protect the Peaks/Censored News
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Navajo Klee Benally chained himself to heavy equipment on Snowbowl Road on Saturday, in the ongoing effort to halt desecration of sacred San Francisco Peaks. Benally was cited for disorderly conduct and released.
Flagstaff author Mary Sojourner and Protect the Peaks police liaison Rudy Preston were arrested at the scene. Preston was charged with two counts of disorderly conduct and one count of trespassing. Sojourner’s booking is now in progress at the Sawmill Road Jail.
Klee Benally chained himself to an excavator after a prayer gathering on the sacred mountain Saturday.
Klee Benally is internationally know as the lead singer of the Navajo family band Blackfire and longtime organizer of efforts to save San Francisco Peaks from destruction.
Mary Sojourner is the author of two novels, Sisters of the Dream and Going Through Ghosts; the short story collection, Delicate; essay collection, Bonelight: ruin and grace in the New Southwest; memoirs, Solace: rituals of loss and desire and She Bets Her Life.
Before today’s action, 17 people were arrested in the past eight days, as Navajo, Hualapai, Hopi, O’odham and other Native Americans have been protesting the destruction of the sacred mountains.
The Arizona Snowbowl plans to make snow for tourists on the sacred mountain which 13 area Native American Indian Nations hold sacred. Medicine men gather healing plants and conduct ceremonies on the mountain.
Already, there is clearcutting of the old growth forests for the pipeline and tourist developments. Native American youths have been willing to be arrested to halt the destruction.
Saturday, Aug. 13, 2011.

Source : Indigenous Action Media

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
protectpeaks@gmail.com
www.truesnow.org

Blockade Halts Ski Resort Destruction & Desecration of Holy Mountain

Flagstaff, AZ — August 8th, 2011. Nine people took direct action at 5:00 AM on Monday morning, blockading the ongoing destruction and desecration of the Holy San Francisco Peaks. Nine individuals directly confronted the ecocidal actions of Arizona Snowbowl, halting their daily clear-cutting and pipeline excavation plans for eight hours. Responding sheriffs deputies immediately arrested the group’s police liaison, who was ensuring the safety of demonstrators. More than 50 law enforcement officials used industrial saws and a jack hammer to forcefully break apart the blockade.

“The action we took today is one part of a series of events with the intent to stop Snowbowl, the US Forest Service, and other corporations from further desecrating the Holy San Francisco Peaks,” stated Haley Coles after being released from jail. “The pipeline will not be tolerated. Spewed waste water turned into artificial snow will not be tolerated. Clear cuts, slash piles, and burning of hundred-year old trees will not be tolerated. The Holy mountain will be defended, and the desecration will be stopped; at whatever cost. We have the mountain on our side,” said Coles.

Stephen Zavodynik, also arrested during Monday’s blockade, stated, “Today, a small group of people decided that they had enough of wealthy investors, cultural genocide, and privileged white people who are indifferent to the destructive impacts of their recreational activities. We decided to take matters into our own hands and you can too. Whatever you feel is sacred, defend it with all your heart and take a risk, because our future generations will not forgive inaction.”

“As a snowboarder, I support an immediate reversal of all construction related to the expansion and spreading of treated sewage on the sacred San Francisco Peaks. It is our obligation to act immediately to prevent ongoing cultural genocide and environmental destruction just miles from where we live, where old growth forest is culled using slash and burn foresting techniques while huge, diesel-powered machines cut into the earth in preparation for the import of hormones, carcinogenic chemical compounds, and fecal matter onto the highest reaches of the San Francisco peaks. Allowing Arizona Snowbowl to buy treated sewage from the City of Flagstaff is an absolute failure of our elected representatives to protect the civil rights of indigenous members of the Flagstaff community. I will continue to use any means necessary to protect the peaks and support my friends and community members.” stated Kennedy.

Jenna Tomasello, who was also part of the action, stated that “Almost all of our options have been exhausted. The US Supreme Court failed to protect religious freedoms of Native peoples. The Flagstaff City Council has failed to meaningfully listen to its constituents who have consistently vocalized their opposition to Arizona Snowbowl development for decades. And the US Forest Service has failed to protect the public from the environmental impacts of treated sewage effluent. It is time for more people, wherever you are, to open your eyes. Respect the land of which we are dependent on and the people that the land has been stolen from. The only choice for us is to take action against those who threaten Indigenous cultures, the environment and our future. It’s frustrating that we had to do this in order to make this point clear.” stated Tomasello.

“For those of us who have chosen to fight the colonial strongholds, we have also chosen to fight for the minds that hold this power. If harmony is to prevail, all beliefs attempting to control nature must be liberated. We belong to the Earth; the Earth does not belong to us.” stated Tom Lang, who was part of the action.

All 10 arrested were released within hours due to strong outpouring of community support.

17 people have been arrested during a community “Week of Action to Protect the Peaks.” 23 arrests have been made since June 16, when 6 people locked themselves to Snowbowl excavators and inside sewage pipeline trenches.

“This was an autonomous action planned by those who took part. It was beautiful and powerful and very responsible. We took every measure to ensure our safety. Nobody was unwillingly put in the way.” stated Rudy Preston, the arrested police liason for the group. “The Civil Disobedience roadblock on the mountain was not a family event or publicized with the rest of the legal actions planned for the ‘Week of Action.’” stated Preston.

Since May 25, 2011, the owners of Arizona Snowbowl, with the support of the U.S. Forest Service and the Flagstaff City Council, have laid over five miles of a 14.8 mile wastewater pipeline and have clearcut over 40 acres of rare alpine forest. A current lawsuit against the Forest Service focusing on the human health impacts of wastewater snowmaking is still under appeal in the 9th Circuit Court. The individuals involved in today’s action are separate from the Coalition involved in the lawsuit.

The San Francisco Peaks are Holy to more than 13 Indigenous Nations.
They are a place of worship, a place where deities reside, a place where offerings are made, where herbs are gathered, where emergence has occurred, and a location where other sacred religious practices take place .

Monday’s blockade to protect the Peaks joins four decades of sustained resistance to desecration of the Holy Peaks. Over the past three weeks since Snowbowl began clear-cutting, dozens of protest camps have been established on the mountain and solidarity actions have occurred in Phoenix and Los Angeles.

(Note: traduction française: www.chrisp.lautre.net )

The struggle continues:

San Francisco Peaks lockdown protesters arrested
Alex Soto, O’odham, reporting from San Francisco Peaks said all eight people have been cut away by police and arrested. Also: $4,760 needs to be raised for those who locked down & blockaded the Snowbowl road, preventing construction workers from installing pipeline to carry treated sewage for snowmaking up to holy Dook’o’oosliid. Please call Beth Lavely 928.254.1064 if you can donate.

Defenders of San Francisco Peaks protest at US Forest Service in Flagstaff, following six arrests Sunday and eight arrests on Monday. Photo Youths of the Peaks

See Brenda Norrell’s CENSORED NEWS for the articles and pictures.