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Episode 341 of The Red Nation Podcast

Red Power Hour is a sub-series of The Red Nation Podcast. Hosted by Melanie Yazzie and Elena Ortiz.

(Note: We have released the first hour of the conversation on the main feed.  You can listen to the entire episode – almost an hour longer- by subscribing to Red Media on Patreon for as little as $2 a month or watch it for free on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel)

Red Power Hour is back! Co-hosts Elena Ortiz and Melanie Yazzie take on Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

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⚡️Episode 341 of The Red Nation Podcast⚡️ Red Power Hour – RPH vs. Killers of the Flower Moon Red Power Hour is back! Co-hosts Elena Ortiz and Melanie Yazzie take on Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) (Note: We have released the first hour of the conversation on the main feed.  You can listen to the entire episode – almost an hour longer- by subscribing to Red Media on Patreon for as little as $2 a month or watch it for free on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel) Watch the video edition on The Red Nation YouTube channel! https://youtu.be/9b-mL36sxII?si=RmkGAI37I9OS4A_Q Listen to The Red Nation Podcast on Spotify, SoundCloud, and Apple Podcasts. Listen and download for free on Libsyn. The Red Nation Podcast is sustained by comrades and supporters like you. Power our work here: www.patreon.com/redmediapr https://therednation.org/red-power-hour-rph-vs-killers-of-the-flower-moon/ Links in bio! #flowersofthekillermoon #lilygladstone #indigenoustiktok #therednationpodcast

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On February 5th, the Just Transition Alliance will join our comrades at the Labor Network for Sustainability (LNS) to celebrate the birthday of Rosa Parks with a Transit Equity Day of Action!

The COVID pandemic and recovery forever changed how communities function, work, socialize, and commute.  It also showed very clearly how public transit is critical to the lives of millions across the country.  Essential workers depend on and operate transit, small local businesses depend on transit, and historically marginalized communities depend on transit.  Transit is a key component of economic recovery and environmental sustainability, and it is a path to equity for isolated and under-invested urban, suburban, and rural communities.

But for far too long, policymakers in Washington have prioritized highways and cars over public transit.  This has devastating impacts not only for the climate crisis but for municipal budgets as well.  New legislation introduced in January by Congressman Hank Johnson from the Atlanta area would change that. The bill, “Stronger Communities through Better Transit Act,” will boost high-quality transit across the country by creating a new federal grant program available to all transit agencies to increase service frequency and dependability, thereby reducing wait times, expanding hours, and adding new lines to underserved communities.

For decades, the federal government has subsidized the cost of shipping and aviation.  Today, public transit is essential to workers and businesses – it is high time for Washington to treat it as such!  While Congress has taken some limited steps forward in recent years, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, this bill would provide crucial funding that would fill budget shortfalls currently experienced by numerous transit agencies.  These agencies, valuable public resources that are often among the largest employers in their areas, are powerful drivers of economic growth, jobs, and opportunity for tens of millions of people in the US, from small rural towns to major urban centers.  Every dollar invested in transit offers a 5-to-1 return, and every $1 billion invested in public transit produces 50,000 jobs.  As we have previously stated, investment in transit infrastructure presents opportunities for huge expansions in good union jobs, reduced dependence on personal vehicles dramatically improves quality of life in many neighborhoods, and fare-free transit services can increase equity for marginalized communities while actually reducing overall costs.

We also know that the climate crisis is here now, impacting our economy and nearly every aspect of our daily lives.  Investing in public transit is a powerful way to help address the climate crisis on the scale required.  It is a crucial part of the systemic changes that we need to build a new paradigm that improves the lives of workers and the environment.  Everyone fighting for real solutions for climate justice agrees on the need for widely-available, clean, free public transit.  Ambitious investment in transit by policymakers would be a win-win, for the economy and for the climate crisis.

We encourage all of our followers and allies to organize local events on February 5th.  See the LNS website for organizing tools and register your action or view other actions on the campaign page.

O conteúdo Transit Equity Day of Action! aparece primeiro em Just Transition Alliance.

Jan 24, 2021 – Settlers Gone Wild: Inauguration Hangover

Kim Tallbear, Andray Domise, and Melanie Yazzie join co-hosts Nick and Jen for a post-inauguration recap.

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#Throwback
The Red Nation Podcast: 
Jan 24, 2021 – Settlers Gone Wild: Inauguration Hangover
Kim Tallbear, Andray Domise, and Melanie Yazzie join co-hosts Nick and Jen for a post-inauguration recap.
Listen to The Red Nation Podcast on Spotify, SoundCloud, and Apple Podcasts. Listen and download for free on Libsyn.
https://therednation.org/the-red-nation-podcast-throwback-2/ Link in bio!

♬ original sound – The Red Nation Podcast

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The fight to end the era of fossil fuels is ramping up, along with efforts to build towards more democratic, just, non-extractive energy sources and systems. Feminist climate justice advocates have a vital role to play – especially as policymakers seek answers to the question “what comes next?” after fossil fuels.

We need to build energy systems that are renewable, democratic and better serve the needs of communities, in the US and worldwide. We must offer repair for energy injustices that have harmed communities of color, low income communities, and communities of the Global South – as people have been denied equitable access to energy while also facing harms from the pollution, environmental degradation, and the wars and occupations of fossil fuel extraction and destructive energy sourcing. We know we must transition off of fossil fuels, and we must build our set of resources to guide and shape what comes after.

An end to fossil fuel development and use is a feminist priority, with serious implications for sexual and reproductive health and rights. From extraction to worsening climate change impacts, fossil fuel pollution is linked with infertility, fibroids and other reproductive diseases, serious illnesses in pregnancy, mental health harms and preterm birth, stillbirth and other adverse health outcomes. Communities of color and other marginalized communities that already face unjust inequities in health outcomes are hit the hardest. 

In the energy infrastructure conversation in the US, a gendered and global justice framing is often missing. This leaves us open to the danger of reproducing and entrenching the harms of our current energy systems in an energy renewable era, especially as the threats rise of new resource wars and rights violations over lithium and other elements used in green technologies. We must not miss the opportunity to strengthen and accelerate more globally just, feminist approaches to the energy transition.

We must build on the existing frameworks and expertise that have been offered by Indigenous, Black, and disability justice movements globally, interlinking those and bridging their recommendations into US policy spaces. 

As the global mobilization to end the era of fossil fuels accelerates, the Feminist Green New Deal Coalition will create space for feminist climate justice advocates to gather their core, actionable principles for just and feminist energy transitions – and to channel those recommendations into US climate policymaking.

Join us in winter 2023 and early 2024 for virtual exchange sessions to discuss and gather principles and recommendations on a just, feminist energy transition. In these sessions, we will weave together our analysis and experience responding to questions like:

• Why should feminists be committed to ending the fossil fuel era? Why is a just energy transition a feminist issue? 
• Why is an intersectional analysis of race, gender, class and global justice critical for building a more just energy system? (production & use)
• What are the core tenets of a feminist, just and equitable energy system in the US? What are we building?
• How must our transition address repair for past harms and injustices in the current energy system?

The Feminist Green New Deal Coalition will gather the outputs of these discussions to inform a written report, campaign, briefing – to be determined – for distribution to US policymakers and movement partners.

To indicate your interest in this exploration and/or recommendations for additional folks to reach out to who may be interested in these conversations, please share here and stay tuned for more updates.

Justicia Energética Feminista: invitación y declaración de intenciones de la Coalición del FemGND y una invitación

La lucha para terminar con la era de los combustibles fósiles está cobrando más fuerza al igual que los esfuerzos dedicados a construir fuentes de energía y sistemas no extractivos justos y más democráticos. Las personas activistas de la justicia climática feminista juegan un papel vital, principalmente ocupando el rol de desarrolladores de políticas que buscan responder a la pregunta “¿qué sigue?” luego de los combustibles fósiles.

Necesitamos construir un sistema de energía que sea renovable, democrático y supla las necesidades de las comunidades, tanto en Estados Unidos como a nivel mundial. Debemos ofrecer reparaciones por las injusticias energéticas que sufren las comunidades de color, las de bajos ingresos y las del sur global. Entre estas injusticias a las que se enfrentan, además de que se les niega el acceso igualitario a la energía, se encuentran los daños a causa de la contaminación, la degradación ambiental y las guerras y ocupaciones por la extracción de los combustibles fósiles y las fuentes destructivas de energía. Debemos transicionar y dejar atrás los combustibles fósiles y construir un conjunto propio de recursos para guiar y darle forma a lo que viene después.

Es una prioridad feminista terminar con el desarrollo y el uso de los combustibles fósiles y, a su vez, evaluar las implicancias sustanciales que éstos tienen sobre los derechos sexuales y de salud reproductiva. Desde la extracción hasta el empeoramiento de los impactos del cambio climático, la contaminación de los combustibles fósiles se vincula con la infertilidad, fibromas y enfermedades de reproducción, graves enfermedades durante el embarazo, afecciones de salud mental, nacimientos prematuros, fetos muertos y otros efectos perjudiciales para la salud. Las comunidades de color y otras comunidades marginadas que ya enfrentan desigualdades injustas relacionadas con la salud son las más afectadas.

En la conversación en relación a la infraestructura energética en EE. UU., por lo general falta un marco de justicia global y con perspectiva de género. Esto nos deja expuestas al peligro de reproducir y fortificar los daños de los sistemas energéticos actuales en una era de energía renovable, especialmente en la medida en que aumentan las amenazas sobre nuevas guerras por los recursos y violaciones de derechos por el uso de litio y otros elementos que se utilizan para las tecnologías verdes. No podemos perder la oportunidad de fortalecer y acelerar el desarrollo de enfoques más justos y feministas a nivel mundial para lograr la transición energética.

Tenemos que construir sobre los marcos y las experiencias ya existentes brindadas por movimientos globales de justicia indígena, negra, y de discapacidad. Debemos vincularlos y acercar sus recomendaciones en los espacios de desarrollo de políticas de EE. UU.

A medida que la movilización global acelera el fin de la era de los combustibles fósiles, la Coalición Feminista del Green New Deal crea un espacio para las personas activistas de la justicia climática feminista con el objetivo de unificar los principios esenciales y de acción para que las transiciones energéticas sean feministas y justas, asi como también para comunicar esas recomendaciones en los espacios de desarrollo de políticas climáticas en EE. UU.

Acompáñanos en el invierno 2023 y principios de 2024 en sesiones virtuales de intercambio para debatir y unificar principios y recomendaciones sobre una transición energética justa y feminista. Durante estas sesiones, debatiremos con el objetivo de dilucidar en conjunto nuestro análisis y experiencia en respuesta a preguntas tales como:

• ¿Por qué las personas feministas deben comprometerse a terminar con la era de combustibles fósiles? ¿Por qué es una problemática feminista una transición energética justa?
• ¿Por qué un análisis interseccional de raza, género, clase, y justicia global es fundamental para construir un sistema energético más justo? (producción y uso)
• ¿Cuál es el dogma principal de un sistema energético igualitario, justo y feminista en EE. UU.? ¿Qué estamos construyendo?
• ¿De qué manera nuestra transición debe abordar las reparaciones por los daños e injusticias en el sistema de energía actual?

La Coalición Feminista del Green New Deal reunirá las contribuciones sobre estos debates para redactar un informe escrito, una campaña, un documento (a determinar) para su difusión entre las personas encargadas de desarrollar las políticas en EE. UU. y los movimientos asociados.

Para indicar su interés en esta elaboración o para recomendar la participación  de colegas que puedan tener interés de participar y deseen comunicarse, haga clic aquí para compartir y manténgase al tanto de actualizaciones.

Episode 340 of The Red Nation Podcast

Justine Teba interviews Jen Marley; two Pueblo women talking about feminism, liberation, Palestine, and a future.

Watch the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel

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The Red Nation Podcast is sustained by comrades and supporters like you. Power our work here: www.patreon.com/redmediapr

The post The Red Nation Podcast – Now is not the time for fear! appeared first on The Red Nation.

Jan 18, 2023 – Ex-FBI Agent breaks the silence on Leonard Peltier and COINTELPRO w/ Coleen Rowley

The first FBI agent close to the Leonard Peltier case is calling for his freedom. Coleen Rowley recounts, in this wide-ranging and exclusive interview, her time as an agent in the Minneapolis field office. For nearly 50 years, the FBI has indoctrinated its agents on a specific version of events that led to Leonard Peltier’s arrest, conviction, and imprisonment. The mentality then, Rowley argues, is little different than the mentality today. That’s why she decided to break the silence and is calling on President Joe Biden to grant Leonard Peltier executive clemency.  

Rowley gives us an insider’s view of the FBI and how the dark and violent history of COINTELPRO, which targeted civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and social movements like the Black Panthers and AIM, didn’t end in 1971. It morphed and evolved over the years and continued well into the U.S. war on terror. Despite attempts at reform and accountability, the FBI continues its ongoing persecution of political prisoners like Leonard Peltier and the unarmed Water Protectors at Standing Rock.

This is a preview of a longer conversation. Watch the entirety through the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel or subscribe to Patreon for as little as $2 to listen to the audio.

Find out more: whoisleonardpeltier.info 

The Red Nation Podcast is sustained by comrades and supporters like you, power our work here: www.patreon.com/redmediapr

Listen on Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts. Listen and Download for free on Libsyn: https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/25645620

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When worldviews collide, planet and people pay the price for ethnocentric arrogance

Note: today is the 3-year anniversary of Protect Thacker Pass.

The term “racism” brings to mind bigots, slurs, and the Ku Klux Klan, or the systematic disenfranchisement of certain communities through discriminatory policies around housing, banking, and policing.

When we think of environmental racism we often think of what is happening in Flint, Michigan, where a majority-Black community has faced a toxic water mismanagement crisis leading to lead poisoning.

Or, we think of “Cancer Alley,” an 85-mile stretch along the Mississippi River in Louisiana along which, according to the United Nations, an “ever-widening corridor of [150] petrochemical plants has not only polluted the surrounding water and air, but also subjected the mostly African American residents in St. James Parish to cancer, respiratory diseases and other health problems.”

But today I want to write about a different type of environmental racism; one that is more subtle, and perhaps more far-reaching.

***

Three years ago today, my good friend Will Falk and I traveled to Thacker Pass, Nevada, and set up camp high on the side of a mountain, on the GPS coordinates of a planned open pit lithium mine.

Help protect the "Thacker Pass 7"

We were there to protect the land, and within months, we began developing relationships with traditional indigenous people from the Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone tribes. Soon, community members from Fort McDermitt, Reno-Sparks, Summit Lake, Duck Valley, Yerington, and other Native American reservations were regularly traveling to the protest camp, bringing supplies, and standing on the front lines.

A profound kinship began to develop. We’d sit on the mountainside with elders, discuss strategy, share food, and watch the land. Golden eagles wheeled overhead and jackrabbits ran through the sage.

One particular elder, Josephine Dick from the Fort McDermitt Tribe, has a twinkle in her eye that reminds me of my grandmother. She would tell stories about tanning hides, about making cradleboards for babies, about the history of Peehee Mu’huh (the Paiute name for Thacker Pass). She speaks about how, one day, we’re not going to have cars, or electricity, or phones, or any modern technologies. “One day,” she says, “that’s all going to be gone. And people will have to know the old ways.”

While at Thacker Pass, I spent time reading documents detailing the government’s attempts at consultation with native tribes. One of them is the transcript of a meeting with government officials in nearby Winnemucca attended by Josephine, among other tribal members.

“We have blood, a heart, organs, keeping us alive,” Josephine tells the Bureau of Land Management officials. “Mother Earth has water, soils, rocks, keeping her alive. To me, the more Mother Earth is mined, it is slowly killing her, and creating problems in the world. She needs her parts the way we do.”

***

There are different ways to live in the world. One is Josephine’s way: a way that sees land as sacred, sees animals as relatives who are our elder siblings, and sees water and the basis of all life. This is traditional in Paiute society, and it’s also traditional among my own ancestors, before they assimilated or were conquered by empires.

In fact, this worldview is shared amongst almost all tribal and land-based societies around the globe.

Nemonte Nenqiumo, a Waorani leader from the Ecuadorian Amazon, lives 4,000 miles from Paiute territory, but in her brilliant 2020 essay My Message to the Western World: Your Civilization is Killing Life on Earth, she shares a similar perspective: “This forest has taught us how to walk lightly, and because we have listened, learned and defended her, she has given us everything: water, clean air, nourishment, shelter, medicines, happiness, meaning.”

She continues: “You forced your civilization upon us and now look where we are: global pandemic, climate crisis, species extinction and, driving it all, widespread spiritual poverty.”

Ati Quigia, an indigenous leader from Columbia, said it even more clearly: “We are fighting not to have roads or electricity — this vision of self-destruction that’s called development is what we’re trying to avoid.”

From a scientific perspective, you could say this worldview is common because  sustainability is an adaptive trait, and an “animist” perspective promotes sustainability. Or, you could say that this worldview is a more accurate way of perceiving the world than a purely mechanistic, western perspective.

Both of these interpretations are true. My direct experience at Thacker Pass is that the land itself is alive, sentient, with feelings and perceptions far different from our own. But if we listen, the land speaks.

Compare the worldview of Josephine and Nemonte Nenquimo to our opponent.

Set against us at Thacker Pass is Lithium Americas, a transnational corporation based in Canada and operating through a fully-owned U.S. subsidiary, Lithium Nevada. They are traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange, and have attracted major investors from around the world. The company is worth billions, and is collaborating with General Motors Corporation to develop the Thacker Pass lithium mine.

The mine, which is now under construction, will consist of an open pit nearly two miles long and half a mile wide, as deep as the height of a 35-story building, carved into the side of the mountain. New mountains have begun to rise, made up of the toxic acidic byproducts of the mining process. A sulfuric acid plant is under construction, which will use sulfur from the oil industry — possibly the Alberta Tar Sands — to burn lithium from the soil.

All this is only possible by first destroying the land with huge bulldozers, blowing up the mountain with explosives, and killing or driving away every single plant and animal. The scale of pollution, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions for a project like this is staggering.

Corporate power is a major driver of our environmental crisis. Global warming, species extinction, biodiversity loss, soil erosion, toxic pollution, plastic and chemical contamination, oceanic dead zones, overconsumption, urban sprawl, deforestation, desertification, sea level rise, ocean acidification, aquifer drawdown, overfishing — all of these problems are linked to corporate overreach. They are also all linked to abuse of human rights, declining human health, and threats to the future of our children.

***

Ethnocentrism refers to evaluating other peoples and cultures according to the standards of one’s own culture. It’s also perfectly descriptive of Lithium Americas: a foreign corporation (foreign to both the Paiute nation and to the United States) imposing its vision of “development” on a population that opposes it, through the use of force.

That force is often filtered through intermediaries. For example, in Argentina, indigenous and non-native communities fighting lithium mines face kidnapping, torture, and sexual assault at the hands of Argentine police forces. This includes the lithium extraction project developed by Lithium Argentina (a corporation which was until recently part of Lithium Americas, until they split to allow greater access to government subsidies).

Similar violent, repressive techniques are being applied in Nevada, on Paiute-Shoshone land at Thacker Pass. This week, the chairman of the Fort McDermitt Tribe (which took money from the mining company against community wishes) physically attacked and choked a member of his tribe — an 18-year-old boy — who attempted to film his meeting with Lithium Americas employees Tim Crowley (VP of Government and External Affairs) and Maria Anderson (Community Relations Director).

I believe this is the second time this Chairman has physically attacked a mine opponent. The other incident was captured by the New York Times (the photo is inaccurately labeled as Tildon Smart).

Mining companies use divide-and-conquer strategies to split communities apart and weaponize them against each other. Another way companies shut down dissenters is lawsuits. Four indigenous activists and three allies (including me) are being sued by Lithium Americas for our work to #ProtectThackerPass, a sacred and biodiverse place now being bulldozed for mining. We face the possibility of massive financial penalties.

The ethnocentric racism of Lithium Americas corporation and others like them claims that their vision of economic and technological development is the solution to the world’s problems. These companies believe that wildlife habitat, water, and the sacred places of traditional indigenous communities are less important than profits and the development of electric cars. And their vision of “progress” leads to mad hypocrisies; “Mining is inherently unsustainable,” says Thomas Benson, Vice President of Global Exploration at Lithium Americas — before he goes back to his well-paid job in mining.

Ethnocentric racism leads to Lithium Americas stock boosters saying things like this: “No natives equals few water issues. Natives can be a royal pain to deal with. Lithium Americas has had its fair share of native issues for its South American mine (and the same can be said for Thacker Pass in Nevada) but these are to be expected. Still, not having any natives is a welcome bonus.”

This is the language of colonization and genocide.

Ethnocentric racism leads Thacker Pass supporters to disparage Native American resistance to the destruction of Peehee Mu’huh, a ceremonial site where Paiute ancestors were massacred, as “horses” in response to a ceremonial prayer horse ride, as shown here on social media:

There is a circular relationship between economics and oppression.

In his book Capitalism and Slavery, Trinidadian historian Dr. Eric Williams writes that “Slavery was not born of racism: rather, racism was the consequence of slavery.” Williams argues (as have others) that racism developed as an ideology to justify subjugation that was already in progress for economic reasons. In other words, exploitation for economic growth or power came first, and racism developed later, as a moral system to justify the exploitation.

The economic drivers behind Thacker Pass are titanic. According to the International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook report in 2021, “If the world gets on track for net zero emissions by 2050, then the cumulative market opportunity for manufacturers of wind turbines, solar panels, lithium-ion batteries, electrolysers and fuel cells amounts to USD 27 trillion. These five elements alone in 2050 would be larger than today’s oil industry and its associated revenues.” (emphases added).

As Stan Cox has written:

Globally, mining and processing of metallic ores has doubled just since 2000 and is responsible for a whopping 10 percent of total world energy consumption. Now, if plans to “electrify everything” are carried out worldwide, the tonnage of metal extracted and processed in the next 15 years alone will exceed the tonnage that humans have produced during the 5,000 years since the start of the Bronze Age.

The Washington Post, citing International Energy Agency figures, predicts that by 2040, global demand for metals that go into batteries will balloon 20-fold for nickel and cobalt and 40-fold for lithium; demand for manganese, critical for wind turbines, will increase ninefold in just the next decade. Demand for aluminum, which is already produced in vastly larger quantities than any of those metals, will increase by yet another 40 percent, largely to produce lighter-weight electric cars and support solar arrays.

Forbes estimates that almost 400 new mines will be opened worldwide by 2035 just to keep battery factories supplied with cobalt, lithium, and nickel. This will create many more of what have come to be known as “green sacrifice zones”: localities across the world, from Congo to Guinea to China to Bolivia to the Pacific Ocean, that are bearing or will bear the human, environmental, and socioeconomic costs of the transition to non-fossil energy. And the deployment of wind and solar power plants across the world’s windier and sunnier regions will mean converting vast stretches of the Earth’s land surface and even seabeds into industrial energy farms.

Derrick Jensen builds on the insights of Dr. Williams. He writes: “hatred felt long enough and deeply enough no longer feels like hatred. It feels like economics, or religion, or tradition, or simply the way things are.” The hatred required to build 400 new mines and call it “progress” is enormous.

The result of this hatred is the profoundly dispassionate, scientific racism that animates corporations like Lithium Americas. It doesn’t look like the racism of the Klu Klux Klan, or the environmental injustice of Flint, Michigan. But it’s far more mainstream; sequential Republican and Democratic administrations have backed Lithium Americas, defending the project in Federal Court against tribes and environmental groups.

And they are not only defending a mine; they are defending the process of assimilation. They are defending the conquest of an Earth-centered worldview by a profit-centered one.

This is the continuation of an ongoing process. In the spring and summer of 1865, as the Snake War raged throughout Nevada between United States government and the Paiute and Shoshone, the highest military officer in the State wrote that Indians had “prevented the settlers along the Humboldt from putting in their crops, retarded the settlement of the rich agricultural lands of that section, [and] prevented the development of the rich mineral resources of the whole northern portion of our state…”

Mining vs. indigenous people and the land has been a recurring theme in Nevada for more than 158 years, from the Snake War to the Dann Sisters and Mount Tenabo to Thacker Pass.

***

Today, three years after I first set up camp at Thacker Pass, I remember Grandmother Sagebrush, an ancient shrub under whose branches I first dreamed about protecting Thacker Pass from an open pit lithium mine.

In my mind, I walk north from the protest camp we established on January 15th, 2021, towards the fenceline where Grandmother Sagebrush grows. The clouds fade from red to orange to purple, then green and a dark blue. Coyotes howl from the far mountain, echoing in the still air.

In my mind, I approach Grandmother Sagebrush, and something cracks inside me. I stumble onto my hands and knees and burst into tears. The grief pours out, my blessing to the land. Like many grandmothers, she has power over tears.

I do not know if she is alive or dead at this moment. If I visit the land, I can be charged with a felony.

I spend my days researching what is being done to the planet —the mining, the fracking, the clearcuts, the species disappearing one after another. A hundred today. A hundred yesterday. A hundred the day before. And, I try to throw myself on the gears of the machine, to slow it down, grind it to a halt, tear it apart.

Every day this work tears my soul apart and stitches it back together again. But the alternative is dissociation — a normal state of being inside our dysfunctional culture, and a state which is fundamental to “othering” and committing violence against other people, and against the land.

***

I recall another walk on the mountainside at Thacker Pass. On that day, I am not alone; a writer joins me. She asks questions, but not the normal ones. She is more interested in me than in lithium.

She asks, “Why don’t you give up? Why don’t you go home and sit on your couch and complain, like most people do? Why are you here?”

“Because I’m in love,” I told her. “I am in love with the land. And you don’t give up when you’re in love.”

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as we consider the perils of greenwashing and Bright Green Lies, I want to share this quote. Originally meant as a commentary on capitalism, militarism, and the moral decline of the United States, it is just as cautionary when we consider the project of eco-modernism.

“We have fought hard and long for integration, as I believe we should have, and I know that we will win. But I’ve come to believe we’re integrating into a burning house.”

Episode 339 of The Red Nation Podcast

Cornel West (@CornelWest) is back on The Red Nation Podcast. He discusses the anti-Palestinian racism at Harvard, the genocide in Gaza, LandBack, and the soulcraft of spiritual resistance to the deep calamities facing humanity and the world.

The Red Nation Podcast is sustained by comrades and supporters like you, power our work here: www.patreon.com/redmediapr

Are you Indigenous? Do you support Palestine? Learn more about joining the Indigenous solidarity with Palestine movement and sign the letter here: https://indigenousforpalestine.org/

The post The Red Nation Podcast – The Empire is melting w/ Cornel West appeared first on The Red Nation.

@aaprpflorida: Tonight’s the night! A series discussing and deconstructing Pan-Africanism, Zionism, and Islam in relation to contemporary Palestine.

Webinar 1: Settler Colonialism and Imperialism

Deconstructing how settler colonialism emerged as a distinct political structure from other colonial forms and the centrality of imperialism to its structure.

Presenters:

• MC: Isra Ibrahim with the South Florida Coalition for Palestine
• @nickwestes: @therednationmovement and Red Media
• Onyesonwu Chatoyer: @aaprpinternational, All African Women’s Revolutionary Union, & @hoodcommunist

Sponsored by: Black Alliance for Peace, Hood Communist, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Al-Awda the Palestine Right to Return Coalition.

Listen on The Red Nation Podcast!

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The post All African People’s Revolutionary Party: Palestine Teach-in Series #1: Settler-Colonialism and Imperialism appeared first on The Red Nation.

Episode 337 of The Red Nation Podcast

RPH co-hosts Melanie Yazzie and Elena Ortiz (@spiritofpopay) spend almost two full hours discussing the big stories of 2023.

Watch the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel

Support
www.patreon.com/redmediapr

Are you Indigenous? Do you support Palestine? Learn more about joining the Indigenous solidarity with Palestine movement and sign the letter here: https://indigenousforpalestine.org/

The post The Red Nation Podcast – Red Power Hour 2023 Retrospective appeared first on The Red Nation.

Episode 336 of The Red Nation Podcast

We can only attempt to summarize the year 2023. We gathered our podcast team to look back at our media work for the year and the current moment.

Watch the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel

Support
www.patreon.com/redmediapr

Are you Indigenous? Do you support Palestine? Learn more about joining the Indigenous solidarity with Palestine movement and sign the letter here: https://indigenousforpalestine.org/

The post The Red Nation Podcast- Year in Review 2023 appeared first on The Red Nation.

Episode 335 of The Red Nation Podcast

Christmas is Canceled in Bethlehem – Turtle Island Palestine Mixtape Vol. 2 

00. [00:00] TRN-KREZ News Radio
Weather and updates on the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

01. [01:02] Baby in the Rubble
Pastor Munther Isaac
Middle East Eye / Bethlehem church altars nativity scene to show baby Jesus wearing keffiyeh in solidarity with Gaza

02. [02:29] Revolution
Melanie Yazzie delivers a speech by The Red Nation on November 4, 2023 at the national march for Palestine in Washington D.C.

03. [06:50] Palestinian Solidarity Pt. 1 
Mohammed El-Kurd speaks at the September 28, 2023 rally in Espanola, NM. He spoke minutes before the shooting and attempted murder of Indigenous activist Jacob Johns; a hate crime perpetrated by MAGA supporter Ryan Martinez. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJQycp1H5sQ&t=19s
​​https://youtu.be/QiQms32gROc?si=aM-NKUcaZHEC4M5q 

04. [10:09] Gaza Before
Palestine & The Blockade On Gaza / Osama Tanous 
Arab Resource & Organizing Center / Friday Night Forums:
Amidst a global pandemic, in the year 2020, Israeli settler colonialism hasn’t stopped. A panel commemorating the Nakba, the catastrophe.
https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/14448893

05. [24:25] Our Resistance is Global and so Are We
Palestine is an Indigenous struggle w/ Elena & Orien
The Red Nation-Santa Fe held a rally on Saturday, February 15, 2020 in solidarity with our Palestinian relatives who live under brutal occupation by the settler state of Israel. We were there to support Diné artist Remy and the images he put up in honor of the Palestinian people. 

06. [35:56] Resist, My People! Resist!
Orien Longknife reads a poem by Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour, and connects Palestinian and Indigenous resistance in O’gaPoGeh — so-called Santa Fe, NM.

07. [40:44] All Natives Resist Colonists 
Minneapolis to Palestine Teach-In and Panel
Connecting our movements for collective liberation: An Indigenous Perspective
Sana Wazwaz with American Muslims for Palestine

08. [52:44] Out of My House
You ain’t a leftist if you haven’t left yet w/ Mohammed El-Kurd 
Mohammad El-Kurd joins members of The Red Nation after a press conference opposing the statue of colonizer Oñate in Espanola, NM on September 25, 2023.  

09. [01:10:55] Palestinian Solidarity Pt. 2
Wael Omar from Palestinian Youth Movement delivers a speech on Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2022 in Albuquerque, NM.

10. [01:15:20] Freedom 
Indigenous Solidarity With Palestine / Nick
Nick wraps up our mixtape with a poem. We will achieve freedom and liberation. Free Palestine and free the Indigenous world.

The post Christmas is Canceled in Bethlehem – Turtle Island Palestine Mixtape Vol. 2 appeared first on The Red Nation.

Dear Alliance for Appalachia supporters, 

As 2023 draws to a close, we at The Alliance for Appalachia look back at all we’ve accomplished this past year thanks to our supporters. From hosting multiple trainings around grassroots enforcement tactics to creating a seat at the table for our members to participate in critical decision-making processes about regional investments, your solidarity has made a real difference in the lives of the people we advocate for. This year we supported our members’ participation at various trainings, events, conferences, organizational partner visits, and funder meetings to build leadership and connection. We are working on building more coalitions here in Appalachia with an additional eye towards larger cohorts such as the Gulf South to Appalachia convening. We also hired a new Development Coordinator, Taysha DeVaughan, and will continue to evolve our coalition to meet the current moment with her support.

A4A member Joanne at the CJA member convening

We are very proud of our success but our work is far from over. Heading into 2024, we aim to take on even bigger tasks like reviving our federal working group, hosting part two of our community resilience network building webinar, and coordinating our next strategic planning gathering to build power in Appalachia. With your contribution before December 31st, you can provide crucial resources to energize our efforts in this important new year.

We greatly appreciate your role as a partner in this journey toward promoting a healthy, just Appalachia in communities impacted by destructive resource extraction. Your compassion and financial support allow us to center impacted voices from our communities. Please consider making an end-of-year gift today to carry this momentum into 2024. 

Every gift counts when it comes to transforming lives. With your help, we can make the upcoming year one of growth, progress, and positive change for the people relying on The Alliance for Appalachia. 

Thank you for your consideration. Donate here! 

On behalf of our entire coalition, we wish you and yours a happy holiday season. 

 

Taysha DeVaughan & Lyndsay Tarus

Alliance Coordinators

A4A member groups in Big Stone Gap, VA

At the Coalition of Communities of Color, we understand that the tools we use to build systems are just as important as the systems themselves. 

That’s why, we’re excited to announce the 19 community-based organizations who are joining CCC, along with our partners at the City and County, in the Modernized Anti-Racist Data Ecosystems (MADE) for Health Justice initiative.

Our Partners: APANO, Cascade AIDS Project, Coalition of Community Health Clinics, Community Energy Project, Familias en Acción, Hacienda CDC, IRCO, Latino Network, NAYA, Nesika Wilamut, Oregon Health Equity Alliance, Oregon Pacific Islander Coalition, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, Street Roots, suma, Urban League, Unite Oregon, Verde, Voz

We are thrilled to work with so many partners representing communities most impacted by climate change. A big thank you to all everyone who joined us at our kick-off earlier this fall!

In November, we had the pleasure of hosting the MADE for Health Justice team from the de Beaumont Foundation, who is coordinating and collaborating with us on this opportunity. We are grateful for their partnership and look forward to continuing to work together in the future.

Dear friend,

As always near the end of the year, there’s a strong urge to get through the remaining weeks of 2023 as quickly as we can with little time for reflection or action. This season, I invite you to slow down from the end-of-year rush and keep your attention on the ongoing events in communities, near and far. 

Below, you’ll learn important news about our changing government in Portland and an exciting new update for our health and climate initiative to create a community-driven data ecosystem. 

At the same time, we also want to take a moment to hold space for the innocent lives of Palestinians and Israelis suffering an onslaught of horrific violence, death, and destruction. At CCC, we unequivocally condemn this violence and call for an immediate end to it through a ceasefire. We urge you to join us on this call. 

We don’t take this stance as foreign policy experts, but as human beings committed to fighting against injustice, anytime, anywhere. 

We encourage you to read our full statement as well as this blog post from the Othering & Belonging Institute to learn more.

This season, I’m remembering all that we have confronted and overcome. Generations of sacrifice, hard work, courage, and resilience have brought us together. Generations more will bring us forward. But only when we act.

I am grateful to be in this work with you.

Warm Regards,

Marcus C. Mundy, Executive Director

Read our full statement on gaza Important Updates for New Portland Gov., Launching Jan 1. 2025

Last November, CCC worked to pass a historic ballot measure to transform the City of Portland’s form of government and elections. We are continuing our work to support a successful transition to a city government that serves Portlanders equitably. Key updates on the transition include:

• The City Council approved a new organizational chart that shows how the city’s services will be organized under the voter-approved charter reform. 

• As part of the recent changes, a non-elected City Administrator will be appointed to oversee the management of the city's bureaus and services. The primary focus of the Mayor and City Council will now be on developing policy and addressing broader issues.

• The new form of government also establishes six service areas, including Budget and Finance, City Operations, Community and Economic Development, Public Safety, Vibrant Communities, and Public Work

• The City of Portland has released an annual report of their work to date where you can read more in depth about the key decisions that have been made thus far, from changes to the salaries of elected officials to the newly formed City Council districts. You can find which City Council district you are a part of at PortlandMaps.org.

• Want to learn more? Sign up for updates from the City of Portland!

Kicking off MADE for Health Justice

Thank you to our partners for joining us at our October kickoff meeting!

At CCC, we understand that the tools we use to build systems are just as important as the systems themselves. 

Today, we’re excited to announce the 19 community-based organizations that are joining CCC and our partners at the City and County in the Modernized Anti-Racist Data Ecosystems (MADE) for Health Justice initiative!

This new collaborative multi-year project is set to establish a health and climate data ecosystem that is built by and for our communities. We are thrilled to work with so many partners representing communities most impacted by climate change.

Our Partners: APANO, Cascade AIDS Project, Coalition of Community Health Clinics, Community Energy Project, Familias en Acció, Hacienda CDC, IRCO, Latino Network, NAYA, Nesika Wilamut, Oregon Health Equity Alliance, Oregon Pacific Islander Coalition, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, Street Roots, suma, Urban League of Portland, Unite Oregon, Verde, Voz

Learn more about MADE for Health Justice

Our Statement on the Israel/Palestine Conflict: The Violence Must End

The Coalition of Communities of Color unequivocally condemns the violence, death, and destruction that has been visited upon innocent Israelis and Palestinians.

We also acknowledge the historical power imbalance that has been responsible for perpetuating the conditions of Palestinian suffering over the past several decades.

We may not be experts on these larger forces and history, but we are all humans, all with a moral code. Our mission, while local, urges us to speak out against the oppression, injustice, and horrific violence, including the indiscriminate bombing and siege of Gazan individuals, families, and children.

To that end, we wish to share the words of our colleagues at the Othering and Belonging Institute, helmed by the eminent scholar dr. john powell:

As Palestinians suffer under collective punishment and Gaza is made increasingly unrecognizable and uninhabitable, and Jews suffer from the attacks and worry about loved ones taken as pawns in a political fight, we as a society will also be unrecognizable to future generations if we do not stand up for Palestinian and Jewish humanity and our shared, unequivocal right to belong without othering.

We urge you to read the complete statement from the Othering and Belonging Institute here, which lays out the complex but always critical issues that will begin to direct decision-makers into better next steps.

We, along with millions of others, call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and release of all hostages, and it is incumbent on our congressional delegation to hear the voices of their constituents and join this call to end the violence.

This message is shared on behalf of the Coalition of Communities of Color and does not necessarily reflect the views of all of our members.

 Calls to action:

• Read “We Belong to Each Other: A Call To End the Violence” from the Othering and Belonging Institute

• Sign on to the letter from Jewish Voices for Peace Portland calling for a ceasefire

• Contact your representatives in Congress and urge them to end the violence in Gaza now

 

 Updated November 29: CCC initially neglected to call for the release of all hostages and have updated our statement to include this demand. We deeply regret this oversight and thank the community member who drew this to our attention.

There’s no better day than today- the first day of Native American Heritage Month- to announce and welcome Taysha DeVaughan, our new Development Coordinator to the Alliance for Appalachia! Please, send her some love!

A note from Taysha:

It is with a heart full of gratitude that I pen this note, reflecting on my journey and the new opportunity before me. I am deeply humbled and excited to step into the role of Development Coordinator for the Alliance for Appalachia. This role is not just a title, but a representation of our collective commitment and dedication to the mountains, people, and communities of Appalachia.

My path here has been carved through diligent work with the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, a core member of our Alliance, where together, we strived to amplify the voices calling for environmental justice in Appalachian Virginia rallied our communities to resist the destructive impacts of mountaintop removal mining and other forms of industrial exploitation, oppression, and extraction.

Through the platform the Alliance has generously provided our collective, I have been able to advocate for pivotal causes like the RECLAIM Act and the EJ for All Act. Vital initiatives that are intrinsically linked to the future well-being of our region and its people. It’s this advocacy that paved my way to my appointment as Chair of the Virginia Governor’s Council for Environmental Justice where I continue to serve. I am grateful to the Alliance’s investment in my leadership, and hope to repay this debt of gratitude by working diligently to ensure that the Alliance and its members and our frontline leaders are resourced and supported to the best of my capacity.

Moreover, I carry with me the pride of my heritage as a Caddo and Comanche woman. My traditions have taught me the importance of stewardship and the interconnectedness of all life. This knowledge drives my personal convictions and my belief Indigenous leaders have a rightful and crucial place in the movement for Appalachia. It is high time our insights, experiences, and traditions are integrated, centered, and respected especially in spaces advocating for environmental justice. I am proud that our Alliance continues to lead the region in it’s willingness to invest in leaders from frontline communities and identities like my own.

In this new chapter, I pledge to serve our communities with the same passion and determination that has fueled my journey thus far. Together, with the Alliance and the broader movement for Appalachia, I am confident we can continue our efforts to build a brighter, more just, and sustainable future for all.

In solidarity and thanks, Taysha

Thanks to Appalachian Voices for this original post and graphic.

Curious about the efforts to potentially site small modular nuclear reactors in Southwest Virginia? Join us next week at an open forum that will provide information and allow residents to voice any questions or concerns you may have about nuclear energy in our region.

Small Nuclear Reactor Forum
Norton Community Center

201 Park Ave., NE

Norton, Virginia

Wednesday, Oct. 25 from 6-7:30 p.m.

This event is sponsored by The Clinch Coalition, Alliance for Appalachia, Appalachian Peace Education Center, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and the Wise County Chapter of Virginia Organizing. We will be joining representatives from these groups on the panel. 

“This town hall will provide an opportunity for Southwest Virginians to collectively be heard,” says Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards President Terran Young. Attendees will also have a chance to hear from Terry Lodge, an environmental lawyer who represents citizen groups opposing nuclear power and its radioactive waste.

We hope to see you in Norton on Wednesday, Oct. 25!

Learn more about the proposed small modular nuclear reactor projects on the Clinch Coalition’s website.

September 19, 2023

Contact: Emily Posner, General Counsel, Voice of the Experienced

emily@voiceoftheexperienced.org, (225) 746-8820

Both the Trump and Biden Administrations sought to defund the construction of FCI Letcher.

Washington, D.C. – Today, more than 185 organizations delivered a letter to Congress urging legislators t o remove language – Section 219 – in the FY24 House appropriations bill that fast-tracks the construction of a new federal prison in Letcher County, Kentucky, costing taxpayers more than $505 million dollars. Section 219 would also allow the prison to bypass the federal environmental review process and make the prison and its operations nearly immune from judicial oversight.

“Today, we are making it known that more than 185 organizations across the country oppose the construction of a new, toxic prison in Eastern Kentucky that would be constructed on top of a toxic former mining site. We also vehemently oppose Section 219, which would remove a vital, federally-mandated environmental review process and set an incredibly dangerous precedent for federal oversight in prisons, both in Kentucky and across the country,” said Norris Henderson, Executive Director of VOTE (Voice of the Experienced).

Section 219 explicitly instructs the Attorney General and the Bureau of Prisons to bypass the federally mandated environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Both the Trump and Biden Administrations have requested that the original $505 million funding for the prison be rescinded. Even top officials at the Department of Justice have publicly stated this new construction is unnecessary due to a declining federal prison population.

“Building a prison and incarcerating people on a toxic former mining site, with no idea what the long term ramifications will be, is not just a potential environmental disaster, but a human rights issue,” said Julia Finch, Sierra Club Kentucky’s Chapter Director. “Prison construction should never be exempted from the National Environmental Policy Act review process. We continue to be inspired by the resilience of local community leaders working to stop this prison even as they rebuild after the deadly and devastating floods of 2022, and who have been exploited by the fossil fuel industry. Congress is attempting to forgo proper checks and balance and cannot mandate federal regulators throw caution to the wind – environmental laws are more than mere suggestions and should be adhered to.”

Section 219 would also exempt the Attorney General and Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons from being subject to judicial review, essentially shielding FCI Letcher from liability for any abuses committed there against incarcerated people or prison staff.

“If Section 219 is included in the FY24 House appropriations bill, FCI Letcher will be an island that is completely insulated from the protections of federal law,” states Deborah Golden, a DC-based civil rights attorney with a practice that focuses on the rights of people incarcerated in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. “For example, deaf incarcerated residents at FCI Letcher would not be able to sue for access to hearing aids and ASL interpretation, if FCI Letcher denies them these services. A Jewish or Muslim incarcerated person would not be able to sue for a kosher or halal diet. Prison staff would be unable to pursue challenges for things like sexual harassment, or employment discrimination.”

More than 185 organizations have signed the letter, including national organizations such as:

• –  Abolitionist Law Center
• –  American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
• –  Center for Biological Diversity
• –  Center for Constitutional Rights
• –  Citizens United For Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE)
• –  Dream.Org
• –  Forward Justice
• –  Institute to End Mass Incarceration
• –  Natural Resources Defense Council
• –  The Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons
• –  The Sentencing Project
• –  Standing Up For Racial Justice (SURJ)
• –  Shriver Center on Poverty Law
• –  Vera Institute of Justice
• –  VISIONS Inc.
• –  Voice of the Experienced (VOTE)
• –  350.Org.

The full text of the letter can be found here.

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Building Community Not Prisons is a coalition of people who oppose the construction of FCI Letcher and demand better options for the people of Letcher County and the communities of color that are most impacted by mass incarceration.

The Alliance for Appalachia stands in deep solidarity with the Waymakers Collective, a radical grant-making group in Appalachia that empowers artists overlooked by traditional philanthropy. They’ve allocated over $1 million to uplift marginalized communities, with a focus on Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ, and immigrant individuals. Waymakers, who celebrate Appalachia’s diverse traditions, recently faced intimidation during a retreat in Harlan County, KY, where local individuals obstructed their activities, causing distress and safety concerns for Collective members.

No Hate in Our Holler! Y’all means ALL!

At the Alliance for Appalachia, we share core beliefs with the Waymakers Collective. Some of our members are also leaders and members of the Collective. We believe in the wisdom of our communities and in centering the voices of people most targeted for oppression. In fighting for our communities against the oppressive forces of extraction, we fight for all communities. We believe that by building power and connecting people of all backgrounds and identities that we grow in strength. We will not compromise on our values and we will stand by our friends when they are threatened or challenged. 

Read more about the events and how the Collective is responding in their statement. To show your support and solidarity, consider sharing their story and sending a donation. Make sure to include a designation to “Waymakers Collective.”