The Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2015 in mid-December by a vote of 89 to 11. Hidden within this bill was a rider that transferred 2400 acres of land now controlled by the San Carlos Apache tribe to an Australian mining corporation, Rio Tinto, for the purpose of creating the largest copper mine in the U.S. The planned mine will cause, as even Rio Tinto admits, surface collapse and leave behind a crater so large that it will be visible from outer space.
On December 19, President Obama signed the bill into law.
These were not just any lands, they are located within the Tonto National Forest in Arizona, and to the Apache people these are sacred lands that have sustained their tribe for thousands of years, within these lands are included ancient burial grounds.
This was done without any consultation whatsoever with the tribal members or leaders. These kind of backroom dealings that impact tribal nations sovereignty and lives seem to be increasing but in actuality this has always been the policy of the U.S. government to completely disregard all treaties and violate the sovereignty of Native nations everywhere.
Responding to the last-minute insertion of this violation, San Carlos Apache Tribal Chairman Terry Rambler said: “Since time immemorial people have gone there. That’s part of our ancestral homeland. We’ve had dancers in that area forever — sunrise dancers — and coming-of-age ceremonies for our young girls that become women. They’ll seal that off. They’ll seal us off from the acorn grounds, and the medicinal plants in the area, and our prayer areas.”
Obama in recent weeks has meet with tribal leaders from many different nations and made many promises of continued respect and adherence to treaties and of helping tribes to deal with some of the devastating effects of poverty that nations face due to lack of employment, drug and alcohol abuse, suicides and child birth rates.
Unemployment on some reservations is as high as 85%,but when corporation are allowed to come in to Native lands and run mining and drilling operations very few if any jobs are created for Native peoples. In fact what we have been seeing is these so called “boom towns” that spring up around oil and gas and mining explorations that only further exploit the populations creating prostitution, gambling and more drug and alcohol abuse, violence against women and racism. The Indigenous populations reap very little if any of the rewards of these operations but are left with the ravaging effects on their environment which will impact the lives of not themselves but future generations.
The theft of natural resources from Native peoples has been a continuation of the genocidal policy since first contact with Europeans, but there has been and will continue to be strong resistance to any and all attacks on Indigenous people and lands. Not until there is an end to the thirst of capitalist gluttony that values money over everything else including sacred lands and human life will there be a respectful relationship between sovereign nations.
We need a new system. We need a system that places peoples’ needs first. We need socialism.
