For over three years, a community has resisted the development of a massive coal-fired power plant in the Navajo Nation called Desert Rock, blockading roads and occupying a permanent campsite. On March 17, Elouise Brown, president of the Doodá Desert Rock committee, will launch an 11-day tour of California to speak about the dangers posed by the coal industry, the exploitation of indigenous land by energy companies, and the ongoing struggle to stop development of Desert Rock.

On February 9th, two Rochester Indymedia journalists started their journey to Vancouver, unceded and occupied Coast Salish Territory to cover the 2010 anti-Olympic resistance movement.

Anti-Olympic organizers called for a convergence of anti-colonial and anti-capitalist forces in Vancouver, February 10-15, 2010, to confront and disrupt the 2010 Olympic Games. These dates were chosen to coincide with the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics (Feb. 12, 2010). The entire Winter Games ran from Feb 12-28, 2010. The slogan under which the convergence coalesced was, "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!"

Read the full report back replete with video, photos, and links: Click here!

Thousands of Claims Threaten Public Health & Sacred Lands

Grand Canyon, AZ -- In defiance of legal challenges and a U.S. Government moratorium, Canadian company Denison Mines has started mining uranium on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. According to the Arizona Daily Sun the mine has been operating since December 2009.

The Grand Canyon is ancestral homeland to the Havasupai and Hualapai Nations. Although both Indigenous Nations have banned uranium mining on their reservations the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management may permit thousands of mining claims on surrounding lands. Read the full article here

As part of the No 2010 Olympics Convergence, members of Katzie First Nation and supporters took part in blocking the Golden Ears Bridge spanning the Frazer River between Pitt Meadows and Langley B.C. - Coast Salish Territories. Early this morning [February 13, 2010] members of Katzie First Nations and supporters took part in blocking the Golden Ears Bridge for 10 minutes in protest of the creation of this unwanted infrastructure. Its purpose is to transport stolen resources from other sovereign native nations, to be shipped out throughout Asia, and ship in unnecessary sweatshop made merchandise for chain stores. This bridge has desecrated a traditional site that dates back over 3000 years, and negatively impacts our sacred food source, the salmon. My people have been told when to fish and how big our net can be since our book of rules (Indian act) in 1896. My family has been arrested for fishing when they were not allowed.

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Vancouver Media Coop

St. Paul, Minnesota, February 15 --- About 20 Dakota activists and supporters interrupted the Minnesota Historical Society’s "Rally for History" this afternoon at the state capitol.  Protesters are challenging the proposed funding for the renovation of Historic Fort Snelling, the site of a 19th century concentration camp where several hundred imprisoned Dakota people died of starvation and disease while 1,600 were held by US troops during the winter of 1862-1863.   Protesters say that by choosing to preserve the fort, Minnesotans are choosing to celebrate a symbol of violence against native people.

Activists with the Take Down The Fort Campaign unfurled several banners above and in front of the podium, and denounced Fort Snelling as a symbol of genocide while the speakers pressed on with their rally. More & Video

Related: Realizing Justice in Minisota: Imagination and Action at U of M 2/24

The demo began at 11 am outside of the Chase building at the Canadian embassy on 5847 San Felipe, with two banners, and tons of energy. Protesters enter the consulate building, and requested audience with the consular, and after twenty minutes with inside the office, security was called, and protesters were ejected from the building and banned from returning. The protest then moved to the Chinese embassy, where banners were held and dialogue was carried on. [Read Full Article]

From no2010.com: The 2010 Winter Olympics, to be held in Vancouver-Whistler from February 12-27, 2010, is today a very real threat to Native peoples, the urban poor (many of whom are also Native), and the environment. While cutting social services, healthcare, education, etc., the BC Liberal government is at the same time providing billions of dollars to construction companies & other Olympic-related industries. The capitalists are making millions, while the poor are literally dying in the urban & reservation ghettos.
Indy coverage of protests to the games: 2010 Vancouver Olympic Protest Reporting and Vancouver Media Co-op

On January 16, Diné, O’odham and Autonomous/Anti-authoritarian (DO@) people answered a call-out from the O’odham Solidarity Across Borders Collective and Phoenix Class War Council to form the DO@ Block.

The bloc, consisting of anarchists and Indigenous people, converged on occupied Akimel O’odham Pi-Posh land (Phoenix) to take part in what was a larger march against Maricopa County, AZ, Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio is well known for his racist border politics and strict prison regulations. However this time people were confronting his repression on those that take situations into their own hands and defiantly cross the border without the permission of others.

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Local snowboarding-gear company "Grenade "Gloves" boasts on their website (http://grenadegloves.com/news.php?id=721) that three snowboarders from the company team, known as "the army," will be competing at the 2010 winter olympic games, to be held on stolen native land in St'at'imc & Squamish Territories. The three athletes, Greg Bretz, Scotty Lago, and Louie Vito, express excitement and eager anticipation for participating in the olympic games, with no apparent analysis of the harmful impact that the olympics will have on the people and the living environment where it's taking place.

According to no2010.com, the snowboard and freestyle events for the 2010 games will be held on Cypress Mountain, located near north Vancouver. Cypress Mountain has suffered an onslaught of clearcuts to make room for the ski resort expansion to accomadate the olympics, including 9 new ski runs, 3 new chair lifts, a new lodge, and a "state of the art snow-making system."

read more >>

In Related News

Indymedia Reporter Detained in "No Mans Land" on his way to Vancouver Olympics

Another independent journalist was turned away at the US-Canada border Tuesday on his way to Vancouver to cover protests at the 2010 Olympic Games. John Weston Osburn, a long time indymedia activist, drove 2,000 miles from Salt Lake City to cover Games with the Vancouver Media Cooperative. He was interrogated and denied entry into Canada, making him the second US journalist to be denied entry in the last four days.

VMC: After he was turned around, he went back to the US and tried to re-enter Canada, this time at the truck crossing, where he was again denied entry due to past convictions for misdemeanors. This time, he flipped on his video camera to record the experience. Stopped by homeland security, Osburn was again interrogated about the Olympic protests. When he told homeland security that he wanted to speak to a lawyer, read more >>

Also see this related story

Independent media reporter rejected at border, detained by border agents & denied contact!

After days of reflection, O'odham Solidarity Across Borders Collective (OSABC) would like to give our thoughts and analysis on what occurred on the January 16th National Day of Action Against Sheriff Joe: March for Human Rights.

As we all saw, heard and read, the march turned violent due to calculated moves by Phoenix Police to unfairly, and unjustifiably remove a contingent of marchers that expressed a voice and message that was foreign to them and national organizers, but all too familiar to the original people of the very land they walk on.

OSABC called for what we dubbed the “Dine'-O'odham-Anarchist/Anti-Authoritarian” (DOA) contingent, in order to voice what we recognize to be an unending historical condition of forced removal here in the Southwestern so-called United States. To read more, please visit the O'odham Solidarity Across Borders Collective or the recent AZ Indymedia article

It has been a devastating winter for weather-related disasters. While there has been a lot of information about (and vital response to) the situation in Haiti, there's another emergency closer to home, one which calls for solidarity with the indigenous people of South Dakota and surrounding areas.

The past weekend's ice storms brought down 2,000 to 3,000 utility poles on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota, knocking out an already shaky resource infrastructure.  Crews are working feverishly, but electricity may be out for up to 30 days in some areas. With no electricity, no heat, no running water, and a wind chill below zero the situation is growing more difficult. The bulk of those most affected by the storm are located on reservations in Pine Ridge, Standing Rock, Eagle Butte and others. This is an urgent state of emergency. Read more & donation information

Supporters Needed to Help Maintain Life, Land and Dignity of Traditional Resistance Communities

From the Olympic Resistance Network:, "The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place in Vancouver & Whistler, on unceded Indigenous land, from February 12-28. We call on all anti-capitalist, Indigenous, housing rights, labour, migrant justice, environmental, anti-war, community-loving, anti-poverty, civil libertarian, and anti colonial activists to come together to confront this two-week circus and the oppression it represents. We are organizing towards a global anti-capitalist and anti-colonial convergence against the 2010 Olympic Games."

January 10, 2010 - The mainstream media continued aiding and abetting the dirty coal industry this week, in the genocidal targeting of American Indian lands for toxic and polluting industries that the rest of the world doesn't want in their backyards.

Hopi and Navajo fighting Peabody Coal mining on Black Mesa celebrated a victory this week when the US Interior Dept. rejected a mining permit for Peabody Coal. It is a victory that the majority of the mainstream media is ignoring. Hopi and Navajo have made it easy for even the laziest journalist, or the newspaper without a dime for travel, to cover the story. There are press statements online with abundant quotes from the Hopi and Navajo who took the action and live on the land. Their phone numbers are also on their press statements, so the mainstream media has no excuse. Censored News will even send the judge's order by e-mail to anyone that requests it.

It seems the mainstream media doesn't want to admit the truth about mining on Black Mesa. Journalists do not want to take the time to understand the facts.

 link to narcosphere.narconews.com

Environmental Groups Gain Victory Over Peabody Coal on Black Mesa BLACK MESA, AZ -- The Department of Interior (DOI) has denied Peabody Coal Company's expansion operations on Black Mesa, AZ.

Peabody had been planning to combine both their Kayenta and Black Mesa mines, pump more water for transporting coal, reactivate the Black Mesa mine, and acquire a "Life of Mine" permit. Peabody's expansion plans were initially approved in a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) by the Bush Administration.

In December, members of Genesee Valley Earth First! and others from Rochester participated in demonstrations against the Olympic torch relay in Canada. We did so because environmental destruction knows no borders, and the games have a sordid history of displacing the poor while legitimizing colonialism and authoritarianism. The torch relay itself was born in Nazi Germany to spotlight the fascist government’s supremacist propaganda.