"This is environmental racism"

How a protest in a North Carolina farming town sparked a national movement

As reported by the Washington Post.

Pipeline Company Issues Broad Subpoena to News Site That Covered Protests Against It

“This subpoena is outrageous and strikes at the heart of the First Amendment. It should be thrown out immediately.”

As reported by The Intercept.

Native Community Action Council news release on Entry Into Force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Native Community Action Council

P.O. Box 46301

Las Vegas, NV 89114

Contact email: nativecommunityactioncouncil@gmail.com

NEWS RELEASE

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

January 22, 2021

The Native Community Action Council is celebrating the Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entry into force by gathering in Las Vegas at the Federal Courthouse to hold banners affirming the entry into force of the treaty. The treaty was approved by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on July 7, 2017 by a vote of 122 in favor, the Netherlands opposed, and Singapore abstaining. Five nuclear powers and four other countries known or believed to possess nuclear weapons — India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel — boycotted negotiations and the vote on the treaty, along with many of their allies.

The Shoshone people view the treaty as a positive step leading to relief from over 900 nuclear weapons tests above, and below ground that released radiation upon the homelands of the Shoshone Nation of Indians. “We are all down-winders,” stated Ian Zabarte, Secretary of the Native Community Action Council. Mr. Zabarte has worked for decades to end full-scale nuclear weapons testing conducted in secret and investigate health consequences of radiation exposure on his people and land.  His goal is to end the need for nuclear weapons, mitigate the impacts upon the Shoshone people and land and prevent Yucca Mountain from being developed as a high-level nuclear waste repository. The Native Community Action Council is a party to Yucca Mountain licensing with the only ownership contention. After spending $15 billion dollars the Department of Energy cannot prove ownership to Yucca Mountain even with the Bureau of Land Management Master Title Plats because the Treaty of Ruby Valley is controlling under the US Constitution, Article 6, Section 2, treaty supremacy clause. Shoshone ownership is enduring.

“Our relationship to the land and pure water of the Great Basin is our identity” said Mr. Zabarte. Destructive nuclear weapons testing left vulnerabilities in the land destroying the delicate flora and fauna that allowed noxious and invasive plant species to take hold. Mr. Zabarte was acquitted of rounding up Indian horses the US claims are “wild” under the definition of Congress in the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971. “We acted out of necessity to protect our horses from the destruction of the range caused by nuclear weapons testing.” The US Bureau of Land Management blames the Shoshone livestock for destroying the land.

Shoshone leaders will then travel to the Nevada National Security Site at 2:00 pm to hold banners and create awareness among test site workers that their work is illegal.

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Western Shoshone elder Carrie Dann passes on to the Spirit World

Carrie Dann on her land in 1993, as posted by the Right Livelihood FoundationA giant, a living legend, of Indigenous rights activism and leadership, has passed on. It is with sad hearts that we share the news that Western Shoshone elder Carrie Dann (1932-2021) passed on to the Spirit World on January 2, 2021.

This Is Reno reported Carrie Dann's passing.

Brenda Norrell has published a tribute, entitled "Carrie Dann in Her Own Words."

Carrie Dann, along with her sister, Mary Dann (1923-2005), helped lead the Western Shoshone Nation's fight to protect their homeland, Newe Sogobia, against many threats, including nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site (now named the Nevada National Security Site), and high-level radioactive waste dumping at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

Ian Zabarte, Carrie Dann, and Bob Fulkerson, 2019. Photo by Holly Woodward. Used with permission.Carrie Dann also spoke out against MRS (Monitored Retrievable Storage), now called CIS (Consolidated Interim Storage), whether targeted at Yucca Mountain, or at scores of Native American reservations across the U.S., such as at the Skull Valley Goshutes Indian Reservation in Utah.

(See a 2019 photo of Carrie Dann, with Ian Zabarte and Bob Fulkerson, left. Ian Zabarte is Principal Man of the Western Bands of the Shoshone Nation of Indians, Secretary of the Native Community Action Council (NCAC), and recipient of Beyond Nuclear's 2020 Dr. Judith H. Johnsrud "Unsung Hero" Award; Bob Fulkerson founded Citizen Alert of Nevada, which fostered NCAC, and helped lead the grassroots "Nevada Is Not a [Nuclear] Wasteland" resistance for decades.) READ MORE.

Christine Ahn wins US Peace Prize

The 2020 US Peace Prize has been awarded to the Honorable Christine Ahn (pictured), “for bold activism to end the Korean War, heal its wounds, and promote women’s roles in building peace.”

Michael Knox, Chair of the Foundation, thanked Christine for her “outstanding leadership and activism to end the Korean War and halt militarism on the Korean Peninsula. We applaud your tireless work to involve more women in peace building. Your efforts over the last two decades are greatly appreciated in the U.S. and around the world. Thank you for your service.”

In response to her selection, Ms. Ahn commented, “On behalf of Women Cross DMZ and all the courageous women who are working to end the Korean War, thank you for this tremendous honor. It is especially significant to receive this award in the 70th anniversary of the Korean War — a war that claimed four million lives, destroyed 80 percent of North Korean cities, separated millions of Korean families, and still divides the Korean people by the De-militarized Zone (DMZ), which in reality is among the most militarized borders in the world. 
 
Sadly, the Korean War is known as the 'Forgotten War' in the United States, even though it continues to this day. That’s because the U.S. government refuses to negotiate a peace agreement with North Korea while continuing to wage a brutal war of sanctions against innocent North Korean people and impede reconciliation between the two Koreas. Not only is the Korean War the longest standing overseas U.S. conflict, it is the war that inaugurated the U.S. military industrial complex and put the United States on the path to become the world’s military police.”    

Read her full remarks and see photos and more details at: www.USPeacePrize.org. You are invited to attend a virtual event on November 11 with Medea Benjamin and Gloria Steinem celebrating Ms. Ahn and her work with Women Cross DMZ.

In addition to receiving the US Peace Prize, our highest honor, Ms. Ahn has been designated a Founding Member of the US Peace Memorial Foundation.  She joins previous US Peace Prize recipients Ajamu Baraka, David Swanson, Ann Wright, Veterans For Peace, Kathy Kelly, CODEPINK Women for Peace, Chelsea Manning, Medea Benjamin, Noam Chomsky, Dennis Kucinich, and Cindy Sheehan.
  
The US Peace Memorial Foundation directs a nationwide effort to honor Americans who stand for peace by publishing the US Peace Registry, awarding the annual US Peace Prize, and planning for the US Peace Memorial in Washington, DC.