Partnering with the Israeli Weapons Maker: University of Arizona and Navajo Nation

Photo: A rally was held on Thursday in support of Palestine at the University of Arizona after an earlier rally was canceled when the university president spoke out against it. Defense for Children said today that 1,873 Palestinian children have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and shelling in the Gaza Strip since October 7. More than 4,600 children are injured as hospitals run out of fuel, electricity, and medical supplies.

Partnering with the Israeli Weapons Maker: University of Arizona and Navajo Nation

Photo: Rally for Palestine in downtown Tucson, Monday, Oct. 17, 2023 KOVA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt72UoX72UE

The University of Arizona president spoke out against support for Palestine and a rally was canceled. The university brags about its partnership with Raytheon Missile in Tucson, which provides weapons to Israel.

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News

TUCSON, Arizona -- A Pro-Palestinian rally was canceled after the University of Arizona's president spoke out against it. The university in Tucson brags about its partnership with local Raytheon Missiles, now named RTX Corp., a provider of weapons to Israel. The university not only partners with the weapons maker, but it has a manufacturing plant on the Navajo Nation, where commercial crops are grown.

Raytheon's missile plant on the Navajo Nation was so censored by Indian Country Today, when I was a staff reporter there, that the editors told me not to even research it.

It all happened this way.

College Withdraws Honorary Degree Due to Vatican Desecration of Mount Graham

Running to protect sacred Mount Graham. Photo courtesy Apache Stronghold.

College Withdraws Honorary Degree Due to Vatican Desecration of Mount Graham

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

March 28, 2023

SUNY Geneseo College bulletin said today that a planned honorary degree has been withdrawn for a Vatican scientist because the Vatican is responsible for the telescope long opposed by Apaches on sacred Mount Graham.

SUNY Geneseo College, in upstate New York, said in its morning bulletin that it will not confer an honorary degree on Vatican astronomer Brother Guy Consolmagno. Previously, the college said it would present him with an honorary Doctor of Science degree. 

Apartheid and Tohono O'odham Spy Towers -- University of Arizona continues anti-Native stance by partnering with Elbit Systems

By Brenda Norrell
A Censored News Original
March 6, 2019

TUCSON -- It comes as no surprise that the University of Arizona has partnered with the Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems. Elbit Systems -- responsible for Apartheid security systems in Palestine -- is now pushing for border spy towers on the Tohono O'odham Nation.

The GuVo District, on the western part of the Tohono O'odham Nation, is opposed to the spy towers, and passed a resolution to protect their burial places and sacred places from the destruction of the towers.

In Gu'Vo District, Ofelia Rivas, founder of O'odham Voice against the Wall, said,  "The general public in the united states continues to be ignorant and apathetic and human suffering is entertainment.

"Meanwhile the world's eye can see and our human spirit can sense the enormous suffering of Mother Earth.

"Every aspect of human life relies on Mother Earth, for water, and food. Any single impact by undocumented    surveillance technology radiation emissions impacts plants and animals -- and human life is the greatest concern by O'odham in opposition to the surveillance project imposed upon the Tohono O'odham Nation," Ofelia Rivas told Censored News on Wednesday.

The University of Arizona in Tucson exposed its anti-Native American stance when it joined the Pope in their crusade to desecrate sacred Mount Graham with monster telescopes.

Both the University and the Pope ignored pleas and lawsuits from San Carlos Apache and environmental organizations.

Now, the University has exposed itself again by partnering with the leaders of weapons and death for profit.

These warmongers partnering with the university include Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Sandia Labs.

At the University these are called 'Industrial Affiliates' and Elbit Systems, known for its human rights abuses globally, is one of these affiliates.

The University of Arizona announced in September of 2018 that its Optical Sciences Department was partnering with Elbit Systems.

On the Tohono O'odham Nation, GuVo District remains opposed to the towers, known as integrated fixed towers.

Meanwhile, Tohono O'odham community members question what happened at the Tribal Border Summit, held on Pascua Yaqui Nation in January.

At the border summit, US Homeland Security was invited to a secret, closed session with Tohono O'odham Nation government leaders and other tribal leaders. The National Congress of American Indians, NCAI, was among the hosts and  organizers of the border summit.
Tohono O'odham community members say they were not invited, or informed afterwards about what took place at the border summit behind closed doors.

Follow the money: The University of Arizona has received millions of dollars by way of grants and contracts for projects on the Tohono O'odham Nation.

US Homeland Security awarded Elbit Systems the contract for fixed integrated towers in Arizona, with an initial contract of $145 million. Israeli leaders celebrated the contract in Israel, according to Israeli media, and spy tower construction was soon underway on the border at Douglas, Nogales and Sonoita, Arizona.

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From the University of Arizona website:

Elbit Systems is now among these, according to the University's website :

Please check back for updates on this investigative report by Censored News.



Article copyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News

Traditional Dine' educate University of Arizona on water rights

Photos by Ed Becenti, published with permission

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News
Photos Louise Benally and Marshall Johnson at UofA by Ed Becenti

TUCSON -- When the University of Arizona in Tucson invited a water rights attorney who is protested by Dine', traditional Dine' made the long journey from the northern part of the state to southern Arizona to both protest the selection of the attorney to speak and to educate the university about Dine' water rights and true sovereignty. 

Louise Benally of Big Mountain (above) was among the speakers. Benally's family has resisted forced relocation since the 1970s. The so-called Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute was actually orchestrated by an attorney working for Peabody Coal. The scheme was designed to remove Navajos from their homelands to make way for Peabody's coal mines on Black Mesa. More than 14,000 Navajos were relocated to make way for the coal mines. Some elderly died of broken hearts after being removed from their homelands.

Today, the State of Arizona, Arizona Congressmen and the United States government are relentless in their attempts to steal both Navajo and Hopi water rights. The water is sought to water the unsustainable desert cities in southern Arizona -- Phoenix and Tucson -- and to provide water for the dirty coal industry's Navajo Generating Station. It uses Peabody coal, Mother Earth's liver, from Black Mesa. 

The coal-fired power plant located on the Navajo Nation near Page, Ariz., supplies electricity to southern Arizona and uses enormous amounts of water, while polluting the region and causing sickness for Navajos and others in the Southwest.

Meanwhile, most Navajos in the area live without electricity and are forced to drive long distances to haul their water.

Navajos speaking at the University of Arizona protested the selection of Stanley Pollack, hired by the Navajo Nation government as the tribe's water rights attorney. Dine' said Pollack is not serving the best interests of Navajos. The elected Navajo Nation government continues to sign leases with the dirty coal industry, and recently purchased a coal mine.

US Dept of Justice addressing ethnic studies ban in Arizona

The Department of Justice reaches out to Mexican American Studies faculty at the University of Arizona, following the assault on Mexican American Studies in Tucson public schools, which resulted in the banning of books by award-winning Chicano and Native American authors in Tucson classrooms.

Update: Civil Rights investigation opened into Tucson Public Schools: Meeting Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 5 pm: http://threesonorans.com/2012/05/03/breaking-office-of-civil-rights-opens-investigation-into-tusd-school-board-for-civil-rights-violations/

Photo Column of Americas

By Dr. Roberto Rodriquez

Posted at Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Dear Community Allies,

Recently the Department of Justice reached out to several Mexican American Studies faculty members at the University of Arizona requesting a gathering of parents, students, and community members invested in the success of the MAS program in the Tucson Unified School District.
The politically motivated attacks on MAS in TUSD have been relentless, initiated by the state and carried out by district board members and administration.
Recently, Arizona superintendent of public instruction John Huppenthal suggested that ethnic studies programs at the university level should be eliminated. This unacceptable assault on academic freedom and critical thinking has serious implications for all ethnic and gender studies, and demonstrates a gross disregard for free expression and inquiry.
Department of Justice representatives would like the opportunity for dialogue with the community regarding this and other issues affecting educational equity in Arizona. We hope that this renewed attack will serve as a catalyst for representatives of all disciplines at the K-12 and university level to come together and condemn these attacks on academic freedom. We would like to propose organizing a community forum next Tuesday, May 8 that 5:30 pm to get together and share our concerns with the DOJ.
We have suggested the CPLC Youth Center on Ft. Lowell as a venue, and hope that we can have a sincere discussion about how these attacks have affected us all.
In Solidarity, The Mexican American Studies Community Advisory Board
-- Thanks and Sincerely


Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez
PO BOX 3812 Tucson, AZ
85722 520-626-0824 COLUMN:
http://drcintli.blogspot.com
ARCHIVED COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS http://web.me.com/columnoftheamericas

Also watch: Video interviews with students at Tucson Book Festival 2012: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/03/uncensored-mexican-american-students-at.html