Morton County used Nobel Peace Forum to meet with Norway's mining industry, discredit media on Standing Rock resistance

Morton County with militarized police at Standing Rock. Photo by Rob Wilson.

Morton County used Nobel Peace Prize Forum to Meet with Mining Industry, Discredit Media Coverage of Standing Rock Water Protectors 

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
French translation by Christine Prat at:
http://www.chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=4375

Morton County used the Nobel Peace Prize Forum to meet with the Norwegian Mineral Industry, which controls coal and other mining, and to discredit the media's coverage of Standing Rock Water Protectors.
Standing Rock Water Protectors said a self-appointed mediator, Stephanie Hope Smith, acted without any authority when she invited Morton County Commission Chairman to the Nobel Peace Prize Forum, where Water Protectors were representing Chief Arvol Looking Horse.
Further, Standing Rock Water Protectors said Smith was "thrown out of camp twice" for bringing in Morton County during the resistance to Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock in 2016.
Further, a report reveals that Smith took a visiting Native delegation to meet with the joint command -- comprised of multiple law enforcement agencies -- during the Standing Rock resistance in October of 2016.
Water Protectors said she acted without any authority. Among the topics discussed with the joint command was the arrest of Red Fawn Fallis, charged with firing a gun at officers. The revolver actually belonged to FBI informant Heath Harmon of Fort Berthold, North Dakota, who engaged in a relationship with Red Fawn in camp, and continued to deceive her while she was in jail. The notes from Harmon's misconduct and deception, while Red Fawn was jailed, were given to the prosecutor, reports The Intercept.
Dakota Lakota Delegation Ambushed at Nobel Peace Forum Ambushed by Self-Appointed Mediator
At the Nobel Forum, Smith described herself as a "sacred site and cultural conciliator." Previously, she described herself as "natural mediator," registered with Morton County.
The Nobel Forum said Smith is responsible for bringing  Morton County Commissioner Cody Schulz to the Nobel Peace Prize Forum this month, in December of 2017, in Norway.
Morton County's violent, brutal assault on Water Protectors
Morton County was responsible for the violent, brutal assaults on Standing Rock Water Protectors, by local law enforcement, and militarized police from throughout the country.
Water Protectors were shot with rubber bullets and tear gas and water cannons in freezing temperatures. Women and elderly were arrested, strip searched and jailed in "dog kennels" with numbers written on their arms as was done by the Nazis.
Numerous Water Protectors suffered serious injuries, as they stood peacefully to protect the water of the Missouri River from the Dakota Access Pipeline, owned by Energy Transfer Partners. About 800 were arrested and many continue to face charges.
Morton County used Nobel Forum to meet with mining industry, discredit media coverage of Standing Rock
Morton County Commission Chairman Cody Schulz released a statement saying that he met with the Secretary General of the Norwegian Mineral Industry while at the Nobel Forum.
Schulz said this mining contact was made possible by way of the Nobel Forum sponsor -- the global non-profit Peace Through Commerce.
Further, Schulz criticized the national and international media coverage of the pipeline resistance. Schulz said he presented Morton County's opposing view of Standing Rock while at the Nobel Forum.
“My goal was to make sure that all of the facts of the situation were properly understood and the perspective of local landowners, law enforcement, and emergency responders were represented because I believe the media, especially at the national and international level, did a very poor job reporting that side of the story,” said Schulz. “I was really quite impressed with PTC’s approach of multi-sector, multi-level engagement that looks at values, causes, and effects.”
Chief Arvol Looking Horse responds
Last Real Indians exposed the role of Smith and published a response from Chief Arvol Looking Horse.
Chief Arvol Looking Horse said he asked Water Protectors to represent him at the Nobel Forum in Norway, because he was unable to attend. The delegation of Dakota Lakota Water Protectors were unaware that Smith had intervened and included Morton County at the Nobel Forum.
Chief Arvol Looking Horse said, "I feel responsible for putting my friends and relatives in a situation where they were unaware of the Commissioner’s attendance because I asked them to attend on my behalf. This uncomfortable situation has jeopardized the reputation and safety of my friends and relatives that attended, as well as myself." 
Read more at Last Real Indians:
https://lastrealindians.com/oceti-sakowin-nobel-peace-prize-forum-attendees-speak-out/

Stephanie Hope Smith called herself a mediator. Water protectors said she was thrown out of camp twice for bringing in Morton County. Acting with no authority, she called herself a sacred site cultural conciliator, and again brought in Morton County at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Norway, where Water Protectors were representing Chief Arvol Looking Horse.

Read more at Censored News: Nobel Peace Prize Forum, Deceives, Betrays Standing Rock Water Protectors
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2017/12/nobel-peace-prize-forum-deceives.html

Please check back for updates on this breaking news story from Censored News.

Article copyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News

San Carlos Apache Tribe: History of Genocide against Apaches

Photo Russ McSpadden, Center for Biological Diversity

San Carlos Apache Tribe

History of Genocide against Apaches Published

December 27, 2017

Contact: Cali Stands

San Carlos Apache Reservation – New research reveals that the mining of the eastern Arizona mountains owes its early success to a conspiratorial campaign of murderous vigilantism against Apache families waged by the government and the mining industry. The article, titled "Earth, Wind, and Fire: Pinal Apaches, Miners, and Genocide in Central Arizona, 1859-1874," appeared on December 22, 2017, in Sage Open, an interdisciplinary, open access journal of peer-reviewed, original research. The article is available for free viewing and downloading here: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244017747016

The author is Dr. John R. Welch, a professor at Simon Fraser University, jointly appointed in the Department of Archaeology and the School of Resource and Environmental Management.

Terry Rambler, Chairman, a direct descendant of the Tsé Binesti'é (Surrounded by Rocks People) Apaches (Aravaipa Band) who, with the T'iis Tsebán (Cottonwoods Gray in the Rocks People) Apaches (Pinal Band), occupied the rugged Pinal Mountains between Winkleman and Superior, said "Archaeologists and historians are finally verifying what my elder relatives have been saying for generations: pioneer settlers wanted the silver and gold under our camps, hunting areas, oak groves, and spiritual areas. They used every means at their disposal to kill our people and chase us away. Welch deserves credit, and I hope the powers that be will pay attention to his research even if they have ignored Apache voices. The time has come to break a century and half of mining industry control over government decision making and public land and water. The proposed Resolution Copper Mine reveals that Congress cares little about Apache welfare or spirituality, the potential contamination of the local aquifer, or a fair return to the American people for the billions in copper ore planned for extraction from national forest lands."

Welch's article chronicles cold-hearted miner propaganda that portrayed Apaches as bloodthirsty savages to incite scorched earth campaigns that killed over 380 Apaches in and near the Pinal Mountains in less than 15 years. In an 1865 example cited in the article, U.S. Army General John S. Mason ordered that "Apache Indians in this [Arizona] Territory are hostile and all men old enough to bear arms who are encountered will be slain. . . . All rancherias, provisions and whatever of value belonging to the Indians . . . will be destroyed." In 1870, U.S. Army Captain H. Moulton and miner Calvin Jackson led a joint, Army-prospector foray by into the Pinal Mountains, hunting Apaches and staking mining claims for themselves, their superior officers, and their investors. The following year Arizona Governor Anson P. K. Safford led a similar expedition across Tsé Binesti'e and T'iis Tsebán territory. A striking pattern emerges from the 35 attacks known to have killed Apaches in their Pinal Mountain homelands: Federal and Territorial government officials authorized militarized gangs to hunt and kill families, often at dawn's early light. The great majority of those murdered were T'iis Tsebán and Tsé Binesti'é women and children. Welch's grim tally does not include the approximately 80 Pinal and Araviapa Apache women and children slaughtered on April 30, 1871 while under Army protection at Camp Grant

Most non-Indians think Apaches started the so-called Apache wars, massacred helpless settlers, then got what they deserved when the tables turned. Welch exposes this thinking as historical fallacy. During that same period, Pinal and Aravaipa Apaches killed only about 70 non-Apaches, all or most of them men. Welch found that most of the 34 incidents that resulted in non-Apache fatalities occurred when Apache expeditions to find food were intercepted. In an honest comment about the lopsided slaughter, U.S. Army General John Pope's 1871 report states, "depredations of the Apaches have been continuous for twenty-five years past, but they are insignificant in extent and generally confined to the plunder of a few sheep and mules and the occasional murder of a lonely sheepherder." Welch's research reveals that Americans were the aggressors in the "Apache Wars" and that, at least in eastern Arizona mountains, miners plotted the bloody campaigns then reaped the benefits.

The article offers one important basis for the San Carlos Apache Tribe's leadership in protecting the western reaches of the Pinal Mountains from destructive mining. The Tribe has worked with dozens of other tribes and hundreds of allies to prevent and repeal Section 3003, the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act ("SEALECA"), of the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization Act ("NDAA"). After more than a decade of relentless pressure by mining industry executives and lobbyists, the U.S. Congress adopted the SEALECA as a "rider" to the NDAA two years ago.

The SEALECA rider gives 20,000 acres of Tonto National Forest lands to Resolution Copper, a limited liability corporation created by foreign-owned mining companies (Rio Tinto and B.H.P. Billiton) to enable the largest copper mine in North America, which will destroy the Chi'Chil Bildagoteel (known as Oak Flat), a Pinal and Aravaipa Apache sacred place. Chi'Chil Bildagoteel will be destroyed by subsidence caused by the copper ore removal, some 7,500 below ground, through a method known as block and cave mining. In addition, the Resolution Copper Mine will consume nearly 680,000 acre feet of water over 40 years, enough water for 168,000 homes, and likely destroy the aquifers below the Town of Superior, Arizona.

The Chi'Chil Biłdagoteel Historic District is a multi-tribal traditional cultural property formally listed in the U. S. National Register of Historic Places.

Mountain Protector Rally Planned as Snowbowl Furthers Desecration

Contact: mountainprotectors@gmail.com

Mountain Protector Rally Planned as Snowbowl Furthers Desecration

FLAGSTAFF, Arizona — Despite having no natural snow, Arizona Snowbowl has opened a handful of runs at their controversial ski area with snow made from 100% treated sewage on the San Francisco Peaks. A Mountain Protector Rally is being held to address environmental issues, public health concerns, and ongoing religious freedoms violations of the 13 Indigenous Nations who hold the Peaks sacred.

"We will continue to resist desecration of the San Francisco Peaks by Arizona Snowbowl, our cultural survival depends on it," stated Klee Benally, volunteer with ProtectthePeaks.org, "Snowbowl, the Forest Service, and the City of Flagstaff clearly don't care about our environment, public health, or religious freedom as Indigenous Peoples."

Arizona Snowbowl operates their private business on the Peaks under permit from the US Forest Service. The Forest Service approved ski area expansion and treated sewage snowmaking in 2005. Lawsuits by environmental groups and Indigenous Nations ultimately failed and Snowbowl started making treated sewage snow in 2012. The Hopi Tribe is currently in litigation with the City of Flagstaff over the city's contract to sell wastewater to Snowbowl.

When: Wednesday, December 20, 2015 at 10:30 AM.

Where: San Francisco Peaks, Arizona Snowbowl, meet at lower Humphrey parking lot.

More info: mountainprotectors@gmail.com, www.protectthepeaks.org

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/150546562238546

###

NOW! TACOMA SHUT DOWN Blockade at fracked gas plant opposed by Puyallup Indian Nation

By Last Real Indians

Censored News

December 18, 2017

All three entrances to the construction site for a fracked gas plant at the Port of Tacoma have been successfully blockaded! Workers have been sent home.Water protectors continue to occupy and block the entrances.

The proposed fracked gas plant at the Port would hold 8-million gallons of liquefied natural gas from the Bakkens. It is being constructed without all the permits for construction and without the consultation and consent of the Puyallup Tribe, who oppose the facility.

#NoLNG253

Photos from 350 Seattle