Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

May 15, 2023

Paiute Massacre Site Defenders Prepare for Restraining Order



Live from Ox Sam Camp at Peehee Mu'huh (Thacker Pass)

Censored News
May 15, 2023

The defenders of the Paiute Massacre Site are prepared to be served with a restraining order. Lithium Americas of Canada is targeting two non-Indians, in order to distract from the fact that Paiute descendants of a survivor of the massacre here are leading the ceremony and road blockade.

Ox Sam Camp said late today, Monday, that Lithium Nevada is filing an application for a temporary order for protection against harassment in the workplace against Max Wilbert and Paul Cienfuegos, in the Justice Court in the Township of Union Humboldt County, Nevada.

"The sheriff’s office has been in constant communication for days with Lithium Nevada Corporation managers (behind the scenes) as they’ve been going out of their way to not arrest any of us, even though we are creating quite the hassle for their daily operations. What they want, more than anything, is to make this look like it’s led by a handful of white out-of-state eco-freaks so they can mock the camp in their news releases. But the reality is that the camp is 90% Native people, mostly local, and THEY are its leaders."

On Friday evening, they found out that Max Wilbert (co-founder of Protect Thacker Pass) and Cienfuegos were the only ones named in the temporary restraining order, which the company put before a judge over the weekend.

"Once it’s approved, they will try to serve Max and me. I came prepared to risk arrest, so all is well," Cienfuegos said.

"All of this in furtherance of the company’s desperate attempt to attach white leadership to the story of this camp, when in reality neither of us has stood in the way of any employee or company vehicle."

The camp currently stands right on top of the company’s ongoing water line construction. One Tipi is now in place, and more on the way. More tents are arriving daily on the company’s BLM-leased land. Or more accurately, on land “beyond the treaty frontier”, as the US government has no treaties in place. The only claim is conquest by which this land was taken from the local Paiute Shoshone communities. So they have more right to be on this land than any other persons or corporations.

A New Prayer Camp Emerges at Thacker Pass

by  | May 15, 2023 

by Paul Cienfuegos, Founding Director, Community Rights US

Last Thursday, May 11th, the next nationally significant Standing-Rock-like prayer and action camp at Thacker Pass, Nevada (Pee’hee Mu’huh in the Paiute language meaning “rotten moon” named for the massacre of Paiute ancestors in 1865) was launched to try to stop the construction of what would become the largest open pit lithium mine in the world, as a false and ecologically devastating “green energy solution” to our fossil fuel woes.

May 14, 2023

On the fourth day of ceremony at Ox Sam Camp, the rains have come

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On the fourth day of ceremony at Ox Sam Camp, the rains have come. Paiute protecting the unmarked burial places of their ancestors from lithium mining share a special greeting, and blessing on Mother's Day. "It is the fourth day of the fire, and the rain has washed away the bad things that the lithium mine has brought to our Mother Earth here."


LIVE: Day 4 Ox Sam Camp at Peehee Mu’huh /Thacker Pass Lithium Mine

"We just had a wonderful spring storm on the fourth day of ceremony. We were huddled in the tipi that rests over the 10-mile water pipeline route at the Thacker Pass mine. And on this Mother’s Day, we wish you all the best, to mothers the world over, and to our Mother Earth and future generations. Special shout out to Auntie Deb Haaland. We ask you to please share this live stream, support the grassroots effort, and get involved. Thank you."

Watch live as the blockade of lithium mining trucks continues in northern Nevada near the Oregon border. The camp is named for Ox Sam, one of the Paiute survivors of the massacre here.

Live on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ProtectThackerPass

Live on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_V_dcJBZwg 

Whose Documents did DAPL Take? Inside the Files of TigerSwan


Standing Rock Oct. 27, 2016. Photo by Rob Wilson Photography.

Inside the Files: There are reasons to re-read the TigerSwan spy files from Standing Rock

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
May 14, 2023

Whose documents did TigerSwan take on October 27, 2016, from the camps at Standing Rock?

Those were significant enough for the North Dakota security board to list in its complaint against TigerSwan for working without a license.

There are many reasons to re-read the spy files of TigerSwan. Recently, The Intercept received 50,000 more TigerSwan spy files as a result of its court battle.

There is also another reason: the abrupt change in the prosecution of the driver of the truck killing Paiute journalist Myron Dewey, resulting in an unexplained change to a charge of a misdemeanor in Nevada.

May 13, 2023

Paiute Shoshone -- Protect our Mother on Mother's Day at Pee Hee Mu'huh (Thacker Pass)


Dorece Sam, an enrolled member of the Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, spoke during a Facebook live stream on Friday, saying “Mother’s Day is coming up. This here is our mother - Mother Earth, and we want to protect her. We want to stand in unison with everybody. Bring your medicines, bring your prayers, and good thoughts. Grandmother says this is the start of a new camp. It is called (Ox Sam) Newe Mogonee Momokonee Camp, meaning Indian Woman’s Camp.” Ox Sam was one of three members of the Paiute tribe who survived the 1865 massacre.


PeeHee Mu’huh (Thacker Pass) is the traditional, unceded land of the Paiute and Shoshone. It is also the location of the lithium mining operation owned by Lithium Americas Corp. The territory is not part of any treaty lands ceded to the United States; thus Paiute, Shoshone and other tribal nations assert the land is still legally their country.

Read full article https://lastrealindians.com/news/oxsamcamp

May 12, 2023

Day 2: Standing Strong at Thacker Pass

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"The elders have asked for supporters to come. Help support traditional families in prayer as Lithium Nevada continues to desecrate the land for an open pit mine." The camp is also is need of firewood, protectors said on Friday. -- Protect Thacker Pass

May 11, 2023

Paiute and Shoshone Halt Construction at Thacker Pass Lithium Mine


"Another hard day will begin in an hour at 5 am when more work trucks start coming. We could use backup, campers who want to support. We can’t do it alone."

Paiute and Shoshone elders and youths blocked a fuel truck on Thursday afternoon, as they protected the unmarked burial places of their ancestors massacred here.

Censored News ongoing coverage at:
       
Live updates Thursday

Paiute and Shoshone elders and youths turned a fuel truck around, as they blockade the road and protect the Paiute Massacre Site from lithium mine construction, at 4 pm today, Thursday. 

Humboldt County Sheriff's Dept. issued a second and final warning to Paiute and Shoshone elders and youths blocking the road to protect the Paiute Massacre Site and the unmarked graves of their ancestors, and the water, from lithium mine construction this afternoon. Paiute and Shoshone elders spent the day in prayer and ceremony and were joined by youths to block the trucks. Biden issued the permit for a foreign corporation, Lithium Americas of Vancouver, Canada, to gouge out the earth here for a lithium mine at Thacker Pass in northern Nevada. Biden says it's 'green energy' for electric vehicles. A federal judge allowed it to proceed even though it is in violation of federal laws.
Video on YouTube: Second round with Sheriff's Department

Humboldt County Sheriffs Dept. Arrives -- Tells Paiute and Shoshone that it is illegal to block a public road: Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
Video on YouTube:

Watch the live stream on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ProtectThackerPass/


   
Blocking construction of the lithium mine this morning. The teepee went up and Paiute and Shoshone began offering prayers, urging others to come in a good way and help. Photo courtesy Protect Thacker Pass.
 
                                                       Photo courtesy Protect Thacker Pass

Livestream

Protecting Paiute Unmarked Burials and the Water, in the Spirit of the Ghost Dancers

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Thursday, May 11, 2023
Live on Facebook


For the second time in a month, Paiute and Shoshone elders and youths are blocking construction with prayer. Elders are calling for people to "Come help us in a good way, stand up and be strong."

"We are where an important ceremony is happening today. We are in peaceful prayer," a Paiute elder said as the teepee went up early this morning at Peehee Mu'huh, Thacker Pass, where construction of an open-pit lithium mine is underway.

The teepee is symbolic to the Paiute people and Lakota people. "We're at this great place and this great home, and this great space is to put up something that represents us, prayer, peace and who we are as Native people."

"The canvas, the skin, comes from the east, our Lakota people, and the poles come from our Paiute Nation," she said.

"We are connected through the very sacred ceremony, the Ghost Dance."

"We are putting up our teepee and making a prayer, a peaceful prayer, to pray with our people."

"We are putting it right here, where they have made a scar, putting in their water pipeline."

"We are protecting our unmarked burials. Our ancestors were massacred here."

"We are making a mark to let our ancestors know we are here," she said, adding that the water must be protected from the demand for water by the lithium mine.

https://www.facebook.com/ProtectThackerPass

Protect Thacker Pass said:

Early this morning, two Paiute spiritual leaders from the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, and the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Tribe — began a prayer for the water, the land, and future generations at Peehee Mu’huh, also known as Thacker Pass, where construction of an open-pit lithium mine is ongoing at a Northern Paiute sacred site.

"A teepee is going up blocking construction of the mine and supporters have begun to gather on-site. We ask you to please share this live stream, support the grassroots effort, and get involved. Thank you."


                                         
 Photo courtesy Protect Thacker Pass


Humboldt County Sherrif's Dept. issued a second and final warning on Thursday afternoon for Paiute elders blocking the road as they protect the unmarked burial places of their ancestors. 

Photo courtesy Protect Thacker Pass

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Also see: AP: Judges decisions on mining law