Also the federal government is promoting conflict between the Dineh and Hopi nations in Arizona for the benefit of large corporations, like Peabody Coal, who are strip-mining the area and burning dirty coal to generate electricity. In this context, SEACers have been very active in the fight to save Mt. Graham, in Arizona, from a telescope project that would destroy the ecosystem of an endangered squirrel and ruin sacred land. SEACers have been involved in struggles to prevent nuclear waste dumping on Native American lands in Nevada and California. Finally, SEACers helped stop Hydro Quebec’s James Bay II project that would have built dams and flooded vast areas of native land, destroying ecosystems.
There are many international indigenous rights issues as well. On Jan. 1, 1994, the Zapatistas took over part of the Mexican state of Chiapas demanding justice, democracy, and land. The civil war continues at a low-intensity, and Chiapas has become very militarized with death squads who threaten and kill people who support the rebels. In Nigeria, the Ogonis’ struggle against environmental destruction has been met with brutal repression sponsored by Shell Oil (including the execution of Ogoni leader Ken Saro-Wiwa). All too often indigenous people are under attack by corporations seeking to exploit their resources, and we need to support their struggles.
Democracy on Campus
Is the purpose of universities, community colleges and high schools to teach students how to think critically and develop an awareness of the world, its problems and solutions? Or is their function to produce subservient workers to fill the cogs of corporations and produce cheap research for them? At most universities, colleges, and especially high schools, a small elite group of administrators (or trustees) decides what happens and students, community, faculty and staff have very little say. What kind of values are being taught when our schools are being run like corporations?