[diggers350] Prayer vigil in support of the Dine'h (Navajo) of Arizona

[Jim]

Hi, please forward this on to anyone who you think needs to know this. 


WANTED DEAD: 16,000 NAVAJO NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS!

Announcement of a 7 hour prayer vigil at the US Embassy, Grovesner Square,
London, on October the 2nd 1999, in conjunction with at least 6 other
vigils happening around the world, and the Navajo’s own sacred ceromonies
in Arizona.
 
The U.S. Government is currently carrying out a policy of complete genocide
in North eastern Arizona - against the people of the peaceful Navajo Indian
Nation in the name of big business. Billions of dollars worth of coal have
been discovered under their land, so they are being forced to vacate their
sacred areas, and watch as their burial grounds are bulldozed in front of
their very eyes.

The "land" they are being forced to move into is downstream from the site
of America’s WORST nuclear waste spillage accident - which happened in
1979. The radiation in that area has been measured to be SECOND to that of
the "Chernobyl" disaster in Russia. In just the first six months after
having arrived in the "new lands", - 4,000 of the Navajo people were dead.
That was back in 1980,.. the remaining population have since been ravaged
by diseases, the most horrendous birth defects in their children being born
there, extreme heart-break from being separated from the sacred lands that
are so close to their culture, and an early death.

About 4,000 still remain to be illegally evicted from their lands. Despite
breaking international human rights laws, governing both freedom of
religion, and their right to practice and continue their traditional rural
ways, - new laws have been "invented" to legalise the actions being
performed against the Navajo (Dine'h) people. 
 
The people that remain are mostly elders, - their ages ranging from 60 to
92, they are traditional in their ways,.. rearing sheep and grazing their
cattle, and have lived off the land in these parts for hundreds, if not
thousands of years. Their attachment to the land is a major part of their
cultural identity, ..they do not know how to survive and live in cities and
towns according to the demands of modern society, many of them cannot speak
English. Now they are being forced to move by laws they neither understand
nor are explained to them,.. they live daily under threats and abuse from
the authorities around them. 

The US government is permitting all this to happen, using "puppet"
organisations like the Hopi Tribal Council - in order to disguise their
actions as "another Indian range war", - when the fact is, is that the Hopi
Nation too are suffering as those who have been living alongside the Dine'h
since time indefinite, - as they have modern industrialisation forced upon
them and their ancient ways, and into their villages and towns, by Peabody
Coal Company. 

The Hopi are shocked at the conditions they see their neighbours being
forced to live under,
* Their animals are taken away, and being deliberately starved.
* They have been refused to make any repairs on their houses - so much as
even mending a broken window,.. - the threat of Jail hangs over them if
they do. 
* They have been forbidden to gather and collect firewood - despite the
fact that it gets down to minus 30 degrees in the wintertime.
* Their houses are regularly raided and searched, and any firewood found -
is then confiscated.
* In a desert environment, - their water supply is cut off,.. the pipes are
dug up, sealed off, and removed.
There are many other abuses taking place here, including the  investment
made by the Hopi Tribal Council - in training as well as arming a SWAT
assault group to threaten and intimidate these 
elderly residents even further into forcing them to move!

These actions are illegal, as the relocation act governing them was passed
without a hearing held, besides the numerous human rights'  abuses, and
have been funded by over 350 million TAXPAYER dollars, without the
knowledge and consent of the US public. 
Now the promise has been made - that this issue will come to it's
"conclusion" - by February 1, 2000. 

Please help us stop these actions - by joining with us in protest outside
the US Embassy on October 2nd, at 12 midday, and running on from there -
throughout the day. 

This is a peaceful demonstration, and is part of a world-wide concentrated
effort happening outside embassies in SWEDEN, JAPAN, the NETHERLANDS, here
in England, - as well as other nations, and right across the United States
including NEW YORK, WASHINGTON D.C., and LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. 

These simultaneous, world-wide demonstrations are not only to protest the
human rights violations and ethnic cleansing being conducted by the United
States government against the Dine'h in Arizona, but also to protest the
media blackout and lies being told by the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) to
the American public and to the world about what is REALLY going on there!

We have only months to go now, - before the February 1, 2000, arrives! For
more details about the prayer vigil here in London, or for more information
about the genocide of the Dine’h, please contact 

JIM BOMFORD -:
 Telephone: 01248 450168. Email: mongoose at gn.apc.org

Or RAY STARK -: 
 Telephone: 01703 633806. Email: Eagleseestruth at Hotmail.com

 "Let's do it before we don't do it!"

There will be places for people to stop overnight in London, and hopefully,
there will be food! The elders ask that candles and drums be brought and
that respect be shown to the authorities. 

If you can help the elders financially, please pay money into the following
account:

Bank of America
Pacific Palisades Branch
15314 Sunset Boulevard
Pacific Palisades, CA  90272, USA. 

Account Name:  Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs
Account Number:  09380 - 32876
Routing Number:  121000358

Please have the bank officer write on the wire instructions that funds are
allocated for Sovereign Dineh Nation.

This link is the homepage of the South Eastern Native American Alliance
(SENAA) contains info about the up and coming vigils around the us and
worldwide>>>

http://members.xoom.com/senaa/

Another important link>>>

http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/pagea~1.htm

The press contact for Dine'h Soverign Nation (DSN), the grassroots body of
the Dine'h (Navajo), based in Arizona is: 
Carol S. Halberstadt, 001 617-332-0290; 
email: carol at migrations.com 

Carol can provide extensive background and current information, liaison
contacts with people on the land, a full press kit, including resource list
of experts for the press to consult with, and so on.

Contact info for the...
Sovereign Dineh Nation
P.O. Box 1968
Kaibeto, AZ 86053
Email: dinetah29 at aol.com
Tel: 520-673-3461