From Chapter 14 of #KleeBenally's book, #NoSpiritualSurrender - #IndigenousAnarchy, #InDefenseOfTheSacred:

"Although the #NavajoTribalCouncil established a mass scale farming initiative called '#NavajoAgriculturalProductsIndustry (#NAPI),' the farm has stated on its website that it plants genetic #HybridCorn seed purchased from '#PioneerSeedCompany, #Syngenta Inc., and #Monsanto companies.' In 2014, in an attempt to 'curb' the diabetes epidemic, the #NavajoNationCouncil created a law that raised the sales tax for cheap junk foods sold on Navajo Nation and another removing sales tax from fresh fruits and vegetables. Economic pressure on those already struggling while not addressing the root causes and environmental degradation is par for the course for the #colonial government and Navajo politicians.

"Instead of directly feeding ourselves and communities, we have become dependent on businesses and corporations that are more concerned with profits than our health and well-being. The #BoardingSchools were replete with capitalist indoctrination to forcibly assimilate #Diné children into colonial society. The curriculum was designed with a clear lesson: To feed our families we needed jobs. To have jobs we needed to be trained. To be trained we needed to obey. To not have a job means you’re poor. To employ other workers is to build wealth. To build wealth means success."

Page 302, KleeBenally, NoSpiritualSurrender.

#CorporateColonialism #FoodSecurity #FoodInsecurity #GMOs #BigAg #EndCapitalism #Colonialism #Decolonize #TraditionalFoods #Capitalism #CapitalismMustDie #CulturalGenocide

I knew Klee's grandmother, #RobertaBlackgoat -- and supported her with #MutualAid and telling her side of the story in the early days of the web. Rest in Power, Klee!
💔  

#KleeBenally 'Carry On'

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, April 9, 2024

"Klee, discussing resource extraction, and how the #NavajoTribalCouncil was created to sign #oil and #gas leases, quotes our friend, the gentle, soft-spoken farmer from Shiprock, who received his doctorate degree before passing, Larry Emerson.

"'There is no point in trying to #decolonize the Navajo government -- it was not right for us from the start. Its structure and process is a replica of the American system, and the American system appears to be edging toward the possibility of failure like the great #RomanEmpire.'

"Writing on these monsters, oil and gas extraction, and coal mining, Klee quotes #LouiseBenally of #BigMountain, his aunt, whose family spent their lives resisting coal mining, #ForcedRelocation, and the machinery of the tribal government.

"Louise said, 'The natural laws and the Indigenous Peoples were already here in a good relationship before the coming of the #colonial society who draws laws and boundaries. However, we #IndigenousPeoples will always have ties with these lands, we will continue to live that way with #nature and we will carry on.'

"Klee shares the words of his grandmother, Roberta Blackgoat, who never gave up the fight. 'The Coal they strip mine is the Earth's liver."
Although many have passed, and too many have died from broken hearts, there are those who live on, carry on.

"Klee writes, 'The remaining resisters to forced relocation have outlived the monster that was consuming our lands, stealing our water, and polluting our lungs.'

"Before passing, Klee described the monsters, the rage against the machine, and the ways of restoring balance and harmony. Klee Benally's book, 'No Spiritual Surrender: Indigenous Anarchy in the Defense of the Sacred,' can be ordered at: https://detritusbooks.com/products/no-spiritual-surrender-indigenous-anarchy-in-defense-of-the-sacred
at April 09, 2024

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/04/klee-benally-carry-on.html

#PeabodyCoal #BigMountainResistance #LandBack #LandBackNow #IndigenousPeoples #Dineh #NoUraniumMining #DefendTheSacred #EnvironmentalRacism #CulturalGenocide #Colonialism #CorporateColonialism #BigOilAndGas #RageAgainstTheMachine #IndigenousAnarchy #EarthDefenders #WaterIsLife

No Spiritual Surrender: Indigenous Anarchy in Defense of the Sacred by Klee Benally