Sep 06

Paraphased Timeline of all Yuct Ne Senxiymetkwe Camp posts

Paraphrased Timeline of all Yuct Ne Senxiymetkwe Camp posts:
Main Source page:
Source unedited crosspost:

Date Posted—Day since Spill—Day of camp
August 18th- present timeline:

August 19th 2014 Sacred Fire lit at Imperial Mine entrance to call people gather and organize to move forward in a good way.

August 20h 2014: 2nd day- Land defenders sleep in shifts to monitor site and learn human waste still being disposed off, and clean up not a priority. Marine biologist states the site looks like hell. Local RCMP visit encampment.

August 22nd, 2014: 3rd day of camp

Encampment has visitors from Northern Secwepemc Xat’sull tribe- stories are shared, and supplies given to the encampment. Local Likely residents help in putting up tents and share stories—Encampment grows. Welcoming all visitors and donations.

August 23rd, 2014: 6th day of camp—The encampment continues to draw more people. Offers of fish from passerbys, and locals from Likely stay all day. Cheif Ann Louie of Williams Lake Indian band promises to resupply wood for the Sacred Fire, and sends a truckload.

Thompson River university language immersion class visits encampment and shares a song they wrote about singing loons that are heard at the camp every night. Stories are shared and the encampment has housing for elders and children in the way of a local cabin

August 24th, 2014: 7th day of encampment:Secwepemc Elder jean Williams from T’exelc brought spring salmon from Nuxalk, potatoes and corn and proceeded to instruct camp on traditional way of cooking salmon. Over food they shared information and made plans to move forward. Decided to hold a community feast and invite Likely resident as well as Secwepemc—plan to release report of findings later on in weak.

August 25th, 2014: 8th day of camp:

Sewepemc family form Williams Lake donates deer heart and spring salmon– more food donated from Discovery Organic.– News of local videographer chased away from spill site by security. Heightened security has become more obvious not only to encampment,but also Likely residents who feel unsure and uneasy as to what’s happened. Water ban was temporary lifted, but put back into place.

August 27th 2014– 10th day of encampment–

elders asked firekeeper to place prayer stick as close to devastated land and water as possible. Delegation leaves camp for Hazeltien Creek–chemical smell overwhelms and causes instant nausea. Uncountable amount of animal tracks found near site-Cougars, bears, moose, deer, birds, all had come. back at camp to prepare for feast—and to release spill assessment.

“The magnitude of the devastation and the intensity of the impact zone is something that does not and cannot translate via film or video. The scope of the long term impact to the land and life of this territory is nothing short of fatal. This cannot be forgotten, this cannot be overlooked, this cannot be allowed to happen again.”

August 28h, 2014—11day of encampment.

A feast and gathering was held with over 100 attendees and people from- Secwepemc, St’at’imc. Tsilhqot’in, Nuu Chah Nulth, Likely, Clayoquot Sound, Green Party members and media. Five chiefs were in attendance-Chief Darrell bob and Chief Michelle Edwards from St’at’imc, Cheif Francis Alec from Pavilion, Chief mike Archie Secwepemc from Canim Lake and Chief Roger Williams from Tsilhqot’in—they were presented with a 20 page spill assessment created by the encampment and various experts who came through in the previous days.

Link to report:

Encampment putting together panel of experts to make a presentations

Posted August 30th—12 day of camp–25th day of disaster

Salmon start their run—no clean up apparent, no clean drinking water in Likely.
Camp starts contacting various experts while continuing to collect information for their second report.

Current Status: no clean water—water situation not improving—Spanish mountain where residents advised to get water from closed do to finding arsenic in water. Imperial Metal started selling off assets and stockpiles.

August 31st, 2014—Day 13 of Sacred Fire—Day 26 of disaster.

Salmon jump up the falls to their spawning grounds. Locals come to the camp and watch and hearts are uplifted by the Salmons strength. The devastation of the local area weighs heavy as camp members prepare for winter and rain. 2 weeks the fire has burned and has brought together people from all nations in the common goal of protecting the water and territory.

September 1st, 2014—Day 14 of Sacred fire–Day 27 of disaster

Elders harvest Secwepemc most power medicine and give to the camp to”open our minds and guide our hearts”

The day is talk of decolonization-reclaiming language, food. Talk about displacement and dispossession– “Our struggles are all connnected and that if we don’t’ empower ourselves to take action, if we don’t do it, nobody is going to.” The work of the camp is only the first step. And the next step we must all do together.
September 1st–Day 28th of Disaster– 14th day of Sacred Fire.

At direction from the elders the camp is disbaned. The campers now ready to take the information gathered to Secwepemc communities, to listen and learn and speak. To share what they have learned over the alst 2 weeks. They talk everyone who came to the camp, who heard the call of fire.

“We’re  building everyday, each of us has a part of a solution, a piece of a  bigger puzzle. When we come together we can see so much, do so much, be  so much. The time is now, the place is here. Although we broke camp,  this fire continues. It burns in everybody. It spreads quickly. It can  do great things. “

Elders sttate that women started fire and are powerful and must take their role and responbility seriously—women’s time isnow.

Learn from the past, prepare in the present to defend the future.

September 3rd, 2014 day 29 of disaster

Campers traveling stop at Adams Lake—a water system under threat if Imperial Metals go through and mine for lead and zinc at Ruddock Creek. After seeing the disaster at Mt. polley—we’ve vowed to protect our waters

The morning CBC reported imperial metals stating that clean up wouldn’t start for 100 days as the continue to empty out Polley lake—Raised money, but won’t go towards cleanup, but opening Red Chris Mine—

Campers visted Elder Wolverine and Elder Flor, Ts’peten (Gustafson lake 1995) We present what we’ve learned, we present picures and maps and video from the site. We spend time on the phone..
A message from Elder and warrior Wolverrine:

“As people, we are the true decision makers on the land and once we let go of structures of destruction and oppression, we will make better decisions, we will build a better world.”

September 5th 2014—Day 30 of the disaster

The fire spreads. We move—to the island to reunite with friends and family—to Williams Lake and Soda Creek- we spread the things we learn—Some of us in Kamloops with Secwepemc and Okanagan friends—we present plot and plan—we organize.

The fire spreads, quicker every day– We feel anger and outrage, the weekly Imperial Metals meetings at Likely have stopped after the corporation publicly admitted it wasn’t cleaned up the spill.

2 days after the Imperial metals spill, a tailings pond in Mexico breached. Group Mexico was fined and criminal charges laid against their company. In Canada, Imperial Metals is allowed to build more mines and is not held accountable for it’s disasters.

We are more determined than ever—-We make alliances and determined to stop pipelines, the tar sands, the logging, Any and all means necessary.

September 5th, 2014 Day 31 of disaster:

Imperial Metals is not cleaning up, Imperial metlas is not being charged, fined, or held to account for what they have done and will continue doing, Imperial metals is continue operations at their Mt Polley Mine, moving assets and shuffling cards to continue to open Red Chris mine in Tahltan territory and Ruddock creek Mine in Secwepemc territory. They do not have our consent and will never ask for it, or be given it.

We must organize– We must stand in the way off the destroying machine. We must put our bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and we must make it stop.

“Today  we are in the process of what will be bigger things. Today we are  assembling our armies. Today we are making ourselves free, finding our  allies, those we will act with independently. Today we know the meaning  of solidarity. Today we are applying all of these things. Today we are  starting the fires of victory. Tomorrow we are burning.”

September 6th, 2014—Day 32 of disaster

You ask what can you do/ “What can we do?” Listen closely, when this camp page writes “we” it is not referring to only camp members—We isa collective- We as a whole- We as all of us, as a unit can and will come togetehr if we know whats good for us.

We organize-in cells-in affinity groups—families communities. Take actions we feel are needed. Drop banners hold bridges Stand in the way of the machines.

On Monday we’re holding a press conference to share what we’ve learned.. “We know this: The  mining industry is a monster. We can’t do this on our own. None of us  can. So get informed. Get angry. Get doing. It’s time for better things. “

Sep 05

Posts from encampment monitoring Mt. Polley spill.

Crossposted from : https://www.facebook.com/yuctnesenxiymetkwecamp?fref=nf

 

Yuct ne Senxiymetkwe Camp monitors the Imperial Metals Mine tailings spill. These are their updates:

 

 

Secwepemc women light the sacred fire at Yuct Ne Senxiymetkwe on August 18th 2014, 5pm. 

 

Day 2 of the camp!15 days after the Imperial Metals Mount Polley Mine disaster, land defenders slept in shifts at the site and monitored the activity in and out the mine throughout the night. Between the hours of 5 pm and 5 am, at least 9 heavy loads went through with 43,000 kg of metals and chemicals.Throughout the day we spoke with people entering and leaving Mount Polley mine site, workers, contractors, delivery drivers and provincial parks officer. We learned that at the mine site, no one is talking about the spill, there is no clean up and there are no plans to clean up. We learned that none of the workers have been informed about the impacts and effects of the spill and that today, workers were swimming in Polley lake, where the tailings are being emptied, without any biohazard suits, checking the pumps and removing dead fish. We learned that some of these trucks coming in to site were delivering human solid waste and medical waste from Vancouver to be dumped into the empty pits on the mine site.

We also spoke with Likely and area residents who were happy to see us maintaining a presence at the site. They shared the on the ground after effects of the spill, negative health effects they and their loved ones were experiencing, and expressed concern for their water. Residents offered support and brought days worth of wood for the sacred fire.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs visited the fire today to talk with land defenders and hang the Secwepemc Okanagan confederacy flag at the camp. We were also visited by Alexandra Morton, a marine biologist, who after taking samples from the spill site described what she saw as hell, there was thick blue film on the water at Quesnel Lake, and the bark was black and falling from the trees nearby.

A Staff Sergeant and Aboriginal Policing Officer from the Williams Lake RCMP detachment also payed the camp a visit after being tipped off by news reporters.

We are keeping the sacred fire going and maintaining the camp but we need your help. We welcome people to visit and join in solidarity and offer prayers to the fire for the water and strength to come together to find a collective way out of this disaster.

 

 

August 23rd: 2014:
On the 18th day after the Imperial Metals Mount Polley disaster and the 5th day of the sacred fire, camp members were visited by women from the Northern Secwepemc Xat’sull tribe the women brought supplies and warm company to the fire. They sang songs, shared stories and language and reinvigorated all those around them with a renewed sense of purpose and strength. Visitors from Nuxalk nation also stopped by and loaded up the encampment with fresh vegetables and fruit and much needed blankets for our overnight fire keepers. The day passed quickly as several local Likely residents kept camp members company, chopping wood, putting up tarps and tents and sharing stories.

At the encampment, there are now 3 tents set up and visitors and camp members grow in number very day. Camp members are in high spirits with bellies full of food and warm blankets. We welcome all visitors and donations.
August 24th, 2014:
On the 19th day after the Imperial Metals Mount Polley disaster and the 6th day of the sacred fire, camp members are busy all day. We get more and more visitors, more and more food, more and more information on what is happening here. We are building momentum, we are building solidarity, we are building a better world for our children.

The day started with a young family joining camp members at the fire, who brought wood, fresh vegetables from their garden and material to make banners for the encampment. We learn so much from these kinds of visits and are starting to get a fuller and more detailed picture of the disaster, the mine and Imperial Metals’ plan or lack thereof for cleanup.

Two Secwepemc men were on their way home from fishing and drove by the camp, and after seeing us, turned right around, came back and offered 2 large salmon for the camp.

We see more and more of our neighbours every day, local Likely residents and surrounding Secwepemc residents, who stay longer and longer and find it harder and harder to leave. Today the Thompson River University language immersion class from Xatsull (Soda Creek) made a field trip up to the camp and talked about learning the language and making drums. They shared a song they had composed in their class about the singing loons we hear at the camp every night. Several Likely residents spent the entire day at the camp, doing work and sharing food.

Chief Ann Louie from the Williams Lake Indian Band had visited two days ago and promised to resupply the sacred fire and camp with fire wood, today she sent a counselor from the band with a truckload of wood. We also had a visit from the local chapter of the Council of Canadians and a friend and organizer from the city. They brought groceries, strategized with camp members and visited Likely to see about the sediment plumes being found in Quesnel Lake.

The day ended with Doreen Manuel who will be joining the camp for a few days, delivering 30 fish sent by Elder June Quipp from Cheam and more groceries from Capilano University.

The sacred fire is calling people together, we see it happening every day. We have made arrangements for elders and children to be housed in a cabin nearby with heat and showers. We have so much food and information to share and we can’t wait to see you here.

August 25th, 2014:

On the 20th day after the Imperial Metals Mount Polley disaster and the 7th day of the sacred fire, camp members are treated to a very special feast. The day was spent preparing, feasting and reuniting with family and loved ones. Secwepemc Elder Jean Williams from T’exelc brought a spring salmon from Nuxalk, potatoes and corn and proceeded to instruct camp members on the traditional way of  cooking salmon. The food was cooked over a newly finished food pit and was more than enough for camp members and visitors.

Evelyn  Camille, Gary Billy, Stewart Dick arrived in time to eat with us from  Kamloops and Neskonlith. The meal was delicious and filled our bellies  full. While we ate, we discussed with our new arrivals the information  we had collected and made plans with them to move forward. We decided to  announce a community feast for this Thursday and invite Likely  residents as well as Secwepemc to gather around the fire to do the same  thing we did today. We have fish and food to share.

We are  gathering our data on the spill and after speaking with, among others,  an environmental technician working at the lake, are anxious to release a  report this week on all that we’ve learned.

August 26th, 2014:

On  the 21st day after the Imperial Metals Mount Polley disaster and the  8th day of the sacred fire, camp members welcome visitors from all over.  On the way back home from hunting and fishing, a Secwepemc family from  Williams Lake donated a deer heart and a spring salmon as well as some treats for children at the camp.

Celia Nord, wild salmon advocate, also visited the camp from Chase and brought with her a large donation from Discovery Organic foods, peaches, oranges, apples, rice, beans, carrots and so much more.

We heard from a videographer who reached Polley Lake and was chased away by security that has been hired and tightened up since the spill happened. This heightened security along with a lack of answers from Imperial Metals Mount Polley Mine about what they’re doing or not doing is  confusing and seems to camp members and locals who have also bumped up against heightened security, incriminating in and of itself.

The re-issued water ban and advisory was a topic of concern and conversation at the camp today with local residents expressing anger, frustration and confusion. Can they drink the water? Are they being lied to? Who can they trust?

A Secwepemc woman who has done extensive research on other Imperial Metals mines, Ruddock Creek and Red Chris, made it to our camp today and is staying the week to help us write our report and connect all three mines and the issues and impacts they have on our communities.

The camp is actively deploying and surveying the surrounding area, teams of people were sent out today to gather information and confirm reports and concerns brought to the camp by locals in the area.

We finished off our evening with a feast and serenade by the famous Secwepemc Wally Churchill. We ate the deer heart, salmon, rice, corn and greens while reviewing our week and strategizing for the days ahead.

August 28th, 2014:
On  the 23nd day after the Imperial Metals Mount Polley disaster and the  10th day of the sacred fire, camp members woke up early to prepare for  tomorrow’s community feast and meeting. Our fire keeper had been charged  by his elders to plant a prayer stick  as close to the devastated land and water as possible. And so, a  delegation was sent from the camp to Hazeltine Creek a kilometre from  the tailings storage facility and Polley Lake. Upon arriving, the stench  of chemicals was overwhelming and caused instant nausea, the  devastation was overwhelming. Plant life had been seared into the  ground, burnt by the metals and chemicals in the tailings. Most  upsetting of all was the sheer amount of animal tracks in and around the  impacted area. Cougars, bears, moose, deer, birds, all had come  searching for water, for the small creek they’d always known to be here.  What they had found was death. It was with heavy hearts that the  delegation planted the prayer stick and left the area, making their way  back to the camp.

While the delegation was away, back at the  campsite, camp members were busy with making banners, organizing and  reorganizing food and supplies and cooking. We were also very busy with  writing our initial assessment report, the first independent report to  come out of this disaster, compiling all of the information we’ve  learned from workers, residents, Imperial Metals and the government.

The magnitude of the devastation and the intensity of the impact zone  is something that does not and cannot translate via film or video. The  scope of the long term impact to the land and life of this territory is  nothing short of fatal. This cannot be forgotten, this cannot be  overlooked, this cannot be allowed to happen again.
August 29th:
On the 24th day after the Imperial Metals  Mount Polley disaster and the 11th day of the sacred fire, we celebrate.  Today was our community meeting and feast day and it was also the day  we released our 20 page Initial Assessment Report on the Imperial Metals Mount Polley Tailings Storage Facility Breach. Today was a day of victories.

We started cooking late yesterday and woke up to continue filleting  fish, cooking up potatoes, squash, carrots, quinoa and so much more. A  Secwepemc man from Williams Lake even set up his mobile bannock stand to  cook up enough bannock to feed an army. Time passed quickly and people  from all over, Secwepemc, St’at’imc, Tsilhqot’in, Nuu Chah Nulth,  Likely, Clayoquot Sound, Green Party members and media began arriving  early in the afternoon. As the day went by, more tents went up,  including a wall tent purchased through the generous donations on our  fundraiser site that we’re so excited to use!

The camp filled  up quickly with people and the extra tables filled up even quicker with  food. As dinner was being prepared, people sat and gathered around the  fire, singing, drumming and sharing. It felt like magic. We must have  had about 100 or so visitors, 5 Chiefs attended, Grandmothers, mothers,  medicine women spoke and sang at the fire, Chief Darrell Bob and Chief  Michelle Edwards from St’at’imc, Chief Francis Alec from Pavilion, Chief  Mike Archie Secwepemc from Canim Lake and Chief Roger Williams from  Tsilhqot’in.

Chief Roger Williams, instrumental in bringing  about the Supreme Court Tsilhqot’in decision was presented with our 20  page Initial Assessment report and so were all the other Chiefs present.  This report will be posted on this page tomorrow morning and can be  emailed to you by request at imperialnomore@gmail.com.

We are  very quickly assembling our own independent panel of experts to assess  and bring their knowledge to the site and situation. It’s an exciting  time.

All said and done, it was a very special and very  powerful night. We danced, we sang, we feasted, we met, we loved, we  grieved and we were all gifted with a great sense of hope and strength.  Today was a victory, tomorrow will be a victory and so will the day  after that, the day after that and the day after that. To everyone that  attended, thank you, to everyone that couldn’t, we missed you.

August 30th:
On  Day 25 of the disaster and the 12th day of the sacred fire, the camp is  strategizing. Today the salmon are running and there are still no clean  up efforts, no clean drinking water in Likely and the Department of  Fisheries and Ocean is still nowhere to be seen.

Camp members spend all day on the phone calling doctors, biologists and  mining watch experts. The camp is already gearing up to release a  second report, collecting evidence and opinion from experts not  connected to Imperial Metals or the provincial government so that the  resulting information is independent and less likely to be influenced by  corporate or political/economic interests. While we collect information  for our second report, the report released by the camp yesterday is  disseminating information that the provincial government and Imperial  Metals do not want disclosed.

To date there is no clean, fresh,  safe drinking water for the town of Likely and so today we send  delegations out to Likely and up Spanish Mountain to investigate the  water situation and what we find is infuriating. Neither Imperial Metals  nor the provincial government has made any plans for residents here to  have access to clean water and today Spanish Mountain, where people are  being advised to get their water from, was closed due to high levels of  arsenic in their water.

We are almost a month out of the  Imperial Metals Mount Polley disaster and there are still no plans for  clean up, no tailings containment efforts, but truck traffic has only  increased in and out of the mine. Imperial Metals is selling off their  stockpiles and assets and none of the money is going to any kind of  clean up efforts.

By the end of the night, we are joined  around the fire by journalists, filmmakers, lawyers and family today and  we spend time eating, sharing and working late into the night on legal  strategy.

August 31st 2014:
On  Day 26 of the disaster and the 13th day of the sacred fire, the camp  sends out a delegation to Cariboo River. The salmon have started to run  and some local residents were eager to take members of the encampment  out to see them jump up the falls on  their way to their spawning grounds. Camp members came back with tears  and with laughter. Tears for the utter destruction and loss Imperial  Metals has reeked on this community, on our relatives. Laughter to see  the fish strong and swimming up a waterfall that roars like a jet plane.

Nicole Schabus and Arthur Manuel make breakfast and provide  new energy and powerful new perspectives to the work the camp and the  fire is doing. A new friend from Salmon Arm, Secwepemc territory, visits  today bringing with him two boxes of fruits and vegetables he’s grown.  We’re so grateful to have him with us. A Secwepemc/Tsilhqot’in family  stops by on their way back from picking berries, leaving some for camp  members and feeding some to the fire.

Winter’s coming and the  rain comes with it. Camp members are working hard and sacrificing so  much to keep the fire lit and strong all day, all night. It’s been  almost two weeks since we came up here with little more than firewood  and hope. We now have a full encampment, kitchen, storage tent, food for  days and days and days, a community of nations and love. So much love.  It’s possible, with faith and prayers and strength, it’s possible for  all of us to build something better, cleaner and free from these  shackles of greed and individualism.

It’s an exciting time for  us here. People from all nations are regular visitors, supporters, camp  residents and camp followers, and so the camp is building a wide and far  reaching strategy, bringing together all of us with the common goal of  protection and defence of water and of this territory.

September 1st, 2014:

On  Day 27 of the disaster and the 14th day of the sacred fire, the camp is  busy. We are visited by our Secwepemc Elders who had gone to the high  mountains, where the most powerful medicines and berries grow, to survey  the disaster from a new vantage point.  They spoke to us about the devastation they saw, the grey sludge that is  coating what once was Hazeltine Creek, that was quickly moving into the  waterways and visible in the lake. They harvested one of our most  powerful Secwepemc medicines and brought it to us to open our minds and  guide our hearts.

We spend our day connecting to the fire,  cooking and eating together. One of our camp members cooked a  traditional Indian meal from her ancestral home, roti from scratch and a  curry with all of the home grown tomatoes and onions we were gifted  from Salmon Arm. She is in the process of decolonization, reclaiming her  language and her food. While we eat, we talk about colonialism,  displacement and dispossession, we talk about the destruction of our  lands and our water, we talk about how our struggles are all connected  and that if we don’t empower ourselves to take action, if we don’t do  it, nobody is going to.

We also spend time assembling our  expert advisory panel and are gearing up for our attack. The work this  camp has done is the first step, the work we are all going to do is the  next one.

There’s so much to do, we have a responsibility to  each other and to our future generations. We have a responsibility to  the land, the water, the salmon and all of our relatives. Let’s live up  to it.

September 1st:

On Day 28 of the disaster the sacred fire has  spread. We celebrate the two weeks we’ve spent in the Northern part of  Secwepemc territory at Yuct Ne Senxiymetkwe. On direction of our elders,  we are continuing our struggle, we are breaking camp,  we are coming down from the mountain. We have spent time learning and  sharpening our focus while we built a busy and beautiful encampment  stocked with fresh fruits, vegetables, salmon and deer.

We are  ready to take all of the information we’ve gathered to the Nation, the  People. We are ready to send runners to each Secwepemc community to  listen, learn and speak, to share all of the things we’ve learned in  these last two weeks.

If we want to be true stewards, true  caretakers of our land, we must be good watchers, monitors and  protectors, we must be actively on the land. Only we can do this, we’ve  learned that the government, the corporations, those “in charge” are not  true stewards or true caretakers.

We’ve learned that a small  number of people supported by communities and Nations can do big things.  Can reach hundreds of thousands of people, can gather nations and  strength, can expose truth in lies and most importantly find answers  where once there were only questions. Now imagine what a unified Nation  of People could do, will do.

We honor all of the People that  responded to the call of the fire, there were so many of you. The elders  that came to show us how to cook salmon over a fire, the berry pickers  who dropped off buckets full of huckleberries, the local residents who  took shifts watching the fire at night, moved in with us and opened  their hearts and their minds, the women who came to sing, the fishermen  and the hunters with fresh meat for the camp, and everyone else who gave  prayers, thought of us and sent us strength and courage. There’s so  much to do and we’re going to keep needing all of you.

We’re  building everyday, each of us has a part of a solution, a piece of a  bigger puzzle. When we come together we can see so much, do so much, be  so much. The time is now, the place is here. Although we broke camp,  this fire continues. It burns in everybody. It spreads quickly. It can  do great things.

For the women, a special message from our  elders. This fire was started by women. You are powerful. You must take  your role and responsibility seriously. Men have had their time, it’s  women’s time now, we’re coming in to the positive. We are rebuilding,  reclaiming, reknowing, rewilding.

Learn from the past, prepare in the present to defend the future.

The Yuct Ne Senxiymetkwe camp Facebook page continues as we count days from the disaster and share the work we are all doing.

Secwepemculecw wel me7 yews, wel me7 yews

September 3rd, 2014:

On  Day 29 of the disaster, the fire in our hearts is burning strong. Late  last night, on our way back to Neskonlith, we stop at Adams Lake, a part  of the water system that would be effected if we allow Imperial Metals  to go through with their plans for a  lead and zinc mine at Ruddock Creek. After seeing the utter destruction  the Imperial Metals Mount Polley Mine wrought on Northern Secwepemc  territory, we vowed to protect our waters. This is a responsibility we  all hold, and only when we stand together will we fulfill it.

This morning, we were listening to CBC radio and heard Imperial Metals  publicly admitting they are taking no action to meaningfully clean up  the mess they’ve made and are focusing on emptying Polley Lake. This  would take at least 100 days, which means clean up of the toxic sludge  coating what once was Hazeltine Creek will not occur until at least the  spring. They went on to say they had raised millions of dollars, through  an unsecured debt instrument, that would not be going to clean up  efforts but would be spent instead on their Red Chris mine project  further North in Tahltan territory. The provincial or the federal  government sit quietly by, protecting the corporation and themselves in  the process. This cannot and will not be allowed. The people are  grieving, the people are full of dignified anger and outrage and the  people will not allow this to happen again.

And so we bring  the urgency and the first hand accounts to all of you who are reading  and to the elders and people in our communities. Today camp members  visit Elder Wolverine and Elder Flo, Ts’peten (Gustafson Lake 1995)  defenders, on the Adams Lake reserve. We present what we’ve learned, we  present pictures and maps and video from the site. We plan our community  meeting and strategize on where the government is weakest and how to  expose these weaknesses.

We also spend time on the phone,  calling nationally and internationally and are quickly building a strong  and independent team of experts, scientists, lawyers, elders,  engineers, who will guide us and help us build a broad and powerful  truth and movement.

The place is here and the time is now. The  corporations and government destroy without any impunity. A special  message from Elder and warrior Wolverine: As people, we are the true  decision makers on the land and once we let go of structures of  destruction and oppression, we will make better decisions, we will build  a better world.

September 5th 2014:

On  Day 30 of the disaster, we move. Some of us take off to the Island to  reunite with friends and family, to share our rage and our stories. Some  of us are in Williams Lake and Soda Creek, spreading the things we have  learnt and continue learning. Some of  us are in Kamloops with Secwepemc and Okanagan friends and family,  presenting, plotting and planning. Some of us are in Vancouver,  organizing.

The fire is spreading, quicker and quicker every  day, we’re all feeling the anger, the outrage that the media, the  government and Imperial Metals are trying to dismiss. This week, there  were no meetings held in Likely. Since the spill happened, the  provincial government and Imperial Metals held town hall meetings with  the community, this week, nothing. This, immediately following the  corporation’s public admittance on CBC radio that there are no plans for  clean up at least until Spring. It’s obvious that the corporation, hand  in hand with the government, is making a quick and dirty getaway.

Two days after the Imperial Metals Mount Polley mine tailings damn  breach, in Mexico, the Grupo Mexico Buenavista Copper Mine tailings  storage facility also breached. Grupo Mexico has been fined millions of  dollars and criminal charges have been laid. Meanwhile, Imperial Metals  is opening up more mines and mountains, destroying more rivers and  lakes. The government and the RCMP will not hold them accountable and so  the responsibility falls to us, collectively. If Imperial Metals is  allowed to continue, the blame falls to us, collectively. So do  something, do anything, get angry, get acting.

Today, we  spend time talking to independent film makers, biologists and lawyers.  We talk conferences and class actions. We talk meetings and direct  actions. We are all fighting and soon, we will all be winning. Our water  is precious, our salmon are precious and all that depends on that  salmon is precious. We will all protect it in the ways we can and the  ways we must.

Today, we are making alliances within and  between our Nations. The Secwepemc will be doing presentations and  holding meetings through the fall and the winter at home and in  surrounding impacted communities. We suggest all should start doing the  same. There is power in our families and our communities. We are more  determined than ever to stop Imperial Metals from opening another mine  in Ruddock Creek. We are more determined than ever to stop the Ajax  mines from going through. We are more determined than ever to stop the  pipelines, the fish farms, the tar sands, the logging. Any and all means  necessary.
September 5th, 2014:
On  Day 31 of the disaster, Imperial Metals is not cleaning up, Imperial  Metals is not being charged, fined or held to account for what they have  done and will continue doing, Imperial Metals is continuing operations  at their Mount Polley Mine, moving  assets and shuffling cards to continue to push to open Red Chris mine in  Tahltan territory and Ruddock Creek Mine in Secwepemc territory.  Imperial Metals does not have and has not had consent to open any of  these mines. Not from the Indigenous nations, unceded and unsurrendered,  they operate in, or from residents in the area, who are directly  effected when these mines destroy and pollute the environment around  them. Have any of us consented to unchecked and unregulated mining? Have  any of us consented to arsenic, mercury, lead, copper and selenium in  the water we drink, the salmon we eat, the territories we exist in? Have  any of us consented to being subject to heavy metals poisoning, for our  children to be subjected to heavy metals poisoning? We have not. We  have never been asked for consent, we will never be asked for consent  and so we will not wait to be asked for consent. We will act, we will  act in unity, we will act in our communities and we will act for us, our  families, our salmon, and our future generations. For if we do not, we  will look back and we will regret, we will wish we had acted and acted  strongly, acted without hesitation, we will wish we had protected our  water, we will wish we had stood with the Secwepemc, the Tahltan, the  Wetsuweten, the Gixtsan, the Nuu Cha Nulth, the St’at’imc, we will wish  we stood with the true protectors and stewards of the land.

So  now we must organize. We must gather our friends, communities and our  families. We must talk about effective actions and outcomes worth  achieving. We must go beyond protest signs and street side rallies. We  must drop banners. We must stop the boardroom meetings. We must occupy  corporate spaces and buildings. We must not allow this false economy to  keep “operating”. We must stand in the way of the destroying machine. We  must put our bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the  levers, upon all the apparatus, and we must make it stop.

Today  we are in the process of what will be bigger things. Today we are  assembling our armies. Today we are making ourselves free, finding our  allies, those we will act with independently. Today we know the meaning  of solidarity. Today we are applying all of these things. Today we are  starting the fires of victory. Tomorrow we are burning.

 

September 6th, 2014
On Day 32 of the disaster we are working.  Imperial Metals continues to act with impunity. For all who are asking  what can I do? What can we do? Please listen closely. When this camp  page writes “we”, it is not referring to only camp members,  only Secwepemc, only anything or anyone. We is a collective. We as a  whole. We as all of us, as a unit that can and will come together if we  know what’s good for us. 
 
 So what can we do? We can organize,  we can organize in cells, affinity groups, families, communities. We can  take actions we feel are needed and necessary. We can fundraise, we can  send money to the front lines, we can build and break things. Most  importantly we can do so much more than hold signs, street rallies, or  write our MPs. We can do these things today, we can do these things  tomorrow, we can do these things until we are safe, until we are happy,  until we are free. Drop banners. Hold bridges. Stand in the way of the  machines. Stop corporate meetings. Write articles. Educate your friends  and your families. Stop spending money. Start growing things. Opt out of  capitalism and the consumer industry. Do things for free.
 
 Here  are some good places to think about. Imperial Metals’ head office is in  Vancouver BC. 580 Hornby Street, Suite 200. The provincial government’s  offices are in Victoria, B.C.. The Port in Vancouver is continuing to  ship out Imperial Metals’ stockpiles. The Toronto Stock Exchange still  hosts Imperial Metals on its listing.
 
 On Monday we are holding a  press conference to share what we’ve learned through this encampment.  The link below leads to our report on what we learned. We know this: The  mining industry is a monster. We can’t do this on our own. None of us  can. So get informed. Get angry. Get doing. It’s time for better things.

 

Aug 21

Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead Minnesota “Stand With Ferguson & Mike Brown: End Police Brutality”

 

Posted to uneditedmedia.com

Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead Minnesota “Stand With Ferguson & Mike Brown: End Police Brutality”

People gathered for Vigil for Mike Brown

On August 19th, 2014, a week and a half after the protests in Ferguson began, 70 people stood on a bridge connecting Moorhead, MN, to Fargo, ND, at #solidarity rally for Micheal Brown. The held signs some reading: “I stand with Ferguson,MO,” “Justice for Mike Brown,” “Stop Police Brutality.” I walked the line of people and asked them what had brought them out?

End Police Brutality

The first person I spoke to stated “Solidarity.” Something I heard multiple times from the people standing on the border of Minnesota and North Dakota. They wanted people in Ferguson, MO, to know, that even in the North, they’re being heard.

Police Should Not Murder

I asked if they felt what happen to Mike Brown was common and I was met with “Yes. That the issue of police brutality is a deep rooted social issue and needed to change. I was told that the way the police came out in force couldn’t be allowed anywhere in the United States. That if people allowed the police to respond to protests in this way it sets a precedent. That it can’t be allowed.

Justice for Mike Brown

I finally ended up at a group of five people, four young women and a young man. I asked them the same questions, Why they had come? Was it important?

They all said that they were their to stand with Ferguson, MO. Like everyone else I spoke too, but then told me that this can’t be allowed. That it has to change, because it’s going to affect them the most. If the police are allowed to get away with brutality. The young woman I was speaking too stopped, and then mumbled, “I know we’re just teenagers.”

I thanked them, and walked away, but then came back. I asked them if it was okay to know their age, and she said, “Sure, We’re sixteen.” They then told me that they’re the ones who will be the future, and they want to change the world now. They also stated that the rally on this bridge was a just a beginning of what started in Ferguson.

I asked them if they felt like what happened in Ferguson started a movement. They said, “Yeah, this is just the beginning.” I finished by finding out that they felt that their generation knew what was going on in the world. They got all their information from social media, and that they know what’s happening.

Listening to the youth.

I spoke to twelve people and listened to conversations. I don’t know what to think of my short time on that bridge. I just know that the communities in Ferguson who’ve come out in protest of the killing of a unarmed teenager at the hands of the police. Who’ve taken the streets for over a week in protests against the killing and escalating police tactics. They’re being heard. And that two communities one from North Dakota, and one from Minnesota, met on that bridge to stand with the community of Ferguson, MO.

 

Seek Justice

 

by @uneditedcamera

Email questions to uneditedmedia@gmail.com

Jun 12

World Cup & the New Brasilian Insurrection – by Atchu

Posted on www.uneditedmedia.com

Contributed piece from the frontlines of Brazil

fingernails brazil

World Cup & the New Brasilian Insurrection – by Atchu
Sao Paulo, 06/11/2014
tonight at midnight we should know if the subway workers union will strike again, effectively cutting off the main form of transportation to the opening game Stadium, the red subway line, which travels East through the city taking people from the epicenter of Sao Paulo near Av. Paulista to where the game will take place, at Corinthians-Itaquera.

The police created a 2 km radius “freeze-zone” around the Stadium to protect against protestors, but the greatest weakness in the security detail might not be from stereotyped black-blocs or cardboard signs, but rather an auspicious conjoining of forces. the radicalized labor movement, students and specially the Passe-Livre anarchyvists ‪#‎together‬ might be an explosive formula to put down the state-capitalist goliath.
During their first strike about a week ago, the metroviarios demanded “padrao FIFA” (FIFA Standard) transportation for the people, as well as better salaries and working conditions. many stations were closed or picketed, causing city-wide chaos in traffic costing people’s medical appointments, schools had to close earlier, a mayhem.

The Judicial branch intervened, siding with the right-wing governor and the financial class that simply can’t afford this Copa do Mundo to fail and dictated that the strike was “abusive” and therefore the union was sentenced to terminate the strike or face a daily fine of R$ 500,000 per day, about US$ 220,000 per day.

Choked financially, the union scheduled an emergency general assembly to decide the future of the movement this Wednesday, specially eager to discuss solidarity measures for reinstatement of the 42 workers fired in the beginning of the strike last week for using the PA system to promote the strike.
This event radicalized the workers. With the solidarity of other important issue-based social movements, like Passe Livre, the transportation-issue movement that sparked the June demonstrations of 2013, they threatened to strike again on the opening day of the World Cup if subway management and the governor did not hire their comrades back by midnight this Wednesday. With no indication that Geraldo Alckmin, the Governor of Sao Paulo, will back down and accept this demand, another strike is imminent. Or at least a huge mess on the making when the anarchist black-blocs do what they do very well: direct action.
Without the red line, the main artery that communicates the downtown area with Corinthians-Itaquera where the game will be, the vicinities of the Stadium might turn out to be a living hell, since other road alternatives aren’t capable to absorb the extra amount of traffic coming and going to the newly founded Stadium if the subway line is somehow compromised.

For the Governor, the only way to avoid the shame of players being parachuted by choppers in the stadium and playing for empty stands is to use the riot police to guarantee safe passage. right-of-way either to the workers crossing the picket line if the strike happens or to clear road blocks made by protestors. He already used this tactic, and nothing suggests he won’t do it again.

The key advantage that labor and radicalized youth have in this scenario is the impossibility for police to kettle an entire railroad track heading east to the Stadium connecting downtown Sao Paulo to the outskirt of the city. 300 or so radicalized workers and/or protestors could burn piles of trash or tires on the tracks and effectively stopping the trains. if shit goes South sa the saying goes, radicals might jump in groups on the tracks to force the trains to a halt.
this might be another David vs Goliath story. the next few hours will tell.

Brazil image

***UPDATE: Union has decided not to strike***

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@uneditedmedia

 

 

Jun 10

Second Annual Unedited Media Fundraising Rock Show Extravaganza!

Back Stage at the Empire Arts Center
415 Demers Ave, Grand Forks, ND 58201
Live music featuring
mandalynn

Let’s Be FrEnemies

 

 

Unedited Media Presentation by Lorenzo Serna

 

Drinks provided by Rhombus Guys

and food by the Dogmahal Doghaus

Facebook Event Page.

Can’t make it, but would still like to give some funds for the fundraiser!?

Click here!

Cover $5-10

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