Alive and Well All Along the Watchtower
by Don Eichelberger

May 10, 1997

This Spring offered the unexpected opportunity for me to get a glimpse of the environmental justice movement from one end of California to the other. I am happy to report that clear, committed movement is happening all along the watch tower.

The winds greeted us at Ward Valley as we met to set up the tents for the Spring Gathering. They blew too strongly the first two days to set up, but the morning the gathering was to commence, the raging winds transformed into cooling breezes. With help from many hands, the tents, kitchen and other logistical needs went up in time to welcome the several hundred visitors to this sacred plain ringed by distant mountains.

Local tribes provided cultural activities to welcome and thank the supporters of their long-time efforts to protect this land.

Singing, dancing, story telling and native games by local tribes educated about traditional community and the significance of the land and river in all life as spiritual practice.

Ceremonies greeting the morning sun were held each day by Western Shoshone spiritual elder, Corbin Harney. Although he is not of the local tribes, they welcome him as a respected elder in the fight against nuclear contamination of native lands. He has founded the Shundahai Network to, among other things, oppose nuclear testing at Nevada Test Site. His profound words of simple wisdom and good humored participation in camp life taught "shundahai" - the feeling of peace and harmony with all creation - a feeling much like one gets after a greeting hug from a close friend after a long absence.

The gathering featured many workshops, meetings and other events to educate and build the community of resistance against the proposed radioactive waste dump the nuclear industry needs for its survival. Some of the highlights included workshops on overcoming racism and building cultural understanding; discussion of tribes uniting to stop nuke projects on native land; Russia's efforts to build a plutonium economy on the ashes of the old USSR, and local efforts to stop it; tours of the proposed dump site; a discussion of lock down techniques used to shut down the Nevada Test Site and keep out workers and nuclear waste for several hours; an all night rave on the desert; as well as many lengthy meetings on ways to stop the absurd Ward Valley Dump project once and for all.

Stopping this dump project is what this gathering was all about, and in that realm, a most important decision was made that for a time threatened to split the coalition. A strategy group brought a proposal to the general meeting calling for the coalition to block the tritium testing proposed for the site. The tribes oppose any further desecration of their valley, and have called for coalition support in stopping the tests.

But in the general meeting, the proposal to take a coalition stand against testing was blocked. Fear was expressed that this might send an unclear message, since many coalition members favor testing as a way to finally "prove" the site is unacceptable.

These tests would measure how much tritium has migrated downward from the land's surface toward the water table since atmospheric nuclear testing in the 1940's- a measure of the soil's permiability to movement of radioactivity.

After a long and only rarely contentious discussion (details of which are available in note form from Abalone Alliance), the camp consensed on a statement to "support tribal opposition to further desecration of their land for any purpose". At a follow-up meeting we discussed tangible ways to do that.

As the gathering came to a close, people filed away, tents and kitchen taken down, and the winds came up again to reclaim the valley's solitude, it felt like the desert had performed its transformation of the people who came, and instilled or renewed our resolve for its protection.

Soon after leaving the hot winds and transformative solitude of the Hale-Bopp desert sky, I found myself pulling under a redwood canopy and in to an Earth First! action camp along the Avenue of the Redwoods in Humboldt County. It was good to see members of the Shundahai affinity group, who had shut down Highway 95 at NTS also journey from Ward Valley to this gathering as part of the expanding circles that are reaching out and encompassing all the local issues in to one large and strong movement.

The EF! gathering offered non-violence trainings and many skills workshops to help build opposition to renewed efforts by MAXXAM to pillage the Headwaters Forest promptly at the end of Marbled Murrilet nesting season on September 15th. Workshops in climbing, media, non-violence, map and compass reading, action planning, and other woods and organizing skills were presented very professionally by an impressive group of activists.

Similarities between these two gatherings were easier to find than differences. At both, activists were clear in their purpose, and strong in their commitment to consensus and unity. Both struggled with issues of race, gender, inclusive process and building on an ethic of strength through non-dominance. At both, the kitchen was a major focus of energy and appreciation. Thanks to Food Not Bombs, CHAOS affinity group, Seeds of Peace, various other helpers, and food donations from across the state by an increasing network of support, people were fed in both body and spirit.

The major noticeable difference between these gatherings was in the participation of minority people. Especially with strong links that the Ward Valley coalition has built with the local Colorado River tribes over many years, a wider diversity of cultures was evident at Ward Valley. But at both places, that topic was not overlooked, and serious effort was made at both ends of the state to come to terms with how we can link our efforts to build toward social justice as a component of our activism.

Following are contacts and upcoming events and alerts passed

during these gatherings:

WARD VALLEY

For information on possible land actions at Ward Valley, contact:

Save Ward Valley office, 619-326-6267

Greenpeace Southwest, 415-512-9025

Greenpeace LA, 310-202-7984

Abalone Alliance, 415-861-0592

Alliance for Survival, 714-547-6282

HEADWATERS

To help save Headwaters Forest in September, contact:

North Coast EF!, 707-269-8325

September 14th will be a mass mobilization rally to Carlotta, so be sure and mark that on your calendar.

BIG MOUNTAIN

Dineh (Navajo) people are being threatened again with eviction from the Hopi/Navajo Joint Use Area in Big Mountain. They face continual assaults on stock ownership and other tools of self-sufficient, traditional living. To find out more and help, call the Sovereign Dineh Nation at 520-522-8683.

NEVADA TEST SITE

Mid-June will see renewed efforts to perform nuclear testing without performing nuclear testing at Nevada Test Site. To help disrupt or stop the "sub-critical" tests, contact Shundahai Network at 702-647-3095.

OREGON FORESTS FALLING

At this very moment, Oregon forests are under siege by timber companies emboldened by the salvage rider Pres. Clinton signed in to law. Actions are going on all over Oregon to throw bodies on the gears of what passes for progress in this sick nation. To find out more and get involved, contact Cascadia Uprising, POB 9554, Bend, OR 97708.

BOHEMIAN GROVE

Every Summer in Mid-July, this country's corporate, military and political elite attend their annual retreat in the old growth redwood Bohemian Grove, along the Russian River in Monte Rio, California. As their first order of business, they stage an elaborate ritual called the "Cremation of Care". Their ritual utilizes red hooded robes, high priest and acolytes to incinerate what they term the "dull cares of the market place" at the base of a 40-foot owl totem, so that they can frolic in the woods unencumbered by business worries.

We are seeing the increasing evidence of the effects of the corporate pillage of land and peoples- some would argue these are the effects of burning Care for over 100 years. And even as they frolic and retreat among the ancient redwoods, the very companies that these men oversee move at a feverish pitch to decimate the redwoods held in trust for the mere common people.

This year's encampment begins on Friday, July 11th, and a number of people have expressed a desire not to keep letting this ritual go unchallanged. For more information on how you can become involved in confronting the corporations where they play, call

Abalone Alliance at 415-861-0592.

Contact: Abalone Alliance Safe Emnergy Clearinghouse, 2940 16th St., #310, San Francisco, CA 94103, 415-861-0592, fax 415-558-8135, email- abalone@igc.org, Web- www.sfo.com/~rherried