Press Release: Community Education Against the SNWA Water Grab – January 11th in SLC

By Deep Green Resistance Great Basin

It sounds like a bad business plan: Las Vegas is planning a $15 billion project to extract water from the driest places in the country. Ranchers, farmers, indigenous and rural communities, hunters, and
environmentalists are coming together to oppose the project, and clean air activists from Salt Lake City are worried that the project might cause major dust issues in the valley.

Join community organizers Saturday, January 11th at the downtown library in Salt Lake City to learn more about the so-called “Water Grab” – the project that is the epitome of unsustainable development and massive public subsidy to the rich. Despite a recent court ruling that deals a major blow to the project, opposition continues as SNWA will not give up on their desperate gamble.

Prepare to learn about the burden this project would put on taxpayers, the stunning natural places it would turn into deserts, the communities that would be impacted, and the political scheming going on in Las Vegas to make it happen.

Join us on January 11th to stand up for what is right. We say, “Stop the Water Grab!”

The event will take place at 3pm on Saturday, January 11th at the Downtown Salt Lake City library – 210 E 400 S, in Meeting Room A, downstairs in the main foyer of the library.

Native Americans begin 272 mile walk/run to protest water theft scheme

Native Americans begin 272 mile walk/run to protest water theft scheme

By Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation

On Saturday, May 4, 2013, approximately 70 Native Americans representing the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, Wells Colony, Elko/TeMoke Tribe, Battle Mountain and Yomba Shoshone along with Tribal members from the Northern Ute, Cheyenne-Arapaho, Navajo, Cherokee and non-natives begin a Walk/Run from Wells, Nevada towards Caliente, Nevada, a distance of approximately 272 miles.

After a blessing and prayer for the water, the group began the long trek walking and running on U.S. 93 towards Ely, Nevada.

The walk/run is to bring attention to the proposed Southern Nevada Water Authority’s (SNWA) proposed water theft from northeastern Nevada and for prayers to save the sacred water for the children not yet born, the animals, plants, protection of traditional medicine, traditional food and ceremonial places.

Along the route willows will be planted with prayers for the water. Camp is set up each evening along the side of the road.

As of today, (Monday — May 6, 2013) the group has reached the junction of U.S. 93 and 93A a distance of approximately 79 miles. The walk/run will arrive in Ely, Nevada on or about Monday evening and will camp on the Ely Shoshone Reservation for two days before continuing to Caliente, Nevada.

Press Release: Communities of Resistance Teach-in in Salt Lake City, March 16-17

Press Release: Communities of Resistance Teach-in in Salt Lake City, March 16-17

By Deep Green Resistance Great Basin

A two-day teach-in focused on community organizing, activism, direct action, and issues facing Utah communities comes to Salt Lake City the weekend of March 16th and 17th.

The event, “Communities of Resistance,” will feature presentations and trainings from Goshute Tribal Chairman Ed Naranjo, community organizer and filmmaker Simón Sedillo, Peaceful Uprising, Utah Tar Sands Resistance, Deep Green Resistance, Idle No More, the Salt Lake City Brown Berets, and other community organizers.

“This teach-in will be indispensable for political people around Salt Lake,” said event organizer Max Wilbert. “If we want to win sustainability and social justice, we need supportive communities that nurture a willingness to fight. This is a step toward that goal.”

Subjects covered will include hands-on training for non-violent civil disobedience, the SNWA Las Vegas water pipeline that is poised to destroy rural valleys and indigenous peoples of Western Utah, the proposed Utah Tar Sands project, and community organizing in Mexico to defend traditional peoples from logging, drug syndicates, and government exploitation.

Communities of Resistance will take place between 10am to 4pm on Saturday, March 16th, and 10am to 5pm on Sunday, March 16th, at the Federation of Mexican Clubs, 344 Goshen Street, Salt Lake City.

The organizers are asking for a suggested donation of $5 – $10, with all proceeds going to the Unist’ot’en Camp, a First Nations group in Canada that is blocking construction of Tar Sands and “fracking” pipelines across their traditional lands, and the Tar Sands Blockade, a group with is using sustained direct action to halt the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

The event is sponsored by the Great Basin chapter of Deep Green Resistance, the Salt Lake City Brown Berets, and Decolonize SLC.