#NavajoNation Dishonors Legacy of #KleeBenally: Agrees to #Uranium Transport Through #Navajo Communities

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, February 3, 2025

"The Navajo Nation dishonored the memory and legacy of Klee Benally by agreeing to allow radioactive uranium trucks to travel through the Navajo Nation. It was what Klee spent the last years of his life fighting against.

"The deadly trucks from the #EnergyFuels #PinyonPlain uranium mine in the #GrandCanyon will pass through the #Havasupai's homeland, and then past the homes of #Paiute, #Dine' and #Hopi in Arizona before reaching the dumping ground: The Energy Fuels #UraniumMill in the #WhiteMesaUte Community in Southern #Utah.

"Klee is being honored with a #NuclearFreeFutures Award in New York in March.

"Nuclear Free Futures said, in announcing the award, 'Klee Benally was a Navajo activist and musician and member of the Navajo #Tódichiinii Clan and the #Nakai #Diné Clan. In addition to a
musical career with his siblings in the band #Blackfire,

"'Klee was a passionate campaigner and filmmaker exposing the #colonialist legacy of uranium mines and working for the cleanup of the more than 500 abandoned uranium mines that continue to contaminate the Navajo Nation. A month before his death on December 30, 2023, Klee published his book, '#NoSpiritualSurrender: #IndigenousAnarchy in Defense of the Sacred.'

"The award will be accepted by his mother Berta Benally.

"Klee, co-founder of #HaulNo!, warned of the danger to the water and rivers from the uranium mining in the Grand Canyon, and the planned deadly transport of radioactive ore, before he passed in
December 2023: 'There is possible radioactive contamination to land, water, and air from the #CanyonMine, White
Mesa Mill, and transport of uranium would impact northern Arizona, southeast Utah, the #ColoradoRiver, #MoenkopiWash, the #SanJuanRiver, and the lands and cultural resources of the #Havasupai, Hopi, Navajo, Ute, and Paiute peoples.'"

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/02/navajo-nation-dishonors-legacy-of-klee.html
#WhiteMesaUte #EnergyFuels #HaulNo #BuuNygren #IndigenousAction #IndigenousResistance #NuclearColonialism #ReaderSupportedNews #Dine #RestInPowerKleeBenally #NoUraniumTransport #DefendTheSacred #ProtectTheSacred #UraniumMine #NoNukes #NuclearFreeWorld #NoNuclear #NoWar #NuclearWaste #NoMoreTransportationOfUranium
#NoNuclearWeapons #NoNuclearPowerPlants #NoUraniumMining #UteNation #NoUraniumMining #Navajo #Havasupai #GrandCanyon #NuclearWeapons #InformedConsent
#EnvironmentalRacism #WaterIsLife

"While Indigenous scholars and activists like Vine Deloria Jr. and members of the American Indian Movement have focused on the goal of Indigenous sovereignty "without political and social assimilation," this objective has been limited and ultimately reinforced the Euro-colonial, or more precisely the Westphalian, system, of nation-state sovereignty. "Tribal sovereignty" is not possible while colonial authority exists, and perhaps a more pressing concern is that it is fundamentally a colonial political concept.

While calls to "honor the treaties" on one hand could be viewed as assertions of Indigenous political authority, on the other, they are a myopic urge to revisit forced negotiations made under duress to benefit the colonial order. The strategy of colonial expansion was not designed to sustain treaties with Peoples that invaders planned to assimilate into their order. The US government had absolutely no problem breaking every treaty it marked its name on. From the colonizer's perspective treaties were always temporary; they were a concession to captivity, an agreement to civilization. They were merely a symbolic and political formality of capitulation. Treaties are dead words o dead pieces of paper that were negotiations of the surrender of our ancestors."

1/2

[Thread] The next installment from #KleeBenally 's book, #NoSpiritualSurrender.

“The proposition of unplugging from a ‘dirty’ power source and plugging into a ‘green’ one does nothing to address the underlying power relations. It reinforces them.

“‘#GreenEnergy’ sustaining a Green Economy still demands resource #colonialism. From sacred #OakFlat in so-called Arizona where #SanCarlosApache are resisting a massive mine that is estimated to contain enough #copper ore to produce 275 million electric vehicles [#EVs], to sacred #ThackerPass in so-called Nevada where #Shoshone are resisting #LithiumMining, which is necessary for electric vehicle and ‘green’ energy battery production. A single car #LithiumIon battery pack contains 18 pounds of lithium. To electrify every vehicle throughout the world, an estimated 10.4 billion tons of lithium is needed, that is approximately 13 times the existing lithium reserves. The Thacker Pass lithium one is mismated to produce 60,000 tons annually. The proposed project spans approximately 28 square miles that would hold an #OpenPit and a #sulfuricacid processing plant to extract lithium from mined ore.

"The operation is estimated to release 152,713 tons of #CarbonDioxide [#CO2] annually and 400,000 gallons of #water is required for each ton of lithium meaning it will use 1.7 billion gallons annual. The Thacker Pass sulfuric acid processing plant will convert sulfur to leech lithium from raw ore, turned in from sources such as the #AlbertaTarSands, which are 1,500 miles away. The tar sands, located in so-called Canada, are known as the world’s most destructive oil operation.”

Page 138-139

#IndigenousAnarchy
#Ecosystem #DefendTheSacred
#CorporateColonialism #NoDAPL #CriminalizingDissent #WaterIsLife #ClimateDefenders #NoCopperMiningWithoutConsent #NoLithiumMining #CorporateColonialism #NoMiningWithoutConsent #LithiumMining #CopperMining #Greenwashing

[Thread] Random excerpts from #KleeBenally 's book, #NoSpiritualSurrender

The Enemy of #MotherEarth

"From Mother Earth to our bodies, in a #capitalist system everything that can be reduced to a commodity will be. As long as it can be sold, bought, or otherwise exploited, nothing is sacred. So long as the lands (and by extension our bodies) are viewed this way we will have conflict, as #capitalism is the enemy of Mother Earth and all that we hold to be #sacred.

"In its base definition, capitalism is an economic and political system based on an unregulated or 'free' market, private property, competition, and limited government intervention. But the definition obscures the reality that capitalism is based upon extreme social #exploitation and dispossession, #EcologicalDestruction, #hyperindividualism and #materialism, and its history is rooted in #WhiteSupremacy, #cishetereopatriarchy, #genocide, and #slavery.

"To be anti-capitalist is not enough, anti-capitalist propositions rooted in #industrialism and #extractivisim are just as invested in #ecocidal (therefore anti-Indigenous) economies. Killing the Earth is killing Indigenous existence, #Colonizers must religiously convince themselves and others that the world is already dead to justify their ongoing violence against the Earth and existence. In the face of global ecological ruin, some attempt to further convince themselves that killing the Earth just a little bit less is an appropriate response."

Pages 136-137

From @DemocracyNow_Headlines_rss

January, 2024 - Diné Activist & Musician #KleeBenally Dies at 48; Wrote Book on #IndigenousAnarchy

"The Diné (Navajo) activist and musician Klee Benally has died at the age of 48 in Arizona. Benally, who was from Black Mesa, spent years organizing against uranium mining on Native land and to protect the sacred San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff, Arizona. He was also the former lead singer of the Indigenous punk band Blackfire. Benally had just published a new book titled '#NoSpiritualSurrender: Indigenous Anarchy in Defense of the Sacred.' In the book, he writes, 'If history is written by the conquerors, it will be unwritten by those who refuse to be conquered.' Klee Benally spoke to Democracy Now! in 2014 when we did the show from Flagstaff, Arizona.

Klee Benally: “But many of our people don’t have running water; they don’t have electricity. Yet our lands have been exploited. We have coal-fired — three coal-fired power plants that #pollute our air. We have these abandoned #uranium mines and new mines that are threatening the region. We have #fracking, hydraulic fracking, that’s threatening our land, as well. But this isn’t just an issue for here. Wherever there’s an #EnvironmentalCrisis, there’s a #CulturalCrisis, because we are people of the Earth.'"

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/1/2/headlines/dine_activist_musician_klee_benally_dies_at_48_wrote_book_on_indigenous_anarchy

Full interview:
https://www.democracynow.org/2014/3/14/a_slow_genocide_of_the_people

20 books that have had an impact on who you are. One book a day for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just book covers (don't forget the alt text).

#20books20days 12/20 #Bookstodon #KleeBenally #NoSpiritualSurrender #IndigenousAnarchy

"Violence against the land is violence against the people"
#Dine' #KleeBenally: #Colonialism, #police and #genocide in the U.S.

Dine' Klee Benally. Video by @subMedia

"Klee speaks on how colonialism, #capitalism and police are part of the dynamic affecting violence against women and the destruction of sacred places, and the roles of Treaties and sovereignty.

"Klee shares the Indigenous way of being and peacemaking in parallel to police and prisons, and the need for the restoration of traditional Indigenous systems for healing.

"Watch the video, in English, with new French subtitles by Christine Prat. Klee passed to the Spirit World in December.

"Klee's book, finished shortly before his passing, can be ordered at Detritus Books. "No Spiritual Surrender: Indigenous Anarchy in Defense of the Sacred"

Original post (via #CensoredNews):
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/07/dine-klee-benally-violence-against-land.html

Klee's book is available via #DetritusBooks
https://detritusbooks.com/products/no-spiritual-surrender-indigenous-anarchy-in-defense-of-the-sacred

Link to video by #SubMedia:
https://vimeo.com/978417283

#RememberingKlee #IndigenousActivist #LandBack #IndigenousAction
#NoUraniumMining #HaulNo #PeabodyCoal
#BigMountainResistance
#LandBackNow #Dineh #DefendTheSacred #EnvironmentalRacism #CulturalGenocide
#CorporateColonialism
#BigOilAndGas
#IndigenousAnarchist #IndigenousAnarchy
#EarthDefenders
#WaterIsLife

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

In Memory of #KleeBenally: An Interview with #Blackfire

January 3, 2024
via @CrimethInc

"Early on December 31, 2023, the #Diné land defender, organizer, author, and musician Klee Benally passed away at the age of 48. In his memory, we present an interview that we conducted in 2009 with Klee and his siblings in the punk band Blackfire. At that time, they had already been making music together for twenty years.

"A dedicated and demanding proponent of #IndigenousLiberation, Klee fought on a wide range of fronts, emphasizing the importance of both concrete and spiritual forms of #resistance and critically exploring the possibility of an #IndigenousAnarchy.

"As the eulogy published by Anarchist Agency recounts,

"'Klee was living in Flagstaff, Arizona at the time of his passing. He was born October 11, 1975 in #BlackMesa and worked nearly all his life at the front lines of struggles to protect #Indigenous sacred lands. Klee was a driven organizer with projects such as #IndigenousAction Media, #Kinlani #MutualAid, and #IndigenousMutualAid. He also helped establish #TáalaHooghan Infoshop, #ProtectThePeaks, and #OuttaYourBackpackMedia, and volunteered with #HaulNo.'

"'Haul No is a campaign against #UraniumMining in the #GrandCanyon. #LandDefense struggles were especially important to Klee.

"In addition to all this, Klee was a filmmaker and musician. You can view many of Klee’s films here. In addition to his decades in Blackfire, Klee also played in the band Appropriation and recorded various solo projects."

Read more: https://crimethinc.com/2024/01/03/in-memory-of-klee-benally-an-interview-with-blackfire

Moe mai rā, e te rangatira. Klee Benally died this morning. He was Díne, anarchist, land defender, author, Podcaster, punk, musician, artist, and so much more.
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Like Aragorn! Bang before him, Klee tackled the intersection between indigeneity and anarchism and very recently published a book titled, 'No Spiritual Surrender: Indigenous Anarchy in Defense of the Sacred' with Detritus Books.
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I had no had an opportunity to share kōrero with Klee other than through short comments on Instagram. But I had been looking forward to getting to know him as an indigenous anarchist myself.
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I give a big mihi to his loved ones and whānau, both biological and chosen, and will continue on my own haerenga taking Klee's words and wisdom along with me.
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#anarchism #anarchist #KleeBenally #IndigenousAction #IndigenousAnarchy #IndigenousAnarchism #NoSpiritualSurrender #DetritusBooks