The following is a synopsis
prepared by the organizers of the friendly takeover of Lehman Brothers. Be sure
to check out the Pacifica archives (www.pacifica.org) for the Democracy Now
show (nationally syndicated
pacifica morning show) which aired April 3rd, 2001, featuring Roberta Blackgoat,
Chief Joe Chasinghorse, Leonard Benally and Arlene Hamilton.
Lehman Brothers Update:
The public pressure on Lehman Brothers was mounting as we had arrived in New
York on the 31st with a delegation of 12 indigenous leaders from the traditional
Dineh, traditional Hopi and traditional Lakota nations.
After being told by Lehman Brothers, that they could not meet with us before
the shareholders meeting, we received 10 phone calls from their corporate secretary
Shawn Butler that they had changed their minds and
they wanted to meet with the organizers of the Peabody protest April 2 at 9
am.
The morning of Apr 2nd, organizers met with Lehman Brothers for 2 hours before
the rally, to negotiate bringing the Indigenous leaders into the shareholders
meeting, not only to attend, but also to speak with Lehman Brothers corporate
executives. Lehman Brothers' first objection was that none of the Native Americans
had shares to their company, but they were reminded that they were taking coal
from the land without the traditional Dineh and Hopi's consent; therefore they
had the right to attend. At first Lehman Brothers said we could only bring in
five indigenous delegates and they would only have five minutes to speak.
Negotiations continued and organizers continued to state that all delegates
should be in attendance with reserved seats, with at least five to seven minutes
to speak each. Lehman Brothers said they would
take the matter to their executives and would meet with us again that evening.
The organizers also requested a meeting between the entire delegation and the
executives before the shareholders meeting.
Of course, we did also state that members of the rally outside (there were at
least 30 people present) would not enjoy knowing that the leaders who had traveled
thousands of miles would not be able to meet
with Lehman Brothers and that we did not want them to stop traffic. [We reminded
them that protesters were there to protect the indigenous leaders rights and
making them accountable by opening the ears of the
corporate executives to the indigenous delegates.] Ultimately, it was finally
decided sometime on the afternoon of Apr 2 that we could bring in all 12 indigenous
leaders with reserved seats and that five representatives of the delegation
would get at least 3-4 minutes each to address the shareholders.
That afternoon, all the indigenous delegates met with Lehman Brothers and were
treated very well. They were offered drinks, and they were met with at the oak
round table in the Lehman Brothers building. The Lehman
Brothers executives included Jeffrey Welikson, Tony Vahnder, Jo Polazzotto,
and Fran Kittredge, managing directors. The indigenous leaders spent 2 hours
speaking for themselves and on behalf of their people to the Lehman Brothers
executives. Lehman Brothers listened and took notes.
The Hopi traditional gave them warning of the Hopi prophecy stating that if
they continued with their greed for wealth and power, everything would be polluted,
the sky would darken, and things would end the way we
knew it. He spoke of technology and industry polluting water and becoming sick
because of it. He told of John Boyden's lies and of the Hopi Tribal Council,
created for corporate and government interests. He told them that the Indian
land of the Hopi and Dineh is a refuge and that when the sky darkens; the air
will no longer be clean to breathe. The only refuge will be Dineh and Hopi land.
Many warnings were given by the Hopi Traditional.
When Glenna Begay and Mae Shay spoke they said "no more mining." They
told the executives of the disease, pollution and illnesses that have resulted
from Peabody Coal mines both Black Mesa and Kayenta.
John, Louise and Leanord Benally spoke clearly about the continued resistance
on Big Mountain, that they would not allow future coal mining in their area
as well as the importance of their traditional way of
life. Louise made it very clear they were there to demand a stop to global warming
by demanding alternative energy and sustainable economic development. Peabody
must leave the coal and water in the ground.
The next day April 3, the delegation entered the shareholders meeting with respect,
honor and integrity. All the way up to the last minute, the security of Lehman
Brothers was making the organizers continue to
promise that there would be no disrespect. Out of the 20 non Indian supporters
that were present for the event, they would not allow any of them into the meeting
for fear that civil disobedience would take place.
It then became a priority of the organizers that the delegation be heard. They
had microphones tied on strings with security guards out of everyone's reach
and only gave the opportunity for four delegates to speak (though we had been
told five), and cut their time from 15 to 10 minutes. Lehman Brothers' CEO (Richard
Fuld) said that it was enough. The cut off for him was after the 4th speaker.
The indigenous leaders that spoke to the shareholders were chief Joseph Chasinghorse,
John Benally, Roberta Blackgoat, and Hopi traditional from Hopi nation.
Chief Joe Chasinghorse, stood up in the shareholders meeting and said to some
of the richest men and women in America, "you have taken all of our land
and now we have come to teach you how to take care of it." He spoke of
the buffalo being saved and being given back to tribes instead of being slaughtered.
Over 140 calves were given back to indigenous nations and he spoke about he
fact that they have recently closed the gold mines
in the Black Hills of South Dakota for environmental and spiritual reasons.
Roberta Blackgoat spoke of the Dineh altar and the religious significance of
Black Mesa.
Immediately upon the closing of the meeting the shareholders approached the
beautiful indigenous delegation and said that they were the most real thing
to come to the shareholders meeting. They started yelling to
Richard Fuld (CEO) and the other leaders "why don't they have water?"
At that point the Richard Fuld ignored them and had security escort the delegation
immediately to a private room, because it seemed the shareholders were struck
with kindness and compassion and were approaching the delegation.
In the April 2 meeting, Shawn Butler had promised to provide Lunch for the delegation
before we met again after the shareholders meeting. This did not happen. The
elders were tired and hungry after the shareholders
meeting, and the executives who came in offered one small bottle of water to
share. Their attitude was that they had not promised anything. Shawn Butler
later admitted she had forgotten about it. That day, the
Lehman Brothers executives seemed rude and apathetic. They were no longer as
concerned with serving and welcoming the delegation as they had been the day
before. Jack Lentz, who had been the one to say that
the coal was extremely valuable and Alan Washkowitz who we had referred to as
the humanitarian in the company, stated there was nothing they could do to meet
our demands. We knew we would not accept that.
Richard Fuld had suggested to us that we meet with Peabody Executives so that
they could help us. We insisted that they begin with water. People on the NPL
have been waiting for six years for water, looking at half finished bathrooms
as a reminder that they have been forgotten. We demanded their water by May
of 2001. Walter Begay, Peabody representative told us that Lorenzo Bedoni was
supposed to have completed that project 2 years ago, it had been funded and
should have been completed by now. He stated he would look into what it would
take to get the water and that perhaps it was just a matter of "fixing
the pump" the residents of the HPL requested that at least six more water
wells be untapped in the area of Dineh nation. However the Hopi traditional
stated they do not want the water projects completed in their village, they
are resisting water and electrical development and they are standing for a simple
way of life according to their
traditional teachings. The traditional Hopi also do not want mining in their
area.
After all these years traditional Dineh and Hopi leaders traveled 2000 miles
together to stand united in protecting the Hopi and Dineh sacred life, with
a Lakota Chief standing with them for religious freedom
rights, no more interruption of ceremony and demilitarization. They stood united
for religious freedom rights, water rights, land rights and human rights. We
have been told by Walter Begay and his associates, Alan
Waskawitz, that they would work on these issues and bring all of the demands
to the senior directors and be back with us in 3 weeks. They stated they would
do something about clean water rights. We requested
that the following meeting be on the sacred land so they could see what we want
preserved as a National Historic Cultural Preservation Site.
When we came back to Arizona there were headlines on 3 major Southwestern newspapers
including "Peabody protesters take objections to NY." The articles
tried to minimize our efforts but the Navajo times
will be coming up with a detailed story and detailed statements from the leaders.
It has become clear that
Lehman Brothers can do something but to them coal is more valuable than the
indigenous people and their land. Our work has just begun, changing relations
with corporations. While the
indigenous leaders spoke, the executives first acted uninterested but as they
continued you could see the eyes of the executives focus on the leaders and
come close to tears. Even Alan Washkowitz said he had never
felt so much compassion for people in all his life. In the end we pleaded him
to take that compassion and do something and move the water to the people. Its
going to be 120 degrees on the land soon and getting
water is a matter of life or death. We
want to thank the American Indian Community House and Rosemary for
providing lunch; Carol at the IITC (International Indian Treaty Council) for
being a great support system; the Silver cloud drummers, Anthony for his work
in New York; Larry Wood for his research, Dianne Patterson for
her music; Kelly and Mike Gerell for their support; Sharon, Martha and Jennifer
for taking care of the elders and the Indigenous Leaders that took time from
their homes and families to face the beast on behalf of
the people, water and land.
We stand in solidarity with the Zapatistas
For more details look up the Navajo times article on Apr 13. Contact Sharon
at slungo@enviroweb.org for copies of the statements made by the traditionals.
For info on upcoming march in NYC April 26 e-mail
ethanrs@earthlink.net
Leonard Benally would like to close this update with the following words:
To all the honest struggles, that united with us in NY
Thank you for being there and for all of your prayers. Our voices were heard
and we will receive and answer for our demands for water on HPL and NPL in 3
weeks. We have also invited Lehman Brothers to Big Mountain to see the indigenous
land we want to preserve as a National Historic Cultural Preservation Site.
We hope that by doing this action and the support and all voices united together
to open the ears of the deaf beast. Yes brothers and sisters we still need your
voices and a lot more voices to protect our indigenous
people and make our cry strong. The support of good people, yes the support
is still needed. Even though we are saying these things in retaliation they
still want us to go ie. This weeks headlines in the SW
papers said "Navajos will be ousted from Hopi Land." In the Newspaper
about our New York protest the paper said we came there for sympathy and that
Lehman Brothers felt this sympathy. We did not got there for sympathy. We went
there for indigenous rights, water rights, religious freedom and human rights,
not their rights
We've been like this 510 years. We had no rights, but now we are talking about
what is rightfully ours and our dignity is not for sale. The coal and the water
stay in the ground. We will never give up. We have a right
to live our culture and our beliefs as indigenous Dineh and Hopi people. We
are the Resistance, We will remain... Resist! Resist! Resist!In
solidarity
Leonard Benally
____________________________________
ACTION RESOURCE CENTER
P.O. Box 2104 Venice, Ca 90294
(310) 396-3254 ph (310) 392-9965 fax www.arcweb.org,
slungo@enviroweb.org
Black Mesa Indigenous Support
P.O. Box 23501
Flagstaff, Arizona 86002
Message Voice Mail: 928.773.8086
Email: blackmesais@yahoo.com