<html>
<body>
<h1><b>Hopi are true environmentalists</b></h1><font size=3>Posted by
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/users/brenda-norrell">Brenda
Norrell</a> - September 30, 2009 at 5:47 pm <br>
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2009/09/hopi-are-true-environmentalists" eudora="autourl">
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2009/09/hopi-are-true-environmentalists<br>
<br>
</a>By Brenda Norrell<br><br>
When the news was released that the Hopi Tribal Council had banned
environmentalists today, it was a sure sign that Hopi struggling to
defend the land, along with their colleagues, were making progress
against coal mining and power plants on sacred lands.<br><br>
Alph H. Secakuku, Sipalulovi council representative from Second Mesa,
released the following statement. Secakuku says Hopi are the best
environmentalists, despite the current political coup:<br><br>
Comments by Alph H. Secakuku, Sipaulovi Council Representative, Village
of Sipaulovi, Second Mesa, AZ, Hopiland, September 30,
2009:<br><br>
"The Hopi/Tewa people have always considered themselves to be the
best environmentalists in the world. <br>
We made a sacred covenant with Maasaw, our Supreme Being, to be good
stewards of the Fourth World we live in today. <br><br>
We, as people, all have the responsibility of being Caretakers of Mother
Earth. You care for it and take from it only what you need, and it
will provide for you. <br><br>
I never thought I would see the day when being "Hopi" meant
being anti-environment, pro-big corporate energy, and actually promoting
pollution and global warming in favor of dollars/money. <br><br>
This is the new world image of Hopi, thanks to Scott Canty, Nada
Talayumptewa, Phillip Quotshytewa, Mary Felter, Ivan Sidney, Sr., and the
rest of the illegally constituted Hopi Tribal Council...in essence, a
coup. <br><br>
It is a sad day for Hopi/Tewa people, and I am disappointed.<br><br>
We, the Hopi/Tewa people, have worked closely for many years with our
allies from the environmental community to protect sacred lands from
development and to stop uranium mining from poisoning our water.
Water is life, therefore, it is sacred.<br><br>
We will continue to work together-tribal communities and other clean
energy jobs advocates-to bring green economic development to our lands
that respects our air and water.<br>
Together with our partners in the environmental community, we are working
to secure long term solution to energy, health and water issues in
northern Arizona by cleaning up dirty coal plants and promoting solar and
wind projects on the reservations. The time to transition from
dirty old coal plants to clean energy from the wind and the sun is
now.<br><br>
We see a positive future ahead with results like the Navajo Nation's
recent unanimous green jobs resolution and will continue to support clean
energy projects with Navajo and Hopi communities. <br>
We all know that climate change is predicted to bring hotter and drier
conditions to the Colorado Plateau, an area which may see even greater
temperature increases than the rest of the country. This threatens
our water supplies and livelihoods. <br><br>
Working together to stop global warming pollution from coal-fired power
plants is vital to future generations. Now is the time to look
forward and plan to transition existing coal plants to cleaner
power. <br>
Hopi Organizational Political Initiative (H.O.P.I.) is a united, strong,
clear, organized and non-partisan voice made up of members of the
Hopi/Tewa community both on and off the reservation. It is there to
serve as conduit for the Hopi/Tewa people to effectively raise concerns
and resolve issues that affect the Hopi/Tewa people. It promotes
issues and emerging concerns primarily within the Hopi tribal government,
but also with the local state and federal governments. As such, we
support all political candidates who seek public office who will address
the concerns of the communities. H.O.P.I. mission is to insure that
we impact policy regarding the issue of concern and quality of life to
our community and future generations.<br>
Chairman Benjamin H. Nuvamsa and Vice-Chairman Todd Honyaoma, Sr., both
resigned on December 31, 2008. Hopi Tribal Constitution, ARTICLE
IV, Section 1-mandates the "Hopi Tribal Council shall consist of a
Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Representatives from various
villages." Without a chairman and vice-chairman, there can be
no constitutionally authorized council to conduct meetings.<br><br>
The Hopi Bylaws, Article 1-states "The Chairman shall preside over
all meetings of the Tribal Council..." Clearly the delegated
authorities do not include designating a member of the council to be the
"Presiding Officer". In fact, it expressly forbids
it. This was a form of check and balance to prevent council from
taking complete control of the government as is happening now.<br><br>
It does not take a legal expert to interpret what the above Article
means. It simply means that no legislative sessions can be
conducted in the absence of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman under the
current Hopi Constitution and By-laws. The council cannot legally
conduct business, appoint people to run the so-called "interim
government," expend tribal and federal funds, or accept federal
grants and contracts.<br>
ARTICLE V, Section 2-mandates that filling vacancies in the office of the
Chairman and Vice-Chairman that may occur for any reason, "shall be
filled for the rest of the term in the same manner as those officers are
ordinarily chosen." This mandate does not allow for any
discretion on the part of the council. Council has no authority to
decide that it simply is not convenient to hold an election to fill the
vacancies. Yet, this is precisely what they have done. <br>
<br>
Had the illegal "interim council" not interfered in the
activities of the Election Board by refusing to allow them to conduct a
special election, the objective of this Article would have been fulfilled
and the current vacancies of our top officials would have been filled and
the people would have had new duly elected leadership in office by the
first week of April 2009. This would have met the Constitutional
requirement and we would already have a legitimate fully functional
government.<br><br>
On December 28, 2008, the illegally functioning Hopi council enacted
Resolution H-007-09 setting up an interim tribal government. The
rhetoric of the resolution was carefully crafted to create the illusion
of a legitimate justification for illegal acts. The illegal council
used the resolution as a deliberate and illegal way of reviving outdated
practices established in the original 1936 Hopi Constitution which has
since been formally amended to eliminate those practices."<br><br>
<br><br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
</html>