Closing Fire So it's been an adventure and a wild ride of emotions, group process, and hard work. And today, we have come out of the mountains after a NewMoon closing fire and send off. The FireUP collective is now dormant, shapeshifting and forming ideas for future projects.

In conclusion, every one of us had an unforgettable experience, and this trip has introduced a new element into the various communities from which we came. We have all made connections and friends here, establishing accountability and Solidarity on a personal level.

We are so grateful for everyone that helped make this workcrew happen, the people who contributed in every way that gave us the opportunity to come here and be a part of this exchange.





Thanks.
over and out,
FireUP!  ¶ 1:51 PM 0 comments

  Urgent Update from Black Mesa After a smooth all nighter of driving, we stopped in Albuquerque, NM at the RB Winnings cafe. We recieved urgent news from Black Mesa. Harrassment of Dineh people living on Black Mesa has greatly escalated in the past few days. Please help us get this information out.

11/9/06 - BLACK MESA ELDERS TAKE DIRECT ACTION:

Black Mesa Elder Rena Babbitt-Lane (approx. 80 yrs old) is in the hospital recovering from a minor heart attack and other injuries stemming from an incident of harassment from BIA Rangers earlier this week. In a visit at the hospital in Tuba City on Nov. 7, she was eager to tell her story to us and have us circulate it. This is what she said, according to my notes, memory, and understanding of the Navajo language:

STATEMENT OF RENA BABBIT LANE:

“My sheep herder had left recently, so I was home alone and I took the sheep out to a close area where they like to graze. This was Monday, November 3rd. Three of the goats somehow ran through the partition fence and I could not get them back across. I cut the fence and herded the sheep through and put them all back together. Then they went to a nearby water hole on that side of the fence and were drinking. I laid down under a tree because I was exhausted. Three Rangers came up to me there. I think they were all Hopi, but one of them spoke good enough Navajo that I could understand him. They immediately began to threaten me. The ranger was saying, ‘You broke the law! You’re gonna go to jail! You are not allowed to herd over here.’ They grabbed me by the shoulder and pushed me around. Pretty rough. I tried to tell them that they should not be pushing around an old lady like me, what kind of people are they? They took me back to my house and were trying to search around. I was trying to stop them. One picked up a stick and threatened me with it. They were heavily armed. I told them that they were a bunch of bullies, bringing all those guns around my house and being intimidating. They said, “We’re gonna come back tomorrow and either impound all your sheep or else maybe we will put you in jail and let the coyotes eat all of your sheep while you sit in there.”
There were other things that they did to me too. I cannot remember all the details very
well. Then they wrote a ticket or something and left. I was feeling very weak after that. I have no transportation so I walked 3 miles to the neighbors’ house. They drove me down to my relatives closer to town. In the course of retelling the story, I realized that I was having a pain in my chest. They brought me to the hospital here and I have been here for four days now. I am very sad about what’s happened here. I am not a bad person, I am a kind person. Just herding sheep and they treat me this way…”

At this point grandma began to cry and so we sat with her for a while. When she was feeling better we told her that we would do our best to get her story out to those who have been her allies and who might be interested to come out and live with her, to support her in her old age to take care of the herd with her and keep an eye out for the rangers. She approved of this idea. She said a couple is best and there is a lot of work, especially for this winter because the doctors are trying to have her take it easy and not be out in the cold much.
The fence that was cut is a recent addition to the landscape and cuts across Rena’s traditional herding area. The above incident took place at least 25 miles from any Hopi dwelling place, on the far west side of Black Mesa. As far as we know the Rangers have not followed through with their threats at this point.
I had a little assistance with translation from a neighboring hospital bed, but most of what I had recorded here is from my own understanding of the Navajo, which is not my native language.

However the story that I understood from Rena is pretty close to that of another source that was translated by her kids so I think it is fairly accurate to what she is saying. Let any inaccuracy in the details fall on my misunderstanding.

THIS IS NOT AN ISOLATED INCIDENT:

Last month, an elderly Navajo man from Cactus Valley had reported that some sort of government official, possibly from the land management team came right within a mile of his house and loaded up a pile of wood that he was gathering. The elderly man followed the officials up the road and got them to stop. There was a heated exchange—the man demanded that the officials return the wood. They insisted that he was somehow in violation of his wood hauling permit and that they were taking the wood back to Hopi. They wrote him a ticket and gave him a court date. He went to court in Polacca, 50 miles away, on Oct.20. The charges were found to be false, and the judge dismissed them outright. The firewood was not returned.

As friends of these elders and volunteers of Black Mesa Indigenous Support, we are circulating these accounts at the request and permission of the people involved. Our primary interest is that these elders and their community be spared these hardships.
-O. Johnson and T. Gigante, Black Mesa Indigenous Support

A BIG MOUNTAIN RESIDENT DEMANDS:

On behalf of my Dineh Relations at Big Mountain and throughout the so-called, "HPL,"

I demand an immediate investigation into this federally-sponsored elder abuse and harassment of an individual(s) who still have no understanding of the modern American laws, and I demand that the Navajo Nation make an inquiry to the BIA Hopi Agency and its Land Management Office about their justification for this incident of intimidation and physically shove or thrust a lone and fragile elder around, and I further demand that the Navajo Nation immediately convene its council members and the Office of the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission to facilitate the much needed testimonies from the residents of the "Hopi Partitioned Lands" and begin to address the escalating Human Rights violations within the aforementioned region.

Let it be resolved that, the traditional Dineh families and their elderly matriarchs and patriarchs are highly valuable for the future of the Dineh Nation and that honor is due to them for their years of defiance against the illegal mandates implemented upon their lives in the name of energy exploitation. Furthermore, if the Dineh continue to dismiss the situations at Big Mountain and throughout the "HPL," a geninue part of Dineh-Hopi prehistoric experiences will be obliterated as their ancestral lands become the wastelands of energy developments.

COME SUPPORT RENA AND THE ELDERS AT BLACK MESA:

Families are asking for help. Now is the time to come and stay with a family. BMIS is willing to help you get to the land--please check our website for specifics.
http://www.blackmesais.org/what_can_do.htm

Meanwhile, the Hopi and Navajo governments have been in secret negotiations in Washington and Phoenix. Joe Shirley, the President of the Navajo Nation, announced on the radio several days before the Nov. 7 election that the Bennett Freeze has been lifted and that there will be no
forced relocation from the Freeze Area. Shirley was re-elected yesterday by a significant margin.

See the BMIS website for further information.
http://www.blackmesais.org  ¶ 8:59 AM 0 comments

  St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis Missouri!!!

After five hours crammed in a rental van we arrived in St. Louis and met up with another member of our crew, Parys.

We had just enough time for a quick and wonderful dinner before it was time for our Squardance/Art Auction. The Squardance was a stomping success, with tons of donated art, dancing, literature, and conversation.












On the seventh day of our travels, we rested.

Amidst our resting, we fixed up Parys’ truck, cooked a few delicious meals, and prepared for the next phase of our trip.

Thanks to the folks at CAMP (the Community Arts and Media Project) for lending us some space to rest up in.




Tonight the whole crew totally went to the Alix Olsen show at Webster College. Parys totally hooked Alix up with some FireUP! Literature.

The only thing left to do now is wait; for the last two members of the work crew, for some homegrown squash from Dremlin Farm; for the vehicle that will take us on the next leg of the trip: for the morning when we’ll roll out towards Arizona.
Thanks to Schafly’s pub that donated our space; to the band and the squaredance caller; to Justicia for opening her house; for the many artisans that donated art; to Parys’ mom; to CAMP; thanks to St. Louis. We’re about to pass through the gateway to the west… off we go.  ¶ 7:56 AM 0 comments

  remember remember the fifth of november
The Fire Up! crew is reunited in Yellow Springs, Ohio. We are camping out on the cement floor of the AEC (Antioch Environmental Center) office after a lovely camp fire under the full moon.

so, the bus broke. the bus is now junk. it's in the yard.


Evan and Charles were here in yellow springs for the past few days dealing with hundreds of objects onboard the bus. they carried them all to safety and are now organized in the Antioch Fire up! compound. (the AEC)

Meanwhile, the rest of the squad- skunk, Devin, Julian, were whisked away in a yellow sports car, a SunFIRE, to events at the San Francisco house in Chicago, and the next day to one at Ambrosia Coop in Madison, WI.














Even in the face of Catastrophe, we keep laughing. Everything is going on. even as we speak, backup plans are coming into effect. In Madison we were able to recruit Kevin (rhymes with Evan and Devyn). Kevin just bought a big ass truck. He is at a "crossroads" in his life and has decided to join up. He and sandy will meet us in St. Louis, soon.

Parys is in St.Louis preparing a square dance, clog off, art auction fund raiser for the Fire UP work crew to Black Mesa, Arizona.

miracles are happening.
thanks Jenny for being a revolutionary race car driver.

thanks Kurt from the Emporium for loaning devyn your car.
thanks to everyone at the RV lot for being amiable and patient.
Thanks to our hosts @ Dremlin Farm, SanFran House, and Ambrosia.


FIRE UP!
  ¶ 11:05 PM 0 comments

  3 successful presentations...1 left Pictures will be on the way..but the basic UPdate is that our presentations have been successful. Chicago last night and just now in Madison WI. Now, we're headed back to Drumlin farm to shell corn. Tomorrow we're headin' back to Ohio to meet up with Charles and Evan and recollect our stuff from the bus. Then we're findin' a way to St. Louis!
Stay tuned...  ¶ 7:52 PM 0 comments

  Burnt out bus..but we're still firedUP! The bus is stuck again. This time we're in OHIO. Things are rough...stay tuned for better updates. BUT!!! we're still on our way to chicago in a small Yellow car. Charles is bussing in to help and he and Evan are staying back in OHIO to rescue the bus. THE SHOW WILL GO ON!! p.s. if you are an organizer of the event. Please call one of us. We're still FIREDUP!!! Now the bus resides inside a big fence with a bunch of motor homes... Alas, "Look Alive out There!"
  ¶ 9:45 AM 0 comments

  FireUP Workcrew to Black Mesa presents... FireUP ‘Apocalyptic' Pep Talk
* * *
FireUPDATES from our Frontlines
&
Refreshments for the Revolution
- Up-to-Date reports about Black Mesa and the San Francisco Peaks in AZ.
- Connecting the dots between struggles.
- Rethinking ‘The End Times’.
- Rekindling our Spirit of Resistance.

Downloads;
PressKit PDF
FireUP Yellow Springs poster (pdf)
FireUP Chicago Poster (pdf)
FireUP 1/4 page Flyer (pdf)
  ¶ 9:00 PM 0 comments

  Yellow Springs FireUP! Poster (PDF)

Thursday, November 2nd, Yellow Springs OH
@ the Antioch INN
A radical variety show...

6pm - PMS MEDIA screening
7pm - Seasonal Potluck Meet and Greet
8pm - FireUP workcrew presentation.

For More Information about this event, contact; Devin Clover . Devin211 (at) gmail.com

FireUPDATES / FireUP! Home

  ¶ 7:53 PM 0 comments

  Chicago FireUP!
Poster (PDF)

  ¶ 7:50 PM 0 comments

  The BUS is Stuck It's Devin here reporting from the FireUPress office in Ithaca, NY. We just recieved transmission from Skunkrising and Julian Drix that the bus is stuck. However, they are "doing just fine", they are "lookin' good out there" diggin that bus outta the mud from the EarlyMorning Farm in the outer hills of Ithaca. As we slip deeper into night, the fireUP workcrew is still active preparing and gathering for our trip to Black Mesa.  ¶ 7:46 PM 0 comments