Indigenous Rights and Mining: Maya and Ojibwe Activists Come to UWM

Miriam Pixtun is a Kaqchikel Maya woman from Guatemala, and Robert Van Zile an Ojibwe language instructor at Indian Community School of Milwaukee and Saokogan Chippewa. They came together to discuss a common threat: mining companies and the environmental issues associated with them.

Over eight different University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Schools, Centers, and Student Organizations worked together to bring Pixtun and Van Zile to the UWM Fireside Lounge.

After the meal, Devon Cupery, a producer at 371 Productions, screened her film Wisconsin’s Mining Standoff. The documentary, part of Al Jazeera America’s Fault Lines series, explores what fears residents of Iron and Ashland County have regarding Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) creating an open pit mine in their proverbial backyard.

These allegedly include asbestos found in the mining area, which could become airborne and cause a number of known health problems, and acid runoff that would contaminate the remaining water. The latter would be detrimental to the Bad River Band Chippewa who rely on the fish and wild rice, the farming families who need the water to sustain their cattle, and the thousands of other families who simply want to drink their water, mine opponents say.

The Penokee Mines is a controversial issue to some people: Iron County, aptly named for the amount of iron ore found there, has some of the lowest employment rates in the state. People both within the county and without see this as an opportunity for job growth. However, the people present Monday evening believe there should be no controversy at all.

Environmental issues stemming from mining practices have been well documented around the globe. According to the Midwest Coalition Against Lethal Mining, the proposed Penokee taconite (iron) mine echoes that of the San Sebastian gold mine in El Salvador. Promised jobs and the further development of their community, members of the San Sebastian community found that their drinking water was heavily contaminated with highly toxic waste from the mine.

This is all the more troubling, according to mine opponents, when taking into account GTAC president Bill Williams’ past in Spain. Williams’ company is allegedly linked to ejecting arsenic contaminated water into an aquifer near Seville.

According to Pixtun, the water near El Tambor mine already has arsenic levels eight times higher than the World Health Organization permits. The Maya people living near the mine also have endured civil rights abuses in addition to suffering from environmental issues surrounding El Tambor, said Pixtun.

“The laws of Guatemala are in conflict with the laws of human rights,” says Pixtun. “They tried to assassinate one of our workers. She survived and continues the fight. We have three people sentenced to nine years in prison who are innocent. Last year 12 people were killed in my community.”

Despite Guatemalan law, Pixtun and other residents near El Tambor mine were not informed, let alone consulted, before the project took place. After finding out, they formed “La Puya,” an encampment near Guatemala City and the mine. From there, Pixtun and other activists have been peacefully protesting. They formed blockades and worked in shifts to prevent the mining company from entering, she said.

“In May 2014, the government sent a large number of policemen. They had the order from the company that we would go or they would kill us. Even with this threat we are staying there. They really want us to leave, but we are still there.”

Mike Wiggins Jr. of the Bad River Band was originally intended to follow after Pixtun, but due to a snow storm in Northern Wisconsin he was unable to attend. He asked Van Zile to speak in his stead. Van Zile is known in Native American advocacy circles as heavily instrumental in preventing the proposed Crandon mine in 2002.

“Are we talking about mining,” asked Van Zile, “or are we talking about human rights? Mainstream society wants to keep us in this conquered and divided area of our lives because it’s called suppression. (They) want to hold you down, (they) don’t want you to get up and (they) don’t want you to go anywhere… From 1975 to 2002, we fought this battle in Mole Lake: That’s how long it lasts, people, and it’s still going on.”

“I’d like to make the point,” says Cupery during the Q and A, “that Miriam talked about the record of how the mining companies use violence to perpetrate their goals in Guatemala. What we’re seeing here is the beginning of that too. GTAC had armed guards installed in the Penokee hills in full camo with rifles. This is an out- of -state company, and so we’re seeing the same tactics being used here.”

Since Gov. Scott Walker signed a mining bill in 2013 that loosened the environmental restrictions on corporations, it would appear that GTAC will have less of a legal battle in winning a state permit.