Danns Awarded A lte rn a tiv e Nobel Prize
Michelle 5yverson
Mary and Carrie Dann of the western bhosnnne
Nation received the 1993 Right Livelihood Award
in Sweden on December 9th. for their courage
and perseverance in asserting the rights of
indigenous people to their land The $^00,000
award was shared by five women, or women- led
movements, who have ‘ made outstanding positive
contributions in situations of c ris is or c o n flic t'
The Awards were presented in the Swedish
Parliament on December 9th, the day before the
Nobel Prize presentations (The Awards are
often referred to as the Alternative Nobel
P riz e ",
Although Mary- was unable to attend the event.
Carrie and ner niece flew to Sweden on a western
Shoshone passport They were forced to fly and
return via Canada because the U 5 does not
recognize Native American Passports (A il other
countries in the world accept the Western
»shone passport) After tne Award ceremony
in Stockholm, Carrie spoke at a number of events
in Germany, and addressed the European
Parliament ,n Strasbourg
Many of us are aware of tne Dann sisters
struggle to protect their land because we were
fortunate enouqn to nave Carrie Dann v is it
Cannon Beach on two separate occasions in 1993
In March she spoke at a fund raiser for the
western Shoshone Nation, and in September she
was a quest speaker at a major cultural event
celebrating the year of indigenous peoples Both
events were held at the Chamber of Commerce in
Cannon Beach and attended by hundreds of
residents and tourists
For more than twenty years, the Dann sisters
have been at the forefront of their peoples
struggle against the attempted exporpriation of
their land by the U 5 Government and its
degradation of the land by mining and nuclear
testing nary and Carrie Dan, age 70 and 50
respectively, are traditional Western Shoshone
women and the major leaders ,n their peoples
p o litica l and legal battle to retain tneir
ancestral lands Since 1972, the Dann sisters
have been waging a battle w ith the US
Government through litig a tio n and c iv il
disobedience
To understand the signif iganc* of their
struggle, the follow ing is a brief history of the
Western Shoshone Nation
The Western Shoshone Nations te rrito ry, as
defined in the Treaty of Puby Valley in I860,
includes tw o -th ird s of the State of Nevada and
small portions of California, Idaho, and Utah
This treaty was not a treaty of cession, but of
peace and friendship, granting the citizens of the
United States sat** passage through Shoshone
T erritory and perm itting a small amount of
mining and ran< hing in specif ic ar^as
The Treaty of Puby Valley, like other treaties
between tne United States Government and Indian
Nations, has been abrogated and undermined by
US domestic law For example, the General
Allotment Act of 1887 was designed to break up
Indian te rrito rie s that were used in common, by
allotm g between 80 and 160 acres to individual
ownership, all remaining land autom atically
became U 5 property
In the 19th century, the US Supreme Court
successfully developed the theory of trusteeship,
giving the trustee, (U S A ), unlim ited power over
Indian land and property The Indian Nations
became wards of the US Government and the
Bureau of Indian A ffa irs (Bi A) The new
administer mg body was implemented to “take
care' of Indian Nations and their property
Through different legislative acts, almost 90X
of western Shoshone land and resources
gradually came under control of the US
Department of Interior and its branches, the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the
Department of Energy In 1951. the Nevada Test
Site was established, where the U S and Great
Br it tan conducted more than 100 atmospheric
tests - more than have been conducted anywhere
else in the world In all, 950 nuclear bombs have
been detonted on Shoshone land since ,951. the
most recent in April. 1990
In 1946, the Indians Cl n m s Act was ra tifie d
in order to resolve Indian claims to lands taken
by the U 5 The Indian Claims Commission (ICC>
was founded to handle these c laims The western
Shoshone were compensated against their w ill,
for land they allegedly lost in ,072 Their
ef for ts to stop the pro« eedings and f ire their
wash ngton attorney were denied Prior to 1969
Indian Nations had no fre** choice of legal
representation all contracts were arranged and
controlled by the Bi A
m 1979, th e C««urt of Claims awarded $26
m illio n dollars in compensation for tak mg 2*4
m illio n acres of Western Shoshone land Put
more th in 80'’? of th* western Shoshone people,
despite their poverty, voted against accepting
the money Instead, the ,w ard was placed in in
interest-bearing jecount at the Department of
ntenor. md now totals w ell over $60 m illio n
Since the Western ,n< «shone did not sell or cede
their land, they simply requested that the United
States observe the Treaty of Ruby Valley
in De« ember 1991, the 9tn C ircuit Cour t ruled
that the claims iward. which the Shosone never
accepted, extinguished subsistence rights
guaranteed in the Treaty of Ruby Valley These
subsistence rights are the right to hunt, f ish and
gather and are epar ate rights t their « wn
natural resources
Mary and Carrie Dann s ranch is in Crescent
Valley, in the heart of Western Shoshone
te rrito ry In 1973 they w e re approached by i
BLM ranger who demanded to see their gr izmg
permit Tn^y ar g«jed that their cattle were
grazing on Western Shoshone ferr itory. but they
were nonetheless sued for trespassing in 197 4
in June ,991. as a result of the denial of
W estern Shoshone la n d n g h ts . the Feder at
D istrict Court of Nevada authorized the BLM to
reduce the Dann livestock because they were
"overgrazing" According to Citizen Alert, the
majnr environmental organization in Nevada the
Danns do not overgraze
On March 26. 1992, in r esponse to the f irst
round up conducted by th e D IM , th e w e s te r n
Shoshone National Council nationalized the
livestock of the Danns The BLM ignored the
change o f o w n e rs h ip and a tte m p te d m o th e r
livestock reduction' on April 9th which fa ile d
because of the non-violent resistance of Western
Shoshone and non-Indian supporters
In November. 1992, the BLM conduc ted another
round-up of 269 unauthorized horses grazing on
public land w ith helicopters, a rm e d sher Iffs and
federal agents Mary and Carrie s brother.
C liffo rd Dann. tried to prevent the conf iscation
When he was unsuccesful, he threatened to ignite
him self, but federal off ite rs wrestled him to the
ground After treatment in a hospital he was
arrested OnMarchTrd. 1993, he was convicted
of assaulting federal o ffice rs and incarcerated
at the federal prison in Lornpoc. C alifornia Last
month he was released and is back home helping
at the ranch The Dann sisters have requested
that President Clinton pardon him of his "crime"
The Danri sisters have recently discovered
that Kennecot. a subsidiary of B ritis h Rio Tinto
Zinc, plan to start another major mining
operation on the Shoshone land The Western
Shoshone have never received compensation for
damage by mining, or royalties for their
resources Kennecot s new mine "Placer Dome"
w ill cover 1,700 acres, plus tailings covering
650 acres, directly affecting tne health of the
Dann fam ily and the environment of the land and
all its inhabitants This open p it mine operation
w ill affect springs and poison the mam fresh
water source of Crescent Valley
The other Right Livelihood recipients. all women
of courage ire
Arna Met Kham ts
te tnd the e g jm zation
Care and I e a rn in g wh
he founded r lei in
«Occupied Palestine» for passionate commitment
to the defer e tnd education «.»f »he children o*
Palestine victim ized by m ilita ry occupation
Re- ent events o f f e r hope that h e r w«»ri« m ay
s e rv e is t model conti ibut ion to i re ii
recot ill it ion between the P ilest ini in md
Israeli peoples
V a n d a n a ‘ » h iv a
advocate arid researcher, for her pioneering
insights into the social md environment il • ost
of dominant development process, and her a b ility
'o work w ith and for loi il people and
communities in the artu u,at ion and
impliment it ion of a lte rn a tiv e Shiva has done
much to p l y e women an i e> doqy it the he n t of
modern development dis« urse
I he O rg a n iz a tio n of R ural Assoc la t ions fo r
P rogress (ORAP) ir ■ -«hihwe, o founded by
Sithembiso Nyom, for mot ivatmg Its m illio n
members to choose fbeir own development path
accordmq to their ■ u ’ ure and trad ition s and for
its effe ctive response to tne most lengthy
drought in Southern Africa
I he Right L ivelihood Awards wet e started in
,900 by Jakob von Ue»kull. a Swedish-German
philatelic expert who sold his valuable postage
stamps to provide the original endowment von
Uexkull fe lt that the Nobel Prizes had becom e too
narrow and pe i ilized and ignored mu h work
m l knowledge v if 31 tor the survival of
hurnank md Re< ipients of the Right I ivelihood
Award are chosen annually Py an international
jury in such fields as environmental protection,
peate and disarmament, md economic and human
developement The Right I ivelihood Award cash
pr izes are designated for the support of ongoing
proje< U that addres* «. ru« ial problems fa< mg
humanity today
(Michelle Syverson is F»eeutive Direc tor of
Environmental New Network andrepresent the
Right I ivelihood
ird s in North Amer ic a For
more inform it ion contar f her at PO Box 680.
Manzanita, Or 97 ,3 0 )
at the Edge are pleased to announce that this
is the fir s t of an ongoing series of a rticle s
Michelle w ill be wr it,ng for the Edgn ,
(W h
\
I
Because I asemm m a lie , it m
condemned to lite r a r y s te r ility And
when It la post. It w ill have no
h isto ry, except the bloody history of
murder
Ernest Itemtnqway
OREGON COAST
SUPPORT CROUP
» o »0« »o
CAM MON I I M H
O » IIO H »MIO
J O J -4 1 4 -1 4 J O
JOJ 4 ) * - * ' J ] 7
nadnr3hip is action, not position
0 H McOannon
American Indian
Association of Portland
1827 NE 44th Suite 226
Portland, OR 97213
»
UPPLR LLfI ID&E JftKIlflM IW
3