ACT for Disarmament will be holding a protest against the
University of Toronto 's involvement in the Mount Graham
Observatory project, Monday August 19 at 12 noon, at the Physics
Building on the corner of Huron St. and Russell St. The astronomy
department of the University of Toronto is joining a consortium to
build a massive observatory on Mount Graham, in Arizona. Other
members of th e consortium include the University of Arizona, the
Vatican, and the Max Planck Institute. The Big Seated Mountain,
(dzit nchaa si an), known as Mount Graham, is a site traditionally
sacred to the Zuni and Apache peoples. When the project -- called
the 'Columbus Project' -- is completed, the observatory and the
associated roads an d parking lots will desecrate traditional
burial grounds and numerous religious s hrines. The Big Seated
Mountain is also an ecologically valuable and fragile region, ho
me to many rare plants and healing herbs, and to the Mount Graham
red squirrel. Th e Columbus Project has been pushed through by
legislation exempting it from environmental assessment laws. The
protest at the University of Toronto is part of a series of
protests across
North America. We will demand the the University of Toronto
boycott the Columbus Project, and that the project itself be
halted. August 19 has been chosen as a date for protests because
it is also the day the
Apache Nation is filing a lawsuit to prevent the project from
taking place.
For more information contact: ACT for Disarmament, 531-6154 Danny
Beaton, Mohawk Six Nations, 921-0014