GREEN PARTY OF ALASKA SUPPORTS HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHICKALOON
The Green Party of Alaska supports the sovreign right of the
Athabascan peoples of Chickaloon to self determination, and calls
for the people of Alaska to affirm the right of local peoples to
make decisions for themselves.
The people of Chickaloon have worked hard to nurture life into a
river that had been polluted by coal mining once before. It is a
cold slap in the face of sustainable and appropriate decision
making for mining to begin there again.
Seeing the consequences of environmental abuse around the world, we
as conscientious peoples must not stand aside and watch while the
local people of Chickaloon are literally run over for trying to
protect their right and ability to survive.
The Green Party of Alaska calls for an immediate accounting from
Walter Hickel and the Alaska State Troopers for their failure to
uphold the rights of sovreign people and the use of their privately
owned road. The inability of the Alaskan State Troopers to respond
to the hit and run 'accident' on Saturday, belies a serious
breakdown in our system of law and order.
Despite the media's failure to bring it to light, let it be a
matter of public record that a video tape of Fridays arrest of
Chickaloon resident Gary Harrison has been confiscated by the
police. Harrison claims to have been physically abused by the
police, while the police claim he resisted arrest. Let it be noted
that Harrison was breaking no law in using his own body to protect
a road owned by his people.
The very recent events in Chickaloon and Cordova speak of a
government which will perpetrate its policies in disregard of human
rights and a meaningful public process. Justification as to why the
State of Alaska ordered Hobbs Industries' officials to remove the
coal from the area has not been offered.
The State of Alaska must stop avoiding issues of jursidiction. All
of our human rights are at stake, and they must be addressed before
other problems can be resolved.
JONI WHITMORE, CHAIR JIM SYKES, SPOKESPERSON
(907) 235)7601 (907) 278)7436