reprinted with permission from
Poison Fire, Sacred Earth,
TESTIMONIES, LECTURES, CONCLUSIONS,
THE WORLD URANIUM HEARING, SALZBURG 1992
pages 168-170
The Western Shoshone National Council
is convinced that our present situation, our
inability to protect our lands in court and
preventing their confiscation by the United States
is based upon the principles contained in these
two [1493 Inter Caetera & 1452] bulls. In
essence, the United States' Supreme
Court handed down a decision in which it said
that the Indian Nations don't have true title to
their lands, they only have a title of occupancy,
because they were not Christians. That the first
Christian nation to discover an area of heathen
infidel lands had the ultimate dominion over
those lands and absolute title.
The Western Shoshone Nation owns the
Nevada Nuclear Test Site where the United States
and Great Britain test their nuclear weapons. The
Western Shoshone Nation is the most bombed
nation in the world. Our lands cover a vast expanse
of approximately 40,000 square miles which
includes parts of California, Utah, Idaho and, of
course, Nevada. Our traditional territory was
recognized through a formal treaty with the United
States in 1863, the Treaty of Ruby Valley. This
treaty defined the basis for future relations
between the Western Shoshone Nation and the United
States. It was a treaty of "Peace and Friendship". It
was different than many of the treaties of the time,
which were treaties of cession. Our treaty
did not give any land to the United
States. We have never violated this treaty. On the
other hand, the United States has violated the very
essence of this treaty by testing its nuclear
weapons on our lands and people. We call these
tests "bombs" because the purpose of a bomb is to
destroy. The hundreds of craters on our lands, the
adverse health effects upon our people and wildlife
are testimony to this destruction. Jim Garrett
talked about the lost generation of Native
Americans. We also have this lost generation. They
have lost the ability to think. The
psychological and physical effects of nuclear
testing and exposure to radiation has certainly
added to the troubles of this generation. We have
lost one generation through nuclear testing. We
will not lose another. . . .
Germany, France and Sweden are also
searching for a disposal method and site. To a
varying degree each has pursued a
technology-based approach while disregarding
public acceptance and participation. Each of
these countries has found it necessary, however,
to redirect their nuclear waste programs to allow
greater public participation and acceptance. The
United States is the only democratic country
which is insisting on forcing a nuclear waste
solution upon its citizens. We are adamantly
opposed to the nuclear waste dumping of the
United States on our sovereign lands, and we
have passed a resolution to this effect.
. . . I have a final thought: Man's existence
on earth has been brief and exciting in geological
terms. His computers can now predict where the
continental plates will be in 20 million years. We
also have weapons that can destroy this
planet. Whether or not man will be part of that future is
being decided now. And I hope you all with me
decide to be part of that future.
Ian Zabarte
Ian Zabarte, Western Shoshone Nation, Nevada,
USA. Western Shoshone National Council, Director of
the Nuclear Oversight Project of the Western Shoshone Nation.
Hello! My name is Ian Zabarte, I'm
a Western Shoshone Indian. I'm very happy to be
here. I'm from Nevada. What makes my being here
so special is seeing so many new faces that
are working on common issues. To many
Native Americans, Christopher Columbus
was found lost at sea. The ideas which I'm
about to speak are supported by the Western
Shoshone National Council and were given
to us by our friend Steven Newcomb, a
Shawnee-Delaware Indian. As Floyd
Westerman mentioned yesterday, upon
Christopher Columbus' return back to Spain,
Pope Alexander VI issued a document which
called upon Spain and Portugal to conquer --
or as he put it: "That the barbarous nations
be subjugated and reduced to the faith itself."
This document is known as the Inter
Caetera Bull of 1493. The essence of this papal
document is that it was a declaration of war
against indigenous peoples from other parts of the
world, no matter what those parts are. In another
papal document from 1452, Pope Nicolas V
called on Alfonso of Portugal to go to the West
coast of Africa and to "conquer and vanquish and
subdue" the natives and to "put them into
perpetual slavery and to take all their possessions
and property". The Inter Caetera Bull of 1493 was
actually in this same tradition, not recognizing
native peoples as being truly sovereign
independent people with inherent rights to
territorial possessions. I believe that this
document is the basis for many of the situations
that indigenous victims are facing. We are
disenfranchised peoples.
As you may be aware, 1993 has been
declared the Year of the Indigenous Peoples by
the United Nations. Many indigenous peoples had
wanted 1992 to be the Year of the Indigenous
Peoples, but Spain and other countries had
objected that this would interfere with their
celebration of Columbus' first voyage to the
so-called New World. This is actually going to make
the two dates coincide: The Year of the
Indigenous Peoples and the 500th anniversary of
the Inter Caetera Bull. Both of these dates should
now have extreme importance to all indigenous
peoples throughout the world. What Steve
Newcomb has proposed is that Pope John Paul II
formally renounce these two bulls in 1993, 500
years after their inception.
The Western Shoshone National Council
is convinced that our present situation, our
inability to protect our lands in court and
preventing their confiscation by the United States
is based upon the principles contained in these
two bulls. In essence, the United States' Supreme
Court handed down a decision in which it said
that the Indian Nations don't have true title to
their lands, they only have a title of occupancy,
because they were not Christians. That the first
Christian nation to discover an area of heathen
infidel lands had the ultimate dominion over
those lands and absolute title.
The Western Shoshone Nation owns the
Nevada Nuclear Test Site where the United States
and Great Britain test their nuclear weapons. The
Western Shoshone Nation is the most bombed
nation in the world. Our lands cover a vast expanse
of approximately 40,000 square miles which
includes parts of California, Utah, Idaho and, of
course, Nevada. Our traditional territory was
recognized through a formal treaty with the United
States in 1863, the Treaty of Ruby Valley. This
treaty defined the basis for future relations
between the Western Shoshone Nation and the United
States. It was a treaty of "Peace and Friendship". It
was different than many of the treaties of the time,
which were treaties of cession. Our treaty
did not give any land to the United
States. We have never violated this treaty. On the
other hand, the United States has violated the very
essence of this treaty by testing its nuclear
weapons on our lands and people. We call these
tests "bombs" because the purpose of a bomb is to
destroy. The hundreds of craters on our lands, the
adverse health effects upon our people and wildlife
are testimony to this destruction. Jim Garrett
talked about the lost generation of Native
Americans. We also have this lost generation. They
have lost the ability to think. The
psychological and physical effects of nuclear
testing and exposure to radiation has certainly
added to the troubles of this generation. We have
lost one generation through nuclear testing. We
will not lose another.
We are fighting for our lands which
are the essence of who we are. We know these
lands, the mountains bear the figures of our
greatest chiefs, the valleys contain the foods that
have sustained our people for 10,000 years. The
earth is our mother. These lands contain the patterns and
lifeways which our people need to carry on our
traditions, much like DNA carries the messages
of the human body. If these lands are
uninhabitably destroyed, we have nowhere to go,
no reason to go on. We cannot discover some
other land to inhabit. Our culture and tradition
dictate that we remain within our traditional
homelands as caretakers. This is our
responsibility. Otherwise we are risking the future
of our children. The Western Shoshone Nation is
adamantly opposed to any nuclear testing on our
lands, and we have passed a resolution to this
effect.
Some scientists are looking at the
plausibility of designating some contaminated
areas as "National Sacrifice Zones". This theory
is surely a flawed one. In our belief all land is
sacred. We cannot continue to destroy
them. Destroying them in the first place was wrong. We
should take care of our lands and try to clean
them up, no matter what it takes, no matter how
long. We must learn to live on our lands. Along
with this theory of National Sacrifice Zones, first
an area is destroyed or contaminated, then they
would compound the problem by adding nuclear
and toxic waste.
At the Nevada Nuclear Test Site there is
a mountain half on and half off of the test site
known as Yucca Mountain. The U.S. Department
of Energy is charged with the investigation of
Yucca Mountain as the first site for the United
States high-level nuclear waste repository. The
High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository Project is
the highest profile and most technologically
advanced project being undertaken in the United
States. This site is located less than 20 miles from
where nuclear weapons are exploded underground,
producing earthquakes that register 4.5 on the
Richter scale. There are 21 faults running through
Yucca Mountain and seven inactive volcanos. The
scientific criteria dictate that the site must
contain the waste for 10,000 years. Borrowing
from the ideas of one of our earlier speakers, we
ask: How can they guarantee that the waste will
be contained for 10,000 years? They have only
been on the North American continent for 500
years and on Western Shoshone lands for less
than 200. We plan to remain on our lands for the
next 10,000 years, and we need them to be
uncontaminated!
Germany, France and Sweden are also
searching for a disposal method and site. To a
varying degree each has pursued a
technology-based approach while disregarding
public acceptance and participation. Each of
these countries has found it necessary, however,
to redirect their nuclear waste programs to allow
greater public participation and acceptance. The
United States is the only democratic country
which is insisting on forcing a nuclear waste
solution upon its citizens. We are adamantly
opposed to the nuclear waste
dumping of the United States on our sovereign
lands, and we have passed a resolution to this
effect.
Dear friends, I wanted to give that portion
of my presentation first, because what I will now
talk about is very personal and drives great
emotion from me. And I feel vulnerable at this
time. I couldn't have made a strong presentation
thus far if I started any differently. I was lucky
enough to be born and raised in the San Francisco
Bay Area in northern California. Growing
up, we frequently visited the
reservations where many of my family live. In
1980, I finally came home for good. I had not
reached my 21st birthday and neither had many
of my cousins. But they never would because
they died from leukemia. My uncle Philip
Graham also died from cancer. His children have
many problems as most children without a father.
Recently, my cousin who had lost a
daughter to leukemia was trying to fill out the
paperwork for the Radiation Exposure
Compensation Act, the law which allows up to
50,000 dollars for downwinders to be
compensated if they could prove some of the
requirements like presence in the site and being
there during certain dates. Her daughter passed
away when she was ten. Her daughter was born
eleven days after the 30-day-period which would
have qualified her for these payments. Though for
nine months, her daughter was in her womb and
she was in the area downwind from the fallout
and the test site. There are many problems with
this Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. The
50,000 dollars doesn't even cover the medical
expenses -- the illnesses which are allowed
through this act are very narrow and are difficult
to qualify.
I like to think of myself as voluntarily
becoming an activist for my people. I suppose
that in some way I can feel some satisfaction in
helping those less fortunate. But this is only the
way I like to think about myself. In reality, I'm
doing this to save my son from being harmed by
radiation. I'm doing this for a selfish
reason. However, I hope that you feel this strongly about
your children as I do of mine. We often talk about
treating our children well, so that when we are
older they will treat us well. I'm sure that your
elders are treated with great respect here in
Austria because they have given you one of the
greatest gifts one can receive -- good health.
I wanted to mention a Western
Shoshone, Joe Sanchez, whom I have known and
worked together with on these issues. Earlier this
month his leukemia returned. We hope that Joe
has the strength to overcome this illness. Joe and
I have also worked on a series of events which I
want to tell you about. Next month the Western
Shoshone Nation is hosting a series of events, "Healing
Global Wounds" and "Indigenous Peoples Forum"
in Las Vegas and at the Nevada Nuclear Test
Site. The reason for these events are twofold: We
felt that we could not let official 1992
Quincentennial Celebrations go undisturbed, and
we needed to bring visibility to the health effects
which are suffered by downwinders which
desperately need attention. My friend Steve
Newcomb will give us a detailed presentation on
his research and the 1493 Inter Caetera Bull as
well as other presenters such as Dr. Rosalie
Bertell dealing with medical issues. I offer you a
heartfelt invitation to come and join us.
I have additional information on this event
as well as about our land and human rights
struggle which will be available in the hall. We
also have a film entitled "To Protect Mother
Earth", a sequel to "Broken Treaty at Battle
Mountain", both films are narrated by Robert
Redford. I have a final thought: Man's existence
on earth has been brief and exciting in geological
terms. His computers can now predict where the
continental plates will be in 20 million years. We
also have weapons that can destroy this
planet. Whether or not man will be part of that future is
being decided now. And I hope you all with me
decide to be part of that future.
Thank you.
Father John (Moderator)
I think who cannot be touched, especially by the last paragraph that Ian has lost many relatives and friends. I think everybody has been touched from that. So we go forward to listen to Gracelyn. Welcome!