Tag Archives: accumulation by dispossession

Coal Mining Curbed on the Black Mesa, Paving Way for Navajo Green Economy

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A shorter version of this post first appeared on RaceWire.

Clean Coal is a Dirty Lie. Sign held by a Hopi youth at a protest against Peabody in Denver, Colorado.

Clean Coal is a Dirty Lie. Sign held by a Hopi youth at a protest against Peabody in Denver, Colorado.

The indigenous environmental justice movement celebrated a victory, early January 2010, when a judge ruled that Peabody Energy cannot expand its coal mining operations on the Black Mesa in northern Arizona.  Former president Bush Jr. approved a permit for Peabody in the twilight of his outgoing administration—not surprising, when you consider that Peabody’s parent holding company was Bechtel, a defense contractor with strong political ties—a permit that failed to fulfill all administrative requirements.  Groups including the Black Mesa Water Coalition filed a petition in early 2009, charging that prerequisites, such as filing an Environmental Impact Statement, were ignored, thereby making the approved permit invalid.
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Green Jobs for Navajo Youth

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Nikke AlexNikke Alex, the youth organizer for the Navajo Green Jobs and the Black Mesa Water Coalition, talked with us for a few minutes while she was at the Navajo Nation Council Chamber in Window Rock, Arizona, celebrating the historic passage of the first green jobs legislation in American Indian country.

The green jobs act establishes a Navajo Green Economy Commission and Fund, which can apply for federal and local funds to create green jobs for Navajo youth, as well as sponsor small-scale, green developments that will help to provide needed services to the community.

Nikke is a member of the Navajo Nation (Diné Bikéyah). She is Salt clan born for the Tangle People clan. Her maternal grandparents are of the Big Water clan, and her paternal grandparents are of the Red Bottom clan. She grew up in Gallup, New Mexico.

RaceWire: How do you feel now that the green jobs bill has been passed?

Nikke Alex: I feel really great, even though I’m exhausted. The real work starts now. It’s been 14 months of work to campaign to get the green jobs bill enacted. It feels really great to be at the forefront of the Indian country, to be the first nation to propose green legislation and pass it.
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Sociology of Board Games

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Girl GamesSociological Images recently posted pictures taken at a toy store of board games targeted towards girls.  Of course, they’re pink.  The box of Scrabble spells out “f-a-s-h-i-o-n” and girls’ Monopoly comes in a pink, velvet-lined jewelry box where you can keep game pieces.

A dissertation should be written on the sociology of board games, if there hasn’t been one already.

Recently, I had to do some research on board games for a report.  I studied two games: LIFE from the 1990s and MONOPOLY, bubble economy version from 2006.  It was VERY interesting the social norms enforced in both.  LIFE assumed that your goal was to die rich and retire at Millionaire Estates, along the way you may encounter troubles like contracting Moo-shu flu, etc.
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