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http://www.azcentral.com/news/0129swedes.shtml

Europeans support Navajos facing move

By Jerry Kammer
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 29, 2000

HARDROCK - Harold Mueller of Germany and Eva Goes of
Sweden came to this remote northeastern Arizona community
Friday to assure Navajos resisting a federal relocation program
that they are not alone.

"In Germany, there are many grass-roots organizations supporting
Native groups," said Mueller, who called Navajo relocation "a clear
violation of human rights."

On Tuesday, dozens of traditional Navajos, many of them elderly, will
legally be trespassers on the lands of their birth.

The approaching deadline has been condemned by human-rights
activists in the United States and several foreign countries.

Mueller brought petitions signed by more than 500 Germans with a
sharp message:

"We demand to stop the forced relocation programme. Please keep
in mind that the whole world witnesses the actions of the U.S."

Mueller said the petitions are being sent to President Clinton and the
Hopi Tribe.

Under a 1974 federal law, nearly a million acres of rangeland settled
by Navajos have been given to the Hopis. The partition was part of
the equal division of lands that have long been in dispute between the
two tribes.

Navajos who have not signed an "accommodation agreement" with
the Hopis are supposed to relocate by Tuesday.

Goes, a former member of the Swedish Parliament and an activist in
the Swedish Green Party, condemned relocation as "cultural genocide."

She said Washington should cancel the relocation deadline for the
resisters, whose numbers are difficult to ascertain but who probably
number about 200 in a dozen families.

"This is the year 2000, not the year 1492," said Goes, who said
relocation for traditional Navajos is tantamount to a death sentence.

Nearly 14,000 Navajos have already been relocated.

"It is inhumane, and it's against all (international) declarations about
human rights," she said. "I don't believe that in the year 2000 anybody
wants to kill indigenous people."

Goes was accompanied by a member of the Swedish Left Party,
several members of the Swedish American-Indian Association, and a
reporter from Sweden's largest newspaper, Expressen.

Meanwhile, as the Europeans and several dozen American
supporters met with the Navajos, about 20 Japanese protesters were
approaching the disputed land on the last leg of a "peace walk" to
draw attention to the relocation.

The mood of the protesters has been low key, calming fears of
possible violence as the deadline nears. Internet traffic in recent
months has claimed that government authorities were planning
forceful evictions on Feb 1. There have also been frequent calls for
outsiders to rally to the Navajos' support.

But Hopi Chairman Wayne Taylor has pledged not to exercise the
tribe's option to evict Navajos who remain past the deadline.

He said he would defer to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Phoenix,
which has said it will seek eviction orders from the U.S. District
Court. That process could take a year or more.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Lodge has established a "command
center" at the Hopi Cultural Center to monitor the protesters. Lodge
has maintained close contact with both tribes.

Navajo Chairman Kelsey Begaye, although not advocating
resistance, has pledged to stand by the resisters. But Begaye has not
welcomed outside support.

Lodge said police are keeping a low profile, despite the fact that the
Hopi Tribe turned down a request from Navajo supporters to camp
on Hopi land.

"We realize they are here, and we just hope they are peaceful,"
Lodge said.

Both Mueller and Goes said they so far have learned only the Navajo
side of the dispute. Both said they intend to seek a meeting with Hopi
officials, who have said partition and relocation are necessary to
restore lands that Hopis have unfairly lost to Navajo settlement.

Alice Begay, speaking in Navajo translated by her granddaughter,
said her grandparents had endured the infamous Navajo "Long Walk"
in the 1860s to captivity at an Army camp in New Mexico.

"They saved themselves for a reason . . . for their future generations
to come," Begay said. "That is why they suffered so long, so hard,
just for their future grandchildren to live here on the land."

---
Reach the reporter at jerry.kammer@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8185.

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