We celebrate the end of this significant part of resource colonialism in Diné Bikeyah. The geopolitics of this entire region were at one point driven by exploitation of coal from Black Mesa by the hands of Peabody Coal. This led to the forced relocation of more than 20,000 Diné from their homelands. While we celebrate this victory, we also see that it was not the injustice of the suffering of the land and people that ended this deal. It was a business transaction that was set up to fail. In the face of climate crisis and the global dethroning of “king coal” , the corporations that established the Navajo Generating Station inflicted extraordinary damage and they wanted to pass the responsibility off to someone else. The NGOs and grassroots people saw through this and resisted it extraordinarily.
Though they propose a transition towards a “green economy,” we antagonize any attempts to fulfill the ultimate project of colonization through the complete expansion of capitalism in our lands. We celebrated when Sithe Goobal Power’s proposed billion dollar coal fired power plant was shut down by grassroots organizing and a sustained bloackade. We will truly celebrate when we have justice for all those impacted by forced relocation, when the San Juan and Four Corners generating stations, and when Navajo Mine is shut down. We celebrate the death of coal because it was the death of our land and people.
