Klamath Tribes, Fishermen & Farmers vs. Warren Buffet

[bhikkhu]

Klamath River Tribes and Fishermen Disrupt
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Meeting
By Dan Bacher
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Saturday 10 May 2008

....After introducing himself in his native tongue, Hillman challenged Buffett by saying, "As a European-American you are the visitor in our country. Will you not meet with the native people impacted by your fish killing dams? You say you want to address poverty and disease in the third world. But you are creating those same third world conditions right here in America. We want to meet and resolve the issue in a way that saves you money and saves our culture." Hillman then presented a dam removal agreement.

After Hillman spoke, Georgiana Myers and Annalia Norris of the Yurok Tribe unfurled a large banner that read "Klamath Dams Equal Cultural Genocide." The other banners proclaimed "Buffett's Dams kill salmon, communities, and jobs" and "Warren: Un-dam the Klamath - sign the agreement now!"

Apparently afraid of further disruptions of the meeting, after lunch Buffett said he wouldn't take any more questions about the Klamath. Security guards denied commercial salmon fisherman Dave Bitts, Karuk fisherman Ron Reed and Karuk Medicine Woman Cathy McCovey access to the microphones despite being next in the cue to speak....


http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051008G.shtml

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This is an inspiring article, and I am waiting to see if it even makes it into our local paper. The issue is one that has been brewing unresolved for many years - the balance of dams vs fish vs irrigation along the Klamath River, which winds through Southern Oregon and Northern California. For the first time ever there is a proposal on the table that the majority of the parties involved have hammered out and agreed to. It involves removing four dams as well as a cpmplex re-shuffling of water rights. Needless to say, One of Buffet's corporate subsidiaries is standing in the way of a hard-fought local consensus here.