Running for Justice for the Maya Q’Eqchi

By Nadrat Siddique

December 29 – Tonight I ran 10k (6.2 miles) to call for justice for the  Maya Q’Eqchi’ in Guatemala. These are Guatemalan Indians, who have been violently evicted by the Guatemalan police at the behest of a multinational corporation operating on indigenous lands. Twenty-five Mayan Indian women and children were arrested, when they resisted expulsion from their homes. Mayan Indians have long been the target of extermination by successive U.S.-supported dictators in Guatemala.

According to the organizers of the virtual run, "On December 6th the Chapín Abajo community in El Estor, Izabal, Guatemala was violently evicted, affecting 50 Maya Q’eqchi’ families. There are 25 arrest warrants against Q’eqchi’ Ancestral Authorities. Women and minors were arbitrarily detained without any justification by the National Civil Police (PNC). This eviction was on behalf of the the company NaturAceites - a leading company in the production of African palm oil in Guatemala, and with a high rate of human rights violations."

The organizers website, further explaining the struggle of the Maya Q’Eqchi, is here:

Very often I run various races as an individual. But, to me the parallels between the struggle of indigenous Guatemalans and the Palestinians--who are routinely expelled from their homes so that upscale Jewish-only settlements may be erected—were so stark, I was compelled to set up a Muslim team in an effort to expand Muslim participation and solidarity with the Guatemalan Indians. The team, Team Jamaat Al-Muslimeen, named for one of the United States’ oldest Muslim social justice organizations of which I am a part, was, due to last minute organizing, unfortunately comprised only of myself. In spirit, however, we stand with indigenous peoples in their fight for human rights and self-determination.

A video of my run is here.

Nadrat Siddique is a Muslim marathoner of Pakistani origin.

Karen Silkwood: Heroine

By Nadrat Siddique

This past weekend, I was in Oklahoma City for a friend's wedding. Walking around the downtown, I passed roads and a small city park named for Robert Kerr and Dean McGee. An elementary school and a high school were similarly named for the principles of the Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corporation. It reminded me that a heroine of my teen years, Karen Silkwood, was murdered here in the 1970s.

While working for Kerr-McGee, Silkwood found the corporation endangering its workers through highly unethical and likely illegal industry practices. She became a whistleblower, and thus the target of the company’s malfeasance. Ultimately, she was murdered when her car was run off the road.

It was the Silkwood case which convinced me of the importance of the labor (she was the union representative for workers at her Kerr-McGee location); of environmentalism (although Kerr-McGee paid a large settle ment to the Silkwood estate, they refused to admit fault; however Silkwood and the union alleged corporate negligence which led to the contamination of workers with plutonium; and of activism (had Silkwood remained silent and tolerated Kerr-McGee’s abuse of its workers, she might be alive today; instead, she insisted on investigating, organizing and agitating for workers’ rights, despite being aware of the risks of challenging a corporate giant).

So, Silkwood is dead, and the Men in Black suits—Kerr and McGee—who likely ordered her murder are honored to this day in Oklahoma City.