Wisconsin Mining Protester Releases Statement

Katie Krow Kloth targeted by Mining
Co. and Corrupt Wisconsin DA

By Katie Krow Kloth of Citizens Concerned about the Proposed Penokee Mine

My sentence to nine months in jail in conjunction with a withheld felony sentence equating to 15 years in prison if I “step out of line” in the eyes of the “state”, was harsh and a classist attack on my beliefs and lifestyle. Judge Fox strives to kill my spirit by burying me in a dying urban hole and desires that I refrain from involvement in the anti-resource extraction struggle; I refuse to be “killed,” and I refuse the idea of coerced complacency.

The “lifestyle enforcement” aspect of my five year probation mandate (post-jail time) with full-time employment stipulation, is culturist, and out-of-touch with today’s employment landscape. Innumerable individuals work seasonal jobs for life in a responsible manner, thus Judge Fox’s ruling is based on the disappearing myth of the white American Dream that supports and enforces a destructive capitalist regime. In conjunction, Judge Fox exploited my sentencing hearing to serve as a symbolic trial for my identity as an anarchist, my appearance, and my ongoing affiliation with indigenous communities, extending to my adamant stance against industrial resource extraction- this is unacceptable, yet predictable. The judge seemingly desires to stifle dissent from all things wild and free, and may as well have based his sentence off a hypothetical book in progress entitled, “White Pride and Prejudice,” as the words fell from his mouth in a narrow, out-dated, and white-male privileged world perspective, and does not support or embrace hunting, fishing, or gathering.

Though I am not indigenous and have never claimed to be, I am grateful and touched to have been welcomed into some of those communities, and maintain that G-TAC and their pro-mine affiliates are waging extreme racist resource colonialism on the land and connected peoples and creatures with the proposed Penokee Mine, potentially the largest iron-mine world-wide, as it would negatively affect front-line indigenous communities of the northwoods bioregion, in conjunction with their traditional ways.

Though I wish no harm on Stacey Saari, a geologist hired on G-TAC’s dollar, it saddens me that she continues to despise the fiber of my being, and continues to support industrial resource extraction that in turn supports death to the poorest of peoples in rural/wilderness landscapes. The cliché’ of “just doing your job” is no excuse to participate in colonial violence via corporate resource extraction.

Exploitation of the land by rich corporate entities continues to persist whilst perpetuating persecution of dissent to such negative acts across the globe, so resistance to these destructive activities must continue to proliferate world-wide. Various incarnations of creative resistance must be embraced to succeed in the struggle against the ongoing violence against our only home, Earth.

Consequently, colonization is everywhere, so decolonization must happen everywhere.

We must “know our rights,” and practice good security culture if we are to support our comrades, and succeed in struggle.

It will do us all good to prioritize organizing as communities and individuals that value consensus and the destruction of exclusionary hierarchies, holding ourselves accountable to our own standards.

It is also important to remember who are allies are, as well as who the real enemies are… a Supreme Court recently ruled that it is NOT a police officer’s job to “protect and serve,” only to uphold the law… the law is written by the predominantly white, colonized, elite 1% ruling class, and that is who the “law” protects- not you, not the land, not people of the LGBTQ community, female-bodied folks, or minorities of any kind. Thus, the law protects G-TAC and their affiliates, and police remain the first line of enforcement against community resistance.

We must negate state repression by protecting ourselves and land-bases therein; we must not give our people up, and recognize that to be in solidarity with one another is more akin to the idea of “harmony” than “unity”. Harmony implies that we can all do different things within the same song, and still find conclusion together.

We must let go of the liberal idea and notion of “hope”; hope is a passive wish; I would rather assert myself and strive toward self determination, leaving fascist hands and ideals behind.

The message must be sent that public dissent will NOT be stifled, as we are living in the 11th hour, the seventh fire, the last grab for fossil-fuel resources… We will not live in the wake of corporate destruction and greed… the anti-police brutality struggles that originated in Ferguson demonstrate inspiring community organizing and resistance we can all learn from, in conjunction with the indigenous people’s struggles at the Unis’tot’en Camp 1,000 kilometers north of modern day “British Columbia”- they never ceded their lands to the Canadian government and kicked out large-scale resource extractors by building a traditional village in the way of a pipeline… five years strong and steady.

In closing, direct action is important, and we must all continue to organize creatively; stay aware of the harms and dangers that surveillance and social media can bring. The internet is both a blessing and a curse; spend less time obsessing over government conspiracies, be safe, and organize around tangible issues that are pertinent to your communities.

In addition, for those who are interested in following the law to the tee until they die, you are a hypocrite, and you are not free; slavery was once legal, electro-shock therapy was once legal, and the nature of the proposed Penokee Mine was once illegal… be on the side of loving common-sense, as tough love takes many forms, not the side of money and fascism.

Ultimately, the Penokee Mine will never be built as it is genocide upon stolen Ojibwe land, its’ indigenous peoples and creatures, and their traditional ways. We should continue to use the land as if it does not belong to RGGS [RGGS Land and Minerals Ltd. of Houston], leased to G-TAC, as it does not belong to them. Treaties aside, if we kill the land, we kill ourselves.