Traditional owner Mr Lee, the sole member of the Djok clan and senior custodian of his at Koongara which borders Kakadu National Park has turned his back on potentially hundreds of millions of dollars of mining royalties by blocking mining on his land by French company Areva. He has offered for his land instead to become part of Kakadu National Park.
Jeffrey Lee is quoted in the The Age as saying:
''When you dig a hole in that country you are killing me,''
''I don't worry about money at all.'' Mr Lee said in Darwin that the $1000 a fortnight he earns working as a ranger in Kakadu ''keeps me going''.
''I feel good today. I have been fighting for Koongara for many, many years,'' he said.
Mr Lee, said he grew up hunting and fishing at Koongara and wanted to see it undisturbed for future generations. ''I cry when I go to the country,'' he said.
This act of cultural resistance to capitalist exploitation of our earth in the face of the offer of riches is a truly inspiring act!
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Re: Traditional Owner blocks uranium mining near Kakadu
"This act of cultural resistance to capitalist exploitation of our earth in the face of the offer of riches is a truly inspiring act!"
Err cool story but "our earth" is questionable, this man is the TO. And also it's not just capitalism that's at work here, there's white supremacy, one legal and cultural and spiritual system overwriting and oppressing another............