As we close out Colorado Climate Week and begin Earth Month, we are honored to weave in the ecological thread of Uprooting Qahr! Power, Privilege, Paperwork. Taishya was able to participate in University of Colorado Boulder Water Symposium. The university hosted a series of speakers, panels, breakouts and exciting climate-related events. Water conservation, use, allocation, and management were big topics and yet Taishya was one of few non-White people in the building.
Through song, film, and monolgues, this Uprooting Qahr! connects the struggles and resistance across time and space to reclaim our interconnected from Africa to the Americas and West Asia. During the travels and experiences that led to Uprooting Qahr!, water was also a central theme.
Whether the ocean waters kidnappers used to transport enslaved Africans to the “New World” or the river waters used to transport cotton, rice, and timber before the railroads or the waters contaminated through sacrifice zones for commercial development. There’s a saying Taishya learned in Patti Limericks book, A Ditch in Time: The City, the West, and Water,
“Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting”
Water in the West
Taishya first met Patti Limerick while serving as a Commissioner for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Taishya participated in year long water convening where we were asked to explore the audacious question: “it’s 2050, there are NO water wars. What could have happened to make that possible?” The group of ranchers, recreationalists, water managers, environmentalists, elected officials, and community leaders pushed back on this questions for a solid 30 minutes. Then the group was reminded that if they cannot envision it, they will never achieve it.
The first keynote speaker was Patti Limerick. Patti shared some of the many lessons learned by tracing the origins and growth of the Denver Water Department in her book. She went on to raise questions of consequence about the complex relationship among cities, suburbs, and rural areas, the crucial role of engineering in shaping the West, the unexpectedly entrancing workings of governmental agencies and bureaucracies, and the varying roles of contention and cooperation, litigation and negotiation in the control of the West’s water.
Taishya witnessed that fight first hand as a former commissioner for Colorado Parks and Wildlife and as a local elected official the consequences and more importantly who gets to make decisions. In both cases, Taishya experienced a decision making process that is filled with gatekeeping of information, minimal community input, and a tendency to prioritize the wants of a ruling minority over the needs of other humans and the rest of the ecosystem.
The liberation of our Earth is an inextricable part of about collective (human) liberation; we are one and the same.
Our intergenerational and international Qahr is interconnected. “Qahr” is an Arabic and Farsi word for mixed feelings of anger, rage, and sadness, which carries a deeper sense of felt injustice and collective suffering (with no direct English equivalent).
Water as Resource or Relative
The US Constitution framers drew heavily from The Great Law of Peace. The Great Law of Peace (Kaianere’kó:wa) is the oral constitution of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy), uniting the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and later the Tuscarora nations. Brought by the Great Peacemaker and Hiawatha, it established a democratic system, 117 articles, and a council of chiefs to end violent feuds.
Wampum belt depicting the Five Nations of the Great Law of Peace.From it, US Constitution framers took the representative government and checks and balances but left behind the rights of nature. This strategic decision is what has led to us referring to water as a resource and not a relative. This disconnected worldview allows for decisions to be made in the abstract.
The violent disenfranchisement of Indigenous people erected barriers to the decision making table. Even how, Tribes and Indigenous people play a minimal role in the water law and management in tbe American West and beyond. Learn more about the US Constitution and The Great Law of Peace in the Mukuyu Collective Reflection on In(ter)dependence Day post from 2025!
Water as a Weapon
Taishya also saw this pattern of disenfranchisement while visiting Nablus, Palestine and their fire department. There she learned about the barriers erected by the Israeli government around decisions and management of water.
Unlike the City of Boulder, the City of Nablus municipality does not have any control of water. The municipality has ZERO water rights, are not involved in water negotiations and no power to decide water allocation, water infrastructure, and/or water conservation.
Taishya with the Nablus fire chief and deputy during the Boulder Nablus Sister City delegation trip in May 2025.As the illegal war in Iran rages on, more war crimes are occurring accelerated displacement, dispossession, discrimination, and disenfranchisement. Yet, the firefighters in Nablus continue to serve ALL those in need – including Israeli settlers!
Call to Action
We are witnessing the de-construction of settler colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism. With each bomb dropped on oil and gas infrastructure, desalination plants, and other infrastructure, it’s time to assess who makes decisions about the water you and every living being needs to live.
Below are a few questions that will help you orient and activate:
Where does your drinking water come from?
Taishya lives in the City of Boulder. The city draws its water from three watersheds and currently owns more water rights than is used. The extra water must be in beneficial use per the water law. The city leases the ‘extra’ water for local agricultural purposes and to other municipalities.
Who makes decisions about water management in your community?
Taishya continues to notice the lack of democratic representation on who decides and who gets water allocations within the conversation around water. In the City of Boulder, city council representatives make some decisions about the water rights we have related to water rates, water allocation, water infrastructure, etc. However, city council representatives are not at the table where decisions are being made about the watershed where snowmelt becomes water nor do they have a seat at tables determining forest health. This disconnection has resulted in a disjointed water management landscape.
As Colorado faces unprecedented mega drought conditions, there will be a need to reimagine our water systems and reconnect them as the relatives they are. Toi learn more about water, visit the Mukuyu Collective Water Blog Series!
Save the Date: Uprooting Qahr! Goes to Denver in May 2026!
We can’t wait for this next Uprooting Qahr experiences that will take place on May 12th and May 19th in Denver, Colorado! Members will have early access to tickets and they will be dropped in a week or two so be ready to grab a seat!
As we prep for this next preview, we are looking for help getting the word out and getting broader media attention. Email us at team@mukuyucollective.com if you have ideas and can offer support!
