Louisiana Hurricanes, Poetic Relief

By Brenda Norrell

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Sometimes, even for news reporters, life can be poetic.

Last September, I returned to the hurricane-wrecked Louisiana Gulf Coast of my childhood. As a teenager, I joined my father as he rebuilt homes wrecked by other hurricanes. Now, these hurricanes had new names, Katrina and Rita, but the stories were familiar, mixed with memories of oyster poorboys in New Orleans and the sound of never-ending rain.

The Gulf Coast tribes, Biloxi-Chitimacha and Pointe au Chien, gave me a hero's welcome, wonderful laughter and stories, as if somehow they knew. I was even able to spend the night in a bunkhouse on a fisherman's pier, with the waves causing the bunkhouse to sway all night, like years coming and going.

In Raceland, I saw the filled warehouse and the outpouring of donations from all over the country to the Houma Indians, who the Red Cross had forgotten.

Those articles, written during the trip along the coast, were the last articles I would write for the Indian newspaper where I worked for most of the years since it was created in 1994. Still, my life had gone full circle. My only regret was that I was fired (after complaining of censorship) before I could write about the wonderful Coushatta Indian Museum.

There, too, I was given a wonderful welcome and spent the day learning of the Coushatta, who survived, alongside their Cajun neighbors, in a state where racism is the persistent stalker. But in this rich land of Indian, Cajun and Creole, there is the music, the food and the laughter. There's alligator on the menu and Cajun music, real Cajun music, on the radio.

So, if you're in southwest Louisiana, please visit the Coushatta Indian Museum. There's a rich history of basketry, clanship and survival in the heart of these deep Louisiana woods. (The tribe also has a great campground, lots of hotels and a beautiful golf course at the casino.)

Here's the latest news from my good friends at Montegut on the Gulf Coast:

Local Indian tribal elders get keys to their new homes

By RAYMOND LEGENDRE NYT Regional Newspapers

MONTEGUT – Jim Shelly stood ready to hand the key to a new house to a Pointe-aux-Chenes couple, when he realized he had made a mistake.

“I must have gave the keys to the house to Deme (Naquin) on the island,” said Shelly, a field consultant for the Mennonite Disaster Services, referring to an Isle de Jean Charles man, who a half hour earlier had unknowingly gotten two keys – one to his new house and the other to Andrew and Leonise Dardar.

“Deme owns two houses right now,” Shelly joked.

“Deme might rent one out,” replied Randy Verdun, chairman of the Louisiana Coastal Tribes Coalition.

The two houses were built as part of the Mennonite Disaster Services’ Pointe-aux-Chenes Project, which provided the labor for new houses for tribal elders in the lower bayou Indian communities. The Louisiana Coastal Tribes Coalition, along with the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha and the Pointe-aux-Chenes Indian Tribe, also contributed to the project.

Both featured the same wood exterior and three-bedroom interior and were designed, with cables, beams and concrete foundations to withstand 155-mph winds and flooding up to 14 feet.

When Naquin drove his golf cart across the rickety wooden bridge near his home Saturday, he declared his independence – freedom from anxieties caused by hurricane season and the unwanted presence of ants and roaches.

The 80-year-old, who has lived on Island Road in Isle de Jean Charles for 58 years, crossed the bridge, then crossed the street to his new three-bedroom house. There, his seven children celebrated with crawfish, cake and beer.

“This means a lot,” Naquin said. “I can’t thank the people enough. I didn’t expect this much.”

Naquin, who rarely walks and often gets around in either a wheelchair or a golf cart due to a foot condition, said his new place, which features an elevator to accommodate him, would allow him to remain independent. After Hurricane Rita, he stayed with family members for three months, before returning to his home on Island Road.

“I’m in nobody’s way here and I can do what I want,” the retired fisherman said. Naquin and his wife, Wilma, were married 60 years, before she died in 2003.

The man’s daughter-in-law, Sheena Naquin, said she was excited to see his new house, and described him as “easy going” and a person who “would give the shirt off his back.”

Deme’s son, Donnie Naquin, also expressed satisfaction that his dad had gotten a new, more flood resistant house after what he endured in the wake of Rita, which left four feet of standing water in his house.

“With what he’s been through, I couldn’t be more happy for him,” the son said. “He struggled to make ends meet. I just pray to God to give him enough time to enjoy it.”

Nearby in Pointe-aux-Chenes, Andrew and Leonise Dardar celebrated in a more subdued fashion, with only a small group of family members present.

Andrew Dardar, 81, spoke of the day’s meaning in Cajun French, then his 19-year-old grandson, Lanny Dardar, Jr., who lives with the couple, translated.

“It means a lot,” the grandson said, relaying his grandfather’s words. “We didn’t have much. I can’t put it into words how happy we are.”

Randy Verdun, chairman of the year-old Lousiana Coastal Tribes Coalition, attempted to put his elation for the Dardar family into words.

“If it weren’t for the Mennonites, we would be standing on dirt,” Verdun said. “We would be looking up at the sky. We wouldn’t be standing on this foundation.”

Mohawk Nation News: Replace 'Butcher Shop' with The Great Law

Photo: Support for Mohawk Warriros, sign posted along the Trans Canada Highway 401 by the "Unconquered" Mohawks of Tyendinagha.


WHEN INDIAN AFFAIRS IS NO MORE – THE DISMANTLING OF AN ILLEGAL ORGANIZATION

Mohawk Nation News
April 29, 2007

Back in 1969 the Liberal government of Canada under Pierre Trudeau decided to do away with Indian Affairs. They weren’t going to do away with the “ Tower of Terror ”. They were going to do away with us by pretending to remove their obligations, budget and protections. They wanted to push us out onto the streets of Canada to die out.

Killing off a criminal organization like Indian Affairs is inevitable. We have to take it apart piece by piece. We have to do it ourselves every step of the way. The Indian Act was the "weapon of mass destruction" [WMD] meant to kill us off. How are we going to kill off Indian Affairs? By enforcing the Great Law of Peace and the Two Row Wampum.

Indian Affairs is currently the subject of an avalanche of criticisms and various lawsuits. The murders of our kids in residential schools, the police brutality, military attacks against us and the constant lies and deceptions by politicians has to stop. Their sudden dismantling Indian Affairs may be a ploy to remove the defendants in actions for liability for all the cruelty and larceny they've committed against us. They say, “remove Indian affairs, the Indian Act and to hell with them!” We can see right through them. They want to change our status as Indigenous people into “Canadians” so they can get out of their liability. It won’t work, Canada ! We are not and never will agree to be Canadians.

So far, our relations with our colonial visitors has been one of “breach” rather than honor. They tell us the Indian Act is the only “vehicle” for delivering Canada ’s obligations to us. Based on what we’ve been getting so far, this is an empty vehicle and it’s time to junk it.

We’ve always been struck by Indian Affairs’ similarity to organized crime organizations like the “Mafia”, except it’s “disorganized”. The head “Don” is the “prime minister”. He has cohorts and henchmen called “provinces”, “ministers”, “corporations”, “judges” and “armed forces” that are given authority over certain territories. The cohorts go out and enforce their rules. The government legitimizes its criminal activities with picturesque language that no one understands.

Originally the Mafia came in and lent money to immigrants to set them up. If somebody couldn’t pay them back, the enforcers would demonstrate their unseen power over life and death. The government’s cohorts set up this Mafia style system over us. They stole everything we have to make it look like we can’t function without them.

Indian Affairs cohorts must also take something akin to “blood oaths” to Queen Elizabeth and have to keep secrets until they die.

This Indian Affairs Mafia will control us unless that control is taken from them. Like the original Mafia, the only way to become a full “patch member” is to be from a certain ethnic background. The band councils strive to become full patch members so they can exercise the rule of terror over us to keep us in line. No matter what, they’ll never be accepted as full members of the white Mafia. The government encourages them to try anyway.

Indian Affairs was originally supposed to carry out nation-to-nation relations with us and to negotiate with us on land use. Greed lead the colonizers to “goose step” their mandate. Indian Affairs was set up to carry out the “final solution of the Indian problem”. Parliament gave itself extraordinary powers beyond its authority under the British North America Act 1867 to carry out the genocide of our people.

It’s time to close down the butcher shop and go back to the beginning. The real relationship is between us as landowners and them as “squatters”. We want our tenants to live up to the leases they made with us, to obey the laws and keep their promises. We want full accountability and a total forensic audit of Indian Affairs and its entire gangsta' apparatus.

Once the Indian Act and Indian Affairs are removed, then Indigenous sovereignty, rights to self-determination and stewardship of all of our territories will be dealt with on a proper landlord-tenant nation-to-nation basis. Canada , stop falsely claiming our land. Start planning how you are going to carry out our instructions and authority over every square inch of our land. You have to stay in your ship and not pull our canoe as the Two Row Wampum agreement provides.

Canada, stop aiding and abetting corporate squatters who are gobbling up our assets, polluting our land and destroying the inheritance of our coming generations.

No more encroachment! Enough of our land and environment have been seriously damaged. It’s on the verge of becoming unlivable, not just for Indigenous people, but also for the colonial visitors who don’t seem to care about their own future generations or anyone else’s.

The abuse of us, our lands and possessions is the biggest scandal in history. Bringing down Indian affairs means freedom and self-determination for us.

Why do we think this is going to happen? Well, so far huge amounts of profit have gone towards the colonial machines that defraud and oppress us because of our complaints everywhere. A lot of lawyers and consultants have been getting big career boosts and piles of money out of inquiries and investigations into the criminal acts committed against us by the colonial government of Canada without resolving them.

Indian Affairs, we hope you’ve shut down your “War Room” in the Tower of Power run by the military! Stop funding racists like Gary McHale and the skinheads, KKK, Brown Shirts and rioters he’s organizing to attack us. Department of Defense, stop financing the demonizing of us in your military manual as “domestic insurgents” so that you can find an excuse to round up our “leaders” and young people. We know you want to put us in “ Guantanamo Bay ” prisons without charging us, for indefinite periods of time because you have labeled us as “terrorists”.

Hey, colonial crooks, let’s not get stuck on details. Let’s go back to square one when you landed here with nothing.

No, we’re not afraid to get rid of Indian affairs. They think they’ll shut us up by threatening to cut off all services and benefits. They can’t. They have an ongoing debt to us supported by all the human rights covenants Canada has signed and supports internationally.

We have to sit down and start talking about the terms under which you “intruders” can remain here. You know we never gave up the land. We never will. We can’t.

Europeans are Europeans, no matter what. The British are British. The French are French. And the immigrants are immigrants. For over a century colonial states have been dumping their rejects and social problems on our land. These displaced people tried to kill us off. We cannot tolerate the presence of this insane grasping culture which continues to commit genocide on us and our land.

These starving and disease ridden ragamuffins killed most of us off, stole our land and possessions and continue to try to stomp us out. Do we have to keep on being kind to them? We think we’ve given enough. We will look at the new situation pragmatically. We have to carry out our original instructions. The land has to be taken care off. The damage committed to us has to be repaired. The heritage of our future generations has to be restored. The visitors have to return Turtle Island back into the beautiful paradise they found when they arrived.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com
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Coming soon online books on Mohawk issues.


INDIGENOUS PEOPLE MAKING SENSE OF 911 CONFUSION

Mohawk Nation News
April 30, 2007

Since the “911” hit on the Twin Towers of New York City, where are the Indigenous people of Turtle Island fitting into the political and economic shift that is taking place worldwide? We have the resources that everybody wants. Could 911 be a deliberate strategy to destroy Turtle Island as a sanctuary or safe haven not only for people but for money?

Just prior to 911 the “Euro” currency was going to be launched within days. It raises suspicion as to who did 911. Issuing the Euro could have devalued the U.S. dollar while raising the value of the Euro currency.

Someone once said that to move your agenda ahead, you have to create a crisis. After 911, the financial capital of the world was shifted from New York City to London . London was already set up to take over banking on the wings of this power shift. Regardless of how 911 happened, that was the result.

The internet constantly shows the destruction of the Twin Towers and other attacks of that day. Investors have become nervous to invest in New York City . Money will move and not take chances. Other players want to cash in on the fall of New York City such as existing megatropolises like Tokyo , Shanghai and London .

The oil sheiks have since quickly converted a desert into a modern mega city. What kind of power structure is being planned in Dubai ? Haliburton, for one, is moving its operations there.

It’s only 5 to 6 years of consolidation. If it is Dubai and companies start going there, U.S. interests will have to follow. Other interests are looking for ways to cash in. Dubai and other metropolises are getting ready to handle this shift.

The U.S. is trying to bring the focus back by using our resources as one of the enticements.

The U.S. has blacklisted Canada as a partner, which they want merely as a resource hinterland under their control. The U.S. is already entrenched in Canadian policing, military, governments, the intelligence community, communications, and whatever it takes to control the country. It’s got Canada lock, stock and barrel!

Toronto and Hamilton as the “Golden Horse Shoe” were once a worldwide economic center. They have been downgraded. Toronto is yesterday’s newspaper. The powers that think they are want to set up a new center that will be more attractive to investors and people with money. That is probably why they toyed with the idea of moving the stock exchange to Calgary . Toronto has to be destroyed so that any financial windfall that comes this way will fall on New York City .

Nonetheless Canada is a natural ally to the U.S. Without Canada ’s resources the U.S. can’t move ahead. We see the usefulness of the U.S. building up the triangle of Montreal-Cornwall-Ottawa which is closer to New York City .

The U.S. does not finance anything. Buying a company is not the same as coming in and building one. They just come in, take over and buy up companies like Bell to gain control over Canada ’s telecommunications. So the U.S. gains control over all communications with access to all private and financial records of the citizens of Canada . Soon it will be worthless to have all our conversations recorded. We might even be released from bondage and regain our freedom. This is what we're hoping for.

It is an ‘Americanism’ to give Indigenous People the right to demonstrate peacefully. Canadians are not seeing this. They want to shut us up. The U.S. actually wants us to win this war against Canada because it is against the Canadian government, which they have infiltrated. Should we get everything we can while we can? We want control of Turtle Island . The U.S. want Turtle Island . If they side with us to defeat Canada , no doubt they may turn on us. The U.S. ambassador recently said at an Indigenous conference in British Columbia that they are “keeping a close eye on all the activities of the Indigenous People of Canada ”. You can be sure they are not doing it for our benefit.

The U.S. has to shift money back to Turtle Island to get our natural resources off us. They don’t want the big money to buy up oil shares, energy and communications in other parts of the world. This will turn Turtle Island into a third world. We, the indigenous people, have the land and resources, which is what the fight is over.

There are also a lot of resources in the China-Soviet Union interior which have not been exploited. A lot of money is going there. All of these activities will decide where the next power base will be. Our land base and resources are being used as trinkets to invest over here. While they’re busy signing away our natural resources, they hope the chips will fall back on New York City . Don’t think for a moment they have any interest in enriching the owners of the land and resources, us.

People shouldn’t forget that US dominance is primarily post World War II. It might be time to shift it somewhere else. Shouldn’t the license to oppress be spread around instead of just focusing on us here? We’ve had enough of their plutocracy [rule of the wealthy for the benefit of the wealthy]. If hierarchy has to exist, it’s time for someone else to take their turn at being oppressed.

The Akwesasne Mohawks are a fly in the ointment. The Mohawks here are well set up and in somebody’s way. Make no mistake. No one will give up Akwesasne. The U.S. know they will never win against us. Indigenous from everywhere will show up and help us defend it. So the U.S. would prefer to work with us. This is something we have to be very careful of.

The colonial band council puppet system will go the way of the do-do bird. We are presently getting back all our people. This is what frightens Canada and its minions.

We need to start laying down the laws right now. The U.S. wants a beachhead they can control. We aren’t going to allow that. They know it. The Canadian politicians have already been bought out and are under U.S. control. But we are not.

We have to watch when they start to develop and implement infrastructures to support their interests. They will box us in and horde those infrastructures. As soon as they consolidate their power back in New York City , that infrastructure will be abandoned. We need to be cautious where infrastructures go and who owns them.

The push will be on. They will make it look like the second coming. We know already that the Indigenous People will not be benefiting. The drive will not come from within our communities. Canadians are asleep at the switch. Someone else is driving their train for them. They have been hypnotized into complacently accepting everything that is happening.

Another thought is that if the U.S. ever gets the idea that it was the Europeans who knocked down the Twin Towers , are we looking at retaliation against them? Will the U.S. do the same to some European infrastructures? If the U.S. is cornered financially or in any other way, if they have the ability to attack, will they do so? That doesn’t exclude London , Paris and other big cities. We don’t know what’s coming.

We have come a long way and we have not fired a single shot. We’ve just been firing our bulletins.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=Kahentientha2@yahoo.com & http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=katgenies20@yahoo.com
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The News Scam: Silencing Genocide

U.S. migrant detention center on Tohono O'odham tribal land. Photo Ofelia Rivas. Below: Navajo and Apache children imprisoned at Bosque Redondo.
Photo New Mexico State Monuments.
The News Scam: Silencing Genocide

By Brenda Norrell

TUCSON, Ariz. -- A decade ago, journalists in Indian country wrote about the failure of the mainstream media to cover Indian issues fairly. In those days, reporters for Indian publications were seldom censored. However, today, there is censorship and a new agenda by corporate media, even in Indian country.

The new agenda in Indian news involves censoring the voices of grassroots people and promoting the agenda of the newspaper owners. This includes using the newspaper as a lobbying tool and protecting politicians who might "grease the wheels" of legislation in Washington.

Don't take my word for it. Look through the current online editions of Indian newspapers and see who is covering the FBI probe of Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi, who cochairs the Congressional Native American Caucus. Then, look and see who has covered Renzi's copper mine deal, opposed by Yavapais and Apaches. Next, check out the earlier censored article of the Apache protest of Renzi in 2004 (see Censored blog link) which involved Renzi's attempts to dilute environmental laws.

You can also read how Renzi pushed for the Raytheon Missile factory on the Navajo farm, Navajo Agricultural Products Industries near Farmington, N.M., where Navajos grow commercial crops of potatoes and corn, alongside the production of missile parts. The Raytheon/Navajo farm article was censored in 2006. Further, read on the web about Renzi and his father's backgrounds in U.S. intelligence and protests of Fort Huachuca, where two priests were arrested in 2006 for their peaceful protest of U.S. torture. (Search for news articles under http://www.google.com/)

Few Indian publications carried news coverage of Chiquita Brands International when it recently admitted that it paid paramilitaries who murdered human rights activists, union workers and farmers in Colombia.

As of today, few Indian newspapers have covered the Pueblos protest of the installation of the statue of Onate in El Paso. The Conquistador, known as "The Butcher" to Pueblos, cut off the feet of their ancestors, while carrying out genocidial terror. Now, in the state of New Mexico, Onate is being honored with a statue. (Although the El Paso Times covered the protest, the article was not available online in the days after the protest.)

One of the most profound revelations in the news recently was the exposure of Canada's draft counterinsurgency military manual. The manual named Mohawks with international terrorists and recommended ambushses and assassinations. Few Indian publications covered the story in the U.S.

So far, only one online Indian publication (Pechanga Net) has carried the news of the Zapatistas return to the U.S.-Mexico border and the announcement of the Intercontinental Indigenous Conference. There were no news reporters from American Indian publications present at the news conference on April 22, in Sonora south of the Arizona border, to interview Subcomandante Marcos and the Comandantes from Chiapas.

One of the most censored topics in the news media in America is any issue involving Leonard Peltier. This became obvious with the lack of national news coverage of the recent theater production "My Life is My Sundance."

Here is another example of censorship. Louise Benally, Navajo, is resisting forced relocation on Navajo lands at Big Mountain, Ariz., where Peabody Coal attorneys orchestrated the so-called Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute. Louise compared the Long Walk and imprisonment at Bosque Redondo, N.M., in the 1860s to the war in Iraq and the U.S. treatment of women and children in Iraq. The article was censored. Louise's ancestors were among those who witnessed the rapes, murders and starvation of Navajos on the Long Walk and during imprisonment at Fort Sumner.

Silencing the word, "Genocide," is now U.S. policy, according to Ambassador John Evans who used the word "Genocide," in reference to Armenians and his career collapsed. Unfortunately, the word "Genocide" has also been censored in American Indian media.

For the U.S., it is easier to pretend to be the world's champion of human rights than to acknowledge the facts: The colonized United States was created by immigrants who kidnapped and tortured blacks from Africa and forced them into slavery, while carrying out systematic genocide of Indigenous Peoples. In some cases, entire tribes were murdered.

There is also manipulation of the facts. Few news reporters have exposed the real agenda behind the current border-immigration hysteria. As with Iraq, the agenda involves funds for friends of the Bush administration: Halliburton's contract for migrant prisons; war contractors multi-million dollar contracts for security and surveillance systems and Homeland Security's control of sovereign Indian tribal lands along the border.

There were even funds for migrant detention centers on Tohono O'odham tribal land, with one detention center already operating and another planned. In this area, migrants, including many Indigenous Peoples from Mexico and Central America, die in need of a drink of water. In this area, it is a crime according to U.S. and Tohono O'odham tribal law, to give a dieing migrant, with their blood flowing from their body, a ride to the hospital. It is a crime, even if the dieing person is a fellow Indigenous person.

With the Internet, and blogs like this one, publishing news has become very easy. But the truth is increasingly hard to come by. Unless reporters show up in person and interview regular people, other than politicians, corporations and advertising sponsors, the news becomes a sham and a game.

No one knows all of the truth, journalists must depend on the people to tell us the truth.

Here's one of the big secrets in America: Corporations lie. They pay press officers large sums of money to make sure they get away with those lies most of the time.

To counter this, American Indian activists are now going directly to the stockholders to expose the human rights abuses. They have targeted some of the worst offenders globally: Peabody Coal and Newmont and Barrick gold mining corporations.

Further, newspaper editors operate on the assumption that readers are not on to their scams. They distract readers by printing the news that is "safe to print," covering issues that sound good, but lack revelations about real threats to survival, which leave in their aftermath real consequences and controversy.

Further, editors assume if the largest media outlets censor the truth, they can control knowledge and ultimately control the future.

So, many of us write our blogs and send out the news to listserves, hoping that maybe a little of the truth will still sneak out.

--Brenda Norrell

Related articles:
Greg Palast: "The U.S. Media have lost the Will to Dig Deep"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042807G.shtml

Congratulations to Kathy Helms, news reporter on the Navajo Nation, for her AP award:
http://www.gallupindependent.com/2007/april/043007is_indpndtprzs.html
Return to homepage:
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Black Delegation Finds Human Rights Abuses at Border

Black delegation finds human rights abuses on U.S.-Mexican border

Tucson, Ariz. -- A 14-member delegation of African Americans investigated human rights abuses of immigrants, Mexican Americans and indigenous communities on the U.S.-Mexican border in fact-finding tour April 26-29 in the Tucson border region. Delegates from six states and 10 cities took part in The Braving Borders Building Bridges: A Journey for Human Rights tour of sponsored by the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) in partnership with Coalicion de Derechos Humanos and the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. The tour began with members observing trials of migrants charged with illegal entry into the United States at federal court building in Tucson. From there delegates heard reports from Pima County Medical Examiners Office on increased migrants deaths during passage through the desert. The group then traveled to the border towns of Douglass, Ariz, and Agua Prieta and Altar in Sonora, Mexico, to hear testimonies of local people impacted by the increased border crossing and militarization of the border. The tour ended with visits with Pascua Yaqui leaders and a Tohono O'odham activist, representing Native American communities also impacted by the militarization of the border. "The increasing numbers of those who have died is a direct result of U.S. policy funneling migrants to cross through the desert," said the Rev. Phillip Lawson, interim pastor of Jones United Methodist Church in San Francisco, Calif., and member of the delegation. Migrants typically crossed into the United States through urban areas till 1994 when the U.S. adopted the "Prevention Through Deterrence" policy sealing off of urban-area borders and forcing migrants to risk life by crossing through desert and mountain areas. "The image that does not leave my head is of 12 men in orange suits and women in pink, handcuffed and with shackles on their legs," Mr. Lawson said. "They were prosecuted by a D.A., guarded by six deputies and judged by a magistrate, each saying simply, 'Presente.' Their only crime was risking their lives in search of a better life."The delegation heard first-hand accounts of racial profiling and abuses including: Harassment of Mexican-Americans drivers by border patrol agents Douglass; Mexican-American homes broken into by border patrol agents searching without warrants for undocumented persons; Physical abuse of migrants caught crossing in the desert; and Harassment of Native Americans traveling to and from religious ceremonies in Mexico."We came to investigate human rights abuses, and we found significant evidence that there are widespread violations caused by the U.S. militarization of the border and immigration control," said Gerald Lenoir, coordinator of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. "These policies are racist attacks on the most vulnerable members of society: immigrants of color."Leaders of Coalicion de Derechos Humanos concurred."The increase in the militarization of the border and cities like Chicago and Oakland as well as the expansion of private prison construction called for by the STRIVE bill will fuel even more human rights violations," said Isabel Garcia, co-chair of the Coalicion de Derechos Humanos. STRIVE is a border enforcement bill currently pending in Congress opposed by the three tour sponsors. "The criminalization of Latinos and immigrants matches what has been done to African Americans historically. Already 60 percent of the people in federal prisons are Black and Latino." The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights launched a national community dialog ueto expose the militarization of border and immigration control, explained network spokesperson Arnoldo Garcia. "The BAJI border tour is a major contribution to the dialogue breaking the silence on the thousands of migrants who have died as a result of these policies," Mr. Garcia said. "By coming to the border the BAJI tour represents an unprecedented coalition to stop the deaths and joins our demands for justice." BAJI will share its findings in reports in several cities and to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Migrants.
--30--

EPA fines Gila River Hazardous Waste Facility

Gila River tribal members protested Romic hazardous waste facility in March. Romic has now been fined by the US EPA for hazardous chemical releases.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0426romic0426.html

Gila River Tired of Being Dumped On

Statement of Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment (GRACE) during the March Protest: "A toxic waste treatment facility called Romic Southwest sits in the Gila River Indian Community next to Chandler. The U.S. EPA refuses to fine this company despite serious and repeat violations and the people who live and work in the community have little means to do anything about it. That is why dozens of people came out to demand the toxic waste facility be shut down. People lined both sides of the street near the facility holding signs and banners. Speeches were made as the crowd rallied in an open lot, listening to the stories of ill-health, similar struggles that others are facing around the country, and encouragement. A walk to the location where the police had blocked off the road to the Romic facility was made twice during that day. ROMIC - Who are they? Romic Southwest hazardous waste facility at the Gila River Indian Community: Bringing Hazardous Wastes from Around the World to Gila River! Let's Stop This Toxic Threat To Our Health, Environment & Culture! Did You Know? · “Romic Environmental Technologies Corporation” operates a commercial hazardous waste “treatment” facility at Lone Butte Industrial Park on the Gila River Indian Community, and they are authorized to store and “treat” hundreds of highly dangerous toxic chemicals and toxic metals. · Romic accepts hazardous waste shipped from around the world! · Romic wants to expand the amount of hazardous waste they store on site by about 50%! Romic wants to add 15 new tanks to store additional hazardous waste. · This plant has existed since 1975 and has a terrible history of violations including: o hazardous waste leaks o hazardous waste barrels stored in flooded areas o missing inspection and monitoring reports o missing hazardous waste labels o incomplete inspection logs o open containers of hazardous waste · According to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inspection reports, the dangerous practices have continued at the facility for decades. · · U.S. EPA refuses to fine this company despite serious and repeat violations. · · U.S. EPA never told the community the truth about this hazardous waste company, its problems or risks, or the proposed big expansion. EPA has allowed this company to operate for decades without full permits or any environmental impact report. · · In December 2002 Romic applied to U.S. EPA for a permit to expand and continue operating, but the EPA has failed to hold a public hearing where tribal members could voice concerns." -- Lori (Thomas-Luna) Riddle Co-Founder of GRACE, (Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment.) contaminatedinaz@... check out this site: http://www.geocities.com/contaminatedinaz/

http://arizona.indymedia.org/news/2007/03/56035_comment.php#56047

http://phoenixinsurgent.blogspot.com/2007/03/photos-and-some-analysis-of-anti-romic.html

http://toolatetotakeitback.blogspot.com/2007/03/if-heat-doesnt-kill-you.html

Hopi File Class Action Suit Over Black Mesa Mining

Photo: Sacred Lands Film Project
http://www.sacredland.org/endangered_sites_pages/black_mesa.html

Contact: Vernon Masayesva 928/734-9255

Black Mesa Trust Supports Traditional Hopis Suing Office of Surface Mining
Class action lawsuit alleges violations of religious freedom

KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz., April 27, 2007 – Black Mesa Trust is offering its support to Hopi tribal members on whose behalf a lawsuit has been filed against the U.S. Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining.The class action lawsuit alleges that OSM violated traditional Hopis' religious freedom when the office scheduled the comment period on the draft environmental impact statement for the Black Mesa Project during January and February, a period during which Hopi religion requires that people attend primarily to their religious obligations to the exclusion of public matters. "I had to find someone to take over my responsibilities so I could go to the hearing," said Jerry Honawa, a Hopi religious practitioner and a named plaintiff in the lawsuit. "And then it was not even a hearing," he continued. Honawa referred to the hearings on the draft environmental impact statement held by OSM on Hopi and Navajo and in surrounding towns during the comment period. Honawa is particularly disturbed by OSM's selection of Alternative A, which allows unlimited use of N-aquifer water for the Black Mesa mining operation if a proposed project to bring water from the C-aquifer south of Interstate 40 to the mine falls through. And he is upset not only by OSM's refusal to respond to his concerns at the hearings, but to the size and complexity of the document on which he was trying to comment. "It is 758 pages," he said. "I don't think anyone on the Hopi Tribal Council has read the entire document. They are just going along with whatever OSM says." The lawsuit alleges that OSM violated both the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the provisions of the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act by knowingly and deliberately scheduling the comment period in the middle of the Hopi religious calendar. "There is no exceptionally compelling state interest in requiring traditional Hopis…to choose between honoring their religious beliefs and practice and grappling with reading, analyzing, understanding, and being forced to comment on a massive, complex, 758-page draft environmental impact statement on the Black Mesa Project during the religious portion of the Hopi calendar," reads the papers filed with the U.S. District Court, District of Arizona on April 16.The length and complexity of the document are also issues for Black Mesa Trust Executive Director Vernon Masayesva. "The draft EIS is not written in language that lay people can understand," he said, "and that is in direct violation of the principles of the National Environmental Protection Act. Not only was the comment period scheduled at an inappropriate time, but OSM insisted that our comments be 'concise' and refer to specific sections of the EIS. But their document does not meet the 'concise; standard, and by not writing it in comprehensible language, OSM made it impossible for us to comply with their requirements." The lawsuit also alleges that OSM's actions violated the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. Under Article IX of that treaty, by which Mexico ceded to the United States the traditional lands of the Hopi people, "the United States of America agreed that the people residing in the territory acquired under that Treaty would be accorded the rights of citizens of the United States, including the right to be 'secured in the free exercise of their religion without restriction,'" reads the lawsuit. Black Mesa Trust is a non-profit grassroots organization founded to protect the N-aquifer on Black Mesa for future generations of Hopis and Navajos. For more than three decades, Peabody Western Coal, the world's largest coal mining company, used water from the aquifer, the sole source of drinking water on Hopi, to slurry coal from the Black Mesa Mine to the Mohave Generating Station in Nevada. Mohave shut down at the end of 2005 because its owners failed to comply with a consent decree ordering them to install pollution control equipment. The plant remains closed and majority owner Southern California Edison has said that it has given up its attempts to reopen the facility. Nevertheless, OSM has continued with the EIS process, possibly to make the power plant more attractive to potential buyers. Without the pollution control equipment, the 1580 MW coal-fired power plant is the dirtiest in the West. -- Tanya Lee(603) 377-0267 (cell)(617) 491-6106 (tel)7270 Slayton Ranch RoadFlagstaff, AZ 860042 Chester StreetCambridge, MA 02140

Shoshone Receive 10,000 Signatures to Stop Barrick Gold

Great news from the Western Shoshone:

In the first 24 hours, the petition to stop Barrick Gold's destruction on sacred Shoshone land has received 10,000 signatures. Western Shoshone say: Keep the signatures coming. They will deliver the petition to the Barrick shareholders in Toronto. Sign the petition: http://act.oxfamamerica.org/campaign/barrick?rk=2p%5fVX971s5BuE
Top photo: GOLD MINING CORES OUT MOUNTAINS: Newmont gold mining on Western Shoshone land/Project Underground

(R) Western Shoshone Larson Bill video documents gold mining operations on Mount Tenabo near Elko, Nevada. Photo Brenda Norrell.
(L)Western Shoshone and friends on Mount Tenabo. Photo Brenda Norrell.

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News from Ghana: "Newmont Under Pressure"

http://allafrica.com/stories/200704260831.html

Around the world, gold mining targets Indigenous lands and cores out mountains for small amounts of gold:Strike at mine in Peru and talk of Barrick's purchase of Newmont:

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Newmont+Barrick

Tohono O'odham Funny Lady Teresa Choyguha

Comedy night with Tohono O'Odham funny woman, Teresa Choyguha on Friday, May 11, 2007 at the Lehi Community Building, Stapley and Oak on the Salt River Indian Community, Phoenix.

Most Censored 2007

Most Censored and Under-Reported News of Indigenous Peoples 2007

--Leonard Peltier Theater, "My Life is My Sundance"
--Canada's Counterinsurgency Draft Manual Names Mohawks as Terrorists, Calls for Ambushes and Assassinations
--Marcos and Zapatistas Return to Border, Plan Intercontinental Summit
--El Paso Celebrates Onate, The Butcher of Pueblos, With Statue
--Arizona Congressman Renzi, FBI Probe and Links to Military Intelligence and Navajo, Apache and Yavapai Lands and Business Deals
--Houston Councilman Still on Air After Insulting American Indians
--Navajos' Sanostee Chapter Opposes Desert Rock Power Plant by Resolution
--Tohono O'odham Tribal Officials Knew of Mexico's Plans for Hazardous Dump in Ceremonial Communtiy of Quitovac Near Border, but Never Told O'odham in Sonora
.............Scroll down for articles and more censored news...........................
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THANKS FOR THE UNCENSORED NEWS:
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Special thanks to Victor Rocha at Pechanga Net for links to the stories on the Censored blog covering the Zapatistas in Sonora and to staff at Indianz.com for sharing the story on Racist Radio Talk in Houston.
http://www.pechanga.net (Native News category)
http://www.indianz.com
Special thanks to Chris Spotted Eagle at KFAI in Minneapolis for sharing Censored News on the web and on air at "Indian Uprising," a one-half hour Public & Cultural Affairs Indigenous People broadcast each Sunday at 4:00 p.m. over KFAI 90.3 FM Minneapolis and 106.7 FM St. Paul.
www.kfai.org Listen: "Programs & Schedule" or by program “Archives.”
Many thanks to Mohawk Nation News for sharing news:
Kahentinetha Horn - MNN Mohawk Nation News
E-mail: kahentientha2@yahoo.com Website: http://www.mohawknationnews.com/
A special thanks to the publishers of Narco News and the U.N. OBSERVER & International Report at the Hague for continuing to publish uncensored news:
http://www.narconews.com/
http://www.unobserver.com/
Many thanks to IRC Americas and Counterpunch for publishing uncensored articles on the Indigenous Border Summit and Indigenous World Uranium Summit:
http://americas.irc-online.org/
http://www.counterpunch.org/

Zapatistas Announce Intercontinental Summit

Comandante David, Subcomandante Marcos and Purepecha Juan Chavez at the planning session of the Indigenous Intercontinental Conference, to be hosted by the Yaqui of Vicam in Sonora, Mexico, Oct. 11 -- 14, 2007. Photo Brenda Norrell


Zapatistas select Yaqui to host Intercontinental Summit

By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

RANCHO EL PENASCO, Sonora, Mexico – Indigenous Peoples from Mexico and the United States met with Subcomandante Marcos and Zapatista Comandantes to establish the Indigenous Intercontinental Conference for 2007.
The Intercontinental gathering will be held in the Yaqui community of Vicam in Rio Yaqui, Sonora, on the northwest coast, Oct. 11 – 14, 2007.
Comandante David, Mayan from Chiapas, welcomed the world’s Indigenous Peoples to the intercontinental gathering.
“At this moment, we want to let the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico, Canada, the United States, Central America, South America and the whole world know what we are planning,” Comandante David said in an interview here, speaking in Spanish.
“The object of this meeting is to meet one another and to come to know one another’s pains and sufferings. It is to share our experiences, because each tribe is different.”
Juan Chavez, Purepecha elder from Michoacan, said the conference would expose the treatment of Indigenous Peoples, organize resistance in defense of Mother Earth and ask the question, “What are we, as Indigenous Peoples, struggling for?”
“The answers will come in the gathering as we talk with one mind and one heart. Our brothers and sisters will be together, speaking to one another with one heart,” Chavez said in an interview.
The declaration for the Indigenous Intercontinental Conference, signed April 22, states that it has been 515 years since the invasion of ancient Indigenous territories and the onslaught of the war of conquest, spoils and capitalist exploitation.
Now, there is a new war of neoliberal extermination, which continues the destruction of Indigenous communities. Despite the long history of domination, Indigenous resistance has kept Indigenous communities alive and fighting for survival.
The Indigenous struggle was uplifted by the emergence of the EZLN, Zapatista Army of National Liberation, in the year of 1994.
The national governments of the Americas have always sought to divide Indigenous communities through the establishment of borders, reservations and legislation to fragment and neutralize Native efforts of autonomy.
However, with unity and knowledge, the struggle for liberation will be strengthened. This struggle must be known to the world, so that all people who are honest in the fight for democracy and freedom will become companions in the struggle, the declaration states.
Marcos, speaking of the need to arise in defense of Mother Earth, told Indigenous gathered here of his recent trip to support the fishing rights of the Cucapa and Kiliwa Peoples in Baja California, Mexico.
Marcos spoke of the assault on Indigenous Peoples in the Americas by corporations and governments. Holding an eagle feather given to him by the Kiliwa, Marcos said the eagle, like the Kiliwa, are at risk of becoming extinct.
Marcos held private meetings with Indigenous to organize the intercontinental conference and listen to concerns of Indigenous Peoples from different regions of Mexico and the United States.
Sharing concerns over environmental damage, hazardous dumps and the loss of languages, lands, traditions and culture were O’odham from Sonora, Yaqui from Rio Yaqui, Sonora, Mayo from Sinoloa and Raramuri from Chihuahua in Mexico. Coming from the United States were O’odham, O’otham, Navajo, Apache and Hopi.
At the heart of this gathering was the outdoor kitchen with two roaring fires, where Yaqui, O’odham and Mayo women prepared Sonoran tortillas and huge pots of soups, beef and beans. O’otham from Salt River in Arizona brought buffalo meat. Zapatista youths from Tucson, Ariz., brought chocolate cakes and others brought watermelons, papayas and pineapples.
The American Indian Movement provided security at the planning session, with AIM security guards around the clock at the entrance gate. Closer to the highway, there were up to a dozen vehicles of local and federal Mexican police and undercover officers.
Although Mexican police attempted to intimidate Indigenous Peoples by questioning them when they arrived, AIM security demanded the police halt the intimidation, which they did. While traveling in northwest Mexico, undercover police continuously followed Marcos and the Comandantes.
Marcos first came to Rancho el Penasco, south of Magdalena, in October of 2006, for the listening session with O’odham during the Other Campaign. Marcos and 10 Comandantes returned on April 8 enroute to the Cucapa Peace Camp to uphold fishing rights. Marcos and members of the Zapatista delegation returned for the Intercontinental summit planning session here April 21 –22.
With its flock of sheep and historical memorabilia, the biodiversity ranch, with a hotel/hostel and campground, has been made available to the Zapatistas by the owner.

En Espanol, Narco News:
http://www.narconews.com/Issue45/articulo2637.html

Reporter’s Notebook, the Zapatista Highway
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Free language translation online:
http://www.freetranslation.com/

Reporter's Notebook, The Zapatista Highway

Zapatistas in Sonora. Photo Brenda Norrell

Reporter's Notebook, The Zapatista Highway

By Brenda Norrell

April 23, 2007

RANCHO EL PENASCO, SONORA, Mexico -- The last thing you want to happen when you are returning from a Zapatista meeting with Subcomandante Marcos in Mexico, is for the van to die on the Mexican side of the border, and to have to push it back into the United States.

But that is what happened on our way back. With a great deal of laughter, Jose and Gregorio, joined by some good-hearted volunteers, pushed the van through U.S. immigration and we coasted into Nogales, Ariz.

It was the unexpected end to a wonderful weekend of the unexpected. It began in Tucson, Ariz., with the arrival of American Indian Movement security, O'otham from Salt River Pima and Gila River, Hopi-Zia Pueblo and Tohono O'odham. With the car packed with buffalo meat from Salt River Pima, we headed down, stopping in Sonora to buy watermelons.

At the Rancho Penasco biodiversity ranch south of Magdalena, there was a larger than usual buildup of undercover Mexican police, intelligence officers driving white and grey compact cars, at the entrance gate.

Arriving from the north and south were Indigenous from many tribes for the consultation with Subcomandante Marcos and Comandantes, to plan for the Indigenous Intercontinental Conference.

Cautious, I decided to spend the first night in a nearby hotel, so I could be in touch with the international press if there were problems with the Mexican police building up at the gate. As a news reporter staying alone at a hotel in Mexico, the worst thing that can happen is to look behind you in the hotel lobby and see a dozen cars of undercover Mexican police ready to check in at the same hotel. But that is what happened. I took an Extra Strength Tylenol and went to sleep on the mattress, which was actually a slab of granite.

Then, Saturday morning, something magical happened. Indigenous arrived from all over Arizona and northern and southern Mexico. Over the fire making tortillas, working 16 hours a day, were Yaqui women from Potam Pueblo, along with Tohono O'odham, Mayo and their friends from Sonora and Arizona. They cut buffalo meat, scrambled eggs, cut papayas and of course made large pots of coffee, washed enormous amounts of dishes and laughed.

At the gate, AIM security checked the identification of everyone who entered and halted the undercover Mexican police along the highway from intimidating people arriving.

Raramuri came from north central Mexico, Purepecha from Michoacan, Yaqui from Rio Yaqui Pueblos, Mayo from Sinoloa, O'odham from Sonora and Mayans from Chiapas. They were joined by San Carlos Apache, Navajo, Hopi, Salt River Pima, Gila River Pima and Tohono O'odham from Arizona.

From this gathering came a powerful force of love and joy. Crossing the border, the old van blew steam like a tired dragon as it limped back.

There was no surrender.

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--Brenda Norrell

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(Spanish) Declaration for the Indigenous Intercontinental Conference to be held in Vicam Pueblo in October, 2007:

http://www.encuentroindigena.org/

Zapatistas uphold Cucapa fishing rights on Colorado River Delta:

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Apr07/Bacher21.htm

Return to homepage:

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Censorship of Indigenous Issues Increases

Censorship of Indigenous Issues Increases
Brenda Norrell
Human Rights Editor
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report
http://www.unobserver.com/layout5.php?id=3397&blz=2

Senecas Vote to Take Back NYS Thruway Land
http://www.wivb.com/Global/story.asp?s=6390296

For Immediate Release
Seneca Nation Takes On State of New York
(API)
Spring, 515 a.c. (after columbus; a.k.a. “April 19, 2007”)

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/253942694

Unlike most “federally recognized Indian tribes” throughout the “United States”, the Seneca nation never acknowledged, accepted – and in fact rejected the illegal “1934 Indian Reorganization (IRA) Act.” The Seneca and other “Six Nations” Confederacy Nations and peoples claim the illegal act violates their Treaties (protected by Article VI of the United States Constitution which states “Treaties made with Indian Nations shall be the supreme law of the land, with the judges in every state bound thereby”).

The Seneca and Six Nations also expose Article 1, Section 2, Part 3 of the Constitution which prevents any “Indian” from paying taxes – a fact even most Americans fail to realize.

The Seneca believe the illegal 1934 act was an attempt to remove the female balance and representation they have always had within their nation governing and to place their nation and peoples under the authority of the president of the United States against their will.

The Seneca also reject the illegal 1924 “Indian Citizenship Act” which violates the Constitution, Seneca/u.s. Treaties, and attempts to make Seneca’s into “americans” as a means by u.s.government officials to steal and exploit Seneca resources and homelands.

The recently adopted 1988 “Genocide Convention Proclamation Act” by congress would also make violation of Seneca Treaties a violation of the crime of genocide – punishable by life in prison and a one million dollar fine, should a government or state official be charged and found guilty of the charges.

The unilateral act of congress in 1934 was an attempt to deny nationhood rights and prevents all Indigenous Red “Indian” Nations from the United Nations and international recognition by the community of world’s nations.

We demand the United States and their “state of New York” cease and desist from genocidal actions (forced taxation, illegal 1924 and 1934 acts against Seneca Nationhood, occupation of Indigenous lands, etc.) against the Seneca Nation and begin to once and for all honor each and every Treaty they made with the Seneca, thereby abiding by their own Constitution and laws.

We also demand the Seneca be recognized as an Indigenous Red Nation of Peoples and be allowed representation in the United Nations (UN) in New York City so that world peace can begin and the corrupt UN can be taken out of u.s. and corporation control and placed with the nations of the world – its supposed intention.
Scott C. Barta
www.1851Treaty.com


7 GENERATIONS, Native Perspectives On Caring For The Earth
"Sustaining Communities that Care for the Earth"
A lecture by Dr. Joseph Suina, Professor Emeritus of Education at the University of New Mexico and the former Governor of Cochiti Pueblo, NM.Saturday, April 21st, 7:00 p.m. University of Arizona Campus, CESL Auditorium (Center for English As A Second Language)1100 E James E. Rogers Way,Adjacent to and NE of AZ State MuseumFree and Open to the Public, sponsored by:Amerind FoundationTucson Audubon SocietySky Island AllianceUniversity of Arizona Department of AnthropologyFor more information please contact the Amerind Foundation at 520.586.3666 or amerind@amerind.org

Honor the Earth Concert with Indigo Girls in Flagstaff Calls for Safe Energy on Native Lands

On Tuesday night, May 22nd, the Grammy Award winning folk-rock duo, Indigo Girls (Amy Ray and Emily Saliers), will take the stage at the Pine Mountain Amphitheater in Flag staff for a special night of music with a message. The concert, entitled Honor the Earth, is a benefit designed to lend support to the Just Transition Coalition and their work to herald in a new, safe energy economy, one based on the vast renewable energy potential of Native lands. “We are excited to come and play in the Southwest - it's been too long. The grassroots organizing in this region is compelling and inspiring. In the midst of such a destructive energy paradigm, Native communities are working to affect positive change and provide an alternative,” said Indigo Girl Amy Ray.

“We understand that it will take all of us to fix the bind we are in. Not only do we want to do away with dirty forms of energy that exploit the land and its peoples, but also more than anything, we want to support a new plan that creates a vital economy for this region based on clean, renewable energy.”

“The tremendous work of the Just Transition Coalition to change the dynamics of energy development away from a reliance on fossil fuels and towards a renewable future offers a vital and positive vision for all of Indian country, and all of America,” said Winona LaDuke, Director of the Native environmental group Honor the Earth, which is sponsoring the concert.

The Just Transition Coalition emerged as a response to the closure of the Laughlin, Nevada Mohave Generating Station, dubbed the dirtiest coal plant in the west. In 1999, the Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club and other groups filed a lawsuit against Mohave’s primary owner, Southern California Edison (SCE), for Clean Air Act violations. That lawsuit resulted in a decree for SCE to retrofit Mohave or shut down by the end of 2005. The plant closed.

Navajo and Hopi communities have been hit hard economically by Mohave’s closure due to lost coal and water royalties, and lost jobs. The Just Transition Coalition’s plan is to replace lost revenues and employment by developing reservation-based renewable energy financed by pollution credits from Mohave’s closure.

When Mohave shut down, the plant stopped emitting over 40,000 tons of sulfur dioxide a year. Mohave owners can sell these allowances as pollution credits to other utilities that need them. Last year, because of the Just Transition Coalition’s work, the California Public Utility Commission required Southern California Edison to establish a separate account to track revenues from the sale of Mohave sulfur credits, which are estimated to be $20 million a year.

The Just Transition Coalition’s plan gives the California Public Utilities Commission an opportunity to restore some justice to the Navajo and Hopi communities and, at the same time, help California meet its renewable energy portfolio through the purchase of clean, tribally-produced energy.

For decades, cheap electricity for Californians came at the expense of Navajo and Hopi people, water and land. Mohave sourced all of its coal from the Peabody mine at Black Mesa. Peabody drew over 3 million gallons of water a day from the Navajo aquifer, which runs below Black Mesa, in order to pump coal through a 273-mile slurry that fed Mohave. As a result, wells and ancient springs have run dry, and cracks and fissures have appeared across Black Mesa, threatening the millennium old cultures of the Hopi and Dine that depend so heavily upon the aquifer for religious, cultural and day-to-day use.

“Energy does not have to come at the expense of a people’s ecosystem and culture,” LaDuke said, referring to the adverse impacts of energy exploitation on Navajo and Hopi communities. “We have a choice. We can either combust ourselves into oblivion or invest in renewable technologies that are culturally-based and sustainable.”

Funding from the Indigo Girls benefit concert will specifically support grassroots Native groups in the Just Transition Coalition, such as the Black Mesa Water Coalition, a group of young Navajo and Hopi activists. Enei Begaye, Executive Director of Black Mesa Water Coalition, states, “We have been a part of the Just Transition Campaign from the beginning because we believe this is a real plan for building wind and solar energy projects that will benefit Navajo and Hopi people as well as all other people around us. With this plan, our local tribal communities are leading the nation in developing a sustainable future!”

Outside of Black Mesa Water Coalition, other Just Transition members include Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Trust, Native Movement, Indigenous Environmental Network, To-Nizhoni Ani, Apollo Alliance, and Honor the Earth.

Indigo Girls will perform a show Monday night, May 21, at the Phil L. Thomas Performing Arts Center in Shiprock to benefit Navajo groups working to stop the Desert Rock coal plant.

For More Information:
Winona LaDuke, Honor the Earth, 612-879-7529 or
Andy Bessler
Sierra Club's Environmental Partnership Program
P.O. Box 38
Flagstaff , AZ 86002
928-774-6103
fax 774-6138
cell 928-380-7808

Natives Challenge Oil Drilling in Arctic

April 17, 2007

Native and Conservation Groups Challenge Oil Drilling in Arctic Ocean

FAIRBANKS , AK -A Native group and five conservation organizations filed challenges to the Bush administration's recent decision to allow Shell Offshore Inc. to drill several oil and gas exploration wells in the Beaufort Sea beginning in June 2007. Despite the threat oil drilling poses to the sensitive Arctic ecosystem, the federal Mineral Management Service (MMS) approved the plan through a rushed process without fully analyzing the potential impacts, and without conducting a public process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). MMS flat out refused, for example, to consider the previously acknowledged potential for an accidental spill of crude oil.

”Given the resources at stake and the potentially devastating effects this drilling could have on bowhead whales, seals, birds and fish, it is unacceptable for the government to rush this through without a thorough public review of the impacts. The subsistence rights of the communities are being ignored and Shell's plans will violate their rights,” said Faith Gemmill of REDOIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands). REDOIL members living in the villages of Nuiqsut, Kaktovik, and Barrow depend on the Beaufort Sea for their livelihood. “Why did MMS disregard this?”

"As a mother and a grandmother, I am concerned that the Arctic Inupiat whaling culture is at risk because the MMS insists rushing ahead with offshore oil plans. The government of the people, in helping the industry drill for oil at all costs, is disregarding the future of the Arctic people. They are doing this with an outdated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and without proper input from the public. The Arctic community revolves around the whaling way of life; there is not one facet of time in the Arctic that does not concern the catching of the whale. Considering the spills, its rushed process did not include a full analysis of the significant harms that can be caused by routine drilling operations in the Arctic environment. The drilling involves two massive drill ships accompanied by ice breakers, support vessels, and air support. This level of industrial activity in the Beaufort threatens the endangered bowhead whale. Considering the movement of the ocean ice, there is too big of a risk that an oil spill will occur, therefore creating a risk of destroying the Inupiat culture" states Doreen Simmonds, Inupiat resident of Barrow and REDOIL member.

Not only did MMS completely fail to analyze potentially devastating effects of Shell’s activities on polar bears and birds, including threatened stellers and spectacled eiders. Additionally, the constant air traffic associated with drilling can disturb caribou and interfere with the subsistence hunt.

"I am an Inupiat hunter and whaler. Due to the fact that there is potential for catastrophic results from Shell's activities on our subsistence livelihood, my people are very concerned about the plans that MMS agreed to without any public input, the Environmental Assessment (EA) was inadequate, and by law under NEPA-an EIS is required. There is a great lack of adequate spill response strategies in Shell's proposed plans, as well as the fact that no tests have been done in Arctic ice to provide data about toxic spills in our ocean and no answers provided when we ask how long would the toxins remain if spilled? All of our subsistence resources will be impacted from land to sea- from the caribou to the whale. Why are we given less voice than other peoples in the lower 48-where offshore plans have been cancelled due to the public outcry?," states Robert Thompson, Inupiat Resident of Kaktovik and REDOIL member.
"Clearly some folks in Washington fail to realize that what happens in the Beaufort Sea - where the government says Shell can drill - is 100 percent interdependent with what happens in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. If oil gets into the Beaufort Sea - animals in the Refuge will suffer. That's not acceptable, and it defeats the purpose of having a Wildlife Refuge at all, frankly," Chuck Clusen, Senior Policy Analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council said.

The groups are also concerned about impacts of the drilling plan on sensitive areas like the nearby Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "Off-shore oil and gas activity creates a huge web of impacts not only limited to open-water. With daily helicopter flights, increased infrastructure on and off-land, stress to marine and terrestrial life from harmful seismic and other damaging exploration methods, and no proven methods for safe and effective clean up of an oil-spill disaster in arctic conditions, off-shore oil and gas activity in the Arctic Ocean is a serious threat to America's entire arctic coast line, and critical areas like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," said Betsy Goll, Arctic Environmental Justice Program Director of Alaska Wilderness League.

This ill-conceived drilling plan is just another illustration of this administration's rush to develop oil throughout the Arctic without regard to the needs of sensitive wildlife species and indigenous subsistence users. "Unfortunately, disregard for the significant impacts of oil development to endangered whales, critical habitats, and cultural sovereignty are standard protocol in the oil industry these days," said Whit Sheard, Alaska Program Director for Pacific Environment. "Shell's Sakhalin II in the Russian North Pacific has become one of the most controversial offshore drilling projects in the world and is a painful preview of what's coming to our Arctic coastline."

"In its rush to approve operations this year, MMS failed to meet its obligations under the law to take a hard look at all the impacts of oil drilling in this sensitive environment and on the people who depend on it," said Deirdre McDonnell, Staff Attorney at Earthjustice. "We filed these challenges to force the agency follow the law and involve the public in its decisions."The challenges were filed by the non-profit law firm Earthjustice with the Interior Board of Land Appeals and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of REDOIL, Sierra
Club, Center for Biological Diversity, NRDC, Alaska Wilderness League, and Pacific Environment.
Contacts:Faith Gemmill, REDOIL (907) 750-0188Robert Thompson, Inupiat (907) 640-6119Doreen Simmonds, Inupiat (907) 852-2554Betsy Goll, Alaska Wilderness League (907) 830-0184
Whit Sheard, Pacific Environment (907) 277-1029
Deirdre McDonnell, Earthjustice (907) 586-2751
Julia Bovey, NRDC (202) 289-2420

Indigenous Without Borders Conference April 28--29

THE BORDER CROSSED US -- INDIGENOUS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS

Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras Gathering
Saturday, April 28, 2007 & Sunday, April 29, 2007
Santa Rosa Learning Center, 1075 South 10th Avenue (10th & 22nd) Tucson, Arizona, 520-879-8019, 9:00AM - 5:00PM

"We are slowly losing the informal, special status that we have enjoyed at the U.S. - Mexico border prior to 9/11 tragedy. The U.S. Government officials are preparing to implement a new immigration and border enforcement policies that does not include or resolve Indigenous immigration and border rights issues and concerns.

The Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras, calls together all Indigenous people of conscience, relatives, friends, elders, youth and people interested in promoting Indigenous Rights, preservation of Indigenous ways/traditions and language and environmental protection of Mother Earth.

In the Spirit of Our Grandfather, Our Elders, Keepers of Our Traditional Ways, Warriors for Social Justice and Change and all Indigenous Pueblos must come together to protect, promote Indigenous rights and continue the fight for what we've got!

Our Elders started the fight many, many moons ago that is why we have what we've got. 'THINK INDIGENOUS - We are HUMAN BEINGs with RIGHTS!'"

JOIN US ....

Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras
P.O. Box 826
Tucson, Arizona 85701

contact: Christina Leza, Organizer at 520-5912637
Jose Matus, director at 520-979-2125

Directions: Headed south on Interstate 10 through Tucson: take the Star Pass/22nd Street exit; off the exit ramp, take a left on 22nd; go up a few blocks to 10th Avenue and take a left. The center is on the right.

Blackfire: Silence is a Weapon

The Navajo family band, Blackfire, tireless fighters for Indigenous rights, will release their new CD, "Silence is a Weapon," on May 1st, 2007. Blackfire is also preparing for a summer tour that will take them to Europe, Mongolia, Russia, Mexico & the throughout the U.S. Disk one features 12 new songs of Blackfire's unique brand of label defying high energy-social political music which has been called, "Fireball Punk-Rock" by the late godfather of punk Joey Ramone. Disk two comprises a special selection of 12 traditional Dine' (Navajo) songs. About Blackfire: Blackfire is a Dine’ (Navajo) trio of sublings Jeneda, Klee & Clayson Benally. The have been awarded the Native American Music Awards “Group of the Year” for their 2003 “Woody Guthrie Singles” recording, and “Best Pop/Rock Album for their 2001 full length release, “One Nation Under.” Since 1989 the group has been composing songs filled with passion and awareness of environmental & social justice issues. Blackfire has toured the world sharing their music and traditional culture. This year’s [Silence] is a Weapon 2007 tour will take Blackfire to France, Germany, Italy, The Czech Republic, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland, Mongolia, Siberia, Norway, Mexico, and throughout the U.S.
Current U.S. dates are:
April 22 in Flagstaff, AZ at Heritage Square
April 23 at NAU
April 27 at the Kayenta Community Center
May 5 in Flagstaff at Wheeler Park
July 22 and 23 Grassroots festival Ithaca NY
August 4-5 at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff
August 17th and 18th at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.
August 19th at the Kennedy Center Millennium stage in Washington D.C.
More info available at: www.blackfire.net
Photo credit: Julaire Scott

Okiijida Society: Alert to Warrior Societies

Okiijida Society

Box 75, Ginew, Manitoba, Canada ROA 2RO
From (Mush-ko-dah-be-shik-eese) Terrance Nelson, Okiijida Society Spokesman and Representative from Canada; National (US) Board of Directors: American Indian Movement

Be on Guard
April 14, 2007

I am first degree Midewiwin, most of our people are very spiritually connected people. Normally, I am very cautious in sending out warnings to warrior societies. The last time I send out a yellow alert was in March 2006 and it was on behalf of the Mohawks at Six Nations on the escalating tensions in Caledonia. Today I am sending out a caution to all of our people to be on guard. Three separate spiritually connected people have told me that the police and army will carry out a massive raid similar to the FLQ War Measures act response that happened in October 1970.

As I said, normally I would dismiss this as simple jitters and people who worry too much but I have experience in dealing with the Conservative Members of Parliament who today run the government of Canada. On January 19th 1993, Roseau River suffered an R.C.M.P. raid, snipers in our fields, Canadian army on standby in Winnipeg and the whole bit. Yes, there was anger and demonstrations but little or no consequences for the white man. Today the Canadian spy agency is run by former Premier Gary Filmon who ordered the raid on Roseau River in 1993 and he is not the only one in the Conservative government who think they can get away with using the Army against Indians.

The First Nations in Canada are organizing a June 29th National Day of Protest that includes some railway blockades and other actions. The Canadian Army in on maneuvers in northern Alberta and the Yukon, a fact that angers a lot of Dene people in those areas. The newly drafted Canadian Army Manual was recently big news because it would have placed Indians in Canada alongside terrorist organizations and the Manual had policies about killing Indians. Even today, every year, over 50% of the people in Canada who are killed by police are First Nation people. That has been our history for a long time.

Since the Oka Crisis of 1990, warrior societies met regularly to plan out action if ever the Canadian army was used to kill Indian people. Our response would be to shut down the Canadian economy. Clearly, that means shutting down every rail line in the country until the government comes to their senses. Although I hope that our spiritual people are wrong on their warning, I do want to remind everyone that Ipperwash, Gustavusen Lake, Burnt Church and many other incidents in Canada since Oka have involved special forces being used against our people. Just be on guard, don’t be naïve, it can happen.

Chief Terrance Nelson

Blackwater author Scahill in Tucson April 25

Jeremy Scahill, author of "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" will be at St. Mark's Presbyterian Church for a speaking engagement on Wednesday, April 25 at 7:00 p.m, at 3809 E. 3rd Street in Tucson.
Local author Quynn Elizabeth ("Accepting the Ashes: A Daughter's Look at PTSD") will open the show.
About Jeremy Scahill: Scahill has reported extensively from Iraq, the former Yugoslavia and Nigeria. "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" is his first book.About "Blackwater": They are highly trained private soldiers sent to Iraq by a secretive mercenary company based in the wilderness of North Carolina.Meet Blackwater USA, the powerful private army that the U.S. government has quietly hired. Blackwater is the elite Praetorian Guard for the “global war on terror,” with its own military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, and 20,000 private contractors at the ready. Run by a multimillionaire Christian conservative who bankrolls President Bush and his allies, its forces are capable of overthrowing governments, and yet most people have never heard of Blackwater. This book is the unauthorized story of the epic rise of one of the most powerful and secretive forces to emerge from the U.S. military-industrial complex. It traces Blackwater’s beginnings in 1996, with visionary executives opening a private military training camp “to fulfill the anticipated demand for government outsourcing”; to its secret deployment in Afghanistan following 9/11; to the blood-soaked streets of Fallujah and a fierce gun battle in Muqtada al-Sadr’s stronghold of Najaf. The story races from Blackwater’s expedition to the oil-rich Caspian Sea to set up a military base miles from Iran; to New Orleans, where its forces patrolled the hurricane-ravaged streets; to the chambers of power in Washington, D.C., where Blackwater executives are welcomed as new heroes in the war on terror. The administration hails Blackwater as a revolution in military affairs; others see its rise as nothing less than a dire threat to American democracy.

Protest statue of Onate, the butcher, in El Paso

From: Southwest Indigenous Alliance
swia_nm@yahoo.com
Subject: Onate statue El Paso, TexasTo: Maurus Chino
mauruschino@yahoo.com
The Tricentennial Truth Alliance and the Southwest Indigenous Alliance are organizing a protest of the unveiling of the Juan de Onate equestrian statue on:
Saturday, April 21, 10:00 am, El Paso Airport, El Paso, Texas
We will meet at the Peace and Justice Center, 202 Harvard SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106, 4:00 am to leave promptly at 4:30 am to caravan down to El Paso. Phone number at Peace and Justice Center: 505-268-9557
As we all know Onate and the Spanish conquistador committed unspeakable crimes against humanity in the slaughter and butchery of Indigenous People of the southwest. Onate a man convicted of Crimes Against Humanity by the Spanish Crown of the 1500's and Perpetually Banned from New Mexico has been brought back for all to honor, by these racist supporters of these statues.
Juan de Onate, the conquistador so revered here in New Mexico is responsible for the murder and butchery of over 800 men, women, and children of the Acoma Tribe. For defending the Land and the People, Onate and the Spanish conquistador hacked off the right foot of all Acoma males over the age of 25. Precious Lands were stolen under the guise of the Spanish Land system. At Grand Quivara 800 more were murdered; Grand Quivara is now gone forever.
Historical revisionists are painting a false picture of romantic Spanish conquest, never accepting responsibility for the human suffering caused by the occupation of the Spanish conquistador. We see statues In Taos, Alclade, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Truth or Consequences (all in New Mexico), and now the largest equestrian statue in the history of mankind in El Paso, Texas. Indeed we have here in Albuquerque, an Onate High School. What are we teaching our children? You may contact
Blue Cruz at: 505-275-0016

Dine' Medicine Men and Women oppose Uranium Mining on Mount Taylor

Saturday, April 14, '07
The Dine' Hataalii Association (medicine men and women) passed a resolution opposing uranium exploration, mining, and processing on and around TsooDzil (Mt.Taylor). Further the resolution is requesting consultation from federal, state offices.
The resolution supports funding for cleanup of abandoned uranium sites.The resolution cites others that have passed similar resolutions includingthe Pueblo of Acoma, All Indian Pueblo Council, including Navajo NationChapter of Lupton and the Eastern Navajo Agency Council.
If there are other resolutions, and for more information, please contact:
Robert Tohe: robert.tohe@sierraclub.org

Racist Radio

RACIST RADIO: TODAY ON NATIVE AMERICA CALLING:
http://www.nativeamericacalling.com/
Monday, April 16, 2007 – Racism on the Radio: Racist and sexist remarks made by radio talk show host Don Imus about the Rutgers women’s basketball team have led to his firing. He admitted he made a “stupid mistake” but the comment has sparked uproar and set off new national debate about racism. But a Houston-based shock jock recently made derogatory comments about Native Americans with little fanfare. Where do Native Americans stand on the issue of racism on the radio? And does the racial double standard apply to Natives as well? Guests include Alabama-Coushatta radio host Jacquelyn Battise.

Mainstream press ignores racist talk in Houston:
Like most mainstream newspapers covering the issue of racist radio, the Christian Science Monitor, in today's article, isn't even aware of Berry's comments:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0416/p01s02-ussc.html

Coming home, Simon Ortiz and Demetria Martinez

(L)Demetria Martinez

Photo Douglas Kent Hall

(R) Simon Ortiz marches in memory of

those massacred in Acteal, Chiapas, in

1997. Photo Brenda Norrell

Coming home, Simon Ortiz and Demetria Martinez

At the Tucson Poetry Festival, finding home and the power of words and voice

By Brenda Norrell

April 14, 2007

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

TUCSON, Ariz. – Within both of them, they have found their home. Simon Ortiz has always written intimately of his people and his community, Acoma Pueblo. Demetria Martinez has always used words to pierce the enemy: the displacers, the violators.
Now, their words go beyond what they were, what they have been. Simon reads from his new works, the memory of his father dieing, with his father’s older brother by his side. It is Uncle Frank who went off to fight World War I, leaving his nine-year-old brother behind.
Simon remembers the Lukachukai mountains on Navajoland, colonization and taking the sheep out at Acoma, Wounded Knee and Sand Creek.
In the spring, Simon says, flowers bloom at Sand Creek.
Demetria remembers Marcos and the Zapatistas, breakfast with salsa at Frontier Restaurant in Albuquerque, lost clans whose genes are Indigenous, Chicano and Mestizo. Demetria has gone home to Albuquerque, but here in Tucson, where she once lived, the city and the people have clasped their hands around her one more time, claimed her one more time as their own.
Simon, too, has lived here, marched in protest after the massacre in Acteal, Chiapas, carrying tiny white crosses bearing the names, names of pregnant women hacked to death with machetes.
Demetria has bore a different cross. Arrested and accused of smuggling El Salvadoran women across the border, she penned “Mother Tongue,” weaving together love, life, death and sanctuary. Her words told of torture for Indigenous in Central America. While facing a 25-year prison sentence in the 1980s, the government attempted to use one of Demetria's poems, "Nativity, for Two Salvadoran Women," against her in court. However, Martinez was acquitted on First Amendment grounds.
Through their sufferings and their struggles, the words of Simon and Demetria have grown richer, more intimate, and more real. No doubt in time both will be known as two of the greatest poets of our time.
More than mirrors of events, more than masters of the tool of language, they have reached into the bone and pulled out the raw marrow that is life itself.
To have known them is to have known myself.
At the Tucson Poetry Festival, celebrating its 25th anniversary, this year's theme is home. "Poems always come from home," Simon says, remembering the way of respect he was taught for his family, the land, others and himself.
"Indians always tell a story," he continues, giving voice to the words of the human condition: "loss, mourning, abandonment."
Simon remembers the 600 Arapaho and Cheyenne, many women and children, massacred at Sand Creek. Black Kettle, he remembers, had already said the people wanted peace.
"The dream shall have a name after all," Simon says, remembering Sand Creek.
Demetria, a poet above all, says her novels, journalism and essays are the masks she wears. She remembers the empty water bottles, tubes of toothpaste and love letters, mementos left behind by those dieing along the border, each one a human being. She speaks of bones and roots, knows the intensity of the shortness of our time.
"We are all Marcos," she says.
Ephemeral and ever-vigilant, they bear their crosses, their destinies.
Remembering Uncle Frank, Wounded Knee and Sand Creek, Simon concludes with these words, "We are alive now because history is undeniably ours."

Simon Ortiz, Acoma Pueblo, is the recipient of dozens of national and international awards. Now, on the faculty at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., his university teaching and writing career has carried him across the nation, from Navajo and Lakota lands into Canada, and for readings in Europe. His books include "Men on the Moon," "Woven Stone," "After and Before the Lightning" and "From Sand Creek." In 2001, Ortiz' book, "Questions and swords : Folktales of the Zapatista Revolution," was published.

Demetria Martinez' autobiographical essays, "Confessions of a Berlitz-Tape Chicana" is the winner of the 2006 International Latino Book Award in the category of Best Biography. Her books include the widely translated novel, "Mother Tongue," winner of a Western States Book Award for Fiction, and two books of poetry, "Breathing Between the Lines" and "The Devil’s Workshop."t the Tucson Poetry Festival, finding home and the power of words and voice

Bush's Blackwater, deadly Christian mercenaries

Blackwater has announced a new northern training center near Chicago

"Bush's Blackwater, an armed and deadly Christian mercenary army"
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/2249

Canada's Military Invasion in Northwest Territories

"TERRORIST INVASION" OF DEH CHO INDIGENOUS TERRITORY - CANADA ARMED FORCES "GUNS FOR HIRE" BY MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS

by Kahentinetha Horn
Mohawk Nation News

April 14, 2007. Indigenous people everywhere - watch out! Is this more of Canada's "might is right" mentality. Or have the military, police, RCMP, secret service and government bureaucrats become "guns for hire" by the multinational corporations? Are they all under the same corruption that is going on in the RCMP?

Canadian armed forces plan to ignore indigenous sovereignty by invading Deh Cho territory. The crime is planned for Monday April 16th. It's at Norman Wells and Ft. Simpson, Northwest Territory.

"Operation Narwhal" is being conducted despite the expressed opposition to this operation and to the McKenzie Valley Pipeline that Canada wants to build through their land. The Deh Cho never agreed to become part of Canada though they are willing to work with Canada. They want the colonial power to implement their "Land Use Plan", in keeping with their rights as interpreted by the Supreme Court of canada and under international law. Canada rejected the Plan. The Deh Cho insist the pipeline cannot cross their land without their approval.

The Deh Cho want to stop the environmental destruction by corporations and their government and military puppets that are bent on removing all "restraints" to "business". This pipeline is part of a massive exploitation of land across all of Turtle Island [North America]. The "slash" and "pollute" mentality will affect everyrone living on it as well as the environment worldwide.

Let's not kid ourselves, this is really an end-run around the Dene opposition. The Canadian govenrment press release says that 40 Joint Task Force North military personnel will take over the airport from April 16-27 from imaginary "terrorists" as part of "a sovereignty operation for the military". Another 240 troops will be stationed at Norman Wells. They claim these two places are "possible terrorist sites" because of their location on the pipeline route.

Despite leaving the Deh Cho out of the loop, "Imperial Oil" and "Enbridge Gas", two of Canada's largest energy companies, are in the thick of the action. More than 200 soldiers will mass to practice their response to their fantasized terrorist attack. Lt.-Col. Kevin "TNT" Tyler of the Yellowknife-based JTF North said there will be a fictional "al Qaeda" sleeper cell from Edmonton. "This is supposed to be a small cell of two terrorists who have explosire devices to disrupt the flow of oil.

Are they hitchhiking up there? Is there a road? Why are the troops in the middle of a town? Why not in the middle of nowhere? Is it because the troops need to be close to a bar?

After the attack at Norman Wells the RCMP will call in the military for help to protect Imperial Oil fields west of Great Bear Lake along the MacKenzie River. It is served by the 870-kilometer Enbridge pipeline designed to carry up to 30,000 barrels of oil a day.

The operation will bring in 150 reservists from the Maritimes. Aurora surveillance aircraft, Griffon helicopters and Twin Otter airplanes based in Yellowknife will bring in 140 staff and air crew. The RCMP, Emergency Preparedness, Imperial Oil and Enbridge areall part of the gang. Of course, it will all be under U.S. command.

These video maniacs are all looking forward to having a lot of fun. It sounds like a big party at the expense of the Dene, the Canadian taxpayers, the people and the environment.

The military was never known for its intelligence. Soldiers will be armed, without live ammunition. Does this make sense? In a real life situation will a gun be of any help? Are they going to shoot the bomb? Hope they bring enough 'duct tape' for the holes they're bound to make in the pipeline.

Sgt. Larry "Obey" O'Brien in Yellow knife said RCMP officers that are not in Ottawa testifying about ocrruption will be consulting with military officials.

This is simulated warfare to simulate their "phony baloney" sovereignty on our land. But the assault on our land is real. Three years ago the military had an exercise in the waters off Pangnirtung, an Indigenous nunavut community on southeast Baffin island. They pretended that a "foreign" country was trying to retrieve a satellite that had fallen into Davis Strait. The question is why do they have to fight over that? Everyone knows that the U.S. is the main bully falsely claiming our Arctic waters.

Recently Canada claimed sovereignty up there by taking a shipload of Inuit, the real owners, on a cruise through Arctic waters. In their heart of hearts, they know they are in Inuit space.

The Deh Cho won't give the invading troops a warm welcome, like moccasins for their frozen feet. It's just one colony telling another how to click its heels. The Deh Cho are not intimidated by foreign troops being sent in using imaginary "terrorism" as an excuse to hoist their flag on our land.

The Deh Cho think their plans for oil are completely insane! This follows on the heels of the recent military training manual flap where they referred to Indigenous people as "insurgents".

The Deh Cho are asking for support. Canada is conducting an illegal invasion. The title holders have not been consulted nor gave their consent. Are Canadian forces planning to stay until Canada breaks down Deh Cho opposition to their pipeline, or until it finishes building it to take gas to the U.S.? It's the same trampling over our rights as ever before. Can somebody help get a court injunction?

Contact:
DEHCHO FIRST NATIONS BOX 89, FORT SIMPSON, N.W.T. X0E 0N0 TEL: 867-695-2355
FAX 867-695-2038 http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=dcfn@dehchofirstnations.com or http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=mstainsby@resist.ca

Send your concerns to: Prime Minister Stephen Harper http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=harper.s@parl.gc.ca; Governor General of Canada http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=info@gg.ca; Indian Affairs Canada http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=infoPub@ainc-inac.gc.ca; Queen Elizabeth(?); NATO; United Nations http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=tb-petitions@chchr.org; Environment Canada (?) ; & anybody you can think of.

Kahentinetha Horn - MNN Mohawk Nation News
http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=kahentientha2@yahoo.com & http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=katenies20@yahoo.com
for updates, workshops, speakers, to sign up, go to
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/
Sight Women Title Holders petititon.
Coming soon online books on Mohawk issues.

Natives decry 'provocative' military exercises
By Kevin Libin
National Post
Friday, April 13, 2007
Calgary • When troops descend on Fort Simpson in the Northwest Territories on Monday, they will pretend an attack is afoot in Canada’s Arctic. But the Deh Cho First Nations, who claim sovereignty over the area, is calling the department of defence’s mock exercise a genuine incursion on their territory. And Grand Chief Herb Norwegian is accusing Ottawa of using Operation Narwhal as a provocative show of force."Here they are right out of Afghanistan, right into the Deh Cho. This is pretty serious stuff," Mr. Norwegian said yesterday. "We seem to be gearing up for some psychological warfare."Though Mr. Norwegian said he has not yet determined his response to the perceived violation, he said, "I think we need to remind people that here they are coming into a territory where they're not welcome … if push comes to shove we have a right to defend ourselves."For 12 days, Canadian Forces, the RCMP and two energy firms will test Canada’s response to a terrorist attack on its northern energy infrastructure. The scenario will see two soldiers posing as agents from an Edmonton-based "al-Qaeda type" sleeper cell stage a mock bombing of oil facilities at Norman Wells, NWT.Military personnel will respond with patrols in Norman Wells and Fort Simpson while surveillance aircraft and Griffon helicopters take to the skies over the region.Operation Narwhal, which has been planned since 2004, involves nearly 300 military personnel, RCMP and representatives from Imperial Oil and Enbridge Inc. But Mr. Norwegian said Ottawa did not consult with natives. "I only heard about it yesterday," he said. "Normally, with these kinds of things you have to consult and bring people onside."Captain Bonnie Golbeck, public affairs officer with Canada Command, said yesterday that organizers met with Deh Cho leaders in Fort Simpson months ago. "Our planning staff met with the community leadership to make sure they understand the scope of the exercise and what was required so we could be open and allow any concerns to be raised on either side." She was "not aware of any concerns" raised by the Deh Cho about the operation.Relations between the federal government and the community of 10 First Nations have strained over a lingering land claim dispute. The 7,000-member band is the sole holdout in negotiating a land-use framework for the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline, which will deliver Arctic natural gas south to Alberta.Though Ottawa and the energy industry have struck arrangements with all other affected northern bands to allow passage of the $16-billion natural gas corridor — 40% of which will pass through lands claimed by the Deh Cho — the band has made cooperation contingent on land settlement, including controversial demands for powers to tax pipeline property.Indian Affairs minister Jim Prentice has suggested that lacking a deal with all Indian groups, the government may nevertheless proceed with pipeline construction on disputed lands, leading some observers to wonder if Ottawa might face confrontation with the militant Deh Cho."When you look at the way that this [Operation Narwhal] is being put together, its almost subliminal messages that are being sent to us," said Mr. Norwegian. Ottawa should have staged the exercise somewhere where locals are more "pleasant" toward the federal government, he added.Gurston Dacks, a University of Alberta political science professor, said that sensitivities make Fort Simpson an "unfortunate choice" to train troops. But, he added, "you’d really have to be into conspiracy theories to prefer the explanation that this is some kind of implicit threat."

Sovereign Nations: Will Deh Cho become another Tohono O'odham Nation?

Migrant detention center on Tohono O'odham land
Photo by Ofelia Rivas

Sovereign Nations: Will Deh Cho become another Tohono O'odham Nation?

By Brenda Norrell

SELLS, Ariz. -- On Tohono O'odham tribal land in Arizona, US troops came in for military maneuvers and never left. The military took over Tohono O'odham tribal land. Now they are everywhere, an occupying army, along with the Border Patrol, immigration agents and the National Guard. They shine spotlights into homes, tailgate people and trample sacred places and fragile desert plants. Every O'odham is under constant high-tech surveillance from the air and on land. They threaten, harass and intimidate O'odham and their guests, with the military prevailing in this militarized zone.

Tohono O'odham tribal leaders have said they are powerless to do anything about the military's presence, because of the risk of losing federal funding. Homeland Security, Border Patrol and immigration agencies have taken over here and taken away the power of decision making from the O'odham people.

The most recent addition is a migrant detention center on tribal land near the border, which most O'odham say is a violation of the fundamental spiritual principle of the Him'daag, which makes people truly human beings.

Canada's unwanted military invasion of Deh Cho:

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/04/canadas-military-invasion-in-northwest_14.html

Indigenous: Canada following path to genocidial terror mapped by US

By Brenda Norrell
Censored
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Canada is now following the same blueprint for Indigenous genocide that was designed by the United States and led to the torture, rape, disappearance and murder of masses of Indigenous Peoples in Central and South America.

In the 1970s and 1980s, following a counterinsurgency manual later made public, Latin leaders were trained by the School of the Americas in the United States. The reign of terror spanned decades and Indigenous women, children and elderly were murdered indiscriminately.

At the root of this unmitigated horror were the corporations, including the United Fruit Company, which became Chiquita Brands International. The Bush family earlier had controlling financial interests in the company. Recently, Chiquita admitted hiring rightwing paramilitary which killed thousands of human rights workers, union organizers and farmers in Colombia.

The probe has now led to Drummond Coal and paramilitary admissions that the coal company ships were used by the paramilitary to carry drugs to Europe. Coca-Cola has also been accused in court of hiring paramilitary to kill human rights activists and union organizers in South America.

With this trail of death, Canada is now revealing the same pattern. A draft counterinsurgency manual was exposed, naming Mohawks with international terrorists. Now, Canada announced new military training for Natives. Mohawks ask, "Are they training Natives to kill us?"

It is a simple story, drenched in the blood of Indigenous from the North Pole to the South Pole. Indigenous who stand up for their rights to their land, water and resources will be exterminated by the most powerful militaries in the world. Under the guise of the so-called war on terror, governments seek to sway the public by using misinformation and buy those who can be bought.

With the U.S. torture and secret prisons of the Bush administration only given a casual glance by most Americans, militaries and private security contractors have been given a green light to declare war on human rights activists, peace activists and Indigenous struggling to survive.

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Latest Censored news....

Mohawks: Canada plans military training of Natives, after draft counterinsurgency manual exposed. The manual named Mohawks with international terrorists.

Zapatistas: Marcos and Comandantes arrive at southern border of U.S., meet with Cucapa at fishing resistance camp, plan meeting in Sonora, near border, on April 22, 2007, to announce Intercontinental Conference.

Mohawks: Canada plans training camp for Native military

“INDIGENOUS SOLDIERS” & “BIGGER BAZOOKAS” ARE CANADA ’S MILITARY SOLUTION

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

April 13, 2007. “The Canadian Army was itching to kill us in 1990”, said a young Mohawk, referring to the Crisis at Kanehsatake. That’s when the army surrounded us for 78 days. We didn’t want the nearby town of Oka to put a golf course over our burial and ceremonial site. We saw Indigenous faces sticking out of the tanks and standing around with their fingers on the trigger ready to kill us. It was sickening! Now Denis Coderre, Liberal Defence critic in Ottawa , wants Canada to build a special Canadian Forces base to train native soldiers.

What’s going on? Are they planning to send native soldiers against us like they did in the past? This announcement comes right after Canada put out the National Defense training manual calling us “domestic insurgents”, with tactics on how to attack unarmed Indigenous civilians. They categorized us as “Taliban”, “Tamil Tigers” and “Al Queda”. They are, in all reality, “freedom fighters”. The Mohawk Warrior Society are not criminals. They are standing for the rule of law and for colonial states to obey the laws.

Is this how Canada tries to deal with recent worldwide criticism over their continued genocide of our people? The idea came up because natives are crossing the border to join the U.S. armed forces. There is no border for us. It is an imaginary colonial line.

What is the army doing? We are told that the military mission in Afghanistan is supposed to “win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people”. How are Canadian forces under U.S. command trying to win their “hearts and minds”?

Recently, the Canadians were helping the locals fix a power generator and water pump. They needed spark plugs, which they should have brought with them from Canadian Tire before they left home? 20 soldiers decided to go almost 100 miles away to Kandahar in four heavily armored vehicles. These roads are always under the protection of the Taliban. Was this provocation! As the Canadians traveled, they kept firing warning shots at cars or trucks they thought might attack them. One of these shots caused a truck to go off the road. It rolled over and over causing many injuries. Compare the cost in ammunition and human misery for not remembering to bring spark plugs from home!

Is it any wonder Afghanis don’t trust anybody? Even as the soldiers distribute medicines and civilian aid, they are creating more need for it. Soldiers are assuming that everyone could be a Taliban. It isn’t safe for anyone to come within firing range of these so-called “saviors” carrying machine guns and riding around in their supped-up tanks.

Canada wants more efficient killing machines. They just bought new air-conditioned Leopard tanks from Holland . Now the soldiers can sit comfortably while they go on playing this real life version of “halo”, a “shoot and kill the enemy” video game.

Canada knows we don’t trust their military. Do they think we’ve forgotten how we felt when they pointed their guns at us at Kanehsatake, Gustafsen Lake , Ipperwash, Tyendinaga, etc.? Is recruiting our men and women to fight for them what they call “appeasing” us for all the lethal gestures the military made against us in the past? This is not an olive branch they’re extending. It's a death trap for our people to fall into.

This first training base in Canada would be built in the Restigouche area where government and corporations create high unemployment.

Mr. Coderre said, "… we have to show “sensitivity” since Canada is also composed of first nations”. He uses a bizarre adjective to describe Canada and U.S. past history of brutality against us. There was Champlain’s attack on us, the war on the Metis, on Riel and George Washington’s campaign of genocide with the help of the rabble sent over from Europe! When have Canadians and Americans ever taken up arms to defend us and our lands? Never!

We have to stop and think. Remember when Indians wore foreign uniforms to attack us? Remember Apache warrior, Geronimo? His own men turned traitors and helped the U.S. army to capture him. In the end, they held his family hostage and tried to starve them to death to make him surrender. Then the U.S. turned around, disarmed their Indian helpers and took them on the same train to a prison camp with Geronimo. How’s that?

During WW II, the Iroquois Confederacy wanted to defend Turtle Island against a purported German invasion. We went on the steps of Congress and declared war on Germany. When the war was over, the Confederacy was not invited to sit at the peace table. Technically we are still at war with Germany. But the U.S., Canada and the British would not allow the German Government to make peace with us even though they wanted to.

If an Onkwehonwe soldier is told to kill his own, he has to do it. If not, he will be murdered by his commander. That is why these officers wear the 45’s on their belts. If you disobey, they can shoot you on the spot.

Mr. Coderre said, "I promise to speak about this project with our leader, Stéphane Dion, and I hope that it can become a campaign promise." He plans to meet aboriginal leaders to get their support. How about consulting us. It’s our sons and daughters they want! Coderre, don’t talk with the head of your puppet organizations. If you want our people, speak to us on a nation-to-nation basis.

If Canada is sincere about wanting peace, we’d be glad to advise them. The Kaianereh’ko:wa, Great Law, is the recipe for worldwide peace. These bankers, military, multinational corporations and their government puppets are the only beneficiaries of this cruel dynamic.

History repeats itself. They still want to get the population down to a controllable number. They don’t care if they bomb and kill each other. They will give both sides the weapons to do it. That is what they did here to us. This brought nothing but grief and destruction.

The colonizers trained the Vietnamese to kill Vietnamese, Indians to kill each other and Africans to kill each other with guns supplied to both sides by the same dealer. Let’s not forget how the U.S. and Canada used our own to kill us. Every reserve has Indian police to enforce the colonizers laws of exploitation and extermination on us.

Indigenous brothers and sisters: Why are we letting these colonial brutes put Canadian and U.S. uniforms on us and guns in our hands to kill for them? The Iraqi and Afghans never did anything to you. They are fighting for their country, their resources, their people and their future. The same way as Geronimo, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Tecumseh, Chief Seattle, Pontiac and other Onkwehonwe did. They stood up to protect us, our homes, our land, our mother and mostly our freedom.

What’s conspicuously missing is any attempt to make peace with the Taliban. This is where the principles of the Kaianereh’ko:wa, the Great Law of Peace, would come in handy. It may take a few days to sit down and hack things out. Once an agreement is reached there will be no need for their new lethal toys.

Will these Indigenous soldiers come back to us with their minds changed around just like after World Wars I and II? The returning brainwashed soldiers helped the colonial governments impose their foreign systems on us.

When are they going to rescind the order to exterminate the Indigenous people of Turtle Island? The white race continues its genocidal plan to control people of color worldwide.

Any idiot can kill. No one needs training to do that. That’s proven every day. If you guys are so eager to get military training, why don’t you learn how to defend us? Don’t help these colonial foreign states oppress us and take everything of value from us.

In our scenario there’s no place for any “War Czar”. We have more to gain by fighting for the truth rather than swallowing all the lies we’re being fed. Don’t be brainwashed into murdering your own people. We all have the ability to reason.

Kahentinetha Horn
99 && cc_year » "+cc_months[today.getMonth()]+" "+today.getDate()+" » "+cc_year);
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Saturday » April 14 » 2007

Marcos and Comandantes arrive in Sonora near border

Interview with Subcomandante Marcos

Subcomandante Marcos and 10 Mayan Comandantes arrived in Sonora on Sunday, on their way to the Cucapa Peace Camp to uphold Indigenous fishing rights. Photo by Brenda Norrell

Marcos and Comandantes arrive in Sonora

By Brenda Norrell
April 10, 2007
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

MAGDALENA DE KINO, Sonora, Mexico – Subcomandante Marcos and 10 Comandantes from Chiapas were welcomed by O’odham and friends in the state of Sonora and departed Monday for the Cucapa Peace Camp to uphold Indigenous fishing rights.
Marcos discussed the Intercontinental Indigenous Conference, planned for northwest Mexico for the fall of 2007.
During an interview, Marcos said he hopes the Intercontinental gathering will “touch the hearts and recuperate the souls.”
“When Indigenous Peoples come together from all regions, they will realize that money means nothing when compared to the values of Indigenous Peoples.”
Marcos said he would return here in less than two weeks and invited the public to hear plans of the Intercontinental Indigenous Conference on April 22.
The Zapatista delegation was enroute to the Cucapa (Cocapah) Peace Camp in Baja California, in the Cucapa community of El Mayor, 40 miles south of Mexicali near the Arizona/California border. The camp has been underway since fishing season began in March and continues through May.
The delegation of Mayan Comandantes from Chiapas included four women and six men. Comandantas Kelly, Susana, Yolanda and Dalia and Comandantes Tacho, David, Eduardo, Guillermo, Emiliano and Masho.
Speaking in Spanish and English, Marcos said the Cucapa people have lived in their territory for 9,000 years and were fishing long before Spain, the United States or Mexico existed.
“They take care of the land, the air, the water, trees, the natural world.”
“We are the Guardians.”
Marcos said the government of Mexico has falsely accused the Cucapa of destroying the natural world. At the same time, the Mexican military pretends to be fighting the drug traffickers.
“The Mexican Army is not fighting against drug dealers. They are fighting against Indian people.”
“The Cucapa are doing the same thing they have been doing for 9,000 years. The Cucapa and other Indian people called for this camp in defense of nature. So they can fish without detentions or being put in jail,” Marcos said.
Marcos visited the Indian tribes in northwest Mexico during the Zapatistas’ Other Campaign in the fall of 2006. The neighboring Quilihua women had taken a vow to stop having children and become extinct rather than try to survive without their ability to fish.
“We said we will come and stay with you, without guns, only with our words," Marcos said during the interview Sunday.
Marcos said the world has not responded to the desperation of Indigenous Peoples.
“The United Nations does not have ears to hear that pain.”
“It is a shame.”
Marcos urged American Indians in the United States to unite with Zapatistas in the struggle for Indigenous rights.
Marcos said before the days of politicians and enterprises, Indian people were here. “We, the Indian people, lived here on this land. The money people came and brought drugs, prostitution and all of the diseases of the money people,” Marcos said in English.
Marcos pointed out that the Tohono O’odham people live on both sides of the international border, in Sonora, Mexico and in Arizona in the United States.
“But it is the same people. If the O’odham in Mexico and the O’odham in the United States come together, they can realize a force more powerful than money.”
Marcos said that even when Indian people have money, there are those that say, “An Indian is an Indian."
“No matter how much they say they love us, it is not true. They can not love us because of the color of our skin.”
Marcos called on Indigenous Peoples to claim their destiny as Guardians of the Earth.
“Everything that is life will be killed. We must join the fight to save the earth. The gods gave us that mission. We must take care of the earth together, but with respect for our differences, Yaqui, Mayo, Tzetzal. Each people have their own identity, depending on their culture.”
“The people with money said we are a barbarious people, but our people are people of peace. We fight only if they attack us. The government thinks we are failures, but they have to know that we are Guardians of this land.”
In the state of Sonora, south of the Arizona border, the Zapatistas were greeted by O’odham in Mexico Lt. Gov. Jose Garcia, wife Maria and mother Elena Garcia. The delegation stayed at the ecotourism center south of Magdalena, Rancho el Penasco, Casa de Ecoturismo, where the Other Campaign stayed in October during the listening session with O’odham. During their overnight stay, Zapatistas rested and enjoyed meals of chicken mole, Sonoran tepary beans and dried beef.
The Zapatista delegation was followed by Mexican undercover police. Initially one vehicle from the state of Sinoloa was parked at the entrance to the center, but the number grew to six vehicles, including one local police vehicle, with four undercover vehicles following the delegation as they departed for Cucapa in the state of Baja California. In Chiapas, paramilitary attacks against the Zapatistas have increased, as corporations seek to seize the land and natural resources.
Marcos invited the public to a gathering at Rancho el Penasco, 11 kilometers south of Magdalena on the highway to Hermosillo, on Sunday, April 22, 2007. Marcos said there will be an announcement about plans for the Intercontinental gathering, which will be held in the fall of 2007 in northwestern Mexico. Magdalena is a one and one-half hour drive south of Nogales, Arizona.
--News reporter Brenda Norrell
brendanorrell@gmail.com

Related articles on Marcos' interview by Brenda Norrell:
http://www.unobserver.com
http://www.narconews.com

Return to Censored blog:

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/


Marcos statement delivered to the Cucapa (Cocapah) in Baja:

Comunicado del Comité Clandestino Revolucionario Indígena
Comandancia General del Ejército Zapatista De Liberación Nacional
MÉXICO.8 DE ABRIL DEL 2007.
EL EZLN, A TRAVÉS DE SU COMISIÓN SEXTA, SE DIRIGE RESPETUOSAMENTE A TOD@S L@S COMPAÑER@S ADHERENTES A LA SEXTA DECLARACIÓN DE LA SELVA LACANDONA, Y A SIMPATIZANTES DE LA OTRA CAMPAÑA, PARA COMUNICARLES LO SIGUIENTE:I.- SOBRE LA CONSULTA INTERNA DE LOS SEIS PUNTOS DE LA OTRA CAMPAÑA.-A).- INICIANDO EL MES DE MARZO DE ESTE AÑO DE 2007, LA COMISIÓN SEXTA DEL EZLN HIZO ENTREGA DE TODO EL MATERIAL DE CONSULTA QUE RECIBIÓ, SEA DE MANERA DIRECTA, SEA A TRAVÉS DE LAS UNIDADES ORGANIZATIVAS DE LA OTRA CAMPAÑA EN TODO EL PAÍS, A UN GRUPO DE COMPAÑERAS Y COMPAÑEROS, ADHERENTES, PARA QUE SISTEMATIZARAN LOS RESULTADOS Y ENTONCES DARLOS A CONOCER.B).- EL TRABAJO NO HA SIDO FÁCIL, PERO EN LOS PRÓXIMOS DÍAS, EST@S COMPAÑER@S ENTREGARÁN LOS RESULTADOS FINALES Y, TAN PRONTO LOS TENGAMOS, LOS DAREMOS A CONOCER A TOD@S L@S COMPAÑER@S DE LA OTRA CAMPAÑA. POR LO PRONTO PODEMOS DECIR QUE ESTÁ LA PALABRA DE MÁS DE 10,000 ADHERENTES, SEA COMO INDIVIDUOS O FAMILIAS, SEA COMO GRUPOS, COLECTIVOS Y ORGANIZACIONES (SIN CONTAR A L@S ZAPATISTAS).II.- SOBRE LO QUE FUE LA PRIMERA ETAPA DE LA PARTICIPACIÓN DIRECTA DEL EZLN EN LA OTRA CAMPAÑA:A).- COMO EZLN PENSAMOS QUE YA SE CUBRIÓ LA PRIMERA ETAPA QUE HABÍAMOS PENSADO: LA DE ESCUCHAR PARA CONOCER Y RESPETAR. EN ELLA SE DIERON A CONOCER LUCHAS Y RESISTENCIAS EN TODO EL PAÍS Y, LA MAYORÍA DE QUIENES ESTAMOS EN ESTE ESFUERZO, PUDIMOS DECIR QUIÉNES SOMOS, EN DÓNDE ESTAMOS, CÓMO VEMOS EL MUNDO Y NUESTRO PAÍS, Y QUE QUEREMOS HACER Y CÓMO LO VAMOS A HACER.B).- CONTRA LO QUE DECÍAN ALGUNOS ALLÁ ARRIBA, LA OTRA CAMPAÑA SOBREVIVE A LA CRUDA ELECTORERA Y AVANZA PARA CONVERTIRSE EN UN REFERENTE PARA LAS LUCHAS QUE CAMINAN ABAJO Y A LA IZQUIERDA. PERSONAS QUE ANTES SE MANTUVIERON ALEJADAS, AHORA VOLTEAN LA MIRADA Y EL OÍDO HACIA LA OTRA CAMPAÑA, PREGUNTÁNDOSE SI ACÁ PODRÁ CONSOLIDARSE UN CAMINO INDEPENDIENTE Y DE IZQUIERDA EN LA LUCHA POR OTRO MÉXICO.C).- QUIENES SEÑALARON QUE EN NORTE DE NUESTRO PAÍS LA OTRA CAMPAÑA NO TENDRÍA NINGÚN ECO, ARGUMENTANDO QUE AHÍ SE ENCONTRABA EL APOYO DE LA DERECHA PANISTA, SE EQUIVOCARON ROTUNDAMENTE. EL NORTE DE MÉXICO NO SÓLO PADECE LAS MISMAS INJUSTICIAS QUE EL RESTO DE NUESTRO PUEBLO, TAMBIÉN ES RICO EN LUCHAS Y ESFUERZOS ANTICAPITALISTAS Y DE IZQUIERDA. EL (OTRO) NORTE TAMBIÉN EXISTE.D).- SEGÚN LO QUE VIMOS Y VEMOS COMO ZAPATISTAS, LOS PUEBLOS INDIOS, L@S JÓVEN@S Y LAS MUJERES, COMO TRABAJADOR@S Y CON SUS DIFERENCIAS, SON LA PARTE MÁS DECIDIDA EN LA OTRA CAMPAÑA.III.- SOBRE LA REPRESIÓN QUE SUFREN NUESTR@S COMPAÑER@S EN TODO EL PAÍS, PARTICULARMENTE EN YUCATÁN, Y LA EXIGENCIA DE LIBERTAD Y JUSTICIA PARA ATENCO Y OAXACA.A).- HACE CASI UN AÑO, EN EL MES DE MAYO DEL 2006, CON EL COBARDE ATAQUE AL PUEBLO DE SAN SALVADOR ATENCO, SE DESATÓ UNA CAMPAÑA DE PERSECUSIÓN Y REPRESIÓN EN CONTRA DE COMPAÑER@S DE LA OTRA CAMPAÑA EN TODO EL PAÍS. DESDE ENTONCES SE INICIÓ LA CONSTRUCCIÓN DE UNA RED QUE NOS PERMITE DAR A CONOCER LAS REPRESIONES QUE SUFRIMOS Y, AUNQUE DE MANERA TODAVÍA IRREGULAR, DE APOYARNOS MUTUAMENTE.B).- AUNQUE NO TIENEN LOS TAMAÑOS DE LAS REPRESIONES CONTRA ATENCO Y OAXACA, HA HABIDO Y HAY ATAQUES EN CONTRA DE NUESTR@S COMPAÑER@S DE LA OTRA QUE NO HAN RECIBIDO EL APOYO DE TOD@S L@S ADHERENTES.C).- ADEMÁS DEL ATAQUE Y HOSTIGAMIENTO CONTRA LAS COMUNIDADES INDÍGENAS ZAPATISTAS, ESTÁ TAMBIÉN LA REPRESIÓN Y CÁRCEL QUE SUFREN ACTUALMENTE NUESTR@S COMPAÑER@S DE LA OTRA YUCATÁN, QUE FUERON ATACADOS POR MANIFESTARSE EN CONTRA DE LA VISITA DE BUSH A ESAS TIERRAS. A VARIOS DE EST@S COMPAÑER@S, LAS AUTORIDADES PRETENDEN EXTORSIONARL@S CON ALTÍSIMAS FIANZAS PARA DEJARLOS LIBRES, O L@S MANTIENEN PRES@S CON ACUSACIONES RIDÍCULAS Y SIN NINGÚN SUSTENTO LEGAL.EN ESTE CASO PRECISO, HACEMOS UN LLAMADO ESPECIAL A TOD@S L@S COMPAÑER@S DE LA OTRA CAMPAÑA EN MÉXICO Y AL NORTE DEL RÍO BRAVO PARA QUE, A PARTIR DEL PRÓXIMO 10 DE ABRIL, INICIEMOS UNA CAMPAÑA DE APOYO Y SOLIDARIDAD CON NUESTR@S COMPAÑER@S DE LA OTRA YUCATÁN, CON EL FIN DE QUE OBTENGAN SU LIBERTAD.D).- COMO LA LUCHA POR LA LIBERTAD DE NUESTR@S COMPAÑER@S PRES@S DE ATENCO NO HA TERMINADO, LLAMAMOS TAMBIÉN A TODA LA OTRA CAMPAÑA PARA QUE LOS DÍAS 3 Y 4 DE MAYO PRÓXIMOS NOS MANIFESTEMOS DEMANDANDO LA LIBERTAD Y LA JUSTICIA PARA ATENCO Y PARA OAXACA.EN CONCRETO, EL DÍA 4 DE MAYO DEL 2007 SE REALIZARÁ UNA MARCHA EN LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO, PARTIENDO DEL ÁNGEL DE LA INDEPENDENCIA A LAS 1600 HORAS (4 DE LA TARDE), CON DESTINO AL ZÓCALO DE LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO. Y EL DÍA 5 DE MAYO SE REALIZARÁ UNA MARCHA MOTORIZADA HACIA EL PENAL DE SANTIAGUITO PARA HACERLES SABER A NUESTR@S PRES@S QUE NO L@S OLVIDAMOS Y QUE NO ESTÁN SOL@S,IV.- SOBRE LO QUE, SEGÚN L@S ZAPATISTAS, DEBE SER LA SEGUNDA ETAPA Y SU PARTICIPACIÓN DIRECTA EN ELLA.-A).- CUMPLIDA LA PRIMERA ETAPA DEL OÍDO Y EL CONOCIMIENTO, L@S ZAPATISTAS PENSAMOS QUE ES NECESARIO PASAR YA A ELABORAR UN PRIMER ESBOZO DEL PROGRAMA NACIONAL DE LUCHA.SE TRATA DE QUE LOS DOLORES DE NUESTRO PUEBLO NO SE QUEDEN SÓLO EN LA NECESARIA DENUNCIA, SINO DE QUE EMPIECEN A SISTEMATIZARSE Y A DARSE A CONOCER POR LA MISMA GENTE QUE LOS PADECE.NO BASTA YA, POR EJEMPLO, CON DENUNCIAR QUE DETRÁS DE LA REFORMA SALINISTA AL ARTÍCULO 27 CONSTITUCIONAL, SE LE DIO LEGALIDAD A LA GUERRA DE DESPOJO DE TIERRAS CONTRA CAMPESINOS Y COMUNIDADES INDÍGENAS. ES NECESARIO EMPEZAR A PROPONER NO SÓLO LA ANULACIÓN DE ESA INJUSTICIA LEGALIZADA, TAMBIÉN EXPRESAR LO QUE DEBE REMPLAZARLA DESDE ABAJO Y A LA IZQUIERDA.EN CADA RINCÓN DE NUESTRO PAÍS ESE DESPOJO TIENE NOMBRE, ASÍ COMO TIENE PALABRAS CONCRETAS LA SOLUCIÓN QUE DEMANDA EL PUEBLO.B).- TODOS LOS DOLORES Y DEMANDAS DEBEN SER SISTEMATIZADOS PARA CONVERTIRSE DESPUÉS EN PARTE DE UN PROGRAMA NACIONAL DE LUCHA.NO SE TRATA DE QUE UN GRUPO U ORGANIZACIÓN, NI EL EZLN NI UNA CÚPULA O AGRUPAMIENTO DE ORGANIZACIONES, HAGAN EL PROGRAMA NACIONAL DE LUCHA, SINO QUE ÉSTE SE VAYA CONSTRUYENDO CON LAS DEMANDAS EXPRESADAS POR NUESTRO PUEBLO EN SU PROPIA VOZ.C).- POR ESTO LLAMAMOS A TOD@S L@S ADHERENTES A LA SEXTA DECLARACIÓN DE LA SELVA LACANDONA Y A TODAS LAS UNIDADES ORGANIZATIVAS DE LA OTRA CAMPAÑA, A QUE CONTINUÉN, REANUDEN O INICIEN LOS CONTACTOS CON QUIENES SE ACERCARON, SIMPATIZAN O ESTÁN EN NUESTRO MOVIMIENTO, AHORA PARA IR LEVANTANDO UN PRIMER ESBOZO DE LO QUE SERÁ EL PROGRAMA NACIONAL DE LUCHA.D).- LA COMISIÓN SEXTA DEL EZLN HARÁ LO MISMO EN TODO EL PAÍS, PARA EMPEZAR A DARLES FORMA Y CONTENIDO AL DOLOR Y LA LUCHA QUE SE ESTÁ ORGANIZANDO ABAJO Y A LA IZQUIERDA.V.- DE CÓMO SE ORGANIZÓ LA COMISIÓN SEXTA DEL EZLN PARA SU SEGUNDA ETAPA DE PARTICIPACIÓN DIRECTA EN LA OTRA CAMPAÑA.-A).- PARA SU PARTICIPACIÓN EN ESTA SEGUNDA ETAPA, LA COMISIÓN SEXTA DEL EZLN HA ESTABLECIDO EL SIGUIENTE AGRUPAMIENTO TERRITORIAL EN ZONAS Y REGIONES:ZONA NORTE.- Con 3 regiones:Región Noroccidental.- Sinaloa, Baja California Sur, Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, y Transfronteriza.Región Norte Centro.- Aguascalientes, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí Centro y San Luis Potosí Altiplano.Región Nororiental.- Coahuila, la Comarca Lagunera, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas y Norte del Río Bravo.ZONA CENTRO.- Con 3 regiones:Región Centro Oriente.- Querétaro, Hidalgo, Puebla, Tlaxcala, centro y norte de Veracruz y las Huastecas.Región Centro-Centro.- Estado de México y Distrito Federal.Región Centro Occidente.- Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Guanajuato y Michoacán.ZONA SUR.- Con 2 regiones:Región Sur.- Estados de Morelos, Guerrero y Oaxaca.Región Suroriental.- Estados de Chiapas, Sur de Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán y Quintana Roo.PUE BLOS INDIOS.- De acuerdo con el Congreso Nacional Indígena, se visitarán especialmente, con una delegación conjunta CNI-EZLN, los pueblos indios que son adherentes en todo el territorio nacional.B).- EN ESTOS DÍAS SE ESTÁ COMPLETANDO LA INSTALACIÓN DE LAS TRES DELEGACIONES DE LA COMISIÓN SEXTA EN LAS REGIONES NOROCCIDENTAL, NORTE-CENTRO Y NORORIENTAL DE LA ZONA NORTE DE MÉXICO, MISMAS QUE ESTARÁN TRABAJANDO CON L@S COMPAÑER@S DE LA OTRA EN LOS ESTADOS DE ESA PARTE DE NUESTRO PAÍS, A PARTIR DEL DÍA 10 DE ABRIL DEL 2007 Y HASTA INICIOS DEL MES DE JUNIO DEL MISMO AÑO.TAMBIÉN EN ESTOS PRÓXIMOS DÍAS SE HARÁ CONTACTO CON LA DELEGACIÓN RESPECTIVA DEL CONGRESO NACIONAL INDÍGENA, PARA VISITAR LOS PUEBLOS INDIOS DEL NORTE DE NUESTRO PAÍS.D).- LAS DELEGACIONES DE LA COMISIÓN SEXTA IRÁN A VISITAR DE ACUERDO AL MISMO FORMATO DE LA PRIMERA GIRA, ES DECIR, SE DEFINEN FECHAS PARA CADA ESTADO, L@S OTRAS EN CADA LUGAR MANDAN SU PROPUESTA DE ACTIVIDADES Y SE AGENDAN. SÓLO LES PEDIMOS, COMO ANTES, QUE NOS APOYEN CON EL HOSPEDAJE, LA ALIMENTACIÓN Y, SI ES POSIBLE, CON EL COMBUSTIBLE PARA EL TRANSPORTE.E).- PARA EL TRABAJO EN EL NORTE DE MÉXICO, LA DELEGACIÓN ZAPATISTA ESTÁ COMPUESTA POR EL COMANDANTE ZEBEDEO, LA COMANDANTA MIRIAM, EL COMANDANTE DAVID, EL COMANDANTE TACHO, LA COMANDANTA SUSANA, LA COMANDANTA YOLANDA, EL COMANDANTE MOISÉS, LA COMANDANTA SANDRA, EL COMANDANTE EMILIANO, LA COMANDANTA EUCARIA, EL COMANDANTE MAXO, LA COMANDANTA KELLY, EL COMANDANTE EDUARDO, LA COMANDANTA DALIA, EL COMANDANTE GUILLERMO Y EL SUBCOMANDANTE INSURGENTE MARCOS.LA DELEGACIÓN DE LA COMISIÓN SEXTA PARA EL NORORIENTE DE MÉXICO (NUEVO LEÓN, COAHUILA, LA LAGUNA, TAMAULIPAS Y NORTE DEL RÍO BRAVO) YA SE ENCUENTRA EN SU SEDE EN LA CIUDAD DE MONTERREY, NUEVO LEÓN.LA DELEGACIÓN DE LA COMISIÓN SEXTA PARA EL NORTE CENTRO DE MÉXICO (AGUASCALIENTES, ZACATECAS, DURANGO, SAN LUIS POTOSÍ CENTRO Y SAN LUIS POTOSÍ ANTIPLANO) YA SE ENCUENTRA EN SU SEDE EN LA CIUDAD DE AGUASCALIENTES, AGUASCALIENTES.LAS DELEGACIONES DE LA COMISIÓN SEXTA PARA EL NOROCCIDENTE DE MÉXICO (SINALOA, BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR, SONORA, BAJA CALIFORNIA Y CHIHUAHUA), PARA EL CAMPAMENTO CUCAPÁ Y PARA PUEBLOS INDIOS (CONJUNTAMENTE CON EL CONGRESO NACIONAL INDÍGENA) SE INSTALARÁN E INICIARÁN SUS RESPECTIVOS TRABAJOS EL DÍA 10 DE ABRIL EN LA COMUNIDAD INDÍGENA CUCAPÁ DE "EL MAYOR", EN BAJA CALIFORNIA.F).- A PARTIR DEL MES DE SEPTIEMBRE Y HASTA EL MES DE DICIEMBRE DE ESTE AÑO DEL 2007, LA COMISIÓN SEXTA DEL EZLN FORMARÁ NUEVAS DELEGACIONES QUE SE REPARTIRÁN Y ACUDIRÁN A LAS ZONAS CENTRO Y SUR PARA ACOMPAÑAR EL TRABAJO DE LA OTRA CAMPAÑA EN ESOS LUGARES.VI.- DE LA OTRA CAMPAÑA ABAJO Y A LA IZQUIERDA.-POR AHORA IGNORADOS POR LOS QUE ARRIBA SON QUIENES SON, PERO MIRÁNDONOS Y ESCUCHANDO ENTRE NOSOTR@S, LA OTRA CAMPAÑA SIGUE BUSCANDO, ENCONTRANDO Y CONSTRUYENDO, YA NO SÓLO A L@S CAMINANTES, TAMBIÉN EL CAMINO, EL PASO Y EL DESTINO: OTRO MÉXICO, UNO MEJOR, MÁS JUSTO, MÁS LIBRE, MÁS DIGNO.ES TODO, COMPAÑERAS Y COMPAÑEROS.¡LIBERTAD Y JUSTICIA PARA ATENCO!¡LIBERTAD Y JUSTICIA PARA OAXACA!
Desde las montañas del Sureste Mexicano.Por el Comité Clandestino Revolucionario Indígena-Comandancia General delEjército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional.Comisión Sexta del EZLN.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
México, Abril del 2007.

Racism: Houston Councilman admits he was wrong about American Indians

Please scroll down for reader comments added. The original post exposing the racist radio talk has received the most comments on the Censored blog:

Imus out, Berry still on the air in Houston

Siouxlander LaMere feels vindicated after Imus fired
By Travis Coleman Journal staff writer

http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/04/14/news/local/615489ee2cc59edb862572bd001259a8.txt
Frank LaMere waited 13 years to see Don Imus get fired for his insensitive remarks.In April 1994 LaMere, a Winnebago Tribe member, was the target of an ongoing series of insults after he tried to get the radio shock jock's nationally syndicated program thrown off a Le Mars, Iowa, radio station after comments Imus made about a trip he had made to the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona."He proceeded to label all Navajo men as homosexual," LaMere said. For LaMere, it was just more insults. Over the next couple of weeks, Imus poked fun at LaMere, questioning his sexuality. LaMere said his confrontation with Imus was the first sign he'd seen that Imus' "thinking and outlook was flawed.""It made me feel very isolated," LaMere said. "I wanted to unmask him. I wanted to educate him."No one stood up for American Indians as they did for the Rutgers women's basketball team, LaMere said."I see them coming out of the woodwork now that Imus' fate has been sealed, but they all ran for cover in 1994," LaMere said.LaMere said he led the first charge to hold Imus' accountable for his insensitive comments and said he feels vindicated now that Imus' has been fired."I think that opposition to his racist and sexist remarks reached critical mass and the American people said enough is enough," LaMere said. (Full story on link)

UPDATE: April 14, 2007

Racist radio talk and Apocalypto
A new petition demands Mel Gibson apologize to the Mayan community for telling a Mayan scholar, a woman, to "F--k off" during a talk to young filmmakers in CaliforniaRadio talk host Don Imus is out after his racist remarks, following widespread coverage by the national media. However, Houston Councilman Michael Berry, who serves as mayor pro tem, insulted American Indians and blacks and is still on the air.


National newspapers carry articles on Houston councilman's insults:
http://news.google.com/news?rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us%3AIE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADBR&um=1&tab=wn&q=%22Michael+Berry%22+Houston+radio&scoring=d

Related article: Radio talk show host Don Imus suspended for racist comments:
http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/002307.asp

Steve Melendez, Pyramid Lake Paiute and president of the American Indian Genocide Museum in Houston, was interviewed about Michael Berry's comments on People of Earth: http://archive.kpft.org/

Houston councilman says he was wrong about American Indians

By Brenda Norrell

HOUSTON -- Houston Councilman Michael Berry, who serves as mayor pro tem, now says his radio comments which insulted American Indians were wrong. Berry says he was re-educated by American Indian responses.
Houston Natives, however, say they'll wait and see if Berry has had a true change of heart.
American Indian responses to his racist radio talk ranged from, "sounds like he needs a small pox infested blanket," to a Red Lake, Minn., reader telling him to "try talking crazy in Red Lake" and they will send him home with a Walleye shoved up his "political ass."
In his change of heart statement, Berry said he was touched by the response of Indian veterans and now understands the difference between sovereign and welfare nations.
Berry said, "I also began learning more about the lives of those who consider themselves Native Americans in modern America . Most don’t receive any governmental assistance of any kind, much less welfare. Almost none of them get any special scholarships from the government for their education. What I believed was 'governmental' assistance and scholarships is in fact tribal programs from a sovereign Indian nation. I do have two law degrees, but I lacked a good understanding of the Constitutional law on Indian treaties and Congressional action on the matter.
I was simply wrong."
Berry's racist comments might have gone unnoticed nationally, if the American Indian Genocide Museum in Houston had not asked Natives to respond. Indianz.com published an article from the information on the "Censored" blog. AP has now followed with an article.
Unfortunately, Berry's comments were not a slip of the tongue, nor can they be wiped away with a few gestures.
Berry gave voice to the racism that grows as a cancer in America.
Berry's comments came during his radio show, during a discussion of slavery and American Indians.
Berry said, "If you're against apologizing for slavery then you gotta be against giving welfare to the American Indians because of the fact that 200 years ago they were whipped in a war. And let's just call it what it is: They lost a war. Why don't we go hand the Germans a few million dollars and the Italians and the Japanese -- OK, so we did rebuild their country -- we don't continue to give them aid because they sit around whining about a war from 200 years ago. Are you kidding me? Seriously? And what's interesting is, it's one thing when we do stupid things as a government and we oppose it. Whats interesting is how many people out there believe thats a good idea -- "Oh, you gotta help the American Indians, what we did was so wrong." What'd we do? We conquered them. That's history. Hello!"

Berry's change of heart statement:
http://kprcradio.com/pages/berry.html?page=1
Regarding my recent comments on American Indians
Wednesday 04-04-2007 9:15pm
"The reason I love hosting a talk radio show is that it gives me an opportunity to share ideas that I have, and to hear from listeners from all walks of life. That exchange, sometimes confrontational, sometimes comical, often informative, and hopefully entertaining, can be magical. While I hope listeners learn from hearing my perspective, I know for sure that I learn from them.
In the course of three hours every morning, I hope that listeners will look at issues in new ways, from different angles. Often I intentionally provoke, in an effort to push listeners to challenge ideas that may be held more by habit than reason.
In so doing, I may say something to a disembodied audience of listeners that I wouldn’t say to a person in a face-to-face meeting. I want to make people react, to pierce that veil that prevents our true thoughts from surfacing. Likewise, in the fast-paced spontaneous moment that is radio, I did not consider the full effects of my words.
When I’m wrong, I’m big enough to admit it.
I received quite a few emails from listeners of American Indian descent regarding some comments I made recently. Those comments were intended to spark a discussion on how we view past transgressions against American Indians as compared to those against Blacks in America. I intended to challenge policies, and not to demean or insult any group of people.
I read every email I received on the matter, and considered each in turn. Some were threatening, some were insulting, some were angry, some simply politely disagreed. Those, I consider, come with the turf of being a talk show host. I expect that.
What bothered me was that my comments were construed as insulting and demeaning to American Indians. That was not my intention. However, I went back and re-read my comments several times, and I can see how someone might come away with that idea.
Some of the emails, though, pricked my conscience and forced me to think deeply about a number of matters. Most troubling were those I received from veterans of foreign wars who spoke of their love for our country, and their sacrifice and service to America.
I also began learning more about the lives of those who consider themselves Native Americans in modern America. Most don’t receive any governmental assistance of any kind, much less welfare. Almost none of them get any special scholarships from the government for their education. What I believed was “governmental” assistance and scholarships is in fact tribal programs from a sovereign Indian nation. I do have two law degrees, but I lacked a good understanding of the Constitutional law on Indian treaties and Congressional action on the matter.
I was simply wrong.
I’ve decided to make the occasion a learning experience for me, and hopefully others as well. I’ll have an American Indian expert guest on the show within the next week to discuss American Indians and answer questions on the matter. If I had misconceptions, perhaps others do, too.
I don’t back down from my desire to challenge others to think outside their personal prejudices, habits, misconceptions, and tired ideas. But I apply the same standard to myself as well. Here, I was wrong and I learned from it.
I’m not making this statement because I received heat from people who were offended. I can handle that. I’m making this statement because my method of framing the discussion seemed to attack people rather than policies, and my facts regarding those policies were wrong.
Finally, I don’t think that challenging policies of our shared government as they relate to any group of people is insulting to that group or any way racist or hateful. It is a healthy part of making good public policy. What is not healthy, or productive, is hateful speech toward others. I didn’t intend to engage in that, but my actions left some American Indians feeling that I did, and I should have been more careful in how I expressed myself. I regret that.
I look forward to hearing from more of you on this, and other, matters, and I’ll continue to be open to considering your opinions, as I hope you will be with mine."
Michael Berry

AP article on Berry's sudden transformation:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/05/AR2007040501943.html

--AP article in Seattle Post Intelligencer
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6600AP_WST_Councilman_Indian_Remark.html
Original article from the "Censored" blog, now with reader comments and links to

Berry's racist radio comments:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/03/racist-houston-mayor-insults-american.html

New article at Indianz.com:
http://www.indianz.com/

Censored comments:
Anonymous said...All my life I have been raised to "Love one another". What's this guys problem? In the fIrst place Texas never belonged to ANYONE!In the second place, I lived in Texas for many years and just had to leave, to be FREE! I have met many colors of TEXANS. If it weren't for the People of Color working for lousy pay,lousy treatment and lousy attitudes TEXAS would not be "A Whole 'NutherCountry" as they so brag.As tribal members we ALL work hard, we all don't work in casinos, believe me, if you could have one, YOU WOULD! That's the gist of it. I am not a google/blogger or other or anonymous! leave place for a name!March 28, 2007 3:21 PM

Hi,Thanks so much for your comment. Plase feel free to leave your name and other info, if you like, on the comment post. There's the option of anonymous for those who choose.Best, BrendaMarch 28, 2007 3:42 PM

Anonymous said...That Houston mayor better be careful. If he was truly "Indian", then he'd know that us natives have powerful medicine. Tsk...tsk.

March 29, 2007 1:58 PM

Anonymous said...You, Mr. Mike Berry, are ignorant to the point of stupid. How did you get in that seat you're in now!? Study the treaties between the U.S. government and us Indians before you make such a dumb statement. We did not lose a war. The U.S. government signed a treaty with us in 1868 that they have yet to honor. Read that before you make any more ignorant statements.March 29, 2007 10:05 PM

Anonymous said...So many thins can be said even further back than that . If it weren't for the Indian way of democracy within the tribes Americans woul've never set up the US goverment as it is. It would probably still be under the ruling of a King or Queen or some dictator and this guy would still be a lousy peasant. As for the point at hand I why isn't this made more public about what he has said?? If it were aimed at a black or other minority this would have made headlines. OUTRAGEOUS!!March 30, 2007 9:41 AM

Anonymous said...My name is Carey Waubanascum; I am Menominee Indian, living on the Menominee Indian Reservation. I have joined the United States Marine Corps and after words joined the United States Navy. The Montgomery G.I. Bill is helping me pay for my education. No Native Grant.I am not a conquered people. I am a Marine, a Sailor, a full time employee, apartime student, and most of all I am a mother. Funny, I would like to know where this free Native College is.During my 11 years of active duty service, I have made many friends of many races (I miss them, a lot.). My best friend is white, and we still talk to this day. Her name is Leah and she is from TexasJ I have never felt that I need an apology from her or any other person on this earth for our history. Nor did I think that have a Casino was a good idea, I see no money from our Casino. I have always worked hard for what I have and always will. Most of the Native Casinos were not given to us as a gift. But each state that has a Casino is receiving monies from these Casinos. Even for whites to have better school, highways, or whatever that state see fit. When money is involved people of all races get greedy.I greatly appreciate your time for reading me e-mail.Thank you,Carey WaubanascumUSMC/USNFull time work and mother, part-time collegeMarch 30, 2007 2:10 PM

Anonymous said...To Mr. Berry,I served and retired from the Navy after 22 years of service. I am a service connected disabled Veteran. I served proudly and honorably. What I have is because of what I earned it's not a handout. The same goes for Native Americans. We are proud and honorable people we just want respect and acknowledgement that our ancestors were not conquered but tricked, lied and killed for their land.There are only 3 recognized tribes in Texas. Most of us are Urban Native Americans and we work, study and live just like any other American citizen. We expect nothing from the government. Why? Because if we do, our way of life will be taken away in one form or another. The Genocide of our culture is still ongoing as we speak. Most Natives in Texas are not recognized as Native Americans but classified as Mexican Americans. Texas Natives were made to give up their Native American status and say they were Mexican after the Mexican American War so that Texas would be allowed into the Union. The US at the time didn't want another Indian welfare State.These Texas Natives that are not recognized can't legally follow their ancestral culture and have to live in fear. They can't wear their regalia in powwows or partake in sacred ceremonies without fear the govenment will come down on them for not being a bonafide US Indian. Why don't they target the cowboys that wear feathers in their hats at the country western bars or rodeos? Or target hunters that have their birds stuffed as trophies?We just want to be allowed to be who we are and left alone to pray and partake in our ancestral ceremonies without fear of pursecution by the US government.Thank you for your time and know that we do vote and can campaign for someone that is not a racist.March 30, 2007 5:47 PM

Anonymous said...Hi - this guy IS an idiot but he's not the Mayor of Houston. He's the Pro Tem - which means he's a city council member. Mainly, he has a talk show that thrives on controversial subjects (Rush Limbaugh type of guy). I live in Houston so I had to let everyone know - like every city in America we have idiot city council members - but he is not our Mayor.March 31, 2007 8:38 AM

Anonymous said...mr berry, maybe you should come up to REDLAKE, MINNESOTA and talk crazy, we'll send you home with a WALLEYE stuffed up your political ass. TEXAS mayor doesn't know what he's talking about. I hope in the next little election he doesn't make IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!April 1, 2007 7:22 AM

Laura B. said...What an awful thing to say. I hope you apologize to everybody you offended. I teach on an Indian reservation, and my students are wonderful. --- The U.S. government screwed up and completely ruined life for Indians, the people who were here way before Europeans were, and I really hope that in my lifetime they will admit that. You can do a good thing here and at least admit that YOU were wrong.April 1, 2007 7:53 PM

Anonymous said..." We conquered them, that's history - Hello "'You call stealing,killing of innocent women and children and old people conquering..when your type of people stole the land..then turned to killing of children and women and elders and you call that a whipping..I hope the people of Houston see's the type person you are...and when re-election comes you take the whipping you deserve..I feel sorry for the people of Houston who has a racist idiot as a Pro Tem Mayor..April 1, 2007 8:13 PM

Anonymous said...I am very offended by this CITY COUNCIL MANS comments. If you stop and think back Native Americans were the first true Americans. I can't really even be mad at this GUY who says things like this, I have to feel Sorry for people like him. When racist comments like these are made it makes me sick. Yes I am native american and yes I do get help from the government, but we live on a piece of land that is 6 miles by 12 miles long that we were forced on to by bigots like this man. We have have 28,000 enrolled members with a 70 percent unemployement rate because of this small space. He is more than welcome to come up to our reservation and see what our way of life is. I Sincerly hope that he THINKS before he speaks out again.April 3, 2007 11:33 AM

Anonymous said...The Treaty of 1868 was written because both parties desired peace, so you didn't conquer anyone.April 3, 2007 1:44 PM GILA RIVER - said...Ha ha it’s funny how he talks about winning a war..... I mean if you think about it in a sense we gave them life!!! We could have killed them all ... but we didn’t and what did we get....- Land stolen- People killed- Women raped (sorry white girls it aint your fault- Native American women are just that damn pretty)- Kids taken away- moved to concentration camps... (Reservations)- And in some cases our traditions were taken away.... I aint asking for a apology - but I’ am here demanding whats mine... you know the sad thing is that once again we are helping you in a way ... because of your illness and your sick and twisted ideas an the ripping of my peoples culture ... there are natives out there suffering and its takes strong warriors to realize the need for a change.... no thanks required ... unlike your society are culture teaches us to help those in need of help ...so keep your apology, your sicko cereal killers, and your dirty ignorant thoughts to your self - cause you know what they say its never nice for a guest to wear out their welcome .!!!!!April 3, 2007 2:55 PM

Anonymous said...I think its important to bring up a few points regarding your comments about Native Americans. First you say that "we" are constantly apologizing to Native people and using considerable resources to do so. Where are these apologies? Why haven't we heard them? How much money has been spent? Please show me evidence of this. Second, when you say that land has been given to the Indians you are mistaken. Land that is in the possession of tribes is because of land cessions brought by treaty agreements. You have not given us this land is was ours in the first place, we just have smaller amounts of it now. As for the special laws where Native people can have casinos, it is written into our constitution. American Indian nations are just that, nations which have their own laws and can negotiate with the United States via government to government. Look at Article VI in the Constitution and you will find that that treaties are "the supreme law of the land." As independent nations, we have the ability to operate casinos without needing your approval or the United States government approval. As far as the issues that happened 150 years ago they are tragic and horrendous. It did not end there. For instance, look at the thousands of children forced into boarding schools. These children were beaten, raped and murdered by the hundreds. Boarding schools were commonplace until the 1950's. How about the removal of Native children to White homes by the thousands by the government? They believed that if the parents were poor they should not be allowed to have children. This happened until the 1970s. Native people were not allowed to practice their own religion until 1978 legally. How long have you been able to practice yours? I would suggest you go to church more often after making comments like you did. So I suggest next time you open your ignorant mouth, you should first acquire the knowledge of such issues and offer an apology to all Native people that you have insulted. I am an Anishinaabe from Red Lake, MN.April 3, 2007 7:30 PM

kayo said...... the comments made by mr berry, houston's mayor pro tem- emphasis on the pro tem- were and are a a disgrace- the energy behind thewords is what is so disturbing to me... mr berry has , in my opinion disgraced his city, his state, his family, but most of all himself... i hope the constiuents of houston, in the future, vote for someone with character as their councilmanand that next time a pro tem is needed, better care and consideration would be used in making that choice- i think one need merely really look at this person's picture, and can see to the heart of this matter....whoever raised this boy , again, in my opinion, should hang their head in shame along with him.......my prayer is, in time, with experience and understanding, this one finds his way- that it is not a way of hate- and that he finds his graceApril 4, 2007 9:35 AM

Anonymous said...Dear Mr. Berry,My name is Sarah and I represent the American Indians/Alaskan Natives that are federally employed with the Department of Defense at Fort Drum, New York. Although I am a registered member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, I have the pleasure of serving all tribes and all matters concerning us. I received an email from a family member in Oklahoma, and upon reading it was discussed at your knowledge, or lack there of, of Native American/American Indian culture and opportunities. I started to wonder if you had ever met and “Indian” and truly listened to who they were or where they come from. I would like to introduce myself to you so that way you can have someone in mind the next time you go on a rant about something you know nothing about.I grew up in a small community called Honobia, Oklahoma. The latest survey made said the population was 128. With in the last couple of years the state has been paving the roads. Many are still dirt. I am only 27 years old and can still remember using party lines as our phone system. Most of the residents are poor, and still work a more than 40 hour a week job. The average income is less than $20,000. Many of us come from broken homes. Like in my situation, my grandmother raised my two sisters and me. We lived in an “Indian Home” which means that the Choctaw Nation (Not the US Government) build her a home on land she already owned. We received commodities, or free food, from the Choctaw Nation (Not the US Government). After I graduated from High School, in a class of 15 students, I joined the US Army. I served our country for 8 years so that people like you can have the very freedoms you come to expect. Let it be said that with out “Indians Soldiers” like me you wouldn’t have the freedom of speech you are so glad to have today. I have been a DoD federal employee for 5 years. I am now continuing my education in college. I receive my GI Bill from the Veterans Administration. The money I get to go to school from the government is the money I earned not because I am an Indian, but because I am a Veteran. As for the free college the US is tired of paying for---get real—the US Government doesn’t pay for that. The Choctaw Nation does. It is called a higher education grant. One of the main reasons that the program exist is to combat the stigma of what the white men, like you, think of the Native American people. I hope that one day you will out grow your ignorance and truly be a man of the people. It is statements like the ones you made that set this country back to a time of racism. I hope your children never get offend because of their race. I hope they can appreciate the hard work your wife did to get to a position of respect. There are a lot of hurtful things that can be said about your wife’s background, but I hope she never has to hear them. Word can truly hurt.Thank you,Sarah Choctaw Nation of OklahomaApril 5, 2007 10:54 AM

Anonymous said...Dear Michael Berry,I am absolutely nauseated by your ignorant comments made regarding Native Americans. My great-grandmother was Cherokee Indian, and I am proud of that part of my heritage and saddened by the treatment of her people by expats settling in this country.You demonstrated as much sensitivity as that other ignorant Texan, President Bush when he continued his visit on his ranch while thousands of dead Katrina victims floated in the streets of New Orleans.What duplicity...you support the Houston Holocaust Museum for Jews, yet denigrate financial support for Native Americans saying they don't deserve support because they lost the war 200 years ago and they should quit whining.Shame on you! If it were not for the Navajo Code talkers, we might not have won WW II when we did and hundreds of thousands more American soldiers could have lost theirlives as a result. You stupidly said in your comments...oh yea...we did rebuild Germany and Japan...yes we did. We owe our Native Americans a debt that has never been properly repaid while spending billions and billions of dollars to support Israel since WWII ended, not to mention the funds expended on Germany, Japan, and the other countries we helped rebuild after that horrible war.The Native Americans in this country have been screwed in every way imaginable and possible. What this country has done to them is outrageous and shameful. I put theholocaust of our Native Americans above what happened to the Jews in Nazi Germany, because percentage wise, Native Americans have all but been wiped out by comparison.Are you aware Mr. Berry, that the average life span of a Navajo Indians is 31 years of age now due to depleted uranium contamination on their tribal lands from miningcompanies who irresponsibly mined uranium for nuclear weapons (which we used in the nuclear bombing of Japan that ended the war) and that they have not cleaned up after themselves? Native American lands and water are contaminated, thus radiation seeps into their homes and poisons their animals and food. Are you aware this has and continues to occur on various tribal lands throughout the entire west and southwest and that now, Indian children as young as 10 are regularly being diagnosed with incurable cancers? Sadly, the "Superfund" from long ago that was to be used to clean up Indian land hasn't occurred in the manner it should have nor have the companies responsible cleaned up as ordered to do so.I'll bet you proudly call yourself a Christian and attend church every Sunday, don't you? God forgive you for your ignorant, hard heart. You don't deserve to serve any American public in any way shape or form, especially the true Americans, our Natives AmericanIndians, whom people whose ancestors like you raped, murdered and stole from so they could have a better life from under the tyranny and oppression of the King of England.The article I read says you apologized, but in my mind this is meaningless...your words of apology ring hollow. You should never have made the comment in the first place. At my age I know that words spoken by humans come from the gut and heart first and I know bullshit when I see it. You have a dark gut and heart Mr. Berry, and an apologyfrom you is meaningless.As a good Christian, which I am sure you claim yourself to be, I suggest you volunteer on some Navajo or other Indian reservations and expose yourself to the depleteduranium they live with on a daily basis...take your family along so you can experience first hand true Native American life, then speak about what they do or do not deserve for having lost the war 200 years ago. Oh...don't want to take a chance and expose yourself and your family members to potential uranium poisoning? Perhaps after a stint volunteering you'll support a Native American Holocaust Museum and give all Native Americans their proper due.You should resign your position and withdraw from government. God help us, this country cannot tolerate any more ignorant leaders like you in Government.Peace be with you and Happy Easter.April 6, 2007 8:36 AM

Anonymous said...this so called mayor of houston must be some kind of idiot. he wasn't around when our people fought the whites and the federal government. they are the one's who made the treaties with us and we are owed much more than just an apology. by the way, i see so many non indians riding around in cars with tribal plates and i see many blondes and red heads at the IHS LOLApril 7, 2007 12:45 AM

Anonymous said...What a jerk! For those that say we can't handle the truth! You don't even know the truth! Your own history did't tell you the truth. All native people's work and struggle on a daily basis. Living 2 worlds, mine and your's, I rather be living in mine, like we used too! people like him should get their heads out of their asses. From a mother on a reservation in TexasApril 13, 2007 8:51 PM

Anonymous said...Another Imas or worse!?? This man should be fired before his next election to roll around! I'd like for him to visit a reservation, take a look around the areas, talk with the elderly and young and ask if life is all peaches and cream for them, then see if he still thinks all is given to them on silver platters. I grew up off the reservation, lived on the reservation, and then had to move off to make a living. If everything was given to me, I'd have a better life on the reservation, but because of the laws and taxes, it is difficult for businesses to begin on the reservations, therefore the lack of employment exists. Still, do you see everyone in a luxury home with all the everyday amenities: running water and electricity? This man is not only insulting the Native Americans, but seems to have a problem with any race that was forced into slavery to say "If you're against apologizing for slavery then you gotta be against giving welfare to …." Then to go on to say “Why don't we go hand the Germans a few million dollars and the Italians and the Japanese -- OK, so we did rebuild their country -- we don't continue to give them aid because they sit around whining about a war from 200 years ago.” If he were to honestly believe the Native Americans were well off and taken care of from the miss treatment, then most wouldn’t be at the poverty levels they are at today. Native Americans wouldn’t have to continuously ask for water pipe lines or electricity to be provided in their area to a small home or decent roads to travel. Not much has been done to improve the lifestyle for the people who want to continue there traditional beliefs and stay on land that is “provided” for them to live on because it holds history for them. Most on reservations are not land and property owners. The piece of land they do live on can still be issued to someone else who contests to do so because it is still government land. Look at the Native Americans near Niagara Falls who had to give up their home for electricity to New York and New Jersey. Look at the Native Americans in Arizona at the Grand Canyon who lost their way of living when the dam was built to provide electricity for Las Vegas and other parts of Nevada, California, Utah, and Arizona. Those people had no choice when the water was rising, but to move and find their own new home and way of life. One elderly woman was telling her story of this situation, and commented on her house “under the water” and how she hoped to see it again before she passed on… if the government would let some of the water drain, and then she could take her goats and sheep there again. She’d like to get her glasses off the table, too. Of course it’d never happen. And she still didn’t get a new pair of glasses at the time she was telling her story. This man, Houston Councilman Michael Berry, is completely clueless, should be removed from office, forced to live in poverty stricken areas, and asked to drive miles and miles to his job (especially now with the rate of gasoline) with little help from the government to maybe get a grip on what the government does and doesn’t provide for the average American. He may think twice and see the Native Americans do not have everything the average American has. Not every tribe has a casino and not every tribal member gets funds from a casino in their area. I say fire him just as the general public asked for Imas and more. He may have apologized, but actions are louder. He should volunteer his community services to help the average American and Native Americans.Thank you for your time, A. StrongApril 14, 2007 9:53

Sidney, others want apology after comments

Gallup Independent

By Kathy Helms
Staff Writer

KYKOTSMOVI — Former Hopi Tribal Chairman Ivan Sidney has joined American Indian Genocide Museum in Houston and other Native groups dem and ing Houston Mayor Pro Tem Michael Berry apologize to American Indian tribes for insulting their history and contributions to America .

Berry , a three-term city councilman who also hosts a radio talk show in Houston on "TalkRadio 950 KPRC," apparently makes it a practice to provoke listeners. And in his March 27 broadcast on slavery and Indians, he did just that.

According to a transcript of his remarks, Berry said, "We need to stop wasting all this time and energy apologizing to the American Indians, which we continue to do ... We do it with incredible resources from our Treasury. Our entire Department of the Interior, practically, is the Department of Indian Affairs."

Berry said, "We continue to give l and you know, at the Gr and Canyon this group that got a private developer to come in and put this $30 million glass Skywalk out over the Gr and Canyon, which I will go and see, I admit it, as tacky as it is why are we still giving Indians exclusive rights to gamble, exclusive rights to print money, which is also known as a casino?"

Mayor Berry said he has read the treaties involving American Indians. "First of all, the treaty involved l and and sovereignty. It did not require that we continue to pay for education. It did not require welfare programs. It did not necessarily mean we had to grant them casino licenses ... "

Berry told listeners that if they ' re against apologizing for slavery, "then you gotta be against giving welfare to the American Indians because of the fact that 200 years ago they were whipped in a war. And let ' s just call it what it is: They lost a war."

Berry said the United States doesn ' t continue to give aid to the Germans, the Italians and the Japanese "because they sit around whining about a war from 200 years ago. ...We conquered them, that ' s history. Hello!"

Promoting racism
Former Hopi Chairman Sidney said, "Comments insulting American Indians serve only to promote racism and diminish the heritage and contributions of the American Indian to this great nation that belongs to all of us."

Sidney said American Indians have served the country admirably and have given their lives to protect all Americans, "including Mayor Berry ' s right to freedom of speech, however, Mayor Berry ' s statements do not depict the true plight of the American Indian."

In an open letter to Berry, Sidney said, "Mayor Berry , we are not all conquered nations. First, the Hopi people did not fight a war with America . Second, the Hopi people do not have a treaty with the United States . Third, the Hopi people do not have casinos. Fourth, the Hopi people do not ask for h and outs. Fifth, we are a proud nation of people as are all American Indians.

"As Native people we live within the confines of another nation (the United States ) with unfulfilled commitments resulting in establishing casinos on reservation l and s for the purpose of sustenance and the creation of jobs," Sidney said.

Unfortunately, the history of Native people includes the relocation to sparse areas of l and with little hope or opportunities for economic development, he added. "Native tribes were herded into spaces away from the general population to areas called ' reservations. '

"These l and s were considered undesirable and were set aside for the ' renegade ' Indians, as we are commonly called, by those who are unfamiliar with the history and settlement of America . After centuries of suffering tribes finally found a way to survive in these barren areas through the exercise of sovereignty and the establishment of casinos.

"Yet, today, there are those who continue to tell us to become self-sufficient while on the other h and decry our efforts at self sufficiency," Sidney said.

Hopi not newcomers
The American Indian has lived in this country before the days of Christopher Columbus and the Conquistadors, he added. "The Hopi have occupied this l and since time immemorial and are not the newcomers."

Sidney said the Grand Canyon was not discovered by Christopher Columbus. "The Gr and Canyon was discovered by the Hopi people. We, Hopi, have many sacred places in the Gr and Canyon which have been used in our religious practices for centuries before the arrival of the Conquistadors and others."

The Hopi people are recognized in the International Agreement between Spain , Mexico and America , yet, to date, their recognition in that international agreement has not been fully acknowledged or adhered to by the American government, he said.

"It is for that reason the Hopi Tribe continues to acknowledge the Country of Spain, and it is the reason Spain continues to acknowledge the Hopi people as a sovereign nation."

The former Hopi chairman challenged Houston ' s mayor pro tem: "Mayor Berry , if you are truly interested in learning the history of the occupation of America , please feel free to contact me directly. We will show you the Hopi Reservation and teach you about our history and the contributions our children have made to the security of our great nation.

"We, the Hopi people have lost many of our children in the protection of our great country. Overall, the Native American has served in greater proportions than others in this nation. We only ask that you treat us with dignity and respect.

"We, the Hopi people, are respectful of others and will treat you with dignity and respect," Sidney said.

"We have just concluded our winter ceremonies wherein we pray for all mankind, including Mayor Berry . We will continue to pray for your prosperity and long life."

For information: http://www.950KPRC.com or http://www.950kprc.com/pages/berry.html or http://www.michaelberry.com

Zapatista Comandantes join Cucapa in Baja in April

(L)Photo Manual Tzunum (R) Photo Brenda Norrell

Zapatista Comandantes join Cucapa in Baja in April

By Brenda Norrell

EL MAYOR, BAJA, MEXICO --

Zapatistas in Chiapas, resisting fresh assaults from the paramilitaries, are sending a delegation of Mayan Comandantes to support the Cucapa and Quilihua (Kiliwa) peoples of Baja, Mexico, during their fishing season in April and May.

The Quilihua women had vowed to stop having children and become extinct, rather than try and continue to survive. During the Other Campaign in Baja in October, Subcomandante Marcos and the Zapatistas said they would return to ensure their rights were respected.

The campsite in the Cucapa community of El Mayor, south of Mexicali and near the Arizona/California border, is now established and Cucapa are carrying out their fishing rights. Zapatistas also plan an international Indigenous gathering for the continents, to be held in northwest Mexico in the fall of 2007.

MARCOS: Zapatista Comandantes Prepare for the Northern Border
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/03/zapatista-comandantes-prepare-for.html
New photos of Cucapa fishing rights camp at El Major, Baja
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rageone/
More news on the Zapatistas and the Other Campaign

http://www.narconews.com/

Canada's Plan Exposed to Assassinate Mohawks

Updated April 2, 2007

Canadian military planned deception, ambushes and killing of Mohawks, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad in new counterinsurgency manual

By Brenda Norrell
Human Rights Editor
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report

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The Canadian military's draft counterinsurgency manual exposes how the so-called "war on terror" is a mask to authorize torture and murders, that ultimately profit corporations and profiteering politicians.

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With a copy of the draft manual, the Globe and Mail reported, "Radical natives are listed in the Canadian army’s counterinsurgency manual as a potential military opponent, lumping aboriginals in with the Tamil Tigers, Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad."

Caught in the act by the media, and exposed by Mohawk Nation News, the Canadian government is now backpedaling.

The Canadian government now says Aboriginal organizations won't be included as security threats like the Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad in a new counterinsurgency manual.

However, the Globe and Mail reported Saturday that the military draft manual recommends deception, ambushes and the killing of insurgents, which included Mohawks.

Canada's draft counterinsurgency manual reflects the tactics of the counterinsurgency manual used by the United States' School of the Americas for decades in Central and South America. As in Canada, Indigenous Peoples in the south were fighting for survival, and to retain their land, water and resources. Corporations acted with impunity and carried out the campaign of genocide.

Indigenous Peoples were raped, tortured, murdered and disappeared by the paramilitaries and Latin leaders trained by the School of the Americas. Renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security, protesters continue to be arrested each year at the Fort Benning, Georgia site. In violation of the Geneva Conventions, the U.S. secret system of torture and disappearances continues at secret international prisons and Guantanamo Bay.
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Mohawk Nation News: Canada's military plots war crimes against Indigenous Peoples
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/03/canada-military-plots-war-crimes.html
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Aboriginals listed as terrorists and insurgents says Fontaine

April 2, 2007 - by Joseph Quesnel

Canada First Perspective

A national Aboriginal leader is asking Ottawa to ensure that Aboriginal groups are removed from a federal National Defense document which lists militant Aboriginal groups alongside other radical groups.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine today demanded that the federal government immediately remove any reference to First Nations in a Department of National Defense draft counter-insurgency manual listing international terrorist threats. According to a report by The Globe and Mail, radical Native American organizations such as the Mohawk Warriors Society are listed in the training manual as insurgents, alongside other insurgent groups.
"Any reference to First Nations people as possible insurgents or terrorists is a direct attack on us - it demonizes us, it threatens our safety and security and attempts to criminalize our legitimate right to live our lives like all other Canadians do. Just being referenced in such a document compromises our freedom to travel across borders, have unimpeded telephone and internet communications, raise money, and protest against injustices to our people," stated AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine.
"I am calling upon Prime Minister Stephen Harper to immediately and without reservation, reject and remove any references to First Nations from all versions of the training manual."
"It is shocking and outrageous to learn that the Canadian military would consider First Nations people as insurgents or equate us to Hezbollah or Hamas. Not only is there not a shred of evidence to make this link, First Nations have always served Canada well by their contributions to the Canadian services. Such absurd allegations only serve to undermine respect for the military and lead us to believe we will not be able to rely on their protection the way other Canadians do."
Fontaine also pointed out that the revelation of Aboriginal groups within the training manual also comes after the federal government said that they aggressively audit and possibly cut off funding provided to First Nations organizations who participate in, or support the National Day of Action on June 29th, which the federal government has said may include illegal blockades and other activities.
"Taken with the report that we are included in the list of insurgent organisations in the military's manual, raises serious questions about the federal government's respect for freedom of speech and freedom of assembly for First Nations people. It appears that they want to silence us," said Fontaine, in the release.
"The proposed June 29th National Day of Action is intended to bring focus to and generate awareness of the deplorable social - economic status of First Nations peoples in this country. Too often, First Nations poverty and the injustices suffered by our communities are not well understood. We aim to begin changing that by reaching out to Canadians and by putting our issues and our solutions front and center. First Nations people are people of integrity and we will abide by the rule of law while exercising our right to free speech," said the National Chief.
The Assembly of First Nations is the national organization which purports to represent First Nations citizens in Canada.

Monday, April 2, 2007, Canada squirms more:


Final version of terror report will not refer to natives, O'Connor says

BILL CURRY
Globe and Mail

OTTAWA -- References to radical natives in the Canadian army's counterinsurgency manual will not appear in the final version of the document, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor has announced.
The use of "radical Native American organizations" as an example of insurgents in a draft version of the manual has incensed native leaders, who viewed the wording as a threat to their political rights to protest.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine said yesterday the inclusion of natives in the manual could threaten the ability of Canadian natives to travel internationally.
But in a written statement, Mr. O'Connor explained that the document was simply making reference to past examples of insurgencies and was not meant to suggest that natives in Canada are a potential military target.
"The draft counterinsurgency manual was produced in September, 2005, under the previous government. The draft manual is not a final document, and continues to evolve and be updated," the statement from the minister said.
"The final version will not contain references to any current aboriginal organizations. The draft manual does not make comparisons between aboriginal groups and any insurgent groups," he stated.
"The draft manual does not state that any other particular group is a potential target of the Canadian military . . . What the draft document does do is use examples of past insurgencies from Canada and abroad to illustrate how some groups have resorted to violence or the threat of violence in the past in order to gain political influence or concessions."
The minister's office said the draft manual has been used to train Canadian soldiers for the mission in Afghanistan. The reference to natives will be removed because the manual is only for use in relation to that mission, a spokeswoman said.
The Globe published a report on the manual on Saturday. The report noted that the Mohawk Warrior Society was involved in the 1990 Oka crisis in Quebec, which spawned a 78-day confrontation with police and the military that left a police officer dead.
The draft manual's 164 pages outline a wide range of measures that could be used to assess, manage and defeat an insurgency.
On the 11th page, under the heading "Overview of insurgencies and counter-insurgencies," a paragraph is highlighted, which states: "The rise of radical Native American organizations, such as the Mohawk Warrior Society, can be viewed as insurgencies with specific and limited aims. Although they do not seek complete control of the federal government, they do seek particular political concessions in their relationship with national governments and control (either overt or covert) of political affairs at a local/reserve ("First Nation") level, through the threat of, or use of, violence."
There is no other mention of natives in the manual, nor does the manual add further context as to why that paragraph is included.
Five pages later, the manual gives other examples of insurgents, listing Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and the Tamil Tigers.
Mr. Fontaine issued a statement yesterday describing the mention of radical natives as "shocking."
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CFRA Radio

DND Dismisses Report on Counterinsurgency Manual

Josh Pringle Saturday, March 31, 2007

A statement from the office of Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor says the "final version will not contain references to any current aboriginal organizations."
O'Connor's office calls a manual for the Canadian Military a draft only.
The Globe and Mail says the draft manual lists "radical Native American Organizations" as potential opponents.
The draft version puts the radical Canadian aboriginals among security threats such as Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad.
The document outlines measures the military might use to fight insurgents at home and abroad.
The Defence Department calls the report "speculative, sensational and inaccurate."

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Breaking News links on Canada's counterinsurgency manual:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=mohawk+manual&scoring=d
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Globe and Mail

Forces’ terror manual lists natives with Hezbollah
BILL CURRY
From Saturday’s Globe and Mail

OTTAWA — Radical natives are listed in the Canadian army’s counterinsurgency manual as a potential military opponent, lumping aboriginals in with the Tamil Tigers, Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad.The military is putting the finishing touches on the manual, but adraft version of the document obtained by The Globe and Mail outlines ahost of measures the military might use to fight insurgents at home andabroad. The measures include ambushes, deception and killing. The draft manual was produced in September, 2005, and recently released through an access-to-information request. A final edited version of the army manual is expected to be complete within months, but a coverletter states that the draft version was immediately circulated in 2005to army units for military training. Its inclusion of “radical Native American Organizations” as a potential target of military action surfaces at a time of heightened tensions between aboriginals and the federal government. “The rise of radical Native American organizations, such as the MohawkWarrior Society, can be viewed as insurgencies with specific and limited aims,” the manual states. “Although they do not seek complete control of the federal government, they do seek particular political concessions in their relationship with national governments and control (either overt or covert) of political affairs at a local/reserve (‘First Nation’) level, through the threat of, or use of, violence,”the manual states. The Mohawk Warrior Society was involved in the 1990 Oka crisis inQuebec, which spawned a 78-day confrontation with police and themilitary that left a police officer dead. The society normally describes more militant natives from the traditional Mohawk territory,covering parts of Quebec, Ontario, Vermont and New York State. Stewart Phillip, the Grand Chief of the Union of British ColumbiaIndian Chiefs who recently predicted “a summer of aboriginal protest”in response to the perceived lack of action on native poverty in thefederal budget, said he is “absolutely outraged” by the manual.“It’s a complete attack on our political rights,” he said.“What we’re seeing,” Mr. Phillip continued, “is the deliberate criminalization of the efforts of aboriginal people to march, demonstrate and rally to draw public attention to the crushing poverty that is the reality within our communities.”Native leaders who are not regarded as militant have called for asummer of protest over a perceived lack of attention from Ottawa on issues such as native poverty and land claims.Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice has responded with warnings of financial penalties for any native group that uses federal money to plan such protests.“Working together to find common solutions is a much more constructive way of dealing with issues than planning blockades,” he said in a letter to The Globe and Mail this week.The manual defines an insurgency as “the actions of a minority group within a state who are intent on forcing political change by means of of subversion, propaganda and military pressure, aiming to persuade or intimidate the broad mass of people to accept such a change.”Counterinsurgency, according to the manual, involves “much more” than simply military action, and can include psychological measures aimed at defeating an insurgency. Much of the manual appears to be aimed at Canadian missions in failedor failing states where various factions are fighting for power. Among the army’s proposed measures are “deception operations” to fool the insurgent and “physical destruction” of the enemy.“Attrition will be necessary, but the number of insurgents killed should be no more than is absolutely necessary to achieve success,” the manual states. The Canadian Forces were not able to find someone yesterday who could comment on the manual. It is therefore unclear whether this is thefirst such manual created for the military or whether natives have previously been listed by the army. The most recent protest by natives led to arrests and charges yesterdayfor three men connected to the blockade of Quebec’s Highway 117 onMarch 12 and 13. The highway is the Abitibi region’s main link to the south, a nd theblockade caused major concern for the residents of Val-d’Or andRouyn-Noranda.Among those arrested was Guillaume Carle, the controversial leader ofthe recently formed Confederation of Aboriginal People of Canada. Mr.Carle led the protest of about 50 people, many of whom were carrying rifles. Mr. Carle has claimed in the past to have the support of the MohawkWarrior Society, but people claiming to be from that society denied involvement.
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Toronto Sun

Natives blast rebel label
By JORGE BARRERA, NATIONAL BUREAU

The military's decision to identify the Mohawk Warrior Society and "radical Native American organizations" as insurgents in a draft version of a guerrilla warfare field manual has sparked concern among First Nations.
In an article titled Canada's Military Plots War Crimes Against Indigenous People, which is circulating on blogs and chatboards, the Mohawk Nation News Network says labelling Natives as insurgents raises troubling questions.
"Why are weapons being pointed at us? We are defenceless. Why are we being compared with the Taliban who have rockets, artillery and modern weapons to blow up U.S., Canadian and British tanks that are inches thick?" asks Kahentinetha Horn, the network's editor.
"Does Canada's Parliament or the Canadian people know about this genocidal action that is being done in their name? Since when is it legal to make plans to attack us?"
Under the heading "Overviews of insurgencies and counter-insurgencies," the manual says Native "insurgencies" differ because they have "specific and limited aims."
"Although they do not seek complete control of the federal government, they do seek political concessions ... and control (either overt or covert) of political affairs at a local/reserve (First Nation) level, through the threat of, or use of, violence."
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The Canadian Press:

... Stewart Phillip, the Grand Chief of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs who predicted "a summer of aboriginal protest" in response to the perceived lack of action on native poverty in the federal budget, said he is "absolutely outraged" by the manual.

Armed Minutemen target borders of Mexico and Canada

Update: Monday, April 2, 2007

U.S. government linked to 'House of Death' in Juarez

Narco News

http://www.narconews.com

Photo: Juarez, Mexico

Minutemen target borders of Mexico and Canada

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/04/01/news/state/18_54_383_31_07.txt

Border Guardian Roy Warden arrested again in Tucson:

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/176282