Fifteen-year-old Chumash receives death threats in California town

Fifteen-year-old Chumash receives death threats in California town

Backlash to opposing mascots exposes racism in coastal California town

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

AIM-West Photo

CARPINTERIA, Calif. – A 15-year-old Chumash youth received death threats because he urged his high school to eliminate sports mascots which are degrading and mock Native Americans and their culture.

After those deaths were reported to police in this small coastal town, 90 minutes north of Los Angeles, police took no action and said the death threats were not credible.

Mark Anquoe, Kiowa from Oklahoma and member of the American Indian Movement, said it is inexcusable for police not to take death threats of a student seriously.

Speaking on Red Town Radio, Anquoe said it is surprising with the number of shootings in schools in the United States, such as Colombine, that this death threat was not taken seriously.

“You would think a death threat made to a student would be investigated and disciplinary action would be taken,” Anquoe said of the youth, whose name is not published here because he is a minor.

“The Indian people in this tiny community are vastly outnumbered. You saw this one young person stand up when he felt his people were being dishonored and this was the price that is being paid for speaking up,” Anquoe said.

“It didn’t fall into their legal definition of what a threat is,” said Corine Fairbanks, Lakota and member of the American Indian Movement, living in Santa Barbara near Carpinteria.

Fairbanks said the high school here was one of the last schools in the area to be desegregated. “It has a history of being really resistant to change.”

The area is home to the Chumash people and the federally recognized Santa Ynez and state recognized Chumash near Malibu.

Fairbanks said the issues came to the forefront after the Chumash youth was disturbed by the mascot. When he received an assignment to explore “Be the change you want to see in the world,” he chose to take on the challenge of exposing the degrading images of sports mascots.

After taking the issue to the school board, the "Warriors" mascot was removed. However, what followed revealed that the racism in the United States which is often believed to be confined to pockets, like in the south or in bordertowns around Indian Nations in the west, was manifested in this central coastal California.

A fierce reaction followed from some residents in the city of Carpinteria, joined by some alumni and some of the students. They formed an organization, “Warrior spirit will never die,” and opposed the young man’s efforts and those who supported him.

The virulent opposition even went on to recall a school board member who supported the Chumash youth. The organization followed with intimidation and harassment of the youth, his family and those who allied themselves.

Anquoe said what happened in Carpinteria makes it clear that some people believe that Indians should be involved only as a matter of token diversity, and only so long as they keep quiet. Indians are seen as a “good luck charm,” for a sport’s team.

“As soon as a real flesh and blood Indian stands up and says, ‘I deserve to be treated like a human being.’ You see this huge crazy maniacal backlash from the citizens in this little town.”

Anquoe said the backlash to this one young man standing up in Carpinteria has rallied widespread support from the American Indian Movement and AIM California Indians.

Red Town Radio host Brenda Golden, Muscogee from Oklahoma, sent a message to those who want to honor American Indian culture: Don’t make fun of our culture.

Anquoe said young American Indians in public schools are affected deeply when they see signs that say” Scalp the Indians,” “Kill the Indians,” and watch Indians burned in effigy.

Fairbanks said some in the area attempt to say they are honoring Native Americans with mascot images. She points out, however, that the war bonnet and other symbols are primarily Plains style, while the Chumash in this area have a different culture.

Fairbanks said public schools receive tax dollars to teach the truth. It is time to put away the Hollywood images and mascots, she said.

“It doesn’t honor the Chumash people.”

Further, Anquoe said the backlash has been so serious that Indian people have been forced to move out of town and move out of school districts. Similar situations are happening all over the country, as people put forth the images of “clown Indians.”

Anquoe said one of the reasons that people in the United States put out these ridiculous images is because they do not want to deal with the “uncomfortable truths” of the real history of American Indians in this country.

With the image of mascots revealing this dark side of racism in America, Anquoe said Americans have to face and teach the real history of American Indians.

UPDATE: You can email the Carpinteria School Board at:

Terry Hickey Banks tbanks@cusd.net Lou Panizzon lpanizzon@cusd.net Alex Pulido apulido@cusd.net
Leslie Deardorff ldeardorff@cusd.net Beverly Grant bgrant@cusd.net
The 1st three board members still seem to be in favor of retaining the imagery; the latter two already voted for removal. It will be revoted on 3-17-09.

Listen to this radio show at Red Town Radio:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RedTownRadio

Press statements by Mark Anquoe and Corine Fairbanks
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/search?q=Carpinteria

Read more:
http://www.indianz.com/board/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36124

Obama: Stop the Peabody Mine Expansion on Black Mesa

By Bahe Katenay

Image by Black Mesa Indigeous Support
Ladies & Gentlemen, the Old, the Young, the Coming Generation, and Relatives:

As we speak, there exist a state of fear and anxiety in a traditional community at Big Mountain in the heart of Black Mesa. And as we speak, the federally deputized officers of the BIA Hopi Agency Police and Rangers are patrolling this region where a few traditional elders continue to live and also resist federal mandates to relocate. I want to bring your attention to one particular situation that is an example of the wide-spread acts of injustice, human rights violation, religious intolerance, and threats of property destruction.

Dineh resister and elder, Pauline Whitesinger, has stood her ground since 1977 when the BIA tried to build a range unit fence within the lands partitioned to the neighboring tribe, the (modern and progressive) Hopis. Pauline still believes in the old ways by upholding aboriginal rights and treaty rights and because of BIA-Hopi restriction on new contruction and her deteriorating ceremonial hogan, she replaced and rebuilt a new hogan. The BIA Indian police are constantly taken photographs of her residence, her neighbors that come to see her, her non-Indian volunteer helpers, and her grandchildren that come to visit. The police do not attempt to talk to her or answer to her concerns and requests.

This area known as the Hopi Partitioned Lands still has Dineh residents and has been made an isolated area, and this is allowing the federal government to do as they please with these last, traditional peoples. Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr. has even made numerous comments that the Dineh resistance at Big Mountain "a lost cause and a closed case" meaning that these Dineh are to never be thought of, again. Meaning that these Dineh, who are my Big Mountain relatives, need to be erased from the state of the Navajo Nation and perhaps, Pauline is right when she says, "we are in way of Peabody, profit, revenues, and industrial jobs."

The last few elder resisters and their few supporters (native or non-natives) will continue to provide the much needed humanitarian aide to our surviving history: traditional Dineh living and maintaining on their ancestral and sacred homelands. However, we all need to act in the best means possible and stop the daily Gestapo tactics and the potential demolishment of a sacred hogan or earth lodge. We all need to prevent any harm that may be committed on our elders or their helpers and most of all, prevent this growing hostility from getting out-of-hand.

All legal recourses are no longer an option since this is a challenge against a U.S. Executive Order, and The Peoples are the only option to bring about attention, focus and restoration.

I have attached a petition with addresses of officials and I am making a plead to you all, my relatives, to sign it and either send it directly to the listed officials or send them to the Black Mesa Indigenous Support. This situation is very urgent. These elders are very old now and they truly deserve much honor. They have lived in a way that, we or our future generations may never see humans live in this country. These traditional elders must live their naturally-given, old life in peace and harmony, Hozhon goh. Yaa'at'eeh goh.

I apologize for the long list of officials, but it has become long because of so many years of ignorance and because certain, minor sectors of society believed that these Elders would have been defeated already.

Thank you for your time.
Sincerely & In the Spirit of Chief Barboncito,
Bahe Y. Katenay (Naabaahii Keediniihii)
Dineh of Big Mountain

"A very great vision is needed and the man who has it must follow it as the eagle seeks the deepest blue of the sky."
The words of Crazy Horse (As remembered by Ohiyesa, Charles A. Eastman).

STOP THE PEABODY COAL MINE EXPANSION ON BLACK MESA IN THE TERRITORIES OF THE DINEH (NAVAJO) & HOPIS IN ARIZONA, U.S.A.
The Sovereign Nation of the Big Mountain Dineh
VIA Black Mesa, Navajo Indian Reservation, Arizona, U.S.A.
March 2009

Dear Mr. President Barrack Obama, and
Madame Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton,
Copies to:
Mrs. Katherine Smith & Mrs. Pauline Whitesinger, Big Mountain Sovereign Dineh,
Selected Kimongwis of the Independent Pueblo of Hotevilla,
Mr. William Means & Ms. Andrea Carmen, International Indian Treaty Council,
President Joe Shirley, Jr., The Navajo Nation,
Mr. Roman Bitsuie, The Navajo-Hopi Land Commission,
Office of the Hopi Tribe’s Office of Hopi Lands,
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Phoenix Area Agency
Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining

REPEAL “THE NAVAJO-HOPI LAND SETTLEMENT ACT OF 1974” (P.L. 93-531): IT ENFORCES THE METHODS OF GENOCIDE BY POPULATION REMOVAL AND COAL MINING EXPANSIONS
The Sovereign Nation of the Big Mountain Dineh is located in northeastern Arizona on Black Mesa and is part of ancient indigenous shared-territories. Members of this nation were affected by the 1974 legislation to relocate from certain partitioned areas, but have rather chose to resist this policy and try to: maintain their ancestral and treaty lands, keep cultural practices, value universal-granted freedom, conduct their ancient rights to ritual ceremonies, and preserve their sacred sites. The proclamation of these Dineh in 1979 states that through divine creation they were, “provided with the Ni’tliz’ (sacred stones) as offerings and the Dzil leezh (sacred mountain soil Bundle) representing the universe. With prayers and songs we offer the Ni’tliz to the trees, to the hills, to the wind, and the thunder beings in the sacred rain. The Dzil Leezh is our power to live close to our mother the Earth and father Sky. These are our sacred ways to survive in this universe and to communicate with the unseen forces in the Natural life.”
As you may be aware that, the relocation of thousands of Dineh (Navajos) and Hopis has been in process since 1977 after 1.8 million acres was partitioned and that, the Dineh elder leaders at Big Mountain began their resistance to U.S. government court orders to vacant areas partitioned to the official and federally-recognized, Hopi tribe. These traditional Dineh communities still
continue to resist the harsh relocation policies and coal mining encroachment to this day. Despite a few elders are now left, they continue to reaffirm their ancestral land rights which are contrary to all court decisions related to the fore mentioned communities from 1974 to 1998.
U.S. Judicial System has had a vital role in this land rights issue ever since energy companies of the southwestern United States became interested in exploring the coal reserves of Black Mesa in northeastern Arizona. In 1962, there was a well-orchestrated rush to establish an Indian Land Claims on the behalf of the Hopi tribe and which was guided by a Peabody Coal Company attorney, and this allowed Peabody to acquire mining leases. The U.S. courts and corporate attorneys eventually, thereafter, help created the relocation and land-partitioning policies which only made way for coal exploration. None of these court rulings were based on proving that an actual “land dispute” did exist between the Dineh and Hopis.
Big Mountain on Black Mesa is the only place in the United States where two Indian nations can still define cultural coexistence and shared territories, and now have become endangered aboriginal peoples. The U.S. courts have ordered continued pressure on the remaining traditional Dineh and keep the areas sealed and isolated. The United States is allowing this tragedy and genocide to be sustained under the guise that relocation are on voluntary basis and that Indian police are being used rather than state authorities to carry out enforcements. These traditional resisters hold great knowledge and wisdom of ancient information and natural existence that are irreplaceable, and it is the world society’s responsibility to stop the United States and its largest coal-producer, Peabody Energy, from executing this human and mega-environmental destruction.
Additional documentations (www.blackmesais.org) of human rights violation and religious intolerance are as follows:
 Limitation or complete denial of: crop cultivation and livestock husbandry, community and religious activities, access to or maintenance of water wells, and elder residents’ safety needs to attain wood fuels for heating and cooking,
 Forced relocation to foreign settings that does not support or replace loss culture and religions,
 Deliberate breaking up of family and clan structures,
 Controlled national media that portray the Big Mountain story as a result of legitimate and humane court decisions,
 Peabody mines create: daily detonation that causes micro-quakes, depletion of pristine aquifers that causes subsidence and fissure zones, and massive emissions of coal dust and engine exhaust.
We the undersigned hereof state our demand that the United States cease all forcible relocation enforcements on the Dineh, and reverse the decisions made for Peabody Coal Company’s Life of the Mine Permit on Black Mesa.
It will be furthered recommended that:
 Indigenous peoples’ inherent rights to their homelands be recognized and respected,
 Traditional tribal communities be allowed to reinstate and restore the inexorable ties to fundamental existence and spiritual practices,
 There must be serious reviews about the conclusion that Black Mesa coal is the primary source for energy, and that being reviewed in the context of global concerns for greenhouse gas emissions,
 Acknowledge that indigenous being has sustained all human cultures’ moral obligations throughout the ages, and it is much more crucial in this technological era that the demands and rights of indigenous peoples be received with greater human understanding.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
SIGNATURE
PRINT NAME
DATE
OCCUPATION
COUNTRY

OFFICIAL CONTACT INFO:
U.S. President Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Phone Numbers:
Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461 U.S. Secretary of State Clinton Public Communication Division: PA/PL, Rm. 2206 U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street NW Washington, D.C. 20520 202-647-6575 Bureau of Indian Affairs Department of the Interior 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington DC 20240 Office of Surface Mining Department of the Interior 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington DC 20240 PHOENIX AREA OFFICE: Bureau of Indian Affairs P.O. Box 10 Phoenix, AZ 85001 P: 602/379-6600 F: 602/379-4413 Hopi Agency Bureau of Indian Affairs P.O. Box 158 Keams Canyon, AZ 86034 P: 520/738-2228 F: 520/738-5522
Navajo Nation Office of the President Joe Shirley, Jr. Communications Director George Hardeen
georgehardeen@opvp.org Phone: (928) 871-7917 Cell: (928) 309-8532 Staff Assistant Gloria Bowman gbowman@opvp.org Phone: (928) 871-7915 Fax: (928) 871-7005 Administrative Assistant Desiree Etsitty Phone: (928) 871-7916 Fax: (928) 871-7807
Hard Rock Chapter P.O. Box 20 Kykotsmovi, AZ 86039 Phone: (928) 725-3730/3732 Fax: (928) 725-3731 E-mail: hardrock@navajochapters.org
Forest Lake Chapter P.O. Box 441 Pinon, AZ 86510 Phone: (928) 677-3252/3347 Fax: (928) 677-3320 E-mail: forestlake@navajochapters.org
Black Mesa Chapter P.O. Box 189 Pinon, AZ 86510 Phone: (928) 309-7056 E-mail: blackmesa@navajochapters.org (To traditional Dineh or Hopi Kimongwis, or other Communiqué to Sovereign Dineh.) ATTN: TRADITIONAL ELDERS
Black Mesa Indigenous Support P.O. Box 23501
Flagstaff, Arizona 86002 Email: blackmesais@riseup.net

Indigenous Alliance without Borders Statement on Southern Border Indigenous Peoples Issues

Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras
P.O. Box 826 Tucson, Arizona
www.indigenasinfronteras.org
Contact: Jose R. Matus, Project Director, Tel: 520 979-2125, jrmatus@aol.com

Photo: Alianza 2008/by Brenda Norrell

Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras Statement on Southern Border Indigenous Peoples Issues

TUCSON -- The Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras (Indigenous Alliance Without Borders) located in Tucson, brought together individual members of the Tohono O'odham Nation, Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Gila River Indian Community, White Mountain and Lipan Apache, along with indigenous organizations from Tucson and Phoenix at a regional consultation and strategy meeting on Southern Border Indigenous Peoples issues. At this gathering, on Feb. 14, an indigenous led transnational initiative focusing on issues of the US-Mexico border region was launched, and strategic plans made to proactively promote recognition and respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras will spearhead the development of this first ever southern border transnational collaboration of Indigenous Peoples to collectively address the militarization of the US-Mexico border, to promote indigenous rights of mobility and passage, and pursue southern border rights legislation and recognition for traditional ceremonial leaders, language keepers and cultural ambassadors.

Working through the Alianza Indigena, the organizing initiative will collectively address anti-immigrant legislation and border enforcement policies of the region which have violated Indigenous Peoples rights across the borderlands of the southern US border with Mexico. The Alianza Indigena also commits to collectively support the current Lipan Apaches Woman Defense fight against eminent domain in the Texas-Coahuila corridor and opposes the building of the border wall.

Our goal is to create a strategic collaboration among southern border nations of Indigenous Peoples and unite with northern border indigenous Nations including the Dakota-Nakota-Lakota 7 Council Fires of South Dakota engaged in similar issues along the US-Canada border. The Alianza Indigena shall facilitate and intervene collectively to support efforts to preserve traditional intra-tribal and inter-tribal relations and practices across the region, looking to affect long term systemic changes in favor of Indigenous Peoples Rights along the US-Mexico border.

Acting as organizational hub, the Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras will serve to implement proactive strategies of the Indigenous Peoples regionally, collectively address issues in accord with the principles of Article36 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 13th, 2007, which states:

Article 36
1. Indigenous peoples, in particular those divided by international borders, have the right to maintain and develop contacts, relations and cooperation, including activities for spiritual, cultural, political, economic and social purposes, with their own members as well as other peoples across borders.
2. States, in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples, shall take effective measures to facilitate the exercise and ensure the implementation of this right.
The Alianza Indigena further commits to bringing forward these issues to the appropriate agencies and venues of the United Nations system, in particular the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples.

The militarization of the US-Mexico border which began in 1990, has threaten the survival of our indigenous culture, family ties and social networks, and our rights of mobility and passage have suffered restrictions and policies creating dangerous conditions. We are subjected to being turned away, stopped, detained and harassed by immigration officials on both sides of the border.

The cultural and religious ties between our Indigenous Nations and communities on both sides of the US-Mexico border precede the imposition of the international boundary between the countries by millennia. These ties present a cultural mandate that must continue and will continue in spite of the great difficulties of today's political climate and economic realities.

Currently, there are eight tribal nations that experience border crossing problems even if the US-Mexico border does not physically divide their traditional territories. As nations of Indigenous Peoples, the ability to conduct traditional ceremonies is essential for the continuity, healing and security of our mind and body, family and community. For some of these ceremonies to be held, it is necessary for participants and ceremonial leaders to travel and return across the nation-state boundaries in order to fulfill these spiritual obligations.

In the context of the continental movement redefining the relationship between the Indigenous People and government states in the hemisphere, Professor Jack D. Forbes, Powhatan-Delaware and Professor of Native American Studies at the University of California. Davis comments: "First, we can seek legislation which will amend the immigration laws of the U.S. and Canada so that First Nations People are able to have free movement everywhere in North America, as the
original nations of this continent."

The Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras, founded in 1997, was created by and for Indigenous Peoples to address border issues of the southern US border with Mexico. The Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras consists of individual tribal members from eight southern border indigenous nations with relatives in Mexico. We seek to increase public awareness regionally and nationally on how anti-immigrant legislation and border enforcement policies daily affect the lives of Indigenous Peoples.

The Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras also urges President Barack Obama and his administration to hold Indigenous Consultation Hearings in the Southern US-Mexico border region, in order to gain a direct understanding from indigenous Peoples regarding land and cultura.

Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras Supports the National Human Rights March to Challenge Sheriff Joe Arpaio

The United States government is failing to protect the human rights of Indigenous peoples to practice their own spiritual beliefs.

The Alianza Indigena is here in solidarity because people of color continuously face abuse of authority and violation of human and civil rights by current and proposed U.S. anti-immigrant legislation and border enforcement policies and practice.

The Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras, call on Maricopa County Government to stop Joe Arpaio racist tactic, abuse of authority and violation of human rights against people of color. No Human Being is illegal! Institutional racism is evident in the policing and enforcement of immigration laws, widely reported racial profiling and rampant law enforcement abuses of due process. Stop Arpaio.

The way and the only way, to stop the evil are for all people of color to unite in claiming a common and equal right to food and basic survival.
l issues, and dialogue in the traditional community setting about alternatives to present US border policies such as the wall.

Turn the tide in Phoenix: March against hate

Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine Calls on Fans to Turn the Tide Against Hate, Join March in Phoenix, Arizona.

Famous Lead Singer to Join Thousands to Denounce Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Out of Control Intimidation and Humiliation
Who: National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Puente Arizona, and Zach de la Rocha
What: March to Stop the Systematic Persecution of Migrants and Latinos in AZ.
Where: March Start Location for Feb 28th: 300 E Indian School Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85012
When: March to Stop the Hate in Phoenix to be held 9:00 am on February 28.
"Recently the nation witnessed the ritual humiliation of migrants in a spectacle evocative of some of the most horrific episodes of human history," explains Pablo Alvarado, Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "People across the country are outraged at the shameful violations of human rights perpetrated by the Maricopa County Sheriffs and they are being moved to action."
In the last month Sheriff Joe Arpaio intensified his on-going escalation of attacks against Latinos by segregating the county jail and parading undocumented migrants shackled in a chain-gang into "tent city."
He erected and surrounded the tent with an electric fence in a grotesque display of human degradation.Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine responded to the news by saying, "To witness what is happening in Arizona and remain neutral is to be implicated in human rights violations that are occurring right here on US soil against migrants. History will not be kind to Joe Arpaio. He will be remembered with other infamous sheriffs like Bull Connor who subjugated and terrorized communities for shortsighted political gain. I hope everyone will join me in protesting Sheriff Joe."
More details can be found at www.ndlon.org

Indigenous Peoples Day Phoenix, Saturday, March 14, 2009

Nahn-coh-Mahss O'otham Indigenous Peoples Day
COMMUNITY CELEBRATION
In AFFIRMATION of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Adopted by the UN General Assembly September 13, 2007
Saturday March 14th, 2009
Steele Indian School Park
10:00 AM – 8:00 PM

Native American Heritage Coalition
Gathering of the Visions
Jean Chaudhuri Memorial
Memorial Hall
3rd Street and Indian School Road
12:00 PM – 3:30 PM

Continental Confederation of the Eagle and the Condor
Contacts:
Tupac Enrique Acosta: (602) 466-8367
Benjamin Chee (602) 930-6791
Shannon Rivers (480) 220-6766
Email: chantlaca@tonatierra.org
Links:
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/declaration.html
http://www.cumbrecontinentalindigena.org

Indigenous Peoples Day
Saturday March 14th
Draft Agenda of Activities

Sunrise Ceremony at Smoadoag Doag
8:00 - 9:30 Xinachtli (Seed) Educational - Cultural Sharing at South Mountain Ecology Center
10:00 Spiritual Run from Smoadoag Doag to Indian School Park
12:00 Arrrival at Indian School Park, Reception by Native American Heritage Coalition
12:00 - 1:00 Lunch
1:00 - 3:30 Gathering of the Visions, Memorial Hall hosted by Native American Heritage Coalition
1:15 - 4:00 Cultural Activities, Games and Arts for children and Youth in the park next to Memorial Hall
3:30 - 5:00 Webcast from Window Rock, North America Regional Indigenous Peoples Caucus, United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Preparatory Meeting
4:30 Community Message of Affirmation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, via webcast to Window Rock, North America Regional Indigenous Peoples Caucus
5:00 Four Season of an Indian Woman's Life, a theatrical presentation authored by Jean Chaudhuri in Memorial Hall
6:00 Dinner
6:30 - 8:00 Video Presentations in Memorial Hall "The Day the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was Adopted" and "Protecting O'Odham Sacred Sites"
8:00 - 9:00 Closing Circle:
Farewells, Announcements, Commitments for the Future:
Indian School Park Plans and Oversight

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - Public Education Campaign
Indigenous Peoples Studies: Indigenous Peoples Geography Project
Local Community Campaigns
Continental Confederation of the Eagle and the Condor.
**********************
Good Morning Relatives,

We invite to participate in a community wide effort of Indigenous Peoples that will take place at the Phoenix Indian School Park Memorial Hall on Saturday the 14th of March, 2009.
This event, which is part of the sixth annual Nican Tlacah Ilhuitl - Indigenous Peoples Day activities organized by TONATIERRA will culminate with a community forum and feast in AFFIRMATION of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the General Assembly on September the 13th, 2007. Commemoration copies of the Declaration will be distributed to the community, traditional cultural activities such as games, singing and dancing, and arts for youth and children will be organized during the afternoon in the Indian School Park.
A traditional spiritual run from Smoadag Doag (South Mountain) will take place in the morning, and a special gathering of the Native American Heritage Preservation Coalition, which led the fight to preserve the Indian School property as a cultural and historic site of the Native American Nations will also be convened during the day. Native American Veterans are being invited, as well as Alumni of the Indian School, surrounding Native American reservation communities, and the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona. The agenda for the event will include special cultural activities to commemorate and honor the special significance of the Indian School site for the Native American alumni, tribes and families.
The event at Memorial Hall will also coincide with the North America Regional Indigenous Peoples Caucus in preparation for the 8th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues which will be taking place at the same time in Window Rock, hosted by the Navajo Nation. A two way webcast video link via Internet is being set up to connect the two events to create a historic and unique local to global experience at the community grassroots level.
Please contact us to become involved in support of this very unique initiative of the Indigenous Peoples or if you have any questions, and all the best to you.
Tupac Enrique Acosta, Yaotachcauh
Tlahtokan Nahuacalli
TONATIERRA
Email: chantlaca@tonatierra.org

Bea De O'Campo passes to the Spirit World

Bea De O'Campo passes to Spirit World
Bea was the sister of our friend, Wounded Knee on the Longest Walk

Memorial Services for Bea De O'Campo will be held on Friday, Feb. 27, 2009 @ 2:00 @ 1525 Sonoma Blvd., Vallejo, CA. Directions: Take 80 East and take the first turn off after the Carquinez Bridge which is Sonoma Blvd. Go down until it crosses York Street, across from the Harley Davidson Store and the Armory where the memorial will be held is located there.
Elizabeth "Bia" DeOcampo
Sept. 8, 1944 - Feb. 19, 2009
Elizabeth "Bia" DeOcampo, Native American activist and community leader, made her journey to the Spirit World on February 19, 2009, after a long illness at her home surrounded by loved ones. She was born in Fairfield, California, and was one of eight children. Bia graduated from UC Berkeley with two bachelor's degrees in Native American studies and social welfare. She went on to receive a master's degree in social work from San Francisco State University and a master of public health from UC Berkeley. Bia leaves behind four children, Robert "Bobby-Boo" DeOcampo and wife Kristina Ercole, Cari and husband Monte Robinson, Polee Tiburcio and husband Dauntay Johnson, and Osati Tarbell- DeOcampo and companion Brandon Bledsoe, and seven grandchildren as well as one sister and five brothers and numerous nieces and nephews. Her kindness, sweetness and gentleness will be deeply missed by family and friends. A Native American spiritual ceremony for family and friends will be held in her honor on Friday, February 27, at 2 p.m. at the USA World Classics Event Center at 1525 Sonoma Blvd. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Osati Tarbell-DeOcampo at P.O. Box 4103, Vallejo, California 94590. Arrangements by Skyview Memorial Lawn, Vallejo, CA. MITAKUYE OYASIN - All My Relations

International Friendship House in Oakland Events
Friday, Feb. 27th "Liberation Day" AIM West & IFH fundraiser 4:00 pm to 12 midnight LIBERATION DAY Benefit Concert commemorating Wounded Knee 1973 featuring: Dr. Loco and His Rockin Jalapenos, The Bob Young Project, and local Hip Hop artists, suggested donation $10--benefits AIM-West and Intertribal Friendship House.
Saturday, Feb. 28th "All Nations Parent Circle" 12 noon to 2:00 pm
Saturday, Feb. 28th Permaculture Group 10 am to 1:00 pm
Saturday, Feb. 28th 6:30 PM Palestinian Film Gaza: The Killing Zone Length: 52mins SYNOPSIS: British report on Israeli violence in Gaza against not only Palestinian civilians, but international aid volunteers and foreign reporters as well.
Sunday, March 1st IFH Clean up Day 11 AM-2 PM. Volunteers needed! Lunch will be provided.

Censorship and the heroes of our generation

Along with the loss of their jobs, many people who provide information for Censored News have been hungry, homeless, sick, arrested, jailed and beaten over the past two years.

Article and photo by Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

In today's column, Roberto Rodriquez describes the blatant racism by Lou Dobbs on CNN. In a slightly more subtle form of manipulation and control, Indian Country Today has a large ad for CIA Clandestine Services -- CIA spies -- on its website today. The ad has been revolving there for months. This means that ICT is funded by the CIA.
When I was a staff reporter for Indian Country Today, the managing editor in 2005 demanded that I not write about "grassroots people or the genocide of American Indians." I continued to do so and was terminated in 2006. But, before I was terminated, my articles were censored and the wording changed, over my objections. The non-Indian staff members responsible continued at the newspaper over the past years in various positions.
Today, unless one reads a great deal on the Internet, because of the censorship, it is possible to remain unaware of current events.
The most underreported news includes the Zapatistas Digna Rabia gatherings in Chiapas; American Indians support for Palestinians; the discovery of US-made white phosphorus munitions used by Israel on Palestinians; the digging up of the graves of O'odham ancestors, 69 at one site alone, in Arizona for the US/Mexico border wall and the secret removal of the remains of O'odham ancestors by Boeing while constructing the border wall on O'odham land.
The rapes, murders and drug smuggling carried out by US Border Agents on the US border are among the most concealed facts, even in the alternative media, because the crimes are concealed. (Although dozens of US military soldiers, with a police officer and prison guard were convicted and sentenced in Arizona for smuggling cocaine last year, border agents carried out the sting and were not exposed.)
The smuggling of weapons into Mexico, which fuels the current drug violence, is also censored. Ultimately, it is the people in the US who buy the drugs and provide the weapons for this wave of violence. The US even trained some of the most brutal murderers in this drug war, the Zetas, formerly as US Special Forces. The privatization of US prisons, and media fueled racism toward migrants, has resulted in profiteering for politicians and corporations like GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut) and resulted in abuse and murders in prisons.
The issues in Mohawk Nation News are widely censored, including land theft and oppression by a wide range of security forces. The exposure of mass graves of Indian children at Canadian residential schools was among the most censored articles. The hoax of carbon credits, to enrich the World Bank and corporations, is also censored.
Another censored fact was that Leonard Peltier was recently beaten by a gang in a Pennsylvania prison, and transferred. The question of why so many American Indians in some Indian Nations are living in poverty, while millions of dollars are pouring into their casinos, is largely censored. Peabody Coal, along with a long list of corporations in collusion with the Navajo Nation government, continues to produce disease and pollution, even in the area of the Navajos' place of origin, Dinetah, in what is now New Mexico. On Western Shoshone land, and around the world, Barrick Gold, and other coal, gold, silver and copper mining corporations, continue to oppress the people and destroy Indigenous lands and water. In Guatemala, there have been assassinations, and in New Guinea, rapes and murders of villagers.
To expose all of these issues, many people have lost their jobs and positions, including Kevin Annett, a minister in Vancouver who continues to expose the murders and mass graves in church residential schools. In the US, Native Americans have been removed from their positions on tribal councils for demanding justice at the US border, while others have been detained and threatened by border agents and tribal police.
Kahentinetha Horn, publisher of Mohawk Nation News, and Katenies, MNN editor, two Mohawk grandmothers, were beaten at the Canadian border by border agents and Kahentinetha suffered a heart attack. Others continue to struggle for justice, like Angelita Ramon, Tohono O'odham, whose 18-year-old son Bennett Patricio, Jr., was ran over and killed by the US Border Patrol in Arizona.
Along with the loss of their jobs, many people who provide information for Censored News have been hungry, homeless, sick, arrested, jailed and beaten over the past two years.
They don't receive a salary from CNN, but they remain the heroes of our generation.

Censored articles by Brenda Norrell, 2004 -- 2006:
http://bsnorrell.tripod.com/

Photo: At San Xavier on Tohono O'odham land, crosses in memory of migrants who died in the desert. Walkers from Tucson to San Xavier included supporters of Derechos Humanos, No More Deaths, Humane Borders and Samaritans. Photo Brenda Norrell

Rodriguez: 'Face of the New American Bigot, Part II'

Face of the New American Bigot, Part II

By Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez


In writing about CNN’s Lou Dobbs and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio recently – readers rightly asked about why CNN continues to carry an obsessed bigot in its daily lineup?
The question is the same for other media outlets that have for years carried Dobbs and others whose careers seemed to be based on an obsession with immigration (illegal or otherwise), the border and the Spanish language.
Unquestionably, it is an unhealthy obsession, one in which during difficult times leads to un upsurge in hate crimes, discrimination, harassment and scapegoating. In this case, the scapegoats are Mexicans primarily, but also Central and South Americans. Many of those
targeted are in fact either legally here or U.S. born citizens.
This is not news to CNN. Virtually every media outlet, every media watch dog group and every human rights organization has noted Dobbs’s obsession.
The Southern Poverty Law Center – the premier human rights organization that monitors hate nationally, regularly features Dobbs (http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intpro.jsp). It regularly questions his incendiary work, his accuracy, and his penchant for relying on white supremacist sources. They have also written to CNN’s top management about this. (Incidentally, the SPLC has been reporting a major increase in hate crimes against Latinos every year since 2000).
The media watchdog, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) – which is dedicated to challenging media bias and censorship – regularly Dobb’s daily obsession, always noting his brazen xenophobia, his habitual misreporting and his reliance on an all-star cast of
extremist sources (http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=100).
Recently, another media watchdog, Media Matters for America(http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/immigration), featured and documented more of Dobbs’s fabrications. On Jan. 29, Dobbs falsely claimed that “illegal aliens” would be able to take advantage of the massive economic stimulus bill; the bill specifically precludes this
from happening. On Feb 4, Dobbs’s nightly report asserted the same about the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), signed that day by President Obama. The banner during his newscast read: “Healthcare for Illegal Aliens.” CNN correspondent Lisa Sylvester
reported that the SCHIP would make it likely that “illegal aliens” would be able to access the program. But as FAIR noted: “The SCHIP bill also explicitly states in Section 605 that ‘[n]othing in this Act allows Federal payment for individuals who are not lawfully residing
in the United States’:”
CNN’s president Jonathan Klein has long been aware of Dobbs’s obsession and his habitual misstatements and misreporting, telling the New York Times (3/29/06), "Lou's show is not a harbinger of things to come at CNN,” adding that he is “one of a kind." Yet, CNN – “the most
trusted name in news” – has continued to carry Dobbs and has made available its vast financial resources, including the use of its “trusted” regular reporters to help push his xenophobic agenda.
One has to wonder whether CNN would tolerate a show on crime and welfare by Dobbs that daily featured black welfare queens and black street hoodlums? Dobbs’s defense would be that he is not concerned with race, but rather, cheats and criminals. Would CNN carry a show by
Dobbs that daily railed against Jews for cheating and embezzling Americans out of their hard-earned dollars? The claim would be that the concern is with illegality, regardless of who was doing the cheating and embezzling. What about a daily show dedicated to the extermination of American Indians… or that daily denigrated women or the LBGT community? (Witness what just one racial episode – the chimpanzee/Obama cartoon – at the New York Daily Post (2/19/09) – has rightfully generated.
If Dobb’s obsession is transparent, why then indeed do CNN and other media outlets carry his show? Why does the media in general do the same with other documented hate-mongers?
The answer is two-fold. “Illegal aliens” are not considered full human beings. Officially, there are no [racially identified] faces associated with them, though in reality, we know that thanks to the
bigots in our midst, illegal alien is code for brown, which generally equals Mexicans. Similar to the debate over the official language in this country, it is a coded debate about the racial and cultural future of this nation.
Secondly, with its competition with the “fair & balanced” FOX Network, one can only ascertain that CNN’s decision to continue to carry Dobbs, tells us volumes about its ethics and responsibilities. They apparently mean little in the face of profits. Yet with the 2008
elections now over, perhaps it can soon regain the trust it has otherwise earned.
Rodriguez can be reached at XColumn@email.com
* CNN can be reached at (404) 827-1500 or on the web at:
www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form1.html?39

Navajos' Dooda files EPA discrimination complaint

DOODA DESERT ROCK FILES A DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT AGAINST THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY FOR FAILURE TO PROTECT THE HEALTH OF SHIPROCK NAVAJOS
February 24, 2009
By Elouise Brown
thebrownmachine@hotmail.com

Dooda Desert Rock completed its testimony to the Environmental Protection Agency on whether carbon dioxide emissions from the Desert Rock Power Plant should be considered and capped on
Saturday, February 21, 2009. Research for the testimony showed that the Environmental Protection Agency was aware of a study that showed that Shiprock residents seek medical attention for respiratory problems in the general area of the present Four Comers Power Plant and San Juan Generating Station at five times the rate of other people in the area. The study an EPA official used says that people in Shiprock under age 5 and over age 56 are twice more likely to need care for respiratory issues. Research also showed that "The Hogback" geological formation pulls down emissions plumes from the Four Comers plant so that it is in the air breathed by Shiprock Navajos.

Given the fact that the EPA failed to do anything about its knowledge of discrimination against Navajos by failure to regulate current emissions and in granting a permit for the Desert Rock plant, Dooda Desert Rock identified 18 Navajos who complain of breathing problems to make a civil rights complaint. Others will be identified for a civil rights investigation.

The complaint is for discrimination in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights of 1964 (that prohibits discrimination by federal agencies); age discrimination; and violation of a presidential executive order that requires consideration of environmental justice issues.

Dooda Desert Rock has informed the chair of the Navajo Nation Civil Rights Commission of the
situation, and DDR will inform the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination of the situation because its findings on abusive development in Indian Country.

The discrimination complaint to the Office of Civil Rights of the United States Environmental Protection Agency will be mailed on February 24,2009.

Indigenous Alliance without Borders: March to challenge Sheriff Arpaio

Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras Statement of Support For the National Human Rights March To Challenge Sheriff Joe Arpaio



Saturday, February 28th
Phoenix, Arizona

By Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras
Photo by Brenda Norrell/Arpaio protest in Tucson 2008

The Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras joins and stands strongly in support of all the people and organizers of the National Human Rights March to challenge the Human Rights abuses of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. We believe that the militarization and border enforcement policies that have been inflicted upon the territories of our eight Nations of Indigenous Peoples divided by the US-Mexico border have helped nurture virulent racist nativism in America, and politicians have used immigration as a wedge issue that has degraded respect for the civil and human rights of us all.
The actions of Sheriff Arpaio extend the militarization of the border to the entirety of the metropolis of Maricopa County, where the Sheriff's Posse acts as an "uber police" force, overriding jurisdictions of civil government and community control. We understand that the 287(g) Agreement now in place with the Sheriff of Maricopa County and the federal government has been implemented in violation of the constitutional right of Equal Protection and with blatant discriminatory enforcement tactics by Sheriff Arpaio, and therefore demand that the 287(g) Agreement be cancelled immediately.
We join voices as well with members of the Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives to call for federal investigation on the systematic practices and procedures of discriminatory enforcement that Sheriff Arpaio has implemented throughout Maricopa County, and that such violations be addressed in the appropriate judicial venues and courts of both civil and human rights. To this end, we call to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Professor James Anaya of the University of Arizona, to take into account these procedures of federal investigation now under way, and articulate effective measures to address the international regional and historical context of the issue as part of a pattern of systemic human rights violations driven by transnational government economic policies in North America, in reference to the regime of NAFTA.

Stop Arpaio!
The actions of Sheriff Arpaio and his posse have declared open season and war on all People of Color, including documented and undocumented immigrants, and U.S. Citizens. Public safety and public health have suffered as a result. This situation must brought to an end immediately.
We call upon the Maricopa County Government, citizens and politicians to stop the perpetrators of hate and fear that use anti-immigration legislation and border enforcement policies as a tool to discriminate against People of Color and terrorize our communities! Sheriff Joe Arpaio must be stopped! His racist acts deserve Public Condemnation because they polarize Race Relations in Arizona and undermine the stability and integrity of our regional economy in the state.
Indigenous Peoples and the Border
Across the borderlands, anti-immigrant issues have also profoundly affected Indigenous Peoples. The cultural and religious ties between our Indigenous Nations and communities on both sides of the US-Mexico border precede the imposition of the international boundary between the two countries by millennia. These ties present a cultural mandate that must continue and will continue in spite of the great difficulties of today's political climate and economic realities.
The vast majority of immigrants without documents coming to the US are Indigenous Peoples of the Abya Yala [the Americas] from Mexico, Guatemala and other South American countries. Indigenous people living on or near the border from Texas to California and from Coahuila to Baja California, are harassed, subjected to high-speed chases, abuse of state authority, and suffer daily violations of human and civil rights with impunity.
Southern Indigenous border issues are neglected or ignored by politicians and by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Indigenous sovereignty and rights of self-determination are continuously violated by restrictive and discriminatory border crossing enforcement policies.
Southern Indigenous Border Rights and Justice should be dealt with as a viable border enforcement issue in order to ensure policy change that will respect indigenous rights of mobility and passage, preservation of language and cultural rights and indigenous family's unification.
The Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras, founded in 1997, was created by and for Indigenous Peoples to address border issues of the southern US border with Mexico. The Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras consists of individual tribal members from the eight southern border indigenous nations with relatives in Mexico. We seek to increase public awareness regionally and nationally on how anti-immigrant legislation and border enforcement policies daily affect the lives of Indigenous Peoples.
Indigenous Rights and Immigrant Rights are HUMAN RIGHTS!

WE DEMAND THAT ARPAIO BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE!
HIS WILD WEST TACTICS ARE UNACCEPTABLE!
A Nation that is governed based on the Rule of Law Must Respect Human Rights!
! Human Rights do not need Documents !
******************************
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 13th, 2007
Article 36
1. Indigenous peoples, in particular those divided by international borders, have the right to maintain and develop contacts, relations and cooperation, including activities for spiritual, cultural, political, economic and social purposes, with their own members as well as other peoples across borders.
2. States, in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples, shall take effective measures to facilitate the exercise and ensure the implementation of this right.

Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras
Contact: Jose R. Matus, Project Director Tel: (520) 979-2125
P.O. Box 826 Tucson, AZ 85702
http://www.indigenasinfronteras.org/

Links:
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/declaration.html
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/indigenous/rapporteur/
http://www.tonatierra.org/
http://www.puenteaz.org/
http://www.cumbrecontinentalindigena.org/
Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras: Statement of Support - National Human Rights March
Sat February 28
Phoenix

Amnesty: US-made white phosphorus weapons found in Gaza

US/ISRAELI WAR CRIMES IN GAZA:
Our research team recently found evidence of U.S.-made weapons in Gaza, including the misuse of white phosphorus munitions.

Urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to immediately call for an investigation into Israel’s use of U.S. arms in Gaza.

Investigate potential war crimes in Gaza
By Amnesty International
A new report released just hours ago reveals that U.S.-made white phosphorus artillery shells among other U.S. weapons were found throughout Gaza. When white phosphorus munitions are used in densely-populated civilian areas as Israel has, it violates international humanitarian law’s prohibition on indiscriminate attacks and amounts to a war crime.

In light of this new finding, we are urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to immediately call for: an investigation into Israel’s use of U.S. arms in Gaza
a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel and to urge the United Nations to impose an arms embargo on all parties in the conflict

Samia Salman Al-Manay'a, 16 years old, was asleep in her home in the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, when a phosphorus shell landed on the first floor of the house on January10th. Ten days later, from her hospital bed, she spoke to our delegation.

"The pain is piercing. It's as though a fire is burning in my body. It's too much for me to bear. In spite of all the medicine they are giving me the pain is still so strong."

Since 2001, the U.S. has been the largest supplier of arms to Israel. The U.S. has also provided considerable funding each year for Israel to buy arms despite U.S. legislation that restricts such aid to consistently gross human rights violators. Since 2002 Israel received over $21 billion in U.S. military and security assistance. Put simply, Israel's military intervention in the Gaza Strip has been equipped to a large extent by US-supplied weapons, munitions and military equipment paid for with U.S. taxpayers’ money.

Even after the start of the current conflict and reports of serious violations of international humanitarian law by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza, U.S. authorities continued to authorize large shipments of U.S. munitions, including white phosphorus munitions, to Israel.

In January, Amnesty called for a suspension of all arms transfers to Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups until there is no longer a serious risk that such equipment will be used for violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses. The Department of State should lead the call for accountability. If we suspect our weapons are being used in attacks that are indiscriminately killing civilians, we must act.
Urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to immediately call for an investigation into Israel’s use of U.S. arms in Gaza and a suspension of military aid.

Last month you called for an independent investigation into all parties involved in the conflict in Gaza. We are happy to report that your voice was heard. Over 45,000 messages were sent to Secretary Clinton and UN Representative Susan Rice, who highlighted the importance of an investigation. Additionally, three Members of Congress, including the highest ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visited Gaza and witnessed firsthand the humanitarian devastation.


Sincerely,
Larry Cox
Executive Director
Amnesty International USA

Listen, Jose Matus, Yaqui: On the Border

Censored News Blog Talk Radio
By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Yaqui ceremonial leader Jose Matus, director of the Indigenous Alliance without Borders, talks about the Indigenous rights of mobility and Yaqui villages in Sonora, Mexico. Matus said Indigenous on the border are concerned that conditions under President Obama remain "status quo" with the Bush regime.
As requested by Yaqui elders to maintain ceremonies, for 30 years Matus has brought Yaqui ceremonial leaders across the border for temporary visits to conduct annual ceremonies. Homeland Security continues to harass Indigenous Peoples at the border.
The Indigenous Alliance without Borders supports Indigenous Peoples struggling to maintain their traditional ceremonies and mobility in ancestral territories, including the Lipan Apache, facing the seizure of their land by Homeland Security for the US/Mexico border wall.
Matus also talks about humanitarian efforts in Yaqui villages in Sonora, Mexico, including the children's need for school supplies, tablets and shoes:
Listen at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell
Contact Jose Matus at:
jrmatus@aol.com
More info:
Indigenous Alliance supports Lipan Apache at Texas border
KXCI community radio (Tucson AZ) aired the Alianza’s August 9 2007 press conference for International Indigenous Day. Information and mp3 excerpts are available on KXCI’s site - click here
Guest Opinion: Border group opposes I-19 checkpoint by Alianza’s Director, Jose Matus - Tucson Citizen June 20 2007
Alianza Indígena Sin Fronteras Gathering on Saturday April 28th 2007 - Alianza statement and photos of the gathering posted on Brenda Norrell’s site.
More articles on the work of the AISF and indigenous border crossing issues by Brenda Norrell:
“Indigenous Border Alliance Fighting for Right of Passage”
“Alianza, Indigenous Campaign for Border Rights”
“Racism at the Northern and Southern Borders”
“National Congress of American Indians Responds to Border Concerns”
“Kumeyaay Border Project Brings Benefits”

Leonard Peltier remembers Bob Robideau

Greetings my relatives!
By Leonard Peltier

It is with a real deep sense of loss that I write this. The loss of my brother in the struggle for Indigenous rights who was also my blood cousin and also a defendant in the Oglala shoot-out trials. I am speaking of Robert Robideau, who we called Bob most of the time. Bob was a tireless campaigner for my freedom and Indigenous rights all over the world. I can’t express enough how greatly his leaving this level of existence will be missed.

Bob and I grew up together. We were involved in the 70’s American Indian Movement together. We were shot at together. We were on the run together and over the 33 years of my imprisonment, Bob was a person I could count on for a lot of reasons. We laughed together, quarreled with one another, praised one another and had strong disagreements at times. Bob was the one person I could truly count on to tell me the straight of it, whether I liked it or not. I didn’t talk to Bob in person that often, as of late, but just the thought of knowing it will be a while before I talk with him again, causes a sense of missing him like never before. He was sometimes my worst critic and sometimes my best support, but he was always my brother and I loved him dearly. I wouldn’t doubt that wherever he is at, he’s organizing a support group of some sort. If I thought there was anything that I could say that would bring him back to us, this statement would go on for as long as it took. However, reality being what it is, I know Bob will appreciate our concerns for the loved ones he left behind and want us to go on and do the very best we can to make this a better and more free, more just world we live in and he would surely remind us that we are the guardians of the future and the keepers of today.

It is always difficult to address the loss of people you knew and cared about, but every once in awhile, there is a loss that is deeper than all the rest. In this loss, there is often a loss of words. It is a time when the shock of the situation is so close that you just don’t know what to say. One thing I can say for sure is that the loss of Bob Robideau is a loss to all. And to Bob, I don’t know how long I’ll be here myself, but that doesn’t matter. I look forward to seeing you again my brother, some other time, some other place. May the Creator be with you wherever you are and wherever you go.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Bob Robideau, Steve Robideau, Joe Stuntz, Bobby Garcia, Roque Duenas, Nilak Butler, Anna Mae Aquash, , and all the others who gave of themselves for our People.

Mitakuye oyasin

Leonard Peltier

Wounded Knee Commemoration to honor Robideau

From International Peltier Forum

.

Longest Walk photo, Morning Star Gali, Colo/08

Photos by Jofreal Elliot, Longest Walk click here

Photos by Cornelia Vandenberg 1993 click here

.

Robert Robideau passed away at his home in Barcelona, Spain on Tuesday, February 17, 2009. He was a member of the Turtle Mountain and White Earth Ojibwa tribes. Robideau was a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) since 1973. Darrell (Dino) Butler, and Robert Robideau were acquitted in the deaths of two FBI agents in 1976 on grounds of self defense. The charges arose after a shootout with the FBI on Pine Ridge reservation in June of 1975 that left two FBI agents and an Indian man dead. This period known as the reign of terror, in which 60 AIM members were killed and hundreds more assaulted in a government sponsored action to destroy AIM. These killings and assaults came in the aftermath of the Wounded Knee takeover by AIM in 1973. The third defendant, Leonard Peltier was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in a separate trial. Leonard, an internationally known political prisoner, has been incarcerated for 33 years now for the same alleged offense as Bob Robideau and Dino Butler were charged and acquitted.

The following is an email message we received yesterday from Robert's cousin, James Robideau: Thursday, Feb 19:

"Bobby passed away on Tuesday in Spain. I will be going to Spain to help with the arrangements. The relatives said he wanted to be buried in Oglala. I'll try to have more details tomorrow. Jim

PS: I'm also working with Edgar Bear Runner on the 36th Annual commemoration of Wounded Knee. Scheduled for Feb 27. We will honoring Bob at that time. Anyone wanting to help with the WK commemoration can contact Edgar at 605-454-5349. Address is P.O. Box 242, Porcupine, SD 57772."
IPF WEBSITE: http://users.skynet.be/kola/index.htm and www.myspace.com/leonardpeltierisinnocent

IPF e-mail: ipforum@skynet.be

Also, please visit the website of the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee (LPDOC): http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info

LPDOC e-mail: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info

UPDATE: From the Robideau family

From Starr Robideau

Good Day Everyone,
It has come to my attention of a couple of changes to the account set up for donations; the correct information is located below. Arrangements have been made to bring Robert back to the United States and plans are in the works in regard to services, we should know a definite date early next week, if not sooner. Friends and family of Bob are all welcome to attend the services, we will have TWO (2) services; the initial services are planned to take place in Portland, Oregon, some time within the next couple of weeks. Exact date and location will be announced soon. For those who cannot make it to Portland, there are plans for services to take place after Portland, in New Mexico, just outside of Albuquerque in Edgewood.
As with the passing of a loved one, an account has been set up to assist the family with the financial responsibilities of laying Bob to rest. If you would like to help, please send donations to:
In the benefit of Robert Robideau

US Bank 153662026936
*You can send it to any US Bank in the United States, via mail or transfer, or walk-in.
I truly apologize for any confusion, and of course your positive thoughts, prayers and assistance are greatly appreciated during this time.
On behalf of The Robideau Family, Thank you!
Respectfully,
Starr Robideau

Celebration of Robideau's life, Albuquerque area
Hello,

Please help us celebrate the life of a great Warrior.

We will be needing any information of any chapter of Aim, LPSG's, or individuals interested in attending. If possible please pass this on.

We will be having an honoring ceremony, a celebration of the life of Robert Robideau, co-defendant of Leonard Peltier, and an honoring feast in the Albuquerque area approximately the second week of March. Exact dates to follow soon.

There will be host homes, tenting places, and food for anyone that comes.Thank you for any and all assistance

nantinkirose@hotmail.com

Nantinki Rose and Badger, Bob's brother

Listen to Bob's last interview, Red Town Radio, hosted by Brenda Golden:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RedTownRadio

Photo: Bob with Tomas and Yukio on the Longest Walk 2 northern route, in southern Colorado, March 2008. Photo Morning Star Gali.

UN testimony: Canada discriminates against Aboriginal rights

UN CERD Submission Canada Racial Discriminates Against Aboriginal Proprietary Rights

Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade (INET)
http://www.wman-info.org/thenetwork/profiles/inet/

(Geneva, Switzerland, February 19, 2009) Bertha Williams and Arthur Manuel were given opportunity to address the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, (CERD) Working Group on Early Warning and Urgent Action, on a written submission they made to CERD. Bertha Williams is from the Tsawwassen Peoples and resident of the Tsawwassen Indian Reserve near Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. Arthur Manuel is Secwepemc and spokesperson for the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade (INET). Mr. Manuel is from the Neskonlith Indian Reserve in south central British Columbia near Kamloops, Canada.

Mr. Arthur Manuel stated "the document submitted to the UN CERD points out that Canada racially discriminates against Indigenous Peoples proprietary rights, by systemically not recognizing judicially recognized and constitutionally protected Aboriginal Title. This is causing irreparable damage and harm to Indigenous Peoples." He said "this is very contradictory to the way Canada should be behaving since Canada sits on the United Nations Human Rights Council. Canada should lead the way in terms of recognizing Indigenous proprietary rights since they are essential to our human rights. But Canada voted twice against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Canada is living in the dark ages when it comes to our human rights as Indigenous Peoples."

Bertha Williams told the UN CERD Working Group that she felt that her Aboriginal Title will be extinguished and she stated "This is my birthright handed to me by my parents and grandparents and ancestors. This is a legacy that I want to pass to my children and grandchildren. But, it will be severed come April 3, 2009 when the Tsawwassen Agreement comes into force."

Bertha Williams asked the UN CERD to "scrutinize – investigate the treaty vote process" and "delay the effective date – April 3, 2009".

Arthur Manuel provided the Working Group with a power point giving a brief background of how the Canadian government has been forcing all groups of Indigenous Peoples negotiating with the government to borrow money and comply with the federal and provincial policy to extinguish their Aboriginal Title under the Nisga'a modified rights model.

Arthur Manuel raised the Sun Peaks' expansion and the Xaxli'p and Lheidli T'enneh negative experience with the British Columbia Treaty Process.

Mr. Manuel raised Sun Peaks' expansion - business as usual - without any negotiations or consultation and accommodation. Mr. Manuel said "our land is being sold right from under our feet". Mr. Manuel asked "Sun Peaks expansion must stop until the Aboriginal Title is settled".

Mr. Manuel also pointed out how the federal and provincial government uses the poverty of Indigenous Peoples to loan money to Indigenous Peoples under the British Columbia Treaty Negotiation Loan Fund. In Mr. Manuel's power point presentation pointed out that the federal and provincial governments have given Indigenous Peoples $345.6 million dollars in treaty negotiation loans since 1993.

Mr. Manuel specifically raised the Xaxlip Peoples bad experience with these loans. Specifically pointing out that the Department of Indian Affairs wants "either our land or our money". In this particular situation the Department of Indian Affairs said that it is at their discretion to triple the "working capital ratio" unless the loan is paid off. The Department of Indian Affairs is asking that the $2.1 million dollar loan to Xaxli'p be paid over 5 year period at 4.2% which would result in $23 thousand dollars monthly payments.

The BC Treaty Loans are responsibility of all Band Members and are supposed to be taken off the top of any cash settlement funds after a Final Agreement is reached. Bertha Williams said in Tsawwassen Final Agreement, the loans were approximately $5 million dollars and the cash settlement is approximately $15 million dollars, which means their cash settlement would be only $10 million dollars.

Mr. Manuel also raised the issue of the Lheidli T'enneh who voted against their Final Agreement and how the Department of Indian Affairs used the working capital ratio and loan payments to threaten the Lheidli T'enneh elected Chief and Council to stay in the BC Treaty Process despite the fact the Lheidli T'enneh voted against the Final Agreement. The purpose of staying in the BC Treaty Process was to organize a revote on the Final Agreement.

Mr. Manuel asked the UN CERD Working Group to support the position that these loans not be repayable and that the whole treaty loan negotiation program be examined.

Mr. Patrick Thornberry, Chairman of the UN CERD Working Group on Early Warning and Urgent Action thanked Bertha Williams and Arthur Manuel for their oral and written submissions and advised them that a decision will follow after further investigation and that meetings will happen next week on this matter.

The attached "Executive Summary" and the "Request for Urgent Action under Early Warning Procedure to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination of the United Nations, by Bertha Williams of the Tsawwassen Peoples; Dexter Quaw, Hereditary Chief of the Lheidli T'enneh Peoples; Chief Darrell Bob, Xaxli'p Indian Band; and Skwelkwek'welt Protection Center, In Relation to Canada, February 9, 2009, Prepared with the Assistance of the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade", more fully develop the racially discriminatory practices of Canada in regard to Aboriginal Title.
Contact:
Arthur MANUEL amanuel@telus.net or +41 022 734 74 64
Bertha WILLIAMS bertha856@hotmail.com or +41 022 733 08 74
_________________________________________________________
Arthur Manuel
amanuel@telus.net

Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change

The Inuit Circumpolar Council is hosting April 20-24, 2009 in Anchorage, Alaska a Global Summit on Climate Change that will bring together indigenous delegates and observers.The purpose of the summit is to enable Indigenous peoples from all regions of the globe to exchange their knowledge and experience in adapting to the impacts of climate change, and to develop key messages and recommendations to be articulated to the world at the Conference of Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009. Info: http://www.indigenoussummit.com/servlet/content/home.html

Earthcycles, north to Alaska

Earthcycles producer Govinda Dalton, and cohost Brenda Norrell of Censored News, hope to travel to Alaska to broadcast the climate summit. We hope to take two Native youth interns to train in radio broadcasting, audio production and online news coverage. If you are able to help as a financial sponsor, please contact brendanorrell@gmail.com

Listen to the five-month live broadcast of the Longest Walk at: http://www.earthcycles.net/

Photo Earthycles radio bus at US Capitol at end of Longest Walk/Brenda Norrell

Early photos, Bob Robideau, by Cornelia Vandenberg

Special thanks to Cornelia Vandenberg for sharing her early photos of Bob Robideau in 1993 with Censored News. Cornelia said the first photo was taken at the Roxy in Los Angeles. The second photo was taken at the Orange County Powwow in California, which she visited for the magazine that she published at the time. "I shared a booth with Bob and his brother Richard."

Sincere condolences from Cornelia Vandenberg and Brenda Norrell/Censored News, to Bob Robideau's family and friends. Bob, 62, passed away at his home in Barcelona, Spain, where he was a painter. Along with his lifetime of activism, Bob joined the Longest Walk 2 northern route in Colorado in 2008, photos at: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/02/in-memory-of-bob-robideau.html

MNN: Global Nuclear Genocide of Indigenous -- government liquidation srategy?

Global Nuclear Genocide of Indigenous – government liquidation strategy? It won't work!

Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/

Feb. 19, 2009. A sickening picture is shaping up. The evidence continues to mount like a smelly compost heap, except it has no organic value and it’s a serious threat to the generations to come. Who doesn’t know that radiation is deadly? Government and the nuclear industry keep lying to us! They deny the grisly effects such as cancer, birth defects and many environmental illnesses caused by radioactive toxins in our air, land and water.

The nuclear industry seized on the “peak oil” and “global warming” crisis which they created and turned it to their advantage. They call nuclear a “green”, “clean”, “renewable” resource because they can reuse the deadly waste to make nuclear weapons. They lump it under with wind and solar. The theme of the Canadian Nuclear Association CNA convention and trade show from February 25 to 27 at the Westin in Ottawa is “the reality of renaissance”. [Is that crazy or what?] Yes, they rely on our ignorance and naivety. Their philosophy is, “There’s a sucker born every minute” and let’s melt them down!

These transnational corporate psychopaths are anti-life. They want to build dozens of nuclear reactors all over the world in Indigenous communities along and dump the nuclear waste for us to “manage”!! We live in remote areas far from any place they would want to even visit. If the radiation doesn’t kill us, they can make nuclear weapons to finish us off. We are in the way for their attempted reckless pillage and plunder of Mother Earth.

These multinational thugs are fomenting war in the volatile tribal areas between India and Pakistan. Both countries are already armed with nuclear weapons. To make money and depopulate Asia both sides are being armed by the same interests. Canada is one.

India doesn’t produce uranium. They lease it from Russia. The highly radioactive and toxic spent fuel is sent back to Russia. If Canada sells more CANDU reactors to India, they want to supply the uranium fuel and then bring back the nuclear waste to make nuclear weapons. (See endnotes for profiteers).

Meanwhile, Canada helps set up private organizations as government fronts like CNA (Canadian Nuclear Association), NWMO (Nuclear Waste Management Organization) and CAP (Congress of Aboriginal People) and OMAA (Ontario Metis and Aboriginal Association). The latter two are so-called “aboriginal” organizations. NWMO and CNA are funding the Assembly of First Nations, another government set up, and CAP to talk us into managing and storing nuclear fuel waste on our territories. Meetings have gone on for years to get Elders and “leaders” on side. Canada has even sent in Mother Joan Holmes to turn non-natives into “Indians” who can then sign away our inherent rights. Nuclear salesmen are courting “Aboriginal partners” to sign away our birthright and existence.

So-called 34-year old “aboriginal”, Patrick “Fabio-Wannabe” Brazeau, was recently appointed Senator by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen “Ford-Modelling-Agent” Harper. What was this all about? Brazeau’s rap sheet looks like the antithesis of anything anyone would want in the Senate. He was rewarded for fronting the phony CAP to try to destroy Indigenous nations and sovereignty.

CAP has arrangements with NRC (Natural Resources Canada) and NWMO to consider nuclear waste management on or near our communities. Brazeau proposed, “... the 633 native communities in Canada be reduced to between 60 and 80. The 10 Algonquin reserves in Quebec and Ontario, for example, would become one. Same for the Cree. The Mohawk. And so on”. The guy didn’t consult any of us or visit any of our communities. Now, if he has any sense, he’d be afraid to come. He wants to redirect the flow of nearly $10 billion in federal funding for “aboriginal” programs and services in Canada. He thinks we wont need it because we are going to liquidated. So he wants the money to go to the many “aboriginal” that he and Mother Jones have created.

NWMO wants to store nuclear waste in Indigenous communities in the Canadian Shield. Sites in NAN (Nishnaabe Aski Nation) in northern Ontario appear to be the most likely. Ben Cheechoo and other Indigenous started out defying the government and defending our people, culture and sovereignty. They were gradually worn down to accept this senseless destructive agenda that threatens all of the future generations on the whole earth. The FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council of Germany) was instrumental in Cheechoo’s conversion through agents like Russell Diabo and David Nahwehgabow. FSC is a private UN backed organization that is designed to issue permits allowing multinational companies to cut down old growth forests on Indigenous lands worldwide. It’s completely illegal!

A telling example of these “courtships” with the Indigenous is the recent attempted seduction of the Navaho. Areva, the French nuclear power company, took the council on a recent trip to Paris. Areva “owns” uranium mines in northern Saskatchewan. They want the Navaho to put a nuclear reactor and to do more uranium mining in their territory in the U.S. southwest.

The Navaho know about the devastation of uranium tailings. Most want nothing to do with nuclear development. The same is true of the Ojibwe, Cree and Metis who have been targeted in northern Canada. Nishnaabe are fully aware of and suffering from the ongoing poisoning at Blind River and the tons of nuclear waste at Elliot Lake.

Nuclear promoters like AECL (Atomic Energy Canada Ltd) and CNSC (Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission) will coo soothingly, in their brushed suits, carefully coiffed hair [if they have any] and manicured hands, “There’s no risk”. (See endnotes) They lie while people are slowly dying horrible deaths in communities like Chalk River and Port Hope near nuclear facilities.

How do we stop this madness? We all need the facts about these dirty deals and sinister schemes. We have to closely watch and loudly object to those people the government sets up to “represent” us.

We all have to drastically cut back on our materialistic lifestyle. Every household could be generating enough clean energy to power their own grid. We Indigenous understand this basic and practical way of taking only what we need and leaving little or no footprint.

The elders are concerned about the future based on our traditional knowledge. The youth are concerned with living with the legacy of nuclear waste disposal. Women are concerned with protecting the clean and safe water for all people and the environment as this is our traditional role. [See notes and links below].
Iakoha’ko:wa & MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com
kittoh@storm.ca katenies20@yahoo.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com
Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations to PayPal at www.mohawknationnews.com, or by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN “Canada” category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! Purchase t-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePressStore http://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews; Subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates http://.mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription.php; Sign Women Title Holders petition! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Iroquois
Notes, Sources and Contacts
In “Eaglefeather News” of Saskatchewan www.brucepower.com. Very misleading article. With all the sun, wind and low population, why would anyone want a nuclear reactor there?
Re CNSC and AECL: MNN spoke with Marc Drolet. Why is it the leaking NRU reactor still going? Marc passed the buck to AECL. CNSC told Parliamentarians on Feb 5 that there was no risk. He called it "concentration". The levels permitted in Canada is 100 times that allowed in Europe. He disagreed. We emailed him the link for Ace Hoffman's book. Later he email: "I suggest you formulate more precise questions to receive comments from our scientists. You mention tritium; and its long-term impact on infants and export-control issues related to some states that may want to use nuclear technology to less than peaceful ends. He said, “Our experts provide answers in plain English”. Marc Drolet, Public Affairs and Media Relations, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Ottawa, Canada K1P 5S9, 613-947-0442, Blackberry 613-808-3134, Fax 613-992-2915
Sean Cotnam of AECL said: the reactor was running today and had been shut down last week for regular maintenance. When would it be shut down permanently? "It won't be shut down for a long time, ma'am". He said the information from the Uof Toronto professor saying that Canada's tritium level is 100 times that of Europe was incorrect. He said it is only 70 times that of Europe and 10 times that of the US!!! He is completely safe living on the Ottawa River and was not worried about his young children.
India and Pakistan each have about 30 nuclear warheads and have reached the brink of nuclear war before. India is buying plenty of military hardware. Pakistan is the #1 top recipient of US military aid in the world, receiving about $3.6 billion [New American Century] since 2006. They also receive aid from the World Bank to build dams and other infrastructure.
US Predator UAV's armed with Hellfire missiles have killed dozens of people in cross border forays into Pakistan from Afghanistan.
Profiteers in the global nuclear industry include: WorleyParsons Canada Ltd. Nuclear Energy, (905) 940-4770 8133 Warden Avenue, Markham, ON L8G 1B3 http://www.worleyparsons.com/GlobalPresence/Pages/default.aspx
Offices worldwide, including 4 in China and one in Canada. 28,000 employees in engineering and construction. Biggest in China. Ready to build "nuclear parks" deep in the mire of Athabasca oil sands. Their profits are up 50% over last year. OTHER SUCKS: Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL),Organization of CANDU Industries, CAMECO Corporation, SNC Lavalin Nuclear, Bechtel, Canada China Power Inc., Areva of France, Ontario Power Generation, Bruce Power, Power Workers Union, GE-Hitachi, Hitachi, Comstock, Fox Constructors, Wardrop, The Society, AMEC, L-3Com, RCM Technologies, B&W, Black & McDonald, Power Train, Nuvia, NWMO, Hydro-Quebec, HSL, Aecon, Amidyne, CUSW, Industrial AUdit, McMaster University, UOIT (University of Ontario Industry Technology), IML, BPR, SWI.
* Canadian Nuclear Association Conference and Trade Show, February 25 -27, Westin Hotel, Ottawa.
http://www.cna.ca/english/index.asp Canadian Nuclear Association, 130 Albert Street, Suite 1610 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5G4, 613-237-4262 Fax: 613-237-0989
Contacts: http://www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/com/concon/concon-eng.php
Lisa Raitt, NR Min; MP Halton, (613) 996-2007 MINO/MINO Lisa.Raitt@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca
(613) 996-7046 Fax: (613) 992-0851 EMail: Raitt.L@parl.gc.ca DM Deputy Minister Doyle, Cassie J. since June, 2006; (613) 992-3280 DMO/DMO CassieJ.Doyle@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca [also on board of directors at AECL]
Serge Dupont, Associate Deputy Minister, Natural Resources Canada (613) 996-9753 DMO/DMO Serge.Dupont@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca
Min. Health Leona Aglukkaq Conservative Constituency: Nunavut, Telephone: (613) 992-2848 Fax: (613) 996-9764, Aglukkaq.L@parl.gc.ca www.leonaaglukkaq.ca/EN/5215/
HEALTH [WHAT A CONTRADICTION]! Morris Rosenberg, Deputy Minister Health since December 2004. Deputy Minister Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada from July 1998 to December 2004. 1993 to 1996 Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Economic and Regional Development Policy, Privy Council Office. Deputy Minister's Office - Health Canada, Brooke Claxton Building, Tunney's Pasture, Postal Locator: 0906C, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada > K1A 0K9 Fax: (613) 952-1154 dm_sm@hc-sc.gc.ca
CRITICS OF AECL: Geoff Regan ReganG@parl.gc.ca, (613) 996-3085 Fax: (613) 996-6988,
John Gerretsen MPP Minister of the Environment ,
George Smitherman MPP Energy & Infr.
CNSC Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, CNSC Chalk River Laboratories Site, Building 432 Chalk River, ON K0J 1J0, Telephone: 613-584-7743 Fax: 613-584-9077, interventions@cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca; EA@cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca Marc Drolet, Public relations, 613 947-0442
AECL Chalk River Laboratories, Chalk River, Ontario Canada K0J 1J0, Phone: (613) 584-3311, Bill Pilkington, VP, talks to media Ext.#44429 (Sarah), Hugh MacDiarmid, Pres & CEO, Ext.#37330 (Helene)
Glenna Carr, Chair Board of Directors Ext.#37506 (Kimberly), Sean Cotnam, Public relations direct line: 613 584-8291
http://www.aecl.ca/Contact/Make_a_request_for_information.htm
http://www.aecl.ca/site3.aspx Public Requests for Information Toll free: 1-866-513-AECL (2325)
Media Enquiries Toll free: 1-866-886-2325 Community Enquiries Toll free: 1-800-364-6989
Some Canadian politicians including senators: NOTE: No email or photo is available for "Senator Brazeau". 613-947-4231 Fax: 613-947-4228, He is current Member of the following Senate committee(s): Aboriginal Peoples, Human Rights.
http://www.nan.on.ca/article/nan-staff-163.asp
NAN. sbeardy@nan.on.ca, twaboose@nan.on.ca, roseanne@nan.on.ca, afiddler@nan.on.ca, dfletcher@nan.on.ca, dkiecman@nan.on.ca, jshewaybick@nan.on.ca, fmckenzie@nan.on.ca, bnothing@nan.on.ca, gsmith@nan.on.ca, jhunter@nan.on.ca, acrozier@nan.on.ca, mheintzman@nan.on.ca, jnelson@nan.on.ca, ibeardy@nan.on.ca, pdesmoul@nan.on.ca, jforneri@nan.on.ca, pfayrick@nan.on.ca, jthompson@nan.on.ca, eachneep@nan.on.ca, nan@nan.on.ca, caudet@nan.on.ca, twilson@nan.on.ca, rmetlin@nan.on.ca, bmaloney@nan.on.ca, mgoodchild@nan.on.ca, wcaruk@nan.on.ca, lwabasse@nan.on.ca, sperrault@nan.on.ca, sbarkman@nan.on.ca, sbrown@nan.on.ca, cfox@nan.on.ca, cmackay@nan.on.ca, sachneep@nan.on.ca, bmainville@nan.on.ca, klcheechoo@nan.on.ca, amurphy@nan.on.ca, wtrylins@nan.on.ca, jcheechoo@nan.on.ca, gmedicin@nan.on.ca, kadcock@nan.on.ca, lbaxter@nan.on.ca, dsimon@nan.on.ca, csimard@nan.on.ca, ehanson@nan.on.ca, jalto@nan.on.ca, bwheesk@nan.on.ca, rmamakwa@nan.on.ca, dfrenett@nan.on.ca, blouttit@nan.on.ca, lhunter@nan.on.ca, jwheesk@nan.on.ca, bencheechoo@nan.on.ca, msault@nan.on.ca, ljeffries@nan.on.ca, staylor@nan.on.ca, lbiggeorge@nan.on.ca,
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IEN: Obama and Canada must address dirty oil from tar sands

NATIVES SUPPORT A NORTH AMERICAN CLEAN GREEN ENERGY ECONOMY

OBAMA, CANADA MUST ADDRESS DIRTY OIL FROM THE TAR SANDS

CONTACT: CLAYTON THOMAS-MULLER, CANADIAN INDIGENOUS TAR SANDS CAMPAIGN, INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK, OTTAWA (CELL) 218-760-6632, OFFICE (613) 789-5653;
ERIEL DERANGER, RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK-EDMONTON, (CELL) (587) 785-1558;
TOM GOLDTOOTH, INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK, USA (CELL) (218) 760-0442

By Indigenous Environmental Network

Ottawa, Canada, February 19, 2009 – United States President Barack Obama is meeting today with Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada for his first foreign visit as a President. The main discussion will center on trade between the two nations as well as topics of environment, climate and energy security in North America. Obama's concerns about implementing an agenda for a clean and green energy economy highlights' Canada's oil sands, a vast potential oil source that comes at a big cost to the environment and the human rights of Aboriginal communities. "Obama is building a new energy economy and importing dirty oil from the Canadian tar sands is not a right fit", says Clayton Thomas-Muller, Native tar sands campaigner of the Indigenous Environmental Network from his office in Ottawa. "Canada needs to stop expansion of this carbon intensive fossil fuel in Alberta that is destroying the boreal forests, degrading the sacredness of the watershed and creating environmental health concerns of First Nation communities surrounding the tar sands development", added Thomas-Muller.

Canada's tar sands consist of huge deposits of heavy crude oil mixed with sand and clay in the province of Alberta and represent the biggest oil reserves outside of Saudi Arabia. The ecological footprint of approved projects in the tar sands and its infamous tailings ponds already represents an area the size of Vancouver Island. In the years to come it will grow to an area 90,720 square kilometers in size with 20-30 % being stripped mined and the other 70-80% being developed by a process called SAG-D which requires immense amounts of water and energy as well as the building of thousands of miles of roads and pipelines. The use of water in the process of extracting the tar sands and upgrading the bitumen for transport is of particular concern. If the current development continues at the same pace the tailings ponds will grow to a combined size comparable to Lake Ontario.

The Athabasca Chipweyan First Nation and the Mikisew Cree First Nation are two of five Aboriginal communities within the Athabasca tar sands development zone that comprises approximately 60% of the First Nation population in the region. "Residents of my community have for the past thirty years recognized the impacts from industrial development on our lands, water, air, wildlife and most recently the health of our people. The devastation of our homelands in this short period of time is perplexing to my people since it is only a fraction of the time that these impacts have occurred compared to the thousands of years we have inhabited these lands." says George Poitras, former chief of the Mikisew Cree.

Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipweyan First Nation is also concerned about President Obama meeting with Harper. Joining forces with environmental organizations and Mikisew, Chief Adam says, "Obama must ask Canada to clean up its tar sands and to respect the rights of our aboriginal First Nations. Both the federal and provincial governments of Canada have failed our aboriginal community for the sake of money, for the sake of corporate interests, and for the sake of increasing energy exports to the US. We are seeing disheartening toxicity levels in our animal life and have now received confirmation of unacceptable cancer rates."

"There are many political layers surrounding a campaign towards a bi-national energy and environmental policy between Canada and the US. The rapid expansion of the tar sands infrastructure results in a road of destruction directly affecting the rights of First Nations, American Indians and Alaska Natives on all sides of the political borders," added Thomas-Muller.

The tar sands expansion has an infrastructure with many connecting and supplying pipelines and associated projects that are needed to transport fuels for the production of tar sands bitumen and to move crude oil to the lower 48 of the US for refining. This involves some massive new pipeline projects to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Illinois, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Louisiana, California, Pennsylvania, Texas and elsewhere including efforts to send the crude oil to existing refineries in Ontario and Quebec. The Canadian government is further compounding land and water rights issues with the approval and construction of expansion projects infringing into traditional territories in Northern Saskatchewan as well as Alberta. The projects for the delivering of this crude oil include major pipeline construction in traditional aboriginal territories in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia and US States. The bulk of these projects are raising questions of adequate consultation with the First Nations and American Indian communities.

"The Alberta government's approval of the NCC pipeline directly infringes upon our inherent rights as aboriginal peoples especially since we, the Lubicon Cree have never ceded our rights to the land," relates Melina Laboucan-Massimo who is Lubicon Cree. "We already have logging and conventional oil exploitation taking place on our territory, how much more can the land or our people take?

Prior agreements between the Bush administration and Harper have been made to retrofit over forty oil refineries, double some in size and with some plans to build new refineries in the US to prepare for the export and processing of Canadian tar sands crude oil. American Indians in the US are afraid Canadian export of more crude oil will result in an increase of cancer clusters in the communities that live next to these refineries. "We have on our reservation, on our Ponca land in north-central Oklahoma, a ConocoPhillips refinery which has been here for over 50 years," explains Casey Camp-Hornik, a member of the Ponca Nation who works with the Coyote Creek Center for Environmental Justice. "This company is active in the oil sands in Canada and making plans to ship this dirty oil to its refinery next door to our Ponca territories to be refined. Our people already have cancer, asthma and other health effects from the petroleum infrastructure in our homeland."

An oil refinery is being proposed to be built on the land of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold in North Dakota. The crude oil that will feed this refinery is coming from the tar sands in Alberta. Kandi Mosset, tribal member of the Three Affiliated Tribes says, "Canada will be shipping its dirty oil to my people. We're not going to get the energy, only the pollution. Our Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara people are already experiencing disproportionate environmental fallout from oil development and from the burning of lignite coal in power plants that surround our lands. Several community members, including myself, are tired of being sick and are tired of seeing everyone, even babies, dying from unprecedented rates of cancer. We are taking a stand and fighting back, not only for our own lives but for the lives of those who cannot speak for themselves and we will not stop fighting until we have a reached a true level of environmental and climate justice in our Indigenous lands. We hope Obama tells Canada to stop shipping its dirty oil to the US. People have told me the reason that Canada is not meeting its Kyoto Protocol target commitments to reduce its greenhouse gases is because of the tars sands. Climate change is affecting my community, something has to change."

"Our Alaska Native subsistence way of life has been under constant threat by oil and gas development since the discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay. REDOIL has consistently objected to the subsistence rights of our communities being eroded to satisfy the high fossil fuel consumption needs of the US. We strongly oppose the proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline that will link the gas fields of the North Slope to the tar sands development in northern Alberta. We should have a Canadian-US energy policy that does not put Native communities in peril," says Faith Gemmill, Executive Director of Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL) based in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Dene, Cree and Métis communities of Canada and other Native communities being affected by the tar sands infrastructure want to look beyond the dependence on a fossil fuel regime and be visionaries and doers on supporting the development of clean production and clean renewable energy within their lands.

The Indigenous Environmental Network working in alliance with the First Nations and Métis of the community of Fort Chipewyan located downstream of the tar sands development zone are looking for solutions to provide a healthy sustaining community for their future generations. "The sustainable future for First Nations in Alberta and Canada isn't going to be sinking all our eggs into one of the dirtiest, most energy intensive and destructive sources of oil on the planet," said Eriel Deranger, Dene campaigner with the Rainforest Action Network, based in Edmonton. "It's time we focus our efforts on building a clean sustainable future with our people working in a safe, green energy economy."

In Memory of Bob Robideau

Bob Robideau on the Longest Walk 2 in Colorado in the spring of 2008. Photos by Jofreal Elliott, published with permission. Photos: Bob with photographer Jofreal Elliott; Bob with Adriano Buckskin, Southern Ute; Bob with Brenda Everett and Kenny Frost.

International Peltier Forum: "We were just notified that Robert Robideau passed away at his home in Barcelona, Spain on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009."

Remembering a warrior and brother at Big Mountain
A tribute to Bob Robideau

This is one great brother to always remember. I am so privileged that I got to see Bob at Pueblo, CO during the Longest Walk II --almost a year ago.

Brother, I will think of you as I stand my ground along with my elders at Big Mountain and knowing that you were a brave warrior when AIM was alive and strong!Spirit Brother, I will remember you when I look up to the Tree of Life, the Sun Dance Center Pole in that Sacred Hoop of our peoples, and knowing that you are now with our ancestors.

Aho. To All My Relations.

--Kat, Dineh of Big Mountain

Listen to Bob's final interview on justice for Leonard Peltier

Red Town Blog Talk Radio

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RedTownRadio
Robert Robideau
Jan. 31, 2009: Robert Robideau: a member of the Turtle Mountain and White Earth Ojibwa tribes. He has been an active member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) since 1973. Robert Robideau will be talking about the Leonard Peltier and the Anna Mae case. He will be talking about how it can affect the freedom of Leonard Peltier. We will be taking questions relating to these cases.

Bio Robert Robideau, in his own words

I am a member of the Turtle Mountain and White Earth Ojibwa tribes. I have been an active member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) since 1973. A member of Northwest AIM, Dakota AIM in the 1970s, today I am a member of Autonomous AIM. I served as AIM spokesman for New Mexico from 1993-94. Darrell (Dino) Butler, and I were acquitted in the deaths of two FBI agents in 1976 on grounds of self defense. The charges arose after a shootout with the FBI on Pine Ridge reservation in June of 1975 that left two FBI agents and an Indian man dead. This period known as the reign of terror, in which 60 AIM members were killed and hundreds more assaulted in a government sponsored action to destroy AIM. These killings and assaults came in the aftermath of the Wounded Knee takeover by AIM in 1973. I have served twice as National-International Director for the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC). Leonard Peltier, is an internationally known political prisoner who has served more then 32 years in prison for the same alleged offense as I was charged and acquitted. I have appeared on 60 Minutes, West 57th Street, EDJ and in other major television documentary programs. I have also appeared in the documentary film, Incident at Oglala and other major documentaries relating to AIM, Anna Mae Aquash and Peltier. I have spoken extensively on AIM, Leonard Peltier and the Anna Mae Aquash cases both in the States and Europe. I have written extensively on the Peltier case and on Native American Indian issues. I am the founder and director of the American Indian Movement Museum in Barcelona, Spain, where much of the history of AIM and my art work remains on display. www.AmericanIndianM.org/ An Inventory of work with the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee and the American Indian Movement, from 1973-1994 is located at the University of New Mexico, Center for Southwest Research. http://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=nmu1mss557bc.xml My art can be found at the Bonnie Kahn Gallery: http://www.bonniekahngallery.com/bios.ihtml?pid=78&step=2

In a recent e-mail, Bob said he planned to return to the states in March and make his home here, possibly in Santa Fe. Sincere condolences to his family and friends.

Slingshot Hip Hop Berkeley

Host: SNAG Magazine/PEP
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: Pueblo Nuevo Galley
Street: 1828 San Pablo Ave. #1
City/Town: Berkeley, CA

Slingshot Hip Hop braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza and inside Israel as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and Separation Walls to gender norms and generational differences, this is the story of young people crossing the borders that separate them.Come to the screening especially if you're interested in meeting and helping members of the Native delegation that will be going to Palestine in August!

TBS program mocks sacred pipe and culture

By Tamra Brennan

I was channel surfing this evening and came across this Program "10 items or less" on TBS, the episode was called, "Dances with Groceries."
They mocked Native heritage throughout this entire program, including disrespecting the sacred pipe.
In the program aired on Tuesday night 2/17/09 9:00 pm (mtn time) Character Leslie Pool, played by John Lehr discovers that he has "Shawnee" heritage. He then decides to start running his grocery store in the "Indian way" makes everything organic, puts up dream catchers, states he even has a birthmark on his butt in the shape of a tomahawk. Character, Mercy P. Jones, played by Kim Coles tells Pool to stop with the "Indian Heritage nonsense."
In a scene in Pool's office, he brings out a "peace pipe" and wants to smoke it with Mercy Jones. She grabs the pipe away from him and slams it down on the desk.
Pool, with his new found "heritage", goes to the Shawnee Tribal Council to complain about the local city gov't attempting to take his store under eminent domain. He brings Yolanda, played by Roberta Valderrama to this meeting as his "war council." He mentions a quote from Tecumseh, the council then beats him with clubs. Later in the program, this is described as their way to initiate him into the Tribe. He is then made a full fledged Tribal Member, talks about becoming a council member.
I would suspect the Shawnee Tribal Council wouldn't be to thrilled, or take this program lightly either.
At the end, Pool brings out the "peace pipe" again, this time he is in a steam room with several other men, he proceeds to start smoking it, talking about the ancient ritual. One of the men asks Pool what's in that pipe anyway, Pool responds, he was given some tobacco and other stuff, by one of the other characters (either Todd or Carl, didn't catch the name for sure). The man said, oh you should have known better than to accept anything from him. Then Pool begins to "hallucinate" after smoking this "peace pipe."
This mockery and disrespect needs to be brought to the attention of the producers of TBS. They need to be educated that this spoof mockery of our culture is not acceptable. They have disrespected the sacred pipe and our spiritual beliefs and ways, a immediate public apology is in order on their program and website http://www.tbs.com/shows/10itemsorless/.
These TV and radio programs, need to be held accountable for their disgraceful and disrespectful actions, on these programs. This is happening far to frequently.
You can file a complaint with TBS at:
TBS
Re: 10 Items or Less Program
404-885-0758
their online email form is located at:
http://support.tbs.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=5475
Thank you for taking the time to make your voice be heard, regarding this issue!
In peace & solidarity,
Tamra Brennan
http://www.ndnnews.com/
http://www.protectsacredsites.org/
http://www.protectbearbutte.com/
PROTECT BEAR BUTTE!
"Providing news and information about Native American Issues & Causes"
"Helping to make a difference for our people in Indian Country, one day at a time. What will you do today to help make a difference?"

"Our sacred lands are all that remain keeping us connected to our place on Mother Earth, to our spirituality, our heritage and our lands; what’s left of them. If they take it all away, what will remain except a vague memory of a past so forgotten?" ......excerpt from One Nation, One Land, One People by Tamra Brennan, 2006

UN Action: Indigenous Peoples and Children in Prison

Greetings My Relations,

My name is Tony Gonzales, Director for AIM-WEST based in San Francisco, an affiliate of the American Indian Movement, North America. I am pleased to know the community of Berkeley voted recently to condemn Efren Paredes Jr.'s sentence as a human rights violation. This is a major development in the campaign to abolish juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) sentences in the USA.

I am currently planning a round table discussion at the United Nations in NYC during the 8th Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII-8), May 18-29, 2009 regarding Indigenous Peoples held in prisons throughout the world in an effort to bring these injustices before the appropriate bodies of the United Nations. I will cite certain cases such as Leonard Peltier, in prison for over 33 years, and other forms of injustices such as severe sentencing of minors in the USA, and of their failure to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

I would like to communicate with you and your family about how the American Indian community can also support Efren's release after twenty years of incarceration, and restore justice and hope to America. The passage of the Berkeley resolution will serve as a model to further coordinate with other municipalities across the nation and inspire them to choose promoting human rights over discarding the lives of children. Change is urgent, sign us up now!

Accordingly, I will impress upon our membership to learn more about the situation of Efren Paredes, international standards related to children's rights, and to consider developing local strategies to bring similar resolutions to the attention of elected officials in their districts, on Efren's behalf. Perhaps with the optimism of the Obama Administration, change is possible. There are many international laws and standards the USA have yet to sign. Together we can help take this to the table.

Thank you and I hope to hear from you soon.

Tony Gonzales
AIM-WEST
eltonyg@earthlink.net
415-577-1492
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From Efren Paredes, Jr.

Dear Friends,

Yesterday, Tuesday, February 10, 2009, the Berkeley City Council in California voted to condemn my sentence as a human rights violation. This is a major development in the campaign to abolish juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) sentences in the USA.
In a letter that will be mailed to the Governor of the State of Michigan the Berkeley City Council states:
"The United States should be at the forefront of promotion and protection of human rights. For this country to be the lone holdout on the issue of JLWOP weakens our moral and legal standing in the international community. The Berkeley City Council supports the call for the United States to align itself with international law by ratifying banning JLWOP.
Given Paredes' history as an honor student with no prior criminal record, the questionable circumstances that led to his conviction, and his inspirational leadership as a positive, productive member of society despite his location, his release after 20 years of incarceration would demonstrate to U.S. citizens that the State of Michigan courageously took appropriate action to restore justice and hope to America.
Mr. Paredes' release should be a pivotal step toward ending JLWOP sentences in the United States."
The decision underscores the need to respect the inherent dignity in children and our commitment to the protection of children's rights. The resolution will serve as a model to other municipalities across the nation and inspire them to choose promoting human rights over discarding the lives of children.
Although children should be held accountable for their actions — including crimes they commit — the U.S. criminal justice system should never make them disposable. It is my hope that the decision of the Berkeley City Council will be a catalyst for change with regard to the treatment of its children in the current legal landscape.
The resolution is an acknowledgment that:
"[T]he treatment of juveniles in the criminal justice system is, at best, a noble failure and at worst, a great catastrophe. It is obvious that a change is urgent. Now is the time for the United States to leave the lonely island of juvenile injustice amidst a vast ocean of global concurrence. This shameful sentencing practice diminishes us as a society and it, not the children, must be sentenced to death." (Adepoju, Akin, Juvenile Death Sentence Lives On ... Even After Roper v. Simmons, 2 Trends and Issues in Constitutional Law 259 (2007))
I would like to extend a special thanks to Wendy Kenin, Commissioner, Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission, for spearheading this effort, and to the other members of the public who attended and/or spoke at the meeting in support of the resolution. Wendy worked closely with us to help advance this issue and devoted considerable time and energy to helping compose the language in the resolution.
I would like to also thank Jesse Arreguín, Council member, Berkeley City Council, for introducing the resolution. Jesse is the first Latino Berkeley City Council member and I am proud to have his support. I commend him for having the courage and vision to propose this resolution and garner support for it.
Wendy and Jesse made history with this resolution and their actions will be forever remembered for being leaders in the struggle for human rights and equality, and for helping end the deplorable sentencing of children to LWOP.
Thanks to everyone for your continued support. I look forward to working with you to help introduce similar resolutions in your respective cities as well. I am optimistic we can produce similar results across the nation as we collectively work to abolish JLWOP sentences in the USA. Please circulate the attached press release to any members of the press you know and ask others to do the same.
In Solidarity,
Efrén Paredes, Jr.

Arizona jury finds vigilante rancher liable for immigrant attack

ARIZONA JURY FINDS VIGILANTE RANCHER LIABLE FOR ATTACK ON IMMIGRANTS

MALDEF hails verdict as fair outcome for immigrant plaintiffs
By Derechos Humanos

TUCSON, AZ - A civil jury held today that a vigilante rancher operating along the Arizona-Mexico border is liable for assaulting and intentionally inflicting emotional distress on a group of immigrants he found on public land.

The plaintiffs were resting in a wash in Douglas, Arizona when they were accosted by defendant Roger Barnett who was armed with a gun and accompanied by a large dog. Roger Barnett held the group captive at gunpoint, threatening that his dog would attack and that he would shoot anyone who tried to leave. During the encounter, Barnett kicked a plaintiff as she was lying, unarmed, on the ground.

The jury found in favor of the women plaintiffs and awarded damages on their claims of assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Barnett must now pay $73,352 in damages to the victims.

This is not the first racial assault case filed against the Barnett family. The Morales family and Emma English, a family friend, are U.S. citizens who filed suit after Barnett confronted them on state land in November 2004, while they were on a family hunting trip. Armed with a semi-automatic military-style assault rifle, Barnett held the family at gunpoint, cursed and screamed racial slurs at them and threatened to kill them all. In September 2008, the Arizona Supreme Court rejected Barnett's appeal and allowed to stand a jury award to the family of close to $100,000 in damages.

"A jury of ordinary people found that Roger Barnett's conduct was extreme and outrageous and will not be tolerated," stated David H. Urias, counsel for the plaintiffs and an associate with the law firm of Freedman Boyd Hollander Goldberg & Ives P.A.

"We are very pleased with the jury's verdict. The plaintiffs in this case had the unique opportunity to testify about the horrifying actions of defendant Roger Barnett. This verdict in favor of the plaintiffs sends a strong message condemning vigilante violence against immigrants," stated MALDEF staff attorney Marisol Perez.

The law firms of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP and Haralson, Miller, Pitt, Feldman & McAnally, P.L.C., participated as pro bono counsel on behalf of the plaintiffs.

Founded in 1968, MALDEF, the nation's leading Latino legal civil rights organization, promotes and protects the rights of Latinos through litigation, advocacy, community education and outreach, leadership development, and higher education scholarships. For more information on MALDEF, please visit: http://www.maldef.org/.

MNN: Nuke, Nuke, Who's There? Obomb Dem? Bigger and bolder is his mantra

NUKE, NUKE, WHO’S THERE? OBOMB DEM? Bigger and bolder is his mantra.

Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com

Feb. 16, 2009. The US bailout package just signed by President Barack Obama affects us Indigenous people in a very serious way. Our water and uranium is vital to develop the nuclear reactors they want so badly. Shouldn’t they be going into alternative energy, less consumption and saving Mother Earth from the masterminds of destruction? We have the largest supplies of freshwater and uranium in the world on our territories. And they want this!

The Nuclear Information and Resource Service stated on January 27th that, "The U.S. Senate snuck in a provision to President Obama's economic stimulus package to give $50 billion for loan guarantees for construction of new nuclear reactors. This would be on top of the $18.5 billion taxpayer dollars already authorized by Congress during the Bush administration."

Canada and the U.S. are “Dancing with the Stars” on this. In addition to the $300 million budget already going to the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited AECL, that develops and tests nuclear reactors, the Canadian government has given them an additional $380 million from the recent Canadian bail out.

The Canadian Nuclear Association CNA is having their annual national conference and trade show in Ottawa on February 25 to 27, 2009 at the Westin Hotel. Countries attending are Australia, Britain, U.S. France and others. The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission is a special guest. What’s being promised here?

We Rotino’shonni:onwe, Iroquois, have the responsibility to care for our territories, waters and resources of Turtle Island. The plan to secretly divert our waters from the north and the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes watershed to the U.S. without our knowledge and consent violates our inherent rights. We will never and cannot ever give up our land and resources to anyone.

The banksters are trying to protect their perceived right to excessive wealth at the expense of other people. They want to gain control of everything that we need to live. The plan here is to deplete, flood and change the geography of Turtle Island.

Uranium is the fuel they think they need to pump our fresh water south. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited AECL makes medical isotopes, stores nuclear waste including weapons grade plutonium and does nuclear research. Tritium is a dangerous by product of the CANDU nuclear reactor. It is highly toxic and radioactive. Tritium has been leaking from the old National Research Universal NRU reactor at Chalk River on the Ottawa River which drains into the St. Lawrence River. AECL said that they have stopped the leak into the drinking water of millions of people. Not true! It’s coming up in the Ottawa sewage treatment. Canada downplays this and other leaks in the NRU, which should be taken out of service. Shutting down a reactor is a long careful process that requires time, water and monitoring. In the meantime, AECL continues to conduct atomic research for international customers like U.S., Britain and Pakistan.


Bill Pilkington, VP at AECL said the leak was "not insignificant"!! Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission CNSC told Parliament on February 5 that, “There's no risk”. CNSC was probably afraid to speak up since Prime Minister Stephen “Sponge Bob” Harper fired their head, Linda Keen, last year for criticizing AECL. It’s a big money maker and they want their money now! They don’t care about the harm to people now or for the next 7 or 70 generations.

Radioactivity is most harmful to the unborn, to infants, to small children and to growing bodies. According to author Ace Hoffman of Carlsbad, California, "... the Environment Protection Agency EPA limit for tritium in drinking water is too lax. The standards are based on the damage to healthy adult males, the least susceptible of all possible groupings”. The radioactive assault causes neuromuscular, cardiovascular damage, fetal deformities, premature aging and death.

In a recent Toronto Star article, a professor at University of Toronto, which is a member of the Canadian Nuclear Association, stated that the Canadian limit on the ingestion of tritium is 100 times higher than that allowed in Europe. Tritium is especially7 harmful because it can permeate any part of the human body. The isotope “strontium” collects in the bones and teeth of the unborn, while another isotope “cesium” collects in soft tissue, including muscle and women's ovaries and breasts.” These are two of the many radioactive medical isotopes made at AECL in Chalk River.

To make money corporations like Cameco, GE, MDS Nordion and their buddies found a use for tritium waste. SRB Technologies of Pembroke is putting tritium into paint for reflective road signs. Residents are finding pollution in the local land and water. Now Wal-Mart is missing thousands of their “exit” signs made of tritium. Where did they go? Are they marking the route to oblivion for those of us who are in their way?

The nuclear industry is trying to sell nuclear reactors all over the world. Canada wants to stay in the deadly military weaponry game. Its even posted signs saying “Welcome War” near the War Museum in Ottawa. The radioactive spent fuel will be repatriated to make nuclear weapons.

Radioactive materials take a long time to break down. Tritium has a radiological half-life of about 12.4 years. Some medical isotopes take only days or weeks. Uranium compounds take millions of years.

Talk about fancy sonar equipment run by uranium fuel. In early February two French and British nuclear submarines on stealth mode crashed into each other in the Atlantic Ocean. Each carried 16 ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads and could have released vast amounts of radiation. “No leaks”, we are told. Do we believe them?

The toxic mess created by the conglomerates will affect us for generations to come. The NRU reactor must be decommissioned immediately. The truth about nuclear radiation must be told. Nuclear development must be stopped. We have to manage with less. No dangerous alternative energies should be used to keep the excessive materialistic North American lifestyle going and to keep a few war mongering oligarchs rich. Our minds and energies should be going towards monitoring the nuclear waste that has already been produced instead of digging up and creating more.

Iakoha’ko:wa & MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com kittoh@storm.ca katenies20@yahoo.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations to PayPal at www.mohawknationnews.com, or by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN “Canada” category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! Purchase t-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePressStore http://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews; Subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates http://.mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription.php; Sign Women Title Holders petition! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Iroquois
Notes, Sources and Contact Info
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
nirsnet@nirs.org www.nirs.org, Ace Hoffman Author, The Code Killers: An Expose About Nuclear Crimes, High and Low, Large and Small, Far and Wide; Free download: www.acehoffman.org
phone: (800) 551-2726; (760) 720-7261, address: PO Box 1936 Carlsbad, CA 92018
email: ace@acehoffman.org
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Technology/Radioactive%20spill%20reported%20nuclear/1223290/story.html
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/587906
Wal-Mart's glow-in-the-dark mystery
CONTACT Politricksters
http://www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/com/concon/concon-eng.php
Lisa Raitt, NR Min; MP Halton, (613) 996-2007 MINO/MINO Lisa.Raitt@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca
(613) 996-7046 Fax: (613) 992-0851 EMail: Raitt.L@parl.gc.ca
DM Deputy Minister Doyle, Cassie J. since June, 2006, (613) 992-3280 DMO/DMO CassieJ.Doyle@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca, also on board of directors at AECL
Serge Dupont, Associate Deputy Minister, Natural Resources Canada, (613) 996-9753 DMO/DMO Serge.Dupont@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca
----------------
Min. Health Leona Aglukkaq Conservative Constituency: Nunavut, (613) 992-2848 Fax: (613) 996-9764
EMail: Aglukkaq.L@parl.gc.ca, Web Site:* www.leonaaglukkaq.ca/EN/5215/
DM Health: Morris Rosenberg, Deputy Minister Health since December 2004. He's been thru a few PM's. Deputy Minister Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada from July 1998 to December 2004. 1993 to 1996 Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Economic and Regional Development Policy, Privy Council Office. Deputy Minister's Office - Health Canada, Brooke Claxton Building, Tunney's Pasture
Postal Locator: 0906C, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0K9, (613) 952-1154, dm_sm@hc-sc.gc.ca
Critic of AECL: LibMP Geoff Regan ReganG@parl.gc.ca, (613) 996-3085 Fax: (613) 996-6988;
"John Gerretsen MPP Minister of the Environment" ; George Smitherman MPP Energy & Infr."
CNSC Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission; CNSC Chalk River Laboratories Site, Building 432 Chalk River, ON K0J 1J0, 613-584-7743 Fax: 613-584-9077, interventions@cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca; EA@cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca
AECL: Bill Pilkington, VP, talks to media, AECL – Chalk River Laboratories, Chalk River, Ontario Canada K0J 1J0, (613) 584-3311
http://www.aecl.ca/Contact/Make_a_request_for_information.htm
FILL IN THE FORM..... http://www.aecl.ca/site3.aspx
Public Requests for Information Toll free: 1-866-513-AECL (2325); Media Enquiries Toll free: 1-866-886-2325, Community Enquiries Toll free: 1-800-364-6989
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ALTOGETHER NOW:
CassieJ.Doyle@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca; Lisa.Raitt@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca; Serge.Dupont@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca; Raitt.L@parl.gc.ca; Aglukkaq.L@parl.gc.ca; dm_sm@hc-sc.gc.ca, Reid.S@parl.gc.ca, Harper.S@parl.gc.ca, Nicholson.R@parl.gc.ca, Aglukkaq.L@parl.gc.ca, Day.S@parl.gc.ca,VanLoan.P@parl.gc.ca, McCallum.J@parl.gc.ca, ReganG@parl.gc.ca, Raitt.L@parl.gc.ca, Easter.W@parl.gc.ca, Szabo.P@parl.gc.ca, Baird.J@parl.gc.ca, Clement.T@parl.gc.ca, leader@greenparty.ca, donna.dillman@greenparty.ca, Cannon.L@parl.gc.ca, Sorenson.K@parl.gc.ca, Dewar.P@parl.gc.ca, FAAE@parl.gc.ca, Patry.B@parl.gc.ca, ThibaLo@parl.gc.ca, ChongM@parl.gc.ca, TrostB@parl.gc.ca, BigraB@parl.gc.ca, CardiS@parl.gc.ca, LafraM@parl.gc.ca, CulleN@parl.gc.ca, GallaC@parl.gc.ca, HawnL@parl.gc.ca, McTeaD@parl.gc.ca, AlghaO@parl.gc.ca, AnderDa@parl.gc.ca, BevinD@parl.gc.ca, DebelC@parl.gc.ca, OuellCh@parl.gc.ca, CrowdJ@parl.gc.ca, ChowO@parl.gc.ca, LunnG@parl.gc.ca, BerniM@parl.gc.ca, StrahC@parl.gc.ca, MilliP@parl.gc.ca, Hill.J@parl.gc.ca, MacKay.P@parl.gc.ca, Kramp.D@parl.gc.ca, Brown.G@parl.gc.ca, DelMastro.D@parl.gc.ca, Dewar.P@parl.gc.ca, Coderre.D@parl.gc.ca, DionS@parl.gc.ca, Comartin.J@parl.gc.ca, Oda.B@parl.gc.ca, OConnor.G@parl.gc.ca, Atamaa1@parl.gc.ca, blackd@parl.gc.ca, Black.D@parl.gc.ca, Ambrose.R@parl.gc.ca, Toews.V@parl.gc.ca, Blackburn.J@parl.gc.ca, Paradis.C@parl.gc.ca, Moore.J@parl.gc.ca, Mulcair.T@parl.gc.ca, Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca, Barbot.V@parl.gc.ca, Layton.J@parl.gc.ca, BlackJ@parl.gc.ca, dmcquinty.mpp@liberal.ola.org, john.bennett@greenparty.ca,
randy@ruralrevolution.com, info@randyhillier.com, holland.m@parl.gc.ca,
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Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca, brianmitchell@conservative.ca, brucemclaughlin@conservative.ca, ceciltaylor@conservative.ca, DonPlett@conservative.ca, gilleslavoie@conservative.ca, gordelliott@conservative.ca, jeanleblanc@conservative.ca, karajohnson@conservative.ca, liamobrien@conservative.ca, loisbrown@conservative.ca, mennofroese@conservative.ca, michaelmacdonald@conservative.ca, rayleitch@conservative.ca, richardciano@conservative.ca, sammagnus@conservative.ca, stephanedesilets@conservative.ca, susanmcarthur@conservative.ca, victormarciano@conservative.ca, ericw@kingstongreens.ca, morganw@kingstongreens.ca, Julian.P@parl.gc.ca, GreenLight1@kingstongreens.ca

Indian boarding schools: Auschwitz in Canada and US

Russell Means and Kevin Annett: Indian boarding schools, Auschwitz in Canada and US

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Photo 'Why are we dying?' document at Haskell Indian Nations University Museum/Photo by Brenda Norrell on Longest Walk 2/double click image to enlarge

Russell Means and Kevin Annett spoke on the systematic genocide of Indian people in the United States and Canada, pointing out the murder of children in boarding schools and the generations of trauma and early death resulting from the long standing abuse which has been hidden in history.

Speaking on Red Town Radio, Annett, a minister exposing the crimes of the churches and government of Canada, said Indian residential schools in Canada were more murderous than Auschwitz.

Annett said the death rate at Auschwitz was 15 to 30 percent. One third of the people were killed. In Canada, the death rate of Indian children in residential schools was at least twice that of Auschwitz.

“The residential schools were more intentionally murderous.”

Annett and Means spoke on Red Town Radio, hosted by Brenda Golden, Muscogee (Creek) from Oklahoma, on Sunday, Feb. 15. Means, revealing the thread of colonization and genocide, said Americans are proving Einstein's definition of insanity. Einstein said insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Means described how Indian people have been co-opted to believe the lies of the US and Canadian governments through the system of colonization.

"What these boarding schools did was to create this insanity. They have convinced the prisoners of these two governments, of Canada and the United States, to accept things the way they are and hope things will change."

Annett, returning from a protest at a church in Vancouver, BC, said it is time for all the missing children to have a proper burial. This has been the message of the protest posters at churches in Canada: "All the children need a proper burial."
During this weekend’s protest in Vancouver, Annett said the response was a smug attitude from whites attending the church and the minister.
“These people acted like they have no heart.”

Annett said it is a battle to convince people of the truth. He said the so-called truth and reconciliation commissions are more about relieving the guilt of white society than real healing for Indian people. He said non-Indians are living on stolen land and multi-national corporations know what the truth will mean for their profits.

“Reconciliation is the oppressor’s policy,” Means said. At the root of the cause, he said, is the system of patriarchy, which is the fear-based society of the white man. “The first thing feared by white men is the woman beside them,” Means said. Patriarchs fear and terrorize women, he said. Quoting his ancestor, Luther Standing Bear, Means pointed out that the white man attempts to destroy what he can not control.

Standing Bear wrote about 1900, "when a man fears the forest, he will want to control the forest, and what he can’t control, he will want to destroy."

Control was the platform of the death camps known as boarding schools.

Means quoted Capt. Richard H. Pratt founder of Carlisle Indian School, whose motto became the codewords of genocide. Pratt said, “Kill the Indian, and save the man.”
“Save the man for what?” Means asked. “To rob a person of their breath, their breath of life? That is what boarding schools are all about.”

Means said the genocide of “killing the Indian” continues today, as evidenced by the four countries which refused to vote to adopt the non-binding UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
“What they said is: We do not exist. Kill the Indian. That is what they said by their vote.”

Still, Means said people are not rising up in indignation. “They killed the Indian, so we don’t have a backbone anymore. They took the breath out of our spirit.”
Means said there was not an outrage over the genocidal boarding schools in the United States until the American Indian Movement began protests. Sexual abuse, incest, physical abuse and abandonment issues are now epidemic for Indian people because of the boarding schools.

During the radio show, Means thanked Annett for being an ally to Indian people in Canada and leading this movement for truth. Means said there has been no equal ally in the United States to expose the truth of Indian boarding schools. But the proof is pervasive: American Indians have the shortest life expectancy.
Means said government apologies for the abuse are another insult.
“Those apologies are insulting. To offer us money is to heap insult upon insult. It is unconscionable.”

Means said although the United States acknowledges that the US is based on the laws within the Iroquois Confederacy, the US did not acquire all of the laws. The US did not include the foundation of the clan mother and the matriarchal society.
“This is the only way to ensure individual liberty,” he said.

Meanwhile, today the media ignores the sexual abuse and physical abuse in Indian boarding schools. “American people refuse to believe they are the worst.”
Means said the American Indian news media is ignoring the truth.
“Our own media is not paying attention, not exposing anything.”

Annett said even though the churches were responsible for the murder and deaths of more than 50,000 Indian children in Canada, if the victims accept money from the government, the perpetrators will not be held responsible.

Victims become perpetrators.
Means said victims often become perpetrators and today's Christians are proving this to be true. "Their forbearers were fed to the lions and they don't mind feeding us to the lions."

“It is really sick, it is the sickest thing.” Means said if patriarchy continues, this sickness will continue. The proof is in Iraq, Gaza and Afghanistan. "Everywhere they go they massacre,” Means said Christians, through militarism and colonialism, continue killing.

In colonialism, as with the Nazi collaborators, Means said, "You get the victims to become the perpetrators." Now victims of boarding school abuse are planning to continue the death camps of boarding schools.

Means said on Pine Ridge there is an epidemic of sexual abuse, physical and domestic abuse of women. Here, in this epidemic of violence and abuse, the BIA plans to build a BIA dormitory in the spring.
“The Indian people are going for it.”

Indian women were sterilized.
One of the facts hidden from history was the forced sterilization of Indian women. Means said it is documented that between 1972 and 1976, the United States forcibly sterilized 42 percent of Indian women. In Puerto Rico, the US forcibly sterilized 35 percent of Puerto Rican women.

There was also horrendous physical abuse. In Chilocco Indian School in Oklahoma, Means described one teenager with a disabled arm. In Chilocco, children were handcuffed over pipes in the basement and left to hang there. Chilocco and Intermountain Indian School in Utah were among the worst boarding schools and AIM led protest to close those in the 1970s.

“There’s still a killing field at Haskell,” Means said. Means said at Haskell boarding school, now Haskell Indian Nations University, there is a mass grave of Indian children beneath a building. A building was built over the mass grave to hide the evidence and the college denied the existence of the grave, he said.

In southeastern BC, Annett said a golf course was built over the site of a mass grave of Indian children. The government of Canada convinced the band council to go along with this.

Means said, "It is a vicious cycle of oppression." Means said few Americans realize that the majority of slaves in the western hemisphere were American Indians until 1715. The reason blacks were brought here was because Indian people were so susceptible to the white man's diseases, he said.

Annett said an Indigenous war crimes tribunal is necessary for justice in Canada. The survivors of these death camps, residential schools, are being subjected to a "complete white wash" by the government of Canada. Already, Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala have agreed to serve on the Indigenous war crimes tribunal. Annett said some of the perpetrators are still alive and must be brought to justice.

Means said it is also possible to gain the assistance of an international rapporteur from the United Nations.

Means pointed out that there were 12 to 14 million people in 1492 in what is now the contiguous United States. In 1900, only 250,000 remained. In 300 years, 99.6 percent of Indian people had been annihilated. “That is a holocaust beyond comprehension.”
There has been less than one percent population growth in the last 100 years.

The US and Canadian government and Christian boarding schools are further proof of this genocide. Means spoke of his own parents abuse in boarding schools, both of the sexual abuse and the beatings for speaking their language.

“My father was physically abused for speaking our language, to the point where he could not speak it anymore.” Later, when his father tried to speak it, he could not speak words and made a moaning sound when he tried to speak Lakota.

Means said in boarding schools, the younger boys always wanted to be the older boys, because the older boys punished the younger boys. That became their reason for growing up, to punish the younger boys, he said.

"We've been trained like Pavlov's dogs,” Means said. Now, education is still focused on “killing the Indian and saving the child.”

Means said Obama’s inauguration address points to assimilation into the melting pot. He said President Obama's inauguration address was the most important speech he will make and the words were chosen carefully.

Obama said, "The lines of tribes will be dissolved." Means said those words were deliberate and are blatant and inexcusable.

“What he meant by that is we are going to be dissolved.”

Means said, "Almost all our languages are gone. Once the language is gone, we're gone." Means quoted a black woman about what the white man did to the black people: “He took the taste out of our mouths.”

As for Indians, Means said, "They choked us to death."

Means said when the last speakers of the Indian languages are gone, the people will be gone. He said one only needs to take a look at both US coasts, where Indian people had the most contact with Europeans. There, he said, Indian people have lost everything.

Describing the gifts that Native people possess, Means said the language is tied to the natural world and Indian people understand the interpretations of natural law. It is not possible to translate Native languages into English, he said. “We have no word for ‘war’ or ‘warriors.’”

Annett said the churches and Canada continue to act with impunity, while there are more than 50,000 missing Indian children.

"The churches could do anything even when children disappeared, they did not report it.” In the United States and Canada, Indian children were turned into slaves in boarding school. It is a miracle, Annett said, that any children survived these death camps. In Canada, residential schools were operated by the churches.

Annett said one of the men at a church protest spoke of how he survived on garbage detail. “He was really glad when he was on the garbage detail, he would be cramming this garbage, of the white staff members, into his mouth.”

"Only the Irish have been colonized more than the American Indian," Means said.

Describing the T.R.E.A.T.Y Total Immersion School on Pine Ridge, S.D., Means said it is an immersion school, but not in the same manner as the US schools. Means said the US government’s idea of immersion is to become illiterate in two languages.

The T.R.E.A.T.Y School is taken from the Maori of New Zealand and throws out the European modality of education. At the Treaty School, most of the education takes place outdoors, even in winter in South Dakota, he said.
"Our Treaty School is going to be the saving grace of our nation. If just one clan survives, at least we have survived."

In closing, Means, chief facilitator for the Republic of Lakotah, described the Republic of Lakotah. He said it is non-threatening, non-militant and peace loving, while reestablishing representative government. Non-Indians can be taught to live in an Indian manner and the woman’s place in the natural order must be honored, he said.

Annett urged people to arise with courage and demand the truth, while holding the perpetrators accountable for their actions. From the mass graves, he said, children can be identified by DNA, especially by the teeth, and the cause of death can be determined. He said this can be done according to the traditions of Indian Nations.

With more exposure of the truth, the Canadian government and police are now trying to hide the evidence, digging up graves in the night. At the same time, Canadian government funded Indian agencies are being threatened with the loss of funding if they attempt to discover the truth about the missing children.

Accepting government money has not resulted in justice. "You can have money, but you have to promise never to sue,” Annett said. Now, hereditary chiefs and clan mothers say that traditional courts must carry out the justice.

"The survivors are dying at the rate of five to ten a day,” Annett said, pointing out the need to record the testimony. In April, Annett released a list of sites of mass graves of Indian children at residential schools. But the media followed this with a blackout in the news.

In boarding schools and residential schools, parents were terrorized about passing down the language to future generations. Annett said now, when young Indians realize why they were not taught their language, because of this systematic genocide, they are empowered to learn their language.

During one of the protests at a church in Vancouver, a homeless man, “Bingo,” manifested this empowerment. There, Bingo lectured the police about protecting the churches. Meanwhile, the protests continue, calling for proper burials for the missing children, and to bring them home. Speaking of the protests, inside and outside of churches in Canada, Annett said, “We do this respectfully. We try to reach the minds and hearts of the people.”

Pointing out that the death rate was twice that of Auschwitz, Annett said one of the main causes of death was deliberate germ warfare. Healthy children were placed with children with tuberculosis. There was no health care when they became sick.

But the Indian genocide was not limited to the time of childhood. Under the United Nations Convention on Genocide, genocide is defined as anything which will kill off a people in the long run. Annett points out when Indian peoples traditional food systems and lifeways were destroyed, the result was that they died young, often in their forties, from diabetes, suicide and self destruction.

Today, Annett said the death rate of Indian people in Canada is 20 times the national average. Today in Canada, under the cover of darkness, the graves of Indian children are being dug up and the evidence destroyed. Today in Canada, fraudulent truth and reconciliation commissions of these death camps continue to white wash the truth.

Listen to this interview on Red Town Radio:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RedTownRadio

More info at:

Lakatoh Republic
http://www.lakotahrepublic.com/

Hidden from History: the Canadian Holocaust
http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/
February 1, 2009: Media Advisory and Press Statement - February 1, 2009 Whistle Blowing Minister to Commence Continental Speaking Tour to "Disestablish Genocide"
January 24, 2009: Fourteen Years Later, I'm Still Here, and So Are We I was fired from my job as a United Church minister in Port Alberni fourteen years ago today...
January 18, 2009: AHA MEDIA event coverage: Take Back the Land: Enforce Chief Kiapilano’s Eviction Notice against the Genocidal Catholic Church: coverage of this protest including many photos.
January 10, 2009: Whistle Blowing Minister "raising the stakes" in Continental Speaking Tour this February and March Kevin Annett, the pastor turned activist who forced Canada to acknowledge its genocide of native people this year, is taking his truth campaign on the road on February 12. But now he’s “upping the ante” on the institutions responsible.
Read more:
http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=3748
Watch The Documentary Film:
Unrepentant: Kevin Annett and Canada's Genocide
This documentary reveals Canada's darkest secret - the deliberate extermination of indigenous (Native American) peoples and the theft of their land under the guise of religion. This never before told history as seen through the eyes of this former minister (Kevin Annett) who blew the whistle on his own church, after he learned of thousands of murders in its Indian Residential Schools.
Related: Kevin Annett Rips The Mask From Power Unrepentant: Kevin Annett and Canada's Genocide (Video)
What is The Truth Commission into Genocide in Canada?
The historical roots of 'Thanksgiving' Aboriginal children 'injected with leprosy'
The Mass Graves of Ireland
French Rothschild Branch Behind the Planned Genocide Of Armenians
The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics

Kauanui: Listen online: Hawaiian land case

"Indigenous Politics: From Native New England and Beyond" radio program on WESU, Middletown, CT, 88.1FM
~~~
LISTEN ONLINE while the program airs from 4-4:55pm EST (11am HST/1pm PST/3pm CST): http://www.wesufm.org/
On Tuesday, February 17, 2009, join your host, Dr. J. Kehaulani Kauanui for a special edition of Indigenous Politics that will examine the Hawaiian land case that will go before the US Supreme Court on February 25. The Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Hawaii v. Office of Hawaiian Affairs, et al, since the state of Hawaii has asked the Court to rule on whether or not the state has the authority to sell, exchange, or transfer 1.2 million acres of land formerly held by the Hawaiian monarchy as Crown and Government Lands. This land base constitutes 29 percent of the total land area of what is now known as the State of Hawaii and almost all the land claimed by the State as "public lands." Prior to the state government's appeal to the Supreme Court, the Hawaii State Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the state should keep the land trust intact until Native Hawaiian claims to these lands are settled, and prohibited the state from selling or otherwise disposing of the properties to private parties; and did so based on the 1993 Apology Resolution, in which Congress acknowledged and apologized for the United States' role and affirmed, "the indigenous Hawaiian people never directly relinquished their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people or over their national lands to the United States, either through their monarchy or through a plebiscite or referendum." The guest on the show is Dr. Jonathan Kamakawiwo`ole Osorio, an original plaintiff in the case who sued the state to prevent the sale of these lands. He is now a defendant in the appeal to the Supreme Court and will speak to the complex issues raised by the case including the origins of the lawsuit, land title from a pro-Hawaiian independence position, the politics of the Apology Resolution, and the Hawaiian Nation's claim to these lands under international law. Osorio is an associate professor at the Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawai`i at Manoa, and author of Dismembering Lahui A History of the Hawaiian Nation to 1887.
~~~
All past programs of "Indigenous Politics" are now archived online:
www.indigenouspolitics.com.
~~~
"Indigenous Politics" is syndicated weekly on Pacifica-affiliate stations: WNJR, 91.7 FM, "Washington & Jefferson College Radio" in Washington, PA, and WETX-LP, 105.3 FM, "The independent voice of Appalachia," which includes a region encompassing twelve states and 20 million people: east Tennessee, southwest Virginia, west Kentucky, all of West Virginia, most of Pennsylvania, south New York, west Maryland, west North Carolina, west South Carolina, north Georgia, north Alabama, and northeast Mississippi. In addition, WBCR-lp in Great barrington, MA is also syndicating the show.
~~~
The show's producer and host, Dr. J. Kehaulani Kauanui is an associate professor of American Studies and Anthropology at Wesleyan University. She is the author of a newly released book, Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity (Duke University Press, 2008). http://jkauanui.faculty.wesleyan.edu/
Kanaka Maoli Scholars Against Desecration

Statement on Mauna Kea - February 17, 2009

We declare our opposition to SB 992/HB 1174 and SB 502/HB 1370 and any other legislation bills that would transfer Mauna Kea to the University of Hawai`i (UH). These current legislative proposals would give the UH complete management authority over Mauna Kea and allow implementation of a plan that has no limit on telescope construction, would close public access to the summit, and exempt UH from public oversight in the name of development.

Mauna Kea is a sacred summit, which is already being desecrated by the existing science telescopes. The Hawai`i revised statute 711-1107 on Desecration specifically states that no one may commit the offense of desecrating “a place of worship or burial,” and the statute defines “desecrate” as “defacing, damaging, polluting, or otherwise physically mistreating in a way that the defendant knows will outrage the sensibilities of persons likely to observe or discover the defendant's action.” If this legislation passes, state legislators would be violating their own state law.

These legislative proposals also interfere with on-going litigation on the current regulations governing Mauna Kea. We would also like to remind state representatives and the general public that in the recent Third Circuit Court case regarding the management of Mauna Kea, the court ruled in favor of the Plaintiffs—Kealoha Pisciotta, President of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou; Debbie Ward and Nelson Ho, Co-Chairs of Mauna Kea Issues Committees, Sierra Club Hawai`i Island Chapter; Ali`i `Ai Moku, Paul K. Neves of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, Moku of Mamalahoa Heiau Helu `Elua; and Clarence Ku Ching, individual Native Hawaiian Practitioner—and against the UH and the state Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) for violation of the regulations protecting Mauna Kea as a conservation district. This lawsuit is currently on review before the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) after the University appealed the lower court ruling against them. Though the University only recently withdrew its appeal from the ICA, counterclaims that go to the fundamental merits of this issue remain before the ICA.

Besides blatant desecration, and interference in on-going litigation, the negative environmental effects are numerous. As noted in the Testimony of the Plaintiffs regarding this legislation, two reports by the State Auditor have found that UH’s misuse and the BLNR’s failed oversight is “inadequate to ensure the protection of natural resources, and neglected ...the cultural value of Mauna Kea." Their report further stated that the University's Institute for Astronomy “focused primarily on the development of Mauna Kea and tied the benefits gained to its research program,” and that its focus on telescope construction has been “at the expense of neglecting the site’s natural resources.” Also, in 2005, an Environmental Impact Statement required by federal court order found that the cumulative impact of telescope activities on Mauna Kea has had a “substantial, adverse, and significant” impact.

The current proposals also violate the land claims of the Hawaiian nation. These legislative attempts to transfer a portion of the Hawaiian Kingdom Crown and Government Lands of which Mauna Kea is a part, is in direct contravention of the Hawai`i State Supreme Court’s holding in OHA v. Housing and Community Development Cororation of Hawai`i, 2008. The Hawaii Supreme Court barred the transfer of this land base by the state. If this legislation passes, state legislators would be violating the state Supreme Court ruling.

This exploitative venture proposed by this legislation must be stopped because the entire scheme promotes the ongoing violation of the sacred summit of Mauna Kea; it would be irresponsible and bad public policy, as well as a continued abuse of state power.


J. Leilani Basham, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawai`i at West O`ahu

Kamanamaikalani Beamer, Ph.D., Mellon-Hawai`i Postdoctoral Fellow, Kohala Center

Maenette K.P. Ah Nee-Benham, Ed.D., Dean of Hawai`inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, University of Hawai`i, Mānoa

Kealani Robinson Cook, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History, University of Michigan

J. Noelani Goodyear-Ka`ōpua, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Lisa Kahaleole Hall, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Women’s Studies, Wells College

Sydney Lehua Iaukea, Ph.D., Mellon-Hawai`i Postdoctoral Fellow, Kohala Center

Kū Kahakalau, Ph.D., founder and director of Kanu o ka ‘Āina New Century Public Charter School

Val Kalei Kanuha, Ph.D., M.S.W., Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Anthropology and American Studies, Wesleyan University

Brandy Nalani McDougall, Ph.D. Candidate, English, University of Hawai`i, Mānoa

Noenoe K. Silva, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Political Science, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Ty Kawika Tengan, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Anthropology and Ethnic Studies, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa

Lani Teves, Ph.D. Candidate, Program in American Culture, University of Michigan

Haunani-Kay Trask, Ph.D., Professor, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawai`i, Mānoa

Liza Keanuenueokalani Williams, Ph.D. student, New York University

Sweden: Black Mesa Demonstration

http://www.vild-eken.se/ Double click on poster to enlarge

Out of a growing concern for the recent developments regarding the US Office of Surface Mining decision to, grant Peabody Coal a Life of Mine Permit, for the coal mining on Black Mesa, we have decided to hold a demonstration in Sockholm Sweden, on March 7, 2009. This demonstration will be held jointly with Indigenous representatives from Sapmi ( Saami land), Colombia, Peru, Chile, possibly Tibet and Inner Mongolia, as well as with people who support Indigenous Peoples issues and Mother Earth. We will be at Sergels plaza, in downtown Stockholm, and we will walk to the diplomatic headquarters area, to the US Embassy.After the demonstration and march, there will be presentations at ABF educational facility in Stockholm, of different representatives, on the struggles of Indigenous Peoples. Hopefully it will be possible to conclude with a joint statement, to send to media and governments, under the unifying UN Declaration for Indigenous Peoples Rights and Fundamental Freedom. We hope this little spark of "fire" will catch on, in your Hearts and that people in other places will join in, and arrange demonstrations and gatherings for the Black Mesa struggle. More and more people realize that what the Elders on Black Mesa have spoken of for so long, is now materializing before our very eyes. Please Pray for the People on Black Mesa and for All Our Relations Thank You for your time and consideration Sincerely Carina Gustafsson and Elizabeth Karlsson: Flyer: Elizabeth Karlsson-Good

7th Indigenous Uranium Forum in New Mexico

Please double click image to enlarge

Two voices of truth killed in Buffalo plane crash

Human rights expert and 9/11 widow/activist killed in Buffalo plane crash

Des Forges GRD '72, human rights expert, killed in plane crash

(Photo left: Beverly Eckert, right Alison Des Forges)

Gabriel Barcia
Staff Reporter Yale Daily News
Published Friday, February 13, 2009
Alison Des Forges GRD '72, one of the world's leading experts on the human rights violations in Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, was among the passengers killed in the commuter plane crash outside Buffalo, N.Y., late Thursday. She was 66 and lived in Buffalo.
Her death was confirmed by Human Rights Watch, the New York-based organization for which she worked for nearly two decades as a senior adviser to its Africa division.
Born in Schenectady, N.Y., in 1942, Des Forges wrote her doctoral thesis about Rwanda and began working for Human Rights Watch in the 1980s. She spent four years interviewing organizers and victims of the Rwandan genocide and testified at 11 trials at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as an expert witness.
According to Human Rights Watch, Des Forges "dedicated her life and work to understanding the country, to exposing the serial abuses suffered by its people and helping to bring about change."
"There was no one who knew more and did more to document the genocide and to help bring the perpetrators to justice,” Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
Considered the definitive account of the Rwandan tragedy, her book, "Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda," was published in 1999 – the same year the MacArthur Foundation awarded Des Forges a "genius grant" for her work.
Des Forges' last research work for Human Rights Watch, still unfinished, was a report about the recent killings in eastern Congo.
After spending some time in Europe, Des Forges was returning home to Buffalo, where she lived with her husband, Roger Des Forges GRD '71, a history professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Des Forges is also survived by a daughter, a son and three grandchildren.
Continental Connection Flight 3407, from Newark, N.J., to Buffalo, crashed about six miles short of the airport in Buffalo during a light snowfall on Thursday night. Des Forges was among 44 passengers who were killed; four crew members, an off-duty pilot and one person on the ground also died.

9/11 activist dies in plane crash:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-eckert14-2009feb14,0,6636504.story
My Silence Cannot Be Bought

by Beverly Eckert
Photo API've chosen to go to court rather than accept a payoff from the 9/11 victims compensation fund. Instead, I want to know what went so wrong with our intelligence and security systems that a band of religious fanatics was able to turn four U.S passenger jets into an enemy force, attack our cities and kill 3,000 civilians with terrifying ease. I want to know why two 110-story skyscrapers collapsed in less than two hours and why escape and rescue options were so limited.I am suing because unlike other investigative avenues, including congressional hearings and the 9/11 commission, my lawsuit requires all testimony be given under oath and fully uses powers to compel evidence.The victims fund was not created in a spirit of compassion. Rather, it was a tacit acknowledgement by Congress that it tampered with our civil justice system in an unprecedented way. Lawmakers capped the liability of the airlines at the behest of lobbyists who descended on Washington while the Sept. 11 fires still smoldered.And this liability cap protects not just the airlines, but also World Trade Center builders, safety engineers and other defendants.The caps on liability have consequences for those who want to sue to shed light on the mistakes of 9/11. It means the playing field is tilted steeply in favor of those who need to be held accountable. With the financial consequences other than insurance proceeds removed, there is no incentive for those whose negligence contributed to the death toll to acknowledge their failings or implement reforms. They can afford to deny culpability and play a waiting game.By suing, I've forfeited the "$1.8 million average award" for a death claim I could have collected under the fund. Nor do I have any illusions about winning money in my suit. What I do know is I owe it to my husband, whose death I believe could have been avoided, to see that all of those responsible are held accountable. If we don't get answers to what went wrong, there will be a next time. And instead of 3,000 dead, it will be 10,000. What will Congress do then?So I say to Congress, big business and everyone who conspired to divert attention from government and private-sector failures: My husband's life was priceless, and I will not let his death be meaningless. My silence cannot be bought.Beverly Eckert, whose husband died at the World Trade Center, is the founder of Voices of September 11th, a victims advocacy group.© Copyright 2003 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Child labor victims in Mexico: 'Green beans, child labor and NAFTA'

Green Beans, Child Labor and NAFTA
by Frontera NorteSur
(Photo News 6 San Diego click photo for more)

Two tragic accidents highlight the human toll of child labor in northern
Mexico’s agricultural export industry. Last Saturday, February 7, a
20-month-old child, Ismael de los Santos Barrea, was reported crushed to
death by truck tires at a farm in Sinaloa where his parents, teenage
migrant laborers from the state of Guerrero, were working to support the
family.

Reportedly, no daycare was available for the boy.

A representative of the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center of the Mountain,
a non-governmental organization headquartered in Tlapa, Guerrero, said the
unfortunate child’s grandfather contacted the advocacy organization to
complain of the tragedy.

Margarita Nemecio Nemesio, Tlachinollan migrant coordinator, said legal
representatives for Agricola Reyes, the farm enterprise where de los
Santos Barrea child died, convinced the child’s parents to bury their son
in Sinaloa in order to avoid paying costs associated with transporting the
body to the family’s Guerrero homeland.

“The argument of the boss was that they would come up with an agreement
later since the boy wasn’t a worker for the company,” Nemecio said.

The death of Ismael de los Santos Barrea followed an accident last month
near Culiacan, Sinaloa, in which 10-year-old Angela Barraza Lopez lost
left her arm to a machine while cleaning green beans. Barraza was earning
about $5 per day without benefits when the accident occurred.

“I let her work with her friends, all of them her age, because they paid
well and it helped me with the household expenses,” said Barraza’s mother
Rosario. Similar to the de los Santos Barrea episode, Barraza’s mother
complained of initial difficulties in getting just compensation for death
or injuries.

Child labor is still common in the fields of Sinaloa and other northern
states where thousands of indigenous migrants and their children from the
states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Veracruz, and Mexico make an annual
trek to perform stoop labor and other hard physical chores.

According to the Guerrero-based Council of Agricultural Laborers of the
Mountain, 8,177 migrants from the indigenous region of the state from
which the de los Santos family hails traveled to northern Mexico to work
during the 2008-09 winter harvest. The group additionally reported that
519 infants aged one year or less were brought along on the migration.

Nationwide, Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics, Geography and
Informatics reported that 3.6 million of 29.2 million Mexican children
aged 5-17 were engaged in some kind of economic activity in 2007. In
Guerrero, 20 percent of the age group studied by the federal census agency
was categorized as being in the labor force.

In the north, the states of Sinaloa, Sonora, Chihuahua and Baja California
function as a vast, transnational farming belt that provides food and
fiber for the urbanized societies of the United States and Mexico.
Cucumber, tomato, green beans and chile peppers are popularly-cultivated
crops, among others. According to the Confederation of Agricultural
Associations of Sinaloa, state vegetable exports to the United States
raked in $572 million in 2007. From Sinaloa, 316,828 tons of tomatoes were
sent to the US during the same year.

Guerrero’s Tchallinolan Human Rights Center has documented five other
cases of children killed or injured in the fields of Sinaloa, Sonora and
Chihuahua in recent years. However, spokeswoman Margarita Nemecio said
more cases might not be officially registered.

“We believe the number could be higher,” Nemecio said, “because many times
the owners harass the parents of minors to not get the authorities
involved.”

Mexico, meanwhile, is also a magnet for children laborers from other
nations. Since the beginning of the year, federal authorities have
discovered three groups of Guatemalan minors contracted to work as street
vendors or domestic workers in the southern state of Chiapas. On February
12, police assigned to the federal unit that investigates crimes of
violence against women and human trafficking picked up 11 Guatemalan
children aged 7 to 17 who were selling candy and balloons on the streets
of Tapachula, Chiapas. Allegedly, the children were being paid with water,
cookies and a tarp to sleep with on the ground.



Sources: El Sur, February 11, 2009. Article by Zacarias Cervantes. La
Jornada, January 29 and February 14, 2009. Articles by Javier Valdez
Cardenas, G. Castillo and A. Mariscal.

Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New Mexico

For a free electronic subscription email fnsnews@nmsu.edu

Mohawk Nation News: Divining Obama Secretly 'Damning' Indigenous Water

DIVINING OBAMA SECRETLY “DAMNING” INDIGENOUS WATER

Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/

Feb. 13, 2009 – On February 19th the U.S. “bucket brigade” of President Barack “The-Sorcerer’s-Apprentice” Obama and his entourage will be bringing their empty pails to Canada. They want Prime Minister Stephen “Sponge-Bob” Harper and his buddies to start hauling Indigenous water to the States. They’re after our resources. You can bet on it! The following day Secretary of Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs, Ken “Spanish-Amphibian” Salazar, will make an important announcement about their plan to steal our water.

Ripping off our water is another route of the “banksters” to bring in their New World Order. The multinationals know about the forthcoming water shortages because they’re stealing and polluting it. These water czars call themselves the "global guardians". Part of their plan to control the world is by controlling the food supply through controlling the water supply. The United Nations calls water a human right. The fox want to be in charge of the hen house in this “humanitarian crisis” of their making. Since colonization our Indigenous communities no longer have access to clean water. This doesn’t stop them from pilfering even more from us.

Barack Obama’s front man, Rahm “Walleye” Emanuel, is known as "the godfather of Great Lakes restoration". The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed is part of Haudenosaunee Territory which we will never surrender. The Nanfan Treaty of 1701 prohibits interference by colonists and foreigners on the eastern half of Turtle Island. If they try to do this, they will be committing another violation of the Two Row Wampum Agreement with our people. They know very well we never gave the colonists any rights over our land and resources. As the caretakers and trustees, we have the duty to protect the largest surface fresh water in the world. We Indigenous people are in their way but we are not going away.

Tom “Ol-Man-Canal” Kierans and GrandCo executives like Louis “Marine-Dead-Zone” Desmarais know that Indigenous resistance and sovereignty are the biggest obstacles to their greedy power seizing schemes. That is why Indigenous people like the Algonquins are bombarded with agents from every direction who are trying to confuse and subvert them. The Grand Canal would pass through Algonquin territory in the Canadian Shield of northern Quebec and Ontario.

Senator Salazar of Colorado controls the tap. He lives near Canadian billionaire Maurice “Meathead” Strong who “owns” all that land on top of the largest aquifer in the "USA". Strong is high up in the UN food chain. The resource grab will be “legalized” by setting up a UN army to enforce their attempted domination over us and our water. Is it a coincidence that Maude “Stiletto-Rubber-Boots” Barlow of Ottawa has been appointed as the “UN Senior Advisor on Water”?

Strong also works in Beijing with the Chinese. Huge water diversion projects will be done in China first where there are less environmental or labor laws. China is now building its South to North Water Diversion, the biggest engineering feat since the Three Gorge Dam built by Canadian companies. Half a million people will be relocated or forced to move.

One of the ways that the colonists destroyed our environment was through water diversion to do stupid projects like growing rice in the desert. Even within the last few years the salmon fishery on the Pacific coast has been destroyed to provide water for commercial farmers. They were so focused on immediate profits that they did not heed the damage they were causing to the environment. Turtle Island easily and comfortably supported a large Indigenous population before these catastrophic interventions by these European visitors.

California has just declared a state of emergency due to their four-year drought. Farmers have been denied water and forced to reduce their crops or to stop planting. Drought stricken southwestern USA and Mexico need irrigation to grow food for their market. The U.S. has been turned into a desert. Now they want to mess up the northern part of Turtle Island.

The “Grand Canal” scheme is supposed to divert what they call “wasted” water that flows into James Bay. One of their hair-brained schemes is to block off James Bay and turn it into a fresh water lake which will be diverted to the U.S. Do they realize that they’ll kill everything in the ocean by making it too salty? These plans are made by money grubbers, not ecologists or Indigenous people. It was first proposed by Tom Kierans in 1959. It’s an old rotten idea, just like the opportunists who thought it up. Kierans has no qualifications as an environmentalist. He’s not looking at the inevitable environmental collapse he wants to perpetrate.

Water will be sent for miles along concrete canals and aqueducts sometimes uphill. Nuclear energy will be the horse and wagon for this job. The venture is backed by powerful dirty engineering companies like the UMA Group, the SNC Group, Bechtel Canada Ltd., Rousseau, Sauve and Warren Inc. Kierans says that Lavalin, Canada's largest engineering company, is courting GrandCo, his company. Even Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. [AECL]hopes to supply CANDU reactors to power the pumps that will move up to 30 per cent of the discharge of the Great Lakes.

Canadian people aren’t opposing these schemes because they are too polite and too ignorant. They are also afraid the US will come and take the water by force anyway. The North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA, Security and Prosperity Partnership SPP and North American Union NAU are set up as “illegal diversions” for water theft. Don’t kid yourselves, the U.S. always behaved like vipers in these accords. When they want something, they take it. They don’t let the welfare of other people get in their way. Look at what happened in Iraq! The Great Lakes Water Compact recently approved by Congress and Parliament without any public discussion is a bucket full of holes. They’re going to need more than mops to swab up the humongous environmental disaster they’re trying to commit.

The White Mountain Apaches in Arizona just signed a deal to get clean water to drink. They were forced to give their water in the entire state so that hundreds of golf courses could be kept green. Arizona “loaned” the Apaches the money for their water treatment facility and reservoir. Most Apaches weren’t consulted. The agreement isn’t legal. It’s just the usual colonial con job!

These colonists have to sit with us on a “nation to nation” basis according to our treaties, agreements and inherent jurisdictionh, not on a “government to government” basis as they recently stated. They cannot deal with their hand maidens, the illegal “band” and “tribal” governments they’ve set up.

For us, we should resume growing corn, beans and squash, the sustainers of our ancestors. We need to stay closer to home and family to care for the earth and protect our communities from these water world vultures. These zany visitors from Europe and their passengers just can’t stop themselves from creating one calamity after another over here. Hey, Barack, Stephen, Ken, Maurice, Tom, Louis and Maude, why don’t you stand on the street corner with your empty pails. We might put in a few drops of water to quench your thirst. But that’s all! [For more information and contacts, see background notes are at the end of this article.]

Ia’koha:kowa & MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com kittoh@storm.ca katenies20@yahoo.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations to PayPal at www.mohawknationnews.com, or by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN “Canada” category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! Purchase t-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePressStore http://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews; Subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates http://.mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription.php; Sign Women Title Holders petition! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Iroquois
-------------------------------------------------
BACKGROUND NOTES: Water is the staff of life. We can live without oil, but not water. Some water usage statistics from the UN: Over the past century, the world population has tripled but water consumption has multiplied by a factor of 6. Urban dwellers use more water than rural dwellers for personal use. Right now, agriculture uses about 75% of water, industry 15% and domestic use the balance. Creating a glass of orange juice requires 850 litres of water to produce. A hamburger requires 2400 liters.
Strong worked at the UN in Environment and Economic Development. He was tainted in the oil-for-food scandal. He is still No. 2 at the UN.

The water diversion plan is a big secret scheme. The northern Quebec and Ontario Algonquin territory is being grabbed by Tom Kierans and his GrandCo. One of his backers is the think tank, the “Montreal Economic Institute” headed by the Desmarais family, which is supposedly worth $3.9 billion, all earned from extraction and exploitation of Indigenous resources.

Paul Desmarais Sr. son, Louis Desmarais, is on the board of GrandCo. Louis’ wife, Helene, is chair of the Montreal Economic Institute. Another brother is married to the daughter of former Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chretien. The Desmarais family is also closely associated with former prime ministers Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney and Paul Martin. These people know that water will soon be more valuable than crude oil.

The Desmarais own Power Corp, one of Canada's biggest investment firms. Paul Volker, former US Federal Reserve chairman, is on Power Corp.'s international board. Power Corp. owns a major share in Total Group, formerly Total Fina Elf, the French company that wanted to buy oil from Iraq in Euros.

Power Corp. and BNP Paribas, a French bank, were involved in the UN “oil for food” scandal in Iraq. John Rae, Bob's brother, is on the board at Power Corp. and Pargesa Holding SA, a Paribas subsidiary. Bob Rae took a run at being head of the Liberal Party of Canada to become Prime Minister.

The Grand Canal — estimated in 1994 to cost $100-billion [in 1964 dollars] to build and another $1-billion a year to operate — sees a string of nuclear reactors and hydro dams to pump water uphill, and nine inter-basin transfer locations.

Water would be pumped south from the newly-formed James [Bay] Lake. This would be created by putting a dike across James Bay, which is the southern portion of Hudson’s Bay in northern Quebec and Ontario. This water would be made to flow into the Harricana River, crossing into the Great Lakes watershed near Amos, which is near Barriere Lake, into Lake Timiskaming and the Ottawa River. It would cross near Mattawa into Lake Nipissing and the French River to Lake Huron.

The Ogoki diversion moves water through Lake Nipigon and the Nipigon River into Lake Superior at a point 96 kilometres (60 miles) east of Thunder Bay Ontario. This water was diverted to support three hydroelectric plants on the Nipigon River in 1943. Two huge dams reverse the flow of water way in the wilderness.

The Long Lac diversion diverts water through Long Lake and the Aguasabon River into Lake Superior near Terrace Bay. The diversion provides water for the hydroelectric plant near Terrace Bay and to drive pulpwood down the river.

The Chicago diversion was built after the cholera epidemic which killed over 90,000 people in 1890's. It resulted from raw sewage being dumped into the lake at Chicago. The river was diverted to carry it away to the Mississippi River. Because of Chicago's growing population there is always pressure to increase this diversion out of the Great Lakes.

Many insane diversions have been suggested, often involving blasting and paving waterways. The most persistent is the Grand Canal which was first proposed by Tom Kierans in 1959. The multinationals know about the forthcoming water shortages because they are causing it.

Crandon Mine, Wisconsin, is owned by Exxon and Rio Algom. They propose to develop an underground hard rock metallic sulfide mine near Crandon, Wisconsin, in the Wolf River Basin, which is in the Great Lakes Basin. The company wants to mine 55 million tons of ore, extracting primarily copper and zinc and some lead, silver and gold.

"...Crandon Mining Company proposes to pump out the withdrawn groundwater through a 38 mile pipeline to the Wisconsin River to avoid costly water treatments required to return it to the Lake Michigan watershed."

"...As of February 1997, this proposal was still under consideration by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The proposal is opposed by the Mole Lake Reservation, a large number of local organizations and local governments along both the Wolf and Wisconsin Rivers." Surrounding states and provinces approved this water diversion in 1998.

Great Lakes United staff member Bruce Kershner and intern Carl Bolster found: "the areas with the highest potential to raise demands to divert water from the Great Lakes are Kenosha-Pleasant Prairie (Wisconsin), Lowell-Gary-Hobart (Indiana), Waukesha-New Berlin-Milwaukee (Wisconsin), Akron-Cleveland (Ohio), Chicago (Illinois) and New York City. Recent diversion requests are proving the accuracy of this study."

Diversion within Great Lakes basin: "For the past several years, the Ontario government and several municipalities in southern Ontario have been considering proposals by private companies to build a $500-million pipeline to divert 190 to 229 mld (50 to 60 mgd) of water from Georgian Bay on Lake Huron to provide water to York, Peel, Halton, Wellington and Waterloo Regions.48 This intrabasin transfer would bypass much of Lake Huron, all of the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers, and, depending on the municipality served, Lake Erie and the Niagara River."
Grate lakes have different mineral content. Georgian Bay has drinkable water. Northern mountains have certain hormones that eat up certain viruses as they flow south.

York Region, just north of Toronto, has most actively pursued this proposal, after awarding a tender to provide future water supplies to a consortium of Consumers Gas and British Northwest. In 1996, they came out with a proposal to draw 655 mld (177 mgd) of water from Georgian Bay and discharge treated sewage into Lake Ontario. Several citizens groups, including the Georgian Bay Association, the Safe Sewage Committee, the Canadian Environmental Law Association and Great Lakes United, objected on environmental grounds. In December 1996, York Regional Council dropped the proposal to divert water from Georgian Bay, primarily for economic reasons."

Commission for Environmental Cooperation - Mexico has serious water problems. Much of the US groundwater aquifers are being rapidly depleted.

http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Kierans_Tom_7131907.aspx
"It [grand canal]can add 10% to Canada's fresh water," Kierans claimed in a 1989 presentation to American water regulators in Boston. Global warming, droughts and depleted water reserves in the prairies, California and the US Midwest make the GRAND project inevitable, he says. Now, Kierans says, individual pieces of the project are coming together. Lake Diefenbaker became operational in 1968, and the controversial Rafferty-Alameda dams in southern Saskatchewan - which are being constructed with substantial American financing - would help to regulate the release of water into the Souris and Missouri river systems, Kierans says. "

http://www.mimico-by-the-lake.com/grand.htm
."..The venture is backed by powerful engineering companies - the UMA Group, the SNC Group, Bechtel Canada Ltd., and Rousseau, Sauve, Warren Inc. Kierans says that Lavalin, Canada's largest engineering company is courting GRANDCO. Even Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. [AECL] hopes to supply CANDU reactors to power the pumps.
Kierens company is GrandCo. Chair of Board is "Louis Desmarais, Liberal MP from 1979 to 1984 in Montreal; president of J.D.E. Consulting Services Ltd.; chairman of Canadian Home Assurance Co; Power Corporation; and Canada Steamship Lines. "GRANDCO Joint Ventures for Engineering is headed by Gilles Mariner, who recently returned to the SNC Group from the James Bay Energy Corporation..."

SEARCH TERMS: Great Recycling and Northern Development Canal; Thomas Kierans and GrandCo; Simon Reisman, negotiator for the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement; the late Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa; Brian Mulroney , former Prime Minister, on board of food cartel, Archer, Daniels Midland; Rafferty and Alameda dams in Alberta; Lake Diefenbaker, Saskatchewan; Montreal Economic Institute, Helene Desmarais; Alliance for the Great Lakes; American Rivers; Karel Mayrand of David Suzuki Foundation, Quebec; Louis Desmarais; Bill C-6; Great Lakes Compact; Mitch Bronfman and Maurice Strong; WATER: RETHINKING MANAGEMENT IN AN AGE OF SCARCITY, Worldwatch Institute; Power Corp., Paul Desmarais, Jr.; Garda World Security Corporation; "Great Lakes Water Wars" by Peter Annin.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Recycling_and_Northern_Development_Canal
http://www.greatlakesdirectory.org/zarticles/102802_great_lakes2.htm
http://waterwars.wordpress.com/2006/12/02/a-brief-history-of-the-great-recycling-and-northern-development-grand-canal-project/
http://www.discovervancouver.com/forum/BRIAN-MULRONEY-S-GRAND-CANAL-t131262.html
http://www.greatlakeswaterwars.com/chapter1.htm
Contact info, Links and sources
The White House and Interior web sites:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

www.doi.gov
Mailing Address: Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W. Washington DC 20240
Phone: 202-208-3100 E-Mail: webteam@ios.doi.gov

Canadian Politricksters: Reid.S@parl.gc.ca, Harper.S@parl.gc.ca, Nicholson.R@parl.gc.ca, Day.S@parl.gc.ca,VanLoan.P@parl.gc.ca, McCallum.J@parl.gc.ca, Easter.W@parl.gc.ca, Szabo.P@parl.gc.ca, Baird.J@parl.gc.ca, Clement.T@parl.gc.ca, leader@greenparty.ca, donna.dillman@greenparty.ca, Cannon.L@parl.gc.ca, Sorenson.K@parl.gc.ca, Dewar.P@parl.gc.ca, Patry.B@parl.gc.ca, ThibaLo@parl.gc.ca, ChongM@parl.gc.ca, TrostB@parl.gc.ca, BigraB@parl.gc.ca, CardiS@parl.gc.ca, LafraM@parl.gc.ca, CulleN@parl.gc.ca, GallaC@parl.gc.ca, HawnL@parl.gc.ca, McTeaD@parl.gc.ca, AlghaO@parl.gc.ca, AnderDa@parl.gc.ca, BevinD@parl.gc.ca, DebelC@parl.gc.ca, OuellCh@parl.gc.ca, CrowdJ@parl.gc.ca, ChowO@parl.gc.ca, LunnG@parl.gc.ca, BerniM@parl.gc.ca, StrahC@parl.gc.ca, MilliP@parl.gc.ca, Hill.J@parl.gc.ca, MacKay.P@parl.gc.ca, Kramp.D@parl.gc.ca, Brown.G@parl.gc.ca, DelMastro.D@parl.gc.ca, Dewar.P@parl.gc.ca, Coderre.D@parl.gc.ca, DionS@parl.gc.ca, Comartin.J@parl.gc.ca, Oda.B@parl.gc.ca, OConnor.G@parl.gc.ca, Atamaa1@parl.gc.ca, blackd@parl.gc.ca, Black.D@parl.gc.ca, Ambrose.R@parl.gc.ca, Toews.V@parl.gc.ca, Blackburn.J@parl.gc.ca, Paradis.C@parl.gc.ca, Moore.J@parl.gc.ca, Mulcair.T@parl.gc.ca, Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca, Barbot.V@parl.gc.ca, Layton.J@parl.gc.ca, BlackJ@parl.gc.ca

White River Apaches
http://www.wmicentral.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20258633&BRD=2264&PAG=461&dept_id=505965&rfi=6

http://www.geocities.com/coqrico/apacheintro.html
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2009/01/16/20090116waterdeal0116.html
http://www.wmat.nsn.us/
Indian Water Resources News
http://www.waterchat.com/News/Indian/ind_headlines.htm
www.fsin.com/landsandresources/downloads/2006WaterSummit-Presentations/FNwaterrightsFNwaterpowers.pdf
http://www.doi.gov/secretary/speeches/021209_statement.html
http://waterwatchalliance.googlepages.com/agenda21
http://www.landsurveyinghistory.ab.ca/Characters/Dennis_JS.htm
http://media.www.lawrentian.com/media/storage/paper409/news/2009/01/23/Features/Annin.Welcomes.Lu.To.The.Basin-3591763.shtml
Read: "Great Lakes Water Wars" by Peter Annin
California's water worries
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jan/25/1n25water232615-farmers-feel-squeeze-which-could-w/?zIndex=42700
http://sonomasun.thmm.com/?p=6578
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1603598.html
China's water woes
http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2006/08/chinese_drought.html
http://www.mwr.gov.cn/english1/20040806/38392.asp
http://www.wwfchina.org/english/loca.php?loca=299
Human Rights in China (HRIC) http://www.hrichina.org
International Rivers Network (IRN) http://www.irn.org
Three Gorges Probe http://www.threegorgesprobe.org
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/07/content_10778515.http
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90785/6586680.html
Maurice Strong (1,000's of hits at google)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3522537
http://www.pehi.eu/organisations/introduction/PEHI_Maurice_F_Strong_bio.htm
http://www.sovereignty.net/p/sd/strong.html
http://www.locolocass.net/locoforum/viewtopic.php?t=10347

DOODA Desert Rock: Bingaman, the color of Desert Rock and sickness is black, not green

DOODA (NO) DESERT ROCK COMMITTEE
Elouise Brown, President
P.O. Box 7838
Newcomb, Navajo Nation
(New Mexico) 87455
(505) 947-6159

February 13, 2009
The Honorable Jeff Bingaman
United States Senate
703 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Bingaman:
There is an essay about the proposed Desert Rock power plant in the February 12, 2009 issue of High Country News, Laura Paskus, It’s time to abandon Desert Rock. I write to you because the essay says that you support the plant. More specifically, it says that you have a reputation for supporting “green” initiatives, “But when it comes to Desert Rock, Bingaman demurs, saying he has no control over a coal plant destined for sovereign soil.” When Ron Curry, New Mexico’s Environment Department Secretary, testified on EPA approval of new power plants on November 8, 2007, he pointed out that conditions in New Mexico are such that there cannot be any new power plant unless it is subject to “Best Available Control Technology.” Curry was immediately accused of interfering with Navajo Nation sovereignty.
I am concerned about sovereignty and our freedoms as Navajos under the Treaty of 1868. However I am even more concerned about our health. When the URS corporation wrote the proposed environmental impact statement for the power plant it stated that “a review of the available literature has not found that the communities in the vicinity of the proposed plant have higher susceptibility to particulate matter emissions than other populations in the United States because asthma rates in New Mexico are not significantly different than for other populations in the United States.” Nova Blazej, the Manager of the Region IX Environmental Office of the EPA, wrote to an official in the Navajo Regional Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to correct errors and omissions in the URS report. It ignored a July 2006 U.S. Geological Survey study that showed that people who live in Shiprock are more than five times as likely to get treatment for respiratory complaints than other residents of the area. The U.S.G.S. study also found that Shiprock residents under age 5 and over 56 are more than twice as likely to get treatment than the others. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2006/3094/fs2006-3094_eng.pdf
On January 24, 2008 I wrote to the Navajo Regional Office to point out that URS did not follow a major guideline required by environmental justice standards by getting health data on those who would be subjected to air pollution from a third major power plant in our area. The victimization of Shiprock Navajos is being ignored, and we do not think that it is a proper act of a sovereign to subject its own people to health risks. The Navajo Nation Air Pollution Prevention and Control Act closely tracks the federal Clean Air Act, but the federal government has ignored the fact that green house gases are pollutants for years. Now that we have a responsible administration that is asking for public input on that, we are going to participate.
Senator, it is understandable that — given the Navajo vote — you are hesitant to take a strong position on Desert Rock. We represent Navajos who vote for progressive candidates, and tell you that sovereignty has nothing to do with how our government is ignoring our interests. It has more to do with greed and being controlled by Mr. Rudy Giuliani’s law firm.
Sincerely,
Elouise Brown

9/11 Widow Killed in Plane Crash in Buffalo

9/11 activist dies in plane crash:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-eckert14-2009feb14,0,6636504.story

My Silence Cannot Be Bought
by Beverly Eckert

Photo AP

I've chosen to go to court rather than accept a payoff from the 9/11 victims compensation fund. Instead, I want to know what went so wrong with our intelligence and security systems that a band of religious fanatics was able to turn four U.S passenger jets into an enemy force, attack our cities and kill 3,000 civilians with terrifying ease. I want to know why two 110-story skyscrapers collapsed in less than two hours and why escape and rescue options were so limited.

I am suing because unlike other investigative avenues, including congressional hearings and the 9/11 commission, my lawsuit requires all testimony be given under oath and fully uses powers to compel evidence.

The victims fund was not created in a spirit of compassion. Rather, it was a tacit acknowledgement by Congress that it tampered with our civil justice system in an unprecedented way. Lawmakers capped the liability of the airlines at the behest of lobbyists who descended on Washington while the Sept. 11 fires still smoldered.

And this liability cap protects not just the airlines, but also World Trade Center builders, safety engineers and other defendants.

The caps on liability have consequences for those who want to sue to shed light on the mistakes of 9/11. It means the playing field is tilted steeply in favor of those who need to be held accountable. With the financial consequences other than insurance proceeds removed, there is no incentive for those whose negligence contributed to the death toll to acknowledge their failings or implement reforms. They can afford to deny culpability and play a waiting game.

By suing, I've forfeited the "$1.8 million average award" for a death claim I could have collected under the fund. Nor do I have any illusions about winning money in my suit. What I do know is I owe it to my husband, whose death I believe could have been avoided, to see that all of those responsible are held accountable. If we don't get answers to what went wrong, there will be a next time. And instead of 3,000 dead, it will be 10,000. What will Congress do then?

So I say to Congress, big business and everyone who conspired to divert attention from government and private-sector failures: My husband's life was priceless, and I will not let his death be meaningless. My silence cannot be bought.

Beverly Eckert, whose husband died at the World Trade Center, is the founder of Voices of September 11th, a victims advocacy group.

© Copyright 2003 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Judiciary Committee members call for investigation of Arpaio

Judiciary Committee Members Call for Investigation of Sheriff Arpaio's Disregard for Rights of Hispanic Residents


For Immediate Release
February 13, 2009
Contact: Jonathan Godfrey (Conyers)
Pedro Riberio (Lofgren)
Ilan Kayatsky (Nadler)
Larry Dillard (Scott)

WASHINGTON - House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), and Immigration Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Constitution Subcommittee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), and Crime Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-Va.) called on Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to investigate allegations of misconduct by Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Sheriff Arpaio has repeatedly demonstrated disregard for the rights of Hispanics in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Under the guise of immigration enforcement, his staff has conducted raids in residential neighborhoods in a manner condemned by the community as racial profiling. On February 4, 2009, Arpaio invited the media to view the transfer of immigrant detainees to a segregated area of his "tent city" jail, subjecting the detainees to public display and "ritual humiliation." Persistent actions such as these have resulted in numerous lawsuits; while Arpaio spends time and energy on publicity and his reality television show, "Smile... You're Under Arrest!", Maricopa County has paid millions of dollars in settlements involving dead or injured inmates.

"Racial profiling and segregation are simply not acceptable." said Conyers. "Media stunts and braggadocio are no substitute for fair and effective law enforcement."

"The basic premise of our justice system is that people are innocent until proven otherwise," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren. "I'm concerned that in Maricopa County that basic premise appears to have been turned upside down and that Latino members of community are considered "undocumented" until proven otherwise. That's not how our Constitution works and it's time for the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to take a closer look."

"We cannot tolerate vigilantes using the police power to violate the fundamental rights of anyone they can get their hands on," said Nadler. "Sheriff Arpaio has consistently abused his office in violation of federal law. It is time for the federal government to step in and uphold the rule of law in this country, even in Maricopa County." "Law enforcement is not a game or a reality show, it is a public trust," said Scott. "There is no excuse for callous indifference to the rights of the residents of Arizona, whether in their neighborhoods or as pretrial detainees."

American Indian Studies Ojibwe Language Weekend -- 'Ni'Shin!'

American Indian Studies Ojibwe Language Weekend – “Ni’Shin!”

By Brita Brookes,

Michigan Correspondent and Photographer

Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Photos by Brita Brookes: Third year linguistics student Autumn Mitchell reads a story in Ojibwe as her Professor Helen Roy looks on with approval. Ribbon Town Singers provided one of the three drums for the Pow Wow and concluded the Pow Wow with the AIM song.

LANSING, Mich. -- On the rare sunny winter day while walking into the Ojibwe Language Weekend Pow Wow in Lansing, Michigan last weekend, one could hear the drums beckoning from the parking lot. Once in the building, one saw smiling faces and heard a loud and happy “Aanii!” In the Ojibwe language “Aanii” is “Hello.” At this event, there was sunshine inside as well as outside.


The Michigan State Department of Linguistics & German, Asian, Slavic, and African Languages, The American Indian Studies Program, and the North American Indigenous Student Organization sponsored and organized the weekend event “Learning and Living the Language” which created an environment where students and community members could be immersed in the Ojibwe language. As language Professor Helen Roy communicated on the event flyer, “it is our duty and our inherent nature as Anishinaabeg to preserve the language of our ancestors.”

The Pow Wow which was held at a local community center meeting room was done completely in the Ojibwe language. Third year Linguistics Student Autumn Mitchell read aloud two stories in Ojibwe while a projection screen on the wall projected artful illustrations of the storyline. Autumn has been a student of Helen Roy’s language teachings since Middle School. Autumn read two stories “When you Give a Mouse a Cookie” and my favorite “When you give a Mouse a Drumstick.” Already with extensive language training for her age, Autumn will be graduating in a year and a half and will be able to utilize her skills in continuing the legacy of promoting the language.

The loss of the Native Language can mainly be explained as a result of the oppressive and abusive nature of the Indian Boarding Schools which began in the 1870’s and continued on into the 1930’s and in some cases beyond. During the era of the Indian Boarding Schools, use of native language was forbidden and Indian students were severely punished if they spoke their language. The United States Government’s stance on the use of these harsh tactics was to create “assimilation through education.” Unfortunately, the majority of these educational facilities were latent with abuse and lack of respect for traditional culture. The wounds from the Indian Boarding Schools in the United States and Canada still remain today and explain why several generations of Native Americans do not speak their traditional language.

The Learning the Language Pow Wow is evidence that the preservation and continuation of the language is being actively worked on in Michigan and being embraced by all generations of the community. Head Veteran and respected elder George Martin lead the room in a Blanket Dance for the three Drum Groups. During the Inter-tribal dances Head Woman Dancer Julie Whitepigeon and the Head Male Dancer lead the group while teenage shawl dancers, parents, elders, little babies, and curious visitors followed into the ever moving circle of colors and beauty. As they danced, Language Professor Helen Roy MC’d the activities in the language as the crowd of onlookers watched and listened carefully to the words. Many audience members tried to read along as the words appeared on the screen.

The Pow Wow was free and open to the public. Like new spring flowers appearing in the snow, there was a large group of dancers who wore new regalia dresses and outfits which were carefully made over this long hard winter. To keep these flowers moving in time, there was presence of three drum groups including ‘Ribbon Town.’. The Pow Wow concluded with a Giveaway and a great rendition of “Splish, Splash I was Taking a Bath” on guitar and of course sung in the language by all, with some help from the experts!

The Michigan State Pow Wow of Love will be occurring the weekend of February 21, 22 in hopes of continuing the momentum from this event. It was nice to see the students and community taking aim and shooting for their dream of reigniting the use of the language. See you next weekend!

For more information on the Michigan State University Linguistics Program and the Event Student Organizations:
http://aisp.msu.edu/index.html
https://www.msu.edu/~naiso/
http://linglang.msu.edu/
For more information on the Michigan State University Pow Wow of Love:
https://www.msu.edu/~naiso/powwow/
Submitted by Brita Brookes
http://www.myspace.com/missbinthed

Congress members to Obama: Halt border fence, NAGPRA violations

Photo: Boeing constructs border fence on Tohono O'odham land in 2007. Boeing dug up the graves of O'odham ancestors to the east and west of this location, south of Sells, Arizona. At least three graves were dup up on Tohono O'odham land west of here, and at least 69 graves were dug up east of here, near Nogales. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff waived NAGPRA and all federal laws to build the wall. Photo Brenda Norrell

Letter to President Obama from eight members of Congress:

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

February 10,2009


Dear President Obama:


As Members of Congress who represent border communities, we welcome your decision to evaluate border security operations before considering whether to finish construction of the border fence. However, we write to ask that you suspend, at least temporarily, construction of the border fence until your evaluation is complete.

We, along with our constituents, understand the importance of protecting our borders. Though there are places where a fence is the most feasible option, we strongly believe the Bush Administration's approach of constructing a fence along much of the Southwest Border was ill conceived as it was void of any meaningful input from the local communities or the Border Patrol Sector Chiefs who are most familiar with the challenges of securing our border. In an era of advanced technologies, the border fence is an antiquated structure that has torn our communities apart and damaged our cross border relationships.

As you may be aware, the previous administration undertook controversial measures to expedite the construction of border fencing, such as the waiver of more than thirty environmental laws. However, despite continually missing deadlines and, at times, forgoing the proper completion of land acquisition transactions, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has moved forward with much haste. In Cameron County, for example, the DHS issued a commence work order on December 30, 2008, for eight fence segments, none of which had completed the acquisition of the land required.

Furthermore, we would also like to bring to your attention the impact the Bush Administration's approach to the fence had on Indian Country. There are several tribal nations on the US-Mexico Border, during the pushing of the fence these nations were not consulted and in many instances their sovereignty was undermined. Basic protections and rights under the National Historic Preservation Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act were violated. One example was the destruction of 69 Tohono O'odham graves south of Tucson in 2007.

Additionally, the costs associated with construction of border fencing have rapidly escalated. In August 2008 the Government Accountability Office testified that fencing costs averaged $7.5 million per mile for pedestrian fencing and $2.8 million per mile for vehicle fencing, up from estimates in February of $4 million and $2 million, respectively. Furthermore, a Corps of Engineers study predicted the 25-year life cycle cost of maintaining border fencing would range from $16.4 million to $70 million.

Once again, we respectfully request that you suspend construction of border fencing until your Administration has had time to properly review its merits as well as consult with those on the ground most familiar with the situation. We look forward to working with you and Secretary Janet Napolitano to find a balanced and cost-effective approach to ensuring our nation's borders are secure.


Sincerely,

Raul Grijalva, Member of Congress
Solomon P. Ortiz, Member of Congress
Silvestre Reyes, Member of Congress
Ruben Hinojosa, Member of Congress
Bob Filner, Member of Congress
Henry Cuellar, Member of Congress
Susan Davis, Member of Congress
Ciro D. Rodriguez, Member of Congress

House Democrats call for halt to border fence
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&q=halt+border+fence

Who's That Nuking at My Door?

Navajo vice president tours renewable, nuclear energy facilities in France

By Kathy Helms

Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent
http://www.gallupindependent.com/2009/02February/021209whosthat.html

WINDOW ROCK – Navajo Nation Vice President Ben Shelly is in Paris, France, this week to look at renewable energy and the recycling of nuclear fuel.


Sherrick Roanhorse of the Vice President's Office said Shelly is one of nine tribal leaders invited by the International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management in Denver. “The trip is purely educational. It's to educate tribal leaders about energy policy, energy technology, and it's to make the tribal leaders aware of energy projects.


“The United States currently does not recycle spent fuel rods by the United States' 104 reactors,” Roanhorse said.


According to its Web site, the Institute and Areva – the world leader in nuclear power – organized a series of site visits to Areva energy facilities in France for a tribal delegation from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Osage Nation, and Navajo Nation.


Also in the delegation are representatives of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes and Sinte Gleska University in Mission, S.D. The site visits are intended to further inform tribal leadership on the wide range of energy and sustainable development issues that already are the focus of national and international energy and climate policies and programs, the announcement states.


Areva has manufacturing facilities in 43 countries and a sales network in more than 100. The nuclear giant has a front-end division that deals with uranium ore exploration, mining, concentration, conversion and enrichment, nuclear fuel design and fabrication.


The company also designs and constructs nuclear reactors, while its back-end division specializes in the treatment and recycling of used fuel and cleanup of nuclear facilities. It also has a transmission and distribution division that provides systems and services designed to transport and distribute electricity from the power plant to the final user.


The Arizona Legislature is considering House Bill 2623, to add a renewable energy standard. Under the bill, nuclear energy would be considered renewable energy. The “Renewable Energy Policy” would include tax credits and incentives relating to the production and distribution of solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, nuclear, hydro generation, agricultural waste and landfill gas power.


“Renewables is one answer. It's not the whole answer, but it's one answer to economic development,” Roanhorse said. “What's driving our whole energy policy is just to try to develop what we have, as well as bring more jobs to our people, and we're looking at different avenues.


“But we're not building a nuclear plant. We're not discussing it, we're not thinking about it, and it's not on our agenda because the Navajo Nation Council and the Navajo Nation as a whole oppose uranium mining and milling. It's the law of the land. We follow that.”


When asked whether the Nation was looking at selling uranium to a foreign entity, Roanhorse said, “I can't answer that. There's no talks of uranium mining or anything of that nature. It's too premature to talk about uranium mining or future nuclear facilities.” He said the group is looking at biomass – the burning of wood fuels – and wind energy, and that the vice president did tour a nuclear recycling fuel site.


Due to the projected Navajo Nation budget shortfall of more than $15 million, the executive branch imposed travel restrictions for its staff on Feb. 6, according to George Hardeen, communications director for the Office of the President/Vice President.


Roanhorse said the vice president's round-trip plane ticket on United Airlines from Albuquerque to Paris cost only $646 and was paid for by the Division of Natural Resources, with the Institute footing the bill for all other costs. The initiative was spearheaded by the Division of Natural Resources, he said. “They're looking at all sorts of energy. Our primary interest is renewable energy, but we also wanted to learn more about nuclear recycling.”


Hardeen said the Navajo ban on uranium mining and processing is the law of the land and will remain so until the Navajo people decide otherwise.


“That's not to say that Navajo leaders should close their eyes when invited to learn about the latest technology, but it will be the Navajo people who will change that law, if they change that law. It's not something that the vice president can do or the president can do, or that they would choose to do.”


Resources Committee Chairman George Arthur, who was unaware of the vice president's trip or that it was being paid for out of the division's budget, said, “That's interesting, because I'm getting my education right here on Navajo with people that are party to some of these discussions and I don't have to travel very far to get good information on renewable energy like wind power and solar energy. It's just next door to us.


“As far as nuclear interest is concerned, I'm kind of puzzled that one particular leadership should be having to travel abroad to expand on the industry or to be educated in respect to nuclear development when that in itself has been very devastating to our own Navajo people. I, for one, took the initiative to put forth a legislation that I assume the Navajo Nation leadership upholds and will uphold in respect to the banning of nuclear development, either mining or processing activities.”


Budget and Finance Committee Chairman LoRenzo Bates also said that the Navajo Nation has spoken on the uranium issue “and before any possibility of that being considered, it most definitely has to be brought back to the Nation for consideration. But given the lack of any further revenue outside of the casinos, outside of Desert Rock that has yet to become a reality, a president may end up looking at some sort of involvement with uranium.


“But up until then, that president cannot be beating around the bush. A president has to come out and let the people know that this is what's being considered. This back-room tactics doesn't cut it with the Navajo people. At some point there will be a president that's going to have to deal with the matter.”

Also read: Nuclear trash heap, deadly for 250,000 years
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=nuclear-waste-lethal-trash-or-renewable-energy-source

Quitovac: Stop the Dump! 2009

double click to enlarge

UN Representative comments on Jim Main Jr. trial

U. N. representative comments on Main trial
(Created: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 12:28 PM MST)

Jim Main Jr., was convicted of deliberate homicide in a rush trial. Longtime Gros Ventre activist Jim Main Sr. died just days before the trial.

Article by Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tleeds@havredailynews.com

http://www.havredailynews.com/articles/2009/02/11/local_headlines/local.txt

(Photo: Vernie White Cow Main holds a photo of her son, Jim Main, Jr./Photo by Brenda Norrell)

The murder trial of James Main Jr. In Havre attracted the attention of representatives of the United Nations, with one saying it is a sad commentary on the state of justice for Native Americans. Paul Haible, a deputy delegate to the United Nations for Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum’s foundation, said the testimony at the trial made it apparent that the death of Lloyd “Lucky” Kvelstad in Havre on Nov. 25, 2006, was a “sorry, ugly incident. “But that doesn’t mean you rush to judgment and not give the opportunity for a fair trial,” he said. Haible — who said he knew the father of James Main Jr., James Main Sr., for some 20 years — said the family of the defendant had called to tell the United Nations the case might be of interest in seeing how indigenous people are treated in court.

“This is a call from the family to see if there was a rush to justice,” he said. Main was charged after the body of Kvelstad, beaten and with a drawstring from a hooded sweatshirt tied tightly around his neck, was found in the residence of Melissa “Missy” Snow. Snow pleaded guilty to tampering with physical evidence at the scene, and a jury in November convicted Kim A. Norquay Jr. Of charges of deliberate homicide and tampering with evidence stemming from the incident.

Following a six-day trial which Haible watched, and a fellow delegate for Menchu Tum, Ali El-Issa, watched through last Friday, a jury Monday evening disagreed with Haible’s assessment. It convicted Main of deliberate homicide for committing or aiding or abetting the commission of an aggravated assault that resulted in Kvelstad’s death. Norquay was convicted of the same charge. Haible said during an interview while the jury deliberated that he was concerned the investigation had been slanted to convict Main, as the defense contended.

“I felt it was pretty well-structured in support of early judgment,” Haible said. Haible cited some specifics, such as a piece of evidence — apparently a piece of bloody tissue found outside of Snow’s residence the night of the incident — that was never tested at the state Crime Lab. “Why wasn’t the tissue tested?” Haible asked. “That was an incredible oversight. … “Nobody is owning up to why that happened,” he added.

Haible said that he did believe the defense, presented by Great Falls attorney Kenneth Olson, did a good job in arguing Main’s innocence and in pointing out problems in the investigation and prosecution of the case. The defense contended that the investigators and prosecutors had looked for evidence proving Main’s guilt from the start. It claimed that items were not tested at the state Crime Lab which should have been tested, and that investigation of statements from witnesses that could have absolved Main were not followed up. The prosecution replied that testing of evidence at the Crime Lab was prioritized to test evidence with the most value in the case. The defense also had the opportunity to have evidence tested, it said. The prosecution also said that witnesses were interviewed, and although it did not use the testimony, it provided the defense with information it used for its investigation while claiming the prosecution had not investigated the witnesses.

Haible said that problems inherent in the system — and not just in Montana but throughout the country — lead to problems for Native Americans. “Everybody knows an Indian could have difficulties in the court system in Montana,” he said. One he pointed out was that the system used in Montana to seat the jury led to only one Native American on the jury, rather than selecting more Native Americans who were present in the jury pool.

“It set up a situation where it was not a jury of his peers,” Haible said. Haible said he got the perception that there, indeed, was a rush to judgment on the case of the prosecution. That comes at a time when the issue of rights of indigenous people around the world, like Native Americans in the United States, is at a forefront. On Sept. 13, 2007, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted The Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, drafting of which began in 1985.

Ali El-Issa said Friday that only four nations have not signed that declaration — Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. Haible said he believes he saw issues raised around the world concerning the rights of indigenous people at the trial. “Issues that have been raised the last several years dovetail into issues we see here,” he said. ———
On the Net: U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues:
www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii

Obama Administration maintains Bush secrecy policy on US torture

Why Should the U.S. Government's Right to Secrecy Trump the Right of People Not to be Tortured?

US torturers made incisions in his body and poured in hot stinging liquids, broke his bones

By The World Can't Wait


Binyam Mohamed is no longer a non-person, even though he's still in Guantanamo. After being flown around the world by the CIA, and tortured in both Pakistan and Morocco, he's fighting the torture. Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union have direct testimony of torture from the five who were transported in CIA sponsored flights by Jeppesen Datalan, a subsidiary of Boeing, and testimony to show that employees of Jeppesen knew they were planning flights in what has become known infamously as the "Torture Taxi."

Yesterday, the ACLU represented Mohamed and 4 other men who were tortured and "rendered" by the CIA in the US Court of Appeals, 9th District in San Francisco. The Bush administration had gotten a judge to throw out the men's lawsuit against "extraordinary rendition." The ACLU and others hoped that the Obama administration would not stand on "national security" and let the suit go forward.

But no. The New York Times reports today, "the Obama administration seemed to surprise a panel of federal appeals judges on Monday by pressing ahead with an argument for preserving state secrets originally developed by the Bush administration." The ACLU provided testimony from Mohamed that, "he was routinely beaten, suffering broken bones and, on occasion, loss of consciousness. His clothes were cut off with a scalpel and the same scalpel was then used to make incisions on his body, including his penis. A hot stinging liquid was then poured into open wounds on his penis where he had been cut. He was frequently threatened with rape, electrocution and death."

The World Can't Wait continues to demand an end to torture carried on directly by the United States or its allies; the overturning of the Military Commissions Act and "enhanced" interrogation whether carried out by U.S. military, CIA, private contractors, or allied governments' the closure of Guantanamo, Bagram and other indefinite detention facilities controlled by the United States. It believes that the rights of the people to be free of government spying supersede the secrecy rights of the government. Read more
http://worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5370:world-cant-wait-asks-why-should-the-us-governments-right-to-secrecy-trump-the-right-of-people-not-to-be-tortured&catid=117:homepage&Itemid=289

Rodriguez: 'The Face of the New American Bigot'

Newspapers can pick up column by contacting New America Media. Individuals can suggest to their newspapers to carry the column, also by contacting New America Media.

NEW AMERICA MEDIA
The Face of the New American Bigot
By Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez
Feb 11, 2009

On the issue of immigration, there is little difference between conservatives and extremists. Both camps have come to greatly admire Sheriff Joe Arpaio – America's toughest sheriff. To this Arizona lawman, there is nothing wrong with racially profiling red-brown peoples and communities. And of course, his supporters applaud his every antic, including the recent public spectacle of humiliating some 220 migrants in Phoenix by parading them in public.

This is arguably why the GOP is dying. Arpaio has become the Bull Conner of our times. For conservative Republicans to embrace him – akin to how extremists embrace him – gives the nation a clear message: the GOP is more interested in preserving its outdated ideology and
(racial) heritage, than in expanding its base.

As the economy continues its uncontrolled convulsions, the nation also continues to convulse with an increasing number of ugly cases of racial bigotry and acts of violence against immigrants.

Indeed, this era is now marked
by the rise of the New American Bigot. The old one has undergone an extreme makeover; save for lawman Arpaio, the New American bigot is no longer the Aryan extremist or unrepentant segregationist. George Wallace is out and CNN's jolly Lou Dobbs is in.

Link to rest of column at:

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=852f40a74bb623a207837d5d6e278c70

Mohawk Nation News: Revenge of the Cradleboard

REVENGE OF THE CRADLEBOARD – the “500 year war” of Indigenous genocide

Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com

Feb. 9, 2009. When the Europeans invaded Turtle Island, they thought indigenous people were in their way. They pushed us west and did everything they could to get rid of us. Where did we go? 115 million were “disappeared” and the world doesn’t care.

The scum dogs of Europe set in motion a plan to dispossess us of our territories and resources. Almost all of us were annihilated in the biggest holocaust in the history of mankind. They developed “scientific theories” that claimed we were an inferior race to justify killing us off. Their motto was “the only good Indian is a dead Indian”. So there are only we mean ones left. Our ancestors sacrificed their lives at great cost so a few could be on Turtle Island today: in the beginning of the 20th century, from 60 million to 260,000 in the U.S. and less than 100,000 in Canada.

The law in Canada was that “a person was anyone other than an Indian”. We were treated like sub humans. The U.S. and Canada starved, subjugated, exterminated and then interned us on worthless land where it was almost impossible to survive. Today like guinea pigs we are numbered and catalogued more than anyone else in centralized computer information banks on all aspects of our lives.

As part of “racial hygiene” we were sterilized against our will. Our children were taken from us and put into concentration camps called residential/boarding schools. “Kill the Indian and save the man” was their motto. In Canada almost half never returned home. They were sexually abused, experimented on or murdered. Hitler’s World War II holocaust was modeled on the American Indian one.

Eugenics was part of how 10,000 French Canadians become a population of millions while we were being wiped out.

In the early days of New France, as Quebec was called, the birthrate was low because few European women were in Canada before 1663. After the English defeated them in 1760, the Roman Catholic Church’s retaliation was called the “revenge of the cradle”. They wanted to drown the English in a “bath” of French Catholic babies. The priests told the women that the ideal French Canadian mother was the one who took the first son from the cradle to replace him with his younger brother, while telling him that next year a little sister would take his place and so on. Fourteen children was the ideal. If they did not produce a child every year, they had to confess their sin. The protestants used the same fertility strategy to secure their theft of our lands. The physical strain of this policy killed the settler women and many of their babies.

The women got medals from the Pope for having at least 10 children. In 1973 a reporter from France, Andre Luchaire, wrote a story about this for La Presse. He visited a woman in the Laurentians, north of Montreal, who had over 25 children. He asked her to name her children who were running all around playing. She signaled one over and asked him, “What’s your name, son?”

In the 1970s after the “quiet revolution” when modern life hit Quebec, the French birthrate plummeted. They stampeded out of the church over this issue.

Recently technology made it possible for a 33-year old single woman in California to give birth to eight babies at one time through in vitro fertilization. She already had six. In previous multiple births the government stepped in and made assistance and funds available to help out the families. In this recent event, criticism and almost condemnation has been leveled at the mother about the cost to taxpayers, the social problems and government funds expended. Why? She is well educated and loves her 14 children. This woman is a person of color and she did not intend to have eight children. She wanted only one. All the implanted eggs survived in her womb and produced eight babies. She could not bring herself to abort any of them. She is obviously strong and so are her offspring to survive such an ordeal.

Since the invaders to Turtle Island have almost destroyed the environment that threatens to wipe out humanity, it is time to bring back the ways of Indigenous people to save mother earth.

We are not advocating that Indigenous women start having eight babies at a time. Indigenous women should be given the assistance needed to cut down our high infant death rate and to stop the theft of our children by government agencies such as social services. The survival and health of our babies means raising them in a decent standard of living to which we are entitled. Presently we are forced to live in one of the lowest life standards in the world. To take care of our children we need the same level of human rights as anybody else. Why is this being denied to us?

Yes, our birthrate is higher than the rest. This is a natural biological response to the genocide perpetrated on us. Canada wants to cut down our births. To hit us Ottawa recently made two major budget cuts to help stay-at-home mothers and provide day care for those who have to work. More will have to go on welfare which is not enough to cover decent food and shelter. Canada is deliberately creating hopelessness to lower our population by knowingly worsening conditions that will make us sick and that will make it harder for us to look after our children.

The colonists would rather hang empty cradle boards on museum walls than put live Indigenous babies in them to be raised by healthy Indigenous communities.

Ia’koha:kowa & MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com kittoh@storm.ca katenies20@yahoo.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations to PayPal at www.mohawknationnews.com, or by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN “Canada” category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! Purchase t-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePressStore http://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews; Subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates http://.mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription.php; Sign Women Title Holders petition! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Iroquois

Listen: Indigenous Peoples and Bolivia's Constitutional Reform

THE CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM IN BOLIVIA AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES THERE

"Indigenous Politics: From Native New England and Beyond" radio program on
WESU, Middletown, CT, 88.1fm.
~~~
LISTEN ONLINE to host Kehaulani Kauanui, while the program airs from 4-4:55pm (EST):
http://www.wesufm.org/
On Tuesday, February 10, 2009, join your host, J. Kehaulani Kauanui for an episode that will focus on recent developments in Bolivia, where a national referendum held on January 25, 2009 passed after a long and contentious road in order advance a new constitution under the leadership of Bolivian President Evo Morales, the first Indian president of a South American country. On the show, we will hear from Dr. Victoria Bomberry (Muscogee) and Dr. José Antonio Lucero about the politics of the new constitution and its implications for the indigenous peoples of Bolivia, and the ongoing democratization project. Dr. Victoria Bomberry is an assistant professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Riverside where she teaches Native American Studies. She is the International Coordinator of Movimiento de Mujeres Originarios y Indigenas de Qollosuyu, Bolivia, and the Project Director of Abya Yala Women's Circle. Dr. José Antonio Lucero is an assistant professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle. He is the author of a new book, Struggles of Voice: The Politics of Indigenous Representation in the Andes (University of Pittsburgh Press). Past programs of "Indigenous Politics" are now archived online:
http://www.indigenouspolitics.com/
"Indigenous Politics" is syndicated weekly on Pacifica-affiliate stations: WNJR, 91.7 FM, "Washington & Jefferson College Radio" in Washington, PA, and WETX-LP, 105.3 FM, "The independent voice of Appalachia," which includes a region encompassing twelve states and 20 million people: east Tennessee, southwest Virginia, west Kentucky, all of West Virginia, most of Pennsylvania, south New York, west Maryland, west North Carolina, west South Carolina, north Georgia, north Alabama, and northeast Mississippi. In addition, starting this month, WBCR-lp in Massachusetts is also syndicating the show. The show's producer and host, Dr. J. Kehaulani Kauanui is an associate professor of American Studies and Anthropology at Wesleyan University. She is the author of a newly released book, Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity (Duke University Press 2008).
http://jkauanui.faculty.wesleyan.edu/

Native Americans Protest Reinstatement of Racist Mascot

Contact: Mark Anquoe, American Indian Movement - West
(415) 566-5788 gazelbe@yahoo.com
http://www.aimwest.info/
Corine Fairbanks American Indian Movement – Santa Barbara (805) 212-4947
corine68@yahoo.com
http://www.myspace.com/aimsantabarbara

Native Americans Protest Reinstatement of Racist Mascot
By Mark Anquoe and Corine Fairbanks

CARPINTERIA, California – The Carpinteria based Coalition Against Racism in Education (C.A.R.E.) will hold a rally and protest outside of Carpinteria City Hall on Tuesday, February 10th at 4:30 pm. That evening, the Carpinteria district school board will continue to hear arguments regarding a petition to rescind its own April 2008 decision to remove the Native American sports imagery at Carpinteria High School. C.A.R.E. demands that the previous decision be upheld in accordance with official positions on Native American mascots published by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the National Education Association, the American Psychological Association and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, among others.

The demonstration is also being held to draw attention to the threats and intimidation against the Native American community that have become commonplace since the 2008 ruling. Supporters of the racist mascot have made multiple death threats against Eli Cordero, the 15 year old Chumash youth who originally petitioned the school board to remove the imagery. A child of one of the supporting school board members was also targeted, prompting the child’s transfer to another school. No one has been charged with making the threats, as police have refused to recognize any “credible threat”. Those who publicly support the mascot’s removal have been refused service at local restaurants, harassed in their homes and even pursued into and accosted at their churches.

Protest organizers expect aggressive opposition at the Tuesday rally. At a protest on January 27th, the Federal Department of Justice sent an agent from their Los Angeles office to ensure proper police protection of demonstrators. Previous protests have been met with mascot supporters shouting racist epithets, spitting, and throwing rocks.

Although the Carpinteria school board will hear arguments on Tuesday, it is not expected to vote on the matter until February 24th. C..A.R.E is also organizing a rally and march on that date.

Katenay: Resistance at Sweet Water Stronghold

Protesting is not Resisting, Resistance are based on Profound Manifestos:
“Ancient Big Mountain Supreme Ways Dictates Dineh Resistance, Pauline Whitesinger Continues to Defy B.I.A. Police Harassment & Threats”

By Bahe Y. Katenay
Sheep Dog Nation Rocks
http://sheepdognationrocks.blogspot.com/
Republished with permission

Sweet Water Stronghold, Big Mountain. February 9, 2009 - Dineh elder resister of the traditional lands of Sweet Water is bundled up for the chilly winds as she takes some hay out to her sheep and goats. The herds need a little extra feed before going out to graze. The non-Indian, volunteer supporter is dressed warm and ready to follow the sheep as he chops some wood for grandma, Pauline and while the herds nibble on the scattered hay on the ground. Not many non-Indian volunteers do occasionally make themselves available from their busy lives to come out for short stays and help traditional, elder resisters. Very few traditional elder residents are now left throughout such regions affected by the harsh relocation laws of 1974.
When asked, “How is everything out here?” The well-outfitted supporter says, “Just a lot of babies, and that is why I’m carrying this!” He wears a large, hand-sewn canvas bag which he referred to is to be used in case any of the sheep or goats have “babies.” Soon the sheep and goats are done feeding and they head towards the great pristine canyon of Sweet Water, and the supporter suddenly quits all chit-chat, grabs his stick and runs off toward a herd that is disappearing into the juniper forest.
Each non-Indian supporter that make these short stays with traditional elders have unique and deep sense of passion that is more than just positive, but they have the understanding of the suffering from injustice and the presence of environmental destruction. Though these kind of ‘hardcore’ supporters are becoming rarer, they value the human connections to nature or to the eco-systems rather than connections to corporate entities and its policing/policies. They see and appreciate, more than most native Americanas, what still exist out here at Big Mountain especially where an elder like Pauline lives. Supporters like this one at Sweet Water do have ‘profound’ commitments to stay two weeks or more to learn and experience a glimpse of natural survival skills and maybe a very small bit of ancient human ritual ways. Within their profound commitments they know they may encounter at any moment the ‘terror-threats’ of the U.S. sponsored, BIA Indian Police Gestapo.
Grandma Pauline moves about slow as she closes the “hay barn” doors that are made from frames of a single-bed, and the barn’s roof is of tattered plastic tarps and the walls are of leaning juniper logs. She greets with a friendly and joyful hand shake as she adds a little sense of humor to her greeting. Grandma is still strong but age is still giving her a challenge, too. She is like a story teller as she makes numerous comments about things and about the conditions out there. She also knows that she is part of a situation which is the struggle for liberation at Big Mountain—her birth place.
A few supporters are very concerned and that is why this independent monitoring of human rights violation and religious intolerance is being carried out. The Arizona-based, Black Mesa Indigenous Support had received a phone message on behalf of Pauline in January about BIA Police personnel posing threats to demolish a traditional earth lodge. Because of the lack of resources, it took a while for the support network to finally establish contact and get the information. This situation with her re-building this sacred lodge should be a natural process but the regional BIA Hopi Agency saw it as a violation of U.S. Court decisions in the name of the federally-supported Hopi council. Grandma Pauline who still lives according to her ancestors’ ancient, cultural lifestyles completed the earth lodge and which is another, direct-action that is obviously missing in Indian country, true Native Resistance!
Grandma recalls what happened on January 20th as she also refers to a radio announcement, “It was about that time, 10 AM, when the radio said that in the east ‘the hand shall to be raised,’ when my grandson beckoned me outside because there were some visitors. It was those BIA-Hopi Police, again, and one officer got out of the vehicle followed by a female officer. I sat down on the bench against the house and they both sat on either side of us, the man who spoke Dineh sat next to me. As he said, ‘we hear you are out here sitting in the mud and we come to check on you,’ the third officer got out of the vehicle and started to walk over towards the newly rebuild lodge.
“My response to the officer next to me was, ‘I’m sitting in the mud out here? You say that as if you spoke with someone that lives with me and knows about my situation.’ Then we all noticed that the third officer was taking more pictures of the earth lodge like (they) do not have enough pictures of it by now.
“I begin to ask the officer sitting with us, why do you all need more pictures and you all should just stop these picture-taking of my home? The officers both ignored my request but the third officer came over and took a couple pictures of me and my grandchildren. The police said nothing more to us but left to return and drive by my resident again, and they drove slowly like they were still up to something. About a week ago, (they) did not come here but (they) again drove by very slowly like they were making some intense observations. I believe these (BIA) police are going to start doing as they please because the actual Hopi council is in defunct…”
The Call to Action for Support Continues
The protests in the American streets where Starbuck, Bank of American and GE own the concrete-n-steel sidewalks are hopeless! Come to the place of opportunity to show the American Police State that you support the natural humans pay homage to, not control, the Mother Earth. At Big Mountain, you will see and understand what real resistance is and experience being part of defending the profound ancient ways of life that are threaten into extinction. Come out, rough it, have patience, find that humbleness within you, and you will be in the human circle for revolution. Help, Save the Microcosm of the Universe at Big Mountain, the Whitesinger Earth Lodge!

© Sheep Dog Nation Rocks, 2009
>>>>
For more information about how you can help, contact: blackmesais@riseup.net or visit www.blackmesais.org and / or leave a voice message @ 928-773-8086.


“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducated the person who learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours!”
--Cesar Chavez, (activist & educator)

The spy maggots, worming their way out

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

After the Denver police spy files were revealed in 2002, my friends, the spied upon, said, "It isn't just happening in Denver. It is happening all over the United States."

In Denver, the secret police spy files became public through attorney discovery in a local court case. The spy files did not become public because of the integrity of the Denver Police Intelligence Division. Those secret police spy files included cases that went back 30 years. Of course all of the American Indian activists names were there, the usual suspects working for peace and justice. But there were surprises in the list of 3,200 individuals and 208 organizations.

Denver police spied on an 80-year-old grandmother because she had a "Leonard Peltier" bumper sticker on her car.

Denver police also spied on American Indian attorneys at the Native American Rights Fund and a senator who worked for Native American rights. South Dakota Sen. James Abourezk, who once headed the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, was spied on. Abourezk obtained a copy of his spy file and said he still didn't have a clue why he was targeted. Abourezk said he hadn't been in Denver in 15 years. The Abourezk spy file just said the Denver police were watching him.

Anyone helping Navajos at Big Mountain or Zapatistas in Chiapas in Denver was under Denver police surveillance.

The Quakers, it turned out, were among the most spied on in the US, revealing the insanity of US police probes of the peace-seeking.

In the end, after a lawsuit was filed against the Denver Police Department by American Indians, the ACLU and others, the spied-upon could go and retrieve their spy files in Denver. However, this required updating Denver police records with current IDs and personal information, so many passed.

Now, years later, spy files are worming their way out of police file cabinets everywhere, like maggots in wait, feeding on the dark and decaying fecal matter of failed trust.

American Indians were a primary target of the Denver police. In retrospect, it appears Denver activists were a sort of pilot project for extensive domestic spying because of the large network of multi-agency task forces in Colorado and secret US military operations in Colorado Springs.

Elsewhere in the United States, groups of peace activists opposed to the Iraq war and organizations working against the death penalty were targets. Their meetings were infiltrated by liars and deceivers. In Maryland, peaceful climate change activists were listed as "suspected terrorists." Code Pink women who never came to Maryland were tracked in spy files by Maryland State Police.

Now, it is revealed that one million Americans are on the US watch list. One million Americans are being spied on. How can any government provide manpower to spy on one million people?

One of the ways that the US spies on 1 million citizens is to place secret spy rooms at telephone companies, including Verizon and AT&T, as revealed in the book, The Shadow Factory. The US subcontracted Israeli companies to data mine the operations, so now Israeli companies have sensitive information on most Americans. Still there was so much information from recording everyone's phone calls and e-mails, it was often ineffective. Those plotting the 9/11 attack were within two miles of the NSA. Although the NSA was listening, probably even eating at the same cafes, the US agents said they did not know the 9/11 plotters were in the neighborhood.

The CIA has a new strategy: Advertising for CIA spies in American Indian newspapers.

In reality, this means that those Native American newspapers are now funded by the CIA. Advertisements for the CIA Clandestine Services have appeared now for months on the websites of Indian Country Today and Native American Times, even on the same webpages with articles about American Indians struggling against this same oppression.

Mohawk Nation News states that spies for foreign nations forfeit their birthright. The US and Canada are foreign governments.

"Espionage is a violation of the Kaianerehkowa, the Great Law, our constitution. A spy breaking their own nation's laws can be imprisoned. Wampum 58 provides that, 'any persons who submit to laws of a foreign people are alienated and forfeit their birthright and claims of the Rotino'shonni:onwe and territory,'" Mohawk Nation News states.

During the Earth First! trial in Prescott, Arizona in 1991, a particularly sleazy informant was on the witness stand, one of many who revealed a trail of FBI misconduct. Of course, that revelation of FBI misconduct did not prevent the majority of the five defendants from going to prison. The FBI even had to drive the monkey wrenchers to their so-called crime because they didn't have a ride.

The sleazy informant was a former boyfriend of one of the defendants. He was placed back in her home as a babysitter to be an informant. He bugged his former girlfriend's bedroom with a listening device. When the federal prosecutor was asked why she placed this sleazy informant on the witness stand, her response was, "Everyone knows that informants are always sleazy."

As a news reporter covering the Earth First! trial as a stringer for AP, this was the first of many revelations in federal court for me, including the fact that the federal prosecutors and the federal judges are on the same team. This trial also opened a window into the corrupt world of US spying and how federal agents coax people into what appears to be a crime.

The question remains, "Who is the criminal now?"

Read more:
ACLU, July 2008: Watch list hits 1 million
http://www.aclu.org/privacy/35968prs20080714.html
Israeli firms listen to your cell phone calls
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95689436&ps=cprs
More on the Israeli telephone spy subcontractors:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1029006
AT&T whistleblower exposes network monitoring room
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/att-whistleblow.html
Tacoma, Wash., police spy files; police shared files with private prison contractor GEO (formerly Wackenhut)
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2009/01/271435.shtml
Brandon Darby, exposes himself as federal informant in Katrina aid at Common Grounds and RNC, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/us/05informant.html?ref=us
Obama says Freedom of Information Act is back in 2009:
http://www.narconews.com/Issue55/article3347.html
ACLU: Denver police spy files
FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force
Spy Files documents indicating that the FBI's Joint Terrorist Task Force is tracking peaceful protesters. Spy Files Documents relating to the Multi-Agency Group Intelligence Conference (MAGIC). http://www.aclu-co.org/spyfiles/samplefiles.htm
Maryland State Police spied on activists
http://www.aclu.org/police/spying/37898prs20081119.html

Investigation: COINTELPRO 'Reign of Terror'

From: LPBSG North Denver CO
Subject: The FBI must be investigated re. COINTELPRO “Reign of Terror”
Sample Letter : To The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
Chairman Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. House of Representatives
2138 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Congressman Conyers,

COINTELPRO is an acronym for a series of counterintelligence programs conducted in the 1950s-1970s by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) against various dissident groups and political activists.

Despite citizens’ efforts since 1975, no serious effort has been made to officially investigate alleged constitutional and human rights violations by the FBI against such organizations and individuals­nor have such occurrences against residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, been addressed.

In 1975, the U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (or “Church Committee”) was poised to address allegations of misconduct with respect to the FBI’s counterintelligence program and its targeting of Indigenous civil rights organizations and Native American activists following the 71-day siege at Wounded Knee, SD (27 Feb-8 May 1973). That hearing was cancelled and never rescheduled.

The last official request for relief, initiated in March 2004 (and still pending), was a request to your Committee for congressional hearings focused on the FBI’s improper use of confidential informants in Indian Country.

I join with other activists and organizations in asking the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, to schedule hearings on "COINTELPRO: Its Legacy and Continuing Impact." This inquiry must include an investigation of the so-called “Reign of Terror” on the Pine Ridge Reservation (1973-1976), the many deaths and injuries that occurred during that time, and the role of the FBI in fomenting violence on the reservation in an attempt to “neutralize” the Indigenous rights movement.

All Americans have the right to know the truth. Most of all, however, Indians must be heard on these matters.

I believe that these measures will finally bring closure to the residents of Pine Ridge and put to rest the tragic events of the 1970s. I also believe this to be the Committee’s opportunity to find the truth and, hopefully, pass legislation that will begin to address some of the gross injustices committed not only against political activists and dissident organizations under the auspices of COINTELPRO, but reverse laws enacted since September 11, 2001, that have limited our constitutional freedoms.

Sincerely, [Your Full name + address & Signature] -- end sample letter --
Send a copy of your correspondence to: Senator Patrick Leahy,
Chairman Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. Senate
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

IPF WEBSITE:
http://users.skynet.be/kola/index.htm
and www.myspace.com/leonardpeltierisinnocent IPF e-mail: ipforum@skynet.be
Also, please visit the website of the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee (LPDOC): www.whoisleonardpeltier.info
LPDOC e-mail: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info

Zapatistas: Women's Event, Oventik, March 2009

ZAPATISTA ARMY FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION

by Subcomandante Marcos

To the compañeras of the Other Campaign, the Zezta Internacional, and all women who are adherents of the Sixth Declaration:

Compañeras:

As part of the celebrations for the next International Day of Women in Struggle, the Comandantas of the CCRI-CG of the EZLN are organizing a sporting, cultural, and political event for March 7 and 8, 2009, in the Caracol of Oventik, Altos of Chiapas.

As the Comandantas were still discussing the characteristics of this encounter of Women in Struggle, we got news of the death of our compañera in the Other Campaign in Chihuahua, Doña Concepción García de Corral.

“Mamá Corral” we called her, we the Zapatistas, to this woman, mother of social strugglers fallen in combat and tenacious struggler herself for the return of those disappeared for political reasons. She took us in as her sons and daughters without conditions or opportunisms, and with a care and affection that had nothing to do with stages and photos. When those of us who make up the Sixth Commission met her personally, we felt in her that strength that has surely held up more than once our compañeras Mothers of the Disappeared of Chihuahua, our “mamaces” in the struggle.

Although the event was originally planned for Zapatista women, the Comandantas were thinking they would also invite OTHER women that are also our compañeras in Mexico and in the world, and, when we found out about the death of Doña Concepción García de Corral, they decided to give this celebration the nom de guerre that we knew and know her by: MAMÁ CORRAL, in order to honor women who are mothers and that, regardless of age, do not give up, do not sell out, do not give in.

And so, carrying out the orders of our bosses, the Comandantas Zapatistas, we send you an invitation to the:

MAMÁ CORRAL Political, Sporting, Cultural, and Artistic Event

To be held March 7 and 8, 2009, in the Caracol of Oventik, Chiapas, and which will have the following characteristics:

- Only WOMEN can participate directly in the sporting events and artistic and cultural acts, and they may participate regardless of age, race, religious belief, language, nationality, or sexual preference.

- The men who attend can only participate by cooking, taking care of children, cleaning, or working to support the event.

- There will be 3 sports: Basketball, Volleyball, and Soccer

- There will be cultural acts like songs, poetry, theater, mural newspapers, and dances.

- The women’s teams that form to participate in the sports should register on the Enlace Zapatista webpage, including which sport they want to participate in, how many women are on their team, their team name, and what their uniform will be if it is the case that they are going to wear uniforms. This is in order to organize the games in the tournament.

- The women or groups of women that are going to participate in the cultural numbers should also register on the Enlace Zapatista webpage, including what they are going to perform, how many people will perform, and what they are calling themselves if they are calling themselves something, so that we can program the event.

- The sporting events will start March 7, 2009 on the courts of the Caracol of Oventik and, if there are a lot of teams, will continue on March 8, 2009.

- The cultural acts will be scheduled for the evening of March 7 and the afternoon and evening of March 8, according to how many numbers are programmed.

- On March 8, 2009, the Comandantas Zapatistas will give a message of struggle.

That’s all for now.

Liberty and Justice for Atenco!

Liberty, Justice, and Safe Return of the Political Prisoners and the Disappeared!

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast
For the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee-General Command of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
Mexico, January 2009.

Story for Mama Corral by Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos
For Mama Corral

(stories to replace injections)

By Subcomandante Marcos

January 2009
To whom it may concern:

It was before dawn when the news arrived. The cold night got colder and the upon daybreak, we discovered something like a hole, as if we were missing something, as if we had lost something very much our own.

The geography from which we fight, the Zapatistas, is extensive. On maps it carries the name “Mexico,” and to get to each of its corners is a task even more extensive.

In the calendar of the Sixth we arrived at one of its strangest corners, because despite what the map and the mileage counter indicated, history, that complex network of calendars and geographies from below, signaled that we had arrived at one of our most pained hearts: Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.

Ciudad Juárez. That of the young women workers killed with impunity. Killed for being women, for being young, for being workers… for being. That of the dignified rage of the inhabitants of Lomas de Poleo, resisting attacks, traps, slander, silence.

That of Mamá Corral.

No, I’m not going to tell her story. That is for those who have been with her all this time, and who remain at her side, struggling for the return of the disappeared.

We went to talk to her. It was a private meeting with her and other relatives of the disappeared. That’s what she asked for, that’s what we asked for. It was in the living room of her house. There we piled in some 15 or 20 people.

Doña Concepción García de Corral was the oldest… and the strongest.

As if the calendars she lived through searching for her son, José de Jesús, had not tired her. As if not giving up had allowed her to see further.

The relatives spoke. They said, in so many words, “We want to know the truth.”

Doña Concepción went beyond that: “If God has given me so many years of life it is because José de Jesús is still alive and I am going to find him.”

No, I don’t remember if those were her exact words, but I think that was the meaning.

Then I spoke.
I didn’t say much.

Or I said everything.

I don’t really remember, but I think that I told them what I would want people to tell my relatives if there were such a time, place, and manner: we didn’t go away because we didn’t love you, but rather because we do love you, but in a different way, in another manner.

Don’t give me too much credit, but it was then that I hugged Doña Concepción García de Corral and said in her ear, “Mamá Corral”.

Then I left.

I always leave.

Again the geographies and calendars came to bring us and take us. But it is in them and because of them that we know about her.

I think once we even dedicated a text to her. It should be around out there somewhere.

Maybe she read it. Maybe she smiled. Maybe she understood what we told her: “Here we are and we will not forget.”

So it happens that I was writing some stories because someone was sick and we had to give them something, even if from a distance.

And also because I’ve received a ton of protest letters. Some from supposed medical societies reprimanding me for my declarations against injections, and others from furious mamaces (mothers) because they were left holding the prepared syringe when the victim refused the torture, citing a supposed point in the supposed national program of struggle that supposedly prohibited the production, traffic, and consumption of injections. In sum, they hold me responsible of the most terrible epidemics and endemics.

That’s a lie. I haven’t received any letters of protest. But my ears are buzzing, which, according to my mother, means that someone is talking badly about you.

So, pressured by Lupita and Toñita, I went to work in my laboratory to produce an alternative medicine for injections. That’s when the first of the “Stories to replace Injections” came out.

While I was awaiting the decision of the Comandantas about whether they were going to have a sport and cultural event for March 8, I got the news, before dawn, of the death of Mamá Corral.

It came in a letter signed by the Committee of the Mothers of the Political Disappeared of Chihuahua that ended like this: “Subcomandante Marcos, please receive our acknowledgement and our condolences. Mamá Corral has left, but she’s still here at your side and at ours. Receive a big hug and our blessing.”

It hurt. A lot.

Later I reread those lines and I thought yes, she is at our side and on our side. And so, with the appropriate permissions, I made a few changes and modifications to the first of the “Stories to replace Injections,” and I told it to Mamá Corral, to Helena, and to all of the mamaces who hurt, just like I tell it here:

I. Remedy for a broken heart:

The Story of the Other Little Leaf

Once upon a time there was a little leaf that was at the top of a tree, the highest part of the tree. The little leaf was happy because she had a lot of other little leaves around and they all sang so nicely when the wind moved them. And the little leaf could see very far, the whole valley and even the neighboring mountains.

Of course, this also had its downside because, for example, since there were a lot of little leaves together, well, the gossip would fly. “Did you see so-and-so all stuck together with so-and-so,” they would say. And this would create a ruckus because the rumor would circulate and then somebody else would answer, “well look who’s talking, you who is always up there close to so-and-so from over there.” So, the little leaves fought a lot among themselves, as they are known to do.

It also would happen that, when it rained, the little leaves at the top were the first to get wet and they couldn’t say that thing about “how nice it is to see the rain and not get wet.”

But this had its compensations, because when the sun came out, those at the top were the first leaves to dry off.

So there the little leaf from this story was, swinging in the rains and the suns, when a strong wind came and threw her off the branch where she had been living. And the little leaf began to fly, turning somersaults, up and down with the air currents.

“¡Sweeeet!” said the little leaf, that was somewhat of a skater.

“¡Yesssssssss!” she yelled when she could do a double loop very close to the roof of a hut. Later a gust of wind drew her close to a cloud painted with many colors that said: “Freedom and Return of the Disappeared.”

And another read: “The good thing about skating the clouds is that the police can’t get up here.”

And the little leaf went from here to there like that.

But then the wind took its song somewhere else and the law of gravity applied itself in all its rigor and the little leaf, not really wanting to, fell all the way to the ground.

“¡Órales!” said the little leaf, “now what am I going to do?”

The little leaf wanted to return to the highest part of the tree. That’s where her friends were, even if they were gossipy. And even though she was the first to get wet in the rain, she was also the first to warm up in the sun, and she really could see far. And even if the wind knocked her off again, she could try the new pirouettes that had occurred to her, and she was even thinking about skating a cloud that had letters in many colors and funny sizes demanding freedom and justice.

The little leaf tried walking, but since she had always been hanging onto a branch in the tree, well she couldn’t really get the hang of walking.

Just then a little ant passed by. The little leaf recognized it, because it was a little ant that had come one time to the top of the tree and she had even given it a bite of her leaf.

“Hi!” said the little leaf to the little ant.

“And you, who are you? Do I know you?” responded the little ant, who, for a change, was in a bad mood.

The little leaf introduced herself: My name is Little Leaf and I live in the highest part of the tree, but I fell and now I want to go home but I don’t know how to do it, can you help me?

The little ant just looked at her awhile, then looked at the tree, then looked at the little leaf again. The little ant spent awhile just looking.

Finally the little ant said, “Well no, here you’re out of luck, because I would have to carry you and I’d have to climb alllllll the way up the tree without the birds eating me, or the anteater. And then, even if we get to the highest part of the tree, well then the problem is how we’re going to stick you back on the branch where you belong.

The little leaf stayed there looking at the little ant awhile, and then looked at the tree. She was there awhile just looking, that is, she was picking up the manners of the little ant.

Finally the little leaf said, “It won’t be a problem, because we can go buy glue in the copy shop or I can just hang on really tight to the branch where I belong.”

The little ant listened to the little leaf and stayed there looking at her awhile and…. well, now we’re not going to say she spent awhile looking because the story is going to get really long that way.

So the little ant said, “Alright then, I’ll take you, but first I have to go see my comadre (close friend) to ask for corn because I ran out. You want to come with me or you want to wait for me here?

The little leaf thought that, when the little ant found her comadre, they were going to take awhile just looking at each other and then the story was going to end without her having solved her problem, so she answered, “I’ll go with you! And that way we can by glue in the copy shop on the way.”

So the little ant carried the little leaf up the hill and started to walk in the direction of her comadre’s house.

On the way, the little leaf was looking at lots of things that she had never seen before, or that she had but from the top of the tree where she lived.

They passed by the little noncomformist stone on one side, the one that wanted to be a cloud, and they thought it looked quite large. While she was watching the little nonconformist stone do exercises to lose weight, the little leaf thought, “from above things look really different.”

“Or they aren’t seen at all,” said the little ant, who in addition to being hot-tempered could also hear the thoughts of other beings.

“Yeah, or they aren’t seen at all,” the little leaf thought.

They kept walking.

Well, the little ant walked that is, because the little leaf just went along looking at the same world that she had seen from above but, seen from below, it was another world.

And the little leaf looked and looked.

For example, she saw the bad and the bad guys, dressed as government functionaries, as businessmen, as airplanes bombing little children, as police beating and killing young people and disappearing social activists, as men raping women, as those who persecute those who practice other loves, as racists, as radio and television broadcasters, as journalists, as political analysts, as commissars of thought.

But she also saw a beetle with a helmet on, smoking a pipe and writing in an ultra-mini-micro-computer.

And she saw Lupita and Toñita playing with some giraffes that somebody gave them in the Festival of Dignified Rage. And she saw the Sup when he told the little girls that those weren’t giraffes, they were a couple of cows that had stretched their necks out because somebody wanted to make stew out of them, but the cows refused and resisted because they were rebellious cows and their necks stayed stretched out because of their resistance, but they weren’t giraffes. And she saw Toñita and Lupita scolding the Sup and they showed him a book of animals so he would see that these were indeed giraffes and not cows with their necks stretched out. And she saw that the Sup responded that that wasn’t true, that the same people who wanted to make stew out of the cows had written that book, so that it wouldn’t get out what they had tried to do. And she saw the little girls bringing syringes because they said the Sup was sick and that’s why he said so many dumb things, and they were going to cure him. And she saw the Sup running away. She didn’t see if they caught up with him or not.

And she saw the dark side of the moon, when Shadow, the warrior, carried her by in a sling.

And she saw Elias Contreras, Commission of Investigation for the EZLN, take some flowers to the tomb of Magdalena.

And she saw Old Antonio rolling a cigarette.

And she saw indigenous men and women, who had never gone to school, explaining the world to a researcher with a doctorate in the social sciences.

And she saw Zapatista troops building a shed to house Insurgent Radio.

And she saw Moy talking to the Autonomous Agrarian Commissions about a land problem.

And she saw a couple touching each other, their skin completely naked, and she saw that it didn’t matter if the couple was a woman and a man, or a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, or an other and an other.

And she saw that someone had scratched on a wall, “A wall without graffiti is like a cone without ice cream,” and she saw that the wall had become a flag.

And she saw that nobody was prepared to confront Polifemo.

And she saw the calendars and geographies walk to meet each other.

All these things and more the little leaf saw, but that is for other stories.

Finally they arrived where the little ant’s comadre lived, and, as was expected, the comadre wasn’t there because they took so long and she had to go appear in another story, so they went to the copy shop to buy glue.

The little leaf, with everything she had seen, had forgotten that she was going to buy glue. So she said to the copy shop attendant, “I want a notebook and some fun colored pencils.”

The attendant responded, “How can colored pencils be fun? Colored pencils are colored pencils.”

From there followed a long discussion about whether inanimate objects can have feelings, a discussion that we won’t go into here because if we do the story will go in another direction.

Anyway, it turns out that the little leaf gets her colored pencils, her notebook, and her glue (because the little ant reminded her why they had gone to the copy shop).

A little while later, the little ant and the little leaf arrived at the foot of the tree.

They had already started climbing when, boom! It felt like an earthquake.

Everything began to crack and break.

As if a jigsaw puzzle had been taken apart and the pieces mixed up.

The radio, the television, and the newspapers from above didn’t say anything about it because they had also come apart, so what could be found out was due to alternative media having published it.

It turns out that the Zapatistas had won the war against oblivion and the whole world was turning to look and ending up backward.

Now the sun didn’t come up in the east, but in the west.

And what had been above ended up below and what had been below, above.

And it turns out that, to get to the branch where the little leaf lived, now they had to go down instead of up to get to the top of the tree.

“Sonofa…” said the little leaf and the little ant, and they started to argue with each other.

The little leaf blamed the little ant because it had taken so much time looking and during that time the Zapatistas had won and turned the world upside down.

“So that the world is right side up,” that’s what the Zapatistas said, and, as is usually the case, nobody understood them.

The End

Vale. Cheers and patient rage, Mamá Corral, patient rage.

SupMarcos
Mexico, January 2009

Watching for whales

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

On the coast of northern California, I am watching for whales. A whale watcher says a pair came by last weekend and she followed them for miles, watching as the whales made their way south. "We're seeing the last of the ones going south and the first of the ones going north," she offers.
In late March, or April, she said, the mothers and babies come close to the shore.
Whales, it turns out, are one of the greatest healers, a remedy for grief and hopelessness. People wait and watch, reminded, that the whales make this journey every year, traveling from the icy waters of Alaska, to the sun-drizzled coastal waters of Baja California, to have their babies. Then, the mothers and babies make their way back north, in a poetic song journey. It is more than a migration, it is one of the great mysteries of life, a cycle of renewal.
The journey is 12,000 miles from the Arctic ocean, from Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas to the Pacific Coast of Baja lagoons. The whales travel at three to five miles per hour, a slow speed for a great journey. They dive for five to 15 minutes.
The whale talking woman, a volunteer with a great whale loving society that I missed the name of, gives me a pamphlet. We are watching for the Pacific Gray Whale, Eschrichtius robustus, the Baleen whale. At birth, when the baby whale sees the world for the first time in the waters off Baja, it weighs 1,500 to 2,000 pounds. The adult weighs 35 to 45 tons.
When the females are between five and 11 years old, they are in their life giving time, birthing cycle. The gestation is 13 months, and they give birth to new babies at intervals between one and three years. But the great gray whales seldom eat during migration, breeding and calving. They live off stores of blubber from their times of indulging in the summer.
These whales, and the their neighbors in the Arctic waters, the polar bears, seals, walrus and great migrating birds, are the reason to fight the coal-burning power plants in the U.S. The black carbons from power plants, along with tailpipe exhaust, are the primary reason the Arctic ice is melting and displacing the great wild life of the Arctic, polar bears, seals and walrus, this great hope of mankind.
It is why we fight the Desert Rock power plant, Peabody Coal and all the others, along with their public relation spins to benefit wealthy corporations and self-indulgent, glory-seeking politicians. While they spin their lies, the whales are migrating south, then north again, to remind us.
The whales come by each year and remind us of the great cycle, the great mystery of Creation.
They remind us to recycle, so the ocean is not clogged with great floating islands of disposable plastic shopping bags or barges of floating worn-out cell phones. They remind of what oil spills do and warn us of what is to come. They remind us that Exxon made its biggest profit ever and no one was there to bail Americans out at the gas pumps.
The whales remind us that Barrick Gold is ready to core out the heart of the Western Shoshone's sacred Mount Tenabo, for rings of gold for the flash of celebrity, vanity and opulence. They remind us that Barrick Gold, and coal, silver, copper and diamond mining companies, are doing this to Indigenous Peoples all over the world, ripping up their lands for the corporate dollar, aided by the red light district known as the media.
The whales remind of that the youth in America are pawns for politicians' wars. When kept poor enough these precious youths will gamble away their lives for unjust wars, suicides or desertion, especially when fueled by the lies of recruiting officers who promise a comfortable office job and television commercials that deceive, promising nobility and glory rather than the reality.
The real need is for desperate youths to die on the battlefield, shed their blood under the guise of patriotism. In reality they die, not to keep America safe, but for the corporate profits of the war machine makers who bankroll the politicians. They die for the Bushes and all their friends, they die for Raytheon, Honeywell, Boeing, Halliburton, DynCorp, Elbit Systems and all the others.
The whales remind us to be vigilant. They remind us that with new nuclear power plants comes an abomination to the future of mankind, poisoned lands of stored nuclear waste and poison in the hands of power. They remind us that the US tortures, carries out secret kidnappings, under the cover of television media.
The whales remind us of the hundreds of children in Palestine, bombed and shot at point blank range by Israeli soldiers. They remind us that the elected icons in the United States did not condemn this. They remind of that the coin-operated media has been silenced, leaving Americans to their lives of denial, zombies marching to shop at Wal-Mart, to make the Wal-Mart corporate owners the richest in the world, and the laborers in sweatshops around the world, the poorest in the world.
The whales remind us that the whole world is in migration. Here in the Pacific waters are the wonders of nature, the forces of earth and all of Creation. Migration is a certainty of mankind, and has been since time immemorial.
My Navajo friend Howard McKinley, who died when he was about 100 years old, told me what the old ones said about migration. On his porch in Tse Ho Tso, "the meadow between the rocks," known as Fort Defiance, Arizona, Howard said that Navajos always migrated, but their beginning was on Navajoland, between the Four Sacred Mountains. Howard spoke of the journeys, the migrations, and a mention of "Up through the Bamboo world," of which only a mention remained of Navajo migrations in the South Pacific.
The whales remind us that unless we search for truth and justice, and beauty, we may not find it.
The whales remind us.

Indigenous Peoples Demand Good and Green Jobs, Careers and Communities

CONTACTS: Jihan Gearon, Indigenous Environmental Network, 218-760-1370
Kelvin Long, Black Mesa Water Coalition, 928-600-4515
Anna Rondon, Navajo Green Economy Coalition, 505-726-9392
Courtesy photos

Indigenous Peoples Demand Good and Green Jobs, Careers, and Communities

Washington, DC – Native American leaders in the emerging green economy traveled to our Nation’s capitol to lobby representatives, network, and work together to demand good and green jobs, careers, and communities for Indian Country. Representatives from the Navajo, Acoma, Oglala Sioux, Ojibwe, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations participated in the Good Jobs Green Jobs National Conference in Washington DC this week.

“We are here to ensure that Indigenous communities and Nations will be a part of the emerging green economy,” says Jihan Gearon, Native Energy Organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network and member of the Navajo Nation. “More so than mere participation and tokenization, we are here to ensure that in this emerging economy, our communities truly benefit and lead. There are numerous opportunities in Indian Country to do so.”

The Navajo Green Economy Plan is one such example. The Plan would generate hundreds of green jobs across the Navajo Nation and support local, community led, owned and operated initiatives such as small and large scale renewable energy development, green manufacturing textile mills, weatherization projects, weavers coops, traditional and organic agricultural markets, and green jobs training programs.

“With millions of federal dollars ready to be distributed across the country to support green jobs, we are prepared to support our local community and in doing so lead the Nation in creating sustainable and just societies, says Kelvin Long, member of the Navajo Green Economy Coalition and the Navajo Nation.

Native American lands, as well as Indigenous territories worldwide, have been historically and systematically targeted for fossil fuel – coal, oil and gas – development, which has resulted in the contamination and depletion of water, land and community health. Solutions to energy independence and climate change in the U.S., such as nuclear power and clean coal, pose the threat of exacerbating these negative affects.

“Green jobs must not include jobs for industries that will drag out the use of dirty and unsustainable energy,” says Petuuche Gilbert of Acoma pueblo in New Mexico, a community affected by uranium mining. “In this new economy, we must break the cycle of being marginalized people and forced to choose between economic development and preservation of our culture and lands. We are against renewed uranium mining. Nuclear is not green.”

Tribal lands have an estimated 535 Billion kWh/year of wind power generation potential, about 14% of U.S. annual generation. Tribal lands also hold an estimated 17,000 Billion kWh/year of solar electricity generation potential – 4.5 times total U.S. annual generation. As Winona LaDuke, Executive Director of Honor the Earth and member of the Ojibwe Nation points out, “The reality is that the most efficient, green economy will need the vast wind and solar resources that lie on Native American lands. And we are prepared to lead.”

MNN: Canada & Big Tobacco Try to Liquidate Down Indigenous Trade

CANADA & BIG TOBACCO TRY TO LIQUIDATE DOWN INDIGENOUS TRADE – 6 Nations and Tyendinaga illegally invaded on Feb. 5th

Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com

Feb. 6, 2009. Last summer two Canadian tobacco giants agreed to pay the largest criminal fines and civil settlements in Canadian history for their role in cigarette smuggling and tax evasion. Revenue Minister Gordon O’Conner announced the biggest “sweetheart” deal ever. Three companies were involved – R.J. Reynolds, Imperial Tobacco and Rothman. The fine is $4 billion. Reynolds and Imperial will pay $1.1 billion for mass criminal tax fraud.
Where will the rest come from? Ordinary people who don’t pay their fines are harassed and jailed. But not these guys! Nine R.J. Reynolds executives were charged. None went to jail.
Ever wonder why?
Paul Martin, former Prime Minister, was on the IMASCO board that owns Imperial. [See Comments Feb. 1/09 www.cbc.ca/sunday/2009]. Tobacco industry executive, Paul Finalyson, says Imperial initially set up the operations and the rest followed. There will be no trial.
The exact nature of the involvement of these companies and their executives will remain hidden from the public. The tobacco companies planned and set up the “contraband” market in the early 1990s. They shipped truckloads of product to Buffalo and Syracuse in New York State, supposedly for sale in the U.S. No taxes had to be paid to Canada. This product was then sold to middlemen. They brought them back to Canada for sale at very low prices. Sales rose from $800 million a year to $6 billion by 1993.
Everybody was involved, police, judges, stores, cigarette companies and so on. Cigarettes became cheaper and sales and profits soared.
In Canada one in three was a smuggled cigarette. The big tobacco companies taught the indigenous people how to run this business in a sophisticated way. Now successful Indigenous business people are being called “organized crime” for manufacturing and selling the very same product that Canada and big tobacco are dealing in.
In 1994 the federal government weaned itself off the “golden teat” by dropping the price on cigarettes. Overnight smuggling stopped because it wasn’t profitable. The deal between Canada and big tobacco was a business arrangement between two partners.
The Canadian government has an interest in keeping tobacco sales high to collect more taxes, while at the same professing to cut down cigarette smoking to bring down medical care costs. Smoking is on the decline. But these big companies and their corporate protector, Canada, want to keep the money rolling in.
They are trying to do this by putting legitimate indigenous tobacco manufacturers out of business.
They do not want legitimate Indigenous traders to legally sell tax free products. So they have to illegally stop our trade by bullying, charging, threatening and fining us. Big tobacco companies are waiting to start up again big time. Canada does not want to “shoot the goose that laid the golden egg” but it does want to steal any eggs laid by Indigenous people.
In the meantime, the tobacco companies have moved all their assets off-shore. British colonization of Turtle Island was founded on piracy. Throughout we have asserted our sovereignty including the duty to look after our families according to our traditional laws and governance. Tobacco trade was always a part of our traditional culture.
Today the colonists want the valueless paper currency we are getting in exchange for our legitimate products. Who’s the counterfeiter here?
We are accountable to our mothers, grandmothers, aunties, sisters, clanmothers, chiefs, clans and nations. Crown employees take an oath to uphold the colonial way of life which is aimed at destroying us.
They obviously want to stop us from having any means at all to look after each other and our families. Most Ongwehonwe communities in Canada are so poor that people don’t have adequate nutrition. It really sticks in their craw to see that we have found a way to feed our families and live decently.
On February 5 2009 our "smoke shops" and businesses in Six Nations and Tyendinaga came under fire. Canada decided to once again try to illegally enforce its colonial jurisdiction on us and our territory.
Squads of Six Nations Police and the Tyendinaga Mohawk Police, which are set up by the Canadian government, acted under the direction of the colonial band councilors. They set out to remove all products from a smoke shop and even tried to remove the building itself. Our men and women stopped them. Marked and undercover police hid out in Caledonia behind Tim Hortons, Canadian Tire parking lots and elsewhere. An OPP cruiser that got “lost” in Six Nations was turned back. In a former "dry run" the police would feign being lost in our community “accidentally”!
The OPP were actually testing our response so they could figure out the number, type of officers, weaponry and media required to attack us and make us look bad. They are also testing their communications equipment in all these operations now.
Martial law can’t be brought in until all the kinks are ironed out. The band council police told us that if they can't "get the job done", outside authorities will be brought in. We wanted to see proof of their rights to invade us and try to shut us down. The band council and its goons are part of the colonial “bankster” apparatus, no matter how dark their skin is under their uniforms. The same day, on February 5th, in Tyendinaga, six rez cops, with OPP SWAT Team backup 500 ft. down the road, went into a local bar claiming to have a warrant which they refused to show. They seized some cases of beer and whisky. The owner is accused of not paying Ontario provincial taxes even though there is no agreement for us to pay any taxes to foreigners. This is really a “protection racket”.
At the other end of the community towards the Trans Canada Highway 401 were parked SUVs, vans and a tactical team. They hesitate to come in as they know they have no jurisdiction over us in any way. The murder at Ipperwash and the fiasco at Sharbot Lake still hang over their heads.
We have no agreement with the colony of Canada to pay any taxes to them. By international law we require a valid agreement contracted with our full knowledge and consent, which does not exist. That can’t and will never happen.
It looks like Canada and big tobacco have made a deal to raise prices, collect the taxes and kill their biggest competitors, the Indigenous people. It isn’t gonna work, guys.
Unilaterally making laws, then forcing them down our throats by sending in your para-military death squads is illegal.
You know it!
Ia’koha:kowa & MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News
www.mohawknationnews.com Contact: 613-813-1017, 514-269-1400, kittoh@storm.ca katenies20@yahoo.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations to PayPal at www.mohawknationnews.com, or by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN “Six Nations” category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! Purchase t-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePressStore http://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews; Subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates http://.mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription.php; Sign Women Title Holders petition! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Iroquois SNOUTS IN THE TROUGH: Prime Minister Stephen Harper pm@pm.ca; R.J. Reynolds www.rjrt.com Reynolds America in Winston-Salem NC; Rothman UK Holding Ltd., 15 Hill St., London W1X 7FB, 071-491-4366 www.fundinguniverse.com; Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, P.O. Box 244, Upton Rd., Bristol BS99 7UJ +44-0-177-963-6636 www.imperial-tobacco.com

IEN: NO! $50 billion loan guarantees for nuclear reactors

From the Indigenous Environmental Network to our Friends:

Please ask your friends, colleagues, community organizations and (for Native Nations), ask your Tribal leadership, to take action, and contact their Senators to stop $50 BILLION in new taxpayer-backed loan guarantees for construction of new nuclear reactors!

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee late on the night of January 27 snuck in a provision to President Obama's economic stimulus package that would allow as much as $50 BILLION of your dollars to be used as loan guarantees for construction of new nuclear reactors. This would be on top of the $18.5 Billion taxpayer dollars already authorized by Congress during the Bush administration.

These loan guarantees would mean more nuclear reactors and more radioactive waste piling up in communities across our country. Please be reminded that It has been the plan of the U.S. government and the nuclear power and utility industry to permanently store its high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Yucca Mountain is within the traditional lands of the Western Shoshone Nation. Spiritual leaders and elders of the Western Shoshone have consistently opposed using the sacred lands of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste dump. Approval of this $50 billion loan package within the Obama economic stimulus plans would have devastating affect on the treaty rights of the Western Shoshone Nation to protect their sacred lands and provide a safe and secure homeland for their future generation.

These loan guarantees would also mean less money for safer, cheaper and cleaner energy alternatives like solar and wind power.

These loan guarantees would further stimulate an unsustainable and dangerous push by the mining industry to expand uranium mining in the homeland of Native and non-Native rural communities from Arizona, New Mexco, Nebraska, South and North Dakota and First Nation lands of Canada. Any expansion of nuclear power will need uranium to fuel these reactors. Uranium mining within Native Nation territories has already left a legacy of environmental and human health degradadtion and injustice.

The provision is vaguely worded. It would authorize $50 Billion in new loan guarantees for "eligible technologies." These technologies include nuclear, "clean coal," renewable energy sources and electric transmission. But the stimulus package is intended to create new jobs and economic activity over the next two years. Not only should new nuclear reactors and the false concept of "clean coal" be excluded from taxpayer support, but the reality is that neither technology is ready to produce any jobs within the next two years.

The Department of Energy apparently would have to decide how to allocate this $50 Billion. If it all went to safe, cost-effective renewable energy sources,that would be one thing. Unfortunately, the provision's backers, like Sens. Robert Bennett (R-UT) and Thomas Carper (D-DE) are clear that their intent is that it would go for new nuclear reactor construction. Yet the Congressional Budget Office predicts a 50% default rate by nuclear utilities using this program! This is simply a nuclear bailout waiting to happen, and we can't afford it.

But it's not too late. You can help stop this nonsense. The original plan was for the Senate to vote on the stimulus package during this week of February 2. However, the Senate and the House are still in debate on the stimulus package. There is still time to contact you Senator!

Please CALL your Senators now (Senate Switchboard: 202-224-3121) and tell them to stop all loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors. AND, please send an e-mail to your Senators with the same message using the form below. (Note: We encourage you to edit the wording to personalize your e-mail and reflect your own concerns. IEN networks with the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) who manages this email campaign below.)

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5502/t/4100/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=993

Thank you,

Tom Goldtooth, IEN

Michigan: Racism toward Native Americans in school

Civil rights accusation made against West Iron
By NIKKI YOUNK, Staff Writer

IRON RIVER- An Iron River man has filed a racial discrimination complaint with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR) against the West Iron County Public Schools.
The man claimed that his son, a second-grader at Stambaugh Elementary, has been singled out because he is a Native American. According to the complaint, a white teacher grabbed the student on Jan. 26. The teacher has allegedly grabbed the student multiple times in the past, but the school district has taken no action against the teacher, the complaint added. "My son has had problems with white students, yet he is written up and the white students are not," the man stated in the complaint. "The respondent (West Iron County Public Schools) is looking for ways to write him up and force him to leave school."
Dave LaFreniere, regional director of the Michigan chapter of the American Indian Movement, has been following the case for years. "This child has been picked on since kindergarten, the kids beat up on him, but the school administration just sends him home," he said. "The kid has a right to an education." Read article ...
http://www.ironmountaindailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/505812.html?nav=5002

Arizona: Global Justice Teach-in

8th Annual Local to Global Justice Teach-in is coming!
RECLAIM THE COMMONS
Inauguration Parade: Friday February 27, 2009
Teach-in Saturday February 28 - Sunday March 1, 2009
Farmer Building ASU Tempe
Highlights of the event:
Gustavo Esteva, a Mexican activist and "de-professionalized intellectual." He is the founder of the Universidad de la Tierra in the Mexican city of Oaxaca. He currently works at the Centre for Intercultural Dialogues and Exchanges (CEDI) in the city of Oaxaca, and is a former advisor with the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (EZLN) in Chiapas for the negotiations with the government. He works with several indigenous groups and NGO's from all over the world. Gustavo will speak on Saturday Feb. 28 from 1:30-3:30pm
Luis Fernandez, author of Policing Dissent: Social Control and the Anti-Globalization Movement (2008, Rutgers University Press). His research interests include protest policing, social movements, globalization, and issues in the social control of late modernity.He is Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northern Arizona University. Fernandez is one of the founders of Local to Global Justice. Luis's panel discussion is scheduled Sunday March 1st, from 3:30-4:30pm
Krysten Sinema, elected to the Arizona State Legislature in 2004 and re-elected in 2006 to continue serving central Phoenix in District 15. She holds a Juris Doctorate and a Master's degree in Social Work from Arizona State University. Sinema is an adjunct professor in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University and practices criminal defense law in the Phoenix community. Krysten will be part of panel scheduled Sunday March 1st from 3:30-4:30pm
Sang-hea Kil, her research focuses on the nexus between immigration and crime, media and discourse analysis, and whiteness and nationalism within a critique of racism and the social construction of USA-Mexico border. She is also interested inc oalition work within a scholar-activist perspective that stems from her political work around issues of human rights, anti-globalization, women of color, and anti-war efforts. Sang-hea will be part of panel scheduled Sunday March 1st from 3:30 -4:30pm.
There will be lots of activities for kids and teens! Youth ages 3-17 are invited to participate in workshops, art projects, and skill shares on both days.
Dozens of local grassroots and student groups will lead workshops on a wide variety of topics, from sustainability to immigrant rights to bike healthy food. You're sure to find topics that will engage you and inspire you to act!
Music will be provided by the People's Party, Cultura Libertaria and the Black River Bandit.
Delicious free food will be provided all weekend, with the help of Green Vegetarian Restaurant and Tempe Food Not Bombs.
The Teach-in runs from 8:30 am - 7 pm Saturday and 8:30 am - 5 pm Sunday, so feel free to stop in at any time on either day. For a full schedule of events, plus parking info and directions, visit www.localtoglobal.org.
We rely on volunteers to bring you this completely free event. Please consider offering a couple hours of your time on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Send us an email at L2GVolunteers@gmail.com if you can help!
The Teach-in is funded entirely by donations and university funding. If you can spare a small donation, it will help us make this the best Teach-in ever! Just click the "Donate" button at www.localtoglobal.org
, or bring a few extra dollars to the event itself.
If you have any general questions about the Teach-in, send an email to localtoglobaljustice@yahoo.com.
See you at the Local to Global Justice Teach-In!
Fri, Feb 27 - Sun, March 1, 2009
Arizona State University - Tempe Campus
www.localtoglobal.org

Mohawk Nation News: 'Fake Obasms Abound'

FAKE “OBASMS” ABOUND WHILE U.S. PRESIDENT TRIES TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY

Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationews.com

Feb. 5, 2009. U.S. President Obama says he’s going to stimulate the Americans’ economy to stop its dive to oblivion. They’re looking to him for “obasms” because they don’t know how to save summer’s abundance to get them through the winter. No matter how hard he tries, nothing’s coming up! Like drug addicts hooked on dope, they want another fix. They think they can’t survive without it.
Obama is facing a formidable government bureaucracy that’s controlled by a few “banksters” [bankers and gangsters]. The hierarchical system has jobs for the chosen few arranged in a pyramidal chain of command that is imbedded in every private and public financial, educational, political, economic, trade, military, pharmaceutical and social institution. Far from being “public servants” they’re on the take and basically never do anything useful for anyone. They grab as much money and benefits as possible and do almost no work. In fact, the less they do, the more likely they are to be promoted.
At Indian Affairs offices in Ottawa, their desks are shiny and their feet are sitting on top of them. In the meantime the people they are supposed to serve are living in forced squalor. We’ve seen these bureaucratic bloodsuckers sit and listen to Indigenous people explain their dire situations in some isolated community. They’ve travelled from far away to ask for help. After hearing about the horrific situation, the bureaucratic leech puts his hands behind his head and says, “We can’t help you. You have to go see somebody else”. This is known as “passing the buck” to someone else until they wear them out and they go home with nothing.
Our suggestion to Mr. Obama is to dump this scrounging class system. These freeloading gate keepers’ jobs are to sit behind the desk and take some of the cream as it passes by them. In the end, they’ve done a good job if they’ve made sure that the money meant for the people or program gets almost nothing. Indian Affairs is loaded with non-natives who are trained in that colonial system.
The ground under the feet of emperor Obama is shaking. If he wants to get more money to the people, he should get rid of this meat grinding slaughterhouse. These plunderers who were sent to Turtle Island by the European elite came here to kill us off so they could steal everything that wasn’t nailed down. 115 million of us were killed off. The elite who run these systems have to change or adapt to the new reality, and not just by getting rid of their babysitter, cleaning lady, chauffer or maid. The conditions they have created are critical everywhere. The mobs are getting hysterical. People are resisting and reacting worldwide. Some think the elites are going to run. Where? To outer space? Good riddance!
This is how this pecking order system works. At the top of the triangle sits the boss who got there by hook or by crook. So the meanest scoundrel sits at the top, has long lunches, plays golf and hollers at people sometimes. Below him/her is a huge pyramid of people who “yes” the boss but call him down at the water cooler. The more people he has working under him, the more money he gets. The one with an empire of 100,000 employees is paid millions upon millions. The one with only two under him gets a much lower pay. So it pays to perpetuate the empire with more people in it even if they do nothing. After all, they have a direct line to siphon money out of the taxpayers’ pockets.
Let’s say that the government has budgeted $100,000 to fix a bad water plant problem in an isolated Indigenous community. This plant was designed by the bureaucrats and was meant to cause sicknesses and even death. They want to move these people because there is gold or diamonds underneath them or fresh water nearby to export to the U.S. 70% of Indigenous communities have toxic drinking water not fit for human consumption. This is no accident. Do you really belief the Canadian engineers are that incompetent?
The federal, provincial, municipal and band council hierarchies all take their cuts for “administration” all the way down to the community level. In the end there is almost nothing left to fix the problem. So another proposal goes up the chain, the bureaucrats do the same end run and pocket more money. They make even more by prolonging negotiations, court cases, licensing fees and making sure it doesn’t get resolved, because it wasn’t meant to. The people get warn down and are forced to make a deal that doesn’t benefit them. In the meantime, the band or tribal councilors who work with the banksters live like Middle Eastern sheiks, while crumbs trickle down to the people. If the problem was fixed, the whole hierarchy would fall down like a house of cards. Some bureaucrats might even lose their jobs, we hope. They fight like rats to keep their positions because they’re incompetent. Who else would hire them?
The whole set up of lazy bums depends on this system. It’s never meant to serve the people. In November 2008 the heads of the Wall Street financial hierarchies were the first to pocket $750 billion from the U.S. Treasury. Everyone appeared to oppose this package. The nation might have been threatened with martial law or something else that forced Congress to go along with it.
To save money and stimulate the economy, demolish the hierarchy. Then bring the relationship between the tax dollar and the grassroots closer together. Instead of getting one dollar out of $100, $95 will go where it’s needed.
Let’s b%&@!h slap these parasites in these bureaucracies who sit at desks behind glass walls in big buildings and stare at computers. They are roosting chickens who have jobs, homes, cars, university tuition for their kids and vacations for taking 90% in fees from the people whose resources they are stealing.
Why are the currencies going down in value? Why can’t they trade, ship goods or make contracts like they use to? The U.S. dollar is only paper with some printing on it that needs stolen Indigenous resources to prop it up. The thieves have been putting up our land and resources, without our knowledge or permission, as collateral on another parasite, the stock exchange. We never surrendered our land or resources to anyone. This form of raising money from the public is fraud. This toilet paper system of currency went along until we Indigenous people started to resist. We are the caretakers, trustees, protectors and defenders of the earth. Our responsibility is to help achieve balance within the natural world. Our duty is to stop the depletion of our resources which is killing everything and everybody. We, the stewards of mother earth, have spoken.
Karakwine & Staff, MNN Mohawk Nation News http://www.mohawknationnews.com/
katenies20@yahoo.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations to PayPal at http://www.mohawknationnews.com/, or by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN “United States” category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! Purchase t-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePressStorehttp://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews; Subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates http://.mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription.php; Sign Women Title Holders petition! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Iroquois

Kevin Annett: Why There is No Healing and Reconciliation

Harry Wilson, Continued: Why There is No Healing and Reconciliation

by Kevin Annett

I was going to begin this by observing that the poor, made and kept poor by us, are the only antidote to our self-deceptions. But to say so would be to repeat the crime, and use them, again, for our purpose.

Instead, let his life judge us:

Harry Wilson of the Heiltsuk nation, kidnapped and sodomized by Christians at age six, and for nine years after, at the United Church's Alberni Indian residential school; a witness to the violent murder of friends and relatives, and the discoverer of a young girl's dead body on the grounds of the school; drugged and straight-jacketed for a year when he spoke of what he saw to the Principal, another child rapist, who has never gone to jail.
..................

Harry Wilson sleeps most nights now on the cold ground of Oppenheimer Park on pieces of cardboard he collects from nearby alleyways in Vancouver's downtown eastside. When he gets too cold, he risks dozing in the pews of nearby First United Church, where he usually gets beaten up and robbed.

Last week, when I came across Harry slouched against a wall during one of my nightly walkabouts, the blood was still congealing over his swollen face. He wore no jacket, even though it was below freezing.

"They took it when I was sleeping in the church" Harry muttered.

"Took my coat, my watch, all my money. Then they socked me a few times."

"Where was the night staff?" I asked him.

"Aw, smoking crack outside. They don't do nothin' ..."

First United Church proudly announced its "out of the cold" gimmick in December, opening their doors to the homeless at night thanks to a gift of $30,000 from city taxpayers to do what churches are supposed to be doing anyway. Before the handout, First United's doors stayed locked every night.

One wonders what the $30,000 is being spent on, when Harry and other homeless aboriginals - made homeless by the torture they endured at the hands of the same United Church of Canada - can be so easily violated, once again. Beaten and robbed, while taxpayers fund crack-head church employees to sit outside.

And they say the abuse stopped long ago.

..................

East Hastings is like the Gaza strip: an urban concentration camp where the conquered are penned in and slaughtered when required. Harry is a veteran of the slaughter, somehow surviving it into his fifty sixth year. But he doesn't have much time left.

Harry's steps are slower now, his face more sagging and worn, the scars bloodier and deeper each week, his hours utterly drowned by alcohol. He is dying in front of me, his life squeezed out by the same forces, to feed the same people.

When the U.S. Army bombs civilians to pieces and then sends in their medics to treat the survivors, it's behaving exactly like the United Church of Canada, who first rape and kill innocent children in their residential schools, and then offer "healing" programs to those who survived. That's how the winners in history get to behave.

The only real evidence of their crimes is people like Harry, and the bones of his friends who never made it out of the residential school. But church and state have shoved both Harry and those little corpses out of sight and mind: Harry to rot and die in obscurity on East Hastings street, and the bones of the dead to be dug up and destroyed.

The digging is happening again, in just a few days, at the very place that robbed Harry of his childhood and life. The United Church's old residential school building in Port Alberni is being demolished by the government and its trained seals called the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council, even though it's a proven crime site where hundreds of kids lie in unmarked graves.

"When the girls were raped by the staff, they'd abort the babies and bury them between the walls, where nobody would find them" described Harriett Nahanee, who witnessed a murder at the school in 1946.

"That old building is full of bones. They even had a cold storage room in the cellar where they kept the bodies before they buried them in the hills out back."

That evidence will be obliterated on February 10, as the world watches and does nothing, as unmoved as when Harry tries to choose between a beating and merciless cold each night.

The United Church will stand by and do nothing, pretending that it hasn't murdered Harry and thousands of others.

The RCMP will stand by and do nothing, either, since they helped to bury the slaughtered children. But they have warned me not to interfere with their latest destruction of evidence of a crime.

The killing and coverup continues.

Welcome to "Beautiful British Columbia."

.........................................................................................................
5 February, 2009
Kevin D. Annett
260 Kennedy St.
Nanaimo, B.C. V9R 2H8
250-753-3345 / 1-888-265-1007

The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared
http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/
Read and Hear the truth of Genocide in Canada, past and present, at this website: www.hiddenfromhistory.org

California: Native Americans face violence over mascot removal

Contact:
Mark Anquoe
American Indian Movement - West
(415) 566-5788
gazelbe@yahoo.com
http://www.aimwest.info


Corine Fairbanks
American Indian Movement – Santa Barbara
(805) 212-4947
corine68@yahoo.com
http://www.myspace.com/aimsantabarbara

Native Americans Face Violence and Intimidation Over Mascot Removal in Carpinteria

CARPINTERIA, California - The small town of Carpinteria, California is the latest battleground in Native Americans’ fight against racism. The controversy over a supposedly “harmless” high school sports mascot has alienated the Native American population of Carpinteria, who have come to fear violent reprisals from the non-Native community.

The Carpinteria “Warriors” mascot is the standard Indian chief stereotype, complete with generic plains-style war bonnet and stoic gaze. The school logo consists of a spear with dangling feathers; a visual symbol also associated with plains Indian cultures. Last spring, 15 year old Chumash youth Eli Cordero voiced his objections to the use of this stereotypical imagery by Carpinteria High School. On April 22nd, 2008, he brought his concerns before the school board which then voted to retire the use of all Native American imagery.

Since the April 2008 decision, many citizens of Carpinteria have waged a campaign of terror against those who supported the school board’s decision, as well as the school board itself. A local businessman placed a quarter-page ad in the local newspaper explicitly naming and targeting Eli Cordero, the young student who originally brought the issue to the school board. Since that time, the 15 year old has received death threats and his family has been harassed. Death threats were also made against the child of a school board member who voted to remove the imagery. Local police began escorting school board members to and from school board meetings. Some citizens of Carpinteria shouted racial epithets at John Orendorff, a Native American Army Reserve colonel who spoke at a school board meeting in favor of removing the racist imagery.

Some Native American people have moved out of Carpinteria due to the climate of fear and anti-Indian sentiment. Ashleigh Brown, until recently a resident of Carpinteria, spoke of her decision to move away, “There is a community member who refused to do our printing for our cultural awareness event. Her son…started telling my roommate to keep my nose out of Carpinteria issues, or else I might regret it…So after other townspeople found out where I lived I decided to move out of Carpinteria.”

An organization called “Recall CUSD - Warrior Spirit Never Dies” (http://www.recallcusd.org), has waged a largely successful campaign to discredit and oust the school board members who supported the anti-mascot measure. Having successfully installed pro-mascot sympathizers on the school board, there is now a petition to rescind the earlier decision and keep the racist imagery at the public high school. On January 27th, local Native American people organized a protest to voice their objection to the measure, and were met with verbal abuse by drivers and passers-by. One protestor was hit with a rock thrown by an adult man shouting obscenities. This occurred despite the presence of a representative of the federal justice department, who was sent from Los Angeles to ensure proper police conduct and the safety of the demonstrators. Many local Native Americans, while supporting the anti-mascot effort, refused to join the protest, fearing violent reprisals by the townspeople.

The next school board meeting in Carpinteria is scheduled for February 10th. At this meeting the board will hear from a committee which was formed to assess each specific Native American image on display at Carpinteria High School. The school board is then expected to adjourn until February 24th, when the vote to rescind the previous ruling will be held. Protests and counter-protests are expected at both board meetings.

Pyramid Lake Paiute Gathering

Pyramid Lake Paiute COMMUNITY FEED
Pyramid Lake Paiutes and friends are invited to attend a community feed this Saturday February 7, 2009 @ 6:00pm, located at the Parish Hall in Nixon.
Antelope meat will be provided. Any assistance with side dishes would be greatly appreciated.
Any questions call Wayne Burke #232-1764.
Please checkout protest pictures at web site: http://www.holymenwarriorsdancers.com/

Photo: Protest of abuse of cultural items by Pyramid Lake Marina operator by Wayne Burke/ http://www.holymenwarriorsdancers.com/

Rodriguez: Fear and Hate Policies along the border: RIP

Fear and Hate Policies along the border: R.I.P.

By Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez

Censored News

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

For those who favor militarization and strict border enforcement along the U.S./Mexico border, the Bush era has now become the good old days.
Yet, it is not certain that on the issue of immigration, President Obama represents radical change or change at all.
What is certain is that the previous fear, hate and ignorance-driven approach was ineffective. More importantly, an examination by the Obama administration of the Bush immigration policies will show that such approach was not simply a massive drain on the national budget,
but that it does not produce any wealth. The same could be said for the entire Department of Homeland Security. Borne out of fear, this department is a symbol of both the failure of the Bush administration and the epitome of big [brother] government.
Nothing symbolizes more Bush's failure than the walls/fences along the U.S./Mexico border. An official from Customs and Border Protection recently announced that the 669 miles of fencing along the border – as ordered by ex-president Bush – is now almost complete at the cost of
nearly $3 billion since 2006. Half of it is built along the US/Mexico border. It is a perverse idea that necessarily begs the question: why 669 miles, as opposed to the full-length of the
U.S.-Mexico border? And more importantly, why not a wall along the U.S./Canadian border or impregnable barriers along the U.S. coastlines? Not coincidentally, Bush exempted the fencing from many federal laws, including those involving environmental protections.
With the advent of the Obama administration, already, the walls are tragicomic and appear to be anachronistic and more a monument to fear and hate; it's the past struggling to survive in the future. Its only chance appears to be more fear, more hate and more ignorance.
Several weeks prior to Obama being sworn in, I went to witness for myself "Operation Streamline" – a mockery of a judicial proceeding that generally convicts 70 migrants every day in federal court in about one hour. Generally, the migrants, mostly men, are sentenced to
a private prison and then deported. Since his inauguration, I've gone back and the sham trials continue. And the money flowing to the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) private prison continues unabated to the tune of $11 million per month.
Just on the basis of the nation's massive economic crisis, this operation should be terminated immediately. We now are faced with situations nationwide where education budgets are being shamelessly slashed while jail and prison budgets continue to explode through the
roof. In the meantime, this nation also continues to fight two costly and needless wars on borrowed credit.
For a nation that worries more about the bottom line than its morals, it should actually be more concerned about its moral standing in the world. Fear, hate and ignorance produces psychopathic behavior, such as illegal and irrational wars, walls and moats and much ill-will
around the world.
Fear, hate and irrationality lost the election. President Obama knows this better than anyone. This is why he was quick to order the closure of Guantanamo and why he has called for the end to torture.
This is a good beginning. However, to truly create a new nation, the changes have to come not simply in the realm of U.S. policies overseas. Here in the United States, there is an entire detention system set up to house thousands of migrants, including women and children. They are generally incarcerated without rights, without due process and without trials. In Texas, the Hutto detention facility (also operated by CCA) continues to inhumanely imprison migrant
children, separating them from their families. According to the recently released "Unseen Prisoners" study, by researchers from the University of Arizona, some 300 migrant women were being held in 2007-2008 in three detention centers (two are operated by CCA),
subjected to unwarranted and inhumane conditions.
These facilities are not abroad, just as Operation Streamline does not operate overseas. And just as the president has ordered a review of all the cases at Guantanamo, it is high time that even before pondering the possibility of immigration reform, he should examine not simply the walls, the militarization of the border, the immigration raids, the detention facilities and the sham trials, but also the entire premise of his predecessor's fear-based immigration and border
enforcement policies. More than examining them, similar to Guantanamo, they should be suspended and most of of them should be remanded to the trash bin of history.
Truly, the president should examine the fear in this country that has produced the highest rates of incarceration in the "civilized" world.

Rodriguez can be reached at XColumn@gmail.com

Littlechild to UN: Indigenous Peoples right to food

United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory Committee
2nd Session, 26 – 30 January 2009 Geneva Switzerland

A Joint Intervention, International Organization of Indigenous Resource Development
and the International Indian Treaty Council
Agenda item 2 “The Right to Food”

By Dr. Wilton Littlechild

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The Right to Food, and the range of rights required for its full exercise, is affirmed in a array of international instruments. Notably, Article1 in common of the two (2) International Covenants affirms the right of all peoples to freely pursue their economic social and cultural development, as well as their own means of subsistence.

Likewise, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms in Article 20 that “Indigenous peoples have the right…to be secure in the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and development, and to engage freely in all their traditional and other economic activities.” Many other articles, including Article 26 on land and Natural Resources, and 37 on Treaties also affirm rights that are essential to the exercise of the Right to Food for Indigenous Peoples.

Our delegations strongly support the recommendations of the Advisory Committee’s Drafting Group on the Right to Food, in particular recommendation 5, “that the implementation of the concept of Food Sovereignty should be considered”.

Food Sovereignty for Indigenous Peoples was affirmed as a “precondition for Food Security” in the “Declaration of Atitlan” from the 1st Indigenous Peoples’ Global Consultation on the Right to Food and Food Sovereignty (Guatemala, 2002). This Declaration also affirmed that Food Sovereignty for Indigenous Peoples is a collective right based on rights to our lands, territories and natural resources, the practice of our cultures, languages and traditions, and is essential to our identity as Peoples.

Subsistence Rights are also recognized in many of the legally-binding international Treaties which our ancestors entered into with settler governments and their predecessors. For example, Treaty No. 6 entered into by Indigenous Nations, including the Cree Nation, and the Crown binds the Canadian Government to ensure our subsistence rights for “so long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the rivers flow.” Our ancestors, at Treaty time, secured our traditional avocations of hunting, fishing, gathering and trapping for food during all seasons.

We warmly thank the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Mr. Jean Ziegler for his recognition of the importance and scope of Food Sovereignty for Indigenous Peoples. In his Interim Report to the UN General Assembly [UN Doc A/60/350] on 12 September 2005, the Rapporteur recognized that in most countries “hunger and malnutrition are disproportionately higher among indigenous than non-indigenous populations” and that “it is therefore urgent to strengthen the protection of the right to food of indigenous peoples, including by improving the protection of their lands and resources”. In this report, the Rapporteur also affirmed states’ obligations “to respect, protect and fulfill the right to food of indigenous peoples”.

We also thank the UN General Assembly for is resolution of 13 March, 2008, which “Stresses also its commitments to promote and protect, without discrimination, the economic, social and cultural rights of indigenous peoples, in accordance with international human rights obligations and taking into account, as appropriate, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples” [GA res 62/164, 13 March 2008 on the report of the Third Committee (A/62/439/Add.2), The right to food, paragraph 12].

We regret to report to this body that a range of factors, including Treaty violations, failure to respect human rights including Free Prior and Informed Consent, imposed development, environmental contamination and Climate Change are seriously impacting the Right to Food for Indigenous Peoples around the world.

We urge that the Advisory Council consider and include the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples as noted above in its report and recommendations to the Human Rights Council, as well as in any future work on this vital issue.

We are prepared to submit more detailed information upon the request of this body, and we thank you for your attention to our concerns.

Dr. Wilton Littlechild, IPC

American Indian Airwaves: Mount Tenabo and Navajo uranium mining

02/04/09, Wednesday, on American Indian Airwaves

"Mt. Tenabo Revisited and Energy Policy Opens Up more Indigenous Lands for Uranium Mining"

Part 1: Julie Fischel, Western Shoshone Defense Project ( http://www.wsdp.org), joins us for the first segment of today's show to discuss the federal decision denying the preliminary injunction to halt Barrack Gold Company, the worlds largest gold mining company, Cortez Hills Expansion Project within the Western Shoshone Nation and at the base of the sacred site Mount Tenabo. The project, was recently approved by the Bureau of Land Management, and will be the largest open pit cyanide heap leach gold mines in the United States, Julie discuss the judicial, cultural , and political parameters of this setback and what the next step is in the struggle to protect the Western Shoshone Nation.

Part 2:Anna Rondon (Dine' Nation), indigenous activist, Member of Southwest Indigenous Uranium Forum, and main organizer of the Indigenous World Uranium Summit, joins us for this segment of the show to discuss former President Bush's executive orders initiated prior to his second presidential term concluding and how they allow for more uranium mining within indigenous nations in the southwest, and, ultimately, the construction of more nuclear power plants as part of the dominant society's archaic and draconian energy policies. Anna also discusses what the ramifications potentially are for indigenous peoples and their respective First Nations, and what the new administration's agenda is for (new) energy sources.

American Indian Airwaves regularly broadcast every Wednesday from 3pm to 4pm (PCT) on KPFK FM 90.7 in Los Angles, FM 98.7 in Santa Barbara, and by Internet with Real Media Player, Winamp, & Itunes at http :// www.kpfk.org , and American Indian Airwaves now broadcast every Saturday from 3pm to 4pm (ECT) on WCRS 98.3/102.1 in Columbus, OH. Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/aiairwaves
SPECIAL NOTICE: weekly shows can now be heard on the KPFK web site ( http://www.kpfk.org ) under "audio archives" located on the left. Scroll down and click on American Indian Airwaves.