ELITIST THUGS KEEP TRYING TO KILL OFF INDIGENOUS & PEOPLE OF COLOR
Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/
Mar. 27, 2009. We are told the world is overpopulated and that it must be depopulated! We are finding out it is part of the old eugenics plan to create a “super race” and get rid of those who they deem to be “useless eaters”. It’s a code for systematic killing of us and people of color, in violation of international law and norms. The serial killers making these blatant plans to carry out “mass executions” must be stopped. The economic melt down is being used as their incentive to proceed. Outright killing and bio-terrorism strategies are being perfected and practiced on us. It’s a pet project of the elite. It’s common knowledge that Prince Phillip said that after he dies, he wants to come back as a deadly virus to reduce the earth’s population by 90%.
Henry Kissinger set up the old ideas that President Obama is following. [Hey, isn’t he a person of color?] Kissinger was National Security Advisor NSA and Secretary of State for Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford in the 1970's.
Like King George VI and early elitist Thomas Malthus, Kissinger says that humans will eat and reproduce until there is standing room only on the planet. He thinks he should rebalance the natural world to his way. In his memoirs, "The Final Days", control over life and death is a sexual high as "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac". We think that the megalomaniacs should not reproduce.
Kissinger helped write the classified memo dated December 10, 1974 for the U.S. National Security Council called “The National Security Study Memorandum 200, Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests (NSSM200)”. President Gerald Ford adopted it as official U.S. policy in November 1975. Getting control of the world's food was one way to gain control of the people. To get food and medicines, developing countries had to agree to tough birth control programs and to drastically reduce their population. People resisted, of course. Kissinger and his cohorts decided to resort to wars.
The myth of “overpopulation” is promoted, particularly against Indigenous people and people of color. We are standing in the way of their plunder of the Earth's resources and destruction of life. As Kissinger said, “The fast growing populations are prone to civil unrest”. It’s because we are hungry for life! Young Indigenous people are their highest concern because they could drive away investors!
The UN adopted the “World Population Plan of Action” in 1974 to keep the global population below 8 billion. Recently it was lowered to 1.5 billion so they can enjoy the North American materialistic lifestyle of creature comforts, gross obesity and desensitization. They are unconcerned about natural cycles of life. They set a limit of two children per family. They saw that it would require "vigorous efforts" while pretending it's voluntary.
Birth control devices did not slow down the birthrate of the 13 targeted countries: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil, Philippines, Thailand, Egypt, Turkey, Ethiopia, and Colombia. President Luis Lula of Brazil told a gathering attended by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that the global financial crisis was caused by “the irrational behavior of white people with blue eyes” [news.bbc.co.uk].
Kissinger's war crimes are well documented in “The Trial of Henry Kissinger” by Christopher Hitchens. Kissinger was involved in genocidal massacres of millions in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh (Pakistan), East Timor (Indonesia), Burma (Myanmar) and Chile.
Fertility is a threat worse than nuclear war. Many personal care products are being made with toxic chemicals and endocrine disrupters which affect reproductive function and fertility. Subversive fertility control technologies have been around for a long time. Among others, “Ax Body Deodorant” for young men contains endocrine disrupters that bring down their sperm count. Do we need to use these fragrances to mask the natural scent of healthy human bodies?
U.S. President Barack Obama's National Security Advisor, James L. Jones, recently provoked his cronies and the world in Munich Germany that Kissinger is his boss. He said, "I take my daily orders from Dr. Kissinger, filtered down through General Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger”.
Jones is a retired 4-Star Marine Corp General with scads of medals, including the French Legion of Honor and the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross. He was a Vietnam vet and worked in the Department of Defence until 2006. He had been active in many businesses making money out of death and destruction such as Boeing, Cross Match Technologies, a privately held biometric solutions company and Chevron Corporation. On November 28, 2007 Condoleeza Rice appointed him as a special Middle East envoy to "strengthen security for both Israelis and Palestinians”. Well, the flames of violence have been heavily fanned since then.
Indigenous people are in the way everywhere in the world resisting the plunder of our territories, resources and the earth. Because of technology, we are not needed and are targeted for elimination.
The pirates want to keep the loot for themselves and to death with the rest of us. Resisters are being eliminated everywhere. In Iraq and Afghanistan depleted uranium is used to sicken and kill for generations. If bombs and bullets don’t do it, chemicals and diseases will be brought in.
In Onowaregeh, Turtle Island, we Ongwehone have been targeted from the beginning of the European invasion. We went through and are still going through death by killings, diseases, forced sterilization, birth control, residential school abuse and murders, theft of our children, deliberate poverty and third world living conditions to lower our birth rate and longevity. It didn’t work. So now state agents are going after our kids by rammings, jailings, assaults, “disappearing” and no economic and social opportunities for us. U.S. and Canada are joining forces to marginalize, demoralize, anger, create despair and give us no hope. Since we are marked for death, our way is to defend ourselves by surviving and until we win!
Iakoha’ko:wa & MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News http://www.mohawknationnews.com/
kittoh@storm.ca
katenies20@yahoo.com
kahentinetha2@yahoo.com
Note: At this time your financial help is urgently needed and appreciated for the lawsuit against the Canadian government for assault of Indigenous women at the Cornwall border. 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 “United States” category for more stories on this; 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 and Sources
Kissinger and Overpopulation
Excerpts from the Executive Summary of NSSM200
http://www.population-security.org/11-CH3.html#1
National Security Study Memorandum 200 NSSM200
Kissinger and company were paranoid that "the imbalance between growing numbers and development potential most seriously risks instability, unrest, and international tensions. This group of priority countries includes some with virtually no government interest in family planning and others with active government family planning programs which require and would welcome enlarged technical and financial assistance. These countries should be given the highest priority within AID's population program in terms of resource allocations and/or leadership efforts to encourage action by other donors and organizations."
"POLITICAL EFFECTS OF POPULATION FACTORS - Index
19. The political consequences of current population factors in the LDCs -- rapid growth, internal migration, high percentages of young people, slow improvement in living standards, urban concentrations, and pressures for foreign migration -- are damaging to the internal stability and international relations of countries in whose advancement the U.S. is interested, thus creating political or even national security problems for the U.S. In a broader sense, there is a major risk of severe damage to world economic, political, and ecological systems and, as these systems begin to fail, to our humanitarian values [emphasis added]."
"29. While specific goals in this area are difficult to state, [they'd be pretty offensive to most people!] our aim should be for the world to achieve a replacement level of fertility, (a two-child family on the average), by about the year 2000... Compared to the U.N medium projection, this goal would result in 500 million fewer people in 2000 and about 3 billion fewer in 2050. Attainment of this goal will require greatly intensified population programs. A basis for developing national population growth control targets to achieve this world target is contained in the World Population Plan of Action.
30. The World Population Plan of Action (adopted by consensus by 137 nations at the August 1974 U.N. World Population Conference) is not self-enforcing and will require vigorous efforts by interested countries, U.N. agencies and other international bodies to make it effective. U.S. leadership is essential..."
"Initiate an international cooperative strategy of national research programs on human reproduction and fertility control covering biomedical and socio-economic factors, as proposed by the U.S. Delegation at Bucharest."
"34. To help assure others of our intentions we should indicate our emphasis on the right of individuals and couples to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children and to have information, education and means to do so, and our continued interest in improving the overall general welfare." Hmm, when did Kissinger ever do that? He's wanted for war crimes!
"37. There is an alternate view which holds that a growing number of experts believe that the population situation is already more serious and less amenable to solution through voluntary measures than is generally accepted. It holds that, to prevent even more widespread food shortage and other demographic catastrophes than are generally anticipated, even stronger measures are required and some fundamental, very difficult moral issues need to be addressed. These include, for example, our own consumption patterns, mandatory programs, tight control of our food resources. In view of the seriousness of these issues, explicit consideration of them should begin in the Executive Branch, the Congress and the U.N. soon. (See the end of Section I for this viewpoint.)"
"this new threat to U.S. and global security and the actions the many departments of our government felt were necessary in order to address this grave new threat -- a threat greater than nuclear war. "
The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens
http://www.cfr.org/publication/18515/remarks_by_national_security_adviser_jones_at_45th_munich_conference_on_security_policy.html
http://www.infowars.com/nsc-advisor-jones-i-take-my-daily-orders-from-dr-kissinger/
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Censorship and the dying rags
Censorship and the dying rags
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
It is becoming popular to moan the death of US newspapers. Americans like to be romantic, nostalgic, when things pass on. But the truth is newspapers are not just dying because of the Internet, shrinking advertising and dismal profits.
US newspapers are dying because they became the prostitutes of commercialism and stopped telling the truth. Many people stopped buying newspapers because they became the rags of a corrupt industry. Too many journalists swallowed their pride, ignored their integrity and did what they had to do to pay the mortgage. They followed the marching orders of editors and publishers who forgot, or never knew, what journalism was intended to do.
Television news became entertainment, a boiling sea of lies and half truths. It focuses on a few murders to hypnotize Americans. It sensationalizes and fuels the inherent racism. When it comes to promoting the war and warmongering corporations, no one does it better than television news, regurgitating US press releases as if those were truth.
For readers of newspapers, it became too hard to tell the wag-the-dog spin of the press releases of politicians and corporations from real news and real truth. For corporations and politicians, it became too easy to take their lush profits and threaten a lawsuit whenever the real truth was exposed. The corporations and politicians learned how to kill off the good journalists, whether it was with the threat of a million dollar lawsuit, a bloody murder on the backroads or streets of Mexico or an explosion in Iraq. Other reporters, along with the activists who revealed the truths, were quietly "suicided" or overdosed with drugs.
How many newspapers today have articles on the Serb death squad leader who was a top CIA agent, or the chemical spraying planned for the border? (Seize the land and kill off anyone and anything that remains seems to be the agenda.) How many newspapers are pointing the finger at the US for the drug war in Mexico? The people in the US are buying the drugs and creating the demand for the drugs. It is the US that is supplying the weapons, running those south. The US even trained the most notorious killers in the drug war, the Zetas, as US special forces. The Zetas later broke away and became the most savage killers.
How many newspapers reported that the FBI had to halt a sting in the Tucson area because so many US soldiers in the Army, Marines, Airforce and National Guard were smuggling cocaine from the border at Nogales, Arizona, to Phoenix?
How many newspapers are investigating the number of assaults, rapes and murders by US Border Agents that are concealed? Where are undercover reports of US Border Agents smuggling drugs from the southern border, with their "spotters" positioned along the route. Where are the reports of the people killed by US agents, including Tohono O'odham? Where are the reports in print newspapers from Mexico on how US dollars, disguised as fighting the drug war, are really used to silence activists, such as in Guerrero? (Articles are at Narco News online: www.narconews.com )
Where are the news reports on what the Zapatistas really represent? The Zapatistas stood up for integrity, honor, Indigenous autonomy and self-rule, not for the trendy fashions of tourists and boring intellectuals. How many print newspapers publish the issues exposed by the Mohawk editors, Mohawk grandmothers, at Mohawk Nation News http://www.mohawknationnews.com/
Are any newspapers analyzing the number of power plants, coal mines, uranium mines, oil and gas wells, nuclear dumps planned for American Indian lands and borderlands? How many reporters are following the pro-nuclear trend, disguised as green, with no thought of where to put all the nuclear waste. Perhaps they could dump it in the EPA officials' backyards or have a toxic dump in DC, between the Capitol and the White House. Are any reporters investigating the global scam and fiction of carbon credits, along with the role of the World Bank and the corporate seizures of Indigenous lands in the carbon trading scam?
Are any US newspapers analyzing why the US refuses to support the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? Have any US newspapers published those rights, including the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their own aboriginal territories? How many print newspapers have exposed the violations of human rights of imprisoned migrants, including women and children, at private US prisons.
Which newspapers are publishing the rights of the Western Shoshone in the Treaty of Ruby Valley and how the New York Times was pimping for Barrick Gold in Nevada. The federal court and New York Times agree that the heart of Western Shoshone territory, and the region of sacred Mount Tenabo, should be cored out for a gold mine. It is a gold mine that President Bush, Sr., made possible in Nevada.
Are news reporters exposing the murders and rapes of villagers by Barrick Gold around the world? Have print newspapers reported on the assassinations of Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala who oppose mining or the cancer clusters around mines in the First Nations territories in Canada? Are reporters exposing the mass graves of Indian children in church residential schools in Canada or how the US plans to exploit the natural resources of First Nations?
Are there any US newspapers pointing out the fact that most elected Native American tribal councils are "puppets" of the US government, designed and created by the US to sign leases to exploit Native American land, air, water and resources?
Which newspapers are holding Bush and Cheney responsible for torture and war crimes? Which newspapers are holding Israel responsible for the use of white phosphorus? Who is demanding that leaders responsible for violating the Geneva Conventions be held responsible? Who is exposing the hazards of depleted uranium? (See articles online at http://www.unobserver.com/)
Journalism will survive, but let's celebrate the death of the whore houses, those shacks that still have the word "news" swagging on their storefronts.
brendanorrell@gmail.com
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
It is becoming popular to moan the death of US newspapers. Americans like to be romantic, nostalgic, when things pass on. But the truth is newspapers are not just dying because of the Internet, shrinking advertising and dismal profits.
US newspapers are dying because they became the prostitutes of commercialism and stopped telling the truth. Many people stopped buying newspapers because they became the rags of a corrupt industry. Too many journalists swallowed their pride, ignored their integrity and did what they had to do to pay the mortgage. They followed the marching orders of editors and publishers who forgot, or never knew, what journalism was intended to do.
Television news became entertainment, a boiling sea of lies and half truths. It focuses on a few murders to hypnotize Americans. It sensationalizes and fuels the inherent racism. When it comes to promoting the war and warmongering corporations, no one does it better than television news, regurgitating US press releases as if those were truth.
For readers of newspapers, it became too hard to tell the wag-the-dog spin of the press releases of politicians and corporations from real news and real truth. For corporations and politicians, it became too easy to take their lush profits and threaten a lawsuit whenever the real truth was exposed. The corporations and politicians learned how to kill off the good journalists, whether it was with the threat of a million dollar lawsuit, a bloody murder on the backroads or streets of Mexico or an explosion in Iraq. Other reporters, along with the activists who revealed the truths, were quietly "suicided" or overdosed with drugs.
How many newspapers today have articles on the Serb death squad leader who was a top CIA agent, or the chemical spraying planned for the border? (Seize the land and kill off anyone and anything that remains seems to be the agenda.) How many newspapers are pointing the finger at the US for the drug war in Mexico? The people in the US are buying the drugs and creating the demand for the drugs. It is the US that is supplying the weapons, running those south. The US even trained the most notorious killers in the drug war, the Zetas, as US special forces. The Zetas later broke away and became the most savage killers.
How many newspapers reported that the FBI had to halt a sting in the Tucson area because so many US soldiers in the Army, Marines, Airforce and National Guard were smuggling cocaine from the border at Nogales, Arizona, to Phoenix?
How many newspapers are investigating the number of assaults, rapes and murders by US Border Agents that are concealed? Where are undercover reports of US Border Agents smuggling drugs from the southern border, with their "spotters" positioned along the route. Where are the reports of the people killed by US agents, including Tohono O'odham? Where are the reports in print newspapers from Mexico on how US dollars, disguised as fighting the drug war, are really used to silence activists, such as in Guerrero? (Articles are at Narco News online: www.narconews.com )
Where are the news reports on what the Zapatistas really represent? The Zapatistas stood up for integrity, honor, Indigenous autonomy and self-rule, not for the trendy fashions of tourists and boring intellectuals. How many print newspapers publish the issues exposed by the Mohawk editors, Mohawk grandmothers, at Mohawk Nation News http://www.mohawknationnews.com/
Are any newspapers analyzing the number of power plants, coal mines, uranium mines, oil and gas wells, nuclear dumps planned for American Indian lands and borderlands? How many reporters are following the pro-nuclear trend, disguised as green, with no thought of where to put all the nuclear waste. Perhaps they could dump it in the EPA officials' backyards or have a toxic dump in DC, between the Capitol and the White House. Are any reporters investigating the global scam and fiction of carbon credits, along with the role of the World Bank and the corporate seizures of Indigenous lands in the carbon trading scam?
Are any US newspapers analyzing why the US refuses to support the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? Have any US newspapers published those rights, including the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their own aboriginal territories? How many print newspapers have exposed the violations of human rights of imprisoned migrants, including women and children, at private US prisons.
Which newspapers are publishing the rights of the Western Shoshone in the Treaty of Ruby Valley and how the New York Times was pimping for Barrick Gold in Nevada. The federal court and New York Times agree that the heart of Western Shoshone territory, and the region of sacred Mount Tenabo, should be cored out for a gold mine. It is a gold mine that President Bush, Sr., made possible in Nevada.
Are news reporters exposing the murders and rapes of villagers by Barrick Gold around the world? Have print newspapers reported on the assassinations of Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala who oppose mining or the cancer clusters around mines in the First Nations territories in Canada? Are reporters exposing the mass graves of Indian children in church residential schools in Canada or how the US plans to exploit the natural resources of First Nations?
Are there any US newspapers pointing out the fact that most elected Native American tribal councils are "puppets" of the US government, designed and created by the US to sign leases to exploit Native American land, air, water and resources?
Which newspapers are holding Bush and Cheney responsible for torture and war crimes? Which newspapers are holding Israel responsible for the use of white phosphorus? Who is demanding that leaders responsible for violating the Geneva Conventions be held responsible? Who is exposing the hazards of depleted uranium? (See articles online at http://www.unobserver.com/)
Journalism will survive, but let's celebrate the death of the whore houses, those shacks that still have the word "news" swagging on their storefronts.
brendanorrell@gmail.com
Obscene Racist Event: Burning Man's 'Go Native'
From Mark Anquoe, AIM West
Brothers and Sisters,
Yesterday I was informed about an obscene racist event that will be hosted by a Burning Man crew. On Saturday, March 28th, an organization calling itself "Visionary Village" will put on a dance party called "Go Native" where participants are being asked to come in "native costume". They advertise that the event will raise funds for "neurofeedback research" in Native American Church members. THIS IS A LIE. Real NAC members would never consent to being "studied" during our most sacred ceremonies! Furthermore, their "theme rooms", as scheduled, will make a mockery of Native cultures, including the Anasazi and "Pueblo" cultures (as if there was a single, generic "Pueblo" culture).
In addition, they proudly advertise that their dance party will be held "in a bordello complex" built on top of an ancient Ohlone site! Adding desecration to this insult is outrageous!
The event organizers have been contacted by *many* people in the community, and in addition to being completely insensitive to the Native people who have contacted them, they have also been unable to establish any connection between their "fundraising event" and *any* Native American Church group or individual.
The text from their advertising appears below. Read all of these details for yourself. Part of the flyer is also attached as an image.
The American Indian Movement WILL BE ORGANIZING AN ACTION AGAINST THIS EVENT. More details to follow.
For the moment, please write to the organizers and tell them how you feel about their event. Please write to the DJs and performers and tell them that real life Indians are insulted and furious about this event. Also, please forward this information on to any Burning Man people you know. Its important that these people know that their own community does not support this kind of racism! Tell all the Burning Man people you know to NOT ATTEND THIS EVENT! It is especially important that NAC members, Pueblo people, and Ohlone people make their voices heard on this issue.
Organizers:
visionaryvillage@gmail.com
Performers (partial list, more to come):
peachy@janakaselekta.net
www.myspace.com/janakaselekta
http://www.myspace.com/mozaicmusic
http://people.tribe.net/chlorophil
http://www.myspace.com/venusinvelvet
apache.cleo@gmail.com
Brothers and Sisters,
Yesterday I was informed about an obscene racist event that will be hosted by a Burning Man crew. On Saturday, March 28th, an organization calling itself "Visionary Village" will put on a dance party called "Go Native" where participants are being asked to come in "native costume". They advertise that the event will raise funds for "neurofeedback research" in Native American Church members. THIS IS A LIE. Real NAC members would never consent to being "studied" during our most sacred ceremonies! Furthermore, their "theme rooms", as scheduled, will make a mockery of Native cultures, including the Anasazi and "Pueblo" cultures (as if there was a single, generic "Pueblo" culture).
In addition, they proudly advertise that their dance party will be held "in a bordello complex" built on top of an ancient Ohlone site! Adding desecration to this insult is outrageous!
The event organizers have been contacted by *many* people in the community, and in addition to being completely insensitive to the Native people who have contacted them, they have also been unable to establish any connection between their "fundraising event" and *any* Native American Church group or individual.
The text from their advertising appears below. Read all of these details for yourself. Part of the flyer is also attached as an image.
The American Indian Movement WILL BE ORGANIZING AN ACTION AGAINST THIS EVENT. More details to follow.
For the moment, please write to the organizers and tell them how you feel about their event. Please write to the DJs and performers and tell them that real life Indians are insulted and furious about this event. Also, please forward this information on to any Burning Man people you know. Its important that these people know that their own community does not support this kind of racism! Tell all the Burning Man people you know to NOT ATTEND THIS EVENT! It is especially important that NAC members, Pueblo people, and Ohlone people make their voices heard on this issue.
Organizers:
visionaryvillage@gmail.com
Performers (partial list, more to come):
peachy@janakaselekta.net
www.myspace.com/janakaselekta
http://www.myspace.com/mozaicmusic
http://people.tribe.net/chlorophil
http://www.myspace.com/venusinvelvet
apache.cleo@gmail.com
Lipan Apache Chairman: Halt Border Chemical Spraying
From Lipan Apache Chairman Daniel Castro Romero
Margo & Supporters,
As the traditional Chief of the Lipan Apache Band of Texas, Inc. (Cúelcahén Ndé) I demand that the spraying of our sacred sites be stopped. For the record the descendants of the Lipan Apache Band of Texas stand ready to stop this spraying. Historically, we the Lipan Apache have always protected the Rio Grande's gifts, such as the Carrizo. In fact some of our traditional stories originate from this place.
Historical ties to Laredo are well documented and two such events include the Alcaldes de las Villas de la Provincia Laredo Treaty signed by Cuelgas de Castro on August 17, 1822. Years later, on May 29, 1835, the Mayor of Laredo, Francisco V. Fernandez granted the lineal descendants of the Lipan Apache Band of Texas the Spanish Land Grant named the “Garcia Land Grant” on May 29, 1835, in the City of Laredo, Texas.
Ironically, now both Lipan Apache sites are being slated for spraying that will kill off the Carrizo that continues to be a food staple, home building material, and traditional medicinal plant for our people.
Would the Department of Homeland Security spray this chemical on the lawn of the Lincoln Memorial? So why spray on the Lipan Apache version of the Lincoln Memorial?
Respectfully,
Daniel Castro Romero, Jr., M.S.W.
General Council Chairman
Lipan Apache Band of Texas
888 Bethel Avenue, Apt. 232
Sanger, California 93657- 2775
Phone:(559) 430-4003
Margo & Supporters,
As the traditional Chief of the Lipan Apache Band of Texas, Inc. (Cúelcahén Ndé) I demand that the spraying of our sacred sites be stopped. For the record the descendants of the Lipan Apache Band of Texas stand ready to stop this spraying. Historically, we the Lipan Apache have always protected the Rio Grande's gifts, such as the Carrizo. In fact some of our traditional stories originate from this place.
Historical ties to Laredo are well documented and two such events include the Alcaldes de las Villas de la Provincia Laredo Treaty signed by Cuelgas de Castro on August 17, 1822. Years later, on May 29, 1835, the Mayor of Laredo, Francisco V. Fernandez granted the lineal descendants of the Lipan Apache Band of Texas the Spanish Land Grant named the “Garcia Land Grant” on May 29, 1835, in the City of Laredo, Texas.
Ironically, now both Lipan Apache sites are being slated for spraying that will kill off the Carrizo that continues to be a food staple, home building material, and traditional medicinal plant for our people.
Would the Department of Homeland Security spray this chemical on the lawn of the Lincoln Memorial? So why spray on the Lipan Apache version of the Lincoln Memorial?
Respectfully,
Daniel Castro Romero, Jr., M.S.W.
General Council Chairman
Lipan Apache Band of Texas
888 Bethel Avenue, Apt. 232
Sanger, California 93657- 2775
Phone:(559) 430-4003
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
MNN: 'Killer Crossroads in Akwesasne' colonial terror at Indigenous youths
'Killer Crossroads' in Akwesasne – colonial terror specially aimed at Indigenous youths
Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/
Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/
Photo: Seaway International Bridge
March 23, 2009. There have been many high speed chases, violence, injuries and deaths at or near the “killer crossroads” in front of the Cornwall Island border checkpoint at Akwesasne. Women, men, youth and children are being constantly harassed and brutalized here. The Canada-U.S. border is illegally situated in the middle of our community.
Canadian Border Services Agents, CSIS, RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police, Akwesasne Mohawk “Indian” Police and other government “spotters” finger our people at the toll booth. We can be targeted for assault, harassment, false charges, delayed for hours for no reason, raped, groped or almost murdered. Recently more and more of our men are being chased and rammed by wild delirious “Indian” cops who are desperate to suck up to their colonial “masters”. The band or tribal cops are ordered by provincial, state and federal cops to attack their own people and relatives.
The colonial agents assume that their targets “may be” carrying cigarettes in their vehicles. We have an inherent right since time immemorial to carry on our traditional trade and commerce. Even their own law, the Indian Act, respects our right to carry “taxes free” cigarettes on an “Indian reserve”. They’re putting a new twist to “smoking kills”.
In the high speed chases the cops try to drive the target off the road by ramming their car, causing a flat tire or damaging the back end so the car loses or breaks its suspension or brakes forcing the car to go out of control. The cops continue even when told it’s dangerous. The victims are driven off the road, killed, or, if they survive, are beaten up. They are then charged and arrested.
Last summer in 2008 non-native cops from St. Constant Quebec chased two young Mohawks onto Kahnawake, a Mohawk community near Montreal. The high speed chase led to a back road through a busy residential area . A 15-year old Indigenous boy riding on his bike was hit and killed almost instantly.
After a high speed chase on November 14, 2008, the OPP charged two Akwesasne Mohawk Police officers, Mike Biron and Kenneth Chaussi, with criminal negligence and dangerous driving causing death in a fatal crash on Cornwall Island at the “crossroads”. The cops chased and rammed Gionet’s minivan at high speed. Gionet tried to get away from these maniacs and smashed into the elderly couple at the crossroad. The collision explosion instantly killed a 77-year-old Massena couple, Edward and Eileen Kassian, and Dany Gionet, 21, of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. A judicial pre-trial conference is set for May 4 and a court date for May 28th.
In another incident, on March 19, 2009, Iohahiio, a young man from Kahnawake, was sentenced to 90 days to be served on weekends. He supposedly led “police on a high-speed chase” in February 2007 on Cornwall Island in Akwesasne. He was also charged with obstructing a police officer and dangerous driving. Both were withdrawn because they did not happen.
The Akwesasne Mohawk Police tried to pull him over after they saw him leaving a home on Cornwall Island that they allege had connections to someone in the tobacco business. They chased him across the Seaway International Bridge into Cornwall, around the traffic circle, and back over the bridge to Akwesasne. A camera on the cruiser shows that Iohahiio never drove dangerously. The cops rammed him at least three times, twice at the crossroads, causing extensive damage. Throughout, Iohahiio was speaking with his mother on his cell phone. To save his life she instructed him not to pull over until he was in a well-lit area. Iohahiio stopped on the road to the local arena. The cops pulled up and aimed their guns at him, broke his rear window and pulled him out.
Cops beating our people is common. In 1990 his father had a minor charge. When the NYS Police drove him from Akwesasne to Syracuse, they stopped eight times, took him into police stations along the way and severely beat him up.
Violence against Indigenous youth is escalating. Recently young Indigenous girls were sitting outside a Tim Horton’s Coffee Shop in Cornwall. Two Cornwall police officers pulled over. The cop asked one of the girls, “What’s in your bag?” She answered, “Why?” He insisted, “Show me what’s inside”. She refused. He got out, grabbed her bag, struggled with her and injured her thumb.
It is time to remove this “death trap” checkpoint. The cops appear to want to see more Indigenous blood, especially of our youth. U.S and Canada are trying to force us to carry their illegally issued border crossing identity cards on June 1, 2009. They know we have a right to resist this imposition. According to international law we must be consulted and agree of our own free will to become Canadians or Americans. So they are using their “tighten the screws” tactics. These “foreign” border guards are creating conflicts so they can illegally carry guns in the middle of our community. They need the peoples’ permission to do this. It would be dangerous to put guns into the hands of guards who hate Indigenous people!
MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com katenies20@yahoo.com
kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: At this time your financial help is urgently needed and appreciated for the lawsuit against the Canadian government for assault of Indigenous women at the Cornwall border. 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 “Akwesasne” category for more stories on this; 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
March 23, 2009. There have been many high speed chases, violence, injuries and deaths at or near the “killer crossroads” in front of the Cornwall Island border checkpoint at Akwesasne. Women, men, youth and children are being constantly harassed and brutalized here. The Canada-U.S. border is illegally situated in the middle of our community.
Canadian Border Services Agents, CSIS, RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police, Akwesasne Mohawk “Indian” Police and other government “spotters” finger our people at the toll booth. We can be targeted for assault, harassment, false charges, delayed for hours for no reason, raped, groped or almost murdered. Recently more and more of our men are being chased and rammed by wild delirious “Indian” cops who are desperate to suck up to their colonial “masters”. The band or tribal cops are ordered by provincial, state and federal cops to attack their own people and relatives.
The colonial agents assume that their targets “may be” carrying cigarettes in their vehicles. We have an inherent right since time immemorial to carry on our traditional trade and commerce. Even their own law, the Indian Act, respects our right to carry “taxes free” cigarettes on an “Indian reserve”. They’re putting a new twist to “smoking kills”.
In the high speed chases the cops try to drive the target off the road by ramming their car, causing a flat tire or damaging the back end so the car loses or breaks its suspension or brakes forcing the car to go out of control. The cops continue even when told it’s dangerous. The victims are driven off the road, killed, or, if they survive, are beaten up. They are then charged and arrested.
Last summer in 2008 non-native cops from St. Constant Quebec chased two young Mohawks onto Kahnawake, a Mohawk community near Montreal. The high speed chase led to a back road through a busy residential area . A 15-year old Indigenous boy riding on his bike was hit and killed almost instantly.
After a high speed chase on November 14, 2008, the OPP charged two Akwesasne Mohawk Police officers, Mike Biron and Kenneth Chaussi, with criminal negligence and dangerous driving causing death in a fatal crash on Cornwall Island at the “crossroads”. The cops chased and rammed Gionet’s minivan at high speed. Gionet tried to get away from these maniacs and smashed into the elderly couple at the crossroad. The collision explosion instantly killed a 77-year-old Massena couple, Edward and Eileen Kassian, and Dany Gionet, 21, of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. A judicial pre-trial conference is set for May 4 and a court date for May 28th.
In another incident, on March 19, 2009, Iohahiio, a young man from Kahnawake, was sentenced to 90 days to be served on weekends. He supposedly led “police on a high-speed chase” in February 2007 on Cornwall Island in Akwesasne. He was also charged with obstructing a police officer and dangerous driving. Both were withdrawn because they did not happen.
The Akwesasne Mohawk Police tried to pull him over after they saw him leaving a home on Cornwall Island that they allege had connections to someone in the tobacco business. They chased him across the Seaway International Bridge into Cornwall, around the traffic circle, and back over the bridge to Akwesasne. A camera on the cruiser shows that Iohahiio never drove dangerously. The cops rammed him at least three times, twice at the crossroads, causing extensive damage. Throughout, Iohahiio was speaking with his mother on his cell phone. To save his life she instructed him not to pull over until he was in a well-lit area. Iohahiio stopped on the road to the local arena. The cops pulled up and aimed their guns at him, broke his rear window and pulled him out.
Cops beating our people is common. In 1990 his father had a minor charge. When the NYS Police drove him from Akwesasne to Syracuse, they stopped eight times, took him into police stations along the way and severely beat him up.
Violence against Indigenous youth is escalating. Recently young Indigenous girls were sitting outside a Tim Horton’s Coffee Shop in Cornwall. Two Cornwall police officers pulled over. The cop asked one of the girls, “What’s in your bag?” She answered, “Why?” He insisted, “Show me what’s inside”. She refused. He got out, grabbed her bag, struggled with her and injured her thumb.
It is time to remove this “death trap” checkpoint. The cops appear to want to see more Indigenous blood, especially of our youth. U.S and Canada are trying to force us to carry their illegally issued border crossing identity cards on June 1, 2009. They know we have a right to resist this imposition. According to international law we must be consulted and agree of our own free will to become Canadians or Americans. So they are using their “tighten the screws” tactics. These “foreign” border guards are creating conflicts so they can illegally carry guns in the middle of our community. They need the peoples’ permission to do this. It would be dangerous to put guns into the hands of guards who hate Indigenous people!
MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com katenies20@yahoo.com
kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: At this time your financial help is urgently needed and appreciated for the lawsuit against the Canadian government for assault of Indigenous women at the Cornwall border. 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 “Akwesasne” category for more stories on this; 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
Amnesty reports to UN on Australia's human rights failures
Amnesty reports to UN on Australia’s human rights failures
MARCH 2009
Amnesty International has presented the United Nations with a detailed report (pdf size: 377kb) setting out its concerns about Australia’s failure to comply with some of the country’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The 28-page ICCPR document (pdf size: 377kb) was tabled as part of the formal reporting mechanisms of the UN Human Rights Committee, under which the Australian Government is required to submit a report on its compliance with Covenant obligations every five years.
Robyn Seth-Purdie, Government Relations Adviser for Amnesty International Australia, addressed Committee members on issues raised in the report at a Committee session in New York on 16 March.
Dr Seth-Purdie highlighted the areas in which Australia most needs to strengthen human rights protections, particularly in relation to the rights of Indigenous Australians, asylum seekers and individuals subject to investigation under Australian anti-terrorism legislation.
“Many of the gaps in Australia’s protection of human rights, identified by the UN Human Rights Committee in its last periodic review, still have not been addressed,” Dr Seth-Purdie said. “If the Rudd government is serious about meeting its international obligations it should take immediate action to withdraw law and policy that subject Indigenous Australians to racial discrimination.”
Amnesty International acknowledged the significance of the Prime Minister’s 2008 apology to the Stolen Generations, but pointed out that more needed to be done.
“Reinstating protections against racial discrimination under the Northern Territory Intervention is a crucial next step for the Australian Government to take to improve its human rights record,” Dr Seth-Purdie said.
The organisation’s report said that supporting the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and using its principles as a guide, would assist the Government to close the gap and ensure ICCPR rights are made fully available to Indigenous Australians.
The report is also critical of Australia’s practice of detaining asylum seekers and renews Amnesty International’s call for closure of the Christmas Island detention facility.
“The ongoing detention of asylum seekers, including families with children and unaccompanied minors, on Christmas Island is simply unacceptable,” Dr Seth-Purdie said.
In 2000 the UN Human Rights Committee found that the Australian legal system did not adequately protect human rights and prepared a list of issues for Australia to address.
Australian Government officials are appearing before the Committee in New York on 23-24 March to respond to its concerns and outline what steps have been taken to bring the country into compliance with Covenant obligations.
“Human rights provide the basic foundations for societies to flourish, particularly in times of hardship and crisis. To demonstrate its accountability to the international community, and to its own citizens, the Australian government must introduce a solid legal framework to protect the human rights recognised in treaties such as the ICCPR,” Dr Seth-Purdie said.
An opinion poll commissioned by Amnesty International and released on 12 March found that 81 per cent of people surveyed would support the introduction of a law to protect human rights in Australia. It also found that 85 per cent believed introduction of such a human rights law should be a high priority for the Government.
Read the full text of reports by Amnesty International and other non-governmental organisations to the UN Human Rights Committee.
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/hrcs95.htm
MARCH 2009
Amnesty International has presented the United Nations with a detailed report (pdf size: 377kb) setting out its concerns about Australia’s failure to comply with some of the country’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The 28-page ICCPR document (pdf size: 377kb) was tabled as part of the formal reporting mechanisms of the UN Human Rights Committee, under which the Australian Government is required to submit a report on its compliance with Covenant obligations every five years.
Robyn Seth-Purdie, Government Relations Adviser for Amnesty International Australia, addressed Committee members on issues raised in the report at a Committee session in New York on 16 March.
Dr Seth-Purdie highlighted the areas in which Australia most needs to strengthen human rights protections, particularly in relation to the rights of Indigenous Australians, asylum seekers and individuals subject to investigation under Australian anti-terrorism legislation.
“Many of the gaps in Australia’s protection of human rights, identified by the UN Human Rights Committee in its last periodic review, still have not been addressed,” Dr Seth-Purdie said. “If the Rudd government is serious about meeting its international obligations it should take immediate action to withdraw law and policy that subject Indigenous Australians to racial discrimination.”
Amnesty International acknowledged the significance of the Prime Minister’s 2008 apology to the Stolen Generations, but pointed out that more needed to be done.
“Reinstating protections against racial discrimination under the Northern Territory Intervention is a crucial next step for the Australian Government to take to improve its human rights record,” Dr Seth-Purdie said.
The organisation’s report said that supporting the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and using its principles as a guide, would assist the Government to close the gap and ensure ICCPR rights are made fully available to Indigenous Australians.
The report is also critical of Australia’s practice of detaining asylum seekers and renews Amnesty International’s call for closure of the Christmas Island detention facility.
“The ongoing detention of asylum seekers, including families with children and unaccompanied minors, on Christmas Island is simply unacceptable,” Dr Seth-Purdie said.
In 2000 the UN Human Rights Committee found that the Australian legal system did not adequately protect human rights and prepared a list of issues for Australia to address.
Australian Government officials are appearing before the Committee in New York on 23-24 March to respond to its concerns and outline what steps have been taken to bring the country into compliance with Covenant obligations.
“Human rights provide the basic foundations for societies to flourish, particularly in times of hardship and crisis. To demonstrate its accountability to the international community, and to its own citizens, the Australian government must introduce a solid legal framework to protect the human rights recognised in treaties such as the ICCPR,” Dr Seth-Purdie said.
An opinion poll commissioned by Amnesty International and released on 12 March found that 81 per cent of people surveyed would support the introduction of a law to protect human rights in Australia. It also found that 85 per cent believed introduction of such a human rights law should be a high priority for the Government.
Read the full text of reports by Amnesty International and other non-governmental organisations to the UN Human Rights Committee.
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/hrcs95.htm
Monday, March 23, 2009
Big Mountain: Evil USA Wolves Intensify Oppression
American Activism too Privileged & Bogged: Europeans Maintain Efforts for Big Mountain
By Bahe Katenay of Big Mountain
Yea! for all dem beautiful Sweds. Read more at: http://sheepdognationrocks.blogspot.com
UPDATE from Big Mountain, March 21, 2009 "Happy Spring Equinox" and:
A message from Grandma and Chief of the Big Mountain resistance movement, Pauline Whitesinger:
"The BIA Indian police are intensifying their daily presence and intimidations. They have graded the main dirt roads that allows them to be on constant patrol. They are taking pictures of sheep herds and asking elders residents about the total number of animals they have corraled or roaming about.
"I think that they will be rounding up Dineh-owned cattle and horses. It is pretty likely that there will be livestock impoundments or confiscation.
"It has been mentioned to us by local Navajo officials that these Indian police operating out of the Hopi reservation do not have any real commanding-authority, because the Hopi tribal council is in defunct and is without a tribal chairperson.
"People world wide need to still support the resistance out here. The great evil wolves (U.S.A.) are prowling closer and all around us."
SDN-Rocks, 2009
"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).
By Bahe Katenay of Big Mountain
Yea! for all dem beautiful Sweds. Read more at: http://sheepdognationrocks.blogspot.com
UPDATE from Big Mountain, March 21, 2009 "Happy Spring Equinox" and:
A message from Grandma and Chief of the Big Mountain resistance movement, Pauline Whitesinger:
"The BIA Indian police are intensifying their daily presence and intimidations. They have graded the main dirt roads that allows them to be on constant patrol. They are taking pictures of sheep herds and asking elders residents about the total number of animals they have corraled or roaming about.
"I think that they will be rounding up Dineh-owned cattle and horses. It is pretty likely that there will be livestock impoundments or confiscation.
"It has been mentioned to us by local Navajo officials that these Indian police operating out of the Hopi reservation do not have any real commanding-authority, because the Hopi tribal council is in defunct and is without a tribal chairperson.
"People world wide need to still support the resistance out here. The great evil wolves (U.S.A.) are prowling closer and all around us."
SDN-Rocks, 2009
"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).
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Western Shoshone Spring Gathering 2009
2009 Western Shoshone Spring Gathering
A gathering to protect the land, the people, and future generations with special focus on Youth and Elders
Friday April 17th - Sunday April 19th
Mt. Tenabo (Newe Sogobia)
Activities to include: Sunrise ceremonies, circle talks, speakers, films, youth activities, raffle, traditional foods, traditional singing, round dancing and sweats.
Please be prepared to camp out in a high desert region. The weather can be hot during the day and quite cold in the evenings. The gathering is free but donations of time, food, money and raffle items are welcome and very much appreciated.
Absolutely no drugs, alcohol, or firearms permitted.
Directions: Interstate 80 to the Beowawe/ Crescent Valley (exit 261) Follow the paved road 19 miles south to town of Crescent Valley and look for signs – or turn left on 2nd St. and go to 3rd building on left (WSDP office) – maps will be located on the door.
For more information, contact:
Grandmothers’ Fund: Joyce McDade: (207) 539-9544 ejmcdade20@wmconnect.com
Western Shoshone Defense Project: (775) 744-2565 or (775) 468-0230, email wsdp@igc.org
A gathering to protect the land, the people, and future generations with special focus on Youth and Elders
Friday April 17th - Sunday April 19th
Mt. Tenabo (Newe Sogobia)
Activities to include: Sunrise ceremonies, circle talks, speakers, films, youth activities, raffle, traditional foods, traditional singing, round dancing and sweats.
Please be prepared to camp out in a high desert region. The weather can be hot during the day and quite cold in the evenings. The gathering is free but donations of time, food, money and raffle items are welcome and very much appreciated.
Absolutely no drugs, alcohol, or firearms permitted.
Directions: Interstate 80 to the Beowawe/ Crescent Valley (exit 261) Follow the paved road 19 miles south to town of Crescent Valley and look for signs – or turn left on 2nd St. and go to 3rd building on left (WSDP office) – maps will be located on the door.
For more information, contact:
Grandmothers’ Fund: Joyce McDade: (207) 539-9544 ejmcdade20@wmconnect.com
Western Shoshone Defense Project: (775) 744-2565 or (775) 468-0230, email wsdp@igc.org
Saturday, March 21, 2009
MNN: 'Dumb George Bush Woos Numb Canadians in Calgary'
DUMB GEORGE BUSH WOOS NUMB CANADIANS IN CALGARY –
Splitting the Sky jailed for trying to “citizen arrest” this war criminal!
Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/
You Tube: Splitting the Sky Arrested
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62a53enMtA0
Mar. 18, 2009. Former U.S. President, George W. Bush, was in Calgary with “cowboy” hat in hand on March 17 to seek the affection of the men and women attending the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association meeting CEPA. It was sponsored by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and law firms Ernst and Young and Bennett Jones. 1,300 corporate business types paid $400 a plate. One Bush fan cooed, “He must be intelligent to be so witty”. Doesn’t he know that a team of speech writers carefully crafted every word he said?
Bush came to “Texas North”, as Calgary is called, to help his international andAmerican cohorts scoop out more Indigenous resources such as water, gas and oil. He wants the corporations to stay in private hands so they can grab 6 trillion cu. ft. of natural gas; 950 million barrels of liquid hydrocarbons; lay 100,000 km. of pipe over our territory; and pocket $67 billion from exports of our resources while polluting all our territories and waters.
His topic appeared to be “Listen to George Bush on how to destroy and bankrupt countries, businesses and the people”. The enthralled audience heaped praise on this braggart who demolished countries through brutal wars, killing millions, doing away with civil liberties, breaking international laws, circumventing the Geneva accords and tearing down the global economy. He and his friends know how to take the cream when the economy melts down and the taxpayers are left holding the bag.
Gale Davidson of Lawyers Against the War of Vancouver crafted a legal position that under Canadian law Bush could be arrested for being a suspected war criminal.
Over 700 protesters stood outside the Telus Convention Center. 75 heavily armed, especially bulky, RCMP and private “Blackwater-type” security were there to guard Bush. They pointed guns at the crowd. Who knows how many others were in the crowd, on the rooftops, maybe even behind cameras and in the sky? Splitting the Sky, a Mohawk from Six Nations, evoked international law by asking the RCMP to arrest Bush. They refused. He told them, “I am serving you notice that you are protecting a war criminal and an international terrorist. You can be tried, convicted and executed as a collaborator before a Nuremberg-type tribunal”.
At the same time he tried to deliver a letter from Ramsay Clark, the former U.S. attorney general, who supports the broad coalition of peace, human rights, labor, law, environmental and other organizations that are seeking U.S. prosecution for Bush’s crimes. The U.S. people are responsible for Bush’s crimes against peace and humanity by failing to stop him. There is universal jurisdiction over such crimes, mentioning especially the crimes of aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq. [Bush’s Calgary rally to business interests will continue the usurpation of our resources and the environment.] Bush proclaimed himself to be the “decider” by seizing dictatorial powers. He deceitfully declared that national security was threatened and signed into law many unconstitutional Acts of Congress. He enriched favored corrupt predators by giving to them contracts for security services, war relief and reconstruction. At home mortgage lenders, banks, insurance companies and corporate executives exploited Bush policies to enrich the rich. He radically increased the national war debt and military spending which led to the collapse of the global economy. Corrupt Bush appointees committed crimes in various Executive Departments, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior.
Splitting the Sky broke through the police line and advanced alone to arrest George Bush. He got 2 to 3 feet into the Center. He pushed his way through the police line with his hands over his head yelling, “I am not touching anyone”. They surrounded and pounced on him. He was brutalized, arrested and beaten over and over again in the police van and jail cell. He was kept for 24 hours and released on $500 bail. He sustained serious bodily injuries, including a partial concussion and a massive hernia.
Splitting the Sky is charged with three counts of assault and obstruction of justice. He must return to Calgary court on March 25th at 9:30 a.m. He plans to launch a legal campaign to indict the RCMP, Mayor of Calgary and others for complicity in war crimes for allowing Bush to enter without arresting him. These “banksters” better remember that all these resources they plan to steal and destroy are going to be defended by the Indigenous caretakers and our supporters. [Contact splitting_the_sky@yahoo.com or http://www.splittingthesky.blogspot.com/; Lawyers Against the war law@portal.caCalgary Defence Tavis Ford 403-606-7034].
MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com katenies20@yahoo.com
kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: At this time your financial help is urgently needed and appreciated for the lawsuit against the Canadian government for assault of Indigenous women at the Cornwall border. 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 “World” 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
Calgary/Alberta [Bound] Douche Bags: Kim “Environmental-War-Criminal-Beneath-Contempt” McCuaig, CEO, Canadian Energy Pipeline Assn., http://www.cepa.com/, 403-221-8770; Calgary Cop Shop, 403-266-1234 http://www.calgarypolice.ca/ has an online report system; RCMP calgarydivision@hotmail.com; Alberta Premier Ed “Devastator-of-Athabaska-Basin-and-the-homeless” Stalmach, 780-427-2251 Fax 780-427-1349; http://www.premier.alberta.ca/; Mayor of Calgary Dave ”Frozen-between-the-ears” Bronconnier http://www.calgarymayor.ca/ the mayor@calgary.ca 403-268-5622 Fax 403-268-8130. Calgary Chamber of Commerce, 403-750-0400 chinfo@calgarychamber.com http://www.calgarychamber.com/; Prime Minister Stephen “Whose-father-worked-for-Imperial-Oil-in-Calgary” Harper pm@pm.ca;
Clients of Bennett Jones law firm are Husky Oil, Petro Canada and the Trans Canada Pipeline, which is owned by the Texas-based Terasen Gas, which owns B.C. Hydro, which has a pipeline from B.C. to southern Alberta and a vested interest in the Tarsands with Ormat, an Israeli oil firm.
Bennett Jones, Calgary 403-298-3100 http://www.bennettjones.com/; BC Hydro
http://www.bchydro.com/ 604-224-9376; Petro Canada 403-296-8000 http://www.petro-canada.ca/; Trans Canada Pipelines Ltd., Calgary 1-800-661-3805; Terasen Gas 604-576-7000 http://www.terasengas.com/; Ormat Industries Ltd, 1Szydlowski Rd., Yvavne, Israel 972-8-9433-777 ormat@ormat.com; Husky Oil, Calgary 403-298-6111/7464 http://www.huskyenergy.com/; Ernst & Young Global Ltd. [Toronto] 416-864-1234 http://www.ernstyoung.com/
Splitting the Sky jailed for trying to “citizen arrest” this war criminal!
Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/
You Tube: Splitting the Sky Arrested
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62a53enMtA0
Mar. 18, 2009. Former U.S. President, George W. Bush, was in Calgary with “cowboy” hat in hand on March 17 to seek the affection of the men and women attending the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association meeting CEPA. It was sponsored by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and law firms Ernst and Young and Bennett Jones. 1,300 corporate business types paid $400 a plate. One Bush fan cooed, “He must be intelligent to be so witty”. Doesn’t he know that a team of speech writers carefully crafted every word he said?
Bush came to “Texas North”, as Calgary is called, to help his international andAmerican cohorts scoop out more Indigenous resources such as water, gas and oil. He wants the corporations to stay in private hands so they can grab 6 trillion cu. ft. of natural gas; 950 million barrels of liquid hydrocarbons; lay 100,000 km. of pipe over our territory; and pocket $67 billion from exports of our resources while polluting all our territories and waters.
His topic appeared to be “Listen to George Bush on how to destroy and bankrupt countries, businesses and the people”. The enthralled audience heaped praise on this braggart who demolished countries through brutal wars, killing millions, doing away with civil liberties, breaking international laws, circumventing the Geneva accords and tearing down the global economy. He and his friends know how to take the cream when the economy melts down and the taxpayers are left holding the bag.
Gale Davidson of Lawyers Against the War of Vancouver crafted a legal position that under Canadian law Bush could be arrested for being a suspected war criminal.
Over 700 protesters stood outside the Telus Convention Center. 75 heavily armed, especially bulky, RCMP and private “Blackwater-type” security were there to guard Bush. They pointed guns at the crowd. Who knows how many others were in the crowd, on the rooftops, maybe even behind cameras and in the sky? Splitting the Sky, a Mohawk from Six Nations, evoked international law by asking the RCMP to arrest Bush. They refused. He told them, “I am serving you notice that you are protecting a war criminal and an international terrorist. You can be tried, convicted and executed as a collaborator before a Nuremberg-type tribunal”.
At the same time he tried to deliver a letter from Ramsay Clark, the former U.S. attorney general, who supports the broad coalition of peace, human rights, labor, law, environmental and other organizations that are seeking U.S. prosecution for Bush’s crimes. The U.S. people are responsible for Bush’s crimes against peace and humanity by failing to stop him. There is universal jurisdiction over such crimes, mentioning especially the crimes of aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq. [Bush’s Calgary rally to business interests will continue the usurpation of our resources and the environment.] Bush proclaimed himself to be the “decider” by seizing dictatorial powers. He deceitfully declared that national security was threatened and signed into law many unconstitutional Acts of Congress. He enriched favored corrupt predators by giving to them contracts for security services, war relief and reconstruction. At home mortgage lenders, banks, insurance companies and corporate executives exploited Bush policies to enrich the rich. He radically increased the national war debt and military spending which led to the collapse of the global economy. Corrupt Bush appointees committed crimes in various Executive Departments, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior.
Splitting the Sky broke through the police line and advanced alone to arrest George Bush. He got 2 to 3 feet into the Center. He pushed his way through the police line with his hands over his head yelling, “I am not touching anyone”. They surrounded and pounced on him. He was brutalized, arrested and beaten over and over again in the police van and jail cell. He was kept for 24 hours and released on $500 bail. He sustained serious bodily injuries, including a partial concussion and a massive hernia.
Splitting the Sky is charged with three counts of assault and obstruction of justice. He must return to Calgary court on March 25th at 9:30 a.m. He plans to launch a legal campaign to indict the RCMP, Mayor of Calgary and others for complicity in war crimes for allowing Bush to enter without arresting him. These “banksters” better remember that all these resources they plan to steal and destroy are going to be defended by the Indigenous caretakers and our supporters. [Contact splitting_the_sky@yahoo.com or http://www.splittingthesky.blogspot.com/; Lawyers Against the war law@portal.caCalgary Defence Tavis Ford 403-606-7034].
MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com katenies20@yahoo.com
kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: At this time your financial help is urgently needed and appreciated for the lawsuit against the Canadian government for assault of Indigenous women at the Cornwall border. 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 “World” 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
Calgary/Alberta [Bound] Douche Bags: Kim “Environmental-War-Criminal-Beneath-Contempt” McCuaig, CEO, Canadian Energy Pipeline Assn., http://www.cepa.com/, 403-221-8770; Calgary Cop Shop, 403-266-1234 http://www.calgarypolice.ca/ has an online report system; RCMP calgarydivision@hotmail.com; Alberta Premier Ed “Devastator-of-Athabaska-Basin-and-the-homeless” Stalmach, 780-427-2251 Fax 780-427-1349; http://www.premier.alberta.ca/; Mayor of Calgary Dave ”Frozen-between-the-ears” Bronconnier http://www.calgarymayor.ca/ the mayor@calgary.ca 403-268-5622 Fax 403-268-8130. Calgary Chamber of Commerce, 403-750-0400 chinfo@calgarychamber.com http://www.calgarychamber.com/; Prime Minister Stephen “Whose-father-worked-for-Imperial-Oil-in-Calgary” Harper pm@pm.ca;
Clients of Bennett Jones law firm are Husky Oil, Petro Canada and the Trans Canada Pipeline, which is owned by the Texas-based Terasen Gas, which owns B.C. Hydro, which has a pipeline from B.C. to southern Alberta and a vested interest in the Tarsands with Ormat, an Israeli oil firm.
Bennett Jones, Calgary 403-298-3100 http://www.bennettjones.com/; BC Hydro
http://www.bchydro.com/ 604-224-9376; Petro Canada 403-296-8000 http://www.petro-canada.ca/; Trans Canada Pipelines Ltd., Calgary 1-800-661-3805; Terasen Gas 604-576-7000 http://www.terasengas.com/; Ormat Industries Ltd, 1Szydlowski Rd., Yvavne, Israel 972-8-9433-777 ormat@ormat.com; Husky Oil, Calgary 403-298-6111/7464 http://www.huskyenergy.com/; Ernst & Young Global Ltd. [Toronto] 416-864-1234 http://www.ernstyoung.com/
Indigenous human rights activists unfairly detained in Mexico
Indigenous human rights activists unfairly detained in Mexico
Mexico prisoners of conscience video
Mexico prisoners of conscience video
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/indigenous-human-rights-activists-unfairly-detained-mexico-20090312
© Amnesty International
Photo: The five prisoners of conscience inside Ayutla de los Libres prison, Mexico, 5 February 2009
© Amnesty International
Five indigenous human rights activists in Mexico are still being held in prison nearly a year after their arrest, despite insufficient evidence against them.
The members of the Guerrero-based Me' phaa Indigenous People's Organization (OPIM) are held in a Guerrero state prison on charges of murder. They were arrested in April 2008.
By continuing to detain the five unfairly, the Mexican government is ignoring the human rights commitments it made to the United Nations Human Rights Council a month ago.
A federal review judge ordered the release of four of them on 20 October 2008, after ruling that the evidence presented did not implicate them. However the four remain in prison after Mexico's Federal Attorney General's Office filed an appeal against the ruling, despite not providing further evidence in the case. They now await a decision by a federal reviewing court regarding their possible release.
The fifth detainee, Raúl Hernández, was denied an injunction by the federal judge on the grounds that two witnesses testified to his presence at the time of the murder. However other eyewitness testimonies that Hernández was not present have been disregarded. He has appealed against the decision to deny an injunction in his case.
" Less than a month ago, Mexico made a commitment at the UN Human Rights Council that it will protect the life and physical integrity of human rights defenders in the country," said Susan Lee, Americas Program Director at Amnesty International.
"Amnesty International has established that the case against these five prisoners of conscience has been brought in reprisal for their work promoting the rights of their community and exposing abuses by a local political boss and local authorities.
"When social activists are punished for the legitimate work they do, the authorities are sending a message that protecting and promoting human rights carries a high price."
Manuel Cruz, Orlando Manzanarez, Natalio Ortega, Romualdo Santiago and Raúl Hernández were detained on 17 April 2008. They were charged with the murder of Alejandro Feliciano García on 1 January 2008 in the town of El Camalote, Guerrero. The five were stopped and taken into custody while crossing a routine military checkpoint in the area.
Over a number of years, Amnesty International has documented a pattern of harassment and intimidation in Guerrero state against members of Indigenous rights organizations such as the OPIM.
Most recently, both the Secretary and President of the Organization for the Future of Mixtec Indigenous Peoples (Organizacion para el Futuro de los Pueblos Mixtecos, OFPM) were found murdered late at night on 20 February in Tecoanapa municipality, Guerrero State. The bodies of Manuel Ponce Rosas and Raúl Lucas Lucía were unearthed 30 minutes drive away from where they were abducted by armed men seven days earlier. Both of the bodies were identified by their families who reported that they showed clear signs of torture.
Amnesty International has called on the Mexican authorities to immediately and unconditionally release the five prisoners of conscience in Ayutla de los Libres prison, Guerrero State and bring those responsible for the murders of Manuel Ponce Rosas and Raúl Lucas Lucía to justice.
Read More
Mexico: Further Information on Fear for safety (Document, 25 February 2009)
Mexican government's report to UN fails to acknowledge human rights reality (News, 9 February 2009)
© Amnesty International
Photo: The five prisoners of conscience inside Ayutla de los Libres prison, Mexico, 5 February 2009
© Amnesty International
Five indigenous human rights activists in Mexico are still being held in prison nearly a year after their arrest, despite insufficient evidence against them.
The members of the Guerrero-based Me' phaa Indigenous People's Organization (OPIM) are held in a Guerrero state prison on charges of murder. They were arrested in April 2008.
By continuing to detain the five unfairly, the Mexican government is ignoring the human rights commitments it made to the United Nations Human Rights Council a month ago.
A federal review judge ordered the release of four of them on 20 October 2008, after ruling that the evidence presented did not implicate them. However the four remain in prison after Mexico's Federal Attorney General's Office filed an appeal against the ruling, despite not providing further evidence in the case. They now await a decision by a federal reviewing court regarding their possible release.
The fifth detainee, Raúl Hernández, was denied an injunction by the federal judge on the grounds that two witnesses testified to his presence at the time of the murder. However other eyewitness testimonies that Hernández was not present have been disregarded. He has appealed against the decision to deny an injunction in his case.
" Less than a month ago, Mexico made a commitment at the UN Human Rights Council that it will protect the life and physical integrity of human rights defenders in the country," said Susan Lee, Americas Program Director at Amnesty International.
"Amnesty International has established that the case against these five prisoners of conscience has been brought in reprisal for their work promoting the rights of their community and exposing abuses by a local political boss and local authorities.
"When social activists are punished for the legitimate work they do, the authorities are sending a message that protecting and promoting human rights carries a high price."
Manuel Cruz, Orlando Manzanarez, Natalio Ortega, Romualdo Santiago and Raúl Hernández were detained on 17 April 2008. They were charged with the murder of Alejandro Feliciano García on 1 January 2008 in the town of El Camalote, Guerrero. The five were stopped and taken into custody while crossing a routine military checkpoint in the area.
Over a number of years, Amnesty International has documented a pattern of harassment and intimidation in Guerrero state against members of Indigenous rights organizations such as the OPIM.
Most recently, both the Secretary and President of the Organization for the Future of Mixtec Indigenous Peoples (Organizacion para el Futuro de los Pueblos Mixtecos, OFPM) were found murdered late at night on 20 February in Tecoanapa municipality, Guerrero State. The bodies of Manuel Ponce Rosas and Raúl Lucas Lucía were unearthed 30 minutes drive away from where they were abducted by armed men seven days earlier. Both of the bodies were identified by their families who reported that they showed clear signs of torture.
Amnesty International has called on the Mexican authorities to immediately and unconditionally release the five prisoners of conscience in Ayutla de los Libres prison, Guerrero State and bring those responsible for the murders of Manuel Ponce Rosas and Raúl Lucas Lucía to justice.
Read More
Mexico: Further Information on Fear for safety (Document, 25 February 2009)
Mexican government's report to UN fails to acknowledge human rights reality (News, 9 February 2009)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Border Radio with Jose Matus, Yaqui
Jose Matus: Border crossing and Yaqui villagesCensored News Blog Radio
Jose Matus, Yaqui ceremonial leader, director of Indigenous Alliance without Borders, discusses increased difficulties for Indigenous Peoples crossing the border. For 30 years, Matus has escorted Yaqui ceremonial leaders and participants across the border for temporary stays for ceremonies. Meanwhile, in Redford, Texas, the abuses by the US Border Patrol have intensified, with harassment and detainment of border residents. Matus describes Yaqui villages. Interview with Brenda Norrell at Censored News.
CENSORED NEWS BLOG RADIO
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell
Indigenous Peoples object to UN carbon scam report
TO: Angela Cropper
Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
c/c Nick Nuttall
Spokesperson / Head of Media, Office of the Executive Director United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
c/c Charles Mc Neill, UN-REDD, UNDP
Dear Angela Cropper
The UN News Center reports that you said that Indigenous Peoples are dedicated to reach consensus on the UN-REDD programme. We are a global network of Indigenous Peoples and strongly object to this statement, as it implies that Indigenous Peoples have a positive stand towards REDD.
In fact, the Indigenous Peoples decade long struggle to keep forest out of the carbon market is well documented.
Please find attached the pdf file with excerpt quotes of the official opposition of the Global Indigenous Caucus at the UNFCCC negotiations regarding REDD and in general against market based solutions to address climate change.
Please also watch the video of the 2nd May Protest at the UNPFII 2008, held by Indigenous Peoples, who where outraged that the UNPFII Climate Report endorsed REDD and CDMs against their consent. Viewing prior the PFII draft report, the Global Caucus representing over 2000 Indigenous participants and their constituencies back home demanded that the UNPFII must remove those two endorsing paragraphs, which unfortunately was not taken into account by the Forum. For the record,and your fullest information - kindly also watch the VIDEO of PROTEST at the PFII:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtORVi7GybY&feature=channel_page
Regards,
Earth Peoples
www.earthpeoples.org/blog
Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
c/c Nick Nuttall
Spokesperson / Head of Media, Office of the Executive Director United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
c/c Charles Mc Neill, UN-REDD, UNDP
Dear Angela Cropper
The UN News Center reports that you said that Indigenous Peoples are dedicated to reach consensus on the UN-REDD programme. We are a global network of Indigenous Peoples and strongly object to this statement, as it implies that Indigenous Peoples have a positive stand towards REDD.
In fact, the Indigenous Peoples decade long struggle to keep forest out of the carbon market is well documented.
Please find attached the pdf file with excerpt quotes of the official opposition of the Global Indigenous Caucus at the UNFCCC negotiations regarding REDD and in general against market based solutions to address climate change.
Please also watch the video of the 2nd May Protest at the UNPFII 2008, held by Indigenous Peoples, who where outraged that the UNPFII Climate Report endorsed REDD and CDMs against their consent. Viewing prior the PFII draft report, the Global Caucus representing over 2000 Indigenous participants and their constituencies back home demanded that the UNPFII must remove those two endorsing paragraphs, which unfortunately was not taken into account by the Forum. For the record,and your fullest information - kindly also watch the VIDEO of PROTEST at the PFII:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtORVi7GybY&feature=channel_page
Regards,
Earth Peoples
www.earthpeoples.org/blog
DQ University Pow Wow: 39 Years Deed Day
April 4, 2009: Noon to midnight
Double image click to enlarge
Censored News Blog Radio
Mark Anquoe, Kiowa, AIM, El Salvador and Carpinteria
Mark Anquoe of the American Indian Movement speaks on the elections in El Salvador and the racist mascots in Carpinteria, Calif, where a 15-year-old Chumash boy received death threats after opposing the offensive images. (10 min)
Tohono O'odham: Militarization of the border
Listen to Mike Flores, Tohono O'odham, describe the increased militarization of the border and human rights abuses by border agents, acting in complicity with the tribal government. Flores is introduced by Mark Anquoe, Kiowa. Flores and Anquoe, of the American Indian Movement, spoke at the Anarchist Book Fair in San Francisco March 14. Recorded by Censored News. (60 min)
UN Action Western Shoshone:
Julie Fishel Bill of the Western Shoshone Defense Project describes the United Nations actions to protect Western Shoshone Territory, including CERD action (60 min)
Defending Sacred Mountains and Lakes
Manny Pino, Acoma Pueblo, speaks on defending Zuni Salt Lake, San Francisco Peaks and Mount Taylor (45 min)
Carrie Dann and Manny Pino
Radley Davis, Pit River, presents Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone, and Manny Pino, Acoma Pueblo, with Human Rights Defenders Awards. Carrie speaks on respect for one's self and Manny speaks on uranium mining. (70 minutes with 20 min end music)
Indigenous Defenders Sacred Places
Northern California Natives Ann Marie Sayers, Radley Davis and Mark LeBeau speak on protecting sacred lands. Carrie Dann speaks on protecting sacred Mount Tenabo from Barrick Gold Mining. (90 min)
CENSORED NEWS BLOG RADIO
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell
Audio production by Govinda at Earthcycles
--Click arrow to listen on radio box
--Adjust volume on right side of radio box, and on your own computer
--Click on show name in radio box to listen to a different show
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Radio shows can be downloaded and rebroadcast on radio stations anywhere in the world. Please credit Earthcycles.
7th Indigenous Uranium Forum 2009
Schedule and information:http://www.siuf.net/
Listen live Thursday through Sunday:
www.earthcycles.net
Oct. 22, 23 and 24, Sky City, Acoma Pueblo, NM.
Double click image to enlarge.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Mother Earth Father Sky Music Festival 2009
.jpg)
April 2, 3, 4 and 5: Dooda (NO) Desert Rock, Chaco Rio, NM, on Navajo Nation. Click on image to enlarge.Monday, March 16, 2009
O'odham: Militarization and border abuses accelerate
By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Censored News
SAN FRANCISCO -- Mike Flores, Tohono O’odham, questioned why President Obama has not taken any action to halt the militarization of the border and human rights abuses by US Border Patrol agents, or the construction of the US border wall that is violating all federal laws, including laws designed to protect the environment and Native American remains.
Flores, a former tribal councilman, said the Tohono O’odham Nation government is embedded with Homeland Security, because of federal funding. Because of this, US Border Agents are abusing O’odham on their own land and even getting away with murder.
“Our aboriginal territory is divided by this international border,” said Flores, a member of the American Indian Movement. Speaking at the Anarchist Book Fair in San Francisco on March 14, Flores said of the 25,000 Tohono O’odham, about one-third live in northern Mexico in the state of Sonora.
Since 9/11, O’odham have felt the impacts, because the people have had to deal with an influx of US military. Now, the O’odham homeland is occupied by the military violating human rights. Even in their own backyards, O'odham are abused by the US military. He said most Americans do not have to deal with the soldiers and agents in their own backyards.
In the most recent death of an O’odham by the US Border Patrol, an O’odham was suspiciously killed by a border agent on the highway in February. The family now has an investigation underway.
In most cases, the Tohono O’odham Nation government takes no action when an O’odham is murdered by the US Border Patrol.
“In our case, the tribal government is embedded with Homeland Security because of Homeland Security funds,” Flores said.
Flores said when the US Border Patrol kills one of the tribal members, it is considered collateral damage by the tribal government. "It is really frustrating when you have to go and bury your nephew because of these things that are going on there.”
Encouraging young people to come to the Tohono O’odham Nation and document the human rights abuses, Flores said the Tohono O’odham Nation government is not allowing people to take photos of the community members being violated or the border wall being constructed and violating sovereign Tohono O’odham land.
Further, in violation of federal law, Homeland Security and the border wall contractor Boeing, dug up the Tohono O’odham ancestors for the border wall.
“We’ve had to go back and rebury some of our ancestors that the contractors and Homeland Security dug up along this border.”
O’odham daily life is constantly violated. Before 9/11, O’odham children living in their homeland, within one half a mile of the international border, went to school on the United States side of the border without constant harassment. However, since 9/11, children need security clearances to go to school.
“What kind of policy is that when you have to check a fourth grader’s backpack when he crosses the international border to go to school?” O’odham children have also had to obtain additional forms of identification to attend school.
“This is our ancestral land; before 9/11 we were able to go back and forth freely.”
O'odham ceremonies are also being violated. O’odham ceremonies in Sonora, Mexico are conducted by medicine people who live on the US side of the border and go to Sonora to conduct the ceremonies. Now, the ceremonial people are being told they have to obtain passports and other forms of identification.
“We feel this is a violation of our religious freedom, but these are some of the policies that are being put upon us. It creates tensions among us as tribal members as well.”
As the largest American Indian Nation on the southern border, with 25,000 people, Flores said O'odham must deal with this oppression more than others.
“We’re the ones that are subdued because of the inability of our tribal leaders to see through what is going on.”
Flores said the general media is not reporting the truth.
“I doubt if any of you heard about the killing of one of our tribal members by a member of Homeland Security," he said of the most recent O'odham death by the US Border Patrol in February.
Meanwhile, many people cross the border to look for work. Many of these are Indigenous Peoples who have songs and ceremonies of their own. They are being forced to flee from their homelands and seek refuge somewhere else. They are being denied the right to live in accordance with their traditions, he said.
In the summertime in O’odham territory in the Sonoran Desert, located south of Phoenix, Flores said temperatures can reach 118 degrees. Mayan Indians from Guatemala, coming from the tropics into the desert, struggle to survive.
Referring to Mike Wilson, Tohono O’odham, and others, Flores said some O’odham are providing water stations in the desert to prevent the deaths of those forced to travel on foot in search of work and survival.
Because of this humanitarian action, these O’odham are now being accused of being terrorists and criminals, he said.
Tohono O’odham tribal police and other agents slash the water jugs or remove them at the water stations.
“That is allowing people to die without compassion.
“As Indigenous Peoples we believe it should not be that way.
“We need everyone’s help."
Flores said these policies are violating the communal way of living; the O’odham’s communal way of life has been disrupted by the border wall going up on their land.
Describing his efforts in Chiapas with the Zapatistas in the 1990s, Flores said he went to Chiapas with an O’odham delegation and provided humanitarian aid in the jungles with the EZLN.
“We supported them in any way we could.
“During that time, we could see the oppression of the people.
“We don’t have it as bad as our brothers and sisters in the south.”
Urging youths to mobilize and bring attention to the human rights violations and oppression, Flores said there was optimism when Obama was running for president. However, Flores said he personally took the approach of: “We’ll see what happens.”
“We heard the campaign talk about stopping construction of this border wall.”
However, Flores said there has been no action by Obama to halt the border wall, human rights abuses and desecration. Right now, there are tons and tons of iron, tons and tons of cement arriving for construction of this border wall.
Flores urged those present to e-mail Obama and press him to address this issue.
“People are dying out there that don’t need to be dying.”
Flores described finding a tiny grave in the desert on O’odham land, marked with the beads of a Mayan child.
“We’ve come across graves out there.” Describing this tiny grave, he said he was sure the parents would have wanted their child buried back in their own community, in their own homeland.
“People are dying needlessly,” he said, urging people to mobilize and effect change.
“If these practices continue on, we will be living under 100 percent military occupation.”
Flores, who lives 12 miles north of the international boundary on O’odham land, said there was once O’odham elders who came across to talk with the youths and share with them how to take care of the community and the people. But now, they are told to get documents to cross.
The militarization of the O'odham homeland is accelerating.
“Right now there’s even a proposal to send in more National Guard troops.”
Flores said the troops and border agents have interfered with and disrupted O’odham ceremonies. Each time, during one of the ceremonies, which includes the ceremonial hunting of a deer, the hunters were detained by the National Guard.
This creates a state which is outside the harmony of natural law, he said.
“To be detained for eight hours disrupts the whole ceremony.” Each time, there has to be a purification to sanctify the ceremony and begin again. This is not in the order of natural law, he said.
Stressing that the O’odham people have survived since time immemorial with their own language and dialect in tact, he said, “We can do these things if we put our minds to it.”
Urging action because of the shortness of time and global crisis, Flores asked those present to contact the Tohono O’odham Nation and Chairman Ned Norris, Jr., and ask the elected leaders what they are doing. He said people should put pressure on the Tohono O’odham Nation government so there will not be more deaths of people coming across the border, or more deaths of the O’odham people.
Flores said it is important to know the truth, as opposed as to what is being shown on CNN.
Flores, coordinator of the Indigenous Peoples Border Summits of the Americas in 2006 and 2007 on Tohono O’odham land at San Xavier, Ariz., said the summits were successful in bringing Indigenous Peoples together from Canada, Mexico and the United States to share problems and support one another. He is now working with members of the Cocopah Nation, who live near the California border, who are also experiencing similar problems.
In closing, Flores offered words of respect to the Ohlone People, the traditional Indian people of what is now called San Francisco.
“Without them, no one would be here.”
Flores was introduced by Mark Anquoe, Kiowa, of the American Indian Movement, who spoke on systems of governance in Native societies.
Listen to this talk by Mike Flores and Mark Anquoe at:
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Related articles:
Tohono O'odham Women on the Border: Angie Ramon's 18-year-old son was run over and killed by the US Border Patrol; Ofelia Rivas describes the abuse by Border Patrol and border wall contractors.
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2008/12/tohono-oodham-women-on-border.html
In Cold Blood, Border Patrol agent murders migrant youth:
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2008/10/cold-blood-us-border-patrol-agent-trial-murder
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Censored News
SAN FRANCISCO -- Mike Flores, Tohono O’odham, questioned why President Obama has not taken any action to halt the militarization of the border and human rights abuses by US Border Patrol agents, or the construction of the US border wall that is violating all federal laws, including laws designed to protect the environment and Native American remains.
Flores, a former tribal councilman, said the Tohono O’odham Nation government is embedded with Homeland Security, because of federal funding. Because of this, US Border Agents are abusing O’odham on their own land and even getting away with murder.
“Our aboriginal territory is divided by this international border,” said Flores, a member of the American Indian Movement. Speaking at the Anarchist Book Fair in San Francisco on March 14, Flores said of the 25,000 Tohono O’odham, about one-third live in northern Mexico in the state of Sonora.
Since 9/11, O’odham have felt the impacts, because the people have had to deal with an influx of US military. Now, the O’odham homeland is occupied by the military violating human rights. Even in their own backyards, O'odham are abused by the US military. He said most Americans do not have to deal with the soldiers and agents in their own backyards.
In the most recent death of an O’odham by the US Border Patrol, an O’odham was suspiciously killed by a border agent on the highway in February. The family now has an investigation underway.
In most cases, the Tohono O’odham Nation government takes no action when an O’odham is murdered by the US Border Patrol.
“In our case, the tribal government is embedded with Homeland Security because of Homeland Security funds,” Flores said.
Flores said when the US Border Patrol kills one of the tribal members, it is considered collateral damage by the tribal government. "It is really frustrating when you have to go and bury your nephew because of these things that are going on there.”
Encouraging young people to come to the Tohono O’odham Nation and document the human rights abuses, Flores said the Tohono O’odham Nation government is not allowing people to take photos of the community members being violated or the border wall being constructed and violating sovereign Tohono O’odham land.
Further, in violation of federal law, Homeland Security and the border wall contractor Boeing, dug up the Tohono O’odham ancestors for the border wall.
“We’ve had to go back and rebury some of our ancestors that the contractors and Homeland Security dug up along this border.”
O’odham daily life is constantly violated. Before 9/11, O’odham children living in their homeland, within one half a mile of the international border, went to school on the United States side of the border without constant harassment. However, since 9/11, children need security clearances to go to school.
“What kind of policy is that when you have to check a fourth grader’s backpack when he crosses the international border to go to school?” O’odham children have also had to obtain additional forms of identification to attend school.
“This is our ancestral land; before 9/11 we were able to go back and forth freely.”
O'odham ceremonies are also being violated. O’odham ceremonies in Sonora, Mexico are conducted by medicine people who live on the US side of the border and go to Sonora to conduct the ceremonies. Now, the ceremonial people are being told they have to obtain passports and other forms of identification.
“We feel this is a violation of our religious freedom, but these are some of the policies that are being put upon us. It creates tensions among us as tribal members as well.”
As the largest American Indian Nation on the southern border, with 25,000 people, Flores said O'odham must deal with this oppression more than others.
“We’re the ones that are subdued because of the inability of our tribal leaders to see through what is going on.”
Flores said the general media is not reporting the truth.
“I doubt if any of you heard about the killing of one of our tribal members by a member of Homeland Security," he said of the most recent O'odham death by the US Border Patrol in February.
Meanwhile, many people cross the border to look for work. Many of these are Indigenous Peoples who have songs and ceremonies of their own. They are being forced to flee from their homelands and seek refuge somewhere else. They are being denied the right to live in accordance with their traditions, he said.
In the summertime in O’odham territory in the Sonoran Desert, located south of Phoenix, Flores said temperatures can reach 118 degrees. Mayan Indians from Guatemala, coming from the tropics into the desert, struggle to survive.
Referring to Mike Wilson, Tohono O’odham, and others, Flores said some O’odham are providing water stations in the desert to prevent the deaths of those forced to travel on foot in search of work and survival.
Because of this humanitarian action, these O’odham are now being accused of being terrorists and criminals, he said.
Tohono O’odham tribal police and other agents slash the water jugs or remove them at the water stations.
“That is allowing people to die without compassion.
“As Indigenous Peoples we believe it should not be that way.
“We need everyone’s help."
Flores said these policies are violating the communal way of living; the O’odham’s communal way of life has been disrupted by the border wall going up on their land.
Describing his efforts in Chiapas with the Zapatistas in the 1990s, Flores said he went to Chiapas with an O’odham delegation and provided humanitarian aid in the jungles with the EZLN.
“We supported them in any way we could.
“During that time, we could see the oppression of the people.
“We don’t have it as bad as our brothers and sisters in the south.”
Urging youths to mobilize and bring attention to the human rights violations and oppression, Flores said there was optimism when Obama was running for president. However, Flores said he personally took the approach of: “We’ll see what happens.”
“We heard the campaign talk about stopping construction of this border wall.”
However, Flores said there has been no action by Obama to halt the border wall, human rights abuses and desecration. Right now, there are tons and tons of iron, tons and tons of cement arriving for construction of this border wall.
Flores urged those present to e-mail Obama and press him to address this issue.
“People are dying out there that don’t need to be dying.”
Flores described finding a tiny grave in the desert on O’odham land, marked with the beads of a Mayan child.
“We’ve come across graves out there.” Describing this tiny grave, he said he was sure the parents would have wanted their child buried back in their own community, in their own homeland.
“People are dying needlessly,” he said, urging people to mobilize and effect change.
“If these practices continue on, we will be living under 100 percent military occupation.”
Flores, who lives 12 miles north of the international boundary on O’odham land, said there was once O’odham elders who came across to talk with the youths and share with them how to take care of the community and the people. But now, they are told to get documents to cross.
The militarization of the O'odham homeland is accelerating.
“Right now there’s even a proposal to send in more National Guard troops.”
Flores said the troops and border agents have interfered with and disrupted O’odham ceremonies. Each time, during one of the ceremonies, which includes the ceremonial hunting of a deer, the hunters were detained by the National Guard.
This creates a state which is outside the harmony of natural law, he said.
“To be detained for eight hours disrupts the whole ceremony.” Each time, there has to be a purification to sanctify the ceremony and begin again. This is not in the order of natural law, he said.
Stressing that the O’odham people have survived since time immemorial with their own language and dialect in tact, he said, “We can do these things if we put our minds to it.”
Urging action because of the shortness of time and global crisis, Flores asked those present to contact the Tohono O’odham Nation and Chairman Ned Norris, Jr., and ask the elected leaders what they are doing. He said people should put pressure on the Tohono O’odham Nation government so there will not be more deaths of people coming across the border, or more deaths of the O’odham people.
Flores said it is important to know the truth, as opposed as to what is being shown on CNN.
Flores, coordinator of the Indigenous Peoples Border Summits of the Americas in 2006 and 2007 on Tohono O’odham land at San Xavier, Ariz., said the summits were successful in bringing Indigenous Peoples together from Canada, Mexico and the United States to share problems and support one another. He is now working with members of the Cocopah Nation, who live near the California border, who are also experiencing similar problems.
In closing, Flores offered words of respect to the Ohlone People, the traditional Indian people of what is now called San Francisco.
“Without them, no one would be here.”
Flores was introduced by Mark Anquoe, Kiowa, of the American Indian Movement, who spoke on systems of governance in Native societies.
Listen to this talk by Mike Flores and Mark Anquoe at:
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Related articles:
Tohono O'odham Women on the Border: Angie Ramon's 18-year-old son was run over and killed by the US Border Patrol; Ofelia Rivas describes the abuse by Border Patrol and border wall contractors.
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2008/12/tohono-oodham-women-on-border.html
In Cold Blood, Border Patrol agent murders migrant youth:
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2008/10/cold-blood-us-border-patrol-agent-trial-murder
Mohawk Nation News: 'Dirty Old Lady Predators'
DOLPs – “DIRTY OLD LADY PREDATORS” – OR GERIATRIC “VULTURINES”
By Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com
March 13, 2009. Just when we thought men were the main pillagers of our people! This is about specific DOLPs, who are dirty old experienced predators. DOLPs are plain, lonely, usually barren, compulsive liars, elderly white women. They have no close family ties. They know how to sit still and wait for a long time to jump their victim. There is usually not much background history on them. They haven’t worked much, feign illnesses and are not generous though it is sometimes revealed they have lots of money. These Grimm Brothers’ depictions of these women as old, ugly, have warts, big noses and green skin come up in fairy tales to warn children. These women see Indigenous People as vulnerable and less able to protect ourselves from them or their hooks and lures.
An 18 year old Indigenous girl we’ll call “Wanda” got a scholarship to study in Paris France. On the trip over on a freighter, she was befriended by an older Dutch woman we’ll call Mrs. Mendacity, who had become a Canadian citizen. She invited the young girl to visit her in Holland during her stay. She was well treated by the family. Afterwards this older woman wrote to Wanda once in a while.
Years later, Wanda was a single mother with three young children who had to take a job in Ottawa. She moved there and found out that Mrs. Mendacity lived there too. Mrs. Mendacity never had children, lived alone and had developed a digestive ailment that she constantly complained off but lived to 93 years of age. She re-befriended Wanda and the kids with gifts, invitations to dinner and so on. Then one day Mrs. Mendacity asked Wanda to help her get around the welfare system. She did not want to declare all her money so as not to lose her subsidized housing. She offered to give Wanda a few thousand dollars to be paid back every month. She got Mrs. Mendacity to sign an agreement and then gave her monthly checks for more than the amount. After two years it was all paid back.
Years later Wanda got a big surprise. Mrs. Mendacity charged her with theft and conning money out of her. She sued for $25,000, about five times the amount. Wanda fortunately had the agreement and all the cancelled checks, which she sent to Mrs. Mendacity’s lawyer. The case was dropped.
This episode troubled Wanda. These women hustlers usually have a secret history. She decided to visit Mary, a neighbor who knew Mrs. Mendacity. Mary’s husband, a World War II vet, suggested that Mrs. Mendacity was one of those who probably had to leave Holland after the war for collaborating with the Germans. To escape punishment, she married a Canadian soldier and came to Canada. Shortly after, she divorced him. Though she never worked, she lived well.
Wanda eventually went back to her native community with her kids. She was very knowledgeable about her culture and had gotten a master’s degree in her field.
About ten years ago a non-native woman, we’ll call Mrs. Doubtfire, searched out Wanda and befriended her. Mrs. Doubtfire was in her fifties and originally from Ottawa. She rarely worked and had valuable properties. She was studying and writing on the areas of knowledge that Wanda knew well. Mrs. Doubtfire visited the native community constantly and made friends with Wanda and her family.
Mrs. Doubtfire was testing the waters. One day she arrived with a young Indigenous boy she wanted to raise. She got his family to sign him over to her and put Wanda’s name on the informal agreement without her knowledge or consent. The boy lived with the non-native woman but Wanda became responsible for him.
For six years almost every morning at 4:00 am Mrs. Doubtfire called Wanda to discuss her views on some aspects of her dissertation.
As the Indigenous youth got older, he started to show signs of being troubled. He ran away and failed school for four years in a row. Wanda became concerned and tried to find out what was going on. In her sixties, Mrs. Doubtfire finished her study and started to distance herself from the Indigenous family.
Then Mrs. Doubtfire announced she was suffering from a progressively degenerative disease. Wanda saw she had trouble walking, was exhausted, aching, anxious, acting unstable and always badly constipated. Mrs. Doubtfire whined she had to “get away” and that she had no money. She applied to teach at a mostly native university far away.
Wanda was now almost 70 years old and a respected elder of the community. The boy was insecure and needed stability. After much consideration by the native family, she suggested that the youth should be reunited with his birth family and native community. Surprisingly, Mrs. Doubtfire became enraged.
Mrs. Doubtfire showed up at Wanda’s house without notice. The green mask came off. She did not appreciate “Indians” interfering and that the boy was best in a non-native home. Mrs. Doubtfire punched Wanda. The police were called in.
It confirmed to Wanda that some of these absconders of our children will do anything to cover up the strange relationships they’ve developed with their young charges. Because of the stunted emotional development of both dirty old men and dirty old women, they feel safer with young people they can isolate, threaten and control.
None of the eight social service and police agencies that were contacted were able to help this young boy. Was it because he is indigenous and she is non-native? Authorities hesitate to investigate mistreatment or deaths of thousands of our young people. At this moment, parents of young indigenous boys and girls of British Columbia who have disappeared are demanding answers. Authorities have shut the doors in their faces.
Wanda realized she had been targeted several times in her life by members of the “Dirty Old Lady Predators” DOLPs. They start out being really nice. Then they start getting the Indigenous to do things for them. Then they get close to them and even become the “grandmothers” or “aunties” of the children of their target.
We Indigenous think everybody is nice like us. When the disguise comes off, we can see the evil behind the niceness. Then they disappear and start all over again somewhere else, oftentimes changing their names. They repeat the same m.o. until people start becoming suspicious, compare notes and find differences in their stories. Then they disappear again.
Intellectually DOLPs are smart but have a childlike emotional development. They know how to take advantage of people through years of practice. They are adept at making themselves look like victims with weaknesses or diseases to get pity and to divert us. They thrive on and get high on conning people. When pushed they can become violent and start freaking out. When they become desperate, who knows what they’ll do. How many kids have they taken? How many are now trying to find their way home? These dirty old women predators don’t stop. Even in their wheel chairs they’ll be swinging their canes looking for new victims.
MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com
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 “Colonialism” 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
By Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com
March 13, 2009. Just when we thought men were the main pillagers of our people! This is about specific DOLPs, who are dirty old experienced predators. DOLPs are plain, lonely, usually barren, compulsive liars, elderly white women. They have no close family ties. They know how to sit still and wait for a long time to jump their victim. There is usually not much background history on them. They haven’t worked much, feign illnesses and are not generous though it is sometimes revealed they have lots of money. These Grimm Brothers’ depictions of these women as old, ugly, have warts, big noses and green skin come up in fairy tales to warn children. These women see Indigenous People as vulnerable and less able to protect ourselves from them or their hooks and lures.
An 18 year old Indigenous girl we’ll call “Wanda” got a scholarship to study in Paris France. On the trip over on a freighter, she was befriended by an older Dutch woman we’ll call Mrs. Mendacity, who had become a Canadian citizen. She invited the young girl to visit her in Holland during her stay. She was well treated by the family. Afterwards this older woman wrote to Wanda once in a while.
Years later, Wanda was a single mother with three young children who had to take a job in Ottawa. She moved there and found out that Mrs. Mendacity lived there too. Mrs. Mendacity never had children, lived alone and had developed a digestive ailment that she constantly complained off but lived to 93 years of age. She re-befriended Wanda and the kids with gifts, invitations to dinner and so on. Then one day Mrs. Mendacity asked Wanda to help her get around the welfare system. She did not want to declare all her money so as not to lose her subsidized housing. She offered to give Wanda a few thousand dollars to be paid back every month. She got Mrs. Mendacity to sign an agreement and then gave her monthly checks for more than the amount. After two years it was all paid back.
Years later Wanda got a big surprise. Mrs. Mendacity charged her with theft and conning money out of her. She sued for $25,000, about five times the amount. Wanda fortunately had the agreement and all the cancelled checks, which she sent to Mrs. Mendacity’s lawyer. The case was dropped.
This episode troubled Wanda. These women hustlers usually have a secret history. She decided to visit Mary, a neighbor who knew Mrs. Mendacity. Mary’s husband, a World War II vet, suggested that Mrs. Mendacity was one of those who probably had to leave Holland after the war for collaborating with the Germans. To escape punishment, she married a Canadian soldier and came to Canada. Shortly after, she divorced him. Though she never worked, she lived well.
Wanda eventually went back to her native community with her kids. She was very knowledgeable about her culture and had gotten a master’s degree in her field.
About ten years ago a non-native woman, we’ll call Mrs. Doubtfire, searched out Wanda and befriended her. Mrs. Doubtfire was in her fifties and originally from Ottawa. She rarely worked and had valuable properties. She was studying and writing on the areas of knowledge that Wanda knew well. Mrs. Doubtfire visited the native community constantly and made friends with Wanda and her family.
Mrs. Doubtfire was testing the waters. One day she arrived with a young Indigenous boy she wanted to raise. She got his family to sign him over to her and put Wanda’s name on the informal agreement without her knowledge or consent. The boy lived with the non-native woman but Wanda became responsible for him.
For six years almost every morning at 4:00 am Mrs. Doubtfire called Wanda to discuss her views on some aspects of her dissertation.
As the Indigenous youth got older, he started to show signs of being troubled. He ran away and failed school for four years in a row. Wanda became concerned and tried to find out what was going on. In her sixties, Mrs. Doubtfire finished her study and started to distance herself from the Indigenous family.
Then Mrs. Doubtfire announced she was suffering from a progressively degenerative disease. Wanda saw she had trouble walking, was exhausted, aching, anxious, acting unstable and always badly constipated. Mrs. Doubtfire whined she had to “get away” and that she had no money. She applied to teach at a mostly native university far away.
Wanda was now almost 70 years old and a respected elder of the community. The boy was insecure and needed stability. After much consideration by the native family, she suggested that the youth should be reunited with his birth family and native community. Surprisingly, Mrs. Doubtfire became enraged.
Mrs. Doubtfire showed up at Wanda’s house without notice. The green mask came off. She did not appreciate “Indians” interfering and that the boy was best in a non-native home. Mrs. Doubtfire punched Wanda. The police were called in.
It confirmed to Wanda that some of these absconders of our children will do anything to cover up the strange relationships they’ve developed with their young charges. Because of the stunted emotional development of both dirty old men and dirty old women, they feel safer with young people they can isolate, threaten and control.
None of the eight social service and police agencies that were contacted were able to help this young boy. Was it because he is indigenous and she is non-native? Authorities hesitate to investigate mistreatment or deaths of thousands of our young people. At this moment, parents of young indigenous boys and girls of British Columbia who have disappeared are demanding answers. Authorities have shut the doors in their faces.
Wanda realized she had been targeted several times in her life by members of the “Dirty Old Lady Predators” DOLPs. They start out being really nice. Then they start getting the Indigenous to do things for them. Then they get close to them and even become the “grandmothers” or “aunties” of the children of their target.
We Indigenous think everybody is nice like us. When the disguise comes off, we can see the evil behind the niceness. Then they disappear and start all over again somewhere else, oftentimes changing their names. They repeat the same m.o. until people start becoming suspicious, compare notes and find differences in their stories. Then they disappear again.
Intellectually DOLPs are smart but have a childlike emotional development. They know how to take advantage of people through years of practice. They are adept at making themselves look like victims with weaknesses or diseases to get pity and to divert us. They thrive on and get high on conning people. When pushed they can become violent and start freaking out. When they become desperate, who knows what they’ll do. How many kids have they taken? How many are now trying to find their way home? These dirty old women predators don’t stop. Even in their wheel chairs they’ll be swinging their canes looking for new victims.
MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com
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 “Colonialism” 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
Uranium mining in Lakota Territory: Hearing over foreign ownership
Uranium Mine Foreign Ownership Hearing: Judges Say Issue Potentially Fatal to Cameco, Inc.
By Debra White Plume
The Atomic Licensing Board Judges Panel have scheduled a hearing for March 24, 2009
at 10 am at the Federal Courthouse in Rapid City, SD. The Foreign Owenership issue is raised by petitioners challenging the Cameco, Inc. license renewal and expansion for the Crow Butte Uranium Mine and its North Trend expansion plan near Crawford, Nebraska. The petitioners include the Oglala Sioux Tribe, The Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council Oglala Band,
Owe Aku, the Western Nebraska Resource Council, American Horse Tiospaye, and several individuals from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and the Nebraska panhandle.
On the issue of foreign ownership of the mine and the concealment of that fact, the Judges Panel ruled, "its resolution in this proceeding is potentially fatal to Crow Butte's proposed renewal if its license. The Board is of the opinion that it is in the best interest in the management of htis proceeding that this issue be segragated from the other contentions and breifed on the merits up front."
The Atomic Energy Act and other laws prohibit the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from granting an In Situ Leach uranium mining license to a foreign company.
If the March 24 hearing decision rules against the company on the foreign ownership issue, Cameco, Inc. will either lose their license and start 20 years of full time water restoration, or they will have to sell the mine to a U.S. company.
Cameco, Inc. also owns and operates two ISL uranium mines in Wyoming, the Highland and the Smith, both near Douglas, WY which produces 2 million pounds of "yellow cake" each year. Cameco recently paid the state of Wyoming $1.4 million in fines for license violations, and was fined $100,000 by the state of Nebraska for license violations at their Crow Butte ISL mine near Crawford. The Crow Butte ISL mine annually produces 800,000 to 1 million pounds of yellow cake.
"We have been notified that the Powertech, Inc. uranium exploration company will send representatives to the hearing", said petitioner Debra White Plume, "as Powertech is also a foreign owned corporation based in Canada who has applied to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an ISL mining license in the Edgemont area. The EPA is sending officials to the hearing as well, because Powertech has to apply to the EPA for its Underground Injection Control permit (for permanent storage of waste water) and for its aquifer exemption of the aquifers in the Black Hills. We have also been told that Uranium One, who is planning to ISL mine for uranium in Wyoming will have company officials at the hearing. This issue can have an effect on all these uranium mining corporations as they are all foreign owned corporations based in Canada."
The March 24 hearing is open to the public.
Photo provided by the Lakota Media Project. Contact number: 605-455-2155.
Debra White Plume
Owe Aku, Bring Back the Way
lakota1@gwtc.net
www.bringbacktheway.com
By Debra White Plume
The Atomic Licensing Board Judges Panel have scheduled a hearing for March 24, 2009
at 10 am at the Federal Courthouse in Rapid City, SD. The Foreign Owenership issue is raised by petitioners challenging the Cameco, Inc. license renewal and expansion for the Crow Butte Uranium Mine and its North Trend expansion plan near Crawford, Nebraska. The petitioners include the Oglala Sioux Tribe, The Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council Oglala Band,
Owe Aku, the Western Nebraska Resource Council, American Horse Tiospaye, and several individuals from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and the Nebraska panhandle.
On the issue of foreign ownership of the mine and the concealment of that fact, the Judges Panel ruled, "its resolution in this proceeding is potentially fatal to Crow Butte's proposed renewal if its license. The Board is of the opinion that it is in the best interest in the management of htis proceeding that this issue be segragated from the other contentions and breifed on the merits up front."
The Atomic Energy Act and other laws prohibit the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from granting an In Situ Leach uranium mining license to a foreign company.
If the March 24 hearing decision rules against the company on the foreign ownership issue, Cameco, Inc. will either lose their license and start 20 years of full time water restoration, or they will have to sell the mine to a U.S. company.
Cameco, Inc. also owns and operates two ISL uranium mines in Wyoming, the Highland and the Smith, both near Douglas, WY which produces 2 million pounds of "yellow cake" each year. Cameco recently paid the state of Wyoming $1.4 million in fines for license violations, and was fined $100,000 by the state of Nebraska for license violations at their Crow Butte ISL mine near Crawford. The Crow Butte ISL mine annually produces 800,000 to 1 million pounds of yellow cake.
"We have been notified that the Powertech, Inc. uranium exploration company will send representatives to the hearing", said petitioner Debra White Plume, "as Powertech is also a foreign owned corporation based in Canada who has applied to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an ISL mining license in the Edgemont area. The EPA is sending officials to the hearing as well, because Powertech has to apply to the EPA for its Underground Injection Control permit (for permanent storage of waste water) and for its aquifer exemption of the aquifers in the Black Hills. We have also been told that Uranium One, who is planning to ISL mine for uranium in Wyoming will have company officials at the hearing. This issue can have an effect on all these uranium mining corporations as they are all foreign owned corporations based in Canada."
The March 24 hearing is open to the public.
Photo provided by the Lakota Media Project. Contact number: 605-455-2155.
Debra White Plume
Owe Aku, Bring Back the Way
lakota1@gwtc.net
www.bringbacktheway.com
Carpinteria School Board to vote on racist mascot
In Carpinteria, where a 15-year-old Chumash received death threats after taking action for removal of a racist mascot, the school board votes to reinstate the mascot on Tuesday
Contact: Mark Anquoe, American Indian Movement - West, gazelbe@yahoo.com
http://www.aimwest.info
Corine Fairbanks, American Indian Movement – Santa Barbara, corine68@yahoo.com http://www.myspace.com/aimsantabarbara
By Mark Anquoe and Corine Fairbanks
CARPINTERIA, California (March 16, 2009) – On Tuesday, March 17, the school board of Carpinteria, California will meet to vote whether or not to rescind their own 2008 decision to remove all imagery that stereotypes Native American peoples from Carpinteria High School. Tuesday’s vote is the climax of a conflict that began almost a year ago when 15-year-old Chumash youth Eli Cordero petitioned the Carpinteria district school board to change the school mascot which he and the local Native community find offensive and racist.
Since the April 2008 decision, many citizens of Carpinteria have waged a campaign of intimidation against those who supported the school board’s decision, as well as the school board itself. Over the past year, the Native American community in Carpinteria has endured multiple death threats, violent harassment and the public targeting of children. The conflict in Carpinteria has attracted the attention of national media as well as the Federal Department of Justice.
A May 2008 school board meeting in Carpinteria was moved from the 40-seat city hall to the high school gymnasium, ostensibly to allow for “greater public participation”. However, the move created what the Native American community viewed to be a contrived situation designed for maximum intimidation. Board meeting participants from Carpinteria’s small Native American minority were shouted down during their attempts to speak by the overwhelming non-Native crowd. Native people also endured racial slurs and taunting and were spit upon as they entered and exited the building. This Tuesday’s school board meeting has been again moved to the high school gymnasium and local Native people fear a repeat of the threatening tactics and humiliation they endured at the May 2008 meeting.
Coalition Against Racism in Education (C.A.R.E.) will hold a prayer ceremony and rally at Carpinteria High School at 4pm on Tuesday, March 17th, shortly before the school board meeting. 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.
Contact: Mark Anquoe, American Indian Movement - West, gazelbe@yahoo.com
http://www.aimwest.info
Corine Fairbanks, American Indian Movement – Santa Barbara, corine68@yahoo.com http://www.myspace.com/aimsantabarbara
By Mark Anquoe and Corine Fairbanks
CARPINTERIA, California (March 16, 2009) – On Tuesday, March 17, the school board of Carpinteria, California will meet to vote whether or not to rescind their own 2008 decision to remove all imagery that stereotypes Native American peoples from Carpinteria High School. Tuesday’s vote is the climax of a conflict that began almost a year ago when 15-year-old Chumash youth Eli Cordero petitioned the Carpinteria district school board to change the school mascot which he and the local Native community find offensive and racist.
Since the April 2008 decision, many citizens of Carpinteria have waged a campaign of intimidation against those who supported the school board’s decision, as well as the school board itself. Over the past year, the Native American community in Carpinteria has endured multiple death threats, violent harassment and the public targeting of children. The conflict in Carpinteria has attracted the attention of national media as well as the Federal Department of Justice.
A May 2008 school board meeting in Carpinteria was moved from the 40-seat city hall to the high school gymnasium, ostensibly to allow for “greater public participation”. However, the move created what the Native American community viewed to be a contrived situation designed for maximum intimidation. Board meeting participants from Carpinteria’s small Native American minority were shouted down during their attempts to speak by the overwhelming non-Native crowd. Native people also endured racial slurs and taunting and were spit upon as they entered and exited the building. This Tuesday’s school board meeting has been again moved to the high school gymnasium and local Native people fear a repeat of the threatening tactics and humiliation they endured at the May 2008 meeting.
Coalition Against Racism in Education (C.A.R.E.) will hold a prayer ceremony and rally at Carpinteria High School at 4pm on Tuesday, March 17th, shortly before the school board meeting. 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.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Alaska Natives protest uranium exploration on Iditarod Trail
"Last Great Race"- Uranium Exploration on Iditarod Trail
Elim Students and community protests Uranium exploration on Seward Peninsula along the world premier Iditarod sled dog race at the Elim checkpoint 120 miles from Nome.
WHERE: Elim Checkpoint on Iditrod Trail;
Contacts: Funny Murray Elim Students Against Uranium 907-890-2351
Robert Keith Elim IRA Council 907-890-3737
Carl Wassilie Alaska's Big Village Network 907-382-3403 carlwassilie.acyn@gmail.com
Pam Miller Alaska Community Action on Toxics 907-222-7714 www.akaction.org
Nikos Pastos Center for Water Advocacy 907-764-2561 waterlaw@uci.net
Earl Kingik Village of Pt.Hope & R.E.D.O.I.L 907 750-0188 redoil1@acsalaska.net
Press statement:
A Coalition of Alaskan Indigenous Peoples, Alaskan citizens, students and community organizations are demonstrating support for students protesting Uranium activity in the traditional cultural use areas near the Arctic Inupiat community of Elim. Alaskans from various organizations and communities gathered at the ceremonial start of the Iditarod on March 7th, downtown Anchorage, to demonstrate support for the students and community of Elim. Students in Elim will be protesting uranium as dog mushers race through the Elim checkpoint 123 miles from Nome.
Funny Murray, an Inupiaq Para-professional in Elim, says that the students are leading the effort to raise awareness on the uranium’s destructive impacts to the environment, ecosystem and people. “The Elim Students Against Uranium (ESAU) researched how uranium development can cause damage to the health of the environment, plants, animals and people. They (ESAU) are speaking up for environmental justice here in Elim, the Bering Sea and the Arctic.”
Carl Wassilie, a Yup’ik biologist for Alaska’s Big Village Network, says that any industrial activity like uranium exploration can have profound impacts on the Earth's ecosystem, especially for people who continue to hunt and gather from the land and the water. One of the by-products of pulling uranium out of the Earth is radon gas, which can travel thousands of miles with a slight breeze and ‘falls out’ on the surface of the Earth into water systems, plants and animals. “Basically, people, birds, fish, caribou, moose and all animals living hundreds of miles away can get chronic and long-term exposure to radioactive fall-out that cause an array of health problems and cancer; especially vulnerable are elders, pregnant women and young children.”
“The board and staff of Alaska Community Action on Toxics stand in solidarity with the people of Elim in opposing uranium mining in the region. We believe that uranium mining poses a dire threat to the health and well-being of the community of Elim and other villages in the area. We will continue to work with them to protect the waters, lands, traditional foods, and public health.”
Since 2007, students and elders gathered for days out along the trail in Elim holding signs and giving mushers information about Triex Minerals and Full-Metal Minerals drilling operations. ESAU are leading the effort again, as the Iditarod racers, tourists and volunteers race through the friendly community that has always supported the Iditarod.
Elim IRA Council in partnership with the Center for Water Advocacy (CWA) will conduct research in relation to land, water and sovereignty rights of the Council. The CWA and the Council will work with the federal agencies on a government to-government basis to development regulatory standards and take other actions in protecting human health of the Seward Peninsula ecosystem from the impacts of uranium mining activity.
In the spring of 2008, the Native Village of Elim threatened to sue the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) due to the agencies failure to provide notice or comment to the community. The BLM did not provide any information at all about the Triex and Full Metal Mineral Mining Companies’ (Companies) proposed uranium exploration activities that affected the Elim Village’s reserved lands.
The immediate purpose of this demonstration will be to call attention to the efforts of many Alaskans to prevent further impacts to the human health, subsistence and cultural life ways of the Elim Village from uranium exploration and other mining activity. The broader relevance of this is to insure that the native villages and people, who have lived in the Seward Peninsula since time immemorial, are retained, preserved and protected. The people are signifying that Alaska retains its famous cultural and environmental diversity.
Elim Students and community protests Uranium exploration on Seward Peninsula along the world premier Iditarod sled dog race at the Elim checkpoint 120 miles from Nome.
WHERE: Elim Checkpoint on Iditrod Trail;
Contacts: Funny Murray Elim Students Against Uranium 907-890-2351
Robert Keith Elim IRA Council 907-890-3737
Carl Wassilie Alaska's Big Village Network 907-382-3403 carlwassilie.acyn@gmail.com
Pam Miller Alaska Community Action on Toxics 907-222-7714 www.akaction.org
Nikos Pastos Center for Water Advocacy 907-764-2561 waterlaw@uci.net
Earl Kingik Village of Pt.Hope & R.E.D.O.I.L 907 750-0188 redoil1@acsalaska.net
Press statement:
A Coalition of Alaskan Indigenous Peoples, Alaskan citizens, students and community organizations are demonstrating support for students protesting Uranium activity in the traditional cultural use areas near the Arctic Inupiat community of Elim. Alaskans from various organizations and communities gathered at the ceremonial start of the Iditarod on March 7th, downtown Anchorage, to demonstrate support for the students and community of Elim. Students in Elim will be protesting uranium as dog mushers race through the Elim checkpoint 123 miles from Nome.
Funny Murray, an Inupiaq Para-professional in Elim, says that the students are leading the effort to raise awareness on the uranium’s destructive impacts to the environment, ecosystem and people. “The Elim Students Against Uranium (ESAU) researched how uranium development can cause damage to the health of the environment, plants, animals and people. They (ESAU) are speaking up for environmental justice here in Elim, the Bering Sea and the Arctic.”
Carl Wassilie, a Yup’ik biologist for Alaska’s Big Village Network, says that any industrial activity like uranium exploration can have profound impacts on the Earth's ecosystem, especially for people who continue to hunt and gather from the land and the water. One of the by-products of pulling uranium out of the Earth is radon gas, which can travel thousands of miles with a slight breeze and ‘falls out’ on the surface of the Earth into water systems, plants and animals. “Basically, people, birds, fish, caribou, moose and all animals living hundreds of miles away can get chronic and long-term exposure to radioactive fall-out that cause an array of health problems and cancer; especially vulnerable are elders, pregnant women and young children.”
“The board and staff of Alaska Community Action on Toxics stand in solidarity with the people of Elim in opposing uranium mining in the region. We believe that uranium mining poses a dire threat to the health and well-being of the community of Elim and other villages in the area. We will continue to work with them to protect the waters, lands, traditional foods, and public health.”
Since 2007, students and elders gathered for days out along the trail in Elim holding signs and giving mushers information about Triex Minerals and Full-Metal Minerals drilling operations. ESAU are leading the effort again, as the Iditarod racers, tourists and volunteers race through the friendly community that has always supported the Iditarod.
Elim IRA Council in partnership with the Center for Water Advocacy (CWA) will conduct research in relation to land, water and sovereignty rights of the Council. The CWA and the Council will work with the federal agencies on a government to-government basis to development regulatory standards and take other actions in protecting human health of the Seward Peninsula ecosystem from the impacts of uranium mining activity.
In the spring of 2008, the Native Village of Elim threatened to sue the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) due to the agencies failure to provide notice or comment to the community. The BLM did not provide any information at all about the Triex and Full Metal Mineral Mining Companies’ (Companies) proposed uranium exploration activities that affected the Elim Village’s reserved lands.
The immediate purpose of this demonstration will be to call attention to the efforts of many Alaskans to prevent further impacts to the human health, subsistence and cultural life ways of the Elim Village from uranium exploration and other mining activity. The broader relevance of this is to insure that the native villages and people, who have lived in the Seward Peninsula since time immemorial, are retained, preserved and protected. The people are signifying that Alaska retains its famous cultural and environmental diversity.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Indigenous activists honored for protecting sacred places
Indigenous activists honored for protecting sacred places
By Alyssa Macy/International Indian Treaty Council
Photo by Morning Star Gali/Morning Star Gali, Julie Bill, Alberto Saldamando, Mark LeBeau, Carrie Dann, Manuel Pino and Radley Davis
SAN FRANCISCO -- On March 7th, 2009, two longtime indigenous activists, Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone and Manny Pino, Acoma Pueblo, were honored by the International Indian Treaty Council for their lifelong work to protect sacred places. Both received the “Human Rights Defenders” award during the “Indigenous Peoples Struggles to Defend Sacred Places” training and symposium at San Francisco State University.
Carrie Dann and her sister Mary have been on the forefront to protect the traditional lands of the Western Shoshone for over forty years. Ms. Dann has worked diligently through litigation and civil disobedience to defend Western Shoshone lands, treaty rights and sacred places such as Mt. Tenabo from international gold mining corporations, the nuclear industry and the U.S. government. Both the United Nations and the Organization of American States have supported the Western Shoshone struggle and most recently the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination condemned the actions of the U.S.
Manny Pino has worked many years to protect traditional indigenous lands and peoples from the destruction caused by uranium mining and defending sacred places such as Mount Taylor and the San Francisco Peaks. Uranium mining has long impacted the Indigenous Peoples from the southwestern part of the U.S. where mines were opened to aid in the production of the world’s first nuclear weapons. Most of its victims, including Diné and Pueblo miners and their families, were unaware of the dangers of exposure. Pino has played a key role in raising awareness of this issue including the impacts of uranium and other types of mining on Indigenous Peoples’ sacred sites.
Radley Davis, IITC Board Member, Pit River Nation, California, and activist, presented the awards on behalf of the IITC. Opening words by IITC Executive Director Andrea Carmen, Yaqui Nation, affirmed the importance of recognizing and honoring Indigenous Peoples for their dedication and heroism, as examples for our younger generations of what brave and dedicated individuals can accomplish. The All Nations Drum from Oakland provided an honor song for the recipients, their families and friends.
The awards ceremony closed the daylong training on human rights and protection of sacred sites from mining and other forms of imposed development. The IITC’s “Human Rights and Capacity Building Program” trains Indigenous activists to use international standards and mechanisms to defend their human rights and increase their direct, effective participation in international fora. For more information, visit IITC online at: http://www.treatycouncil.org/
Contact: Andrea Carmen
International Indian Treaty Council
F (907) 745-4482
E andrea@treatycouncil.org
International Indian Treaty Council
F (907) 745-4482
E andrea@treatycouncil.org
Hersh: 'Bush and Cheney's Assassination Ring'
Investigative Reporter Seymour Hersh reveals Joint Special Operations Command, murderers who reported directly to Cheney:
By Eric Black/Minnesota Post
" ... Yuh. After 9/11, I haven't written about this yet, but the Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven't been called on it yet. That does happen.
"Right now, today, there was a story in the New York Times that if you read it carefully mentioned something known as the Joint Special Operations Command -- JSOC it's called. It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently. They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. They did not report to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff or to Mr. [Robert] Gates, the secretary of defense. They reported directly to him. ...
"Congress has no oversight of it. It's an executive assassination ring essentially, and it's been going on and on and on. Just today in the Times there was a story that its leaders, a three star admiral named [William H.] McRaven, ordered a stop to it because there were so many collateral deaths.
"Under President Bush's authority, they've been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That's been going on, in the name of all of us.
Read article:
http://www.minnpost.com/ericblackblog/2009/03/11/7310/investigative_reporter_seymour_hersh_describes_executive_assassination_ring
By Eric Black/Minnesota Post
" ... Yuh. After 9/11, I haven't written about this yet, but the Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven't been called on it yet. That does happen.
"Right now, today, there was a story in the New York Times that if you read it carefully mentioned something known as the Joint Special Operations Command -- JSOC it's called. It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently. They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. They did not report to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff or to Mr. [Robert] Gates, the secretary of defense. They reported directly to him. ...
"Congress has no oversight of it. It's an executive assassination ring essentially, and it's been going on and on and on. Just today in the Times there was a story that its leaders, a three star admiral named [William H.] McRaven, ordered a stop to it because there were so many collateral deaths.
"Under President Bush's authority, they've been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That's been going on, in the name of all of us.
Read article:
http://www.minnpost.com/ericblackblog/2009/03/11/7310/investigative_reporter_seymour_hersh_describes_executive_assassination_ring
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Longest Walk Photos
Back by popular demand, more photos of Long Walkers by Janice Trytten (Washington DC and Greenbelt Park, Maryland, July 2008).
Homeland Security slapped with lawsuit over concealing documents on border wall
Margaret Kwoka (202) 588-7733
Denise Gilman (512) 232-7796
Federal Agencies Have Stymied Access To Records Showing Impact of Texas-Mexico Border Wall
Public Citizen Argues That Delays and Denials Violate Freedom of Information Act
By Public Citizen
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Federal officials are illegally withholding documents that would allow the public to determine the full impact of the 700 miles of fence being built along the Texas-Mexico border, Public Citizen argued in a suit filed in U.S. district court today on behalf of a member of the University of Texas (UT) Working Group on Human Rights and the Border Wall.
Denise Gilman, a clinical law professor at UT, submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in April for records that would show where the fence would be built, including maps, surveys and appraisals of affected properties. She also requested information about the criteria for deciding where segments of the wall would be built and agency assessments of the impact of the wall on surrounding communities.
Almost a year later, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have not complied with Gilman’s request. Despite initial indications that the agencies possessed volumes of records responsive to Gilman’s request, the corps of engineers denied part of her request outright and released only a few documents with substantial redactions. DHS referred her entire request to CBP, which released a mere two redacted documents in December. On Jan. 30, CBP told Gilman that it was still processing her request despite a federal requirement that it respond to her April request within 20 days.
UT’s Working Group on Human Rights and the Border Wall was formed to study and investigate the impact of the wall on property owners, indigenous communities and the environment. A full analysis is difficult without the documents showing where the wall will be built and the criteria on which those decisions were made.
With what little information is available, researchers have found significant differences in the income and race of property owners whose land will be affected and those who will not. For example, news outlets have reported that the wall will skip a wealthy country club on the border while having a devastating impact on some poorer neighborhoods and Native American communities.
“The Working Group at UT believes that the information we are seeking is necessary to allow a serious look at this massive border wall project moving forward at great expense to taxpayers, likely in the billions of dollars,” Gilman said. “We sincerely hope that the Obama administration, which has pledged greater transparency and accountability in government, will release the requested documents so that informed debate and consultation regarding the border wall can take place before there is any further construction.”
The Working Group at UT is launching a Web site to make the limited information available about the wall more publicly accessible. The site provides information gathered and prepared in the process of analyzing the human rights impacts of the border wall, including the limited FOIA responses received, other primary and secondary source materials, and the Working Group’s own analyses. The Web site is at http://www.utexas.edu/law/academics/centers/humanrights/borderwall/
“The refusal to respond to Professor Gilman’s requests in a timely manner and each agency’s referral to another agency for a response constitute blatant disregards for the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act,” said Margaret Kwoka, the Public Citizen attorney representing Gilman. “These agencies should not be allowed to move forward with a project of such a scale and impact without being accountable to the public.”
In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Public Citizen asks the court to order the agencies to make the requested records available to Gilman. The suit also challenges the redactions taken in some key documents, including information about property ownership in affected areas.
Public Citizen is representing Gilman as part of its Public Interest FOIA Clinic (http://www.foiaclinic.org) which was launched last year and is designed to give comprehensive assistance to other nonprofit organizations seeking government-held information. Through the clinic, Public Citizen provides direct FOIA litigation assistance to public interest organizations. Public Citizen also collects and analyzes information about recent FOIA litigation conducted by public interest organizations to identify and address common FOIA problems.
To read the lawsuit, go to http://www.citizen.org/documents/GilmanvDHSComplaint.pdf
Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.citizen.org
Denise Gilman (512) 232-7796
Federal Agencies Have Stymied Access To Records Showing Impact of Texas-Mexico Border Wall
Public Citizen Argues That Delays and Denials Violate Freedom of Information Act
By Public Citizen
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Federal officials are illegally withholding documents that would allow the public to determine the full impact of the 700 miles of fence being built along the Texas-Mexico border, Public Citizen argued in a suit filed in U.S. district court today on behalf of a member of the University of Texas (UT) Working Group on Human Rights and the Border Wall.
Denise Gilman, a clinical law professor at UT, submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in April for records that would show where the fence would be built, including maps, surveys and appraisals of affected properties. She also requested information about the criteria for deciding where segments of the wall would be built and agency assessments of the impact of the wall on surrounding communities.
Almost a year later, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have not complied with Gilman’s request. Despite initial indications that the agencies possessed volumes of records responsive to Gilman’s request, the corps of engineers denied part of her request outright and released only a few documents with substantial redactions. DHS referred her entire request to CBP, which released a mere two redacted documents in December. On Jan. 30, CBP told Gilman that it was still processing her request despite a federal requirement that it respond to her April request within 20 days.
UT’s Working Group on Human Rights and the Border Wall was formed to study and investigate the impact of the wall on property owners, indigenous communities and the environment. A full analysis is difficult without the documents showing where the wall will be built and the criteria on which those decisions were made.
With what little information is available, researchers have found significant differences in the income and race of property owners whose land will be affected and those who will not. For example, news outlets have reported that the wall will skip a wealthy country club on the border while having a devastating impact on some poorer neighborhoods and Native American communities.
“The Working Group at UT believes that the information we are seeking is necessary to allow a serious look at this massive border wall project moving forward at great expense to taxpayers, likely in the billions of dollars,” Gilman said. “We sincerely hope that the Obama administration, which has pledged greater transparency and accountability in government, will release the requested documents so that informed debate and consultation regarding the border wall can take place before there is any further construction.”
The Working Group at UT is launching a Web site to make the limited information available about the wall more publicly accessible. The site provides information gathered and prepared in the process of analyzing the human rights impacts of the border wall, including the limited FOIA responses received, other primary and secondary source materials, and the Working Group’s own analyses. The Web site is at http://www.utexas.edu/law/academics/centers/humanrights/borderwall/
“The refusal to respond to Professor Gilman’s requests in a timely manner and each agency’s referral to another agency for a response constitute blatant disregards for the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act,” said Margaret Kwoka, the Public Citizen attorney representing Gilman. “These agencies should not be allowed to move forward with a project of such a scale and impact without being accountable to the public.”
In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Public Citizen asks the court to order the agencies to make the requested records available to Gilman. The suit also challenges the redactions taken in some key documents, including information about property ownership in affected areas.
Public Citizen is representing Gilman as part of its Public Interest FOIA Clinic (http://www.foiaclinic.org) which was launched last year and is designed to give comprehensive assistance to other nonprofit organizations seeking government-held information. Through the clinic, Public Citizen provides direct FOIA litigation assistance to public interest organizations. Public Citizen also collects and analyzes information about recent FOIA litigation conducted by public interest organizations to identify and address common FOIA problems.
To read the lawsuit, go to http://www.citizen.org/documents/GilmanvDHSComplaint.pdf
Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.citizen.org
Mohawk Nation News: Confused Haudenosaunee to issue illegal ID cards
CANADA-U.S. BORDER: CONFUSED HAUDENOSAUNEE TO ISSUE ILLEGAL ID CARDS!!!
MOHAWK NATION NEWS
http://www.mohawknationnews.com
March 10, 2009. As usual the immigrants to Onowaregeh, Turtle Island, want to dictate to us. The Indigenous collaborators continue to get pocket change to sell us out to their “swamis”. Who’s law does this colonial ID card come under to give us permission to pass over the “imaginary line” known as the Canada-U.S. border? They want to take away our birth right and give us a privilege.
We’ve been on Onowaregeh since time immemorial. We never gave these invading squatters any right to dictate how we shall relate to each other or traverse our territories. It violates the Kaianerehkowa, Great Law of Peace, our law, the Two Row Wampum, the U.S. Constitution and international law. Who’s going to enforce this illegal pass system? A combined force of Canadian, U.S. and Mexican “death squads”!! The law of the gun does not make their schemes legitimate.
The Two Row Wampum between us and the U.S. and Canada does not allow their selected flunkies to act on our behalf.
Wampum #58 provides that those who knowingly violating the People and the Great Law may be charged with “conspiracy” and “espionage”. They are working with a foreign entity to dissolve and destroy the title and birthright of the Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy. These colonists of “Indian” descent follow foreign laws, including the U.S. Federal Indian Law and Canada’s Indian Act. They cannot enter into any agreements or contracts for any of our rights with any private corporations or foreign entities of these transients who roved onto our land.
These persons must leave the council, the nation and the league and forfeit their birthright. They are no longer in but out of the League. They are called “they have alienated themselves” [Tehonnatonkoton].
On January 1, 2009 U.S. Customs and Border Protection CBP got new instructions on how to force their will on us. These newcomers made up this new “informed compliance” policy all by themselves. They know they need a surrender of our sovereignty by our nations to impose it. They have to consult us, the owners of the land they are divvying up. Even our Red ID Card issued by our nations for decades is being hijacked. Without our permission the CBP decreed that our cards will be accepted until at least June 1, 2009. They have no right to dictate anything to us. If we have a problem, we’re supposed to call Cherri Morris of CBP in Washington DC at 202-344-3325.
In late 2008 the CBP handed out templates of ‘their’ ID cards to the “tribe” and “Nation” councils of their “Indians”. They have colonial incestuous “government-to-government” relations with each other. This whole “con” does not apply to the true Ongwehonwe.
Our agreements with the U.S. and Canada are “nation-to-nation”, a relationship of equals. We can only deal directly with the U.S. President and the Governor General of Canada as the colonial representatives of the two colonies. They have no authority over us or our land because we never surrendered anything to anybody. Their jurisdiction is limited to their subjects and their “Indians” who are U.S. or Canadian citizens. The rest of us never gave up our sovereignty and remain free and independent. We and our children cannot carry these cards.
The Onondaga Nation of New York State Inc. that Washington is dealing with is a federal and state incorporated entity headed by “faithkeeper”, Oren Lyons. They had secret discussions on the draft template with their colonial big cheese, the CBP in Washington. These cards are going to be used by those tribal or band council marionettes who dance to the tune of their colonial maestros. They stuck a feather on the card and called it “Indian”. Don’t be fooled. It’s still a fraud, deceptive and illegal.
The U.S. needs a major commitment from each of our nations to go ahead. The illegal cards will be tested for 4 to 6 months to design a tactic to ram it down our throats. These Haudenosaunee colluders made a deal with the German company, Siemens, to produce the cards. A building with an application office and staff is being installed to herd us into the “ovens” where they will tattoo or nuke us!
There is fear mongering of our people to shove their wallpaper on us. The border goons are being trained to say our Red Card is obsolete and that we have to submit to them “reeal sooon”. It ain’t gonna fly ‘cause it ain’t legal! Ever wonder why these border flunkies have been intimidating, harassing, beating us up and trying to rape and kill us at the border, especially at the Cornwall-Massena checkpoint? A lot of laws are being broken. We can’t get any answers from anyone. No meetings or information are being given out. We and our supporters better start filing objections to the President of the U.S., the Governor General of Canada, the Queen who runs both corporations [U.S. and Canada], the CBP, and whoever else. Who’s making these illegal deals to sell out our sovereignty? What have they agreed to?
No one shall separate us or weaken us. These quislings knowingly work against us and our future generations. Hey, colonial vagrants and your agents, no one has any authority to function on behalf of the Rotinno’shonni:onwe. We are going to resist this latest desperate genocidal corralment plan.
MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com katenies20@yahoo.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations 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 “BORDER” 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
Contact the following contagions: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace, London, SQ1A UK; President Barack Obama, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500, http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ Comments: 202-456-1111, Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461; The Governor General of Canada, M. Michaelle Jean, 1 Rideau Drive, Ottawa info@gg.ca; Alain Jolicoeur, President, CBSA, Ottawa, ON K1A 0L8, 613-952-3200, 613-957-0612; General inquiries CBSA-ASFC@canada.gc.ca; Lance Markell, District Director,
Northern Office – Customs, St. Laurent Blvd., Ottawa Ont. K1G 4K3, CBSA 613-930-3234, 613-991-1214, General inquiries CBSA-ASFC@canada.gc.ca; Secretary Janet Napolitano, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528, Operator Number: 202-282-8000, Comment Line: 202-282-8495, Jayson P. Ahern,
A/Commissioner, U.S. Customs, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20229
Chief Counsel (202) 344-2990; Marco A. Lopez, Jr., Chief of Staff, U.S. Customs, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20229; Prime Minister Stephen Harper; House of Commons, Ottawa, harper.s@parl.gc.ca; Hon. Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, House of Commons, Ottawa; Hon. Robert Douglas Nicholson, Minister of Justice and
Attorney General of Canada, 284 Wellington St., Ottawa, ON K1A 0H8; Attorney General of Ontario, 720 Bay St., 4th Floor, Toronto, ON M5G 2K1; Hon. Yvon Marcoux, Minister of Justice and A.G.O., Louis-Phillipe-Pigeon Bldg., 1200 Rue d l'Eglise, 9th Floor, St. Foy G1V 4M1; Hon. Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian Affairs, 10 Wellington St., Hull, Que. K1A 0H4
Strahl.c@parl.gc.ca; Premier Dalton McGuinty, Province of Ontario, Queens Park, Toronto ON;
Premier Charest, Province of Quebec, Legislature, Quebec City; British High Commission, 80 Elgin St., Ottawa, ON K1P 5K7; Canadian Human Rights Commission, 344 Slater St., 8th Floor
Ottawa, ON K1A 1E1; United Nations, 405 E 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017; The Hague, Anna Paulownastraat, 103, 251 BBC, The Netherlands; Coalition for the International Criminal Court, c/o WFM, 708 3rd Ave., 24th Floor, New York, NY 10017
MOHAWK NATION NEWS
http://www.mohawknationnews.com
March 10, 2009. As usual the immigrants to Onowaregeh, Turtle Island, want to dictate to us. The Indigenous collaborators continue to get pocket change to sell us out to their “swamis”. Who’s law does this colonial ID card come under to give us permission to pass over the “imaginary line” known as the Canada-U.S. border? They want to take away our birth right and give us a privilege.
We’ve been on Onowaregeh since time immemorial. We never gave these invading squatters any right to dictate how we shall relate to each other or traverse our territories. It violates the Kaianerehkowa, Great Law of Peace, our law, the Two Row Wampum, the U.S. Constitution and international law. Who’s going to enforce this illegal pass system? A combined force of Canadian, U.S. and Mexican “death squads”!! The law of the gun does not make their schemes legitimate.
The Two Row Wampum between us and the U.S. and Canada does not allow their selected flunkies to act on our behalf.
Wampum #58 provides that those who knowingly violating the People and the Great Law may be charged with “conspiracy” and “espionage”. They are working with a foreign entity to dissolve and destroy the title and birthright of the Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy. These colonists of “Indian” descent follow foreign laws, including the U.S. Federal Indian Law and Canada’s Indian Act. They cannot enter into any agreements or contracts for any of our rights with any private corporations or foreign entities of these transients who roved onto our land.
These persons must leave the council, the nation and the league and forfeit their birthright. They are no longer in but out of the League. They are called “they have alienated themselves” [Tehonnatonkoton].
On January 1, 2009 U.S. Customs and Border Protection CBP got new instructions on how to force their will on us. These newcomers made up this new “informed compliance” policy all by themselves. They know they need a surrender of our sovereignty by our nations to impose it. They have to consult us, the owners of the land they are divvying up. Even our Red ID Card issued by our nations for decades is being hijacked. Without our permission the CBP decreed that our cards will be accepted until at least June 1, 2009. They have no right to dictate anything to us. If we have a problem, we’re supposed to call Cherri Morris of CBP in Washington DC at 202-344-3325.
In late 2008 the CBP handed out templates of ‘their’ ID cards to the “tribe” and “Nation” councils of their “Indians”. They have colonial incestuous “government-to-government” relations with each other. This whole “con” does not apply to the true Ongwehonwe.
Our agreements with the U.S. and Canada are “nation-to-nation”, a relationship of equals. We can only deal directly with the U.S. President and the Governor General of Canada as the colonial representatives of the two colonies. They have no authority over us or our land because we never surrendered anything to anybody. Their jurisdiction is limited to their subjects and their “Indians” who are U.S. or Canadian citizens. The rest of us never gave up our sovereignty and remain free and independent. We and our children cannot carry these cards.
The Onondaga Nation of New York State Inc. that Washington is dealing with is a federal and state incorporated entity headed by “faithkeeper”, Oren Lyons. They had secret discussions on the draft template with their colonial big cheese, the CBP in Washington. These cards are going to be used by those tribal or band council marionettes who dance to the tune of their colonial maestros. They stuck a feather on the card and called it “Indian”. Don’t be fooled. It’s still a fraud, deceptive and illegal.
The U.S. needs a major commitment from each of our nations to go ahead. The illegal cards will be tested for 4 to 6 months to design a tactic to ram it down our throats. These Haudenosaunee colluders made a deal with the German company, Siemens, to produce the cards. A building with an application office and staff is being installed to herd us into the “ovens” where they will tattoo or nuke us!
There is fear mongering of our people to shove their wallpaper on us. The border goons are being trained to say our Red Card is obsolete and that we have to submit to them “reeal sooon”. It ain’t gonna fly ‘cause it ain’t legal! Ever wonder why these border flunkies have been intimidating, harassing, beating us up and trying to rape and kill us at the border, especially at the Cornwall-Massena checkpoint? A lot of laws are being broken. We can’t get any answers from anyone. No meetings or information are being given out. We and our supporters better start filing objections to the President of the U.S., the Governor General of Canada, the Queen who runs both corporations [U.S. and Canada], the CBP, and whoever else. Who’s making these illegal deals to sell out our sovereignty? What have they agreed to?
No one shall separate us or weaken us. These quislings knowingly work against us and our future generations. Hey, colonial vagrants and your agents, no one has any authority to function on behalf of the Rotinno’shonni:onwe. We are going to resist this latest desperate genocidal corralment plan.
MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com katenies20@yahoo.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations 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 “BORDER” 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
Contact the following contagions: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace, London, SQ1A UK; President Barack Obama, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500, http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ Comments: 202-456-1111, Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461; The Governor General of Canada, M. Michaelle Jean, 1 Rideau Drive, Ottawa info@gg.ca; Alain Jolicoeur, President, CBSA, Ottawa, ON K1A 0L8, 613-952-3200, 613-957-0612; General inquiries CBSA-ASFC@canada.gc.ca; Lance Markell, District Director,
Northern Office – Customs, St. Laurent Blvd., Ottawa Ont. K1G 4K3, CBSA 613-930-3234, 613-991-1214, General inquiries CBSA-ASFC@canada.gc.ca; Secretary Janet Napolitano, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528, Operator Number: 202-282-8000, Comment Line: 202-282-8495, Jayson P. Ahern,
A/Commissioner, U.S. Customs, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20229
Chief Counsel (202) 344-2990; Marco A. Lopez, Jr., Chief of Staff, U.S. Customs, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20229; Prime Minister Stephen Harper; House of Commons, Ottawa, harper.s@parl.gc.ca; Hon. Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, House of Commons, Ottawa; Hon. Robert Douglas Nicholson, Minister of Justice and
Attorney General of Canada, 284 Wellington St., Ottawa, ON K1A 0H8; Attorney General of Ontario, 720 Bay St., 4th Floor, Toronto, ON M5G 2K1; Hon. Yvon Marcoux, Minister of Justice and A.G.O., Louis-Phillipe-Pigeon Bldg., 1200 Rue d l'Eglise, 9th Floor, St. Foy G1V 4M1; Hon. Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian Affairs, 10 Wellington St., Hull, Que. K1A 0H4
Strahl.c@parl.gc.ca; Premier Dalton McGuinty, Province of Ontario, Queens Park, Toronto ON;
Premier Charest, Province of Quebec, Legislature, Quebec City; British High Commission, 80 Elgin St., Ottawa, ON K1P 5K7; Canadian Human Rights Commission, 344 Slater St., 8th Floor
Ottawa, ON K1A 1E1; United Nations, 405 E 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017; The Hague, Anna Paulownastraat, 103, 251 BBC, The Netherlands; Coalition for the International Criminal Court, c/o WFM, 708 3rd Ave., 24th Floor, New York, NY 10017
Lipan Apache: Border abuse intensifies
INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES ON THE TEXAS-MEXICO BORDER INVESTIGATING HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
By Margo Tamez
By Margo Tamez
EL CALABOZ, Texas -- (March 7) Dr. Eloisa G. Tamez, Lipan Apache, is talking with relatives and residents of the rancheria and collecting evidence related to her lands based upon reports from elder eyewitnesses who believe that the U.S. DHS/Contractors and U.S. Customs Border Patrol are encroaching upon the lands currently in dispute related to her legal case against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs Border Patrol and U.S. Army Corps Engineers to stop the construction of the Berlin-style wall on her ancestral lands.
The construction of the wall, which now abuts Tamez' land, is clearly disturbing sensitive vegetation, wildlife, riparian, religious and cultural resources near, on and to the north of the levee. In a telephone communique this morning, Tamez indicated that she is documenting the possible violations against a standing court order which protects the lands in the area of dispute until her jury trial in June 2009. The land in question is situated within the International Boundary zone, which is governed by international customary law with related ties to indigenous international law.
Tamez made telephone calls to the representative of the International Water and Boundary Commission numerous times on Friday. She attempted to communicate to IBWC officials of potential violations of contractors and IBWC of the landowners primary right-of-way in the dispute area. The IBWC failed to return her phone calls, nor has the IBWC provided a reasonable explanation as to why they have not processed her application to install a private property barrier across her section of the levee and riparian strip, an application which she filed more than nine months ago. According to Tamez, the landowners of the original land grant have the first right of way to the land, resources, water and ecological and cultural resources.
Tamez further insists that IBWC must consult land owners on all matters related to the levee and lands in question. According to Tamez, "the wall construction is now up to my property line on both sides--all the non-land grant peoples (those not descended from the original peoples) sold to the U.S. We're surrounded. By building the wall on the north side of the levee--literally at the foot of the levee--the U.S. reveals a rushed and forced process to spend the money Chertoff awarded to contractors. They built the footer right on top of the flood zone--putting the entire levee behind the wall and trampling over the property rights of land owners in litigation. When this weight dissolves the levee in a major storm, will they then ingress further?
This is entirely out of hand. This is an outrage. They are encroaching upon my land and the impact is damaging. The Border Patrol units and the machines of the contractors are numerous; the high level of traffic in the area is intense. Not only is this harmful, it is dangerous. The levee is in no condition to hold this massive structure. It is obvious that this is about greed, payoffs and spending down the taxpayer's money in the final days of Chertoff's control. It appears that the new IBWC director (appointed by Bush after the sudden death of the former IBWC director, Carlos Marin) and the U.S. contractors made deals without consulting the land owners, nor did those of us-- in litigation against the construction of the wall-- receive prior notice or free and prior informed consent. By authorizing the construction of the wall on the north side of the levee, the IBWC is in violation of long-standing international laws, indigenous peoples' rights, human rights, and collective rights of indigenous peoples in El Calaboz. The customary laws of our community have protected lineal-descent land owners with Spanish land grant title."
El Polvo, Texas, March 7. Jumano-Apache community members are calling for an emergency legal and human rights investigation into widespread human rights violations targeting specific Jumano-Apache families by the U.S. Customs Border Patrol/I.C.E./DHS in the small community of El Polvo, situated on the banks of the Rio Grande River near the Big Bend National Park. A recent series of armed invasions by U.S. government personnel into the living spaces of noncombatant, unarmed Jumano-Apache communities have struck terror into parents, elders and children. Members of the Jumano-Apache community cite human rights violations stemming from forced displacement of rural indigenous families which they claim is a direct result of U.S. Customs Border Patrol abuses, threats, and armed assaults deployed against the quiet, rural village of traditional farmers in recent months. In the past year, numerous attempts by community members to resist Border Patrol violations of property rights, indigenous rights, community rights and human rights have been met with retaliatory measures in this community which is designated as one of the poorest in the United States, according the the 2008 U.S. Census. Eyewitnesses in El Polvo connect the violations experienced to intensified militarization of the Texas-Mexico border wall construction, the war on terror, the war on drugs and the war on migrant workers. --
Margo Tamez Contact Eloisa G. Tamez (El Calaboz) at Eloisa.tamez1@gmail.com
and April Cotte (El Polvo) at acotte@igc.org
http://redfordtexas.blogspot.com/
http://www.lipanapachecommunitydefense.blogspot.com/
Related Stories: U.S. 'COUNTERINSURGENCY' 'AID' TO MEXICO
http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSN06397194
MEXICO SENDS TROOPS TO NORTHERN BORDER STATES/ (AFTER U.S. PROVIDES MONETARY & EQUIPMENT 'AID')http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/03/06/mexico.troops
The construction of the wall, which now abuts Tamez' land, is clearly disturbing sensitive vegetation, wildlife, riparian, religious and cultural resources near, on and to the north of the levee. In a telephone communique this morning, Tamez indicated that she is documenting the possible violations against a standing court order which protects the lands in the area of dispute until her jury trial in June 2009. The land in question is situated within the International Boundary zone, which is governed by international customary law with related ties to indigenous international law.
Tamez made telephone calls to the representative of the International Water and Boundary Commission numerous times on Friday. She attempted to communicate to IBWC officials of potential violations of contractors and IBWC of the landowners primary right-of-way in the dispute area. The IBWC failed to return her phone calls, nor has the IBWC provided a reasonable explanation as to why they have not processed her application to install a private property barrier across her section of the levee and riparian strip, an application which she filed more than nine months ago. According to Tamez, the landowners of the original land grant have the first right of way to the land, resources, water and ecological and cultural resources.
Tamez further insists that IBWC must consult land owners on all matters related to the levee and lands in question. According to Tamez, "the wall construction is now up to my property line on both sides--all the non-land grant peoples (those not descended from the original peoples) sold to the U.S. We're surrounded. By building the wall on the north side of the levee--literally at the foot of the levee--the U.S. reveals a rushed and forced process to spend the money Chertoff awarded to contractors. They built the footer right on top of the flood zone--putting the entire levee behind the wall and trampling over the property rights of land owners in litigation. When this weight dissolves the levee in a major storm, will they then ingress further?
This is entirely out of hand. This is an outrage. They are encroaching upon my land and the impact is damaging. The Border Patrol units and the machines of the contractors are numerous; the high level of traffic in the area is intense. Not only is this harmful, it is dangerous. The levee is in no condition to hold this massive structure. It is obvious that this is about greed, payoffs and spending down the taxpayer's money in the final days of Chertoff's control. It appears that the new IBWC director (appointed by Bush after the sudden death of the former IBWC director, Carlos Marin) and the U.S. contractors made deals without consulting the land owners, nor did those of us-- in litigation against the construction of the wall-- receive prior notice or free and prior informed consent. By authorizing the construction of the wall on the north side of the levee, the IBWC is in violation of long-standing international laws, indigenous peoples' rights, human rights, and collective rights of indigenous peoples in El Calaboz. The customary laws of our community have protected lineal-descent land owners with Spanish land grant title."
El Polvo, Texas, March 7. Jumano-Apache community members are calling for an emergency legal and human rights investigation into widespread human rights violations targeting specific Jumano-Apache families by the U.S. Customs Border Patrol/I.C.E./DHS in the small community of El Polvo, situated on the banks of the Rio Grande River near the Big Bend National Park. A recent series of armed invasions by U.S. government personnel into the living spaces of noncombatant, unarmed Jumano-Apache communities have struck terror into parents, elders and children. Members of the Jumano-Apache community cite human rights violations stemming from forced displacement of rural indigenous families which they claim is a direct result of U.S. Customs Border Patrol abuses, threats, and armed assaults deployed against the quiet, rural village of traditional farmers in recent months. In the past year, numerous attempts by community members to resist Border Patrol violations of property rights, indigenous rights, community rights and human rights have been met with retaliatory measures in this community which is designated as one of the poorest in the United States, according the the 2008 U.S. Census. Eyewitnesses in El Polvo connect the violations experienced to intensified militarization of the Texas-Mexico border wall construction, the war on terror, the war on drugs and the war on migrant workers. --
Margo Tamez Contact Eloisa G. Tamez (El Calaboz) at Eloisa.tamez1@gmail.com
and April Cotte (El Polvo) at acotte@igc.org
http://redfordtexas.blogspot.com/
http://www.lipanapachecommunitydefense.blogspot.com/
Related Stories: U.S. 'COUNTERINSURGENCY' 'AID' TO MEXICO
http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSN06397194
MEXICO SENDS TROOPS TO NORTHERN BORDER STATES/ (AFTER U.S. PROVIDES MONETARY & EQUIPMENT 'AID')http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/03/06/mexico.troops
Department of Justice launches investigation of racist Arizona sheriff
DOJ Launches Investigation of Sheriff Joe Arpaio: Advocates Call for Immediate Termination of Contract
Press Conference on Capitol Hill, 1 pm, March 11, 2009
Press Conference on Capitol Hill, 1 pm, March 11, 2009
By Chris Newman
323-717-5310
newman@ndlon.org
PHOENIX -- On March 10, Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King sent a letter to Sheriff Joe Arpaio announcing a Department of Justice investigation of alleged "discriminatory police practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures conducted by the MCSO," among other alleged violations of federal law. A copy of the letter is available here.
The formal investigation follows a request by Congressman Conyers that the DOJ take action to respond to myriad complaints of racial profiling in Maricopa County. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon first requested a DOJ investigation nearly a year ago. And on February 28, over 5,000 people marched four miles through Phoenix to ask the the federal government to immediately terminate its 287g(g) contract with Joe Arpaio.
On March 11, at 1 pm, advocates from across the country and civil rights leaders will join elected officials, including Congressman Conyers and Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, to discuss the investigation in a press conference on Capitol Hill.
"We are very hopeful a Department of Justice investigation will vindicate the rights of people who have been terrorized by Sheriff Arpaio," said Salvador Reza of the PUENTE movement in Phoenix, AZ. "We also hope the Obama administration will immediately terminate the US government's 287(g) contract with Maricopa County while the judicial process takes its course."
"The federal government has the obligation to reform immigration laws and to uphold the Constitution," said Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "Its failure to act has resulted in an emerging civil and human rights crisis."
Video footage from Maricopa County is available at www.ndlon.org
Chris Newman, Esq
Legal Director
National Day Laborer Organizing Network
675 South Park View Street, Suite B
Los Angeles, CA 90057
newman@ndlon.org
(213) 380-2785
(213) 353-1344 [fax]
www.ndlon.org
323-717-5310
newman@ndlon.org
PHOENIX -- On March 10, Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King sent a letter to Sheriff Joe Arpaio announcing a Department of Justice investigation of alleged "discriminatory police practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures conducted by the MCSO," among other alleged violations of federal law. A copy of the letter is available here.
The formal investigation follows a request by Congressman Conyers that the DOJ take action to respond to myriad complaints of racial profiling in Maricopa County. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon first requested a DOJ investigation nearly a year ago. And on February 28, over 5,000 people marched four miles through Phoenix to ask the the federal government to immediately terminate its 287g(g) contract with Joe Arpaio.
On March 11, at 1 pm, advocates from across the country and civil rights leaders will join elected officials, including Congressman Conyers and Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, to discuss the investigation in a press conference on Capitol Hill.
"We are very hopeful a Department of Justice investigation will vindicate the rights of people who have been terrorized by Sheriff Arpaio," said Salvador Reza of the PUENTE movement in Phoenix, AZ. "We also hope the Obama administration will immediately terminate the US government's 287(g) contract with Maricopa County while the judicial process takes its course."
"The federal government has the obligation to reform immigration laws and to uphold the Constitution," said Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "Its failure to act has resulted in an emerging civil and human rights crisis."
Video footage from Maricopa County is available at www.ndlon.org
Chris Newman, Esq
Legal Director
National Day Laborer Organizing Network
675 South Park View Street, Suite B
Los Angeles, CA 90057
newman@ndlon.org
(213) 380-2785
(213) 353-1344 [fax]
www.ndlon.org
Monday, March 9, 2009
Listen: Defending Native Sacred Places in California and Western Shoshone Territory
by Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
SAN FRANCISCO -- Listen online to Native American speakers at the "Indigenous Peoples Struggles to Defend Sacred Places," held Saturday in San Francisco.
Speaking on the ongoing struggles to defend sacred places in the audio, "Indigenous Defenders Sacred Places," are: Ann Marie Sayers, Ohlone, with Morning Star Gali, Radley Davis and Mark LeBeau, Pit River. Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone, with Julie Bill of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, speak on the efforts to halt Barrick Gold from destroying sacred Mount Tenabo. The seminar was presented by the International Indian Treaty Council. Audio production by Govinda Dalton at Earthcycles.
Listen to "Indigenous Defenders Sacred Places," 90-minute show at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
SAN FRANCISCO -- Listen online to Native American speakers at the "Indigenous Peoples Struggles to Defend Sacred Places," held Saturday in San Francisco.
Speaking on the ongoing struggles to defend sacred places in the audio, "Indigenous Defenders Sacred Places," are: Ann Marie Sayers, Ohlone, with Morning Star Gali, Radley Davis and Mark LeBeau, Pit River. Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone, with Julie Bill of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, speak on the efforts to halt Barrick Gold from destroying sacred Mount Tenabo. The seminar was presented by the International Indian Treaty Council. Audio production by Govinda Dalton at Earthcycles.
Listen to "Indigenous Defenders Sacred Places," 90-minute show at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Black Hills Treaty Fishing: Galvanizing Sovereignty and Law
SOUTH DAKOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL: 'I’VE NEVER READ THE FT. LARAMIE TREATIES'
By Natalie Hand
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
PINE RIDGE, S.D. -- What began as an attempt to exercise sovereignty at Sheridan Lake in the Black Hills last summer, now has Russell Means in deep water with South Dakota law enforcement.
On Tuesday, March 3, 2009, a Pennington County judge issued a bench warrant for Means arrest after he failed to appear in court for a charge of fishing without a license.
“I do not understand why the State is continuing to press for a major court trial when they know I have petitioned to have this case heard in federal court. This is a constitutional issue, which means that local courts have no jurisdiction and they know this," Means said.
However, South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long disagrees. In a telephone interview, Long contended, “There is no distinction between a Native American and a non-native in this State. If either is breaking our laws in the Black Hills, they will be arrested. The State does have jurisdiction over Indians here.”
“Furthermore, why are they bringing in a magistrate from Pierre to hear this case?” questioned Means.
“I would speculate that all the Pennington County judges have disqualified themselves because they all live in the Black Hills. For that reason I would suspect that they appointed someone from outside the Circuit," Long said.
When asked whether or not Means had a valid argument to move his case to a federal court based on constitutional rights violation, Long replied, “Mr. Means ‘claims’ that the Black Hills is treaty territory and that South Dakota has no jurisdiction over him. I don’t believe that he has any rights to fish without a license under the U.S. Constitution.”
Means reference to the U.S. Constitution pertains to Article VI, which states: “ . . . This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby . . .”
In his application to move his case to federal court, Means contends that he is within his inherent rights under the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty.
“I have never even read the Ft. Laramie Treaty," Long admitted.
“Russell is within his rights under the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty. He Sapa, the sacred Black Hills, is within our treaty territory. That treaty is a living document. We have a Nation-to-Nation agreement with the U.S. More of us Lakota need to exert our sovereign power. The U.S. has violated the Treaty, which they authored. They have offered us compensation. We have refused it. We will never sell the Black Hills. It is what defines us," stated Floyd Hand, an Oglala Lakota and delegate to the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council.
A Federal Court clerk confirmed that Means filed a complaint in October, 2008 to move the case to Federal Court. The State filed for a continuance on January 12th and it was granted the next day.
Long concluded, “I suspect that Mr. Means’ application is unique. I would assume that someone has written a response not to touch this.”
To date, no hearing date has been scheduled. There is no deadline for a federal judge to rule on Means’ petition.
By Natalie Hand
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
PINE RIDGE, S.D. -- What began as an attempt to exercise sovereignty at Sheridan Lake in the Black Hills last summer, now has Russell Means in deep water with South Dakota law enforcement.
On Tuesday, March 3, 2009, a Pennington County judge issued a bench warrant for Means arrest after he failed to appear in court for a charge of fishing without a license.
“I do not understand why the State is continuing to press for a major court trial when they know I have petitioned to have this case heard in federal court. This is a constitutional issue, which means that local courts have no jurisdiction and they know this," Means said.
However, South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long disagrees. In a telephone interview, Long contended, “There is no distinction between a Native American and a non-native in this State. If either is breaking our laws in the Black Hills, they will be arrested. The State does have jurisdiction over Indians here.”
“Furthermore, why are they bringing in a magistrate from Pierre to hear this case?” questioned Means.
“I would speculate that all the Pennington County judges have disqualified themselves because they all live in the Black Hills. For that reason I would suspect that they appointed someone from outside the Circuit," Long said.
When asked whether or not Means had a valid argument to move his case to a federal court based on constitutional rights violation, Long replied, “Mr. Means ‘claims’ that the Black Hills is treaty territory and that South Dakota has no jurisdiction over him. I don’t believe that he has any rights to fish without a license under the U.S. Constitution.”
Means reference to the U.S. Constitution pertains to Article VI, which states: “ . . . This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby . . .”
In his application to move his case to federal court, Means contends that he is within his inherent rights under the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty.
“I have never even read the Ft. Laramie Treaty," Long admitted.
“Russell is within his rights under the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty. He Sapa, the sacred Black Hills, is within our treaty territory. That treaty is a living document. We have a Nation-to-Nation agreement with the U.S. More of us Lakota need to exert our sovereign power. The U.S. has violated the Treaty, which they authored. They have offered us compensation. We have refused it. We will never sell the Black Hills. It is what defines us," stated Floyd Hand, an Oglala Lakota and delegate to the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council.
A Federal Court clerk confirmed that Means filed a complaint in October, 2008 to move the case to Federal Court. The State filed for a continuance on January 12th and it was granted the next day.
Long concluded, “I suspect that Mr. Means’ application is unique. I would assume that someone has written a response not to touch this.”
To date, no hearing date has been scheduled. There is no deadline for a federal judge to rule on Means’ petition.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Native Human Rights Defenders Honored in San Francisco
By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
SAN FRANCISCO -- The International Indian Treaty Council honored Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone, and Manny Pino, Acoma Pueblo, with Human Rights Defenders Awards Saturday night in San Francisco.
"We have the original rights, not aboriginal rights, because we were the first here," Dann said at San Francisco State University.
Dann and Pino spoke during the seminar, "Indigenous Peoples Struggles to Defend Sacred Places," which focused on human rights, sacred places and the international inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Dann spoke on the oppression of the colonizers and the necessity of rising to protect Native sacred places.
Dann said Indigenous Peoples all over the world are suffering because of the so-called civilized worlds. "What does it mean to be civilized?"
"Does it mean you have the right to rape and murder?"
Barrick Gold continues its rape of the land for massive gold mines, coring out mountains and poisoning the water with cyanide, in Indigenous territories around the world.
In Western Shoshone territory, Barrick Gold continues the destruction of the area of sacred Mount Tenabo.
"It is too heartbreaking," Dann said when asked if she had been to Mount Tenabo to witness the destruction.
Pino, known for his efforts to expose the injustices of uranium mining in the Southwest and the assaults on sacred places, said it was an honor to be here with Carrie Dann.
Pino spoke on the need for learning the Native languages and the continuance of the ceremonies.
"It's never too late, hang out with your grandma, hang out with your grandpa," Pino said.
"The most important advice we can get is listening to them."
Pino presented a slide presentation on the horrors of uranium mining for Pueblo and Navajo people. The radioactive contamination was carried by the winds into the foods of the people, in the fields and the foods that were drying. This radioactive dust coated the vegetation of the sheep and contaminated the people.
Photographs of the Jackpile Mine in New Mexico revealed the devastation to the land.
The horror of this 30-year legacy of mining remains now in the form of widespread cancers and Down Syndrome. At the time of the mine, the tribal government was unaware of the impact.
On the Navajo Nation alone, there are 1,300 unreclaimed uranium mines. The radioactive tailings in the Monument Valley area are one fact that no one tells the tourists, Pino said.
"Of course, it is the grassroots people who live in these areas."
Navajos used radioactive materials to build their hogans. Many are sick and dying today.
Pino said the Bush administration claimed that nuclear power was the key for the future, but there was no solution of where to put the waste. At the same time, radioactive waste is blowing in the Southwest.
Pino said it is important to be vigilant with the Obama administration to ensure a nuclear free future.
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
SAN FRANCISCO -- The International Indian Treaty Council honored Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone, and Manny Pino, Acoma Pueblo, with Human Rights Defenders Awards Saturday night in San Francisco.
"We have the original rights, not aboriginal rights, because we were the first here," Dann said at San Francisco State University.
Dann and Pino spoke during the seminar, "Indigenous Peoples Struggles to Defend Sacred Places," which focused on human rights, sacred places and the international inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Dann spoke on the oppression of the colonizers and the necessity of rising to protect Native sacred places.
Dann said Indigenous Peoples all over the world are suffering because of the so-called civilized worlds. "What does it mean to be civilized?"
"Does it mean you have the right to rape and murder?"
Barrick Gold continues its rape of the land for massive gold mines, coring out mountains and poisoning the water with cyanide, in Indigenous territories around the world.
In Western Shoshone territory, Barrick Gold continues the destruction of the area of sacred Mount Tenabo.
"It is too heartbreaking," Dann said when asked if she had been to Mount Tenabo to witness the destruction.
Pino, known for his efforts to expose the injustices of uranium mining in the Southwest and the assaults on sacred places, said it was an honor to be here with Carrie Dann.
Pino spoke on the need for learning the Native languages and the continuance of the ceremonies.
"It's never too late, hang out with your grandma, hang out with your grandpa," Pino said.
"The most important advice we can get is listening to them."
Pino presented a slide presentation on the horrors of uranium mining for Pueblo and Navajo people. The radioactive contamination was carried by the winds into the foods of the people, in the fields and the foods that were drying. This radioactive dust coated the vegetation of the sheep and contaminated the people.
Photographs of the Jackpile Mine in New Mexico revealed the devastation to the land.
The horror of this 30-year legacy of mining remains now in the form of widespread cancers and Down Syndrome. At the time of the mine, the tribal government was unaware of the impact.
On the Navajo Nation alone, there are 1,300 unreclaimed uranium mines. The radioactive tailings in the Monument Valley area are one fact that no one tells the tourists, Pino said.
"Of course, it is the grassroots people who live in these areas."
Navajos used radioactive materials to build their hogans. Many are sick and dying today.
Pino said the Bush administration claimed that nuclear power was the key for the future, but there was no solution of where to put the waste. At the same time, radioactive waste is blowing in the Southwest.
Pino said it is important to be vigilant with the Obama administration to ensure a nuclear free future.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Earthcyles Broadcast Live, Native Sacred Places, San Francisco
"LISTEN NOW" online today, Saturday:
"Indigenous Peoples Struggles to Defend Sacred Places:
http://www.earthcycles.net/
Earthcycles broadcasts live from San Francisco on Saturday
Join us on Saturday, March 7, 2009, during the daylong seminar on Native American human rights and sacred places, broadcasting live. Presenters include Carrie Dann, Manny Pino, Radley Davis, Mark Lebeau, Corrina Gould and members of the International Indian Treaty Council. Join us live, Longest Walk Talk Radio producer Govinda Dalton of Earthcycles and cohost Brenda Norrell of Censored News.
Speakers, schedule and location: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/03/native-sacred-places-seminar-saturday.html
Listen at Earthcycles on Saturday: http://www.earthcycles.net/
Photo: Govinda Dalton's Earthcycles bus at the culmination of the Longest Walk 2 in DC. Photo Brenda Norrell
Native Sacred Places Seminar Saturday, San Francisco
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ STRUGGLES TO DEFEND SACRED PLACES:
HUMAN RIGHTS TRAINING AND SYMPOSIUM
San Francisco State University
San Francisco California
Saturday March 7th, 2009
Morning and afternoon sessions will be held in the Richard Oakes Room Multicultural Center, Cesar Chavez Student Center (Terrace Level)
Evening program will be in Rosa Parks Conference Rooms A-C, Cesar Chavez Student Center (Lower conference level)
Address: 1650 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, California 94132
http://www.sfsustudentcenter.com/about/map_files/CCSC_Building_Maps.pdf
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ STRUGGLES TO DEFEND SACRED PLACES:
HUMAN RIGHTS TRAINING AND SYMPOSIUM
San Francisco State University
San Francisco California
Saturday March 7th, 2009
Morning and afternoon sessions will be held in the Richard Oakes Room,
Evening program will be in Jack Adams Hall auditorium
Program Agenda
9:00 - 9:30am
Opening prayer (Welcoming Remarks
§ Andrea Carmen, IITC Executive Director
§ Morning Star Gali, IITC Community Liaison Coordinator
§ Introduction of participants
9:30 – 10:10 Andrea Carmen, Executive Director, IITC: Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples at the UN and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
10:10 – 10:30 Questions and discussion
10:30 – 10:40 Break
10:40 - 11:15 Alberto Saldamando, IITC General Counsel: The United Nations structure and using the UN to defend human rights
11:15 - 11:45 Julie Cavanaugh-Bill and Carrie Dann: Using the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination to defend the rights of the Western Shoshone
11:45 – 12:00 noon Questions and discussion
12:00 - 1:30 pm Lunch on your own
1:30 - 3:00 pm Panel and Roundtable: Current struggles to defend sacred sites and cultural rights: threats, successes and current strategies, from the local to the international levels: Radley Davis, Mark Lebeau, Manny Pino, Carrie Dann and Corrina Gould
Moderator: Morningstar Gali
3:30 – 3:45 Break
3:45 - 5:00 pm Open discussion: How can we work together and use Human Rights to address Sacred sites Violations and other Situations Facing Indigenous Peoples? How can we support these struggles? Moderator: Morningstar Gali
5:00 - 5:30 Closing remarks, Alberto Saldamando, Manny Pino, Andrea Carmen, Radley Davis and all
5:30 – 7:00 pm Dinner provided for all participants
7:00 – 7:15 Evening Program opening, All Nations Drum, and invocation
7:15 – 7:30 Introduction of Honoring on behalf of IITC, Andrea Carmen
7:30 – 7:45 Honoring Human Rights Defenders Presentations, Radley Davis, IITC Board member, Pit River Nation, California
7:45 – 9:15 Evening Keynote Speakers:
Carrie Dann and Manny Pino
“Human Rights and Sacred Responsibilities, defending the Sacred Places that give us life”
9:15 PM Closing drum, thanks and adjourn
IITC gives special thanks to our guest presenters, to the SKINS organization and San Francisco State University, the Lannan Foundation, AFSC, Bay and Paul Foundation and all others who’s support made this event possible.
HUMAN RIGHTS TRAINING AND SYMPOSIUM
San Francisco State University
San Francisco California
Saturday March 7th, 2009
Morning and afternoon sessions will be held in the Richard Oakes Room Multicultural Center, Cesar Chavez Student Center (Terrace Level)
Evening program will be in Rosa Parks Conference Rooms A-C, Cesar Chavez Student Center (Lower conference level)
Address: 1650 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, California 94132
http://www.sfsustudentcenter.com/about/map_files/CCSC_Building_Maps.pdf
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ STRUGGLES TO DEFEND SACRED PLACES:
HUMAN RIGHTS TRAINING AND SYMPOSIUM
San Francisco State University
San Francisco California
Saturday March 7th, 2009
Morning and afternoon sessions will be held in the Richard Oakes Room,
Evening program will be in Jack Adams Hall auditorium
Program Agenda
9:00 - 9:30am
Opening prayer (Welcoming Remarks
§ Andrea Carmen, IITC Executive Director
§ Morning Star Gali, IITC Community Liaison Coordinator
§ Introduction of participants
9:30 – 10:10 Andrea Carmen, Executive Director, IITC: Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples at the UN and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
10:10 – 10:30 Questions and discussion
10:30 – 10:40 Break
10:40 - 11:15 Alberto Saldamando, IITC General Counsel: The United Nations structure and using the UN to defend human rights
11:15 - 11:45 Julie Cavanaugh-Bill and Carrie Dann: Using the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination to defend the rights of the Western Shoshone
11:45 – 12:00 noon Questions and discussion
12:00 - 1:30 pm Lunch on your own
1:30 - 3:00 pm Panel and Roundtable: Current struggles to defend sacred sites and cultural rights: threats, successes and current strategies, from the local to the international levels: Radley Davis, Mark Lebeau, Manny Pino, Carrie Dann and Corrina Gould
Moderator: Morningstar Gali
3:30 – 3:45 Break
3:45 - 5:00 pm Open discussion: How can we work together and use Human Rights to address Sacred sites Violations and other Situations Facing Indigenous Peoples? How can we support these struggles? Moderator: Morningstar Gali
5:00 - 5:30 Closing remarks, Alberto Saldamando, Manny Pino, Andrea Carmen, Radley Davis and all
5:30 – 7:00 pm Dinner provided for all participants
7:00 – 7:15 Evening Program opening, All Nations Drum, and invocation
7:15 – 7:30 Introduction of Honoring on behalf of IITC, Andrea Carmen
7:30 – 7:45 Honoring Human Rights Defenders Presentations, Radley Davis, IITC Board member, Pit River Nation, California
7:45 – 9:15 Evening Keynote Speakers:
Carrie Dann and Manny Pino
“Human Rights and Sacred Responsibilities, defending the Sacred Places that give us life”
9:15 PM Closing drum, thanks and adjourn
IITC gives special thanks to our guest presenters, to the SKINS organization and San Francisco State University, the Lannan Foundation, AFSC, Bay and Paul Foundation and all others who’s support made this event possible.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Dooda to UN: Navajos target of racial discrimination by power plants
Dooda (NO) Desert Rock to UN: Laws prohibiting racial discrimination violated on Navajo Nation
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Photo Youth Climate Movement
SHIPROCK, N.M. -- James W. Zion, attorney, said Dooda (NO) Desert Rock has communicated with the United Nations on the issue of racial discrimination. The letter, sent to the staffer for the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, states that Article 14 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination is one where a signer (a "state") can agree to allow private complaints to the Committee.
However, the U.S. has not signed on to this.
"So we can't make a 'complaint' as such. However, the Committee does have a follow-up procedure where the monitor (a member of the Committee called a 'rapporteur') can consider this information. It will be considered when the Committee reviews a U.S. report on compliance and when the next U.S. report is due. The anti-discrimination treaty requires the enforcement of anti-discrimination law where there is a negative impact," Zion said.
"The Committee found that the U.S. is not in compliance with the treaty in two ways: It does not recognize 'disparate impact' discrimination and it requires proof of an intent to discriminate. That adversely affects consideration of our complaint to the EPA Civil Rights Office. While the committee kind of recognized abusive development, it didn't go far enough."
The letter to the United Nations (below) explains that there are already two power plants in the Four Corners area where the proposed Desert Rock would operate. The letter also points out that a complaint has been filed with the US EPA.
The US EPA is aware that already Navajos in the area seek medical attention for respiratory diseases at a rate five times that of others in the area, according to the letter.
Meanwhile, grassroots Navajos continue to protest the power plant. However, both Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr., and the Navajo Nation Council have supported the power plant. Navajo officials receive the majority of funds for their salaries and travel from fossil fuel revenues. Many Navajos live without running water and electricity, while living with the pollution and disease of power plants, as electricity is transported to non-Indians in the Southwest.
Along with coal mines and power plants, the Four Corners area is also contaminated with unreclaimed uranium tailings from the Cold War and hundreds of oil and gas wells, even in this region of the Navajos' place of origin, Dinetah.
JAMES W. ZION
Attorney at Law (Navajo Nation Bar)
3808 Ladera Drive N.W.
Albuquerque, NM 87120
(505) 839-9549
March 2, 2009
Torsten Schackel
Acting Secretary
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Human Rights Treaties Branch
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
UNOG-OHCHR
CH-1221 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Re: Follow-up on Opinion, United States of America, CERD/USNCO/6, 8 May 2008
Dear Mr. Shackel:
This is not a petition under Article 14 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Racial Discrimination (the "Convention"). It is information for the benefit of a special
rapporteur under Rule 95, ~~ 6-7, ofthe CERD rules of procedure (15 August 2005) that deals with
follow-up on Committee opinions on state reports.
The Committee issued its opinion on the fourth through sixth periodic reports ofthe United States
of America on 8 May 2008, No. CERD/USNCO/6. Paragraph 10 at page 2 addresses concerns that
the United States is not in compliance with article 1, paragraph 1 of the Convention because the
American law on what we call "disparate impact discrimination" does not effectively address indirect
or de facto discrimination. A related concern is that stated in ~ 35 at pages 12 and 13 on burdens of
proof on claims of racial discrimination requiring proof of specific intent to discriminate.
Paragraph 29 of the Opinion, at page 10, states that "The Committee is concerned about reports
relating to activities, such as nuclear testing, toxic and dangerous waste storage, mining or logging,
carried out or planned in areas of spiritual and cultural significance to Native Americans, and about
the negative impact that such activities allegedly have on the enjoyment by affected indigenous
peoples of their Rights under the Convention" (citation omitted). I write to inform the Committee
of activities being permitted by the United States that have a direct impact on a particular group of
Native Americans, namely Navajos who reside at or near the community of Shiprock, Navajo Nation
(New Mexico) near an area called "the Four Corners."
I enclose a copy of a discrimination complaint against the United States Environmental Protection
Agency by a Navajo grassroots organized called "Dooda Desert Rock," and seventeen individual
Navajos, dated 24 February 2009. It was filed with the Washington D.C. Office of Civil Rights of
the Environmental Protection Agency. I send a copy of the complaint to advise the special
rapporteur of information on two distinct problems arising under the International Convention on
the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.
While preparing some testimony on whether or not the United States Environmental Protection
Agency should regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant and put caps on it when considering a permit
for a proposed new power plant in an area with a significant Navaj0 population (the proposed Desert
Rock Power Plant - the name of the organization, "dooda," means "no" or "no way") I learned that
the San Francisco office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was aware that pollution
from two existing power plants causes Navajos in the Shiprock area to seek medical attention for
respiratory problems at a rate that is five times greater than for others in the area. The report
mentioned by a letter from an EPA indicated that children under age 5 and adults over age 56 are
compelled to seek treatment for respiratory problems at ten times the average rate. It is likely that
when permits were granted for the Four Comers Power Plant (on Navajo land) that its proponents
and the EPA knew or should have known that winter inversions drop pollution in the Shiprock area,
and a geological feature pulls down the plume from the Four Corners Plant.
The first problem precisely involves indirect or de facto discrimination - disparate impact
discrimination. The only remedy my clients have in the United States is to ask the potential offender,
the EPA, to find that the situation is discriminatory and for it to offer adequate remedies. We do not
know if that is possible or not. The current law is that private individuals cannot bring actions to
enforce civil rights provisions on discrimination by the federal government, or its sanctioning of
discrimination by others (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964), and there must be proof of an
intent to discriminate. We feel that a "knew or should have known" standard applies in the situation
outlined above.
The second problem involves abusive development practices. The Committee recognized them in
paragraph 29 but unfortunately linked them solely to activities "in areas of spiritual and cultural
significance." The problem is where government sanctions and approves abusive and harmful
development, even where it is approved by an indigenous government. The situation my clients
complain of is pollution that causes Navajos who live in the Shiprock area to seek medical attention
for respiratory ailments at rates that range from five times an average rate in general, to ten times the
average for children and the aging.
I bring this to your attention for the purpose of follow-up review by the special rapporteur and the
Committee, and in conjunction with United States report on this review and future state reports.
Sincerely, James W. Zion
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Photo Youth Climate Movement
SHIPROCK, N.M. -- James W. Zion, attorney, said Dooda (NO) Desert Rock has communicated with the United Nations on the issue of racial discrimination. The letter, sent to the staffer for the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, states that Article 14 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination is one where a signer (a "state") can agree to allow private complaints to the Committee.
However, the U.S. has not signed on to this.
"So we can't make a 'complaint' as such. However, the Committee does have a follow-up procedure where the monitor (a member of the Committee called a 'rapporteur') can consider this information. It will be considered when the Committee reviews a U.S. report on compliance and when the next U.S. report is due. The anti-discrimination treaty requires the enforcement of anti-discrimination law where there is a negative impact," Zion said.
"The Committee found that the U.S. is not in compliance with the treaty in two ways: It does not recognize 'disparate impact' discrimination and it requires proof of an intent to discriminate. That adversely affects consideration of our complaint to the EPA Civil Rights Office. While the committee kind of recognized abusive development, it didn't go far enough."
The letter to the United Nations (below) explains that there are already two power plants in the Four Corners area where the proposed Desert Rock would operate. The letter also points out that a complaint has been filed with the US EPA.
The US EPA is aware that already Navajos in the area seek medical attention for respiratory diseases at a rate five times that of others in the area, according to the letter.
Meanwhile, grassroots Navajos continue to protest the power plant. However, both Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr., and the Navajo Nation Council have supported the power plant. Navajo officials receive the majority of funds for their salaries and travel from fossil fuel revenues. Many Navajos live without running water and electricity, while living with the pollution and disease of power plants, as electricity is transported to non-Indians in the Southwest.
Along with coal mines and power plants, the Four Corners area is also contaminated with unreclaimed uranium tailings from the Cold War and hundreds of oil and gas wells, even in this region of the Navajos' place of origin, Dinetah.
JAMES W. ZION
Attorney at Law (Navajo Nation Bar)
3808 Ladera Drive N.W.
Albuquerque, NM 87120
(505) 839-9549
March 2, 2009
Torsten Schackel
Acting Secretary
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Human Rights Treaties Branch
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
UNOG-OHCHR
CH-1221 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Re: Follow-up on Opinion, United States of America, CERD/USNCO/6, 8 May 2008
Dear Mr. Shackel:
This is not a petition under Article 14 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Racial Discrimination (the "Convention"). It is information for the benefit of a special
rapporteur under Rule 95, ~~ 6-7, ofthe CERD rules of procedure (15 August 2005) that deals with
follow-up on Committee opinions on state reports.
The Committee issued its opinion on the fourth through sixth periodic reports ofthe United States
of America on 8 May 2008, No. CERD/USNCO/6. Paragraph 10 at page 2 addresses concerns that
the United States is not in compliance with article 1, paragraph 1 of the Convention because the
American law on what we call "disparate impact discrimination" does not effectively address indirect
or de facto discrimination. A related concern is that stated in ~ 35 at pages 12 and 13 on burdens of
proof on claims of racial discrimination requiring proof of specific intent to discriminate.
Paragraph 29 of the Opinion, at page 10, states that "The Committee is concerned about reports
relating to activities, such as nuclear testing, toxic and dangerous waste storage, mining or logging,
carried out or planned in areas of spiritual and cultural significance to Native Americans, and about
the negative impact that such activities allegedly have on the enjoyment by affected indigenous
peoples of their Rights under the Convention" (citation omitted). I write to inform the Committee
of activities being permitted by the United States that have a direct impact on a particular group of
Native Americans, namely Navajos who reside at or near the community of Shiprock, Navajo Nation
(New Mexico) near an area called "the Four Corners."
I enclose a copy of a discrimination complaint against the United States Environmental Protection
Agency by a Navajo grassroots organized called "Dooda Desert Rock," and seventeen individual
Navajos, dated 24 February 2009. It was filed with the Washington D.C. Office of Civil Rights of
the Environmental Protection Agency. I send a copy of the complaint to advise the special
rapporteur of information on two distinct problems arising under the International Convention on
the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.
While preparing some testimony on whether or not the United States Environmental Protection
Agency should regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant and put caps on it when considering a permit
for a proposed new power plant in an area with a significant Navaj0 population (the proposed Desert
Rock Power Plant - the name of the organization, "dooda," means "no" or "no way") I learned that
the San Francisco office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was aware that pollution
from two existing power plants causes Navajos in the Shiprock area to seek medical attention for
respiratory problems at a rate that is five times greater than for others in the area. The report
mentioned by a letter from an EPA indicated that children under age 5 and adults over age 56 are
compelled to seek treatment for respiratory problems at ten times the average rate. It is likely that
when permits were granted for the Four Comers Power Plant (on Navajo land) that its proponents
and the EPA knew or should have known that winter inversions drop pollution in the Shiprock area,
and a geological feature pulls down the plume from the Four Corners Plant.
The first problem precisely involves indirect or de facto discrimination - disparate impact
discrimination. The only remedy my clients have in the United States is to ask the potential offender,
the EPA, to find that the situation is discriminatory and for it to offer adequate remedies. We do not
know if that is possible or not. The current law is that private individuals cannot bring actions to
enforce civil rights provisions on discrimination by the federal government, or its sanctioning of
discrimination by others (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964), and there must be proof of an
intent to discriminate. We feel that a "knew or should have known" standard applies in the situation
outlined above.
The second problem involves abusive development practices. The Committee recognized them in
paragraph 29 but unfortunately linked them solely to activities "in areas of spiritual and cultural
significance." The problem is where government sanctions and approves abusive and harmful
development, even where it is approved by an indigenous government. The situation my clients
complain of is pollution that causes Navajos who live in the Shiprock area to seek medical attention
for respiratory ailments at rates that range from five times an average rate in general, to ten times the
average for children and the aging.
I bring this to your attention for the purpose of follow-up review by the special rapporteur and the
Committee, and in conjunction with United States report on this review and future state reports.
Sincerely, James W. Zion
Related article ...
Combat against disc
rimination is top priority, UN human rights chief says
rimination is top priority, UN human rights chief sayshttp://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30095&Cr=Pillay&Cr1=#
High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay presents her first annual report to the Human Rights Council 5 March 2009 – The United Nations’ top human rights official said today that combating discrimination against women, indigenous people, minorities, migrants and other vulnerable groups was the top priority for her office. “I wish to underscore once again that discrimination is all too often at the root of other human rights abuses,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said, as she introduced her wide-ranging annual report to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council. (Read article at above link.)
High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay presents her first annual report to the Human Rights Council 5 March 2009 – The United Nations’ top human rights official said today that combating discrimination against women, indigenous people, minorities, migrants and other vulnerable groups was the top priority for her office. “I wish to underscore once again that discrimination is all too often at the root of other human rights abuses,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said, as she introduced her wide-ranging annual report to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council. (Read article at above link.)
Yoo and the Subversion of Liberty Narrowly Averted
Published on Wednesday, March 4, 2009 by Huffington Post
Yoo and The Subversion of Liberty Narrowly Averted
by Naomi Wolf
If history gets this recent era right, future textbooks will have to show that the US narrowly averted a carefully planned but thorough and unmistakable conspiracy to subvert the rule of law and the process of democracy from 2001-2008. For three years, since writing End of America, I have been arguing that the Bush team sought irretrievably to subvert our liberty. Fortunately, this appalling and conceivably irrevocable subversion of the tenets of freedom was narrowly averted by citizens at every level -- from the grassroots to the courts -- resisting in time. But the release this week by the Justice Department of the "secret memos" sought valiantly by the ACLU confirms that Bush's legal architects were building up the framework for something even scarier than our most anguished projections.
You can see the documents themselves online -- but, as usual, there is a gap between the cautious journalistic interpretation of the event and the dense legalese in which they are written, and no one yet has really explained to citizens who are not attorneys what these memos claimed to give Bush the right to do. This is my initial reading of these documents:
Most dramatically, one memo asserts that Bush can deploy the military within the United States -- all of the military if he so wishes -- overriding Posse Comitatus, which has kept us safe from military policing for over a century. As many heard me warn in October and November of last year, when the first troops were sent to US streets, history shows that once the military is deployed domestically to "keep order" in a civil society, it is over. This memo is especially galling, since last fall's red alert from us was met with alarm by citizens but by ridicule by mainstream media outlets. Turns out we were right. This `deployment' memo proves that Bush indeed, as we feared, wanted the power to deploy military for domestic policing purposes, a mission that Northcom spokesmen denied -- apparently falsely -- when a few critics from non-mainstream platforms raised the alarm last November about the deployment of the First Brigade from Iraq to the US. This memo shows that Bush sought the power to deploy any number of U.S. military into the U.S. itself for any reason he chose; direct them to rip through your home without a warrant, even if you have not been charged with anything; seize material and documents; and even gave Bush the power to use deadly force against you -- yes, you, innocent US citizen -- "in self-defense." In your homes and streets -- not on a faraway battlefield. Major David Antoon confirmed that this power -- to send US military to control, arrest and even shoot US civilians in self-defense -- was in Bush's hands last fall when I asked Antoon about it. Turns out this memo shows Bush indeed wanted to have that power.
Another memo would give the power to Bush -- at his discretion -- to close down or censor newspapers, radio and the Internet - override the First Amendment in the interest of "national security." So if he had deployed, say, ten brigades -- 37,000 warriors -- in key cities (he deployed three before the election and 20,000 are due to be deployed domestically by 2012 unless we stop it), you would not be able to hear about it through the news media if he invoked this power to suspend free speech. And if you protested -- if you dared -- well, his actions would have been -- thanks to John Yoo and others, who will go down in history along with the criminal Nuremberg lawyers as one of Satan's willing attorneys -- perfectly legal.
Yet another memo gives Bush not only the right to call any US citizen an "enemy combatant" and hold him or her indefinitely - a danger we knew about, and one that we have tried hard to alert citizens to, a warning that has seemingly penetrated collective consciousness. The newly released memo demonstrates that was the very surface of the powers over US citizens Bush claimed. For three years when I have cautioned citizens about this power Bush invoked to seize US citizens as "enemy combatants" I reassured them that he did not yet have the power to torture US citizens, "only" drive them mad through prolonged isolation in a navy brig. Well, this memo asserts Bush's right to do whatever he wants to innocent US citizens in this kind of custody, and rejects the notion that Congress would have any role in how US citizens are held or treated -- say, by the hypothetically deployed military - on US soil. It seems also to claim the right to hold innocent US citizens in domestic military custody while Bush has the right to do anything he wants to them. Anything he wants. Remember this is an administration in which Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld and Cheney have now been proven by Jameel Jaffer's revelations in Administration of Torture to have known about and okay'd not just waterboarding as a policy but ok'd the discretion for interrogators to use tactics such as electrodes attached to genitals, sexual assault, threats against family members, suffocation, the beating of prisoners' legs to "pulp," and in some cases the covering up of their murders. This memo gives Bush the authority to do those things if he wants to innocent US citizens.
Still another memo gives Bush the right to ignore any international treaties -- to take over any country, say, or render and citizen anywhere, and do whatever he wants to the citizens of any country against any law, without consent of Congress.
The Washington Post called these memos "legal errors." We need to stare them in the face and understand them: they are evidence that the groundwork was laid out that gave the president the legal power effectively subvert the Republic. We need to understand the full darkness of what we narrowly escaped -- for now, our work is hardly begun. We need to build these lessons into our history and to use the terror they represent to dismantle the last of Bush's evil legacy -- a legacy that could have been activated by any US president in the future, including Obama or McCain -- and see these memos for what they are: the revealed architecture of an intended edifice of what amounts to treason again our republic and against all of us, regardless of belief, station of life, or political party.
© 2009 Huffington Post
Naomi Wolf is the author of The New York Times bestseller "The End of America" (Chelsea Green) and is the co-founder of the American Freedom Campaign.
Yoo and The Subversion of Liberty Narrowly Averted
by Naomi Wolf
If history gets this recent era right, future textbooks will have to show that the US narrowly averted a carefully planned but thorough and unmistakable conspiracy to subvert the rule of law and the process of democracy from 2001-2008. For three years, since writing End of America, I have been arguing that the Bush team sought irretrievably to subvert our liberty. Fortunately, this appalling and conceivably irrevocable subversion of the tenets of freedom was narrowly averted by citizens at every level -- from the grassroots to the courts -- resisting in time. But the release this week by the Justice Department of the "secret memos" sought valiantly by the ACLU confirms that Bush's legal architects were building up the framework for something even scarier than our most anguished projections.
You can see the documents themselves online -- but, as usual, there is a gap between the cautious journalistic interpretation of the event and the dense legalese in which they are written, and no one yet has really explained to citizens who are not attorneys what these memos claimed to give Bush the right to do. This is my initial reading of these documents:
Most dramatically, one memo asserts that Bush can deploy the military within the United States -- all of the military if he so wishes -- overriding Posse Comitatus, which has kept us safe from military policing for over a century. As many heard me warn in October and November of last year, when the first troops were sent to US streets, history shows that once the military is deployed domestically to "keep order" in a civil society, it is over. This memo is especially galling, since last fall's red alert from us was met with alarm by citizens but by ridicule by mainstream media outlets. Turns out we were right. This `deployment' memo proves that Bush indeed, as we feared, wanted the power to deploy military for domestic policing purposes, a mission that Northcom spokesmen denied -- apparently falsely -- when a few critics from non-mainstream platforms raised the alarm last November about the deployment of the First Brigade from Iraq to the US. This memo shows that Bush sought the power to deploy any number of U.S. military into the U.S. itself for any reason he chose; direct them to rip through your home without a warrant, even if you have not been charged with anything; seize material and documents; and even gave Bush the power to use deadly force against you -- yes, you, innocent US citizen -- "in self-defense." In your homes and streets -- not on a faraway battlefield. Major David Antoon confirmed that this power -- to send US military to control, arrest and even shoot US civilians in self-defense -- was in Bush's hands last fall when I asked Antoon about it. Turns out this memo shows Bush indeed wanted to have that power.
Another memo would give the power to Bush -- at his discretion -- to close down or censor newspapers, radio and the Internet - override the First Amendment in the interest of "national security." So if he had deployed, say, ten brigades -- 37,000 warriors -- in key cities (he deployed three before the election and 20,000 are due to be deployed domestically by 2012 unless we stop it), you would not be able to hear about it through the news media if he invoked this power to suspend free speech. And if you protested -- if you dared -- well, his actions would have been -- thanks to John Yoo and others, who will go down in history along with the criminal Nuremberg lawyers as one of Satan's willing attorneys -- perfectly legal.
Yet another memo gives Bush not only the right to call any US citizen an "enemy combatant" and hold him or her indefinitely - a danger we knew about, and one that we have tried hard to alert citizens to, a warning that has seemingly penetrated collective consciousness. The newly released memo demonstrates that was the very surface of the powers over US citizens Bush claimed. For three years when I have cautioned citizens about this power Bush invoked to seize US citizens as "enemy combatants" I reassured them that he did not yet have the power to torture US citizens, "only" drive them mad through prolonged isolation in a navy brig. Well, this memo asserts Bush's right to do whatever he wants to innocent US citizens in this kind of custody, and rejects the notion that Congress would have any role in how US citizens are held or treated -- say, by the hypothetically deployed military - on US soil. It seems also to claim the right to hold innocent US citizens in domestic military custody while Bush has the right to do anything he wants to them. Anything he wants. Remember this is an administration in which Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld and Cheney have now been proven by Jameel Jaffer's revelations in Administration of Torture to have known about and okay'd not just waterboarding as a policy but ok'd the discretion for interrogators to use tactics such as electrodes attached to genitals, sexual assault, threats against family members, suffocation, the beating of prisoners' legs to "pulp," and in some cases the covering up of their murders. This memo gives Bush the authority to do those things if he wants to innocent US citizens.
Still another memo gives Bush the right to ignore any international treaties -- to take over any country, say, or render and citizen anywhere, and do whatever he wants to the citizens of any country against any law, without consent of Congress.
The Washington Post called these memos "legal errors." We need to stare them in the face and understand them: they are evidence that the groundwork was laid out that gave the president the legal power effectively subvert the Republic. We need to understand the full darkness of what we narrowly escaped -- for now, our work is hardly begun. We need to build these lessons into our history and to use the terror they represent to dismantle the last of Bush's evil legacy -- a legacy that could have been activated by any US president in the future, including Obama or McCain -- and see these memos for what they are: the revealed architecture of an intended edifice of what amounts to treason again our republic and against all of us, regardless of belief, station of life, or political party.
© 2009 Huffington Post
Naomi Wolf is the author of The New York Times bestseller "The End of America" (Chelsea Green) and is the co-founder of the American Freedom Campaign.
Bush memos show blueprint for police state
Memos Provide Blueprint for Police State
Wednesday 04 March 2009
by: Marjorie Cohn, t r u t h o u t Perspective
http://www.truthout.org/030409A
President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in 2006. (Photo: Ron Edmonds / AP)
Excerpts from article
Seven newly released memos from the Bush Justice Department reveal a concerted strategy to cloak the president with power to override the Constitution. The memos provide "legal" rationales for the president to suspend freedom of speech and press; order warrantless searches and seizures, including wiretaps of US citizens; lock up US citizens indefinitely in the United States without criminal charges; send suspected terrorists to other countries where they will likely be tortured; and unilaterally abrogate treaties. According to the reasoning in the memos, Congress has no role to check and balance the executive. That is the definition of a police state.
Who wrote these memos? All but one were crafted in whole or in part by the infamous John Yoo and Jay Bybee, authors of the so-called "torture memos" that redefined torture much more narrowly than the US definition of torture, and counseled the president how to torture and get away with it. In one memo, Yoo said the Justice Department would not enforce US laws against torture, assault, maiming and stalking in the detention and interrogation of enemy combatants .
... The same day that Attorney General Eric Holder released the memos, the government revealed that the CIA had destroyed 92 videotapes of harsh interrogations of Abu Zubaida and Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, both of whom were subjected to waterboarding. The memo that authorized the CIA to waterboard, written the same day as one of Yoo/Bybee's torture memos, has not yet been released.
Meanwhile, John Yoo remains on the faculty of Berkeley Law School and Jay Bybee is a federal judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. These men, who advised Bush on how to create a police state, should be investigated, prosecuted and disbarred. Yoo should be fired and Bybee impeached. Read entire article ...
http://www.truthout.org/030409A
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Videos: Human Rights March in Phoenix
Video coverage of the February 28, 2009 Human Rights March in Phoenix
March against racist Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio
Over 5,000 Peoples participating
Barriozona, grassroots journalism: http://www.barriozona.com/
Video #1 shows the march and starts by showing day laborers at the street corner on the morning of Saturday February 28 supporters clash around him at immigration's ‘ground zero’
http://barriozona.com/immigrants_counterculture_groups_rally_against_sheriff_arpaio_VIDEO.html Video #2 has interviews with participants in the march
http://barriozona.com/immigrants_counterculture_groups_rally_against_sheriff_arpaio_opinions_VIDEO.html Photo gallery with 123 photos
http://www.photoshopshowcase.com/ViewFlashMedia.aspx?AID=209012&AT=3
Human League 002 (Dennis Gilman), includes Akimel O'Otham member Shannon Rivers "welcoming all migrants"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PmhbUdGSvI
Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/02/protesters-take-on-americ_n_171091.html
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.
Related Links:
http://www.puenteaz.org/
http://www.indigenasinfronteras.org/
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/declaration.html
http://www.tonatierra.org/
http://www.cumbrecontinentalindigena.org/
Tupac Enrique Acosta
chantlaca@tonatierra.org
Another view of Wounded Knee 1973
Another view of Wounded Knee 1973
By Bill Means, Lakota
Each year I have to respond to the annual negative interpretation of Tim Giago against Wounded Knee 1973. I do respect his journalism work but I also have to respectfully disagree.
We both come from the same reservation and we both were on different sides of the liberation in 1973. I too knew the Gildersleeve family and got to know them in a more personal way during the Wounded Knee occupation. Remember the Gildersleeves told Senators McGovern and Abourezk, when they visited Wounded Knee, that they agree with the issues the Oglala Civil Rights Organization and AIM were presenting. People should also remember the overwhelming number of people inside Wounded Knee were Oglala People who supported the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization led by Vern Long and Pedro Bissonette.
The Gildersleeve family also told the Federal authorities that they were not hostages. They actually stayed in Wounded Knee for several days and eventually left when the government refused to take down the roadblocks. Tim and I do agree that the Gildersleeves were good people however, some things came out later in the trial such as selling guns and ammunition without a federal license or taking peoples' lease checks and cashing them but taking out their monies owed and giving them the change which came to be defined as servitude.
I also have a story. My uncle Henry Young Bear from Porcupine was a well known Lakota singer and drum maker and one time he took us to the Wounded Knee store to sell a drum he made tanning the hides himself and spending many hours making this drum. He sold the drum at the store for twenty dollars but the next day the drum was on sale for $100.00 in the museum at the store. I feel proud that I was able to serve the Lakota People at Wounded Knee in 1973 and I served as a pall bearer for my friend Buddy Lamont who was shot in the back by the FBI in Wounded Knee after they shot tear gas into the bunker where he was. The Chiefs and Headsman of the Lakota were there at the burial of Buddy Lamont and he was spoken of as a Warrior of the Lakota and the special warrior songs were sung on his behalf.
Earlier during that time in Wounded Knee Frank Clearwater was killed and half of his head was destroyed by a bullet from the FBI and US Marshals. Many of the young warriors in Wounded Knee were wounded in firefights with the Federal Forces and over seventy unsolved murders were documented between 1973 and 1977 in the aftermath of Wounded Knee. Wounded Knee represents a renaissance and a historical turning point for the struggle of Indigenous Peoples throughout the world.
To see a coalition of many Indian Nations led by the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization and the American Indian Movement stand up against the policies of the United States Government and the ongoing violation of Treaties was an inspiration to Indigenous Peoples all over the World. We have been told this by Indigenous Peoples, Presidents and government officials at the United Nations many times.
I say these things to show that there was sacrifice by many families on all sides of the issue and to say the overwhelming majority of Oglala Lakota supported Wounded Knee 1973. It is now celebrated as a National Holiday on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Even the US Federal Courts under Judge Fred Nichol dismissed the case in the leadership trials of AIM leaders Means and Banks stating in part...."the FBI has polluted the waters of justice."
Pelamaye!
.
Read Giago's column and Steve Hendricks response to the column:
http://www.indianz.com/News/2009/013410.asp
.
By Bill Means, Lakota
Each year I have to respond to the annual negative interpretation of Tim Giago against Wounded Knee 1973. I do respect his journalism work but I also have to respectfully disagree.
We both come from the same reservation and we both were on different sides of the liberation in 1973. I too knew the Gildersleeve family and got to know them in a more personal way during the Wounded Knee occupation. Remember the Gildersleeves told Senators McGovern and Abourezk, when they visited Wounded Knee, that they agree with the issues the Oglala Civil Rights Organization and AIM were presenting. People should also remember the overwhelming number of people inside Wounded Knee were Oglala People who supported the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization led by Vern Long and Pedro Bissonette.
The Gildersleeve family also told the Federal authorities that they were not hostages. They actually stayed in Wounded Knee for several days and eventually left when the government refused to take down the roadblocks. Tim and I do agree that the Gildersleeves were good people however, some things came out later in the trial such as selling guns and ammunition without a federal license or taking peoples' lease checks and cashing them but taking out their monies owed and giving them the change which came to be defined as servitude.
I also have a story. My uncle Henry Young Bear from Porcupine was a well known Lakota singer and drum maker and one time he took us to the Wounded Knee store to sell a drum he made tanning the hides himself and spending many hours making this drum. He sold the drum at the store for twenty dollars but the next day the drum was on sale for $100.00 in the museum at the store. I feel proud that I was able to serve the Lakota People at Wounded Knee in 1973 and I served as a pall bearer for my friend Buddy Lamont who was shot in the back by the FBI in Wounded Knee after they shot tear gas into the bunker where he was. The Chiefs and Headsman of the Lakota were there at the burial of Buddy Lamont and he was spoken of as a Warrior of the Lakota and the special warrior songs were sung on his behalf.
Earlier during that time in Wounded Knee Frank Clearwater was killed and half of his head was destroyed by a bullet from the FBI and US Marshals. Many of the young warriors in Wounded Knee were wounded in firefights with the Federal Forces and over seventy unsolved murders were documented between 1973 and 1977 in the aftermath of Wounded Knee. Wounded Knee represents a renaissance and a historical turning point for the struggle of Indigenous Peoples throughout the world.
To see a coalition of many Indian Nations led by the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization and the American Indian Movement stand up against the policies of the United States Government and the ongoing violation of Treaties was an inspiration to Indigenous Peoples all over the World. We have been told this by Indigenous Peoples, Presidents and government officials at the United Nations many times.
I say these things to show that there was sacrifice by many families on all sides of the issue and to say the overwhelming majority of Oglala Lakota supported Wounded Knee 1973. It is now celebrated as a National Holiday on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Even the US Federal Courts under Judge Fred Nichol dismissed the case in the leadership trials of AIM leaders Means and Banks stating in part...."the FBI has polluted the waters of justice."
Pelamaye!
.
Read Giago's column and Steve Hendricks response to the column:
http://www.indianz.com/News/2009/013410.asp
.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Hopi and Japanese water knowledge: Braiding through Water
Braiding through Water: Weaving Traditional and Western Knowledge
Conference Website Announced
By Vernon Masayesva
By Vernon Masayesva
Photo: Water crystal from Hotevilla well on Hopiland. Photo copyright by Masaru Emoto
Eighteen internationally acclaimed scientists, teachers, and artists including water science pioneer Masaru Emoto featured in the film What the ##*!!# Do We Know; Quiet Axis creator painter and environmental/space artist Lowry Burgess of Carnegie Mellon University; and artist/muralist Michael Kabotie of the Hopi Tribe will gather this April with Hopi traditional leaders and teachers, including Tobacco/Rabbit Clan at Hotevilla Keeper of the Pipe Jerry Honawa and former Hopi Chairman Vernon Masayesva, to explore what new paradigms of understanding arise from the braiding of Western and traditional Hopi sciences. The dialogue and discussions will be led by Leroy Little Bear, former Director of Native Studies at Harvard University and 2003 Canadian Aboriginal Person of the Year.
Detailed background information, news releases, registration forms, and an agenda for the April 6-7, 2009 Black Mesa Trust Braiding Through Water, Weaving Traditional and Western Sciences and Knowledge conference are now available on the conference website http://www.waterbraidingconference.com/ The conference is open to the public at the Radisson Woodlands Hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Through dialogue and explorations focused on the two systems of knowing and their unique approaches to the nature, actions, and teachings of water, Core Dialogue Participants and Conference Attendees will share knowledge and experience to generate new understandings of the world in which we live. Unlike efforts to blend traditions, work at the conference will be more akin to the way in which dark and light threads are bound together before being woven into Hopi fabric. Like the single black-and-white strand that gives to Hopi weaving its unique character and endurance, the system of inquiry developed through conference dialogue will draw strength and quality from its respect for the integrity of both traditional and Western approaches. As with all Hopi weaving, the work will draw energy from the optimistic hope of the weaver that the braiding of two into one will yield a singularity stronger, more beautiful, and more responsive to contemporary need and challenge than could be created from either on its own.
Conference registration will be limited to 200 persons. It will include both adult learners and some 40 indigenous youth whose attendance is intended to deepen their appreciation of traditional science and knowing, enhance their sense of identity, and promote more purposeful learning, especially in science and mathematics, as prerequisites for their effective leadership of their peoples in the years ahead.
Registration forms and information are available at the conference website, www.waterbraidingconference.com as well as by e-mail at BraidingConference@gmail.com or by US mail at BMT Braiding Conference, P.O. Box 30396, Flagstaff, AZ 86003. Registration for the Conference--including all meals, banquet attendance, and materials--is $175, which may be paid by check or by credit card through Pay Pal.
Other members of the Core group of Dialogue Participants include: Sat Bhattacharya, cancer research scientist; and President, International Society for the Advancement of Science and Technology, Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society, and Harlem Children Society; Shonto Begay, painter, muralist, Navajo Nation; Angelita Borbon, Yoeme, Practitioner of Sacred Science and Mesoamerican oral traditions; Phillip Duran, Physicist and Former Dean of Science and Mathematics, Northwest Indian College; Sandy Fox, Founder H2Om Water, Blue Water Planet Radio, and Love Planet Foundation; Jennifer Greene, Director, Water Research Institute of Blue Hill and Vice President, The Constructed Wetlands Group, Inc.; Alan Hamilton, clinical psychologist and President, Rio Grande Return; Jack Loeffler, environmental/Native American aural historian and writer; Nina Perlmutter, Rabbi, and Emeritus Faculty and former Chair, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Yavapai College; Al Qöyawayma, Hopi scientist, engineer, and artist and Founding Director and Former Board Chair, American Indian Science and Engineering Society; Roy Rustum, Professor of Materials Science, Arizona State University and Pennsylvania State University and Visiting Professor, Medicine, University of Arizona; Thomas Sisk, Professor of Ecology and Director, Graduate Programs, Center for Sustainable Environments, Northern Arizona University; and Victor Vernon Woolf, Founder, Holodynamics and the Science of Unfolding Potential.
The Conference is sponsored by Black Mesa Trust, The Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University, the Museum of Northern Arizona and others. Funding for the conference is provided by Christensen Fund, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Marguerite Casey Foundation, SB Foundation, Seventh Generation Fund, Honor the Earth, and others, including individual philanthropists. Persons interested in providing additional support may contact Vernon Masayesva at kuuyi@aol.com
Eighteen internationally acclaimed scientists, teachers, and artists including water science pioneer Masaru Emoto featured in the film What the ##*!!# Do We Know; Quiet Axis creator painter and environmental/space artist Lowry Burgess of Carnegie Mellon University; and artist/muralist Michael Kabotie of the Hopi Tribe will gather this April with Hopi traditional leaders and teachers, including Tobacco/Rabbit Clan at Hotevilla Keeper of the Pipe Jerry Honawa and former Hopi Chairman Vernon Masayesva, to explore what new paradigms of understanding arise from the braiding of Western and traditional Hopi sciences. The dialogue and discussions will be led by Leroy Little Bear, former Director of Native Studies at Harvard University and 2003 Canadian Aboriginal Person of the Year.
Detailed background information, news releases, registration forms, and an agenda for the April 6-7, 2009 Black Mesa Trust Braiding Through Water, Weaving Traditional and Western Sciences and Knowledge conference are now available on the conference website http://www.waterbraidingconference.com/ The conference is open to the public at the Radisson Woodlands Hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Through dialogue and explorations focused on the two systems of knowing and their unique approaches to the nature, actions, and teachings of water, Core Dialogue Participants and Conference Attendees will share knowledge and experience to generate new understandings of the world in which we live. Unlike efforts to blend traditions, work at the conference will be more akin to the way in which dark and light threads are bound together before being woven into Hopi fabric. Like the single black-and-white strand that gives to Hopi weaving its unique character and endurance, the system of inquiry developed through conference dialogue will draw strength and quality from its respect for the integrity of both traditional and Western approaches. As with all Hopi weaving, the work will draw energy from the optimistic hope of the weaver that the braiding of two into one will yield a singularity stronger, more beautiful, and more responsive to contemporary need and challenge than could be created from either on its own.
Conference registration will be limited to 200 persons. It will include both adult learners and some 40 indigenous youth whose attendance is intended to deepen their appreciation of traditional science and knowing, enhance their sense of identity, and promote more purposeful learning, especially in science and mathematics, as prerequisites for their effective leadership of their peoples in the years ahead.
Registration forms and information are available at the conference website, www.waterbraidingconference.com as well as by e-mail at BraidingConference@gmail.com or by US mail at BMT Braiding Conference, P.O. Box 30396, Flagstaff, AZ 86003. Registration for the Conference--including all meals, banquet attendance, and materials--is $175, which may be paid by check or by credit card through Pay Pal.
Other members of the Core group of Dialogue Participants include: Sat Bhattacharya, cancer research scientist; and President, International Society for the Advancement of Science and Technology, Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society, and Harlem Children Society; Shonto Begay, painter, muralist, Navajo Nation; Angelita Borbon, Yoeme, Practitioner of Sacred Science and Mesoamerican oral traditions; Phillip Duran, Physicist and Former Dean of Science and Mathematics, Northwest Indian College; Sandy Fox, Founder H2Om Water, Blue Water Planet Radio, and Love Planet Foundation; Jennifer Greene, Director, Water Research Institute of Blue Hill and Vice President, The Constructed Wetlands Group, Inc.; Alan Hamilton, clinical psychologist and President, Rio Grande Return; Jack Loeffler, environmental/Native American aural historian and writer; Nina Perlmutter, Rabbi, and Emeritus Faculty and former Chair, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Yavapai College; Al Qöyawayma, Hopi scientist, engineer, and artist and Founding Director and Former Board Chair, American Indian Science and Engineering Society; Roy Rustum, Professor of Materials Science, Arizona State University and Pennsylvania State University and Visiting Professor, Medicine, University of Arizona; Thomas Sisk, Professor of Ecology and Director, Graduate Programs, Center for Sustainable Environments, Northern Arizona University; and Victor Vernon Woolf, Founder, Holodynamics and the Science of Unfolding Potential.
The Conference is sponsored by Black Mesa Trust, The Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University, the Museum of Northern Arizona and others. Funding for the conference is provided by Christensen Fund, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Marguerite Casey Foundation, SB Foundation, Seventh Generation Fund, Honor the Earth, and others, including individual philanthropists. Persons interested in providing additional support may contact Vernon Masayesva at kuuyi@aol.com
The Discovery
Dr. Emoto discovered that water is directly affected by human words, thoughts, and actions, and that water will show those effects when it is frozen into ice. Water exposed to Classical music, words of gratitude, or prayers, will form beautiful, complete crystals. Water exposed to negative words, raucous music, or anger, either will not crystallize at all or will form incomplete or distorted crystals.
PHOTOS: Crystal formed from water of a Hotevilla spring and Hotevilla well. “…When a complete geometric crystal is formed, water is in alignment with nature and the phenomenon we call life. The crystals do not form in water that has been polluted by the results of our failure to remember the laws of nature.” From 'The Hidden Messages in Water' by Dr. Masuru Emoto. Photo 2: Dr. Masuru Emoto, Becky Masayesva, and Vernon Masayesva at the April 28, 2004 event featuring Dr. Emoto’s talk. Photos copyright Masuru Emoto.
Water is alive
by Brenda Norrell
On Hopiland in 2004, Vernon Masayesva, executive director of Black Mesa Trust, and researcher Dr. Masaru Emoto, chief of the Hado Institute in Tokyo, spoke at the Hopi Veterans Center and revealed the secrets and science of the intelligence of water.
During the Hisot Navoti (knowledge of ancestors) Masayesva showed amazing film footage, revealing startling transformations in water crystals when exposed to music and written words. Emoto's photographs reveal water crystals, under high magnification, have drastically different forms from different water sources. Further, Emoto shows that water changes its expression as a result of human actions.
When water is exposed to the music of Mozart and Beethoven, crystals expand and become more beautiful. These crystals resemble diamonds, with flower buds blossoming on their points, as the music plays. Emoto explains that water carries and responds to the vibrations of music. He reveals even more amazing research, showing water responds to the written word.
When clear tubes of water are placed over positive and negative words, the structure of water crystals change. Water crystals increase in beauty when placed over the word "peace," but are transformed to dark and ugly crystals when placed over the word "war."
When water is placed over the word "let's," the crystals expand and increase in beauty. However, when water is placed over the word "must," the crystals become ugly with a dark green center. Emoto says water is letting us realize the hidden power of words.
During the gathering for the defense of pure water, Jerry Honawa, Hopi elder, said, "Water has intelligence."
Masayesva said, "If you are happy, you will have happy crystals; if you are angry, you will have angry crystals." Masayesva also shared the history of the Hopi people, revealing their destiny intertwined with the earth and its mysteries.
"According to Hopi, long ago there was nothing but water from the beginning of time. This is what we call the First World of Hopi. "Life was created from water, from the land, from the sun." When life was first created, it was beautiful, a perfect circle. On Hopiland today there are areas of perfect seashells, proof that this land was once underwater as Hopi are told. There are perfect fossils here, he said.
"Where does coal come from? It comes from plants. Everywhere you go, you see dinosaur tracks. This must have been a beautiful place at one time."
In the First World, there was balance, harmony and peace. This balance and harmony, however, was destroyed in the Third World because of man and his greed. The ancestors began searching for a safe place to begin a new life. Bird was sent out and returned with news of this place.
"Through the bamboo, they entered the new land,” Masayesva said. "It is a metaphor, we don't really know, but we came from somewhere where there was bamboo." When the people arrived in this new land, they thought they had left evil behind them. But after a child died, they realized that evil had come with them. Those with the two hearts had come. "Evil is necessary to understand what good truly is," Masayesva said.
The people knew they had to learn from the destruction of the Third World and not return to those ways. They wanted to create a new way of life. The Hopi people were not led by politicians, they were led by priests, often the poorest man in the village who denied himself everything for the benefit of his children.
In this new place they found a man who grew beautiful corn. It was Ma'sau, guardian of the land. Ma'sau said it is a harsh land, but if the people were willing to live Ma'sau's way of life, they could stay here.
Ma'sau told the people, "If you follow this way of life, you can stay here forever." Ma'sau showed the people corn, a gourd of water and planting stick. "He said if you decide to stay here you must help me take care of this land, then you can stay."
Ma'sau told them that others are coming. "They will claim everything when they come, even the oceans, the air and the stars." Ma'sau told the Hopi people to migrate to the four corners of the world, then return here to Black Mesa. The gourd to carry water was also a revelation, showing that water here is not infinite, it is limited.
Masayesva said the colors of the corn represent the colors of all mankind, yellow, purple, red and white. The sweet corn also represents the ancestors and the purple the heavens. Corn, too, gave Hopi a new way of life, and meant that the people no longer had to search for food every day, leaving them free for other things.
The planting stick represents tools or technology, which can be used for good or for destruction. There was a time when smallpox nearly eliminated the Hopi people, with only 300 Hopi surviving, Masayesva said technology can prevent and cure illness today, but it threatens to end humankind with the production of nuclear bombs. Nuclear power and travel to distant planets have resulted in dangerous "god-like powers."
The waters--aquifers, springs, lakes, rivers, oceans and glaciers-- work in harmony to sustain life. Hopi believe the aquifers breathe, breathe in rain and snow and breathe it out. The springs are the breathing holes. Humankind is a participant in water-life; mankind's thoughts influence whether the rain and snow comes.
Of the world's water today, Masayesva said 97 percent is seawater and 2 percent is bound in glaciers. Only1 percent is available for drinking.
However, America is a nation of waste. "We are a throwaway society. We think we are never going to run out of anything."
Masayesva said the people must honor their trust as guardians of the water and land.
"If we don't, we will break the circle."
During the Hisot Navoti (knowledge of ancestors) Masayesva showed amazing film footage, revealing startling transformations in water crystals when exposed to music and written words. Emoto's photographs reveal water crystals, under high magnification, have drastically different forms from different water sources. Further, Emoto shows that water changes its expression as a result of human actions.
When water is exposed to the music of Mozart and Beethoven, crystals expand and become more beautiful. These crystals resemble diamonds, with flower buds blossoming on their points, as the music plays. Emoto explains that water carries and responds to the vibrations of music. He reveals even more amazing research, showing water responds to the written word.
When clear tubes of water are placed over positive and negative words, the structure of water crystals change. Water crystals increase in beauty when placed over the word "peace," but are transformed to dark and ugly crystals when placed over the word "war."
When water is placed over the word "let's," the crystals expand and increase in beauty. However, when water is placed over the word "must," the crystals become ugly with a dark green center. Emoto says water is letting us realize the hidden power of words.
During the gathering for the defense of pure water, Jerry Honawa, Hopi elder, said, "Water has intelligence."
Masayesva said, "If you are happy, you will have happy crystals; if you are angry, you will have angry crystals." Masayesva also shared the history of the Hopi people, revealing their destiny intertwined with the earth and its mysteries.
"According to Hopi, long ago there was nothing but water from the beginning of time. This is what we call the First World of Hopi. "Life was created from water, from the land, from the sun." When life was first created, it was beautiful, a perfect circle. On Hopiland today there are areas of perfect seashells, proof that this land was once underwater as Hopi are told. There are perfect fossils here, he said.
"Where does coal come from? It comes from plants. Everywhere you go, you see dinosaur tracks. This must have been a beautiful place at one time."
In the First World, there was balance, harmony and peace. This balance and harmony, however, was destroyed in the Third World because of man and his greed. The ancestors began searching for a safe place to begin a new life. Bird was sent out and returned with news of this place.
"Through the bamboo, they entered the new land,” Masayesva said. "It is a metaphor, we don't really know, but we came from somewhere where there was bamboo." When the people arrived in this new land, they thought they had left evil behind them. But after a child died, they realized that evil had come with them. Those with the two hearts had come. "Evil is necessary to understand what good truly is," Masayesva said.
The people knew they had to learn from the destruction of the Third World and not return to those ways. They wanted to create a new way of life. The Hopi people were not led by politicians, they were led by priests, often the poorest man in the village who denied himself everything for the benefit of his children.
In this new place they found a man who grew beautiful corn. It was Ma'sau, guardian of the land. Ma'sau said it is a harsh land, but if the people were willing to live Ma'sau's way of life, they could stay here.
Ma'sau told the people, "If you follow this way of life, you can stay here forever." Ma'sau showed the people corn, a gourd of water and planting stick. "He said if you decide to stay here you must help me take care of this land, then you can stay."
Ma'sau told them that others are coming. "They will claim everything when they come, even the oceans, the air and the stars." Ma'sau told the Hopi people to migrate to the four corners of the world, then return here to Black Mesa. The gourd to carry water was also a revelation, showing that water here is not infinite, it is limited.
Masayesva said the colors of the corn represent the colors of all mankind, yellow, purple, red and white. The sweet corn also represents the ancestors and the purple the heavens. Corn, too, gave Hopi a new way of life, and meant that the people no longer had to search for food every day, leaving them free for other things.
The planting stick represents tools or technology, which can be used for good or for destruction. There was a time when smallpox nearly eliminated the Hopi people, with only 300 Hopi surviving, Masayesva said technology can prevent and cure illness today, but it threatens to end humankind with the production of nuclear bombs. Nuclear power and travel to distant planets have resulted in dangerous "god-like powers."
The waters--aquifers, springs, lakes, rivers, oceans and glaciers-- work in harmony to sustain life. Hopi believe the aquifers breathe, breathe in rain and snow and breathe it out. The springs are the breathing holes. Humankind is a participant in water-life; mankind's thoughts influence whether the rain and snow comes.
Of the world's water today, Masayesva said 97 percent is seawater and 2 percent is bound in glaciers. Only1 percent is available for drinking.
However, America is a nation of waste. "We are a throwaway society. We think we are never going to run out of anything."
Masayesva said the people must honor their trust as guardians of the water and land.
"If we don't, we will break the circle."
Sunday, March 1, 2009
MNN: 'We're Baaack!! Judicial Chicanery of Federal Court of Canada Side-Swiped'
WE’RE BAAAACK!! “JUDICIAL CHICANERY” OF FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA SIDE-SWIPED – Call for investigation!
Mohawk Nation NewsPhoto Kahentinetha Horn at Indigenous Peoples Border Summit II on Tohono O'odham Nation.
Photo Brenda Norrell
March 1, 200 9. On June 14, 2008, Kahentinetha and Katenies, two Mohawk women, were viciously attacked at the Cornwall Ontario border by a special squad of about twelve barking Canadian Border Services Agents CBSA dressed for combat. One woman was put into a torture stress situation meant to kill her. She suffered a trauma induced heart attack and is still recovering. The other was severely beaten and held incommunicado without access to medical attention or outside help. She is still recovering from her injuries.
Kahentinetha and Katenies live in the Mohawk communities of Akwesasne and Kahnawake. They think that everyone should be able to pass the illegal colonial border without being assaulted or killed.
No employee or official has shown any concern for the near fatal assault committed by the CBSA. They filed formal complaints for a full investigation, appropriate charges to be made against the offenders and reasonable compensation for their arrest, assault and illegal jailing. They sent requests to the Hon. Robert Nicholson, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, the Ontario Provincial Police, the RCMP, the Mohawk Akwesasne Police and the CBSA. They all refused to investigate.
The two women have no money and no lawyer. They had no choice but to represent themselves. They filed a Federal Court of Canada lawsuit to force the police and government agents to investigate this attempted murder. For $2 they filed a Statement of Claim on the ”Assault, arrest and illegal detention” by Canada Border Services Agents [Kahentinetha & Katenies v. Queen, Section 48, Federal Court Act, T-1309-08]. At first the court registry employees seemed helpful. As time went on they issued misinformation and lost documents to sabotage the lawsuit.
The crown’s first response was to file an unprecedented countersuit for Kahentinetha and Katenies to pay for Canada‘s costs. To start they wanted over $20,000 on deposit before the case could be tried, plus all subsequent costs thereafter. They justified this by claiming that Kahentinetha and Katenies are “not residents of Canada”. They based this deceptive false argument on an unsubstantiated article from a newspaper published on the internet that speculated that Katenies lived in the U.S. Kahentinetha and Katenies submitted evidence that they live in Akwesasne and Kahnawake which are located in the portion of the colony of Canada known as “Quebec”. They are considered residents of Canada by the Canadian government. The court refused to accept the evidence.
Kahentinetha and Katenies were pleased with FCC’s order that respects Indigenous jurisdiction over Turtle Island. According to Canada’s own order and laws, the demand for money is a human rights violation and Canada must remove its border control.
Prothonotary Mireille Tabib of FCC issued the order that the two women must put $6,500 before the case would proceed. Kahentinetha and Katenies appealed. They argued that Canada cannot claim that Kahnawake and Akwesasne are not part of Canada so as to classify them as “non-residents” to make them pay court costs, while they treat these communities as parts of Canada, including having a border control in the center. This was a very strong argument. So they stooped to skullduggery. They “lost” the appeal documents.
When the crown did not reply, Kahentinetha phoned the FCC registry. She was told the documents were lost. Then they suddenly found them. Kahentinetha and Katenies were instructed to re-file the appeal and to ask “for an extension of time”.
FCC Judge Francois Lemieux then issued an order denying them the extension of time. He made no ruling on the unconstitutional posting of money by victims of a crime carried out by agents of the state. His deflection made it impossible for the women to appeal. Such a cynical and willful obstruction of justice was unexpected.
Kahentinetha and Katenies, having no money, no jobs and no attachable assets, had to abandon the case. Then on February 26, 2009, Kahentinetha filed a brand new suit on the “Reckless disregard for the safety and security of Indigenous Women at the Canadian Border, Akwesasne” [FCC File No. T-288-09, Kahentinetha v. Queen]. Not forgotten is that men are also abused at the border.
Canada continues judicial chicanery with blindness to the rule of law. As a signatory to international human rights instruments, Canada’s Constitution Act, 1982, states everyone is equal before the law. People, no matter what part of the world they come from, cannot be beaten up by state agents with impunity.
Hardball bullying that Kahentinetha and Katenies got from the FCC shows that it is impossible for Indigenous to get our issues discussed rationally and resolved according to generally accept Canadian and international legal principles. Canadian and international opinion does not support this high handed and unethical behavior.
Kahentinetha is not a Canadian citizen and Kahnawake and Akwesasne are not part of Canada as recognized by Prothonotary Mireille Tabib’s order of 23 October, 2008 [FCC No. T-1309] and by Judge Francois Lemieux’s order of 29 January 2009 [ FCC No. T-1309-08].
The assault can be proven by both civilian and government of Canada witnesses, by medical and hospital records and by videotape evidence which is in the hands of the CBSA.
Kahentinetha and Katenies’ main purposes for their legal actions are to demand a full and fair investigation of: 1) the assault; 2) the failure to investigate; 3) the loss of documents and unethical treatment by the FCC; and 4) the action to be tried without delay in the FCC at 30 McGill Street, Montreal, Quebec.
Canada continues to use its courts as a political weapon to allow its agents to abuse us with impunity. This case cannot be swept under the carpet of judicial chicanery.
Ieriwaonni & MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com katenies20@yahoo.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations 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 “BORDER” 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
Cases FCC T-1309-08 and FCC T-288-09, Kahentinetha v. Queen.
POLITICAL, JUDICIAL & BUREAUCRATIC “DOUCE BAGS”: Hon. Robert “Contemptible-flunkey-who-protects state-criminals-and-other-agents-of-repression” Nicholson, Minister of Justice & Attorney General of Canada, Tel: 613-941-6900, Nicholson.r@parl.gc.ca, Hon. John “”Judicial-hit-man” Sims, Deputy Attorney-General of Canada, Dept. of Justice, 284 Wellington St. TSA-6032, Ottawa Ontario K1A0H8 Tel: 613-946-2774, 613-992-3452, 613-942-4238, L. Bisson, Manager, Ministerial Correspondence Unit mcu@justice.gc.ca; Charles Payette 613-952-3653, Anil Kamal 613-943-2302 Fax: 613-952-6006; Federal Court of Canada, 30 McGill St., Montreal Quebec H2Y 3Z7 Tel: 1-800-927-5499, 514-283-4820, Prothonotary Mireille “Twisted-judicial-storm-trooping-gate-keeper-with-a-history-of-unconscionable-chicanery-against-Ongwehone” Tabib, Judge Francois “Rubber-stamping-petti-fogging-cheater” Lemieux; Sgt. J.L. Pettit, RCMP Headquarters, 1200 Vanier Parkway, Ottawa K1A 0R2 Tel: 613-993-7267 Fax: 613-993-0260; Louise Steele, Ontario Provincial Police, 777 Memorial Avenue, Orillia Ontario L3V 7V3 Tel: 705-329- 6051;
COLONIAL DOUCHE BAG PUPPETS: Phil Fontaine of the AFN is a partner in CBSA’s Sustainable Development Strategy 2007-9; Chris Kealey, Canada Customs Excise, Immigration Taxation Board, CBSA Media Relations 613-991-5197; President CBSA 613-952-3200, 613-957-0612, CBSA-ASFC@Canada.gc.ca; National Aboriginal Initiative CHRC 204-983-2189 1-866-772-4880 info.com@chrc-ccdp.ca; Canada Customs Port of Entry at Cornwall Island Ontario; Quebec Human Rights presidence@cdpdj.gc.ca; Akwesasne Mohawk Police 613-575-2250 ex 2400; Mohawk Security at the border 613-932-5183, 613-575-2340; Lance Markel, District Director CBSA 613-930-3234, 613-991-1214; Brent Lefebvre, Investigator CBSA; Susan St. Clair, Canadian Human Rights Commission, 344 Slater, Ottawa 613-995-1151, 1-888-214-1090, 613-943-5188; CBSA National Spokesperson 613-957-6500; Quebec Media Relations CBSA 514-350-6130; Chief Mohawk Council Akwesasne 613-575-2250 nbenedict@akwesasne.ca; Minister Stockwell Day, Ottawa 613-995-4432; Melissa Leclair Communications Pub. Safety 613-991-2863.
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