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

Homeland Security sues Lipan Apache Eloisa Tamez for land for border wall

By Brenda Norrell

CAMERON COUNTY, Texas -- Homeland Security filed suit against Eloisa Garcia Tamez, Lipan Apache, on Tuesday, Jan. 29, to seize her land for the border wall in Texas. Tamez has been leading the resistance to the border wall in Apache communities. Tamez said she only has three acres, but it is all she has.
All across South Texas, mayors and legislators have united to fight the border wall. Since towns on both sides of the border rely on their neighbors' shopping, eating in restaurants and other commerce, business owners in South Texas say the already financially-strapped communities will suffer economically.

Photo: Eloisa Tamez by Jay Johnson-Castro

DHS continues to file lawsuits for proposed borderfence

http://www.themonitor.com/news/land_8546___article.html/county_government.html/

Laura B. Martinez and Kevin Sieff (The Brownsville Herald)

January 30
BROWNSVILLE — The federal government is continuing its effort to gain access to land in Cameron County for the proposed border fence, filingfive more lawsuits Tuesday.
Among those sued is Eloisa Tamez, an associate professor at the University of Texas-Brownsville/Texas Southmost College, who has repeatedly denied the government access to her property. "We're building the wall because we're worried about terrorists, buton the border we're being terrorized by our own government," Tamez said Tuesday evening. "I'm still going to go forward. The land is still not for sale. They'll have to make an example out of me." ...

Return to Censored homepage:

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

Indigenous Environmental Network at UN: Free, prior and informed consent

Photo by Ben Powless, Mohawk

FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT

Indigenous Environmental Network Statement

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
May 16th to May 27th, 2011
UN Headquarters, New York, NY


Madam Chairwoman,

The principles and rights of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent are vital to upholding the human rights and fundamental and inherent right to self-determination of Indigenous Peoples in North America and throughout the world. FPIC is a basic underpinning of Indigenous Peoples’ ability to conclude and implement valid treaties and agreements, to have sovereignty over and protection of our lands, waters, air, and natural resources, and to develop and participate in processes that redress violations of our land, water and treaty rights.

FPIC must immediately be implemented at all levels as the right of our Indigenous Nations and communities to be thoroughly informed about any development affecting our lands and resources, particularly in connection with our environment, forests, minerals, air, water – both freshwater, our oceans and our sea ice and any development affecting our intellectual knowledge, the human health of our women and families, and any development involving genetic manipulation that could have affect on our security, balance and well-being.

FPIC is more than mere consultation. Related to development, governments, financial institutions such as the World Bank, and corporations frequently achieve their version of a FPIC standard through the policy of consultation. But consultation, on its own, does not constitute FPIC. Consultation is not equivalent to consent. Indigenous Peoples have to right to say no.

Our network of Indigenous Peoples is based in the United States, with affiliates in Canada. I do not have time to list the hundreds of western forms of industrial development involving the devastation and degradation of indigenous territories from mining and mineral extraction. Our Indigenous network, as an example of a few Indigenous Nations and organizations negatively affected by unsustainable energy and mineral extraction are the Lipan Apache Women Defense; the San Carlos Apache Tribe of Arizona; the Lipan Apache Band of Texas; the Navajo Nation Dependents of Uranium Workers (Dine’ Nation); and in Canadian, the Dene, Cree and Metis peoples fighting the Canadian Tar Sands as the largest construction project ever in the history of mankind, more earth has been moved since its beginning then the Suez Canal, the Great Pyramids and the Great Wall of China. If the rights of FPIC were legislated domestically, these devastations would not be happening.

The standards, policy and right of FPIC and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIP) must be immediately implemented at every level of government, within financial institutions, and in decision-making bodies within the United States and Canada and throughout the world where Indigenous Peoples live.

Madam Chair, my concluding point and recommendation is on the matter of the climate crisis. The policy and rights of FPIC are not being recognized with the danger of not being implemented in UN climate mitigation and adaptation policy. One of the key area of climate mitigation is a carbon market regime consisting of emissions-carbon trading and offset projects with no guarantees for adequate nor enforceable safeguards. Therefore, we recommend the appointment of a member of the Permanent Forum as Special Rapporteur to conduct a study on existing and potential violations of the human rights of Indigenous Peoples affected by carbon markets, the Clean Development Mechanism and REDD-type projects (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), and to report thereon to the Forum at its eleventh session, in 2012.

Listen, Jose Matus, Yaqui: On the Border

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

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

Tucson: Indigenous Peoples Protest Against SB 1070 and HB 2281

TUCSON: Indigenous Peoples Protest Against SB 1070 and HB 2281
Indigenous Peoples Protest Againt SB 1070 and HB 2281
Date: Friday, May 21, 2010
Time: 11:00am - 1:00pm
Location: US Immigration Court
Street: 160 North Stone Avenue
City/Town: Tucson, AZ
Anti-immigration bills such as SB 1070 rest on the "securing" of the borders in order to manage the flow of migration. This securing includes and is not limited to a physical wall to be made on Indigenous land (Tohono O'odham/Lipan Apache to name a few.) The state's power to waive pre-existing laws (such as NEPA, NAGPRA) in the name of security, directly attacks Indigenous autonomy/sovereignty. The "political" solution will bring forced removal and relocation of the many Indigenous nations that span "their" borders by means of a reinforced physical barrier. In addition, the peoples who will be primarily targeted for racial profiling will be Indigenous peoples on both sides of the U.S/Mexico border. The passage of HB 2281 further contributes to the cultural genocide of Indigenous peoples by criminalizing the histories of Indigenous peoples in our own lands within the Arizona public school system. The immigration struggle is also an Indigenous struggle.
For those attending the NAISA conference, please gather in the lobby of Westin at 10:15am.
For more information on the protest, contact:
Alex Soto, O’odham Solidarity Across Borders, 602-881-6027
Eric Hardy, Council Advocating an Indigenous Manifesto indigenize@gmail.com
NAISA members: contact Mishuana Goeman, Southern California Native Feminist Group, at mishuana@gmail.com
Support the following Indigenous groups organizing against SB 1070:
O’odham Solidarity Against Borders Collective
http://oodhamsolidarity.blogspot.com/
Táala Hooghan Infoshop
http://www.taalahooghan.org/
Lipan Apache Women’s Defense http://lipanapachecommunitydefense.blogspot.com/
O'odham Voices Against the Wall,
http://www.solidarity-project.org/
Council Advocating an Indigenous Manifesto
indigenize@gmail.com

Young Warriors and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Young Warriors and the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Navajo Michelle Cook, 23, recently returned to the Navajo Nation from the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. Michelle also was recently was a member of a peace delegation to Iran.

Prepared by Michelle Cook
N.Y.C 2008
At the seventh session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, over 3,000 indigenous peoples, non-governmental organizations, and intergovernmental agencies gathered to discuss some of the greatest concerns and challenges facing indigenous peoples and communities. These include but are not limited to human rights violations, racial discrimination, health, education, political and international borders, migration, access to water and its privatization, the military industrial complex, lands and natural resources, women, and children. The special theme of this years Forum was Climate, Bio-Cultural Diversity and Livelihoods
Indigenous youth were very active within the UNPFII's working collectively on numerous interventions and statements.The indigenous youth found that we in particular are vulnerable to and suffer from a wide range of human rights violations.
In our conversations we spoke to our experiences that include the inability to speak indigenous languages as seen in English only policies of the United States, the inability to identify and be recognized as a people as with the Puyuma of Taiwan, to environmental degradation as seen in the nuclear pollution and chemical exposure of indigenous communities in Russia.
Indigenous youth in many parts of the world also are experiencing blatant state sanctioned genocide and are legally denied fundamental rights to life as illustrated in the ongoing human rights crisis resulting from the Armed Forces Special Powers Act of the North Eastern Region of India. Under the authority of this legislation indigenous youth, women, men, and children of Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and the whole region of North Eastern Indian are routinely brutally, viciously, and legally murdered at the behest of the Indian government by the hands of the Indian army. Indigenous youth from this region request that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act be immediately repealed, that political prisoners such as Irom Chanu Sharmila be released, and that the international community condemn this genocidal legislation that allows the murder of innocent people and simultaneously denies them judicial remedies and recourse to justice.
Testimony from the Middle East concerning Balochistan an area divided between Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, depicted yet another instance of cultural oppression of the indigenous peoples and youth in Iran. Ms. Monireh Sulimani an exiled Baloch from west Balochistan who works for an NGO, Balochistan Peoples Party, http://www.balochpeople.org/ said, "I have all my family in Balochistan besides mom, dad and my two younger sisters. Life in Balochistan is hard, people live under hard conditions, since most Baloch adhere to Sunni Islam and Iran is a Shia Islamistic country Baloch people are treated as third class citizens. My desire and hope I to be able to see that my cousins back in Balochistan be entitled to the fundamental rights, human rights, and right to identity".
Additionally, the situation of young Balochistan members of the Voice of Justice of the Young People's Society a Baloch cultural association was shared. Mr. Ya'qub Mehrnehad, a student, journalist and civil activist, was tried in secret and convicted to death for an unknown offence in February 2008. He has allegedly been tortured and is currently on facing the death penalty without access to his family members or a lawyer. His younger brother, Ibrahim Mehrnehad, is also in jail and was also denied access to his family or to a lawyer.
From Turtle Island (United States) Marcus Briggs one of the youngest speakers of the Muskogee language delivered the Indigenous Youth Statement on Language stating, "Language is not used solely as mean of communication, rather it encompasses intricate complexities of our identity. Language is essential in shaping our worldviews as indigenous young people, and we do not deserve, nor can we afford to walk this earth without the opportunity to embrace our own language…and right here in the United States where 'English only" legislation denies our existence as indigenous peoples". Upon hearing these words the indigenous peoples of the Permanent Forum rejoiced, the people shook rattles, and from the balcony war cries could be heard, everyone let out a roars of approval and admiration.
Another indigenous youth Mr. Jorge Quilaqueo a Machi (Shaman/Healer) of the Mapuche people of the lands now known as Chile gave his intervention stating, "We the young Mapuche who, with the help of our good ancestral spirits recommend to this Forum of the United Nation that it intercede with the State of Chile so that the latter will respect Human rights, the rights of my Autonomous Mapuche Nation and our former Parliament and Treaties, and so that it will stop attacking our Mother Earth…We are not terrorists for defending what belongs to us and to our grandparents. The State of Chile uses the tool of terrorism because it is afraid and because it knows full well that we, the Mapuche, are the owner and administrators of the territory as established by our Parliaments in peace agreements signed by the former Mapuche chiefs. So it was willed by our Father Creator". Many indigenous youth in the way of their ancestors continue to articulate rights using a western rights based systems but also using a discourse of spiritual rights and responsibilities based within indigenous legal systems and indigenous customary law.
Michael Paul Hill a Chiricahua Apache singer and spiritual activist delivered the intervention on behalf of the Lipan Apaches Women Defense stating, "on behalf of the Apache land defenders from El Calaboz ranchería, El Polvo village (Redford) and the San Carlos Apache Communities. We as Indigenous border communities with traditional territories along the now US/MEX border corridor, along with our non-indigenous neighbors in the southwestern border region of United States and northern Mexico, stand against the political and physical walls, barricades, and fencing that the United States is constructing at this very moment… There are currently over 18,000 U.S. soldiers occupying our border communities with a buildup of up to 75,000 by 2010, and an estimated 8-10,000 Mexican soldiers currently deployed in the border towns and villages positioned for crackdowns on civil society indigenous protests against the construction of a Berlin-style wall which is dissecting Yaqui, O'odham, Opata, Mayo, Cocopah communities along the border. Indigenous women are particularly targeted by violence that militarization culture imposes on the U.S.-Mexico conflict region evidenced by the 4000+ disappeared and murdered women of Juarez and other border towns… We respectfully request that the UNPFII consider our recommendations to take an intersectional approach to climate change that involves consideration of militarization, industrialization, gender, and environmental degradation in the U.S.-Mexico militarized zone of occupation and conflict. ??Ahi'i'e Ussn, ahi'i'e diyini, ahi'i'e shimaa £ebaiyé T'nde-Nnee', ahi'i'e shitaa Sumá Ndé-Nneé"(http://lipanapachecommunity/ defense.blogspot.com/).
The lands now known as the U.S Mexican border has been traditionally owned and occupied by numerous indigenous peoples for centuries. There are over thirteen self-identifying indigenous peoples including but not limited the Yaqui, Tohono O'odham, and the Lipan Apache. Within the past ten years the border has emerged as the United States and Mexico most misunderstood and obscured human rights crisis. For those communities whose lands lie on the edges of the empire it is clear that the conditions of racial discrimination and land grabbing have worsened remarkably. Without immediate direct action and intervention by both civil societies, the governments, and the United Nations the construction of the wall will cause irreparable harm to indigenous peoples residing there and hemispheric biological diversity.
The indigenous youth additionally expressed deep concerns with states falsely accusing indigenous youth activists as terrorists. This is an alarming emerging issue within the discourse of indigenous youth justice and must be critically examined on all levels as well as its implications for the indigenous rights movement as a whole.
Contrary to these false allegations, indigenous youth representatives firmly maintain that indigenous youth activists are not terrorists, but peoples, with the right of self-determination. Indigenous youth are rights holders within domestic and international law and will continue to advocate for, further articulate, and expand rights concerning our situations and cases within the international arena and United Nations system.Participating and witnessing the indigenous youth in action at the Permanent Forum was impressive and inspirational. Indigenous youth are working towards the full realization of our rights as articulated within the recently adopted United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous peoples and youth are still waiting for all of these rights to be felt fully and effectively realized on the ground.
Despite the diverse and distinct challenges we face as indigenous youth we stood and worked together for our people and our values. I am confidant that the indigenous youth will continue to challenge all forms of institutionalized and legalized racism being strong for the challenges ahead. Indigenous youth are crafting the abilities to work within the United Nation system to defend cultural, economic, social, and political rights. Developing the capacity to lead indigenous nations into beautiful sustainable futures.

Photo: Michelle Cook/Courtesy photo

Coopted by Homeland Security: Native Americans call for boycott of the University of Arizona

The University of Arizona in Tucson is funded and coopted by Homeland Security as abuse of Indigenous Peoples continues at the border

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

TUCSON -- Native Americans are calling for a boycott of the University of Arizona for profiteering at the border, as the university continues to be funded and coopted by Homeland Security. The University of Arizona's most recent cash from the militarization of the border comes in the form of $500,000 to evaluate the effectiveness of Border Patrol checkpoints and their impact on nearby communities.
Native Americans say the US military, federal agents and US spy operations have no place on university campuses.
The University of Arizona's National Center for Border Security and Immigration opened in September of 2008 with funding from the Department of Homeland Security. The operation is co-led by the UA and the University of Texas-El Paso, which will also get $500,000 to study checkpoints.
The US has already reported that the checkpoints have not proven to be efficient or effective. The militarization of the border has resulted in the increased targeting of people of color by border agents, including Native Americans who live in their homelands.
The border hysteria and new passport laws means that Indigenous Peoples are subjected to abuse from border agents and police as they travel in their homelands, from the Kumeyaay in Calif., to the Cocopah and Tohono O'odham in Arizona and the Ysleta del Sur and Lipan Apache in Texas. Yaqui, O'otham, Apache and Yavapai also have communities in the US and Mexico and are subjected to abuse by border agents during family visits and while traveling to ceremonies.
The latest funding comes as the University of Arizona continuous to engage in global cyber spy activity, increases the climate of racism by targeting people of color during classroom spy instruction, receives Department of Defense funding, and increasingly has Homeland Security agents on campus.

Previous article: The University of Arizona just got a lot creepier
Classroom spy training targets people of color as university celebrates its global cyber spy:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/05/university-of-arizona-just-got-lot.html

LISTEN Border abuse watch: Patrols launched to document police and Border Patrol

Listen to internet radio with Brenda Norrell on Blog Talk Radio

Derechos Humanos, Pan Left Productions and Migra-Copwatch launched new patrols today, Sept. 2, 2010, to document abuse by police and Border Patrol. Listen to the press conference for the launch of Yo Soy Testigo, I am a Witness in Tucson. To report abuse, and call for witnesses with video cameras, there's a 24 hour hotline: 520-261-5890.
Photo Press conference by Brenda Norrell.

Border watch patrols launch to document abuse by US Border Patrol agents and police

Article and photo by Brenda Norrell
Narcosphere

TUCSON – With racism intensifying along the US/Mexico border, new border watch patrols were launched today to document abuses by US Border Patrol agents and local police.

“Yo Soy Testigo, I am a Witness,” was launched by Derechos Humanos, Pan Left Productions and Migra Patrol-Copwatch. Volunteers are staffing a 24-hour hotline in response to the increased racial profiling, violations of law and deportations.

Kat Rodriguez of Derechos Humanos said the Border Patrol is manning checkpoints in the community, although the agency denies it. Rodriguez said there are already videos to prove it.

The human rights abuses include children being left by the side of the road as their parents are deported and legal residents harassed by police and Border Patrol.

Rodriguez said the passage of SB 1070 has “emboldened and empowered” police and Border Patrol agents to harass and intimidate people.

During today's press conference to launch the patrols, Tucson community members said the oppression has resulted in residents leaving Arizona for other states and Mexico, with the economy suffering. In the schools, children are suffering from fear and depression as family members and relatives are harassed and deported.

Jason Aragon, Pan Left Productions, said migra (border) patrols have been underway for 12 years to document the human rights abuses. Pan Left works with community members to document and tell their own stories using technology such as video cameras.

“We must shed the light on the fact that people have been living in fear of deportation and it is only getting worse,” Aragon said. “We are committed to resisting these injustices and invite the community to be part of this campaign to document the oppression of our families and neighborhoods.”

Aragon said the Tucson Police Department and US Border Patrol are working together closely, although officials deny this. Already video footage shows Tucson police turning over a father and mother to Border Patrol as their children cry in the night.

Among the women speaking out on behalf of families and community members was Pati Moreno of Derechos Humanos. “We will expose this discrimination and racism, and move our communities toward peace.”

Isabel Garcia of Derechos Humanos, speaking in Spanish and English, said not all Tucson police support racial profiling. Garcia encouraged police to speak out and help halt the abuse.

Encouraging community members to become involved in the struggle for justice, Rodriguez said, “We are in the community and we are part of this community."

With the passage of SB 1070, and the proliferation of hate groups along the border, racial profiling is impacting all people of color.

Native Americans who live on their ancestral lands from California to Texas are targeted. This includes the Kumeyaay, Cocopah, Tohono O'odham, O'otham, Yavapai, Apache, Yaqui, Ysleta del Sur, Lipan Apache and others whose members live on both sides of the border.

With the increased militarization by the US Border Patrol, the National Guard and local law enforcement agencies, Indigenous Peoples are constantly harassed, physically abused and denied their rights because of racial profiling, violations of law and excessive force.

Jose Matus, Yaqui, director of the Indigenous Alliance without Borders, issued a statement of support for the new campaign.

Matus praised the campaign to bring together community members and community organizations "to track, document and seek justice and fight against human rights violations, racial profiling, law enforcement abuses committed against Indigenous Peoples and all people of color of the Tucson and Arizona communities."

"The Alianza Indigena denounces the abuses and injustices we experience and witness every day in our lives. We need to document what happens in our communities to help us protect our rights, stand up for social justice and fight to change the hostile political climate toward people of color and immigrant communities. Instances of abuse and exploitation have become increasingly normalized and endured.

"The climate of fear and racism created by punitive anti-immigrant policies that further criminalizes immigrants and people of color, seek to silence our voices and coerce us into accepting the violations of our human rights as normal. Simultaneously, it has normalized a continuation of a mainstream American consciousness embedded in hatred, racism, and xenophobia toward individuals, neighbors, and community residents with brown-colored skin," Matus said.

Matus said the Alianza joins with others in the campaign in the fight against institutional racism, the hostile political climate and bad laws that profoundly affect all people of color.

The Alliance confirmed its solidarity with those in the struggle to counter xenophobia, racism, law enforcement abuse of authority and violations of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, the poor, and all people of color.

The 24-hour hotline in Tucson is: 520-261-5890.

Listen to today’s press conference (30 minutes)
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell

In Texas, Bush legacy sours

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

SOUTH TEXAS -- South Texans woke up to dismal skies this morning, as the rain was falling and the news came that the US filed suit Monday to seize the first of 102 private lands of people and city governments to build the US Apartheid Border Wall between Texas and Mexico.

The Berlin Wall has come down, and the Apartheid Wall between Palestine and Israel is a place of constant violence, conflict and death.

The United States, however, will seize private lands to build the border wall, going against its longstanding claims to be the world's champion in the fight against racism and apartheid.

The people of South Texans are ready to fight, in court and in the world's media. As people here say, migrants can always go under, over or around a border wall.

Lipan Apache like Eloise Garcia Tamez are refusing to allow surveyors on their land. On Monday, the US filed the first lawsuit against land owners, against the City of Eagle Pass, to seize lands for the border wall. There are 102 landowners in Texas, Arizona and California refusing to turn over their private lands.

Jumano Apache Enrique Madrid points out in Redford, Texas, where a young goat herder was murdered by a US Marine, this is not just a wall that the U.S. is building. It is a militarized zone.

Soldiers and border agents shoot to kill. While US soldiers and border agents rape and kill people walking across these lands, the news media is silent.

While National Guardsmen, Airforce pilots, a police officer and prison guard are sentenced to prison in Arizona for smuggling cocaine from the border, as exposed by the FBI's Operation Lively Green, the news media is silent. So many National Guardsmen wanted to smuggle drugs that the sting operation was halted.

In the end, the fragments of border wall under construction across the Southwest -- which can't even be built in the rugged mountains and canyons -- will prove only to be a source of profit to those benefiting from television news' migrant xenophobia and the Bush-friendly corporations seizing contracts.

In the end, whether formally convicted or not, President Bush will be remembered as a war criminal, whose administration promoted torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo in violation of the Geneva Conventions. Bush will be remembered for torture in secret prisons and the US will be remembered by the world for the terrorism it has induced.

In Texas, where Bush likes to claim he is a real Texan, he will be remembered as the president who filed lawsuits to seize private lands to build the US Apartheid Border Wall and opened the floodgates to a militarized zone of violence.

Photo: San Antonio's River Walk/Brenda Norrell

Wikileaks: Canada's unauthorized wiretaps of Mohawks

Backfire: US Pentagon seeks to conceal US war crimes, silence Wikileaks

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News

The US Pentagon is seeking to conceal US war crimes, demanding that Wikileaks remove and return data that exposes the truth of the US war in Afghanistan, including US assassination teams. While the Pentagon ignores the US murderers of civilians and reporters, Wikileaks continues to publish the truth, including unauthorized wiretaps.

Currently on Wikileaks are documents exposing the unauthorized wiretaps of at least 12 Mohawks.

"On June 29, 2007 a group of Mohawks from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory blocked the CN Railway Line running through their territory, the Highway 401, and Highway 2 to protest conditions on Native reserves across Canada and the Government of Canada's sluggishness in resolving outstanding land claims. Blockade spokesman Shawn Brant faces multiple charges stemming from these actions, and the Crown prosecutor is currently seeking a 12 year minimum sentence.

"During the preliminary inquiry to Shawn Brant's trial, it came out that the Ontario Provincial Police, headed by Commissioner Julian Fantino, had been using wiretaps on more than a dozen different Mohawks without a judge's authorization, an action almost unheard of recent history in Canada. Those conversations between Julian Fantino and Shawn Brant were presented as testimony during the pre-trial hearing."

The Mohawk documents are available currently. For those who want copies, files should be downloaded now, due to the current threats by the US Pentagon to take action regarding Wikileaks and whistleblowers. http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Canadian_Mohawk_wiretaps_injuncted_stories_2008

Wikileaks still has more documents to publish. The information that the Pentagon wants removed are the Afghan War Diary and Collateral Murder. http://www.wikileaks.org/
With the risk of censorship, whistleblowers are urged by human rights activists to post more documents on Wikileaks concerning the truth of the US-manufactured border racism, private prison profiteering and environmental genocide toward people of color in the US.

Indian country has long been targeted with uranium mining, coal-fired power plants and oil and gas drilling, leaving generations of Native Americans with cancer and respiratory disease.

New carbon sequestration, which would store toxic CO2 from coal-fired power plants in Mother Earth on the Hopi Nation, is the latest sinister corporate attack. Today, Friday, August 6, Hopis gather in Hotevilla, after the Hopi Tribal Council approved this controversial experiment without community support.

New nuclear power funding under the Obama administration targets black communities in Georgia with the high risk of nuclear power plants. Navajo, Lakota and other American Indians are currently fighting new uranium mining that will poison their underground water supplies. Western Shoshone and Goshute have been targeted with nuclear dumping, while the US is aware that there is no safe method to store nuclear waste.

Globally, Indigenous Peoples' land' are targeted with mining and the legacy of death.

Peabody Coal's orchestration of the so-called Navajo Hopi land dispute resulted in the relocation of more than 14,000 Navajos and decades of misery for Navajo families who continue to resist relocation without support from the Navajo Nation government. The removal of Navajos made way for Peabody coal mines.

Canada is the homebase of the largest number of mining companies responsible for the assassinations of Indigenous activists around the world, from South America to Australia, Africa and Asia, opposing the destruction of their homelands.

On the US/Mexico border, the racism and xenophobia fueled by politicians and the US media has resulted in profiteering for private prison corporations, including CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) and GEO.

Boeing and other border wall contractors, drone manufacturers and Wackenhut Transportation are among those reaping the financial benefits and profits of the US war on migrants. (The Wackenhut corporation split into GEO and Wackenhut Transportation, resulting in two corporations, now profiteering from private prisons and the transportation of migrants in custody.)

In Arizona, Pinal County boasts that private prison profiteer CCA is the largest employer. Arizona is also home of court-documented racial profiling of American Indians at traffic stops and where American Indians and all people of color are imprisoned at rates higher than whites.

With the US militarization of the border region, Indigenous Peoples in their homelands, from California to Texas, are under attack by the US Border Patrol, police and US military, all targeting people of color. The US is criminalizing the right of Indigenous Peoples to travel in their homelands at the southern border, including the Kumeyaay, Cocopah, Tohono O'odham, Yaqui, Apache, Ysleta del Sur and Lipan Apache.

It is known that Boeing violated NAGPRA and other federal laws during border wall construction when the graves of O'odham ancestors were dug up on Tohono O'odham land.

Whistleblowers are asked to expose other violations of federal law and post documents on Wikileaks. These include the destruction of graves, abuse and murder of migrants, theft of Indian country resources (by way of leases or manipulated measurement devices), bribes to elected American Indian tribal officials by polluting corporations and abuse of power by US Border Patrol and police.

The relationship of the US border wall to Israel's Apartheid Wall in Palestine was exposed when Boeing subcontracted Elbit Systems for surveillance at the Arizona border. Elbit is Israel's defense contractor, responsible for the human rights travesty of maintaining security and surveillance on Palestine.

Now, in the pursuit of truth, Wikileaks has defied the US Pentagon and exposed US assassinations and reckless murder. These rogue assassination teams in Afghanistan and Iraq have murdered reporters and large numbers of civilians without consequence.

Hopefully, this act of courage by Wikileaks will have a ripple affect, and cause others to arise with fearlessness.

Hopefully, the US attempt at censorship, and murder without consequence, will backfire.

For more information on the controversial carbon sequestration on Hopiland and today's meeting, see: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com Related:
US media downplays Pentagon assassination unithttp://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/wikiwoes-in-us-corporate-media
US military barred from viewing Wikileaks:http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/08/06/129026905/u-s-troops-can-t-access-wikileaks-website-the-washington-times-reports

-----------------------------------------------------------------
WIKILEAKS
http://www.wikileaks.ch/wiki/Canadian_Mohawk_wiretaps_injuncted_stories_2008
Context



Canada
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Globe and Mail, Canadian Press, Attorney General of Ontario
Primary language
English
File size in bytes
4893891
File type information
Zip archive data, at least v2.0 to extract
Cryptographic identity
SHA256 88b71d61b29565c53ef1f189c44253a565a8ab077cbe049a7622693b96c18892
Description (as provided by our source)


On June 29, 2007 a group of Mohawks from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory blocked the CN Railway Line running through their territory, the Highway 401, and Highway 2 to protest conditions on Native reserves across Canada and the Government of Canada's sluggishness in resolving outstanding land claims. Blockade spokesman Shawn Brant faces multiple charges stemming from these actions, and the Crown prosecutor is currently seeking a 12 year minimum sentence.
During the preliminary inquiry to Shawn Brant's trial, it came out that the Ontario Provincial Police, headed by Commissioner Julian Fantino, had been using wiretaps on more than a dozen different Mohawks without a judge's authorization, an action almost unheard of recent history in Canada. Those conversations between Julian Fantino and Shawn Brant were presented as testimony during the pre-trial hearing.
The Crown obtained a publication ban during the preliminary inquiry, which was challenged last week by the Canadian Broadcasting Company after they found out that the O.P.P. had officers posing as cameramen during the Day of Action, a tactic that has recently been condemned by the Ipperwash Inquiry.
The publication ban was lifted by a judge on Thursday, July 17th, 2008. A number of news agencies published initial analysis on the testimony. The next day, July 18th, the Ontario Court of Appeal ordered the publication ban re-instated until an appeal hearing next week.
The attached zip file includes:
- News stories from the CBC (CBC.doc) and Globe and Mail (Globe.doc) covering the testimony after the ban was lifted and before it was re-instated, causing all of these stories to be removed from the internet;
- A video broadcast from CBC News (OPP.mov) covering the story after the ban was lifted and before it was re-instated;
- A media advisory from the Attorney General of Ontario ordering media outlets to cease publication of news relating to the preliminary inquiry evidence and to take information down from all websites;
- An article from the Canadian Press (CP.doc) documenting Shawn Brant's lawyers reaction to the re-instating of the publication ban.
For files:
http://www.wikileaks.ch/wiki/Canadian_Mohawk_wiretaps_injuncted_stories_2008

Indigenous Alliance without Borders Statement on Southern Border Indigenous Peoples Issues

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

Photo: Alianza 2008/by Brenda Norrell

Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras Statement on Southern Border Indigenous Peoples Issues

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lipan Apache: Knowledge, Lands and Human Rights June 24-26, 2011

Two more arrests as Indigenous protest Border Patrol and militarization

Alex Soto: 602.881.6027
stopbordermilitarization@gmail.com
http://www.oodhamsolidarity.blogspot.com/
http://www.survivalsolidarity.wordpress.com/
Border Patrol Headquarters Occupation Protesters Stand Trial to Fight Charges

Two Arrested During March to End Border Militarization and Racist Laws
Press statement
TUCSON – On February 23, more than 40 protesters took to the streets – two were arrested – while six people who locked-down and occupied the US Border Patrol Tucson Headquarters on May 21, 2010 stood trial fighting charges of "criminal trespassing" and “disorderly conduct.”

Lawyers William G. Walker and Jeffrey J. Rogers represented the six as the city prosecutor called Border Patrol agents and Tucson Police to testify. The defense argued the trespassing charge was not properly filed and were granted a request to file a memorandum addressing the technicality. The trial is expected to continue on March 22, 2011. Corresponding rallies and actions are being planned.

At 1:30 pm people gathered in downtown Tucson at Library Park for a rally and then took the streets with banners reading, “Indigenous Resistance, Protect Sacred Places”, “Free Movement for People Not Commerce, Tear Down the Wall” and chanting “No Borders, No Border Patrol.”

Two people were arrested for allegedly hanging a banner that read “Las Paredes Vueltas de su Lado son Puentes (Torn Down Walls Become Bridges)” on a street traffic light. They were arraigned and released at 8 pm at Pima County Corrections.

Additional banners were hung at various locations throughout Tucson stating “Egypt, Wisconsin, O’odham Solidarity," “No raids, No deportations, No colonialism” and “Stop Militarization on Indigenous Lands."

O’odham Elders attended the court proceedings to demonstrate their support.
Donations can be made to support direct action efforts through Border Opposition Action Fund at http://www.borderopposition.blogspot.com/

END BORDER MILITARIZATION NOW!
Communiqué from the occupiers of the Border Patrol Headquarters in Tucson, Arizona

We demand that the Border Patrol (BP), Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), their parent entity, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Obama administration end militarization of the border, end the criminalization of immigrant communities, and end their campaign of terror which rips families apart through increasing numbers of raids and deportations.

The state thrives off of the climate of terror and fear that racist laws like HB2281 and SB1070, and new proposed laws like SB1611, 1308, 1309, 1405, have caused. This terror also manifests with thousands of troops invading indigenous lands, such as the Tohono O’odham, Yaqui, Kickapoo, Lipan Apache, to name a few. Since the creation of the current U.S./Mexico border, 45 O’odham villages on or near the border have been completely depopulated. This terror manifests with the bones of thousands – making the southern Arizona desert a grave yard, where the hopes and dreams of migrant families are stomped into the ground by border patrol agents, National Guard, minute men, and profiteering coyotes.

Through the military strategy of terror and fear the state maintains power and control.

We take direct action because we have decided not to be afraid. We are more afraid of not standing up to the state and what other crimes against humanity will be committed if it remains unchallenged.

We are not guilty of criminal trespassing or disorderly conduct.

The state, and by extension the border patrol, is guilty of occupying and destroying indigenous communities and ripping families apart. The development of the border wall has led to desecration of ancestor’s graves, it has divided communities and prevents them from accessing sacred places. When will this end?

These buildings, the court house, are made of brick and mortar and are the same brick and mortar that are the operation streamline immigration court just down the street. It is a direct manifestation of this system’s criminalization, where in the 3 hours that we’re in court today, nearly 100 people will be detained, adjudicated and deported through the streamline process.

Who are these building for? Who do they benefit? These are the same brick and mortar prisons are made of. It’s the same steel and concrete that is ripped from Mother Earth that’s used to build the border wall.

Politicians aren’t going to negotiate away our oppression. They are sitting in the chairs in their offices that are built on it. Our oppressors can only maintain their oppression as long as we are afraid of them.

If they are not going to do it, then we are going to find creative and direct ways to ensure that our communities are safe. We recognize that this is not going to happen within the walls of these institutions, these walls, these borders. It’s only going to happen if we tear them down. What does that look like?

Let’s come together, strategize, and embrace diverse tactics to effectively become the answer.

Today we also shed the term immigrant that has been used to attack our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, and children, many of whom are also indigenous, and to acknowledge and help restore the full human dignity that has been stripped away. To be immigrant should not be considered a crime unless 99 % of the U.S. is going to be ashamed and guilty of their pasts.

Our relatives are attacked on both sides of the border by colonial governments. The migration that the U.S. government is attempting to stop is driven more than anything else by the economic policies of the U.S. Free trade agreements such as NAFTA have severely reduced the ability of Mexicans and others from the global south to sustain themselves by permitting corporations to extract huge amounts of wealth and resources from these countries into the U.S. This has led to millions of people risking the terror and death that so many face to cross into the U.S. looking for ways to better support their families.

If the U.S. really intends on reducing migration it must end its policies of exploitation and wealth extraction targeted at the global south and instead pursue policies of economic, environmental and social justice for all human beings on the planet, thus reducing the drive to immigrate. But are they really going to do that?
Direct Action is about Direct Democracy. Building community is about communication, having respect for each other and doing something.
This is a struggle for freedom of movement and self-determination for all!
No racist laws, No colonial borders, WE WILL NOT STOP!
~NO BORDERS NO BORDER PATROL~

MUSIC VIDEO O'odham's Shining Soul: 'Papers' Militarization of Border

SHINING SOUL MUSIC VIDEO "PAPERS"

WEBSITE: http://www.shiningsoul-music.blogspot.com/
DOWNLOAD AT: http://www.shiningsoulmusic.bandcamp.com
EMAIL: WORKWITHSHININGSOUL@GMAIL.COM

"The militarization of the U.S./Mexico border
has led only to cultural and environmental destruction
of the indigenous peoples whose land is on or near
the border, such as the O'odham, Yaqui
and Lipan Apache Nations.

Border Militarization brings death and terror
to indigenous peoples from other parts
of the continent migrating to this land.

The immigration struggle is also
an Indigenous struggle. '

NO BORDERS!
FREE MOVEMENT FOR ALL!"

MORE INFO PLEASE CHECK THESE SITES:
http://www.facebook.com/l/ZAQDrFLzOAQCAelDlL4wmAxklHT4d5IUTU49oQdUizRfpnA/oodhamsolidarity.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/l/RAQALbGrzAQAjGR2YosfaYsMtPjsQbdM7bLQg68gOLIrDcA/www.solidarity-project.org
http://www.facebook.com/l/gAQBmGAjZAQAdgNiGUNhkQK57XjO2xSPgT-Jgivg_LIEgEA/survivalsolidarity.wordpress.com

http://www.facebook.com/l/MAQA5IlnqAQCseITTcTy59-5Hih8wOFsbM48ZE5zH8j63Yw/www.borderopposition.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/l/WAQCOamD6AQB8g3VO2B5xwAhkCKuVuHgE1agYvyF86550Ow/lipanapachecommunitydefense.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/l/sAQDr0b3VAQCRV67GT49_K6dt81PkYa1oQPAVRJ7eLLkyiQ/chaparralrespectsnoborders.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/l/KAQDJvuzwAQDZ0Nd3PuE4N2qCa6Tqz8LBAFLWIS9vNyVDnQ/firesneverextinguished.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/l/SAQBgXRo4AQDH25ouvsyJaXNKF8omMo9BtSELaLIxihi7Pg/sb1070resistance.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/l/6AQDwTVRUAQD3ci9obG33qkeRNMQCv1DVG25QX0nocFH3lQ/www.taalahooghan.org

http://www.facebook.com/l/LAQCRhAG6AQCSCgJkXWczQ2wNkEDnJjxhDxEh0CXtxePU7g/dryriver.org

ABOUT SHINING SOUL:
Straight outta occupied O'odham jewed in southern Arizona, Shining Soul is a grassroots duo based in Phoenix. Shining Soul's unique vintage means of beat production, and down to earth, empowering rhyme delivery is reminiscent of Hip-Hop's early days, when beats and rhymes took priority. Using Hip-Hop as a tool to get their voices out, Shining Soul pushes the margins by discussion issues that affect the communities they each originate from, while sharing and maintaining the essence of Hip-Hop culture that empowered them to take up arms via beats and rhymes.
HIP HOP IS RESISTANCE:
As life-long admirers and now participants, Shining Soul, have greatly benefited from Hip Hop culture. From first hearing Blackstar's “Respiration” to Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel's “The Message”, the seeds of Hip Hop were planted in our souls. We now want to share that essence and knowledge that inspired us to pick up the mic and sampler years ago.
In our journey, we use emceeing as a platform to speak about the struggles that our respective communities face. Border Militarization, the Criminalization of People of Color, Police Brutality and the Desecration of Sacred Places are our realities today.
In our efforts, we use Hip Hop as a tool to empower community, especially youth, by informing them of the issues via dope beats, dope rhymes, and by providing context of the struggles we face. We challenge them to take effective action in their communities using music and creativity as a weapon.
The element of rap allows us to speak. We hope our music, beat making projects and overall message that "Hip Hop is Resistance" inspires others to think critically of the world we live in, so we can challenge the imperialistic pillars that attack us everyday (Capitalism, Patriarchy, White Supremacy and Colonization), in hopes to appreciate and respect all the beauty and power that that originates from our dignified cultures.
This is why we are resisting.
That is why we fight.
So we can be who we are.
OUR existence is OUR resistance.
HIP HOP IS RESISTANCE
http://www.facebook.com/l/6AQDwTVRUAQDl2qSPCUOByZRaDy_tly5O1k3J7uaicbwRdQ/shiningsoul-music.blogspot.com

Censored News holiday gift, best free software

ree and really cheap: Software and equipment for virus protection and online audio production

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

This holiday season, I'm sending all Censored News readers a special gift, a list of the best free software on the web. After crossing America on the Longest Walk and the Earthcycles radio bus headed home, I began to search out free software for audios.
Before getting started with the free audio software, I want to recommend AVG free anti-virus software. It can save you a great deal of money each year and is recommended by PC magazine. If you're not always online, you will need to make sure you regularly update it, as there are constantly new attacks and new protections released. Free AVG download: http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10320142.html
All the software tips here are for beginners, PC users.
To edit audio, I've been using the free Audacity and it is great for beginners. I use it just to pick out clips and sections of long recordings. It is also a top recommendation of PC magazine. Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
One of the great finds, thanks to radio host Robin Carneen at NAMAPAHH radio, was the free Blog Talk Radio. It takes a little practice for beginners, but the switchboard if fairly easy. You will need a talk show host and to upload your own original recordings, but it is a great free source to broadcast a radio show. (The host telephone number to call in to do the show is not an 800 number. There's no 800 number for callin guests either, so regular phone charges apply.) http://www.blogtalkradio.com/
At Earthcycles radio, produced by Govinda Dalton, we use tiny digital voice recorders for interviews, purchased at Radio Shack (Olympus brand for about $85.) The sound quality is excellent and we never ran out of space. Sony also makes a superb digital voice recorder (about $100 at Target) which produces mp3 files. It is good to get the type voice recorder that plugs right into your computer's USB port to transfer the files. You also have to save each audio file individually on most computers.
The sound quality of these tiny recorders is superior to more expensive radio equipment that we tried out during our lengthy broadcasts in 2008.
If you are using a recorder that produces a wav format, you can use Free Rip free software,
to transform the heavy wav to the lighter mp3 (necessary to upload large files at Blog Talk Radio.) http://www.freerip.com/download.php
Now for online calls, there's Skype. I downloaded this many times and removed it before I actually started using it. It was a real lifesaver this week and allowed me to record the Lipan Apache 'No Border Wall' press conference for $1.80. Skype is free for computer to computer calls, but there is a small charge when your computer dials a regular phone (2 cents a minute or unlimited US for $2.95 a month.) Skype is another recommendation of PC magazine. http://www.skype.com/ww.skype.com/
For recording the press conference, I used the 30-day free trial of Callburner, which works great and produces the much needed mp3. http://www.callburner.com/
Callburner is pricey to purchase, so now I'm now searching for a high quality free recorder for phone interviews. Any suggestions?
When I first started out, I needed a place just to "park" huge audio files, so I went to the free Driveway. I discovered it makes widgets also, so those same recordings can play on the web by placing the code on a website. Widgets are just a bunch of code you can stick in the html box of your blog. (It is best to use mp3s for the Firefox brower's playback.) http://www.driveway.com/
If you receive pdf files for your website, and you can't post those, there's free software to switch those to jpegs at Soft Interface: http://www.softinterface.com/Convert-Image-To-PDF/Convert-Tiff-To-PDF.htm
If you are new to computers, it is best to have a friend explain downloads and the danger of viruses, because not all free downloads are safe for your computer. You can open the door to viruses if you are not aware of the dangers.
Also, if you are new to computers, have a friend show you how to clean your computer, by using the delete option under tools (Tools/Internet) to remove cookies and temporary files. If you're a new user, have a friend show you how to run the virus scanner to remove viruses, cookies and spyware.
If your computer is running slow, also run the "defragmenter" on your computer which puts everything back in place. You can usually find it by searching your own computer for "defragmenter."
Finally, if you want to buy a digital camera for about $150, but don't know where to begin, the Canon digital cameras in this price range score high on all consumer reports. (I use the Canon A570, but the Canons in the 900 and 1000 series are said to be even better.) Here's more great cameras recomended at CNET: http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-camera-reviews/?filter=100021_10061970_&tag=centerColumnArea1.0
If you take a large number of digital photos, high quality rechargeable batteries will save you hundreds of dollars each year. To prevent hassles, get a one hour charger and a couple of sets of batteries (about $20 to $30 at discount stores.) I found the Kodak rechargeable excellent, but couldn't find those this time, so now I'm trying out Duracell rechargeables.
After Christmas the big computer chains usually run sales. I bought a great laptop computer, a Compaq Presario, the one I smashed after the Longest Walk, for $399 last December. So check the sales in the local newspaper. Here's five cheap laptops recomended by PC World:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/154358/top_5_netbooks.html
For all the best free software recommended by PC magazine, go to:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2260070,00.aspmag.com/article2/0,2817,2260070,00.asp
Finally, if you have tips about free or really cheap software or equipment, please e-mail me, brendanorrell@gmail.com
Happy holidays! Brenda
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
PHOTO TOP: November 1940. Tehama County, California. John Frost and his daughter listening to the radio in their home. View full size. Medium format safety negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration.

EAGLE PASS: Native Groups Lead Action Against Dos Republicas Coal Mine

.

Native Groups Lead Historic Action Against Dos Republicas Coal Mine

By Matt Johnson and Olka Forster

Censored News

Dutch translation by Alice Holemans, NAIS at:

http://www.denaisgazet.be/nieuws/navajo-protest-peabody-coal-moet-betalen

EAGLE PASS, Texas -- Native American Groups gathered for a historic rally and march to protest the open-pit coal strip mine in Eagle Pass, Tex. The protesters called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers  to rescind the mine’s permit, halt expansion and protect the land from further destruction. 

The project, owned by Dos Republicas Coal Partnership, mines lignite coal, which is transported by train from Maverick County across the border to be burned in a Mexican coal-fired power plant. The mine began operating several months ago, despite widespread local public opposition, and is harming the ancestral homelands of many Native groups and damaging sacred lands and more than 100 archaeological sites.

“This mine has already caused irreparable damage, destroying multiple burial sites and erasing our cultural heritage in the process,” said Maria Torres, Tribal Chairwoman of the Pacuache Clan of Texas. “This land is our patrimonial heritage, and it holds the story of our ancient aboriginal people -- how we lived and how we died. When we lose access to our land and to the ancient wildlife of the area, from the jaguarundi and ocelot to crucial plant life, we lose part of our heritage and our connection with Mother Earth.”

Many Native groups say they were not properly consulted by Federal agencies as required prior to granting the permits necessary for the coal mine to open. The project also faced widespread local opposition. More than eight thousand Eagle Pass residents and allies signed a petition in opposition to the Dos Republicas mine before its opening.

"This project is the worst example of environmental injustice I've seen,” said Dr. Jonathan Hook, former Director of Environmental Justice and Tribal Affairs for the EPA, Cherokee Nation citizen and Maverick County resident. “Everything about it is wrong. Given the incomplete processes and potential damage to one of the most vulnerable communities in the country, the Dos Republicas mine should have been stopped before it even started."

Representatives from the Lipan Apache Band of Texas, Pacuache Band Coahuiltecan Nation, Carrizo-Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, and American Indian Movement of Central Texas were present at the Saturday event, which included Native drumming, and other cultural expressions along with large banners, signs, and puppets.

“Native leaders, tribal members and allies from across the country are uniting here today, and they join thousands from the area who are standing up against this disastrous project," said Dr. Tane Ward, and Native and decolonial organizer working with the Sierra Club. "It’s unclear why the state of Texas has been so supportive of the controversial mining project. Not only does it harm culturally rich and historic land, the Dos Republicas mine threatens the safety and livelihood of those who live nearby all so the coal can be shipped to Mexico and burned in coal plants. It's time for this dangerous project to be stopped, once and for all."

.

Photo above Pablo Mancias