Mohawk Warriors support Lakotas' withdrawl from US

“LAKOTA NATION” CONFIRMED - THEY ARE NOT PART OF THE U.S. – PRECEDENT FOR OTHER INDIGENOUS PEOPLES? CAN RETHINKING OF “U.S.” & “CANADA” BE
FAR BEHIND? [Story of the year]

By Kahentinetha Horn
Mohawk Nation News
Dec. 25, 2007. The times, they are a changin’. Go to the http://www.lakotafreedom.com/ website. There you’ll see Canupa Gluha Mani of the Strong Heart Warrior Society of the Lakota Nation cutting up his colonial driver’s license. He’s doing this because on December 17th 2007 the Lakota delivered their “Declaration of Continuing Independence," just in time for the Winter Solstice ...
Should all Indigenous nations of Onowaregeh, Turtle Island, assert our freedom and independence, what would happen? The action of the“Lakota” is going to have repercussions far and wide.The colonists would go out of business, especially the oligarchs. They would have to work out agreements with all the Indigenous people on whose land they are squatting. Indigenous “liens” on buildings,development, resource extraction and all activities on our land will have to be governed and executed by us. Each Indigenous nation will assert our power over our lands, assets and resources. The colonies of U.S.and Canada will just have to become law abiding. They will have to learn to respect indigenous and international law.
Read article:
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2007/12/mohawk-warriors-support-lakotas.html

Listen online to Canupa Gluha Mani describe the three and one-half year process leading up to the Lakota Freedom Delegation's withdrawl from treaties:
"I encourage other nations to rise and up and do the same."
"Rise up and take back what is yours, that is what is called freedom."
Canupa Gluha Mani interview - 5.6M Canupa Gluha Mani answers questions about the delegation, timing of the event, present hopes and fears of the Lakota people, encouragements to other nations to rise up. Some parts spoken in Lakota language.
Recorded 12-25-07 in Asheville, North Carolina
e-mail:: lovestopsfear (at) gmail (dot) com

Google Breaking News:
Turkish Warplanes Continue Raids on Northern Iraq (Lakotas declare sovereignty)
Democracy Now, NY - 42 minutes ago Longtime Indian rights activist Russell Means said: “We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area ...
Sioux Indians of Lakota Tribe Tell State Dept. of Succession
The Moderate Voice - Dec 24, 2007 The leader of the group, writer, actor and activist Russell Means, submitted a letter to State Department officials announcing their decision to sever ...
Russell Means Goes to Washington CounterPunch, CA - Dec 24, 2007 When Columbus waded ashore and said that he, "was taking possession of this island for the King and Queen," why is it not right for Dr. Russell Means to go ...
Blast from the Past
Free Liberal, VA - Dec 23, 2007 The article, which was published in 1987, was about Russell Means, who was Ron Paul's contender for the Libertarian Party nomination at the time. ...
Lakota Sioux Declare Sovereign Nation Status
OpEdNews, PA - Dec 23, 2007 “This is an historic day for our Lakota people,” declared Russell Means, Itacan of Lakota. “United States colonial rule is at its end! ...

Reader comment from Nakima:
We have been a sovereign nation since 1868. I am Lakota. I am also the head editor of Medicine Winds News, a Native American newspaper. My people did not go quietly into the night, as the U.S. government wishes we would. We did not assimilate like the borgs of Star Trek. We have stood firmly and resolutely. For 33 years we have waited patiently. Thirty-three, the number given to us at the International Indian Treaty Council drew together more than 5000 delegates representing 98 Indian tribes and Nations from North and South America. This manifesto, representing the wisdom of thousands of people, their Ancestors, and the Great Mystery explicitly supports the rights of Indigenous Nations to live free and to take whatever actions necessary for sovereignty. In thirty-three years not one step was taken to enforce the treaties signed back in 1851 and 1868, let's put this into perspective.
If some nation, say imagineland signed a treaty with us for peace, then failed to live up to that agreement what do you think the United States would do? What did we do when China failed after Tiananmen Square? They placed sanctions on the trade of China. Well, members of the United Nations are supporting our efforts to force the U.S. into fulfilling its agreements with us. We are SOVEREIGN NATIONS. In other words we are only under U.S. rule by us voluntarily fulfilling our agreements ie. treaties. Like The Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Marianas are all sovereign nations under U.S. rule, in the same way as 539 Native American nations. Do you think any of these would remain territories of the U.S. if the U.S. failed to fulfill those treaties? Of course not! As separate entities bound by treaty we are not committing treason, we are demanding a fulfillment of a contract that is 150 years old and still not completed.

Photo: Lakota Freedom Delegation.

Uncensored: Mining is genocide for Indigenous Peoples

Navajos gathered with Indigenous Peoples from throughout the Americas to plan strategies to oppose mining in September in Tucson. Censored blog readers say that the genocide resulting from mining is the second most censored issue in Indian country. It follows the number one most censored issue of the silencing of traditional and grassroots Indian voices. The following article appeared in the Navajo Times print edition and is republished online with permission.
It is the fourth in the series from the conference:
Cry from the top of the world, Arctic sea ice is melting
Peru's Indigenous Peoples arise in defense of Earth from mining
Mayans in Guatemala: 'No Compromise,' halt gold mining

Navajos join global effort to halt mining in Indigenous territories

By Brenda Norrell
Special to Navajo Times

TUCSON, Ariz. – Navajos joined Indigenous Peoples from the Americas to organize opposition to mining that is poisoning the air, water and land of Indian people, at the Western Mining Action Network Conference.
With the Bush administration accelerating the expansion of uranium mines, coalmines, power plants and oil and gas drilling, American Indians in the United States joined in solidarity to halt mining, during the conference held Sept. 28 -29, at the Hotel Arizona.
Louise Benally, Navajo from Big Mountain, said, “Mother Earth is going to be butchered if all these mining operations are admitted. The Indigenous Peoples must act because they are connected to Mother Nature and Mother Earth.
“Desert Rock is not a good plan. We already have four power plants in the area, we don’t need a fifth one. We need to establish a moratorium on coal mining and power plants, the same way we did with the moratorium on uranium mining.
“We need to stop the uranium mining on Mount Taylor. We need to stop all the uranium mining before we are left with nothing.
“All the beasts need to be removed,” Benally said in an interview. She said those “beasts” endangering the land and people include Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr., Navajo Speaker Lawrence Morgan and the federal elected leaders in Washington D.C.
“We need tribal leaders that will honor the people over tribal profit,” Benally said, adding that tribal leaders often receive kickbacks to support corporations seeking leases.
“The Navajo Nation tribal government is not a ‘Navajo Tribal Government,’ it is a corporate-controlled business.”
Benally said Navajo politicians, in their campaigns, make promises that are thrown by the wayside once they are in office. There, they become corporate-controlled.
“They need to come off of their high horse. We need to preserve our resources for the future generations.”
Western Shoshone Carrie Dann, leading the fight against nuclear testing and gold mining in Shoshone territories that are guaranteed by the Treaty of Ruby Valley, agreed with Benally. Dann said the root of the problem for Indian Nations is the fact that the United States pressured Indian Nations to establish IRA governments in order for the federal government to control tribes. Dann said since the tribes are held in trust, then ultimately it is the Department of Interior who is in control and making the decisions.
“Whose interest is the BIA really protecting? It is the Department of Interior that provides the BIA’s bread and butter,” Dann said in an interview. Dann added that the U.S. Congress is just as much to blame as President Bush for the attacks on the sovereignty and natural resources of Indian Nations.
In Canada, Dene were victims of Cold War uranium mining, just as their relatives, the Dine’ in the south. Now, Flora Natomagan, Dene, of the Hatchet Lake Band, First Nation in Saskatchewan, said there are new threats of uranium mining in the region, traditionally used for fishing and trapping.
Natomagan, who previously served as chief, said the Dene people survive on the fish and caribou and never stop to ask if their food has been contaminated by uranium exploration and mining. Earlier, there was a spill at McLean Lake.
Now, with new uranium mining exploration, she said, “They always say it is safe, but we know it is not safe.” Dene now have high rates of cancer, asthma and other diseases, she said.
Traditionally, people have always moved seasonally for fishing, trapping and hunting caribou, living seasonally on the lakes. Now, with the climate changing, their lives are affected because the migration patterns of their food sources are changing.
Natomagan’s grandfather first noticed the change in the trees in 1972, when tree branches began pointing upward, rather than downward. “The trees changed their form and the environment began to change.
“The whole world sees it, but pretends not to see it,” she said of global climate change.
Twa-le Abrahamson, Spokane Nation youth with the grassroots SHAWL Society, said she came to the conference to learn from Navajos about how Navajos deal with the aftermath of Cold War uranium mining.
Although many of the Spokane uranium miners have died from cancer and other mining-related diseases, there are still those who remember the radioactive yellow dust brought home to the families. In one family, where six out of seven family members developed cancer, she said, “They remembered flipping the mattress over and the yellow cloud of smoke that came up.”
On the Spokane Nation, radioactive rocks from uranium mining remain in driveways and elsewhere, she said.
Indigenous Peoples came from as far away as Peru and Guatemala to organize opposition to mining and learn from one another’s struggles. Closer to home, Manny Pino, Acoma Pueblo and member of Laguna Acoma Coalition for a Safe Environment, said recently the All Indian Pueblo Council in Albuquerque joined Navajos in opposing uranium mining and milling adjacent to Mount Taylor, sacred to tribes in the region.
Dailan Long, Navajo from Burnham Chapter, N.M., and member of Dine’ Citizens Against Ruining our Environment, said the expansion of the BHP Navajo Mine, by 17,000 acres, is among the concerns, as it violates protocol of the National Environmental Protection Act.
“They intend to expand the coal mines without letting the local people know,” he said. “When you burn coal, you produce ash, which is highly toxic. What they want to do is refill the mining pits with coal ash.”
Long said the Four Corners Power Plant has 40 tons of coal ash and San Juan Generating Station has another 50 to 60 tons of coal ash. “There is about 120 tons of unregulated coal ash sitting out there. It has been categorized as the largest mine fill site in the United States and it is sitting out there unregulated.”
Long said contamination is leaking from the site and draining into the communities, including Fruitland, Shiprock and Hogback in New Mexico. Now, he said, plans for the Desert Rock Power Plant are exposing the long-term effects of coal mining and power plants for Navajos. Mining effects include water issues, relocation, mine expansion, air quality and health, he said in an interview.
“This project is genocide,” Long said, referring to Desert Rock and the cumulative effects of coal mining and power plants on Navajo health and the environment in the Four Corners area.
Tom Goldtooth, Navajo/Dakota and director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, said Indian people in the United States live in a society that has abrogated Treaty rights and disrespected sacred places.
While some struggle to find common ground on sustainable mining, Goldtooth questions if there are any methods to extract mercury, uranium, gold, copper or zinc from the earth in a way that respects the traditions of Indigenous Peoples.
"I haven't found any mining technology that is sustainable. Some aspect always contaminates our water, our earth, our air,” Goldtooth said in an interview.
Wahleah Johns, Navajo from Forest Lake and member of the Black Mesa Water Coalition, said the conference brought together Indian people from throughout Turtle Island affected by hard rock mining. Listening to personal stories offered strength and networking to halt mining.
“It is a great space to be in,” Johns said.

Photos by Brenda Norrell

Happy holidays from a Dine' poet

A LUCKY SOUL

by Chuck Hedin
Dine'

Peacefully, a homeless man sleeps
His crumbling cardboard shelter leaks
Scent of oil from old train tracks
Red brick factories blemished in black
Smokestacks tower to the sky
Stretching his arms, he breathes out a sigh…
Factory whistles create various sounds
Company inspectors make their rounds
With engineer hats and aching backs
Heavy iron engines roll down the tracks.
Pigeons flutter in window shutters
Steam escapes from many gutters
Holding a cigarette with trembling fingers
He strikes a match, the sulfur lingers.
Gazing about, with nothing to hide,
Casting several bottles aside.
Wild cats frightened of every sound
Wind blown papers whirl around.
Shaking tattered clothes about
Toes inflamed with painful gout.
Tugging on thread bare socks,
He saunters on to warehouse docks.
Someone beckons him to step forward.
Now, he doesn’t feel so morbid.A chance to work an honest day,
Finally luck, is on his plate today.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS