UC Berkeley: Grandmother oak fed to wood chipper

UC Berkeley feeds grandmother oak to wood chipper, destroys sacred grove and jails tree sitters

By Morning Star Gali
Photo by Brenda Norrell
Dear friends of the Memorial Oak Grove,
Today, after 648 days, the treesitters and the University of California reached an agreement that brought the Oak Grove treesit to an end.
The treesitters agreed to come down voluntarily, and University representatives agreed that they would make a public statement that the University will create new ways for the community to be involved in land use decisions going forward. What form precisely that will take is yet to be determined.
It is up to the community to ensure that the format is substantial, and that the community is involved in the beginning, brainstorm phases and on an ongoing basis with land use.
The University representatives and treesit supporters agreed that confrontations are in no one's best interest, and it is a mutually shared interest for real cooperation to take place.
The supporters of the treesitters have made a request for bail funds... please visit:http://oaksarrestees.org/click on "donate"or if you'd rather send a check, make it out to "Oaks Arrestees Defense Committee" and mail it to....Oaks Arrestees Defense Committes1610 North Normandie Avenue, #210Hollywood, California, 90027
Many brave souls are in jail right now, including the four treesitters who surrendered to the UC Police (Huck, Mondo, Shem, and Ernesto), as well several ground supporters who were arrested today.
Also, Native American leader and organizer Morningstar Gali requested that UC Police honor a prior commitment they made to allow the Native Community to enter the remains of the grove and place tobacco at the stump of the Grandmother Oak once the treesitters come down. Thus far, UC Police have refused to respond to this request. If you agree that UC Police should allow the ceremony to happen, please call the office of Chief of Police Victoria Harrison at 510-642-1133 to express your views, or send an email to vlh@berkeley.edu.
Furthermore, treesit supporters want the stump of the Grandmother Oak returned to the Native community so that they may create drums and other religious artifacts. If you agree, please state this desire as well when you contact Chief Harrison.
The Memorial Oak Grove is regarded as a sacred place to Native American people and is documented as such by UC Berkeley's own Anthropology Department. There is evidence of 2 shell mounds sites in the area, with 19 ancestral remains found within them. Along with UC Berkeley's attempt to develop on a sacred place, they are guilty of housing over 17,000 sacred remains and objects. UCB currently holds the largest human remains collection in the United States of which it is not in compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)
Morning Star described the importance of this area, when the destruction began last week.
"I brought my five year old daughter and two month old son out today to bear witness to the massacre of sacred life," said Morning Star Gali of the Pit River Tribe and co-chair of Advocates to Protect Sacred Sites. "The cops responded by yelling to move them behind the median. I asked if they would stand by as complacent if it was their grandmother’s gravesites being desecrated. I want my children here to witness the destruction of sacred life and how important it is to protect it. I wanted them to witness the cops, arborists and UC Officials that participated and cheered as the trees came crashing down from bulldozers. This exhibits the ongoing Human Rights abuses committed by the University. They refuse to comply with NAGPRA by holding 13,000 of our ancestors remains hostage, they illegally reorganized NAGPRA with no tribal consultation and now they continue to desecrate sacred burial grounds."The Memorial Grove is a native Coast Live Oak ecosystem. Native oaks support the most complex terrestrial ecosystems in California. The California Native Plant Society CNPS has stated that the Memorial Oak Grove is “an important gene bank for the Coast Live Oak.” Every one of the oaks in the grove should be protect by law and the Berkeley Coast Live Oak moratorium forbids cutting mature Coast Live Oaks in Berkeley. UC refuses to recognize the law. The grove is also part of a National Historic Site. The Stadium and landscape is a memorial to Californians who died in World War I.
The treesitters say that they sincerely thank you for your love, your time, your letters, your food, your water, your witnessing, your words, your presence. We know many of you contributed deeply to this campaign in many ways, and many of those contributions have gone unrecognized and unseen. So know that whether your participation was visible or not, the treesitters say that your support for them -- and most importantly, for the trees -- is deeply appreciated.
This email list is obviously winding down, although it is possible that something new that relates to community relationships with UC could be created. Stay tuned for that.
If you're curious what ground supporters are up to now, you can reach them at 510 938 2109. And again, ground support says a way to help out those who have done so much is to visit:
http://oaksarrestees.org/
Sincerely,
Your friends from the Oak Grove

Photo: Long Walkers gathered with the grandmother oak for prayers at the beginning of the Longest Walk in Feb. 2008/Photo Brenda Norrell

Organizations ready lawsuits against police in convention cities

Published on Tuesday, September 9, 2008 by The Hill.com
Organizations Ready Lawsuits Against Police In Convention Cities
by Jordy Yager
Republished from Common Dreams:
www.commondreams.org/

Political activists and legal groups are preparing to file multiple lawsuits against the cities and police departments of Denver and St. Paul because of their treatment of convention protesters.
Police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse protesters outside the Republican convention last week. Political activists and legal groups are preparing to file multiple lawsuits against the cities and police departments of Denver and St. Paul because of their treatment of convention protesters. (Times Online/UK)The groups say protesters demonstrating against the war in Iraq and other issues in both cities were mistreated and their civil rights were violated.
The National Lawyers Guild of Minnesota is preparing multiple suits against authorities in St. Paul on behalf of protesters, according to the group. They say protesters were illegally detained and their First Amendment rights were violated.
"Over the course of the week people here in the Twin Cities saw a level of police repression that was unheard of for us," said Jess Sundin, a spokesman for the Coalition to March on the RNC [Republican National Convention] and Stop the War. "But I was very impressed that people came out anyway and demonstrated tremendous strength and conviction."
She said she believed the thousands of delegates, politicians and members of the media who descended on the city last week heard their messages clearly.
More than 800 were arrested at the GOP convention in St. Paul - many fewer than the 1,800 arrested at the 2004 GOP convention in New York City.
Re-Create 68, a protest group in Denver, plans to file similar suits against Denver authorities. They also complain that detained protesters were held in extremely cold cells.
Far more people were arrested at this year's Democratic National Convention in Denver than in the previous convention in Boston. More than 150 people were arrested in Denver, compared to six in Boston.
Protest groups charged Denver authorities with using excessive force against protesters in several instances.
They cite the case of Alicia Forrest, who was arrested during a Denver protest. Video of Forrest being shoved to the ground by a policeman wielding a baton has been viewed over 328,000 times in a YouTube video taken by the Rocky Mountain News.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is planning to represent her in a lawsuit against the city and the police department.
Also in Denver, an ABC News reporter was arrested and charged with trespassing and interfering with official business as he and a camera crew attempted to take pictures of Democratic senators and donors leaving a private meeting at a hotel. He was released on $500 bond later that day and has continued to garner support from civil rights groups.
"Arresting a reporter for simply doing his job is both unconstitutional and un-American," said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU, in a statement. "That free speech is curtailed during the Democratic convention underscores the need for continued protection of civil liberties, regardless of the party in power."
Tear gas, pepper spray and police in riot gear were a common sight at both conventions, but several instances of vandalism and property destruction added to the mayhem of the St. Paul protests. Anarchists and demonstrators broke from permitted marches and smashed store windows, lit fires in the street and damaged a police cruiser.
St. Paul police said while they hoped the week would have resulted in fewer arrests, they also had worried that more of the estimated 8,000 demonstrators would be violent.
"It's unfortunate, but on balance I think it's fewer than some people expected," said Tom Walsh, a spokesman for St. Paul police. "We had planned for much more violent activity [than occurred], but we were able to intervene."
One reason might be the aggressive actions police took in advance of the convention.
The weekend before the RNC began, police raided local houses and arrested at least five members of protest groups, such as the RNC Welcoming Committee. Police obtained items they said were to be used against police, including roofing nails, ropes, computers and cell phones. They also charged those arrested with conspiracy to riot.
Walsh said these arrests helped keep anyone from being seriously injured throughout the week. However, some groups, including the lawyers' guild, condemned the arrests, saying police seized everyday household items and claimed they were to be employed for mayhem.
No life-threatening injuries were reported in Denver, but the city's authorities did have a high-profile scare.
Days into the Democratic National Convention, police arrested three men whom they said made threats against Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama's (Ill.) life. Though arrested with guns and drugs, authorities have since dismissed the severity of the threats, saying that they were not "credible."
Charges against many protesters in Denver have been dropped, while most of those still faced with fines or court actions have posted bail. Charges included obstructing police, remaining in an unlawful assembly and throwing stones.
The ACLU of Colorado has written letters to the Denver City Attorney and the Denver Sheriff's department complaining about the conditions in which those detained were kept. They say police did not provide all of the arrested protesters with access to legal representation and kept them in uncomfortable physical conditions, including extremely cold holding cells.
"I'm thinking we should watch what we ask for, because in our early letters to the city we were emphasizing that they needed to think about air conditioning, and now we're complaining that there's too much air conditioning," said Mark Silverstein, legal director for the ACLU of Colorado, pointing to the irony of the situation.

© 2008 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp.
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Pointe-au-Chien tribal building blown off foundation by Gustav

Pointe-au-Chien, near Houma, La., ignored by media and hurricane relief efforts
Contact: Chairman Charles Verdin, Sr., (985) 856-5336
Secretary Michelle Matherne, (985) 594-3267
P.O. Box 416
Montegut, LA 703770

http://pactribe.tripod.com/

Photo: Community home with roof blown off by Hurricane Gustav/Photo copyright Joel Waltzer
September 8, 2008
Most of Louisiana's remaining Native Americans reside in four centuries-old communities in the southern-most ends of Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes, such as Pointe-au-Chien (renamed "Chenes" by non-Indians). In this sleepy, modest fishing town, Indian French is the language most often heard, and generations of smiles and laughter almost always accompany a good pot of jambalaya or plate of soft shell crabs. Today, these unique communities, their language, Indian culture, lifestyle and even their identity as a separate people are deeply threatened. With the destruction of the barrier islands, and no levees protecting them, the Pointe-au-Chien people are under continual threat of harm from natural disasters.
On September 1, 2008, Hurricane Gustav ripped through these historic bayou towns with ferocious winds and a six foot storm surge. In its wake, Gustav left a trail of ripped roofs or crumpled houses, overlain with uprooted marsh and thick mud, unparalleled elsewhere in Louisiana. Almost all of these simple homes sustained major damage, from being pushed off their foundation to having their roofs ripped off. Generations of entire extended families have lost everything, with no monetary means to recover. In addition to housing damage, the Pointe-au-Chien Tribal building was blown off of its foundation.
If the Pointe-au-Chien and Isle a Jean Charles Indian communities are to survive, they need help in rebuilding and recovery efforts. To date, few elected officials and no agency representatives at any level have visited them. To date, no media representatives have been there to report on the devastation to the tribes. Unseen, and unheard, and without any utilities, their despair grows. Their immediate needs are simple: food and water to sustain them, tarps and screws to secure their roofs and walls (where possible), tools and supplies to muck out, and earth-moving equipment and roll-off containers to get the debris out. So far, only the Louisiana Environmental Action Network's disaster relief mission, the American Red Cross, and Four Directions Solidarity Network have delivered on some of these needs. The Tribe is working with the National Relief Charities to deliver needed supplies to the people. But greater assistance is needed in this devastated area.
At present, specific needs include generators and box fans, building supplies such as roofing paper, sheet metal and screws, water for cleaning and drinking, cleaning products, pressure washers, tarps, tools, first aid supplies, squeegees, shovels, storage containers and heavy duty garbage bags. In the medium term, they will need building materials to rebuild their homes, and personal items, furniture, clothes, refrigerators, freezers, and toys need to be replaced. Long term, the community will need assistance with storm hardening and surge protection, and for the government to get serious about coastal restoration in the Bayou Lafourche basin. Immediately, the Community could really use some energetic young people to help them muck out.
If you want to go there and assist with the clean up, please provide contact information to Joel Waltzer at joel@waltzerlaw.com. Donations can be made to the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe, PO Box 416, Montegut, LA 70377, http://pactribe.tripod.com/, or the Louisiana Environmental Action Network's Gustav relief effort, by visiting its website at http://leanweb.org.html/. Donations made to either the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe or LEAN are tax deductible.For more information: Chairman Charles "Chuckie" Verdin of the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe, (985) 856-5336; or Marylee Orr, Director, LEAN, (225) 588-5059; or Joel Waltzer, tribal lawyer, (504) 430-0844.