Alert: Tyendinaga Mohawks facing arrest

CONTACT THE FEDS: Back off Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory:
COLONIAL GOVERNMENT OUT OF FIRST NATIONS COMMUNITIES - Tyendinaga Support Committee
(November 5th, 2008) At present, Tyendinaga Mohawk community members are
being targeted for their opposition to an expensive new police station, paid
for in part by the Federal Government of Canada, as well as their opposition
to quarry operations where no adequate environmental assessments have taken
place.

The Band Council in Tyendinaga put up half the money ($1 million) for the
new cop shop, while the Ministry of Public Safety and Security put up the
other half of the funding. Plans were made for this roughly $1.9-million
facility, even though the money could have been spent to address the lack of
safe water on the Territory and poor housing conditions.

A month ago, on September 24th, 2008, the new police building was put on
hold after community members blockaded the intended site of the building.
Such demonstrations took place again last week. Now several dozen community
members are facing arrest and criminal charges.

It seems clear the the Canadian government is intent on ensuring this new
cop shop be implemented, in a community which has stood up for its people
and its land, time and time again.

Take a moment to call on the feds who are helping to make this police
station happen, and express your concern at their involvement in pouring
increased policing monies into a First Nations community where water and
housing issues and the legitimate Culbertson Tract land claim remain
unresolved.

CONTACT:

Peter Van Loan
Minister of Public Safety
House of Commons
Ottawa K1A 0A6

phone: 613-944-4875 or 1-800-830-3118
fax: 613-954-5186
email: communications@ps.gc.ca

Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa K1A 0A2

phone (constituency office):(403) 253-7990
fax: 613-941-6900
email: pm@pm.gc.ca

Harper.S@parl.gc.ca
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STATEMENT FROM TYENDINAGA MOHAWK TERRITORY:

WARRANTS ISSUED: 30 MOHAWKS FACING ARREST
Tyendinaga Police 'Respond' to Community Concerns

(Wednesday, November 5, 2008) It appears that Tyendinaga Police Chief Ron
Maracle is making good on his promise of charging people involved in
demonstrations at the intended site for a second police station, as well as
a contested second quarry operation on the Territory (different location
than the original and on-going reclamation of the Thurlow Aggregate quarry
site).

It is believed that Tyendinaga Mohawk Police have issued warrants for 30
community members.

The people targeted for arrest are Longhouse people who maintain scrutiny
over Band Council operations and spending. This amounts to an unprecedented
attempt to criminalize and jail any effective opposition that exists in the
community. This is an attack on our families, our children, our culture and
the way we think. This has moved beyond a simple community dispute. The
federal government is making a final push to eradicate those people who
believe in the strength and power of the Mohawk Nation and who will stand in
its defence.

Despite community concern over widespread exposure to water that has been
declared unfit for human consumption throughout reserve homes and schools,
the Government continues to prioritize the second station over these needs.

Concern over the second quarry operation stems from alarm at the tremendous
speed with which this particular quarry has been established and grown in
size. Community members are aware of the extremely rigorous environmental
study and assessment practices that are required before quarries and
aggregates can be established elsewhere in the province. Such laws do not
apply on reserves and concern as to whether environmental and safety
assessments have been properly conducted and meet recognized professional
standards.

These fears have increased in recent weeks as households in the direct
vicinity of quarry operations have experienced water problems and collapsed
wells for the first time ever.

The quarry is operated by Build-All Contractors, a company owned by Police
Chief Maracle's brother. The site preparation and overseeing of the
building construction at the site of the new police station was also awarded
to Build-All, the Police Chief's brother, in an untendered contract.

All of this is taking place because we oppose a decision made by the Band
Council.

With army helicopters and fighter jets circulating the Territory today, the
Federal Government of Canada is making it clear that it intends to exercise
what it views as its interest in community affairs.

- Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

New First Nations police station draws protest

By Brian St. Denis

http://www.thepioneer.com/?q=node/2983

Friday, October 31st, 2008

A protest against the installation of a new Tyendinaga police building ended
early Wednesday night when activists delayed its delivery for a second time.


Native protesters braved the frigid weather for several days to protest the
installation of the York Road station on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory,
west of Deseronto.

The building, which was assembled off-site, was trucked in Oct. 29 but was
not successfully installed on the site.

"The trucking company had to leave because their permits were only good for
the daylight hours, so it when it started getting dark they had to get out
of there," said Brant Bardy, a spokesperson for the Tyendinaga Mohawk
Territory band office.

The original delivery date was Sept. 23, making this the second delay in
just over a month. Bardy said the protest has not deterred plans to bring
the building in.

"The building is bought and paid for, and every delay is pushing up costs,"
said Bardy. "That's an injustice to the community coffers."

The issue of the heart of the protest was clean drinking water. According to
the protesters, approximately 80 per cent of the community's wells are
contaminated. The Quinte Mohawk School, just seconds down the road, has to
provide bottled water for students because the tap water is unsafe.

"They need to address the issues," said Dan Doreen, spokesperson for the
protesters. "They have bags over the fountains at the school."

He said that they don't object to the new building, but to the community
having to match the government funding of $980,000. They believe this money
should go to solving the drinking water problem first.

"Kids are number one," said another protester.


York Road was blocked off by the Mohawk Fire Department and several police
officers for the duration of the protest. The protesters had a pick-up truck
parked on the cement pad where the new building was to be placed.

The protesters also used a small tractor to dig on the property, claiming it
was for a new youth centre, but Bardy said it was just a red herring.

Police announced early Wednesday morning that the protest had become a
matter of public safety and blocked the public, including media, out of the
area. Bardy said that a police investigation is underway, but Tyendinaga
Police Chief Ron Maracle could not be reached for comment.


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Russell Means: Republic of Lakotah vindicated

While Theresa Two Bulls gathered the top votes, Russell Means says his 45 percent vote in the Oglala Sioux presidential race vindicates the Republic of Lakotah

From: Russell Means Freedom Campaign
david@russellmeansfreedom.com

Oglala Sioux Tribal Presidential Race
• 55% for Theresa Two Bulls the incumbent State Senator, on the "same old, same old" colonial ticket.
• 45% for Russell Means on the Freedom Ticket of obeying the laws (including Article VI of the United States Constitution) of the Country and Tribe.
• 45% of this Tribe voted for Freedom! This vindicates the Republic of Lakotah in the eyes of the the colonized tribal government and establishment press who claimed the Republic of Lakotah, and specifically Russell Means, did not have “official sanctions."
• Our strategy will continue on the other Lakotah Indian Reservations when we run candidates on the same platform in their elections.
• No longer can the colonized "vichy" Indians claim we don't represent or speak for anyone.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
.
Keloland TV reports: "Democratic state Senator Theresa Two Bulls has defeated Indian activist and actor Russell Means for the presidency of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Tuesday's election results showed Two Bulls with 2,227 votes and Means with 1,970 votes.Two Bulls, who also ran for re-election to her state Senate seat but was defeated by Republican Representative Jim Bradford of Pine Ridge, will succeed John Yellow Bird Steele as tribal leader."

No Berlin, US/Mexico Wall of Death

No Berlin Wall … No US-Mexico Border Wall of Death!
NO Border Wall of Death!

Photo: No Texas Border Wall

Protest Nov 7, 2008, Friday Noon
Federal Building
Contact: Ruben Solis 210 378 5699 cell

SAN ANTONIO -- November 9th will be forever connected with the ‘fall’ of the Berlin Wall dividing Germany and dividing the East from the West. Protests are being held simultaneously in San Antonio, TX, El Paso, TX, and San Diego, California.
Southwest Workers Union is organizing a protest against the Border Wall of Death on Friday the 7th of November at 12:00 noon to mark the date when the Berlin Wall came down. According to Ruben Solis, “If the Berlin Wall came down then so can the Border Wall of Death”.
Che Lopez, organizer with SWU said it like this “The Bush administration has been a dismal failure, the War, the Economy and the environment so if you link the Border Wall to these failures you will conclude that this is yet but another Bush failure”. According to documentation by the Immigration office of the American Friends Service Committee in San Diego, California, over 4,000 people with names and last names have died crossing the border since 1994 in the California region alone. Today border-wide it is calculated that immigration and border patrol policies have directly lead to approximately 7,000 deaths on the US-Mexico border. The new Presidential administration has to STOP this mad policy of militarizing the US-Mexico border and make visas available to all migrant workers and allow them ‘universal’ rights accorded to all citizens.

The long road west

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

When the news was announced that Barack Obama had won, that the United States had elected a black President, my mind sped back to Natchitoches, Louisiana. The year was 1970 and my friend Mary, with her flaming red hair, had just fallen in love with a lean, tall and good looking black college student named Greg. On campus at Northwestern State University, popular with farmers and cow milkers, Mary and Greg had tomatoes and eggs thrown at them when they walked hand in hand on campus. More violence was threatened.

As for me, the Ku Klux Klan, I was told by a person attending their meetings, had placed me on their hit list to be killed. I laughed when my friend told me, because my small efforts were only to gather food for poor families. In fact, usually just one friend, my friend Effie who lived alone with her children in the country. She struggled with empty cupboards in the kitchen, walking and limping long distances to work, while her children had rocks thrown at them walking home from the school bus.

I had also helped organize race unity picnics, a cerebral splitting event for racists in the south.
Still, I couldn’t imagine I had done anything significant enough to be placed on a hit list. As college students, we were all young, and never believed that any harm could touch us. Still the three of us, Mary, Greg and I fled to Phoenix, Arizona, where tolerance awaited us. Mary and I drove out in her old blue convertible and rented an apartment downtown. I painted houses for the summer and returned to graduate in the fall. I knew somehow I would make it back to the west.

What I could have never imagined is that I would be living here in the west and witness, in my lifetime, the election of an African American as President of the United States.
Wherever you are, Mary and Greg, and my dear friend Effie and her children, and all those others at those race unity picnics in Natchitoches, Louisiana, let’s celebrate a road well traveled.

Still, it is with caution that I write these words. Neither partisan politics nor US politicians have proved to be America's healing salve or strong point. This is new territory.
There remains the question of whether Bush and Cheney will be charged with war crimes, including torture and other violations of the Geneva Conventions.
There is no act that can bring back the dead -- the women, children, soldiers and innocents -- killed in Iraq. There is no one that can erase the torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and secret cells around the world. There is no one that can give children in Iraq, or soldiers, the arms and legs blown off in Bush's fraudulent war.
There remains to be seen what role global corporations, especially war contractors and those seizing Indigenous Peoples lands and resources, will play in the future.
And, there's also another question: What happened to that $700 billion?
The big question is, what will happen now.

Photo: A house in Natchitoches, La., photographed in 1940, very similar to the home of my friend Effie in Natchitoches in 1970. Photo credit: Bound for Glory photo exhibit.