40th Anniversay of Alcatraz Occupation Reunion

United Native Americans Co-Founders: Dr. LaNada War Jack, Lehman L. Brightman, Trudy Felix Brightman, Virginia Cottier, & daughter at the Official 40th Anniversary of the Take Over of Alcatraz. 11.20.09. Quanah Parker Brightman wrote, "The Cottier's & The Leach Family Were The ORIGINAL OCCUPANTS' of ALCATRAZ BACK IN 1964. RIP Belvia & Stella. SIOUX Indian Power!" Lehman Brightman wrote, "The Sun Rises Everyday For The People To Make Change Happen In This Life."
(Thanks to Quanah for sending this photo.)

Photo from Lehman Brightman.
Nov. 26, 2009 is The 40th National Day of Mourning World Wide.
Join us as we dedicate the 40th national day of mourning to our brother, Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier. Create true awareness of indigenous peoples and shatter the untrue image of the Pilgrims and the unjust system of racism, sexism, homophobia and war.
http://www.uaine.org/
ABSOLUTELY NO DRUGS OR ALCOHOL ALLOWED.
Potluck social to follow rally/march.

40th National Day of Mourning
Nov. 26, 2009
12:00 noon
Coles Hill Plymouth, MA
United American Indians of New England
284 Amory St., Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
ORIENTATION FOR 2009 NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING

WHAT IS NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING?
An annual tradition since 1970, Day of Mourning is a solemn, spiritual and highly political day. Many of us fast from sundown the day before through the afternoon of that day (and have a social after Day of Mourning so that participants in DOM can break their fasts). We are mourning our ancestors and the genocide of our peoples and the theft of our lands. NDOM is a day when we mourn, but we also feel our strength in political action. Over the years, participants in Day of Mourning have buried Plymouth Rock a number of times, boarded the Mayflower replica, and placed ku klux klan sheets on the statue of William Bradford, etc.
WHEN AND WHERE IS DAY OF MOURNING?
Thursday, November 26, 2009 (U.S. "thanksgiving" day) at Cole's Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts, 12 noon SHARP. Cole's Hill is the hill above Plymouth Rock in the Plymouth historic waterfront area.
WILL THERE BE A MARCH?
There will be a march through the historic district of Plymouth. Plymouth has agreed, as part of the settlement of 10/19/98, that UAINE may march on Day of Mourning without the need for a permit as long as we give the town advance notice.
PROGRAM
Although we very much welcome our non-Native supporters to stand with us, it is a day when only Native people speak about our history and the struggles that are taking place throughout the Americas. Speakers will be by invitation only. This year's NDOM is once again dedicated to our brother Leonard Peltier.
SOCIAL
We hope there will be a pot-luck social held after the National Day of Mourning speak-out and march this year. Please check back to the website to confirm. We anticipate that the hall may not be large enough to seat everyone at once. We may have to do two seatings. Preference for the first seating will be given to Elders, young children and their mother/caretaker, pregnant women, Disabled people, and people who have traveled a long distance to join National Day of Mourning. Please respect our culture and our wish to ensure that these guests will be the first to be able to sit and eat. With this understanding in mind, please bring non-alcoholic beverages, desserts, fresh fruit & vegetables, and pre-cooked items (turkeys, hams, stuffing, vegetables, casseroles, rice & beans, etc.) that can be easily re-warmed at the social hall prior to the social. Thank you.

TRANSPORTATION
Limited carpool transportation may be available from Boston. Contact the Boston International Action Center at (617) 522-6626 (617) 522-6626. There is transportation from New York City via the International Action Center, for more information call 212-633-6646 212-633-6646.
Directions: National Day of Mourning is held by the statue of Massasoit at Cole's Hill. Cole's Hill is the hill rising above Plymouth Rock on the Plymouth waterfront. If you need directions, use Water Street and Leyden Street in Plymouth, MA as your destination at mapquest.com. That will bring you to within a few hundred feet of Plymouth Rock and Cole's Hill. You can probably find a place to park down on Water Street.
Monetary donations are gratefully accepted. Please make checks payable to the Metacom Education Project and mail to Metacom Education Project/UAINE at 284 Amory Street, Boston, MA 02130.
http://freepeltiernow.blogspot.com/2009/10/26-november-40th-national-day-of.html
For more information contact: United American Indians of New England/LPSG at 617-522-6626 617-522-6626 or info@uaine.org.
The group’s site can be found and viewed at http://www.uaine.org/. There will a pot-luck social to follow.

Dooda (NO) Desert Rock to UN: Human rights abuses by energy corporations

JAMES W. ZION
Attorney at Law
JZion@aol.com

November 21,2009
Julian Burger
Indigenous & Minorities Unit Coordinator
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva Office
Palais Wilson, Room 4-0811211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND

Re:Elaboration of Guidelines on Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries

Dear Mr. Burger:
I take this opportunity to follow up on a recent informal communication to you to open discussionof this issue and to say how good it was to see you in Geneva in August.
I see a lot of movement on questions that are vital to Dooda Desert Rock ofthe Navajo Nation. TheUnited Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination took particular note of problems associated with mining in areas of spiritual and cultural significance to Native Americans in the United States and adverse effects of the exploitation of natural resources by transnational corporations in its consideration of periodic reports of the United State, with specific reference to discrimination against indigenous Peoples in the United States. ReportCERD/CIUSAlCO/6,29,30 (8 May 2008).
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner gave a report to the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on a workshop on natural resource companies, indigenous peoples and human rights that cited the work of your office on "the elaboration of guidelines, which would serve as a framework for implementation of a human rights perspective, in line with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other relevant human rights standards, for extractive industries wanting to undertake activities on the land and territories of indigenous peoples." Document Paragraph 33, DocumentAlHRC/EMRIP12009/5(3July 2009).
I represent Dooda Desert Rock (Navajo for "NO" to the proposed Desert Rock power plant), an unincorporated association of grassroots Navajos, indigenous individuals and supporters, that is dedicated to not only blocking the ill-conceived Desert Rock power plant proposed by Sithe Global
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LLC, a transnational corporation engaged in extractive industries, but supporting economic development initiatives in the Indian Country of the United States that promote traditional values.
The include balance, harmony, respect and equality and the fact that Mother Earth and Father Skyare Holy Beings who live with us. The organization honors the elements of life and the teachings and wisdom of the Grandmothers and Grandfathers that we must honor the Earth and deal with itin a respectful way.
The United States is at a crossroads for energy policy. There are various proposals for energy development in Indian Country, but going to themes announced by the Expert Mechanism on theRights of Indigenous Peoples in its Report to the Human Rights Council on the Second Session heldin Geneva in August of this year (No. AlHRCI12/32, 8 September 2009) and by the Special Rapporteur in his report to the Council (No. AlHRC/12/34, 15 July 2009), participation and activeconsultation for genuine informed consent are a major problem in the United States.
That is, the federal government, and its Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in particular, areproceeding to develop energy policy for Indian Country without adequate notice to Indian Country and to individual Indians, including civil society organizations such as Dooda Desert Rock.
Indigenous civil society is being denied meaningful participation in policy development and issues that matter. We encounter problems with the desecration of our sacred mountains of the West and of the South by recreational development and threatened uranium extraction (with hate crimes associated with the latter) and the possibility that the federal government will surrender its oversight powers to companies through ill-conceived delegations of authority to Indian nation governments.
Dooda Desert Rock stresses that it is not opposed to economic development or resource extraction-it is opposed to false "economic development" that does not include or serve the people and toresource extraction without regard to the human rights of the people who live on the land.
Accordingly, I am instructed by Dooda Desert Rock, and by other grassroots groups of this region that will participate in the High Commissioner's development of guidelines to assure the observation of human rights in resource extraction, to inform you of the interest of this organization, the desire to participate in the High Commissioner's work to elaborate guidelines, and to request notice ofactivities where they can have input into her efforts.
My clients look forward to a positive and meaningful working relationship with the High Commissioner on this issue.