Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

November 30, 2011

Mohawk Nation News 'Dog Eat Dog'

DOG EAT DOG

By Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationews.com

MNN.  30 Nov. 2011.  European rulers train their people to be obedient, and can order them to attack or pull back. They need an enemy or they will attack each other. 

Laws keep them in line so they don’t brutalize one another unless told to do so.  Their leashes were lengthened for WWI and WWII. 

European rulers think they are entitled to control the world.  They set up a psychopathic hierarchical system enforced by the military to do this. 

Europe has long been a dead land with no resources.  Manufacturing and labor are sourced out.  Their money has no backing.
   
Europeans feed off of other peoples’ labor and resources to exist.   
   
The rulers create banking systems and money out of thin air to pay for this.

The European monster with its once long tentacles can’t grab or control anything.  Resources are moving “further” out of their grasp.  A new way to rip us Indigenous off is being developed.

Capitalism is a captive-bonding or co-dependency relationship.   

Their shark-like fixation on sucking others blood goes far back in their history.  People are sheep to be preyed upon.

Loyalty of the prey to their captors could be based on ignorance, terror, trauma or even kindness.  Terrorists have been known to be nice to their victims like they were giving them their lives. Abone thrown at them or lack of abuse is seen as an act of kindness.   

These people were bred by natural selection. Millions of strong women were destroyed to create this system.

Society isolates the victims by creating a culture of individuals.  Mistreatment can be undetected.

Abusers share information about their own mistreatment to falsely show sympathy.

Victims feel helpless if the bondage relationship is ended.  Election time is when their tormentors are changed.  The abusers remind them, “Vote for me or I can make you disappear," like a co-dependent.

Wars create an emotional investment. Governments constantly remind them of these ties.  [Memorial Day, war movies and video games].

Rulers constantly sort out thinkers from non-thinkers.  Everyone is told a have and have-not society is natural. 

European rulers don’t care about the consequences of their actions.  They are unfeeling but not insane.   

Social obligations hold groups together. These psychos know how to split social groups. 

Colonial tribal and band councils are trained controllers.  They look the other way while corporations suck out our resources.  [Attawapiskat and DeBeers Diamonds]. 

Greed knows no bounds.  They advise governments on how to solve the problems they created.  They are egocentric ruthless game players as Penn State has recently shown in their prolonged secret child molestation scandal. 

Arabs are invading Europe.  The Middle East is made up of many small nations of indigenous people. 

They are hard working, prolific and maintain connections with their each other. 

Mohawks moved our villages every 15 to 20 years. We had 5 village sites. Orchards were planted.  When we returned a hundred years later the land and resources were cleansed and replenished.

Where are these Europeans going to go?

The European Union nations are fighting each other.  They gang up like a pack of dogs on little nations like Greece, Spain, Ireland and Portugal, and destroy them.   EU, US and UK have becomeunviable.

US,Canada and other Euro-controlled nations of the Western Hemisphere are turning out to be failed satellite experiments. Why?  We Indigenous survived their holocaust of over 100 million of our people who question everything they did according to the Great Law.

What happens when all the teeth have been pulled out of these old dogs?  They lose their bite and can only lap up soft chewable scraps.  No bones please!

MNN Mohawk Nation News Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com  For more news, books, to donate tomaintain the website [PayPal] and to sign up for MNN newsletters go to www.mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN Categories “COLONIALISM/ART/CULTURE”.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0

Store: Indigenous authors – Kahnawake books – Mohawk Warriors Three – WarriorsHand Book – Rebuilding the Iroquois Confederacy.

Category:  World – Colonialism - Great Turtle Island – History – NewWorld Order – courts/police Economics/trade/commerce – Land/environment – art/culture. 

Tags: North American Indians – Turtle Island – Indian holocaust/genocide – NAUNorth American Union – History Canada/US – United Nations – Cointelpro -colonialism.

Third Veteran Hospitalized after Police Abuse at Protests

Screen capture live stream Censored News
Tohono O'odham Veteran remains hospitalized after being pepper sprayed by police at ALEC

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

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Tohono O'odham Veteran David Ortega remained hospitalized Wednesday night after being pepper sprayed at the protest of the American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC. Doctors are undertaking tests to see if Ortega had a heart attack or stroke after police repeatedly fired pepper spray on the peaceful protesters.

"It was like a cloud of pepper spray," Ortega said Wednesday night recovering in a Scottsdale hospital. "I was carrying the Veterans for Peace flag when another person was hit directly in the face with pepper spray. I rushed to the front to help him, like I always do as a Peacemaker."

Ortega said the pepper spray was fired at them several times. Ortega began experiencing shortness of breath and chest pains and was hospitalized. Ortega has been serving as a Peacemaker at Occupy Tucson in recent weeks. He is known nationally as a Peacemaker at Indigenous rights events. He is the third veteran to be hospitalized after police brutality in recent weeks.

Scott Olsen, Marine and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, was shot in the head by a police projectile at Occupy Oakland. Olsen is still struggling to recover his speech. Then Kayvan Sabeghi, 32, also a veteran, was beaten by police, arrested and jailed the night of the shutdown of the Port of Oakland. He suffered a ruptured spleen.

During Wednesday's peaceful protest, Tohono O'odham youth Alex Soto was hit directly in the face with pepper spray by the police.

Indigenous Peoples, including O'odham and Navajos resisting relocation at Big Mountain on the Navajo Nation, are now gathered in Scottsdale will continue their protest and resistance of the corporate influence of ALEC. They announced plans for Thursday.

Dozens of protesters were attacked by police with pepper spray on Wed. Seven people were confirmed arrested so far in a day of action against ALEC, protesters said in a statement.

On Wednesday, starting at 8 a.m., hundreds marched and converged on the Kierland Westin Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, where ALEC is attempting to hold its annual States and Nation Summit.

“We will continue to use diversity of tactics to send the message to ALEC members that the we are watching and we will not stand for the further destruction of our communities and environment that ALEC members push into law in order to fill their own pockets," stated Alex Soto of O’odham Solidarity Across Borders.

“The amount of force that police are using to protect ALEC’s corporate interests reveals how corrupt this system is," Soto said.

The resisters said, "Behind closed doors of ALEC meetings, thousands of state politicians and hundreds of powerful transnational corporations come together to create laws that advocate for, among other things, the desecration of Indigenous land through eco-cide and the growing dragnet of incarceration that sweeps up immigrants and people of color, all for the profit of global corporations, like SB1070. "

Additional actions are planned through December 3.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1
4pm: March at Freeport McMoran
Converge at Freeport McMoran, Downtown Phoenix, AZ.
Decentralized Actions at Various Sites
Locations throughout the valley  All day
Rally against ALEC influence on Arizona Politics organized by Arizona at Work
Speaking Event w/ Lisa Graves, Publisher of ALECexposed.org
6pm: At OccupyPhoenix
Full schedule located at: www.azresistsalec.wordpress.com/schedule/

O'odham Pepper Sprayed in Phoenix ALEC Protest

O'odham Pepper Sprayed at ALEC Protest!

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Photo by Dixie
David Ortega, Tohono O'odham, was hospitalized after being pepper sprayed by police on Wednesday.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Tohono O'odham David Ortega, veteran and elder, suffered a stroke today after being pepper sprayed by police at the ALEC protest.
Ortega was peacefully protesting when police pepper sprayed a delegation of O'odham. He was taken to a nearby hospital.
Alex Soto, O'odham youth, was also pepper sprayed in the face.
Tohono O'odham protesters at the ALEC protest in Scottsdale, Ariz., in the Phoenix Valley, were peaceful and apparently singled out because police viewed them as key to the protest.
Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham and founder of O'odham VOICE against the Wall, said, "There is a lot of unnecessary police brutality."
O'odham from Tohono O'odham, Salt River and Gila River have joined Navajos resisting relocation from Big Mountain on the Navajo Nation at the protest to battle the corporate influences underway of legislators and lobbyists.
Police helicopters are hovering overhead.
Native American protesters are battling mining interests, the theft of water and land rights, abuse by US Border Patrol agents, desecration of sacred lands and the militarization of the border. On the Navajo Nation, Peabody Coal, responsible for orchestrating the so-called Navajo Hopi land dispute, continues to poison the land, water and air with coal mining for power plants. On the US/Mexico border, the US Border Patrol continues to beat and abuse O'odham and other Indigenous Peoples in their homelands. Uranium mining continues to target the Grand Canyon and Indian lands, while radioactive tailings from the Cold War remain.
In Arizona, corporate profiteers continue to push copper, coal and uranium mining, devastating the land, water and air, and resulting in widespread health problems for the people.
Native Americans are battling widespread human rights abuses in Arizona, where white supremacy has spread within the elected Arizona government, fueled by corporate donations. Private prison profiteers continue to fund and work behind closed doors with Arizona legislators.
The US/Mexico border wall, and its non-functioning spy towers, has been a source of corporate profiteering for US corporations including Boeing, who entered into a contract with the Israeli Apartheid defense contractor Elbit Systems for the border wall and security systems.
The US is now asking Tohono O'odham to approve new US spy towers on their lands, after the last billion dollar boondoggle of the US, failed spy towers on the Arizona border which did not function.
Further, as the media fans racism which aids border profiteers, G4S based in London, profiteers from transportation contracts for the Wackenhut buses transporting detained migrants from the Arizona border.
Decades of mining has poisoned the water throughout Indian country in Arizona, while many American Indians do not have any safe water to drink. Meanwhile, corporate interests scheme behind closed doors to seize Indian water rights, working in collusion with the US and state governments.

Livestream:
http://www.justin.tv/occupyphoenix#/w/2162408064
Background:
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) begins their meeting today in Scottsdale, in the Phoenix Valley, for their annual State and National Policy Summit from November 30-December 2 2011. Indigenous Peoples, including O’odham, are part of the movement to shut down ALEC.
Protesters in the ALEC march were reported pepper sprayed by police and two arrests made on Wednesday morning. (Please check for updates atwww.bsnorrell.blogspot.com )
“ALEC itself is a tool for hundreds of corporations to use for the sole purpose of obtaining access to thousands of legislators and then exploiting that access to pass profit-making legislation. ALEC works like a think tank, devising legislation that benefits the corporate elite at the cost of the masses and then putting that model legislation in the hands of legislators along with gifts and incentives to urge their passing and now more than 200 of ALEC’s model bills have become actual laws throughout the country over the past year,” protest organizers said in a statement.
"The links between corporate greed, state oppression, and you have never been clearer. This website is dedicated to the rising resistance against ALEC, their planned summit, and all corporate greed that would serve to perpetuate state oppression in already impoverished communities on already occupied land.”

LIVE: ALEC Protest Phoenix


PHOTOS NOW: SHUT DOWN ALEC SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA
Censored New Photos 2 by Dixie. Photo 4 arrest Occupy Phoenix. Photos 1, 3 and 5 photo screen captures Censored News.
Watch live streaming video from theuptake2 at livestream.com




Screen capture riot police in gas masks and protesters in Scottsdale.

COP 17: Indigenous Target Shell at Climate Summit

By Indigenous Environmental Network
Posted at Censored News

DURBAN, South Africa -- In Durban, Canada and the United Kingdom, Indigenous activists and their supporters targeted Shell today for violating agreements made with Indigenous communities in Canada. In Durban, site of the ongoing UN climate talks, activists from Canada joined activists from Africa to denounce Shell and their repeated violations of human rights and environmental regulations. Appearing outside a Shell refinery, a number of Indigenous activists joined with youth from Canada and Africa to support the community of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN), who recently announced their lawsuit against Shell.
 
"Shell has left a trail of broken promises and ravaged eco-systems.  They have been pushing their dirty fossil fuels plans on every country they can bully. It's time to stand up and say get the Shell out of there, we don't want your broken promises anymore," declared Eriel Deranger, a community member of ACFN and director of Sierra Club Prairies.
 
"We're drawing the line, and taking a strong stand against Shell. ACFN wants no further developments until Shell is brought to justice and our broader concerns about the cumulative impacts in the region are addressed," stated Allan Adam, Chief of ACFN.
 
"The destructive tar sands operations by Shell and other big oil companies are destroying the land and violating our people's rights to hunt, trap and fish. Canada is a willing partner in these crimes and other human rights abuses caused by fossil fuels and climate change," noted Daniel T'seleie, an Indigenous youth from northern Canada, and a member of the Canadian Youth Delegation.
 
"Shell has a history of devastation across the African continent that we are well aware of. Our peoples and our environments have been turned into a colony for companies like Shell, who profit from our suffering. Knowing full well the extent of brutality that Shell has delivered to my fellow Nigerians, we stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Canada standing up to say 'get the Shell out of here'," emphasized Nnimmo Bassey, director of Environmental Rights Action (Nigeria) and winner of the Alternative Nobel Prize.
 
"Ironically, Durban, the site of this year's international climate talks, has struggled against the aging Shell refinery that is the symbol of climate change and environmental injustice. Shell has been responsible for crimes against local citizens, where refinery accidents are common and where rusting pipelines have leaked more than 1 million litres of petrol. We strictly oppose plans to bring Tar Sands oil to South Africa, and agree that Shell must be held accountable for its violations against communities," claimed Bobby Peek, director of Groundwork in Durban.
 
"We are here in Durban to look for climate solutions, meanwhile countries like Canada are promoting dirty oil from the Tar Sands, backed by large corporations like Shell. While our communities are suffering from the impacts of climate change, groups like Shell have been found to be lobbying governments to weaken their positions. This has to be the time when we begin to hold companies and countries alike responsible for their actions against our communities," declared Tom Goldtooth, director of the Indigenous Environmental Network in North America.
 
For more information:

Eriel Deranger, ACFN Member/Sierra Club Prairies Director:  +1-780-903-6598

Ben Powless, Indigenous Environmental Network:  +27-(0)-72-581-2102

All photos by Jeff Conant/GJEP 

For High Resolution Photos : http://wp.me/pDT6U-3c3 please contact Ben Powless listed above.

Police Evicting Occupy LA and Philly

Armed police go after occupier of tree
Occupy Los Angeles
Police Evicting Occupy LA and Philly
Censored News
Riot Police Storm Occupy LA
WED. Nov. 30, 2011 1 am
Hundreds of police stormed Occupy Los Angeles from the street and inside City Hall. Tents were torn down by police in Hazmat suits. Hundreds of riot police surrounded occupiers. Occupiers reported people being beaten by police. Occupy Livestream: http://www.ustream.tv/occupyfreedomla
Police in Hazmat suits at
Occupy LA Wed. 2 am
Oakland's OakFoSho live in LA:
http://www.ustream.tv/occupyoakland
More livestream:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/occupylacivicengagement
MEDIA WATCH CBS News: CBS sounds like a press service for LA police. Cheerleading is not journalism: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/live-video
LAPD booking and processing station at Dodger Stadium, 900 police reported Police are limiting the press, restrictive pool
VIDEO: Police on horses charge Occupy Philly

Occupy LA
Police points gun at Livestreamer OakFoSho

About this video:
Sorry for the video issues from around 2:13 onwards. I was going to remove it but figured I'd let you guys hear the sounds after the video stops at least :)

Our police state at its finest. Officers last name is Escamilla from the L.A.P.D. I believe. Here he is shown pointing a gun at a peaceful reporter.

I'm not sure of the specific legalities of this but it sure isn't an example of what a public servant should be doing; point the gun foolishly or even participating in pro-police state idiocy. Be sure to like/share to get this information out.

The recorder of this video can be found on Twitter @OakFoSho.
Occupy LA: Officers take lift up to arrest one of people in trees

North American Indigenous join Africans to target Shell at COP 17

Indigenous Environmental Network's
Tom Goldtooth speaks at the conference.
Photo: Langelle/GJEP
Media Alert  
COP17: Indigenous activists from North America join African activists to target Shell
Nov. 30, 2011
Who?
Indigenous activists from the Indigenous Environmental Network (including Tom Goldtooth, director) and youth from the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition (Daniel T'seleie, from an impacted Indigenous community) join activist Bobby Peek (winner of Goldman Environmental Prize) from groundWork in Durban and Nnimmo Bassey (winner of the Alternative Nobel Prize) from Environmental Rights Action in Nigeria.

What?           
The group of activists will hold a brief demonstration outside of the Shell co-owned refinery in South Durban, with banners and visuals. 

Meanwhile in Alberta, Canada, Indigenous leaders will rally at Shell's Canadian headquarters, and activists in the United Kingdom will hold a rally and press conference at Shell's UK headquarters. T

his is done in conjunction with a court action to sue Shell in Canada for violations of human rights to Indigenous communities. Following the action at the Shell refinery in Durban, there will be a press conference beside the ICC, venue for the UN climate talks.
 
Why?
In Canada, Shell has violated agreements made with Indigenous communities that were meant to protect their ecosystems, and thus impacted their protected rights and culture. Shell is also planning to massively expand its projects and begin new oil projects in the Tar Sands deposits in Northern Alberta, which the community of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation has decided they will not allow. Meanwhile in Durban their refinery has been harmfully impacting local citizens for years, tied to numerous leaks and reports of disease and sickness amongst residents. Across other parts of Africa, Shell has been implicated in gross human rights violations and environmental devastation.

When?           
November 30, 2011. The action will be held at the Shell refinery, followed by a press conference at 2pm.
 

Location: "Speakers Corner"
(Intersection of Machel and Fisher Across from Hilton, directly outside the ICC COP17 venue)

Speakers listed above will address the press conference. A press release and photos from the action will be freely released after the action is completed.
 

November 29, 2011

Twitter champion for human rights

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

Twitter has become a champion for human rights, with its real time alerts on abuses around the world and exposures of censored news articles. This is where Twitter excels, making Facebook now seem archaic, like an ancestor's chest of old clothes.

Facebook's random freezing of accounts and deletion of data is increasing. Facebook also supplies law enforcement with tracking data, since IP addresses are saved every time a user logs in. In fact, Facebook saves everything, even what you have deleted. Further, Facebook increasingly has trolls who want to persuade, disrupt and confuse.

Twitter, however, has become the medium for a global audience who doesn't want to read too much. Internet readers these days want a few sentences and photos. They want it quickly and clearly. Most of all, they want it now.

When Egypt opened fire on protesters with real bullets, those chilling words came across on Twitter. When Berkeley police beat young women students in their stomachs with batons at the Occupy movement, the horrifying video appeared quickly on Twitter. When a UC Davis officer methodically pepper sprayed seated students in their faces, the photos spiraled around the world. When Scott Olsen, member of Iraq Veterans against the War, was shot in the head by police at Oakland and was unresponsive on the pavement, a photo appeared, before the name and the story that followed.

Here's a few examples from Twitter now, which show breaking news, censored news and news links, Nov. 29 at noon:

Occupy Vancouver
URGENT vpd currently arresting occupiers @ VAG. Cameras, livestream, witnesses required ASAP
(Maryland) Civil rights attorney's home raided by SWAT, entered without warrant and held her at gunpoint

Facebook settles with FTC over deception charges:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/11/29/technology/AP-US-TEC-Facebook-Settlement.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto
(Anonymous)
"Anonymous has no face, no race, and no origin. Anonymous is a force and as such, simply is. Anonymous..."
NY Councilmen, arrested at Occupy Wall Street, sponsor resolution in support of OWS: Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who was beaten by police, said on Twitter: @OccupyWallStNYC I am introducing a resolution today with @JumaaneWilliams and @TishJames in support of the #occupywallst movement

NY Councilman Jumaane D. Williams
I’m proud of the ’s General Welfare Committee for voting 9-0 on the against ’s policy.

NRDC
Gateway to Destruction: New report highlights dangers linked w/ controversial Pipeline to British Columbia

In the top secret, most often censored category
Photo series: Homeland Security cops making arrests at Occupy Portland http://www.demotix.com/news/906244/homeland-security-detain-occupy-portland-photographer

Report: ALEC in Arizona influences lawmakers
www.azcentral.com (Also watch for the protest in Phoenix on Wednesday) Report: ALEC in Arizona influences lawmakers, A new report claims corporates interests and lobbyists have undue influence at the Arizona Legislature, via the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Read more:
CENSORED NEWS DAILY at TWITTER
http://paper.li/brendanorrell/1311339281

On Twitter: brendanorrell

Occupy Tucson: Occupiers climb trees, avoid arrests

By Alex Maldonado
Censored News

TUCSON -- In a rare direct action/resistance by Occupy Tucson, not seen across the nation thus far, occupiers climbed the trees of Veinte de Agosto Park before the 10:30pm citation time.
At approximately 11pm, the Tucson Police Department notified Occupy Tucson stating that there would be no enforcement, nor citations for staying in the park after hours for the night.
Several writers and two local television news stations were present to document the action, and reaction of TPD.
Could this be the move that could bring both the City of Tucson and Occupy Tucson to the negotiating table or is this a sign of a possible moratorium on citations?
Alex Maldonado (Peacekeeper & Veteran For Peace)
Photo courtesy of Alex Maldonado.

Climate Justice: Indigenous featured at COP 17 South Africa

Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Photo Climate Connections
DURBAN, South Africa – Indigenous Peoples from the US and Canada join Pablo Solon Romero of Bolivia as featured speakers on climate justice for media interviews at the UN Climate Summit COP 17 in Durban.


The Global Justice Ecology Project announced American Indians and First Nation climate activists join leaders in the social justice movements from around the world, including the Indigenous Environmental Network and La Via Campesina. The speakers include:

Former Ambassador to the United Nations for the Plurinational State of Bolivia. Before becoming Ambassador to the United Nations, Pablo Solón Romero worked as an activist for many years with different social organizations, indigenous movements, workers’ unions, student associations, human rights and cultural organizations in Bolivia.  As Ambassador to the UN, Solón spearheaded successful resolutions on the Human Right to Water, International Mother Earth Day, Harmony with Nature, and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He was the lead climate negotiator for Bolivia at the UNFCCC, and helped organize the World People's Conference on Climate Change in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2010.


REDD / Forests / Plantations / Carbon Offsets and Carbon Markets
Tom B.K. Goldtooth  -- DiÅ„e, USA
Tom Goldtooth is the Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network and a longtime global leader in the environmental justice movement. Tom is one of the founders of the Durban Group for Climate Justice; co-founder of Climate Justice NOW!; and co-founder of the U.S. based Environmental Justice Climate Change initiative.  Tom is a policy advisor on environmental protection, mitigation, and adaptation.
Expertise: REDD/REDD+, carbon trading, carbon offsets, climate mitigation and adaptation, Indigenous Peoples rights and climate, FPIC 
Affiliations: Indigenous Environmental Network, International Indigenous Forum on Climate Change (Indigenous Caucus within UNFCCC), US-based Grassroots for Global Justice (GGJ) and Environmental Justice Climate Change Initiative
Language: English


Ben Powless – Mohawk, Canada
Ben Powless is a Mohawk from Six Nations in Ontario and on the staff of Indigenous Environmental Network.  He has a degree from Carleton University in Human Rights, Indigenous and Environmental Studies. He has worked in Mexico, Guatemala, and Nicaragua on human rights and development issues. He is a co-founder of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition and works with the national Indigenous network Defenders of the Land.
Expertise: Indigenous Issues; Human Rights
Affiliations: Indigenous Environmental Network
Languages: English, Spanish
Contact: powless@gmail.com


Daniel T'seleie K'asho Got'ine First Nation, Fort Good Hope, Northwest Territories -- Canada. 
Daniel T’seleie is a Canadian Youth Delegate for Durban COP17 and coalition member of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition.  He is a 2010 Jane Glassco Arctic Fellow, lives in Yellowknife, NWT, Canada and works as Director of Lands and Environment with the Dene Nation. His previous experience has included work on climate change mitigation and adaptation with territorial and national NGOs, a photojournalist with work in Yellowknife and Iqaluit, and held policy positions with the Government of the Northwest Territories. Daniel participated in previous UNFCCC COP meetings.
Contact: danieltseleie@hotmail.com


François Paulette, Dene Suline, Alberta, Canada.
François Paulette is a member of the Smith's Landing Treaty 8 Dene First Nation and lives 200 miles downstream from the tar sands industry site in Alberta, Canada.  François was previously chief and vice-chief of the Dene Nation and is currently a commissioner with the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), a national organization representing 630 First Nations across Canada. ‘As both a father and grandfather, François believes that the way of life for many people living in First Nation lands in Canada is quickly changing, leaving many people uncertain about the future. The drastic drop in water levels in the Athabasca River system and a lack of fresh water for drinking are the biggest concerns for aboriginal communities living downstream from the tar sands development in northern Alberta, Canada.’ François participated in previous UNFCCC COP meetings.
Contact: francois.paulette@yahoo.ca


Grassroots Global Justice Alliance Delegation
Kandi Lea Marie Mossett (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara)
Expertise: Renewable energy, carbon emission reduction, indige- nous people’s rights, natural resource and park management, earth systems science and policy,
Affiliations: Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), North Dakota,
http://www.ienearth.org/ Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, http://www.ggjalliance.org
Languages: English


Read entire list from around the world:
http://globaljusticeecology.org/pressroom.php?ID=590


PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY:Indigenous Peoples' Orgs and NGOs Condemn the Diversion of Conservation and Development Funding Toward Dubious REDD projects. 


NGOs and Organizations of Indigenous Peoples (IPOs) have come together to challenge both the ethics and the effectiveness of programs for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation and enhancing forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+), and have expressed serious concerns about the diversion of conservation, development and poverty alleviation funding toward REDD+ projects and processes. These concerns has been expressed in an open letter directed toward the funding community, and will be shared at a press conference today.

UNCOP 17, Kosi Palm
15:30 (3:30 p.m.)
Indigenous Environmental Network
            Global Forest Coalition
            Timberwatch South Africa
            Global Justice Ecology Project

Contact:
Jeff Conant, Global Justice Ecology Project & Global Forest Coalition:+27 (0)73 623 0619
November 29, 2011 

November 28, 2011

Anonymous: OpOhHai targets firms going after Wikileaks and Occupy Wall Street


OpOhHai
http://pastebin.com/Nc4uF6Uy
Statement online
On several occassions, the wide-ranging constituency of activists that comprise Anonymous, Wikileaks, Occupy Wall Street, and other efforts have come under dishonest and well-financed attacks by lobbying syndicates, law firms, intelligence contractors, and other entities. Often, such groups have numerous ties to branches of the U.S. government; in the case of the Team Themis conspiracy, it was actually the Justice Department itself that recommended Bank of America go to the powerful Hunton & Williams firm in order to go after Wikileaks using clandestine and amoral methedology. Although several of these efforts have been exposed and prevented, none have resulted in any significant consequences for anyone involved in the wrongdoing concerned.
That being the case, these parties have had little reason to refrain from pursuing the growing market for information-based sabotage against civic and activist groups. Meanwhile, the effectivess of these campaigns increase as the intelligence contracting industry develops more effective means of faking public opinion via persona management and other state-of-the-art methodology for the behest of their corporate clients.
Those of us who have studied the situation closely since the seizure of 70,0As such, we have decided to make an example of the latest such entity to have been caught proposing subterfuge in an effort to discredit a movemeght proposing subterfuge in an effort to discredit a  movement that cannot be beaten in the open: Clark Lytle Geduldig and Cranford.
To follow are excerpts from this firm's leaked proposal by which to attack the OWS movement, followed by dox on the principals, who have been receiving constant phone calls at home from a crack team of prank phone call dhovahkiin associated with Anonymous.
"The cornerstone elements of 00 e-mails from HBGary and the destruction of Team Themis have come to a single conclusion - that so long as these dynamics continue, all of the efforts we make in an effort to bring our message to the people via honest and transparent civic participation will be stymied by those of our opponents who must rely on dishonest and clandestine attacks.a plan include: survey research and message testing, opposition research, targeted social media monitoring, coalition planning, and advertising creative and placement strategy development."
"OWS bears many of the hallmarks of a well-funded effort and media reports have speculated about associations with George Soros and others."
"Our opposition research at this stage will produce an anaylsis of OWS backers and funders, extremist leaders, policy positions, and rhetoric for the development of strategic polling and messaging. The research will also identify opportunities to construct fact-based negative narratives of the OWS for high impact media placement to expose the backers behind this movement."
"Specific initial opposition research tactics will include:
- Comprehensive media analysis of OWS and their leaders
- Records search and obtainable open records requests of leaders' histories including civil and criminal information, litigation history, tax liens, bankruptcies, judgments and other associations
-Associated business and record search including internal Revenue Service [sic] and Federal Election Commission filings, sanctions, regulatory actions, and litigation."
Targeted Social Media Monitoring
"The transparency of social media platforms offers an excellent opportunity to anticipate future OWS tactics and messaging as well as identify extreme language and ideas that put its most ardent supporters at odds with mainstream Americans. These platforms may not be a place where engaging OWS supporters directly could be successful but with sophisticated monitoring and analytical tactics it could provide exceptional political intelligence."
Coalition Planning
"Individual companies under threat by OWS and its adoption by Democrats likely will not be the best spokespeople for their own cause. A big challenge is to demonstrate
Read more ...
http://pastebin.com/Nc4uF6Uy

White House: Obama not expected at White House sessions with Native Americans

President Obama not expected at White House meetings Wednesday and Thursday for Native American leaders

By Brenda Norrell, copyright
Censored News

The White House told Censored News that President Obama is not expected to meet with Native American leaders at the White House during sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, in advance of Friday's White House Tribal Nations Conference at the Interior building.
In response to questions by Censored News, the White House said, "In addition to the Tribal Nations Conference itself, each federally recognized tribe has been invited to attend a briefing and listening session with Senior Administration Officials at the White House. These sessions have been arranged by region and are closed press. The President is not expected to participate."
All 565 federally-recognized Indian Nations have been invited to send one representative to the conference on Friday, Dec. 2, 2011, at the Interior building.
Three years ago, when President Obama announced the White House Tribal Nations Conference, Obama said it was an invitation and welcome to all American Indian leaders to come to the White House. However, he then changed the location of the session to the Interior building. Further, Obama only gave a speech, answered some questions, and left the conference.
Then, last year, in 2010, Obama met with a small group of Native American leaders at the White House in advance of the conference. There was no prior announcement, or information on how those leaders were selected. The majority, including Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr., Hidatsa, Mandan and Arikara President Tex Hall, and others represent tribes who are pushing for more coal fired power plants or oil and gas drilling on sacred lands. Further, the Navajo and Crow are among those who have entered into deals with state or federal governments to give up their peoples water rights.
Although the White House announced meetings for Wednesday and Thursday for regional representatives at the White House this week, no further information was provided until today when the White House responded to Censored News.
Back home on Indian lands, the elected Indian government leaders are often referred to puppet governments, formed by the US government.
John Kane, Mohawk, told Censored News that those "leaders" attending are "BIA puppets," and nothing meaningful will come out of this event.
"This is such a farce. If the entire six hour event was about direct access with the president, it would work out to less than 40 seconds per 'tribal leader.' Most of these guys are such figure heads and BIA puppets that their biggest concern will be to get their pictures taken. Nothing meaningful could possibly come from such an event."
"Ninety-five percent of the Native people in the room will be left out, if there are any 'discussions' at all," Kane said.
Alex White Plume, Lakota on Pine Ridge in South Dakota, also points out that the voices of the people at home are never heard.
"Obama is meeting with the tribal councils. They represent the modern colonized form of government. The real Lakota are home and never get heard. Our issue of Treaty violation is never bought up. This all sounds good, except it does not represent the Treaty Lakota."
The White House said in its announcement that no assistance will be given with travel. If all 565 Indian Nations attend, the cost will easily exceed a total of $1 million for Indian Nations.
Native Americans are asking both Obama and Native American leaders if these sessions are for more political grandstanding and photo ops, or if they will result in real change for Indian country.
.

De-Occupy O'odham Lands: Tucson Dec. 10, 2011

Dry River Radical Resource Center hosts speakers for O'odham VOICE Against the Wall

By Dry River Collective
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Media Inquiries: Dan Todd, 520-982-1835, langgore.dt@gmail.com Ofelia Rivas, 520-395-7910, aliJegos@gmail.com Additional Information: www.dryriver.org; www.solidarity-project.org

TUCSON -- Noted Writers and Academics to Speak at Benefit For Traditional O’odham Resistance and Anarchist Collective Activist and scholar Ward Churchill, writer and speaker John Zerzan, and Professor of Religious Studies/Classics at the University of Arizona Dr. Julian Kunnie will speak at the Dry River Radical Resource Center on December 10, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. to benefit O’odham VOICE Against the WALL, which since 2003 has organized and advocated for the traditional O’odham leaders and O’odham communities, and the Dry River Collective, a center for anarchist organizing in Tucson for almost seven years.

The event, “De-Occupy O'odham Lands!”, is a reminder that O’odham remain on only a third of their original lands and remain in resistance to the illegal occupation of O’odham lands by the United States and Mexico.
Ward Churchill is a prolific American Indian writer, a member of the Rainbow Coalition Council of Elders, and on the leadership council of the American Indian Movement of Colorado. In addition to his numerous works on indigenous history, he has written extensively on U.S. foreign policy and the repression of political dissent. Five of his more than 20 books have received human rights writing awards. Former Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department, until July 2007 Ward Churchill was a tenured full Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Colorado/Boulder, where he received numerous awards for his teaching and service. In April 2009 a jury unanimously found that he had been fired by CU in retaliation for his observations on 9/11 and in violation of the First Amendment. Professor Churchill is currently litigating to have that verdict upheld.
John Zerzan has been active in the anti-authoritarian movement from the ‘60s on and has articulated a critique of technology and civilization that has deepened and sharpened hostility to capitalism. In recent years he has been published in the theory journal TELOS, the Detroit publication Fifth Estate, Eugene’s Green Anarchy, and Species Traitor (an anarcho-primitivist journal). His books include Elements of Refusal (1988, 1998), Future Primitive (1994), Against Civilization (1999), Running on Emptiness (2002), Twilight of the Machines (2008), and Origins: A John Zerzan Reader (2010). Future Primitive Revisited will appear in Spring 2012. His weekly Anarchy Radio broadcast streams live on KWVA radio, Eugene. Oregon, USA; past shows are available at www.johnzerzan.net.
Julian Kunnie is a Professor of Religious Studies/Classics at the University of Arizona He is the author of numerous articles in various internationally recognized journals and books. His books include Indigenous Wisdom and Power: Affirming our Knowledge Through Narratives (2006), Is Apartheid Really Dead? Pan Africanist Working Class Cultural Critical Perspectives (2000), and Models of Black Theology; Issues of Class, Culture, and Gender (1994). His forthcoming book is Globalization and Its Victims: Wars Against the Earth and the Impoverished of the World (Rowman and Littefield). He is currently working on a prison research project that interrogates issues of race, class, and gender and is geared toward preventing the incarceration of youth, particularly those of color, entitled Enchained Humanity: A Comparative Study of the Infliction of Incarceration on Persons in United States and South African Prisons.
The event will be held at Dry River, 740 N. Main (University and Main). It is open to the public. A delicious vegetarian meal will be served at 6:00 p.m. and speakers will begin at 7:00.
Donations of $10 to $20 are requested, but no one will be turned away. The Dry River Radical Resource Center is a community space offered by anarchists for live music, free services from clothing to computer access, and fundraising for a wide array of popular causes.
Since 2005 it has hosted musicians, filmmakers, writers and political organizers from all over the world. Run by volunteers, it is sustained entirely by donations.

Audio: Quanah Parker Brightman on Alcatraz



Listen to internet radio with Brenda Norrell on Blog Talk Radio
CENSORED NEWS BLOGTALK RADIO

ALCATRAZ -- Listen to Quanah Parker Brightman honor his father Lehman Brightman, who is hospitalized following a stroke. Lehman is the founder of United Native Americans. Quanah also describes the struggle for DQ University and the real warriors who occupied Alcatraz. Quanah's words are followed by the drum on Alcatraz. Then, the Buffalo and Eagle songs by Red Shadow Singers, in honor of Lehman's struggle for Indigenous rights. (15 minutes. Alcatraz recording by KPFA Radio Free Alcatraz.)

November 27, 2011

Tucson occupier chains himself, four arrested

Photo by Brenda Norrell Censored News
By Alex Maldonado
Censored News

TUCSON -- (Nov. 27, 2011) From 10:40pm, Saturday night to 12:10am, Sunday morning, Tucson Police Department cited and released demonstrators of Occupy Tucson for staying in the park after hours, except for four who were taken into custody.
Michael (Mike) Migliore was taken into custody after chaining himself onto one of the poles at Veinte de Agosto Park in making a stance for his First Amendment right.  Tucson police handcuffed Migliore and then proceeded to cut the chains, and escorted him to a police cruiser, where he was led away.
Mary DeCamp was taken into custody for the second time in three nights as she refused her citation.  DeCamp was walked from her tent to a general area, where occupiers were being cited.  DeCamp was then taken to another police cruiser where she was handcuffed, seated and then led away.
William (Billy) Lolos, who also refused his citation, was also taken into custody as he was handcuffed before taken to the general area.  Lolos was then taken to yet another police cruiser and seated, and led away.
One unidentified male was also handcuffed and taken into custody, and was seated in the same police cruiser as Lolos.
All four were peacefully taken into custody without incident as fellow occupiers and supporters gave encouragement to those taken into custody for the third night in a row.
Alex Maldonado (Peacekeeper & Veteran For Peace)
thelatinodoctrine@gmail.com
Video below:
Occupy Tucson's Michael Migliore was taken into custody shortly before midnight as he took a stance for his First Amendment right in Veinte de Agosto Park.
After being cut from the chains, Migliore was led away as fellow occupiers and supporters voiced their gratitude.
Alex Maldonado (Peacekeeper & Veteran For Peace)
thelatinodoctrine@gmail.com
Video courtesy of Alex Maldonado

Bookshelf: A California Chumash Woman

By Brenda Norrell

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

The ways of living life in balance with the earth, along with the 1978 occupation of Point Conception in California and a chapter on Nuclear Energy in Native America, are shared in a new book, Earth Wisdom, A California Chumash Woman, by Yolanda Broyles-Gonzalez and Pilulaw Khus.

Now, as Indigenous Peoples around the world gather in Durban, South Africa, at the UN climate summit COP 17, the book offers insights into the struggles of the Chumash occupations, while sharing the guiding wisdom which is at the foundation of the global movement to protect Mother Earth and live lives in harmony with the earth.

"We are all spirit beings masquerading as physical beings right now," says Khus, Chumash activist, in the chapter on Chumash Resurgence, which documents the struggles in the 1970s to save sacred lands and burial places.

Located north of Santa Barbara, Chumash call Point Conception, "The Western Gate." It is an entry way into the spirit world, of those who have gone on to the spirit world.

Discussing the Chumash Resurgence, Khus' narrative details why it is important to protect these lands and its creatures. "Baby pronghorns are amazing because they can completely disappear. People who are knowledgeable and very accustomed to being around pronghorns and other animals have told me that they have walked right by a baby pronghorn and didn't even know it was there. The babies can disappear. They have to have that ability, but they also have to have the grasses growing at a certain height in order to be able to hide."

In the chapter Indigeneity and Earth, there is more on keeping the earth in balance.

"Our stories talk about how the mountains here in Chumash country came into existence. They talk about how the rivers came into existence. These things are sung about. They're told about. And this is our relationship. This is how we know what is our area."

Development gets in the way of those natural rhythms, and even the flow of weather patterns.

"The Indigenous people carry a lot of these life wisdoms with them. We carry instructions concerning our responsibility to this land. We have these understandings. But most of all, we have directions from Spirit that we carry within each cell of our being, each cell our flesh, our blood, our bones, our minds, and our eyes and ears."

In closing, Khus speaks about carriers of medicine. She describes how colonization and the choices that individuals make, in regards to living material lives as compared to spiritual lives, impacts the lives of medicine people.

"To carry medicine refers to a state of being within a person. It's a quality that the person has. If that quality is within a person, it is very important for that person to have certain teachings within their lives."

There is also this final passage, the words of Khus.

"The truth is that when I go into that next stage of my life, I will not be here in this physical form. But I will be here when the breezes blow, when the ocean birds and the songbirds fly and hunt, when the mammals run, when the plants grow, when the sea mammals swim. I will be here. I will always be here. I have always been. Hopefully, I will continue to live within your heart and your memories. That will create a channel of communication between us."

Earth Wisdom, A California Chumash Woman, is published by the University of Arizona Press, 2011.
From the publisher:

Pilulaw Khus has devoted her life to tribal, environmental, and human rights issues. With impressive candor and detail, she recounts those struggles here, offering a Native woman's perspective on California history and the production of knowledge about indigenous peoples. Readers interested in tribal history will find in her story a spiritual counterpoint to prevailing academic views on the complicated reemergence of a Chumash identity. Readers interested in environmental studies will find vital eyewitness accounts of movements to safeguard important sites like Painted Rock and San Simeon Point from developers. Readers interested in indigenous storytelling will find Chumash origin tales and oral history as recounted by a gifted storyteller. 

The 1978 Point Conception Occupation was a turning point in Pilulaw Khus's life. In that year excavation began for a new natural gas facility at Point Conception, near Santa Barbara, California. To the Chumash tribal people of the central California coast, this was desecration of sacred land. In the Chumash cosmology, it was the site of the Western Gate, a passageway for spirits to enter the next world. Frustrated by unfavorable court hearings, the Chumash and their allies mobilized a year-long occupation of the disputed site, eventually forcing the energy company to abandon its plan. The Point Conception Occupation was a landmark event in the cultural revitalization of the Chumash people and a turning point in the life of Pilulaw Khus, the Chumash activist and medicine woman whose firsthand narrations comprise this volume. 

Scholar Yolanda Broyles-González provides an extensive introductory analysis of Khus's narrative. Her analysis explores "re-Indianization" and highlights the newly emergent Chumash research of the last decade. 

In the world of book publishing, this volume from a traditional Chumash woman elder is a first. It puts a 20th (and 21st) century face, name, identity, humanity, personality, and living voice on the term Chumash.

Dr. Yolanda Broyles-Gonzalez is professor in the Mexican American and Raza Studies Department at the University of Arizona. She legally challenged the unequal payment of women and minority professors within the University of California in 1996. She was honored at the White House for the struggle of equal pay for women in 1998.

November 26, 2011

Obama's nearly-secret meeting with Native American reps this week

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
President Obama's meeting with a select group of Native
American leaders at the White House in 2010, prior to the
full conference held in the Interior building,
was not made public ahead of time last year. 
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Update: Monday:
The White House said Obama
is not expected to attend Wed. and Thurs.
listening sessions at the White House. Obama
will make "remarks" on Friday at the Interior
Building,  the White House said.
See update at Censored News;
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/11/white-house-obama-not-expected-at-white.html


The White House Tribal Nations Conference is on Friday, Dec. 2, at the Interior building. The big question is why the secrecy about which Native American leaders will be attending the regional meetings, actually held at the White House, and who those leaders will be meeting with, on Wednesday and Thursday.

Those regional Native American leaders will meet at the White House prior to the meeting over at the Interior building on Friday, Dec. 2. Native American leaders from all 565 federally-recognized Indian Nations have been invited to attend the Friday session.

The White House announced those invitation-only meetings to be held on Wednesday and Thursday, but did not name the regional representatives, or explain how they are being selected. Censored News is awaiting a response from both the White House and the National Congress of American Indians, after requesting this information.

According to one invitation obtained by Censored News, this year Native American leaders actually invited to the White House for regional meetings are invited to meet with President Obama's "senior" officials, and not specifically Obama.

Once again this year, the White House Tribal Nations Conference is being held at the Interior building and not at the White House. Native American leaders were told that only one representative can be sent from each Indian Nation and no help is available for travel.

John Kane, Mohawk, said those "leaders" attending are "BIA puppets," and nothing meaningful will come out of this event.

"This is such a farce. If the entire six hour event was about direct access with the president, it would work out to less than 40 seconds per 'tribal leader.' Most of these guys are such figure heads and BIA puppets that their biggest concern will be to get their pictures taken. Nothing meaningful could possibly come from such an event."

"Ninety-five percent of the Native people in the room will be left out, if there are any 'discussions' at all," Kane said.

Alex White Plume, Lakota on Pine Ridge in South Dakota, also points out that the voices of the people at home are never heard.

"Obama is meeting with the tribal councils. They represent the modern colonized form of government. The real Lakota are home and never get heard. Our issue of Treaty violation is never bought up. This all sounds good, except it does not represent the Treaty Lakota."

Last year, there was no advance notice that President Obama had selected a small group of chairpersons from Indian Nations for a private meeting, before the conference at the White House. The meeting, shown in this photo above, was made public after it was held. Native leaders attending the White House invitation-only session said they were each given one minute to speak, and Obama was given eight minutes to respond to the group.

The majority of Native American leaders invited to the private White House meeting with Obama last year were from Indian Nations with oil and gas drilling, coal mining and power plants. Those have resulted in widespread devastation of the land, poisoning of the air and pollution of the aquifers and rivers in Indian country.

Besides the environmental damage, the result has been widespread health problems for American Indians. Those invited included Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Chairman Tex Hall from North Dakota, and Ute Mountain Ute Chairman Gary Hayes from Utah. Navajo President Joe Shirley was there, from the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation has three coal-fired power plants in the Four Corners region and hundreds of oil and gas wells.

The Navajo Nation and Crow Nation were both represented at the White House last year, two of the many Indian Nations in the west where the federal and state governments are seizing Indian water rights by way of legal maneuvers.

Three years ago, at the first White House Tribal Nations Conference, President Obama was criticized for showing a lack of respect to Native American leaders. In the initial announcement, Obama first invited and welcomed all Native American leaders to come to the White House. Then, however, Obama changed the meeting place to the Interior building.

The question remains: Didn't Obama realize in the beginning that there are 565 Indian Nations?

Obama further insulted Native American leaders in 2009 and 2010 by failing to greet and shake the hands of Native American leaders, as a show of respect for the arrival of leaders of sovereign nations. Obama did not host a reception to greet the leaders. Instead, Obama made a speech at the Interior building, responded to questions, and left the conference.

Before the White House Tribal Nations Conference began that first year in 2009, Native leaders stood in long lines in the cold outside the Interior building, waiting to get inside.

Already this year, Native Americans are asking: Who are the regional representatives in the select groups invited to the White House? How were they chosen? Why hasn't all of this been made public?

The meeting is costly to attend for each individual Indian Nation, which must provide for its own travel, hotels and meals, etc. If all 565 Indian Nations attend, those costs could easily total over $1 million.

Further, Native Americans want to know from both Obama and their own leaders if this meeting is just for the purpose of political grandstanding and photo ops, or if it will result in real change for Indian country.

White House Tribal Nations Conference Schedule:
http://www.ncai.org/About.641.0.htm
Invitation-only sessions at the White House:
Wednesday, November 30
White House Briefings and Listening Sessions with Tribal Leaders by Region
Eisenhower Executive Office Building by White House Invitation Only
12:30‐2:00 Representatives from the Eastern, Eastern Oklahoma, Southern Plains, Great Plains, Midwest and Rocky Mountain Regions
3:00‐4:30 Representatives from the Pacific and Northwest Regions
More details posted at: www.whitehouse.gov/nativeamericans
Thursday, December 1
White House Briefings and Listening Sessions with Tribal Leaders by Region
Eisenhower Executive Office Building by White House Invitation Only
9:30‐11:00 Representatives from the Southwest, Navajo and Western Regions
3:30‐5:00 Representatives from the Alaska Region

See full schedule at:  http://www.ncai.org/About.641.0.html
Read more: Kimberly Teehee is the White House Domestic Policy Council Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/11/01/national-native-american-heritage-month-and-white-house-tribal-nations-conference

White House meeting with Obama, photo 2010: Earl J. Barbry, Sr., Chairman, Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana; Cedric Black Eagle, Chairman, Crow Nation; Brian Cladoosby, Chairman, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community; Karen Diver, Chairwoman, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa; Brenda Edwards, Chairperson, Caddo Nation; Tex G. Hall, Chairman, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation: Three Affiliated Tribes; Gary Hayes, Chairman, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe; John Red Eagle, Principal Chief, Osage Nation; Joe Shirley, Jr. , President, Navajo Nation; Robert H. Smith, Chairman, Pala Band of Mission Indians; Edward K. Thomas, President, Tlingit Haida Central Council; Mervin Wright, Jr., Chairman, Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevada