Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

May 31, 2012

Haskell students walk to save wetlands: Trail of Broken Promises

Haskell students walking to Washington DC to save wetlands

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

The Trail of Broken Promises began on May 13 to save the Wakarusa Wetlands. Haskell Indian Nations University students and advocates for cultural rights began a two-month journey to Washington, DC, to save the Wakarusa Wetlands. Lawrence’s only remaining indigenous wetland prairie is now under threat of becoming the South Lawrence Trafficway in Kansas.

The Trail of Broken Promises is primarily an on-foot trek through fifty towns from Kansas to Washington, DC. Walkers plan to arrive in Washington on July 9.
On their journey, the Trail of Broken Promises addresses the difficulty of preserving sacred places within Indian Country.
"Prompted by the proposed highway construction through the wetland behind Haskell campus, the students travel on the Potawatomi Trail of Death route in reverse, stopping by each marker to honor the sacred place and show appreciation to communities maintaining markers of remembrance," walkers said in a statement.
They also carry a piece of draft legislation which has been approved by the National Congress of American Indians that would amend the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, “to provide a right of action for protection of Native American Sacred Places,”such as the Wakarusa Wetlands.

The wetlands adjoin the Haskell Indian Nations University, and have been used for ceremony, prayer, and education since Haskell’s founding as a boarding school in 1884.
“Fighting to save the Wakarusa Wetlands extends beyond our campus,” Pepion states.
“Our journey recognizes all Native Americans and all sacred places left vulnerable to developers’ agendas.”
Contact to offer support:
Phone: 480-258-2930 Email: minipah@msn.com
Media coverage:
http://kansaspublicradio.org/kpr-news/haskell-students-to-visit-washington-promoting-site-preservation
http://www.nativetimes.com/news/environment/7212-students-walk-to-protect-native-sacred-places
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/14/3612652/students-protest-south-lawrence.html
http://www.lexington-news.com/LN_detailheadline.asp?key=16491&itemNumber=0&fb_source=message
http://www.richmond-dailynews.com/?p=10519&fb_source=message
http://www.kmzu.com/native-americans-walking-to-d-c/
http://www.moberlymonitor.com/news/x624589963/Twelve-Kansas-students-on-Trail-of-Broken-Promises-Tour-in-Moberly-Saturday
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/may/16/haskell-ku-students-walking-underscore-environment/?print&fb_source=message
http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/news/index.php/2012/05/students-walk-to-protect-native-sacred-places-in-midwestern-united-states/
http://www.whig.com/story/18563261/trail-of-broken-promises-focuses-attention-on-desecration-of-sacred-native-american-places
http://www.whig.com/story/18623655/students-advocates-for-cultural-rights-tour-indian-mounds-park-as-part-of-tour-on-the-trail-of-broken-promises
http://commercial-news.com/local/x1647290843/Walkers-call-attention-to-rights

These websites allow you to follow them on our journey digitally:
Facebook Page---> https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Trail-Of-Broken-Promises/300284686671395
Youtube Page-----> http://www.youtube.com/user/ToBP2012
Twitter Page-------> https://twitter.com/#!/ToBP2012
Tumblr Page-------> http://trailofbrokenpromises.tumblr.com/

US Human Rights Activists: US participated in Moskito Massacre Honduras May 2012

U.S. Human rights activists document US participation in massacre of Moskito people

"Following the massacre at least one helicopter landed and at least ten, tall, light-skinned English speakers with limited Spanish proficiency wearing military type uniforms exited the helicopters to collect cocaine from a boat near the massacre site."

Tegucigalpa, Honduras
May 27, 2012                             
By Karen Spring and Annie Bird
Posted at Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

On May 22 and 23 a delegation of human rights activists from the United States organized by Rights Action and Alliance for Global Justice visited the community of Ahuás in the Moskitia region of Honduras. The delegation witnessed an atmosphere of terror being generated amongst dire poverty in an area where the indigenous people are now losing control of natural resources which are key to the development of their economy.
The group inquired into the May 11, 2012 massacre of indigenous Miskito people by gunfire from U.S. State Department - titled helicopters that the US government confirms carried U.S. DEA agents and security contractors. The boat and its passengers had almost completed an eight hour trip to Ahuas from the town of Barra Patuca. Four were killed, including two pregnant women, a 14-year-old boy and a 21-year-old man, while at least four more were seriously injured.
Following the massacre at least one helicopter landed and at least ten, tall, light-skinned English speakers with limited Spanish proficiency wearing military type uniforms exited the helicopters to collect cocaine from a boat near the massacre site. They aimed guns at, threatened to kill, and handcuffed residents of the town who had come to assist the wounded. Victims lay on the banks of the river and in the damaged boat until after helicopters departed. In this way security forces delayed emergency medical assistance two to three hours.
Neither U.S. nor Honduran authorities have interviewed the eye witnesses or secured evidence at the crime scene, indicating that no serious investigation has been conducted into the massacre. Even without conducting a serious investigation U.S. and Honduran officials have accused the victims, the population in general and local authorities of participating in drug trafficking.
Since the massacre Ahuas has been occupied by several dozen Honduran troops, and it is reported that U.S. military presence in the vicinity of Ahuas is increasing. U.S. government authorities recognize that counterinsurgency tactics are being used while they identify the indigenous communities as drug traffickers. Indigenous communities in Central America have once again become the focus of U.S. counterinsurgency actions.
Many people the group spoke with noted that militarization and violence generated by the U.S. drug war is focused where there are significant natural resources, Ahuas is known to hold significant petroleum deposits and Texas-based Honduras Tejas Oil and Gas Company, a joint venture with concessions in the Moskitia, estimates there are six to eight billion barrels of oil reserves in the Moskitia.
The delegation is calling for a serious and credible investigation including a Congressional hearing that identifies criminal responsibility in the massacre, the withdrawal of U.S. security forces from Honduras, and suspension of U.S. military assistance to Central America.
Read report on initial findings of human rights delegation:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/p/evidence-of-us-involvement-in-killings.html

Australian Aboriginal speaks out for Wikileaks Julian Assange




Wikileaks exposed attacks on Indigenous Peoples
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/05/australian-aboriginal-speaks-out-for.html
May 31, 2012 Breaking news, check back for updates


In Melbourne, Australia, Aboriginal elder Robbie Thorpe, Krautungalung of the Gunnai Nation, rallied in support of Wikileaks Julian Assange, who continues to battle for his freedom. Wikileaks has exposed how the US and Canada targeted Indigenous Peoples.
Thorpe, longtime activist for aboriginal land rights and human rights, referred to Assange as "my brother."
"I'm prepared to go to jail for Julian, we need to rise up! Get up!"
"Assange is exposing the truth. Secrecy is a weapon of mass destruction in Australia," Thorpe said in Melbourne on May 31, during one of the global rallies in support of Assange.
The US diplomatic cables exposed by Wikileaks revealed how US ambassadors spied on Indigenous Peoples and promoted mining in their homelands. The mining is resulting in widespread assaults, homelessness, poisoning of the land, water and air, and deaths during Indigenous village protests.


Indigenous battle Newmont Mining
Today in Peru, Indigenous battle Newmont Mining, which mines copper and gold in Peru. Newmont has also targeted Western Shoshone lands in Nevada and northern Canada for mining. Newmont currently has 14 open pit gold mines and four undergound gold mines in Nevada.
In Australia, Newmont currently has massive gold mines in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Aboriginal people are fighting widespread attacks by mining companies, including uranium mining that poisons water sources.
Wikileaks exposed five country anti-Indian mining coalition
The Wikileaks cables exposed the fact that the United States was part of a five country coalition to promote mining and fight against Indigenous activists in Peru. In Peru, a core group of diplomats from U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, Switzerland and South Africa formed an alliance with mining companies to promote and protect mining interests globally, according to the cables.
Below are the top six ways that the United States and Canada worked against Indigenous Peoples, as revealed by Wikileaks and researched by Censored News. The US and Canada engaged in espionage, while violating Indigenous autonomy, self determination and dignity.
Anonymous exposed Mexico manipulating climate facts to promote coal mining
Following the release of the Wikileaks cables, Anonymous hacked the e-mails of Mexico’s mining industry Camimex. Those e-mails revealed that the government of Mexico is manipulating climate change facts in order to protect coal mining and other dirty industries from taxation.
In the Camimex member e-mails, First Majestic Silver Mining of Canada is exposed in the state of Durango, Mexico. The company targeted the sacred lands of the Wixarika, Huicholes, with silver mining. The Wixarika's sacred place is where Wixarika pray for all mankind to keep the world in order and balance. Read more: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/02/hacked-e-mails-reveal-mexico.html
Wikileaks cables, research by Censored News
The top six ways that the US and Canada worked against the rights of Indigenous Peoples:

1. The United States worked behind the scenes to fight the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In Ecuador, the US established a program to dissuade Ecuador from supporting the Declaration. In Iceland, the US Embassy said Iceland's support was an "impediment" to US/Iceland relations at the UN. In Canada, the US said the US and Canada agreed the Declaration was headed for a "train wreck."
2. The United States targeted and tracked Indigenous Peoples, community activists and leaders, especially in Chile, Peru and Ecuador. A cable reveals the US Embassy in Lima, Peru, identified Indigenous activists and tracked the involvement of Bolivian President Evo Morales, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Bolivia Ambassador Pablo Solon, prominent Mapuche and Quechua activists and community leaders. President Chavez and President Morales were consistently watched, and their actions analyzed. Indigenous activists opposing the dirty Tar Sands were spied on, and other Indigenous activists in Vancouver, prior to the Olympics.
3. The United States was part of a five country coalition to promote mining and fight against Indigenous activists in Peru. A core group of diplomats from U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, Switzerland and South Africa formed an alliance with mining companies to promote and protect mining interests globally. In other illegal corporate profiteering, Peru’s government secretly admitted that 70-90 percent of its mahogany exports were illegally felled, according to a US embassy cable revealed by Wikileaks. Lowe's and Home Depot sell the lumber.

4. Canada spied on Mohawks using illegal wiretaps. Before Wikileaks hit the headlines, it exposed in 2010 that Canada used unauthorized wiretaps on Mohawks.
Wikileaks: "During the preliminary inquiry to Shawn Brant's trial, it came out that the Ontario Provincial Police, headed by Commissioner Julian Fantino, had been using wiretaps on more than a dozen different Mohawks without a judge's authorization, an action almost unheard of recent history in Canada."
4. The United States and Canada tracked Mohawks. In one of the largest collections of cables released so far that targeted Native people and named names, the US Embassies in Montreal and Toronto detailed Mohawk activities at the border and in their communities.
5. The arrogant and insulting tone of the US Embassies and disrespect for Indigenous leaders is pervasive in US diplomatic cables. The US Embassy in Guatemala stated that President of Guatemala, Álvaro Colom, called Rigoberta Menchu a "fabrication" of an anthropologist and made other accusations. Menchu responded on a local radio station that Colom was a "liar."
6. The collection of DNA and other data, makes it clear that US Ambassadors are spies abroad. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton states that the Intelligence Community relies on biographical information from US diplomats. In cables to Africa and Paraguay, Clinton asked US Embassy personnel to collect address books, e-mail passwords, fingerprints, iris scans and DNA.
“The intelligence community relies on State reporting officers for much of the biographical information collected worldwide," Clinton said in a cable on April 16, 2009. Clinton said the biographical data should be sent to the INR (Bureau of Intelligence and Research) for dissemination to the Intelligence Community.
Meanwhile, the US was part of a five country team that supported mining as Indigenous Peoples were dying to protect their homeland.
The arrogance of the US and its cheerleading for corporate copper mining in Peru is obvious in two cables just released from Wikileaks. The diplomatic cables reveal the US promoting multi-national corporations, while targeting Indigenous activists and their supporters.
The cables reveal that a core group of diplomats formed an alliance with mining companies to promote and protect mining interests globally. The diplomats were from the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, Switzerland and South Africa.
Read more at http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/02/wikileaks-peru-us-ambassador-targeted.html
The US spied on the Mohawks in Canada, as revealed in these diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks. Canadian border guards admitted that they feared the Mohawks:
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2011/05/wikileaks-cables-on-mohawks.html
Wikileaks exposed the fact that not only were Indigenous Peoples spied on globally by the US State Department, but those who supported them were also spied on. Actor and activist Danny Glover was the focus of at least five US diplomatic cables.

Video of Robbie Thorpe at Dec 2010 support for Julian Assange.

May 30, 2012

Protecting Sacred Places, Oakland, Calif.

Protecting Winnemem Ceremonies
May 2012/Photo Klamath Media
Thursday, May 31-- Friday, June 1, 2012
Protecting Sacred Places
Oakland, Calif.

Posted at Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com

A unique opportunity to learn about current struggles of Native peoples to protect sacred land in Northern California and ways that you can lend support.
Two separate events in Oakland.
FEATURED PRESENTERS:
Caleen Sisk (Winnemem Wintu)
Speaking about current Winnemem struggles
 Jim Brown III (Elem Pomo)
Speaking about Rattlesnake Island
Corrina Gould (Chochenyo/Karkin Ohlone)
Speaking about Brushy Peak
Wounded Knee DeOcampo (Tuolumne Miwok)
Speaking about Sogorea Te/ Glen Cove
Only at Friday June 1st event:
Morning Star Gali (Achumawi Pit River)
Speaking about Medicine Lake
TWO DATES/LOCATIONS IN OAKLAND: Thursday, May 31st
5:30 pm @ INTERTRIBAL FRIENDSHIP HOUSE
523 International Boulevard, Oakland, CA
Friday, June 1st
7:00 pm @ THE HOLD-OUT
2313 San Pablo Ave, Oakland, CA
Admission $5-$20 * No one turned away for lack of funds
A program of several short videos will precede the panel discussions, including:
"A River in their Veins", on the Winnemem Wintu's Coming of Age ceremony in 2010, a tradition that could be gone forever if the sacred sites necessary for the ceremony are permanently submerged by a raise of the Shasta Dam.

http://www.facebook.com/events/15179742827...

For further event information contact: protectsacredland [at] yahoo.com

May 29, 2012

New at Censored News May 29, 2012


New at Censored News

May 29, 2012
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Chief Arvol Looking Horse: Prayers for energy shift for healing, prayers at Rio 20 Brazil on June 21:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/05/chief-arvol-looking-horse-unite-for.html


VIDEO: O'odham Ofelia Rivas 'Erase the Border' 2012
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/05/photos-videos-winnemem-ceremony.html
Photos and videos: Winnemem Wintu shut down McCloud River during War Dance
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/05/photos-videos-winnemem-ceremony.html


Censored News Series:
Rights of Mother Earth Gathering
at Haskell Indian Nations University, April 2012:


Haskell: Disappearance and renewal in the wetlands
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/04/haskell-disappearance-and-renewal-in.html
Rights of Mother Earth Haskell continues efforts of Bolivia President Evo Morales
http://www.bsnorrell.bl...ogspot.com/2012/04/rights-of-mother-earth-haskell.html
Anishinabe Renee Gurneau: Mother earth, memory and being
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/04/anishinaabe-renee-gurneau-mother-earth.html
Power and Place: Dr. Wildcat on Rights of Mother Earth
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/04/power-and-place-dr-wildcat-on-rights-of.html
Fort Berthold: Oil trucks killed seven children and youths
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/04/fort-berthold-oil-trucks-killed-seven.html
‘People of the water’ BC Chief Rueben George at Rights of Mother Earth
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/04/people-of-water-bc-chief-rueben-george.html
Robert Yazzie: Roots of Dine’ Law at Rights of Mother Earth
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/04/robert-yazzie-roots-of-dine-law-at.html
Supai Hopi Mona Polacca: Water, prayer and humility
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/04/supai-hopi-mona-polacca-water-prayer.html


New at Censored News
May (71)

May 28, 2012

Roberto Rodriguez: Demonizing Mexican-American studies is unjust

Demonizing Mexican-American studies is unjust


by Roberto Rodriguez - May. 28, 2012
Posted at Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

I pick up the phone at my office at the University of Arizona and learn that I have three recorded messages waiting for me. The first one begins with the caller claiming to be half White and half Native American, addressing me as an "(expletive) Mexican" and a "Raza (expletive)." This while injecting a .357 Magnum into his rant.
The second and third calls are similar. The vitriol is inexplicable and virtually incomprehensible, except for the threats of extreme violence.
As a lifelong writer, receiving vicious hate mail is not new to me, including receiving a registered letter to my house from the Ku Klux Klan. But receiving death threats as a professor -- this is new.
Just the week before those calls, a video was placed on YouTube by right-wing elements, accusing me of being the ringleader of the movement to defend Mexican-American Studies (MAS) from being eliminated by the state, via House Bill 2281. In reality, that six-year effort has primarily been a student-led movement.
The funny thing is they invented the things that I supposedly did: standing on top of a table while directing the students to chain themselves to the school boardroom chairs and screaming at my students if they didn't read precisely what I wrote for them to read at the board meetings.
Complete fabrications are indeed funny to me, but I can't say the same thing about death threats.
For rest of the column, please go to:
Read more:  http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2012/05/25/20120525mexican-american-studies.html#comments#ixzz1wDEKw49f
Also, if you wish to republish or repost column, you have my (the author's) permission. If you require permission from the Arizona Republic, please contact the editorial department
Thanks , Sincerely
Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez
PO BOX 3812
Tucson, AZ 85722

COLUMN: http://drcintli.blogspot.com/
ARCHIVED COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
http://web.me.com/columnoftheamericas
Cintli don't tweet, text, facebook, digg and is not linked.... but you can still email or call me.

Photos videos: Protecting Winnemem Wintu ceremony 2012


Closing the river

River closed



Forest Service

Forest Service with Winnemem
.
Photos by Klamath Media. Thank you from Censored News!
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/05/photos-videos-winnemem-ceremony.html



These photos and video are from this weekend's War Dance and actions that were held to protect the Winnemem Wintu's coming of age ceremony on Shasta Lake later this month. Below is also a link to the press release. Day three was the day that volunteers on boats put up a "River Closed" banner across the water and closed it to speed boat traffic for a few hours.
After many of the supporters had already left the river, what was described as an "armada of thunder-engined powerboats" came through to make a disturbance. (See video 4.)
The presence of any fishing boats or curious vacationers that were not associated with the ceremony or support crews had been disruptive in previous days, but this event was obviously planned with malicious intent based on testimony of the people who were down on the river
when the boats came through.
Stormy Staats,
Klamath Media
Video:
Day 1 -- War Dance for Safe Coming of Age Ceremony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Boa2gmLQcA&feature=relmfu
Day 2 -- War Dance for Safe Coming of Age Ceremony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGB2CthnwKA&feature=relmfu
Day 3 -- War Dance for Safe Coming of Age Ceremony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=927rV2BO7T4&feature=relmfu
Day 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nW9WClzC5Og
Boats Close River For Winnemem Wintu Ceremony - May 26 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPBHbxkVf1o&feature=plcp

Indybay Dan Bacher: Winnemem Wintu close McCloud River during War Dance:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/05/28/18714272.php

Release: War Dance Scheduled for May 24-May 27
http://www.winnememwintu.us/2012/05/21/press-release-war-dance/
Photos from Winnemem Wintu May 26th War Dance
http://www.flickr.com/photos/79496947@N04/sets/72157629929809948/with/7284846044/

Media Coverage
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/25/MNJE1OLUPQ.DTL
http://www.redding.com/photos/galleries/2012/may/28/winnemem-wintu-war-dance/20879/
http://www.krcrtv.com/news/31114827/detail.html

LISTEN: First Voices Indigenous Radio
Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Cheyenne River Lakota
WBAI New Yorkhttp://firstvoicesindigenousradio.org/program_archives
April 19, 2012
CALEEN SISK Tribal Chief- www.winnememwintu.us/ - The Winnemem Wintu Tribe, a band of indigenous people located in Northern California, have appealed to the United States Forest Service’s Regional Forester to temporarily close of part of McCloud River, located in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Forty to 60 tribal members and supporters gathered at Pacific Southwest Regional Forester Randy Moore’s Vallejo office at about 9 a.m. Monday to picket, said Caleen Sisk, the Winnemem Wintu tribal chair. John Heil, a press officer for the regional forester, confirmed that range of protesters.
After an hour of picketing, Regional Forester Moore came out and addressed the group, said Sisk. She said Moore was receptive and that he did "the respectful thing" by listening to protesters’ concerns. The Forest Service's Heil said Moore will work with the Shasta-Trinity National Forest supervisor in making a decision on the river closure request.
The four-day mandatory closure would allow the tribe to carry out a traditional coming-of-age ceremony, Balas Chonas, in which teenage girls spend four days in prayer and communion with elder women before swimming across the lake and symbolically entering adulthood.
This is the not the first time the Winnemem Tribe has appealed to have the area shut down during Balas Chonas. Since 2005 they have sought to have the area temporarily closed to the public for the religious ceremony, but have only been granted "voluntary closure," in which the area is not physically closed off.

VIDEO: O'odham Ofelia Rivas 'Erase the Border' 2012




Erase the Border is an art project with the O'odham youth from Ali Jegk community on O'odham lands divided by the United States/Mexico border. A Project by Boston artist Catherine D'Ignazio and O'odham VOICE Against the WALL founder Ofelia Rivas.

By Ofelia Rivas, O'odham
Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/05/video-oodham-ofelia-rivas-erase-border.html
May 28, 2012

Hello Friends,

We recently had a art project "Erase the Border"  with O'odham youth from  Ali Jegk (Little Clearing) community on the Tohono O'odham Nation adjacent to the US/MX International border.
This is a project of artist Catherine D'Ignazio from the Boston of Institute of Infinitely Small Things group and Ofelia Rivas of O'odham VOICE Against the WALL.
This is our first YouTube video.
It was a crazy windy day on May 24, 2012. We put crepe paper flowers with colorful streamers on the fence, brought tables and chairs, art paper and pigments. The children painted the border fence to produce works of art with the presence of parents and grandparents. The parents and Grandparent comment on how they enjoyed watching the children just have fun, despite what the border has brought to our children and families in our community. The Border Patrol arrived and got out of his vehicle, he was unusually friendly as he talked with the only non-O'odham in the group. He asked the question: "Were you guys out here all day."
We know as community members know they (the border patrol) absolutely do not man the border but monitor our community and drive around at high speeds in our community instead.
The border impacts our community by fear, humiliation and criminalization into the daily lives of our children and families by United States border policies, the border armed forces and Arizona racist laws.
This project hopes to extend the discussion of this impact on our children and families. We are seeking galleries to exhibit the art works. We are also seeking funding or a donation of professional framing of the art works. 
Peace, Ofelia
Contact information;
www.solidarity-project.org   *   aliJegos@gmail.com   


******************************************************************************
www.kanarinka.com    ||    kanarinka@ikatun.org    ||   
******************************************************************************

May 26, 2012

Chief Arvol Looking Horse: Unite for energy shift for healing June 21, 2012

By Chief Arvol Looking Horse
19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe
Posted at Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/05/chief-arvol-looking-horse-unite-for.html

Once again I am sending my voice to all Nations upon Mother Earth, those who can hear my sincerity with their hearts – - unite together at our Sacred Sites creating an energy shift of a great healing on this June 21st. We need to see and listen to the wamakas'ka (the animals) who are more than ever now showing their sacred color of white, there are so many. This color represents the direction of when physical life now goes into the spirit journey. They are trying to warn us to pay attention to our responsibilities as a Global Nation. In order to protect the remaining sacredness that is trying to survive upon Mother Earth, which includes even our own children, we now have no choice but to unify and make positive decisions together.
To honor the birthplace of World Peace and Prayer Day/Honoring Sacred Sites where it all began in 1996, we will gather at Gray Horn Butte, aka Devils Tower on June 16th. Peace Riders who made the '96 journey from Canada to Gray Horn on horse back, will join us and offer prayers as well and plant a Peace Pole reading May Peace Prevail on Earth in 4 different languages. We will do the same offering on June 17th at Medicine Wheel. On June 18th we will gather at the Grand Tetons to begin one of the many events of WPPD throughout the world. The Grand Tetons will be the beginning of a four day event to bring attention for the need to protect the last of the true wild Buffalo (bison) that exist in Yellow Stone National Park, they are in constant danger of being massacred when caught off park property.
On June 21st I will pray with thousands of People at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development or Rio+20 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
As part of the various gatherings and celebrations that will be held as part of the Sacred Earth Gathering in Aldeia Nova Terra during the month of June parallel to the conference, there will be a very special ceremony to celebrate World Peace and Prayer Day/Honoring Sacred Sites along with various representatives of the Brazilian indigenous tribes and spiritual leaders from different nations. The intent is to honor this day not only in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil but to also invite the participation of other WPPD activities worldwide to join though simultaneous acts of prayer and song so as to be united spiritually on this June 21st to celebrate the 2012 World Peace and Prayer Day/Honoring Sacred Sites.
Onipikteca (that we shall live),
Chief Arvol Looking Horse
19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe
Wolakota.org http://www.wolakota.org http://wppd2012.com/

Indigenous Chiefs and Elders will be addressing the World Youth Congress, the Forum of Youth Leaders and the World People's Forum at the Rio +20 World Enviornmental Conference, June 3-23, 2012

Help Indigenous youth filmmakers get to Seattle


Please help Indigenous youth filmmakers get to Seattle
Thank you to Outta Your Backpack Media for sharing your breaking news articles, photos and videos with Censored News

By Outta Your Backpack Media
Posted at Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/05/help-indigenous-youth-filmmakers-get-to.html
Saturday, May 26, 2012

Ya’at’eeh,
Outta Your Backpack Media (OYBM) needs your support to get folks to the 7th Annual SuperFly Filmmaking Experience in Seattle, WA!
OYBM collective members and workshop participants (a total of seven people!) have been invited to participate in this years SuperFly workshop. Shelby Ray, OYBM collective member/volunteer, will also be mentoring at SuperFly.
Unfortunately Longhouse Media, an organizer of the workshop, is unable to come up with full travel funds for OYBM participants so they have asked us to step up and figure it out (they have committed to pay for gas which definitely helps). As many of you already know, OYBM is very resourceful and conscious of how and why we use our funds (that’s why we have a very small annual budget), and that’s why we’re reaching out for your support. While other participants are being flown to Seattle, we’ve decided it’s most affordable for us to rent a van and drive the 1,356 miles from Flagstaff, AZ to Seattle, WA.
We have already successfully raised nearly $500 from our recent Navajo Taco Sale and from community member’s donations. We need to raise an additional $500 more by Monday. Any amount would be helpful and greatly appreciated!
Donations can also be made via Paypal though our website at www.oybm.org, just click the “Donate” button.
You can also write a check to: Outta Your Backpack Media. (Please call if you are writing a check)
Donations above $20 will receive a copy of our newest DVD Vol. 4 featuring videos made at our workshops!
Please contact me if you have any questions: (928) 225-7436 or shelbysmedia@gmail.com.
Please forward this email to your friends and relatives.
Thank you for your consideration,
Shelby Ray
OYBM Youth Coordinator/Volunteer
shelbysmedia@gmail.com
www.oybm.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2F85d7iGX8
About SuperFly:
From May 31st through June 2nd, 2012 more than 50 Indigenous youth from throughout the country will be participating in SuperFly. This is great filmmaking opportunity where filmmakers and actors are able to showcase their skills, collaborate with others, and premiere their work at the Seattle International Film Festival.
More at: http://www.siff.net/presents/seriesDetail.aspx?FID=97
About OYBM:
Since 2004 Outta Your Backpack Media (OYBMedia) has empowered Indigenous youth through free movie making workshops and resource distribution. OYBMedia is an all volunteer Indigenous youth response to the need for media justice in our communities. We seek to create community ownership of media through youth empowerment.
More at: www.oybm.org

May 25, 2012

Protectors ready to defend Winnemem Wintu ceremony May 25, 2012

War Dance underway: Protectors ready to defend Winnemem Wintu Coming of Age Ceremony

Update: Photos and videos: Winnemem Wintu close McCloud River during War Dance:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/05/28/18714272.php
By Brenda Norrell
brendanorrell@gmail.com
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/05/protectors-ready-to-defend-winnemem.html

H’up Chonas (War Dance)
Thursday afternoon, May 24 – Sunday May 27, 2012

McCloud Bridge Campground on the McCloud River, Shasta-Trinity National Forest north of Redding, Calif.


The Winnemem Wintu H'up Chonas (War Dance) is underway and the protectors are present, ready to defend the right of the Winnemem Wintu to hold their Coming of Age Ceremony.
Winnemem Wintu said they are holding the War Dance, H’up Chonas "to protect our ceremony in the traditional way and to show we are willing to die to protect our women from harassment."
On the scene Friday night, Govinda of Earthcycles, said, "Every five hours or so they do another War Dance, young men dancing while the woman sing. I can hear the drum, and the dancing in the background, as the wind blows, across the water with the five or six mountain tops that surround us here."
With US surveillance from above by helicopter and plane, and park rangers on the ground, yesterday and today, supporters have arrived from across the northwest, representing a number of action organizations. They are prepared to defend and protect the right of Winnemem Wintu to carry out their Coming of Age Ceremony here.
The US Forest Service has refused the Winnemem Wintu a permit. The Coming of Age ceremony includes swimmming across the water and in past years, there has been harassment and vulgar behavior directed at those in ceremony by the boaters (see video below.)
Screen capture: Watch video below.
Regional Forester Randy Moore missed the May 1 deadline to respond to the request for a mandatory river closure for 16-year-old Marisa Sisk’s Coming of Age ceremony."

Please contact the Forest Service and let them know the world is watching:
Contact Randy Moore at:
 rmoore@fs.fed.us or 707-562-8737
Please keep your messages respectful and peaceful.
Here's the latest radio news reports from supporters at the scene:
http://www.radio4all.net   http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/download/60271/67159/80629/?url=http://www.radio4all.net/files/govinda@earthcycles.net/1081-1-2012-05-24-garymckenty.mp3

http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/download/60271/67159/80630/?url=http://www.radio4all.net/files/govinda@earthcycles.net/1081-1-2012-05-24-gary-theshift.mp3
Support and food needed:
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/05/help-winnemem-wintu-protect-ceremonies.html
.

VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/winnememwintu

May 24, 2012

Mohawk John Kane on sovereignty and the UN agenda: 'We aren't jilted lovers'



John Kane, Mohawk, on sovereignty: "This isn't about a broken promise. We aren't jilted lovers."

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/05/mohawk-john-kane-on-sovereignty-and-un.html

Amnesty International slammed the United Nations in its 2012 report for its failures, saying it ignores human rights when issues stand in the way of profit. The report comes after criticisms from Native Americans who say the recent UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples focused on rhetoric and academia, while ignoring issues which threaten their survival.

Amnesty International said the UN is failing its purpose. “The language of human rights is adopted when it serves political or corporate agendas, and shelved when inconvenient or standing in the way of profit.”

During recent sessions for testimony to the UN Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples in the US, Native Peoples said the process of testifying was so formal and expensive that it excluded most grassroots Native people.

Further, Native people questioned what will become of their testimony and whether it will simply be reduced to a short and meaningless summary and then filed away.

Ofelia Rivas, O'odham, said traditional and ceremonial O'odham elders were not invited or on the speakers list at the Tucson session. However, a non-O'odham, misusing a sacred name of the O'odham in the name of his organization, was on the speakers list.

Tucson is traditional O'odham territory.

Others questioned the paternalism of the United Nations.

John Kane, Mohawk and host of Lets Talk Native Pride radio, questioned the focus of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and the pattern of Natives asking the UN to recognize Indian treaties and sovereignty.

"We aren't jilted lovers," Kane said.

Kane said, "For weeks we have heard nothing but the UN this and the UN that; the DRIP (Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples), the "Special Rapporteur," the Permanent Forum. All for what? So we finally can have our issues, Native issues, heard by the WORLD, the international community, responsible nations. And what do we talk about? Access to sacred sites, a 500 year old decree by the Vatican and, of course, treaties."

"The single biggest problem on Native lands is poverty! All social ills come back to this. Can some of it be traced to the Discovery Doctrine or other means of stealing our lands? Sure. But today's genocidal policies are specifically about denying our own economic development."

Kane points out Native sovereignty was never surrendered.

"It is not a question of asking the international community to honor or recognize Native sovereignty. The question is where, when and how was there ever a legal or internationally recognizable transfer of our sovereignty to the US, Canada or anyone else. If we start with the premise that our sovereignty WAS recognized, the only way it could not STILL be is that if there was some legal act of subjugation. Let the US or Canada produce their treaty that establishes that transfer of authority. Our sovereignty is NOT a treaty right and it was not surrendered in one either.

"This isn't about a broken promise. We aren't jilted lovers. We are not begging for the international community to respect us or feel sorry for us. Our sovereignty is an internationally recognized authority to 'carry ourselves.' We aren't asking a favor of the world. It is the legal and moral obligation of other nations to acknowledge that America's 'Final Solution' has failed. We are still here and although it is argued that some of our distinction has faded (and how could it not have in light of US and Canadian policies?), our sovereign birthright has not." Read more: http://letstalknativepride.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile, the session of the UN Rapporteur in Tucson was held at the University of Arizona, which is boycotted by many Native Americans.

During the session, Rivas said she has boycotted the university because of its involvement in the development of spyware targeting Indigenous Peoples on the border.

San Carlos Apache Wendsler Nosie did attend the session, but pointed out when he testified that he had boycotted the university for 19 years. Nosie said the university had him arrested during protests to protect sacred Mount Graham from the construction of telescopes. After years of protests and court cases, the telescopes were put on the sacred mountain by a consortium headed by the University of Arizona and the Pope.

Others at the Tucson session questioned the sponsorship by the Ford Foundation, whose board members include a member of Goldman Sachs.

In its new report, Amnesty International also questioned the motives of the United Nations, pointing out opportunists and financial profiteers.

“In the last year it has all too often become clear that opportunistic alliances and financial interests have trumped human rights as global powers jockey for influence in the Middle East and North Africa,” said Salil Shetty.

“The language of human rights is adopted when it serves political or corporate agendas, and shelved when inconvenient or standing in the way of profit.”


Read Amnesty’s new report:
Amnesty 2012: No longer business as usual for tyranny and injustice: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/report-2012-no-longer-business-usual-tyranny-and-injustice-2012-05-24
Watch John Kane television interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDT-NpgoqjA&feature=youtu.be

Rising Tide and Indigenous: Shell harbinger of death


Photo by indyrikki
Rising Tide, First Nations and Inupiat confront Shell at annual general meeting at The Hague and in London: Halt poisoning Native people and the earth

By Rising Tide London
Posted at Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/05/rising-tide-and-indigenous-shell.html


Photo by indyrikki
LONDON -- At the Shell annual general meeting link at the Barbican the suits on the Shell board were given a 3 hour grilling, with questioners focusing attention on its environmental and human rights crimes around the world. Spread throughout the auditorium, hooded London Rising Tide and friends grim Shell reapers stood silently awaiting direction from the board toward their next appointment with Shell induced death and environmental destruction.
The grim figures stood motionless for almost an hour while Messrs Ollila and Vosser, Chairman and CEO, attempted to defend Shell's ravenous pursuit of profit above all else at the expense of:
-- The pristine Arctic, where drilling and probably spilling will begin in the summer;
-- The Canadian boreal forest, where Tar Sands "extraction" has increased by 100k barrels per day
-- The once beautiful fish spawning grounds of the Niger Delta, now clogged with a "Deepwater Horizon's" worth of oil every year
They listened intently to Vosser spouting that so-called "ethical company status" was "very close to my heart and we are driving sustainability." We all know where its being driven. Remember climate change?
Shell and melting glaciers
Climate change may not be a fashionable subject these days, but it’s already claiming 300,000 lives a year. Glaciers are disappearing, sea levels are rising and extreme weather is becoming more extreme. As temperatures rise, we’ll see more flooding, drought, disease, famine and war, creating hundreds of millions of refugees  and destroying entire ecosystems and species.
We can’t  afford to forget about climate change – or the fact that companies like Shell are at the heart of the problem and a shift to Fossil Fuel Gas and land grabbing biofuels isn't helping!
Meanwhile outside, many more Shell Grim Reapers managed to gain entry into the lobby before being ejected by what one shareholder inside referred to as "over the top security." There they met with Occupy Shell Oil coffin bearers who had formed a solemn procession with the corporate body of Shell from St.Pauls Cathedral to be laid to rest at the feet of a 6 degree Celcius global temperature rise this century.
There among the shareholders, city cops and many private security and corporate spies, the Shell Reapers handed out leaflets to inform of impending Shell devastation, clutching with their bony fingers a "Shell Greenwash" banner. Most  passersby were happy to receive a leaflet from the Shell Spectres, with some even keen to ask questions.
Indigenous confront Shell at The Hague with its devastation
Native delegation at The Hague
Photo by Ben Powless, Mohawk
A delegation from Indigenous peoples attended Shell’s main annual general meeting in The Hague, Netherlands. They detailed the massive human and ecological rights violations and economic devastation that Shell's operations have brought to local communities. The tar sands development in Alberta, Canada covers an area the size of England, with toxic lakes so huge they are visible from space, leaking poisons into the local water supply. The effects that tar sands  are having on local First Nations communities are devastating. Not only are indigenous livelihoods and futures being  destroyed, but communities on land where tar sands extraction has been imposed are experiencing disturbingly high rates of rare forms of cancer and auto-immune diseases.
Shell tarsands poisoning Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation
Eriel Deranger, community member and spokesperson for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN), Alberta – an Indigenous community residing downstream from tar sands operations and who are currently suing Shell for violating past agreements - stated, “Tar sands extraction projects on our traditional lands are being approved at a pace that is both irresponsible and irreparably destructive. People in the community of Fort Chipewyan? are genuinely afraid. Our food and water sources are contaminated, resulting in a fear of eating traditional foods and eroding the continuation of our cultural and subsistence lifestyles. Yet Shell plans to aggressively expand its activities, doubling production. The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation is calling on Shell to meet its past agreements and halt expansion until our broader concerns about the cumulative impacts of tar sands operations are addressed.”
Aamjiwnaang most polluted place in North America
Ron Plain, from Aamjiwnaang First Nation, Ontario – which has been called ‘the most polluted place in North America’ by the National Geographic Society, and the ‘the most contaminated airshed in Canada’ by the World Health Organization due to its proximity to ‘Chemical Valley’ where Shell’s and other tar sands operators’ refineries are causing serious health and reproductive impacts – said,  “Aamjiwnaang is the first community in the world to experience birth ratios of 2 girls to 1 boy due to endocrine disruption from the pollution. This is the first step towards extinction. Shell have admitted that their current facility, which is located at the fenceline of Aamjiwnaang, ‘could not meet today’s environmental regulations or standards.’ But Shell’s proposal for a new facility within Aamjiwnaang territory was recently denied by Canada for a whole host of environmental, social and other reasons. The corporate response to that set-back was to build onto the antiquated facility the equipment needed to process more tar sands bitumen.”
Shell plans to drill in Arctic this summerRobert Thompson, Chairman of REDOIL and an Inupiat from Kaktovik, a village on the edge of the Arctic Ocean in Alaska, where Shell plans to drill offshore in Arctic waters this summer, said: “Shell plans to drill in the Arctic this summer without the proven technology or infrastructure to deal with inevitable spills. They have not demonstrated the ability to clean up spills within or from under the ice or during storms. Our culture depends on a clean ocean, and we have subsisted in this region for 12,000 years. We oppose Shell’s plans that have the potential to destroy the culture of our people and will further push the planet into irreversible climate change.”
Mohawk Ben Powless: Shell is a corporate criminalBen Powless, a Mohawk from Six Nations in Ontario, representing the Indigenous Environmental Network, said, “Not only have Shell revelled in being a climate criminal, they have also been exposed as fighting the European Union’s proposed Fuel Quality Directive, in collusion with the Canadian government. Their continued environmental destruction and violation of Indigenous rights across Canada, Alaska and Nigeria show that Shell needs to change their operations or face increasing protest and opposition across the world. Our organization is supporting an Indigenous-led campaign against Shell’s extreme energy projects to bring together frontline impacted communities.”

To find out more about the Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign, see:
http://ienearth.org/tarsands.html
So, what else can we do about Shell in London?
Apart from street corner Petrol Garage blockades we can wage war on corporate branding. Join us to help kick Shell-out Sponsorship = buying us off . Shell's sponsorship acts as a greenwashed blindfold to prevent us seeing the ravages of frontier oil extraction boundaries being pushed. When we challenge this, we strike a blow at Shell’s brand, chip away at its power and move towards the day when Big Oil – like Big Tobacco – is no longer seen as socially acceptable. As we once kicked the tobacco companies out of our cultural institutions we must now do the same to the oil industry.

London Rising Tide,
 c/o 62 Fieldgate Street, London E1 1ES UK;
tel: 07708 794665
www.londonrisingtide.org.uk
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Rising-Tide-UK/515246801http://www.twitter.com/RisingTide_UK
www.risingtide.org.uk
www.artnotoil.org.uk

www.fossilfoolsday.org

May 23, 2012

Native protesters shut down Enbridge hearing in Ontario

Feb. 2012 Enbridge protest BC
Led by Six Nations community members, Enbridge Line 9 hearings disrupted, shut down for half a day

Press statement
Posted at Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/05/native-protesters-shut-down-enbridge.html
May 23, 2012

LONDON, Ontario -- Dozens of environmental justice activists led by Indigenous activists from Haudenosaunee successfully “mic checked” a stop to Enbridge Line 9 hearings in London early Wednesday morning. Members of the National Energy Board had travelled to London to hear presentations from major oil conglomerates as well as environmental NGOs. After successfully disrupting meeting, Haudenosaunee representatives explained that they had not been consulted about the pipeline plans, which would negatively impact their lands.

“We are not only fighting for our rights but yours too,” said grandmother and long time Indigenous activist Ruby Montour, after members of the board and lawyers from the oil companies left the presentation room. “They need to be fair with our people, with you, your ancestors and your children. The environment is going to pay big time if these pipelines rupture and they need to listen to our concerns. They need to speak to us, the real people who need to be spoken to, whose treaties have been broken. They forced us to go to school, they forced us to learn, and we learned so now we know when they are lying or cheating. Well, they can’t anymore. They can’t force things on our lands.”

Canadian pipeline company Enbridge Inc. is proposing the Line 9 Trailbreaker Pipeline to transport tar sands oil through some of the most important natural and cultural landscapes in eastern Canada.  Under the plan, Enbridge would pump corrosive tar sands oil – the dirtiest oil on the planet – through a pipeline that was built in 1975. Enbridge has taken the first step to implement this plan by recently filing a permit application with Canada’s National Energy Board.

“This project cannot go forward without the free, prior and informed consent of the Haudenosaunee who would be directly impacted by a pipeline rupture,” said Metis activist Sakihitowin Awasis who led the mic check that was repeated by over two dozen activists in the room. The Mic Check continued: “The people believe the NEB hearings are illegitimate, inaccessible and undemocratic”

“Pipelines have been stalled or stopped going westward through British Columbia, southwards through Texas (the Keystone XL) and are now being pushed eastward through Ontario. It will be met with similar resistance,” said organizer Toban Black outside the five star Hilton Hotel after the meeting was recessed.

Awasis was arrested by London police, held for over an hour and released with a trespass ticket.

The National Energy Board public hearing was shut down for half the day, after which only the press and the official intervenors were allowed to re-enter. After submissions from intervenors inside the room, the Board ruled that members of the public could re-enter if the intervenors vouched that the people coming in would not be disruptive.

Activists stayed outside and organized a People’s Hearing where statements were read by those gathered and others who had submitted their statements online http://peopleshearing2012.wordpress.com/line9/ .

For more information:
Wes Elliott, Six Nations - 519-757-5427
Toban Black, Rising Tide North America - 519-660-0872 (landline)
Kalin Stacey, Environmental Justice Ontario - 226-972-8497
http://peopleshearing2012.wordpress.com/line9/

Peoples Hearing

Mel Bazil’s statement

Hadi,
Our future here in Wet’suwet’en Territories are going to be 100% Pipeline and Offsetting Free. We do not support the following proposed or illegitimately approved pipelines (and their inevitable bitumen spills) to cross our territories: Apache Corporation’s Pacific Trails Pipeline, Endbridge’s Northern Gateway Project, Pembina Pipelines’ Dual Pipeline Project, and Kinder Morgan’s Transmountain Expansion and Reroute to Kitimat.
We do not see our people breaking the Natural Laws to promote Carbon, Boreal, or Biological Offsets so the destruction of others lands and waters is mitigated by false solutions. We say no to Offsetting! If Enbridge is planning to Offset their proposed RoW in our territories, we are educating our leaders regarding the falsity to the proposed solution that are Offsets and Carbon Markets.
We stand in solidarity with our neighbours in all directions who oppose all pipelines and who do not wish to see further destruction from Hydrofracturing and Tar Sands projects in the Horn River Basin and Lubicon Cree, Cold Lake, and Athabasca Dene Lands. We wish for a future of health for all peoples and pipelines and expanded oil and gas projects are not a part of that. We offer solidarity to all communities who are impacted by the proposal to reverse the flow of the decommissioned Trailbreaker Pipeline for the purpose of transporting bitumen and condensate to New Hampshire, Maine, Montreal, and the east coast.
We also say no to unwanted mining. We do not wish to see more oil and gas and military expansion being facilitated by mining for minerals that are not subscribed to by the peoples of these lands. Federal and Provincial Job strategy and civilization’s expansion are not welcomed in the face of global climate change, increasing health risks from ‘so-called-development’, and decreasing clean and healthy water sources.
It has been a long time coming, the vision of a world that does not seek to destroy and mitigate merely to continue with the destructive and short term world of civilized life in gluttonous cities and war torn histories. The vision of our world we seek involves Settlers and Indigenous Peoples minds bringing together a true relationship where construct laws can also reflect Natural Laws and conflicts are minimal and violence is stopped. The peaceful existence of our futures includes our taking back of our responsibilities to our future generations and our healthy world that no one can own, but can have a relationship with. Let’s do this! Good blessings to you all in your efforts and keep the faith strong!