CENSORED NEWS: July 2012

July 31, 2012

Navajo Human Rights Commission: US Sacred Sites Sessions 2012

San Francisco Peaks/Photo www.sacredland.org

US Interior issues short notice on Sacred Sites Listening Conferences

Update Aug. 2: See listing below, still no details for the Portland session

NNHRC learns of U.S. Department of Interior’s sacred sites listening sessions
By Rachelle Todea
NNHRC
Posted at Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

SAINT MICHAELS, Navajo Nation— Today, the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission requested a letter from the U.S. Department of Interior regarding the upcoming sacred sites listening session scheduled for the month of August.
According to U.S. Department of Interior Counselor to the Assistant Secretary Dion Killsback, a press release will be issued soon.
Soon, however, may not be soon enough.
Because the Interior’s listening sessions begin in approximately two weeks, NNHRC wants to ensure the public is aware of the listening sessions.
According to a letter from the U.S. Department of Interior Acting Assistant Secretary Donald E. Laverdure, the dates, times and locations are as follows:

·        August 13, 2012 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the BIA Southwest Regional Office, Pete V. Domenici Bldg., 1001 Indian School Road in Albuquerque, New Mex. Contact: (505) 563-3103.

·        August 16, 2012 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., at the Holiday Inn-Grand Montana Billings, 5500 Midland Road in Billings, Mont. Contact: (406) 248-7701.

·        August 23, 2012, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, 2400 Mystic Lake Blvd., in Prior Lake, Minn. Contact: (952) 445-9000.

·        August 24, 2012, from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m., at the Mohegan Sun Casino, 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., in Uncasville, Conn. Contact: (860) 862-7311.

·        (Tentative) August 28, 2012, a time, location to be determined for the Portland, Ore., area.

The Interior’s sacred sites listening sessions should not be confused with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s sacred sites listening sessions, which took place last year.

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Interior Dept. Aug. 2, 2012

A Notice by the Indian Affairs Bureau on 08/02/2012

The Department, through the Office of the Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs, intends to develop policy to strengthen the protection of sacred sites on Federal lands. For many years the Department has received input on sacred sites and to that end, the Department is seeking input specific, but not limited to, the following topics regarding sacred sitesShow citation box

Meanings of sacred sites and whether the Department should attempt to define the term “sacred site”;Show citation box
Personal views of existing Departmental practices or policies, if any, that should be revised to protect sacred sites and steps necessary to make appropriate revisions;Show citation box
Potential development of Departmental practices or policies to protect sacred sites;Show citation box
How the Department should facilitate tribal access to sacred sites;Show citation box
How the Department should control and grant access to tribally provided information regarding sacred sites;Show citation box
Whom the Department should include (recognized leaders of tribal government, tribal spiritual leaders, et.al.) in determining whether a site is considered “sacred” by a tribe.Show citation box

Tribal listening sessions will be held at the following dates and locations:Show citation box

Date	Time	Venue
August 13, 2012	1 p.m.-4 p.m	BIA Southwest Regional Office, Pete V. Domenici Building, 1001 Indian School Road, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87104, (505) 563-3103.
August 16, 2012	9 a.m.-12 p.m	Holiday Inn-Grand Montana-Billings, 5500 Midland Road, Billings, Montana 59101, (406) 248-7701.
August 23, 2012	1 p.m.-4 p.m	Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, 2400 Mystic Lake Boulevard, Prior Lake, MN 55372, (952) 445-9000.
August 24, 2012	9 a.m.-12 p.m	Mohegan Sun Casino, 1 Mohegan Sun Boulevard, Uncasville, Connecticut 06382,(860) 862-7311.

Dated: July 27, 2012.

Donald E. Laverdure,

Acting Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs.

[FR Doc. 2012-18891 Filed 7-30-12; 4:15 pm]

BILLING CODE 4310-02-P

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Press statement at top of this post from:
Rachelle Todea, Public Information Officer
Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission
P.O. Box 1689
Window Rock, Navajo Nation (AZ) 86515
Phone: (928) 871-7436
Fax: (928) 871-7437
rtodea@navajo-nsn.gov
www.nnhrc.navajo-nsn.gov

"Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development," according to Article 3 of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, G.A. Res. 61/295, U.N. Doc A/RES/295 (Sept. 13, 2007), 46 I.L.M 1013 (2007).

AIM West International Day for Indigenous Peoples 2012

By AIM West
http://www.aimwest.info
Posted at Censored News

AIM-WEST celebrates 18th year of United Nations proclamation, August 9th as “International Day for the World’s Indigenous Peoples.”

The public is invited to attend the observance of the United Nations proclaimed “International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples” at The BRAVA Women’s Theater, 2781 24th Street, in San Francisco, on Thursday, August 9, 2012 from 11:30 am to 6 pm.

The event, sponsored by American Indian Movement-WEST, a community based human rights advocacy organization promoting the rights of Indigenous peoples of the western hemisphere, seeks U.S. implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the General Assembly in September 2007, in an effort to educate communities and the youth about the achievements Indigenous peoples have gained in the international arena since 1977, and the challenges posed at the grassroots level.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message on International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Observed 9 August:

“The world’s Indigenous peoples—370 million in 70 countries—are the custodians of some of the most biologicaloly diverse areas on earth. They speak a majority of the world’s languages, and their traditional knowledge, cultural diversity and sustainable ways of life make an invaluable contribution to the world’s common heritage.

The adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the General Assembly in 2007 was a landmark in the struggle of Indigenous peoples for justice, equal rights and development. There have also been recent welcome steps at the national level; some governments have apologized to Indigenous peoples for past injustices, and others have advanced legislative and constitutional reforms.

Still, Indigenous peoples remain some of the most marginalized populations, suffering disproportionately from poverty and inadequate access to education. Many face discrimination and racism on a daily basis. All to often, their languages face strictures or are threatened with extinction, while their territories are sacrificed for mining and deforestation.

Indigenous peoples also tend to suffer from the low standards of health associated with poverty, malnutrition, environmental contamination and inadequate health care. With that in mind, this year’s observance of the International Day focuses on the threat of HIV/AIDS. It is essential that Indigenous peoples have access to the information and infrastructure necessary for detection, treatment and protection.

Insufficient progress in health, in particular, points to a persistent and profound gap in many countries bwtween the formal recognition of Indigenous peoples’ rights and the actual situation on the ground. On this International Day, I call on Governments and civil society to act with urgency and determination to close this implementation gap, in full partnership with Indigenous peoples.” (2009)

The day’s activities will include a press conference starting at 11:15 am, to include solidarity statements, special guest speakers, traditional dancers, drummers and singers, and performances from Indigenous nations in solidarity with the occasion, sharing their cultures and spiritual beliefs.

The program begins with traditional Mexica TeoKalli dance to the four winds/directions, and invocation from Ms. Betty Parent with reading from the Great Law of Peace. We are joined by special keynote speaker Dr. Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz (professor-retired), followed by a *panel discussion on “Mayan Cosmo-vision for 2012 and beyond”, moderated by Dr. Jose Cuellar (aka DR. Loco), including Consejo de Ajq’ijab’s Don Pasquel Xayon, and *TBA.

The afternoon includes a recent documentary screening of “Mayan Words” (Palabras Mayas) in Spanish with English subtitles, and “Guatemala Vive!” followed by discussions after the panel and film. The event will focus on sacred sites with references to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Media and Partnerships in Action, Climate Change, and political prisoners in the U.S. such as Leonard Peltier.

A donation of $5 is requested at the door, nobody turned away! The press, families and youth are cordially welcomed. Door proceeds go toward The Brava Theater! Raffle prizes, refreshments and snacks, vendors and information booths available! Support your AIM chapters!

Informacion call 415-577-1492 www.aimwest.info, y Consejo de Ajq’ijab de San Francisco, 415-377-1320

July 30, 2012

Heatstroke: Scrounging for banned authors in Tucson

Heatstroke: Scrounging for banned authors in Tucson

Tucson public schools missed out on banning some notorious local authors -- but at least they got Luis

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Watch Censored News video interviews with students below!

TUCSON -- After battling the sun and heat, I am happy to report it has won. It should just take what it wants. Southern Arizona was never meant to be watered.

Dodging the torturer, I duck inside the icy cold downtown Tucson library and scrounge for banned authors. Semi-conscious from heatstroke, I stumble around and find Simon Ortiz. He is not banned by Tucson public schools, but he should be. He deserves to be.

I pick up “Out There Somewhere,” a book of poetry by Simon Ortiz of Acoma Pueblo, and search for something to show you just why he should be banned. He’s too good of a writer not to be. A little purple marker in the book says, “Local Poet.” This is the Simon who marched with white crosses in the streets of Tucson, with the names of Zapatistas massacred in Acteal, Chiapas.

Turning to “Out There Somewhere,” Simon writes, “I know too well the powerlessness that poverty eventually becomes.”

The library has printed out an excerpt of one of his poems and placed it on a white marker inside the book. On Culture and Universe, Simon writes, “Turn into me, the Universe sings in quiet meditation.”

Simon writes from somewhere else, “It has been raining for days. It’s going to keep raining for days.”

It is not raining in Tucson for days. This is the monsoon season. The rain comes as a blessing and a sorcerer. It pours down, running off the sun-baked earth. It rushes into the washes and carries you away, but it does not rain for days. The monsoon rains tease you, taunt you, and leave you begging for more.

Meanwhile, on this shelf of local authors, I find Demetria Martinez, who definitely should be banned. Demetria is the award-winning author of “Mother Tongue.” The book was written after she was arrested on the border. Facing a 25 year prison sentence for smuggling migrants across the border, she was acquitted as a journalist on First Amendment grounds.

Nestled near Simon’s book of poetry, is Demetria’s “The Devil’s Works.” Now, really, what would be a better book to ban than this one, by a local award-winning author, who has carved her mark into border history.

“Why fight the enemy, when we can fight one another?” writes Martinez in “The Devil’s Works.”

In “Mother Tongue,” Demetria reveals the torture in Central America carried out by the US trained Latin American military leaders. Those fleeing torture and assassinations came north on the underground railroad, across the border and through Tucson in the 1970s and 1980s. Many were Indigenous Peoples fighting to protect their families, their villages, their homeland, and marked for death. This underground railroad was the Sanctuary Movement.

Now, at this point in the library, I search out “Rethinking Columbus, The Next 500 Years,” which was among the original seven naughty books banned by Tucson Unified School District. The collection of dozens of Native American authors in “Rethinking Columbus,” includes Buffy Sainte Marie, Winona LaDuke and Leonard Peltier.

Eventually, dozens of books were banned by Arizona’s Nazi-style school officials, after they decided to forbid Mexican American Studies in Tucson in January. The banned authors include Native American author Sherman Alexie, Spokane/Coeur d'Alene and an award winning novelist, and Ofelia Zepeda, an O’odham poet and professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Books by Roberto Rodriguez, Mexican American Studies professor at the University of Arizona, were also banned, along with many of the nation's leading Chicano and Latino authors.

Well, sadly, “Rethinking Columbus” is still checked out and on hold at the Tucson public library.

Over at Tucson public schools, the book was sentenced to the dark hole. It was among those books extracted from the Mexican American Studies classrooms and placed on the cart, doomed for the “depository."

At the downtown library, on the shelf of local poets, I spot Edward Abbey. Apparently, he didn’t even make it in the door to get banned at Tucson schools.

In Abbey’s book, I read the poem, “The Writer.”

“On a cold sea, empty of life, appeared, a solitary craft.”

Oh, the trickster, in this desert heat, has unleashed this genesis, this seed of the wild writer’s mind.

Nearby in the library, a hiking magazine is trying to seduce me with a photo of Montana. Sincerely, I want to be there, in that lake at Glacier. The trickster, however, always brings me here, to the Sonoran Desert, to be barbecued in summer.

Still scrounging for those banned authors, at a friend’s home in a stack of magazines, alas I find Luis.

There, in the 30^th Anniversary edition of the Earth First! Journal, is banned author Luis Alberto Urrea. Now, what better place to find a banned author than in the Earth First! Journal. Luis writes of driving Ed Abbey’s ’75 fire-engine red Cadillac from Tucson to Denver. The article is, “A Mexican Writer Comes to Terms with the Ghost of Edward Abbey.”

Luis writes of leaving from the Safeway parking lot, “My candidate for Miss Universe loads her groceries into her whining little Coke-can imported car.”

Then, Luis writes, “I admire Edward Abbey. I enjoy his books. And I love his bad taste car – all the way down to the honky-tonk red carpet on the dash. This car is 20 steel feet of Ed’s laughter.”

Meanwhile, I remember the time Abbey walked through my front door. Abbey arrived in a stack of used paperbacks years ago, which I bought to read during heavy snows in my log cabin in the Chuska Mountains on Navajoland. Abbey introduced me to the machinations of Peabody’s coal mining, the monster gouging out Black Mesa, drinking its water, devouring it, a few mountain ridges away.

Now, Luis’ writing about Abbey makes it obvious why Luis was banned by Tucson public schools. Luis is the Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of “The Devil’s Highway,” non-fiction about migrants lost in the Arizona desert. Luis, featured author at this year’s Tucson Book Festival, is just too great of a writer not to be banned.

Good thing they got him.
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Epilogue

After scribbling this with a pencil stub on scrap paper, I dash off to the best Sonoran style taco place in town, for a carne asado taco with charred scallions, grilled jalapenos and fresh avocado cream.
If you don’t know where it is -- I’m not telling.

Brenda Norrell, a journalist of Native American news for 30 years, has written for Navajo Times, AP and USA Today. After being censored and then terminated as a longtime staff reporter for Indian Country Today, she created Censored News in 2006. After living on the Navajo Nation for 18 years, she moved to Tucson.

For permission to repost this article in full: brendanorrell@gmail.com, or feel free to share the link.

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Also see: Censored News article on banning of books in Tucson leads to new release of Mohawk poetry book
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/05/aroniawenrate-peter-blue-cloud_10.html

Censored News honors these champions and iconoclasts, banned by Tucson public schools

High School Course Texts and Reading Lists Table 20: American Government/Social Justice Education Project 1, 2 - Texts and Reading Lists

Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years (1998) by B. Bigelow and B. Peterson
The Latino Condition: A Critical Reader (1998) by R. Delgado and J. Stefancic
Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (2001) by R. Delgado and J. Stefancic
Pedagogy of the Oppressed (2000) by P. Freire
United States Government: Democracy in Action (2007) by R. C. Remy
Dictionary of Latino Civil Rights History (2006) by F. A. Rosales
Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology (1990) by H. Zinn
Table 21: American History/Mexican American Perspectives, 1, 2 - Texts and Reading Lists
Occupied America: A History of Chicanos (2004) by R. Acuña
The Anaya Reader (1995) by R. Anaya
The American Vision (2008) by J. Appleby et el.
Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years (1998) by B. Bigelow and B. Peterson
Drink Cultura: Chicanismo (1992) by J. A. Burciaga
Message to Aztlán: Selected Writings (1997) by R. Gonzales
De Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views Multi-Colored Century (1998) by E. S. Martínez
500 Años Del Pueblo Chicano/500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures (1990) by E. S. Martínez
Codex Tamuanchan: On Becoming Human (1998) by R. Rodríguez
The X in La Raza II (1996) by R. Rodríguez
Dictionary of Latino Civil Rights History (2006) by F. A. Rosales
A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present (2003) by H. Zinn
Course: English/Latino Literature 7, 8
Ten Little Indians (2004) by S. Alexie
The Fire Next Time (1990) by J. Baldwin
Loverboys (2008) by A. Castillo
Women Hollering Creek (1992) by S. Cisneros
Mexican White Boy (2008) by M. de la Pena
Drown (1997) by J. Díaz
Woodcuts of Women (2000) by D. Gilb
At the Afro-Asian Conference in Algeria (1965) by E. Guevara
Color Lines: "Does Anti-War Have to Be Anti-Racist Too?" (2003) by E. Martínez
Culture Clash: Life, Death and Revolutionary Comedy (1998) by R. Montoya et al.
Let Their Spirits Dance (2003) by S. Pope Duarte
Two Badges: The Lives of Mona Ruiz (1997) by M. Ruiz
The Tempest (1994) by W. Shakespeare
A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America (1993) by R. Takaki
The Devil's Highway (2004) by L. A. Urrea
Puro Teatro: A Latino Anthology (1999) by A. Sandoval-Sanchez & N. Saporta Sternbach
Twelve Impossible Things before Breakfast: Stories (1997) by J. Yolen
Voices of a People's History of the United States (2004) by H. Zinn
Course: English/Latino Literature 5, 6
Live from Death Row (1996) by J. Abu-Jamal
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven (1994) by S. Alexie
Zorro (2005) by I. Allende
Borderlands La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1999) by G. Anzaldua
A Place to Stand (2002), by J. S. Baca
C-Train and Thirteen Mexicans (2002), by J. S. Baca
Healing Earthquakes: Poems (2001) by J. S. Baca
Immigrants in Our Own Land and Selected Early Poems (1990) by J. S. Baca
Black Mesa Poems (1989) by J. S. Baca
Martin & Mediations on the South Valley (1987) by J. S. Baca
The Manufactured Crisis: Myths, Fraud, and the Attack on America's Public Schools (1995) by D. C. Berliner and B. J. Biddle
Drink Cultura: Chicanismo (1992) by J. A Burciaga
Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States (2005) by L. Carlson & O. Hijuielos
Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing up Latino in the United States (1995) by L. Carlson & O. Hijuelos
So Far From God (1993) by A. Castillo
Address to the Commonwealth Club of California (1985) by C. E. Chávez
Women Hollering Creek (1992) by S. Cisneros
House on Mango Street (1991), by S. Cisneros
Drown (1997) by J. Díaz
Suffer Smoke (2001) by E. Diaz Bjorkquist
Zapata's Discipline: Essays (1998) by M. Espada
Like Water for Chocolate (1995) by L. Esquievel
When Living was a Labor Camp (2000) by D. García
La Llorona: Our Lady of Deformities (2000), by R. Garcia
Cantos Al Sexto Sol: An Anthology of Aztlanahuac Writing (2003) by C. García-Camarilo et al.
The Magic of Blood (1994) by D. Gilb
Message to Aztlan: Selected Writings (2001) by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales
Saving Our Schools: The Case for Public Education, Saying No to "No Child Left Behind" (2004) by Goodman et al.
Feminism is for Everybody (2000) by b hooks
The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child (1999) by F. Jiménez
Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools (1991) by J. Kozol
Zigzagger (2003) by M. Muñoz
Infinite Divisions: An Anthology of Chicana Literature (1993) by T. D. Rebolledo & E. S. Rivero
...y no se lo trago la tierra/And the Earth Did Not Devour Him (1995) by T. Rivera
Always Running - La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A. (2005) by L. Rodriguez
Justice: A Question of Race (1997) by R. Rodríguez
The X in La Raza II (1996) by R. Rodríguez
Crisis in American Institutions (2006) by S. H. Skolnick & E. Currie
Los Tucsonenses: The Mexican Community in Tucson, 1854-1941 (1986) by T. Sheridan
Curandera (1993) by Carmen Tafolla
Mexican American Literature (1990) by C. M. Tatum
New Chicana/Chicano Writing (1993) by C. M. Tatum
Civil Disobedience (1993) by H. D. Thoreau
By the Lake of Sleeping Children (1996) by L. A. Urrea
Nobody's Son: Notes from an American Life (2002) by L. A. Urrea
Zoot Suit and Other Plays (1992) by L. Valdez
Ocean Power: Poems from the Desert (1995) by O. Zepeda
Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Yo Soy Joaquin/I Am Joaquin by Rodolfo Gonzales
Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea

Censored News Interviews with Mexican American Studies students in Tucson 2012

Student from Tucson public schools describes how Tucson pubic schools forbids her to discuss her culture, Mexcian American Studies, or books by Chicanos and Native authors on the reading list, in her classroom. When Tucson public schools forbid Mexican American Studies in Jan, the books were seized from the classrooms. Video by Brenda Norrell Censored News http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Crystal Echerivel, from the Mexican American Studies class now forbidden by Tucson public schools, interviewed at the Tucson Book Festival 2012. She describes how it made her feel to have her culture forbidden and books banned. Interview by Brenda Norrell Censored News http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

On Martin Luther King Day in Tucson 2012, Tucson students spoke out on the seizure of books from their classrooms and the decision to forbid Mexican American Studies. The public school district, Tucson Unified School District, voted in Jan 2012 to forbid the studies after Arizona threatened to extract millions of dollars. Rethinking Columbus was one of seven books moved to a depository by the schools. There are 50 books on the reading list. Read more at Censored News http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

First Nations delegation denied access to New England Governors’ Conference

First Nations delegation denied access to New England Governors’ Conference
By Global Justice Ecology ProjectSpecial to Climate Connections

http://climate-connections.org/2012/07/30/first-nations-delegation-denied-access-to-new-england-governors-conference/
Posted at Censored News

BURLINGTON, Vt. July 30, 2012—Members of the Innu First Nation from Quebec and the Nulhegan Abenaki of Vermont were denied access to the 36th Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers this morning.

Around 9:30 am, while governors and premiers were discussing access to renewable energy, Charles Megeso of the Nulhegan Abenaki and Elyse Vollant, from the Innu community of Uashat-Maniutenam entered the Hilton Hotel and asked to speak with governors and have a seat at the table, according to Megeso.

According to Megeso, they were told by conference director John Shea, “we just don’t have enough room for you here. There’s not enough breakfast.”

“I told them, ‘you’re being very kind’,” Megeso said, “the Quebec government was just saying no. They weren’t comfortable with us being here.”

Vollant, who traveled 12 hours from northern Quebec with three of her children and one other family member, is opposed to Hydro-Quebec development on the La Romaine River and the Plan Nord. The delegation sees themselves as stakeholders in these projects who have not been consulted, and are representative of many other Innu families. Both projects threaten their traditional lands and cultures, which have been under attack from the Quebec government for the past century.

Vollant was arrested in March 2012 during a blockade near her community along Highway 138. The blockade was in opposition to Plan Nord, an $80 billion dollar industrial development project on indigenous land north of the 49thparallel in Quebec.

While being denied access to the conference, the group remained calm and cooperative. Megeso said, “I made it clear to the authorities that we’re not here to protest, we’re not here to cause any dysfunction… we just came to ask for a seat at the table that we thought was [the Innu’s] right. It was quietly and politely disagreed.”

While the voices of First Nations people were silenced at the conference, a delegation of Chinese officials, including vice-governor of Heilongjiang Province, Liu Guozhong, were given 15 minutes of floor space to address the governors and premiers on trade and the Chinese economy.

According to Megeso, “The Chinese have invested a lot of capital into a lot of these places…the dam on the Yangtze River was built by engineers from Hydro-Quebec."

After being denied access to the conference, Vollant and Megeso, supported by members of Red Clover Climate Justice Collective, held a press conference on the lawn in front of the Hilton.

Megeso told reporters, “[the conference] is a power brokerage. This conference is a formality. The agreements have already been made. This is just a party for the leaders to get together to pat each other on the back.”

Megeso was present to provide solidarity to the Innu, and to help them tell their story to the governors, premiers, the press and residents of various New England states who were represented during Sunday’s massive demonstration. He told reporters, “Every country in the world has indigenous people and they are treated the same way. It’s how this is done.”

Regarding the Innu struggle to stop Hydro-Quebec’s development of massive hydroelectric dams on indigenous land—much of which will power aluminum smelters, mining operations, factories, or be sold as “renewable energy” to New England states—Megeso said “I am not anti-energy. There is no such thing as ‘green energy’. There is a price to pay for whatever choices you use. The whole idea is the ‘how’ this is going to be done. And…the ramifications to the environment and to the people who are actually living on the land is not being taken into account.”

Photo credits: Will Bennington

Indigenous at Rio 20 'The Future We Don't Want'

Participants at Kari-Oca II gathering during Rio+20 Summit.

Despite its many shortcomings, “The Future We Want” is the first official UN document to mention the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."

By Miriam Anne Frank
Cultural Survival
Posted at Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogpsot.com
The Future We Don’t Want: Indigenous Peoples at Rio+20
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/future-we-dont-want-indigenous-peoples-rio20
“Farce” and “failure” are a few choice words that Indigenous Peoples have used to describe Rio+20, known officially as the United Nations World Conference on Sustainable Development. The conference, held from June 20-22, was a follow up to the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, a.k.a., the Earth Summit. With over 50,000 registered participants, the Rio de Janeiro-based event was the largest UN gathering in history. Perhaps not surprisingly, the event turned Brazilian Indigenous people into poster icons in the mainstream media. Yet, in spite of such high visibility and vocal presence, it seems the world’s heads of state were not listening.
According to the description on the official conference website, Rio+20 was intended to be a forum for a series of dialogues on “how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want.” The “we” in this vision statement refers to 10 “major groups” formalized by this process: business and industry, local authorities, NGOs, the scientific and technological community, farmers, women, children, laborers, trade unions, and Indigenous Peoples.
The fact that Indigenous Peoples had a place at the table meant they were able to provide input into the formal document produced by the conference, which was given the (unintentionally) ironic title, “The Future We Want.” Despite its many shortcomings, “The Future We Want” is the first official UN document to mention the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. As stated, “We recognize the importance of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the global, regional and national implementation of sustainable development strategies.” While this recognition is a step in the right direction, it remains to be seen whether it will truly guide the implementation phase of Rio+20.
On the whole, “The Future We Want” has been widely panned. Many major groups, Indigenous Peoples chief among them, have complained that the document doesn’t actually represent a future that anybody wants. Much of the resistance has centered around the concept of the proposed “green economy. As per the United Nations Environment Programme, a green economy is defined as one whose growth in income and employment is driven by investments in systems to reduce carbon emissions and pollution, enhance energy and resource efficiency, and prevent the loss of biodiversity and ecosystems. This development path is supposed to “maintain, enhance, and, where necessary, rebuild natural capital...especially for poor people whose livelihoods and security depend strongly on nature.” While perhaps well-intentioned in scope, the concept of nature-as-market capital is in direct conflict with the worldviews of many Indigenous Peoples who understand themselves to be inseparable from nature, as stewards and caretakers with a responsibility to protect the environment. The green economy proposed at Rio+20 also fails to address the inherent unsustainability of the practices that it outlines, ignoring the reality that natural resources are finite; if not properly cared for or respected, they will be depleted.
Issues of Access
Ensuring the participation of opposing voices was another major issue at Rio+20. Even those who were able to gain entry to the UN compound were restricted from attending the official meetings and thus had scant access to the decision-makers. The metaphorical distance between the two groups was underscored by the conference’s physical setup: world leaders were enclosed in a protected space with their backs to the relatively small, dimly lit area where the rest of the participants congregated. If one was lucky enough to gain entry to the guarded room (as few as 15 passes per major group were issued), one could only observe. Representatives were granted few opportunities to speak, and no real dialogue was possible.
The Sustainable Development Dialogues were meant to provide a forum for engagement between experts and participants on key topics, with the opportunity for those at the conference—as well as interested parties around the world—to vote online for the primary messages that would ultimately be discussed at the conference. As an example, the so-called dialogue on Forests consisted of 10 expert panelists who each made individual presentations, leaving very little time for an actual exchange. As one Indigenous representative remarked, most forest dwelling peoples, whose input would have been vital to discussions involving deforestation, do not have access to the Internet. Neither were many Indigenous people well informed about the online voting process.
Irrespective of these setbacks, Indigenous Peoples came to Rio prepared to make themselves heard. While often not well-considered in the main event, they succeeded in organizing three major meetings of their own.
Kari-Oca II
Twenty years after the first Indigenous Peoples’ Conference, which coincided with the 1992 Earth Summit, Kari-Oca II was realized. The gathering was organized by the Cordillera Peoples Alliance; Land is Life; the Indigenous Environment Network; and the Inter-Tribal Committee of Brazil. Held at the sacred site of Kari-Oka Púku on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Kari-Oca II brought together a large contingent of Indigenous Peoples from Brazil and the Americas. The agenda for this week-long meeting focused on evaluating gains and losses since the first Rio conference, including the status of implementation of such key documents as the UN Conventions on Biodiversity and Climate Change. Kari-Oca II was also designed to be a place for the participating groups to collectively strategize and share information. Time was set aside for discussion of major environmental issues like deforestation in developing countries and the impact of extractive industries and dams, among others.
The resulting declaration of Kari-Oca II condemned the UN’s current agenda: “We see the goals of Rio+20, the ‘Green Economy’ and its premise that the world can only ‘save’ nature by commodifying its life-giving capacities as a continuation of the colonialism that Indigenous Peoples and our Mother Earth have faced and resisted for 520 years.”
Although this gathering was held miles from the site of Rio+20, on June 21 participants marched from Kari-Oka Púku to the UN compound. Only a small contingent were allowed onto the premises to formally submit their declaration. As Kandi Mossett (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations of the United States), who participated in the march, stated, “We cannot commodify the sacred and expect a good outcome.” Mossett spoke from direct experience, having witnessed the devastating effects of oil and gas drilling on her homeland in North Dakota.
Indigenous Peoples International Conference
The Indigenous Peoples International Conference on Sustainable Development and Self Determination: Standing Together for Our Food Sovereignty, Traditional Cultures and Ways of Life was organized by the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Coordinating Committee for Rio+20 in the framework of the official UN conference. Held on the grounds of Rio’s Museum of the Republic from June 17-19, the conference was largely attended by representatives of Indigenous Peoples who work on environmental policy issues. For three days, participants discussed an agenda that included the impact of development models on Indigenous Peoples and food sovereignty, the right to food, the Andean idea of buen vivir(living well), and issues related to ecosystems and lifestyles.
The conference declaration addressed the fundamental relationship of culture to sustainable development and the importance of strengthening diverse local economies and territorial management. One critical point, which clearly refers to Rio+20’s notion of a “green economy,” states: “We will continue to reject the dominant neo-liberal concept and practice of development based on colonization, commodification, contamination and exploitation of the natural world, and policies and projects based on this model.”
During this conference’s formal side event at the UN compound on June 21, Indigenous representatives officially presented their declaration. Although many participants were associated with Rio+20 and active in the conference’s official preparatory processes, they remained skeptical of its outcome. As Onel Masardule (Kuna from Panama) stated: “Governments in most countries have already signed up to human rights agreements and environmental treaties and have endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We are here in Rio once again to demand that States fulfill their obligations and commitments in all development policies, finance and actions and put proper arrangements in place at the national level to implement these agreements. Our rights must be secured so that our lands and territories are maintained for the benefit of our future generations and the whole of humanity.”
Terra Livre
From June 15-22, Indigenous representatives gathered together as Campamento Terra Livre (Free Land Camp) during the People’s Summit for Social and Environmental Justice in Defense of the Commons. The organizers of this dedicated Indigenous space included the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin, the Andean Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations, the Indigenous Council of Central America, and the Guarani Continental Council of the Nation. Held in Flamengo Park in the heart of Rio, the People’s Summit was organized as a counter-conference; the anti-Rio+20. It centered around local and global struggles for anti-capitalist, -classist, -racist, -patriarchal, and -homophobic political framing.
The delegates of the Free Land Camp produced the Terra Livre Declaration, which focuses on the concept of buen vivir: “We advocate and defend plural and autonomous forms of lives, inspired by the model of Living Well/Healthy Life, where Mother Earth is respected and cared for, where humans are just another species among all the other compositions of multi-diversity of the planet.” The delegates also compiled a list of proposals for action with a focus on issues at the forefront for the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, such as the need for land demarcation to protect Indigenous territories, along with calls to improve health conditions and Indigenous education.
On June 20, an especially drizzly day, the Peoples’ Summit organized a protest march against Rio+20. Led by the Campamento Terra Livre, a contingent of Indigenous people gathered around a giant rainbow flag. [The icon represents to the Andean people the legacy of the Inca empire, and is a symbol of Indigenous Peoples’ resilience.] Thousands marched from Flamengo Park through the streets of downtown Rio, carrying signs and banners ranging from professional to homemade. Many participants wore creative costumes, some carried giant puppets, others walked stilts; all came together to create a joyous and carnival-like atmosphere. True to the spirit of Brazil, a truck blaring samba music, complete with samba school students dancing alongside, added the musical component to what turned into a daylong march.

Preserving the Environment for Our Relatives Still to Come
As was perhaps to be expected, the Brazilian government and media took full advantage of the many photo opportunities that colorfully dressed Amazonian peoples provided. At Kari-Oca II, the Brazilian government extolled the creation of a fund for the promotion of Indigenous culture. However, it has also recently approved the construction of one of the most controversial projects in the country’s history—the Belo Monte dam. The dam promises to bring devastating environmental consequences to the region, which happens to be in heart of the Amazon rainforest; thousands of Indigenous Peoples will be displaced as rising river waters flood their homelands.
Along with many others, Indigenous leader Raoni Metuktire, a chief of the 5,000-member Kayapó tribe, came to Rio to defend his peoples and protest the dam: “The white man doesn’t want to preserve the forest for the future. This worries me a lot. Why don’t they preserve green forests for our relatives who are still to come?” he implored. Metukire’s concerns are shared by Indigenous Peoples who recognize that their fate is not being considered among those in power, neither in international forums like Rio+20, nor in any real long term capacity.
Despite its many failings, Rio+20 succeeded in providing a platform for the convergence of social movements, NGOs, and Indigenous Peoples to advocate for their rights. Participants of the many side sessions and counter groups developed concrete visions for a just, sustainable development model—one that is based on what they believe is best for the planet and its inhabitants. Indigenous Peoples at Rio+20 made it clear that the “official” vision to emerge from the conference is not the future they want; what they seek instead is a future that is self-determined, and therefore truly sustainable.
---Miriam Anne Frank is an applied anthropologist who has been active in supporting Indigenous Peoples for over two decades. Presently she is working for the Sacred Land Film Project, teaches as an external lecturer at the University of Vienna, Austria, and consults for IPOs, NGOs, foundations, and museums.
© 2012 Cultural Survival. All rights reserved.

July 28, 2012

VIDEO The Sacred Place Where Life Begins | Gwich'in Women Speak

IF SHE CAN DO IT, YOU CAN TOO presents a sneak peak of a new documentary by MIHO AIDA: The Sacred Place Where Life Begins | Gwich'in Women Speak. The arctic native Gwich'in women from all walks of life speak out to protect the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil development. They remind us this is not only an environmental issue but also an indigenous and human rights issue for the nation. My hope is that by sharing their voices, people would be inspired to take action to support Gwich'in's effort to continue their way of life and protect our public land. Go to www.mihoaida.com and visit Gwich'in Women Speak page to find out what you can do.

Mohawk Nation News '2012 Eugenics Olympics'

2012 EUGENICS OLYMPICS

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

MNN: JULY 26, 2012.  A picture speaks a thousand words. In the Montreal Gazette of July 26, 2012, appears a montage of 277 athletes. This is Canada’s Olympic team heading for London. It appears like Canada is working toward an almost 100% white team, with a few black, Asian and brown.
237 athletes, or 86%, are of the white race. Whites are not 86% of the population of Canada. People of color now make up almost 50% of the Canadian population. They will be a minority within 20 years.
No Indigenous appear to be on the team, the people whose land this is. Canada [Kanata] is a Mohawk word. This is the best team that can be created by the restrictions set by the corporatist states. The Olympics showcases the superiority of one group over another by awarding fake medals.
These athletes are the children for the most part of the upper middle class, who have the opportunities. Our children rarely make it in this system.
Darwin, Malthus and others experimented in creating a superior white race. It was found that three generations of inbreeding created nut bars or docile compliant people. So what kind of experimentation is going on now? Are Russell Williams, James Holmes, the Craiglist killer and others experiments gone wrong?
Selective breeding is causing their men to become sterile and their women to become infertile. They now have the lowest birthrate in the world, while natural people have the highest.
Whites need technical apparatuses and artificial environments to give them an advantage, like pools, ski equipment and other gewgaws. In a fair competition of natural abilities, people of color are stronger, more agile and have greater endurance. What if white athletes competed fairly with people of color? There might be a completely different representation. Just look at football, basketball and other sports requiring stamina. Other races excel.
What if they had to work long hours picking food, or in a factory for a few cents a day? What if they came from a society with a high infant mortality, almost non-existent sanitation, malnutrition, toxic drinking water, diseases, war and political unrest?
What if basketball nets were lowered to give Japanese and Inuit the same access to the net? What if they had to compete with Indigenous in a boat race through the Amazon River? What if they had to cross the 50 degrees below zero tundra on a bobsled pulled by dogs?
England refused to let our teams compete in England as a nation with our own passports. They demanded we be part of the colonial nations that are squatting on our land,

London is the center of eugenics research. They try to design how a few can continue to live off the theft of land and resources from those who cannot even hope to attend the Olympics.

MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com More stories at MNN Archives. Address: Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0

MNN: Great Law Recital - Ohsweken

By Mohawk Nation News

http://www.mohawknationnews.com

MNN: JULY 27, 2012. Important Notice! Come to Ohsweken to understand our heritage, the laws of creation and the path we must stay on. We have a way to counteract the confusion and deceit the invaders have inflicted upon us and our land. We must bring our minds together for our future generations, to counteract the destruction. The guidance is in understanding the Kaianerekowa, the Great Law of Peace.

GREAT LAW RECITAL
PEOPLE OF ALL NATIONS WELCOME
August 10 - 19, 2012
Gaylord Powless Arena & Six Nations Community Hall
Ohsweken, Ontario
Daily Agenda
6:00 am Tobacco Burning
Ostohwako:wa: Breakfast, Recital, Lunch, Recital, Dinner
Sponsored by:
1. Rotiskennakehte tahnon
2. Kononkwe Kontitsyehayens
Support of the People is our destiny.
We welcome you all to the Great Law at Six Nations of the Grand River
Contact us for help in
Camping and Billeting - Call 519-445-2001
REPLY to great.law.recital@gmail.com
Please forward this notice to your interested contacts. Nia:wen.
Directions: Ohsweken is one hour west of Toronto near Brantford, Ontario.
MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com More stories at MNN Archives. Address: Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0

July 26, 2012

Flagstaff: Teach-in Protection San Francisco Peaks

Healthy Communities are a Human Right!
Teach-in for Protection of the San Francisco Peaks
August 18, 2012

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

Panels, workshops, and small group sessions addressing:
Sacred Sites, Environmental Justice, Legal Cases, Water Issues, Legislative Action, Civil Disobedience and more.
Join community and student activists to learn about the environmental & social justice struggle to protect the sacred San Francisco Peaks and how to get involved.
Free & open to the public. All ages welcome, limited childcare provided, wheelchair accessible.
Full program available at: www.ProtectThePeaks.org/teach-in
RSVP: protectpeaks@gmail.com
When: Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, 12pm--6pm

Where: Native American Cultural Center on NAU Campus, Flagstaff, AZ.
More info: www.ProtectthePeaks.org

July 25, 2012

OAKLAND: UNA demands return of Ohlone Land during Obama's campaign stop

United Native Americans demands the return of Ohlone Land during President Obama's campaign stop at the Foz Theater in Oakland, Calif

By United Native Americans
Press statement
Posted at Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

French translation
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.fr/2012/07/oakland-una-demands-return-of-ohlone.html
http://www.chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=913
President Barack Obama spoke at the Fox Theater during his re-election campaign in Oakland, California. United Native Americans joined over 100 protesters to demand President Obama honor his word and respect indigenous people, starting with the return of land to the Ohlone people. Protesters invited President Obama with a burning American flag.
UNA President Quanah Brightman spoke, saying, "Every inch of this land is stained with Indian blood. The land you are standing on is Ohlone Land."
"The Hoopa Tribe in Northern California is fighting a legal battle with PacifiCorp and the California Environmental Protection Agency to Un-Dam the Klamath River. PacifiCorp is owned my Warren Buffet, a major campaign contributor to Obama. The president has an obligation to respect indigenous people and the health of the ecosystem, and as such should instruct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hold PacifiCorp responsible and shut down and remove the Klamath dam in order to restore the health of water and the salmon," says UNA Ambassador Hinhanska Haney.
The United States continues to violate over 350 treaties with American Indian Nations. United Native Americans demands President Barack Obama stay true to his word and honor the treaties.

UNA Supports the Ohlone and Danzantes Ceremony to Rebury and Heal Indigenous Remains at UC Berkeley

Wicahpiluta (Ohlone), Danzante Azteca, and Wounded Knee.
Photo credit: Lisa Tiny Gray-Garcia

Press statement
Posted at Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

United Native Americans Inc., founders of the Native American Studies Program, returns to UC Berkeley to support the ceremony to rebury Indigenous ancestral remains. The Ohlone and Danzante Ceremony represents the Prophecy of the Eagle of the North and the Condor of the South.
UNA thanks Wicahpiluta Candelaria, Wounded Knee, and the Danzante Azteca for the organizing the Healing Ceremony.
We ask UC Berkeley to stop the Hate Crimes toward Indigenous People and return the ancestral remains in order to give them Healing and Respect.
The remains are housed in the Phoebe Hearst Museum. Here is information on the legacy of the Hearst Family:
* The Hearst Museum is housing 13,000 skeletal remains of the Ohlone People, along with over 300,000 indigenous artifacts, making it one of the largest holders of remains outside of a cemetery.
* George Hearst, husband of Phoebe, father of William Randolph, and creator of the Hearst Corporation, illegally mined in the Sacred Black Hills, creating the Homestake Mine, the largest gold mine in the Western Hemisphere. Adjusted for inflation, the Homestake Mine extracted over $60 Billion in gold alone.

MNN: RICH MAN'S OLYMPICS

MNN: RICH MAN'S OLYMPICS

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

MNN. July 25, 2012. According to a legend made up by the elite, the original Olympics was founded by Hercules, the son of Zeus. Today we are conditioned to watch a bunch of white people having fun at our expense.
The First real modern Olympic Games took place in Athens in 1896. There have been 27 since. Officially 3 are listed as games, even though they never took place, in 1916, 1940 and 1944.
In 1936 German Karl Diem suggested the torch relay. In Germany Joseph Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda, created the biggest indoctrination event for the Third Reich. Fuhrer Adolph Hitler and his henchmen concocted the run from Athens, which everybody is copying. It was political theatre carefully scripted and paid entirely by Nazi Germany.
Previous Games were comparatively low budget. Hitler wanted to outdo the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics by building a 100,000 seat stadium, six gyms and many arenas. For the first time, a closed circuit TV system and radio network reached 41 countries, state of the art electronic equipment broadcast the games. Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler’s favorite director, filmed the Games. She pioneered the modern sports coverage, which is the myth of white supremacy.
The Olympics has always been a platform for the white elite. All the events needed expensive coaching, equipment and infrastructure, and no real competition. Only corporate countries could afford such extravaganzas.
Athletic superiority of the white race was showcased in such sports as:
Aquatics, archery, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, soccer, golf, gymnastics, handball, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, diving, tennis, table tennis, triathlon and volleyball.
The winter Olympics were even more elite: biathlon, bobsledding, curling, luge, skating and 6 skiing events. There is no snow in the black world. Indigenous could not afford all this expensive equipment.
The elite laugh at our feeble efforts to compete in their sports, like the swimmer from Africa who could only practice in the tiny Holiday Inn Pool of his country. Black athletes excelled in long distance running without shoes; and now sprinting because they have shoes.
In 1936 Hitler was infuriated over the victories of two US black athletes, Jesse Owens and Joe Louis. He did not want what he deemed inferior races involved.
It’s all about money! In 1694 the City of London was created when William of Orange turned the Bank of England over to private bankster families. They run all the corporate states [UN] worldwide, through the fiction called ‘money’.
In 1929 the Vatican was incorporated as a City State under the Lateran Treaty. In 1871 Washington DC was incorporated in the District of Columbia Organic Act.
These three city states are property of the Crown.
The host cities are indebted to the city of London Bankers, by design. In Montreal it took almost 40 years to pay off the debt. Today, Montreal’s infrastructure is crumbling, with no apparent hope of repair due to lack of money.
What is money? Like in monopoly, it’s paper notes backed by nothing. When we can’t pay, the banksters send in their US military, created in 1871.
Everyone pays the banksters who are white old men sitting in the City of London [one square mile of the real London.]
The Olympics is a camouflage for them to try and continue their fiction of hierarchy and remain at the top of their pyramid forever.
This is the end of the original lie.

MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com More stories at MNN Archives. Address: Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0

July 24, 2012

Bahe at Big Mountain: Sheep Dog Nation Rocks

Dineh's Narrow Attitude, Its Growing Dishonor to Tradition, Uncertain Future

U. S. In High Tech Era But Culture Still Rely On Old English Militarism & Dominance Whereas, Indigenous “America” Defy Its Ancient Culture Instead Rely Soley On Foreign Materialistic-Social Attitude

By Bahe Naabaahii Y. Katenay Keediniihii, July 2012

Big Mountain Dineh Territory, Black Mesa / Northern Arizona – These times of the early 21st Century show more of how we indigenous Dineh (Navajos) are completely defying the old disciplines of social norms and the strict religious intelligence. The current political world which is a state that are basically artificial influences derived from the U.S. Constitution and its Bill Rights or the “white men’s patriarchal laws” are the controlling mechanism for modern Indian perception. This influence are shouted out loud in Indian country, today, and in places where the U.S. federal policies are aggressively executing attacks upon indigenous identity of religion and indigenous natural resource withholdings. But the Indian do not want to hear reminders about what their ancestors and elders have warn them of about the coming futures. No more do we hear of Chief Seattle, Chief Sitting Bull and Chief Black Hawk’s warnings or words of wisdom. Nor does the modern activist Indians mention existence of their current, traditional elders or even try to think of reverting back to the teachings of recent elders like Hopi Mana Lansa, Hopi Dan Katchongova, Dineh Violet Ashke, and my mother, Dineh Zhonnie Chii Katenay.
Read more:
http://sheepdognationrocks.blogspot.com/2012/07/dinehs-narrow-attitude-its-growing.html

MNN: An Officer and a Murderer

Mohawk Nation News: An Officer and a Murderer

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

MNN. July 24, 2012. This film is about real life serial killer and attacker of women, Col. Russell Williams, the Commander of Canadian Forces Base in Trenton, Ontario. [CBC, July 23, 2012].
He started out with break-ins, sexual assaults and then started murdering women. He stole women’s lingerie, wore them and took pictures of himself. He looked ridiculous in their bras and smelling their underwear, while he jerked off in the mirror. He videotaped and photographed the murders and attacks. In October 2010, a police interrogator asked him why. He said, “It doesn’t matter”.
He was just appointed to one of the top positions in the Canadian military.   Someone was needed to create maniacal killers to send out to the battlefield. He headed up one branch of it, the Air Force.
Williams needed constant orgasms, but not with his wife. He channeled his sexual needs to coolly carry out evil.
As a soldier, his job was to kill people and to lead others to do it.   He learned how to create fantasies for his arousal. Eventually he directed his sexual needs to killing women. Imminent danger of being caught increased his sexual desire. Trained troops are expected to do anything they are ordered to do. Drugs enhance sexual drive and mind control, to carry out the killings.
Researchers constantly develop ways to create lethal soldiers. Drugs enhance sexual drive that overrides the natural drive to protect people. Once trained, they need wars and people to kill.
War is artificial, not natural. Are police being trained to become unremorseful murderers today?
The artificially stimulated sex drive needs an outlet. It is being deliberately directed toward killing people, as demonstrated in the Wikileaks video. US soldiers in helicopters shot defenseless people from the air. They reveled and celebrated the kills and then rushed to their barracks to masturbate.
Training today is intensified. Direct commands are shouted to kill, kill, kill. Long range weapons are created so they don’t have to look their victim in the eye. Propaganda is tailored to dehumanize the enemy. Was Russ doing research for the Department of National Defense, his employers?
Russell Williams was sent away for life. His colleagues feared their training methods would be exposed to the public if there was a full scale trial. Williams had let it get out of hand.
In Indigenous society, there are purification rituals for warriors who comes back from the battlefield to bring them safely back into society.
Should native families conflict each other, they will go to a certain point without killing each other. Otherwise this would wipe out our species. In white society, they fight until there is no one left, brag about it and have monuments set up in their memory.    James Holmes, the mass murderer at the Bat Man movie theatre in Aurora Colorado, would be a hero in Afghanistan and Iraq for his calculated brutality. It seems this might have been his assignment.
As Irving Berlin wrote in, This is the army, Mr. Jones: “A bunch of frightened rookies were listening, filled with awe. They listened while a sergeant was laying down the law. They stood there at attention, their faces turning red. Their sergeant looked them over, and this is what he said. This is the army, Mr. Williams.”
MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com More stories at MNN Archives. Address: Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0

PHOTOS: New Federal Police on Sovereign Tohono O'odham Land

New federal police on sovereign Tohono O'odham land: 'It is a police state'

By Brenda Norrell
Copyright Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/07/photos-new-federal-police-on-sovereign.html

SELLS, Arizona -- A new federal police vehicle of the Bureau of Indian Affairs was seen on the sovereign Tohono O'odham land making a traffic stops this week.

"I'm wondering who is behind the tinted windows. Are they O'odham or non-O'odham," said an O'odham member. "Many of our tribal police are non-O'odham and do not know about our culture. They can not communicate with our people who are non-English speakers, and don't understand about the sacredness of Tohono O'odham land."

"O'odham living on our land do not know who these new federal police are, with these new vehicles."

"The land is over-run by Immigration, Customs, Enforcement (ICE,) US Border Patrol, Department of Homeland Security, tribal police, tribal rangers and now the BIA federal police."

"We have all this enforcement on Tohono O'odham land and innocent people get harassed, innocent people get pulled over and held at gunpoint. It is a police state."

"The abuse of sovereignty now extends to our own people. Tribal police are coopted by Homeland Security and carry out their abuse," the O'odham member said.

Also see:
Amnesty International: O'odham expose Border Patrol abuse
In Hostile Terrain: Human Rights Violations in Immigration Enforcement the US Southwest
http://www.amnestyusa.org/research/reports/usa-in-hostile-terrain-human-rights-violations-in-immigration-enforcement-in-the-us-southwest

PBS exposes torture, sexual abuse and pouring out life-saving water in the desert. Watch video now:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/07/pbs-exposes-border-patrol-torture.html

July 23, 2012

NO Uranium mining in Church Rock, NM, until waste is cleaned up

Photo Larry King/by Leona Morgan
Land targeted for new uranium mining

NO URANIUM MINING IN CHURCHROCK, NEW MEXICO
UNTIL LEGACY WASTE IS CLEANED UP

By Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining ENDAUM
Photos by Leona Morgan, Navajo

Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

CHURCHROCK, N.M. — On July 19, 2012, the uranium mining company Hydro Resources Inc. signed an agreement with the Navajo Nation giving the mining company limited access across Navajo Indian Country to its Churchrock Section 8 mine site. The agreement specifically states that Hydro Resources (a subsidiary of Uranium Resources Inc.) cannot begin mining uranium until legacy waste at Section 8 and adjacent Section 17 has been cleaned up.

Hydro Resources announced its intention to mine uranium on Section 8 and Section 17 in 1994. Community members organized themselves as the Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining (ENDAUM) and sought the help of the nonprofit law firm New Mexico Environmental Law Center to keep irresponsible uranium mining from returning to Navajo lands. ENDAUM has kept the fight going for over a decade and Hydro Resources has yet to break ground.

Photo Leona Morgan

ENDAUM’s mission is to ensure that the water, air, land and community health are protected. Leona Morgan, ENDAUM Coordinator explains, “ENDAUM believes it is our right as Indigenous Peoples to preserve our traditional and cultural Diné resources that may be affected if uranium mining is allowed anywhere within the Four Sacred Mountai ns or on other Indigenous Peoples’ homelands. ENDAUM and our allies will continue to fight for the right to safe drinking water supplies for all life, for all our relations and future generations,” says Morgan.

"Hydro Resources’ parent company, Uranium Resources Inc., is struggling to pay for clean-up at its uranium operations in Texas,” says Eric Jantz, attorney for ENDAUM. “We're skeptical that Hydro Resources will be able to pay for clean-up at Church Rock. In any event, ENDAUM and the people of Church Rock will be watching Hydro Resources and the Navajo Nation to ensure that their land and families are protected.”

Navajo land that uranium miners
would have to cross
Photo Leona Morgan

The Navajo Nation fined Hydro Resources for trespass earlier this year when the company crossed tribal trust land in order to access its property on Section 8. The agreement was made to allow Hydro Resources limited access to Section 8 and require that Hydro Resources submit to Navajo Nation jurisdiction for its operations in Indian Country as well as clean up the radioactive waste on its property before any new mining commences.

“The Navajo Nation doesn't currently have clean-up regulations under its Superfund law — those regulations will have to be written,” says Morgan. “ENDAUM will be engaged in this process to ensure that the highest clean-up standards are adopted to protect the community.”

Photos:
Larry J. King, ENDAUM Board member, stands at the gate to his residence and points out the area of Section 8 where Hydro Resources (a subsidiary of Uranium Resources Inc.) plans to mine uranium using in situ leach methods.
Section8-NN 193KB.jpg
This photo shows the area of Navajo trust land that HRI must cross in order to access their private land. The mining is planned for an area to the right at the base of the mesa.
Section8-gate 157KB.jpg
This gate and fence delineate State of New Mexico jurisdiction from the 10-15 feet of Navajo Nation jurisdiction that HRI must cross in order to reach its project site in Churchrock, NM.

CONTACTS:

Leona Morgan
Coordinator
Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining
leona@endaum.com

Eric Jantz

Staff Attorney
New Mexico Environmental Law Center
ejantz@nmelc.org

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

http://nmenvirolaw.org/index.php/site/cases/hydro_resources_inc._uranium_mines/

Alaskans rally to tell EPA 'NO!' to Shell

Photo Alaska's Big Village Network

Alaskans Rally to tell EPA “NO!” to Shell

Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Today: July 23, 2012

ANCHORAGE -- A group of concerned Alaskans are rallying outside of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Alaska Headquarters to demand that the agency uphold the Law and deny Shell’s request for a pollution waiver for its Arctic drilling project. This rally is held in conjunction with a rally of environmental organizations at EPA’s US headquarters in Washington, DC.

Shell is trying to obtain major changes to the Clean Air Act requirements for three different pollutants from two different sources, the Discoverer, and the ice-class oil spill response barge, the Nanuq. Shell is asking for EPA to completely do away with its limit on ammonia emissions, to triple limits on nitrogen oxide and to alter its limit for particulate matter.

"The Arctic Ocean is my garden," says Earl Kingik, Tribal Liaison for Alaska Wilderness League, "Please, no drilling in my garden."

The Arctic Ocean provides abundant food and rich cultural resources for the Inupiat. The toxic air pollution falls out into the Arctic Ocean, where it wreaks havoc on the ecosystem productivity and the welfare of Inupiat and all Alaska Native peoples that depend on migratory marine species. The particle pollution bioaccumulates in all organisms from the plankton to the marine birds, fish, whales, walrus, seals and ultimately this pollution adversely impacts the health of indigenous peoples and foremost, the Inupiat.

“EPA must ensure that meaningful and significant consultation occurs with Tribal Governments on significant changes to Shell’s permits,” says Delice Calcote, Executive Director for Alaska Inter-Tribal Council (AITC). AITC has a 2009 resolution opposing offshore exploration and drilling.

The Alaska Wilderness League and Pacific Environment were among 16 groups that sent a letter to EPA on Thursday, July 19th, calling on the agency to deny Shell's request and saying the company would be in violation of Clean Air Act regulations if EPA allowed the waiver.

“Shell has problems that are racking up, and they are backtracking on their promises to the coastal communities”, says Nikos Pastos, Environmental Sociologist for Center for Water Advocacy. “The US Government needs to take a critical look at Shell’s oil spill response capabilities in the harsh Arctic Ocean ice conditions.”

Shell’s drillship, Noble Discover, is being investigated by the US Coast Guard on how the ship narrowly averted disaster in Dutch Harbor last Saturday when it appeared to run aground. Questions remain about how this ship will handle Arctic sea ice as it barely avoided catastrophe in the non-ice waters of the Northern Pacific and Southern Bering Sea.

Shell also backtracked and downgraded its aging oil spill response barge, Arctic Challenger, to less stringent requirements in the event of a major storm as it continues to undergo construction in Bellingham, WA. The 38-year old barge that is set to ‘anchor’ between the Beaufort and Chukchi is clearly not up to design standards to handle extreme Arctic conditions.

Where: 222 W. 7th Ave (corner of C Street) Contact: Carl Wassilie, Alaska’s Big Village Network

When: 12pm- 1pm, Monday July 23, 2012 Carlwassilie.acyn@gmail.com

July 23, 2012