Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

November 30, 2014

Bolivia's Nuclear Power Plant is Disturbing News to Native Americans

Native Americans alarmed by Bolivia President Evo Morales announcement of building a nuclear power plant

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News
Dutch
French

The announcement by Bolivia President Evo Morales that Bolivia would build a nuclear power plant came as troubling news to those who attended the Climate Change and Protection of Mother Earth Conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in 2010.


Ofelia Rivas, O’odham from the O’odham Territory on Turtle Island, was among those from the north who attended the conference in Bolivia and recommends action.

Ofelia Rivas, O'odham, Cochabamba, Bolivia
Photo Ben Powless, Mohawk

"As co-President of the Indigenous Working Group on the Rights of Mother Earth at the 2010 World Indigenous Climate Change Summit, I recommend a world-wide petition to express our deep concern of this 'economic liberation' development decision in Bolivia. I recall the words of the grassroots women of Bolivia, and their deep heartfull love of Pachamama, Mother Earth and the absolute determination to protect her.”


Bolivian President Evo Morales announced that his government will invest around $2 billion US through 2025 to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, TeleSur reports.

President Morales said, "We can never feel like a small country again now that we have liberated ourselves economically. With this type of investment toward atomic energy we are going to guarantee that.”

Bolivia began nuclear cooperation with Argentina in May of 2014, and most recently in mid-July, after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Brazil. Morales then announced that the Russian leader offered Bolivia technology and ongoing training for the country's scientists, TeleSur reported.

The nuclear power plant would be built in La Paz province. The announcement was made after uranium was discovered in the Santa Cruz area. In a strange turn of event, La Paz and Santa Cruz were two of the cities that Native Americans arrived in for the Mother Earth Conference in 2010, before traveling on to Cochabamba.

Following the gathering in Cochabamba, Bolivia and Ecuador both passed laws upholding the Rights of Nature.
In Indian country in the United States, Native Americans are quick to point out the dangers of uranium mining and nuclear waste dumps to Indigenous Peoples in Bolivia.

Klee Benally, Dine' (Navajo) said, "The nuclear production process has only meant death for Indigenous Peoples and desecration of sacred lands. From mining, milling, processing, transporting, energy, weapons, and waste, the toxic legacy of nuclear colonialism is anything but a "green alternative." 

"There are more than 10,000 abandoned uranium mines located throughout the US, many of them are in or near Indigenous communities where high cancer rates and birth defects are caused by exposure to these toxic sites. Sacred places like Mount Taylor in New Mexico or Red Butte in Arizona, are desecrated for uranium extraction. The US currently has more than 71,000 metric tons of that it's attempting to store at Yucca Mountain, a sacred site for the Western Shoshone. The Western Shoshone have also faced more than 1,000 atomic bomb detonations on their lands," Klee Benally told Censored News.

Navajos and Pueblos, and other Natives throughout the west, have suffered from cancer and other deadly diseases for decades because of uranium mining. Navajos were sent to their deaths in uranium mines without protective clothing. As late as the 1990s, in the communities of Cove and Red Valley near Shiprock, N.M., on the Navajo Nation, Navajo elders lived in homes built of radioactive rocks. Navajo members of every family in those communities died from cancer from uranium mining. Navajo children in the region played in yards strewn with radioactive rocks from uranium mining. 

Even in the area of the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley on the western portion of the Navajo Nation in Arizona, which are both major tourist attractions, uranium mines and strewn radioactive rocks left a legacy of death.

Manny Pino, Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico, said Pueblos died after the radioactive dust covered their foods, and the radioactive dust covered the fields where their livestock grazed. Pueblo women were contaminated further as they washed the clothing of their husbands who worked in the mines.


Today, unreclaimed radioactive tailings remain scattered on the Navajo Nation. The uranium mining corporations have largely escaped responsibility for the widespread deaths and devastation, even as new uranium mining threatens the region.


Further, Western Shoshone battle the threat of nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, as Native American lands have been targeted for dangerous nuclear waste storage. Nuclear disasters have proven there is no safe way to transport or store nuclear waste. Western Shoshone lands were also the site of US atomic bomb testing.


Responding to the deadly dangers of uranium mining and nuclear waste storage, Louise Benally, Dine' of Big Mountain, told Censored News, "It is all bad, it is not safe."


The dangers were resounded in an open letter from the global community to President Morales, posted on Breaking the Nuclear Chain:
Excerpt from the letter:
The safety of a nuclear plant is a myth, fuelled by industry supporters and industrialists, but clearly denied by the facts: the last half-century shows that we must expect an extremely serious accident every few years. The consequences of a major nuclear accident are worse than those of any other accident. The legacy of the Fukushima accident alone will last for decades to burden Japan and the world!
Nuclear energy is a vulnerable target to terrorist attacks and leads to a militarization of the surrounding territory.
For all these reasons, the production of energy by nuclear means is in steep decline all around the world and is likely to continue that way; it is reasonable to expect that the construction of new nuclear power plants and their total number will decrease in the future.
Nuclear power on planet Earth represents the quintessential "anti-nature" form of energy production. Nature uses nuclear reactions in the creation of new worlds in stars. That however is fusion, not fission; on Earth its use is purely episodic and marginal.
There is a tight bond between civil and military nuclear energy production. The materials and basic techniques are the same, with plutonium - the ‘explosive’ material ideal for nuclear power generation as well as nuclear weapons – resulting as a by-product during the chain reaction.
Anna Polo, World without Wars, Italy
Olivier Turquet, chief editor Pressenza Italy
Angelo Baracca, Professor of Physics, Italy
Carlos Vassaux M.D., USA
Dr. Jouni Ylinen, Finland
Ira Helfand, MD,  USA, co-President International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize
Claudio Giangiacomo, Italy
Nnimmo Bassey, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nigeria
Roberto Renzetti, Professor of Physics and essayist, Italy
People for Nuclear Disarmament, Australia
Human Survival Project, Australia

French translation by Christine Prat, thank you!
http://www.chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=2591



LES AMERINDIENS TRES INQUIETS SUITE A L’ANNONCE PAR LE PRESIDENT EVO MORALES DE LA CONSTRUCTION D’UNE CENTRALE NUCLEAIRE
Par Brenda Norrell
Censored News
30 novembre 2014
Traduction Christine Prat

L’annonce par le Président de Bolivie Evo Morales suivant laquelle la Bolivie construirait une centrale nucléaire a été perçue comme une nouvelle troublante par ceux qui ont participé à la Conférence sur le Changement Climatique et la Protection de la Terre Mère à Cochabamba, en Bolivie, en 2010.
Ofelia Rivas, O’odham du Territoire O’odham dans l’Ile de la Tortue [Amérique du Nord] était parmi ceux du nord qui participaient à la conférence en Bolivie et elle recommande l’action.
« En tant que co-Présidente du Groupe de Travail Autochtone sur les Droits de Notre Mère la Terre au Sommet Mondial Autochtone de 2010 sur le Changement Climatique, je recommande une pétition à l’échelle mondiale pour exprimer notre profonde inquiétude devant cette décision de développement de ‘libération économique’ en Bolivie. Je me souviens de ce qu’ont dit les femmes boliviennes de la base et de leur profond amour pour Pachamama, Notre Mère la Terre et leur détermination absolue de la protéger. »
Le Président bolivien Evo Morales a annoncé que son gouvernement investira environs 2 milliards de dollars d’ici à 2025 pour développer l’énergie nucléaire dans des buts pacifiques, selon la chaîne TeleSur.
Le Président Morales a déclaré : « Nous ne pourrons plus jamais nous considérer comme un petit pays maintenant que nous nous sommes libérés économiquement. Avec ce type d’investissement dans l’énergie nucléaire nous le garantirons. »
La Bolivie a commencé sa coopération nucléaire avec l’Argentine en mai 2014, et plus récemment, à la mis juillet, après une rencontre avec le Président Russe Vladimir Poutine, au Brésil. Morales a alors annoncé que le dirigeant russe offrait à la Bolivie la technologie et la formation continue des scientifiques du pays, dit la chaîne TeleSur.
La centrale nucléaire serait construite dans la province de La Paz. L’annonce a été faite après que de l’uranium ait été découvert dans la région de Santa Cruz. Par un curieux concours de circonstances, La Paz et Santa Cruz sont les deux villes où les Amérindiens sont arrivés pour la Conférence sur la Terre Mère en 2014, avant de se rendre à Cochabamba.
Suite au rassemblement de Cochabamba, La Bolivie et l’Equateur ont adopté des lois affirmant les Droits de la Nature.
En pays Indien aux Etats-Unis, les Amérindiens sont prompts à souligner les dangers de l’extraction d’uranium et des décharges de déchets nucléaires à l’attention des Peuples Autochtones de Bolivie.
Klee Benally, Diné (Navajo), avait dit : « Le processus de production nucléaire n’a signifié que la mort et la profanation de terres sacrées pour les Peuples Autochtones. De l’extraction, au retraitement, au transport, à l’énergie, aux armes et aux déchets, l’héritage toxique du colonialisme nucléaire, est tout sauf une ‘alternative verte’. »
« Il y a plus de 10000 mines d’uranium abandonnées dans tous les Etats-Unis, beaucoup sont situées dans ou à proximité de communautés Autochtones où les taux élevés de cancers et de malformations congénitales sont causés par l’exposition à ces sites toxiques. Des sites sacrés comme le Mont Taylor au Nouveau Mexique ou Red Butte en Arizona, sont profanés pour extraire l’uranium. Les Etats-Unis ont actuellement plus de 71000 tonnes de déchets qu’ils essaient d’entreposer à Yucca Mountain, un site sacré pour les Shoshone de l’ouest. Les Shoshone de l’ouest ont aussi eu plus de 1000 explosions de bombes atomiques sur leurs terres [ce territoire était l’équivalent de Mururoa pour les Français – NdT], » dit Klee Benally à Censored News.
Klee Benally  parlé (et chanté) des mines d’uranium abandonnées à Montreuil en 2013
Les Navajo et les Pueblos, et d’autres Autochtones dans tout l’ouest, ont souffert de cancers et autres maladies mortelles pendant des décennies à cause de l’extraction d’uranium. Des Navajos ont été envoyés à une mort certaine dans les mines d’uranium, sans combinaisons protectrices. Jusque dans les années 1990, dans les communautés de Cove et Red Valley près de Shiprock, au Nouveau Mexique, dans la Nation Navajo, des Navajo âgés ont vécu dans des maisons construites avec des roches radioactives. Des membres de toutes les familles de ces communautés sont morts de cancers à cause de l’extraction d’uranium. Des enfants Navajo de la région jouaient dans des cours parsemées de pierres radioactives à cause de l’extraction d’uranium.
Même dans la région du Grand Canyon et de Monument Valley, dans la partie ouest de la Nation Navajo, en Arizona, deux sites qui sont éminemment touristiques, les mines d’uranium et des pierres radioactives éparpillées ont laissé un héritage mortel.
De nombreux Pino, des Pueblo Acoma du Nouveau Mexique, dirent que des Pueblos étaient morts après que la poussière radioactive ait recouvert leur nourriture, et les champs dans lesquels leur bétail paissait. Des femmes Pueblo ont été contaminées en lavant les vêtements de leurs maris qui travaillaient dans les mines.
Aujourd’hui, des résidus radioactifs non-décontaminés sont toujours dispersés dans la Nation Navajo. Les entreprises minières ont largement été soustraites à leur responsabilité d’avoir semé la mort et la dévastation, alors même que de nouveaux projets d’extraction menacent la région.
De plus, les Shoshone de l’ouest combattent la menace de voir entreposer des déchets nucléaires sur la Yucca Mountain, dans le Nevada, étant donné que les Amérindiens ont toujours été la cible des décharges de déchets nucléaires. Les désastres nucléaires ont prouvé qu’il n’y a pas de moyen sûr de transporter ou d’entreposer les déchets nucléaires. Les terres des Shoshone de l’ouest était aussi le site des essais pour les bombes atomiques des Etats-Unis.
Réagissant aux dangers mortels de l’extraction d’uranium et de l’enfouissement des déchets, Louise Benally, Diné de Big Mountain, a dit à Censored News : « C’est totalement mauvais, il n’y a aucune sécurité. »
Les dangers ont été exprimés dans une lettre ouverte de la communauté mondiale au Président Morales, publiée sur le site Breaking the Nuclear Chain :
Extrait de la lettre :
La sécurité d’une centrale nucléaire est un mythe, promus par les partisans de l’industrie nucléaire et les industriels, mais c’est clairement nié par les faits : le demi-siècle passé montre qu’on peut s’attendre à des accidents extrêmement graves très régulièrement. Les conséquences d’un accident nucléaire majeur sont pires que celles de n’importe quel autre accident. Rien que l’héritage de Fukushima durera des décennies et affectera le Japon et le reste du monde !
L’énergie nucléaire est vulnérable aux attaques terroristes et conduit à la militarisation du territoire aux alentours.
Il y a un lien très étroit entre le nucléaire civil et le nucléaire militaire. Les matériaux et les techniques de base sont les mêmes, avec du plutonium – le matériel ‘explosif’ idéal pour produire de l’énergie nucléaire et fabriquer des armes nucléaires – qui résulte comme sous-produit de la réaction en chaîne.
Signataires :
Anna Polo, World without Wars, Italy
Olivier Turquet, chief editor Pressenza Italy
Angelo Baracca, Professor of Physics, Italy
Carlos Vassaux M.D., USA
Dr. Jouni Ylinen, Finland
Ira Helfand, MD, USA, co-President International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize
Claudio Giangiacomo, Italy
Nnimmo Bassey, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nigeria
Roberto Renzetti, Professor of Physics and essayist, Italy
People for Nuclear Disarmament, Australia
Human Survival Project, Australia

* BOLIVIA – BOUW VAN KERNCENTRALE VERONTRUSTEND NIEUWS VOOR NATIVE AMERIKANEN
Door Brenda Norrell, Censored News:www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Vertaald door NAIS, De NAIS Gazet: www.denaisgazet.be

Morales.jpg
De aankondiging van de Boliviaanse president Evo Morales over de bouw van een kerncentrale in Bolivia kwam hard aan bij diegenen die de ‘Climate Change en Protection of Mother Earth ‘ conferentie hebben bijgewoond in 2010.
ofelia.jpg
                    Ofelia Rivas- foto van Ben Powless
Ofelia RivasO’odham van het O’odham Territory op Turtle Island, een van hen uit het noorden die deelgenomen heeft aan de conference, roept op tot actie.
 “Als co- voorzitter van de Inheemse Werkgroep voor de rechten van Moeder Aarde op de ‘World Indigenous Climate Change Summit,’ in 2010, roep ik op tot een wereldwijde petitie om onze grote bezorgdheid over deze beslissing voor “economische bevrijding” in Bolivia kenbaar te maken. Ik moet steeds denken aan de woorden van de grassroots- vrouwen in Bolivia, en hun diepe liefde voor Pachamama, Moeder Aarde en hun absolute vastberadenheid om haar te beschermen.”
De Boliviaanse president Evo Morales heeft aangekondigd dat zijn regering ongeveer $2 miljard gaat investeren om een kerncentrale te bouwen voor vreedzame doeleinden. Dit volgens TeleSur.
President Morales zei: “ Wij kunnen ons nooit meer een klein land voelen nu dat we onszelf economisch bevrijd hebben. Met dit type van investering in atoomenergie, kunnen wij daar zeker van zijn.”
Bolivia begon de nucleaire samenwerking met Argentina in de maand mei 2014, en nog eens recenter in midden juli na de ontmoeting met de Russische president Vladimir Putin in Brazilië.
TeleSur rapporteerde dat Morales aankondigde dat de Russische leider Bolivia, technologie en training voor Boliviaanse wetenschappers heeft aangeboden.
De kerncentrale zou gebouwd worden in de La Paz provincie.
De aankondiging kwam er nadat er uranium ontdekt was in het Santa Cruz gebied.
Het toeval wil dat in deze twee steden, La Paz en Santa Cruz de Native Amerikaanse delegaties bijeenkwamen alvorens naar Cochabamba door te reizen.
Volgend op de bijeenkomst in Cochabamba hebben Bolivia en Ecuador wetten gestemd om de rechten van de natuur te respecteren.
In Indian Country in de Verenigde Staten wijzen de Native Amerikanen al meteen op de gevaren van de uranium ontginning en nucleaire stortplaatsen.
Klee Benally, Dine’ zegt: “Het nucleaire productieproces betekende alleen maar dood voor inheemsen en ontwijding van sacraal land. Van ontginning, milling, processing, transporteren, energie, wapens, tot afval, is het erfenis van de nucleaire kolonisatie allesbehalve een “groen alternatief.”
“ Meer dan 10.000 verlaten uranium mijnen zijn doorheen de Verenigde Staten gelokaliseerd, veel daarvan in of nabij inheemse gemeenschappen waar hoge kankersterftes en geboorteafwijkingen vastgesteld zijn, veroorzaakt door blootstelling aan deze toxische sites.
Sacrale plaatsen zoals Mount Taylor in New Mexico of Red Butte in Arizona, zijn ontheiligd door uranium ontginningen.
De Verenigde Staten willen meer dan 1000 kilo opslaan op de Yucca Mountain, een sacrale site voor de Western Shoshone. De Western Shoshone hebben ook reeds te maken gekregen met 1000 atoom bom -detonaties op hun land,” zegt Klee Benally aan Censored News.
Navajo’s en Pueblo’s, en andere Natives in het westen, lijden al tientallen jaren aan kankers en andere dodelijke ziekten door de uranium ontginningen.
Navajo’s werden de dood ingestuurd in uranium mijnen zonder beschermende kledij. Zelfs recent, in de jaren 1990, woonden Elders in de gemeenschappen van Cove en Red Valley, nabij Shiprock, N.M. in huizen die gebouwd waren van radioactieve rotsen.
Van iedere familie in deze gemeenschappen stierven er vele aan de kankers veroorzaakt door de uraniummijnen. Navajo kinderen speelden in tuinen die bezaaid waren met radioactieve stenen.
Zelfs in het gebied van de Grand Canyon en Monument Vallei in het westelijke gedeelte van de Navajo natie in Arizona, die beiden belangrijke toeristen attracties zijn, hebben de uranium mijnen en radioactieve afval hun erfenis van dood achtergelaten.
Manny Pino, Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico, zei dat Pueblos gestorven zijn nadat radioactief stof neerkwam op hun voedsel, en het stof bedekte de velden waarop hun vee graasde. Pueblo vrouwen werden nog veder besmet door het wassen van de kleding van hun mannen die in de mijnen werkten.
Tot op vandaag, ligt er nog radioactief afval verspreid over de Navajo natie. De uraniummijn corporaties ontsnappen aan de verantwoordelijkheid voor de wijdverspreide dood en verwoesting, zelfs nu nog wanneer nieuwe ontginningen in het gebeid dreigen.
Verder bevechten de Western Shoshone de bedreiging van nucleaire afval op Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
Nucleaire rampen hebben het bewijs geleverd dat er geen veilige manier is om nucleair afval te transporteren of op te slaan. Western Shoshone land was ook de site waar de US atoombom getest werd.
Louise Benally, Dine’ van Big Mountain zei aan Censored News: “Het is allemaal slecht, niets is veilig.”
De gevaren weerklinken in de open brief van de ‘global community’ aan President Morales, gepost op ‘Breaking the Nuclear Chain’:

Uittreksel:
De veiligheid van een kerncentrale is een mythe, gevoed door industriëlen en hun aanhangers , maar duidelijk weerlegt door de feiten: de laatste helft van de eeuw toont ons dat we om de paar jaar een extreem ernstig accident kunnen verwachten.
De gevolgen van een belangrijk nucleair accident zijn erger dan de ergste van eender welk ander accident.
De erfenis van het Fukushima accident alleen al zal nog tientallen jaren aanslepen en Japan en de wereld belasten.

Nucleaire energie is een kwetsbaar doel voor terrorist aanvallen en leid tot een militarisering van het omliggende gebied.

Voor al deze redenen, de productie van energie door nucleaire middelen over de hele wereld is aan een teruggang bezig, die waarschijnlijk nog zal verder gaan; is het redelijk om te verwachten dat de bouw van nieuwe kerncentrales zal afnemen.
Kernenergie op planeet Aarde vertegenwoordigd de zuiverste “anti-nature” vorm van energie productie.
Natuur gebruikt nucleaire reacties in de creatie van nieuwe werelden in sterren. Dat echter is fusie, geen splitsing; op aarde is zijn gebruik louter episodisch en marginaal.

Er is een sterke band tussen burgerlijke en militaire energie productie. De materialen en basis technieken zijn hetzelfde, met plutonium – het “explosieve” materiaal ideaal voor zowel kerncentrales als atoomwapens- resulteert als een bij- product tijdens de kettingreactie.

Lees meer:
Anna Polo, World without Wars, Italy
Olivier Turquet, chief editor Pressenza Italy
Angelo Baracca, Professor of Physics, Italy
Carlos Vassaux M.D., USA
Dr. Jouni Ylinen, Finland
Ira Helfand, MD,  USA, co-President International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize
Claudio Giangiacomo, Italy
Nnimmo Bassey, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nigeria
Roberto Renzetti, Professor of Physics and essayist, Italy
People for Nuclear Disarmament, Australia
Human Survival Project, Australia

PERU: Rights of Nature Tribunal Dec 2014

2014 Rights of Nature Tribunal

Convening parallel to Lima UN FCCC COP 20

Free & open to the public
Parallel to the UN FCCC December 2014 meetings in Lima, the Global Alliance intends to host its second International Rights of Nature Tribunal. The intention is to hear a small number of cases aligned with the UN FCCC COP 20 priorities. Selected cases will address the impacts of Climate Change, threats to the Great Barrier Reef, destructive oil and mineral extraction in Peru and South America, and protection of Defenders of the Earth such as the Bagua massacre that is on trial this year in Peru.

November 29, 2014

An Epidemic of Plagiarism

Salaried plagiarizers, and stay-at-home re-writers, have turned Indian country journalism into a sweatshop of stolen words and photos

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News

The plagiarism by stay-at-home reporters has become an epidemic in Indian country. It is plagiarism, compounded by deception. Salaried plagiarizers, and stay-at-home re-writers, have turned journalism into a sweatshop of stolen words and photos. They make sure you, the reader, do not know that they are not present on news stories.

The formula is like this. Stay-at-home plagiarizers receive a paycheck for staying home and stealing others work. They plagiarize it without permission, or rewrite it, and steal a photo from the web to go with it. Just ask Indian Country Today Media Network "reporters" if they have been present on the news stories they have been covering for the past few years.

Don't be fooled by the plagiarizers and stay-at-home reporters. Ask them if they were present on the news stories. Look at the byline and see who wrote the article. Look at the photo and find out who took the photo. Find out if the real writers and photographers were paid.

Take a look at Google News and Facebook, you'll see who Indian Country Today is plagiarizing. Search Google Web and you'll find the authentic writers. Ask who the Indian Country Today editors are and find out if they were plagiarizing when they were reporters. Ask them whether they were ever present on news stories. The reporters who were present know this.

Other websites copy and paste news without permission. If there is advertising on the page, it is illegal profiteering and a violation of copyrights. One of these websites is Native American Encyclopedia, which is violating copyrights and profiteering with advertising. The publisher refuses to respond to Censored News and identify the publisher.

These days many unemployed reporters and grassroots activists are spending the little money they have to provide live coverage and breaking news. Plagiarizers are profiteers, just like corporate profiteers, who steal others hard work for their paycheck. They are a sweatshop of stolen words and photos.

In another category, the owners of the Indian news website indianz.com in Nebraska have received a multi-million dollar US contract for domestic and international spying with an office at the US Pentagon. Indianz.com also posts the work of others, with or without permission.

One of the many problems with systematic plagiarism, and profiteering from others work, is the fact that the real news is not covered, and remains censored, because of the agendas of fraudulent media sites.

Please support authentic journalism and the hard work of those out there spending their last dimes to provide you, the readers, with news.

Best, Brenda Norrell
Censored News

Censored News was created by Brenda Norrell, a longtime staff reporter for Indian Country Today who was censored, then terminated by ICT. Brenda Norrell has been a reporter in Indian country for 32 years, beginning at Navajo Times during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation. Recently, Brenda at Censored News and Govinda at Earthcycles provided live coverage of the two-day American Indian Movement, AIM West Conference, in San Francisco and the three-day Boarding School Tribunal in Wisconsin. There were no other reporters present.

Now in its 9th year, Censored News has no advertising, salaries or grants.

Dineh Jean Whitehorse: Boarding schools, relocation and sterilization

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Jean Whitehorse, Dineh, AIM West
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Watch live streaming video from earthcycles at livestream.com
Watch video: Jean Whitehorse's presentation begins at minute 25, after
Webster Arthur, Nez Perce, and Raquel Arthur, Pyrmaid Lake Paiute

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News

SAN FRANCISCO -- Jean Whitehorse, Dineh from Navajo Nation, spoke on abuse in boarding schools, bias in children's literature, relocation and the sterilization of Native American women, during the American Indian Movement's gathering, AIM West, Nov. 21 -- 22, 2014.
Jean spoke on the boarding schools which were designed to strip the identity, family ties and the language of their ancestors from Native Americans.
"I still speak Navajo, that is what the government tried to wash out of our mouths," Jean said.
In boarding school, the goal of the school was to make Natives like whites. She said they were given a number in boarding school, and were not addressed by their name. She couldn't even speak to her brother at school. 
"There were no holidays. Our parents couldn't even visit us."
Then for Jean, like many other Native Americans, there was relocation to the cities. But the good part was she was in the right place at the right time. She was in the Bay Area in the time of the occupation of Alcatraz, she said.
Jean described how she was a victim of the United States secret sterilization of Native American women. The United States secretly engaged in sterilizing Native women when they were in IHS hospitals for other reasons.
After she returned home from the Bay Area to the Navajo Nation, she was treated for an illness at Indian Health Service in Gallup, N.M.
"Two years later I found out that I was sterilized."

Listen to more of Jean's comments at AIM West on Earthcycles in the video library.
www.earthcycles.net

AIM West Conference 2014 links at Censored News

Dineh Jean Whitehorse: Boarding schools, relocation and sterilization of Native American women
Lori Riddle, O'odham: Protecting sacred land
Nez Perce and Paiute: Water rights and Borders
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2014/11/nez-perce-and-paiute-water-rights-and.html
AIM West Panel on Racism, Mascots and Genocide
Henry Dominguez, cofounder of Black Berets, speaks at AIM West
Live AIM West Day 1
Live AIM West Day 2
Censored News
Earthcycles

Gila River O'odham Lori Riddle: Protecting sacred land

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Lori Riddle, O'odham, with Govinda of Earthcycles


earthcycles on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free


By Brenda Norrell 
Censored News 
SAN FRANCISCO -- Lori Riddle, O'odham of Gila River Indian Community, spoke on how her family endured the poisons of living on a Superfund site, during the American Indian Movement's gathering, AIM West, here Nov. 21 -- 22, 2014.
Speaking on the long struggle of O'odham to defend sacred places in southern Arizona, Lori shared the struggle of O'odham who are fighting Loop 202, south of Phoenix, on O'odham land, as they defend their sacred mountain.
Describing the mutated corn now growing on O'odham land, Riddle warned against the genetically-modified seeds that have been used on Indian lands.
Listen to all of Lori's comments during the two day event, in the Video Library at Earthcycles.
www.earthcycles.net

A special thanks to Govinda at Earthcycles for providing the livestream and video archives. Please consider donations to Earthcycles or Censored News for travel expenses and new equipment that is needed for our live coverage.
AIM West Conference 2014 links at Censored News

Dineh Jean Whitehorse: Boarding schools, relocation and sterilization of Native American women
Lori Riddle, O'odham: Protecting sacred land
Nez Perce and Paiute: Water rights and Borders
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2014/11/nez-perce-and-paiute-water-rights-and.html
AIM West Panel on Racism, Mascots and Genocide
Henry Dominguez, cofounder of Black Berets, speaks at AIM West
Live AIM West Day 1
Live AIM West Day 2
Censored News
Earthcycles

November 28, 2014

Photos March to Protect the Peaks


Louise Benally leads march for Protection  of San Francisco Peaks
Photos by Klee Benally


US, Canada and Ukraine vote against Russia’s anti-Nazism resolution at UN

US, Canada & Ukraine vote against Russia’s anti-Nazism resolution at UN

Published time: November 22, 2014 07:59
Edited time: November 23, 2014 14:43

Reuters / Mike Segar
Reuters / Mike Segar
UN General Assembly’s Third Committee passed a Russia-proposed resolution condemning attempts to glorify Nazism ideology and denial of German Nazi war crimes. The US, Canada and Ukraine were the only countries to vote against it.
The resolution was passed on Friday by the committee, which is tasked with tackling social and humanitarian issues and human rights abuses, by 115 votes against three, with 55 nations abstaining, Tass news agency reported.
Read article at RT

Kinder Morgan pulls out of Burnaby Mountain!

Kinder Morgan stops drilling, begins moving equipment from Burnaby Mountain

A Kinder Morgan employees drill on Burnaby Mountain in the background as a signs placed by anti-pipeline demonstrators are pictured in the foreground in Burnaby, B.C., on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014. Kinder Morgan has stopped drilling on Burnaby Mountain and will move out its equipment beginning today, a company spokeswoman said Friday.

Photograph by: Jonathan Hayward , THE CANADIAN PRESS






By Tiffany Crawford
Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER — Kinder Morgan has stopped drilling on Burnaby Mountain and will move out its equipment beginning today, a company spokeswoman said Friday.
An application by Kinder Morgan to extend an injunction keeping protesters away from two drilling sites for its proposed oil pipeline was rejected by the B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday. It means the site must be cleared of excavation work by Dec. 1., the date when the injunction is set to expire. Read more at Vancouver Sun: 
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Thursday, Nov. 28, 2014: Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, and Tsleil-Waututh Elder Ta’ah Amy George have just crossed the Kinder Morgan injunction line at Burnaby Mountain!


By Burnaby Mountain Updates

In crossing the police line, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said, “I am willing to stand up to Kinder Morgan and be arrested for the future of my grandchildren.”

Tsleil-Waututh Elder Ta’ah Amy George, daughter of Chief Dan George, also crossed the police line. “My people have been fighting for this inlet since contact. In 2014 we're still fighting for this inlet. And we're not just doing this for our future generations, but we're doing this for all peoples future generations, even for Kinder Morgan's," George said. Just before she crossed the police line, George offered the challenge to everyone to “Warrior Up!” and a take stand. 

For updates on the situation: https://www.facebook.com/burnabymountain
Below: Friday, Nov. 28, 2014 noon

Shellmound March: Protect the Sacred 2014


at 12:00pm - 3:00pm in Pacific time
Starts within an hour
Corner of Ohlone Way and Shellmound St. Emeryville CA
Please join us for the 15th anniversary of our annual protest. In 1999, the City of Emerryville built the Mall that now sits on the corner of Shellmound St and Ohlone Way. This was once a Ohlone village site and it is one of the largest Shellmounds in the Bay Area. The sacred Shellmound once stood over 60ft high and 350 ft in diameter and it was considered the largest funerary complex of the Ohlone people. When the mall was built, we petitioned the city council and asked them not to destroy our sacred sites, but the developers and the businesses 'won'. But our resistance has never died. Hence, every year, on the day after Thanksgiving, the biggest shopping day of the year, we've organized an educational protest to remind the Bay Area about our Ohlone sacred sites and to educate the public on why and how the desecration of sacred sites hurts Ohlone communities and everyone living here in the Bay Area. We also ask people to not shop at this mall.
Bring friends/food to share/signs and great attitude. We are sure to be joined by friends from all over, spoken word/sacred songs/dancers are welcome. Contact organizers if you have something you would like to share.

AIM Panel on Racist Mascots and Genocide

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Watch live streaming video from earthcycles at livestream.com
Video Part I Racist Mascots, Sat., Nov. 22, 2014
American Indian Movement, AIM West, Panel on Racist Mascots and Genocide 
By Brenda Norrell 
Censored News 
Videos by Govinda at Earthcycles
SAN FRANCISCO -- Bill Means, Lakota, said there is no issue more important than racism. The racism of sports mascots continues the frontier mentality that led to the mass murder of Indian people. In Wounded Knee, more than 300 men, women and children were killed. This is the kind of racism there is in sports mascots, Means said, remembering the Dakotas who were hanged in Minnesota. It is the same mentality left over from Sand Creek when women and children were massacred.
"These are the roots of racism we face today," Means said as he introduced the panel on Racism in Sports at the AIM West Conference on Nov. 22, 2014. Remembering Raymond Yellow Thunder, Means sang the AIM song. Means offered a tribute to Bob Humphrey who just passed to the Spirit World and was at Wounded Knee.
On the Racism in Sports panel: Kris Longoria, co-chair of Bay Area Coalition against Racism in Sports; Dr. Jesse Johnson, whose real name is Maka Blu Wakpa, Sacred Sites Protection and Rights of Indigenous Tribes; Ms. Angel Heart, Sacred Sites Protection and Rights of Indigenous Tribes; Clyde Bellecourt, cofounder of American Indian Movement.
Clyde Bellecourt, AIM cofounder, described how he was shot in the heart area at Wounded Knee and presumed to be dead, but his work was not finished.
Listen to Clyde describe his dream and how it revealed that the Indian women and children must be in the forefront.
Jacqueline Keeler, writer and activist, Dineh and Yankton Dakota, of Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry, spoke as a mother on the real damage from racist images. "Mascots obscure our reality," Keeler said. She added that Native youths are paying the price for non-Indians who use racist images as a form of entertainment. Dahlton Brown, Stanford Student American Indian Organization, spoke on efforts at Stanford to halt racist images and racism in theater.
Spike Moss said America has divided and conquered in order to wage war on one another. Moss encouraged everyone to teach others to be conscious, to be conscious of these divisions and wars orchestrated by the US government.
"Washington is a place full of lies," said Moss who spent his life in the Civil Rights Movement and supporting the American Indian Movement. He said today libraries and public places in the US are named after the followers of Hitler. "The madness we follow in this country is what was taught to us."
Moss said people "must get their minds right." "Don't allow them to write our religion and culture." "We've got to move from the madness. Most of our people are confused by America," Moss said of what is happening to people of color.
Bill Means said AIM and Minneapolis schools entered into a memorandum agreement to eliminate racism, and to implement the true history of American Indian people. Means said it took five years of a coalition working with the school board to bring about change. He described how his grandson was counting in Lakota one day, then Dakota.
Means told him, "That's music my grandson, that's music." Raquel Arthur, Paiute, said media is telling people what to think, what to buy, and trying to give people a way to escape.
Raquel's father Webster Arthur, Nez Perce, described how the first Thanksgiving was a feast that followed the slaughter of Native People. Webster Arthur also described the profiling and jailing of Native Americans. He pointed out how the young, rich and white are not profiled in this country.
"I'm proud of being Indian and I'm proud of all the Indians." Jean Whitehorse, Dine', described what is happening on the Navajo Nation. Jean said her father was a Navajo Code Talker. She said it was a disgrace when Redskins caps were given to Navajo Code Talkers.
Jean recommended I is not for Indian, for appropriate reading for children as opposed to the biased and racist books often available in schools. Wounded Knee on Sacred Places Wounded Knee de Campo spoke on the protection and defense of sacred places, during the conclusion of the two day AIM West gathering. Wounded Knee spoke of the Keystone XL tarsands pipeline and the threat that remains when a new US Congress convenes.
This pipeline is threatening the water sources of Native people. Wounded Knee said it is time to protect the sacred, protect the water, and protect Glen Cove in California. He said there is no ceremony to undo the damages of removing a sacred place. A threat looms for the Columbia River, with the shipment of coal.
What will happen to this river and the Lummi people who depend on this river for their fish, Wounded Knee asked. "Whenever you travel to the Spirit World, and when you meet your ancestors, what will you tell your ancestors?" Wounded Knee asked. "The truth must be told of what happened to our people," he said, remembering the pain, suffering and struggle.
Wounded Knee said Native people were put in boarding schools and denied the right to speak their own languages. "Racism in this country will always exist."
Wounded Knee asked: What does a tomahawk chop mean to Indigenous Peoples? He said it was a Frenchman that began this tomahawk chop. Drumming, chanting and singing is the way of the Native people, he said.
"I am not a chief, I am a warrior." Wounded Knee said his job is to protect the women, children and men.
"I don't have fear. When I go in to the Sweatlodge, I ask for strength. I don't ask for money, you can't take it with you." Wounded Knee, remembering the words of Spike Moss here earlier, said he knows of the runaway slaves who came to Native villages.
Wounded Knee said as they protest the racist mascot in Santa Clara, there may people along the way there to sabotage the efforts of Native protesters, or there could be infiltrators.
He said, "Just keep walking." He said he learned a great deal on the Longest Walks across America. "Remember tomorrow you will be in prayer for your ancestors." "They scalped our people. They skinned our people."
Below: Video Part II, more at www.earthcycles.net in Video Library

Watch live streaming video from earthcycles at livestream.com



AIM West Conference 2014 links at Censored News

Dineh Jean Whitehorse: Boarding schools, relocation and sterilization of Native American women
Lori Riddle, O'odham: Protecting sacred land
Nez Perce and Paiute: Water rights and Borders
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2014/11/nez-perce-and-paiute-water-rights-and.html
AIM West Panel on Racism, Mascots and Genocide
Henry Dominguez, cofounder of Black Berets, speaks at AIM West
Live AIM West Day 1
Live AIM West Day 2
Censored News
Earthcycles
www.earthcycles.net