Economic Blackmail: The New McCarthyism in Indian Country News

John Kane, Mohawk

Does truth-telling in the media now mean that you have to work for free in America?

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Dutch translation by Alice Holemans, NAIS Gazette

It is sad that John Kane, Mohawk, can not find any sponsors to keep his radio show, 'Let's Talk Native,' going.

Is this what happens now to the truth-tellers in the media? Does telling the truth in the media now mean that you have to work for free in America?

During the Boarding School Tribunal in Green Bay, Wisconsin, it was John Kane who called in to provide radio coverage. The only media there was Govinda of Earthcycles and Censored News. None of us are paid for our work. In fact, as John's message below shows, we can't even attract enough donations to cover our expenses to keep going.

The point is that the media has collapsed and a form of economic blackmail is present. It is just as serious as the blacklisting of McCarthyism. It is just carried out in a different manner.

At the same time, this black hole of journalism has created a door for heroes to walk through. It offers us the chance to be present and cover the stories that no one else will, a chance to broadcast the ideas that could transform this planet.

Surely future generations will look back for kernels of truth, and will celebrate those that survive.

With the high costs of travel, equipment, radio airtime and more, the truth-tellers, even when they offer their labors of love for free, are finding there is no way to keep going.

The problem with grants and advertising is that neither are free. Each comes with a price.

As Hopi elder Dan Evehema told me years ago, "Don't ever take grants, or they will own you."

As for big money advertisers, look at the effects that casino, mining and CIA ads have had on Indian country news. The majority of what you have today is either plagiarism by stay-at-home reporters, or fluff by writers surfing and re-writing the web. 

Those stay-at-home reporters have also found cash bounty in the good-hearted activists who pay their own way to share the news. Those stay-at-home plagiarizers get a paycheck from what they seize from the web.

What you have today in the news is the void remaining from the issues that are censored.

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John Kane posted this message on Sunday:

Tonight is to be my final "Let's Talk Native…" program. WWKB would like me to stay on but the cost of paid programming has always been a challenge and the lack sustainable funding has made the show in its existing form and location unsustainable as well. I will make a plea tonight to continue to support my costs associated with travel to NYC for my show there and I will make what will likely be my final pitch to cover the costs for the billing cycle I am completing with my show here in Buffalo. I have been asked if I would be willing to continue through the month of April and I will say that if there is support for me to continue through next month, with firm commitments to cover the airtime on a weekly basis I would consider doing so.
But join us tonight with your calls and thoughts as we look back on this show and look for future opportunities to keep the conversations going.
Let's Talk!

Contact John at jmkane1220@aol.com

Brenda Norrell has been a news reporter in Indian country for 33 years, beginning at Navajo Times during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation. She served as a freelance reporter for AP and USA Today covering the Navajo Nation and federal courts. After being censored and terminated as a staff writer for Indian Country Today, she created Censored News, now in its 9th year with 3.8 million pageviews.

brendanorrell@gmail.com

Long Walk 4 to Alcatraz: Listen Best of Long Walk Talk Radio

Earthcycles bus on arrival in DC
Long Walk 2008
Photo Brenda Norrell

Listen to Best of Long Walk Talk Radio
Long Walk 2 Northern Route

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

Long Walk 4 Return to Alcatraz is currently walking
http://www.returntoalcatraz.com

Censored News shares with you some of the best interviews and songs from the Longest Walk 2, northern route, from the five month broadcast across America in 2008.

The Longest Walk 4, Return to Alcatraz is being initiated by the original walkers on The Longest Walk in 1978. It has been postponed until 2013. The route from DC to Alcatraz is the same as Long Walk 2 northern route in reverse.

"The purpose of this Walk will be to reaffirm the heart of Traditional Tribal Sovereignty rooted in Cemony and land based spiritual relationships. We call on all Indigenous Peoples to come and support this Walk," Long Walk 4 said. http://returntoalcatraz.com/press-release


The Best of Long Talk Radio Longest Walk 2 northern route 2008


Long Walk 2 northern route
Penn. Capitol and Maryland campground
Photos Brenda Norrell

Voices across the west, Alcatraz to Western Shoshone
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell/2008/12/23/voices-walk-across-the-west
Paiutes of Stillwater, Nevada
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell/2008/12/19/paiutes-of-stillwater-best-of-longest-walk-radio
Ute, Maori and Dakota Best of the Longest Walk
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell/2008/12/12/ute-maori-and-dakota-best-of-the-longest-walk-part-1
Choctaw Ben Carnes and Kahentinetha Mohawk Nation News
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell/2008/12/27/ben-carnes-and-kahentinetha-best-of-longest-walk-talk-radio
Walking the Talk: Miwok, Washo and Shoshone
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell/2008/12/26/walking-the-talk-in-the-land-of-miwok-washo-and-shoshone
Honoring the land, honoring the youths, with audio of Floyd Westerman
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell/2008/12/30/honoring-the-land-honoring-the-youths
Kickapoo water and Navajo Resistance, Louise Benally
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell/2008/12/20/kickapoo-water-and-navajo-resistance-best-of-longest-walk-radio

LW 2 Northern Route: Earthcycles radio bus with walkers
in Penn; Women's Walk to Sand Creek Massacre in
Colorado; Protest at Newmont mining in solidarity
with Western Shoshone in Denver.
Photos by Brenda Norrell

LW 2 Northern Route: Calvin on that long lonesome highway 50
through northern Nevada and Shoshone country;
the dear Duncans at Penn. powwow; Shoshone drum.
Photos Brenda Norrell.

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Red Road Cancun: Indigenous Voices Live from Cancun

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Photo: Ben Powless, Mohawk/IEN

(NOV 29, 2010) The Indigenous Environmental Network is broadcasting live from the Cancun Climate Summit. Red Road Cancun, http://www.redroadcancun.com/, webcast by Earthcycles, offers the world the voices of Indigenous Peoples.

These are the voices that polluting corporations and governments do not want to be heard. As profiteers push for carbon market scams and seizures of land and water rights, IEN is providing an online platform for Indigenous voices to halt threats to Indian lands, water and forests.

At the Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in April, more than 35,000 people gathered at the invitation of President Evo Morales. The majority were Indigenous Peoples. There were 17 working groups which produced declarations, culminating in the Peoples Agreement. It calls for new standards for greenhouse emissions and recognition of the rights of Mother Earth. The Peoples Agreement upholds the rights of Indigenous Peoples and states that corporations and governments are to be held accountable in court for pollution.

Ofelia Rivas, O’odham, was cochair of the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in Cochabamba. Rivas, from the US/Mexico border region, is an independent grassroots Indigenous delegate. Rivas is among those taking the Declarations of the People from Cochabamba to Cancun.

Rivas will also be carrying another document, "In Defense of Water," from the National Indigenous Congress which met on the Yaquis' Vicam Pueblo, Sonora, Mexico, in November. Yaquis are among those whose water rights are under attack by the government of Mexico.

In Defense of Water begins with: “Water, our Mother and Father, is that which gives us life, along with the Earth, Fire, and Air. It is the foundation of our lives and of the existence of everything that is born and that is alive; and it is not something that you can buy and sell in the way that capitalism destroys our Mother Earth.”

In Cancun, Indigenous Peoples and campesinas are also arriving by caravans from throughout Mexico, with protests and marches planned for Mexico City and Cancun.

IEN said world leaders will again meet for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 16 & CMP 6) to discuss climate change and collaborate on finding answers for many multi-level questions on how to deal with mitigation, restoration, and prevention of further damage.

The Red Road Cancun webcast will include the stories of Native Americans suffering from coal mines and power plants. IEN will share stories of communities standing up to threats from industries who want their forests to "offset" their pollution.

“We will be highlighting stories from communities that are taking real and effective action to address the climate crisis. Communities that are protecting their forests from being logged; that are shutting down polluting industries in their own back yard, or that are creating small-scale renewable energy projects,” IEN said.

Red Road Cancan will webcast noon to 1 pm CST, and recast at 5 pm CST daily, Nov. 29—Dec. 10, 2010.
http://www.redroadcancun.com/

Watch live streaming video from abyayalanexus at livestream.com

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Watch Video: Southern Border Indigenous Roundtable

Watch webcast: Southern Border Indigenous Peoples Roundtable Symposium
Indigenous Alliance without Borders, 3 hours: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/10935828
Jose Matus, Yaqui director of the Alliance; Kat Rodriguez of Derechos Humanos; Julian Rivas, O'odham from Mexico; Shannon Rivers, O'otham from Gila River and Sarah Gonzales, director of the YWCA Racial Justice Program. Recorded by Earthcycles www.earthcycles.net and Censored News www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

OneClimate: Live webstream from Bolivia Climate Summit

From: Adam GrovesEmail: adam.groves@oneworld.net Phone: +44-20-7922-7844

OneClimate Channel enables everyone to attend World Climate Conference in Bolivia
Media release

ople’s Climate Summit, which runs from the 19-22 April in Bolivia, has been touted as an opportunity for ‘ordinary people’ to take the lead in tackling climate change. The good news is you are invited to attend – and you can do so without having to fly.
The pioneering OneClimate Channel has already enabled millions of people around the world to participate in global climate talks – most recently during the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December 2009. But in Bolivia, the promise of an ‘open process’ (there will be no secret discussions behind closed doors) combined with OneClimate’s groundbreaking interactive coverage, means that anyone with access to the Internet will have a free pass right to the heart of the summit.
‘This is an unprecedented opportunity for individuals to join with frontline communities, activists and governments in the search for common solutions to the climate crisis,’ says Peter Armstrong, the originator of the live Internet video channel. ‘And by participating in the summit virtually, they will be saving carbon, cash and themselves from the hassle of travelling.’
The channel’s previous coverage of UN climate conferences in Copenhagen, Poznan and Balihas shown that ordinary people have a real desire to follow the global talks – and to make their voice heard.
‘In Copenhagen, people were not simply watching the channel but were joining in, sending in questions and comments by chat and tweets to the people we were interviewing -tens of thousands of people!’ says Anuradha Vittachi, OneClimate’s founder.
‘This is climate media by the people, for the people.’OneClimate is a partner of the Global Campaign for Climate Action. GCCA recently won the prestigious We Media award for its experiment in collaborative climate campaigning in the run up to the UN’s Copenhagen Climate Conference.
Among the GCCA’s experimental successes were the tcktcktck website, which received 2.5 million views in four months, the OneClimate Channel, which attracted 4 million views during the two week conference (ten times its target),and the tcktcktck petition which has received more than 15 million pledges.
Now GCCA and OneClimate will be working together again to ensure that distance is no barrier to participation in the People’s Summit.The OneClimate channel is an initiative of OneWorld UK and uses its innovative ecoCastingtechnologies.
The live streaming service is provided in cooperation with Justin.tv and can be viewed at www.oneclimate.net/bolivia The entire channel is also free to embed on third partywebsites via
www.oneclimate.net/about/embed
Adam Groves on 020-7922-7844 or adam.groves@oneworld.net

Censored News and Earthcycles will also provide live coverge from Bolivia
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/ and http://www.earthcycles.net/
brendanorrell@gmail.com and govinda@earthcycles.net

Bolivia Peoples Climate Summit: Restoring the Balance

Evo Morales' Peoples Climate Summit: Restoring the Balance
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/02/bolivia-peoples-climate-summit.html
Narcosphere
By Brenda Norrell

Registration for conference: Agenda and registration http://pwccc.wordpress.com/

(Espanol) http://cmpcc.org/guia-informativa

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia -- Bolivian President Evo Morales, announcing the objectives of the upcoming Peoples Climate Summit, made it clear that the so-called developed countries of the world have usurped the bounties of Mother Earth at the expense of the poorest people in the world.

Cautioning mankind of the suffering and displacement which leads to forced migration, Morales called for The Peoples World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth's Rights, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, April 19-22 2010.

Stressing the need to reestablish harmony with nature and establish the rights of Mother Earth, Morales welcomed those willing to work for the good of all mankind, and those governments willing to work for the best interests of their people.

Morales said climate change represents a real threat to the existence of humanity, of living being and Mother Earth. The danger is serious for the islands, coastal areas, glaciers in the Himalayas, the Andes, mountains of the world, poles of the Earth, warm regions like Africa, water sources, populations affected by increasing natural disasters, plants, animals and ecosystems, he said.

"Those most affected by climate change will be the poorest in the world who will see their homes and their sources of survival destroyed, and who will be forced to migrate and seek refuge."

He pointed out that 75 percent of historical emissions of greenhouse gases originated in "the countries of the North that followed a path of irrational industrialization."

"Climate change is a product of the capitalist system," Morales said. While citing regret at the failure of the Copenhagen Climate Conference, he said the so-called developed countries failed to recognize their climate debt to developing countries, future generations and Mother Earth.

The purpose of the conference in Cochabamba is to discuss and agree on the Universal Declaration of Mother Earth Rights. It seeks an agreement on proposals for new commitments to the Kyoto Protocol and a COP Decision under the United Nations Framework for Climate Change.

Morales welcomed a broad range of people to the summit. "The Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia calls on the peoples of the world, social movements and Mother Earth's defenders, and invites scientists, academics, lawyers and governments that want to work with their citizens."

Earthcycles, http://www.earthcycles.net/, and Censored News, http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/, will be streaming live from the summit, with on-air Indigenous cohosts.

Meanwhile, the Parliamentarians of the European United Left, and the Nordic United Left proposed a Resolution, in relation to the outcome of the Copenhagen summit on Climate Change, that "welcomes the initiative" taken by President Evo Morales "to convoke the Peoples' World Conference on Climate change and Mother Earth's Rights from the 19th to the 22nd of April 2010 in the city of Cochabamba; urges the Commission, the Member states, the European Parliament and the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly to send representatives to this important event."

Registration is free and available in Spanish and English: info@cmpcc.org
Updates will be available at Censored News http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
The objectives are:
1) To analyze the structural and systemic causes that drive climate change and to propose radical measures to ensure the well-being of all humanity in harmony with nature
2) To discuss and agree on the project of a Universal Declaration of Mother Earth Rights
3) To agree on proposals for new commitments to the Kyoto Protocol and projects for a COP Decision under the United Nations Framework for Climate Change that will guide future actions in those countries that are engaged with life during climate change negotiations and in all United Nations scenarios, related to:
- Climate debt
- Climate change migrants-refugees
- Emission reductions
- Adaptation
- Technology transfer
- Finance
- Forest and Climate Change
- Shared Vision
- Indigenous Peoples, and
- Others
4) To work on the organization of the Peoples' World Referendum on Climate Change
5) To analyze and develop an action plan to advance the establishment of a Climate Justice Tribunal
6) To define strategies for action and mobilization to defend life from Climate Change and to defend Mother Earth's Rights.
The statement was made by Evo Morales Ayma, President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, on Jan. 5. info@cmpcc.org
Working Groups
1. Structural causes
2. Harmony with Nature
3. Mother Earth Rights
4. Referendum
5. Climate Justice Tribunal
6. Climate Migrants
7. Indigenous Peoples
8. Climate Debt
9. Shared Vision
10. Kyoto Protocol
11. Adaptation
12. Financing
13. Technology Transfer
14. Forest
15. Dangers of Carbon Market
16. Action Strategies
Objetivos
La Conferencia Mundial de los Pueblos sobre el Cambio Climático y los Derechos de la Madre Tierra tiene por objetivos:
1. Analizar las causas estructurales y sistémicas que provocan el cambio climático y proponer medidas de fondo que posibiliten el bienestar de toda la humanidad en armonía con la naturaleza. 2. Discutir y acordar el proyecto de Declaración Universal de Derechos de la Madre Tierra.
3. Acordar las propuestas de nuevos compromisos para el Protocolo de Kioto, y para proyectos de Decisiones de la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre Cambio Climático que guiarán el accionar de los gobiernos comprometidos con la vida en las negociaciones de cambio climático y en todos los escenarios de Naciones Unidas.
4. Trabajar en la organización del Referéndum Mundial de los Pueblos sobre el cambio climático.
5. Analizar y trazar un plan de acción para avanzar en la constitución de un Tribunal de Justicia Climática;
6. Definir las estrategias de acción y movilización en defensa de la vida frente al Cambio Climático y por los Derechos de la Madre Tierra.

Earthcycles live from San Francisco

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

SAN FRANCISCO -- Earthcycles will broadcast live from the AIM-West 40 year reunion this week, beginning 10:30 am on Monday, Nov. 24, 2008. Producer Govinda Dalton and cohost Brenda Norrell will broadcast at http://www.earthcycles.net/ and on local 104.1 FM in San Francisco.
American Indian Movement members gather all day on Monday at the San Francisco main library, with Bill Means and Madonna Thunder Hawk. AIM-West continues on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Baha'i Center, with an Unthanksgiving Feast on Wednesday. Everyone is welcome.
The Alcatraz Island Sunrise Ceremony, hosted by the International Indian Treaty Council, will be at first light on Alcatraz Island Thursday morning. On Friday evening, AIM-West hosts a fundraiser concert.
Meanwhile, the Shellmound walkers and Peace Walkers are on a two week walk in the Bay area. The Shellmound walkers will be at the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland on Thursday at 10 am.
Earthcycles will feature interviews from throughout Indian country, including Western Shoshone fighting Barrick Gold's plan to carve out their sacred Mount Tenabo. Local guests include supporters of the Berkeley City Council and its passage of the "No Border Wall" resolution. The issues of the Longest Walk will also be in focus, including protecting Mother Earth from power plants and mining, climate change, militarization of the US borders and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
From across Indian country, Paiutes are fighting to maintain their gathering and hunting rights; Kickapoo are struggling for their water rights; Navajos are fighting the Desert Rock power plant and the decades long devastation from relocation and coal mining. All along the border, Indigenous Peoples are struggling to survive as federal laws are voided to build the border wall. Meanwhile, private prison profiteering results in more migrants and American Indians in prisons. Sacred places are targeted for destruction as mining increases and corporations and political pirates seize federal and Indian lands in secrecy.
All across Indian country, more people are homeless and hungry, while tens of thousands of wild horses are targeted to be killed who once roamed on lands seized for gold mining and oil drilling.
Dalton and Norrell were cohosts of the Longest Walk Talk Radio across America, from Alcatraz to DC, for five months during 2008. The archives of interviews and songs are at http://www.earthcycles.net/
This week's schedule:
Monday all day, Nov. 24, 10: 30 am to 5:30 pm: Location – San Francisco Public Main Library, 100 Larkin Street. All welcome, press invited. Bill Means and Madonna Thunder Hawk. Issues from the south, national concerns, Treaty Rights, green economy, Mother Earth and UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Tuesday all day, Nov. 25, 10 am to 5 pm: Location – San Francisco Baha’i Center, 170 Valencia Street (between 14th Street and Dubois Street). Land struggles today; Sacred sites; Manifesto for Change; fishing rights, subsistence gathering; political prisoners.
Wednesday, Nov. 26, noon to 6 pm: SF Baha’i Center, Unthanksgiving Dinner, Special human rights awards. Keith Secola, Phoenix! Fancy Dancers, Medicine Warriors and All Nations Singers. Lehman Brightman, Patricia Bellanger, Little Wolf Bellecourt, Yvonne Swan, Charlie Hill and Max Gail.
Thursday Sunrise, Nov. 27: International Indian Treaty Council, Alcatraz Island Sun Rise Gathering. Boats leave from Pier #31. Hornblower Tours (415-981-7625) Booths open 4:30 am or purchase online (recommended) http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/ Last boat over 6 am; return at 9 am. Shellmound Walkers at the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland at 10 am.
Friday Night Nov. 28: Fundraiser concert AIM-WEST. SF Baha’i Center, 6 pm to 10 pm: Dr. Loco and Rockin’ Jalapenos, The Bob Young Project, $10-20 slide scale.
Information: http://www.aimwest.info/
AIM-WEST INFO: Tony Gonzales – 415-577-1492; Volunteer to help: Peggy Lemke 408-625-0986; John Powers – 415-559-9724 and Mark Anquoe 415-566-5788
Photo: Earthcycles radio bus at the culmination of the Longest Walk in DC, July 2008. Photo Brenda Norrell

Earthcycles, live from San Francisco Nov. 24 -- 28, 2008

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
SAN FRANCISCO -- Earthcycles web radio returns to the air live during November. From Monday, Nov. 24, through Friday, Nov. 28, Earthcycles will broadcast live from San Francisco, with coverage of the events of 40th anniversary of the American Indian Movement AIM-West, the International Indian Treaty Council and Alcatraz Island.
Earthcycles producer Govinda Dalton, and cohost Brenda Norrell, will be in San Francisco for the week to host the live show.

Dalton, who lives in northern California, and Norrell, based in Tucson, were cohosts of the Longest Walk Talk Radio, on the five-month walk across America. Native Americans walked from Alcatraz to DC for sacred places and protection of Mother Earth.
The same issues covered by the Longest Walk Talk Radio will be highlighted in this month's weeklong, on-air coverage, including the proliferation of coal mines, power plants and drilling in Indian country; the militarization of the US borders and the oppression and violations of human rights of Indigenous Peoples around the world.
As we plan our programming, we would like to hear from you. Please contact us if you have interviews or issues to include.
Listen to Earthcycles and the Longest Walk five-month series at:
http://www.earthcycles.net/
In solidarity, Brenda Norrell
brendanorrell@gmail.com

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

Photo: Earthcycles bus in DC near the US Capitol, when the Longest Walk arrived in DC in July of 2008. Photo Brenda Norrell