Tohono O'odham Ofelia Rivas with Extinction Rebellion in New York

Singer and actress Melba Moore (left) with Ofelia Rivas in New York.
Photo courtesy Ofelia Rivas

Photo by Ofelia Rivas

Photo Ofelia Rivas

Photo Ofelia Rivas

Tohono O'odham Ofelia Rivas with Extinction Rebellion in New York

Consumerism driven by the corporate system threatens Mother Earth -- Ofelia Rivas

Article by Brenda Norrell
Censored News
French translation by Christine Prat

NEW YORK -- Tohono O'odham Ofelia Rivas spoke to a gathering of Extinction Rebellion in New York on Black Friday, sharing the need to protect Mother Earth.

Ofelia Rivas said she "shared the message for people to consider a personal conscious choice to end consumerism driven by this corporate system."

"The message from Indigenous Peoples is to protect Mother Earth. They are here taking this action, and it is a sign that people have heard our message," Rivas told Censored News.

In New York, Rivas opened the 20 Million Women Strong organization event in the East Village.

While in New York, Rivas provided a prayer song for Bolivians at the "Impunity with the Aymara Community of Bolivia," gathering of The Center for Constitutional Rights and Harvard Law.

At the Concerned Citizens for Change meeting at Manhattan College, Rivas also delivered a presentation.

The Extinction Rebellion action in New York was part of planned Black Friday protests around the world, with activists blockading shopping malls in Paris, Montreal and Madrid, calling for an end to consumerism.

Rivas is founder of O'odham Voice against the Wall and has lived her life on her homeland, battling the U.S. Border Patrol who sit outside her home. One U.S. Border Patrol Special Operations Agent from El Paso pulled a gun on her as he was stalking her at her gate. 

After testifying before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Jamaica in May on the militarization of her homeland, and abuses by U.S. Homeland Security and its Border Patrol on the Tohono O'odham Nation, Ofelia was delayed two days returning home after being targeted by U.S. Homeland Security with repeated searches because of her testimony.

Currently, protected Saguaro Cactus and endangered species are being destroyed near Rivas' home on the Tohono O'odham Nation. At the nearby Organ Pipe National Monument, construction of a border wall segment, now endangers a sacred spring. The border wall construction all along the Arizona border is now blocking the migration paths of jaguar, pronghorn and other rare and endangered species.

The border wall has already proved worthless, as an eight-year-old climber scaled a mock wall in seconds. On the California border recently, the border wall was cut open and a truck driven through it. 

Previously Rivas and O'odham elders returned the remains of their ancestors to their resting place after they were dug up by the United States' construction of a border vehicle barrier on the Tohono O'odham Nation.

Now, the human rights violator Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense contractor responsible for Apartheid security in Palestine, is constructing spy towers on the Tohono O'odham Nation. These integrated fixed towers, contracted by U.S. Homeland Security in remote O'odham communities will continue the spying and stalking of O'odham, which is already underway by the U.S. Border Patrol.

On Friday, at least 27 members of the Extinction Rebellion were arrested in New York.

“This is a real crisis. It’s a moral crisis. We’re in a very sad place,” said Manhattan resident Sarah Kollodny, 80, reports The New York Post.

“We really want to draw attention to what’s happening in the world. Black Friday is a day of strong consumerism,” she added, urging people to “reflect on our resources and consumerism.”

Extinction Rebellion members carried signs calling for “Empathy, humility, frugality” and declaring a “climate emergency,” caused by what they said were carbon emissions from excessive consumption.

Photos copyright Ofelia Rivas
Article copyright Ofelia Rivas, Brenda Norrell, Censored News

Live from Pine Ridge! Tokatawin Iron Eyes and Greta Thunberg

 Sixteen-year-olds shake up the world on Pine Ridge:
Tokatawin Iron Eyes and Greta Thunberg

     
The Magnitude of Lakotas

Article by Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Video by Lakota Peoples Law Project
Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019


PINE RIDGE, Oglala Sioux Nation -- Oglala Sioux President Julian Bear Runner said if the man camps and oil pipelines come here and encroach on Oglala land, they will have to run over him because he is willing to die as his ancestors did.

President Bear Runner's words were the battle cry, the call to action, before Tokatawin Iron Eyes, Lakota, and Greta Thunberg spoke out for Mother Earth on Pine Ridge, in the heart of Native resistance.

Then, these two 16-year-olds woke up the world.

Apartheid and Tohono O'odham Spy Towers -- University of Arizona continues anti-Native stance by partnering with Elbit Systems

By Brenda Norrell
A Censored News Original
March 6, 2019

TUCSON -- It comes as no surprise that the University of Arizona has partnered with the Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems. Elbit Systems -- responsible for Apartheid security systems in Palestine -- is now pushing for border spy towers on the Tohono O'odham Nation.

The GuVo District, on the western part of the Tohono O'odham Nation, is opposed to the spy towers, and passed a resolution to protect their burial places and sacred places from the destruction of the towers.

In Gu'Vo District, Ofelia Rivas, founder of O'odham Voice against the Wall, said,  "The general public in the united states continues to be ignorant and apathetic and human suffering is entertainment.

"Meanwhile the world's eye can see and our human spirit can sense the enormous suffering of Mother Earth.

"Every aspect of human life relies on Mother Earth, for water, and food. Any single impact by undocumented    surveillance technology radiation emissions impacts plants and animals -- and human life is the greatest concern by O'odham in opposition to the surveillance project imposed upon the Tohono O'odham Nation," Ofelia Rivas told Censored News on Wednesday.

The University of Arizona in Tucson exposed its anti-Native American stance when it joined the Pope in their crusade to desecrate sacred Mount Graham with monster telescopes.

Both the University and the Pope ignored pleas and lawsuits from San Carlos Apache and environmental organizations.

Now, the University has exposed itself again by partnering with the leaders of weapons and death for profit.

These warmongers partnering with the university include Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Sandia Labs.

At the University these are called 'Industrial Affiliates' and Elbit Systems, known for its human rights abuses globally, is one of these affiliates.

The University of Arizona announced in September of 2018 that its Optical Sciences Department was partnering with Elbit Systems.

On the Tohono O'odham Nation, GuVo District remains opposed to the towers, known as integrated fixed towers.

Meanwhile, Tohono O'odham community members question what happened at the Tribal Border Summit, held on Pascua Yaqui Nation in January.

At the border summit, US Homeland Security was invited to a secret, closed session with Tohono O'odham Nation government leaders and other tribal leaders. The National Congress of American Indians, NCAI, was among the hosts and  organizers of the border summit.
Tohono O'odham community members say they were not invited, or informed afterwards about what took place at the border summit behind closed doors.

Follow the money: The University of Arizona has received millions of dollars by way of grants and contracts for projects on the Tohono O'odham Nation.

US Homeland Security awarded Elbit Systems the contract for fixed integrated towers in Arizona, with an initial contract of $145 million. Israeli leaders celebrated the contract in Israel, according to Israeli media, and spy tower construction was soon underway on the border at Douglas, Nogales and Sonoita, Arizona.

---
From the University of Arizona website:

Elbit Systems is now among these, according to the University's website :

Please check back for updates on this investigative report by Censored News.



Article copyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News

'Water is Life' Standing Rock and French Guiana Speak Out in Paris, Photos by Christine Prat

Cannupa Hanska Luger, Hidatsa/Arikara/Mandan/Lakota born in Standing Rock

Delegation from French Guyane (Guiana), to show French people that there are Native Americans in "France" too

Tara Houska, Honor the Earth

Cedar, Kanahus and Annie of CSIA

Cedar George, also struggling against Kinder Morgan

Mika Sommer, Indigenous Youth of French Guyane

Ricardo Alvaro, representing Congresso Nacional Indigeno in France

Edith (president) and Sylvain (vice-président) of CSIA

Yanuwana Tapoka (Christophe Pierre) Indigenous Youth of French Guyane
.

Solidarity Committee with American Indians in France hosts Earth Defenders in Paris, October 2017Water is Life Tour in Europe
Photos by Christine Prat
Censored News
Thank you for sharing with Censored News


Copyright Christine Prat, Censored News

Chief Arvol Looking Horse: The dark spirit and disease of the mind

Arvol Looking Horse:
October 22, 2016
Protecting the Sacred

Mitakuyape (are now up against dangerous decisions that are coming from the disease of the mind. We are dealing with minds that hold no values of respect and honor toward another Nation’s Burials and Sacred Sites. Money has contaminated their minds to want the power to desecrate the sacredness of Mother Earth and allow my People’s burial places to be destroyed in order to continue to erase our culture.

Tribute: Navajo, Hopi and Lakota took on Peabody Coal, New York 2001

Roberta Blackgoat
Flagstaff Arizona protest
of Peabody water slurry
Photo Brenda Norrell (c)

Navajo, Hopi and Lakota delegation warned Lehman Brothers of consequences of mining sacred Black Mesa

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News copyright
French translation by Christine Prat at:

http://www.chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=3378

The following article is being republished following Peabody Coal's bankruptcy this week.

In 2001, a delegation of Navajo, Hopi and Lakota stood united before Peabody Coal stockholders in New York and challenged the corporate monster.

Most of the delegation are now in the Spirit World. Arlene Hamilton bought two stocks in Peabody Coal in order for the delegation to address the stockholders. As a result, Arlene said her life was threatened. She died in a car accident. Roberta Blackgoat, known around the world for resisting relocation, died during the time of Hamilton’s memorial. Leonard Benally, longtime resistor with his sister and brother Louise and John Benally on Big Mountain, and Arlene’s husband, died of illness.

Those who stood together in New York included Hopi and Lakota elders.

NEW YORK -- A delegation of Navajo, Hopi and Lakota warned Lehman

Brothers stockholders of the dire consequences of their actions in

2001. In a rare move, censored by most media, the Navajo, Hopi and

Lakota delegation warned Lehman Brothers, after it acquired the

financial interests of Peabody Coal, of the spiritual consequences of

mining coal on sacred Black Mesa and the aftermath of Peabody Coal's

machinations that led to the so-called Navajo Hopi Land Dispute.

Later, Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy.

Gwich'in Gathering in Arctic Village 2016

.

Sarah James

Shalak Naii,

We wish to invite you to the Biennial Gwich'in Gathering in Vashraii K'oo (Arctic Village, Alaska) from July 25-29, 2016.  The Arctic Village Council is hosting the event.

Join us!  This year is an urgent time in our fight for permanent protection of the sacred birthplace of the caribou in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in this era of record global warming and climate change.  We will celebrate and thank President Obama for sending the first-ever proposed Arctic Refuge Wilderness recommendation to Congress.  This year is the key time to move permanent protection –Wilderness– forward.

Tiokasin Ghosthorse joins Owe Aku Board

Owe Aku International Justice Project Owe Aku Bring Back the Way

Tiokasin Ghosthorse joins Owe Aku IJP Board Owe Aku is a grassroots organization of Lakota people and our allies founded to promote the protection of sacred water and preservation of our territorial lands.  Our actions for environmental justice rely upon cultural revitalization as our major tool in achieving our goals.  The principle location from which are operations are based are on Lakota territory along Wounded Knee Creek on what is called the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation .  More information on our work can be found atwww.oweakuinternational.org Owe Aku IJP is pleased to announce that Tiokasin Ghosthorse has agreed to join our board and be a part of Owe Aku’s work in protecting the Lakota homeland and preserving SacredWater. "We have to stop with the idea of creating peace on earth and begin with creating peace with Mother Earth. We've tried the first alternative for thousands of years, but look where that has led us, now is the time of the Original Ways, the Native ways, after all ... it is coming this way - that we all must make peace with Mother Earth - there is no more altering the native way.”  [Tiokasin Ghosthorse] Tiokasin’s work in media, as a musician, a poet, philosopher and an artist, will be a great addition to our board and though he has been a hard-working supporting of all our work for years, it is now our privilege and honor to have him join us in this capacity.  Wopila! Tiokasin Ghosthorse is from the Cheyenne River Lakota (Sioux) Nation of South Dakota and the bands of Itazipco/Mnicoujou and Oglala. He is the host of First Voices Indigenous Radio on WBAI NY - Pacifica Radio. Tiokasin has been described as “a spiritual agitator, natural rights organizer, Indigenous thinking process educator and a community activator.” One reviewer called him “a cultural resonator in the key of life.” Tiokasin Ghosthorse is also a master musician and one of the great exponents of the ancient red cedar Lakota flute, and plays traditional and contemporary music, using both Indigenous and European instruments. He has been a major figure in preserving and reviving the cedar wood flute tradition and has combined “spoken word” and music in performances since childhood. Tiokasin performs worldwide and has been featured at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at the United Nations as well as at numerous universities and concert venues. You are receiving this email because you are an ally in our struggle to preserve sacredwater Our mailing address is: Owe Aku International Justice Project 720 W. 173rd St., #59 New York, NY 10032 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

You are receiving this email because you are an ally in our struggle to preserve sacredwater Our mailing address is: Owe Aku International Justice Project 720 W. 173rd St., #59 New York, NY 10032 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

Meet Josephine Mandamin (Anishinaabekwe), The “Water Walker”

Photos and article by Ayse Gursoz

Republished with permission by Ayse Gursoz from Indigenous Rising

Censored News

With a copper pail of water in one hand and a staff in the other, Josephine Mandamin, an Anishabaabewe grandmother took on a sacred walk, traversing over 10,900 miles around each of the Great Lakes. She is known as a “water walker.”

According to the Michigan Sea Grant, the Great Lakes shoreline is equal to almost 44% of the circumference of the earth.

"When you see someone walking with a pail of water, you wonder, where is she going with that water. So the message is, water is very precious, and I will go to any lengths to and direction, any lengths, any distance to carry the water to the people,” said Mandamin. “As women, we are carriers of the water. We carry life for the people. So when we carry that water, we are telling people that we will go any lengths for the water. We’ll probably even give our lives for the water if we have to. We may at some point have to die for the water, and we don’t want that.”

Mandamin joined the team of indigenous representatives from the Indigenous Environmental Network at the People’s Climate March during the week of September 18th to the 24th.

“Why I’m here is because I really feel for the water. And if we could give the message to people that Water is a human right. Water has to live, it can hear, it can sense what we’re saying, it can really, really, speak to us. Some songs come to us through the water. We have to understand that water is very precious.”

In Anishinaabekwe culture, women are given the responsibility to take care of the water.

“The water of Mother Earth, she carries life to us, and as women we carry life through our bodies. We as women are life-givers, protectors of the water, and that’s why we are very inclined to give mother earth the respect that she needs for the water. That’s our responsibility, our role, and our duty, to pass on the knowledge and understanding of water, to all people, not just Anishinabe people, but people of all colors,” said Mandamin.

In the wake of extreme extractive industries such fracking, oil, and coal, access to clean water is rapidly declining.

“In our prophecies, in our Three Fires Midewiwin Society, we are taught that water is very precious.  I was told by a grand chief that 30 years from now an ounce of water will cost as much as an ounce of gold if we continue with our negligence,” said Mandamin. “If we discontinue our negligence, we can change things around.  That’s why I am really embodying the prophecy.  You’ve heard of ‘Walk The Talk,’ this is why I walk.”

Snowden docs: US spying on Copenhagen thwarted change Indigenous hoped for

US spying on Copenhagen climate summit was aimed at halting real climate solutions

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

Copenhagen 2009 by Ben Powless, Mohawk, IEN

The latest documents released by Edward Snowden reveal that the US engaged in spying on other countries at the Copenhagen climate summit in order to support American interests and prevent any real climate solutions.

The US is historically the largest carbon emitter, which includes the coal-fired power plants on the Navajo Nation and elsewhere in Indian country.

Rallying in defense of Mother Earth in Copenhagen were large delegations of grassroots Native Americans and First Nations, along with Indigenous Peoples from around the world, working for real climate solutions.

Copenhagen become "Hopenhagen" with new hope for climate solutions and protection of the planet. Carrying forward this hope, Indigenous Peoples gathered in Cochabamba, Bolivia, with President Evo Morales the following year in 2010 for the Protection of Mother Earth Conference, which ignited the movement for the defense of the Rights of Nature, with the release of the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth.

The documents leaked by Snowden were made public on Wednesday night by the Danish daily Information. The Danish Information reports:

"At the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009, the world's nations were supposed to reach an agreement that would protect future generations against catastrophic climate change. But not everyone was playing by the rules. A leaked document now reveals that the US employed the NSA, its signals intelligence agency, to intercept information about other countries' views on the climate negotiations before and during the summit."

"... the document suggests that the NSA's actual focus in relation to climate change was spying on other countries to collect intelligence that would support American interests, rather than preventing future climate catastrophes. It describes the US as being under pressure because of its role as the historically largest carbon emitter."

In the mountains of Bolivia
President Evo Morales 2010
Photo Brenda Norrell

After the failure of the Copenhagen climate summit, Bolivian President Evo Morales called for the summit in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

"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," President Morales said.

President Morales 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," President 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.

Previous documents leaked by Snowden reveal that the NSA spied on the climate negotiations in Bali, which also attracted Native American delegations, including the Indigenous Environmental Network.

The Guardian reported, "Australian spy agency the Defence Signals Directorate worked alongside America’s National Security Agency in mounting a massive surveillance operation on Indonesia during the United Nations climate change conference in Bali in 2007." http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/02/nsa-australia-bali-conference-spy-indonesia

Read more: US spied on negotiators at Copenhagen climate summit

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/29/snowden-nsa-surveillance-_n_4681362.html?1391048276

Article copyright Brenda Norrell, photo copyright photo one Ben Powless, photo 2 Brenda Norrell

Ponca Casey Camp at Rights of Nature Summit Tribunal in Ecuador

Opening Ceremony of Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature – January 14, 2014 - Casey Camp-Horinek (Ponca), Osprey Orielle Lake, Elise Garcia, Silver Donald Cameron and Cormac Cullinen.

Photo by Sister Patricia Siemen, OP

Update: Rights of Nature Tribunal hears 8 cases on Friday, Jan. 17, 2014:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2014/01/ecuador-rights-of-nature-tribunal-hears.html

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

The Rights of Nature Summit and Tribunal is now underway in Ecuador. It follows the Rights of Mother Earth Conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in 2010, and brings together Indigenous Peoples from around the world in defense of Mother Earth. Casey Camp, Ponca, is among those present.

Sister Elsie Garcia is providing news coverage of the summit and tribunal, which ends Friday, in Ecuador. Ecuador was the first country to enact the Rights of Nature as law.

“In our language, the word ‘rights’ doesn’t exist,” said Blanca Chancoso, a Kichwa leader from Cotacachi, Ecuador. “For us it translates to the power to live.” Read more of today's coverage http://ncronline.org/blogs/eco-catholic/indigenous-peoples-work-save-land-extinction

The Global Alliance for the Emergent 'Rights of Nature' movment announced the international summit and tribunal being held in Otavalo and Quito, Ecuador, Jan.. 13 -- 17, 2014. This statement was issued:

Key leaders of the emergent nature rights movement are holding an international summit in Ecuador on January 13-17, 2014. Its twofold purpose is to analyze the experiences of communities in Ecuador, Bolivia, and United States that have already implemented “Rights of Nature” laws and to devise a unified global strategy for advancing the Rights of Nature movement around the world.