VIDEO Long Walk 3 Northern Route Simnasho-Warm Springs Oregon

(Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011) Long walkers on the northern route are still trekking through the snow. Lisa Peake, Ojibwe/Pomo, said Wed night, "It snowed all day. We have 25 more miles to bring the walk into Pendleton, heading Walla Walla way and the salmon talks." On Wednesday, the community of Pendleton, Oregon, joined for a morning walk. On Thursday, Navajo coordinator Chris Francisco said the walkers and runners appreciate the warm welcome by their current stay host, the Umatilla Indian Nation. The next base camp is Lapwai, Idaho, next week.

Two more arrests as Indigenous protest Border Patrol and militarization

Alex Soto: 602.881.6027
stopbordermilitarization@gmail.com
http://www.oodhamsolidarity.blogspot.com/
http://www.survivalsolidarity.wordpress.com/
Border Patrol Headquarters Occupation Protesters Stand Trial to Fight Charges

Two Arrested During March to End Border Militarization and Racist Laws
Press statement
TUCSON – On February 23, more than 40 protesters took to the streets – two were arrested – while six people who locked-down and occupied the US Border Patrol Tucson Headquarters on May 21, 2010 stood trial fighting charges of "criminal trespassing" and “disorderly conduct.”

Lawyers William G. Walker and Jeffrey J. Rogers represented the six as the city prosecutor called Border Patrol agents and Tucson Police to testify. The defense argued the trespassing charge was not properly filed and were granted a request to file a memorandum addressing the technicality. The trial is expected to continue on March 22, 2011. Corresponding rallies and actions are being planned.

At 1:30 pm people gathered in downtown Tucson at Library Park for a rally and then took the streets with banners reading, “Indigenous Resistance, Protect Sacred Places”, “Free Movement for People Not Commerce, Tear Down the Wall” and chanting “No Borders, No Border Patrol.”

Two people were arrested for allegedly hanging a banner that read “Las Paredes Vueltas de su Lado son Puentes (Torn Down Walls Become Bridges)” on a street traffic light. They were arraigned and released at 8 pm at Pima County Corrections.

Additional banners were hung at various locations throughout Tucson stating “Egypt, Wisconsin, O’odham Solidarity," “No raids, No deportations, No colonialism” and “Stop Militarization on Indigenous Lands."

O’odham Elders attended the court proceedings to demonstrate their support.
Donations can be made to support direct action efforts through Border Opposition Action Fund at http://www.borderopposition.blogspot.com/

END BORDER MILITARIZATION NOW!
Communiqué from the occupiers of the Border Patrol Headquarters in Tucson, Arizona

We demand that the Border Patrol (BP), Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), their parent entity, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Obama administration end militarization of the border, end the criminalization of immigrant communities, and end their campaign of terror which rips families apart through increasing numbers of raids and deportations.

The state thrives off of the climate of terror and fear that racist laws like HB2281 and SB1070, and new proposed laws like SB1611, 1308, 1309, 1405, have caused. This terror also manifests with thousands of troops invading indigenous lands, such as the Tohono O’odham, Yaqui, Kickapoo, Lipan Apache, to name a few. Since the creation of the current U.S./Mexico border, 45 O’odham villages on or near the border have been completely depopulated. This terror manifests with the bones of thousands – making the southern Arizona desert a grave yard, where the hopes and dreams of migrant families are stomped into the ground by border patrol agents, National Guard, minute men, and profiteering coyotes.

Through the military strategy of terror and fear the state maintains power and control.

We take direct action because we have decided not to be afraid. We are more afraid of not standing up to the state and what other crimes against humanity will be committed if it remains unchallenged.

We are not guilty of criminal trespassing or disorderly conduct.

The state, and by extension the border patrol, is guilty of occupying and destroying indigenous communities and ripping families apart. The development of the border wall has led to desecration of ancestor’s graves, it has divided communities and prevents them from accessing sacred places. When will this end?

These buildings, the court house, are made of brick and mortar and are the same brick and mortar that are the operation streamline immigration court just down the street. It is a direct manifestation of this system’s criminalization, where in the 3 hours that we’re in court today, nearly 100 people will be detained, adjudicated and deported through the streamline process.

Who are these building for? Who do they benefit? These are the same brick and mortar prisons are made of. It’s the same steel and concrete that is ripped from Mother Earth that’s used to build the border wall.

Politicians aren’t going to negotiate away our oppression. They are sitting in the chairs in their offices that are built on it. Our oppressors can only maintain their oppression as long as we are afraid of them.

If they are not going to do it, then we are going to find creative and direct ways to ensure that our communities are safe. We recognize that this is not going to happen within the walls of these institutions, these walls, these borders. It’s only going to happen if we tear them down. What does that look like?

Let’s come together, strategize, and embrace diverse tactics to effectively become the answer.

Today we also shed the term immigrant that has been used to attack our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, and children, many of whom are also indigenous, and to acknowledge and help restore the full human dignity that has been stripped away. To be immigrant should not be considered a crime unless 99 % of the U.S. is going to be ashamed and guilty of their pasts.

Our relatives are attacked on both sides of the border by colonial governments. The migration that the U.S. government is attempting to stop is driven more than anything else by the economic policies of the U.S. Free trade agreements such as NAFTA have severely reduced the ability of Mexicans and others from the global south to sustain themselves by permitting corporations to extract huge amounts of wealth and resources from these countries into the U.S. This has led to millions of people risking the terror and death that so many face to cross into the U.S. looking for ways to better support their families.

If the U.S. really intends on reducing migration it must end its policies of exploitation and wealth extraction targeted at the global south and instead pursue policies of economic, environmental and social justice for all human beings on the planet, thus reducing the drive to immigrate. But are they really going to do that?
Direct Action is about Direct Democracy. Building community is about communication, having respect for each other and doing something.
This is a struggle for freedom of movement and self-determination for all!
No racist laws, No colonial borders, WE WILL NOT STOP!
~NO BORDERS NO BORDER PATROL~

Agent Orange exposed in toxic genocide targeting Indian communities

Agent Orange was used in the US, BC and Ontario, prior to and after the Vietnam War

Update in the news: Agent Orange sprayed along Ontario roadways until the 1980s:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/02/24/agent-orange-ont-highways485.html?ref=rss

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
PINAL MOUNTAINS, Ariz. -- Arizona was one of 21 states where Agent Orange was stored, or tested, prior to and during the Vietnam War, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The site in Arizona was in the Tonto National Forest in the Pinal Mountains near Globe, in the Apaches homeland.
The Department of Defense published studies showing that exposure to Agent Orange has led to adult onset diabetes. Medical studies have linked exposure to brain tumors, and diseases in grandchildren of those in contact with Agent Orange. The severe deformities and birth defects resulting from Agent Orange exposure of pregnant women in Vietnam can be seen online in the photos of their children.
The US Department of Veterans Affairs reveals that Agent Orange was tested and used in Florida and Texas as early as 1944. But even after it was banned in the US, it was sprayed in Canada.
In Canada, Agent Orange was sprayed in British Columbia during the 1980s. At Kapuskasing, Ontario, Agent Orange was sprayed about 20 kilometers from a First Nations community.
Agent Orange spraying in Gagetown and surrounding communities in Canada had far reaching effects, since soldiers from around the world trained there.
The spraying at Kapuskasing reveals the pattern of the US and Canada of targeting areas with Indian communities. Kapuskasing was not only the site of Agent Orange spraying, but was also the site of a WWI prisoner of war camp and later a power plant.
In a pattern of toxic genocide, areas near and on Indian communities have been used as prisoner of war camps, power plant sites and toxic waste dumps.
In Arizona, the WWII prisoner of war camps included sites on Gila River Indian Community and Colorado River Indian Nations. Coal-fired power plants are now on and around many Indian Nations, including the Navajo Nation. The Western Shoshone in Nevada and Goshute in Utah continue to be targeted with toxic and nuclear waste dumps.
Navajos in New Mexico, Havasupai in Arizona and Lakotas in Nebraska and the Dakotas are targeted with new uranium mining that could contaminate their drinking water. During the Cold War, Navajos, Acomas and Laguna Pueblos worked in uranium mines without protective clothing and many died of cancer and respiratory diseases. Today, radioactive tailings are strewn on the Navajo Nation.
Dene in Canada, like the Dine' in Arizona, were never told of the dangers of uranium mining during the Cold War, and worked in the uranium mines without protective clothing. In the Pueblos, the radioactive dust blew on their foods as they ate.
In the case of the Goshute in Utah, their neighbor continues to be a biological and chemical warfare testing site, the US military's Dugway Proving Ground.
John H.W. Hummel is pressing for an investigation of the use of Agent Orange in and around Indian communities in Canada and the United States.
"I think that herbicides (contaminated with dioxin) were sprayed on many of the forests and traditional territories of Indigenous people in North America. I think that this has harmed the health of many people," Hummel told Censored News.
"The infamous 'Agent Orange' was sprayed by the forest industry upon large tracts of Canadian forests in Ontario, New Brunswick, British Columbia and likely elsewhere in Canada and probably on American forests too.
"This should be investigated. It may well impact thousands of Indigenous people on this continent," Hummel said.
The US Department of Veterans Affairs now provides a list of sites where Agent Orange was tested and stored, beginning in 1944, in the US.
As more people who were exposed to Agent Orange develop cancer and other serious health problems, the liabilities multiply for the US. Veterans and other victims are now fighting for justice, both at Veterans hospitals for treatment and in court for restitution.
The US Veterans Affairs website states that Agent Orange was used to remove foliage providing cover for the enemy during the Vietnam War.
"Agent Orange was the most widely used of the herbicide combinations sprayed. Agent Orange and other herbicides used in Vietnam were tested or stored elsewhere, including some military bases in the United States," the Veterans Affairs website states.
"The U.S. military herbicide program in South Vietnam took place between 1961 and 1971. Herbicides were sprayed in all 4 military zones of Vietnam. More than 19 million gallons of various herbicide combinations were used. Agent Orange was the combination of herbicides the U.S. military used most often."
http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/outside_vietnam_usa.asp#Arizona
"Agent Orange and other herbicides used in Vietnam were tested or stored elsewhere, including many military bases in the United States. Below is information from the Department of Defense (DoD) on projects to test, dispose of, or store herbicides in the U.S. For projects outside the U.S., go to Herbicide Tests and Storage Outside the U.S."
Meanwhile, Agent Orange was used in BC, Canada, after the Vietnam War, during the 1980s.
Jorma Jyrkkanen said, "When I was habitat protection technician for the BC Fish and Wildlife Branch between 1981 and 1987, I got a request by the BC Ministry of Forests to use Estron 3-3E in a sensitive area near the mouth of the Lakelse River. Upon examination of the ingredients, I determined that it was in fact one of the Agent Orange (AO) concoctions and rejected the application along with a note to MOF that I was not very pleased that they had entertained such an option. Read more ...
http://jorma-jyrkkanen.livejournal.com/tag/pesticides%20orange
Ontario teens were soaked by Agent Orange spraying done at Kapuskasing: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/940243--star-exclusive-agent-orange-soaked-ontario-teens
The Toronto Star reported that, "records from the 1950s, 60s and 70s show forestry workers, often students and junior rangers, spent weeks at a time as human markers holding red, helium-filled balloons on fishing lines while low-flying planes sprayed toxic herbicides including an infamous chemical mixture known as Agent Orange on the brush and the boys below."
Agent Orange was used in Australia, New Zealand and Brazil (see Wikipedia link in references below.)
"The Brazilian government used Agent Orange to defoliate a large section of the Amazon rainforest so that Alcoa could build the Tucuruí dam to power mining operations. Large areas of rainforest were destroyed, along with the homes and livelihoods of thousands of rural peasants and indigenous tribes," according to Wikipedia.
In Feb., 2011, the Toronto Star exposed the fact that powerline corridors were sprayed with Agent Orange.
Hummel said, "If dioxin contaminated Agent Orange was sprayed along these transmission corridors, the implications are horrendous. Especially for the First Nations and Métis people who may hunt, fish and pick berries anywhere near these corridors. These transmission line corridors pass through many of the First Nation and Metis peoples Traditional territories.
"Dioxin has been linked to approximately 50 diseases and medical conditions: http://www.vva.org/agent_orange.html including Type II Diabetes. If Ontario Hydro, Forest companies, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Natural Resources were spraying Agent Orange all over Ontario, you can bet it happened all over Canada and in the United States as well. We need a truly National, coast to coast, enquiry about all of this."
US sites where Agent Orange was stored and tested, US Department of Veterans Affairs:
http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/outside_vietnam_usa.asp#Arizona
Arizona Arkansas California Florida Georgia Hawaii Indiana Kansas Kentucky Maryland Mississippi Montana New York North Dakota Pennsylvania Rhode Island Tennessee Texas Utah Washington Wisconsin
Read more at Wikipedia:
Miscarriages and birth defects linked to Agent Orange spraying in US and Vietnam; Dow Chemical and Monsanto produced Agent Orange; Agent Orange used in Australia and New Zealand:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange
Also see:
VA links Agent Orange to brain cancer in court decision:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/02/prweb5080394.htm
Department of Defense: Agent Orange exposure leads to adult onset diabetes:
http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=8662
Recent News Coverage
CANADA:
Agent Orange "soaked" Ontario teens:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/940243--star-exclusive-agent-orange-soaked-ontario-teens
Agent Orange outrage - Timmins Daily Press:
http://www.timminspress.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2983915
Ontario probes Agent Orange poisoning: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/940878--ontario-probes-agent-orange-poisoning
Agent Orange probe widens: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/941635--agent-orange-probe-widens
Agent Orange spraying in Gagetown and surrounding communities:
http://www.agentorangecanada.com/
LINKS
Transportation Ministry also used Agent Orange, say NDP. Minister investigates. - Winnipeg Free Press:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/health/transportation-ministry-also-used-agent-orange-say-ndp-minister-investigates-116829673.html
'Sources of Dioxins and Furans in British Columbia':
http://groups.google.com/group/friends-of-agg/browse_thread/thread/1e068b72934933e5
Agent Orange Use in British Columbia: http://jorma-jyrkkanen.livejournal.com/tag/pesticides%20orange
Ontario probes Agent Orange poisoning: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/940878--ontario-probes-agent-orange-poisoning
WHEN DID TRANSPORTATION MINISTER KNOW ABOUT AGENT ORANGE USAGE: Why Does It Take the Opposition to Tell the Truth:
http://www.gillesbisson.com/newsitem.php?id=836
Just added: Sources of dioxins and furans in British Columbia:
http://friends-of-agg.googlegroups.com/attach/ddf3302e6fc3b7b4/img-221143025-0001.pdf?view=1&part=4

University of Arizona honors criminal President Bush clan

University of Arizona honors the criminal President Bush clan
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
TUCSON -- The University of Arizona in Tucson, already with a global cyber spy and Homeland Security instituted on campus, has fallen to a new low, naming George HW Bush and Bill Clinton, as honorary chairs of its new National Institute on Civil Discourse.
Already, the cyber spy program targets Arabs, the border spy program targets brown people and the university's telescopes, constructed in partnership with the Vatican, desecrate sacred Mount Graham.
Bush, Clinton to Chair New National Institute for Civil Discourse at the University of Arizona http://uanews.org/node/38008
The institute's other board members include:
•Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State
•Ken Duberstein, former chief of staff for President Ronald Reagan
•Greta Van Susteren, host of "On the Record," FOX News Channel
•Trey Grayson, director of the Harvard University's Institute of Politics
•Jim Kolbe, former U.S. Congressman
Among the responses: "Maybe the University of Arizona, including Kolbe, can teach everybody how to buy Congressional exemptions from law whenever they disagree with anyone? And maybe O’Connor can talk about religious freedom and her G-O Road or Lyng case?"
The university, now distinguishing itself by honoring a war criminal responsible for torture, already established the "Dark Web Terrorism Research" department based on racial and religious profiling.
The program description states, "As part of its Dark Web project, the Artificial Intelligence Lab has for several years collected international jihadist forums. These online discussion sites are dedicated to topics relating primarily to Islamic ideology and theology."
University reference on the web: http://ai.arizona.edu/research/terror
The university is very proud of its global cyber spy Dr. Hsinchun Chen and its Artificial Intelligence funding from the US Defense Department.
See: University of Arizona just got creepier: Border detection targets brown people, funding from the Department of Defense for Artificial Intelligence cyber spy program on campus targets Arabs on on the web: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/05/university-of-arizona-just-got-lot.html
In collusion with Homeland Security, Border Patrol and the Catholic Pope, the University of Arizona continues to carry out racial and religious profiling and desecrate sacred Mount Graham with telescopes.
Northern Arizona University is among the universities partnering in the telescopes which have desecrated sacred Mount Graham, a project in conjunction with the Vatican in Italy.
Read "Did NAU dupe an Indian donor?" which includes the NAU's president's response and additional comment:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/02/mount-graham-public-records-request-did.html