Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

February 27, 2011

Mohawk Nation News: Confederacy of Indigenous Arab Nations

CONFEDERACY OF INDIGENOUS ARAB NATIONS
By Mohawk Nation News
MNN. Feb. 24, 2011. If the Arab Indigenous nations can bring down the dictators, can they unite? Indigenous are united by blood to our families, clans, communities, nations and tribes. Our natural affiliation can’t be erased. Colonial relationships are artificial, changeable and will die out.

Are there similarities between us and the Arabs? Bankers crave the resources of the Indigenous people worldwide. They fear we may once again govern ourselves.

In Libya Gaddafi and his small tribe became the super band/tribal councils governing everything. The oil resource is the legacy of all the people. He placed his family in all the important positions. He was careful not to use excessive force against his people. His private paramilitary forces include foreign mercenaries to control and kill for him.

These traditional tribal affiliations could decide the outcome of current protests. Gadaffi’s crackdown prompted many to unite. Who, if anyone, those protesters are answering to is unknown. Indigenous people answer to themselves as the power is in the people. Divide and rule of Indigenous tribes is governed by outside power and money.

This strategy is familiar. When the French and English washed up on our shores, they immediately tried to figure out and take over our power structure. It was based on friendship and alliances between hundreds of Indigenous nations. We agreed to live peacefully. If one member deviated from the great peace, sanctions followed. There were no leaders, just the people.

The French approached the Algonquin and Huron. The English approached the Iroquois. Attempts to start fights between us failed. The holocaust followed.

As in the Middle East, imaginary borders were created to divide us. Some of our nations ended up in many colonial jurisdictions.

Our natural affiliations never disappeared. We all had the principles of peace and equality in common. We are the inherent caretakers of the land, above, on and below the earth. The size of the nation does not matter. Each has equal rights. Decision are made through consensus and the best interests of all.

Outsiders turned out to be dangerous. Colonists set up band and tribal council puppets. They gave them power, money and protection. The rest of the people were kept poor, hungry and angry. Today across Great Turtle Island colonial mini dictatorships try to run our communities.

When we protested an incursion onto our land in 1990 foreign troops were brought in to attack us. We remembered that our people cannot defect from who we are. They came from everywhere to defend us.

Indigenous ties are misunderstood. Colonists create structures and conflicts to divide us.

The Arab tribes have their own traditions in common that unite them.

We have the tree of the great peace that was planted so that its roots went in all directions. Anyone wanting peace can trace the roots to the tree and take shelter.

Two messengers, Dekanawida and Ayonwatha, went to all the Rotinshonni:onwe [Iroquois] nations to stop their conflicts and form a confederacy based on peace and friendship.

The Mohawks joined first. The Oneida, Seneca and Cayuga then joined. Later the Tuscarora joined. The Onondaga were under the control of the feared brutal Atothardo, who terrorized and killed his own people. He was depicted as having snakes coming out his head and with a crooked body.

Atotharho was eventually subdued. The snakes were combed out of his hair, songs were sung to him and the great peace was explained. Finally he agreed to join the confederacy and was appointed its chairman. He had been convinced there was a better way to work with the people. Rather than using fear, terror or obedience to control them, he mediated peace and was given respect.

The principles of the great peace are based on the natural world known by Indigenous people worldwide.

What would happen if natural Arab Indigenous affiliations formed the basis of a confederacy throughout the Middle East? The artificial borders created by outsiders would be erased. The Arab people may become united and more powerful in order to stop resource rape and murder. All of humanity would benefit.

Kahentinetha, MNN Mohawk Nation News Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com For more news, books, to donate and to sign up for MNN newsletters go to www.mohawknationnews.com More stories at MNN Category “Art & Culture”.

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New at Censored News: The Border, Walkers, Wikileaks and Agent Orange

Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Photo: Long Walk 3 northern route by Christina Akaquiqui

O'odham and other Border Patrol protesters continued protesting the militarization and occupation of Indian lands, as they went to court this week for the lockdown at Border Patrol headquarters.
The Long Walk 3 northern route continued trekking through snow this week in the Oregon mountains. After two flat tires on Friday, a donation of tires for the Navajo support vehicle helped them back on the road. Umatilla Indian Nation provided a warm welcome. Their base camp today, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011, will be Walla Walla, Wash., then Lapwai, Idaho.
Quechan Preston Arrow-weed, grandfather of Mucaw Jefferson who passed to the Spirit World after Long Walk 2, honored the Southern Route as they arrived in Quechan Territory. They are leaving Gila Bend, Arizona, and headed in the direction of Tucson, today, Sunday, Feb. 27.
Agent Orange spraying targeted Indian lands in the US and Canada before and after the Vietnam War.
Wikileaks cable releases in Peru once again revealed how the US Embassy targeted Indigenous activists in South America, and promoted copper and iron ore mining. During decades of struggle, Indigenous activists in Peru have fought hard against the mining companies and many have been assassinated. Wikileaks cables reveal how the US Ambassadors in Peru identified and targeted Indigenous activists throughout South America. The US Ambassadors organized in Peru -- with Canada, Britain, Switzerland and South Africa -- to promote and protect mining.
Censored News welcomes new articles by Kahentinetha Horn at Mohawk Nation News and Subcomandante Marcos on Mexico's drug war.
Here's the latest headlines:
Quechan Preston Arrow-weed honors Long Walkers
Academy Awards, still hanging Indians
Wikileaks Peru: US feared Indigenous power
Strong Heart Warrior Society: Oglala Tribal Council again ignores elders
Umatilla Indian Nation welcomes Long Walk 3 Oregon
VIDEO Long Walk 3 Northern Route Simnasho-Warm Springs
Two more arrests as Indigenous protest Border Patrol
Agent Orange exposed in toxic genocide targeting Indians
University of Arizona honors criminal President Bush clan
All Out Against Borders
Mohawk Nation News: Arabs: Power of Indigenous Consciousness
Navajo Voices: Peabody Coal's dark legacy on Black Mesa
Wikileaks Peru: Preventing America from buying Machu Picchu
Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council: Never Surrender
Truck load of safe drinking water for Navajos drinking uranium poisoned water
Photos: Long Walk 3 Oregon walking into the sunshine
Censored News top stories Feb. 19, 2011
VIDEO II Long Walk northern route Oregon snow 2011
Photos Long Walk 3: Through Oregon's Snow
Wikileaks: The Arctic belongs to the Inuit
Alert: Q’eqchi’ Leaders Massacred in Guatemala
Zapatistas Subcomandante Marcos 'Mexico's Drug War
CENSORED NEWS
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

February 26, 2011

Quechan Preston Arrow-weed honors Long Walkers





Photos copyright Preston J. Arrow-weed, published with permission by Censored News.
Preston J Arrow-weed, on behalf of the Pipa A-Koots Quechan elders, honored Long Walkers from the southern route 3 for diabetes. Arrow-weed is the grandfather of Quechan Mucaw Jefferson and raised Mucaw, who walked on the southern route in 2008. Mucaw passed to the Spirit World after the Longest Walk 2. Being honored, in the photos, are long walkers Gato, who carried Mucaw's staff, and Gina, who carried the Quechan flag, from La Jolla into Quechan territory on Long Walk 3 this week.

Academy Awards, still hanging Indians

Contact: Red Nation Media, Nadine Aragon, 818.854.6078, info@rednation.com

THE COEN BROS 'TRUE GRIT' SHOWS AMERICAN INDIAN IN HANGMAN STAND AS THE 83RD ACADEMY AWARDS APPROACHES
By Red Nation Media
Photos: Oscar nominees Will Sampson and Graham Greene
.
LOS ANGELES -- This weekend is the 83rd Academy Awards Show and where is American Indian cinema and image in all this? Where’s the diversity, the American Scene?

In the latest affront to American Indians in Hollywood, True Grit shows an
Indian on an hangman stand, who starts to speak and his voice is cut off.
This is a metaphor for how Hollywood treats Native images and filmmakers.

Native actors worked more when silent films were produced, than they do
today. Twenty years after the Oscar winning Dances with Wolves, American Indians are still relegated to playing savages. Where is the modern voice of the American Indian?

“If people of color are not portrayed in multifaceted ways or remain invisible and the main images of us as undesirables, then the public perception is that we are parasites and strangers in our own land. How painful it must be for Native Americans, who are the only minority who was the majority in the U.S., to be portrayed mainly in regalia on period films and not as productive members of our society," said Jesse Jackson in an open letter to the entertainment industry.

In the history of Hollywood, Indians have been stereotyped. There have been trailblazers. In 1972 Marlon Brando, an activist for American Indians, refused the Oscar for the Godfather and sent Sacheen Littlefeather to accept it instead. In 1975 Will Sampson won acclaim for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but did not receive a nod from Oscar for his memorable role as Chief Romden. In 1991 Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves showed American Indians playing Indian roles and speaking their own native language. It proved that American Indian talent is bankable and marketable.

In fact there have only been two Native actors to be nominated an Oscar; Chief Dan George for his role in the 1970 Little Big Man and Graham Greene for his roles in the 1991 Dance with Wolves and The Green Mile (1999).

American Indian women have not been recognized yet! The closest they came
was Joanelle Romero’s documentary, American Holocaust: When It’s All Over
I’ll Still Be Indian, in 2000, narrated by Edward Asner. This documentary is the first and only film that compares Hitler’s attempted genocide of German Jews with the U.S. government’s treatment of American Indians and the lasting effects on the culture today.

Twenty-two shorts were entered that year. Nine were picked for consideration. American Holocaust When It’s All Over I’ll Still Be Indian, was part of that nine chosen.

“American Holocaust is very powerful and honest. It is probably more than most non-Indian people, and unfortunately, most Indian-people, want to acknowledge or hear. It is a laboring and sad truth that anyone who is truly Indian understands and lives with to some degree everyday. As polarizing as this movie is, its existence is critical for the hundreds of thousands of people that come to understand more about the real story and for those that need to reflect and heal as they walk their own red road," said Chris Eyre, director/producer of Smoke Signals and Skins.


“The talent is out there," Romero said. “There’s San Francisco’s American Indian Film Festival, Canada’s ImagiNATIVE Film Festival, and this year’s Sundance delivered a great pool of talented Native filmmakers."


Romero, director of Red Nation Film Festival, founded the festival eight
years ago in Los Angeles, to bring American Indian images, independent
films, documentaries, and Native talent to the forefront of the industry.

The Red Nation Film Award, which is equivalent to the Oscar, was born in 2010. “We cannot wait for the industry or other Award shows to honor us and recognize us, we have to do it ourselves, show Hollywood we are here, we are alive and worthy of being recognized and have Oscar worthy films and performances," stated Romero.

We expect a powerful list of films this year at the 8th annual Red Nation Film Festival – the Authentic Voice of American Indian & Indigenous Cinema Star-Studded Red is Green Carpet Galas November 1st to the 7th, 2011.

Join us, Please visit: http://www.rednationfilmfetsival.com/

for more information. ABOUT US
RED NATION FILM FESTIVAL (RNFF) - The Authentic Voice of American Indian & Indigenous Cinema Est. 2004. - The Film Festival, Awards Show, Red Nation Film Award Statuette-has positioned itself to become the most recognized American Indian trophy in the world, a Night of Tribute Ceremony including Star-Studded Red is Green Carpet Gala's-Native Fashion with Social Action truly highlights the commitment of the festival's
mission with Independent Films, International Films, Exclusive Screenings with Major Studio Executives, Film Companies, providing the entertainment industries with direct access to Federally Recognized Tribes, Urban Native Communities, Native Talent, including the support of Hollywood's biggest names in the entertainment industry as well as dignitaries.

Red Nation Celebration is the parent organization of Red Nation Film Festival and is the founding non-profit of the American Indian Heritage Month (AIHM) in the City/County of Los Angeles, every November. The
seven-day film festival held during AIHM in the Entertainment Capital of the World-Los Angeles and home to the largest American Indian Urban Community in the Country, celebrates American Indian & Indigenous Cinema in supporting emerging and established filmmakers, entertainers, performing artists, and cultural events.

Red Nation Film Festival (RNFF) mission is dedicated to breaking the barrier of racism by successfully replacing American Indian stereotype with recognition, new vision, arts, culture and economic prosperity by
placing American Indian Filmmakers at the forefront of the entertainment industry and to introduce American Indian Filmmakers and Native Talent to larger, global mainstream audiences.

RNFF advocates on behalf of American Indian artists, performers, actors, directors, producers, writers as a liaison organization, promoting strong federally recognized artists including urban native communities as well as promoting a better understanding among the general public regarding American Indian, Alaska Native and Indigenous Nations, and people to the entertainment industry, arts, social justice, tribal nations,
environmental and educational communities in Los Angeles and County, the State of California and world.

Red Nation True Leader in Media Relations and Innovative Creative Productions Red Nation 9420 Reseda Blvd Suite 352 Northridge CA 91324 American Indian Owned Non-Profit- Since 1995 I 818.854.6078
http://www.rednationfilmfestival.com/