May 17, 2011
Photos Long Walk 3 Wisconsin
Roberto Rodriguez: Recall Arizona ... from the 19th Century
Column of the Americas
May 17, 2011
By Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez
Published at Censored News
The dictionary definition of insanity should be changed to spell A-R-I-Z-O-N-A and its state capitol building should be designated as a home for the criminally insane. But lest we kid ourselves, this Arizona insanity has now spread nationwide. Let’s take a tour of the [police] state.
On the educational front, Tucson Unified School Superintendent, John Pedicone, has managed to militarize school board meetings. He has done this because several weeks ago, the high school group UNIDOS, tired of having their Mexican American Studies program targeted for elimination, chained themselves to the school board members chairs, prompting the board to cancel its meeting. For this, the students and others have received death threats. At the subsequent May 3rd meeting, officially, some 100 police officers were deployed to the TUSD headquarters. However, on top of TUSD security guards, including those staffing metal detectors, along with bomb squad officers, helicopters, plus riot squad officers deployed inside and around the building and neighborhood, it is likely that the officers totaled closer to 200.
At this meeting, seven people were arrested for the criminal act of attempting to speak to the board. One elderly and disabled professor, Lupe Castillo, 69, was arrested by some 20 helmeted and shielded officers for attempting to read ”A Letter from the Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. The others arrestees were [secretly] sent to two jails before they were booked and released. In the action inside, dozens of riot squad police physically threw other people out the building, including elders, this while hundreds of MAS supporters outside stood their ground. Then later, the violence, caught on videotape, started behind the building. Police officers in full riot gear began throwing young students, parents and other community members around like rag dolls. Officially, the officers did a great job, commended by the chief of police.
All this is the calm before the storm, precipitated by a 2010 law (HB 2281), purportedly inspired by Martin Luther King Jr, that has declared the teaching of Ethnic Studies illegal. This week, an audit ordered by the state schools superintendent, John Huppenthal, who ran on the campaign to “eliminate La Raza” (the Mexican people) – is scheduled to be released, with expected pre-ordained findings that will declare Tucson’s highly successful MAS program to be out of compliance.
That’s from the sane part of the state. Now, from the insane sector:
This past week, the governor signed SB 1404, a law that attempts to wall the state from the rest of society. Not satisfied with the federal walls that line the U.S./Mexico border, Arizona will soon be embarking upon creating its own wall along the Arizona/Sonora border, financed through online donations and built by prison labor. Being that imprisoning migrants is a growing multi-billion dollar industry, look for the state to employ incarcerated migrants to attempt to build it.
Beyond the state’s 2010 (SB 1070) racial profiling law, this year, state legislators attempted to pass nearly two dozen even more stringent laws, including one that would overturn birthright citizenship as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. Legislators also attempted to pass two other laws that can only be construed as attempts to secede from humanity; SB 1443 and SCR 1010 were attempts to exempt the state from federal and international laws, respectively.
Most of this legislation is designed to incarcerate migrants and to enrich the private prison industry. The mastermind of most of this legislation is state senate president, Russell Pearce, who in addition to facing a recall, is also embroiled in the Fiesta Bowl “gift” scandal that threatens to bring down he and many of his associates.
And then there’s Maricopa County’s unindicted Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who continues to thumb his nose at the feds with his ongoing racially motivated mass dragnet raids. Recent investigations have found that in eight years, his department has misspent close to $100 million, and that his top commanders targeted “enemies,” confirming he is the most corrupt Sheriff in America. Federal investigations into his activities continue.
Outside of the state, the governor of Georgia recently signed HB 87, joining Arizona, Utah and Indiana in implementing anti-immigrant racial profiling laws. Twenty other states are pursuing a similar return to the 19th century. The good news is that Utah’s HB 497 anti-immigrant law, was recently blocked by a Utah judge, and the DREAM ACT has again been introduced in Congress.
Given recent dramatic events on the international front, it is generally thought that the president can now restore sanity and actually bring about actual immigration reform. Regarding Ethnic Studies, not sure he can do anything about those intent on “eliminating La Raza.”
Rodriguez, a professor at the University of Arizona, can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com
(c) Column of the Americas 2011
May 16, 2011
'Return of Navajo Boy' featured in Rio de Janeiro Uranium Film Festival
Caesium 137 will shine in Rio Urânio em Movi(e)mento - The 1st International Festival of Films on Nuclear Energy, Rio de Janeiro May 16th to 28th, 2011
By International Uranium Film Festival
Censored News
Photo: Return of Navajo Boy film
The Movie "The Return of Navajo Boy" USA, 2008, 57 min, by Director Jeff Spitz is one of the eight best films of the 1st International Festival of Films on Nuclear Energy in Rio de Janeiro.
The entire world knows John Ford and John Wayne and their legendary films of the Wild West. The documentary produced by Jeff Spitz and Bennie Klain, Navajo, connects these important stars of Hollywood with the suffering of Indigenous Peoples of the southwest of USA, the Navajo (Diné), who suffer until today because of uranium mining, which took place in their territory and used miss-informed Navajo people as cheap uranium miners to create the first atomic bombs!
A jury composed of scientists, journalists, producers and film experts has selected “The Return of Navajo Boy” together with seven other documentaries and movies among 34 for the official screenings selected films to compete in the awards for the best short and the best feature film of the festival.
The other selected films are:
Into Eternity, Denmark, 2009, 75 min. by Director Michael Madsen. The film questions whether a safe deposit of radioactive waste from nuclear plants is possible or not? Who will protect the extremely radioactive waste for at least a hundred thousand years?
Beating the Bomb, United Kingdom, 2010, 71 min, by Director Wolfgang Matt and Meera Patel. It is an intelligent, very good produced film about the peace movement in Britain against the atomic bomb.
Chernobyl, une histoire naturelle? (Chernobyl, a natural history?), France, 2010, 90 min, by Director Luc Riolon. The film shows the nuclear accident of April 26, 1986 in the Ukraine and what happened with nature until today. Zoologists and radioecologists are making surprising discoveries.
Om bergen faller sönder (Under the surface), Sweden, 2010, 35 min, by Director Klara Sager. It is a simple, but clear film about a local community and indigenous population in northern Sweden and an international mining company prospecting for Uranium. The local people are afraid and against uranium prospecting and against uranium mining, because they depend on the local natural resources like the Reindeers.
Climate of Hope, Australia, 2007, 30 min, by Directors' Scott Ludlam and Jose Garcia. This film shows the whole nuclear energy cycle, from mining uranium to the nuclear plant and its relation to the greenhouse effect. It is a very interesting film perfect for schools and universities. It says: Nuclear energy is producing a lot of CO2 and for that will not save the world against global warming!
A film, which became even more important during the last 4 weeks is a documentary made by the Costa Rican filmmaker Pablo Ortega. Uranium 238: La Bomba del Pentagon Sucia (The Dirty Bomb the Pentagon), 2009, 28 min. The film talks about a nuclear issue that is little known in the world: rockets and bombs with depleted uranium that are radioactive and used by the USA in international wars like Iraq and very likely during the current war in Libya. The consequences of the use of these bombs are terrible for the local population and the soldiers themselves who make use of them. Worth mentioning that last April, the government of Costa Rica became the second government of the world to ban this type of ammunition. Uranium 238 is a Brazilian premiere.
A short documentary made 2003 in Brazil by Director Luiz Eduardo Jorge is the last finalist: Césio 137 - O brilho da morte (Cesium - The brightness of death): "It is a striking film", says Professor João Luiz Leocádio. This film about the Chernobyl of Brazil, a nuclear accident that happened 1987 in the city of Goiânia, questions the competence of the national Brazilian authorities on nuclear safety. "The film reveals that beyond the question of nuclear power plants like Angra 1 and 2, Brazil and the world must also discuss the question of the nuclear waste from hospitals and radiology centres. Everybody could be affected!" says environmental journalist Norbert G. Suchanek and General Director of the Uranium Film Festival.
During a ceremony May 28th, we will announce the two final winners, the best short and the best feature, of the festival!
The judges are: John Louis Leocádio, Professor of Film & Video, University Federal Fluminense (Rio de Janeiro), Dawid Bartelt, Director of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Brazil Office; Angelo Antonio Duarte, journalist and professor of Film and Audio of the Technical School Adolpho Bloch - FAETEC, Marco Fadiga, Producer of Caju Filmes and Technical Director of the Uranium Film Festival, Norbert G. Suchanek, environmental and human rights Journalist, Filmmaker and General Director of the Uranium Film Festival.
Contact Marcia Gomes de Oliveira
Coordinator 1st International Uranium Film Festival
http://www.uraniofestival.org/
http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/
Email: info@uraniumfilmfestival.org
Telephone: 0055 - 21 - 2507 6704
From all the films coming in from the entire world, we selected early this year 34 films for the screenings. See the full film list and the programme/schedule of Rio: http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/html/films_2011.html
Glen Cove: Bloody Island Memorial
http://www.protectglencove.org/
This morning, a dozen participants from the spiritual encampment at Glen Cove took part in an annual memorial gathering at Clear Lake to honor the Pomo Indian people that perished, and those that survived the Bloody Island Massacre of 1850. During the sunrise ceremony, Wounded Knee (Miwok), Fred Short (Ojibwa) and Dedric Thomas (Dakota) addressed the group of about 150 people, explaining the situation at Glen Cove and asking for support and prayers. The Sogorea Te song was then sung with clappers by Mickey Gemmill Jr, Naiche Dominguez and Dedric Thomas, accompanied by Doug Duncan (Pomo). Following the ceremony and story-telling, three horses suddenly appeared in a nearby clearing, which was seen as a sign that the spirits of Bloody Island had heard our prayers.Sonoma Dave (Chiricahua Apache) brought yet another jam-packed trailer full of wood today, further reinforcing our spiritual encampment. He explained during evening circle why the hearts of many people including himself are with us in this struggle, and that though he cannot be standing beside us every day, he is contributing in all the ways that he knows how.
Read more: http://protectglencove.org/
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