LISTEN LIVE TODAY: IEN Protecting Mother Earth July 28-31, 2011

The live broadcast concluded on July 31, 2011. During the first week of August 2011, the IEN Gathering will be broadcast on Crow Voices Radio in Montana. Check back at Censored News for times.

Sacred Fire begins IEN Gathering /Photo Brenda Norrell

Welcome to the 16th Protecting Mother Earth Gathering
Water, Energy, Climate and the Importance of Health and Culture
July 28-31, 2011, New Town, North Dakota

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

NEWTOWN, N.D. -- Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Cheyenne River Lakota, and Dr. Edwin Benson, Mandan, join Tom Goldtooth, director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, to open the four-day Protecting Mother Earth Gathering today.
At sunrise, Western Shoshone Chet Stevens brought the fire from the 15th Indigenous Environmental Network's Protecting Mother Earth Gathering to the land of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nations.
Hidatsa Scott Baker accepted the Fire from the Western Shoshone and lit the Sacred Fire for the 16th IEN Protecting Mother Earth Gathering. Spiritual Representative of the Mayans Tata Cecilio Tuyuc Sucuc from Guatemala was present at the Sacred Fire. Huicholes struggling to protect sacred lands in Mexico were present, as a caravan of Native Americans arrived from the west.
Tom Goldtooth, Dine' and Dakota, IEN executive director, welcomed those gathered and provided background on the Sacred Fire and why it is lit.
"Chet Stevens brought the Fire with him and gave the Fire to Scott Baker of the Hidatsa Nation," Goldtooth said as the morning session began.
Traditional presenters today, Thursday, include Casey Camp, Ponca traditional Drumkeeper for the Ponca Pa-tha-ta, Woman's Scalp Society and Josephine Mandamin, Anishinabe Mother Earth Water Walker, Three Fires Midewiwin Society Society. Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle of the Lakota Dakota Nakota Oyate is present.
Straw bale construction and alternative energy presentations are on the agenda for the first day of the four-day gathering. Tonight's highlights include a cultural program with traditional foods.
Indigenous Peoples from as far away as Gwich'in in Alaska, Dene' in Canada, Mayans in Guatemala and Huicholes in Mexico, arrived Thursday. Indigenous Peoples are struggling to protect their lands from uranium mining, coal fired power plants, oil and gas drilling, silver mining, toxic waste dumps and other destruction.
The land of the Three Affiliated Tribes here -- Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nations -- has been hard hit by oil and gas drilling in North Dakota. Indigenous Peoples arriving at the gathering drove through highways heavily-congested with trucks and dust, with gas flaring and the air clogged with pollution, as the land was poisoned and destroyed by massive oil and gas wells.
Kandi Mossett, Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara, spoke of the deaths and destruction from the oil and gas mining here, where 3,000 oil and gas wells are now planned. Tearfully, Mossett spoke of the deaths, including the death of a close friend from cancer.
"We really, really appreciate you coming," Mossett told the gathering.
Marilyn Hudson, Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara historian, shared the history of the peoples here. "Welcome to the banks of the river," Hudson said, echoing the words of friendship that have been spoken here for thousands and thousands of years.
Hudson said the people gathered here, concerned about their air, water and land, are like the original peoples here. She said if the people camping, close to the land, listen they can hear the voices of the land, and maybe the echoes of those who have gone before.
Goldtooth spoke on the origins of the Indigenous Environmental Network and how Indigenous Peoples have been impacted by colonization and the resulting uranium mining, oil and gas drilling, and other destruction to their lands.
Today's schedule: Thursday (Central Time Zone):
5:30 am Sunrise Ceremony: Lighting of the Sacred Fire -- The Fire coals from the previous gathering at Newe Sogobia (Western Shoshone) territories in Nevada are being brought in by the Fire Keeper of Newe Sogobia and will be given to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nations. This Fire will be burning for the 4 days of the Gathering.
8 am: Live broadcast begins: http://www.earthcycles.net
9 am: Prayer by Edwin Benson, Mandan
Opening and welcome by IEN and the hosting members of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nations Organizing Committee
History of Fort Berthold and introduction to local environmental justice struggles and resiliency for survival
10 -- 10:45 Overview of the Indigenous Environmental Network: Report from World Peoples Conference on Climate Change in Cochabamba, Bolivia and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
10:50 -- 11:30 am: Program Overview and Goals of the Gathering
11:30: Participants introductions to each other
12:30 -- 2 pm Demonstrations, Trainings and Activities
Straw bale housing and earth plaster demonstration
Passive solar energy demonstration
Telling your story: video training project
Creative direct action visuals; integrating art into your campaign strategy
Three Affiliated Tribes Museum Tour
Youth Activities
Listening Session: Environmental Justice Inter-agency Working Group chaired by the US EPA (to be confirmed)
2 pm -- 6 pm: Indigenous Traditional Knowledge, Original Instructions and Cultural Survival in this Time of Change
Youth and elder dialogue
Moderated by Casey Camp, Ponca traditional Drumkeeper for the Ponca Pa-tha-ta, Woman's Scalp Society
Josephine Mandamin, Anishinabe Mother Earth Water Walker, Three Fires Midewiwin Society Society
Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle of the Lakota Dakota Nakota Oyate
Video message from Oren Lyons, Onondaga, Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan, Six Nations
Message from Mayan elders
Thursday evening:
7:30 Traditional Cultural Night in the Earth Lodge Village
Youth and elder talking circles
Traditional games of plum game, double ball, arrow game and hand games
Traditional foods, healthy living and food sovereignty
Hoop Dance Performance
Live broadcast and gathering continues through Sunday at 2 pm

Indigenous Environmental Network gets ready for live broadcast at Three Affiliated Tribes

Indigenous Peoples arrive from the Americas for Protecting Mother Earth Conference

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

NEW TOWN, N. D. -- Indigenous Peoples from the Americas are preparing for the Indigenous Environmental Network's Protecting Mother Earth Conference, Thursday through Sunday. Native Americans are arriving on the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation in New Town, North Dakota.

Shown in this brief video, Earthcycles sets up a wind generator and solar panels, which is now providing power to the Earthcycles remote studio. (Click arrow above to watch brief video.)

Listen to the live broadcast -- with speakers, panel discussions and interviews, beginning at 8 am each morning and continuing through the evening: Thursday 8 am to 8 pm; Friday 8 am to 8 pm, Saturday; 8 am throughout the evening talent show and Sunday 8 am to 2 pm. To join the conversation on the Internet, e-mail: brendanorrell@gmail.com

Listen at 87.9 FM or on the web at Earthcycles http://www.earthcycles.net

16th Protecting Mother Earth Gathering


“Energy, Climate, Water and the Importance of Health and Culture.”

July 28 – 31, 2011
Four Bears Park/Little Shell Powwow Grounds
New Town, North Dakota
Hosted by Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nations Community Members
Click here to learn more and register online.

More information:
IEN: http://www.ienearth.org
Listen at: http://www.earthcycles.net
.

Arizona Lulzsec files: Operation Gunrunner weapons of choice

Hacktivists expose Operation Gunrunner's weapons of choice

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

PHOENIX -- When the ATF Operation Gunrunner's Fast and Furious allowed weapons to "walk" into Mexico, supposedly as part of a sting operation, the weapons landed in the hands of drug cartels. Two US agents have been killed by these weapons and an unknown number of people in Mexico.

When hacktivists Lulzsec exposed the Arizona Department of Public Safety files, they released from the bowels of these police files a report titled "ATF Southwest Border Strategy, Project Gunrunner Weapons of Choice." This report describes the weapons of choice, from pistols and rifles to AK47s.

So far, the Arizona media has failed to expose the contents of this report. The Arizona media has also missed other facts in these files, including a Tucson police chief candidate who was defined as a "stalker," in the files of the Fraternal Order of Police in Tucson. In Phoenix, the Fraternal Order of Police removed another police officer that is a sex offender.

In the hacked files of the Chinga La Migra releases, there is also the description of a roping ranch, where police go near Nogales. Arizona police were warned by the cartels when they are at the ranch: When you're off duty, ignore drug running by the cartels.

While some of Arizona's media provided information on the heavily-armed off-duty US Marines patrolling the border, and stalking migrants, there was much more in these files. Arizona police described in one file a plan which was described to agents, to bring in heavily-armed mercenaries to Sasabe. Sasabe, located southwest of Tucson and alongside the Tohono O'odham Nation, has been heavily trafficked by armed white supremacist patrols for many years.

In Tucson, where students are fighting the State of Arizona to save their ethnic studies programs, the files exposed a school cop reporting the diversity studies class to the Arizona Attorney General.

Apparently, the school cop didn't believe that Native Americans were the victims of genocide.

Meanwhile, it came as no surprise to people who live on the border that the US government was supplying assault weapons to the drug cartels in Mexico. Where else would they come from?

The report, ATF Southwest Border Strategy, Project Gunrunner Weapons of Choice, in 2008, states the weapons of choice were a variety of pistols, long guns and rifles. These guns included AK 47s, Romarm Romak rifles, Romaram WASR rifles, Poly Tech AKS rifles, AR-15 Type rifles, Bushmaster XM15 rifles, Colt Sporter rifles, Rock River Arms LAR-15 rifles, and others.

The agents killed with these weapons, placed in the hands of drug cartels were: Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, killed near Nogales, Arizona, and Immigration agent Jaime Zapata, killed in northern Mexico, south of Texas.

GUNRUNNER BACKGROUND: WIKIPEDIA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Gunrunner
Controversy

ATF Project Gunrunner has a stated official objective to stop the sale and export of guns from the United States into Mexico in order to deny Mexican drug cartels the firearms considered "tools of the trade".^[16] However, since September 2009 under Project Gunrunner, operation "Fast and Furious", did the opposite by ATF permitting, encouraging and facilitating 'straw purchase' firearm sales to traffickers, and allowing the guns to 'walk' and be transported to Mexico. This has resulted in the death of US border agent Brian Terry and considerable controversy.^[17][18][19]

Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) initiated an investigation with a letter to ATF on 27 January 2011,^[20] and again on 31 January 2011. ATF responded through the Department of Justice by denying all allegations.^[21] Senator Grassley responded with specific documentation supporting the allegations in letters to U.S. Attorney General Holder on 9 Feb 2011^[22] and 16 Feb 2011.^[23] ATF refused to answer specific questions in a formal briefing to Senator Grassley on 10 Feb 2011.

Indictments filed in federal court, documentation obtained by Senator Grassley, and statements of ATF agents obtained by Senator Grassley and CBS News, show that the ATF Phoenix Field Division allowed and facilitated the sale of over 2,500 firearms (AK-47 rifles, FN 5.7mm pistols, AK-47 pistols, and .50 caliber rifles) in 'straw man purchases' destined for Mexico. ^{[17][24][25][26][27][28]}According to ATF agents, Mexican officials were not notified, and ATF agents operating in Mexico were instructed not to alert Mexican authorities about the operation.^[29] 

Some ATF agents and supervisors strongly objected, and gun dealers (who were cooperating with ATF) protested the sales, but were asked by ATF to complete the transactions to expose the supply chain and gather intelligence.^[17][30] However, there are accusations that the ATF was attempting to boost statistics to 'prove' that American guns are arming the Mexican drug cartels and to further budget and political objectives.^[31]

Many of these same guns are being recovered from crime scenes in Arizona^[32] and throughout Mexico,^[33] which is artificially inflating ATF's eTrace statistics of U.S. origin guns seized in Mexico. One specific gun, recovered at the scene, is alleged to be the weapon used to murder Customs and Border Protection Agent Brian Terry on December 14, 2010.^[34]

Censored News. Content may not be republished or used without written permission.

Arizona: Living and dying 'Under Arpaio'

Living and dying under Arpaio
Censored News

TUCSON: Pan Left members Jason Michael Aragón and Mary Charlotte Thurtle have produced the documentary Under Arpaio that deals with the effect Sheriff Joe Arpaio has on Maricopa County, Arizona and the nation.
Under Arpaio
http://www.underarpaio.com/blog/
THE ISSUES:
Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio has captured national attention in the press as the "Toughest Sheriff in America" for his Wild West persona, tough on crime stance, unorthodox law enforcement methods and an anti-immigrant posture. He has become famous in the media through antics such as forcing inmates to wear pink underwear, work on chain gangs, and live in tents. Lawsuits, racial profiling, corruption, wasted taxes, and civil rights investigations have become the norm for the Phoenix area due to Arpaio's methods. Under Arpaio is a documentary film that explores what it is really like for people in Arizona to live -and die, under Joe Arpaio.
Within this atmosphere of tension, Arizona has recently passed the law SB1070- the "papers please" policy- where anyone with brown skin becomes a target. However, before SB1070, Arpaio was enforcing immigration law by leading heavily armed raids against Latino communities in neighborhoods, fast food restaurants, elementary schools and low-income areas. At the same time that the Federal Government publicly sued Arizona over SB1070, the 287g program between Homeland Security and Arpaio had already been established years earlier which sanctioned the Sheriff's immigration enforcement activities and had become a spectacle toured rampant allegations of racial profiling.

The people of Arizona have had enough. There are those dedicated to raising awareness and ending the injustices. People such as, Michael Manning, a Phoenix area lawyer who successfully sued Arpaio five times for human rights violations in Arpaio's jails. Ryan Gabrielson, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who uncovered how Arpaio's tactics left neighborhoods unprotected from violent crime. Residents like Anderw Sanchez of the Yaqui town of Guadalupe and activists like Salvador Reza from Phoenix group Puente Movement who serve the communities Arpaio terrorizes by organizing people to the streets and documenting Arpaio's abuses along the way. Women like County Board Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox who is a staunch critic of Arpaio and has been under threat of sheriff harassment, or activist Sandra Castro who dedicates her student life to organizing people to fight against the abuse. These and others from the Maricopa County area are highlighted and reveal the struggle to bring back humanity to their communities against a Sheriff that resembles more of an outlaw as the days go by in Arizona.