Blood Nation: Strong-hearted Women urged to join Fracking Blockade

URGENT ALERT! Murphy Oil faced with Indigenous women's blockade on fracking site

Forwarded to Climate Connections by Indigenous Environmental Network

Early last night, numerous women from the Blood Nation (Alberta, Canada) courageously parked in front of Murphy Oil’s fracking development site vowing not to move until plans of fracking for oil and gas are stopped. The women are part of the Kainai Earth Watch and have been active advocates to stop the fracking due to the major threat to human health, wildlife and livestock and the irreversible damage to the land and water on the Blood Reserve and surrounding areas. They feel this is the only choice left to them to stop the operations as plans for construction begin tomorrow.
In late 2010, Kainaiwa Resources Inc. (KRI) quietly signed off on a deal with the Calgary-based junior mining company Bowood Energy and the U.S. company Murphy Oil. In exchange for the $50 Million, Bowood Energy and Murphy Oil gained a five-year lease to roughly 129, 280 acres, almost half of the Blood’s reserve, for oil and gas exploration.
Since that time local residents of the Blood Nation and surrounding communities have come together to oppose the projects. Members of the KaiNai Earth Watch have partnered with numerous community groups, including the Lethbridge Council of Canadians, to host numerous educational workshops, organize petitions, and meet with government officials. Despite their efforts, nothing has been effective in actually preventing the fracking from going ahead.
Plans of construction on 4 new fracking sites begin TODAY. The women have vowed not to leave until they are confident the fracking won’t go ahead.
Show some Solidarity! **If you are interested in helping to support this action please contact:
Lois Frank 403-795-7945
Mike Bruisedhead 403-737-2194

Maps and more at the Indigenous Environmental Network:
http://www.ienearth.org/news/blood-tribe-members-call-for-moratorium-on-hydro-fracking.html

For a good backgrounder on the plans for fracking and the concerns with the impacts check out:
http://climate-connections.org/2011/03/14/blood-tribe-members-call-for-moratorium-on-hydro-fracking/

Peru: New Indigenous Law as Wikileaks Exposes US Spying and Paranoia

Peru passes new indigenous law, as an unredacted cable released by Wikileaks reveals US spying and US paranoia in Peru

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Photo by Sofia Jarrin: Miguel Palacin Quispe, Coordinador, CAO, on left.

Peru's new indigenous law will ensure "free, prior and informed consent," as stated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The law was signed this week by Peru's president as Wikileaks published unredacted versions of US diplomatic cables. Those cables reveal the US spying on Indigenous activists in Peru and that the US feared Indigenous Peoples reclaiming their lands and halting mining.

The cables reveal the US paranoia over the popularity of Bolivian President Evo Morales in the Andes. The unredacted cables include spying on Peru's Andean leader Miguel Palacin, who joined with American Indian and First Nations activists at the climate summits in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and Cancun, Mexico, in 2010.

Wikileaks cables hold special meaning this week as Peru enacts its new indigenous law, bringing to reality what the US Embassy in Peru feared most two years ago, and what Palacin worked hard to achieve. The cable below is dated June 26, 2009, and was written by James Nealon. Nealon served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Peru, 2007-2010, before transferring to the US Embassy in Ottawa on August 14, 2010.

Peru's new president, Ollanta Humala, signed into law a measure this week requiring that indigenous groups are consulted prior to any mining, logging, or oil and gas projects on their land, Mongabay News reported.

"What we want to do with this law is have the voice of indigenous people be heard, and have them treated like citizens, not little children who are not consulted about anything," President Humala said.

The indigenous organization, AIDESEP, applauded the new legislation prior. However, it stated that it was only a first step. "We mustn’t fall into false triumphalism. It is now up to the government to form a national indigenous organization [...] that will uphold strict compliance with this new law," the group said in a statement.

In the Wikileaks cables, the US revealed its furor over the popularity of Bolivian President Evo Morales, and the momentum Morales and indigenous activists were gaining in Peru, in a US diplomatic cable from Peru, titled, "Morales is our President."

It is a telling cable of US spying and paranoia over the role of Indigenous Peoples protecting their lands from mining and colonialism.

The US Embassy describes the Indigenous Peoples defending their lands in Peru as "anti-system radicals." The US Embassy is especially concerned over protests which urged stopping a "planned hydroelectric project, repealing a new water law and ending concessions relating to mining and other extractive industries."

The US Embassy's summary states, "Its economic success of recent years notwithstanding, Peru remains fertile terrain for anti-system radicals, with persistent endemic poverty and social inequality, the absence of the state from large swaths of national territory, and clumsy, sometimes jarring public action when the state does intervene. But if these kinds of structural factors have played a role in recent protests (refs), so has a radical anti-system political project that is seeking to take political advantage of them to undermine Peru's progress, weaken the government and lay the groundwork for a more systematic assault on the pro-growth model. Public and private statements by the diverse and not necessarily unified leaders of the anti-system movement paint a compelling portrait of their real aims, which can be summarized in the words of one Peruvian indigenous leader that "Evo Morales is our President." Foreign participation in this anti-system movement, including from Bolivia, is real but maybe not as central as some analysts maintain."

The cable continues, "Public and private statements by the diverse and not necessarily unified leaders of the anti-system movement -- who are many, of different stripes and often local in their immediate focus -- paint a compelling picture of their real aims. Miguel Palacin, who leads a pan-Andean indigenous group based in Lima, is one of the movement's leading figures, organizing parallel anti-summits (during the Peru-based EU-LAC and APEC events of 2008) and painstakingly building links to bring the disorderly diversity of the anti-system opposition under one banner. Tellingly, Palacin's office displays Bolivian flags and a presidential portrait of Evo Morales. Palacin recently told us he sees Bolivia as a model for Peru, and that indigenous people consider Morales "our president." Palacin said his organization was working to repeal the remaining contentious legislative decrees (refs) and to press for the overhaul of Garcia's cabinet. In the longer term, Palacin said his group aimed to procure property titles for all indigenous land (hinting that once this had occurred there would be no land left for private development), and ultimately to write a new constitution incorporating language from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."

Previously released cables from Bolivia and Peru have just been released in the unredacted form, with names of sources.

Read US Embassy cable from Peru: http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/06/09LIMA924.html

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Wikileaks: US feared Indigenous self-rule and land claims with UN Declaration

The United States feared, and fought, passage of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Photo by Michelle Cook, Navajo/Cochabamba, Bolivia, Climate Conference 2010.
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Wikileaks has exposed a US diplomatic cable revealing why the United States feared, and fought, the passage and implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The US reveals in this cable that its fears Indigenous Peoples will use the UN Declaration to expand self-government, sovereign rule, and initiate new land claims to ancestral lands. Further, the US is alarmed over the potential for Indigenous Peoples gaining control of renewable and non-renewable resources.

The US is alarmed over the right for Indigenous to be consulted on any law pertaining to them. This is now known as the "right to free, prior and informed consent," as stated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The cable is from the US Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia, dated Jan. 28, 2008.

"Although most indigenous leaders seem to view the UN Declaration as a 'feel good' document that will give them more inclusion in the public sector, some leaders are citing the Declaration in support of concrete aims like self-governance and control over land and resources," states the US Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia.

"Post will watch for further developments, particularly with regards to property rights and potential sovereignty or self-rule issues."

In previous US diplomatic cables exposed by Wikileaks, prior to its passage, the United States threatened Iceland about its relations with the US, if Iceland supported the UN Declaration. Further, other cables revealed that the US undertook an education campaign in an attempt to dissuade Ecuador from voting in favor of the UN Declaration.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN General Assembly on Sept. 13, 2007. The United States, the last country in the world to signal support, gave provisional support in 2010. The US was preceded by Canada, which gave provisional support.

Wikileaks released the following US diplomatic cable on Sept. 1, 2011. The US Ambassador called it "Bolivia: Repercussions of UN DRIP."

The cable is written by then US Ambassador Phillip Goldberg, President Bush's choice, who arrived from Kosovo with questions rising about his role in ethnic cleansing. Goldberg's role in Bolivia was short-lived. President Evo Morales expelled Goldberg in September of 2008, eight months after Goldberg wrote this cable. President Morales accused Goldberg of spying and attempting to divide the country and his administration. The US denied the allegations.

Goldberg is now US Asst. Secretary of State for Research and Intelligence.
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===============================================================
Reference id aka Wikileaks id #138916  ? 
Subject
Bolivia: Repercussions Of Un Drip
Origin
Embassy La Paz (Bolivia)
Cable time
Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:29 UTC
Classification
CONFIDENTIAL
Source
http://wikileaks.org/cable/2008/01/08LAPAZ186.html
History
First published on Thu, 1 Sep 2011 23:24 UTC
Media

Comments
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VZCZCXRO2896 PP RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHTM DE RUEHLP #0186 0281329 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 281329Z JAN 08 FM AMEMBASSY LA PAZ TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6314 INFO RUEHZI/WHA POSTS COLLECTIVE
Hide headerC O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 000186 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/24/2018 TAGS: PGOV [Internal Governmental Affairs], PREL [External Political Relations], PHUM [Human Rights], BL [Bolivia], OAS [Organization of American States] SUBJECT: BOLIVIA: REPERCUSSIONS OF UN DRIP REF: A. LA PAZ 185 B. SECSTATE 4241 C. 07 LA PAZ 3187 Classified By: EcoPol Counselor Mike Hammer, reasons 1.4 b,d ¶1.

(C) On November 7 President Evo Morales signed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into law. The new law contradicts existing land laws, and therefore will be subject to judicial interpretation when it begins to be cited in legal cases. Post has not found any evidence that the new law has been yet cited in legal cases, and it probably will not appear in lawsuits for at least six months. ¶2.
(C) However, the ruling Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party's draft constitution includes a section on indigenous rights that closely mirrors the UN Declaration text, granting indigenous Bolivians rights to land and renewable resources on that land, rights to a share in the benefits of non-renewable resources, rights to be consulted on any law that "might affect them", rights to self-governance, rights to participation in all levels of government, and prioritized rights to state benefits. If the draft constitution passes, it would take precedent over other Bolivian laws and could therefore carry more weight in judicial interpretation when it contradicts existing land laws. ¶3.
(C) With the new law untested and the draft constitution not yet passed, indigenous leaders are invoking the UN Declaration itself in support of their causes. Domestically, indigenous leaders are beginning to use the UN Declaration as a rallying cry or as justification for actions such as takeovers of small properties (ref B). Although most indigenous leaders seem to view the UN Declaration as a 'feel good' document that will give them more inclusion in the public sector, some leaders are citing the Declaration in support of concrete aims like self-governance and control over land and resources. ¶4. (C) Post will watch for further developments, particularly with regards to property rights and potential sovereignty or self-rule issues. Highlights of Post's programs that focus on indigenous Bolivians are described in ref A. Post contact for indigenous issues is Beth Mader, madere@state.gov.
GOLDBERG

Imprisonment of Leonard Peltier in new UN Human Rights Council report

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

A new report to the UN Human Rights Council from Special Rapporteur James Anaya states that imprisoned Indian activist Leonard Peltier is in poor health and placed in substandard conditions in the maximum security prison in Lewisburg, Penn.

The United Nations human rights report focuses on abuses of indigenous peoples around the world, including the threats to the safety of individuals and dangers to the land and environment of indigenous peoples.

Anaya's report states that Peltier, an indigenous activist serving life sentence, suffers from severe health problems.

"According to the information received, Mr. Leonard Peltier, aged 66, an indigenous Anishinabe/Lakota activist, had been serving two life sentences in a United States federal prison, after being convicted in 1977 for the murder of two FBI agents. Over the years, Mr. Peltier has maintained his innocence, asserting that he was politically persecuted for his activities as a member of the American Indian Movement. Mr. Peltier reportedly suffers from severe health problems that require urgent and immediate medical treatment. In addition to his health situation, Mr. Peltier reportedly lives in substandard conditions at the maximum security prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The Lewisburg prison is allegedly known for violence among inmates," according to the statement dated July 2, 2011.

In the US, the report includes the plan to violate sacred San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona, with snow made from wastewater. The report also includes the case of the need to protect sacred Sogorea Te (Glen Cove in Calif.)

The international cases of human rights abuses in Anaya's August report include the Wixarika (Huicholes) in Mexico struggling to protect their sacred lands from mining, along with cases from indigenous peoples in Guatemala, Chile, Israel, Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Malaysia and Thailand.

The UN Human Rights Council report was issued as protests increased against the tar sands in the US and Canada, with 1, 252 arrests at the White House during the past two weeks."

According to the information received, the TransCanada Corporation has obtained permission from the Alberta Utilities Commission to build the pipeline, in the absence of the Lubicon Lake Nation’s consent or recognition of the Nation’s asserted rights of the area. This has also been carried out in the absence of adequate consideration to the Lubicon’s concerns over the health, safety and environmental impacts of the project. In addition, the Special Rapporteur expressed concern over allegations about the broader issues of the land rights and social and economic conditions of the Lubicon people," Anaya said.