Remembering Floyd Westerman, the sound of resistance

Photos: Floyd Westerman sings the AIM song with Manny Pino, Tony Gonzales and Bill Means at the Indigenous Border Summit of the Americas 2006. Keith Secola and Westerman during concert at Indigenous Border Summit 2006. Westerman took flight to the Spirit World today, Dec. 13, 2007 at 5 a.m./Photo Brenda Norrell

Floyd Westerman, ever-present:
"And I told them not to dig for uranium, for if they did, the children would die. They didn't listen, they didn't listen, they didn't listen to me. And I told them if the children die, there would be no keepers of the land. They didn't listen. And I told them if they destroy the sky, machines would come and soon destroy the land. They didn't listen... And I told them if they destroy the land, man would have to move into the sea. They didn't listen... And I told them if they destroy the sea -- they didn't listen..." -From the Floyd Westerman song "They Didn't Listen" as Westerman recited the lyric concluding his testimony in 1992 at the World Uranium Hearings in Salzburg, Austria[1].
"There is an ancient Indian saying that something lives only as long as the last person who remembers it. My people have come to trust memory over history. Memory, like fire, is radiant and immutable while history serves only those who seek to control it, those who douse the flame of memory in order to put out the dangerous fire of truth. Beware these men for they are dangerous themselves and unwise. Their false history is written in the blood of those who might remember and of those who seek the truth." -Floyd Westerman as Albert Hosteen in The X-Files episode "The Blessing Way"

Audio File of Floyd Redcrow Westerman, Recorded In San Jose California, Protecting Sacred Sites Medicine Lake, Calpine Protest, http://www.earthcycles.net/

Floyd Westerman rememberd in South Dakota

KSFY TV video of memorial service:

http://www.ksfy.com/news/local/12575051.html

Nuclear 'Three Stooges' on Algonquin land

MOHAWK NATION NEWS GUEST EDITORIAL

WHY ARE WE BLUE ABOUT 'BLUE WOLF' AND 'BOLD EAGLE'

CANADA VOTES TO REOPEN DEADLY LEAKING NUCLEAR REACTOR IN UNCEDED ALGONQUIN TERRITORY

By Jennifer Tsun
Algonquin Territory Dec. 14, 2007. When something happens at 6 Nations Iroquois territory, there is usually an echo at Sharbot Lake in Algonquin territory [28 miles north of Kingston Ontario ]. What do these two unconnected places have in common? The struggles are both about our land. Since the Cabot Charter of 1496, the common goal of the colonial system has been and continues to be the elimination of the Ongwehonwe/Nishnaabe people. We are seen as mere impediments to the greedy desire to appropriate all our resources. In mid-September, when the Ardoch and Shabot Algonquins and allies were anticipating an invasion, the 6 Nations were attacked by hundreds of police. Nine men and women were beaten and arrested. They face court appearances in January 2008. We can bet they won’t be tried by a jury of their peers. Instead the judge will be appointed by the very same colonial regime that issued the Cabot Charter saying it was okay to “conquer all non-Christian people”. Same old, same old.
Read commentary ...
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2007/12/nuclear-three-stooges-on-algonquin-land.html

New security guards oppress at Texas border hearing

Border Wall Protest outside Homeland Security IES hearing in Brownsville, Texas, on Dec. 12. Photo Jay Johnson-Castro.

By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Dec. 12, 2007
BROWNSVILLE, Texas --- There's nothing new about Homeland Security's oppression and silencing of the people. There was, however, a new private security firm on the scene for the so-called Environmental Impact Statement hearing in Brownsville.
Who were those private security guards? They would not identify themselves. "We don't have to tell you who we are," was the response from most of the guards when Texas residents asked. Some of the private security guards said they were hired in a package by Homeland Security, while others said they worked for the company hired to produce the EIS. This company is e2M, headquarted in Denver with offices in San Antonio and San Diego. Read more ... http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2007/12/new-security-guards-oppress-at-texas.html
Photo: Protest in Brownsville/Photo by Jay Johnson-Castro

Ninth Circuit hears defense of Sacred Peaks

By Klee Benally
Save the Peaks Coalition
coalition@savethepeaks.org
http://www.savethepeaks.org/

Photo by Larry Smith/Lumbee Nation/American Indian Airwaves (click on photo to enlarge)

Precedent Setting Legal Battle Brings Tribal Dignitaries, Religious Leaders & National Environmental Groups to Pasadena, CA Federal Court

Hundreds March for Protection of Sacred Sites & Human Rights

PASADENA, CA – On Tuesday December 11, 2007, a coalition of Native American Nations and environmental justice groups worked together to defend their precedent-setting victory for religious freedom and public health. The Federal Appeals Court in Pasadena, California, heard oral arguments concerning religious freedom violations, environmental destruction and human health dangers associated with the use of treated sewage effluent for snowmaking in proposed ski area development on Arizona's San Francisco Peaks.
The case was argued before 11 Judges with arguments focused on Forest Service violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and substantial burden placed upon Native American religious freedom. This case is viewed as precedent-setting in establishing an interpretation for the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which was passed in 1993.
“We are hopeful that we get a majority of the judges to understand that this an important religious rights issue,” said Jack Trope of DNA Legal Services, representing the Hualapai Tribe, Navajo medicine practitioner Norris Nez and Hopi spiritual practitioner Bill Preston. “This law was enacted by Congress to protect religious freedoms and should apply to Native Americans who have land-based religions and sacred sites in the same way that it applies to everyone else,” Trope said. Read article ...

http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2007/12/ninth-circuit-hears-defense-of-sacred.html