The Genocide of Gold, Meet the Resistance

Meet the Resistance: A Speaking Tour of Affected Indigenous Communities

NEW YORK -- Over 3,000 people are attending the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) over the next two weeks in New York, including Indigenous Nations, UN bodies, Governments and NGO's. Three Indigenous communities present at the forum are voicing their concern against the worlds largest gold mining company, Canadian owned Barrick Gold.
As side events to the UNPFII, Wiradjuri (Australia), Ipili (Papua New Guinea) and Western Shoshone (Nevada, USA) will be talking about the desecration and destruction of their lands by Barrick Gold. Please show your support by coming to the following events to hear about Barrick's exploitative and unsustainable practices on these communities lands, culture and life.
These events have been supported by Friends of the Earth Australia, ProtestBarrick.net, Western Shoshone Defence Project, Mineral Policy Institute, Save Lake Cowal and Akali Tange Association.
Indigenous Resistance to Gold MiningOur guests will make presentations, show short films and answer questions about gold mining on their lands.
Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone (Nevada, USA)Neville ‘Chappy’ Williams, Wiradjuri (Australia)Jethro Tulin, Executive Officer Akali Tange Association, Ipili (Papua New Guinea) Thursday 24th April @ 7.30pm American Indian Community Center11 Broadway, 2nd Floor, New York
Subway 4 & 5 to Bowling Green, Lower Manhattan
Indigenous Voices Films and Speakers from Australia and Papua New Guinea Neville ‘Chappy’ Williams, Wiradjuri (Australia) Jethro Tulin, Executive Officer Akali Tange Association, Ipili (Papua New Guinea) Sunday 27th April @ 7.00pm Bluestocking’s BookStore172 Allen Street between Stanton and Riverington Lower East Side, Manhattan
Subway F J M Z to Delancey Street/Essex,
Indigenous Struggles from Australia and Papua New Guinea
Wedneday 30th April @ 7.00pm ABC No Rio156 Rivington Street between Suffolk and Clinton Streets Lower East Side, Manhattan
Subway F J M Z to Delancey Street/Essex
For more info: natalie.lowrey@foe.org.au
www.ProtestBarrick.net

Canada Grave Disappointment for Indigenous Peoples at UN

Aboriginal Peoples Declare Canada's UN Statement Grave Disappointment for Aboriginal Peoples on Climate Change

Press statement from Indigenous Peoples at UN

UNITED NATIONS, NY - The statement delivered by the Canadian government yesterday to the United Nations Permanent Forum (UNPFII) on Indigenous Issues was a grave disappointment to the Indigenous representatives attending the UNPFII's special session on climate change because "it does not address Indigenous Peoples' rights, needs and priorities in real climate change solutions," according to Indigenous Environmental Network director Tom Goldtooth.
Other groups represented include the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations, the International Indian Treaty Council, the Indigenous Network on the Environment and Trade, the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) and the British Colombia First Nations Leadership Council.
"What the statement shows is how little the government cares to deal with climate change's effects or stopping climate change. They announced their plan to reduce 2006 greenhouse gas levels by 20% in 2020, but this is too little too late, and will only mean further devastation to our peoples," said Ben Powless (Mohawk) of the Indigenous Environmental Network.
Current impacts on First Nations communities were also left out. Grand Chief Edward John (Carrier Sekani) of the BC First Nations Leadership Council stated, "Canada is ignoring the devastating impacts of the mountain pine beetle on the lands, territories and resources of First Nations in BC." "Canada has stated that it is committed with us on climate change, so we call upon Canada to ensure the full participation of Indigenous Peoples in all domestic and international climate change discussions, initiatives and negotiations," concurred AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine.
Also evident was Canada's unilateral approach of dealing with Indigenous Peoples after they begin to have problems. "Canada is happy to pour more and more money into studying us and how we adapt to climate change, but not with addressing environmental issues at their source," stated Beverley Jacobs, President, NWAC. "They are now telling us they take traditional knowledge seriously, but that they would never consider implementing it themselves. These continued, seriously misguided federal policies are going to be the death of us," warned Arthur Manuel (Secwepmc) of the Indigenous Network on the Environment and Trade.
This comes after dramatic action was called for by Indigenous participants attending the forum. A representative of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug Nation made a presentation to the forum attesting to the fact that her community's elected leadership had been jailed for opposition to destructive mining in their community. Elected representatives of Aboriginal communities surrounding the Tar Sands were also attending to detest the destructive practices upsetting their homelands.
For more information please contact: Gina Cosentino, AFN: (613) 241 6789 x356
Grand Chief Edward John (778) 772 8218 Arthur Manuel: (250) 319-0688
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The Permanent Forum is meeting from April 21 to May 2, 2008 at the UN in New York. This is its 7th session since starting in 2002. This year the forum was opened by Bolivian President Evo Morales. For more information please see
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/index.html -- +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Alyssa MacyConfederated Tribes of Warm Springs, OregonIndigenius Mediahttp://www.indigeniusmedia.com/International Indian Treaty Councilhttp://www.treatycouncil.org/

CENSORED: US Torture Training at Fort Huachuca

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

PHOENIX -- OK, so its no surprise, but it keeps happening. Reporters and editors keep asking for my comments and columns. Then those words are censored and stashed in the "Don't even think about publishing it department."
The subject this time was not a funny one. It was the ongoing torture training at Fort Huachuca in southern Arizona. Two priests, Fr. Steve Kelly and Fr. Louie Vitale, just spent five months in prison for kneeling in prayer at Fort Huachuca in opposition to US torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo, torture in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
A reporter for the Arizona Business Journal asked me to comment on the newest human intelligence training facility contract for Fort Huachuca, which went to Sletten Corp. of Phoenix. Here's what I said on April 7. It was chopped by the media powers that be:

"The United States government is acting like a dog gone mad with rabies. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has declared himself 'god' and voided all federal laws to build the border wall. Now, in a continuance of the practices which reflect the Nazi regime, the United States will continue to build torture training facilities at Fort Huachuca. It was here that the root of the torture manuals were produced that led to the rape, disappearance, torture and murder of an unknown number of Indigenous Peoples and innocent farmers in Central and South America, before the manual was exposed in 1996.
"The United States, in violation of the Geneva Conventions, has tortured people to death in Iraq and Afghanistan. While Americans sleepwalk, hypnotized by television and Wal-Mart shopping, their country is in ruin."As we make our way across the United States, broadcasting from the Longest Walk, we see that fear has been used to manipulate the people into building power plants and allowing oil and gas drilling on their own lands. The purpose is profiteering for corporations and their politicians. From California to Kansas, we have listened to the stories of a sinking and desperate America. The continuance of torture and torture training is another cancer in the body of America."
--Brenda Norrell
The Contract:
Sletten Companies, Phoenix, Ariz. was awarded on March 28, 2008, an $11,981.566 firm-fixed price contract for the design and construction of a human intelligence training facility. Work will be performed in Fort Huachuca, Ariz. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work is expected to be completed by July 31, 2009. Web bids were solicited on Jan. 24, 2008, and six bids were received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles, Calif. is the contracting agency (W912PL-08-C-0008).


UNCENSORED ARTICLES
Mass Graves Revealed of Indian Children in Canadian Schools The NarcoSphere, NY - Apr 18, 2008By Brenda Norrell, The horror of the genocide in Canada's Indian Residential Schools became public, as the locations of 28 mass graves of Indian children ...
Brenda Norrell: Longest Walk offers feast to tornado devastated ... UN Observer - Apr 15, 20082008-04-15 GREENSBURG, Kansas -- The Longest Walk Northern Route offered a grand feast for the community of Greensburg, Kansas, where a two-mile wide ...
Brenda Norrell: Navajo selected as peace diplomat for delegation ... UN Observer - Apr 10, 20082008-04-10 Michelle Cook is a community worker, spiritual activist, and a recent graduate from the University of Arizona with a BA in Women's Studies and ...
Sand Creek, releasing the spirits Narcosphere

Arizona cops target people of color

DWI: Driving while Indian in Arizona

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

PHOENIX -- The Arizona Department of Public Safety targets people of color, with American Indians stopped more than 3 times more often than whites, according to DPS own statistics.
For Natives who drive in Arizona, or those who ride with them, this will come as no surprise. Like South Dakota, where Indians are also targeted in traffic stops, the term DWI, "Driving While Indian," has long been a reality.
The statistics don't stop there. The traffic stops are not the only place you find Indians targeted. The jails are packed with American Indians and people of color. Military recruiters target American Indians and other people of color, making empty promises, when the reality is the risk of dying in Iraq.
DPS data shows that Arizona police target American Indians.
According to Associated Press, Arizona Department of Public Safety officers are more likely to search minorities than White people, even though on average minorities were less likely to have illegal items, according to a report released Monday.
The report is dubbed Driving While Black or Brown. It was produced for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona by Fred Solop, director of the Social Research Laboratory at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.
Using DPS data, Solop looked at 200,000 traffic stops on Arizona highways between July 2006 and June 2007. Of those, 13,271 resulted in searches.
The report concludes that Blacks and Hispanics were each 2½ times more likely than Whites to be searched by DPS. American Indians were about 3¼ times more likely to be searched.
The minorities were more likely to be searched although Whites were more likely to have illegal items than any other minority except for Blacks. Whites were 34 percent likely to have such items and Blacks were 38 percent likely to have them.
In comparison, Hispanics were 22 percent likely to have illegal items and America Indians were 24 percent likely to have them. Asians and Middle Easterners had comparable results.
"The true test of democracy is how we treat people who are outsiders," ACLU attorney Dan Pochoda said. "We have seen a trampling of the rights of those persons in Maricopa County and throughout the state."
A DPS spokesman wasn't immediately available to comment on the report.
DPS collected data for the report under the terms of a settlement of a 2001 class-action lawsuit.