Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

October 20, 2008

Roberto Rodriguez: A Big Brother Migration Solution

Department of Homeland Security's ICE agents are still running amok terrorizing Mexican & Central American communities

COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
A BIG BROTHER MIGRATION SOLUTION
OCTOBER 17, 2008
BY ROBERTO DR. CINTLI RODRIGUEZ
For perhaps at least the past generation, the so-called immigration debate has been code for scapegoating and getting rid of the "wetbacks" – which of course in this country is but another code word for Mexicans. Anybody brown, really. It could be called the hidden narrative, yet how hidden is it really? And yet, holding back the "brown hordes" is no longer the primary issue in regards to this debate. Make no mistake; hundreds of brown peoples are still dying in the inhospitable deserts, mountains and rivers along the U.S.-Mexico border. And the Department of Homeland Security's ICE agents are still running amok terrorizing Mexican & Central American communities. But the sad reality is that the mere existence of a "Homeland Security" apparatus tells us that even something bigger is amiss. Read column
Rodriguez, PhD, can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com
Photo: Remembering the dead along the border, No More Deaths, in a memorial in Tucson, remembered Desconocido, hanged near Cowlic on the Tohono O'odham Nation, near the Arizona and Mexico border. Photo Brenda Norrell

Algonguins defending land

Support the Algonquins of Barriere Lake, traditional people who know how to survive off the land. They are defending their land. Photo: Algonquins running from police tear gas attack. Photo courtesy Barriere Lake community.

Despite the presence of several Hydro Quebec dams, the community is still powered by a diesel generator. Although $100 million in revenue is extracted from the Barriere Lake Algonquins' traditional territory every year, the community receives nothing, and employment opportunities are scarce. Many of those at the blockade had been sent to residential schools aschildren. There, they were abused physically and sexually, andpunished for speaking their mother tongue.
Inside the Barriere Lake Algonquins' blockade of highway 117
by Dru Oja Jay
Posted originally in The Dominion
I'm perched on an embankment overlooking Highway 117, an obscure but economically important link between Montreal and northern Quebec. To look at most maps, there's nothing here, five hours north of Montreal, well out of the cottage towns and ski resorts of the Laurentians and still two hours short of the cluster of resource extraction economies around Val d'Or. I'm in the middle of a four hour stretch where most travellers could be forgiven for thinking was nothing but a few hunting lodges, logging roads and Hydro Quebec turnouts.A girl, young enough that I have to bend down to hear what she's saying, climbs up the embankment and points at the highway."Look where we're colouring," she says. I look. In the middle of the highway... read more

October 19, 2008

Joanne Shenandoah in Seattle

Please double click image to enlarge.
Joanne's music:

Flood relief for Jumano Apache on Texas/Mexico border

What happens in a international border zone between the US and Mexico when the floods come?
PHOTO April Cotte: September 28 This picture is taken from Presidio, Texas looking into Ojinaga, Mexico. The bridge in the middle is the Port of Entry and you can see that the Mexico Customs building is under water. Quite a mess. Please see news summary below from newspapers and locals on what has happened and how we can help. I am heading down to Redford, Texas, 10/25 from Calif., to work for OB and be of service and invite others to join me volunteering in disaster relief esp. 11/8-12.
By April Cotte
There has been major flooding in Jumano Apache territory in the Junta de los Rios area in Presidio, Ojinaga and Redford following Hurricane Gustav early September. For some 22 days, one third of the city of Ojinaga was underwater, the port of entry was closed between the US and Mexico and many of the farms in Redford, Presidio, Ojinaga and all along the Rio Grande and Rio Conchas were flooded. Elders say this was bigger then the floods of 58 or 78. Until this week, hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in Ojinaga, now they are cleaning up from flood damage. Read article