Absurd one-sided media coverage of the so-called ban

Absurd one-sided media coverage of so-called ban
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

The amazing part of the one-sided news coverage of the so-called Hopi Tribal Council ban on environmentalists, which the Navajo president supported, is how few news reporters were even aware of the large number of Hopi and Navajo environmental organizations and individual activists.
The majority of reporters failed to even contact Hopi and Navajo environmentalists, people actually defending the land (with every dime that they have.)
The reporters also failed to consider the obvious: This was a media scam, based on the takeover of the Hopi Tribal Council, by a pro-Peabody Coal faction.
Of course the Navajo president jumped to support it, that's where his salary and the Navajo Nation Council members' salaries and expense checks come from, energy royalties and fees. These councils were established by the United States for the purpose of signing energy leases. (This fact was stated clearly in the Navajo Nation Council's own brochure of its history circulated in the 1980s.)
If all the Hopi and Navajo people defending and honoring the land, air and water were banned, all of the traditional Hopi and Navajo would have to leave their lands.
What the one-sided coverage by AP, Arizona Republic and the others reveals is that the reporters are not spending any time in Indian country. They continue to just rewrite the press releases of politicians and corporations.
Even Mother Jones got duped.
The media that does quote the Hopi and Navajo peoples' press releases often just pour on gasoline and fan the flames, claiming everyone is in a "battle." This is the same way the media fanned the flames of the so-called Navajo Hopi land dispute. This led to Navajo relocation to clear the way for Peabody Coal mining on Black Mesa and more than 14,000 Navajos relocated.
Peabody Coal and its attorneys know how to play the media and get what they want: The seizure of Black Mesa for coal mining and the theft of Hopi and Navajo pristine aquifer water.
Peabody and its attorneys are masters of deceit, misinformation and division. News reporters sitting in easy chairs are easy to dupe.
--Censored News
More:
Klee Benally (Navajo): Democracy unwelcome on Navajo and Hopi Nations?
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/10/klee-benally-democracy-unwelcome-on.html
Vernon Masayesva (Hopi): Peabody Coal takeover of Hopi Tribal Council
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/10/masayesva-pro-peabody-takeover-of-hopi.html
Alph Secakaku (Hopi council representative): Hopi are true environmentalists
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/09/secakuku-hopi-are-stewards-of-land.html
Ben Nuvamsa (Hopi) responds to so-called ban:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/10/former-hopi-chairman-nuvamsa-responds.html
Black Mesa Water Coalition (Navajo and Hopi) responds to so-called ban:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/10/navajo-organization-reponds-to-navajo.html
Calvin Johnson (Navajo): Appalled at Navajo president's ban on environmentalists:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/10/navajo-appalled-by-navajo-presidents.html
CounterPunch: A dirty new low for Peabody Coal by Brenda Norrell :
http://www.counterpunch.org/norrell10052009.html
VIDEO: Russell Means discusses colonization and US puppet governments dependent on US dollars. Means also discusses 'fighting Sioux' and mascots:
http://www.republicoflakotah.com/2009/hopi-navajo-update/

Photo: Hopis and Navajos protested Peabody Coal in Denver 2008. Courtesy photo Black Mesa Water Coalition.

Fundraiser for Sky City Live! Indigenous uranium broadcast

Help sponsor the live broadcast from the Indigenous Uranium Forum at Sky City, Acoma Pueblo, NM, Oct. 22 - 24. Funds will provide travel expenses for the production crew Earthcycles radio and Censored News.
Please donate at the Earthcycles PayPal on http://www.earthcycles.net/ (Govinda at govinda@earthcycles.net) or the PayPal on Censored News: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
All donors will receive an unpublished photo from Censored News.
Thanks for supporting grassroots community radio -- brendanorrell@gmail.com

Listen live and to archives at http://www.earthcycles.net/
Radio stations around the world are encouraged to rebroadcast, always free.
Photo: Earthcycles radio bus broadcasting live at the Havasupai gathering to halt uranium mining in Grand Canyon 2009/Photo Brenda Norrell

Secret and not so secret agents of the Colonial State poison the atmosphere

from the Eagle Watch #10

Secret and Not So Secret Agents of the Colonial State Poison the Atmosphere
Comment
October 10, 2009
What would happen if we all isolated ourselves and then called everyone who disagrees with us, secret agents of the colonial state? It could be anyone, even YOU. It doesn't matter if you're Native or nonNative, cop or criminal, male or female. It doesn't matter what you've done with your life, you could be an agent and not even know it.

When the Bolsheviks were running Russia, they encouraged school children to spy on their parents and families and report them to the authorities for things they said or did. This creates rifts between people and difficult situations for communities and groups of people. Everyone is wondering who is spying on them. When bad things happen, people start to lay blame. They are in a suspicious and fearful state of mind which causes them to lash out wildly, even attacking innocent people in their fury.

We emailed a woman, we'll now call "Coyote in Bearskins", at the time of the uranium protests here near Sharbot Lake in June, 2007. The protest organizers were asking everyone to contact media and friends about the threat of uranium mining. At that time, we ourselves were just beginning to piece together what a fraud this police-led Native protest really was.

We thought "Coyote in Bearskins" could help get the word out against uranium mining which would pollute the air, land and water of the entire region, including her community near Montreal. She wrote a widely published internet newsletter.

We sent her scads of info from the Sharbot Lake community, the encampment at the minesite as well as our research from the internet. Some people got pretty angry at us because of it. Over 35 articles were the result. "Coyote in Bearskins" claimed it was best for our security that she edit and sign the articles, even the ones we researched and wrote. She said she wanted to protect us. We learned a lot working with her.

"Coyote in Bearskins" phoned us 3, 4 or 5 times a day to get "updates". This continued after the encampment was dismantled and excitement died down at Sharbot Lake up until quite recently. She said she wanted our mind. She even gave us an Indigenous name which made us feel important. Fortunately, another woman had the decency to explain to us that it was just a pen-name. Silly us, we thought it showed Coyote's great esteem for us, according to the Kaienerakowa, the Great Law of Peace, Wampum #67. Finally we realized it was time to move on.

We're trying to write about what's really happening in the world around us. We piece together fragments of information on related subjects as seen from our perspective here at the Eagle Watch. People come to us with more information and comments that add to the picture over time. We are looking ahead for the future. You could say the work we do is futuristic. We also study the past.

History provides many examples. Historical versions of events often vary. History influences our sense of who we are.

The early colonialists knew this. When they came here to Turtle Island, they sought to destroy our records and any recognition of our past, especially those things that would make us feel proud of our heritage, our ancestors and ourselves. This is part of the psychological warfare. They wanted to make us out as disorganized savages when, in fact, we had highly organized peaceful societies and lived in cities where culture and language flourished. We need to get this awareness back. It gives us strength.

Hitler is a well known extreme historical example. He used a combination of timing, diplomacy, intrigue, extreme violence and terror to build his megalo plans. He was also manipulated by others who played the same game. He back stabbed so many people that he was constantly paranoid about plots against himself. Finally, some people who wanted to liquidate their enemies set Hitler up til he was getting hysterical. They made him think a plot was brewing to kill him. In the ensuing purge in June, 1934, an untold number of German people were summarily executed by Goering, Himmler and the S.S, maybe as many as 1,000. These people were chosen because of some grudge Hitler, Goering or Himmler held against them, often for many years. These guys were ruthlessly vindictive. Those murdered included rivals in political or military positions, journalists and even the secretaries and lovers of some of these individuals.

The rest of the German people had their minds frozen numb from the terror. Many people were afraid to speak out and that is just what Nazi, fascist, totalitarian regimes want. Once he had control of Germany, Hitler continued to build his empire starting with war on neighbouring states in Europe.

The psychological warfare for your mind is very critical, an essential part of any war strategy. Piles of falsified information and an army of media whores are obstacles in our way. Demoralized people who have no courage have little desire to fight back. People are often defeated just by the thinking that things are hopeless. We gain courage from knowing who we are.

Who is really the secret colonial agent in our midst? How many could there be? Who is really the Indigenous sovereigntist? How many people are neither? There really are some provocateurs and infiltrators. We can't dismiss this reality.

Dangerous accusations are flying around. People get hurt when this happens. Remember CoIntelPro and Anna Mae Aquash. This mass confusion and suspicion is just what the secret elitists want. It creates a poisonous atmosphere at a time when people are searching for much needed answers and solutions. Who are we to believe? Who can we trust?

It is really basic for us to know who we are so that when we look around, we can find people we can trust. We need to be calm and critically analytical without getting hysterical. We learn from our mistakes cause we all make plenty and gain wisdom from our experience. As true Ongwehonwe and Nishnaabe people we keep our eyes on the path ahead for the sake of our grandchildren and our grandchildren's grandchildren and our grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren. We must never give up.

Kittoh


We welcome your feedback! Forward, post and consider printing for your cyberphobic friends and relatives.

Notes and Sources
"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany by William L. Shirer

John Redhouse: Hate crimes and uranium mining

John Redhouse: Hate crimes and uranium mining 

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

 http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/ 

When longtime Navajo activist John Redhouse speaks of the hate crimes against American Indians in northwest New Mexico, he knows what he is talking about. He has lived it. Redhouse, who has lived with the racism in the Navajo bordertown of Farmington, N.M., writes about the recent hate crimes by non-Indians against homeless Indians in Grants. 

Redhouse said the recent racially motivated beatings began after Mount Taylor was designated as a Traditional Cultural Property. As Native Americans prepare for the Indigenous Uranium Forum at Sky City on Acoma Pueblo to battle new uranium mining in Indian country, Oct. 22-24, Redhouse points out that the new wave of hate crimes in the Uranium Belt of Grants, west of Albuquerque, is not the first. "

As an old civil rights activist and veteran of the bordertown wars in Gallup and Farmington in the early 1970s, I don't think these beatings are an isolated incident. I think they are directly related to a non-Indian backlash against the TCP designation and what it means in terms of protecting and defending our sacred mountain from more uranium mining and milling," Redhouse said. 

When Redhouse was on the New Mexico State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in the late 1970s, the Commission made a similar connection with the rise of anti-Indian groups in Grants and northwestern New Mexico and growing Indian resistance. At that time, leading the resistance in the Grants Mineral Belt were the American Indian Environmental Council, First Mount Taylor Gathering and Mt. Taylor Alliance.

Now, American Indians are taking action to halt more uranium mining and destruction to their sacred mountains and homelands. The Ninth Circuit Court first took action to protect sacred San Francisco Peaks from snowmaking from sewage water for tourists, then the Ninth Circuit reversed its decision, allowing the defilement of the places and plants used by medicine people of at least thirteen Indian Nations for ceremonies. At the same time, Navajo, Pueblo, Ute, Hopi, Hualapai, Havasupai, Yavapai and Apache, in this region of northern Arizona and New Mexico, are beaten and killed in hate crimes. Redhouse remembers Clint John, Navajo, shot and killed by a Farmington police officer in a Wal-Mart parking lot in 2006. Farmington police officer Shawn Scott was exonerated by the police department and found not guilty of using excessive force in court. Redhouse said it is time for action. "

And now in light of the recent outcomes of the Clint John and San Francisco Peaks cases, I think we need to put these recent anti-Indian developments in context and start a regional intertribal movement to deal with all this shit because it is getting more violent and deadly as we are still fighting the continuing Indian Wars as we have since 1492." "We need another Pueblo Revolt, a Navajo revolt, a general uprising among our people and nations." Redhouse's words are more in demand now than ever. Within minutes of Redhouse's comments appearing online, other Navajos responded.

Navajo filmmaker Arlene Bowman questioned why other media are not covering the issues on Censored News. Bahe Katenay of Big Mountain, publisher of Sheep Dog Nation Rocks, said it was good to hear from his friend John Redhouse. "It is so nice and uplifting to hear from John. He may call himself an 'old activist' but only if we, the current indigenous movements, can truly rely on 'old' wise activism, we can all be so empowered.

Yes, Viva Pueblo / Dineh Revolt! Hokahey! Thanks." Redhouse wrote back, "Bahe, Roberta Blackgoat, and other youth and grandmother warriors were at the First Mount Taylor Gathering. They walked all the way from Big Mountain." Read more by John Redhouse at http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/10/john-redhouse-hate-crimes-against.html Sheep Dog Nation Rocks: http://www.sheepdognationrocks.blogspot.com/