Chiapas/Zapatista News Summary

FELIZ AÑO! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
DECEMBER 2009 CHIAPAS/ZAPATISTA NEWS SUMMARY
By Chiapas Support Committee
Photo by Brenda Norrell: Marcos in Sonora, Mexico, with O'odham, near the Arizona border

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1. 16 Years of Zapatista Resistance! - January 1 marked the 16th Anniversary of the 1994 Zapatista Uprising. The Zapatistas closed the five Caracoles to the public (both national and international) on December 30 with signs announcing that they would reopen after January 2, 2010. Meanwhile, the Mexican Army moved into Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas, with 26 armored tanks and 600 additional soldiers, to "dissuade" any possible confrontations.
2. San Cristóbal Seminar in Honor of Andrés Aubry - On December 30 and 31 and January 1 and 2, an international seminar of reflection and analysis took place at Cideci in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. The 4-day gathering coincided with the publication of a book from the gathering 2 years ago in which the EZLN and some leading anticapitalist and antisystemic thinkers participated. It also coincided with the 16th Anniversary of the Zapatista Uprising, leading to much speculation about whether any Zapatistas would appear or participate in the seminar. That did not happen.
3. A New Cocopa Arrives in Chiapas - The Mexican Congress (federal) appointed a new Commission of Harmony and Pacification (Cocopa, for its initials in Spanish), as required by the 1995 law of the same name. Its legal mandate is to mediate between the federal government and the EZLN in a process of dialogue and negotiation to reach peace agreements. The new Cocopa is currently lodged in San Cristobal, trying to make contact with the EZLN. The commission did not explain why the EZLN should return to dialogue and negotiate with a government that failed to implement the first agreement it reached with the EZLN, known as the San Andres Accords on Indigenous Rights and Culture.
4. Scathing Human Rights Criticisms of Mexico - Mexico came under scathing attack from 3 sources this month for its human rights abuses. On December 9, Amnesty International accused the federal government of being complicit in serious human rights abuses committed by the Mexican army, often under the guise of fighting drug trafficking. AI accused the government of inadequate responses and ineffective investigations at all levels, leading to a general climate of impunity among security forces. A recent AI study found that human rights abuses by the army tripled under the Calderon administration. On December 10, the Inter-American Human Rights Court accused Mexico of egregious human rights violations related to the femicides in Ciudad Juarez. Ruling on a case from 2001, the court found Mexico guilty of violating the most fundamental rights outlined in the Constitution, including the right to life, personal liberty, judicial protection and equal treatment. The wide-ranging decision ordered Mexico to repair the damages, fully investigate and process the crimes, sanction those responsible, and publicly recognize the state's international responsibility for its egregious failures.
On December 21, Alberto Brunori, representative of the United Nations' Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that cases of impunity almost always go hand in hand with smear campaigns designed to discredit denunciations of human rights abuse. He maintained that Chiapas is one of the states where there are serious cases of impunity and it is "difficult for humanitarian defenders to work," because of situations of insecurity and the smear campaigns against them. Brunori was in Chiapas to meet with government officials, campesino organizations and to attend the 12th commemoration of the Acteal Massacre.
5. The US Delivers 5 Helicopters to Mexico - Oblivious to the rampant human rights abuse by Mexico's security forces, the United States delivered 5 Bell-412 helicopters to Mexico's Secretary of Defense on December 15. John Brennan, an advisor to Barack Obama on internal security and counterterrorism, personally handed over title to the helicopters as part of the Merida Initiative (Plan Mexico) to help Mexico in its "War Against Drugs." Meanwhile, in Washington DC, the Senate was approving more money for Plan Mexico.
6. OCEZ Ends Its Protest on Cathedral Plaza - On Christmas Eve, as a result of negotiations with the Chiapas government, the Emiliano Zapata Campesino Organization (OCEZ) removed its sit-in on Cathedral Plaza in San Cristobal de las Casas. The Chiapas government agreed to legalize certain disputed lands occupied by OCEZ members and to study the possibility of legalizing others. It also agreed to give OCEZ 1,150,000 pesos for a number of "productive projects," with which its communities can start small businesses. Another meeting on the agrarian issues will take place on January 13, 2010. The state government also agreed to pay lifetime pensions to the widows of the two men killed in the accident that occurred while they were attempting to stop the detention of Jose Manuel Chema Hernandez Martinez. It also agreed to pay disability benefits to a man who was paralyzed as a result of that same accident, and to reimburse OCEZ for the truck that was in the accident and its expenses for maintaining the sit-in.
7. Chiapas State Congress Passes Anti-Abortion Law - The local Chiapas Congress approved the "Law of Responsible Paternity," which grants rights to persons from the moment of their conception, and revokes the penalty of prison against women that abort but imposes psychological treatment on them "to reaffirm the values of maternity." The legislation was approved over strong protest by women's rights organizations. The bill now goes to the 118 municipalities for approval as it involves a change to the state Constitution.
In Other Parts of Mexico...
1. Mexico City Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage - Gay activists in Mexico City received a Christmas present from Mexico City's Congress. It approved legislation granting same-sex couples the right to marry. The law sets a precedent in Mexico and will also give gay couples the right to adopt children. The law is scheduled to take effect in March. There is currently an intense backlash against the legislation led by the Catholic Church.
2. Charges Against APPO Member in Brad Will Murder Reversed - A district court judge in Oaxaca granted a protective order to Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno, an APPO member accused of the murder of Indymedia jounalist Brad Will. This means that Martinez Moreno will be released from prison if the Attorney Generak of the Republic does not appeal within the next ten days. The judge found a lack of evidence against the accused and absolved him of the crime.
3. Lack of Health Care Cited in Guerrero Deaths - The Guerrero Network of Civil Human Rights Organisms reported that 22 people died in an indigenous region of the state in the last two months because of a lack of adequate health care facilities. 46 communities do not have even a casa de salud and those that have one lack medicines. Clinics in the region do not have doctors or nurses 24-7, and some clinics completely lack doctors. This same situation is also found in rural Chiapas. It is one of the first problems the Zapatistas began to address and advance in. It is why the Chiapas Support Committee's Pharmacy Warehouse Project, and others like it, are so important. __________________________________________________
Compiled monthly by the Chiapas Support Committee.
The primary sources for our information are: La Jornada, Enlace Zapatista and the Fray Bartolome de las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba).
We encourage folks to distribute this information widely, but please include our name and contact information in the distribution. Gracias/Thanks.
-- Ofelia Uya Rivas
Solidarity in Dignified Rage
O'odham VOICE Against the WALL
O'odham Rights Cultural & Environmental Justice Coalition
http://www.solidarity-project.org/

Don't Look At This! CIA DRONE PROTEST

FACEBOOK DELETES INVITE TO CIA DRONE PROTEST
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Cindy Sheehan said Facebook deleted an invitation to the CIA Drone Protest in Langley, Virginia, scheduled for Jan. 16, 2010. Sheehan said "the CIA is becoming overly involved in terrorizing populations." Sheehan joins a powerhouse of women activists to lead the CIA Drone Protest, including Cynthia McKinney, Ann Wright, Kathy Kelly and Debra Sweet.
"We had an event with over 250 confirmed guests and it was deleted by Facebook," Sheehan said. "We are going to the source of one of the big problems in the US Empire -- the CIA -- to protest its extra-judicial killings of people in Pakistan. We are against the use of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and manned aerial vehicles, but we believe that it is very dangerous that the CIA is becoming overly involved in terrorizing populations," Sheehan said.
The protest will focus on the civilian deaths from drones in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and the role of private contract mercenaries in the killing of civilians, carried out in the name of the US.
"Recently, it has been reported in mainstream media that the United States Central Intelligence Agency has been working in cooperation with Private Military Contractors (PMCs--also known as mercenaries) in waging secret operations in utilizing drone attacks. Under this veil of secrecy it can only be assumed that impunity for war crimes is being actively cultivated within the highest level of Department of Defense operations, via proxy by the Central Intelligence Agency (which then sub-contracts out the directives)" Sheehan said in a statement.
Meanwhile, at the US borders of Mexico and Canada, the US has expanded the use of dangerous and expensive drones. Even though a drone crashed near Nogales, Arizona, on April 25, 2006, the US has expanded drones at the borders without regard for the safety of people on the ground or the expense.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is the latest profiteer in the border xenophobia business, with its new $13.5 million dollar drone, the US said in an announcement that the drones would also patrol off the coast of Florida beginning this month. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems also built the $6.5 million dollar drone that crashed near Nogales, a crash so loud that residents thought a bomb had exploded.
Earlier, the US announced that the drones (killing civilians and used for rogue assassinations, in Iraq and Afghanistan) were controlled by Airforce soldiers at Davis Monthan Airforce Base in Tucson. The announcement came at the same time that the FBI announced that so many military soldiers, police officers, prison guards, etc., wanted to smuggle cocaine for cash, that the FBI sting, Operation Lively Green, had to be shut down. Airforce officers were among about 100 military personnel, including high school military recruiters in Tucson, charged with smuggling cocaine from Nogales, Arizona, to Phoenix.
The Seattle Times, published a photo of the remote control killing computers in Tucson with this caption in December: "Members of the 214th Reconnaissance Group fly a Predator aircraft drone in support of ground troops in Iraq and Afghanistan from Davis-Monthan Air Base in Tucson, Ariz., earlier this year. The CIA's covert program uses drones over Pakistan." See photo and read more about remote controlled killing from Tucson: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2010420031_ciadrones04.html
Read more about military personnel arrested at the Arizona border for smuggling drugs: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=ie7&q=Operation+Lively+Green&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7TSHB_enUS341US341
FIRST PROTEST AGAINST CIA DRONE ATTACKS COMING TO LANGLEY, VIRGINIA
From Cindy Sheehan:
On January 16th, 2010 from 1 pm to 4 pm activists will descend upon the home of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia to protest the immoral, illegal, and inhumane use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs--also known as drones).
Speaking at this event will be:- Cindy Sheehan (world renowned U.S. anti-war/peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee)
- Cynthia McKinney (former six term member of the U.S. House of Representatives and former Green Party candidate for President of the United States)
- Ann Wright (retired United States Army colonel and retired official of the U.S. State Department, known for her outspoken opposition to the Iraq War. She is most noted for having been one of three State Department officials to publicly resign in direct protest of the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.)
- Kathy Kelly (U.S. peace activist, pacifist and author, a three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, one of the founding members of Voices in the Wilderness, and currently a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence)
- Debra Sweet (Brooklyn-based director of World Can't Wait)
- Bruce Gagnon (coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space)
- Joshua Smith (anti-war/peace activist, analyst and coordinator)
- David Rovics (musician)
By some reports the current implementation and planned operational expansion of the strike-capable drone programs in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan have to date yielded up to 33% civilian (non-combatant) deaths. To any sane and honorable person this statistic alone should prove that the "actionable intelligence" and robotic delivery vehicle do not yield a proper basis and/or method for credible attack. The primary and proven case against drone attacks is that they pose a public danger that can only be deemed as indiscriminate bombing. On the day of the event, activists will demand that the United States and its allies adhere to the protection of civilians (non-combatants) in international armed conflicts in accordance with the multiple existing conventions, protocols and customary international laws. These same activists will, of course, also demand an end to the wars and occupations currently under way and an immediate withdrawal of all troops and contractors.Drones operate in the theater of war by being fueled and maintained at airbases within their locale but which are remotely piloted via satellite connected ground control stations half-way around the world and from an environment disassociated with any human connection to reality of their actions. The psychological aspect of this endeavor will ultimately create a false sense that war is easier to condone, safer to conduct and more acceptable in U.S. public and political opinion to initiate.Recently, it has been reported in mainstream media that the United States Central Intelligence Agency has been working in cooperation with Private Military Contractors (PMCs--also known as "mercenaries") in waging secret operations in utilizing drone attacks. Under this veil secrecy it can only be assumed that impunity for war crimes is being actively cultivated within the highest level of Department of Defense operations via proxy by the Central Intelligence Agency (which then sub-contracts out the directives).The most well known drone is the propeller driven Predator A (MQ-1). This drone began as merely a streaming video reconnaissance tool but was soon armed with Hellfire missiles. The United States Military then upgraded the entire drone arsenal with what has become a an even more ruthless killer--the Predator B "Reaper" (MQ-9). With millions upon millions, of U.S. taxpayer funded dollars the Reaper became higher, faster and strong with increased size and fuel capacity, quicker engagement via a turbo-prop engine and a larger weapons payload/assortment. The Reaper is seemingly a "steroid raged monster" that cowardly stalks it's prey. The next evolution is the Predator C "Avenger" which will employ stealth design/materials, jet engine and highly advanced optics systems.Within the oration of the activists at this event the most frightening aspect of future drone programs will be explained and spelled out to attendees and to the press. The three most notable facts are (1) that drone programs currently under development will soon yield a series of UAV aircraft that will operate in a fully autonomous mode (meaning that no human will be controlling the craft remotely), (2) that the UAV program is destined to become the primary type of air power for the U.S. military which will also be tasked with the ability to carry out nuclear strikes, and (3) the use of drones will morph into rapid and various domestic roles as well (operating in, around and over cities of the United States)..Comment on Cindy Sheehan's Facebook page: Al Qaeda is based in Langley, Virginia.
President Obama orders drone attacks in Pakistan
President Obama orders drone attacks in Pakistan
Drone photos:
http://www.cindysheehanssoapbox.com/peacePage.html

Quotes of the Decade: Lewis and Clark and Genocide

Quotes from 'Lewis and Clark Genocide Re-enactors Told to Turn Around'

On the banks of the Missouri, Lakota, Ponca and Kiowa told of the genocide that Lewis and Clark heralded

Lewis and Clark genocide re-enactors told to halt
Lewis and Clark opened the door to the holocaust of the West

UN Observer and International Report
Brenda Norrell
CHAMBERLAIN, S.D. (Sept. 18, 2004) -- The American lie of Lewis and
Clark unraveled as Lakota, Ponca, Kiowa and Dine' told re-enactors to
turn back downriver or face the consequences.

"What they wrote down was a blueprint for the genocide of my people.
You are re-enacting something ugly, evil and hateful," Carter Camp,
Ponca, told the Discovery Expedition camped on the Missouri River.

On Saturday, an Indian delegation of elders, supported by young
warriors, gave the expedition a stern warning. If they did not turn
around, they would call on all Indians who are not assimilated,
colonized and conquered to join them and stop the expedition.

"You are re-enacting the coming of death to our people," Camp told the
expedition, while seated in a circle with Indian elders and Lewis and
Clark re-enactors, on the banks of the Missouri River. "You are re-enacting genocide."

Deb White Plume of Pine Ridge gave the expedition a symbolic blanket
of small pox. Another Lakota woman from Pine Ridge said she carries
the DNA of the Lakota women who survived the slaughters that Lewis and
Clark opened the door to. She said she is prepared to die for this
cause.

"I believe in armed struggle," Wicahpi Wakia Wi of Pine Ridge said.
"The act of genocide stops here. We are tired of living poor. We are
not afraid to die. I am willing to die." She told them they would not proceed up the river. "You are not going on. I will organize every sister from here to Oregon to stop you."

Lakota elder Floyd Hand, among four bands of Lakota here, told the
expedition, "We are the descendants of Red Cloud and Crazy Horse."
"I did not come here in peace."

Hand said they would not smoke the pipe today and if the expedition
continues up the Missouri River, the families of the expedition
members would suffer the spiritual consequences of small pox. Referring to the tribal governments who welcomed the expedition, Hand said those tribal governments reflect the same type thinking as the re-enactors and are not the voice of the grassroots people.

"The tribal governments are not a voice for us. They are imitating us,
like you are imitating Lewis and Clark."

"We want you to turn around and go home," Alex White Plume, Lakota>from Pine Ridge, told the expedition White Plume said Lakota are here on this land for a reason. "We were put here by the spirits." He said the Lakota never lost their language or ceremonies and now they are making these requests: Lakota >want their territory back, their treaties to be honored and to be able to continue their healing ways.

White Plume said many Indian people have become assimilated and
colonized. "We pray for our own colonized people. We say they are in a prison in the white man's world." White Plume said there was no point in the expedition coming here. "All you did was open up these old wounds."

Carter Camp warned the expedition to halt or they would be stopped. He
said the expedition has been told lies and are spreading lies. Lewis and Clark are apart of the American lie. "They had no honor. They came with the American lie. They murdered 60 million people." Camp said Lewis and Clark said they came in peace. Referring to their costumes, Camp said, "You guys probably believe that lie. That is why you are dressed so funny today."

He said Lewis and Clark knew what happened to Indians in the eastern
part of the country and they knew that the missionaries followed the
soldiers. And it was the missionaries who left his people as remnants,
homeless in the streets. Camp said the young warriors would not be as patient as the elders seated in the circle. He also questioned whether the re-enactors had asked permission of the grassroots Indian people to come onto their territory."You chose to come amongst us without permission."
Camp said Sacagawea was a woman struggling to return home. "We feel
sorry for that woman. We don't like the way she was treated." Camp said Indians here did not like the first Lewis and Clark and they sure don't like the second ones. "Take those silly clothes off and come back dressed like a normal human being. Don't come here to tell me what your grandfather did to my grandfather."Referring to the re-enactors "silly clothes," Camp said of the Natives who came, "This is the way our people dress everyday. We are not trying to play a game."

"Go home and try to re-enact some truth for the rest of your life."
Alex White Plume said all that is good is being destroyed on the Earth
because of actions like these. "Our people are dying because our water is no good," he said, adding that the wolves and bears are disappearing from the territory. Lakotas have to pay fees to go the Black Hills to pray.
"Today I can not even go up to the Black Hills to worship. We believe
everyone should have access to spirituality." He said buffalo were once the basis of the ecosystem. Now, he said,"The whole West is drying up.
"The Earth should be a priority and not your own personal needs."
Referring to the red, white and blue flag flying over one of the
expedition's three boats docked on the Missouri River, White Plume
said, "We want that flag taken down. We honor that flag because we won it at the Little Big Horn." He said the flag could be later given back, if their treaty was honored and sacred lands preserved."We would like to ask you to turn around and not to proceed into our territory. We didn't bring our bows and arrows, but we will continue to harass you."

Alfred Bone Shirt of Rosebud told the expedition, "This is disgusting.
This is a slap in the face."Bone Shirt said the Lakota are a people who never quit fighting for what they believe in. "If you decide to go up river, it is bad, bad for you and bad for your families." Bone Shirt listed the town of Chamberlain in a long list of racist South Dakota towns. He described the testimony of the Indian Child Welfare Act on KILI Radio the previous day, testimony of Lakota children being taken away in large numbers and given to non-Indian families. "Our prisons are full, our children are being taken away." Pointing out the absurdity of the re-enactment, Bone Shirt asked if there would be a re-enactment of Bush and Cheney invading Iraq. " If you go up this river, we have good warriors who can shoot arrows. Bone Shirt was ready for action.

"Let's sink some of those boats out here." Bone Shirt pointed out that the Indian people knew what the re-enactors were thinking. "When we leave, they will laugh behind our backs." And Bone Shirt said Indians here know this type of racism. "The state of South Dakota is the most racist state and South Dakota condones this kind of behavior. We want you to know, it has to end here."

Russell Means said if the expedition continues up the river, the Blackfeet are waiting for them. Means said Lewis and Clark, like the myth of Columbus, are apart of the great American lie. And there are many parts to the great American lie. "Even the casino Indians are not rich, that is another falsehood. They don't ever see cash," Means said, adding that the money goes to investors and also to the state, which is illegal.
Means said Indians can't even start a business on tribal land without
waiting an average of eight years, and then it is only if the
paperwork isn't lost. "What you are perpetuating is part of the big lie," Means told the re-enactors. Means said Indians have 40 percent of the nation's natural resources on their lands, yet they are kept in concentration camps called reservations and not allowed to participate.

"This is our river," Means said of the Missouri River running past. He
pointed out the water is being used by farmers, cities and power
plants without the permission of Indian people. "They don't honor anything. This is an insult to our integrity." While there is no Bureau of Irish Affairs or Bureau of other groups of peoples' affairs, the Bureau of Indian Affairs remains an instrument of genocide. On Pine Ridge, the average lifespan is 44 years. "We are middle-aged at 22."

As Indians arrived at American Creek Marina bay on the river, there
were three police and Sheriff units waiting at the entrance. Later, seated in the circle, Hand told the group there was no need for the police to be sneaking in the bushes and taking photos; they could do it in the open.

"That is what the federal government does." Hand said white people are always looking for identity and always taking. He told the re-enactors to find out who they are and live who they are.

Peyton "Bud" Clark, great, great, great-grandson of William Clark,
thanked them for being open and candid. "We will be honest with you."
He said the expedition was called a commemoration because it was not a
celebration. Clark said people in the eastern United States know nothing about Indian people and it is nearly impossible to go to a library and find
out any truth about American Indians. Clark said he saw the expedition
as a way of listening to Indian people along the river. "What we did was create a catalyst for open and honest dialogue for the healing to begin," Clark said. "All you need to have is an open mind and an open heart and engage in an open and honest dialogue." Clark was among 22 re-enactors traveling on the river with a keelboat and two large wooden pirogue canoes, with backup support of RVs. Clark said their "funny clothes" cost a lot of money.

Although Clark said the re-enactors were volunteers and were not paid, Lakota and Ponca said white people never do anything without being
paid. They pointed out the expedition had received $85 million in
funds, while the Lakota, the poorest of people, had to pay their own
way here to stop them.

Responding to comments by re-enactors who defended the expedition as a
means of education, Camp asked, "Would it be all right if these guys
were dressed in sheets like the Ku Klux Klan? "Do you know that Clark would not free his slaves?"

Native women told the expedition that they carry the DNA of the survivors of the slaughters that Lewis and Clark opened the door to and the diseases they brought.

Ahmbaska, among the Native youths, spoke of the tribes who had become
extinct, their languages and cultures lost forever, and the women and
babies murdered by the U.S. military. "They stomped their heads to save bullets." Speaking directly to the re-enactors, he said, "This is not a show, this is our hearts." His people, the Missouri, were exiled to
Oklahoma. "My people have never seen this Missouri River which was
named after us." Now, he said, on Rosebud, people are dying from the whopping cough. Lewis and Clark were the beginning of the end in the West.
"They came and they took and they conquered. That is what you are
re-enacting," he said.

Deb White Plume said for Lakota, halting the expedition is a spiritual
act. She reminded the expedition of the diseases brought by the
invaders. She presented Clark with a blanket and said, "Small pox. Have it
back." Clark accepted the blanket, a symbol of small pox, cautiously.
Deb White Plume chastised Clark and the other re-enactors for the tone
they addressed the Indians present with. "You are patronizing us, you
are condescending to us." She said their tone of voice said that they
were going on up the river no matter what.

"You hurt us. We don't want you here." White Plume said she has only two children because she was sterilized against her wishes. "I have two sons because your government sterilized me.Your government fought my family with guns and I survived and I am here to tell you about it." She said Lewis and Clark and those that followed "were the original terrorists on this continent."

Pointing out they were surrounded by law enforcement here, she said,
police always surround Lakota. She said to the expedition, "You are here with no respect." White Plume said they could not allow the expedition to continue up the river to their sacred Sun Dance grounds.

Navajo Filmmaker Arlene Bowman: Avatar Review from an Indigenous/Dine' Perspective

 Film Review of AVATAR from an Indigenous/Dine' Perspective

When will white men stop making guilt movies about Indians?

By Arlene Bowman, Dine' filmmaker

Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Viewed the AVATAR December 29, 09 at the local theatre for $10.00 Canadian dollars. I liked the animated effects a lot, but not the story line of the film, written and directed by James Cameron. The film review When Will White Men Stop Making Movies like Avatar points out, "whites need to stop remaking the white guilt story, which is a sneaky way of turning every story about people of color into a story about being white. Speaking as a white person, I don't need to hear more about my own racial experience. I'd like to watch some movies about people of color (ahem, aliens), from the perspective of that group, without injecting a random white (erm, human) character to explain everything to me. (1)"

These are surprising comments because I rarely hear white people express so open a point-of-view. Few people get it; also, at the same time say it. I am use to conservative commentaries or the dah factor, people who do not get it. The plot story line generally is similar to the DANCES WITH WOLVES film, how a white guy because he likes the indigenous people, in this example, the Na'vi people, decides to save them and does. Whoop de doo! Do we need another white character to save us?

The only redeeming quality of DANCES WITH WOLVES is that it featured all Native American and First Nation actors in lead roles, but the story was stereotyped. How many times will Indigenous people play the frozen image of Plains culture and regalia from the late 1800s as in many Hollywood westerns; for example, Winchester '73 made in 1950. Hey! Indigenous people from North America are CONTEMPORARY as the rest of world! DANCES WITH WOLVES represented a vehicle for the producer, Kevin Costner, which put him on the map as a feature film maker.

As the essay pointed out, Jake Sully has choices. Jake can be either or: a white guy or be apart of the Na'vi people where as the Na'vi people do not have a choice. Indigenous people for example, were born with the way they look, the language they speak or the culture they grew up in; also, Indigenous peoples were the first peoples who lived in North America before any peoples travelled over. No one discovered us. Indigenous people in the U.S. have lots of histories; for example, ever since the colonists planted themselves at Jamestown with their superior/ulterior motives to cash in on the natural commodities of tobacco where First Americans-Tsenacomoco and others lived, Native Americans have had to stand up and fight a repressed control freak colonial mentality forever it seems passed from generation to generation, thickened within white North America because the U.S. thinks they own us. This is an illustration of A SINGLE ISSUE. AT PRESENT TIME, there are MANY issues the mainstream press does not cover or that editors censor out such as the events about what really goes on between Homeland Security and the Tohono O'odham who live on the US Arizona/Mexican border, which the general public is unaware. Why is it not covered? It is just another way to manipulate information unscrupulously about Native Americans by not informing the public.

It is so easy for Sully to just vacate if he decided not to help out anymore. Of course, First Nations and Native Americans need help from non Native people who empathize with their issues or causes, but to have to rehash this same ole story again in a mainstream film is unconvincing. Tell it like it is. This is a call out: Indigenous peoples create and use the animation techniques presented within AVATAR; also, write/make the drama/comedy, docu dramas and others to portray experiences to change and turn around stories such as Avatar; however, Indigenous independent cinema and video makers have created cinema/videos since the 70's. When will change happen among ourselves and the rest of the public?? How to change? Own and run a cable network, but how long will that take? Hierarchies exist among Indigenous filmmakers. Therefore, to share information rather than to compete and isolate with each other. There's just no giving up at this point for Indigenous people and filmmakers to change the media. So far at present the internet is an answer.

1. Annalee Newitz, "When Will White Men Stop Making Movies like Avatar," http://www.facebook.com/l/19a59;io9.com/5422666/when-will-white-people-stop-making-movies-like-avatarebook.com/l/19a59;io9.com/5422666/when-will-white-people-stop-making-movies-like-avatar, December 2009.
--------------------
Arlene Bowman

Arlene Bowman is Dine' (Navajo) and was born on the Navajo Nation and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. She now lives in Vancouver. She completed her master's degree in film at the University of California at Los Angeles.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Arlene Bowman is a Dine' filmmaker whose current mini digital video project is called THE GRAFFITI, a 30 minute experimental drama. Literally she wore many hats to make THE GRAFFITI. Other major films/videos include: 86’ THE NAVAJO TALKING PICTURE, 94’ (see photo) SONG JOURNEY and 94’ WOMEN AND MEN ARE GOOD DANCERS. She wants to write/make more drama projects and documentaries the rest of her life, which she has several ideas about. She aspires to create in the future a conference for Indigenous women filmmakers; also, a non-profit organization for Indigenous and low-come filmmakers.
SYNOPSIS of The Graffiti
Although Jean Biah Lee, an Anishinabe First Nations woman is unsuccessful to change the racism of two white, redneck males who have scribbled graffiti around Vancouver aimed at Indian people, she rebounds from the injustice by writing about it.