Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Brave students are walking from Miami to Washington, D.C. to demand our nation’s leaders fix our failed immigration system. They have just entered the Deep South and have encountered extreme anti-immigrant sentiment — including the Ku Klux Klan. Now more than ever they need our support so they know they’re not alone.
http://trail2010.org/action/?ref_by=2517-1401
Along the "Trail of Dreams,” their 1,500 mile walk, they will call on our nation’s leaders to ensure that young people like themselves, and all immigrants, have the chance to realize their potential and fully participate in society.
These students are taking a courageous stand on behalf of millions of others who suffer under our failed immigration system. Please stand with them as they walk through hostile territory and take their message to Washington.
http://trail2010.org/action/?ref_by=2517-1401
Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights
February 26, 2010
February 25, 2010
O'odham Ofelia Rivas Imprisoned in Mexico
O'odham Ofelia Rivas imprisoned for four days in southern Chiapas while supporting Zapatistas
By Brenda Norrell
By Brenda Norrell
Human Rights Editor
UN OBSERVER and International Report
UN OBSERVER and International Report
Photo: Tapachula prison in Chiapas near Guatemalan border.
TUCSON -- O'odham human rights activist Ofelia Rivas was imprisoned in southern Chiapas for four days and crossed safely onto O'odham lands Wednesday night.
"There are inhumane border policies all across the world. My personal experience at home dealing with the Border Patrol helped me deal with confinement in the prison cell," Rivas said after crossing the border to her home.
Rivas was imprisoned in the Tapachula Immigration Prison in southern Chiapas near the Guatemalan border on false charges of crossing the border of Guatemala without documents. Rivas, however, had not crossed into Guatemala.
"Throughout our travel, by plane and bus, federal authorities reviewed my documents and allowed me to pass without problems. The federal police in Tapachula saw that an American was traveling with an Indigenous woman and arrested us.
"They wouldn't talk to me directly because I don't speak Spanish," said Rivas, who speaks O'odham and English.
Rivas was not provided with a translator when charged or during the four days she was imprisoned. "I signed papers without a translator when I was released. I still don't know what I was charged with."
"I was not read any rights," Rivas said. "When they were doing the paperwork, they said we were not being arrested. When we got to the detention center, they said 'You're not being arrested, you're not in handcuffs.'"
However, she had been arrested. She was taken to her cell, which she shared with a family from Colombia, which included a four-month-old baby and nine-month-old baby. They had been there for two months.
"What struck me was the powerful Somalian women that had walked across Central America and were in prison for two months in Panama. They have been waiting in Chiapas for two months for refugee status to be released to the United States. One Somalian woman said, 'I lost all my family, my mother, my father, my brothers, my sisters, all killed in front of me. I only know of one uncle who survived.'"
"The strength of those women, everyday they sat together and sang their songs and told their stories, and it kept us all together. We were a community. We all took care of the babies and watched out for the rest of the children to make sure they ate when it was time to eat."
Rivas became ill from the chemicals used for cleaning the prison, which was done at night when she was locked in her cell. One morning, she felt too ill to get out of bed.
"I couldn't get up, but the women insisted that I get up and go eat."
The women's and men's cells were separated only by partitions and the noise was loud throughout the night.
At night, she could hear a man screaming in English and rattling his cell gate, "Get me out of here! Get me out of here!" he would scream, yelling for a bathroom.
"It was the jungle by the sea, so it was hot and sticky and there were mosquitoes."
"Everyone is sitting there waiting for papers. Someone somewhere is delaying those everyday."
After four days of imprisonment, and the intervention of the American Embassy in Mexico City and family members in the United States, Rivas and her traveling companion were released.
"We cancelled the rest of our trip and came directly home, since we don't know what we signed." "This severe enforcement of borders is because of the militarization of the Zapatista communities which continue to face threats."
"My entire trip was to build solidarity with the Zapatistas and to tell the story of the O'odham on the border. We were received with great respect and were honored to be invited to the communities to share our story. They made a statement to acknowledge our story and that our struggles are the same. They said they were honored to hear from the traditional O'odham people."
Ofelia Rivas is founder of O'odham Voice Against the Wall. She lives on Tohono O'odham land on the US/Mexico border and exposes the human rights abuses of the US Border Patrol and ongoing militarization of the border and O'odham land. She exposed the digging up of O'odham ancestors' graves by Boeing during construction of the border wall in Arizona. She has been held at gunpoint, harassed, threatened and detained by the US Border Patrol on O'odham land in Arizona.
TUCSON -- O'odham human rights activist Ofelia Rivas was imprisoned in southern Chiapas for four days and crossed safely onto O'odham lands Wednesday night.
"There are inhumane border policies all across the world. My personal experience at home dealing with the Border Patrol helped me deal with confinement in the prison cell," Rivas said after crossing the border to her home.
Rivas was imprisoned in the Tapachula Immigration Prison in southern Chiapas near the Guatemalan border on false charges of crossing the border of Guatemala without documents. Rivas, however, had not crossed into Guatemala.
"Throughout our travel, by plane and bus, federal authorities reviewed my documents and allowed me to pass without problems. The federal police in Tapachula saw that an American was traveling with an Indigenous woman and arrested us.
"They wouldn't talk to me directly because I don't speak Spanish," said Rivas, who speaks O'odham and English.
Rivas was not provided with a translator when charged or during the four days she was imprisoned. "I signed papers without a translator when I was released. I still don't know what I was charged with."
"I was not read any rights," Rivas said. "When they were doing the paperwork, they said we were not being arrested. When we got to the detention center, they said 'You're not being arrested, you're not in handcuffs.'"
However, she had been arrested. She was taken to her cell, which she shared with a family from Colombia, which included a four-month-old baby and nine-month-old baby. They had been there for two months.
"What struck me was the powerful Somalian women that had walked across Central America and were in prison for two months in Panama. They have been waiting in Chiapas for two months for refugee status to be released to the United States. One Somalian woman said, 'I lost all my family, my mother, my father, my brothers, my sisters, all killed in front of me. I only know of one uncle who survived.'"
"The strength of those women, everyday they sat together and sang their songs and told their stories, and it kept us all together. We were a community. We all took care of the babies and watched out for the rest of the children to make sure they ate when it was time to eat."
Rivas became ill from the chemicals used for cleaning the prison, which was done at night when she was locked in her cell. One morning, she felt too ill to get out of bed.
"I couldn't get up, but the women insisted that I get up and go eat."
The women's and men's cells were separated only by partitions and the noise was loud throughout the night.
At night, she could hear a man screaming in English and rattling his cell gate, "Get me out of here! Get me out of here!" he would scream, yelling for a bathroom.
"It was the jungle by the sea, so it was hot and sticky and there were mosquitoes."
"Everyone is sitting there waiting for papers. Someone somewhere is delaying those everyday."
After four days of imprisonment, and the intervention of the American Embassy in Mexico City and family members in the United States, Rivas and her traveling companion were released.
"We cancelled the rest of our trip and came directly home, since we don't know what we signed." "This severe enforcement of borders is because of the militarization of the Zapatista communities which continue to face threats."
"My entire trip was to build solidarity with the Zapatistas and to tell the story of the O'odham on the border. We were received with great respect and were honored to be invited to the communities to share our story. They made a statement to acknowledge our story and that our struggles are the same. They said they were honored to hear from the traditional O'odham people."
Ofelia Rivas is founder of O'odham Voice Against the Wall. She lives on Tohono O'odham land on the US/Mexico border and exposes the human rights abuses of the US Border Patrol and ongoing militarization of the border and O'odham land. She exposed the digging up of O'odham ancestors' graves by Boeing during construction of the border wall in Arizona. She has been held at gunpoint, harassed, threatened and detained by the US Border Patrol on O'odham land in Arizona.
Read more at Censored News
February 24, 2010
Coal Plant Fails in Penn., Navajos Hope Desert Rock is Next
COAL PLANT FAILS IN PENNSYLVANIA COAL COUNTRY
Health Risks and Controversy Remain At Sites on Navajo Nation And Nevada
Press statement
KARTHAUS, Penn. – An international energy developer financed by Wall Street equity firm The Blackstone Group has abandoned plans for a proposed 300-megawatt waste-coal power plant in rural Pennsylvania.
Sithe Global, which is also behind the proposed Toquop coal plant in Nevada and the Desert Rock plant on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico, announced Tuesday it was canceling its proposed $600 million River Hill plant near Karthaus, Penn. due to financing difficulties.
Progress on Sithe’s other two coal projects has also stalled as a result of permitting and financing difficulties and intense opposition from local communities who say the potential harm to their air, water and health far outweighs any economic benefits from the plants.
“We have suspected for a long time that the River Hill project was very tenuous at best,” said Randy Francisco, of the Sierra Club in Pennsylvania. “It says a lot about the viability of these dirty coal plant proposals when they can’t get taxpayer bailouts and they can’t make them pencil out even with the backing of a company with pockets as deep as Blackstone’s.”
Anna Frazier, coordinator of the Navajo group Diné CARE, said that Sithe’s proposed Desert Rock plant is also on equally shaky ground after suffering one setback after another over the past year. Desert Rock’s pollution permit was withdrawn by the EPA in Septermber, a permit for the transmission right-of-way needed to get the power to Southwest markets was overturned earlier in 2009, and the Department of Energy denied Sithe a request for $450 million in federal stimulus dollars late last year.
“The Navajo communities of Northwest New Mexico have always been opposed to Desert Rock, so we are encouraged by the cancellation of the River Hill project,” said Frazier. “In an area that is already under siege by pollution from fossil-fuel development, Desert Rock has been a six-year black hole that has wasted millions of dollars that could have been used to bring clean-energy projects to the Four Corners region.”
Sithe’s proposed Toquop plant near Mesquite, Nev., originally proposed as a natural gas-fired plant, also has been on the drawing board for years but still does not have a pollution permit or an approved BLM environmental impact analysis, and last year the project lost rights to water it needs for to operate.
“We’ve been trying to persuade Sithe for years to focus on developing Nevada’s vast solar and wind resources instead of outdated and dirty coal,” said Mesquite Mayor Susan Holecheck. “Hopefully, Sithe’s decision to abandon the Pennsylvania plant is a signal that we can soon put the nail in Toquop’s coffin, too, and get it out of the way for clean-energy jobs and economic development in Nevada.”
Tim Wagner
Program Director
Resource Media
150 S. 600 E. Suite 2B
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
Office: 801-364-1668
Mobile: 801-502-5450
www.resource-media.org
Health Risks and Controversy Remain At Sites on Navajo Nation And Nevada
Press statement
KARTHAUS, Penn. – An international energy developer financed by Wall Street equity firm The Blackstone Group has abandoned plans for a proposed 300-megawatt waste-coal power plant in rural Pennsylvania.
Sithe Global, which is also behind the proposed Toquop coal plant in Nevada and the Desert Rock plant on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico, announced Tuesday it was canceling its proposed $600 million River Hill plant near Karthaus, Penn. due to financing difficulties.
Progress on Sithe’s other two coal projects has also stalled as a result of permitting and financing difficulties and intense opposition from local communities who say the potential harm to their air, water and health far outweighs any economic benefits from the plants.
“We have suspected for a long time that the River Hill project was very tenuous at best,” said Randy Francisco, of the Sierra Club in Pennsylvania. “It says a lot about the viability of these dirty coal plant proposals when they can’t get taxpayer bailouts and they can’t make them pencil out even with the backing of a company with pockets as deep as Blackstone’s.”
Anna Frazier, coordinator of the Navajo group Diné CARE, said that Sithe’s proposed Desert Rock plant is also on equally shaky ground after suffering one setback after another over the past year. Desert Rock’s pollution permit was withdrawn by the EPA in Septermber, a permit for the transmission right-of-way needed to get the power to Southwest markets was overturned earlier in 2009, and the Department of Energy denied Sithe a request for $450 million in federal stimulus dollars late last year.
“The Navajo communities of Northwest New Mexico have always been opposed to Desert Rock, so we are encouraged by the cancellation of the River Hill project,” said Frazier. “In an area that is already under siege by pollution from fossil-fuel development, Desert Rock has been a six-year black hole that has wasted millions of dollars that could have been used to bring clean-energy projects to the Four Corners region.”
Sithe’s proposed Toquop plant near Mesquite, Nev., originally proposed as a natural gas-fired plant, also has been on the drawing board for years but still does not have a pollution permit or an approved BLM environmental impact analysis, and last year the project lost rights to water it needs for to operate.
“We’ve been trying to persuade Sithe for years to focus on developing Nevada’s vast solar and wind resources instead of outdated and dirty coal,” said Mesquite Mayor Susan Holecheck. “Hopefully, Sithe’s decision to abandon the Pennsylvania plant is a signal that we can soon put the nail in Toquop’s coffin, too, and get it out of the way for clean-energy jobs and economic development in Nevada.”
Tim Wagner
Program Director
Resource Media
150 S. 600 E. Suite 2B
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
Office: 801-364-1668
Mobile: 801-502-5450
www.resource-media.org
Indigenous Peoples: Pollution and Diabetes
Bitter Sweet or Toxic?
Indigenous people, diabetes and the burden of pollution
Contamination of First Nations, Mohawk and O'odham lands linked to diabetes
By John Schertow
The Dominion
Excerpts:
WINNIPEG—Diabetes is now widely regarded as the 21st century epidemic. With some 284 million people currently diagnosed with the disease, it’s certainly no exaggeration—least of all for Indigenous people.
... There is growing evidence that diabetes is closely linked with our environment. More than a dozen studies have been published that show a connection between Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); carcinogenic hydrocarbons known as Dioxins; and the “violently deadly” synthetic pesticide, DDT and higher rates of the disease.
O'odham and Diabetes
The Tohono O’odham Nation’s experience bears a close resemblance to Grassy Narrows: the world’s highest rate of diabetes can be found in the southwest Arizona nation. According to Tribal health officials, nearly 70 per cent of the population of 28,000 has been diagnosed with the illness. The O’odham People make up the second largest Indigenous Nation in the United States.
Lori Riddle is a member of Aquimel O’odham Community and founder of the Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment (GRACE).
GRACE was instrumental in the 10 year struggle against a hazardous waste recycling plant that operated without full permits on O’odham land for decades. Owned by Romic Environmental Technologies Corporation, the plant continuously spewed effluents into the air until it was finally shut down in 2007.
The Romic plant was not the first contributor to the O’odham’s toxic burden, explained Riddle. Looking back to her childhood, she recalled: “For nearly a year, [when] a plane would go over our heads, you could see the mist. We never thought to cover our water. The chemicals just took over and they became a part of us.”
From the early 1950s until the late 60s, cotton farmers in the Gila River watershed routinely sprayed DDT onto their crops to protect them from bollworms. According to the Agency of Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), each and every year, the farmers used roughly Twenty-three pounds of DDT per acre.
In 1969, the State of Arizona banned the use of DDT; by this time the river was gravely contaminated. According to the ATSDR, farmers then switched to Toxaphene, a substitute for DDT—until it was banned by the US government in 1990.
Because of these chemicals, Riddle explains, the O’odham were forced to abandon their traditional foods and adopt a western diet. Farms also went into a recession, forcing many families to leave their communities. Companies, such as Romic, began moving on to their territory, exasperating the situation. “It’s taken a toll on our quality of life,” she says. “I’ve cried myself to sleep.”
The O’odham are dealing with what Riddle terms “cluster symptoms” including miscarriages, arthritis in the spine, breathing problems, unexplainable skin rashes, and problems regenerating blood cells. This in addition to diabetes, which frequently leads to renal failure, blindness, heart disease, and amputations.
Read article ...
http://intercontinentalcry.org/indigenous-people-diabetes-and-the-burden-of-pollution/
.
Indigenous people, diabetes and the burden of pollution
Contamination of First Nations, Mohawk and O'odham lands linked to diabetes
By John Schertow
The Dominion
Excerpts:
WINNIPEG—Diabetes is now widely regarded as the 21st century epidemic. With some 284 million people currently diagnosed with the disease, it’s certainly no exaggeration—least of all for Indigenous people.
... There is growing evidence that diabetes is closely linked with our environment. More than a dozen studies have been published that show a connection between Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); carcinogenic hydrocarbons known as Dioxins; and the “violently deadly” synthetic pesticide, DDT and higher rates of the disease.
O'odham and Diabetes
The Tohono O’odham Nation’s experience bears a close resemblance to Grassy Narrows: the world’s highest rate of diabetes can be found in the southwest Arizona nation. According to Tribal health officials, nearly 70 per cent of the population of 28,000 has been diagnosed with the illness. The O’odham People make up the second largest Indigenous Nation in the United States.
Lori Riddle is a member of Aquimel O’odham Community and founder of the Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment (GRACE).
GRACE was instrumental in the 10 year struggle against a hazardous waste recycling plant that operated without full permits on O’odham land for decades. Owned by Romic Environmental Technologies Corporation, the plant continuously spewed effluents into the air until it was finally shut down in 2007.
The Romic plant was not the first contributor to the O’odham’s toxic burden, explained Riddle. Looking back to her childhood, she recalled: “For nearly a year, [when] a plane would go over our heads, you could see the mist. We never thought to cover our water. The chemicals just took over and they became a part of us.”
From the early 1950s until the late 60s, cotton farmers in the Gila River watershed routinely sprayed DDT onto their crops to protect them from bollworms. According to the Agency of Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), each and every year, the farmers used roughly Twenty-three pounds of DDT per acre.
In 1969, the State of Arizona banned the use of DDT; by this time the river was gravely contaminated. According to the ATSDR, farmers then switched to Toxaphene, a substitute for DDT—until it was banned by the US government in 1990.
Because of these chemicals, Riddle explains, the O’odham were forced to abandon their traditional foods and adopt a western diet. Farms also went into a recession, forcing many families to leave their communities. Companies, such as Romic, began moving on to their territory, exasperating the situation. “It’s taken a toll on our quality of life,” she says. “I’ve cried myself to sleep.”
The O’odham are dealing with what Riddle terms “cluster symptoms” including miscarriages, arthritis in the spine, breathing problems, unexplainable skin rashes, and problems regenerating blood cells. This in addition to diabetes, which frequently leads to renal failure, blindness, heart disease, and amputations.
Read article ...
http://intercontinentalcry.org/indigenous-people-diabetes-and-the-burden-of-pollution/
.
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