Derechos Humanos: Please support the efforts to demand that the University of Arizona divest from companies that profit off the human suffering of innocent victims of militarization.
March 12, 2010
Robert Shelton, President of the University of Arizona
Office of the President
Administration Building, Room 712
1401 E University Blvd
PO Box 210066
Tucson, Arizona 85721-0066
Dear President Shelton,
We are writing in solidarity and support of the University of Arizona Community for Human Right's campaign and our Palestinian brothers and sisters to ensure that the University of Arizona (UA) divest from Caterpillar and Motorola immediately. As you know, U.S. companies Caterpillar and Motorola participate and profit from the violations of international law and human rights as major players in the Israeli Apartheid and occupation of Palestinian territories (OPT).
CAT equipment has demolished thousands of homes, uprooted countless olive trees, and carved gaping holes in roads to make them impassable. In addition, CAT equipment and similar machines from other manufactures are used in the construction of settlement housing, segregated roads on expropriated land, and the annexation/apartheid barrier-all violations of international law.
Motorola Corporation also contributes to the occupier's control of the Palestinian population. Motorola's radar detection devices and thermal cameras protect illegal Israeli settlements; its 'Mountain Rose' secure cell phone communication system enhances the coordination and monitoring capabilities of Israeli's occupying forces; and Motorola's Wide Area Surveillance System (WASS), which was recently sold to an Israeli company, is used to monitor and maintain apartheid barrier. -- (Steadfast Hope: The Palestinian Quest for Just Peace, June 2009)
We urge the UA to recognize and take action against companies that enable apartheid through brutal military occupation. Until divestment from Caterpillar and Motorola occurs, the UA will continue to profit and participate from the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people, including their Israeli allies. Moreover, the UA will never meet its mission to "empower graduates to be leaders in solving complex societal problems," if action is not taken immediately.
Sincerely,
Coalición de Derechos Humanos
Tucson, Arizona
March 18, 2010
Northern Cheyenne 'Chiefs' Prophecy'
The Chiefs' Prophecy" by Leo Killsback, Northern Cheyenne, is among the award-winning films to be screened at the Haskell Indian Nations University American Indian Film Festival on March 26 and 27, 2010. Watch trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um3AQEhVQQA
Read more about the film festival at Censored News http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Non Violent Resistance: Ploughshares Activists Acquitted
NEW ZEALAND:
WAIHOPAI PLOUGHSHARES ACTIVISTS ACQUITTED ON ALL COUNTS BY TRIAL JURY
Adrian Leason, Father Peter Murnane and Sam Land – the three men who were charged with intentional damage and unlawful entry at Waihopai spy base – have today expressed their thanks to the jury, the judge, and the prosecution and defence lawyers.
At the conclusion of the trial, Father Peter, Sam and Adrian said they feel privileged to have helped uncover the true nature of the spy base. “Our actions in disabling the spy base and stopping the flow of information helped save lives in Iraq”, added Adrian.
“What has been humbling for us to realise is how our witness has impacted on so many people around the world and at home”, said Sam.
“We did not try to avoid the consequences of our actions, because we respect the rule of law although we do believe we are ultimately accountable to a higher authority. We damaged property at the spy base in order to save victims of war and torture. It's all about Jesus' command for us to treat all people as our brothers and sisters”, said Father Peter.
The jury heard that the Waihopai Echelon spy base is New Zealand's largest contribution to the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. The ongoing war has resulted in horrific war crimes, including more than one million dead Iraqi civilians, torture, and permanent poisoning of parts of Iraq by the use of depleted uranium munitions.
The jury also heard evidence from a former British Echelon intelligence analyst, Katherine Gunn. She blew the whistle on secret Echelon spying operations when she was instructed by the US National Security Agency to spy on United Nations Security Council members leading up to the US invasion in 2003.
Read more:
http://www.unobserver.com/
At the conclusion of the trial, Father Peter, Sam and Adrian said they feel privileged to have helped uncover the true nature of the spy base. “Our actions in disabling the spy base and stopping the flow of information helped save lives in Iraq”, added Adrian.
“What has been humbling for us to realise is how our witness has impacted on so many people around the world and at home”, said Sam.
“We did not try to avoid the consequences of our actions, because we respect the rule of law although we do believe we are ultimately accountable to a higher authority. We damaged property at the spy base in order to save victims of war and torture. It's all about Jesus' command for us to treat all people as our brothers and sisters”, said Father Peter.
The jury heard that the Waihopai Echelon spy base is New Zealand's largest contribution to the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. The ongoing war has resulted in horrific war crimes, including more than one million dead Iraqi civilians, torture, and permanent poisoning of parts of Iraq by the use of depleted uranium munitions.
The jury also heard evidence from a former British Echelon intelligence analyst, Katherine Gunn. She blew the whistle on secret Echelon spying operations when she was instructed by the US National Security Agency to spy on United Nations Security Council members leading up to the US invasion in 2003.
Read more:
http://www.unobserver.com/
Haskell American Indian Film Festvial
Stories 'N Motion American Indian Film Festival
Next Friday and Saturday
Photo from film: 'Video Letters from Prison'
Start Time: Friday, March 26, 2010 at 6:00pm
End Time: Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 11:00pm
Location: Haskell Auditorium, Haskell Indian Nations University, 155 Indian Avenue, Lawrence, Ks 66046
Friday March 26-6pm, showing of "Rez Bomb" with Q and A with Native Actor Russell Means approx. 7:30pm Haskell Auditorium
Saturday March 27-
1pm- Contrary Warrior- This recounts the life and work of Native American artist, activist, author and teacher, Adam Fortunate Eagle. Laurence M. Hauptman, the distinguished professor of history at SUNY New Paltz, best sums up the documentary’s subject: “Adam Fortunate Eagle is a prominent Native American artist, author and activist who has helped shape the modern American Indian world. Born on the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota, he attended the federal Indian boarding school at Pipestone Minnesota. In the 1950s he moved to California where he soon became a successful businessman, artist and leader of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Native American community."
End Time: Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 11:00pm
Location: Haskell Auditorium, Haskell Indian Nations University, 155 Indian Avenue, Lawrence, Ks 66046
Friday March 26-6pm, showing of "Rez Bomb" with Q and A with Native Actor Russell Means approx. 7:30pm Haskell Auditorium
Saturday March 27-
1pm- Contrary Warrior- This recounts the life and work of Native American artist, activist, author and teacher, Adam Fortunate Eagle. Laurence M. Hauptman, the distinguished professor of history at SUNY New Paltz, best sums up the documentary’s subject: “Adam Fortunate Eagle is a prominent Native American artist, author and activist who has helped shape the modern American Indian world. Born on the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota, he attended the federal Indian boarding school at Pipestone Minnesota. In the 1950s he moved to California where he soon became a successful businessman, artist and leader of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Native American community."
2:30- Video Letters from Prison- This movie follows the lives of three Oglala Lakota sisters as they reconnect with their incarcerated father via a series of video letters. The Poor Bear girls are not sure they even want to connect—but their mother, Cindy, helps them overcome reluctance and hurt to participate in the letters. The change in her girls is immediate and beautiful.
3:35- 5 Minute Film Flick
3:45-The Great American Footrace (With producers Dan Bigbee and Lily Shangreaux in attendance) Andy Payne, an Oklahoma Cherokee, was twenty years old when he decided to enter the 1928 Trans-Continental Foot Race. When asked why Andy said “I just thought I could do it”. Andy would finish in first place after the 84 day ordeal.
5:00- The Chiefs Prophecy (with discussion with director L.Killsback to follow)-In his film, Killsback traces the history of leadership in the tribe, the original warrior societies and the complex Cheyenne Council of 44 that relied on values such as peace, dignity, honor, compassion, cooperation and native spirituality. In the second section of the four-part film, viewers learn that after a series of wars, the tribe was forced onto a reservation in 1884.
All practices of the Cheyenne religion were outlawed, and a Bureau of Indian Affairs-established police force diminished the tribe's warrior system, according to Killsback. The BIA appointed its own leaders, also undermining the warrior society system, and spiritual leaders had to compete with the Christian churches
6:20-5 Minute flick
6:30- In Good Fun (movie by Stories ‘N Motion club member Curtis Woods)
7:20-The Hardships of Being President (movie by Stories ‘N Motion club member Taylor Haynes)
7:30- Jim Thorpe: The World’s Greatest Athlete-a biography of the Native American athlete who became a sports icon in the first half of the 20th century. This is a film about a man who used his amazing physical prowess as a way to affirm his American Indian identity in the face of unrelenting efforts to eradicate Native American culture. Jim Thorpe, The World’s Greatest Athlete. It is the first documentary film to tell the story of Thorpe’s life outside of his well-known athletic victories.
The film uses in-depth interviews with Thorpe’s surviving children, some simple recreations and images culled from over seventy-five archive sources, both stills and motion picture.
8:45- Coming to Terms (Premiere of Stories ‘N Motion production) romantic comedy
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