Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

January 8, 2012

Project Gunrunner began in 2005 in Texas

The documents that Congress, and news reporters, choose to ignore

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News

There are two documents that Congress, and news reporters covering Project Gunrunner, choose to ignore. The first is the US Attorney General's report stating that Project Gunrunner began in Laredo, Texas, in 2005. The document was published in Wikipedia.

The second is the ATF Southwest Border Strategy, Project Gunrunner Weapons of Choice. The brochure, dated Feb. 2008, shows photos of the assault weapons that the ATF allowed to flow to drug cartels in Mexico. It was published online by the hacktivists Lulzsec when they hacked the Arizona police files.
Prior to the ATF Project Gunrunner's Fast and Furious, the ATF allowed assault weapons to flow to Mexico's drug cartels beginning in 2006 in Operation Wide Receiver in Tucson.

Congress showed no interest in Project Gunrunner until Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered with those weapons near Nogales, Ariz, in Dec. 2010. Another agent, ICE agent Jaime Zapata, was also murdered with the weapons in northern Mexico. An unknown number of citizens of Mexico and the US have been murdered with those weapons.

The complete report from the US Attorney General is at: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/OIG_report.pdf









January 7, 2012

Winyan Ituwan, Women of Vision, Jan. 15, 2012


Winyan Ituwan, Women of Vision, Jan. 15, 2012 at Porcupine S.D.



By Winyan Ituwan (Vision of the Women)
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Tantoo Cardinal

PORCUPINE, S.D. -- “Winyan Ituwan”, (Vision of the Women), will be held on January 15, 2012 beginning at 1pm and ending with an evening meal at the Pahin Sinte School in Porcupine, SD. Topics include Mother Earth and water, mining issues facing the people living on the great plains of the United States, and roles and responsibilities of Native women. Speakers will share their experiences in frontline activism work around these issues.

Tantoo Cardinal, a First Nations Cree actor and activist will speak on the tarsands oil mine an
Debra White Plume
d its impacts in her homelands of Ft McMurray, Canada. Ms Cardinal was recently inducted as a Member into the Order of Canada for her contributions. Famous for her roles in movies such as Smoke Signals, Legends of the Fall, Black Robe, and Dances with Wolves, Ms. Cardinal is also a founding member of the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company, which works with and to inspire First Nations youth in the performing arts.

Debra White Plume, Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge, will speak on the tarsands oil mine, the Keystone XL Oil pipeline planned to cross the plains from Montana to Texas. She will share updates as the lead plantiff in the case against Cameco, Inc. in its attempt to mine uranium near the reservation, and the PowerTech, Inc. plan to mine uranium in the Black Hills. White Plume is co-founder of Bring Back the Way, a grassroots nongovernmental organization dedicated to the preservation of the Lakota Way of Life and Treaty Rights.

Kandi Mosset, Mandan/Arikaree from New Town, ND, works on the tarsands oil mine and xl keystone pipeline campaign with the Indigenous Environmental Network. Ms. Mosset recently returned from the UN Climate Convention in Durban, South Africa. She will speak on these issues and on oil mining impacts on her Mandan/Hidotsa/Arikaree community in North Dakota.

White Plume, Cardinal, and Mosset were part of the 1200 people arrested at the White House in a mass civil disobedience to bring awareness to the American people and President Obama regarding opposition to the XL Keystone pipeline permit.

A panel of Oglala Lakota women will include Regina Brave, who will speak of her experiences at Wounded Knee Occupation for 71 days in 1973; Marilyn Charging Crow, Vivian Locust and Arlette Loud Hawk. Loud Hawk will speak as the Whip Bearer for the Tokala KitFox Warrior Society. Special guest speakers include Marie Randall and Lily Mae Red Eagle.
Kandi Mossett (right)

A slideshow of the tarsands oil mine in Canada will be shared, and a 10 minute video short of the documentary Crying Earth Rise Up! about uranium mining in Lakota Territory by Prairie Dust Films will be shown. There will be an open microphone for women to express themselves and offer words of wisdom to the young generations. Tiana Spotted Thunder of Independence Through Music, and the group Scatter Their Own will share their songs and music. Pte San Win will serve as the MC.

Winyan Ituwan is a collective effort to bring women together to share experiences, vision, and wisdom. There will be many door prizes including fire wood, propane, jewelry, much more. All women are encouraged to attend, the gathering is open to the men who want to hear the voice, vision and wisdom of the women. Winyan Ituwan is the first of four women’s gatherings, with one set for spring, summer and fall. People can call 605-899-1419 or connect at Winyan Ituwan on Face Book for more information.

Russell Means medical update Jan 4, 2012

January 6, 2012

The Peaks: Indigenous Caravan to San Francisco

Photo Youths of the Peaks
Indigenous Caravan Travels to San Francisco from Arizona to Stop Snow Made with Reclaimed Sewage Effluent

Fate of Human Health Impacts To Be Decided in Legal Battle at 9th Circuit Court

Outpouring of Support from CA Indigenous Communities, Concerned Parents, & Environmentalists To Demand Environmental Justice!

Who: Save the Peaks Coalition and Plaintiffs.

What: Press conference to follow court hearing at 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Intertribal Sunrise Ceremony & march to courthouse.

When: Monday, January 9, 2012
10:15 A.M.  Press conference with the lawyer and litigants will be held directly after the hearing at the courthouse steps –
95 Seventh Street San Francisco, CA photo opportunity*
9:30 A.M. Court Hearing
9:00 A.M. Prayer Vigil photo opportunity*
8:30 A.M. March to 9th Circuit Court
from Yerba Buena Park to the James R. Browning US Courthouse - 9th Circuit; 95 Seventh Street; San Francisco, CA. photo opportunity*
7:00 A.M. Sunrise Gathering and Ceremony
at Yerba Buena Park at 4th and Howard in SF. photo opportunity*

Why:  The San Francisco Peaks, a holy mountain near Flagstaff AZ, faces imminent danger of being used as a toxic recreation area exposing citizens to hazardous contaminants. The Save the Peaks Coalition vs. US Forest Service are in a legal battle to protect children from hazardous endocrine disruptors and pathogens. The San Francisco Peaks are a site Holy to 13 Southwestern Native Nations and they provide a habitat for threatened plants and animals.
The case argues that under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, the Forest Service failed to adequately consider the impacts associated with ingestion of snow made from reclaimed sewer water in its federally mandated environmental review process.
“It is deplorable that the United States Forest Service would allow known endocrine disruptors to come into contact with our our children,” said Berta Benally, a grandmother traveling to California to witness the hearing. "At one point DDT, BPA and asbestos were all considered safe. Years later, after many people suffered, we now sadly know that they created a health hazard.”
Background: In 2005 ,the Snowbowl Ski Resort and Coconino Forest Service’s expansion plan was approved for reclaimed sewage water from Flagstaff's Rio de Flag Sewage Plant for the use of snowmaking at the Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort. Since May 2011, owners of Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort laid seven miles of wastewater pipeline and clear-cut over 50 acres of rare alpine forest, while the issue is still being contested in court.
For more information please call the Save the Peaks Coalition at 928-380-8014 or write to  savethepeakscaravan@yahoo.com" savethepeakscaravan@yahoo.com