Zapatistas: Halt hate campaign by silver mining against Wixarika (Huicholes)

Stop the hate campaign against Wixarika (Huicholes) defending pristine sacred land

 

Enlace Zapatista
http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/

Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

 

Engish excerpt, full Spanish text below

 

Zapatistas have issued a demand that a misinformation campaign by a silver mining company targeting the Wixarika be halted. Currently, there is a dangerous tension in the sacred territory of Wirikuta (Huicholes) in Mexico, promoted by First Majestic Silver mining company, along with the Mayor de Catorce, San Luis Potosi, Hector Moreno Arriaga. The company and the local government have launched a misinformation campaign in communities and ejidos in the region, inciting violence and harassment toward the Wixárika.

 

The hatred and disinformation campaign began with a meeting held on October 26 in the town of Estación Catorce. The goal was to promote mining and collect signatures against the Decree of Biosphere Reserve which is designed to protect the sacred land, and pristine region. The misinformation campaign included threats of retaliation by way of the loss of voting rights if the people did not sign documents which would open the door for mining.

Given this scenario, the Regional Council has stated that the Wixárika Decree for Wirikuta protection should involve respect to collective human rights of the peoples of the desert and the people Wixárika. All mining activity should be halted and banned, since it has been shown that it only damages the environment, the people and whole cultures.
Therefore we demand that:
1. Stop the fear campaign of lies and misinformation waged by the mining company and the municipal government and stop a possible violent confrontation with the people Wixárika
2. Uphold the liberty of desert populations to express their opinion freely, without fear or pressure of any kind.
3. That the federal government immediately undertake a campaign to secure efficient and reliable information on the implications of increasing the range of protection for the Wirikuta Ecological Reserve at the federal level in the form of a Biosphere Reserve.
 

Detengan la campaña de odio contra el pueblo Wirrárika

A través del presente llamado preventivo, la Asociación Jalisciense de Apoyo a Grupos Indígenas (AJAGI A.C.), hacemos del conocimiento público la peligrosa tensión que se está gestando en el territorio sagrado de Wirikuta, promovida por la empresa minera First Majestic Silver, junto con el Presidente Municipal de Catorce, San Luis Potosí, Héctor Moreno Arriaga. La empresa y el gobierno local han emprendido una campaña de desinformación en las comunidades y ejidos de la región, incitando a la violencia y el hostigamiento entre el pueblo Wixárika, con el falso argumento de que al decretarse Reserva de la Biósfera, el territorio ceremonial con una superficie de 191 mil hectáreas, los Wixaritari (huicholes) “les arrebatarán sus tierras y no les dejaran ni siquiera sembrar”. Los convocan a “defender sus derechos” pero en realidad promueven la violencia en contra del pueblo Wixárika.

La campaña de odio y desinformación inició con una reunión celebrada el día 26 de octubre del presente, en la localidad de Estación Catorce. Ahí citaron a ejidatarios de la región para escuchar primero una exposición hecha por personal de la empresa minera y juntar firmas en contra del Decreto de Reserva de la Biósfera, asuzándolo paraa reaccionar ante esta medida tomada por el gobierno.

Siguió un recorrido de las autoridades municipales por los ejidos de Wirikuta, repitiendo información falsa. Esto ha provocado mucha confusión entre los habitantes del desierto y está generando un clima de peligrosa tensión que pudiese suscitar actos violentos contra los ejidatarios y pobladores que se oponen a la explotación minera en la región, así como a los propios wixaritari.

Advertimos así mismo que muchos pobladores están siendo presionados para oponerse al Decreto de Reserva federal mediante firma de documentación o entrega de copia de la credencial de elector. Todo en un contexto de creciente temor a represalias y la amenaza de que se suspenderán los apoyos del Municipio si no firman contra el Decreto.

Ante este escenario, el Consejo Regional Wixárika ha manifestado que cualquier Decreto de protección a Wirikuta debe partir del respeto a los derechos humanos colectivos de los pueblos del desierto y del pueblo Wixárika. El Consejo señala que se debe prohibir toda actividad minera pues se ha demostrado que solo dañan al medio ambiente, a los pueblos y a las culturas enteras.

Por lo anterior exigimos que:

1. Se detenga la campaña de miedo, de mentiras y desinformación emprendida por la empresa minera y el gobierno municipal de Catorce y detener una posible confrontación violenta con el pueblo Wixárika

2. Se garantice la libertad de las poblaciones del desierto para emitir su opinión de manera libre, sin miedo y sin presiones de ningún tipo.

3. Que el gobierno federal emprenda de manera inmediata una campaña eficiente y segura de información veraz sobre las implicaciones de elevar el rango de protección de la Reserva Ecológica de Wirikuta a nivel federal bajo la modalidad de Reserva de la Biósfera.

Invitamos a enviar acciones urgentes a las siguientes direcciones
Demand urgent action!

Enviar sus llamamientos a:

Alejandro Poiré Romero
Secretario de Gobernación
Abraham González No.48, Col. Juárez
Del. Cuauhtémoc, C. P. 06600, México, D. F.
Tel. 5728-7400 ó 7300
secretario@segob.gob.mx

Bruno Ferrari García de Alba
Secretario de Economía
Alfonso Reyes No.30, Col. Hipódromo Condesa
C.P. 06140, Del. Cuauhtémoc, México, DF
Tel. 5729-9100
bruno.ferrari@economia.gob.mx

Luis Fueyo Mac. Donald
Comisionado Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas
Camino al Ajusco No. 200, Col. Jardines en la Montaña, Deleg. Tlalpan
C.P. 14210, México D.F.
Tel. (55) 5449 – 7000
lfueyo@conanp.gob.mx

Alfredo Arellano
Dirección General de Conservación para el Desarrollo (CONANP)
Camino al Ajusco No. 200, Col. Jardines en la Montaña, Deleg. Tlalpan
C.P. 14210, México D.F.
Tel. (55) 5449 – 7000
arellano@conanp.gob.mx

Javier Hernández Valencia
Oficina del Alto Comisionado de Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos en México (OACNUDH)umas No 165 Col. Polanco. Del. Miguel jhernandez@ohchr.org
Rupert Knox, Amnistía Internacional
rknox@amnesty.org

Con copia a:
Asociación Jaliscience de Apoyo a Grupos Indígenas (AJAGI)
ajagi1@prodigy.net.mx

First Nation Terrance Nelson 'Israel will lose US support'

Israel will lose US support

November 24^th 2012

 

By Terrance Nelson

Roseau River Ojibway, Manitoba

Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

 

I watched tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers parading in Tikrit in 1998. Back then, the Iraqi knew little of the strength of the United States military. I had watched huge 8 engine nuclear equipped planes taking off at Grand Forks, North Dakota air force base. I knew what the Iraqi would face. I was in Iraq to document the United Nations economic sanctions.

On my recent trip to Tehran, I saw things that United States and Israel need to fear. The eight million Israelis will face far greater forces than Iraqi soldiers or Palestinians, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drags United States into a war against Iran. Iran is the head of NAM, the 120 countries in the Non Aligned Movement, and Iran is also the head of OPEC. The difference in fighting a war against Iran and the previous war against Iraq is not only timing and finances; it is also the level of religious fervour.

The 2012 United States election proved that Americans are war weary. Since 2001 the US federal debt has climbed by ten trillion dollars and Americans are becoming increasingly tired of the cost of being the world’s policeman. The economy was the biggest election issue. Netanyahu bet on Romney and seventy-two percent of the white vote went to Mitt Romney, but Obama still won. A war with Iran will collapse the US economy.

In 2001, US share of the world GDP was 32.24% with a $128 billion surplus and some economists had an expectation of $5.6 trillion worth of surpluses for the next ten years. In 2012, US share of world GDP is 25%. When the US goes to war with Iran, US share of the world GDP will fall drastically and Israel will have succeeded in killing its golden goose.

US wars are fueled by emotion, not by cold hard economic reasoning. Unresolved pension and health-care entitlements increased US government's long-term obligations by $4.2 trillion in 2011. Every American owes $189,000 each in national debt and unfunded entitlements. President Obama responded to the 2008 economic meltdown by printing money and borrowing as never before.

President Obama is not Martin Luther King Jr.. Obama sealed the election win in the last debate when Romney tried to bait Obama regarding the number of United States ships. Obama reminded Americans that as the Commander-in-Chief, he ensured that America was spending as much money on the military as the next ten largest military countries in the world combined. Obama never looked more presidential than when he reminded voters that he has proven that he is willing to make war in order to protect Americans.

Now that Obama has won the election, he needs to take some lessons from President Nixon. Forty years ago the most brilliant man in Nixon’s era was Henry Kissinger. February 21st to 28th 1972, Nixon went to China and embraced an enemy, Chairman Mao Zedong. The resulting economic relationship between the United States and China in the last forty years is because of Nixon. The China/United States economic relationship was working relatively well until 9/11.

A new economic meltdown in the United States cannot be solved by borrowing or by the printing of money. No combination of nations can rescue a financial meltdown in United States. The United States had the backing of most countries in the world after 9/11, but two wars later, the world will not support the United States in a new war. The war in Syria and results of the Arab spring cannot be ignored.

The United States is asking Russia to help stop the war in Syria. We conveniently forget that the west supplied the arms to the Taliban that killed Russians in Afghanistan. How does United States expect Russia to help the Syrian conflict especially when it is the west that provides the small arms to maintain the conflict? Putin is in a dilemma, how does Russia deal with American aggression? It is a given that Russia cannot match American spending on the military. The Chinese/American deal in 1972 led to USSR isolation and perhaps to the fall of their economy. China is tied to the US economy, Russia is not.

Today, the only country in the world that can bring any real stability to the middle-east is Iran. Without Iran, the world’s policeman will go even further than beyond broke trying to enforce military solutions on nations whose new leadership will increasingly turn against the west.

What I saw in Iran was very simple, but for anyone who knows any degree of psychology it was profound. I watched Iranian students going to a demonstration. I don’t even know what the student demonstration was about. All I saw was the intense religious fervour of thirteen year old students as they supported the Ayatollah. I watched the Ayatollah on television speaking to thousands of assembled people who listened intensely, and what the Ayatollah said was not controversial, it was simply that what he said was received by the people with deep religious respect. The fervour of religious commitment of the 74 million Iranian people is not something that America or Israel can dismiss. Saddam led by terror, the Ayatollah leads by spiritual power. Don’t dismiss the difference.

The economic sanctions have hurt the Iranians immensely. The banking system has pretty well collapsed and Iran is purchasing pharmaceuticals with cash. If the United States were to offer peace and lifting of sanctions, now is the time for negotiations. The problem with the United States is pride, they never forgive, they have never forgiven the 1979 Iranian Revolution and they have never forgiven the Cuban missile crisis. Nixon embraced an enemy for the good of the American economy.

The problem for the United States is that if they continue to force sanctions on Iran, they risk Iranians spreading their economic misery to the targets that will cripple western economies.

Having traveled in Arizona and New Mexico a year ago, I was shocked at how angry the American people were. There was open hatred expressed by whites against the president. I saw the poverty in Florida as people sold off their luxury items to try to pay for their mortgage. I see Chinese and Japanese buying up America with money earned from the American trade deficits. If Obama can shed his pride, he might do America a favor by enlisting Iran as an ally rather than an enemy. Too bad Henry Kissinger is not there to advise the President. When the economy collapses in the United States, just how much will suffering Americans be willing to listen to the suffering in Israel?

Terrance Nelson

Terrance Nelson is a former five-term Chief of Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation in southern Manitoba. Nelson now has contracts with First Nations in the Alberta and Saskatchewan Tar Sands region. Nelson went to Iraq at the invitation of the Saddam Hussein Government in 1998 and just recently returned from a visit to Tehran. He met with some of the highest levels of the Iranian Government.

 

Preview Russell Means Documentary

 

 

CLICK LINK TO WATCH 

http://www.russellmeansfreedom.com/2012/preview-of-russell-means-documentary/

Russell Means: "I think its important to struggle to find out who you are. By any means necessary."

Russell became more controversial than ever in later years. The following article concerning Obama at Censored News attracted a blast of negative reactions. Russell was never homogenized and always went against the flow, against conformity, as in this article where Russell supports Palestinians and points out Obama's support of Zionists. --Censored News

Russell Means Breaking the Silence on Obama
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News Jan. 10, 2009
Listen to interview at Red Town Radio http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RedTownRadio

American Indian activist Russell Means said President-elect Obama was selected by the colonial powers as president to improve the US image globally in the aftermath of George Bush. Further, Means said Obama’s appointments show that he is a Zionist controlled by Israel. Speaking on Red Town Radio today, Means said what is happening now to Palestinians is what happened to American Indians.
“Every policy the Palestinians are now enduring was practiced on the American Indian,” Means said on the Blog Talk Radio show, hosted by Brenda Golden, Muskoke Creek. “What the American Indian Movement says is that the American Indians are the Palestinians of the United States, and the Palestinians are the American Indians of the Middle East,” Means said. Further, he points out that the Zionists who control Israel now control the United States. “The power of the US in world politics diminishes every day.”
“Now they have found a house servant by the name of Obama.” Means said Obama was selected as a “man in charge to take the heat,” because of the “bad cop” image that Bush put forth in the world. “Now, all of a sudden, it is, ‘We’re so great. We elected a black man to be president.’”
Means added that Obama is a black man who was raised by his white grandmother and has appointed Zionists to key positions and that the US is headed for a new era of menial jobs. On Indian lands, Means reminds us, the only people who get ahead are those who sell out to the colonial system. Now, there is massive and sophisticated propaganda by the Zionists and the U.S. Both countries, he said, are liars. In the US, American Indians have been shut out of history, philosophy and the arts, in a “total blackout.” The United States does not want to be reminded of the smallpox blankets, theft, colonialism and mistreatment of the American Indian, he said.
Read more:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/01/russell-means-breaking-silence-on-obama.html
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Namibia Indigenous protest dam, mining, human rights violations

NAMIBIA: INDIGENOUS SEMI-NOMADIC HIMBA AND ZEMBA MARCH IN PROTEST AGAINST DAM, MINING AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

By Rebecca Sommer

Censored News

 

Namibia, 24 Nov 2012: Hundreds of semi-nomadic Himba from Omuhonga and Epupa region marched today from their villages to Okanguati, a small town about 120 km away from Opuwo, to protest against Namibia’s human rights violations against them.

(Photo © Rebecca Sommer) Chief Hikuminae Kapika signing the invitation to the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights and fundamental freedoms of Indigenous Peoples to visit them

These violations, documented and signed by the Himba chiefs of the entire Himba territory (Kaokoland) in two historic Declarations have been submitted by Earth Peoples to the United Nations on February 23rd in 2012.

The Himba from Epupa and Omuhonga also wrote an invitation letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was also forwarded by Earth Peoples to the UN system at the same day.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, James Anaya, visited the Himba in September 2012, where a Himba spokesperson read aloud the Himba Declaration once again to him. You can read the UN Special Rapporteur’s statement here.

“We invited Namibian Broadcasting Cooperation (NBC) to come, but they refused to attend our protest manifestation” said Motjimbika Mutambo, a respected community leader from Himba village Omuhonga.“We handed our petition and demands to our elected Epupa Regional Councillor, the Honorable Muharukua, with the expectation that he will forward it to the President” Mutambo added.

Councillor Muharukua, who is a Herero, explains the problems of the Himba people in this Video with English subtites

(Photo © Rebecca Sommer) Muhapika Munjombara signing the Himba Declaration

“We don’t understand why we have to repeat ourselves over and over again, and the Government of Namibia is not listening to us, and is continuing to push for the construction of the dam in the Baynes Mountains without our consent. We collectively refused the money offered to our communities and families that would have to relocate” said Hikuminae Kapika, the Chief from the area of Epupa and Omuhonga. “We have these big mining companies making holes in our land, making roads where we graze our herds, and we don’t want that. We don’t know what they are digging out, we have no idea what they do to our water and land, and we don’t want them here. Nobody asked us for our permission.” He added.

“If the government is going to build the dam they better kill us first before they do that. This is our land. We are the original inhabitants and true owners. But since independence, the Government of Namibia has dispossessed us from our rights to our land, and our rights to decide what is being done with and on it.” Said Muhapika Munjombara.

Members of the indigenous peoples Zemba also attended the protest march. They also submitted through Earth Peoples their Human Rights violation Declaration to the United Nations.

In the Zemba Declaration, it is stated:

Zemba/Ovazemba (Photo © Rebecca Sommer)

In the past our appointed leaders had to belong to the royal house, but that has changed over the time. Today, we elect our leaders. But to our great grievance, Namibia denies us not only our rightful place as legitimate Namibian citizens, with untrue claims that we are refugees from Angola, but also denies us our right to our land, and to choose our own representatives and leaders.

We demand that we get our right to choose our own representatives and leaders, and to be allowed to administer our internal affairs, including our territory and land, and to rule our affairs with our own customary laws and traditional courts.

We demand that the Government of Namibia recognizes without delay our chief as the legally recognized Zemba Traditional Authority.

TO READ:

DECLARATION OF THE ZEMBA PEOPLE OF NAMIBIA
DECLARATION OF THE MOST DIRECTLY AFFECTED OVAHIMBA, OVATWA, OVATJIMBA AND OVAZEMBA AGAINST THE OROKAWE DAM IN THE BAYNES MOUNTAINS
DECLARATION BY THE TRADITIONAL HIMBA LEADERS OF KAOKOLAND IN NAMIBIA

Himba women at human rights meeting with Earth Peoples (Photo © Rebecca Sommer)

To watch Video of cultural Himba dance during one of Earth Peoples human rights awareness raising meetings in OmuhongaCLICK VIDEO
To watch other videos about Himba human rights complaints, click here