The next best thing in journalism

Instead of celebrating mediocre reporting, we should all be striving for the next best thing in journalism

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

The old media is sloshing through the mud with their heavy boots on. Well, at least they have each other. 

The old media is bogged down. It has died a natural death of age and decay. It is time for a new journalism to emerge. 

Whistleblowers, raw data, being present on news stories, truth, and the need for the preservation of all species and forms of life are part of it. 

It is time for cyber junkies who copy and paste to give it a rest, and instead to engage in the collective process of this emerging new journalism. 

There's a need for reporters to summon up their courage, and not just in the arena of distracting politics. 

It is time to flee from the archaic forms of journalism that no longer have a place in real news. It is time for journalists who were once independent thinkers, to free themselves from the shackles of the rigid conservatism that has been induced by fear.

Now, instead of celebrating mediocre reporting, we should all be striving for the next best thing in journalism.

VIDEO Anonymous Message on PRISM and Edward Snowden

Anonymous Message on PRISM and Edward Snowden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaT9UXg0U8E&feature=youtu.be

Mohawk Nation News 'Losers, Weepers'

LOSERS, WEEPERS

Posted on June 29, 2013

MNN. June 29, 2013. The mayors of four Montreal South Shore communities are blocking Quebec’s decision to give back a 300-acre plot of stolen land to the Mohawks of Kahnwake. It was taken to build Highway 30 on unceded territory. The mayors said “two wrongs don’t make a right”. Returning stolen property is just wrong! They have big plans for this prime real estate, which is presently zoned for agriculture. 
The Mohawks have seen Kahnawake shrink to make way for railroads, highways and bridges. During construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway, thousands of tons of clay were dug up and dumped onto Kahnawake, making it useless for agriculture. No consultation ever took place. 

Farmland.

On August 17, 2008, the Women Title Holders of the Mohawk Nation issued a Notice of Objection to the illegal construction of Highway 30 on Kahnawake. It was sent by registered mail to Canada, Quebec and their puppet Mohawk Council of Kahnawake. 

Mega city dreams.

The northern “Keepers of the Eastern Door” of the Iroquois Confederacy have the duty to protect the territory, old villages, burial sites and waterways. The colonial Quebec construction permits are illegal. The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake is an entity of the Canadian Corporation. They cannot make decisions for the Mohawk Nation.  
According to WAMPUM 44 of the Great Law of Peace, the Women are the caretakers of the land, water and air for the future generations of Great Turtle Island. Foreign laws, the usurpation of Kanionkehaka territory and resources have always been resisted.  
These rights are affirmed in the British North America Act, 1867, Sections 109 and 132; the international Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide, United Nations Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other international legal instruments that Canada has signed. 
General Assembly Resolution 1541 [XV] requires the informed consent of the people before they are included in another state; the international Court of Justice affirmed this in the Western Sahara case; and the Indigenous people never consented to be part of Canada; 
Canada, Quebec, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake and all their agents violated inherent Mohawk authority. The Mohawk Nation is the legal authority as confirmed by the law of the land, Kaia’nere:kowa. All individual or foreign entities wishing to discuss issues must go through proper diplomatic channels.   

The visitors can come to one mind with us by following the white roots to its source and to sit under the shade of the tree of peace. This cycle of abuse, enforcing illegal jurisdiction over Mohawks, illegal construction must end. Dignity, equality and a voice to all peoples is extended. The Mohawks are taking back some of our land. As the Beatles sang, “Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged. Get Back, get back, go home”. Get Back

Iran defending Native Canadians rights
MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Thahoketoteh@hotmail.com For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0 Download Mohawk music for free at thahoketoteh.ws

Mohawk Nation News 'High Steel'

HIGH STEEL

Posted on June 28, 2013

MNN. June 26, 2013. The Haudenosaunee ironworkers “Ratiristakehron” worked on nearly all the big structures of greater New York: Empire State Building, George Washington Bridge, Chrysler Building, World Trade Center, Triborough Bridge, Verrazano Bridge, Pulaski Skyway and West Side Highway. They worked all over the world, even helping to rivet the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Panama Canal. Mohawks were sent to California to teach ironworkers how to erect with a guy derek. 

Ratiskerakete, our men.

In 1886 Dominion Bridge of Montreal was building a cantilevered bridge over the St. Lawrence for the Canadian Pacific Railroad. It was partly set on the Kahnawake Mohawk community on the south shore. The Mohawks demanded jobs. Dominion Bridge agreed – assuming they would unload box cars and do other menial tasks. The Indians climbed all over the bridge, “as agile as goats”. They wanted to try riveting. As the work progressed, the Mohawks were found to be at ease at great heights. 

Keepers of the Eastern Door of Great Turtle Island.

Riveting is difficult and dangerous. Rivets were heated until they were red-hot, tossed thirty to forty feet through the air, then caught and forced through steel beams with a pneumatic riveting gun, all standing on a narrow beam 500 feet or more above the ground. 
Soon 70 iron and steel riveters were working projects throughout Canada. Men from all Six Nations joined. Mohawks worked 10 years before the international Iron Workers Union was formed. They had always adapted to highly skilled building trades. They were guides for fur trappers, rode rafts for lumber companies, shot the rapids, circus performers and even ‘snake oil’ salesmen. 
In 1907 the Quebec Bridge collapsed, killing 96 workers, 35 of them Mohawks. Instead of quitting, Mohawk boys became even more determined to become steelworkers. Construction companies preferred Iroquois iron workers.

Haudenosaunee hands in NYC skyline.

By the 1910s they arrived in New York. In the 1930s over 700 Mohawks lived in the old North Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn. Local Italian grocers carried their favorite cornmeal. They hung out at the Spar Bar and the Wigwam Bars. It is said there was a sign, “The Greatest Iron Workers in the World Pass Thru These Doors”. 
Their ties to their families and communities were very strong. On Friday nights the steel workers made the twelve-hour trip home to a joyous reception and drove all night back to the city on Sunday nights to be on the job on Monday morning. 

Eagles at the top of Tree of Peace.

Their skill remains a mystery. Some thought it was genetic. Others said they knew how to deal with fear. By the late 1960s riveting had all but disappeared. The Brooklyn community dissolved. The lure of high steel did not disappear. The graves of men who died on the job are marked with steel girders. By the 1990s 20 to 25 percent of Mohawk men were in steel work again. Men who want to do it are rare and men who can do it are even rarer. 
As Joni Mitchell sang, “Little Indian kids on a bridge up in Canada, They can balance and they can climb, Like their fathers before them, They’ll walk the girders of the Manhattan skyline … Song for Sharon.
MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Thahoketoteh@hotmail.com For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Download free Mohawk music at Thahoketoteh.