Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

April 12, 2014

Pte Ospiye Spiritual Camp at Bridger begins resisting Black Snake tarsands pipeline


Chief Arvol Looking Horse blesses new camp resisting Black Snake tarsands pipeline


By Joye Braun, Lakota
Censored News
Today April 12, 2014

Joye Braun
Cheyenne River Lakota
The Pte Ospiye Spiritual Camp in Bridger has its grounds blessed today by the Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe. Campers and organizers of the camp started the journey of the camp in Green Grass, South Dakota, with prayers and then caravaned to Bridger for the blessing of the grounds.
Tipis will be set up Monday, and grounds will be worked on while the camp progresses. The campers were told by elders to camp, just camp, and pray everything will work out in the end. So that is what they are doing. The camp is awaiting promised funds to be deposited into their account with the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, in the meantime, they are in desperate need of support from the outside community who are also worried about the Black Snake Crossing ancestral lands and treaty land.
Donated supplies can be sent to Pte Ospiye Camp c/o Toni and Byron Buffalo at 532 Chinatown, EB, PO Box 863 , Eagle Butte 57625 monetary donations can be sent to CRST Madam Treasurer PO Box 590 Eagle Butte SD 57625, remember to earmark your donation to the Spiritual Camp in Bridger.
Campers are welcome to come. We ask that you come prepared to work and to be responsible. The nights get cold. Bring a tent, warm sleeping roll and remember it is expected to get wet and cold.
.
Cheyenne River Lakotas at Bridger, South Dakota 

Also see: Lakotas Rosebud tarsands resistance camp continues:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/217553104/Rosebud-Sioux-Tribe-continues-to-occupy-Spirit-Camp

.
Rosebud Lakotas Spiritual Camp Ideal, South Dakota



Also see: Moccasins on the Ground training, Pine Ridge Red Shirt, South Dakota, April 25 -- 27, 2014
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2014/04/moccasins-on-ground-activist-training.html

Zapatistas invite Indigenous for exchange in May 2014


To: The Sixth in Mexico and the World
From: Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés

Enlish, French, Dutch and Italian translations: http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/

Compañeras, compañeros and compañeroas of the Sixth:
We send greetings from all of the Zapatista men and women of the EZLN
We want to let you know about our next steps:

1. Native Peoples: During the week of May 26 to 30, 2014, in one of our Caracoles, we will have an initial exchange with brothers and sisters from different native peoples and indigenous organizations. During this exchange, we will all share our ways of thinking and histories of struggle and resistance as indigenous peoples. For this initial exchange, we are inviting particular organizations and native peoples from Mexico, including: the Kumiai, Rarámuri, Náyeri, Wixárika, O'odham, Nahua, Zoque, Coca, Purépecha, Hñahñu, Mazahua, Amuzgo, Ñuu Savi, Me’phaa, Ñuhu, Totonaco, Popoluca, Binnizá, Chinanteco, Mazateco, Ikoot, Chatino, Afromestizo, Triqui, Maya Peninsular, Tzotzil. Tzeltal, Chol, Zoque, and migrants.
In the future, we will invite other native peoples from Mexico and the world. This exchange is a closed event and is ONLY for the native peoples and organizations that are explicitly invited. Those people who have not been invited will not be allowed to enter.
2. On Saturday, May 31, 2014, in the Caracol of Oventik, we, along with some of our indigenous brothers and sisters, will present the conclusions from our initial exchange and a circulate a declaration about how we will proceed in our struggle against the dispossession we suffer and for our indigenous rights and culture. This event is open, all are invited, and whoever wants and is able to may attend. This will begin at approximately 1400 hours.
3. On Sunday, June 1, 2014, also in the Caracol of Oventik, we will have a modest homage to our deceased compañero: Don Luis Villoro Toranzo. This event is open, all are invited, and whoever wants and is able to may attend. It will be at approximately 1400 hours, and will include the participation of the comandantas and comandantes of the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee- General Command of the EZLN, writer Juan Villoro, and Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés.
4. From Monday June 2, 2014 through Sunday, June 8, 2014, in the Caracol of Oventik and at the CIDECI facilities in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, there will be a seminar—that is, some talks—on the theme of “ETHICS IN THE FACE OF DISPOSSESSION.” This event is also in honor of our compañero Don Luis Villoro Toranzo. The seminar is open, all are invited, and those who want and are able to may attend.
The seminar will begin with a session in the Caracol of Oventik on June 2, 2014, at a time yet to be confirmed, with the participation of the EZLN. The seminar will continue on June 3 in CIDECI-UNITIERRA-Chiapas, in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico.
This seminar is organized by the EZLN, CIDECI-UNITIERRA-Chiapas, and collectives of students from the Zapatista Little School in Mexico and the World. The following artists and intellectuals will participate, among others: Carlos González, John Berger, Dr. Pablo González Casanova, Dr. Adolfo Gilly, Dr. Immanuel Wallerstein, Neus Espresante, María de Jesús de la Fuente de O’Higgins, Gustavo Esteva Figueroa, Juan Villoro, Dr. Raymundo Sánchez Barraza, Dr. Paulina Fernández Christlieb, Hugo Blanco Galdós, Raúl Zibechi, Dr. Marcos Roitman, Dr. Sylvia Marcos, Dr. Gilberto López y Rivas, Greg Ruggiero, Karla Quiñonez, Dr. Carlos Antonio Aguirre Rojas, Corinne Kumar, Dr. John Holloway, Magdalena Gómez, Dr. Luisa Paré, Dr. Alicia Castellanos Guerrero, Maestra Ana Lydia Flores Marín, Dr. María Eugenia Sánchez Díaz, Dr. Eduardo Almeida Acosta, Julieta Egurrola, Dr. Arturo Anguiano Orozco, Dr. Fernanda Navarro, Beatriz Aurora, Efraín Herrera, Antonio Ramírez Chávez, Gloria Domingo Manuel “Domi,” Dr. Márgara Millán, Servando Gajá, Lic. Bárbara Zamora López, Malú Huacuja del Toro, Dr. Sergio Tischler Visquerra, Dr. Jérôme Baschet, Dr. Ángeles Eraña, Maestra Mariana Favela, Profesor Enrique Ávila, Claudia Aguirre, Alejandro Varas Orozco, Rosario Hernández, Manuel Rozental, Vilma Almendra, John Gibler, Dr. Eckart Boege Schmidt, Pablo Reyna Esteves, Roco, Guillermo Velázquez, Moyenei Valdés, Hebe Rosell, Amparo Sánchez “Amparanoia,” Modesto López, Marta de Cea, Nicolás Falcoff, Óscar Chávez, Sergio Rodríguez Lascano, and a few more who have not yet been confirmed.
5. During this seminar, the EZLN will announce a proposal for a new initiative for the National and International Sixth.
6. Over the next few days we will be announcing more details about these events.
Also, I wanted to let you know that, if his health permits, Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos will be present and may participate in some of the public events.
That’s all.
From the Mountains of Southeastern Mexico,
Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés
Mexico, March 2014, the 20th year of the war against oblivion
Originally Published in Spanish by Enlace Zapatista

April 10, 2014

SEATTLE: Natives protest and support hunger strikers in detention centers

Photos by Andrew Ironshell, Lakota




.



Photos by Andrew Ironshell, Lakota.

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
April 10, 2014

SEATTLE -- Native Americans joined protests today in solidarity with hunger strikers in detention centers. Natives Americans protested both at Homeland Security's ICE headquarters and at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, pressing the Gates to divest in private prisons. "The Original Homeland Security counted coup on Barack's Homeland Security in solidarity of our brothers on hunger strike in detention centers. Pray for all Red Nation families of this hemisphere,” Andrew Ironshell said. 
Gates is a stockholder in both GEO private prisons and G4S global security.
Bill Gates is one of the top shareholders in the notorious prison profiteer G4S. See G4S shareholder info: http://www.g4s.com/en/Investors/Investor%20Relations%20Information/Major%20Shareholdings/ 

G4S has been charged with torture and abuse in prisons around the world. A young Palestinian father died from torture in an Israeli prison operated by G4S http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/young-palestinian-dad-died-israeli-torture-forensic-expert-says 
G4S is the same company that has the buses snaking along the Arizona border searching for migrants to transport into detention. The Arizona border contractor was formerly Wackenhut. However, Wackenhut split into two companies for maximum profiteering from human misery, one with the US border transportation contract now under G4S, and the other is a separate corporation GEO private prisons. 
G4S is among those included in the Boycott Israel campaign for abuse of Palestinians.
http://boycottisrael.info/aggregator/sources/1 
Why would Bill Gates want to invest in private prisons? Because there is big money now in security and private prisons, especially prisons which torture Palestinians and others living in border communities around the world. 
Corporate profiteers from human misery
Meanwhile, Wackenhut was previously security for Peabody Coal on Black Mesa, and part of the oppression of Navajos forced into relocation to clear out Black Mesa for Peabody’s coal mines on Black Mesa.
As always, follow the money, and the contracts.
The Israeli Apartheid contractor Elbit Systems is another one. The US Homeland Security just gave Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense contractor, the huge southern US border contract. So the Israeli spies are now building the US spy towers on sovereign Tohono O'odham land. O'odham human rights activists say this is only possible because the Tohono O'odham government is corrupt and co-opted by the US government.
There's a lot of US hoopla about the US economy recovering, but these mega contracts are not going to US companies. G4S is London/Belgium based, and Elbit is an Israeli company. The foreign corporations all have sub-offices in the US. 
BrightSource, another Israeli corporation, built the mega solar project recently in the California desert. The Obama administration used it as an example of a recovering US economy. Meanwhile, there were celebrations is Israel over getting the US contracts.
The Ho-Chunk, owners of the indianz.com website, also just received a huge US spy contract with the Pentagon. http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/state-department-awards-ho-chunk-division-million-contract/article_20a58d37-5aae-52c3-8043-b492a1878e64.html

The Wackenhut bus earlier at Three Points, Ariz., on the border of Tohono O'odham land, transporting migrants into detention, under US Homeland Security contract. The buses are now labeled G4S, and part of the notorious global corporation charged around the world with abuse and torture of inmates and detainees. Photo Brenda Norrell



Photos copyright Andrew Ironshell
Article copyright Brenda Norrell
Please share the link, or request permission to repost in full: brendanorrell@gmail.com

Petition: Tell Bill Gates to divest from Israel’s torture of Palestinians!


British private security company G4S helps the Israeli government to run prisons at which Palestinian political prisoners are detained.
Right now, there are more than 5,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails, including 183 children. Human rights organisations have documented widespread torture, including of children, and Palestinians are often held without trial indefinitely.
Inside the prisons, Palestinian political prisoners suffer from severe overcrowding, insufficient quality and quantity of food, medical neglect, isolation, and regular attacks from Israeli Special Forces. G4S is at the heart of this system, installing and running security systems at Israeli jails.
In June 2013, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest private foundation in the world, purchased shares in G4S worth $172m, making it one of the company’s biggest shareholders.
The Gates Foundation says that it is “guided by the belief that every life has equal value” and that it uses its investments to fund projects that “help all people lead healthy, productive lives”.
But through its holdings in G4S, the Gates Foundation is legitimising and profiting from Israel’s use of torture, mass incarceration and arbitrary arrest to discourage Palestinians from opposing Israel’s apartheid policies.
Last February, the Israeli military arrested Palestinian student Arafat Jaradat. Arafat was tortured in the Al Jalameh interrogation centre, where G4S installed and maintains the security systems. Just seven days after his arrest, he was found dead in a cell in another prison that G4S helps to run with three broken ribs, severe bruising all over his body and blood in his nose and mouth. He left behind a pregnant wife and two children.
By working so directly in support of Israel’s prison system, G4S is complicit in Israel’s violations of the Geneva Convention, Article 76 of which prohibits the transfer of prisoners from occupied territory into the territory of the occupier.
G4S also provides security for Ofer Military Court in the West Bank, the sole purpose of which is to imprison Palestinians, including hundreds of children and human rights defenders each year. Israel’s military courts have a conviction rate of over 99 per cent and serve an important element in maintaining Israel’s occupation.
All across the world, universities, banks, charities and trade unions have cut links with G4S because of their role in Israel’s abhorrent prison system.
With a personal wealth of $76 billion dollars, Bill Gates was just named the richest man in the world. Surely his foundation can afford not to invest in grave human rights abuses?
Tell Bill Gates to divest now!
More info: http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=670
#StopG4S

April 9, 2014

Censored News Most Censored April 2014

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News



Censored News photo collage
The most censored issues are at the US Mexico border where US Border Patrol agents continue to smuggle drugs and "spot" for the cartels to bring their loads across. The mainstream media continues to ignore the arrests of Border Patrol agents for drug smuggling and the fact that the agents are literally getting away with murder as they shoot migrants and teens on both sides of the border.

It is also here on the border that US Border Patrol agents continue their violent crimes against Indigenous Peoples. As Tohono O'odham Mike Wilson points out, the Tohono O'odham Nation and tribal police are complicit in these crimes and are not to be trusted. Wilson said the tribal government and police are failing to protect O'odham at the border, as evidenced in the ongoing violence by Border Patrol agents on tribal land.

The mainstream media has largely ignored the fact that US Homeland Security did not grant the mega border contract to a US company, but gave it instead to an Israeli defense contractor, Elbit Systems. Elbit is also responsible for the Apartheid security surrounding Palestine. As a result, Elbit now has the contract to build US spy towers on Tohono O'odham land.

Meanwhile, it is interesting how the media avoids talking about the Ho-Chunk Inc.'s military and intelligence contracts in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Little attention was given to this fact when the Ho-Chunk's CEO was invited to the White House. Ho-Chunk Inc. also owns the online indianz.com website.

The question remains who is actually doing the work under these US government contracts in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Afghanistan. 
http://www.hochunkinc.com/hochunkdivisions/hochunkdivisions.html

The military and intelligence contracts of the Ho-Chunk's All Native Systems, which has a satellite office in Arlington, Va., provides telecommunications to the US Strategic Command, Navy, and State Department. That's just one of the contracts. http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011704079917

Update: Ho-Chunk gets $80 million security contract for domestic and international security, with Pentagon office. They own the website indianz.com http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/state-department-awards-ho-chunk-division-million-contract/article_20a58d37-5aae-52c3-8043-b492a1878e64.html


Meanwhile, in related security news, Condolezza Rice joined the board of Dropbox: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140410/07181926866/adding-condoleeza-rice-to-dropboxs-board-seems-incredibly-tone-deaf-following-nsa-concerns.shtml


Finally, the current most censored issues include the militarization of police, and reckless murders by police without cause, in the US. The ongoing protests in Albuquerque, New Mexico, exposed this militarization as police fired tear gas at protesters demanding an end to police violence. The murder by police of a homeless man camping was caught on police video tape.

The good news is that the resistance to the Keystone XL tarsands pipeline led by Lakotas in South Dakota is no longer censored by the mainstream media. The media is also exposing US torture and torture sites around the world, along with Edward Snowden's exposures of US spying on diplomats, human rights workers and everyone's e-mails.

Read more at Censored News: www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com