Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

November 4, 2014

Mohawk Nation News 'Richelieu Unity Strength and Peace'

RICHELIEU: UNITY, STRENGTH, PEACE

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Mohawk Nation News
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MNN. Nov. 3, 2014. The MNN editor made these comments to the Quebecois of Sorel Quebec, a city on Mohawk territory near Kahnawake. A sculpture was being unveiled dedicated to the French people.
1710 Iroquois explain Great Peace in Queen Anne's Court, London.
1710 Iroquois explain Great Peace to Queen Anne’s Court, London.
The French created war between the Iroquois and New France from 1609 to 1701. It was a 92-year war with us. They lost every one and sued for peace to end the wars. The Great Peace of Montreal was made on June 25th 1701, on the summer solstice.
We Mohawk were the enforcers of the Great Law for the Confederacy as the “Keepers of the Eastern Door”.  The French route to the American colonies started from Richelieu down the Richelieu River to Lake Champlain, the Hudson River and on to New York. Bloodline agent, Champlain, launched their war against the peace from Richelieu into Ticonderoga where they killed two of our chiefs. We’d never seen guns before.
Fort Richeleiu was subsequently built to protect travelers, settlers and military from the Mohawks. In 1647 we burnt it down. The French military rebuilt it in 1665.
Champlain’s job was to divide the Indian nations after thousands of years of peace. He started a war of extermination of the Mohawks, to break the peace between us and the Hurons and Algonquins. In 1645 we invaded Ontario and defeated the Hurons and Algonquins and took all their land because they broke the Great Peace, the Kaianerekowa.
The French plan was to take all of Great Turtle Island. After losing every war against us, they changed their plan from war to peace. The French signed the Great Peace of Montreal based on the Two Row Wampum agreement we call the “Guswentha” and the Kaianerehkowa, the Great Peace. Shortly after In August 1701 the British also accepted the Great Peace in Albany.
Quebecois must be proud of taking part in the first international world peace conference in Montreal in 1701. They accepted the peace before the British and everyone else. All the nations on Great Turtle Island were represented by the 49 nations that took part, through their friendship and alliances with the Iroquois Confederacy.
Then In 1710 we sent 5 chiefs to the Court of Queen Anne in London England to explain the Great Peace to the 13 bloodline families of Europe. It was the world’s first international peace conference.
Today is one of the most important times in the history of our relations. Soon the world will see Peace. Quebecois, it is time to recommit yourselves to the Great Peace which was put in your minds when your ancestors accepted the peace. You committed yourselves to spread it. Now we ask you to do it as it was meant.
The French are the first Europeans in the world to accept the Great Law from us, the Iroquois. They took the principles of the Great Peace back to France and created the first republican government in Europe. Let us symbolically join our hands in a circle and recommit to the agreement that was made so long ago. Let us celebrate by planting the tree of peace so that everyone in the world will follow the roots and spread the peace throughout the world. Let us create an unstoppable force right from Quebec where it started. Skennen, gasastensera, kariwiio. Peace, righteousness, power.”
The courier du bois shoot Lachine Rapids by Kahnawake.
Courier du bois shoot Lachine Rapids by Kahnawake.
The Quebecois have a very important role in the world. This 100-year old song by George Marsh was sung many times by the Quebecois: “Do the cow-moose call on the Montreal, when the first frost bites the air, and the mists unfold from the red and gold that the autumn ridges wear”. Listen: Old Canoe.
MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go towww.mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L thahoketoteh@hotmail.comfor original Mohawk music visit thahoketoteh.ws
After the Quebecoise signed the Great Peace of Montreal, the ideas of peace went to Europe and began the French Revolution that continues. Quebecois have an important role to play in spreading the Peace. Rebellion in France today.


Mohawk Nation News
http://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2014/11/03/richelieu-unity-strength-peace/

November 3, 2014

Comcaac (Seri) holder of traditions passes to Spirit World





Comcaac (Seri) holder of traditions passes to Spirit World


By Brenda Norrell
Seri land on coast 
Censored News

DESEMBOQUE, Sonora, Mexico -- Amalia Astorga, Comcaac (Seri) and upholder of traditions, passed to the Spirit World after a long life of living and sharing Comcaac culture and traditions on Seri land, on the coast in Sonora, in northwest Mexico.
Alejandro Aguilar Zeleny, a longtime friend of Amalia in Sonora, said, "Amalia passed away with Odile, that big storm, or cyclone. It is sad because the roads were closed. So she didn't have any doctor first and then later they could not bring a judge to provide a certificate of her death to bury her. So it was also sad and difficult."
"Adolfo is very sad and saying he is not going to sing anymore in any fiesta because she use  to dance with his singing. Some days ago also passed away Cleotilde Morales. Her husband Alfredo passed away in May."
"So everybody is very sad because these old great people are no longer here."

Amalia Astorga is an internationally-renown herbalist of Seri and O'odham Indian descent. She and her husband, Adolfo Burgos, taught traditional songs and dances to the Seri children in Desemboque. In 1998, she was honored as a "Keeper of the Desert Treasure" by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum for passing on to younger generations the herbal knowledge, as well as the songs and stories of the Seri people. Her father, Jose Astorga, began the world famous Seri tradition of making carvings of native animals out of ironwood and stone. It is a craft tradition which she maintained.


The top photo shows Amalia Astorga and Adolfo Burgos, Comca'ac (Seri) being honored as Pillars of the World during the Second Reunion of the Spiritual Guides of the Region in Hermosillo in 201. Indigenous People in Sonora are struggling to maintain their language and culture. The discussions centered on the spiritual well being of Sonora, including water, land, medicines, and all that is part of the culture, said Sonoran Studies Professor Alejandro Aguilar Zeleny.

November 1, 2014

Navajo and Hopi governments release statements on sheep impoundments

Navajo Nation demands halt to livestock impoundment on Hopi Partitioned Lands

Navajo Nation press statement Oct. 30, 2014
Published at Censored News

President Ben Shelly and Speaker Pro Tem LoRenzo Bates are demanding that the Hopi Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs cooperate with a request issued by the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission Office to cease and desist from ongoing impoundment activities of livestock owned by Navajo residents in the Hopi Partitioned Lands.

In addition, Pro Tem Bates and President Shelly have issued an official request to Hopi Tribal Chairman Herman G. Honani for a meeting on Nov. 3 to discuss the ongoing livestock round-ups.
Numerous reports have surfaced from various HPL residents of ongoing livestock impoundments that have raised significant concerns for Navajo livestock owners in the area, several of whom have reported that authorities have brandished firearms during the livestock round-ups.

“Among many families, livestock is the main source of food,” said President Shelly. “Resolve is what we all want.”

“We have heard the concerns of our people, particularly those of elderly Navajos who rely heavily on their livestock for their livelihood,” stated Pro Tem Bates. “Impounding livestock of Navajo people is a deliberate violation of their rights to practice our culture and traditions and it must stop immediately.”

In an Oct. 24 memo from NHLCO executive director Raymond Maxx to Hopi Tribal chairman Herman Honanie, Maxx requested a ten-day grace period to allow for the opportunity to confer with residents to request removal of excess livestock from the HPL.

“If overgrazing is the major concern for Hopi officials, it is certainly an issue that we can address by sitting down and talking with one another,” added Pro Tem Bates.

The Navajo-Hopi Land Commission recently passed Resolution NHLCO-21-14, requesting the Hopi Tribe to accommodate livestock capacity for Navajo families living in the HPL.

NHLC members Council Delegates Dwight Witherspoon and Walter Phelps have met with Hopi and BIA officials and affected residents.
According to Delegate Witherspoon, further discussions between all parties are scheduled for this week.


Below: Hopi Nation press statement Oct. 31, 2014

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Dirty Money, Dirty Water: Nature Conservancy teams up with Big Oil and Wal-Mart

800_san_joaquin_river.jpg original image ( 5184x3456)
Photo of lower San Joaquin River on the "Delta Loop" by Dan Bacher 
By Dan Bacher
Censored News
Good Morning

Below are my latest three articles, all about the big corporate money behind Prop. 1, Governor Jerry Brown's Water Bond.
If you every had any doubts that the political process in California wasn't completely corrupt and driven by big money, please read the following articles about: (1) the Nature Conservancy's donation of $500,000 to the Yes on Prop. 1 campaign; (2) Big Tobacco and health insurance robber barons teaming up to fund the bond; and (3) a comprehensive, updated review of the massive influx of corporate and billionaire money into Jerry Brown's water bond campaign coffers.
Please circulate these articles widely and make sure that every one you know who cares about fish, water the environment and the people of California votes NO on Prop. 1!
Thanks, Dan
http://www.calitics.com/diary/15642/nature-conservancy-contributes-500000-to-yes-on-prop-1-campaign

Nature Conservancy contributes $500,000 to Yes on Prop. 1 campaign 
by Dan Bacher 
The Nature Conservancy, one of the largest recipients of Walton Family Foundation money every year, has joined Big Oil, corporate agribusiness, the health insurance industry, tobacco giant Philip Morris and greedy billionaires in dumping big money into the Yes on Proposition 1 campaign. 
Opponents of Prop. 1, Governor Jerry Brown's State Water Bond, responded to the $500,000 political contribution to Prop. 1 from The Nature Conservancy by calling it “disturbing.” 

Video Etta Begay speaks on rangers impounding her sheep


Statement of Etta Begay of Red Willow Springs re: the recent livestock impoundments at her homesite.

Post by Black Mesa Indigenous Support.
Statement of Etta Begay of Red Willow Springs re: the recent livestock impoundments at her homesite.