RIO+20 Protest: Ta'kaiya, 11, rips apart UN for failing to act

June 21, 2012: 11-year-old Ta'Kaiya is outside the Rio+20 plenary urging world leaders to act now, and calls the society to the Earth Revolution.

Video Kandi Mossett: Defend the Rights of Mother Earth

Growing up and living in North Dakota, Kandi Mossett has experienced firsthand what oil development can do to communities. She is a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nations on the Fort Berthold Reservation and works with the Indigenous Environmental Network, organizing with tribes to fight the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Kandi says "there are sacred sites out here, there are burial sites out here, there's places that are holy that they want to just bulldoze right through." Watch for more on her story. For more stories visit:

http://www.nrdc.org/energy/keystone-pipeline/tar-sands-stories

Video Debra White Plume: NO! to tarsands and pipeline

Debra White Plume is an activist, grandmother, and member of the Oglala Lakota Nation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, who has been fighting the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, concerned about its effect on water resources. She says "I think our native nations are going to stay opposed to the Keystone XL pipeline and stay opposed to any other oil pipelines that come through here because we understand that water is a precious resource, it's a gift from our Grandfather and it's a gift for life, it's a gift of life...." Watch for more on Debra's story.
 

Aljazeera and Democracy Now! feature Indigenous Environmental Network

Alternative voices from Rio+20  Aljazeera

While world leaders negotiate in the Rio+20 meeting halls, thousands of activists have launched 'The People's Summit'. Preethi Nallu Last Modified: 22 Jun 2012 18:51

.Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - "The development - the drilling, mining and damming - is affecting everyone, our communities and the Earth, our home and the only planet we have."
The piercing voice of 11-year-old T'Kaiya is enough to grab the attention of delegates passing by. With the aptitude of a seasoned speaker, this young delegate from Canada comfortably commanded the following of environmental activists staging a sit-in at the Rio+20 conference.
T'Kaiya is in Rio to represent the Indigenous Environmental Network and to speak out against the controversial tar sands project being planned by an energy transport company, Enbridge, that involves a pipeline from the Alberta tar sands to the Pacific northwest coast of Canada.
"This pipeline puts in jeopardy, thousands of streams, 45 different indigenous cultures that have been practiced by my ancestors and their ancestors. I am shocked that people would jeopardise such pristine beauty and put a price tag on it," T'Kaiya told Al Jazeera.
READ MORE:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/06/2012622175745190650.html?utm_content=tweets&utm_campaign=Trial3&utm_source=SocialFlow&utm_term=twitter&utm_medium=ExperimentMasterAccount

Civil Society, Indigenous Groups Protest at Rio+20       

Democracy Now

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/6/22/headlines

Protests continue at the Rio+20 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil. On Thursday, civil society delegates staged a walkout of the talks to call for bold action against global warming. Meanwhile, hundreds of indigenous activists marched through the streets of Rio de Janeiro to deliver a petition demanding fairer treatment over land and other rights.

Tom Goldtooth: "What we are concerned about is that Mother Earth is not for sale. Mother Earth is not a commodity to be traded on the trading system. The trees are not for sale."

What is it about Ecuador?

Colombian Embassy serves up coffee to journalists outside
Ecuador Embassy in London Friday, where Wikileaks Julian
Assange has sought refuge.
Twitter photo borrowed from RT London Bureau.

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

With Wikileaks Julian Assange at Ecuador's Embassy in London, waiting to hear if Ecuador will grant him political asylum, I have to ask myself: What is it about Ecuador?
A few years back, while I was doing the grassroots radio show on the Longest Walk across America, one of the young Japanese walkers needed a quick ticket out of the country to satisfy his visa.
It was nearing midnight and the Internet was coming and going out in the woods. The cheapest ticket I could find was to Ecuador. He spoke almost no English and not a word of Spanish.
I was very worried. He had no US dollars. A good-hearted walker who had just arrived from California quickly loaned him nearly $1,000. All this happened in minutes.
A car arrived, and he was off to the airport. In the weeks that followed, I imagined the worst. (Locked up abroad, sick and hospitalized, wandering and lost.)
Weeks passed. Finally I heard from him. He was back.
"How was your trip?"
Wonderful, he said, laughing, and said something about meeting up with some like-minded Buddhists on the streets of Ecuador, teaming up to explore the Andes, then hiking up near Peru, and having the time of his life.
Let's hope the magic finds Assange.