Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

October 16, 2009

Stop the expansion of Peterborough Nukes

Eagle Watch #11

Stop the Expansion of Peterborough Nukes:
No More Nuclear Madness

October 16, 2009

The nuclear industry raving lunatics want to build many more nuclear reactors all over the world, especially in Asia. They say it is for "peaceful" purposes only. They call it "green" energy. Wow! What an insult to people's intelligence.

We know that ANY nuclear development and proliferation are about making war and killing people, either quickly with bombs or slowly with nuclear waste.

Indigenous communities in Cree/Dene territory (Saskatchewan, Canada), Ongwehonwe and Nishnaabe territory (Ontario, Canada), Australia, Navajo/Pueblo Territory (New Mexico and Four Corners, USA), Kazakhstan, Niger and elsewhere are being targeted to accept the waste and to endure the devastation of more uranium mining. We have a responsibility to speak out against this insanity for the sake of our future generations who will inherit this horrible legacy.

It looks like somebody wants to foment nuclear war in Asia where the majority of the world's population live. China and Japan have nuclear technologies. India and Pakistan already have nuclear weapons. Pakistan is quickly being drawn into the US led war on Afghanistan. There is no end in sight to this insane carnage and destruction.

GEHitachi wants to make low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel bundles at their Peterborough, Ontario facility for nuclear reactors in Japan, India and China. People in Ontario know about the dangers and have indicated they don't want any more reactors here. Cameco, the big uranium mining company, makes the same fuel and parts for reactors at Port Hope where a growing pile of nuclear waste is making people sick. The government wants to move the waste and spread it around. It is a growing embarrassment to them as some people in Port Hope are speaking out. The nuclear waste at the small city of Peterborough is not as well known.

India has developed the technology to weaponize tritium. Nuclear reactors release deadly tritium and other radioactive toxins into the air and water. Any amount is harmful to human health and all living beings and therefore totally unacceptable. Any dosage can be fatal. Because radioactive water is chemically identical to ordinary water, it cannot be filtered out or otherwise removed from drinking water by any municipal water treatment plant. The city of Ottawa gets plenty of tritium in its water from the leaking NRU reactor at the Chalk River Laboratories upstream on the Ottawa River.

Anyone can make a dirty bomb with a bit of radioactive material. It doesn't have to be an actual nuclear bomb to do great harm to people and devastation to the land, water and air. All this nuclear activity must be stopped.

CNSC is the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the supposedly non partisan and independent body that monitors the Canadian nuclear industry. While they approve dangerous projects left and right, they also produce damning reports against nuclear development, such as their report on reactor emissions. These reports can be used against them. (see endnotes)

We just found out about CNSC's press release seeking comments on the "Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) Screening Report" for GEHitachi's nuclear expansion at Peterborough. The report is available on request from "CEAAInfo" . CNSC has extended the deadline just for us until October 21 to respond.

How many people actually heard about it? CNSC states that in the past, "No comments were received from First Nations or members of the general public". The three Indigenous communities that they say they contacted are the Alderville, Curve Lake and Hiawatha Mississaugas.

Curve Lake is on Buckhorn Lake, just north of Peterborough. Alderville and Hiawatha are on Rice Lake, south and east of Peterborough. There are Serpent Mounds at Hiawatha.

Chief Marsden of Alderville said he didn't know of it though he is quite concerned about nuclear development. We are waiting to hear back from someone at the other two communities.

Peterborough is two hours west of Sharbot Lake. GEHitachi already has a nuclear facility in Peterborough, about one hour north of Port Hope, Ontario. Peterborough is on the Otonabee River which flows into Rice Lake which feeds into the Trent River which flows into Lake Ontario near Trenton. The region is half water, an intricate network of creeks and lakes. Some call it "cottage country". The fishing is good but is it safe to eat the fish? Nuclear activity always uses and pollutes large quantities of water.

GEHitachi already makes fuel bundles and zirconium tubing for CANDU's at their Peterborough nuclear facility. They do the tricky handling of the fuel bundles getting them into the reactors. They host training sessions and write manuals. They do the computer system design and replacement and do nuclear fastener welding services. They are developing new nuclear stuff all the time.

GEHitachi also have facilities in downtown Toronto on Lansdowne Avenue where they have been testing and manufacturing nuclear products for over 50 years and in Arnprior. Hitachi, a Japanese firm and GE General Electric merged their nuclear departments in 2007 to consolidate their global nuclear reactor business. Another Japanese firm, Toshiba recently bought Westinghouse who also make reactors. It's some kind of feeding frenzy.

The CNSC report on reactor emissions shows the results of nuclear power plants release monitoring programs over a ten year period up to 2008. Nuclear power plants routinely give off large quantities of radioactive hydrogen (called tritium), radioactive carbon (carbon-14) and gamma-emitting radioactive isotopes of krypton, argon and xenon as well as smaller quantities of iodine-131 into the surrounding air and water. This is many trillions of becquerels of each of these materials being released every year. No wonder so many people are sick and can't seem to get better. Any amount of these radioactive emissions is unacceptable.

The lonely people at CNSC want to hear from us. Let's make their day by sending them our objections to the madness of nuclear development. Never mind the experts who work for a fat paycheque, forgetting about the future generations. We, both Indigenous and settlers alike, have a right and responsibility to speak out.

KITTOH


Contact Info:
CNSC
Send comments by mail, fax or email to:
Dr Caroline Ducros
Environmental Assessment Specialist
Environmental Assessment Division
Directorate of Environmental and Radiation Protection and Assessment
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
P.O. Box 1046, Station B
Ottawa, ON K1P 5S9
Phone: 1-800-668-5284
Fax: 613-995-5086
Email: EA@cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca

GE Hitachi
Peterborough Fuel Bundle Assembly and Fuel Handling Operations
1160 Monaghan Road Peterborough, Ontario Canada, K9J 7B5
Phone: 705 748 7999

Toronto Fuel Pellet Operations
1025 Lansdowne Avenue Toronto, Ontario Canada, M6H 3Z6
416-583-4200

Arnprior Tubing Operations
465 McCartney St. W Arnprior, Ontario Canada, K7S 3X5
613-623-1455


Notes and Sources
http://www.ge-energy.com/prod_serv/products/nuclear_energy/en/ge_canada.htm
http://www.ccnr.org/india_tritium.html
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/readingroom/reports/rrd/index.cfm
Radiological Release Data Report
http://www.aldervillefirstnation.ca/
http://www.curvelakefn.com/
http://www.hiawathafirstnation.com/
www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ai/scr/on/ofn/index-eng.asp
http://www.porthopehealthconcerns.com/latest_news.htm
"Port Hope - Canada's Nuclear Wasteland"
Pat McNamara, Author
To order the book:
Pat McNamara, RR#1, Site 10, P.O. Box 85 Grande Prairie Alberta, T8V 2Z8
http://www.wise-uranium.org/epcdn.html
http://nuclear-news.net/

October 15, 2009

MNN: Is Mohawk Council of Kahnawake trying to hijack the Longhouse

IS MOHAWK COUNCIL OF KAHNAWAKE TRYING TO HIJACK THE LONGHOUSE [Some comments from Native Pride]
Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com

MNN. Oct. 14, 2009. Many of we indigenous don’t trust the Canadian government, otherwise known as the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake. Obviously our people want to follow the Kaianerehkowa and the Two Row Wampum, our true form of decision making and legal relationship with the colonial squatters.

Few attend these shows in Kahnawake which are meant to trick us into sanctioning the tacky colonial justice system they want to shove down our throats. When are these local smucks going to stop trying to treat us like a bunch of dummies? Why don’t they all move to Ottawa to be near their masters? There they can commit colonial atrocities on each other like genocide, aggression, conformity, emotional repression, hypocrisy and the worship of comfort and consumer goods. Native Pride made some choice comments on these desperados [letstalknativepride.blogspot.com]:

Last year 60 Minutes exposed a cheating scandal that involved Mohawk Internet Technologies that is licensed and regulated by the puppet band council of Kahnawake (the MCK). Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes asked band councilor, Mike Delisle, if internet gambling was illegal in Canada. Delisle said Internet gambling is illegal in Canada. "We're not Canadians. We're a member of the Haudenosaunee Five Nations Confederacy. We're Mohawk, Kanienkehaka people." [As a puppet band councilor, Delisle is a Canadians and a willing agent of oppression].

Delisle didn’t mention that the band council, their employees and their police administer colonial Canadian law. The MCK is not the Kanienkehaka nor the Haudenosaunee. They are set up, funded and regulated by Canada. They can’t suddenly be Haudenosaune People of the Longhouse.

Like Jim Ransom of the Saint Regis tribal council of Akwesasne, these sell-outs realize that these tribal and band councils ain't shit. When Saint Regis tried to fight OSHA violations by the US Department of Labor against their casino in Akwesasne, they were slapped. The US Federal court ruled the Saint Regis Tribe could not use Mohawk treaties because they were not party to them and could not claim to be the Mohawk Nation.

This kick in the groin to puppet tribal and band councils did not get much attention. The MCK noticed. Inch by inch the band council tries to call itself the Kanonhsesne, the Longhouse. They try to hide behind Kanienkehaka sovereignty while pushing foreign laws.

Even this judicial reform nonsense in Kahnawake is a diversion. The puppets want to incorporate concepts from the Kaianerehkowa into the puppet tribal court system, which they will say is uniquely "Mohawk", while the court's authority will come from Canada. The Kaianerehkowa cannot be bastardized to create individuals or a panel to sit in judgment of others. For what? So illegal judgments can be made and to enforce seizures of our property!!

Puppet band councilors claim that the Great Law is theirs too. These puppet band and tribal councils have abandoned the Kaianerehkowa as well as their birthright as Kanienkehaka. They get their instructions from Ottawa and Washington, not from our history, ancestors and guidance handed down over time immemorial. [These puppet councils also violate the Two Row Wampum which defines our independent political position according to international law]. They all know true sovereignty lies with us.

How do you regain a birthright you have surrendered? These puppets think they can repackage themselves as Kanienkehaka or earn brownie points from their masters by undermining the Kanonhsesne.

The Kaianerehkowa does not create authority or institutions. It provides a process for the people to assert inherent power. Band councils are for people who don’t want responsibility. They want someone else to do the work that they are too lazy to do themselves. Authority is abused when authority is delegated. We need to become more active in resisting incursions from these imposers and impostors. Native Pride edited by MNN.

Kahentinetha MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Or go to PayPal on MNN website. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN AKWESASNE category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now!

Indigenous Alliance Without Borders: Border Rights Campaign


Indigenous Alliance without Borders: Border Rights Campaign
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

TUCSON -- In the new Southern Border Rights Campaign, the Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras/Indigenous Alliance Without Borders, is working toward national guidelines to ensure border rights for Indigenous Peoples in their homelands, from California to Texas.

Indigenous Alliance Without Borders director Jose Matus, Yaqui, said recent meetings were held with members of the Gila River Indian Nation, Cocopah Nation and Kumeyaay Nation, along with meetings in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The purpose was to network and solicit support for a Southern Border Rights Campaign. The Alliance is working toward national guidelines and a manual for Southern Indigenous Border Rights at the U.S./Mexico Border region.

Matus, Yaqui ceremonial leader, has traveled to Yaqui communities in Sonora, Mexico for thirty years to bring Yaqui ceremonial leaders to the United States for temporary stays for ceremonial purposes. At the US border, there were repeatedly harassments and detainments of ceremonial leaders and their families.

Indigenous Peoples living along the border in their traditional homelands, from California to Texas, continue to be harassed and intimidated by US federal agents, including the US Border Patrol, and local enforcement agencies working with Homeland Security. The situation has not improved under the Obama Administration.

While the United States piously demands that other countries assure basic human rights to their citizens, the United States remains one of the greatest offenders of the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were the four countries that refused to vote in favor of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The stated rights include the right to prior and informed consent and the right to traditional territories.

The Alliance said, "The militarization of the southern US border with Mexico threatens the survival of Indigenous Peoples living on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico borderline. Our survival as Peoples depends largely on our ability to practice our ancient Indigenous languages, spiritual beliefs, culture and ceremonies in privacy and community without interference. This is not merely a cultural and spiritual concern; it is a matter of human right that exists in the U.S. legal statues, U.S. Constitution and International Law."

Matus said the following statement by the Indigenous Alliance Without Borders was completed in cooperation with the International Indian Treaty Council:

"Southern Border Crossing for Indigenous Peoples And the Lack of U.S.-Mexico Border Rights & Justice

By Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras/Indigenous Alliance Without Borders

The United States is quiet about the U.S. vote of ‘NO' to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples"

‘We did not Cross the Border, The Border Crossed Us'

The militarization of the southern US border with Mexico threatens the survival of indigenous peoples living on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico borderline. Our survival as Peoples depends largely on our ability to practice our ancient Indigenous languages, spiritual beliefs, culture and ceremonies in privacy and community without interference. This is not merely a cultural and spiritual concern; it is a matter of human right that exists in the U.S. legal statues, U.S. Constitution and International Law.

It is well known that the US was one of four countries voting against the recently adopted United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. It is dishonest for a government that lauds itself throughout the world as a Nation of Laws and protector of Human Rights to vote against the basic rights of Indigenous Peoples in its own country as well as the rights of hundreds of millions of Indigenous Peoples throughout the world.

To restore American credibility and make progress on these issues the Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras will advance a vision of responsible local, regional and international engagement that emphasizes human rights, solidarity and cooperation in an interdependent world, realizing that progress on compelling southern border problems will require the active support of friends, allies, and other major stakeholders in the local, regional and international community.

With that purpose, the Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras is spearheading the first ever Southern border transnational collaboration of Indigenous Peoples to address the rights of mobility and passage, militarization of the southern border and seek national policy on Southern Indigenous Peoples' border rights, justice and recognition for the cultural and religious rights of Indigenous Peoples, and their traditional ceremonial leaders.

Our goal is to create a strategic collaboration along the US-Mexico border among Indigenous Nations/communities and their organizations, allies and partners. We also propose future collaboration, mutual support and solidarity with northern border tribes including the Dakota-Nakota 7 Council Fires of South Dakota, who engaged in similar issues along the US-Canada border. Our aim is to unite Indigenous communities across borders in bringing key Indigenous Rights issues to the U.S. Government and 00international arena, in particular to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Department of State and the United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples.

As Indigenous Peoples, we must come together as one organized voice - we must speak for ourselves. Therefore, the Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras asks for the support of all Indigenous Peoples, friends, community allies and partners to stand in support of the fundamental sovereign principles of our traditional Indigenous cultural beliefs. Our social justice journey is to establish Indigenous human/civil rights, cultural survival and protection of our Indigenous languages, and the protection of mother earth and sacred sites at the southern border.

Networking and Coalition Building to promote Indigenous Southern Border Rights & Justice

Solutions may only be possible with consistent political pressure, an organized Indigenous community and the support of human rights organizations locally, nationally and internationally. Assistance and support will also be required from federally recognized border tribes who would also benefit from the restoration of mobility for their members on the south side of the border fence.

The best strategy for defending Indigenous rights, the rights of indigenous people's mobility and passage of the U.S.-Mexico southern border must involve a combination of factors and strategies, including mobilizations of Indigenous communities and tribal councils, creating political pressure, the use of domestic courts and international human rights mechanisms.

Approaches through U.S. Domestic Law and Policy

Southern Indigenous Peoples can seek remedies to secure border crossing rights for their Mexican Indigenous relatives through:

· Federal Indian law and legislation, both at the State and Federal level;

· Internationally-established human right to maintain their cultures and cultural connections across international boundary which may be secured by seeking the proper interpretation of the Native American Languages Act of 1996, and the American Indian Religious Act of 1978 as amended in 1996;

· Seeking legislative changes to ensure that all Mexican Indigenous Peoples are allowed access to the United States equal to that of Canadian Indigenous Peoples and the Jay Treaty;

· Extending the program used for one southern border tribe, the Kickapoo, by issuing American Indian cards (Form I-872) to all southern border tribes and creating new guidelines under which a tribal membership/tribal affiliation card from southern border tribe would be sufficient for entry for Mexican members of that tribe;

Strategies for gaining Southern Indigenous Border Rights

· Generate pressure on the US Government to accept the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;

· Pursue remedies for violation of their internationally-recognized human rights through two major international human rights systems, the United Nation (UN) and of the Organization of American States (OSA);

· Seek solidarity and support from other allies, friends and partners;

· Reinforce our efforts by conducting trainings, conferences, and disseminating information about our rights.


Approaches through International Law

Communicate our concerns to UN Human Rights Council Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief, and the newly created mandate, the Independent Expert on the Right to Culture;

File Shadow Reports with appropriate Treaty Monitoring Bodies under UN Human Rights Treaties to which the US is a State Party, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD);

Consider using the CERD Committee's Urgent Action/Early Warning procedure in urgent cases;

Attend the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues as several of its agenda items for 2010 are appropriate for the raising of these trans-border issues; Meet and network with other Indigenous Peoples from North America concerned with trans-border issues."
Contact Jose Matus:
Brenda Norrell

Ward Churchill Benefit for O'odham Border Resistance


by Brenda Norrell
Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Photo Ofelia Rivas, O'odham

TUCSON -- Activist Ward Churchill will speak at a benefit for the traditional O'odham resisting oppression and abuse by US Border Patrol agents and protesting the construction of the US/Mexico border wall in their traditional homeland.
Ofelia Rivas, founder of the O'odham VOICE against the Wall, said funds raised at the benefit will support the struggles of the O'odham living on both sides of the border, on O'odham lands in southern Arizona and Sonora, Mexico.
Rivas points out that the US border wall construction has resulted in the unearthing of O'odham ancestors, in violation of spiritual laws and federal laws. The wall is now a barrier to annual sacred pilgrimages of the O'odham.
"The wall has destroyed the sacred resting places of our ancestors and has closed our ceremonial routes," Rivas said.
Since Homeland Security has coopted the Tohono O'odham Nation government in the United States, Tohono O'odham police are working with the US Border Patrol agents and abuse O'odham on a daily basis. The region has been militarized by federal agents and basic human rights are denied.
"The O'odham are considered illegal undocumented persons in our own lands. The policies of the wall have criminalized O'odham. We are considered suspects in our own lands, interrogated and harassed," Rivas said.
Rivas has been held at gunpoint, handcuffed and repeatedly followed and harassed by US Border Patrol agents and Tohono O'odham police. Rivas' family lives on both sides of the US/Mexico border in the traditional O'odham homeland.
"O'odham VOICE is our resistance to continue our way of life, continue to maintain our Him'dag and continue to cross this illegal International Border across our lands," Rivas said.
Traditional O'odham oppose the construction of the border wall in their homeland. They are struggling to halt the abuse of O'odham and migrants by police and the various federal immigration agents that swarm their land.
Many migrants dying in the Sonoran Desert are Indigenous Peoples, Mayans and other Indigenous Peoples, from southern Mexico and Central America. Traditional O'odham upholding the Him'dag, the sacred way of life, oppose the oppression and militarization leading to the deaths of Indigenous Peoples on their lands.
Rivas said the O'odham VOICE Against the Wall, organized in 2003, advocates for the traditional O'odham leaders and elders of the O'odham communities in the southern territory of the United States and northern territory of Mexico.
Churchill will speak at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson, 4831 E. 22nd St., on November 13, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
Churchill's talk is part of the "Apartheid in America: Surviving Occupation in O'odham Lands" gathering, which features a concert by Resistant Culture, a punk rock/metal band from Southern California.
"The event is dedicated to raising awareness of the connections between repressive border policies at home and abroad," Rivas said.
Announcing the event, Rivas said, "Ward Churchill is a prolific American Indian writer, a member of the Rainbow Coalition Council of Elders, and on the leadership council of the American Indian Movement of Colorado. In addition to his numerous works on Indigenous history, he has written extensively on U.S. foreign policy and the repression of political dissent. Five of his more than 20 books have received human rights writing awards.
"Former Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department, until July 2007 Ward Churchill was a tenured full Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Colorado/Boulder, where he received numerous awards for his teaching and service. In April 2009 a jury unanimously found that he had been fired by CU in retaliation for his observations on 9/11 and in violation of the First Amendment. Professor Churchill is currently litigating to have that verdict upheld."
Rivas said Resistant Culture's music is best described as tribal grind core -- weaving the indigenous flute, rattle, tribal drum, and chant into a backdrop of extreme punk and metal. The concert will take place at Dry River, 740 N. Main (University and Main), November 13, at 10:00 p.m.
Supporting the O'odham struggle and in opposition to censorship and rigid conformity, the events will be broadcast live at www.livestream.com/earthcycles

Rivas said sponsors of the event include the Dry River Radical Resource Center, Earth First! Journal, and Voices Against the Wall.
"The event is open to the public. Donations of $10 to $20 are requested, but no one will be turned away. A delicious vegetarian meal will be served at 6:30 p.m.," she said.

October 14, 2009

Ward Churchill to Speak at Benefit for Traditional O'odham Resistance

O’odham Voice Against the Wall
Press Release
Media Inquiries: Ofelia Rivas, 520-349-5484, alijegos@gmail.com
Dan Todd, 520-982-1835, langgore@hotmail.com
Additional Information:
www.solidarity-project.org
www.dryriver.org

Ward Churchill, Professor Fired for 9/11 Remarks, to Speak at Benefit for Traditional O’odham Resistance
By O'odham VOICE Against the Wall
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Activist and scholar Ward Churchill will speak at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson, 4831 E. 22nd St., on November 13, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. to benefit O’odham VOICE Against the Wall, which since 2003 has organized and advocated for the traditional O’odham leaders and elders of the O’odham communities in the southern territory of the United States and northern territory of Mexico.
Professor Churchill’s talk is part of the “Apartheid in America: Surviving Occupation in O’odham Lands” gathering, which features a concert by Resistant Culture, a punk rock/metal band from Southern California. The event is dedicated to raising awareness of the connections between repressive border policies at home and abroad.
Ward Churchill is a prolific American Indian writer, a member of the Rainbow Coalition Council of Elders, and on the leadership council of the American Indian Movement of Colorado. In addition to his numerous works on Indigenous history, he has written extensively on U.S. foreign policy and the repression of political dissent. Five of his more than 20 books have received human rights writing awards.
Former Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department, until July 2007 Ward Churchill was a tenured full Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Colorado/Boulder, where he received numerous awards for his teaching and service. In April 2009 a jury unanimously found that he had been fired by CU in retaliation for his observations on 9/11 and in violation of the First Amendment. Professor Churchill is currently litigating to have that verdict upheld.
Resistant Culture’s music is best described as tribal grind core -- weaving the indigenous flute, rattle, tribal drum, and chant into a backdrop of extreme punk and metal. The show will take place at Dry River, 740 N. Main (University and Main), November 13, at 10:00 p.m.
Both Professor Churchill’s talk and Resistant Culture’s concert will be broadcast live at www.livestream.com/earthcycles by Govinda Dalton and Brenda Norrell, who have each covered Indigenous news for over 25 years.
Other sponsors of the event include the Dry River Radical Resource Center, the Earth First! Journal, and Voices Against the Wall.
The event is open to the public. Donations of $10 to $20 are requested, but no one will be turned away. A delicious vegetarian meal will be served at 6:30 p.m.
#################
From Ofelia Rivas:
Hello Friends,
The Dry River Collective of Tucson, Arizona is hosting a benefit for O'odham VOICE Against the WALL.
We hope to raise funds to support our work on the impact of the border WALL on O'odham lands.
The WALL has destroyed the sacred resting places of our ancestors and has closed our ceremonial routes.
The O'odham are considered illegal undocumented persons in our own lands.
The policies of the WALL have criminalized O'odham. We are considered suspects in our own lands, interrogated and harassed.
O'odham VOICE is our resistance to continue our way of life, continue to maintain our Him'dag and continue to cross this illegal International Border across our lands.
Support us through donations and support by attending the event or just sending our press release forward.
Send donations to http://www.solidarity-project.org/.
-- Ofelia M.Rivas
Solidarity in Dignified Rage
O'odham VOICE Against the WALL
O'odham Rights Cultural & Environmental Justice Coalition