American Indian Movement of Colorado

First Nations in Occupied Canada to Defend Their Territories Against Canada and Oil Corporations through "an unbroken wall of opposition"

2011-12-02T15:37:00.001-08:00

Describing their opposition to Enbridge’s Northern Gateway project as an unbreakable wall, native leaders say they will physically block the project if regulators allow it to proceed. Announcing their alliance under the "Save the Fraser[River] Declaration" read full Declaration here, First Nations across British Columbis affirmed their opposition to the Gateway pipeline.

Indigenous peoples, such as the Yinka Dene Alliance and Coastal First Nations, have said they will not support the project under any circumstances."We have banned oil pipelines and tankers using our laws, and we will defend our decision using all the means at our disposal," said Chief Jackie Thomas of Saik'uz First Nation, a member of the Yinka Dene Alliance. “I am going to stand in front of bulldozers to stop this project, and I expect my neighbours to join me,” Thomas said on Thursday when asked what will happen if regulators approve the proposed pipeline.

The declaration is another political blow to the Canadian energy sector and Canada's right-of-center Conservative government after Washington decided last month to delay approving a pipeline carrying oil sands crude to the Gulf Coast.

It adds to the uncertainty over Enbridge Inc's planned C$5.5 billion Northern Gateway oil pipeline, which would move 525,000 barrels a day of tar sands-derived oil 1,177 km (731 miles) to the Pacific port of Kitimat, British Columbia.

Aboriginal groups, also known as First Nations, say they fear the consequences of a spill from the pipeline, which would pass through some of Canada's most spectacular mountain landscape. They also oppose the idea of shipping oil from British Columbia ports.

"First Nations, whose unceded territory encompasses the entire coastline of British Columbia, have formed a united front, banning all exports of tar sands crude oil through their territories," more than 60 aboriginal groups said in a statement.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the Northern Gateway - which would open up a new supply route to Asia - is important for Canada, especially after the United States delay to approval of TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline.

Washington announced the delay after a high-profile protest campaign against oil sands crude, which requires large amounts of energy to produce.

Aboriginal opposition is one of the biggest risks to Enbridge in its efforts to move Northern Gateway forward. The company has offered native groups equity stakes in the pipeline as well as large sums of money for community development.

Enbridge spokesman Paul Stanway said the affair had to be handled by government and regulators rather than by the company. "This is a ban that would have serious implications for the entire province of British Columbia," he said.

For more information: Save the Fraser River

Colorado AIM members at Obama confrontation, Denver, October 26th, 2011

2011-10-27T20:53:00.001-07:00

Colorado AIM members, Scott Jacket, Sky Morris, and Tessa McLean express their opposition to Keystone Pipeline at Obama rally. These three young Colorado AIM leaders had just been removed by the Secret Service after raising their banner during Obama's speech inside the arena. (photo: Carol Berry, Indian Country Today)

Colorado AIM and allies Confront Obama about Keystone XL

2011-10-27T13:22:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, we had our action at the Obama speech on the Auraria campus. It was pretty awesome, as was the action on Tuesday, despite the cold and rain and snow. I want to acknowledge the leadership that was shown by Scott, Tessa and Sky, in the lead-up to today's action, and for the courage that they showed, in the face of the Secret Service and other police agencies. They stood for hours in the rain and snow with our banners and messages and bullhorns, outside of the Pepsi Center where Obama had his $5000 per person fundraiser, outside of Obama's hotel, stood in line for hours to get the tickets to get inside the Auraria event, They smuggled banners into the event, past Secret Service security, and raised the banners, and the Oglala Sioux, flag at the critical time. Also essential to the action locally were Robert Chanate (who was central to the organizing, and who held up the banner, too),Carol Berry, Jolynne Locust-Woodcock whose pictures of the event can be found on her Facebook page, and Lance Tsosie, an Indian student from DU. Several others who could not get into the event braved the snow to rally outside, including Viki Eagle and other DU students, Lizzie Kerplanek from CU-Denver and Colorado AIM, and especially to Kia Fathi, a strong and solid ally, who worked tirelessly to support this action. There were other AIM people who helped, too: Brenda Mitchell, Dave and Joylynne Woodcock, Frank who helped with security for us, Harrison Sadler, and Tessa's dad Jacob, mom Bernice, and sister Megan. Deb Freemont was in the event too, but got separated from us by the huge crowd. I also want to commend Steve Keith for creating a beautiful banner for us.

A special message of appreciation to Tom Poor Bear and his daughter, Evangeline, who drove down from Pine Ridge, and who were in there with us. Tom is a long-time AIM veteran of the Trail of Broken Treaties, Wounded Knee "73, Yellow Thunder Camp, Camp Justice, and many other AIM sponsored actions; he is now the Vice-President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Several other members of the OST Council said that they were going to join us, but Tom was the only one with the courage actually to show and confront Obama. He was also instrumental in shouting to Obama about honoring Indian treaties, stopping the Keystone XL pipeline, and respecting our mother the Earth. Also very important to the action was Jennifer Baker, an attorney from the Smith, Shelton and Ragona law firm, who is lead advisor to Tom on the Keystone pipeline impact on the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Jennifer hung in there with us through the actions on Tuesday night, and came into the Obama event, and help us hold up the Keystone banner.

The events above caused Obama to stammer, lose his place in his speech, pause, and then directly to respond to the messages that were shouted, and the message on the banners that were located right in front of him: "Honor Indian Treaties," and "Stop The Keystone Pipeline." Obama stopped and said that a decision had not yet been made, and he said, "I know your deep concern about it. We will address it." The Secret Service then surrounded our group and ordered us to stop shouting, and to take the banners down. When Sky told them that we weren't taking the banners down, they ordered us to leave the room, which we did, eventually.

In the news articles below, you can see that the fact Obama stopped his written speech, and responded to the Keystone issue, was a first. These stories were reported locally, nationally, and internationally -- including on Associated Press, Reuters, and in the New York Times, some links are below -- for more Google news search the terms "Obama, Denver, Keystone."

Indigenous Resistance to the Tar Sands - our local FB page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Indigenous-Resistance-to-the-OIL-Sands-Denver/296999983643881

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/189955-obama-speech-interupted-by-anti-keystone-hecklers
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/26/us-obama-keystone-idUSTRE79P6OI20111026
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/26/keystone-xl-pipeline-obama_n_1033067.html

Show Obama: Indigenous Resistance to the Oil Sands Oct 25, Denver

2011-10-19T21:42:00.000-07:00

Colorado AIM endorses, and will participate actively in, the rally below when Obama is in town next week.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Indigenous-Resistance-to-the-OIL-Sands-Oct-25-Denver/296999983643881

WHEN: Tuesday, October 25, assemble @ 1:45pm
WHERE: Tivoli Commons on Auraria Campus (900 Auraria Pkwy, Denver, 80204)
WHY: TransCanada has proposed a pipeline, the Keystone XL pipeline to come down from the Alberta Tar Sands (the largest industrial project on earth) to Texas, passing many states, at least five reservations and the Ogallala Aquifer which serves water to eight states. The State Department and Obama are sitting on the pipeline proposal right now and will be approving/denying it in November. We will remind Obama of his 2008 campaign promises, we will remind him that We, the People, are concerned over the oil sands and the pipeline, over our land and water that our next generations must depend on, too. Thomas Poor Bear, the Vice President from the Oglala Sioux Tribe will be bringing a delegation from the Pine Ridge Reservation to join in this struggle, and we hope you will join, too.

Outstanding Column by Professor Richard Falk on Duplicity of U.S. in Invoking the "Rule of Law"

2011-10-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

Missing the Point Twice: International Law as Empire’s Sunday Suit by Richard Falk click here for original blog

In a recent speech at the Harvard Law School, John Brennan, President Obama’s chief advisor on counterterrorism and homeland security, boldly declared: “I’ve developed a profound appreciation for the role that our values, especially the rule of law, play in keeping our country safe.” The most notable feature of the remarks that followed was the legal rationalization put forth for targeting killing of civilian terrorist suspects distant from ‘the hot battlefield’ even if not engaged in activities that could be reasonably viewed as posing an imminent threat to security of the United States.

In effect, post-9/11 American ideas of self-defense incorporate by stealth the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war used to justify aggression against Iraq in 2003, which had seemed discredited in international until quietly revived by the Obama presidency. The entire world is treated as part of the operational battlefield in the so-called ‘long war,’ and civilians, such as the religious ideologue Anwar al-Awlaki, killed on September 30, 2011 in a remote region of Yemen as if he was a soldier at war. This purported legalization of drone attacks carried out in foreign countries represents a unilateral extension of international law, as well as establishes a precedent that would not be tolerated if claimed by any country hostile to the United States. Involved here is the de facto amendment of the right of self-defense in a manner inconsistent with both the understanding embedded in Articles 2(4) and 51 of the UN Charter and of contemporary international law as interpreted by a majority in the International Court of Justice in the Nicaragua case decided in 1986. The United States now sets the new rules that override the old rules, and then limits their availability to others by restrictions based on geopolitical criteria of ‘friend’ and ‘enemy.’

All that Brennan offered in support of such an imperial claim was the assurance that the United States is careful in the execution of these attacks, seeking to minimize the risk of mistaken identity and taking steps to ensure that the attacks take place in situations where the risks of unintended ‘collateral damage’ are reduced to the minimum. The credibility of this reassurance is insulated from inquiry by secrecy, a total lack of transparency that is supposedly justified by the need to protect intelligence sources. There is also no independent post-attack independent inquiry as to whether the targeted individual might have captured rather than executed, whether there existed a sufficient threat of involvement in dangerous activities to warrant such at attack, whether the government of the country involved gave its consent voluntarily, and whether there is or should be accountability for errors. Such a procedure can only be understood as an effort to establish a system of imperial global governance in relation to the use of force. If this constitutes the way American ‘values’ deploy ‘the rule of law’ it would seem to reflect the most cynical reliance on ‘law’ as propaganda, while at the same time discarding the proper role of law as a constraint on violence. It is also relevant that the unusual amount of attention given to the al-Awlaki execution results from his American citizenship, which implies the regressive understanding of law that there are no grounds for a serious American concern if the target is non-American regardless of the innocence of the person or the fact that he or she are being killed in their homeland and citizenship. Such a world we are making for ourselves and others.

In March of 2011, in a spirited address to the American Society of International Law, Harold Koh, Legal Advisor to the Secretary of State, also spoke glowingly about the commitment of the United States during the Obama presidency of “living our values by respecting the role of law.” He went on to explain that this mean “following universal standards, not double standards.”

These legalist sentiments were deemed by Koh to be so central to his argument as to be printed in bold lettering for emphasis.
What should strike any reasonably objective person is the crude hypocrisy of an American government official rejecting double standards while simultaneously engaging in political gymnastics to avoid acknowledging the unlawfulness of Israel’s behavior: the United States stands practically alone in the world in refusing to condemn Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine, in denying Palestinian statehood at the UN, in endorsing the collective punishment inflicted on the civilian population of Gaza for more than four years; in repudiating the recommendations of the Goldstone Report. Indeed, U.S. foreign policy toward Israel is the most glaring and punitive instance of double standards with respect to international law that exists in the world today. But it far from the only example. Other prominent instances exist in many crucial domains of global policy: as with the nuclear weapons states that maintain arsenals of weapons without accepting restrictions on their use and non-nuclear pariah states that under the geopolitically managed NPT regime are threatened with military attack for supposedly seeking such weapons; as with the identity of those political leaders and military commanders who are prosecuted for international crimes and those who enjoy a condition of de facto impunity; and as to states that could be invaded by reliance on the norm of ‘responsibility to protect’ and those against which such action is inconceivable however much the territorial population is confronted by dire threats to its wellbeing and survival.

I am less shocked by the behavior of the United States, which reflects its grand strategy, than by this insistence on stretching the meaning of the most fundamental legal rules and principles to satisfy foreign policy priorities. For esteemed international law figures such as Harold Koh, formerly a distinguished human rights scholar and dean of the Yale Law School, to make such bold assertions about the post-9/11 law, validating drone warfare, without even bothering to acknowledge doubts as to the wisdom and acceptability of such a course is to embrace jurisprudential nihilism in two senses—first, by undermining the authority of international law by showing that it can always be extended unilaterally to serve the interests of the powerful, and operates otherwise to discipline weak states; and secondly, by creating a precedent that will not be honored as ‘law’ if invoked by others- witness the hysterical reaction to the shaky claim that Iran was plotting the assassination of the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States. What is sauce for the geopolitical goose seems to be poison for the pariah gander!

There are respectable reasons to suggest that international law of war and peace that has evolved over the centuries to deal with conflict among states, and as such needs to be revised to take account of non-state actors and networks, as well as in response to the global horizoning of many interactions in the world of the 21st century. But there are no respectable reasons to contend that dominant states can exercise a military option wherever they choose, and then have the temerity to call this behavior ‘lawful.’

Michael Rosen, an ideological apologist for the executions of Osama Bin Laden and Al-Awlaki, writing in The American, the magazine published by the American Enterprise Institute (the right-wing think tank) put his support for drone military activity this way: “But in the civilized world..increasingly.. targeted by Islamist terror, we must continue to return fire by robustly targeting the terror masters.” At least such an assertion

does not pretend to provide an international law justification, although it does stretch the U.S. Congress’s 2001 Authorization of the Use of Military Force, designed to reach those involved in the 9/11 attacks, to validate the execution Al-Awlaki who has never been accused of having any relationship to 9/11. It also most unacceptably sets up this long repudiated moral contrast between ‘the civilized world’ and the rest that has so often in modern times been used to justify violence by the West against the non-West. I had hoped that the collapse of colonialism would have at least discouraged the use of such a tasteless rhetoric of comparison.

There is a final point. Living in a region that is subject to drone attacks as in the tribal areas of Waziristan is terrifying for the population as a whole. This ill-defined vulnerability helps explain the severe hostility to the United States that exists among the Pakistani people and led to a unanimous resolution adopted on May 14, 2011 by the Pakistan parliament demanding that the executive branch uphold Pakistan’s sovereignty by disallowing any future drone strikes on its territory, and if they continue to cut off NATO supplies destined for the Afghanistan War. Supporters of the resolution have sought implementation through the courts, and a Lahore judge has ordered Pakistan foreign minister to submit detailed responses to issues raised. It is one thing to assess the reasonableness and proportionality of a targeted killing, including by reference to collateral damage by reference to the person(s) targeted, but such an appraisal fails to take any account of the more pervasive and inevitable collateral damage caused by producing intense insecurity on the part of an utterly defenseless civilian population as a whole. As far as I have seen this latter dimension of state terror associated with these new modalities of surveillance, intelligence operations, and robotic militarism never considers the psychological harm being done to the people of the targeted country. This raises issues bearing on the right to life as a fundamental right of all persons under international human rights law.

"Occupy Wall Street" to Receive Indigenous Proposal Modeled After Colorado AIM's

2011-10-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

Attached is a proposal for presentation to the New York City "Occupy Wall Street" General Assembly regarding endorsement of Indigneous rights and a set of principles guiding their interaction with Indigenous peoples, communities and nations. As you may already know, by consensus Occupy Denver endorsed the initiative by the American Indian Movement of Colorado on the rights of indigenous peoples http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2011/10/occupy_denver_american_indian_movement.php Owe Aku International Justice Project, in making this presentation, has borrowed liberally from the AIM Colorado proposal. Over the past week we have had important discussions on the language and, after review, this seems to be the most consensual document to date. It also covers nearly all the suggestions we have been collecting for inclusion in our presentation. We will do our best to make a concise, honorable and respectful presentation this evening at the "occupy wall street" event and hope that their General Assembly, too, will accept the proposal by consensus.

Wopila to everyone who has provided support and input over this past week. Wopila too, to all of the leaders who went to Washington to ensure that Indigenous opposition was once again voiced to the XL Pipeline. We are always spread thin, yet, with the help and prayers of our people and allies we seem to be able to make a small difference in our work for Mother Earth and future generations.

Kent Lebsock
Coordinator

Owe Aku International Justice Project
on the web at www.oweakuinternational.org

"Occupy Denver" Adopts Colorado AIM initiative on indigenous peoples' rights!

2011-10-09T23:28:00.001-07:00

In unanimous consensus, Occupy Denver endorsed the initiative by the American Indian Movement of Colorado on the rights of indigenous peoples (see entire document below). After an hour of discussion, Occupy Denver wholeheartedly supported the proposal at its evening General Assembly. The document was adopted just hours after Boston had accepted a similar, but much less detailed and less specific, proposal.http://occupyboston.com/2011/10/08/occupy-boston-ratifies-memorandum-of-solidarity-with-indigenous-peoples/.

Proposal from Colorado AIM to "Occupy Denver"

2011-10-09T23:25:00.000-07:00

An Indigenous Platform Proposal for “Occupy Denver”
"Now we put our minds together to see what kind of world we can create for
the seventh generation yet to come."
- John Mohawk (1944-2006), Seneca Nation

As indigenous peoples, we welcome the awakening of those who are relatively new to our homeland. We are thankful, and rejoice, for the emergence of a movement that is mindful of its place in the environment, that seeks economic and social justice, that strives for an end to oppression in all its forms, that demands an adequate standard of food, employment, shelter and health care for all, and that calls for envisioning a new, respectful and honorable society. We have been waiting for 519 years for such a movement, ever since that fateful day in October, 1492 when a different worldview arrived – one of greed, hierarchy, destruction and genocide.

In observing the “Occupy Together” expansion, we are reminded that the territories of our indigenous nations have been “under occupation” for decades, if not centuries. We remind the occupants of this encampment in Denver that they are on the territories of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute peoples. In the U.S., indigenous nations were the first targets of corporate/government oppression. The landmark case of Johnson v. McIntosh (1823), which institutionalized the “doctrine of discovery” in U.S. law, and which justified the theft of 2 billion acres of indigenous territory, established a framework of corrupt political/legal/corporate collusion that continues throughout indigenous America, to the present.

If this movement is serious about confronting the foundational assumptions of the current U.S. system, then it must begin by addressing the original crimes of the U.S. colonizing system against indigenous nations. Without addressing justice for indigenous peoples, there can never be a genuine movement for justice and equality in the United States. Toward that end, we challenge Occupy Denver to take the lead, and to be the first “Occupy” city to integrate into its philosophy, a set of values that respects the rights of indigenous peoples, and that recognizes the importance of employing indigenous visions and models in restoring environmental, social, cultural, economic and political health to our homeland.

We call on Occupy Denver to endorse, as a starting point, the following:

1. To repudiate the Doctrine of Christian Discovery, to endorse the repeal of the papal bull Inter Caetera (1493) to work for the reversal of the U.S. Supreme Court case of Johnson v. M’Intosh 1823), and call for a repeal of the Columbus Day holiday as a Colorado and United States holiday.

2. To endorse the right of all indigenous peoples to the international right of self-determination, by virtue of which they freely determine their political status, and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural futures.

3. To demand the recognition, observance and enforcement of all treaties and agreements freely entered into `between indigenous nations and the United States. Treaties should be recognized as binding international instruments. Disputes should be recognized as a proper concern of international law, and should be arbitrated by impartial international bodies.

4. To insist that Indigenous people shall never be forcibly relocated from their lands or territories.

5. To acknowledge that Indigenous peoples have the right to practice and teach their spiritual and religious traditions customs and ceremonies, including in institutions of the State, e.g. prisons, jails and hospitals,, and to have access in privacy their religious and cultural sites, and the right to the repatriation of their human remains and funeral objects.

6. To recognize that Indigenous peoples and nations are entitled to the permanent control and enjoyment of their aboriginal-ancestral territories. This includes surface and subsurface rights, inland and coastal waters, renewable and non-renewable resources, and the economies based on these resources. In advancement of this position, to stand in solidarity with the Cree nations, whose territories are located in occupied northern Alberta, Canada, in their opposition to the Tar Sands development, the largest industrial project on earth. Further, to demand that President Barack Obama deny the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, proposed to run from the tar sands in Canada into the United States, and that the United States prohibit the use or transportation of Tar Sands oil in the United States.

7. To assert that Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions. They have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions. Further, indigenous peoples have the right to the ownership and protection of their human biological and genetic materials, samples, and stewardship of non-human biological and genetic materials found in indigenous territories.

8. To recognize that the settler state boundaries in the Americas are colonial fabrications that should not limit or restrict the ability of indigenous peoples to travel freely, without inhibition or restriction, throughout the Americas. This is especially true for indigenous nations whose people and territories have been separated by the acts of settler states that established international borders without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples affected.

9. To demand that the United States shall take no adverse action regarding the territories, lands, resources or people of indigenous nations without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples affected.

10. To demand the immediate release of American Indian political prisoner, Leonard Peltier, U.S. Prisoner #89637-132, from U.S. federal custody.

Finally, we also remind Occupy Denver that indigenous histories, political, cultural, environmental, medical, spiritual and economic traditions provide rich examples for frameworks that can offer concrete models of alternatives to the current crises facing the United States. We request that Occupy Denver actively utilize and integrate indigenous perspectives, teachers, and voices in its deliberations and decision-making processes. Submitted 8 October 2011
American Indian Movement of Colorado
P.O. Box 292, Sedalia, CO 80135
http://colorado-aim.blogspot.com/ ; email: gtm303@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Transform-Columbus-Day-Denver/240030696049381

Columbus Day resistance - Denver, October 8, 2011

2011-10-09T10:23:00.000-07:00

Led by spiritual elder, Robert Cross (Oglala Lakota), and the sacred pipe, carried by Shiela Cross, the Colorado AIM eagle staff and drum, inspire our relatives and our allies to march and resist the Columbus Day racism in the streets of Denver.

Columbuscide Parade Protest -Denver -Saturday, October 8, 2011, 9am. Be there.

2011-10-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Transform-Columbus-Day-Denver/240030696049381

Protest Columbus Day in Its Birthplace

2011-10-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Transform-Columbus-Day-Denver/240030696049381
Columbus Day Parade Protest
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Assemble @ 9am
bet. Lincoln and Broadway/ Colfax & 14th Ave.
Denver
Themes: “Transform Columbus Day – Create a Respectful Future”
“No Parades for Indian-Killers,” “No Celebrations of Genocide,”

The Transform Columbus Day Alliance is based upon mutual respect, sharing the perspective that Columbus Day is a racist statement of cultural domination, especially against indigenous peoples of the Americas and Africa. Columbus committed genocide against American Indians, and was an African slave trader. Celebrations honoring Columbus reinforce historical racism, theft, lies, murder, slavery and the destruction of the environment. We reject Columbus as a heroic person, and we reject holidays, celebrations or other honors for Columbus.

This Alliance opposes Columbus Day, Columbus celebrations and the Columbus legacy. Noting that the Columbus Day holiday began in Colorado in 1907, this Alliance acknowledges its unique responsibility to challenge the Columbus holiday and Columbus celebrations, in Denver, and in Colorado.

This Alliance is dedicated to the transformation of the Columbus holiday from a hateful, racist holiday that celebrates conquest and domination to a respectful celebration that calls for a future for the Americas without racism, exploitation, or state/corporate domination.We repudiate the concept of "discovery," which is not merely a rhetorical description of Columbus' endeavor, but has been extended into specific legal and political doctrines that have been, and continue to be, used for the destruction of indigenous peoples. Columbus is the source of the discovery doctrine, and must be rejected. Join us this Saturday to help put an end to this racist, anti-Indian holiday, and to build a new future for our next seven generations.

Transform Columbus Day Alliance & American Indian Movement of Colorado
www.transformcolumbusday.org http://www.colorado-aim.blogspot.com/

Support our brother Russell Means

2011-09-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

Our brother and leader, Russell Means is involved in a tenacious fight against the cruelest of invader diseases -- cancer. As usual, however, Russell is putting up an exemplary resistance. He has been relying on our traditional medicines, and ceremonies, and has been treated by indigenous healers from the Lakota (Crow Dog), Dinéh (Morgan), and Anishinabe (Turtle Lodge). In addition, he is undergoing alternative treatments in Arizona. Visit his website www.republicoflakotah.com for updates.

These treatments are quite expensive, and our brother needs all of our help. If Russell has ever touched your life, has ever inspired or taught you anything, has ever made your proud to be Indian, or to be a human being, now is the time to repay him. Thank you.

You may mail your donation to: Russell Means Healing Fund, 444 Crazy Horse Drive, Porcupine, SD 57772

Resistance to Columbus Day film showing

2011-09-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

The Indigenous Training Resource Council &
The American Indian Movement of Colorado
present
Even The Rain (2010)
(También la Lluvia)
This recent feature film is set against the backdrop of the actual“Water Wars” fought against the privatization of Bolivia’s water supply by Bechtel Corporation in the year 2000. The script is anchored in the philosophies of 16th century Dominican priests, Bartolome de las Casas and Antonio Montesinos, the first opposition voices of conscience against the Columbus invasion and European empire in the Americas. With ample irony, EVEN THE RAIN (También la Lluvia) explores the effects of imperialism, still resonating some 500 years later, in the continuing struggle of indigenous peoples.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2001, 7:00 pm (discussion after)
Four Winds American Indian Center
5th Avenue @ Bannock Street, Denver
suggested donation - $5, or what you can afford
for more information: gtm303@gmail.com

Indigenous Resistance Video Series

2011-02-13T20:20:00.000-08:00

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN RESISTANCE
Video inspirations on Sunday afternoons
Location: Auraria Campus, North Classroom 1204, Denver (Speer Blvd. @ Larimer Street) (free parking on campus on Sundays)
Time: 1-4 pm, unless double feature, then 1-5 pm, discussion follows films.
Cost: $5 suggested contribution – proceeds go to indigenous student delegation to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Sunday, February 13, 2011 (Double feature!)
Topic: Territorial rights and mining
Our Generation – Land, Culture, Freedom (2010) -
Told through the voice of the Yolungu indigenous people in Australia, this is a powerful example of resistance to the Northern Territory Intervention, the ongoing, illegal military occupation of aboriginal communities, essentially for the benefit of transnational mining corporations. (73 minutes)
American Outrage: the Western Shoshone Treaty Rights Struggle (2008) Highlighting the example of Mary and Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone sisters, who fight the United States and transnational mining corporations, all the way through the Supreme Court to the United Nations. Defending the Treaty of Ruby Valley (1863), the Danns are contemporary heroines for indigenous freedom and justice. This film includes footage of Denver protests against the Newmont gold mining corporation. (56 minutes)

Sunday, February 20, 2011
Topic: Indigenous resistance to Environmental Destruction
Crude: The Real Price of Oil (2009) Documents one of the most vicious fights of our time, between the indigenous peoples of the Ecuadorean Amazon and Chevron-Texaco. The Cofán, Siona, Secoya, Kichwa, and Huaorani nations continue to resist what might be the worst petroleum contamination on earth. The film takes us inside the life and death fight between indigenous nations and one of the largest oil corporations in the world. 105 minutes.
Tar Creek (2010) Documentary about the most environmentally contaminated (water, land and air) area in the US: the Quapaw Nation in northeastern Oklahoma – due to lead and other mining . 95 minutes.
Mine: Story of a Sacred Mountain (2010)– a real-life Avatar story about an indigenous people threatened with the destruction of their most sacred place by invaders. The Dongria Kondh in Orrisa, India resist the London-based transnational aluminum corporation Vedanta Resources. Includes update of recent victory by the Dongria Kondh against Vedanta.17 minutes.

Sunday,February 27, 2011
We Shall Remain: Wounded Knee 1973 (2010) – on the 38th anniversary of the beginning of the 71- day liberation of Wounded Knee in 1973, this film provides an inside perspective of one of the most dramatic contemporary acts of indigenous resistance in the United States.

Sunday, March 6, 2011
(Topic: Indigenous Children, Boarding School Genocide, and the Healing of Future Generations)
Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) – a moving, first-run film about the kidnapping of Aboriginal children by the Australian government for the purpose of assimilating indigenous peoples out of existence. True story. 93 minutes
In the White Man's Image (1991) – exposes the US policy of kidnapping indigenous children, and sending them to government boarding schools. This policy was copied by Australia, Canada, and New Zealand against indigenous peoples there. 58 min.
A Century of Genocide in the Americas – “Rabbit Proof Fence in Canada,” but, with a strategy for healing. 17 minutes.

American Indian Movement of Colorado Calls for Support of Bolivia Position

2011-01-19T14:29:00.000-08:00

Uncle Sam Says US Supports the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples -- NOT!

The American Indian Movement of Colorado Call To Action in Support of Bolivia and Indigenous Peoples in Southern Indigenous America
19 January 2011

On December 18, 2010, the United States announced its "support" of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The story below causes one to wonder if the US officials have actually read the Declaration. The US position indicates the sham of US "support," and reveals the intention of the US to manipulate the Declaration for its own purposes. Colorado AIM urges concerned people to support the government of Bolivia, and to contact the US State Department today to object to US position that infringes on the right of indigenous peoples in southern Indigenous America to cultivate and use their traditional medicine - coca.

Hillary Clinton
US Secretary of State
Phone: 202-647-5291

Susan Rice
US Ambassador to the United Nations
Phone: 212-415-4000, Fax 212-415-4443

Maria Otero
Under-Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs
Phone: 202-647-1189

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Article 24
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to their traditional medicines and to maintain their health practices, including the conservation of their vital medicinal plants, animals and minerals. Indigenous individuals also have the right to access, without any discrimination, to all social and health services.
2. Indigenous individuals have an equal right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. States shall take the necessary steps with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of this right.

US objects to Bolivia bid for legal coca-chewing
January 19, 2011 - AP http://www.news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/127905/US-objects-to-Bolivia-bid-for-licit-coca-chewing.html?isap=1&nav=538

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The United States will file a formal objection Wednesday to Bolivia's proposal to end the ban on coca leaf-chewing specified by a half-century-old U.N. treaty, according to a senior U.S. government official.

"We hope that a number of other countries will file as well," the official told The Associated Press on Tuesday. He spoke on condition he not be further identified, citing the topic's political sensitivity.

Despite being stigmatized as the raw material of cocaine, coca leaves have been chewed by indigenous peoples in the Andes for centuries. A mild stimulant, the leaves have deep cultural and religious value in the region. Chewed or consumed as tea, coca counters altitude sickness, aids digestion and suppresses hunger and fatigue.

Jan. 31 is the deadline for nations to raise objections with the United Nations to Bolivia's proposed amendment to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs to remove language that obliges signatories to prohibit the chewing of coca leaves. If none are registered, it would automatically take effect.

Bolivia's leftist government, which is led by a former coca growers union leader, and its supporters contend the language it wants removed is discriminatory.

The convention's stipulation that coca-chewing be phased out within 25 years after it took effect in 1964 is based on a "blatantly racist" 1950 report, according to liberal advocacy groups Washington Office on Latin America and the Transnational Institute.

The Bolivian proposal would leave in place language that made coca leaves a controlled substance, said Pablo Solon, the country's U.N. ambassador.

Bolivian President Evo Morales launched a global campaign after his 2005 election seeking to declare coca licit, chewing it at international forums and presenting coca leaf-embossed art works and musical instruments to foreign officials including then-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"How can it be possible that the coca leaf, which represents our identity, which is ancestral, be penalized," Morales, an Aymara Indian, told reporters Friday before dispatching his foreign minister to Europe to lobby for the proposal.

Washington argues that the amendment would open the nearly 50-year-old convention to attack by any U.N. member nation that would seek to exclude for parochial reasons one of the 119 substances the convention classifies as narcotics, submitting them to strict controls.

Trying to carve out such exceptions "over the long term is not good for the planet's efforts to control and eventually solve the problem of drug abuse," the senior U.S. official said, adding that Washington also fears it could open a Pandora's box of legal challenges to drug crimes in the United States.

The official said "there is evidence to suggest that a substantial percentage" of the increased coca production in Bolivia over the past several years, registered in U.N. surveys, "has indeed gone into the network and the marketplace for cocaine."

The U.S. arguments are outmoded and "there is not a single scientific study left that shows coca is a dangerous substance," said Paul Gootenberg, a professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and author of "Andean Cocaine: The Making of a Global Drug."

"Traditionally the argument was that coca was basically cocaine and could be used illicitly to distill cocaine. But that was never realistic," he said, noting that it would take 440 pounds (200 kilograms) of coca leaves to produce 2.2 pounds (a single kilogram) of cocaine. "It has never happened and it never would. It doesn't make any sense from a smuggler's perspective."

Washington is filing its objection after weeks of lobbying other nations and had hoped others would object first — or at least simultaneously — so as not to hurt its attempts to mend relations with Bolivia, Martin Jelsma of the Transnational Institute told the AP.

Morales expelled the U.S. ambassador and agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration in late 2008, accusing them of inciting the opposition.

Two nations — Macedonia and Colombia — recently filed objections but withdrew them, Bolivia's charge d'affaires in Washington, Erika Duenas, told the AP. Egypt did the same a year ago, Jelsma said.

The senior U.S. official said Washington initially planned to file its objection last Friday but delayed after some progress on efforts to restore diplomatic ties with Bolivia.

"We regret the confusion. Our posture and position never changed, but we were hoping not to work at cross purposes with an equally laudable objective," the official said, adding that Washington had hoped the EU would forge a single unified position by now.

Contacted by the AP, officials of several EU nations said Tuesday they either did not have an opinion or had not arrived at a decision.

Spanish Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said he had "no stance on this question."

A German official said "our position is currently being worked out." And a spokesman for Portugal's foreign ministry, also speaking on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity, said a joint EU position was expected Jan. 25.

Carel Edwards, who retired six months ago as head of the EU Commission's drug policy unit, said many European nations currently consumed by economic woes "do not want to be seen to be unhelpful to the U.S. over an issue that is by no means at the top of their own domestic agendas."

They understand, he said, that given the extreme violence of the drug war in neighboring Mexico, "combined with the rather simplistic and populist views held by the general public on (narcotics) in the U.S., it is difficult for any U.S. administration to go along with the Bolivian request."

Gootenberg said the United States is encountering greater resistance these days to its position on coca leaf.

"As global cultural rights have come to the forefront of the U.N.'s agenda (its) anti-coca policy is a glaring contradiction," he said.

Rapa Nui UPDATE! (see original post below)

2011-01-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

Chilean Police Continue Brutal Evictions of Indigenous Resisters on Rapa Nui
click here for news story
Watch video of police violence against Rapa Nui click here

Different Face, Same Policy From U.S. on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

2011-01-02T21:48:00.000-08:00

Below are a few articles that respond to the December 16, 2010 announcement by Barack Obama that the United States will "lend its support" to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:

‘Same old’ language from the administration of change
By Suzanne Jasper
December 30, 2010
Recently the human rights record of the United States was the subject of a global review at the United Nations. The Universal Periodic Review takes place for all member states every four years. First, the country “under review” makes an oral statement to go with their written report, then other countries present comments and recommendations, then the country “under review” speaks to the recommendations. There were more than a dozen questions and recommendations to the U.S. regarding indigenous peoples and indigenous issues.

It is deeply disturbing that Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk responded by referring to the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (leaving off the “s”). He also used language suggesting that U.S. federal law and policy “gives” Indian governments authority “over a broad range of internal and local issues” and that the Tribal Law and Order Act “gives” Indian tribes greater authority to prosecute crimes.

In a document titled “The Powers of Indian Tribes,” written as an Opinion of the Solicitor dated Oct. 25, 1934, there is recognition of “inherent” powers as “perhaps the most basic principle of all Indian law.” How is it that the highest United States government official for Indian Affairs in 2010 could think that federal law and policy “give” indigenous peoples rights they already have? Based on international human rights law, no government has the authority to deny inherent rights of indigenous peoples or to claim such rights are “given” to them.

To his credit, Echo Hawk acknowledged that “few have been more marginalized and ignored by Washington for as long as Native Americans.” He continued, “The consequences of that history are evident today in the many challenges faced by Native Americans: Poverty, unemployment, health care gaps, violent crime and discrimination.” Egregious human rights violations occurring over a long period of time and continuing unto this day have caused today’s challenges. It would marginalize indigenous peoples further to claim otherwise.

He also frequently used the words, “tribes” and “members.” Although he professed good will and understanding, Echo Hawk only used the word “nation” once – in reference to his own Pawnee Nation. “Tribes” may or may not have a government. Indian “nations” do. Clubs have “members.” Nations have “citizens.” Especially when addressing human rights issues, we would hope for more accurate language choices from the top U.S. government official for Indian Affairs.

Echo Hawk was speaking in front of the U.N. Human Rights Council. Yet he did not once refer to any human right, much less the inherent right of self-determination, which affirms the right of indigenous peoples to make their own decisions. This would include “a broad range of internal and local issues” as well as external ones.

In regard to the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination urged the United States in 2008 “that the Declaration be used as a guide to interpret the state party’s obligations under the convention [on racial discrimination] relating to indigenous peoples.” At a separate side-meeting with various indigenous representatives, Echo Hawk seemed unaware of this conclusion of the committee.
Echo Hawk completely avoided use of the word ‘peoples,’ which would indicate federal recognition of our legal status as peoples.

Perhaps he was badly advised, for his language was so focused on federal “policy” and “law” that it could have been taken from a previous administration. Now that the human rights of indigenous peoples are affirmed more broadly in international law, we should not have to fight for the U.S. government to use legally correct language. Unwittingly or otherwise, Echo Hawk’s failure to use legally precise language continues the very “marginalization” he decries.

This is not to say that the language in itself is the main goal. A full recognition of the human rights of indigenous peoples as articulated in the Declaration without qualifications or limitations is a primary goal. But the language forges a path to achieving the goal. The U.S. endorsed the Declaration Dec. 16 using some of the same uninformed language and worse, claiming that it is not “a statement of current international law” as they endorsed it.

Many indigenous representatives who traveled to the U.N. have discovered that a measure of a government’s good will could be found in the language they used – that there was a direct correlation between respect for human rights and respect for indigenous peoples and the language used when speaking about those rights and peoples.

Presently it seems we could have a more sympathetic administration. Echo Hawk’s substitute words all worked in the context of his presentation. However, none of them describe us as we are: Indigenous peoples in the United States who are recognized rights-holders under international human rights law, both individually and collectively as part of our Indian nation.

We really do hope for a significant change from the present administration. Yet this language is the same old, same old. It comes across like a petty withholding of good will and respect. But there is still time for much needed improvement and perhaps this is just a case of not knowing any better.

Suzanne Jasper is the director of First Peoples Human Rights Coalition, a nonprofit educational organization specifically focusing on the human rights of indigenous peoples. Originally printed at http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/Same-old-language-from-the-administration-of-change-112658779.html

No real change in US position on Declaration

Phillip Deere (Muskogee), David Monongye (Hopi), Tadadaho Leon Shenandoah (Onondaga) lead original indigenous delegation into the Palace of Nations, United Nations (Geneva, Switzerland) 1977

By Steven Newcomb
December 24, 2010
On Dec. 16, the leaders of hundreds of American Indian nations were in attendance when President Obama expressed United States “support” for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The U.S. Department of State issued a 15-page statement later that day that provides a fuller context for interpreting Mr. Obama’s remarks and the U.S.’s position on the Declaration.

Indian country will need to spend considerable time carefully analyzing and discussing the State Department document, and asking the United States for additional clarifications. Only then will we gain a precise understanding of the United States’ position on the Declaration, which, by the way, does not include Indian treaties (The word treaty is mentioned once in the phrase “Northwest treaty tribes”).

On the key points, the United States’ manner of interpreting the Declaration has not improved since Sept. 13, 2007 when the U.S. government initially voted against adopting the Declaration. At that time, under the G. W. Bush State Department, the United States formally entered its position into the record at the United Nations. The Obama administration seems to have largely kept those Bush era positions.

The Declaration does not
do away with a dominating framework that is in violation of our inherent sacred birth rights.

Thus, the Dec. 16 position paper appears to be merely a further elaboration of the already existing United States position with regard to the Declaration under the guise of “supporting” that human rights instrument.

Take, for example, the United States’ position on “collective rights.” Collective rights are related to the right of self-determination expressed in Article 1 of the Human Rights Covenants. The two Covenants are the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

Specifically, Article 1 of those two human rights Covenants reads: “All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right, they freely determine their political status, and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.” Article 3 of the Declaration reads: “All Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.” They are in perfect alignment.

However, in 2007, the United States claimed that the collective rights expressed in the Declaration (e.g., Article 3) are not the same as Article 1 rights expressed in the Human Rights Covenants in international law. The U.S. also claimed that the U.N. Working Group had been given a “mandate,” specifically, “to articulate a new concept, i.e., self-government within the nation-state.” Yet, the U.S. government provided no document to support this claim, nor could it because the Working Group was never given such a mandate.

Now, in its recent statement, the State Department has explicitly said that indigenous peoples’ “collective rights” exist outside the scope of “all human rights recognized in international law.” As the State Department put the matter, “indigenous peoples possess certain additional, collective rights.” (Emphasis added). The United States is claiming that the “collective rights of indigenous peoples” expressed in the Declaration are “additional” to “all human rights.”

The State Department also said, “The United States is therefore pleased to support the Declaration’s call to promote the development of a new and distinct international concept of self-determination specific to indigenous peoples.” The Declaration makes no such “call.”

According to the U.S. State Department, the entire Declaration is “not legally binding or a statement of current international law.” From the standpoint of the United States, the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples merely expresses “aspirations.”

The U.S. position seems well designed to maintain the status quo of federal Indian law and policy. The United States seems determined to maintain the bedrock categories and concepts found within the symbolic universe of U.S. law and policy constructed by the United States for the reduction, control and containment of originally free and independent Indian nations.

“Christian discovery,” “conquest,” and the idea of “diminished” Indian sovereignty are some of the foundational categories of the status quo, being actively used by the U.S. court to the detriment of Indian nations. The Declaration does not do away with a dominating framework that is in violation of our inherent sacred birth rights and our fundamental human rights as indigenous nations and peoples.

The UNDRIP was intended by indigenous peoples to provide solutions to a particular set of problems that they face on a daily basis. However, the document itself does not specify the nature of those problems. They are there in the background merely by implication. Those problems need to be specified by indigenous peoples along with an explanation of how they believe the Declaration provides the means of solving those problems.

With the United States’ expression “support” for the U.N. Declaration, within the very constrained interpretation it has set forth, the next level of work begins. It remains to be seen to what extent the Declaration will enable Indian nations and peoples to create true and positive reform of a racist and domineering system of federal Indian law and policy instituted by the United States during the past 200-plus years.
Originally printed at http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/No-real-change-in-US-position-on-Declaration-
112374334.html
Steven Newcomb, Shawnee/Lenape, is the co-founder and co-director of the Indigenous Law Institute, author of “Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery” (Fulcrum, 2008), and a columnist for Indian Country Today.

Deskaheh, Cayuga Nation, Visionary for Indigenous Peoples' Rights at the League of Nations, 1921-23

US Government on UNDRIP: Yes, but No
Fourth World Eye, Center for World Indigenous Studies
Dec 18, 2010 by Rudolph Ryser
US President Barak Obama, standing before a conference of Indian government, Alaskan Native and Hawaiian Native leaders, announced that his government “will support” the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). When that announcement was made I expressed pleasure with the decision and yet urged caution until the Department of State published its written explanation of the US government policy. That policy is now available and the news is both good and not good. The US government position on the UNDRIP is clear on US policy support for “enhancing self-determination of federally recognized tribes,” but ambiguous at best and negative at its worst on interpretations and meanings of key principles built into the Declaration: The meaning and breadth of self-determination (“self-determination specific to indigenous peoples”), “free, prior and informed consent” (“consultation with tribal leaders, but not necessarily the agreement of those leaders, before … actions… are taken.”).

The principle of self-determination is at the core of virtually all international human rights instruments of policy and law. The internationally recognized right of self-determination is the basis on which more than 140 independent states came into being after World War II. States like Israel, Slovakia, Republic of Georgia, Tuvalu, and the Federation of Micronesia exist today because of that important principle. The United States government tenderly walks around the principle by saying that it endorses that principle “specific to indigenous peoples.” The principle contemplates the right of a people to “freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development” as stated in Article 3 of the UNDRIP. As has been the US government’s policy for forty years, economic, social and cultural development receive fairly consistent support in administrative, legislative and usually judicial policies. The US UNDRIP policy on these matters stands as consistent with long-standing policy through several US governments from Lyndon Baines Johnson to Barak Obama. That policy has seen enhancement of education, health, environmental, and social advancements as well as enhanced protections for cultural artifacts to the benefit of American Indian, Alaskan Native and even Hawaiian Native communities. While the policy has not always been perfectly applied, it has been applied.

The central and missing piece in the US government’s endorsement of “self-determination” and thus the slight of hand reference to “self-determination specific to indigenous peoples” is the matter of freely determining the political status of an indigenous people. The US government has held fast to the idea that the right to choose one’s political status must be limited for indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples domestically and presumably internationally must be held in perpetual tutelage under the control of each states’ government–even if a state government demands fealty through force of violence. Holding to the fiction of the UN’s non-binding conception of “non-self-dismemberment” the US Department of State references UNDRIP Article 46 by saying “the Declaration does not imply any right to take any action that would dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent States.” In fact the referenced article does suggest a restriction, but the restriction emphasizes “any activity or to perform any act contrary to the Charter of the United Nations.” There is no restriction on dismembering or impairing the territorial integrity of a sovereign and independent State if changing the political status of a people (perhaps choosing independence, free association or autonomy within an existing state) is freely chosen in accord with the UN Charter. The Declaration simply does not “authorize” dismemberment of existing states. That is reasonable, but it is equally reasonable to understand that freely choosing a political status can and indeed is encouraged if done within the framework of the UN Charter. Freely choosing a political status is the most basic of concepts built into the principle of self-determination. Without that right, there is no “self-determination.” The US position is to essentially nullify the right of indigenous peoples to freely make decisions about how they will organize as a political community.

There is a finer point on this discussion that can be made when we note that the US Department of State contemplates the UNDRIP principle of “free, prior and informed consent” as meaning, essentially, that American Indian, Alaskan Natives and Hawaiian Natives have the right of “free, prior and informed consent” unless the United States disagrees with the decision made by the indigenous people.

The US Department of State’s explanation of the US government’s support for the UNDRIP includes this rather contradictory statement: “…the United States recognizes the significance of the Declaration’s provisions on free, prior and informed consent, which the United States understands to call for a process of meaningful consultation with tribal leaders, but not necessarily the agreement of those leaders, before the actions addressed in those consultations are taken.” In other words, the United States may dictate actions and policies that affect the lives and property of indigenous peoples without their consent, but they may be informed. That is a position utterly inconsistent with the concept of “free, prior and informed consent”

The US government apparently rejects Article 10 of the UNDRIP which declares that “Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories…without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned….”

The US position strikes Article 11, para 2 and Article 28 of the UNDRIP which call for provision of mechanisms of redress “developed in conjunction with indigenous peoples” with their “free, prior and informed consent or in violation of their laws, traditions and customs.

Article 19 is struck down by the US position since it too requires the exercise of free, prior and informed consent before the state adopts and implements legislative or administrative measures. The US position is that “Consultation” satisfies this requirement event if consent is not secured.

The US position also flies in the face of Article 32 paragraph 2 that calls for obtaining the free, prior and informed consent before approval of projects affecting indigenous lands and territories.

It is a serious matter that the US government arrogates to itself the right and power to decide for American Indians, Alaskan and Hawaiian Natives without obtaining their free, prior and informed consent. It is equally serious that the US government wishes to hold up this approach internationally as a “model” reflecting its commitment to human rights. Other indigenous peoples are clearly made more vulnerable by the US position when states’ governments with which they must deal point to the US position and claim for themselves the right to decide and act in ways contrary to the interests of indigenous peoples.

The US policy of promoting and enhancing self-determination and self-government within the framework of the UNDRIP has considerable merit and benefit for American Indian, Alaskan Native and Hawaiian Native governing bodies. Unfortunately, the most important right, the right to choose and to consent, is denied and rejected out of hand. The “yes but no” approach can therefore receive both congratulations and denunciation. Much work now must focus on developing the full expression of self-determination including the full right of self-government–the right to choose and consent based on free, prior and informed engagement between peoples.

Rapa Nui - Indigenous Peoples Under Military Attack - ACT NOW!

2010-12-04T16:51:00.000-08:00

ACTION STRATEGY AT BOTTOM OF ARTICLE - Sample letter below

Easter Island tense as police, Rapa Nui regroup
By MICHAEL WARREN
The Associated Press
Saturday, December 4, 2010; 4:34 PM

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- A military plane carrying riot police reinforcements landed on Easter Island Saturday, and Chile's Interior Minister said they will continue evicting Rapa Nui islanders who have been squatting in government buildings built on their ancestral properties.

Dozens of people were wounded by police buckshot and batons after violently resisting the first such eviction on Friday on the usually tranquil South Pacific island, where as many as 50,000 tourists come each year to see the Moai - huge stone heads carved by the Rapa Nui's ancestors.

Documentary filmmaker Santi Hitorangi, who dug 14 pellets from his backside after police shot him while he videotaped the clash, said the atmosphere remained tense on Saturday, with families squatting in a dozen other properties refusing to back down despite the police pressure.

"The arrival of the C-130 cargo plane with more police and armed swat teams adds to the psychological duress that's happening here," Hitorangi told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "What happened yesterday is their way of trying to stop any attempt of the Rapa Nui people to reassert their right to the land. All we're asking for is title to the land. It's a rightful claim. We are not asking the government for anything else."

About 2,200 of the tiny island's 5,000 residents are Rapa Nui, and many of them feel squeezed out by the tourism boom, fearing the Chilean government, which annexed the island in 1888, now wants to turn the land into something like a theme park for the benefit of outsider companies whose profits flow offshore.

With decades-long disputes over property ownership seemingly going nowhere, some Rapa Nui have taken matters into their own hands, seizing properties they said were illegally taken from their families generations ago.

Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter traveled to the island Saturday to oversee matters, saying that the threat that land seizures pose to law and order cannot be allowed to continue.

"There is a limit to these things and it was reached when there are illegal takeovers that cause damage to the island," Hinzpeter told the daily La Tercera newspaper. "The police forces acted in compliance with a court order. That's how institutions function, and we all must follow them."

Hinzpeter added that the government "has acted with patience and prudence; we've put forth a plan to invest $250 million in Easter Island - 20 times more than what was invested in the last 20 years." He also said a government effort to negotiate the land dispute has suggested solutions.

But Rapa Nui activists fear the investments will benefit outsiders, not islanders, and said the negotiators have refused to meet with them.

Contact the Government of Chile:

Embassy of Chile
1732 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C.
Tel.: 202-785-1746
202-530-4127 (Political Department)
Fax: 202-887-5579
E-mail: irojas@minrel.gov.cl

Email the President of Chile Sebastián Piñera
http://www.gobiernodechile.cl/contactate/ (website in Spanish)

SAMPLE LETTER:

I am writing to express my concern over the recent disturbances between Chilean forces and indigenous residents on Rapa Nui (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/04/AR2010120402718.html). I am requesting that the Government of Chile immediately cease the evictions and the violence against the indigenous residents of Rapa Nui. I also call upon the government of Chile to engage in immediate talks with the residents of Rapa Nui, under the good offices of Prof. James Anaya, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people (http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/indigenous/rapporteur/). The world is watching the actions of the government of Chile, and hopes that the issues on Rapa Nui can be resolved in the atmosphere of respect, non-violence, moderation and justice.

Sincerely,

Thanksgiving: A National Day of Mourning

2010-11-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

Massoit, Wampanoag leader

Jennings: Indian massacre or mythology?
Originally printed at http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/Indian-massacre-or-mythology-109202594.html

By Julianne Jennings
November 23, 2010
The first historical gathering between the Indians and the Pilgrims occurred in 1621. By 1622, the book “Mourt’s Relation” records a rich compendium of Pilgrim life which includes a visit from the Massisoit, Ousa Mequin, of the Pokanokets then having difficulties with the neighboring Narragansetts.

However, the harsh winter caused the Pilgrims to rob winter corn stores and take Indian grave goods that provoked hostilities; and in 1623, Captain Myles Standish chopped off the head of a local sachem and posted the first Indian head at Plymouth as a warning to others. The colonists received his head “with joy.” Thus, the much noted first “Thanksgiving” of 1621 must be contextualized.

According to the “Journal of John Winthrop (1630-1649),” the first official day of “thanks” was celebrated on Oct. 12, 1637, when the Massachusetts Bay governor proclaimed “A day of thanksgiving kept in all the churches for our victories against the Pequots. …”

Captains John Underhill and John Masson, with 400 fighting men, including Narragansett and Mohegan allies conducted a full scale “ethnic cleansing” of the Pequots by setting fire to the sleeping village shortly before dawn. English sources estimated that 400 – 700 people were killed in the Mystic fort attack. The men “had sufficient light from the word of God for our proceedings,” according to the journal.

The favorable issue of the Pequot War (1636-1637) was in large measure due to Roger Williams’ intelligences, aided by Canonicus, and his knowledge of the Indian language, customs and character. Williams sent word to Gov. John Winthrop from Massachusetts Bay Colony “To assault at night, by which the English, being armed, may enter their [Pequot] houses and do what execution they please.”

In 1638, John Winthrop’s journal also notes the earliest recorded account of Negro trafficking in colonial New England. On a return trip to Boston, Captain William Pierce, who piloted the Salem ship “Desire,” the first slave ship to start the trade and lead Massachusetts to economic independence, had gone to Providence and Tortugas in the West Indies with a cargo including Pequot combatants captured in the Pequot War to be sold as slaves. According to John Winthrop, Pierce brought back “salt, cotton, tobacco and Negros. ...” Some anthropologists assert that the arrival of African slaves would help assure the survival of some Indian communities into the 21st century – while also setting the stage for some of the racial tension today. English troops would later repeat the approach learned at the Pequot Massacre against the Narragansetts.

Narragansett sachem Canonicus and his successor Miantinomo gifted Williams land to establish the tiny New English settlement, Providence Plantations. Their generosity and kindness would soon be forgotten. On June 24, King Philip’s War broke out at Mount Hope and Swansea and swept across that area and on to Rhode Island where Providence, Cranston and Warwick were all attacked including Roger Williams’ house and papers. Many towns were burned, such as Taunton, Middleborough, Brookfield, Deerfield, Northampton, Springfield, Groton, Medfield and 16 houses in Plymouth. More than half the 90 towns of New England were attacked in this campaign in the bloodiest war in America until that time.

Colonists decided to make a punitive strike against the neutral Narragansetts for fear of uprisings. A culminating event was on Dec. 19, 1675 during the Great Swamp Fight, when 700 Narragansetts, mostly women and children were killed near Kingstown, Rhode Island by English forces of 1,500 soldiers from Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony and Connecticut Colony lead by General Winslow and Indian fighter Benjamin Church. English losses numbered 93 and some 500 Indians were killed or captured for sale as slaves in New England for exportation to the Caribbean, Spain, Portugal, and in some cases Africa to refill coffers drained by military costs and rebuild Providence.

Later, under the authority of Gov. Josiah Winslow of Plymouth, 1,000 men attacked a defending force of 2,000 Narragansetts in their palisade fort at Mount Hope; and on Aug. 12, 1676, Philip fled to the Miry Swamp where he was assassinated by one of Captain Benjamin Church’s Indian Rangers, John Alderman. Upon inspection of Philip’s body, Church is quoted as saying “a doleful, great, naked, dirty beast.”

Philip was then butchered in a manner standard with English punishment for treason by drawing and quartering. He was left unburied and beheaded. His head was put on a pike and left there for 20 years at Plymouth, his hand was nailed up in Boston. King Phillip’s War was officially over.

In the fall of 1676 the sailing ship “Seaflower” departed from Boston Harbor for the Caribbean, its cargo hold filled with nearly 200 “heathen Malefactors men, women and children” sentenced to “Perpetual Servitude & slavery.”

The essential mythology of the contemporary Thanksgiving holiday is based on what appeared to be amicable relationships between the Wampanoags led by the Massasoit and the first generation of Pilgrims in Plymouth. The realities of the first encounter and the long history of subsequent violence and discrimination suffered by Native people across this Great Turtle Island (what is now called the United States of America) has been ignored or inaccurately represented.

America has attempted to right some of these wrongs, as have the other nations whose indigenous peoples suffered the same or similar fates, such as Canada and Australia. Canada has ceded to its indigenous population a huge autonomous territory, Nunavit, while Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has formally apologized to its aboriginal population. In 1998, President William J. Clinton signed an official proclamation designating November as National American Indian Heritage Month. The proclamation urges Americans, as well as their elected representatives at the federal, state, local and tribal levels to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies and activities.

American Indians and their allies who commemorate Thanksgiving as a “Day of Mourning” do not advocate abolishing the cherished American holiday. It was after the declaration of a war of independence by General George Washington and his comrades that really nudged this forward as an expression of national unity and purpose to rally the American troops against the English king. And with a war to fight, constitution to write and a busy nation-building agenda he did not get around to declaring it a holiday until 1789; 168 years after the “first” Thanksgiving.

Abraham Lincoln in the midst of the Civil War was so desperate to win that he “freed the slaves” and declared Thanksgiving both in the same year right in the middle of the war. His Thanksgiving Proclamation said that forever more, the last Thursday of November would be devoted to this celebration that was, by that time fairly confounded about date, place and purpose. Then it was World War II and the depression that brought Thanksgiving close to its present status. We were again in the middle of a major war and an economic collapse when in 1939, 1940 and 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt tried to unify the nation (and extend the Christmas shopping season to get the economy rolling) proposed that Thanksgiving should be on the third Thursday in November, Congress approved but designated the fourth Thursday instead.

American Indians do ask that America face its history with a candor and compassion that admits and honors the truth of what really happened to the New England Indians, the first who encountered the Europeans in North America.

Myths as powerful as that on which Thanksgiving rests are hard to confront and deconstruct. But, in reconstructing the reality of that historic meeting, based on the words of the actors themselves, the holiday is freed to offer thanks for the real legacy of the Indian-European encounter and exchange. The contributions, influences and legacies of American Indians can be seen in all aspects of our lives, and all over the continent of America – from democratic government, place names, loan words, conservation, child rearing, warfare, clothing, to the foods we eat; much thanks is owed to American Indians.

Julianne Jennings is a Nottoway Cheroenhaka artist and educator. She is an adjunct professor at Eastern Connecticut State University.

A True Story of Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T08:48:00.000-08:00

Richard GreenerNovelist and award-winning essayist
Posted: November 25, 2010 10:04 AM
The True Story Of Thanksgiving
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-greener/the-true-story-of-thanksg_b_788436.html

The idea of the American Thanksgiving feast is a fairly recent fiction. The idyllic partnership of 17th Century European Pilgrims and New England Indians sharing a celebratory meal appears to be less than 120 years-old. And it was only after the First World War that a version of such a Puritan-Indian partnership took hold in elementary schools across the American landscape. We can thank the invention of textbooks and their mass purchase by public schools for embedding this "Thanksgiving" image in our modern minds. It was, of course, a complete invention, a cleverly created slice of cultural propaganda, just another in a long line of inspired nationalistic myths.

The first Thanksgiving Day did occur in the year 1637, but it was nothing like our Thanksgiving today. On that day the Massachusetts Colony Governor, John Winthrop, proclaimed such a "Thanksgiving" to celebrate the safe return of a band of heavily armed hunters, all colonial volunteers. They had just returned from their journey to what is now Mystic, Connecticut where they massacred 700 Pequot Indians. Seven hundred Indians - men, women and children - all murdered.

This day is still remembered today, 373 years later. No, it's been long forgotten by white people, by European Christians. But it is still fresh in the mind of many Indians. A group calling themselves the United American Indians of New England meet each year at Plymouth Rock on Cole's Hill for what they say is a Day of Mourning. They gather at the feet of a stature of Chief Massasoit of the Wampanoag to remember the long gone Pequot. They do not call it Thanksgiving. There is no football game afterward.

How then did our modern, festive Thanksgiving come to be? It began with the greatest of misunderstandings, a true clash of cultural values and fundamental principles. What are we thankful for if not - being here, living on this land, surviving and prospering? But in our thankfulness might we have overlooked something? Look what happened to the original residents who lived in the area of New York we have come to call Brooklyn. A group of them called Canarsees obligingly, perhaps even eagerly, accepted various pieces of pretty colored junk from the Dutchman Peter Minuet in 1626. These trinkets have long since been estimated to be worth no more than 60 Dutch guilders at the time - $24 dollars in modern American money. In exchange, the Canarsees "gave" Peter Minuet the island of Manhattan. What did they care? They were living in Brooklyn.

Of course, all things - especially commercial transactions - need to be viewed in perspective. The nearly two-dozen tribes of Native Americans living in the New York area in those days had a distinctly non-European concept of territorial rights. They were strangers to the idea of "real property." It was common for one tribe to grant permission to another to hunt and fish nearby themselves on a regular basis. Fences, real and imagined, were not a part of their culture. Naturally, it was polite to ask before setting up operations too close to where others lived, but refusal in matters of this sort was considered rude. As a sign of gratitude, small trinkets were usually offered by the tribe seeking temporary admission and cheerfully accepted by those already there. It was clearly understood to be a sort of short-term rental arrangement. Sad to say, the unfortunate Canarsees apparently had no idea the Dutch meant to settle in. Worse yet for them, it must have been unthinkable that they would also be unwelcome in Manhattan after their deal. One thing we can be sure of. Their equivalent of today's buyer's remorse brought the Canarsees nothing but grief, humiliation and violence.

Many Indians lived on Long Island in those days. Another Dutchman, Adrian Block, was the first European to come upon them in 1619. Block was also eager to introduce European commercialism and the Christian concept of "real estate" to these unfortunate innocents. Without exception, these Indians too came out on the short end in their dealings with the Dutch.

The market savvy unleashed by the Europeans upon the Indians constituted the first land use policies in the New World. In the 17th Century it was not urban but rather rural renewal. The result was of course the same. People of color with no money to speak of got booted out and the neighborhood which was subsequently gentrified and overrun by white people.

Not far from Manhattan, one tribe of about 10,000 Indians lived peacefully in a lovely spot on a peninsula directly along the ocean. There they fished in the open sea and inland bay. They hunted across the pristine shoreline and they were quite happy until they met a man - another Dutchman - named Willem Kieft. He was the Governor of New Netherland in 1639. These poor bastards were called the Rechaweygh (pronounced Rockaway). Soon after meeting Governor Kieft, they became the very first of New York's homeless.

The people of New Netherland had a lot in common with the people of Plymouth Colony. At least it appears so from the way both of these groups of displaced and dissatisfied Europeans interacted with the local Indians. The Pilgrims in Plymouth had a hard time for the first couple of years. While nature was no friend, their troubles were mostly their own doing. Poor planning was their downfall. These mostly city dwelling Europeans failed to include among them persons with the skills needed in settling the North American wilderness. Having reached the forests and fields of Massachusetts they turned out to be pathetic hunters and incompetent butchers. With game everywhere, they went hungry. First, they couldn't catch and kill it. Then they couldn't cut it up, prepare it, preserve it and create a storehouse for those days when fresh supplies would run low. To compensate for their shortage of essential protein they turned to their European ways and their Christian culture. They instituted a series of religious observances. They could not hunt or farm well, but they seemed skilled at praying.

They developed a taste for something both religious and useful. They called it a Day of Fasting. Without food it seemed like a good idea. From necessity, that single Day became multiple Days. As food supplies dwindled the Days of Fasting came in bunches. Each of these episodes was eventually and thankfully followed by a meal. Appropriately enough, the Puritans credited God for this good fortune. They referred to the fact they were allowed to eat again as a "Thanksgiving." And they wrote it down. Thus, the first mention of the word - "Thanksgiving." Let there be no mistake here. On that first Thanksgiving there was no turkey, no corn, no cranberries, no stuffing. And no dessert. Those fortunate Pilgrims were lucky to get a piece of fish and a potato. All things considered, it was a Thanksgiving feast.

Did the Pilgrims share their Thanksgiving meal with the local Indians, the Wampanoag and Pequot? No. That never happened. That is, until its inclusion in the "Thanksgiving Story" in 1890.

Let the Wampanoag be a lesson to us especially in these troubled economic times. These particular Indians, with a bent for colorful jewelry, had their tribal name altered slightly by the Dutch, who then used it as a reference for all Indian payments. Hence, wampum. Contrary to what we've been shown in our Western movies, this word - wampum - and its economic meaning never made it out of New England.

Unlike wampum, Thanksgiving Day has indeed spread across the continent. It would serve us well to remember that it wasn't until the victorious colonial militia returned from their slaughter of the Pequot that the New Americans began their now time-honored and cherished Thanksgiving.

Enjoy your turkey.

Language - The Perfect Instrument of Empire

2010-07-27T15:43:00.000-07:00

"The white man promised us many things, more than I can recall, but he only kept one promise. He promised to take our land, and he took it." Mahpiya Luta (Red Cloud), Oglala Lakota

The World-Producing Power of Words
Steven Newcomb, Columnist
Indian Country Today

In 1996, in Geneva, Switzerland a member of the US Mission to the United Nations made a comment about what was then referred to as the “Draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” I had asked a question along the following lines of the United States representatives: “Assuming that the Draft Declaration one day becomes fully adopted by the United Nations, of what actual, practical significance will this be to Indigenous Nations and Peoples throughout the world.”

One of the US representatives responded: “Well,” he said, “to the extent that words have meaning, and to the extent that meanings configure reality, the Draft Declaration has importance.” More plainly stated, what he was saying is this: Words have meaning, and meanings are the basis of reality. Shift the words (meanings) we live by, and reality shifts accordingly.

The US representative was telling us something eminently important. The true significance of the UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was its potential to shift and improve reality for all the peoples in the world referred to as “indigenous.”

The other significance of the US representative’s statement is that human meanings are world-producing. The reality we experience is largely a result of the words we use on an everyday basis. It is not an exaggeration to say that a shift of one word, or one phrase, shifts reality. There is a world of difference, for example, between the reality of Indian “nations” and Indian “tribes,” although the difference between the two realities may not be immediately evident.
Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

When we as Indian people grapple with the words (meanings) of US federal Indian law and policy, we are coming to grips with the nature of the ‘reality’ that the officials of the United States constructed over many generations as a method of containment, limitation, and sub-ordination for our nations and peoples. As a significant unit of meaning, even the English pre-fix “sub” is capable of shifting reality. Sub means “under” or “below,” and “ord” refers to an “order” as in a “world-order.” A sub-order existence is an existence presumed to be beneath or below someone else or some other people.

Each and every one of our Indian nations possessed an original existence, independent of each other and the rest of the world, as Chief Justice Marshall put the matter in the 1832 US Supreme Court decision Worcester v. Georgia. Over many generations, people working in an official capacity for the United States ascribed meanings to our nations, such as “domestic dependent,” and those meanings presumed that our Indian nations have a sub-order existence in relation to the United States. Those US officials were endeavoring to construct a reality of “subordination” for our Nations, and this constructed a reality of “domestication” and “subordination” ended up as a major theme of the world-producing “reality” the US federal Indian law and policy.

Thus, today, when we read US House of Representatives resolution 1551, dated July 22, 2010, ostensibly calling for an endorsement of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples “consistent with US law,” we must ask ourselves, “Does ‘consistent with US law’ means consistent with the presumption in US law and policy that American Indian nations are subordinate to the United States, based on doctrines of conquest and discovery as expressed by the US Supreme Court?

If so, then where is the reform of US federal Indian law and policy that Indian elders, leaders, scholars and activists were seeking when they entered the international arena in the late 1970s? If the US House of Representatives can use the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous to merely reaffirm and reinforce the problematic world-producing reality of US federal Indian law and policy, then what is the point of having the UN Declaration?

H.R. 1551 reaffirms the message of the United States government with regard to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is clear: US federal law and policy is just fine just as it is and, therefore, it does not need to be reformed in keeping with international standards of human rights. Stated somewhat differently, the United States seems to be saying that US federal Indian law and policy do not need to be reformed because they are already in keeping with international human rights standards.

Given the world-producing nature of human meanings, we as Indian people would be well advised to have a heightened awareness of the English words that we use to speak and write about our own existence in relation to the United States. For when we speak and write we are producing our world in relation to the United States.

Additionally, we need to remain highly conscious of the highly subtle and subordinating manner in which US government officials speak and write about American Indian nations in relation to the United States. Ever since Europeans invasively arrived to this continent and hemisphere and used the concept of a “New World” to refer to the lands, territories, and resources of our Indigenous ancestors we have been locked in an existential struggle over the very nature of reality. When it comes to human meanings, nothing is set in stone. We have the power of our own minds and the world-producing power of words and their meanings at our disposal.

We owe it to our ancestors and to our future generations to engage in that world-producing struggle in the most powerful, astute, and liberating manner possible. An effort worth our while is to make certain that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples does not get pulled down to the “subordinating” level of US federal Indian law and policy.

Steven Newcomb (Shawnee and Lenape) is co-founder of the Indigenous Law Institute, author of “Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery (Fulcrum, 2008), and a columnist for Indian Country Today.

Christian doctrine fueled Indigenous dehumanization/genocide: UNPFII report

2010-05-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

The Christian Baptism of Pocahontas, 1613

NEW YORK – A groundbreaking report examining the roots of Christian domination over indigenous peoples and their lands was released this week at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

North American Representative to the Permanent Forum Tonya Gonnella Frichner, an attorney and founder of the American Indian Law Alliance, presented a preliminary study on the “Doctrine of Discovery” and its historical impacts on indigenous peoples, with a focus on how it became part of United States laws.

“The first thing indigenous peoples share is the experience of having been invaded by those who treated us without compassion because they considered us to be less than human,” said Frichner, a citizen of the Onondaga Nation serving her first term on the 16-member UNPFII.

“Dehumanization leads to the second thing indigenous peoples share in common: Being treated on the basis of the belief that those who invaded our territories have a right of lordship or dominance over our existence and, therefore, have the right to take, grant, and dispose of our lands, territories, and resources without our permission or consent.”

Frichner said human rights violations faced by indigenous peoples can all be traced to the Doctrine of Discovery and its interpretive framework which has been used for five centuries to take Native lands.

It has also been cited in U.S. Supreme Court land claims cases decided against Indian nations, including the 1955 ruling Tee Hit Ton Indians v. United States, and the 2005 decision in City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York.

The Doctrine of Discovery was among Vatican mandates dating back to the 15th century, called papal bulls, that declared Christian monarchs had the right to claim superior title over land and territories that they “discovered.”

The claimed right of “dominion” over Native peoples was based on the thinking that non-Christians were “heathens and uncivilized savages,” with no, or limited rights, to land.

The Vatican’s Doctrine of Discovery was based on the premise that all non-Christian land belonged to no one because no Christians were living there and no Christian monarch or lord had yet claimed dominion. Once Christian monarchies like Spain or France claimed the right of dominion, that claim was transferred to political successors over centuries.

“Indian land rights have been characterized in U.S. law as nothing more than a permissive right of occupancy or permission from the whites to occupy their own Indian lands,” Frichner said.

There were theologians who did not agree that Christian discovery could give dominion over and title to non-Christian lands. The issue was debated at length in the early 1550s in Spain with no input from indigenous peoples, she said.

It was a debate among Christian Europeans about whether the Indians of the Americas were human.

“Clearly, (we) have joined the debate by declaring definitively that we are human beings. However, for more than five centuries, the doctrines of discovery and dehumanization have been institutionalized, and this is the context of the work we are doing on the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” Frichner said.

The study focused on the history of the United States, and points out that the Doctrine of Discovery had been officially incorporated into U.S. Indian policies in the 1823 Supreme Court ruling Johnson v. M’Intosh.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall identified the royal charters of Great Britain pertaining to North America as the source of the argument that “discovery gave title” to the government by whose authority the “discovery” was made.

The royal charter issued to John Cabot in 1496 authorized Cabot and his sons to seek out “isles, countries, and regions of the heathen and infidel, which before this time have been unknown to all Christian people.”

This and similar language were cited as the basis for the ruling in Johnson v. M’Intosh that the United States had the ultimate dominion over Indian peoples and lands.

Frichner said the report is a first step in investigating the global scope of the Doctrine of Discovery as a key source of violations of human rights of Native peoples.

A comprehensive study will provide the opportunity to understand that all the struggles that indigenous peoples are engaged in are rooted in “the claim by one people of a right of dominance over another.”

Frichner said the discriminatory legal framework that exists today is directly tied to the Doctrine of Discovery which has resulted in the dispossession and impoverishment of indigenous peoples and unlimited resource extraction from their lands.

Kuriakose Bharanikulangara, observer for the Holy See, responded to Frichner’s report by saying that the papal bulls that paved the way for European expansion had been abrogated over centuries. He insisted the Church had upheld the rights of indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands, regardless of whether the inhabitants were Christian or not.original article See also: Pagans In the Promised Land

Some justice ,finally, for Indigenous victims of Guatemalan genocide

2010-05-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Justice Department announced that they had arrested Gilberto Jordán, a former member of an elite army unit known as kaibiles, for lying on his immigration forms about his participation in a 1982 massacre. Two more former officials had also settled in the U.S. and are being sought. A fourth man, Santos Lopez Alonzo, pled guilty to illegally entering the country; he was fined $10 and is due to be deported.
The massacre, in a remote northern village known as the Dos Erres, was part of a campaign by the army against perceived opposition to military rule. While most of the victims of the military campaigns were Mayan, Dos Erres was a mixed settlement of recent immigrants to the zone. They had left insufficient land plots in the highlands to move to a settlement on the agricultural frontier, but in December 1982 they were targeted as potential guerrilla sympathizers. The army surrounded the town, rounded up the townspeople and divided them into groups of men and women. As Gilberto Jordán admitted to the authorities, he started the killing by throwing a baby down the town well, still alive. Next the women were raped, killed and thrown down the well, followed by the men. In all, there were 251 villagers killed. more details here

Jordán had been living in the U.S. since 1999, and had become a naturalized citizen without mentioning his participation in the massacre in his application. The other two suspects are Jorge Vinicio Sosa-Orantes of Riverside, California, and Pedro Pimentel-Rios of Santa Ana, California. Sosa-Orantes was a lieutenant at the time. In the U.S. he worked as a martial arts instructor. Pimentel-Rios, accused by witnesses of raping young girls before killing them, moved to the U.S. after a career that included a stint at the U.S. School of the Americas. More on the defendants can be found here.

Russell Means and David Hill Blast U.S. State and Justice Departments

2010-03-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

Statement by Russell Means, Republic of Lakotah
on the Occasion of the United States State Department "Listening Session" in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 16 March 2010

Once again, the occupation government of the United States of America has trotted out its dogs and ponies to provide a smokescreen and diversion from its continuing crimes against the indigenous peoples and nations of the Western Hemisphere. The reason for today's media spectacle is supposedly for the US State Department to "listen" to input from indigenous peoples and nations for inclusion in the U.S.'s report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, universal periodic review process.

As we can see, many indigenous people have been duped to participate, yet again, in a lying and duplicitous process of the United States. The United States has absolutely no interest or intention of admitting to the world its human rights record that is neither justifiable nor defensible. In particular, the record of the United States with regard to historical, and ongoing, violations of over 370 treaties that were negotiated and signed with indigenous nations must be, but will not be, addressed by the United States. Instead, as is its ongoing practice, the United States will use this session, and the one tomorrow on the territory of the Diné (Navajo) Nation, as its justification that indigenous peoples were "consulted," and "listened to," while the U.S. simultaneously lies to the world about its disgraceful human rights record.

The Republic of Lakotah will not legitimize this embarrassing process. Instead, we will submit our report directly to the UN Human Rights Council, not to be filtered or sanitized by the State Department. Let us be clear, our report will be scathing. The United States continues, on a daily basis to violate the terms of the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie Treaties with the Lakotah. Our report will indicate that the United States never intended to abide by the terms of the treaties, and has violated them consistently from the time of their signing to the present.

Our report will also cite the United States' own language in acknowledging that "the treaties retain their full force and effect even today because they are the legal equivalent of treaties with foreign governments and have the force of federal law." Periodic Report of the United States of America to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, April 23, 2007, paragraph 335. In light of the United States' own admissions, in addition to reporting to the Human Rights Council on the egregious human rights record of the US towards indigenous peoples, the Republic of Lakotah will report to the Council and to the world, the exercise of its own rights under principles of international law. The United States has continually breached the treaties with the Lakotah, and international law allows the Lakotah to return to our status quo ante position prior to the signing of the treaties.

On March 30, 2010, the Republic of Lakotah will repeat its position to the United States, and will transmit its communication to the President of the United States and to the Secretary of State, demanding that the United States cease and desist it activities in Lakotah territory, and insisting that the United States withdraw its presence from our homeland.
Republic of Lakota website

TO: United Nations Human Rights Council
March 16,2010
University Of New Mexico Law School
FROM: David Hill

Greeting to you all.

My name is David Hill. I am of the Choctaw nation and an organizer with the American Indian Movement since 1972. My reason for this letter is to bring attention to the illegal, unjust incarceration of my fellow Sun Dancer, Leonard Peltier, of the Anishinabe nation, by the US government.

I will not go into all of the legalities and illegalities of his case because we probably would not have enough paper to cover them all. However there are key points of his illegal incarceration that require no legal training or expertise to understand.

Leonard Peltier and others were illegally and unjustifiably attacked June 26,1975 by a contingent of the Federal Bureau of Investigations. In the act of defending themselves, one Native American and two FBI agents were killed. The Native people were on their own land and not seeking confrontation. The Native people had been building cabins and other buildings as well as planting gardens. They were working toward developing programs to alleviate the many social ills caused by the wrongful policies in place by the US government toward Indigenous people. Our people did not provoke this attack and historically it is consistent with this government’s policies that has at times driven Indigenous groups to the point of extinction.
It is our understanding that you, the receivers of this letter might have some power of intervention, or promote some form of judicial change in the case of Leonard Peltier and other political prisoners who have suffered the same fate.

Bob Robideau and Dino Butler, who went on trial as a result of this same altercation were acquitted by reason of self-defense. Because of the persecution of Native people, Leonard Peltier was among others who had escaped to Canada. Otherwise, he would have been tried as a codefendant of the aforementioned other two men. Leonard was later arrested in Canada and the US Government used perjured testimony that they forcefully manufactured from Myrtle Poor Bear, a Native person, to illegally extradite Leonard Peltier from Canada.

This is all a matter of court record and not some form of conjecture. In Leonard’s ensuing trial, the US Government did everything it could to block Mr. Peltier's access to the same level of justice that Robideau and Butler, received in their trial, where they were acquitted. The US government sequestered jurors and led them to believe their lives were in jeopardy, thus tainting their impartiality in relationship to Leonard’s case. The US Government intimidated witnesses and made them fear for their lives and the lives of their families to illicit detrimental perjured testimony against Leonard Peltier. The US government withheld evidence that would have led to Leonard’s acquittal.

Prior to the trial the FBI met with the judge regarding Leonard’s case, which is considered legally inappropriate because it can and did prejudice the Judge towards Leonard Peltier. The place were Leonard was tried, Fargo ND is considered by Native people of the area, as well as other social justice groups, to be a racist environment. It is obvious given these circumstances and in some ways by the FBI’s own admissions, via their own internal memos, that they put the full weight of prosecution upon Leonard Peltier. They did not care who paid the price for their own transgressions against our people; as in the past, as well as now, seeking to exonerate themselves of the FBI’s illegal activities. In the totality of Indigenous versus non –Indigenous relations, this is not an isolated incident.

There are to date some 378 treaties ratified by the US Congress that are violated feloniously every day. There are millions of acres of land that are legally ours that we are denied access to. There are land leases that have expired that this US government has failed to honor and return the land to the people.

Bob Robideau and Dino Butler who went on trial before Leonard Peltier were allowed to present to the best of their ability the many circumstances that led to the confrontation that day. Because the jury was not sequestered, because the judge was not visited by the FBI and because their witnesses were not intimidated by the FBI, the truth for the most part was allowed to be told and the jury and judge were not only allowed to do what was just, but they were allowed to right what was wrong in the case of these two men.
Again, Robideau & Butler were acquitted by reason of self-defense. Had the judge and jury in Leonard’s case had access to the same level of information, Leonard Peltier would undoubtedly be a free man today.

Since Leonard’s incarceration all of these things written have been proven in court and have been recognized by the court as truth. Quoting one judge who spoke to us in seemingly hollow words, “Had these improprieties not happened, Leonard Peltier probably would have been acquitted.” However he went on further to say that he was not “totally convinced.” Considering the known racist atmosphere in North and South Dakota, he may have been correct. I am paraphrasing a quote by judge Haney of the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals who made the aforementioned statement. He further mentioned the FBI was equally responsible for the death of their two agents.

In short, every piece of evidence used to convict Leonard Peltier has been proven false in court. Many attorneys have advised us that in their view every legal appeal has been filed that would under normal circumstances exonerate Leonard Peltier in the same way his co-defendants, Dino Butler and Bob Robideau were exonerated in their trail prior to Leonard’s trial.

Under the criteria by which Mr. Butler & Robideau were tried, had the young Joe Stuntz, who was killed on that day lived and gone to trial he would have also been found innocent by reason of self-defense. This means the FBI was at fault and considering the fact that Joe Stuntz was killed in an act of self-defense, it is reasonable to say the FBI is guilty of murder. You would be hard pressed to find where any Euro-American has been prosecuted for the many thousands of Indian deaths that have occurred at their hands, yet when we as a people, under their same laws, defend ourselves there is rarely justice for our people.

We as an Indigenous people have always been forced to fight their fight under their rules. And when we win in their courts they either change the rules or blatantly ignore their laws. To this date Leonard has satisfied all the prerequisites for parole or release under judicial rules that Americans are expected to follow. However to date -35 years after the Oglala Incident, Leonard Peltier remains a political prisoner. Attorneys have told us, as well as private statements by various federal judges behind the scenes, that Leonard’s continued imprisonment is of a political nature, and so requires a political solution.

Leonard is 65 and presently denied adequate healthcare and is kept in a maximum security facility. Scientist say our bodies completely replace themselves every seven years. For Leonard that is five cellular lifetimes ago.

Leonard is not a threat to anyone’s freedom, anyone’s life, anyone’s property or in any way that would threaten the right to life and a pursuit of happiness by any just people.

If you talk to our opposition, they will have many statements to justify their behavior. However in cross-examination these statements do not withstand the light of day. There have been dozens of interventions filed with the UN council on human rights on Leonard’s behalf. Leonard Peltier has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times; he has received numerous humanitarian awards. He is an accomplished, world renowned artist. He is a father, a grand father and a great grandfather and considered an elder by his people, the Turtle Mountain Anishinabe. His people from Turtle Mountain Reserve have filed a request with the US to have him paroled or released to their custody.

There are no justifiable reasons under the auspices of humanitarianism, judicial ruling or federal law for Leonard Peltier to remain obviously, unequivocally a political prisoner. This is not an isolated event or case. There are other political prisoners within the US prison system. However, what makes Leonard’s case stand out above all others are the things mentioned in this letter which are a matter of court record and obvious to anyone who can look at the situation in an unbiased unprejudiced way, evidence of the illegal unjust imprisonment of Mr. Peltier.

I am not just representing personal views but the views, hopes and prayers of thousands of people worldwide who are familiar with this case. Our hopes and prayers are that you, in some way can bring relief to Leonard Peltier, his family and his people; and in doing so some way promote justice and peace for all people.

Thank you for your time and the work that you do. May we all live in harmony with the Creator, the Mother Earth, our fellow men, and respect our brother’s vision.

Most sincerely,
In the Spirit of doing what is right
Righting what is wrong

David Hill, Choctaw
Southern, Oklahoma AIM
35828 Hwy 56,
Sasakwa, Ok 74867
Posted by brendanorrell@gmail.com

Our Brother, Lance "Nakose" Allrunner, Makes His Journey to the Spirit World

2010-03-06T09:58:00.000-08:00

Lance Allrunner, Cheyenne/Comanche/Kiowa originally from Anadarko, Oklahoma, made his journey to the spirit world last evening, March 5th, 2010. Lance was a community leader in the best sense of the word -- he seemed always to have a smile on his face, and encouragement on his lips. He lived in Denver for many years, and was a youth mentor, counselor, teacher and a positive example of indigenous manhood. He belonged to the tsi tsistah ho dah ni dah mi o’h (Cheyenne Dog Soldier Society) and also danced with the Nu mu nu Thu wee (Comanche Black Knife) dancers. He was a renowned dancer, singer and MC at powwows and other community events. Lance’s father, who died in a car accident when Lance was eight, was a full-blooded Cheyenne; his mother was half Kiowa (her mother) and half Comanche (her father). Lance described the difficulty of finding the “middle ground” between Indian and White ways. Lance remembers the words of his Comanche grandfather who said, “The Indian way of life is a hard way of life. You need to fit in on both sides. You need to know who you are. Learn your own songs first.” He emphasized, “Times of Indian assimilation into the White culture are over. We have strong traditions that we respect and the White persons must respect them too.” Lance honored Colorado AIM by singing and marching with us to transform the Columbus Day holiday, and on many other issues of concern to the Indian world. His smile, his voice, and his example will be missed by us all. We will post arrangements for his funeral/memorial services here, as they are announced. Go in peace and love, brother. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Lance's family.
Lance and Francis Sherwood in their dance regalia

UPDATE: Lance Allrunner's Funeral arrangements: Currently he's at the Comanche Funeral Home. His wake will be Monday, March 8th, 7-9 pm @ the Comanche Funeral Home in Lawton, OK. Funeral @ 1 pm in Anadarko, OK @ the 1st Methodist Church. Burial will follow at Cache Creek Cementary west of Apache. Feast will follow at the Apache Cultural Center.

Denver community rememberance: We will get together tomorrow (Sunday, March 7th) at 1 PM, at the Denver Indian Center, 4407 Morrison Road, for a community remembrance of Nakose (Lance Allrunner). Please bring a covered dish, some good words and stories to share. Contact Wes, Ruby or Mike for info. Mike (720) 359-6460 or otoeman@aol.com
Wes (720) 643-7200, Ruby (303) 449-5512

Endorois Win Major Territorial Case Against Kenya

2010-02-13T07:21:00.000-08:00

Kenya: Landmark Ruling on Indigenous Land Rights
African Human Rights Commission Condemns Expulsion of Endorois People for Tourism Development
NEW YORK - February 4 - A ruling by the African Commission on Human and People's Rights condemning the expulsion of the Endorois people from their land in Kenya is a major victory for indigenous peoples across Africa, Human Rights Watch, WITNESS, and the Endorois' lawyers said today. The Commission ruled on February 4, 2010 that the Endorois' eviction from their traditional land for tourism development violated their human rights.

The Kenyan government evicted the Endorois people, a traditional pastoralist community, from their homes at Lake Bogoria in central Kenya in the 1970s, to make way for a national reserve and tourist facilities. In the first ruling of an international tribunal to find a violation of the right to development, the Commission found that this eviction, with minimal compensation, violated the Endorois' right as an indigenous people to property, health, culture, religion, and natural resources. It ordered Kenya to restore the Endorois to their historic land and to compensate them. It is the first ruling to determine who are indigenous peoples in Africa, and what are their rights to land. The case was brought on behalf of the Endorois by CEMIRIDE and Minority Rights Group International.download entire decision here

Indigenous Women Advance Bolivian Revolution

2010-02-12T20:13:00.000-08:00

Over half of Evo Morales' cabinet is comprised of women

By Andres Schipani
BBC News, La Paz
In the early 19th Century, Bolivian women fought alongside men for the country's independence from colonial Spain. They stormed into battle on horseback, seized cities and were on the frontline.

But their presence on the battlefield did not translate into presence in the political life of their nation. For many, their education, job opportunities and political rights were limited - until now.

"For a long time, we women have been excluded - it was one of the dark legacies of the colonial model," the recently appointed Justice Minister, Nilda Copa, told the BBC at her office.

"I remember my mother didn't know how to read and write, neither did my grandmother... not because they didn't want to learn," Ms Copa says.

Ms Copa joined a trade union very young, when she was only 16, because she felt a drastic change was needed and that was the only platform where women "had some voice".

And that change seems to have arrived. Today, posters proclaiming the slogans of female Bolivian heroes such as indigenous rebel Bartolina Sisa and independence icon Juana Azurduy plaster the walls of several ministries.

That shows the fervour felt in the Bolivia of President Evo Morales, who seems to be changing things not only for the country's indigenous majority, but also for its women.

Today women are involved in running the country as never before. Mr Morales began his second mandate last month with a cabinet reshuffle that complies with the gender parity stated in the new constitution he pushed for.

Now the new cabinet has 10 men and 10 women, three of them indigenous.

"There used to be a lot of racism and machismo. There is still some, but now that structure is changing thanks to brother Evo Morales," Ms Copa says.

"Today, for example, there are no illiterate women, but women with enough capacity to develop activities at the same level as men. But the fight has been harsh and long."

Her voice trails off and she focuses on a picture of her and Mr Morales from the times when she was a member of the assembly that wrote Bolivia's new constitution.

Homage

For Mr Morales, achieving gender parity in the cabinet was a long-held aim.

"One of my dreams has come true - half the cabinet seats are held by women," Mr Morales said recently. "This is a homage to my mother, my sister and my daughter."

Mr Morales said that since his early days as a leader of the coca trade union, he had always worked towards getting women into decision-making posts based on the chacha warmi, a concept that in the local Aymara indigenous culture means that men and women are complementary in an egalitarian way.

But another sign that women's political influence is on the rise is the fact that they now occupy an unprecedented 30% of seats in Bolivia's new legislative branch.

One of them is Gabriela Montano, a senator who represents the eastern city of Santa Cruz - Bolivia's opposition heartland - on behalf of Mr Morales's party, the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS).

"This is the fruit of the women's fight: the tangible proofs of this new state, of this new Bolivia are the increasing participation of the indigenous peoples and the increasing participation of women in the decision-making process of this country," Ms Montano told the BBC.

Ms Montano was the subject of several physical attacks during her stint as the government's envoy to Santa Cruz, and last year she was kept at a secret location as a safety precaution after she was threatened by opposition groups.

"The awakening of women has been brewing for a while. Women have been a key element in the consolidation of this process of change led by President Morales, from the rallies, the protests, the fights. Now, they will be a key element in affairs of national interest," Ms Montano says.

However, while change for women is under way, for some there is still a long way to go until full equality is achieved.

"Not long ago, 10 years ago, nobody talked about women in power in this country, that was unimaginable," explains Katia Uriona, of the women's advocacy group Coordinadora de la Mujer.

"And even if I applaud all of these victories, I am aware this is not enough. Now we have to see if all of this is translated into something concrete that will truly change the gender face of this country."

Russell Means Freedom

2010-02-12T19:57:00.000-08:00

“An upside down flag is an international signal of distress… now we, the Indian nations, are in distress. I will wear this flag upside down as long as my people are in distress!” Russell Means. Oglala Lakota patriot

Russell Means Freedom webite

Colorado AIM member, Shannon Francis, featured in Indian Country Today

2010-01-13T07:41:00.000-08:00

Hopi Tribal Council’s new structure irks some critics
Originally printed at http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/81015597.html

KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz. – Following recent elections, the Hopi Tribal Council’s official position is one of can-do optimism, fueled by a reorganization that elevates the status of a tribal council-controlled manager and diminishes the clout of the tribal chairman.

“We need to look at the organizational culture and make a change more toward service delivery,” said council member Davis F. Pecusa, head of a reorganization effort. “We can’t get there if we continue to fight over power.”

Some observers, however, regard the restructuring as just that – continuing the fight over power.

Under the new plan, “The executive director will answer directly to the Tribal Council,” states a Hopi Tribe press release, which also says the chairman, “no longer will be chief executive officer” and may issue executive orders but not “to further his own politics.”

The latter accusation had been leveled earlier at Ben Nuvamsa, former tribal chairman, who attempted to thwart an interim tribal government by issuing an executive order before he resigned last year. The EO declared a constitutional crisis in the wake of the tribal appellate court’s suspension and sought measures that included a freeze on a controversial mining permit pending a special election to fill the chair and vice chair positions.

“The reorganization is not a reorganization,” Nuvamsa said, but a way to “usurp the powers and authorities of the tribal chairman” based on an old study that does not reflect the tribe’s current situation.

Neither Leroy Shingoitewa, the new chairman, nor Herman Honanie, the new vice-chairman, responded to requests for comment, but Nuvamsa seems to have assumed the mantle of opposition leader, and others have also spoken out – one of whom claims direct descent from Hopi Chief Lololma.

“What you are doing is disrespectful to the Hopi senim (people) and the fact that you are not acknowledging the new chairman and vice chairman sitting right here requesting to speak,” said Shannon Francis (Tawangounim), addressing what she calls an “illegal tribal council” in a special Sunday meeting Nov. 22.

“This is also disrespectful. You do not represent my ancestors nor do you represent my descendents; you also do not represent me,” she said, before she was removed from the meeting by officers she believes were Hopi Rangers.

The reorganization she questioned was approved in the Sunday meeting that was “not a public hearing” and where no questions or intrusions were allowed, said Tina May, the council’s public information officer, who described Francis’ interruption as “brief” and one in which she said “something about her ancestors” before she was escorted out.

A change in the Hopi Tribe Economic Development Corporation also was approved at the special meeting, which preceded the seating of the chair and vice chair Dec. 1. The tribal council voted to install council members as the board of the HTEDC after members questioned whether it had been effective.

“No outside company with the financial wherewithal will now take a chance of investing in Hopi because of the concerns about tribal sovereign immunity protection issues,” said Nuvamsa, referring to tribal safeguards against civil lawsuits brought by outside entities. “By one fell swoop, they have killed the Hopi Tribe’s economic development program. This is just another part of the ‘power grab.’”

The charges of a power grab extend to the Hopi Tutuveni, the official tribal publication, which the council declined to fund for the coming year because it is “ineffective,” council member Dale Sinquah said in a press release. “I don’t feel the paper is fulfilling its purpose. I think we should not fund it anymore.”

The Native American Journalists Association issued a statement noting that a primary reason for NAJA is to support Native journalists and Native newspapers, and Tutuveni’s possible demise defeats that purpose.

“A fully functioning government needs a voice that can disseminate updated news and information regarding the factual status of that government at any given time,” said Ronnie Washines, NAJA president.

The decision not to fund the Hopi Tutuveni was only one part of the budget process that produced a “balanced spending plan that minimized cuts to services, programs and villages; reduced duplicative services; cut unnecessary costs; and identified unspent budget line items,” according to a tribal press release.

The 2010 operating budget of $21.8 million is up slightly from the current $20.9 million, and projected mining revenues of $12.8 million compare to the present $11 million, according to the public information officer.

Within the total budget, 2010 projections compared to current spending levels include, for example, increases for the tribal council from $783,424 to $830,916; for the public defender from $136,005 to $285,927; and for judicial services from $473,197 to $608,680. Planned decreases include spending of $495,156 proposed for tribal chairman/vice chairman offices combined, down from $563,257; general counsel $580,716, down from $676,844; and villages approximately $3.3 million, down from $3.5 million.

Other planned expenditures include $471,113 for the new executive director office, about $1.6 million for outside attorneys’ fees, and $6 million for the tribal energy team, part of which reportedly will be used to fight a lawsuit filed by tribal members and others against the Office of Surface Mining in connection with an expanded permit for Black Mesa Complex. No cost of living increases or salary increments are planned for employees.

“The council voted that all villages have an audit of their financial records, at their cost, and that all villages shall be responsible for their tax liability arising from the IRS 2009 audit of past tribal and village payroll withholding compliance,” according to a tribal press release.

Nuvamsa charged that the budget was developed “in a vacuum and behind closed doors,” contending that village governments and program directors were excluded from the budget development process in violation of tribal fiscal policies. He also said the budget does not reflect bonuses from Peabody Western Coal Co.

U.S. Still Building Empire On the Backs Of Indigenous Peoples

2009-12-22T21:01:00.000-08:00

by Peter D'Errico
go to original column
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has several times discussed the long history of Afghanistan, referring to the many failed efforts by imperial powers to conquer it. The “tribal” organization of Afghanistan is the bane of empires; they can invade, but they cannot rule. They can disrupt and destroy, but they cannot build anything workable.

Most recently, Gates spoke to Maureen Dowd, the New York Times columnist. She asked what the U.S. should do to avoid the traps and pitfalls of past imperial projects in Afghanistan. Gates’ reply is fascinating. He said, “If we can re-empower the traditional local centers of authority, the tribal shuras and elders and things like that and put an overlay of human rights on that, isn’t that a step in the right direction?”

Amazing. In the 1980s, the U.S. funded jihadist resistance against the Soviet Union; now the U.S. is fighting jihadist resistance against the United States. As Dowd pointed out, the U.S. is caught in a historical contradiction – having created the very mess it is now trying to clean up.

The really fascinating thing about Gates’ comments, however, is how they shed light on another area of U.S. relations with “tribal” societies: The indigenous peoples of the Americas. The parallels are pretty clear, if we want to admit it. First, there is intervention based on using some elements of tribal societies against other elements and against the enemies of the United States. Then, there is the collapse of traditional governing structures. After that, there is the belated awareness that the traditional structures are needed to maintain social coherence and stability.

An article in the Times, just two days before Dowd’s column, reported the growing problem of gang violence on Pine Ridge. The article said, “5,000 young men from the Oglala Sioux tribe [are] involved with at least 39 gangs on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The gangs are being blamed for an increase in vandalism, theft, violence and fear that is altering the texture of life here and in other parts of American Indian territory.” It’s not only Pine Ridge: “The Navajo Nation in Arizona, for example, has identified 225 gang units, up from 75 in 1997.”

One response, not surprisingly, is a call for more police. That’s like the call for more troops to Afghanistan. But the article noted there are other voices at Pine Ridge: “Even as they seek to bolster policing, Pine Ridge leaders see their best long-term hope for fighting gangs in cultural revival.” The article quotes Melvyn Young Bear, an Oglala cultural liaison: “We’re trying to give an identity back to our youth. They are Lakota, and they have a lot to be proud of.”

One gang member at Pine Ridge told the reporter he “regretted not learning the Sioux language when he was young” and now wondered about his own future. He is “emerging as a tribal spiritual leader, working with youth groups to promote Native traditions.” He said he is participating in Oglala rituals and purifying sweat lodges.

How nice it would be if the United States had not first attacked traditional societies. But that is what happened, in the invasions, allotments, terminations, relocations, and other harmful actions to extend American empire across the lands of indigenous peoples. It is the history of America on this continent and in Afghanistan.
The really fascinating thing about Gates’ comments is how they shed light on another area of U.S. relations with ‘tribal’ societies.

Maybe the U.S. is paying attention to its historical failures and applying the learning to present actions. That’s one hope. But there’s been a lot of damage done and the seeds of healing are scattered far and wide. Plus, there are still people in and out of government who believe in the failed policies of the past. If they have their way, the U.S. won’t learn anything until it’s too late for all of us.

One major contribution from Indian country is increasingly clear statements of traditional perspectives, and this shouldn’t be limited to talking about gang violence. Winona LaDuke’s new booklet, “Food is Medicine,” points out how genocide and colonization deprived indigenous peoples of access to traditional lands and foods. She presents indigenous communities that are “restoring spiritual practices related to foods, strengthening community health and self-determination.”

That’s the lesson for all indigenous peoples, on whatever continent, invaded by whatever power: spiritual restoration and self-determination.

Peter d’Errico is a consulting attorney on indigenous issues. D’Errico was a staff attorney in Dinebeiina Nahiilna Be Agaditahe Navajo Legal Services from 1968 to 1970. He taught legal studies at University of Massachusetts, Amherst until 2002.

Evo Re-elected in Bolivia; Condemns Capitalism for Environmental Destruction

2009-12-22T20:23:00.001-08:00

Bolivian President Evo Morales called on the world leaders to raise their ambitions radically and hold temperature increases over the next century to just 1 degree celcius. In the most ambitious statement yet made at the climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, Morales demanded rich countries pay climate change reparations and proposed an international climate court of justice to prosecute countries for climate "crimes".

"Our objective is to save humanity and not just half of humanity. We are here to save mother earth. Our objective is to reduce climate change to [under] 1C. [above this] many islands will disappear and Africa will suffer a holocaust," he said. Limiting warming to 1C would need an end to all emissions and billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide to be sucked from the air and stored. Bolivia presents resolution “Harmony with Mother Earth” at the United Nations

Echoing Cuban president Fidel Castro 18 years ago at the earth summit in Rio de , Morales blamed capitalism squarely for climate change: "The real cause of climate change is the capitalist system. If we want to save the earth then we must end that economic model. Capitalism wants to address climate change with carbon markets. We denounce those markets and the countries which [promote them]. It's time to stop making money from the disgrace that they have perpetrated."

On 8 December, Morales was re-elected president of Bolivia, with a landslide victory in a vote that also saw his political party set to dominate the country’s congress as voters backed the socialist programme of their country’s first indigenous leader. Morales won 67 per cent of the vote, more than double that of his nearest opponent, the right-wing former army captain Manfred Reyes Villa, who took just 27 per cent. Speaking before jubilant supporters in La Paz after results started to come in, Mr Morales said his socialist project “now is that of the Bolivian people” and that “to have two-thirds of the congress obliges me to accelerate the process of change”. An Aymara Indian, Mr Morales won massive majorities in those western Andean highlands departments that have large indigenous majorities. Initial results also indicate his Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party will control over two-thirds of the congress, allowing it to alter the constitution at will.

Colorado AIM Elder, Mrs. Lillie Fobb, Passes to the Spirit World

2009-12-16T16:32:00.000-08:00

It is with heavy hearts that we must report the passing of one of our most revered elders, and staunchest AIM members, Mrs. Lillian Fobb. We will miss her dearly, and will always remember her advice, her wisdom, but most of all, her example.

Lillie Mae Fobb(Spencer) was born in Seminole, Oklahoma to Yoney and Betsey Spencer. Lillie’s parents both died before she reached the age of 8 years of age. She grew up in the Little and Hitchitee Methodist Indian Church area. Lillie, 83, resided in Denver for the past forty-five years. Her family moved(except for Terry) to Denver through the Bureau of Indian Affairs ’Relocation Program’. She has seven children, four daughters and three sons (one son, Harold, is deceased). Lillie retired from the Veterans Hospital in Denver and remained actively employed at the Denver Indian Center. Lillie was highly respected as an elder by the many Indians in the Denver area. She was a member of the Elders' Council of the American Indian Movement of Colorado. Many refer to her as ’Momma Fobb’ or ’Mrs. Fobb’. She will always be known for her humor, hard work, caring attitude, and an outstanding cook.

The picture above, actual size-eight feet tall, has been hanging on the campus of the University of Colorado for many years. Just recently, it was taken down and presented to Mrs. Fobb in a special ceremony at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Mrs. Fobb always exemplified her pride as a tribal member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.

The U.S. Continues to Steal from Indians

2009-12-15T21:29:00.000-08:00

By BILL MEANS

With all due respect to Elouise Cobell, lead plaintiff in a recently settled lawsuit over American Indian trust funds ("U.S. to pay Indians $3.4B," Dec. 9), I think the United States is continuing a policy of "Indians are not humans."

During the course of this long-running, class-action litigation, it has been documented that the United States owes
Indian people more than $137 billion for mismanagement of trust accounts. That was established just by the documents that were presented.

The original federal judge on this case was Royce Lamberth, who held at least three secretaries of the Interior in contempt for
not producing thousands of additional documents. Also, during the course of this case, hundreds of relevant documents were found in the trash by Interior Department employees, who reported this to the court and to Interior Department officials.

To add insult to injury, the government is clearing its conscience by paying back 2.48 percent of the so-far known value of what the United States stole in the first place. Paying $3.4 billion on a known debt of $137 billion is a national disgrace; this needs to be known by all Americans. Cobell should have at least held out until all the documents were presented or a final calculation of the debt was determined.

In the words of a great Oglala Lakota statesman Chief Red Cloud: "The United States made us many promises, but they kept
only one. They promised to take our land, and they took it."

Bill Means is a board member of the
International Indian Treaty Council.

Read the entire settlement offer here

Peltier Supporters to Ask Obama to Free Leonard

2009-11-04T20:04:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON – Leonard Peltier supporters will seek clemency for the imprisoned American Indian Movement activist during a historic meeting between President Barack Obama and hundreds of tribal leaders of federally recognized nations.

The Circle for Clemency for Leonard Peltier is organizing a peaceful and prayerful act of solidarity “to bring attention to Mr. Peltier’s continued unjust imprisonment as a Native American political prisoner,” according to Rob Fife, one of the organizers.

The event will take place in conjunction with the first-of-its-kind White House Tribal Nations Conference on Nov. 5 from 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. at the Interior Department building in Washington, D.C.

Fife, a Nez Perce Cayuse Indian, and Ben Carns, a member of the Choctaw Nation, fasted and offered prayers for seven days in September in front of the White House in the hope of having an audience with Obama and asking him to consider issuing an executive order of clemency for Peltier. The meeting did not occur, but the gesture gave rise to a renewed focus on Peltier’s plight in the indigenous community.

The Circle for Clemency was founded in October by Fife, Carns, and indigenous rights activists Wanbli Tate, Larry Monterrey and Barbara Low.

Peltier has been in prison for more than 33 years. He was convicted in 1977 and given two consecutive life sentences for the murder of FBI Special Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams, who were killed during a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota June 26, 1975.

Although Peltier has served more than the minimum sentence required for the crime, he was denied parole Aug. 21. Parole officials said granting parole would diminish the seriousness of the crime.

The 64-year-old Peltier has maintained his innocence, but controversy over whether he committed the murders, and over the fairness of his trial persist. Those convinced of his guilt say he shot the two agents in cold blood and deserves to stay in prison for the rest of his life.

Peltier’s supporters, which include a huge international component and human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, say he is America’s most famous and longest serving political prisoner.

Isolated Amazon Indians Victims of Swine Flu Epidemic

2009-11-04T18:57:00.000-08:00

Meet the new boss

...same as the old boss.

On May 30, 1539, Hernando de Soto landed his army near Tampa Bay, Florida. Soto had
grown very rich by trading for Indian slaves, and these profits helped to fund another Spanish
explorer’s capture of the Incan empire, which made Soto even richer. Looking for new lands
to conquer, he turned to North America, coming to Florida with 200 horses, 600 soldiers, and
300 pigs. In spite of the atrocities of Soto’s force, some historians say that the worst thing the
Spaniards did was to bring the pigs.
After Soto left, no Europeans visited this area for more than a century. Early in 1682 whites
appeared again, this time Frenchmen in canoes. The French passed through the area where
Soto had found the numerous cities within sight of each other. The area was deserted – La
Salle’s expedition didn’t see an Indian village for 200 miles.

Pigs, which multiply rapidly and could pass diseases to deer and turkeys, were the most
likely culprit; only a few of them would have had to wander off to infect the nearby forests –
and much of the Indians’ food supply. Between Soto’s and La Salle’s visits, the population of
this area has been estimated as falling from about 200,000 to about 8,500 – a drop of nearly
96 percent. An equivalent loss today to the population of New York City would reduce the
population to 56,000 – not even enough to fill Yankee Stadium. “That’s one reason whites
think of Indians as nomadic hunters,” says anthropologist Russell Thornton of UCLA.
“Everything else – all of the heavily populated urbanized societies – was wiped out.”

Isolated Amazon Indians Victims of Swine Flu Epidemic

Thursday, 5 November 2009, 10:23 am
Press Release: Survival International
Yanomami Indians in Venezuela have died from an outbreak of suspected swine flu in the last two weeks. Another 1,000 Yanomami are reported to have caught the virulent strain of flu.

The Venezuelan government has sealed off the area, and sent in medical teams to treat the Yanomami. The regional office of the World Health Organization has confirmed the presence of swine flu.There are fears that the epidemic could sweep through the Yanomami territory and kill many more Indians.

The Yanomami are the largest relatively isolated indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest, with a population of about 32,000 that straddle the Venezuela-Brazil border. Due to this isolation they have very little resistance to introduced diseases such as influenza.

In the 1980-90s, when goldminers invaded their land, one fifth of the Yanomami in Brazil died from diseases such as flu and malaria introduced by the miners. Their future was only secured after a major international campaign led by the Yanomami themselves, Survival International and the Pro Yanomami Commission.

Health care is already extremely precarious on both sides of the border. Many Yanomami communities have no access at all to health care and this mountainous, forested region presents many challenges in the provision of emergency medical aid.

The Yanomami territory lies on the border of northern Brazil and southern Venezuela and is the largest indigenous territory in tropical rainforest in the world. Last month Survival published a report highlighting the special threat that swine flu presents to indigenous people around the world.

Stephen Corry, director of Survival said, ‘The situation is critical. Both governments must take immediate action to halt the epidemic and radically improve the health care to the Yanomami. If they do not, we could once more see hundreds of Yanomami dying of treatable diseases. This would be utterly devastating for this isolated tribe, whose population has only just recovered from the epidemics which decimated their population 20 years ago.’ original story

Political awakening stirs indigenous resistance in southern Indian America

2009-11-04T18:16:00.000-08:00

Political awakening stirs southern Indian America
By FRANK BAJAK
The Associated Press
Monday, November 2, 2009 12:01 AM

JESUS DE MACHACA, Bolivia -- In Ecuador, the Shuar are blocking highways to defend their hunting grounds. In Chile, the Mapuche are occupying ranches to pressure for land, schools and clinics. In Bolivia, a new constitution gives the country's 36 indigenous peoples the right to self-rule.

All over Latin America, and especially in the Andes, a political awakening is emboldening Indians who have lived mostly as second-class citizens since the Spanish conquest.

Much of it is the result of better education and communication, especially as the Internet allows native leaders in far-flung villages to share ideas and strategies across international boundaries.

But much is born of necessity: Latin American nations are embarking on an unprecedented resource hunt, moving in on land that Indians consider their own - and whose pristine character is key to their survival.

"The Indian movement has arisen because the government doesn't respect our territories, our resources, our Amazon," says Romulo Acachu, president of the Shuar people, flanked by warriors carrying wooden spears and with black warpaint smeared on their faces.

A month ago, the Shuar put up barbed-wire roadblocks on highway bridges in Ecuador's southeastern jungles to protest legislation that would allow mines on Indian lands without their prior consent, and put water under state control. On Sept. 30, an Indian schoolteacher was killed in a battle with riot police.

"If there are 1,000 dead they will be good deaths," says another Shuar leader, Rafael Pandam.

The Shuar won, at least this round.

A week after the killing, President Rafael Correa received about 100 Indian leaders at the presidential palace and agreed to reconsider the laws. Correa had earlier called the Indians "infantile" for their insistence on being consulted over mining concessions. But he didn't need to be reminded that natives - a third of the population - have become an indispensible constituent and helped topple an Ecuadorean government in 2000.

---

Indians make up one in 10 of Latin America's half-billion inhabitants. In some parts of the Andes and Guatemala, they are far more numerous.

Yet they remain much poorer and less educated than the general population. About 80 percent live on less than $2 a day - a poverty rate double that of the general population, according to the World Bank - while some 40 percent lack access to health care.

The threats to Indian land have grown in recent years. With shrinking global oil reserves and growing demands for minerals and timber, oil and mining concerns are joining loggers in encroaching on traditional Indian lands.

"Indians have been progressively losing control and ownership of natural resources on their lands," says Rodolfo Stavenhagen, a prominent Mexican sociologist who spent most of the past decade as the U.N.'s chief advocate for Indians. "The situation isn't very encouraging."

Hence the revolt rippling up and down the Andes.

In Peru, south of the Shuar's lands, the government has divided more than 70 percent of the Amazon into oil exploration blocks and has begun selling concessions. Fearing contamination of their hunting and fishing grounds, Indians last year began mounting sporadic road and river blockades.

On June 5, riot police opened fire on Indians at a road blockade outside the town of Bagua, where jungle meets Andean foothills. At least 33 people were killed, most of them police. The Indians were unapologetic for resisting.

"Almost everything we have comes from the jungle," says one of the protesters, a wiry elementary school teacher from the Awajun tribe named Gabriel Apikai. "The leaves, and wood and vines with which we build our homes. The water from the streams. The animals we eat. That is why we are so worried."

Farther south along the world's longest mountain chain, Chilean police are protecting 34 ranches and logging compounds that Mapuche Indians have targeted for occupations or sabotage.

The Mapuche, who dominated Chile before the Spanish conquest, now account for less than 10 percent of its people and hold some 5 percent of its land - among the least fertile.

Mapuche activists agitating for title to more lands and greater access to education and health care stepped up civil disobedience this year. In August, riot police mounting an eviction killed one Mapuche, and eight were injured.

"If the government and the political class doesn't listen to our demands the situation will get a lot more difficult," Mapuche leader Jose Santos Millao tells the AP in Santiago. He rejects as a "smoke screen" President Michelle Bachelet's creation of an Indian Affairs Ministry in September.

Nowhere is Indian power so evident as Bolivia, which elected its first indigenous president, Evo Morales, in December 2005. Morales dissolved the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs and Original Peoples, calling it racist in a country where more than three in five people are aboriginals.

In February, voters approved a constitution that creates a "plurinational" state and accords Bolivia's natives sovereign status. Time-worn models of aboriginal government, community justice and even traditional healing are now legally on equal footing with modern law and science.

In the capital of La Paz, "cholitas" - Indian women in traditional bowler hats and embroidered shawls - now regularly anchor TV newscasts. "Miss Cholita" beauty pageants are in vogue and native hip-hop stars headline at nightclubs.

At the presidential palace, Morales - a former Aymara coca farmer who knew hunger as a child - makes a point of lunching periodically with the lowliest of palace guards. Morales is ensuring that profits from natural gas and mineral extraction are distributed equitably and that water - whose privatization in the city of Cochabamba spurred an uprising in 2000 - is never again privatized. He's also pushing to make electrical utilities public.

Morales has founded three indigenous universities, formalized quotas for Indians in the military and created a special school for aspiring diplomats with native backgrounds. And he is promoting a campaign to demand that all public servants be fluent in at least one native tongue.

"There is no way to return to the past," says Waskar Ari, an Aymara who changed his name to Juan in the 1970s so he would be accepted to a private high school in La Paz. Now a University of Nebraska professor, Ari likens his country's "rebirth" to the casting off of apartheid on another continent two decades ago.

"Finally," he says proudly, "Bolivia is no longer the South Africa of Latin America."

---

The legal groundwork for the empowerment drive by Latin America's Indians was crowned by a September 2007 U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Though nonbinding, it endorses native peoples' right to their own institutions and traditional lands. It has been almost universally embraced by Latin American governments.

It has also helped Indians win some major legal victories.

-In 2007, the Supreme Court of Belize ruled in favor of Mayan communities that challenged the government's right to lease their lands to logging interests.

-A similar ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on behalf of the forest-dwelling Saramaka maroons in Suriname reinforced that indigenous groups must give consent to major development projects.

-Last December, Nicaragua's government finally granted collective land titles to the Mayagna people, complying with a landmark 2001 ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that it had no right to sell logging concessions on Indian land.

-The following month, Colombia's Constitutional Court deemed more than 1 million indigenous people "in danger of cultural and physical extermination" and told the government to protect them.

-And in May, Brazil's Supreme Court ordered rice farmers to leave the long-disputed Raposa Serra do Sol reservation - 4.2 million acres (1.7 million hectares) inhabited by 18,000 Indians in the Amazon's northernmost reaches.

Despite the legal rulings, Indians remain second-class citizens.

Only one indigenous representative has ever been elected to the national congress in Brazil, according to the government office that oversees issues related to Indians, who occupy vast areas of the Amazon though they account for less than 5 percent of the population.

In Guatemala, where nearly half the population is of Mayan descent, not a single Indian has ever made it to national office.

Educational disadvantages perpetuate the inequity.

In Guatemala, three in four indigenous people are illiterate, the U.N. says. In Mexico, where 6 percent of the population is illiterate, 22 percent of adult Indians are. Even in Bolivia, only 55 percent of indigenous children finish primary school, compared to 81 percent of other kids.

---------

Efforts to "decolonize" remain fragile.

In eastern Bolivia - where the United Nations says several thousand Guarani Indians, including children, work as virtual slaves on large estates - Morales has promised autonomy. But the area's elite, Morales' fiercest opponents, won't let that happen without a fight.

Obtaining autonomy should be less contentious for Indians in western highlands towns like Jesus de Machaca, in part because the land in question yields so little.

Jesus de Machaca is a hardscrabble farming town near Lake Titicaca that is more than 96 percent Aymara Indian. It is among 12 Bolivian municipalities, mostly Aymara and Quechua, whose inhabitants will vote Dec. 6 on becoming autonomous. Under self-rule, they would legalize governing practices that precede the Inca empire.

Local leaders called mallkus are democratically elected by their communities in public votes, then choose senior town officials. Terms in office are restricted to a year. The system is closer to socialism than capitalism.

Deputy mayor Braulio Cusi says autonomy will hugely benefit a community where nearly all the 13,700 residents live in adobe brick homes and use cow manure as cooking fuel, where most homes lack running water and babies are born at home because there's no hospital or clinic.

"Dairy cooperatives, cheese processing. There will be jobs," says Cusi, who slings a white leather whip over his poncho as a symbol of authority. He envisions a slaughterhouse, and hopes to attract a veterinarian.

The town's more than 900 square kilometers (350 square miles) are devoted mostly to cattle, llamas and sheep grazing, potatoes and quinoa. Purchased in the 16th and 17th century by natives who refused to become tenant farmers, they are communally owned but parceled out. Selling to outsiders is prohibited.

Jesus de Machaca took its first step toward autonomy when it became an independent municipality in 2002. It later elected its first mayor, also a mallku.

The national government more than doubled the town's budget. More than 70 percent of homes now have electricity - up from one in ten in 2001 - and construction just ended on a three-story municipal building with parquet floors and oak doors.

The town is even building a soccer stadium - with astroturf, one councilman proudly notes.

"Before, we were forgotten," Cusi says after watching the Wiphala banner of the Andes' indigenous peoples raised up a flagpole in the shadow of an imposing Spanish colonial church.

"Now we're going to define, in our way, how we live - according to our own customs and practices."

---

Indigenous Resistance Day - Venezuela

2009-10-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

Venezuela Returns Land to Indigenous Communities On Indigenous Resistance Day
October 13th 2009, by Kiraz Janicke - Venezuelanalysis.com

Indigenous Resistance Day in Caracas (Prensa YVKE Mundial)
Caracas, October 13, 2009 (venezuelanalysis.com) - Celebrating 517 years of indigenous resistance to invasion and colonisation Venezuela marked Indigenous Resistance Day on Monday with a street march through the capital, Caracas, the granting of title deeds to indigenous communities, and a special session of the National Assembly.

Across the Americas October 12 is widely celebrated as Columbus Day, the day in 1492 when Christopher Columbus, representing the Spanish Crown, first arrived in the Americas. In 2004 the Venezuelan government officially changed the name to Indigenous Resistance Day.

In Caracas, thousands of members of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), together with members of Venezuela's 44 indigenous groups, marched to the National Pantheon, in order to celebrate achievements for indigenous peoples under the Chavez government and claim their rights as the original inhabitants of the country.

A special session of the National Assembly then took place in the Pantheon, where the remains of 16th Century Indigenous Cacique (Chief) Guaicaipuro lie as well as those of Venezuelan independence leader Simon Bolivar, who fought against Spanish colonialism.

Also during a special ceremony in Zulia state, Venezuelan Interior Relations and Justice Minister, Tarek el Aissami, handed over title deeds covering some 41,630 hectares of land to three Yukpa indigenous communities in the Sierra de Perija National Park.

"Today we join in this celebration of Indigenous Resistance Day, the day of the dignity of the indigenous peoples of Latin America and particularly of the Bolivarian and Revolutionary Venezuela," stressed the minister.

Yupka community spokesperson Efrain Romero said, "It's historic to receive title to the lands we inhabit," and added, "We reaffirm our fight for this revolution to continue advancing (...) we reaffirm our support for President Hugo Chávez."

In recent years the Sierra de Perija region has been the scenario of a fierce conflict between large "landowners" and the indigenous communities who were forcibly driven off their lands during the Perez Jimenez dictatorship in the 1940s.

The situation came to a head in July 2008 when Yukpa indigenous communities occupied 14 large estates to demand legal title to their ancestral lands. Estate owner Alejandro Vargas and four others, armed with guns and machetes, responded by attempting to assassinate the Yukpa cacique (chief) Sabino Romero, who was leading the occupations, and beat and killed Romero's elderly 109-year-old father Jose Manuel Romero.

Then on August 6 hundreds of armed mercenaries, hired by large landowners, attacked the indigenous communities.

At the time Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez slammed what he described as the "ambiguous attitudes" of some government functionaries in dealing with the land demarcation process and ordered an investigation into the violent attacks.

"There should be no doubt: Between the large estate owners and the Indians, this government is with the Indians" Chavez said.
read entire story here

Chile to apply antiterrorism law to prosecute indigenous dissidents

2009-10-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Chile to apply antiterrorism law to prosecute indigenous resisters
Ximena Marinero at 6:43 AM ET

[JURIST] Chilean Subsecretary of the Interior Patricio Rosende announced Tuesday that Chile will use a 1984 antiterrorism law [text, in Spanish] to prosecute indigenous Mapuches for attacks allegedly committed in the southern region of Araucania. The Chilean government has declared that it will apply the measure to criminals regardless of their ethnicity, and that only a minority of Mapuches are responsible for the recent attacks in an attempt to disturb negotiations over Mapuche demands.

The government has been widely criticized by human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and the UN Human Rights Council , which maintain that the antiterrorism law unfairly singles out Mapuches, who are Chile's largest minority, accounting for an estimated 4 to 6 percent of the country's population. The law dates from the Pinochet regime and abrogates due process rights for the accused, including a longer wait before arraignment and access to a lawyer once charged. The law also allows the imposition of sanctions up to three times what is established by the Chilean Criminal Code, and considers that acts perpetrated with the general intent of causing fear in the general population or imposing demands upon authorities have a terrorist intent.

Last month, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet proposed the creation of an Indian Affairs Ministry. The proposal has been rejected by the Mapuche indigenous group, which continues to advocate for autonomy. Chile has ruled out such an option but has undertaken land redistribution [Santiago Times report] in Araucania to Mapuche members in response to their demands. Recently, Chile has also attempted to accommodate the demands] of the Rapa Nui residents of Easter Island, another indigenous group, by undertaking a consultation process on the subject of immigration and tourism to the island. The consultation comes as the Chilean Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish] ruled [press release, in Spanish] last week that a measure requiring all visitors to Easter Island to fill out Special Visitor's Cards with information about the length of and reason for their trip is unconstitutional.
original article

US Schools Showing Columbus' Dark Side

2009-10-13T20:50:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 11 Oct 2009
By CHRISTINE ARMARIO, Associated Press Writer
TAMPA, Fla. - Jeffrey Kolowith's kindergarten students read a poem about Christopher Columbus , take a journey to the New World on three paper ships and place the explorer's picture on a timeline through history.

Kolowith's students learn about the explorer's significance -- though they also come away with a more nuanced picture of Columbus than the noble discoverer often portrayed in pop culture and legend.

"I talk about the situation where he didn't even realize where he was," Kolowith said. "And we talked about how he was very, very mean, very bossy."

Columbus' stature in U.S. classrooms has declined somewhat through the years, and many districts will not observe his namesake holiday on Monday. Although lessons vary, many teachers are trying to present a more balanced perspective of what happened after Columbus reached the Caribbean and the suffering of indigenous populations.

"The whole terminology has changed," said James Kracht, executive associate dean for academic affairs in the Texas A&M College of Education and Human Development . "You don't hear people using the world 'discovery' anymore like they used to. 'Columbus discovers America.' Because how could he discover America if there were already people living here?"

In Texas, students start learning in the fifth grade about the "Columbian Exchange" -- which consisted not only of gold, crops and goods shipped back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean, but diseases carried by settlers that decimated native populations.

In McDonald, Pa., 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, fourth-grade students at Fort Cherry Elementary put Columbus on trial this year -- charging him with misrepresenting the Spanish crown and thievery. They found him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison.

"In their own verbiage, he was a bad guy," teacher Laurie Crawford said.

Of course, the perspective given varies across classrooms and grades. Donna Sabis-Burns, a team leader with the U.S. Department of Education's School Support and Technology Program , surveyed teachers nationwide about the Columbus reading materials they used in class for her University of Florida dissertation. She examined 62 picture books, and found the majority were outdated and contained inaccurate -- and sometimes outright demeaning -- depictions of the native Taino population.

The federal holiday itself also is not universally recognized. Schools in Miami, Dallas, Los Angeles and Seattle will be open; New York City, Washington and Chicago schools will be closed.

The day is an especially sensitive issue in places with larger native American populations.

"We have a very large Alaska native population, so just the whole Columbus being the founder of the United States, doesn't sit well with a lot of people, myself included," said Paul Prussing, deputy director of Alaska's Division of Teaching and Learning Support .

Many recall decades ago when there was scant mention of indigenous groups in discussions about Columbus. Kracht remembers a picture in one of his fifth-grade textbooks that showed Columbus wading to shore with a huge flag and cross.

"The indigenous population was kind of waiting expectantly, almost with smiles on their faces," Kracht said. "'I wonder what this guy is bringing us?' Well, he's bringing us smallpox, for one thing, and none of us are going to live very long."

Kracht said an emerging multiculturalism led more people to investigate the cruelties suffered by the Taino population in the 1960s and '70s, along with the 500th anniversary in 1992.

However, there are people who believe the discussion has shifted too far. Patrick Korten, vice president of communications for the Catholic fraternal service organization the Knights of Columbus, recalled a note from a member who saw a lesson at a New Jersey school.

The students were forced to stand in a cafeteria and not allowed to eat while other students teased and intimidated them -- apparently so they could better understand the suffering indigenous populations endured because of Columbus, Korten said.

"My impression is that in some classrooms, it's anything but a balanced presentation," Korten, said. "That it's deliberately very negative, which is a matter of great concern because that is not accurate."

Korten said he doesn't believe such activities are widespread -- though the lessons will certainly vary.

In Kolowith's Tampa class, students gathered around a white carpet, where they examined a pile of bright plastic fruits and vegetables, baby dolls, construction paper and other items as they decided what would be best for their voyage.

"Do you think it would be good to take babies on a long and dangerous boat ride?" he asked the class. "No!" they replied.

Fifteen miles away, in Seffner, Fla., Colson Elementary assistant principal Jack Keller visited students in a colonial outfit and gray wig, pretending to be Columbus and discussing his voyages. The suffering of natives was not mentioned.

"Our thing was to show exploration," he said.

Meanwhile,

Crawford's Pennsylvania class dressed up as characters from the era, assigned roles for a mock trial and put Columbus on the stand. Out of a jury of 12 students, nine found him guilty of the charges.

"Every hero is somebody else's villain," said Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, a scholar and author of several books related to Columbus, including "1492: The Year the World Began."

"Heroism and villainy are just two sides of the same coin."

Columbus Day: Yea or nay?

2009-10-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

Indian-Killer Re-enactors Lead Columbus Parade in Denver

The Buffalo Post - October 10, 2009

Many places will commemorate Columbus Day on Monday. For some people, that means a long weekend. For others – and not only Native Americans – it’s an affront. Lots of news organizations weighed in on the topic. Here’s a sampling:
The Wall Street Journal gets us started, with this story archly headlined “Is Columbus Day Sailing Off the Calendar?” It outlines the various ways in which places celebrate the day – or have decided not to. And even the ones that do tread lightly.As Dan Williamson, a spokesman for Mayor Michael B. Coleman of Columbus, Ohio, says: “It would be stupid to pretend there is no controversy around Christopher Columbus.”
In Barre and Montpelier, Vermont, the Times-Argus features letters from Spaulding High School students on the topic. One of those students, Jacob Eli Trepanier, recommends replacing the current parades and other celebrations with a moment of silence in recognition of the slaughter and suffering of Native people that began with Columbus’ arrival. (Read his letter and the others here.)
This Christian Science Monitor piece recounts how Hawaii has changed the name of the holiday to Discover’s Day – and goes on to suggest changing it, nationwide, yet again to honor a Native American, such as Crazy Horse or Chief Joseph. And it quotes the latter, terming his words a “distinctly American” philosophy:
“Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think, and act for myself – and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty.”
In Denver, which has seen decades of controversy and violent protest surrounding that city’s Columbus Day celebration, things are even uneasier than usual this year as a result of a false report that the scheduled Columbus Day parade had been canceled, HispanicBusiness.com reports here. The same story quotes an organizer of the parade, a member of the Sons of Italy, as saying he felt personally wounded, as he feels the parade celebrates his heritage.
I heard that argument a lot when I lived and worked in Denver, with its rich mix of Native, Hispanic and Italian communities, all of whom took an intense interest in the day’s activities. Given that my grandparents came to this country from Italy, some of those people figured they knew where I stood on the subject. And indeed, there’s much in my heritage to honor. But Columbus? Please. This particular Italian finds nothing there to be proud of.
Gwen Florio

Is Columbus Day Sailing Off the Calendar?

2009-10-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

WALL STREET JOURNAL - October 10, 2009
By CONOR DOUGHERTY and SUDEEP REDDY

Arrivederci, Columbus Day.

The tradition of honoring Christopher Columbus for sailing the ocean blue in 1492 is facing rougher seas than the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria.

Philadelphia's annual Columbus Day parade has been canceled. Brown University this year renamed the holiday "Fall Weekend" following a campaign by a Native American student group opposed to celebrating an explorer who helped enslave some of the people he "discovered."

And while the Italian adventurer is generally thought to have arrived in the New World on Oct. 12, 517 years ago on Monday, his holiday is getting bounced all over the calendar. Tennessee routinely celebrates it the Friday after Thanksgiving to give people an extra-long weekend.

"You can celebrate the hell out of it if you get it the day after Thanksgiving -- it gives you four days off," says former Tennessee Gov. Ned McWherter.

In California, Columbus Day is one of two paid holidays getting blown away by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as part of a budget-cut proposal. In Washington, D.C., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid canceled this year's weeklong Columbus Day recess so the senators can buckle down on health care. (They still get Monday off, though.)

***
Ground zero of the Columbus battle has been Colorado, home to the nation's first official Columbus holiday about a century ago. Columbus Day parades in Denver have faced acrimonious protests for much of the past decade. Marchers have been on the receiving end of dismembered dolls and fake blood strewn across the parade route. Dozens of protesters have been arrested over the years.

This year, the attacks took a new twist: A prankster sent an email to local media -- purporting to be from parade organizers -- saying the event had been canceled.

read entire story here

Advisory for October 10 - Columbus Hate Speech Parade

2009-09-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

Colorado AIM advises all Native elders and children to avoid downtown Denver, especially the area near the Columbus Hate Speech Parade, on Saturday, October 10, 2009.

Activists Blockade Oil Tar Sands Destruction in Indigenous Territory

2009-09-15T10:12:00.000-07:00

WATCH LIVE VIDEO STREAM OF BLOCKADE! http://www.ienearth.org/cits

Message to Obama and Harper: Climate leaders don’t buy tar sands

15 September 2009 (Fort McMurray, Alberta)—On the eve of the Harper-Obama meeting in Washington D.C., about 20 daring Greenpeace activists have locked down and blockaded a giant dump truck and shovel at Shell’s massive Albian Sands open-pit mine in northern Alberta to send the message that the tar sands are a global climate crime that must be stopped.

Activists from Canada, the United States and France entered the mine site, about 60 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, at 7:30 a.m. They blockaded a giant three-storey dump truck and hydraulic shovel by chaining together pick-up trucks. Two teams then scaled the truck and shovel and chained themselves to them, while another team placed giant banners on the tarry ground reading, “Tar Sands: Climate Crime.”

“Greenpeace has come here today, to the frontiers of climate destruction to block this giant mining operation and tell Harper and Obama meeting tomorrow that climate leaders don’t buy tar sands” said Mike Hudema, Greenpeace Canada climate and energy campaigner, from inside the blockade. “The tar sands are a devastating example of how our future will look unless urgent action is taken to protect the climate.”

Canada is now the number one exporter of oil to the US, most of which is dirty tar sands oil. The climate crimes of tar sands development—rising energy intensity, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and Boreal forest destruction—are leading the world to climate chaos.

The world’s oil addiction has turned the tar sands into the biggest industrial project on the planet, occupying an area the size of England. Tar sands GHG emissions, already nearing those of Norway, could soon more than triple to 140 million tonnes a year. At that point they would equal or exceed the current emissions of Belgium, a county of 10 million, as outlined in a Greenpeace report by award winning author Andrew Nikiforuk released this week. These numbers account only for the production of tar sands oil, and do not account for the massive additional GHG impact of burning the fuel.

“The tar sands are at the leading edge of climate chaos. Climate leadership from President Obama, Prime Minister Harper and other world leaders means abandoning the dirty oil that is pushing our planet to climate collapse and forging a green energy economy and a healthy world for our children.”

Today’s action targeted Shell, but other major companies including BP, Suncor, Syncrude, ExxonMobil, Total and StatoilHydro run tar sands operations that put them at the forefront of oil addiction.

Urgent action on the climate must be front and centre at the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen in December. With fewer than 90 days left to the most important climate negotiations in history, Greenpeace is calling on world leaders to end to the climate catastrophe that is the Alberta tar sands and to commit to deep emissions cuts at Copenhagen.

“World leaders need to turn away from the dirtiest oil on the planet and embrace clean energy alternatives” said Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Melina Laboucan-Massimo. “Until they do, oil interests will continue to dominate and Canada will continue to obstruct crucial international climate talks like those in Copenhagen.”

Through its KYOTOplus campaign, Greenpeace Canada is working to convince the Harper government to become a leader at the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen in December.

At the time of this release, all activists were still in place.

High res photos and video will be up shortly at gallery.greenpeace.ca

For more information, please contact:

Jessica Wilson, Greenpeace media and public relations officer, (778) 228-5404
Mike Hudema, Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner (780) 504-5601 (at the blockade)
Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner, (780) 504-5567

For ongoing calls to action and updates on the Indigenous Environmental Network's Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign visit our website http://www.ienearth.org/cits or contact:

Clayton Thomas-Mueller
2-94 Charlotte ST.
Ottawa Ontario K1N 8K2
Canada
Ph: (613) 789-5653
or contact the IEN Main Office at Ph: (218) 751-4967
Email: ienoil@igc.org

Leonard Peltier Parole DENIED - Immediate Politcal Action Needed

2009-08-21T21:16:00.000-07:00

www.whoisleonardpeltier.info

BISMARCK, N.D. | American Indian activist Leonard Peltier, imprisoned since 1977 for the killings of two FBI agents, has been denied parole after authorities decided that releasing him would diminish the seriousness of his crime, a prosecutor said Friday.

Peltier, 64, will not be eligible for parole again until July 2024, when he will be 79 years old.

Peltier is serving two life sentences for the execution-style deaths of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams in a 1975 standoff on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

He has said the FBI framed him, which the agency denies. He has unsuccessfully appealed his conviction numerous times. He also was denied parole in 1993.

Parole was abolished for federal convicts in 1987, but Peltier remains eligible because he was convicted before then.

PELTIER DEFENSE ATTORNEY ERIC SEITZ' RESPONSE TO PAROLE DENIAL
The Bush Administration holdovers on the U.S. Parole Commission today
adopted the position of the FBI that anyone who may be implicated in the
killings of its agents should never be paroled and should be left to die in
prison. Despite judicial determinations that the unrepentant FBI fabricated
evidence and presented perjured testimony in Leonard Peltier's prosecution;
despite a jury's acquittal on grounds of self-defense of two co-defendants
who were found to have engaged in the same conduct of which Mr. Peltier was
convicted; despite Mr. Peltier's exemplary record during his incarceration
for more than 33 years and his clearly demonstrated eligibility for parole;
despite letters and petitions calling for his release submitted by millions
of people in this country and around the world including one of the judges
who ruled on his earlier appeals; and despite his advanced age and
deteriorating health, the Parole Commission today informed Mr. Peltier that
his "release on parole would depreciate the seriousness of your offenses and
would promote disrespect for the law," and set a reconsideration hearing in
July 2024. This is the extreme action of the same law enforcement community
that brought us the indefinite imprisonment of suspected teenage terrorists,
tortures, and killings in CIA prisons around the world and promoted
widespread disrespect for the democratic concepts of justice upon which this
country supposedly was founded. These are the same institutions that have
never treated indigenous peoples with dignity or respect or accepted any
responsibility for centuries of intolerence and abuse. At his parole hearing
on July 28th, Leonard Peltier expressed regret and accepted responsibility
for his role in the incident in which the two FBI agents and one Native
American activist died as the result of a shootout on the Pine Ridge
Reservation. Mr. Peltier emphasized that the shootout occurred in
circumstances where there literally was a war going on between corrupt
tribal leaders, supported by the government, on the one hand, and Native
American traditionalists and young activists on the other. He again denied
-- as he has always denied -- that he intended the deaths of anyone or that
he fired the fatal shots that killed the two agents, and he reminded the
hearing officer that one of his former co-defendants recently admitted to
having fired the fatal shots, himself. Accordingly, it is not true that
Leonard Peltier participated in "the execution style murders of two FBI
agents," as the Parole Commission asserts, and there never has been credible
evidence of Mr. Peltier's responsibility for the fatal shots as the FBI
continues to allege. Moreover, given the corrupt practices of the FBI,
itself, it is entirely untrue that Leonard Peltier's parole at this juncture
will in any way "depreciate the seriousness" of his conduct and/or "promote
disrespect for the law." We will continue to seek parole and clemency for
Mr. Peltier and to eventually bring this prolonged injustice to a prompt and
fair resolution.

Robert Robideau - A True Defender of Indigenous Peoples Passes On

2009-02-18T17:15:00.000-08:00

It is with sadness that we report the passing of our brother and friend Bob Robideau to the Spirit World. Many people talk about what it is to be a "warrior," and what it is to fight for the freedom of indigenous people -- Bob Robideau lived it. Bob was a great role model for AIM members everywhere. He epitomized what it was to be a member of AIM, not through posturing, not through rhetoric, but in action. He put his life on the line, and he was relentless in his defense of Indian people everywhere. He will be very deeply missed, and will always remembered

This is Bob's description of himself from his MySpace page:

I am a member of the Turtle Mountain and White Earth Ojibwa tribes. I have been an active member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) since 1973. A member of Northwest AIM, Dakota AIM in the 1970s, today I am a member of Autonomous AIM. I served as AIM spokesman for New Mexico from 1993-94. Darrell (Dino) Butler, and I were acquitted in the deaths of two FBI agents in 1976 on grounds of self defense. The charges arose after a shootout with the FBI on Pine Ridge reservation in June of 1975 that left two FBI agents and an Indian man dead. This period known as the reign of terror, in which 60 AIM members were killed and hundreds more assaulted in a government sponsored action to destroy AIM. These killings and assaults came in the aftermath of the Wounded Knee takeover by AIM in 1973. I have served twice as National-International Director for the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC). Leonard Peltier, is an internationally known political prisoner who has served more then 32 years in prison for the same alleged offense as I was charged and acquitted. I have appeared on 60Minutes, West 57th Street, EDJ and in other major television documentary programs. I have also appeared in the documentary film, Incident at Oglala and other major documentaries relating to AIM, Anna Mae Aquash and Peltier. I have spoken extensively on AIM,Leonard Peltier and the Anna Mae Aquash cases both in the States and Europe. I have written extensively on the Peltier case and on Native American Indian issues. I am the founder and director of the American Indian Movement Museum in Barcelona, Spain, where much of the history of AIM and my art work remains on display. www.AmericanIndianM.org/ An Inventory of work with the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee and the American Indian Movement, from 1973-1994 is located at the University of New Mexico, Center for Southwest Research. http://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=nmu1mss557bc.xml My art can be found at the Bonnie Kahn Gallery: http://www.bonniekahngallery.com

Obama's "Green Economy" Runs Head-On Into Bolivia's Indigenous Revolution

2009-02-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

Bolivia lithium field

February 3, 2009 - New York Times
In Bolivia, Untapped Bounty Meets Nationalism
By SIMON ROMERO
http://nytimes.com/2009/02/03/world/americas/03lithium.html?scp=2&sq=Bolivia&st=cse

UYUNI, Bolivia — In the rush to build the next generation of hybrid or electric cars, a sobering fact confronts both automakers and governments seeking to lower their reliance on foreign oil: almost half of the world’s lithium, the mineral needed to power the vehicles, is found here in Bolivia — a country that may not be willing to surrender it so easily.

Japanese and European companies are busily trying to strike deals to tap the resource, but a nationalist sentiment about the lithium is building quickly in the government of President Evo Morales, an ardent critic of the United States who has already nationalized Bolivia’s oil and natural gas industries.

For now, the government talks of closely controlling the lithium and keeping foreigners at bay. Adding to the pressure, indigenous groups here in the remote salt desert where the mineral lies are pushing for a share in the eventual bounty.

“We know that Bolivia can become the Saudi Arabia of lithium,” said Francisco Quisbert, 64, the leader of Frutcas, a group of salt gatherers and quinoa farmers on the edge of Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat. “We are poor, but we are not stupid peasants. The lithium may be Bolivia’s, but it is also our property.”

The new Constitution that Mr. Morales managed to get handily passed by voters last month bolstered such claims. One provision could give Indians control over the natural resources in their territory, strengthening their ability to win concessions from the authorities and private companies, or even block mining projects.

Demand for lithium, long used in small amounts in mood-stabilizing drugs and thermonuclear weapons, has climbed as makers of batteries for BlackBerrys and other electronic devices use the mineral. But the automotive industry holds the biggest untapped potential for lithium, analysts say. Since it weighs less than nickel, which is also used in batteries, it would allow electric cars to store more energy and be driven longer distances.

With governments, including the Obama administration, seeking to increase fuel efficiency and reduce their dependence on imported oil, private companies are focusing their attention on this desolate corner of the Andes, where Quechua-speaking Indians subsist on the remains of an ancient inland sea by bartering the salt they carry out on llama caravans.

The United States Geological Survey says 5.4 million tons of lithium could potentially be extracted in Bolivia, compared with 3 million in Chile, 1.1 million in China and just 410,000 in the United States. Independent geologists estimate that Bolivia might have even more lithium at Uyuni and its other salt deserts, though high altitudes and the quality of the reserves could make access to the mineral difficult.

While estimates vary widely, some geologists say electric-car manufacturers could draw on Bolivia’s lithium reserves for decades to come.

At the La Paz headquarters of Comibol, the state agency that oversees mining projects, Mr. Morales’s vision of combining socialism with advocacy for Bolivia’s Indians is prominently on display. Copies of Cambio, a new state-controlled daily newspaper, are available in the lobby, while posters of Che Guevara, the leftist icon killed in Bolivia in 1967, appear at the entrance to Comibol’s offices.

“The previous imperialist model of exploitation of our natural resources will never be repeated in Bolivia,” said Saúl Villegas, head of a division in Comibol that oversees lithium extraction. “Maybe there could be the possibility of foreigners accepted as minority partners, or better yet, as our clients.”

To that end, Comibol is investing about $6 million in a small plant near the village of Río Grande on the edge of Salar de Uyuni, where it hopes to begin Bolivia’s first industrial-scale effort to mine lithium from the white, moonlike landscape and process it into carbonate for batteries.

As Bolivia ponders how to tap its lithium, nations with smaller reserves are stepping up. China has emerged as a top lithium producer, tapping reserves found in a Tibetan salt flat. But geologists and economists are fiercely debating whether the lithium reserves outside of Bolivia are enough to meet the climbing global demand.

The Indigenous Peoples Are In Control in Bolivia

2009-02-09T12:26:00.000-08:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7877107.stm
Bolivia's President Evo Morales has enacted a new constitution that aims to empower the country's indigenous majority and allows for land reform.

Mr Morales said he had accomplished his mission to re-found Bolivia.

The new constitution was approved in a referendum last month by 61% of voters, but was rejected in the lowland regions where Bolivia's wealth is concentrated.

The constitution also scraps the single term limit for the president, allowing Mr Morales to seek re-election.

Mr Morales is Bolivia's first indigenous president.

Speaking to thousands of supporters in the town of El Alto, near the administrative capital of La Paz, Mr Morales said his opponents had "tried ceaselessly" to kill him.

"Now I want to tell you that they can drag me from the palace. They can kill me. Mission accomplished for the re-founding of the new united Bolivia."

Winona Nails It, Again.

2009-02-08T12:16:00.000-08:00

Uranium Mining, Native Resistance, and the Greener Path
by Winona LaDuke
Published on Saturday, February 7, 2009 by Orion Magazine
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/4248

In a Dine Creation Story, the people were given a choice of two yellow powders. They chose the yellow dust of corn pollen, and were instructed to leave the other yellow powder-uranium-in the soil and never to dig it up. If it were taken from the ground, they were told, a great evil would come.

The evil came. Over one thousand uranium mines gouged the earth in the Dine Bikeyah, the land of the Navajo, during a thirty-year period beginning in the 1950s. It was the lethal nature of uranium mining that led the industry to the isolated lands of Native America. By the mid-1970s, there were 380 uranium leases on native land and only 4 on public or acquired lands. At that time, the industry and government were fully aware of the health impacts of uranium mining on workers, their families, and the land upon which their descendants would come to live. Unfortunately, few Navajo uranium miners were told of the risks. In the 1960s, the Department of Labor even provided the Kerr-McGee Corporation with support for hiring Navajo uranium miners, who were paid $1.62 an hour to work underground in the mine shafts with little or no ventilation.

All told, more than three thousand Navajos worked in uranium mines, often walking home in ore-covered clothes. The consequences were devastating. Thousands of uranium miners and their relatives lost their lives as a result of radioactive contamination. Many families are still seeking compensation. The Navajo Nation is still struggling to address the impact of abandoned uranium mines on the reservation, as well as the long-term health effects on both the miners and their communities, many of which suffer astronomical rates of cancer and birth defects.

As a college student, I worked for Navajo organizations, trying to inform their people about the uranium-mining industry and the large corporations-EXXON, Mobil, United Nuclear-that proposed to mine their lands. It was a humbling experience, seeing some of the richest corporations in the world faced by courageous peoples who fought for the two things that mattered to them more than money: their land and their identity. The Navajo people joined with many others across the country who felt that there was a much better way to make energy. In the end, the people did prevail-new mining proposals evaporated as tribal resistance and legal and administrative battles merged with economic forces. Eventually, contracts for uranium were canceled by utilities, which no longer sought to build unpopular nuclear power plants.

Now I feel like I am having very bad déjà vu-only this time nuclear power is seen as the answer to global climate destabilization. In 2005, the Navajo Nation passed a moratorium on uranium mining in its territory and traditional lands, which was followed by similar moratoria on Hopi and Havasupai lands, where mines are proposed adjacent to the Grand Canyon. "It is unconscionable to me that the federal government would consider allowing uranium mining to be restarted anywhere near the Navajo Nation when we are still suffering from previous mining activities," Joe Shirley Jr., Navajo Nation president, explained at a congressional hearing on opening uranium mines in the Grand Canyon area. To the north, the Lakota organization Owe Aku (Bring Back the Way) is an intervener in a Nuclear Regulatory Commission hearing to allow the Canadian corporation Cameco to expand its Crow Butte uranium mine, just over the Nebraska border from the reservation.

I recently traveled to Australia, the country with the largest known uranium reserves in the world. In my Sydney hotel room the television broadcaster summarized Australia's economic strategy: "We dig it up, and they buy it." The mining industry, in a world bent upon combusting and consumption, looks to be very healthy. Australia's uranium mines include the Beverley Mine, which is in the territory of the Kuyani and Adnyamathanha peoples. Olympic Dam (operated by BHP Billiton-the largest mining corporation in the world) is the country's second-largest uranium operation and is in the traditional territory of aboriginal people as well. In fact, most major mining operations in Australia are within aboriginal territory. These are some ancient civilizations-resilient in the face of a deep history of genocide and destruction, which continued well into the twentieth century. Aboriginal people did not even get the right to vote until 1967. Due to their relative isolation in the outback, many of these tribes have had few interactions with outsiders. That is, until recently.

Kakadu is the longtime home to the aboriginal Mirrar people, as well as a recent intruder: British-based Rio Tinto. In the 1970s, Kakadu's Alligator River System became the focal point of Europe's uranium demands. Built right in the center of the Mirrar homeland, the Ranger Uranium Mine is one of the largest uranium mines in the world. But the Ranger mine is also in the center of Kakadu National Park, one of just twenty-five UNESCO World Heritage sites in the world designated on the basis of both cultural and ecological significance. Kakadu includes over 190 major aboriginal rock-art and sacred sites.

The Ranger Uranium Mine opened in the early 1980s, after much protest from the Mirrar people, who made it clear that they opposed the mine. Rio Tinto has assured Australians, UNESCO, and the aboriginal owners that it is operating under "world's best practices" of uranium mining, a term some would argue is an oxymoron. Meanwhile, radioactive groundwater contamination is reported to be spreading through the park. A 2004 incident allowed a number of workers to drink, ingest, and shower in heavily contaminated water, with a large amount spilling out of the site itself. And in 2006, Cyclone Monica delivered extreme rainfall, causing the radioactive containment ponds to fill. The company responded by lifting tailings dams, redirecting runoff into streams, and using the contaminated water for irrigation.

In 1999, Jacqui Katona, a Djok aboriginal woman, and Yvonne Margarula, a Mirrar woman, won the Goldman Environmental Prize for their struggle to oppose development at Jabiluka, another mine proposed for Kakadu National Park. Yvonne explained that an agreement to open the mine "was arranged by pushing people, and does not accurately reflect the wishes of the aboriginal people who own that country." In 2005, after a long and heated battle, the Mirrar people fought off the proposal to open a uranium mine at Jabiluka. But now, with demand for uranium on the rise, the threat is once again looming on the horizon.

With some 16 percent of Australian land controlled by aboriginal people and with many of the mine sites in the aboriginal heartland, the upcoming pressure on communities to buckle to the largest mining companies in the world will be daunting. Coinciding with the proposed ramp-up of the nuclear industry is the negotiation of land settlements for a number of these aboriginal first nations. If history is any indicator, many of these land-rights settlements will mirror what happened in Alaska, where the Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act-promoted by oil companies that deemed it necessary to negotiate some agreements between themselves and aboriginal people-established Alaskan Native corporations, which today create a complex set of divided loyalties and communities. This is perhaps best illustrated by the case of the Gwich'in people, who find themselves not only opposing oil companies that want to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but also Alaskan Native corporations, whose income has derived from the exploitation of the land and its resources.

There is another prophecy that is relevant to this story, though. Ojibwe legends speak of a time when our people will have a choice between two paths: one path is well worn and scorched, but the second path is not well traveled and it is green.

There is an alternate economic future for indigenous peoples, and it too is green. In order to stabilize carbon emissions in the United States, the country will need to produce around 185,000 megawatts of clean new power over the next decade, which could mean up to 400,000 domestic manufacturing jobs. The Intertribal Council on Utility Policy estimates that tribal wind resources alone represent 200,000 megawatts of power potential. In fact, Native American nations are some of the windiest places in the country.

The Rosebud Lakota put up the first large native-owned windmill in 2003, a 750-kilowatt turbine right in the middle of the reservation. The Turtle Mountain Ojibwe just erected a 660-kilowatt wind turbine; ten more megawatts are planned for Rosebud; and the White Earth Anishinaabeg have several projects under way in Minnesota. Proposals for up to 800 megawatts of power for northern Plains states are being put forth by the Intertribal Council on Utility Policy. There's also a 50-megawatt project on lands held by the Campos and Viejas bands of Kumeyaay people in Southern California, and a 500-megawatt project in which the Umatilla Tribe of Oregon is a partner. Boston-based Citizens Energy is working with a number of tribal communities in the U.S. and Canada to bring green power from the reserves to the grid.

In the U.S., native communities have an opportunity to lead the way to a green future. We have a chance to create a just energy economy in the most wasteful and most destructive country in the world. We need help, though. Insuring that climate-change legislation does not reboot the nuclear industry will be a critical part of supporting native struggles to choose the green path over the scorched one.

Winona LaDuke is executive director of Honor the Earth and a member of the Mississippi Band of Anishinaabeg. She lives in northwestern Minnesota. She is the author of, among other books, All Our Relations and Recovering the Sacred.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Indigenous Peoples Re-Take Bolivia - Officially

2009-01-27T20:34:00.000-08:00

Aymara Indian women vote to ratify new pro-indigenous Constitution in Bolivia

On Sunday, voters in Bolivia backed a new constitution recognising indigenous peoples' rights and expanding public control over natural resources.The proposed Bolivian constitution grants rights to children, the disabled, migrants, and universally extends the rights to water, food, health and education.

The country's indigenous majority did not receive voting or property rights until the 1950s, and still have less than half the labour income and 40 per cent less schooling than the country's "white" population, often a mix of European and native descent. Some indigenous people live in slave-like conditions.

Key elements of the new Bolivian constitution :

RE-ELECTION — Presidents can serve two consecutive five-year terms. Current constitution permits two terms, but not consecutive. Morales could thus remain in office through 2014.

INDIGENOUS RIGHTS — Recognizes self-determination of 36 distinct Indian nations. Sets aside seats in Congress for minority indigenous groups but not for the Aymara and Quechua, who together represent the majority in Bolivia's western highlands.

LAND — Voters decide in the referendum whether future land ownership should be capped at 12,000 or 24,000 acres (5,000 or 10,000 hectares). Current holdings are grandfathered in. The state can seize land that doesn't perform a "social function" or was fraudulently obtained.

JUSTICE — Judges on Bolivia's highest court are elected rather than appointed by the president as current law provides. The state recognizes indigenous groups' practice of "community justice" based on traditional customs.

LOCAL AUTONOMY — Eastern lowland provinces are allowed to create state assemblies that control local issues, but not land reform or natural gas revenues. Indigenous groups are granted self-rule on traditional lands inside existing states. All autonomies have "equal rank."

NATURAL RESOURCES — The state controls all mineral and oil and gas reserves. Indigenous groups get control of all renewable resources on their land. Water is a fundamental human right that may not be controlled by private companies.

RELIGION — Both the Christian God and Pachamama, the Andean earth deity, are honored. Church and state are separate. Freedom of religion is guaranteed, and no mention is made of The Roman Catholic Church, a departure from the current constitution.

PRESS FREEDOM — Is guaranteed, though news media must "respect the principles of truth and responsibility."

HOMOSEXUALITY — Prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation but refers to marriage as "between a man and a woman."

U.S. Courts Screw Indians, Again.

2009-01-27T13:36:00.000-08:00

Judge refuses to halt huge gold mine in Western Shoshone territory
By SCOTT SONNER, Associated Press Writer

Monday, January 26, 2009
(01-26) 17:10 PST Reno, Nev. (AP) --

A federal judge ruled Monday a massive gold mine project could proceed in northeast Nevada despite a bid by a Western tribe and conservationists to block it on religious and environmental grounds.

U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks ruled there's not enough evidence to force Barrick Gold Corp. to postpone digging a 2,000-foot deep open pit at the Cortez Hills mine on Mount Tenabo 250 miles east of Reno until a trial is held on the merits of the project.

The Great Basin Resource Watch and the Western Shoshone claimed the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's review of the Toronto-based company's proposed mine ignores some of the environmental effects and disregards tribal leaders' concerns it will destroy a sacred landmark.

Hicks, who took more than a half hour to explain his ruling from the bench, said a preliminary injunction like the one the plaintiffs wanted is an "extraordinary remedy" taken only when there is a likelihood they will prevail at trial.

He said that while he might change his mind, so far mine opponents had failed to prove construction of the mine would violate the tribe's religious freedoms or that the BLM violated any federal environmental laws in approving the mine under the Mining Act of 1872.

"The effect of the proposed mining project is on the plaintiffs' subjective, emotional experience. It is offensive to their sensibilities and in the mind of some will desecrate a sacred mountain," Hicks said.

"Nevertheless, the diminishment of that spirituality — as serious as it may be — under the Supreme Court's holdings it is not a substantial burden on religious freedom," he said.

Hicks said he also disagreed with the opponents' claims that the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act and Federal Land Management Policy Act by failing to adequately consider effects on groundwater and scenic values of the area.

Support Peltier Event - Feb. 6, Boulder

2009-01-22T18:43:00.000-08:00

FEBRUARY 6, 2009 EVENT FOR LEONARD PELTIER AT C.U BOULDER

Leonard Peltier : 33 Years Behind Bars, 33 Years Searching for American Justice

"America,when will you live up to your own principles?" (Leonard Peltier)

Boulder, Colorado -- The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee (Colorado Support Groups), Indigenous Support Network and 180-11 will be presenting an educational event on the University of Colorado campus on February 6th, 2009 to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the arrest and imprisonment of American Indian Movement political prisoner, Leonard Peltier.

The event will feature talks by Chief Leonard Crow Dog(world recognized spiritual leader), as well as David Hill and Ben Carnes, of the LPDOC. There will also be performances from local Lakota drum group, the Plenty Wolf Singers and Aztec dancers, Grupo Tlaloc, from Denver. The event will begin at 7:00pm in room 100 of the Mathematics building.

(The LPDOC will also be staging a rally followed by a march outside the Boulder City Courthouse on Pearl Street starting at noon on Feb.6th 2009 - same day)

LEONARD PELTIER ATTACKED!

2009-01-21T15:04:00.000-08:00

More info: www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/

21 January 2009
Dear LP Supporters

I am so OUTRAGED! My brother Leonard was severely beaten upon his arrival
at the Canaan Federal Penitentiary. When he went into population after
his transfer, some inmates assaulted him.

The severity of his injuries is that he suffered numerous blows to his
head and body, receiving a large bump on his head, possibly a concussion,
and numerous bruises. Also, one of his fingers is swollen and discolored
and he has pain in his chest and ribcage. There was blood everywhere from
his injuries.

We feel that prison authorities at the prompting of the FBI orchestrated
this attack and thus, we are greatly concerned about his safety. It may
be that the attackers, whom Leonard did not even know, were offered
reduced sentences for carrying out this heinous assault. Since Leonard is
up for parole soon, this could be a conspiracy to discredit a model
prisoner.

He was placed in solitary confinement and only given one meal, this is
generally done when you won't name your attackers; incidentally being only
given one meal seriously jeopardizes his health because of his diabetes.
Prison officials refuse to release any info to the family, but they need
to hear from his supporters to protect his safety, as does President
Obama. His attorneys are trying to get calls into him now.

This attack on Leonard comes on the heels of the FBI's recent letter,
prompting this attack by FBI supporters as an attempt to discredit Leonard
as a model prisoner. Anyone who has been in the prison system knows well
that if you refuse to name your attackers or file charges against them,
then you lose your status as a victim and/or given points against your
possible parole and labeled as a perpetrator.

It is not uncommon, in fact is quite common for the government to use
Indian against Indian and they still operate under the old adage "it takes
an Indian to catch an Indian". In 1978, they made an attempt to
assassinate him through another Indian man who was also at Marion prison
with Leonard. But Standing Deer chose to reveal the plot to him instead of
taking his life in exchange FOR A CHANCE AT FREEDOM.

When Standing Deer was released in 2001, he joined the former Leonard
Peltier Defense Committee as a board member. He also began to speak on
Leonard's behalf until his murder six years ago today. Prior to his
murder, Standing Deer confided with close friends and associates that the
same man who visited him in Marion to assassinate Peltier, had came to
Houston, TX and told him that he had better stay away from Peltier and
anything to do with him.

We are aware that currently, the FBI is actively seeking support for the
continued imprisonment of Leonard Peltier and also seeking support from
Native People. So please be aware, and keep Leonard in your prayers.

The FBI is apparently afraid of the impact we are having. If they will set
him up to blemish his record just before a parole hearing, what will they
do when it looks like his freedom will become a reality? We need to make
sure that nothing happens to him again!

Please write the President, send it priority or registered mail. Email to
Change.gov or email President Obama. Call your congressional
representatives and write letters, not email, to them. Do what you can to
get the word out to insure that Leonard is receiving adequate medical
attention for his injuries.

I am asking you, supporters of Leonard and advocates of justice at this
time to help. I don't know what else to do. Please Help!

Thank you
Betty Peltier-Solano
Executive Coordinator
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
whoisleonardpeltier.info

Also call and request Leonard be treated with dignity and respect.
Canaan Federal Prison
570-488-8000

Russell Means: Palestinians and American Indians

2009-01-14T16:33:00.000-08:00

January 12, 2009

http://www.counterpunch.org/norrell01122009.html
Palestinians and American Indians
Russell Means Breaks the Silence on Obama
By BRENDA NORRELL

American Indian activist Russell Means said President-elect Obama was selected by the colonial powers as president to improve the US image globally in the aftermath of George Bush. Further, Means said Obama’s appointments show that he is a Zionist controlled by Israel. Speaking on Red Town Radio today, Means said what is happening now to Palestinians is what happened to American Indians.

“Every policy the Palestinians are now enduring was practiced on the American Indian,” Means said on the Blog Talk Radio show, hosted by Brenda Golden, Muskoke Creek. “What the American Indian Movement says is that the American Indians are the Palestinians of the United States, and the Palestinians are the American Indians of the Middle East,” Means said. Further, he points out that the Zionists who control Israel now control the United States. “The power of the US in world politics diminishes every day.”

“Now they have found a house servant by the name of Obama.” Means said Obama was selected as a “man in charge to take the heat,” because of the “bad cop” image that Bush put forth in the world. “Now, all of a sudden, it is, ‘We’re so great. We elected a black man to be president.’”

Means added that Obama is a black man who was raised by his white grandmother and has appointed Zionists to key positions and that the US is headed for a new era of menial jobs. On Indian lands, Means reminds us, the only people who get ahead are those who sell out to the colonial system. Now, there is massive and sophisticated propaganda by the Zionists and the U.S. Both countries, he said, are liars. In the US, American Indians have been shut out of history, philosophy and the arts, in a “total blackout.” The United States does not want to be reminded of the smallpox blankets, theft, colonialism and mistreatment of the American Indian, he said.

Means said most Americans do not realize that the financial collapse of this country is only beginning: “Americans cannot continue the lifestyles of consumers when there is no production. Low income jobs and menial jobs are the only ones left.” “Health care in the US reveals how the policies used in experimentations on American Indians became US policies. The US health care system is now stringent and calloused, with constant refusals of treatment. This has always been the case with the Indian Health Service. Now it is the policy of the HMOs. Family ranchers and family farmers are now in the way of progress, the same way the American Indian was once viewed. Now, family farmers and family ranchers are being gutted, because they function on massive credit. They are trying to pay back debts, which is not possible with manipulated agriculture prices. The family farmer and family rancher are now going to be extinct.”

Means points out that the federal government has also taken over and polluted the educational system; “Americans don’t even know their own history. Along with this federal control, came the passage of English-only laws in many states. However, for Indigenous Peoples it is positive to know many languages. If you speak two languages, you are speaking with two brains. That is the way it is to us. That’s how we look at life. In the mid-Twentieth Century, US schools listened to the communities and local governing boards.” for the entire interview: http://www.counterpunch.org/norrell01122009.html
http://www.russellmeansfreedom.com/

ACTION ALERT: Support Western Shoshone Treaty Rights - January 20

2009-01-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON INAUGURATION DAY?
Spend Inauguration Day Supporting the Western Shoshone and the Freedom of Native Religions and Human Rights
Western Shsohone Defense Project www.wsdp.org

With the approach of the Martin Luther King human rights weekend and the Inauguration Day of President Barrick Obama,the Western Shoshone Defense Project requests the support of everyone in opposing the ongoing human rights violations of the Western Shoshone Nation and their territories.

Just two months ago, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved the construction of a massive open pit cyanide heap leach gold mine on the face of well-known spiritual area, Mt. Tenabo. Western Shoshone communities, the Western Shoshone Defense Project and Great Basin Resource Watch are seeking an injunction to stop further destruction of Mt. Tenabo by Barrick Gold Corporation. The Federal Court in Reno has scheduled a hearing on Jan. 20th and 21st.

WHAT YOU CAN DO AS WE AWAIT THE COURT’S DECISION:
We need supporters at both of the following locations:
1. Attend the Public Demonstration to Protect Native Spiritual Areas and Human Rights in front of the Courthouse on S. Virginia Street beginning at 8 am on both Jan. 20th and 21st.
2. Attend the Mt. Tenabo encampment and Arbor Vigil beginning tomorrow, Thursday Jan. 15th and lasting through the following week of hearings at the gathering area on the southeast flank facing Grass Valley, Nevada. (Contact wsdp@igc.org for directions and supplies needed).
3. We also need people to write requests to President-elect Barrack Obama and his transition team. This destruction of Indigenous spiritual areas must stop now and a commitment to good faith talks with the Western Shoshone must be made.
4. Make a donation to support our work. Make checks payable to : SGF/WSDP. Send to: PO Box 211308, Crescent Valley, NV 89812.

Dineh, Hopi and Allies (including Colorado AIM) Confront U.S Government Officials

2008-12-09T14:55:00.000-08:00

Colorado AIM Leadership Council member, Shannon Francis, challenging U.S. government officials over the desecration of Dineh and Hopi territory.

For immediate release: Tuesday December 9th, 2008
Contacts: Wahleah Johns, (928) 637-5281 and Chelsea Chee, (928) 637-5592

Navajo & Hopi Tribal Leaders & Members Urge Office of Surface Mining to Suspend Decision on Peabody Coal’s “Black Mesa Project"
Denver, CO – A delegation of 35 Navajo and Hopi tribal members, including Hopi Tribal Chairman Ben Nuvamsa, met with the U.S. Office of Surface Mining (OSM) at their Denver headquarters in hopes of delaying OSM's "Record of Decision" until the next Presidential Administration takes office. The "Record of Decision" (ROD) is the final stage of the permitting process for the proposed "Black Mesa Project," which would grant Peabody Coal Company a "life-of-mine" permit, expanded mining operations and rights to tap the fresh water of the Navajo aquifer..

For three hours the Navajo and Hopi representatives met with OSM officials, presented documents and petitions ratified by their communities that urge OSM to suspend their decision. Their unified statement read, "Although we represent two different tribes we come today united to protect our shared land and water. Water is the life source to both our peoples and Peabody has failed to understand this connection. If the Office of Surface Mining grants a permit to Peabody our way of life and spiritual balance will be severely disrupted and altered. Currently, we are already suffering the damage this industry has caused over the past 30 years. We believe OSM has been negligent in fulfilling the NEPA process and if OSM issues a "Record of Decision" that would be a breach of the Federal Trust Responsibility. United we ask the Office of Surface Mining to stop the "Record of Decision" process."

OSM Western Regional Director Al Klein stated, "The Environmental Impact Statement process is finalized, the decision before us is very minor, and we are on track to release it on Dec. 15." The tribal representatives expressed the weight of this decision, that it is not a "minor" decision and gave testimony to the many aspects of their life, culture and spirituality that would be severely impacted if the project was approved. Gordon Isaac, a Navajo tribal member and veteran of the Gulf War told the officials, "Peabody is not just digging into topsoil. They are tearing into people's lifeways."

While most of the delegation was inside meeting with OSM officials, 60 local supporters accompanied the rest of the Navajo and Hopi delegation outside to rally, protest, and show support, including dropping a 10ft by 16ft banner from a nearby parking garage that read, "Navajo & Hopi Say NO COAL MINING!" Support was not only outside of the building. OSM’s telephone and fax lines were bombarded with calls of support and written requests to postpone the ROD from across the country.

After listening to three hours of emotional testimony, OSM was asked if they would simply consider suspending the record of decision. Director Klein replied, "we have a set of regulations and when a company puts on paper in their application how they will fulfill the requirements, we do not have discretion. We have to grant them a permit...At this point we will not be changing the calender of events on this decision."

This decision comes in the midst of Hopi political turmoil. Chairman Nuvamsa came to represent the Hopi and Tewa people in the battle to protect the water and lands from further coal mining in Black Mesa, AZ. "Due to lack of representation on the Hopi Tribal Council, the Village of Tewa was never afforded the opportunity to participate in any discussion of the Draft EIS as it applies to Hopi people and land," stated Chairman Nuvamsa.

For more information, visit -
Black Mesa Water Coaltion

On the so-called U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving -- A Tribute to Metacom and all Wampanoag Resisters - women, men, elders, children -- remember them all

2008-11-24T20:56:00.000-08:00

Metacom's War or Metacom's Rebellion, was an armed resitance in 1675-6 by indigenous peoples of present-day southern New England against colonizing English invaders. Metacom was the son of Massasoit, the leader of the Wampanoag Nation, who saved the Pilgrims from certain starvation in the winter of 1620. Metacom ascended to become Grand Sachem of the Wampanoag Confederacy after the suspicious death of his older brother, the Grand Sachem Wamsutta in 1662. Metacom's open distrust of the invading English came to a head when Wamsutta suddenly died in Plymouth, while negotiating with colonial officials there. Tensions continued to grow until some Wampanoags were murdered by the English in June,1675; the war erupted immediately.

Colonial historian Francis Jennings estimated that Metacom's War killed nearly 7 of every 8 members of the Wampanoag Confederacy and 6 of every 13 English invaders. Metacom's War was proportionately one of the bloodiest and costliest in the history of America. More than half of New England's ninety towns were destroyed by indigenous defenders, who had reached the limit of their patience with the deceitful and murderous English parasites.

Metacom was ultimately tracked down by sell-out Indian traitors. He was killed, dismembered, and beheaded. His head was placed on a pole and displayed for years in Plymouth, the site where the Wampanoags saved the Pilgrims fifty six years earlier-- the site of the first so-called Thanksgiving dinner. Metacom is an indigenous hero. His name should be in the memory, and on the lips, of every American Indian child in the U.S. He fought and died in defense of his people, and of this land. On the U.S.' Thanksgiving, we should reject the gluttony and excess of the holiday, and we should fast in honor of Metacom. We should strive to achieve a fraction of his courage and his vision. LONG LIVE METACOM!
For a balanced treatment of this period of history see:
The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity
By Jill Lepore
Published by Vintage Books, 1999

Also, on this U.S. holiday, it might serve us all well to recall the words of the great Luther Standing Bear, who, in 1933,wrote:

"The white man does not understand the Indian for the reason that he does not understand America. He is too far removed from its formative processes. The roots of the tree of his life have not yet grasped the rock and soil. The white man is still troubled with primitive fears; he still has in his consciousness the perils of this frontier continent, some of its fastnesses not yet having yielded to his questing footsteps and inquiring eyes. He shudders still with the memory of the loss of his forefathers upon its scorching deserts and forbidding mountain tops. The man from Europe is still a foreigner and an alien. And he still hates the man who questioned his path across the continent." ... and he fabricates holidays like Thanksgiving to convince himself that Standing Bear was wrong, all the time silently being forced to admit that Standing Bear was (and is)absolutely correct.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Western Shoshones Protect Sacred Mountain

2008-11-24T16:00:00.000-08:00

November 23, 2008
Shoshones files suit to stop gold mine

BY MARTHA BELLISLE
mbellisle@rgj.com

Days after the federal government approved one of the largest open-pit gold mines in the country, a group of Shoshone tribal members filed a federal lawsuit to stop the project, saying the mine is planned on the slopes of a sacred mountain that is used for religious and cultural purposes.

"The area is home to local Shoshone creation stories, spirit life, medicinal, food and ceremonial plants and items and continues to be used to this day by Shoshone for spiritual and cultural practices," the groups said in a statement.

If the Cortez Hills project, located on Mount Tenabo in Lander County south of Battle Mountain, is allowed, "Western Shoshone religious and cultural uses of the mine site will be permanently eliminated," said the suit, filed against the U.S. Department of the Interior and the federal Bureau of Land Management.

Roger Flynn, a lawyer representing the Shoshone groups, said although the project is located on public land, the federal government is obligated to respect the fact that the site "has been used for centuries as a focal point of Shoshone religious practices."

But Lou Schack, a spokesman for Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp., which owns the Cortez mine, said the suit and its claims lack merit.

"There has been mining on Mount Tenabo since the late 1800s," Schack said. "Given the difficult economic situation in Nevada, there were hundreds of people who were thankful that we got the go-ahead. We are proud to say that northeast Nevada is stable because of the mining industry."

About 300 jobs were created in the Elko area over the past three years because of the Cortez mine, he said, and the company plans to add another 100 as the project goes forward, bringing the total jobs to about 800.

Gerald Smith, the district manager of the BLM's Battle Mountain field office, who is named as a defendant in the suit, said the agency completed a permitting process this month that included an environmental impact statement.

"I was the delegated officer, and I did sign the record of decision to move forward with the mine," he said. "It will be very lucrative for the mine, and will create a great deal of jobs in the area. The economic impact will be positive."

"But since this is litigation, I'm not at liberty to divulge any information," he added.

According to the suit, the project will cover about

6,571 acres of federal land and 221 acres on land owned by Cortez.

"The mine would blast and excavate a new massive open pit on Mount Tenabo, covering over 900 acres to a depth of over 2,000 feet, several new waste disposal and processing facilities (including a cyanide heap-leaching facility), expansions of existing mine pits," among a list of other new features, the lawsuit said.

"How are we, as a nation, showing our values, if we allow a transnational corporation to destroy this 'church' for all time, just to get 10 years worth of gold," said Larson Bill, vice-chairman of the South Fork Band Council of Western Shoshone of Nevada. "There are dozens of active gold mines on Western Shoshone lands already; there is no need for this one, which is clearly immoral and irresponsible."

Indigenous Peoples' Day - Saturday, October 11, 2008

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1. Columbus Day Resistance March and Rally
The annual protest of the Columbus Day Holiday and the racism that it embodies will begin with a march from Four Winds that ends at the Capitol Building followed by a rally for a better future.
When: March starts at 8 am, Rally at 9am, Saturday, October 11
Where: Start of March is at Four Winds American Indian Center at 5th and Bannock in Denver, CO

3. All Nations Council
Following the Columbus Day resistance, people will be gathering to organize a new alliance locally that can act as a national vehicle for resistance to oppression. Bring your thoughts and cooperative energy.
When: 1pm, Saturday, October 11
Where: The Great Hall at the Iliff School of Theology just past Evans on University Blvd, Denver.

4. Student Walk-out on Racism
Whether you are a student or not, join the students of Iliff, CU Denver, CU Boulder and DU as the educate the public about Denver's hidden racial past on the 101st Anniversary of the Columbus Holiday. There will be a student walk-out, a short rally, followed by a march to locations with a racial history that will end at Civic Center Park.
When: 12 Noon, Monday, October 13
Where: CU Denver's Auraria Campus, The Plaza Building Lawn

Cowboys and Indians of the Bolivarian Revolution

2008-09-25T15:51:00.000-07:00

Published on North American Congress on Latin America (http://nacla.org)
Simón Farabundo Ríos
Sep 15 2008

In the northwestern sierra of Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela, a cowboys and Indians saga of the twenty-first century is coming to a head. The conflict pits wealthy cattle ranchers (hacendados) and coal barons against the Yukpa, Barí, and Wayuú indigenous nations in the renegade state of Zulia. Although Chávez has expressed support for the indigenous, other members of his administration have sent mixed signals. Meanwhile, violence continues to escalate as armed vigilantes terrorize the indigenous activists.

In the northwestern sierra of Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela, a cowboys and Indians saga of the twenty-first century is coming to a head. The conflict pits wealthy cattle ranchers (hacendados) and coal barons against the Yukpa, Barí, and Wayuú indigenous nations in the renegade state of Zulia. The reason? A conflict over who has legal rights to these ancestral indigenous lands.

“We are the authorities of our communities! Why can’t we get through?” demanded María Fernandez, a Yukpa militant, reacting to a series of security cordons erected by the National Guard near their land.

When Venezuela’s indigenous affairs minister recently suggested the Yukpa relocate further into the Sierra de Perijá, a mountain range stretching from Zulia into Colombia’s Guajira department, and promote tourism, Fernández responded, “They want us to live far into the sierra, where we can’t plant crops. I tell the minister to go and develop tourism in those rocks. Or send the hacendados there.”

Responding to reports that the strife between Yukpa and hacendados was at a boiling point, a humanitarian caravan made up of Venezuelan solidarity activists headed for Chaktapa, one of seven areas Yukpa communities currently under “recuperation”—a term they prefer to “land occupation.” Activists claim it’s the hacendados who are doing the occupying.

The National Guard halted the humanitarian caravan at one of the strategically placed cordons, which they euphemistically call “rings of protection,” blocking badly needed food and medicine from reaching the Yukpa.

By phone from Caracas, a cooperative member of the National Association of Free and Alternative Community Media (ANMCLA), who rode with the caravan and wanted to be identified only as Marcelo, described the scene.

“Fifty people from all over Venezuela—Caracas, Barlovento, Bolívar, Amazonas—went to Chaktapa in two buses, for a cultural interchange between urban and indigenous communities,” said Marcelo. “The Guardia stopped us at a blockade about three kilometers from Chaktapa, saying that to pass we’d need special permission from the general who’d ordered the cordon.”

Yukpa leaders arrive trying to help the caravan get through the check point.
According to the Yukpa in Chaktapa, the local military chiefs are in the pocket of the hacendados. Marcelo echoed this, saying the local National Guard commander General Izquierdo Torres has an “alliance” with the hacendados: “It’s as if the National Guard were private guards in charge of protecting the property of the bosses.”

Half the caravan eventually clashed with the soldiers and broke through the cordon, bringing the supplies to their destination—the other half was caught behind. Marcelo was with the group that reached Chaktapa.

Marcelo continued, “When we returned for the rest of the compañeros, the soldiers were firing shots into the air. There were children crying and women fainting. And when they shot tear gas, we returned to Chaktapa.”

Orlando Medina, of the Maracaibo-based Jeyú Ethno-Ecological Collective, had been in Chaktapa for a month and a half when the caravan arrived. Medina recalls that when he went to help break the cordon, the guardsmen outnumbered the activists by two-to-one. Medina received a blow to the spine from a rifle-butt, and said others were mercilessly beaten by the troops. Four members of the caravan were detained.

Then president Chávez stepped into the fray. “Nobody should have any doubts: Between the hacendados and the Indians, this government is with the Indians,” said Chávez on Aló Presidente, his weekly TV broadcast.

The president added, “These lands were inhabited for many years by the Yukpa, producing livestock, meat, and milk. Then they were evicted. I’m not speaking of the Spanish conquest; I’m speaking of 30 years ago. With brute force they were kicked off their lands, with the support of the police and the armed forces. Now there is a revolution!” Chávez directly addressed the hacendados in his comical way: “Look, compadre, this is Indian land. Take your cows, find four horses, and take them away.”

Two days after the altercation at the checkpoint, Chávez’s Justice and Interior Minister Ramón Rodríguez Chacín traveled to the Sierra de Perijá. Miraculously, the barricades dissolved, and the impasse was broken. Following the president’s orders, Chacín told the Yukpa and the hacendados that in good time Yukpa territory would be demarcated, the Yukpa would be protected, and the hacendados would be compensated for everything but the land. Chacín complained the conflict had been blown out of proportion: “This is not about all of the seven thousand Yukpa, but of two or three hundred, who are being treated as if they were three or five thousand.”

Chávez’ position is consistent with the constitution, which clearly states: “It shall be the responsibility of the State, with the participation of the indigenous peoples, to demarcate and guarantee the right to collective ownership of indigenous lands, which shall be inalienable … and nontransferable.”

But some observers place at least partial blame on the government. Medina claims the government is dragging its feet in demarcating Yukpa territory and that the recuperations are a response to the inaction of the state.

From the 1930s through the 1970s, the Yukpa were systematically expelled from their land and sent into barren regions of the Sierra de Perijá. “None of this land legally belongs to the hacendados,” Medina said. “There exists not one document to affirm they were lawfully obtained.”

But the battle for the Sierra de Pajirá has only just begun: Yukpa territory rests above an ocean of sought-after minerals, such as coal, phosphate, gold, iron, and bauxite. According to Medina, of the approximately 170,000 acres the Yukpa claim as their own, 70,000 have been conceded to multinational mining interests by the state firm Corpozulia. Although Chávez has publicly sided with local indigenous in voicing opposition to the mining projects, his administration has taken few concrete actions against the mining firms.

An article published by VenezuelAnalysis.com [1] reports that a handful of Yukpa chiefs—who are in turn supported by Minister of Indigenous Affairs Nicia Maldonada—oppose the “occupations.” These five Yukpa leaders, who together form the state-recognized Great Caciques of Zulia, went to Caracas to conduct a full-scale condemnation of the recuperations. “We live in peace and harmony… It is not our custom to invade,” said Cacique María Teresa Yasphe. “We want to resolve this in peace… respecting the White Man’s law, sitting down with caciques, functionaries, estate owners, and the Minister to dialogue.”

A communiqué [2] in solidarity with the recuperations, signed by various civic leaders stated, “In practice, Nicia Maldonada isn’t a minister of popular power, much less of the indigenous peoples, rather, she represents the interests of thieving ranchers.” The manifesto called for the destitution of the minister.

The Ministry of Indigenous Affairs proposes a more conciliatory route, in which the social missions of the state provide literacy, healthcare, nutrition, and other benefits to the Yukpa, while respecting the property rights of the hacendados. But this approach does not conform to that preferred by the Yukpa involved in the recuperations.

“The majority of Yukpa communities are with us,” said Medina. “The ones who are against us are the ones who have left their communities to improve their own quality of life. Now the minister has given them jobs, and they live well.… They don’t care what happens to their people.”

And things seemed to be getting worse. In October 2005, gunmen—presumably hired by hacendados—attacked the Yukpa community of Guaicaipuro, terrorizing local inhabitants, destroying food stocks, and poisoning water. Before they left, the mercenaries burned 56 homes and a schoolhouse. And last July, thugs allegedly hired by the Vargas clan—an hacendado family—killed José Manuel Romero. The elderly Romero was the founder of Chaktapa, which is currently led by his son Sabino.

Sociedad Homo et Natura, a Zulia-based NGO, claims the hacendados have formed “Rancher Self-Defense” paramilitary squads. Lusbi Portillo of the NGO believes the hacendados formed the groups after realizing they could not count on the faithful services of the National Guard and the Army. He adds, “An armed squad of Yukpas was formed with the complicity of some indigenous leaders to secure the ranches and repress further occupations.”

With the upcoming November gubernatorial and municipal elections, the Yukpa land controversy also has important political dimensions. Zulia state is one of the few strongholds of opposition to the Chávez government. The state’s former governor, Manuel Rosales, ran against Chávez in the 2006 elections. The Venezuelan president often compares the opposition in resource-rich Zulia to that of the runaway province of Santa Cruz in Bolivia. In November, Chávez hopes to deal a heavy electoral blow to the opposition on its home turf.

According to the VenezuelaAnalysis.com article, “Yukpa leaders say the government quietly placed the controversial land demarcation initiative on the political back burner last year, presumably in order to minimize conflict in the runup to this November’s regional and local elections.” Chávez has called the upcoming elections the most important in “Venezuelan history.”

The government has promised to speed up the land demarcation initiative. The Yukpa and their urban allies remain skeptical, but if they receive the collective titles they demand, then, at least in this case, the Indians will have finally beat the cowboys.

Morales Cites Evidence of US Attempts to Overthrow Bolivian Government

2008-09-25T15:45:00.000-07:00

UNITED NATIONS - Bolivian President Evo Morales reiterated the charge Tuesday that the U.S. government was plotting to overthrow his government and that Washington had a hand in the recent episodes of violence in which a number of his supporters were killed and wounded by opposition gangs.

Bolivia President Evo Morales listen during an interview in New York, Wednesday Sept. 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) "We have the evidence," Morales told a news conference on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York Tuesday, regarding U.S. involvement with the groups and individuals in certain provinces who are refusing to recognise the authority of the federal government in La Paz and are trying to assert their economic and political dominance over indigenous populations by violent means.

The Bolivian president charged that the George W. Bush administration has not only given away a "tremendous amount of money" to the opposition groups through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), but also provided them with ammunition to carry out acts of sabotage and killings of unarmed indigenous people.

Despite its formal denial of these charges, the U.S. government has not issued any statement condemning the killings, looting and acts of sabotage that have cost millions of dollars in losses.

"They are setting fire to gas pipelines, and the U.S. government does not condemn that?" asked Morales. "Of course, they know they [the opposition groups] are their allies. So why then they would denounce them?"

Last week, Bolivia's right-wing vigilantes launched several attacks on indigenous communities that support the government. They killed about 20 Morales supporters, most of whom were poor farmers.

Soon after the attacks, Morales declared the U.S. ambassador Philip Goldberg "persona non grata" and asked him to leave the country within three days. He was accused of aiding the Bolivian opposition groups, a charge the U.S. State Department denied.

Explaining the decision to cut diplomatic ties with Washington, the Bolivian president said that the U.S. ambassador was deeply involved in activities aimed at strengthening the opposition and weakening the government.

"[President] Bush sent me a message [saying] if I am not friend, I am an enemy," said Morales, who added, "I'm a friend of the people of the United States. I am in touch with many groups who believe in social justice."

Addressing the morning session of the General Assembly debate, Bush -- who used the terms "terror" and "terrorism" some 30 times in his 15-minute speech -- did not mention Latin America, where many countries are increasingly challenging Washington's influence in the region.

Venezuela also expelled its U.S. envoy earlier this month, claiming that the U.S. was attempting to depose President Hugo Chavez, leading many critics of the Bush administration to question the direction of U.S. policy in Latin America.

They specifically called for Bush to clarify U.S. activities and funding in Bolivia.

On Sep. 19, 90 leading academics and foreign policy experts signed an open letter expressing their "deep concern" over the opposition-led violence in Bolivia.

The U.S. government needs to "turn a new page" in its relations with Latin America, they said in the letter addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain, as well as other top U.S. officials.

The letter's signers, who represent dozens of leading U.S. academic institutions -- including New York University, the University of Maryland, and Johns Hopkins University -- as well as think tanks, said they were "especially concerned" about the U.S. backing for groups in Bolivia who are using violent means to oppose the popularly elected government.

Morales, the first-ever indigenous president of Bolivia, wants to implement an agenda on economic and social development, which many believe would help improve the lives of indigenous people, who make up the country's majority yet have suffered from extreme poverty for a long time.

During his General Assembly speech, Morales said his people's struggle for "equality and social justice" is meant to retain their dignity. "It's a fight between capitalism and socialism. Capitalism is the worst enemy of humanity," he said.

The letter cites numerous incidents of violence over the past several months organised by the opposition in five of the country's departments (provinces) run by non-native governors who are fiercely opposed to Morales's plan to introduce reforms.

In one incident in May, according to published reports, opposition extremists in Sucre forcibly paraded indigenous mayors and town councillors, partially stripped naked, in front of crowds in the centre of the town.

"They stripped them of clothing, and forced them to chant anti-Morales slogans while berating them with racist taunts," the letter said about the incident, which was strongly condemned by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

The opposition-led areas hold a disproportionate share of Bolivia's natural gas resources. Morales's government argues that it has the right to share the profits of those resources among the country's various regions and ethnic groups, while local officials would like to maintain financial control.

The opposition stopped its attacks on farmers after receiving a strong snub from South American leaders who met in Chile last week to discuss the Bolivian situation. In a statement, they deplored the opposition's behaviour and urged talks between the two sides.

Talks began on Sep. 18, but reports from the region suggest the situation remains tense in the opposition-dominated areas.

Since Morales's election in December 2005, Washington has sent millions of dollars in aid to departmental and municipal governments in Bolivia, but some agencies have failed to disclose who they provided money to, and for what purposes. USAID opened an "Office of Transition Initiatives" (OTI) in Bolivia in 2004, which provided some 11 million dollars in funds to "build on its activities designed to enhance the capacity of departmental governments," the letter said.

In its 2006 report, the OTI said it sought to "[build] the capacity of prefect-led departmental governments to help them better respond to the constituencies they govern," and even brought departmental prefects to the United States to meet with state governors.

Signers claim that some of the same provincial governments later launched organised campaigns to push for "autonomy" and to oppose through violent and undemocratic means the Morales government and its political platform.

According to OTI, it ceased its operations in Bolivia about a year ago. However, some of its activities were then taken up by USAID, which refuses to disclose some of the recipients and programmes that benefited from the 89 million dollars the agency spent in Bolivia last year. This is a significant amount relative to the size of Bolivia's economy, say the Latin America experts, noting that in the U.S. economy it would be equivalent to about 100 billion dollars.

"U.S. taxpayers, as well as the Bolivian government and people, have a right to know what U.S. funds are supporting in Bolivia," they said in the letter.

Morales won renewed nationwide support earlier this year through an Aug. 10 referendum where more than 67 percent of the nation's people supported the continuation of his term in office.

At the news conference, Morales thanked the regional alliance of South American countries UNASUR for exerting pressure on extremist groups in Bolivia to stop the killings and violence. "It shows that in Latin America, the U.S. policy has been defeated," he said.

Columbus Day Actions -October 11,2008

2008-09-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

Return to this site for developing plans for Indigenous Peoples' Day, '08.

2008-06-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

Photo by Carol Berry -- Irma Little, Lakota, was acquitted May 30 of the charges brought against her from Denver's annual Columbus Day parade.

Final trials held for Denver Columbus Day parade protesters
© Indian Country Today June 09, 2008.
by: Carol Berry

DENVER - Eight months after Denver's annual Columbus Day parade, trials arising from a parade controversy ended May 30 with the acquittal of a Lakota woman in a wheelchair who had joined the protest because she felt the parade celebrated oppression.

''I wanted to stand up for Native people,'' said Irma Little, 67, of Denver, originally from Rosebud, S.D. She was found not guilty of municipal code violations in Denver City-County Court.

A city prosecutor had charged that Little ''gunned the engine on her electric wheelchair,'' sweeping past a police cordon into the street. Melissa Drazen-Smith, assistant city attorney, said Little then hindered police efforts by gripping the chair's wheels with her hands, although her hands were later shown by the defense to be twisted by arthritis.

Little said she spent about 12 hours in custody, including time in ''what they were calling the 'cripple cell.'''

Denver's annual Columbus Day parade Oct. 6, 2007, ''seemed like a good time to make a stand against the oppression of Native Americans,'' Little said, because Columbus represented the ''start of all the oppression I put up with.''

Parade opponents last fall gathered in downtown Denver carrying banners and chanting anti-Columbus slogans. In this last trial of parade dissenters, three others - a sightless man and two older Denver residents - were convicted of blocking the street and refusing a lawful police order. They were acquitted of a third charge of disrupting a lawful assembly.

An underlying issue was brought into court by defense attorney Lonn Heymann, who contended there was a city-planned sweep and mass arrest of the Columbus Day dissidents and implied a connection to security concerns at the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver, noting, ''We have the DNC here this year.''

George Vendegnia, of the Sons of Italy-New Generation, the parade's organizer, said the parade had to do with ''American heritage'' while Glenn Morris, Shawnee, and a leader of the American Indian Movement in Colorado, said the parade is ''deliberately celebrating the destruction of Native peoples.''

Vendegnia said parade organizers were warned in 2007 that police intelligence suggested problems might arise at the parade and they were advised ''to make sure we had our security in place.''

Morris, a professor in the political science department at the University of Colorado - Denver and an expert witness for the defense, countered that in nearly 20 years of intermittent parade protest, there had been no violence on the part of the dissidents. Because of his long-standing and cordial relationship with Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman, ''I'm on his speed-dial; he's on mine,'' he said.

The three other Denver residents on trial May 30 were Kate Goodspeed, 63, a non-Native who teaches English as a second language. She acted as a guide at the protest for Nicholas Delmonico, 32, a sightless Italian-American. The third defendant was Dan Whittemore, 60, a retired non-Native lawyer and minister.

''I do not stand for ignorance, discrimination or prejudice on any level,'' said Delmonico, who described indignities he has suffered in connection with blindness. Goodspeed, who said she spent about 20 hours in custody after she was arrested, has protested at past Columbus Day parades and hopes for a change from the present state commemoration of Columbus Day to Italian Pride Day or another holiday.

Whittemore was arrested holding a sign that read on one side, ''Columbus is a Symbol of Domination, Slavery and Genocide'' and, on the other, ''Just Change the Name ... Da Vinci Day.''

Although the three were also initially charged with disrupting a public assembly, defense attorney Qusair Mohamedbhai queried why, if a significant disruption had occurred, no parade participants were called to testify that a disruption had in fact taken place.

The conclusion of the trial ended months of proceedings during which 13 of the 83 people initially charged in connection with the parade demonstration were found guilty of at least one charge at trial, according to Vince DiCroce, director of the city prosecutor's code enforcement section.

Only a handful of parade opponents were found guilty of all the charges against them and paid the maximum $500 fine, Morris said.

The Columbus Day parade protest has been an annual event in Denver since 1989, although there was an eight-year hiatus beginning in 1992. In 2000, parade organizers agreed to eliminate the word ''Columbus'' from the parade's official name and from the parade itself, but did not do so. Protests have continued to the present.

for more information

2008-06-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

Uncontacted Indigenous people in the Amazon defend themselves against invaders

Photos Of Uncontacted Indigenous People In Amazon Provoke Demand For State Action

Photographs published last week of an uncontacted group of indigenous people in Brazil near the Peruvian border have provoked public outrage, with over 1,300 people writing letters to Peru’s government to demand an end to illegal logging. The logging is threatening uncontacted Indians in the area.

The unique pictures of the Brazilian indigenous people hit the world’s headlines last week. At least one other indigenous group in the area is thought to have fled over the border from Peru into Brazil, fleeing illegal loggers who are razing their forest home.

Since the pictures were published, the Peruvian government has said it will investigate the issue. Peru’s President Alan Garcia had previously questioned the tribes’ existence.
click here for more details
The New York Times' perspective

American Zionism

2008-06-03T18:56:00.000-07:00

AMERICAN ZIONISM by Steve Newcomb, Indigenous Law Institute

In his May 15 speech before the Israeli Knesset, President George W. Bush invoked the Old Testament story of the chosen people and the Promised Land. Bush said that the establishment of Israel in 1948 ''was the redemption of an ancient promise given to Abraham, Moses and David - a homeland for the chosen people in Eretz Yisrael.''

Bush also spoke explicitly of an alliance and a friendship between Israel and the United States rooted in the Bible. The source of the link between the two countries, he said, ''is grounded in the shared spirit of our people, the bonds of the Book, the ties of the soul.'' Then, weaving a bit of American history into the mix, Bush told his audience: ''When William Bradford stepped off the Mayflower in 1620, he quoted the words of [the Hebrew prophet] Jeremiah 51:10: 'Come let us declare in Zion the word of God.'''

According to Bush, ''The founders of my country saw a new promised land and bestowed upon their towns names like Bethlehem and New Canaan. And in time, many Americans became passionate advocates for a Jewish state.'' American Indian lands, in other words, were viewed by the founders of the United States as a new Land of Canaan, a promised inheritance and everlasting possession.

Although there may be those orthodox Jews who would not concur with Bush's characterization of the Old Testament, his speech illustrates the kind of thinking that has played such a prominent role in the historic mistreatment of American Indians by the United States, and in the callous and often brutal mistreatment of Palestinian people by the state of Israel. The mental model of a chosen people and a promised land provides a convenient rationalization whereby one people feels entitled and justified, by divine right, to take over, possess, and profit from the lands of other peoples.
read entire article

2008-05-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Denver’s Ultimate Persecution of Columbus Day Resisters Begins Tomorrow
Vindictive Trial of the Elderly and Disabled Shows City’s True Colors
On Wednesday morning, May 28, at 8:30am, in Courtroom 117M in the City and County Building, 1437 Bannock Street, Denver, the City of Denver will begin its final round of prosecutions of the 83 Columbus Day protesters, who were arrested on October 6, 2007.

In the final drama of arrests and trials, that Colorado AIM estimates have cost the city over $1 million, the City will embark on its most mean-spirited and cynical prosecutions to date. Wednesday’s case involves the persecution of:
• a 67-year-old American Indian elder, who is a diabetic amputee, and was arrested in her wheelchair the day of the protest
(Irma Little)
• a 60-year-old European-American man, who was former Controller for the State of Colorado, and is a retired lawyer, professor and minister (Dan Whittemore)
• a 32-year-old, blind, Italian-American man who stood in solidarity with American Indians against the racism of the Columbus Day Parade (Nicholas Delmonico)
• a 63-year-old, European-American teacher who has protested the Columbus Day holiday, in an attempt to educate the Colorado public, for the past fifteen years. (Katherine “Kate” Goodspeed)

The prosecution of this group of social justice advocates is more evidence that the administration of Mayor John Hickenlooper, and the office of City Attorney David Fine, are not interested in the pursuit of justice, and are not interested in a principled resolution of the annual Columbus Day conflict in the streets of Denver. They are interested in the vindictive assertion of their power, through arbitrary arrests and prosecutions of peaceful dissenters. The City has admitted in these trials that it intends to set an example for future protests, including this summer’s Democratic National Convention.

The defense will be led by noted Denver attorneys Lonn Heymann of the law firm of Rosenthal and Heymann, and Qusair Mohamedbhai of the law firm of Killmer, Lane & Newman.
-30-

Police Attack Protest of Minnesota Anti-Indian Racism

2008-05-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

Protest Turns Violent At Sesquicentennial Event

video here
and here

Why Some Indigenous People Are Upset With Minnesota
ST. PAUL (WCCO) ― What began as a solemn ceremony celebrating Minnesota's 150th birthday turned into a raucous protest at the State Capitol on Sunday.

For some Native Americans in Minnesota, the beginning of statehood was the end of their way of life. Several dozen protested the Minnesota birthday party carrying hangmen nooses.

A protester hit a Minnesota State Trooper on the head with a plastic bottle as police tried to clear an area during the celebration. Three people were arrested.

For Dakota people, part of Minnesota's history includes the hangings at Mankato of 38 Indians for their part in the Dakota War of 1862. To this day, it remains the largest mass execution in U.S. history.

"That's all they have to do is tell the truth, and apologize, and say I am sorry for what happened to the Native people. That's all they have to do. They won't even do that," said Clyde Bellecourt of the American Indian Movement.

Dean Urdahl, a Republican State Representative from Grove City and a former history teacher, has written a book called "Uprising" about the Dakota struggles.

"They believe that they had been cheated through the treaties. Also they could make the case that by the white government not fulfilling the obligations of treaties, that their people were being starved, that their children were dying," said Urdahl.

Protesters say Minnesota hasn't done enough to acknowledge injustices done to Minnesota tribes, and they're using the state's birthday celebrations to make their point.

"I am invisible in the sense that all the Minnesotans up there on the steps of the State Capitol are willing to ignore oppression and injustice occurring right behind them," said protester Waziyatawin.

Dakota leaders said the Minnesota's Native Americans have some of the highest school dropout and unemployment rates. They also have some of the lowest life expectancy and highest poverty rates.

The Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commission has acknowledged the opinions of the Dakota leaders. Last week the city of Winona was "Capitol for a Day" and the Sesquicentennial Commission sponsored what it called a Truth and Reconciliation Circle to talk about what happened when white settlers came to Minnesota.

Venezuela Stops Open Pit and Gold Mining

2008-05-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

This may be a blow to Barrick, Newmont and other gold thieves of the territories of indigenous peoples.
By Ana Isabel Martinez

CARACAS, May 15 (Reuters) - Mineral-laden Venezuela on Thursday shut the door to new gold projects and threatened other mining and logging concessions in a step by President Hugo Chavez to tighten control of natural resources.

Environment Minister Yuviri Ortega said the South American country will not give permits for any open-pit mines and will not allow companies to look for gold in its vast Imataca Forest Reserve.

"Venezuela will deny environmental permits for the open-pit mine exploitation," Ortega told Reuters in an interview. "Neither private or public companies will for now explore Imataca's gold."

Citing ecological damage, Ortega said the government was also revising all its mining and timber concessions.

OPEC member Venezuela is one of the world's top oil exporters. With its coffers bulging from record crude prices, it feels it does not need to risk further harming its environment with more mining and logging.

"For the moment we do not need to exploit these minerals; as the president says, we don't need diamonds or gold, or coal," she said, but did not give further details.

Much of the Caribbean state remains largely unpopulated and it houses diverse eco-systems including a significant chunk of the Amazon rain forest.

The ban on mining in the 9 million acre (3.8 million hectare) Imataca reserve and the end to permits for open pits was a blow to Crystallex (KRY.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) and Gold Reserve (GRZ.A: Quote, Profile, Research). The Canadian companies have long been seeking environmental permits to exploit their concessions in the reserve.

Chavez last year launched a nationalization drive, increasing state control over the country's oil industry. The U.S critic has since taken over key sectors of the economy including electricity, telecoms, cement and steel companies.

He has been especially tough on foreign companies but typically pays a fair price for nationalized assets.

The Imataca reserve, which includes a town called El Dorado in remote southeastern Venezuela, sits on what is believed to be one of Latin America's largest gold deposits.

Several large and mainly state-run companies dig iron ore, coal and bauxite in Venezuela. Workers last week halted operations at Venezuela's Isodora gold mine owned by Hecla (HL.N: Quote, Profile, Research), demanding it be nationalized.

Resisters From Dakota Nation Confront Minnesota Anti-Indian Racism

2008-05-15T16:59:00.001-07:00

Allan Henderson, from the Dakota Nation, held a sign at Fort Snelling,MN, site of a protest where several demonstrators were arrested.

St. Paul, MN, May 10, 2008 — The sesquicentennial wagon train winding towards the state capital for tomorrow’s celebration of Minnesota statehood, came to an unexpected standstill this morning entering Fort Snelling when a group of Dakota people gathered in the road to dispel a few of their cherished myths. “This is a place of genocide, our ancestors were force marched here in 1862 and interned in the concentration camp for an entire winter. So many of our people died here, women and children, so much of our history is ignored and suppressed. We are here to tell the truth about this history and challenge the Sesquicentennial celebration,” said Chris Mato Nunpa, Ph.D.. “All we’re asking is to be heard,” said Ben Yahola, amidst protestors holding signs with “We are not invisible,” “1862,” “Site of Dakota Genocide,” and “My grandmother died here.”

The travelers looked on or away as Dakota speakers addressed them and a gathering group of other protestors, onlookers, and, soon, many police officers from the city of Minneapolis. They stood by, some perched atop horses, for about fifteen minutes before the tensions increased.

Two skittish horses were steered by their mounted officers through the protestors, endangering everyone in their path, including several small children. Unsure of what to do, one officer radioed for backup. As reinforcements arrived, one officer said, “I thought we came down to do some thumping.” A sheriff’s SUV tried to force its way through the crowd of protestors to clear a path for the wagon train. Then, two kids and two women laid down in front of the SUV. For twenty minutes while protestors smudged, prayer drums sounded, and speakers addressed their message about the past’s atrocities, officers conferred, debating how best to remove the blockade. Dakota protestors cried the history of the atrocities committed, including land theft, ethnic cleansing, bounties placed on Dakota scalps (up to $200 dollars), the largest mass hanging in US history, the horrors of the concentration camp at Fort Snelling, and the brutalities of the war of 1862.

Then the arrests began.

“You are benefiting from the same colonial practices which justified the genocide of the Dakota people,” Waziyatawin stated as she was pressed against the hood of a patrol car before being led away. “This wagon train is a fantasy of manifest destiny, as some sort of righteous thing.” Next to go were her two minor children, Talon and Autumn Cavender-Wilson. Anita Rae, Chris Mato Nunpa, Jim Anderson and Diane Elliot followed, before the officers ceased making arrests.

By use of truncheon, officers pushed the protest aside, finally clearing the way for the wagon train to enter the camp. Imprisoned protestors were then released under charges of disorderly conduct. At least some of the wagon riders began conversing with protestors, agreeing to the need for truth telling. One young man softened his position and even apologized for his participation in the wagon train.

The protestors will also be present tomorrow at the state capital, where the kick-off celebration for the Minnesota Sesquiscentennial will begin.

For additional information, Contact:

Chris Mato Nupa, Ph.D.
Oceti Sakowin Omniciya
Tel: (320) 981-0206
matonunpa@earthlink.net

Jim Anderson
Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community
(763) 753-2833
ander67@netzero.com

Waziyatawin Angela Wilson, Ph.D.
Oceti Sakowin Omniciya
Tel: (320) 564-4241
waziyatawin@gmail.com

Brazil Sends Troops to Indian Territory - Brazilian Government Rejects Indigenous Self-Determination

2008-05-11T00:08:00.000-07:00

By Rodrigo Viga Gaier

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 8 (Reuters) - Brazil will permanently station troops in Indian reservations along its borders in response to growing concerns that its territorial sovereignty is at risk, Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said on Thursday.

Indian lands account for roughly 12 percent of Brazil's vast territory and border on nearly all of its nine neighbors.

"We want to be clear on something fundamental -- Indian lands are Brazilian lands," Jobim said.

"There are no nations or Indian peoples, there are Brazilians who are Indians," he told reporters following a ceremony to commemorate the end of World War Two in Europe.

The government will decide how many troops to deploy and where to station them in the next three months, he said.

A land conflict between Indians and farmers in northern Roraima state has fueled concerns by the military and conservative politicians that foreigners including Colombian rebels could penetrate Brazil through unprotected reserves.

At least one former Venezuelan army official entered the Roraima reservation to train gunmen, and a Venezuelan flag was raised on one farm, Indian leaders and media reported.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva dismissed such concerns on Thursday and praised the Indians for their loyalty.

"Much of the Brazilian army is made up of Indians ... . How often have the Indians defended our borders?" Lula said at a ceremony to outline government development policies in the Amazon.

"An Indian in the middle of the Amazon who as a Brazilian citizen and voter doesn't receive any benefits of the state will be just as rebellious as a man living in a Rio de Janeiro shantytown without water, school or anything to do," he said.

The government sent police reinforcements to the Roraima reservation on Tuesday and arrested a local farm leader after gunmen shot and wounded 10 Indians.

The dispute began last month when police tried to evict rice farmers from the reservation created by the government in 2005. But farmers who claim the same land have resisted by blocking roads, blowing up bridges and hiring gunmen.

Farmers and forestry and mining companies in several parts of Brazil are concerned with growing demands for land by Brazil's estimated 750,000 Indians.

Ninety-two Indians were killed last year in conflicts related to land disputes. (Additional reporting by Raymond Colitt) (Writing by Raymond Colitt; Editing by Xavier Briand)

Evo Morales Defends Indigenous Leadership

2008-05-10T23:15:00.000-07:00

Defending Bolivia
Morales and the Red Ponchos
By PATRICK IRELAN

The Bolivian oligarchy has initiated its plan to balkanize the country. Traditionally, the oligarchy controlled the oil, natural gas, and the best farmland in Bolivia; and, for the most part, it has never indicated a desire to share the wealth with the nation’s indigenous majority. That majority, 60 percent of the population, lives primarily in the Andean highlands of western Bolivia, although in recent decades, the Indians of those areas have begun moving down to the cities in search of jobs.

With their diseases, their firepower, and their greed, the Euro-Americans have enjoyed their country’s wealth since the founding of Bolivia, and the Indians think it’s about time for a more-equitable division of the proceeds. They’ve been waiting half a millennium, and their patience has begun to drift off somewhere over the Andes, from whence it is unlikely to return.

Evo Morales is an Aymara Indian. In 2005, he became the first indigenous president in Bolivia’s history, collecting 54 percent of the vote. He inherited a land-locked and underdeveloped country, the poorest in South America. But the provinces of the eastern lowlands are blessed with large reserves of oil and natural gas. They also possess good farmland, although much of it lies unused by its wealthy owners.

The richest province of the lowlands is Santa Cruz. The light-skinned elite of Santa Cruz has benefited from the prosperity generated by the sale of oil and natural gas to foreign petroleum companies, and it fears any real or imagined threat to that prosperity. Bolivia has a population of over 9.2 million people, and about 2 million of them live in Santa Cruz, where the Euro-Americans greatly outnumber the Indians.

Since his election in 2005, President Morales has begun implementing a plan that he thinks will improve the lives of the poor while ensuring the well-being of everyone. In 2006, he nationalized Bolivia’s oil and natural gas reserves.
for remainder of article and this analysis of the U.S. role in attempts to destabilize Bolivia.

Klamath River Nations Confront Warren Buffet Over Salmon Destruction

2008-05-09T20:27:00.000-07:00

Warren Buffett Refuses To Meet With Klamath River Tribes And Fishermen

By: Dan Bacher
May 22, 2007

The Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa Valley Tribes and fishermen capped off their historic cross country pilgrimage to Omaha, Nebraska on May 5 with a protest outside the shareholders meeting of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire-Hathaway Corporation. They demanded the removal of four Klamath Dams owned by Berkshire subsidiary PacifiCorp that they contend are largely responsible for the decades-long decline of salmon, steelhead and other species on the Klamath River.

Although Buffett, [the second richest man in the U.S.] never met with the tribes as they had requested, two members of the broad-based coalition were able to ask questions directly to Buffett and his partner Charles Munger before a crowd of 27,000 shareholders. They made the shareholders aware, many for the first time, of the depth and gravity of problems posed to the Klamath’s fisheries and people by the salmon-killing dams.

The pilgrimage to the stakeholders meeting, the “Woodstock of Capitalism,” included press conferences along the way in San Francisco, Sacramento and Salt Lake City, a salmon bake in Omaha on May 3, a traditional brush dance on May 4 and then the protest on May 5.

In a solidarity action with dam removal advocates gathered in Omaha, Karuk, Yurok, Hoopa, and Klamath Tribal members rallied with other Klamath River residents and PacifiCorp ratepayers at the company’s headquarters in Portland on May 4 Ronnie Pellegrini, wife of a commercial salmon fisherman, traveled to Omaha with her two teenage daughters to join in the protest and other events. Her husband, Paul, was salmon trolling off the California coast to take to advantage of a limited salmon season that started May 1.

The PacifiCorp dams – and a change in water policy in 2001 by the Bush administration that favored irrigators in the Klamath Basin over fish that resulted in the adult and juvenile fish kills of 2002 - are key factors in the dramatic decline of salmon fisheries.

Wendy George, council member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, then told Buffett, "My people are river people. Our entire culture, religion and subsistence is based on the river.”

George appealed to Buffett to meet with the Tribes in order to find a solution to the problem. “In response the normally polished Buffett fumbled through papers to read a written response,” observed Craig Tucker, Klamath Campaign Coordinator for the Karuk Tribe. “Instead of taking responsibility for his company’s actions, Buffett stated that regulators such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission would decide the issue.”

Buffett also declined to acknowledge that the Tribes are seeking a negotiated settlement with the company as is common in dam relicensing proceedings.

“I am overwhelmed with disappointment,” emphasized Leaf Hillman of the Karuk Tribe. “Although Mr. Buffett stressed over and over to young investors the importance of researching your investments, he clearly has a poor understanding of Klamath issues.”

U.S. Court Attacks Indian Religious Freedom

2008-05-09T19:55:00.001-07:00

In a case being watched closely across Indian Country, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated misdemeanor charges against a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe who shot a bald eagle for use in the Sun Dance. Winslow Friday never obtained a permit to take the sacred bird, which is protected under federal law. For full text of opinion here Case #06-8093, U.S. V. Friday.

Friday argued that the permitting process infringed on his religious rights. In the history of the Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which was first passed in 1940, only four permits to take eagles for tribal ceremonies have been processed.

Tribal spiritual leaders also testified about the burdens they face in trying to obtain eagle feathers and parts under an exemption in federal law aimed at protecting Indian rights. The National Eagle Repository has a several-year backlog and doesn't always provide birds in suitable condition for ceremonies like the Sun Dance.

Despite the flaws, the 10th Circuit ruled that the scheme complies with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The law bars federal agencies from taking actions that "substantially" burden a person's exercise of religion without a "compelling governmental interest."

Agencies must also demonstrate that they are taking such action by the "least restrictive means" possible.

In Friday's case, the appeals court said he conceded that the government has a compelling interest in protecting eagles. So even though the permitting process is not well publicized and even though the repository moves slowly, the system does not infringe on tribal religious rights, Judge Michael W. McConnell wrote for the majority.

"By enacting a law banning the taking of eagles and then permitting religious exceptions, the government has tried to accommodate Native American religions while still achieving its compelling interests," the 44-page decision stated. "That accommodation may be more burdensome than the Northern Arapaho would prefer, and may sometimes subordinate their interests to other policies not of their choosing."

"Law accommodates religion; it cannot wholly exempt religion from the reach of the law," McConnell, a Bush nominee, continued.

The decision reverses one made by a federal judge in Wyoming, who had dismissed the charges against Friday. In a sometimes scathing critique, Judge William F. Downes blasted the Interior Department for failing to truly accommodate the rights of Indian people.

"Although the government professes respect and accommodation of the religious practices of Native Americans, its actions show callous indifference to such practices," Downes wrote in an October 2006 decision that won praise in Indian Country. "It is clear to this court that the government has no intention of accommodating the religious beliefs of Native Americans except on its own terms and in its own good time."

The 10th Circuit, however, left open the possibility for future challenges. Since Friday never actually applied for a permit to take an eagle, the court wasn't able to determine whether the process is "improperly restrictive, burdensome, unresponsive or slow," McConnell noted.

In an earlier case, Saenz v. DOI, the 10th Circuit dismissed charges against Joseluis Saenz, a Chiricahua Apache man who was carrying eagle feathers without a permit. But since the Chiricahua Apaches were terminated in the late 1800s, the court said Saenz wouldn't have able to apply for a permit since permits are restricted to members of federally recognized tribes.

Rally in Support Of Navajo Opposition to Uranium Mining - Monday, May 12

2008-05-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

NAVAJOS VOW FIGHT AGAINST NEW URANIUM MINES
WHO: Eastern Navajo Dine Against Uranium Mining (ENDAUM), New Mexico Environmental Law Center,and Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) oppose the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Hydro Resources, Inc.
WHAT: Oral arguments regarding the protection of Navajo communities from contamination by uranium of air and water supplies. The New Mexico Environmental Law Center represents ENDAUM and SRIC in their fight against proposed in-situ leach (ISL) uranium mines in the Crownpoint and Church Rock areas. If allowed to proceed, these mines would contaminate the sole source of drinking water for nearly 15,000 people--almost all of whom are Navajo.
WHERE: U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, The Byron White U.S. Courthouse, 1823 Stout St., Denver, Colorado.
The territorial jurisdiction of the Tenth Circuit includes the six states of Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, plus those portions of the Yellowstone National Park extending into Montana and Idaho.
WHEN: Monday, May 12, 1p.m.Santa Fe, New Mexico—For the first time in United States history, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will be challenged in Federal appeals court for its approval of a source materials license for an in situ leach uranium mine.
The Navajo communities of Crownpoint and Church Rock, New Mexico, with the assistance of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC), Eastern Navajo Dine against Uranium Mining (ENDAUM) and Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) will fight the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Hydro Resources, Inc., demanding that they stay off of Navajo lands in New Mexico. NMELC will present oral arguments on May 12 to a panel of Federal judges in Denver asking that the NRC decision to allow mining be set aside.
“The importance of our hearing on May 12 cannot be overstated,” states Eric Jantz, New Mexico Environmental Law Center attorney. “We are talking about the land, water, air and health of two whole communities. There are people on this land grazing their cattle and hauling their daily drinking water.”
ENDAUM is the first community group ever to fight the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on a source materials permit for an in situ leach uranium mine. This fight is becoming even more significant, as the price of uranium has increased tremendously during the past seven years, rising from $7/lb to $68/lb. Subsequently, the state of New Mexico has seen a dramatic rise in the number of exploratory permits requested by mining companies during the past year, with a dozen applications currently under review.

Hydro Resources, Inc. has four proposed mines in the Church Rock-Crownpoint region. In 2006, the NRC approved the license for all four sites. The New Mexico Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit in 2007 against the NRC to overturn the license. The NMELC argues that the NRC has violated the Atomic Energy Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and its own regulations when it issued decisions on numerous issues. The NMELC’s clients are appealing the following points:
 Hydro Resources failed to prove that it will protect groundwater from contamination by uranium and other toxic heavy metals
 The company failed to ensure that the health of residents near the mines would be protected from damaging radioactive air emissions
 Hydro Resources’ proposed financial bond for the site is inadequate to ensure that the site(s) would be cleaned up in the event that the company is unable to undertake reclamation of the land and/or water impacted by the mining
Because of the NRC's bias in favor of industry, a victory for NMELC’s Navajo clients would set a major precedent in New Mexico.

Columbus Day Hate Speech Trials Begin January 16th

2008-01-02T16:14:00.001-08:00

Colorado AIM members, and our allies, who were arrested on October 6, 2007 at the Columbus Hate Speech Parade, begin to go on trial on January 16th. Our intention is to put Columbus, the City of Denver, and the U.S. legacy of anti-Indian racism on trial.

for updates:
www.transformcolumbusday.org
See also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krN8z-ldNnY
and
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4324767377270144219

Some people talk about freedom...

2008-01-02T15:10:00.000-08:00

...and some indigenous people actually continue the fight for our freedom. The first step in the realization of our freedom from colonialism is to decolonize our minds. If we do not have the courage to challenge our current condition, to imagine a different future, and begin to move toward it, then we are doomed. Here is one effort that deserves your consideration, and your support:

"We do not represent those BIA or IRA governments beholden to the colonial apartheid system, or those 'hang around the fort' Indians who are unwilling claim their freedom."

www.republicoflakotah.com

Indigenous Peoples' Day Celebration/ C-Day Resistance

2007-10-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

Much more to come.... In the meanwhile, check out this video:

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=19846699

for just a little glimpse of the growing indigenous resistance among Native people in Denver, and elsewhere.

AMERICA STILL HATES INDIANS.

2007-09-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

THE CONTINUING CELEBRATION OF COLUMBUS DAY AS A STATE AND NATIONAL HOLIDAY IS PART OF THE PROOF.

Could it be? Yes, it could. Something's coming...something good.

2007-09-23T22:02:00.000-07:00

This begins the ramp-up for our opposition to the Columbus Day Hate Speech Spectacle.

The Four Directions March, followed by massive rally at the Colorado StateCapitol on Saturday October 6, 2007. March begins at 7:30 am/rally at 8:30. Come prepared to make history.

Protest of Columbus Day Parade 9:30-Noon. Rally to call for justice for Native peoples everywhere, for an end to the Colum-Bush legacy, repeal the Columbus holiday, call for an end to another Columbush imperial invasion in Iraq.

Rock Out Columbus Day Concert, Thursday, October 4, 2007, OrientalTheater, 44th Ave at Tennyson. 7-midnight. Featuring Debajo del Agua and Savage Family, with other indigenous acts.

"Columbuscide - Denver, 2007 •
515 Years of Invasion, Indigenous Resistance and Renewal."
Art Festival, Opening Friday, October 5th,
7pm Laughing Bean Café, 1025 N. Santa Fe Drive, Denver.

On Friday, October 5th, during the Friday night artwalk in the
Santa Fe Drive District, "Columbuscide - Denver, 2007 • 515 years of
invasion, indigenous resistance and renewal," sponsored by the
American Indian Movement of Colorado and Transform Columbus Day
Alliance. The show will expose the deception, death and destruction
embodied in the celebration of Columbus Day, which was born 100 years
ago this year in Colorado.

The show will also reflect the spirit of resistance of indigenous
peoples to over 500 years of oppression and genocide in our homeland.
It will express the spirit of resilience and dedication to freedom for
future generations of indigenous peoples here in on Turtle Island.
Featuring work by American Indian artists, Russell Means, Lawrence
Paul and other native and non-native artists who have provided their
interpretation of the effects of imperialism, genocide, and oppression
which began with Columbus' arrival and that continue today. The show
is being hosted by The Laughing Bean, 1025 Santa Fe Drive, Denver.
This art show is part of a comprehensive series of events to oppose
Columbus Day, and to express a constructive alternative to hateful
Columbus legacy. For more information on other events, visit:
www.transformcolumbusday.org

Truth Commission: Columbus, Columbus Day, and the Columbian Legacy

2007-09-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

The American Indian Movemement of Colorado and The Transform Columbus Day Alliance present:

The Official Colorado Truth Commission On Columbus, Columbus Day and the Columbian Legacy

Saturday, September 8 and Sunday, September 9
9:30 am – 6:00 pm
The Great Hall, the Iliff School of Theology, 2201 S. University Blvd., Denver

The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.
--Milan Kundera

Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shores, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles over racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or to feel remorse for this shameful episode. --The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

2007 marks the 100th anniversary of the creation by the state of Colorado of a holiday to “celebrate” Christopher Columbus. This holiday, and what is taught about it in our schools, has perpetuated a story of Columbus as a heroic figure, a great explorer who brought the gifts of civilization to the New World. But this “official story” is only one perspective; there are others that needs to be told. For nearly 20 years, the American Indian Movement of Colorado (AIM) and its allies in the Transform Columbus Day Alliance (TCD) have invited Denver and Colorado political leaders to co-sponsor a community dialogue about how that celebration represents the history of this country, and the consequences of that representation. Those invitations have met with no response. AIM/TCD is now moving forward with its own Truth Commission.

As South Africa, Guatemala, East Timor and other countries have used truth commissions to expose the reality of their histories, Colorado will now, on this centenary, engage in an honest and open discussion of how the national narrative of the United States is remembered and transmitted to future generations.

The Transform Columbus Day Alliance invites you to hear two days of expert testimony on the historical reality behind the celebration of Columbus and the 500-year Columbian legacy, as well as personal testimony by people whose lives have been affected by the celebration of Columbus Day. Invitations have also been sent to organizers of the Columbus Day Parade, to Denver mayor John Hickenlooper and to Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to offer their perspective on the holiday.
After hearing testimony, the Truth Commission will issue findings of fact, and recommendations about how Colorado and the U.S. might move forward from the division and acrimony of the past to a future of mutual respect and historical integrity. A report, along with audio and video documentation from the hearings, will be available for educators, students, and political, religious and community leaders.

Distinguished commissioners who will hear testimony and issue a report include Dr. Vincent Harding, Iliff School of Theology; Professor Nancy Ehrenreich, University of Denver Sturm College of Law; Professor Salvatore Salerno, University of Minnesota; Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone Nation.

Start Packing Your Bags - Denver in October

2007-09-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

What WOULD Sitting Bull do?

So, It's On for October

2007-05-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

For 18 years, Colorado AIM, and scores of our organizational allies in the Transform Columbus Day Alliance, have worked in many arenas to educate the public, teachers, the media, and politicians about why Columbus Day should be transformed in Colorado, its birthplace. We have been in schools and churches, in the streets, taken to jail and been on trial, we have written newspaper columns and letters to the editors, we have met with numerous politicians and others. Because Columbus Day was born in Colorado 100 years ago this year, we believed that there was a perfect opportunity for political leaders to break with the racist actions of the past, and to set Colorado on a new course. While the Republicans controlled the state legislature and the governor’s office, this was impossible. When the Democrats gained control last November, we believed that finally, after fort years, an opportunity presented itself to transform Columbus Day, and to make a statement for historical integrity. The Democratic leadership failed us. They did not so much as allow a debate in this session of the legislature. They would not allow a bill to be introduced to repeal Columbus Day, or even a resolution that suggested that repeal was a good idea, or even a resolution that recognized and regretted the genocide against Native peoples in the Americas. The Colorado legislature (especially Senate President Joan Fitzgerald), and the Colorado governor, Bill Ritter, are all cowards, who prefer to support anti-Indian racism to advancing the racial justice that they pay lip service to. Today, we held a press conference to call to account those weak-willed, racist politicians who have decided to keep a holiday in place to an Indian-murdering, slavetrader. Read story here and here

So, the legislature and the governor have spoken (by quashing debate), and we are putting out the call for EVERYONE to plan to come to Denver in October for the 100th anniversary of the racist Columbus Day holiday. We will be posting a schedule of events for September and October, soon. Please visit this site frequently for updates. PUT IT ON YOUR CALENDAR NOW --THIS OCTOBER, IN DENVER!

Madonna Thunderhawk to Speak in Boulder on Saturday

2007-03-09T10:04:00.000-08:00

Madonna Thunderhawk, one of the original members of AIM, and one of the founders of Women of All Red Nations (WARN), will be speaking on Saturday, March 10, at the Glenn Miller Ballroom, in the University Memorial Center, at CU-Boulder. The event is scheduled from 6-9 pm, and includes Madonna, Ahse Deere (Mvskoke), spoken word by Medicine Word Traditions and musical performances by Savage Family and Chako.

New Mexico Moves Closer to Abolishing Columbus Day

2007-03-09T09:57:00.000-08:00

...so, what's the problem with the Colorado legislature and governor?

From the Las Cruces, NM Sun-News:
article

Replacing Columbus
New Mexico would replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Day under a memorial approved Tuesday by the House.
House Memorial 27 calls for the state to stop celebrating Columbus Day because Christopher Columbus wasn't the first discoverer of North America and because American Indians view the day as a "celebration of conquest and genocide."
The measure, approved 32-28, was put forth by Rep. Irvin Harrison, D-Gallup.
Rep. Antonio Lujan, D-Las Cruces, said he favors the step.
"As they say, history is always
written by the conqueror," he said. "I wonder at times what would have happened if the Europeans who came to this hemisphere had received the Indian peoples in the same way the Indian peoples had received the Europeans. I think we'd have a much more generous society."
Rep. Dianne Hamilton, R-Silver City, said she wouldn't be opposed to adding a holiday, but she didn't think Columbus Day should be eliminated because the explorer's journey is also part of the nation's history.

Native Warrior Society honors elder leader, and counts coup, by taking Olympic flag in Vancouver

2007-03-09T09:17:00.000-08:00

North of the U.S., Native youth are on the move to protect treaty areas, sacred sites, and indigenous culture. One of the major battles looming on the horizon involves the 2010 Olympics, planned for British Columbia. Several demonstrations have taken place by First Nations people to object to the displacement of low-income (often Native) residents, for the construction of roads, resort housing, and other Olympic infrastructure. Most recently, First Nations resisisters disrupted the kick-off events in Vancouver, and also took down the huge (16 by 25 feet) Olympic flag flying near the Vancouver City Hall. As the Lakota say, Wa-shtay! (Good one!) A good source to keep up on the latest developments in this region is Redwire Magazine at www.redwiremag.com

Below is the statement of the Native Warrior Society:
Native Warriors Claim Responsibility for Taking Olympic Flag
March 7, 2007
Coast Salish Territory [Vancouver, Canada]
In the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 6, 2007, we removed the Olympic Flag
from its flag-pole at Vancouver City Hall. We pried open the access panel on the pole
with a crowbar and, using a bolt-cutter, cut the metal cable/halyard inside, causing the
flag to fall to the ground.
We claim this action in honour of Harriet Nahanee, our elder-warrior, who was given a
death sentence by the BC courts for her courageous stand in defending Mother Earth.
We stand in solidarity with all those fighting against the destruction caused by the 2010
Winter Olympic Games.
No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!
Native Warrior Society

Here is how the local media are reporting the incident
Native warriors claim flag
By BOB MACKIN, 24 HOURS

[First nations] activists say they stole Vancouver city hall's Olympic flag to honour late Squamish Nation elder Harriet Nahanee.

"We stand in solidarity with all those fighting against the destruction caused by the 2010 Winter Olympic Games," said a news release from the Native Warrior Society. "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!"

Nahanee, 71, was convicted of criminal contempt for refusing to obey a court order against protests at the Eagleridge Bluffs site of Olympic highway expansion. She died in St. Paul's Hospital last month after she was jailed in Surrey [for fourteen days].

The news release describes how a crowbar and bolt cutters were used early Tuesday morning to steal the flag. A photograph shows three hooded people, standing in front of the $1,600 Olympic flag, holding the Mohawk flag and a photo of Nahanee. Vancouver Police spokesman Howard Chow said NWS is known to police.

International Olympic Committee's Rene Fasel said he was "saddened and disappointed" by the flag's theft
A new flag will be raised before Monday's three-year Paralympics countdown ceremony.

Doing Away With Columbus Day

2007-02-04T13:52:00.000-08:00

It is not news to any of you who have been following the work of Colorado AIM, that we have called for an end to Columbus Day as a state and national holiday for years. In our pursuit of this strategy, we have been criticized from forces at every point on the political spectrum. We have been instructed to "work on real issues that affect Indian people," "stop living in the past," "stop worrying about a meaningless holiday," " try sobering up your people."

Why have we spent so much time and energy on this issue? Because we know that every single problem, and every racist act or policy that is experienced by indigenous peoples today, has a root. The problems that we face -- poverty, denial of religious freedom, the Cobell trust fund case, violence and substance abuse, the robbing of our territories and natural resources -- are rooted in a consistent and systemic process of racism. Columbus Day is not a harmless or meaningless holiday. It is a deliberate and ongoing celebration of the invasion of our homeland, and championing the victory of European, Christian civilization over our "heathen, backward, primitive savagism."

Many proponents of the Columbus holiday like to pretend that the phrase "Columbus discovered America," is a casual reference to Columbus being the first European, or at least Iberian, to arrive in the Americas. Oh, if it were so simple. "Discovery" has a specific legal and political meaning that is embodied in U.S. law. In the 1823 case of Johnson v. M'Intosh, the U.S. Supreme Court constructed upon Columbus' genocide in the Caribbean by asserting that European "discovery" gave Christian Europeans a superior right to decide the future of our peoples and our homelands. Columbus Day celebrates and extends that the very real legal "doctrine of discovery" -- the foundation of ALL federal Indian law.

If we do not attack and dismantle Columbus Day, and the racist, anti-Indian philosophy that underlies it, we can never hope to be free people again. If we cannot get rid of a state and national holiday that creates a national hero out of a slave-trading Indian-killer, if we cannot abolish a holiday that celebrates the "doctrine of discovery" and the loss of 2 billion acres of our homelands, how can we kid ourselves that we will be able to address any of the other problems that surround us as Native people?

We have an opportunity to begin dismantling the destructive processes that Columbus Day celebrates. Colorado is the birthplace of Columbus Day. 2007 is the 100th anniversary of the holiday. One hundred years of racism in Colorado is enough. Colorado State Senator Suzanne Williams (suzanne.williams.senate@state.co.us) is proposing the repeal of Columbus Day. She is being opposed in her attempt by Democrats and Republicans, alike. She needs your support and your encouragement. Colorado Governor Bill Ritter also needs to hear from you about why Columbus Day needs to be repealed. His email is: governor.ritter@state.co.us. Some points for emphasis in your communication may be found in the column below. The column was written by one of our members, and was recently published in the Rocky Mountain News. It does not matter if you are from Colorado, if you are Native or not, we all have the right to stand against racism wherever it appears -- please write/call your support for abolishing Columbus Day.

Time has come to repeal Columbus Day
LINK
By Glenn Morris

Colorado state Sen. Suzanne Williams has proposed the repeal of Columbus Day as a state holiday in Colorado. One of her proposals is to replace Columbus Day with a floating or flex holiday for state employees. Another proposal is to designate All Nations Day Â— to honor the contribution of all peoples and nations in the construction of America. Neither suggestion carries any negative fiscal impact for the state.

Williams is to be applauded for her moral leadership, and for her forthright stance; she should be supported by her colleagues in the state Senate and House, and by Gov. Bill Ritter. State-sanctioned holidays that portray Christopher Columbus as an honorable man who Â“discoveredÂ” America are untruthful.

Prior to his arrival in the Caribbean, Columbus engaged in the African slave trade for the Portuguese. That alone should disqualify him for state or national hero status. While he was governor of the Caribbean, Columbus began and administered a system of forced labor camps known as encomiendas or repartimientos. Under this system, hundreds of thousands of indigenous people were literally worked to death.

Even historian Samuel Eliot Morrison, a Columbus fan, was forced to conclude that Â“the policy and acts of Columbus for which he alone was responsible began the depopulation of the terrestrial paradise that was Hispaniola in 1492.Â” According to Morrison, one-third of the Indian population was killed in less than four years. Surely, we no longer want a state holiday to a man who began and advanced genocide.

Some suggest that Columbus was simply a man of his times, and that whatever his crimes, well, Â“everyone was doing it.Â” This assertion reflects a profound ignorance of the courageous voices of ColumbusÂ’ contemporaries who condemned the atrocities of Columbus and his subordinates in their own era. Scholars and theologians like Antonio de Montesinos, Bartolome de Las Casas, Matias de Paz, and Franciscus de Victoria Â— considered by many to be the father of modern international law Â— opposed the destruction that was begun and advanced by Columbus. Today, we should do no less. Even if the apologists were correct, however, and Columbus simply went along with the prevailing practices of his own society, engaging in invasion, murder, rape and plunder, we should not now reward that example with a state holiday.

Most people do not know that Columbus Day began as a state and national holiday in Colorado 100 years ago this year. On April 1, 1907, Gov. Henry Buchtel made Colorado the first state to designate an official holiday to Christopher Columbus. The obvious question is: Why?

Why would landlocked Colorado, more than 2,000 miles removed from any area ever visited by Columbus, honor this lost sailor with a state holiday?

The notion that Colorado was honoring Italians with the holiday is absurd in light of the lynchings and the rampant discrimination that were being visited on Italians in Colorado and across the United States.

ColumbusÂ’ story was manipulated in the 19th and early 20th centuries by U.S. political leaders who cared nothing about Italians or American Indians, but who needed a poster boy to support their policies of expansionism and militarism. Columbus Day, which has only become more tattered and divisive over time, has outlived whatever shallow, pseudo-patriotic usefulness it might have once served.

We have a chance in Colorado, the birthplace of Columbus Day, to set an example for our children, for our schools, for the country. We can set an example for future generations that says that advancing mutual respect and understanding is more important than jealously guarding the well-worn but indefensible, hurtful fallacies of the past. We can support WilliamsÂ’ initiative, and finally repeal Columbus Day in Colorado.

Glenn Morris is a member of the Leadership Council of the American Indian Movement of Colorado.