tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88433632350199805072024-03-20T17:19:51.656-07:00Native Rights NewsNews and commentary on the struggle of indigenous peoples to preserve their identities and cultures and to control and develop their land and resources in an Earth-friendly manner. Native Rights News is published by Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a project of the Peace and Justice Ministry of Temple Beit Shem Tov (http://beitshemtov.org)Alliance for Indigenous Rightshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14330302046408516260noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-16288097400225277142010-10-29T13:59:00.000-07:002010-10-29T13:59:55.241-07:00Reconnecting with our Identity, Origins and Relatedness to All Things<span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;">Good Shield Aguilar, Lakota-Yaqui Musician, Sings about Origin and Honor</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWpc3f0HVnaCW95tMdxWD7CwsHxc5cQ6wdqo-KGNEEqdXfokwCY1RlRvu2V9M7k6ed3jxnhlktwg7rx4LQ1o1EI1rw_4llsyiiLgbzvDhIylLNW1UzOPxd11p-e9jsdYZYqVpYZ8e_LMfG/s1600/Good+Shield+Aguilar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWpc3f0HVnaCW95tMdxWD7CwsHxc5cQ6wdqo-KGNEEqdXfokwCY1RlRvu2V9M7k6ed3jxnhlktwg7rx4LQ1o1EI1rw_4llsyiiLgbzvDhIylLNW1UzOPxd11p-e9jsdYZYqVpYZ8e_LMfG/s320/Good+Shield+Aguilar.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Good Shield Aguilar</td></tr>
</tbody></table>With all the terrible things going on around us every day, we sometimes need to be reminded of our identity, origins, connections and relatedness. After all, it is only our world view and spirituality that distinguishes us from the <em>wasichus</em> (whites). <br />
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One of the best ways to take a step back, contemplate, reflect upon and remember who we really are is through music. <br />
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<a href="http://www.myspace.com/goodshield77">Good Shield Aguilar</a> - Lakota-Yaqui Musician is a native singer-songwriter living in "Yurok Country" who says and does it very well, indeed. To see a video of his performance of the following two songs, click on the YouTube link below. Better yet, click on his name and visit his MySpace page.<br />
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From <em>Origin Song</em>:<br />
I am sitting here in my place of connection, a connection that indigenous creatures have as our flesh and features are mirrored within the geography, within the soil and our relatives, those who nourish us so that we'll go on, those who teach us so we'll understand, and those who remind us so that we won't forget our origin.<br />
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From <em>Honor Song</em>:<br />
Awake. May the dream begin again from its dormant state as the great floodwaters have now parted. Rebirth is eminence, turbulence, inevitable. Part of the way of creation and perpetual balance, chaos and beauty. Awake now and carry the responsibilities of endlessness, messengers of timelessness.<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROJ0LHkl1Zs&NR=1">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROJ0LHkl1Zs&NR=1</a><br />
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Copyright Native Voice TV. Native Rights News is making this material from <a href="http://www.ctcsj.org/native-voice-tv.aspx">Native Voice TV</a> available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />
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Native Rights News (NRN) is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://www.beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Social Justice Ministry.Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-72259481066926310232010-03-11T17:13:00.000-08:002010-03-11T17:13:50.203-08:00Tribal People Urge Indian Government to Take Stand Against Bangladeshi Attacks on Jumma People of Chittigong Hill Tract<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;"><strong>Communal attack on Jummas by Military Forces and Bengali Settlers, [2/25/2010]</strong></span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.tiprasa.com/">http://www.tiprasa.com/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">A News and Information Web Portal of the Indigenous People of Tripura</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Our Correspondent, <a href="mailto:feedback@tiprasa.com">feedback@tiprasa.com</a></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpk9N_bwDl6v3Xw7q2_owxu_zN9n_8aakp93y_A-od3VAQFiUZRw5FhPLrQ1x9Oeu4eVLHQRmHH-CyFrL_8PYhewvAp4GHX3O7XEHxGVDHY-uUR4n7B-wUiEnjPxZbqzZOQCsDr63bpfWJ/s1600-h/delhi_rally_jumma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpk9N_bwDl6v3Xw7q2_owxu_zN9n_8aakp93y_A-od3VAQFiUZRw5FhPLrQ1x9Oeu4eVLHQRmHH-CyFrL_8PYhewvAp4GHX3O7XEHxGVDHY-uUR4n7B-wUiEnjPxZbqzZOQCsDr63bpfWJ/s320/delhi_rally_jumma.jpg" vt="true" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>New Delhi Feb 25, 2010:</strong> All roads led to Jantar mantar today at 11 am, as several hundreds of Peace loving Indigenous people of Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh came out on the streets in New Delhi to protest against the barbaric killing and communal attacks on the thousands of Jumma Indigenous people of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They also submitted an memorandum to the Honourable Prime minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh to seek the interventions of the Government of India with the Government of Bangladesh against the communal attacks on the tribals in the Chittagong Hill tracts by the Bangladesh Army and the illegal plain settlers and also to bring an end to the ongoing communal violence against the tribal peoples such as Chakmas,Marmas,Tripuris-who identify themselves as Jummas for practicing Jhum/Shifting cultivation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Protest rally was organized by CHTs Support Group,led by Mr Suhash Chakma, Director, Asian Centre for Human Rights(ACHR) and was backed by the Tripura Students Forum,Delhi(TSFD) with maximum support and co-operation!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The unfortunate killings also raise a legitimate question as to the award of a Peace prize awarded by the Govt. of India to the PM of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina in November 09 2009, for promoting Peace by resolving a long standing insurgency(problem) in Bangladesh by concluding the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, when the Indigenous People are not enjoying any peace but only faced persecution because of their ethnicity and religion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Protest groups urged the Government of India to take the following measures:</span><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPLI3vtq1Be1HKrnejvag0LtLxLRDp7Qn7RsAQE4XkkeXpsuYQXPfkgJrOrc5D3pUT2JneYhPPbmEZeyWRXOdpu39MRXUMmhngvRvbEzRcVlmCCZ48tgjyW-jJg3daEpzadkyfZ_cY7VqI/s1600-h/jhumma_village.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPLI3vtq1Be1HKrnejvag0LtLxLRDp7Qn7RsAQE4XkkeXpsuYQXPfkgJrOrc5D3pUT2JneYhPPbmEZeyWRXOdpu39MRXUMmhngvRvbEzRcVlmCCZ48tgjyW-jJg3daEpzadkyfZ_cY7VqI/s320/jhumma_village.jpg" vt="true" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Make a public statement expressing concern about the attacks on the tribal peoples of the CHT and take all necessary measures to bring an end to the violence with full respect for the principles of equality and non-discrimination.</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2.Urge the Government of Bangladesh to fully implement the CHT peace accord.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3.Provide a package for implementation of the CHT to ensure that both the communities can live in harmony.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT4LEq1JPldJfXZBHYQnXXnZN4Ibqzj-Yf7l0QOqcCh9YbrxDFIJiOGeJLwfXft67F5vtTA41PqkK7o_Ub31c_P-_7CnsOptguH3jngDtCUCTjiMTaOIfr8353TWoQ28mDua87nVPcVwdy/s1600-h/Jumma_people.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT4LEq1JPldJfXZBHYQnXXnZN4Ibqzj-Yf7l0QOqcCh9YbrxDFIJiOGeJLwfXft67F5vtTA41PqkK7o_Ub31c_P-_7CnsOptguH3jngDtCUCTjiMTaOIfr8353TWoQ28mDua87nVPcVwdy/s320/Jumma_people.jpg" vt="true" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Its been reported that till now 10 innocent persons, Jummas have died in the state riots, One Buddhist temple, One Church, a UNDP run centre and 300-400 houses have been completely burnt down and 2000 indigenous Jummas have been internally displaced in the attacks. Most of the displaced Jumma villagers have taken shelter in to the deep forest fearing further attacks and most of these indigenous victims whose houses have been burnt down have been passing days without food and staying under the open sky in the absence of any help coming from the authorities!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is reported that on 19 February 2010 afternoon a group Bengali settlers went to the Gangaran Duar area of Bangladesh and put pillars on the land of Indigenous Jumma villagers for construction of house there. When the Jumma villagers protested and opposed the Bengali settlers, hundreds of Bengali settlers led by leaders of so-called Sama Odhikar Andolon under full protection by a group of army from Baghaihat zone of 8 Bir Bengal gathered at Gangaram Duar area and started to set fire on the houses of Jumma villages at night.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since then the a regular planed attack was carried out by the Bengalis with the assistance of the Military Force on the Jumma Indigenous people which left many death and homeless.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source: <a href="http://tiprasa.com/articles/viewcomm.asp?identity=359&title=Communal%20attack%20on%20Jummas%20by%20Military%20Forces%20and%20Bengali%20Settlers">http://tiprasa.com/articles/viewcomm.asp?identity=359&title=Communal%20attack%20on%20Jummas%20by%20Military%20Forces%20and%20Bengali%20Settlers</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Native Rights News</em> is making this material from <a href="http://www.tiprasa.com/">http://www.tiprasa.com/</a> available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">____________</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.native-rights-news.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://www.beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Social Justice Ministry.</span>Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-90279438415708773412010-03-08T20:41:00.000-08:002010-03-08T20:41:58.490-08:00Scientists Say Klamath Basin Water Agreements Threaten Survival of Klamath River Salmon<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Editor's Note:</strong> This is the first in a series of posts concerning the longrunning battle for water in the Klamath Basin and the Klamath River. Although this press release was issued in March of 2008, we are publishing it because it sets forth a scientific basis for the concerns environmental organizations and several affected Indian Tribes have regarding the so-called "agreements" that are titled the "Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement" and "Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement." On December 14, 2009, the NEC pulled out of the settlement talks altogether, citing concerns that the proposed agreements were too weak to actually protect the Klamath River and its salmon. For the latest news on this and other environmental issues that impact Indian tribes in northwestern California, go to NEC's <a href="http://yournec.org/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=1&pid=33">ECONEWS</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Klamath Basin ecosystem includes Upper Klamath Lake, Lower Klamath Lake, Tule Lake and the Klamath, Williamson, Sprague and Lost Rivers which feed and drain them. These lakes comprise the Klamath Wildlife Refuges system, the largest and most important resting and feeding stop for millions of waterfowl on the Pacific Flyway. Almost all of the land and water in question was a part of the aboriginal territory of the Modoc Indian Tribe until it was seized by the federal government during the Modoc Indian War of 1872-73. The Modoc Indians, a federally recognized tribe, are currently working to secede from the political confederation known as the Klamath Tribes, set up their own separate government, and reassert tribal sovereignty over these lakes, rivers and wildlife refuges. Their long-term goal is to restore them to their natural condition. - Perry H. Chesnut, Editor, NRN</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEmb5m_rnq4TvUwUiEmH3E7_0wdRjQXoGwVBLQAUSU2Xm-ffuKt2HvSpDZ2atu-fmcuNd4DRuNChevFlj2T25miCM-C3MVIHXSwpyViDKRz3xuYPpmcFGWl3wRPfC02KMEq-rCKndQstcB/s1600/Northcoast+Environmental+Center+-+JPG+-+336+x+259.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="74" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEmb5m_rnq4TvUwUiEmH3E7_0wdRjQXoGwVBLQAUSU2Xm-ffuKt2HvSpDZ2atu-fmcuNd4DRuNChevFlj2T25miCM-C3MVIHXSwpyViDKRz3xuYPpmcFGWl3wRPfC02KMEq-rCKndQstcB/s320/Northcoast+Environmental+Center+-+JPG+-+336+x+259.jpg" style="filter: alpha(opacity=30); left: 56px; mozopacity: 0.3; opacity: 0.3; position: absolute; top: 182px; visibility: hidden;" width="96" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span> </div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>News Release</strong></span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>NEC Rejects Klamath Agreement</strong></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Top scientists say Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement is flawed, and could prevent fish recovery, </em></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>without guaranteed downstream flows</em> </span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEmb5m_rnq4TvUwUiEmH3E7_0wdRjQXoGwVBLQAUSU2Xm-ffuKt2HvSpDZ2atu-fmcuNd4DRuNChevFlj2T25miCM-C3MVIHXSwpyViDKRz3xuYPpmcFGWl3wRPfC02KMEq-rCKndQstcB/s1600-h/Northcoast+Environmental+Center+-+JPG+-+336+x+259.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEmb5m_rnq4TvUwUiEmH3E7_0wdRjQXoGwVBLQAUSU2Xm-ffuKt2HvSpDZ2atu-fmcuNd4DRuNChevFlj2T25miCM-C3MVIHXSwpyViDKRz3xuYPpmcFGWl3wRPfC02KMEq-rCKndQstcB/s320/Northcoast+Environmental+Center+-+JPG+-+336+x+259.jpg" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Contact: Greg King, Executive Director</span></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Northcoast Environmental Center</span></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">707-822-6918</span></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Science Contacts:</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr. Bill Trush: 707-826-7794 x. 12 Dr. Thomas Hardy: 435-797-2824</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Greg Kamman: 415-491-9600</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>March 3, 2008</strong></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Arcata, CA</strong> — The Northcoast Environmental Center (NEC) will not support the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement as it is currently written, the NEC’s Board of Directors decided in late </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">February. The NEC, which has worked for 37 years to protect the Klamath River and its fishery, is concerned that the Agreement does not contain a guarantee of water for fish nor even a goal for fish </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">recovery. Yet the Agreement would give farmers in the upper Klamath basin an unprecedented guaranteed allotment of water for irrigation.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The decision not to support the Restoration Agreement (also known as the Settlement Agreement) is based on scientific analyses provided by three of the West’s most respected river flow analysts, who concur that as a “plan for a plan” — even with the removal of four dams — the Agreement could result in Klamath River flows so sparse at crucial times that endangered salmon may not be able to recover from what are now critically low numbers.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“We want nothing more than to support a workable agreement that would result in decommissioning of four mainstem Klamath dams and provide fish with the water they need to avoid extinction,” Greg King, Executive Director of the Northcoast Environmental Center, said Monday. “The independent scientists we have commissioned and consulted, who are among the most respected river analysts in the west, tell us this deal won’t do that. This Agreement would lock us in to supporting water allocations for agriculture, as well as state and federal legislation, that could result in stream flows so low as to cause extinction. We can’t do that.”</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The NEC is one of 26 parties to the Klamath Basin Agreement. Last year the organization contracted with hydrologist Greg Kamman, of Kamman Hydrology in San Rafael, and fisheries biologist Dr. Bill Trush, of McBain and Trush in Arcata, to analyze the scientific modeling and conclusions contained in the Restoration Agreement. In their reports (available at http://yournec.org) both scientists concluded that the Agreement could lock into place water allocations that would harm salmon.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week Trush completed an alternative plan for evaluating the needs of Klamath River fish prior to approval of the Restoration Agreement. That plan (attached) would have to be well under way, or completed, before the NEC will support the Basin Agreement.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In his alternative plan, Trush wrote, “The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement relegates salmon and the Klamath River ecosystem to the status of junior water users, while Upper Basin irrigators become the senior water users. This premise squarely places onto the salmon and the river ecosystem any risk inherent in the conclusion that flows contained in the Agreement will actually provide enough water for recovery of the species. Nowhere is this clearer than in the future allocation of water. … Quantitative goals for fish and the river ecosystem, conspicuously missing from the Settlement Agreement, are necessary to establish how much improvement (benefit) is required for restoration. … The NEC shouldn’t support the Settlement Agreement until these specific concerns are addressed quantitatively.”</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition to Trush and Kamman, another river scientist, Dr. Thomas Hardy, has expressed trepidations about the Basin Agreement. Hardy is the Associate Director of the Utah Water Research Laboratory at Utah State University. Many consider his studies of Klamath River hydrology to be the “best available science” for evaluating the river’s fishery. Last year the National Research Council utilized much of Hardy’s work in its definitive text, Hydrology, Ecology, and Fishes of the Klamath River Basin. In February 2008 Hardy told the NEC Board of Directors that in the Restoration Agreement, “Agriculture gets all the guarantees, and everything related to the environment is left to somewhat vague processes and committees.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hardy said that in dry years agriculture in the upper basin will be “taking too much water from the system,” with flow models demonstrating that the river will probably go well below 1,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) in late summer and early fall. “I’m just scared to death any time the flows get below 1,000 cfs,” said Hardy. Such low flows, he said, “double the risk to the system.” Flows that resulted in the 2002 fish kill, which killed nearly 70,000 adult Chinook salmon, were between 600 and 700 cfs.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hardy said that an acceptable Agreement would “guarantee flows for fish first, then other water uses.”</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In his hydrological report, Kamman said, “I am concerned that the successful implementation of the Settlement Agreement hinges on a conceptual plan which has no guarantees of being achieved within a specified amount of time – time does not appear to be on the side of Klamath River salmonids.”</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Under the Agreement, water in the mainstem will be reduced from September to February, “and this reduction in flow may prove detrimental to Klamath River salmonids,” said Kamman. “These flow conditions further emphasize the imbalance in flow and likely, in turn, salmonid habitat quality between the winter and spring periods (a time of salmonid immigration and spawning).”</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kamman also reports that the flows recommended in the Basin Agreement will draw too much water from Upper Klamath Lake, part of the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex, one of the most important habitats in North America for migrating waterfowl. Kamman said water use projected in the Basin Agreement could result in “lower total annual lake storage than was experienced historically.”</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The NEC is also concerned that Settlement parties are being asked to support the Basin Agreement without seeing a dam removal agreement from PacifiCorp, owner of the four mainstem Klamath River dams whose relicensing process was the catalyst that brought the 26 Settlement parties together nearly three years ago. The PacifiCorp deal has been marred from the start by the company’s intransigence and occasional fits of economic hubris.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Tearing down these dams would be the best thing to happen to an American river since dams started going up in the first place,” said the NEC’s Greg King. “You’d think that in facing the best opportunity in history to save precious salmon from extinction the folks at PacifiCorp would declare a ‘no-brainer’ and just go ahead and do it.” PacifiCorp ratepayers, said King, would also save $114 million if the company tore down the dams, as opposed to building the more expensive fish ladders required by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.oregonwild.org/waters/klamath/a-vision-for-the-klamath-basin/the-klamath-basin-restoration-agreement/NewsRelease-NEC%20Rejects%20Klamath%20Deal1.pdf">Oregon Wild</a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Native Rights News is making this material from [name of news source] available in accordance with a press release. This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">____________</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://www.beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Social Justice Ministry.</div></div>Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-51102773540877773462010-01-21T17:24:00.000-08:002010-01-21T17:24:02.905-08:00Oregon Modocs Set Second Meeting to Discuss Benefits of Self-GovernmentFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 21, 2010<br />
Contact: Perry H. Chesnut<br />
<a href="mailto:pchesnut@indigenous-rights.org">pchesnut@indigenous-rights.org</a> <br />
425-770-7345<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;"><strong>Modocs Seeking to Form Government Separate from the Klamath Tribes Set Second Meeting:</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;"><strong>Will Discuss Economic Development, Tribal Membership Requirements and Ancestral Land Base</strong></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-SEHcXnkOF6HG1hmT4CPpE2MktS6BPb_fT_HD686ehJlLth0CazVs8RwWWoGks7fGvn27_R7FSJL1-wlsSirpFnnJhtEEK83ior6c785K8xitx3BOZX1Pq4mA3RoRO8cvJx0JTIO6R9LR/s1600-h/mt_shasta_north_side_JPG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-SEHcXnkOF6HG1hmT4CPpE2MktS6BPb_fT_HD686ehJlLth0CazVs8RwWWoGks7fGvn27_R7FSJL1-wlsSirpFnnJhtEEK83ior6c785K8xitx3BOZX1Pq4mA3RoRO8cvJx0JTIO6R9LR/s320/mt_shasta_north_side_JPG.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>An informational meeting for Modoc Indians interested in the movement to dissolve the Modoc Tribe’s political relationship with the Klamath Tribes will be held between the hours of 6:30pm and 9:00pm on the evening of Friday, January 29, 2010 at the Commissioners Hearing Room of the Klamath County Government Center located at 305 Main St. in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Entrance to the building will be by the door coming off the rear parking lot on Pine St.<br />
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A previous meeting held in the same location on October 9th of last year drew approximately 30 Modocs. Perry Chesnut, an adopted member of the Modoc Tribe, stated that it was time to end 136 years of subservience to the Klamath Indians, and said that the only practical way to preserve the Modoc Tribe’s unique ethnic and cultural identity, and protect and advance the Modoc People’s political and economic interests is to set up their own government, separate from that of the current Klamath tribal government. He presented a document titled Declaration of the Rights of the Free and Sovereign People of the Modoc Indian Tribe (Mowatocknie Maklaksûm), which enumerates in 46 articles the natural, political and human rights of the Modoc People. Since that meeting, a number of “Declaration Bearers” have been circulating the document within the Modoc Tribe and gathering signatures for its ratification.<br />
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The upcoming meeting on Friday, January 29th, is open to all who wish to learn more about the separation movement and the opportunities it presents to the Modoc People. <br />
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M. Sean Manion, a Modoc Indian who is a civil engineer and has spent the last seven years in Iraq managing various rebuilding projects, will present an economic development model that has proven to be very successful for Arab tribes in Iraq. Mr. Manion states that the economic development model is especially well-suited to tribal entities and believes that it can be implemented successfully by the Modoc Tribe to create large tribally owned enterprises as well as smaller business ventures owned by individual tribal members. Mr. Manion will also speak to the issue of eligibility for tribal membership, contrasting the blood quantum standard now used by the Klamath tribal government with the lineal descent standard to which more tribes are now turning.<br />
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Perry Chesnut will speak about the opportunity for developing a large casino resort complex and present an architectural rendering of such a casino resort prepared by David P. Soderstrom of Soderstrom Architects, a Portland Oregon architectural firm. He will also present a map of the Modoc Tribe’s ancestral lands ceded to the government in the Lakes Treaty of 1864 and discuss the many opportunities for economic development presented by the five national forests included in these lands and by the potential restoration of the vast wetlands that constituted Lower Klamath Lake, Tule Lake and Clear Lake prior to the extensive “reclamation” projects of the early 1900s. <br />
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An extensive period of time has been set aside for questions and answers following the presentations of Mr. Manion and Mr. Chesnut. Declaration Signature Sheets will also be available for those who wish to ratify the Declaration with their signatures. Those who wish to circulate the Declaration can obtain a signature sheet from Mr. Chesnut after the meeting.<br />
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The Commissioners Hearing Room has a seating capacity of 70, so those wishing to sit should come early. <br />
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Source: Modoc Land Recovery Project<br />
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Native Rights News is making this material available in accordance with a general press release. This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />
____________<br />
<a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Social Justice Ministry.Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-80533963581271797492010-01-05T21:01:00.000-08:002010-01-05T21:01:40.312-08:00Human Blockade Halts Logging on Karuk Sacred Sites<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;">Klamath Justice Coalition Halts Logging on Karuk Sacred Sites</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span> <br />
by Dan Bacher, Indymedia, North Coast<br />
Wednesday Dec 16th, 2009 11:11 AM <br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This morning the Klamath Justice Coalition used a human blockade of 15 people to defend Karuk sacred sites from logging activities. The action took place near Orleans, CA within the Six Rivers National Forest and halted work on the Orleans Community Fuels Reduction Plan. “The OCFR is actually the Orleans Culture and Forest Reduction plan,” said Leaf Hillman, a Karuk Ceremonial Leader in Orleans. Below are the press releases from the Klamath Justice Coalition and the Karuk Tribe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PRESS RELEASE - Klamath Justice Coalition </span><br />
For Immediate Release: December 16, 2009 <br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more information: Leaf Hillman, Karuk Indian 530-627-3710 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: large;">ORLEANS RESIDENTS MOVE TO HALT FOREST SERVICE PLANS TO DESTROY SACRED SITES</span> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Forest Supervisor Tyrone Kelly Breaks Promises and Federal Law</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Orleans, CA – This morning the Klamath Justice Coalition used a human blockade to defend Karuk sacred sites from logging activities. The action took place near Orleans, CA within the Six Rivers National Forest and halted work on the Orleans Community Fuels Reduction Plan. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Forest Service contractors were greeted by activists before day break at Orleans Mountain Lookout Road which leads to one of the units in dispute. Crews turned back without involving law enforcement. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“This morning’s small but important victory marks the beginning of our campaign to defend Karuk sacred sites and protect the health of our forests,” said Orleans local Chook- Chook Hillman. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This logging operation was intended to be part of a larger fuels reduction program developed by the US Forest Service with community buy-in. However, in the end the Forest Service betrayed the local community once again. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the project, the stated Purpose and Need for the Orleans Community Fuel Reduction and Forest Health Project (OCFR) is to manage forest stands to reduce fuels accumulations and improve forest health around the community of Orleans, while enhancing cultural values associated with the Panamnik World Renewal Ceremonial District. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The OCFR is actually the Orleans Culture and Forest Reduction plan,” said Hillman. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Originally, Forest Supervisor Tryone Kelly engaged with community members on a collaborative process to develop a fuels reduction plan that would protect sacred areas, reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire, and protect sensitive stands of hardwoods. However, in practice it looks like another timber harvest that disregards the concerns of the community. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“We are shocked that the Forest Service thinks that it can get away with lying to our community. We want fuels reduction, but we will not accept the destruction of Karuk sacred sites or a timber sale disguised as a fuels reduction plan,” added Annelia Hillman. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is not the first time that Kelly has shown a particular insensitivity to Tribal cultural issues. Last year he oversaw the bull dozing of a Tribal member’s that was on land disputed to be Indian Trust Land. The act not only destroyed a home, but destroyed a nearby archeological site and a contemporary dance ground. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again during last years’ wildfires, Kelly directed the construction of firebreaks and use of heavy equipment that destroyed sections of “medicine man trails” and high country alters used during annual World Renewal Ceremonies. Representatives from the Karuk Tribe urged Kelley to build the breaks in areas that were less sensitive but the concerns with ignored. “Its like Kelly is hell bent to destroy our sacred areas one step at a time.” Said Hillman. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Klamath Justice Coalition is not new to direct action as a tactic to force change. The group has staged direct actions in Scotland, Omaha, NE, Portland, OR, and Sacramento, CA, and Salt Lake City, Utah focused on the removal of Klamath Dams. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who we are: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Klamath Justice Coalition is an ad hoc group of Klamath Basin Residents from all walks of life. We are Indians, non-natives, mothers, fathers, workers, hippies, youth, and elders. Our goal is to ensure that the cultures and ecosystems of Klamath Communities are protected and enhanced. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"># # # </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Karuk Tribe </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P R E S S R E L E A S E </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For Immediate Release: December 16, 2009 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more information: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Craig Tucker, Spokesman, Karuk Tribe, cell 916-207-8294 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">US FOREST SERVICE LOGGING PROJECT THREATENS SACRED SITES</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Forest Supervisor Tyrone Kelley Ignores Local Community, Tribal Leaders, and his own Proposed Plan</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Orleans, CA – Six Rivers National Forest Supervisor Tyrone Kelley has directed his crews to begin logging with heavy equipment in areas sacred to the Karuk Tribe in violation of his own proposed fuels reduction plan. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“We participated in good faith in the Forest Service’s collaborative process. Although we were assured that our sacred areas would be protected and our values respected and enhanced, it’s clear now that these were hollow promises. Furthermore, the actions directed by Kelly are in violation of federal law,” said Bill Tripp, Eco-cultural Resources Specialist for the Karuk Tribe. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the past three years, the Orleans Ranger District in the Six Rivers National Forest has held a series of stakeholder meetings allegedly designed to work with the Orleans community to develop a fuels reduction plan that both Native and non-native community members could accept. After dozens of meetings and an appeal of Kelley’s original plan, tribal members, as well as non-native local residents, thought that a consensus had been reached. However, when logging began, community members realized immediately that Kelley had reneged on his promises and violated the law by implementing a plan inconsistent with his own Environmental Impact Statement. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At issue is the insufficient analysis related to use of heavy logging equipment in areas deemed sacred by the Karuk Tribe, divergence from measures designed to protect, promote, enhance and restore stands of ecological sensitive hardwoods, failure to protect large diameter trees[c1] , and a failure to make good on a commitment for multi-party monitoring during the fuels reduction operations. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the project, the stated Purpose and Need for the Orleans Community Fuel Reduction and Forest Health Project (OCFR) is to manage forest stands to reduce fuels accumulations and improve forest health around the community of Orleans, while enhancing cultural values associated with the Panamnik World Renewal Ceremonial District. Current logging operations are inconsistent with the FEIS and therefore violates the National Environmental Policy act. The Forest Service also proceeded without required consultations with the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The actual work on the ground will do the opposite of the stated goals. OCFR in all actuality has begun to compromise the integrity of spiritual values associated with the Panamnik World Renewal District,” said Tripp. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The areas being debated represent 914 acres to be mechanically harvested. The USFS awarded the contract to Timber Products for nearly $1 million dollars. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Tribe is demanding that the Forest Service halt all logging operations until these issues can be resolved and sacred sites protected. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leaf Hillman is a Karuk Ceremonial Leader in Orleans who contends that this represents the latest in a series of bad decisions by Kelley that have served to denigrate Karuk Cultural areas. According to Hillman, “Tyrone Kelley has no respect for this community or native cultures. The Tribe and local community members worked hard to develop a fuels reduction plan that meets the needs of both the community and the Forest Service. Kelley’s actions are not only an act of bad faith, they are an act of cultural genocide. We will not sit idly by while he destroys the ecological integrity of these forests and the Karuk Tribe’s sacred areas, we will defend our homeland.”</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">_________________________________________________________</span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">© 2000–2010 <a href="http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2003/12/08/16643971.php">San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Native Rights News is making this material available in accordance with Indymedia's published policy which states: "Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">____________</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Social Justice Ministry.</span>Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-54392901512055045152009-12-29T17:55:00.000-08:002009-12-29T17:55:27.006-08:00Save the Sacred Sites Alliance in Dire Financial Straits<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>Protection of Native American Graves Put at Risk for Lack of $1,800 and $100 per Month</strong></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_pyTq7NXCbDdnLB7IIWrsF13YrjpcJW81gfsZDDb0BPi2qBLJMDLV5H78YdjgvSDGWe6hyphenhyphen3B4QSZzB2k_dZGUSK1kpeAwUhYiKUrUXFbPAUWZA3xigt_yKBJ8qKnx0cSi7l_eqBRDbuqm/s1600-h/save-sacred_sites_alliance_logo_JPEG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_pyTq7NXCbDdnLB7IIWrsF13YrjpcJW81gfsZDDb0BPi2qBLJMDLV5H78YdjgvSDGWe6hyphenhyphen3B4QSZzB2k_dZGUSK1kpeAwUhYiKUrUXFbPAUWZA3xigt_yKBJ8qKnx0cSi7l_eqBRDbuqm/s320/save-sacred_sites_alliance_logo_JPEG.jpg" /></span></strong></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Editor's Note:</strong> <em>A few days ago, I received this message from Dave Kitchen, cofounder and codirector with his wife Sharon, of Save the Sacred Sites Alliance. The core purpose and work of the Kitchens and Save the Sacred Sites Alliance is to protect Native American graves and gravesites from being disturbed or destroyed. Following Dave's letter is my initial response. I am including an image and both online and mailing addresses for anyone who may wish to keep this extremely important work going.</em></span><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dave Kitchen's Letter</span><br />
</div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hi everyone,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well we gave it our best shot. But since they have raised our taxes and the county has done something that cut Sharon's salary in half, and we tried everything to get the money, but failed, it looks like we may be off the internet and it looks like we are going to lose the farm and may have to return the animals to the local humane society. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just wanted to say what a pleasure it has been being you guys online friend.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I realize that the Creator/ God that I serve is stronger than I can ever know. But I also know that sometimes the answer to our requests is NO.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So have a good Christmas and pray for us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dave</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our Response to Dave</span> (edited to protect the privacy of certain individuals)</span><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ckgj0mNuoXspFcFqN1QHBoch9FL0wGbuCht40m4OKXY-IJ1R5mSDBttY2GjCXDBbP7Sh3qtIDFH6LWk8cKUkTOH-YiXnjZG-1Yv4Y_6wIWo106cSV04B-UhFs42FlRJj_TG5j7f-5NPR/s1600-h/letterhead_Modoc_JPG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ckgj0mNuoXspFcFqN1QHBoch9FL0wGbuCht40m4OKXY-IJ1R5mSDBttY2GjCXDBbP7Sh3qtIDFH6LWk8cKUkTOH-YiXnjZG-1Yv4Y_6wIWo106cSV04B-UhFs42FlRJj_TG5j7f-5NPR/s640/letterhead_Modoc_JPG.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dear Dave and Sharon,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a heartbreaking thing to hear. You have been doing such good and important work. How much do you need to stay on the Internet? If you tell me, I will publicize it and try to raise it, but I can’t promise that it will happen. I am facing a similar situation with the work I am doing to publish the Native Rights News and to help the Modoc people reestablish their own government after 136 years of exile and subjugation to the Klamath Tribe: everyone praises it, but they just won’t part with any money to support its continuation. My wife is similar to Sharon in that she works and gives a goodly portion to keeping our website and blog on the Internet. But this year, her employer ended all quarterly bonuses and didn’t give its annual cost of living raise of about 2 percent. So here we are, living in one of the most expensive areas of the country, with less money to pay bills and buy food than before.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just over a year ago, I was extremely privileged to be one of the very few white men ever allowed to take part in the sacred Lakota Yuwipi Ceremony. Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse, the current carrier of Chief Crazy Horse’s pipe, said to the small group of us gathered in the Inipi (sweat lodge) for purification prior to the Yuwipi Ceremony: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">"We do this [the Inipi (sweat lodge) ceremony] because we must learn to endure difficulties in life. When we go through this ceremony, we are reborn, and we acquire wisdom from the Creator. Some of you may make this your way of life. You may decide to dedicate your life to the Creator and to these ceremonies, but if you do, you will be changed by this, and your path will become more difficult. So you must learn to endure the heat and not leave the lodge no matter how difficult it becomes."</span> – Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse, Lakota Holy Man</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a tragic reality that the Creator’s work is done by only a few, and in almost every circumstance He requires us to struggle mightily. We pray and wonder why the Creator won’t help, but the fact is that if He made things easier for us, we would slack off in our work to manifest His Supreme Will in this world. The Creator knows His Creation, and He makes our path more difficult in order to keep us closer to Him and His Will. I prefer that to the view that God’s motives and actions are always inscrutable, as taught by the Jewish Rabbis, based on this verse in the Torah: “My thoughts are not your thoughts; My ways are not your ways.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We must not forget that the Creator made everything – not only good, but evil and indifference as well. The Creator is in everything, and especially in each one of us. In some of us, the impulse to do good, to make the world a better place, to seek justice is the dominant force. And we walk the good red road of righteousness, light and life. Regrettably, it seems that in this country especially, more and more people are choosing to follow the black road of darkness and death. And so, every day, our country gets closer to the edge of the abyss.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I said, please tell me how much you need to stay on the Internet and by what deadline, and I will publicize it and we’ll see what happens. Keep hope alive. Perhaps the Creator will lead us to someone who will listen to to the still, small Voice in his or her heart and do the right thing. After all, it’s not you or me that their donation will help – it’s the indigenous people who benefit from the work we give our lives to doing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your steadfast friend and spiritual brother,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yahoshua Nesher ben Yakov Leib (Reb YaNYaL)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Two Eagles, Perry Chesnut)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">_________________________</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To learn more about the extremely important work that the Save Our Sacred Sites Alliance has been doing for more than thirty years, click here: </span><a href="http://www.myspace.com/savethesacredsites"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Save Our Sacred Sites Alliance</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Email addresses include: </span><a href="mailto:savethesacredsites@gmail.com"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">savethesacredsites@gmail.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><a href="mailto:savethesacredsites@myspace.com"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">savethesacredsites@myspace.com</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
If you wish to donate to Save the Sacred Sites Alliance, please mail your check or money order to:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Save The Sacred Sites Alliance</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">C/O Dave & Sharon Kitchen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P.O. Box 324</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Townsend, Ga. 31331</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">__________________________________________________________ </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sources: </span><a href="http://www.myspace.com/savethesacredsites"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Save the Sacred Sites Alliance</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and Modoc Land Recovery Project</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Native Rights News is making this material available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">____________</span><br />
<a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Native Rights News (NRN)</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by </span><a href="http://beitshemtov.org/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Temple Beit Shem Tov</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> as part of its Social Justice Ministry.</span>Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-29700826740213492252009-12-04T13:36:00.000-08:002009-12-04T14:40:56.300-08:00Ninth Circuit Court Blocks Open Pit Gold Mine on Sacred Mount Tenabo<div><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>For Immediate Release:</strong><br />Contacts:<br />Larson Bill, South Fork Western Shoshone, 775-397-6726, 775-744-2537<br />John Hadder, Great Basin Resource Watch, 775-722-4056<br />Julie Cavanaugh-Bill, Western Shoshone Defense Project, 775-397-1371<br />Roger Flynn, Western Mining Action Project, 303-823-5738<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong>Western Shoshone Prevail at Ninth Circuit Court on Mt. Tenabo – Court Issues Ruling Enjoining Cortez Hills Open Pit Gold Mine</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="color:#660000;">Court Agrees with Western Shoshone and Allies that the Interior Department’s Approval of the Mine Likely Violated Federal Law</span><br /><br /><em><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJyWyKDlOvQxXtRQTaOvAKdDCdbdizEgRwpcUCfClfWDdJYScS7lrVsu19i7LQfAybKKlulNdX3DxuCn1pu0dSZ-AW7DN0qS9pV3fjfxzDGgssE4ky_8QD5e-Ab1vIj37tOkMTxHObD0BD/s1600-h/Barrick+open+pit+gold+mine.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 350px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 278px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411512216012294482" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJyWyKDlOvQxXtRQTaOvAKdDCdbdizEgRwpcUCfClfWDdJYScS7lrVsu19i7LQfAybKKlulNdX3DxuCn1pu0dSZ-AW7DN0qS9pV3fjfxzDGgssE4ky_8QD5e-Ab1vIj37tOkMTxHObD0BD/s400/Barrick+open+pit+gold+mine.jpg" /></a>December 3, 2009: San Francisco,CA and Crescent Valley, NV</strong> –</em> In a major ruling, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today issued its ruling enjoining the construction and operation of the Cortez Hills gold mine, proposed by Barrick Gold Corporation. The Ninth Circuit reversed the decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, which had denied the motion for preliminary injunction filed by the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs in the case are: the South Fork Band Council of Western Shoshone, the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians, the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, the Western Shoshone Defense Project, and Great Basin Resource Watch (the “Plaintiffs”). The Plaintiffs challenged the U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) decision to approve the Cortez Hills Mine in November of 2008.<br /><br />In overturning the District Court’s decision, the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of their legal arguments that BLM violated federal environmental and public land law in approving the Mine. The Ninth Circuit also found that enjoining the Mine was in the public interest due to the “irreparable environmental harm threatened by this massive project.” Among other issues, the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claims that BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act in failing to properly analyze the environmental impacts from the Mine on groundwater, air quality, and other resources. “Suspending a project until that consideration has occurred thus comports with the public interest.”<br /><br />The Cortez Hills Mine would be one of the largest open pit cyanide heap leach gold mines in the United States. It would be located on the flank of Mount Tenabo – an area well-known for its spiritual and cultural importance to the Western Shoshone. 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. Over the years, tens of thousands of individuals and organizations from across the United States and around the world have joined with the Shoshone and voiced their opposition to this mine. The proposed mine area has been found by the BLM, in repeated ethnographic studies, as being of extreme spiritual and cultural importance to the Western Shoshone. One report says: “Mt. Tenabo is … considered a traditional locus of power and source of life, and figures in creation stories and world renewal. As the tallest mountain in the area – the most likely to capture snow and generate water to grow piñon and nourish life – it is literally a life-giver. Water is to earth what blood is to the body, and these subterranean waterways are likened to the earth’s arteries and veins.”<br /><br />The Mine is proposed by Barrick Gold Corporation, the world’s largest gold mining company, headquartered in Toronto, Canada. The Mine would blast and excavate a new massive open pit on Mount Tenabo over 800 acres in size, with a depth of over 2,000 feet. It would include several new waste disposal and processing facilities (including a cyanide heap-leaching facility), consisting of approximately 1,577 million tons of waste rock, 53 million tons of tailings material, and 112 million tons of spent heap leach material. The Mine would include an extensive groundwater pumping system to dewater Mount Tenabo (in order to keep the open pit and mine workings dry during mining) and associated water pipelines that will transport the pumped water away from Mount Tenabo. In total, the mine would permanently destroy approximately 6,800 acres land on and around Mount Tenabo, over 90% of which is classified as federal “public” land. Despite the pending case before the Ninth Circuit appealing the District Court’s denial of the Plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction in January, 2009, Barrick decided to begin construction of the Mine. The Ninth Circuit’s ruling today orders the District Court to issue an injunction against the Mine.<br /><br />“We are pleased with the Ninth Circuit’s ruling,” said Larson Bill, Tribal Council Member of the South Fork Band Council and Te-Moak Tribe. “This is a result of Western Shoshone people remaining committed to protecting our land and environment. It is unfortunate that the company decided to push this forward without addressing all concerns, especially those of the Shoshone people. Barrick operates world wide and is well-versed on these issues – they knew that an injunction was a possibility – especially where there has been continuous opposition and litigation.” continued Larson Bill.<br /><br />Carrie Dann, a world renowned Western Shoshone grandmother, and recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (known as the “alternative Nobel Peace Prize”) has been among those to lead the fight to protect Mount Tenabo from mining for over 15 years. “Mount Tenabo should be left alone – no further disturbance. This mine will drain the water from Mount Tenabo. They will be sucking the water out of the mountain forever. The destruction of the water is like the destruction of the blood of the earth; you are destroying life of the earth and the people and wildlife that depend on it. Dewatering is taking the life of future generations. Water is sacred, all life depends on it,” says Carrie Dann.<br /><br />“None of us are opposed to mining, if it is done responsibly, however this project is as irresponsible as it gets. The BLM has a legal responsibility to protect the air, water, and ecological values of the area as well as the religious freedom of Western Shoshone, and to fully analyze the impacts of a proposed project. The Ninth Circuit correctly found that BLM failed in its legal responsibilities,” said John Hadder, Executive Director of Great Basin Resource Watch.<br /><br />The Plaintiffs are being represented in court by Roger Flynn of the non-profit legal firm, the Western Mining Action Project, based on Colorado, which specializes in mining, public land, and environmental law.<br /><br />For more information on the Cortez Hills Project, Mount Tenabo, and the legal challenge go to <a href="http://www.gbrw.org/">http://www.gbrw.org/</a> and <a href="http://www.wsdp.org/">http://www.wsdp.org/</a>. The Ninth Circuit Decision can be downloaded at: <a href="http://www.gbrw.org/images/stories/publications/tenabo/Ninth_Circuit_injunction_ruling_12-3-09.pdf">http://www.gbrw.org/images/stories/publications/tenabo/Ninth_Circuit_injunction_ruling_12-3-09.pdf</a><br /></span>__________________________________________________________<br /><br />Source: <a href="http://www.wsdp.org/">Western Shoshone Defense Project</a><br /><br />Native Rights News is making this material available as the result of a general press release received from the source cited above.</div><div>____________<br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov </a>as part of its Social Justice Ministry. </div>Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-78118896845836107002009-10-19T15:57:00.000-07:002009-10-19T19:44:23.560-07:00Congressional Apology to Native Americans Is Just Cheap Talk<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp9hiFPNqV7etXMmKKRxdiJA-SmIpmM4neDRdYhmvbj4KzzEkHYFYqQaIlo22HjbFYApj5YiDstUyHcDV-_2mJjtozuitxvAq8LSAp1shXGPYBr93ZxDUp9jbu9VOWew-fJi24pWEKI8eF/s1600-h/logo_Indian_law_resource_center_PNG.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 250px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394499993575310882" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp9hiFPNqV7etXMmKKRxdiJA-SmIpmM4neDRdYhmvbj4KzzEkHYFYqQaIlo22HjbFYApj5YiDstUyHcDV-_2mJjtozuitxvAq8LSAp1shXGPYBr93ZxDUp9jbu9VOWew-fJi24pWEKI8eF/s400/logo_Indian_law_resource_center_PNG.png" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br />October 8, 2009</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><strong>Apology Op-Ed</strong><br />Robert T. Coulter<br />Executive Director, Indian Law Resource Center<br />www.indianlaw.org<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong>‘No Thanks’ to Congressional Apology</strong></span><br /><br />This week the U.S. Senate passed a resolution apologizing to Native Americans for the wrongs done by citizens of this country. Robert T. Coulter, Executive Director of the Indian Law Resource Center, says what happened is a failure on the part of Congress to really acknowledge what it has done in the past.<br /><br /><em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4IGV-gnp5XfenGNY01RCLMp8BmiC7MaSbIbGIMqW5lTnn3VTEeO2XLee8WUj8uUGsYPPPWOiYd8RrcwS2jqM-PflPj_YXooGQVf56W1B1BxOJnveud2mCiCFOQiz2LprSPamEavb9E-AG/s1600-h/Robert_Coulter_Indian_Law_Resource_Center.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 252px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394501055820330370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4IGV-gnp5XfenGNY01RCLMp8BmiC7MaSbIbGIMqW5lTnn3VTEeO2XLee8WUj8uUGsYPPPWOiYd8RrcwS2jqM-PflPj_YXooGQVf56W1B1BxOJnveud2mCiCFOQiz2LprSPamEavb9E-AG/s400/Robert_Coulter_Indian_Law_Resource_Center.png" /></a>The Senate has just passed a resolution that apologizes to American Indians and other Native Americans for the wrongs done by citizens of this country. But a genuine apology means you won’t do it again, and this resolution does nothing at all to stop or correct the on-going wrongs that the federal government inflicts on Indian and Alaska Native nations. Unfortunately our government still takes Indian land without paying for it, still refuses to account for the Indian money it holds, still violates its treaties with Indian nations without making amends, and still maintains a body of policy and law that is so discriminatory and racist that it should have been discarded generations ago.</em><br /><br />To make a real apology, Congress needs to stop doing the things that it is apologizing to Indian nations and other Native peoples for. Americans generally do not know that the federal government continues to treat tribes and Alaska Native nations this way, and the evidence is that the public does not support or condone this mistreatment.<br /><br />It is astonishing to most Americans that the federal government is still taking Indian land and resources – without due process of law and without fair market compensation, sometimes with no compensation at all. Of course, the Constitution says that Congress may not take anyone’s property except with due process of law and with fair market compensation. But these rules are not applied to most land and resources owned by Indian tribes, and the government takes the land and resources at will. Obviously, this is wrong. Today, the government is trying to drive Western Shoshone Indians off their homelands in Nevada without a semblance of due process and with a payment of about 15 cents per acre. This is gold mining land, but that doesn’t make it alright to take it from its Indian owners. There are other present day cases. A few years ago, Congress confiscated part of the reservation that was shared by the Yurok Nation in California and turned it over to another tribe. Congress gloated at the time that it could do this without paying compensation because of Congress’ so-called “Plenary Power” over Indians and their property.<br /><br />A few years ago, Congress passed a law that orders a fund of money belonging to nine Western Shoshone tribes to be taken from the tribes and handed out by the Interior Department to some but not all individual tribal members. The bill was passed over the objections of most of the tribes.<br /><br />The Interior Department still will not fully account for Indian funds that it holds. This national shame is reported regularly in the press. The Department is defying the law, as it has done for generations. The United States still insists that Indian tribes and in some respects Indian individuals, are in a state of permanent, involuntary trusteeship, with the federal government as trustee. No one else in the US is subject to such unaccountable “trusteeship.”<br /><br />Congress today insists it can put Indian nations and tribes out of existence at any time. Indian nations and tribes still have no real right to exist in US law. The threat of termination is very real. Some small Native tribes in Alaska have recently heard this threat from congressional sources.<br /><br />Congress also insists that it may freely violate treaties made with Indian nations. Sadly this is not a thing of the past. It does this today – regularly. Treaties are contracts, and the government cannot freely violate its contracts with others, but it does so – often – in the case of Indian treaties.<br /><br />The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States, an international legal body that is officially recognized and supported by the United States, recently concluded that US policies regarding Indian lands are discriminatory and constitute a violation of human rights. But the Bush Administration defied the Commission and the present Administration is still refusing to change the discriminatory laws it applies to Indian tribes.<br /><br />This on-going pattern of lawless and arbitrary congressional power over Indians has resulted in a negative, risky, unpredictable business climate on Indian reservations that inhibits needed economic development.<br /><br />To be clear, many of the things Congress is considering apologizing for are still being done to Indian and Alaska Native tribes and to Native Hawaiians as well. Sadly, the United States, especially the US Congress, has never given up its insistence on treating Indian and Alaska Native nations with injustice and discrimination. This is not only wrong but very bad public policy and wholly out of keeping with American values.<br /><br />Congress should conduct hearings and adopt a resolution promising never again to take Indian or tribal property without due process of law and fair market compensation. The resolution should promise that Congress will never again terminate any Native American tribe or its government and never again violate or abrogate a treaty with an Indian nation without making full compensation and correcting all resulting harm to the Indian nation. Congress must examine and change all federal laws, regulations, and courtmade law that deprive Indian nations and tribes of constitutional rights. Congress must pass legislation to assure that the government accounts fully for the Indian money and property it holds.<br /><br />Without such commitments from Congress, an apology will be just another offense against Native Americans. Until the government changes its ways, things cannot be expected to improve much in Indian country. This is a good time to make the changes.</span><br />__________________________________________________________<br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Source: <a href="http://indianlaw.org/">Indian Law Resource Center </a><br /><br />Native Rights News is making this material available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.</span></div>Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-33910130468808495332009-10-16T15:58:00.000-07:002009-10-16T18:00:51.542-07:00Oregon Modocs Reassert Unique Identity & Right to Self-Government: to Separate from the Klamath Tribes<span style="font-family:arial;">Modoc Land Recovery Project</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Press Release: October 15, 2009<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong>Oregon Modocs Take First Step to Separate from Klamath Tribes and Form Own Government — Issue Country's First Tribal Declaration Based on UN Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples</strong></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9UOXHSTMHLiSEAWGDDo9sxTgqo1cuBjoPhsTxKtZTUeUkbKcEGBOCyHIMAJuG_zc8NWpQObbMFsOcRqGNqTDiupnBXfpr-DPNDAU6qHbeTD0GDPbEUQCe4InZTMc4cs4clBN5ebhT8vkc/s1600-h/mt_shasta_north_side_JPG.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 250px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 185px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393362719838769314" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9UOXHSTMHLiSEAWGDDo9sxTgqo1cuBjoPhsTxKtZTUeUkbKcEGBOCyHIMAJuG_zc8NWpQObbMFsOcRqGNqTDiupnBXfpr-DPNDAU6qHbeTD0GDPbEUQCe4InZTMc4cs4clBN5ebhT8vkc/s400/mt_shasta_north_side_JPG.jpg" /></a>Approximately thirty Modoc Indians attended a meeting last Friday evening (10-09-2009) in the Klamath County Commissioner's Hearing Room in Klamath Falls, Oregon, where they listened to a presentation by Perry Chesnut in which he urged them to join the movement to reestablish Modoc self-government and sovereignty over their ancestral homelands by signing the Declaration of the Rights of the Free and Sovereign People of the Modoc Indian Tribe .</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Chesnut, whose Indian name is Two Eagles, is a life-long social activist and champion of indigenous rights. In 1992, the late Miller Anderson adopted Chesnut into his family and made him a member of the Modoc Tribe. Miller Anderson is a direct descendant of Sloc-a-lot (known to white settlers as Chief George), who at the time of the Modoc Indian War of 1872-73 was the acknowledged La̕qi (Modoc for "Leader") or Headman of the Kokiwas Band of the Modoc Tribe.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;">The 11-page Declaration contains 46 Articles setting forth various inalienable rights preceded by a preamble containing 30 statements as to the reasons why the Declaration has been issued. It is believed to be the first such declaration issued by any Native American tribe or nation that is based on the provisions of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIP) approved by the UN General Assembly in September of 2007.<br /><br /><strong>We must take decisive action to reassert our unique tribal and cultural identity</strong><br /><strong></strong><br />Mr. Chesnut opened the meeting by noting that the Modoc Indians of southern Oregon and northern California are living in a time of crisis. He stated that just two days before the meeting he had received a phone call from a Klamath Indian who "angrily told me that the Klamath Tribes are one people — that the Modoc Indians have no separate identity or culture, that they and the Klamaths are culturally indistinguishable."<br /><br />"What could be more sacred to us than our unique identity as an Indian people? Yet that identity has been slowly slipping away for the last fifty or more years, being eroded and submerged into a mishmash of Indian peoples enrolled in the political organization known as the Klamath Tribes. And make no mistake, the Klamath Tribes is not a tribe. It is a political organization, an affiliation of three separate tribes, to which no law or moral imperative requires us to remain tied. Today very few people draw a distinction between the Klamath and Modoc peoples. Yet our Creator did distinguish between all other people and us, making us unique and giving us our own unique homeland and culture. We must take decisive action to reassert our unique tribal and cultural identity. And we must do it now, before it is too late."<br /><br /><strong>Indisputable evidence of the unique identity and culture of the Modoc Indians</strong><br /><br />Mr. Chesnut noted archaeological evidence showing that the Modoc Indians have occupied southern Oregon and northern California continuously for the last 12,000 to 15,000 years and stated that there is no scientific evidence showing a similar history for the Klamath Indians. "Compared to us the Klamaths are relative newcomers to this region," Chesnut said.<br /><br />Chesnut also cited ethnological field research by the University of Washington Laboratory of Anthropology in 1934 that concluded that the belief systems, values, patterns and practices of the Modoc Indians up to the time of the Modoc Indian War of 1872-73 "set their culture clearly apart from any other in the world, even from their immediate California neighbors."<br /><br />Chesnut also cited a book titled Myths of the Modocs published in 1912, containing a large number of myths related to Jeremiah Curtin in 1884 by Ko-a-lak'-ak-a, a Modoc woman who was part of the group of Modocs exiled to Oklahoma at the close of the Modoc Indian War in 1873. According to the author's introduction to the 389 page book, "In childhood her grandfather had instructed her in the religion of her people, in other words, taught her all the myths of the Modocs, and to old age her tenacious memory retained many of them."<br /><br />Chesnut stated that this book is "absolute proof" of the separate identity and culture of the Modoc people. As an example, he read from a passage in the story called "Kumush [Modoc for Creator] and His Daughter" that describes how the Creator made, named and gave to each of the Shasta, Pitt River, Warm Springs, Klamath and Modoc peoples their own lands and unique characteristics. Chesnut stated that the book is filled with mythical events that occurred at such places as Mt. Shasta, Lost River, Tule Lake, the Sycan River and Marsh, and Glass Mountain. "These references to culturally significant events associated with places can be used to verify and validate the extent and boundaries of our ancestral homelands," Chesnut said.<br /><br />Chesnut also referred to the unique style and quality of Modoc baskets, which are prized by museums and collectors around the world. "It is not Klamath baskets that enjoy this distinction, but Modoc baskets."<br /><br />Chesnut concluded this portion of his talk by stating: "It is beyond dispute that our people are a unique people with our own unique identity and culture. I have shared this with you because <em>before we can do, we must be</em>."<br /><br /><strong>Declaration of the Rights of the Free and Sovereign People of the Modoc Indian Tribe</strong><br /><br />Holding up a copy of the <em>Declaration</em>, Chesnut stated that the document "is not a petition asking for relief from some higher authority, but a declaration of our fundamental rights as a people that reasserts our status as a unique tribe independent of any other." He said that it enumerates "specific God-given rights inherent to us as a tribe, including, but not limited to:<br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><ul><li>the recognition of our political sovereignty,</li><li>political and economic self-determination,</li><li>the restoration and control of our homelands, which cover an area of between 5,000 and 6,500 square miles and include three national forests</li><li>the right to protect our homelands and their resources from the detrimental actions of third parties,</li><li>the right to preserve and protect our culture, including our language, arts, religion and sacred places; </li><li>the right to bring home and reunite with our brothers and sisters who are living in exile in Oklahoma.</li></ul>All of these rights can be boiled down to one overarching right — the RIGHT TO SELF-GOVERNMENT."<br /><br />Chesnut declared, "Those who sign this document will be declaring their identity as a Modoc Indian, and they will be preparing the ground for the reinstitution of our own tribal government through the drafting, ratification and, if legally necessary, U.S. Government approval of our own constitution."<br /><br /><strong>Constitution of Klamath Tribes 'fundamentally and fatally flawed'</strong><br /><br />Chesnut stated that the Constitution and Bylaws of the Klamath Tribes is "fundamentally and fatally flawed, and we will never be able to convince the ethnic Klamaths to fix it." He said that it is modeled on the constitutional framework offered to Indian tribes by the government under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1834. "What true government has 'bylaws'? Bylaws are something a club or a corporation have." He said that the Klamath Constitution creates a government with a weak single legislative body (General Council), a strong, directly elected executive body (Tribal Council) and a recently added Judicial branch. Chesnut stated that over the last ten years there has been a nationwide movement of tribes to reform their governments and rewrite their constitutions, moving away from the IRA model still in use by the Klamath Tribes.<br /><br />Chesnut said that while such an IRA type constitution "might work" for some tribes, it has never worked for the Modocs. "As you all know, with the Lakes Treaty of 1864, the government forced the Modocs and Yahooskin Snake Band of Paiutes to remove to the Klamath Reservation, which was located entirely within the territorial boundaries of Klamath ancestral lands. This itself was a formula for failure, and, in fact was the most important cause of the [Modoc Indian] war and subsequent exile of our people to Oklahoma. But added to this is the fact that the three tribes, all of which have very different histories, beliefs, values and cultures, have been merged by this faulty constitution into a single General Council, in which all decisions are made or ratified by a simple one man one vote majority. The more than ten to one numerical superiority of the ethnic Klamaths over the ethnic Modocs and Yahooskins operates to effectively disenfranchise and subjugate them to ethnic Klamath rule."<br /><br /><strong>A simple analogy</strong><br /><br />Chesnut asked those gathered at the meeting to imagine what would have happened if the founding fathers of the United States had not had the wisdom to create a bicameral legislative branch, "that is, if the Constitution did not provide for a U.S. Senate to act as a check on the power of the U.S. House of Representatives. Without a Senate, in which each state, regardless of population, has two senators, New York, California, Texas and two or three other states would make all the decisions, rendering the smaller population states effectively powerless, with representation in name only."<br /><br />"This is the situation we Modocs and our Yahooskin brothers have faced for 136 years, and many of us, perhaps most, are tired of trying to work within a system that is structurally designed to make us powerless against the tyranny of the majority, who are the ethnic Klamaths."<br /><br /><strong>The next step: 'our own constitution'</strong><br /><br />Chesnut said that after the Modoc people gain sufficient signatures on the Declaration, the next step will be to "draft and ratify our own constitution for the Modoc Tribe." He said that this process must be careful and deliberate because "if we just slap something together, we are likely to end up with a constitution just as bad or worse than the Klamath Tribes constitution we have now. We will need to hold numerous meetings to decide many difficult issues, such as how traditional and decentralized our government should or should not be, what particular governmental structures we need, and what our citizenship criteria will be. Above all, the constitution must reflect the values and culture of our people in order to have the legitimacy and stability necessary to promote political self-determination and healthy economic development."<br /><br /><strong>The difficulty of our task — the inevitability of our freedom</strong><br /><br />During the question and answer session, Chesnut was told that many Modocs were afraid to sign the Declaration because officials of the Klamath Tribal government would retaliate by taking away their federal benefits or fire them from tribal jobs.<br /><br />Chesnut responded, "This is going to be a long and difficult process. An independent self-governed Modoc Tribe will be opposed not only by the Klamath Tribal government but by many of the white owned farms and businesses that are making money off of our land. They want things to remain as they are. To the Klamaths our independence will mean a loss of federal dollars which are allocated on the basis of head count. So they see us only as so many dollars. Local farms and businesses are likely to fear that our independence will result in changes that will adversely affect them. So it's going to be hard, and we must expect vigorous opposition to what we are doing."<br /><br />" But we can also expect support and help from various sources, including other Indian tribes, major university projects and institutes, environmental and human rights organizations, and even from individual white persons in this very community, who want to see the injustices of the past righted. Now that this movement has started, it cannot be stopped so long as we pursue our goal. Our liberation from 136 years of exile and oppression, the reestablishment of Modoc self-government and restoration of our ancestral homelands is inevitable."<br /><br />"As to your specific concerns about retaliation against those Modocs who sign or promote the Declaration, let me point out that nothing in the Lakes Treaty of 1864 or the Klamath Tribes Restoration Act of 1986 took away our sovereignty as a tribe separate from the Klamath Tribe or Yahooskin Snake Band of Paiutes. In fact, both the Treaty and the Restoration Act list and recognize our tribes separately. Further, what we are doing now is exercising rights to self-government and self-determination authorized and encouraged by the Indian Reorganization Act of 1834, as amended in 1988, and by the Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975."<br /><br />"Until our new constitution is ratified and, if necessary approved by the Interior Department, we will all remain enrolled members of the Klamath Tribes, entitled to receive all the federal benefits we are receiving right now. When our new constitution goes into effect, the BIA and IHS will be required by law to administer these same benefits to our people through our own government instead of the Klamath Tribal government. This transition should be seamless, with no interruption in the flow of benefits."<br /><br />"In 1968, Congress enacted the Indian Civil Rights Act, which protects political activity and speech such as we are engaging in now. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission also has jurisdiction over Indian tribes and nations and enforces regulations designed to prevent and punish discrimination in employment on the part of a dominant band or group."<br /><br />"One can never prevent another person who is committed to violating the law from doing so, but any retaliation by the Klamath Tribes or its officials against the Modoc People will be immediately be reported to the federal government, and appropriate legal action will be taken. As a tribe we must protect and support each other. We must make the commitment now to financially support any Modoc who is fired from a tribal job in retaliation for exercising his or her right to free speech and political organization, while legal steps are taken to obtain that person's reinstatement and back-pay. And I can assure you, if anything like that happens, there will be serious legal consequences for the Klamath tribal officials involved."<br /><br /><strong>Signatures obtained and Declaration Bearers</strong><br /><br />At the close of the meeting, thirteen adult Modocs signed the Declaration, bringing the current total number of signers to just over fifty. Additionally, four individuals volunteered to act as Declaration Bearers, that is, to carry and promote the Declaration to other Modocs and to obtain their signatures. These individuals include John Slaughter, Preston Miles and Diana Wright. Modocs wishing to learn more about or sign the Declaration of Rights and the movement to enact a Modoc constitution, or who wish to become Declaration Bearers themselves should contact any of the following persons.<br /><br />Robert Wayne Anderson, 541-591-2956<br />John Slaughter, hatchat@charter.net<br />Preston Miles, 541-274-1330, 929miles@gmail.com<br />Diana Wright, 541-273-8874, dianawright1@charter.net<br />Perry Chesnut, 425-770-7345, <a href="mailto:pchesnut@indigenous-rights.org">pchesnut@indigenous-rights.org</a><br /><br />A copy of the Declaration of the Rights of the Free and Sovereign People of the Modoc Indian Tribe is attached as a Microsoft Word .doc file. For more information concerning this press release, contact:<br /><br />Perry Chesnut<br />Modoc Land Recovery Project<br />425-770-7345<br /><a href="mailto:pchesnut@indigenous-rights.org">pchesnut@indigenous-rights.org</a><br /></span>________________________________________________________<br /><br />Copyright 2009: Modoc Land Recovery Project<br /><br />Native Rights News is making this material from [name of news source] available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-19855752067287387442009-09-28T15:16:00.000-07:002009-09-28T15:34:31.689-07:00Failure of Peruvian Government to Recognize Indigenous Rights to Ancestral Lands at Heart of Recent Massacre<br><br><span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong>SOUTH AMERICA: Calls for Justice for Peru's Native Peoples</strong></span><br />By Franz Chávez*<br /><br /><strong>LA PAZ, Jun 12 (IPS)</strong> - Social organisations in South America are backing the struggle against opening up Peru’s Amazon jungle to mining and oil companies, which resulted in clashes in which at least nine indigenous people and 25 police officers died.<br /><br />The recent violence near the town of Bagua, in the northern Peruvian province of Amazonas, is seen by indigenous organisations in Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador as an attack on people who are defending life, nature, human rights and the rational use of natural resources.<br /><br />Native communities in the Peruvian rainforest are demanding the repeal of a series of decrees issued by the García administration to promote foreign investment on indigenous lands, in the framework of the free trade agreement signed with the United States.<br /><br />A two-month protest by indigenous people outside the northern Peruvian town of Bagua ended in bloodshed on Jun. 5, when the police violently broke up a roadblock there.<br /><br />A multi-party parliamentary committee declared in December that the decrees in question are unconstitutional, as the native groups argue.<br /><br />In an open letter to the region's presidents, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) called on them to defend native peoples and confirm their commitment to peace and justice in South America.<br /><br />A congress of the Indigenous Confederation of Indigenous People of Bolivia (CIDOB) urged the United Nations and the Organisation of American States to send a team of investigators to Bagua to verify what happened there on Jun. 5.<br /><br />While official accounts say that nine indigenous people and 25 members of the police were killed, eyewitnesses who have spoken to the press say the bodies of indigenous protesters were thrown into the river from a helicopter.<br /><br />"We consider this violent action by the Peruvian government to be a massacre and a flagrant violation of the life, integrity and fundamental rights of indigenous communities," said the Colombian National Authority of Indigenous Government (ONIC) in a letter to President García.<br /><br />"We join our voices to the Amazonian indigenous communities who are demanding an end to the violation of their rights and the repeal of the free trade agreement decrees that open the doors to the invasion and plundering of their territories.<br /><br />"We condemn the violent actions of the Peruvian government against our peoples," says the letter, which also calls for medical attention for the injured and policies to prevent a repeat of the incident.<br /><br />García's response to the violence was to allege that "foreign meddling" was behind the protests in the Amazon. He later specifically mentioned Bolivia’s left-wing president, the first indigenous leader of that country.<br /><br />In the midst of the political crisis triggered by the violent incident, García accused Morales of inciting the protests by means of an "inflammatory" letter sent to the Fourth Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples, held May 29 in the Peruvian city of Puno, on the border with Bolivia.<br /><br />Although he was the most important guest invited to the summit, Morales merely sent a letter by the hand of Senator Leonilda Zurita of his governing Movement to Socialism (MAS), who is an activist for women's rights and political and trade union freedoms.<br /><br />The meeting, held on Peruvian soil but only 200 km west of La Paz, brought together native leaders of the Americas, called Abya Yala in precolonial times.<br /><br />"That meeting discussed uprisings and insurgency," García maintained. "A president of a neighbouring country sent messages about our countries being governed by indigenous peoples, who are victims of exploitation and utterly neglected, which is not true, because the statistics on employment and welfare have improved in the jungle areas."<br /><br />In La Paz, Bolivian Vice President Álvaro García Linera, a recognised champion of indigenous rights, said in reply that "letters do not kill," referring to the violence unleashed in the Peruvian Amazon.<br /><br />"We confirm the contents (of the letter) and we are proud of every word and every letter in it," said the deputy minister for coordination with social movements, Sacha Llorenti, one of Morales’ closest associates.<br /><br />"From resistance we have gone on to rebellion, and then to revolution. This is the second independence," said Llorenti, in support of Morales' policy of nationalising Bolivia’s abundant natural gas reserves, which were handed over by previous governments to foreign companies.<br /><br />"It is difficult to rebuild what has been destroyed over 25 years of neoliberal, free market policies," Llorenti said.<br /><br />Morales' letter to the indigenous leaders' summit also says "free trade agreements break up harmonious human relationships with nature; they commodify natural resources and national cultures; they privatise basic services; they try to patent life itself."<br /><br />"Some people think globalisation means they have a right to interfere in the politics of neighbouring countries, "said García. "That is regrettable. If they wish, I can interfere too (in Bolivian affairs) and I know how to do so. I don't think it's democratic or legal or positive for international relations."<br /><br />Sociologist Carlos Laruta, the head of the Centre for Research and Advancement of Peasant Farmers (CIPCA) in the impoverished city of El Alto, Bolivia, said that it is up to Morales to explain the intention of his letter, because he is the representative of a state and therefore subject to the rule of international law.<br /><br />"A president cannot do things that run counter to international law," Laruta said.<br /><br />Anthropologist Martín von Hildebrand, winner of the 1999 Alternative Nobel Prize, said the root problem is that the rights of Peruvian indigenous peoples to their ancestral territories have not been recognised in practice, as they have in other countries that share the Amazon basin: Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador.<br /><br />"When you look at a big map of the Amazon basin, you can see that Brazil has given indigenous peoples a territory as large as Colombia itself (1.1 million square kilometres)," he said, while Colombia has given them 27 million hectares, and Bolivia and Ecuador have also made progress.<br /><br />"If you look at a government map of Peru, marking potential lumber, oil, gas and mineral extraction, the country's Amazon area is completely covered with marks," said von Hildebrand, who is also head of the Gaia Amazonas Foundation, which works to strengthen indigenous culture and autonomy as a strategy for preserving the rainforest.<br /><br />* With additional reporting by Constanza Vieira (Bogotá) and Ángel Páez (Lima).<br /><br />__________________________________________________________<br /><br /><a href="http://ipsnews.net/copyright.shtml">Copyright 2009: IPS-Inter Press Service</a><br /><br />Native Rights News is making this material from [name of news source] available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br />Native Rights News (NRN) is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by Temple Beit Shem Tov as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-549195523419324092009-09-28T12:54:00.000-07:002009-09-28T15:37:04.082-07:00Peruvian Government Massacres Indigenous Protesters Prior to Conclusion of Negotiations<strong><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></strong><br /><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:180%;color:#660000;">PERU: Native Protesters Search for Their Dead</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">By Milagros Salazar / IPS</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpG_mqLuMkICTVEmFOYKNQRrce6YQtkbj9B7w7Joc5QJPzygC6IswGbxgEUaDhJJbRBxGaB_b0bS348iMOpRlnskd4fh2EKZYdFwjzXnK3VbQis26Fim0M8C-ee7WV5rgQu65w9idl2xOa/s1600-h/Wounded+indigenous+men+at+the+hospital+in+Bagua,+Peru-GIF.gif"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386614452016136018" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpG_mqLuMkICTVEmFOYKNQRrce6YQtkbj9B7w7Joc5QJPzygC6IswGbxgEUaDhJJbRBxGaB_b0bS348iMOpRlnskd4fh2EKZYdFwjzXnK3VbQis26Fim0M8C-ee7WV5rgQu65w9idl2xOa/s400/Wounded+indigenous+men+at+the+hospital+in+Bagua,+Peru-GIF.gif" /></span></a></div><div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>BAGUA, Peru, Jun 11 (IPS) - Indigenous people taking part in protests near this town in the northern Peruvian province of Amazonas that ended in a bloody clash with the police last week are now focusing on drawing up a list of the dead and missing, amidst a climate of fear and mistrust.</strong></span></div><div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Several eyewitnesses said they saw police load the bodies of dead protesters into a helicopter and dump them into the Marañón river, after the Friday, Jun. 5 incident in which both demonstrators and policemen were killed. But authorities from the prosecutors office failed to find any more bodies on their third search in the area, carried out on Wednesday.<br /><br />For the past two months, native protesters have been blocking roads and access to oil industry installations to demand the repeal of a series of government decrees that violate their land rights, which are protected under the constitution and by international conventions signed by Peru.<br /><br />"The helicopter stopped at least three times to pick up bodies," Luis Padilla, a member of the Awajun ethnic group from Río Santiago in Amazonas province, told IPS. "That was between eight and nine in the morning on Friday," added Padilla, who said it took three days to reach the town of Bagua from his village.<br /><br />Padilla, who was wary of the camera, said that on Friday, Jun. 5 the police opened fire on the protesters manning the roadblock at a spot along the highway into Bagua called Curva del Diablo (Devil’s Curve), at around 6:00 AM, and that in response the indigenous demonstrators used their spears. "We defended ourselves," he said.<br /><br />The police "picked up the bodies of our brothers and sisters and dumped them into the Marañón river," added Joel Tupicá, from the district of Nieva, who along with Padilla and another 24 Indians, including two women, were on their way back to their home villages on Wednesday, five days after the violent incident that left at least 30 protesters and policemen dead.<br /><br />The number of victims is in dispute, with the authorities saying 10 civilians – including protesters and local residents - were killed and indigenous groups putting the total much higher.<br /><br /><strong>A climate of fear and tension</strong><br /><br />Oswaldo Bautista, chief prosecutor of Amazonas province, told IPS that around 1,000 indigenous people have returned to their villages over the past few days, and that most of them had taken refuge in local churches for fear of reprisals by the state security forces.<br /><br />Lawyers with the non-governmental Coordinadora de Derechos Humanos human rights group, who have come to Bagua to verify what happened last week, said more than 50 protesters are still under arrest in four different towns.<br /><br />The incident, described by Amazon Watch programme coordinator Gregor MacLennan as a "massacre" of peaceful protesters, some of whom were still asleep at the roadblock when the police showed up, while others were shot as they fled, has heightened the tension in the area, because the army and police are still posted here and a curfew remains in place.<br /><br />Several "apus" (traditional leaders of indigenous communities) have decided not to return to Curva del Diablo, for fear of being arrested. The authorities have blamed the violence on the leaders of the Peruvian Rainforest Inter-Ethnic Development Association (AIDESEP), an umbrella group of 28 federations of indigenous peoples that has led the protests.<br /><br />AIDESEP’s top leader, Alberto Pizango, has been given asylum in the Nicaraguan Embassy in Lima.<br /><br />"They burned the bodies of some protesters, over there," said Padilla, who was unable to provide the names of victims due to the chaos and confusion that reigned on Friday and the fact that the demonstrators came from more than 356 different villages and communities.<br /><br />AIDESEP has set up committees in each community tasked with drawing up lists of people who have not returned to their homes, in order to demand that the state provide information on their fate.<br /><br />"We want to recover the bodies of our missing people," said Edwin Montenegro, the local leader of Río Kanus in the Amazon district of Condorcanqui, who was directly involved in the Jun. 5 incident.<br /><br /><strong>At the Curve of Death</strong><br /><br />Some 3,000 indigenous protesters were blocking the Fernando Belaúnde Terry highway at the Curva del Diablo when the police showed up to dismantle the roadblock early that morning and told them, just before opening fire, "you’ll leave here dead or alive," said Montenegro.<br /><br />He told IPS that in the days leading up to the events of Jun. 5, protesters and local authorities had met with General Víctor Uribe, who was in charge of the operation to break up the traffic blockade, with a view to reaching a peaceful agreement.<br /><br />Montenegro said a Thursday, Jun. 4 meeting with General Uribe failed to produce results. However, they had agreed to continue the talks on Friday at 10:00 AM – a meeting that never took place, because the attack on the protesters occurred four hours earlier.<br /><br />The mayor of Condorcanqui, Héctor Requejo, confirmed to IPS that on Thursday they met with Uribe in the camp at the Petroperú oil refinery, and that the general said he himself could not make any decisions, but merely followed orders from Lima.<br /><br />Montenegro said that when they opened fire on the crowd, the police aimed directly at the protesters, and that people were shot from a helicopter as well, which also launched tear gas canisters.<br /><br />In the confusion, he was able to save his brother-in-law, prominent Aguaruna leader Santiago Manuin, president of the Condorcanqui Provincial Protest Committee (Comité de Lucha Provincial de Condorcanqui), who was seriously wounded.<br /><br />Three young indigenous men who are being treated for bullet wounds at the Gustavo Lanatta Hospital in Bagua confirmed that the police launched the attack, without warning.<br /><br />The three young men are all former members of the army. One of them, 24-year-old Paulo Bitap López from the village of Shusug, told IPS that a group of former soldiers decided to approach the police before the operation to break up the roadblock, to attempt to dissuade them, but that they found themselves caught up in a rain of bullets.<br /><br />Rosa Mondragón, a 54-year-old woman who lives near the spot where the incident took place, said she saw tear gas being thrown from a helicopter, and showed prosecutor Bautista bullet marks on the walls of her house, as well as more than 20 backpacks and bags of utensils of indigenous protesters who slept overnight at her house for a week but fled after the attack.<br /><br />The prosecutor searched gullies and ravines near the Curva del Diablo on Wednesday, after doing the same in other areas on Sunday and Monday in response to reports by local residents that bodies had been hidden there.<br /><br />Bautista told IPS that no bodies were found in the latest search, only clothing and bottles of chicha, a traditional corn liquor.<br /><br /><strong>Shots in the square</strong><br /><br />One of the wounded interviewed by IPS in the hospital was Daniel Torres Manay, a 55-year-old resident of Bagua who was hit in the stomach by a police bullet on Friday Jun. 5 when he was near the square where the police station is located.<br /><br />Torres and his wife Amelia Delgado said the police began to shoot that day at around 11:00 AM when a group of people gathered outside the police station, after they heard that the indigenous protesters had been attacked.<br /><br />According to the head of the Amazonas ombudsman’s office, Roberto Guevara, five of the nine victims acknowledged by the authorities were local residents, not indigenous people, killed by police bullets in the streets around the square.<br /><br />"President Alan García committed this crime," complained Torres, who has undergone two unsuccessful operations to extract the bullet, and is waiting to be transferred to the northern city of Chiclayo for life-saving surgery.<br /><br />"After we draw up a list of our brothers and sisters who were killed, we will continue our protest," said Montenegro. "The government thinks that we have chickened out, but that will never happen. The blood of their brothers and sisters is an incentive to the Awajun people. The state has provoked us. We don’t want to talk to either (Prime Minister) Yehude Simon or (Interior Minister Mercedes) Cabanillas."<br /><br /><strong>Two decrees suspended</strong><br /><br />In a 57 to 47 vote Wednesday, Congress decided to suspend the implementation of two of the decrees protested by the native groups, which according to experts and legislators affect the rights of indigenous people and violate the constitution and International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 169 on indigenous people.<br /><br />The government decrees, which are aimed at promoting foreign investment in the framework of the free trade agreement signed with the United States, open up indigenous land to private investment by oil, mining and logging companies.<br /><br />Indigenous people in Peru’s Amazon jungle region, where oil companies are increasingly active, began last year to hold protests to demand that the decrees be revoked.<br /><br />A multi-party legislative committee also recommended last December that they be overturned.<br /><br />But AIDESEP vice president Daysi Zapata criticised the legislature’s decision to suspend the two decrees, because her organisation is demanding that they be struck down.<br /><br />On Thursday, social movements held national demonstrations in solidarity with the indigenous protesters, and an indefinite strike was declared in several areas in the country’s northeastern Amazon region.<br /><br />"The Amazon represents our market, our pharmacy, our home, our survival; we are defending it for the good of our people and of humanity," said Montenegro.</span> <div></div>__________________________________________________________<br /><br /><a href="http://ipsnews.net/copyright.shtml">Copyright 2009: IPS-Inter Press Service </a><br /><br />Native Rights News is making this material from <em>IPS: The Story Underneath</em> available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov </a>as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.</div></div></div>Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-8864173882636300902009-07-21T14:38:00.000-07:002009-07-21T15:12:48.985-07:00Opinion: Australian Government Swimming in Circles When It Comes to Indigenous Affairs<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong>BLACKCURRENT: Lost in a sea of d-words</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Opinion by Amy McQuire</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">National Indigenist Times, </span><span style="font-family:arial;">ISSUE 181 - 09 Jul 2009</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">ISSUE 181, July 9, 2009: AMY MCQUIRE laments that Australian governments keep swimming in circles when it comes to Indigenous affairs.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Devastating (Rudd). </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Distressing (Gillard).</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Disappointing (Abbott).</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The three politicians above all used adjectives beginning with 'd' to describe this year's annual Productivity Commission report into Indigenous disadvantage. I have one too: disgusting.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Of course, it is not directed at the report, but rather at our nation's leaders.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">For what word is there to describe how those in power repetitiously indulge in lamentations on the plight of Indigenous Australia, and then do nothing about it?</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Last Thursday marked the Council of Australian Government (COAG)'s meeting in Darwin.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It was touted that the meeting would place Indigenous affairs on top of the list of priorities, and it did. But by far the most interesting news to come out of the meeting was the Commission's report.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It found the following:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">INFANT/YOUNG CHILD MORTALITY: Indigenous infants and young children are still 2-3 times more likely to die than other children, despite improvements in infant mortality rates (young child mortality rates remain constant).</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">READING, WRITING, NUMERACY: No change in Indigenous student performance over the past 10 years. No closing of gaps between black and white students.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">YEAR 12: While the proportion of Indigenous year 12 graduates has increased from 31 to 36 percent between 2001-2006, the fact the non-Indigenous rate also increased from 68 to 74 percent means the gap remains the same.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">UNEMPLOYMENT: The Indigenous employment to population ratio has increased to 48 percent as of 2006, but the gap is still the same, as the non-Indigenous ratio has also increased.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT: Indigenous children are now 4-6 times more likely to be abused or neglected than non-Indigenous children.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">IMPRISONMENT/JUVENILE DETENTION: Imprisonment rate increased by 46 percent for Indigenous women and by 27 percent for Indigenous men between 2000-2008.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Indigenous adults are 13 times more likely to be imprisoned in 2008. The Indigenous juvenile rate increased by 27 percent between 2001-2007.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Indigenous juveniles were 28 times more likely to be detained than their non-Indigenous counterparts.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">For once, <a href="http://news.com.au/">news.com.au </a>decided to give an important issue precedence over their usual coverage of female body parts and crazed criminals, placing the story at the top of their website.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Australian newspaper, who to its credit often keeps up with Indigenous affairs (although, controversially) also gave the report prominence online.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">All stories included comments by the Prime Minister, who called the report "devastating" and said it meant "we have to redouble and treble our efforts to make an impact".</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Thanks Mr Rudd. It's nice to see that you have reacted with such passion to the statistics.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Except, the report is hardly an 'expose'. It says nothing new.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The report is released every second year with almost identical results, and every second year prompts a similar reaction from politicians and media.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Take this news story I found on NIT online. It is from June 2005:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"The report into Aboriginal disadvantage released early today backs the Howard government's decision to make dramatic changes to Indigenous affairs in order to achieve better outcomes, Indigenous Affairs Minister Amanda Vanstone has claimed.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">'Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2005' from the Productivity Commission reveals Indigenous Australians have made no improvements in all the key social and economic areas in the past two years.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It also found that between 1994 and 2002, rates for victims of crime, child protection notifications and imprisonment worsened.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In response, Senator Vanstone said she planned to ask state and territory governments what they were doing about continuing violence within Indigenous communities."</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Four years on, and the 2009 report confirmed that there are still hardly any improvements for Indigenous people, and Indigenous incarceration rates continue to skyrocket.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Two years ago, NIT again filed a story (June 2007): "Poverty and unemployment have been blamed for a dramatic rise in the number of Indigenous people in Australian jails."</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A new report reveals a 32 percent jump in the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders imprisoned between 2000 and 2006. The bleak statistics are contained in the latest Council of Australian Government-commissioned report into Indigenous disadvantage [the Productivity Commission]."</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Of course, the Minister for Indigenous Affairs at the time - Mal Brough - did the politically smart thing. He just blamed it on ATSIC.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"ATSIC was an abject failure... it was almost a fraud perpetrated on the Indigenous people and the Australian population," Mr Brough told ABC radio, acknowledging that although John Howard had been in government for 11 years, blackfellas were still to blame.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Although Mr Rudd is slightly more astute to realize ATSIC had nothing to do with entrenched Indigenous disadvantage, I doubt he also has the political will to make the changes Indigenous Australia so desperately needs.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">His first report card on Indigenous disadvantage, which he promised on the first sitting day of Parliament each year and which was he delivered a month late, made no mention of any real progress government was making.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Instead, the report was full of rhetoric and spin, and simply recycled tired press releases stuffed with self-praise for apologising to the Stolen Generations.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">If a government has to ride on the coat-tails of its first and only major movement in Indigenous affairs to justify its will in other areas of policy, then it really isn't taking many steps forward.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Rudd government says it is going to 'reset the relationship' with Indigenous Australians, but its insistence on the NT intervention; on compulsorily acquiring the Alice Springs town camps; on linking welfare quarantines to school attendance; on refusing to boost Aboriginal legal aid wile incarceration rates sky-rocket; on refusing to provide reparations to the Stolen Generations; on scrapping CDEP regionally; on linking housing reform to land tenure while opposing against it in Opposition; on axing bilingual education; on refusing to properly support the homelands and outstations; shows that Mr Rudd is not being truthful when he says he will 'double' or 'treble' his government's efforts.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Australian governments, Labor and Liberal, are not just devastated, distressed, disappointed and disgusting.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">They are also delusional.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="mailto:blackcurrent@nit.com.au">blackcurrent@nit.com.au</a></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">* Amy McQuire is a Canberra-based journalist with the National Indigenous Times. She is of Darumbal and South Sea Islander descent, and hails from Rockhampton in Central Queensland. Amy is the current National NAIDOC Young Apprentice of the Year.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">__________________________________________________________<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nit.com.au/">National Indigenous Times</a> (no copyright listed)<br /><br />Native Rights News is making this material from the online version of <a href="http://www.nit.com.au/opinion/story.aspx?id=18170">The National Indigenous Times</a> available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov </a>as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.</span>Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-69919733560105972442009-07-21T14:07:00.000-07:002009-07-21T14:26:08.791-07:00Havasupai Announce Gathering to Protest Resumption of Uranium Mining at Grand Canyon Sacred Site<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong>Havasupai Conference: Oppose uranium mining in Grand Canyon</strong></span><br /><br /><br />Havasupai Conference July 25 -- 26, 2009: Govinda at Earthcycles,<br /></span><a href="http://www.earthcycles.net/"><span style="font-family:arial;">www.earthcycles.net</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">, and Brenda Norrell of Censored news, will team up<br />again to broadcast live from this gathering of the Havasupai to oppose<br />uranium mining in the Grand Canyon. We hope to see you there, or you<br />can listen live around the world on the Internet. We'll be updating<br />the issues from the Longest Walk as well, on the issues of protecting<br />Mother Earth and international Indigenous human rights. Radio stations<br />can use the audios for broadcasts, in any country in the world.<br />----------------------------------------------------------<br />Conference news release contacts:<br />Matthew Putesoy, Vice Chairman, Havasupai Tribe, (928) 448-2731<br /><a href="mailto:mattputesoy@yahoo.com">mattputesoy@yahoo.com</a><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Grand Canyon Threatened by Uranium Mining<br /><br />Havasupai Tribe Announces Protest Gathering to Rally Support<br /><br />The gathering will be held on July 25-26,<br /><br />South of the Grand Canyon at the Sacred Red Butte<br /><br />Supai, AZ – Today, the Havasupai Tribe announced a protest gathering<br />at their sacred site Red Butte, which is threatened by uranium mining<br />located near the south rim of the Grand Canyon. The public is invited<br />to attend and add their voices in support of saying, "no to uranium<br />mining."<br /><br />"On behalf of the Havasupai Tribe, I urge everyone to join us at the<br />foot of this sacred Red Butte to unify our voices and call on the<br />Federal Government to work with the Havasupai Tribe to protect these<br />sacred lands from any further uranium mining," stated Don E.<br />Watahomigie, Havasupai Tribal Chairman. "We are proud to host this<br />historic gathering as our ancestors have done for generations at Red<br />Butte."<br /><br />A Canadian company, Denison Mines is threatening to reopen the Canyon<br />Mine, which is just miles from the sacred Red Butte, as a full mining<br />operation. The Havasupai Tribe and others have been actively opposing<br />Denison Mines seeking Groundwater Aquifer Permits from the ADEQ<br />(Arizona Dept. of Environmental Quality) to operate Canyon Mine and<br />extract uranium.<br /><br />The Havasupai Tribe, who have inhabited the Grand Canyon region for<br />many centuries, fear that contamination from uranium mining could harm<br />the animals, air, water, and people. The Havasupai religion is also<br />being directly affected by the uranium mines. Long time Havasupai<br />leader Rex Tilousi says, "We believe Red Butte is the lungs of our<br />Grandmother Canyon." Canyon Mine is located right next to the<br />Havasupai's most sacred site, Red Butte."<br /><br />The Havasupai Tribe, in alliance with Sierra Club, Center for<br />Biological Diversity, and Grand Canyon Trust are opposing any uranium<br />mines on or around the rim of the Grand Canyon. This gathering will be<br />held twenty miles south of the Grand Canyon National Park on July 25 -<br />26, 2009. Members of the public will be invited to join the Havasupai<br />on Saturday for a free public concert at 6:00 pm and for a public<br />forum on uranium mining and protecting sacred lands on Sunday, July<br />26th. The media is welcomed to attend at any time during the events on<br />Saturday and Sunday and a news conference will be held Friday, July<br />24th, at 4pm at the conclusion of the private Havasupai prayer<br />ceremony. Directions to the gathering as well as a detailed agenda for<br />the event can be found at <a href="http://www.arizona.sierraclub.org/">http://www.arizona.sierraclub.org</a><br /><br />--<br />Brenda Norrell, Censored News<br /><a href="http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/">http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com</a><br />Censored Blog Talk Radio<br /><a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell">http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell</a><br />Earthcycles Longest Walk Radio:<br /><a href="http://www.earthcycles.net/">http://www.earthcycles.net</a><br /><br /><br />__________________________________________________________<br /><br /><a href="mailto:IndigenousThinkers@yahoogroups.com">IndigenousThinkers@yahoogroups.com</a><br /><br />Native Rights News is making this material available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov </a>as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.</span>Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-34430550126972048132009-06-23T16:57:00.000-07:002009-06-23T17:41:38.821-07:00Peruvian Army Sent to Suppress Peaceful Indigenous Protests Against Resource Extraction in Amazon Basin<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong>Amazon Watch: Oil Production Interrupted as Peru Sends in Army to Suppress Peaceful Indigenous Protests</strong></span><br><br /><br />LIMA, Peru, May 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Peruvian government Saturday authorized the intervention of armed forces in the Amazon to crack down on growing indigenous protests against new decrees aimed at facilitating the entry of oil, mining, logging and agricultural companies into indigenous lands without prior consultation or consent.<br /><br />On Monday, sustained protests led the state oil company, Petroperu, to shut down its main oil pipeline. This shutdown comes after a month of protests by more than 30,000 indigenous peoples. Indigenous communities have engaged in peaceful actions and blockades of roads and rivers throughout the Amazon protesting new legislation passed to facilitate the Free Trade Agreement with the USA that undermines their rights.<br /><br />Videos and photos available on <a href="http://www.amazonwatch.org/">http://www.amazonwatch.org/</a> show police beating peaceful protesters and firing rubber bullets to break up peaceful Awajun and Huambis demonstrators last week when they blockaded the Corral Quemado Bridge near the northern town of Bagua, resulting in dozens injured and one person missing, who is feared dead.<br /><br />In a statement, Alberto Pizango, president of the national indigenous rights organization AIDESEP who was criminally charged today for his role in the nationwide protests, stated: "The extraction of gas and oil, logging and the dredging of rivers in search of gold are destroying in a few years social structures, indigenous customs and coexistence strategies that date back thousands of years."<br /><br />International and Peruvian human rights organizations are widely criticizing the Peruvian government's backward policies on indigenous peoples. In a recent statement President Alan Garcia said that every Peruvian should be entitled to benefit from the nation's natural resources, and not just a "small group of people who had the fortune to be born there."<br /><br />Atossa Soltani, who heads the human rights and environmental organization Amazon Watch, commented, "Indigenous Peoples are asserting their collective right to determine how and under what conditions 'development' is carried out on their traditionally owned and legally recognized homelands."<br /><br />"The Garcia Administration is clearly out of step with international conventions on indigenous rights that have been ratified by Peru, not to mention aspects of country's own Constitution. We urge the government of Peru to use restraint and avoid bloodshed, seeking meaningful dialogue to resolve the conflict instead."<br />__________________________________________________________<br /><br />© 2000-2009 Amazon Watch<br /><br />Native Rights News is making this material from <a href="http://amazonwatch.org/"><em>Amazon Watch</em> </a>available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-50236236053100970462009-06-23T15:27:00.000-07:002009-06-23T15:45:56.196-07:00NRN to Resume Publication: Thanks for Your PatienceOne should never underestimate the difficulty of upgrading to a new computer, and migrating one's software applications and data files to the new computer - especially when one is upgrading from Office 97 running on Windows XP-Pro to Office 2007 running on Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit. It was very difficult, and although not all of our apps are installed or running as they should, we are pleased to announce that we are now able to resume publication of our blog.<br /><br />We apologize for the longer than anticipated down-time, and really appreciate your patience.<br /><br />Onward and upward,<br /><br />Perry H. Chesnut, Editor NRN<br /><br />__________________________________________________________<br /><br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com">Copyright 2009 Native Rights News (NRN)</a><br /><br />This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br />Native Rights News (NRN) is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-43576621980025507962009-05-13T12:24:00.000-07:002009-05-13T12:39:12.065-07:00NRN To Install New Computer System: No New Posts for About One WeekWe have just purchased a new dual core 64-bit computer with a Vista Home Premium 64 operating system to replace the computer we purchased in 2000 (about time, right?). Over the next few days (hopefully no more than that), we shall be backing up our existing applications and data files and then migrating them onto the new computer. During this time, no articles will be posted to Native Rights News. We anticipate being able to resume our regular schedule sometime next week (May 17 to May 23). -- Perry H. Chesnut, Editor NRN<br />__________________________________________________________<br /><br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Copyright 2009 Native Rights News (NRN)</a><br /><br />This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br />Native Rights News (NRN) is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-83339738318408309812009-05-06T21:17:00.000-07:002009-05-06T22:19:02.053-07:00U.S. Position On UNDRIP Under Review By Obama Administration<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4EzgCtlhXRLQdxgBTAzFMlr_R1uGVelMq3DyK0r0Qv758PqWjSQXdIDinCsaJs398-_EAf7z2KzcaWiym-sgjTIA43j18hYHC0rMSj0ZE2p6e827k-YoWvC_1GMNYHgEBonsIKEbWO77E/s1600-h/Barack_Obama_Speaks_to_Crow_Nation_JPG.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332939995812849042" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 350px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 350px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4EzgCtlhXRLQdxgBTAzFMlr_R1uGVelMq3DyK0r0Qv758PqWjSQXdIDinCsaJs398-_EAf7z2KzcaWiym-sgjTIA43j18hYHC0rMSj0ZE2p6e827k-YoWvC_1GMNYHgEBonsIKEbWO77E/s400/Barack_Obama_Speaks_to_Crow_Nation_JPG.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></strong></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong><br /></strong></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong><br /></strong></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong><br /><br />U.S.: Obama Urged to Sign Native Rights Declaration</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">By Haider Rizvi<br />IPS - Inter Press Service<br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>UNITED NATIONS, May 6 (IPS) - The United States is considering whether to endorse a major U.N. General Assembly resolution calling for the recognition of the rights of the world’s 370 million indigenous peoples over their lands and resources."</strong></span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The position on [this issue] is under review," Patrick Ventrell, spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the U.N., told IPS about the Barack Obama administration’s stance on the non-binding U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Approved by a vast majority of the U.N. member states in September 2007, the General Assembly resolution on the declaration was rejected by the George W. Bush administration over indigenous leaders’ argument that no economic or political power has the right to exploit their resources without seeking their "informed consent."</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Three other "settler nations" of European descent, namely Canada, New Zealand and Australia, also voted against the declaration, which states that indigenous peoples have the right to maintain their cultures and remain on their land.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">However, last month, the new left-leaning government in Canberra reversed its position, announcing support for the declaration.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"We show our respect for indigenous peoples," said Jenny Macklin, a member of the Australian parliament. "We show our faith in a new era of relations between states and indigenous peoples in good faith."</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The new government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has also offered an apology to the indigenous communities who suffered at the hands of European settlers for decades.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Indigenous rights activists in the United States say they want the new liberal democratic government in Washington to make a similar move to address the grievances of native communities who have long been subjected to abuse and discrimination.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"The U.S. [should] become a resolute supporter of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples," argued James Polk, who writes for Foreign Policy in Focus, a progressive periodical published by the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"It’s a comprehensive document that affirms that indigenous peoples are equal to all other peoples, and that, in the exercise of their rights, they should be free from their discrimination," he added.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The declaration reflects growing concerns of aboriginal communities about the continued exploitation of their resources and suppression of their cultural vales and practices by commercial concerns and governments that are alien to their cultures.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">According to many scientists, the traditional knowledge and cooperation of indigenous communities are vital elements in the global fight against climate change and loss of biodiversity.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">During his election campaign, President Obama repeatedly said that he cared about the issues facing Native American communities and insisted that they could trust him – pledges that are now being watched closely.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">As [he] reached out to new voter blocs last summer, Obama made a campaign stop at an Indian reservation in Montana, where he told the audience, that, as an African American, he identified with their struggles.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"I know what it’s like to not have always been respected or to have been ignored and I know what it’s like to struggle and that’s how I think many of you understand what’s happened here on the reservation," Obama said.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In his speech, Obama added: "A lot of times you have been forgotten, just like African-Americans have been forgotten or other groups in this country have been forgotten."</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the Nov. 4 presidential elections, a vast majority of Native people voted for Obama, according to Frank LaMere of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, who led the American Indian delegation to the Democratic Convention.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">On the campaign trail in Montana, Obama was adopted as an honourary member of the Crow Tribe, a ceremony that natives say is reserved for special guests. On that occasion, he was given a new name, "Barack Black Eagle."</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Before Obama became the first-ever non-white president of the United States, the country faced scathing criticism from a Geneva-based U.N. rights body for its treatment of the indigenous communities and objectionable use of their traditional lands and resources.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In March 2006 and again in 2008, a panel of U.S. experts analysed the U.S. government’s treatment of indigenous citizens and ruled that it was guilty of racial discrimination.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Canada, another settler-nation founded on the indigenous territories in North America, has also been scolded by the U.N. Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) for its abusive and discriminatory treatment of acts of native communities.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The right-wing government in Ottawa continues to justify its current policies towards the native population as just and fair with no indication whatsoever of a willingness to sign the U.N. document on indigenous peoples’ rights.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the United States, there appears to be some signs of policy shift with regard to the U.S. government’s relations with the American Indian communities. Some representatives of indigenous tribes are currently working with Obama as advisors.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">However, it remains unclear when and if the Obama administration would sign the declaration. "I can’t comment further," said Ventrell about the outcome of discussions on possible U.S. support.</span><br />__________________________________________________________<br />Article: Copyright © 2009 <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46742">IPS-Inter Press Service </a><br />Image: Copyright 2009 <a href="http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/donal_fagan/2009/01/18-week/">TPM Media LLC</a><br /><br />Native Rights News is making this material available in accordance with the <em>Fair Use Doctrine</em> codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-71618468032480839862009-05-06T15:51:00.000-07:002009-05-06T17:42:33.371-07:00Social Justice and Food Security at Heart of Bolivian and Venezuelan Land Reform Measures<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaUS2AqnRoHhorqHQn7I2sMvxWQm7kXS7w4YvLSUGn4L4O7jiNcbqo00MsIoUc61iREEsiQ93UhNvm7YSzgvKXrlCISPF-aK_F9XpKkANIiSC6sF3dDAlJZSN6Rv16KiHer3UfwStjn69p/s1600-h/Hugo_Chavez_and_Evo_Morales_JPG.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332850001647866754" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 286px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaUS2AqnRoHhorqHQn7I2sMvxWQm7kXS7w4YvLSUGn4L4O7jiNcbqo00MsIoUc61iREEsiQ93UhNvm7YSzgvKXrlCISPF-aK_F9XpKkANIiSC6sF3dDAlJZSN6Rv16KiHer3UfwStjn69p/s400/Hugo_Chavez_and_Evo_Morales_JPG.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=11296&pageid=13&pagename=Analysis">Chávez and Morales Force Sweeping Land Reform Measures</a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Analysis by Adam Kott and David Rosenblum Felson<br /><br />The Cutting Edge News<br />May 5, 2009<br /><br />Latin America’s battalion of left-leaning leaders has been in full voice as they turn to achieve the land reform goals of the Bolivarian Revolution. This oft-quoted but somewhat vague social ideal is loosely centered on populist measures such as the equitable distribution of private land and the abatement of poverty. The tenets of this revolution are best seen today at work in Venezuela and Bolivia, where Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales attempt to achieve their objectives through vigorously promoted land reform initiatives.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Historically, much of the land parcels in these Andean nations has been under the tight control of a relatively select few multinational corporations, as well as elite European-descended land-holding families. Many of the latter were for decades, often sanctioned by corrupt officials to use coercion or other unscrupulous practices, including counterfeit land titles, to wrest land with murky legitimacy from the indigenous population. Today, leaders like Chávez and Morales are striving to rectify history’s injustices by returning the property back to its original owners. These grassroots initiatives on the part of the indigenous have been controversial, to say the least, and have repeatedly brought both nations to the brink of class warfare.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><strong>Repercussions of the January 25th Referendum</strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Since the enactment of the January 25, 2009 constitutional referendum, in which 61 percent of Bolivians voted in favor of ratifying, President Evo Morales has initiated a series of measures aimed at improving the rights of the 4 million indigenous peoples who make up nearly two-thirds of his country’s total population.<br /><br />In addition to increasing the autonomy of provincial governments, as well as granting designated indigenous representation in congress, the referendum results also will limit individual private landholdings. This stand-off undoubtedly will perpetuate an already existing tense situation between the wealthy landowners of the eastern lowlands and the pro-indigenous Morales administration. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) stated that in the eastern region of Bolivia, 25 million hectares (62 million acres) of top-quality agricultural land is managed by a mere 100 select families. The remaining 5 million hectares (12 million acres) of arable land in the country are shared among 2 million campesinos.<br /><br />Now coming off a big win, Morales will have the theoretical ability to remain in power until 2014, which is not likely to diminish the opposition’s hostility towards him, but rather intensify it. In this milieu, social harmony is bound to be more difficult to obtain. This is due to the deeply rooted social conflict which for years has been besieging Bolivia and the growing political and economic influence being sought after by the indigenous majority. Whereas a triumphant Morales and his indigenous supporters may view the new constitution as an egalitarian and empowering document, the white Europeanized opposition understandably perceive it as discriminatory and insensitive to their special needs. One thing is for certain, land distribution in this Andean nation has long been a source of strained relations between the indigenous majority and the elite minority.<br /><br />Morales, of the Aymara ethnic group, appears determined to drastically restructure and democratize Bolivia’s historically unequal agrarian land holding patterns. "The concentration of land in Bolivia appears to be among the worst in the entire world," contend Mark Weisbrot and Luis Sandoval of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "The largest farms, although only 0.63 percent of the total, encompasses more than 66 percent of all agricultural land. At the other end of the spectrum, 86 percent of farms account for just 2.4 percent of agricultural land, and many other rural farmers own no land at all."<br /><br /><strong>Bolivian Land Reform</strong><br /><br />In the first of what would be a number of attempts at reorganizing land usage patterns, former president, Victor Paz Estenssoro, led the fight to enact the 1953 Agrarian Reform Law. The measure, which is largely seen as an underlying cause for the present tension over land ownership, granted indigenous peoples modest plots of land while massive landholdings were bestowed upon the non-indigenous fraction of the population in an attempt to develop the country’s fading agricultural sector. According to a 2007 COHA report by research associate Laura Starr, "the Bolivian reform being promoted at that time affected 32 million hectares (79 million acres) of land, which were distributed to 40,000 medium and small-sized family farmers. At the same time, more than half a million indigenous and peasant families divided up only about 4 million hectares (10 million acres), almost exclusively in the less favorable western highlands of the country." In 1996, former president, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, initiated a would-be land reform measure that defined itself as seeking to boost national productivity levels. As a result of the law, land had to serve a social or economic purpose.<br /><br />Douglas Hertzler, a highly-regarded anthropologist working in Bolivia, asserts that, "the law made large speculative landholdings subject to redistribution to the landless, but it failed to establish adequate criteria to regulate this process, so that land redistribution did not move forward." Initially paying little attention to the strong opposition movement emanating from the eastern provinces, Morales now appears eager to make lasting changes to Bolivia’s traditionally preferential and asymmetrical land distribution policies.<br /><br />According to the World Bank, the richest 10 percent of Bolivians consume 22 times more than the poorest 10 percent. Morales observed this during a speech he gave in March to a group of Guaraní Indians, "Private property will always be respected but we want people who are not interested in equality to change their thinking and focus more on country than currency." He continued, "Today, from here, we are beginning to put an end to the giant landholdings of Bolivia." That same day, Morales granted over 38,000 hectares (94,000 acres) of land to indigenous communities. But lowland elites, like Ronald Larsen, have vehemently opposed such measures. Larsen, an ardent opponent of Morales’ policies, purchased vast land holdings in the southeastern region of the country. Although he has spent the last 40 years working the land, recent Morales-inspired measures may well lead to the expropriation of the majority of it. "They’re taking it away over my dead body," said Larsen.<br /><br />The January constitutional referendum curbs landholdings to 5,000 hectares (12,400 acres) as well as requires land to serve at all times a social or economic function. While Morales’ latest initiatives certainly have provoked uproar as well as praise, the efficacy of such reforms remains a serious question. Meanwhile, Bolivia is not the only country in the region attempting to overhaul its land tenure system.<br /><br /><strong>A Look at Recent Venezuelan Land Reform Attempts</strong><br /><br />It was soon after Chávez took office in 1999 that he began to reorganize Venezuela’s agricultural land use policy under the label "Vuelta al Campo" (Return to the Countryside). This should come as no surprise, as Venezuela has had a long history of unbalanced land ownership. For example, in 1937, large haciendas of 1,000 hectares or more were owned by only 4.8 percent of landowners, but comprised 88.8 percent of all cultivatable land. In 2001, Chávez initiated progressive legislation entitled the "Law on Land and Agrarian Development." This measure allowed for the Chávez government to seize large tracts of land and redistribute them as it deemed appropriate. The measure was enacted by the government in an attempt to bridge the vast inequality gap in Venezuela, a nation where much of the wealth traditionally remained in the hands of a select few.<br /><br />According to the CIPE Development Institute, prior to the 2001 reforms, 5 percent of the Venezuelan population owned 80 percent of the land. What is more shocking is that 60 percent of agricultural laborers have no ownership over the land they work. As a result, since the passing of the law eight years ago, Venezuelans have witnessed tensions rise between the landed elites and the landless working-class population.<br /><br />President Chávez worked quickly to redistribute land holdings once land reforms had been passed. In 2003, he assigned his older brother, Adán Chávez, to head the process. Adán enacted the "Plan Ezequiel Zamora," which, over a one year period, redistributed nearly 1.5 million hectares of land to 130,000 families. Over the next year, the Chávez government distributed another 500,000 hectares to poor farmers throughout the nation.<br /><br />While there has been a degree of success in the implementation of land redistribution programs, it has come at no small cost. Campesino leaders who have been trying to enforce the new land reform measures for years, have had to face violent oppression at the hands of the land owners and their private forces. According to Venezuela Analysis, more than 200 rural leaders have been murdered since the reforms passed, and the true number may be twice that figure. The murders are thought to have been carried out by thugs hired by the elite, whose land is now under threat of seizure by the government. These forces are often unorganized, but nonetheless, have been able to bring terror to Venezuela’s countryside much like the paramilitary vigilante forces that were formed to protect threatened land barons in Colombia.<br /><br /><strong>Chávez’s Recent Initiatives</strong><br /><br />In the past several months, Caracas has been unusually active in putting its mind to accumulating land for redistribution and for public infrastructural purposes. In an unusually forceful manner, the government’s National Land Institute (INTI) recently expropriated one parcel of over 2,800 hectares (7000 acres) with the help of National Guard troops for fear that recent clashes between the entrenched landowners and the landless peasants would spiral out of control. In some cases, such land holdings have been largely idle despite their rich soil and great potential for agriculture. Despite ample arable land, Venezuela has historically imported the majority of its food supplies. With the advent of its growing wealth from oil drilling royalties, Venezuela shifted away from using its landholdings for subsistence agriculture in favor of growing cash crops. This meant that while the middle class could readily pay for imported produce, the same could not be said about the poor. Thus, characteristically, land has been held by affluent Venezuelans as a symbol of prestige rather than a source of food production.<br /><br />A 2005 BBC report made the point that the Chávez administration, "insists it is impossible for Venezuela to grow enough food for the poor, as long as so much land is in the hands of so few." This is a principal force behind Venezuela’s current land redistribution initiative. The government is now in the process of taking over some of Venezuela’s largest and most profitable farms as well as estates that have been either ignored or underused. Venezuela’s president undoubtedly has the best of intentions in carrying out these actions, most notably the creation of sustainable development. This effort is in stark contrast to the current agricultural situation in much of the nation, where international companies, such as Ireland’s Smurfit Kappa have grown crops on Venezuelan acreage that didn’t offer long term sustainability, but drained the soil of precious minerals. After taking control of 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) that belonged to the Dublin based group, Chávez explained, "We are going to use all the eucalyptus wood sensibly and harvest other things there, beans, corn, sorghum, cassava and yam."<br /><br />Despite his push for land reform, Chávez has not found universal solidarity behind it within his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Governor of the state of Portuguesa, Wilmar Castro, a member of PSUV, has publicly criticized recent expropriations of land for use by landless peasants, blaming the government for its failure to redistribute land through proper legal channels. Governor Castro’s policy is strongly at odds with federal law that allows peasants to utilize unoccupied private land. Another incident that shows the increasingly fractured nature of Venezuelan society occurred on April 17. Authorities in the state of Portuguesa evicted more than sixty landless farmers and three INTI workers from privately owned land that state officials had marked for appropriation and redistribution. With local authorities completely disregarding the policies emanating from Caracas, it is unclear how Chávez will be able to enforce his policies at the provincial level.<br /><br />If the state achieves its goal, land that has been expropriated will be turned over to what, in many cases, are newly formed agrarian communes that will specialize in cultivating crops native to the region. Such measures will ensure the long-term viability of the land, encourage the employment of local campesinos, and supply food to subsidized markets all over the country. According to a 2006 report entitled "Land Reform in Venezuela," Chávez also hopes to build a food processing plant and research center on some of the expropriated government land to ensure that Venezuela’s facilities remain on par with other agricultural nations in the region.<br /><br />Food security has been a recent hot-button issue in Venezuela. Under Article 305 of the constitution, the president has the authority to seize any land he sees fit if it is in the interest of food security. This was most recently reflected when Chávez ordered the expropriation of U.S. food giant Cargill on claims that the company was selling rice at prices that exceeded the legal limit for the country. Chávez has good reason to be worried about his nation’s food supply, as it currently imports 70 percent of Venezuelan food that is consumed from abroad. With rising import costs, it has been wise of him to bolster Venezuela’s self-sufficiency by allocating unused land to farmers who have a demonstrated zeal for producing crops. A 2005 land reform law decreased the amount of idle land one could hold. As a result of this, one could allow high quality land to be idle only if it was 50 hectares or less in size, which cut the original figure that one had to meet in half. The limits on unused, low quality holdings were also lowered, decreasing from 5000 hectares to 3000 hectares. Any idle lands above these two limits were subject to peasant invasion and eventual redistribution by the National Land Institute.<br /><br />According to Minister of Agriculture and Lands, Elias Jaua, land reform already has allowed for a massive increase in national food production. Almost 1 million hectares (2.47 million acres) of the redistributed land are now producing food for domestic consumption, including meat, grain, and vegetables. This staggering amount accounts for nearly 90 percent of the total land appropriated for redistribution.<br /><br />If those whose lands were expropriated by the government wish to legally challenge the authorities, they will face a long and arduous process. According to Cort Greene, a Latin American political analyst, in 2005 the government legalized preemptive occupation by giving the peasants who storm large estates cartas agrarias. Such documents dictate nothing in terms of formal ownership rights, but nonetheless grant peasants the right to use the land and profit from it until all legal disputes are finalized. The distribution of these cartas essentially ignores prior legal contracts and land deeds and grants the property to whoever professedly will make the best use of it.<br /><br /><strong>The Future of Land Ownership</strong><br /><br />Having never fully recovered from the declination brought about by the Spanish conquest, the indigenous of South America have, to a large degree, experienced systematic inequality, often being viewed as little better than chattel. The issue of land reform is not peripheral to this process. In Bolivia, two-thirds of the land is owned by one percent of the population. Prior to Morales’ recent reforms, indigenous peoples, who represent the country’s clear ethnic majority, controlled under 10 percent of the land.<br /><br />In contrast to Bolivia, the indigenous population of Venezuela only accounts for a mere 2 percent of the total population. While Chávez has not made land reform an entirely indigenous-focused issue, he certainly has done his part in trying to ensure that Venezuela’s first people get their due compensation. However, many of Venezuela’s indigenous do not think of land as a top priority, and disagree with policies emanating from Caracas. In a January 15 article in the Economist titled "Venezuela’s Indigenous People: A Promise Unkept," Rosario Romero, an indigenous Yukpa, explains, "Invasions are very bad. The ranchers worked for what they have." She adds that, contrary to what radical Yukpa leaders say, her parents never suggested these lands were theirs. Romero’s perspective offers an interesting look into the dichotomy that helps explain Venezuela’s land reform. Although she may have a minority opinion, it is important to note that there is more to this issue than meets the eye.<br /><br />Yet Chávez and Morales are not the only Latin American governments reworking land titles. The Movimiento Sem Terra, or Landless Peasants Movement, established in 1980, has attempted to dramatically alter Brazil’s historically unjust system of land distribution. At times, however, the movement’s supporters have had to pressure an occasionally reluctant Lula administration. Moreover, in 2008, Raul Castro initiated a land reform program that sought to redistribute unutilized state-owned land to cooperatives.<br /><br />Land reform historically has been one of the fundamental activities on any "must" list of progressive governments. In an attempt to secure a guaranteed food supply, former Chilean president, Salvador Allende, initiated a sweeping land reform. This came at a time when only 8 percent of Chile’s gross national product (GNP) came from the countryside. From 1971 to 1972, 3,282 farms were expropriated by the Allende administration. While the reform initiatives were largely popular, they did polarize the electorate into two bitterly divided sides. Harvard research fellow, Thomas John Bossert argues that, "the revolutionary effect of such [agrarian] reforms is usually seen as coming not from beneficiaries of the reform, but rather from those frustrated by the failure of the reform to grant them land."<br /><br />Both Chávez and Morales have taken worthy first steps towards a less discriminatory distribution of land, but both leaders still have much work yet to be done with those who they have since agitated. Nevertheless, a wave of optimism has swept across the affected region, where steps have been taken to grant more equitable land rights to a rural population which historically has been discriminated against. While Chávez and Morales are gaining political capital by distributing land to the masses, they also risk alienating some of the most productive sectors of society. In the end, and with the best of intentions, they may be doing harm to both of the countries’ long-term political and economic stability. But the concern of an equitable reform of the land remains an issue calling out for redress.<br /><br /><em>Adam Kott and David Rosenblum Felson are Research Associates at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs.</em> </span><br /></span>__________________________________________________________<br />Copyright © 2007-2009 The Cutting Edge News<br /><br />Native Rights News is making this material from <a href="http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?page=3">The Cutting Edge News </a>available in accordance with the <em>Fair Use Doctrine</em> codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-90009415937743728282009-05-05T13:47:00.000-07:002009-05-06T17:30:54.590-07:00The Anchorage Declaration of the Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change<div><span style="font-family:arial;">[Editor's Note: Our thanks to the <a href="mailto:wsdp@igc.org">Western Shoshone Defense Project (WSDP)</a> for forwarding a copy of the Anchorage Declaration to us. For information and background about the summit itself, see our April 25th post titled </span><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/2009/04/indigenous-peoples-global-summit-on.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. </span></div><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong>Following is the Declaration from the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change held in Anchorage, Alaska April 20 – 24th.</strong></span></div></span><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong>The Anchorage Declaration</strong><br /><strong>_____________________________________________________<br />24 April 2009</strong> </div><br /><br />From 20-24 April, 2009, Indigenous representatives from the Arctic, North America, Asia, Pacific, Latin America, Africa, Caribbean and Russia met in Anchorage, Alaska for the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change. We thank the Ahtna and the Dena’ina Athabascan Peoples in whose lands we gathered.<br /><br />We express our solidarity as Indigenous Peoples living in areas that are the most vulnerable to the impacts and root causes of climate change. We reaffirm the unbreakable and sacred connection between land, air, water, oceans, forests, sea ice, plants, animals and our human communities as the material and spiritual basis for our existence.<br /><br />We are deeply alarmed by the accelerating climate devastation brought about by unsustainable development. We are experiencing profound and disproportionate adverse impacts on our cultures, human and environmental health, human rights, well-being, traditional livelihoods, food systems and food sovereignty, local infrastructure, economic viability, and our very survival as Indigenous Peoples.<br /><br />Mother Earth is no longer in a period of climate change, but in climate crisis. We therefore insist on an immediate end to the destruction and desecration of the elements of life.<br /><br />Through our knowledge, spirituality, sciences, practices, experiences and relationships with our traditional lands, territories, waters, air, forests, oceans, sea ice, other natural resources and all life, Indigenous Peoples have a vital role in defending and healing Mother Earth. The future of Indigenous Peoples lies in the wisdom of our elders, the restoration of the sacred position of women, the youth of today and in the generations of tomorrow.<br /><br />We uphold that the inherent and fundamental human rights and status of Indigenous Peoples, affirmed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), must be fully recognized and respected in all decision-making processes and activities related to climate change. This includes our rights to our lands, territories, environment and natural resources as contained in Articles 25–30 of the UNDRIP. When specific programs and projects affect our lands, territories, environment and natural resources, the right of Self Determination of Indigenous Peoples must be recognized and respected, emphasizing our right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, including the right to say “no”. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreements and principles must reflect the spirit and the minimum standards contained in UNDRIP.<br /><br /><strong>Calls for Action</strong><br /><br />1. In order to achieve the fundamental objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), we call upon the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC to support a binding emissions reduction target for developed countries (Annex 1) of at least 45% below 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 95% by 2050. In recognizing the root causes of climate change, participants call upon States to work towards decreasing dependency on fossil fuels. We further call for a just transition to decentralized renewable energy economies, sources and systems owned and controlled by our local communities to achieve energy security and sovereignty.<br /><br />In addition, the Summit participants agreed to present two options for action which were each supported by one or more of the participating regional caucuses. These were as follows:<br /><br />A. We call for the phase out of fossil fuel development and a moratorium on new fossil fuel developments on or near Indigenous lands and territories.<br /><br />B. We call for a process that works towards the eventual phase out of fossil fuels, without infringing on the right to development of Indigenous nations.<br /><br />2. We call upon the Parties to the UNFCCC to recognize the importance of our Traditional Knowledge and practices shared by Indigenous Peoples in developing strategies to address climate change. To address climate change we also call on the UNFCCC to recognize the historical and ecological debt of the Annex 1 countries in contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. We call on these countries to pay this historical debt.<br /><br />3. We call on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and other relevant institutions to support Indigenous Peoples in carrying out Indigenous Peoples’ climate change assessments.<br /><br />4. We call upon the UNFCCC’s decision-making bodies to establish formal structures and mechanisms for and with the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples. Specifically we recommend that the UNFCCC:<br />a. Organize regular Technical Briefings by Indigenous Peoples on Traditional Knowledge and climate change;<br />b. Recognize and engage the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change and its regional focal points in an advisory role;<br />c. Immediately establish an Indigenous focal point in the secretariat of the UNFCCC;<br />d. Appoint Indigenous Peoples’ representatives in UNFCCC funding mechanisms in consultation with Indigenous Peoples;<br />e. Take the necessary measures to ensure the full and effective participation of Indigenous and local communities in formulating, implementing, and monitoring activities, mitigation, and adaptation relating to impacts of climate change.<br /><br />5. All initiatives under Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) must secure the recognition and implementation of the human rights of Indigenous Peoples, including security of land tenure, ownership, recognition of land title according to traditional ways, uses and customary laws and the multiple benefits of forests for climate, ecosystems, and Peoples before taking any action.<br /><br />6. We challenge States to abandon false solutions to climate change that negatively impact Indigenous Peoples’ rights, lands, air, oceans, forests, territories and waters. These include nuclear energy, large-scale dams, geo-engineering techniques, “clean coal”, agro-fuels, plantations, and market based mechanisms such as carbon trading, the Clean Development Mechanism, and forest offsets. The human rights of Indigenous Peoples to protect our forests and forest livelihoods must be recognized, respected and ensured.<br /><br />7. We call for adequate and direct funding in developed and developing States and for a fund to be created to enable Indigenous Peoples’ full and effective participation in all climate processes, including adaptation, mitigation, monitoring and transfer of appropriate technologies in order to foster our empowerment, capacity-building, and education. We strongly urge relevant United Nations bodies to facilitate and fund the participation, education, and capacity building of Indigenous youth and women to ensure engagement in all international and national processes related to climate change.<br /><br />8. We call on financial institutions to provide risk insurance for Indigenous Peoples to allow them to recover from extreme weather events.<br /><br />9. We call upon all United Nations agencies to address climate change impacts in their strategies and action plans, in particular their impacts on Indigenous Peoples, including the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). In particular, we call upon all the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other relevant United Nations bodies to establish an Indigenous Peoples’ working group to address the impacts of climate change on food security and food sovereignty for Indigenous Peoples.<br /><br />10. We call on United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to conduct a fast track assessment of short-term drivers of climate change, specifically black carbon, with a view to initiating negotiation of an international agreement to reduce emission of black carbon.<br /><br />11. We call on States to recognize, respect and implement the fundamental human rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the collective rights to traditional ownership, use, access, occupancy and title to traditional lands, air, forests, waters, oceans, sea ice and sacred sites as well as to ensure that the rights affirmed in Treaties are upheld and recognized in land use planning and climate change mitigation strategies. In particular, States must ensure that Indigenous Peoples have the right to mobility and are not forcibly removed or settled away from their traditional lands and territories, and that the rights of Peoples in voluntary isolation are upheld. In the case of climate change migrants, appropriate programs and measures must address their rights, status, conditions, and vulnerabilities.<br /><br />12. We call upon states to return and restore lands, territories, waters, forests, oceans, sea ice and sacred sites that have been taken from Indigenous Peoples, limiting our access to our traditional ways of living, thereby causing us to misuse and expose our lands to activities and conditions that contribute to climate change.<br /><br />13. In order to provide the resources necessary for our collective survival in response to the climate crisis, we declare our communities, waters, air, forests, oceans, sea ice, traditional lands and territories to be “Food Sovereignty Areas,” defined and directed by Indigenous Peoples according to customary laws, free from extractive industries, deforestation and chemical-based industrial food production systems (i.e. contaminants, agro-fuels, genetically modified organisms).<br /><br />14. We encourage our communities to exchange information while ensuring the protection and recognition of and respect for the intellectual property rights of Indigenous Peoples at the local, national and international levels pertaining to our Traditional Knowledge, innovations, and practices. These include knowledge and use of land, water and sea ice, traditional agriculture, forest management, ancestral seeds, pastoralism, food plants, animals and medicines and are essential in developing climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, restoring our food sovereignty and food independence, and strengthening our Indigenous families and nations.<br /><br /><div align="center"><strong>We offer to share with humanity our Traditional Knowledge, innovations, and practices<br />relevant to climate change, provided our fundamental rights as intergenerational<br />guardians of this knowledge are fully recognized and respected. We reiterate the urgent<br />need for collective action.<br /><br /><br /><em>Agreed by consensus of the participants in the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on<br />Climate Change, Anchorage Alaska, April 24th 2009</em> </strong></div>__________________________________________________________<br />Source: <a href="mailto:wsdp@igc.org">Western Shoshone Defense Project (WSDP)</a><br /><br />Native Rights News is making this Declaration available in accordance with the wishes of its authors. This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-81369222581813133162009-04-28T21:18:00.000-07:002009-04-28T23:05:59.512-07:00Navajo Nation Calls on Obama to Intervene in Commercial Development that Will Desecrate the Sacred San Francisco Peaks<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghHTBnvl-eWNWxFqXnqGM67lKae_m_OOcYv_o6Kzmj8PJK-4PX-ASpmujZ64k0qi5i4pvxZaH576WuRsb3hduuJyqshyphenhyphenNurWVKlorYSKzFMHB9YizKyDexKXU60X715hjdY0L4H8ySVTGA/s1600-h/san_francisco_peaks_in_winter_JPG.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329969699051513954" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 340px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghHTBnvl-eWNWxFqXnqGM67lKae_m_OOcYv_o6Kzmj8PJK-4PX-ASpmujZ64k0qi5i4pvxZaH576WuRsb3hduuJyqshyphenhyphenNurWVKlorYSKzFMHB9YizKyDexKXU60X715hjdY0L4H8ySVTGA/s400/san_francisco_peaks_in_winter_JPG.jpg" border="0" /></a>[Editor's Note: Having lost an <em>en banc</em> (full panel) decision in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and filed a <em>petition for certiorari</em> (review) with the U.S. Supreme Court, which has issued rulings in the past that have curtailed the religious rights of Indian tribes in favor of commercial interests, the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Havasupai Tribe, White Mountain Apache Tribe, Yavapai-Apache Nation and the Hualapai Tribe are now very close to exhausting their judicial remedies. Recognizing this, the Navajo Nation Council, meeting at Window Rock, Navajo Nation (Arizona) on April 22, 2009, passed a resolution calling on President Obama to honor the commitments he made to the Indian Peoples of this nation during his presidential campaign.<br /><br />They remind him not only of the commitments he made to give Native Americans a voice in Washington D.C. and to honor the government to government relationship that exists between the U.S. and tribal governments and the treaties that have been drawn between them, but also of the United States' obligations under International treaties and conventions concerning the fundamental human right to the practice of one's religious beliefs. This right is about to be extinguished for the thirteen southwestern who hold <em>Dook' o' oosliid</em> (San Francisco Peaks) to be sacred ground.<br /><br />The resolution calls on Obama to direct administration officials to meet with representatives of the Navajo Nation and other Indian nations and tribes to find a mutually agreeable way to protect Native American sacred sites from desecration and destruction. Alternatively, it asks Obama to "aggressively champion" congressional legislation to protect Native American sacred sites.<br /><br />A copy of the resolution can be found in .pdf format at: <a href="http://www.indigenousaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/CAP-16-09.pdf">http://www.indigenousaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/CAP-16-09.pdf</a> Our thanks to IndigenousAction.org for making the resolution available to the public on their website. -- Perry H. Chesnut, Editor NRN]<br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong>Tribes look to Obama for protection of sacred peaks</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.gallupindependent.com/2009/04April/042709tribeslook.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">Gallup Independent</span></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">By Kathy Helms</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Diné Bureau</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation Council has given its approval for the Nation’s attorneys and leaders to meet with the Obama administration in hopes of working out a settlement to protect the sacred San Francisco Peaks from desecration.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The Nation is seeking an expedited meeting prior to May 8, when the U.S. Solicitor General’s response brief is due to the U.S. Supreme Court.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />In “Navajo Nation v. United States Forest Service,” the Nation and three other tribes challenged the Forest Service’s approval of an expansion of the Arizona Snowbowl ski resort on the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The expansion included using reclaimed sewer water to make artificial snow, which in the view of Indian religious practitioners, desecrates the mountain.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />In 2008, the 9th Circuit, in an en banc decision, held that the Forest Service’s approval did not violate the tribes religious freedom because the proposal does not place a substantial burden on their exercise of religion by forcing them to act contrary to their religion under the threat of a legal penalty or choose between their religion and the receipt of a government benefit.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Delegate Leonard Tsosie said it is feared that the Supreme Court will take the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in the wrong way, “because they’re somewhat not sentimental to Indian cases.” The high court previously has withdrawn or denied First Amendment rights to tribes when it comes to federal land-management decisions.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The San Francisco Peaks, or Dook’o’oosliid, the sacred mountain to the west, is one of four mountains held holy by the Navajo people and 12 other Arizona tribes. Mount Taylor, or Tsoodzil, the sacred mountain to the south, is threatened by uranium mining.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, Yavapai-Apache Nation, the Havasupai, White Mountain Apache, Hualapai and others filed suit in federal court to stop what is viewed as a “government-sponsored desecration of a well-documented sacred and holy site.”</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The Religious Freedom Restoration Act represents the last chance for the Navajo Nation and tribes across the country to protect their sovereignty, practice their religions, and to survive as a people, according to the emergency legislation sponsored by Tsosie and passed, 60-2, last week by Council. Edward Jim and Lawrence Platero voted against the measure.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The Nation has turned to President Barack Obama, who during his election campaign committed to honoring the government-to-government relationship between tribes and the federal government, ensuring that treaty obligations are met and that tribes will have a voice in Washington.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />“What this does is it allows our lawyers and also our leaders to sit down with the Obama Administration and look at the possibility of settling the San Francisco Peaks (case) in favor of the Navajo Nation because the lawsuit is ‘Navajo Nation v. U.S. Forest Service,’ and the U.S. Forest Service is being represented by the U.S. government lawyers which the U.S. government has control over,” Tsosie said.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Delegate Ervin Keeswood told Council there also is a need to indicate that there are instruments of international law to which the Nation could resort.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />“I believe that it’s time to start quoting and also remind the United States’ government of these actions internationally.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />At some point in time ... we may have to go to the international community for resolution of some of these matters if they’re not heard as we wish in the United States government,” he said. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Delegate Rex Lee Jim, the Nation’s “international representative” at the United Nations, received approval for an amendment to the legislation.<br /><br />The amendment cites religious rights contained in the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man supported by the Organization of American States, of which the United States is a member. It also refers to religious rights contained in the American Convention on Human Rights, signed by the United States in 1977.<br /><br />In September 2007, the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, by which the international community has made the effort to strengthen partnership with states, indigenous people and civil society as a whole.<br /><br />The declaration recognized that “indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters and coastal seas and other resources and to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this regard.”<br /><br />The United States is one of four states that voted against the declaration.<br /><br />“Without such commitment by the United States to protect the rights of its indigenous peoples, sadly the protection of holy and sacred sites such as Dook’o’oosliid will continue to yield to commercial interests,” the amendment states.<br /><br />The Navajo Nation is formally requesting that Obama, on behalf of the United States and its indigenous peoples, sign the declaration without delay and stand firm with its commitment to protect and preserve holy and sacred sites of indigenous people within the United States.</span><br /></span>__________________________________________________________<br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Article: Copyright © 2009 <a href="http://www.gallupindependent.com/index.html">Gallup Independent</a></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Photo courtesy of </span><a href="http://www.azemporium.com/Graphics/imagepages/Journeys/San%20Francisco%20Peaks.htm"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Arizona Emporium</span></a><a href="http://www.azemporium.com/Graphics/imagepages/Journeys/San%20Francisco%20Peaks.htm"> </a><br /><br />Native Rights News is making this material available in accordance with the <em>Fair Use Doctrine</em> codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-9525492056375168842009-04-25T21:36:00.000-07:002009-04-25T22:28:53.380-07:00Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change<span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgybJlAoIVuvIuZmfN0HlK4c2x-RCUU2KQb1iYtogga47s9VrRkKMqgEy0ZUXvdXUOX2H3XYUyEXphgcAbpCZdBnA8ucI4lypaWEiZfm060_P9S2MIu3PvCoyO1BoMY_m29PiyahXNVe_VR/s1600-h/eroded_coastline_jpg.jpg"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328859053915662162" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgybJlAoIVuvIuZmfN0HlK4c2x-RCUU2KQb1iYtogga47s9VrRkKMqgEy0ZUXvdXUOX2H3XYUyEXphgcAbpCZdBnA8ucI4lypaWEiZfm060_P9S2MIu3PvCoyO1BoMY_m29PiyahXNVe_VR/s400/eroded_coastline_jpg.jpg" border="0" /></strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong>Indigenous Peoples Demand Greater Role in Climate Debate</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">By Stephen Leahy*</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Apr 20 (Tierramérica) - While indigenous peoples from around the world are meeting in this Alaskan city to seek a greater role in global climate negotiations, the rapidly warming Arctic is forcing some Inuit villages to be relocated.</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"We have centuries of experience in adapting to the climate and our traditional lifestyles have very low carbon footprints," Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, an indigenous leader from the Philippines and chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, told Tierramérica.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Carbon-based gases are the principal cause of the greenhouse effect, which leads to climate change. The excessive release of these gases, like carbon dioxide and methane, comes from human activities: the combustion of fossil fuels in industry and transportation, and emissions from livestock production and deforestation.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Some 400 indigenous people, including Bolivian President Evo Morales and observers from 80 nations, are gathered in Anchorage, Alaska for the Apr. 20-24 U.N.-affiliated Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">They will discuss and synthesise ways that traditional knowledge can be used to both mitigate and adapt to climate change.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"Indigenous peoples have contributed the least to the global problem of climate change, but will almost certainly bear the greatest brunt of its impact," said Patricia Cochran, chair of both the Inuit Circumpolar Council and the April Summit.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In her opinion, indigenous peoples are leaders and experts when it comes to the climate debate. Any dialogue or negotiations will be far richer and productive with their participation, she said.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">But indigenous peoples are also on the front lines when it comes to climate change impacts, Cochran told Tierramérica.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The village of Newtok, about 800 kilometres east of Anchorage, is the first of several villages in need of relocation due to climate change. Because of higher average temperatures, intensifying river flow and melting permafrost are destroying homes and infrastructure, forcing 320 residents to relocate to a higher site 15 km west, at an expected cost in the tens of millions of dollars.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Five other Alaskan Inuit settlements are in urgent need of relocation, including Shishmaref (population 560) and Kivalina (377), where autumn storm waves are no longer contained by shore-fast ice, leading to severe coastal erosion. Dozens of similar settlements are considered threatened.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the regions most affected - such as the Arctic, Caribbean and Amazon - are where most of the indigenous people live, says Sam Johnston of the Tokyo-based United Nations University, a co-sponsor of the Summit.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Around the world, at least 5,000 distinct groups of indigenous peoples have been identified in more than 70 countries, with a combined global population estimated at 300 to 350 million, representing about six percent of humanity.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Because of their long cultural and spiritual connection to the land, oceans and wildlife, indigenous peoples have a lot to offer, Johnston said in an interview.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"The world owes it to both the indigenous peoples and itself to pay greater heed to the opinions of these communities and to the wisdom of ages-old traditional knowledge," he said.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The major goal of the Summit is to help strengthen the indigenous communities' participation in and articulate messages and recommendations to the December conference of parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in Copenhagen.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">There, the world's governments will negotiate a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol (which expires in 2012) to reduce carbon emissions and to create an adaptation fund to help poor countries.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The indigenous Summit will conclude in Anchorage on Friday with a declaration and action plan, and a call for world governments to fully include indigenous peoples in any post-Kyoto climate change regime adopted in Copenhagen.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Indigenous peoples currently have no formal role at the climate talks, although native representatives were part of Bolivia's delegation to a series of preparatory meetings earlier this month in Bonn, Germany.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Ideally, indigenous peoples would have a formal advisory role, as they currently do under the U.N. Convention on Biodiversity, said Tauli-Corpuz.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"Unfortunately, no government has been willing to push for this under the UNFCCC," she said.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The "Anchorage Declaration" will be signed by President Evo Morales, who is of Aymara origin; Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, president of the U.N. General Assembly; and Danish Parliamentarian Juliane Henningsen, representing Greenland, says Cochrane.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Issues like reducing deforestation and boosting massive re-forestation efforts can have major impacts on indigenous peoples, and it is vital that indigenous rights are acknowledged and respected in any final climate agreement, said Tauli-Corpuz.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">But, warned the UNU's Johnston, bilateral discussions, especially between China and the United States, are heating up ahead of the Copenhagen meet, and may push indigenous peoples' involvement to the sidelines.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">(*This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.) </span>__________________________________________________________<br /><a class="pie" href="http://www.ipsnews.net/copyright.shtml">Copyright © 2009 IPS-Inter Press Service</a><br /><br />Native Rights News is making this material from <a class="pie" href="http://www.ipsnews.net/copyright.shtml">IPS-Inter Press Service</a> available in accordance with the <em>Fair Use Doctrine</em> codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-76025627434199160102009-04-23T21:21:00.000-07:002009-04-23T22:29:06.431-07:00Extractive Industries Boycott International Expert Workshop on Violations of Human Rights and Environment[Forwarded by Western Shoshone Defense Project <a href="mailto:wsdp@igc.org">wsdp@igc.org</a>]<br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">PRESS RELEASE </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">28 March 2009</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;">International Experts Deliberate on Piles of Human rights and Environment Violations of Extractive Industries</span></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">MANILA, Philippines – Officials of the United Nations system, multilateral institutions such as the European Commission, the World Bank, ADB, Member States of the UN, international experts, indigenous peoples and other organizations attending the International Expert Workshop on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, Corporate Accountability and the Extractive Industries have started deliberating yesterday on piles of serious issues surrounding the Indigenous Peoples all around the world, and in their bid to find better and lasting solutions to stop large-scale oil, gas and mining companies from further destroying indigenous lands, the environment, and contributing to the alarming problem of global warming.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">“Although there have been substantial developments in the promotion and protection of the human rights of indigenous peoples in recent years, indigenous peoples have continued to suffer violations of their human rights on a regular basis. This is especially the case in the context of extractive industries, such as mineral, oil and gas extraction, which disproportionately impact indigenous peoples,” said Carol Pollack of the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples Issues during her opening address.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Experts and participants are expected to craft stronger recommendations within the three-day workshop that will help solve the problems of the Indigenous Peoples’ rights worldwide and mitigate the effect of climate change which is mainly caused by extractive industries, particularly oil, gas and coal extraction.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Among others, the officials will try to find better mechanisms to force extractive industries into complying with relevant provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which includes self determination, right to traditional lands, right to be secure in subsistence and development, right to conservation and protection of the environment and productive capacity of lands and the often violated free, prior and informed consent provision.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">“We have lived within nation states which established norms and laws according to their interest. We have suffered disproportionately from the impact of extractive industries as our territories are home to over sixty percent of the world's most coveted mineral resources,” the Indigenous Peoples’ said in the final [Manila] Declaration [attached <a href="http://www.tebtebba.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=358&Itemid=27">English</a> <a href="http://www.tebtebba.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=357&Itemid=27">Spanish</a>] crafted after the International Conference on Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries. “The activities of these corporations have led to the worst forms of environmental degradation, human rights violations and land dispossession,” they added. Although, the extractive industries must play a vital role in addressing these problems, those invited opted not to send their representatives to the international expert workshop, to which Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, a Kankana-ey from the Cordillera and the current chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), expressed disappointment over failure to do so.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In a statement sent to Tauli-Corpuz, the International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM), a CEO-led organization representing many of the world's leading mining and metals companies as well as regional, national and commodity associations, said that “it has been working on Indigenous Peoples issues for several years including; producing a Mining and Indigenous People's Review (2005, holding two roundtables on mining and Indigenous Peoples (2005, 2008), seeking legal reviews of FPIC, approving a Position Statement outlining our member's policy on Indigenous Peoples and recently we have produced a first draft of a Good Practice Guidance on Mining and Indigenous Peoples.”</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Along with ICMM, transnational mining corporations such as Rio Tinto, among others, were also invited to sit in the international expert dialogue. However, they declined saying that, “In view of the global financial crisis, we are cutting on costs and prioritize activities that are essential.”</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Tauli-Corpuz said, “They did not see the importance of attending a dialogue with the World's Indigenous Peoples, where 60 to 70 percent of the world's minerals, oil and gas are found in their territories. It is sad that they undermined the importance of this event.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">“It is in the interest of the extractive industries corporations to listen to indigenous peoples affected by mining, oil and gas projects so that there would be less conflict, less human rights violations and more equitable-sharing and sustainable use of resources if a dialogue with them is to happen,” she added.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">For inquiries, please contact: Jo Villanueva</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Mobile: 09194111660</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Email: </span><a href="mailto:jomvillanueva@gmail.com"><span style="font-family:arial;">jomvillanueva@gmail.com</span></a><br /><br />__________________________________________________________<br /><br />Source: <a href="mailto:IndigenousThinkers@yahoogroups.com">IndigenousThinkers@yahoogroups.com</a><br /><br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News </a>is making this material available in accordance with a Press Release. This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br />Native Rights News (NRN) is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-24516207686956521332009-04-22T17:29:00.000-07:002009-04-23T22:46:53.450-07:00Sign-On Letter to Canadian Government Calls for Action to Stop Abuses Committed by Extractive Industries<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7wvDwLq55fg8u_14bmgQ9xrq7j8_73-07ZnzPRKKRhyphenhyphenHDVtA3FlglvuWh3XjiRjF1G-34cGeIR2SOVHunimWX_9NBG7wIfGbBba3lc1Ni2cKCDui0OkV2uK4epIsv_5JY1Cf278nmf_4V/s1600-h/Victoria_Tauli_Corpuz_JPG.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327702917644117154" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 210px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7wvDwLq55fg8u_14bmgQ9xrq7j8_73-07ZnzPRKKRhyphenhyphenHDVtA3FlglvuWh3XjiRjF1G-34cGeIR2SOVHunimWX_9NBG7wIfGbBba3lc1Ni2cKCDui0OkV2uK4epIsv_5JY1Cf278nmf_4V/s400/Victoria_Tauli_Corpuz_JPG.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">[<strong>Editor's Note:</strong> Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, current chair of the </span><a href="http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/member_tauli.htmlhttp://"><span style="font-family:arial;">UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII)</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> , is urging organizations and individuals to add their support and signature to her letter to Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper. In that letter, Ms. Tauli-Corpus expresses her disappointment in Canada's past and current policies vis a vis the abuses committed by Canadian transnational corporations against Indigenous Peoples and the environment. She asks that the Canadian government take specific actions to curb such abuses and hold the Canadian extractive industry to account. Following are both letters.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Alliance for Indigenous Rights is signing on to the letter, and we urge all NGO's and individuals concerned about protecting Indigenous Peoples rights and the environment to do the same. -- Perry H. Chesnut, Editor NRN]</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong>Sign-on Letter to Canadian Government</strong></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;"></span></strong><br />FYI. If you wish to sign-on, please respond directly to </span><a href="mailto:vicky@tebtebba.org"><span style="font-family:arial;">vicky@tebtebba.org</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. Thanks.</span><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />----- Original Message -----<br /><br />From: "vicky tauli-corpuz" </span><a href="mailto:vicky@tebtebba.org"><span style="font-family:arial;">mailto:vicky@tebtebba.org</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Sent: March 30, 2009<br />Subject: Letter to Canadian Government</span><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Dear Friends,<br /><br />At the Expert Group Meeting on Extractive Industries, Indigenous and Corporate Social Responisbility a discussion was held regarding the response of the government to the series of roundtables held in Canada which looked into the issue of Extractives. Obviously, the government has not accepted the recommendations. So we drafted a letter [below] which contains our disappointment with the results. Please read this and if you want to sign on please send your name and your organization [to </span><a href="mailto:vicky@tebtebba.org"><span style="font-family:arial;">vicky@tebtebba.org</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">]. If you do not have an organization, [please sign] as an individual.</span><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />regards, </span><span style="font-family:arial;">Vicky</span><br /></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Victoria Tauli-Corpuz<br />Executive Director, Tebtebba<br />Convenor, Asia Indigenous Women's Network<br />1 Roman Ayson Road, Baguio City, Philippines, 2600<br />Telephone: 63-74-4447703 Fax: 63-74-4439459 mobile: 63-91-75317811<br />website: </span><a href="http://www.tebtebba.org/"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://www.tebtebba.org/</span></a><br /><a href="http://www.un.org/socdev/esa/unpfii"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://www.un.org/socdev/esa/unpfii</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">------------ --------- --------- ------</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">29 March 2009</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Manila , Philippines Peoples' Rights</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Right Honourable Stephen Harper</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Prime Minister of Canada</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Office of the Prime Minister</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">80 Wellington Street</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Ottawa , ON</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Canada</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">K1A 0A2</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Dear Prime Minister Harper,</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It is with great regret that we, the undersigned participants of the International Expert Workshop on Indigenous Peoples' Rights, Corporate Accountability and Extractive Industries, and the International Conference on Extractive Industries and Indigenous Peoples, note the adoption of the new Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy for the Canadian International Extractive Sector. It is a strategy that falls far short of upholding Canada 's international commitments on human rights, Indigenous Peoples and the environment. By advising on existing voluntary guidelines, instead of imposing binding, regulatory requirements, it is one that will do little to stop abuses by Canadian extractive companies from continuing unabated and unpunished.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Among the Indigenous Peoples present at these two meetings - the first was organized by the Tebtebba Foundation and the second by United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) - are those who earlier in the decade shared personal reports of abuse by Canadian mining companies with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade (SCFAIT). In 2005, as you know, that Committee responded by calling on the Government of Canada to "establish clear legal norms to ensure that Canadian companies and residents are held accountable when there is evidence of environmental and/or human rights violations associated with the activities of Canadian mining companies."</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In "Building the Canadian Advantage" that recommendation has been ignored, as have the groundbreaking consensus recommendations that resulted from the National CSR Roundtable process. Together these recommendations represent the views of national Parliamentarians, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, industry, labour, socially responsible investors, academics and members of the Canadian public. Given this breadth of support, it is disappointing that the Conservative Government of Canada has chosen to so freely set aside the progressive outputs of democratic and officially mandated dialogue.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Particularly alarming in the new CSR Strategy is the absence of an independent and empowered ombudsperson to investigate and respond to the concerns of affected communities, and the lack of provisions for sanctions and withdrawal of public support when extractive companies fail to comply with human rights and environmental standards. Furthermore, an appointed CSR counselor, who requires the consent of the company involved to undertake a review, and who may target his or her review at both communities and their allies, offers no real recourse for communities that have been adversely affected by Canadian extractive companies, and raises serious questions about corporate co-optation of this instrument, as well as fears that the review process may be used against Indigenous Peoples.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Over the course of the last seven days, numerous participants at the International Conference on Extractive Industries and Indigenous Peoples and the International Expert Workshop on Indigenous Peoples' Rights, Corporate Accountability and Extractive Industries have made it clear that the abuse of Indigenous Peoples' rights to lands, territories and resources at the hands of Canadian extractive companies is ongoing. This reality once again underscores the failure of voluntary, industry-driven initiatives to protect human rights and reinforces the need for extra-territorial regulation of extractive industries, especially in the context of weak governance in host countries.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It is our position that the "Canadian Advantage" has already been established in the global extractive sector and it has been established at the expense of the environment and of Indigenous Peoples. The advantage that has been lost is Canada 's reputation as a leader on human rights.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">As these important meetings draws to a close in Manila, we call on the Government of Canada to take immediate steps to bring its CSR Strategy for the Canadian International Extractive Sector into line with the recommendations of the SCFAIT Report and the Report of the Advisory Group to the National Roundtables on CSR and the Canadian Extractive Sector in Developing Countries.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It is also critical that any effort by the Canadian government reflects respect for Canada's obligations under such agreements as the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, as well as internationally recognized rights that have been entrenched in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). As you are aware, UNDRIP was endorsed by the Canadian House of Commons last year and in 2007 the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination' s (CERD) concluding observations to Canada noted: "with concern the reports of adverse effects of economic activities connected with the exploitation of natural resources in countries outside Canada by transnational corporations registered in Canada on the right to land, health, living environment and the way of life of indigenous peoples living in these regions." CERD concluded by recommending that Canada "explore ways to hold transnational corporations registered in Canada accountable."</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Until such a time as full regulatory measures governing Canadian extractive companies can be enacted, we further encourage Canadian Parliamentarians, including members of the Conservative Party of Canada, to consider passing the proposed Bill C-300, an Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries. Over the short-term this Act would effectively supplement the Canadian CSR Strategy by requiring publicly-funded extractive companies to uphold standards like the International Finance Corporation' s Performance Standards on Social and Environmental Sustainability, with Ministers empowered to review complaints and required to report back to Parliament. Particularly welcome are the suggested amendments contained within Bill C-300, which would lead to the withdrawal of support by Export Development Canada and the cessation of investment by the Canadian Pension Plan where extractive operations are inconsistent with the guidelines that are endorsed in section 5 of the Act.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Ultimately, we request that you reconsider your limited CSR response and commit to measures that genuinely address the serious human rights and environmental abuses associated with Canadian extractive industry companies.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">For your information, we have attached the Manila Declaration, the document that resulted from the International Conference on Extractive Industries and Indigenous Peoples, and will forward the report of the Expert Group Workshop when it is finalized.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We look forward to receiving your reply and request that it be directed to the Secretariat for the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, so that they might in turn forward it to participants of the Manila meetings.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Thank you for your consideration of our concerns, which echo those raised by over 100 participants from 35 countries.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Institutional Signatories</strong> (as of 30 March 2009)</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago ( Indonesia )</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Cordillera Peoples Alliance ( Philippines )</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Kanak Agency for Development ( New Caledonia )</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Centre for Environmental Research and Development ( Papua New Guinea )</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Western Shoshone Defense Project ( USA )</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">PIPLinks - Indigenous Peoples Links ( UK )</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Tebtebba Foundation (Indigenous Peoples' International Centre for Policy Research and Education) ( Philippines and UK )</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Individual Signatories</strong> (as of 30 March 2009)</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Mr. Brian Wyatt ( Australia )</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Ms. Urantsooj Gombosuren ( Mongolia )</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Mr. Cathal Doyle ( Ireland )</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Ms. Meaghen Simms ( Canada )</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Ms. Elisa Canqui Mollo ( Bolivia )</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Mr. Luis Vittor ( Peru )</span><br />__________________________________________________________<br />Source: <a href="http://IndigenousThinkers@yahoogroups.com">http://IndigenousThinkers@yahoogroups.com</a><br /><br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News </a>is making this material available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br />Native Rights News (NRN) is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-66395278782827347342009-04-15T11:19:00.000-07:002009-04-15T12:01:54.144-07:00Participate in OAS Working Group and Indigenous Caucus to Ensure a Strong American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples<span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong>OAS Negotiations on the Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</strong></span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family:arial;">Background: Indigenous Rights within the OAS</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The Organization of American States was formed in 1948, at about the same time as the United Nations, and is made up of the 35 countries of the Americas. In recent decades, indigenous peoples have urged the member countries (or "states") of the OAS to recognize the human rights of indigenous peoples as distinct peoples. In the 1980s, indigenous communities in Latin America that were threatened by war and genocide brought their human rights claims to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a special branch of the OAS.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />In 1989, the OAS leadership directed the Inter-American Commission to draft a document about the human rights of indigenous peoples. This document became the proposed American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. If all the member states of the OAS agree, it will be adopted by the General Assembly of the OAS, and incorporated into the body of developing international standards within the Inter-American legal system. The adoption of the declaration would not only represent an important recognition of indigenous rights in the Americas, but could also serve as the foundation for establishing a more binding legal instrument, such as a convention or treaty on Indigenous rights.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><strong>Negotiation of the Draft American Declaration</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The current draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples deals with economic, cultural, and political rights. The declaration affirms the right to self determination, education, health, self government, cultural heritage, and the right to lands, territories and natural resources, among others. A copy of the most recent draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples can be found on the OAS website: </span><a href="http://scm.oas.org/doc_public/ENGLISH/HIST_08/CP20518E07.DOC"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://scm.oas.org/doc_public/ENGLISH/HIST_08/CP20518E07.DOC</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />In 1999, the OAS established a Working Group to review and make changes to the Declaration. The Working Group is open to all member states of the OAS, although some countries participate more than others. The Working Group meets several times a year to discuss the declaration and to try to reach agreement about its text.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />From the very beginning, indigenous representatives insisted that these Working Group meetings be open to them, as well. Many OAS member states strongly opposed this kind of openness. By demanding that they have a say in discussions about their rights, however, indigenous peoples became the first non-state group to participate in high-level OAS meetings like those of the Working Group. Over just a few years, indigenous peoples established their right to take part in these activities.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Currently, indigenous and NGO representatives continue to attend the negotiation sessions of the Working Group to debate the articles and ensure that the Declaration accurately reflects the interests of indigenous peoples. Nevertheless, general awareness of the Declaration and its implications remain relatively low, and increasing indigenous participation remains as important as ever. There is also a need to increase the involvement of indigenous governments as they are representative entities with unique status and influence.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The Working Group negotiation sessions are usually convened at OAS headquarters in Washington D.C., but are sometimes hosted by other OAS countries. There have been nearly a dozen meetings on the OAS Declaration since 1999, including nine Negotiation Sessions, the most recent of which was held April 23nd-27th 2007 in La Paz, Bolivia. Each negotiation session consists of a week of discussions regarding the form and content of the articles of the declaration, with the objective of reaching consensus between State delegations and indigenous representatives. These sessions are not only important for resolving differences regarding the text of the declaration, but also in advancing international thought and collaboration surrounding these fundamental rights.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><strong>Getting Involved</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Continued participation of indigenous representatives in the proposed American Declaration process is fundamental to developing adequate international standards regarding the rights of indigenous peoples. Indigenous representatives are welcome to participate in all Working Group meetings on the proposed American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples without having to previously register with OAS, and can find information regarding the upcoming sessions on the OAS website: </span><a href="http://www.oas.org/consejo/cajp/working%20groups.asp#indigenous"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://www.oas.org/consejo/cajp/working%20groups.asp#indigenous</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Indigenous representatives can also participate in the meetings convened by the Indigenous Caucus, which is an ad-hoc gathering of indigenous participants that usually convene two or three days prior to the official Working Group meetings in order to consult with each other and, where possible, develop common strategies and proposals for the negotiation sessions. These meetings are loosely organized and completely open to indigenous representatives.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />A special fund administered by the OAS is available to facilitate indigenous participation in the Working Group. Indigenous representatives may seek economic support from this "Specific Fund" for travel and per diem expenses related to their participation in the meetings. The criteria for receiving this support are available at </span><a href="http://www.oas.org/consejo/resolutions/res873.asp"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://www.oas.org/consejo/resolutions/res873.asp</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. Indigenous representatives who wish to apply should contact Luis Toro or Johanna Salah, OAS Office of International Law at (202) 458 6377 or by fax, (202) 458 3292, or e-mail at </span><a href="mailto:ltoro@oas.org"><span style="font-family:arial;">ltoro@oas.org</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and/or </span><a href="mailto:jsalah@oas.org"><span style="font-family:arial;">jsalah@oas.org</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span><br /><br />[<strong>Editor's Note:</strong> For information regarding human rights violations committed against Indigenous Peoples by large corporations and their client governments in the western hemisphere, see our article posted on April 9, 2009 titled <a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/2009/04/call-to-action-demand-oas-support.html">Call to Action: Demand OAS Support a Strong American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a>. And while you're there, do your part by signing a letter calling for a strong draft of the American Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The work has been done for you, with a well-written form letter addressed to the representatives of all the member nations of the OAS. All you have to do is add your own personal comments, if any, and send the letter. You can also send the demand letter without going to the previous article by clicking <a href="http://citizenspeak.org/node/1512">http://citizenspeak.org/node/1512</a>.<br /><br />Our thanks to the staff at the <a href="http://www.indianlaw.org/">Indian Law Resource Center </a>for making this information available to us so that we can make it available to you. They have been working to protect and advance the cause of indigenous rights for more than 30 years. Visit their website and sign up for their free email newsletter. And while you're at it, show your support by making a tax-deductible contribution to the cause. -- Perry Chesnut, Editor, NRN]<br />__________________________________________________________ ©2009 Indian Law Resource Center. All rights reserved.<br /><br />Native Rights News is making this material available with the express permission of the <a href="http://www.indianlaw.org/">Indian Law Resource Center </a>. This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry..Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843363235019980507.post-45713795364258359522009-04-09T21:41:00.000-07:002009-04-09T21:57:33.054-07:00Lawsuit Planned to Halt Macon County Airport's Desecration of Cherokee Graves<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><strong>All airport documents requested in lead up to runway lawsuit</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.smokymountainnews.com/issues/04_09/04_08_09/fr_airport_money.html">Smoky Mountain News</a><br />Week of 4-08-09<br />By Josh Mitchell • Staff Writer<br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">An environmental group out of Asheville plans to sue the Macon County Airport Authority and other parties involved in the proposed extension of the runway.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The group, Wild South, wants to stop the runway from being extended, saying the project is unnecessary, will harm the rural character of the Iotla Valley and endanger Cherokee artifacts and burial grounds, as well as other historic sites.<br /><br />Lamar Marshall of Wild South said a 60-day notice to sue the Airport Authority will soon be filed. Afterwards, Wild South will seek an injunction to stop the project from moving forward, Wild South attorney Stephen Novak said.<br /><br />Novak said he is unclear at the moment who will be named in the lawsuit.<br /><br />The organization has also filed a federal Freedom of Information Act request and state public records request to obtain documents related to the proposed runway extension. The records request seeks documents from the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in Washington, the Federal Aviation Administration, the N.C. Department of Transportation Division of Aviation, the state archaeologist, and the Macon County Airport Authority.<br /><br />Novak said he hopes the public records will give Wild South a better idea of who should be named in the lawsuit.<br /><br />The Airport Authority will comply with the records requests, said the board’s attorney Joe Collins.<br /><br />“If it’s something they’re entitled to see, we’ll certainly give it to them,” Collins said.<br /><br />Reviewing all the documents associated with the runway extension will give Wild South an understanding of “who said what to whom” in regards to the runway extension, Novak said.<br /><br />Marshall with Wild South said the Airport Authority is “trying to brush us off,” but it won’t work.<br /><br />“We’re taking them to court,” said Marshall. “We’re going to sue them.”<br /><br />The hope is that “damning” information will be found through the public records requests, said Marshall.<br /><br />The Airport Authority has “definitely not followed the letter of the law,” said Marshall.<br /><br />Marshall asserts that the Airport Authority and other parties violated the National Historic Preservation Act by ignoring the archaeological significance of the airport site.<br /><br />Marshall also charges that the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act were violated.<br /><br />He claims that endangered species in Iotla Creek and the Little Tennessee River will be endangered by runoff from the airport.<br /><br />An environmental assessment found that the runway extension would have “no significant impact” on the site. But Marshall said the environmental assessment was done without consulting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and based on out of date information.<br /><br />Marshall said taxpayer money should be withdrawn from the proposed $3.5 million runway extension. The nation is facing an economic crisis, and there are better things to spend money on than extending an airport runway, said Marshall.<br /><br />“Why dump money into this when it is only going to benefit rich people in Highlands?” Marshall asked.<br /><br />Moreover, extending the airport runway is just laying the groundwork for more development to take place in the tranquil valley, said Marshall.</span><br /></span>__________________________________________________________<br />Source: <a href="http://www.smokymountainnews.com/issues/04_09/04_08_09/fr_airport_money.html">Smoky Mountain News</a><br /><br />Native Rights News is making this material from the <a href="http://www.smokymountainnews.com/internal_pages/about.html">Smoky Mountain News</a> available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.<br />____________<br /><a href="http://native-rights-news.blogspot.com/">Native Rights News (NRN)</a> is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by <a href="http://beitshemtov.org/">Temple Beit Shem Tov</a> as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.Perry Chesnut, Editor NRNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00762483248589810791noreply@blogger.com0