Indigenous Native American Prophecy (Elders Speak part 5)

The final video of this 5 part series features a woman elder whose name we currently do not know. If you know this woman, please email us so that we can give her proper credit. It also features Chief Joagquisho (Oren Lyons), Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation, and a Chief of the Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, the Haudenosaunee or "People of the Long House."

In this segment a woman elder and Chief Oren Lyons talk about how the Earth and all life on it is interrelated in a system of “give and take.” If we wish to survive, we must respect this fact and restore the ecosystems we have disrupted to their original state of balance and harmony.

“Peace is an everyday fight. It’s something that goes on all the time. We believe that we are ourselves one half the negative and one half the positive, and it’s the balance that’s important – all the time to keep the balance.” – Chief Oren Lyons, Onondaga

Indigenous Native American Prophecy (Elders Speak part 4)

Part 4 of this 5 part series features a woman elder whose name we currently do not know. If you know this woman, please email us so that we can give her proper credit. It also features Chief Joagquisho (Oren Lyons), Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation, and a Chief of the Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, the Haudenosaunee or "People of the Long House."

In this video a woman elder and Chief Oren Lyons tell the story of the “Peacemaker,” an avatar who, at least a thousand years ago, at a time of constant war, called together all the chiefs of the six tribes of the Haudenosaunee at Onondaga Lake. There he delivered the message of peace - instructions about how to live by following the path of peace and law and by using their minds and reason in the “Council of Good Minds.” These laws and teachings brought not only peace to the six tribes, but also resulted in the Iroquois Confederacy that has successfully bound the six nations together ever since. Benjamin Franklin drew upon this Confederacy as source material for drafting the United States Constitution in 1789.

Indigenous Native American Prophecy (Elders Speak part 3)

Part 3 of this 5 part series features Chief Joagquisho (Oren Lyons), Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation, and a Chief of the Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, the Haudenosaunee or "People of the Long House."

In this video Chief Oren Lyons talks about the need for moral leadership in the world of business.

“When you say resources, you’re talking about our relatives, talking about our family. Fish are our family, it’s not a resource – it’s a family. It requires all the respect. The structure of the world itself is such [that] it functions on natural law, and the natural law is a powerful regenerative process. There’s a process of regeneration that continues and grows and is endless. It’s absolutely endless if everyone agrees to the law and follows the law. But if you challenge the law, and you think you’re going to change the law, then you’re bound to failure, and in that failure will be a lot of pain because the natural law has no mercy. It is only the law.” - Chief Oren Lyons

Indigenous Native American Prophecy (Elders Speak part 2)

Part 2 of this 5 part series features Chief Joagquisho (Oren Lyons), Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation, and a Chief of the Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, the Haudenosaunee or "People of the Long House."

In this video Chief Oren Lyons talks about the responsibility each generation bears to pass on a healthy planet to the “seventh generation” to come.

“No tree grows by itself. A tree is a community. Certain plants will gather around certain trees and certain medicines will gather around those certain plants, so that if you kill all the trees, if you cut all the trees, then you’re destroying a community. You’re not just destroying a tree, you’re destroying a whole community that surrounds it and thrives on it and that may be very important medicine for people or for animals. … If you replant the tree, you don’t replant the community - you replant the tree. So you’ve lost a community. And if you clear cut, which is what is happening in America and Canada a great deal these days, and I guess around the world, then you are really a destructive force.” - Chief Oren Lyons

Indigenous Native American Prophecy (Elders Speak part 1)

Part 1 of this 5 part series features Floyd Red Crow Westerman (b. 1936, d. 2007), well-known Dakota activist, musician and actor.

"We were told we would see America come and go. In a sense, America is dying from within, because they forgot the instructions on how to live on Earth. … It’s the Hopi belief … If you’re not spiritually connected to the Earth and understand the spiritual reality of how to live on Earth, it’s likely you will not make it. … The Spirit world is more real than most of us believe, the Spirit world is everything." - Floyd Red Crow Westerman

Censored News launches Censored Blog Radio

Censored News launches Blog Talk Radio program
By Brenda Norrell

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

SAN FRANCISCO -- Censored News launched Censored News Blog Radio on Tuesday. The first broadcast was dedicated to Long Walker Lewis 'Mucaw' Jefferson, Quechan, who passed to the Spirit World. The dedication was made with the AIM song by Calvin Magpie and the Longest Walk Northern Route singers at Cahokia Mounds, recorded by Earthcycles.
The show featured Morning Star Gali on the Shellmound Walk; Long Walker Harry's reflections on sheepherding and service with the Black Mesa Caravan on Navajoland; Mohawk Mark Maracle at the AIM-West 40-year Reunion and KPFA's Alcatraz Free Radio interviews with Clyde Bellecourt and Lenny Foster.
Today's show, on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008, is the Emergence of the American Indian Movement. Bill Means remembers Raymond Yellow Thunder and the birth of AIM. Clyde Bellecourt speaks of the impacts of AIM. Award-winning Anishinabe singer Keith Secola's songs round out the broadcast. The sounds were recorded by Earthcycles, producer Govinda Dalton and cohost Brenda Norrell, at the AIM-West 40-year Reunion in San Francisco, Nov. 24 -- 28.
CENSORED NEWS RADIO
Listen to yesterday and today's programs:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell

Photo: AIM-West 40-year Reunion in San Francisco, Nov. 24 -28, 2008. Photo Brenda Norrell

Indigenous People's Sunrise Gathering on Alcatraz

Spiritual thanks given on Alcatraz
By Dani Gomez
Oakland Tribune Correspondent
Updated: 11/28/2008 09:36:30 AM PST


A powerful chant penetrated the chilling pre-dawn darkness of Alcatraz as an estimated 3,000 people gathered on Thanksgiving for the annual Indigenous People's Sunrise Gathering.

A few dozen traditional Aztec and Pomo dancers performed as drums sounded and seagulls flew overhead. Dressed in attire decorated with skulls, colorful feathers and leopard skins, the performers moved their bodies in a rhythmic dance as the master of ceremonies smoked sage to ward off evil spirits and purify the event.

The event was first held in November 1975 and has become a special moment of pride, mourning and tribute to those who have managed to preserve the native culture for future generations of indigenous people across the country and around the world.

"We are here to offer our prayers, our songs and thank the Mother Earth that we are still here," said one of the elders in the opening ceremony of the event.

Between the dancing, singing and tobacco offerings, several American Indian Movement veterans honored the memories of those who had paved the way for the indigenous civil rights movement taking place today.

As the large crowd gathered around the sacred bonfire, guest speakers acknowledged the past and present issues relevant to native survival and told attendees that the battle for indigenous rights is far from over.

"We are here not just to celebrate," said Bill Means, a guest speaker and a veteran of the American Indian Movement.

"We are here to reflect on conditions of the indigenous people around the world."

Means mentioned the 1969 Alcatraz occupation by American Indian students, saying that because of the example they set during that time, the indigenous civil rights movement was inevitable. He cited the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples approved last year by the United Nations as an example of what's happening today.

"We are building a strong movement here, as you can see," Means said. "The fire of resistance is 80 million strong, and it will continue to grow."

[Editor's Note: for more information on Bill Means and the International Indian Treaties Council and AIM Speakers Bureau, go to: http://www.aimovement.org/iitc/index.html ]

Mark Whitehorn, a member of the Otoe tribe, came from Oklahoma to participate in the ceremony. He said that although he doesn't feel prejudice from the mainstream holiday, it's important to keep the un-Thanksgiving alive.

"It's good to see so many native people present, especially young people," he said. "This event puts the minds of young people in the right place. They might not act like it, but it catches their hearts."

Frank Paro, of the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa Indians and a chairman of Twin Cities American Indian Movement, said the event contributed to raising awareness among the younger generations of American Indians.

"It's gatherings like these the youth are looking at," Paro said. "It gives them new ideas of what they can do, so they will be able to take over after us."

Despite the notion that the gathering is mainly designed to address the indigenous needs, others gave thanks as well.

Rafael Meng of Santa Cruz said this was his second time attending the event.

"I am not Native American, but since I was a little boy I feel kinship with the Indians," Meng said. "To me, the American Indian way of life is better than the mainstream because it touches the things that matter to me: struggle for freedom, fight for the environment and equal rights. It's a heart thing."

Source URL: http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_11090327
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Native Rights News is making this Oakland Tribune 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.

Canada Ignores Pleas of Native Leaders, Adds to Poverty and Homelessness of Native Peoples in Preparation for 2010 Olympic Games

CANADA: Native Rights Concerns Cloud 2010 Games
By Jon Elmer

VANCOUVER, Dec 1 (IPS) - A coalition of indigenous elders, social justice activists and community organisers is voicing opposition to the upcoming Winter Olympics, promising to continue their protests up to and throughout the 2010 games.

Taking advantage of a three-day media briefing hosted by the official Olympic body in late November, the Vancouver Organising Committee (VANOC), activists and native representatives invited the local and visiting international media to an office in the heart of the what is commonly known as Canada's poorest neighbourhood, the Downtown Eastside, to hear "the other side of the Olympic story".

Rallying under the banner of "No Olympics on stolen native land", speakers representing nine native and community groups outlined connections between native poverty, dislocation and homelessness and the staging of the games in Vancouver and Whistler, 120 kms north of Vancouver.

Arthur Manuel, a former chief in the Neskonlith Indian Band of the Secwepemc nation, accused the Canadian government of attempting to whitewash the structural violations of native sovereignty. "We are the poorest people in the country," Manuel said. "Not because this country is poor, but because [the government] continues to violate the human rights of the indigenous people, by not recognising our Aboriginal title and our treaty rights."

Nearly all of the province of British Columbia -- including the land on which the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics will be staged -- is not subject to any treaty and the land has not been otherwise ceded or surrendered by its indigenous inhabitants, as Canada's highest court has recognised.

Manuel cited Canada's refusal to sign on to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as evidence that the government does not intend to follow the principles of international law in dealing with native sovereignty. In September 2007, the U.N. declaration was passed 143 to four, with the United States, Australia and New Zealand joining Canada in opposition.

James Louie, a member of the St'at'imc nation whose traditional lands encompass the rapidly expanding Whistler mountain and resort, said the expansion of infrastructure and development for the Olympics undermines the status of his people's case before the Organisation of American States treaty process.

"Because we have no treaty with Canada, the imposition and encroachment of Whistler -- their hydro lines, their highways, their railroad, you name it, anything they do with our territory -- is illegal," Louie said.

The Olympics have spurred a construction and development boom in Vancouver and Whistler in particular, and in British Columbia in general. Between July and September 2007, 843 major capital projects were planned or underway throughout British Columbia, valued at U.S. 108 billion dollars, according to the provincial government's ministry of economic development.

A VANOC budget report last year pegged the operating costs for the games at 1.32 billion dollars. The provincial and federal governments have provided an additional 468 million dollars, primarily for venue construction, including ski hill development in St'at'imc territory. The official Olympics budget does not include major infrastructural projects undertaken by the government in preparation for the February 2010 games, including the 484-million-dollar expansion of the Vancouver-to-Whistler highway.

Seislom, a Lil'wat elder who is also known as Glen Williams, addressed the legacy of the expansion around Whistler and its impact on the environment. "When my grandfather took me up Whistler mountain, the land was pure. Now it's polluted, it's desecrated. I ask myself the question: what will my grandchildren get from all of this?"

According to VANOC, 20.5 million dollars in venue construction and 95,163 dollars in non-venue contracts have been awarded to Aboriginal businesses through an incorporated native society called the Four Host First Nations Society (FHFN).

Several speakers challenged the role of FHFN in their communities. Seislom said the FHFN "choose not to recognise traditional, hereditary chieftainships" and instead only "recognise their own chieftainships in terms of corporate development, in terms of the Department of Indian Affairs, in terms of anything to do with money and power."

Dustin Johnson, a Tsimshian activist and organiser, also questioned the legitimacy of the FHFN. "It is important to make a distinction between elected leaders under the Canadian Indian Act system and the traditional governments, the traditional leaders," he said.

Canada imposed the Indian reserve and band council system through Indian Act of 1876, nine years after the country was founded. It wasn't until 1953 that the Act was amended to allow natives to organise around a land claim, which had previously been illegal.

Johnson characterised the Four Host First Nation Society as a small group of "elite native capitalists who don't represent the majority of native people".

"They'll paint the picture that they are trying to create economic development and self sufficiency, but it's really twisting the logic of what our people stand for: a lot of our people stand for sustainable development and protecting what little we have left of our lands and resources," Johnson said.

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Outgoing Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan, who presided over a sharp increase in homelessness during his tenure, has called the crisis "a civic, and provincial and national shame."

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Arthur Manuel criticised the government and the FHFN for spending millions showcasing native arts and culture while ignoring the structural causes of the poverty. "They are using that money for the purpose of disguising the violations of human rights of the indigenous people of this country."

The BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition last week issued a report that showed BC for the fifth-straight year has the highest rate of child poverty in Canada, at almost 22 percent. The rate for native children is 40 percent but, the report notes, "the number would be significantly higher if the data had included children living on reserve." Recent statistics from the Canadian government's Department of Indian and Northern Affairs put the number of natives in BC at 122,000; about half live on reserves.

In Vancouver, the largest urban centre to host a Winter Olympics, there is likely as many as 8,000 homeless people, according to researchers at Simon Fraser University's Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction, a disproportionate number of whom are native.

The rates of child poverty and homelessness continue to increase.

Laura Track, a lawyer with the Downtown Eastside's Pivot Legal Society, said that over 1,400 units of affordable housing have been lost since Vancouver was awarded the games in July 2003. Hundreds of tenants have been evicted from single-room occupancy hotels in the Downtown Eastside, as the Olympic-borne real estate development boom has deepened the homelessness crisis.

Outgoing Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan, who presided over a sharp increase in homelessness during his tenure, has called the crisis "a civic, and provincial and national shame."

Vancouver is anticipating as many as two million visitors during the XXI Winter Olympic Games to be held from Feb. 12-28, 2010. According to VANOC spokesperson Suzanne Walters, more than 10,000 members of the media are expected for the games, including 2,900 print and photo-journalists.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44930


Native Rights News is making this Inter Press Service News Agency 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.

Sekaquaptewa: Time for the Hopi to 'Get to Self-Governing'

Sekaquaptewa: Time for Hopi to ‘get to self-governing’
By Pat Sekaquaptewa
Story Published in Indian Country Today: Nov 26, 2008


I find myself in the ironic position of highlighting the great strides of tribal justice systems over the years for an ABA journal article while at the same time my own tribal government is in the throws of a constitutional crisis.

Recently, the Hopi Tribal Council managed to take out the entire tribal high court by resolution. The vice-chairman, who orchestrated the removal of our duly elected chairman, with the assistance of the formerly removed chairman, states that he plans to farm out our appellate judging to a regional intertribal appellate court. This, I believe, is an effort to remove the vice-chairman’s office and supporting members of the council from being immediately accountable to Hopi judges in a Hopi judicial system.

I must admit that despite the shortcomings of our governing document (originally drafted and pushed through by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1936), I never expected to see such a rapid deterioration of our key institutions and the rule of law. If this can happen at Hopi where we have had stable court system for over thirty years, it can happen to any tribal government operating under one of the Bureau’s governing document boilerplates. We should have reformed our constitution years ago and now we will have to take back our government.

The Hopi Tribe launched its tribal court under tribal law in 1972. Prior to that time the BIA ran its administrative court on the Hopi Reservation maintaining the Bureau’s version of law and order as defined in the Code of Federal Regulations. With the establishment of the Hopi Tribal Courts in 1972 and the appointment of trial and appellate court judges, both rule of law and the Hopi common law had begun to grow. I joined the court team in 1993 as a young law clerk to a longstanding trial judge and then later as the senior law clerk to the appellate court’s three-judge panel. I have also served as a pro tem judge on the high court since 2002. Since 1993 I have been fortunate to be a part of the growth of the Hopi common law which has blossomed to respect the sovereign villages, and to incorporate deeply held traditional values, while at the same time making court processes more transparent and reinforcing fundamental fairness at both the tribal and village levels.

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If this can happen at Hopi where we have had stable court system for over thirty years, it can happen to any tribal government operating under one of the Bureau’s governing document boilerplates.

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The recent Hopi Tribal Council action (Resolution H-075-2008) has freed me from my judicial duties and now makes it possible for me to speak openly about what I see as the core issues facing the Hopi government and our villages today. The political roller coaster of the past two years sheds significant light on the fact that government by resolution is bad government and that the time has come for targeted constitutional reform.

Some argue that the 1936 Hopi Constitution has never reflected Hopi/Tewa sentiments but the Hopi/Tewa people have re-adopted it three times with amendments since 1936 (in 1969, 1980 and 1993). The Tribal Council over the years has also passed more than 50 ordinances including rules governing elections and the establishment of the court system. However, within the last two years, each time the political tides have shifted (often by reshuffling council seats or by secret, last minute meetings), that particular group of council members has attempted to overwrite, without formally amending, well-considered constitutional provisions and ordinances relied upon by generations of Hopi/Tewa people and prior councils.

In the case of Benjamin Nuvamsa’s election to the office of chairman, there are procedures for challenging an election in the Election Ordinance that Resolution H-036-2007 sought to preempt. The council’s subsequent suspension resolutions naming Mr. Nuvamsa (H-074-2008) and Justice Lomayesva (H-075-2008), similarly seek to preempt Article V of the Hopi Constitution that sets out the only means by which the legislative branch may unseat members of the executive and judicial branches. Conveniently some of our council members argue that we do not have a constitutional separation of powers requiring the legislature to respect or follow a court’s finding that they have not followed their own rules (as set out in the constitution or in earlier ordinances and resolutions). I must point out that this is despite the fact that Hopi Councils in 1981 and 1996 reiterated their commitment to a separation of powers in Resolutions H-3-81 and H-14-96.

It is true that our Hopi Constitution lacks text vesting the judicial power in a separate judiciary and it is true that we must trust our legislators to follow their own stated commitment to that principle as a last resort. But I must ask - is this approach working? Are the current tribal council members being good trustees for us given the awesome powers that a one-branch government vests in its legislators? The original Hopi Constitution was drafted by BIA employees who saw themselves as the final check on tribal government corruption - a duty the BIA is no longer eager to involve itself in. Today they leave us to our own devices as a matter of respecting our right to self-govern. So it’s time for the Hopi and Tewa people to get to self-governing then.

We Hopis and Tewas need constitutional reform in three key areas: (1) creation of a separate but equal judicial branch to watch-dog that our legislature complies with our Constitution and our ordinances; (2) the setting of requirements for what it takes to legitimately enact and amend an ordinance in a transparent way, and describing what makes an ordinance different from a mere resolution; and (3) the memorializing of the right of the Villages to select and remove their representatives to Tribal Council pursuant to their local ways, standards and rules.

Under Hopi constitutional law the steps for constitutional reform are that: (1) Any Tribal Council member may propose the amendment at any meeting of the Council; (2) At a second meeting of the Council, the Council may vote to approve the amendment by a majority vote; (3) If the Council votes for the amendment then it is forwarded to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior with a request to call a referendum (to put it to the Hopi/Tewa membership for a vote); (4) The Secretary then calls for a vote; and (5) the amendment will be adopted if a majority of adult Hopi/Tewa members vote (with at least 30 percent of those entitled to vote voting).

The original drafters made our Constitution very difficult to amend but it can be done if the Hopi and Tewa public is committed to the task and is ready to make sure that our representatives get it done. Then we need to mobilize our voters. We should all remember that our tribal government is neither Hopi/Tewa in origin nor reflective of the full American model with checks and balances. We were sold a defective model which encourages, at its worst, unchecked power grabs and at its best, unaccountable day-to-day decision making.

Only we Hopi/Tewa people can fix our government. It is far better that we do it with courage now than to leave this mess with cowardice to our children.

Patricia Sekaquaptewa was a Pro Tem Justice on the Hopi Appellate Court since 2002.

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/35154579.html


Native Rights News is making this Indian Country Today 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.

Obama, Share Our Vision - Adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Tell President-Elect Obama to ADOPT the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOm6Aleds0Y

Obama Hear Our Vision: Click on the link below and tell him that freedom, equality and justice for Indigenous Peoples are important to you! Or just cut and paste "Adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" in the provided form. http://change.gov/page/s/yourvision

Want more information on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? Go to http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/

With less than a month to go before the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, NOW is the time to be heard.

Jonathon Freeman, Program Officer
Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development
ph: 707-825-7640 Cell: 707-362-6448
http://www.7genfund.org/

Native Canadians Protest 2010 Olympics

November 25, 2008
Haider Rizvi, OneWorld US


NEW YORK, Nov 25 (OneWorld) - A peaceful protest against the 2010 Vancouver Olympics was broken up by riot police last week, but human rights groups and indigenous communities are vowing to continue to oppose what they say are misplaced priorities and the forced evictions of low-income people.

"No Olympics on stolen native land," is the slogan that has become a rallying point for activists protesting the role of corporate interests in building the venue for world sports in Vancouver.
Indigenous groups and housing advocates charge that corporations involved in the business of the Olympics are not only causing environmental damage but are also driving locals out of their homes.

"The history of the Olympics is one rooted in displacement, corporate greed, repression, and violence," stated the Olympics Resistance Network (ORN), a coalition of native rights and anti-poverty groups.

Last Thursday, the coalition and its sympathizers staged a peaceful protest in Vancouver against the abuse of native lands. Police responded with force and made several arrests.

The protest took place at a time when more than 200 international reporters were present in the northwestern Canadian city to get a glimpse of the Olympics preparations.

Activists complain that most members of the foreign press, however, failed to report the other side of the Olympics story: police violence against peaceful protesters.

"Canada wants to present itself as this great country where human rights are celebrated, but we see here clear violations of aboriginal rights," Ben Powless, an indigenous activist, told OneWorld.

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"They used riot squads. But we were not about to give up just yet."- Marylynn Poucachiche, activist

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In addition to the United States, Canada is one of the few nations that voted against last year's United Nations resolution to adopt the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The historic declaration calls for the recognition of the world's 370 million indigenous peoples' right to control their ancestral lands and resources and their right to practice their traditional way of life.

Indigenous activists contend that the Canadian government has no right to use their land in Vancouver to stage the Olympics, because the natives of British Columbia never signed a treaty to surrender their lands.

In this context, they cite the British Royal Proclamation requiring legal surrender of the sovereign territories to the crown, which never took place. The 1763 Proclamation is part of Canadian law.

Thus, as the natives' legal argument goes, neither the central government nor the provincial one has the legal or moral authority to govern British Columbia.

"This is a government that voted against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. They are violating indigenous rights, in addition to destroying many sensitive environments," said Powless.

Contrary to official claims about the economic and social benefits of the Games, activists say the Olympics arrangements are posing a threat to the urban poor, the environment, and human rights.

In the city of Vancouver, for example, according to some accounts, the authorities have taken over several low-income housing projects and promised to provide alternate accommodations by 2010.

Activists say they are outraged that the government has cut health and education spending while providing billions of dollars to corporations engaged in the Olympics business.

"The capitalists are making millions, while the poor are literally dying in the urban and reservation ghettos," according to activist-writer Zig-Zag, who contributes to the Web-based publication EarthFirst Journal.

The Journal reports that in the east of downtown Vancouver, over 500 units of low-income housing have already been lost since Vancouver won its Olympics bid in 2003.

"Hundreds of people have been evicted as landlords upgrade their hotels for Olympic tourists," according to the Journal. "Police have begun criminalizing the poor to clean up the streets [as well]."

Like many indigenous thinkers and activists, Powless, who has attended a number of international meetings on climate change and indigenous peoples' rights, is visibly angry.

"We've had our elders put in jail for opposing this senseless destruction," he said. "We've had many of our homeless forced out of whatever limited housing they do have to make way for rich tourists."

There have also been reports of government efforts to pay off tribal leaders, but most observers agree that would not prevent a vast majority of natives from joining the protests.

"All of those folks are coming together here during the Olympic Games to try and tell the other half of the story through creative, non-violent action," activist Garth Mullins told the Canadian Press.

Last week, some native leaders sent a joint letter to the Canadian Prime Minister urging him to address their concerns over the issue of the Winter Olympic Games and their impact on natives' land and living situations.

Meanwhile, others vowed to arrange more protests all over the country in the coming months and years -- until the Olympic flame arrives in Vancouver for the opening of the Games in February 2010.

"They used riot squads," said activist Marylynn Poucachiche, who was the first one to be arrested by the police during Thursday's protest. "But we were not about to give up just yet."
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OneWorld.net: Latest News, Groups Working on Indigenous Rights
OneWorld TV: Indigenous Colombians March 62 Miles to Demand Justice, Land

Native Rights News is making this OneWorld.net 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.

Indigenous People Demand Voice in Climate Talks

November 28, 2008
Haider Rizvi, OneWorld US

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 28 (OneWorld) - Calls for greater participation of the world's indigenous leaders are on the rise as another round of talks on global climate change opens in the Polish city of Poznan next week.

It is incomprehensible how governments believe they can discuss the effects of climate change and agree targets without the input of those who already face [its] impacts," said Mark Lattimer of the London-based Minority Rights Group International (MRG).

In a study released last week, MRG researchers warned that a new climate change agreement would be "seriously compromised" if policymakers continued to shut out the voices of those most affected by global warming.

More than 8,000 delegates from around the world are expected to participate in the meeting at Poznan. The two-week meeting is supposed to hammer out further international commitments to fight climate change, including climate-related financial assistance for developing countries.

UN officials hope the meeting will prove to be a "milestone on the road to success" for the negotiation process launched at past conferences, because it is tasked with setting the agenda for next year's final talks on a climate change treaty.

But in Lattimer's view, the UN process is deeply flawed, because it does not allow the communities that have first-hand experience of dealing with climate change to participate in the negotiations.

For one, official delegates in Poznan are expected to set targets on carbon emissions from deforestation, but forest-dwelling communities who are mostly indigenous people may not be included in those discussions.

According to MRG's new report, the impact of climate change hits indigenous communities hardest because they live in ecologically diverse areas and their livelihoods are dependent on the environment.

To cite some examples of climate change impact on indigenous communities, the report refers to unprecedented levels of ice-melt in the Arctic region, droughts in east Africa, and a rapid fall in crop yields in Vietnam.

Minorities, according to the report, are often among the poorest and most marginalized communities and are most likely to face discrimination when disasters occur during climate changes.

"There has been a lot of attention paid to the damage climate change is doing to the environment and the loss of certain plant or animal species, but we aren't sufficiently recognizing its impact on people," said Farah Mihlar, the report's author.

"There are entire communities that could be lost," she added in a statement. "Cultures, traditions, and languages could be wiped off the earth."

At the climate change conference held in Bali, Indonesia, last December, indigenous rights activists held a series of demonstrations against their exclusion from the official talks.

Among them, many had come from the communities living in the tropical forests of the world. At the conference, they expressed worries about plans by governments and international financial institutions to control forest degradation.

At the conference, they particularly expressed their concerns about the World Bank's Carbon Partnership Facility, which is likely to provide large-scale incentives for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
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"Indigenous peoples have for centuries adapted to changing environments and would be able to contribute substantially to adaptation strategies the UN is trying to include in a new climate change treaty."- Mark Lattimer, Minority Rights Group International

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The tropical and subtropical forest, the subject of the Facility, is home to 160 million indigenous people who are seen by many scientists as custodians and managers of forest biodiversity.

"While the Facility can be a good thing, we are very apprehensive on how this will work," said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, "because of our negative historical and present experiences with similar initiatives."

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognizes native groups' right to control their lands and resources, including forests, but many governments and corporations continue to abuse the rights of forest communities.

"We remain in a very vulnerable situation," said Tauli-Corpuz, "because most states do not recognize our rights to these forests and resources found therein."

Last year, a report released by an international advocacy group raised similar concerns about the role of governments and corporations.

In its report, London-based Survival International named and shamed countries where the violations of tribal peoples' rights are most egregious, including Botswana, Brazil, New Zealand, Malaysia, Paraguay, Peru, and the United States.

The report entitled, "The Terrible Ten: Key Abusers of Tribal Peoples' Rights in 2007," said tribal people in West Papua were suffering abuses at the hands of the Indonesian army and that their native lands were often exploited by the government and foreign companies.

In Botswana, Bushmen were forcibly prevented from returning to their homes in the country's diamond-producing area, despite a court ruling that declared their 2002 eviction "unlawful and unconstitutional."

According to Survival, Guarani Indians in Paraguay continued to lose their lands as a result of violence perpetrated by cattle ranchers. A number of natives were killed and raped as well.

In the Peru-Brazil border region, which is home to half of the world's about 100 still uncontacted tribes, indigenous populations faced land grabs by oil companies and loggers backed by the government.

And similar cases also took place in other indigenous territories across the world. The UN Permanent Forum's Tauli-Corpuz demanded that governments and corporations obtain the "free and prior" consent of indigenous peoples before taking any initiative on forest protections.

"I imagine that donors and the private sector would not like to put their resources in high-risk projects which will not genuinely involve indigenous and other forest-dwellers," she said. "If there is an acceptance of the Facility, indigenous peoples must have a representation in [its] governance."

In contrast to the UN negotiation process on climate change issues, indigenous communities enjoy relatively participation in international discussions on preserving biodiversity. The secretariat of the UN treaty on biodiversity has established a working group to ensure for this.

Meanwhile, MRG has gathered a series of testimonies from the world's indigenous leaders in which they express "deep frustration" at their exclusion from the negotiations on climate change.


In a statement, the group called for the United Nations to set up a mechanism, similar to that of the treaty on biological diversity, so that indigenous communities could be able to have their voices heard at the international level.

"Indigenous peoples have for centuries adapted to changing environments and would be able to contribute substantially to adaptation strategies the UN is trying to include in a new climate change treaty," said Lattimer.
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