The post Indigenous Diplomatic Traditions appeared first on Intercontinental Cry.

Better known to English speakers as “the Day of the Dead”, Dia de los Muertos is an annual religious observance during which people in Mexico honor their ancestors and loved ones who have passed on. Though the celebration now coincides with the Catholic holidays of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day (November 1 and 2) Dia de los Muertos is at its roots an Aztec and Maya tradition.

Disney-Pixar didn’t have any interest in patenting the holiday itself; rather, they wanted to take ownership of the Spanish name it goes by; “Dia de los Muertos” was to be the name of their new film.

In Disney’s own words, the “trademark filing was intended to protect any potential title for our film and related activities.” According to the Guardian, those “related activities” included “fruit-based snack foods”, “Christmas-tree ornaments and decorations”, “decorative magnets”, “non-medicated toiletries” and “frozen meals consisting primarily of pasta or rice”.

After the public caught wind of the unethical-but-hardly-surprising attempt to co-opt the name, Disney was greeted with an impromptu social media smack-down.

Tweets included:

ICYMI: Tell @disney not to trademark Day of the Dead. Culture is NOT for sale! ow.ly/kNUnJ #Latism #p2

— Presente.Org (@PresenteOrg) May 8, 2013

and

The queation remains: Are we okay with @disneypixar commercializing our culture? tmblr.co/ZKXMSyka7jsD #DiadelosMuertos

— Think Mexican (@ThinkMexican) May 9, 2013

After considerable social media pressure, which included a successful petition and the now-legendary editorial cartoon “Muerto Mouse” by Lalo Alcaraz of Pocho.com, Disney casually withdrew the trademark application, explaining, “It has since been determined that the title of the film will change, and therefore we are withdrawing our trademark filing.”

And so, one short chapter in the horribly long book of who’s exploiting indigenous culture for the sake of profit, comes to an end.

The post Disney Attempts to Trademark “Dia de los Muertos” appeared first on Intercontinental Cry.

When it comes to exposing the violent Christian Patriot right-wing, networked memories about hoodlums like Skip Richards are a good thing. As former undercover FBI agent Mike German — whose specialty when he operated in Whatcom county, Washington in 1996 was white supremacist militias — noted in his 2005 interview on Democracy Now, we cannot rely on the government to do this, and thus, public safety can only be secured by what RAND researcher emeritus David Ronfeldt called “monitory democracy.”

When merchants of fear from the Wise Use and anti-Indian movements mobilize resentment against environmentalists and Indian tribes today, the networked memory on the Internet is a powerful community safeguard against the recurrent use of vigilantes as a political pressure group. Where once the entrepreneurial wing of the anti-democratic Wise Use movement could come in under the radar of good government groups like League of Women Voters, they now have to moderate their public personas and attempt to conceal their private agendas from open source researchers.

For hate campaign opportunists like Skip Richards — Wise Use agent provocateur and Christian Patriot militia collaborator in the 1990s — this media makeover is a challenge he and his Tea Party cohorts might not be able to overcome. While the residue of anti-environmentalist, anti-Indian, anti-government hostilities of the 1990s still holds out some promise of financial reward for opportunists like Richards, the long public memory of what militias inflicted on the people of Oklahoma City in 1995 remains an obstacle to respectability for vengeful organizers like him and his anti-Indian friends in the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance.

For Skip Richards, it is a no-win situation. He could, of course, retire, and leave his sordid sociopathic past to historians to ponder, but, alas, that is apparently not to be. Indeed, with his recent appearance as a speaker at the April 6 Anti-Indian Conference sponsored by CERA and the Tea Party, Richards seems determined to go down in flames, much as he did in his disastrous 1996 Washington State Senate campaign.

While Skip Richards and other merchants of fear are hovering around the treaty rights/water rights/Gateway Pacific Terminal conflicts, probing for an opportunity to recreate the climate of fear — that twenty years ago allowed them to capture county governments in Washington state through a reign of terror targeting public officials and Growth Management activists — the PACs and non-profits the property rights network established back then for political power became tarnished by the anti-Indian, militia organizing they spawned. As a result of our having dealt the property rights/militia milieu a devastating blow through our exposes and the subsequent intervention of federal law enforcement agencies, Wise Use entrepreneurs have fallen on tough times.

While this return to normalcy where people again feel safe to speak their mind and participate in politics without fear is good, the lapse of organizations that were monitoring the public process (League of Women Voters excepted) means that the hatemongers will be able to do serious damage to the peace and harmony the complacent now enjoy–if and when they are able to catalyze fear and anger over water, jobs, environmental laws and treaty rights. This is why I am encouraging LWV and others to more actively engage in public education, not only about treaty rights and environmental law, but also about the abuse of public process that has a local history.

Since writing my article White Power on the Salish Sea, it has come to my attention that Skip Richards will be speaking at a luncheon for the Republican Women of Whatcom County on May 28, from 11:30-1:00, at the Bellingham Golf and Country Club. As a former (and perhaps current) Building Industry Association agent provocateur, he is likely positioning himself to lead the 2013 hate campaign against tribal sovereignty and Growth Management water resource planning by appealing to the Tea Party wing of the GOP.

As the leading guardian of the democratic process in Whatcom county, I felt League of Women Voters should be alerted to the activities of anti-Indian hate campaign organizers like Richards in order to form a barrier against hate. Now that the anti-Indian hate campaign is public knowledge, League’s pro-democracy mandate makes it the logical choice for monitoring and confronting its agents like Skip Richards–wherever and whenever they turn up.

The post Anti-Indian Sociopath Skip Richards at the Country Club: Is Media Complicity and Public Amnesia Enough? appeared first on Intercontinental Cry.

Despite two decrees by the government — Executive Decree 552 (Feb. 2, 1999) which declared both Taromenane and Tagaeri territories as “intangible zones” and Decree 2187 (Apr. 18, 2007) which delimited the area — these activities have not stopped.

The animals that the hidden communities hunt in order to survive are being driven away by the engine noises of oil extraction and by the indiscriminate cutting of the forest. There have been sporadic attacks on loggers as expressions of the distress this causes them (Sep. 2005, Apr. 2006 and Mar. 2008), and on settlers as in Sep. 2009 when Sandra Zabala and two of her children were killed.

In the early hours of Mar. 5 of this year, Huaorani warrior Ompore Omeway and his wife Buganei Cayga that lived near the settlement of Yarentaro were attacked.

Omeway, the father of the Yarentaro leaders, had decided to move further away from the community to live in isolation. He had occasional contact with the Taromenane and Tagaeri with whom he shared hunting grounds.

Capuchin priest Miguel Ángel Cabodevilla, one of the leading researchers on the Tagaeri and Taromenane, hypothesizes that the latter would have expressed their displeasure at the intrusions into their territory as well as the worsening of hunting conditions; in addition, they would have asked him to procure them with machetes and axes.

Cabodevilla explains that those communities cannot be considered “uncontacted” anymore, as they get in touch with certain Huaorani elders, of whom they request tools necessary to their survival in the rainforest, such as machetes, axes or cooking utensils.

Mónica Chuji, vice-president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENIAE), shares Cabodevilla’s theory. She says that Omeway would have offered machetes and axes, but couldn’t keep his promise because no one provided him with the tools, despite his request presented to the Yarentaro community and to REPSOL, the Spanish oil company.

“Ompore [Omeway] gave his word and couldn’t keep it; he didn’t obtain what he was asked for,” explains Chuji.

As soon as they heard the news of the attack on Omeway and Cayga, some 15 warriors from Yarentano — led by Omeway’s nephew Orengo Tokari — went deep into the jungle seeking revenge on the Taromenane. The first two incursions were fruitless, as they could not locate them. During the third expedition, 18 days after the attack on Omeway, the group led by Tokari found and assassinated them using firearms. Tokari stated in a TV program that he killed five Taromenane. However, Cawetipe Yeti, president of Waorani Nationality of Ecuador (NAWE), claims there are at least 30 Taromenane dead.

“Spears are the traditional weapon [for the Huaoranis],” says Chuji. “This time they used firearms and this breaks with the tradition and will generate a lot of problems between Huaorani communities,” she adds, indicating that this incident opens the possibility for future conflicts between Huaoranis to be resolved with firearms.

Government distorts the truth

For his part, Cabodevilla questions the government’s sluggishness to act against this problem, despite it being responsible for implementing the so-called “Policies for the Protection of Peoples in Isolation,” issued in Apr. 2007.

“Upon finding out about the death of Omeway, [government authorities] should immediately have gone to Yarentaro to speak with the families, offer them compensation and persuade them against taking revenge,” says Cabodevilla.

News of the attack on the Huaorani elders and of the raid to take revenge spread immediately. The government, however, did not take any actions until the news of the slaughter and of the abduction of two Taromenane girls that were taken to Yarentaro broke out. The authorities dismissed the information as a rumor.

According to Eduardo Pichilingue — coordinator of the Observatory of Collective Rights and member of the International Committee for the Protection of Peoples in Voluntary Isolation — the abduction of the girls is proof that a massacre took place. It is traditional for these peoples to murder all male members of a clan, including young boys, while abducting the women, as a way to avoid future retaliation. The abduction of women is a very common practice during conflicts between these communities; some of the current wives of the Huaorani are Tagaeri or Taromenane women kidnapped in the past.

Governmental authorities stated that until the bodies are found, the report is merely a rumor; for that reason a few unsuccessful helicopter flybys were conducted to search for the missing bodies. Later on, Galo Chiriboga, the Attorney General, claimed that the cause of possible death of Taromenane would be the consumption of spoilt food thrown from a plane.

Chiriboga twisted the abducted girls’ words after they refused eating rice that they were offered in Yarentaro, explaining that their grandparents had fallen ill in the past after eating rice sent from ”a flying object,” just like the one mentioned in Chiriboga’s earlier statement.

“If it is true that they are sending food from planes, it is a genocide,” stated Capuchin José Miguel Goldaraz, Cabodevilla`s colleague, indicating that food coming from the Western world contains different germs, to which people living in isolation are not immune, apart from the fact that the provisions may already be spoilt when they reach their destination.

Goldaraz participated in the “Encounter of the Ecclesial Amazon Network” that took place in Puyo, in the Amazonian province of Pastaza, in April and gathered representatives of 26 countries during three days. In their final manifesto, presented on Apr. 24, they asked that “the bloodshed in the rainforest — caused by all kinds of pressures and powerful interests, for which the unprotected peoples are simply an obstacle to the so-called development — be stopped.”

This is not a “clan war”

To confuse the public opinion even further, state media are spreading the idea that these attacks are part of a clan war and depict the Huaoranis as communities that blackmail the oil companies, demanding perks in exchange for not blocking the access roads to the wells.

“It is not just a simple clan war, even though the Taromenane and Tagaeri do consider the Huaoranis their enemies, because they see them as the invaders’ allies. Nonetheless, the Huaoranis cannot be labeled as blackmailers or accomplices of the oil companies,” explains Chuji.

Twenty-three Taromenane women and children were murdered on May 26, 2003. Huaorani warriors were held responsible for the massacre, brought on by the timber industry. The incursion, ordered by the chief, Babe, as revenge for the attack on one of his children, was led by Davo. The two are considered the most respected warriors of this nationality. Babe died in Aug. 2009, while Davo lives near a roadside, where he holds control over traffic, demanding soft drinks for passage.

Three years later, taking into account constant conflicts between the Huaorani and the Taromenane and Tagaeri, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted precautionary measures for the protection of the latter.

The government at that time took a proactive stance, ordering the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to take charge of the implementation of these measures. However, it did not go ahead with the process and Pichilingue, who led it, was fired.

“Precautionary measures [to protect peoples in isolation] must be implemented in the area of interest for the oil industry, and there this interest won and the beneficiaries of precautionary measures lost. If it continues, these people are headed towards extermination,” claims Pichilingue.

Article originally published at Latinamerican Press

The post Ecuador: Hidden communities on their way to extinction appeared first on Intercontinental Cry.

In its brief to Accreditation Services International (ASI), the organization overseeing auditors contracted by forestry companies for FSC certifications, the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) contends that Resolute Forest Products’ refusal to respect the Baril-Moses Agreement between the Crees and Québec constitutes a major infringement to FSC’s International Principles 1 (compliance with laws, agreements and treaties) and 3 (compliance with the rights and interests of Indigenous Peoples) and by extension, Canada’s Boreal Standard.

Signed in 2002, the Baril-Moses Agreement extended many of the forestry provisions of the Paix des braves Agreement to Cree traplines located east of the “height of land” in the Saguenay Lac Saint Jean Region. From 2002 to 2009, Resolute Forest Products operated within the provisions of this Agreement. In 2010, the company knowingly and unilaterally implemented forestry management plans contrary to the Baril-Moses Agreement.

In reflection on these events, Dr. Matthew Coon Come, Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee), stated: “Since signing the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement, the Crees have vigorously defended all their agreements with governments. The Baril-Moses Agreement is no different and resource companies, regardless of their size, must be held accountable to these agreements.”

The Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) submission to ASI marks the second time that the Crees have challenged this certification. In the fall of 2012, the Crees successfully contested this certification with Resolute Forest Products auditors, Rainforest Alliance, who assigned a “Major non-conformance” to Resolute Forest Products for failing to obtain the Crees’ free and informed consent for forestry operations contrary to the Baril-Moses Agreement. Last month, Rainforest Alliance, in a review of the certification, revised its previous decision, thereby reconfirming Resolute Forest Products’ certification. The Crees’ submission to ASI is an appeal to Rainforest Alliance’s recent decision.

Forest certifications under FSC’s Principles are unique among other forestry certifications systems in that they require companies to be in compliance with international laws, and to gain the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples whose lands they operate upon (FSC Principles 1 and 3). The Crees’ challenge to Resolute Forest Products’ certification is important because it constitutes one of the few cases whereby this concept of free, prior and informed consent is clearly documented. To the Crees, this case is as much a challenge to Resolute Forest Products as it is a test of FSC’s Principles.

According to Isaac Voyageur, Director of the Cree Regional Authority’s Environment and Remedial Works Department: “If Resolute can be certified without meeting FSC’s Principles, what will happen in the future to the other FSC certified companies in our territory that have met these Principles? Resolute Forest Products should be held accountable to the same standards as the other FSC certified companies harvesting on Cree traplines.”

Resolute Forest Products’ operations on Forest Management Unit 025-51 have been controversial as they were the subject of an aborted challenge by Greenpeace under the terms of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA).  The Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) notes that according to maps on CBFA’s website and those used by Greenpeace, the traplines under the Baril-Moses Agreement fall within CBFA’s moratorium.

View the Complaint Report

The post Crees Launch Formal Challenge To Resolute Forest Products Inc. Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certification appeared first on Intercontinental Cry.

WHAT: Stop the Radio Active Road Trips
WHERE: On Main Street, in front of Hyatt at Huron, Buffalo
WHEN: May 15, 2013 at 11:00 am
Contacts: Diane D’Arrigo, Nuclear Information & Resource Service (202 841-8588)
Lynda Schneekloth, Sierra Club Niagara Group, 883 4075

STOP THE RADIOACTIVE ROAD TRIPS!

Keep Liquid High Level Nuclear Waste off NYS Bridges and Highways!

On Wednesday, May 15, the Sierra Club Niagara Group is joining the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Women’s Indigenous Initiatives, and the International Institute of Concern for Public Health at a press conference on Main Street in front of the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Buffalo. This event is called to inform the citizens of New York State of the DOE plan to ship HIGH LEVEL RADIOACTIVE LIQUID WASTE 1,000 miles across public roads and bridges in the U.S. and Canada. Atomic Energy Canada Limited (AECL) is planning to truck 23,000 liters of highly radioactive liquid waste from its Chalk River Laboratory (CRL) in Ontario to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The shipments could begin this summer if approved by regulators in both countries. This radiotoxic liquid waste has resulted from using weapons-grade highly enriched uranium in Chalk River’s National Research Universal reactor for decades to produce radioactive isotopes. The waste contains numerous highly radioactive fission products such as cesium-137, iodine-129 and strontium-90.

Barbara Warren of Citizens’ Environmental Coalition reports that “the shipment of LIQUID radioactive waste presents unprecedented risks: the safe containment of the liquid itself, the hazards to workers and bystanders, the potential for accidents en route, theft, terrorism and other mishaps, including the potential of accidentally triggering a nuclear chain reaction. “ The transport of this highly radioactive liquid waste is being justified under a US-Canada agreement to return weapons grade uranium to the United States, a laudable goal to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. However, as Gordon Edwards of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility says, “There is no reason to ship the material in liquid form as there are options to handling it such as solidifying it and storing it on site as has been done with similar liquid waste at Chalk River since 2003, or denaturing the weapons-grade uranium on site so that it is no longer weapons-usable.”

There has been no process for public discourse on the unprecedented transport of this liquid waste. Why the secrecy? And what’s the hurry? Tom Clements of the South Carolina Friends of the Earth has suggested that “the main driver for the shipment on the US side is the motivation [to] obtain the reported $60 million payment which will be used to keep the H-Canyon reprocessing plant at SRS nuclear weapons site in South Carolina operating.”  The H-Canyon, a $200-million/year cash cow for SRS, is the only remaining reprocessing plant in the US Department of Energy complex. “On the Canadian side, the goal for the shipment is nuclear waste dumping, and Canada should itself deal with this waste.“

“Western NY is still stuck with highly radioactive waste left over from a reprocessing operation that ended in 1972 at West Valley 30 miles south and upstream of the Buffalo and Erie County water intakes. It took more than a decade to turn that liquid waste into solid to help keep it out of our water supply. Now we are threatened with dozens of shipments of similar liquid highly radioactive post-reprocessing waste from Canada passing over our roads and waterways –threatening the Great Lakes, Niagara River and St Lawrence Seaway weekly for 4 years! No way!” stated Diane D’Arrigo, Radioactive Waste Director at Nuclear Information and Resource Service.

“Shipping highly radioactive waste in liquid form to the U.S. is unwarranted and sets a dangerous precedent. Any incident that resulted in human and environmental exposure to this material would be disastrous and unconscionable. It could also legitimize future shipments of similar wastes on a global scale,” a consideration expressed by Anna Tilman of the International Institute of Concern for Public Health. “The plan to ship this waste must be halted and a public decision-making process instituted to deliberate on this matter, for the safety and protection of the public, and for the sake of international security.”

The groups are calling on DOE to do a Supplemental EIS to subject this project to public scrutiny and discussion. They are also calling on Governor Cuomo to also request that DOE conduct an SEIS and to do everything in his power to keep this material off our NYS public roads and bridges.

Contact People for Partners (*speakers):
*Lynda Schneekloth, Chair, Sierra Club Niagara Group (716 883 4075 or lhs1@buffalo.edu)
*Diane D’Arrigo, Nuclear Information & Resource Service (202 841-8588 or dianed@nirs.org)
*Agnes Williams, Indigenous Women’s Initiatives, nyawehskanoh@gmail.com or 716-332-6988
*Anna Tilman, International Institute of Concern for Public Health (905 841-0095 or annatilman@sympatico.ca)

John Bennett, Executive Director, Sierra Club Canada (jb@sierraclub.ca)
Gordon Edwards, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility (ccnr@web.ca)
Tom Clements, Nuclear Coordinator, Friends of the Earth (tomclements329@cs.com)
tel. 803-834-3084; cell 803-240-7268
Barbara Warren, Citizens Environmental Coalition (warrenba@msn.com or 845-754-7951)
Roger Downs, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter (roger.downs@sierraclub.org)
Susan Corbett, Sierra Club South Carolina Chapter ( jsorbett@mindspring.com)
John Jackson, Great Lakes United (jjackson@glu.org)

Other Resources:

• Shipment of Highly-Radioactive Liquid Waste – Backgrounder
• Resolution Against The Transport Of Liquid Radioactive Waste, May 14, 2013
• Senate plan could make Illinois ‘bullseye’ for nuclear waste
• Canada to ship highly enriched uranium to SRS
• Mission to transport 23,000 liters of bomb-grade uranium from Canada to US
• U.S. says radioactive waste shipments safe, nixes full environmental assessment
• Carol Borgstrom, Director of the Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance US DOE, Washington tel. 202-586-4600 carol.borgstrom@hq.doe.gov
• DOE’s Supplemental Analysis  (very cursory and with no public input, which is why an SEIS is needed)April 1, 2013 “Savannah River Site Spent Nuclear Fuel Management” http://energy.gov/nepa/downloads/eis-0279-sa-01-supplement-analysis
• DOE’s “Amended Record of Decision” on the shipment and processing at SRS April 5, 2013 http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2013/04/f0/EIS-0279-AmenROD-2013.pdf

The post Keep Liquid High Level Nuclear Waste off NYS Bridges and Highways! appeared first on Intercontinental Cry.

To wit, the secretariat for the Permanent Forum this week announced the UNPFII Twelfth Session, May 20-31 in New York, will include a “dialogue” with the World Bank. As perhaps the most hostile of UN agencies to the indigenous peoples movement and the implementation of indigenous sovereignty under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the World Bank will no doubt generate bags of bromides for the indigenous patsies to use in press releases to impress their foundation funders. How to posture around this topic and others will likely consume the Indigenous Global Caucus (a.k.a. COPPs–charlatans, opportunists and pious poseurs) that meets May 18 and 19 at UN Plaza.

The only potential bright spot in the secretariat announcement is the May 22 meeting with indigenous journalists to “strategize” on the 2014 World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, also to be held at UN Headquarters in New York.  Somehow, though, I don’t think the UN staff has Intercontinental Cry Magazine in mind.

The post Here Come the COPPs appeared first on Intercontinental Cry.

Greetings from the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) Nation of the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Confederacy. Straddling both sides of the Kania’tarohwá:nen (St. Lawrence River), the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory exists within the ancestral homeland of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation, which has never been ceded by any legitimate authority of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

Without the free, prior and informed consent of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation, both Canada and the United States have since unilaterally drawn their national boundaries directly through our traditional and ancestral territory and now limit and disrupt our free and unobstructed movement within our own territory. Despite this challenge to our territorial sovereignty, the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation continues to retain and assert its inherent sovereign and indigenous right to cross freely into all Haudenosaunee territories.

Since the imposition of the Canadian Port of Entry within the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory, the Kanien’kehá:ka have experienced and endured racial harassment and mistreatment, the denial of their Haudenosaunee citizenship, arrest, and the confiscation of property by the Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA). Since the Port of Entry was relocated to Cornwall four years ago, this mistreatment and abuse has intensified.

Therefore, the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy are calling upon all people to join us in a call for action on May 17, 2013, to bring an end to Canada’s abuse and mistreatment of our citizens and their refusal to respect and honor the inherent sovereign and indigenous rights of the Haudenosaunee to freely move about its traditional and ancestral territory without hindrance. Despite the Government of Canada’s commitment towards truth and reconciliation with the Indigenous Peoples of this land, these regularly unprovoked and insensitive acts by the CBSA are another demonstration of Canada’s indifference and lack of respect towards indigenous peoples and demonstrate its callous disregard towards resolving these issues in good faith.

To resolve the border issue the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation requires the following:

1. To begin the process to rectify this longstanding conflict between our peoples, the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation requires an immediate meeting between the Government of Canada and the traditional leadership of the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Confederacy.

2. In keeping with the principles of coexistence and non-inference as embodied through the Two Row Wampum, the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation requires a commitment by the Government of Canada to retain a nation-to-nation relationship with the traditional Haudenosaunee Six Nations Confederacy, as their British fathers had in the past.

3. In order to preserve and maintain the distinct identity of the Haudenosaunee as a sovereign people, the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation requires the Government of Canada to recognize Haudenosaunee citizenship, by virtue of whatever identification issued by the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Confederacy.

The Kanien’kehá:ka Nation calls upon its people to gather at the Mohawk Nation Longhouse at 9am on May 17, 2013, for a peaceful march across the imaginary line that cuts through our nation, to let all know that we shall continue to exercise our inherent sovereign and indigenous rights and uphold them for future generations.

For more information, please contact the Mohawk Nation Office at 518-358-3381

The post Mohawk Nation Calls For Immediate Action Against The Infringement Of Its Inherent Indigenous Rights appeared first on Intercontinental Cry.

Last week, Guatemala’s Public Ministry revealed wiretapping evidence that has Tahoe’s security chief at Escobal, Alberto Rotondo, giving direct orders to assassinate opponents of the mine.

The wiretap has Rotondo making several statements, including: “God dam dogs, they do not understand that the mine generates jobs”. “We must eliminate these animals’ pieces of shit”. “We can not allow people to establish resistance, another Puya no”. “Kill house [sic] sons of Bitches”.

Rortondo was apprehended at an airport as he attempted to flee the country.

The post Guatemala: Tahoe Resources Security Chief gave direct orders to kill protestors appeared first on Intercontinental Cry.

Victoria, BC and Coast Salish Territory, BC — WEC’KINEM (Eric Pelkey), a hereditary chief of the Tsawout First Nation, with support from the Songhees and local WSÁNEĆ nations, are calling on all peoples in the Victoria area to participate in a day of action to Reclaim PKOLS, the original name of Mount Douglas, on May 22nd at 5PM. The event will reinstate the traditional name for the mountain and reclaim the site where the Douglas Treaty was first signed with the WSÁNEĆ nations.

“This is something that our elders have been calling for, for many, many years,” said Pelkey, “to bring back the names we have always used to where they belong.”

PKOLS (pronounced p’cawls), which can be translated as “White Rock” or “White Head”, reflects the Indigenous oral history of the area. Stories of PKOLS go back to nearly the beginning of time for WSÁNEĆ (Saanich) people. Historically, it has been an important meeting place; and geological findings indicate that it was the last place glaciers receded from on southern Vancouver Island.

“It is a very important place for our people,” said Pelkey. “PKOLS is a part of our creation story within the WSÁNEĆ nation; and it’s where our treaty was first agreed to in 1852.”

James Douglas and his men met with WSÁNEĆ chiefs at the summit of PKOLS to discuss a treaty between the local Indigenous peoples and the settler newcomers. Outnumbered by WSÁNEĆ warriors, Douglas offered blankets and money and the eventual signing of the Douglas Treaty was understood to be a promise that the WSÁNEĆ people would not be interfered with. But this promise has since been broken.

To signify the renewal of this original nation-to-nation treaty relationship, organizers of the May 22nd action, including volunteers from local First Nations, the Indigenous Nationhood Movement and Social Coast, will stage a march up PKOLS from the base; a re-enactment of the signing of the Douglas Treaty; the telling of oral histories and traditional significance of the mountain; and the installation of a new PKOLS sign.

Beginning at 5:00pm on May 22nd, supporters will gather at the base of PKOLS in the lower parking lot, before beginning a march to the summit. “We expect this to be a major event,” said Pelkey. “We welcome all people to witness and participate in this important day for our people.”

The following community organizations and individuals have endorsed the May 22nd Day of Action: AIDS Vancouver Island, Council of Canadians, Freeskool, Greenpeace, the Indigenous Nationhood Movement, Indigenous Waves Radio, International Federation of Iranian Refugees, Keepers of the Athabasca, Lifecycles Project Society, Los Altos Institute, Naomi Klein, Rising Tide Vancouver, SocialCoast.org, Social Environmental Alliance, South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy, Together Against Poverty Society, University of Victoria Indigenous Governance Program, Vancouver Island Community Forest Action Network, Victoria Coalition for Survivors, Victoria Idle No More, The Warren Undergraduate Review.

For more information please visit: http://PKOLS.org

On Twitter: #PKOLS #May22

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Spokesperson:

WEC’KINEM (Eric Pelkey) – Tsawout First Nation, 250-480-8529 / ehpelkey@tsawout.ca

Supporting Media Contacts:

Taiaiake Alfred – Indigenous Nationhood Movement, 250-686-7250 / gta@uvic.ca

Jarrett Martineau – Media Liaison, Indigenous Nationhood Movement, 250-216-8688 / jarrett.martineau@gmail.com

Eric Nordal – SocialCoast, 250-858-6014 / eric@socialcoast.org

The post First Nations plan Day of Action to reclaim original name of Mount Douglas: PKOLS appeared first on Intercontinental Cry.