Indigenist Intelligence Review

Haere Atu No Co2lonialism in the Pacific-Te Ata Tino Toa on the Social & Climate Justice Caravan

uriohau@gmail.com (Ana) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:12:45 PST

Tane Mahuta, Waipoua

Indigenous peoples in the Pacific have found the great ocean of Kiwa, a spiritual & cultural home for thousands upon thousands of years. We lived in harmony with our environment and each other; we were self-sufficient and had 100% of our lands, Culture, custom and language. White supremacist, Capitalist Imperialism & genocide shattered that world for many Indigenous peoples in the Pacific last century.

We live with the repercussions of that history of genocide & dispossession every day. Colonisation in the Pacific continues in the models of development that are being sold through a masquerade of trade," governance & security, & market based ‘solutions’ to climate change.

Te Ata Tino Toa, (a collective of Maori activists) are looking forward to forging a strong collective understanding & response to the dual threats of neo liberalism & climate change in the Pacific on the Climate Caravan .

The Social & Climate Justice Caravan 2009 wants to link the protests against the WTO with the protests against the climate summit. Between 3rd and 9th December, 60 representatives from global movements from the South will drive two routes from Geneva to Copenhagen. The Western route goes through Paris and Brussels, the Eastern one through Freiburg, Frankfurt and Cologne, including a delegation to Berlin. The activists will meet up in Hamburg in order to drive together over the Danish border to Copenhagen. With public meetings, discussions and actions planned, the caravan wants to draw attention to the consequences of trade liberalisation and climate change on people in the global South. Through meetings and workshops, participants seek to establish networks with local activists and hope to mobilize as many people as possible to Copenhagen.

Te Ata Tino Toa

Te Ata Tino Toa are representative of the long tradition of struggle and resistance by Maori against colonisation and the Crown sponsored theft of Maori land and resources.Maori continue to resist the pressures of colonisation and cultural and economic genocide. Such a concept embraces the spiritual link Maori have with 'Papatuanuku' (Earthmother) and is a part of the international drive by indigenous peoples for self determination."

The Pacific, is facing huge stress & huge regional pressures. Climate change is a clear and present danger to the Pacific peoples, land, lives; culture & peoples are at risk. Climate change is no distant threat it is happening now. Rising sea levels are eating up the land of the islands, salination means more & more arable lands for cultivation become untenable. The human face of climate change in the Pacific, is heart breaking, land is the cornerstone of the heart of all Indigenous peoples.

Tuvalu, Funafuti

…….From Genvea

For much of the past decade the Pacific Islands Countries have faced immense pressure from NZ & Australia, and aid donors to move towards trade liberalisation through new free trade agreements (FTAs).

Free trade agreements involving the region include the Pacific Islands Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA), the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union, and the extension of the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) with Australia and New Zealand to include deeper “economic integration”.

The move towards free trade is driven largely by the interests of business (exporters, service suppliers and potential new investors) based in the Pacific’s developed-country ‘partners’. Clothed in benevolent, paternal words, greed & racism lie at the heart of Pacer-Plus, pushing the western, neoliberal way of doing things on the Pacific.

To Copenhagen

Te Ata Tino Toa stand with all Indigenous peoples of the Pacific. Together we can ensure those most responsible for climate change are held responsible and those most affected by are supported. In the defence of land rights, & our collective responsibility to care for lands, forests, our oceans & peoples. Pacific peoples standing together for mother earth & for lives of dignity, and self determination.

“Indigenous peoples of the Pacific are deeply alarmed by the accelerating climate devastation brought about by unsustainable development, and we are experiencing profound and disproportionate adverse impacts on our Pacific 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.

Consumer nations must adequately address the issue of ecological debt to the global south and not shift liability for their own unsustainable production and consumption to those nations not responsible for the high level of climate emissions.

We demand that forests not be included in carbon trading schemes, and call on all governments to halt deforestation and keep fossil fuels in the ground; not trade one for the other. “ (Nukualofa Declaration)

Against all the odds, and the threats we face to our lands, our cultures, and our ways of life in the pacific, we have survived and we continue to resist. Evolutionary processes have taken their course in the Pacific and the time has come for us to reach out across the vast ocean that binds us to support each other’s struggles and to halt the annihilation that we as peoples are facing.

Ka whawahi tonu matau/Freedom Fighters

http://climate.conscious.maori.nz/
http://uriohau.blogspot.com/2009/10/nuku-alofa-declaration.html
http://www.bilaterals.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=86
http://october15thsolidarity.info/

White Racism In the Washington Times: Par for the Course

editor.novajoservo@gmail.com (The Angryindian) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:51:15 PST

Image via Wikipedia

(Revised: 11.19.2009)

As you can see, while Mr. Obama plays the 'Good Negro' the reactionary racism of the mainstream press takes centre stage with complete immunity. The fact that Barack Obama's mixed-racial parentage continues to pop-up in these critiques makes it abundantly clear that the opposition to the Obama White House is purely racial, not political. This is supported by the fact that not one of these 'Constitutionalists' said a thing while G.W. Bush kissed and held hands with Saudi Royalty, the very same Arab kingdom U.S. intelligence says provided the majority of the named suspects accused of the 911 attacks against the United States. This moral silence extends to Ronald Reagan's visit to honour the Waffen SS buried in Bitburg, Germany and what that meant to European Holocaust survivors across the Jewish Diaspora. The issue was simply dropped as a matter of bad taste and animosity towards "Ronnie". Yet most anything the GOP can think of, no matter how outlandish the suggestion or blatantly racist the commentary, for all practical purposes materially sticks to President Obama precisely because that's what the White majority wants to believe. The reality of institutional Europocentric bias in the United States dictates that no matter how bad a White politician could be, an African one would always be much worse simply by fiat of his racial genetic inferiority.

The proof of this mentality can be reviewed below. This example of modern White racialism comes from establishment tabloid the Washington Times wherein author Wesley Pruden points out some banal unrelated biographical facts about Mr. Obama and then launches into a racist tirade that includes a biological explanation as to why President Obama would choose to bow to a Japanese royal:

Washington Times:

But Mr. Obama, unlike his predecessors, likely knows no better, and many of those around him, true children of the grungy '60s, are contemptuous of custom. Cutting America down to size is what attracts them to 'hope' for 'change.' It's no fault of the president that he has no natural instinct or blood impulse for what the America of 'the 57 states' is about. He was sired by a Kenyan father, born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World and reared by grandparents in Hawaii, a paradise far from the American mainstream.
- emphasis mine

Now, while the Reverend Jeremiah Wright was publicly lambasted for applying Biblical analysis to Pax Americana's unspoken history of racism and war at home and abroad, a writer for a respected Washington newspaper can openly espouse racialist Eugenics and receive little, if any, establishment condemnation. Even from the White House which officially disregards the existence or importance of American institutional racism in modern U.S. society. The "official" profiling of Arabs and political activists since the 911 event aside, the socio-political marginalisation of Aboriginal Americans and Africans in the United States is as old as the country itself and older still when measured against the "real" invasion led by Catholic Spain which began in 1492. After violently ejecting the Moors and ethnically cleansing Reconquista Europa of its Jewish populations, Europe looked to the "New World" to extend their control over what they considered to be the entire "known" areas of the world. Along with colonialism they brought their theologically-excused racial biases along with them and left them firmly in place when they finally decided to go home.

To listen to the president and his people this history has little to do with today. That the centuries of abuse, violence and neglect under a banner of liberty and justice for all should not be seen as anything other than the natural progression of the American society, that White racism and domination are "natural" paradigms that require "tweaking" to make them fairer for increasingly "complex" populations of many "modern," former "Colonial" states. The exclusively Europocentric bias inherent within this theory is mind-numbing but this is what stands for accepted thinking as the world watches the U.S. churn under its first Black political head of state. What the mainstream public deems as "progress" in the Obama election is really nothing more than what was already made politically inevitable given the nature of colonialism. At some point the colonial/Native population "mixes" which immediately raises internal then imperial contradictions that force colonial states to adapt to changing circumstances.

The first instance is always sexual, as the colonialist male nearly always regards the Indigenous population, both male and female, to be freely available to them as sexual subjects without the right or power to protest. This results in a Mestizo class that often become Assimilado buffers for the state. The second is culturally as the colonialist who does not cook prefers to have the Native prepare his meals and clean up after he and his family. The Native woman bathes, dresses and provides a shoulder to cry on for the colonial wife and nurses her master's children with milk that she is forbidden to feed to her own children. The children are raised in the kitchen with the Native who imparts casually elements from her own cultural mores and habits. Over generations these close personal contacts create a hybrid of the two groups that becomes unique to that particular colonial country. Hence, U.S. general social culture differs from that of Australia, both were conquered by the British Empire but each displays the cultural hallmarks of their respective Indigenous population. Only a fool would claim that the U.S. arose from the hold of the English Crown simply based on Europeanism. The whole concept of 'Free men in a free land' was adopted from Indigenous cultural traits which respected individual freedom and the benefit of conversation over warfare. The Six Nations Confederacy of the Seneca, Onondaga, Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, and Tuscarora Nations according to Benjamin Franklin was the structural basis for American independence and what became of the U.S. system of state government and its relation to the central authority.

What generally results from this is a queer mixture of mental dependency and social servitude that still impacts how Europeans traditionally relate to and interact with non-White elements of American society. European settlers took the best ideas and concepts from Indigenous and African American cultures and through its xenophobic looking glass claimed these elements as their own creation and further deny that non-Europeans have had a hand in producing anything at all. Therefore Jazz becomes "American" as does Blues, Rock and Roll and the White man's idea of a medicine person which recently led to several deaths of non-Indians playing with Indian spirituality. This is not to mock the seriousness of the tragedy, but it is a call to point out how ludicrous it is to live in a socio-political state of affairs where Indians and Africans have legal and political issues surrounding our traditional spiritual practices, while Whites have rarely felt a need to ask themselves how they can justify co-opting cultural practices of peoples their society officially deems as "barbaric" and "anachronistic". In a society where young White men feel comfortable referring to each other as "Niggers" and "pimps," to ignore this past is willful ignorance and playing directly into the hands of colonial White supremacist theory.

This brings us back to the Washington Times attack on Barack Obama and his ethnic makeup. This is an affront to anyone who can reasonably discern between political antagonisms and policy debate from unapologetic White racial insecurities on full display. The right-wing talk radio commissars and their ditto-heads in the blogosphere will deny the racism inherent within this article, but why bother? If Obama wants to help the right-wing by swearing that the negativity he and his family faces isn't racially motivated really, what's the point? This is a President-of-Colour that has never seriously addressed race in the United States except when his fellow 400 Club buddy "Skip" Gates was profiled in his own house. Even then, the president "solved" the issue by inviting the officer involved to the White House for a "Beer Summit" with the Black man he abused with the power of his municipal authority. The fact that the officer lied and added a racial element to his written incident report when the caller who alerted the authorities never mentioned anything race related was never really raised much less examined and like all such cases was swept under the rug. Only this time it was done with an African-American presidential sanction.

So what are we to make of all this? A New York newspaper even went to far as to publish a full-page cartoon of a monkey wearing an Obama t-shirt being shot by police officers who say in the caption, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill." We've seen the "Obama Monkey" t-shirts, the effigies and the ever-so-doltish political banners strewn across their websites. We've heard the anti-Obama rants on AM radio and the republican and libertarian podcasts along with the survivalist and evangelical commercials that sponsor their shows. It is apparent that there is a visible implosion of political and social decorum in American mainstream media and what little civility there was is being eroded further still. And by design.

Why do I say that? Because I understand that given the corporate monopoly of the media it stands to reason that they have full creative and production control over their product and this includes the sounds and images that help tell the story. If Lou Dobbs, Rush Limbaugh and the entire gaggle of clucking ducks over at the FOX office of disinformation have not had their paychecks stopped after the first broadcasts wildly questioning Barack Obama's citizenship, they never will be. After the first "socialist" fallacy was uttered all of the managing editors of these news services should have been fired. Obviously this is not likely to happen anytime soon and since this administration began nearly all mainstream reporting on the person and manner of the President has been unnecessarily negative and clearly filtered through the Europocentric cheesecloth of anti-African sentiment.

From the Birthers and libertarians, (republicans who still smoke pot and keep gay friends) waving Obama "Nazi" and "Communist" placards at the next racist Tea Party rally nearest you to Glenn Beck's theatrical non-sequitur rants across pay-to-watch television advertising media the insults continue unabated. The Secret Service says that threats to the president are at record levels and still no one in an official capacity including the president is willing to say that this socio-political uproar is based primarily in White social insecurities veiled as "constitutional" opposition to his apologetically capitalist presidency.

While I also take issue with his political decisions, my dissent does not extent to his racial configuration. If anything, I question his motives in not dealing with the issue in a corporal manner. His apparently artful dodging in addressing the issue is giving the extreme right-wing more courage to say out loud what was only muttered on firing ranges in low tones. The Obama administration is not doing anyone a favour, especially other American Africans in pretending that this problem does not persist in the United States. And under a Black president the African population can be forgiven for expecting its representative, whether he wants that responsibility or not, to deal with the ugly ideological roots of the American republic. The racialist idea that Indigenous and African peoples have no right to question or condemn Euro-settler society for denying genocide and ethnic social marginalisation is not being challenged at all by the most powerful and important African in the world. This dis-empowers all people of colour struggling against institutional Europocentric racism in the United States and morally insults the sacrifices of those Indian and African activists who did challenge the status quo that made his campaign election possible in the first place.

I mention this to point out again that due to the conflicting nature of imperio-colonial machinations a Barack Obama was inevitable given the long history of the African in the United States. What made Mr. Obama's run and successive winning of the post possible from the perspective of the democratic party's electorate was the history of radical African grassroots activism, a foundation the Obama team used to great effect to turn out the African masses. But as we have seen one year on, the Obama administration is far from left-wing. Radical socialists do not give taxpayer funds to private industry. In fact they do just the opposite, they spend money on people, not the corporate sector. I know the GOP and the libertarians have a hard time understanding this, but Barack Obama is all about preserving the pro-Europocentric U.S. plutocracy and full-spectrum dominance, not crashing American capitalism or taking away anyone's legally owned firearms. The only federally-mandated gun grab occurred during the Katrina Crisis in Louisiana where Xe Services LLC mercenaries, (Blackwater) relieved citizens, mostly non-Whites, of their home-based weapons. I cannot recall a passionate outcry from the neo-confederate gun fetish lobby about those violations of the constitution or the silent race war that occurred once Africans were relieved of their guns.

Under Obama the day-to-day racism the average Indian and African man and woman in the United States experiences is becoming increasingly strained as many Whites seem to be more willing to express their frustrations since the election high died down and the reality of a Black president began to hit home. I have many anecdotal tales of my own of casual conversations with White folks who supported Obama as a partisan alternative to the replication of Bush's policies in the McCain/Palin ticket. Almost all of the people I spoke with on this subject seemed to feel that since they voted for Obama who is "a Black", that he owes them a lifetime of dutiful allegiance on this basis alone. For these people the question of race is now over, that was the real point of their vote. Even many self-identified liberals who now oppose Obama make a point of saying that they love his work on racism, meaning his feigned ignorance towards the subject of race, but still oppose the escalation of the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations, the corporate bailout and want some form of health care reform that works. Race, that was yesterday and the White masses feel that their vote proved that.

The Washington Times article shows however that the issue of race isn't over at all. In fact it is becoming fashionable again to be a unrepentant Nigger-hater in Obama's America and frankly its becoming morally his fault for allowing it to flourish without comment. Barack Obama has made White racism acceptable by flatly denying its existence or relevance to his "America" or his political office. His tacit approval of the ethnically insulting nature of his opposition has only bolstered the egos of the GOP and the Christian extremist apocalyptic Ku Klux Klan wannabes that have always lingered in the shadows of American politics. So much so that editorials suggesting that the president is biologically inept and therefore genetically incapable of representing the U.S. properly overseas can be accorded respect as legitimate news opinion and escape a justified public condemnation.

Instead the press is laughing at us. Yes, other American presidents have experienced fervent and unquestionably invective-laden opposition, namely Lincoln who was called "Abraham Africanus the First" by his detractors who tried to suggest that he had partial African bloodlines in order to discredit him with White voters. The animosity towards President Obama is much more vicious and much more intense than what Lincoln faced. He did not have FOX News comparing him to foreign terrorism, little-understood religious traditions (Lincoln was an atheist) or questioning his citizenship. But he did have newspaper articles and cartoons calling into question his race and whether or not America was ready for a part-African/part-sub-human president. Lincoln won the election, but the rumours dogged him for the rest of his political life and may have contributed to his assassination by an avowed pro-slavery southern racist enraged by the defeat of the confederate south.

We see the same sort of journalistic ploys at work here in the Negro-led reactionary GOP. Under the watchful eye of Micheal Steele the republican "base" has made Obama-bashing the news equivalent of serious national reportage on the nation's affairs at home and abroad. And again, the White majority obviously wants it this way. If this were not true it would not continue much less expand as it has into the general mainstream. The fringe in now the norm and this should frighten everybody, Whites included. With new militia groups forming across the United States every week and scared middle-class currently employed White folks buying up guns, ammo and freeze-dried venison burritos in record numbers, we all better stop saying "It couldn't happen here" and pay attention to the social currents pushing the U.S. into a real constitutional abyss.

It isn't like it hasn't happened here several times before.

- The Angryindian

Intern Muslims ... Save America!

laher@iname.com (Ridwan) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:47:11 PST

American history is littered with constructions and reconstructions of the racialized villain(s) that stand against the ubiquitous "good guys".

I have recently been thinking how the paranoid ramblings about Islamic terrorists after the Fort Hood massacre is starting to read and feel like the same racist paranoia that led to the mass internment of Japanese Americans after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941.

In the days after the Pearl Harbor attack racist speculation cast Japanese Americans as 'ideological instruments' and racial allies of Japan

The media joined an assortment of racist civic organizations to depict Japanese Americans as traitors who were plotting the downfall of the US.

The US government went the next step to label Japanese Americans, citizens and residents alike, as "enemy aliens".

The US then ordered that Japanese Americans living on the West Coast be rounded up and placed into "War Relocation Camps".

These camps were nothing more than concentration camps and by 1942 about 120 000 Japanese Americans had been forcefully relocated.

No formal charges were brought. The 'fact' of suspicion fueled by racist hate and lies in the US media and among its elected leaders and citizen groups was enough.

I have co-written an academic article that covers some of the tragedy I am describing here.

My co-author and I describe the fallout that led to the internment in this way:

The combination of racism fuelled by anger produced a highly volatile
situation. The consequences for Japanese Americans extended outside of the interpersonal realm into the arena of business and their professional lives.
Banks in California refused to do business with Japanese Americans. Their accounts were frozen and they were not allowed to draw any money. Japanese Americans were turned away from grocery stores, convenience stores, and other basic service providers. The state of California rescinded the certification of doctors to practice medicine and of lawyers to practice law. Japanese Americans who owned businesses lost their customers and clients. The stigma of assumed betrayal was used to deprive Japanese Americans of the right to make a living and to live without fear of reprisals from angry mobs. Hardship and uncertainty grew as Japanese Americans struggled to provide basic necessities for themselves and their families.

Political leaders throughout the country joined pressure groups that were
venting anger and calling for reprisals against Japanese Americans. Senator Tom
Stewart joined congressmen John Rankin of Mississippi and Martin Dies of Texas in
a campaign of racist rhetoric that was intended to advance their beliefs in white
supremacy. Congressman Rankin, who was notoriously known for being anti-black
and anti-semitic described World War II as a “race war” that inevitable pitted the
“white man’s civilization (against) Japanese barbarism” in a duel in which “one of
them must be destroyed.” He added that the Japanese “are pagan in their
philosophy, atheistic in their beliefs, alien in their allegiance, and antagonistic to everything for which we stand.” His comments were intended to caste suspicion
onto Japanese Americans when he said: “Once a Jap always a Jap. You cannot
change him. You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” Rankin’s comments
received ardent support from congressional leaders in Arkansas, Virginia, and West
Virginia.

Just this morning the disturbing themes contained in these two paragraphs replayed inside my head as I read an article in the Los Angeles Times by conservative commentator, Jennifer Rubin.

Much of Rubin's article is that there is too much "political correctness" in the argument that Islam is a peaceful religion. She presses the argument made by Cliff May of the National Review Online, that most Muslims may be peaceful but it is Islam that nonetheless fuels the violence of jihadists (whatever that term may mean).

What absolute nonsense!

Please show me anywhere in the Qur'an where Muslims are led to become jihadists.

The fact that Islam prescribes peace over war and violence as an absolute last resort is conveniently written out of the consciousness of folks like Rubin and May.

And there are so many others that are too eager to follow the course of American history and demonize away.

Take a look at the disturbing comments that accompany Rubin's article and you will get a greater appreciation of what I mean.

The falsified and racist thesis that would portray Muslims as "enemy aliens" is captured in the following comments:

YOU CANNOT SINCERELY TAKE AN OATH TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION AND SIMULTANEOUSLY CLAIM TO BE AN OBSERVANT MUSLIM.

also;

In the words of Pogo Possum: "We have met the enemy, and he is us." At the very least, he is within our own ranks. Sacrificing the hunt for fifth columnists on the altar of political correctness does not ensure anyone's liberty or due process. It's time we root out those who intend to do us harm, and call them for what they are: enemies. Those who do not wish to be counted among their ranks need to stand up and be counted among those who are not.

and;

We have seen numerous incidents of mohammedans killing their fellow soldiers in the US Army. We have seen the majority of mohammedans keep silent rather than oppose the radicals who promote this insanity in the name of religion. Perhaps it's time for the US to rethink the notion of freedom of religion.

This last comment scratches deep to dredge up the derogatory term "mohammedans" as opposed to Muslims.

What is most striking is the constant refrain that other 'Muslims must stand up' and testify against jihadists and so they will be known.

Because, as it stands now, any law-abiding Muslim who is quiet is an enemy that wants to overthrow the "good guys".

The first comment above is most emphatic that Islam/Muslims are not compatible with the constitution (read the US).

In other words, you cannot be a Muslim and an American at the same time.

And, if you accept Rubin and May's thinking, it would be wise to remain vigilant against Islam wherever it is found, inside and outside the US.

The internment of Japanese Americans started with the seizure of assets and the freezing of bank accounts.

Last week the US started seizing assets belonging to Muslims who are allegedly tied to the government of Iran.

America it seems is yet to learn the racist folly of its ways.

I don't expect that Muslim internment camps will crop up on the mainland.

But who can argue that Guantanamo is an internment camp, and worse?

And what about the so called "black sites" that are spread anonymously across the globe for the purposes of containing the "enemy alien" inside and outside the imperial beast?

These are not times for complacency.

The internment of Muslims is well on its way.

Onward!

Marwa El-Sherbini Killed In Germany For Being A Muslim

laher@iname.com (Ridwan) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:11:25 PST

Marwa el-Sherbini decided to take her two-year old son, Mustafa, to a children's playground in the city of Dresden, Germany, one afternoon in August 2008.

Mrs Sherbini (31), an Egyptian born pharmacist who worked for Dresden University, was dressed in blue jeans, a white blouse, and a small headscarf that indicated she was a Muslim according to a news report in the Belfast Telegraph.

Mustafa wanted to play on one of the two swings but both were being used.

One of the swings was occupied by a grown man who was sitting and smoking a cigarette.

Mrs Sherbini asked the man in German if he would allow Mustafa to play on the swing.

The man immediately went into a rage shouting insults at Mrs Sherbini.

"You are an Islamist and a terrorist who has no business in Germany ..."

He called her a "terrorist whore" who had no right ("business") being in Germany and added that Mustafa would grow up to be a terrorist too.

A witness to the incident called the police and Mrs Sherbini filed a complaint against the man.

Alexander Wiens (28), an unemployed Russian-German was charged with defamation and ordered to pay a €330 fine by a Dresden district court three months after the incident.

He refused to pay the fine saying he was being "unfairly treated" and he appeared in court July 1, 2009, to appeal the fine.

Mrs Sherbini's and her Egyptian husband, Elwy Ali Okaz, were in court when Wiens pulled out a 12-inch knife from a bag.

He then rushed toward Mrs Sherbini and stabbed her 16-times shouting out "You don't deserve to live!"

Elwy Ali Okaz also sustained stab wounds in his attempt to defend his wife.

Mustafa, now three years old, witnessed the murder of his mother in front of judges and other court personnel.

Mrs Sherbini was three months pregnant.

The case hardly caused a stir in Germany while Muslims in Germany and elsewhere were shocked by the brutality and anti-Islamic sentiment.

A funeral prayer ceremony for her in Berlin was attended by more that two thousand Muslims before her body was flown to Cairo for burial according to a news report.

Last week, November 11 to be exact, Wiens was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Mrs Sherbini and causing grievous bodily harm to Elwy Ali Okaz.

The sentence was read in a Dresden court packed with security personnel unlike the time before when Wiens carried out his ruthless murder.

The sentence also prohibits Wiens from applying for parole after 15 years due to the violent nature of his crime.

The German government released a statement saying that "xenophobia" has no place in Germany.

In my view the sentence is too lenient. The court should have sentenced him to life without parole until death.

I expect that Elwy Ali Okaz may seek to sue the relevant authorities for negligence arising out of the lack of court security.

Whatever the course from here the damage has already been done and there is no turning back so to speak.

Mustafa will no doubt carry life-long scars and that is indeed a great tragedy.

Unfortunately, cases like this are on the rise. Being Muslim in the post-9/11 era means that your security is constantly under threat.

May Mrs Sherbini rest in peace.

Onward!

See Marwa El Sherbiny: The Veiled Martyr for more information.

Picture Credit

Anishinaabekwe: Poem: Indigenous Is

editor.novajoservo@gmail.com (The Angryindian) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:05:43 PST

Anishinaabekwe:

Indigenous Is

11-09-09

Indigenous is not a skin color,
Indigenous is not my nose,
Indigenous is not my eye color,
Indigenous is not my lips,
Indigenous is not romanticizing ancient teachings,
To appropriate,
To disseminate,
To cut to pieces,
And abbreviate in a research document,
Indigenous is removing layers of shame from your ancestors trail,
Indigenous is stepping up to the plate,
Healing and creating a new way for future generations,
Indigenous is standing tall,
Indigenous is standing beautifully,
Indigenous is an honor.

Kathleen Cleaver: The Fugitive: Why has the FBI placed a million-dollar bounty on Assata Shakur?

editor.novajoservo@gmail.com (The Angryindian) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:20:02 PST

assatashakur.org

Twenty-eight years ago, in a highly disputed trial, an all-White jury convicted former Black Panther Assata Shakur of the murder of a New Jersey state trooper. In 1979, while serving a life sentence, she escaped
from prison and eventually resurfaced in Cuba, where she was granted asylum and has lived ever since. But the U.S. government has continued to pursue Shakur, regularly increasing the bounty on her head and
classifying her as a “domestic terrorist.” Last May the Justice Department issued an unprecedented $1,000,000 bounty for the return of Assata Shakur, 58, who continues to maintain her innocence. Kathleen Cleaver, a law professor and former communications secretary for the Black Panther Party, talks about why we all need to know about Assata, and why she must live free: I was startled when I heard about the $1,000,000 bounty for the capture of Assata Shakur. What triggered this renewed interest in Assata? Why spend so much time and money to hunt her down when Osama bin Laden, head of an international terrorist enterprise, remains at large?

It turns out that FBI and New Jersey police officials revealed the million-dollar bounty on May 2 of this year, the thirty-second anniversary of the New Jersey Turnpike shootout in which State Trooper Werner Foerster and Black Panther Zayd Shakur were killed. Sundiata Acoli and Assata Shakur were arrested for the murders. Assata was severely wounded,
shot while her hands were up. She has always insisted—and expert defense testimony from the trial bears it out—that she did not kill anyone. But in separate trials, Sundiata and Assata were convicted of murdering Werner Foerster. In 1979, while incarcerated for life in the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey, Assata escaped. As the FBI circulated the wanted poster that called for her arrest, all over the New York–New Jersey area her supporters hung posters proclaiming “Assata Shakur is welcome here.” Cuba gave her political asylum several years later on the grounds that she had been subjected to political persecution and had never received a fair trial.

Apparently the million-dollar bounty has already been covertly offered by police to a relative of Assata’s for assistance in kidnapping her from Cuba. This bounty evokes the memory of those vicious slave catchers who were paid to capture and torment our runaway slave ancestors and return them dead or alive. This extraordinary bounty on the head of a Black woman inevitably brings to mind Harriet Tubman, that Underground
Railroad “conductor” whose ability to organize escapes earned a $12,000 price on her head from the state of Maryland. Outraged slave owners added $40,000.

Many freedom fighters I knew and loved, including Eldridge Cleaver, to whom I was married, were arrested and imprisoned because of our membership in the Black Panther Party. Our organization started in response to the gruesome war in Vietnam and the racism and injustice here that
drenched our lives in violence. Demonstrations, riots, rampant police brutality and political assassinations marked those years when I witnessed thousands upon thousands of people arrested and hundreds killed. Many turned into fugitives to save their own lives, including my husband, whom I joined in Algeria in May 1969. That was around the same time that Assata, then a bright New York City college student named Joanne Chesimard, joined the Black Panthers.

WE had a concrete ten-point program to end racial inequality. The Black Panther Party demanded the power to determine our own destiny. We insisted on decent housing, appropriate education, economic justice, an immediate end to police brutality, and other rights our people had been fighting for since slavery ended. We were not patient, we were not
passive, and we were willing to defend our principles with our lives. Since Panthers couldn’t be bought off or scared off, the government made the decision to kill us off.

Back in 1968 we became prime targets for law enforcement and intelligence agencies, particularly after J. Edgar Hoover, then FBI director, labeled us the “greatest threat to the internal security” of the United States. We were young and passionately determined to secure the freedom of our people in our lifetime. Joining the Black Panther Party at the height of this assault, Assata saw our leaders imprisoned and killed. Both Black Panther Party founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale faced the death penalty, and Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, leaders of the Illinois chapter, were murdered in a predawn raid while they slept. Assata reported that she was beaten, tortured and denied medical attention after her arrest, then continually threatened by police and prison guards while in their custody. There was no question that she felt her life was in danger.

Under international law and Cuban law, Shakur is entitled to the protection and freedom of asylum. There are no legal grounds for her return to the United States because no treaty of extradition exists between the United States and Cuba, which has been subjected to a U.S. blockade and trade embargo for more than 40 years.

Despite this, the U.S. government and the state of New Jersey have repeatedly called for her capture. The meaning of this new million-dollar bounty is to encourage and finance what amounts to a kidnapping, one that could end with Assata’s death. Our memories are haunted by stories of fiercely independent Blacks whose dignity and pursuit of freedom won
the hatred of enraged White men who sometimes murdered them, riding publicly in lynch mobs that no law restrained.

The government has elevated this barbaric conduct to the diplomatic level as a way to reimprison one Black woman who dared fight for our freedom. The FBI and the state of New Jersey must be forced to obey the law. We cannot allow them to engage in lynch-mob diplomacy.

WHAT YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW

For more information about Assata Shakur’s case and what you can do to support her, please visit assatashakur.org or handsoffassata.net, or call the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement at (718) 254-8800

Ampilatwatja Walkoff - Richard Downs & Harry Nelson

uriohau@gmail.com (Ana) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:42:18 PST

"On July 14 2009 we, Elders from the Ampilatwatja community, walked out of our houses and set up camp in the bush. We are fed up with the federal government's Northern Territory Intervention, controls and measures, visions and goals forced onto us from outside. We felt we were outcasts and isolated from all decision making -there has been no meaningful consultation... We therefore have no intention of going back there. We intend to stay here until our demands are met.

I would like to send a personal invitation to all our brothers and sisters, who are leaders and workers in their Aboriginal organisations to come together as one people. I would like to share with you the visions of our leaders and Elders and the path we have chosen to honour the lines of our country, mother Earth, our dreaming and spirituality. Brothers and sisters, we are one and we are part of you. We are all connected through mother Earth. This is the true line we must follow to unite and to bring all our white brothers and sisters on this journey with us. We have many struggles and journeys ahead. The time is now. It is vital that we come together to listen to each other and share our thoughts and ideas on the way forward. What will be the future for our aboriginal people across this country? I look forward to meeting many of you on the tour and hope to create lasting friendships and connections so that we can work towards creating a better future for our younger generations."

Richard Downs,
Alyawarra People, Ampilatwatja Community
Central Australia

During October '09, Ampilatwatja's spokesperson, Richard Downs, conducted a speaking-tour along the east coast of Australia, talking at Universities, Workers' Unions, Indigenous communities and at public rallies in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, raising awareness of the walk-off and appealing for funds to help the walkoff camp to remain self-sufficient.

Accompanying Richard, Warlpiri Elder, Harry Nelson, of the Yuendemu community talked about his own struggle to fight the Government's attempt to force communities in the Northern Territory to sign 40 year leases, thus handing over their lands to Government.

This video covers footage of Richard and Harry's speaking tour in Melbourne: 14-16 October.

Video of Richard and Harry talking at Melbourne University:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVQKgtfk8tU

Intervention Walkoff's Blog (keep up to date on latest events regarding the walkoff):

http://interventionwalkoff.wordpress.com/

Fort Hood Massacre

laher@iname.com (Ridwan) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:20:36 PST

As is the usual manner of the mainstream US media and its policy attachments, much will be said/made about this horrific incident in the moments, days, and months to follow.

The massacre comes at a time when President Obama looks more like his predecessor and the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are far from deescalating.

That said it should also be expected that much will be made about the alleged shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan (39), who is said to be an American born Muslim of Palestinian/Jordanian descent.

Major Hasan is suspected of taking 13 lives and wounding 30 others, as of this writing.

Though the story is still unfolding the Guardian reports that Major Hasan, a military psychiatrist, has in recent months grown increasingly "unhappy" in his career and has even been seeking to be honorably discharged.

The report says in part:

Unusually for a soldier, Hasan appeared to have little taste for violence, at least up until yesterday. His cousin, Nader Hasan, said: "He was someone who did not enjoy going to the firing range." That may have been a consequence of the stories he had heard in the hospital wards from the returning soldiers.

Hasan became an unhappy soldier as his career progressed, according to his family and colleagues.

Nader said his cousin, though born in America, had suffered harassment from fellow soldiers who questioned his loyalty to the US and commented on his Middle East ethnicity. As a Muslim, he was upset at the killing of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Nader confirmed that he had been resisting deployment in either war zone.

He had been scheduled for deployment to Iraq at the end of the year and had told colleagues repeatedly he did not want to go. He felt trapped, looking at ways to buy his way out, even going to the extent of hiring a lawyer to see if he could leave military service honourably.

I expect that as Major Hasan, who is still alive according to a news report, is put on trial his co-accused will be all Muslims, particularly those living inside the US.

Racist questions about the compatibility of Islam inside American democracy and culture will resurface.

And from inside Muslim communities there will be persistent voices who will seek to demonstrate their loyalty to America over their misgivings about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I dare add that even as more Muslims were killed in American drone attacks in Pakistan yesterday the fixation will be on situating the US as the victim of Islam and its terrorists.

In addition to the horror that this massacre represents it is necessary to see the US inside of the absolute violence that it has perpetrated in the Middle East.

I have said it here before, Islam is not at war with the US, rather it is the US that is at war with Muslims (Islam).

And that war is not about ideology or even religion. It is about resources. Oil!

I left the US in 2005 after 23 years, most of my life. A big part of my decision was the fact that I could not live inside of, and pay taxes to, a state that was at war with innocent people who looked like me and mine.

I absolutely refused to adopt an apologetic silence/posture while the noise about Islam and terrorism was all about me.

Don't get me twisted though. I am not even trying to defend what happened today at Fort Hood. Nor am I trying to agitate that all Muslims have no option but to leave the US.

It should be said that there are many Americans of every persuasion who abhor and resist what the US government is doing in the Middle East and elsewhere.

I am, however, pressing the (my) reality that I could not continue to live with conscience, and pay taxes, to an ever expanding and warmongering empire.

At one early stage in my life I was drawn to the idea of America. But as I looked closer I saw that the idea never really passed being more than just an ideal.

As Satre said, America is a brute and brutal.

There is a lot more of a fallout to come and innocent lives will continue to be spent.

And so the brutality of America/US continues ... one undoing dialectic at a time.

You simply can't run from your history ...

Onward!

Picture Credit

"Italy Convicts Former CIA Agents in Renditions Trial"

laher@iname.com (Ridwan) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:06:53 PST

MILAN - An Italian judge sentenced 23 former CIA agents to up to eight years in prison Wednesday for the abduction of a Muslim cleric in a symbolic ruling against "rendition" flights used by the former U.S. government.

The Americans were all tried in absentia after the United States refused to extradite them. But the verdict, the first of its kind, was welcomed by rights campaigners who have long complained the renditions policy violated basic human rights.

Judge Oscar Magi dropped the case against three Americans, including a former CIA Rome station chief, for the abduction of Egyptian-born cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, who was snatched off a Milan street in 2003 and flown to Egypt for interrogation.

He also acquitted the former head of Italy's Sismi military intelligence service, Nicolo Pollari, and his former deputy, ruling that evidence against them violated state secrecy rules.

Magi sentenced the former head of the CIA's Milan station, Robert Seldon Lady, to eight years in prison and the other 22 former CIA agents to five years each.

He ruled that those convicted should paid 1 million euros in damages to Nasr, better known as Abu Omar, and 500,000 euros to his wife.

Abu Omar was secretly flown from Aviano airbase in northeast Italy via Ramstein base in Germany to Egypt, where he says he was tortured and held until 2007 without charge.

It is the first case of its kind to contest the practice of "extraordinary rendition" under the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush, in which terrorism suspects were captured in one country and taken for questioning in another, where interrogation techniques were tougher.

(Reporting by Emilio Parodi and Daniel Flynn; writing by Daniel Flynn)© 2009 Reuters

Article Source

COMMENT: A great start indeed. It must be noted though that there is evidence that the practice of "rendition" continues under President Obama.

Indigenous Resistance in the Americas and the Legacy of Mariategui

editor.novajoservo@gmail.com (The Angryindian) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:46:01 PDT

Image by nimboo via Flickr

Monthly Review

Reviewed: Marc Becker, Indians and Leftists in the Making of Ecuador's Modern Indigenous Movements (Durham: Duke University Press, 2008), 356 pages, $22.95, paperback.

Following the 2005 election of the first Indigenous president of any country in the Americas — Evo Morales in Bolivia — I commented in MRzine on the fact that many were taken by surprise by this seemingly sudden occurrence out of nowhere, but only because they had not been paying attention to the development of the international Indigenous movement over the past three decades.

I called attention to the Indigenous mass movements in the Americas during the 1960s and 1970s that gave rise to the international Indigenous movement that, in turn, brought mass-based Indigenous movements into the United Nations. At that forum, significant work was done to develop international law norms for the protection of Indigenous communities and nations, in order to found collective rights analogous to those established in international law by the process of decolonization, the outstanding achievement of the United Nations. Historian Marc Becker, in his invaluable new book, goes deeper in locating the roots of those twentieth century mass movements, focusing on Ecuador.

Read On...

The JIG is up! Gord Hill Threatened with Rendition by Olympic Cops

editor.novajoservo@gmail.com (The Angryindian) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:27:34 PDT

This was passed on to us via IIN Investigative Blog-Journalist John John:

--

October 20, 2009

Occupied Coast Salish Territory

Yo Weeksus,

I, Gord Hill, am proud to announce yet another encounter with the Olympic police as a result of my 'controversial' statement to CBC News and my views on sabotage. This evening (Tuesday, October 20, 2009), at around 9:30 PM, I was approached by plainclothes officers of the Incredibly Stupid Unit (Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit). I can now confirm that they are, in fact, incredibly stupid.

I was walking westbound on Pender to Columbia Street in the Downtown Eastside, when I saw two males loitering around the corner. One look at their sad faces told me they were pigs. As I waited for the light at the crosswalk (jaywalking being illegal...) they approached me, with one flashing his badge and announcing he was an RCMP officer with 'JIG' (Joint Intelligence Group). He said he wanted a couple of minutes to talk to me and I said no. I crossed the street & began walking north on Columbia to Hastings, with the RCMP agent walking alongside me, the other cop, who said not a word, to our right rear (about 4 feet behind).

The RCMP agent walking with me, a white male in his 50s, maintained a rambling monologue about how my statements to CBC on Oct 13 (the power lines scenario) had hurt a lot of people, about how some of his friends were aboriginals, that he sympathized with my cause about helping the homeless, etc. He told me that from this day until the Olympics, every time I looked over my right shoulder he would be there.
What was most interesting were his comments regarding my attempted entry into the United Snakes of Amerikkka on Oct 17; the RCMP agent told me that because of my statement to CBC I would never again be allowed entry into the US, that their national security would arrest me and put me in a far, far away place, so far away it would be beyond my mind (or something along those lines).

I take this as implying the practise of rendition, where prisoners in US custody (including Canadian citizens) have been transferred to other countries and tortured (i.e., Mahar Arar). It seems odd for an RCMP agent to be delivering such a threat on behalf of another country's security apparattus (but that's how the pigs roll these days, I guess).

As we turned onto Hastings the cop continued his rambling. When we approached a group of Natives I announced that the men walking with me were Olympic cops who were harassing me because I defend the land and the people. The cops immediately stopped and two more plainclothes officers approached from behind (total: four cops). One of the Native women started yelling at the cops, telling them I had the right to an opinion. The cops withdrew & began walking eastbound on Hastings.

As usual, I played it cool, because I believe in the old saying “Love your enemy, for they are the instruments of your destiny.” And like I give a fuck about going to Babylon...

Resist the Olympic Police State!

No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!

Gilakasla!

Gord Hill, Kwakwak'wakw

Editor, No2010.com

FFF - FIGHT FOR FREEDOM!

Atahualpa Yupanqui

editor.novajoservo@gmail.com (The Angryindian) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:58:43 PDT

Abiding in Bolivia:

English translation by El Duderino:

The Indians

America is a long road of the Indians.
They are these summits and that valley
And those lost quiet mounts in the cloud
And that golden field of maize.
And the hollow between stones, and the desert stone.
From all places are contemplating us the Indians,
From all the high peaks they watch us.
The land has been fattened with the flesh of the Indian.
His shadow is the sentry of the night of America.
The condors know the silence of the Indian.
And his broken cry sleeps there in the depths.
Wherever we go is present the Indian.
We breathe him. We sense him walking his regions.
Quechua, Aymara, Tehuelche, Guarán or Mocoví.
Chiriguano or Charrúa, Chibcha, Mataco or Pampa.
Ranquel, Arauco, Patagón, Diaguita or Calchaquí.
Omahuaca, Atacama, Tonocotés or Toba.
From every place are contemplating us the Indians.
Because America is this: a long road
Of sacred Indianness
Between the great plain, the jungle, and the high rock.
And below the eternity of the constellations.
Yes. America is the long road of the Indians.
And from all places they are contemplating us.

Los Indios

América es un largo camino de los indios.
Ellos son estas cumbres y aquel valle
y esos montes callados perdidos en la niebla
y aquel maizal dorado.
Y el hueco entre las piedras, y la piedra desierta.
Desde todos los sitios nos están contemplando los indios.
Desde todas las altas cumbres nos vigilan.
Ha engordado la tierra con la carne del indio.
Su sombra es centinela de la noche de América.
Los cóndores conocen el silencio del indio.
Y su grito quebrado duerme allá en los abismos.
Dondequiera que vamos está presente el indio.
Lo respiramos. Lo presentimos andando sus comarcas.
Quechua, aymara, tehuelche, guarán o mocoví.
Chiriguano o charrúa, chibcha, mataco o pampa.
Ranquel, arauco, patagón, diaguita o calchaquí.
Omahuaca, atacama, tonocotés o toba.
Desde todos los sitios nos están contemplando los indios.
Porque América es eso : un largo camino
de indianidad sagrada.
Entre la gran llanura, la selva y la piedra alta.
Y bajo la eternidad de las constelaciones.
Sí. América es el largo camino de los indios.
Y desde todos los sitios nos están contemplando.

Happy Indigenous Restistence Day!

Nobel Snowbel

laher@iname.com (Ridwan) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 06:56:15 PDT

Desmond Tutu has congratulated President Obama on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday.

The Arch did, however, say he was surprised that Obama will receive the prize without even finishing a term in office.

Thanks for noting that Arch but you are obviously being too nice to a man who has achieved absolutely f*ck-all in the months that the world has watched him waffle over Guantanamo, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

That the Noble Peace Committee thinks it notable to award Obama for his 'peace' rhetoric is nothing less than appalling and a further selling out of the vision and purpose Alfred Nobel intended.

The Peace Committee says that Obama "captured the world's attention" ... ummmm and this makes him worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize?

Do these fools forget that Obama is still a war president who in his opening days of his presidency ordered drones to bomb parts of Pakistan? Scores of innocent civilians were killed as a result and the bombings continue unabated.

Have they forgotten that the US under his leadership is still murdering innocents in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Have they also forgotten that while he was running for president he could hardly utter a word of warning toward Israel for its massacre in occupied Gaza?

They are also obviously just ignoring the manner that Obama has been fanning the flames of conflict with Iran in recent weeks.

I know that the Nobel Peace Prize is hardly what is was or what it was intended to be.

I wonder what definition they use to define peace and its advancement?

Obama is a recipient but Gandhi not! Henry Kissinger is a recipient but Vaclav Havel not!

Still, by any measure, Obama does not deserve recognition for merely being better than George W. Bush. Even on that score the jury is still out.

As it stands now, the Oprah-endorsed president is still nothing more than a platitudinal motor-mouth and ass-kissing Uncle Tom who makes white people and their agents feel better about their inbred racism.

Perhaps the Prize should be amended to say that Obama has gone a long way in helping alleviate white racist guilt and this is the reason why he is being fawned over.

I wonder if Obama will allow the Peace Committee to rub his head for luck?

Onward!

Picture Credit

Perfect intruder or true friend? Hindsight

brendanorrell@gmail.com (brendanorrell@gmail.com) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:58:04 PDT

PERFECT INTRUDER OR TRUE FRIEND? HINDSIGHT

Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com
MNN. Oct. 6, 2009. This is about spies and agents in our midst. We Indigenous look at our experiences and try to put them into context. Some of us have been misled by colonial agents posing as scholars, friends, supporters or helpers. Because we don’t have all the information at the time, we don’t jump to conclusions. Afterwards we put the picture together and make guidelines to protect ourselves. There are always exceptions.
The perfect intruder will abandon you when they are finished their assignment, especially when they put your life or liberty on the line. My intruders took off when I almost died from the beating at the border. The end game was to kill me. I survived. They were nervous about how long they could keep up their cover. We wondered about this too.
PROLOGUE. Any social order based on inequality of wealth and power depends on political repression. The establishment and colonial social order call us domestic dissidents. We could disrupt their image and their economy which is based on the theft of our lands, resources and space.
Infiltration is a sophisticated vigilante operation to stop free speech and to neutralize us. How? By creating factionalism, bringing us into disrepute and causing confusion and dissatisfaction.
BACKGROUND. Progressive activists are their main targets. Infiltration is low intensity warfare, which is molding public opinion, working outside the law and using fraud and force to sabotage legitimate political activity. Surveillance is used to gather intel, to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit or neutralize individuals or groups.
The federal government has become the main domestic covert repressor using hired thugs, right wing vigilantes, private military organizations and police. Local police are the foot soldiers for arrests, raids, beatings and infiltrations.
False stories are planted. Bogus organizations like the camel toe treaty cult in Akwesasne are set up. Parents, employers, landlords or school officials are strong armed to cause trouble for activists.
The legal system and courts criminalize activists through perjured evidence, false arrests and imprisonment. Threats, assaults, beatings and political assassinations are carried out. [Malcolm X].
It is well known that provocateurs like the KKK, Minutemen, Nazis, racist vigilantes and right-wing thugs are subsidized, armed, directed and protected by the government.
PROVOCATEURS seize every opportunity to disrupt, create disagreements, make divisions, sabotage, squander resources, steal funds, seduce leaders, promote rivalries, provoke jealousy and public embarrassment, lead activists into danger, and push paranoia to undermine trust.
Indigenous pursuing a traditional lifestyle are now the new domestic dissidents.
INFILTRATORS come unannounced and hang around target for years studying and gathering intel. Some offer a service, like a pro bono lawyer, or romances a community member, even has a family with them.
Agents have a vague cover story that can’t be checked. They confuse everybody about their intentions. Nothing is kept around to identify them. Some have many aliases. They don’t have cell phones and are hard to reach. Some pretend to be Indigenous. They are loners, unless they show up as a pair. They have no friends or social life that can be questioned.
Usually agents have no job but have a steady income. They live like they could leave at a moment’s notice.
Their training includes acting needy, meek and non-threatening. They are whiney and cry “poor me”. The target is made to feel like they have to help them. They feign a rare sickness or obscure medical condition with vague chronic symptoms. This lets them distance themselves when necessary. They remain distant but act like a best friend. They downplay themselves. They are always observing. They don’t say much as they are there to get others talking to get intel.
These tactics are meant to maintain control of their surroundings.
The infiltrator enters the community, gets involved with one faction and quietly confuses the people and the issues. At the same time, another agent infiltrates another faction. They drive wedges between people with false stories or lure them into compromising situations.
The infiltrator can clandestinely create fear around the target, like having them followed, strangers taking pictures, and so on. They can arrange an attack if necessary with police protection.
Infiltrators organize drug, booze and sex parties to recruit youth.
The intruder’s value is not the intel they gather. It is that they are there, a concealed hostile within the community or movement to instill suspicion and fear. Some agents are valuable because they are community members who know the people’s ideals. Others have to work hard to fit in. They will bad jacket an activist as being a government agent.
Agents dress and groom so they can change and re-do their image to work somewhere else, such as hair style, weight, clothes or car they drive or don’t have. They disappear or cut off their association with the target suddenly.
Outside support groups are set up invite the targets to take part in their protests or meetings. The government and the police want us on the defensive by associating us with other groups we don’t know.
PRECAUTIONS: Check authenticity of visitors, rumors or calls. Keep notes of harassment, etc. Be honest. Keep friends close and watch enemies more closely. Stay on the goals of the movement.
Watch for non-verbal cues. If the eyes say something different from the body, they are not genuine.
The Great Law provides that “As a weapon against a crawling creature, I lay a stick with you so that you may thrust it away from the Council Fire”. A crawling creature may be a disrespectful person seeking to disrupt the people and must be removed. [Wampum 4].
Kahentinetha MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Or go to PayPal on MNN website. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN AKWESASNE category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now!
Brian Glick. War At Home - Covert Action Against US Activists & What We Can Do About It. South End Press. Boston

He Panui tenei mo 'Explosive Expression'

uriohau@gmail.com (Ana) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:53:44 PDT

Ko ‘Explosive Expression’ - he whakaaturanga o ngā mahi toi, me ngā mahi whakatūtū hei tuku whakautu ki ngā ‘State Terror Raids’ nō te tau 2007. Ka whakatūwheratia tēnei whakaaturanga e Tame Iti ā te 6pm, 13 o Whiringa-ā-nuku, hei te Thistle Hall, Cuba St, Te Whanganui-ā-Tara. Ka whakahaeretia tēnei huinga mō te wiki katoa, ka whakatūria hoki ētahi awheawhe, ētahi whakaaturanga kiriata, me ngā kōrero o ngā ringatoi, ā, hei te Rāhoroi ka tū tētahi mākete hokohoko waituhi (mā Nandor Tanczos rāua ko John Minto e whakahaere) hei whakakapi i ngā mahi o te wiki. Ka taea ngā pikitia te hoko ā te Rāhoroi, te 17. Kei roto i tēnei whakaaturanga ngā mahi toi o ētahi ringatoi rongonui o Aotearoa, ko Tame Iti hoki tētahi, nāna i homai te waituhi e kīa nei ko: ‘Self Portrait’.

E mōhiotia whānuitia ana he kaiwhakatūtū a Tame Iti, ā, kua kaha āna mahi hei tautoko i te Mana Motuhake o Tūhoe me te kaupapa Tino Rangatiratanga. He kaiwhakaohooho ia kei roto o Tūhoe. Kua mahi ia ki te tautoko i ngā taiohi me ngā tāngata kua pāngia e te kino o te waipiro me te tarukino. E ai ki a Tame Iti, he tino whakahirahira tēnei momo mahi mō te tino rangatiratanga: “Kāore te kaupapa Mana Motuhake mō te hanga kāwanatanga hou, iwi hou rānei, engari ka haere ngātahi taua kaupapa me ō mātou koiora ia rā, ia rā.”

Ko te ‘Self Portrait’ (kua tāpirihia ki tēnei īmera) he mea peita e Iti hei whakaata i te āhua o tētahi whakaahua i kapohia i tana kāmera-waea-pūkoro (ka tangohia taua waea e ngā pirihimana i ngā ‘State Terror Raids’). Ka waituhia te kanohi o Iti engari e whakamau ana ia i te pōtae-uhi. Ka uhia e pēnei ana, e kore e taea te kite ko wai ia, ā, ka whai tēnei āhuatanga i te whakaaro nei: i ngā ‘Terror Raids’ kāore te marea i mōhio ko wai ia, i pōhēhē rātou he kaiwhakamataku (arā he ‘terrorist’) ia. Ka herea tēnei ki te wairua mataku huri noa i te ao mō te mahi whakamataku, ā, ka tae mai ana ēnei whakaaro ki Aotearoa ka huri anō te marea ki te tūāhua kaiwhakakoroni. Ka whakakorehia e Iti te hononga i waenganui i te mahi whakamataku me te Mana Motuhake: “E herea te Mana Motuhake ki te mana: tō mana Tūhoe, tō mana Ngā Puhi, Waikato rānei. Ki a au nei koirā te aronga o Mana Motuhake - tō mana hoki hei Pākehā, tō mana ahakoa te aha”

Ka tū Explosive Expression mai i te 13 Whiringa-ā-nuku ki te 18 Whiringa-ā-nuku ki te Thistle Hall, Te Whanga-nui-ā-tara. Ka taea ngā waituhi te titiro mā runga rorohiko, ka taea te pīri hoki. Haere mai ki te whārangi ipurangi: http://october15thsolidarity.info/, waea mai rānei ki a Graham Jury (0273070448 nietzsche.vs.nurture@gmail.com), ki a Robyn E. Kenealy (04-9779611, r_kenealy@yahoo.com), tuhi mai ki tēnei īmera rānei: info@October15thSolidarity.info mēnā kei te pirangi koe ki ētahi atu whakamōhiotanga.

Mā ngā Kaiwhakapaoho: Kei a mātou ētahi kōpae hoki. Kei runga i ēnei kōpae he ‘High Res’ pikitia o ngā waituhi me ngā HD, SD kiriata o Explosive Expression. Ka taea te mātakitaki te kiriata nei ki: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBUVa_bp3n8

Ko ngā moni katoa i whiwhia ai i te mākete hokohoko waituhi ka hoatu ai hei utu mō ngā utu-kōti mō ērā tāngata i hopukina e te ture i ngā ‘State Terror Raids’ - ko te tokomaha e whakawātia tonu ana.

John Minto : 'Don't be tightfisted - we owe the Pacific'

uriohau@gmail.com (Ana) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:53:16 PDT

Frontline - John Minto

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully’s announcement of $1 million in immediate aid relief for Samoa and Tonga is a miserable start.

It is immediately obvious the tsunami devastation of the coastal areas of these countries has caused tens of millions of damage. Not only are seaside villages destroyed and whole communities devastated but the commercial income from tourism and fishing will be slashed in the short and medium term while these facilities are rebuilt.

McCully has promised more aid later because both countries have sustained major infrastructural damage but with such a miserly start it’s hard to see New Zealand is serious in helping bring these countries anywhere near back to where they were.

At times like this we should consider the huge financial contribution Pacific countries have made to the development of the New Zealand economy over the last five decades. It is far greater than any levels of so-called 'aid' New Zealand has given in return.

Pacific workers came here in their tens of thousands to work in the factories of South Auckland from the 1960s. They did – and still do – the low-paid, unskilled and semi-skilled jobs for which there’s been a shortage of local New Zealand workers.

Wherever in the world wealth accumulates in the greatest abundance it is on the backs of low-paid workers. Europe and the US developed their economic strength from slavery. The same story applies whether it’s the pharaohs in Egypt or owners of sugar plantations in Fiji which used a more modern form of slavery via indentured labourers from India.

Here in New Zealand employers have loved the cheap, hard-working labour from the Pacific and in many ways these workers provided the backbone for the much of the New Zealand economy.

So just how many countless billions in capital have Pacific workers from Samoa and Tonga contributed to our economy? Whatever the answer it’s clearly massive and that contribution continues year after year. In fact the entire New Zealand economy is based around low-paid work which so often is performed by Pacific workers.

Miserly Murray McCully doesn’t count it for much. Earlier this year he re-oriented New Zealand aid to the Pacific to shift away from poverty alleviation programmes delivered via the semi-autonomous NZAID and instead provided such things as subsidies to Air New Zealand for the flights it runs from Los Angeles to Apia.

McCully wants more political control over the aid budget which means the money will go to what is in New Zealand’s interests and what New Zealand can extract by way of benefits to our economy rather than provision for what Pacific countries actually need.

It’s never a good time to play politics with aid money but meddlers like McCully just can’t help themselves. It doesn’t auger well for how further New Zealand money will be spent in rebuilding Pacific infrastructure.

New Zealand has milked Pacific countries for their labour and economic benefits for New Zealand-owned businesses.

At this time of desperate need we must put politics aside and give back generously some of what New Zealand businesses have extracted from our Pacific populations.

IIPFCC- Smallest Footprint, Most Impacted, Excluded from the ongoing Climate Change Negotiations

uriohau@gmail.com (Ana) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:46:45 PDT

International Indigenous Forum on Climate Change Press Conference on September 29, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand at the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Racist ‘Witchdoctor’ 'satire' on Obama’s healthcare policy angers PNG

uriohau@gmail.com (Ana) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:47:56 PDT

The controversial political image ... condemned as racist or satire.

Pacific.Scoop
By Sinclaire Solomon in Port Moresby

Papua New Guinea has been inadvertently drawn into US President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform ^[1] plan controversy which has now turned into a raging debate about racism.

At the centre of the controversy ^[2] is a “doctored” – digitally altered – photograph from an image of a Huli wigman from the PNG Highlands in full traditional regalia.

It mischievously portrays the black president as an African witchdoctor.

It has been placed on emails, on websites and in the form of posters at anti-healthcare plan protests for weeks.

It was also published in The National’s latest weekend edition.

The racist slant has made headline news in the US for the past three weeks and PNG expatriates there have emailed their friends and relatives in Papua New Guinea to voice anger that the photograph was not only racist but it also demeaned PNG culture.

“Many Papua New Guineans living in the United States and around the world are angered by the picture which was used by an opponent of President Obama’s healthcare plan. The picture depicts a warrior from the Highlands who is in his traditional attire,” said David Ketepa from Detroit, Michigan.

The original image of a Huli wigman.

“This is totally absurd and whoever did it needs to apologise to the people of Papua New Guinea for insulting us. This is our culture and we love it!” one Papua New Guinean said on his blog.

‘Ignorant idiot’
“To the ignorant, racist idiot who distributed this picture, this is not an African witchdoctor’s dress like you claim,” another said.

Yet another PNG writer said: “Keep my country out of your foolishness.”

The photograph shows the Huli wigman from the newly-created Hela province sitting outside a round house, holding a stone axe while another rests on his right side.

His feathered wig clearly shows a stuffed bird of paradise in the middle and on both ends. Through his nose is a pig tusk.

The bigger debate though came from Americans themselves on whether the doctored image was racist or satirical.

Most were of the opinion that it was the former.

However, the organisers of the protests, a group called Tea Party, said the portrayal might be racist but it reflected anger about where President Obama was leading the country.

Tea Party said there had been too much US government intervention, particularly concerning healthcare and taxes.

However, critics countered that the witchdoctor image was blatantly racist.

“Presidents get made fun of all the time, and the election of a black president has only made racially charged political satire more sensitive,” one US website commentary noted.

Sinclaire Solomon is a senior journalist on The National ^[3] daily newspaper in Papua New Guinea.

Original url ^[4]

The official US health reform policy websit ^[1]
Cafe Pacific comment on the controversy

Article from Pacific.scoop.co.nz: http://pacific.scoop.co.nz

URL to article: http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2009/09/witchdoctor-satire-on-obamas-healthcare-policy-angers-png/

URLs in this post:

[1] healthcare reform: http://www.healthreform.gov/

[2] controversy: http://cafepacific.blogspot.com/2009/09/obama-huli-warriors-and-online.html

[3] The National: http://www.thenational.com.pg/

[4] url: http://www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/100

International Indigenous Peoples forum on Climate Change~Policy Proposals

uriohau@gmail.com (Ana) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:01:21 PDT

International Indigenous Peoples

Forum on Climate Change

Foro Internacional de los Pueblos Indígenas

sobre Cambio Climático

Policy Proposals on Climate Change

Mother Earth is no longer in a period of climate change, but in climate crisis. ....Indigenous Peoples have a vital role in defending and healing Mother Earth. We uphold that the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples ... must be fully respected in all decision-making processes and activities related to climate change.

Anchorage Declaration 2009^[1]

Climate Change calls for historic transformations

1. Climate change, in the light of the current global financial, economic, environmental and food crises, represents an unprecedented challenge and opportunity for humanity to transform global economic, political, social, cultural relations to live in balance with Mother Earth. Reaching climate equilibrium and justice is inseparable from acknowledging the historical responsibilities of developed countries while promoting social equity between and within nations, maintaining ecological integrity, addressing the climate and ecological debt, and pursuing an effective transition away from fossil fuel dependency towards a green economy. It requires honouring international commitments to poverty eradication, sustainable development, biodiversity, and human rights. The full and effective participation of indigenous peoples, local communities and vulnerable groups is key to achieve a just and equitable outcome of the climate negotiations.

2. Climate science, indigenous and traditional knowledge, international solidarity, equity and human rights, widespread social mobilisation and strong political leadership, are all building blocks towards desirable outcomes in Copenhagen and beyond.

3. Climate change governance must transcend state-governments' negotiations, to recognize the rights of Indigenous Peoples which includes the full and effective participation in all negotiations by Indigenous Peoples' traditional governments, institutions and organizations. It must also embrace diverse contributions and inter-cultural collaboration, recognizing distinct and valuable contributions from children and youth, women, indigenous peoples and local communities. All voices need to be included in climate governance and decision-making: we are all learners and teachers together in addressing human-induced climate change.

Indigenous Peoples are Rights-holders

4. We hold inalienable collective rights over our lands, territories and resources. Policies and actions that are being negotiated now directly affect our traditional lands, territories, oceans, waters, ice, flora, fauna and forests thereby also affecting the survival and livelihoods of over 370 million Indigenous Peoples from all regions of the globe. However, our concerns and views have not been seriously addressed in the climate negotiation processes, least of all those from indigenous women and youth. We reiterate the States’ and whole UN system’s obligations to uphold regional and international human rights commitments and standards, especially the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The provisions of the UNDRIP articulate rights which must be respected and safeguarded in all climate decision-making and actions. We are therefore holders of collective rights, including sovereign and inherent rights to land and treaty rights, covenants and agreements. Protecting these rights also strengthen the capacity and resilience of indigenous peoples and local communities to respond to climate change.

5. Respect for the human rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, valuing our traditional knowledge and innovations, and supporting our local mitigation and adaptation strategies are critical and invaluable requirements towards adequate holistic solutions to climate change. As such, our local strategies and priorities must be reflected in National Adaptation and Mitigation Action (NAMAs) and National Adaptation Plans and strategies of Action (NAMAs and NAPAs), in the development and implementation of which we must participate fully and effectively. The distinct roles and responsibilities of indigenous women and youth, will need to be considered; underlining the importance of their inclusion in decision-making and planning processes.

6. Our rights to self-determination and free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) are the minimum standards to safeguard our rights and interests through the different stages of the project lifecycle, including policy framing, planning and design, implementation, restoration, rehabilitation, benefit-sharing and conflict resolution.

7. Our governing bodies have the right to enact such laws and regulations as appropriate and adopt mitigation and adaptation plans within their jurisdictional authority as they deem necessary to protect and advance the social, economic, political and cultural welfare of their communities in matters pertaining to climate change. Each indigenous people’s governing body has the prerogative to determine and apply the best available science, including native sciences and conventional sciences, according to their cultural requirements consistent with the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources.

Indigenous Peoples’ Contributions to Ecosystem-based Mitigation and Adaptation

8. We have intrinsic contributions towards addressing the climate crisis, and renewing the relationships between humans and nature. For generations, we have managed ecosystems nurturing its integrity and complexity in sustainable and culturally diverse ways. Our customary resource management systems have proven to be ecologically sustainable, low carbon economies. These include mobile pastoralism in drylands and rangelands, rotational swidden agriculture and ecological agriculture in tropical forest regions, the conservation, management and restoration of other natural ecosystems such as mangroves, savannahs, wetlands, the Arctic environment and small island ecosystems. Traditional knowledge, innovations and adaptation practices embody local adaptative management to the changing environment, and complement scientific research, observations and monitoring.

9. The climate crisis threatens our very survival, particularly forest-dependent, ice-dependent peoples, peoples in voluntary isolation, and the indigenous peoples of small island states and local communities. Addressing such vulnerabilities requires recognition, respect and strengthening of the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples, and strengthening the resilience of ecosystems and Indigenous Peoples and local communities' capacities to adapt to climate change. Ecosystem-based adaptation based on holistic indigenous peoples’ systems and rights can deliver significant social, cultural, spiritual and economic values to Indigenous Peoples and local communities as well as to the biodiversity of indigenous lands and territories. This should be considered with the full participation of indigenous peoples in the planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of these measures. The empowerment of Indigenous peoples and local communities is critical to successful adaptation strategies to climate change.

10. Our cosmovision, ways of life and traditional practices have been in existence since time immemorial. Sumak Kawsay, Penker Pujustin and other indigenous visions and values propose a way of life that is respectful, responsible, balanced and harmonious with nature and offers equity and solidarity as the guiding principles of global wellbeing. Indigenous worldviews embody an organized, sustainable and dynamic economic system, as well as political, socio-cultural and environmental rights. This vindicates a social dimension of democracy that goes beyond formal democracy, where economy becomes a subordinate activity to the development of peoples in the name of humanity, solidarity and respect for Mother Earth.

Securing Indigenous Peoples' Territories

11. The global economic transition to sustainable, low carbon development will require revitalization of diverse local economies, including support for Indigenous peoples’ self-determined development. Economic planning combined with adaptive management to climate change will need to apply an ecosystem-based approach, and must fully respect the rights and interests of indigenous peoples and local communities. Securing our rights to our ancestral lands, forests, waters and resources, provides the basis for sustainable local social, cultural, spiritual and economic development, and some insurance against our vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. This is also beneficial towards improving ecosystem governance, ecosystem resilience and the delivery of ecosystem services.

12. Many forests are within the traditional lands and territories of Indigenous peoples and Indigenous peoples around the world live in and depend upon forests for their survival and to enjoy their fundamental rights to forests and land tenure. They are of cultural, social, economic and spiritual significance for us and provide benefits for humankind. Accordingly, the rights of Indigenous peoples, including our land and resource rights, must be recognized and respected at all levels (local, national and international) before we can consider REDD initiatives and projects. The recognition of our rights must be in accordance with international human rights law and standards including the UNDRIP and ILO Convention 169, among other human rights instruments. If there is no full recognition and full protection for Indigenous peoples' rights, including the rights to resources, lands and territories, and there is no recognition and respect of our rights of free, prior and informed consent of the affected indigenous peoples, we will oppose REDD and REDD+ and carbon offsetting projects, including CDM projects. All decision-making processes on REDD and REDD+, Clean Development Mechanism, Land Use and Land Use Change and Forests (LULUCF), Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) as well as other ecosystem-based mitigation and adaptation measures and projects must be conditional to the free prior informed consent of Indigenous peoples.

13. Our laws, regulations, and plans shall be recognized as authoritative and determinative as to the risks, values and benefits associated with measures to adapt to, or mitigate for, climate change effects within the territorial jurisdiction of tribal governing bodies.

The IIPFCC affirms our global unity and solidarity to realize the enjoyment of our collective rights and the recognition of our vision, indigenous knowledge and our contributions in solving the climate change crisis.

[1] Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change

Sept 19th 2009, Saturday cornwall police barracade bridge to Akwesasne Kawehno:ke

uriohau@gmail.com (Ana) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:17:39 PDT

updates at
http://www.AkwesasneWomensFire.com
http://www.facebook.com/monigarr

cbsa and cornwall police barracaded our only road / bridge from our small island Kawehno:ke (aka cornwall island, ontario). cbsa started stealing vehicles from Onkwehonwe that live in Akwesasne, then they demand a ransom of $1000.00 for the return of one vehicle.

I just returned to Kawehno:ke crossroads, its about 2:50 pm now. Earlier this afternoon, I received a phone call that the cbsa, ny troopers, police were all invading our bridges and blocking Onkwehonwe from leaving and returning to their homes on Kawehno:ke.

I ran out with my cameras and got in the middle of the barracade at cornwall port. I found out that cbsa had stolen a vehicle from one our young men on Kawehno:ke, when he travelled to their checkpoint in cornwall ontario at the edge of our bridge. cbsa demanded a minimun ransom of $1000.00 before they would return his vehicle. cbsa stated that they will steal vehicles from any Onkwehonwe that does not ask the cbsa for permission to leave and return from our homes, businesses, friends, and family on Kawehno:ke.

As of now, 2:50pm Onkwehonwe are gathering at the 2 bridges around Kawehno:ke, at the cornwall port, and at the rooseveltown ny port.

video shot by Monica Peters on location. copyright 2009 Monica Peters. All Rights Reserved.

Ecuador: Statement By The Indigenous Peoples Against Forest/REDD CO2 Colonialism

uriohau@gmail.com (Ana) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:47:31 PDT

The inclusion of forests on the carbon market in its REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries) format was adopted by the United Nations System through the UN-REDD Programme. In 2008, the UN Secretary General presented the UN-REDD Programme, implemented by three UN agencies: FAO, UNEP and UNDP, in close collaboration with the World Bank.

Concerned members of a local indigenous community.

We discover an oil pipeline has broken and is leaking into the Amazon, outside Wawas, in the Peruvian Amazon. Able to get a few shots and talk to locals, very concerned about the effects on water and fish, before company security and military arrive to try and tell us it is illegal to take photos (it is not). Here you can see the efforts to remove the contamination involve throwing away all vegetation touched by the oil and trying to scoop up the rest into barrels.

This is a programme involving plans and credits to compensate for carbon emissions, which has been rejected by many social, environmental and Indigenous Peoples’ organizations, that denounced the REDD initiative as a false solution to climate change.

The International Forum of Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change has declared that: "REDD will not benefit Indigenous Peoples, but in fact, it will result in more violations of Indigenous Peoples' Rights. It will increase the violation of our Human Rights … steal our land, cause forced evictions, prevent access and threaten indigenous agriculture practices, destroy biodiversity and culture diversity and cause social conflicts. Under REDD, States and Carbon Traders will take more control over our forests.”(1)

The UN-REDD Framework Document itself warns that the Programme may erode non-profit making conservation practices based on cultural values, and exclude the landless and those having communal usage rights.

Still, carbon traders are moving fast. Australia and Indonesia have announced that they are working on two REDD carbon trade projects worth 200 million dollars that will use the forests of Asia and the Pacific to compensate for local industries’ carbon emissions. They are planning to submit these projects at the negotiations on Climate Change to take place in December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

However, organizations are working just as fast to unmask the REDD initiative, qualified as Forest CO2lonialism, and the organized peoples are expressing themselves on this issue.

In a recent communiqué, issued from Puyo, Ecuador, on 3 August (2), the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENIAE) pronounced itself against any type of environmental negotiations on forests, warning that “Any negotiation or extractive policy or activity involving forests and biodiversity on our Ancestral Territories will cause unimaginable implications, among them the extinction of the identity of the Ancestral Nations, the loss of control and management of our territories, passing them into administration by the State, foreign countries, transnational corporations, REDD negotiators or carbon traders. This will end in misery, hunger and extreme poverty as never seen before, as is the case with our indigenous brothers and sisters in the Amazon to the north of Ecuador, because of geopolitical, economic and commercial interests.”

Based on this, the Confederation resolves that “it will not negotiate or dialogue without the consent of its grassroots on negotiations involving Oil, Mining, and Hydroelectric Extractive Activities, the Forest Partner Plan, REDD deals, or Environmental Services, etc, because certain organizations such as the Environmental Energy and Population Institution, the World Bank and Carbon Traders, together and in partnership with Latin American governments, intend to negotiate on the life of Indigenous Nationalities and Peoples, affecting our Territorial Rights.”

Their rejection of REDD projects is because “they aim at taking away our free management of our resources and also because they are not a real solution to the problem of climate change, on the contrary, they just make it worse.”

Transportation to get to the community of Wawas, in the Peruvian Amazon.

In exchange, they have made a genuine proposal, set out in a “Guide for the Indigenous Peoples. False solutions to climate change” (3) which would imply:

* Drastically Cut Emissions at Source
* Transition to sustainable models of production, consumption & development
* Promote sustainable family farming, organic faming, perennial pastures
* Promote a paradigm shift
* Leave fossil fuels in the ground
* Promote renewable energy
* Scale down: Promote local sustainable energy solutions
* Reduce, reuse, recycle
* Phase out extractive industries
* Redirect military budgets; Stop war; Promote peace
* Pay ecological debt and cancel foreign debt to address climate crisis
* Promote peoples' sovereignty over energy, forests, land and water
* Ensure rights-based resource conservation
* Implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
* Demarcate and protect Indigenous Peoples’ territories
* Promote food sovereignty and food security
* End deforestation and its underlying causes
* Promote energy-efficient modes of transportation and specifically public transportation

(1) Quoted in FPP’s briefing: “Some views of indigenous peoples and forest-related organisations on the World Bank’s ‘Forest Carbon Partnership Facility’ and proposals for a ‘Global Forest Partnership’”, http://www.forestpeoples.org/documents/forest_issues/fcpf_ip_survey_feb08_eng.pdf

(2) “Ecuador: CONFENIAE rejects environmental negotiations and extractive policies” (in Spanish), Servindi, http://www.servindi.org/actualidad/14994

(3) “A Guide for Indigenous Peoples. False solutions and climate change”, http://www.earthpeoples.org/CLIMATE_CHANGE/Indigenous_Peoples_Guide-E.pdf

Farfahinne: كيف يأكل الفلسطيني البندورة؟ How does a Palestinian eat tomatoes?!!!!

editor.novajoservo@gmail.com (The Angryindian) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:59:43 PDT

Guest Editorial: Farfahinne:

a good article that discribes Natalies' personal experience with the Lebanese racism, and far more chauvinism against Palestinian Refugees, migrant workers and women . and as Natalies puts it: "In this article I speak about "Apartheid Lebanon", the chauvinism and racism embedded within the Lebanese society towards women, Palestinians, and foreign workers".

well said Natalie!

القدس العربي

'بالشوكة يا نتالي! أم انّك تعلّمت ان تأكلي بيديكِ كما يفعل الفلسطيني!' تلفت اليَّ مستهزءًا حين مددت يدي لأتناول حبّة البندورة من زاوية المائدة. لم تتعدّ اقامتي في لبنان أسبوعها الأوّل بعد وذلك إثر عودتي من غزّة، حيث مكثتُ من عشيّة العدوان الاسرائيلي حتّى أواخر شهر تموز (يوليو).
لم أتوقّع ان تتفوّق قصصي مع العنصرية والشوفينية 'الوطنية' والتمييز الجنسي في لبنان عما عشته من مآس في القطاع. فمنذ وصولي الى هنا اخبرتني صديقة عن 'حديث اهل الحي' بأني قد 'احببت فلسطينيا وذهبت لاراه في القطاع.' او عندما طال بقائي في القطاع قالت احداهن لجدتي:'ما تكون اخذتلها شي فلسطيني هناك وصارعندها اطفال.'
لم يمضِ أسبوع على وصولي حتّى اُلقيَت كلّ جرائم العنصرية والكره للفلسطيني عليَََّ. فكانت أوّل ردّة فعل من الأقارب: 'لما فعلتِ ذلك؟!'؛ هذا الممشى مش ممشانا! نحن مالنا ومال القضية الفلسطينية!'
وقد سألتني جارتي، وهي امرأة عجوز: 'بصراحة يا نتالي، انا ما بطيق الفلسطينيه؛ لا تزعلي منّي.'
والأفظع من ذلك هو عندما قالت لي 'قريبة' بغضب واشمئزاز: 'لا تتحدثي معي باللهجة الفلسطينية!' و'أنا من طائفة (كذا) ومن منطقة (كذا) وأفتخر بأصلي!'
ولكن لم يغِظني شيء أكثر من مقابلة أجرَتها معي صحافية بريطانيّة.
اذ تناولت ما قلت بشكل أساء اليَّ والى كل ما أؤمن به وأناضل من أجله. في مقالها أطلقَت الصحافية اسم 'المهمة الانسانية' على زيارتي غزّة وكسر الحصار رفقة الناشطين المتضامنين. وأردفت انّي داعمة لـ 'إعادة توطين اللاجئين' وأنّي أتوجّه للحكومة اللبنانية لكسر الحصار'- يا للهول! فالحكومة اللبنانية هي في الأصل دولة مبنية على سياسة الهوية وليست دولة لجميع سكانها وتقوم على التمييز العنصري ضد الأقليات كما هي الحال في مخيمات اللاجئين الفلسطينيين في لبنان التي يمكن وصفها بأنها معازل عرقية! وكما هي الحال مع العامل السوري والفلبيني والسريلانكي والاثيوبي وغيرهم من الاقليات- مع الذكر انه من قبل ايام قليلة ورد تقرير في صحيفة 'الاخبار' اللبنانية عن عدم السماح للعاملات الاجنبيات النزول الى مسابح المياه وهذا تجسيد بسيط لـ 'ابارتهايد لبنان' حسب تعبير المفكر اللبنابي جلبير الاشقر. ولا يمكننا الا وذكر ما تتعرض له المرأة اللبنانية من تمييز جنسي في قوانين الأحوال الشخصية وفي عدم سماح الدولة اللبنانية لها بإعطاء جنسيتها لأطفالها او لزوجها.
كانت هذه الكلمات أفظع من مواجهة الـ آف16 والآف15 والأباشي و(الزنّانات) والبوارج والدبّابات. وأكثر كرها من رصاص الجنود الاسرائيليين فوق رأسي عند مرافقتي للمزارعين على أرضهم، وأكثر قساوة من التعذيب النفسي والجسدي الذي تعرّضت له مع عدد من المرضى والجرحى الفلسطينيين على المعبر الى 'الحرية': نقطة تفتيش شارلي- معبر رفح.
وبينما هم يتحدّثون ويتعصّبون ويكرهون ويكرهون ويكرهون، تمرّ بـالبال كلمات أغنية 'حدّوته مصرية': 'شفت كل شيء وتعبت على الحقيقة، قابلت على الطريق عيون كثير بريئة، عرفوني لاء ما عرفونيش. قبلوني وقبلتهم، أمدّ ايدي لك- طب ليه ما تقبلنيش؟ لا يهمّني اسمك، لا يهمّني عنوانك، لا يهمني لونك ولا ملادك، مكانك. يهمّني الانسان ولو ما لوش عنوان... يا ناس، يا ناس يا مكبوته هي دي الحدّوته!'-هذا ما تعلمته من اهل القطاع.

' نتالي أبو شقرا، ناشطة من لبنان وصلت غزة في 20 كانون الأول (ديسمبر) 2008 عبر قوارب كسر الحصار وبقيت في القطاع مدّة 8 أشهر. تدوّن على:
http://gaza08.blogspot.com

Muntazer al-Zaidi: "I Am Not A Hero"

laher@iname.com (Ridwan) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:48:34 PDT

Iraqi journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi, is seen here throwing his shoes at the devil. (Image Credit)

You may remember that Al-Zaidi was sentenced to three years in prison for throwing his shoes at George W. Bush during a news conference in Baghdad on December 14, 2008.

The sentence was later reduced to one year after thousands of Iraqis vented their anger in support of Al-Zaidi.

(Image Credit)

Today, Al-Zaidi was released on a conditional discharge which in Iraqi law means he has served the majority of his sentence with good behavior.

Al-Zaidi says he was tortured in prison according to a news report.

Nonetheless, he remains defiant that he did the right despite the fact that the occupation of Iraq continues.

He lamented saying that "Here I am free and the country is still a prisoner."

Al-Zaidi may not see himself as a "hero" but to me and millions of people all around the world he is exactly that and more.

The following statement by Al-Zaidi, quoted at Commondreams.org, is extremely powerful and inspirational even:

"If (people) knew how many destroyed houses I walked over with those shoes that I threw, and how many times those shoes mixed with the blood of the innocent, and how many times those shoes went into homes where the honor of those who lived there was disgraced, then it was the proper response."

We should all have been so moved, and still so, to show our contempt for Bush and American imperialism.

Al-Zaidi is free and the struggle continues.

Onward!

IAEA 'bans' attacks on nuclear installations

editor.novajoservo@gmail.com (The Angryindian) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:08:51 PDT

A post by IIN UK/Middle-East Bureau-Chief: Cem Ertür:

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=106170&sectionid=351020104

IAEA 'bans' attacks on nuclear installations

Press TV, 14 September 2009

An Iranian proposal prohibiting military attacks against nuclear installations worldwide has been approved by the UN nuclear watchdog's general conference, an Iranian official says.

"Iran's proposal … has been approved in the meeting," said Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, on the sidelines of the week-long General Conference in Vienna.

Considered the highest policymaking body of the IAEA, the General Conference meets annually to consider issues such as non-proliferation, nuclear safety, nuclear safeguards and nuclear security.

The general conference in 1990 passed a resolution banning "all armed attacks against nuclear installations devoted to peaceful purposes whether under construction or in operation."

Iran says a new resolution is vital as "nuclear installations all over the world are increasing and any sort of threatening attacks ... will have radiological consequences all over the world."

Tehran, however, has denied a link between the proposal and Israeli threats against its nuclear facilities.

Tel Aviv, believed to be the sole possessor of a nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, accuses Tehran of making efforts to build a nuclear bomb and has threatened to target Iranian nuclear installations militarily.

In June 1981, Israel launched a 'preemptive' airstrike on the Iraqi breeder reactor in Osirak, under the pretext that Baghdad posed a threat to Tel Aviv's 'absolute' military superiority in the region.

In September 2007, Israel launched another attack against an alleged nuclear facility in Syria.

__________________

from the archives:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=104363&sectionid=351020101

Non-Aligned Movement backs Iran proposal banning attacks on nuclear sites

Press TV, 24 August 2009

we dont need another anti-racism 101 � guerrilla mama medicine

editor.novajoservo@gmail.com (The Angryindian) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:00:57 PDT

Image by thivierr via Flickr

Guest Editorial from: guerrilla mama medicine

i used to be an antiracism trainer for a progressive organization a few years ago. i was really really good at.

this year i finally realized after a lot of soul searching that teaching white folks how to be good allies is not helpful to anyone.

now dont get me wrong. i think that white folks working in solidarity with poc in respectful ways is often a good thing.

i just dont think we should teach them how to do it.

now i have known for a long time that no poc is obligated to teach a white person about racism. or explain it.

but i am taking it a step further. we shouldnt do it.

and by this i mean teaching white folks, anti-racism theory, critical race theory, the correct words to use, the words not to use, the correct questions to ask, etc, etc, etc. is a waste of our time. and theirs. and is harmful to building a revolutionary movement or creating good relationships.

the problem is that fundamental to white/euro-centric culture is a break between word and action. between theory and practice.

and so in my experience, folks can learn all the theory, all the right words, all of it and yet act fundamentally the same, live out the same patterns of thoughts, still hold the same fucked-up priorities. and yet spout all of the anti-racist rhetoric.

because that is all it is to them. rhetoric.

people only learn as much as they are willing to learn.

and anti-oppression is not complicated. you dont need to read a book or a take a training or read a blog to learn humility, respect, and love.

im not sure if this is making sense. it is something i have seen and lived and trying to put it in words is difficult.

its like white folks who are professional anti-racists and make money off of being and writing about being anti-racist. which basically means they make money off of racism. and see no problem with that. claiming that they should be paid for what they do. umm…no. not always.

its like us giving white folks all the correct rhetoric just allows for them to be able to better racists, because they are able to justify their racism using anti-racist rhetoric.

in that they are able to say things like: i realize that such and such is a function of racism and then they continue to do the same fucking thing that they just acknowledged was racist.

this happens all the time. like. all. the. time.

do y'all know what i am talking about?

like i know that poc are attempting by teach white folks to be antiracist in order to create a more just world. but our intentions and our impact are not matching. which means that we need to change what we are doing. giving white folks better rhetoric just feeds into the euro-centric mind set.

white folks love love love being told the right words and phrases and theory to use. because white culture does not take rhetoric seriously. white culture does not have a function that says: your words and your actions must match.

this is why so often you hear folks say: that wasnt what i meant. or that wasnt my intention. have we ever wondered why is there so much emphasis on folks intention? why do we think that our personal intention ought to matter so much to others? ought to matter more than the impact of what was said or done?

what folks mean when they say: that was not my intention—is—i did not verbalize in my head: abc instead i verbalized: xyz.

and what you verbalized in your head (or heart) ought to matter more than the harm of your actions?

and instead of changing one's actions, one changes one's rhetoric.

why? because in white culture what you verbalize (out loud or not), your internal and external rhetoric is important in and of itself. and yet has little bearing on what you do if what you said when acted upon would undercut or diminish your ability to rise higher on the caterpillar pile.

like its one thing to be anti-racist. its another thing to be respectful or humble or loving. to not take that new job position w/o realizing that there are poc who are more deserving. or to not insult that woc when you know that doing so will increase your readership. or to not quote a woc when you know it will make you sound smarter and garner more respect from white folks.

im not sure if this makes sense.

i guess what i am saying is that in my experience if white folks want to be respectful of poc or understand where they are coming from–they dont need a workshop. there are centuries of writing from poc that they can dive into. there are plenty of poc in their neighborhoods and community organizations. when white folks are ready to be anti-racist, when they are ready to turn from facing the center, to facing the margins, and stand with us. we will be here.

they dont need to be converted or preached to.

they dont need to learn the right words to use. or the right theory.

we dont need more of that.

and it is harmful to them to give them a bunch of new theory and rhetoric while they are still angling to get as close to the center as possible. to get to the top of the caterpillar pile.

and antiracism theory will just be used as another means, another tactic for them to reach their goal.

and the funny thing about culture, is that culture provides us with a set of assumptions that we dont have to verbalize internally or externally in order to act those assumptions out. and one of those assumptions in white culture/eurocentric culture is an isolationist, individualistic sense of success and failure. the: i gots to get mine. you gots to get yours.

and until folks stop living out that cultural assumption, no amount of anti-racist theory is going to do any good.

if anything it will be harmful because now we as poc have just given them one more tactic to get over. get ahead. step on others in the kyriarchy.