Indigenist Intelligence Review

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.

Masses in New Caledonia strike against French colonizers

uriohau@gmail.com (Ana) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:51:54 PDT

By G. Dunkel
Published Sep 10, 2009 11:23 PM

Since the beginning of August, the struggle of oppressed workers and youth in New Caledonia has brought tensions to heights not seen since this South Pacific island had an armed rebellion against France in the late 1980s.
the police.

USTKE strikers in the street confronting
the police.

Marches and street sit-ins have brought protesters into direct conflict with the police. At least two cops have been shot, and RFI reported Aug. 6 that 30 had been wounded. The left-wing union leading the struggle is the USTKE, the Union of Kanak Workers and the Exploited (Union syndicale des travailleurs kanaks et des exploités).

Kanak is the official name of the Indigenous people of the island.

New Caledonia is in reality a colony of France, with some special privileges due to a sharp struggle in the 1980s. Its economy, based on the production of nickel, has done very well recently. Growth was 5 percent a year between 2004 and 2008, and Nouméa, its capital, has set a French record for the most luxury cars per person. (Le Monde, Aug. 23)
a roadblock. "

USTKE members setting up
a roadblock.

The economic stakes for France in New Caledonia are high. It is the world’s fifth largest producer of nickel, a vital ingredient for stainless steel, and has the world’s second largest reserves. Wages in the nickel industry are high. This is why 800 to 1,200 Europeans—mainly from France—move to the island each month.

The Kanaks, especially the youth, leave school early and live on what the French call “small jobs,” or temporary work at low wages, and on what they can grow in their gardens. They are shoved into ghettoes with tiny houses or buildings that need renovation, far from the better neighborhoods, and lack the education and skills needed for better-paying, full-time jobs.

USTKE has community organizers who travel around to these neighborhoods, especially to help families of those arrested in the protests. (Le Monde, Aug. 23) USTKE rejects charges that it has manipulated the youth into protest and points to “colonial police repression” as the cause of the violence New Caledonia has suffered during August.

The spark for the current conflict was the firing of an airline worker, a member of USTKE, for “incompetence.” The union vigorously defended him with marches, protests and runway blockades.

In the course of the struggle, Gérard Jodar, the leader of USTKE, and some of his comrades invaded Nouméa’s airport runway and took refuge in planes where they were attacked by the cops. His swift sentence of a year in prison took into account what the court called his “previous acts of vandalism and blockades.” (Le Figaro, Aug. 25)

Jodar’s sentence was recently confirmed, but he and a number of comrades have an appeal hearing scheduled on Sept. 15. The USTKE called a demonstration Aug. 22 to not only demand their leader’s freedom but also to protest the high cost of living and the “colonialism” the French state is exhibiting in Nouméa.
--------
A demonstration was held in Paris on Aug. 24 where the French left expressed solidarity with USTKE. Corrine Perron, a representative of USTKE in France, told the protest, “We gather together to denounce the colonial justice in Nouméa and the unjustifiable condemnation of union militants in New Caledonia. It is necessary to alert the public that New Caledonia not only faces the threat of swine flu but also the threat of police and judicial repression.” (Libération, Aug. 24)
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Sha-King Cehum: Making the Unknown, Known

editor.novajoservo@gmail.com (The Angryindian) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:04:46 PDT

Guest Editorial by Sha-King Cehum of the Los Indio Afro-Taino blog.

We must not be afraid of the 'unknown'. We must embrace the 'unknown' as a medium through which questions about life and reality can be revealed. We must understand that we have become hindered by our lack of understanding of the unknown. Our relations have been divided and severed because of our ignorance of our people. Instead of embracing the 'unknown' and seeing it as a chance to challenge ourselves and our ability to break through societal imposed limitations, we came to accept it and internal it as an assumed static state of humanity, as if we can and will never 'know' beyond what we already think we know.

Many of us claim to know about ourselves and our ancestors. We claim to know about our culture and who are 'people' are. Yet most often times we are only regurgitating and rehashing what was 'taught to us' and told to us by those whom imposed the boundaries, divisions and restrictions of colonization. These people aren't "our" people and so on- perpetuating the 'us vs. them' mentality and contributing to the crumbling of the sacred hoop of life. May of us will rather quickly accept the oppressor and the oppressors children as our own before we embrace other children of the Sun- "melanated" sons and daughters of the planet. So we can bear witness to the deep psychological impact of colonization and slavery, and the survival mechanism and adaptation strategy of 'identifying with the aggressor', as it is referred to in western psychology. Which means, not only have we taken on many of the same behaviors and mannerisms of the oppressor, but likewise, psychologically identify with them and see them as more favorable, and consequently looking at our other oppressed brothers and sisters in the same perspective that they do.

It is critical to our healing that we reunite and bring together the 'Original' nation, the Indigenous family. We must struggle to break beyond the limitations we have inherited over the decades and re-establish our connection with each other. We must not think we 'know' of each other from our exposure to television and media propaganda nor must we allow ourselves to dwell in a pool of ignorance and be content with 'not knowing' or even yearning to know about the other. I assure you, if we embrace the 'unknown' as a chance to heal, we will find that it will bring together all legacies and histories to one point, like the outer points of the letter "X" which meet in the center. "X" in mathematics represents the 'unknown'. And we can solve and 'resolve' the equations of inequality by coming together and realizing our oneness, not just in struggle, but in the universal spectrum of existance.

Native and African Americans chronicle history together for first time in Louisiana
by Carol Forsloff

In Natchitoches, Louisiana history was made today. The Native American and African American communities were separate communities in the South by design of white oppression. Now, for the first time, they are sharing their histories.
The African American and Native American communities of North Central Louisiana, specifically the area around Powhatan in Natchitoches Parish, had knowledge of each other's existence but at the same time virtually no real social interaction.

Native Americans were second-class citizens and felt different and isolated, while African Americans were the lowest on the social pecking order in a highly stratified society that in some ways remains in certain historical patterns.

Therefore, history has been predominantly oral and genealogical as opposed to written. The "White" or predominant history has included both African American groups and Native Americans, but their intimate knowledge of that history has been limited by the stratification and taboos that took place, according to the participants in a videotaped forum today.

Chief Rufus Davis, Dora Belton, Shirley Love and Vern Fisher met at the Adai Cultural Center today and initiated a shared history platform in order to put together the missing pieces of their ancestral involvement, known about, but never fully shared in conversation.

Chief Davis is the head of the Adai Nation, a tribe of approximately 1800 members in Texas and Louisiana, 68 years old and a resident of the Parish since birth.

Dora Belton, of mixed Choctaw, African American and French ancestry, 93, lived in the Parish until age 18, then moved to Illinois and Texas where she worked as a licensed practical nurse until the age of 65 when she retired and returned to her home in the Parish.

Vern Fisher, 54, is an African American from Mallard, Louisiana, two miles from the Adai Cultural Center.

Shirley Love, 51, is originally from the area surrounding Powhatan in Natchitoches Parish but has been living in Michigan since she left high school. All came together for the first time as a group today to begin a pioneer effort to bring their shared history to each other and potentially to the public. The first segment was videotaped today over a period of more than two hours. I was there today as the moderator of the filming, asking the questions and celebrating with the group what is history making in terms of this shared experience.

Natchitoches Parish is a place rich in history because it is the oldest settlement in the Louisiana Purchase and where various European, African and Native American groups lived separately but shared a common history on some levels.

The problem is the intimate details of that history were neglected due to the imposed restrictions on social interaction. The Native American and African American communities, according to Belton, Davis and Fisher, knew about each other and relied on each other to exchange herbal remedies, quilting and other cultural knowledge, but without deep intimacy and communication. The separate groups were mutually supportive in each other's survival and grew up knowing "their place" and knew that place was separate from their white neighbors of predominantly French, Spanish and English ancestry.

Today, old stories were shared, some for the first time. This is part of a growing opportunity, initiated by Chief Davis, to help groups provide each other important data that helps to reinforce group identity and integrity.

According to the forum participants, the Native Americans and African Americans had mutual regard for their separate ways, knew from the whispers of their ancestors what shops to avoid and what patterns of behavior to evidence. But these truths have not been spoken or written down in detail, as is now being done.

It was for the participants a stunning occasion, and the ongoing experience will be shared as the stories of shared history take shape. Old neighbors are experiencing communication and interaction in this way for the first time, as the process is taking place for this to be formalized.

Videotaping will allow the preservation of information and the evolution of written documentation to be completed. This "first" brought a celebratory mood to those involved as they take the first steps in cementing a new brother and sisterhood they said today will only enhance their individual sense of community and pride.

Source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/274667
Los Indios: Making the Unknown, Known (11 September 2009)
http://in-dios.blogspot.com/2009/06/making-unknown-known.html
http://snipurl.com/rrnbs
http://snipurl.com/rrnbs

Clayton Thomas-Muller Reporting: Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands and the UK Climate Camp August 2009

uriohau@gmail.com (Ana) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:53:28 PDT

Clayton Thomas-Muller, Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands Organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network reports on the impact of Aboriginal participation at the UK Climate Camp, August 2009. Thank you to APTN for their continued coverage of the environmental and social injustice of the largest fossil fuel extraction process taking place on Mother Earth. The impacts to the land, water and air have caused serious health consequences to the Indigenous Peoples, fish, and game. The rise in cancer in these communities has been linked to the Alberta Tar Sands extraction.

CANADA ACCIDENTALLY RECOGNIZES MOHAWK SOVEREIGNTY

editor.novajoservo@gmail.com (The Angryindian) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:59:16 PDT

MNN. Sept. 8, 2009. The colony of Canada has officially recognized our sovereignty on Great Turtle Island and has taken steps to abide by the Two Row Wampum agreement. Canada admits they have no jurisdiction over Indigenous people and territory.

On June 14, 2008, two women were peacefully crossing the illegal checkpoint in the middle of Kawenoke Island of Akwesasne. The Canada Border Services Agency CBSA called in 12 burly well-armed colonial goons to viciously attack the two women. One elder almost died of a trauma induced heart attack and the other was severely beaten and held incommunicado.

The two women live in the Mohawk communities of Akwesasne and Kahnawake. They filed formal complaints with the RCMP, OPP, Mohawk Akwesasne Police and the CBSA to investigate. All refused. The women were treated like enemy combatants with no rights. We are being falsely labeled as insurgents, terrorists and global risks. This violates the Geneva Conventions 1949 which set the standards in international law for humanitarian treatment of civilians and the victims of conflict. [See notes at end]

The women are not Canadian citizens as the Mohawk Nation never relinquished our territorial independence. The two women took it to the Federal Court of Canada, FCA T-1309-08, to address the human rights abuses. Canada is supposed to live up to its commitments under international law to respect human rights of all.

The Crown issued orders respecting our sovereignty. On October 23, 2008, Prothonotary Mireille Tabib ordered the two women to pay for Canada’s costs by depositing $19,460.00 with the court plus all subsequent costs. The reason! They live in Akwesasne and Kahnawake and are not residents of Canada. An appeal was filed. On January 29, 2009 Judge Francois Lemieux issued the same order. On Feb. 26, 2009 another case was filed by one of the women, T-288-09. On April 7, 2009, the same order was made because she lives in Kahnawake, making her a non-resident of Canada.

The Two Row Wampum agreement separates the colonists from the true original Indigenous jurisdiction. The Crown must fulfill our request to investigate our complaints against their agents. The CBSA acted outside its territorial jurisdiction when it assaulted the two women and cannot demand security for their costs.

The CBSA can never return to Kawenoke Island, the real name of Cornwall Island, which they abandoned on May 31, 2009. The Mohawks refused to allow these foreigners to carry guns in the middle of our community. The old Customs House sits empty and belongs to the Mohawks. CBSA needs to get their junk out of there. When Alcatraz was abandoned, it returned automatically to the Indigenous people.

The colony of Canada removed the CBSA checkpoint from Kawenoke to the foot of the bridge in the city of Cornwall Ontario. Cornwall is part of the Mohawk North Shore claim. A CBSA supervisor stated to Mohawk elders that the former Kawenoke Customs had to be officially de-designated as a Canada port of entry. The new one sits on Akwesasne land. CBSA has to remove its port-a-potties out of Cornwall to parts unknown, maybe back to England. Phew!

Our territory extends all across this land.In requesting Mohawks to report to them when leaving Kawenoke, which they formerly treated as part of the colony of Canada, they are respecting our sovereignty. They actually have no business asking our people anything. We cannot allow them to interfere with our natural birthright and our right to travel freely about our homeland or entering our communities.

The colonial pirates that are attacking and confiscating our legitimate products on our rivers are also out of their jurisdiction. They have no right whatsoever to interfere with our trade and commerce anywhere. All waterways are our highways long before the coming of foreigners to this land to be freely traversed by us.

These Federal Court of Canada orders recognize that Indigenous people on Onowaregeh retain international sovereignty. The demand for money is meant to discourage us from seeking justice against these brutal carpetbaggers. They are telling us we have to buy justice from them. Canada has no problems to dish out millions to the band and tribal councils to illegitimately sell us out and fraudulently try to settle our land claims. It violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Our political position does not allow them to assault or murder us, prevent freedom of speech or violate our human rights. These organized criminal cartels have no right to extort money from us. Everything they do falls under every kind of genocide known to humankind.

The checkpoint had to be removed. The border had to be removed. What’s next?

To stop the CBSA from coming in, we need to keep our fire going and to erect a building. To help, please contact akwpeoplesfire@bell.net 613-937-1813.

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 website. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN “BORDER” and “AKWESASNE” categories for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! Purchase t-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePressStore http://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews; Subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates http://.mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription.php; Sign Women Title Holders petition! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Iroquois

Background: Federal Court of Canada File No. T-1309-08, Kahentinetha et al v. The Queen: Order of madam Prothonotary Mireille Tabib, October 23, 2008 that the women give $19,460.00 security for the court costs from the beginning to the end, because they are “ordinarily resident outside of Canada” as they live in Akwesasne and Kahnawake [FC rule 416(10)a];
On Feb. 26, 2009, Statement of Claim filed on the Reckless disregard for the safety and security of Indigenous Women at the Canadian Border, Akwesasne, FCC # T-288-09 between Kahentinetha, of the Kanion’ke:haka, and the Queen, Sec. 48 Federal Court Act. Filed Feb. 26, 2009, on Hon. John Sims, Deputy Attorney General of Canada 613-946-2774 Fax 613-952-6006. [Contact: Marieke Bouchard 613-952-6006; Cynthia Leaver, Regional Assistant 613-952-3653; Shurman Longo Grenier 613-868-9009; Vincent Veilleux 613-952-6006.]
Art. 27, Geneva Conventions: protected persons are entitled to respect for their persons, honor, family rights, religious convictions, manners and customs. They shall be treated humanely especially against violence or threats and insults. Women should especially be protected against indecent assault based on race, religion and political opinions.

"S Africa Backs Action in US on Firms Linked to Apartheid"

laher@iname.com (Ridwan) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:58:02 PDT

by Bill Corcoran in Cape Town
Republished in Common Dreams.org

South African victims of apartheid seeking compensation from foreign multinationals which supported the racist regime have been boosted by their newly elected government's decision to support their class action in the US courts.

The position being taken by President Jacob Zuma's African National Congress (ANC) administration is the polar opposite of the one taken by his elected predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, whose government refused to support its citizens' case.

Mr Mbeki was against South Africans suing the multinationals, which include, IBM, Daimler, Ford and General Motors, because the action could ultimately harm the country, which still has strong economic ties with many of the companies and wants them to increase investment.

The presiding judge of the US District Court where the case will be heard has received written confirmation regarding Mr Zuma's decision to take a different stance to that of his predecessor.

The South African government has also said it believes an out-of-court settlement would be the best way forward for all concerned.

The plaintiffs in the legal action, which is being taken in the US using the Alien Tort Claims Act, say the firms directly supported the apartheid system by selling vehicles, computers, weapons and other items to the regime that were used against the people.

In recent years the Alien Torts Claims Act has been used by non-US citizens against US-based companies which they say have been complicit in crimes overseas.

Khulumani, an apartheid victim's support group representing thousands of South Africans in the case, welcomed the government's about-turn. "This represents a very significant shift from the government's 2003 position that is not and will not be party to litigation against companies that did business with and in South Africa during the apartheid period," Khulumani said.

The apartheid victims' action was originally taken in 2002 against a large group of companies, but the US courts initially dismissed it.

However, the case was revived on appeal, though the number of companies being sued was greatly reduced.

International banks operating in South Africa during apartheid which were on the original target list were let off the hook because no direct link could be made between their business dealings and the regime's oppression.

However, the case against car manufacturers and computer companies has been allowed to proceed because their products could have been used to directly oppress the population.

Original Source

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