Indigenous Policy Ongoing Activities

ONGOING ACTIVITIES
Steve Sachs

Activities in the U.S.

Delegates participating in the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) mid-year meeting at the Mohegan Sun Casino, in June, tended to agree with Treasurer Ron Alan's comment that the proposed Congressional Apology to Native Americans for past wrongs was "the right first step." but needed to be followed up with action to overcome the problems that still remain from the long history of government abuses. "We have a long way to go. Indian people are still being left behind in this country. On this 80th anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act, one would think that things would be better." Speaking at the Homeland security sessions of the meeting, Chief of staff of the Center for Domestic Preparedness, Giles Crider, said of the fact that, while a top level Department of Homeland Planning Session identified up to 37 tribes as being of strategic importance in defending against terrorist attacks, Congress appropriated only $5 million for tribes of the $3.2 billion allocated for state and local governments for homeland security, "That's a national crime." Delegates agreed that much more is needed for Indian Nations to play important roles in combating terrorism. NCAI invited leaders of indigenous peoples from around the planet to the meeting, which renewed the 1999 Declaration of Kinship and Cooperation between NCAI and the Canadian Assembly of First Nations. The upcoming elections and Get Out the Vote Campaign, the Supreme Court, and how to respond to the National Labor Relations Board ruling that it has jurisdiction over Indian nations were major topics at the meeting. The meeting also passed a resolution opposing the Western Shoshone Land Claims Settlement Act, then pending in Congress.

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) marked the 50th anniversary of the U.S. termination policy at its 61st Annual Convention and Trade Show: Renewing the Vision: Setting a New Course for Indian Country, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL October 10-15. The convention opened with representatives of the Republican and Democratic campaigns addressing the meeting. NCAI held a rally on Capitol Hill, during the opening of the Museum of the American Indian, September 22, to raise awareness of Indian issues.

Hundreds of disenfranchised California Indians formed a new organization, California Indians for Justice, in July, and asked California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Congress to halt casino negotiations until California Nations create courts to resolve membership disputes

The Society of American Indian Government Employees (SAIGE) held its First National Conference and Training Session, Four Directions, One Voice," October 8 & 9, at the Embassy Suites Hotel Ft. Lauderdale, FL, preceding the 61st Annual National Congress of American Indians National Convention. For information about SAIGE and the conference, go to: http://www.saige.org.

The Native Student Network is being formed as list serve for Native students to build community connections with organizations conducting voter work. The lists serve functions as a forum to disseminate voter-related events, legal issues, leadership opportunities, articles, and other opportunities. To join the NSEN contact Crystal Wabnum at crystal@nationalvoice.org, giving the institution where your organization is based as well as any voter efforts you are currently working on. For more info on National Voice's work in Indian Country, visit: http://www.nationalvoice.org/group/Native%20American/home.htm.

In October, Gary Ben, President pf the National Native American Youth coalition led a group of protestors, including students, in a demonstration outside the Gallup-McKinley County, NM School district Board meeting, for changes in the school system so that it will meet the needs of native students. The largest complaint was that the schools do not teach Navajo language and culture, although 80% of the district's student body is Navajo. Inside the meeting, New Mexico State Senator Leonard Taosie, head of the Indian Affairs Committee, told the board that the protesters were correct, and that the schools should do what it can now to begin teaching Navajo language and culture, even though there is a shortage of teachers qualified to teach the language and culture. He said that the schools could make up for the shortage by brining in tribal elders.

The Indian Law Resource Center is an international human rights advocacy organization based in Helena, Montana, established and directed by American Indians. It provides legal assistance to Indian and Alaska Native nations who are working to protect their land, resources, human rights, environment and cultural heritage. The Center's principal goal is the preservation and wellbeing of Indian and other Native nations and tribes. The Center also works to overcome racism and racial exclusion affecting Indians and Alaska Natives; protect the existence and sovereignty of Indian nations; protect and develop the human rights of indigenous peoples; and assist indigenous peoples to protect the environment. Founded in 1978, the Center provides assistance to tribes and other indigenous peoples in the United States and in Central and South America. The Center has an international Board of Directors, and it is a Non-Governmental Organization in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. For more information contact Indian Law Resource Center, 602 North Ewing Street, Helena, MT 59601 (406)449.2006, mt@indianlaw.org, www.indianlaw.org.

On July 7-11, The Pitt River Tribe hosted the International Indian Treaty Council's 30th Anniversary Conference, 'Indigenous Nations Mobilizing For Justice, Sovereignty and Protection of Sacred Homelands,' July 7-11, near Fall River Mills, CA., in furthering the nation's efforts to protect Saht-Tit-Lah (known to Pitt River people as Obsidian Knife Lake. aka as Medicine Lake). The primary goal of the Conference was to build support for Indigenous Nations' current struggles to protect sacred sites, but also included discussion of other indigenous rights issues, including a Workshop on the UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Participants include Indigenous leaders from throughout the United States and Canada, as well as Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, Guatemala, New Zealand, Panama, India, Africa and Peru, along with Indigenous members of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Organization of American States. For more information, contact IITC 2390 Mission St. Suite 301, San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 641-4482, iitc@treatycouncil.org, www.treatycouncil.org or call the Pitt River Tribal Office at (530) 335-5421.

The Indian Defense League of America carried out its 77th annual march, crossing the U.S.-Canadian border at Niagara Falls, on July 17.

Alaska Natives gathered in Anchorage, in September, to counter anti-Indian legislation eroding sovereignty. The meeting was especially concerned with Senator Stevens "attaching riders to unrelated congressional legislation stripping Alaska tribes of federal funding and altering our government-to-government relationship. He is carrying out this attack on our tribes without any tribal consultation." Most particularly, there was objection to Senator Stevens attempt to consolidate Alaskan tribal funding in a rider (Section 112) eliminating specific funds for small tribes and tribes located in select organized boroughs. The legislation also attempts to place Alaska tribal governments under state authority by establishing an Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission, whose members would be appointed by the U.S. attorney General. It was pointed out the Stevens had said, "Tribal Sovereignty is not the Answer," in a speech the Alaska federation of Natives in October 2003. The meeting also focused on protecting the Arctic environment, particularly by resisting drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife refuge.

On September 6, 20,000 Native Hawaiians and their supporters marched in Honolulu to call attention to a number of issues they believe threaten Native Hawaiian rights, including forced leasehold, homelands issues, and a challenge to the Native Hawaiians only admissions policy of Kamehameha School.

600 people, 230 of whom were arrested, blocked the Denver, CO Columbus Day Parade for more than an hour in protest of honoring the launching of European genocide of Native people in the Americas.

Members of the Karuk, Yurok, Hoopa, and Klamath Tribes and staffers from Friends of the River and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations undertook an E-mail campaign, on July 21, to Scottish Power Board of Directors, shortly before their annual shareholders meeting, letting them know that: Their American subsidiary, PacifiCorp, is not living up to their 'green' standards, The Klamath fishery is the basis for unique and important Native American cultures. These cultures cannot exist without salmon. The dams on the Klamath River owned and operated by PacifiCorp block access to over 350 miles of historic spawning habitat. The Klamath dams are in the process of being relicensed by the federal government. On July 27, Native Americans demonstrated in Edinburgh calling for fish ladders or other measures on Klamath River dams to allow salmon to move upstream. In addition, the Yurok Tribe organized a demonstration for the FERC hearings on Klamath River dams in Eureka, CA, June 22nd during public commentary before federal regulatory agencies on an application by PacifiCorp/Scottish Power to continue operating Klamath River dams for power generation. The tribe, fishermen and conservationists seek removal of the low power output dams because of their of severe direct and indirect impacts on salmon, other fisheries and the health of the entire river ecosystem. For more information, contact, Felice Pace, 28 Maple Road, Klamath, CA 95548 (707)482-0354, felice@jeffnet.org.

The Black Mesa Trust, in September, stated objection to the Interior Department calling the Hopi and Navajo nations to a meeting with California Edison to reach an agreement "in a quick manner" for securing water from the C-aquifer for slurrying coal from the mine at black Mesa to the Mohave Generating Station. The Trust finds that the Interior official calling for the meeting, Deputy Secretary Steven Griles, has a conflict of interest as he is a former lobbyist for the energy and mining industries and has met with former clients, including Peabody coal, while at Interior. Black Mesa is concerned that taking water from the C-aquifer will increase the taking of water from the nearly depleted N-aquifer by keeping Peabody Coal's Black Mesa Mine operating for at least another 20 years. Black Mesa Trust favors replacing the Mohave Generating station, using coal slurried form the Black Mesa Mine, with a large wind generating plant proposed by Sterling Energy Systems.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe‚ Historic Preservation Office, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe‚ Cultural Preservation Office, and the Defenders of the Black Hills have requested and were granted a Hearing, on June 9, by The North Dakota Public Service Commission, appealing the NDPSC's decision allowing Coteau Properties Company to strip mine coal on what would be the 17,000 acre West Mine Area, Freedom Mine, in Mercer County ND. The NDPSC is acting as the lead agency in this combined federal, state, and private undertaking. Tribal and other opponents of the mine state that the proposed coal operation would destroy 1,700 (one-thousand seven hundred) sacred sites and burial places. A prayer gathering by opponents to the mine was held on the steps of the state capital, just prior to the NDPSC hearing. On June 3, the Bureau of Land Management held a public meeting at Prairie Knights Casino on the Standing Rock Reservation regarding the Coteau Properties Company Federal Coal Lease Application for the mine, and another hearing was held on June 23 in the state capital. On September 12, members of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe of Northern California began the nation's first war dance, since 1887, at Shasta dam, in protest of a planned expansion of the dam that would destroy sacred sites in the area.

The decision of the New Mexico State Water Quality Control Commission (NMWQCC), in early June, to lower the state's groundwater-protection standard for uranium by nearly 200 times was hailed by Navajo grass roots-groups as a victory for protecting the sacredness and purity of the region's water supplies in the face of impending new uranium mining. The decision was seen as crucial, not only for Navajo people, but for protecting water for future domestic and agricultural use across the state. Numerous Dine were among those testifying at hearings on the issue. For more information about the decision and activities to limit and prevent uranium mining, contact Eastern Navajo Dine Against Uranium Mining (ENDAUM) members Wynoma Foster and Lynnea Smith (505)786-5209 or Eric Jantz (505)989-9022.

The Sage Council is continuing its campaign to protect the Petroglyph National Monument from road construction by calling for voters to defeat a City of Albuquerque, NM bond issue to finance road building. Last year, the Council was successful, helping obtain a 55% - 45% defeat of the street bond proposal. For more information contact, Vote No on the Street Bonds Non-Partisan Committee, PO Box 27333, Albuquerque, NM 87125-7333, (505)260-4696, www.sagecouncil.org. In August, indigenous people from Arizona, California, New Mexico and Mexico participated in the 15th annual Sacred Run at Mt. Graham, AZ in unity for preservation of the mountain and in opposition to the telescope complex on its summit.

200 Lakota tribal members met in Rapid City, SC, in September, to complain of dwindling service (including people in need being turned away), incompetent administration, and other problems at Sioux San Hospital, which the protestors claim needs significantly more funding.

70 pro-union protestors peacefully demonstrated a change in employee health care coverage by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. Three former employees were arrested for trespassing, after they unfurled a banner saying, “Agua Calinte Slashes Our health Care Tomorrow,” from a balcony in the tribe’s Spa Resort hotel in Palm Springs, CA.

Americas for Indian Opportunity (AIO) continues to be active locally, nationally and internationally. It launched the second decade of its leadership nurturing Ambassador program, with the 2003-2004 class of developing native leaders having their international experience in New Zealand, spending 10 days in exchanging cultural perspectives, views on issues and experiences with Maori counterparts in Advancement for Maori Opportunity's (AMO - for more on AMO see International Activities, below) Ambassador program. The AIO and AMO Ambassadors also went to Wellington, NZ, to meet with members of Parliament and attend a presentation by the Minister of Maori Affairs. Part of the curriculum of each Ambassador is to undertake a project to enhance their own community, whether reservation or urban, Among the projects of current Ambassadors is that of Shawna Shandiin Sunrise, who as a result of a UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues fellowship to the World Summit on the Information society, in Geneva, Switzerland, joined in developing a global indigenous media group, Indigenous Reporters.Without Borders reporting on what is important in their local indigenous communities and the positive news that impacts their local and global communities, via their new web site: http://www.freewebs.com/indigenousreporters/. Teresa Peterson, Emmett "Skeme" Garcia and Missy Sanchez have joined the Emergence Production Team, organizing a cultural youth exchange in partnership with the Acoma Boys and Girls Club sending 12 students fro m Acoma Puebl;o, in New Mexico to Granite Falls, MN to meet with 12 students from the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe. Since AIO and AMO have each other's members on their own boards, and on the Board of the recently launched international indigenous network, Advancement of Global Indigeneity, board meetings were held both in New Zealand and when AMO came to the United States to join AIO for the Opening of the National Museum of the American Indian and meetings in Washington D.C., and for sessions in Seattle, WA, in September. In June, AMO President visited AIO for a planning session at the AIO offices on the Santa Ana Pueblo in New Mexico, AIO sent an observer to join in conversations at the UN Permanent Forum on indigenous Issues meeting in New York, in May. In October, AIO President LaDonna Harris undertook a lecture tour to Bolivia on tribal governance and leadership development. AIO Executive Director Laura Harris, participated in a nationwide anti-racism meeting, in Kalamazoo, MI, focusing on how to dismantle racism in the U.S. AIO is planning an Ambassadors event with Merrill Lynch in New York, as part of a broader program to increase the number of Native Americans working on Wall Street. For more information, contact AIO, 681 Juniper Hill Rd., Bernalillo, NM 87004 (505)867-0278, ladonna@aio.org.

International Activities

Advancement for Maori Opportunity (AMO) of New Zealand, in addition to its work with AIO discussed just above, undertook the third year of its Ambassador Program of leadership nurturing, while continuing aboriginal business and educational development in its home islands and elsewhere in the Pacific. AMO's traditional Maori song and dance company, Rangimarie performed at the opening of the National Museum of American Indians in Washington D.C,, in September, and prior to that in April, traveled to Alaska with AMO Ambassadors for a cultural exchange, including a performance, arranged by AIO Ambassador ('01-02) Tom Okleasik. For more information contact: AMO, 17 Acacia Ave., Glenview, Hamilton, New Zealand, PO Box 4397, Hamilton East, Hamilton, New Zealand, Tel. +64 7 8430509, Mobile: 027 5553466, sperls@ihug.co.nz, http://www.amo.co.nz/.

The Association for Baha'i Studies and the University of Mcquarie's Center for Environmental Law and Department of Indigenous Studies put on a conference, "Indigenous Knowledge and Bioprospecting," on campus in Sydney, Australia, April 21-24. For more information, see "In Australia, a look at "bioprospecting" and the knowledge of indigenous people," One Country, Vol. 16, No, 1, April June 2004, pp. 4-7, or contact One Country, Baha'i International, Community, Suite 120, 866 United Nations Plaza, New York, MY 10017, 1ciuntry@bic.org, http://onecountry.org.

Native Alliance aims to unite the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada by providing access to resources, services, and information by way of open discussion forums. Its Turning Point web site is an open and free message board that focuses on First Nation issues. Members from communities and bands across Canada interact on a regular basis, and friends from other countries are welcome at: http://www.nativealliance.ca/forums/. One can register at: http://www.nativealliance.ca/forums/profile.php?mode=register.

International Service for Peace in Chiapas (SIPAZ), a coalition of various organizations, accompanies initiatives for peace of nonviolent groups threatened by the violence in the state of Chiapas in Mexico, including Peace Brigades International (PBI). The SIPAZ coalition maintains a team in Chiapas, a Coordinating Committee for planning and management, and an International Project Office in California. The work of the Project is directly backed by 50 organizations from North America, Latin America and Europe. These are: Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associación Cristiana de Jóvenes, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Capacitar, CAREA, Carolina Interfaith Task Force on Central America, Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men's Institutues, Peace and Justice Committee, Centro Memorial Dr. Martin Luther King, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Church of the Brethern, Dominican Sisters of San Rafael, Ecumenical Program on Central America & the Caribbean/EPICA, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Franciscan Friars, Santa Barabara Province, Franciscan National Justice, Peace and Ecology Council, Global Dmilitarization, Global Exchange, GRM/Mayan Industries, IF, International Committee for the Peace Council, International Fellowship of Reconciliation, Justicia y Paz, Kentucky Interreligious Taskforce on Central America, Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Loretto Community Latin America/Caribbean Committee, Marin Interfaith Task Force on Central America, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Michigan Faith and Resistance Peace Team, Movimiento Ecumenico de Derechos Humanos, National Benedictines for Peace, Pax Christi USA, Pax Christi International, Peace Brigades International, Peaceworkers, Presbytery of Chicago, Religious Task Force on Central America and Mexico, Resource Center for Nonviolence, Servicio Paz y Justicia en America Latina, Sojourners, Southeastern Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, Strategic Pastoral Action, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, War Resisters League, Washington Office on Latin America, Western Dominican Province, Witness for Peace. For more information regarding SIPAZ, please visit the SIPAZ web site at www.sipaz.org, or contact Mexico Project Office: pbimep@skynet.be, the Chiapas Office, Calle Dr. Navarro No. 20-b, San Cristóbal de las Casas, 29220 Chiapas, Mexico, Tel/Fax (+52 967) 678 2113, chiapas@sipaz.org, SIPAZ International Office, P.O. Box 2415, Santa Cruz, CA 95063 (831)425 1257, admin@sipaz.org, or Barbara Wien, Co-Director, Peace Brigades Int'l / USA, 428 8th St. SE 2nd Fl., Washington, DC 20003 (202)544-3765, info@pbiusa.org, www.peacebrigades.org.

The Chiapas Media Project (CMP) is engaged in its 9th annual fall tour featuring new videos produced by indigenous video makers from the states of Chiapas and Guerrero, Mexico at universities and cultural centers around the U.S. The Chiapas Media Project is an award winning, bi-national partnership that provides video equipment, computers and training enabling marginalized indigenous and campesino communities in Southern Mexico to create their own media. The CMP is currently distributing 20 indigenous produced videos worldwide. For further information, contact Alex at 773-583-7728, at cmp@chiapasmediaproject.org, www.chiapasmediaproject.org.

The Nahual Institute for Global Studies Latin American Studies programs offer courses that integrate academic study with direct cultural immersion in order to promote justice and solidarity through the creation of a meaningful learning experience. Courses are currently offered in Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico. Courses are designed to incorporate US academic standards with resources from the most respected academic institutions in Latin America, and are team-taught by highly experienced faculty from the US and the host country. The Nahual Institute for Global Studies donates a portion of every participant's tuition to the Nahual Foundation Scholarship Fund; available to students from the host countries to enable them to further their research and studies. Nahual Institute for Global Studies programs are designed to help students work towards the graduation requirements of their home institution in Political Science, Sociology, Anthropology, Native American Studies, Latin American Studies, and related areas and are designed to meet transfer requirements. For information, contact The Nahual Institute for Global Studies, P.O. Box 800, La Jolla, CA 92038, (858) 643-9880,

info@nahualinstitute.com, Ignacio Ochoa, Academic Director: ignacio@nahualinstitute.com,
Warren Blesofsky, Executive Director: warren@nahualinstitute.com, http://www.nahualinstitute.com/4436.html.

Survival International, in September, launched a new campaign for the rights of the isolated Jarawa tribe of the Andaman Islands, India that faces an explosion in the number of outsiders invading their reserve, and stealing the game on which they depend for food. The problem has become so acute that in some areas once abundant wild pigs and fish are now scarce. There are also increasing reports of Jarawa women being sexually exploited. Despite a Supreme Court order to the islands' administration to close the highway which runs though the reserve, it remains open, bringing disease and dependency. A related tribe known as the Sentinelese, who shun all contact with outsiders, are also experiencing the theft of their food sources, particularly of lobster from the rich waters around their island, North Sentinel. Survival Intentional has also been supporting Gana and Gwi 'Bushmen' of Botswana representatives who came to London, in September, to talk about the Botswana government's eviction of the Bushmen from their reserve, and their campaign to return to the land of their ancestors. For more information, go to:
http://www.survival-international.org/jarawa_040901.htm.

Sacred Earth Network has an East-West indigenous exchange uniting native Siberian and Native American elders, leaders and medicine people who share their wisdom with one another and the general public. For information, contact Bill Pfeiffer, President, Sacred Earth Network, 592 Main St., Amherst, MA 01002 (413)253-6988, info@sacredearthnetwork.org, www.sacredearthnetwork.org.

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