ONGOING ACTIVITIES
Steve Sachs
ACTIVITIES IN THE US
INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES
Activities in the U.S.
The Native American Rights Fund
is celebrating its 35th year of working for American Indian rights.
Across the entire period the fund has been particularly concerned
about tribal water rights, which are becoming increasingly important
as the very dry U.S. west is becoming even dryer. For more information
go to: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411426.
The National Commission on the Voting Rights Act,
a project of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law,
heard testimony in a hearing in Rapid City, SD, that the Voting
rights Act needs to be reauthorized to protect American Indians
in the state against continuing discrimination at the polls.
The commission, which has planned 10 hearings across the U.S.,
will submit a report to Congress on discrimination in voting since
the last comprehensive reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act,
in 1982. For more information go to: http://tinyurl.com/aocw7.
Students and Teachers Against Racism (STAR), was
founded in January of 2001 by Christine Rose with the support
of Civil Rights Attorney Charles Yow to fight for Native American
civil rights, and has its main office in Connecticut and local
chapters in South Dakota, Arkansas, and Wisconsin. In the past
four years, STAR has responded to Civil Rights complaints of discrimination
in schools, the justice system and other institutions from American
Indians in at least 13 states. The largest number have come from
South Dakota. In most instances, STAR has been able to get some
resolution of the problems. In a few cases, however, STAR states
that schools have refused to account for their discriminatory
behavior and misrepresented their actions, even when the U.S.
Office of Civil Rights has been involved. Many schools illegally
disregard the complaints and concerns of Indian Education Committees,
and many school boards are often unmotivated about taking action
to protect Indian children, often resulting in apathy in the Native
students and high drop out rates. Where school discrimination
has been severe and government agencies have brought about little
or now change, STAR has used publicity to pressure for a just
resolution. STAR experiences the problem of overcoming discrimination
as having become more difficult during the Bush presidency, as
the current administration has cut the budgets of some governmental
civil rights agencies to the point where they are almost completely
ineffective. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, for example,
is close to being shut down, leaving exposure by the media the
only effective way to bring attention to the discrimination American
Indians face. For more information, contact STAR at Contact: Christine
Rose, Students and Teachers Against Racism, PO Box 801, Fairfield,
CT 06824 (877)256-9720, www.racismagainstindians.org.
The Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Association,
concerned that the Indian Health Service (IHS) Great Plains Regional
Office office's withholding of ''residual funds'' has harmed the
quality of their health care, in September, resolved to require
a full accounting of expenditures and asked for monthly financial
reports. Rick Sorenson, at the IHS Great Plains area office,
said $6 million is in the residual fund that was to cover expenses
for duties performed by federal officials, which are federally
inherent functions. Sorenson did not say how the residual fund
works, but stated that the funding was negotiated with the tribes.
In addition to the $6 million residual fund, there is an additional
$6 million which the area office identified as unavailable for
distribution. The chairmen's association passed a resolution that
would require a consultative process to identify resources within
the area office that could be released and transferred to direct
health services. The tribal chairmen also want a review of the
additional, unavailable funds and ask that the IHS disclose to
the tribes all area office funds.
Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO), in its
35th year, (in addition to international activities discussed
below) continues to nurture leadership though its two year Ambassador
program, working with native people already doing work in
their communities, and including a community project as a core
piece of the program. Ambassador alumni, who are now working in
every major national Indian organization and every federal agency
with significant Native American activity, remain in the Ambassador
network, helping AIO in decision making, and providing information
and ideas for Indian country generally. Recent projects of Ambassador
alumni include: Madona Yawakee (Turtle mountain Chippewa) was
one of six women honored as rural leaders by Minnesota Futures
in April, for her work as President and CEO of Turtle Island Communications,
Inc., providing telecommunications engineering and technical consulting
services to tribal governments and organizations (mpy@turtleislandcom.com). Michelle Anderson (Athabascan), while
continuing her work at the Denali Commission representing the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, created a website
on the 33 Alaska Native regional non-profits, at: www.denali.gov, as part of her Masters in of Fine
Arts in Rural Development project at the University of Alaska,
Fairbanks. Jamie Goins (Lumbee) has been involved with her tribe’s
opening Boys and Girls Clubs and is on the tribal youth council,
while Richard Blue Cloud Castaneda (Pima/Maricopa) has created
an American Indian Youth Art Program in San Francisco. Linda Ogo’s
(Yavapai) AIO Ambassador’s community initiative of creating a
Junior Board of Directors across her nation’s three communities,
has expanded into a one year Yavapai Ambassador’s program for
people of Yavapai ancestry, 15-20, across Arizona, with this year’s
inaugural class participating in UNITY in San Diego, and the WIPCE
meeting in New Zealand. AIO is participating in the New
Zealand international indigenous education meeting, with
President LaDonna Harris a principle speaker. AIO staff are also
participating this year in the U.N. Forum on Indigenous Issues,
the UN International Day of Indigenous People, the World Social
Forum, the National Urban Indian Family Coalition Summit, the
International Relations Center (IRC) Board Meeting and Global
Good Neighbor Initiative, and the fall meeting of the
National Congress of American Indians. In May, AIO facilitated
a mini Indigenous Leaders Interactive System (ILIS) participatory
strategic planning dialogue among urban Indians to illustrate
modern Native American Issues and participatory process for a
film crew making a documentary for prime time television in Croatia.
AIO helped organize the annual retreat of The New Voices Fellowship,
a social justice organization, in Albuquerque in January. In July,
AIO presented its first Blue Lake Spirit of Indigenity Award
to Taos Pueblo for making positive change through application
of indigenous values in its persistence in getting back traditional
land and working for Indian rights. AIO was awarded the 2005
Innovator of the Year Award by New Mexico Business Weekly
for the American Indian Ambassador Program. For more information,
contact AIO, 1001 Marquette Ave., NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102 (505)265-9388,
aio@aio.org, www.aio.org.
The Association on American Indian Affairs (AAIA),
Inc., one of the oldest U.S. national Indian advocacy NGOs, in
addition to significant service work, continues its efforts to
advance American Indian policy. AAIA collaborates with Indian
nations across the country to oppose development that would adversely
affect sacred places and works nationally to improve federal
agency consultation with tribes and to educate tribal people about
sacred land protection. AAIA played a role in obtaining passage
of the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation
Act and has assisted in numerous repatriations, while educating
and encouraging the private art market to repatriate. The association
has been supporting a number of federally unrecognized tribes
in receiving federal acknowledgement. AAIA, having helped draft
the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, continues efforts to see that
the act is carried out through training and involvement in individual
cases, while helping in language preservation by cosponsoring
the Family Dakotah Language Learning Center with Sisseton Wahpeton
College. For more information contact the Association on American
Indian Affairs, 2009 SD Hwy 10, Ste B, Sisseton, SD 57262 (605)698-3316,
general.aaia@verizon.net,
www.indian-affairs.org.
The Hopi Foundation,
one of the oldest independent Indian foundations in Indian country,
has been given an award, coming with more than $100,000,
from the Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World
for the creation of projects for rock stonemasons, seamstresses,
solar energy, a tribal radio station and an international treatment
center for indigenous victims of torture.
Women Empowering
Women for Indian Nations held their annual conference July
14, in Minneapolis, discussing issues from protecting tribal sovereignty
to winning elections. For information go to: http//:www.wewin04.org.
Representatives
from across Indian Country gathered at the State Capitol Building
in Sacramento, CA to support civil rights in Indian Country, and
the passage of the Tribal Justice Act (TJA) which would serve to enforce the provisions of 1968 Indian
Civil Rights Act and provide fair and impartial forums for those
who have been denied their human and civil rights. For more information
go to www.pechanga.info, or contact mail@pechanga.info.
Navajo Nation
President Joe Shirley Jr. went to Paris, in June, to ask help from UNESCO in
saving Dine culture. Shirley sought support for protection
for the Sacred Peaks, and recognition of Navajos' sovereign right
to pass laws within its boundaries, including preventing continued
Uranium mining on the Navajo reservation. The Navajo Nation president
also asked for assistance from the 2005 UNESCO General Conference
in helping protect and preserve the Dine language. In October
2001, the UNESCO General Conference unanimously adopted a universal
declaration on cultural diversity, which also addresses language
and biodiversity. The Navajo Nation endorses the principles of
the declaration, said Shirley.
Members of the Navajo Nation's Leupp Chapter, other
Navajos and environmentalists have been protesting a deal being
negotiated between Navajo Nation and the Peabody coal Co. to allow
it to continue its coal slurry operation to the Mohave Generating
Station by shifting water use from the N to the C-aquifer,
farther south on the Navajo reservation. Pumping from the N-aquifer
has caused wells to dry up, so that 95% of the people in Leupp
Chapter have to haul in all their water. 200 people from the
Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Zuni Pueblo, Acoma Pueblo, Isleta Pueblo,
Laguna Pueblo, San Felipe Pueblo, Taos Pueblo, San Carlos Apache,
White Mountain Apache, Gila River Pima and Maricopa, Yavapai Apache,
To’hono O’Odham, Pascua Yaqui, Tonto Apache, Havasupai and Hualapai
gathered at the base of Doko’oo’sliid (Shining On Top) or the
San Francisco Peaks, July 29, for the coming together of runners
from the various southwest tribes at the Navajo Nation Peaks Ranch
to culminate the “Abalone Mountain Run, Journey to Protect Sacred
Sites,” which started in Albuquerque, N.M., July 23. One of
the protests was against the U.S. Forest Service permitting
recycled sewage water to be used for snow making at ski areas
on the San Francisco Peaks.
On July 20, Robin Harper, a Member of Scottish Parliament
(MSP, announced he will introduce a resolution to support the
Hoopa, Karuk, Klamath, and Yurok Tribes fishery restoration efforts
and removal of Klamath River Dams. The Tribes have been campaigning
in Scotland to pressure Scottish Power (NYSE - SPI) to remove
it‚s subsidiary's (PacifiCorp) dams which block over 350 miles
of spawning habitat. Klamath salmon numbers have fallen to less
that 8% of their historic levels since the dams were built, devastating
tribal cultures and local economies. The license for the dams
expires in March, and is up for renewal of 2006. Federal dam
licenses typically last 30-50 years. Because Scottish Power has
announced plans to sell PacifiCorp to Mid American Energy (owned
by Warren Buffet), in a $10 billion deal estimated to take 12-18
months, the tribes are attempting to have the issue settled before
the transfer takes place.
SAGE Council of Albuquerque, NM, which has been
working to stop the building of a road through the Petroglyph
National Monument, has launched The Native American Voters
Alliance (NAVA) in order to create a politically active and
educated local alliance of Native Voters. For details go to: http://www.sagecouncil.org/joinnava.html.
International Activities
Survival International,
in its continued battle with De Beers, over the eviction of
the Central Kalahari Bushmen in Botswana to make way for diamond
mining, in early August urged US jewelry designer Neil
Lane not to create a signature collection of diamonds reported
to have been commissioned by De Beers to coincide with the November
opening of the De Beers store in Beverley Hills, Los Angeles.
In September, Survival organized a protest against De Beers in
London at its party, which was part of London Fashion Week. To
date, Survival has had much success with its De Beers campaign,
with Supermodel Iman quitting as the face of De Beers and British
supermodel Erin O'Connor distancing herself from De Beers stating,
'I don't think that doing a job like (being the face of De Beers)
would in any way add to my life or make me happy. I would make
that stand, and say no'. In July, British model Lily Cole, the
current face of De Beers, stated that she is refusing to work
with De Beers again over their human rights record. In June, Survival
and American feminist Gloria Steinem picketed the opening of De
Beers's first U.S. store in New York. Survival supporters urged
US celebrities Teri Hatcher and Lindsay Lohan not to cross the
picket line. Stephen Corry, Director of Survival International,
said, 'People in the fashion business need to be made aware of
the catastrophic effect diamonds are having on the Bushmen. It
is not OK for people to wear diamonds by De Beers until the Bushmen
are allowed back to their ancestral lands.' For further information
please contact Miriam Ross: (+44) (0)20 7687 8734. mr@survival-international.org,
http://survival-international.org.
Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO) and Advancement
of Maori Opportunity (AMO) of New Zealand engaged 25 Northeast
Asia students and civil society people in an Indigenous Leaders
Interactive System (ILIS) forum, "Boundary-Spanning Dialogue,"
at International Christian University (ICU) in Japan. The participants
came from China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia, including people
of mixed ethnicities and an indigenous Ainu from Japan, as well
as a Comanche from the United States. The participatory process
first focused on identifying the barriers to intercultural boundary
spanning dialogue, with the group deciding that the underlying
problem was that there was no place or opportunity for diverse
groups to interact. Two other influential obstacles were differences
in historical perspective and the lack of resolution of war time
and colonial oppression. The participants proposed 32 actions
that would encourage dialogue in the region. These included creation
of NGOs dedicated to multi-cultural dialogue at ICU and an international
day of reconciliation for governments to begin working together
to empower ethnic minorities and increase economic equality. AMO
brought several board members and its current ambassador class
to Albuquerque, NM to meet with AIO for international planning
for Advancement of Global Indigeneity (AGI), interactive sessions
with tribal leaders, community activists and state officials,
and cultural exchanges at several pueblos. AMO is very active
in putting on the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education
(WIPCE) at Te Wananga o Aotearoa: the Maori University of
Waikato, where AMO President Bentham Ohia, is a Vice President.
AIO President, Ladonna Harris is one of the keynote speakers at
the conference, on the topic of indigenous leadership. For more
information, contact AIO, 1001 Marquette Ave., NW, Albuquerque,
NM 87102 (505)265-9388, aio@aio.org, www.aio.org or AMO, P.O.
Box 4397, Hamilton East, New Zealand, Tel. +64 7 898 3030, sperls@hug.co.nz,
www.amo.co.nz.
The World Indigenous Higher Education Consortium
(WINHEC) and its Journal are online at: http://www.win-hec.org/.
“We share the vision of Indigenous Peoples of the world united
in the collective synergy of self determination through control
of higher education.” “We are committed to building partnerships
that restore and retain indigenous spirituality, cultures and
languages, homelands, social systems, economic systems and self-determination”
“WINHEC provides an international forum and support for Indigenous
Peoples to pursue common goals through higher education” Members
of WINHEC currently represent Alaska, Aotearoa (New Zealand),
Australia, Canada, Hawaii, Saamiland and the Continental United
States. They are representative of Indigenous Higher Education
Institutions such as WÇnanga, tribal Colleges, Cultural Universities
and Associations of such institutions. This year the Annual WINHEC
Meeting is being held in Hamilton, New Zealand. The hosts are
Te Wananga o Aotearoa in conjunction with WINHEC Head Office.
The venue for the WINHEC meeting is the Glenview International
Hotel and Conference Centre and will run over three days from
Wednesday 23rd November to Friday 25th November 2005. Email Kiri
Price at kiri.price@tauihu-wananga.maori.nz for a draft program
of the week. In addition to the journal, WINHEC publishes a newsletter,
Te Karere - The Messenger, provides information to members
and friends about WINHEC Events, Minutes and Reports of it's annual
meetings.
Cultural Survival "works to empower indigenous
peoples by: Disseminating information about the solutions
indigenous groups have adopted to address the problems they face,
as well as the lessons learned from research and case evaluations;
Facilitating capacity-building on topics such as organizational
management, media relations, fund raising, land demarcation, negotiation
techniques, and political participation rights; Providing the
professional expertise needed to protect their rights and long-term
development goals; Assisting them to understand the motivations
of governments, inter-governmental organizations, and financial
and corporate interests; Facilitating mutual-understanding and
problem-solving dialogues among indigenous groups and non-indigenous
interests; Securing development assistance to support advocacy
activities. Cultural Survival, in partnership with indigenous
peoples, advocates for their human rights before inter-governmental
institutions, governments, courts, financial institutions, and
corporations". The organization is involved in numerous
projects working with indigenous peoples around the planet.
For example, in Brazil, Cultural Survival assists the Xavante
Wară Association, a non-governmental organization that represents
the Xavante peoples of the Sangradouro Indigenous Territory in
Mato Grosso, Brazil, in its work to conserve 'Ro, a Xavante concept
that integrates indigenous cultural and spiritual life with the
natural cerrado (savannah) environment. Projects emphasize the
documentation of traditional knowledge and its transmission across
generations. The Wară Association also focuses on education for
indigenous youth, capacity building, and dissemination of Xavante
knowledge to non-indigenous peoples to promote intercultural understanding.
The Xavante live in a region of Brazil where the government
and agribusiness are promoting intensive mono-crop soy agriculture
that requires large amounts of chemical fertilizers. Xavante territories
are islands of relatively intact savannah ecosystems in this sea
of soy. Local authorities and adjacent ranchers exert constant
pressure on indigenous leaders to develop plantations within their
lands. Soy is particularly destructive to the savannah eco-system
because, unlike other crops, it destroys the root systems of savannah
grasslands. Agro-toxins used in soy cultivation pollute Xavante
sources of water and cause severe illness. The Wară Association
is working to support environmental protection, including
conducting a series of workshops to familiarize Xavante and other
indigenous leaders in the region with the problems associated
with soy agribusiness and the government’s proposed “Hidrovia”
water highway on the Rio das Mortes, a river that borders three
Xavante reserves. These workshops will enable the Xavante to develop
strategies and build coalitions with other potentially affected
local groups and scientists. A key aim is to press for legislation
for a 50-kilometer “protection zone” that will encompass all indigenous
territories in Brazil's soy-production region.
Another example is Cultural Survival’s Totem Peoples
Preservation Project in West Mongolia, helping ensure the
survival of indigenous nomadic peoples, their livestock, and their
habitats in eastern Siberia and Mongolia. The project has helped
stabilize the region’s reindeer population and increase herds
in Tyva and Mongolia. It facilitates Native-rights workshops and
agreements to advance indigenous sovereignty, protect ethno-cultural
habitat, and reduce outside influences that degrade traditional
lifestyles, cultures, and their environments. It also works to
advance the Sayan Cross Trans-Boundary Peace Park Initiative,
which aims to link Native communities on both sides of the Siberian-Mongolian
border. With Cultural Survival’s support, in 2003 nomadic Dukha
reindeer herders brought their concerns to Mongolian government
officials for the first time. Goals for 2005 are: Provide land
and resource protection training; Lead capacity-building workshops
with indigenous Soyot, Buryat, and Evenk peoples in Russia, and
with the Dukha in northern Mongolia, to train them in Native-lands
identification and resource mapping, indigenous land-use history
documentation, and political advocacy techniques. Participants
will develop plans for land protection; conservation of sacred
sites; hunting, gathering, and fishing ground use; and resource
management that will be used as the basis of negotiations with
government authorities. They also will develop strategies to respond
to problems caused by international gold mining, timber cutting,
privatized hunting, and oil and gas exploitation. In addition,
the Sayan Cross Trans-Boundary Peace Park Initiative: Promote
the Peace Park, recognizes open borders for the related nomadic
peoples in both Russia and Mongolia to cross with their reindeer
and other livestock. It also promotes cultural identity and indigenous
rights; secures partnership on ecological protection between trans-boundary
protected areas at the local, regional, and national levels; and
promotes sustainable economic development, trade, and culturally
sensitive ecotourism development across the Russian-Mongolian
region; Continue cross-cultural/ecological exchange, fostering
greater awareness for Native cultures by continuing an exchange
program between indigenous peoples from Mongolia/Siberia and New
York that focuses on cultural arts, music, folklore, and Native
rights; Provide veterinary aid to Native people, continuing
herder livestock management training and securing veterinarian
medicines and expertise for artificial insemination to improve
the breeding stock of threatened reindeer; Stimulate economic
activity, Providing Native peoples with wood and antler craft
tools and equipment, and implement marketing support; Assist in
the development of guidelines for culturally sustainable ecotourism.
For more information, contact Cultural Survival, 215 Prospect
Street Cambridge, MA, 02139 (617)441-5400, culturalsurvival@cs.org.
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