ONGOING ACTIVITIES

Compiled by Steve Sachs

Activities in the U.S.

International Activities

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

Activities in the U.S.

With efforts to increase uranium mining in the western U.S., including on and around the Navajo Nation, the No Dirty Energy Summit, September 22-24, hosted by the Western Mining Action Network's Coal and Uranium Caucuses, connected grassroots communities dealing with the devastating impacts of both coal and uranium mining to share resources, perspectives, and potential solutions to the challenges they face; while facilitating connecting the dots between energy, minerals mining, and climate change to spur collective action in mining-affected communities, and promoting active engagement in national dialogues about the world's energy issues. For more information contact Sarah Keeney, WMAN's Network Coordinator:  (503)327-8625, sarahekeeney@comcast.net, http://www.nunnglow.com/events/no-dirty-energy-summit.html.

The 2008 National Days of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Places was held across the U.S. to coincide with ceremonies for the summer solstice, for the sixth consecutive year, June 20 and 21. Some of the gatherings were educational forums, open to the general public, while others were ceremonial. The events are organized each year by the Morning Star Institute in Washington, DC. Among the sacred and other sites at which gatherings sere held were: Washington, D.C., on the United States Capitol Grounds, Alabama: Wetumpka - Hickory Ground Ceremonial Ground (contact: www.itslt.org), Arizona: San Francisco Peaks (contact Save the Peaks Coalition www.savethepeaks.org), California: the Ft. Mojave Maze at Needles (contact: Nora McDowell-Antone, Tribal Project Manager, at (928) 768-4475 or Courtney Ann Coyle, Tribal Attorney, at (858) 454-8687), Colorado: Boulder - Native American Rights Fund, (contact: The Native American Rights Fund at (303)447-8760), Kansas: Lawrence - Wakarusa Wetlands, (contact: Michael Caron at (785)842-6293, mcaron@sunflower.com, www.savethewetlands.org Lori Tapahonso, Executive Assistant/Public Information Officer, Haskell Indian Nations University (785)830-2715, LTapahonso@HASKELL.edu RaeLynn Butler, President, Haskell Wetland Preservation Organization, Haskell Indian Nations University (785)842-6293, Rbutler@HASKELL.edu), New Mexico: Mount Taylor (contact: Brian D. Vallo, Director, Pueblo Cultural Center Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico (505)724-3533, bvallo@indianpueblo.org), New York: Ganondagan State Historic Site (contact: G. Peter Jemison (585) 924-5848, pjemison@frontiernet.net), Oklahoma: Pawhuska (Contact: Louis Gray (918)766-4530 or Cindy Martin (918)633-3381), South Dakota: Bear Butte State Park (contact Tamra Brennan, Director, Protect Sacred Sites, at Tamra@ProtectSacredSites.org, www.ProtectBearButte.com), and Ihanktonwan Dakota / Yankton Sioux Reservation (contact Allan Hare (605)384-3641 or (605) 491-3383, Faith Spotted Eagle (605)481-0416 or Gary Drapeau: (605)401-4900), Washington: Snoqualmie Falls (contact Lois Sweet Dorman (Snoqualmie) (425)941-5795, nightfishes@qwest.net), Wisconsin: Aztalan Mounds (contact Tamra Brennan, Director, Protect Sacred Sites, Tamra@ProtectSacredSites.org or also visit: www.wisconsinhistory.org or www.lakeparkfriends.org), plus Medicine Lake in the Modoc National Forest in northeastern California; Indian Pass, a Quechan sacred place in southern California, Coastal Chumash sacred lands in the Gaviota Coastal region in southern California, with others in California: Yurok Nation's salmon fisheries in the Klamath River, Berry Creek, Moore Town and Enterprise Rancherias' lands, the sacred Puvungna of the Tongva and Acjachemen Peoples; the sacred Katuktu (Morro Hill) of the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians, Mount Graham, Arizona, Hualapai Nation landforms in Truxton and Crozier Canyons of Arizon, the Boboquivari Mountain of the Tohono O'odham Nation; Zuni Salt Lake, Carrizo/Comecrudo lands flooded by Amistad Lake and Falcon Dam in Texas, Badlands, Black Hills, South Dakota, Medicine Wheel in Montana, Lummi Nation Tsi-litch Semiahmah Village and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe Tse Whit Zen Village - Ancestor burial grounds, Cold Water Springs and Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota, Ocmulgee National Monument and Ocmulgee Old Fields in Georgia; Petroglyphs National Monument and the micaceous clay-gathering place of the Picuris Pueblo in New Mexico, Sweetgrass Hills (Badger Two Medicine) in Montana; and the endangered salmon in the Pacific Northwest. For more Information contact The Morning Star Institute, 611 Pennsylvania Ave., SE #377, Washington, DC 20003 (202)547-5531.

Rick Whaley, "2008 Sacred Sites Journey heals as participants run," News From Indian Country, August 2008, http://indiancountrynews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4166&Itemid=1, states, "The Sacred Sites Run 2006-2010 empowers Indian runners to learn about their cultural heritage, not only the ancient sites, but also the importance of healthy, traditional foods and the spirituality of running. The Sacred Sites Run (SSR) is also part of a national effort to win from Congress a "cause of action" which allows Indian people the right to access and do ceremonies at these ancient sacred places, a religious freedom right that other denominations have for their churches and services. In 2006 the Run focused on Mississippian-culture ceremonial mounds in the U.S. southeast and ended with a religious ceremony at Indian Summer Festival in Milwaukee. The 2008 Great Plains/Great Prairie Run, Kathy had taken on a leadership role in SSR, including a winter anti-racism workshop in Milwaukee…. joined in support of the Oceti Sakowin - the 7 Council Fires of the Dakota - in protesting Minnesota's state sesquicentennial. On Friday, May 9, the Mdwankanton Mendota Dakota and their allies marched along the Mendota Bridge walkways for a truth telling protest. That Saturday, May 10, Dakota and supporters rallied as the settlers' re-enactment wagon train rolled into Fort Snelling. Dr. Chris Cavender, his daughter Dr. Angela Cavender, and other family members were arrested in hopes of testing Dakota claim to the sacred springs at the site of the old fort. The following day, Sacred Sites Runners joined the Spears brothers (Red Lake) and the First Nations United runners, Dakota runners, and the Ho-Chunk Native Cruzers for a "Tipi Wakan Walk, Run and Rally" from Mounds Park to the Capitol Building in St. Paul." Other stops on the walk included the bluffs overlooking Pike Island at Mendota, the sacred site of "Maka Cokaya" (Dakota "center of the universe"), mounds along the Missouri River near Ft. Thompson, South Dakota, and the sacred place at Pipestone, Minnesota, Koshkonong Mounds sign, Lake Koshkonong, Wisconsin. The walk supported immigrant rights at a gathering in Milwaukee, where the Sacred Sites Run ended at Indian Summer Festival, September 5-7." For more information, contact Ben Yahola (414)383-7072, humoti@yahoo.com, or go to Voces de la Frontera: www.vdlf.org, or Indian Summer Festival: www.indiansummer.org.

The Western Shoshone Defense Project (WSDP) hosted the 15th Protecting Mother Earth Conference: "Answering Mother Earth's Call for Healing: Reaffirming Our Roots", at the Western Shoshone Community of South Fork Indian Pow-wow Grounds in Lee Nevada, July 17-20, sponsored by the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN). Talks included Traditional L.A.W.S. (Land, Air, Water, Sun); Energy, Global Warming, and Climate Change; Rescinding the Doctrine of Discovery; and Youth and Elders, with discussions of strategies and solutions to problems posed by industrialization and extractive industries, especially concerning mining and energy and climate policy. The conference focused on "society being at a crossroads, as the world is out of balance, faced with unethical corporations that impact not only Indigenous Peoples, but all people worldwide". For information contact Tom Goldtooth, IEN (218)556.1796, http://www.ienearth.org or WSDP: Julie Ann Fishel or Larson Bill (775)744.2565, http://www.wsdp.org.

More than 100 business owners with representatives from all six nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy - Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Tuscarora and Seneca - held a meeting Aug. 27 at the Seneca Niagara Casino at which they agreed "to oppose any attempt by New York politicians to interfere with the indigenous sovereignty of the Haudenosaunee people," as they re-established the First Nations Business League, an association formed in 1996 to fight off an earlier attempt by the state's politicians to force Indian business owners to collect cigarette taxes on sales to non-Indians on reservations. New York State legislators claim the state could capture $400 million or more from reservation sales to help plug the state's $50 billion-plus debt. Cigarette sales to tribal members on reservations are not taxable, but, according to New York law, non-tribal members who buy cigarettes on reservations are obligated to report and pay the taxes. See the reports below of New York City bringing suite against Indian nations in the state over lost tobacco tax revenue, and proposed state legislation to force the nations to collect cigarette taxes, and Gale Courey Toensing, "Six Nations mobilize against state intrusion on tobacco trade, " Indian Country today," September 12 and 15, 2008, http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/politics/28302409.html.

The annual protest of the Columbus Day Holiday and the racism that it embodies took place in Denver, October 11, with a march from Four Winds to the Capitol Building followed by a rally for a better future. For more details go to: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/.

 

 

International Activities

        

Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO) of the United States (www.aio.org) and Advancement for Maori Opportunity (AMO) of New Zealand (http://www.amo.co.nz/) at the Indigenous Peoples' Summit in Hokkaido, Japan, in June, put on a participatory discussion using AIO's Indigenous Leaders Interactive System (ILIS) on behalf of the Ainu tribe of Japan, and helped to bring international pressure to have the Japanese government recognize this Indigenous nation.

At the Elders Gathering for the One Nation, on April 20, The Algonquin Nation from Northern Quebec held a sacred ceremony, beginning the process in which hundreds of Indigenous Sovereign Nations who live within the current borders of Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the Caribbean agreed to sign The Declaration of Sovereignty of The One Nation (being a Nation consisting of all Sovereign Indigenous Nations of the World), "by which these Indigenous Sovereign Nations unite as ONE to re-assert their inherent sovereignty as ONE, inviting all other Indigenous Sovereign Nations from all around the world to join." The signing was done by the Algonquin to "light the torch" to be passed along to other Indigenous Sovereign Nations. The Cree followed soon thereafter. The Mi'kmaq Nation followed up. in June, with its own signing ceremony. Two Choctaw Bands have also signed. Other Nations were welcomed to hold their own ceremony in their own way in their own time to effectuate their own signing. A major gathering for the purpose of signing took place, July 8-9, at Greenbelt Park (campground) in Maryland, 12 miles North of Washington, D.C., 2 days prior to the conclusion of The Longest Walk, when many Elders and Nations from around the world were present. The Australian and New Zealand Sovereign Indigenous Nations have now begin to

effectuate their own signing across their sacred lands at their sacred "Dreamtime" sites. The torch was to be passed across the Australian and New Zealand Continent at that time. The vision statement of the One Nation is below, in Dialoguing. For more information contact: wigibiwajak@hotmail.com (Elder, Algonquin); gmetallic@hotmail.com (Hereditary Chief, Mi'kmaq); tonyplaw@optonline.net (Attorney, Mohawk); and nazlabo1@bigpond.net.au (Ivan Mabbett, Maori Nation & Australia/New Zealand Nations). http://www.onenationvision.com/.

Avaaz.org island states' petition campaign, in September, worked to raise a worldwide chorus of support for a group of small islands' leaders putting a resolution before the United Nations calling upon the Security Council to address climate change to keep their islands from disappearing as oceans rise. For more, go to. http://www.avaaz.org/en/sos_small_islands/?cl=123248274&v=2098

Two Brazilian Indians Indians, from the Makuxi and Wapixana tribes, met with British MPs at Westminster and officials at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in London, June 25, to ask for help in saving their land. The Makuxi, Wapixana and three other tribes have fought for decades to get the Brazilian government to protect their territory, known as Raposa Serra do Sol. President Lula officially recognized the territory in 2005 - but a group of powerful farmers, who occupy a significant part of it, refuse to leave the area. The government of Roraima state supports the farmers, and is petitioning the Brazilian Supreme Court to give them a large piece of the Indians' land. Research by Brazilian and US scientists shows that the most effective way to stop deforestation in the Amazon is to protect Indian lands, which occupy one fifth of the Brazilian Amazon. The Indians efforts in England and Brazil are supported by numerous groups including Survival International, CAFOD and Amnesty International.

In July, Survival International protested outside the AGM of British mining giant Vedanta as part of a new campaign targeting British FTSE-100 company VEDANTA, whose plans to mine a sacred mountain in India, if approved, will destroy the remote Dongria Kondh tribe. Vedanta is owned by London-based Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal. Survival is urging shareholders to disinvest from the company. Vedanta's subsidiary, Sterlite, has recently received permission from India's Supreme Court to mine bauxite, the raw material for aluminum, from Niyamgiri mountain in Orissa, eastern India. The 8,000 Dongria Kondh, one of India's most isolated tribes, vehemently oppose the mine, saying it will destroy their way of life forever. Sterlite plans to construct a huge open cast mine, which will destroy a vast swathe of untouched forest, as well as a large part of the mountain itself. The Dongria Kondh have lived on the slopes of Niyamgiri since time immemorial, and are totally dependent on its forests. They view the mountain as sacred, grow crops on the slopes, and gather wild fruit in the dense forests. On July 31, Vedanta's Chairman Anil Agarwal, supported by the companies Executive Director Kuldip Kaura told the company's share holders that the firm would only proceed with bauxite mining in Orissa, 'complete permission' of the Dongria Kondh tribe, as well as approval of the Indian Supreme Court, which was granted in a decision handed down August 8. This is the first time the company has made any such commitment to comply with international law, which recognizes tribal peoples' right to give or withhold consent for developments which profoundly affect their future. However, as of October the firm was not keeping to its promise, and preliminary work on beginning mining was in progress. A representative from a nighboring Kondh tribe who was present at the share holders meeting, told Mr Agarwal, 'We are here to appeal to you to help save our mountains. Progress to us means living on our mountain. How can your development replace our God?' Near the end of August, with encouragement from Survival International, Scottish investment management firm Martin Currie sold its £2.3million shares of Vedanta. The company's director of corporate communications, Scott White, said, 'It is fundamental that we expect companies to behave both within the law and morally… The doubts over the issues with the bauxite project … led to exiting the stock.' Some of those doubts became clearer in September when Survival campaigner Lindsay Duffield journeyed to India to gather testimonies from members of the tribe and to research the likely effects of the proposed mine. 'It's obvious how absolutely crucial Niyamgiri mountain is to the Dongria Kondh,' she says. 'Not only do its forests provide them with their entire livelihood, but it's also central to their identity.' 'Vedanta says it has consulted the people, but the Dongria Kondh say nobody has asked them whether they want the mine. 'Vedanta has also claimed that there are no villages within twelve kilometers of the mine site, but there are many - the nearest one is a little over one kilometer from the edge of Vedanta's mining concession. If the mine goes ahead, the Dongria Kondh's forests will be cut down, their rivers will be polluted, and the mountain, their most sacred site, will be hacked to pieces.' The Dongria Kondh have vowed to resist the mine and have held protests on the road leading to the mine site as well as in the state capital and in Delhi. More protests are planned. 'In village after village they told me, 'Vedanta will have to cut our heads off before we let them build their mine. We don't want it.''

To mark the UN Day for Indigenous Peoples, on August 9, Survival International named its 'unholy trinity' - the three worst companies abusing tribal peoples' rights: 1. VEDANTA. This FTSE-100 company is determined to construct a bauxite mine on the sacred hills of the Dongria Kondh tribe in Orissa, India. It has already built a $1 billion aluminium refinery at the foot of the hills. The Dongria Kondh, one of India's most isolated tribes, are resolutely opposed to the mine, which will destroy them as a people. 2. PERENCO. A Franco-British oil company, Perenco is pushing ahead with drilling in the nothern Peruvian Amazon, despite being warned that its operations risk the lives of uncontacted Indian groups. The company's plans have attracted two lawsuits from Peru' s Amazon Indians, but it has vowed to carry on. There have already been reports of contact between the oil workers and the isolated Indians. 3. SAMLING. Active in Sarawak, Malaysia, for four decades, Samling has been responsible for logging vast areas of rainforest, including the ancestral lands of the nomadic Penan tribe. The Penan have repeatedly blockaded logging roads in an attempt to halt the devastation of their forest, but much of it has now been destroyed. Many Penan have been arrested, and James Ho, Samling's Chief Operating Officer, has said, 'The Penan have no rights to the forest.' Survival has been strongly supporting the Early Day Motion 88, calling on the UK to ratify ILO Convention 169, the only international law on tribal peoples. Of the three main political parties, as of mid-September 71% of Liberal Democrat MPs had signed the Motion, 18% of Labour MPs, but just 3% of Conservatives. For more information contact Ghislain Pascal, in London, 07778 788 735, gp@survival-international.org or Dr. Jo Woodman 07504 543 367, jw@survival-international.org, www.survival-international.org.

Cultural Survival continues to move ahead with its main projects, Strengthening Indigenous Participation in Democracy in Guatemala through supporting community radio, Assisting Revitalization of Native American Languages in the United States, Fighting the Forced Dislocation of the Ngöbe People of Panama, and Protesting Ongoing Repression in Tibet. For details contact Cultural Survivial, 215 Prospect Street Cambridge, MA, 02139 (617)441.5400, culturalsurvival@cs.org, http://www.culturalsurvival.org/.

The International Treaty Council, August 25-27, presented Human Rights Training for Indigenous Peoples, First Nations and Community Members, "Using the United Nations system to defend Indigenous Peoples' Human Rights and hold Countries Accountable" at Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) Nation, Ontario, Canada. Training topics included: Overview of UN and OAS Human Rights Systems and opportunities for involvement; Human rights mechanisms including the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; Human Rights Council, Special Rapporteurs and Committees; How to do a human rights complaints/urgent actions to the UN and OAS; Strategies for Implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and Self Determination, Treaties, Environment, Subsistence/Food SovereigntyFree, Prior and Informed Consent. For more information contact Laura Calmwind, (416) 986-9856, laura@coo.org, or Andrea Carmen, (907) 841-7758, andrea@treatycouncil.org.

Recently Grassroots International made a grant to the Indigenous Council of Roraima through Caritas Brasil in support of their struggle to gain legal recognition of the 6,500 square mile Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous territory, in Brazil's northern Roraima state. In what may set a significant precedent, one of Brazil's Supreme Court justices ruled in favor of the Indigenous Council (see International Developments, below). For more information contact Grassroots International, 179 Boylston Street, 4th floor, Boston, MA 02130 (617)524-1400, nfo@grassrootsonline.org, http://www.grassrootsonline.org.

School for Chiapas supports the autonomous, indigenous communities of Chiapas, and also supports struggles for dignity, democracy, and justice at the international level. The organization runs educational projects to help the development of Indigenous people in Chiapas, Mexico, and offers tours of Chiapas, including its projects. For information go to: http://www.schoolsforchiapas.org/english/projects.html.

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