SEATTLE – Tuesday, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), Native American Rights Fund (NARF), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), as well as elected leaders and grassroots advocates from American Indian country, decried the United States' violations of indigenous prisoners' religious freedoms, to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
More: http://www.nativenewsnetwork.com/american-indian-groups-call-for-un-human-rights-committee-inquiry.html
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
American Chernobyl: Radioactive Dust Near Mt. Rushmore and Black Hills
America’s Chernobyl: Radioactive Dust Near Mt. Rushmore & Black Hills
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/09/02/americas-chernobyl-results-uranium-mining-great-plains-151091
Longest Walk 4: Return to Alcatraz
The Longest Walk 4: Return to Alcatraz began on July 15th, 2013 in Washington D.C. and will arrive at Alcatraz on December 22, 2013. The purpose of this Walk is to reaffirm the heart of Traditional Tribal Sovereignty rooted in Ceremony and land based spiritual relationships.
"We call on all Indigenous Peoples to come and support this Walk.... We also Walk to remind all peoples that Leonard Peltier and his continuing incarceration is symbolic of the continuing incarceration of all Indigenous Peoples in the policies and political structures of the colonial nation-states. The time has come for the release of Leonard Peltier based on principles of reconciliation. It seems strange and one sided that nation-states seek forgiveness for horrendous crimes against our Peoples such as massacres, land confiscations, the theft of our children to abusive boarding schools and such, yet can’t find a way to release a person who has served over 30 years in prison, for what happened during a time of conflict. Leonard Peltier should be freed on this principle of reconciliation regardless of what one may think in terms of justice, innocence or guilt."
For more information about the Longest Walk 4, see http://returntoalcatraz.com/.
"We call on all Indigenous Peoples to come and support this Walk.... We also Walk to remind all peoples that Leonard Peltier and his continuing incarceration is symbolic of the continuing incarceration of all Indigenous Peoples in the policies and political structures of the colonial nation-states. The time has come for the release of Leonard Peltier based on principles of reconciliation. It seems strange and one sided that nation-states seek forgiveness for horrendous crimes against our Peoples such as massacres, land confiscations, the theft of our children to abusive boarding schools and such, yet can’t find a way to release a person who has served over 30 years in prison, for what happened during a time of conflict. Leonard Peltier should be freed on this principle of reconciliation regardless of what one may think in terms of justice, innocence or guilt."
For more information about the Longest Walk 4, see http://returntoalcatraz.com/.
Ken Tilsen, a champion of justice for all, dies at 85
Civil rights attorney Ken Tilsen waged a lifelong battle on behalf of the poor and the downtrodden.
He defended American Indian Movement followers during the Wounded Knee occupation, draft resisters during the Vietnam War, striking union workers, farmers opposed to high-voltage power lines, protesters at the 2008 Republican National Convention and myriad others at odds with the establishment.
Tilsen, 85, died Sunday night at his home in Hudson, Wis. He had congestive heart failure and other health problems and had been in hospice care for a few months, family members and friends said.
“If you’d ask him, he’d say, ‘I’m 85 years old and the parts are wearing out,’ ” his son David said Monday.
Source: http://www.startribune.com/local/222085761.html
He defended American Indian Movement followers during the Wounded Knee occupation, draft resisters during the Vietnam War, striking union workers, farmers opposed to high-voltage power lines, protesters at the 2008 Republican National Convention and myriad others at odds with the establishment.
Tilsen, 85, died Sunday night at his home in Hudson, Wis. He had congestive heart failure and other health problems and had been in hospice care for a few months, family members and friends said.
“If you’d ask him, he’d say, ‘I’m 85 years old and the parts are wearing out,’ ” his son David said Monday.
Source: http://www.startribune.com/local/222085761.html
Monday, September 2, 2013
Native Americans Take Lead in Tar Sands Resistance
SPOKANE, Washington, Sep 01 (IPS) - Native American tribes in the United States have taken the lead in opposing the expansion of the Athabasca Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada, engaging in civil disobedience to the point of arrest and attempting to physically block shipments of construction equipment from passing through their native lands.
Native opposition is based on concern over the environmental destruction associated with the expansion and with the related Keystone XL Pipeline. The pipeline would convey oil from the tar sands through Canada and the United States to southeastern Texas.
As previously reported by IPS, the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation says the expansion of the world's third largest crude oil deposit so far has caused significant damage to the ecosystem, including the disappearance of bugs, decline in the numbers of migratory birds, elevated rates of certain types of cancers, and the possible extinction of caribou herds.
The Nez Perce tribe are also concerned about the Megaload shipments coming through their tribal lands, without their permission, and the ecological damage these shipments might cause. The most recent, a Megaload shipment, contains a 322-tonne, 225-foot-long evaporator to be used in the oil refining process in connection with the Tar Sands expansion.
"What it really amounts to is our association [with] our surroundings, our environment," Tony Smith, a member of the Nez Perce tribe, told IPS in an interview at the recent Spokane Falls Northwest Indian Market, Encampment and Pow Wow.
"Outsiders believe they're apart from the environment, that we're above it, that we can control it," Smith said. "But we believe we're a part of the environment; it's a symbiotic relationship. Whatever we do to our environment we do to ourselves."
"The issue is really hot," he added. "A lot of emotions are flowing over, with the protests that happened."
More: http://www.iede.co.uk/news/2013_2885/native-americans-take-lead-tar-sands-resistance
Native opposition is based on concern over the environmental destruction associated with the expansion and with the related Keystone XL Pipeline. The pipeline would convey oil from the tar sands through Canada and the United States to southeastern Texas.
As previously reported by IPS, the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation says the expansion of the world's third largest crude oil deposit so far has caused significant damage to the ecosystem, including the disappearance of bugs, decline in the numbers of migratory birds, elevated rates of certain types of cancers, and the possible extinction of caribou herds.
The Nez Perce tribe are also concerned about the Megaload shipments coming through their tribal lands, without their permission, and the ecological damage these shipments might cause. The most recent, a Megaload shipment, contains a 322-tonne, 225-foot-long evaporator to be used in the oil refining process in connection with the Tar Sands expansion.
"What it really amounts to is our association [with] our surroundings, our environment," Tony Smith, a member of the Nez Perce tribe, told IPS in an interview at the recent Spokane Falls Northwest Indian Market, Encampment and Pow Wow.
"Outsiders believe they're apart from the environment, that we're above it, that we can control it," Smith said. "But we believe we're a part of the environment; it's a symbiotic relationship. Whatever we do to our environment we do to ourselves."
"The issue is really hot," he added. "A lot of emotions are flowing over, with the protests that happened."
More: http://www.iede.co.uk/news/2013_2885/native-americans-take-lead-tar-sands-resistance
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