Sorry for the short notice, but in about half an hour–at 10:00 am PST–a coalition of individual property owners along with Indigenous and border community leaders will be holding a national telephonic media conference and briefing to announce their intent to fight the Department of Homeland Security’s threatened seizure of their property along the border. See here for background.

INDIGENOUS SPOKESPERSONS on the call will include Enrique Madrid, Jumano Apache community member, Texas Historical Commission, Redford, TX; Gabriel Carrasco, Chief of the Jumano Apache, Redford/El Paso, TX; José Matus, Yaqui, director of Alianza Indígena Sin Fronteras, Tucson, AZ; Rosie Molano Blount, Chiricahua Apache, Del Río, TX; Michael Paul Hill, San Carlos Apache, AZ; Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O’odham, AZ, founder of O’odham Voice Against the Wall; Eloisa Tamez, Hleh Pai Nde, TX (Lipan Apache-Basque-Ibero); Margo Tamez, Hleh Pai Nde, TX; (Lipan Apache-Jumano Apache) Moderator;

If you would like to join the conference call, contact:

Arnoldo Garcia, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR)
work (510) 465-1984 ext 305
cell (510) 928-0685
Email: agarcia@nnirr.org

Indigenous Communities Call on Homeland Security to Stop Border …

As of January 1st, the indigenous town of Sanmin, located in Kaohsiung County, Taiwan, will be known as the Namasiya Township–marking the first day of a new government-backed effort to reclaim the names of Indigenous towns.

According to a an article on Tawain headlines, “the name rectification is in line with appeals from the indigenous movement as well as the “New Partnership between the Indigenous Peoples and the Government of Taiwan” treaty signed by President Chen Shui-bian in 1999 and reaffirmed in 2002…”

The treaty is made up of seven articles, which include:

1. Recognizing the inherent sovereignty of Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples
2. Promoting autonomy for Indigenous Peoples
3. Concluding a land treaty with Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples
4. Reinstating traditional names of Indigenous communities and natural landmarks
5. Recovering traditional territories of Indigenous communities and Peoples
6. Recovering use of traditional natural resources and furthering the development of self-determination
7. Providing legislative (parliamentary) representation for each Indigenous People

Icyang Parod, Chairman of the Council of Indigenous People …

On Wednesday, some 300 indigenous people from the Mexican state of Veracruz marched naked through the streets of the capital to demand restitution for the land they were forcefully evicted from in 1992.

The protesters, made up of members from the organization known as “the Movement of 400 Peoples”, have marched every year since then, but they only started doing it nude in 2002.

According to an article on IPS, after they were evicted from the privately-held land they occupied (reclaimed) in 1988, they traveled to the capital and “demanded the release of 100 members of the group imprisoned on [false] charges of squatting, theft, assault and murder. Once this had been achieved, they began to call for the restitution of the land they originally occupied or to be granted ownership of other land, as well as punishment for the authorities who evicted them…”

“In 2002, during one of their annual visits to the capital, where they spend two or three months living in tents set up between the busy downtown thoroughfares of Reforma and Insurgentes Avenues, they decided to …

Pictured here is Residential School Activist Nora Bernard, the 72-year old Mi’kmaq woman that started the first class-action lawsuit for Residential Schools survivors in 1996. Nora was recently found dead in her home.

In keeping with the patterns relayed in previous months, December was a time filled with both wanted and unwelcomed events.

On the positive side, government officials in India acknowledged the Narmada dam was illegal; and in Canada, the Ontario Government announced they will be returning Ipperwash Park to the Chippewa.

Elsewhere, in Australia, the Kuku Yalanji had 1300sqkm of rainforest returned to them in the largest freehold land transfer in Queensland’s history; and in New Zealand, there was some movement to settle the claims for the historical Treaty of Waitangi. Around the world, there was also a great deal of paper pushing to stop the ‘illegal’ logging industry.

I’m sure we can agree this is great news. But while it unfolded, governments and corporations took numerous steps to threaten and harm indigenous people tenfold over anything …

The World Rainforest Movement’s Bulletin for December features an article by Guadalupe Rodriguez, a Campaigner for Tropical Forests and Human Rights, which discusses the ongoing criminalization of anyone opposed to the exploitative activities of transnational corporations in Ecuador.

The article also discusses “the First Summit of Communities Criminalized for Defending Nature”, which was held on November 16th at the Catholic University in Quito, Ecuador.

You can read the full article at World Rainforest Movement website. Here’s an excerpt:

As announced in the call to the Quito meeting, [the Summit] was to be a first step towards “making visible to national and international public opinion the escalade of political, legal and para-legal persecution of social leaders defending nature and life, in opposition to an economist development model, violating rights” and it achieved its purpose. In Ecuador, criminalization of peasants has occurred in the North, in the subtropical zone of Intag and at present in the South of the country, in the Amazon region.

Some of the faces present at the event seemed to show relief, probably because they saw …

According to a recent article on Narco News, Colombia’s Anti-Narcotics Police will soon begin fumigating illicit crops inside of the country’s Indigenous Territories.

Though not publicly known until November 24, on October 8, the National Narcotics Council approved the new fumigation plan–alleging the government first engaged in a consultation process with the affected communities (which they are required to do by law).

Consultations have “supposedly been carried out in the departments (states) of Guaviare, Magdalena, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, Cuaca, Caquetá, Vichada, Arauca and Guainía, and are still pending for Chocó, Amazonas, Antioquia, Córdoba, Valle, Meta, Nariño and Vaupés.”

During the 7th Congress of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC, in its Spanish initials), which took place from December 9 to 15 in the city of Ibagué, Columbia–Narco News spoke to senator and Embera indigenous leader Geradro Jumí, who insists no such consultation process has taken place. According to the well-known journalist Alfredo Molano, at least not one where the government didn’t blackmail “the indigenous with carrot and stick. The stick that they are being accused of …

Black Mesa Indigenous Support has sent out an urgent call for people to help protect Yucca Mountain.

Located 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas, the Mountain range is located on Shoshone territory as defined in the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley. The US government however refuses to acknowledge the treaty and is currently planning to make the Mountain range into a major nuclear waste repository.

The Shoshone and numerous other Indigenous Nations, all of whom hold Yucca Mountain sacred, have been actively opposed to the plan from the beginning. There are a wide array of cultural, social, physical, and religious dangers (pdf) implicit in this project which have not been adequately addressed.

There are also a great number of serious environmental concerns, such as the fact that there are several local fault lines and nearby a volcano, making it more than likely the mountain will fracture the repository, resulting in the nearby aquifer becoming contaminated.

The region is also one of the most arid locations in the U.S, but when rain does come, …

A group of Penan from the Upper Baram region of the East Malaysian State of Sarawak have reported Headman Kelesau Naan has vanished without a trace. He was last seen on October 23, 2007.

According to a media release by Bruno Manser Fonds, “The Penan leader, who was in his 70s, was last seen on 23 October 2007 in the vicinity of his village in one of Sarawak’s last intact rainforests. After two months, the Penan have decided to break the silence and have lodged a police report.”

The Penan fear he may have been murdered because he “is one of four plaintiffs and a key witness in a major Penan land rights claim that has been awaiting trial since 1998. He was one of the leading figures in the Upper Baram Penan communities’ struggle against the logging of their rainforests by the Malaysian Samling corporation.

Long Kerong is one of the few Penan communities that, by fierce resistance, have managed to keep the loggers at bay and preserve parts of their communal forests for hunting and the …

Honor the Earth, a group that’s comprised of representatives from the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) and the Indigenous Women’s Network (IWN) is currently accepting proposals for funding to help Native-led organizations in Canada and the US who work in the areas of: Environmental & Energy Justice, Community Development, and Youth. The grants range from $1,000- $5,000. Proposals are due January 15th, 2007.

Please visit this page for a full explanation of the application procedures.

[PLEASE DISTRIBUTE FAR AND WIDE]

Request for Proposals
Honor the Earth is currently soliciting proposals for funding from Native-led organizations for the following types of work:

Environmental & Energy Justice
Native lands are disproportionately targeted for resource extraction, energy development, and dumping of hazardous waste. Our communities suffer from the toxic effects of coal-fired power plants, uranium mining, oil drilling, and nuclear waste just to name a few. At the same time, Native lands hold vast amounts of renewable energy potential such as solar and wind that provide cleaner, healthier energy to the community. Honor the Earth supports efforts to protect against environmental threats and to …

At a press conference this morning, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Michael Bryant along with Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield announced Ontario will be returning Ipperwash Provincial Park lands to the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation.

“As the first step in the process to transfer Ipperwash Provincial Park from the province to the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation, both parties will work together with the local communities to develop an interim co-management plan,” said Cansfield. “Through these discussions we will determine how the park lands will be used and managed until the transfer is completed.”

This announcement comes in the wake of the Ipperwash Inquiry, which was concluded on May 31, 2007. Among other things, the final report called for a resolution of the Ipperwash Provincial Park lands.

A day after the report was released, Sam George, the brother of slain indigenous protester Dudley George, formally requested the return of Ipperwash Provincial Park to his people. “Can we agree, in the next week or so, to commit that those …