Last week, members and supporters of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (Big Trout Lake) Nation gathered at a Thunder Bay courthouse to witness the proceedings against Chief Donny Morris, councilor Sam McKay, and other community members after they were charged with being in contempt of court for “obstructing the consultation process” last October.

By the looks of things, the proceedings went about as good as we could have expected (though the deck sure does seem to be stacked against the People of Big Trout Lake)… KI Chief Donny Morris was on the stand for a total of 6 hours. Apparently he did such a good job that he ended up being the only person to take the stand. Everyone else adopted his testimony.

According to Anna Baggio, CPAWS Wildlands League’s Director of Conservation Land-Use Planning, who traveled to Thunder Bay to support KI in court,

The Chief made it clear his community opposed the drilling and that they had a moratorium in place since 2001. The Chief said his community mandate was to prevent Platinex from going to the …

Things are getting worse for the world’s indigenous people. It’s no longer a matter of a few companies doing whatever they want to gut a region at the direct expense of a culture, or about some government that’s more than willing to crush down a people so the company can do it without interruption. The problem is that it’s being done more and more and more. It’s developmental genocide on a global scale and it won’t be letting up anytime soon.

And so I echo the Zapatista call for us to struggle on all fronts at the same time. We are after all being encroached upon and invaded in such away.

So too must we act. We must breathe, think, speak, and walk as our own people; start implementing short- and long-term solutions; and confront all these problems on a local, National, and International level.

The situation in Canada, America, Australia, Africa, and the Philippines also speaks loudly for the need to strengthen our own communities. Governments and corporations habitually exploit us on a community level because we …

Today, Survival International released an alert explaining that Kenya’s honey-hunting Ogiek are being targeted in the escalating post-election violence in Kenya.

“An Ogiek leader said today, ‘We the Ogiek people have suffered police shooting, intimidations and threats…. Currently five of our youth have been shot and injured as hundreds of families fled their homes…. We cannot access food, shelter or medicines.’

There have been allegations of rape of Ogiek women by police, and Ogiek houses have been burned down.”

One article posted on the Ogiek website explains that they are allegedly blamed for the recent death of a police officer who was shot with an arrow. There is no actual evidence linking the Ogiek to the shooting, however. That is, the Ogiek do carry bows and arrows “to maintain their marginalized life while collecting mainly honey and wild fruits from the forest,” but since the post-election violence began, “many other peoples living in the area, like Kikuyu, Maasai and Kalenjin” have also armed themselves with such traditional weapons. Anyone could have shot the officer.

It’s more than likely that …

For those who may like to know, National Geographic has an ongoing initiative called the All Roads Film Project, in which they offer grants ranging up to $10,000 for “indigenous and under-represented minority culture filmmakers, as well as filmmakers who can demonstrate that they have been designated by indigenous or minority communities to tell their story.”

I think this is pretty useful; especially to those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to share their stories. Ontop of that, film has come to play an important role in human rights and awareness-raising efforts today. So often the truth is relegated to personal opinion while lies and assumptions are treated at facts; It becomes nearly impossible to inform others and intellectually defend ourselves without having the proof that video affords us… Unless of course we are confronted with delusional megalomaniacs, but that’s another story for another day.

If you’d like more information about this grant program, please visit National Geographic website for complete guidelines and application procedures.

Speaking of which, there’s another initiative worth mentioning that’s equally useful–perhaps moreso.

Witness, a group founded …

The Shan Herald reports that the first construction phase of the Tasang Dam is nearing completion. According to a source from the Thai/Burma border, Chinese dam builders have been at the site since last November, and have so far installed about 90% of the dams pillars.

The Tasang is the largest of 4 dams currently planned for the Salween River, in Shan State, Burma. Once the Tasang is operational, thousands of Karen, Karenni, Mon, Shan, Wa, Pa-O, Lahu, Padaung, Akha, Lisu and Palaung - face displacement at the hands of the Burmese Military. Salween Watch informs us, that, “already over 300,000 people have been forcibly relocated from the areas since dam studies commenced in 1996.” An increased military presence has also “led to an increase of reports of torture, extrajudicial killing, and other human rights abuses, including forced labour - something “well documented” according to a Briefing Paper by the International Rivers Network.

As you would probably guess, there’s never been any type of consultation, public discussion, or effort to compensate the effected …

On Saturday, January 12, seven indigenous people from Raposa Serra do Sol land were detained and abused by Brazil’s Federal Police after inspecting and promoting cultural awareness among tourists at Caracaranã Lake, an area that’s frequently promoted in tourist packages.

According to a recent statement by CIMI, the “tourists leave a lot of garbage, offend indigenous people who live there, play music at maximum volume until late at night and bring and consume alcoholic beverages inside indigenous areas. For this reason, indigenous communities decided to promote awareness among these tourists. Some “tourists” were angry because of this initiative, which led to arguments.”

As it went, some of the tourists made some complaints which, in turn, drew out teams from the Military, Highway and Federal Police. By the time the teams arrived the group had already finished their awareness-raising action and were headed back home–but they returned to speak with the officers about what happened.

The group was then frisked and arbitrarily taken to Boa Vista, the capital of the state to “testify” about the earlier incident. According to chief …

Indigenous Communities in the Philippines have been recently forced to step up their efforts to defend their lands against foreign mining interests. There were two separate blockades last month, both in Nueva Vizcaya, Northern Luzon.

The first blockade was set up on Thursday, December 10th, shortly after the Ifugao, Ibaloi and Kalanguya got word the Australia firm OceanaGold would soon arrive to start exploration operations on their land. Sure enough, the workers arrived the following day. Fortunately that’s all they did—at least until the 100-strong group escorted the workers out of the area.

The three tribal communities have been consistently opposed to OceanaGold’s mining aspirations. They’ve consistently said the mining permit is illegal because it was granted without their consent. According to the Mining Act of 1995, no mining can occur on tribal lands without it. It is also illegal to mine in watershed areas, which the land in question happens to be.

A few days after this, on December 17th, indigenous peoples from the Bugkalot, Kankaney, aswell as the Ifugao, and Kalanguya tribes set up another blockade to prevent another …

The Andaman Trunk Road, a 200 mile-stretch of concrete that breaks through one of India’s most pristine landscapes, is being used now more than ever. According to recent figures, there has been a threefold increase in traffic since 2001 - “from 17,315 to 37,505 in 2006. A total of 27,674 vehicles travelled the road in the first seven months of 2007 alone.”

I suppose this increase should be expected - the road is obviously quite useful - but it’s a bit strange seeing as how the Indian Supreme Court ruled six years ago that the road must be closed for threatening the Jarawa tribe. Right now there shouldn’t be any traffic on Andaman Trunk Road.

“It’s an indication that even a court order is not enough if there is not the will to enforce the decision. Historically, the road has been the key factor bringing outside influences into the tribal areas … It is the first point of entry,” states Pankaj Sekhsaria, author of Troubled Island, a book about the plight of the tribes.

Local authorities simply refuse to abide …

With the Asian Development Bank preparing to give a $100 million loan and $200 million political risk insurance package to GCM Resources’ open pit coal mine in Phulbari, Bangladesh - the future of the entire local population becomes evermore uncertain.

On the land they’ve live on for generations, many continue asking themselves questions that no one should have to ask: “What will happen to us if we are forced to move from here? What will happen to our livelihoods? I don’t want us to live like this. Our mosques and holy places and the places we were born will be destroyed. What will happen to the graveyards of our ancestors?”

If the mine goes ahead as planned, upwards of 50,000 will be displaced from their land, with 500,000 more effected. 50 educational institutions, as well as 171 mosques, 13 temples and other religious establishments will be shut down; and the land itself will be layed in siege by the thankless and unnecessary open pit mine.

So far there has been a great deal of public opposition to this, but it …

Moving along with its pleasant-sounding “comfortable housing program,” a lofty endeavor that aims to forcefully move 250,000 Tibetans into featureless apartment blocks under the auspices of ‘protecting the environment and boosting living standards,’ the Chinese Government announced it will relocate more than 52,000 Tibetan herders and farmers this year.

Human rights groups have been consistently speaking out against this program because the resettlements are in fact lowering the Tibetan Peoples’ standard of living. This is made evident in the report “No one has the Liberty to refuse,” by Human Rights Watch (HRW), which details how the Tibetans are being thrust from a traditional, self-sufficient life to one where they simply cannot have their needs met.

[…] In stark contrast with glowing accounts in the official media, a number of academic studies of the ecological migration policies in Qinghai obtained by Human Rights Watch confirm the reality of the livelihood difficulties recounted by resettled herders. Employment opportunities are often lacking. “Because they are not skilled enough … upon resettlement, ethnic minority laborers don’t find job easily,” acknowledges …