Tag Archive for 'indigenous'Page 11 of 91

23
Aug

Circle the Wagons (arrests at a Dakota Blockade)

This video was taken about a week before the racist suppression at Minnesota’s Sesquicentennial on May 18 of this year. A group of Dakota People gathered in Fort Snelling to block a wagon train and dispel the ‘cherished myths’ of the settlers.

“This is a place of genocide, our ancestors were force marched here in 1862 and interned in the concentration camp for an entire winter. So many of our people died here, women and children, so much of our history is ignored and suppressed. We are here to tell the truth about this history and challenge the Sesquicentennial celebration,” said Chris Mato Nunpa, Ph.D.. “All we’re asking is to be heard,” said Ben Yahola, amidst protestors holding signs that say “We are not invisible,” “1862,” “Site of Dakota Genocide,” and “My grandmother died here.”

It wasn’t long before “two skittish horses were steered by their mounted officers through the …

Published on
August 23, 2008
  0 Comments 609 views

21
Aug

65 Indigenous Communities Declare Victory in Peru

Indigenous groups in Peru are claiming victory after more than a week of protests throughout the state.

A day after the government declared martial law in three of the provinces affected by the protests, on August 19 a congressional commission voted to overturn the controversial law known as Decree 1015, which the indigenous groups were challenging.

They say the law “makes it easier for mining and energy companies to buy communally owned land, will lead to a foreign land grab, especially in the Amazon rain forest,” Reuters explains. “Garcia passed the law by decree earlier this year under special powers Congress granted him to bring Peruvian law into compliance with a new free-trade deal with the United States.”

The Congressional Commission said Garcia ‘went too far’ with the decree, and “agreed in principle to bring any new land law into compliance with Convention 169 …

Published on
August 21, 2008
  1 Comment 876 views

20
Aug

Two Petitions for Indigenous Communties in Brazil

Two petitions have been posted online to help the Kaiowa Guarani of Mato Grosso do Sol and the Peoples of Raposa Serra do Sol, in northern Brazil. Details and links to the petitions can be found below…

Raposa Serra do Sol

Signatures are requested by August 21, 2008. Brazil’s Supreme Court is about to decide on whether or not to uphold the ratification of Raposa Serra do Sol, a reserve populated by more than 18,000 Indigenous People. You may recall the recent violence attacks against some of them, at the hands of vigilante rice farmers illegally occupying the reserve. If the supreme court rules against Raposa Serra do Sol, it could be setting a dangerous precedent, even validate the use of force (against law-abiding indigenous people). The Peoples of Raposa Serra do Sol have posted the petition in both Portuguese and English: www.petitiononline.com/rss408/petition.html

The Kaiowa Guarani of Mato

…

Published on
August 20, 2008
  0 Comments 470 views

20
Aug

Mexican Campesinos Tricked into Leasing Their Land

Hundreds of Indigenous campesinos have been tricked into giving away their lands for a wind farm project on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca, Mexico.

The non-Spanish speaking agrarians signed tenancy agreements with a number of different companies, some of which last up to 60 years. Now the companies refuse to fulfill their end of the agreements.

For instance, the Spanish company Union FENOSA promised agricultural aid to Faustina López Martínez, from the village of Juchitán, so they can run a set of windmills on her 3 hectares of land for the next 30 years. The company, however, will not give her the aid - offering only the lesser part of the agreement, 150 pesos (less than US$15) a year.

Divided between FENOSA, berdrola, Endesa, Preneal, Gamesa and others, there are at least 185 different contract violations like like this. A group of lawyers from …

Published on
August 20, 2008
  0 Comments 491 views

19
Aug

Thousands of Sudanese Refuse to Leave Their Land

Thousands of Manasir villagers in Sudan are refusing to leave their lands, which are currently being flooded as the reservoir for the nearby Merowe Dam begins to fill.

“Local communities have recorded their trauma on video, and say the reservoir is being deliberately filled now to forcibly evict those villages that have been most outspoken in calling for fair compensation and replacement lands. As many as 25 villages could ultimately be affected by the rising waters,” says International Rivers.

The Manasir, who number around 50,000, were previously willing to relocate to other parts of their land, within the fertile region of the Nile Valley. However, through the Merowe Dam Implementation Unit (DIU), the Sudan government recently told the Nubian people that they will now have to move to a desert location.

“The inundation of the Manasir lands followed on the 24 of July,” explains …

Published on
August 19, 2008
  1 Comment 674 views

18
Aug

An Open Letter to Canada and All First Nation Leaders

It’s well known that Canada perpetuates discrimination against indigenous people at every level of government, but what does it mean when that discrimination causes the death of innocent people? Death that is enshrouded in bureaucracy, covered up by the government, and ignored by the so-called leaders?

Shelley Brant, from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in southern Ontario, reaches for an answer in this open letter:

An Open Letter to Canada and All First Nation Leaders

Wednesday August 6th, 2008

The recent questionable killing of yet another First Nations man, Craig McDougall 26 by police in Winnipeg has led me to write this letter:

How many more inquiries and bodies is it going to take???? How many more unimplemented recommendations???? How many more police lies and cover-ups supported by the governments in this so called great country before people wake up to the truth????? How many more planted weapons in the …

Published on
August 18, 2008
  0 Comments 512 views

18
Aug

First Nations Strategic Bulletin August 2008

After a bit of a break, the First Nations Strategic Policy Counsel has resumed its monthly publication, the First Nations Strategic Bulletin.

Issues in this month’s bulletin include: an analysis of “Canada’s War to terminate First Nations” (Harper’s apology in context), the OPP & Mohawks (w/ a transcript of the phone conversation between Shawn Brant & Julian Fantino — something you probably haven’t seen yet), “the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the 2010 Olympics,” and “Canada’s Tibetans: Barriere Lake & Other First Nations.”

You can download the bulletin by heading over to the Library and Archives Canada website. Back issues are available there as well.

Here’s a few excerpts from “Canada’s War to terminate First Nations,” by Russel Diabo:

My belief–which is based upon my policy experience and observations over the past three decades of First Nations-Canada relations–is that the …

Published on
August 18, 2008
  0 Comments 1,113 views

Video activism and the Chiapas Media Project

In the following presentation, Claudia Magallanes-Blanco from the University of Western Sydney talks about the role of video activism as a world-wide tool for empowerment and the Chiapas Media Project, a collaborative effort based in Mexico that provides indigenous Zapatistas in Chiapas and peasants in Guerrero with training and equipment to produce their own videos.

Since forming in 1998, CMP has distributed over 6000 videos, including: Zapata’s Garden, a film that looks at the society the Zapatista’s are building; …


I Am A Defender of the Rainforest

Known as ‘Soy defensor de la selva’ in Spanish, I am a Defender of the Rainforest is an award-winning documentary that was filmed, edited, and directed by members of the Sarayaku community in southern Ecuador.

The film shows how the …


Underreported Struggles #19, October 2008

In this month’s Underreported Struggles: 400,000 Guatemalans Reject Development Model, Philippines Indigenous People Unite for the Land, Riot Police Target Algonquin Blockade, Chagos Islanders Denied the Right of Return, and 17 other stories …


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