Tag Archive for 'indigenous'Page 12 of 91

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

16
Aug

The Leech and the Earthworm

Named after a story about a deadly lie, The Leech and the Earthworm is a documentary film that explores western science, biotechnology and the commodification of indigenous peoples genetic property. The film was produced in 2003 by Yeast Directions and the Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism (IPCB).

For a little more background, here’s a review of the film by GRAIN, an international NGO that “promotes the sustainable management and use of agricultural biodiversity based on people’s control over genetic resources and local knowledge.”

In the mid-1980s, scientists from a Canadian university took blood samples from more than 800 people of the Nuu-chah-nulth nation of Vancouver Island, Canada. The scientists said the blood samples would help find a cure for arthritis and the Nuu-chah-nulth people were willing to help. But the scientists never returned with their results and a few years later the Nuu-chah-nulth people discovered the blood was in …

Published on
August 16, 2008
  1 Comment 690 views

15
Aug

Canada’s mercury pollution on Indigenous lands

Here’s an article I just got published on the Dominion News, with a few links added for people wanting more information.

Mad as a Hatter

Canada’s mercury pollution on Indigenous lands

The Mad Hatter, in the children’s story Alice In Wonderland is suffering from mercury poisoning. Between 1971 and 1996, 17,671 Indigenous People were found to have dangerous levels of mercury in their blood. The first steps are being made towards a class action law suit against the federal government.

If a thermometer breaks in a classroom, spilling mercury, most children are taught to stay away. “That’s all it takes to poison an entire body of water,” teachers will tell them. Many children also read Alice In Wonderland at school, and are familiar with the Mad Hatter. Few, however, know that the crazy character in the children’s story is suffering from “mad hatter’s syndrome,” or mercury …

Published on
August 15, 2008
  2 Comments 661 views

15
Aug

Indian Court lashes out against Indigenous People, Farmers

Last Friday, the Indian Supreme Court issued two rulings against Indigenous People and rural farmers in the eastern state of Orissa. Favoring development over the people’s rights and livelihoods, the court gave the go-ahead to Vedanta Resources and their bauxite mine on the Nyamgiri Hills, as well as to the South Korean steel-maker Posco’s massive steel project in the same state.

“The announcements were hardly surprising, though they still had the power to shock,” notes a recent report by London Calling. “The court seemed determined to display its pro-industry credentials on both sleeves - perhaps (more cynically) also to divide the opposition by throwing it two challenges at once. And challenges there will be. Further legal recourse now seems heavily circumscribed.”

In the case of Nyamgiri, the court barred the threatened Dongria Kondh from appealing the decision to let Vedanta rip through …

Published on
August 15, 2008
  1 Comment 647 views

13
Aug

Indigenous Peruvians Launch State-wide Protest

Marking the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, on Saturday, August 9th, Indigenous Peruvians launched an indefinite, state-wide protest against a set of new government policies that threaten their collective land rights.

“In the southern Amazonian province of Cusco, hundreds of indigenous protesters occupied Lot 56 of the controversial Camisea gas field, forcing the company to cease extraction there. Argentine company Pluspetrol, which operates the field, evacuated its workers from the site,” writes the activist group, Root force.

“In Loreto, another southern Amazonian province, 800 indigenous protesters occupied an oil-pump, drilling platforms, helicopter port and buildings operated by state oil company Petroperu,” they continue.

Meanwhile, in the province of Amazonas, thousands took over the Aramango hydroelectric plant near Muyo; in Daten del Marañon, 150 gathered at an oil pumping station; and several roads were reported to have been …

Published on
August 13, 2008
  0 Comments 584 views

12
Aug

Nasa communities in Colombia on Maximum Alert

On August 11 the Association of Indigenous Authorities of Northern Cauca (ACIN) received a letter of terror, signed by the CEC (Campesinos Embejucados del Cauca, or ‘Furious Peasants of Cauca’), announcing that “at approximately 00:00 tonight, you will receive information regarding the murders at the hands of peasants of paHECES [excrement] and the ex-guerrilla heads of the CRIC, which will be confirmed by phone and a consequences of their disrespect.”

The Nasa communities believe the letter comes from landowners and paramilitaries working in collusion with the government; and they have a called a Maximum Alert, urging the Peoples and Popular Movements of the continent to support them. Here is the full text of the alert, as posted on Dominion News.

ALERT: CAMPAIGN OF TERROR BEGINS AGAINST INDIGENOUS NASA IN CAUCA, COLOMBIA

The following was translated to English by La Chiva:

11 August 2008

Earlier this afternoon, the Association of Indigenous Authorities of …

Published on
August 12, 2008
  1 Comment 2,940 views

11
Aug

Court reverses decision protecting San Francisco Peaks

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has issued its long awaited ruling surrounding Arizona’s San Francisco Peaks, and the religious freedoms of 13 Indigenous Nations who hold the Peaks sacred.

In a split decision, the court decided to reverse the previous March 2007 ruling that opposed the Arizona Snowbowl’s plan to add fake snow made from treated sewage wastewater on to the Peaks so their resort can play host to an extended Ski season.

“The Court found that using reclaimed sewer water to make snow for skiing on an admittedly sacred site posed no ’substantial burden’ on the Plaintiffs’ exercise of religion in this case,” explains a recent press release from the Save the Peaks Coalition.

“According to the Court, the ‘only effect of the proposed upgrades is on the Plaintiffs’ subjective, emotional religious experience. That is, the presence of recycled wastewater on …

Published on
August 11, 2008
  0 Comments 573 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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