_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' O ( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N ) O o O ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ O o O / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' O o o o o O / /-< / /--/ /-- VOLUME 02, ISSUE 008 O o O __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 19 February 1994 O o O ( N E W S ) O This issue contains articles from NATIVE_L/NATCHAT Lists FidoNet Indian Affairs Conference and by members of the Invisible Band. <----<<<< >>>>----> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters of the Invisible Band and those who share our spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. It is hoped that our presence will be rewarded with a Native American RoundTable on GEnie. It is archived at the Native American FTP site ftp.cit.cornell.edu in the directory /pub/special/NativeProfs/newsletters; and is being sent to gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us (Gary S. Trujillo) should he wish to include it in his NATIVE-L or NATCHAT lists. "I believe much trouble and blood would be saved if we opened our hearts more. I will tell you in my way how the Indian sees things. The white man has more words to tell you how they look to him, but it does not require many words to speak the truth." -- Chief Joseph, Nee-mee-poo O'siyo Brothers and Sisters! + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | In the 1500's, more than six million Indians lived in the Amazonian | | rain forest. Today, fewer than 250,000 remain. An average of one | | tribe has perished in each year of this century. | | - source: Worldwatch Institute | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + More than ever, as the resources the dominant cultures covet dwindle, we must all hold true to our beliefs. Mother Earth depends on it. The spirits of those gone before us depend on it. The children not yet born absolutely depend on it. Mitaquye Oyasin! Night Owl ------------------ clip here for news feature -- 8< ----------- --------- "RE: Mohawks Assured Again "NO RAID PLANNED"" --------- From: A.HOROVITCH Art Horovitch Subj: Mohawks Assured Again "NO RAID PLANNED" GE Electronic Mail I want to get this out to you for Wotanging before we leave tomorrow for the Gathering of the Elders conference in Ontario. It may just be more rhetoric, or it may be the start of a very dangerous escalation by the Canadian government and army. Taken with the recent overflight by two military aircraft 3 weeks ago, and pressure on the government to stop smuggling through the reserves, the situation may escalate very quickly. Feb 17, 1994 Montreal, Canada MOHAWKS ASSURED AGAIN "NO RAID PLANNED" --------------------------------------- The Canadian military was scrambling yesterday to assure Mohawks living in the territory of Kanesatake west of Montreal that they are not about to invade the community. The Montreal Gazette, in an article by Aaron Derfel, reported that a large group of Mohawks crowded into a local gym in the community to discuss possible strategies to counter a possible invasion which they expected within a week. Chief Jerry Peltier told the gathering that he had "reliable information" from within the defence department that some 300 troops from Ontario were planning to seize control of the community, after which about 4000 troops from Camp Valcartier in Quebec would invade the larger reserves of Kahnewake near Montreal and Akwesasne which straddles the Canada-US border near Cornwall, Ontario. The Canadian government denied Peltier's claims. Mike Theilmann, an aide to Solicitor General Herb Gray, said there was no truth to Peltier's claims, and a defence department spokesman said there were no plans to stage a raid on any of the reserves. Lt. Jacques Fauteux denied that troops at Valcartier had been preparing to enter the reserves. He said the training they are doing at the base is just "normal operations." He continued, "As a military force, we're always in training." At the meeting in the community gym at Kanesatake, tensions were running high as several young Mohawks issued a call to arms. One asked Peltier, "What we all want to know is when are we going to pick up arms?" Peltier replied that they would do whatever is necessary to protect the community. Some suggested using the gym as a safe house for the women and children. Peltier also suggested that the rationale for a government invasion is to send a clear message that Canadian law will be enforced everywhere, including the reserves. (Prime Minister Jean Chretien has been under increasing pressure to stop the smuggling of cigarettes through the reserves. However the Mohawks invoke the Jay Treaty of 1794 to justify their transport of goods across the international border, which they do not recognize as a boundary on their reserves.) Peltier said he received a call from "a military official in Ottawa" last night, and again was assured the army was not planning an invasion. He requested this to be confirmed in writing by the Defence Department. He said after the meeting that the Kanesatake Mohawks have gone on alert and are ready to arm themselves to defend the community. (Writer's note: Assurances by the Canadian army held little weight during the Oka crisis of 1990. In several scenes in the movie "Kanesatake: 270 Years of Resistance", a commander of the forces is shown verbally agreeing that he would not move his forces forward toward Mohawk positions under cover of darkness. At daybreak, the army has in fact moved forward, and when the assurances of the previous night are questioned, the commander says: "I am the new commander and the other commander has moved to another sector". So much for verbal promises!) --------- "RE: Micmac Warriors Society occupies land it claims" --------- From: Frosty Deere Subj: Micmac Warriors Society occupies land it claims FidoNet Indian Affairs Conference Micmac Warriors Society occupies land it claims. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Canadian Press Montreal Gazette Feb, 9th, 1994 Shubenacadie, N.S. Dressed in combat fatigues and red berets, member of the MIcmac Warrior Society claimed aboriginal ownership yesterday to a chunk land once occupied by an Indian Residential School. Now it includes a farm and a plastics factory operated by a non- natives and the water supply for near by non-indian village of Shubenacadie. About a dozen men, gathered in a former caretaker's house on the school property gave the federal government 90 days to settle, but only hinted at what might happen after that. "This land was never surrendered and thats the bottom line", said Paul Francis. "We're here to defend it at all costs." The announcement took official Micmac organizations by surprise. The Union of Micmac Indians, the Confederation of Mainland Micmac Nation all said they knew nothing of the action and weren't sanctioning it. Warrior Lawrence Bernard said the group has support of Ben Sylliboy, grand chief of the Micmac Nation, but Sylliboy denied it. He said, Bernard told him the warriors were going to have meeting on the former school property but that was all. "As Grand Chief. I don't tolerate violence. I don't own the warriors and they don't own me. The Warriors were formed without the consent of the grand council of consent of most Micmacs, I think. At the center of the claim are three houses occupied by an elderly non- status couple, Peter and Ellen Robinson and their daughters and grandchildren. The Robinsons stopped making mortgage payments in 1991 because they believe the house is on Indian land, said Ellen Robinson. Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. foreclosed and ordered her off the land but she refused to go. Peace. ... via DeltaMail v2.20 for SL (#216378) --- SLMAIL v3.0 (#1349) Origin: Igloo Station (514) 632-5556 (1:167/502) --------- "RE: Prairie Island Coalition Against Nuclear Storage" --------- From: milo@scicom.alphacdc.com (Michele Lord) Subj: Prairie Island Press Statements Prairie Island Coalition Against Nuclear Storage P.O. Box 174 Lake Elmo, MN 55042 Press Statement February 8, 1994 The agreement between NSP and the Mescalero Apache creates an illusion of progress toward a "solution" of the high-level radioactive waste storage problem on Prairie Island. But this is *only* an illusion of progress. In reality, there is nothing in the NSP - Mescalero agreement to change the conclusions of the Administrative Law Judge who tried this case, the Minnesota Court of Appeals, or the Minnesota Supreme Court: high level radioactive waste stored in casks on Prairie Island is permanent nuclear waste storage. The Prairie Island nuclear waste storage problem will not and cannot be solved by our State Legislature or the people of Minnesota attempting to send this radioactive waste to Nevada, New Mexico, or anyplace else. Except for a few misguided Mescalero tribal leaders, the people who live in these regions do not want our waste. We will find that we in Minnesota have neither the right nor the ability to force them to take it. Likewise, we will not solve this problem by attempting to force the people of the Prairie Island Mdewakanton Community to live next to a permanent high-level radioactive waste dump. This problem can only be solved by facing up to, and changing, our abusive and destructive electric utility regulations. Now, these regulations increase NSP's profits as NSP produces more high-level radioactive waste on Prairie Island. They protect NSP's nuclear reactors from fair market competition. This radioactive waste problem can only be solved by rejecting NSP's proposed nuclear waste dump on Prairie Island. Instead, our State Legislature and the people of Minnesota must assume responsibility for our bad energy habits, and change electric utility regulations so that investments into conservation, cogeneration, and renewable energy can earn a fair and reasonable rate of return. The Prairie Island Coalition Against Nuclear Storage and Minnesotans for Nuclear Responsibility are here today to stand in solidarity with the Western Shoshone, the Mescalero Apache, the Prairie Island Mdewakanton Dakota, and all other people struggling to protect themselves from the threat of radioactive waste. We are here to reject NSP's notion that the Mescalero People want our radioactive waste, just as we reject NSP's assertions that its proposed dump is temporary, or that it will benefit the people of Minnesota. We can prove that NSP's claims are self-serving lies. The Prairie Island Coalition Against Nuclear Storage and Minnesotans for Nuclear Responsibility are here today to help the people of Minnesota understand that there are better ways to provide reliable and cost-effective electric utility services. And we are here to say unequivocally that we will simply not tolerate NSP's proposed nuclear waste dump, in the flood plain of the Mississippi River, next to the Prairie Island Mdewakanton Community. Prairie Island Coalition Against Nuclear Storage: American Indian Movement, Bluff Land Environment Watch, Citizens for a Better Environment, Clean Water Action, Direct Expressions, Down River Alliance, Greenpeace, Indigenous Women's Network, International Indian Treaty Council, Land Stewardship Council, Midwest Treaty Network, MN Alliance for Progressive Action, MN Hispanic Bar Association, MN Minority Lawyers Association, Minnesotans for an Energy Efficient Economy, Minnesota Peace and Justice Coalition, Mississippi River Revival, Midwest Institute for Social Transformation, North American Water Office, North Sun Alliance, People Supporting Sustainable Technology, Prairie Island Sioux Community, Prairie Island Sioux Environmental Protection Committee, Rattling Springs Environmental Coalition, River Valley Protection Committee, Sierra Club- North Star Chapter, Twin Cities Greens, Women Against Military Madness ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Statement of the Western Shoshone National Council February 08, 1994 In 1987 the Nuclear Waste Policy Act Amendments identified Yucca Mountain, Nevada as the only site to be investigated for the storage of commercial high level nuclear waste. One hundred fourteen years earlier, a vast portion of the Great Basin including the Yucca Mountain site was recognized by the United States Government through the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley as Western Shoshone Territory. The Western Shoshone people have born witness to the perils of the nuclear age. Since 1950 a total of 925 nuclear tests have been conducted within our territory. Our lands were illegally seized and turned into the place of the greatest evil on earth. The amount of radioactive fallout and destruction is unknown. The cost of the clean up is also unknown. We do know that our people have been seriously wounded. We have complained about excess diseases and deformities for many years while the United States Government continually down plays and trivializes our concerns. This was supposedly a safe site. We have been constantly told that there were and are no off site releases. The United States Department of Energy and its predecessor the Atomic Energy Commission lied to our people. FOR MORE INFORMATION Contact: National Office - Indigenous Environmental Network, P.O.Box 485, Bemidji,MN 56601 (218) 751-4967 fax c/o Environ Coord (218) 679-3378 ~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*+ "When we walk upon Mother Earth, we always plant our feet carefully because we know the faces of our future generations are looking up at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them." -Oren Lyons, Onondaga Nation ~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~* milo@scicom.alphacdc.com Michele Lord Alpha Institute +*+ +*+ +*+ +*+ +*+ +*+ --------- "RE: Teton Sioux to Present 81-yr-old document to UN" --------- From: nyt@blythe.org (NY Transfer News) Subj: Teton Sioux to Present 81-yr-old document to UN Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit ~From: FAC_TODD@WSC.COLORADO.EDU TETON SIOUX TO PRESENT 81-YEAR-OLD MINUTES TO U.N. by Kym O'Connell-Todd and Mark Todd Antoine Black Feather, spokesperson for the Teton Sioux Treaty Council, will present next week in Geneva the minutes of an historic 1913 meeting between elders and Washington officials. The document, which the Teton Sioux have guarded for the past 81 years, records the statements of elders who both signed and witnessed the promises the government made in treaties between 1851 and 1868. Black Feather will hand-carry the records to a U.N. subcommission meeting, which he will attend Feb. 19. The Teton Sioux elders consider these minutes "classified" and will allow only Black Feather to take the document to the meeting. He plans to write a cover letter to accompany the document, explaining its significance to the pending deliberations by the United Nations concerning the draft of the Universal Declaration on Indigenous Rights. The finalization of the draft will occur this July. "You usually have to be part of the political system to speak on the floor, " Black Feather said. "We've separated ourselves from that kind of system, but they know us we've spoken there before. "If I get the floor, everything will hit the fan." He said he hopes that Kent Lebsock, secretary for the American Indian Law Alliance, will travel with him to Geneva. This is Black Feather's eighth trip to the United Nations to provide information and arguments in favor of the Treaty Council's plea for U.N. recognition of their sovereignty. He has represented the Teton Sioux Treaty Council in their bid for recognition with the United Nations since 1983. Black Feather will stay with Swiss supporters while in Geneva. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ + 212-675-9690 NY TRANSFER NEWS COLLECTIVE 212-675-9663 + + Since 1985: Information for the Rest of Us + + e-mail: nyt@blythe.org info: info@blythe.org + --------- "RE: What is Indian dna?" --------- From: tom kunesh Subj: What is Indian dna? FidoNet Indian Affairs Conference ... here's a piece from the front page, column 1, of the 10 september 1993 _Wall Street Journal_ -= Strands of Time =- A Geneticist's Work On DNA Bears Fruit For Anthropologists Variations in Fragments Hint Some American Natives May Hail From Polynesia The Controversy Over Eve by Jerry E. Bishop [staff reporter] St. Louis -- Douglas C. Wallace can see the future in a tiny strand of DNA. ... But he also can peer deep into the past. He has looked back more than 100,000 years to the first humans in Africa. And recently, as a gathering here of science reporters, he painted a picture of prehistoric migrations emerging from DNA that is exciting anthropologists. The scene depicts groups of prehistoric, intrepid mariners moving, not out of Siberia as anthropologists have long assumed, but out of Southeast Asia across the Pacific into the Americas 6,000 to 12,000 years ago. If this picture is accurate, it makes many American Indians distant cousins of the Polynesians. Dr. Wallace's crystal ball is a unique fragment of DNA hidden in every human cell. This clairvoyant DNA is distinct and separate from the long strings of DNA that house almost all human genes in the cell nucleus. It resides, instead, in an outlying compartment called a mitochondrion. Hence its name: mitochondrial DNA, or simply mtDNA. The mtDNA contains a mere 37 genes compared with the 50,000 to 100,000 genes in nuclear DNA. And these few mtDNA genes are devoted largely to the mitochondria's principal job of producing chemical energy for the thousands of second-by-second chemical reactions in a cell. Yet, astonished medical researchers are finding that defects in this snippet of DNA can cause human disease. And, to the surprise of anthropologists, mtDNA is turning into a kind of biological Rosetta stone for decoding human origins. Loud Ties, Deep Theories Few scientists studying mtDNA are probing deeper--and risking more--than Doug Wallace, a professor of genetics and molecular medicine at Emory University in Atlanta. Slight and bespectacled, the 47-year-old scientist is famous among his students for loud neckties and, until recently, his polyester suits. ("When I finally got a raise my wife took all my leisure jackets and threw them away," he says.) Clearly, mtDNA has become Dr. Wallace's consuming, almost obsessive interest. ... Yet this detour into anthropology via mtDNA isn't without controversy. Dr. Wallace, for example, subscribes to the much-publicized "Eve hypothesis," in which a reading of mtDNA indicates modern humans originated in Africa 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. Some anthropologists retort that mtDNA is an unreliable clock for timing human evolution, and that the fossil evidence shows modern humans evolved much earlier than mtDNA indicates. But it is another strange property of mitochondria that unexpectedly thrust the young scientist into the study of human origins. Humans inherit two copies of the nuclear genes, one from each parent. But only the mother's mitochondrial genes are passed on to the child for reasons still not fully understood. Thus, every person's mtDNA is descended in a direct line through female ancestors. There isn't any DNA from the father's side of the family mixed in to confuse the line of descent. This phenomenon of maternal inheritance had been seen in animals but it was a young Doug Wallace who showed it occurred in humans in a series of experiments in 1979 at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. Dr. Wallace ... saw in this maternal inheritance a way to tell how closely groups of people are related. As mtDNA is passed down from mother to daughter, innocuous alterations or mutations are bound to occur. Over a few thousand years, groups of people who live together and intermarry will accumulate distinctive patterns of these mutations. Continental Divide In 1981 Dr. Wallace headed a Stanford research team that found that ethnic groups could be identified and linked to their continent of origin by the mutation patterns in their mtDNA. Moreover, by determining how often these telltale mutations occurred, it was possible to calculate how long ago certain groups stopped intermarrying and separated, each going off to develop its own unique pattern of mtDNA mutations. "Each continent had a different pattern" of mtDNA mutations, Dr. Wallace recalls of his research findings. Africans had mtDNA variations that distinguished them from Asians who, in turn, had variations that distinguished them from European-American Caucasians. "That's when I knew we had an anthropological story," he says. ... Dr. Wallace began studying the mtDNA of Native Americans in the mid-1980s in hopes of resolving a long-raging debate over when prehistoric peoples entered the Americas. The presumption long has been that the ancestors of Native Americans came from Siberia. But anthropologists have argued for year over how many, and when, such migrations occurred. The mtDNA analyses are showing that the ancestors of the Amerinds, who comprise most Native Americans, entered the Americans in a single migratory wave 20,000 to 40,000 years ago, Dr. Wallace and his Emory colleagues ... reported last year. This puts humans in the Americas long before a fluted stone-spear point -- the oldest American tool ever found -- was dropped by a prehistoric dweller near Clovis, N.M., 11,000 years ago. The researchers also found that ancestors of the Navajo, Apache and other members of a Native American group, known collectively as the Na-Dene, are latecomers; they entered the continent in a second migration a mere 5,000 to 10,000 years ago, the research indicates. Polynesian Links? To their surprise, however, the researchers found that native Siberians lack one peculiar mutation that appeared in the Amerinds 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. This raises the question of where, if not from Siberia, this mtDNA originated. It turns out, Dr. Wallace says, that this particular mutation pattern is also found in aboriginal populations in Southeast Asia and in the islands of Melanesia and Polynesia. This hints at what may have been "one of the most astounding migrations in human experience," he says. A group of ancient peoples moved out of China into Malaysia where they became sailors and populated the islands of the South Pacific. Then some 6,000 to 12,000 years ago these ancient mariners made it to the Americas. "I don't know how they came," Dr. Wallace says. "They either came across the Pacific to Central and South America or they went up the east coast of Asia and across the northern Pacific to Alaska and Canada," he says. He already is examining mtDNA samples from natives of the Kamchatka Peninsula north of Japan to see if there is any mtDNA trace of these ancient sailors. ________________________________________ this sure does a helluva lota damage to the Siberian-landbridge migration thang ... ;> --- MacMorf 1.5.3 Origin: I am WASP of Borg. Assimilate yourself or die (1:362/122.29@fidonet) --------- "RE: March 26 Day of Action re Innu" --------- From: chernos in igc:web.native Subj: March 26 day of action re Innu CALL TO ACTION Saturday, March 26 is the second Annual International day of Action for the Innu and the Earth. The Innu, aboriginal people who live in a portion of the Quebec- Labrador peninsula known as Nitassinan, have endured low-level military flight training since 1980. The flights, which number more than 8,000 yearly, harm the environment and seriously disrupt the Innu as they attempt to pursue their traditional way of life. By means of a series of bilateral agreements, Canada allows the British, Dutch and German air forces to conduct these exercises. The Innu were never consulted, and the training continues despite their protests. The Innu are arrested when they non-violently occupy Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay, where the flights originate. We are asking people worldwide to hold some kind of event on or around March 26 to help raise awareness and bring attention to the fact that these flights continue. Of course, we are demanding and immediate end to all low-level flying. The newly-elected Canadian government is reviewing all aspects of our defence policy this year, including low-level military flight training. Make sure the federal Liberal Party knows that you support the Innu and the Earth. Help encourage them to cancel flight training and send the British, Dutch and German Air Forces home. We encourage you to send a letter from your organization to Prime Minister Jean Chretien, 309 S Block, House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0A6. His office can be faxed at (613) 941-6900 or telephoned at (613) 992-4122. Tell him that you support the International Campaign for the Innu and the Earth. Send a copy of any correspondence to International Campaign for the Innu and the Earth at 736 Bathurst St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2R4, and also to the Innu Nation, attention Daniel Ashini, PO Box 119, Sheshatshit, Nitassinan (Labrador), Canada A0P 1M0, phone (709) 497-8398, fax (709) 497-8396. A more direct approach would include organizing a demonstration at a Canadian Consulate or Embassy or arranging a meeting with those Canadian officials to share your concerns. Collect signatures on our petition (we will send a copy on request, and would appreciate a donation to help cover postage and other costs). Organize a video screening of Hunters and Bombers to educate people on the issue. Get the Innu onto radio by telephone from Nitassinan. Let your local media know about the urgency of this issue. The Innu have asked Canadians and people from around the world to join them in resisting the invasion of their homeland. There are so many ways to help make the difference for the Innu and the Earth. Please give the time, however little or great, to doing something for this vital campaign. Thank you. The International Campaign for the Innu and the Earth (ICIE) is an independent network of organizations and individuals dedicated to working with the Innu Nation in support of its goals. ICIE's co-sponsors in Canada are the Innu Nation, ACT for Disarmament, Centre de resources sur la non-violence, HANDS (Helping Activists Network During Strife), Oakville Community Centre for peace, ecology and human rights, and the Ontario Voice of Women/La voix des femmes. Internationally, ICIE is co-sponsored by the International Peace Bureau (IPB, Switzerland), Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND, United Kingdom), Society for Threatened Peoples (Germany), and the Foundation Innu Support Group (the Netherlands). ICIE, 736 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2R4. phone (416) 531 6154, fax (416) 531-5850. E-mail to: chernos@web.apc.org --------- "RE: Chiapas Report: Doctors of the World" --------- From: nyt@blythe.org (NY Transfer News) Subj: Chiapas Report: Doctors of the World Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit DOCTORS OF THE WORLD OBSERVER REPORTS BACK FROM CHIAPAS by Toby Mailman for NY Transfer February 10, 1994 Ramona Bailly, a pediatrician and a member of Doctors of the World (DOW), a New York-based, non-profit human rights organization, travelled from January 15 - 26 through Chiapas, Mexico as an observer representing DOW, mainly to see what the status of health care for the people in the region was after the military intervention following the uprising on January 1 by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN). In a talk given on February 9 at the offices of Doctors of the World Dr. Bailly reported on some of the human rights abuses she saw or heard about, in addition to the lack and even prevention of medical care. Dr. Bailly was told by residents one of the areas she visited that some 300 bodies were brought to a fair grounds run by the military. Forty-eight bodies were autopsied and buried in a paupers' cemetery without being identified. By Mexican law, photos are supposed to be taken before, during and after the autopsies, and the photos and fingerprints of the bodies are supposed to be made public, so that they can be identified. The Government refused to make the information public. The fates of the remaining 252 bodies was unknown, and hundreds of families may never know what happened to family members who have disappeared. Reporters who were able to get a look at the bodies gathered at the fair grounds said they were all definitely indigenous people. The assumption is that they were executed by the military and that these executions are being covered up by the government. In a cemetery next to a hospital which had been occupied by the military for ten days a number of bodies had been quickly buried, and not by family members. They were dug up by the government Attorney General's Office and given autopsies. Independent international observers were not allowed to watch the autopsies. Dr. Bailly for some reason was not stopped as she walked around the cemetery, where she was able to observe bullets being removed from the backs of some of the bodies. Her lack of training in that field, however, prevented her to make further observations. She described the members of the Attorney General's office who were performing the autopsies as "the bad guys," and said the people truly feared them. Observing the situation of refugees in Mexico, Dr. Bailly said the Guatemalan refugees, who are for the most part being cared for under the auspices of the U.N., were doing alright. However, Mexican refugees who were displaced for a variety of reasons following the January uprisings, including military bombings, and who were being cared for by the military and the Mexican Red Cross, did not far as well. In one refugee site which held about 300 people military doctors were giving examinations in public, sure to have their military photographers on hand. The three military doctors said they did not need any assistance from the observing foreign doctors. At another refugee site organized by a farm cooperative, which also held 300 people, conditions were much better. Committees were organized to see to people's needs, and there was even a recreation area for children. In Ocosingo the military was seen distributing food, or shoes, or clothing. However, the recipients were all Mestizos, none of them were indigenous people. In order to get the food the people needed to show identification, which is bureaucratically almost impossible to obtain. Witnesses told Dr. Bailly that in one rural town the military harassed the population. In another 33 people were tortured and taken away. The residents were told to stay in their homes or they would be bombed. Although the official death toll during the uprising and military repression is in the hundreds, testimony from people living in Chiapas indicates that during a ten-day period when no outsiders were allowed to enter the area, deaths in Chiapas at the hands of the military really reached the thousands. On January 2 a hospital in Ocosingo was closed down by the military for 10 days. According to reports from patients in the hospital, all male visitors were shot or disappeared by the military, allegedly suspected of being members of the EZLN. On January 3 a guard at an archaeological site was shot in the chest and the military would not allow him to obtain medical attention. He died after three days. In the town of Altamirano the only medical attention the indigenous people get is from the small, St. Vincent de Paul-run San Carlos Hospital. Personnel at the hospital, including nine doctors, have in the past received death threats and it has long been suspected by the government of supporting insurgency because it serves the indigenous population. It has been made clear that the hospital will serve anyone who needs the care, but, according to Dr. Bailly, the non-indigenous townspeople do not want to receive medical treatment at the same place the indigenous people receive their treatment, since that would mean they would be treated as equals. When the military came into the area after the EZLN they patrolled the San Carlos Hospital wards, and harassed and threatened the staff. The head lab technician was tortured and taken to Tuxtla. Fortunately a lawyer was able to get him released eventually. Patients were not allowed by the military to enter the hospital. The hospital normally runs a very good community outreach health care program, going into the rural indigenous communities. The military would not allow the nuns who work at the hospital to continue their work in the communities. With the presence of foreigners the situation has improved somewhat. Medecins du Monde has sent a doctor to work in the San Carlos Hospital for six months, and Doctors of the World has sent a doctor for 3 months, who sends back regular reports. After 3 months the situation will be reassessed. Meanwhile, there are thousands of people displaced by the military intervention who are in precarious condition. The question that no one can answer now is what will happen to them when they go back to their homes. At any time during the next six months, until the end of June, Mexico has the option to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It is not clear what effect this may have on the government and the military's treatment of the indigenous people in Chiapas, or on other peoples in Mexico as the new spirit of rebellion and demand for change spreads. # # # FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - February 8, 1994 CONTACT: Dr. Ramona Bailly Member, Executive Committee Board of Directors Doctors of the World Steven Segal Executive Director Doctors of the World (212)529-1556 (212)529-1571 (Fax) ESSENTIAL HEALTH SERVICES JEOPARDIZED BY STRIFE IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO. INTIMIDATION AND ISOLATION LEAVE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES FEARFUL OF SEEKING NEEDED CARE. DOCTORS OF THE WORLD PLACES AMERICAN PHYSICIAN IN ALTAMIRANO HOSPITAL. Unremarked in much of the reporting about the Zapatista revolt in Chiapas, Mexico, is the effect of the Government's response to the uprising on the availability and delivery of medical services to the region's population. A fact-finding mission conducted jointly by Doctors of the World (DOW), a New York-based non-profit international human rights organization, and Medecins du Monde (MDM), DOW's French counterpart, documented intimidation and isolation that still prohibits people form seeking and receiving health care. Further, systemic, gross inadequacies surfaced in both the level of health care services and the delivery channels for those services. Representing DOW on the mission was Ramona Bailly, MD, MPH, Pediatric Emergency Room attending physician at Bronx Lebanon Hospital, Bronx, New York. Bailly spoke with victims and witnesses of violence, Zapatistas and health care providers in San Cristobal de las Casas, Altamirano, Ocosingo and the countryside. The mission established its base at San Carlos Hospital, serving Altamirano, a municipality of 60,000 people living in 600 communities in the mountainous area southeast of San Crist"bal de las Casas. Reports confirmed Mexican Armed Forces (MAF) human rights abuses, targeting particularly the indigenous population. Since the outbreak of the revolt, delivery of health services at San Carlos Hospital and within the pueblos [small towns] has been seriously disrupted. - Of the hospital's nine doctors, all Altamirano locals, seven have fled in fear. - Deliveries of fuel and other supplies often were stopped. Hospital staff were routinely intercepted when attempting to maintain the facility's water supply or gather wood for cooking. - The hospital was not included in the MAF's water delivery to Altamirano inhabitants prior to the arrival of international human rights representatives. At the request of the Sisters of St. Vincent at San Carlos Hospital, and responding to the state of medical urgency witnessed by the mission, on 1 February DOW placed a volunteer American physician - Glen Fennelly, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellow at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York - at San Carlos Hospital, Altamirano. Dr. Fennelly joins Dr. Marie Soulard, an MDM volunteer; both work at the hospital and conduct consultations in surrounding villages. Their presence, with others on site as observers, is considered essential to allow continuity in providing medical services and offering some protection for local health workers. The doctors are seeing approximately 100 people each day. Since the cease-fire, the Government Secretariat of Health has dispatched teams in the jungle, fully equipped with vaccines, various antibiotics and other necessary materials as well as vehicles suited for travel into the countryside. Fennelly and Soulard have been readily accepted as members of the medical teams making daily forays. While this Government action is welcome - even necessary to gain access for the expatriates in some villages - it has been sporadic. After arriving in Altamirano on 27 January, they abruptly left on 2 February without explanation. As unexpectedly, Government Department of Health teams returned three days later and resumed work in tandem with the DOW and MDM doctors without comment. Regarding medicines an medical supplies, Bailly highlighted the hospital's desperate need for these items in her mission diary. Fennelly also observes that availability of mediation and supplies seem to be tied to the presence of Government Secretariat of Health staff. There is great concern for regular, dependable delivery of an adequate quantity of these essential supplies. Fennelly's 5 February report from the field: - While there has been no sign of true emergencies, there is a tremendous disease burden, including tuberculosis, parasitosis and malnutrition. Evidence of a woefully inadequate health care delivery system is everywhere. - People in most of the villages visited hadn't had contact with any health care workers since the end of December. Several local health care promoters have fled. - Members of the Government teams are encouraging people to visit the hospital; nonetheless, there is still tremendous fear of travelling to San Carlos hospital. At the hospital, where the usual patient population averaged 55 before the MAF began its patrols, ten count is now fewer than twenty. Typically busy out- patient clinics are quite. - Additional international personnel have arrived in Altamirano, primarily as observers. Coincidentally, two supervisors from the Government teams visited the evening of 4 February, giving every sign of welcoming the expatriates. Doctors of the World and Medecins du Monde plan to maintain their services - and physical presence - Chiapas through April. Doctors of the World-US is a non-sectarian medical relief organization operating worldwide, with headquarters in New York City. DOW is the autonomous affiliate of Medecins du Monde, Paris, which currently has more than six hundred health professionals in field assignments in forty countries. DOW has developed, staffed and funded programs around the world, including Kosovo, the former Yugoslavial; Moraz n, El Salvador; St. Petersburg, Russia, and in the streets of New York City. # # # +----------------------------------------------------------------+ + 212-675-9690 NY TRANSFER NEWS COLLECTIVE 212-675-9663 + + Since 1985: Information for the Rest of Us + + e-mail: nyt@blythe.org info: info@blythe.org + ------- "RE: Leonard Peltier Support Groups/Region IV Initiatives" ------- From: L.HELLWIG1 (Lisa Hellwig, Coordinator, LPSG/McHenry County, IL) Subj: Leonard Peltier Support Groups/Region IV Initiatives GE Electronic Mail [This is excerpted, unedited, from Leonard Peltier Support Groups/Region IV first newsletter, dated February 1994 __ Night Owl] Region IV Office: 1321 Autumn Hill Drive * Columbus, OH 43235-7512 Lance Kramer, Region Director Phone or Fax 614-451-3023 WELCOME...to the LPSG/Region IV's first monthly newsletter. It's produced from highlights of monthly reports submitted by each Region support group to our Regional Director. Its purpose is to share our successes (so they can be duplicated), our ideas (so they can be acted upon), and our failures (so they won't be repeated). It's time for us to start exchanging information and resources regionally, nationally and internationally so that we can come together on a new level of strength and solidarity as we move toward our goal of setting Leonard Free and participating in the broader movement for the liberation of native people. INITIATIVES AGREED TO AT OUR JANUARY 22 REGIONAL MEETING Woodlawn Manifesto In order to protect the integrity of the LPDC and its support group network, and to safeguard both against external interference and attacks, Region IV adopted a statement supporting the Edgewood Declaration of the International Confederation of Autonomous Chapters of the American Indian Movement and withdrawing support for the Walk for Justice. Our Woodlawn Manifesto, dated January 22, 1994, is, in its position on the Walk for Justice, altogether consistent with Leonard's statement on the topic dated January 30, 1994. While we regretted having to issue such a statement, we felt that the current circumstances demanded a clear statement of support for the LPDC, our representatives and of Leonard. Support Group Strengthening We also adopted procedures for the certification of new support groups within Region IV. Henceforth, those wishing to to be designated as support groups within Region IV will be required to operate under the direction and mentorship of an established support group leader until such time as a determination can be made regarding the capacity of a the new group to function independently. While only recently formalized, these procedures have already been followed with the establishment of the LPSG/Akron. The Akron group operated for several months under the direction of LPSG/Columbus until they were certified as a support group. We also instituted procedures and established specific guidelines for decertification of inactive and/or unsupportive support groups in our region. The National Office is in full support of these guidelines and is encouraging all regions to adopt them. More information can be obtained either through the National Office or from the Region IV office. JUNE 25-26 PREPARATION We are in the process of preparing an information booklet to be used in conjunction with the Peltier activities scheduled for Washington, DC on June 25/26, 1994 as well as for general nationwide distribution. THis booklet will consist of detailed information on Leonard, the LPDC and the support group network. Display advertising will be sold, another section for people wishing to sign up as individual supporters will be available for donations of any amount. Funds generated will be used to cover costs associated with production, to help subsidize transportation costs of our elders to the Washington Event and to underwrite general defense work costs of the LPDC and of each support group. Support group coordinators and regional directors who wish to participate in the information booklet should contact LPSG/Chicago, under whose direction the booklet is being prepared, at 312-427-4457. All Regional Directors will receive detailed information on this project shortly. Please recall that it is appropriate and traditional that we provide for our spiritual leaders when we call upon them for their assistance and support! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THE FOCUS Leonard continues to remind us of the spiritual nature and focus of what we do. In this regard, Region IV wishes to express its deepest appreciation to Dakota Elder Asa Primeaux for attending its December meeting in Fort Wayne and for bringing the Sacred Pipe and his strong words to our group. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Upcoming Events Mark your calendar for our next Region Meeting on April 9-10, 1994...A Region-wide sponsored benefit concert in early spring...LPSG/Chicago panel discussion on political prisoners and the corporatization of US prisons April 8 with Speakers Bobby Castillo, Ward Churchill and Bob Robideau If you have any questions on items included in this newsletter, please feel free to call Lance Kramer, Region IV Director, at 614-451-3023. --------- "RE: Conferences and Powwows" --------- From: JANS Janet McNeely (Evening Star) Subj: Upcoming conferences and powwows GE Electronic Mail =POWWOWS= This week's Powwow list is taken from =News from Indian Country.= We just got our first issue of this impressive bi-weekly paper that covers traditional and political issues for a wide range of tribes across the country. Address: Rt 2 Box 2900-A, Hayward, WI 54843. Feb. 19-20 Michigan State Univ. Mid-Winter Celebration East Lansing, Michigan Info: (517) 353-5255 ext. 113 Feb. 19-20 Namebini Giizis Gathering Marquette, Michigan Info: (906) 942-7126 Feb. 25 Aises Region 3 Conf. Powwow Tempe, AZ Info: (602) 965-2230 Feb. 26-27 Lima Council Lima, OH Info: 419-228-1097 Mar 4-6 Eh Pah Tes Lapwai, ID Info: (208) 843-2253 Mar 5-6 Hawk Flight Perris, CA Info: (714) 492-5416 Mar 5-6 Leonard Peltier Benefit N. Little Rock, AR Info: (501) 945-1026 Send notices of forthcoming powwows, conferences and gatherings to: jans@genie.geis.com janet.mcneely@f1706.n133.z1.fidonet.org wa4mei.atl.ga.us!kd4dts!owlstar!gars