Subject: nanews03.011 From: gars@netcom.com (Gary Night Owl) To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Message-ID: _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' O ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ O o O / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' O o O / /-< / /--/ /-- VOLUME 03, ISSUE 011 O o o o o O __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 18 March 1995 O o O O o O K A N O H E D A A N I Y V W I Y A O ( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N N E W S ) This issue contains articles from NATCHAT, NATIVE-L, TRIBALLAW, IND-NET & EIRP Mailing Lists, Genie (General Electric) & UUCP email, UseNet newsgroup: soc.culture.native Articles appearing have been previously posted for public dissemination and/or permission for inclusion has been secured. Letters of authorization are on file. A list of those granting permission to repost their words in this issue are listed at the end of part A. I thank each of you for allowing your words to be shared with the people. <----<<<< >>>>----> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. 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 the NATIVE-L mailing list, one of the NativeNet lists managed by Gary Trujillo (gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us) to include in the NATIVE-L lists(part A). It is echoed on AISESnet, IND-NET, and EIRP listservers and archived by AISESnet. Thanks to Marc Becker, mbecker@uclink2.berkeley.edu, issues of Wotanging Ikche/Kanoheda Aniyvwiya are now being archived at a World-Wide-Web site. The URL is http://ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu/~marc/journals/nanews/ This is a test site, and at some point in the future the location of these files will change. Thanks to Phil Duran, duranp@wsuvm1.csc.wsu.edu, issues are now being archived at the Washington State University gopher in the following directory: gopher.wsu.edu /WSU Campuses Info /Public Services /Native Peoples "When we first made treaties with the Government, this was our position: Our old life and our old customs were about to end; the game upon which we lived was disappearing; the whites were closing around us, and nothing remained for us but to adopt their ways and have the same rights with them if we wished to save ourselves." __ Chief Red Cloud, Oglala +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg- | | iance was first presented | I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the | to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat- | of the Republic | ional Congress of American | and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat- | borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI | Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the | as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian | States Constitution, | Nations. | so that my forefathers | | shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sisters! Let's talk a little trash. The United States government would like to take Wounded Knee and make it part of the National Park Service. Legislation is pending to release Mt. Shasta and many other western sites to mining interests. The "excuses" given include "wise use" of natural resources. Look at Mt. Magazine, denuded of trees and scarred by gullies cut by rains that runoff, now that the natural controls are gone. That's your "wise use". The "excuses" given include natural resource management that considers a population seeking to visit historical sites and wonders of nature. Look at the Everglades, dying from resource management. Look at the litter strewn across White Sands or Mojave. Look at the wheel tracks created in the desert in 30 seconds, that erase 50-100 years of protective growth. That is the legacy of the dominant society's resource management. That is the legacy of the polyester clad visitor to these natural wonders. In thousands of years of trust by the People of the First Nations these places remained whole, to be revered and loved. The First People scatter prayers of thanks to Creator for these gifts, not bread wrappers, beer cans and empty promises to the wind. Peace! Night Owl , , Gary Night Owl gars@genie.geis.com (*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@netcom.com (`-') Marietta, GA 30067, U.S.A. gars@igc.apc.org ===w=w=== NativeNet Node 90:133/2501 FidoNet 1:133/2501 ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- Part A: Usenet and e-mail Part B: NATCHAT and NATIVE-L lists - Views on Mascots - Conferences and Powwows - online - Newsletter: Save Mt. Shasta - New Alcan Demands - Marine Sciences Scholarships - Carlos Fuentes Speaks On Chiapas - Michigan Update - USAF Cancels Plans to - The Unforgivable Sin Train Over Innu Land - Dine' CARE/Crownpoint Uranium Mine - Under the Conqueror's Sword - Prophecy: Two Headed Serpent - Poem: Our Home - Verse: Hawai'ian Book of Days - Conferences and Powwows - offline --------- "RE: Views on Mascots" --------- Date: Thu, 09 Mar 95 16:35:58 EST From: Joe Quickle Subj: Stereotypes... the 2nd list UUCP email Here's the short version of my views on mascots: 1. No one wants to be depicted as savages or as idiots (e.g., "Florida Seminoles," "Atlanta Braves," and "Cleveland Indians" mascots, respectively). Look at the pictures closely, and the spirit in which they were done is clear (Atlanta's screaming head, Cleveland's idiot grin and huge nose, Florida's painted savage). 2. When such ridiculous images (e.g., "Chief Wahoo") are used to portray Indians, how can we not see that we are being ridiculed? 3. It is absurd to claim to honor someone with something that they have repeatedly told you is insulting. One more time: the use of Indians as mascots is insulting. 4. The the more often and the more thoroughly Indians are portrayed as few, as savages, as primitives, as extinct, as historical, as less than human, as jokes, as sideshow attractions or as pets, the easier it is to to hide what has been done and - more importantly - is still being done to Indians (desecration of cemeteries, waste dumping on Indian lands, unequal justice, denial of legal rights to sovereignty, land grabs... the list goes on and on). 5. These prevalent images of Indians - as idiotic, as savage, as strange and foreign - are important symbols used in maintaining the myth of Indians as a historical tragedy, as a people who are valued by the mainstream only as pets. These are the myths that are used to keep us marginal and deny our modern existence. They undermine our current, legitimate struggles. 6. "Redskins" is a derogatory term - look it up. 7. Indians are not pets or good luck charms; we are people, not mascots. Peace. --------- "RE: Newsletter: Save Mt. Shasta" --------- Date: Thu, 9 Mar 1995 19:24:27 GMT From: mosa@netcom.com (Michele Lord) Subj: NEWSLETTER-WAKA NUNIE TUKI WUKI COALITION Newsgroup: soc.culture.native Posted to promote involvement and interest: [Also see recent post re: Rep. Herger's HR563 that would severely affect protection of Native American sites under the Historic Preservation Act. Please write letters!] WAKA NUNIE TUKI WUKI COALITION Native Coalition for Cultural Restoration of Mount Shasta P.O.Box 1143 + Mount Shasta CA 96067 + Ph:916-842-5654 + Fx:916-926-3397 WINTER 1995 NEWSLETTER ++ Keepers November Decision Drastically Reduces Historic District The Keeper's November 18, 1994 decision states that only the areas above timberline at 8,000 feet, and a limited Panther Meadows, are eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places as a "Cosmological District." Although there is no question that the entire mountain has significance for Native American traditional culture, the deciding issue was the integrity of Mount Shasta. Because of past logging, roads and a subdivision that altered the mountain's historical appearance, the Keeper ruled that area below timberline did not qualify. The Native Coalition and Save Mount Shasta have appealed this decision and are trying to get the 4,000 foot boundary reinstated. The question of integrity, on which the new decision was based, should be left up to Native Americans, not be decided by outside interests. The decision shrinks the Historic District from the previous 150,000 acres to a mere 19,000 acres, and leaves out many springs, creeks, meadows, forests, food and basketry gathering ares, and the mountain as a whole, now unprotected from timber sales and ski development. Many areas on Mount Shasta are in their natural state and others can be restored. ++Status of Section 106 Process The Forest Service is re-opening the Mount Shasta Ski Area Section 106 Process due to pressure by ski interests. They are not wasting any time now that Mount Shasta's designation has been made, whereas they have not even considered doing a Cultural Management Plan for Mount Shasta. We intend to make some demands of our own at an up-coming meeting with the Forest Service. The Forest Service is currently doing an Effects Determination for the proposed ski area. However, since the ski area falls in the Multiple Property study area, we are letting them know they cannot consider the effects of a proposal until they have done a determination of eligibility on the site for the National Register of Historic Places. The Multiple Property area, that covers the entire mountain to 4,000 feet, requires that the Forest Service evaluate each project site for cultural significance. ++Short History of the Case The March 1994 designation of the whole mountain was the result of six years work by Native Americans, Save Mount Shasta and others. The story goes back to 1978, when the Forest Service began reconsidering downhill skiing after an avalanche had destroyed the previous ski area. In 1984, a permit was awarded to build the Mount Shasta Ski Area, a large ski-condominium resort. Although the Forest Service was aware that Mount Shasta is important to Native Americans, the Section 106 Process under NHPA (National Historic Preservation Act) was not opened until 1991. A study was conducted by anthropologists Dorothea Theodoratus and Nancy Evans, who concluded that Mount Shasta, in its entirety, is considered sacred by all tribes surrounding the mountain, and beyond. Relying on interviews with 39 Native American individuals and on previous field research, the study found that "contemporary Indian uses of Mount Shasta are clearly rooted deeply in traditional values and beliefs." The proposed ski development and continued logging on the mountain seen as "a violation of the purity of a sacred site." On March 11, 1994, the Keeper of the National Register [of Historic Places] issued a determination of eligibility for the Mount Shasta Historic District to encompass an area of 150,000 acres, in one of the most controversial decisions made by the National Register. This decision resulted in a public uproar, inflamed by many false statements about what a Historic District means, made by people who are against any kind of protection that might limit their commercial agendas. In response to this uproar, the Keeper reopened public comment on Mount Shasta in August 1994, and issued a new decision, as described earlier in this newsletter. ++The Native Coalition -- Purpose and Goals We are currently working on formal incorporation of the Coalition as a non-profit organization, so our purposes and goals, stated below, can become a reality through projects and funding. We welcome your comments on these draft purposes and goals. a) To protect, preserve, and restore Mount Shasta, around, above, and below; and to revitalize cultural values, communities, traditional lifeways, practices and Native livelihoods; b) To create an educational and support Coalition of Native American Tribes, Tribal Elders, groups and individuals with the specific purpose of this corporation; c) To gather historical cultural information concerning Mount Shasta; and disseminate such information through a newsletter and other media; d) To serve as a liaison between the tribes and government agencies regarding management decision on Mount Shasta; e) To establish interim guidelines until a cultural management plan can be agreed upon; f) To create a cultural management and restoration plan for Mount Shasta; g) To advocate for further protection of Mount Shasta through federal and international protection; h) To establish projects and activities that will directly lessen the impacts of the local community on the mountain; i) To hold or support cultural events for the preservation and education of Native people and the public. ++Strengthening the Coalition We need broad participation so we can actively pursue areas of concern to all people that tribes individually are often not able to pursue or that are not their priority at this time. These areas include cultural preservation, natural preservation, education of the young, restoration of heritage and lifeways that link our spiritual life with the land and the way we live our lives so that we will be uplifted, and the things that drag us down can be left behind, so that we can become a stronger people. Write down your ideas and send them to the coalition. So often people criticize among themselves from the outside. This is an opportunity to use that criticism and put it to work in a positive direction. We can take the same energy that we use to criticize and downgrade one another and turn it in a creative direction to fulfill the purposes the Creator gave us. By doing these things, respecting one another and taking care of the Earth, we become spiritually, physically and mentally healthy because we are doing good work. We don't have to let the Forest Service, government or anyone tell we can't do it; we just have to do it. Our people don't have to ask what our purpose is in life; we know; we've always known it. All we have to do is live up to it and fulfill it. We can start participating in positive ways. ** WAKA NUNIE TUKI WUKI COALITION ** MEMBERSHIP FORM $5 Individual or family membership $20 Tribal or group membership $50+ Business Sponsorship $100+ Stewardship Members will receive our quarterly newsletter and invitations to all events. People and groups who attend at least three meetings or give time to projects are also considered members. Name:_____________________________________ Address:__________________________________ State/City/Zip____________________________ Please return to: Native Coalition, PO Box 1143, Mount Shasta CA 96067 ~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~ "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 +*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~* Michele Lord mosa@netcom.com +*+ +*+ +*+ +*+ +*+ +*+ --------- "RE: Marine Sciences Scholarships" --------- Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 15:07:23 -0800 (PST) From: tcoffma1@d.umn.edu (Tracy Coffman ) Subj: American Indians into Marine Sciences Scholarships Available Mailing List: IND-NET Mailing List: EIRP SCHOLARSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT 2 UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE The Center of American Indian & Minority Health located at the University of Minnesota Duluth would like to inform you of two openings in the American Indians into Marine Sciences (AIMS) program. We are looking for two students to fill these positions as soon as possible. This is an exciting program that allows students an opportunity to attain environmental research experience, a full scholarship (college tuition, books and fees) and a monthly living expense stipend of $750.00. The program is three years, starting from the sophomore year and continuing to the expected date of graduation. Previous and present students have done research projects such as, a comparative study of black bear habitation, the impact of mercury contamination to commercial fisherman and surrounding Lake Superior tribes, neurotoxicity and behavioral study on larval fish, and the ruffe invasion of Duluth/Superior harbor. Research sites that have been involved: the Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resources and Research Institute, the University of Minnesota Duluth and Twin Cities campus. To be eligible for the position, you must be at least a sophomore with a 2.5 grade point average (GPA), majoring in biology, chemistry, geology, business administration (environmental emphasis), or pre-law (environmental emphasis). Students must attend the University of Minnesota. If you are interested in a position or have any questions concerning the program, please contact Ivy Shvetzoff at 218/726-6325 or via email at ishvetzo@ub.d.umn.edu. --------- "RE: Michigan Update" --------- Date: 95/03/10 21:47 From: Nancy Nowinson (genielamp.mm@genie.geis.com) Subj: Michigan! GE Electronic Mail Here is a bit more on the situation with regards to the State of Michigan and what is happening with the education system here. This will be an ongoing issue!! ======================================================================== Twelve hundred people rallied in front of the Capital in Lansing Wednesday, March 8, in protest of changes in the tuition payments for American Indians. The drums and chants filled the air as people ignored the cold winds for almost three hours. Governor John Engler now knows the impact of his decision to cut funds for the American Indians in the State of Michigan. There will be more to come. Michigan residents who are at least one quarter Indian qualify for full tuition payments. This falls under the Tuition Waiver program that was implemented in 1976. Minnesota and Wisconsin have similar programs. John Truscott, Engler's spokesman said, the governor opposes this program because it is not based on financial need. It was reported that the Indians run casinos in Michigan are in the red, so they feel that the program is no longer needed. It was also stated by Engler's spokesman, that the governor feels that one minority does not deserve special treatment. The Indian run casinos benefit very few of the American Indian population of the State of Michigan. Native American People interviewed in Flint said that without the Tuition Waiver program they could no longer afford to get the education they need to improve their lives and be totally independent of any financial need in the future. Sandy Smith, of the Chippewa Tribe, said she felt like one of her rights has been taken away. She stated that Indians have asked for very little from the government and of all the things asked, an education for the children has been the priority. Animkee, of the Ottawa Tribe said this will cause chaos. Governor Engler is also proposing to eliminate mandated curriculum standards. Engler said he also backs the elimination of certification for Michigan teachers. A letter received from Roland J. Jersevic, State Representative of the R-96th District in Michigan, states, "The tuition waiver program was established in the mid-1970's as part of the budget, and is not included in the state's constitution." Mr. Jersevic sent a copy of the Governor's proposal found in the Executive Budget Book and highlighted the following statement: "The budget recommends that a final payment be made on behalf of students enrolled in the Indian Tuition Waiver program and that no future enrollments in this program occur." In light of all that the statements and actions taken concerning the eduction system in the State of Michigan, there will be more rally's to come. --------- "RE: The Unforgivable Sin" --------- Date: Sun, 19 Feb 1995 14:25:17 UTC From: an123569@anon.penet.fi (Dee Smith) Subj: The Unforgivable Sin? Newsgroup: soc.culture.native The Unforgivable Sin There seems to be an unforgivable sin in some native factions. The sin of sharing native spirituality. Anything else, it seems, is barely worth mentioning. But let anyone share spirituality, and he is denounced all over the place as a "plastic medicine man", and his students denounced as "newagers". I wonder at this. In fact, recently I am wondering if newagers have become a sort of scapegoat. It's a lot easier to vent one's spleen on a kid with a crystal around his neck and stars in his eyes, than to take on those who do real damage. Especially when it's part of that kid's religion to adsorb abuse and not get angry for any reason. Nearly every day, for example, I see denunciations of Ed McGaa. His greatest crime seems to have been, to share a simplified system of principles and ceremony based on the ways of his tribe, the Lakota. Likewise, Sun Bear, Fool's Crow, and other proponents of open spirituality have become anathema. But rarely do I see anyone denounce someone like Russel Means, who made an interactive movie teaching youngsters to kill for the fun of it, and another movie desecrating certain Hopi rituals which are necessary for maintaining the balance in the Universe. Or Wilma Mankiller, who sold a large parcel of Cherokee land. (Does anyone remember Doublehead?) And what about those mockeries which are performed from time to time in DC, starring heads of state and Native leaders? Not a word do I hear! This is why I say, it seems there is only one unforgivable sin these days, to share native spirituality. Big deal! So now hippies are building sweatlodges and maybe not getting everything right when they do it. What harm is being done, compared to the harm done by those who use the sweatlodge to destroy others? There are some natives who threaten and murder other natives over religious and political disputes. But we rarely hear about this, all we hear about is those horrid "plastic medicine men" whose greatest crime is to teach "newagers" how to pray. So maybe some kid, somewhere, is making a plastic dreamcatcher or smoking ganga in a pipestone pipe. I don't condone this. But it's fairly innocuous compared to some of the traditional bad medicine practices going around. The newagers are kind of aggravating, with their mushmindedness, superficiality, and odd notions. But at least they don't dart anybody with hair and ants and liver trouble and heart attacks! But no, it's not nice to talk about things like this. It's a lot easier to rant and rave over the "newagers" and the "plastic medicine men". They're highly visible, they sometimes look kind of foolish, and they're often pacifists. In short, they make good scapegoats, and good distractions from the more sordid issues. When I heard of the deaths of Peltier's lawyers, I felt that there was probably bad medicine involved. And I don't think a newager would or could do something like that. But I can think of others who could and would. And I dare say these others often point fingers at those "newage thieves" and "plastic medicine men", so as to distract attention from their own bad consciences. I don't condone newage superficiality and mushmindedness. But I think they're a fairly minor problem as things go, and lately I wonder if they're being made out as scapegoats. Some people say that when a hippie smokes a pipe or builds a sweatlodge, he is stealing and destroying native religion. What's really bothering them is not that the hippie is smoking a pipe or building a sweatlodge, but that, when she does this, the spirits acknowledge her, too! They complain that their faith is being destroyed. They remind me of the fundamentalist christian whose faith is shaken when he finds out about a hindu or a pagan or a humanist who can lay on hands for healing and it "works" for him, too! The faith of the fundamentalist is shaken because he has placed it in his traditions and ceremonies rather than in the Source. For if it were placed in the Source, he would recognize that the wind of Spirit blows where it will, and you cannot put a fence around the sunlight. Some people say, any one who travels or writes books is, by definition, a plastic medicine man. If he were doing right, they say, he would stay at home and others would come to him. But this is not a hard and fast rule. There are some practitioners of very bad medicine who stay put right at home on the res, but their influence extends over hundreds of miles. On the other hand, those who travel and write books and communicate with the world at large may well be following the example of the Peacemaker and White Buffalo Woman. It would sure simplify things if we could make hard and fast rules based on circumstances of culture and birth. If we could say, medicine people who work strictly within their tribes are good, and those who speak to the world at large are bad. If we could say, those who belong to a tribe may pray according to native ways, and others may not. If we could say, anything that any native does is OK as long as it does not involve sharing native spirituality with others. But hard and fast rules never work very well, and work even less well in this time of transition. Nowadays, boundaries are moving and disappearing, and words no longer mean what they used to mean. The wind is blowing very hard, and no one can catch the wind. I feel that the best thing to do is, let it blow. WEJOT 68 --------- "RE: Dine' CARE - Crownpoint Uranium Mine" --------- Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 18:21:01 -0800 From: mosa@netcom.com (Michele Lord) Subj: Dine' CARE/Crownpoint Uranium Mine Mailing List: TRIBALLAW (triballaw@thecity.sfsu.edu) Crownpoint, New Mexico by Stan Bindell News From Indian Country Mid January 1995 The Dine CARE (Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment) have asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to hold public hearings about the draft environmental statement regarding uranium mines in the Church Rock and Crownpoint areas. Dine CARE wants these public meetings to be held using the Navajo language. Lori Goodman, a Dine CARE spokeswoman, says that translation into the Navajo language will help towards clarity and comprehending the highly technical nature and context of "In-Site Leach" uranium mining project near Church Rock and Crownpoint, NM. Due to the large scale operation utilization of scarce groundwater in a desert community, and larger environmental Navajo interests, communities need to be informed, Goodman said. "As Navajo people, we are still living the nightmare of past uranium exploration on our lands. We ask that history not be repeated. We urge you to please consider our well-being by sponsoring additional public hearings to translate DEIS in our communities," Goodman said. ~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*+ "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 ~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~* Michele Lord mosa@netcom.com +*+ +*+ +*+ +*+ +*+ +*+ --------- "RE: Prophecy: Two Headed Serpent" --------- Date: 95/03/03 19:46 From: Suzan Horovitch (a.horovitch@genie.geis.com) Subj: Two Headed Serpent GE Electronic Mail Kwe Kwe I would like to share with you the Two Headed Serpent Prophecy of the Haudenausonee as given to me by Stuart Myiow of the Mohawk Traditional Council of Kahnewake. Under each paragraph, in brackets, will be a brief explanation of what the prophecy symbolically states, the translation as to the real meanings. THE TWO HEADED SERPENT PROPHECY One day, a young boy had found a two headed serpent ( snake) whose skin had beautiful colours with gold and silver stripes down its back; but it was very sickly, unable to care for and feed itself. It was on the very of death. this was due to the fact that one head wanted to go left while the other wanted to go right. One wanted to move while the other wanted to stay still. Basically, one head didn't know what the other was doing. (One day the people found strange - looking beings who had a strange metal skin made of gold and silver and covered with bright coloured cloth washed up on the shores of Turtle Island. These beings were very sick, cold, hungry and near death. They were very confused; for one spoke of peace while his counter-part killed everyone. One was called church and one was called state. They also hissed a very strange language.) The young boy brought the serpent to his village. The elders were very cautious of it but everyone loved its beautiful colours and felt sorry for it. The young ones said " It's so poor. How will it survive? Look at how helpless it is. Surely it will die with the coming of winter. Please let us keep it?" the elders agreed saying " OK you can keep it but not in the house, and remember: if you want to keep it, you will have to feed it!" (The True People brought them to our villages, welcomed the beings into our home, fed them, gave them shelter, and brought them back to life by curing their sickness and diseases. Unable to hunt and unknowledgeable of the land, our people helped the strange beings build their own villages and gave them food, in exchange they offered their bright cloth and metals.) The children fed it insects but the snake wanted more so they fed it field mice, but the snake wanted more. They fed it rabbits and small birds but the snake wanted more! Finally, with this serpent getting so big, the elders began hunting our brothers, the beavers and otters, to feed the snake; but this snake didn't seem to get enough. (Our people brought the strange beings food and supplies in exchange for the bright cloth and metals, but the strange beings always wanted more and more. These strange beings requested more food and much more supplies which evolved into the fur trade. Our people began to see that they would destroy life for profit.) The serpent ( now way too big to handle) began eating our dogs, then our food supply - the gardens and the deer, then all our spirit guides. When that was not enough, the serpent finally began eating our people. It ate the children, the elders and any who were not fast enough to get away. So horrible was this serpent that i even ate our dead - something that our people had never seen. ( The strange beings multiplied quickly. Just as quick, they forgot the kindness they were shown and began taking without asking. They killed our children with false gifts of chicken pox infected blankets. Those children they didn't kill, they stole from us and put them in residential schools. They killed the elderly medicine men who saved them and desecrated our burial grounds.) Then this two headed serpent began eating whole villages and in the process, it enslaved many of our people. Then it started travelling the countryside looking for more villages to eat. Along the way, it started eating anything in its path - the forest, all the animals and the countryside itself. It ate holes through mountains that were in its way and it poisoned our waters with its defecation. (They were so blood thirsty they needed the constant rush of murder to flow through their veins. They destroyed villages, then nations, allowing only those to live who would succumb to their false religion and government. They killed the forest, the buffalo and made whole species extent. They destroyed the earth for its minerals ( gold rush) and stained the waters with blood.) After travelling the entire country, it began to back-track to totally destroy the land by poisoning anything that may have been undisturbed. all the animals were completely poisoned, as was the ground. The forests that were missed were now devoured, the waters that were not damaged were now completely poisoned also. (When the land itself was enslaved, then they moved in for the kill with the industrial revolution, littering the countryside with pollution factories. They strip mined the land of its internal organs. They clear cut the lungs out of our Mother and pumped disease into her veins poisoning her blood, bringing her to the brink of death.) Finally, after our Mother Earth was destroyed and there was nothing left for the two headed serpent to consume, it then started to eat into the Sky World. It was said that it would make its way out to our Grandmother, the night-time sun ( the moon), and that it would even try to destroy our Eldest Brother, the sun, and that from there it would attack all our cousins, the stars. (Finally, with the industrial revolution and the advancement of the sciences, these strange beings became so smart that they created the ultimate weapon to wage war against our Mother Earth - nuclear power. they punched holes in the Sky World enabling them to leave the incubus of our Mother, free to attack and destroy the rest of the Great Spirit.) But it was also said that when the serpent would be near the end of its destruction of our Mother Earth that the earth would fight back to cleanse herself. (Recently weather patterns have been very treacherous, killing many people around the world and destroying the infrastructure ( economy) of the Two Headed Serpent.) At this time the serpent will be weakened by the natural powers released from our Mother's revolt. Revealing itself for what it really is, the serpent will create its own demise and begin to destroy itself. (Presently church is being revealed for what it truly represents through the scandals of rape, abuse, internal corruption, law suites ( over one hundred million dollar in NA alone) and its sexist nature. The church is losing its flock of sheep leaving it with very little money to sustain itself, forcing the church to close down many of its parishes and to sell off its supposed property.) Also, through its own greed and its insatiable appetite for destruction, one head would begin to eat the other and it would destroy itself through internal conflict and that all it has enslaved to work for it to keep it alive, will revolt against it. (State is also on the verge of collapse. People around the world have lost faith in government. Mistrust for politicians is at an all time high, governments are having to tax their people to death and are constantly using war as an economic booster which is casting practically the whole world into revolution. Even when real people with good intentions are elected into government, people still distrust, for everyone is discovering that people are just a window dressing in government; for no matter what people say or want, it's still controlled by big business.) This is when ( while it distracts itself) a young boy would come again and with the power of the hair of the clanmothers would make a bow that would thrust his arrows straight and true into the heads of the two headed serpent. When the serpent rolls over and dies it is said that the young boy will climb atop the huge monster's belly and in slicing it open, all the real people who were eaten up will have been released. (With the male dominated church and State destroying everything that our Mother Earth gave birth to, the female entity must stand up and defend her family. When the women ( in accordance with the Great Law of Peace) bring the true men back to life, then the men will come to their senses and stop their destruction. Only the women have the power to turn their poor excuses for men into real men that will fight at all costs to stop this destruction of our people and of all Creation. When this is done, all people will be freed.) When the serpent is destroyed, all life will once again live in freedom the way the Great Spirit had intended and creation itself will blossom with a new vibrancy that has not been seen since the coming of the serpent. (When Church and State falls at its own hand and through suppression of the female entity, life will return that which has not been seen since the 500 years that the serpent has been let loose in the garden.) This is basically the Two Headed Serpent Prophecy. Though it may sound like fairy tale shrouded in myth, it remains to be the warning sign on the highway that we are all travelling together. We must remember that this prophecy was told to the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy before the coming of the whiteman with his church and state: yet the prophecy has predicted precisely everything that would happen, so any rational person should contemplate what the next state of the prophecy is. Brave Star --------- "RE: Poem: Our Home" --------- Date: 08 Mar 95 00:52:49 EST From: Christopher.A.Newell@DARTMOUTH.EDU (Christopher A. Newell) Subj: Our Home UUCP email Since I mentioned Rita Joe in my last message i thought I'd send one poem that she's done as well... This comes from _Poems of Rita Joe_, Abanaki Press, 1978 Our home is this country Across the windswept hills With snow on fields. The cold air. I like to think of our native life, Curious, free; And look at the stars Sending icy messages. My eyes see the cold face of the moon Cast his net over the bay. It seems We are like the moon -- Born, Grow slowly, Then fade away, to reappear again In a never-ending cycle. Our lives go on Until we are old and wise. Then end. We are no more, Except we leave A heritage that never dies. Rita Joe Mi'kmaq --------- "RE: Verse: Hawai'ian Book of Days" --------- Date: 95/03/09 22:34 From: Kepola (dfsanders@genie.geis.com) Subj: A HAWAI'IAN BOOK OF DAYS, week of March 19-25 GE Electronic Mail A HAWAI'IAN BOOK OF DAYS, week of March 19-25 MALAKI (March) (Nana) 19 The land is rich in abundance for those who know where to look. 20 In the song of the ocean, I find healing. 21 Let me be like the dolphin -- joyous in the knowledge of my freedom! 22 The sun's light brings new life -- the moon's glow, renewal. 23 In each of us dwells the fountainhead of greatness. 24 The creative source is also the source of life. 25 Each of us must aspire to the heights of our own abilities. (c) Copyright 1991 by D. F. Sanders Me ke aloha i ka nani, ... Moe'uhanekeanuenue (With love and beauty, ... Rainbow Dream) --------- "RE: Conferences and Powwows - offline" --------- Date: Thu, 16 March 95 08:00 -0500 From: Janet Smith (Evening Star) (jans@genie.geis.com) Subj: Upcoming conferences and powwows not previously posted to Mailing Lists NATCHAT or NATIVE-L GE Electronic Mail From: EIRP News Subject: Southwest Indian Livestock Field Days - Arizona From: Howard Jones TUCSON-- The Navajo Nation Department of Agriculture will host the second annual Southwest Indian Livestock Field Days on April 25 and 26, 1995 at Red Rock State Park in Gallup, N.M. The two-day event will feature sessions on tribal livestock production, livestock marketing, wool marketing, range management, animal health and horse evaluation. A trade show will include at least 20 commercial exhibitors, and exhibits sponsored by The University of Arizona and New Mexico State University. Glenda Davis, of the Navajo Department of Agriculture, has given leadership for developing the program to tribal representatives from the Hopi, Hualapai, Navajo, San Carlos Apache, Southern Ute, Tohono O'odham, White Mountain Apache and Zuni, and to Cooperative tension faculty from The University of Arizona and New Mexico State University. "More than 350 people attended the first field days", Davis said. "We are expecting an even larger attendance at this year's event." On Tuesday, April 25, a special youth program will be offered. Activities will include livestock judging, horse evaluation and training, and care of livestock. Esther Hubbell, Extension 4-H agent for Navajo County, Ariz. chairs the youth program committee responsible for organizing these activities. "We are planning a program for the young people that is educational," Hubbell said. "We want to encourage their interest in the livestock industry." The committee is developing the program for youth in 4-H and Future Farmers of American (FFA) in particular. The Southwest Indian Agricultural Association (SWIAA), The University of Arizona, New Mexico State University and The Navajo Nation Cooperative Extension are sponsoring the event. Adult registration costs are $10.00 before April 10 and $15.00 after that date.Students with identification cards will pay $5.00. No purchase orders will be accepted. Make checks payable to The Southwest Indian Agricultural Association or SWIAA and mail to Southwest Indian Livestock Field Days, Cooperative Extension, The Navajo Nation, P. O. Box 1339, St. Michaels, AZ 86511, or call (602) 871-7406. Registration at the field days will start at 7 a.m. both days. The program will start at 9 a.m. on April 25 and at 8 a.m. on April 26. For more information on the field days, contact Gerald Moore, Coordinating Extension Agent, P. O. Box 1339, St. Michaels, AZ 86511, or call (602) 871-7406. For information on the youth program, contact Esther Hubbell at 402 E. Hopi, Holbrook, AZ 86025, or call (602) 524-6271. To find out more about the Field Days Trade Show, contact Ron Parker, Head, Extension Livestock, New Mexico State University, P.O. Box 31E, Las Cruces, N.M. 88003, or call (505) 646-1709. -------------------------------------------------------- From: EIRP News Subject: Native American Conference on the White Buffalo (fwd) This is an open invitation to take part in the WHITE BUFFALO RENEWAL CONFERENCE, March 27-30, 1995, at Mansfield University in Mansfield, Pennsylvania. The conference will deal with the historical and contemporary context of Native North Americans. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Monday, March 27 1-3 pm MANSFIELD UNIVERSITY NATIVE AMERICAN INSTITUTE (demonstration of computerized Native language preservation projects) 7 pm MR. ARVOL LOOKING HORSE, Eagle Butte, SD (discussing the significance of the White Buffalo and Native American spiritualism. Open to the public) Tuesday, March 28 1230-2 pm MR. N. SCOTT MOMADAY, Tucson, AZ (noted poet, author, storyteller, reading from his works and relating stories) 7 pm Mr. N. Scott Momaday (performance/reading. Open to the public) Wednesday, March 29 7 pm MR. BILL CROUSE, Seneca Nation (performing native dances. open to the public) Thursday, March 30 1230-200 pm PANEL ON WOMEN'S ROLE AND WOMEN'S ISSUES IN THE IROQUOIS NATION (Public invited) 3-4 pm MR. DUCE BOWEN, Seneca nation (Storyteller. Public Invited) 7 pm DR. JOHN MOHAWK, Gowanda, NY (Issues of the Canadian Native Americans, launching the week of focus on Canadian Studies. Public invited.) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ We will have other exhibits and events to announce; however, we wanted to let you know our plans and issue an invitation to all. Arts and crafts people will be included in the final program. Contact Dr. Funmaker if interested. Dr. Sandra Linck, Associate Provost, Mansfield University Dr. Walter Funmaker (Ho-Chunk/Winnebago) Director, Native American Institute, Mansfield University email: wfunmake@vmhost1.mnsfld.edu =========================================================================== From: berryj@Okway.okstate.edu (John Berry) Subject: TULSA Powwow To all, _____________________________________________________________________ The U. of Tulsa Native American Student Assoc. is holding their annual Powwow this Saturday 3/18/95, from Noon until 1AM. Location is Expo Square, 21st St. & Pittsburgh Ave, in Exchange Center #1 next to the Flea Market. Admission is free. For Information call (918)744-1113 or contact TU. ------------------------------------------ Be Well All, John Berry ==================================================================== From the _Yakima Nation Review_ Mar 17-19 21st Annual Denver March Powwow, Denver, CO Info: 303-455-4575 Mar 31-Apr 1 Pah-Loots-Pu Celebration, Washington State Univ. Info: 509-335-8676 Mar 31-Apr 2 Central Washington Univ. Native American Council 4th Annual Powwow, Ellensburg, WA Info: 509-968-4105 ==================================================================== From _The Spike_ Mar 17-19 United Houma Nation Calling of the Tribes Powwow, Bourg, LA Info: 504-879-2373 Mar 17-19 1st Annual Volusia County Native American Powwow, Deland, FL Info: 904-583-3388 Mar 18-19 North Alabama Cherokees Anniversary Powwow, Collinsville, AL Info: 205-524-2218 Mar 24-25 Edisto 5th Annual Indian Festival, Summerville, SC Info: 803-871-2126 Mar 25-26 Grand Village of Natchez Powwow, Natchez, MS Info: Info: 601-446-5117 Mar 24-26 23rd Annual Ann Arbor Powwow, Ann Arbor, MI Info: 313-763-9044 Mar 25 Thunderbird American Indian Dancers auction, NY, NY Info: 201-587-9633 Mar 25-26 10th Annual NAC Powwow, Rochester, MN Info: 507-374-2607 Apr 1-2 CMU Saginaw/Chippewa Powwow, Mt. Pleasant, MI Info: 517-774-2580 ============================================================================= -------------------------------------------------------------------------- --//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//-- Notice of Copyright Clearance by Contributors: The following have granted permission for their original articles to be reposted in order to help mend the Sacred Hoop: Kepola, Janet Smith, Christopher A. Newell, Dee Smith, Joe Quickle, Tracy Coffman, Cheslatta Carrier Nation(by request), Glenn Welker, Native Coalition(via Michele Lord), Larry Innes, Jordon Dill, Nancy Nowinson, Michele Lord, Suzan Horovitch --//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//-- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ all items below this line have already been distributed by our brother, Jay Brummett, via the NATIVE-L or NATCHAT mailing lists. --------- "RE: Conferences and Powwows - online" --------- Date: Thu, 16 March 95 08:00 -0500 From: Janet Smith (Evening Star) (jans@genie.geis.com) Subj: Upcoming conferences and powwows already posted to Mailing Lists NATCHAT or NATIVE-L = Powwows and Gatherings From the Internet listserv groups = Subject: Mayan Mexicans Tour Eastern Canada Original Sender: hkoehler@web.UUCP Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) MEXICAN (CHIAPAS MAYAN) TOUR TO EASTERN CANADA Organized by the Canada-Mexico Solidarity Network LATEST EVENTS IN MEXICO THROUGH THE EYES OF THE MAYAS A man and woman from Chiapas are on a seven-week tour in Ontario, Quebec and Nitassinan, courtesy of the Canada-Mexico Solidarity Network. Efrain Valdez Lopez and Citlali Ramirez Tapia will present latest events in Mexico as seen through the eyes of Mayans. They will speak at public meetings and meet informally with special groups in their fields of interest. One of the OPEZ representatives will be Efrain Valdemar Valdez Lopez, a Tzotzil Maya Indian who is on the Political Commission of OPEZ. The other OPEZ representative will be Citlali Ramirez Tapia, a twenty-five year old daughter of campesino parents from the state of Morelos. Citlali has worked extensively with the Block of Proletariat Forces (BFP), a regional coalition of civil organizations of which OPEZ is a part. Her work with BFP has included efforts to integrate women's issues into the struggle for social change in Mexican society. The two activists are representatives of the Organizacion Proletaria Emiliano Zapata * (OPEZ), a campesino organization struggling for the rights of the disenfranchised in southern states of Mexico, including Chiapas, Tabasco, and Michoacan. OPEZ is one of the many popular civil organizations participating in the National Democratic Convention (CND), the civilian organization set up by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) as the representative of civil society. OPEZ operates a human rights monitoring organization in Comitan, Chiapas, called the South Southeast Human Rights Association, which disseminates human rights denunciations internationally. OPEZ has also been instrumental in organizing campesino land struggles. Both OPEZ and BFP are members of the State Council of Indigenous and Campesino Organizations (CEOIC), an umbrella organization comprising 280 Native and peasant organizations seeking democracy in Mexico. OPEZ has specifically expressed the desire to meet with unions, non-government organizations, women's organizations, universities, indigenous organizations, and any other groups interested in helping with their projects in the following areas: human rights, gender, agricultural production, and artisans' co-ops. The fundamental objectives of the tour are to talk about the actual situation in Mexico. The focus will be on the effects of the NAFTA which have affected the Mexican people the most. Emiliano Zapata was 'heart and soul of the revolution of 1910' which was successful in obtaining land reforms. -----------------------//--------------------- The early itinerary includes: St. Catharines March 28 London March 29 & 30, with a public meeting at the Central Library Auditorium, 305 Queens Avenue on Thursday Mar 30 at 7:30 pm. Kitchener Waterloo March 31. The Canada-Mexico Solidarity Network comprises contacts: St Catharines Beatrice Groux (905)641-2525 London Ellen Haq (519)439-8031 Kitchener Waterloo Marc Xuereb (519)746-4090 Toronto Ken Theobald (416)920-2656,H 534-2878 Kingston Belleville Janice Brown (613)530-2105 Montreal Oscar Hernandez (514)529-0813 The tour coordinator is Nancy Reyes, Global Community Centre 91 King Street North - Apt 89, WATERLOO ON N2J 2X3 (519)746-4090, Fax 746-4096, E-mail gccwat@web.apc.org ==================================================================== Subject: human rights delegations to Chiapas Original Sender: Global Exchange Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) GLOBAL EXCHANGE PHONE: 800-497-1994 415-255-7296 FAX: 415-255-7498 Email: globalexch@igc.org URGENT ACTION HELP BRING ABOUT PEACE HUMAN RIGHTS/ACTION DELEGATIONS TO CHIAPAS, MEXICO APRIL 9 - 16 APRIL 29 - MAY 6 MAY 28 - JUNE 4 JULY 2 - 9 AUGUST 13 - 20 Since Jan. 1st, 1994, Global Exchange has organized five delegations to Chiapas, Mexico. These delegations have played, and will continue to play an important role in drawing international attention and scrutiny to the dramatic and rapidly unfolding events. In 1995, we are organizing more delegations, continuing to support grassroots development, humanitarian aid projects, and a peaceful resolution to the conflict. We urge you to get actively involved by joining one of our delegations. The focus throughout your stay will be on exploring how international educational action, volunteer presence, and material assistance can best support war affected communities and the organizations that represent them. You will meet with human rights workers, religious, government, indigenous, and campesino leaders, education projects, and development organizations. For more information please contact Global Exchange at globalexch@igc.org or by telephone, and include your Email address, mailing address, and telephone number. --------- "RE: New Alcan Demands" --------- Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 16:53:21 -0500 From: fyre@web.apc.org Subj: Kemano - New Alcan Demands Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) The following is posted by request. For further information please refer to recent postings in web.native or dams.general. ================================================================= Cheslatta Carrier Nation P.O. Box 909 Burns Lake, B.C. V0J 1E0 ph: (604) 694-3334 fax: (604) 694-3632 FAX MEMO March 8, 1995 Subject: KEMANO II - NEW ALCAN DEMANDS From: John Hummel, Researcher Here are a list of Alcan Demands leaked from a B.C. Government Briefing Package! We don't think Alcan is entitled to a penny! LIST OF ITEMS PROPOSED BY ALCAN 1. Compensation for the initial investment of $535M Alcan has invested in the project and loss of future revenue. 2. Reimburse Alcan for the cost incurred during its participation in the BCUC public review ($5,756,644 on 31 October 1994) 3. Unjust enrichment of $173M of taxes on the part of the government as a result of the $535M invested by Alcan. 4. Option for a long-term power contract up to 285 MW at attractive rates to permit expansion of the aluminum industry in British Columbia in the future. 5. Resolve the Nanika-Kidprice issue. 6. Maximization of the Kemano 1 output. 7. Alcan is prepared to enter into discussions with other stakeholders on downstream allocations of water flows insofar as its entitlement as set out in the 1987 Settlement Agreement is preserved. --------- "RE: Carlos Fuentes Speaks On Chiapas" --------- Date: Thu, 9 Mar 1995 14:21:52 EST From: gwelker@mail.lmi.org Subj: Carlos Fuentes Speaks On Chiapas Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) One of Mexico's most prominent novelists and a member of the official Mexican Commission for Human Rights, Carlos Fuentes is author, most recently, of "Return to Mexico: Journeys Behind the Mask. Subcommandante Marcos", the spokesman of the Chiapas rebels, has said that Fuentes is his favorite writer. The Chiapas revolt has revealed the deep multicultural rifts that had been masked by official glorification of Mexico's pre-Hispanic past. In the United States, there are civil rights laws for dealing with racial conflict in a multicultural society. We have always congratulated ourselves in Mexico on our extraordinary Indian culture which we display in museums and through imposing monuments along our boulevards. We say we are proud of being the descendants of that culture. The Mexican Revolution made an attempt to respect the identity of the Indian communities of Mexico, recognizing and protecting them and their languages in the constitution. In actual practice, however, we have treated the Indians with more cruelty, perhaps, than Cortez. In Chiapas, in particular, there was a tradition of self-government among the several Indian peoples that endured up until the last 20 or 30 years. A succession of rapacious governors allied to equally rapacious land owners and cattle barons has since destroyed the autonomy of the Indian people, taking their land and driving them to desperation and poverty. The events of Chiapas have reminded us that Mexico is a multiethnic, multicultural country. Mexico has the desire to be, and regards itself, as a mestizo, or mixed race, country. But this does not mean that we can simply put aside the fact that there are 10 million Indians in Mexico who speak 42 languages and have alternative cultures and values. They are not barbarians or uncivilized people. They are simply people with another culture. The challenge for mestizo Mexico after Chiapas is to come to grips with this multicultural and multiethnic reality with stricter laws and protections for the indigenous cultures. The draft settlement between the Mexican government and the Chiapas rebels calls for new anti-discrimination laws, like those in the U.S., for the Indians. But will such laws mean anything more than the empty guarantees in the Mexican constitution? Certainly the existence of such laws will mean that the country as a whole will become more sensitized to the issue of discrimination. But this is how the question of the alternative culture of the Indians is intimately linked to the question of democracy in Chiapas: If the people of Chiapas, for the first time, have the right to elect their own leaders -- people they have confidence in -- then there will be an end to discrimination. Without democracy, a law against discrimination would be meaningless. Law and its practice cannot be separated from effective democracy in Chiapas. Another element of the draft settlement would guarantee that the Indians of Chiapas would be able to teach and speak their own language in their local schools and in local media. In this respect we have to rethink what modernity means. If modernity is seen to be homogeneous and exclusive of alternative cultures then it is not really modernity at all. If we want only a modernity as defined in our large cosmopolitan cities, it is a false modernity. Modernity must be inclusive of plurality. Especially in a world that tends toward uniformity, it is healthy to remember that there are other people that have alternative values, alternative ways of life, alternative languages. Recently in Los Angeles I inaugurated the National Conference on Bilingual Education in the United States. How can I defend bilingualism in Spanish and English as something that enriches the U.S. and not defend multilingualism that enriches my own country, Mexico? In Oaxaca (a state in southern Mexico) a couple of years ago I saw how that state's government allowed the indigenous Indians to speak in their own language on TV. That allowed a wealth of myths, memories and aspirations to come through that would have otherwise remained lost in silence. This should be done for the nation as a whole. The problem for the U.S., for Mexico or for Spain -- for any multicultural country -- is to accept that multiculturalism is enriching as long as everyone's rights are equally protected under the law. Where there is intercultural conflict in a society, there is usually an economic overlay. Chiapas is situated, one might say, between backward Central America and the North American Free Trade zone.Mexico today has one foot in Central America and the other foot in North America. The Chiapas revolt, lest we forget, was launched on January 1, the day the NAFTA agreement took effect. But maybe fruit from the Mexican tropics and winter vegetables can compete in U.S. markets? I believe the two economies can be complementary in many respects; trade after all is not a zero-sum exercise. In any event, there is a deeper point to be drawn from Chiapas: People who have been traditionally exploited would rather go on being exploited than become marginalized. They will not be left out altogether and become non-persons in a non-economy. This is what would happen if the global market-type technocrats were to take over the Chiapas economy. The world economy simply cannot be organized in an enduring way if it only incorporates 30 percent of the world's inhabitants, leaving the remaining 70 percent -- some have called them the "lumpenplanet" -- to dwell or die in destitution. The demand of the Chiapas rebels for more democracy in all of Mexico has had great resonance through the whole country. Many people with cloudy minds in Mexico responded to what happened in Chiapas by saying, "Here we go again, these rebels are part of the old Sandinista-Castroite-Marxist- -Leninist legacy. Is this what we want for Mexico?" The rebels proved exactly the contrary: Rather than the last rebellion of that type, this was the first post-communist rebellion in Latin America. For the rebels, the demand for democracy was central. They understood that all their other demands having to do with economic reform and laws against discrimination will not be realized if the people of Chiapas do not have the right to elect their own leaders. Now, you cannot have this kind of democracy in Chiapas when you have the undemocratic system we have in Mexico today. And you cannot have a democratic system in Mexico if you don't have local democracy in a poor and backward place like Chiapas. The two are inseparable. Everyone was sure that, after the massacre of protesting students in the Tlatelolco Plaza in Mexico City during the 1968 Olympics, Mexico would have to move toward democracy. It didn't. 1968 provoked a succession of Mexican governments to at least try to save the system from collapsing into a South American-type dictatorship. Now the issue is no longer to save the system, but to save the country. And that can only happen through full scale democratization, including in Chiapas. The effect of Chiapas has been to show us as a nation that our problems can be solved through negotiation rather than force. This, it has to be said, is to the credit of Carlos Salinas, Mexico's president. He could have taken the trigger-happy path of repression that is the usual temptation of authoritarian governments. But he didn't. It must be understood that it would suffice for the rebel leader from Chiapas, Subcommandante Marcos, to give the signal and there would be two, three, many Chiapas-like revolts across Mexico -- in Chihuahua, in Michoac n, in Oaxaca, in Puebla, Hidalgo and Guerrero. Yet, The Mexican army is barely capable of handling a revolt in Chiapas, no less five or six throughout the country. So, the government had to take a different tack, and the rebels know this. And now the government has to deliver on its promises or it could face a much wider spread revolt. Finally, the Chiapas revolt forced all the political parties contending in the presidential elections coming up in August -- including the ruling PRI and the main opposition parties of the right and left -- the PAN (National Action Party) and the PRD (Party of Democratic Revolution headed by Cuahtemoc Cardenas) to agree on a series of measures that promise to make the 1994 elections the most open in Mexican history. The aim, mainly, is to make the electoral authorities independent of the ruling PRI and government, penalize electoral fraud and make sure the media access is fair. This electoral pact has prepared the way for President Salinas to campaign for democratic reform in Mexico the way he campaigned for NAFTA. If he takes up the challenge, he will go down in history not as the man who negotiated a trade agreement or was badly tainted by Chiapas, but as the man who brought democracy to Mexico. Mexico in its own way, as much as Russia, today encapsulates the central issues of the post-Cold War era. It is a country struggling to establish democracy while coping with two contradictory pulls -- cultural self- determination demanded by the likes of the Chiapas Indians on the one hand, and integration into the world market, exemplified by NAFTA, on the other. We have all become mirrors of the struggle between the global village and the local village, between economic integration on the world scale and loyalty to community, memory, tradition. For all the material appeal of free worldwide commerce, the fact is that no one lives in the macro economy. We live our actual daily existence, in our own way, in the local village. Because Mexico has such a powerful Indian past and present, the contradictory pulls will be more dramatized. But in other places, if it is not Indians that will dramatize this conflict, it will be immigrants who are the bearers of different cultures entering Germany, France and Britain; it will be the large Third World underclass in the U.S. that is shut out of the global village every bit as much as the Indians of Chiapas. There art 10 commandments for Mexican democracy. First is electoral reform. This includes the consecration of alternation in power, an independent electoral organism and clear rules on party access to funding and the media. Mexico cannot go on bleeding itself in post-electoral conflict. Four more articles of democracy in Mexico: a working federalism, a true division of powers, an electoral statute for Mexico City, and the rule of law through reform of the corrupt judiciary. The media are the sixth. The comedy of errors will never end if television - and Televisa, in particular - neither informs nor criticizes, limiting itself to parroting the presidential line. The next three are human rights, respect for civil society and its organizations, and reform of security agencies to assure safety at the individual, public and national levels. Finally, a market economy with a social dimension and balance between the public and private sectors through developing the social sector. If political reform is at the start of Mexico's solutions, at the end we are back in economics. The contract for Mexico must lead to a greater balance between healthy finances, growing production and higher salaries. We will achieve none of this if the principles of accountability and checks and balances are not forcefully set in place. But we also will not gain anything if the present climate of vengeance against Mr. Salinas is allowed to get out of hand. Mexico should now devote itself to finding laws, rules of coexistence and tolerance, freedoms and agreements, so that our present troubles shall never come back to haunt us. --------- "RE: USAF Cancels Plans to Train Over Innu Land" --------- Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 10:27:40 -0400 From: es051322@orion.yorku.ca (Larry Innes) Subj: USAF Cancels Plans to Train Over Innu Land Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) USAF CANCELS DATE AT GOOSE BAY ============================== Friends of Nitassinan (A Vermont based US support group) advises us that the USAF has cancelled plans to train over Innu land this spring. In a letter dated 2 March, Brig. General Michael J. McCarthy writes: "...the USAF terminated operations from CFB Goose Bay in July 1991 when the United States withdrew from the 1989 Goose Bay Multinational Memorandum of Understanding. The USAf did not participate in low-altitude flight operations then, and we do not intend to deploy the 52nd Fighter Wing to CFB Goose Bay to conduct such operations this April. United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) considered CFB Goose Bay as one of several possible deployment locations for training operations prior to a Maple Flag exercise at Cold Lake, Alberta. However, CFB Goose Bay was not selected, and USAFE has made arrangements to deploy to a location in the United States to conduct this training. I appreciate your concern over USAF operations in Labrador and Eastern Quebec, and hope this information is helpful." Larry Innes internet: es051322@orion.yorku.ca (direct to me) innu@web.apc.org (general to Innu Nation) Environmental Advisor Innu Nation phone: (709) 497-8398 PO Box 119 fax: (709) 497-8396 Sheshatshiu, Nitassinan (Labrador) via Canada A0P 1M0 =\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/= --------- "RE: Under the Conqueror's Sword" --------- Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 22:20:42 -0500 From: jsd@infi.net (Dick Shovel, Ltd.) Subj: ...under the Conqueror's sword. Mailing List: NATCHAT (natchat@gnosys.svle.ma.us) O'siyo... On Wed, 18 Jan 1995, Deward E. Walker Jr.(walkerde@spot.colorado.edu) responded to an earlier Natchat post by "Roger Macklin concerning the degree of sovereignty enjoyed by the Mescalero Tribe" via an article he wrote, "Tribal/Federal/State Relationships." This response (article) appeared in The Health Physics Society's Newsletter, January, 1995. I didn't see the initiating post but imagine it had something to do with (am guessing here) radioactive waste storage? I received this data via disk off the coast of Bosnia so, obviously, it has taken me some time to respond. Mr. Walker states that "When treaties were executed with the United States, important rights were reserved to Tribes, many of which continue to be enforceable today...Treaties with Tribes also stand on essentially the same footing as treaties with foreign nations. Since they are made pursuant to the Constitution, they take precedence over any conflicting state laws by reason of the Supremacy Clause." On the surface this sounds admirable and there is the intimation that the United States honors all that it has sworn to. However, some important issues ought to be kept in mind, if only for perspectives sake. "Sovereignty is a complex matter and one of degree...," Mr. Walker states. Indeed it is, and I suggest that the term sovereign be defined, in this instance with the only dictionary at hand, the Oxford American Dictionary: sovereign-adj. 1. supreme, sovereign power. 2. possessing sovereign power, independent sovereign states. 3. very effective, a sovereign remedy. Prior to 1871 the United States participated in a treaty making process with the First Nations because this technique was the obvious "legal" answer to westward expansion. Treaties, as defined by the Supreme Court did not incorporate a "grant of rights to Indians, but a grant of rights from them." Originally treaties were contracts between sovereign nations and accordingly were "the supreme law of the land." If Wasichu wasn't smart enough to think of everything he wanted and get same into the relevant treaty then "any right not expressly extinguished by a treaty...is reserved to the tribe." This is known as the "reserved rights doctrine." [The Rights of Indians and Tribes:The Basic ACLU Guide to Indian and Tribal Rights, Stephen L. Pevar, Southern Illinois University Press, P.O. Box 3697, Carbondale, Il., 62902-3697, ISBN 0-8093-1768-0] As time, disease, despair, genocidal activity, public opinion and overwhelming superiority in terms of combatant bodies took their toll, the need for defining the First Nations as sovereign passed. "It was at this point that an effort to reconcile official terminology with the semantics of the general public began to emerge" and the "word 'tribe' completely [displaced] the word 'nation' in the legal discourse [which] lead to congressional termination of treaty-making with Indians in 1871." [Indians Are Us?, Culture and Genocide in Native North America, Ward Churchill, Common Courage Press, ISBN 1-56751-020-5] The First Nations "...at one time had had enough power to make a favorable cession of lands a diplomatic triumph for the United States. But from the early nineteenth century on, perceptive men had seen the incongruity of treating Indian tribes as equals, and as demands for reform in Indian affairs grew during and immediately after the Civil War, the treaty system came under increasing attack." [The Great Father, The United States Government and the American Indians, Francis Paul Prucha, abridged edition, University of Nebraska Press, ISBN 0-8032-8712-7] If one has all the power then why bother being just? Note the comments from Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Ely Parker (Donehogawa, Seneca Chief), 1869,: "...a treaty involves the idea of a compact between two or more sovereign powers, each possessing sufficient authority and force to compel a compliance with the obligations incurred. The Indian tribes of the United States are not sovereign nations, capable of making treaties, as none of them have an organized government of such inherent strength as would secure a faithful obedience of its people in the observance of compacts of this character. They are held to be wards of the government, and the only title the law [Wasichu's law] concedes to them to the lands they occupy or claim is a mere possessory one. But, because treaties have been made with them, generally for the extinguishment of their supposed absolute title to land inhabited by them, or over which they roam, they have become falsely impressed with the notion of national independence. It is time that this idea should be dispelled, and the government cease the cruel farce of thus dealing with its helpless and ignorant wards. Many good men, looking at this matter only from a Christian point of view, will perhaps say that the poor Indian has been greatly wronged and ill treated; that this whole country was once his, of which he has been despoiled, and that he has been driven from place to place until he has hardly left to him a spot to lay his head. This indeed may be philanthropic and humane, but the stern letter of the law admits of no such conclusion, and great injury has been done by the government by deluding this people into the belief of their being independent sovereignties, while they were at the same time dependents and wards. As civilization advances and their possessions of land are required for settlement, such legislation should be granted to them as a wise, liberal, and just government ought to extend to subjects holding their dependent relation." [Handbook of Federal Indian Law, Cohen, reprint, William S. Hein Co., ISBN 0-89941-671-3] Small wonder Donehogawa was appointed commissioner! "The termination of the treaty-making process was presaged by section 6 of the Act of March 29, 1867, which provided: And all laws allowing the President, the Secretary of the Interior, or the commissioner of Indian Affairs to enter into treaties with any Indian tribes are hereby repealed..." While this Act, supported by the House of Representative, was soon repealed, it stood as a harbinger of what was to come a few years later. [Handbook of Federal Indian Law, Cohen, reprint, William S. Hein Co., ISBN 0-89941-671-3] In 1871 Wasichu recognized that he was working himself into a hole by dealing with "sovereign nations" which resided smack dab in the middle of what he was trying to gain full custody of. This realization coupled with a rebellious House of Representatives heretofore excluded from the treaty making process prompted the House to rebel. The result of this protest was a law that prohibited making any more treaties with the First Nations (Title 25, United States Code, Section 71). It was also "established" that the First Nations were no longer independent [sovereign?] entities. Treaties made prior to 1871 were to be honored but Congress covered itself by noting that: "The power exists to abrogate the provision of an Indian treaty, though presumably such power will be exercised only when circumstances arise which will not only justify the government in disregarding the stipulations of the treaty, but may demand, in the interest of the country and the Indians themselves, that it should do so." [Federal Indian Law, Cases and Materials, Getches, Wilkinson, and Williams, West Publishing Company, ISBN 0-134-02268-6, 1-800-328-9352] Had the Senate not agreed to work with the House of Representatives, the House was prepared to propose that all treaties made prior to 1871 were to be abolished. Under a so-called gun, the Senate cooperated and prior treaties remained valid. You see, in the beginning when Wasichu first started his march to the West it was necessary for him to justify his land grabbing activity to those foreign nations from whom he solicited respectability and international cooperation. Hence his purely tactical acknowledgement that the First Nations were sovereign entities and the resultant "treaties" with these Nations. Note the following comments from dear ole I-can-not-tell-a-lie George Washington, a man who earned the nickname "Town Destroyer" for his direction of the obliteration of "at least 28 out of 30 Seneca towns from Lake Erie to the Mohawk River...in a period of less than five years." [American Holocaust, Columbus and The Conquest of the New World, David E. Stannard, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-507581-1: "...the Settlemt. [sic] of the Western Country and making a Peace with the Indians are so analogous that there can be no definition of the one without involving considerations of the other. For I repeat it, again, and I am clear in my opinion, that policy and economy [sic] point very strongly to the expediency of being upon good terms with the Indians, and the propriety of purchasing their Lands in preference to attempting to drive them by force of arms out of their Country; which as we have already experienced is like driving the Wild Beast of the Forest which will return as soon as the pursuit is at an end and fall perhaps on those that are left there; when the gradual extension of our Settlements will as certainly cause the Savage as the Wolf to retire; both being beasts of prey tho' they differ in shape. In a word there is nothing to be obtained by an Indian War but the Soil they live on and this can be had by purchase at less expense [sic], and without that bloodshed, and those distresses which helpless Women and Children are made partakers of in all kinds of disputes with them..." [letter from George Washington to James Duane, September 7, 1783] As stated in United States v. Kagama (1886): "The power of the general government over these remnants of a race once powerful, now weak and diminished in numbers, is necessary to their protection, as well as to the safety of those among whom they dwell. It [Power] must exist in that government, because it never has existed anywhere else, because the theater of its exercise is within the geographical limits of the United States, because it has never been denied, and because it alone can enforce its laws on all the tribes." Did this viewpoint spring unannounced into the light of day? No. There was ample precedent. The United States took great pains to insure that the First Nations acceded to demands that they acknowledge, on paper, themselves "to be under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other sovereign whatsoever" [Hopewell Treaty 1785-1786] and that the First Nations "were not free to deal directly with European nations, with individual states, or with private individuals." [The Great White Father, Prucha] Just one example of "sovereignty" as defined by proprietors of the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. If the fact as to just who is in charge and where their priorities lie requires any more hammering home, note Supreme Court Justice O'Connor's comments rendered in the April 19, 1988 Supreme Court decision concerning Lyne v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association: "...the constitution simply does not provide a principle that could justify upholding respondents legal claims...Whatever rights the Indians may have to use of the area [17,000 acres of "High Country" forest held sacred for centuries by the Yurok, Karok, and Tolowa "tribes" of California through which the Forest Service proposed to build a 6 mile road so as to provide loggers with easier access to timber], however, THOSE RIGHTS DO NOT DIVEST THE GOVERNMENT OF ITS RIGHTS TO USE WHAT IS AFTER ALL, ITS LAND..." Capitals are mine, please pardon the shouting. Just as the Doctrine of Discovery which underwrote Wasichu's possession of this continent was based on fabrication, so to is the belief that the First Nations can expect justice under the Conqueror's sword. To expect justice from an Overlord who considered/considers the First Nations to be "essentially a simple, uninformed and inferior people," [United States v. Sandoval (1913)] and "...semi-barbarous, savage, primitive, degraded and ignorant" [American Indian Law, Cases and Materials, Clinton-Newton-Price, The Michie Company, ISBN 0-87473-710-9] is to shout into the wind. For, "Besides justifying unquestioned abrogation and unilateral determination of tribal treaty and property rights, the discourse of conquest derived from the Doctrine of Discovery has been interpreted to permit the denial of other fundamental human rights of Indian tribal peoples in the United States. Violent suppression of Indian religious practices and traditional forms of government, separation of Indian children from their homes, wholesale spoliation of treaty-guaranteed resources, forced assimilative programs, and involuntary sterilization of Indian women represent but a few of the practical extensions of a racist discourse of conquest that at its core regards tribal peoples as normatively deficient and culturally, politically, and morally inferior..." [The American Indian in Western Legal Thought: The Discourses of Conquest, Robert A. Williams, Jr., 1990] Bottom line? Wasichu can do what he wants, whenever he wants because "...title by conquest is acquired and maintained by force. [Only] the conqueror prescribes its limits." [Chief Justice Marshall of the United States Supreme Court] I apologize for the length of this post but some things should never be forgotten...for perspectives sake. Nvwhtohiyada...Jordan