From gars@netcom.com Wed Jan 28 00:40:15 1998 Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 19:20:51 -0800 (PST) From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews06.005 _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' O ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ O o O / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' O o O / /-< / /--/ /-- VOLUME 06, ISSUE 005 O o o o o O __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 31 January 1998 O o O KANOHEDA ANIYVWIYA Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin O o O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min Aunchemokauhettittea O ( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N N E W S ) This issue contains articles from MinnInd, NAT-REL, NAT-Film, FOL & Hawaii Nation Info lists; Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty; UUCP email; Indigenous Environmental Network; Newsgroups: alt.native,soc.culture.native,igc.list.indknow 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. IMPORTANT!! ----------- To all who send copywrite protected articles, make very sure you have permission from the copywrite holder (a newspaper, the AP, a magazine, an author) because a new law is now in effect that says you can be prosecuted even if there is no monetary gain. Just because a newspaper has a website where it posts some or all of its editions does not grant permission for their redistribution. Be careful and be sure you pass on the items you do with full permission. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <----<<<< >>>>----> 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 may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@netcom.com ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org Thanks to Borries Demeler all _Wotanging_Ikche_ (part a) submissions to AISESnet are archived under AISESnet and can be accessed easily by World Wide Web: 1994: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/94_dis.html 1995: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/95_dis.html 1996: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/96_dis.html 1997: http://aises.uthscsa.edu/97_dis.html This is a searchable index to the AISESnet Discussion mailing list database archive, and the keyword "Wotanging" will retrieve all issues for that year. "The blood the runs in our veins is as the blood that runs in the veins of trees. The plants and each and every one of us are part of the great circle of life" -- Enriquela Contreras, Zapoteca Healer +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! Joe Chasing Horse took about three dozen boxes of clothing and blankets to Rosebud rez this week, all from contributors who responded to the appeals in Wotanging Ikche. He distributed them to the elders, who are very thankful and asked that we thank everyone. He sends apologies for not tracking who each box came from so that each donor could receive proper acknowledgement. In the cold, and with the need to make sure those who needed the items most received them, that detail fell through. =/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\= Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 23:35:14 -0500 From: AIMAZ (by way of ishgooda ) Subj: A passing...In Memory of John Trujillo It is my sad duty to report the passing of John Trujillo. A Yaqui elder, John was a founding member of the Arizona Territory Gourd Dance Society and a vocal advocate for Indian rights, especially in the Tucson, Arizona area. John lost his struggle with cancer today (1/22/98). Funeral services will be held at: St. Anne's Church Tubac, Arizona 10 a.m. Tuesday, January 27th, 1998 John's family has requested, in lieu of flowers, that donations be made, in his name, to the Arizona Territory Gourd Dance Society, and sent to: Danny Dwuyenie c/o 8102 E. Eli Tucson, AZ 85710 I knew John for about 5 years and knew him to be a good and dedicated man. He always put others before himself, and had a gentle manner. He will be deeply missed. Please pass this to any Gourd Dancers or Gourd Societies with whom you have contact. Prayers for this man are appreciated. We should all sing and dance John home. Respectfully, Andy Mader AZ Territory Gourd Dance Society =/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\= Bad news. Four buffalo were captured and trucked out of Yellowstone by the Sheridan slaughterhouse owner! If you'll recall, the DOL STILL can't account for all the thousands of bucks they got from the auction proceeds from sales of hides, skulls, meats, etc from last year. From http://www.wintercount.org with permission: Buffalogate On January 21, 1998, the American Public was ripped off for over $15,000. Did anybody happen to notice? Does anybody care? During a time when Newt is screaming for cutbacks to Indian Nations and school lunch programs, at a time when more people are homeless in American than in the history of this country, have we become so callous and unfeeling that we don't care when we are told of deliberate theft of our natural resources? Five Buffalo were baited by the Montana Department of Livestock with hay outside West Yellowstone, Montana, hazed outside the park and like thieves in the night, taken by a slaughterhouse truck to be slaughtered. Five buffalo--$3,000 each. You figure it up. I won't go into the ethical, moral or spiritual significance of this theft. I won't bore you with the tears it causes Indian People, but what I will tell you is that you are considered suckers by the State of Montana and the US Federal Government. They consider you stupid sheep who are too lazy to pick up a phone or send a fax in protest. I happen to think they're wrong, so I'm going to tell you a story. Last year, over a hundred thousand dollars was taken by the Montana Dept of Livestock from auction proceeds of bison. You remember those bison, over a thousand of them were killed by the State of Montana for the crime of wandering off the National Park lands. The Montana DOL couldn't account for the money other than to say it went into their "travel budget." Did they thank you for their food and drink bills while staying at the Best Western in Gardiner Mt. while waiting to capture more strays? I didn't think so. Consider you, as a taxpayer got ripped off for over a hundred thousand dollars. NOW, consider the tribal member who sold broken down equipment that he thought was discarded by the US Government, a year ago. He got 5 years in prison for not following the official sealed bid process that is required when Property of the US Government is disposed of. What's wrong with this picture? I wrote to the National Park Service and asked if the Bison weren't considered US Government Property and how could they be disposed of without sealed bid process? I was told the National Park Service doesn't consider them their property anymore once they cross the Park Boundary. REALLY? Does that mean any US Citizen can just run up to Montana, take a stock trailer and pick their buffalo to take home? Try it. Fifteen thousand dollars already stolen this year (and they'll probably charge off their proceeds to cover the cost of baiting the buffalo and corralling them, as they did last year). The State of Montana has become so arrogant, so defiant that they flip you off in your face, with a defiant attitude because they KNOW you're not going to stand up and demand a congressional investigation of where that money went. Folks? That is TAXPAYER money. Those Buffalo are assets of each of you. Your taxes paid to support those buffalo. You own a piece of each one of them. Would you allow a thief to come into your home and steal your personal possessions? Maybe it doesn't sound like a lot of money. Yet. But lets talk 1,100 buffalo from last year. Over a third of a million dollars that belonged to the US Tax paying public was handed over to the State of Montana without question--blood money. And now they're doing it again. Are you, as the State of Montana believes, going to sit back as mindless sheep and let them continue to rip you off? Or are you fed up with the corruption of big brothers and ready to drive your congressmen nuts about this issue? You and I are considered little people with no political clout, no power. I remind you that we elect these thieves and we can just as easily impeach them out of office. YOU have the power. YOU do NOT have to sit back and watch legalized theft occur of our precious natural resources. It's up to you. As my Cherokee Grandmother would say to you. You've been told. You're accountable. Dammit. DO SOMETHING. Call it what it is folks--Legalized Theft. Course you didn't protest too much about the $10,000 toilet seats either. =/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\=/\= Thanks to Mike Wicks for these reminders: In Memory (with Respect and Honor) 2.1976 Anna Mae Pictou Aquash - AIM organizer assassinated on (body Pine Ridge.. FBI involved in attempt to conceal cause of death. found Ongoing attempt to establish "AIM involvement" in murder. Key 2-24-76) FBI personnel never deposed. Coroner never deposed. [depose-to remove from power...to testify or bear witness, especially on oath in court] 2.6.1976 Lena R. Slow Bear - AIM supporter killed at Oglala by Goons. No investigation. Peace! Night Owl , , Gary Night Owl gars@netcom.com (*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@nanews.org (`-') Marietta, GA 30067, U.S.A. gars@igc.apc.org ===w=w=== gars@bellsouth.net Fax: 770-528-9643 gars@juno.com ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- - Save Ward Valley - Friends of the Lubicon Update - Slaughter of Yellowstone Buffalo - Sovereignty Sunday at `Iolani Palace - Relocated Bison Again in Danger - Menominee Nation Releases Report - Cherokee Use of HUD Funds - How Epidemics Killed So Many - Police Beat Gustafsen Activist - Threat to the People - Gustafsen Mountie Cited - Dreamcatcher & Cedar Story - Congreso Nacional Indi`gena Report - American Indians and the Fur Trade - Gwich'in Words - Native Prisoner - Cherokee Position Paper on - A Hundred Years Ago Moccasin Bend - Poem: Wisdom - Impact on Humboldt River - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Nuking the Navajos - Conferences and Powwows --------- "RE: Save Ward Valley" --------- Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 09:25:18 -0500 From: Tom Goldtooth Subj: Save Ward Valley Indigenous Environmental Network/Environmental Justice Post FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! Wednesday, January 14, 1998 We learned today that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is planning to issue permits to the CA Dept. of Health Services (DHS) and Dept. of Interior (DOI) for tritium testing at the proposed Ward Valley Radioactive Waste Dump as early as Fri., Jan. 16 and no later than Fri., Jan. 23. At the time these permits are issued a 15-day notice of closure of Ward Valley to the public will also be issued. At this time, the closure will include not only the 1,000-acre proposed dump site but also the exits on both sides of I-40. A 5-day notice to move the encampment from "ground zero" to the air-strip will also be issued, probably sometime during that 15-day period. DHS and Ed Hastey of CA Bureau of Land Management are pushing for the DHS testing to be done simultaneously with, or before, the DOI testing. DOI does not want this scenario; they prefer to do their testing before DHS. If they cannot resolve this disagreement, there may be further delays. When the permits and the 15-day notice of closure are issued we will activate the Emergency Response Network (ERN). We will, at that time, be calling upon people to come help defend Ward Valley against further desecration. You will be asked to report to the Save Ward Valley office in Needles, then go to the Fort Mojave Tribal Headquarters for orientation before going out to Ward Valley itself. We encourage everyone to begin making preparations for this very important action. Start getting your supplies together and make arrangements for travel, the care of your pets, etc. We must all work together to protect this sacred land, the desert tortoise, and the Colorado River! For more information contact: Save Ward Valley 107 F St. Needles, CA 92363 ph. 760/326-6267 fax 760/326-6268 e-mail: swvl@ctaz.com (Molly Johnson) Indigenous Environmental Network comments: The Save Ward Valley (SWV) is the contact center for information and for activating the Red Alert and the Emergency Response Network. If people need to contact the Fort Mojave Tribe directly or other Colorado River tribes, the SWV is the referral center for this information. IEN is part of the Emergency Response Network. Your support is needed. The tribal elders of Fort Mojave, Chemehuevi, Colorado River Indian Tribes, Quechan, and Cocopah have stated that they will not tolerate anymore desecration of the sacred lands of Ward Valley. The tribal elders have vowed that they will stand in place at the proposed low-level radioactive waste dump site at Ward Valley, California and prevent the trucks and drilling rigs from coming in to drill more test wells at the site. BE ON ALERT! BE READY TO TAKE ACTION AND SUPPORT THE ELDERS, COMMUNITY, THE ENDANGERED DESERT TORTOISE AND OTHER HABITAT FROM THIS DESTRUCTION. California Governor Pete Wilson, the federal agencies and the nuclear industry are continuing to make forward steps towards burying long-lived and highly dangerous radioactive wastes in shallow, unlined trenches above an aquifer and 18 miles from the Colorado River. The Ward Valley nuclear dump would contaminate the drinking water for over 22 million people in the Southwest, destroy critical habitat and violate traditional Native American lands, sacred and significant cultural sites. The Fort Mojave and other area tribes have had numerous meetings with United States federal officials requesting that President Clinton's government-to-government policy with tribes be respected. The tribes have been demanding that the U.S. government recognize their request that the Ward Valley nuclear waste dump not be built at the sacred and historical site of Ward Valley, which is 18 miles from the Fort Mojave Indian reservation. Their requests have been ignored by the U.S. administration! The Native elders, tribal grassroots and their tribal governments stand in solidarity with the non-Native anti-nuclear movement to stop this insane development whereby one accident could destroy whole tribal cultures, and contaminate the water and air of Southern California, Arizona and Mexico. All humans and habitat will be impacted by this development. This area is in a corridor of nuclear colonial development. The Western Shoshone and Paiute tribes and bands in Nevada and Utah have also been targeted with becoming unwilling hosts of other high level radioactive waste dump proposals. Yucca Mountain is one related issue. The Skull Valley Band of Goshutes in Utah is the other related issue. For more information see the following Web sites: http://banwaste.envirolink.org http://www.honorearth.com http://www.alphacdc.com/ien http://www.nirs.org http://www.alphacdc.com/necona Tom Goldtooth IEN National Coordinator Indigenous Environmental Network P.O. Box 485 Bemidji, Minnesota 56619 USA Phone: (218) 751-4967 Fax: (218) 751-0561 e-mail: ien@igc.apc.org web page: http://www.alphacdc.com/ien --------- "RE: Slaughter of Yellowstone Buffalo" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 23:29:44 -0700 From: buffalo folks Subj: Montana begins Slaughter of Yellowstone Buffalo AGAIN! : (please pass this on!) ( 8 ) UUCP email Yellowstone Bison Lured from Park for Transport to Slaughter: Attempt to Prevent Possible Slaughter Leads to Arrest FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 22, 1998 PRESS CONFERENCE ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 23: Michael Mease, Dan Howells Friday, January 23, 11:00 a.m. Emerson Cultural Center 111 S. Grand Ave. Bozeman, MT Weaver Room, 2nd floor Media Contact: Sue Nackoney, (406) 646-0070 FAX: (406) 646 0071 email: mailto:buffalo@wildrockies.org Yesterday, January 21, the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) scattered hay at their capture facility outside West Yellowstone, MT to bait buffalo leaving Yellowstone National Park. They hazed the buffalo who were outside of the park into the capture facility during the night. Thursday, five buffalo were captured and shipped off to a slaughter house in Sheridan, MT. These will be the first buffalo slaughtered by the DOL this winter. The bison in the trailers were bleeding from gore wounds they inflicted on each other in the pens and in the transfer process. The DOL also relocated four of Yellowstone's buffalo away the Duck Creek drainage, to be released at Horse Butte. These buffalo were marked with bright orange paint and could be injured. At 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Buffalo Nations volunteer Dan Howells locked himself to a trailer getting ready to relocate the four buffalo. With a kryptonite bicycle lock around his neck, Howells, a 29 year-old non-violent protester from Michigan, stated "We must stop the buffalo slaughter. These buffalo do not belong to the Department of Livestock, they belong to the people of the United States. The buffalo should be allowed to be wild and free." Howells was cut free from the trailer, and charged with obstruction, a misdemeanor. Buffalo Nations believes that the Department of Livestock does not have the right to capture and slaughter our last wild buffalo herd. Yellowstone's bison are not livestock, and should not be subjected to conditions which are alien to them. The DOL has no right to bait wildlife into leaving the park. Last year, buffalo were indiscriminately shipped to slaughter even though the tests for brucellosis are at best 70% effective. This resulted in the slaughter of bison who tested positive at the facility but tested negative at the slaughterhouse. Buffalo Nations is calling for the concerned citizens of the United States to express their outrage to Montana's governor, Marc Racicot (email: mailto:momholt-mason@mt.gov., mailto:amalcolm@mt.gov), over the resumed slaughter of this nation's heritage, the last wild buffalo. Unfortunately, a Federal Judge has already conceded that at least 100 more can be killed this winter. ++++++++++++++++++ Background Information: + Buffalo Nations is appalled at the Department of Livestock's total disrespect for human safety. During their past hazing activities, the DOL sent buffalo running down a residential road where people were standing and children were walking home from school. In another incident they hazed bison with cracker-barrels despite the resident's insistence that no bison be shot or hazed on her land. + On January 15, Bryce Smedley, a Buffalo Nations volunteer, was confronted by Mr. Koelzer, the owner of the land where the DOL capture facility is located. Smedley had entered the property to protect endangered bison. Koelzer drove into Smedley, knocking him down and ran over his foot. Smedley sustained minor injuries. "People are putting their lives on the line every day to save these buffalo. I chose to trespass to protect the buffalo non-violently and was met with violence," Smedley said. He is pressing assault charges against Mr. Koelzer and in turn will face trespassing charges. + On January 18, a 20 year-old Buffalo Nations volunteer from Livingston reported that the lug nuts on one of her rear tires had been loosened while she was in the field. Luckily she discovered they were gone before a serious accident occurred. Activists are concerned about their safety from those opposing their efforts. + Last year, nearly 1100 wild buffalo were slaughtered by the Montana's Dept. of Livestock and rangers from Yellowstone National Park. These wild buffalo were leaving Yellowstone National Park in search of food during an extremely cold and snowy winter. At the beginning of Winter 97-98, there were less than 1000 wild buffalo left in the lower 48. + Buffalo Nations is a coalition of Native American Traditionalist and grassroot activists of all races volunteering to save the last wild buffalo in the United States. + Michael Mease, Buffalo Nations co-founder stated, "Buffalo Nations has a firm commitment to save the buffalo in a non-violent manner. We may trespass, but we will never endanger anyone's life. Our job is to keep the buffalo safe from the one agency that still insists on killing them. Our campaign follows a code of non-violence. Our goal is to protect buffalo from being killed. Until buffalo treated like all other wildlife and their fate is no longer controlled by the Montana DOL, Buffalo Nations will be here to protect our children's heritage." Buffalo Nations PO Box 957 West Yellowstone, MT 59758 406-646-0070 phone 406-646-0071 fax mailto:buffalo@wildrockies.org http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo --------- "RE: Relocated Bison Again in Danger" --------- Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 14:10:07 -0500 From: buffalo@wildrockies.org (Buffalo Nations) Subj: Relocated bison again in danger UUCP email FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 26, 1998 Media Contact: Sue Nackoney, Michael Mease, (406) 646-0070 Four bison held in a capture facility and were marked with orange paint and relocated in West Yellowstone on Thursday, January 22, are once again at risk of being captured and/or killed by Montana's Department of Livestock (DOL). The orange marking paint had worn off within two days of their release. These bison were released on Horse Butte, an area where hundreds of bison were killed last year. The DOL is in the final stages of approval for building another capture and testing facility on Horse Butte. All nine buffalo who were captured on January 22 were males. Five bison were shipped to slaughter. Male bison are considered a low risk for transmission of brucellosis by the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). APHIS has stated that they will not revoke Montana's brucellosis-free status if Montana tolerates the presence of bull bison in the state up to 60 days prior to the return of cattle. Yet Montana's DOL still insists upon testing and killing the Yellowstone buffalo. "The only way brucellosis can be transmitted to cattle is through contact with an aborted bison fetus. The needless slaughter of five bull buffalo hearkens back to last winter, which only strengthens Buffalo Nations' commitment to prevent this tragedy from happening again. Buffalo Nations will defend these buffalo until an acceptable management plan is implemented and the DOL is no longer involved with the buffalo," stated Michael Mease co-founder of Buffalo Nations. Last year, the DOL marked and released bison from the capture facilities who tested negative for brucellosis. Yet many marked bison were subsequently shot in the field. Joanne Stovall, a resident of Horse Butte, reports, "I saw that those animals who had been marked and were supposedly protected were killed last winter. When it came time to shoot the bison, they killed any that were around so it seems like it was futile to even test them in the first place. Afterwards I saw carcasses with the DOL markings that were supposed to protect them." The DOL refused to release any information about the tests, even to the National Park Service. A DOL agent was quoted saying, " We are not giving any information to you bleeding heart liberals" addressing a park service ranger. According to the Bison Interim plan the park service and the DOL are mandated by law to work together. The Department of Livestock, alone, has no right to determine the fate of our last wild buffalo. Buffalo Nations PO Box 957 West Yellowstone, MT 59758 406-646-0070 phone 406-646-0071 fax buffalo@wildrockies.org --------- "RE: Cherokee Use of HUD Funds" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 16:34:01 -0600 From: Summerfield/Marvin&Linda Subj: Auditors launch probe into Cherokee use of HUD funds-Muskogee Daily Phoenix-By Donna Hales Newsgroups: alt.native,soc.culture.native Posted courtesy of your only independent Cherokee newspaper, THE CHEROKEE OBSERVER. http://www.cherokeeobserver.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The following article was published 1/22/98 in the Muskogee Daily Phoenix. Copyright-Muskogee Daily Phoenix. Reprinted with permission. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Auditors launch probe into Cherokee use of HUD funds Councilor expects investigation to answer questions about tribe's home renovations By Donna Hales, Phoenix Staff Writer Federal auditors began a probe Wednesday into whether the Cherokee Nation has properly spent federal funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe and Don Nickles and U.S. Rep. Tom Coburn, all Oklahoma Republicans, requested the investigation. Two HUD auditors and their supervisor, the assistant district inspector general for audit, are to be involved in the investigation. "They (tribal accounting officials) are pulling the documents requested and cooperating," said Harold DeMoss, a tribal councilor who attended a Wednesday afternoon meeting with HUD Senior Auditor Lon Kelster at the tribal complex. Keister told tribal officials the objective of the investigation is to find out whether the tribe has withdrawn HUD grant funds according to its agreements with HUD. Auditors will determine if withdrawals are supported by expenditures and if expenditures were for eligible items according to a document provided to DeMoss and others at the meeting. The probe is to include open grants administered by the nation and at the least one Cherokee Housing Authority grant. The housing authority is a state agency located in Tahlequah but separate from the tribe's community development HUD projects. DeMoss said the investigation should answer questions about the legality of the tribe's community development program spending more than $22,500 in HUD funds to renovate the home of a non-Indian. Sammie Hoskins, the mother of tribal Councilor Chuck Hoskins. Chuck Hoskins is on the committee that oversees community development projects. He told the Phoenix earlier that he didn't vote on whether to continue with the project involving his mother's home. His Indian father died before the work on his home began. He said he believed his mother was entitled to the help because she was married to his full-blood Cherokee father "for 53 years and raised three Indian children." The renovations were started in January 1996, after his father died in December 1995. His mother is living with him and has never returned to the home, which is sitting empty, Hoskins said in December 1997. He said his mother plans to move into the home, but didn't say when. Bud Squirrel, director of community development, told the Phoenix earlier this month that HUD was not notified that the Indian home owner died before the project began. All forms sent in to HUD in connection with the renovation project were sent in the dead man's name, not his non-Indian wife's name, Squirrel confirmed. He said application for the HUD renovation funds require a Certificate Degree of Indian Blood card and number. Squirrel said in December that one other non-Indian widow of a Cherokee whose house was slated for HUD renovations also received the renovations after her husband died. He said this month that forms were turned in as though the work was done on an Indian home. A former acting director of community development, Steve Woodall, said political pressures were applied to move people ahead on lists and to spend more on renovations than HUD allowed. In fiscal year 1996, the over-runs were about $250,000, Woodall said. Tribal funds were used to make up the difference. But there was no vote of the council to use those tribal funds, he said. The committee of which Hoskins is a member, authorized the tribal funds be used, Woodall said. There was more spent on the Hoskins home than the $20,000 maximum HUD allowed, Woodall said. --------- "RE: Police Beat Gustafsen Activist" --------- Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 02:22:20 -0800 From: SISIS@envirolink.org (S.I.S.I.S.) Subj: Police Beat Gustafsen Activist :-:-:-:S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty:-:-:-: January 22, 1998 Bulletin FREE THE WOLVERINE CAMPAIGN'S NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON BRUTALIZED BY RCMP British Columbia Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) brutally assaulted well known indigenous activist John Splitting-the Sky Hill late Wednesday evening. The police attack occurred as Mr. Hill and his cousin David Hill were returning to their home near Mission BC from Vancouver about 11:30 PM. Police approached the vehicle on the pretext of a problem with one of the vehicle's tail lights but then sought to arrest the men, presumably after ascertaining the identity of Mr. Hill. "I told the police that they had no jurisdiction and the next thing I knew they were beating me. One policeman pushed my face into the roadway with his boot on the back of my neck, while another one was kicking me in the ribs," said Hill, who was handcuffed at the time. The assault continued during transport to the Surrey RCMP detachment when Hill objected to the officers actions and reiterated his position that the police were without jurisdiction on "unceded Indian land." At this point an officer pepper-sprayed him "from two to three feet, my eyes were wide open. I was blinded for about 3 hours and still can't breathe properly," the activist told S.I.S.I.S. At the Surrey detachment Hill was separated from his cousin, "So I couldn't see what they were doing to him," said Dave Hill. The two men were later released. "There is no doubt that the attack was connected to my work as an activist and my role as national spokesperson for the Free the Wolverine Campaign," said Mr. Hill. "I'm in a pretty bad state - pretty messed up," he told S.I.S.I.S. in a short phone conversation from his home where he is recovering. Hill will be examined by doctors tomorrow to determine the full extent of his injuries. "No charges were laid against me, absolutely none," said Splitting the Sky. "Every dog has his day and we're going to make it well worth their evening of violence." After being examined for neck or head injuries and a possible concussion, Hill said he will determine his further response to the assault, noting that cut brake lines, the firebombing of vehicles, and police harassment have all attended participants and supporters in the Gustafsen Lake affair since the siege itself in 1995. Kootenay elder Bill Lightbown, spokesperson for the Ts'peten Defence Committee, strongly condemned the attack and noted, "It becomes more and more obvious that the RCMP is at war with Aboriginal people." The Free the Wolverine Campaign and the Ts'peten Defence Committee were formed in response to the massive police and army siege of indigenous traditionalists at the sacred Ts'peten (Gustafsen Lake) Sundance grounds in the summer of 1995. Both have worked tirelessly to educate the public about events of that summer, the ensuing trial, and the underlying issues of indigenous sovereignty and jurisdiction, and to secure the freedom of those imprisoned for defending that sovereignty, including James "OJ" Pitawanakwat and Shuswap elder Wolverine (Jones William Ignace). :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. condemns this latest attack upon this activist and reiterates the demand for a full and comprehensive inquiry into all aspects of the Gustafsen matter. STOP THE BRUTALITY! STOP THE GENOCIDE! STOP CANADIAN COLONIALISM! Ts'peten Defence Committee, Elder Bill Lightbown: Phone: (604) 251-4949 RCMP Public Complaints Commission: Toll free phone: 1-800-665-6878 Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien (demand a public inquiry!) Room 309-S Centre Block, House of Commons, Ottawa, Ont. K1A OA6 Canada Phone: (613) 992-4211 Fax: (613) 941-6900 Faxing by email: remote-printer.Jean_Chretien@16139416900.iddd.tpc.int Email: pm@pm.gc.ca For more information on Gustafsen Lake: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/gustmain.html :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL: SISIS@envirolink.org WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html SOVERNET-L is a news-only listserv concerned with indigenous sovereigntist struggles around the world. To subscribe, send "subscribe sovernet-l" in the body of an email message to For more information on sovernet-l, contact S.I.S.I.S. --------- "RE: Gustafsen Mountie Cited" --------- Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 01:43:29 -0800 From: SISIS@envirolink.org (S.I.S.I.S.) Subj: Gustafsen Mountie Cited For "Excessive Force" :-:-:-:-:-:-:-Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty-:-:-:-:-:-:-: [S.I.S.I.S. note: The following mainstream news article may contain biased or distorted information and may be missing pertinent facts and/or context. The officer referred to in this article, Cpl. Callander, was an ERT member of the paramilitary operation of RCMP and the Canadian Army in the Gustafsen Lake siege. In the Gustafsen trial, the judge also ruled - after the guilty verdicts had already been delivered - that RCMP had used excessive force when one of their snipers shot long-distance at an unarmed person in a "no-shoot zone" on Sept. 12, 1995. However, he found that police use of airplanes, helicopters, armoured personnel carriers, a land mine, M16 and C7 assault rifles, .50 calibre machine guns and 77,000 rounds of ammunition was not excessive. Note that unlike the defendant described in this article, none of the defendants in the Gustafsen case obtained discharges on the basis of excessive force.] MOUNTIE CITED FOR ACTIONS Globe and Mail, Jan. 10, 1998 A Provincial Court judge in Williams Lake dismissed an assault charge against a prisoner yesterday, saying an RCMP officer used excessive force against the man. The incident occurred Monday when Cpl. Mel Callander was escorting Malcolm Stewart Miller to a cell. Mr. Miller refused to go in and there was an altercation in which the officer was spat at, the prisoner was forced inside and his entire cell was pepper-sprayed. Judge Jacob de Villiers said Cpl. Callander acted unprofessionally and not in accordance with the high standards of the RCMP. Mr. Miller was given an absolute discharge. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: Letters to the Globe and Mail: letters@GlobeAndMail.ca :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL: SISIS@envirolink.org WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html SOVERNET-L is a news-only listserv concerned with indigenous sovereigntist struggles around the world. To subscribe, send "subscribe sovernet-l" in the body of an email message to For more information on sovernet-l, contact S.I.S.I.S. --------- "RE: Congreso Nacional Indi`gena Report" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 19:30:53 -1000 From: netwarriors@hookele.com Subj: CONGRESO NACIONAL INDIGENA - MAXIMUM ALERT NETWARRIORS REPORT - 22 January 1998 TO: Netwarriors Network (ENGLISH) RE: Congreso Nacional Indi`gena Reporting NATIONAL CONGRESS OF INDIGENOUS Sisters, Brothers our Friends and Supporters: The Congreso Nacional Indigena has provided the following report which we now have translated into english. NCDM will also be announcing official global actions very soon. I have been asked by many of you to provide a form letter that can be used on this situation. We will contact Congreso Nacional Indigena to assist us with one for your use. Besides the new Chiapas`98 network forming (let me know if you want copy) there is another cyber action organizing which is impressive. They have selected five financial institutions in Mexico which they will occupy through an online sit-in on the 29th. Request copy if you would like more info. We will be monitoring this action to explore the ramification potential. The following report from CNI is articulate and speaks to: self-determination, collective rights, indigenous media rights, new expressions of autonomy etc and more insight on the situation with a call for increase, alert and continuation of solidarity & organizational efforts. Ku`E (resist) ~k Content: 2 of 2 Reports (2) Jornada Nacional e Internacional de Lucha y Movilizacio'n en Alerta Ma'xima ---begin NCI report II--- National and International Journey of Struggle and Mobilization in Maximum Alert +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ National Congress of Indigenous Peoples Extended Continuation Committee January 11, 1998 National and International Journey of Struggle and Mobilization in Maximum Alert Mexico is currently living a war. Indigenous peoples and member organizations of the National Congress of Indigenous Peoples, declare that the only way to make progress in building a true and lasting peace and dignity, is by respecting the process of dialogue and negotiation within the existing legal framework, with the goal of reestablishing the 'State of Rights' in our country. We declare that the present Law of Concordance and Pacification, promulgated by the Union Congress on March 11, 1995, must not be disputed. Thanks to this Law under mandatory observance by the Federal Government and all Mexicans in general, it was possible to open spaces for dialogue and negotiation. This law defines the legal framework of the EZLN and the objective of the process of dialogue between the government and the EZLN: Resolve the original causes of the uprising and to facilitate the consolidation of a true and lasting peace and dignity for all Mexicans. Based on the March 11, 1995 Law, the Federal government is obliged to respect the members of the EZLN, as persons, as well as their properties, and not victimize them in any form during the process of negotiation. In this context and with this legal foundation, the San Andres Accords were signed on February 16, 1996. These accords are the result of a wider national process for democratic transformation. They include all indigenous peoples and diverse sectors of the country. As a way to complete these accords, President Zedillo must withdraw his proposal to obstruct Constitutional Reform. Zedillo's action has only provoked the social fragmentation and isolation in which many Mexican people live today. The Union Congress must also receive the proposal-initiative to reform the constitution in matters pertaining to indigenous rights and cultures (in its original version introduced on November 29, 1996), and implement such reforms without altering the spirit of the San Andres Accords. The San Andres Accords and the proposal for Constitutional Reform elaborated by COCOPA, take into consideration the creation of a legal framework to establish a new relationship between the Indigenous Peoples, the Mexican State, and the national society. These efforts will help us accomplish a true and lasting democratic transformation in the country. They also recognize the Collective Rights of Peoples and Communities that have given form and substance to the nation as a whole throughout history. Therefore, it is imperative to send a wide and open call for the participation of all sectors of society. We must all understand the transcendence of ethnocidal policies by resolving peacefully (within the legal framework) the conflict one day. Throughout history, governors have used ethnocidal policies against our peoples. We must block the roads to the institutional and paramilitary escalation of violence. The worst manifestation of the violence is against the poorest of the poor in the country. In Chiapas as in other places of Mexico, the most reactionary sectors follow the same strategies of counterinsurgency exercised by the Federal Army and paramilitary bands. The government of Ernesto Zedillo practices a double standard that we must all denounce. As the maximum chief of the arm forces, he has the responsibility to stop militarization and to stop the harassment of indigenous peoples and organizations around the country, like the recent incidents at Acteal Chenalho, Chiapas. The discourse of assistantship utilized by the government to mask the massive presence of soldiers in Chiapas, in fact has provoked actions by "white guards" groups in power that with impunity make use of paramilitaries to stop the peaceful transition to democracy in our country. The vicious cycle of extreme poverty amongst indigenous communities, their social fragmentation and isolation, the obstruction of their wishes, and the arms supply to the regions in conflict all encourages confrontations between indigenous peoples; they are crowned, ironically, with accusations against the victims in the killings, or against those who take refuge in the mountains. We must not allow the continuing imposition of this same strategy in Chiapas nor anywhere else. In this context, the international community has a fundamental role. The ethnocide and ecocide against indigenous peoples, have encouraged crimes against humanity that must be disavowed by governments, international agencies, and all the peoples of the world. It is most important to send a call to the international community: to remain vigilant to the actions of the federal government, and to denounce such actions whenever it is necessary by utilizing the media at hand, and thus helping to forge a peaceful transition to democracy in Mexico. - Indigenous peoples autonomy in the framework of the Mexican Nation-State. The autonomy of indigenous peoples is not an obstacle for building a better nation for all Mexican people. A society that is in violent confrontation like Mexico, with severe delays in social justice, can not provide a fertile ground for concord and peace. Indigenous autonomy must be understood as an instrument of reconciliation and plurality, one that acknowledges the diversity and collective rights of our peoples, such as Covenant 169 of the ILO adopted by our country. Evidently, we can not achieve autonomy with the level of poverty and injustice found in many sectors of society. For these reasons, it is necessary to create a real change in the economic neoliberal model, considering that our people suffer and continuously pay the cost and risks of the power of money. Autonomy is also inscribed in the new relation between indigenous peoples, the State, and the national society. It is an angular rock for the construction of a new national project, a truly democratic country that a great number of Mexicans are presently demanding. Autonomy is a universal value of indigenous peoples, and not a private one. It is necessary to explore new expressions of autonomy for the multiple communities and collective groups integrating our nation. - Mobilization as a fundamental instrument. The mobilization of indigenous peoples and organizations represents a deadbolt to the actions of the government and to the powerful groups represented and protected by the Mexican government. We must stop the escalation of violence in all indigenous communities of Mexico, stop the kidnappings, unjust imprisonments, and impunity, by articulating indigenous struggles and resistance. We must do it by building unity in each of the constituencies, and by opening new spaces for action. Unity is fundamental in order to create a democratic transformation for profound changes in the country. We must reject the continuation of the system of "cacicazgos" (corrupt landownership), impunities, intolerance, racism and discrimination, and thus help liberate our indigenous political prisoners. Such government policies are aimed to exterminate indigenous peoples and are the same indigenista policies embraced by the government in turn. - Criteria for a united mobilization Indigenous peoples and organizations that form part of the National Congress of Indigenous Peoples, must take, internally, coordinated actions with the civil society and international constituencies in order to achieve their objectives. Each action must include appropriate media-coverage to give power to the results. We must promote the creation of indigenous channels of communication and provisions, in accordance with the proposals elaborated by the Working Group of Economic Development, Social Welfare, and in tune with the teachings of our Mother Earth. All initiatives must articulate local and specific demands, with the main goal of completing the San Andres Accords. If there are any difficulties and/or confrontations in our communities, it will be because indigenous peoples rights are still not recognized in the framework of the Constitution. - Call The extended Continuation Committee of the National Congress of Indigenous Peoples makes a call to all indigenous peoples and organizations, to remain in: Maximum Alert for Civil Indigenous Emergency Therefore, we declare ourselves in permanent session to: * stop the war of extermination against indigenous peoples, * stop the increasing militarization in all regions of the country, * stop the effects of war amongst the most unprotected indigenous populations. * confront police and violence by the government. The mobilization of our peoples and organizations must be construed as a permanent stand for action, allowing us to confront the complex violent nexus that affects us all, as well as building wider perspectives of the indigenous movement, and in favor of the process for national democratization. In order to accomplish this, we must reinforce communication channels, based in unity, tolerance, plurality, and respect to the diversity of our own organizations. We must promote a wide campaign to broadcast to our communities, and to all sectors of the national and international society. It is particularly important to consolidate bridges of collaboration and understanding with other indigenous peoples, institutions, and international organizations to put international law into effect. We must consolidate strong alliances with social, political, and productive organizations, and with democratic governments, as a mechanism to build better alternatives for struggle and solutions to the complex situation that we are facing. - NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL JOURNEY OF STRUGGLE May all people rise up, may all unite, let there be no one among us behind the rest. Maya Prophecy from the Pop Wuj or Book of Councils. - EACH OF THESE MOBILIZATIONS WILL BE COORDINATED WITH A COMMITTEE. January 12-25: Distribute information and the Accords to communities and organizations. January 18: Women's meeting in Mexico City. January 25: Simultaneous indigenous press conferences everywhere. January 31: Evaluation meeting in San Cristobal de las Casas. Possible place of meeting: Oventic. To confirm in agreement with the conditions. February 5: 5.1 Local mobilizations to strengthen local action, with national coordination. 5.2 Establish an Indigenous Camp in in the UN site in Mexico City. 5.3 International indigenous tour and transferring of indigenous contingencies to particular embassies. (European Community, Parliaments and members, NGOs working for Human Rights, International Tribunals of HAYA, among others). 1. Broadcasting and information. 2. Establishing the foundation for a new relationship between Indigenous peoples and the international community. Lastly, combine actions and network. February 15: Public forums (community and urban). February 16 anniversary of the San Andres Accords. February 24: Marches and sit-ins (in public buildings) in the capital cities. March 1: Beginning of the indigenous national walk that will end on April 10: date of the Second National Congress of Indigenous Peoples. March 8: Women's caravan. April 10: Second Congress of Indigenous Peoples. NetWarriors Translation provided by Manuel Aparicio Dedication to Solidarity >< Calling for World Action >>>>>>>>>>> NetWarriors <<<<<<<<<<< Peace without Truth is Genocide Una Paz sin la Verdad es Genocidio La paix sans la verite est Genocide >>>>>><<<<<<< http://hookele.com/netwarriors --------- "RE: Gwich'in Words" --------- Date: 3:47 PM Jan 21, 1998 From: Earle Cummings Subj: Gwich'in Words Newsgroup: igc.list.indknow Gwich'in Renewable Resource Board has recently published a book entitled "Gwich'in Words about the Land" (212 pages, maps and illustrations). The book documents Gwich'in traditional knowledge about several wildlife species important for the people's subsistence. To find out more about the book and to order a copy please contact the Gwich'in Renewable Resource Board directly at: e-mail: grrb@inuvik.net tel: (867) 777-3429 fax: (867) 777-4260 INTRODUCTION Indigenous peoples of the world have lived in close contact with Nature for thousands of years. Through continuous interaction with the Land, they have developed an enormous body of knowledge about their environment. Spiritual and ethical values have been woven into this knowledge, creating a system that has guided the people and helped them to survive. "Western" society has only recently begun to acknowledge the validity of traditional ecological knowledge, and its crucial role in maintaining the world's biological and cultural diversity. The Gwich'in Nation is one of the world's few remaining indigenous groups that still depend on the environment for their livelihood, much as their ancestors have done for centuries. Several groups of Gwich'in inhabit Arctic and sub-Arctic North America, from the Mackenzie River Valley in Canada's Northwest Territories (N.W.T.) in the east, through the Yukon, and into Alaska, USA in the west. The Gwich'in have lived in close relationship with the Land for a long time. This relationship has been kept alive through the continuous flow of their traditional knowledge from generation to generation. With changing lifestyles in the last half a century, however, opportunities for the traditional oral and on-the-land ways of teaching and learning began to disappear. With the settlement of their Land Claim Agreement in 1992, the Gwich'in of the N.W.T. were guaranteed land access and special privileges to follow their traditional way of life. In the objectives of their Land Claim Agreement, the Gwichin identified the need to preserve and use traditional knowledge. At the Gwich'in Renewable Resources Workshop, in February 1994, the participants stated that the spiritual values of the Land should be respected and the traditional knowledge must be passed on to future generations. The people emphasized that, in order not to lose this precious knowledge, it is important to find new ways of teaching younger generations about traditional knowledge. This book is one attempt to pass local Gwich'in knowledge to the future generations. It is the result of the Gwich'in Environmental Knowledge Project (GEKP), an initiative of the Gwich'in Renewable Resource Board (GRRB) to document local traditional ecological knowledge, that began in the summer of 1995. This book allows resource managers in the Gwich'in Settlement Area (GSA) to learn about the world view of the Gwich'in whose lives and knowledge have been inseparable from the Land. It is important and necessary to understand and appreciate this world view, if co-management of natural resources in the GSA is to succeed. In addition, because the available scientific data on fish and wildlife resources in the GSA is scarce, some information gaps may be bridged by using the knowledge of local hunters, trappers and fishermen. The following pages are based entirely on the interviews conducted during the first year of the GEKP, and on archival and literature material reviewed by GEKP staff. From all these sources, only Gwich'in knowledge, rooted in oral traditions and not in "western" science, was used. Although portions of the Gwich'in traditional ecological knowledge have vanished during the last century, this book still merely scratches the surface of the traditional knowledge the people have today. Many questions remain unanswered and many more have yet to be asked. The GEKP does not end with the publication of this book. It lays a foundation for future projects and research in traditional ecological knowledge of the Gwich'in. Already, the GRRB, with the help of academia, is attempting to devise new ways of making documented traditional ecological knowledge more accessible to the local and scientific communities. "Its not what you don't know that hurts you. Its what you're damned sure of and wrong about." Mark Twain Earle W. Cummings, Wetlands Coordination California Department of Water Resources 3251 S Street, Sacramento CA 95816 Voice (916)227-7519 Fax (916)227-7554 --------- "RE: Cherokee Position Paper on Moccasin Bend" --------- Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 18:46:02 +0000 From: tom kunesh Subj: Cherokee Position Paper on Moccasin Bend Mailing List: NAT-REL delivered 14 january 1998 by Harley Grant, Commissioner (for eastern TN), TN Indian Affairs Commission, to the National Park Service Planning Team holding initial meetings with stakeholders re. creation of Moccasin Bend National Park, Chattanooga, Tennessee ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Jan 12 98 CHEROKEE POSITION PAPER MOCCASIN BEND The Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma wants the Moccasin Bend archaeological site be preserved in its original condition. We must protect it from future erosion and looting of the grave sites. Our NAGPRA policies, in coordination with the InterTribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes, mandate our continual oversight of those places in which we have buried our people in sacred ceremonies. We say this with the full knowledge that they forcefully removed us from the southeastern United States in the infamous Trail of Tears. That removal, however, does not absolve us, or the current inhabitants of that region, from having the same sacred trust responsibility to these people. There is no valid reason to take any other stance on the issue. We firmly agree with the Eastern Band that we must preserve the site. Our understanding is that the National Park Service has an initiative to add the property to their inventory. The Eastern Band goes on to add that this event should ensure protection from natural and man made intrusion, destruction and looting of the grave. They conclude with the position that should the National Park Service abandon the property, it would transfer to the Eastern Band. Lacking a federal interest, they propose a state-tribal agreement similar to that at Red Clay [State Park]. The Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma would amend this on a couple of points. First, we [have] definitive plans to be more active in all consultation and preservation activities that affect our aboriginal territory. Therefore, we propose inclusion in transfer of property, to either the federal, state or tribal ownership. If the National park Service is unable to be an active partner, we propose a transfer to the Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, in trust for the Eastern Band and the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [unsigned] [Red Clay State Park is located approximately 30 miles east of Chattanooga and was the last meeting place of the Cherokee Nation council prior to Removal.] Grant, as TN Indian Affairs Commissioner, also stated that the planned Native American "Cultural Heritage Center"/Museum should be located -within- the MB National Park property. the current proposal by local "Friends of Moccasin Bend National Park" is to "develop a public-private partnership for a Cultural Heritage Center adjacent to Moccasin Bend. The center will serve as a model for Native American participation at all levels and will trace the history of Moccasin Bend over 12,000 years." Walk in Peace, Steve Miller abenaki@usa.net Abenaki NA Home Page http://abenaki.home.ml.org http://www.mill.net/slmiller/abenaki ==================================== NA-REL Mailing List Native Aboriginal Religious and Spirituality discussion --------- "RE: Impact on Humboldt River" --------- Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 03:00:18 -0500 From: ishgooda Subj: Notice of Intent; Nevada, Impact on Humboldt River UUCP email DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Land Management [NV-010-1990-09] Notice of Intent; Nevada AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior. ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Barrick Goldstrike Mines Inc. Betze Project in the Elko and Eureka Counties, Nevada. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: On August 31, 1994 pursuant to Section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management, Elko Field Office published a Notice of Intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) with respect to Barrick Goldstrike Mines Inc.'s (Barrick) Betze Project. At that time, the Bureau had determined the need to prepare the Supplemental EIS to assess the environmental impacts of the pumping and water management operations associated with Barrick's mining operations. Since the Notice of Intent was published, Barrick has begun discharging water produced by groundwater pumping operations to the Humboldt River under a permit from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. In addition, Barrick and Elko Land and Livestock Company (ELLCO) submitted an application to amend an existing water pipeline right-of-way from 40 feet to 80 feet in width to accommodate installation of approximately 4,000 linear feet of buried 48-inch steel pipeline. The additional pipeline would be used to increase the operational efficiency of discharging water to either the Humboldt River or to irrigation and infiltration. The Bureau of Land Management is publishing this supplemental Notice of Intent to advise the public of the application to amend the right-of-way and to seek any [[Page 3345]] additional comments or concerns to be addressed in preparation of the Supplemental EIS. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scoping comments may be sent to: District Manager, Bureau of Land Management, 3900 E. Idaho St., Elko, NV 89801. ATTN: Supplemental Betze EIS Coordinator. For additional information, write to the above address or call Nick Rieger at (702) 753-0200. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In response to a Plan of Operations submitted in April 1989, the Bureau of Land Management, Elko Field Office prepared an environmental impact statement (EIS) with respect to Barrick's Betze Project. The Final EIS and Record of Decision for the Betze Project were issued on June 10, 1991. The Final EIS included a description of the environmental impacts projected to result from groundwater pumping conducted by Barrick to lower the local groundwater elevations below the proposed Betze mining operations. Since the Betze EIS was issued, Barrick's implementation of the pumping operations and its monitoring of groundwater elevations have provided new information regarding the pumping requirements and potential environmental impacts of pumping operations. This new information indicates that the highly transmissive area from which the groundwater is to be pumped is more extensive than projected at the time the Betze EIS was prepared. As a result, Barrick has been pumping groundwater at higher rates than projected in the Betze EIS, and a greater volume of water has been produced. In addition to delivering water to a local rancher for irrigation uses as described in the Betze EIS, Barrick has implemented reinjection and infiltration programs to return more water to the groundwater system, and has obtained approval to discharge water to the Humboldt River from the state of Nevada. Barrick and ELLCO are now proposing to install approximately 4,000 linear feet of buried 48-inch steel pipeline next to an existing pipeline they are using to discharge water to improve operational flexibility of the existing Boulder Valley water management system. The second pipeline would allow Barrick to by- pass a water treatment plant when the water is discharged for irrigation and infiltration. In the Notice of Intent published on August 31, 1994, the Bureau proposed preparation of a supplement to the Betze EIS that would describe the new information gathered since the Betze EIS was prepared and would describe any changes in the projected environmental impacts as a result of the new information. In addition, the Bureau stated that the supplemental EIS would assess the cumulative impacts of groundwater pumping to lower elevations and for longer periods of time than is associated with mining of other deposits situated on lands within the area in which groundwater levels are being lowered. By this notice, the Bureau is proposing to expand the original scope to evaluate the environmental impacts of installing the proposed pipeline and to determine whether there may be any adverse environmental impacts that were not specifically identified in the Betze EIS that may be mitigated under the terms of the Betze Record of Decision. In response to the initial Notice of Intent and a Dear Interested Party letter dated September 2, 1994, the Bureau received eleven written and nine oral comments. Based on these comments and the BLM's internal review, five issues of concern were identified and are currently the focus of the supplemental EIS: Potential impacts to surface and ground water resources, including the Humboldt River; Potential impacts to livestock operations; Potential impacts to threatened and endangered species; Potential impacts to riparian and wetland vegetation; and Potential impacts to wildlife and fisheries resources. Through this supplemental Notice, the Bureau is soliciting any additional comments on the scope of the supplemental EIS to assist the Bureau in identifying and considering additional issues and concerns to be analyzed in the supplemental EIS. Comments submitted in response to this supplemental Notice of Intent should be directed to the attention of Nick Rieger, Project Manager at the Bureau of Land Management, Elko Field Office, 3900 East Idaho Street, Elko, Nevada 89801. Comments must be received by the close of business on February 16, 1998. Dated: January 7, 1998. Helen Hankins, District Manager. [FR Doc. 98-1517 Filed 1-21-98; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4310-HC-P --------- "RE: Nuking the Navajos" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 12:31:52 -0700 From: Rebecca Lord Subj: Fwd: Nuking the Navajos ------- FORWARD, Original message follows ------- Reprinted with permission: Reply-To: sds@cutter.sincom.com To: sovernet Subject: Nuking the Navajos Mailing List: Minnesota Indian Affairs Please post this article from On Indian Land Newspaper so that the nuking can be stopped. NUKING THE NAVAJOS by Marsha Shaiman "I hereby issue this Executive Order to reiterate and formally recognize that a moratorium is placed on uranium mining activity until such a time that the Navajo people can be assured that all safety and health hazards related to such activity can be addressed and solved." -Excerpt from the 1992 -Executive Order issued -by former Navajo Nation -President Peterson Zah Despite the existing Navajo Nation moratorium on uranium mining on Navajo lands,the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in March 1997 issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on proposed uranium mining and processing by Hydro Resources, Inc. (HRI) in Navajo Country in northwestern New Mexico. HRI intends to produce and market fuel for nuclear power plants. Claiming any project impacts can be mitigated, the NRC recommended that HRI be allowed to build and operate three uranium solution mines and a uranium processing plant near the Navajo communities of Church Rock and Crownpoint. Although uranium mining has never occurred in the town of Crownpoint, previous uranium mining and milling in the Church Rock area had devastating effects on water resources, land and many local people. On December 4, the NRC issued a required Safety Evaluation Report along with a press release stating that the agency intends to issue a license for the whole project within 30 days. RADIOACTIVE WATER HRI proposes to extract uranium by pumping water containing chemicals into a uranium bearing underground rock formation which also serves as the principal water source of Crownpoint and surrounding Navajo communities. The chemicals will dissolve the uranium into the water, which would then be pumped to the surface where the uranium would be extracted at a central processing plant in Crownpoint. This process, called in situ leach mining (ISL), will contaminate the groundwater in the area where it occurs, contamination which HRI would be required to clean up after the mine closes. Billy Martin of ENDAUM (Eastern Navajo Dine' Against Uranium Mining), an organization formed by Navajos opposed to the mining, who raises sheep near Crownpoint states, "When we say water, we mean a long and everlasting life," and he asks, " How will we live if our water, which is precious, is destroyed?" In Crownpoint there are five water wells, serving an estimated 10,000 people, that take water from the uranium bearing aquifer HRI proposes to mine. The wells are within .5 to 1.5 miles of the Crownpoint mine and, apparently, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not trust HRI to mine safely so close to the community's water supply. They are proposing that HRI pay to relocate the whole Crownpoint water system - drilling new wells and connecting up the existing system. Some scientists claim, however, that there may be no available water source uncontaminated by past mining. According to the FEIS, the NRC may not require HRI to restore the water to its original pristine condition. If the NRC accepts HRI's approach, radium-226 will be allowed in the "restored" water at a level 13 times higher than the federal drinking water standard and 65 times higher than the town's current water supply. The NRC's restoration standard for uranium in the water is 63 to 100 times the amount now present. It is also 20 times the Department of Energy's proposed allowable level for drinking water and 14 times the level required by the DOE in cleanup of other uranium waste sites. It may not even be possible to restore the water to pre-mining conditions. A test mine operated by Mobil Oil in 1979-1980 near Crownpoint was not able to restore contaminated water to its original condition and HRI was unable to do so under controlled laboratory conditions. Few of the approximately 20 past and present ISL mines have been able to restore contaminated water to drinking water standards. MINING IN TOWN The proposed mining and processing will be done, not in outlying areas, but within existing Navajo communities of the Eastern Navajo Agency and radioactive materials will be transported through these communities over heavily traveled, narrow, winding roads often in poor condition. Processing of radioactive material will be done next door to and across the street from churches and homes and there are four schools less than a mile from the Crownpoint processing plant. The Safety Committee of the Indian Health Service Crownpoint Healthcare Facility says that the small community lacks the personnel and facilities to deal with the hazard of potential accidents. HRI's parent company, Uranium Resources Inc., has a history of contamination at other ISL mines in Texas - leaking of radioactive materials outside the mining area, spills from holding ponds, and alleged license violations, including unauthorized disposal and transporting of radioactive materials. HRI and the NRC claim accidents would be rare. UNNEEDED FUEL FOR AN OUTMODED INDUSTRY Nuclear power production is expensive and unsafe. In the 1980s the residents of Washington state voted against a nuclear power facility, largely because of the expense of the energy produced. More recently, the Northwest Power Planning Council excluded nuclear power as a potential energy resource for the Pacific Northwest. In 1994 the people of Minnesota decided to phase out Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant and to use renewable energy to replace its electricity. Three years into the 10 year phase-out the state has replaced almost half the energy needed and is now getting bids for the rest at rates lower than originally expected. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission states that storage sites for the spent fuel rods used in nuclear power plants are limited. Casks of irradiated fuel assemblies sit at the Prairie Island plant and their allotted storage space will be filled early in the next century. Storage sites are likely to remain scarce as attempts to site radioactive dump facilities in Indian Country face strong opposition. The low price of uranium, around $11 per pound as of June 1997, indicates there is already an ample supply to fuel existing nuclear power plants. This price is below production costs of HRI's parent company's Texas mines and below the estimated cost of production at Church Rock. Industry analysts expect the price to continue to fluctuate between $10 and $12 per pound for the foreseeable future. In the next decade the U.S. Department of Energy will be marketing 80 million pounds of surplus uranium, and, under terms of the 1993 U.S.-Russia trade agreement, utility companies will be able to purchase 100 million pounds of fuel, from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons, for nuclear power plants. HRI's parent company, URI, does not even have supply contracts beyond 1998 for its current production capability in Texas. Hence ENDAUM insists there is no need for new uranium mines in Crownpoint and Church Rock. COMMUNITY SUFFERS FROM 50 YEARS OF URANIUM MINING Anna Frazier of Dine' CARE (Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment) says, "As Navajo people, we are still living the nightmare of past uranium exploration on our lands. We ask that history not be repeated." Ms. Frazier was referring to a long list of uranium mining impacts on Navajo Lands and people. For instance, in the Church Rock area, groundwater under and surface water in the Rio Puerco was contaminated by a 1979 spill of 94 million gallons of radioactive liquid and more than 20 years of discharges of untreated and poorly treated uranium mine wastewater. Groundwater is also contaminated in the area around closed underground uranium mines and a uranium mill tailings dump. The Navajo Nation is already spending millions dealing with the hazards of more than 1,100 abandoned uranium mines that still exist throughout Navajo Country in northwestern New Mexico, northeastern Arizona and southeastern Utah. Many Navajos who worked in those mines have died of lung cancer and other mining-related illnesses. HRI IGNORES NAVAJO NATION SOVEREIGNTY Navajo Nation jurisdiction over the area involved has been ignored by both HRI and the NRC. Although the proposed mining and processing would be done outside the current external boundaries of the Navajo Nation, it is within the Eastern Agency of the Navajo Nation, an area inhabited mostly by Navajo - Indian Country. HRI must obtain underground injection control (UIC) permits for each mine from either the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), acting on behalf of the Navajo Nation, or from the state of New Mexico. The Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency (NNEPA) has told NRC that it expects EPA to issue the permits only until the Navajo Nation adopts its own permit regulations. In July the EPA issued a ruling that the Church Rock mining site is indeed Indian Country and subject to federal and Navajo Nation jurisdiction. The area will remain under federal jurisdiction until the Navajo Nation gets federal approval to regulate UIC operations on the reservation and in Indian Country. Both HRI and the state of New Mexico have sued the EPA over this ruling. THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES ENDAUM and Southwest Resource and Information Center (SRIC) filed petitions with the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP), in 1994 and 1995, seeking an evidentiary hearing on the proposed mining and processing. ASLBP Judge B. Paul Cotter, Jr. refused to rule on the hearing requests until after the NRC issued its Safety Evaluation Report, released on December 4. If he approves an evidentiary hearing, the proposed mining will be scrutinized far more stringently than has occurred so far. Mitchell Capitan, president of ENDAUM who lives less than 1/2 mile north of the uranium processing plant at Crownpoint asks, "For more than 20 years, we will be exposed to 'acceptable' levels of additional radiation to which we are not now exposed, in places where we live, pray, hold ceremonies, work, buy food, haul water, educate our children, and seek medical care and wellness. In the face of this clear and unjust risk, why should anyone expect us to sit by quietly and happily embrace our new neighbor, the uranium processing plant?" HOW YOU CAN HELP Write or call the following people and tell them you oppose uranium mining and processing at Crownpoint and Church Rock in the Eastern Agency of the Navajo Nation. You can use the talking points below in your letter. Contact: Shirley Jackson, Chairwoman, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 20555. Phone: (800) 368-5642. Joseph Holonich, Chief, Uranium Recovery Branch/DWM, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mail Stop T-7J9, Washington DC 20555. Robert Carlson, Project Mgr., USNRC, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville MD 20850. Carol Browner, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street SW, Washington DC 20460. Felicia A. Marcus, Regional Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 75 Hawthorne St., San Francisco CA 94105, Attn: Greg Lind. Phone: (415) 744-1376 Senator Jeff Bingaman, phone: (202) 224-5521 and Senator Pete Domenici, phone: (202) 224-6621, at: United States Senate, Washington DC 20510. Congressman Bill Redmond, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington DC 20515. Talking Points: - There is no need for new uranium mines anywhere in the U.S., and especially in Navajo communities, because there is plenty of uranium available to fuel existing plants for at least the next 20 years. - The Navajo people, who have already suffered from 50 years of uranium mining, should not be subjected to the increased danger from more mining and uranium processing. - The proposed mining and processing threatens to contaminate a pristine water supply used by 10,000 people. It has not been shown that it is even possible to clean up the contaminated water after the mines close. - The proximity of the mines and processing plant to the Navajo communities endangers its residents. They may be subjected to accidental releases of radioactive material. - Transportation of radioactive materials on bad roads poses a threat to the communities. - The communities lack the resources to deal with accidents involving mining, transporting, and processing of radioactive material. - The jurisdiction of the Navajo Nation should apply to the proposed mines. ENDAUM and SRIC need financial help to support their work on this issue. For more information or to make a donation contact ENDAUM, PO Box 471, Crownpoint NM 87313, or call Mitchell Capitan at (505) 786-5341; or contact SRIC, PO Box 4524, Albuquerque NM 87106, phone: (505) 262-1862, email: cshuey@unm.edu. Reprinted, with permission of the author, from the Winter 1997/98 issue of On Indian Land, PO Box 2104, Seattle WA 98111. Phone: (206) 525-5086. For other nuclear information and links Please See: http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/nukindex.htm http://www.shundahai.org/HGW/ http://www.ratical.com/radiation/ +*~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*+ "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 +*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~* Rebecca Michele Lord * http://www.ratical.com/ * mosa@rapidnet.com --------- "RE: Friends of the Lubicon Update" --------- Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 16:14:11 -0500 From: fol@tao.ca Subj: Friends of the Lubicon winter update Mailing List: FOL-L Friends of the Lubicon 485 Ridelle Ave Toronto ON M6B 1K6 T: 416-763-7500 F: 416-603-2715 fol e-mail: fol@tao.ca What follows is an electronic version of our most recent update and mailout to supporters. For those who have been following the Daishowa v. Friends of the Lubicon trial, this is the situation as it stands in January 1998. Message from Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak: I know that in these times the economic situation is not good for anybody, especially for people who are going to school. It takes a lot of commitment, a lot of hard work to organize events and support causes like the Lubicon. ... I would like to pass the message on from our people that they are very grateful to those who have taken time to show their concern for our human rights and aboriginal rights. We'll need these kinds of people if we are to survive in the next couple of years, which will be extremely hard on our people... One of the basic fundamental things that our people have been able to hang onto is the fact that there are people on the outside like the Friends of the Lubicon who have put themselves on the line, are being sued for supporting us and are still standing up to that and holding their heads up. That means a whole lot to our people. After these many many years of struggle, we are still a proud people. It's nice to see people who are prepared to stand up for what they believe in. More importantly, there are people who are prepared to stand up for our community. That means a whole lot for our community. Excerpted from an interview of Chief Ominayak conducted by Dan Berman at a break during the trial Nov '97, Toronto Thank you! FoL would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest heartfelt thanks to the over 1000 people and organizations who stood with us through 8 weeks of trial this past fall. Your moral, and financial support has provided inestimable solace in this protracted, arduous legal battle which began 3 years ago. We could never have made it this far without you! But the fight's not over. The outcome of this trial will likely be appealed and our all-volunteer group currently has big bills to pay. Sierra Legal Defence Fund, bless their hearts, are providing their legal time for free. However, we are paying for associated legal costs. So far that's been over $40,000, with more to come. If you couldn't make it to court, your financial contribution is still needed and greatly appreciated. Please send in a cheque today payable to Friends of the Lubicon. Address at the top of the page. Greetings from FoL! We hope this mailing finds you well. We are writing to give you news of FoL's work since our last newsletter over a year ago. The tremendous resource drain of the trial on our group of a half dozen volunteers has delayed an update til now. What's been happening? Trial of Friends of the Lubicon (FoL) is now over. A decision is expected in February. Details of the court proceedings are in the Friends of the Lubicon Trial Update (Winter 1997 - 98). In direct response to Daishowa's legal silencing of the Friends' boycott in Ontario, Montreal-based Amitie-Lubicons Quebec and Seattle-based Lubicon Defense Project have commenced campaigns in support of the Lubicon against Daishowa. For more info about those, please view the internet home page cited below or contact us for their mailing addresses. In the first part of '97, FoL organized an art auction fund-raiser featuring some fabulous art work generously donated by over a hundred artists. Proceeds went towards legal costs. The show went so well we're doing it again! More info on this year's art auction is in the Urgent Art Appeal. Then in May, representatives of FoL & the Lubicon Nation participated in a speaking tour of 4 northwest coast USA cities organized by USA groups including Lubicon Defense Project. >From mid-summer until Christmas, we were swamped either preparing for or attending court. We thank you for taking the time to read this mailing and encourage your support in any way possible. In All Due Respect for the Sacredness of the Creation Friends of the Lubicon (New Year 1998) Upcoming Events and Dates 1998 Jan 23 Quebec City protest at Daishowa Feb ?? Toronto The trial decision Feb 07 Windsor FoL information talk Feb 26 Toronto FoL information talk Feb 28 Hamilton FoL information talk Mar 18 Toronto Submission deadline for Art Show and Auction. All above talks & the protest are organized by groups other than FoL. We gladly welcome further requests to speak to any group, private or public. late March or early April Toronto "THIS" magazine March/April edition launch night. FoL trial is the cover story. Art Auction preview night. Jun 3-6 Toronto Benefit Art Show & Auction, A-Space Gallery 401 Richmond St.W. #110 For all upcoming events please call the FoL Hotline 416-763-7500 or e-mail fol@tao.ca Volunteers are needed to help with the Art Auction. Please contact us if you can help between now and June. Contact info above Lubicon supporters' home page: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Lubicon/main.html FoL trial updates web page: http://www.tao.ca/~fol/ to receive Lubicon e-mail updates, e-mail majordomo@tao.ca and include in the body of the e-mail the command: subscribe fol-l ----------------- Friends of the Lubicon (FoL) Trial Update (Winter 1997-98, Toronto) In February 1998, Ontario Court Judge Justice James MacPherson is expected to deliver his decision on the legality of the Friends' consumer boycott of Daishowa paper products. The following description of the trial & associated events was taken mostly from an update produced by FoL & distributed this past fall to supporters attending the Daishowa vs. FoL trial. In 1996, forestry multinational Daishowa obtained a temporary court injunction to outlaw the Daishowa Boycott in the province of Ontario, Canada. The consumer boycott was organized by supporters of the Lubicon Lake Cree Nation whose unceded traditional territory Daishowa threatens to clear-cut at the rate of up to 11,000 trees per day. Lubicon land is in the province of Alberta. Furthermore, Daishowa's trial action, which hit the courts in September 1997, seeks to shut down the consumer boycott forever. The company claims the boycott has cost it an estimated $14 million in lost revenue. Rights of Canadian citizens to criticize corporations via leaflet, protest, and boycott in support of political, social, and environmental justice issues are on the line. Lubicon survival as a distinct society is at stake. A Political Trial The highly political nature of the trial was strikingly hammered home by the high-level, federal and provincial, Canadian government officials called to testify by Daishowa. For example, Harold Millican, the current federal negotiator who is supposed to be negotiating in good faith with the Lubicons toward a settlement of Lubicon land rights, had no problems testifying against the Lubicon. The intimate nexus of corporate and government interests vs. native, human and citizen rights was abundantly apparent at the trial, which took 28 days to hear in court in the period from September 2 to Dec 12, 1997. Getting SLAPP-ed FoL's lawyer Karen Wristen of Sierra Legal Defence Fund, says the civil lawsuit 'has all the hallmarks of a SLAPP suit - Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. That is a suit in which the plaintiff's motivation for going to court is more to stop the activist from speaking out than it is to truly seek redress in court." Clayton Ruby, FoL counsel for court hearings in 1995, explains 'SLAPP is a suit, and it started in the United States, where a big powerful company hires lawyers. And because they've got trillions of dollars, they sue. They sue everybody in sight. They sue all the environmental protesters, all the people who are trying to organize against them. Some of those suits have merit, most of them do not. But the object of it is not win the lawsuit, the object is to bankrupt those who you are suing by the high cost of litigation.' Kevin Thomas, FoL defendant, describes "This whole case is about corporations controlling what anybody says about them. It's a silencing action." David vs. Goliath Meet Daishowa. In December 1996, days after Daishowa-Marubeni International announced plans for construction of a new $900 million paper mill just west of Lubicon territory in Alberta, the business journal Nikkei Weekly reported that its 50% owner Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Co. expected "consolidated net profit to reach Yen 14 billion ($123.9 million US) for the year" ending in March 1997. In June 1996, another journal, Nihon Keizai Shimun, specified that "the current balance sheet for the group at 19.9 billion yen was the highest since FY88." According to the article, "overseas subsidiaries all came into the black including its Canadian holding company (which owns Daishowa Inc. and other assets) which rose out of a 2.6 billion yen deficit to a 2.5 billion yen ($22 million US) profit. .... Profits at Daishowa Marubeni International (which makes pulp, owns a $580 million pulp mill in Peace River, Alta and has logging rights in almost the entire unceded Lubicon territory,) tripled to 5.5 billion yen ($4 8 million US)". With forestry-related operations in Japan, Australia, U.S.A. and Canada, Daishowa's sales worldwide have been over $3 billion a year. Daishowa Inc., a Canadian subsidiary of the Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Co. Ltd. of Japan, makes pulp and paper, owns a packaging plant and is suing the Friends. In contrast, the Lubicon are a small aboriginal hunting and trapping society of about 500 people. They live on their unceded traditional territory in the boreal forest about a five hour drive north of Edmonton, Alberta. They have never signed away their land rights to anyone in any legally or historically recognized manner. At trial, Fred Lennarson, long-time advisor to the Lubicon, testified in court to the massive oil and gas exploitation which started in 1979 and has devastated Lubicon society by destroying the hunting and trapping economy. This caused the welfare rate to rise from under 10% to over 90% by 1983. He noted the concomitant rise in depression, alcohol abuse, suicide. He related a terrifying litany of health problems suffered since resource exploitation accelerated including cancers, skin rashes, a tuberculosis epidemic, still births, miscarriages and birth defects. He called it a heart-wrenching situation in which many women were reluctant to get pregnant because of fear of what might happen to their baby. Several people in the courtroom broke down and quietly sobbed. Lennarson continued that Daishowa announced a pulp mill in 1988 that required the 'harvest' of up to 11,000 trees a day from Lubicon land. He said the Lubicon were horrified at the prospect and that Daishowa posed a serious threat to the Lubicon. Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak's unwavering testimony supported statements made by the Friends regarding Daishowa's plans to log Lubicon land. The Chief repeatedly emphasized for the court that clear-cut logging would "finish off" his people. In responding to the proposition of Daishowa's lawyer that "reforestation" would over time remediate the clear-cut land, Ominayak responded: "these are points we can argue all day long. I mean, for example, it depends on the money question. We have scientists, you have so-called experts that you can hire to give you a lot of their expertise pertaining to clear-cut logging, and you can hire ten that will say 'clear-cut logging is great and it improves the wildlife, improves this , improves that, improves the water.' Now somebody on the other side can hire ten and they will tell you exactly the opposite. And it's the same with the ozone layer. There's scientists saying it's disappearing and there's a great, great concern on the part of many people. Now, at the same time, there's scientists on the other side who are saying something totally different, there's nothing to worry about. So in this context, I don't know where we begin and where we end with a lot of the so-called reforestation. But I'll guarantee you one thing: that there's no way that anybody, whether it's a giant Japanese pulp mill and their expert, there's no way that they're going to be able to compete with the Creator and what he's put on this earth by way of trees. That I know." Daishowa-owned Brewster Construction clear-cut logged on Lubicon land in 1990. Since Lubicon supporters began the boycott, in 1991, Daishowa has not logged Lubicon land. The Slingshot : Leafleting, Picketing & Secondary Picketing -- the nub of the legal argument On a few occasions during the boycott, Friends of the Lubicon peacefully handed out flyers in front of stores carrying paper bags made by Daishowa's packaging division. On another few occasions, lealfeters were accompanied by people carrying protest placards. Daishowa contends that these informational leafleting actions amounted to picketing. Since this leafleting was not in front of Daishowa premises, the primary disputant, but rather in front of stores that bought from Daishowa, the leafleting, they say, amounts to secondary picketing. Canadian labour law from the '30's established that secondary picketing is illegal in a labour dispute. Daishowa argues secondary picketing is illegal for this consumer boycott even though it is not related to a labour dispute. So far, the courts have avoided saying that secondary picketing is illegal per se. However, any consumer boycott or leafletting may be ruled illegal if unlawful means are used. Unlawful means that Daishowa alleges the Friends used during the boycott or during leafleting include threats, intimidation, inducing a breach of contract, wrongfully interfering with economic interests, conspiracy to injure (economically), misrepresentation, defamation, & injurious falsehood. These unlawful acts are also referred to as "torts". Friends of the Lubicon deny unlawful means were used. Informational leafleting (picketing) not a threat The Friends peacefully conveying to the public, at the point of purchase, the truth about Daishowa's plans to clear-cut on unceded Lubicon territory and asking the public to support the Lubicon Nation by boycotting companies that carry Daishowa products is an unlawful act in Daishowa's eyes. According to Daishowa, the Friends giving notice that a leafleting action will take place in front of a store carrying Daishowa products constitutes a "threat" of an unlawful act and so is unlawful conduct. Daishowa alleges that picketing or the prospect of picketing harassed, threatened or intimidated companies that carried Daishowa products. Under cross-examination by Daishowa's lawyer Peter Jervis of Lerner & Associates, FoL defendant Kevin Thomas stated "we would give notice that we would picket a business". Thomas denied this was a threat saying that "a threat implies some sort of illegal force used on someone." FoL had leafleted in front of Pizza Pizza and Woolworth stores when they decided not to join the Daishowa boycott back in the early '90's after being approached by the Friends. Thomas denied that FoL picketing was a threat. "People were able to go into Pizza Pizza and Woolworth on their own free will," he said. "People went in and out and had a choice to shop there. What we were doing (was to) put information out to the public and let the customers decide whether to shop or not." Therefore he added a picket was not a threat but purely informational. Boycott is not coercion, it's democracy! Daishowa's lawyer Jervis argues that companies that bought from Daishowa "effectively had no choice" because FoL would picket until the companies stopped doing business with Daishowa. This ignores that after the Friends contacted companies and provided them with information, some companies wrote back to FoL saying that they were joining the boycott because of concerns for the Lubicon situation with Daishowa. Other companies joined the boycott with no mention by the Friends that they would be picketed. Beyond that, some companies were told of the possibility of a boycott if they continued to use Daishowa products. Thomas testified what concerned those retail companies was that FoL would tell the stores' customers that the company was choosing to buy Daishowa and that the customers might then decide not to shop there. He testified that FoL never stopped anyone from entering a store and that people had a right to know how each company had voted on the Daishowa issue and had a right to choose whether or not they would shop at the stores. Thomas stated that at a leafleting demonstration at a Pizza Pizza outlet, customers entered the store and bought food while other customers took the leaflet offered and chose not to patronize the company. That, Thomas said, is not coercion, it's democracy! Inducing Breach of Contract - What contract? Jervis alternately argues in public that FoL's boycott was to meant force Daishowa's customers "to end their contracts with Daishowa". However, Daishowa has not produced any contracts into the record and has admitted that Daishowa had no contracts with the exception of one company. That contract was not breached but rather allowed to expire and not renewed as the company switched to using a re-usable cloth bag. Wrongful Interference with Economic Interests - What about Lubicon Interests? To prove this tort Daishowa must show that the Friends intended to economically harm Daishowa, that actual financial loss occurred and that unlawful means were used to bring about the loss. Here is where the issue of intent is particularly important. Daishowa claims that the Friends intended to economically harm Daishowa via a boycott. Daishowa claims the boycott cost their paper bag business $5 million up until the beginning of 1995 and $3 million a year since then. Some 47 companies representing over 4300 retail outlets across Canada joined the boycott. Daishowa contends the boycott used unlawful means such as misrepresentation. In testimony from both Kevin Thomas and Ed Bianchi of the Friends, FoL's purpose of the boycott, clearly stated in most of FoL's written material produced at trial, was to encourage Daishowa to make a clear, unequivocal and public commitment to not log or buy wood cut on unceded Lubicon land until the land rights were settled and until a timber harvesting agreement respecting Lubicon wildlife and environmental concerns was negotiated. While Daishowa claims a loss of revenue of over $12 million to date, Daishowa's Koichi Kitagawa admitted that the packaging division's profits went up every year during the boycott, that production capacity was stable during the boycott, that "5 or 10" new employees were hired during the boycott. He admitted that Daishowa downsized their packaging division work force by 1/3 before the boycott began. Daishowa's Gordon Bunt indicated that their packaging division's expanding business in America and higher prices made up for the lost revenue. Despite this evidence, Daishowa witnesses indicated that the survival of the packaging division plant would be threatened if the courts did not grant a permanent injunction against the boycott. With nearly $1/2 a billion available to spend on a new paper mill, decade high profits, & threatening to clear-cut the forest of the impoverished Lubicon, for Daishowa to be feigning helpless victim of a Lubicon boycott is like King Kong screaming in fear of Fay Wray. Misrepresentation, Defamation, Injurious Falsehood: "Genocide" Daishowa claims that FoL's use of the word "genocide" was a misrepresentation, has defamed Daishowa (defamation) and was communicated with malice (injurious falsehood). During the boycott, the Friends had used the word "genocide" to describe the ongoing process of societal disintegration which started with the devastation of the Lubicon traditional economy by the destructive effects of massive government-backed oil and gas exploitation on Lubicon land. FoL defendant Kevin Thomas testified that the Lubicon see logging on their land as part of a genocidal process. He claimed logging would adversely affect hunting, trapping, culture, religion and their way of life. FoL defendant Ed Bianchi testified that "what the Friends were trying to communicate is that this planned logging was part of the genocidal process." Much testimony of witnesses supporting the Friends has gone to the issue of "genocide". Dr. Joan Ryan, author, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Calgary, and expert witness, detailed spiritual, cultural and economic loss suffered by the Lubicon people since the ingress of oil and gas extraction activities in the early '80's. Dr. Ryan testified that she relied upon the Webster's dictionary definition of genocide - the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political or cultural group -, her observations and study to conclude that the Lubicon have been subjected to cultural genocide. Professor Ward Churchill, author of 16 books, Chair of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado and indigenous activist, testified that the word genocide was coined in 1944 in a book by jurist Raphael Lemkin. Lemkin said genocide has two phases: the destruction of a group's national or cultural pattern and the imposition of the national pattern of the oppressor. It was important to distinguish genocide from other processes like mass murder, said Churchill. Physical killing is only one method to implement genocide, he stressed. Churchill said that 80% of Lemkin's examples deal with non-lethal means of affecting genocide such as the imposed transfer of children from one group to another group. Genocide, he said, referred to a coercive dissolution of a group. Individual members may all survive but they survive in a form of compulsory incorporation into the cultural, political and national structure of the oppressor group. The original group, definable as a people, no longer exists. Churchill then dealt with the classifications of genocidal conduct through Lemkin's definition, the initial UN draft in 1946 and the final United Nations Convention on Genocide ratified in 1948. Archbishop Ted Scott, former Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada testified for the defence. Reverend Scott had participated in the World Council of Churches visit to the Lubicon community in 1984. He said that he believes strongly in the rule of law and he believes strongly in good law. FoL's lawyer, Karen Wristen presented the letter which the World Council of Churches had sent to then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau concerning the Lubicons in 1984. The letter says that the actions which government and oil companies had taken with regard to the Lubicon could have "genocidal consequences." Reverend Scott said that the World Council of Churches took the view that people are involved in a cultural context and that when you destroy the culture they live in you destroy the very meaning of their lives as human beings. He said that many Aboriginal peoples around the world see their relationship with nature differently than others in the Western world. He said the Holy Earth has a special importance to them and it has a biblical importance as well. He said that Aboriginal peoples view themselves as part of nature, not over it. He said that the actions of the oil companies may destroy the whole pattern of life for the Lubicons. They were previously self-sufficient, he explained, but the onset of oil development disturbed their whole sense of relationship with nature. Reverend Scott said that the church's concern for the Lubicons was not just about them but also about the environment, which is everyone's concern. For more info, please contact Friends of the Lubicon 485 Ridelle Ave Toronto, ON, M6B 1K6 T: 416-763-7500 F: 416-603-2715 e-mail: fol@tao.ca Lubicon supporters' page http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Lubicon/main.html trial updates at http://www.tao.ca/~fol/ To receive Lubicon e-mail updates, e-mail majordomo@tao.ca & include in the body of the e-mail the command: subscribe fol-l ------------------- Friends of the Lubicon (Toronto) 485 Ridelle Avenue, Toronto ON, M6B 1K6 T: (416) 763-7500 * F: (416) 603-2715 * E: fol@tao.ca http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Lubicon/main.html URGENT ART APPEAL Friends of the Lubicon (FoL) still face phenomenal legal costs from a protracted arduous legal battle brought to trial in the last 4 months of 1997. A judgment is expected in Feb '98. Three years ago, forestry multinational Daishowa launched a multi-million dollar lawsuit against FoL, a small, volunteer grassroots activist group fighting for the rights of the Lubicon Lake Indian Nation in northern Alberta. To raise legal costs FoL will be conducting a 2nd Benefit Art Show and Auction, Spirits of Power '98, and we need your talent! Last year's event was a big success. We thank everyone who participated. Donate a piece of art this year and we will use the money raised to fight for justice for the Lubicon Cree against the greed of multinational corporations which have been exploiting natural resources on unceded Lubicon land, and to defend fundamental democratic rights being attacked by Daishowa's lawsuit including everyone's right to protest, boycott, and freely speak out on issues of public importance. The theme of the auction is "power" and can be interpreted in any way you choose. The use and abuse of power has been an integral part of the history of the Lubicons as well as FoL. As with the lawsuit, corporations can use the power that money gives them to attempt to crush opposition. However, people can use grassroots power, as FoL did when we mounted the "enormously successful" Daishowa Boycott. The Art Auction is scheduled for 8 pm June 6, 1998 at A-Space Gallery, 401 Richmond St. W., Suite 110, Toronto. Preview will be June 3 - 6. Submissions deadline is Mar 18, 1998. We are kicking off Spirits of Power '98 at a launch night for "THIS" magazine's March/April edition which features the Daishowa v. FoL case as the cover story. This will be a unique opportunity to showcase selected artwork included in our Benefit Art Show. FoL will gratefully accept any work you choose to donate fully. However, we understand the financial situation of artists so we are willing to accept art under an arrangement where an agreed upon percentage of the selling price of your work will be returned to you. Due to limited space in the gallery there will be a selection process. Please Contact Friends of the Lubicon Today!! Phone - Diane White (416) 532-0453 or e-mail fol@tao.ca --------- "RE: Sovereignty Sunday at `Iolani Palace" --------- Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 21:54:10 -1000 From: Hawaii Nation Info Subj: Sovereignty Sunday at `Iolani Palace Mailing List: Hawaii Nation Info Report on Sovereignty Sunday at `Iolani Palace Honolulu, O`ahu, Hawai`i January 18, 1998 Commemorating the 105th anniversary of the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai`i --- begin forwarded text Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 16:47:15 -1000 From: Richard Salvador Aloha Friends and Allies, We have just returned from participating in the Sovereignty Sunday activities on the 'Iolani Palace grounds. Oh, was good fun and plenty akamai people went share mana'o, and much education taking place. Noenoe Silva was there to pass out the copies of peoples' names who protested the annexation in 1897. Many others spoke: Bumpy Kanahele, Noenoe, Jose Morin, Kina'u Kamali'i, Nalani, and many, many, many others. Keanu Sai read a beautiful and powerful statement [below]. He was going to just speak from the heart, but felt his words would be easily quoted out of context (as the mainstream media is likely to do). With Keanu Sai on his side, Dr. Kekuni Blaisdell read aloud a faxed statement from Francis Boyle [below], who regretted he was not able to be with us in Honolulu. Where would we be without Francis Boyle? Keanu said, "make no mistake about it, this is a historical moment for Hawai'i." A petition was circulated that sought support for Keanu's Writ of Mandamus. Many, many more spoke afterwards. There were other Native people who also shared mana'o and chanted, including three Maori sisters. Joan Lander and Puhipau of Na Maka o ka 'Aina were there recording the event on video. Reporters of the two dailys were there as well. We hope the reports will be accurate. After the speakers shared mana'o, Laulani Teale's band then played music, and the regular circle was quickly formed. A Kanaka Maoli sister sang beautifully out to us. The music was beautiful. Richard Salvador --- end forwarded text ______________________________________________________________________________ Address by David Keanu Sai `Iolani Palace, Honolulu, Hawai`i January 18, 1998 Aloha, my name is David Keanu Sai. I would like to thank Dr. Kekuni Blaisdell for inviting me to speak here today. You'll have to excuse me, but due to time constraint and the enormity of the situation, I thought it best for all of us gathered here today, to read a prepared statement. On November 24, 1997, I filed in the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. a Petition for a Writ of Mandamus against the Honorable William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States. On December 11th, it was accepted by the court, and placed on the docket as no. 97-969. The nature of a Mandamus is to compel an officer or employee of the United States government to perform a duty owed to a petitioner. Mandamus comes from the word mandate, which means to compel or command. It enters the court as an original proceeding, and is separate from the appeals process. Its purpose is to enforce rights that have already been established, rather than to establish or declare rights. The essence of the Petition states that the Treaty of 1850 and 1887 is in full force and vigor, and as such, it is requesting the Supreme Court compel the President, as the Chief Executive officer of the United States Government, to follow United States Constitutional, and International Law, and begin the complete withdrawal of the United States and its laws, and to assist in the ongoing transition and reinstatement of the Constitutional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom, so that Hawaiian subjects may be able to determine their own future in conformity with the laws that our predecessors have already established. On January 9, 1998, the Solicitor General, the Honorable Seth P. Waxman, on behalf of the President of the United States, filed a waiver at the United States Supreme Court regarding the Petition. At this point, it is unclear as to why the Solicitor General, who is the legal counsel for the United States Government, chose to waive its right to oppose the petition. Nevertheless, on January 16, I did file an Amendment to the Petition at the Court, which serves to reinforce the foundation of the Petition, and expounds upon the authority I hold as appointed Regent, pro temp, serving as Ambassador of the Hawaiian Kingdom to the United States. Whether or not you agree with the Petition for Writ of Mandamus, or the appointment of the Regent, pro temp, is of little consequence. The nine Justices of the United States Supreme Court will cast their critical eye upon the facts and the face of this petition. What we must realize is that the issue here is the integrity and sacred honor of the Great Republic. What is at issue here is America's moral character in its dealings (past, present and future) with foreign nations, with a due regard to the legal maxim, "Pacta sunt servanda" -- agreements must be honored. For the first time ever, the legal question of whether or not Hawai'i has a right to assert national independence is now being considered at the Highest Court in America. I cannot emphasize enough the magnitude of what this petition represents. For the first time ever the constitutionality as to the Annexation of Hawai'i to the United States will be dissected and scrutinized by the finest legal minds in America, without the influence of politics and speeches, but just the facts and the laws. The Petition for Writ of Mandamus is essentially directing the attention of the United States Supreme Court Justices towards a gross violation of U.S. Constitutional and International law. In actuality, the Petition is an offering to the citizens of the United States, through their Highest Court, the opportunity to right a wrong. The Petition, by its nature, confronts the very fiber which holds the fabric of American ideology together. Make no mistake about it, this is a defining moment for Hawai'i. In closing, I would like to reiterate the words of Her late Majesty Queen Lili'uokalani; "The cause of Hawai'i and independence is larger and dearer than the life of any man connected with it. Love of Country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station." Mahalo. http://www.hawaii-nation.org/mandamus.html ___________________________________________________________________________ The following are the comments from Professor Francis A. Boyle: Dear Keanu and Kekuni: Despite his best efforts, it does not appear that Alan was able to raise that money to finance my appearance at the rally tomorrow on such short notice. However, I want you and everyone else there at the rally to know that I am standing with Keanu on this Petition even though I might not be physically present in Hawaii tomorrow. Keanu's Petition will stand as an important landmark in the history of the struggle by the Native Hawaiian People for their right to self-determination. A generation from now, Native Hawaiians will look back at what Keanu has done with great respect and admiration. You have my permission to read this message to the people attending the rally tomorrow if you think it would be helpful. Aloha. Francis A. Boyle Professor of International Law (University of Illinois College of Law) http://www.hawaii-nation.org/boylebio.html ___________________________________________________________ | Hawai`i - Independent & Sovereign | | info@hawaii-nation.org http://hawaii-nation.org | |___________________________________________________________| "The cause of Hawaii and independence is larger and dearer than the life of any man connected with it. Love of country is deep- seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station." - Queen Lili`uokalani --------- "RE: Menominee Nation Releases Report" --------- Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 09:55:27 -0800 (PST) From: Alice McCombs Subj: Menominee Nation Releases Report Newsgroup: alt.native Faxed from Menominee Nation Treaty Rights & Mining Impacts Office Date: January 20, 1998 Contact: Ken Fish, Director - 715-799-5620 For Immediate Release Menominee Nation Releases Report for Reasons Why Tribe Supports Mining Moratorium (Keshena, WI) The Menominee Nation supports the Mining Moratorium (SB3) because of Exxon's proposed Crandon Mine to be located at the headwaters of the Wolf River. The Tribe is particularly concerned about the proposed mine's potential environmental impacts, especially with regard to the Wolf River which flows through the reservation. In addition, several legal and political issues have been raised which have caused deep concern. The Menominee Tribe's Office of Treaty Rights & Mining Impacts has been working intensively for 7 months on a report, which the Tribe intends to release to the full Assembly of the State legislature on the 20th of January 1998, at 9:00 AM Tuesday morning in the State Capitol in Room 328 NW. The report points out several inconsistencies and discrepancies related to Exxon's proposed Wolf River mine. The report is 28 pages in length and covers 18 issues of public concern regarding the proposed mine, the mine permitting process and the mine's potential environmental impacts. The report addresses ground and surface water modeling by Crandon Mining Company (CMC) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) analyst. The tribe's position give this non-proven technology merely allows Exxon to continue to pollute and not actually mediate (clean-up) at the 150 foot compliance boundary. Political issues is the pro-mining position of the governor and his direct appointee Secretary of the DNR, and the metallic mining council who advises the Secretary of the DNR on mining rule changes. This counsel made up of majority mining industry and pro-mining organizations. Socio-Economic areas given claims of CMC on the socio-economic impacts show boom and bust economy and little of no economic and social long term positive impacts. Legal areas regulations for mining companies over the years have been changed to accommodate mining. Exceptions and variances under the ground water rule changes where pro-mining council recommends rule changes, and the DNR follow up in making the legal changes. Ken Fish, Director of Menominee Treaty Rights & Mining Impacts Office said, "given the intense research and analysis by our office only gives more reason for the tribe's support of the Mining Moratorium Bill (SB3) and requests State Representatives to pass this bill with no amendments." This report will be made available to anyone who requests it from my office. For more information contact Ken Fish at 715-799-5620 Menominee Nation Treaty Rights & Mining Impacts Office P.O. Box 910 Keshena, WI 54135 Ph: 715-799-5620 FAX: 715-799-5692 Email: nomining@mail.wiscnet.net or treaty@mail.wiscnet.net http://www.menominee.com/nomining/home.html http://www.menominee.com/treaty/home.html --------- "RE: How Epidemics Killed So Many" --------- Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 13:54:45 -0500 From: Louis Proyect Subj: How epidemics killed so many Indians UUCP email David E. Stannard's "American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World" makes a crucial point about the circumstances in which epidemics caused the deaths of upwards of 90% of the North American Indian population. It must be understood that certain diseases like TB are intimately connected with the way people are crowded together in poverty. This certainly was the case for many of the Indians who were first subjugated, then confined in prison-like surroundings, and ultimately became ill from these living conditions. Diseases did not mysteriously seek them out from long-distance. Rather, they came as a result of the inhumane living conditions that were forced upon them by their conquerors. Stannard cites one example: "Recently, an analysis has been conducted on data from more than 11,000 Chumash Indians who passed through the missions of Santa Barbara, La Purisima, and Santa Inies in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Perhaps the most complete data set and detailed study ever done on a single mission Indian group's vital statistics, this analysis shows that 36 percent of those Chumash children who were not two years old when they entered the mission died in less than twelve months. Two-thirds died before reaching the age of five. Three of four died before attaining puberty. At the same time, adolescent and young adult female deaths exceeded those of males by almost two to one, while female fertility rates steadily spiraled downward. Similar patterns--slightly better in some categories, slightly worse in others--have been uncovered in another study of 14,000 mission Indians in eight different Franciscan missions. [These missions functioned more as prisons than anything else. Indians were converted at gunpoint.] "In short, the missions were furnaces of death that sustained their Indian population levels for as long as they did only by driving more and more natives into their confines to compensate for the huge numbers who were being killed once they got there. This was a pattern that held throughout California and on out across the southwest. Thus, for example, one survey of life and death in an early Arizona mission has turned up statistics showing that at one time an astonishing 93 percent of the children born within its walls died before reaching the age of 10--and yet the mission's total population did not drastically decline. "There were various ways in which the mission Indians died. The most common causes were the European-introduced diseases---which spread like wildfire in such cramped quarters--and malnutrition. The personal living for Indians in the missions averaged about seven feet by two feet per person for unmarried captives, who were locked at night into sex-segregated common rooms that contained a single open pit for a toilet. It was perhaps a bit more space than was allowed a captive African in the hold of a slave ship sailing the Middle Passage. Married Indians and their children, on the other hand, were permitted to sleep together--in what Russian visitor V.M. Golovnin described in 1818 as 'specially constructed cattle-pens.' He explained: I cannot think of a better term for these dwellings that consist of a long row of structures not more than one *sagene* [seven feet] and 1 1/2-2 *sagenes* wide, without floor or ceiling, each divided into sections by partitions, also no longer than two *sagenes*, with a correspondingly small door and a tiny window in each--can one possibly call it anything but a barnyard for domestic cattle and fowl? Each of these small sections is occupied by an entire family; cleanliness and tidiness is out of the question: a thrifty peasant usually has a better-kept cattle-pen. "Under such conditions Spanish-introduced diseases ran wild: measles, smallpox, typhoid, and influenza epidemics occurred and re-occurred, while syphilis and tuberculosis became, as Sherburne F. Cook once said, 'totalitarian' diseases: virtually all the Indians were afflicted by them." Louis Proyect --------- "RE: Threat to the People" --------- Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 15:04:55 -0400 From: not@inthe.game (justanoldman) Subj: URGENT!! DANGER!! PLEASE READ!! Newsgroup: alt.native I have been sitting & watching the words fly around on this ng for a while, & I see a very real, very evil danger threatening many, so now I stand... I pray that the grandfathers help me find the right words to show you this terrible, evil threat, & that each of you finds the strength to fight it & kill it. To use the name that the 'Nishnawbe Nation gives to him, Windigo is among us. That most evil eater of spirits often chooses the form of a malevolent whirlwind, to blow sand, dust, rain or snow in the eyes, ears & mouths to sow confusion, dissension and loss of direction. Windigo as Whirlwind rips apart homes, overturns canoes, tears down what people nurture & grow for survival & fans home fires into blazing infernos. Whirlwind, for those that have seen him, looks innocently playful, like a game of the wind. But Windigo is eating Indian spirit here in this ng, as well as 'out there' in the homes in Indian country as you read this. This dangerous Whirlwind now scouring the land, even reaching this ng, & he endangers the heart of every Nation & the core of every family that form the flesh of each of the Nations. It is a very subtle, very seductive wind-game, drawing more & more people into it, not just on this ng but out in the real world every day, & it creates its own momentum; the more it is played, the bigger & darker & more evil it gets, the more explosive the bolts of fire that flash & thunder from within it, blowing up the ties that bond the people of the families & the Nations together. It is a game of words, & the seed-word that this evil destroyer grows from is "race". Those that are calling for the elimination of the land, rights, privileges & benefits which the Creator gave to the First Nations are, more & more often, doing so by declaring that any status that recognizes a difference between peoples of the Nations & any other "ethnic group" is a "racist" posit that must be eliminated in the name of "equality". Racism being such a lightning rod of emotional response to everyone, reason & logic are skimmed over, & no notice is given to the FACT that "equality" (in the social and/or political sense) means TREATING different people with equal measures of respect & opportunity, NOT that everybody IS the same. Just as "integration" is the harmonious working together of different parts while "assimilation" is making one whole by erasing the differences of the different parts. This "racial" type of thinking is no different than that used to formulate the attempt to destroy the Nations by establishing "blood quantum" as a measure of identity. (1934 in the USA, in Canada unofficially since 1613 & officially in 1951). Although that helped the settler-regimes in their classifying, codifying, categorizing & other labeling for ease in their management, manipulation, governing & administration of the First Nations, it did not, thankfully, catch on in the Nations (except with the "Indian governments" installed in power by the settler-regimes as "legally recognized" tribal/band councils.) Incredibly & to my horror, it seems more people of the Nations, (although NOT a majority... yet) are now being drawn into this evil, growing whirlwind that holds the power to destroy their families & their Nations. More & more one hears the frightening talk of racial definition being the measure of just who is an Indian. Even in its most ridiculously petty & stupid aspects, ("My genes are bigger than YOUR genes!") there is a menacing seriousness that skips over the one, true, undeniable FACT that has been used by the Nations for ten-thousand times ten-thousand generations as the ONLY measure of who is an Indian - that an "Indian" is a person identified by the family or Nation concerned as being one of them. Period. No other "measurement of Indian" is real. "Blood quantum", "race", "genetic markers" and/or any other other measure of a persons "Indian-ness" are as solid as smoke. By seducing individual Indians, Indian families and/or the Nations those families form, to come stand on such false, artificially constructed foundations in order to "help Indian Nations define themselves more clearly", those that fall for such a trap find that they no longer stand on solid ground. The confusion sown by this evil & destructive whirlwind of man-made labels causes division & brings quarrels & breaks the circle, the hoop that is the essence & heart of all the Nations, & of all the families that form those Nations. Using such talk plays right into the hands of the powers that are still just as committed to rubbing out the Nations as Custer & Cortez were, because getting Indian people to think of themselves as "a race" will destroy them as surely as smallpox & bullets could. Prior to 1930-1950, there never, ever was any "racism" in ANY society of ANY of the Nations in the Americas. I could write several volumes of proof of that FACT, but to keep it brief, let me borrow the words of Ward Churchill from his book, "Struggle for the Land: Indigenous Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide and Expropriation in Contemporary North America." (from p420-421 in edition published by 'Between The Lines' Toronto, Canada,1992) (inserts & emphasis are mine save for one instance.) " ... there really is no indication of racism in traditional Indian societies. To the contrary, the [factual/historical] record reveals that Indians habitually INTERMARRIED between groups, and frequently ADOPTED both children and adults from other groups. This occurred in precontact times between Indians, AND the practice was broadened to include those of both African and European origin - and ultimately Asian origin as well - once contact occurred. Those who were naturalized BY MARRIAGE OR ADOPTION were [and are] considered members of the group [family/Nation], pure and simple. This was [and IS] always the [real, authentic, traditional] Indian view. The Europeans and subsequent Euroamerican settlers saw things rather differently, however, and foisted the notion that Indian identity should be determined primarily by "blood quantum" an outrigh