_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 14, ISSUE 039 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2006 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island September 30, 2006 Cree Weweopizun/wavy or snow goose moon Anishnaabe Manoominike-giizis/Rice moon Mohawk Seskhoko:wa/moon of much freshness +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events | | go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm | +-------------------------------------------------------+ Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl -- For you we offer these words It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People s ch mA mL tL squee Lux -- Okanogan -- News from the People Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces ++>If you speak a Native American language not listed above, please send us your words for "News of the People." We'd rather take up this whole page saving these few words of our hundreds of nations than present a nice clean banner in the language of the occupation forces who came here determined to replace our words with their own. email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco, FixedSys or CG Times. Proportional fonts will be difficult to read. <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; Frostys AmerIndian, Chiapas95-En, Amazon Alliance and Iron Natives Mailing Lists; UUCP Mail IMPORTANT!! ----------- 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@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org <================<<<< >>>>================> +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | As historian Patricia Nelson | | Once a language is lost, it is | | Limerick summarized in "The | | gone forever | | Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken | | * Of the 300 original Native | | Past of the American West... | | languages in North America, | | "Set the blood quantum at | | only 175 exist today. | | one-quarter, hold to it as a | | * 125 of these are no longer | | rigid definition of Indians, | | learned by children. | | let intermarriage proceed as | | * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders;| | it had for centuries, and | | when they die, their language | | eventually Indians will be | | will disappear. | | defined out of existence." | | * Without action, only 20 | | "When that happens, the federal | | languages will survive the next| | government will be freed of | | 50 years. | | its persistent 'Indian problem.'"| | Source: Indigenous Language | +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ | Institute | |http://www.indigenous-language.org| This issue's Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== "Native people on both sides of the border must have adequate access to border travel to ensure commerce to sustain economies and protect the culture and way of life for those indigenous people who have relatives on either side of the border." __ Jacqueline Johnson, Tlingit, NCAI Executive Director +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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 +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Journey | In the summer and early fall | The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders | | rode a thousand miles on horse- | For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and | We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way. | For All that fear and fear by sight | | We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for | For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity | We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen. | For all that die and die by greed | | We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this | For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity | We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and | For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the | We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good | | of the People or is it from ego | Treaty Unity Riders | for self. +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sisters! SPIRIT OF THE CIRCLE The "Spirit of the Circle" project is designed to reduce the factors that place young Blackfeet women at risk for drug abuse, sexually transmitted disease, early pregnancy/childbirth and single parenting, school dropout and delinquency, and poverty and unemployment or underemployment. It is also the project's intent to restore the position of girls and women in the Blackfeet contemporary society. In the traditional society, Blackfeet women were the most empowered Indian women among Northern Plains tribal groups. Women were allowed to own property, conduct religious ceremonies including the Sun Dance, Choose their own husbands and divorce them if they were abusive or nonsupporting, bear arms and go to war if they so chose. Remnants of the traditional power of women are still present on the reservation; however, the conditions of the majority of the women and girls have deteriorated tremendously in the post-reservation society. Spirit of the Circle is designed to reach out to the girls and young women who are often not targeted by traditional school, social service or medical programs. Strategies include alternative activities, leadership camps, support groups, drug intervention/prevention, tutoring, and parental and community activities. I am extremely proud of the Blackfeet for taking this stance to restore the dignity to Blackfeet Women. I am extremely ashamed such a project is necessary for the Blackfeet or any other Native Nation. Sadly, it is true that domestic abuse is highest among Native Americans of ALL ethnic groups. From the National Organization of Women we read the following: Native American Women and Violence by Lisa Bhungalia Native American women experience the highest rate of violence of any group in the United States. A report released by the Department of Justice, American Indians and Crime, found that Native American women suffer violent crime at a rate three and a half times greater than the national average. National researchers estimate that this number is actually much higher than has been captured by statistics; according to the Department of Justice over 70% of sexual assaults are never reported. As women of color, Native Americans experience not only sexual violence, but also institutionalized racism. Alex Wilson, a researcher for the Native American group Indigenous Perspectives, found a high level of tension between law enforcement and Native American women, who report numerous encounters where the police treated the women as if they were not telling the truth. The lead articles in this issue all come from the pen of a strong Native American woman, Jodi Rave Lee who Native issues for Lee Enterprises. I ask you to read them with your heart, and then vow to do what you can to remove this shameful strike against our life givers and nurturers... our women. =========================================== - Warrior Moccasins Project seeks out your help Date: Sunday, September 24, 2006 02:10 pm From: Sherry Subj: Warrior Moccasins Project seeks out your help! Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian Warrior Moccasin Project seeks out experienced beaders, moccasin makers and names for a pair of moccasins for their service in the military. Those interested in donationg Deer Hides, please email me so i can give you the name and address of where to ship it to. Deer hides CAN be donated to this project. To do so, you must first salt the hides with medium grade salt which can be purchased at any farm supply store. After salting the hide(s) ship them to the address i will give you following the laws as specified BY YOUR STATE. A copy of the possession tag which was issued by the game warden must be included for each hide being shipped. Any monetary donation to this project is also greatly appreciated. Each cost of the pair of moccasins is $32.00 (includes shipping/handling charge). Those serving in harms way and those who have returned state side are encouraged to get in touch with my via email. If you know of a native military troop member who you want to honor, please get a hold of me through my email. Thank you :) =========================================== Again, this winter this editorial section will feature groups or individuals who are helping those in need, primarily on reservations and especially those who aid children and elders. Urban help will not be excluded. I have lived in the Cedar-Riverside area of Minneapolis and been a guest in Lakota Housing in Rapid City and in Shiprock. The need to eat and be warm does not end because a person has left the rez. PLEASE forward contact information for all you know who help those less able to do so make it through the harsh winter months. ------ Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 16:15:49 +0300 From: "Brigitte Thimiakis" Subj: HYS WINTER 2006 Toys & Clothing Request Winter & Christmas 2006 - Toys and Clothing Request Winter will set in soon in many places of the world, but once again it will not be the same for all the children. Some are lucky and have everything they need, other children have much more than they need... and yet there are also the children who have very little - or nothing... They don't have the right clothes, and they have no toys. These children need warmth, and they need hope, and loving support. You can be there for these children, and make a difference in their lives. Even if the Northern Cheyenne Reservation is far away from you, toys, warm clothing and shoes can be sent to them directly on the reservation, where they will be distributed by trusted Northern Cheyenne contacts who have helped so much the previous years. There is a large need especially for new and good quality used warm items, as well as toys. During Montana winters, the temperature can drop to 30 or 40 degrees below zero so warm winter clothing and blankets can be lifesaving. These items will be distributed right away. The toys will be distributed during the Christmas give away. Here is a list of things that can be sent in support of these children: - warm clothing such as knitted items for children of all ages from babies to teenagers, children's jeans, coats and warm T-shirts - socks, gloves, boots, hats and scarves - blankets - toys for Christmas Other items that would also be appreciated: grooming supplies like toothpaste, tooth brushes, soaps and shampoos, combs, hair brushes, hair barrettes, rubber bands or other types of hair or pony tail holders. Last but not least : pampers diapers or pull-ups. Please make sure that the items sent are safe, and sensitive to the culture of the children and their People. When sending a box, it would be appreciated if you could send us a short email with your name or location, type of items sent ('toys', 'clothing', etc), approximate weight and shipping date, so that we can help our contacts by keeping a list of what is sent to them. Our aim is to always make sure that everything reaches the reservation. The priority of our group, "Honor your Spirit - Protect the Children" is to make sure all donations get to where they are supposed to and recognized. It is very important to us to make sure that everything is distributed fairly and to those in the greatest need. Our goal is to help the children of families unable to make ends meet due to the high unemployment rate, the difficult conditions and the extreme poverty on the reservation. These children need all the help and encouragement they can get, so if you can help, please contact us for more information. Contact Info: Dodie Finstead, USA dodie_finstead@yahoo.com JR Robertson, USA Jim_ Robertson@BarefootCreations.com Dominique Larrede, France d.larrede@wanadoo.fr Brigitte Thimiakis, Europe thimiakischool@the.forthnet.gr Respectfully, Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children "Your help makes a huge difference for those who have never received help. Your donations provide hope and encouragement to those who have never known these qualities. Your concern and solidarity can improve the lives of many children, elders, families, on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. There is still a lot to do but all together you can help us make these dreams come true. Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it." Respectfully, Manuel Redwoman, Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho To learn more about the HYS projects, please visit: http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support ! <>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o ==[This message may be forwarded under the condition that it is not altered in any way] == Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------- Editorial Section: - GIAGO: Traditionalists - Honoring our Women are taking the lead - Warrior Moccasins Project - YELLOW BIRD: seeks out your help Drought brings musings of warming - Winter/Holiday help - Report on Cross-border - JODI RAVE: Native Women still beaten Otra Meeting - Answers hard to come by - Words of Marcos in Atenco for Fort Belknap Woman - Amazonian Tribe - JODI RAVE: Daughter making peace protests Oil Pollution with abusive past - Meeting is the first of many - Violence against Women - Statement on Dawson College not a part of Tradition Media slight - Judges Wince - National Chief at Snowbowl's 'Brown Snow' to target plight of Children - Tribes hopeful after Court - Winnipeg Native hears Sacred Site Case sit-in ends peacefully - Indians' legal standing outlined - Vandalism at Indian - NCAI responds to Border concerns and Northern Affairs - Tohono O'odham Nation - Windspeaker: Who gets it? opposes Border Fence - At what price progress? - Osage wins ruling - Alberta Chiefs say Minister in Mineral Rights Case ignoring their concerns - Tribes say BIA failures - Evicted Aboriginal group threaten Self-Governance refuses to leave - Eastern Cherokee Water Supply hit - Native Prisoner - Interior declines -- Urgent Request to recognize Michigan Tribe for NY information - Editorial: - Rustywire: The Buckskin Akaka wrong on drilling in ANWR - Del "Abe" Jones Poem: POW/MIA - McCOVEY: Racism in California - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days a covert reality - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: JODI RAVE: Native Women still beaten" --------- Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 08:37:14 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JODI RAVE: DOMESTIC ABUSE" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/09/17/jodirave/rave76.txt Despite nationwide drop, Native women still beaten By JODI RAVE of the Missoulian September 17, 2006 Editor's note: Reporter Jodi Rave has spent much of the past year reporting on the reasons for - and solutions to - the disproportionate rate of domestic violence against Native women. This is the first installment in an occasional series. FORT BELKNAP - Neoma Abbott can feel the firefighting season coming to a close, and knows that means violent flareups on the Fort Belknap Reservation are about to begin. So many men who were away all summer fighting fire will soon return to fight their family and loved ones, she said. At least one woman used the firefighting season to file for divorce before her abuser returned. "She's waiting for the explosion," Abbott said. "But she'll be out by then." During the rest of the year, Abbott offers women protection. On the Fort Belknap Reservation - not far from the Canadian border in northern Montana - Neoma Abbott helps women escape the men who rape and beat and abuse them. Some stay for weeks at her refuge for beaten women. Some stay a year. Some arrive beaten, or when they sense trouble. He started drinking today. I know something will be happening tonight. For 21 years, Abbott, a shelter volunteer, has helped women heal from broken arms, broken legs and broken hearts. Some injuries aren't so obvious. She remembers a woman whose face looked OK. But her back was blue, her memory bruised with thoughts of a molested daughter. "She's the one who didn't go back to the abuser," Abbott said. "The rest go back." Domestic violence isn't unique to women on Fort Belknap. Nationally, women are battered every 18 minutes. They represent all social, economic, racial, ethnic and educational backgrounds. But while the White House announced last fall that domestic violence decreased 59 percent during the last decade, the same can't be said in Native communities. "The numbers seem to be going up," said Sarah Deer, Tribal Law and Policy Institute attorney in Minneapolis. "But we don't know if domestic violence is becoming more frequent or if more people are reporting." It is estimated that in their lifetimes, one in three Native women will be raped. Six in 10 will be physically assaulted. Native women experience 66 percent of the violent crimes committed against Native people. There are likely several reasons why Native women are victimized at rates higher than any other population in the United States. Federal and state jurisdictions often conflict with reservation land bases, hampering tribal law enforcement's ability to arrest and prosecute non-Native abusers. And the higher rate of other-race abusers could be the result of Native women living in urban settings and border towns. Grassroots leaders like Karen Artichoker, director of the Sacred Circle women's resource center in Rapid City, S.D., have been leading efforts on behalf of indigenous women for decades. Ten years ago, groups such as Sacred Circle succeeded in getting Native women recognized in the 1994 Violence Against Women Act. Now, for the first time in the act's 12-year history, a task force consisting of Native coalitions and leaders from the National Congress of American Indians have succeeded in amending the law to meet Native women's needs. The effort has been praised as one of the greatest collaborations in Indian Country in recent years. Together, they brought Native women's need for protection before lawmakers. Harvard's Honoring Nations program will honor the task force Oct. 3 in Sacramento, Calif. "As a unified force, the two navigated the political waters in D.C. and the Native voice was heard," said Amy Besaw, director of Honoring Nations. "This is a model that Indian Country should consider for other issues that face our nations." The result: Congress approved the Violence Against Women Act's Title IX - Safety for Indian Women - increasing the authority of tribal governments to protect women. "This year has been monumental," said Jackie Agtuca, a national Violence Against Native Women task force member. "You saw grassroots Native women and tribal leadership step up to really make it well known that we need a stronger response to prevent violence to Native women." The new law brings anti-domestic violence advocates closer to realizing a vision that transforms indigenous communities: where respect is restored to women, where change can infuse law enforcement practices, where healing can find its place among families. Agtuca is heartened by what she defines as the foundation of the Safety for Indian Women provision. It expressly recognizes the need for tribes to have greater authority in protecting indigenous women. "At the end of the day, the tribal leaders are responsible for passing laws that will protect Native women," said Deer of Minneapolis. Additionally, Title IX of the law will improve federal response to crimes of violence against Native women. And it will infuse unprecedented amounts of federal funding to groups and tribal programs for Native women. While Congress has authorized $1 billion for Violence Against Women Act programs, President Bush has requested about half that amount in his 2007 budget. If approved, tribes could access 10 percent from other parts of the VAWA budget, or an estimated $54 million. Eric Holland, a Department of Justice spokesman, said the department could not comment on proposed appropriation figures. Finally, the provision requires the U.S. attorney general to host an annual consultation with tribal governments. The first meeting between tribal leaders and Department of Justice officials is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Prior Lake, Minn. They need the help on Fort Belknap. There, 31 people per 1,000 were victimized by a parent or spouse, according to charges filed by the tribal prosecutor in the Fort Belknap Community Court in 2004. By comparison: Two of 1,000 people in the United States were abused by a parent or spouse, according to the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence. About 3,000 people live on the reservation, home to the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre tribes, where the unemployment rate hovers around 70 percent. That contributes to domestic violence, because too much idleness stirs up trouble, said Kate Taylor, a domestic violence advocate for the STOP program. "If they're not busy and feeling good about things, they get miserable and throw it off on everybody else - usually, it's the ones they love," Taylor said. In a recent six-month period on the reservation, 230 domestic violence calls were made to 9-1-1. That didn't include victims who go directly to the hospital, tribal social services or to domestic violence advocates working for a pair of programs that offer support to victims of abuse. Budget cuts have since closed both of those programs. But the violence continues. "More people would seek help if more services were provided," said Rosie Maine, the tribal court clerk. "So it's kept in the home and not reported. It's hurting our community." Jodi Rave covers Native issues for the Missoulian and other Lee Enterprises newspapers. She can be reached at (800) 366-7186 or jodi.rave@lee.net Native women a target Findings from the Justice Department on violence and Native women from its 1999 report, "American Indians and Crime": - 1 in 3 will be raped in their lifetime. - Stalked at a rate at least twice that of any other U.S. population. - 9 in 10 rapes or sexual assaults against them are committed by another race, mostly white - Violent victimization among Native women was more than double that among all women. - 6 in 10 will be physically assaulted. Domestic violence defined - Domestic violence can be defined as a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner. - Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure or wound someone. - Physical abuse: hitting, slapping, shoving, grabbing, pinching, biting, hair-pulling, biting, etc. Physical abuse also includes denying a partner medical care or forcing alcohol and/or drug use. - Sexual abuse: coercing or attempting to coerce sexual contact or behavior without consent. Sexual abuse includes, but is not limited to, marital rape, attacks on sexual body parts, forcing sex after physical violence, or treating one in a sexually demeaning manner. - Emotional abuse: undermining an individual's sense of self-worth and/or self-esteem. This may include, but is not limited to, constant criticism, diminishing one's abilities, name-calling, or damaging one's relationship with his or her children. - Economic abuse: making or attempting to make an individual financially dependent by maintaining control over financial resources, withholding access to money, or forbidding attendance at school or employment. - Psychological abuse: causing fear by intimidation; threatening physical harm to self, partner, children, or partner's family or friends; destruction of pets and property; and forcing isolation from family, friends, or school and/or work. Sources: National Domestic Violence Hotline, National Center for Victims of Crime, and WomensLaw.org. Copyright c. 2006 Missoulian, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Answers hard to come by for Fort Belknap Woman" --------- Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 08:37:14 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JODI RAVE: SEEKING ANSWERS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/09/17/jodirave/rave77.txt Answers hard to come by for Fort Belknap woman By JODI RAVE of the Missoulian September 17, 2006 FORT BELKNAP - Bobbie Heppner and her boyfriend had been fighting. She was trying to pull her life together. It was a weekday when she drove up to the offices of the Arrest program for abused women in Fort Belknap. She cried as her sick little girl sat in the car beside her. Nona Long Knife, a domestic violence advocate, talked to Heppner outside before the distraught mother left for the Indian Health Service hospital. Long Knife visited Heppner's home the next day. After she arrived, two young men drove into the yard. One held a can of Budweiser in each hand - one full, the other still had a swallow. Heppner later identified them as friends of her boyfriend. They were checking up on her so they could report back to him, she said. She complained about their visit in tribal court when she and her boyfriend appeared before Associate Judge Marlene Stiffarm at the Fort Belknap Community Court. Everything had been OK a week earlier. But then the couple started fighting over beer, cigarettes and another woman. As she sat in court, Heppner's eyes carried the weight of misery. A gray sweatshirt hung on her tired body. She told the judge her boyfriend took a washer and dryer from the home they share. The judge reminded him Heppner had temporary use of the house and the property in it. "Anything you removed after the petition was served, you will return," said the judge. She also reminded him he wasn't allowed to harass or stalk household members. Finally, she told him he had two weeks to get his possessions from the house. The hearing was over in about 20 minutes. Delina Cuts the Rope, an Arrest program anti-domestic violence advocate, sat at Heppner's side in the courtroom. She talked inaudibly to the visibly shaken woman. Heppner had been with her boyfriend for six years. But usually, she was the one getting kicked out. Then she found out she could file for a protection order to keep the 6-foot-3 man at bay. Heppner called tribal police when he started getting abusive. The couple also had been fighting over their daughter. Heppner remembers when she became pregnant. "He said he'd be a dad to her." She paused: "Yeah, but not lately." Heppner's saddened about the world her daughter lives in. "All she can say is, 'Dad drinks beer.' " The little girl also understands an argument when she hears one. "She gets in the middle and puts her hand over our mouth," said Heppner. While Cuts the Rope and Heppner talked, the child's father left the tribal building. Judge Stiffarm was gone, too. Heppner sat at a table in the courtroom, unsure about her future. "I should leave here." She finds solace with thoughts of her daughter. "My little girl is my guardian angel. If I didn't have her, I'd probably have OD'd myself." In 1997, meth use dragged her down. She received treatment. Heppner pulled up the sleeve on her sweatshirt inside the empty courtroom. The inside of her arm was scarred by needles. Happy thoughts about her daughter quickly soured. She thought about the days ahead for mother and child. "It's going to kill her not to see her dad. He's probably going to drink more and more and probably have a heart attack. "I don't know if she could handle that." Jodi Rave covers Native issues for the Missoulian and other Lee Enterprises newspapers. She can be reached at (800) 366-7186 or jodi.rave@lee.net Copyright c. 2006 Missoulian, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: JODI RAVE: Daughter making peace with abusive past" --------- Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 08:37:14 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JODI RAVE: LEGACY OF ABUSE" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/09/17/jodirave/rave78.txt Decades later, daughter making peace with abusive past By JODI RAVE of the Missoulian September 17, 2006 FLANDREAU, S.D. - Rhonda Haukaas won't forget the meat cutter's license that hung in her family's living room in Wyoming. Her stepfather earned the certificate in Toledo, Ohio, but never worked as a butcher when he returned to the Wind River Reservation. Still, he kept fancy cutlery in the kitchen and a big freezer in the basement. That's only one memory of her stepfather. The few good ones remain eclipsed by his abusive behavior toward her mother. "She was 110 percent deathly afraid of him," Haukaas said. Only recently has she started talking to her 69-year-old mother about the domestic violence that permeated their home. Now her early years are beginning to make more sense. As a girl, Haukaas didn't understand. At times, it seemed too many days were filled with violence. Like the night her mom and stepdad came home from a bar. Haukaas and her brother were sleeping when adults arrived and began partying in the living room. When her stepdad opened the bedroom door, the nightlight illuminated his blood-splattered shirt. He told the 10-year-old girl and her brother to stay in the room. What happened to you? she asked the man. I got in a fight with a guy. The kids stayed in the bedroom, listening to the adults' music, but Haukaas needed to use the bathroom. And she found her mother sitting on the toilet bowl. Her face was swollen and bloody. "I grabbed her and said, 'Mom, look at you.' I started crying." She patted her mom's back to comfort her. The woman winced. Cactus needles covered her back. "I started running the bath water for her," said Haukaas. The water turned pink when her mother sat down. Haukaas and her brother were the youngest in the family. The older brothers and sisters had long ago moved out. The only thing the little ones could do was call the cops when their mother was beaten. Their stepfather didn't care. Go get the cops. Go get the cops. See what they can do. The cops would come and leave. "He'd beat her a little more," said Haukaas. When she was in eighth grade, Haukaas left Wyoming to attend the Flandreau Indian School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school in South Dakota. "Sometimes I couldn't wait to get back to school," she said. It wasn't until Haukaas turned 17 that her mom and stepdad finally split up. He ended his own life with a shotgun blast to the head. Her mother later reunited with Haukaas' biological father. It's been a whirlwind watching her mother find happiness with a man who treats her with respect, said Haukaas, who has learned to appreciate the elderly woman's skills. Her mother has worked as a language consultant for the Eastern Shoshone Tribe. And she's also a master teacher for cradleboard classes. Today Haukaas, 42, works as a women's advocate at the Wholeness Center, a domestic violence and sexual assault shelter. She helps women and their children find cover from abusive men. And she no longer blames her mother for a childhood fraught with images of blood-splattered shirts or meat-cutting certificates. "I told her, 'I know why you didn't leave. I know. Now I understand.' " Her mother cried when she heard the words. She finally told her daughter about her constant fear, how she was slapped with threats the children never heard. If you leave me, I will kill your kids, cut them up, put them in the freezer and I will feed them to you. And you won't even know you're eating them. It's taken a while, but Haukaas now uses wry humor to gently massage old wounds. She likes to joke with her mother about the freezer. "Oh, mom, you could have been eating my big toe." Rhonda, you're not even funny. "Yes, it is," said her daughter. "We can sit here and laugh now." Jodi Rave covers Native issues for the Missoulian and other Lee Enterprises newspapers. She can be reached at (800) 366-7186 or jodi.rave@lee.net Domestic violence and children - In a national survey of more than 6,000 U.S. families, 50 percent of the men who frequently assaulted their wives also frequently abused their children. - Slightly more than half of female victims of intimate violence live in households with children under age 12. - Studies suggest between 3.3 million and 10 million children witness some form of domestic violence annually. Source: Family Violence Prevention Fund Copyright c. 2006 Missoulian, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Violence against Women not a part of Tradition" --------- Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2006 08:39:18 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FACING THE SHAME OF LOST WAYS" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8201 "Violence against Native women not a part of our traditional communities" Feds, Indian leaders confront frightening statistics Sam Lewin September 21, 2006 The numbers offered by advocacy groups can seem difficult to believe. A group called the American Indian Women's Chemical Health Project asserts that three-fourths of Native American women have experienced some type of sexual assault in their lives. The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control's figures on sexual assault-while significantly lower than that of the health project's-are nonetheless frightening: American Indian and Alaskan Native women are significantly more likely (34-percent) to report being raped than black women (19-percent) or Caucasian women (18- percent). While accurate figures on the problems of domestic violence and sexual assault are notoriously tough to quantify, Native American leaders have long recognized something is seriously wrong. In Denver, over 100 representatives from American Indian and Alaska Native tribes recently met with officials from the Department of Justice to address the problem, which National Congress of American Indians president Joe Garcia called an epidemic. This epidemic not only impacts the individual women and families affected, it undermines the stability of the community as a whole," Garcia said. "Women play an honored and respected role in Native communities. Violence against Native women is not natural and is not a part of our traditional communities. Traditional Native cultures valued respect, honor, and compassion for all living things." NCAI officials say the meeting with the DOJ happened after President Bush signed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act into law. The measure included a portion applicable to Indian Country. The NCAI was a strong supporter of reauthorization of the law, saying in a statement the law recognizes "the unique impact and disproportionate levels of violence committed against Indian women. It would enhance the civil and criminal justice response; improve services and outreach to victims; provide resources for sexual assault victims through rape crisis centers and state coalitions; help children and youth who experience or witness violence; aid tribal victims; and support prevention, health, housing and economic security programs designed to stop violence and help victims." "American Indians, in general, experience per capita rates of violence that are much higher than those of the general population," said the NCAI's Juana Majel-Dixon, citing the center's statistics, during the Denver conference. "One out of three American Indian and Alaskan Native women are raped in their lifetime, compared with about one out of five women in the overall national statistic. These statistics must change and I am confident that this consultation will help facilitate that." Back in Oklahoma, tribes have also taken on domestic violence. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation's family violence prevention program, for example, routinely issues calls to remind area Natives about the services they offer including: individual and family counseling, weekly support groups, emergency housing and transportation, and court advocacy. The program also runs transitional living program that assists victims of domestic violence in achieving independence. Clients willing to sign and complete a service plan can also receive assistance with rent, utilities, clothing and/or food. These services are available to members of any federally recognized tribe. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Judges Wince At Snowbowl's 'Brown Snow'" --------- Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 08:51:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WASTE WATER TURNS JUDGES OFF" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://industryreport.mountainnews.com/2006/09/post_19.shtml Judges Wince At Snowbowl's 'Brown Snow' Compiled from staff and wire reports September 18, 2006 Members of several Arizona Indian tribes told federal judges in San Francisco that Arizona Snowbowl's use of snowmaking equipment desecrated the land and insulted their ancestors. The judges, however, seemed more concerned by what the snow would be made of. Lawyers for the Hopi, Navajo, and Apache tribe argued in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday that Snowbowl's plans to cut new runs and expand its snowmaking capabilities sullied their religious beliefs and should be blocked. But judges appeared more concerned about the snow itself, made from reclaimed water. Judge William Fletcher said "that reclaimed water is treated sewage" and wondered what effect it would have on a skier ingesting the snow during a "faceplant." Janice Schneider, a lawyer for the resort, told the court there would be 82 signs warning skiers the snow is generated from "reclaimed water." But the judges appeared concerned about possible health issues, saying that no studies had been done on the use of reclaimed water for snowmaking purposes. Jack Trope, a Hualapai attorney, said the man-made snow also could melt into a nearby spring the tribe uses for healing ceremonies. Once it touches the spring, he said, using those waters is akin to "committing spiritual malpractice." Copyright c. 2006 Mountain News Corporation. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Tribes hopeful after Court hears Sacred Site Case" --------- Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 08:51:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CIRCUIT COURT ASKED RIGHT QUESTIONS" http://www.indianz.com/News/2006/015982.asp Tribes hopeful after court hears sacred site case September 19, 2006 Tribal leaders and Native advocates expressed optimism last week after a federal appeals court heard their pleas to protect a sacred site in Arizona. Hundreds of people traveled to San Francisco, California, on Thursday to attend a hearing before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. At issue is a proposal to expand a ski resort in the sacred San Francisco Peaks. Tribes say the use of reclaimed wastewater to make snow will desecrate an important part of their religious. More than a dozen tribes in the Southwest consider the peaks to be a living, spiritual being. "The world needs to know that we need to defend our way of life," said Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., one of several tribal leaders in attendance and one of many who made the trip to San Francisco to support the cause. Shirley and others emerged hopeful based on some of the questions posed during the 72-minute hearing. The judges on the panel appeared receptive to the belief that use of reclaimed wastewater infringes on the religious rights of Native people. "I think we have a good chance and hopefully this will be one of those days that what's right and what's moral is the same as what's legal and, unfortunately, that doesn't always happen but hopefully this will be one of those cases," Shirley added. The U.S. Forest Service authorized the expansion of the Arizona Snowbowl resort in March 2005. Part of the plan calls for treated wastewater to be used to make snow in the peaks. The tribes immediately filed an administrative appeal, but it was rejected. So too was their lawsuit before U.S. District Judge Paul Rosenblatt, who said the expansion "does not coerce individuals into acting contrary to their religious beliefs nor does it penalize anyone for practicing his or her religion." Attorneys for the Navajo, Hopi, Hualapai, Apache and other tribes took issue with the finding, based on documents from the Forest Service. The agency cited "potentially irreversible" impacts to Native religion. The attorneys also cited the "uncontradicted" testimony of spiritual leaders who said the use of wastewater destroys the entire peaks even though snowmaking would take place during a few months of the year. Using the reclaimed water is like "putting a contaminated needle into your arm with poison," said attorney Jack Trope of DNA Legal Services, a nonprofit law that provides services to Navajo tribal members. In addition to being receptive to the religious argument, the judges on the 9th Circuit expressed concerns about the impact of wastewater on non- Indian skiers. Citing potential ingestion by children, they asked whether the U.S. Forest Service properly analyzed the impacts under the National Environmental Policy Act. "Telling kids not to eat snow doesn't meet the needs of NEPA," attorney Howard Shanker said, citing the agency's decision to post signs that warn of the wastewater. The tribes argue that the Forest Service and the Snowbowl can continue to operate without expanding the facility. The resort has said it needs to make more snow in order to improve its business. During the defense side of the case, an attorney for the Forest Service was quickly forced by the court to admit the government has a "financial interest" in the expansion because it receives royalties from skiers who pay entrance fees to the Snowbowl. It's not clear when the 9th Circuit will issue a decision. It could take several months for the panel to make the ruling, which could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Copyright c. 2006 Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Oahu Publications, Inc. --------- "RE: Indians' legal standing outlined" --------- Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:46:25 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LEGAL STANDING" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2006/09/19/news/local/121033.txt Indians' legal standing outlined By SARA KINCAID Bismarck Tribune September 19, 2006 Separate, equal and subject to interpretation, the American Indians' legal standing in the United States is ambiguous at times. Attorney Thomas Disselhorst summarized the American Indians' place in the U.S. Constitution and other federal decisions during a talk at United Tribes Technical College on Monday afternoon. It was an activity to commemorate Constitution Day. Acts of Congress and successive Supreme Court decisions chipped away and contradicted rights of a group of people seen as separate since colonial times. But then the Constitution did three things for American Indians: It separated them out from recognized citizens; they were designated as a separate entity for purposes of commerce; and it made treaties the "supreme law of the land." American Indians did not become U.S. citizens until an act of Congress in 1924. This prevented them from holding property and participating in other rights given to citizens. Regulating commerce was more to keep the states from making deals with individual tribes. "They wanted the central government to have control over the relationships with tribes, not states," Disselhorst said. The use of treaties changed in 1871 with an act of Congress to no longer make treaties with tribes, but nothing was to change with the enforcement of other treaties. Then in 1903, Congress took control of Indian affairs. A Supreme Court case spelled out that the government's purpose is to support tribal self-governing and control internal relations. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote opinions of the Supreme Court that further defined the relationship of the United States and the American Indians. One opinion declared they owned no land because they were conquered, another was to define a tribal nation as a "domestic dependent nation." This meant that it was within the United States, relied on the United States for protection and had its own laws, Disselhorst said. Today, there are organizations pursuing more awareness of tribal sovereignty to reverse Supreme Court decisions that have lessened tribal sovereignty. Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com. Copyright c. 2006 Bismarck Tribune, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: NCAI responds to Border concerns" --------- Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:46:25 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BUSH SEEKS TO RESCIND JAY TREATY" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413530 National Congress of American Indians responds to border concerns by: Brenda Norrell / Indian Country Today August 28, 2006 TUCSON, Ariz. - The Bush administration recently initiated efforts that would nullify the benefits of the Jay Treaty, which recognizes the right of border passage to indigenous peoples at the northern border; further, the administration planned to press for new laws to require DNA tests to determine Indian blood, according to Louis Guassac, executive director of the Kumeyaay Border Task Force. "The Indian tribes said, 'No way,"' Guassac said, speaking at a border workshop hosted by the Alianza Indigena sin Fronteras/Indigenous Alliance Without Borders in Tucson. Guassac said that in response to these plans of the Bush administration and other new regulations for border-crossers, the National Congress of American Indians has passed two resolutions. The resolutions call on the U. S. Department of Homeland Security to enter into government-to-government consultation with Native tribes on border issues, including consultation on a proposed national Indigenous Identification Card for border pass and re-pass. "I think it could be a good thing," said Guassac, adding that further consultation is needed on the proposed cards. Still, he pointed out, the needs of southern tribes are different from those of the northern tribes who have the benefits of the Jay Treaty for border-crossing. Although the planned requirement of DNA tests has not reached the status of law, the United States has established new requirements for border passage that will affect indigenous border crossers and their Jay Treaty rights. NCAI said these new laws are a violation of Indian treaties, according to resolutions passed at NCAI's mid-year session in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. June 18 - 21. During NCAI's mid-year conference, "Not Our Borders: Culture and Commerce in the Era of Homeland Security," NCAI President Joe Garcia responded to border concerns of Native leaders. "Many border nations have been cut in half and tribal citizens reside on both sides. Working closely with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will be essential in ensuring that tribal government leaders from Native communities near this country's borders have a voice in current national initiatives and any legislation that may impact them in considerable ways," Garcia said. NCAI first passed resolution MIC-06-016C, requesting that the secretary of Homeland Security consult and collaborate with tribal leaders on the proposed Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. The initiative comes after Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorist Prevention Act of 2004, which mandated that the departments of Homeland Security and State develop a plan that would require U.S. citizens and foreign nationals to present a passport for citizenship documentation when entering the United States. The deadline for border crossers to obtain passports or other accepted documents is Dec. 31, 2007. NCAI's resolution states, "DHS has now proposed the People Access Security System (PASS) which incorporates biometrics and other security features that will likely infringe of tribal government as well as individual member rights." NCAI said Indian tribes were not consulted and that there was no government-to-government consultation on these new border passage requirements. "DHS did not consult with Indian nations on the ramifications of the WHTI proposal," Garcia said. "This proposal will be detrimental to tribes and in direct violation of treaty rights including hunting, fishing and spiritual observances, harming tribal economies and disrupting the daily life of border tribal community members." Further, NCAI said it means extra expense for tribal members. During the International Indigenous Cross Border Security Summit in March 2006, Indian tribes addressed these issues. Summit indigenous leaders expressed grave concerns over these requirements. However, Indian leaders from Canada and the United States expressed support for an Indigenous Identification Card for border crossing purposes. In the second resolution, MIC-06-017C, NCAI made an additional request of Homeland Security. NCAI requested that Homeland Security, as part of its trust responsibility, provide the technical assistance and resources for development and distribution of an Indigenous Identification Card to ensure convenient border entry and re-entry that safeguards privacy and personal security, as well as national security. NCAI Executive Director Jacqueline Johnson said NCAI has worked closely with Canada's Assembly of First Nations to address border security and management issues of concern to indigenous peoples and that this is one of great concern. "Native people on both sides of the border must have adequate access to border travel to ensure commerce to sustain economies and protect the culture and way of life for those indigenous people who have relatives on either side of the border," Johnson said. Copyright c. 1998 - 2006 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved --------- "RE: Tohono O'odham Nation opposes Border Fence" --------- Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:46:25 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FREEDOM MEANS A BIGGER FENCE?????" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/washington/20 fence.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin Border Fence Must Skirt Objections From Arizona Tribe By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD September 20, 2006 TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION, Ariz., Sept. 14 - The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday on legislation to build a double-layered 700-mile-long fence on the Mexican border, a proposal already approved by the House. If the fence is built, however, it could have a long gap - about 75 miles - at one of the border's most vulnerable points because of opposition from the Indian tribe here. More illegal immigrants are caught - and die trying to cross into the United States - in and around the Tohono O'odham Indian territory, which straddles the Arizona border, than any other spot in the state. Tribal leaders have cooperated with Border Patrol enforcement, but they promised to fight the building of a fence out of environmental and cultural concerns. For the Tohono O'odham, which means "desert people," the reason is fairly simple. For generations, their people and the wildlife they revere have freely crossed the border. For years, an existing four-foot-high cattle fence has had several openings - essentially cattle gates - that tribal members use to visit relatives and friends, take children to school and perform rites on the other side. "I am O'odham first, and American or Mexican second or third," said Ramon Valenzuela, as he walked his two children to school through one gate two miles from his O'odham village in Mexico. But the pushed-up bottom strands of the cattle fence and the surrounding desert littered with clothing, water jugs and discarded backpacks testify to the growth in illegal immigrant traffic, which surged here after a Border Patrol enforcement squeeze in California and Texas in the mid- 1990's. Crossers take advantage of a remote network of washes and trails - and sometimes Indian guides - to reach nearby highways bound for cities across the country. Tribal members, who once gave water and food to the occasional passing migrant, say they have become fed up with groups of illegal immigrants breaking into homes and stealing food, water and clothing, and even using indoor and outdoor electrical outlets to charge cellphones. With tribal police, health and other services overwhelmed by illegal immigration, the Indians welcomed National Guard members this summer to assist the Border Patrol here. The tribe, after negotiations with the Department of Homeland Security, also agreed to a plan for concrete vehicle barriers at the fence and the grading of the dirt road parallel to it for speedier Border Patrol and tribal police access. The Indians also donated a parcel this year for a small Border Patrol substation and holding pen. Tribal members, however, fearing the symbolism of a solid wall and concern about the free range of deer, wild horses, coyotes, jackrabbits and other animals they regard as kin, said they would fight the kind of steel-plated fencing that Congress had in mind and that has slackened the crossing flow in previous hot spots like San Diego. "Animals and our people need to cross freely," said Verlon Jose, a member of the tribal council representing border villages. "In our tradition we are taught to be concerned about every living thing as if they were people. We don't want that wall." The federal government, the trustee of all Indian lands, could build the fence here without tribal permission, but that option is not being pressed because officials said it might jeopardize the tribe's cooperation on smuggling and other border crimes. "We rely on them for cooperation and intelligence and phone calls about illegal activity as much as they depend on us to respond to calls," said Chuy Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in Tucson, who described overall relations as "getting better and better." The Tohono number more than 30,000, including 14,000 on the Arizona tribal territory and 1,400 in Mexico. Building a fence would impose many challenges, apart from the political difficulties. When steel fencing and other resources went up in California and Texas, migrant traffic shifted to the rugged terrain here, and critics say more fencing will simply force crossers to other areas without the fence. Or under it, as evidenced by the growth in the number of tunnels discovered near San Diego. The shift in traffic to more remote, treacherous terrain has also led to hundreds of deaths of crossers, including scores on tribal land here. The effort to curtail illegal immigration has proved especially difficult on the Tohono O'odham Nation, whose 2.8 million acres, about the size of Connecticut, make it the second largest in area. Faced with poverty and unemployment, an increasing number of tribal members are turning to the smuggling of migrants and drugs, tribal officials say. Just this year, the tribal council adopted a law barring the harboring of illegal immigrants in homes, a gesture to show it is taking a "zero tolerance" stand, said the tribal chairwoman, Vivian Juan-Saunders. Two members of Ms. Juan-Saunders's family have been convicted of drug smuggling in the past several years, and she said virtually every family had been touched by drug abuse, smuggling or both. Sgt. Ed Perez of the tribal police said members had been offered $400 per person to transport illegal immigrants from the tribal territory to Tucson, a 90-minute drive, and much more to carry drugs. The Border Patrol and tribal authorities say the increase in manpower and technology is yielding results. Deaths are down slightly, 55 this year compared with 62 last year, and arrests of illegal immigrants in the Border Patrol sectors covering the tribal land are up about 10 percent. But the influx of agents, many of whom are unfamiliar with the territory or Tohono ways, has brought complaints that the agents have interfered with tribal ceremonies, entered property uninvited and tried to block members crossing back and forth. Ms. Juan-Saunders said helicopters swooped low and agents descended on a recent ceremony, apparently suspicious of a large gathering near the border, and she has complained to supervisors about agents speeding and damaging plants used for medicine and food. Some traditional and activist tribal members later this month are organizing a conference among eight Indian nations on or near the border to address concerns here and elsewhere. "We are in a police state," said Michael Flores, a tribal member helping to organize the conference. "It is not a tranquil place anymore." Mr. Rodriguez acknowledged the concerns but said agents operated in a murky world where a rush of pickups from a border village just might be tribal members attending an all-night wake, or something else. "Agents make stops based on what they see," he said. "Sometimes an agent sees something different from what tribal members or others see." Agents, he added, are receiving more cultural training, including a new cultural awareness video just shot with the help of tribal members. "Our relations have come a long way" in the past decade, he said. Mr. Valenzuela said several agents knew him and waved as he traveled across the border, but others have stopped him, demanding identification. Once, he said, he left at home a card that identifies him as a tribal member and an agent demanded that he go back into Mexico and cross at the official port of entry in Sasabe, 20 miles away. "I told him this is my land, not his," said Mr. Valenzuela, who was finally allowed to proceed after the agent radioed supervisors. Mr. Valenzuela said he would not be surprised if a big fence eventually went up, but Ms. Juan-Saunders said she would affirm the tribe's concerns to Congress and the Homeland Security department. She said she would await final word on the fence and its design before taking action. Members of Congress she has met, she said, "recognize we pose some unique issues to them, and that was really what we are attempting to do, to educate them to our unique situation." The House last week approved a Republican-backed bill 238 to 138 calling for double-layer fencing along a third of the 2,000-mile-long border, roughly from Calexico, Calif., to Douglas, Ariz. There is considerable support for the idea in the Senate, although President Bush's position on the proposal remains uncertain. The Homeland Security secretary, Michael Chertoff, has expressed doubts about sealing the border with fences. Copyright c. 2006 The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: Osage wins ruling in Mineral Rights Case" --------- Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2006 06:57:51 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OSAGE MINERAL RIGHTS VICTORY MAY SET FAR REACHING PRCEDENT" http://www.newsok.com/article/2851840/ Osage wins ruling in mineral rights case By Tony Thornton and Chad Previch The Oklahoman September 22, 2006 PAWHUSKA - The federal government failed to collect and invest millions of dollars in oil lease royalties owed to the Osage Tribe and its members, a Washington, D.C., court ruled Thursday. The exact amount owed will be determined by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims unless the two sides compromise before a Nov. 2 hearing. A 61-page ruling released today covers allegations of the federal government's negligence dating to 1976. However, the tribe's lawsuit examined just five months between 1976 and 1989. "This finding is a long time in coming," Osage Principal Chief Jim Gray said Friday at a news conference in Pawhuska. "The Osage Nation government filed this case six years ago, and our people and the shareholders in the royalties of the Osage Mineral Estate have waited for justice for many years." Phone messages left with Bureau of Indian Affairs officials were not immediately returned. The ruling has possible national implications, for it could affect the more widely known Cobell lawsuit. In that decade-old, class-action lawsuit, American Indians nationwide claim they are owed up to $27.5 billion for similar negligence by the government. This case involves only the Osage Reservation - Oklahoma's only designated Indian reservation - which covers all 1.5 million acres of Osage County. That county is one of the top two oil-producing counties in the nation, the ruling states. Gray said it has generated more than 1 billion gallons over the last century. Judge Emily C. Hewitt in Washington found that the government made these failures: # To collect royalties based on the highest offered prices. # To collect full royalties during price controls. # To promptly deposit money for the tribe. # To maintain appropriate balances. # To invest the money according to law. Under federal rules developed after the 1906 law that created the Osage Nation, the local Bureau of Indian Affairs office was to collect nearly 17 percent from the sales of oil obtained from Osage County. That money was to be placed in interest-bearing accounts to benefit tribe members. Over the years, the BIA changed its rules several times regarding this collection. Because these rule changes tended to benefit oil producers to the tribe's detriment, the government shirked its duty as the tribe's trustee, the ruling indicates. The ruling followed a 10-day trial featuring testimony from 17 witnesses, including tribal members, local Bureau of Indian Affairs officials and a U. S. Treasury Department official. It also included testimony of various government price controls attempted after oil dipped to $9 per barrel in the mid- to late 1980s, and allegations of document shredding by federal officials in Pawhuska. The court denied the tribe's claim that the government failed to employ enough workers in its Osage Agency to inspect oil tanks and verify company's stated amounts of oil sold. Judge Hewitt also denied the tribe's claim that the government failed to collect late fees from oil producers. However, Hewitt concluded that the government failed until 1990 to establish a place in Pawhuska to deposit royalty money it collected. Gray didn't respond directly to whether his tribe should trust the federal government now to act in the tribe's financial interests. "It's important that we settle the crimes that have been committed in the past. I think everyone in Indian country would like to move forward," he said. Copyright c. News 9/The Oklahoman - Produced by NewsOK.com. --------- "RE: Tribes say BIA failures threaten Self-Governance" --------- Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2006 06:57:51 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BIA NEEDS TO GET OWN AFFAIRS IN ORDER" http://www.rlnn.com/ArtSept06/TribesBIAFailuresThreatenSelfGovernance.html Tribes say BIA failures threaten self-governance Indianz.com September 22, 2006 The Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Wednesday heard conflicting testimony from tribal and federal officials about the successes and failures of self-governance. Tribal leaders and Bureau of Indian Affairs officials hailed self- governance, and self-determination, as a landmark policy. They said it puts more control into the hands of tribes as they decide their own futures. But tribal leaders said the program is threatened by inadequate funding and bureaucratic holdups. They told the committee that the BIA fails to fulfill the contracts and compacts it signs with tribes and often delivers the money late. "Unfortunately, self-governance programs have strayed from their original intent to strengthen Indian self-determination and self- sufficiency," testified Delia Carlyle, the chairwoman of the Ak-Chin Indian Community in Arizona. Carlyle cited a $200,000 promise made by the BIA to help the tribe build a road on the reservation. That was back in 2004, she said, but money never came so the tribe had to dip into its own budget. "Finally, we have recently been informed by [BIA] that the funding should be available soon but the amount is less than originally promised," she said. Floyd Jourdain Jr., the chairman of the Red Lake Nation of Minnesota, said his tribe has been denied millions of dollars for over a decade due to infighting within the BIA. He said officials have failed to pay annual cost of living increases for employees under self-governance agreements. As a result, he said tribes nationwide have been forced to absorb over $500 million in unfunded pay costs. "Currently, there is little financial incentive to encourage tribes newly contemplating self-governance, or even for existing self-governance tribes to maintain their status," he told the committee. Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), the chairman of the committee, agreed with the tribal assessments. He said the failure to fully fund self-governance has led to fewer tribes joining the program and even to some tribes dropping out. "It seems to fly in the face of everything that tribes seek and what we, as a nation, want tribes to do," he said. But George Skibine, the acting deputy assistant secretary of policy and economic development at the BIA, denied knowledge of a reduction in self- governance. He said he was "not aware" of any slow down in the program. "It's true the number of tribes seeking self-governace compacts has gone progressively down," he said. After some repeated questions, another acting BIA official acknowledged that the BIA fails to fully fund the compacts and contracts for the agreed-upon amount and often delivers money for welfare, social services and reservation roads late. McCain appeared visibly upset by the answers. Tribes won a major legal victory in March 2005, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that federal agencies must fully fund the self- -determination and self-governance agreements. Government attorneys had argued that tribal contracts were different from contracts for other services. Despite the win, tribes still aren't receiving the money they are due because of language in the Interior Department's appropriation act. The acting BIA official said it would be up to Congress to change the situation. Tribes have repeatedly asked Congress to fix the problem. This year, they are seeking a "bootstrap" amendment that would address certain issues while a more comprehensive solution can be developed. Copyright c. 2006 Indianz.com. Copyright c. 2006 Red Lake News. --------- "RE: Eastern Cherokee Water Supply hit" --------- Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 08:41:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GASOLINE CONTAMINATION" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20060922/NEWS01/60921085/1107 Cherokee water supply hit Gasoline leak forces shutdown of tribe's economic lifeline by Quintin Ellison, QELLISON@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM September 22, 2006 QUALLA BOUNDARY - About 1,500 families and 300 businesses in Cherokee could be without water through Saturday because of a gasoline leak that contaminated the tribe's water supply. The tribe's economic engine, Harrah's Cherokee Casino, remains open, but the casino's 550-room hotel, three restaurants and coffee shop were closed. About 100 restaurants and hotels in other parts of Cherokee also were closed. "This couldn't come at a worse time," said Mary Jane Ferguson, the tribe's director of marketing and promotion. "After gaming, our largest industry is tourism. We're talking millions and millions of dollars in revenue." Gasoline was found Wednesday night 7 to 10 feet from the intake pump of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians' water plant. Principal Chief Michell Hicks said the leak appears contained and that damage to the Oconaluftee River was minimal. "This is more of a drinking-water issue than environmental issue," he said. Tanks at a nearby service station are the most likely source of the leak, Hicks said. The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating. Water restrictions issued Tribal authorities told residents and visitors not to drink, bathe or cook using the water. Fish from the river - a popular fishing destination that the tribe stocks with rainbow trout - also shouldn't be eaten. Bottled water is being distributed in Cherokee at the Ginger Lynn Welch Complex on Acquoni Road and the Painttown and Wolftown gymnasiums on U.S. 19. Water and showers also are available at the Old Big Cove School - Church of the Nazarene. Tribal offices and schools are closed today. Tests were conducted at the water plant on U.S. 441 to determine if there is damage to the system's lines and tanks. The results were not available Thursday. If damage is found, the water restrictions might be extended while repairs are done. "We realize the urgency of getting everybody up and running but we're taking every precaution," Hicks said. Leak costly to businesses Business owners and managers watched as dollars slipped away. "If this goes into Friday and Saturday, we'll lose 100 percent occupancy both nights," said Bill Goforth, who works the front desk for the 100-room Fairfield Inn & Suites, located directly across the highway from the casino. "It's a sizeable impact, a lot of money." Not including the casino hotel, there are 2,800 hotel rooms on the Qualla Boundary. Hotel guests who checked in before the water crisis were allowed to stay. Restaurants, however, were totally closed. "We serve 300 to 400 meals a day, and we need to be back open because we're getting near the end of the season," said Elva Adkins, manager of the Little Princess Restaurant. "This is when we make our money." The gasoline contamination also interrupted the tribe's bottled water business. The tribe pulls directly from the Oconaluftee River. The tribe normally would have delivered water to between 50 and 60 accounts on Thursday. "Five pallets, 250 cases a day, we're turning usually," said Robert Jumper, manager of Cherokee Bottled Water. The bottled water enterprise's five employees are still working. They've been put to use distributing purchased bottle water to Cherokee residents and visitors. The show must go on At the casino - one of North Carolina's top tourist attractions and the largest private employer west of Asheville with more than 1,800 workers - gambling continued unabated. Portable toilets were set up and drinks and bottled water served. Food was available from a sandwich shop, and casino workers ordered in other prepared food, such as pizza, said Joyce Dugan, who is in charge of communications for the casino. Tonight's concert featuring singer Dionne Warwick is still scheduled. "We never close," Dugan said of the casino. Staff writer Leslie Boyd contributed to this report. Contact Quintin Ellison at 828-452-1467 or via e-mail at qellison@gannett.com. Copyright c. 2006 Asheville Citizen-Times. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Interior declines to recognize Michigan Tribe" --------- Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 08:41:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BURT LAKE DENIED RECOGNITION" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/ news-37/1158882554148160.xml&storylist=newsmichigan Interior Department declines to recognize Michigan tribe By KEN THOMAS The Associated Press September 21, 2006 WASHINGTON (AP) - The Department of Interior declined to give federal status to a northern Michigan American Indian band on Thursday, saying the evidence does not show that its members form a distinct community. The Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians Inc., located near Brutus, Mich., have sought federal recognition since 1995 and filed an amended petition in 1999. Interior officials said the band did not meet certain mandatory criteria required for federal acknowledgment. Interior said its review found the Burt Lake band are active members of a social community composed primarily of former Burt Lake members and Burt Lake descendants enrolled in the federally recognized Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in nearby Harbor Springs, Mich. It said more than half of the Burt Lake members participate only rarely in social events with other band members. The group submitted a list that identified 320 members, Interior officials said, but it documented only 68 percent, or 218 members, with ancestors who were part of the historical Burt Lake band, also known as the Cheboygan band. Messages were left Thursday with tribal officials. The band could request reconsideration before the Interior Board of Indian Appeals. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, said in a statement that he was disappointed by the decision, noting that "previous treaties have historically recognized the Burt Lake Band as a distinct tribe." Stupak said it should not have taken Interior seven years since the band refiled its petition to reach a decision. Stupak introduced legislation in February to reaffirm and clarify the Burt Lake band as a federally recognized tribe. The bill has not advanced in a House committee. "I will continue to work to help them achieve the proper recognition and rights they are owed," Stupak said. --- On the Net: Burt Lake Band: http://www.burtlakeband.org/ Copyright c. 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2006 Michigan Live. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Editorial: Akaka wrong on drilling in ANWR" --------- Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 08:51:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AKAKA WRONG ON ANWR STANCE" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://starbulletin.com/2006/09/19/editorial/editorial01.html Akaka's stance on Alaskan refuge drilling is misguided September 19, 2006 THE ISSUE Sen. Dan Akaka and Rep. Ed Case have opposing views about opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. Sen. Dan Akaka portrays Rep. Ed Case as a Republican in Democratic clothing, but on one important issue the two candidates are far apart in reverse roles. Case opposes drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while Akaka is in favor of drilling, claiming to act at the behest of "the indigenous people of Alaska." His rationale is unacceptable and displays a misunderstanding of those native peoples. Akaka joined Sen. Dan Inouye, Republicans and only one other Democrat last November in voting for a bill that would allow drilling in the precious Alaskan refuge. The vote was 51-48. Their votes were not surprising, as the two senators had abandoned their party on this issue on previous occasions. Further congressional action is required to formally open the area for drilling. Akaka told of having met members of the Inupiat tribe who "are kindred spirits with Hawaiians," sharing "a strong and sacred bond to their lands and waters." In a 2001 op-ed column on these pages, he described them as "subsistence hunters who depend on the land," deriving 60 percent of their diet from "caribou, marine mammals, fish and waterfowl." The emphasis should have been on marine mammals, which is why Inupiat tribal leaders are opposed to offshore drilling, regarded as a threat to their whaling. In a 2002 op-ed column in the Star-Bulletin, Charles Pe'ape'a Makawulu Burrows, president of Ahahui Malama i ka Lokahi, a Hawaiian environmental group, wrote that only 10 percent of their food resources are migratory caribou. Akaka says he focused on the Inupiat because they live within the refuge. However, another tribe, the Gwich'in, located inland in villages near the southern boundary of the refuge, depend heavily on the Porcupine River caribou herd for their subsistence. The Gwich'in, which means "people of the land," watch pregnant cows and later bulls and yearlings as they begin migrating north every spring to the refuge's coastal plain, a birthplace they consider sacred. "Today, as in the days of their ancestors, the caribou is still vital for food, clothing, tools, and are a source of respect and spiritual guidance for the Gwich'in," according to the tribe's steering committee. The 129,000 caribou spend their summers on the 1.5-million-acre area of the refuge that has been set aside for oil exploration and potential development. The refuge is home to 45 species of land and marine mammals, including polar bears, grizzly, black bears and musk oxen. In a letter to the Star-Bulletin after last year's Senate vote, Robert Thompson, an Inupiat who lives in the northern coastal village of Kaktovik and opposes the drilling, wrote that Akaka had been invited to meet and speak to the Gwich'in but had not done so. Copyright c. 2006 Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Oahu Publications, Inc. --------- "RE: McCOVEY: Racism in California - a covert reality" --------- Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 08:37:14 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="McCOVEY: CALIFORNIA RACISM" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.times-standard.com/opinion/ci_4355884 Racism in California - a covert reality My Word by Shaunna Oteka McCovey September 18, 2006 It seems we have an evolution problem. Not the single-celled organism versus creationism kind, but the disquieting kind that has us struggling with our sense of self and exactly who it is we are becoming. The recent ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that a Humboldt County deputy district attorney rejected potential Native American jurors on the basis of race brings to light a topic we have refused to discuss in this state: Just how racist we really are. The problem with California is we are all so convinced that the heart of liberalism and diversity beats here that we forget our history. We forget, and many people still have no idea, how many Native Americans died and/or lost their land in the creation of this state. We also wonder why some Native Americans have an aversion to law enforcement and the courts. All it takes to discover the answer is a simple trip back in time when Indian- white relations in Humboldt County, or this country for that matter, were (and I'm being very polite) somewhat tarnished. There remains a strong distrust of the judicial system, but we must remember why that distrust exists. The fact that a Native person actually wanted to serve on a jury and be part of the "mainstream system" of justice is rather remarkable. Too bad she didn't get the chance. The judge in Kesser v. Cambra stated that the prosecutor had an "obvious fixation" with Native Americans when he excluded from jury service the " "darkest skinned women" on the panel. While the deputy district attorney's statements were overtly racist, we seem shocked that he said them at all. I think we are under the impression that racism doesn't exist anymore, at least not in California. Maybe it's because we don't often see, except on rare occasions like this one, the in-your-face-racism of the past. What we get nowadays is much more fleeting, much more covert in its operation, but it plagues our state. We liken our biggest blue state status with being accepting of everyone. Yet, but being blue does not address the underlying racial tension, or the self-segregation of neighborhoods in cities and towns from the Oregon border to the Mexican border. The expression of our liberalism, our diversity and our acceptance of other cultures is really just lip service. It could not be more evident than it is now with the 9th Circuit's ruling in Kesser. This paper's editor compared this race exclusion debacle to a scene in the South 50 years ago, and with good cause. 50 years ago, the South was not a great place to be if you were black. I recently spent some time in the South, and in defense of those from there or who live there now, they have come a long way. They don't pretend that segregation didn't happen or that lynch mobs didn't commit heinous crimes. There is a certain acknowledgment about what happened and a clear recognition of their history. If racial disharmony exists, they let you know it and they certainly don't ignore the gigantic elephant in the room like we do. In California, racial animus is so much more covert. People will smile and shake your hand, but as soon as you turn your back they are screaming about how they don't want a casino in their back yard. Californians try so hard to be politically correct that they forget how to be honest. I'd almost rather be in the South 50 years ago because back then you at least knew who hated you. You at least knew where people stood. In Batson v. Kentucky, a case cited in the Kesser opinion, Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell eloquently opined that a prosecutor cannot deny on the basis of race, "the same right and opportunity to participate in the administration of justice enjoyed by the white population." To exclude Native Americans from jury service on the basis or race, or more accurately, on the basis of favoring their culture over the mainstream system, only creates more distrust. We Native people are subject to the same rule of law and notions of justice as any other citizen of this country, yet we are being denied access to participate. We will never bridge the great divide that exists between the Indian and non-Indian if we continue in this manner. We Indians will never know where we stand. It is time to start talking about the racism that exists here. We all have a moral obligation to be honest with one another. If you are a racist, say it. Be honest about it. Because it is only after you say it that we can address it and, perhaps, have a conversation about why you feel that way. Then, and only then, can our society evolve. Shaunna Oteka McCovey is a member of the Yurok Tribe. Opinions expressed in My Word pieces do not necessarily reflect the editorial viewpoint of the Times-Standard. Copyright c. 2006 Times-Standard, Eureka CA. --------- "RE: GIAGO: Traditionalists are taking the lead" --------- Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 08:51:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: COMING BACK TO TRADITIONAL WAYS" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8185 Notes from Indian Country After many years traditionalists are taking the lead Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) Copyright c. 2006 Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc. September 18, 2006 One sunny day, Tatanka Iyotanka (Sitting Bull) was sitting on a bench outside of his log home on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation conversing with his two wives when a Christian minister rode up to the house in his buckboard. The minister exchanged a few pleasantries and then got down to the business that had brought him to the home of the great Sioux leader. He told the Chief that it was un-Christian of him to have two wives. It went against the will of God. It was barbarian. It was the way of heathens. Sitting Bull listened patiently, probably with a small grin on his face because he had heard all of this before from the white man, and said to the minister, "Well, there they are. Now you tell them which one has to leave." Which of these Lakota women would you deprive of a loving home? It was an answer based on plain Lakota logic. But then Lakota logic had baffled the white man for a century. And well it should because it was logic based on centuries of cultural beliefs totally unknown to the European settlers. The problems between the two races began because by not understanding the culture of the Lakota, the white man then disrespected it. He disrespected it by trying to remake it into something he could understand. If he could not remake it, he attempted to diminish it or destroy it. Lakota logic and European logic did not blend. It was like trying to mix water and oil. A Lakota man took more than one wife for many reasons. Perhaps a brother had died leaving a widow with children. In the Lakota way, the surviving brother then became responsible for his brother's wife and children. It was his duty to give them food and shelter. His brother's children became his children and his brother's wife became his wife. Unchristian? Uncivilized? When the settlers moved west they saw it as their responsibility to disrupt the civilization of the Lakota. Of course we know this as Manifest Destiny. Just as the Spaniards made it an edict to either convert the indigenous people of South and Central America or kill them if they did not convert, so too did the settlers moving west try to convert a people by destroying their culture. Culturecide? Of course, changing a culture is something that cannot be done over night. As so many conquerors have discovered in history, the best way to create a new culture in their own image is to start with the innocent children. Institutionalization seemed to be the best way. But in order to do this the new government of the United States needed help. It turned to the many Christian churches and organizations that were already intent upon saving the souls of the so-called heathens. In the late 1800s the government and the church convinced tribal leaders like Red Cloud and others to donate land to the Catholic Church (and other religions) in order to construct Indian missions that would be turned into boarding schools. Institutionalization had begun. In collusion between church and state, the boarding schools sprang up all across Indian country. They were precursors of the federal boarding schools like Carlisle and Haskell, schools intent upon acculturation. Stewart, Pine Ridge, Phoenix, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque, were just a few of the Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools that soon became familiar institutions across the west. Hundreds of religious institutions from Arizona to Washington State to the Dakotas had already begun the tedious process of destroying the different Indian cultures and traditions. The same thing was happening across Canada. They called the schools "residential schools" up there. A continent-wide, methodical destruction of language, attire, religion and culture of many indigenous tribes had begun. The same thing was happening across Central and South America. There will always be that argument by church and state that this was done for the good and for the survival of the Indian people. But was it? Didn't the eventual illegal seizures of millions of acres of Indian land and resources enter into the equation? The thinking was, at the time that if the Indian was made over in the image of the white man, there would be an end to the Indian problem. The acculturated Indians would assume their roles in society and the headache they presented would vanish. Everybody would just be plain and simple Americans. However, the process of acculturation did not provide for inclusion. Indians were not recognized as citizens of the United States. They were isolated on lands known as Indian reservations. In Canada they were known as Reserves. They were excluded from participating in the governments of the newly formed states. The message was, "you can act like us, dress like us, speak English like us and worship our God, but you are not welcome to our table. The process of acculturation was not a complete failure. Many Indians converted to Christianity and became, in the eyes of the federal government, productive citizens. Those who did not were shunned. They were given names by the converted Indians of bucks, wild Indians, full bloods and traditionalists. What is worse, this stigmatization forced the traditional Indians into various stages of poverty. They became the have- nots. While those who acculturated and converted to Christianity prospered somewhat, the traditionalists remained as the poorest of the poor. And this condition exists even to this day. Modern terminology still points this out. When someone does not conform, they are said to be "off the reservation." But I believe those who have been shunned for many years, the traditionalists, are winning over the hearts, mind and spirits of those who converted. The traditionalists have remained steadfast in their beliefs, they have retained their spirituality and language, and have set the example for those who thought that by abandoning their culture and traditions they would be better off. When Sitting Bull told the minister to select the wife to leave his home, he spoke volumes of what was to become the assault upon the culture and traditions of the Lakota people. --- Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, is the former editor and publisher of Indian Country Today. He is the founder and first president of the Native American Journalists Association. His weekly column is distributed by McClathey News Service. He can be reached at najournalists@rushmore.com or by writing him at P.O. Box 9244, Rapid City, SD 57709. His latest book, "Children Left Behind" is available through Harmon@clearlightbooks.com. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Drought brings musings of warming" --------- Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:46:25 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: GLOBAL WARMING?" http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm? id=10606&freebie_check&CFID=1103881&CFTOKEN=23044396 DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Drought brings musings of warming Grand Forks Herald September 20, 2006 The Badlands near the Montana border are beautiful this time of the year, but as in most of the western part of the state, it's very dry. Unfortunately, the roads in the Badlands are gravel and kick up so much dust, you can get lost in it. Crossing the state as often I do, I have begun to seriously wonder about the predictions of global warming. Is the dryness just a local phase or a direction of total change for the planet? As I came around a Badlands butte, I saw a weathered old sign that read "Poker Jim cemetery." It's a little cemetery with just locals buried there. You can see the headstones because the grass isn't very high; not enough rain, I guess. That old cemetery always reminds me how changeable our weather can be. Even though our society has sophisticated weather instruments at its fingertips, we can't always predict the weather. A thunderstorm can turn into tornado winds, or rain can turn into 2 inches of ice. In the western part of the state, the unexpected seems to be normal. So back when Poker Jim rode the Badlands, his way of predicting the next day's weather was to look at the sunset. A good sunset meant a good tomorrow; my grandma swore by that one. Or if he felt a west wind, he'd think, "No problem." Usually, the old-timers thought a north wind meant trouble. I also heard my grandmother say her arthritis was the best predictor of bad weather. I don't know; my arthritis doesn't seem to have a weather gauge, or maybe it's the Advil that clouds the glass. Back to Poker Jim: The old guy, my Aunt Rose told me, was a ranch hand on a rough and rugged cattle ranch. One day in late fall, she said, Poker Jim wanted to go to Dickinson, N.D. - just a little outing to stretch his legs and have a few drinks with his friends. Well, horseback was the preferred transportation for most ranch hands. When he finished his business in Dickinson, he and his horse headed back to the Badlands. An early winter storm hit the area, and he was caught off guard. Poor Jim: They found him sitting back against a big boulder. The temperature that night had done its job. Ranchers and farm folks are practical. The ground was too frozen to bury Poker Jim, so the locals stored him in the attic of an old "stopover" shack used by anyone who cowboyed and needed shelter. Well, as luck would have it, four ranch hands did stop by that little shack for shelter one night. They fixed a good fire, ate a couple of cans of beans and started to play poker to pass the time. Midway through the game, ol' Poker Jim thawed - you remember he was frozen yet in the attic - and dropped down in the middle of their game. Those cowboys were really surprised, my aunt said, as the body dropped onto the table in front of them.That spring after the first thaw, they buried him on a flat butte that overlooked the Missouri River. The ranchers brought the big rock that they had found him sitting beside and set it up as his tombstone. As my aunt and I walked through the cemetery, I could see ol' Poker Jim's last resting place and the big boulder he leaned against for his journey to the next world. Weather can be changeable and unpredictable, as Poker Jim found out. Below the old cemetery, the Missouri River right now is running slow. It's in need of water like everything else in the west. The poor trees and vegetation that count on the boggy area for sustenance are in bad shape. Many of the trees are just brittle and lifeless. I kept looking at the landscape as I came out of the Badlands and started back to Grand Forks. As I counted all the potholes that were bone dry and the white patches of alkali, I wondered about all our migrant birds that use the potholes as breeding places. Looking at the land makes me wonder what we have in store. I've seen pictures of the great Dust Bowl days; yet, I've seen times in western part of the state when it was so rainy that all of the streams and potholes were full. Is it a total warming of our planet, or are we just in a cycle of wet to dry? ---- Dorreen Yellow Bird's column appears Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2006 Forum Communications Co. Fargo, ND 58102. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Report on Cross-border Otra Meeting" --------- Date: Monday, September 18, 2006 03:42 am From: Chiapas95-english Subj: En;NN,Report on Cross-border Otra Meeting,Sep 17 Mailing List: Chiapas95-En This message is forwarded to you by the editors of the Chiapas95 newslists. To contact the editors or to submit material for posting send to: . Experiences of Resistance and Rebellion, from the South to the North, During the First Across-Borders Encounter in Tijuana The Worst of Capitalism Has Also Caused Rebel Dignity to Bloom By Margarita Salazar The Other Journalism with the Other Campaign on the Other Side September 17, 2006 This report appears on the internet at http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2053.html TIJUANA, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO: Tales of the theft of land from indigenous communities, the poisoning of the territory by multinational gas and energy plants, the mutilation of working men and women in sweatshops, the daily struggle of youths to save their spaces in these "transitional" cities, the construction of autonomous governments in the Zapatista communities of Chiapas and the popular struggle in Oaxaca, as well as the battles by immigrants in the United States to be treated as humans, were shared during this First Across-Borders Encounter of the Other Campaign, taking place September 15 to 17 in this city. In this border zone where capitalism's practices demonstrate their maximum expression and human dignity blooms in reaction, about 250 Other Campaign participants from the Pacific region held, for the second day, diverse work roundtables to share testimonies of suffering but also experiences of struggle and resistance. Traditional authorities of the Kumiai indigenous communities spoke of the loss of their lands; the same happened to the Kukapa', Paipai, Kiliwa and Cochimi' in the state of Baja California, where they have suffered at the hands of plantation owners supported by government agencies such as the Agrarian Prosecutor. Similar problems, it was said, are confronted by the Mayo, Seri and Yaqui communities of Sonora who have ancestrally inhabited the region but who in recent years have shared their suffering with Nahua, Triqui, Zapotec and Mixtec communities (from southern Mexico) who migrated and who work in conditions of semi-slavery. Germa'n Flores, of Sonora's Mayo community, said that the "silent resistance" of the indigenous people of the region exists from top to bottom of Northern Mexico, and so the government is opening a regional offensive against the communities. The Mayo and Yaqui peoples, he said, have been invaded by genetically modified soy and cotton seeds from the Monsanto corporation. The agrochemicals on the farms are contaminating the well water, which is causing cancer among children. In the Indigenous Resistance Roundtable, Flores denounced that the federal Commission for Development of the Indigenous Peoples (CONADEPI, in its Spanish initials) has imposed tourism mega-projects in the region such as the Nautical Stair and the installation of aqueducts. Tiburo'n Island - defended by the Seri peoples and counting with numerous archeological vestiges - is practically under invasion by US cruise ships and investors who want to turn it into an exclusive tourist center. "On the coasts of Hermosillo there is an invasion by North Americans who come to hold their raves (parties by youths, often with synthetic drugs and techno music): many of those who come to these tourist zones are former military soldiers. They come with guns and intimidate the local population," he said. In Zitovac, Sonora, the Pa'pago people confront the mortal effects of a toxic waste dump (for wastes generated in the United States). "The chemicals are burning the earth," he said. "The Pima, Guariji'o and So'pata peoples are isolated in remote communities. However, we know that they also confront problems of the looting of their territory (and its natural resources) and they also lack medical services." Since the governments of Baja Califronia, Sonora and the United States have not respected the decisions by the local authorities of the effected communities - who have demonstrated their disagreement with the situation - their representatives have solicited the Indigenous National Congress to help them be recognized as autonomous peoples. Wambli Watakpe, of the Oklala nation, called "the only survivor" of the armed indigenous uprising against the US government in Wounded Knee (1973) and Pine Ridge (1975), in South Dakota, in a struggle to recoup lands stolen by the government, said that the movement did not succeed in united the indigenous peoples and that's why "the indigenous revolution" went no further. He opted to seek exile in Mexico because "it is here that I see life, struggle and hope." Se~oras Laura Mesa and Josefina Lo'pez commented: "The government has cut off our sustenance in the communities. In the rivers, there is no water. They invade communal lands and fence them off. The young people have to migrate. Many people are going, unable to fight better, but we don't want to abandon our territory." Yolanda Mesa said that in the community of Juntas Deneje' of Tecate, the Kumiai have possession of 11,500 hectares (28,400 acres) of communal lands that were granted them in 1976 by a presidential order, but for the past 30 years they were invaded by Mari'a de los Angeles Ballesteros who took possession of 40 hectares, dividing the land, and has recently mentioned plans for a tourist development. During the Environment and Natural Resources Roundtable, Oscar Monta~o of the Citizen's Committee Against Gas Plants, said that in Mexicali the population has fought hard against the existing gas plants and against the gas storage tanks that are proposed for Ensenada. At the same time, they are fighting against the project to establish a mega-port in Punta Cologne's, where corporations want to anchor large commercial tankers and ships and have denounced "the looting of minerals by US businesses." Journalist Gloria Mu~oz, author of the book, 20 y 10, El Fuego y La Palabra ("20 and 10: The Fire and the Word," coming out later this year in English) and who has lived for 13 years in the autonomous Zapatista communities of Chiapas, spoke during the roundtable on Autonomy, Self- Management and Self-Sustainability. She said that she is often asked, "Where are the Zapatistas? They're practically unseen on TV." "The Zapatistas are more alive than ever," she said, after speaking of the achievements of the 38 autonomous municipalities in the areas of education and community health. She said that although the indigenous children often attend classes under a tree or a plastic awning, they are now learning to read and write in autonomous schools, although these schools don't have walls or ceilings. She said that in spite of the fact that conditions in Zapatista areas are not "idyllic," they are clearly better than those that the towns suffered prior to the armed uprising of 1994. During the roundtable on Workers from the Country and the City, the testimonies of working men and women from maquila sweatshops hit home, as people spoke of "losing eyes, legs and hands, which in the maquiladora industry is something that occurs daily." During a visit to a factory, one participant of the Other Campaign found six workers who had lost a hand, 26 who had lost a finger, and "nearly 80 percent with some kind of scar on their bodies." One of the workers - her name remains confidential because she continues on the assembly line of a sweatshop in Tijuana - spoke of the abuses that the working women there confront daily. Among them: the fact that they are practically forbidden to drink water or go to the bathroom. Those who protest against the abuses are put on different shifts and sometimes fired. According to the Workers Information Center (CITTAC, in its Spanish initials), the number of sweatshops in the border region constantly changes, depending on the condition of the economy in the United States. Currently, there are two million Mexicans who work in sweatshops along the border between Matamoros and Tijuana. Most of the sweatshops are in Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua and Tijuana, Baja California. In the latter there are nearly 200,000 workers who work in these factories making electronic equipment (it is said that Tijuana had been considered the world capital of television production, prior to China's growth in that industry, and that the Sony corporation is the most powerful in the region). Most of the work is done by women, many of them migrants from other states in the south of Mexico. More recently, the pharmaceutical industry has arrived in the area, as well as the so-called Medical Clusters (groups of businesses like Cardinal Health and Sola Optica, among others) that constantly violate labor law and the human rights of the workers. The participants in the Across-Borders Encounter denounced the project to install an industrial corridor "that would end in Ensenada" by automobile corporations, among them Toyota, Ford and General Motors. Young people from both sides of the border spoke (at times accompanied by a capella hip hop rhythms) about their problems and the resistance struggle they seek to coordinate with all the people below and to the left. The struggles of Atenco and Oaxaca were held up as examples of resistance to emulate throughout the country. The presence of "intergalactics" from the Other Side, from Germany, from Italy, could be seen on Saturday night during a dance in which the less timid moved to the beat of jarocho and later to European punk rock. Today, the gathering continues with the interchange of all that is interchangeable. -- To subscribe to this list send a message containing the words subscribe chiapas95 (or chiapas95-lite, or chiapas95-english, or chiapas95-espanol) to majordomo@eco.utexas.edu. Previous messages are available from http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/chiapas95.html or gopher to Texas, University of Texas at Austin, Department of Economics, Mailing Lists. --------- "RE: Words of Marcos in Atenco" --------- Date: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 05:12 pm From: Chiapas95-english Subj: En;EZ,Words of Marcos in Atenco,Sep 15 Mailing List: Chiapas95-En -- This message is forwarded to you by the editors of the Chiapas95 newslists. To contact the editors or to submit material for posting send to: . Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 11:24:20 -0500 (CDT) From: Chiapas 95 Moderators Those Up Above are Discovering that the Government is Shit by Marcos (trans NarcoNews) - EZLN Monday, Sep 18 2006, 3:23pm north america / mexico / the left / other libertarian press and that the Institutions are Useless Text of Marcos speech in Atenco " Up there, above, there is no solution for us. There is no leader, no caudillo, who is going to construct our solution. Everything that we have we have achieved by organizing, together." Delegate Zero's Words on the Night of September 15 in Atenco "Those Up Above are Discovering that the Government is Shit and that the Institutions are Useless" Good evening, compa~eros and compa~eras of Atenco and of the Other Campaign who have gathered here to make an "other" cry of an other independence that we are lifting up. It's September 16 and dawning already. "Ignacio del Valle," I come bringing this name while those above fight over the names of Fox, Caldero'n and Lo'pez Obrador. And we, as Zapatistas, did not elect any of those three. We choose the name of Ignacio del Valle on this day, and, together with his name, that of the People's Front in Defense of the Land and that of the dignified people of Atenco. One year ago, the Other Campaign met in a Zapatista community, in La Garrucha. And on that day, a year ago today, September 16, the indigenous Zapatista communities and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN, in its Spanish initials) delivered the Other Campaign to all those compa~ eros and compa~eras and we began, together, to raise up a movement different than those that have been seen everywhere throughout history. Because now what is happening out there and up there above is that there are many searching for someone to lead them. There are those who gather where there are many people to listen to what they will be told by he who is going to lead them, he who wants to lead them to one side or another. But we, in the Other Campaign, are not looking for anyone to lead us, to redeem us, nor for anyone who is going to give us what we need. In the Other Campaign, we aren't looking for who will lead, we are not looking for a people who we can gather on one side and then tell them what they have to do in a manner in which all they have to do is raise their hands for one thing or another. We, in the Other Campaign, are looking at one another, men and women, not so that someone will lead us, but, rather, to take our fate in our own hands. To decide, ourselves, as Indian peoples, as farming peoples, as workers, as women, as youths, as employees, as students, what it is that we need and how we are going to get it. We, in the Other Campaign, are seeking to make an "other" country, where we, and not a symbol that they fight one another over up above, are the Homeland. Right now, the two of them are running and neither of those two gave the cry that they had fought over. We choose to be here with you in Atenco. Ignacio del Valle, Felipe, Galindo, and other compa~eros and compa~eras of the Peoples' Front in Defense of the Land, went all the way to the communities from where the Other Campaign was beginning. They were there as the Peoples' Front in the Defense of the Land a year ago, when the Other Campaign began. And we then began the journey. They came to various parts of the country, and you came with them as a town. They didn't speak for anyone else nor tell them their own personal history. They told us and they told many people all over the country the history of the peoples of Atenco. About how you defended the land? About how you won, and about how you obtained that victory. And the dead and the imprisoned appeared in your stories. And the one who never appears was always mentioned, he who is nobody, he who has no name or face, even less so when those up there above make themselves into congressmen, senators, presidents, governors, to win or lose no mare than a little cash box from which they take the money for themselves and not for what the people need. Thus, a year ago in the Other Campaign we said that we were going to be compa~eros, that we would be compa~eras, that we would support each other, one another. And we began. And today, here, in this land, we remember the blood of Alexis Benhumea, our compa~ero, who died defending Atenco. A young student who was not from here and who died here on these lands, although he was circling that death for a long time. And Alexis was here on May 4 for the same reason that Ignacio del Valle, Felipe and Galindo, and all those of the People's Front in Defense of the Land were in Texcoco on May 3. Because we were compa~eros. On the Fourth of May, in the entire Mexican Republic, we, men and women, the Other Campaign, lifted up the flag for the freedom and justice for those compa~ eros who had been attacked. After that, organizations, groups and collectives were putting that flag down and criticizing the EZLN about why, unilaterally, without asking anyone, it had decided to suspend the tour of the Other Campaign to concentrate on freedom and justice for the compa~eros and compa~eras of Atenco. When did they ever come and ask you if you were going to put that flag down? They who today are scolding us because we suspended the visits to other places, to concentrate and defend and support ourselves as compa~ eros; the struggle for freedom and justice for Ignacio del Valle, for Felipe, for Galindo, for the compa~eros and compa~eras who are prisoners in Santiaguito. When the movement rose up that has ? or had ? Reforma and the Zocalo, they immediately put down the flag for the freedom of Atenco and went running to look for who would lead them, who will tell them what to do. They didn't ask anyone. Who did they ask what was more important? To line up in the tail of a movement that wants power instead of fighting for the freedom and justice of a farmer like Ignacio del Valle, or like Felipe, or like Galindo, or for a student like that which spoke to us a while ago? What do they care if here there is none of that? The masses are over there. There they are on TV. There they are in the newspapers, in the photos, with the artists, the singers, the painters. Over there are the same police that attacked our young compa~eros from the National School of Anthropology, when they blockaded the Mexico City beltway demanding freedom for Atenco, the freedom of the prisoners of Atenco. And it turns out now that, yes, they can do those things, because that is freedom of expression. But when we did it, then it was a crime. And when they do it, it is to seize power, and thus it is a right that must be exercised. And they think that we don't have a memory. And these organizations and these groups that a year ago said that we would be compa~eros, and that stopped being that at the moment that the cameras, the microphones, the photos went to see the other side, they thought that we would forget, that we won't remember. They think that they are going to be able to return at the hour that this movement that is the Other Campaign gets Ignacio del Valle out of jail. Because we are going to get him out. And while those who were putting that flag down to go and hold a yellow-and-black flag, to hold up another flag of a movement that is legitimate because it fights against the electoral fraud, but that has all the support of another government, while we, alone, are fighting from our own strength. And we come here to say to you, compa~eros and compa~eras of Atenco, that even if everyone in the Other Campaign abandons the struggle for the freedom of our compa~eros, we, the Zapatista men and women, are not going to stop. And we are going to continue fighting for them until they are free. And if they don't let them go, we are going to liberate them ourselves. These compa~eros and compa~eras who during this year were leaving the struggle to join as the tail of those others, who left and abandoned our prisoners, who did in the other movement what they never did for the prisoners of Atenco, these compa~eros and compa~eras stopped being that. And we continue, even if alone. And still we know that we are not alone. That there are other organizations of the left, groups and collectives, that know what is here, below, where the Homeland that we want is, and not in a Zocalo, not in a bell that is rung every September 16, but, rather, in the people who are fighting for the land. In a few days, in one or two weeks, compa~eros and compa~eras of our leadership, of the leadership of the EZLN, comandantes and comandantas are going to arrive to reinforce the solidarity with Atenco. We said so a while ago and now we are going to comply. We are going to continue to the North of the Republic, and in every place we pass we are going to tell the story of this injustice, of the Third and Fourth of May, but also in that story we want to invite you to send one or two compa~eros from the Peoples' Front in Defense of the Land to go with us to the states in the North. And that they will be your voice, the voice of you who tell your story: Not only the story of the prisoners, not only about the repression, but also and above all your story of struggle and of organization. The story that rose up with the grandest victory and the grandest humiliation that the government of Vicente Fox received: the cancellation of the airport that he wanted to make out of your lands. We want you to come with us and, starting now, the nobody that we are, in every place, in every corner, we are going to again raise up the flag of freedom and justice for the prisoners of Atenco. That is our story. They tell us that by not joining the movement of Lo'pez Obrador we lost an opportunity to speak with millions of people. Who ever said to them that we wanted to speak in front of millions of people, if what we wanted to do was listen to the voices of those to whom nobody listens? That is what we have done this year and we will return to doing it starting now in the rest of the Republic. There is a story, a legend from the War of Independence: Vicente Guerrero arrived and presented himself to Jose' Mari'a Morelos y Pavon, telling him he wanted to fight. Morelos gave him a letter and named him general. Guerrero asked, "And, where are my troops?" Morelos turned to him and said, pointing to a bunch of peasant farmer, indigenous, men and women, armed only with machete swords, pickaxes and sticks, "these are them." With that, Vicente Guerrero began the campaign that later would culminate in Independence. We don't want an Independence that just changes its name. We don't want Independence so that somebody will lead us. We want Independence to decide for ourselves. As a compa~ero said: sovereignty. That the peoples lead. That they lead themselves: That nobody comes to tell us what it is that we have to do. There is a Mayan legend. We are Zapatistas, indigenous of Mayan roots. And they say that the moon is a goddess: Ixchel? This goddess worried about caring for the land and cared for and raised men and women of the color of the land. And that it is during the day that the moon hides and protects herself in the land and that those men and women, the farmers, the indigenous men and women, are those who have to care for the land during the day, so that in the night she comes out, again, Ixchel, the goddess of the moon. And in exchange for this, she gave them the power of healing, the power of medicine. And since then, these men and women, we who are the color of the earth, we have to be curing and healing the pains that inflict the land. We come here to say that we already know it. Up there, above, there is no solution for us. There is no leader, no caudillo, who is going to construct our solution. Everything that we have we have achieved by organizing, together. Whether the press is here or not, whether the many are here or not, we, in the Other Campaign, are going to continue on our path. And those who are up there, above, who are now discovering that the government is shit, that the institutions are useless, they are now discovering that they have to fight for their rights, they are now discovering that they have to listen to the people of Mexico, because nobody listens to it. Yes, we had already found that out. Because that is what is still lacking: that they listen to us. We have returned to say it here: Between one thing or another of the political parties that are up there, above, we elect the People's Front in Defense of the Land. Among Fox, Lo'pez Obrador and Caldero'n, we elect Ignacio del Valle. We have come here and we are going to say it: We will continue fighting for your freedom. Thank you, compa~eros. Thank you, compa~eras. -- By Subcomandante Marcos Translated by Narco News September 17, 2006 -- To subscribe to this list send a message containing the words subscribe chiapas95 (or chiapas95-lite, or chiapas95-english, or chiapas95-espanol) to majordomo@eco.utexas.edu. Previous messages are available from http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/chiapas95.html or gopher to Texas, University of Texas at Austin, Department of Economics, Mailing Lists. --------- "RE: Amazonian Tribe protests Oil Pollution" --------- Date: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 03:37 pm From: Amazon Alliance Subj: Peru: Amazonian tribe protests oil pollution Mailing List: Amazon Alliance Source: BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/5337802.stm Amazonian tribe protests at oil pollution September 19, 2006 Indigenous communities of the Peruvian Amazon are stepping up their campaign against oil companies, as the BBC's Dan Collyns reports from the capital, Lima. Peru's Amazon state, Loreto, takes up almost a third of the entire country. A vast expanse of rainforest divided by tributaries of the Amazon river, even its main city Iquitos is only accessible by boat or plane. But its inaccessibility has not discouraged oil companies from hunting for black gold, and they have been doing so for the last 35 years. During that time, the Achuar people, who have lived in harmony with their environment in this part of western Amazon for thousands of years, say their way of life has been systematically violated. The Federation of Native Communities of the Corrientes' river (FECONACO) says that for every barrel of oil there are nine barrels of contaminated water produced as a by-product - a total of more than a million barrels a day. The water contains high concentrations of hydrocarbons and heavy metals, like lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic. The Achuar people say it is destroying the fragile eco-system in which they live, killing the fish and wildlife, contaminating their water source and seriously damaging their health. Health problems Geanina Lucana is a nurse who has been working with indigenous communities in the area for six years. She says the contamination affects every part of the human body, causing a chronic breakdown of the immune system. "The toxins affect the central nervous system, causing a complete mental and physical breakdown. I've seen a person die but the doctor was not able to determine a single cause of death," she said. It is widely acknowledged that high levels of heavy metals, hydrocarbons and chlorides can cause serious physical and mental health problems, including cancer and genetic deformities. A survey carried out by Peru's Ministry of Health in May found that cadmium levels in the blood of more than 98% of the Achuar exceeded safe levels. "The oil companies, with the complicity of the state, are systematically violating our human rights" Robert Guimaraes, vice president of AIDESEP And more than 66% of children had levels of lead in their blood which exceeded the maximum permissible. Yet despite the evidence of its own health ministry, the Peruvian government has been slow to act. Different worlds Last week, Achuar leaders, with the help of two not-for-profit groups, brought their fight to Peru's capital, Lima. At one end of a large boardroom table, two apus - or community leaders - sat dressed in western clothes but with their traditional head-dresses. At the other end of the long table sat three suited officials from Peru Petro - the state-run body which issues licences to foreign oil companies. For a short time these people from different worlds inhabited the same space, while the community leaders from the jungle spoke of their outrage in their own Achuar language. "I represent 31 communities and we all say we don't want more oil companies on our land," said Cesar Dawua, leader of the Providencia community. "You live happily here in Lima working for the Peruvian state," he told the state officials. "We too want to live happily in our community of Rio Corrientes - but we can't because of the contamination. "That's why we've come to say to you loud and clear that this is the last opportunity that we have to try to resolve this issue - you can't allow this to drag on any more." The issue was not resolved, however, despite the appeals of the community leaders. Extreme poverty Both FECONACO and the Inter-ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle (AIDESEP) have appealed to their government to make the oil company, in this case Pluspetrol, re-inject the contaminated water back into the earth. Pluspetrol say they plan to be able to re-inject 20% of the waste water by 2009. However, Peru's vice-minister for energy and mines, Pedro Gamio, says the government is pressing Pluspetrol to re-inject 100% of the contaminated water by that date. He added that the oil company stated this would be impossible because it lacked the correct equipment to carry out the work. Mr Gamio went on to say he