Energy Issues

February 15, 2007 Listen to the Show

Environmental Justice & Indigenous Rights: Battling Climate Change and Protecting Sacred Sites

Native Activists Rally to Protect Sacred Medicine Lake in CA
Native American organizers and allies are fighting to protect Medicine Lake – a sacred place near Mount Shasta in the Highlands of Northern California. The Bureau of Land Management, California Energy Commission and Calpine Energy have been trying to build geothermal power plants in the area since the 1980s. Native peoples who are opposed to the power plants and their supporters are planning a protest next Tuesday, February 20th at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Office in Alturas, California. The BLM is planning to appeal a 9th Circuit court ruling on Medicine Lake.
Mark Lebeau, a citizen of the Pitt River Nation and Co-Chair of Advocates for the Protection of Sacred Sites.
For more Info: www.treatycouncil.org , Video Link: Pit River Nation Fights For Their Land, www.ienearth.org

U.S. Energy Policy and Climate Change – and the Harmful Impacts on Indigenous Peoples
The debate on global warming seems to have finally ended thanks to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which recently concluded there was a 90 percent chance human actions have been a major contributor to global warming. The panel of 2,500 scientists predicted more drought, heat waves and a slow gain in sea levels, even if greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels used in power plants, factories and cars are capped. So now the question is what do we do? Which is what legislators, government officials and business leaders from the 20 largest energy-consuming countries were asking and discussing yesterday at a Capitol Hill meeting. There were representatives from the G8 – or Group of 8 industrialized nations - Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the United States, Canada and Japan. There were also representatives from China, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Brazil, which together produce 75% of the world’s greenhouse gases. The world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases is the United States. Yesterday corporate moguls, policy experts and U.S. senators told the world forum the US must take the lead on global warming, especially if it wants to encourage China and India to follow suit. But as world leaders struggle to find ways to collaborate, there are still voices going unheard. Indigenous peoples in Canada, the US and throughout the Americas hold valuable land and water resources that have long been exploited by the provincial, state and federal governments and by corporations trying to meet the energy needs of an industrialized world. Indigenous peoples have disproportionately suffered impacts due to the production and use of energy, yet are among those who benefit least from these energy developments.
Jihan Gearon, Native Energy Organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network. Jihan is originally from Fort Defiance, AZ, which is on the eastern side of the Navajo Nation. She studied Energy Science and Technology at Stanford University and began her environmental justice career at Redefining Progress as a Program Associate for the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (EJCC). At the EJCC, she worked with a broad coalition of people of color, low-income, and Indigenous communities and organizations on climate justice issues. For more information: Indigenous Environmental Network – www.ienearth.org

 

January 11, 2007 Listen to the Show

Navajo Blockaders Gain Support for Resistance While Protesting President's Inauguration

Indigenous News Roundup:

San Barred From Ancestral Land Despite Court Victory
In Botswana, the San rights organization First People of the Kalahari (FPK) has announced the San tribe will make a second attempt on Friday to return to their ancestral home after winning a lengthy court battle against their eviction. Two weeks ago, authorities refused to allow 24 members of the group back in the Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve (CKGR) in the Kalahari Desert despite the court ruling. The San are traditional hunters and gatherers. Several thousand of them were evicted from the Game Reserve in 2002 to make way for a wildlife sanctuary. The government and the De Beers diamond mining company deny allegations that the San were also evicted for diamond mining. Last month, the High Court of Botswana ruled that the San, also known as the Bushmen, had been wrongfully evicted after 244 of their leaders protested in a lawsuit. The court also ruled the San have the right to hunt and gather food in the reserve, and do not need to apply for permits to enter the parks. The advocacy group Survival International said that when the first group tried to return, authorities at the entrance of the reserve said only the people whose names appeared on the court ruling could enter. Fiona Watson said, “Families have been separated because obviously each applicant on the [court] list has their family, their spouse and their children. And the Bushmen said we want to go in with our families. How can it be that the ruling can only apply to certain people and not whole families?" The group is now living at a government resettlement camp outside the game reserve. Activists say conditions in the camps are deplorable and the Bushmen are suffering serious effects from unemployment, alcoholism and the AIDS virus. Survival International says that more than one in 10 of the original 239 Bushmen who signed up to the legal case have since died in the camps.

Sami Win Rights, Gearing up to Fight for More.
In Sweden, the indigenous Sami people in the north have gained full control of reindeer herding for the first time. The 31-member Sami Parliament won control January 1st over such issues as Sami local borders, the distribution of an $18 million fund for fodder subsidies and compensation for losses to predators, and registration of the cuts in reindeers' ears that show herd ownership. Sami rights advocates say now it is time to look into land rights. There are an estimated 70,000 Sami in the northlands of Sweden, Finland, Norway and Russia. The Sami herd 240,000 reindeer in Sweden and need access to large areas in the north to move them and find food. People have struggled to define "traditional" land for the Sami because herders were nomads who followed their animals. Last month, a claim for “tax lands" taken by the Swedish crown during the mid-1800s settlement the country went to the European Court of Human Rights. Sami advocates hope this will force the Swedish government to set out clear guidelines. Sweden's attorney-general, Goran Lambertz, recently told Reuters “there is reason to believe that th[e Sami] may be entitled to their land in the very north.”

Mapuche Indians Meet With Chilean President Bachelet.
In Chile, leaders of the Mapuche indigenous group recently met with President Michelle Bachelet to discuss a new working relationship. The Mapuches presented proposals for greater political participation, the right to self-determination, the recovery of ancestral lands, and for better economic development and education. The proposals were drawn up last November when nearly all Chile’s Mapuche organizations and committees convened and drafted a document addressed to the State of Chile. Indigenous leader Miguel Melin told Inter Press Service after Thursday's meeting with Bachelet, "The president acknowledged the Chilean state's 'historical debt' to the Mapuche people, agreed to appoint a special interlocutor to engage in dialogue, and promised to report in March how the process will be implemented." The Mapuches are asking for the recognition of a national Mapuche parliament able to take binding decisions, modification of the present electoral law so that Mapuches can win seats in the Chilean Congress, and elections by popular vote for regional authorities. They are also calling for the ratification of all international treaties for the protection of indigenous peoples, the release of Mapuche political prisoners, and do not want anti-terrorism laws applied in Mapuche conflicts.

Alaskan Bristol Bay Opened for Drilling.
In Alaska, the Bush administration announced on Tuesday it had lifted a ban on offshore oil and gas leasing in Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska. The decision drew no opposition and some support from Alaska’s state and congressional leaders. The Bush administration has proposed lease sales for 2010 and 2012. The bay waters are home to the world’s largest annual migration of sockeye salmon and is rich with whales, walrus and other marine mammals important to Native subsistence hunters. Critics of offshore drilling point out that the Northern Pacific Right whale, a critically endangered species, will be threatened by noisy seismic testing after the area is leased. In 1988, oil companies paid the federal government $95 million for rights to explore and develop the area. But the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound led the government to buy back the drilling rights in 1995 after the oil spill killed hundreds of thousands of animals. Chief executive of the Bristol Bay Native Association, Ralph Anderson said he was “really disappointed with the President’s decision” to lift the ban. Anderson said the industry has not yet demonstrated it can clean up oil spills in broken ice conditions. University of Alaska professor Rick Steiner said Bristol Bay is "really one of the last, best places in the world that we should subject to the very real risks of oil and gas development…the risks dramatically outweigh the benefits." The Alaska Marine Conservation Council, said it would call on the new Democrat-controlled Congress to restore the leasing ban.

Disparity in Life Expectancy in Australia
Figures recently released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that Australians are among the longest-living people in the world, with an average lifespan of 78.5 years for males and 83.3 years for females born in the country. However not everyone there is quite as fortunate. For indigenous Australians the figures drop by around 17 years, whose average life expectancy in 2001 was 59.4 years for males and 64.8 for females. The disparity in life expectancy is generally attributed to poverty, discrimination, low education, substance abuse and poor access to health services.

Navajo Blockaders Gain Support for Resistance While Protesting President’s Inauguration.
In Burnham, New Mexico, the Dooda Desert Road Blockade is still going strong as it nears the one-month mark. The action has been spearheaded by the Dooda Desert Rock Committee, which is resisting plans for a new coal-fired power plant proposed by the Sithe Global Power company and the Dine Power Authority. The proposed Desert Rock Energy Project would be the third such power plant on the Navajo Nation’s reservation. Many say the pollution they spew cause deadly environmental and health problems. Burnham elders and local residents blockaded the Dine Power Authority or DPA and Sithe from entering the proposed site on December 12th and have been camped out near the site since. On Tuesday, the blockaders demonstrated at Navajo President Joe Shirley’s inauguration for his second term, but were turned away from the ceremony. While they were forced out, they were able to talk to Navajo Nation members about their struggle and concerns, and reported that many people were supportive and wanted to learn more.

Hank Dixon, Doodá Desert Rock Spokesperson.

For more information: The Dooda Desert Rock Committee's web site www.desert-rock-blog.com "MAKING A STAND AT DESERT ROCK", produced by Indigenous Action Media. View the video at www.indigenousaction.org

A Look at Mysterious Phenomena and the U.S. Military: the Real X-Files?
Tiokasin speaks with a former researcher for the U.S. government about the use of natural human gifts and senses for military purposes. - Steve Hammons, journalist and former U.S. government researcher.

December 21, 2006 Listen to the Show

Dine Blockaders Vow Continued Resistance Against New Power Plant; The Skulls & Bones Society: Holocaust Deniers and Cultural Appropriators

Dine Blockaders Vow Continued Resistance Against New Power Plant
“This project is an act of terrorism and cultural genocide.” Today is day 10 of the Desert Road Blockade, where the Dooda Desert Rock Committee is resisting plans for a new coal-fired power plant proposed by the company Sithe Global Power and the Dine Power Authority. The resisters halted work on the project last week by blocking access to the site of the proposed power plant. Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley unexpectedly visited with the protestors on Monday, but they said he was unresponsive to their needs. Shirley says the proposed $3 billion coal-fired power plant is desperately needed to provide jobs and revenue for the tribe. Many of the Navajo Nation's residents live without electricity and running water and jobs are scarce. Shirley says the Desert Rock Energy Project would be one way to help the situation. However, there are many in the nation who disagree. Critics point out the proposed Desert Rock Energy Project would be the third such power plant on the reservation, and that it won’t improve conditions, but make them worse. Early Wednesday morning, the resisters of the Doodá Desert Rock Blockade were served with several Temporary Restraining Orders and an immediate injunctive relief on behalf of the Diné Power Authority/Sithe Global.
Dailan J. Long, media spokesperson for Diné CARE, Doodá Desert Rock Committee.
For more information go the Resistors’ blog: www.desert-rock-blog.com
Or to provide support: Dailan Jake, Media Contact DineCARE/Dooda Desert Rock Committee 505.801.0713 (cell) dailanjake@dartmouth.edu (e-mail)

The Skulls & Bones Society: Holocaust Deniers and Cultural Appropriators
Bush family’s stranglehold on the remains of Geronimo. The great grandson of the Apache leader Geronimo has appealed to the White House hoping to recover the remains of his famous relative - stolen more than 90 years ago by a group of Yale students – the Skull and Bones Society. The story that members of Yale University's secret Skull and Bones society took the remains - including a skull and femur - from the burial site in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, has long been part of the university's lore. But a university historian recently recovered a letter from 1918 that appears to support the story that members of the society did indeed take the remains while serving with a group of army volunteers from Yale, stationed at the fort during the First World War. The students - among them, President Bush's grandfather Prescott - apparently returned with the remains and kept them in their society's headquarters at the university in New Haven, Connecticut. The society's initiation rite reportedly involves kissing a skull, referred to as "Geronimo", usually held in a glass case. We speak with a scholar who has research this story.
Jim Craven, a Blackfoot scholar from Montana, Professor of Economics at Clark College, Vancouver, WA.
For more information: www.aradicalblackfoot.blogspot.com
Or email Craven: Omahkohkiaayo@peoplepc.com

September 28, 2006 Listen to the Show

Skull Valley Goshute Tribal Member Blasts New Election Process; Indigenous Nations Hold Summit on U.S.- Mexico Border; The Amistad 2006 Sets Sail: A Commemoration of Slavery and Broken Treaties; Author of “Native New Yorkers” on Algonquin History

Skull Valley Goshute Tribal Member Blasts New Election Process
The Skull Valley Goshute Tribe in Utah recently got the unexpected news that the nuclear waste dump proposal for their reservation had been rejected by the Interior Department. Tribal Chairman Leon Bear reportedly said he felt betrayed by the abrupt change in plans. But other tribal member are celebrating the decision, especially those like Margene Bullcreek who has been speaking out against nuclear waste dump projects for the last 15 years. But now the tribe is dealing with a new controversy – their upcoming tribal elections. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is going to oversee the elections and has made significant changes to the election process. Some tribal members are afraid their votes won’t count.
Margene Bullcreek, a member of the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes.

Indigenous Nations Hold Summit on U.S.- Mexico Border Policies
The militarization of the U.S. – Mexico border has had many tragic outcomes – one example is the more than doubling of the number of people dying in the harsh Arizona desert who were trying to cross the border. And a number of U.S. citizens have had their civil and human rights violated by the conduct of the Border Patrol and vigilante groups along the border. Eight Indian nations are directly impacted by border policies, and they say their political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights are being continuously violated. Tohono O’odham communities are now gathering together in southern Arizona along with Derechos Humanos Coalition, American Indian Movement, International Indian Treaty Council and others for an urgent Border Summit of the Americas.
Tony Gonzales, with the International Indian Treaty Council.
You can listen to the live web cast of the summit at www.earthcycles.net

The Amistad 2006 Sets Sail: A Commemoration of Slavery and Broken Treaties.
Wayne Bartow, racial and social justice worker for the Coalition for Undoing Racism in Rockland, NY, and Fredrica Gray, Vice Chair of Amistad America.

Author of “Native New Yorkers” on Algonquin History in Manhattan.
Evan Pritchard, author of “Native New Yorkers” and “No Word For Time: The Way of the Algonquin People.”

September 21, 2006 Listen to the Show

Global Warming Takes a Toll in Alaska, Faith Gemmill Describes the Indigenous Fight Against Big Oil; Taking on the Doctrine of Discovery: Tonya Gonnella Frichner Sets the Record Straight

Indigenous News Roundup

Traditional and tribal activists are organizing a Border Summit of the Americas in Tucson, Arizona for the end of the month. Derechos Humanos Coalition, the American Indian Movement and the International Indian Treaty Council are making the urgent call for the summit. They plan to develop recommendations for border tribal governments to communicate with local, state, national and international governing bodies. They say it’s being held in response to the Bush administration’s immigration policies and ever-increasing militarization of the border. There are currently at least eight tribes/nations on the U.S./Mexico border directly affected by migrations across their reservation lands; these are the Kumeyaay, Cocopah, Tohono O”odham, Yaqui, Gila River, Pima, Yavapai, Ysleta del Sur (Tigua) and Kickapoo nations.

Courts across Canada are reviewing the $1.9 billion settlement for Native victims of residential school abuse. The government of Canada, churches and former students reached the deal last November. It applies to roughly 80,000 people who attended the residential schools. Judges in several provinces must approve the deal before it is finalized. They are holding public hearings to determine whether the payout is fair. Over the past two decades, there have been thousands of lawsuits against the government and churches alleging sexual, physical and other kinds of abuse. Under the proposed deal, claimants will receive $10,000 for the first year they attended a school, plus $3,000 for subsequent years. People who were sexually or physically abused or suffered psychological damage can receive additional settlements of between $5,000 and $275,000. Other funds are set aside for a healing fund, a truth and reconciliation process and commemorative projects.

A District court in Illinois ruled 2-1 on Tuesday that dances performed by the University of Illinois' controversial mascot do not violate the state's discrimination law. The mascot is Chief Illiniwek, a barefoot student in a buckskin costume and a feather headdress who performs at athletic events. The Illinois Native American Bar Association said the mascot's performances humiliate Native students and create a hostile environment. But the court cited a state law that recognized the chief as an "honored symbol." The NCAA still considers the mascot to be hostile and abusive. The school is said to be dropping the use of the chief in order to continue hosting post-season tournaments.

In Navajo country, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit last week charging the Sage Memorial Hospital in Ganado, Arizona with discrimination in its pay to doctors. The lawsuit claims the hospital paid white doctors more than it paid seven non-white doctors. This includes individuals of Native American, Asian, African and Hispanic heritage, and East Indian, Pakistani, Nigerian and Puerto Rican national origins. The lawsuit also claims that when the seven complainants and the former medical director complained about the wage difference and filed discrimination charges with the EEOC, hospital officials threatened them with termination and changes to the terms and conditions of their contracts. The hospital’s attorney said the Hospital and the Navajo Health Foundation, which oversees its operations, deny all charges. The hospital is fighting the charges on jurisdiction grounds since it is technically a tribal organization. While federal law prohibits employers from engaging in discriminatory practices, Congress exempted Indian tribes to enable them to give preferential hiring to Native Americans. But the EEOC said the hospital is not exempt from their regulations. One EEOC attorney said, “All American employers must abide by federal civil rights law.”

And in Australia, A federal judge surprised the nation by recognizing Native title to the entire metropolitan area of Perth. It’s the first decision in which a large metropolitan area in Australia has been determined to belong to the indigenous people who lived there before white settlers arrived. It sent lawyers, homeowners and officials scurrying to assess the impact. Lawyer Christine Lovitt, who is a specialist in native land titles, said the ruling could lead to similar claims over other cities like Sydney and Melbourne. Prime Minister John Howard told reporters on Wednesday that the federal government would consider joining an appeal against the ruling. The judge's decision does not turn over any land to Aborigines. But it would require the government to ensure the Noongar people have access to the land and can continue to hunt, fish and maintain sacred sites.

Neets’aii Gwich’in Describes Global Warming’s Impact in Alaska
We look at the interrelated issues of big oil and climate change and how Native people are rallying to combat these things…Faith Gemmill is a Pit River/Wintu and Neets’aii Gwich’in Athabascan from Arctic Village, Alaska. She is also the outreach coordinator of the organization REDOIL – Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands. Faith Gemmill was a part of a national speaking tour on Oil and Global Warming that visited New York City this week. Tuesday night she spoke at the Judson Memorial Church in Washington Square Park.
Faith Gemmill, (Pit River/Wintu, Neets’aii Gwich’in Athabascan), she is outreach coordinator for REDOIL – Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands.

Taking on the Doctrine of Discovery: Tonya Gonnella Frichner Sets the Record Straight
We play a speech by Tonya Gonnella Frichner, who was at the United Nations for the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 2006
Tonya Gonnella Frichner, Esq. (Snipe Clan, Onondaga Nation, Haudenosaunee) is President and founder of the American Indian Law Alliance, a lawyer and activist, whose academic and professional life has been devoted to the pursuit of human rights for Indigenous peoples.

August 31, 2006 Listen to the Show

Resisting Waste-Culture and Reducing Toxicity; Native Inupiats Describe Their Harrowing Experience with Oil; and Saving Lake Teshekpuk

Zero Waste: Setting Goals to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Resist!
GAIA is an expanding international alliance that includes individuals, NGOs, community-based organizations and academics. This alliance is working to end the incineration of all forms of waste. They also work to promote sustainable waste prevention. GAIA means Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives and was initially conceived in 2000 by participants in Africa, Asia, North and South America and the Middle East. GAIA's first global campaign goal is to stop the World Bank from funding incinerators around the world. They support local communities being targeted by the Bank for incineration and help them with alternatives. During the Indigenous Environmental Network conference, Govinda Dalton interviewed these GAIA members. We speak with Ann Leonard and Monica Wilson.
Links: www.no-burn.org and www.ienearth.org

The Battle to Save Lake Teshekpuk
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced on Tuesday plans will go forward to drill in the North Slope region of Alaska. The Interior department will sell oil leases to nearly 500,000 acres north and east of Lake Teshekpuk. It is in the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska, an area set aside in 1923 for its energy resource. But environmentalists and some congressmembers are opposed to the lease sale. The National Audubon Society and the Wilderness Society have filed a federal court appeals claiming the government's Resource Management Plan for the reserve is inadequate. We hear about this opposition and what is at stake in the plan to drill around Teshekpuk Lake.
Stan Senner, Executive Director of Alaska Audubon
Links: Alaska Audubon and National Audubon Society

Voices From the Arctic: Native Inupiats Describe How Oil Drilling has Devastated their Community
Indigenous peoples voices are often lost in the discussion on drilling in Alaska, which is why we spend to much time here giving those voices a chance to be heard. We hear some of those voices from the remote and small village of Nuiqsut, Alaska. As the long-running debate rages on over what the consequences could be of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) or around Lake Teshekpuk, we can look to an Inupiat village that began its own experiment with drilling a decade ago. Nuiqsut is located in the northernmost regions of Alaska, less than 20 miles south of Beaufort Sea, where the edge of Alaska meets the Arctic waters. It is remote even by Alaskan standards.

In 2003, there were just 416 residents in Nuiqsut, of which roughly 92% are Inupiat. Nuiqsut village sits atop one of the nation's largest oil fields: to the east is Prudhoe Bay and the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska to the west. When drilling was proposed just outside the town limits in the early 1990s, Nuiqsut residents were told it would boost their fortunes. A decade later, many residents say the reality has not matched the promises. So how are they faring?

August 3, 2006 Listen to the Show

Indigenous Border Rights; Summit of Nations at Bear Butte; Mercury Contamination Violates Food Rights

Human Rights Violations at the US - Mexico Border
We look at the struggle Indigenous people from several nations are facing at the US-Mexico border, which is framed as a human rights issue. The Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras (Indigenous Alliance Without Borders) was formed to defend the right of passage on ancestral lands of Indigenous peoples. Matus says Indigenous peoples in Mexico, primarily subsistent farmers with few means, can not meet the requirements of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to cross the border, and he discusses how they are being prevented from meeting with family and at ceremonial gatherings. Yaqui, O'odham, Cocopah and Kickapoo cross the international border from California to Texas to visit family members and attend ceremonies. The Yaqui, O'odham and Cocopah have lived here, in the Sonoran Desert, since time immemorial.
Jose Matus, Director of the Indigenous Alliance Without Borders / Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras, Yaqui ceremonial leader and border rights activist.

The Summit of Indigenous Nations Convenes to Protect Bear Butte and Challenge Treaty Laws
We get an update on the battle to save Bear Butte from the world's largest biker bar... Across the Great Plains over 30 indigenous Nations acknowledge the sacredness of Bear Butte and it’s surrounding area, the Black Hills. It is a mountain inhabited by spirits and spiritual powers that are well known to the native people of the Great Plains. But now, plans to build an enormous biker bar near the sacred mountain are forcing the Great Plains people to take up a fight. The plan is to attract the more than 600,000 bikers attending the “Sturgis Bike Rally” that begins this weekend. Arizona businessman Jay Allen has already broken ground for a 150,000 square foot chunk of asphalt for trucks and for bikers to drink at his bar. A 30,000 seat amphitheater is also in the works. Traditional Indian people have been fighting to save the mountain for centuries. In 1876 Chief Sitting Bull gathered over 6,000 Indians at the Butte to urge them to defend the sacred lands. Chief Crazy Horse spoke from the mountain to remind his people that the Paha Sapa is not for sale. Hundreds of indigenous people from many places are now gathered at a campsite there.
Carter Camp, indigenous activist at the Bear Butte encampment www.defendbearbutte.org

Mercury Contamination: Violating Subsistence Rights
From July 6th to 9th, hundreds of Indigenous people gathered in the beautiful homeland of the Leech Lake Anishinaabe Nation for the 14th Protecting Mother Earth Conference hosted by the Indigenous Environmental Network. People from Indigenous Nations and communities throughout the Americas discussed the challenges they face in the protection of their and our homelands. Mineral extraction, toxic contamination, unsustainable energy and climate change were some of the many issues discussed. At the top of the list of dangers lingering in Indian country, was Mercury contamination. Indigenous activists are calling for a UN special rapporteur to investigate how mercury contamination in the US is a violation of subsistence rights and the right to clean healthy food. We hear a discussion on this in two communities far apart – in Alaska and in Minnesota.
Faith Gemmill, Coordinator REDOIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands), Fairbanks, AK.
Art Cloud, Red Lake Nation member

July 27, 2006 Listen to the Show

Protecting Mother Earth: The Battle to Defend Sacred Sites and the Indigenous Youth Movement

“Government agencies and others in charge of protecting the relationships between our people, the land, air and water have repeatedly broken treaties and promises. In doing so, they have failed in their duty to uphold the tribal and the public trust. The many changes in these relationships have been well documented, but science remains inadequate for understanding their origins and essence. This scientific uncertainty has been misused to carry out economic, cultural and political exploitation of the land and resources. Failure to recognize the complexity of these relationships will further impair the future health of our people and function of the environment.”
An excerpt from a statement presented at the 14th Protecting Mother Earth Conference hosted by the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) in Northern Minnesota. From July 6th to 9th, hundreds of indigenous people gathered in the beautiful homeland of the Leech Lake Anishinaabe Nation. People from Indigenous Nations and communities throughout the Americas discussed the challenges they face in the protection of their and our homelands. Mineral extraction, toxic contamination, unsustainable energy and climate change continue to plague Nations as environmental justice issues. At the gathering, IEN asked people to share strategies for battling these problems and to come together to seek new strategies to protect communities. We hear some voices from the gathering. We hear about the fight for the protection of sacred sites, at both Bear Butte, South Dakota and the San Francisco Peaks in northern Arizona. We hear how the Indigenous Environmental movement is standing ground as a human rights struggle.
The Bemidji statement says: “We have the sacred right and obligation to protect the common wealth of our lands and the common health of our people and all our relations for this generation and seven generations to come. We are the Guardians for the 7th generation.”
Carter Camp, speaking at the 14th Protecting Mother Earth Conference. For more information visit: www.defendbearbutte.org

Across the Great Plains over 30 Indigenous Nations acknowledge the sacredness of Bear Butte and it’s surrounding area, which is the Black Hills. It is a mountain inhabited by spirits and spiritual powers that are well known to the native people of the Great Plains. They say Bear Butte is central to ceremonial life and necessary for their health and well being. But now, plans to build enormous biker bars and campsites around the sacred mountain are forcing the Great Plains people to take up a fight. The new development hopes to attract the more than 600,000 bikers attending the “Sturgis Bike Rally” in August. The indigenous defenders say “Never since Custer discovered gold has our Mato Paha been threatened by such a combination of greed, government and legal adversity.” Traditional Indian people have been fighting to save the mountain for centuries. In 1876, Chief Sitting Bull gathered over 6000 Indians at the Butte to urge them to defend the sacred lands. Chief Crazy Horse spoke from the mountain to remind his people that the Paha Sapa is not for sale. Other battles followed, one lost in the US court system in the 1980s when Chief Fools Crow brought it to the Supreme Court. At the Protecting Mother Conference this year, Carter Camp described the current battle and made a rallying call to action to protect Bear Butte.
Tom Goldtooth, Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, for more information visit www.ienearth.org.

The Indigenous Environmental Network holds the Protecting Mother Earth conferences to help Indigenous Peoples confront many challenges on both the local and global level. I asked the director of IEN – Tom Goldtooth – to talk about the 14th gathering held in the homeland of the Leech Lake Anishinaabe Nation.
Alberta Nells, Dine member of the Save the Peaks Coalition, for more information visit www.sacredland.org.
From many places in northern Arizona, the horizon is dramatically marked by three 12,000-foot volcanic peaks that rise out of the Colorado Plateau south of the Grand Canyon. The San Francisco Peaks are sacred to 13 tribes. For the Navajo, the Peaks are the sacred mountain of the west, called “Shining On Top.” They are a key boundary marker and a place where medicine men collect herbs for healing ceremonies. To the Hopi, the Peaks are “The Place of Snow on the Very Top,” home for half of the year to the ancestral kachina spirits who live among the clouds around the summit. When properly honored through song and ceremony, the kachinas bring gentle rains to thirsty corn plants. The peaks are one of the “sacred places where the Earth brushes up against the unseen world,” in the words of Yavapai-Apache Chairman Vincent Randall. At the Protecting Mother Earth conference, Alberta Nells traveled from Arizona to learn strategies for protecting these peaks. She is a part of the coalition to save the peaks, and is only 16 years old. I caught up with her at the conference and asked her about her role as a youth in protecting sacred sites.

June 1, 2006 Listen to the Show

Carrie Dann on the Pentagon's Cancelled "Divine Strake" Test Blast; Tohono O'odham Battle Secret Plans to Build a Hazardous Waste Dump Near Ceremonial Land; Winona LaDuke on Food Sovereignty: the New Arena of Colonialism

Divine Strake Test Called Off, Western Shoshone Protest Ongoing Violation of Land Sovereignty
The Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency had planned to detonate a 700-ton non-nuclear fuels explosion at the Nevada test site tomorrow, June 2nd. But the test, called the "Divine Strake." was postponed by the National Nuclear Safety Administration because of questions about possible fallout. Members of the Western Shoshone Nation were at the forefront of opposition to the test. They and their supporters argue that the test site, along with most of Nevada and parts of California, Idaho and Utah, is still Western Shoshone land. Though Divine Strake has been delayed indefinitely, more than 200 people peacefully demonstrated on Sunday at the Nevada Test Site. More than 30 were arrested when they crossed over onto the site. Carrie Dann was one of those people. For over forty years, along with her late sister Mary, Carrie has been at the forefront of the Western Shoshone Nation’s struggle for land rights and sovereignty. Leading the political and legal battle to retain ancestral lands, Dann has squared off against international gold mining corporations, the nuclear industry and the U.S. government. Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone Nation, working with the Western Shoshone Defense Project. Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network.

Opponents of Secretly Planned Toxic Waste Dump Near U.S.- Mexico Border Say it Poses Danger to Indigenous Communities on Border and Violates International Law

Plans to build a hazardous waste dump in Tohono territory south of the U.S. - Mexico international border have drawn fire from the indigenous communities straddling the border, local officials in Tucson, and citizens in Mexico. The plans have been secretly carried out without notifying in the surrounding communities, who fear for the effects of released toxins into the land, air and water. Pima county officials in Arizona said Mexico violated an international treaty when it failed to notify them about plans for the waste facility. It would be located about 125 miles southwest of Tucson, close to the Tohono community of Quitovac where sacred ceremonies are conducted. People on both sides of the border have voiced opposition during protests in April and May. Ofelia Rivas, member of the nation. Brenda Norrell, a journalist with Indian Country Today. Talli Nauman, co- director of the independent media project: Journalism to Raise Environmental Awareness. She is a long time collaborator with the International Relations Center based in Silver City, New Mexico, of the Americas Program.

Links to articles:
Brenda Norrell's article "O'odham Oppose Planned Hazardous Waste Dump" in Indian Country Today.
Talli Nauman's article "Public Due Consideration on New U.S. - Mexico Border Toxic Waste Site Proposal" published by the Americas Program of the International Relations Center.

Winona LaDuke on Food Sovereignty: "The New Arena of Colonialism...is the Biological Make-up of the World"
Author and activist Winona Laduke, a Mississippi Band Anishinaabe, recently spoke at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City with Northern Cheyenne lawyer Gail Small. LaDuke (re)affirmed her commitment to preserve Native lands against the ravages of environmental abuse. She also spoke about recovering humanity, in the theme of her most recent book “Recovering the Sacred.” We play her speech from that night, in which she talks about food sovereignty and more. Winona LaDuke, activist and author. Her newest book is "Recovering the Sacred: the Power of Naming and Claiming." She is the Program Director of Honor the Earth and the Founding Director of White Earth Land Recovery Project.

April 6, 2006

Western Shoshone Condemn U.S. Nuclear Simulation Plans on Tribal Lands; Biker Bar Threatens to Desecrate Bear Butte

Charon Asetoyer: Candidate for the South Dakota State Senate!

Charon Asetoyer (Comanche) is the Executive Director of the Native Women's Health Education Resource Center, a grassroots women's health institute on the Yankton Nakota Reservation in South Dakota. She recently announced her candidacy for the SD state senate! She is determined to fight for women's access to reproductive health care in direct opposition to the state's recent almost-total ban on abortion.

If you would like to support her campaign, you can mail a donation to: Campaign for Change/Asetoyer P.O. Box 472 Lake Andes, SD 57356

Western Shoshone Say Military Testing Violates Sovereignty

The U.S. Defense Department plans to detonate 700 tons of explosives on Western Shoshone land at the Nevada Test site this June. The detonation has been named the "Divine Strake." A groups of scientists has criticized the plan, saying the test is intended to simulate a nuclear blast as part of Pentagon research into the development of low-yield nuclear weapons. Native Americans in the Nevada region are protesting the plans for a number of reasons, including on spiritual, philosophical and legal grounds. Raymond Yowell, Chief of the Western Shoshone National Council, said: "We're opposed to any further military testing on Shoshone lands. This is a direct violation of the CERD finding and an affront to our religious belief - Mother Earth is sacred and should not be harmed. All people who are opposed to these actions by the U.S. should step forward and make their opposition known." The CERD finding refers to a decision recently by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). It urged the U.S. to stop actions being taken against the Western Shoshone peoples of the Western Shoshone nation.

Raymond Yowell, chief of the Western Shoshone National Council

Julie Fishel, Western Shoshone Defense Project

Tribal Coalition Gains Momentum, Calls For Support to Block Biker Bar from Desecrating Sacred Land

A beer license was recently approved for a biker complex that business owners hope to profit from during an annual rally in nearby Sturgis. The bar would be about 2 1/2 miles from the base of Bear Butte, a place where Native Americans go to pray, fast, and meditate. Native Americans have been strongly opposed, and we speak with one activist there.

Carter Camp, with the grass-roots organization Defend Bear Butte!

March 16, 2006

Oil Pipeline in Peru Ruptures a Fifth Time: How Amazon Indians are Being Burned

IDB, Peruvian Government and Amazon Pipeline Consortia Evade Questions and Criticism about Camisea Failures The major oil pipeline Camisea in Peru ruptured for a fifth time in 18 months, triggering a fire that injured local residents of the village of Echarate in the southern region of Cuzco, Peru. A Health Ministry report stated 25 families were affected. Doctors have banned the consumption of fish from local rivers and vegetables grown in the area until the degree of pollution caused by the spill can be assessed. A report earlier this year revealed a large part of the pipeline was built using severely corroded pipes left over from earlier projects in Brazil and Ecuador and the welding was done by unskilled workers. Another report shows how indigenous communities that come into contact with pipeline workers are suffering and dying from diseases they are vulnerable to as a result of isolation. We talk to Amazon Watch director Atossa Soltani about the Camisea Natural Gas Project, the first major gas development in Peru. It is located in one of the world's most ecologically prized rainforests in the remote Lower Urubamba Valley of the Peruvian Amazon.

Atossa Soltani, executive director of Amazon Watch, a non-profit organization that works to defend the environment and rights of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin.

January 26, 2006

Indigenous Environmental Network Director Charges Bush Administration With Crimes Against Humanity; A Discussion With Charmaine Whiteface, Defender of the Black Hills

Indigenous People Demand an End to the Bush Administration's Human Rights Violations We speak with an Indigenous political activist who testified at the recent International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration held in New York City. We hear about the various Indigenous communities whose human rights have been violated as a result of the Bush administration's policies.

Tom GoldTooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network

Defenders of the Black Hills

We hear about Bear Butte, a small mountain about 8 miles off the northeastern corner of the Black Hills. It is sacred to more than 60 Native nations from the North American continent and is being threatened by urban sprawl from the nearby town of Sturgis, and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Although the community was able to stop the building of an outdoor shooting range four miles from this sacred mountain, they are now facing an individual who wants to build a number of biker bars, an outdoor concert arena, and a biker campground on 300 acres only one and a half miles from the base.

Also, there are close to 1,000 abandoned uranium mines and prospects in the north, northwest, and western portions of the Treaty Territory, in SD, ND, MT, WY, and also in the southern Black Hills. Nebraska currently has an active uranium mine just south of the Pine Ridge Reservation. The Native community became aware of these this past year and are trying to bring this information to the attention of the public. We hear about these issues and more.

Charmaine White Face, Coordinator of the Defenders of the Black Hills

December 8, 2005

Here are today's guests:

• Marijo Moore, Author and former commentator on First Voices Indigenous Radio, speaks about her new book called "Confessions of a Madwoman": go to her web site www.marijomoore.com.
• Leslye Abbey, social worker and independent filmmaker, she is screening a testimonial film called "Houma Nation vs. Hurricanes" this Sunday, December 11th at 11am, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Queens. Learn more about how Katrina and Rita impacted the Houma nation. Phone 516-679-8216 for more information.
• Charles Verdin, Chair of the Pointe-au-Chien tribe in the lower bayou of southern Lousiana. He speaks about the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on his community, and the historical context of the tribe. Interview by John Hamilton, producer at Democracy Now!.
• Stephen Martin, working with LakotaKidz. He speaks about how the rising cost of fuel will impact Native reservations in South Dakota this winter. Prices will be extremely high there, where the winters are deadly cold, reaching well below 0 degrees. His organization works to deliver services, but faces major logistical obstacles.

August 25, 2005

Gwitch'in Nation Launches National Campaign to Protect the Arctic Refuge and a Way of Life

The Gwitch'in Nation launched a national campaign in Washington, D.C. on August 13 called
"Drum! Dance! Sing! Protect the Arctic Refuge!"
The Gwitch'in are preparing to battle members of Congress who are trying to insert provisions into the national Budget Bill for oil development in the coastal plains of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. During the next five weeks members of Indigenous nations from across the country will travel to D.C. to support the Gwitch'in. The vigil, held across from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, is scheduled to culminate in a demonstration during the week of September 20th, when Congress members supporting a plan for drilling in the Arctic will make their next move.

We speak with three Indigenous people of different nations who are in Washington, D.C. for the Save the Arctic campaign. We discuss how oil development could impact the Gwitch'in nation and all the wildlife in the region, how the recently signed Energy bill impacts Native Alaskans and other Indian lands, and the broader threats oil development may hasten such as climate change, human rights violations and opening nationally protected wildlife regions to energy development.

• Sarah James, Member of the Gwitch'in Steering Committee
• Kelvin Long, Director of ECHOES (Educating Communities While Healing and Offering Environmental Support), and member of Black Mesa Water Coalition
• Clayton Thomas-Mueller, Native Energy Organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network