Program Archives
You may access older archives from 2005 - 2009 here.
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Listen to the Program February 2, 2012 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WFTE SCRANTON PENNSYLVANIA *FVIR will be in a fundraising mode until March 8th when regular programming will resume. FVIR celebrates it 10th year on WBAI NY and Tiokasin Ghosthorse's 20th year on the radio! Today is a compilation of various songs including: What's Going On - Los Lobos |
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Listen to the Program January 26, 2012 |
DELANEY BRUCEwww.whoisleonardpeltier.info) EVENT IN NYC on Saturday, February 4, 2012 • 2 to 6 p.m. - Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Drive, Assembly Hall (120th and For more info: nyclpdoc@gmail.com • nycjericho@gmail.com • 718-325-4407 LOUISE BENALLY(Dine) - (www.blackmesindigenoussupport.org) who has been resisting relocation from Big Mountain and resilient to the policies of the American people’s government. Since 1974 14,000 Dine’ families have been forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands by U.S.-backed tribal councils and coal mining giants. Peabody Energy, also an ALEC member, is the world’s largest private-sector coal company with 2010 sales of 246 million tons and nearly $7 billion in revenues, Peabody creates 10 percent of U.S. power and 2 percent of worldwide electricity. Sundance - Oliver Shanti Leonard Peltier In A Cage - The Goats The Future - Leonard Cohen |
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Listen to the Program January 19, 2012 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WFTE - SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA DEBRA WHITE PLUME- Manderson, SD - is the Director of Owe Aku or Bring Back the Way - a grassroots nongovernmental organization dedicated to the preservation of the Lakota Way of Life and Treaty Rights. On Sunday January 15th, a group of powerful Native women held a day long conference called Winyan Ituwan or Women of Vision along with Kandi Mosset, Marie Randall, Tantoo Cardinal and many others to not only talk about women’s role in Native culture, but effects of oil and uranium effects of mining on water. We will be talking about the impacts of colonialism to Native Nations and how we will survive it. (www.oweakuinternational.org) DR, ROBERTO RODRIQUEZ - Tuscon, Arizona - http://drcintli.blogspot.com/ While TUCSON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT claims that there are no banned books, the fact remains that administrators have come into Mexican American Studies classrooms (which no longer exist) and removed the MAS classroom materials, which includes books that were formerly utilized in the now suspended MAS program. Northern Cree @ Black Eagle Pow Wow - Santa Ana Star Center Mighty Truck of Midnight - Bruce Cockburn Winter Rain - Ferrodyne |
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Listen to the Program January 12, 2012 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WFTE - Scanton, PA (go to audiport.org for your radio stations download) WINONA LADUKE Anishinabaweg (www.niijiiradio.com>from the White Earth Reservation in Northern Minnesota. Winona is the Executive Director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project the Parent Organization of Niijii Broadcasting and Niijii Radio. Niijii in Ojibwe means friend. Over the past decade, the White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP) has approached the idea of creating an independent media platform for the White Earth Reservation and surrounding region to allow for community-based programming that provides valuable information and education to its friends and listeners. SOPHIE GRIGS (www.survivalinternational.org) British newspaper The Observer has revealed evidence of police involvement in ‘human safaris’ in India’s Andaman Islands.The scandal, first exposed by Survival in 2010, involves tourists using an illegal road to enter the reserve of the Jarawa tribe. Tour companies and cab drivers ‘attract’ the Jarawa with biscuits and sweets. AND also in BRAZIL Loggers have invaded the Amazon home of uncontacted Awá Indians, one of whom has reportedly been ‘burned alive’ DR. ROBERTO CINTLI RODRIQUEZ (http://drcintli.blogspot.com) US Human Rights Network condemns discriminatory ruling against Ethnic Studies in Arizona and calls on the government to protect human rights to culture, identity, and self-determination. The US Human Rights Network strongly condemns the December 27th, 2011 ruling of Arizona Administrative Judge Lewis Kowal restricting the teaching of Ethnic Studies in the Tuscan Unified School District and throughout the state. Judge Kowal’s decision is a reaffirmation of HB 2281, a discriminatory law passed by the Arizona legislature in 2010 that forbids the teaching ethnic studies and the recognition of the ethnic, racial, or national heritage of the students. Wicked System - Fundamental Sound Natural Mystic - Luka Bloom Suavecito - Malo |
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Listen to the Program January 5, 2012 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WFTE - Scanton, PA (go to audiport.org for your radio stations download) KAHENTINETHA HORNE of The Kanion'ke:haka/Mohawk Nation (www.mohawknationnews.com) is a member of the Rotino'shonni:onwe/Iroquois Confederacy. What are we going to do? Is the proverbial question being asked when the financial collapse is deepened beyond repair? Although many people have an idea of gloom and doom - the reality for the awakened Indigenous peoples is to know the world is not coming to an end. The Sky Is Not Falling. It’s continuing. We’re been lead to think that we are heading into a trap to be devoured if we don’t submit. Are they ready to live under the rules of nature? Kahentinetha gives us a perspective of the movement and relationship to the politics, economics and governments (u.s. and can.) and their treatment of the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island. OFELIA RIVAS of the Tohono O'odham Nation (www.solidarity-project.org) her struggles with the current technology, mining and desecretion of their lands along the 2,000 mile border wall of the U.S. and Mexico. Her general awareness of being under duress because of her views from her own people, the government and the great militarization of the lands. Masters of War - Pearl Jam Exodus - Bob Marley |
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Listen to the Program December 29, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WFTE - SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA DEMELZA CHAMPAGNE, JOHN FREISEN, JAKE LITTLE, JEREME AMOUAK and FARREL - NEW YORK - All join in a discussion about the current "Occupation" movement and the use of language. "To most, the irony of a progressive social movement using the term “occupy” to reshape how Americans think about issues of democracy and equality has been clear. After all, it is generally nations, armies and police who occupy, usually by force. And in this, the United States has been a leader. The American government is just now after nine years ending its overt occupation of Iraq, is still entrenched in Afghanistan and is maintaining troops on the ground in dozens of countries worldwide. All this is not to obscure the fact that the United States as we know it came into being by way of an occupation — a gradual and devastatingly violent one that all but extinguished entire Native American populations across thousands of miles of land." "In this sense, Occupy Wall Street has occupied language, has made “occupy” its own. And, importantly, people from diverse ethnicities, cultures and languages have participated in this linguistic occupation — it is distinct from the history of forcible occupation in that it is built to accommodate all, not just the most powerful or violent." "Occupy Language might draw inspiration from both the way that the Occupy movement has reshaped definitions of “occupy,” which teaches us that we give words meaning and that discourses are not immutable, and from the way indigenous movements have contested its use, which teaches us to be ever-mindful about how language both empowers and oppresses, unifies and isolates." "By occupying language, we can expose how educational, political, and social institutions use language to further marginalize oppressed groups; resist colonizing language practices that elevate certain languages over others; resist attempts to define people with terms rooted in negative stereotypes; and begin to reshape the public discourse about our communities, and about the central role of language in racism and discrimination." excerpts from H. Samy Alin's article What If We Occupied The Language? |
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Listen to the Program December 22, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WFTE SCRANTON, PA (Please go to Audioport.org for your stations downloadable version) TOM WEISS rideforrenewables.com. December 21, 2011 (Port Arthur, TX) – Renewable energy advocate Tom Weis ended his 2,150-mile Keystone XL “Tour of Resistance” at the fence line community of West Port Arthur in the shadow of giant oil refineries spewing toxic air emissions. Weis launched the tour 10 weeks ago at the U.S./Canada border and has pedaled the entire U.S. length of the proposed tar sands pipeline in his “rocket trike” in support of landowners and communities in six states fighting Keystone XL. Pipeline opponents joined him in demanding that President Obama reject TransCanada’s presidential permit without delay. FRED HO and CZARINA AGGABAO THELEN www.scientificsoulsessions.com Participate in a general discussion regarding the use of language and the latest article from "What If We Occupied The Language" by H. Samy Alim here is an excerpt from the article "the irony of a progressive social movement using the term “occupy” to reshape how Americans think about issues of democracy and equality has been clear. After all, it is generally nations, armies and police who occupy, usually by force. And in this, the United States has been a leader. The American government is just now after nine years ending its overt occupation of Iraq, is still entrenched in Afghanistan and is maintaining troops on the ground in dozens of countries worldwide. All this is not to obscure the fact that the United States as we know it came into being by way of an occupation — a gradual and devastatingly violent one that all but extinguished entire Native American populations across thousands of miles of land." |
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Listen to the Program December 15, 2011 |
EDITIED VERSION FOR WFTE SCRANTON, PA. GRANDMOTHER MARGARET BEHAN -Montana- is a member of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers (www.grandmotherscouncil.org). These women have been travelling to each other's homelands for several years and next year it is Grandmother Margaret's turn to host them for their 11th Council gathering. JOHN KANE - New York - (www.letstalknativepride.blogspot.com) on Kaneratiio or Roger Jock was arrested in upstate New York State -, was indicted by a grand jury for second-degree grand larceny for allegedly depriving deeded owner, Horst Wuersching, of a 240-acre parcel on Route 11 near the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino. The grand-larceny charge refers to the theft of land with a value above $50,000. WAZIYATAWIN -Minnesota- (www.waziyatawin.net) of the Wahpetunwan Dakota discusses the terminology of "occupation" occupiers and their choice of language is indicative of lack of consciousness about Indigenous struggles, or a dismissal of the importance or relevance of those struggles. FRED HO - New York - (www.bigredmediainc.com) author, musician, philosopher and 3 time cancer survivor dialogues regarding "Capitialism is the cancer for the planet" and how a person would understand the toxicity one can avoid cointinuing the toxicities of manifest destiny. |
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Listen to the Program December 8, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WBAI NYC (Open ended no intro - break - outro - please insert your station ID breaks) One of the objectives of this technologic reality has to do with erasing the memories of the human beings, because we have a common collective experience. We are all the descendants of tribes. - John Trudell From Descendants Now Ancestors 2001 (JohnTrudell.com) |
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Listen to the Program November 10, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WBAI NEW YORK MAHINA MOVEMENT (mahinamovement.com), Vaimoana Niumeitolu, Gabriella Callendar, Erica DeLaRosa Mahina Movement is the phenomenal 3 women trio who combine poetry and song to create passionate music tied to flesh and bone, straight from the heart. Mahina Movement’s extraordinary melodies tell stories of the personal and political wrapped with courage, strength and awareness of human struggle and connection. 3 voices and one guitar blend into a powerful force, mixing folk, rock and rhymes in English, Spanish, and Tongan simmered with indigenous roots and culture. Mahina Movement’s rare sound and vision not only creates a raw, fierce artistic “movement” combining traditional and contemporary poetry, music, painting, theater, and ritual but also, is constantly generating a strong, steady “movement” for community—consisting of radical love, unstoppable activism and ruthless compassion. Based and consistently building and creating in New York City, Mahina Movement not only lives in New York but also makes sure to contribute their multi-talents of creativity and organizing in a place they call home. Having deep roots from all over the world—Mexico, Ireland, Tonga and Africa—Mahina Movement consists of a Musician from Hollis, Queens; a Dancer from Texas and a Painter from Utah. Together, they have carved and crafted a world of musical and artistic possibilities, running outside of boxes and crossing borders and limits. They have combined their skills, cultures, ancestors, stories and languages to reach the masses and ignite inspiration in the face of resignation and cynicism. Dr. LYNN GUITAR (TAINO) has been Resident Director of CIEE´s (Council on International Educational Exchange) program in Liberal Arts for North Americans at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Santiago. Lynne has recently written chapters for three important books: Illustrated History of the Caribbean by Francisco Scarrano and Stephan Palmie (eds.) Slaves, Subjects, and Subversives by Jane Landers (ed.), and Indigenous Resurgence in the Contemporary Caribbean: Amerindian Survival and Revival by Maximilian Forte (ed.), as well as articles about the Taíno peoples for dozens of professional journals. She is currently writing an historical novel about the encounter between Taínos and Spaniards but totally from the indigenous viewpoint. Please Facebook "Guanin" for more info. |
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Listen to the Program October 27, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WJFF JEFFERSONVILLE, NEW YORK PHILLIP DEERE (Muskogee Creek> Phillip was a traditional healer from Nuyaka Grounds, Okemah, Oklahoma, who became a spiritual leader, civil and human rights activist, oral historian and storyteller. JOHN TRUDELL (Isanti Dakota) Poet and Human Being speaks on the values of becoming and being a human being through his experience as an Indigenous activist through the 1970's until the present. |
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Listen to the Program October 6, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR KVNF PAONIA, COLORADO MUTABARUKA Voices his thoughts on COLUMBUS GHOST - A Jamaican (born Allan Hope, 26 December 1952, Rae Town, Kingston) is a dub poet. His name comes from the Rwandan language and translates as "one who is always victorious". He lives in Potosi District, St. James with his significant other, Yvonne, and their two childern. Mutabaruka continues to perform and write poems on every issue known to man. He's known for his expressions and lively performances more so than just the poems themselves. Some of his themes include sexism, politics, discrimination, poverty, race, and especially religion. Mutabaruka's stylistic form is in a way pathos related. He uses stories and experiences to get readers to think about issues in ways that they wouldn't normally think about them. LARRY MERCULIEF Indigenous Elder for Modern Times -Merculieff will speak on indigenous elder wisdom and modern day personal to global challenges. Merculieff is an indigenous messenger and teacher. Indigenous wisdom keepers throughout the western hemisphere and other parts of the world have shared their wisdom, knowledge and prophecies with him, asking him to share their words with others. Issues related to cultural and community wellness, traditional ways of living, elder wisdom, and the environment are close to his heart. He recently chaired the indigenous knowledge sessions at the Global Summit of Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change attended by indigenous representatives from 80 nations. SEVERN SUZUKI As a 12 year who froze the world for 7 minutes at the 1991 Earth Summit on Climate Change in Rio De Janero, Severn spoke about the apocolyptic results if we don't do as adults what we should have been doing all along. Respecting Mother Earth the way Indigenous peoples have continued to do for uncountable millenia. TANYA FRISCHNER American Indian Law Alliance gave an informative speech regarding the Doctrine of Discovery and the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2006; regarding the way anthropologists and scientists perceive the age of Indigenous peoples in the western hemisphere, and the holocaust derived from Bartolome de las Casas. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians". His extensive writings, the most famous being "A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies" and "Historia de Las Indias", chronicle the first decades of colonization of the West Indies, focusing particularly on the atrocities committed by the colonizers against the Indigenous peoples. |
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Listen to the Program September 29, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WBAI NEW YORK LEFT ON RED www.leftonredmusic.com Live in studio with their new conscious aware music CD The Underground Busking Experience. Their October touris designed to promote and educate about fair trade chocolate and the child slavery in the cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast of Africa. It turns out %40 of the world's cocoa is sourced from the Ivory Coast in Africa where it's estimated over 200,000 children have been enslaved, many through trafficking. We are going into high school classrooms along the tour route to give workshops and concerts - as well as venues in the evenings. Some venues where you can catch their performance are The Huntington Cinema Arts Center on Long Island, Caffe Vivaldi in NYC, Ani DiFranco's Babeville in Buffalo, and Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs. And the classrooms run the gamut of alternative education in Ithaca, NY to large inner city schools such as East High School in Rochester. |
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Listen to the Program September 22, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WBAI 99.5 FM NY, NEW YORK BINDI COLE and KALIA BROOKSwww.mocada.org Saying No: Reconciling Spirituality and Resistance in Indigenous Australian Art. The word “No” does not exist in the majority of the over 200 Australian Aboriginal languages, and where it does exist, this powerful word is reserved for the elders and is used with great care and ceremony. As these languages reach the brink of extinction, indigenous Australian artists are using contemporary art to assert their identity and culture and say no to racism, land theft and colonialism in an urban world. With this, the Museum of Contemporary African Diaporan Arts (MoCADA) announces the opening of the highly anticipated international group exhibition entitled, Saying No: Reconciling Spirituality and Resistance in Indigenous Australian Art. THE LAST INTERNATIONALEwww.thelastinternationale.com |
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Listen to the Program September 15, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WBAI 99.5 FM NEW YORK, NY JENNIFER JESSUM & SIMON JOSEPH (www.holymanfilm.com) GROVER GAUNTT, BIRGIL KILLS STRAIGHT & ALEX WHITE PLUME For fifteen consecutive years the Zen Peacemakers (www.zenpeacemakers.org) have been conducting an international, multi-faith Bearing Witness Retreat at Auschwitz – Birkenau in Poland, deeply plunging for five days through silence, prayer and ceremony into the genocide that was focused there in World War II. Since 2009 the Peacemaker Institute has led a bearing witness retreat in Rwanda, entering for five days the darkness that was the 1994 Tutsi genocide that still pervades every aspect of the consciousness and activity of the country. There has not yet been a clearly defined event that has focused on the Native American genocide, oppression and neglect that began at the end of the fifteenth century and continues to this day. A defining event of this era is the massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota on December 29, 1890. 100 million+ of Original Peoples were eliminated, destroyed, drastically reduced, or moved and thoroughly traumatized, for many reasons the Lakota of the western plains have gained the prominent position in the world psyche as an archetype of what has befallen the Native peoples of the western hemisphere. It is proposed that the center of the Black Hills, serve as the place for the August 2012 Black Hills Bearing Witness Retreat. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP 7 medicine people from the Lakota Nation are in need of sponsorship to attend the Bearing Witness Retreat Oct. 31 – Nov. 5th in Auschwitz. Please send donation check or Money Order to: Please include your return address and Seventh Generation Fund will send receipt for tax purposes. |
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Listen to the Program September 8, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WBAI NY September 11th, 2011 marks the tenth anniversary day in the American’s history as one of tragedy and rememberance. 10 years later questions are still be asked as to what really happened that day 9-11-01. Les Jamieson is one who has asked those questions or rather one who has questioned the answers most accepted by media pundits and American mainstream beliefs that have seem to fall within the narrow definitions of political, economical and religious jingoisms. |
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Listen to the Program September 1, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WBAI NY Robbie Robertson, (born Jaime Royal Robertson, July 5, 1943); is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 78th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. The Band has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. As a songwriter Robertson is responsible for such classics as "The Weight", "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "Up On Cripple Creek", "Broken Arrow" and "Somewhere Down the Crazy River", and has been inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Mari Boine, previously known as Mari Boine Persen, (born 8 November 1956) is a Norwegian Sami musician known for having added jazz and rock to the yoiks of her native people. Born in Finnmark, Norway she grew up amid the Laestadian Christian movement as well as amidst discrimination against her people. She was asked to perform at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, but refused because she perceived the invitation as an attempt to bring a token minority to the ceremonies. Gula Gula (first released by Iđut, 1989, later re-released by Real World) was her breakthrough release, and she continued to record popular albums throughout the 1990s.[1] |
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Listen to the Program August 25, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR KVNF PAONIA COLORADO Guest Host: JOHN KANE Alysce Pierce from the Seneca Nation speaks of her experience as a Native businesswoman and her struggles with New York State. more to come |
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Listen to the Program August 18, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR KVNF PAONIA, Colorado Guest Host: JOHN KANE Crystal Shawanda www.crystalshawanda.co/. She has a short bio in her own words there. Crystal Shawanda (born in Wikwemikong, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian country music artist. CMT documented her rise to fame in the six-part series Crystal: Living the Dream, which aired in February 2008. Signed to RCA Records in 2007, she released her debut single, "You Can Let Go," in Canada in January 2008. It was the fastest climbing single on the Canadian Country Singles Chart since reaching the Top 10 in 5 weeks. It was released in the United States on March 17, 2008. Shawanda's debut album, Dawn of a New Day, was released in Canada on June 24, 2008; it was later released in the United States on August 19. The album debuted at number 2 on the Canadian Country Albums chart, and number 16 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and became the hig hest charted album by a full-blooded Canadian First Nations country artist in the SoundScan era. Shawanda is a First Nations member of the Ojibwe band. Her surname translates to "Dawn of a New Day." Shawanda toured Canada and the United States with Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley as a special guest on the Paisley Party 2009 tour. She had previously toured with various artists across Canada and the northern United States in 2008. Her first single, "You Can Let Go," peaked at number 21 on the Hot Country Songs charts. In mid-2009, Shawanda parted ways with RCA Nashville and through her own record label, New Sun Records, and a distribution deal with EMI/On Ramp Records, released a Christmas album, titled I'll Be Home for Christmas. In 2010, Crystal released a new single, "Beautiful Day" which made into the top twenty in Canada. "Beautiful Day" was released via her own label New Sun Records which made it the first ever song to chart that was released by a label that was owned by a First Nations woman. On her official website it was confirmed that Crystal's new single "Love Enough" will be released on August 15, 2011 in both Canada and the United States. At her fourth annual Homecoming Concert on July 29, 2011 she announced that her second studio album was complete and would be released fall 2011. It was made available for pre-order at her Homcoming. |
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Listen to the Program August 11, 2011 |
Edited Version for KVNF Paonia, Colorado . Guest Host: JOHN KANE (Mohawk) |
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Listen to the Program August 4, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WPKN BRIDGEPORT - NEW HAVEN, CT Guest Host: JOHN KANE (Mohawk) www.letstalknativepride.blogspot.com John has been involved in Native issues and specifically defending Native sovereignty most of his adult life. He was part of the First Nations Dialogue Team in the late 90's and worked extensively with the League of First Nations in battles with New York State over taxation. Two New York state senators wrote letters to the NYS Tax Commissioner stating their opposition to any interference by the department in the sales and distribution of Native tobacco products and requesting that he announce his intent regarding Native brands tobacco on and off Native reservation boundaries. JED MOREY is the publisher of the Long Island Press www.longislandpress.com, an alternative weekly newspaper with a circulation of 85,000, which welcomes more than 750,000 unique visitors every month. He serves on the boards of the Long Island chapter of the New York League of Conservation Voters and the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center in Nassau County, as well as the President's Council of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Long Island. |
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Listen to the Program July 28, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR KVNF PAONIA COLORADO "What a Way to Go" is a total rejection of the self-destruction paradigm that hard-wires Amerian culture. Brutal honesty is applied to issues of our day. ␣ ␣ But these aren't just issues of our day; they are issues of the universe because the planet itself is becoming altered before our eyes toward unending extinction. It is clear we are caught in a broken myth of progress and technology, expecting those cultural bulwarks to save us even though they caused the crisis: climate chaos, petrocollapse and individual isolation and despair. |
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Listen to the Program July 21, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR KVNF PAONIA, COLORADO Peter Joseph presents a case for a needed transition out of the current socioeconomic monetary paradigm which governs the entire world society. This subject matter will transcend the issues of cultural relativism and traditional ideology and move to relate the core, empirical "life ground" attributes of human and social survival, extrapolating those immutable natural laws into a new sustainable social paradigm called a "Resource-Based Economy" The Natural Laws, most, but not all Indigenous peoples abide by, can be heard between the lines of the speakers here. |
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Listen to the Program July 14, 2011 |
EDITED FOR KVNF PAONIA COLORADO Black Elk Speaks / John G. Neihardt| produced by Ralph and Natasha Friar. - WBAI presents the continuing readings by Native Americans of "Black Elk Speaks" by John G. Neihardt. It is the story of the great spiritual leader of the Oglala Sioux who was born in 1863 and lived through the onslaught of the frontier settlers and soldiers desecrating his peoples land. BROADCAST: WBAI, 3 April 1976.Running Deer of the Wampanoag, Pawnee and Cherokee as Black Elk and |
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Listen to the Program July 7, 2011 |
EDITED FOR WPKN BRIDGEPORT-NEW HAVEN, CT CORRINA GOULD Chochenyo Ohlone – www.protectglencove.org Sogorea Te or Ssogoréate was a large village and gathering/ceremonial ground utilized by dozens of tribes who lived near and around the San Francisco Bay Area, For over 3500 years, indigenous people gathered at Sogorea Te or Glen Cove, a large, shallow natural cove at the narrowest portion of the Carquinez Strait, ideal for making land crossings. The descendants recently reoccupied the 15 acred sacred site to rally against a development that would destroy burial grounds, shell mounds and other artifacts of the original peoples. They are into their 85 day with international support. HOPI ELDERS THOMAS BANYACYA was a Hopi Native American traditional leader. One of four Hopis, including David Monongye, Dan Evehema, and Dan Katchongva, who decided or were appointed to reveal Hopi traditional wisdom and teachings, including the Hopi prophecies for the future, to the general public in 1946, after the use of the first two nuclear weapons on Japan. Banyacya was a member of the Wolf, Fox, and Coyote clans. Banyacya grew up in the village of Moencopi and first attended Sherman Indian School in Riverside, California and then Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He lived in Kykotsmovi, Arizona on the Hopi Reservation. During World War II, Banyacya was a conscientious objector, who spent seven years in prison instead of registering for the draft. Thomas Banyacya was recorded by White Bison Media 1980. DAN EVEHEMA was a Hopi Native American traditional leader. He is one of four Hopis (including Thomas Banyacya, David Monongye, and Dan Katchongva) who decided or were appointed to reveal Hopi traditional wisdom and teachings, including the Hopi prophecies for the future, to the general public in 1946, after the use of the first two nuclear weapons against Japan. Evehema died on January 15, 1999 at approximately 108 years of age. In his "final message" he stated that he was the last of the group of four fully knowledgeable Hopis still alive. Evehema was co-author, with Thomas Mails, of "Hotevilla: Hopi Shrine of the Covenant : Microcosm of the World" and "Hopi Survival Kit" and co-author of Techqua Ikachi, [1] the traditional Hopi newsletters produced from 1975 to 1986. The "Hopi Survival Kit" includes a signed affidavit from Dan Evehema approving the book, and is the only written account of the complete Hopi prophecies. Evehema was a member of the Greasewood/Roadrunner Clan. </strong>Sundancer</strong> by Hope Machine, writers: Fred Gillen Jr. (Fuel For The Revolution BMI) and Steve Kirkman (Eagle Sun Music a.s.c.a.p.) |
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Listen to the Program June 30, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WPKN BRIDGEPORT - NEW HAVEN, CT JOHN TRUDELL www.johntrudell.com - DNA (Descendants Now Ancestors) - July 4th, 2011 marks the 236 year of the Declaration of Dependence, that’s right, Dependence. Some people look at this system of democracy and often question its, beginning, its history and the current events. Some people see the future as something to be questioned because of this country’s denial. John Trudell is a Dakota who is an outspoken poet who brings a street wise knowledge of experience today. As he looks into the confusion of the people of the U.S. in accepting a process of thinking that continues to lead the people into illusion of freedom. JOHN KANE (Mohawk) www.letstalknativepride.blogspot.com - NEW YORK - is an Indian educator and advocate in upstate New York, who broadcasts a show on WECK-AM in Buffalo. Two New York state senators wrote letters to the NYS Tax Commissioner stating their opposition to any interference by the department in the sales and distribution of Native tobacco products and requesting that he announce his intent regarding Native brands. |
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Listen to the Program June 23, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WPKN - BRIDGEPORT - NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT WILLIE CORDUFF - www.shelltosea.com Rossport, Ireland - ELIZABETH BOUISS - www.nofrack.org - New York - June 25th Rally at 1pm to Ban Fracking and why a ban is crucial. Why regulations will not work and the harm to water, farming and agricultural lands that fracking will cause. Frack waste evaporates and the toxic chemicals end up in the air, land and water. The beauty of upstate New York will be forever scarred. CHRISTINA CHAUVENET- www.survivalinternational.org- Washington D.C. –Today, S.I. called for tourists to boycott the main highway in India’s Andaman Islands – an illegal road which cuts through the land of the endangered Jarawa tribe. BEN CARNES www.eaglemanz.blogspot.com - Oklahoma – Releases article after testifying at the Cobell Hearing: “Cobell Settlement: A knife in our backs” “Real justice for these Indians may still lie in the distant future; it may never come at all. This reality makes a statement about our society and our form of government that we should be unwilling to let stand.” Judge Royce Lamberth Those prophetic words by Lamberth became a reality on June 20 when the federal court in Washington, DC approved the Cobell settlement. There is much ado how this was a major victory as in a David and Goliath scenario. However, one only needs to read in between the fine print to know this was a serious setback. I had already suspected it was a foregone conclusion when the settlement was first announced and Obama signed off on it. This was an easy out for the government; they secured the victory, not us. The basic provisions of the settlement are: More details are available at www.indiantrust.com Initially, the estimates arrived by Cobell was that approx. 176 billion was missing from the IIM accounts. So why did she and the attorneys spend more than 2 million dollars encouraging people to accept this settlement? A settlement that only constitutes less than 2% of the original estimates? |
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Listen to the Program June 16, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION FOR WPKN BRIDGEPORT - NEW HAVEN, CONN. SUZAN SHOWN HARJO Observances and ceremonies will be held across the country from June 17 through June 21 to mark the 2011 National Days of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Places. All other peoples in the United States can use the First Amendment to protect their churches, but the Supreme Court closed that door to Native Americans in 1988. The Court, in the 23 years from 1988 to 2011, has declined to allow federal religious freedom statutes to be used to protect Native American sacred places or the exercise of Native American religious freedom at sacred places. EVAN PRITCHARD New York - www.algonquinculture.org/ A descendant of the Micmac people (part of the Algonquin nations) is the founder of The Center for Algonquin Culture, and is currently Professor of Native American history at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, where he also teaches ethics and philosophy. ALEX ALEXANDER New York - www.alex-alexander Performs live in-studio with FVIR host Tiokasin. Alex has invented an instrument called the Electric Djembe and performs in-studio. Alex has recorded and performed worldwide with numerous high profile acts among them: Dido, Eminem, Chaka Kahn, Ritchie Blackmore, Joy Askew, Bernie Worell, The Association, Toots and the Maytalls, Sophie B. Hawkins, J.C. Chasez (NSYNC), Montel Jordan, Dougie Fresh, Julia Fordham, Youssou N'Dour and The Barrio Boyz In 2005 he performed at the largest Multi-Artist concert in the history of music, (Live Aid -Live 8- London), in front of 250,000 fans and over 3 Billion Television and Internet viewers Worldwide with Dido & Youssou N'Dour. |
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Listen to the Program June 9, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION for WBAI NEW YORK LISA & JOHNNY BONTA , May 24th - A Pyramid Lake Paiute family was attacked by neo-Nazi skinheads at a Fernley, Nevada, convenience store, east of Reno. Family members were beaten with a crowbar and baseball bats, and stabbed. The neo nazis tried to cut off Bonta's braid. The victim, Bonta, was then arrested because of the white assailants connection with police. One of the attackers is the son of a retired Lyon County Sheriff officer. Bonta was denied medical treatment in jail. When the family called the jail, they were told that Bonta "would have to get his Indian doctor" if he wanted to be treated. JAMES CRAVEN Washington D.C. – Strong opposition by thousands of Individual Indian Monies account/land holders to the $3.4 Billion “Cobell” settlement approved by Congress Nov. 2010 & signed by Pres. Obama in Dec. 2010, of only 19 will be heard on June 22, 2011. ROSS HAMILTON Cincinnati, Ohio – Author of The Mystery of the Serpent Mound holds a conversation and challenges the mythos and fairie tales in cultures and lore across the planet. He talks of the differences in how we view history, especially in North America and how the “new comers” treat the history of Native peoples as dismissed in conjectural terminology. CONTACT: D.ROSS.HAMILTON@gmail.com |
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Listen to the Program June 2, 2011 |
REBECCA ADAMSON www.firstpeoplesworldwide.org and PHILLEMON NAKALI LOYELEi (Nyangatom tribal member from Ethiopia’s South Omo River Valley) testified on May in Washington D.C. at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission with Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., chairing the second of an unprecedented series of meetings on Indigenous Peoples worldwide. The session was devoted to Indigenous Peoples of Africa. |
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Listen to the Program May 22, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION for KVNF PAONIA COLORADO SEVERN SUZUKI In 1992 the UN Earth Summit was held in Rio - its findings contributed to the much-discussed Kyoto Protocol designed to combat climate change. Yet the enduring memory of that summit was a dramatic speech given by a 12 year-old girl from Canada. Q'ORIANKA KILCHER has made a commitment to human rights and environmental activism. She speaks on behalf of various causes to achieve what she regards as environmental justice and basic Human Rights. Traveling frequently to speak at youth events, colleges and universities, Kilcher has been a featured keynote speaker for organizations such as Amnesty International, the IFG international Forum on Globalization,[9] Amazon Watch IFIP[10] and The United Nations panel discussions entitled "Indigenous Peoples: Human Rights, Dignity and Development with Identity", in collaboration with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. HOPI PROPHECY of the times foretold by the ancient peoples of North America and what will happen regarding the "purification" and the choices humankind must take to survive the changes wrought upon themselves. |
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Listen to the Program April 28, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION WBAI NEW YORK DOUG GEORGE-KANENTIIO - Awkesasne Mohawk www.hiawatha.syr.edu The Hiawatha Institute for Indigenous Knowledge (HIIK) was established on February 19, 2011 (501.3.c is pending approval). The Institute is the fulfillment of a dream first envisioned by the Oneida leader Shenandoah 200 years ago: his wish was to provide a place of learning where the essence of Native knowledge would be shared with the world in a school of higher learning. A group of contemporary scholars, educators and community leaders have renewed the vision. The group consisted of delegates from the member nations of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois) Confederacy, the oldest democratically based united nations organization on earth. He is the author of Iroquois On Fire: A Voice From the Mohawk Nation. Doug will be part of a panel in Harlem Sat. more info - Scientificsoulsessions.com JEFF SPITZ www.groundswellfilms.org and www.navajoboy.com/webisodes - Washington DC - Jeff is screening the film Return of Navajo Boy at the Department of Energy's State of Environmental Justice Conference. As Japan struggles to contain radioactive contamination, Groundswell is reminding Americans that over a thousand abandoned Cold War-era uranium mines still contaminate the American Southwest. This month, the US Environmental Protection Agency began clean up at Skyline Mine, the site featured in the documentary. CORRINA GOULD & WOUNDED KNEE DE OCAMPO www.protectglencove.org - Vellejo, Caifornia Glen Cove is a sacred gathering place and burial ground that has been utilized by numerous Native American tribes since at least 1,500 BC. Archeologists working for the University of California first surveyed the Glen Cove site in 1907. Since that time, hundreds of intact skeletal remains and cremations have been documented, along with thousands of sacred objects, tools, and other artifacts. Since 1988, the Greater Vallejo Recreation District (GVRD) and the City of Vallejo have been pursuing the development of the Glen Cove site into a “fully featured” public park. GVRD’s current Master Plan calls for the installation of a parking lot, restroom facility, picnic tables, and construction of additional trails, including a paved trail. It also calls for re-grading of large areas of the site, which involves digging that will further disturb burials and sacred objects. Apache Powder - Ferrondyne - St. Johns Day 2010 |
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Listen to the Program April 21, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION WPKN BRIDGEPORT-NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT MARYAM HENEIN www.vanishingofthebees.com is the Director/Producer of the documentary Vanishing of the Bees. Honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing across the planet, literally vanishing from their hives. OFELIA RIVAS www.ikatun.org/kanarinka/ The Border Crossed Us is a temporary public art installation by the Institute for Infinitely Small Things that transplants the US-Mexico border fence in southern Arizona to the UMass Amherst campus. The Winter Rain by FERRODYNE Album: St. Johns Day Continent's End by FERRODYNE Ablum: St. Johns Day |
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Listen to the Program April 14, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION KFAI Minneapolis - Saint Paul JERRY REYNOLDS and REBECCA ADAMSON www.firstpeoplesworldwide.org The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement is the reigning example of global conservation’s disregard for Indigenous Peoples. The CBFA and its enabling legislation, along with the funding that has poured into the project, represents the full playbook for dispossessing Indigenous Peoples in the name of conservation. As such it is worth a closer look. The process of steamrolling more than 600 First Nations in the Canadian far north – not to mention spending millions of dollars to buy off opposition without the slightest investment in building the capacity of Indigenous communities to participate – had its official beginning in 2007, when 1,500 scientists worldwide petitioned Canadian governmental leaders to set aside at least 50 percent of the northern boreal forest as a “protected area.” Since then, the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement has come to include 21 forest-products corporations and their billion-dollar logging operations, nine environmental NGOs or nonprofit organizations, and not one First Nation. The blatant disregard for more than 600 First Nations on their ancestral territories has earned the CBFA the united opposition of many Canadian First Nations. |
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Listen to the Program April 7, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION KFAI MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL JOANNE SHENANDOAH www.joanneshenandoah A GRAMMY Award and 12 Time Native American Music award winning artist; and Wolf Clan member of the Iroquois Confederacy, Joanne Shenandoah has fulfilled the promise of her Native American name, Tekaliwah-kwa, (She Sings). " She's become one of the most acclaimed Native American recording artists of her time." Associated Press. Since emerging as an artist in 1990, she has performed at such high-profile gigs at Carnegie Hall, the White House, Kennedy Center, Earth Day on the Mall, Woodstock '94, and the Parliament of the Worlds Religions in South Africa and the famous Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona Spain, Instanbull, Hwa Eom Temple, S. Korea and thousands of venues in the US. IRENA SALINA www.flowtheflim.com Award-winning documentary FLOW is investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis. Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel. Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the question "CAN ANYONE REALLY OWN WATER?" Beyond identifying the problem, FLOW also gives viewers a look at the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the water crisis and those developing new technologies, which are fast becoming blueprints for a successful global and economic turnaround. |
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Listen to the Program March 31, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION WPKN BRIDGEPORT-NEW HAVEN CONNECTICUT Bridget Brehan & Victoria Cumes Jochola and www.nisgua.org Marlin Mine in Guatemala's Western highlands. Owned by Goldcorp, Inc., the second-largest gold mining company in the world, Marlin is an open-pit and underground mine and Goldcorp's lowest-cost mine. The mine began operations in 2005 and is licensed to continue until 2015. Local communities worry about the damaging environmental and health effects of the mine, insist that their rights as indigenous peoples have been violated, and have become targets of threats and increasing criminalization because of their opposition to the mine. Features award-winning films on Native perspectives about the fate of the earth and its rivers throughout the hemisphere. www.nativenetworks.si.edu LEON WIJNGAARDE www.eclecticreel.com Indigenous Suriname In Arawak, Sranan Tongo, and Dutch with English subtitles - Development and industrial projects threatening to devastate the indigenous peoples of Suriname have attracted little international attention. In this video, leaders from different tribal communities describe their struggles to protect their lands and waters and to secure basic human rights. |
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Listen to the Program March 24, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION KVNF PAONIA COLORADO MARILYN ELLE www.ipsecinfo.org INDIAN POINT - A nuclear power plant in upstate New York that is located on two major fault lines susceptible to earthquakes and the current controversy of keeping it open. With one reactor shut down with storage of spent enriched uranium reportedly leaking into the Hudson River - Gov. Cuomo wants it shut down - and two more active reactors with 1950's technology within 35 miles of NYC Times Square. JUDITH DE LOS SANTOS www.protestbarrick.net is an independent New-York based writer and activist around issues of struggle and resistance within Africa and the Diaspora in the Americas. She has recently traveled to Cancun, Mexico to participate in the People's Alternative Forum to the UN COP16 Climate Talks. She is currently documenting the stories of Indigenous and African descendants confronting exploitation in the Caribbean, South America and the Great Lakes Region in Africa. She reported on Barrick Gold's exploitation of the Dominican Republic resources. RICHIE O'DONNELLwww.thepipethefilm.com is the Director of "The Pipe" and award winning documentary following 3 family struggle to stop extraction giant Shell Oil from building a pipeline across County Mayo in northern Ireland. In a remote corner of the West of Ireland sits Broadhaven Bay. It is the perfect picture postcard, where the high cliffs of Erris Head and the Stags of Broadhaven stand sentry at the mouth of the bay against the mighty Atlantic, as if protecting the delicate golden sands of Glengad beach and the tiny village of Rossport, which nestles behind the dunes. However, this peaceful tranquility belies the turmoil that lies beneath, and the unique nature of the coastline which has sustained generations of farmers and fishermen, has also delivered to Shell Oil the perfect landfall for the Corrib Gas Pipeline. |
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Listen to the Program March 17, 2011 |
EDITED VERSION WPKN BRIDGEPORT - NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT ELVIRA & HORTENCIA COLORADO www.8000drumsorg -1:00 pm in Riverbank Park @ 145th & Hudson River on Sunday, March 20, 20011. For further info: 212-431-1666 or 646-492-7463. WANBLI SINA WIN email: wamblisinawin@yahoo.com is the author of "The Red Road is not for Sale" which has been featured on Indianz.com and in Native Times and she is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe who grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Wambli's grandfather is Chief Lame Deer, Tahca Uste, John Fire, a Sicangu (Rosebud Sioux) medicine man whose life was chronicled in Lame Deer: Seeker of Visions in the 1970s. She can be reached at 918.840.6017 PAUL GALLAY www.riverkeeper.org BUCHANAN, NY — Federal regulators are studying the Indian Point nuclear power plant to determine if its earthquake safeguards are adequate, and a leading environmental group wants the plant shut down until the latest seismic data is considered. In 2008, a study by a group of leading seismologists from Columbia University revealed a second fault line near Indian Point, the Stamford-Peekskill fault line. |
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Listen to the Program March 10, 2011 |
MAURA HARRINGTON www.shelltosea.com In a remote part of West Ireland clash of cultures in modern Ireland, the rights of Indigenous farmers and of fishermen has come in direct conflict with one of the worlds most powerful oil companies - Shell. When the citizens look to their state to protect their rights, they find that the state has put Shell’s right to lay a pipeline over their own right to live. In the last of week of 2010, the people of County Mayo awaited a decision about the multinational Shell continuing with the Corrib Gas Project. The Indigenous Irish people of County Mayo focused their actions against the project. But after the remains of the Irish government gave in late January for the shell high-pressure gas pipeline and refinery in county mayo, activists have been staging blockades, actions and protests against shell in solidarity with the residents and activists of Rossport in Northeastern Ireland. PHIL LANE of the Dakota/Chickasaw Nations www.fwii.net FOUR WORLDS INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE In Feb. Chief Phil Jr. gathered an audience from across the nation for a radio talking circle on the Gulf Plague that is spreading across the Gulf of Mexico "SHOP" by Left On Red |
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Listen to the Program March 3, 2011 |
STEPHANY SEAY 406-646-0070 Media & Outreach, Buffalo Field Campaign, West Yellowstone, MT (bfc-media@wildrockies.org) www.buffalofieldcampaign.org Five hundred and twenty five wild buffalo remain in captivity inside Yellowstone National Park's Stephens Creek buffalo trap. One would-be buffalo mother has recently lost her calf, likely due to the stress of confinement and the intake of unnatural feed. The Park says they have no plans to ship any of the buffalo to slaughter, nor any plans to capture more. Our attorneys with the Montana office of Western Watersheds Project are pressing forward with an appeal to our emergency injunction, legal action that - along with your many calls and letters to Montana and Yellowstone - has helped keep these buffalo alive. These efforts seek not only to prevent slaughter, but release them from the trap. Yellowstone officials also say they are still trying to interpret the meaning of Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer's executive order which halted the Park's plans to transport wild bison to slaughter through Montana. Yellowstone's Superintendent Dan Wenk is scheduled to meet with Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer on March 8th. PHIL LANE of the Dakota/Chickasaw Nations www.fwii.net FOUR WORLDS INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE gathered listeners from across the nation for a radio talking circle on the Gulf Plague that is spreading across the Gulf Region. |
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Listen to the Program January 27, 2011 |
KELSEY MILLER (www.kalpulli.drupalgardens.com) discusses Kapulli Turtle Island Multiversity and working to help bring people back to a sustainable, sane kind of life - is an organization dedicated to education of ecological restoration and cultural restoration. We are concerned with the effects of colonization all over the world and we strive to be a voice advocating an Earth-centered culture. KAHENTINETHA HORN (www.mohawknationnews.com) 71, pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting police officers and obstructing justice. The charges arose when the publisher and editor of Mohawk Nation News was attacked at the Akwesasne Canada-US border on June 14, 2008 by Canadian Border Service Agents (CBSA.) Kahentinetha had a problem that occurred at the border two and a half years ago one June 14, 2008. She drove to the Canada-US checkpoint on Cornwall Island with two Mohawks, a man and a woman. She talks of continuing harrassment of U.S./Canada border guards toward Indigenous peop Listening/Honor Song - John Trudell Ready for the Storm - Dougie Maclean |
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Listen to the Program January 20, 2011 |
ROBERTO RODRIQUEZ drcinti.blogspot.com Tucson, Arizona the national narrative has been crafted as a story about heroism and healing. And it is a true and uplifting story. Yet, Arizona’s actual hate has generally been off the radar. And again, this hate isn’t necessarily about right-left, Republican vs. Democrats, conservatives (Tea Partiers) vs. Liberals. Instead, most of the hate – as manifested in the state legislature and in the public discourse – is about Mexicans/migrants and the border. Since 2000, thousands of migrants have died along the border. And since 2,000, the anti-Mexican legislation has steamrolled through the state legislature. Most of the world knows about the 2010 racial profiling SB 1070. Less known is the 2010 anti-Ethnic Studies HB 2281 – an attempt to impose upon Arizona schools – a Eurocentric Master Narrative of History. On Jan. 3, Mexican American Studies-TUSD was declared illegal by the outgoing state schools superintendent. The only remedy is it elimination. This year, at least two more outrageous measures are being added to this list; one would nullify the 14th Amendment and the other will require children to turn in their parents [immigration status] to school authorities. DOUGIE MACLEAN dougiemaclean.com is Scotland's pre-eminent singer-songwriter and a national musical treasure” who has developed a unique blend of lyrical, 'roots based' songwriting and instrumental composition. Internationally renowned for his song 'Caledonia', music for 'Last of the Mohicans'. Recently received two prestigious Tartan Clef Awards, a place in the Scottish Music Hall of Fame and an OBE in the New Year Honours list! Dougie has recently release a new album 'Resolution'. We were honored to have Dougie on FVIR! Loving One - Resolution by Dougie Maclean Turning Away - Resolution by Dougie Maclean |
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Listen to the Program January 13, 2011 |
MAURA HARRINGTON shelltosea.com In Dec. 2010, the people of County Mayo awaited a decision about the multinational Shell continuing with the Corrib Gas Project. If permission is granted, the people of County Mayo, West Ireland will direct action against the project. A senior figure in Shell said that there could be dozens of gasfields similar to a major one off Ireland's west coast that has become the focus of a bitter battle with local people, according to a Wikilieaks cable from the US embassy in Dublin. CHRISTINA CHAUVENET survivalinternational.org On January 17th, Botswana’s Court of Appeal will begin a hearing to decide whether Kalahari Bushmen living on their ancestral lands have the right to water.The Bushmen, who returned to their lands in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve after a previous court victory, are appealing against a 2010 High Court ruling that denied their right to access a well in the reserve they had used for decades. The 2010 ruling, which came a week before the UN formally recognized water as a fundamental human right, has been slammed by Africa’s key human rights body for denying the Bushmen’s ‘right to life’. Without the well, the Bushmen are forced to make arduous nearly 300 miles journeys by foot or donkey to fetch water from outside the reserve. THOMAS POWERS thekillingofcrazyhorse.com Discusses the importance of original languages, the transmission of Native and American history, and WAZIYATAWIN a professor and author of Indigenous history at the University of Victoria in British Columbia remarked at Winona State University in Nov. 2010 that the Dakota people might have to reclaim lost tribal lands "by any means necessary" has drawn the scrutiny of federal authorities. Waziyatawin said she received a call this week from the FBI to discuss the remarks "All of you are going to have to figure out your role. For Dakota people, I know we're going to need to recover our land base, by any means necessary." |
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Listen to the Program January 6, 2011 |
STEPHANY SEAY - www.buffalofieldcampaign.org Buffalo Field Campaign in Montana. The wild bison of the Yellowstone region are America’s last continuously wild population. During 2007-2008 more than 1,300 wild bison were captured in Yellowstone National Park and shipped to slaughter. Nearly 3,800 wild bison have been eliminated from America’s last wild population since 2000. Bison once spanned the North American continent, but today, fewer than 3900 wild bison exist, confined to the man-made boundaries of Yellowstone National Park and consequently are ecologically extinct throughout their native range. “In fact, if protected, wild bison would enhance the ecological, economical and cultural health of the state, the nation, and Native American buffalo cultures.” |
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Listen to the Program December 30, 2010 |
MAURA HARRINGTON www.shelltosea.com is a spokeswoman for the Shell to Sea campaign, from County Mayo, Ireland. The Shell to Sea campaign has been involved in a local community based protest against the SHELL OIL Company for over ten years. Kilcommon parish, Erris, County Mayo, Ireland opposes the proposed construction of a natural gas pipeline through Rossport, and also opposes the ongoing construction by Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil and Marathon Oil of a refinery at Bellanaboy intended to refine the natural gas from the Corrib gas field. The stated aim of the campaign is that the gas be refined at sea, rather than inland, as is done with Ireland's only other producing gas field off County Cork. They maintain the proximity of a natural gas pipeline is a risk to local residents. Ghost Dance by Robbie Robertson Someday by XIT |
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Listen to the Program December 23, 2010 |
SANTI HITORANGI www.saverapanui New Evictions By Chilean Forces Of Rapanui The Chilean government is now moving to evict all Rapanui from their lands in a move to grab and privatize the Moai. NICKOLAS KOZLOFF www.nikolaskozloff.com Wikileaks: FBI Now Keeping Tabs on Native Americans --- in South America? CANUNPA GLUHA MANI of the Strong Heart Warrior Society ( 605) 517-1547 a show-down with Tribal Police when thirteen traditional Grandmothers were arrested for "inciting a riot" on the Pine Ridge Lakota Reservation following a threatened take-over to protest the lack recognition of illegal activities, such alcohol sales and drug dealing – by the Tribal Government. The Grandmothers were released without charges. RAY TRICOMO kapulli.drupalgardens.com Introduces us to eco-centric and indigenous-centric ideas of the coming trials and preparation in thinking processes. He calls it a Turtle Island land and education multiversity located in Minnesota. |
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Listen to the Program December 16, 2010 |
SANTI HITORANGI (www.saverapanui.org)who was wounded by fourteen pellet shots in his back and legs while he filmed the events of December 3rd, was forced to leave the island without notice because he was hunted by the Chilean Special Forces to destroy his media and evidence of the undue violence. He has arrived safely back in the United States. On Dec. 3rd in Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, there were serious clashes between Chilean police and the Rapa Nui people; violence erupted when security forces tried to evict protestors who were occupying government buildings. WADE DAVIS advocates for the world's indigenous cultures -- 50 percent of the world's 6,000 languages, he says, are no longer taught to children. He argues, in the most beautiful terms, that language isn't just a collection of vocabulary and grammatical rules. In fact, "Every language is an old-growth forest of the mind." A Harvard-educated ethnobotanist, believes humanity's greatest legacy is the "ethnosphere," the cultural counterpart to the biosphere, and "the sum total of all thoughts and dreams, myths, ideas, inspirations, intuitions brought into being by the human imagination since the dawn of consciousness." He beautifully articulates the intellectual, emotional and moral reasons why it's in everyone's best interest to preserve the world's Indigenous cultures. |
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Listen to the Program December 9, 2010 |
SUSAN HITO (www.saverapanui.org) On Friday, December 3, Chilean troops opened fire on unarmed Rapa Nui (Easter Island) People who have been peacefully occupying tribal land taken over by the State. The attack has left 21 Rapanui wounded with 3 needing to be evacuated to mainland Chile to be treated for their serious wounds. Indigenous Rapanui Pia Tuki among those wounded in a violent attack by Chilean Govt. forces on Easter Island. Chilean special forces are hunting for individuals who have been involved with the reoccupation and those they are targeting who have helped share the story with the international press. TORI TIMMS (www.ejfoundation.org) Discusses the Environmental Justice Foundation's report "No Place Like Home". Climate change is attributable for the deaths of over 300,000 people, seriously affects a further 325 million people, and causes economic losses of US$125 billion. Four billion people are vulnerable to the effects of climate change and 500-600 million people – around 10% of the planet’s human population – are at extreme risk. As such, climate change has been recognised as a fundamental threat to human rights. CASEY CAMP-HORINEK and KANDI MOSSETT are organizers of the Indigenous Environmental Network (www.ienearth.org) and discuss the "walk out" and suspended credentials of Indigenous delegates to the COP16 in Cancun, Mexico. They also spoke of respective experiences with Climate Change-Crisis and now "crash"; the 2,000 mile dirty oil tar sands Keystone XL Pipeline slated for 2010 construction through 6 western states and including lands on Indian reservations such as North Dakota - 3rd most oil producing state - and environmental consequences that continue to be unheard in mainstream and alternative media. KARAH WOODWARD from Digital Warrior Media also contributes. Music: "Burning Times" by Rumors of the Big Wave |
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Listen to the Program December 2, 2010 |
Aaron Huey www.aaronhuey.com is a photographer for the National Geographic magazines, the Smithsonian Magazine, Harpers, The New Yorker, the New York Times, and many more in the foreign press. Huey has photographed Taliban ambushes and drug eradication in Afghanistan, antiquities smuggling in Mali, lost temples in Burma, and circling sharks in French Polynesia. Recently Huey has been recognized for his efforts to shine a light on the oppression of Native Americans through his photography. Huey recently spoke at a TED conference, a prestigious forum for the most important issues and Ideas of our time. His talk about Native American Prisoners of War has focused a great deal of energy and attention on the brutal history the United States government in its quest for Manifest Destiny. |
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Listen to the Program November 25, 2010 |
1st of 3 Hours of Special - First Voices Indigenous Radio 9AM to 10AM CHRISTINE ROSE www.Changingwinds.org JONAS ELROD and MARK COLSON www.wakeupthefilm.org |
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Listen to the Program November 18, 2010 |
DELANEY BRUCE www.whoisleonardpeltier.info Peltier Family Accuses U.S. Government of Medical Neglect “A man dies from prostate cancer every 16 minutes in this country. Why does my brother have to wait over a year to receive even a diagnosis?” Leonard Peltier, who maintains his innocence, was wrongfully convicted in connection with the shooting deaths of two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1977. Imprisoned for 35 years—currently at the federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania—Peltier has been designated a political prisoner by Amnesty International. Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, 55 Members of Congress and others—including a judge who sat as a member of the court in two of Peltier’s appeals—have all called for his immediate release. Widely recognized for his humanitarian works and a six-time Nobel Prize nominee, Peltier also is an accomplished author and painter. Sister Betty Solano says Peltier began exhibiting symptoms commonly attributed to prostate cancer over a year ago. His age (he is 66 years old) and family history are risk factors for the disease. Pressured by Peltier’s attorneys, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) ran standard blood tests in June. Peltier received the results last week, over four months later. A physician only now says a biopsy is needed to make a diagnosis. On Dec. 16th, any and all supporters in Washington D.C. to demonstrate LPODOC support of . If it is like last year, we will stand across the street from the Department of the Interior Building from sunrise until 5 pm.It is vital to all our efforts that we have a strong attendance. President Barack Obama will host the second White House Tribal Nations Conference on December 16.As part of his campaign, Obama promised to hold yearly meetings with tribes. His first summit took place November 5, 2009, and he ordered all federal agencies to come up with detailed consultation plans.All 565 federally recognized tribes are invited to send one representative to the conference. LP DOC Chapter Albuquerque, NM REBECCA SPOONER www.survivalinternational.org Survival has sent a letter signed by more than fifty leading NGOs to oil companies Perenco, Repsol-YPF and ConocoPhillips to demand their immediate withdrawal from an area inhabited by uncontacted tribes in Peru. |
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Listen to the Program November 11, 2010 |
***REMINDER: FIRST VOICES INDIGENOUS RADIO MOVES TO 9AM - THURSDAYS Beginning November 18th*** DAVID AMRAM: The First 80 Years www.davidamram.comHe has composed more than 100 orchestral and chamber music works; numerous scores for Broadway theater and film; two operas and more. Today, as he has for over 50 years, Amram continues to compose music while traveling the world as a conductor, soloist, bandleader, visiting scholar, and narrator in five languages. He celebrates his 80th birthday on November 17th. CHRISTINE ROSE www.changingwinds.org For ten years, providing warm clothing to the reservations in South Dakota. The effects of your efforts have been long lasting and life changing for many people, but each year we are approached by new communities that are not on anyone else's list. They are the remote places where Native children routinely go without coats and socks. They are the places that have no where else to turn for help. The goods we send are brought out into distant communities where the truly humble live. JONAS ELROD www.wakeupthefilm.org was leading an ordinary life until he woke up one day to a totally new reality. Joining us is MARK COLSON www.4allourrelations.org Physicians gave Jonas a clean bill of health and were unable to provide an explanation. What was it? Why was it happening to him? One thing was certain for this 36-year old man - life as he had known it would never be the same. Jonas crisscrosses the country, along the way, he encounters an amazing group of teachers, scientists, mystics and spiritual healers who help him piece together this intricate puzzle. |
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Listen to the Program November 4, 2010 |
*FVIR will broadcast at a new time 9AM beginning Nov. 18th |
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Listen to the Program September 30, 2010 |
Grandmother Jyoti of the International Council of the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers www.grandmotherscounil.org. In the fall of 2004, thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers gathered from all over the world, from Alaska, North, South, and Central America; Africa; and Asia. “We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth and the destruction of Indigenous ways of life”. |
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Listen to the Program September 23, 2010 |
JENNIFER KRIESBERG (Tuscarora Nation) of the Red Diva Project's "The Road Forward" which brings attention to missing and murdered aboriginal women, according to the Native Women's Association of Canada is: 582. The "unofficial" number is over 1,200 www.nwac.ca/ |
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Listen to the Program September 16, 2010 |
Johnathan Mazower www.survivalinternational.org reports on several fronts regarding the near extinction of 34 Indigenous groups in South America and a recent victory by the Dongria Kondh people of India against an international mining corporation Vedanta's billionaire owner Anil Agarwai. |
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Listen to the Program September 9, 2010 |
SANTI HITORANGI www.saverapanui.org Armed Chilean Police forcibly removed the unarmed Rapanui Hito family in the middle of the night from the Hanga Roa Hotel. The Hito family are being charged with criminal trespass and terrorism. They are in imminent danger of being taken from the island to prisons in mainland Chile. |
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Listen to the Program September 2, 2010 |
SUSAN HITORANGI www.saverapanui.org Updates regarding the "reoccupation of Rapanui lands" misnomered as Easter Island, by the Rapanui people and the arrest warrants for a large number of its original inhabitants. Illegally taken Rapanui lands by the Chilean government is in question. |
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Listen to the Program August 26, 2010 |
JAMES SWAN of the United Urban Warrior Society is a group of people working to help reassure the community, and the Native American population, by conducting community policing in Rapid City, South Dakota. EMAIL: aimbhc@yahoo.com KARAH WOODWARD Digital Warrior Media reports on a rally held at City Hall in NYC regarding Mayor Bloomberg remarks to Governor Paterson to "get yourself a cowboy hat and a shotgun" to enforce the collection of cigarette taxes from tobacco products sold on Indian reservations. The Native contingent demanded an apology for the racially insensitive and offensive comments. SANTI HITORANGI and SUSAN HITO-SHAPIRO www.SaveRapanui.org 500 Indigenous Rapa Nui--a place more commonly known as Easter Island-- have been occupying more than two dozen sites over a land dispute that dates back to 1888. Over half of island's Indigenous population of 5,000, issued a letter to the Pacific Island Forum and President Pinera, requesting the Rapa Nui's right to secede from Chile.The letter proposes that the island, situated on the southeastern point of the Polynesian triangle, would be better off if it was an official part of Oceania. |
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Listen to the Program July 22, 2010 |
Emily Schiffer, Dana Dupris, Carlys High Bear, Demi Beautiful Bald Eagle, Wynema Dupris, Karlisle High Bear, Samantha High Bear, Jessie Carlson |
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Listen to the Program July 15, 2010 |
Tina Cordova, Louise Benally & Anna Rondon a coalition of community groups affected by uranium mining and committed to renewable energy development — announces the 31st Anniversary Commemoration of the Church Rock Uranium Tailings Spill of July 16 - 1979. The purposes of this event are to remember and honor the Diné communities that were affected by the largest release of radioactive waste in U.S. history, and to reaffirm the Navajo Nation’s ban on uranium mining and processing. www.sric.org Valerie Taliman Publicist for the Iroquois National Lacrosse Team which has travelled with their own Haudenousaunee passports since 1977 were denied orginally by England and given assurances by the US State Dept. that they would be allowed to return to the U.S. The national lacrosse team is to particpate in the the 2010 World Lacrosse Championships today and competing against England in the opening game. www.iroquoisnationals.org |
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Listen to the Program July 8, 2010 |
Canunpa Gluha Mani In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an executive order that removed the Nebraska land from the reservation; the legality of this order has been disputed. Ever since, Whiteclay has been notable primarily for the vast quantities of alcohol sold to residents of the legally dry Pine Ridge reservation. The status of Whiteclay's beer stores became a volatile political issue in the late 1990s, as a pair of unsolved murders in 1999 led to a series of marches and rallies led by various activist groups (including the American Indian Movement (AIM) and Nebraskans for Peace) demanding that the state of Nebraska revoke the area's liquor licenses and increase law enforcement in the area. www.battleforwhiteclay.org Brenda Dardar-Robichaux The Houma Indian Nation of Louisiana’s coastline prepare for the worst as the eco-destruction as the Gulf oil crisis continues to affect living conditions. The man-made disaster that has pumped millions of gallons of toxic crude into the Gulf of Mexico is nothing like a hurricane. It’s far worse. www.unitedhoumanation.org Paul Stamets The BP oil spill has inflicted enormous harm in the Gulf of Mexico and will continue to do so for decades, to come. Although estimates have been that BP could be liable for more than 14 billion dollars in clean up damages, very few in the media have mentioned the long-term, generational consequences of this oil spill. We must now deal with the after effects. One solution is mycoremediation, the process of using fungi to return a contaminated eco-system to a less contaminated land. www.fungi.com/mycotech/petroleum_problem.html |
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Listen to the Program July 1, 2010 |
Ronald Holloway of The NJ Sand Hill Band Of Lenape & Cherokee Indians filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court in Newark NJ laying claim to the State of NJ as well as charging the then Governor Corzine, NJ Sec'ty of State Nina Wells; NJ Attorney General Ann Milgram and NJ Senate President, Richard Codey with violation of human rights, genocide, and breaking of treaties etc. Contact: 973.293.3884 |
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Listen to the Program June 24, 2010 |
JAMIE BILLIOT (Dulac People of the Houma Nation, Louisiana), Director of the Community Center in Dulac, here at the USSF to speak to the affects of the BP Gulf oil spill. |
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Listen to the Program June 17, 2010 |
SCOTT RICHARD LYONS (Ojibwe/Dakota) is associate professor of English at Syracuse University, where he teaches Indigenous and American literatures. Author of the new book X-Marks: Native Signatures of Assent During the 18th and 19th centuries, North American Indian leaders leaders community signed treaties with the Europeans powers and the American and Canadian governments with an "X", signifying their and assent to the the terms. These "X-marks" indicated coercion (because the treaties were made under unfair conditiions), reistance (because they were often met with protest), and acquiescence (to both a European modernity and the end of a particular moment of Indian history and identity). |
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Listen to the Program May 20, 2010 |
Hello Listeners!!! ON MAY 20th from 10AM to 12PM (noon) FIRST VOICES INDIGENOUS RADIO will be fundraising/membership driving to stay on the air. FVIR supporters must pledge between the hours of 10AM to 12PM for several premiums. Please help keep First Voices Indigenous Radio on the air!. We need to show a strong financially supported 2 hours of FVIR on May 20th. FVIR needs your support. PLEASE PLEDGE BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 10AM to 12PM on MAY 20th Eastern NYC Call 212.209.2950 FVIR will return to "regular" programming on June 17th. |
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Listen to the Program May 6, 2010 |
Reports of 3 Blackhawk helicopters attempting to land on the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre site for "educational and historical" purposes is thwarted by the traditional Lakota and the logic used by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Indian Reorganization Act government to communicate. Censored News OFELIA RIVAS Voice Against the Wall From the Sonoran Desert, the O’odham, the people of the Lightening Lands. Her visit to the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of the Mother Earth, which was held in Cochabamba, Bolivia from April 20th to 22nd. KAREN MARRERO SARAYAKU April 29th a group of men from Sarayaku were attacked with dynamite and firearms. Our comrades managed to see that some of the attackers were of African race.The reasons behind the attack have to do with the position of Sarayaku to not allow a group of outsiders to occupy a portion of land, within the territory legally alotted to Sarayaku, in order to construct a new airstrip. The intention of these persons is to settle there and form a pseudocommunity, that they call Kutukachi, in order to negotiate with the oil company AGIP. |
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Listen to the Program April 29, 2010 |
KARMEN RAMIREZ BOSCAN (Wayuu) - the real life of Avatar’s Indigenous peoples - talks about the impact of Colombia’s armed conflict and trans-national companies. The Wayuu’s opposition to eight megaprojects - Jepirachi Wind Park, the Caribe Gas Pipeline between Colombia and Venezuela, the Rancheria River dam, and especially to the El Cerrejon mine were the reasons for the official persecution. Their work in defense of their territory, international denunciations about the operations of transnationals have resulted in being threatened by paramilitaries and the criminalization of their activities. From the Desert – Notes about paramilitaries and violence in Wayuu territory of the Middle Guajira. |
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Listen to the Program April 22, 2010 |
KAREN REDHAWK DALLET (Shadow Catchers Institute) & BRAD GARNESS(Alaskan Inter-Council) and KAI LANDOW & TOM ANTHONY -Attny. Hawaii Kingdom |
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Listen to the Program April 15, 2010 |
JOHN CHASE Yup'ik Eskimo hunter living above the arctic circle in Kotzebue, Alaska, talks about the idea of 'nukalpiaq'. It is a Yup'ik name for a person - a great hunter and provider. They are generally young men. He is interviewed by Andrei Jacobs. FVIR THEME: "Tahi" (Roots Mix) Moana & the Moa Hunters - Tangata Records "Easlen People" Diane Patterson - Sacred Sound |
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Listen to the Program April 8, 2010 |
WILMA MANKILLER 64, the once dirt-poor Oklahoma farm girl who grew up to become an activist for American Indian causes and women's rights, an author and the first woman to hold the Cherokee Nation’s highest office, died Tuesday. PETER BRATT – Director of La Mission Interview by Andrei Jacobs (Producer) DARLENE PIPEBOY Converses about being a human being with the values of a Dakota woman as an elder. Contact number 605-932-3628 |
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Listen to the Program April 1, 2010 |
ELIAS PAILLAN, a Mapuche radio journalist exposes the inefficiency and limitations of state after the Feb. 27th earthquake & tsunami wreaked havoc in the countryside and coastline of south central Chile, leaving thousands of victims and destroyed villages. The mainstream media in the U.S. encloses the bubble created to sell as a developed country - Chile. JOAO AMORIM - Director and Writer of 2012:Time For Change |
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Listen to the Program March 25, 2010 |
JOSE AYLWIN - MAPUCHE In the wake of February's 8.8 earthquake in Chile In contrast of official Chilean claims that ‘the situation is under control’, reports from the south of the country claim that rural communities are currently without ‘food, water, gas, electricity and telecommunications’. The status of the Mapuche-Lafkenche, who are based along Chile’s coastline, is of particular concern. LETICIA GLADUE, DAPHNE OMINAYAK and DAWN SEESEEQUON- Lubicon Cree Nation of Little Buffalo, Alberta, Canada. It has been twenty years since the United Nations Human Rights Committee first ruled that the failure to resolve Lubicon claims to their traditional lands had led to ongoing violations of their human rights by the impact of oil development. Three young women come to the UN to speak about the shocking treatment of their people and how they are growing up without access to traditional lands cut off by loggin, and extraction corporations enforced by the Canadian government. JOHN KANE of NATIVE PRIDE March 11th, US Senate passes the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act H.R.1676 | S.1147- the impact it has relating to the US Constitution and the Indian Commerce Clause. However, it does something else that isn’t so clear. It gives the states the power to enforce what is known as the Jenkins Act, a federal law, against tribal economic interests. Tahi Moana and the Moa Hunters Once Were Warriors Dream Robert Mirabal Mirabal Listening/Honor Song John Trudell Tribal Voice |
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Listen to the Program March 18, 2010 |
BILL MILLER a Mohican, 3 x Grammy Award winning singer songwriter and a master of the Native flute along with multiple Native American Music awards in recognition of his songwriting. |
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Listen to the Program March 11, 2010 |
>MARIJO MOORE Author of The Boy With A Tree Growing From His Ear by Renegade Publishing and 17 other books. We review the motion within the pages of her newest books. Contact: 828-665-7630 |
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Listen to the Program March 4, 2010 |
Concepcion, Chile - Jose Alywin Observatorio Ciudadono - The 8.8 magnitude earthquake on February 27th, ultimately exposes the political elite and the media who deny, that of a country where affluence coexists with material poverty, the First World with Third World. Despite the efforts they have made for years to show Chile as a winner, a country which allows the North Amerian Free Trade Agreement and more recently, its incorporation into the OECD, in the top leagues, as if all its inhabitants were invited to the same party, the earthquake has revealed the social inequality that still exists in the country. The Native Women's Association of Canada Kate Rexe - Director of NWAC - There are 520 known cases of missing or murdered Aboriginal women and girls entered into the NWAC database. NWAC believes there are many more cases that have not yet been documented, especially for earlier decades. In Canada where the Indigenous population makes up less than 2% of the Canadian population, if compared to the rest of the population their death and disappearance rate would be equivalent to over 18,000 Canadian women and girls missing or murdered in the past thirty years. Ofelia Rivas Voice Against the Wall - Imprisoned in southern Chiapas and recently released while supporting Zapatistas. She lives on Tohono O'odham land on the US/Mexico border and exposes the human rights abuses of the US Border Patrol and ongoing militarization of the border and O'odham land. |
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Listen to the Program January 28, 2010 |
Dahoud Andre and Miriam Neptune Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees - speak regarding the relief efforts being denied by the U.S militarization in Haiti. |
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Listen to the Program January 21, 2010 |
Commentary on the devastation of the earthquake in Haiti and the militarization of the country by the U.S. A magnitude 5.9 aftershock, since the 12 January cataclysm, caused no serious reported damage or casualties. |
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Listen to the Program January 20, 2010 |
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Listen to the Program January 14, 2010 |
Basem Khader - former economist with the United Nations updates us on the situation at the Egypt/Gaza border. Website: electronicintifada.net |
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Listen to the Program February 15, 2007 |
Environmental Justice & Indigenous Rights: Battling Climate Change and Protecting Sacred Sites Native Activists Rally to Protect Sacred Medicine Lake in CA U.S. Energy Policy and Climate Change – and the Harmful Impacts on Indigenous Peoples |
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Listen to the Program July 27, 2006 |
Protecting Mother Earth: The Battle to Defend Sacred Sites and the Indigenous Youth Movement 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. 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. |
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Listen to the Program June 30, 2006 |
Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas Suffers Water Crisis, Files Lawsuit For Rights to Reservoir Project; Language Teacher Succeeds in Making Lakota Part of High School Curriculum Kickapoo Tribe Files Lawsuit Against U.S. and Local Officials for Water Rights Damon Williams, General Counsel for the Kickapoo tribe in Kansas. Link for more information: The Native American Rights Fund Lakota Teacher Fights for Language Rights in Public School Susana Geliga, director of the Little White Buffalo Project, teaches the Lakota language at a public high school in South Dakota. To contact the Little White Buffalo Project: P.O. Box 6203, Rapid City, SD 57709 News and Announcements Fire Thunder Goes to Trial - Suspended president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, Cecilia Fire Thunder, will go before the tribal council today for her third impeachment hearing. The hearing was called over Fire Thunder's public opposition to the state's restrictive abortion law. Fire Thunder said in an interview with Indian Country Today “I got really angry about a bunch of white guys in the state Legislature making decisions about my body, again." Fire Thunder was ordered not to talk to the media but she told ICT she couldn't remain silent as Native women continue to suffer sexual and physical abuse, many of them at the hands of non-Indians. She said ''The abortion issue is the key that opens the padlock to sexual deviancy that is occurring on the Pine Ridge reservation,” referring to rape and incest. Critics say her call to open a women's clinic on the Pine Ridge Reservation went against traditional Lakota values. They say she solicited funds for the clinic in violation of tribal law. The tribal council subsequently suspended Fire Thunder and outlawed abortion. Some tribal members have started a drive to put a ban on abortion in the tribe's constitution. EPA Know of Hazardous Waste Dump Near U.S./Mexico Border - Documents show a hazardous waste dump planned by the Mexican government and a private company near Tohono ceremonial grounds was kept secret from the Indigenous peoples. The documents show the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency knew about the dump nearly one year before in Mexico were informed. Indian Country Today obtained the EPA reports that describe the dump and say “No significant impacts” were expected. The EPA knew Mexico had issued state and federal permits to store 45,000 tons of asbestos, organocholorides and industrial waste sludge. The permit is for 50 years in the community of Quitovac, where annual sacred ceremonies are held. Whistle blowers exposed the hazardous waste dump in February 2006, but most learned of the dump months later. According to Indian Country Today, said the government entities are working in collusion and ignoring the impact on the traditional communities and their culture and spiritual well-being. in the state of Sonora said the hazardous waste dump would expose children to deadly toxins, contaminate underground well water, desecrate ceremonial grounds and affect those who depend on tourism for livelihood. Canadian Native Groups Cancel Rail Blockade - Canadian aboriginal groups canceled a planned blockade of Canadian National Railway lines set for Thursday, after the company agreed to lobby Ottawa to help resolve natives' outstanding land claims, both groups said on Wednesday. CN Rail had asked the courts to stop Indian groups in the western province of Manitoba from carrying out threats to block rail lines in an effort to draw attention to their land claims disputes with the federal government. The groups requested on Wednesday that the matter be put aside in court after each had made oral commitments. According to Reuters, Rondeau River First Nation Chief Terrance Nelson said his community will rally next to a CN line about 60 miles south of Winnipeg that leads south to the United States. Another group intends to rally at a domestic CN line. Interior Official Charged in Abramoff Scandal - The first official charge in connection with the Jack Abramoff scandal has been made against an Interior Department official. Roger Stillwell is expected to plead guilty next month to a misdemeanor charge. He worked closely with Abramoff, whose clients included U.S. territorial governments that fall under Interior's jurisdiction. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee released a report a week ago on its Abramoff investigation. The report urges tribes to develop contracting and conflict of interest laws to ensure that legal, lobbying and other contracts are subjected to an open and transparent process. The committee also urged tribes to strengthen their elections process. Bush Administration Withholds $300M from Indian Housing - The Bush administration's decision to withhold up to $300 million in Indian housing funds came under fire on Wednesday. Key members of Congress questioned why the Department of Housing and Urban Administration appeared to be punishing nearly every single federally recognized tribe by denying them access to their money. They suggested a legislative fix may be needed to prevent what tribal housing leaders predicted would be a total disaster. Sen. Byron Dorgan, the vice chairman of the Senate Indian affairs committee said HUD was going overboard by tying up the entire program over a lawsuit filed by just one tribe. The Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana filed a lawsuit after HUD claimed they received excess funds under the Native American Housing and Self-determination Act. Marty Shuravaloff, the newly elected president of the National American Indian Housing Council, said some tribes may have to stop building homes altogether as a result of the administration's move. Ward Churchill To Appeal Dismissal - Ward Churchill has vowed to appeal his firing through university channels and file a federal lawsuit if his appeal fails. The University of Colorado professor now faces dismissal for alleged research misconduct. Churchill ignited a furious controversy with a 2001 essay that compared some of the World Trade Center victims to Adolf Eichmann, who orchestrated the Holocaust. On Wednesday he called the investigation of his work "a farce" and said he is being singled out because he is a dissident scholar. Ward Churchill told The Associated Press no scholar's work could stand up to the scrutiny he is under. University officials concluded his essay was protected by the Constitution but they ordered an investigation into his scholarship. A faculty committee concluded last month that Churchill committed "serious, repeated, and deliberate research misconduct," and Interim Chancellor Philip DeStefano said Monday the university should fire him. Canadian Tribe Rejects Treaty Money as Insult - The Chief of the West Point First Nation in the Northwest territories of Canada is demanding more money from the federal government for annuities after receiving a check for an amount which she called “an insult”. The government sent Chief Karen Felker a check for $216, that’s $3 a person for the 72-member band for their hunting and fishing allowance. It’s a legal provision under a Treaty signed in 1921. The government originally agreed to send ammunition and twine for hunting and fishing but replaced it with money in the early 1990s without consulting the band. Chief Felker sent the check back to Ottawa this month with a warning that it won’t accept any more money until the federal government accounts for inflation or at least send actual hunting supplies. A spokeswoman for the federal government’s Indian and Northern Affairs Department said the West Point First Nation’s money will be put in a special fund and returned in full if the band eventually decides to collect it. Other bands are applauding the West Point Chief’s demand. Announcement: Upcoming IEN Conference - Next week will be the 14th Annual Protecting Mother Earth Conference. An Indigenous International Grassroots Environmental Gathering. It begins next Thursday, July 6th and ends on Sunday the 9th. You can go to www.ienearth.org for more information. We’ll be webstreaming the many workshops and speeches taking place. There are activists convening from Alaska, Arizona, Montana, well, from all corners of Indian country. You can get information on webstreaming from the IEN web site: www.ienearth.org |
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Listen to the Program June 22, 2006 |
Native Americans, Military Service and PTSD We take a look at the culturally-unique experience of Native Americans and combat experience. How are Native American veterans coping with post traumatic stress disorder and why are they the ethnic group with the highest proportion of military enlistment in the U.S.? Compared to the general population, nearly three times as many Native Americans have served in the armed forces as non Indians during the 20th century. Red Lake Elder and Vietnam Veteran Says PTSD Best Treated With Tribal Ceremonies. For many Native American Veterans, culturally-specific treatment for PTSD is an even more important issue. This week, Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley and the director of a VA Medical Center in Arizona signed an agreement to add the traditional Lifeway Ceremony to a dozen ceremonies for which the VA now pays. Returning Navajo veterans reportedly used traditional ceremonies for healing more than anything else. Other Native nations show similar patterns. Many Native veterans suffering from PTSD supplement or replace standard psychotherapeutic techniques with culturally specific healing techniques. The path to healing for Native veterans is oftentimes more complicated and meaningful than a visit to the nearest VA medical center. Larry Stillday, a tribal elder from Ponemah, a village on the Ojibwe Red Lake Reservation in Northern Minnesota. He is a Vietnam Veteran and outpatient supervisor at the Ponemah Health Center. Gulf War Veteran on the Cultural Barriers Encountered when Struggling with PTSD. Indigenous News Roundup Committee to release results of Abramoff investigation The Senate Indian Affairs Committee is releasing a report today on its Jack Abramoff investigation. The staffs of Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), the committee chairman, and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), the vice chairman, worked on the report. It summarizes what the committee learned over the course of its investigation and makes recommendations for potential changes to prevent tribe from being defrauded again. The committee held five hearings and investigated how much money tribes spent on the services of Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, one of Abramoff's associates. The probe did not focus on members of Congress who are tied to Abramoff. The report will be considered at a business meeting this morning. Former BIA official Reveals former Interior Department deputy secretary Griles as Abramoff's "Point Man." Smith said Griles regularly advocated for the interests of Abramoff's tribal clients. In the wake of the election of George W. Bush, Smith said Abramoff and other Republicans wanted to "make a killing inside the BIA" by representing wealthy gaming tribes. Smith said "They have no respect whatsoever for Native Americans. They're there to make a lot of money." Racist Cartoon Targets Seminole Tribe In Davie Florida, the mayor has denounced a cartoon as racist that a member of the town’s planning board circulated. Davie Mayor Tom Treux charged Karen Stenzel-Nowicki with sending around a cartoon depicting Seminole Leader Max Osceola as shirtless and banging on a drum as his canoe passes the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. A local councilwoman is depicted at the other end of the boat, with the words “open space princess” tattooed on her arm and a cocktail in hand. Treux said Stenzel-Nowicki denied drawing the cartoon, but he is calling for her removal for circulating it. The town council postponed a decision last night on whether to remove her. Stenzel-Nowicki is defending her actions as her constitutional right to free speech. According to the Miami Herald, Osceola hasn’t seen the cartoon and he said he doesn’t need to. He said “They’re stereotyping natives. They think every native lives in a tepee and has drums as a musical instrument. That’s the uneducated nonnative trying to stereotype us.” North Dakota: Group Challenges Right to Use "Fighting Siouxs" Mascot The University of North Dakota is moving forward with a lawsuit against the NCAA’s Indian mascot policy. The NCAA has asked colleges and universities with an American Indian mascot to conduct a review. The State Board of Higher Education voted 8-0 last week to challenge the placement of the "Fighting Sioux" logo and name on the list of hostile and/or abusive mascots. The NCAA has rejected two UND appeals, saying the university may not use the nickname or logo during NCAA postseason tournaments and it may not host a tournament if it continues using them. A number of Indian tribes, as well as faculty members and students on UND's Grand Forks campus, support dropping the nickname and logo, contending that they cause campus divisiveness. David Gipp, president of Bismarck's United Tribes Technical College, sent a letter to board members this week, asking them to forgo legal action. Six Nations Caledonia Update Police arrested a prominent Six Nations businessman on assault charges relating to an incident in Caledonia, Ontario on June 4. Ken Hill is charged with two counts of assault stemming from a confrontation between native protesters and Caledonia residents. Protesters have been occupying the housing development since Feb. 28. They say the property is part of a land grant dating from 1784, but provincial and federal governments insist the land in question was surrendered in 1841. Yesterday, dozens of non-aboriginal Caledonia residents protested outside a convention center where Ontario Premier McGuinty was speaking. He met briefly with three of the protestors who complained that the Ontario Provincial Police failed to respond to violent clashes between residents and aboriginal protesters and accused the government of abandoning the rule of law in the community. Meanwhile, Six Nations protesters say they are conducting an archeological dig at the occupied housing site in search of a burial site. They reportedly believe thousands of bodies may be buried there. They have had to publicly insist they are not digging a bunker after residents reported fears of militant actions. A survey done earlier for the developers found fragments of aboriginal artifacts, but no evidence of a burial ground. And the Ontario government is refusing to disclose how much it paid last week when it bought out the developer for the tract of land at the center of the occupation. However, the sale does not mean the province is giving the land back to the First Nations, and talks are continuing to end the occupation. On the same day, the government increased aid to compensate Caledonia-area businesses hurt by road blockades to about $1.7 million. The province is also talking about compensating those residents who suffered during the blockade. Hawaiian School Ruling Judges of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on Tuesday about the Hawaiians-only admissions policy at Kamehameha Schools. Admission to the elite school is first granted to all qualified Native Hawaiian students. Only one in eight eligible applicants get in, and tuition is 60 percent subsidized by the private trust. The case began three years ago when a Caucasian boy, only identified as John Doe, sued for admission to the school. Following the initial ruling last year declaring Kamehameha's Hawaiians-only admissions policy illegal, 15,000 people marched through downtown Honolulu in protest. The attorney for the school Kathleen Sullivan said yesterday, QUOTE "What we argue is that our admissions policy is entirely legal under U.S. civil rights laws because it helps redress the continuing harms from a legacy of devastation against the Native Hawaiian people that Congress has acknowledged and for which Congress has apologized. The success story of the Kamehameha Schools in lifting up Hawaiian children, educating them and sending them off to seed the society with leaders is exactly what Princess Pauahi intended when she left her charitable testamentary trust, and it's exactly what the Kamehameha Schools do today." Michigan Tribe Seeks Boost in Recognition Struggle The Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians asked the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Wednesday to speed up its federal recognition petition. The tribe needs federal recognition to obtain $4.4 million, its share of a Congressional settlement fund. The tribe also wants to provide health, education, housing and other services to its members, said Ron Yob, the chairman. Virginia Tribes Press for Recognition Measure A bill to extend federal recognition to six Virginia tribes went before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Wednesday. The bill contains no language on gaming rights. Members of Congress from Virginia and Chief Stephen R. Adkins of the Chickahominy Tribe said legislative recognition is warranted due to special circumstances. A state law forbade tribal members from identifying themselves as Indian. Adkins said, "The state systematically worked to destroy us. I call it paper genocide." The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. National Aboriginal Day Celebrated in Canada Yesterday people celebrated the 10th National Aboriginal Day in Canada. A festival kicked off in Montreal yesterday that will last through the weekend. It will have singing, dancing and storytelling. The opening ceremony brought together aboriginals from across Canada and the United States, the Montreal community and visitors from around the world. Celinda Sosa, a Quechua Indian, and minister for economic development for Bolivia spoke in support of the solidarity of Aboriginal people in Canada. Visit http://www.nativelynx.qc.ca to learn more about the 2006 First Peoples Festival. |
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Listen to the Program June 15, 2006 |
Penobscot Nation Part of Unique Collaboration to Restore River and Salmon; Montana Coal Wars Veteran Gail Small on Energy Policies, Land Rights, Abramoff and More Cecilia Fire Thunder Refuses to Be Silenced The Navajo Nation Declares State of Emergency US Supreme Court Decision Favors Native Hawaiian Programs Appeals Court Blocks Critical Trust Fund Reports Caledonia Update Colorado University Panel Votes to Fire Ward Churchill Three South Carolina Tribes Seek Federal Recognition Abramoff Investigation Update Cherokees to Vote on Whether to Admit Freedmen Native American Music Awards IEN Protecting Mother Earth Conference Penobscot Nation Moves Forward With River Restoration Project Montana Coal War Veteran Gail Small on Energy Policy, Food Politics and More |
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Listen to the Program June 8, 2006 |
A Debate on the Native Hawaii Recognition Bill; 100 Days: An Update on the Six Nations Standoff in Caledonia; The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Moves Towards Federal Recognition 100 Days of Occupation: Six Nations Standoff at Caledonia Continuessix nations standoff in Caledonia Debate on the Native Hawaiian Recognition Bill: Giving Native Hawaiians Their Long Overdue or Preventing Land and Sovereignty Claims? Federal Recognition in the United States: The Mashpee Wampanoag Seek Tribal Status |
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Listen to the Program June 1, 2006 |
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 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. Links to articles: 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. |
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Listen to the Program May 4, 2006 |
Bringing Indigenous Issues to the United Nations: Re-defining the Millennium Development Goals; Bolivian Water War Leader Oscar Olivera Collaborates in Film Project, Fundraiser Tonight! Fundraiser for "Gringomobile Diaries: Bolivia", will show raw clips of the film and raise money for post-production costs. Also showing "Gringoton (Gringo-thon)" and other award-winning films and documentaries by Greg Berger, co-creator of "Gringomobile Diaries: Bolivia" The Millennium Development Goals and Indigenous Peoples: Re-defining the Millennium Development Goals Next week, thousand of Indigenous Peoples from all over the world will convene at the United Nations to bring their concerns and recommendations to the Permanent Forum, which is an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council with a mandate to discuss Indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. There will be several side events organized by Indigenous activists during the two-week session that are open to the public, including "Water is Life," "Indigenous Peoples' Toronto Charter on HIV/AIDS", and "Papal Bulls, Manifest Destiny & American Empire." We speak with Kent Lebsock, Executive Director of the American Indian Law Alliance. Visit the web site for more information, www.ailanyc.org, American Indian Law Alliance, aila@ailanyc.org |
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Listen to the Program April 7, 2006 |
Mohawk Nation Clashes With Canadian Authorities; Lakota Elders Share Wisdom on Issues From Global Warming to Abortion Mohawks Continue Peaceful Takeover to Halt Non-Indigenous Development on Tribal Land We speak with Hazel Hill, an Onkwehonweh at Grand River community, currently in a jurisdictional dispute with the Canadian government. There is an effort by non-Indigenous people to build 300 houses on Onkwehonweh territory. Elder Iroquois women and other Indigenous peoples from various nations have stopped the development by staging protests and negotiating with the developers. Their struggle to preserve the land continues. Hazel Hill, can be contacted at thebasketcase@ol.aibn.com Lakota Elders Willard and Darlene Pipeboy Share Wisdom Willard and Darlene Pipeboy speak about a range of issues, from Global Warming, to Immigration and Abortion. They are from South Dakota. |
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Listen to the Program 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! 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 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 Carter Camp, with the grass-roots organization Defend Bear Butte! |
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Listen to the Program March 30, 2006 |
Abramoff Scandal's Impact on Indian Country; Native American Author Gabriel Horn on "Contemplations of a Primal Mind" Abramoff Scandal Rocks Indian Country: Is There Going to be Permanent Damage as a Result? Disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to almost five years in prison in a Miami case for wire fraud and conspiracy in a $147.5 million casino-boat purchase in 2000. For his lead role in orchestrating the use and misuse of between $66 million and $82 million in tribal fees and political contributions, Abramoff has pleaded guilty to the attempted corruption of public officials, among other things. Federal prosecutors praised his cooperation in the Washington case to the Miami court. They have suggested they'll ask for less than the 30-year prison term possible on the Washington charges, contingent on Abramoff's continuing cooperation. We get a report on the latest from Washington. We also look at the scandal's impact on Indian country. David Wilkins discusses American Indian nations' relationship with Washington lobbyists, the issues of sovereignty that are at stake, and mainstream media coverage of the issue. Wilkens recently wrote in a column for Indian Country Today that "Indian nations must end their dependency on non-Indians and instead look to develop a Native crop of strategists, liaisons and lobbyists trained in the values and traditions of their own nations." Dr. David E. Wilkins (Lumbee) , professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota. He holds adjunct appointments in Political Science, Law, and American Studies. His research interests include federal Indian policy and law, comparative indigenous peoples, tribal governments, judicial politics, and tribal-sate relations. He has published several books, including American Indian Politics and the American Political System; The Navajo Political Experience, Uneven Ground: American Indian Sovereignty and Federal Law (with Tsianina Lomawaima); and Tribes, Treaties, and Constitutional Tribulations (with Vine Deloria, Jr.). His articles have appeared in a range of social science, law, historical, and ethic studies journals. Laura Strickler, a reporter based in Washington for Capitol News Connection with Public Radio International. She has been covering the Abramoff affair for Native American stations as well. A Discussion with Native American Author Gabriel Horn He is the author of "The Native American book of Knowledge" and "The Native American Book of Life", as well as "Contemplations of a Primal Mind." He shares his philosophical outlook, highlighting Native Americans' unique connection to Turtle Island (North America) and his struggle to understand Indigenous identity. Gabriel Horn, a nationally recognized lecturer on Native American philosophy and its connection to the rights of indigenous people, animals, and the welfare of the environment. Horn was one of the original teachers who helped establish the American Indian Movement Survival Schools in Minnesota and is now a professor of writing and literature. Selected for Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, Horn has written the award-winning Ceremony -- In The Circle of Life, as well as Contemplations of a Primal Mind, The Book of Ceremonies, and the novel Transcendence, co-written with his wife Amy. He lives in Florida near the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. Activist Alert!: Help Put a Stop to the Commercial Desecration of Bear Butte Visit the web site www.Matopaha.org to sign the online petition to help stop this desecration. Bear Butte is sacred land in South Dakota for the Lakota. A developer is threatening to build a 600-acre biker bar and concert venue at the base of Bear Butte. Signatures are needed by April 4th to be presented at a public hearing with Commissioners in South Dakota. |
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Listen to the Program 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. |
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Listen to the Program March 9, 2006 |
Abortion Ban in South Dakota Draws Native Opposition, and Indigenous Peoples' Demands for UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights Continue into 11th Year Native Women Unite in South Dakota to Fight Abortion Ban Native American women are organizing at the grass-roots level to protest the bill that was recently signed by Governor Rounds of South Dakota that would ban virtually all abortions in the state. We find out how the abortion ban impacts Native women and communities and hear about efforts to combat it. Charon Asetoyer, founder and executive director of the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center, a grass-roots women's health institute on the Yankton reservation in South Dakota. Indigenous Peoples Demand Formal Rights Declaration at UN Session, and The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai'i Indigenous Women and men from around the world convened in Geneva to demand a formal United Nations declaration of Indigenous rights. About 90 representatives of governments, specialists from indigenous regions of the world, non-governmental organizations, as well as scholars and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples participated in the 11th session of the working group of the Commission on Human Rights. The agenda included the crucial issues of the indigenous rights to self-determination, lands, territories and resources, with an emphasis on the fundamental right to restitution. Anne Keala Kelly, Native Hawai'ian journalist and filmmaker. She is working on a documentary called "Noho Hewa Ma: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai'i." It chronicles how the American war machine took hold in Hawai'i, and how to the detriment of the Hawai'ian people it has expanded throughout the Pacific. |
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Listen to the Program February 7, 2006 |
Agreement Between Coastal Native Canadian Nations, Loggers and Environmentalists Protects Sacred Forest The New York Times reports that a coalition of Native Americans, loggers and environmentalists have announced an agreement that will protect the Great Bear Rain Forest, home to sacred sites for the Gitga'at in British Columbia. The article reports "The process has already inspired similar efforts to save the Canadian boreal forest, to the north, and suggestions that the agreement could be a model for preservation in the Amazon and other threatened forests." Chairman of the Heiltsuk nation said, "Now we can manage our destiny. Without this agreement, we would be going to court forever and we would have to put our children and our old ladies dressed in button blankets in the way of the chainsaws." |
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Listen to the Program February 2, 2006 |
Confronting Myths: From the Legend of Pocahontas to the Discourse on Palestine Louisiana's Coastal Tribes Appeal For Help * Patty Ferguson - Tribal Attorney, Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe 480-425-2637 Ferguson@SacksTierney.com Confronting Stereotypes in "The New World", Shattering the Myth of Pocahontas Camilla Townsend, Associate Professor of History at Colgate University. She specializes in Native American and Latin American history. She is the author of several books, including "Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma" and "Burying the White Gods: New Perspectives on the Conquest of Mexico." Free Speech or Racist Propaganda?: Multi-Faith Coalition Mobilizes to Respond to Anti-Palestinian Ad In a recent issue of The Nation magazine, a full-page ad by the organization called Facts and Logic About the Middle East, or FLAME, claims to confront myths about Palestine. The ad says the nationhood of Palestine is a myth. The group's ad has outraged many people, including the group WESPAC. We speak with some representatives. UPCOMING EVENTS February 3, 2006: Tiokasin Ghosthorse will play the flute and introduce the documentary film, "Incident at Oglala: The Leonard Peltier Story." The film, by Robert Redford and Michael Apted shows the mockery made by the U.S. government of its own judicial system. It shows the FBI-led reign of terror perpetrated on the Lakota Reservation in 1973. Tiokasin will have a Q&A session following the film. Begins 7:30 pm, at Everything Goes Book Cafe, 208 Bay Street, Tompkinsville, Staten Island. Everything Goes Book Cafe & Neighborhood Stage February 3, 2006: the 30th anniversary of Leonard Peltier's capture in Canada. |
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Listen to the Program January 26, 2006 |
Indigenous Environmental Network Director Charges Bush Administration With Crimes Against Humanity; A Discussion With Charmaine Whiteface, Defender of the Black Hills Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network Defenders of the Black Hills 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 |
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Listen to the Program January 5, 2006 |
Burial Ground Threatened, the Abramoff Scandal, Mohawks Under Siege Slave and Native American Burial Ground Threatened by Development Laura Zucker, of the Coalition to Preserve Teaneck 's Native American/African Slave/Settler Cemetery Tribal Chairman Sprague on How Abramoff Cost Tribe Millions D.K. Sprague, Chairman of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Tribe, also known as the Gun Lake Tribe. Kanehsatake Mohawks: We Were Invaded by Mercenaries, Arrested and Given Unfair Trial |
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Listen to the Program January 2, 2006 |
Homeless for Over a Century, a Tribe Awaits U.S. Redemption Here is an article that describes one tribe's struggle for federal recognition, highlighting the history of U.S. land theft that displaced the tribe and left them marginalized. The article also provides a good outline of how the the recognition process unfolds, including its shortcomings and inadequacies, and the reasons why tribes continue to seek it. Here at the base of a rise called Hill 57, a steady, cold wind blows on a cloudless day as James Parker Shield and Russ Boham tell of life for the landless Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The tribe, its land taken away more than a century ago, squatted in Great Falls and elsewhere in north-central Montana through the late 1960's, living as many as 12 to a tar-paper shack without plumbing, and scavenging at the dump for scrap metal, rags and food. Parents often ran afoul of state child welfare officials. ''They'd see you sleeping in a car body and take you away from your family,'' said Mr. Boham, who, like Mr. Shield, was among those shipped to the state orphanage when he was a child. Today, with most of its members living in public housing around Great Falls, Mr. Shield and Mr. Boham are leading a protracted fight for government recognition of the tribe. Recognition would allow their people to gain control of federal money to buy land here for a tribal headquarters and housing, and to win back a measure of dignity. The 112 families led by Chief Little Shell lost their North Dakota homeland to the government in 1892 when a chief of the Pembina Chippewa signed away their rights to it, without their authority and in their absence. The Little Shell had left home, in the Turtle Mountain area, to go hunting, and an Indian agent forced the other Chippewa to accept the Ten Cent Treaty -- so called by Indians because it bought about 10 million acres of Chippewa land, including that of the Little Shell, for a million dollars. Ever since, the Little Shell have known only diaspora. Most came to Montana, where they lived near dumps and on the streets of Great Falls, Helena and other towns. In 1896, angry whites asked the government to do something about them, and the Army rounded them up at gunpoint, put them on boxcars and shipped them to Canada. ''Most of them made their way back,'' said Mr. Shield, the vice president of the tribal council, which Mr. Boham serves as assistant. The three other surviving Chippewa tribes from the Turtle Mountain area -- the Turtle Mountain, the White Earth and the Rocky Boy -- were all less scattered and received federal recognition over time; they now have reservations. But the 4,500 or so Little Shell still await official recognition from the Office of Federal Acknowledgment at the Interior Department, a quest for which they have gained the support not only of other tribes in Montana but also of the Montana governor's office, the State Legislature and Cascade County, which includes Great Falls. The recognition process was created by the government in 1978 to make reparations to tribes that had been forced to move from place to place throughout American history. There are now 562 federally recognized tribes in the United States. Roughly 220 others have expressed interest in recognition, but such efforts are often strongly opposed. Some of that opposition comes from tribes, already recognized, that are eager to protect their vast casino gambling income, and from states that do not want recognized tribes within their borders, because a bid for recognition is occasionally a ploy of relatively few Indians with dubious historical ties simply to open a new casino. ''We're running into the ripple effects of gaming and politics,'' Mr. Shield contended. ''But the gaming has nothing to do with us. If you take a hard look at the gaming opportunities in Montana, there's no market and no population. We want a home.'' James E. Cason, an associate deputy interior secretary who oversees Indian affairs, denied that the gambling issue had been a factor in the case of the Little Shell, who first applied for recognition in 1984, who received preliminary approval in 2000 and who have spent much of the time since then engaged in assembling the documentation needed for final approval. (The final draft of their petition was sent to the government earlier this year.) ''It doesn't have anything to do with gaming -- it's a non issue,'' Mr. Cason said, adding that the Little Shell had been ''in control of this process the last five years and have asked for extensions.'' With the final draft now in hand, ''we will try to do it as expeditiously as we can,'' he said. But the recognition process has long been criticized by Indians as unwieldy, partly because of a requirement for extensive documentation that proves they have acted as a tribe politically and culturally over the last two centuries. ''It's extremely onerous, almost prohibitively so,'' said Kim Gottschalk, a lawyer for the Native American Rights Fund, a nonprofit law firm based in Boulder, Colorado, that is researching the Little Shell claim. The fund estimates that it has spent more than $1 million in out-of-pocket expenses on the petition, not counting lawyers' pay. Kevin Gover, a Pawnee Indian who was assistant interior secretary for Indian affairs from 1997 to 2000 and is now a law professor at Arizona State University, is also critical of the recognition program. ''They've been around for 30 years,'' he said, ''and they've never managed to approve more than two a year.'' Professor Gover said the Office of Federal Acknowledgment demanded far too much documentation, ''and that is especially a problem for tribes like the Little Shell,'' who lived in a remote area and have no written records from the period. The Little Shell band is not claiming land. But with $3.5 million held in trust for it by the federal government until recognition is achieved, it would buy 200 acres of farmland here in Cascade County, where most tribal members live, and build a headquarters, a clinic and housing. In November, Cascade County commissioners passed a resolution calling for the county to be the home base of the tribe, even though that would mean the removal of 200 acres from the tax base. "We support them moving forward with official recognition,'' said Commissioner Lance Olson. ''But if they aren't going to recognize them, they should tell them.'' Federal recognition would also allow the Little Shell to apply for minority contracts and to have a government-to-government relationship with Washington. ''That means they could no longer treat us,'' Mr. Shield said, ''like someone they don't want to admit they fathered.'' |
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Listen to the Program 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. Show Headlines Nevada Tribe Hit by Fire Still Waiting on BIA For Assistance Members of the Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe of Nevada were hit by a fire three months ago and are still waiting for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to provide assistance. The fire destroyed 3,000 acres of reservation land on the Nevada-Oregon border. Reservation members have applied for monetary aid and supplies through the BIA social services, but the agency says first the Red Cross must investigate the applications. A BIA spokeswoman said, "It appears the federal government can do more. I do not know when the Red Cross will go out there." The tribe has been meeting with state officials and members of Congress, including democratic Senator Harry Reid. Members are also struggling to get firewood and the US service Forest Service has said it's against federal law for them to provide free wood. Also pending is the $1,700 bill for drinking water delivered the day of the fire. Tribal members were without water for a week. Lummis Enlist Fire, an Old Ally, As They Battle Scourge of Drugs The Lummi nation in Washington state reportedly set a boarded-up house on fire in a community effort to battle rampant drug abuse. The family owning the house agreed to the ceremony. The Seattle Times reports that illegal drugs were sold out of the house. The Lummi nation launched a major anti-drug campaign in 2002 after tragedies related to drug abuse skyrocketed. Tribal members report increasing drug-related prosecutions and establishing more youth treatment facilities and even banishing dealers from the rez. Members say they have returned to the teachings of their ancestors and the power of fire. AIM Calls for Newspaper Columnist To Be Fired For Criticizing Deloria The Colorado branch of the American Indian Movement is calling for Rocky Mountain News columnist Vincent Carroll to be fired after words on Vine Deloria Jr, who passed away November 13. The controversy center around the following passage Carroll wrote: But what the obituaries and tributes have for the most part danced around or ignored is the utterly wacky nature of some of his views. [In a 1996 book] Deloria rejected the Bering land bridge theory of prehistoric migration to the Western Hemisphere since he believed Indians existed here 'at the beginning' - probably as contemporaries of dinosaurs. And this bizarre claim only hints at his contempt for much science. Deloria insisted that we shouldn't sanitize America's past. Fair enough. But let's not sanitize his legacy, either." This was AIM's response: Would you have disrespected Martin Luther King in the same way? No. Would you have disrespected any European-American leader in that manner? No. Recently, you rightfully gave the death of Rosa Parks prominent, multiple day coverage in your paper. Why not for Deloria? Is it because American Indians could not possibly have done anything important enough to merit such coverage? Is it because you and your staff are entirely unaware of Deloria and his contributions? If so, we hope that the racism inherent in such ignorance is obvious to you. A couple dozen AIM members signed the letter. Supreme Court Nominee Alito Voted to Support Indian's Religious Freedom Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito has a miniscule record when it comes to Indian issues, but there is one decision that looks favorable for Indians. A couple of years ago the US court of appeals for the third circuit heard the case of Dennis Blackhawk, a man brought up in a traditional Oglala Lakota home. Pennsylvania officials tried to force Blackhawk to obtain an exotic wildlife dealer permit to keep several black bears. Blackhawk sued, saying that violated his right to religious expression. Blackhawk conducted ceremonies with the bears, as advised by Lakota elders. The court sided with Blackhawk with Alito writing the majority opinion. Supreme Court Rules State Can Tax Reservation Fuel, Blow Dealt to the Potawatomi Nation The Supreme Court has ruled that states have the right to tax fuel sold on Indian reservations. A Prairie band Potawatomi attorney called it "an utter failure to give federal protection to tribal sovereignty" In a 7-2 vote, justices ruled that Kansas could tax distributors selling fuel at the Prairie Band Potawatomi tribe's gas station near Topeka. Tribal attorneys argued the Potawatomi tribe already taxes the fuel to pay for reservation roads traveled by tribal members and non-Indians alike. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anthony M. Kennedy agreed, saying the fuel is "effectively double-taxed." They also said that forcing the tax could result in the gas station going out of business. The ruling spells bad news for other tribes as well. Sixteen other states that impose a motor fuel tax and have Indian lands within their borders had urged the high court to hear the case. They argued that a restriction on their ability "to tax uniformly throughout the state will inhibit their ability" to fund highway construction and maintenance. Tex Hall, former leader of the National Congress of American Indians and the current chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara nation blasted the ruling. He said: "The Supreme Court's ruling today puts Indian tribes into a situation that they were never supposed to be in under the United States Constitution - fighting political battles within the state legislatures to fend off or repeal state laws like Kansas'. If sovereignty means anything, it means that no tribe should have to go hat in hand to the non-Indians of the state they live in and ask for the right to exercise their inherent sovereign powers. Seven of the Justices sitting on the Court don't get this. I think Indian Country is getting fed up with this kind of nonsense, and we are going to have to step up our role in deciding whether or not Samuel Alito is confirmed to the Supreme Court." |
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Listen to the Program November 15, 2005 |
Vine Deloria Jr. Passes After a Life of Seminal Work November 14, 2005 article in Indian Country Today by Jim Adams TUCSON, Ariz. - Vine Deloria Jr., the intellectual star of the American Indian renaissance, passed on Nov. 13, after struggling for several weeks with declining health. His immeasurable influence became immediately apparent in an outpouring of tributes from all corners of Indian country. ''I cannot think of any words I could possibly say that even begin to capture the significance of this man and his work among Native people and on our behalf for the past half century,'' said Richard West Jr., director of the National Museum of the American Indian in a message to his staff. ''He has been our ranking scholar and intellectual light for all of those years.'' The NMAI was only one of many Native institutions that Deloria made possible or deeply influenced during his 73 years. From the activist end of the spectrum, a tribute on the Colorado AIM Web site said, ''It is safe to say that without the example provided by the writing and the thinking of Vine Deloria Jr., there likely would have been no American Indian Movement, there would be no international indigenous peoples' movement as it exists today, and there would be little hope for the future of indigenous peoples in the Americas.'' Deloria wrote more than 20 books, starting with his best seller ''Custer Died for your Sins'' in 1969. His powerful, acerbic criticism made a deep impression on the dominant culture as well as the activist movement then erupting on the scene. But he has an even longer career working behind the scenes of Native organizations. He was drafted, as he put it, to be executive director of the National Congress of American Indians in 1964. He was a founding trustee of the NMAI when it consisted of the Gustav Heye collection in New York City and helped guide its sale to the Smithsonian Institution. He was a major thinker for the movements for sacred land protection, for treaty rights and for the protection and repatriation of Indian remains. In spite of his trenchant criticism of European Christianity, he also served for a time on the executive committee of the Episcopal Church of the U.S.A. He was the fourth generation descendant of the Yankton Sioux prophet Saswe, and his father and grandfather were both prominent Episcopal churchmen. TIME magazine once called Deloria one of the 10 most influential theologians of the 20th century. This March he received the second annual American Indian Visionary Award from Indian Country Today. In a self-deprecating acceptance speech abounding in anecdotes and teasing humor, Deloria gave credit to the remarkable generation of leaders that it was his privilege to work with, beginning with his service at the NCAI. Deloria was born in 1933 in Martin, S.D., on the border of the Pine Ridge Reservation. Although his lineage was predominately Yankton Dakota, his grandfather Philip, an Episcopal priest, had enrolled the family in the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, where he was stationed. Deloria served in the U.S. Marine Corps and received a master's degree from the Lutheran School of Theology in Rock Island, Ill. After his stint at the NCAI, he pursued an academic career, culminating in the position of professor of history at the University of Colorado. He remained an incisive writer and social critic to the end. He refused an honorary degree from the University of Colorado because he disapproved of its performance during an athletic scandal. During his last year, he was at work on a major book on the miraculous deeds of American Indian medicine men. |
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Listen to the Program November 10, 2005 |
Angus Hemlock, legal researcher for the traditional governing body for the Kanienkehaka nation (Mohawk nation) Lola Forester, Aboriginal host and programmer for the National Aboriginal Radio Program for SBS Radio in Australia. |
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Listen to the Program November 3, 2005 |
Renee Gurneau, President of the Red Lake College Jose Barreiro, Senior Editor of Indian Country Today Kent Nerburn, Author, sculptor, and educator, speaking on his new book: Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce. |
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Listen to the Program September 1, 2005 |
Fundraiser: Pro-Choice Movement in Mexico partnering with Zapatistas2 September 1st, 2005 at 8pm "Aborto Sin Pena" ("Abortion Without Shame/Abortion Without Penalty") is almost complete! Fundraiser tonight to complete the project. Clips from the film to be screened, special surprise raffle and DJ Alex Rivera spins. Help support this unprecedented political event! Sliding scale suggested donation, $5 - $10, no one turned away. |
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Listen to the Program August 25, 2005 |
Gwitch'in Nation Launches National Campaign to Protect the Arctic Refuge and a Way of Life Protect the arctic Refuge 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 Committee2 |
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Listen to the Program August 18, 2005 |
News on Colombia from Mario Murillo and Maori Music We speak with Nicholas Przybyla, veteran of Operation: Enduring Freedom and East Timor and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. Nicholas Przybyla speaks about the new documentary film, which he helped produce, Operation: Veteran Freedom. The film chronicles the events of March 2005, when thousands of people assembled outside of Ft. Bragg, North Carolina to protest two years of occupation in Iraq. The group was primarily veterans and family members of soldiers who had fought and died in the war-torn regions of the Middle East. Go to the web site to view trailers. Listen to the song "the Immaculate Woman" by Mato, a band that Tiokasin Ghosthorse performs with, by downloading the MP3. We speak with Mario Murillo, host of the Friday edition of Wakeup Call and producer of many other programs on WBAI. Murillo is a veteran radio journalist and currently assistant professor in the School of Communication at the Hofstra University. He is author of "Colombia and the United States: War, Unrest and Destabilization." Mario reports from Bogota, Colombia and discusses the Indigenous communities in southern Cauca, a hotbed for vocalized resistance to the Free Trade of the Americas accord, continued militarization and military intervention of the United States. Murillo reports the Colombian government is targeting Indigenous leaders by various threatening means and that Indigenous communities fear government incursions could lead to massive displacements. A brief discussion with James Webster, a Maori musician, is accompanied by beautiful flute performances. Webster makes the flutes which he plays. New York Station Links to Indigenous Radio Station in Colombia Santander de Quilichao, Cauca, Colombia The 40-minute live broadcast was one of the concrete results of the visit by radio journalist and educator Mario Murillo, veteran broadcaster with WBAI, who was in Northern cauca from August 5 through the 12th. Mario was hosted by the Association of Northern Indigenous Councils, ACIN, and visited a number of indigenous communities, including Toribío, Jambaló and Canoas. “It’s impossible to know the truth of what is happening in Colombia without visiting some of these communities that are directly affected by the conflict,” said Murillo during the roundtable discussion, hosted in New York by Mimi Rosenberg and Tiokasin. “Not even the people in Bogota or in other big cities of the country know the reality because their sources of information continue being the major corporate media and the official voices that distort the truth.” He added, “if this is the case within Colombia, imagine the level of disinformation that is making it to the United States and the perspective people have of the conflict.” The agenda of the weeklong visit was directed towards various aspects of the ACIN’s Communication “web” set up within the context of aggression, resistance and promotion of the indigenous community’s life plan. The goal was to establish concrete links of solidarity through community communication media, and particularly radio. In Northern Cauca, along with Radio Payu’mat, there are two other community indigenous radio stations, Voces de Nuestra Tierra in Jambalo, and Radio Nasa, in Toribio, shut down by the Ministry of Communication in 2004, but brought back on the air in June 2005 by order of a tribunal of the local indigenous council. As a result of the meetings with the ACIN’s Communication “web,”, a number of proposals were made with the hopes of developing the sister-station relationship: 1. Establish a permanent correspondence on the air every week, both on WBAI Radio from reporters of Radio Payu’mat, and vice versa, with voices from New York. The first of these broadcasts will air on Friday, September 9, 2005 at 7am ET on WBAI Radio, and at 8:10am Cauca time over Payu’mat. This will allow audiences in both locales to hear voices of each community discuss matters of importance affecting each country. “My message for those listeners in the United States is to keep struggling for your freedom, to recognize that to win freedom means to struggle against dependence, disinformation, propaganda and consumerism,” said Dora Muñoz, indigenous journalist from Radio Payumat. She added “from this point on, the direct communication between the two communities is a reality. We’ll now both be able to hear voices that would normally never be heard.” Ultimately it will now be possible to weave a communication of solidarity and of truth between peoples and processes. “These proposals can serve as a model that we should develop with other community media around Colombia, throughout Latin America and the rest of the world” said Gustavo Ulcué of the ACIN’s internet project, known as the Telecentro. Northern Cauca has been the center of indigenous mobilizing in Colombia for over thirty years, and is currently at the center of an intense military campaign on the part of the Colombian Armed Forces and the guerillas of the FARC. Indigenous leaders describe this as a direct threat to the many social gains made over the years by the movement. |
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Listen to the Program August 13, 2005 |
Send us news about Indigenous communities and People Please send information or news to firstvoices@wbai.org to let Tiokasin and Mattie know the latest news and background on people and communities that you want others to know about. First Voices Indigenous Radio belongs to the Indigenous peoples of the world and we are always striving to bring more voices and stories to the airwaves. Please help our struggle to end the silencing of Indigenous voices by contributing to our efforts. |
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Listen to the Program August 11, 2005 |
INDIGENOUS NEWS: South African Government Charged With Ignoring Indigenous Needs. A United Nations expert on Human Rights for Indigenous Peoples, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, has called for the South African government to improve efforts to meet the needs of Indigenous peoples. During a 12 day visit, Stavenhagen met with government officials and representatives of Indigenous groups. Leaders from the five main Khoi-San groups condemned delays in the government's delivery of public services. However, the UN representative reportedly acknowledged the South African government's "tremendous efforts" to end inequalities. Among the Indigenous leaders' criticisms were charges that the government was ignoring issues such as language, culture, health and economic transformation and land rights. Petrus Vaalbooi from the Kumani-San tribe said "Our letters (rock art) are seen as a national treasure, but we do not benefit. The museums are full of Bushmen but to what benefit of our people?" Venezuela Grants Indigenous Land Rights In Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez formally recognized six Indigenous communities as the original "owners" of their ancestral lands by granting land titles in a ceremony last Tuesday. The territory covers more than 300,000 acres. One Indigenous woman from the Kari'na community said of Chavez, "He has been the first president who has kept his word to a people who have been stripped of their lands." However, Chavez warned that national unity must ultimately take precedence over Indigenous land claims. Chavez urged other Indigenous groups not to ask for "infinite lands of territory." An estimated 300,000 Venezuelans belong to 28 Indigenous groups, many living in the country's sparsely populated southeast. Bush's Energy Bill: A Strike Against Native Communities In the United States, it looks like Native Americans will be significantly impacted by the massive energy bill President Bush signed this week. Native activists are denouncing the new legislation, citing the major benefits for energy companies and the revival of the nuclear power industry. Title V section of the bill deals directly with energy development on Indian lands, including Alaska. The provision releases the federal government of its traditional "trust responsibility" to tribes in the negotiation and enforcement of energy development agreements. Some tribal activists fear unfair deals will be made between powerful energy corporations and tribal governments. NCAA Bans 18 Racist Mascots The National Collegiate Athletic Association launched a storm of controversy when it announced last Friday that it is banning the use of 18 Indian mascots and nicknames during NCAA-sanctioned events beginning next February. Among those banned are the Florida State Seminoles, sparking criticism from Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Governor Bush said the decision insulted the Florida State University and the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Bush said, "It's ridiculous. How politically correct can we get? The folks that make these decisions need to get out more often." Florida State University is planning an appeal and Attorney Barry Richard, who represented George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential recount, has agreed to represent FSU if needed. The Native community has been working for more than 50 years to ban images and names like Cleveland's chief wahoo, the Washington Redskins, the Kansas city chiefs and the Atlanta Braves. A Spokesperson from the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media said: "The American public has been conditioned by the sports industry, educational institutions and the media to trivialize Indigenous culture as common and harmless entertainment. On high school and college campuses Native American students do not feel welcome if the school uses as its mascot a Chief, the highest political position you can attain in our society. Using our names, likeness and religious symbols to excite the crowd does not feel like honor or respect, it is hurtful and confusing to our young people." Colleges and universities subject to the new policy: * Alcorn State University (Braves) Hawai'i: Occupied Territory Past and Present Guests: * Noenoe Silva, Associate Professor of Political Science and Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai'i's Manoa. She is the author of "Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism." Our two guests explain that Hawai'i is more than a vacation paradise - Hawai'i is an illegally and militarily occupied country. Noenoe Silva describes how histories of Hawai'i have been based exclusively on English-language sources, failing to take into account the thousands of pages of newspapers, books, and letters written in the mother tongue of Native Hawaiians. Silva refutes the long-held idea that native Hawaiians passively accepted the erosion of their culture and loss of their nation. While Silva describes a history, Keala Kelly gives voice to today's ongoing resistance to political and cultural domination. Last Saturday, 15,000 Native Hawaiians marched down the streets of Honolulu in opposition to a 9th Circuit Court Ruling that invalidates the Hawaiian-only admissions policy of a school established in 1887, prior to the US-backed overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. It was established as part of the will of a Hawaiian princess. Keala Kelly protested the decision because she says it infringes on Hawaiian self-determination. Keala Kelly and Noenoe Silva also speak about what the Akaka bill could bring to Hawai'i and the impending threat of military expansion on Hawaiian lands. The Akaka bill, if passed, will open up more land to the seizure of the US government, which Kelly argues will be used for military expansion. She made a film that can be accessed at www.nohohewa.com. |
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Listen to the Program August 9, 2005 |
July 15, 2005 Show The struggle to end the racist practice of using Indian mascots is looked at with the history of the word "Redskins." What are the origins and how has the word been used? Bush's Energy Bill Passes What does this mean for Native people in the United States? Go to Democracy Now!'s web site to read the transcript or listen to the MP3 of a segment on August 9th with Clayton Thomas-Muller. He is the Native energy organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network, and discusses what the energy bill means for Native lands. |
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Listen to the Program May 10, 2005 |
Ponca v. Carbon Black Company "The Continental Carbon Company has exhibited a callous disregard towards the Ponca Tribe of Indians and our people by continuing to pollute our people, our lands, and our air. The Ponca Tribe was forced to take this land at gunpoint by the government, and now it is all we have left," Ponca Tribal Chairman Dwight Buffalohead said in a statement. The Ponca Tribe and individual tribal members filed a federal class action lawsuit on April 20 aimed at halting Continental Carbon Co. from spewing carbon black over Ponca land and tribal members and coating everything surrounding the factory in black soot. The class action suit seeks a court order forcing Continental Carbon Co. to halt polluting the land and air. Further, it demands the company clean up the properties it continues to pollute and seeks damages for the Ponca Tribe and its people. The federal complaint alleges trespass, private nuisance, public nuisance, failure to warn, personal injuries, negligence, medical monitoring, unjust enrichment and punitive damages. The defendants are Continental Carbon Co.; China Synthetic Rubber Corp. and its domestic corporation, CSRC USA; and Taiwan Cement Corp. The parent company is a publicly traded corporation in Taiwan, which owns the Ponca City carbon black facility. CSRC is the fourth-largest producer of carbon black in the world. In 2004, a delegation of Ponca tribal members traveled to Taiwan and attempted to meet with the corporate owners and stockholders in session. While the Ponca delegation was surrounded by Taiwanese police, the stockholders voted not to hear the concerns of the Ponca delegation. |
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Listen to the Program May 6, 2005 |
Navajo Uranium Mining Ban Under Scrutiny On Friday, April 30th President Joe Shirley Jr. signed an agreement to ban uranium mining and processing on Navajo lands. The Dine Natural Resources Protection Act was first approved by the Dine council by a vote of 63-19 and the ban enjoys widespread support on the reservation. "I don't want to subject any more of my people to exposure to uranium and the cancers that it causes," Shirley said during the signing ceremony."As long as there are no answers to cancer, we shouldn't have uranium mining on the Navajo Nation," he added. "I believe the powers that be committed genocide on Navajo land by allowing uranium." The ban also re-enforces Navajo sovereignty over its land, Shirley said. Hydro Resources Inc. has waged a campaign over the past decade to obtain federal permits to conduct in-situ leach uranium mining and uranium processing. President of HRI, Craig Bartels, has not offered comment on whether HRI would recognize the Navajo Nation's anti-uranium stance and withdraw its petition to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for license. The Navajo Nation has the right to ban uranium mining and processing on its land but the question for a federal court is how it defines Navajo Indian land, added Bartels, HRI President, referring to allotted lands where some Navajo owners hope to sign lucrative deals with HRI. A group of Navajo allottees supports HRI. The nation has lost many precious Navajo medicine people, according to Shirley, who are few in numbers, from health problems related to uranium exposure. The bright yellow earth that contains uranium was widely used in sand painting and traditional healing ceremonies throughout Navajo history, Shirley said. Bartels said Tuesday that if the council and President Joe Shirley Jr. gave him and his staff the same amount of time they gave to Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining, HRI would correct the "misinformation" the environmental group gave them. "We've tried to meet with the council and president but ENDAUM was invited to speak twice at winter and spring session, Bartels said. "And yet as much as we tried, we're not allowed to speak so it's no wonder that there's a lot of misinformation. Certain people have a certain agenda and they're doing all they can to shut out anyone else that has a different agenda," he added. "Basically, it's just a few people, anti-nuclear activists, that say this (in-situ leach uranium mining) is unsafe." |
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Listen to the Program May 5, 2005 |
Gracie Horne announces the World Peace and Prayer Day 2005 at Paha Sapa, known to many people as the Black Hills, South Dakota. Sounds like it'll be a great time. This event is on June 21, and will be preceded by the Prayer Run for World Peace, which begins on May 15 and ends on June 15 in Piedmont, South Dakota. Tama Waipara and Ataahua Papa visit the studio to promote the Pacifika - New York Hawaiian Film Festival and to share their Maori perspectives and wisdom with us. Ataahua has a sister showing a film that sounds very interesting. It provides on view on how New Zealanders were impacted by the events of 9/11. Kent Lebsock comes down to the studio to speak about Globalization and Indigenous Peoples. Kent is Executive Director of the American Indian Law Alliance, an organization that has been committed to struggling for the rights of Indigenous peoples for the past 16 years. He discussed the nuances of globalization and highlighted that globalization is a concept that is not alien to many Indigenous societies. Mac Suara Kadiwel, a Brazilian Indigenous Land Rights Activist, comes to the studio to speak about the racists policies of the Brazilian government and the disparities Indigenous peoples face regarding human rights and land rights. Amnesty International released a report on Indigenous peoples on March 30, 2005 and their treatment in Brazil. It was a show brimming with brightness and awareness - Indigenous Voices cutting through the silence! We hope you can listen to our next show, which won't be until after the May fund-drive ends at WBAI. We will be on the air on May 11th to raise funds. On Indians and Patriotism April 28, 2005, Indian Country Today, Steven Newcomb - Indigenous Law Institute This made me wonder about my own thoughts on patriotism. After considerable reflection, I have decided that because of my spiritual beliefs, and because of all that our Native ancestors have suffered at the hands of the United States, I consider myself to be a ''matriot.'' A matriot is someone who loves, is loyal to, and promotes the interests of Mother Earth. I consider myself deeply matriotic. As a result of those who had a patriotic dedication to promoting the patriarchal interests of the American empire, entire Indian nations no longer exist: their ancestral lands that made their way of life viable were taken over by an imperial country. Look east of the Mississippi River, where highly intelligent and vibrant Indian civilizations once thrived on hundreds of millions of acres of land, with their own languages, cultures, economies and spiritual traditions. How many of those Native civilizations still exist there? Thanks to U.S. patriotism and the Indian Removal Act, relatively few Indian nations exist east of the Mississippi, on extremely small areas of their once-vast ancestral lands. Almost all Indian nations west of the Mississippi have been squeezed into smaller areas of land, the vast majority of their ancestral lands stripped from them. Look at all the lands where my matrilineal and matriotic Delaware ancestors once lived, in what is now known as Manhattan Island, Delaware, New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. With patriotic fervor, first European colonists and later the United States took over our lands, thereby destroying our traditional world and spiritual way of life. Think of the many thousands of years in which our respective indigenous languages evolved, accumulating knowledge and wisdom over eons. And think of all the patriotic effort that U.S. government officials and Christian missionaries dedicated to destroying our respective Native languages, right down to their cognitive roots. In their patriotic fervor, such people had no regard for our rich heritage, only contempt for our cultural and spiritual knowledge. Their patriotic work involved an ardent and greed-laden desire to destroy us in order to fatten and enrich themselves, as ''God's chosen people,'' on our lands and resources, to which they felt eminently entitled based on the ''promised land'' narrative of their ''good book.'' Because our indigenous languages reflect our own indigenous conceptual systems, which are rooted in our brains, the systematic abuse of American Indian children by the United States in an effort to destroy our Indian languages affected those Indian children to their core. Those children were our ancestors, our aunts and uncles, our mothers and fathers, our sisters and brothers - relatives of all the members of our respective nations. One of the things U.S. boarding schools beat into American Indian children was patriotism toward the American flag and devotion to the Bible, in part by working to make Indian children ashamed of their own Native spirituality. As a spiritual matter and as a matter of conscience, how can I feel patriotic toward a political entity that worked so hard to destroy us as distinct nations and peoples that have existed in this hemisphere for thousands and thousands of years? However, I am extremely matriotic toward Mother Earth. Matriotism is entirely consistent with our traditional cultural and spiritual way of life. I believe that a society dedicated to the values of matriotism would honor and respect motherhood and ''the motherland.'' It would acknowledge women as a source of life. It would support women and help them to thrive and excel by powerfully nurturing their innate intelligence. It would not abuse them emotionally, physically or sexually. A matriotic society would not regard women, or men, as a kind of property. A society dedicated to matriotism - a sacred regard for the Earth and all living things - also would not allow poisons, such as pesticides, petroleum and toxic nuclear wastes, to leach into the veins of Mother Earth. One example of Mother Earth being poisoned is found in the town of Moab, Utah, on the edge of the Colorado River where, according to a recent report in the San Diego Union-Tribune, some 58,000 gallons of radioactive liquid leach each and every day into sacred waters upon which animals, fish and millions of people rely. Another such example is the Columbia River. For generations, highly radioactive liquid has been leaching from decomposing steel drums at the Hanford nuclear facility into the groundwater that runs into the Columbia River and the fish that live there. Now the U.S. government plans to bury 77,000 tons of radioactive waste in Yucca Mountain in the Western Shoshone territory. Given such patriarchal desecrations, I am content to be matriotic like my Shawnee and Delaware ancestors. As they and all our indigenous ancestors knew, we only have one Mother Earth, and we are all her children. Steven Newcomb is the indigenous law research coordinator at Kumeyaay Community College on the Sycuan Indian Reservation, co-founder and co-director of the Indigenous Law Institute, and a columnist for Indian Country Today. Congress: Make the streets safe for Indian women too! April 28, 2005, Indian Country Today, Suzan Shown Harjo Congress created this haven for non-Indian criminals on reservations and it's up to Congress to fix it. The 109th Congress has a chance to do that very thing this year, when it considers reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. VAWA 2005 is being drafted now to address the deplorable situation of women in America, where physical abuse is a feature of one-quarter of all marriages and where one-third of women who are treated in emergency rooms are victims of domestic violence. While Native women also sustain injuries in abusive relationships, most of the men who assault Native women are strangers or acquaintances (80 percent) rather than intimate partners or family members (20 percent), according to a U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics report, ''American Indians and Crime (1992 - 2002),'' issued in December 2004. This statistical profile and a raft of other studies, including the 2000 National Violence Against Women Survey, report that: * American Indian and Alaska Native women are more than twice as likely to be victims of violent crime as other women in America. Most violent crimes are committed intra-racially, as with white-on-white crime. This is not the pattern in Indian country, where 88 percent of the perpetrators of violent crime against Indians are non-Indians. Why can't Indian governments punish these violent non-Indians and why should Congress step in? It's a long, complex history, but the short answer is that the federal government made this jurisdictional mess and should take every opportunity to clean it up. Over a century ago in the name of ''Indian civilization,'' the federal government criminalized tribal traditions and took control of the reservations. When the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government did not have jurisdiction over Indian murders of Indians, Congress enacted the Major Crimes Act, authorizing federal jurisdiction over murder and other serious offenses involving Indian people. Congress expanded federal jurisdiction, effectively restricting tribal authorities, under the Assimilative Crimes Act and myriad gaming, environmental, repatriation, arts and other laws. Tribal jurisdiction and remedies were limited under the federal tribal termination policy. Starting in the 1940s, Congress gave selected states certain criminal and civil authorities over Indian offenses. In the 1968 Indian Civil Rights Act, Congress restricted the sentencing authority of tribal courts to a one-year imprisonment and a $5,000 fine. The Supreme Court ruled in 1978 that Indian tribes cannot prosecute non-Indians in criminal matters. That brings us to the present situation, where Native nations cannot punish non-Indians who harm Indian women in Indian territory, or can only give them a slap on the wrist. There are many reasons why the federal and state governments aren't doing a better job at bringing these bad men to justice. Basically, it comes down to geography and connectedness. The federal and state agents don't live where the crimes are being committed and the victims aren't their neighbors. Only the reinstatement of tribal jurisdiction and remedies has a chance of reversing the epidemic levels of violence against Native women. In VAWA 2005, Congress can address the jurisdictional void that prevents Indian tribes from prosecuting non-Indians perpetrating these crimes. VAWA was signed into law in 1994 and reauthorized in 2000. VAWA 2000 mandates that protection orders from one tribe or state be afforded full faith and credit in outside jurisdictions. It also clarifies that Indian tribes have full civil jurisdiction to enforce protection orders, including authority to enforce any orders through civil contempt proceedings, the exclusion of violators from Indian lands and other ''appropriate mechanisms.'' Some states do not comply with the federal mandate and exhibit hostility toward affording full faith and credit to protection orders issued by tribal courts. Alaska's executive branch has challenged a state judge's decision allowing enforcement of a banishment order issued by the Native village of Perryville. The Minnesota Supreme Court in 2003 rejected a proposed statewide court rule for the consistent enforcement of all tribal court orders. Advocates are working with legislators and staffers on the reauthorization of VAWA, which is set to expire this September. Advocates in Indian country would do well to work (and work fast) with the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and the judiciary committees to develop a bill that could stand alone or be folded into VAWA 2005. A meaningful VAWA provision for Indian country would restore tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians in the area of violent crime against women. Proponents should be prepared for the inevitable discussion about review of tribal court decisions and opt-in/opt-out mechanisms. At the very least, Congress should provide necessary funding to study full faith and credit implementation problems, in particular with regard to tribal domestic violence protection orders, and should withhold certain federal monies (unrelated to domestic violence prevention and response) from states that refuse to comply with VAWA's full faith and credit mandate. VAWA's effect in Indian country would be strengthened by provisions ensuring tribal law enforcement officers' access to national databases that track criminal history; a national database of tribal protection orders and tribal adult sex offenders to track serial offenders who travel between different Indian nations; an increase in funding for tribal governments and programs providing infrastructure and services to survivors of rape, stalking and domestic and dating violence; and a tribal division within the Office on Violence Against Women to act as the liaison to tribal governments on issues unique to Indian nations and Indian women. Congress can continue with the same jurisdictional system that devalues Native women and handicaps Native nations, or it can fill the jurisdictional void with something that might just work. If Congress fails to act, the reservation streets will remain safe for violent non-Indians - and the Indian women and their children and grandchildren will suffer. How is that good for anyone but the bad people? Suzan Shown Harjo, Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee, is president of the Morning Star Institute in Washington, D.C., and a columnist for Indian Country Today. |
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Listen to the Program May 5, 2005 |
Navajo Nation Council Bans Uranium Mining April 4, 2005, Editors Report/Indian Country Today Uranium mining has been a health and environmental scourge, and yet an economic engine as well at Navajo. For some 50 years, Navajo have lived with the effects of thousands of open pit mines, many left unredeemed after decades of exposure. But health and life issues trumped economic issues April 19, when the Navajo Nation Council passed the Din Natural Resources Protection Act of 2005 in a vote of 69 - 13. The new act, which Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. is expected to sign, outlaws uranium mining and processing throughout the vast territory. The measure, which caught a few people by surprise, is evidence of a strong and persistent Navajo grassroots movement that has organized for years against the restart of uranium mining on the reservation. The strong movement has grown and recently achieved its major objective because it is grounded in spiritual teaching that, along with concerns for health issues, still resonates among traditionalists on the reservation. Respect for the spiritual quality and importance of water in people's everyday life is an intricate part of the Navajo and other Native opposition to uranium mining and processing technologies. By their long-term polluting nature, these processes too often violate principles of cultural and technical common sense. At Hopi, too, located within the vast Navajo territory, strong concerns are increasingly raised in this deeply traditional community about a coal slurry pipeline that is depleting an aquifer of pristine, virtually non-renewable water. Respect for water as source of health and life, and the leadership to protect it from contamination, are wonderful Indian principles of ancient law very much needed in governmental and business practice today. The 27,000-square-mile reservation, which spreads across parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, sits upon one of the world's largest deposits of uranium ore. At one time declared a ''national sacrifice area'' in federal planning documents, the Four Corners region of Navajo country was invaded by the uranium and coal industries throughout the Cold War years and to the present. As an industry, it provided a lot of employment which, by its very nature, has caused untold damage to the people and the ecology of their homelands. Over time, among the more than 255,000 members of the nation - of which an estimated 180,000 live in Navajo land - the uranium mining companies recruited, trained and employed thousands of Navajo as miners and in other professions. The Navajo workers were callously misinformed and uninformed for decades about the dangerous nature of the materials they were made to handle. The close nature of their work with radiation-laden yellow cake caused many cancer and other deaths - perhaps as many as one person per family in some communities across the reservation. The country's worst radioactive uranium spill happened in 1979, when 100 million gallons of radioactive liquid contaminated waterways in Church Rock and Crownpoint. Navajo people have lived with the scourge of uranium mining and the ensuing contamination of their lands for too long. The Radiation Expose Compensation Act of 1990 came too late for many elderly Navajo miners. But it provided compensation and was a needed recognition by the federal government that the uranium venture thrust upon the Navajo by the federal government brought severe disregard for the safety and health of whole communities. Obvious evidence is still found in the many areas where radioactive materials remain dangerously close to communities and homes. The largest Indian nation in the country is right to listen to its most ancient voices on this issue. For more than 30 years, various groups of Navajo grassroots people have sought to examine, critique and then stop the mining. They have become a force to reckon with and give every indication of continuing the campaign to not allow the nuclear contamination to restart within or even near the reservation. The recent over-the-top victory for opposition to uranium mining on the reservation, particularly in its eastern portion, was directly fueled by concerns that a new wave of mining is imminent. This was signaled by provisions in the federal energy bill to subsidize uranium corporations with $30 million in incentives to further develop the region. The watchdog movement now sets its eye on provisions of the energy bill that encourage in situ leaching research in areas adjacent to the reservation. U.S. Congressman Tom Udall, D-N.M., an ally of the Navajo mining opponents, has taken on Section 631 of the energy bill that authorizes the appropriations of $30 million over three years to ''identify, test and develop improved in situ leaching mining technologies, including low-cost environmental restoration technologies.'' Udall calls the federal subsidy ''corporate welfare ... [that] will have a severe impact on the Southwest's environment and on the public health of the Native American communities I represent.'' His amendment to strike the subsidies is a further limitation on the nuclear industry in the region. Udall's call for a comprehensive energy policy that enhances alternative sources of energy is also compatible with Native philosophies. As always, proponents of the present energy policy will try to ram the industry down the Navajo people's throats. Lawsuits are, of course, expected; and, most dangerously, Sen. Pete Domenici might decide to move federal legislation to prohibit the Navajo Nation from regulating uranium mining on its own lands. As always, the problem of radioactive uranium, in situ leach mining included, is its likelihood to contaminate groundwater, in the present Navajo case, for some 15,000 people. This is a threat and a reality to public health that tens of thousands of other Navajos have lived with for too many decades. A different approach is possible. A bit less explosive and always potentially troublesome, yet the rail of a more prosperous economic base, the Navajo Nation has the construction of six casinos in the works. Likely to be operated by the nation government, with some reasonable management and good grassroots orientation in terms of disbursement of benefits in health, education and infrastructure assistance, a well-regulated gaming industry could be just the right economic engine for the largest Indian nation in the United States. There is a lot to be said about a well-regulated gaming industry to go with a nation's other tourism and hospitality, crafts and agricultural enterprises. It can be the precise financial base - at this time in history - to allow the country's largest Indian nation to solidify its land base, grow and prosper its population, and be able to fully defend and enhance its water sources and other environmental wonders. |
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Listen to the Program April 24, 2005 |
Peru Plans Reserve for Isolated Indigenous Group The Peruvian government has created a commission that is in the early stages of designing plans for a reserve for the Mashco-Piro Indigenous group, one of 11 Indigenous groups living in voluntary isolation in the Peruvian Amazon. There is no reliable data on the Mashco-Piro, but there are estimates that there are 800 members of the group. The commission is planning to create “transitory territorial reserves” to enable to Mashco-Piro to maintain extensive routes to move freely about. A commission member, an anthropologist, said that the reserves will be assigned “until they decide, through their own community organization, to obtain recognition and ownership titles over land.” The Alto Puros province, home to 2,800 members of 8 Indigenous groups, is threatened by illegal logging that causes displacement of Indigenous communities and engenders social violence. Peru, one of the six South American countries that share the Amazon, loses 265,000 hectares of tropical rainforest annually to logging. Brazil Formalizes Indigenous Reserve The Brazilian Justice Ministry decided on Friday, April 15 to formalize the demarcation of the Raposa Sierra del Sol reserve in the northern state of Roraima, recognizing the right of 15,000 Indigenous members of five ethnic groups to the territory. The 1.74 million hectare reserve in on the border with Guyana and Venezuela and has been the site of contention and violence between Indigenous groups and white landowners growing rice and raising cattle for more than three decades. More than 20 Indigenous activists have died during the 30 year struggle to regain ancestral territory and the right to fish and hunt on their own land. A one-year deadline has been set for the large landowners to pull out of the territory. The Roraima Governor Ottomar Pinto said he would appeal the decision as soon as President Lula signed it, and rice growers announced calls for protest demonstrations. In January 2004, rice growers staged violent protests calling to break up the reserve in which three Catholic missionaries were briefly taken hostage. |
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Listen to the Program April 21, 2005 |
Indigenous Environmental Network makes a statement at the 13th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development The Commission on Sustainable Development 13 Negotiations Lack an Ethical Framework for the Cultural Manifestations of Water Water is Life: the recognition, as a guiding principle, that 'water connects and regulates planet earth as the sacred mat of life' by nourishing the land and all living organisms, including human beings. An ethical framework based upon respect for life-giving water and its cultural manifestations is of critical importance for water, sanitation and human settlement policy. Humanity must declare all water sources as sacred sites. Underlying the global water crisis is not just a governance crisis, but also a cultural crisis. Water is a vital resource, having economic, ecological, social and spiritual functions. Relations between peoples and their environment are embedded in culture. Water is life, physical, emotional and spiritual. It should not be considered merely as an economic resource. Sharing water is an ethical imperative and expression of human solidarity. The intimate relationship between water and people should be explicitly taken into account in all decision-making processes. Cultural diversity, developed during the millennia by human societies, constitutes a treasure of sustainable practices and innovative approaches. Indigenous knowledge holders should be full partners with scientists to find solutions for water-related and human settlement issues. Education is necessary to learn about the sacredness of water as the inclusion of Indigenous and traditional laws are needed to 'protect water for the future generations of all plants and animals.' Statement presented by Tom Goldtooth, representative of the Indigenous Environmental Network. ien@igc.org Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide By Dr. Andrea Smith, Foreword by Winona Laduke |









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.
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.
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.
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.
In southern Louisiana, leaders of four coastal Native American tribes, the Bayou Lafourche, Grand Caillou/Dulac, Isle de Jean Charles Bands of the Biloxi-Chitimacha and the Pointe au Chien Indian tribes are issuing a call for help again. The tribes were all left reeling in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and still need relief assistance. Randy Verdun, Chief of the Bayou Lafourche Band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha tribe said, "It's a call to action, a call that we hope is heard. Help us preserve our distinct cultures and traditions. Without help, they will surely be lost." We speak with: Patty Ferguson, Tribal Attorney for the Pointe au Chien Indian Tribe.
Nearly two weeks ago, the film "The New World" opened in theaters around the country. The film attempts to retell the mythical story of Pocahontas and John Smith as a passionate love story, with the settlement of the Jamestown colony taking place in the backdrop. Few reviews have criticized the film for perpetuating racist and sexist stereotypes, suggesting these ideas are so enmeshed in American culture that they are overlooked without protest.
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.
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.
A historic burial ground reported to hold the remains of slaves, Native Americans and early Dutch settlers, which is privately owned, is slated for development. The Coalition for the Preservation of Teaneck's Indian-Slave Cemetery is attempting to raise $100,000 by next week in order to save the Pomander Walk and prevent the graves from being desecrated. As fundraising efforts continue, we speak with a member of the coalition about the issue.
Republican Lobbyist Jack Abramoff tried to stop the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish tribe of Michigan from building a casino that would have created thousands of jobs for scores of unemployed people. Abramoff allegedly stymied these efforts because he and partner Michael Scanlon were paid more than $14 million by a past tribal council of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe to prevent development of competing casinos in Michigan. These included the
We speak with two members of the Kanehsatake Mohawk community about the recent trial and sentencing of Mohawks arrested almost a year ago for rioting under questionable circumstances. They describe last month's trial as "a sham" and go into detail about how Mohawk sovereignty was violated and U.S. law was broken. We speak to two members of the community: Pearl Bonspille and John Harding.