» indigenous
October 05, 2006
From Oaxaca
Greetings friends-
It seems from all signs that a military assault is imminent.
News from Oaxaca today reveals that Mexican Marines have been engaged in training counterinsurgency units: it is these units that are moving against the Oaxacan people. The Mexican Secretary of Defense publically announced that the army cannot politically afford to move against the people of Oaxaca- yet there are fotos in local newspapers of army troops in Salina Cruz. There are clusters of police in Oaxaca today; this is very unusual, police have been virtually invisible these last four months except for an occasional appearance.
It was reported Monday by a jouralist of La Jornada that Vicente Fox has left the country after signing a formal approval of military intervention. The PRD congressional representatives who offered to arrive in Oaxaca today, Wednesday, have declined to be present out of concern for their personal security.
Currently there is a concentrated campaign of misinformation and provocation: bombs in banks were definitely not planted by the APPO. Teachers are not abandoning the movement and returning to schools as is being announced. Ulises Ruiz again briefly appeared in public for a foto op to create the appearance of governability.
Please contact the Mexican authorities at this point. The message is "no a la repression, si a la destitucion de Ulises Ruiz." Also contact mainstream media stressing the lack of coverage and asking that they immediately send reporters. Contact churches and human rights organizations asking for immediate intervention. Contact Indigenous rights organizations; the tribal networks are already involved in dispersing information. Contact teachers unions. Be a human shield. Keep us in your prayers.
June 02, 2006
To the Armed Forces Standing by at Six Nations
[From Kahentinetha Horn]
Have you consulted your legal counsel on the latest Supreme Court rulings? It is crucial that you do so. The Supreme Court of Canada has clearly stated that Aboriginal issues must be resolved by negotiation. You have no legal authority for making an armed attack on the Six Nations who are on our territory. We have selected a few of the recent decisions that support the Six Nations position and set out the format that is to be followed for the “consultation” and “accommodation” that is supposed to take place when Indigenous land title is at issue. Why don’t you send this to your legal department and they can confirm to you that your plan to attack Six Nations people is illegal.
read more...May 23, 2006
From Six Nations
7:25. DO WHATEVER YOU CAN DO. Get the word out. Media blackout. All kinds of shit is happening. The Riot Cops are coming in. It’s not as benign as they make it sound on the radio. They’re pepper spraying and beating up everybody.
JUST MY PREDICTION
7:05 pm. According to my crystal ball, this is what’s going to happen. The Caledonians, who are mostly not Caledonians, and their ringleader definitely is not, will continue to riot at the end of Argyle street near the Six nations barricade. More and more will come from Hamilton and other towns and cities around and maybe from even further away, like Ottawa. The ringleader and his shorthaired sidekicks are probably bankrolled by Indian Affairs or CSIS or RCMP or dirty tricks squad. As more and more non-natives arrive, the ringleaders will rev them up with some carefully scripted racial slurs and slogans that will rouse them up, “Let’s go kill the Indians”. Then fights will break out amongst them. Because some do not really want to kill the Indians. Then the instigators will start fights going between them. More cops will come in. Then the ringleader will turn the crowd against the cops for not letting them get by to get at the Indians. Then rocks and bricks will start flying at the cops. Then more cops will come in and more bricks will fly hurting maybe a dozen cops. That’s when the people demand that the army come in and restore order.
How do I know this? Chateauguay 1990!
Several contacts informed us that most of the rioters are not Caledonians. They are outsiders. They’re there on “business”.
PLAN II – IS THE ARMY IS GOING TO ARRIVE?
4:10 pm. Why would the police be instigating rioters? Because Canada wants to bring in the army. The army has been sitting in the wings for months now. They are in the middle of a recruiting campaign. They’re trying to make it look like they have a valuable role to play, keeping the peace in Canada. We all know that the Six Nation-Caledonia peace was broken in the first place by sending in the armed forces. Instead of doing the honorable thing, putting their documents on the table, sitting down and talking like adults, the Canadian authorities came on with a show of force. They mislead people in Caledonia and made them feel insecure. They conducted a campaign designed to make it look like everything was the fault of the Indians. Though it is now a month since the aborted raid on Six Nations, they still haven’t admitted publicly that the Six Nations people occupying the construction site are occupying our own land.
They’re following the old colonial plan. Britain has always made high minded statements about how their Indians are under their benevolent protection. Meanwhile they let their abused lower classes steal from us. They subsidize their trips over here to make it easier for them to do this. They kept them in miserable living conditions at home to make them want to leave. This is the same old, same old. Canada inherited the British system and Canada too made an underclass. Then it incited this underclass to attack the “Indians”. This will throw up a smokescreen and they are going to try to make us look satisfied when peace is restored instead of restoring the land they stolen.
It is really disappointing to see this kind of subversive tactic in the 21st century. Violence could so easily have been averted with a few upstanding statements by Canadian political leaders.
This time one thing is different. They haven’t been able to keep their secret from the Canadian public and the world. They are at least beginning to know what’s going on. People won’t stand for it.
Canada, it’s not too late to turn things around. The trip of even only 1000 miles starts with the first step. A few days ago it looked as if Canada had seen the road and was ready to start down a new direction. It’s still not too late to try.
Canadians, please ask your government to call off its undercover riot instigators with their skinheads and get back to the table to talk.
-----
“Bread and Cheese Day” ruined. Queen Vicki must be rolling in her grave. She used to say, “We are not amused”. All hydro is out around there. Tyendinaga has railroad blocked again. At least 3 bridges are blocked out west. All support is important. Near and far. Isn’t there any kind of way to resolve this peacefully? Do dealings with Canada always have to degenerate into mob rule? Why do they let these mobs do this to us?
The greatest weapon we have is the truth. That’s what they’re fearful of.
ARE CHATEAUGUAY AND LASALLE ATTACKS ON MOHAWKS IN 1990 BEING SET UP BY SOMEONE?
3:20 pm. Update: It is escalating. There are many police there. One of the chiefs went out to offer cedar and put down his cane and tried to bring peace. He got hit in the head. They were given until 2:30 BY THE opp to move from the barricades. They refused. That’s when the road was dug up.
The Indians are behaving peacefully. They want to stop the trespasser from coming over and hurting them. The’re threatening to kill the Indians.
UPDATE. Rioting broke out today after the Six Nations opened Argyle Road. Caledonians rushed them. Smashed cards. Attacked people. In order to protect themselves, the Six Nations got a payloader and startedto dig up the road. The OPP asked them to stop so they could clear the trespassing Caledonian rioters.
Six Nations decided to give them a chance and held off on the trench they digging across the road. The Caledonians rushed them. The police started pepper spraying guess who? Not the trespassing rioters, but the Indians. This was more than a violation of their word. So the Six Nations resumed digging the trench.
We’re giving you these details because the medial will automatically presume that we are at fault. The CBC is still saying that we have a “purported” land claim as if it hasn’t had time since February 28 to do some research for itself that our claims are all set out in formal document backed by archival evidence.
The Caledonians rushed the barricades. The cops actually pepper sprayed the Indigenous people. Several Caledonians were hurt in fights between themselves. Shades of Chateuguay. Rioting went on night after night until the army came it. That’s what appears to be instigated here. More cops coming from Orillia.
How much do you want to bet that only one or two token charges will be laid against the Caledonian trespassers.
S.O.S. RIOTS SPARKED AT SIX NATIONS BY DAVID PETERSON’S “DOUBLE DEALING”
May 22, 2006: Six Nations
3:05 pm. All kinds police. Caledonial rushed the barricade. Our people went after them. Cops pepper sprayed. We dug up the road. Cops asked for more time. More cops coming in from Orrilia.
Mohawk “Whiskey Trench” at Caledonia. A police set up??
Canada doesn’t really want this land issue settled. They’re trying to find a way to get police in there to use force to put an end to this problem Canada has.
People in the communities. Get on your local media and get this up to the minute news. Not 5 days from now. By then everybody might be dead. We don’t want blood shed.
Punched one of chiefs in the head. It was all orchestrated. We can tell. These white people can be controlled. OPP have training in this. They can foresee this and stop it.
2:00 pm
Are the cops dressed in civilian clothes organizing the protesters? This happened in 1990 at LaSalle when our people were taking disabled elderly grandparents and very young children out of Kahnawake which was about to be raided by the Canadian army. The cars were all trapped on the Mercier Bridge for hours in the hot sizzling sun. The trip should have taken no more than 5 minutes. There was no way out except off the bridge and through Whiskey Trench – a long cement walked corridor leading under a bridge. At the end of the bridge, the rioters gathered with piles of rocks. The cops let our cars through. The cops stood by and the rioters stoned them.
It is tense. We were optimistic and took down one barricade this morning around 6:00 am this morning. Argyle leads directly into Caledonia. The attacks certainly don’t make engender trust of the Canadian authorities. Our older people did not want to remove the barricades. But the consensus of the people was to open the road. This morning Caledonians drove up Argyle and smashed some of our cars. Hundreds of Indigenous people and our supporters are here right now. We are trying to protect our people from the hooligans of Caledonia. The Six Nations blocked it off with a radio tower. Now David Peterson is talking on the CBC that “They set the talks back”. It’s the opposite. He is sad about the situation right now. What is Peterson promising the Caledonians. Is it opposite to what he’s telling the Six Nations people that the land is to be returned? Now nobody can use the road. The Caledonians have been throwing rocks at the Six Nations people, shouting racial slurs.
HELP SIX NATIONS. OPP CONDONE MOB RULE. “ALL HELL AND SHIT HAS BROKEN LOOSE”. YOUR HELP IS URGENTLY NEEDED RIGHT NOW!
1:00 Monday. May 22, 2006. Day 83 of the land reclamation at Six Nations has gone sour. In a gesture of goodwill, Six Nations people took down the barricade on Argyle Street in front of the barricade at 6:00 am this morning. Yesterday the Caledonians blocked the road for 6 buses of supporters from Toronto. They also blocked ambulances from going to the hospital. “If white people can’t use that road, than neither can Indian”. One man died alone because they did not let him family go to his bedside. A car with a reporter and some women from Six Nations paper was surrounded by Caledonian men and women. They smashed the windows. The Ontario Provincial Police stood around shoulder to shoulder without moving, just watching, allowing the hooliganism to go on. “We are looking after it,” they told the Six Nations people. When Six Nations people went to help the people who were being attacked, they were surrounded by more Caledonians, who shoved and hit them and accused the Indigenous people of instigating the violence. When a woman was hit, the Six Nations men jumped in and about three or four big fights broke out. The OPP continued to allow these Caledonian hoodlums to keep up their attack.
The Six Nations have put up the barricade again.
There is a large police presence. But just standing there. They are not stopping the Caledonia people from coming in. “Every time we try to soften things up and deal with people on the expectation they will behave in a civilized way, we get attacked”. You can’t trust them. Be prepared
While you’re doing it. “They speak with forked tongue”.
This is public misbehavior which is a direct result of the way the issues are handled by the Canadian government and the Canadian press. They do not present the legitimate basis of the Six Nations people’s complaints. They make it look like we are the law breakers. They are wrong in letting the public not know of our legitimate claims. It’s time for canada’s terrorist act against indigenous people to stop. The blame for this lies squarely on the shoulders of the public officials in the way they are handling and presenting this whole issue.
EVERYBODY DO SOMETHING.
Try the Prime Minister, the police, the UN, anyone you can think of who may take responsibility for law and order in Ontario.
May 07, 2006
"We cannot negotiate with terrorists"
From Kahentinetha Horn:
MNN. April 6, 2006. Canada and Ontario appointed Jane Stewart and Barbara McDougall to come up with long term solutions to Canada’s claims to our lands in Haldimand County. The standoff at Six Nations is now in its 68th day. We have been barricading the construction of an illegal housing project by Henco Industries on our land. One of our Women sent Queen Elizabeth a letter asking if she gave these two women the right to speak on her behalf to us on a nation-to-nation basis. We want to know their mandate and who it came from. If it’s not the Queen, then it’s no use talking to them. At the very least, it should be Governor General of Canada, Michaele Jean, who also needs the Queen’s permission. Actually what we really need is proof that they represent the opinion of the Canadian people. We know they don’t have that. So who do they represent?
read more...April 27, 2006
Save the Baby Veal
I somehow missed this the first time it was making the rounds...
Big version here.
Letter from Hazel Hill
A letter sent out from Hazel Hill, spokesperson for the Six Nations occupation.
* * *
I am sorry it took so long to get back to you. I am Hazel E. Hill. I am one of the designated spokesperson for the media etc. and in situations like this, also one of many jobs. The people are well. We are remaining peaceful, although in the minds of many, how long will we be able to? The police situation is building up fast. Last night I myself went to scout around with a couple of the men from the camp and there were at LEAST 60 opp marked&unmarked cars at unity school road, we have confirmed reports that the cdn. army is based at the Hamilton Airport, and that there are over 1000 opp or rcmp stationed in several motels around the yorkdale area. I am not a criminal. i am a mother and a grandmother. our people have the oldest and dearest law of the land. The Kaienerekowah. That is what the people are fighting for. Sounds kind of ironic doesn't it. We are fighting for our Law of Peace, Love and Harmony. Our ancestors shared till there was nothing left for their children. We are only trying to keep what little there is for ours. I am so saddened this morning as I write because we have one young man still in jail because he only has a traditional name and refuses to speak their english language. I am very proud of that young Kanienkehaka. He is standing up for our Law. We have the Two Row Wampum. that is the original treaty between the Onkwehonweh people and the White race. We stand by that two row. we do not intererfere with their government, yet they do not acknowledge ours. We were never concqured yet they stand before us with guns as if their intimidation tactics will make us run and hide. i refuse to be the next sacrificial lamb that their race uses to usurp authority over our people so that they can stand before creation pretending to be upholders of Peace. Sonkwiontisonh has seen their true colours, the rest of the world will see their true colours. the Onkwehonweh nations of the world are coming together for Peace, and we are standing strong and united. Welcome.! Their press stands at the gate occasionally to give us an interview. We have tried to tell our story. They play what they want to play. We are learning to work with independent press and we will have our story told. My tears this morning are for the children. They are trying to incite fear into their citizens and my daughter will attend school with them this morning. I pray for her. She is strong and knows our hearts. I know she will be respectful of their feelings and opinions, but will they respect hers? My thoughts are running so many ways, we have so many people to protect and they have guns. But I will stand with our Creator, with our Kaienerekowah, in Peace and Love and Truth and I will stand with Honour. they can stand their with their guns and their hatred and only they will know what that makes them feel like. tonight the Caledonia citizens are rallying. they are angry because we refuse to lift the roadblocks. they want the world to think we are keeping their citizens hostage. We did not cause this to happen. the OPP moved in and swarmed our people violating the OIdest and Supreme Law of the Universe. They even violated their own laws and continued promises by promising an hours warning before they came in. they think that we didn't see them gathering numbers in the barn across the road for the past two weeks. they didn't think that we could count as carloads of men came in and only one driver came out. for weeks they have planned this. they think they are the only ones who understand preparation. We proved once again that we are an honourable people. they did not get met with weapons although our warriors want to do their jobs. we met them once again with peace and marched them right back off our lands. Even l was a victim of their brutality and in defense I did kick back. I have already asked forgiveness of Creation for my anger. I will continue to do so. But it is they who put the roadblocks their. we only built a physical one for the protection of our people as well as their own. their children feel the same things in their hearts as our children do. they are frustrated and angry and we are trying to teach them how to deal with those feelings. before the roadblocks came up and before they attacked us that early morning, their children would come by and throw garbage and holler racial statements to our people. The roadblocks are for their children as well to keep them from being able to antagonize and cause hardships so that our young people won't want to re-act. We hold no hostages. the ememergency vehicles are allowed through. The local residents are allowed through. They came to worship at their church yesterday and they probably prayed for us as we pray for them each morning at sunrise. We have to maintain that protection for all of us. they want us to show good faith. We have shown good faith for over 2000 years, and it is not we who killed the Peacemaker, it is their people. He told us this day would come, and we are doing as He instructed us to do. Only Canada can decide what it will do. My heart is filled with thanksgiving to each and everyone of you who has shown their support, through e-mails, donations, by coming to the site. I apologize to all of you who I have been unable to answer in e-mail because we are in a very violent and serious situation which requires my attention in other areas. I have forwarded this through our Mohawk Nation News office so that she can share with all of you. We welcome you to the Land of Peace, we have re-kindled the fire of Peace here and we will stand United and we are honoured by the show of strength of our brothers and sisters across the world. The Eagle people are doing their job upholding the Peace. We need you to help the rest of the world understand and get this word out. I will be in touch as soon as I possibly can. It is just after 7:00 am, I am going to work with the Clanmothers and women to get our young boy out of jail this morning. Please pray that we are successful. He has become a Prisoner of the War that they have declared against us. We want our son to come home.
In Peace,
Hazel E. Hill
April 25, 2006
JP on SN
Justin Podur has a solid summary of the Six Nations situation up at ZNet.
Kanehsatake
April 24, 2006
Six Nations Links
Autonomy & Solidarity and Six Nations Solidarity both have a lot of useful information up.
Six Nations: How to survive a siege
[Reposting.... --d]
SIX NATIONS UPDATE - HOW TO SURVIVE A SEIGE
MNN. April 23, 2006. The source of the false alarm was discovered. Someone, in this case, a native, seems to have instigated another false alarm. This person is acting as a tool to disrupt all attempts to achieve a peaceful solution.
The deliberate attempt to disturb people's sleep and make us live in constant fear is a familiar tactic. We saw it before at the seige of Kanehsatake/Oka in 1990. Now that Six Nations/Caledonia is under seige, it is worth remembering what was done to us then. [continues...]
From Six Nations
Update:
From: TheBasketCase thebasketcase@on.aibn.comHey to all of our friends and allies from Grand River Territory. We upheld the law and we're standing proud. this morning 15 people were arrested when the police moved in about 4:30 am. they had pepper sprayed some of the men and women, and forcibly removed our people from the site, including some of the non-native supporters that have been on the site with us, some for weeks. My husband and I weren't on the site at the time, but one of the women from the camp came and told us that the police had moved in and so we immediately headed back down. the people had congregated at the back gate and when we arrived on the scene there were police around each corner of our lands, probably about 200 total. the people were still on the lands and had never completely left. we continued to gather and the numbers continued to grow. the people continued to tell the police to leave, women & men elders & youth, we stood together in unity. When the police continued to resist our peaceful request to leave our territory, the caledonia by-pass was closed down, trafffic was backing up in both directions, and only then did they realize that our people were not small in numbers, and perhaps they had underestimated the support that we did have. we had hundreds of Six Nations people gathered at the site within the hour, and had the police surrounded at the back gate; and finally, the police agreed to withdraw. we marched them off of the back gate, many women linking arms together walking the police off our land followed by the rest, we then went to the corner gate, again, marching them off of the lands. the police continued to file out of the lands onto hwy 6 in front of the disputed land area. the people then gathered to the front gate and continued to uphold our Kaierenekowah, removing the police from the site. I attended toward the back of the property to inform the remaining officers on site that they were pulling out and asked them to leave. A female officer informed me that i was in violation of a court injunction and that if i didn't leave the property i would be arrested. i informed her that SHE was in violation of the Supreme Law of the Land, our Kairenekowah, and in violation of international law and that she should leave. i again informed them that their officers were leaving the site and that they should leave. She again told me that if I didn't leave that I would be arrested, I told her again that she should leave, at which point she said, that's it mam your under arrest and tried to grab ahold of me. She was unable to get me down, at which point about 4 other male officers came to her assistance wrestling me to the ground. I had hollered for help and at that point several of our people had headed in my direction, they began to knee or kick me in my left thigh, I did try to defend myself and at one point kicked an officer square in the chest to get him away from me (sorry to my friends who asked me not to fight, but my instincts kicked in and my reaction was immediate to defend myself) my eldest son tried to pull the police off of me and he was shot in the back with a tazer gun, but as soon as several others arrived on the scence, the police immediately withdrew off of me, people helped me and my son over to a vehicle where they pulled the darts out of his back. The police then got into their vehicles and on their way out I seen the female officer in the middle of the van with a big gun in her hands obviously ready to use it. Everyone followed their vans to the front gate and the people walked the opp straight down argyle street south of the main gate and when they were far enough away, we pulled in a transport truck and shut the road down. We then blocked the road just north of the 6th line leading into our community. The OPP have been continuosly reporting that they did not use any weapons other than pepper spray, that our people were armed etc., but when they moved in, the people were resting, some of them awakened from sleep and told to move out. We maintain that we did not break the Peace, the opp crossed the line and came into our lands fully packed with guns and other weapons with the intent to use them. The situation was very tense but as I have told many many reporters today during interviews, "we upheld the Law that the Creator gave to us and are standing strong in front of Creation, honouring our Creator, our responsiblities according to the Kaierenekowah and Our Spirits and our hearts swelled with Pride. We continue to keep the Peace, we have many supporters from many territories coming in to our aid and we want to send a Big Nya Weh to all of you, who, while you might not be here physically, all of the efforts through e-mails, letters etc., the food and other donations that you have been bringing in have touched our hearts tremendously, and through your support, you have helped in keeping that spirit alive and in the forefront. will talk to you soon. our prayers are with all of you tonight as well.
Hazel.
April 22, 2006
Six Nations: Tragedy Averted?
Copying and pasting...
6:00. GOOD NEWS! THE OPP AND RCMP SAID “IT’S A FALSE ALARM”. It was really a normal sadistic police tactic to perfect their psychological strategies to break down the Indians. They want to watch and report on all our movements - who’s on the phone to who, who’s staying and who’s leaving. In other words, they’re testing the waters. So now they know us, they think. It was a test all along. A dry run to see what everyone was going to do. They found out that no one was going to leave the site of the protest, and more came. We can expect them to continue to toy with us in this kind of way. the very fact that they would set us up for a false alarm like this shows that they are functioning in good faith. They are not respecting the fiduciary obligations that the Crown has assumed over the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island.
We were all going to stay and face them for round 2 or 3 or however many rounds they will come at us. if they are sincere about peaceful negotiations, they will show their good faith by burying their weapons underground where they can be washed away in the underground rivers never to trouble relations between them and us and the generations to come.
When we were in the Treatment Center during the 1990 Mohawk Oka Crisis, we got these false alarms so many times that we got better and better at it. We still laugh about it. All the kids learned how to put wet cloths on their faces to stop the tear gas that we knew was going to be thrown at us. Do’s and don’t’s. Do have a good legal defender. At the end of the day, they won't hesitate to use bayonets or whatever other weapons they happen to have at hand. they will use them against unarmed non-combatants and children. they will lay criminal charges for getting in their way. they will not allow a neutral court to consider the legality of their claim to own our land or to have jurisdiction over us.
They will throw heavy criminal charges at you with long term incarceration, that's if you get a Nazi judge. Don’t hold a stick in front of yourself without a mask or you’ll be charged with rioting, disguisement and unlawful confinement. Be ready for such conditions as banishment, being separated from your spouse, your children, your family and friends. So be prepared. Tell everyone what happened to us and that it will happen again and again. prepare your kids and grandchildren beause they will probably have to fight the same fight over and over again. We are standing our ground. Don't forget, everyone has a right to self-determination under international and under the natural law of the Kaianereh'ko:wa. We are not giving up. We still need your help.
April 21, 2006
Six Nations Update #2
Just received:
URGENT. WITNESSES NEEDED. CANADIAN GOVERNMENT HAS ISSUED ULTIMATIM DEMANDING SIX NATIONS PEOPLE LEAVE THEIR LAND WITHIN ONE HOUR! NO OFFER TO NEGOTIATE. Get over there quick. Support needed desperately. Bring gas masks. anything you can think of that might protect you from pepper spray and tasers or even being beaten up. Bring cameras, tape recorders, cell phones, observors required, friends, walkie talkies, face coverings. Tell someone where you are going so that you will not suddenly "disappear". Stand up for democracy. Stand up for freedom. Stand up for peace.
Six Nations Update
Update from Six Nations, as of 12pm on Friday.
read more...March 08, 2006
Indian Act and Corruption at Tobique First Nation
Some members of the Maliseet community in Tobique have set up a web site that details band council corruption and the many problems with the Indian Act.
January 20, 2006
Harper's Aboriginal Policy
StageLeft has a good article on Conservatives and Aboriginal Policy.
Dr. Flanagan believes that Aboriginal cultures were inherently inferior to European cultures; that Aboriginal people should be made to assimilate into the mainstream of the Canadian population; that Canada’s treaties should be abrogated; and that self-government, to the extent that it should be allowed, should be limited to granting self governments the powers, functions and authorities of a municipal government.
December 17, 2005
Indigenous Lefty favoured to win Bolivian election
The head of Bolivia's socialist movement is the favourite to become the South American country's first indigenous president when voters go to the polls on Sunday.Evo Morales has promised to nationalize Bolivia's energy industry. On one of his last campaign stops, he told supporters the country's natural gas resources will "no longer be controlled by a few rich people or foreign companies."
That stand has raised alarm among the wealthy in Bolivia, but it's extremely popular with the vast majority of poor people in a country that has South America's deepest levels of poverty.
Even though two-thirds of the population is indigenous, Morales, an Aymara Indian and former coca farmer, is the first native leader to come within striking distance of the presidency.
December 09, 2005
Grassroots Peoples' Coalition and the 5 Billion Dollar Deal
[I couldn't find this anywhere online, so I'm posting it here. From Arthur Manuel of the Grassroots Peoples' Coalition, November 28, 2005.]
Dear Friends:
First of all allow me to thank all of you in your grassroots effort to
disengage your support for the deals signed by the Assembly of First Nations
and the First Nations Leadership Council of British Columbia.I believe that we did make a presence. Plans at the First Ministers and
National Aboriginal Leadership did have to change. The Canadian government
wanted to make the event a big love-in but they had to cancel and change
location of some activities because we were there. We also got a lot of
local, national and international coverage for Grassroots Peoples' Coalition
efforts.The government did get our lobbying organizations to agree with certain
multilateral processes and sign a BC agreement but we made it clear that
these processes do not represent us, despite the fact that the government
will try and ram those agreements down our throat.I am preparing a document on the deals signed by the AFN and the BC First
Nations Leader Council but deals and the process agreed to under these deals
that our Aboriginal and Treaty Rights have been seriously undermined.[continues...]
read more...
