Weekend Update #19: Crooked Histories

In this edition of Weekend Update, Russell Means talks of the guaranteed freedom of Iroquois Great Law of Peace, the many gradations of slavery in the past & present, as well as the true dangers of the frontier. He speaks as well of languages without war and the missing pieces of the tales, often told as ‘history’.

Weekend Update 19: Crooked Histories from Russell Means on Vimeo.

Protests in Peru: Another World is Happening

The pre-dawn assault of protesters which led to the violence that has claimed as many as 70 lives is a violent response to the on-going stand-off between the proponents of the free-market and the people who inhabit the land up for environmental liquidation.

When the protesters said “No” to the government’s renunciation of their rights, their rights as indigenous peoples, as moral people, as people who respect the earth, they signaled the latest shift in the on-going struggle against Globalization.  Be it oil in the south or uranium in the North, indigenous peoples now find themselves inhabiting the areas with the largest amount of remaining extractable resources.  This is paradoxically because they live in some of the least accessible and most inhospitable places on the planet.  Also setting them at odds with globalization, indigenous peoples often take the presently estranged position of often preferring to keep natural resources in the ground, rather than viewing the entire Earth as a large, bottomless bank account.  As protest leader Alberto Pizango stated, “There are riches there like oil, wood, gold – riches that arouse the ambitions of the world’s wealthy.”  He added though, “We are not against development even though we are portrayed as being against the system. What we want is development from our perspective.”

Where the indigenous protesters of Peru do approve of resource removal, they strive to involve local communities to ensure that those persons who incur the direct penalties that follow in the wake of such ‘development’, the penalties of poisoned water, of forests over 1,000 years old reduced to toothpicks, be among those who benefit from the extraction.

Protesters in Peru are responding to edicts of globalization which have become very familiar to many who stand in opposition to empire and in support of environmental and human rights.  Mobil and other oil companies view the Amazonian rainforest, the largest remaining contiguous rainforest, as a gold-mine, waiting to be emptied.  The 1400 different indigenous communities in the Amazon view the area as their home, the Earth which has sustained both they and their ancestors for millennia.

AIDESEP, an indigenous group representing 350,000 people from 1400 indigenous communities, called for the direct action 2 months ago in response to the failure of the government to consult the people who live on the land as to the future of that land.  AIDESEP is demanding an immediate end to 10 regulations, 9 of which were determined by the Peruvian Congress as violating the Peruvian Constitution six months ago, in December 2008.  Among the regulations opposed by AIDESEP are “Legislative Decrees” which move to bypass local approval for resource extraction, to break apart communal farms in favor of large, private land-holdings and to privatize water.  Indigenous leaders clearly understand the importance of safeguarding these rights and are fighting to protect them.  Such rights renounced once are never given back.  The Government is predictably referring to the protesters as ‘terrorists’, ‘anti-democratic’ and, interestingly, in-league with Hugo Chavez.  The charges are of course laughable and show the government’s lack of desire to speak on equal terms with the indigenous persons about honest grievances.

The Peruvian Congress late last year allowed the Executive Branch absolute authority to adjust the legal and regulatory framework of the Free-Trade Zone of the America’s. The move was reminiscent of both the pre-invasion of Iraq, where the US Congress voted away its Constitutionally mandated obligation to declare war, and the NAFTA closed-door dealings which lead to an abeyance of oversight and public debate.  Such hidden workings have lead, without exception, to the weakening of environmental and labor laws, the further destruction of natural habitats and the massive displacement of populations.

The current protests that have killed indigenous people, follow protests less than a year ago, in october of 2008, when Jorge del Castillo, the Prime Minister of Peru, was forced to resign over allegations of crooked dealings between the state Oil Company, Petroperu, and Discover Petroleum of Norway.

President Alan Garcia has stated that the oil belongs to all Peruvians, not just the indigenous peoples.  The conflict brings to light another struggle, one that has simmered but never ceased for the last 500 years.  As recently as 1990, tribes of the Amazon were having as much as 70% of their population die from disease brought in by contact with outsiders.  These tribes are among the last of the uncontacted peoples on the planet, and the exploitation of their land is at the center of what the future of the world will consist of.  In a sane world, an area that is so interwoven, complex and as yet undisrupted, would be allowed to follow its own course.  At what point will we as human beings acknowledge that there are other ways to function as a society?  As a civilization?  If we truly consider ourselves compassionate, we will stand in solidarity with the tribes and seek all possible means to not ‘develop’ the Amazon, unless we can honestly say to one another that we have tried all other possible courses.  As Davi Kopenawa Yanomam, dubbed the Dalai Lama of the Amazon, stated Monday, “We must listen to the cry of the earth which is asking for help. The earth has no price. It can’t be bought, or sold or exchanged. It is very important that white people, black people and indigenous peoples fight together to save the life of the forest and the earth. If we don’t fight together what will our future be? Your children need land and nature alive and standing.”

As of Wednesday morning, Alberto Pizango, leader of AIDESEP had fled the country and been granted asylum in Nicaragua, after he had a warrant put out for his arrest by the Garcia Government.  More than 70% of the Peruvian Amazon has been allocated for oil and gas extraction, and the Government of Alan Garcia is hungry for more.  The area which has been freed up for multi-national development by the Peruvian Government’s is 170,000 square miles of the Amazon Rainforest.  It is an area equal to the size of the entire National Parks system of the United States, plus an extra 60,000 square miles.  An area the size of the state of California, or all of New England, plus six extra states.  “The government wants to take our territory to give it to the big multinational companies.”  Pizango stated.

AIDESEP has stated that they will continue the protests and are demanding an the immediate halt to the violence and the repeal of the 10 National Unconstitutional Decrees.  They are organizing a Nationwide Strike in Peru, and are calling for protests worldwide, on Thursday, June 11, 2009 in response to the violence.

Weekend Update #18: Myths and Missed Histories

In this installment of Weekend Update, Russell Means talks of the continual perpetuation of false myths concerning Indians. From the static stereotypes put forth by Hollywood movies, to the ignored histories of abundance and disease-free living never mentioned by supposedly balanced documentaries or historians, Russell Means works to tell the untold stories. He speaks as well to Cortez’s darkness, and to the misrepresentation and outright, on-going oblivion of the American populace to the Indian people in this 14 minute video.

Weekend Update 18: Myths and Missed Histories from Russell Means on Vimeo.

Supreme Court Ignores Mold in Indian Homes

The Supreme Court disgracefully denies justice for residents of the Blackfeet Nation and ignores a chance to set a legal precedent for public safety for all residents in Indian country.

It is reported that at least 60% of the homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation are infested with Black Mold, Stachybotrys. This infestation causes an often-fatal condition with infants, children, elderly, those with damaged immune systems, and those with lung and pulmonary conditions at the highest risk. Exposure to this mold can cause hemorrhaging of the lungs and brain as well as cancer.

The following article originally appeared on indiancountrytoday:

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/home/content/45849492.html

Story Published: May 27, 2009 – By Rob Capriccioso

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court said May 18 that it would not hear a case involving federal trust responsibility for mold-infested homes on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

Tribal petitioners in the Marceau v. Blackfeet Housing case were asking the high court to review decisions made by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals from August.

Part of the decision found that the appeals court had erred in previously saying the Blackfeet Nation had waived tribal immunity involving its role in building faulty homes for families on the reservation.

The court originally ruled in March 2008 that by entering into an ordinance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to establish a housing authority, the Blackfeet Tribe could be sued.

Most importantly to the Supreme Court filing, the court also said that HUD itself was not responsible for the shoddy building and materials that led to mold-infested homes on the reservation.

Some tribal legal advocates found the initial ruling perplexing, considering that it was HUD that unilaterally created the rules and financing mechanisms for how the tribe built the homes in the late-1970s, according to Blackfeet documentation.

Two previous Ninth Circuit rulings outside the case also held that courts in the circuit should not rule on a tribal housing authority’s immunity until the tribal court has done so, which did not happen in this instance.

Tribal officials nationwide were concerned by the initial appellate decision, since the court seemed to be treading on tribal sovereign immunity, while concurrently helping the federal government avoid living up to its trust responsibilities toward tribal citizens.

In its August decision, the appeals court reversed its previous ruling, saying it had been wrong to waive tribal immunity, and that the Blackfeet Tribe’s tribal court must have the first opportunity to address all issues within its jurisdiction.

That decision, while favorable for the tribe, did nothing to alleviate the pain and suffering of the tribal residents, many of them poverty-stricken, who live in the problematic Blackfeet homes. It also did not uphold federal trust responsibility in the case.

Approximately 150 Blackfeet families live in homes built on the Blackfeet Nation under guidelines established and approved by HUD. The residences were built using chrome copper arsenate wood, now banned for residential use by the Environmental Protection Agency due in part to its propensity to grow black mold, especially in moist areas.

Environmental health researchers have found that the occupants of the homes experience an array of health problems, ranging from chronic headaches to much more serious ailments, including asthma, pulmonary hemorrhaging, chronic coughing and cancer.

It was with these health concerns in mind that the tribal petitioners went to the Supreme Court in November with the hope that HUD would finally be held responsible for a situation that has been wrongfully hurting tribal members for decades.

After learning of the Supreme Court’s denial – for which the justices gave no rationale – Thomas Towe, a lawyer for the ailing plaintiffs, said that HUD has a mandate from Congress to uphold trust responsibility for American Indians.

He noted that starting with the U.S. Housing Act of 1937, Congress gave the federal government the mandate to provide safe, sanitary and decent housing for every American family, including Indians.

“The Supreme Court should have taken this case on,” Towe said. “I am very disappointed.”

Towe added that a recent Supreme Court decision involving the Navajo Nation and mineral leasing contained legal facts that he felt paralleled some of those of the housing case.

“Why [the Supreme Court] would take that one on and not this one is a good question,” Towe said, adding he believed the court could have helped provide clarification to federal courts in what he believes is a murky area of the law.

Towe also said the high court missed an “important opportunity” to begin remedying the health problems of the plaintiffs.

But the legal fight is far from over, Towe said, indicating that the plaintiffs will likely pursue another strategy against HUD involving administrative procedures, and, if necessary, a legal fight in tribal court against the tribe’s housing authority.

The administrative procedures route will open up entirely new obstacles and bureaucratic hoops to jump through, Towe noted. Plus, suing the tribe isn’t necessarily the most popular option, since the tribe isn’t generally believed to be in a great financial position – especially compared to HUD.

Towe said it would be possible that new circumstances involving the case may see it again petitioned before the high court.

Lawyers for the tribe’s housing authority have long argued that HUD should be held responsible.

When asked to comment on the Supreme Court’s decision, Stephen Doherty, a lawyer for the tribe, said that “Blackfeet housing is interested in partnering with anybody in order to improve housing across the board on the reservation.”

Donna White, a spokesperson with HUD, said the agency would not be offering comment at this time.

Reconciliation Forum – Russell Means speaks of the Indigenous Struggles

Russell Means speaks of Matriarchy, the Indigenous struggles, and of the Indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere at the Reconciliation Forum in Washington D.C..

Russell Means on Al Jazeera

Russell Means talks with Riz Kahn of Al Jazeera in this two part video interview. Among the topics of discussion are his boyhood and family, stories of activism and the on-going struggle for the future of Indian people.

Part 1

Part 2

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