Indigenous People

Winona LaDuke Open Letter To Governor Dayton

September 14, 2015 Winona LaDuke, www.http://www.brainerddispatch.com/opinion/guest-opinion/3831877-guest-opinion-dear-governor-dayton.com Resist! Animal Rights, Environment, Indigenous People, Mining

By Winona LaDuke in Brainerd Dispatch - Now your fisheries department has managed to crash the Mille Lacs fishery. Let me remind you that the Mille Lacs band did not do that, and has volunteered to forgo tribal harvest for next year. This crash resulted from the folly of your politics and the 2006 decision to increase the limit, despite scientific and tribal expertise which set the limit at 350,000 pounds. Minnesota fishery staff secured a legislative approval for 550,000 pounds. Nice work. The walleye population in 2014 was its lowest in 30 years. And, many of your lakes are dying from agricultural runoff and invasive species. Anishinaabeg people have always lived with the moose and the wolf. You have allowed their destruction by corporate and special interests driven myopic management policies. Let me be clear: In July of 2015, the Center for Biological Diversity and Honor the Earth filed a request to list the Moose as endangered. In just 10 years time, moose numbers in Minnesota have dropped from nearly 9,000 to as few as 3,500. Why?

RCMP Planning Mass Arrest Of Indigenous Activists Under Bill C-51

August 31, 2015 ThinkPol, www.thinkpol.ca Resist! British Columbia, Canada, Finance and the Economy, Indigenous People, Terror

By ThinkPol - The RCMP are preparing to carry out a mass arrest operation against the indigenous Unist’ot’en Clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation in northwestern BC under Harper government’s Bill C-51 labelling as terrorists First Nations activists exercising their Aboriginal Title and Rights to protect their lands from oil and gas development, according to a joint statement by the groups supporters. The Conservatives’ controversial anti-terror act criminalizes protests that may be seen as interfering with ‘the economic or financial stability of Canada’ and opponents of the bill had long feared that it would be used to stifle opposition to oil pipelines aggressively promoted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The Pacific Coast Farmworker Rebellion

August 29, 2015 David Bacon, www.davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com Resist! Farmworker, Indigenous People, Worker Rights and Jobs

By David Bacon - The strawberries, blackberries and blueberries sold everyday in U.S. supermarkets are largely picked by these indigenous families. Their communities are very closely connected, all along the agricultural valleys that line the Pacific Coast. These migrants come from the same region of southern Mexico, often from the same towns. They speak the same languages - ones that were thousands of years old when Europeans first landed on this continent. Increasingly they talk back and forth across the border, sharing tactics and developing a common strategy. Indigenous farm workers labor for a small number of large growers and distributors who dominate the market. One of the largest distributors is Driscoll's. Miles Reiter, retired CEO and grandson of its founder, says its intention is "to become the world's berry company." Driscoll's contracts with growers in five countries, and even exports berries from Mexico to China.

History of Violent Displacement Created National Parks

August 28, 2015 Julian Brave NoiseCat, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Corporatism, Displacement, Indigenous People, Land Rights, National Park, Violence

By Julian Brave NoiseCat in The Huffington Post - Tuesday marked the 99th anniversary of the National Park Service, perhaps the most-loved division of the federal government. For many Americans, excursions to the national parks conjure up memories of family road trips, camp songs and hikes set in some of the country's most beautiful locales. Ken Burns called the parks, "America’s best idea." Cue Woody Guthrie: "This Land Is Your Land." But what's often left unmentioned is that for the parks to become the protected lands of public imagination, their prior inhabitants -- such as indigenous peoples and the rural poor -- had to be evicted.

Idle No More Year In Review 2013-14

August 14, 2015 Idle No More, www.idlenomore.ca Resist! Canada, Grassriits, Idle No More, Indigenous People, Sovereignty

By Idle No More - 2014 was a busy year for Idle No More, in Canada, across Turtle Island, and globally, as the movement entered a new phase, consolidating and deepening its organizing for effective long-term change through mass education, grassroots strategy building, and local and mass actions. This document cannot hope to capture all of the inspiring work that is done everyday by the hundreds of Idle No More groups around the world. This Year in Review lifts up some of the powerful actions, gatherings, and organizing out on the land and in the streets as we continue to build this peaceful revolution to honour Indigenous sovereignty and protect the land and water.

Anishinaabe Water Walk To United Treaty 3 Against Pipeline

August 3, 2015 Idle No More, www.idlenomore.ca Resist! Community, Environment, Indigenous People, Oil & Gas, Pipeline, Resistance

By Idle No More - On August 2, 2015, nearly two dozen (or more) Anishinaabe Women and Men, Youth and Elders will be joined by supporters in a week-long walk against the Energy East Pipeline. The walk will cover more than 125 km of TransCanada’s proposed pipeline route where it crosses and threatens more than a dozen waterways in Treaty 3 Territory. The Anishinaabe Water Walk is organized by Grassroots Indigenous Water Defence (GIWD). What: The Anishinaabe Water Walk is a week-long walk along the route of the proposed TransCanada Energy East Pipeline project, to protect the waters of Treaty 3 Territories. When: Sunday August 2 to Saturday August 8, 2015. Where: Highway 17, Eagle Lake to Shoal Lake, Ontario, Treaty 3.

Unist’ot’en Call For Support And Solidarity

July 30, 2015 Unis'to'ten Camp, www.unistotencamp.com Resist! Environment, Indigenous People, Land Rights, Oil & Gas, Oil Pipelines

By Unis'to'ten Camp - It is becoming clear that the situation here is moving toward an escalation point. Chevron has set up a base in Houston in order to do work on the secton of Pacific Trails Pipeline that crosses our traditional territory. In recent days a low-flying helicopter has flown over the camp several times following a route that corresponds to the path of the proposed PTP pipeline. We were also visited by the head of the RCMP detachment who clearly stated to Freda that they intend to “ensure the work crews can do their work safely.” Our supporters maintaining an Unist’ot’en check point on Chisolm Rd were also visited and threatened by the police. In both cases, the officers asserted that we could be arrested for blocking a “public road”. It is clear by the timing of these recent police actions that they are working in tandem with the pipeline companies.

San Carlos Apache Tribe Clashes With Rep. Gosar After Rally

July 24, 2015 Indianz, www.facebook.com Resist! Arizona, Congress, Indigenous People, Land Rights, Mining, Sacred, Save Oak Flat

By Indianz - Members of the San Carlos Apache Tribe declared victory in their campaign to protect one of their most sacred places at a rally at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday even as some were threatened with arrest by a Republican member of Congress. With almost no financial backing, the Apache Stronghold left Arizona earlier this month on a 2,000-mile journey to educate the nation about the threats facing Oak Flat, a sacred gathering, ceremonial and burial site in Arizona. The trip culminated in a rousing rally in the Washington, D.C., heat with calls to support a bill that will protect the land from a controversial mining development. "Nothing is going to stop us," elder Sandra Rambler stated to cheers. "No surrender." As a spiritual leader within the tribe, Manuel Cooley said it's not common for him to take political stands. But Oak Flat is so important to his people that he drove to the nation's capital to explain why the proposed Resolution Copper mine will destroy the site.

Drunk Executives Poured Beer On Native American Children’s Heads

July 24, 2015 Carimah Townes, www.thinkprogress.org Educate! Criminal Justice, Indigenous People, Law, Racism

At the start of the year, a group of 57 Native Americans students from the Lakota tribe were taken to a minor league hockey match in Rapid City, South Dakota to celebrate their academic achievements. But what started as a field trip to reward the students quickly turned into a nightmare, when a group of drunk men in an executive suite dumped beer on their heads and yelled “go back to the Rez!” Seven months later, only one of the perpetrators faces criminal charges. His trial begins today, and if found guilty he will be convicted of disorderly conduct and fined $500 — avoiding hate crime charges, a jury, and jail time. In January, a group of third through eighth grade students from the American Horse School were watching the local hockey team, the Rapid City Rush, before several adults started asking them questions about where they are from.

Police Killing Native Americans At Astounding Rate

July 23, 2015 Ruth McCambridge, www.nonprofitquarterly.org Educate! Indigenous People, police brutality, Youth

By Ruth McCambridge in NonProfit Quarterly - A recent report by the Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice reports that Native Americans are killed by police at a higher rate than any other ethnic group. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that Native Americans make up almost two percent of those killed by police though they are only 0.8 percent of the population. While police kill young black men more than any other group, they kill Native Americans at a higher rate. As with African Americans, these killings are not isolated from the larger problem of police and societal violence, as this devastating article in Counterpunch discusses in the particular context of New Mexico, which in 2014 had the highest rate of police killing in the country.

Police Target Journalists & Organizers In Police Brutality Protests

July 22, 2015 Unicorn Riot, www.unicornriot.ninja.com Resist! #BlackLivesMatter, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Press, Indigenous People, Journalism, police brutality

By Unicorn Riot - Protests in Denver continue in the wake of the killing of Paul Castaway by Denver police officers. Paul Castaway, a 35 year old enrolled member of the Rosebud Lakota nation, was killed July 12, 2015 after his mother called police for “mental help assistance.” His last words were, “What’s wrong with you guys?” as he held a knife to his own neck. Police claimed that Castaway ran at them with a knife, but local witnesses contradict police claims. Also contradicting the police claims is a yet to be released video reviewed by a local reporter who stated that it showed Castaway standing still at a distance when police shot him. On Monday, July 20th, protesters continued to take the streets in Denver demanding justice for Paul Castaway’s death and gathered outside a Police Chiefs meeting.

Indigenous Children Face Extreme Rates Of State Violence

July 13, 2015 Britney Schultz, www.truth-out.org Resist! Capitalism, Children, Indigenous People, State Violence

By Britney Schultz in Truthout - The plight of Indigenous children recently made headlines, as Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission released a damning report calling the country's long-held policy of removing Native children from their families by force and placing them in state-funded residential schools "cultural genocide." According to the report, even before Canada was founded in 1867, churches were operating boarding schools for Indigenous children, and the last federally supported residential school didn't close until the late 1990s. In the US, Native children were subjected to similar policies for more than a century.Article VII of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 stated, "In order to insure the civilization of the Indians entering into this treaty … they, therefore, pledge themselves to compel their children, male and female, between the ages of six and sixteen years, to attend school."

Cops Hold Tasers To Lakota Protesters Stopping Beer Trucks

July 11, 2015 Sarah Burris, www.alternet.org Resist! Indigenous People, Mass Incarceration, Nebraska, police brutality

By Sarah Burris in Alternet - The town sells approximately 5 million cans of beer annually. Protesters have been camping around the clock for weeks holding vigils and doing blockades of the liquor store's delivery trucks. Last week, following a training and workshop, Lakota people took their civil disobedience to a new level with a greater presence and protest of the beer distributors. Bryan V. Brewer, Sr., president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, joined the crowd marching down the road toward White Clay as the beer trucks arrived. "As leaders we should be ahead of the people," he said. "We need to support our activists who are stepping up and confronting this issue." He was quickly arrested by Sheridan County Sheriff Terry Robbins.

Workers Turn Around Due To Protesters On Mauna Kea

June 25, 2015 Mileka Lincoln, www.hawaiinewsnow.com Resist! Hawaii, Indigenous People, Land Rights, Protest

By Mileka Lincoln in Hawaii News Now - After a seven-hour demonstration, Hawaii DLNR (Department of Land and Natural Resources) agents just informed the hundreds of protesters on Mauna Kea that officers and TMT workers will turn around and no longer ask anyone to leave. No further arrests will be made today, they say. Protesters began lining up early Wednesday morning to prevent construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on the on the summit of Mauna Kea. A total of eleven people were arrested, and the TMT crew made it about 1.5 miles up the seven-mile road. In all, more than 700 people gathered to stand in what they say is protection of a sacred Native Hawaiian space.

Peru’s Indigenous People Protest Against Relicensing Of Oil Concession

June 25, 2015 Davi Hill, www.theguardian.com Resist! Environment, Indigenous People, Oil & Gas, Peru

By Davi Hill in The Guardian - Hundreds of indigenous people deep in the Peruvian Amazon are blocking a major Amazon tributary following what they say is the government’s failure to address a social and environmental crisis stemming from oil operations. Kichwa men, women and children from numerous communities have been protesting along the River Tigre for almost a month, barring the river with cables and stopping oil company boats from passing. Oil companies have operated in the region for over 40 years, and have been linked by local people to pollution that has led the government to declare “environmental emergencies” in the Tigre and other river basins. “The Tigre is the most contaminated, but the government has done nothing serious,” says Jose Fachin, a Kichwa leader.

«1 2 3 4 »

Daily movement news and resources