Water and Indigenous People

January 4, 2007 Listen to the Show

Indigenous Rights in the Pacific Basin: Struggling to Stay Afloat Despite Stranglehold of Economic Globalization; An Indigenous Perspective on Climate Justice

Indigenous Rights in the Pacific Basin: Struggling to Stay Afloat Despite Stranglehold of Economic Globalization
Some say the modern era in the Pacific indigenous rights movement began after World War II mainly in response to two things. The first was the recognition of the right to self-determination for colonized peoples in the newly drafted UN Charter. The second major event in 1946 was the onset of a 50-year era of Pacific nuclear testing led by the U.S. in the Marshall Islands, followed by the United Kingdom in 1952 and France in 1966. The Pacific indigenous rights movement can be viewed as a response to the West's colonial domination in violation of the UN Charter's call for decolonization and the West's Cold War pretext for use of the Pacific islands for devastating nuclear testing. That struggle is now extended to fight neocolonialism in the form of economic globalization. Indigenous islander Mililani Trask talked about this issue at a forum in New York City in November called Indigenous Peoples Resistance to Economic Globalization: A Celebration of Victories, Rights and Cultures.
Mililani Trask, a Native Hawaiian attorney with an extensive background on Native Hawaiian land trusts, resources and legal entitlements. Her work has been cited by the Hawaii Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and published by Cultural Survival and IWGIA magazines on issues relating to native people and human and civil rights. Mililani is a founding member and current chair of the Indigenous Women's Network, a coalition of Native American Women whose work includes community based economic development, social justice, human rights, housing and health. In 2001, she was nominated and appointed as the Pacific representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and is currently considered an indigenous expert to the United Nations in international and human rights law. She is an instructor with the International Training Center for Indigenous Peoples in Nuuk, Greenland and a lecturer with the University of Hawaii Center for Hawaiian Studies.

An Indigenous Perspective on Climate Justice
We spend the second half of the hour speaking with Oannes Pritzker, a Native ecologist , journalist and activist of the Wabanaki people. He discusses global warming and how lack of spiritual attention leads to environmental disaster. He is director of Yat Kitischee Native Center; an Inter-Tribal Cultural/Environmental/ Social Justice/Educational/News-Media grassroots organization. Oannes has participated in many international, inter-tribal, and national conferences, gatherings, campaigns, and protest actions. He has traveled throughout much of the world as an activist and journalist, reporting on many issues of earth-justice and human rights. He is host and producer of a weekly one-hour worldwide radio program; "Honoring Mother Earth/Indigenous Voices" broadcast on Radio for Peace International, on Radio4all.net, and a number of community radio stations across North America. As an Ecologist, Oannes has been actively involved in the establishment and leadership of the national environmental justice movement, which he remains active with. More Info is available at the Yat Kitischee Native Center Web Site.

August 3, 2006 Listen to the Show

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

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

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

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

June 30, 2006 Listen to the Show

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
The Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas relies on water from the Delaware River for consumption, but they are suffering from a serious water shortage and water quality problem. Their plans for a solution have been blocked by a disagreement with local officials. In turn, the tribe announced a lawsuit against the local watershed board, the state of Kansas and the U.S. government. The tribe filed its lawsuit in the middle of June in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, naming 14 federal, state and local officials as defendants. The tribe’s proposed solution to their water problems is a reservoir project. Local officials say this can’t happen unless more money is offered. And now the question of who has senior water rights lies at the center of the dispute. Meanwhile, one tribal member told a reporter for the Kansas City Channel “We are crying for help. We must have water, or we won’t hold out much longer.”

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
The issue of language has been in the news recently as a component of the “path to citizenship” for immigrants coming to the U.S. In May, the Senate passed immigration legislation that would create a program permitting undocumented immigrants who had resided in the United States for five years or more to "earn" their citizenship after paying a fine and back taxes, learning English and holding a job for six years. But as lawmakers push for more incentives to learn English, how are the first languages of this continent faring? Throughout Indian country, the fight is on to keep ancient languages from crumbling under the weight of English. Language revitalization programs are on the rise as activists struggle to get the youth interested and to make it clear that the language is still relevant. In 1995, the Alaska Native Language Center found that of 175 indigenous languages still spoken in the United States, 155 were on the verge of disappearing because children no longer learned them.

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

June 15, 2006 Listen to the Show

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
In South Dakota, Oglala Sioux Tribe President Cecilia Fire Thunder is speaking out against a gag order issued by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council. She says a suspension letter she received from the Tribal council ordered her not to talk to the media. She called it a violation of her constitutional rights in an interview Tuesday, according to the Rapid City Journal. The tribal council suspended Fire Thunder last month for proposing an abortion clinic on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and for allegedly raising money for the clinic. She proposed the clinic in response to South Dakota’s new abortion ban, which has since been referred to a statewide vote in November. The tribal council also banned abortions on the reservation. Last year there were two attempts to impeach Fire Thunder. She was suspended once and reinstated when charges were dismissed. She is the first woman elected as president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. A hearing to discuss impeachment has not yet been set.

The Navajo Nation Declares State of Emergency
The Navajo Nation has declared a state of emergency in the wake of ongoing drought conditions and a series of recent wildfires, according to a press release. Of nine fires only one is still burning, said Selena Manychildren, Navajo Department of Emergency Management public information officer, according to the Farmington Daily Times of New Mexico. People who need fires for ceremonial purposes are required to obtain a BIA Burn Permit, which will only be issued for ceremonial use. The law enforcement department reportedly used all their funding last week to provide meals, water and other supplies, she said. The Department is seeking water, energy bars, toiletries and non-perishable food among other items.

US Supreme Court Decision Favors Native Hawaiian Programs
A lawsuit seeking to cut off public money used for Native Hawaiian programs has suffered a setback in the U.S. Supreme Court. The lawsuit contended that programs through the Office of Hawaiian Affairs should not receive state funding on the grounds that they only benefit people of Native Hawaiian ancestry. But the Supreme Court Monday told an appeals court to reconsider whether taxpayers have the right to sue over how the government spends their money. A lawyer for the Hawaii taxpayers making the claim said the Ninth Circuit Court could stand by its September ruling that taxpayers can challenge Hawaiians-only programs, or he could refile the lawsuit with new plaintiffs. Chief Justice John Roberts did not participate in the decision and the Supreme Court offered no explanation. Roberts was previously hired by the state to defend the Office of Hawaiian Affair’s Hawaiians-only voting restriction. In the case, the court ruled unconstitutional OHA's requirement that voters for its trustees must have Hawaiian blood.

Appeals Court Blocks Critical Trust Fund Reports
A federal appeals court ruled last Friday to suppress reports which contained information that the US Department of the Interior allegedly destroyed documents related to a class action lawsuit brought by Native Americans. The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit against the Department ten years ago, accusing the government of mismanaging an Indian trust in their names for a period of 120 years. The Native Americans say they are owed tens of billions of dollars. The author of the reports, Alan Balaran, was appointed by US District Judge Royce Lamberth. He supervised the exchange of information between parties in the lawsuit and investigated document destruction. Balaran's reports to the judge, including observations from personal visits, found the department had destroyed Indian records, sometimes intentionally, at federal depositories and Indian reservations in the West. According to the Associated Press, Keith Harper, a lawyer for the Indian plaintiffs suing the department, said Friday, "Most of the facts in those reports have been conceded as true" by the Interior Department. Interior officials nonetheless asked a federal appeals court to strike Balaran's reports from the record, saying he had improperly hired as an expert witness a former Interior contractor who had accused the department of fraud. Balaran resigned two years ago, saying the government wanted him off the case after he found evidence that private landowners near the Navajo Nation got as much as 20 times more money than Indian landowners from gas pipeline companies for rights to cross their land. Those findings have not been disputed by the government in the lawsuit.

Caledonia Update
From the Six Nations standoff in Caledonia: Violent incidents last Friday resulted in the arrest warrants for seven people. Ontario Premier McGuinty on Monday called an end to negotiations with native protestors and said it’s time the road blockades come down. He said the Native community must help search for the seven wanted people. Talks between the government and Six Nations people are set to resume today. Protestors have now removed barricades from the railway and roads, and say the government now has no excuse to avoid tackling their land claims. Negotiators will update the Six Nations community after the talks end tonight. Yesterday, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the traditional native government, issued a news release saying the seven people wanted by the OPP will not be at the protest site until the Confederacy completes its own investigation, according to the Hamilton Spectator. Also yesterday, Caledonia business owner launched a class action lawsuit to recoup tens of millions of dollars in losses, their lawyers said Wednesday according to the Canadian press. Only two businesses have signed on so far. The suit is expected to grow exponentially as homeowners may join the legal fight. Six Nations and other Aboriginal protestors have been occupying a half-finished housing development since the end of February.

Colorado University Panel Votes to Fire Ward Churchill
The committee at University of Colorado looking into charges against Ward Churchill issued a strongly worded report Tuesday. The panel, made up of nine CU faculty, a staff member and a graduate student, agreed unanimously with an investigative committee’s earlier findings that Churchill “has committed serious, repeated and deliberate research misconduct.” This includes plagiarism and fabrication of material. In a vote with secret ballots, a majority of the committee said the ethnic studies professor should be fired. The committee forwarded a 20-page report to the University’s Interim Provost and Dean. They will evaluate the report and then advise the Chancellor on what they think should happen to Churchill. The Chancellor will make the final decision, most likely in the next few weeks, according to the Rocky Mountain News. Churchill’s attorney, David Lane, has said Churchill will sue CU in federal court if he is fired. Churchill and Lane have called the investigation politically motivated and the committees’ findings without merit.

Three South Carolina Tribes Seek Federal Recognition
In South Carolina, the Commission for Minority Affairs met last week to consider the recognition petitions of three more tribes. The Croatan Pee Dee, the Piedmont American Indian Association-Lower Eastern Cherokee Nation and the Darlington County Pee Dee Tribe are the latest to seek state recognition. The commission has recognized two tribes so far. The Croatan Pee Dee group has since withdrawn after questions were raised about its status and Indian ancestry. One expert reportedly said the group is making claims that can not be supported by history or documentation.

Abramoff Investigation Update
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee will meet on June 22 to vote on the Jack Abramoff lobbying investigation report, Indianz.com is reporting. Back in June 2005, Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), the chairman of the committee, said the committee would issue a report. He said it would make recommendations to prevent tribes from being duped by lobbyists. Five people have since been indicted in connection with their lobbying activities in Washington, D.C. Four of them have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with federal prosecutors as the investigation targets members of Congress. The committee itself held five hearings as part of its investigation. Tribal leaders, lobbyists, former Bush administration officials and other people connected to the scandal testified, although in some cases, they refused to provide testimony.

Cherokees to Vote on Whether to Admit Freedmen
The Cherokee tribal council voted Monday night to have Cherokee voters decide whether the descendents of black freedmen should be allowed to enroll in the Cherokee tribe. The vote could come in a special election, at a cost of $150,000 to $350,000, or at the tribe’s next regular election — in July 2007. The Council failed on Monday to gather the majority needed to call the special election. The Cherokees’ Judicial Appeals Tribunal ruled in March that descendants of black freedmen — emancipated slaves who joined the Cherokees in the 1800s — must be recognized as citizens of the tribe. More than 800 descendants of freedmen have registered with the Cherokee Nation since the tribal high court’s ruling. Amending the constitution would remove them from the tribe’s citizenship rolls. According to the Muskogee Phoenix, most councilors said Indian blood should be required for tribal membership.

Native American Music Awards
The 8th Annual Native American Music Awards were recently held in Florida, co-sponsored by the Seminole Tribe. An equal mix of new artists and previous Nammy Award winners were nominated. The Nammys are also designed to make Native American music more accessible to a wide audience. Keith Secola won artist of the year for “Americana” and Best Male artist was Wade Fernandez with “Song of the Black Wolf.” This year’s Best Female Artist was Pura Fe’ with “Follow Your Heart’s Desire.” Jim Boyd won Songwriter of the Year for “Treaties.” Winner for Song/Single of the Year went to Bill Miller for “Sacred Ground.”

IEN Protecting Mother Earth Conference
The 14th Annual Protecting Mother Earth Conference will take place July 6 – 9 in Cass Lake, Minnesota at the Leech Lake Memorial Pow-wow Grounds. Hosted by the Indigenous Environmental Network, there will be workshops on Water of Life & Prayer for the Water, Toxic Contamination and Health of All Life, Energy & Climate Justice, Native Youth Resistance Movement, and more. For more information go to www.ienearth.org or contact Simone Senogles at +1 218 751- 4967 or simone@ienearth.org

Penobscot Nation Moves Forward With River Restoration Project
For years, the Penobscot Nation has fought to increase the number of fish annually making it to their homelands. But their journey has been halted by several dams on the Penobscot River owned by the PPL Corporation. In 2004, the federal government, the Penobscot Nation and the PPL Corporation all signed the Lower Penobscot River Multi-party Settlement Agreement. It is a collaborative effort to restore the Penobscot River. The Agreement allows for increased production at some PPL mills and calls for the removal of two dams. Another dam would be decommissioned and bypassed with a fishway. At the end of May, PPL Corporation started generating more power at other dams, signaling a step towards compensating for the loss of power generated by the dams which will be removed and decommissioned. The Penobscot River Restoration Trust is now working to raise $25 million to buy the three dams from PPL. The trust includes six conservation groups and the Penobscot Nation. John Banks, Penobscot and director of natural resources for the Penobscot Indian Nation. Visit this web site for more information: www.penobscotriver.org and www.penobscotnation.org

Montana Coal War Veteran Gail Small on Energy Policy, Food Politics and More
The largest coal strip mine and gasification complex in America lies just 15 miles from the Cheyenne Reservation. The Cheyenne people are living on one of the poorest Reservations in the country and yet for over 30 years, they have refused to strip mine their homeland for promises of riches. As a teenager, Gail Small was immersed in the infamous Montana Coal Wars – a grassroots struggle to reverse government policy allowing energy companies to mine the rich coal reserves underneath the Northern Cheyenne reservation. Prohibited from mining on the reservation, the coal companies have dug into nearby lands scarring the landscape with strip mines. After getting her law degree from the University of Oregon, Small returned to the Northern Cheyenne reservation and founded Native Action, a ground-breaking non-profit advocacy group dedicated to environmental and political reforms, education and other causes that directly affect the life of her tribe. Today Native Action is struggling to keep thousands of methane gas wells from surrounding the Northern Cheyenne reservation. In April 2005, they lost a battle to stop a ruling that is allowing 500 wells per year to be opened up in Southeastern Montana despite the fact that the environmental impact statement the Bureau of Land Management issued was declared invalid. The wells will be right up to the Cheyenne’s borders within two years if the industry has it’s way. Gail Small, Northern Cheyenne lawyer and founder of Native Action. For more information visit: www.nativeaction.org

January 26, 2006

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

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

Tom GoldTooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network

Defenders of the Black Hills

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

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

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

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.