MARIO A. MURILLO substituting for Tiokasin Ghosthorse

MAIRA IRIGARAY- an attorney and the Brazil Program Director of Amazon Watch in San Francisco. She’s been actively involved in the movement to stop Belo Monte for years and just returned from Brazil. Runs 15:15 http://amazonwatch.org/news/2012/0820-belo-monte-halted-norte-energias-l...

Belo Monte Dam Project On-Hold, Temporarily As we reported in the previous edition of First Voices: Indigenous Radio, last week a high-level court in Brazil suspended construction of the controversial Belo Monte dam project on the Amazon's Xingu River. If you recall, the court cited evidence that indigenous people had not been properly consulted prior to government approval of the project. Brazil's Regional Federal Tribunal upheld an earlier decision that declared the Brazilian Congress's authorization of the project in 2005 to be illegal. As a result, indigenous people have become more vocal in their opposition to Belo Monte. We wanted to revisit the story today to understand the significance of the ruling, the potential backlash as a result of the ruling, and how indigenous communities in the region are responding.

JOHN BATHKE - the Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation’s historic preservation officer. The Quechan Tribe is currently fighting against the Ocotillo Express Wind Facility, a massive project of 112 turbines, each standing 450 feet tall, on more than 10,150 acres of public land in the Ocotillo Desert south of San Diego. http://itcaonline.com/?page_id=1173 Sacred Sites Hearings Begin With Concerns Over Renewable Energy Projects

The first in a series of hearings regarding sacred sites between the U.S. Interior Department and indigenous tribal leaders was held last week in Albuquerque, New Mexico. News reports said about a dozen tribal leaders showed up to air their concerns, many surrounding the fast-tracking of renewable energy projects without adequate review of the effects on sacred sites. Apparently the Interior department wants to know how it should define the term “sacred site.” Four more listening sessions are scheduled.

CHASE IRON EYES - is owner of lastrealindians.com, an attorney, writer, and speaker. Chase has also advocated for the protection of sacred sites, including Bear Butte (held sacred by several Indian Nations) in the Black Hills near Sturgis, South Dakota. Chase was raised on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in the Northern Plains(United States). http://www.lastrealindians.com

Pe' Sla is an area in the Black Hills of South Dakota (just west of Rapid City). It’s considered by the Lakota people to be the Center and heart of everything that is, and it is part of their creation story. It is a sacred place. This area is currently owned by the Reynolds family, who plans on auctioning off almost 2,000 acres to the highest bidder on August 25th…this Saturday. It is likely that the state of South Dakota will put a road directly through Pe' Sla and open up this sacred place for development. The seven bands of the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota Oyate people, that is, the Great Sioux Nation, have a collective effort to buy as much of Pe'Sla as they can at this auction.

STEVEN T. NEWCOMB (Shawnee-Lenape) is the co-founder and co-director of the Indigenous Law Institute, author of Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery, and is the Indigenous and Kumeyaay Research Coordinator for the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation. http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/ict_sbc/learning-to-see-how-am...

U.S. Federal Indian Law and Ongoing Domination of Indigenous People

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Exodus - Bob Marley