[Indigsol] IPSMO Newsletter, Sept. 21 to Sept. 28
Indigenous Peoples' Solidarity Movement -Ottawa
ipsmo at riseup.net
Sun Sep 20 21:00:09 PDT 2009
IPSMO Newsletter, Sept. 21 to Sept. 28
Meetings, Events, Announcements, Articles
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0) Join IPSMO’s Facebook Group
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1) Meetings
a) IPSMO meeting, Thursday, Oct. 1st at 6pm
b) Indigenous Sovereignty Committee meeting,
Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 6pm
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2) Events
2a) Organizing for Justice, Keynote Speakers, Panel Discussion
Thursday, Oct. 15 at 7pm
2b) My Summer Vacation Under Occupation:
Carleton Students and Faculty Report Back from Occupied
Palestine, Thursday, Oct. 5 at 7pm
2c) Movie: “FOR THE NEXT 7 GENERATIONS: 13 INDIGENOUS GRANDMOTHERS
WEAVING A WORLD THAT WORKS"
Monday, Oct. 5 at 6:30pm
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3) Announcements
3a) URGENT! IMMINENT EVICTION IN COMMUNITY Mapuce LogK PURANA
3b) Reportback from Sept. 16 event Understanding (and ending) the
Continuing Epidemic of Violence towards Indigenous Women
3c) Mi’kmaq dictionary on-line
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4) Articles
4a) Native protest closes bridge to Cornwall border-crossing
4b) With more than 500 aboriginal women missing, action is overdue
4c) LEONARD PELTIER IS NOT ALONE
.. AMNESTY FOR ALL POLITICAL
PRISONERS!
4d) A shameful second anniversary (for the UNDRIP and Canaduh)
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IPSMO Newsletter
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Join our Facebook Group!
The Indigenous Peoples’ Solidarity Movement is on Facebook! Join the FB
group to get event announcements, news, photos, articles, video and more.
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1) Meetings
1a) IPSMO meeting, Thursday, Oct. 1st at 6pm
IPSMO’s next GM
Thursday, Oct. 1 at 6pm
Location TBA
Everyone Welcome!
ipsmo at riseup.net
http://ipsmo.org
IPSMO’s general meeting is where our working groups report back and where
we make decisions about any other organizing that we will do.
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1b) Indigenous Sovereignty Committee meeting, Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 6pm
Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 6:00pm
P.S.A.C. building (233 Gilmour)
Everyone Welcome!
Wheelchair Aceessible
The Indigenous Sovereignty Committee will be organizing the
Ottawa/Outaouais Indigenous Sovereignty week. Indigenous Sovereignty week
is being organized in response to the call made by the new national
indigenous organization, Turtle Island Defenders of the Earth.
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2) Events
2a) Organizing for Justice, Keynote Speakers, Panel Discussion
Thursday, Oct. 15 at 7pm
Thursday, Oct. 15 at 7pm
Main Public Library,
120 Metcalfe at Laurier
(in the downstairs auditorium)
Everyone Welcome!
Wheelchair Accessible
613 656 5498
Org4justice at gmail.com
Organizing For Justice conference, Oct 15-18:
http://www.organizingforjustice.ca -
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=62922241219
Panel theme:
Grassroots Responses to the Economic and Environmental Crises
Featuring:
* Beenash Jafri (York University, Women’s Studies) – research interests
include: critical race/antiracism studies, postcolonial theory, critical
feminism/gender studies, indigenous studies, identity politics,
environmental justice, social movements and coalition building. See
co-authored article ‘Green is not the only colour‘
http://briarpatchmagazine.com/514/
* Ben Powless (Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, Indigenous Environmental
Network) – a Mohawk young person currently involved in organizing the
Power Shift Canada 09 conference (Ottawa, Oct 23-26), addressing climate
change and a just transition to a ‘green’ society / economy -
http://powershiftcanada.org/
* A representative from the Toronto Workers’ Assembly (Toronto, Oct 2-4),
organizing working-class communities to build an independent politics that
puts real alternatives to capitalism on the agenda -
http://workersolidarity.blogspot.com/2009/05/fall-conference-2009_16.html
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2b) My Summer Vacation Under Occupation:
Carleton Students and Faculty Report Back from Occupied Palestine,
Thursday, Oct. 5 at 7pm
My Summer Vacation Under Occupation: Carleton Students and Faculty
Report Back from Occupied Palestine
7:00 PM
Monday October 5, 2009
2017 Dunton Tower, Carleton University
Wheelchair Accessible
Free!
Presented by Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) Carleton
saia.carleton at gmail.com, http://carleton.saia.ca/
In the summer of 2005, Carleton President Roseann Runte visited Israel
through a program called the “Israel Advocacy Initiative.” During her
trip, President Runte bought into the propaganda that was directed at
the participants, even describing Israel’s Apartheid Wall - deemed
illegal by the International Court of Justice - as being “enormously
popular.”
In the summer of 2009, a number of Carleton students and faculty
visited Palestine/Israel for different types of trips.
Some visited family and friends.
Others wanted to bear witness to Israeli apartheid first-hand.
Some were allowed in the country, and experienced the racism,
discrimination, and oppression stemming from the occupation.
Others - in particular, those with Palestinian family connections -
were denied entry; interrogated, humiliated, threatened, dehumanized
and told they are barred from ever visiting their family. Racial
profiling at its worst.
On Oct 5, 2009 Students Against Israeli Apartheid (Carleton) invites
you to listen to the stories of your Carleton peers – faculty and
students – about their summer experiences in Palestine/Israel.
Everyone is welcome to come see pictures and hear personal accounts
about the realities of life under occupation.
Related Links:
“A Blog from Israel” Runte, Roseanne (United Jewish Federation of
Tidewater) http://www.jewishva.org/page.as px?id=110191
“Israel Targets Palestinian-Canadian” Koring, Paul (Globe and Mail)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/israel-targets-palestinian-canadians/article1259311/
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2c) Movie: “FOR THE NEXT 7 GENERATIONS: 13 INDIGENOUS GRANDMOTHERS
WEAVING A WORLD THAT WORKS"
Monday, Oct. 5 at 6:30pm
Greetings, Bonjour, Tansi, Hola, Sat Nam,
**
The film screening debut *“FOR THE NEXT 7 GENERATIONS: 13 INDIGENOUS
GRANDMOTHERS WEAVING A WORLD THAT WORKS"* is being presented in Ottawa in
conjunction with the 2009 Peace Festival and National Aboriginal Women's
Awareness Week. The film reveals the importance of Indigenous knowledge in
our world today as shared by 13 Indigenous Grandmothers originating from
all four corners of the world. It reveals timeless wisdom to help us make
a difference in our every day lives, in service of peace, of our earth
mother and of healing.
*"FOR THE **NEXT** 7 GENERATIONS"* documents the momentous journey of
thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers as they travel around the globe to
promote world peace and share their indigenous ways of healing. These wise
elders, shamans and medicine women first came together in 2004. Moved by
their concern for our planet, they decided to form an alliance: The
International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. Since 2004, they have
travelled to the Amazon rainforest, the mountains of Mexico, to Africa, to
the Vatican, to North America and to India for a private meeting with the
Dalai Lama. Facing a world in crisis, they share with us their visions of
healing and a call for change now, before it’s too late. Through their
teachings, they are lighting a way to a peaceful, sustainable planet.
Seeing this documentary will inspire you to keep their vision and message
alive.
*"FOR THE **NEXT** 7 GENERATIONS"* is directed and produced by Emmy and
Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Carole Hart, narrated by actress and
activist Ashley Judd and includes a moving original score by Emmy
Award-winning composer Peter Buffett.” For more information, visit the
website http://www.forthenext7generations.com
*DATE OF SCREENING EVENT: **Monday, October 5, 2009** --- **6:30 p.m. to
9:00 p.m. please arrive by 6:15 p.m.*
*LOCATION: **St. Paul**’s University, Amphitheatre, **223 Main Street**,
**Ottawa**, **ON* (Free Parking near amphitheatre entrance on the north
side of Guiges Pavillion).
*ADMISSION: $20/person $15/student **CASH** ONLY. Tickets available in
advance at Singing Pebbles across from St. Paul University and from Cindy
Gaudet. Tickets will also be made available at the door. Books and DVDs
will be sold at the event for cash only.*
As a way of exchange, all proceeds will be shared between The 13
Indigenous Grandmothers Council and a local grass-root project,
Wharncliffe Farm, led and developed by Ojibwe Grandmothers whose mandate
is to educate on Indigenous Women’s Teachings, Healing and Medicine. This
event will be presented in a ceremonial way opened by local Ojibwe
Grandmother, Isabelle Meawasige, one of the founders of Wharncliffe Farm,
who will be in attendance. There will be space for dialogue following the
documentary.
*Please forward and post freely in your community, at Peace Festival
events and at National Aboriginal Women's Awareness Week events. Everyone
is welcome! An updated event poster is attached for your use. *
*To host/sponsor a ceremonial screening in your community or for more
information, contact **Cindy Gaudet, Global HeartBeat,** Bridging Feminine
Wisdom Today. 1-613.601.1647*
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3) Announcements
3a) IMMINENT EVICTION IN COMMUNITY Mapuce LogK PURANA
IMMINENT EVICTION IN COMMUNITY Mapuce LogK PURANA
"THANK YOU FOR YOUR PEACE $ APAG SOCIAL
14 SEPTEMBER 2009 - NEUQUEN
The Apache Oil, police, accompanied by alleged owners of our Waj
speculators Mapu - Territory, attempted to enter the community of Logko
Puran.
Coincidentally Eduardo Badano, former High Court Judge Justice, faithful
bodyguard of the Sobischs government, is one of the alleged owners of the
Community.
After more than two years of keeping the site North Hill Flag Company
closed, in the hands of Apache, which cost harsh repression in 2004,
lawsuits and political persecution from the authorities of the community.
In a national auction Badano company and an alleged ghost company called
WFL Trading, bought this space.
Thus they reached the entrance Reservoir where the community was preventing
the passage of any vehicle.
The only thing that was clear from the mouth of Badano is that "they would
enter the same way they left"
That's why we denounce:
Jorge Sapag, Governor of the Province of Neuquen
* The failure to ensure the rights we have as a people consecrated
Mapuce promoting prosecutions, with over 150 authorities Mapuce processed.
* For further guarding the oil companies at the expense of any price,
without applying the Free Prior Informed Consent.
* For ignoring law 26,160 prohibiting evictions.
* Because the only response to the demand for Mapuce people's right
is repression.
Apache Oil Company
* By claiming the irrational exploitation of our Waj Mapu.
* For bribing Mapuce to sign agreements againstthe community.
* By continuing to promote the heavy hand with the people Mapuce.
To Badano and their ghost company
* By speculating on foreign territory, which belongs to the community
Logko Puran.
* Because of the impossibility of entering territory lies beyond the
provincial police
For this we say, ENOUGH OF STATE TERRORISM
Without rights there is no access !!!!!!!!
Violeta Velazquez Relmu Ñamku
INAL LogK WERKEN
Lof Lof Logko Logko Puran Puran
Fidel Colipán
WERKEN
Mapuce Confederation of Neuquen
Contact - 0299 154843334 - 0299 155174311 - 0299 155235775
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3b) Reportback from Sept. 16 event Understanding (and ending) the
Continuing Epidemic of Violence towards Indigenous Women
Reportback from Sept. 16 event Understanding (and ending) the Continuing
Epidemic of Violence towards Indigenous Women
Thanks to all who came out on Wed to the event. For all who couldn't make
it, we can report that it was a stirring evening, honouring the memory of
those women no longer with us - both acknowledging the problem and
discussing what we can do.
The official tally of people in attendance was 258, with a few more that
came in later on during the night. We raised close to $2000 gross (before
expenses), so thanks to everyone who was so generous - and also thanks to
Bridgehead for the beverages, and to IPSMO volunteers for the food and the
organizing!
Here are two photo albums from the event:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=320462&id=729990353
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=313456&id=736620645
Also, it looks like we might have some video available shortly.
To receive notice when the video is ready, and to receive further notices
about future events/updates, please sign up for our FB group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=120142932547
and/or remember to check out our website: http://www.ipsmo.org
where you can also sign up for our weekly email newsletter
In solidarity,
IPSMO - Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa
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3c) Mi’kmaq dictionary on-line
An on-going project by Mi’kmaq from the community of Listiguj (in Quebec)
and researchers in Cape Breton are developing an on-line resource of more
than 6,000 words in the Mi’kmaq language.
The database is meant to eventually create podcasts of audio lessons to
teach the language. In on-line audio recordings, three speakers’ voices
pronounce each word, and then each word is used in a sentence to give it’s
meaning, and to allow listeners to pick out the word from a sentence.
The Mi’kmaw language is in danger of extinction, with only 3 to 4,000
people speaking the language currently, according to Radio Canada.
You can see the website project at www.mikmaqonline.org.
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4) Articles
4a) Native protest closes bridge to Cornwall border-crossing
http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090919/OTT_Cornwall_Border_090919/20090919?hub=Ottawa
see also http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1760343
*Native protest closes bridge to Cornwall border-crossing*
Police blocked access to a temporary border-crossing in Cornwall, Ont. For
more than six hours on Saturday after Akwesasne Mohawks protested what
they call unfair treatment by Canada Border Services.
Cornwall police closed the Seaway International Bridge leading to the
United States just after 11 a.m. because of a dispute between Mohawks and
the government agency.
Although the border-crossing remained open, the bridge was closed until
just before 5:30 p.m. Those hoping to travel to the United States were
being advised to cross the border at Dundee, Que., located 45 minutes east
of Cornwall; or Prescott, Ont., about 45 minutes west of Cornwall.
The demonstration stemmed from a disagreement over fines recently issued
to members of the Mohawk community who failed to report to a temporary
customs office in Cornwall when they returned to Canada from the United
States, even though they stayed within native territory.
However, Canada Border Services says all travellers entering Canada are
required by law to report to the port of entry.
In a statement released to the media, the agency said it recognized it
would take time for frequent travellers to become familiar with the
temporary border-crossing. Since July 13, the government has been
communicating the rules through the media, as well as using a sign
campaign at the American side of the Canada-U.S. border.
Canada Border Services said it notified the Akwesasne Mohawk Council on
Sept. 1 to inform the community that it intended to start enforcing the
rules.
However, the Akwesasne Mohawk Council disagreed with recent penalties
issued to members of the community, saying it made no sense to fine
Mohawks who use native land to travel between the two countries.
"They are not entering Canada, but travelling only within Mohawk
territory. When they do travel to Cornwall, they report at the Cornwall
Port as do every other visitor to Canada," reads a statement issued by the
Akwesasne Mohawk Council on Friday.
The council said some residents have been fined $1,000 for failing to
report to customs. If the fine is not paid, the council said border agents
will seize vehicles when they leave Mohawk territory to enter Cornwall.
Members of the CBSA met with the Akwesasne Mohawk Council on Saturday to
discuss the dispute.
Akwesasne resident Brian White calls the fines "extortion" against Mohawks.
"Some local residents shut down the bridge (Saturday) morning after the
CBSA impounded a vehicle and wanted to extort the Indians $1,000 to get
their car back," he told CTV Ottawa.
The demonstration on Saturday was described by Mohawks as small and
peaceful.
It's the latest in a series of incidents that have closed the Seaway
International Bridge this summer.
The temporary border crossing was opened on July 13 in Cornwall, Ont., six
weeks after a crossing on native territory was closed amid a dispute with
the Mohawk community.
The border crossing at Cornwall Island was shut down on June 1, when a new
federal policy kicked in requiring all border guards to carry
nine-millimetre handguns.
The Cornwall border crossing handles more than 2.5 million trips each
year, with commercial and tourist traffic accounting for at least one
million trips, according to the Chamber of Commerce.
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4b) With more than 500 aboriginal women missing, action is overdue
http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/GAM.20090903.LPICARD03ART1830/TPStory/TPComment<goog_1253487896159><goog_1253487896159>
*SECOND OPINION / CRIME / RACE-BASED VIOLENCE With more than 500
aboriginal women missing, action is overdue*
ANDRE PICARD
Last week, the Manitoba government announced the creation of a joint RCMP
and Winnipeg Police task force to investigate dozens of cases of missing
and murdered women in the province.
The news, while welcome, raises the question: Why limit the investigation
to Manitoba? It is true that there are at least 75 missing women in the
province, virtually all of them aboriginal. Police have been seemingly
incapable of solving the cases and halting the race-based violence.
But, nationwide, the data are even more gut-wrenching: The Native Women's
Association of Canada has catalogued 520 cases of missing or murdered
aboriginal women, half of them since the year 2000.
The women, most under the age of 30, are overwhelmingly victims of sexual
violence. They are being preyed upon systematically by sexual sadists,
killers and probably more than one serial killer.
How can this not be considered a national priority for police, justice and
public-health officials? Sadly, when a native woman is murdered or
vanishes under suspicious circumstances, it does not mobilize police
action nor generate near as much media attention as similar cases
involving non-native women.
They were drunk. They were sex workers. They came from unstable family
backgrounds. They were runaways. They were party girls. An endless litany
of excuses for inaction is trotted out with shocking regularity.
Let's be blunt. The main reason an in-depth investigation is required is
that the situation reeks of racism, stereotyping and discrimination.
There seems to be a deadly double standard at play.
It is true that many of the 500-plus aboriginal women who have been
murdered or disappeared had difficult life circumstances.
But it is precisely these circumstances - alcoholism, drug addiction,
sexual abuse, the sequelae of residential schools, poverty, survival sex,
etc. - that placed them at much higher risk.
The life expectancy of an aboriginal is a decade less than a
non-aboriginal in Canada. The rate of infant mortality is three times
higher. The suicide rate is six times higher. Aboriginal people have a
rate of diabetes and heart disease three times the national average, and
dramatically higher rates of infectious diseases like tuberculosis,
HIV-AIDS and H1N1 influenza.
The key determinants of health - individually and collectively - are
social and economic factors such as housing, income, education,
environment and empowerment.*** First****nations*,*** Metis* and***
Inuit**** communities* fare particularly dismally in these essential
areas.
Unemployment levels and poverty rates in*** aboriginal**** communities*
are three times higher than in mainstream society. Only 4 per cent of
natives have a university education, one quarter the rate in mainstream
society. More than one third of aboriginal people in Canada have, in
government jargon, a "core housing need," meaning their homes do not meet
the most basic standards of acceptability.
Overcrowding, lack of running water and inadequate sewage services are the
norm in many native*** communities*.
Not to mention that an*** aboriginal* is five times more likely to be
murdered than a non-***aboriginal* Canadian.
The*** murder* of poor (literally and figuratively)*** aboriginal****
women* is the most extreme manifestation of the price first nations, Inuit
and Metis peoples are paying for the abysmal social conditions in which
they are trapped.
The murders are also a gruesome symbol of society's indifference to that
plight.
Much was made of the fact that virtually all of mass murderer Robert
Pickton's victims were sex workers. But rarely did we hear that almost all
his victims were young aboriginal women. There is evidence that a serial
killer may also be at work in Manitoba, and a single man may also be
responsible for the carnage along British Columbia's infamous Highway of
Tears. (The Yellowhead Highway, which stretches 750 kilometres from Prince
George to Prince Rupert has been the site of nine murders and
disappearances since 1990, all but one of the victims young aboriginal
women.) But the reality is that the Highway of Tears stretches from
sea-to-sea-to-sea in this country: Aboriginal women have been murdered or
disappeared by the score in every single province and territory in Canada.
This is not a Manitoba-only problem.
Beverley Jacobs, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada,
has repeatedly called for a national investigation into this on-going
horror.
As she noted, the deaths and disappearances of 520 aboriginal women is the
equivalent of 18,000 missing and murdered non-aboriginal women.
Would we stand idly by while a massacre of our daughters, sisters, mothers
and grandmothers unfolded on this scale? We would not and we should not.
Incomprehensibly, Ms. Jacobs's call for a national investigation has gone
unheeded by the federal government. Instead, politicians have contented
themselves with funding research into the problem.
A report published earlier this year, entitled Voices of Our Sisters in
Spirit, makes for chilling reading, recounting the stories of many
murdered and missing aboriginal women. The data therein are as humbling as
they are sickening: More than half the murders of aboriginal women remain
unsolved.
It's time to go beyond mere cataloguing of the carnage, and to understand
the root causes.
In Canada, a death or a disappearance should not be taken less seriously
because of the colour of a person's skin.
And Canadians should not tolerate that the horror of these crimes - 520
daughters, sisters, mothers and grandmothers stolen away from their
families, friends and*** communities* - be redoubled by indifference.
Our willful blindness to the plight of*** aboriginal* women is the
greatest injustice
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4c) LEONARD PELTIER IS NOT ALONE
.. AMNESTY FOR ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
LEONARD PELTIER IS NOT ALONE
.. AMNESTY FOR ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
By Chippy Dee
On September 12th, Leonard Peltier’s 65th birthday, people gathered in the
Judson Memorial Church Assembly Hall in N.Y.C. for an evening of
remembrance. It was a time to think about political prisoners. This
country claims that there are none but, unfortunately, that is not the
case. There are about 220 political prisoners in U.S. prisons representing
many issues from civil rights to environmentalism. The MCs for the evening
were Paulette D’Auteuil from the Jericho Movement and Benjamin Ramos from
the Pro Libertad Freedom Campaign. After a blessing was given by Tiokasin
Ghosthorse in the Lakota language 3 dynamic women, the Mahina Movement,
sang songs in English and Spanish that they composed.
Mike Kuzma, Leonard Peltier’s Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) lawyer
spoke next. He has been trying to get Peltier’s file from the FBI and the
CIA. They gave his lawyers 3500 pages but there are 142,579 pages still
being kept by the government on “national security” grounds. He then
described what happened at Peltier’s parole hearing on July 28th. Eric
Seitz, his parole lawyer, represented Leonard. Appearing against him and
for the government was a representative of the FBI, the assistant U.S.
attorney from South Dakota, the son of one of the FBI agents that was
killed, and Ed Woods, an anti-Peltier blogger. The FBI and the Justice
Department said that the release of this “violent, armed criminal would
jeopardize the public welfare”. Further, Leonard Peltier had repeatedly
engaged in violent crime and the killing of an FBI agent is an attack on
the law of the nation. Then this Bush appointed parole board, after a few
weeks, denied parole for Leonard. Several of his supporters, including his
2 sisters, have been standing outside the White House trying to speak to
Obama. His sister Betty chained herself to the gate. Another supporter
just ended a one week fast. Obama has not met with them. Since 2003
Leonard has been trying to get transferred to a prison closer to his home.
By law prisoners are not to be incarcerated more than 500 miles from their
home. In an effort to accomplish this Kuzma has written to the Bureau of
Prisons several times but has never received a response.
He then told us about someone named Frank Blackhorse who, in actuality, is
named Frank DeLuca and has no aboriginal blood at all. He was arrested in
Canada with Leonard and faced the same charges. Before that, in 1973, he
allegedly shot an FBI agent. He was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury a
year later but didn’t appear for his trial in April, 1975. Frank
Blackhorse had worked his way into the trust of the Indian movement. He
even became the head of security for AIM. It now appears that Frank
Blackhorse was a paid FBI operative. When he was brought back to the U.S.
with Peltier the government dropped the 1973 attempted murder charges
against him. In an interview on Law & Disorder Radio (April 2009) Kuzma
said that in doing his work on FOIA it became clear that, along with
others, Leonard Peltier had been targeted by the FBI under Cointel Pro.
Blackhorse/DeLuca is now living free in Canada. Kuzma wonders if he is the
man that killed the 2 FBI agents at Pine Ridge, SD in 1975.
That was followed by an excellent musical performance by Ghosthorse on a
flute, 2 guitarists, and a drummer.
The next speaker, Alison Bodine from Pastors for Peace, discussed the
Cuban 5 : Fernando Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Ramon
Labanino, and Antonio Guerrero. Eleven years ago these 5 men came to Miami
from Cuba to investigate acts of terrorism against Cuba. They were
anti-terrorists. When discovered they were tried for “conspiracy to commit
murder and espionage”. Please note that when being tried for conspiracy
you may not have done anything at all. The trial was in Miami where there
is an enormous anti-Castro Cuban population with political power. Alison
said the 5 Cubans were fighting for their country – that is why they are
in prison. Political prisoners depend on people to fight for them in the
streets. The prisoners said that they can stay strong if even 1 person is
fighting for their freedom. The Cuban 5 have very many people supporting
them, 13 million in Cuba and many more internationally.
Dylcia Pagan, the next speaker, was born in N.Y.C. She was arrested in
1980 with her comrades and accused of participating in and underground
wing of the Puerto Rican independence movement. She received a 55 year
sentence for seditious conspiracy in relation to activities with the FALN.
No evidence was ever presented linking them to an act of violence. The
defendants refused to participate in the trial claiming to be prisoners of
war. After 20 years in prison she was granted clemency by Clinton shortly
before he left office. Once released she moved to Puerto Rico. She said
she survived prison with her spirit, integrity, and political principles
intact. She has become a poet and read one of her poems about freedom
which, she said, comes from within.
The final speaker was attorney Lynne Stewart who referred to herself as a
“not-to-be political prisoner”. She introduced Susan Rosenberg who was
sitting in the back of the room. Rosenberg was charged with driving the
getaway car in the Brinks robbery (1981) Arrested in 1984, she was given a
58 year sentence on weapons and explosives charges. The sentence was
commuted by Clinton on his last day in office.
Lynne Stewart said that Leonard’s only hope is in the hands of the
people’s movement, the people in this room and the others around the
nation. They have taken our heroes away from us and our children, she
said. We have to go on fighting. She told her grandson to write to
Sundiata Acoli* in prison when the child had questions about the space
program. Sundiata was a mathematician and computer analyst. After
volunteering to work on voter registration in Mississippi with SNCC the
summer of 1964 when Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman were killed, he
couldn’t return to his non-involved life. He joined the Harlem Black
Panther Party and did community work involving schools, jobs, housing, and
child care. In ‘69 he and 20 others (the Panthers 21 conspiracy case) were
arrested for conspiracy to blow-up N.Y.C. department stores and the N.Y.
Botanical Gardens. They were held in jail, denied bail, for 2 years while
the case was being prepared. The trial lasted 8 months and all the
defendants were acquitted in 56 minutes. When released Sundiata was
constantly harassed. In 1973 while driving on the N.J. Turnpike with
friends their car was stopped by N.J. state troopers. What happened next
is not entirely clear. One of the Panthers was killed as was a trooper.
Sundiata was tried for the death of the trooper and sentenced to life + 30
years in prison. In ‘92 he was denied parole and told that his next
eligibility would be in 20 years. The reason given was his membership in
the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army prior to his arrest.
In 2004 he was denied parole again. He has been incarcerated in the worst
prisons in the country. One, in Marion, Illinois, was condemned by Amnesty
International for violating the minimal standards set by the United
Nations for treatment of prisoners.
Sundiata answered Lynne Stewart’s grandson’s letter. He told the boy that
once his consciousness was raised he could never return to who he was
before. Stewart said that once you confront law enforcement they keep you
in prison. She pointed out that Leonard, who supported Obama, just wrote
that he is now Obama’s prisoner. Political prisoners lead useful lives in
jail. She suggested that everyone write to the following to get a list of
the prisoners (nycjericho at gmail.com) and chose one to write to – they are
anxious to get mail. For these prisoners the MOVEMENT IS THEIR FAMILY.
Assata Shakur, who was arrested with Sundiata but escaped from prison,
wrote to Lynne Stewart from her home in Cuba, “Save Mumia – brave souls
wait for the love of the people to save them”.
Information about Sundiata Acoli is from prisonactivist.org
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4d) A shameful second anniversary (for the UNDRIP and Canaduh)
http://www.straightgoods.ca/2009/ViewFeature.cfm?Ref=453
A shameful second anniversary
Canada still is not on board with the United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Dateline: Monday, September 14, 2009
by Straight Goods Staff
Two years ago, on September 13, 2007, nations around the world signed an
innovative human rights treaty: the United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the aim of which is to protect some 370
million people around the world.
Last week, the Assembly of First Nations of Québec and Labrador (AFNQL)
participated in a public event to celebrate the anniversary of that
signing. But, as the AFNQL pointed out, Canada is one of the three
countries which continues to reject this document. Québec, despite several
invitations, also remains silent on the question.
The USA and New Zealand have recently shown signs of revising their
position on the Declaration.
"How can you explain the fact that governments who call themselves
champions of human rights, like the governments of Québec and Canada,
continue to refuse to support a document which recognizes the fundamental
human rights of aboriginal peoples?" asks Ghislain Picard, Chief of the
AFNQL. "Canada's refusal to sign the declaration is inconceivable!"
Chief Picard pointed out that the document is a reference guide which is
particularly useful in the interpretation of the rights of aboriginal
peoples and the obligations of States towards them. This kind of
instrument is also extremely important in the State's fulfilling of its
commitments vested in the Constitution and the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms.
He said that the position of the Canadian and Québec governments is that
much more surprising since the United States and New Zealand (the two
other countries who have not signed) have recently shown signs of revising
their position regarding the adoption of the Declaration.
"What is Canada waiting for?" asks Chief Picard, "and what about Québec,
who for the last two years has hidden behind an almost indecent silence?"
Faced with the immobility of the provincial and federal governments,
several Québec organisations decided to form the Coalition for the Rights
of Québec Native Peoples in the aim of having the Declaration recognized.
The Coalition has already received the support of several personalities
and organisations within Québec's civil society.
The AFNQL salutes this demonstration of public support and reaffirms its
endorsement of this initiative, one of the main objectives of which is to
collect signatures on a petition demanding Canada's adoption of the
Declaration.
This petition is available on line, on the home page of the AFNQL's
website at the address below. The Coalition's communiqué is available on
the French section of the Amnesty International's website at the address
below.
Related addresses:
URL 1: http://www.apnql-afnql.com
URL 2: http://www.amnistie.ca
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