[IPSM] collection of news and action alerts

[JJ]

Contents:
1. Zapatista Army of National Liberation declares RED ALERT
2. Zapatista Army of National Liberation - The Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona - part I
3. Part 2 - How We See the World
4. Part 3 - What We Want To Do
5. How the Media Silence Native Americans
6. Warriors defended as an 'honorable tradition'
7. Northern Cheyenne break vow of silence about the Battle of Little Bighorn
8. Discrimination at Spiritual Gathering (Call For Action !)
9. Support the Secwepemc Defenders (Call For Action!)
10. RCMP braced for reaction to slaughter of sled dogs

(1)
Mexico, Chiapas, Update, Zapatista Army of National Liberation declares RED ALERT for consulta period.

Below is the latest communique...Marcos gives at least one reason for the red alert:
a defensive measure so folks will not be attacked while their is a general consultation,
in which they are deciding on whether or not to risk everything with a "new step"...

Communiqué from the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee - General
Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation

Mexico. June 20, 2005 To the People of Mexico: To the Peoples of the World:
Brothers and Sisters: First - As has been made public, starting June 19, 2005, the Zapatista
Army of National Liberation established the general Red Alert in rebel territory.
The reason for this general Red Alert is that the Clandestine Revolutionary
Indigenous Committee - General Command of the EZLN has called to consulta
their insurgent troops, all their comandantes and comandantas, regional and
local responsables and their support bases.

This Red Alert is a precautionary defensive measure. As you will recall, in
February of 1995, while the EZLN was carrying out an internal consulta, it
was attacked by government forces. At that time the betrayal was carried out
by Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (then the head of the federal executive and
today employed by transnational companies) and Esteban Moctezuma Barragán
(then the Secretary of Government and today employed by Salinas Pliego).

Second - During this internal consulta...

- The EZLN leadership is recognizing the sacrifice, willingness and heroism
of their support bases, responsables and activists, and of the insurgentes
and insurgentas, for these almost 12 years of war and resistance. All the
good that we have done and achieved has been by them. The zapatista
leadership has been exclusively responsible for errors that have been
committed.

- The CCRI-CG of the EZLN is presenting its members with an assessment of
the stage our organization is in and an analysis of the current national
situation. They are also proposing to their support bases - who make up the
supreme command of our movement - a new step in the struggle, a step which
entails, among other things, risking the much or little which has been
achieved and worsening the persecution and harassment of the zapatista
communities.

- Through this means, by speaking to its members, the EZLN is returning the
word it gave on the first of January of 1994. All zapatistas are now morally
free to continue with the EZLN, or not, in the next step which is being
consulted upon, if it is approved by the majority.

Third - When this internal consulta is concluded, we shall inform national
and international public opinion of the results.


Democracy!

Liberty!

Justice!

    From the Mountains of the Mexican Southeast. 

By the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee - General Command of
the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos

Mexico, in the sixth month of the year 2005.


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(2)
Mexico, Chiapas, Zapatista Army of National Liberation - The Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona - part I.

This is our simple word which seeks to touch the hearts of humble and simple
people like ourselves, but people who are also, like ourselves, dignified and
rebel. This is our simple word for recounting what our path has been and where
we are now, in order to explain how we see the world and our country, in order
to say what we are thinking of doing and how we are thinking of doing it, and
in order to invite other persons to walk with us in something very great which
is called Mexico and something greater which is called the world. This is our simple
word in order to inform all honest and noble hearts what it is we want in Mexico and
the world. This is our simple word, because it is our idea to call on those who are
like us and to join together with them, everywhere they are living and struggling.


I - What We Are

We are the zapatistas of the EZLN, although we are also called
“neo-zapatistas.” Now, we, the zapatistas of the EZLN,
rose up in arms in January of 1994 because we saw how
widespread had become the evil wrought by the powerful who
only humiliated us, stole from us, imprisoned us and killed us,
and no one was saying anything or doing anything. That is
why we said “Ya Basta!,” that no longer were we going
to allow them to make us inferior or to treat us worse than
animals. And then we also said we wanted democracy, liberty
and justice for all Mexicans although we were concentrated on
the Indian peoples. Because it so happened that we, the EZLN,
were almost all only indigenous from here in Chiapas, but we
did not want to struggle just for own good, or just for the good
of the indigenous of Chiapas, or just for the good of the Indian
peoples of Mexico. We wanted to fight along with everyone
who was humble and simple like ourselves and who was in
great need and who suffered from
exploitation and thievery by the rich and their bad
governments here, in our Mexico, and in other countries in the
world.

And then our small history was that we grew tired of
exploitation by the powerful, and then we organized in order to
defend ourselves and to fight for justice. In the beginning there
were not many of us, just a few, going this way and that,
talking with and listening to other people like us. We did that
for many years, and we did it in secret, without making a stir.
In other words, we joined forces in silence. We remained like
that for about 10 years, and then we had grown, and then we
were many thousands. We trained ourselves quite well in
politics and weapons, and, suddenly, when the rich were
throwing their New Year’s Eve parties, we fell upon their
cities and just took them over. And we left a message to
everyone that here we are, that they have to take notice of us.
And then the rich took off and sent their great armies to do
away with us, just like they always do when the exploited rebel
- they order them all to be done away with. But we were not
done away with at all, because
we had prepared ourselves quite well prior to the war, and we
made ourselves strong in our mountains. And there were the
armies, looking for us and throwing their bombs and bullets at
us, and then they were making plans to kill off all the
indigenous at one time, because they did not know who was a
zapatista and who was not. And we were running and fighting,
fighting and running, just like our ancestors had done. Without
giving up, without surrendering, without being defeated.

And then the people from the cities went out into the streets
and began shouting for an end to the war. And then we
stopped our war, and we listened to those brothers and sisters
from the city who were telling us to try to reach an
arrangement or an accord with the bad governments, so that
the problem could be resolved without a massacre. And so we
paid attention to them, because they were what we call
“the people,” or the Mexican people. And so we set
aside the fire and took up the word.

And it so happened that the governments said they would
indeed be well-behaved, and they would engage in dialogue,
and they would make accords, and they would fulfill them.
And we said that was good, but we also thought it was good
that we knew those people who went out into the streets in
order to stop the war. Then, while we were engaging in
dialogue with the bad governments, we were also talking with
those persons, and we saw that most of them were humble and
simple people like us, and both, they and we, understood quite
well why we were fighting. And we called those people
“civil society” because most of them did not belong to
political parties, rather they were common, everyday people,
like us, simple and humble people.

But it so happened that the bad governments did not want a
good agreement, rather it was just their underhanded way of
saying they were going to talk and to reach accords, while they
were preparing their attacks in order to eliminate us once and
for all. And so then they attacked us several times, but they did
not defeat us, because we resisted quite well, and many people
throughout the world mobilized. And then the bad
governments thought that the problem was that many people
saw what was happening with the EZLN, and they started their
plan of acting as if nothing were going on. Meanwhile they
were quick to surround us, they laid siege to us in hopes that,
since our mountains are indeed remote, the people would then
forget, since zapatista lands were so far away. And every so
often the bad governments tested us and tried to deceive us or
to attack us, like in February of 1995 when they threw a huge
number of armies at us, but they did not defeat us. Because, as
they said then, we
were not alone, and many people helped us, and we resisted
well.

And then the bad governments had to make accords with the
EZLN, and those accords were called the “San Andrés
Accords” because the municipality where those accords
were signed was called “San Andrés.” And we were
not all alone in those dialogues, speaking with people from the
bad governments. We invited many people and organizations
who were, or are, engaged in the struggle for the Indian
peoples of Mexico, and everyone spoke their word, and
everyone reached agreement as to how we were going to speak
with the bad governments. And that is how that dialogue was,
not just the zapatistas on one side and the governments on the
other. Instead, the Indian peoples of Mexico, and those who
supported them, were with the zapatistas. And then the bad
governments said in those accords that they were indeed going
to recognize the rights of the Indian peoples of Mexico, and
they were going to respect their culture, and they were going to
make everything law in the Constitution. But then, once they
had signed, the bad governments acted as if they had forgotten
about them, and many years passed, and the accords were not
fulfilled at all. Quite the opposite, the government attacked the
indigenous, in order to make them back out of the struggle, as
they did on December 22, 1997, the date on which Zedillo
ordered the killing of 45 men, women, old ones and children in
the town in Chiapas called ACTEAL. This immense crime was
not so easily forgotten, and it was a demonstration of how the
bad governments color their hearts in order to attack and
assassinate those who rebel against injustices. And, while all of
that was going on, we zapatistas were putting our all into the
fulfillment of the accords and resisting in the mountains of the
Mexican southeast.

And then we began speaking with other Indian peoples of
Mexico and their organizations, and we made an agreement
with them that we were going to struggle together for the same
thing, for the recognition of indigenous rights and culture.
Now we were also being helped by many people from all over
the world and by persons who were well respected and whose
word was quite great because they were great intellectuals,
artists and scientists from Mexico and from all over the world.
And we also held international encuentros. In other words, we
joined together to talk with persons from America and from
Asia and from Europe and from Africa and from Oceania, and
we learned of their struggles and their ways, and we said they
were “intergalactic” encuentros, just to be silly and
because we had also invited those from other planets, but it
appeared as if they had not come, or perhaps they did come,
but they did not make it clear.

But the bad governments did not keep their word anyway, and
then we made a plan to talk with many Mexicans so they
would help us. And then, first in 1997, we held a march to
Mexico City which was called “of the 1,111” because a
compañero or compañera was going to go from each
zapatista town, but the bad government did not pay any
attention. And then, in 1999, we held a consulta throughout
the country, and there it was seen that the majority were
indeed in agreement with the demands of the Indian peoples,
but again the bad governments did not pay any attention. And
then, lastly, in 2001, we held what was called the “march
for indigenous dignity” which had much support from
millions of Mexicans and people from other countries, and it
went to where the deputies and senators were, the Congress of
the Union, in order to demand the recognition of the Mexican
indigenous.

But it happened that no, the politicians from the PRI, the PAN
and the PRD reached an agreement among themselves, and
they simply did not recognize indigenous rights and culture.
That was in April of 2001, and the politicians demonstrated
quite clearly there that they had no decency whatsoever, and
they were swine who thought only about making their good
money as the bad politicians they were. This must be
remembered, because you will now be seeing that they are
going to say they will indeed recognize indigenous rights, but it
is a lie they are telling so we will vote for them. But they
already had their chance, and they did not keep their word.

And then we saw quite clearly that there was no point to
dialogue and negotiation with the bad governments of Mexico.
That it was a waste of time for us to be talking with the
politicians, because neither their hearts nor their words were
honest. They were crooked, and they told lies that they would
keep their word, but they did not. In other words, on that day,
when the politicians from the PRI, PAN and PRD approved a
law that was no good, they killed dialogue once and for all, and
they clearly stated that it did not matter what they had agreed
to and signed, because they did not keep their word. And then
we did not make any contacts with the federal branches.
Because we understood that dialogue and negotiation had
failed as a result of those political parties. We saw that blood
did not matter to them, nor did death, suffering, mobilizations,
consultas, efforts, national and international statements,
encuentros, accords, signatures, commitments. And so the
political class not only
closed, one more time, the door to the Indian peoples, they
also delivered a mortal blow to the peaceful resolution -
through dialogue and negotiation - of the war. It can also no
longer be believed that the accords will be fulfilled by someone
who comes along with something or other. They should see
that there so that they can learn from experience what
happened to us.

And then we saw all of that, and we wondered in our hearts
what we were going to do.

And the first thing we saw was that our heart was not the same
as before, when we began our struggle. It was larger, because
now we had touched the hearts of many good people. And we
also saw that our heart was more hurt, it was more wounded.
And it was not wounded by the deceits of the bad
governments, but because, when we touched the hearts of
others, we also touched their sorrows. It was as if we were
seeing ourselves in a mirror.


II. - Where We Are Now

Then, like the zapatistas we are, we thought that it was not
enough to stop engaging in dialogue with the government, but
it was necessary to continue on ahead in the struggle, in spite
of those lazy parasites of politicians. The EZLN then decided
to carry out, alone and on their side (“unilateral”, in
other words, because just one side), the San Andrés
Accords regarding indigenous rights and culture. For 4 years,
since the middle of 2001 until the middle of 2005, we have
devoted ourselves to this and to other things which we are
going to tell you about.

Fine, we then began encouraging the autonomous rebel
zapatista municipalities – which is how the peoples are
organized in order to govern and to govern themselves – in
order to make themselves stronger. This method of
autonomous government was not simply invented by the
EZLN, but rather it comes from several centuries of
indigenous resistance and from the zapatistas’ own
experience. It is the self-governance of the communities. In
other words, no one from outside comes to govern, but the
peoples themselves decide, among themselves, who governs
and how, and, if they do not obey, they are removed. If the one
who governs does not obey the people, they pursue them, they
are removed from authority, and another comes in.

But then we saw that the Autonomous Municipalities were not
level. There were some that were more advanced and which
had more support from civil society, and others were more
neglected. The organization was lacking to make them more
on a par with each other. And we also saw that the EZLN, with
its political-military component, was involving itself in
decisions which belonged to the democratic authorities,
“civilians” as they say. And here the problem is that
the political-military component of the EZLN is not
democratic, because it is an army. And we saw that the
military being above, and the democratic below, was not good,
because what is democratic should not be decided militarily, it
should be the reverse: the democratic-political governing
above, and the military obeying below. Or, perhaps, it would be
better with nothing below, just completely level, without any
military, and that is why the zapatistas are soldiers so that there
will not be any soldiers. Fine, what we then did
about this problem was to begin separating the
political-military from the autonomous and democratic aspects
of organization in the zapatista communities. And so, actions
and decisions which had previously been made and taken by
the EZLN were being passed, little by little, to the
democratically elected authorities in the villages. It is easy to
say, of course, but it was very difficult in practice, because
many years have passed – first in the preparation for the
war and then the war itself – and the political-military
aspects have become customary. But, regardless, we did so
because it is our way to do what we say, because, if not, why
should we go around saying things if we do not then do them.

That was how the Good Government Juntas were born, in
August of 2003, and, through them, self-learning and the
exercise of “govern obeying” has continued.

    From that time and until the middle of 2005, the EZLN 

leadership has no longer involved itself in giving orders in civil
matters, but it has accompanied and helped the authorities
who are democratically elected by the peoples. It has also kept
watch that the peoples and national and international civil
society are kept well informed concerning the aid that is
received and how it is used. And now we are passing the work
of safeguarding good government to the zapatista support
bases, with temporary positions which are rotated, so that
everyone learns and carries out this work. Because we believe
that a people which does not watch over its leaders is
condemned to be enslaved, and we fought to be free, not to
change masters every six years.

The EZLN, during these 4 years, also handed over to the Good
Government Juntas and the Autonomous Municipalities the
aid and contacts which they had attained throughout Mexico
and the world during these years of war and resistance. The
EZLN had also, during that time, been building economic and
political support which allowed the zapatista communities to
make progress with fewer difficulties in the building of their
autonomy and in improving their living conditions. It is not
much, but it is far better than what they had prior to the
beginning of the uprising in January of 1994. If you look at one
of those studies the governments make, you will see that the
only indigenous communities which have improved their living
conditions – whether in health, education, food or housing
– were those which are in zapatista territory, which is what
we call where our villages are. And all of that has been possible
because of the progress made by the zapatista villages and
because of the very large
support which has been received from good and noble
persons, whom we call “civil societies,” and from their
organizations throughout the world. As if all of these people
have made “another world is possible” a reality, but
through actions, not just words.

And the villages have made good progress. Now there are
more compañeros and compañeras who are learning to
govern. And – even though little by little – there are
more women going into this work, but there is still a lack of
respect for the compañeras, and they need to participate
more in the work of the struggle. And, also through the Good
Government Juntas, coordination has been improved between
the Autonomous Municipalities and the resolution of problems
with other organizations and with the official authorities. There
has also been much improvement in the projects in the
communities, and the distribution of projects and aid given by
civil society from all over the world has become more level.
Health and education have improved, although there is still a
good deal lacking for it to be what it should be. The same is
true for housing and food, and in some areas there has been
much improvement with the problem of land, because the
lands recovered from the finqueros are being
distributed. But there are areas which continue to suffer from
a lack of lands to cultivate. And there has been great
improvement in the support from national and international
civil society, because previously everyone went wherever they
wanted, and now the Good Government Juntas are directing
them to where the greatest need exists. And, similarly,
everywhere there are more compañeros and compañeras
who are learning to relate to persons from other parts of
Mexico and of the world,. They are learning to respect and to
demand respect. They are learning that there are many worlds,
and that everyone has their place, their time and their way, and
therefore there must be mutual respect between everyone.

We, the zapatistas of the EZLN, have devoted this time to our
primary force, to the peoples who support us. And the situation
has indeed improved some. No one can say that the zapatista
organization and struggle has been without point, but rather,
even if they were to do away with us completely, our struggle
has indeed been of some use.

But it is not just the zapatista villages which have grown –
the EZLN has also grown. Because what has happened during
this time is that new generations have renewed our entire
organization. They have added new strength. The
comandantes and comandantas who were in their maturity at
the beginning of the uprising in 1994 now have the wisdom
they gained in the war and in the 12 years of dialogue with
thousands of men and women from throughout the world. The
members of the CCRI, the zapatista political-organizational
leadership, is now counseling and directing the new ones who
are entering our struggle, as well as those who are holding
leadership positions. For some time now the
“committees” (which is what we call them) have been
preparing an entire new generation of comandantes and
comandantas who, following a period of instruction and
testing, are beginning to learn the work of organizational
leadership and to discharge their duties. And it also so happens
that our insurgents,
insurgentas, militants, local and regional responsables, as well
as support bases, who were youngsters at the beginning of the
uprising, are now mature men and women, combat veterans
and natural leaders in their units and communities. And those
who were children in that January of ’94 are now young
people who have grown up in the resistance, and they have
been trained in the rebel dignity lifted up by their elders
throughout these 12 years of war. These young people have a
political, technical and cultural training that we who began the
zapatista movement did not have. This youth is now, more and
more, sustaining our troops as well as leadership positions in
the organization. And, indeed, all of us have seen the deceits
by the Mexican political class and the destruction which their
actions have caused in our patria. And we have seen the great
injustices and massacres that neoliberal globalization causes
throughout the world. But we will speak to you of that later.

And so the EZLN has resisted 12 years of war, of military,
political, ideological and economic attacks, of siege, of
harassment, of persecution, and they have not vanquished us.
We have not sold out nor surrendered, and we have made
progress. More compañeros from many places have entered
into the struggle so that, instead of making us weaker after so
many years, we have become stronger. Of course there are
problems which can be resolved by more separation of the
political-military from the civil-democratic. But there are
things, the most important ones, such as our demands for
which we struggle, which have not been fully achieved.

To our way of thinking, and what we see in our heart, we have
reached a point where we cannot go any further, and, in
addition, it is possible that we could lose everything we have if
we remain as we are and do nothing more in order to move
forward. The hour has come to take a risk once again and to
take a step which is dangerous but which is worthwhile.
Because, perhaps united with other social sectors who suffer
from the same wants as we do, it will be possible to achieve
what we need and what we deserve. A new step forward in the
indigenous struggle is only possible if the indigenous join
together with workers, campesinos, students, teachers,
employees…the workers of the city and the countryside.

(To be continued…)


    From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast. 


Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee –
General Command of the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation.

Mexico, in the sixth month of the year 2005.
Originally published in Spanish by the Zapatista Army of
National Liberation
**************************************
Translated by irlandesa

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(3)
Mexico, Zapatista, Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona - Part 2 - How We See the World


Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
III - How We See the World
Now we are going to explain to you how we, the zapatistas, see what is going on
in the world. We see that capitalism is the strongest right now. Capitalism is
a social system, a way in which a society goes about organizing things and
people, and who has and who has not, and who gives orders and who obeys. In
capitalism, there are some people who have money, or capital, and factories and
stores and fields and many things, and there are others who have nothing but
their strength and knowledge in order to work. In capitalism, those who have
money and things give the orders, and those who only have their ability to work obey.

Then capitalism means that there a few who have great wealth, but they did not
win a prize, or find a treasure, or inherited from a parent. They obtained that
wealth, rather, by exploiting the work of the many. So capitalism is based on
the exploitation of the workers, which means they exploit the workers and take
out all the profits they can. This is done unjustly, because they do not pay
the worker what his work is worth. Instead they give him a salary that barely
allows him to eat a little and to rest for a bit, and the next day he goes back
to work in exploitation, whether in the countryside or in the city.

And capitalism also makes its wealth from plunder, or theft, because they take
what they want from others, land, for example, and natural resources. So
capitalism is a system where the robbers are free and they are admired and used
as examples.

And, in addition to exploiting and plundering, capitalism represses because it
imprisons and kills those who rebel against injustice.

Capitalism is most interested in merchandise, because when it is bought or sold,
profits are made. And then capitalism turns everything into merchandise, it
makes merchandise of people, of nature, of culture, of history, of conscience.
According to capitalism, everything must be able to be bought and sold. And it
hides everything behind the merchandise, so we don’t see the exploitation that
exists. And then the merchandise is bought and sold in a market. And the
market, in addition to being used for buying and selling, is also used to hide
the exploitation of the workers. In the market, for example, we see coffee in
its little package or its pretty little jar, but we do not see the campesino
who suffered in order to harvest the coffee, and we do not see the coyote who
paid him so cheaply for his work, and we do not see the workers in the large
company working their hearts out to package the coffee. Or we see an appliance
for listening to music like cumbias, rancheras or corridos, or whatever, and we
see that it is very good because it has a good sound, but we do not see the
worker in the maquiladora who struggled for many hours, putting the cables and
the parts of the appliance together, and they barely paid her a pittance of
money, and she lives far away from work and spends a lot on the trip, and, in
addition, she runs the risk of being kidnapped, raped and killed as happens in
Ciudad Juárez in Mexico.

So we see merchandise in the market, but we do not see the exploitation with
which it was made. And then capitalism needs many markets…or a very large
market, a world market.

And so the capitalism of today is not the same as before, when the rich were
content with exploiting the workers in their own countries, but now they are on
a path which is called Neoliberal Globalization. This globalization means that
they no longer control the workers in one or several countries, but the
capitalists are trying to dominate everything all over the world. And the
world, or Planet Earth, is also called the “globe”, and that is why they say
“globalization,” or the entire world.

And neoliberalism is the idea that capitalism is free to dominate the entire
world, and so tough, you have to resign yourself and conform and not make a
fuss, in other words, not rebel. So neoliberalism is like the theory, the plan,
of capitalist globalization. And neoliberalism has its economic, political,
military and cultural plans. All of those plans have to do with dominating
everyone, and they repress or separate anyone who doesn’t obey so that his
rebellious ideas aren’t passed on to others.

Then, in neoliberal globalization, the great capitalists who live in the
countries which are powerful, like the United States, want the entire world to
be made into a big business where merchandise is produced like a great market.
A world market for buying and selling the entire world and for hiding all the
exploitation from the world. Then the global capitalists insert themselves
everywhere, in all the countries, in order to do their big business, their
great exploitation. Then they respect nothing, and they meddle wherever they
wish. As if they were conquering other countries. That is why we zapatistas say
that neoliberal globalization is a war of conquest of the entire world, a world
war, a war being waged by capitalism for global domination. Sometimes that
conquest is by armies who invade a country and conquer it by force. But
sometimes it is with the economy, in other words, the big capitalists put their
money into another country or they lend it money, but on the condition that
they obey what they tell them to do. And they also insert their ideas, with the
capitalist culture which is the culture of merchandise, of profits, of the
market.

Then the one which wages the conquest, capitalism, does as it wants, it destroys
and changes what it does not like and eliminates what gets in its way. For
example, those who do not produce nor buy nor sell modern merchandise get in
their way, or those who rebel against that order. And they despise those who
are of no use to them. That is why the indigenous get in the way of neoliberal
capitalism, and that is why they despise them and want to eliminate them. And
neoliberal capitalism also gets rid of the laws which do not allow them to
exploit and to have a lot of profit. They demand that everything can be bought
and sold, and, since capitalism has all the money, it buys everything.
Capitalism destroys the countries it conquers with neoliberal globalization,
but it also wants to adapt everything, to make it over again, but in its own
way, a way which benefits capitalism and which doesn’t allow anything to get in
its way. Then neoliberal globalization, capitalism, destroys what exists in
these countries, it destroys their culture, their language, their economic
system, their political system, and it also destroys the ways in which those
who live in that country relate to each other. So everything that makes a
country a country is left destroyed.

Then neoliberal globalization wants to destroy the nations of the world so that
only one Nation or country remains, the country of money, of capital. And
capitalism wants everything to be as it wants, in its own way, and it doesn’t
like what is different, and it persecutes it and attacks it, or puts it off in
a corner and acts as if it doesn’t exist.

Then, in short, the capitalism of global neoliberalism is based on exploitation,
plunder, contempt and repression of those who refuse. The same as before, but
now globalized, worldwide.

But it is not so easy for neoliberal globalization, because the exploited of
each country become discontented, and they will not say well, too bad, instead
they rebel. And those who remain and who are in the way resist, and they don’t
allow themselves to be eliminated. And that is why we see, all over the world,
those who are being screwed over making resistances, not putting up with it, in
other words, they rebel, and not just in one country but wherever they abound.
And so, as there is a neoliberal globalization, there is a globalization of
rebellion.

And it is not just the workers of the countryside and of the city who appear in
this globalization of rebellion, but others also appear who are much persecuted
and despised for the same reason, for not letting themselves be dominated, like
women, young people, the indigenous, homosexuals, lesbians, transsexual
persons, migrants and many other groups who exist all over the world but who we
do not see until they shout ya basta of being despised, and they raise up, and
then we see them, we hear them, and we learn from them.

And then we see that all those groups of people are fighting against
neoliberalism, against the capitalist globalization plan, and they are
struggling for humanity.

And we are astonished when we see the stupidity of the neoliberals who want to
destroy all humanity with their wars and exploitations, but it also makes us
quite happy to see resistances and rebellions appearing everywhere, such as
ours, which is a bit small, but here we are. And we see this all over the
world, and now our heart learns that we are not alone.


1V - How We See Our Country Which is Mexico

Now we will talk to you about how we see what is going on in our Mexico. What we
see is our country being governed by neoliberals. So, as we already explained,
our leaders are destroying our nation, our Mexican Patria. And the work of
these bad leaders is not to look after the well-being of the people, instead
they are only concerned with the well-being of the capitalists. For example,
they make laws like the Free Trade Agreement, which end up leaving many
Mexicans destitute, like campesinos and small producers, because they are
“gobbled up” by the big agro-industrial companies. As well as workers and small
businesspeople, because they cannot compete with the large transnationals who
come in without anybody saying anything to them and even thanking them, and
they set their low salaries and their high prices. So some of the economic
foundations of our Mexico, which were the countryside and industry and national
commerce, are being quite destroyed, and just a bit of rubble - which they are
certainly going to sell off - remains.

And these are great disgraces for our Patria. Because food is no longer being
produced in our countryside, just what the big capitalists sell, and the good
lands are being stolen through trickery and with the help of the politicians.
What is happening in the countryside is the same as Porfirismo, but, instead of
hacendados, now there are a few foreign businesses which have well and truly
screwed the campesino. And, where before there were credits and price
protections, now there is just charity…and sometimes not even that.

As for the worker in the city, the factories close, and they are left without
work, or they open what are called maquiladoras, which are foreign and which
pay a pittance for many hours of work. And then the price of the goods the
people need doesn’t matter, whether they are expensive or cheap, since there is
no money. And if someone was working in a small or midsize business, now they
are not, because it was closed, and it was bought by a big transnational. And
if someone had a small business, it disappeared as well, or they went to work
clandestinely for big businesses which exploit them terribly, and which even
put boys and girls to work. And if the worker belonged to his union in order to
demand his legal rights, then no, now the same union tells him he will have to
put up with his salary being lowered or his hours or his benefits being taken
away, because, if not, the business will close and move to another country. And
then there is the “microchangarro,” which is the government’s economic program
for putting all the city’s workers on street corners selling gum or telephone
cards. In other words, absolute economic destruction in the cities as well.

And then what happens is that, with the people’s economy being totally screwed
in the countryside as well as in the city, then many Mexican men and women have
to leave their Patria, Mexican lands, and go to seek work in another country,
the United States. And they do not treat them well there, instead they exploit
them, persecute them and treat them with contempt and even kill them. Under
neoliberalism which is being imposed by the bad governments, the economy has
not improved. Quite the opposite, the countryside is in great need, and there
is no work in the cities. What is happening is that Mexico is being turned into
a place where people are working for the wealth of foreigners, mostly rich
gringos, a place you are just born into for a little while, and in another
little while you die. That is why we say that Mexico is dominated by the United
States.

Now, it is not just that. Neoliberalism has also changed the Mexican political
class, the politicians, because they made them into something like employees in
a store, who have to do everything possible to sell everything and to sell it
very cheap. You have already seen that they changed the laws in order to remove
Article 27 from the Constitution so that ejidal and communal lands could be
sold. That was Salinas de Gortari, and he and his gangs said that it was for
the good of the countryside and the campesino, and that was how they would
prosper and live better. Has it been like that? The Mexican countryside is
worse than ever and the campesinos more screwed than under Porfirio Diaz. And
they also say they are going to privatize – sell to foreigners – the companies
held by the State to help the well-being of the people. Because the companies
don’t work well and they need to be modernized, and it would be better to sell
them. But, instead of improving, the social rights which were won in the
revolution of 1910 now make one sad…and courageous. And they also said that the
borders must be opened so all the foreign capital can enter, that way all the
Mexican businesses will be fixed, and things will be made better. But now we
see that there are not any national businesses, the foreigners gobbled them all
up, and the things that are sold are worse than the those that were made in
Mexico.

And now the Mexican politicians also want to sell PEMEX, the oil which belongs
to all Mexicans, and the only difference is that some say everything should be
sold and others that only a part of it should be sold. And they also want to
privatize social security, and electricity and water and the forests and
everything, until nothing of Mexico is left, and our country will be a
wasteland or a place of entertainment for rich people from all over the world,
and we Mexican men and women will be their servants, dependent on what they
offer, bad housing, without roots, without culture, without even a Patria.

So the neoliberals want to kill Mexico, our Mexican Patria. And the political
parties not only do not defend it, they are the first to put themselves at the
service of foreigners, especially those from the United States, and they are
the ones who are in charge of deceiving us, making us look the other way while
everything is sold, and they are left with the money. All the political parties
that exist right now, not just some of them. Think about whether anything has
been done well, and you will see that no, nothing but theft and scams. And look
how all the politicians always have their nice houses and their nice cars and
luxuries. And they still want us to thank them and to vote for them again. And
it is obvious, as they say, that they are without shame. And they are without
it because they do not, in fact, have a Patria, they only have bank accounts.

And we also see that drug trafficking and crime has been increasing a lot. And
sometimes we think that criminals are like they show them in the songs or
movies, and maybe some are like that, but not the real chiefs. The real chiefs
go around very well dressed, they study outside the country, they are elegant,
they do not go around in hiding, they eat in good restaurants and they appear
in the papers, very pretty and well dressed at their parties. They are, as they
say, “good people”, and some are even officials, deputies, senators,
secretaries of state, prosperous businessmen, police chiefs, generals.

Are we saying that politics serves no purpose? No, what we mean is that THAT
politics serves no purpose. And it is useless because it does not take the
people into account. It does not listen to them, it does not pay any attention
to them, it just approaches them when there are elections. And they do not even
want votes anymore, the polls are enough to say who wins. And then just
promises about what this one is going to do and what the other one is going to
do, then it’s bye, I’ll see you, but you don’t see them again, except when they
appear in the news when they’ve just stolen a lot of money and nothing is going
to be done to them because the law – which those same politicians made –
protects them.

Because that’s another problem, the Constitution is all warped and changed now.
It’s no longer the one that had the rights and liberties of working people. Now
there are the rights and liberties of the neoliberals so they can have their
huge profits. And the judges exist to serve those neoliberals, because they
always rule in favor of them, and those who are not rich get injustice, jails
and cemeteries.

Well, even with all this mess the neoliberals are making, there are Mexican men
and women who are organizing and making a resistance struggle.

And so we found out that there are indigenous, that their lands are far away
from us here in Chiapas, and they are making their autonomy and defending their
culture and caring for their land, forests and water.

And there are workers in the countryside, campesinos, who are organizing and
holding their marches and mobilizations in order to demand credits and aid for
the countryside.

And there are workers in the city who do not let their rights be taken away or
their jobs privatized. They protest and demonstrate so the little they have
isn’t taken away from them and so they don’t take away from the country what
is, in fact, its own, like electricity, oil, social security, education.

And there are students who don’t let education be privatized and who are
fighting for it to be free and popular and scientific, so they don’t charge, so
everyone can learn, and so they don’t teach stupid things in schools.

And there are women who do not let themselves be treated as an ornament or be
humiliated and despised just for being women, but who are organizing and
fighting for the respect they deserve as the women they are.

And there are young people who don’t accept their stultifying them with drugs or
persecuting them for their way of being, but who make themselves aware with
their music and their culture, their rebellion.

And there are homosexuals, lesbians, transsexuals and many ways who do not put
up with being ridiculed, despised, mistreated and even killed for having
another way which is different, with being treated like they are abnormal or
criminals, but who make their own organizations in order to defend their right
to be different.

And there are priests and nuns and those they call laypeople who are not with
the rich and who are not resigned, but who are organizing to accompany the
struggles of the people.

And there are those who are called social activists, who are men and women who
have been fighting all their lives for exploited people, and they are the same
ones who participated in the great strikes and workers’ actions, in the great
citizens’ mobilizations, in the great campesino movements, and who suffer great
repression, and who, even though some are old now, continue on without
surrendering, and they go everywhere, looking for the struggle, seeking
justice, and making leftist organizations, non-governmental organizations,
human rights organizations, organizations in defense of political prisoners and
for the disappeared, leftist publications, organizations of teachers or
students, social struggle, and even political-military organizations, and they
are just not quiet and they know a lot because they have seen a lot and lived
and struggled.

And so we see in general that in our country, which is called Mexico, there are
many people who do not put up with things, who do not surrender, who do not
sell out. Who are dignified. And that makes us very pleased and happy, because
with all those people it’s not going to be so easy for the neoliberals to win,
and perhaps it will be possible to save our Patria from the great thefts and
destruction they are doing. And we think that perhaps our “we” will include all
those rebellions…

(To be continued…)


    From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast. 


Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee – General Command of the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation

Mexico, in the sixth month of the year 2005.
Originally published in Spanish by the EZLN
********************************
Translated by irlandesa

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(4)
Mexico, Zapatista, Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona - Part 3 - What We Want To Do


Zapatista Army of National Liberation. Mexico.
V - What We Want To Do
We are now going to tell you what we want to do in the world and in Mexico,
because we cannot watch everything that is happening on our planet and just
remain quiet, as if it were only we were where we are.
What we want in the world is to tell all of those who are resisting and fighting
in their own ways and in their own countries, that you are not alone, that we,
the zapatistas, even though we are very small, are supporting you, and we are
going to look at how to help you in your struggles and to speak to you in order
to learn, because what we have, in fact, learned is to learn.

And we want to tell the Latin American peoples that we are proud to be a part of
you, even if it is a small part. We remember quite well how the continent was
also illuminated some years ago, and a light was called Che Guevara, as it had
previously been called Bolivar, because sometimes the people take up a name in
order to say they are taking up a flag.

And we want to tell the people of Cuba, who have now been on their path of
resistance for many years, that you are not alone, and we do not agree with the
blockade they are imposing, and we are going to see how to send you something,
even if it is maize, for your resistance. And we want to tell the North
American people that we know that the bad governments which you have and which
spread harm throughout the world is one thing - and those North Americans who
struggle in their country, and who are in solidarity with the struggles of
other countries, are a very different thing. And we want to tell the Mapuche
brothers and sisters in Chile that we are watching and learning from your
struggles. And to the Venezuelans, we see how well you are defending your
sovereignty, your nation’s right to decide where it is going. And to the
indigenous brothers and sisters of Ecuador and Bolivia, we say you are giving a
good lesson in history to all of Latin America, because now you are indeed
putting a halt to neoliberal globalization. And to the piqueteros and to the
young people of Argentina, we want to tell you that, that we love you. And to
those in Uruguay who want a better country, we admire you. And to those who are
sin tierra in Brazil, that we respect you. And to all the young people of Latin
America, that what you are doing is good, and you give us great hope.

And we want to tell the brothers and sisters of Social Europe, that which is
dignified and rebel, that you are not alone. That your great movements against
the neoliberal wars bring us joy. That we are attentively watching your forms
of organization and your methods of struggle so that we can perhaps learn
something. That we are considering how we can help you in your struggles, and
we are not going to send euro because then they will be devalued because of the
European Union mess. But perhaps we will send you crafts and coffee so you can
market them and help you some in the tasks of your struggle. And perhaps we
might also send you some pozol, which gives much strength in the resistance,
but who knows if we will send it to you, because pozol is more our way, and
what if it were to hurt your bellies and weaken your struggles and the
neoliberals defeat you.

And we want to tell the brothers and sisters of Africa, Asia and Oceania that we
know that you are fighting also, and we want to learn more of your ideas and
practices.

And we want to tell the world that we want to make you large, so large that all
those worlds will fit, those worlds which are resisting because they want to
destroy the neoliberals and because they simply cannot stop fighting for
humanity.

Now then, what we want to do in Mexico is to make an agreement with persons and
organizations just of the left, because we believe that it is in the political
left where the idea of resisting neoliberal globalization is, and of making a
country where there will be justice, democracy and liberty for everyone. Not as
it is right now, where there is justice only for the rich, there is liberty
only for their big businesses, and there is democracy only for painting walls
with election propaganda. And because we believe that it is only from the left
that a plan of struggle can emerge, so that our Patria, which is Mexico, does
not die.

And, then, what we think is that, with these persons and organizations of the
left, we will make a plan for going to all those parts of Mexico where there
are humble and simple people like ourselves.

And we are not going to tell them what they should do or give them orders.

Nor are we going to ask them to vote for a candidate, since we already know that
the ones who exist are neoliberals.

Nor are we going to tell them to be like us, nor to rise up in arms.

What we are going to do is to ask them what their lives are like, their
struggle, their thoughts about our country and what we should do so they do not
defeat us.

What we are going to do is to take heed of the thoughts of the simple and humble
people, and perhaps we will find there the same love which we feel for our
Patria.

And perhaps we will find agreement between those of us who are simple and humble
and, together, we will organize all over the country and reach agreement in our
struggles, which are alone right now, separated from each other, and we will
find something like a program that has what we all want, and a plan for how we
are going to achieve the realization of that program, which is called the
“national program of struggle.”

And, with the agreement of the majority of those people whom we are going to
listen to, we will then engage in a struggle with everyone, with indigenous,
workers, campesinos, students, teachers, employees, women, children, old ones,
men, and with all of those of good heart and who want to struggle so that our
Patria called Mexico does not end up being destroyed and sold, and which still
exists between the Rio Grande and the Rio Suchiate and which has the Pacific
Ocean on one side and the Atlantic on the other.


VI - How We Are Going To Do It

And so this is our simple word that goes out to the humble and simple people of
Mexico and of the world, and we are calling our word of today:

Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona

And we are here to say, with our simple word, that…

The EZLN maintains its commitment to an offensive ceasefire, and it will not
make any attack against government forces or any offensive military movements.

The EZLN still maintains its commitment to insisting on the path of political
struggle through this peaceful initiative which we are now undertaking. The
EZLN continues, therefore, in its resolve to not establish any kind of secret
relations with either national political-military organizations or those from
other countries.

The EZLN reaffirms its commitment to defend, support and obey the zapatista
indigenous communities of which it is composed, and which are its supreme
command, and - without interfering in their internal democratic processes -
will, to the best of its abilities, contribute to the strengthening of their
autonomy, good government and improvement in their living conditions. In other
words, what we are going to do in Mexico and in the world, we are going to do
without arms, with a civil and peaceful movement, and without neglecting nor
ceasing to support our communities.

Therefore…

In the World…

1 - We will forge new relationships of mutual respect and support with persons
and organizations who are resisting and struggling against neoliberalism and
for humanity.

2 - As far as we are able, we will send material aid such as food and
handicrafts for those brothers and sisters who are struggling all over the
world.

In order to begin, we are going to ask the Good Government Junta of La Realidad
to loan their truck, which is called “Chompiras,” and which appears to hold 8
tons, and we are going to fill it with maize and perhaps two 200 liter cans
with oil or petrol, as they prefer, and we are going to deliver it to the Cuban
Embassy in Mexico for them to send to the Cuban people as aid from the
zapatistas for their resistance against the North American blockade. Or perhaps
there might be a place closer to here where it could be delivered, because it’s
always such a long distance to Mexico City, and what if “Chompiras” were to
break down and we’d end up in bad shape. And that will happen when the harvest
comes in, which is turning green right now in the fields, and if they don’t
attack us, because if we were to send it during these next few months, it would
be nothing but corncobs, and they don’t turn out well even in tamales, better
in November or December, it depends.

And we are also going to make an agreement with the women’s crafts cooperatives
in order to send a good number of bordados, embroidered pieces, to the Europes
which are perhaps not yet Union, and perhaps we’ll also send some organic
coffee from the zapatista cooperatives, so that they can sell it and get a
little money for their struggle. And, if it isn’t sold, then they can always
have a little cup of coffee and talk about the anti-neoliberal struggle, and if
it’s a bit cold then they can cover themselves up with the zapatista bordados,
which do indeed resist quite well being laundered by hand and by rocks, and,
besides, they don’t run in the wash.

And we are also going to send the indigenous brothers and sisters of Bolivia and
Ecuador some non-transgenic maize, and we just don’t know where to send them so
they arrive complete, but we are indeed willing to give this little bit of aid.

3 - And to all of those who are resisting throughout the world, we say there
must be other intercontinental encuentros held, even if just one other. Perhaps
December of this year or next January, we’ll have to think about it. We don’t
want to say just when, because this is about our agreeing equally on
everything, on where, on when, on how, on who. But not with a stage where just
a few speak and all the rest listen, but without a stage, just level and
everyone speaking, but orderly, otherwise it will just be a hubbub and the
words won’t be understood, and with good organization everyone will hear and
jot down in their notebooks the words of resistance from others, so then
everyone can go and talk with their compañeros and compañeras in their worlds.
And we think it might be in a place that has a very large jail, because what if
they were to repress us and incarcerate us, and so that way we wouldn’t be all
piled up, prisoners, yes, but well organized, and there in the jail we could
continue the intercontinental encuentros for humanity and against
neoliberalism. Later on we’ll tell you what we shall do in order to reach
agreement as to how we’re going to come to agreement. Now that is how we’re
thinking of doing what we want to do in the world. Now follows…

In Mexico…

1 - We are going to continue fighting for the Indian peoples of Mexico, but now
not just for them and not with only them, but for all the exploited and
dispossessed of Mexico, with all of them and all over the country. And when we
say all the exploited of Mexico, we are also talking about the brothers and
sisters who have had to go to the United States in search of work in order to
survive.

2 - We are going to go to listen to, and talk directly with, without
intermediaries or mediation, the simple and humble of the Mexican people, and,
according to what we hear and learn, we are going to go about building, along
with those people who, like us, are humble and simple, a national program of
struggle, but a program which will be clearly of the left, or anti-capitalist,
or anti-neoliberal, or for justice, democracy and liberty for the Mexican
people.

3 - We are going to try to build, or rebuild, another way of doing politics, one
which once again has the spirit of serving others, without material interests,
with sacrifice, with dedication, with honesty, which keeps its word, whose only
payment is the satisfaction of duty performed, or like the militants of the
left did before, when they were not stopped by blows, jail or death, let alone
by dollar bills.

4 - We are also going to go about raising a struggle in order to demand that we
make a new Constitution, new laws which take into account the demands of the
Mexican people, which are: housing, land, work, food, health, education,
information, culture, independence, democracy, justice, liberty and peace. A
new Constitution which recognizes the rights and liberties of the people, and
which defends the weak in the face of the powerful.

TO THESE ENDS…

The EZLN will send a delegation of its leadership in order to do this work
throughout the national territory and for an indefinite period of time. This
zapatista delegation, along with those organizations and persons of the left
who join in this Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona, will go to those
places where they are expressly invited.

We are also letting you know that the EZLN will establish a policy of alliances
with non-electoral organizations and movements which define themselves, in
theory and practice, as being of the left, in accordance with the following
conditions:

Not to make agreements from above to be imposed below, but to make accords to go
together to listen and to organize outrage. Not to raise movements which are
later negotiated behind the backs of those who made them, but to always take
into account the opinions of those participating. Not to seek gifts, positions,
advantages, public positions, from the Power or those who aspire to it, but to
go beyond the election calendar. Not to try to resolve from above the problems
of our Nation, but to build FROM BELOW AND FOR BELOW an alternative to
neoliberal destruction, an alternative of the left for Mexico.

Yes to reciprocal respect for the autonomy and independence of organizations,
for their methods of struggle, for their ways of organizing, for their internal
decision making processes, for their legitimate representations. And yes to a
clear commitment for joint and coordinated defense of national sovereignty,
with intransigent opposition to privatization attempts of electricity, oil,
water and natural resources.

In other words, we are inviting the unregistered political and social
organizations of the left, and those persons who lay claim to the left and who
do not belong to registered political parties, to meet with us, at the time,
place and manner in which we shall propose at the proper time, to organize a
national campaign, visiting all possible corners of our Patria, in order to
listen to and organize the word of our people. It is like a campaign, then, but
very otherly, because it is not electoral.

Brothers and sisters:

This is our word which we declare:

In the world, we are going to join together more with the resistance struggles
against neoliberalism and for humanity.

And we are going to support, even if it’s but little, those struggles.

And we are going to exchange, with mutual respect, experiences, histories,
ideas, dreams.

In Mexico, we are going to travel all over the country, through the ruins left
by the neoliberal wars and through those resistances which, entrenched, are
flourishing in those ruins.

We are going to seek, and to find, those who love these lands and these skies
even as much as we do.

We are going to seek, from La Realidad to Tijuana, those who want to organize,
struggle and build what may perhaps be the last hope this Nation - which has
been going on at least since the time when an eagle alighted on a nopal in
order to devour a snake – has of not dying.

We are going for democracy, liberty and justice for those of us who have been
denied it.

We are going with another politics, for a program of the left and for a new
Constitution.

We are inviting all indigenous, workers, campesinos, teachers, students,
housewives, neighbors, small businesspersons, small shop owners,
micro-businesspersons, pensioners, handicapped persons, religious men and
women, scientists, artists, intellectuals, young persons, women, old persons,
homosexuals and lesbians, boys and girls – to participate, whether individually
or collectively, directly with the zapatistas in this NATIONAL CAMPAIGN for
building another way of doing politics, for a program of national struggle of
the left, and for a new Constitution.

And so this is our word as to what we are going to do and how we are going to do
it. You will see whether you want to join.

And we are telling those men and women who are of good heart and intent, who are
in agreement with this word we are bringing out, and who are not afraid, or who
are afraid but who control it, to then state publicly whether they are in
agreement with this idea we are presenting, and in that way we will see once
and for all who and how and where and when this new step in the struggle is to
be made.

While you are thinking about it, we say to you that today, in the sixth month of
the year 2005, the men, women, children and old ones of the Zapatista Army of
National Liberation have now decided, and we have now subscribed to, this Sixth
Declaration of the Selva Lacandona, and those who know how to sign, signed, and
those who did not left their mark, but there are fewer now who do not know how,
because education has advanced here in this territory in rebellion for humanity
and against neoliberalism, that is in zapatista skies and land.

And this was our simple word sent out to the noble hearts of those simple and
humble people who resist and rebel against injustices all over the world.

Democracy!
Liberty!
Justice!

    From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast. 


Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee – General Command of the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation.

Mexico, in the sixth month, or June, of the year 2005.

Originally published in Spanish by the EZLN
********************************
Translated by irlandesa

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(5)
How the Media Silence Native Americans
By Chloe Tejada

(andPOP) - A look at the media coverage of the Ipperwash incident

I first heard about the story of Dudley George and Camp Ipperwash when I went for a summer job interview in 2004. The company who was interviewing me, Goldi Productions, was a pair of documentary filmmakers, and they asked me about my media knowledge, specifically, if I read about the incident at Ipperwash.

I had never heard of Ipperwash or Dudley George before, and I admit that I was ashamed of this, as I am a journalism student, so I am supposed to know these things. This was my first hint about the invisibility of Native Americans in North American media coverage.
On September 7, 1995, Anthony (Dudley) George was fatally shot by OPP officer Kenneth Deane during a peaceful protest at Ipperwash Park. This was the first time that a Native American was killed by a police officer during peacetime. The OPP maintain that the natives had guns and shot at them first, which is why they responded back with gunfire. The natives maintain that they never had any weapons and it was the OPP who shot at them first. The media portrayed this tragedy as a clash between militant savages and the honest cops, playing up the violence and anger, but not digging into the deeper story- the reason behind the natives' occupation of Ipperwash Park.

In July 2004, nine years after the death of Dudley George, a public inquiry was finally established to investigate and report about the events surrounding George's death. This time there was no violent collision between natives and cops, instead it was a verbal dialogue between the George family and the government. Now that is not too much fun to report about, right? The public wouldn't be interested in hearing about the legal wrangling between a couple of Indians and the Ontario government, right?

In journalism school, we learn that for a story to make the news there has to be a news hook- that is, a piece of news that is new and interesting enough for the audience to hook the readers in and read. In other words, the media sees the inquiry (at the time of writing, the inquiry is still going on) as boring and in need of excitement and glamour. It is not news to people that those who write the news are supposed to be "unbiased" in their reporting. What may be news to people however is the fact that this so-called unbiased reporting is actually subtly racist, only writing about Native Americans when there is a conflict. As a result, Canadians only see Natives in a negative way and believe that it is normal.

"A thug by any other name is still a thug," said Claire Hoy in Vancouver's The Province. Stereotypes rule the writing of many of the journalists who reported on the Ipperwash tragedy and still in the Ipperwash Inquiry. The mainstream media's coverage of people of colour is full of old stereotypes, offensive language, biased reporting, and a narrow-minded interpretation of society. Do we ever see a happy or positive story about Native Americans in the papers? No we don't. It is unfortunate that most news stories only show Native Americans in a negative way.

"In day-to-day coverage, minorities often are ignored except for certain categories of stories- notably crime, sports and entertainment," said M.L. Stein in Editor and I. This is a dangerous way of reporting because the media shapes the views of the audience and plays a role in shaping the formation of Canadian minority identities. The media provides an important source of information through which citizens gain knowledge about their nation, and our attitudes and beliefs are shaped by what the media discerns as public knowledge. "The media is responsible for the ways that Canadian society is interpreted, considered, and evaluated among its residents," said Minelle Mahtani in Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal.

In my journalism classes we are taught to select the most interesting parts of the story and leave out other less interesting parts. These are not just random selections. We are taught to carefully manipulate which parts of the story go where, which part gets the most attention, which part is the most emphasized. We try to make our news pieces fair and balanced. Despite what we would like to believe, Canadian media is not fair, democratic or objective.

Minority groups are regularly excluded and marginalized, and the dominant culture is reinforced as the norm. As a result, not only does the audience believe that minorities are bad people, minorities themselves feel excluded from their Canadian identity and believe that they are indeed inferior people. "Negative depictions of minorities teach minorities in Canada that they are threatening, deviant, and irrelevant to nation-building; they effectively serve to instill inferiority complexes among minorities; there are few positive role models," says Mahtani.

In various newspaper articles about the events surrounding Ipperwash, reporters used shocking use of words to portray the Native Americans. An article in Vancouver's newspaper The Province is called "Nuts to giving in to armed native thugs". The reporter Claire Hoy did not even interview any of the natives, did not do research of any kind behind the occupation of Ipperwash Park and automatically believed the OPP's story that the natives had guns and shot at the OPP first. "Who do you believe? Well, based on the track record of these so-called 'occupations,' there's no doubt who I believe, and it isn't the militant warriors who think they have the right to take up arms against the state. They don't," wrote Hoy. Hoy is portraying the natives as angry military warriors who can't be trusted and is inferring that they have no right to fight the government. This statement is blatant racism and further entrenches completely wrong stereotypes about Native Americans.

Readers will develop a sense of the social world through their exposure to this kind of news media. How real are these representations? Representations are not reality; they are the result of processes of selection that invariably mean that certain aspects are highlighted and other neglected. For instance, many of the reports of the Ipperwash Inquiry played up how "explosive tapes" (Sidney Linden wrote in The Windsor Star) would reveal the truth behind the shootings, and played down the less "exciting" parts of the inquiry that explained the occupation of Ipperwash Park and the history of how the government took the land from the natives over a century ago. This wasn't just one newspaper who hyped up certain aspects of the inquiry and downplayed others; most media who reported on the inquiry and on the shooting in 1995 did this. It is easy to say why this is so; just look at what my journalism professors are teaching me. Already I am learning to highlight aspects of a story 
a
nd not include others.

It should come to no surprise that the producers of media are dominantly white. White, middle-and upper-class men (think of the Aspers, Conrad Black, George Hearst, Steve Case, Rupert Murdoch, Michael Eisner, the Barclay twins) have historically controlled the media industry, and media content has largely reflected their perspectives on the world. Therefore, the inequalities in the social world have affected the organization of the media industry that produces media products.

"When subtle racism appears constantly in media, it becomes routine, and therefore "normal", at least for the dominant group, which means that racism is not often recognized, not acknowledged- let alone problematized by the dominant group," says Mahtani. In many of the news stories about the Ipperwash Inquiry and the shooting of 1995, most sources of authority were white men. Hardly any reporter talked to the native men to hear their side of the story, and none of them were used as authoritative sources except for Ovide Mercredi, a First Nations leader. This under-representation suggests the unimportance or non-existence of Native Americans. The producers of the media are whiting-out the multiculturalism in the news. In terms of choosing sources, the media seem to avoid people of color.

In a CBC News broadcast about the shooting of Dudley George, members of the Kettle and Stony Point First Nations who were occupying the park where interviewed by reporter Havard Gould, however they were given no byline or title when they were speaking. When members of the OPP were being interviewed such as Const. Jack Sharpe, their name and title were given on the screen. This made it seem like they were the authority and were to be trusted over the natives. They are being silenced by the media and their invisibility is increasingly seen as normal.

In one 2001 study by Media tenor Ltd., a nonpartisan German media analysis firm, some 18,765 broadcast news reports were analyzed for content and types of sources. Nearly 92 per cent of all sources used in television news broadcasts were Caucasian, far out of proportion to their 69 per cent of the population. Only one Native American appeared for a paltry 0.008 per cent of sourcing. Even when minority sources appear on the news, they are more likely to be presented as "ordinary" citizens rather than authorities or experts.
Why is this? Part of the reason has to do with the makeup of the newsroom itself. In Canada, natives make up three per cent of the population, but out of 41 newspapers with 2,620 employees, only two are native. So not only do we have management composed of white, middle- and upper-class men dictating the news, we also have white journalists who are unfamiliar with the history of natives and other minorities, writing about them in an unfair way.

An editorial from The Globe and Mail wrote "Have governments been as intransigent or as apathetic as some native suggest? Is that intransigence really at the root of native militancy? The evidence is thin." The editors who wrote this did not look into the background of native land claims at all, and just assumed that was the government was telling them was correct. Journalists cannot deepen their understanding if they don't know the local and national history and cannot offer context.

Lack of familiarity with minority issues can have serious consequences. For example, during the Oka Crisis in 1990, Canadian Mohawk tribe members protested the expansion of a golf course into their native lands and sacred burial grounds by setting up a barricade. Press coverage conjured images of fierce native warriors likely to be violent, causing authorities to deploy 4,000 soldiers and police-to deal with that turned out to be 27 men, 16 women, 6 children, and 10 journalists.

The Ipperwash tragedy is remarkably similar to the Oka Crisis. The Kettle and Stony Point First Nations group was protesting to get their land (Ipperwash Park) from the government because they claim that it is a sacred burial ground. The media reported that the group was a militant band of thugs and so hundreds of OPP officers from southern Ontario came with many weapons, expecting a lot of violent resistance. In reality, it was about thirty people consisting of families.

"Ethnic minorities in Canada do not see themselves mirrored in the media, and this perpetuates feelings of rejection, trivializes their contributions, and devalues their role as citizens of their nations," says Mahtani. This unfortunately becomes the norm, and seen as the way things are.

"You fucking cowards!" A Native American from Ipperwash Park is shown dressed in military-style clothing, yelling at the OPP officers in a CBC Newsworld broadcast. It seems that in mainstream media in Canada, ethnic minorities are presented as threats. The media uses a position reminiscent of President Bush's "us" and "them" in which the former is the mainstream audience, and the latter is the ethnic minority. There always has to be a "tension" between the two groups to prolong the story, to make it appear more exciting, to make the readers want to read the article or watch the news broadcast, and to show the mainstream opponent as the authority over the minority. To create dynamic stories, for example, reporters will often choose "sound bites" to make good television.
The conflicts actually have a long history to them, but because of a newspapers tight deadline, there is no time to research and analyze the history behind the conflicts.
"Prevent, if possible, the press from reporting on "the enemy" as full-fledged human beings with their own story to tell; don't let the public see the complexity of the ethical issues behind the show of weaponry," said Tony Hall in his article "Manufacturing Contempt" in The Canadian Forum. "Rather than correctly representing the recent stand-offs as expressive of growing distinctions of class, interest and ideology within Indian Country, the mainstream press tended instead to present the episode through the simplifying, distorting lens of right and wrong, good and bad. On the other [side] stood the rebels, the renegades, those who, in the words of Rudy Platel, simply wanted 'to thumb their noses at authority'. For this group, wrote the Globe's Indian expert, 'it's pay-back time'."

By making it a case of good guy versus bad guy, journalists are trivializing the events that happened at Ipperwash Park and are making the inquiry that is going on right now seem unimportant and pointless.

"Journalists rarely enter minority communities except during a riot or racial dispute," says Virginia Whitehouse in The World and I. This makes it seem like riots and fights are a broad pattern in minority communities, when in reality they really are isolate events. By only showing the fights, the audience believes that this is all minorities do and therefore are not intelligent, peaceful people.

The media livens up the story by making violence and anger an important aspect to the story.

"Witness working on anger over Ipperwash shooting," reads a headline from The Windsor Star on February 3, 2005. The lead talked about how a cousin of Dudley George was angry over his death and that there would be a war is natives controlling Ipperwash Park were confronted with force. "There's a lot of anger there. I am still working on getting rid of that anger," The Windsor Star quoted Glenn George. Journalists fail to educate society when coverage of minority communities is superficial and primarily tied to racial conflict. That makes it easier for racism to be perpetuated. If reporting is only about angry people swearing and throwing things, then what is the image that you are projecting about the community being covered?

The determined drive to silence, distort or trivialize the protesters at the Ipperwash Inquiry looks like the advancement of a dangerously exclusive and dictatorial approach from Canadian media. While the media continues the cycle of silencing the voices of minorities, thousands of natives live in miserable poverty. Born into a cycle of disenfranchisement and hopelessness, they feel they have little control over their destiny while the media continues to portray them as criminals and the public continues to see them as dangerous thugs.

What can be done to stop this? Change the make-up of the newsroom and change the way news is made, for starters. As soon as journalists became aware of the history of minority communities and are allowed to have the time to research them, then significant changes can be made to give a fair voice to minorities in the media. 

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(6)
Warriors defended as an 'honorable tradition'
CBC News
http://vancouver.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=bc_warriors20050630
 
An aboriginal academic has come to the defence of the West Coast Warriors in the wake of Monday's dramatic takedown on Vancouver's Burrard bridge by the RCMP's anti-terrorism unit.

Police seized 14 hunting rifles and 10,000 rounds of ammunition from a van, and three men were arrested – including Warrior leader David Dennis of Port Alberni.

The three were detained briefly and then released, with no charges laid.

* RELATED: Arrests of First Nations activists raise questions  http://keyway0.tripod.com/index.html

The Warriors say their mandate is to protect the rights of First Nations, and do so in a non-violent manner. They say they offer to defend Aboriginal rights when circumstances become dangerous.

The Warriors have been involved in disputes such as the Cheam First Nation's fight over fishing rights in 2000, and fishing rights on Vancouver Island with the Saanich Nations in 2003.

But a professor at the University of Victoria calls the Warriors law-abiding citizens. And Taiaiake Alfred, the director of UVic's Indigenous Governance Program, says the term "warrior" is misunderstood.

"When you use the word warrior, there's a kind of implicit understanding of the image that's invoked in people's minds," he says.

"But there's also another side to it, which is an honorable tradition within our communities of the warrior being the young people who do what's necessary for the survival of the people."

* INTERVIEW: B.C. Almanac's Mark Forsythe speaks with Taiaiake Alfred, the director of UVic's Indigenous Governance Program. http://vancouver.cbc.ca/clips/Vancouver/ram-audio/bc_warrior_050629.ram

Dennis and East Coast Warrior James Ward had bought the guns just minutes before the police action – and had all the required permits.

At a news conference on Wednesday, they repeated their original statement that they were planning to use the guns to teach hunting and survival skills to a small First Nation in Kingcome Inlet on B.C.'s Central Coast.

The RCMP are applying to court to keep the guns until the investigation is complete.

---------------------------------------------

(7)
Northern Cheyenne break vow of silence
By MARTIN J. KIDSTON
Helena Independent Record

BILLINGS - A group of Northern Cheyenne storytellers gathered here Friday night to give for the first time an oral account of the killing of Lt. Col. George Custer and the defeat of the 7th U.S. Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

The event, held in conjunction with the High Plains Book Festival, drew nearly 200 people including Yellowstone Public Radio. It was, the story-tellers said, the beginning of a Northern Cheyenne project to make the tribe's version of the famous battle known. Frank Rowland, the night's emcee, said the tribe is now beginning to compile an oral history of the event. Rowland said the Northern Cheyenne had never publicly revealed their version of the battle. Fearing retribution after the fight in 1876, tribal leaders had called for a vow of silence.

"The chiefs said to keep a vow of silence for 100 summers," Rowland said. "One-hundred summers have now passed and we're breaking our silence. This is going to be a first for the Cheyenne people and a breakthrough for Western history."

In June 1876, Custer led 647 men with 7th Cavalry into the valley of the Little Bighorn River. The Cavalry and their Indian allies attacked the village of 8,000 to 10,000 people. After the battle, 263 U.S. soldiers had perished, including Custer, or Long Hair, as the Cheyenne called him Friday.

"We've been told we were the villains of history," said Eugene Little Coyote. "No more. It's important for our young Cheyenne to know the truth. We want to share our history now."

Steve Brady, a member of the Cheyenne Crazy Dog Society, said the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 set the stage for what was to come at Little Bighorn.

There, on the Colorado prairie, Col. John Chivington led approximately 700 U.S. soldiers to a Cheyenne and Arapaho village along the banks of Big Sandy Creek. A white flag flew above the Native village where the Cheyenne and Arapaho people believed they were living under the protection of the U.S. Army.

The U.S. troops attacked and killed between 150 and 500 people, mainly women, children and elderly. Many Cheyenne chiefs were also killed, including Black Kettle. The U.S. troops paraded body parts of the fallen Indians through the streets of Denver and received a hero's welcome.

"Our people had never seen such atrocities committed," Brady said. "It was the Western European who was supposedly here to tame the savages, which was us. This laid the groundwork of what was to come. My great-grandfather never forgot what they (U.S. troops) had done for the rest of his life."

James Rowland, a Northern Cheyenne artist, said it was those bitter memories, mixed with visions by the Keeper of the Broken Arrows years later, which helped fuel the ferocity of the Battle of Little Bighorn.

Rowland presented several art panels to the audience. Using traditional Native American imagery, each panel told a different moment of the battle according to Cheyenne history. The images were printed over old newspapers which once told the country how the "Indians" had overwhelmed and defeated the U.S. Army.

"I had read several books, but things didn't add up until I heard the Cheyenne version," said Rowland. "Custer was spotted riding north while the battle was raging on the field."

Stories passed down among the Northern Cheyenne say Custer died a mile away from the current monument that sits upon the knoll overlooking the Bighorn River.

The storytellers, including Rowland, attributed Buffalo Calf Trail Woman for delivering the blow that knocked Custer from his steed before he died.

"We know from history Custer had two wounds," Rowland said, referring to Custer's head wound and the wound to his chest. "When he fell, he wasn't touched by the warriors because he was unclean. He was bad medicine."

It was the women, Rowland said, who took their revenge.

Clarence Spotted Wolf said his great-great-grandfather fought bravely at the battle, where he lost his left eye.

"He had two boys with him," Spotted Wolf said. "He went around and made a circle to get to Custer. He went down to his knees. They made a pass at him and said 'He's going down to his knees.' "

Frank Rowland said the Northern Cheyenne are collecting such oral accounts, which they hope to make public later this year.

"This is just a platform to build on," he said. "We have a moral responsibility to tell the truth. This is the Cheyenne truth."

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(8)
From:  Justice Network [ mailto:justicenetwork at fastmail.fm ]
Please Do * NOT * forward this email to any officials - THANK YOU  [but it can be forwarded to relevant groups and contacts]

Greetings,

This is a short but important call for action. Once again Native Americans are being discriminated against at Montana State Prison. It is our hope that after reading about this unacceptable situation, lots of people will contact the Governor of Montana to express their opinion and complain about this new case of discrimination; this time it also concerns directly the families and friends of the Native American prisoners.

This is about the scheduled Spiritual Gathering that is to take place in August. It is an opportunity for the Native American prisoners, their families and friends to spend this special time together.

Many people will be traveling hundreds of miles to this Spiritual Gathering. Traditional foods are critical to the meaning of the Spiritual Gathering. They had originally been approved, and then Don Berryman, the Director of Rehabilitation, recently told the Native Americans that the policy was changing and that they would only be allowed to serve cookies and ice-cream cups. So, this time there will be no other food allowed by the administration, except for token cookies and ice-cream cups.

 The Catholic prisoners were allowed to observe their regularly scheduled  Ultrea and the guests were allowed chicken, macaroni salad and deserts. But at the Spiritual Gathering the prison will only be allowing cookies and icecream cups, ignoring the fact that serving cookies and ice cream cups  is not keeping in tradition of a Spiritual gathering and could be well seen as an insult.

Many people travel to Montana from out of state throughout the year yet this unfair and negative treatment of Native Americans could effect future travel plans throughout the year. Some family members will be traveling hundreds of miles and could be spending hundreds of dollars in Montana. However, because of the discrimination against the Native Americans many may not attend the Spiritual Gathering.

Please let the Governor of Montana know that you disapprove of the way the Native Americans are being discriminated against at the Montana State prison.  Let him know how this effects your future plans to travel to Montana. Also, please let the governor know that most people are aware that as governor of Montana he has tried to be fair and sensitive to these types  of issues and hope he will do his best to correct this act of discrimination.

You can contact him by email, on his site at HTTP://governor.mt.gov/  or by phone, and if anyone can take a few minutes to send a snail-mail letter it will be very much appreciated too. Thank you for your support.

Respectfully,

Justicenetwork justicenetwork at fastmail.fm

Contact information: By emails, snail mail letters and phone calls

Governor Brian A. Schweitzer
Office of the Governor
Montana State Capitol Bldg.
P.O. Box 200801
Helena MT 59620-0801
406-444-3111, FAX 406-444-5529   governor at mt.gov

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(9)
* please post widely *

“Let’s be clear: this is not about a ski hill. It is about a plan to build
a small city in the mountains, a place for urbanites to have a weekend
getaway -- and for developers to make a killing on real estate. Let’s be
clear about something else: the massive expansion of the Sun Peaks Resort
is an act of violence. British Columbia’s First Nation peoples have
already been robbed of so much. It is the duty of all Canadians living on
stolen land to join in the struggle.”
- Naomi Klein, author of No Logo


:::::: SUPPORT THE SECWEPEMC DEFENDERS :::::::

In Kamloops Supreme Court on June 16 2005, four Secwepemc Nation members
received jail sentences for their participation in a 4-hour roadblock on
August 24, 2001 at Skwelkwek’welt (Sun Peaks Ski Resort). Sentences ranged
from 45 days for 28-year-old Secwepemc mother of 2, Nicole Manuel, to 90
days for three other Secwepemc Nationals, Trevor Dennis 26, Rose Jack 25
and Mark Sauls 24. The Court denied the defence to have numerous
constitutional questions submitted concerning the BC Lands Act. “Since
December 15, 2004, we have targeted the patently unconstitutional 1874 BC
Lands Act as the center of our legal actions and defense,” stated
defendant Beverly Manuel. Secwepemcul’ecw Traditional Peoples Government
spokesperson Janice Billy said “ I deplore the imprisonment of my people
for upholding our sacred responsibility to protect our land from
destruction by Sun Peaks Resort Corporation.” She added, the “the
imprisonment of our people is just one of the many immoral tactics used by
the BC provincial courts, government, and corporations to continue the
theft and destruction of our unceded lands. Rather than deal honorably
with us, the government uses the RCMP, courts, and media to carry out
their theft and destruction.”


Nicole Manuel and Rose Jack were transferred to prison facilities in the
Lower Mainland and are currently in Maple Ridge. We currently do not have
updated information for Trevor or Mark. Below are different ways you can
show your support to those in prison and to others continuing the struggle
against Sun Peaks Resort.

For more information on support in Vancouver:
Email noii-van at resist.ca
Call 778-885-0040
website: http://noii-van.resist.ca/skwelkwekwelt

Skwelkwek’welt Protection Center P.O. Box 837, Chase, Britiish Columbia,
Canada, V0E 1M0
Phone (250) 318-4290
Fax (250) 679-5306
e-mail: jrbilly at mail.ocis.net



==> Write a letter to show your support

In a recent letter from jail, Niclole (Mayuk) wrote “It sucks being in
here when you know you did nothing wrong.” Please show your continued
support for the courage and conviction the women have show in standing up
for their rights and let them know their actions and the struggle against
Sun Peaks continues to inspire us.

Alouette Correctional Centre for Women
c/o Nicole Manuel
PO Box 1000
Maple Ridge, British Columbia V2X 7G4

Alouette Correctional Centre for Women
c/o Rose Jack
PO Box 1000
Maple Ridge, British Columbia V2X 7G4

Use either white or yellow paper and only write on one side of the sheet.
Do not send anything else like stamps or even newspaper clippings as it
may get returned to you. Also, assume that prison staff will read letters.



==> Financial Donations:

Donations can be made directly to Nicole's and Rose’s accounts in prison.
Money is also needed for ongoing legal defense and for transportation
costs for visits with family coming from Kamloops.

Money can be sent directly to the prison, payable to either Nicole Manuel
or Rose Jack, at the addresses above. It would be best to only deposit
money orders as personal cheques have about a 10-day hold placed on them.

Alternatively personal cheques, along with other donations to help cover
ongoing legal defense costs and transportation costs, can be sent to:
Make cheques payable to "Sun Peaks Arrests Fund"
Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade (INET)/ No One is Illegal
Office 714
Dominion Building, 207 West Hastings
Vancouver BC, V6B 1H7




==> Write a letter/ make a call

Gordon Campbell, Premier
Government of British Columbia
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 9E1
Fax: (250) 387-0087
Email: premier at gov.bc.ca
Phone: 250-387-1715

Wally Oppal
East Annex, Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC, V8V1X4
Fax: 250 356-6176
Phone: 250 387-1866

Darcy Alexander
Vice President, General Manager
Sun Peaks Resort
1280 Alpine Rd.
Sun Peaks, BC
V0E 1Z1
tel#: 250-578-7222
fax#: 250-578-7223
email: marketing at sunpeaksresort.com


Sample Letter

RE: STOP EXPANSION OF SUN PEAKS RESORT IN SECWEPEMC TERRITORY

I am writing in support of the Skwelkwek’welt Protection Center that has
been protecting Secwepemc lands and culture that is being destroyed by Sun
Peaks Resort and in support of the four Secpwemc youth who were recently
jailed for their courageous defense of their land and their rights.

It is clear that despite the fact that the Supreme Court of Canada has
recognized Aboriginal Title, and that the Canadian Constitution of 1982
protects Aboriginal Title as an Aboriginal Right yet your political
decision has been to extinguish Aboriginal Title. The recent Haida
decision added a legal duty government and industry to consult and
accommodate Aboriginal Title even before it has been proved. It is clear
that the recent endorsement by Canada and British Columbia of the $285
million dollar expansion of Sun Peaks is a deliberate and clear effort to
extinguish Aboriginal Title.

Negotiations under the present extinguishment policy and process is
failing (those negotiations have only been a benefit to those negotiators
who get a pay check from those funds for the last 10 years); that the
injunctions are not necessarily always conducive in balancing the
interests between business and Aboriginal Rights; and that full blown
court decision takes 10 to 14 years; and all of these remedies put
Secwepemc people at a decided disadvantage when dealing with the
governments that are committed to an out dated status quo of marginalizing
indigenous economic and cultural rights.

I reiterate the position of the Skwelkwek’welt Protection Center that
wants the expansion of Sun Peaks stopped and demand a new federal policy
that recognizes Aboriginal Title in line with the legal mandate to consult
and accommodate Aboriginal Title.


Yours sincerely,



:::::::::::: BACKROUNDER ::::::::::::::


“On December 10th, 2001, International Human Rights Day, Sun Peaks Resort
and the province of BC demolished several homes at Skwekwek’welt. One home
demolished was my family’s. We returned home to discover our home
bulldozed to the ground with absolutely no trace that we had ever been
there. Where our house previously stood was a groomed ski trail. The pain
my family felt that day was unspeakable. I held my two children in my arms
and we wept together. I will never understand how other human beings can
treat us in such an atrocious, hateful way. It is wrong that Sun Peaks can
come into our homes that we built with our blood, sweat and tears.
Ultimately it is the Indigenous peoples, including my children, that are
paying the real cost for Sun Peaks to exist where it is and for their
tourists fun-filled packages.”
- Native Youth Movement warrior Nicole Manuel

Sun Peaks Resort is built in Secwepemc territories, land which has never
been ceded, released, nor surrendered. The BC government and Sun Peaks
therefore has no authority over the Secwepemc people or their lands.

Despite the recognition of the inherent land rights of Aboriginal People
as Aboriginal Title in Delgamuukw, and despite the Haida decision that
requires provincial and private interests to consult, obtain consent and
accommodate Aboriginal interests prior to pursuing development on
Aboriginal territories, federal and provincial governments still insist
indigenous peoples must prove their title within the court system rather
than by abiding by the principal of Title itself.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 asserts that "And We do further strictly
enjoin and require all Persons whatever who have either willfully or
inadvertently seated themselves upon any Lands within the Countries above
described, or upon any other Lands which, not having been ceded to or
purchased by Us, are still reserved to the said Indians as aforesaid,
forthwith to remove themselves from such Settlements."

Still, Canada and BC, with disturbing disregard for the highest legal
authority in Canada, continue to ignore Secwepemc Title and consequently
ignore their own laws. The United Nations has repeatedly condemned Canada
for violating International Human Rights in its treatment of indigenous
communities and the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights recently
visited Secwepemc Territories to document the injustices committed against
the peoples of land.

The development of Sun Peaks Resort has continued without participation of
those with Title to the land. The government disregarded environmental and
cultural impact studies performed by the Adams Lake and Neskonlith Indian
Bands and refused to engage in consultation and meaningful discussion with
the bands about the development. The Secwepemc attended stakeholder
meetings and clearly said no to the development. Land and Water BC
however, clearly disregarded their voices and granted new leases to Sun
Peaks to facilitate their expansion.

Since purchasing the resort in 1992, the Japanese holding company, Nippon
Cable, has expanded on site accomodation from 100 beds to 4000. In 1997,
the BC government approved a $70 million development plan, allowing Sun
Peaks to continue to expand their resort to 20,000 beds and put ski runs
on the previously undisturbed Mt. Morrisey. In June 2004 with the Olympic
bid, the expansion now totals $285 million:

The Secwepemc people set up the Skwelwek’welt Protection Center at the
entrance of Sun Peaks resort in order to protect their Aboriginal Title.
To date, 54 arrests with charges from criminal contempt and intimidation
by blocking a road to resisting arrest have been made. Charges range from
criminal contempt, mischief, intimidation and obstruction of a police
officer to intimidation by blocking a road, resisting arrest, and breach
of bail conditions.

In January 2003, a BC judge found four Elders NOT guilty for refusal to
obey an injunction obtained by Sun Peaks Resort to tear down the
Skwekwek’welt Protection Center. The judge found that the Crown could not
prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defenders intentions were
criminal. As she left court, Elder Irene Billy stated: "I always knew we
were right, this is our land, and Sun Peaks and the province cannot remove
us.”

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(10)
RCMP braced for reaction to slaughter of sled dogs

By BOB WEBER

(CP) - Nunavut RCMP are preparing themselves for the political bite of thousands of dead sled dogs.

An internal investigation is almost complete into allegations that officers deliberately shot the dogs in the 1950s and '60s as part of a policy to assimilate Inuit by keeping them off the land.

Inuit leaders are increasingly adamant in demands for a public inquiry to sniff out the truth behind what they believe was both a deliberate assault on their culture and a cruel tragedy for dog owners.

But after reviewing all existing RCMP records from the time and interviewing more than two dozen Inuit who then worked for the force, Insp. Paul Young has concluded no such plot existed.

"I'm really looking to see if there was any conspiracy or any direction given regarding the destruction of the dogs," he said.

"I've found nothing. In fact, I've found the opposite."

The finding, however, is sure to draw growls.

In March, the Nunavut legislature passed a unanimous motion in favour of an inquiry. A House of Commons committee in Ottawa has also recommended one.

"What I do know is that one way to bring people into town was to destroy the dogs," said Tagak Curley, an influential member of the territorial legislature and longtime northern leader.

"The public hearing must go through."

The dead dogs - "qimmiit" in Inuktitut - are real enough. Some estimates put the number of slaughtered animals across northern Quebec and Nunavut as high as 20,000.

Makivik Corp., which administers the Quebec Inuit land claim, has collected dozens of stories of uncomprehending dog owners watching animals that were both essential to the hunt and well-loved companions killed.

"Even though the men cherished the dogs, they tried picking the ones they cherished less than others and brought them down to the sea ice to be put to death," wrote Lucasi Nappaluk.

Sometimes the RCMP shot the dogs; sometimes it was the Hudson's Bay man or even the local teacher. Always, it was a "qallunaat" - white man - speaking a language as alien as the government he represented.

The slaughter came at a time before snowmobiles were common. The Inuit say it was meant to centralize them so children could receive a southern education, health care could be easily delivered, welfare could be distributed and officials could keep a paternal eye on them.

"It was one of the ways the government had to concentrate them," said Curley. "I remember 'assimilation' used to be the word."

That attempted assimilation is blamed for many of the social problems the Inuit struggle with today - problems that some now trace at least partly back to a pile of dead sled dogs on the ice.

But Young hasn't found a hidden agenda.

Some dogs were shot during distemper or rabies outbreaks, he said. Some were killed for public safety - free-roaming dogs may have been safe in traditional hunting camps but weren't in more populous communities.

"Some of these teams were put down at the request of hamlet councils of the leaders in the communities or the team owners themselves."

Young points out the RCMP delivered dog food and medicine and even brought in puppies to rebuild teams in some communities.

"There's no existence that I can find of any government-sanctioned killing of the dogs. It seems to have been decisions made locally."

Curley scoffs.

"They couldn't investigate themselves. It's too obvious an attempt to cover up."

Terry Audla, executive director of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, has his own suspicions. His group is studying links between the dog slaughter and the Inuit move off the land.

"It all happened in the same era, and we figure the two are related in some way," he said.

"All the memos that related to the issue of dogs seem to be building to that. Then everything after that, there's no information, nothing. It seems like a whitewash."

Many RCMP records from the time have been destroyed. Young admits officers may have informally discussed plans that were never written down.

"If we (had) got together and discussed those things, there probably wouldn't be any records kept."

Young, however, isn't the only investigator who's found no plot. Frank Tester, a professor at the University of British Columbia who has studied the killings, is another.

"I have no evidence to that effect," he said.

He said the killings have to be seen in the context of the wrenching social change the Inuit were then experiencing. A single generation was expected to leap from tents and igloos to the technocratic world of 1950s Canada.

"There's no other group of indigenous people who went through so much change so fast."

As well, the Inuit were battered by famine and disease. Tester said infant mortality was then about 25 per cent. Among adults, tuberculosis was rampant.

And what income the Inuit did earn was disappearing. The introduction of synthetic fibres in the '50s left such mainstays as fox pelts at a 10th of their previous value.

"When the government set up nursing stations and health care, it sounded pretty good," said Tester. "It wasn't a case of government whipping people into town, but people were seduced into it."

Tester believes the resurgent anger over the dog slaughter is at least partly long-repressed mourning for a way of life that nearly disappeared overnight.

"It's highly symbolic as well as real. It has to do with the loss of a way of life.

"It has to do with how the Inuit were treated at the time. It's generalizable to a whole lot of situations."

Audla acknowledges the dead sled dogs are pulling other issues behind them.

"It still affects us today," Audla said. "This is the reason why there's so many individuals affected in such a way where they're bitter toward authority or bitter towards outsiders."

Just getting the facts straight will help, he suggested.

"All we're trying to do from our side of things is gather as much information as we can and eventually this will be part of the history books."

But as Young completes his report, he's concerned about the reception it will receive.

"It is an uphill battle," he said. "There's very little I can do to control the way people think about whether we should be doing this or not." 


Native Solidarity News at
www.ckut.ca/nsn/

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