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hmmmm
a buyout at $12 per share would work just right.
thanks!
As I said, must be paid for that particular consultation.
message received...
but that message was a mistake....ç
just saying.........
my way is better.....to not be in the game anymore.....
time for fresh blood....
besides.....new blood makes mistakes and keeps things interesting
Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #1088, July 17, 2011
1. Chile: Students Defy Government, Copper Workers Strike
2. Dominican Republic: At Least Three Die in General Strike
3. Haiti: Hundreds of Families Evicted From Soccer Stadium
4. Mexico: The Economy Is Down and the Cartels Are Hiring
5. Links to alternative sources on: Latin America, Argentina, Brazil,
Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Central America, Costa Rica,
Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti, Dominican Republic
ISSN#: 1084 922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from
Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a
progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua
Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription,
write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com . It is archived at
http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/
*1. Chile: Students Defy Government, Copper Workers Strike
Tens of thousands of Chilean students and supporters marched through
downtown Santiago on the central Alameda avenue on July 14 in their
fourth massive demonstration demanding a reversal of the system of
privatized education instituted under the 1973-1990 dictatorship of
Gen. Augusto Pinochet. As in previous days of action, there were also
large marches in other major cities.
The latest protest was only about half the size of the previous march,
on June 30, which was said to be by far the largest demonstration
since the restoration of democracy in 1990 [see Update #1086].
Santiago area authorities estimated that 30,000 people marched on July
14, while the organizers put the number at 80,000. The Santiago daily
La Tercera reported that 20,000 people participated in Valparaíso and
4,000 in Concepción. Many students may have stayed away from the
Santiago march because it proceeded through the downtown area in open
defiance of the government, which had authorized a route that would
have kept the marchers away from some important government buildings.
Violence broke out at the end of the demonstration when masked
youths—considered provocateurs by some protesters—began throwing rocks
and at least one Molotov cocktail at Carabinero police agents in front
of the La Moneda presidential palace. The otherwise peaceful action
then ended in the worst violence of the student protests to date, with
the police using water cannons and tear gas and youths smashing
windshields and setting one car on fire. The authorities reported that
32 agents were injured in Santiago; a total of 133 people were
arrested in Santiago, Valparaíso and Concepción. (LT 7/15/11; La
Jornada (Mexico) 7/15/11, __ from correspondent)
The protest appeared to mark a decisive rejection of efforts by
rightwing president Sebastián Piñera to slow the protests by
announcing a “Great National Agreement on Education” (GANE) on July 5.
Accompanied by Education Minister Joaquín Lavín, who ran
unsuccessfully for president in 1999 and 2005, Piñera proposed a $4
billion fund for the improvement of higher education, more
scholarships for poorer students, a lower interest rate for student
loans, and more supervision of the education system by the central
government. But the president rejected the students’ demands for
ending education for profit. (La Nación (Santiago) 7/5/11)
After a nine-hour meeting at the University of Biobío in Concepción on
July 16, the Chilean Student Confederation (CONFECH), the main student
organization, decided to continue the mobilizations while also seeking
ways to create a political platform for their demands. Camila Vallejo,
president of the Federation of University of Chile Students (FECH),
denied that the protesters were wearing out. “There’s a greater
conviction that it’s necessary to make a social accord, since the GANE
doesn’t represent us,” she said. (Radio Universidad de Chile
(Santiago) 7/17/11)
On July 11, three days before their own mobilization, student
organizations participated in another protest calling for a return to
policies from before the dictatorship. Some 17,000 workers held a
24-hour general strike against the National Copper Corporation of
Chile (Codelco), the state-owned copper enterprise, to mark the 40th
anniversary of Socialist president Salvador Allende’s 1971
nationalization of the copper mines.
The original goal of the nationalization was to use the proceeds from
the copper industry for education, heath care and industrial
development, and the students have been pointing to copper as a
possible source of funding for public education. The Confederation of
Copper Workers (CTC), the main union in the industry, says the
military dictatorship that overthrew Allende in 1973 worked to reverse
this policy, with “the result that Codelco just controls 30% of the
copper that’s mined and leaves the country, while the remaining 70%
has stayed in the power of companies like Phelps Dodge, Anglo
American, BHP Billiton and other big transnationals.” The July 11
protest marked the start of a campaign to get two million signatures
by October on a petition calling for a plebiscite on returning control
of copper mining to the government. (Adital (Brazil) 7/12/11)
*2. Dominican Republic: At Least Three Die in General Strike
A 24-hour national general strike on July 11 against the economic
policies of Dominican president Leonel Fernández was “95 to 100%”
effective, according to the organizers. After the first 12 hours,
Fidel Santana, a spokesperson for the National Strike Committee,
congratulated the Dominican people, calling them “the basic
protagonist of this day’s success.” He claimed that an important
element in the strike was the absence of efforts to force the
productive sectors, commercial enterprises and transportation
companies to observe the strike call; he said protesters were showing
respect for people who chose not to honor the work stoppage.
But there was significant violence during the strike, and at least
three people were reported killed. The National Police said Carlos
Luis Alonso Filión died during the night in a shootout with police
agents in the Rafey neighborhood of the northern city of Santiago.
Another man, Edwin Manuel Felipe Abreu, was killed in Santiago’s Don
Pedro neighborhood by two men on an all terrain vehicle, according to
Gen. Juan Ramón de la Cruz Martínez, police chief of the Cibao region.
In addition, 12 people were injured in Santiago and 20 were arrested.
The family of Anderson Parra Cruceta reported that he was shot dead
while he was taking pictures on his cell phone of violent
confrontations between the police and demonstrators in the Villa Faro
neighborhood of Santo Domingo Este, to the east of the capital. A
teenager and a police agent were both wounded in different incidents
in the southwestern city of Barahona, while a woman was hit by
birdshot while walking down a street there. Three youths received
shotgun wounds in Haina, about 20 km west of Santo Domingo.
The Broad Front of Popular Struggle (FALPO) and the Alternative Social
Forum (FSA), a coalition of grassroots organizations, were the main
organizers of the strike, which was backed by the social democratic
Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD). The demands included a reduction
in the prices of food, medicine and fuel; a 35% increase in the pay of
public employees, including soldiers and the police; elimination of
recent increases in taxes and charges for electricity; and the
designation of 4% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for education,
as required by the Constitution. The organizers gave the government
until Aug. 14 to comply with the demands; on that date the groups plan
to hold a national assembly to decide on further actions.
The FSA called a one-day strike around similar demands in October 2007
[see Update #918]. Father Regino Martínez of the Jesuit Service for
Refugees and Migrants (SJRM) said it was “sad” that the poor “have to
resort to striking against the authorities so that they’ll know about
the difficult conditions [the poor] are experiencing” as a result of
the government’s “indifference.” (Listín Diario (Santiago) 7/11/11;
EFE 7/12/11 via ADN.es; Adital (Brazil) 7/13/11)
*3. Haiti: Hundreds of Families Evicted From Soccer Stadium
Backed up by the National Police of Haiti (PNH) and the United Nations
Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), on July 15 Port-au-Prince
authorities began evicting some 400-450 families from the parking lot
of the Sylvio Cator soccer stadium, where they had been living after
being displaced by a January 2010 earthquake. The authorities said the
eviction was necessary so that workers could get the stadium ready for
an Aug. 4 match between two teams in the Confederation of North,
Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF).
The evictions, which were expected to take place over several days,
were orderly, especially In comparison to the forcible removal of
thousands of earthquake victims from the stadium itself in April 2010
[see Update #1028]. The city government had consulted in advance with
the camp’s coordinating committee, residents were allowed time to pack
their belongings, and the authorities gave each family a check for
10,000 gourdes (a little less than $250) as they left. But plans for
relocating the families seemed unclear. Apparently the residents were
originally going to be moved to another camp, known as “Caroussel,” at
the former site of the Simbi hotel, on the southern outskirts of the
capital, but the occupants there objected to having a large number of
new people. The authorities have mentioned two other possible sites.
(AlterPresse (Haiti) 7/15/11, 7/16/11; Haïti Libre (Haiti) 7/16/11)
It appears likely that as the displaced persons camps are closed down,
many of the earthquake survivors will end up returning to their
damaged homes. A draft report written for the US Agency for
International Development (USAID) this spring indicated that about one
million people in the affected area were living in their old homes
despite the danger that the buildings could collapse [see Update
#1082].
*4. Mexico: The Economy Is Down and the Cartels Are Hiring
The average income of Mexican households fell by 12.3% between 2008
and 2010, the government’s National Statistics and Geography Institute
(INEGI) reported on July 15. The richest households generally lost the
most in percentages, but poorer households suffered more because their
income was already so low, according to the National Survey of
Household Income and Expenditure, which the INEGI conducts every two
years. The decline in income reflects a 6.1% contraction of the
Mexican economy in 2009 in the midst of a world economic crisis that
started in the US; the Mexican economy recovered partially in 2010
with a 5.4% expansion. (La Jornada (Mexico) 7/16/11)
The long-term economic situation is no better, according to José Luis
Calva Téllez, a member of the Economic Investigations Institute at the
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Since the government
began applying neoliberal economic policies in 1982, the Mexican
economy has grown at an average rate of 2.1% a year, which is the
worst economic performance in Latin America, Calva says. The minimum
wage, the standard on which other wages are based, has lost 71.3% of
its purchasing power over the same period; even the comparatively
well-paid unionized workers have seen the purchasing power of their
salaries fall by 50%. The main source of new job growth in Mexico,
according to Calva, is narcotrafficking, when he says has created
600,000 jobs.
Meanwhile, the Mexican federal government is insisting that the
economy has stabilized after weathering the international economic
crisis. Economy Minister Bruno Ferrari announced recently that the
“fall in incomes is just a perception.” (LJ 7/17/11)
*5. Links to alternative sources on: Latin America, Argentina, Brazil,
Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Central America, Costa Rica,
Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti, Dominican Republic
WikiLeaks Cables of Interest on Latin America, Released June 27-July 10, 2011
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3118-wikileaks-cables-of-interest-on-latin-america-released-june-27-july-10-2011
Buenos Aires Mayor Macri To Face Run-Off Election Against Fernández de
Kirchner’s Candidate
http://latindispatch.com/2011/07/11/buenos-aires-mayor-macri-to-face-run-off-election-against-fernandez-de-kirchners-candidate/
Brazil: ranchers using Agent Orange to deforest the Amazon
http://ww4report.com/node/10134
Peru: strike against copper mine hits Ayacucho
http://ww4report.com/node/10135
Ecuador: Indigenous resistance is the new 'terrorism'
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3119-ecuador-indigenous-resistance-is-the-new-terrorism-
The Audacity of Free Trade Agreements (Colombia, Panama)
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/5102
Embattled Colombian Unionists Rally Against ‘Free Trade’
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/11619/colombian_unionists_rally_against_free_trade_in_washington/
In Colombia, watchdogs criticize an investigation into a presidential
wiretapping scandal
http://fsrn.org/audio/colombia-watchdogs-criticize-investigation-a-presidential-wiretapping-scandal/8798
Venezuela’s Chavez Seeks to Combat Inflation, Enacts Law for Just
Prices and Costs
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6355
How the US Props Up Criminals and Murderers All in the Name of Our
Catastrophic Drug War (Central America)
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/3126-how-the-us-props-up-criminals-and-murderers-all-in-the-name-of-our-catastrophic-drug-war
Costa Rica Under Attack From Within
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/5112
Action Alert! Violent Forced Evictions Leaves Families at Risk in Honduras
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3125-action-alert-violent-forced-evictions-leaves-families-at-risk-in-honduras
Indigenous and Afro-Honduran Women’s Constitutional Assembly
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/3122-indigenous-and-afro-womens-constitutional-assembly-in-honduras
Resistance to Political and Business Assaults on Indigenous Land and
Resources in Honduras
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/3127-resistance-to-political-and-business-assaults-on-indigenous-land-and-resources-in-honduras
Community radio station manager gunned down in Honduras
http://ww4report.com/node/10139
Argentine Singer-Songwriter Facundo Cabral Murdered in Guatemala
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3120-argentine-singer-songwriter-facundo-cabral-murdered-in-guatemala
Photo Essay: Outrage over the Murder of Protest Singer Facundo Cabral
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/guatemala-archives-33/3123-photo-essay-outrage-over-the-murder-of-protest-singer-facundo-cabral
Facundo Cabral – A Musical Tribute (Guatemala)
https://nacla.org/blog/facundo-cabral-%E2%80%93-musical-tribute
US deports ex-Kaibil to face charges in Guatemala massacre
http://ww4report.com/node/10133
Migrants as Targets of Security Policies (Mexico)
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/5074
Deciphering Drug Prohibition in Mexico: An Interview With Isaac Campos
https://nacla.org/blog/deciphering-drug-prohibition-mexico-interview-isaac-campos
Love and Its Purest Weapons: Resistance and Sacrifice (Mexico)
https://nacla.org/blog/love-and-its-purest-weapons-resistance-and-sacrifice
MexicoBlog: Fast and Furious Scandal Heats Up
http://americasmexico.blogspot.com/2011/07/lauras-blog-fast-and-furious-scandal.html
Clinton Foundation Accused of Sending Haiti Shoddy Trailers (Video)
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/7/12/clinton_foundation_accused_of_sending_haiti
Dominican Republic Intensifies Targeting of Haitians
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3124-dominican-republic-intensifies-targeting-of-haitians
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://www.cipamericas.org/
http://latindispatch.com/
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/967/blastContent.jsp
http://www.ueinternational.org/Mexico_info/mlna.php
http://nacla.org/
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://venezuelanalysis.com/
http://ww4report.com/node/
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
This Update is archived at:
http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/2011/07/wnu-1088-students-and-copper-workers.html
Once upon a time in a land
that wasn't far away
gas was about 57 cents per gallon
car cost me $500
so then the gov't demands cars with better mpg
so now if I have a car that gets say 30 mpg around town
cost me $25k and gas costs me $4 per gallon
so when I do the math
I didn't save anything...in fact...lost money...a LOT of money
car insurance cost me around $32 for liability back then
and I was a young wild and crazy guy
state gov't imposes all must have insurance
now my insurance runs about $250 for the same time period
I'm a safe driver with a clean record etc, own home, etc
and an illegal without insurance ran me off the road
and got away scott free as I was upside down off the road
then the insurance company raised MY rates
again....where is the savings they said we would have?
it's always just about how the elite can steal more out of our wallets with more for them and less for us
so you say Fuck the rat race
we'll get some land, raise our food, and sell enough excess to buy essentials and pay our taxes
ok, permits.....anywhere from 30% to 1/2 the cost of the home to build
and that's upfront before nailing one stick
so then I sell a neighbor some milk from my cow
and the ATF raids my home
So I plant corn....then Monsanto moves in and buys my neighbor
and plants their Genetically modified crap which then infects my crop
Monsanto sues me and wins and then steals my land
ok, I'm sitting on a corner with a cup of pencils
then they said vote Obama
Obama will buy you a house and a new car...
and give you $ for free......
ok....now we know how we got where we are......
drill baby drill
Skinheads Hunt Native American Family: Guess Who Gets Arrested?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/10/993043/-Skinheads-Hunt-Native-American-Family:-Guess-Who-Gets-Arrested
Warning: the information below is likely to make your blood boil.
A hate crime happened a few weeks ago in Fernley, Nevada that is just becoming known to the wider public. A family has lost its car, is bankrupt and cannot return to their home because of it.
You should know about it. When you do, you will want to take action. At the end, there is a change.org petition, information for press contacts, and a Facebook Page where you can find more information and express your solidarity. Please leave any other ideas you may have in the comments.
It all happened when Johnny, Lisa and Alyssa Bonty, and their son-in-law, all from the Reno Sparks Indian Colony, stopped at the Quick Stop to get some gas in Fernley NV on May 24th. The rest is below the fold.
Photobucket
According to Indian Country Today, this is what happened:
The Attack
Johnny Bonta got out of the car to pump some gas when a carload full of skinheads pulled up alongside him. One of them got out of the car with a baseball bat and tried to pick a fight. Johnny told him he didn't want to fight and got back into the car. The family then drove off, with his son-in-law, Shane Murray, behind the wheel. But now the skinheads were in pursuit.
As the Bonta family was heading for the freeway ramp, the skinheads cut them off and jammed on the brakes, causing a crash. The three skinheads then all got out of their car with baseball bats, knives and a crowbar and attacked the family.
Here's how Lisa Bonfa described the vicious assault that followed:
“They all jumped out of the car with baseball bats, knives and a crowbar, and we knew they were going to hurt us,” said Lisa Bonta, in an interview from Washoe Medical Center, where she was in treatment for seizures she suffers.
...snip...[even though this happened at 1pm, nobody passing by would stop to help them]...
“I saw one of them hit my husband in the head with a bat, and the other one was trying to cut off his braid with a knife. Johnny was covered in blood and they just kept hitting him with a crow bar. They even tried to slit his throat,” she added.
“Jacob Cassell had my son-in-law on the ground in a chokehold and Shane was turning blue. My daughter was sobbing ‘they’re killing him’ and somehow she found the strength to hit Jacob in self-defense so he would release Shane.”
It was then, Lisa said, that Cassell turned his anger on her and her daughter, jumping on the hood of their car while swinging a baseball bat and cursing at them.
“I’m a 46 year-old woman with serious health problems, and I tried to defend myself, but he hit me across the lower back with his bat, calling us ‘niggers and river monsters,” said Lisa, who is Anglo. “He pointed at Alyssa and said he would rape her the next time he saw her in Fernley, where she lives.”
Johnny was knocked out by the bat, which had broken his nose and sinus cavities.
Turns out that Jacob Caswell's father is a police officer in town, and after they tired of assaulting the family, Caswell taunted them with that fact:
“You hear those cops coming? They’re not going to help you. My daddy is a cop in this town, and nothing is going to happen to me. You fucking niggers are going to jail.”
The Police Response
And sure enough, the police arrive and they DON'T TAKE ANY STATEMENTS FROM THE VICTIMS, JUST THE SKINHEADS!!!! They completely ignored the family until Lisa suffered a seizure.
This despite the fact that Johnny had a broken nose, nasal cavity, and could barely stand from being hit with the bat. Shane had a crushed elbow and a broken hand, among other things.
Three ambulances responded arrived on the scene and took Lisa, Murray and Alyssa for medical treatment. Lisa assumed Johnny had been taken in another ambulance, but he had not.Johnny was taken to jail and received NO medical attention for SIX days!!!!!!!
"Why?" you ask?
First they told Lisa that he had an outstanding $367 fine.
When the family arranged to pay it, they charged Johnny with battery with a deadly weapon, even though he had NO weapon.
The police wouldn't even let in an IHS doctor to treat Johnny in the jail. He only got medical attention after tribal police pursued his release, six days later.
The family also lost its car in all of this, and the police would NOT help them locate it, even though they were the ones who towed it. TWO WEEKS later they finally found it in a small impoundment yard, with its tires flat.
The family cannot afford to get the car out since Johnny was out of work due to his injuries. Family members now are walking to their doctors' appointments.
The Brag on Facebook
These morons always have to brag. They incriminate themselves, that is if anyone's listening (or, in this case, reading):
Two hours after attacking the Bontas, Josh Janiszewski of Fernley wrote, “Just laid the fists and boots to some 6' 5” tongan dude. what you got on little guys?” at 3:13 p.m. When asked if they gave them hell, Josh responded. “Oh we did. That’s for sure!” at 3:48 p.m. “Amen,” said Jacob Cassell at 4:07 p.m.
Jacob’s mother Dee Cassell also commented, “So…who has blood? You guys need to come home to mom?” at 4:48 p.m. She later added that she gave them First Aid. “Better have ur asses at home after I did 1st aid. Don’t piss off women – they r worse than men!” she wrote at 8:00 p.m.
When asked if they got “some good licks” in, Josh said, “sent em to the hospital, they got fucked up man, thats for sure.”
The Pattern
Since this crime occurred, the family has found out that skinheads have attacked other Native American families in nearby towns as well, but nobody reports the crimes because they feel the police won't help them. AND THEY'RE RIGHT!!!!!
FBI Investigation
I was relieved to learn at the end of the article that the FBI is investigating this as a hate crime, and has taken statements from the family. The Justice Department should also be investigating the Fernley police department as well, but the article doesn't provide any information on that.
The family has contacted the ACLU and is trying to get a lawyer through them.
The Second Declaration of Independence of the People
of the United States of America
The unanimous Declaration of the People of the United States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political and economic bands which have connected them with one another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them (as various individuals understand Him out of their own freedom), a decent respect to the opinions of humanity requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to that separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all human beings are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creation with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, the pursuit of Happiness, and rights of privacy and information*. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among human beings, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience has shown, that human beings are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of the American People; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present rule of financial elites is a history of repeated injuries and thefts of rights, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these the People of the United States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
The Lords of Finance, through their corruption of the political and social processes of the Western Democracies, have imposed on the world, and on the American People, a system of banking and of monetary rules and policies entirely for their own benefit. Any study of the true history of the creation of Central Banking proves this assertion. Just consider that by this means of creating economic structures totally for their own benefit, the result is that 1% of the people in the world control 50% of its wealth.
They - the Lords of Finance - have, through their surrogates the Democrat and Republican Parties, impeded all efforts to reform our social and democratic processes (such as by stopping our making serious and real changes to campaign financing), thus permitting neither reason or truth to rule our social democratic process, but rather only wealth and the raw power it is able to purchase.
They - the Lords of Finance - have first promoted a false Cold War, and now an equally false War on Terror, for the sole purpose of creating in America a permanent Military and Arms industrial base, intended not for the protection of the People of People's, but rather for the use by the Lords of Finance as a tool for their imperial (world) rule.
They - the Lords of Finance - have used the military might and covert might of American power to manipulate, ruin and destroy - where ever and when ever they felt necessary - systems of government throughout the world that did not bow to their will.
They - the Lords of Finance - have raped the world's environment, enslaved third world peoples economically, destroyed the world's agricultural riches by the introduction of dangerous chemicals and unproven new genetic forms into the eco-system of the whole world, all in the search for ever greater power and money.
This is not to say, that no benefit to humanity has arisen from some of these changes and developments, but rather that at every juncture where it was a choice between improving the lot of life of ordinary people or enriching themselves, the Lords of Finance choose that path most beneficial to themselves, well all the while, corrupting government processes everywhere possible in the vain pursuit of this immoral goal.
It becomes a question then of how do We the People, already in possession of one hard won Constitution, remove this insidious influence from our shared social and political existence, for one of the evil means by which the Lords of Finance rule is by remaining anonymous and invisible.
On this basis we reject as no longer workable this beloved and now flawed and corrupted original Constitution, declare it null and void, and assert our right to replace it with that which we believe more carefully addresses and protects us from the over-reaching of concentrated wealth.
We recognize that this task will have as its main difficulty the removing of the existing financial structures in which all the Peoples of the world have become ensnared. The separation of the original 13 Colonies from the English aristocracy was far easier. Here we need to rise above something far more entangled in every aspect of our daily lives.
In addition, we will have to confess our addiction to the comforts this concentration of wealth has made possible for a majority of the American People. The truth is that we cannot move from our current conditions to those which are yet possible without owning our own responsibility and participation in the concentration of 80% of the world's wealth among only 20% of the world's people.
In this declaration then we have to assert two essential matters.
I. The Lords of Finance need to be taken out of their anonymous and secret rule and made to face, as named individuals, the judgment of the world for their crimes against our rights as human beings, the crimes against our free choice of government and their crimes against the planet and the environment we all share.
II. The People of America need to confess our own excesses and own up to our own responsibilities, and by this means replace the rule of elites and their surrogate political tools - the Democratic and Republican Parties, with Citizen Governance.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. These Merchant Princes, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyranny, are unfit to be the rulers of any free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our American political brethren. We have warned our elected officials from time to time of their attempts to serve themselves instead of the people by their legislative efforts to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over our civil liberties, at the same time they reward themselves with privileges and benefits (such as medical coverage) they deny to us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our privations and dissatisfactions. We have appealed to their native justice and noble generosity, and we have entreated them by the ties of our shared humanity to disavow these thefts of rights, such as their abuse of constant re-districting as a means to keep themselves from being challenged for election, which has placed them outside our rule through the ballot. They have also become deaf to the voice of justice and of shared needs, in that we ask for and need a protected ballot, safe from electronic theft with a paper trail so that all will know our real wishes. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces as essentially treasonous the behavior by which they, our elected officials, preferred the wishes of the Lords of Finance over the real needs of the America People, and hold them, as we hold the rest of humanity, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the People of the united States of America, via cyberspace communion, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the moral integrity of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these many States, solemnly publish and declare, That these the People of the United States of America are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent of the economic tyranny of the Lords of Finance and their surrogates, the Republican and Democrat Parties; that we are Absolved from all Allegiance to the economic rules created by the Lords of Finance and any allegiance to the present standing government of America, which has stolen excessive powers, failed in its sacred trust, and acted with conscious treason against the Republic, and that all political connection between us and the present sitting government of these many States, standing as it does solely for the benefit of the Lords of Finance, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent People, we have full Power to engage in civil disobedience, refuse to honor claims on our wealth by the many banks, ignore levies for armies, refuse to pay taxes, print our own money and any other acts of freedom necessary to resist the continued rule of the Lords of Finance, or the excessive and dishonorable abuses of power by the Republican and Democrat Parties, and to do all other Acts and Things which an Independent and free People may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
* With regard to rights of privacy and information, here is a proposed Bill of Information Rights, to be considered for inclusion in the Second American Constitution, should the American citizenry have the boldness and courage to take up such a task:
"It is the right of every citizen to sufficient information to be able to make informed decisions.
"It is the right of every citizen to a sphere of informational privacy, inviolate from the intrusions of the State or commercial and employment interests. This sphere is to be defined by the individual citizen themselves. Citizens who widely construct their private sphere of information rights must expect the normal consequences that flow from such an act (such as limitations on possible forms of employment).
"No government or private institution may withhold information needed by a free citizenry for the exercise of its duties. The Congress shall pass laws mandating appropriate and severe punishment for the violation of this right of information. Likewise, the Congress shall make laws mandating appropriate and severe punishment for violations of the right of privacy.
"When any citizen believes his or her information rights have been violated, the Courts must make inquiry, without cost to the citizen. In order to not overburden the Courts, the Office of Informational Ombudsman will be created by the Congress, which will mediate all preliminary inquires into requests, and violations, that arise from the exercise of these rights.
"Where a conflict arises between the right of privacy and the right to information, the Courts will seek the balancing principle in the Platonic ideal of the Good. For the purposes of this bill of information rights no non-living entity, such as a corporation, or other institution or organization, shall be deemed a person or a citizen."
http://ipwebdev.com/hermit/seconddeclaration.html
Hackers strike at a foe
Jul 12th 2011, 19:27 by R.L.G. | NEW YORK
http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2011/07/security-breach-booz-allen-hamilton?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/bl/hackerstrikeafoe
ANONYMOUS, a group of “hacktivist” computer-savvy attackers, has already speared a number of big fish: credit-card companies, the church of Scientology, and Monsanto, a biotechnology firm. And the hackers have flaunted their skills by successfully attacking computer-security expert firms, like HBGary.
Its latest victim is Booz Allen Hamilton, a big consulting firm to America’s government, including on cybersecurity, with bigwigs like a former CIA head and a former director of national intelligence on its payroll. Anonymous opposes Booz Allen’s work for the government in the fight against terrorism. This included an alleged plan to fill social-networking sites with “sock puppets”—fake commenters who would spread disinformation. The hackers’ response has been to steal from Booz Allen what it says are 90,000 military e-mail addresses and passwords.
Booz Allen went public in November 2010, and just two weeks ago issued a confident first annual report as a public company. In it, the firm’s boss, Ralph Shrader, wrote “who would have imagined that in a single year Congress would pass landmark healthcare legislation and financial regulatory reform, a major cybersecurity breach would reveal sensitive government secrets, and an exploding oil rig would lead to the worst environmental disaster in US history? Years like this challenge us at Booz Allen Hamilton to do the best work for our clients.” Now the company is on the wrong end of its own "major cybersecurity breach".
This comes after a good year, with $5.6 billion in revenue, 9.1% up on the previous year, and net income growth from $25.4m to $84.7m. In August, the firm's non-compete agreement with Booz & Co expires. Booz & Co and Booz Allen were split apart in 2008 so that Booz & Co could focus on the private sector, Booz Allen on the public sector. Booz Allen is expecting to expand its private-sector work when the agreement expires. So Anonymous’s attack comes at an especially awkward time.
Sitting duck
Booz Allen does not seem to have done its homework—which is somewhat embarrassing for a security contractor working with classified materials. Critics say that it did not protect its servers sufficiently and used algorithms to encrypt data that can be easily cracked. The firm is also said to have left its databases open to "SQL injection", a means of inserting malicious code. Anonymous says that the server it targeted “basically had no security measures in place”.
The stockmarket quickly shook off a small drop in Booz Allen’s share price. The long-term damage to the company—which was still boasting on its website on Tuesday evening that it was "leading the way in helping organisations develop skills for the Cyber Age"—may not be clear until fuller details of the hacking emerge. In any case, there is little doubt that the anxiety will be felt more widely. One executive vice-president at Booz Allen, Mike McConnell, used to run the National Security Agency, America’s electronic eavesdroppers. Hacking the company isn’t quite like hacking the Pentagon or the NSA, but it is not a million miles away, either. Mocking the government’s use of contractors, Anonymous sent Booz Allen an invoice for a “security audit” in the amount of $310. For “media and press” services, the charge was an even $0.00.
and yet more sad news
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/lawyer-lead-revolution-in-american-indian-rights/2011/07/07/gIQAwWqa2H_story.html
Lawyer led ‘revolution’ in American Indian rights
Published: July 7
David H. Getches, 68, a leading American Indian rights lawyer and former dean of the University of Colorado law school, died July 5 at his home in Boulder, Colo. He had pancreatic cancer.
Mr. Getches moved to Colorado in 1970 to become the founding executive director of the Boulder-based Native American Rights Fund. He also served as executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources from 1983 to 1987.
Among American Indian rights cases litigated by Mr. Getches, the 1974 United States v. Washington case is cited by the National Congress of American Indians as the leading case on enforcement of tribal treaty rights. That case involved the fishing rights of Northwest tribes granted under treaties signed in the 1800s.
“David Getches forged a revolution in federal Indian law that led to a new respect for the rights of Indian tribes in courthouses throughout the nation,” said Jefferson Keel, president of the American Indian group. “Mr. Getches will be remembered as a great friend and brother to Native people.”
As a professor at the university, Mr. Getches taught natural resources law, including water, pollution, environmental and American Indian public lands law. Recent academic projects included work on Supreme Court Indian law decision-making, as well as water law involving the Colorado River and indigenous people in Latin America.
Former U.S. attorney Troy Eid, who in private practice specializes in Indian law, said Mr. Getches and Colorado professor Charles Wilkinson forged American Indian law as a discipline of study. Eid called Mr. Getches a “giant of the profession.”
David Harding Getches was born Aug. 17, 1942, in Abington, Pa. He was a 1964 graduate of Occidental College and a 1967 graduate the University of Southern California law school.
He wrote several law books in English and Spanish, and he wrote numerous articles on water, natural resources and American Indian law. He had stepped down as dean of the University of Colorado law school at the end of June to rejoin the faculty.
sad news
his brother is a friend of mine....
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118039567?refCatId=14
Actor Gordon Tootoosis dies
Played Native Americans in films, on TV
By Variety Staff
Canadian actor Gordon Tootoosis, who frequently played Native Americans on the big and smallscreen, most notably in 1995 Western "Legends of the Fall," died Tuesday, July 5, of pneumonia in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. He was 69.
In Edward Zwick's stylish epic "Legends of the Fall," the actor portrayed narrator One Stab, the Cree who watches over Anthony Hopkins' three sons in the pic.
Tootoosis had supporting roles in Bruce Beresford's 1992 film "Black Robe" and in John Frankenheimer's 2000 thriller "Reindeer Games," starring Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron.
On television, he had roles in HBO's 2007 adaptation of Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" and CBS' 1993 telepic adaptation of Jack London's "Call of the Wild"; he also guested on "MacGyver," "Northern Exposure" and "The X-Files" and more recently recurred on "Smallville."
Of Cree and Stoney descent, Tootoosis was born in Poundmaker Reserve, Saskatchewan. In the 1960s and '70s he toured with the Plains Intertribal Dance Troupe. He made his film debut in the 1974 Western "Alien Thunder," starring Donald Sutherland.
On Canadian TV he was a series regular on 1990s skein "North of 60," which centered on the Aboriginal people of a fictional town in the Northwest Territories province. More recently he recurred on the stop-motion animation skein "Wapos Bay," about a family in northern Saskatchewan, and was a series regular on 2011's "Blackstone." He also appeared in the 2005 CBC biopic "Shania Twain: A Life in Eight Albums."
Still to be released are the Syfy telepic "Doomsday Prophecy" and the bigscreen thriller "Guns, girls and Gambling," starring Gary Oldman. He has supporting roles in both.
Tootoosis was also a stage actor who sat on the board of directors of the Saskatchewan Native Theater Company.
He was the subject of a 2003 documentary, "Stage, Screen and Reserve: The Life and Times of Gordon Tootoosis."
Tootoosis is survived by his wife, Irene Seseequasis; two daughters; two adopted sons; and several grandchildren.
Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com
32 Inches Of Snow Falls In Driest Place On Earth!
Mark Dunphy
Irish Weather Online
Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:14 CDT
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231229-32-Inches-Of-Snow-Falls-In-Driest-Place-On-Earth-
Emergency services were forced to rescue stranded motorists following heavy snowfall
One of the driest spots on earth has experienced its heaviest snowfall in almost two decades, according to the Chilean Directorate of Meteorology (DMC).
A cold front brought up to 80 centimetres (31.5 inches) of snow to the Atacama desert region of South America forcing emergency services to close local roads and rescue dozens of motorists from their vehicles. The temperature in the Chilean capital, Santiago, dropped below minus 8c on Wednesday. Neighbouring Argentina and Uruguay are also experiencing subzero temperatures.
Located in the north of Chile, the Atacama Desert records less than 50mm of rain on average each year. Some weather stations in the region record only 1-3mm of rain each year. The desert is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest desert in the world, due to the rain shadow on the leeward side of the Chilean Coast Range, as well as a coastal inversion layer created by the cold offshore Humboldt Current.
According to the website explore-atacama.com, the current wintry conditions are unusual in the region: "In winter (June, July and August) the average daytime temperature is 22°C (72°F) and by night 4°C (39°F), descending to -2°C (28°F) in extreme cases. During summer (January, February and March) the temperature fluctuates between 27°C (81°F) and a minimum of 16°C (61°F) at night, reaching maximums of 32°C (90°F)".
Nice! Gov. Signs Bill Recognizing Native Hawaiians
Measure Begins Process For Group To Begin Government
http://www.kitv.com/news/28467651/detail.html
Remember the ant and the grasshopper?
OLD VERSION . . .
The ant works hard, in the withering heat, all summer long.
He builds his house and stores supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks that the ant is a fool.
He laughs, dances and plays the summer away, preparing nothing for the coming winter.
Winter comes, the ant is safe and warm.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
The moral to the story being: BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOURSELF!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NEW VERSION . . . (sad but true)
The ant works hard, in the withering heat, all summer long.
He builds his house and stores supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks that the ant is a fool.
He laughs, dances and plays the summer away, preparing nothing for the coming winter.
Winter comes, the ant is safe and warm.
The shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and fed, while others are cold and starving!
CBS, NBC, ABC & CNN show up to provide pictures of shivering grasshoppers, next to a video of an ant
in his comfortable home, with a table filled with food.
America is stunned by the sharp contrast! How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer this way?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah, with the grasshopper.
Everyone cries when they sing "It's Not Easy Being Green".
Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house, where the news stations film the group singing "We Shall Overcome". Jesse then has the group pray for the grasshopper's sake, and reminds the group to contribute to his group, so that he can "continue the fight" for grasshoppers, everywhere!
Harry Reid & John Kerry exclaim, in an interview with CNN that the ant has gotten rich, off the back of the poor grasshopper! Both call for an immediate tax hike, to make the ant pay "his fair share"!
Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity For Grasshoppers Act", retroactive to the beginning of the summer.
The ant is fined for failing to hire the proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his house is confiscated by the government.
Hillary Clinton gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper, in a defamation suit against the ant. The case is tried in federal court, with a jury comprised of unemployed welfare recipients.
Surprise! The ant loses the case!
The story ends, as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food, while the government house he lives in (which happens to be the ant's old house) crumbles around him,
due to lack of maintenance!
The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found, dead, after a "drug deal gone bad". The house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders, who terrorize this once-peaceful neighborhood.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Amazing, isn't it, the differences between the conservative approach to life, and the liberal approach to life?
thanks to http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/profilea.aspx?user=4246
Report: U.S. Creates Fake Online Identities To Counter 'Enemy Propaganda'
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/03/17/134631649/report-u-s-creates-fake-online-identities-to-counter-enemy-propaganda
know any?
Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #1086, July 3, 2011
1. Colombia: Paramilitaries Kill Five in Zenú Community
2. Chile: Education Protests Continue to Grow
3. Mexico: New Mass Kidnapping of Immigrants Reported
4. Latin America: Pride Marches Focus on Marriage, Violence
5. Haiti: Activists Tell UN to Pay for Cholera Epidemic
6. Links to alternative sources on: Latin America, Chile, Uruguay,
Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Nicaragua, El
Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti
ISSN#: 1084 922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from
Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a
progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua
Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription,
write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. It is archived at
http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/
*1. Colombia: Paramilitaries Kill Five in Zenú Community
On June 30, Colombian Ombudsperson (Defensor del Pueblo) Volmar Pérez
Ortiz condemned the killings of five Zenú indigenous people in the
Lower Cauca region in the northeast of Antioquia department. According
to information provided to the Ombudsperson's Office by the Indigenous
Organization of Antioquia (OIA), the murders took place June 24-26 in
the Zenú communities of La 18 and La Unión-Pato in Zaragoza
municipality.
On June 24, presumed paramilitaries murdered 19-year-old Luis
Hernández Torres (or Luis Eduardo Hernández Yanes, according to some
sources) of the community of La 18. On June 25, presumed members of
the same paramilitary group murdered Jorge Mejía Estrada, Zenú
vice-governor of La 18, and his sons 17-year-old Steven Alberto Mejía
Bedoya and 16-year-old Juan Camilo Mejía Bedoya. On June 26, the body
of Lexter Enrique Graciano Pérez, a member of the La Unión-Pato
community, was found in the Nechí river; he had disappeared five days
earlier.
Ombudsperson Pérez Ortiz urged the relevant government authorities to
“take effective measures to prevent the threats of illegal armed
groups operating in the Lower Cauca subregion of Antioquia from
leading to new violent acts and the forced displacement of the Zenú
community.”
Reports from the “Early Alert System (SAT)” coordinated by the
Ombudsperson’s Office indicate that illegal armed groups operating in
the area of Zaragoza, El Bagre, Nechí and Tarazá municipalities in
northeastern Antioquia include “Los Urabeños,” “Los Paisas,” “Los
Rastrojos,” “Las Águilas Negras” and “la banda de Sebastián.” These
paramilitary groups have been carrying out threats, selective and
multiple murders, and forced displacement. According to local
indigenous authorities they have also been forcibly recruiting
children and adolescents from the indigenous community. (El Tiempo
(Bogotá) 7/1/11; Organización Indígena de Antioquia Consejo de
Gobierno 6/28/11; Caracol 6/28/11; RCN Noticias Medellín 6/28/11)
[Note: the Colombian government and media now commonly refer to
paramilitary groups by the acronym "bacrim," short for "bandas
criminales" (criminal gangs).]
A June 28 statement from the OIA attributes the killings to the
paramilitary group “Los Rastrojos,” and notes that the Colombian armed
forces “look impassively and without concern at the bloodletting of
our indigenous people.” The OIA said the Colombian military has not
yet gone to the area where the killers buried the bodies of Mejía
Estrada and his sons, apparently claiming that flooding has prevented
them from getting there. (OIA 6/28/11)
Zaragoza mayor Víctor Darío Perlaza denied that the deaths had
occurred. Antioquia police commander José Gerardo Acevedo Ossa claimed
the murders of the Zenú community members “have been isolated cases by
those who are linked to different activities from what they were
carrying out.” (El Colombiano (Medellín) 6/29/11)
The latest killings follow the murders of three other Zenú community
members on Apr. 8 in La Chilona, 6 km from La 18: Francisco Monterroza
Oviedo and the brothers Osneidy Peña Mercado and Zeider Peña Mercado.
In May, alleged members of “Los Rastrojos” murdered Jesús María
Aguilar, who served as president of the Communal Action Board of the
El Campanario community in Cáceres municipality--in the same Lower
Cauca region--and was the husband of local indigenous authority Ramona
Martínez. (Caracol 6/28/11)
Meanwhile in the pre-dawn hours of June 29 in Yarumal municipality, on
the highway linking Medellín with the Lower Cauca region, four rebels
from the 36th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) burned a semi truck, a smaller truck and two buses. When the
Antioquia Highway Police arrived to investigate the attack, the rebels
triggered an explosion that killed highway police commander Maj. Félix
Antonio Jaimes Villamil. Four other police officers were wounded. The
rebels escaped. (BBC 6/29/11; Minuto30.com 6/30/11; bajocauca.com
6/30/11 from El Meridiano de Córdoba)
*2. Chile: Education Protests Continue to Grow
With chants of “An educated people will never be deceived” and “We
want a free, quality education,” tens of thousands of Chilean
students, parents and teachers took to the streets on June 30 in the
latest protest against the privatized education system set up under
the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. Giorgio Jackson,
president of the Federation of Catholic University Students (FEUC),
estimated that 200,000 people took part in the demonstration in
Santiago, while University of Chile Students (FECH) president Camila
Vallejo put the number at more than 300,000. By most accounts the
Santiago protest was twice the size of a June 16 march that local
media had called the largest since the return of democracy 21 years
ago [see Update #1084].
The Santiago march was only part of the day’s action. Organizers said
200,000 protesters marched in other cities around the education
demands; meanwhile, students have occupied some 200 schools and 30
universities over the last three weeks. More and more people from
different sectors of Chilean society were joining the movement, FECH
president Vallejo said. “Each time we have more support.”
Violence broke out at the end of the Santiago march when groups of
youths tried to loot downtown stores. The police used tear gas and
water cannons on the crowd. At least 38 protesters were arrested and
some 20 police agents were injured, according to the authorities.
Protest organizers denied responsibility for the violence. “I feel
that a large percentage of these people wearing hoods are
infiltrators,” Villejo had told the Cuban wire service Prensa Latina
the day before the demonstration. She noted that Chile had a history
of the use of provocateurs.
Rightwing president Sebastián Piñera responded to the protests by
saying that “the strikes, the demonstrations are legal, but education
isn’t improved with strikes or demonstrations.” (La Tercera (Santiago)
6/30/11; La Jornada (Mexico) 7/1/11 from correspondent; Prensa Latina
6/29/11)
After a July 2 meeting at the University of the Frontier (UFRO) in
Temuco, capital of the Araucanía region in central Chile, the
approximately 30 organizations in the Chilean Student Confederation
(CONFECH) announced plans for another strike and day of protests on
July 14. FEUC Jackson noted that the Federation of Mapuche Students
had participated in the meeting and that the movement’s demands now
included a call for new scholarships and greater enrollment of
indigenous students along with respect for cultural differences in the
schools. The Mapuche are Chile’s largest indigenous group. (PL 7/3/11)
*3. Mexico: New Mass Kidnapping of Immigrants Reported
At least five Central American immigrants were forcibly removed from a
freight train by about 10 armed men wearing hoods on June 24 near the
village of Medias Aguas in the east central Mexican state of Veracruz,
according to two immigrants who managed to escape. The number of
people kidnapped could be as high as 80, according to the well-known
immigrant rights activist Father Alejandro Solalinde Guerra,
coordinator of the Brother and Sister Migrants on the Road shelter in
Ciudad Ixtepec in the southern state of Oaxaca. Solalinde reported the
kidnappings to the authorities after talking to the two witnesses.
Mexican criminal gangs have carried out a number of mass kidnappings
of undocumented Central American immigrants as they travel through on
their way to the US. A group of 20-50 immigrants were reportedly
kidnapped near Chahuites, Oaxaca on Dec. 16, and another group was
seized on Dec. 22 [see Update #1062]. A total of 72 immigrants from
Central America, Brazil and Ecuador were kidnapped and then massacred
last August in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas [see World War 4
Report 8/26/10].
Solalinde said that on the morning of June 24 about 250
immigrants--including Central Americans and Mexicans from the
southeastern state of Chiapas—left Ixtepec on a freight train known to
immigrants as “The Beast.” Most had stayed at Brother and Sister
Migrants on the Road before taking the train. After traveling for 14
hours, the train was stopped by the armed men, who had brought at
least three vehicles. The two witnesses said they saw five immigrants
being taken away from their side of the train, but they thought that
many more may have been seized. The witnesses also believed that the
train operators were collaborating with the kidnappers.
State and federal authorities tended to play down the incident. On
July 1 federal attorney general Marisela Morales told a reporter: “We
still don’t even have the exact number of people. And the act itself
hasn’t been confirmed; we just have reports.” But Raúl Plascencia
Villanueva, president of the government’s National Human Rights
Commission (CNDH), said he had no doubt that a kidnapping took place.
“What’s important,” he added, “is that the authorities, rather than
discrediting [victims and human rights defenders] or getting into a
war of facts and figures, should show that they are acting, that they
are seeking justice for a very vulnerable group.” The CNDH reports
receiving some 400 complaints about violations of immigrants’ human
rights during the first half of this year. (La Jornada (Mexico)
6/29/11, 7/2/11)
Solalinde met with Veracruz governor Javier Duarte de Ochoa on July 1.
After the meeting the rights activist said he felt the state
government was now showing “more readiness than the federal government
to investigate the cases.” He noted that he had shown Duarte de Ochoa,
a politician from the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI), evidence that former PRI governor Fidel Herrera Beltrán was
linked to gangs that prey on immigrants. “Father, I can assure you
that Fidel Herrera is Fidel Herrera and I’m me, and I’m going to
demonstrate by actions that that’s how it is,” Duarte de Ochoa said,
according to Solalinde.
Solalinde also called for closing down the National Migration
Institute (INM), which he called “corrupt, obsolete,” and replacing it
with a new federal agency. (LJ 7/2/11)
*4. Latin America: Pride Marches Focus on Marriage, Violence
Chileans celebrated LGBT Pride in Santiago on June 25 with a march
from the central Plaza Italia to the La Moneda presidential palace.
Organizers said 30,000 people joined the march, while the police gave
a crowd estimate of 12,000. Participants carried signs with such
slogans as: “Marriage and civil union law for all couples” and
“Antidiscrimination law for everyone.” The march came one day after
New York became the largest state in the US to allow same-sex
marriage. Rightwing president Sebastián Piñera announced on May 28
that he would send Congress a proposal for a law to legalize civil
unions for the country’s more than two million couples, including
same-sex couples, but he insisted that the law wouldn’t permit
same-sex marriage. Chilean LGBT activists are pushing for full
marriage equality. (AFP 6/25/11 via Terra.com)
Marriage was less of an issue for LGBT activists in Mexico City, where
same-sex marriage was legalized in December 2009 [see Update #1018].
The emphasis for thousands of marchers in the city’s 33rd Pride event,
held on June 25, was on fighting homophobic crime. Activists noted how
much progress they had made over the years. “Never, not in my wildest
dreams, did I imagine that there would be so many people in the
street” for Pride, actor and activist Tito Vasconcelos said, but now
“[w]e’re in a bloodbath. Homophobic hate crimes continue. This march
is to demand from the government all that it still owes us.” (La
Jornada (Mexico) 6/26/11)
In El Salvador hundreds of activists marched through the capital’s
streets on June 25 to demand respect and tolerance in a society they
said was dominated by machismo and discrimination based on sexual
orientation. But “political and social conditions have been changing,”
William Hernández, coordinator of the rights group Entre Amigos
(“Among Friends”), told the AFP wire service, and activists have been
working on building respect and tolerance in various sectors. (AFP
6/25/11 via Terra.com)
Cubans held their first Pride march on June 28. Outnumbered by
reporters, about 10 people carried multicolored banners from Havana’s
Paseo del Prado to the Malecón esplanade by the Caribbean. The march
was separate from activities that day at the government’s National
Sexual Education Center (Cenesex), which is headed by Mariela Castro,
the daughter of Cuban president Raúl Castro. LGBT Observatory, which
organized the march, said it invited Marisela Castro to the march.
“Once again they missed an opportunity to demonstrate to the world
that what they cry out is true, that rights are respected here,” LGBT
Observatory director Leannes Imbert said. Imbert blamed the low
turnout on intimidation.
Dissident LGBT activists note improvements in the government’s
policies toward LGBT people but say there is still discrimination.
(EFE 6/28/11 via Terra.com)
On July 2 Lima mayor Susana Villarán led Peruvians in the capital’s
10th Pride march, from the Campo de Marte to Plaza Washington, in
front of Casa España de la Cultura. “I accompanied the Gay Pride march
as a citizen, I did it also as a candidate, and now as the main
authority I’m participating in this parade through the streets of
Lima,” said Villarán, who took office six months ago. The AFP wire
service said 200 people participated, while the Lima daily La
República referred to “thousands of activists.” (AFP 7/2/11 via
Terra.com; LR 7/2/11)
*5. Haiti: Activists Tell UN to Pay for Cholera Epidemic
During the last week of June several Haitian social organizations
called on the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
to pay reparations to the victims of a cholera epidemic that appeared
to originate at the international occupation force’s base near
Mirebalais in the Central Plateau. Representatives of Haitian Women’s
Solidarity (SOFA), the Haitian Platform Advocating an Alternative
Development (PAPDA) and other groups said MINUSTAH should pay out to
the Haitian people 25% to 30% of its annual operating budget of $853
million. SOFA made similar demands in January [see Update #1062]. The
epidemic, which started in October, has killed some 5,500 people to
date and sickened about 300,000. (AlterPresse (Haiti) 7/1/11)
The renewed demands came as the US government’s Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report on June 28 in one of
its journals, Emerging Infectious Diseases, that points to the
MINUSTAH base as the likely source of the disease. “Our findings
strongly suggest that contamination of the Artibonite [Haiti’s main
river] and one of its tributaries downstream from a military camp
triggered the epidemic,” wrote a team headed by a leading French
cholera expert, Dr. Renaud Piarroux. The report states that the camp
had “deficient sanitation,” and it also casts doubt on MINUSTAH’s
repeated claims that none of the Nepalese soldiers at the base showed
symptoms of cholera. “We…believe that symptomatic cases occurred
inside the MINUSTAH camp,” the team wrote. (Emerging Infectious
Diseases, July 2011; Reuters 6/30/11) [Piarroux came to similar
conclusions in a preliminary report last year; see Update #1060.]
*6. Links to alternative sources on: Latin America, Chile, Uruguay,
Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Nicaragua, El
Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti
WikiLeaks Cables of Interest on Latin America, Released June 6-26, 2011
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3098-wikileaks-cables-of-interest-on-latin-america-released-june-6-26-2011
Chile: The Mapuche Struggle in Pinochet's Shadow
http://ww4report.com/node/10042
Uruguay Removes Block on Investigating Abuses During Military Rule
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3106-uruguay-removes-block-on-investigating-abuses-during-military-rule
Peru: Puno protesters suspend strike, call for resurrection of Aymara Nation
http://ww4report.com/node/10063
Case against Amazon Indian Leader in Peru ‘Closed’
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3102-colombia-impunity--keeping-the-black-hand-anonymous
People's Tribunal against the Criminalization of Protest in Ecuador
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/ecuador-archives-49/3099-peoples-tribunal-against-the-criminalization-of-protest-in-ecuador
Large-Scale Mining to Test Rights of Nature in Ecuador
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/ecuador-archives-49/3105-large-scale-mining-to-test-rights-of-nature-in-ecuador
Food Security and the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia
https://nacla.org/blog/food-security-and-free-trade-agreement-colombia
Colombia: 'Impunity' – Keeping the 'Black Hand' Anonymous
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3102-colombia-impunity--keeping-the-black-hand-anonymous
Colombia: indigenous leader killed in "false positive" attack
http://ww4report.com/node/10076
Hugo Chávez Says Doctors Removed Cancerous Tumor; No Word On Return To Venezuela
http://latindispatch.com/2011/07/01/hugo-chavez-says-doctors-removed-cancerous-tumor-no-word-on-return-to-venezuela/
President Chavez's Address to the Nation, 30 June 2011
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/6318
The People Legislate: Grassroots Media Movement Creates Its Own Law in
Venezuela
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/6297
Venezuela: government probes media coverage of prison riot repression
http://ww4report.com/node/10066
Leaked Diplomatic Cable Reveals U.S. Panama Express Rendition Program;
Hints At FARC In Panama City
http://latindispatch.com/2011/07/01/leaked-diplomatic-cable-reveals-u-s-panama-express-rendition-program-hints-at-farc-in-panama-city/
The Different Logics within the Honduran Resistance: An Interview with
Bertha Cáceres
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/3097-the-different-logics-within-the-honduran-resistance-an-interview-with-bertha-caceres
Nicaragua: small merchants, farmers block roads to demand debt relief
http://ww4report.com/node/10073
UN expert warns new El Salvador law harms judicial independence
http://ww4report.com/node/10072
U.S. Cable Reveals Honduran Resistance Sought Weapons In Nicaragua
After 2009 Coup
http://latindispatch.com/2011/06/27/u-s-cable-reveals-honduran-resistance-sought-weapons-in-nicaragua-after-2009-coup/
Love, Struggle and Memory in Ciudad Juárez (Mexico)
http://ww4report.com/node/10047
Photo Chronicle of Mexico's Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/3101-photo-chronicle-of-mexicos-caravan-for-peace-with-justice-and-dignity
“Trying to Combat Drugs with Violence is Turning Mexico into a
Graveyard”: Julian LeBaron
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/5018
Conversation in the Castle: The Victims Meet the President (Mexico)
https://nacla.org/blog/conversation-castle-victims-meet-president
‘Now Is the Time’: Ramsey Clark on Cuba and Lucius Walker (NACLA Radio)
https://nacla.org/blog/%E2%80%98now-time%E2%80%99-ramsey-clark-cuba-and-lucius-walker-nacla-radio
Haiti 1994: The Forgotten Intervention
http://ww4report.com/node/10053
Why Haiti Needs a Literacy Campaign
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/5035
Monsanto in Haiti
http://www.towardfreedom.com/americas/2449-monsanto-in-haiti
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://www.cipamericas.org/
http://latindispatch.com/
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/967/blastContent.jsp
http://www.ueinternational.org/Mexico_info/mlna.php
http://nacla.org/
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://venezuelanalysis.com/
http://ww4report.com/node/
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
This Update is archived at:
http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/2011/07/wnu-1086-paramilitaries-kill-five.html
Iraq War Deaths Exceed Vietnam War Numbers
Department of Veterans Affairs Reports 73 Thousand U.S. Gulf War Deaths
By Gary Vey for viewzone
More Gulf War Veterans have died than Vietnam Veterans. This probably is news to you. But the truth has been hidden by a technicality. So here is the truth.
The casualties in the Vietnam War were pretty simple to understand. If a soldier was dead from his combat tour, he was a war casualty. There are 58,195 names recorded on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC.
Some of these brave men died in the jungles of Vietnam while others died in Medivac units or hospitals in Japan and America. A dead soldier can surrender his life anywhere in his service to his country. It really doesn't matter where this happens. The location of a soldier's death in now way colors his sacrifice to his country.
But something odd has happened with the Iraq War. The government, under the Bush administration, did something dishonest that resulted in a lie that's persisted since the war began -- and continues to this very day. They decided to report the war deaths in Iraq only if the soldier died with his boots on the ground in a combat situation.
What's the difference, you might ask?
The combat in Vietnam was in rural areas, far removed from medical treatment centers. Injured soldiers were treated by a Medic. Most died at the scene of the battle before they could be evacuated. Many died on route or were declared dead at the medical treatment facilities. The situation in Iraq is vastly different.
Fighting in Iraq is mainly in urban areas. Soldiers who are injured are quickly evacuated with armored personnel carriers or helicopters. It's a much more efficient system than what was possible in Vietnam, but for those that are seriously injured it means that death is more likely to happen while they are in transit or at the treatment facility.
Under the new reporting system, deaths that happen en route or post evacuation are not counted as combat deaths. This is why the number seems unusually low -- a little over four thousand as of 2009.
The actual figures have been hidden from the American public just like the returning, flag draped coffins were censored from the press. But the figures are now available and we can only hope that the American people will be outraged when they learn how they have been misled.
According to The Department of Veterans Affairs, as of May 2007, reports in the Gulf War Veterans Information System reveal these startling numbers:
Total U.S. Military Gulf War Deaths: 73,846
* Deaths amongst Deployed: 17,847
* Deaths amongst Non-Deployed: 55,999
The stastics for non-lethal injuries are likewise staggering:
Total "Undiagnosed Illness" (UDX) claims: 14,874
Total number of disability claims filed: 1,620,906
* Disability Claims amongst Deployed: 407,911
* Disability Claims amongst Non-Deployed: 1,212,995
Percentage of combat troops that filed Disability Claims 36%
I know you probably will think this is another conspiracy theory -- I did when I first heard about this -- so please read the original report for yourself. [Source: http://www1.va.gov/rac-gwvi/docs/GWVIS_May2007.pdf Note: Sometimes this link is not active so we have posted the pdf file on viewzone 393 kb.]
More deaths and mysery to follow...
More than 1,820 tons of radioactive nuclear waste (i.e. depleted uranium) were exploded in Iraq alone in the form of armor piercing rounds and bunker busters. This represents the worlds worst man made ecological disaster ever. 64 kg of uranium were used in the Hiroshima bomb. The U.S. Iraq Nuclear Holocaust represents far more than fourteen thousand Hiroshima's.
The nuclear waste the U.S. has exploded in the Middle East will continue killing for hundreds of years! That's how long these particles of radioactive dust will continue to blow around, get lodged in someone's lungs or be ingested. Scientists calculate that there is now enough radioactive material in Iraq to wipe out a third of the world's current population.
While we never found any WMD's (Weapons of Mass Destruction) in Iraq, we sure made up for it by importing our own! Birth defects among Iraqi newborns are up a whopping 600% from before the war. The defects are typical of the kind produced by exposure to radioactive poisons. And these injuries are happening to the civilian population of Iraq -- the people we were supposedly "liberating."
This writer happened to visit Iraq back in 2001, at the time Saddam Hussein was still in power. The world's nations were imposing an embargo on all imports in an attempt to punish the nation for invading the neighboring nation of Kuwait. I remember the good people of Iraq who treated me with kindness and hospitality -- even while knowing I was an American. Despite the embargo on such vital things as medicine and hospital supplies, the markets were thriving with local produce. Children freely played in the streets and there was laughter. To see what this war has done to Iraq is especially painful and speaks loudly of the immorality that has caused these innocent people to suffer. And now, to see that this same immorality extends to the American people in the form of deception and lies crosses the line.
I live in a small town in New England. We have known of many casualties from Iraq -- too many. Yet the numbers being reported in the media make it seem that this is a rare occurrence. Just over 4,000? How can this be? In short -- it's NOT.
What will it take to awaken people and make them angry enough to hold our government responsible for these lies? A democracy is only good if its people are well informed. How else can we make decisions abou what's best for us? If we are fed s*** and kept in the dark we truly are a nation of mushrooms.
Before I end this I want to say a big THANK YOU to all the vets who put their country and its people before themselves. We are proud of you and believe that you put your lives on the line for something a little better than what we are currently experiencing with our government. Thanks to you we're still a democracy. So it's up to us, the people you fought for, to make your effort worthwhile.
What do you think about this? Do you care?
http://www.viewzone.com/wardeaths.html
Bridget Tolley not standing down to police violance and injustice
People say "what diffrence can I make?" Keven Annett listened and
learned and did not turn his back or turn deaf to the truth and gave
voices of the dead children through survivors of Indian Residential
Schools. Please share these links wide and be prepaired to learn the
truth. Keven Annett cannot be the only Preacher to see the truth!
Send this to every church email list across Canada and the US is a
step you can take. Healing and Reconciliation come when we face the
truth
the least they could do
is pay me as a consultant
and maybe get some of these chuckleheads on the right track
these new rookies are as clueless as some of the older ones
no real practical experience and lousy at roleplaying
just playing buzzwords and strategies like they're playing Nintendo
it's ridiculous
they keep using the same playbook and it's pathetic
we need better trained personnel anyways
we also need them focused on real problems to bring about real solutions
Algonquin band hosts run to raise funds for missing girls
CBC News Posted: Jun 20, 2011 9:49 AM ET Last Updated: Jun 20, 2011 9:49 AM ET Back to accessibility links
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Maisy Odjick and Shannon Alexander were last seen on Sept. 6, 2008.
Nearly three years after two teenage girls disappeared from the Kitigan Zibi First Nation near Maniwaki, Quebec, members of the community organized a run to keep their names — and hope — alive for another day.
The Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation's run-walk attracted close to 100 racers. They gathered in Maniwaki, about 130 km north of Ottawa.
The First Nation hopes to use funds raised to enrich the reward for information about the disappearance of Maisy Odjick and Shannon Alexander. Odjick and Alexander were last seen in Maniwaki on September 6, 2008, and despite a tireless search effort, no one has seen or heard from them since.
Maria Jacko, Odjick's aunt, said the run is a way of keeping the girls' names on peoples minds.
"When people signed up they know they're running for a cause, they're running for our missing kids, for Maisy and Shannon and for all the missing kids. It's very positive," she said.
Dozens from outside the Kitigan Zibi joined the event to show their support for the cause.
"It's more than just a poster or a billboard," said Stan Wesley, who drove up from Ottawa with his wife Mandy. "To me the awareness today is that there's real people behind that, there's grieving people, there's people that just really want their kids home."
While the race itself, on a warm sunny day, was one of camaraderie, Kitigan Zibi chief Gilbert Whiteduck said the community is still in pain.
"It's been very difficult, I mean it's on the minds of everyone. I mean everyone goes to work, we've got to live our lives, but there's always a worry in saying, will there be a tip, will there be someone that comes forward."
"There's got to be closure one way or another, the important thing is closure," said Whiteduck.
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http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/06/20/ottawa-missing-kitigan-zibi-teens.html
You just can't play Indain and expect something good to happen.
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/24/verdict-in-self-help-gurus-sweat-lodge-trial-stirs-reaction-among-native-americans/
Righthaven Loss: Judge Rules Reposting Entire Article Is Fair Use
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/06/fair-use-defense/
A federal judge ruled Monday that publishing an entire article without the rights holder’s authorization was a fair use of the work, in yet another blow to newspaper copyright troll Righthaven.
It’s not often that republishing an entire work without permission is deemed fair use. Fair use is an infringement defense when the defendant reproduced a copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, commentary, teaching and research. The defense is analyzed on a case-by-case basis.
Monday’s ruling dismissed a lawsuit brought by Righthaven, a Las Vegas-based copyright litigation factory jointly owned with newspaper publisher Stephens Media. The venture’s litigation tactics and ethics are being questioned by several judges and attorneys, a factor that also weighed in on U.S. District Judge Philip Pro’s decision Monday.
Righthaven has sued more than 200 websites, bloggers and commenters for copyright infringement. More than 100 have settled out of court.
The lawsuit decided Monday targeted Wayne Hoehn, a Vietnam veteran who posted all 19 paragraphs of November editorial from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which is owned by Stephens Media. Hoehn posted the article, and its headline, “Public Employee Pensions: We Can’t Afford Them” on medjacksports.com to prompt discussion about the financial affairs of the nation’s states. Hoehn was a user of the site, not an employee.
Righthaven sought up to $150,000, the maximum in damages allowed under the Copyright Act. Righthaven argued that the November posting reduced the number of eyeballs that would have visited the Review-Journal site to read the editorial.
“Righthaven did not present any evidence that the market for the work was harmed by Hoehn’s noncommercial use for the 40 days it appeared on the website. Accordingly, there is no genuine issue of material fact that Hoehn’s use of the work was fair and summary judgment is appropriate,” Judge Pro ruled.
Marc Randazza, one of Hoehn’s attorneys, said he would petition the judge for legal fees and costs.
The judge also said he took into consideration that only five of the editorial’s paragraphs were “purely creative opinions” of the author.
“While the work does have some creative or editorial elements, these elements are not enough to consider the work a purely ‘creative work’ in the realm of fictional stories, song lyrics, or Barbie dolls,” he wrote. “Accordingly, the work is not within ‘the core of intended copyright protection.’”
Judge Pro, in his fair-use analysis, also found that the posting was for noncommercial purposes, and was part of an “online discussion.”
That said, Pro did not need to decide the fair-use question.
That’s because he also found that Righthaven did not have legal standing to bring the lawsuit, a hot-button topic in the Righthaven litigation.
Pro’s decision came a week after a different Las Vegas federal judge threatened to sanction Righthaven, calling its litigation efforts “disingenuous, if not outright deceitful” when it came to standing. Standing is a legal concept that has enabled Righthaven to bring lawsuits on behalf of the copyrights owned by Stephens Media.
That blistering decision by U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt, the chief judge in Nevada, places into doubt Righthaven’s year-old business model, which is also under a Colorado federal judge’s microscope.
Hunt gave Righthaven two weeks to explain why he should not sanction it for trying to “manufacture standing.” Judge Hunt suggested Righthaven never had standing in any of its cases because Righthaven and Stephens Media had agreed to share the proceeds of any damages awards or settlements, yet Stephens Media kept ownership of the copyright.
Righthaven must own the copyright to sue on its behalf, Hunt ruled in a decision echoed by Judge Pro on Monday.
What’s more, in each of the 200-plus cases Righthaven brought on behalf of Las Vegas Review-Journal articles, Righthaven never disclosed, as required, that Stephens Media had a “pecuniary interest” in the outcome, Hunt wrote.
Many bloggers who settled are mulling their legal options.
Why Don’t You People Just Get Over It? Here’s Why
By ICTMN Staff June 23, 2011
Why don’t you people just get over it? Well, umm…. Hello?
That’s the gist of this video put together by Canada’s largest labor union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which celebrated National Aboriginal Day on June 21 by launching a new campaign, Justice for Aboriginal Peoples—It’s Time!
“Aboriginal Peoples in this country have endured centuries of oppression and face many challenges in their struggle for justice. This struggle is not only for the First Peoples of this nation to take on,” the union says on its site. “Treaties were signed between First Nations and the Government of Canada—the people we elected to represent us. So we all have a responsibility to ensure that the terms and conditions of those treaties are met.”
Deftly encapsulating centuries of shared history, this vid pinpoints just when it went acrimonious between the First Nations and the settlers. The union hopes to educate its 172,000-plus members worldwide, including embassy and consulate personnel.
The bring-it-home stats that hit the opening line’s question out of the park are strictly Canadian, but the story told beforehand applies to all of Turtle Island.
Why don’t you just get over it? Check out this video to hear aboriginal union members spell it out succinctly.
Universities partner to save dying languages
By DIANE SMITH Fort Worth Star-Telegram © 2011 The Associated Press
June 12, 2011, 2:08PM
ARLINGTON, Texas — Hutke Fields pictures a time when younger generations of Natchez people use his tribe's native tongue at ceremonies, while sharing oral histories and during everyday talk at home.
But Field's vision is complicated by the fact that only six people, out of about 10,000 members of the Natchez tribe in Oklahoma, still speak the language.
"We'll lose it if we don't use it," said Fields, who received assistance last year during a workshop dedicated to helping American Indian communities in Oklahoma to bring back disappearing languages.
Fields is a participant in the Breath of Life project — a joint effort by experts from the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of Oklahoma — in which linguists mentor American Indians so they can better recover endangered languages.
It is modeled after a project at the University of California, Berkeley.
"We are growing field linguists," said Colleen Fitzgerald, associate professor and chairwoman of UT Arlington's Linguistics Department. "We are transferring knowledge to community members so they can teach their own languages."
The first workshop was held in summer 2010 at OU in Norman, Okla., which is also the site of the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Members of three American Indian communities took part: the Osage, Otoe and Natchez.
Linguists and American Indians will be able to work together again next May. The project recently got a funding boost that will allow for a second workshop, Fitzgerald said.
The project team received a total of $90,000 in grant money from the National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency that helps support research at colleges and universities.
The grant is spread over two years.
Besides training American Indian community members to be linguists on the ground, UT Arlington will be working to create linguistic databases that will ultimately enable the creation of online dictionaries and collections of texts in various languages, Fitzgerald said.
Each community will have a database which will also be stored in a repository at the Noble museum.
Oklahoma was described as a "hot spot" of linguistic diversity by experts in National Geographic's Enduring Voices Project, said Mary Linn, associate curator of American Indian languages at the Noble museum and an associate professor of anthropology at OU.
As North America was settled by whites, many tribes were forced to move to Oklahoma. As a result, there is not only a great deal of linguistic diversity, but also high levels of language endangerment, Linn said.
The languages grew even more endangered as American Indians assimilated to English-speaking culture that dominates society.
"It's hard to resist shifting to English," Linn said, adding that many small tribes picked up the languages of larger tribes.
Today, language sleuths rely on tribal records, grammar and alphabets that were often chronicled by missionaries, military generals and tribes. President Thomas Jefferson also collected word lists, Linn said.
Fields said the project allowed his community to computerize a dictionary and research. Now, Natchez people in South Carolina can practice with their Natchez friends in Oklahoma. This also allows Natchez histories to flow more readily from elders who still tell of their contributions to America as farmers expert in corn and beans.
Their histories tell of a people displaced from the Gulf Coast and of deaths from influenza that followed early encounters with European explorers.
"I grieve daily over the loss of cultural values," said Fields, principal chief for the tribe. "It takes a community and economy and people who want to preserve."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7607168.html
American sweat lodge promoter found guilty of manslaughter
Self-help author recruited people to five-day 'spiritual warrior' seminars offering cleansing through sauna-like ceremony
Associated Press
The Guardian, Thursday 23 June 2011.
A self-help author who led a sweat lodge ceremony in Arizona was found guilty of three counts of negligent manslaughter on Wednesday.
Jurors in the case against James Arthur Ray began deliberating after a four-month trial.
Ray showed no reaction as the verdict was read. His parents and brother sat behind him, while victims' family and friends held hands and looked on from across the courtroom.
Prosecutors asked that Ray be taken into custody immediately, but the judge denied the request.
More than 50 people participated in the October 2009 sweat lodge that was meant to be the highlight of Ray's five-day "spiritual warrior" seminar near Sedona.
Three people died following the sauna-like ceremony meant to provide spiritual cleansing, 18 were hospitalised, while several others were given water to cool down at the scene. Prosecutors and defence lawyers disagreed over whether the deaths and illnesses were caused by heat or toxins.
Ray's lawyers have maintained the deaths were a tragic accident. Prosecutors argued Ray recklessly caused the fatalities.
Ray used the sweat lodge as a way for participants to break through whatever was holding them back in life. He warned participants in a recording of the event played during the trial that the sweat lodge would be "hellacious" and that participants were guaranteed to feel like they were dying but would do so only metaphorically.
"You will have to get a point to where you surrender and it's OK to die," Ray said in the recording.
Witnesses have described the scene following the two-hour ceremony as alarming and chaotic, with people dragging "lifeless" and "barely breathing" participants outside and volunteers trying to rescue them.
Sweat lodges typically are used by American Indians to rid the body of toxins by pouring water over heated rocks in the structure.
Ray used free talks to recruit people. Participants paid up to $10,000 for the five-day programme.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/23/sweat-lodge-promoter-manslaughter-guilty
GOOD!!!!!!
Monitoring of First Nations beefed up in '06: documents
Aboriginal affairs minister's office says First Nations not only public safety areas targeted
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By Marlene Habib, CBC News Posted: Jun 13, 2011 10:35 AM ET Last Updated: Jun 13, 2011 3:51 PM ET
Band members of the Tyendinaga Mohawk territory block a main road through Deseronto, Ont., on April 21, 2008, to protest plans for a housing development. Tyendinaga is among First Nations mentioned in Access to Information documents detailing surveillance activities by Indian Affairs and the RCMP. (Canadian Press)
Band members of the Tyendinaga Mohawk territory block a main road through Deseronto, Ont., on April 21, 2008, to protest plans for a housing development. Tyendinaga is among First Nations mentioned in Access to Information documents detailing surveillance activities by Indian Affairs and the RCMP. (Canadian Press)
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The federal government stepped up surveillance of First Nations across Canada shortly after the 2006 election to better monitor political action such as protests over land claims, according to internal Indian Affairs and RCMP documents obtained by a Mohawk policy analyst.
The goal of the beefed up monitoring, after Stephen Harper first became prime minister, was to identify First Nations leaders, participants and supporters of occupations and protests, and closely monitor their moves, according to Russell Diabo, who obtained the documents under an Access to Information request.
The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) was given the lead role to monitor First Nations, according to the documents, copies of which were given to CBC News.
To do this, INAC established a “hot spot reporting system” — weekly reports highlighting First Nations that engaged in "direct action" to protect their lands and communities, said Diabo, who is based in Orillia, Ont.
In one document, titled "Aboriginal Hot Spots and Public Safety," and dated March 30, 2007, it was noted that the vast majority of "hot spots" were related to lands and resources, and led by "splinter groups" in protests including the Douglas Creek Estates occupation in Caledonia, Ont., and the Grassy Narrows blockade of the Trans-Canada Highway by environmentalists.
"Incidents led by splinter groups are arguably harder to manage as they exist outside negotiation processes to resolve recognized grievances with duly elected leaders," the document says. "We seek to avoid giving standing to such splinter groups so as not to debase the legally recognized government."
Federal monitoring not just First Nations: spokeswoman
Contacted on Monday to react to the documents, Michelle Yao, director of communications in the office of John Duncan, minister of aboriginal affairs and northern development, said public safety is a priority of the government, and First Nations groups aren't being targeted.
"The government co-ordinates efforts across departments to ensure public safety in Canada," a statement emailed to CBC News from Duncan's office says. "We respect the right to protest and remain committed to ensuring that the rights and safety of all citizens are respected in accordance with the laws of Canada.
"INAC does monitor all emergencies such as floods, fires and civil unrest on an ongoing basis. This facilitates a quick support and response, as needed, to any emergency."
Among the First Nations groups mentioned in the documents as among those under surveillance were:
Tsartlip First Nation.
The Algonquins of Barriere Lake.
Six Nations.
Grassy Narrows.
The Likhts’amsiyu Clan of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation.
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.
Diabo is publisher of the First Nations Strategic Bulletin, which first reported about the documents. Bulletin content features the writings of the First Nations Strategic Policy Council, a network of policy and legal analysts.
"Rather than listening to the needs of First Nations communities, Harper is making plans to use force to stifle the dissent that inevitably arises from chronic poverty and dispossession in native communities,” Diabo said Monday. “First Nations education and housing is chronically underfunded, but policing and surveillance of legitimate Indigenous movements is always a priority.”
Communities consulted
Shiri Pasternak, a spokeswoman for the bulletin, said the documents were obtained in April 2010, but were released only after consultation with communities.
"The documents affect a lot of communities across the country, so we first talked to communities named in the documents to inform them that they were being surveilled by the government," Pasternak told CBC News on Monday morning.
Gord Elliot of Tsartlip First Nation, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, added: “Obviously trust and good faith are expected when working with INAC, the RCMP and other agencies of the government.
"We are outraged to discover these same ministries are spying on us. We were identified as a ‘hot spot’ because we had a roadblock demonstration to voice our concerns about the treaty process and non-acknowledgment of Section 35 Constitutional Rights and Title.
"We felt we had no choice [than to demonstrate] because the Canadian government won't acknowledge our constitutionally protected Aboriginal Rights and Title.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/06/13/first-nations-documents.html
US approves $3.4bn Native American settlement
Judge agrees on multi-billion dollar settlement as reparations for
stolen resources from Indian tribes.
Last Modified: 21 Jun 2011 04:47
Under the settlement approved on Monday, $1.5bn will go to at least
300,000 Indian account holders [Al Jazeera]
A US federal judge has approved a $3.4bn settlement over "mismanaged"
Native American royalties, in a case that represents the largest
settlement ever approved against the US government.
Elouise Cobell of Browning, Montana, claimed in the 15-year-old suit
that for more than a century, US officials systematically stole or
squandered billions in royalties intended for Native Americans in
exchange for oil, gas, grazing and other leases.
Thomas Hogan, the US district judge, approved the settlement on Monday
after a daylong hearing, saying the legitimacy of Cobell's claims
could not be questioned.
"The government mismanaged these resources on a staggering scale,"
Hogan said.
The settlement does not make up for the losses native American tribes
suffered for more than a century, Hogan added, but "at least it
provides some certainty" to hundreds of thousands of individuals who
will now receive payments of least $1,000 each from the government.
Many will receive substantially more money.
Cobell, a member of the Blackfoot Tribe, will receive $2 million, and
three other named plaintiffs will receive payments ranging from
$150,000 to $200,000 each.
Battles and appeals
The government and lawyers representing Cobell settled the lawsuit in
December 2009 after years of court battles and appeals. Congress
approved the settlement at the end of last year, and Barack Obama, the
US president, signed it into law.
But the case still needed Hogan's approval, which he provided late
Monday after a hearing on the merits of the case and legal fees to be
assessed.
In a statement, Obama said the decision "marks another important step
forward in the relationship between the federal government and Indian
Country".
Resolving the dispute was a priority for his administration, Obama
said.
He promised to engage in "government-to-government consultations with
tribal nations" regarding the land consolidation aspect of the
settlement to ensure that it moves quickly and fairly.
Under the settlement approved Monday, $1.5bn will go to at least
300,000 Native American account holders.
Another $1.9bn will be used to buy back and consolidate tribal land
that has become subdivided and difficult to manage over the years. An
additional $60 million will go to a scholarship fund for Native
American students.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/06/20116212149693524.html
Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #1084, June 19, 2011
1. Brazil: Pará Campesinos Demand Land, End to Violence
2. Chile: “Historic” Student March Protests School Privatization
3. Mexico: Femicides Continue as "Drug War" Turns 40
4. Trade: US Congress Set to OK Colombia and Panama Trade Deals?
5. Links to alternative sources on: Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru,
Colombia, Venezuela, Central America, El Salvador, Honduras,
Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti
ISSN#: 1084 922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from
Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a
progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua
Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription,
write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. It is archived at
http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/
*1. Brazil: Pará Campesinos Demand Land, End to Violence
More than 5,000 agricultural workers blocked the Trans-Amazonian
highway in the northern Brazilian state of Pará on June 15 and 16 to
push demands for land, government aid and an end to violence against
activists. They continued the action after one protester was run over
and killed on June 15, but they agreed to open up the highway on June
16 as the result of an agreement for Presidency Minister Gilberto
Carvalho and representatives of the Mining and Energy Ministry and the
Agrarian Development Ministry to meet with them on June 20.
The campesinos said that until the meeting had taken place they would
continue the encampment they have maintained for the past month in
front of the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform
(Incra) office in the Pará city of Marabá.
According to a June 17 statement from the Landless Workers Movement
(MST), the Agriculture Workers Federation (Fetagri) and the Federation
of Family Agriculture Workers of Brazil (Fetraf), the protesters are
demanding land for the 8,000 families that are still living in
encampments in the state; conditions that will make it possible for
the families that have land to grow crops; roads to take the produce
to market; credits for agricultural projects; technical advice; and
electricity. “There’s money to build hydroelectric facilities,
railroads, waterways, steel plants, etc., but they say there aren’t
resources for agrarian reform and family agriculture,” the groups
wrote, claiming that investment in small-scale agriculture is more
beneficial to the economy than many large-scale projects.
Family farming accounts for more than 50% of the food consumed in
large Brazilian cities, the groups say, based on numbers from the
Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), but it uses
far less resources than large-scale agriculture. “Almost 50% of rural
properties in Brazil consist of less than 10 hectares and take up just
2.36% of the cultivable land,” the statement reads, “while less than
1% of Brazil’s rural properties have an area of more than 1,000
hectares but take up 44% of the cultivable land. That’s a lot of land
in the hands of a few big landowners who raise crops only for export.”
The protesters are also demanding action on recent murders of
campesino leaders, including environmental activists José Claudio
Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espírito Santo da Silva, a married
couple who were killed on May 24 near their home in the village of
Nova Ipixuna, Pará [see World War 4 Report 6/3/11]. According to the
Catholic Church’s Pastoral Land Commission, 1,580 people were murdered
in the Brazilian countryside from 1985 to 2010, and currently 1,855
people have received threats. (Adital (Brazil) 6/17/11)
Some 300 families in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais are also
using an encampment to call attention to a land dispute. The families
of the Drummond community in the city of Itabira are threatened with
eviction from land they have lived on for 11 years; they say it was
abandoned when they moved on to it. A local court has ruled against
them and ordered their removal by July 31. According to Junio Cesar
dos Anjos, a member of the group Popular Brigades, Itabira mayor João
Izael has offered to provide land and construction materials so that
the families can resettle elsewhere but he hasn’t given them
guarantees. As of June 14 the families were continuing to camp out in
shifts in front of Mayor Izael’s office to demand a formal agreement
on a new place to live. On June 10 a Catholic priest, José Geraldo de
Melo, started an open-ended hunger strike to support the families.
(Adital 6/14/11)
*2. Chile: “Historic” Student March Protests School Privatization
Tens of thousands of students, teachers and supporters protested
Chile’s education policies with a huge demonstration in Santiago on
June 16 that the local daily La Tercera said was “the most massive
march since the return of democracy” in 1990; the University of Chile
radio station called it “historic.” The Carabineros militarized police
gave a crowd estimate of 80,000, while organizers said 100,000 people
had attended. Thousands more held marches in the cities of Concepción,
La Serena, Temuco and Valparaíso. The nationwide protest followed
several days of student strikes at dozens of high schools and
universities.
The marches were called by the Chilean Student Confederation (CONFECH)
and were supported by the Federation of University of Chile Students
(FECH), the Federation of Catholic University Students (FEUC), and
politicians from the Communist Party of Chile (PCC), the Socialist
Party of Chile (PSC) and the Broad Social Movement (MAS).
There were some disturbances during the generally peaceful march in
Santiago. Fernando Echeverría, the Santiago metropolitan area
intendant (a supervisor appointed by the president), said that 37
protesters were arrested during the demonstration, five police agents
were injured and two offices were looted. He blamed the organizers,
charging that they hadn’t provided enough security. But in general the
organizers were delighted with the day’s events. “We’ve demolished the
myth that we’re a minority,” FEUC vice president Pedro Pablo Glatz
said, “because we’ve shown that our demand is the demand of the
majority.”
The protesters were calling for more funding for education and for a
reversal of decades of decentralization and privatization. Chile’s
schools received the equivalent of 7% of the gross domestic product
(GDP) in 1973, and education was free, but school funding fell to 2.4%
of GDP by the end of Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 dictatorship.
(It has risen to 4.4% since then.) Administration of the public
schools was turned over to the municipalities in 1990, and currently
about 40% of the 3.5 million secondary students attend public schools,
while some 50% study in subsidized schools, where the government and
the parents share the costs. The remaining 10% go to private schools.
Scholarships have also been cut back.
About 80% of the one million university students attend private
institutions created during the military dictatorship starting in1981.
Rightwing president Sebastián Piñera has seen his approval ratings
fall to about 36% since he took office in 2010, and his government was
clearly worried by the massive protest on June 16. “Today’s march
confirms the urgency for changes,” Education Minister Joaquín Lavín
announced that evening, but he didn’t indicate whether he was planning
to negotiate with the students. (Radio Universidad de Chile (Santiago)
6/16/11; LT 6/17/11; La Jornada (Mexico) 6/17/11 from correspondent
and wire services)
*3. Mexico: Femicides Continue as "Drug War" Turns 40
More than 65 women have been murdered so far this year in the northern
Mexican state of Nuevo León, according to the Mexican daily La
Jornada. The victims included pregnant women and nine underage girls;
the majority had been sexually abused before they were killed, and
some had been tortured. Several of the corpses were dismembered.
Northern Mexico is especially affected by drug-related violence, much
of it from wars between drug cartels that have intensified since
President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa began militarizing the fight
against traffickers in December 2006. Mexican analysts say this “drug
war” fuels violence against women in the region [see Update #1078].
“Women’s bodies are plunder in this war,” Alicia Leal, the president
of the Monterrey-based women’s shelter Peaceful Alternatives, told La
Jornada, with women being used for sexual exploitation, to frighten
rivals and to threaten and hurt enemies. But Leal emphasized that the
killings are also femicides—misogynistic murders. These killings “have
a gender component,” Leal said. “In the majority of these deaths there
is rape, there is mutilation of a sexual type. This is gender
violence, period. Even if it suits the government to treat it as
something generalized, the reality is different.” Leal and other
Mexican feminists are calling for the criminal code to categorize
femicide as a special crime. (LJ 6/12/11)
Resistance to the US strategy of dealing with drug problems through
police and military operations continues to grow both in Mexico and in
the US [see Update #1082]. The 40th anniversary of the declaration of
a “war on drugs” by then-US president Richard Nixon (1969-1974) on
June 17 provided opponents of the policy with an occasion to express
their criticisms. They noted that after costing as much as a trillion
dollars and causing millions of arrests, the US government’s “drug
war” has had a minimal effect on drug use. Some 20-25 million people
now use illegal drugs in the US, 10 million more than in 1970,
although the government says the percentage of drug users in the
population has come down some since the late 1970s, when US drug use
was at its peak.
La Jornada notes that the person in charge of researching drug
addiction for the US government is a Mexican-born neuroscientist and
the great-granddaughter of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. Dr.
Nora D. Volkow, who heads the National Institute on Drug Abuse, grew
up in the Trotsky Museum in Coyoacán, a borough of Mexico City. She
favors treating addiction as a medical problem rather than a crime.
(LJ 6/17/11, ___: New York Times 6/13/11)
*4. Trade: US Congress Set to OK Colombia and Panama Trade Deals?
US president Barack Obama and congressional leaders “are within
striking distance of a deal” to ratify free trade agreements (FTAs, or
TLCs in Spanish) with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, US Chamber of
Commerce president Thomas J. Donohue said at a news conference in
Washington, DC, on June 15. Donohue said the Chamber is “optimistic”
that the trade agreements can be approved by July 1.
The agreements were negotiated and signed under the administration of
former president George W. Bush (2001-2009), but they’ve been held up
in Congress, largely by partisan maneuvers by Democratic and
Republican politicians. US labor unions have tended to oppose the
unpopular trade deals, and Obama himself expressed doubts about FTAs
when he was running for the presidency in 2008.
Unions and social movements in the affected countries—especially
Colombia [see Update #1075]—strongly oppose the agreements. US labor
groups were sponsoring a Colombian trade delegation in Washington in
mid-June to lobby against the Colombian accord. George Kohl, senior
director of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), told the
Washington Post that the administration and Congress should hold off
on the agreement until there is evidence that the Colombian government
has fulfilled its commitment to reduce anti-union violence in the
country. “Lets have real proof, not promises of proof,” Kohl said.
The DC-based nonprofit Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ) is urging
activists to tell their congressional representatives to oppose the
FTAs. A form letter and other information are available at
http://afgj.org/?p=1219. (WP 6/15/11; AFGJ urgent action 6/16/11)
*5. Links to alternative sources on: Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru,
Colombia, Venezuela, Central America, El Salvador, Honduras,
Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti
Outrage at HidroAysén Dams Raises Environmental and Political
Consciousness in Chile
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/chile-archives-34/3085-outrage-at-hidroaysen-dams-raises-environmental-and-political-consciousness-in-chile
The Qom, the Indigenous People Who Came to Buenos Aires (Argentina)
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/4890
In Bolivia, Social Protest Is a Way of Life
https://nacla.org/blog/bolivia-social-protest-way-life
Moving Toward Socialism in Bolivia?
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3079-moving-toward-socialism-in-bolivia
Peru denies plan to dissolve reserve for "uncontacted" peoples
http://ww4report.com/node/9996
Peru: leader of Puno protests under police siege in Lima TV station
http://ww4report.com/node/9997
Peru: victory in struggle against Inambari hydro-dam —for now
http://ww4report.com/node/9998
Peru: is Inambari hydro-dam project really cancelled?
http://ww4report.com/node/10004
Peru: nuclear plant to replace Inambari hydro project?
http://ww4report.com/node/10005
Oil, hydro development plans generate conflict in Amazon's divided
Pastaza basin (Peru)
http://ww4report.com/node/10006
Peru: Aymara protest leader starts vigil at congress chambers after
arrest warrant dropped
http://ww4report.com/node/10007
Peru’s Humala And García Both Hint At Pardon For Ex-Leader Fujimori
http://latindispatch.com/2011/06/13/perus-humala-and-garcia-both-hint-at-pardon-for-ex-leader-fujimori/
Peru: Humala Pledges Justice for Sterilisation Victims
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3082-peru-humala-pledges-justice-for-sterilisation-victims
Colombia’s Catch 22: Undermining the Victims’ Law
https://nacla.org/blog/colombia%E2%80%99s-catch-22-undermining-victims%E2%80%99-law
Venezuela: To Support it, Critically Support it, or not Support it?
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/6273
Central America Should Turn to Community Policing, Experts Say
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3077-central-america-should-turn-to-community-policing-experts-say
Mexico, Central American countries join challenge to Georgia immigration law
http://ww4report.com/node/10009
Alert: Salvadoran Student Anti-Mining Activist Assassinated
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3087-alert-salvadoran-student-anti-mining-activist-assassinated
El Salvador: environmental activist killed, quickly buried in "mass grave"
http://www.ww4report.com/node/10
The March Toward Unsustainability in El Salvador Gains Speed
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/el-salvador-archives-74/3083-the-march-toward-unsustainability-in-el-salvador-gains-speed-
Zelaya Accuses Honduran Government Of Breaking Cartagena Accord
http://latindispatch.com/2011/06/17/zelaya-accuses-honduran-government-of-breaking-cartagena-accord/
Please, Stop Trying to 'Fix' Honduras: Letter to the Los Angeles Times
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/3086-please-stop-trying-to-fix-honduras-letter-to-the-la-times
SlutWalk Lands in Tegucigalpa (Honduras)
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6933
Between Drug Trafficking and Electioneering, Guatemala Left High and Dry
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/4870
Guatemala: Oil Companies and the Subservience of the Government
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/guatemala-archives-33/3081-guatemala-oil-companies-and-the-subservience-of-the-government
Mexico’s Spiraling Violence
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/4885
On the Enemies List: Arms Dealers, the PRI, and the Pacifists
https://nacla.org/blog/enemies-list-arms-dealers-pri-and-pacifists
Capulalpam, the Babel of Land Disputes (Mexico)
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/4822
Growing Ties Between Mexican and U.S. Labor
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/4858
U.S. Must Stand Up to Unlawful Eviction of Haitians from Displacement Camps
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/4931
U.S. Embassy Foresaw Haiti’s Earthquake Vulnerability\
http://www.haiti-liberte.com/archives/volume4-48/U.S.%20Embassy%20Foresaw.asp
WikiLeaked Cables Reveal: After Quake, a “Gold Rush” for Haiti Contracts
http://www.haiti-liberte.com/archives/volume4-48/After%20Quake.asp
WikiLeaked Cables Reveal: U.S. Worried about International Criticism
of Post-Quake Troop Deployment
http://www.haiti-liberte.com/archives/volume4-48/U.S.%20Worried%20about%20International.asp
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://www.cipamericas.org/
http://latindispatch.com/
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/967/blastContent.jsp
http://www.ueinternational.org/Mexico_info/mlna.php
http://nacla.org/
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://venezuelanalysis.com/
http://ww4report.com/node/
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
This Update is archived at:
http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/2011/06/wnu-1084-brazilian-campesinos-demand.html
"Keeping the Culture alive"
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/06/the-journey-to-swinomish/
wonder how many Xtians will be praying for this?
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/06/2011-national-day-of-prayer-to-protect-native-american-sacred-places/
Final Approval For Native Farmers Class Action
http://gantdaily.com/2011/06/21/final-court-approval-for-native-american-class-action-suit/
ok....this was different.....
666, Darkness, darkness, evil, light and darkness, obscurity,
powers of darkness, gloom, power, powers, shadows, spell,
the dark, dark trance, go to hell edit, evil, God, good
and evil, harm, suffering, belief, moral evil, acts,
claims, wickedness, existence of evil, human beings,
problem of evil, cultures, Satan, power, Judaism and
Christianity, dictionary, Evil, Gothic, Dark Gothic, gothic,
goth, dark gothic, music, Goth, vampire, art, Layouts, img,
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horror, Horror, horror, Horror Movies, films, horror films,
horror movies, vampire, fear, Movies, horror fiction, horror
film, DVD, monster, movies, science fiction, the Horror,
Horror Film, ghosts, Halloween, terror, Scary Movie, Movies,
DVD, films, Reviews, Scary Movie 4, Scary Movie 2, Horror
Movies, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Marlon Wayans, horror, horror
movies, movies, reviews, slasher films, Halloween, Showtimes,
Photos, Ray, Michael Myers, Pumpkin, A Nightmare on Elm
Street, Freddy Krueger, dreams, Nightmare on Elm Street,
Freddy, DVD, Jackie Earle Haley, Robert Englund, Wes Craven,
Movies, remake, Elm Street, characters, Nightmare, Mara,
horror, Platinum Dunes, freddy krueger, nightmare, Bruce
Campbell, Evil Dead, The Evil Dead, Ash, Sam Raimi, DVD,
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film, Betsy Baker, Deadites, the zombies, Zombies, game,
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games, movies, Board Game, Dead, undead, walking dead, hell,
Darkness, darkness, evil, light and darkness, obscurity,
powers of darkness, gloom, power, powers, shadows, spell,
the dark, dark trance, go to hell edit, evil, God, good
and evil, harm, suffering, belief, moral evil, acts, 666,
claims, wickedness, existence of evil, human beings,
problem of evil, cultures, Satan, power, Judaism and
Christianity, dictionary, Evil, Gothic, Dark Gothic, gothic,
goth, dark gothic, music, Goth, vampire, art, Layouts, img,
punk, Vampires, blood, death, gothic art, gothic subculture,
horror, Horror, horror, Horror Movies, films, horror films,
horror movies, vampire, fear, Movies, horror fiction, horror
film, DVD, monster, movies, science fiction, the Horror,
Horror Film, ghosts, Halloween, terror, Scary Movie, Movies,
DVD, films, Reviews, Scary Movie 4, Scary Movie 2, Horror
Movies, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Marlon Wayans, horror, horror
movies, movies, reviews, slasher films, Halloween, Showtimes,
Photos, Ray, Michael Myers, Pumpkin, A Nightmare on Elm
Street, Freddy Krueger, dreams, Nightmare on Elm Street,
Freddy, DVD, Jackie Earle Haley, Robert Englund, Wes Craven,
Movies, remake, Elm Street, characters, Nightmare, Mara,
horror, Platinum Dunes, freddy krueger, nightmare, Bruce
Campbell, Evil Dead, The Evil Dead, Ash, Sam Raimi, DVD,
horror, Army of Darkness, Evil Dead 2, cabin, Movies, Raimi,
evil, Evil Dead II, sequel, Dead by Dawn, character, horror
film, Betsy Baker, Deadites, the zombies, Zombies, game,
undead, the Zombies, the undead, Night of the Living Dead,
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games, movies, Board Game, Dead, undead, walking dead, hell,
raven, ravens, raven, ravens, usenet, usenet, usenet, scary,
scary, scary movie, VISUAL TRANCE GOA PSYCHEDELIC FESTIVAL
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The EPA Opens The Door For Tribes To Address Toxic Effects
http://www.wmicentral.com/news/latest_news/committee-to-address-risks-from-toxic-chemicals/article_740c09ce-96ca-11e0-b4ec-001cc4c03286.html
When the Freedom Of Religion Law was changed it was not meant to
protect fakes and frauds. It is the James Rays that threaten our most
holy ways by misappropriation. The results are clear, people having no
business playing NDN can die.
http://nativetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5529:judge-denies-acquittal-motion-in-arizona-sweat-lodge-case&catid=55&Itemid=31
Of Course their "not going to bend over backwards to help the Nations"
The Supreme Court works for the US Gov. when it comes down to it. This
ruling has reaching implications for all Tribal Nations held under
Trust.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/06/you-cant-verify-the-trust-supreme-court-tells-apache-nation/240359/
"Native Americans Are Not Taken Seriously"
Opening ceremony pray for sacrid sites
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/06/native-american-rights-fund-to-hold-opening-ceremony-for-sacred-sites/
'Eskimo Warrior' makes mark on martial-arts fighting scene
http://64.38.12.138/News/2011/002012.asp
Avery “Eskimo Warrior” Vilche
http://www.myspace.com/averyvilche
Avery Vilche - Fitness Buff: Fitness turns into a family affair for
one local family
http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/ci_18223216?source=most_viewed
Red Bluff’s female heavy-hitter
Avery Vilche is a small but feisty mixed-martial-arts fighter
http://www.newsreview.com/chico/red-bluffs-female-heavy-hitter/content?oid=2346287
Just the tip of the iceberg getting bones off musium shelves and placed to rest
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/b44c356e035542a1bd80fa5e0492d7b2/HI--Remains-Return/
Bold moves to protect what is sacrid and sending out the message loud
and clear. It is a sad thing to see in this day in time in this
critical time for our eco systems. Tampering with the Holy is
offensive not just to us. Who makes snow out of waiste water not fit
for human consumption? What kind of impact on the environment does
that melting snow have?
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2011/06/locked-down-native-americans-arrested-defending-sacred-san-francisco
Sherman Alexie He Writes "To Give Them Weapons"
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/06/09/why-the-best-kids-books-are-written-in-blood/
and some wonder why some get pissed at Xtians
Dismantled sweat lodge exposes rift in Christian, traditional teaching
INGRID PERITZ
MONTREAL- From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Jun. 17, 2011 9:30PM EDT
Last updated Saturday, Jun. 18, 2011 12:45AM EDT
They arrived in the darkness of a northern winter day, some holding axes, others grabbing objects in gloved hands. They tore away at blankets and birch branches. They hacked at the rope that lashed the lumber together.
In time, the aboriginal sweat lodge that Redfern Mianscum had built in his Quebec village was forcibly dismantled - not by outsiders, but by members of his own aboriginal community.
"Sweat lodges are part of our native way of life," said Mr. Mianscum, 34. "It's a place of healing. And here, it was taken down."
The last place one would expect to see a sweat lodge destroyed is in a native community. Yet that is what happened in Oujé-Bougoumou, a predominantly Christian Cree village 725 kilometres north of Montreal. Instead of helping heal, the sweat lodge exposed a rift between Christian teachings and a younger generation's embrace of once-taboo native practices.
Now Mr. Mianscum has retained high-profile Montreal human-rights lawyer Julius Grey to fight his case on the basis of his religious freedoms.
Mr. Mianscum built the sweat lodge in a friend's backyard last fall to connect with his aboriginal roots and help his community. The homemade structure, held up by logs and branches from the vast surrounding bush, quickly stirred up suspicion in the village of 700.
A petition demanding its removal was started by opponents, who eventually collected about 130 signatures. Then the band council passed a resolution ordering it dismantled, invoking the Cree nation's right to self-determination.
"The community was founded by Christian faith and values of our elders and past leadership," the resolution reads. "The members of the Cree Nation of Oujé-Bougoumou hereby declare that the sweat lodge along with any form of native spirituality practices and events such as pow-wows, rain dances, etc., do not conform with the traditional values and teachings of our elders."
Chief Louise Wapachee, reached by phone, refused to discuss the case. Other band members also declined. But one Cree elder who opposes the sweat lodge said he believes it doesn't belong in Oujé-Bougoumou.
"We don't want to confuse our youth," said John Shecapio-Blacksmith, 61. "I'm a Christian. A lot of people here got saved through prayer. That's why we don't want to build anything." He added: "You have to be careful what you bring into the community. You don't want to bring in witchcraft."
The conflict underscores the complicated legacy of the Christian church among Canadian aboriginals, from residential schools to the missionaries who tried to suppress traditional ceremonies associated with shamanism.
"Missionaries came up and said, 'This is wrong, you're invoking Satan," said Ronald Niezen, an anthropologist at McGill University and an expert on native rights. "It's been internalized by an older generation that is devoutly Christian. That generation doesn't want to see the return of shamanic traditions. They feel that with Christianity, they got rid of sorcery and the magical component of their tradition that led to spiritual harm."
Today the dominant movement and sole church in Oujé-Bougoumou is Pentecostal, a revivalist form of Christianity that has become an influential force in northern native communities in Canada.
Yet at the same time, an emerging trend is seeing a younger generation, untouched by the scars of residential schools, search for its identity through native spirituality.
"The two resurgent faiths," Prof. Niezen said, "are coming into collision."
Oujé-Bougoumou's own identity was forged by adversity; the community was carved out of the northern wilderness after members had survived years of displacement and abject poverty. The modern-looking village that rose in the early 1990s was a model community recognized by the United Nations. It dubs itself : "the place where people gather."
Yet it faces its own struggles. Mr. Mianscum said he built the sweat lodge to deal with the woes of domestic violence, alcoholism and drug abuse that are scourges in many native communities; on Thursday, the people of Oujé-Bougoumou gathered to mourn the suicide death of a 23-year-old local man.
"I wanted to help my people, especially youth," Mr. Mianscum said. "I wanted them to know what native spirituality is. It makes people strong, and gives them a sense of their identity. We've lost so much."
Rev. Canon Cliff Dee, priest at St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Waswanipi, wrote a letter to the Oujé-Bougoumou band council in support of the sweat lodge. In it, he lamented the "division and bitterness" the issue opened up "along religious lines."
"I'm deeply saddened by this," he said over the phone from his parish. With the problems facing the community, "people have to be united and working together and respecting one another's differences. Š If everyone was working together, they wouldn't be tearing down sweat lodges."
Japan scientist synthesizes meat from human feces
Somehow this feels like a Vonnegut plotline: population boom equals food shortage. Solution? Synthesize food from human waste matter. Absurd yes, but Japanese scientists have actually discovered a way to create edible steaks from human feces.
Mitsuyuki Ikeda, a researcher from the Okayama Laboratory, has developed steaks based on proteins from human excrement. Tokyo Sewage approached the scientist because of an overabundance of sewage mud. They asked him to explore the possible uses of the sewage and Ikeda found that the mud contained a great deal of protein because of all the bacteria.
The researchers then extracted those proteins, combined them with a reaction enhancer and put it in an exploder which created the artificial steak. The “meat” is 63% proteins, 25% carbohydrates, 3% lipids and 9% minerals. The researchers color the poop meat red with food coloring and enhance the flavor with soy protein. Initial tests have people saying it even tastes like beef.
Inhabitat notes that “the meatpacking industry causes 18 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions, mostly due to the release of methane from animals.” Livestock also consume huge amounts of resources and space in efforts to feed ourselves as well as the controversy over cruelty to animals. Ikeda’s recycled poop burger would reduce waste and emissions, not to mention obliterating Dante’s circle for gluttons.
The scientists hope to price it the same as actual meat, but at the moment the excrement steaks are ten to twenty times the price they should be thanks to the cost of research. Professor Ikeda understands the psychological barriers that need to be surmounted knowing that your food is made from human feces. They hope that once the research is complete, people will be able to overlook that ugly detail in favor of perks like environmental responsibility, cost and the fact that the meat will have fewer calories.
Waste not; want not.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20110615/tc_digitaltrends/japanesescientistscreatesmeatoutoffeces?wtf
and it has a video
bleh
Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #1083, June 12, 2011
1. Chile: Mapuche Prisoners End Fast, Form Commission
2. Honduras: Three Campesinos Killed, More Trouble for Landowner?
3. Mexico: US Admits It's the Source for Drug Gang Arms
4. Haiti: Cables Show US Role in 2009 Wage Struggle
5. Haiti: The Displaced Demonstrate for Housing, Again
6. Links to alternative sources on: Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia,
Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico, Haiti, Puerto Rico
ISSN#: 1084 922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from
Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a
progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua
Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription,
write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com . It is archived at
http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/
*1. Chile: Mapuche Prisoners End Fast, Form Commission
On June 9 four Mapuche activists imprisoned in Chile’s central
Araucanía region decided to end a liquids-only hunger strike they
started on Mar. 15 to protest their convictions in what they
considered an unfair trial [see Update #1081]. The prisoners--José
Huenuche Reimán, Jonathan Huillical Méndez, Héctor Llaitul Carillanca
and Ramón Llanquileo Pilquimán—stopped the fast after relatives, human
rights organizations and members of the Catholic church made an
agreement to form a Commission for the Defense of the Rights of the
Mapuche People to promote and defend indigenous rights.
The four activists were tried along with 13 others for “terrorism” in
a case relating to a fire and an attack on a prosecutor. All were
acquitted of the “terrorism” charge—which was based on a law passed
during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990)—but the
four hunger strikers were convicted of common crimes. The Supreme
Court of Justice issued a decision on June 3 reducing their sentences:
Llaitul’s sentence was lowered from 25 to 14 years in prison, while
the prison terms for the other three were lowered from 20 to eight
years. But the activists insisted on continuing their struggle to have
a fair trial without the use of the “antiterrorism” law.
The new commission includes Concepción archbishop Fernando Chomalí and
auxiliary bishop Pedro Ossandon; Lorena Fríes, director of the
National Human Rights Institute; Amerigo Incalcaterra, South America
representative for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights; José Fernando Díaz, from the National Indigenous
Pastoral Commission (southern zone); Mapuche spokespeople Natividad
Llanquileo and Millaray Garrido; and Pamela Matus, a relative of the
prisoners. (Adital (Brazil) 6/10/11, some from wire services)
In a talk with the Chilean radio station Radio Cooperativa, Mapuche
spokesperson Natividad Llanquileo said that the four activists were
“much better” after ending the strike and that a full recovery was
expected in week. But she warned that there could be problems in the
dialogue with the government, which she said had failed to comply with
earlier promises. (La Tercera (Santiago) 6/11/11)
*2. Honduras: Three Campesinos Killed, More Trouble for Landowner?
Campesino organizations from the Lower Aguán Valley in northern
Honduras marched in Tegucigalpa on June 9 to protest the killings of
Aguán campesinos and to demand that the government act on its promise
last year to distribute 3,000 hectares of land to campesino families
[see Update #1080]. The Honduras section of the international
campesino group Vía Campesina joined in the demonstration, along with
the Alliance for Food Sovereignty and Agrarian Reform (SARA) and
members of the National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP), the country’s
main alliance of social movements. The groups say 39 campesinos have
been murdered in the course of a longstanding land dispute in the
valley.
In addition to land distribution, the protesters called for the
disarming of “security” groups employed by big landowners in the
region, the intervention of international human rights organizations
in the conflict, and the government’s fulfillment of promises it made
on May 22 in Cartagena, Colombia to respect human rights [see Update
#1081]. The campesino groups also made “an urgent call to the national
and international community and especially to national and
international social movements to stand in solidarity with the Aguán
and to demand a halt to the campesino bloodbath and the terror.”
(Prensa Latina 6/9/11; Vos el Soberano (Honduras) 6/11/11 from Vía
Campesina)
The march followed the June 5 murder of three campesinos in the Aguán
Valley. According to the European organization FoodFirst Information
and Action Network (FIAN), paramilitaries employed by landowners shot
José Recinos Aguilar, Joel Santamaría and Genaro Cuesta as they were
driving a few meters from the San Esteban cooperative, of which they
were members. The victims belonged to the Authentic Claimant Movement
of Aguán Campesinos (MARCA), one of several campesino groups claiming
land in the Aguán valley. The paramilitaries then went to the local
offices of the government’s National Agrarian Institute (INA) and shot
at campesinos who had taken refuge there the year before. Five people
were wounded, including the campesina Doris Pérez Vásquez, who was
shot in the abdomen and had to be rushed to a hospital in the city of
La Ceiba. (Adital (Brazil) 6/6/11, with information from FIAN, FNRP,
Comuna Ataroa and Tiempo (San Pedro Sula))
Pressure has been mounting on the landowners to settle the land
dispute. An initiative has been introduced in the National Congress to
expropriate 14 estates belonging to the main landowners in the
valley—Honduran business owner Miguel Facussé Barjum, René Morales
Carazo and Reinaldo Canales—and distribute them to the campesinos.
Facussé, who owns seven of the estates, has been campaigning
vigorously to improve his image, taking out newspaper ads and bringing
unsuccessful defamation suits against such critics as Santa Rosa de
Copán archbishop Luis Alfonso Santos and Andrés Pavón, president of
the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (Codeh). On
June 10, however, Facussé announced that he would sell four of his
estates to the government at the government’s asking price, but he
said he planned to retain one, the Marañones farm, for employees who
were losing their jobs because of the sale, and wanted to keep two
others for himself, the Lempira and La Concepción farms.
The Honduras Culture and Politics, a US-based blog, suggests that
Facussé is now willing to compromise because of international
campaigns charging that he is responsible for the deaths of as many as
14 campesinos. The allegations have already cost his Grupo Dinant
company investment from two major European companies [see Update
#1077]. Facussé “knows he has lost control of the message
internationally, and probably nationally as well,” the blog concludes.
(Honduras Culture and Politics 6/11/11; Prensa Latina 6/9/11; La
Tribuna (Tegucigalpa) 6/10/11)
Although the courts have dismissed Facussé’s suit against Archbishop
Santos, the archbishop made a partial apology on May 30 for
identifying Facussé as an Arab rather than a Honduran. The Facussé
family is one of a number of families that emigrated from Palestine
and settled in Honduras several generations ago. Vía Campesina also
gratuitously referred to Facussé’s Middle Eastern origin in its report
on the June 9 march in Tegucigalpa; it appears not to have apologized.
(Tiempo 5/31/11; Vos el Soberano (Honduras) 6/11/11 from Vía
Campesina)
*3. Mexico: US Admits It's the Source for Drug Gang Arms
Statistics given to US senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) by the US
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) confirm
claims that a high percentage of the illegal firearms in Mexico are
smuggled from the US, although less than the 90% sometimes claimed in
the past. The availability of illegal weapons in Mexico is a major
factor in the more than 35,000 drug-related deaths in the country
since President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa began militarizing the fight
against drug cartels in December 2006.
The Mexican government submitted 29,284 illegal guns to the ATF for
tracing in 2009 and 2010. The bureau determined that 15,131 of the
weapons were manufactured in the US and that 5,373 were imported to
the US before ending up in Mexico, so that a total of 70% of the guns
that were traced came from the US. The origins of the other weapons
couldn't be determined. Mexico didn’t submit all the illegal weapons
it seized, and it is unclear how many other illegal weapons were
seized.
Mexico has strict regulations on gun sales, and most legal sales are
processed through one store on a military base near Mexico City, while
many states in the US have few restrictions, making it relatively easy
to purchase guns legally in the US and then smuggle them to drug gangs
in Mexico. Apparently there are also weapons that have gotten to the
drug cartels because of a bungled operation by the ATF itself [see
Update #1073]. Five arms found in a weapons cache in Ciudad Juárez,
Chihuahua, in April may be connected to Operation Fast and Furious, in
which the ATF allowed guns to “walk” in order to trace the activities
of US gun smugglers in the US Southwest.
The US arms industry disputes the ATF’s statistics. “I think all these
numbers are phonied up for politics,” National Rifle Association (NRA)
executive vice president Wayne LaPierre told the Wall Street Journal.
But Dennis Henigan, vice president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun
Violence, said the numbers show “t's beyond time for the United
States to strengthen its gun laws and shut down the trafficking.” (WSJ
6/10/11)
Mexican government statistics indicate that the number of youths
involved in drug gang activity has been increasing since 2006. The
government reports that from December 2006 to January 2010 gang
members executed 30,913 people and that 26.7% of them were 16-30 years
old. Most of the executions took place in wars between rival drug
cartels, so it is assumed that the victims were largely gang members
themselves. What is striking is that the percentage of younger people
in the gangs seems to be growing rapidly, based on the executions. In
the northern state of Chihuahua, which has been especially hard hit by
the drug wars, the executions of people between 15 and 30 represented
2.1% of the national total in 2008; in 2009 the number rose to 3.6%,
and in 2010 it increased again to 5.1%, more than double what it had
been two years before.
Josefina Rodríguez, coordinator of the 21st Century Youth association,
blames the lack of opportunities for young people in Mexico for the
rise in youth participation in the drug gangs. “What can happen is
that we’ll have resentful and lost generations that will be very
difficult to rescue,” she told the Mexican daily La Jornada. (LJ
6/12/11)
* 4. Haiti: Cables Show US Role in 2009 Wage Struggle
Leaked US diplomatic cables show that “[t]he US embassy in Haiti
worked closely with factory owners contracted by Levi’s, Hanes, and
Fruit of the Loom to aggressively block a paltry minimum wage increase
for Haitian assembly zone workers” in 2009, according to an article in
the New York and Haiti-based weekly newspaper Haïti Liberté. The
article, published jointly with the US weekly magazine The Nation, is
based on some of the 1,918 previously unpublished cables concerning
Haiti that the WikiLeaks group has released to Haïti Liberté [see
Update #1082].
In 2009 the Haitian Parliament attempted to raise the daily minimum
wage from about $1.75 to about $5. Many of the owners of assembly
plants, which produce largely for North American apparel retailers,
pressured then-president René Préval (1996-2001 and 2006-2011) to
oppose the increase. Despite militant demonstrations by students and
factory workers, Préval eventually won approval for a two-tier system
with a minimum wage of about $3 a day for assembly plant employees but
$5 a day for other workers. (However, the minimum wage for assembly
workers was increased to about $5 a day in October 2010, while in all
other sectors it rose to $6.25, according to Haïti Liberté.)
Although the US stayed behind the scenes, the cables show then-US
ambassador Janet Sanderson calling for a “more visible and active
engagement by Préval” and warning about the risk of “the political
environment spiraling out of control.” The $5 a day minimum “did not
take economic reality into account,” according to Deputy Chief of
Mission David E. Lindwall. Charge d'Affaires Thomas C. Tighe cited
studies supposedly showing that a $5 minimum wage “would make the
[assembly] sector economically unviable and consequently force
factories to shut down.”
Tighe apparently was also monitoring demonstrations by supporters of
the wage increase. On Aug. 10 he was at a protest by Port-au-Prince
factory workers during which his car was attacked. [At the time an
embassy spokesperson called Tighe’s presence at the protest
coincidental and said he was not a target of the protesters; see
Update #1001]. (HL 5/25/11-5/30/11)
The cables also show the US government’s concern about the Haitian
electoral council’s decision to exclude the Lavalas Family (FL) party
of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide (1991-1996, 2001-2004) from
legislative elections originally scheduled for February 2010. (The
vote was delayed by the January 2010 earthquake and was held in
November.) The new US ambassador, Kenneth Merten, warned in December
2009 that FL would look “like a martyr and Haitians will believe
(correctly) that Préval is manipulating the election.” Other diplomats
expressed similar reservations at a Dec. 1, 2009 meeting of European
Union and United Nations representatives with ambassadors from Brazil,
Canada, Spain and the US. But the diplomats agreed to provide funds
for the vote because “the international community has too much
invested in Haiti's democracy to walk away from the upcoming
elections, despite its [sic] imperfections,” according to a US cable.
(HL 5/25/11-5/30/11)
The cables also show a little-reported relationship between the US
embassy and at least some FL politicians. A confidential Feb. 7, 2008
cable, for instance, is devoted to a discussion Ambassador Sanderson
had with Rudy Hériveaux, an FL senator representing the West
department, which includes Port-au-Prince. Hériveaux “told the
ambassador he supports President Preval and his efforts for the
political stabilization of Haiti, wants to attract foreign investment…
[and] will try to keep planned Lavalas anti-government protests within
bounds,” according to the cable. Sanderson noted that the senator’s
views are “not widely shared by party grassroots.”
US diplomats also seemed to be on friendly terms with Saurel
(sometimes spelled “Sorel”) François, the FL legislative deputy
representing eastern Port-au-Prince. A confidential June 5, 2009 cable
about student demonstrations for the new minimum wage includes
François’ opinion that “the student protesters were apparently being
‘pushed’ by an outside force. He said the protesters’ ever-changing
demands concealed a more radical agenda, and he had heard that the
students planned to go ‘very far’ to push their demands.” François
voted against raising the minimum wage, according to a confidential
June 10, 2009 cable.
After FL was forced off the ballot, Hériveaux switched to the Togther
We Are Strong party and François ran on the ticket of Préval’s Unity
party. Neither won reelection. (Radio Kiskeya (Haiti) 11/30/09; Radio
Métropole (Haiti) 6/7/10)
*5. Haiti: The Displaced Demonstrate for Housing, Again
A group of Haitians left homeless by a January 2010 earthquake
demonstrated in Port-au-Prince on June 10 to demand action on the
housing situation and an end to forced evictions from the displaced
persons camps. “We’ve had enough of living in tents, we want decent
housing” was one of the slogans. The protest followed violent
evictions from camps in the Delmas section of Port-au-Prince carried
out on May 23 and May 25 by Delmas municipal authorities and agents of
the National Police of Haiti (PNH) [see Update #1081].
The protesters read a letter calling for Parliament to enact a program
and a budget for the creation of new housing. Signed by
representatives of more than 70 camps, the letter noted that evictions
of displaced persons violate Article 22 of the 1987 Constitution,
which requires the government to assure respect for each person’s
right to housing. “The forced expulsions fit in with a broad plan
being implemented by the current administration” of rightwing
president Michel Martelly, said Sanon Reyneld, who is a member of the
Force for Reflection and Action on Housing (FRAKKA), an alliance of
grassroots organizations and committees from the camps. (AlterPresse
(Haiti) 6/10/11; Radio Kiskeya (Haiti) 6/10/11)
*6. Links to alternative sources on: Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia,
Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico, Haiti, Puerto Rico
Brazil Without Poverty? Dilma’s Double Discourse
https://nacla.org/blog/brazil-without-poverty-dilma%E2%80%99s-double-discourse
Peru’s Humala Visits Brazil To Meet With Rousseff; Looks To Distance
Himself From Chávez
http://latindispatch.com/2011/06/10/perus-humala-visits-brazil-to-meet-with-rousseff-looks-to-distance-himself-from-chavez/
Hope in the Andes: What Ollanta Humala’s Victory Means for Peru
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/peru-archives-76/3068-hope-in-the-andes-what-ollanta-humalas-victory-means-for-peru-
WikiLeaks cables: The great equaliser in Peru
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/06/2011627179165204.html
Peru: Puno protests resumed, government prepares dialogue
http://ww4report.com/node/9982
Ecuador cracks down on illegal gold mines, wants higher royalties from majors
http://ww4report.com/node/9970
The History of the Quimbo in Colombia: Dammed or Damned?
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/colombia-archives-61/3064--the-history-of-the-quimbo-in-colombia-dammed-or-damned
Afro-Colombian community leader assassinated in Medellín
http://ww4report.com/node/9972
Obama Pressed To Submit Free Trade Agreements With Colombia and Panama For Vote
http://latindispatch.com/2011/06/08/obama-pressed-to-submit-free-trade-agreements-with-colombia-and-panama-for-vote/
Venezuelan Peasant Organisations March to Demand Justice for Murders
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6258
How to Avoid Extrajudicial Execution in Honduras: Throw Popcorn at Police
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3073-how-to-avoid-extrajudicial-execution-in-honduras-throw-popcorn-at-police
A Civics Lesson (Mexico, Hank Rhon)
https://nacla.org/blog/civics-lesson
Mexico: narco-tank factory busted in Tamaulipas
http://ww4report.com/node/9977
Mexican Community Uses Barricades to Drive Out Organized Crime and
Political Parties
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/3065-mexican-community-uses-barricades-to-drive-out-organized-crime-and-political-parties
Javier Sicilia: ‘The United States Imposed This War on Us, It Should
Change the Strategy”
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/4759
In Bloody Durango, Civilian and Police Families Unite to Protest Drug War
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/4771
Peace Caravan Encounters Massacres, Military Abuses and Disappearances
in Torreón
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/4783
Mexico Peace Caravan’s Long Road Ends (Begins) With Pact Signed in Juárez
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/4842
Mexican "peace caravan" arrives at US border
http://ww4report.com/node/9983
Impasse? What’s blocking the capital’s reconstruction? (Haiti)
http://haitigrassrootswatch.squarespace.com/7pap1eng
While the heroes are watching (Haiti)
http://haitigrassrootswatch.squarespace.com/7chaneng1
Recent University of Puerto Rico Protests Raises Critique of Colonization
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/3075-recent-university-of-puerto-rico-protests-raises-critique-of-colonization
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://www.cipamericas.org/
http://latindispatch.com/
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/967/blastContent.jsp
http://www.ueinternational.org/Mexico_info/mlna.php
http://nacla.org/
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://venezuelanalysis.com/
http://ww4report.com/node/
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
This Update is archived at:
http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/2011/06/wnu-1083-mapuche-prisoners-end-fast-in.html
since I was young I wouldn't get in a hot car
until we aired it out
it was just nasty
now I know what the nasty is called
I never read this! Amazing. I have to keep up with you on reading. No wonder I feel so old! And I always complain about the heat. It's the benzene, not the heat that's killing me.
NASA Science News for June 9, 2011
NASA's Voyager probes have reached the edge of the solar system and found something surprising there--a froth of magnetic bubbles separating us from the rest of the galaxy.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/09jun_bigsurprise/
RIP James Arness at 88
James Arness, the 6-foot-6 actor who towered over the television landscape for two decades as righteous Dodge City lawman Matt Dillon in "Gunsmoke," died Friday.
He was 88.
The actor died in his sleep at his home in Brentwood, Calif., according to his business manager, Ginny Fazer.
Arness' official website posted a letter from Arness on Friday that he wrote with the intention that it be posted posthumously: "I had a wonderful life and was blessed with some many loving people and great friends," he said.
more here
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/06/03/gunsmoke-star-james-arness-dies-at-age-88/?test=faces
one of my favorite actors of all time
just this past year we got all the gunsmoke episodes on dvd
A Place to talk about almost anything
If continuing a discussion from another board, please repost the original so everyone else can appreciate understand the discussion
Basic purpose is described in the Sticky Notes.
This is a place for discussion so please be courteous and respectful of other posters.
Laughing with others is definitely cool, including a humorous nudge in the ribs to someone you disagree with as long as it's done in good fun.
Call it a place to Rant and Rave even where it's OK to disagree with the moderator, you shouldn't see 84 bans here
Just one main thing:
Being Nasty to other posters will not be tolerated.....period.
Engage!
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