Cualli motonalli! This is the first installment of the Native News Roundup, bringing you the latest news on the struggles of indigenous communities from throughout the Americas.
Tense Standoff at Tyendinaga Land Reclamation, Six Arrested
Infoshop reports: “After a “tense exchange this morning….the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) disbanded a Mohawk roadblock erected on the perimeter of a reclaimed quarry site. This resulted in a tense face-off between the OPP and community members. At present, the OPP has removed one of the roadblocks and pulled back, but remains present in the direct vicinity of the quarry in great numbers. At the center of the dispute is the Culbertson Tract, land which rightfully belongs to the Mohawks of Tyendinaga. Community members have been occupying the gravel quarry site for over a year. The situation and ensuing arrests followed the arrest earlier in the afternoon of Mohawk protest leader Shawn Brant, who had been under court order to stay away from any protests or acts of civil disobedience following his involvement in the National Day of Action protests last June. In addition, a blockade of Highway 6, taken in support of the Tyendinaga Mohawks, continues by people of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. Six Nations community members have said they will remove the Highway 6 bypass blockade once they receive confirmation the OPP have withdrawn from the Mohawks of Tyendinaga.” (Infoshop News 04/28/08)
South Dakota Police Illegally Arrest Yankton Sioux on Sovereign Land
Brenda Norrell writes: “Police from the South Dakota State Police and Charles Mix County Sheriff’s Department illegally arrested
40 Yankton peacefully protecting their sovereign land from the construction of a disease-producing large-scale hog farm in the heart of their community, one-half mile from the Yankton Head Start. While women, children and young men stood in peaceful protest, more than 50 police patrol units arrived and sharpshooters were stationed on a rooftop. Long View Farms of Hull, Iowa, is acting in disregard for federal, state and tribal law, with the backing of the Sheriff’s Department and South Dakota State Police. Long View Farms has speeded up construction at the site, in violation of a tribal court order and in disregard for all federal and environmental laws.” (Narconews 05/02/08)
Watch a video of the arrests here
Six Nations Land Warriors Do Not Plan on Leaving Ontario Reclamation Site
Two years after occupying the Douglas Creek Estates subdivision near Caledonia, Ontario, Six Nations representatives are still at the negotiating table with provincial representatives. The land, which under treaty belongs to the Six Nations, was being developed into an upscale housing development despite long-running title disputes between the Six Nations and neighboring Caledonia. Conservatives in the Ontario government have recently been calling for definitive actions against the protesters, while indigenous activists demand that the dispute be resolved and accuse the government of intentionally trying to derail negotiations. Six Nations representatives want the government to respect the Two-Row Wampum Treaty, which gave the Six Nations sovereignty over its territories.
In the words of Six Nations spokesperson Hazel Hill, “For centuries we have endured the interference of the Crown in many areas of our jurisdiction. Over our lands, over our ability to determine who our people are, and over the laws that we inherently carry, as well as our ability to support those laws through legislation that is consistent with our ancient covenants. Every day, we see many of our people being criminalized for actions which, in accordance of our law, would be perceived to be upholding their responsibilities and obligations in trying to stop the further encroachment and theft of what little is left of lands within the Haldimand Tract, as well as protecting our hunting and fishing rights throughout the beaver hunting grounds.” (Turtle Island Native Network 04/08)
The Games Have Already Begun: Resistance to the 2010 Olympics
Earthfirst reports: “As it becomes clearer that the Olympics are already causing evictions, homelessness, industrial development and environmental destruction, the resistance continues to grow. In the first few months of 2008, a wide variety of militant actions and public demonstrations have already taken place. As most groups engaged in the resistance have vowed, things are sure to escalate in the coming months. At one rally, about 40 protesters marched across the city to the Countdown Clock, yelling slogans such as, “No Homes, No Peace,” and, “Homes, Not Olympics.” There, they met up with about 30 more protesters. With no cops guarding the clock, the protesters hurled yellow paintballs at its face, making its continuous countdown to the coming 2010 Olympics difficult to read. Protesters chanted, “Homes Not Games,” “Stop the War on the Poor, Make the Rich Pay,” and, “No Olympics on Stolen Native Land.” No one was arrested. The Countdown Clock has previously been the site of anti-Olympics demonstrations, beginning in February 2007, when the clock’s unveiling ceremony turned into a melee of protesters throwing eggs and paintballs on live network television.” (EarthFirst, 05/03/08, via Bullsheet)
For more information on the many actions that have sprung up in resistance to the 2010 Olympics, click here
Mayan TV Hits Airwaves
Indigenous Times reports: “Following in the footsteps of several indigenous broadcasters around the world, the Mayan people of Guatemala have launched their own television station. Ironically, the network will be broadcast on Channel 5, which was the same frequency used by the Guatemalan army during the military dictatorship, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported last week. The country’s bloody civil war from 1960 – 1996 resulted in the loss of about 200,000 lives, of which about 80 percent were Indian. A 1999 Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH) report found that the country’s Mayan Indian population had suffered acts of genocide on behalf of the Guatemalan government of the time. According to the AFP, TV Maya will run on a small budget but will produce three daily broadcasts. For now, the channel will only be broadcast in the capital – Guatemala City. But an indigenous leader Rosalina Tuyuc told the AFP that the new network will still help raise awareness for indigenous rights.” (NIT 04/01/08)
Emerging Party Seeks Self-Government for Mapuche People
IPS reports: “Wallmapuwen, which means “people of the Mapuche land” in the language of that indigenous group, aims to formally become a political party
in July this year in the southern Chilean regions of Araucanía, Los Ríos and Los Lagos. One of its main goals is to achieve self-government for the Mapuche people. Taking part in Chile’s October municipal elections is the first goal set by the group, which took on a higher profile early this year when several conflicts broke out involving the Mapuche people, who number around one million in this South American country of 15.6 million people. On Jan. 3, police officers shot and killed a 22-year-old Mapuche student, Matías Catrileo, when he was taking part in the occupation of land claimed by his community. In addition, there was a 111-day hunger strike by Patricia Troncoso, an activist for Mapuche rights serving a 10-year sentence on charges of “terrorist arson,” who called off her fast when she and several Mapuche prisoners were granted concessions, such as weekend leaves from prison, after negotiations brokered by the Catholic Church.” (MIL 03/10/08)
Read interview with Wallmapuwen leader Gustavo Quilaqueo here
Indigenous Activists Block Highway in Vancouver
Friends of Grassy Narrows reports: “About a hundred Natives and non-Native supporters marched along and blocked-off a major trucking route
in East Vancouver, Coast Salish Territory, for several hours starting at about 3:00 PM, in solidarity with the struggle at Tyendinaga and Six Nations. The march was led by elders and stopped for drumming and singing at a few major intersections, causing massive traffic jams.” (FOGN 04/29/08)
Zapatista Community Attacked
The Junta de Buen Gobierno (JBG) or Good Government Council of the Los Altos region of Chiapas has denounced the recent police attack on the Zapatista community of Cruztón. Over 500 Federal Police officers stormed the community on April 27th, during the night, and destroyed at least 10 houses. Six men were beaten and arrested, and over eleven thousand pesos were stolen. The police were guided by armed and masked civilians, who were easily identified by community members. Rapidly the women of the community descended on the police forces, surrounding them and demanding the release of those arrested. After a tense standoff, the six men were released. The community of Cruztón has been accused by the government of having occupied a 308 hectare swath of land, an accusation which the people of Cruztón adamantly deny, saying that the land has long been theirs and vowing to defend it. (Enlace Zapatista 05/01/08)
Brutal Attack Against Chiapas Political Prisoners
Kristen Bricker writes for the Narcosphere: “Ten Chiapas prisoners were brutally beaten
on April 21 in what the prisoners claim was a politically motivated attack orchestrated by prison authorities. Seven of the prisoners are members of “La Voz de los Llanos,” the political prisoners’ organization within the Cereso 5 “Los Llanos” prison in Chiapas. These prisoners participated in the hunger strike, fast, and plantón that resulted in the liberation of thirty Chiapan political prisoners in April. The three other prisoners are not political prisoners but support La Voz de los Llanos. Twenty-four prisoners beat the political prisoners and their supporters in a prison bathroom at about noon on April 21. Four mestizo (mixed Spanish-Indigenous descent) prisoners led the attack. The mestizos are known within the prison as “los precisos,” prisoners who maintain control, discrimination, and racial violence within the prison with the tacit approval of prison authorities.” (Narconews 04/25/08)
Preserving a Language and Culture: Teaching Choctaw in Public Schools
Newswise reports: “The Choctaw Nation has initiated a pilot program with the Oklahoma Department of Education to teach Choctaw in the public schools as a foreign language that would meet requirements for graduation. Headquartered at the tribe’s Oklahoma School of Choctaw Language and Culture in Durant, classes go out to schools in southeastern Oklahoma via Interactive Educational Television, a system that allows a teacher in a studio to teach classes at several schools at once. Cameras and microphones permit the students and teacher to interact from a distance much the same way they would in a traditional classroom. More than 2,500 students in 43 schools from 10 counties are enrolled in Choctaw language classes. Some of the schools have no students with Choctaw heritage; others have a high percentage of Choctaw students. Choctaw, a language that once was used for government, commerce, school and church in the Oklahoma Territory, faces extinction. Only 4,000 established speakers of Choctaw remain, and most children are not able to speak the language with any fluency. (Newswise 04/24/08)
Guatemalan Labor Activist Murdered, AFL-CIO Files Complaint Against CAFTA
Cyril Mychalejko writes for Upside Down World: “Less than 24 hours after President Bush met with Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom at the White House on Monday, a worker from a union that filed a trade complaint with Washington against the Guatemalan government was murdered. Carlos Enrique Cruz Hernández, a banana worker, was assassinated while working at a farm owned by a subsidiary of Del Monte. Cruz Hernández’s Union of Izabal Banana Workers (SITRABI), was one of six Guatemalan unions who, along with the AFL-CIO, filed a complaint allowed through labor provisions of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) on April 23, charging that the Guatemalan government was not upholding its labor laws and was failing to investigate and prosecute crimes against union members–which include rape and murder. The complaint states that violence against trade unionists has increased over the past two years (since CAFTA was ratified) and that the Guatemalan government may be responsible for some of the violence. The violence from this year alone includes 8 murders, 1 attempted murder, 2 drive-by shootings, and the kidnapping and gang rape of a top union official’s daughter who was targeted because of her father’s union work.” (Upside Down World 05/01/08)
Guatemalan Qeq’chi Maya Violently Evicted by Canadian Mining Company
Dawn Paley writes: “In September of 2006, five landless communities occupied lands which they have historical claim to, but which Skye Resources claims to own. The communities were violently evicted from the lands in November of 2006, and again in January of 2007. During January evictions, community members’ houses were burned to the ground and the army participated in intimidating the communities, in a blatant betrayal of the 1996 Peace Accords. People present at the evictions said that they were reminded of “wartime” by the violent and threatening actions of the company. When they took over the concession in 2004 from Inco, Skye Resources was expecting to drive up their share price and sell the company to a major nickel mining company. When they didn’t get any bids on their attempt to sell the project, Skye Resources announced that they would build the mine and carry out the project themselves. In January the company announced that they had defaulted on their financing.” (Upside Down World 05/01/08)
The Native News Roundup is a compilation of news relating to indigenous peoples, with a dash of original content. Charles Mostoller is a student journalist and photographer. He can be contacted at cmosto@gmail.com.
For more of GNN’s exclusive roundups of under-reported news from around the world, check out Labor News Roundup, The Rebel Communiqué, East Is East, and If You Knew…