Archive for category General
UNESCO: Desaparecerán más de 200 lenguas indígenas en los próximos años
Posted by carnalizmo in General on March 5, 2010
por Erick Gutiérrez @ Mapuchenoticias.com
Según los datos publicados por la UNESCO en los próximos 100 años desaparecerán al menos el 90% de los idiomas originarios, y en los próximos años sufrirían esta suerte al menos 248 idiomas indígenas en latinoamérica.
En Argentina las lenguas en peligro son el mapudungun de los mapuches, el choyote, el guaraní, el tapieté, el chaná y el tehuelche. Estos últimos se encuentran en un estado crítico, ya que el tehuelche es hablado por sólo 4 personas y el chaná por una sola persona.
Según el informe, en latinoamérica se encuentran a punto de desaparecer 64 lenguas en Brasil, 53 en México, 29 en Perú, 24 en Colombia y 18 en Bolivia.
Esto se puede revertir sólo si los gobiernos toman medidas urgentes, cosa que dificilmente harán, porque estos idiomas son considerados inútiles para el progreso y el desarrollo de los países.
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Machetero POW Pleads Guilty
Posted by carnalizmo in General, News, Prisoners of War/Political Prisoners on February 12, 2010
HARTFORD, Conn.— A Puerto Rican nationalist has pleaded guilty to federal charges related to his involvement in a 1983 armored truck robbery of about $7 million in Connecticut _ one of the largest robberies in American history.
Federal prosecutors said Friday that 67-year-old Avelino Gonzalez-Claudio pleaded guilty in Hartford to foreign transportation of stolen money and conspiracy to rob federally insured bank funds.
Gonzalez-Claudio conspired with others to rob the Wells Fargo Armored Service Corp. in West Hartford and to transport the stolen money to Mexico, authorities said.
Authorities allege the robbery was committed to fund the activities of Los Macheteros, a clandestine organization that seeks Puerto Rican independence.
Gonzalez-Claudio was a fugitive for more than 22 years before he was arrested in 2008 in Puerto Rico, where he had been living under an assumed name. He faces up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced May 26. A plea agreement, subject to court approval, calls for a seven-year sentence.
“It’s a very fair and I would say favorable resolution,” Gonzalez-Claudio’s attorney, James Bergenn, said Friday.
Bergenn has said his client’s membership in the Macheteros was not a crime and accused prosecutors of making unsubstantiated claims about him.
The Macheteros, whose name translates as “Machete Wielders” or “Cane Cutters,” are suspected of using the stolen millions to finance bombings and attacks designed to promote independence for the U.S. territory.
Their alleged leader, Filiberto Ojeda Rios, was killed in a 2005 shootout with the FBI at a remote farmhouse in Puerto Rico.
The robbery was allegedly carried out by Victor Gerena, a Wells Fargo driver recruited by the independence group. Authorities say Gerena took two co-workers hostage at gunpoint, handcuffed them and injected them with an unknown substance to disable them.
Gonzalez is accused of helping to get Gerena and the half-ton of cash out of the United States.
Two suspects, Gerena and Gonzalez-Claudio’s brother, Norberto Gonzalez-Claudio, remain at large, and Gerena is on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list.
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Stand beside us in defense of the land: Wet’suwet’en
Posted by carnalizmo in General, Turtle Island, indigenous on February 12, 2010
by Dawn Paley
Toghestiy (Warner Naziel) traveled from Smithers to Vancouver on Thursday in order to add his voice to the chorus of Olympic resistance.
He came with a message for activists gathered in Vancouver: he thinks the pressure for corporate development on Wet’suwet’en territory, which encompasses 22,000 square kilometers in central British Columbia, will increase when the B.C. government has to start paying down the deficit accrued because of the 2010 Games.
“When the time comes for them to actually pay off that bill, we know they’re going to start making their way into our territories, as well as other First Nations’ peoples territories that aren’t ceded yet, and they plan on paying off that bill by extracting resources from our lands, and doing it as quickly and as efficiently as possible,” he said.
There are two proposed oil pipelines that would cut through Wet’suwet’en territory: the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, and a separate Kinder Morgan pipeline, both of which to carry tar sands bitumen from Alberta to the BC Coast. The Wet’suwet’en have expressed their absolute and unconditional rejection of pipelines in their lands.
“The Wet’suwet’en want to protect our land, we want to protect it from any type of pollution, any type of industrial development, because we need to make sure the lands are available for our children and our unborn children,” Toghestiy told the Vancouver Media Co-op.
In the context of building post-Olympic movements in Vancouver, Toghestiy said that the Wet’suwet’en would like to have the support of people in the city as part of their struggle to defend their lands. “We’re looking at developing a larger network of people who can and will stand beside us,” he said.
The Wet’suwet’en nation withdrew from the B.C. Treaty process last October, after spending 16 years at the table with the provincial government.
“Now that Treaty is dead in our territory, one of the discussions that the clan groups had, we’re made up of five distinct clans, and one of the discussions that the clan groups have been having is ‘what are we going to do about occupation,’” said Toghestiy. “We need to go out and begin actually occupying our lands again.”
One of the ways that the Wet’suwet’en are reoccupying their lands is through a cabin building project, where a group people are learning to cut trees, mill them, and build log cabins. “They’re building them out in our territories, without permits or licences or anything like that from the government.”
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Host First Nations Bite the Olympic Hand
Posted by carnalizmo in General, News on February 12, 2010
February 9, 2010
Will the government meet its funding obligations before the Games?
by ZOE BLUNT
Chief Bill Williams at Ut'sam, 2006. Williams and other leaders of the Four Host First Nations are demanding the federal government meet its financial obligations to the communities before the Olympic Games.
VANCOUVER—It looked like the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Committee had everything sewn up tight: new venues built to order, ads from corporate sponsors, bylaws against ambush marketing, and smiling Indigenous people welcoming the world.
Now, the committee must be wondering whether it misjudged its First Nations “partners.”
Hard on the heels of Indigenous protests during the Olympic Torch Relay, the Four Host First Nations (FHFN) surprised the province and its international partners with an announcement in January. Chief Bill Williams, chair of the FHFN, declared they will use the power of international media to shame the province into honouring its commitments to economic development.
Thomas Leonard, president of the BC First Nations Forestry Council, fired the first shot. In a letter to BC Forests Minister Pat Bell last December, he wrote, “The fact that your government and its federal partner are spending $3 billion to stage the Winter Olympics is merely exacerbating the frustration and anger felt by our communities as they continue to be told that there is no money in the pot to address their situations, which, as you are fully aware, are of a most desperate nature.”
Williams explained the consequences for ignoring the FHFN’s ultimatum. “There’s going to be some 14,000 media people running around [at the Olympics],” he told the Globe and Mail. “Some of them are already contacting us. They want to know, ‘What’s it like to be an Indian in today’s world? How do you live?’ We are going to start letting those reporters know the reality of the poverty we face.”
The host nations—the Squamish, Musqueam, Tsleil Waututh, and Lil’Wat Nation bands—signed partnership agreements with VANOC years ago, and until now, they’ve submitted to the demands of the international committee on everything from cutting old-growth forests to wearing faux regalia. Some, like Kwakwaka’wakw activist Gord Hill, have accused the FHFN of selling out, and cheaply.
Raising the price at this late date doesn’t make it right, and Hill calls the latest move an “attempted cash grab” by “native sell-outs.”
“What is truly hypocritical is for Williams to now raise the issue of Native poverty, or to express concerns about the social conditions for Native people, after several years collaborating with VANOC and the 2010 Olympics,” Hill told The Dominion.
Indeed, with the Olympic spectacle upon us, Indigenous leaders have upped the ante. Thomas said, “Our communities are tired of being told there is no new funding available—and that they might have to make do with even less than they already have—and at the same time being told they should be excited about the 2010 Winter Olympics.”
Thomas asked the province for an urgent meeting to resolve the issue, and said if steps aren’t taken, “The FNFC and its member first nations will reluctantly, but without hesitation, take advantage of the intense international media interest that will be focused on BC before and during the Winter Olympics.”
Along with his position as chair of the FHFN, Williams is vice-president of the BC First Nations Forestry Council. He said the province is overdue in funding $6.2 million for developing aboriginal forestry businesses. According to a press statement, similar commitments from Ottawa for $135 million for mountain pine beetle salvage and recovery were pledged years ago but never materialized. A second letter to Federal International Trade Minister Stockwell Day requested a meeting to discuss the long-overdue funding from Ottawa.
Hundreds of reserves across Canada are mired in abject poverty, and thousands make do without safe drinking water, housing, health care, employment and education. Conditions for Indigenous people have only deteriorated since Vancouver and Whistler won the Olympic bid, Hill said. “During this period, hundreds of Natives have been made homeless in Vancouver, subject to police violence and harassment; yet where were Mr. Williams, the Four Host First Nations and their Olympic toad Tewanee Joseph? Kissing the ass of corporations, government and Olympic officials,” he charged.
Investing in forestry is a delicate issue for the Squamish and other First Nations who have fought to preserve the forests of their traditional territory from industrial clearcutting. But in many parts of the coast, unprecedented liquidation of old-growth and second-growth forests is underway, and raw log exports are at an all-time high. Meanwhile, unsettled Indigenous land claims languish in limbo.
Growing nations are desperate for jobs and economic development, and this is the trade-off they face. The Olympics represent development, but at the expense of traditional lands, foods, and wildlife.
Today, neither the province nor the chiefs are speaking to the media—likely because they are attempting to negotiate a truce. The chiefs are certainly aware that when provincial and federal governments are confronted by intractable First Nations threatening action, they often give in to the demands. That’s how Indigenous activists have won substantial concessions in the past.
In this case, the FHFN demands are dwarfed by the scale of the Olympic money-pit. The province’s $6.2 million debt to First Nations forestry amounts to one-tenth of one per cent of Olympic spending. Ottawa’s contribution to pine-beetle salvage in First Nations communities would be a little over two per cent of the budget for the Games. Clearly, the host nations have the position and the leverage to negotiate sweeping changes. But what they stand to win by what some have called “selling out” appears to only be crumbs from the master’s table.
Zoe Blunt is a journalism school dropout on Vancouver Island.
For up-to-the-minute Olympics resistance coverage, check out theVancouver Media Co-op, and the Convergence website. Follow the VMC on twitter!
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Celebrate Freedom With Me (Feb. 6 Statement by Leonard Peltier)
Posted by carnalizmo in General, News, Prisoners of War/Political Prisoners, american indian on February 12, 2010
Sat, February 6, 2010
34 years. It doesn’t even sound like a real number to me. Not when one really thinks about being in a jail cell for that long. All these years and I swear, I still think sometimes I’ll wake up from this nightmare in my own bed, in my own home, with my family in the next room. I would never have imagined such a thing. Surely the only place people are unjustly imprisoned for 34 years is in far away lands, books or fairy tales.
It’s been that long since I woke up when I needed to, worked where I wanted to, loved who I was supposed to love, or did what I was compelled to do. It’s been that long-long enough to see my children have grandchildren. Long enough to have many of my friends and loved ones die in the course of a normal life, while I was here unable to know them in their final days.
So often in my daily life, the thought creeps in – “I don’t deserve this.” It lingers like acid in my mouth. But I have to push those types of thoughts away. I made a commitment long ago, many of us did. Some didn’t live up to their commitments, and some of us didn’t have a choice. Joe Stuntz didn’t have a choice. Neither did Buddy Lamont. I never thought my commitment would mean sacrificing like this, but I was willing to do so nonetheless. And really, if necessary, I’d do it all over again, because it was the right thing to do. We didn’t go to ceremony and say “I’ll fight for the people as long as it doesn’t cost too much.” We prayed, and we gave. Like I say, some of us didn’t have a choice. Our only other option was to run away, and we couldn’t even do that. Back then, we had no where left to run to.
I have cried so many tears over these three plus decades. Like the many families directly affected by this whole series of events, my family’s tears have not been in short supply. Our tears have joined all the tears from over 500 years of oppression. Together our tears come together and form a giant river of suffering and I hope, cleansing. Injustice is never final, I keep telling myself. I pray this is true for all of us.
To those who know I am innocent, thank you for your faith. And I hope you continue working for my release. That is, to work towards truth and justice. To those who think me guilty, I ask you to believe in and work for the rule of law. Even the law says I should be free by now, regardless of guilt. What has happened to me isn’t justice, it isn’t the law, it isn’t fair, it isn’t right. This has been a long battle in an even longer war. But we have to remain vigilant, as we have a righteous cause. After all this time, I can only ask this: Don’t give up. Not ever. Stay in this fight with me. Suffer with me. Grieve with me. Endure with me. Believe with me. Outlast with me. And one day, celebrate freedom with me. Hoka hey!
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
PO Box 7488
Fargo, ND 58106
Phone: 701/235-2206
Fax: 701/235-5045
E-mail: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
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Frente de Liberacion Animal (FLA): Mexico, Chile, Uruguay (Winter 2009-2010)
Posted by Nationalism.n.Matriarchy in Earth Liberation, General, Herbivores/Vegans of Color, News, Statement, animal liberation on February 12, 2010
(Part One of Two…)
*******
TWO JAILED FOR ELF ACTIONS
December 15, 2009 – Mexico
Abraham López Martínez (age 16) has been held since December 15, 2009 at a youth detention center in Mexico City. He is accused of damaging property and criminal association, related to the burning of nine privately-owned cars and a bomb attack against a Harley Davidson dealer, actions claimed by the Frente de Liberación de la Tierra [Earth Liberation Front]. He is awaiting trial. Abraham is vegan.
Write to Abraham via Anarchist Black Cross-Mexico: cna.mex@gmail.com
*******
INCENDIARY ATTACK ON MEAT MARKET
December 26, 2009 – Chile
reported on Liberación Total:
“La noche del 25 de Diciembre se instaló un artefacto incendiario en una carnicería de la asesina empresa Friosa, en Santiago.
El artefacto que consistía de un bidón con bencina adosado a esponjas, activado mediante un simple temporizador químico y fue oculto en el techo del centro de exterminio, porque así el fuego se propagaría de mejor manera.
El fuego logró encender y con ello destruir parte del techo de ese asqueroso cementerio, donde seres son vendido como simples objetos de consumo.
Prendímos fuego a este lugar por que en el reconocemos un claro sintoma de las relaciones de poder que en la sociedad existen e impone a fin de mantener un sistema basado en el aniquilamiento y la explotación, así como también lo son las cárceles, las escuelas, las empresas, los cuarteles, etc…
Este ataque es en apoyo a lxs compañerxs que se encuantran en huega de hambre, no como sacrificio sino como un gesto de amor y agitación, demostrando que la cárcel no lxs aniquila y que la guerra se pelea tanto adentro como afuera.
A la memoria de todxs lxs compañerxs caídxs en esta guerra, como es el caso de la querida compañera Soledad Rosas, quién tomo la decisión terminar con su vida estando detenida. Así también el querido compañero Mauricio Morales, quién murió al detonarle accidentalmente el artefacto que llevaba consigo para atacar la escuela de carceleros.
En esta guerra, hace siglos declarada, ningún compañerx esta solx ni olvidadx!
A Diego Ríos, tú fuga, que la hacemos nuestra, es una continua acción por la destrucción de todas las cárceles y las jaulas. Tus palabras son fuerza y energía para todxs quienes atacamos al poder y es por esto que con estas llamas te acompañamos en la huida.”
English:
“On the night of December 25 an incendiary device was placed in a meat market belonging to the murderous Friosa company in Santiago.
The device consisted of a can with gasoline, attached to sponges, activated by a simple chemical timer, and which was hidden in the roof of the extermination camp, because this way the fire would spread better.
The fire was lit and it destroyed part of the roof of that filthy cemetery, where beings are sold as mere objects of consumption.
We set fire to this place because in it we recognize a clear symptom of the power relations that exist in society and to put an end to the support of a system based on annihilation and exploitation, as are the prisons, the schools, the companies, the barracks, etc …
This attack is in support of our comrades in the midst of a hunger strike, not as sacrifice but as a gesture of love and agitation, showing that prison has not annihilated them and that the war is fought both inside and out.
To the memory of all our comrades who have fallen in this war, as is the case of our beloved comrade Soledad Rosas, who made the decision to end her life while under arrest. As our beloved comrade Mauricio Morales, who died when the bomb he carried with him accidentally detonated.
In this war, declared centuries ago, no comrade is alone or forgotten!
To Diego Rios, your escape, which we have made ours, is a continuous action for the destruction of all prisons and cages. Your words are strength and energy for all who attack power and that is why with these flames we accompany you in flight.”
*******
FIVE HENS LIBERATED
December 29, 2009 – Mexico
received anonymously:
“El día 27 de diciembre el frente de liberación animal libero cinco gallinas en un poblado del sureste de DF. Esta vez entre la oscuridad nos infiltramos a la propiedad de una persona que mantiene una pequeña producción avícola, fueron arrancadas de sus manos antropocentristas y puestas en libertad donde ahora pueden correr, y revolotear entre la tierra. El frente de liberación animal ha demostrado que la acción directa es una herramienta cuando no existe la valoración de que un animal quiere y anhela la libertad tanto como nosotros, estar en un ambiente ausente de civilización, ausente de dominación, ausente de toda practica antropocentrista. Porque no nos quedaremos con las manos cruzadas viendo como el tiempo consume nuestras ansias de libertad. La civilización esta por venirse abajo, la vida y la libertada ya no pertenecen al sistema industrial.
¡Abolición total a las cárceles, a las jaulas!
¡Por una vida libre y salvaje! ALF-suroeste
Accion dedicada a los presos por la liberacion de la tierra en Mexico
Abraham y Fermin.”
English:
“On December 27 the frente de liberación animal liberated five hens in a small village southeast of Mexico City. This time in the darkness we entered the property of a person who maintains a small poultry farm; the chickens were taken from anthropocentric hands and given freedom where they can now run and flit around in the earth. The frente de liberación animal has shown that direct action is a tool when there is no value given to the fact that an animal wants and longs for freedom as much as we do, to be somewhere away from civilization, away from domination, away from all anthropocentric practices.
We will not remain, with arms folded, watching as time consumes our yearning for freedom. Civilization is about to collapse, life and freedom no longer belong to the industrial system.
Total abolition of the prisons, and the cages!
For a free and wild life! ALF-southwest
Action dedicated to the earth liberation prisoners in Mexico
Abraham and Fermin.”
*******
ATTACK ON MEAT TRUCK AND PSYCHIATRIC CLINIC IN SANTIAGO
January 4, 2010 – Chile
anonymous communique:
“La noche del martes 29, teníamos planificado atacar la maldita tranquilidad de algunos explotadores. Es por eso que salimos con lo necesario para llevarlo a cabo y no quedar solo con las intenciones.
Lo primero que hicimos fue dirigirnos a la casa de un carnicero asesino (valga la redundancia) donde en el patio guardaba un camión transportador de cadáveres, hacia el cual apuntamos nuestra rabia. Las luces de la casa ya estaban apagadas cuando decidimos actuar, roseamos un acido muy corrosivo (que corroe metal y plástico, entre otros) sobre el parabrisas, la parte del motor y dos ruedas laterales, al mismo tiempo se lanzaba pintura roja sobre la gran publicidad a un costado, la que incitaba al consumo de animales, dejando arruinado todo el camión. También quedo manchada la entrada de la casa con pintura.
Con la misma rabia nos trasladamos a una Clínica Psiquiátrica, la cual lucia unos grandes ventanales que a pesar de estar reforzados, estos fueron reventados a piedrazos, en horas donde aun se encontraban los verdugos de traje blanco trabajando.
Ambos ataques fueron apuntados contra propiedad de explotadores, gestores/defensores de la dominación y la alienación, de unos seres por sobre otros.
Las prácticas autoritarias se encuentran por todos lados, tú decides, ser cómplice o atacarlas, haciendo de la vida una propaganda por el hecho.
Estas acciones son un gesto fraterno para todas/os las/os compañeras/os presas/os que se encuentra en huelga de hambre del 20 de diciembre al 1 de enero, porque la actitud inquebrantable de cada una/o de ustedes nos llena de orgullo y nos anima a emprender la ofensiva.
Un saludo lleno de fuerza para todas/os las/os salvajes e insurrectas/os que han (y seguirán) accionando en el territorio denominado, méxico. A seguir atacando compañeras/os que en la guerra contra la dominación nos animamos y reconocemos en cada acción.
Como ya lo habíamos mencionado antes, cada ataque va a la memoria guerrera de Mauricio Morales, compañero aquí seguimos buscando acertar golpes contra el enemigo.
Querido Diego, tu ausencia en las jaulas nos llena de alegría. Tu fiereza y convicción nos da fuerza en esta guerra a muerte. Adelante compañero cada día que pasa en un golpe contra el poder.
Banda Salvaje e Insurrecta en Guerra Contra la Dominación”
English:
“On the night of Tuesday the 29th, we had been planning to attack the evil tranquility of some exploiters. That’s why we left that night with what was needed to do it, rather than just sitting still with only the intention to do something.
The first thing we did was to go to the house of a murdering butcher (forgive the redundancy) where in the yard he kept a truck for transporting corpses, and we directed our rage at it. The lights in the house were off when we decided to act, spraying a very corrosive acid (which corrodes metal and plastic, among other things) on the windshield, part of the engine and two wheels; at the same time red paint was thrown on the large advertisement on the side, which advocated consumption of animals, leaving the truck completely ruined. The entry of the house was also stained with paint.
With the same anger we moved to a psychiatric clinic, which stood out because of some large windows which despite being reinforced, were smashed with stones, where it would remain until discovered by the executioners in white suits a few hours later.
Both attacks were aimed at the property of exploiters, agents/defenders of the domination and alienation, of some beings by/over others.
Authoritarian practices are found everywhere; you decide to be complacent or to attack them, making life an example through action.
These actions are a fraternal gesture for all our comrades in prison who are on hunger strike from December 20 to January 1, because the unwavering attitude of each of you fills us with pride and encourages us to undertake the offensive.
A greeting full of strength for all the wild and insurgent ones who have been (and will continue) acting in the territory named Mexico. Comrades continue attacking because in the war against domination we encourage and motivate one another with each action.
As we have already mentioned, each attack is in fighting memory of Mauricio Morales, comrade we continue to strike blows against the enemy.
Dear Diego, your absence from the cages fills us with happiness. Your fierceness and conviction give us the strength in this battle to the death. Continue forward comrade, each day that passes is a strike against power.
Banda Salvaje e Insurrecta en Guerra Contra la Dominación [Wild and Insurgent Band at War Against Domination]”
*******
EXPLOSIVE ATTACKS AGAINST BANK AND CONSTRUCTION COMPANY
January 14, 2010 – Mexico
anonymous communique:
“Alrededor de las 3 de la madrugada del día 24 de diciembre hemos dejado un artefacto explosivo relleno de dinamita en la sucursal bancaria BBVA en Ecatepec Estado de Mexico, así mismo simultáneamente dejamos otro de nuestros regalos frente a la fachada de la empresa Kengoord la cual estaba siendo resguardada por dos patrullas de la policía estatal, los dos blancos sufrieron daños en sus ventanales.
Esta acción la hemos hecho sobre la misma avenida (José López Portillo) en la que unas semanas antes las “Brigadas de Eco saboteadores por la Venganza Nunca Olvidada” detonaran una bomba compuesta con latas de gas butano en un Banamex en el municipio de Coacalco. Las autoridades no se imaginaron que otros grupos atacarían otra vez sobre el mismo “perímetro controlado” y dejaron tales blancos vulnerables y listos para colocar nuestros paquetes dinamiteros.
La destrucción de su paz social fue inevitable cuando la mecha se encendió y activo el artefacto, dichas explosiones con un sonido fuerte retumbaron en los oídos de lxs que sustentan el poder y el autoritarismo ganado a costa de la destrucción del planeta en el que ahora subsistimos por causa de los catastróficos avances del cambio climático, que a su vez es causado en gran parte por tales empresa como las que atacamos esta madrugada.
BBVA vista como una empresa engañosa y que administra un dinero resultado de la explotación animal, humana y de la tierra y Kenworth vista como una empresa ligada a la industria de la construcción que tiene contacto con empresas como CAT o Carso, responsable directa de la desolación medioambiental, recibieron nuestro mensaje no con palabras sino con acciones, porque desde que afrontamos de una manera radical temas como lo son los tomados en este comunicado hemos decidido ya no hablar y empezar a actuar.
Al siguiente día de nuestra acción la prensa vendida no mencionó nada de lo acontecido, todo estaba plegado de mensajes hipócritas y sin ningún sentido común sobre las”felices fiestas navideñas”, fecha fatídica admirada por el capitalismo insaciable como la recuperación socioeconómica de su impero en el mundo. La conspiración entre medios y las autoridades que vislumbraron nuestra acción ocultada fue clara, su fin es mantener tranquila a la sociedad sobre lo que pasa en estos días festivos ¿a que persona tranquiliza ver en las noticias que en fechas tan importantes de “convivencia familiar” bombas están estallando en el país? Nosotrxs tiramos sus expectativas, ellxs saben que el descontento no solo esta en nuestras cabezas sino también en nuestros sabotajes, aunque lo oculten o lo tergiversen.
Con estos estallidos queremos solidarizarnos con los detenidos el pasado 15 en Tlalpan DF, en especial con Abraham y Fermín que aunque sean menores de edad, su gran compromiso por la liberación de la tierra es mas que visible y es una de las maneras para emprender la ofensiva para la solidaridad directa. Aguanten compas, que el fuego incinere y que las bombas estallen en sus nombres!
¡Solidaridad directa con Víctor Herrera, Emmanuel Hernández, Abraham López y Fermín Gómez!
Frente de Liberación Animal
Frente de Liberación de la Tierra”
English:
“Around 3 in the morning on December 24 we left an explosive device stuffed with dynamite at the BBVA bank branch in Ecatepec, Mexico City. We simultaneously left another one of our gifts in front of the facade of the Kenworth company which was being guarded by two state police patrols. The two targets sustained damages to their windows.
We’ve carried out this action on the same street (José López Portillo) where a few weeks before the ‘Brigadas de Eco saboteadores por la Venganza Nunca Olvidada’ [Unforgettable Vengeance Eco-Sabotage Brigade] detonated a bomb made with cans of butane gas at a Banamex in Coacalco. The authorities did not imagine that other groups would again attack in the same ‘controlled perimeter,’ and they left such targets vulnerable and ready for our dynamite.
The destruction of their social peace was inevitable when the fuse was lit and the device activated. These explosions echoed with a sound loud in the ears of those who support power and authoritarianism won at the cost of the destruction of the planet on which we survive, caused by the catastrophic encroachment of climate change, which in turn is caused in large part by such companies as we attacked this morning.
BBVA is a deceitful company that manages money earned from the exploitation of animals, humans and the earth. Kenworth is a company bound to the construction industry and which has contacts with companies like CAT or Carso, which are directly responsible for environmental devastation. They received our message not with words but with actions, because we are facing in a radical way issues such as those noted in this communique; we have decided not to talk and to start to take action.
The day after our action the sell-out press mentioned nothing of what happened; instead it was full of hypocritical messages about ‘Merry Christmas’ festivities, the appalling day admired by insatiable capitalism as the socio-economic reclamation of its rule over the world. The conspiracy between the media and the authorities who have hidden our action was obvious; its purpose is to maintain calm in society during the holidays, and what person calmly watches the news seeing that during such important days of ‘family life,’ bombs are exploding in the country? We have defied their expectations, they now know that this discontent is not only in our heads but also in our acts of sabotage, although they hide or distort it.
With these explosions we want to express our solidarity with the detainees of December 15th in Tlalpan, Mexico City, especially with Abraham and Fermin, although you are still young, your great commitment to the liberation of the earth is more than obvious, and one of the ways to undertake the offensive for direct solidarity. Hold on comrades, the fire burns and the bombs explode in your names!
Direct solidarity with Víctor Herrera, Emmanuel Hernández, Abraham López y Fermín Gómez!
Frente de Liberación Animal
Frente de Liberación de la Tierra”
*******
SABOTAGE AT MEAT RESTAURANT
January 17, 2010 – Chile
reported on Liberación Total:
“Sabotajes a restaurant de carne y construcción inmobiliaria en Santiago, $hile
En la madrugada del jueves 14 de enero, cobijadxs por el silencio nos encaminamos a un local de venta de carne muy popular en santiago conocido como ‘Parrilladas Argentina’. Ahi donde se lucra con la muerte de animales y además se reproduce con esplendor la práctica especista de comer cadáveres.
En el lugar, ubicado en la calle principal de la capital, se quebraron sus ventanales, se lanzaron bombas de pintura roja y además se rayo ‘FLA’ en su fachada.
También la oficina de una nueva construcción inmobiliaria, se llevó un regalo de nuestra parte y quedo con varias de sus ventanas destrozadas.
Nuestro entorno se ve cada vez mas infectado por la expanción de la civilización con edificaciones y asfalto que asesinan la tierra. La destrucción de ecosistemas es la forma en que estas empresas se llenan los bolsillos, por esto solo deseamos su destrucción.
El sabotaje contra los promotores de la explotación, es una herramienta eficaz para frenar la debacle del entorno y de quienes en él habitamos.
La costante amenaza desata el caos, capaz de acabar y alzarse contra lo que nos oprime.
Con estos actos saludamos a los compañeros Abraham López y Fermín Gómez, enjaulados por el Estado mexicano y a Matías Castro enjaulado por el Estado chileno. Fuerza compañeros, desde aquí nos hermanamos con sus ideas y práctica, multiplicando las acciones.
’si no vives como piensas, acabaras pensando como vives’
FLA/FLT”
English:
“Sabotage against a meat restaurant and real estate office in Santiago, $hile
At dawn on Thursday, January 14, protected by the silence we went to a very popular place where meat is sold in Santiago called Parrilladas Argentina[Argentina Grill]. There they profit from the death of animals and also re-create with splendor the speciesist practice of eating corpses.
At this place, located on the main street of the capital, their windows were broken, red paint bombs were thrown and ‘FLA’ was graffitied on the facade.
A new construction real estate office also received a gift from us and was left with several of its windows shattered.
Our environment is increasingly infected by the expansion of civilization with buildings and asphalt that kill the earth. The way these companies are lining their pockets is through the destruction of ecosystems; because of this we desire only their destruction.
Sabotage against promoters of exploitation is an effective tool to confront the collapse of the environment and of those who inhabit it.
The constant threat unleashes chaos with the capacity to put an end to what oppresses us.
With these acts we salute our comrades Abraham López and Fermin Gómez, caged by the Mexican State and Matías Castro, caged by the Chilean State. Strength comrades, we are brothers in ideas and practice, multiplying the actions.
‘If you do not live like you think, you end up thinking as you live’
FLA / FLT”
*******
COCA-COLA TARGETED BY ALF/ELF
January 22, 2010 – Mexico
anonymous communique:
“La noche del 17 de enero decimos salir para demostrar una vez mas que esta guerra no ha acabado, que nuestro actuar no se he detenido y que seguimos sintiendo esa rabia que convertimos en acción cada que nos decidimos a morder al enemigo.
Esta vez hemos puesto dos cargas limitadas de dinamita forradas de turcas en los ventanales delanteros de las oficinas de canjeo y compra-venta de la embotelladora femsa, propiedad de la asquerosa multinacional coca cola, los cuales quedaron completamente destrozados por la explosión. El atentado fue hecho en el municipio de Ecatepec en el Estado de Mexico.
Coca cola una de las empresas destructoras de la tierra, que expande cada vez mas la extinción de especies animales y que usa la súper explotación humana para producir mas mercancías como refrescos que hacen suyos los recursos naturales y los privatizan; coca cola una de las empresas que son responsables directas del deterioro medioambiental, ha sido visitada por
nosotrxs, lxs molestxs eco anarquistas y liberacionistas, las células que hemos decidido pasar a las acciones de calidad, esforzándonos para expandir de una manera mas violenta nuestros actos de sabotaje.
Si bien es cierto que 2008 y 2009 fueron años de expansión cuantitativa, ahora 2010, nuevo año, nuevas estrategias, nuevas tácticas pero el mismo coraje cuando actuamos.
Esta acción fue dedicada con todas nuestras ansias de libertad para lxs presos Víctor, Emmanuel, Abraham, Fermín y Socorro de Tijuana. Que la solidaridad directa se multiplique en cada acción clandestina, por su liberación incondicional.
¡Preparemos nuestras armas para la cumbre del cambio climático!
¡Golpeando fuerte y huyendo!
Frente de Liberación Animal
Frente de Liberación de la Tierra”
English:
“On the night of January 17 we decided to go out to once again prove that this war has not ended, that our actions have not stopped and that we continue to feel the rage that we have put into every action.
This time we put two packages of explosives in the front windows of the offices of the bottler FEMSA, owned by the filthy multinational Coca-Cola. The windows were completely destroyed in the explosion. The attack was carried out in Ecatepec, Mexico City.
Coca-Cola is an earth-destroying company that causeS the extinction of animal species, that uses extreme human exploitation to produce goods like soft drinks, and that claims and privatizes natural resources. Coca-Cola, one of the companies directly responsible for environmental deterioration, has been visited by us, anarchists and liberationists; we have decided in these cells to focus on quality actions, strengthening ourselves to expand our acts of sabotage.
While it is true that 2008 and 2009 were years of quantitative expansion, now it is 2010, a new year, with new strategies and new tactics, but with the same courage to act.
This action is dedicated with all our desire for freedom to the prisoners Víctor, Emmanuel, Abraham, Fermín, and Socorro of Tijuana. We hope that direct solidarity multiplies in clandestine actions, for their unconditional liberation.
We prepare our weapons for the climate change summit!
Hitting hard and fleeing!
Frente de Liberación Animal
Frente de Liberación de la Tierra”
*******
FREEDOM FOR 8 DOVES
January 24, 2010 – Uruguay
received anonymously:
“En el correr de la madruga del lunes 18 , ingresamos en un ‘mini zoologico’ ubicado en un balñeareo turistico en Uruguay , con la lluvia y el frio de nuestro lado , tomamos cartas en el asunto .
Dentro de esa prision se escuchaban gritos de libertad , naturaleza oprimida por el maldito especismo establecido por el estado el cual encierra , tortura y asesina millones de animales no-humanos . Y nosotros no lo podemos permitir , es por eso que nos acercamos hacia esa ‘mini prision’ , esperamos que se distrajera el seguridad bajo la tranquila y serena noche , y actuamos , dando asi en una jaula de palomas blancas ( alrededor de 25 ) , cortando su reja y pudiendo liberar a 8 palomas , las cuales liberamos metros mas adelante.
En esta prision , se encontraban a Monos , conejos y una gran variedad de aves ( incluyendo a un tucan siendo la ‘atraccion’ principal ) .
Hoy solo liberamos a las palomas , otro dia , seran a todos !
Frente de Liberacion Animal , Uruguay
Queremos saludar con un calido grito de lucha y resistencia ,a todos los compxs que luchan alrededor del mundo , a todos aquellos que fueron secuestrados por el maldito sistema y que hoy en dia estan siendo perseguidos, interrogados y golpeados por las fuerzas del orden establecido , como a los compas Abraham López Martínez y Fermín Gómez Trejo ( de mexico ) a todos los que luchan dia a dia por la Liberacion Animal .
Y a todos aquellos compxs Uruguayos , que se levantaron del sillon y empezaron a luchar !”
English:
“During the early morning of Monday the 18th, we entered a ‘mini zoo’ located in a tourist resort area in Uruguay, and with the rain and the cold on our side, we intervened in the matter.
Inside this prison shouts of freedom were heard, nature oppressed by the speciesism established by the state which imprisons, tortures and murders millions of nonhuman animals. We can not allow it; that’s why we came to this ‘mini-prison’, hoping that security would be distracted by the calm and serene night, and we took action, opening a cage of white doves (around 25), cutting open the wire cage and freeing 8 doves.
In this prison, monkeys, rabbits and a large variety of birds were found (including a toucan who is the principal ‘attraction’).
Today we only released the doves, another day it will be all of them!
Frente de Liberacion Animal, Uruguay
We want to send greetings with a warm cry of struggle and resistance, all of our comrades in this struggle around the world, to all those who were kidnapped by the damned system and who this very day are being persecuted, interrogated and beaten by the forces of the established order, like comrades Abraham López Martínez and Fermín Gómez Trejo (from Mexico) to all who struggle day by day fighting for animal liberation.
And to all those Uruguayan comrades who have risen from their chairs and have began to fight!”
*******
22 BIRDS FREED
January 25, 2010 – Uruguay
received anonymously:
“En la madrugada del viernes 22 ingresamos en un criadero de pájaros, más especificamente de cotorras comunes, y con nada más que pinzas en mano (sí, asi de simple) comenzamos a abrir las jaulas. Habían 22 aves encerradas y fueron liberadas todas ellas. Nos hubiera encantado destruir cada una de las jaulas antes de irnos, pero por razones obvias fue imposible.
Nos alejamos del lugar rápidamente al mismo tiempo que lo hacían los pájaros, volando…..
Queremos mandar un saludo a todos los compañeros que últimamente por estos lados se han atrevido a armarse de valor y en medio de la noche han salido a hacer de la liberación animal una realidad.
¡Fuego a todo aquello que nos convierte en esclavos!
¡Liberación animal!”
English:
“Montevideo, Uruguay.
In the early morning hours of Friday the 22nd we entered a large bird breeding farm, more specifically of common parrots, and with nothing more than pliers (yes, that simple) we began to open the cages. There were 22 birds locked up and all of them were released. We would have loved to destroy each of the cages before we left, but it was impossible.
We left the place quickly at the same time as the birds did, flying….
We want to send a greeting to all our comrades around here who have recently dared to gather up the courage and in the middle of the night have gone out to make animal liberation a reality.
Fire against everything that makes us slaves!
Animal Liberation!”
*******
WINDOWS SMASHED AT PET STORE
January 31, 2010 – Mexico
received anonymously:
“A mediados de este mes de enero nuestra célula salió a las calles a
destruir la propiedad de las personas que se lucran a costa de la
explotación animal.
Llegamos cargados de rabia contra una tienda de mascotas y le dimos una
respuesta a su explotación contra animales, la acción directa. La tienda
quedo con sus vidrios destrozados.
En solidaridad con la jornada de agitación anti carcelaria en solidaridad
con los presos mexicanos y del mundo.
Seguiremos actuando, esto no para aquí!
Célula contra la explotación animal de Guadalajara
México”
English:
“Around the middle of January, our cell took to the streets
to destroy the property of people who profit from
animal exploitation.
We arrived filled with rage at a pet store and we gave them
our response to their exploitation of animals: direct action.
The store was left with their windows destroyed.
In solidarity with the day of anti-prison agitation,
in solidarity with prisoners in Mexico and throughout the world.
We will continue taking action; this does not stop here!
Cell against animal exploitation in Guadalajara
México”
*******
Disclaimer: illvox (www.illvox.org) , illvox administrators and illvox editors are not affiliated or associated with the Frente de Liberacion Animal (FLA) [Animal Liberation Front (ALF)], Frente de Liberación de la Tierra (FLT) [Earth Liberation Front (ELF)], Liberacion Total, BITE BACK, BITE BACK Magazine or any other group or organization and do not conduct or incite any illegal or unethical activity. The above information is not meant to incite or request any illegal actions or illegal activities of any kind. If you have any questions about the legality of any act, we encourage everyone receiving this (or the) action alert(s) to check your local laws and ordinances before proceeding to do anything.
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CRISIS AT PINE RIDGE
Posted by APOC Milwaukee in General, american indian on February 9, 2010
A State of Emergency has been declared on the Pine Ridge Lakota “Sioux”
Indian Reservation. People have died. Many more people are at risk of
freezing to death. Another cold front is coming in, yet where is the
national media coverage?
Does the ‘Lacreek Electric Company’ – a non-Indian utility often thought
to be prejudice, care that people are suffering, since they are pulling
meters every day? (which is illegal throughout the rest of the u.s. during
the winter months).
What will Obama and the federal government do about this? While they dig
out Haitians, indigenous people right here may freeze to death. What are
we going to do about it?
Help put this message out for help. The children and families of the Pine
Ridge Indian Reservation need our help now. It is urgent that all 40,000
residents of the Oglala Nation have electricity and propane.
Call LaCreek toll free at 800-655-9324 or (605)685-6581 to see how you can
help pay into a customer’s account, example $5 into ten customers would
require a $50 donation by you. Tell LaCreek to make sure tanks are full
for ALL area residents between the months of November to March – and to
collect any delinquent payments between April and October.
Also, check out this non-profit to see if it is appropriate for you:
Arlene Catches The Enemy 605-867-5771 Ext 13.
Tax Deductable, Non-Profit (501-c-3). She can take credit cards over the
phone: Pine Ridge Emergency Fund, C/O Economic Development Administration
PO Box 669, Pine Ridge, SD 57770-0669
And call Lakota Plains Propane at 605-867-5199 and find out what homes have
elderly or children and if they need money put down on their account to be
able to have a warm home tonight.
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Calling All Two-Spirit People – “Let Your Voice Be Heard” Focus Groups
NorthEast Two-Spirit Society, Somjen Frazer, a Researcher and Evaluation Consultant, local NY Native and Non-Native community based organizations, and the New York State Department of Health are working on the first-ever New York State Needs Assessment for the Native Two-Spirit community.
Currently, we are organizing a series of focus groups throughout New York State. At these focus groups, participants will be asked to share their stories, experiences and input on what they hope for our community.
Here is a list of the locations, dates and time for upcoming focus groups:
Buffalo, NY
Friday, February 12, 2010
5:30pm to 8:30pm
Location:
Native American Community Services of Erie & Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS)
1005 Grant Street
Buffalo, New York 14207
Partnering organizations – American Indian Community House, Pride Center of Western NY & Native American Community Services of Erie & Niagara Counties, Inc.
Email: harlan@ne2ss.org for more info or to RSVP
Rochester, NY
Saturday, February 13, 2010
2:30pm to 6:30pm
Location:
Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley
875 East Main Street, Suite #500
Rochester, NY 14605
Partnering organizations – Rochester Two-Spirit Society & Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley
Email: harlan@ne2ss.org for more info or to RSVP
Syracuse, NY
Saturday, February 27, 2010
3:00pm to 7:00pm
Location:
American Indian Community House – Syracuse site
120 E Washington St., Suite #400
Syracuse, NY 13202
Partnering organizations – American Indian Community House
Email: harlan@ne2ss.org for more info or to RSVP
New York City, NY
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
5:30pm to 8:30pm
Location:
American Indian Community House
11 Broadway, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10004
Partnering organizations – American Indian Community House
Email: harlan@ne2ss.org for more info or to RSVP
Long Island, NY
Saturday, March 13, 2010
3:00pm to 7:00pm
Location:
The Long Island GLBT Community Center
34 Park Avenue
Bay Shore, NY 11706
Partnering organizations – The Long Island GLBT Community Center
Email: harlan@ne2ss.org for more info or to RSVP
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2009: Indigenous struggles, tragedies, and triumphs
During the 2009 calendar year, we have been witness to some of the most courageous, provocative and gut-wrenching struggles in recent memory: some of them triumphs so great that they set the standard for the rest of us ; and others, tragedies so vile we can’t bare to look at them—even though we must.
Of course, you wouldn’t know it either way if you rely on corporate news outlets like the Globe and Mail, social networking sites like Digg, and the incredible array of blogs and non-governmental organizations—all carrying their own take on what matters most.
Instead, you would have to be spending your time on websites like Censored News; Upside Down World; the Dominion Paper and the WW4 Report, among others. You would also have to be turning to the people themselves.
To highlight this fact, and mark the end of 2009, I would like to present you with a list of what I consider to be this year’s most under-reported struggles, tragedies and triumphs.
There are, of course, hundreds of stories that could be listed here, especially given the long trend of silence surrounding indigenous People (a trend that refuses to give way to necessity). However, for one reason or another, these stories stood out to me more than the others.
I hope you find it useful.
Ahni (intercontinentalcry.org)
1. Researchers in India discovered “the highest levels of pharmaceuticals ever detected in the environment” — a veritable toxic stew of pharmaceutical ingredients used in ailments that range from heart disease to depression, gonorrhea, ulcers, and bacterial infections. If you haven’t already guessed: it’s in the water.
2. Indigenous people in Peru celebrated a major victory in their long-time struggle to protect the land from outsiders hoping to exploit it. On January 14, the Regional Government of Cuscoenacted a law that bans the practice of biopiracy, or “the appropriation and monopolization of traditional population’s knowledge and biological resources.” The move was heralded “a leading example” for the rest of the world.
3. Members of the indigenous Awa in southwestern Colombia reported that as many as 20 people were killed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). This would not be the last massacre of Awa in 2009.
4. Forty three Lepchas were arrested in connection to an ‘agitation’ carried out on the controversial Panan hydel power project in the Dzongu region of Sikkim, India. Most, if not all of the Lepchas arrested had nothing to do with the action.
5. In central Brazil, the Yanomami community of Paapiu began calling for the immediate expulsion of illegal gold miners occupying their land. Survival International reported, “[the Yanomami] say they are prepared to use bows and arrows to expel the invaders themselves if the authorities do not take immediate action.”
6. Russia’s state-controlled Hydro company, RusHydro, began pushing ahead with a renewed plan to construct a massive hydropower station on the Lower Tunguska river in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. The project means death to the Evenk’s culture and way of life.
7. A research team from COPAE confirmed that Goldcorp’s Marlin mine in Guatemala is poisoning local water supplies. The local Mayan community suffers from numerous health problems as a result of contaminants. However, Goldcorp claims it’s all the result of “bad hygiene”, a lack of water, and “fleas”.
8. The Toronto-based mining company, Uranium One—who’s “operations have been made possible with backing from the Canadian Embassy and CIDA”—was accused of human rights abuses and the systemic violation of workers rights at their Uranium mine in South Africa.
9. The Hadzabe People are considered by scientists to have the oldest genetic heritage of any other people on earth. However, today they find themselves on the edge of extinction, with no land rights, and a food supply that’s being “aimlessly” shot away by poachers.
10. The Kenyan government began a brutal campaign of violence against the indigenous Samburu people in north central Kenya–which is still ongoing.
11. More than 2,000 indigenous Embera people fled from their territory in Colombia to escape increasing violence from “a newly formed irregular armed group.” A total of 25 villages were left abandoned.
12. As many as 260 police officers tried to evict 500 Mayan families from a 6-acre lot of land they occupied in March. However, the eviction failed—though not before twelve Mayans and fifteen police were injured and about 100 homes were destroyed.
13. After years of conflict and tension, the few remaining non-indigenous rice farmers finally leftRaposa-Serra do Sol, an indigenous reserve in northern Brazil. The government had ordered them to do so far in the past, but the farmers resisted, repeatedly by terrorizing Indigenous People.
14. Hundreds of villagers in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of western China faced off against armed security forces at the site of a planned gold mine—on what the Tibetans consider to be a sacred mountain. Amazingly enough, several days later the Chinese government reportedly conceded to the Tibetans.
15. The Colombian House of Representatives approved a controversial program to convince Colombian Women to submit to sterilization. News of the bill arrived just as Peru’s right-wing government announced it would shelve an investigation into its own former sterilization program, in which thousands of indigenous women were sterilized against their will in the 1990s, with help from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
16. Over 70 human rights and environmental groups from around the world expressed outrage at the planned launch of the World Wildlife Fund’s Aquaculture Stewardship Council last month. Influenced by the aquaculture industry, the WWF is completely ignoring indigenous people in six separate locations around the world.
17. Representatives from 360 Mískito communities declared the secession of the entire Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, also known as the Mosquito Coast. They announced that the area, which accounts for 46% of Nicaragua’s territory and an estimated 11% of the population, would form the independent Nation of Moskitia.
18. A group of Maya Mam villagers set fire to a pickup truck and an exploration drill rig, after the Canadian company Goldcorp repeatedly failed to remove the equipment off the community’s land.
19. The government of Ontario, Canada, returned Ipperwash Provincial Park to the Kettle and Stony Point First Nations, bringing a welcomed end to a saga that goes back to the 1930s. Sam George—the brother of Dudley George, who was slain by police in 1995 for defending his land—passed away just days after the announcement.
20. In a first-of-its-kind action in the Christian world, the national Episcopal Church passed a landmark resolution repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery and urging the U.S. government to endorse the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
21. A group of 30 indigenous elders and leaders from Ampilatwatja, in Australia’s Northern Territory, abandoned their community rather than live under the oppressive foot of the government’s so-called “intervention.”
22. Eight Maasai villages in Tanzania were burnt to the ground to make way for new a game hunting area. 3,000 people were left without any food, water or shelter.
23. A Russian-backed mining project in Burma’s war-torn Shan State was singled out for risking the homes and farmlands of 7,000 Pa-O villagers.
24. The government of the Malaysian state of Sarawak decided to ignore a landmark court ruling that recognized the rights of the Penan and other tribes to their land.
25. A major Indian travel company, “Barefoot India”, won a high court case allowing them to build an eco-resort close to the designated Jarawa reserve. Once the resort is built, the Jarawa People, who have lived in voluntarily isolation for centuries, will become their own personal tourist attraction.
26. Several Mapuche communities began to reclaim lands in Araucania, central Chile, which they say were stolen from them. At least 5 Roadblocks were set up—marking the beginning of an effort that continues even now.
27. Throughout India, tens of thousands of Indigenous People mobilized in an effort to demand an end to the brutal and repressive laws surrounding India’s forests. More than 2 dozen protests were organized.
27. The Guarani Kaiowá community of Apyka´y in Brazil was attacked by ten gunmen, who fired shots in to their camp, wounding one person. The gunmen also beat up and injured others with knives and then set fire to thier village. This was the second village torched in less than a week.
28. A US. federal ruling permitted a gold mining company to dump toxic waste into a pristine mountain lake in Alaska.
29. The Saami people came forward with major concernsthat a mining project in Northeastern Sweden, proposed by a Canadian company, threatens their traditional way of life and violates their basic human rights as recognized by the United Nations.
30. Under an historic settlement, PacifiCorp announced it will remove four dams on the Klamath River under a tentative agreement with tribes and other parties.
31. The biggest environmental demonstration in Turkey’s history, an estimated 20,000 people took to the streets to protest the 100m high Uzuncayir dam on the Munzur River.
32. As many as 300 troops from Panama’s National Police demolished a Naso village in Bocas del Toro–for the second time. No injuries were reported, however, some 150 adults and 65 children were left with no shelter and limited access to food and water.
33. In Canada, Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl sent notice to the Algonquins of Barriere Lake that he will not recognize their legitimate leadership, but instead impose elections on the community in April, 2010 by invoking a section of the Indian Act that would abolish the customary method they use to select their leaders.
34. Following an overturned eviction, an Ava Guarani indigenous community in Paraguay’s Itakyry district was sprayed with toxic chemicals, most likely pesticide, resulting in nearly the entire village needing medical treatment.
35. The Awajun and Wampis people—who were violently confronted by police in Bagua, Peru in early June—detained a group of employees from the Canadian mining company IAMGOLD. According to statements from the indigenous organization AIDESEP, the company did not have any authorization to enter the territory. The employees, five in total, were arrested in protest of the fact. The company denies that anyone was arrested.
36. In a major ruling , the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appealsblocked construction of the largest open pit gold mine in the United States: Barrick Gold’s Cortez Hills gold mine. However, just one day after the ruling, the company announced that it would ignore the ruling and continue construction.
37. In the face of mounting protests, Anglo Platinum destroyed the Sekuruwe’s last remaining farmland—what little they had left since their land rights were handed over to the company in 2008.
38. A suprising turn of events, the Ontario government reached an agreement with Platinex to abandon their mining concessions on the traditional territory of Big Trout Lake.
39. On June 19, Peru’s Congress overwhelmingly revoked two of the controversial laws that triggered this year’s biggest and most widely known mobilization—the mobilization of Peru—which culminated in the violent police-led confrontation of June 5, 2009.
40. Also on June 19, the Ngobe of Western Panama won a major victory of their own. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) called for the suspension of all activities connected to the Chan-75 Dam, which is being built on Ngobe land.
41.Over the course of 5 weeks, thousands of Indigenous Penan mobilized to protect their forest lands in Malaysian state of Sarawak. The mobilization began in late July. Unfortunately, the effort did not end with success.
42. Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales, was re-elected in a landslide victory on December 6. He won more that 63% of the votes. Bolivia’s landmark constitution, which supports indigenous self-government, was also passed this year.
43. In early September, the Indonesian military burned down a Village in West Papua, and terrorized its residents with random bursts of gunfire. Most of the villagers, defenseless and peaceful, sought refuge in a nearby forest.
44. Since January 18, 2009, when Israel declared its unilateral ceasefire in Gaza, numerous Palestinian civilians have been attacked, abducted, killed, and injured by Israeli forces. Among them, more than 150 farmers and fishermen.
45. A hunger strike aimed at the Norwegian mining company Intex Resources, came to a welcomed end in November, with the Philippine government suspending the company’s permit. Hopefully, the victory, like all others list here, will echo far into the future.
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Officials Hid Truth About Immigrant Deaths in Jail
by Nina Bernstein
Silence has long shrouded the men and women who die in the nation’s immigration jails. For years, they went uncounted and unnamed in the public record. Even in 2008, when The New York Times obtained and published a federal government list of such deaths, few facts were available about who these people were and how they died.
But behind the scenes, it is now clear, the deaths had already generated thousands of pages of government documents, including scathing investigative reports that were kept under wraps, and a trail of confidential memos and BlackBerry messages that show officials working to stymie outside inquiry.
The documents, obtained over recent months by The Times and the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act, concern most of the 107 deaths in detention counted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement since October 2003, after the agency was created within the Department of Homeland Security.
The Obama administration has vowed to overhaul immigration detention, a haphazard network of privately run jails, federal centers and county cells where the government holds noncitizens while it tries to deport them.
But as the administration moves to increase oversight within the agency, the documents show how officials – some still in key positions – used their role as overseers to cover up evidence of mistreatment, deflect scrutiny by the news media or prepare exculpatory public statements after gathering facts that pointed to substandard care or abuse.
As one man lay dying of head injuries suffered in a New Jersey immigration jail in 2007, for example, a spokesman for the federal agency told The Times that he could learn nothing about the case from government authorities. In fact, the records show, the spokesman had alerted those officials to the reporter’s inquiry, and they conferred at length about sending the man back to Africa to avoid embarrassing publicity.
Nery Romero, who died in immigration detention in 2007.
In another case that year, investigators from the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility concluded that unbearable, untreated pain had been a significant factor in the suicide of a 22-year-old detainee at the Bergen County Jail in New Jersey, and that the medical unit was so poorly run that other detainees were at risk.
The investigation found that jail medical personnel had falsified a medication log to show that the detainee, a Salvadoran named Nery Romero, had been given Motrin. The fake entry was easy to detect: When the drug was supposedly administered, Mr. Romero was already dead.
Yet those findings were never disclosed to the public or to Mr. Romero’s relatives on Long Island, who had accused the jail of abruptly depriving him of his prescription painkiller for a broken leg. And an agency supervisor wrote that because other jails were “finicky” about accepting detainees with known medical problems like Mr. Romero’s, such people would continue to be placed at the Bergen jail as “a last resort.”
In a recent interview, Benjamin Feldman, a spokesman for the jail, which housed 1,503 immigration detainees last year, would not say whether any changes had been made since the death.
In February 2007, in the case of the dying African man, the immigration agency’s spokesman for the Northeast, Michael Gilhooly, rebuffed a Times reporter’s questions about the detainee, who had suffered a skull fracture at the privately run Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey. Mr. Gilhooly said that without a full name and alien registration number for the man, he could not check on the case.
But, records show, he had already filed a report warning top managers at the federal agency about the reporter’s interest and sharing information about the injured man, a Guinean tailor named Boubacar Bah. Mr. Bah, 52, had been left in an isolation cell without treatment for more than 13 hours before an ambulance was called.
While he lay in the hospital in a coma after emergency brain surgery, 10 agency managers in Washington and Newark conferred by telephone and e-mail about how to avoid the cost of his care and the likelihood of “increased scrutiny and/or media exposure,” according to a memo summarizing the discussion.
One option they explored was sending the dying man to Guinea, despite an e-mail message from the supervising deportation officer, who wrote, “I don’t condone removal in his present state as he has a catheter” and was unconscious. Another idea was renewing Mr. Bah’s canceled work permit in hopes of tapping into Medicaid or disability benefits.
Eventually, faced with paying $10,000 a month for nursing home care, officials settled on a third course: “humanitarian release” to cousins in New York who had protested that they had no way to care for him. But days before the planned release, Mr. Bah died.
Among the participants in the conferences was Nina Dozoretz, a longtime manager in the agency’s Division of Immigration Health Services who had won an award for cutting detainee health care costs. Later she was vice president of the Nakamoto Group, a company hired by the Bush administration to monitor detention. The Obama administration recently rehired her to lead its overhaul of detainee health care.
Asked about the conference call on Mr. Bah, Ms. Dozoretz said: “How many years ago was that? I don’t recall all the specifics if indeed there was a call.” She added, “I advise you to contact our public affairs office.” Mr. Gilhooly, the spokesman who had said he had no information on the case, would not comment.
On the day after Mr. Bah’s death in May 2007, Scott Weber, director of the Newark field office of the immigration enforcement agency, recommended in a memo that the agency take the unusual step of paying to send the body to Guinea for burial, to prevent his widow from showing up in the United States for a funeral and drawing news coverage.
Mr. Weber wrote that he believed the agency had handled Mr. Bah’s case appropriately. “However,” he added, “I also don’t want to stir up any media interest where none is warranted.” Helping to bury Mr. Bah overseas, he wrote, “will go a long way to putting this matter to rest.”
In the agency’s confidential files was a jail video showing Mr. Bah face down in the medical unit, hands cuffed behind his back, just before medical personnel sent him to a disciplinary cell. The tape shows him crying out repeatedly in his native Fulani, “Help, they are killing me!”
Almost a year after his death, the agency quietly closed the case without action. But Mr. Bah’s name had shown up on the first list of detention fatalities, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, and on May 5, 2008, his death was the subject of a front-page article in The Times.
Brian P. Hale, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in an interview that the newly disclosed records represented the past, and that the agency’s new leaders were committed to transparency and greater oversight, including prompt public disclosure and investigation of every death, and more attention to detainee care in a better-managed system.
But the most recent documents show that the culture of secrecy has endured. And the past cover-ups underscore what some of the agency’s own employees say is a central flaw in the proposed overhaul: a reliance on the agency to oversee itself.
“Because ICE investigates itself there is no transparency and there is no reform or improvement,” Chris Crane, a vice president in the union that represents employees of the agency’s detention and removal operations, told a Congressional subcommittee on Dec. 10.
The agency has kept a database of detention fatalities at least since December 2005, when a National Public Radio investigation spurred a Congressional inquiry. In 2006, the agency issued standard procedures for all such deaths to be reported in detail to headquarters.
But internal documents suggest that officials were intensely concerned with controlling public information. In April 2007, Marc Raimondi, then an agency spokesman, warned top managers that a Washington Post reporter had asked about a list of 19 deaths that the civil liberties union had compiled, and about a dying man whose penile cancer had spread after going undiagnosed in detention, despite numerous medical requests for a biopsy.
“These are quite horrible medical stories,” Mr. Raimondi wrote, “and I think we’ll need to have a pretty strong response to keep this from becoming a very damaging national story that takes on long legs.”
That response was an all-out defense of detainee medical care over several months, including statistics that appeared to show that mortality rates in detention were declining, and were low compared with death rates in prisons.
Experts in detention health care called the comparison misleading; it also came to light that the agency was undercounting the number of detention deaths, as well as discharging some detainees shortly before they died. In August, litigation by the civil liberties union prompted the Obama administration to disclose that more than one in 10 immigrant detention deaths had been overlooked and omitted from a list submitted to Congress last year.
Two of those deaths had occurred in Arizona, in 2004 and 2007, at the Eloy Detention Center, run by the Corrections Corporation of America. Eloy had nine known fatalities – more than any other immigration jail under contract to the federal government. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement was still secretive. When a reporter for The Arizona Republic asked about the circumstances of those deaths, an agency spokesman told him the records were unavailable.
According to records The Times obtained in December, one Eloy detainee who died, in October 2008, was Emmanuel Owusu. An ailing 62-year-old barber who had arrived from Ghana on a student visa in 1972, he had been a legal permanent resident for 33 years, mostly in Chicago. Immigration authorities detained him in 2006, based on a 1979 conviction for misdemeanor battery and retail theft.
“I am confused as to how subject came into our custody???” the Phoenix field office director, Katrina S. Kane, wrote to subordinates. “Convicted in 1979? That’s a long time ago.”
In response, a report on his death was revised to refer to Mr. Owusu’s “lengthy criminal history ranging from 1977 to 1998.” It did not note that except for the battery conviction, that history consisted mostly of shoplifting offenses.
A diabetic with high blood pressure, he had been detained for two years at Eloy while he battled deportation. He died of a heart ailment weeks after his last appeal was dismissed.
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OJORE LUTALO ‘I NEVER MADE BOMB THREATS!’
Posted by APOC Milwaukee in General on January 31, 2010
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Somali ‘Pirates’ want to send confiscated loot to Haiti.
Posted by APOC Milwaukee in General on January 31, 2010
Somali ‘Pirates’ want to send loot confiscated from rich countries to Haiti
Agencia Matriz del Sur
Via Aporrea.org (translated)
http://aporrea.org/internacionales/n149313.html
January 21, 2010 – Spokesmen for the so-called “Somali pirates” have expressed
willingness to transfer part of their loot captured from transnational boats
and send it to Haiti.
Leaders of these groups have declared they have links in various places around
the world to help them ensure the delivery of aid without being detected by
the armed forces of enemy governments.
The “pirates” typically redistribute a significant portion of their profits
among relatives and the local population. In their operations, the “pirates”
urge transnational corporations that own the cargo confiscated to pay back in
cash as banks can not operate in Somalia.
”The humanitarian aid to Haiti can not be controlled by the United States and
European countries; they have no moral authority to do so. They are the ones
pirating mankind for many years,” said the Somali spokesman.
Somalia, located at the eastern end of the Somalia Penisula adjacent to the
Gulf of Aden to the North and with the Indian ocean to the east, is located in
a very important position in the communication routes between Asia, Africa and
Europe and the Pacific.
—–
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Suspect in officer killings eludes law in Seattle.
Posted by APOC Milwaukee in General on November 30, 2009
SEATTLE – A heavily armed SWAT team stormed a Seattle home Monday where they thought they had cornered the suspect in the slaying of four police officers at a coffee shop, only to find out that he was not in the house and still on the loose.
The discovery added new urgency to the manhunt for Maurice Clemmons as police canvassed the neighborhood with search dogs and hundreds of officers were deployed around Seattle for any sign of the suspect. Authorities put up a $125,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
Police had been positioned overnight at a Seattle home where they thought Clemmons was holed up and spent hours trying to communicate with him, using loudspeakers, explosions and even a robot sent into the house. But when the SWAT team went inside, he was nowhere to be found.
Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said the location of Clemmons was not known, and it’s possible he still could be in the neighborhood. Troyer also said people who know Clemmons told investigators he had been shot in the torso in his bloody struggle with the officers.
“If he didn’t get a ride out of there, he could still be in the area,” Troyer said.
Seattle police spokesman Jeff Kappel said there was evidence Clemmons at one point was on the property, but officers could not determine whether he was in the house itself. Kappel would not describe what the evidence was, but said it was a “good tip” that led them to the home.
Meanwhile, University of Washington officials alerted students by e-mail and text messages to an unconfirmed report that Clemmons might have gotten off a bus on or near the campus about 3 miles north of the residence, university police Cmdr. Jerome Solomon said. Police were checking the area, he said.
At one point, what sounded like gunshots rang through the neighborhood, but Kappel said no shots were fired.
Troyer said warrants for first-degree murder have been issued against Clemmons in the killings of the officers from the Tacoma suburb of Lakewood who were gunned down in a coffee shop on Sunday morning at the start of their shifts.
Clemmons has a long criminal history, including a long prison sentence commuted by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee nearly a decade ago, and a recent arrest for allegedly assaulting a police officer in Washington.
Authorities allege he killed Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42, as they worked on their laptop computers at the beginning of their shifts.
Clemmons is believed to have been in the area of the coffee shop around the time of the shooting, but Troyer declined to say what evidence might link him to the shooting.
Investigators say they know of no reason for gunning down the officers, but court documents indicate Clemmons is delusional and mentally unstable.
“We’re going to be surprised if there is a motive worth mentioning,” said Troyer, who sketched out a scene of controlled and deliberate carnage that spared the employees and other customers at the coffee shop in suburban Parkland, about 35 miles south of Seattle.
“He was very versed with the weapon,” Troyer said. “This wasn’t something where the windows were shot up and there bullets sprayed around the place. The bullets hit their targets.”
Officer Richards’ sister-in-law, Melanie Burwell, called the shooting “senseless.”
“He didn’t have a mean bone in his body,” she said. “If there were more people in the world like Greg, things like this wouldn’t happen.
Clemmons has an extensive violent criminal history from Arkansas. He was also recently charged in Washington state with assaulting a police officer, and second-degree rape of a child. Using a bail bondsman, he posted $150,000 — only $15,000 of his own money — and was released from jail last week.
Documents related to the pending charges in Washington state indicate a volatile personality. In one instance, he is accused of punching a sheriff’s deputy in the face, The Seattle Times reported. In another, he is accused of gathering his wife and young relatives and forcing them to undress, according to a Pierce County sheriff’s report.
“The whole time Clemmons kept saying things like trust him, the world is going to end soon, and that he was Jesus,” the report said.
Troyer said investigators believe two of the officers were killed while sitting in the shop, and a third was shot dead after standing up. The fourth apparently “gave up a good fight.”
“We believe there was a struggle, a commotion, a fight … that he fought the guy all the way out the door,” Troyer said.
In 1989, Clemmons, then 17, was convicted in Little Rock for aggravated robbery. He was paroled in 2000 after Huckabee commuted a 95-year prison sentence.
Huckabee, who was criticized during his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 for granting many clemencies and commutations, cited Clemmons’ youth. Clemmons later violated his parole, was returned to prison and released in 2004.
On Sunday, Huckabee issued this statement on his Web site: “Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington state.”
It was the second deadly ambush of police in the Seattle area in recent weeks, but the two cases aren’t related.
Authorities say a man killed a Seattle police officer on Halloween night and also firebombed four police vehicles in October as part of a “one-man war” against law enforcement. Christopher Monfort, 41, was arrested after being wounded in a firefight with police days after the Seattle shooting.
The officers killed Sunday had received no threats, Troyer said.
“We won’t know if it’s a copycat effect or what it was until we get the case solved,” he said.
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Are you an authentic American?
Posted by Nationalism.n.Matriarchy in General on November 18, 2009
By Guest Contributor Madhuri, originally published at Restore Fairness
“Police officers giving drivers $204 tickets for not speaking English? It sounds like a rejected Monty Python sketch. Except the grim reality is that it has happened at least 39 times in Dallas since January 2007….All but one of the drivers were Hispanic.”
Reporting on the issue, a New York Times editorial asks the question – is racism alive and kicking in America? If this were a one off incident, it could be an aberration. But 39 times makes it a growing pattern of injustice.
So how does one question who or who is not an American? Does it have to do with language, race, ethnicity, how long one has been in the United States – or is it about the more legal aspect of possessing citizenship.
Recently, an incredible achievement by Meb Keflezighi’s, winner of Men’s NYC Marathon, kicked off a number of doubts about whether this is truly an “American” achievement, or one imported in from outside.
“Meb Keflezighi, who won yesterday in New York, is technically American by virtue of him becoming a citizen in 1998, but the fact that he’s not American-born takes away from the magnitude of the achievement the headline implies.”
Comments from a CNBC Sports Business Reporter who half apologized in a post the next morning.
“Frankly I didn’t account for the fact that virtually all of Keflezighi’s running experience came as a U.S. citizen. I never said he didn’t deserve to be called American.”
Keflezighi came to the United States when he was 12 from war torn Eritrea. Is that enough time for him to be an American? Ironically the last American to win the marathon was also born in another country – Cuba. Alberto Salazar’s comments from a New York Times article are insightful.
“What if Meb’s parents had moved to this country a year before he was born? At what point is someone truly American? Only if your family traces itself back to 1800, will it count?“
The same article talks about the racial stereotypes that seem to be emerging to the surface.
“The debate reveals what some academics say are common assumptions and stereotypes about race and sports and athletic achievement in the United States. “Race is still extremely important when you think about athletics,” said David Wiggins, a professor at George Mason University who studies African-Americans and sports. “There is this notion about innate physiological gifts that certain races presumably possess. Quite frankly, I think it feeds into deep-seated stereotypes.”
So are we heading for a “clash of cultures” figuring out where the identity of America lies. This Huffington Post article has a few answers.
What’s been missing from our national discourse on “is it race or isn’t it?” is the distinction psychologists and neuroscientists have made for over two decades between conscious and unconscious (often called “explicit vs. implicit”) prejudice
Asking what the difference may have been if over the last 25 years, a half million Englishmen a year had entered the U.S., it wonders if
“what turns up the volume on Americans’ feelings about immigration is that immigrants are not white, English-speakers from London but brown-skinned Mexicans who may not speak our language well and don’t share our Anglo-American culture.”
Demographers now place it around 2040 when whites may be in the minority in the U.S. And so it seems, the best way to deal with this reality may be -
“There’s nothing shameful about admitting that you’re among the majority of Americans – of every color – who has sometimes judged another person on the color his skin instead of the content of his character – and then realized it wasn’t fair. The best antidote to unconscious bias is self-reflection. And the best way to foster that self-reflection is through telling the truth in a way that doesn’t make people defensive or point fingers – except at those who wear their prejudice proudly and deserve our scorn.”
(Photo courtesy of the New York Times.)
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What Do You Say?