Friday, January 21, 2011

Caught in the Crossfire: Border Crisis Threatens Traditional Way of Life for Sovereign Tohono O'odham Nation

By Tom Boswell

You’ve seen the headlines. You would need to have your head stuck deep in sand to have missed the story: migrants streaming across the border, coyotes, drug cartels, the Border Patrol and Minutemen. People dying in the desert and a raging national debate over immigration policy. And, lest we forget, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (recently re-elected) and an anti-immigration law that makes it a crime not to carry immigration documents.

But there’s another story that many may have missed: a supposedly sovereign nation that preceded all these conflicting groups by 2,000 years, now caught in the crossfire on the Arizona-Mexico border. Amid competing cries of “Secure our borders” and “Civil rights for immigrants” is the Tohono O’odham, America’s second-largest Indian nation, still struggling after all these years for its survival. Continue Reading Here -

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Brazilian authorities approve Amazon dam despite presence of uncontacted Indians

The Brazilian government’s Indigenous Affairs Department, FUNAI, has issued an order restricting entry to an area of land near the site of the planned Belo Monte dam, following indications that there are uncontacted Indians living there.

But despite recognizing the presence of uncontacted Indians near the site where the dam is due to be built, FUNAI has given its approval for the project to go ahead.

FUNAI has also declared that for the next two years, only a team of its own employees will be permitted to enter the area, in order to study the presence of the uncontacted Indians.

If built, the Belo Monte dam would flood a large area of land, bring huge devastation to the rainforest and reduce fish stocks upon which the Indians rely for their survival.

The uncontacted Indians in the area are particularly threatened by the large-scale immigration the dam construction would bring, as they have little resistance to outside diseases, which could be fatal for them.

Indians of the Asurini tribe who also live in the area have warned that they have seen uncontacted Indians in the forest, and that these Indians are seriously threatened by the dam.

Meanwhile, the president of the Brazilian government’s environmental agency IBAMA, Abelardo Bayma, resigned last week, reportedly following pressure to grant the construction license for the Belo Monte dam despite environmental concerns.

Brazil’s Minister of Mines and Energy, Edson Lobão, has stated that the construction license for the dam will be issued shortly. It is thought that construction could commence in February this year.

Survival International is campaigning for the land of all uncontacted Indians to be protected.

Sign an international petition on the Avaaz website, calling on Brazil’s new President Dilma Rousseff to prevent the construction of Belo Monte.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

4 SoCal tree sitters removed and arrested near Sierra Madre

ARCADIA, Calif. – A daylong standoff between a handful of tree sitters and public works crews has ended with the removal and arrest of the activists, who were trying to prevent bulldozers from clearing scores of trees as part of a dam improvement project.

Two men, including veteran tree sitter John Quigley, and two women were escorted out of the trees Wednesday night and taken into custody, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Julio Salcido said. They were booked on suspicion of delaying a peace officer and trespassing, he said.

Earlier Wednesday, with the sounds of bulldozers echoing beneath him, Quigley perched in a century-old oak.

"They're destroying trees all around us," Quigley said by cell phone as the sound of bulldozers below him could be heard. "It's a sad scene and definitely something that didn't need to happen."

Public works officials say the 11 acres of trees, some of them more than 100 years old, must go to ensure the integrity of a nearby dam that provides most of the drinking water to the Los Angeles suburbs of Arcadia and Sierra Madre. By nightfall, authorities said most of the trees had been removed.

As darkness fell about two dozen protesters and curious onlookers including actress Darryl Hannah gathered at a gate leading to a stand of trees being felled.

"I came out just to support the community that is trying to put out some common sense and not cut down a paradise for a rubble pit," Hannah said.

The actress said she learned of the protest from Quigley, who she has known since she took part in a tree-sitting protest to try to save an urban garden in a warehouse district near downtown Los Angeles that was plowed under in 2006.

Hannah, like other environmental activists, said the sediment from the Dam could be placed elsewhere, including a huge gravel pit about 10 miles away.

Later Wednesday about three dozen people held a candlelight vigil with a moment of silence to express their dismay over the removal of the trees.

"We should send some thoughts out to the guys in the trees and the girls in the trees," Hannah said as the silence ended.

Los Angeles County Public Works spokesman Bob Spencer said the tree removal project has been in the works for three years and the county has approval from federal and state agencies. He said it must done for the Santa Anita Dam, which was built in 1927, to meet seismic safety standards.

Over the years, Spencer said, sediment has built up behind the dam, limiting its water capacity and compromising its safety in the event of an earthquake or other catastrophe.

Clearing the 11 acres of oaks and sycamores will create a placement area the sediment can be channeled to.

Spencer said the dam provides 75 percent of the drinking water used in Arcadia, a city of about 56,000 people, and all of the drinking water for Sierra Madre, where about 10,000 people live.

The grove occupies a flatland below the steep slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains, about 20 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is near a residential neighborhood and a small wilderness park in an area popular with weekend hikers and bicyclists.

The clearing operation began after extensive efforts by opponents to stop it. In December, county officials ordered a 30-day moratorium, which ended last week.

Czamanske and Quigley agree the sediment removal project must go forward, but they say the county should have picked a better place.

"It really is a tragedy that they had to go to this beautiful habitat to dump a pile of mud," Quigley said. "There were plenty of good alternatives."

In 2003, Quigley spent 71 days in an oak tree known as Old Glory that was to be bulldozed to widen a street in Santa Clarita, another Los Angeles suburb. Authorities finally removed him from the tree, and it was saved and replanted elsewhere.

Below is footage recorded by Quigley while in his tree sit as the buldozers destroy the trees.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Urgent Need for Zapatista Supporters to Spread Truth

Schools for Chiapas asks you to take a moment to help "Spread the Truth" about the recent kidnapping of a prominent right-wing Mexican politician. Despite claims of their involvement, the fact of the matter is: the Zapatistas just DIDN’T DO IT!

The Mayan communities of Chiapas and their supporters in “The Other Campaign” are being accused of kidnapping a prominent right-wing Mexican politician. An articulate denial of the kidnapping charges published in Spanish by the Zapatista movement argues that this accusation is another pretext for aggression in Chiapas. However this denial has been poorly circulated in English.

Therefore, we ask you to please forward the link below of this new English translation of the Zapatista document as broadly as possible:

http://www.schoolsforchiapas.org/english/archive/documents/1129.html

Please post this truthful word on the Internet, send it throughout the blogosphere, tweet it, text it, Xerox it, fax it, iPod it & iPad it, snail mail it, paste it to walls, send it to your local alternative media, and most importantly talk about it with your family and friends. Do whatever you can and do it TODAY!

What’s important is that everyone understand unequivocally that the Zapatistas just DIDN’T DO IT! The dangerous accusation that Zapatistas kidnapped Diego Fernandez de Cevallos compliments and deepens a significant increase in tensions throughout Chiapas.

"Schools for Chiapas" is seriously alarmed at the continuing aggressions against the autonomous, Mayan communities of Chiapas, Mexico and encourages all reasonable people to do what they can to stop the spread of these malicious, unfounded rumors and accusations.

The original Spanish language denial is published on the web page of Enlace Zapatista at:

http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2011/01/02/se-desmiente-vinculacion-de-el-ezln-y-la-otra-campana-con-cualquier-secuestro/

The well-known center of Oventic, Caracol II, The Central Heart of the Zapatistas in Front of the World, has long been open for anyone to visit and speak with representatives of the movement. Today those representatives are in silence and preparing for new attacks against their communities.

Clearly the lies about Zapatista kidnapping which are being widely propagated in the media represent one such attack. From our personal experience with autonomous Mayan schools, we know that it is absurd to suggest that the Zapatista movement kidnapped El Jefe Diego. The accusation itself is written in a contradictory and blatantly fraudulent manner.

However the more a lie is repeated, the bigger and more powerful it becomes. Therefore, we ask you to help us stop this lie; we ask you to help us spread the truth and help protect the autonomous, indigenous communities of Chiapas, Mexico.

Por y para las niñas y los niños,

Schools for Chiapas / Escuelas para Chiapas
www.schoolsforchiapas.org
info@schoolsforchiapas.org

Friday, January 7, 2011

Los Angeles: Halt the removal of Tongva remains

UPDATE: Tongva Burial Update- Vigil Sunday 1/9/11 - The vigil will honor the people that have been disrespected, dishonored and disturbed.

Date: Sunday, January 9, 2011. Time: 10am - Until we finish praying. Location: Removal of 90+ Historic Human Burials at the La Plaza de Arte and Cultura, 501 North Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. For more info: drmartin@fas.harvard.edu


The Background

“LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes at El Pueblo Historic Monument is a multi-million dollar museum dedicated to showcasing and preserving the history of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles. The museum is housed within the historic Vickry-Brunswig and Plaza House Buildings next to Our Lady Queen of the Angels Church (commonly known as "La Placita")...(Molina 2011)” LA Plaza is scheduled to open on April 15, 2011 (Painter 2010). This project is the pet project of Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, First District.

The LA Plaza (see http://www.lapca.org/) is located at 501 North Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 and is within Los Angeles's first consecrated cemetery (LA Cultural Monument #26). The cemetery contains the remains of not only early Spanish and Mexican settlers but also the Native Americans to whom they were intermarried. The cemetery opened in 1822 and closed in 1844 when it was determined that the lot was too small. According to the Los Angeles Archdiocese and other documents, the remains were to have been removed and re-interred at Calvary Cemetery.

In 2004, Los Angeles County approved LA Plaza's Final Environmental Impact Report prepared to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Project refinements were proposed thus an Addendum to the Final Environmental Impact Report was prepared and approved by the County on September 28, 2010 (Sapphos 2010).

The Facts

In late October of 2010 while beginning work for the Campo Santo Memorial Garden, human remains were uncovered (Painter 2010). Over 40 sets of remains were initially removed and “bagged” while trenching with a backhoe for a fountain, a fountain that is to celebrate the history of the Mexican-American people.

As remains continued to be encountered, an archaeologist was brought on-site to continue with the removal with contextual and archaeological information inadequately collected and/or destroyed. Over 90+ remains have been removed to date.

On Dec 29, 2010, an archaeologist employed by the Sanberg Group notified the Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC) of the discovery of possible Native American remains. The remains were interred with beads and a obsidian “biface” (Letter, Meyers to Hernandez, January 4, 2010). The NAHC has attempted to investigate the discovery but has yet to get a response from the responsible parties.

An informant on site stated that the project is “being rushed”, and that the rest of the remains need to be removed within ten days. This is a directive that is being given by Daniel Mendoza the on-site foreman and ultimately coming from Gloria Molina's office and the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Mr. Mendoza is acting as community contact and incidentally, also happens to be the brother-in-Law of Gloria Molina.

The Issue

Once human remains were encountered, possible descendants should have contacted in order create a plan for appropriate removal and reburial. The Los Angeles Archdiocese has a list of those that were interred at the cemetery. This did not happen.

Additionally with the discovery of possible Native American remains, the NAHC should have been contacted by the project proponent, as per the California Health and Safety Code § 7050.5, so that a Native American Most Likely Descendant could be designated. This did not happen.

The Irony
This museum is supposed to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of the Mexican and Mexican-American communities to the development of Los Angeles. However, the fact that these early settler burials, the very people the Museum is supposed to be honoring, are being removed in secret is ironic. The excavation of this cemetery in a rushed, haphazard and unscientific way, without community involvement, is a travesty.

Additionally, the possibility that Native American remains are being removed without participation of the Gabrielino (Tongva) Nation is illegal under California law. Although the LA Plaza opening on April 15, 2011 is imminent, this is no reason to desecrate burials or inadequately document this important part of history. Not only is the Mexican and Native American pasts being destroyed, but also the past of all Los Angeles's citizens.

Mainstream News Articles on this issue:

San Diego Union Tribune:
American Indian panel: Halt downtown LA project


Los Angeles Times: State Panel Wants Halt on LA Cultural Center over Reports of Native Remains

What You Can do to Help:

Please contact the following people, offices and public entities to ask why these burials are being hurriedly removed, why the most likely descendants have not been contacted regarding the removal, why the archaeological information is not being properly documented, why those who are doing the work are not professionally trained archaeologists with experience removing human burials. Tell them if they really want to celebrate the accomplishments of the Mexican and Mexican-American people, they need to do right by the early settlers and Native American ancestors interred in the cemetery.

City of Los Angeles
Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor
200 North Spring St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 485-2121
Fax: (213) 978-0750
mayor@lacity.org

Gloria Molina
Los Angeles County Supervisor, First District
Hall of Administration Office
856 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration
500 West Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: (213) 974-4111
Fax: (213) 613-1739
gmolina@bos.lacounty.gov

LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes Foundation
Miguel Angel Corzo, President and CEO
LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes Foundation
1055 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 800
Los Angeles, Ca 90017
(323) 260-3412

Daniel Mendoza
1055 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 800
Los Angeles, Ca 90017
(323) 260-3412

Mexican Cultural Institute
Armando Vazquez-Ramos, Board President
Board of Directors, Mexican Cultural Institute
CSULB Chicano & Latino Studies Dept.
California-Mexico Project Director

Archdiocese of Los Angeles
Bishop Edward W. Clark
Our Lady of the Angeles Pastoral Region
3424 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010-2202
(213) 637-7000
info@la-archdiocese.org
Bibliography

Molina, Gloria
2011 “About Gloria Molina: Biography”
http://molina.lacounty.gov/PDFs/About%20GM-BIO.pdf, accessed January
5, 2011.

Painter, Alysia Gray
2010 Plaza de Cultura y Artes Opening Set. NBC Local Media.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/around-town/events/La-Plaza-de-Cultura-y-Artes-Opening-Set-102966004.html ,
accessed January 5, 2011.

Sapphos Environmental, Inc
2010 Addendum to the Environmental Impact Report for LA Plaza de
Cultura y Artes. http://file.lacounty.gov/bos/supdocs/56770.pdf

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The US-Mexico Wall, it’s Borderlands, Wildlife, and People


Take a look at a 38 picture slide show demonstrating the environmental impact of the US/Mexico Border wall.



In 2005, the Department of Homeland Security was granted the authority to waive environmental laws to speed the building of a barrier between the U.S. and Mexico.

Under this waiver, more then 500 miles of wall and fence have been constructed through mostly rural and wilderness areas.

In January 2009, the International League of Conservation Photographers sent a team of world-renowned photographers, with writers, filmmakers and scientists to the borderlands of the United States and Mexico to document the wildlife, ecology, and effect of immigration and the border wall on this landscape. [38 Pictures]