Thursday, February 25, 2010
O'odham Ofelia Rivas imprisoned for four days in southern Chiapas while supporting Zapatistas
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
O'odham human rights activist Ofelia Rivas was imprisoned in southern Chiapas for four days and crossed safely onto O'odham lands Wednesday night.
"There are inhumane border policies all across the world. My personal experience at home dealing with the Border Patrol helped me deal with confinement in the prison cell," Rivas said after crossing the border to her home.
Rivas was imprisoned in the Tapachula Immigration Prison in southern Chiapas near the Guatemalan border on false charges of crossing the border of Guatemala without documents. Rivas, however, had not crossed into Guatemala.
"Throughout our travel, by plane and bus, federal authorities reviewed my documents and allowed me to pass without problems. The federal police in Tapachula saw that an American was traveling with an Indigenous woman and arrested us.
"They wouldn't talk to me directly because I don't speak Spanish," said Rivas, who speaks O'odham and English.
Rivas was not provided with a translator when charged or during the four days she was imprisoned. "I signed papers without a translator when I was released. I still don't know what I was charged with."
"I was not read any rights," Rivas said. "When they were doing the paperwork, they said we were not being arrested. When we got to the detention center, they said 'You're not being arrested, you're not in handcuffs.'"
However, she had been arrested. She was taken to her cell, which she shared with a family from Colombia, which included a four-month-old baby and nine-month-old baby. They had been there for two months.
"What struck me was the powerful Somalian women that had walked across Central America and were in prison for two months in Panama. They have been waiting in Chiapas for two months for refugee status to be released to the United States. One Somalian woman said, 'I lost all my family, my mother, my father, my brothers, my sisters, all killed in front of me. I only know of one uncle who survived.'"
"The strength of those women, everyday they sat together and sang their songs and told their stories, and it kept us all together. We were a community. We all took care of the babies and watched out for the rest of the children to make sure they ate when it was time to eat."
Rivas became ill from the chemicals used for cleaning the prison, which was done at night when she was locked in her cell. One morning, she felt too ill to get out of bed.
"I couldn't get up, but the women insisted that I get up and go eat."
The women's and men's cells were separated only by partitions and the noise was loud throughout the night.
At night, she could hear a man screaming in English and rattling his cell gate, "Get me out of here! Get me out of here!" he would scream, yelling for a bathroom.
"It was the jungle by the sea, so it was hot and sticky and there were mosquitoes."
"Everyone is sitting there waiting for papers. Someone somewhere is delaying those everyday."
After four days of imprisonment, and the intervention of the American Embassy in Mexico City and family members in the United States, Rivas and her traveling companion were released.
"We cancelled the rest of our trip and came directly home, since we don't know what we signed." "This severe enforcement of borders is because of the militarization of the Zapatista communities which continue to face threats."
"My entire trip was to build solidarity with the Zapatistas and to tell the story of the O'odham on the border. We were received with great respect and were honored to be invited to the communities to share our story. They made a statement to acknowledge our story and that our struggles are the same. They said they were honored to hear from the traditional O'odham people."
Ofelia Rivas is founder of O'odham Voice Against the Wall. She lives on Tohono O'odham land on the US/Mexico border and exposes the human rights abuses of the US Border Patrol and ongoing militarization of the border and O'odham land. She exposed the digging up of O'odham ancestors' graves by Boeing during construction of the border wall in Arizona. She has been held at gunpoint, harassed, threatened and detained by the US Border Patrol on O'odham land in Arizona.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates
Marlowe Hood – Wed Feb 17, 11:02 pm ET
PARIS (AFP) – Seldom seen species of lemur, monkey and gorilla are among 25 primates facing near-certain extinction unless urgent measures are taken to protect them, according to a report released Thursday.
All told, close to half of the planet's 634 known primate species are to some degree threatened with dying out, said the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and other conservation and research groups.
That percentage has risen quickly -- only three years ago the IUCN put the ratio of vulnerable primates at one third.
"Primates are among the most endangered of all vertebrate groups," said Russell Mittermeier, head of the IUCN's primate specialist group.
Of the top 25, five are on the island of Madagascar, six on the African continent, three in South America and 11 in Southeast Asia.
The least likely to survive might well be the golden-headed langur of Vietnam, found exclusively on the island of Cat Ba in the Gulf of Tonkin. Only 60 to 70 individuals remain.
Two other species hover in number at around 100: the northern sportive lemur of Madagascar, and the eastern black crested gibbon of northern Vietnam.
Human encroachment has reduced the population of cross river gorillas, found in the mountains along the Cameroon-Nigeria border, to less than 300.
The most threatened species are not always the rarest, experts point out.
How well governments protect dwindling animal populations against deforestation and hunting is at least as critical.
More than 6,000 Sumatran orangutans, for example, are thought to survive on Indonesia's largest island. But poor enforcement of conservation measures has led to plummeting numbers and an unenviable place on the list of most critically endangered primates.
By contrast, the Hainan gibbon -- named for the Chinese island where they are found -- "is actually the world's rarest primate," said Simon Stuart, head of the IUCN's Species Survival Commission.
"But the Chinese government has some very strict conservation measures, so it is not on the list because there is not much more that can be done," he said in a phone interview.
Even so, he added, "it is one thing to stop a species from going extinct, and it is another thing to talk about recovery."
Globally, habitat destruction, especially through the burning and clearing of tropical forests for agriculture, has been the main driver toward extinction.
But in Southeast Asia, hunting for food and traditional medicines made from animal parts -- fueled by an illegal trade in wildlife -- is an even greater threat.
"It comes out again and again from all our studies, tropical Asia is by far the worst place to be for any animal bigger than a rabbit," said Stuart.
The situation in Vietnam and Laos, he added, is "particularly desperate."
Researchers hope the 'top 25' list will garner public and government support for urgently needed conservation measures, especially ahead of the next meeting of the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity, set for October in Nagoya, Japan.
"We have the resources to address this crisis, but so far, we have failed to act," said Mittermeier.
Click here to view the IUCN information page and report
Direct link to the report
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Shame on the New York Times for Fueling Border Misery
Monday, January 25, 2010
Shame on the New York Times: The truth could have meant one less person would have been beaten, raped or murdered this year by US Border Patrol agents
(Photo: Angie Ramon at the site of her son Bennett Patricio's death)
By Brenda Norrell
Narcosphere
UPDATE: Ofelia Rivas response to article
SELLS, Ariz. -- Shame on the New York Times for failing to tell the real story of the Tohono O'odham border and the complicity between elected Tohono O'doham officials, tribal police and US Border Patrol agents. The truth could have meant that one less person would have been beaten, raped or murdered this year by US Border Patrol agents.
Today's article in the New York Times, "War Without Borders," is the typical mainstream article on the Arizona border, which supports more militarization and abuse at the border. News reporter Erik Echholm offers a superficial view of the situation, focusing on drug trafficking, rather than revealing the real story. If the reporter had spent more time here, knew more Tohono O'odham, and listened more to the Tohono O'odham, instead of the profiteering politicians, the New York Times would have told a different story.
Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham on the border, describes her encounter with the reporter and what he failed to include in the article.
"He came to my home under the pretense of writing about the real border issue. He tried to twist my words. He asked me the same question in several different versions so I told him that exactly, any written word about the ongoing American drug war will only justify in bringing more military and Border Patrol to my lands. "The United States needs to stop their drug operations in South America, stop supplying arms to protect their drugs and stop using our lands for their passage way. Our people are sitting in prisons for drug smuggling charges as a result of American drug trafficking and their policies, which they hide behind. That is all I can say about the drug business. He didn't publish any of that.
"I told him do not twist my words to justify your story. I said, 'Are you going to write about all the Border Patrol abuses on the O'odham and that the American government waived all protective laws to justify all these violations?' I told him of the right of the O'odham to remain sovereign.
"I told him, 'The O'odham are endangered by these policies including our language and entire culture. Do not write anything that will further endanger my people.'
"It the same old business, nothing but that. And what does Ned (Charmain Ned Norris, Jr.) say, business as usual, justifying and verifying the loss of his authority to be a true leader for the people," Rivas said in response.
If you count the number of paragraphs written about drug trafficking in the New York Times article, then count the number of paragraphs quoting Ofelia Rivas concerning the human rights violations, you will discover that the reporter came in with a preconceived story to tell and did not listen.
If the reporter had spent time getting to know the Tohono O'odham and listened, he would have discovered that the Tohono O'odham elected leaders, the chairman and district officials, have been coopted by the United States government and work together with federal agents to violate the rights of the Tohono O'odham people. Since 9/11, a climate of fear has led the US Border Patrol and tribal police to ignore laws and basic human rights, and get away with it.
It is not just harassment. O'odham, including women traveling alone and the elderly, are terrorized and held at gunpoint by the US Border Patrol. O'odham are beaten and killed by the US Border Patrol.
Bennett Patricio, Jr., 18, Tohono O'odham, was walking home when he was run over and killed by a US Border Patrol agent. His family believes that he walked upon Border Patrol agents involved in a drug transfer in the predawn hours in the desert and was murdered. Patricio's family has taken the case all the way to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. (Nearby, the FBI had to shut down Operation Lively Green in Tucson because so many US soldiers, prison guards, military recruiters, etc., wanted to smuggle cocaine for cash, from Nogales, Ariz. to Phoenix.) In federal court, in Bennett Patricio, Jr.'s case, as in the majority of cases filed against US Border Agents who have murdered people of color, injustice prevailed. The Border Agent was not held responsible. (The case files are in Arizona federal courts.)
The Tohono O'odham government is dependent on the US government for funding dollars and does not support the Tohono O'odham people who are abused by the US Border Patrol.
The testimonies at the Indigenous Peoples Border Summit of the Americas, held in San Xavier District on the Tohono O'odham Nation in 2006 and 2007, compiled for the United Nations, is available. (Audios at www.earthcycles.net) The summits were organized by Mike Flores, Tohono O'odham, to document the abuses of the US Border Patrol. This testimony reveals the long standing abuse by the US Border Patrol working in complicity with the Tohono O'odham government, including the chairman, legislative council, district officials and tribal police.
When members of the Mohawk Warrior Society visited the Tohono O'odham border, and witnessed the federal spy towers and arrests of Indigenous Peoples during the border summits, they were outraged, disgusted and saddened. An outdoor migrant detention facility, called "a dog cage," by Navajo Lenny Foster, was just one of the human rights violations.
Today, the US government has spy towers on the Tohono O'odham Nation and continues to arrest Indigenous Peoples. The Tohono O'odham Nation made it a crime for O'odham to offer water or aid to migrants, including Indigenous Peoples, even if they are dying. Still, many O'odham do offer aid to their fellow human beings.
"The US Border Patrol is an occupying army," says Mike Wilson, Tohono O'odham, who puts out water for migrants at water stations against the wishes of the Tohono O'odham Nation. Wilson points out that non-O'odham have failed to hold the Tohono O'odham Nation, the elected politicians, responsible for crimes against humanity. Today's article in the New York Times only encourages the half-truths promoted by elected politicians and US federal agents. It fails to reveal the true story of the militarization of Tohono O'odham lands and the suffering of the people. Perhaps if this reporter had searched for one body, the body of a Mayan mother walking with her children from Guatemala in scorching temperatures over 115 degrees, his life and his story might have been different. Perhaps if he had talked to the family of one young man from Mexico, who was murdered at close range by a US Border Patrol agent, the reporter's story would have been different. Perhaps if he had seen the grave of one tiny child in the Sonoran Desert, draped with Mayan beads, his life and his story would have been different.
The New York Times article also fails to question the Tohono O'odham's lucrative Desert Diamond Casino, packed with crowds. The Times fails to question where the millions of dollars are going from this casino. It only takes a look around on the Tohono O'odham Nation to see that the millions are not going to the O'odham people. The people are suffering and in desperate need of housing and jobs. If you talk to O'odham, you will find that many need food and firewood, including women, children and the elderly.
The New York Times article fails to describe the abuse by the US Border Patrol when O'odham living along the border cross for family and ceremonial reasons. The situation on the Tohono O'odham Nation is compounded by the fact that there is no freedom of the press here. In fact, news reporters who want to tell other than the politicians' side of the story are followed, detained and harassed by the US Border Patrol. (This was the case when I conducted radio interviews for BBC at the border and during other visits with news media.) In silence and secrecy, oppression and cruelty, these crimes against humanity flourish.
If the New York Times reporter had spent more time listening to Ofelia Rivas and other O'odham, he would have told a different story.
But that requires listening, and time. It requires spending years in an area and getting to know the people and the land. It requires knowing and listening to the people, instead of rushing in for a few days or a week and simply quoting politicians and US federal agents.
New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/25/us/25border.html
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Japanese Whalers Ram Sea Shepherd Ship Ady Gil
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Japanese Whalers Ram Sea Shepherd Ship Ady Gil
Famed trimaran is sinking in the Southern Ocean
Six crewmembers Rescued by the Sea Shepherd Ship Bob Barker
In an unprovoked attack captured on film, the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru No. 2 deliberately rammed and caused catastrophic damage to the Sea Shepherd trimaran Ady Gil.
Six crew crewmembers, four from New Zealand, one from Australia, and one from the Netherlands were immediately rescued by the crew of the Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker. None of the crew Ady Gil crew were injured.
The Ady Gil is believed to be sinking and chances of salvage are very grim.
According to eyewitness Captain Chuck Swift on the Bob Barker, the attack happened while the vessels were dead in the water. The Shonan Maru No. 2 suddenly started up and deliberately rammed the Ady Gil ripping eight feet of the bow of the vessel completely off. According to Captain Swift, the vessel does not look like it will be saved.
“The Japanese whalers have now escalated this conflict very violently,” said Captain Paul Watson. “If they think that our remaining two ships will retreat from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in the face of their extremism, they will be mistaken. We now have a real whale war on our hands now and we have no intention of retreating.”
Captain Paul Watson onboard the Steve Irwin is racing towards the area at 16 knots but still remains some five hundred miles to the north. The Bob Barker has temporarily stopped the pursuit of the Nisshin Maru to rescue the crew of the Ady Gil. The Japanese ships initially refused to acknowledge the May Day distress of the Ady Gil, but ultimately did acknowledge the call. Despite acknowledging the call, they did not offer to assist the Ady Gil or the Bob Barker in any way.
The incident took place at 64 Degrees and 03 Minutes South and 143 Degrees and 09 Minutes East
Until this morning the Japanese were completely unaware of the existence of the Bob Barker. This newest addition to the Sea Shepherd fleet left Mauritius off the coast of Africa on December 18th and was able to advance along the ice edge from the West as the Japanese were busy worrying about the advance of the Steve Irwin from the North.
“This is a substantial loss for our organization,” said Captain Watson. “The Ady Gil, the former Earthrace, represents a loss of almost two million dollars. However the loss of a single whale is of more importance to us and we will not lose the Ady Gil in vain. This blow simply strengthens our resolve, it does not weaken our spirit.”
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is requesting that the Australian government send a naval vessel to restore the peace in the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territory. We have 77 crew from 16 nations on three vessels, six of them were on the Ady Gil. Of these, 21 are Australian citizens: 16 Australians on the Steve Irwin and five on the Bob Barker. Sea Shepherd believes that the Australian government has a responsibility to protect the lives of Australian citizens working to defend whales from illegal Japanese whaling activities.
“Australia needs to send a naval vessel down here as soon as possible to protect both the whales and the Australian citizens working to defend these whales,” said Steve Irwin Chief Cook Laura Dakin of Canberra. “This is Australian Antarctic Territorial waters and I see the Japanese whalers doing whatever they want with impunity down here without a single Australian government vessel anywhere to be found. Peter Garrett, I have one question for you: Where the bloody hell are you?”
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