Face Paint and masks and the anti-terrorism bill

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Civil rights and media latest casualties of our times

By Brenda Norrell
Lakota Journal Correspondent

RAPID CITY, S.D. -- American Indians say the new regulations aimed at fighting terrorism limit civil rights while giving the National Security Administration advanced powers to monitor e-mail and cell phone calls, places Indigenous peoples at risk of being detained on suspicion and makes it a criminal offense to wear face paint or bandanas in public forums.

The 125-clause anti-terrorism bill, expected to be in effect by Christmas, makes it a criminal offence to refuse a police officer's request to remove hand and face coverings, such as masks and face paint, in certain situations.

Native people involved in the human rights struggle of Zapatistas and other Indigenous peoples worldwide are equally alarmed by President Bush's plan to establish military tribunals to prosecute foreigners, in lieu of United States courts, on charges of terrorism. The military tribunal could hand down death sentences.

Eulynda Toledo-Benalli, Dine' founder of First Nations North and South, said the United States was founded on the terrorism and bioterrorism of Indigenous peoples.

Benalli said the most recent limitations on civil liberties are alarming in the context of history, including the genocidial spread of smallpox to Indian people.

"How can a nation state, like the United States, an imperialist state, take such actions when their very principles of 'democracy' were founded on terrorism and bioterrorism.

"As far as I'm concerned, they need to clean up their acts, face the truths, and realize their roots of terrorism committed against the first sufferers and survivors of their terrorist acts before they accuse anyone else -- maybe then I will believe their 'truths.'

"It's really ironic to hear the myth of 'freedom' perpetuated in the U.S."

Benalli said Indigenous peoples have become prisoners of democracy.

"First of all, as an Indigenous person, having been colonized and in the colonizer's minds 'conquered,' we continue to be what one of my friends calls 'prisoners of democracy.'

"We cannot make our decisions towards self-determination without negotiating and getting a seal or stamp, or an okay by the great white father in Washington."

Meanwhile, critics say the media is the latest casualty of the times. They charge the mainstream media produces parrot-like repetitions of federal press releases, bows to government-imposed censorship and reports the war in Afghanistan as cheerleaders for the Bush administration.

In Albuquerque, Benalli said the effect of corporate takeovers of the media are obvious in the layoff of a longtime investigative television reporter from Acoma Pueblo, Conroy Chino, by KOB-TV.

"Rather than seeing Conroy as necessary to our rightful place as Indigenous peoples in media as a first and foremost reason to keep him in the media, the corporation decides 'they cannot afford him.'"

Benalli, founder of First Nations North and South uniting the struggles of Indian people in the Americas, has organized Navajo and Lakota support for Indians in Chiapas, offering exchanges for culture, agriculture and weaving. She said Indigenous peoples in other countries face the same restrictions on their voices and human rights as in the United States.

"The imperialist nations, especially the European nations continue to silence and marginalize the voices of Indigenous peoples."

In an open letter to President Bush, Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu Tum of Guatemala, said it is time for Indian people to stop dying in other peoples' wars.

Menchu Tum said President Bush, in summoning the peoples of the world to war, voiced fear in a nation which fails to recognize the genocide of Indigenous peoples.

"In the name of progress, pluralism, tolerance and liberty, you leave no choice to those of us who are not fortunate enough to share this sense of liberty and the benefits of the civilization you wish to defend for your people, we who never had sympathy for terrorism since we were its victims.

"We, who are proud expressions of other civilizations; who live day to day with the hope of turning discrimination and plunder into recognition and respect; who carry in our souls the pain of the genocide perpetrated against our peoples; finally, we who are fed up with providing the dead for wars that are not ours: we cannot share the arrogance of your infallibility nor the single road onto which you want to push us when you declare that 'Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.'"

Benalli said an ironic excuse for reducing civil liberties in the United States is the attacks by terrorists.

"The first terrorists that entered our homelands were the Europeans. Never forget that in 1637, 700 men, women and children of the Pequot Tribe gathered for their annual Green Corn Dance in an area now known as Groton, Connecticut."

There, English and Dutch terrorists massacred the 700 Pequots. The next day the Governor of Massachusetts Bay colony declared a day of Thanksgiving, thanking God that they eliminated over 700 Pequots, she said.

"For the next 100 years, every Thanksgiving Day, ordained by a Governor or President, was to honor that victory, thanking God that the battle had been won.

"There after, genocide continued to the extent of bio-terrorism in the form of smallpox blankets to wipe out another group of Indigenous peoples."

Meanwhile, the monitoring of e-mail messages and cell phone conversations by the federal government has many Indian people alarmed and suspicious of the motives.

Time magazine reports the National Security Administration now has advanced measures to monitor e-mail and cell phone calls. The article, "When Terror Hides Online," says investigators are searching for hidden images of terrorists plots, but the broad search powers alarm those concerned with the protection of civil rights.

"Law enforcement is increasingly targeting terrorists' technology," Time reports. "After the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI reportedly installed additional Carnivores, devices it has been using to surreptitiously read e-mail, on Internet service providers.

"The National Security Agency uses Echelon, a top-secret wiretapping device, to monitor e-mail, cell phones and faxes worldwide. And the antiterrorism law passed last month broadened law enforcement's powers to grab Internet communications," Adam Cohen writes in Time's edition on Nov. 14.

Now, the anti-terrorism bills includes a provision for Internet providers to maintain billing records for criminal investigations.

The anti-mask and face paint law is especially troubling to American Indians and peace demonstrators who could face one month in jail under the new law for wearing face paint, bandanas or masks.

They say Congress passed the anti-terrorism law and Bush signed it into law while America and the media were not paying attention.

In November, demonstrators outside CNN in Atlanta, protesting the lack of coverage of Afghanistans facing starvation, were arrested on charges of violating an anti-mask law for wearing bandanas. The law dates back to times of arrests of members of the Ku Klux Klan.

The three arrested on anti-mask law violations and other charges occurred while about 200 protesters chanted, "CNN, half the story, all the time," at CNN Center Nov. 11.

Meanwhile, on the floor of the Senate, Sen. Russell Feingold, D-WI, tried to repel the anti-terrorism legislation as an attack on the Constitution.

"It is crucial that civil liberties in this country be preserved. Otherwise, I'm afraid terror will win this battle without firing a shot."

Norway to kill 25% of its wolves

  Last Updated: Friday, 21 January, 2005, 17:28 GMT E-mail this to a friend Printable version  Norway to kill 25% of its wolves By Alex Kirby
BBC News website environment correspondent
One wolf pack is to be shot (Image: WWF-Canon/Chris Martin Bahr)The Norwegian government has decided to kill five of the country's grey wolves - a quarter of the entire population.

It says the decision is necessary to protect domestic livestock, but one campaign group has condemned the cull.

WWF-Norway says two wolves have been shot already, one of them from a pack which has not been targeted and which it fears may now not manage to survive.

Wolves are protected in Norway, and are listed as critically endangered, and WWF says many people oppose the cull.

The decision to kill five animals out of the 20 remaining in Norway was taken by the nature directorate, which advises the government. WWF-Norway is calling for an immediate halt to the hunt.

Survival 'at risk'

Its head, Rasmus Hansson, said: "If the Norwegian environment minister does not stop this hunt, he will have the dubious honour of allowing the regular hunting of a nationally endangered species.

Breeding may be at risk (Image: WWF-Canon/Chris Martin Bahr)"The culling of 20-30% of a population this size is a serious threat to the survival of this species in Norway.

"This practice is contrary to internationally accepted standards for wildlife management. No other country that I know of has such an aggressive policy towards its wolves."

The Norwegian parliament decided last May the country should sustain at least three family packs of wolves.

Packs can range in size from two adults to 10 or more animals covering several generations. WWF says the current hunt will reduce the number of packs to two at most.

Mr Hansson told the BBC: "One wolf from the pack to be culled was shot on 15 January, and another female from a different pack on 21 January.

"We don't know the exact size of the targeted pack, because we don't know whether it produced any cubs last summer. If it did, they will be left orphaned.

Steady decline

"Now, in all likelihood, by killing the wrong animal they've ruined another pack. The animal was an alpha female, so breeding may be affected and the pack could dissolve."

Norway's wolves are now very rare (Image: WWF-Canon/Roger LeGuen)WWF says there were an estimated 50-80 wolves in the southern part of Norway and Sweden in 2001, consisting of several families.

That year Norway approved the culling of eight out of its 25 wolves, leaving 20 today, because the target was not met.

A recent study of the wider Scandinavian wolf population concluded there were 120 at the most.

Mr Hansson said: "There is a serious risk of genetic degradation in this population because of its small size. A genetically healthy population... should have at least 800 individuals."

He told the BBC: "The cull is meant to protect sheep. Sheep farming occupies 90% of Norway's territory.

"We have 250-300,000 moose and 30,000 reindeer. In that perspective 800 wolves shouldn't be too many, though we've never suggested it - it's just a biological fact."

Alcohol Deaths Spur Change on Reservation

Alcohol Deaths Spur Change on Reservation Alcohol-Related Deaths of Four Boys in Six Months Spur Changes on Reservation in Montana The Associated Press

Jan. 2, 2005 - The Flathead Indian Reservation is shifting its focus to children and retooling tribal policies following the drinking deaths of four boys in a six-month period. The deaths, starting in late 2003, stunned the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, but inspired a gritty resolve to help children deal with alcohol without underestimating the power of generations of alcohol abuse.

"It seems like we've got some good things going, but I think we can't forget that we are fighting something that has been a problem for our people for hundreds of years," said Tony Incashola, head of the Salish Cultural Committee. "Sometimes there's a sense of 'Hey, what can we really do?' but you can't let that stop you from trying."

Tyler Benoist died first. The 14-year-old spent the night drinking with friends in November 2003 and was found dead of smoke inhalation in a burned trailer in Pablo. Authorities said he had passed out with a blood-alcohol level of 0.233.

Three months later, Tyler's 11-year-old brother, Justin, and another boy, Frankie Nicolai, vanished from Ronan Middle School. A friend found their bodies three days later.

Tests concluded alcohol poisoning killed Frankie, whose blood-alcohol level was 0.50 percent, more than six times the drunken-driving threshold in Montana. Justin, whose blood alcohol was 0.20 percent, died from a combination of alcohol poisoning and hypothermia.

No one was charged in the case.

In May, 15-year-old Joey DuMontier drank most of a fifth of whiskey and died in a chair at a home northeast of Ronan. Sentencing is scheduled Jan. 22 for Richard Lopez, 21, of Ronan who pleaded guilty to providing at least some of the alcohol.

Tribal leaders knew something had to be done. For a while, the response appeared mostly symbolic through rallies, walks and get-togethers held to generate ideas and allow the public to grieve.

"I think all the rallies and events were a way for people to feel like they were doing something," Incashola said. "A rally is a way, on one hand, to show support, but it's also a way to say 'Well, what else can we do?' This was so big that people had a very difficult time imagining how we could really respond to it."

In recent months, the tribal council has stepped up, appointing a team to identify ways the government can better respond to children's needs and outlining tribal policy regarding children in a tribal children's code.

The tribes also recently took part in a training program that should ultimately lead to formation of a drug court. The court would be family oriented, with neither children nor adults treated in isolation.

"You're dealing with the family as a unit, so the whole system is essentially gathered around the family," said Teresa Wall-McDonald, who heads the tribes' Department of Human Resources and Development.

Tribal elders have also become more involved by connecting with tribal programs that deal with children.

"They're coming at this from the perspective of making sure that we find ways to connect with the positive values of the past," Incashola said. "A lot of elders have felt helpless and hopeless about passing down the value of family, so there's a real push there to see if we can do something about that."

Despite the changes, grief is never far away on the reservation in northwestern Montana, he said.

"When you lose young people, I think it's something you never quite get over," Incashola said. "There will always be something that makes you remember what happened. Those are wounds that never quite heal, but they also make you remember what you ought to be doing to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again."

Information from: Missoulian,

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Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada

 Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada

 

 "In addition to allegations of physical and sexual abuse, which are found in 90% of the legal claims, allegations relating to such things as cultural loss, breach of treaty, loss of education opportunity, forcible confinement and poor conditions at the schools are also alleged.   Now over 5,000 cases representing nearly 12,000 individuals make claims against the Government. Seventy per cent of claimants themselves also name a church institution in addition to the Government.   There have been over 630 settlements and 11 court judgements."
http://www.irsr-rqpa.gc.ca/english/history.html   http://www.irsr-rqpa.gc.ca/english/who_we_are.html