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Towards the Reconstruction of the Country: The Constituent Assembly of Indigenous and Black People of Honduras

Written by Emma Volonté, Translation by Alex Cachinero-Gorman. This initially appeared on Upside Down World.

From February 21st to 23rd, the Constituent Assembly of Indigenous and Black People of Honduras (also known as the Constituent Assembly of the People that come from the land and sea) held a forum in San Juan Durugubuty. Called by the main civil society organizations of the country, the assembled communities sought to collect and systematize the proposals of the Garifuna people and of the seven indigenous groups of the country for a new Constitution.

Social movements in Honduras have been demanding a new Constitution which recognizes the rights of communities of indigenous and African descent, as well as women, for a long time now. “Listen, think about the fact that the current Constitution mentions women only one time, and that’s when it says that a man has to marry a woman”, Tomas Gómez Lembreño, of COPINH (Civic Council of Peoples’ and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras), told me. “To reconstruct the country, we have to change this Constitution that gives power only to the National Congress, the Executive Branch, the Supreme Court, and businessmen. Until today, the people haven’t had power: so the new Constitution needs to affirm that natural resources belong to the people, it needs to recognize multilingualism, the pluri-cultural nature of Honduran society, and the rights of women”.

Update On The Situtation Of The Algonquins Of Barriere Lake

Barriere Lake Solidarity Collective has issued the following update on the situation of the Mitchikanibikok Inik, also known as the Algonquins of Barriere Lake.

In 2010, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) placed the Algonquin community under third party management, with the help of an obscure section of the Indian Act known as Section 74.

INAC says that it was forced to use Section 74–that is, intervene in the Algonquin community’s affairs and ultimately impose a new Chief and Council–because of an aging leadership dispute between two community members. However, it is believed that the government’s real goal was to get away from of a set of binding agreements with Barriere lake, including the landmark 1991 Trilateral Agreement.

As previously noted on IC, the government had been talking about a change in leadership since at least 2002, a whole seven years before the leadership dispute began.

In any case, “one thing is clear”, notes Barriere Lake Solidarity: “Barriere Lake is open for business now. Mining companies, logging companies, and costly Hydro electrification and reserve housing development have all been green-lighted by the [new] band council.”

For more information, please visit: barrierelakesolidarity.blogspot.com

Splitting the Sky to Speak at University of Waterloo

Start: 03/31/2011 19:00

End: 03/31/2011 20:30

Timezone: Canada/Eastern

The University of Waterloo Department of Religious Studies, with support from the Department of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University and Waterloo Public Interests Research Group (WPIRG – wprig.org) are proud to present:

Speaker: Splitting the Sky

Topic: The Sun Dance and the Gustafsen Lake Standoff

Date: Thursday, March 31, 2011

Location: Hagey Hall 373 (University of Waterloo)

Time: 7:00pm to 8:30pm

In 1995 Splitting the Sky led a major Indian uprising in Canada at Gustafsen Lake, British Columbia. Preceding what would be the most costly RCMP operation in Canadian history, he was the leader of a Sun Dance which had been practiced at the site annually since 1990. He had been participating in Sun Dances in the North America since 1981 and even danced in the 1994 ritual at Gustafsen Lake. The Sun Dancers who took occupation of the sacred grounds sought an international investigation into the matter of unceded indigenous territory, believing that sovereignty would help to alleviate the suffering caused by the actions of the various institutions of the Canadian state.

Indigenous Zapatista Supporters “Held Hostage” in Chiapas for Opposing Ecotourism Project

Written by Kristin Bricker for Upside Down World.

This past February 3, approximately 300 state police raided a meeting of indigenous Zapatista supporters in San Sebastian Bachajón, Chiapas, and arrested 117 people. The arrests sparked protests across Mexico and in front of Mexican consulates around the world, leading the Chiapas government to release the majority of the prisoners. However, five Tzeltal indigenous men, who are now known as the “Bachajón 5,” remain behind bars. One is accused of murder, another is accused of attempted murder, and all five are accused of crimes against the peace.

The Bachajón Zapatista supporters are adherents to the Other Campaign, which was initiated by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) in order to form national and global alliances amongst leftist organizations and movements.

The arrests stem from a confrontation between rival indigenous groups that occurred the previous day in San Sebastian Bachajón, which is an ejido, or communally held lands. Marcos García Moreno, an ejido member who belonged to the faction that allied itself with the government, was shot and killed during the confrontation with ejido members who are Other Campaign adherents. The government accuses the Other Campaign adherents of murdering García Moreno and attempting to murder a second man who was shot during the confrontation. The Other Campaign adherents deny the charges. They say they were unarmed, and that the government-allied ejido members were shooting guns into the air during the confrontation.

Maurus Chino’s Anti-War Statement: From Conquistador Butchers to ROTC

Maurus Chino, Acoma Tribe, Founder Southwest Indigenous Alliance. Thanks to POCO! for this.

Greetings! Are you all well? My Acoma name is Kaaimaisiwa. My American name is Maurus Chino. I belong to the Eagle Clan, and am a child of the Sun Clan. I belong to the Acoma People.

Acoma, a beautiful and wondrous place to the west of here, is for us the center of the universe. I may live in other places, as I do now, here in Albuquerque, but Ak’u, beloved Ak’u is a strong force that draws those of us who were born for Acoma and those who will be born for Acoma, always back to its center.

Ak’u is the word for the actual rock upon which the old village sits. Ak’ume translates as, “a person from Ak’u”. From the word Ak’ume, comes the word Acoma.

No Consent? No Pipeline!

Wet'suwet'en Indigenous activist Telqua highlights widespread Indigenous opposition to Enbridge's Northern Gateway project.

Rally at Bank of Montreal meeting supports Yinka Dene Alliance against Enbridge pipeline. A report from the Vancouver Media Co-Op.

Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories – Dozens of people gathered downtown on March 22nd to rally against the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline and in support of the Yinka Dene Alliance. Representatives from the Alliance voiced their position inside the Bank of Montreal’s Annual General Meeting held at the Four Seasons Hotel.

“The banks should not raise funds for companies operating within Indigenous territories against the will of Indigenous peoples,” stated Yinka Dene Alliance spokesperson Geraldine Thomas-Flurer in amedia release circulated the morning of the AGM.

Nadleh Whut’en, Nak’azdli, Takla Lake, Saik’uz, and Wet’suwet’en First Nations – the Yinka Dene Alliance – intervened at the Bank of Montreal (BMO) annual shareholders meeting to tell the bank not to finance Enbridge or the company’s Northern Gateway pipeline project. According to the Alliance, BMO has raised over $286 million for Enbridge and its related companies since 2007.

Amiri Baraka, Tom Porter, Rosa Clemente Debate Electoral Politics

Jared Ball, the host of Jazz and Justice on Voxunion, reminded me about this three year old post with a Facebook post this morning. It’s an oldie, but a goody, so I’m sharing it around, in particular because the Revolutionary Communist Party-Parti Communiste Révolutionnaire is beginning a campaign to boycott the incredibly-likely-to-be-happening-in-the-near-future-federal elections.

Amiri Baraka, Tom Porter and Rosa Clemente all joined Jazz and Justice this week and can be heard debating Obama v. McKinney. We invite you check out this “redux” of the program and encourage that you support this liberated masses medium of WPFW 89.3 FM in Washington, DC by purchasing the entire program for $20. or make a contribution toVoxunion Media today.

100608p1.mp3 Part 1

100608p2.mp3 Part 2

Israel’s Latest Apartheid Law

By Ilan Pappé. It appeared on CounterPunch.

Ilan is a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter in the UK, director of the university’s European Centre for Palestine Studies, co-director of the Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies, and political activist. His books include A Modern History of Palestine, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine and Gaza in Crisis (with Noam Chomsky).

Those of us who have been veteran comrades in the struggle for peace and justice in Palestine have quite often been frustrated by the inability to galvanize enough support in the political and media establishments in the West against the brutal occupation of the West Bank and the strangulation of Gaza.  We believed that clear cut evidence of the oppression and the highly visible criminal policies that raged since 1967 should have at least triggered a world reaction similar to the one that now takes place against Libya, and even more so.

But we know all the reasons why it did not, and will not happen. And yet we may have overlooked one particular reason, indeed one successful ploy of the Israeli peace camp that seems to have aborted any such effort in its buds. The liberal Zionists believe strongly in the existence of two discrete entities one Israel and one that lies on the other side of the 1967 green line which have very little in common.

Biofuels, Mass Evictions and Violence Build on the Legacy of the 1978 Panzos Massacre in Guatemala

Written by Annie Bird. This appeared on Upside Down World.

Internationally-funded Guatemalan bio-fuel interests evict Mayan Qeqchi families from their historic lands, destroying homes and crops, killing one, injuring more, while thousands are without food or shelter.

On March 15, 16 and 17, hundreds of security officers from the Guatemalan National Civil Police, Army and Anti-riot Squads entered 14 small Maya Qeqchi villages in the municipality of Panzos, Alta Verapaz, shooting live ammunition and dispersing tear gas.

Reports from the region indicate that police and soldiers were followed by masked and armed employees of the Chabil Utzaj sugar cane company, who destroyed homes and crops.  Families pleaded, to no avail, with plantation ‘owners’ and State authorities to spare the crops because they were close to harvest and families would face starvation without their harvest.

Oglala Native Youth Movement Occupation

International Statement
Oglala Band of Native Youth Movement
Unsurrendered Lakota Nation
March 21, 2011

Oglala Band Native Youth Movement and the Strong Heart Warrior Society are currently occupying a building in PahinSinte Lakota Nation, (so-called Porcupine, South Dakota) with Elders of the Lakota Nation.

Oglala Band of NYM was called to action after Elders began to occupy this building on March 4, 2011. Elders requested support to bring attention to the mental, physical, and spiritual abuse and the neglect of meal services that they are being excluded from. The Elders, some 90+ years old, involved in this occupation have tried for 4 years to have their grievances heard and brought forth to the tribal governments but were completely ignored & disrespected. The Elders are the knowledge keepers of our Lakota Nation, traditionally our Elders, Grandmothers and Grandfathers were held with the upmost respect. It is now time that our Elders are heard

On False Internationalism

The following is a short excerpt from E. Tani & Kae Sera’s False Nationalism, False Internationalism: Class Contradictions in the Armed Struggle, a sequel of sorts to J. Sakais’ Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat, and which just arrived in my mail yesterday from AK Press. In this quote they are talking about the relationship between white activists and African revolutionaries in the U.S. in the 1960s and 70s, but if you were to change but only a few words you would get a perfect description of the relationship between a certain sector of the Canadian white Left - in particular the south west Ontario manifestation of it – and Native revolutionaries. That is why I am posting it – some food for thought for my Canadian comrades.

In the late 1960s Euro-Amerikan radicals and liberals raised tens of thousands of dollars, walked picket lines in front of courthouses, and helped make a big public issue of the defense trials of Black Panther Party leaders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. Newton and Seale were projected by the media and the white Left as the most revolutionary leadership for the New Afrikan movement. Was that campaign an example of genuine internationalism? No. Many Euro-Amerikan students may hae been subjectively sincere in a desire for internationalism, but objectively what took place was the reverse. Because at the same time that the Euro-Amerikan Left was promoting Huey and Bobby, they were also ignoring – and thus implicitly condoning – imperialist counter-insurgency against real revolutionary nationalists, such as Fred Ahmed Evans in Cleveland or the Republic of New Afrika 11 in Mississippi. In other words, no solidarity with those explicitly fighting for New Afrikan independence. What passed for “solidarity” was really a settler Left attempt to once again pick Black leaders more suitable to them. Not internationalism, but false internationalism. [emphasis mine]

Organizational Decay in the UCPN(Maoist)?

Thanks to the excellent Canadian Maoist blog The Workers Dreadnought for this.

There have been two recent articles that have been published in the bourgeois press that suggest some form of organizational decay in the organizations that surround the UCPN(Maoist), most notably till date has been the fragmentation of the ANTUF(R). However, there are other signs that of decay in the Party. These include the people’s communes which have been such inspirational examples of revolutionary self-organization and production; and the production of Janadisha Daily which has been the Maoist-run daily newspaper which many tens of thousands of Nepali’s rely on for their daily news of current events. The fact that the communes on the verge of collapse (although I do think that the article overstates the case as it mentions for example that  a commune member said that a Party leader had not come to the commune since the Maoists had entered into mainstream politics, whilst at the same time they quote Santosh Budhamagar who is a Party leader and member of the legislative assembly and has repeatedly gone to the people’s commune in Thabang, thus we can fairly assume – as we always should when citing the bourgeois press  – that they are also trying to be sensationalist to make the case and to undermine the revolution)  and that the party has halted the publication of the newspaper demonstrates that the services and revolutionary infrastructure around the Party have been neglected, both politically and economically (this is a story that has been repeated numerous times by Party members in the countryside).

U.S. and Western Imperialism Out of Libya Now! Self-Determination and National Liberation for Arab and African People!

From the Uhuru Solidarity Movement.

The African People’s Solidarity Committee (APSC) condemns the U.S. imperialist attack on Libya—an attack that initiates yet another colonial war of occupation under the Obama regime, this time on the continent of Africa.

The U.S. and other imperialist powers opened the war on Libya with a “shock and awe” attack on March 19, the eighth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The aggression against Libya included the launching of 100 “Tomahawk” cruise missiles and 40 bombs dropped from U.S. B-2 “Stealth Bombers.”

At least 60 civilians are reported to have been killed in this initial assault. This brutal action established the “no-fly zone,” that cleared the Libyan airways for a U.S.-backed invasion.

This enables the U.S. and other imperialist forces to terrorize the people of Libya with impunity, to steal Libyan oil interests in Benghazi and to try to secure a balance of power in the North African region in favor of the increasingly weakened U.S.

Ilan Pappé on The Zionist Ideology of the State of Israel

A lecture given by Ilan Pappé at the Palestine Solidarity Conference in Stuttgart in November of last year. Ilan Pappé is one of Israel’s bravest academics, He is the author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006), and is considered one of the group of so-called “new historians” in Israel, who are re-writing the accepted narrative of the state’s founding.

He is a prominent supporter of the One-State Solution. Before he left Israel in 2008, after being pressured to resign from his university post because of his support for BDS and the academic boycott, he had been condemned in the Knesset; a minister of education had called for him to be sacked; his photograph had appeared in a newspaper at the centre of a target; and he had received several death threats.