CUAUHYOTL ABYA YALA
Pohualtlahtoyan
POHUALTLAHTOYAN
The Doctrine of Discovery
and the
Wakeup Call from the Nightmare of Manifest Destiny in Arizona
The National Day of Action on May 29, 2010 which saw 100,000 people march through Phoenix was a massive convergence of protest and presence against the racist policies coming out of the Arizona state legislature such as AZ SB1070. Distinct in the character of the march and organizing both before and since has been deliberate insertion of the point of reference of Indigenous Peoples as PEOPLES with the Right of Self Determination in the debate on policy and federal immigration enforcement priorities. This has never occurred before at the scale of a national mobilization for social justice in the entire history of the United States. While common in mass mobilizations throughout the southern part of the hemisphere, the presence of Indigenous Peoples as not just protagonists and participants, but in leadership roles as NATIONS is a development that all of the peoples who marched in Phoenix felt and experienced collectively, but the mainstream narrative of what is occurring in Arizona is still missing the boat.
Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that the mainstream narrative, including the tale told by the advocates and networks, is still on the boats: the Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria, the Mayflower and the NAFTA. All the same boat.
We however, here on the ground, know we are at the pivot point of not just the history for Arizona but the future of our relationship as families of the children of Abya Yala and Mother Earth. The first wave of impact of the impending climate chaos on the horizon of the global economy, which is projected to produce 50,000,000 climate refugees globally due to climate change exacerbated by global warming, has already broken upon the borders of Arizona. The climate of fear, ignorance, and insecurity which is driving the viscous attack against the migratory workers of Arizona and their families is signal that the climate of social relationships which should be based on our shared human values and supported by public policies is dangerously misguided. We are being assaulted on a daily basis by the dying gasp of the pathology of white privilege as determinant of the legal, political, and cultural identity of US citizenship and nationality.
Had not for TONATIERRA’s participation, persistence and credibility the indigenous presence would not have surfaced during this process and there would not be COGNITION much less recognition that the debate on immigration can only be justly addressed from 1492 to the present, with full acknowledgement of the Right of Self Determination of Indigenous Peoples. Otherwise what occurs is not a public debate on immigration policies, but a manipulation of the term to mask the final extermination of the Indigenous Nations of Abya Yala, not under the heels of the Doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, but under the wheels of the multi-lateral trade agreements imposed under the doctrine of the Divine Right of States.
The mission of TONATIERRA has resonated on the community level through our work with the Comites de Defensa del Barrio and the national organizations that work the immigration issue, and even further to the higher echelons of progressive politics although all be it reluctantly at times. We reaffirm the simple truth that the family of social constituencies from Indigenous Peoples perspective includes all members of the public, and our relatives of the natural world, and we are all only secondarily legitimized by our status as citizens or subjects of the established Republics in the territories. We are not immigrants in our own continent of Abya Yala.
TONATIERRA
www.tonatierra.org
*************
Tribunal de los Pueblos
Press Release
Date: Friday November 5, 2010
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISION OF THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED STATES
Arizona Working Group
Regional Hearing on the Impact of the
March 13-14, 2011
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of Indigenous Peoples
Phoenix, AZ – Today an intervention will be presented before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland giving official notice regarding the Actions of Discovery being formulated to address and rectify the violations of Civil Rights, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, and the Rights of Mother Earth in the territories referenced by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (US-Mexico, 1848). The intervention will be presented at the Universal Periodic Review being conducted in Geneva Switzerland by the UN Human Rights Council, a formal process of accountability within the UN system intended to review the status of Human Rights within the territories and among the constituencies of the USA.
A specific point of denunciation of systemic Human Rights violations will be in terms of Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that “every one has the right to work” and the conflict and collusion with local, state and federal law enforcement policies of immigration that victimize and violate human rights of migratory workers in particular.
“The issue is not the right to work. Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 23 to which the US government is signatory, everyone has the right to work. What is at issue are the illegal, discriminatory and predatory economic policies and practices of the licensing procedures for lawful employment in the US economy”, said Tupac Enrique Acosta of TONATIERRA, an Indigenous Peoples Human Rights organization in Arizona.
“Such policies and practices are in themselves complicit in perpetuating the centuries of deprivation, exploitation, and racism inflicted upon our Indigenous Peoples, and marginalized workers in general under pogroms of colonization.”
Regionally, the human rights issues apparent in the economic policies affecting the Indigenous Peoples of North America, taken as a whole, and the economic policies of the three major republics of the continent, namely the US, Canada, and Mexico (NAFTA) are an area of ongoing concern and attention by the world community. At the international level, these issues are addressed formally within the standard setting principles of Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization which came into force as an instrument of international law on September 6, 1991.
To this point, under the principle of Special Measures which is stated in Part III of ILO Convention 169, Recruitment and Conditions of Employment, Article 20:
· Governments shall, within the framework of national laws and regulations, and in co-operation with the peoples concerned, adopt special measures to ensure the effective protection with regard to recruitment and conditions of employment of workers belonging to these Peoples, to the extent that they are not effectively protected by laws applicable to workers in general.
Referencing the Macehualli Community Center in Phoenix, Arizona which has served the day labor constituencies of the area for seven years, Salvador Reza of PUENTE stated: “The implementation of Special Measures is a measured, effective, and appropriate response to the crisis of economic imbalance which is the core issue in North America that has resulted in the economic displacement of millions of Migratory Workers, among them many who are part of our family of Indigenous Peoples.”
In contrast to the proactive and Human Rights approach of Special Measures, the delegation at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva denounced emphatically the policies of criminalization and collusion with federal Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) and the persecution of migratory workers under the guise of state legislation such as AZ SB 1070, and the 287(g) Secure Communities programs. The intervention today before the UN Human Rights Council has been organized by the US Human Rights Network based in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Actions of Discovery were first emitted by the POHUALTLAHTOYAN, Tribunal de los Pueblos which convened on September 11-12, 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona to uncover the Domains of Doctrine that have been imposed upon the territories of the Nations and Pueblos of Abya Yala [the Americas] in violation of the Right of Self Determination and in violation of the Rights of Mother Earth since October 12, 1492. The POHUALTLAHTOYAN was hosted at Nahuacalli, Embassy of Indigenous Peoples.
The POHUALTLAHTOYAN, Tribunal de los Pueblos is a regional and international response by the Nations and Pueblos of Indigenous Peoples intended to rectify the historical and present day systemic Human Rights violations in a spirit of self-determination and with respect for the Rights of Mother Earth.
In complement to this effort, the National Human Rights Commission of the Peoples of the United States, Arizona Working Group will convene Regional Hearing in March of 2011 in Phoenix to address the impact on Indigenous Peoples of the legal construct known as the Doctrine of Discovery. The regional hearing in March of 2011 will take as point of departure the Preliminary study of the impact on Indigenous Peoples of the legal construct known as the Doctrine of Discovery, presented to the UN Economic and Social Council by the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Ninth Session in April of 2010. The event will be hosted once again at the Nahuacalli, Embassy of Indigenous Peoples in conjunction with the eighth annual proclamation of Indigenous Peoples Day across the territory.
Extract from the Preliminary Study:
“This preliminary study establishes that the Doctrine of Discovery has been institutionalized in law and policy, on national and international levels, and lies at the root of the violations of Indigenous Peoples human rights, both individual and collective.”
Taking note of the call for reinterpretation and restrictions to the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution currently being led in Arizona by State Senator Russell Pearce, and addressing the issue from the finding of the clarification above from the Preliminary Study on the Doctrine of Discovery, the Regional Hearing will bring forward an analysis based on current Human Rights law of the legal concepts of “Person, Inhabitant and Savage” as categories of legal identity or lack thereof as stipulated in Articles 8, 9 and 10 of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo through which the territory of New Mexico became the State of Arizona within the United States of America.
The campaign to reinterpret the 14th Amendment, specifically the call to restrict the rights and obligations of US citizenship and/or nationality opens up the international legal issue of questioning the mechanisms that the European American constituencies imposed upon the original and indigenous nationalities of the territories of North America by utilizing the racial profiling technique of “White Person” to restrict and control participation in the formation of territorial governments, state governments and indeed within the national superstructures of both the US and the Republic of Mexico.
Another specific Action of Discovery now in process is a communication to the Traditional Leadership of the Tribal Nations to inquire as to the specific histories and narratives of the tribal Nations of Indigenous Peoples affected by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) and the Gadsden Purchase (1853) that would shed light on this question:
“By what mechanism or legal procedure were the land rights, sovereignty and jurisdiction of your sovereign Tribal Nation either transferred to the Government of the Republic of Mexico (1848-1853), or surrendered to the US government on a Nation to Nation basis?”
###
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of Indigenous Peoples
TONATIERRA
Press Release
Date: Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Contact: Tupac Enrique Acosta Tel: (602) 466-8367
O'dam Nation Representative from Santa Maria Ocotan in
Durango, Mexico brings message of Abya Yala to the Elders of the O’Odham
Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community, O'Odham Nations Territories - Virginia Flores Flores from the O'dam Community of Santa Maria Ocotan in Durango, Mexico visited with Salt River Pima Maricopa Community Senior Program yesterday morning to share breakfast and exchange in the O'dam Language the message of Abya Yala, and a call to gather the O'dam Peoples from the states of Durango, Chihuahua, Sonora in Mexico with the O'Odham relatives in Arizona.
The O'dam of Santa Maria Ocotan are a community of 15,000
with a territory of 421,000 hectares (1,036,870 acres), one of the largest recognized indigenous territories
in all Latin America. The O'dam of
Durango comprise some 30, 000 total members from seven distinct
communities that share a common native language of the Uto-Aztecan
family.
Most of the O'dam of Santa Maria Ocotan speak their native language.
Virginia has been in the territory participating in the process of POHUALTLAHTOYAN, Tribunal de los Pueblos and has been encountering other relatives from the O'Odham reservations of Salt River, Gila River, and Tohono O'Odham with whom she can speak directly and communicate in the shared O'dam-O'Odham language.
On Tuesday the 14th, Virginia visited with the elders at the
Senior Program on Salt River Reservation, and visited the HuHukam Ki Museum and Cultural Center,
uncovering the ancient ties that bind the O'dam- O'Odham Nations and Peoples
from Mexico to Arizona. She spoke with Mary Pablo.
Virginia is also part of a national movement of Indigenous Peoples from throughout Mexico who are engaged in the struggle for respect for Indigenous Rights in Mexico and across the continent Abya Yala [the Americas].
In this context, she attended the IV Continental Indigenous Summit of Abya Yala in Puno, Peru in 2008, and is working with TONATIERRA to fulfill the mutual obligations of realizing the responsibilities of the Continental Confederation of the Eagle and the Condor.
Shannon Rivers, Akimel O’Odham from Gila River Reservation facilitated a
tour of the Huhugam Heritage Center yesterday on the Gila River Reservation,
and today Virginia visited the Pueblo Grande Museum.
A plan for a larger delegation of O'dam from Durango to
come to Arizona in the Spring of 2011 is now being discussed in
conjunction with the annual celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day in March at the Indian School Park in Phoenix.
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of Indigenous Peoples
###
YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?video_id=PScUZQiQi4E
Map of Durango
TONATIERRA
Press Release
Date: Sunday September 12, 2010
Contact: Tupac Enrique Acosta Tel: (602) 466-8367
www.tonatierra.org
POHUALTLAHTOYAN
Tribunal de los Pueblos
Phoenix, AZ – Gathered in traditional assembly at the Nahuacalli, Embassy of Indigenous Peoples in Phoenix, Arizona delegations of Indigenous Peoples made public yesterday a set of Actions of Discovery to uncover the Domains of Doctrine that have been imposed upon the territories of the Nations and Pueblos of Abya Yala [the Americas] in violation of the Right of Self Determination and in violation of the Rights of Mother Earth since October 12, 1492.
On Saturday September 11, 2010 a gathering of the POHUALTLAHTOYAN, Tribunal de los Pueblos convened at the Nahuacalli for a two day session that will address the violations of Civil Rights, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, and Rights of Mother Earth in the territories referenced by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo between the US and Mexico (1848).
This gathering is projected as a regional venue for Indigenous Peoples to formulate a collective process to rectify the historical and present day systemic injustices in a spirit of self-determination and with respect for the Rights of Mother Earth.
With the adoption on September 13, 2007 by the General Assembly of the United Nations of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples a new context of evaluation for these issues is realized, cutting across domestic policies of “Indian Law”, challenging centuries of legal doctrine at the continental level, and moving into an age of global recognition, respect, and protection for the Right of Self Determination for the Nations and Pueblos of Indigenous Peoples.
The POHUALTLATOYAN is a regional grassroots initiative that intends to move this process forward, implementing the systemic standards established by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to bring clarity and rectification to our mutual responsibilities and shared relationships as children of the Nations and Pueblos of Mother Earth.
One specific Action of Discovery is a communication to the Traditional Leadership of the Tribal Nations to inquire as to the specific histories and narratives of the tribal Nations of Indigenous Peoples affected by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) and the Gadsden Purchase (1853) that would shed light on this question:
“By what mechanism or legal procedure were the land rights, sovereignty and jurisdiction of your sovereign Tribal Nation either transferred to the Government of the Republic of Mexico (1848-1853), or surrendered to the US government on a Nation to Nation basis?”
An a official archive of testimony, evidence, and rectification has been established by the POHUALTLAHTOYAN, Tribunal de los Pueblos which is to be facilitated by a secretariat of the Nahuacalli to provide continuity to the process of rectification.
###
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of Indigenous Peoples
www.nahuacalli.org
September 11-12, 2010
A Community Tribunal of Rectification
and
Act of Self Determination
Addressing the
Violations of Civil Rights – Human Rights – Indigenous Rights
in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Territories (US-Mexico 1848)
Protocols:
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of Indigenous Peoples
802 N. 7th Street Phoenix, AZ 85006
Phoenix, AZ
IZKALOTLAN
Contact:
Tupac Enrique Acosta, Yaotachcauh
Tlahtokan Nahuacalli
TONATIERRA
*******
PURPOSE:
To Provide a Traditional Indigenous Venue POHUALTLAHTOYAN to address the violations of Civil Rights, Human Rights, and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala in a process affirming the Right of Self Determination as Nations and Pueblos of Indigenous Peoples in defense of the RIGHTS OF MOTHER EARTH.
PRINCIPLES:
Tradition and Liberation
The Legend of TENAMAZTLE: Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopochtli
The violations and evidence that were submitted, the interference, every pain that was mentioned by Elders, every testimony of the violation of our Mother Earth from where all this life comes from. The second charge: It was forced. It’s forced. It’s assault. It’s usurpation of jurisdiction that is then transcribed into what they call a legal system. The evidence was submitted under the international law, under treaty obligation as understood by the First Nations, the Peoples of the First Nations-“itzachitlakame” – it is sufficient to proceed. We concur with the findings of our fellow judges to advance these proceedings to the next stage of testimony, witness, finding and judgment. And we would also state that under the power of enforcement that we direct this message to be carried to the present and future generations of Origin-Nations of the four directions of the Great Turtle Island. And their powers are now powers of Memory, of Intelligence and Will that we may undertake the remedy in our daily walk and in our dreams. First Nations International Court of Justice, Algonquin Territories [Ottawa, Canada] April 1996; Judge Tupac Enrique Acosta, Izkalotlan Pueblo
The Treaty of Teotihuacan:
The TREATY OF TEOTIHUACAN is a mutual commitment among the Nations, Pueblos, and organizations of Indigenous Peoples at the continental level, empowered by the Jurisprudence of Indigenous International Law in four aspects: Spiritual Alliance, Political Solidarity, Cultural Complementarity, and POCHTECAYOTL - Economic and Commercial Agreements of Exchange.
The Protocols of Cochabamba
RESPECT – INCLUSION – COMPLEMENTARITY – SELF DETERMINATION
PROCESS
The formulation of the POHUALTLAHTOYAN is projected as a Fourfold process: Welcome and Introductions, Intervention and Consultation, Reflection and Dialogue, Community and Commitment.
INTERVENTIONS
Interventions to the process are accepted for consideration in terms of Individual and Family, Family and Community, Community and Nation, Nation and Traditional Indigenous Confederacy, Humanity and Mother Earth.
Categories of Intervention for Testimony and Evidence:
1) Violations of Civil Rights and Human Rights;
2) Violations of Indigenous Rights and the RIGHTS OF MOTHER EARTH in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Territories;
3) Violations of the Rights of the Future Generations.
EVENTUALITIES
. Realization of the Archive of
POHUALTLAHTOYAN.
.. An initial process for articulation of the
CRIME of TERRACIDE
from local, regional, continental, and global perspectives.
... SUMAK KAWSAY – Living with Wellness
POHUALTLAHTOYAN
Tribunal de los Pueblos
Abya Yala
September 11-12, 2010
A Community Tribunal of Rectification
and
Act of Self Determination
Violations of Civil Rights – Human Rights – Indigenous Rights
RIGHTS OF MOTHER EARTH
in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Territories (US-Mexico 1848)
********
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of Indigenous Peoples
802 N. 7th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85014
September 8, 2010
Dear Tribal Leaders and Community Members,
Amixpantzinco, Amixtlamatque:
On Saturday September 11-12, 2010 a gathering of the POHUALTLAHTOYAN, Tribunal de los Pueblos will convene at the Nahuacalli for a two day session that will address the violations of Civil Rights, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, and Rights of Mother Earth in the territories referenced by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo between the US and Mexico (1848). This gathering is projected as a regional venue for Indigenous Peoples to formulate a collective process to rectify the historical and present day systemic injustices in a spirit of self-determination and with respect for the Rights of Mother Earth.
For clarification, the reference to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in the convocation for this Traditional Tribunal does not presume the legitimacy of the land right ascribed to the government of the Republic of Mexico (1848) which in terms of jurisdiction was surrendered to the US by the treaty in exchange for financial payment. It is our understanding that the Treaty of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo between the two republics is a Treaty of Peace that ended a war between the military forces of these countries, and which presumed that the inherent powers of self governance by the Nations and Pueblos of Indigenous Peoples, their sovereignty and jurisdiction as well as education and culture, were to be defined subsequent to the Treaty strictly in terms of the national policies and legislation of either country. The “Indians” and “Los Indios” were to be either domesticated or eradicated.
With the adoption on September 13, 2007 by the General Assembly of the United Nations of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples a new context of evaluation for these issues is realized, cutting across domestic policies of “Indian Law”, challenging centuries of legal doctrine at the continental level, and moving into an age of global recognition, respect, and protection for the Right of Self Determination for the Nations and Pueblos of Indigenous Peoples.
The POHUALTLATOYAN is a regional grassroots initiative that intends to move this process forward, implementing the systemic standards established by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to bring clarity and rectification to our mutual responsibilities and shared relationships as children of the Nations and Pueblos of Mother Earth.
An essential question in the process is a clarification of the historical and legal relationship among the Nations and Pueblos of Indigenous Peoples of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo territories with each other as Indigenous Confederacies preceding European colonization, and the subsequent histories since October 12, 1492.
For example:
U.S. TREATY WITH THE NAVAJOS, 1849
September 9, 1849
9 Stat. 974.
Ratified September 9, 1850. Proclaimed Sept. 24, 1850
The following acknowledgements, declarations, and stipulations have been duly considered, and are now solemnly adopted and proclaimed by the undersigned; that is to say, John M. Washington, governor of New Mexico, and lieutenant-colonel commanding the troops of the United States in New Mexico, and James S. Calhoun, Indian agent, residing at Santa Fe, in New Mexico, representing the United States of America, and Mariano Martinez, head chief, and Chapitone, second chief, on the part of the Navajo tribe of Indians:
Navajo under jurisdiction of the United States.
I. The said Indians do hereby acknowledge that, by virtue of a treaty entered into by the United States of America and the United Mexican States, signed on the second day of February, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and forty-eight, at the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo, by N. P. Trist, of the first part, and Luis G. Cuevas, Bernardo Couto, and Mgl Atristain, of the second part, the said tribe was lawfully placed under the exclusive jurisdiction and protection of the Government of the said United States, and that they are now, and will forever remain, under the aforesaid jurisdiction and protection.
Note: Lieutenant Colonel John M. Washington, together with Indian Agent James S. Calhoun, coerced one group of Navajos under Navajo Chief Mariano Martinez into a treaty on September 9, 1849. The U.S. government take his "X" mark as a sign that all bands of Navajos will follow and obey the treaty. This group of Navajos recognized United States jurisdiction over them and to submit to the trade and intercourse laws, to return captives and stolen property and remain at peace, and to allow the federal government to determine their boundaries. Lieutenant Colonel Washington followed the conventional Indian policy of the day. He wrote to the War Department in February of 1849, that "The period has arrived, when they (the Indians) must restrain themselves within prescribed limits and cultivate the earth for an honest livelyhood, or, be destroyed."
The purpose of this communication is to inquire as to the specific histories and narratives of the tribal Nations of Indigenous Peoples affected by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) and the Gadsen Purchase (1853) that would shed light on this question:
“By what mechanism or legal procedure were the land rights, sovereignty and jurisdiction of your sovereign Tribal Nation either transferred to the Government of the Republic of Mexico (1848-1853), or surrendered to the US government on a Nation to Nation basis?”
Please consider responding to this inquiry in good faith, which would contribute to the regional scope of clarification regarding Civil Rights, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, and the Rights of Mother Earth on either side of the Southern Border of the US with Mexico.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at (602) 466-8367.
Sincerely,
Tupac Enrique Acosta, Yaotachcauh
Tlahtokan Nahuacalli
TONATIERRA
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of Indigenous Peoples
www.nahuacalli.org
*******
Jones (Wolverine) Ignace Elder Secwepemc Activist and Organic Gardner said, "That it is a good area, why do we have to destroy it? If the Canadian government is so right in law, to claim to be able to determine what developments should happen in Tsilhqo’tin territory, then the issue should be taken before independent international tribunals. Who brings in the violence but the enforcement arm the Canadian government because they really have no jurisdiction on Indian lands – no treaty – no purchase documents to allow them to take decisions against the will of the Tsilhqo’tin people."
Jones Ignace believes that other Indigenous Peoples will stand with the Tsilhqo’tin people if the Canadian government tries to push this development against the will of the Tsilhqo’tin people.
Teztan Biney (Fish Lake ) Visit
On September 5, 2010 a Secwepemc delegation travelled to Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) in Tsilhqot’in territory with the elected chief of Xeni Gwet’in Marilyn Baptiste. We travelled to Teztan Biny because Jones (Wolverine) Igance wanted to know the area and what the strategy of the people would be if the federal government allowed the Prosperity Mine to go ahead. Taseko Mines proposes to drain Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) to stockpile mining waste and also to access copper and minor gold deposits. Little Fish Lake will be flooded by the tailing ponds and the entire watershed will be impacted by the estimated 700 millions of tailings which will contain arsenic, mercury, lead, cadmium and other toxic metals used in the mining process. It will drain into the Taseko River and from there into the Chilko River, the biggest remaining salmon run in North America. The delegation started the trip by crossing over the Chilko River which this year has been teaming with salmon and it was good to see the Tsilhqo’tin People fish and get to eat a lot of salmon this year, it is some of the best nutrition we can get. Jones Ignace is Secwepemc Elder Activist and Organic Farmer and on the way to Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) he talked with Marilyn about the importance of food sovereignty for our people. We also took and drank water from the Taseko River, fed by the glaciers from the beautiful Taseko Range in the background. The water is glacier-blue and clean. All this is will be forever changed if the Taseko Mine goes ahead. Taseko is a corruption of the Tsilhqot’in word for “milky water” – a perfect description of the glacier water – to propose to name a mine after this when all it will produce is wastewater – is adding insult to injury. Prosperity Mine is no better, because all it would do is creating short-term profit for a few, while depleting Tsilhqot’in territory and the people of the food and water they depend on.
When travelled past a canyon, along fish creek, its wetlands to get up to Teztan Biny (Fish Lake). We were struck by the pristine beauty of the area, the lake backed by the Taseko Mountain Range and trees extensively used by the Tsilhqo’tin people, some culturally modified and others fighting off pine beetle with pitch. The place is very peaceful, we hear the loon call echo across the valley and even a moose in the forest. The mine proposal starkly contrasts against the beautiful area traditionally and currently used by the Tsilhqo’tin people: to drain Teztan Biny (Fish Lake); to flood out Little Fish Lake for tailing ponds along with the surrounding areas at Naabas – which are high mountain meadows still used by Xeni Gwet’in community members. North of Fish Lake is where the proposed open pit mine would be located in the area and wetlands of Fish Creek, the mining compound would be located to the east. I have seen open pit mining in many places including in Western Shoshone territory, where the Shoshone used to live off the land and farm like many of the Tsilhqo’tin people. Entire mountains get taken down and lakes are drained for open pit mining. We have also seen similar Canadian mining projects in Latin America, including Antamina, the biggest copper mine in the world. There they drained an ancient lagoon high in the Andes, that had served for hundreds of years to water the communities below via channels ingeniously engineered by the Inka peoples. The communities were promised prosperity and that their mountain would be rebuilt after the mining was done; but they have seen no benefit and their environment has been forever changed, they are seeing increased rates of environmentally caused illnesses, including cancer. Why would anyone allow such a development to happen in the pristine Tsilhqo’tin territory and destroy lakes and rivers that have drinking water quality?
The Tsilhqo’tin people are determined not to let this development happen and other nations will stand with them; many in the overall Fraser Watershed depend on the plentiful Chilko Salmon Run and respect the Tsilhqo’tin and the Xeni Gwet’in for their struggle to seek recognition for their Title and Rights in the courts. They have proven their Title in court to the exclusion of the province; and yet they are faced with a proposal that is pushed by the provincial government into Tsilhqo’tin territory. In situations like this the federal government is supposed to act as a fiduciary for the Tsilhqo’tin people to implement their wishes not to have the Taseko Mine proposal happen in their territory. Instead the Tsilhqo’tin people have seen a preponderance of federal negotiators trying to scope and determine if the proposal could proceed.
Arthur
MEXICO
BOLETIN
Denuncian indígenas exclusión en festejos por bicentenario
Pugnan por un país donde estén incluidos
Foro Nacional: Los Pueblos Indígenas a 200 años de exclusión
El naciente Movimiento Indígena Nacional (MIN), por la articulación y rearticulación de los pueblos Indígenas de México, dio a conocer que el 15 de Septiembre del 2010 contraponiendo los festejos que realiza el gobierno federal en relación al Bicentenario y Centenario de la independencia y Revolución, convocará al Foro Nacional: Los Pueblos Indígenas a 200 años de exclusión, en el Club de Periodistas de la ciudad de México.
Lo anterior como respuesta al Estado, quien en la vida del país, excluye a los pueblos indígenas, forjadores de la nación mexicana, señalaron promotores del encuentro.
Abundio Marcos, P’urhépecha de Michoacán, Antonieta Hernández y Ernestina Ortíz, Mazahuas del estado de México y Marcelino Díaz de Jesús, Náhuatl de Xalitla, Guerrero, expusieron que han sido excluidos a lo largo de la Historia.
México, “nos niega el reconocimiento como sujetos de derecho público y solo nos utiliza como sujetos de interés, como un adorno folclórico en sus festividades mediáticas”, manifestaron.
El MIN señala que es un acto de contradicción, que mientras el gobierno federal gastará en las fiestas del bicentenario y centenario más de dos mil cien millones de pesos en pólvora y actos burocráticos, los pueblos indígenas se encuentran olvidados, enfrentan obstáculos que les impide el uso del recurso destinados a sus sociedades, en cosas tan elementales como agua, luz, salud entre otras.
Abundio Marcos, María Antonieta Hernández Carmona y Mario de Jesús Pascual, indicaron que el 15 de septiembre darán a conocer el proyecto de nación incluyente desde la visión de los pueblos indígenas.
Los representes indios, adelantaron que entre los puntos que incluye su propuesta, está el escribir la historia desde su propia visión.
Para los dirigentes, el gobierno mexicano nos atiende por presión de organizaciones externas, pero no porque tengamos el derecho de origen, dijeron.
Marcelino Díaz de Jesús, Ernestina Ortiz y Abundio Marcos Prado, denunciaron ser objeto de la clase y partidos políticos quienes “siempre los han utilizado como botín electoral y los distritos indígenas están cooptados”, razón por la cual carecen de una representación real dentro del Congreso de la Unión.
Díaz de Jesús y Marcos Prado, informaron tener una propuesta a fin de incursionar de manera directa en el parlamento mexicano.
En la conferencia, ratificaron su adhesión a los Acuerdos de San Andrés, firmado entre el gobierno de México y el Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN), el 16 de febrero de 1996, en Chiapas.
Los diálogos apuntaron, están inconclusos y vale reconocer que en los acuerdos está el reconocimiento a los territorios de los pueblos indígenas, así como a sus formas de impartición de justicia y el desarrollo de sus lenguas.
Estos puntos, abundaron serán abordados en el Foro Nacional de 15 de septiembre, la cual tendrá la participación de personalidades en el tema.
En el foro, abordarán temas de la Independencia, Revolución y Nación Única; Autonomía Indígena y Democracia; Nación Incluyente y Estado Plurinacional.
Ernestina Ortiz, resaltó la importancia de la mujer indígena en el movimiento a lo largo de la historia, porque ella es la que ha sacado adelante no solo su casa sino fue la que hizo la comida en la revolución, agarro el machete y el fusil y piden por lo tal un justo reconocimiento.
El Foro Nacional: Los Pueblos Indígenas a 200 años de exclusión, espera el arribo de 150 representantes indígenas de México, de al menos 40 pueblos indios.
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The Rebellion of Abya Yala
