I like the ad too. fib
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5649/t/4772/content.jsp?content_KEY=2697&tag=pob_pob_tw1
Senators,
Some of your colleagues, such as Ben Nelson, are delaying action on President Obama's public health insurance option -- which would force private insurers to compete and lower health care costs for your constituents.
This is the latest tactic from an insurance industry that fears competition: Stop reform by stalling it. Kill momentum at all costs.
While 76% of Americans support the public option, sitting Democratic Senators have received $80 million from the health and insurance interests that oppose it.
Senators, which side will you choose? If you side with your constituents, don't delay reform. Keep working until the public option is passed.
We can't afford to wait.
Sincerely,
WASHINGTON — The Honduran armed forces issued a communiqué on Saturday indicating that they would not stand in the way of an agreement to return Manuel Zelaya, the country’s ousted president, to power.
Meanwhile, in Las Manos, a town along the border between Nicaragua and Honduras, Mr. Zelaya made his second symbolic appearance in two days, defying calls from foreign leaders to avoid any moves that might provoke violence in his politically polarized country.
The communiqué was drafted in Washington after days of talks between mid-level Honduran officers and American Congressional aides. Posted on the Honduran Armed Forces Web site, it endorsed the so-called San José Accord that was forged in Costa Rica by delegates representing President Zelaya and the man who heads the de facto Honduran government, Roberto Micheletti.
The accord, supported by most governments in the hemisphere, would allow Mr. Zelaya to return as president, although with significantly limited executive powers. Mr. Micheletti has steadfastly rejected Mr. Zelaya’s return as president.
In its communiqué, the Honduran military added its support to the proposal. Officials involved said it was meant to dispel any perceptions that the military would block civilian efforts to resolve the crisis.
The officials said the military communiqué was significant because it was the first sign of support for the San José Accord by a powerful sector of the de facto government. And the officials said it could make it more difficult for the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court to reject the accord when they consider it.
American officials who met here with the Hondurans said that they were two colonels who were concerned about the tensions generated by the political conflict.
Joy Olson, executive director of the Washington Office on Latin America, a nonprofit human rights group, said she was told that the officers were showing Congressional aides a recording of the day Mr. Zelaya was detained, as evidence that no abuses had been committed against him.
In the meantime, however, thousands of troops had been deployed to tighten security along the border to prevent Mr. Zelaya from returning. And thousands of his supporters defied government curfews and military roadblocks, by abandoning their cars and hiking for hours to reach the remote border post to see him.
Mr. Zelaya vowed to try a third time to re-enter Honduras. "We are ready to take this to its final consequences," he told his supporters. "We are not afraid.”
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"A 1,500 year old Native American stone mound was about to be bulldozed near Oxford, Alabama, and the earth used for a landfill to build a Sam's Club, a BIG BOX discount store owned by Walmart. Protesters there have managed to stop the shovels temporarily but 320 acres of Sacred burial grounds, temples and sanctuaries are at risk. An Oxford City council member reportedly said, "it ain't no sacred site, it was just used to blow smoke signals"!! Me thinks me smells the whiff of Colonialism in the forms of ignorance, Consumerism and Globalization...JOIN US - both virtually via facebook and twitter for social media protests as well as live for the scheduled protest on-site for those few of you who can travel there in person. (10am 7/18/2009) "
I wanted to draw your attention to this important petition that I recently signed:"PETITION IN SUPPORT OF PAROLE OF LEONARD PELTIER"
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/parole2008?eI really think this is an important cause, and I'd like to encourage you to add your signature, too. It's free and takes less than a minute of your time.Thanks!
I simply hope he will be free during Obama presidency.
Fire Is Born
Destruction of the Abatwa (Pygmy) Culture
July 18, 2009 at 9:18am |
143 views and
0 comments, leave your own
“The Abatwa are an example of the phenomenon feared by Subcomandante Marcos and the indigenous communities of the Chiapas region of Mexico, that of being so marginalized as a people that you just don’t matter any more.”
The Destruction of the Abatwa (Pygmie) Culture, produced for the 28-minute weekly cable public access program Indymedia Presents, takes a look at the largely-unnoticed struggle of the Abatwa People, more commonly known as the Pygmies.
Modern Abatwa life is a far cry from the past, when they were respected for being highly skilled traditional hunters. Today the Abatwa they have been so completely marginalized it’s like they do not exist.
This has been especially the case since 1973, when the Abatwa were thrown off their lands for an animal preserve. “The unintended consequence of the environmental victory was great destruction to Abatwa culture, and the loss of many lives.”
21 years later, the British Empire’s historical interference in Rwandan culture triggered a genocide of the Tutsi by the Hutu. As we watched on in terror, as many as 1,000,000 people were killed.
Nobody ever seemed to notice that the Abatwa were among them. Even now, few have ever reported that they were also targeted by the Hutu. The few reports that do exist, estimate between 10,000 and 30,000 Abatwa died during the months-long genocide. These are the forgotten victims.
Not much has changed since then. With fears occasionally rising that the genocide could happen again, the Abatwa find themselves being dragged to extinction. They are losing one percent of their population each year, and miscarriages are frequent because the Abatwa’s health is so extremely low and they have little or no access to aid, medicine, or social supports.
Some groups doing their best to help, like Caurwa and the Health Development Initiative – but even so, the Abatwa’s struggle for life is a losing one.
The Destruction of the Abatwa (Pygmie) Culture is the second in a series of films by Patricia Boiko from Pepperspray Productions. The first program examined the genocide in Rwanda, and how people can heal from such wanton horror.
These organizations totally support the return of Zelaya and condemn the coup. They were critical of certain policies of Zelaya in the past (however short his rule was), especially of his endorsement of the Plan Puebla Panama. However I record reading in the local press when in Honduras that Zelaya just have met with some indigenous leaders in June and promissed his support of their rights to land. The Garifuna leaders were also first to indicate certain rightist American organizations and individuals (Reich) as having hand in the coup, two days after the coup of June 28. OFRANEH found it also telling that the American Ambassador left the country the day prior to the coup.
fib
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
DECLARATION FROM DURUGUBUTI
[transalated for RA by Rosalind Gil]
Garífuna, Lenca and Vía Campesina representatives have come together as part of the Foro de Biodiversidad: Territorio y Cultura (Forum on Biodiversity:Lands and Culture) to declare that we honour the spirits of our ancestors who were massacred seventy years ago during the dictatorship of Tiburcio Crías and we declare that:
Faced with the offensive of the neo-liberal Plan Puebla-Panamá, a plan to reinforce neocolonialism amongst our peoples and to spread the powerful neo-liberal transport and maquila network, we raise our voices once again against the sacking of our lands and the breaking up of our social and political organizations; all of which is designed to expand the domination of the industrialized countries and their multi-national companies in Central America.
Destructive projects for so-called “integration and development” implemented by international financial organizations such as the FMI, BM, BID, USAID, UE, etc. are endangering the life and the cultures of our peoples. The “development” they put forth is based on economic profits that cause an imbalance to nature, which is an intimate part of our cosmology and from which many of us sustain ourselves.
The grave food shortage crisis in our country stems from a policy of agricultural production that is for export only. There is no existing plan for agricultural reform that guarantees a right to the land and to Food Sovereignty for Honduran campesinos.
The appropriation of biodiversity by the trans-nationals seriously endangers our survival. Biodiversity includes water, flora, and fauna, as well as our people’s traditional knowledge concerning conservation and rational use of resources.
The colonial policies put forth by Plan Puebla-Panamá are causing social conflicts that have led to repressive actions on the part of state security forces. These forces have adopted terror as a social-control strategy. The only ones who benefit from this strategy are the powerful elite, the transnational companies and financial organizations that put together the plan for economic domination.
Global warming and the need to satisfy the ferocious appetite of industry have grave consequences for the planet. Industry is responsible for climate change and is affecting us negatively in many ways.
Faced with the large number of totally asymmetrical Free Trade Agreements favouring a system based on exploitation and out of control consumerism that has caused the destruction of the planet:
WE DEMAND:
* Suspension of mega-projects in highly fragile ecological areas such as the Tigre and Patuca Dams (The MesoAmerican Biological Corridor), the Bahia de Tela where tourism is being developed and plans are in place to fill in the Laguna de Micos (RAMSAR 722). As well, efforts should be made to stop the destruction of many rivers and streams throughout the country.
* Immediate suspension of the existing Mining and Forestry law and of attempts to reform the law by trans-nationals and by members of the Congress who are being paid off. Immediate cancellation of the 300 mining concessions that have been granted (the equivalent of 30,000 square kilometers of the country). This will allow us to regain our national sovereignty, environmental balance, as well as respect for the land and cultural rights of the indigenous, black and campesino peoples of Honduras.
* Comprehensive agricultural reform, as well as a strategy for ensuring food supplies for the whole country. This strategy should respond to the needs of the people and not be designed to suit the needs of international financial organizations or the up and downs of the market.
* An indefinite moratorium on exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons.As well, a strategy should be developed and put in place to preserve energy.The litigation process must, in the end, ensure that commitments to the Honduran people are kept. Our sovereignty and dignity must be put ahead of those of the trans-nationals and of the US Proconsul.
* Immediate ratification of the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol to stop the loss of our native seeds, especially corn seeds. Measures must be taken to save our native corn by identifying products made from genetically modified food. And in this way, with the reactivation of corn production, we will stop the massive importation of genetically modified seeds and cereals, and stop the importation and production of genetically modified varieties.
* Faced with global warming and the situation we have had to endure in Honduras since Hurricane Mitch, an increase in the intensity and number of storms, an increase in temperature and long periods of drought, we demand that a strategy be put in place for dealing with global warming and its effects on highly vulnerable areas such as the Caribbean coast, the southern area of the country, and in fact, the whole country.
* Rejection of the Ley Indigena (Indigenous Law) which was put together for the PAPIN-BID consortium and was created behind the backs of the indigenous peoples, violating OIT 169, which, we insist, must be enforced, beginning with the amendment of the Property Law which tries to do away with communal property.
* Faced with the systematic repression that we have had to endure, we, the indigenous peoples, black people, campesinos and environmental activists demand total respect for the human rights of the Honduran people and we demand that criminals be brought to justice.
Despite the on-going aggressions against our people, we are committed to intensifying our resistance. We will continue organizing, spreading information and training, as well as seeking ways of constructing a just and equitable society.
With the spirit of those who were massacred in Durgubuti, Talanquera, Astillero, Horcones and the spirits of Lempira, Etempica, Iselaca, Mota, Barauda and Satuye, we will continue our struggle with dignity.
San Juan Tela, DurugubutiMarch 18, 2007.
OFRANEH (Honduran Black People’s Fraternal Organization) COPINH (The Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations ofHonduras)Vía CampesinaGrito de los Excluidos – Honduras
Brothers and Sisters, we invite you to join us by signing up at ofraneh@laceiba.com, copinhonduras@yahoo.es
http://www.rightsaction.org/urgent_com/Garifuna_Alert_042907.html
I am simply glad that an indogenious tribe's name was used to name a species. I bet though the Muras had their own name for the animal - their language is now apparently extinct. I once read a Carib-English dictinary, and half of the text were zoological and botanical items. (I used to do such things before the Obama era.)
The Muras of Brasil, like the Caribs (Caripuna) of the Caribbean Islands and their Carin'a cousins in Venezuela were very powerful tribes and the fiersest fighters for their freedom. They were not much liked by the invaders, being the bad Indians, and accused of all forms of savagery.
So, we found the Mura monkey. Pity the language is lost.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
New monkey discovered in Brazilian Amazon
Tue Jul 7, 2009 2:50pm EDT
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Researchers have discovered a new sub-species of monkey in a remote part of the Amazon rain forest, a U.S.-based wildlife conservation group said on Tuesday.
The newly found monkey was first spotted by scientists in 2007 in the Brazilian state of Amazonas and is related to the saddleback tamarin monkeys, known for their distinctively marked backs, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said.
The small monkey, which is mostly gray and brown and weighs 213 grams (0.47 pound), has been named the Mura's saddleback tamarin after the Mura Indian tribe of the Purus and Madeira river basins where the new sub-species was found.
It is 240 millimeters (9.4 inches) tall with a 320 millimeter (12.6 inch) tail.
"This newly described monkey shows that even today there are major wildlife discoveries to be made," Fabio Rohe, the lead author of a study confirming the new discovery, said in a statement released by the WCS.
The study found that the monkey is threatened by development projects in the region, including a major highway through the forest that is being paved and which could fuel deforestation.
"This discovery should serve as a wake-up call that there is still so much to learn from the world's wild places, yet humans continue to threaten these areas with destruction," Rohe said.
(Reporting by Stuart Grudgings; Editing by Philip Barbara)
This is the link to the official OFA blog of Christopher Hass:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/obamaforamerica
Has the main Community blog been not accessible since May 26?
Let's regroup and continue our service. fib
Thank you for the tears and the sunflowers, Obama Doug, my dear Friend!
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
PRESS RELEASE
N° 35/09
IACHR CONDEMNS ACTS OF VIOLENCE IN PERU
Washington, D.C., June 8, 2009—The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) strongly condemns the acts of violence that took place on June 5 in Bagua, in northern Peru, which have caused a number of deaths.
According to the information received, at least 30 people have died and others have been wounded, including indigenous leaders and members of the security forces, as a result of an operation by the National Police of Peru to break up a blockade that indigenous groups had maintained on the highway leading to the city of Bagua. The act of protest had been organized by indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon region in response to legislative decrees affecting their property rights over their lands and territories. The Inter-American Commission reminds the State of its obligation to conduct a judicial inquiry into these acts of violence and repair the consequences.
The information received indicates that health centers in Bagua were not equipped to treat the large number of people injured. The IACHR calls on the Peruvian State to take the steps that are necessary to guarantee access to health care for all the injured.
The IACHR also calls on the parties to promote a process of dialogue to seek a solution that respects human rights. It is important to adopt mechanisms to prevent excessive use of force on the part of public agents in marches and protest demonstrations. As the IACHR has stated previously, “Criminalizing legitimate social mobilization and social protest, whether through direct repression of the demonstrators or through an investigation and criminal prosecution, is incompatible with a democratic society in which persons have the right to express their opinion.”
Finally, the IACHR has learned that on May 9 the government had declared a state of emergency. The Commission offers a reminder that Article 27 of the American Convention on Human Rights and Advisory Opinion 9/87 of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights specify the rights that cannot be suspended; these include, among others, the right to life, to physical integrity, and to the essential judicial guarantees necessary for these rights to be protected. In light of information received indicating that a number of people were arrested during the incidents with no report as to their identity or whereabouts, the IACHR calls on the Peruvian State to respect their right to physical integrity and to judicial guarantees.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has the mandate to promote respect for human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this matter. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who act in a personal capacity, without representing a particular country, and who are elected by the OAS General Assembly.
Useful Links
Inter-American Convention on Human Rights
Inter-American Court’s Advisory Opinion No. 9/87
IACHR Web site
IACHR Press Office Web site
Read this press release in Spanish / Lea este comunicado de prensa en español
Press contact: María Isabel Rivero Tel. (202) 458-3867 Cell: (202) 215-4142 E-mail: mrivero@oas.org
To subscribe to the IACHR press release mailing list, please type your e-mail address in this form.
Our support for the Columbian government was forged in the eight years of Bush administration.
President Obama's administration should closely monitor all human rights abuses south of our border. Only then our south border will be safeand crime will stop "percolating"al Norte. fib
Print this article
Originally printed at http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/48607197.html
"Indigenous Colombian leader Robert DeJesus Gaucheta was beaten to death by unidentified assailants near his home in the southwestern territory of Cauca May 18, several months after he and other officials had requested protection due to receiving numerous death threats.
Gaucheta was the vice governor of the Nasa Reservation of Honduras which extends more than 93,860 acres and includes approximately 7,000 Nasa people. His predecessor, Vice Governor Jose Goyes Santa Cruz, survived an assassination attempt June 8, 2008 in Gaucheta’s home town of Morales. Gaucheta was well-known for his leadership during the large scale national protests called the Minga, or commotion of the peoples in Colombia last year.
According to press statements sent by Vicente Otero, press liaison for the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca, Gaucheta had long been a vocal critic of the government’s plans to hand over indigenous land to mining interests, and recently spoke out against attempts by unnamed groups to start growing illicit crops.
Sources in CRIC and in the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia reported that since December 2008, Gaucheta and other indigenous leaders had been receiving threats through text messages and phone calls, and they were attributing the threats to the “Black Eagles,” famous in Colombia for being ex-paramilitaries with ties to the drug trade. Otero said indigenous broadcasters, including Alfredo Campo of the “Our Stereo Voice of Morales” radio show, have been and continue to be threatened.
CRIC and other indigenous officials approached the Colombian Interior Ministry and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights about the threats in September 2008. IACHR also approached Colombian authorities to request protection for Gaucheta and 20 other indigenous leaders. According to all of the indigenous sources no protection plans were ever realized.
Indigenous and allied organizations throughout Colombia are renewing their calls for protection, focusing not only on the unsolved beating death of Gaucheta, but also the killing of indigenous resident Nilvany Cruz Zambrano who also lived in Morales. Zambrano was shot to death the day after Gaucheta’s funeral; indigenous sources reported that she was caught in the crossfire between national police and “illegal actors.”
“The Indigenous Regional Council of Cauca joins in the mourning by all indigenous communities of the death of the traditional indigenous leader, Robert DeJesus Gaucheta,” the release said. “…and reiterates its call to the national and international community on behalf of the indigenous communities of Agua Negra, Chimborazo and Honduras. … to urge the cessation of threats by paramilitary groups and to urge the Colombian government to stop avoiding its responsibility and provide sufficient guarantees that are needed to defend the lives and human rights of traditional indigenous authorities and their families, many of whom find themselves in a situation of forced displacement.”
Counting Zambrano’s murder, ONIC says 1,255 indigenous were killed by paramilitaries, drug traffickers and official forces since January 2002, although the Colombian government refuses to acknowledge that official forces have ever assassinated any of the victims. According to the official government tally, 40 indigenous were killed in 2007 and 66 in 2008."
Photo courtesy Congressman Dale Kildee’s office
Kimberly Teehee, a member of the Cherokee Nation, has been appointed senior policy advisor by President Barack Obama. As a member of the Domestic Policy Council, Teehee will advise the president on issues affecting Indian country.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Indian Country Today
Originally printed at http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/home/content/48250207.html
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has fulfilled his promise to appoint a high-level White House advisor on Indian affairs.
On June 15, Obama announced his selection of Kimberly Teehee for the newly created position of senior policy advisor for Native American Affairs. As a member of the Domestic Policy Council, Teehee will advise the president on issues affecting Indian country.
Obama announced Teehee’s appointment in videotaped remarks during the mid-year conference of the National Congress of American Indians, which took place June 14 – 17 at the Seneca Niagara Casino in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
“She is rightly recognized as an outstanding advocate for Indian country, and she will provide a direct interface at the highest level of my administration, assuring a voice for Native Americans during policy making decisions,” said Obama.
Teehee is expected to begin on July 1.
“I was elated and excited when I received the news of my appointment last week,” she said. “I am truly humbled and honored by this appointment. I look forward to joining the White House Domestic Policy Council and advising President Obama on issues impacting Indian country.”
Along with the announcement of Teehee’s appointment, Obama also said the White House would hold a Tribal Nations Conference in the fall – the fulfillment of another promise he made on the campaign trail.
“President Obama is committed to strengthening and building on the nation-to-nation relationship between the United States and tribal nations,” Teehee said. The fall conference will give “tribal leaders an opportunity to assist the president in developing an agenda for Indian country.”
A member of the Cherokee Nation, she has a sturdy resume of experience as an advocate for Indian country during her student years and in her work in Washington.
She received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla., and a Juris Doctor from the University of Iowa – College of Law. While in law school, Teehee was honored with the Bureau of National Affairs Award and served in leadership positions in the National Native American Law Student Association and the Iowa Native American Law Student Association.
Teehee worked for the Democratic National Committee as deputy director of Native American Outreach for the committee’s first Indian desk. She also has held various positions with the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, including law clerk in the Division of Law and Justice. She served as director of Native American outreach for the Presidential Inaugural Committee for President Clinton’s second inauguration.
Since January 1998, Teehee has been senior adviser to Congressman Dale Kildee, D-Mich., co-chair of the House of Representatives’ Native American Caucus.
“President Obama has made an excellent choice in Kim Teehee. I have worked with Kim for over a decade, and I have always found her to be a thoughtful, dedicated and passionate advocate for our Native American population,” Kildee said. “The president has made it clear that he is committed to strengthening the relationship between the United States and tribal nations and I am confident that Kim will be instrumental in achieving that goal. I congratulate Kim on this exciting opportunity and I commend the president on his choice.”
National Indian Gaming Association Chairman Ernie Stevens Jr. also had high praise for her.
“Kimberly is the right choice. She has her feet fully planted in Indian country and knows the critical domestic issues our Indian people face today. I am confident she will represent the best interests of all of Indian country in the White House.”
As Kildee’s senior advisor, Teehee advised more than 100 members of the bi-partisan Native American Caucus. She wrote speeches, testimony and legislation relating to Native American issues and works closely with House leadership, committee and Senate staff. She also coordinated with tribal leaders and organizations from across the country.
Teehee was born in Chicago, but grew up in Claremore, Okla., where her parents moved as part of a federal relocation assistance program for American Indians. Teehee and her family speak fluent Cherokee.
“My parents are very proud of me,” she said. “Most of my family lives in northeastern Oklahoma and most are public servants working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Health Service, or tribal government, as school teachers or in law enforcement. Like many Native families, they know what it feels like to struggle, especially in these challenging times. They are thrilled that President Obama is committed to improving the lives of Native Americans.”
Teehee’s appointment does not require Senate approval.
She joins a number of American Indians that Obama has chosen for high profile positions in his administration.
Jodi Gillette, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, is the deputy associate director for White House intergovernmental affairs office; Larry EchoHawk, Pawnee of Oklahoma, was recently confirmed as head of the BIA; and Yvette Roubideaux, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, is director of IHS. Additionally, Mary Smith, Cherokee, is assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice; and Hilary Tompkins, a member of the Navajo Nation, has been nominated as solicitor of the Department of the Interior but has not yet been confirmed.
Teehee’s appointment comes at a time when the Obama administration is launching a new initiative to improve law enforcement efforts in Indian country.
Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli announced the plan in his address to the more than 500 attendees at the NCAI conference and in a press release on the Justice Department Web site.
Later this year, Attorney General Eric Holder will convene a Tribal Nations Listening Conference to confer with tribal leaders on how to address the chronic problems of public safety in Indian country and other important issues affecting tribal communities, Perrelli said.
A series of regional summits to seek tribal representatives’ input in setting the agenda will be held before the conference.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
How does Agros’s model affect the problem of illegal immigration into the United States?
There are many reasons why immigrants leave the rural countryside and come to the United States. Among them are the conditions of extreme poverty in which people live and the lack of opportunities that enable families to overcome their poverty. Many of the people coming to the U.S. illegally are “economic migrants” - people who come in search of work. Poverty conditions and lack of work opportunities at home mean that these economic migrants are willing to leave their families, risk their lives, and find work in some of the least desirable conditions - often as menial laborers and minimum wage workers. Steady work is better than no work, and minimum wage in the U.S. is often more than they can earn in an entire day in their native country.
Throughout Central America, political and economic conditions are such that no matter how hard people work, 60 percent are earning less than $1 per day and 40 percent are living below the poverty line. Unemployment and underemployment are rampant in the rural areas. There are simply not enough jobs to go around and no hope that circumstances will change any time soon.
By helping rural families purchase land and build thriving communities, Agros provides an alternative for people who believe their only option is to migrate into the city or into another country, such as the U.S. Agros enables families to stay together and to generate income within their own countries and communities. Agros helps families create a livelihood for themselves that can be passed on to their children. As conditions improve, the motivation for becoming an economic migrant disappears. Families stay together, communities are strengthened, and lives are transformed.
How do Agros projects help women?
Women in developing countries and across Central America face grave challenges. As the primary caretakers of families and children, they are on the front lines of hunger, malnutrition and death in their families. Agros’ programs cannot be successful or have a lasting impact if the health of women is in jeopardy.
Many women in rural Central America:
Agros’ programs address the needs of women and children by creating a positive cycle of change. We help women achieve:
People talk a lot about the importance of “sustainable development.”
How are Agros’ methods sustainable?
Sustainable development is an important element of Agros’ work. Agros works to create sustainability in three primary areas: in the environment, in family economics, and in community organizations.
Brazilian police and soldiers have begun an operation to remove non-indigenous residents from an Indian reservation in northern Brazil.
The operation follows a landmark ruling by the country's Supreme Court that the Raposa Serra do Sol reservation should be solely for indigenous people.
The non-indigenous rice farmers and farm workers say they are victims of "legalised robbery".
But the authorities say they will be properly compensated.
In March, Brazil's Supreme Court ruled that the area in the northern border state of Roraima should be maintained as a single continuous territory exclusively for use by the indigenous population.
The decision was hailed as a major victory for indigenous rights, and was also regarded as setting an important precedent for future court cases.
However, the ruling was also a defeat for the non-indigenous rice producers and farm workers who lived and worked in the area, and who said their removal would undermine the economy of Roraima.
Around 300 police and soldiers are now reported to have begun an operation to remove any remaining rice producers and farm workers from the 1.7 million hectare reservation.
There were said to be around 30 non-indigenous families in the reservation as the deadline approached, but the authorities say force will only be used if they meet with violent resistance.
Some of the rice producers have been criticised for destroying farm buildings as they left the area.
Late on Friday the authorities reported that there had been no violence as a result of the first day of the operation to remove non-indigenous residents from the area.
While around 20 families of small rice producers were still in Raposa Serra do Sol, they were only there because of logistical problems, and would be given help to move their belongings, officials said.
'Human zoo'
As this sensitive operation was getting underway, the governor of Roraima, Jose de Anchieta Jr, was accused of racism by the state agency which looks after indigenous rights.
The governor said the federal government had not provided sufficient resources for the local indigenous population to live in the reservation, which he said had unfortunately been turned into a "human zoo."
The authorities insist they will provide the necessary support.
The reservation, which is in the far north of Brazil on the border with Venezuela and Guyana, is home to around 20,000 indigenous people.
Officials say the operation to ensure the Supreme Court ruling has been obeyed could take some days to complete.
Wayfinding, or Non-Instrument Navigation
Dennis Kawaharada
(Photo below: Swells Help a Navigator Hold a Course in the Daytime)
Introduction
Before the invention of the compass, sextant and clocks, or more recently, the satellite-dependant Global Positioning System (GPS), Polynesians navigated open ocean voyages without instruments, through careful observation of natural signs. (See "Hawaiians as Seaman and Navigators".)
Navigator Nainoa Thompson of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, who was taught by Mau Piailug, a master navigator from Satawal in Micronesia, explains how a star compass is used to tell direction without instruments: "The star compass is the basic mental construct for navigation. We have Hawaiian names for the houses of the stars-the places where they come out of the ocean and go back into he ocean. If you can identify the stars, and if you have memorized where they come up and go down, you can find your direction. The star compass is also used to read the flight path of birds and the direction of waves. It does everything. It is a mental construct to help you memorize what you need to know to navigate.
"How do we tell direction? We use the best clues that we have. We use the sun when it is low on the horizon. Mau has names for how wide and for the different colors of the sun path on the water. When the sun is low, the path is tight; when the sun is high it gets wider and wider. When the sun gets too high you cannot tell where it has risen. You have to use other clues.
"Sunrise is the most important part of the day. At sunrise you start to look at the shape of the ocean-the character of the sea. You memorize where the wind is coming from. The wind generates the swells. You determine the direction of the swells, and when the sun gets too high, you steer by them. And then at sunset we repeat the observations. The sun goes down-you look at the shape of the waves. Did the wind change? Did the swell pattern change? At night we use the stars. We use about 220 stars by name-having
Caught in the Conflict______________________________________________________Civilians and the internationalsecurity strategy in Afghanistan
A briefing paper by ten NGOs operating in Afghanistan for theNATO Heads of State and Government Summit, 3-4 April 2009
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
http://www.theirc.org/resources/2009/caught-in-the-conflict-afghanistan-report-april-2009-pdf.pdf
Premiering May 11, 2009 on PBS
Film Description
On the night of February 27, 1973, fifty-four cars rolled, horns blaring, into a small hamlet on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Within hours, some 200 Oglala Lakota and American Indian Movement (AIM) activists had seized the few major buildings in town and police had cordoned off the area. The occupation of Wounded Knee had begun. Demanding redress for grievances—some going back more than 100 years—the protesters captured the world's attention for 71 gripping days.
With heavily armed federal troops tightening a cordon around meagerly supplied, cold, hungry Indians, the event invited media comparisons with the massacre of Indian men, women, and children at Wounded Knee almost a century earlier. In telling the story of this iconic moment, the final episode of We Shall Remain will examine the broad political and economic forces that led to the emergence of AIM in the late 1960s as well as the immediate events—a murder and an apparent miscarriage of justice—that triggered the takeover. Though the federal government failed to make good on many of the promises that ended the siege, the event succeeded in bringing the desperate conditions of Indian reservation life to the nation's attention. Perhaps even more important, it proved that despite centuries of encroachment, warfare, and neglect, Indians remained a vital force in the life of America.
Indigenous Wisdom Against Climate Change
Stephen Leahy* - Tierramérica**
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Apr 28 (IPS) - While industrialised countries like Canada continue to emit ever-higher levels of greenhouse-effect gases, indigenous peoples around the world are working to survive and adapt to an increasingly dangerous climate.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Governor says he's open to debate on legal pot
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
(05-06) 04:00 PDT Sacramento - --
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that the time is right to debate legalizing marijuana for recreational use in California.
The governor's comments were made as support grows nationwide for relaxing pot laws and only days after a poll found that for the first time a majority of California voters back legal marijuana. Also, a San Francisco legislator has proposed regulating and taxing marijuana to bring the state as much as $1.3 billion a year in extra revenue.
Schwarzenegger was cautious when answering a reporter's question Tuesday about whether the state should regulate and tax the substance, saying it is not time to go that far.
But, he said: "I think it's time for debate. I think all of those ideas of creating extra revenues - I'm always for an open debate on it."
The governor said California should look to the experiences of other nations around the world in relaxing laws on marijuana.
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, has introduced a bill to regulate marijuana like alcohol, with people over 21 years old allowed to grow, buy, sell and possess cannabis - all of which are barred by federal law.
California voters in 1996 legalized marijuana for medical use with permission from a physician.
Ammiano said he was pleased the governor is "open-minded" on the issue and added that he was sure the two could "hash it out."
Under Ammiano's proposal, the state would impose a $50-an-ounce levy on sales of marijuana, which would boost state revenues by about $1.3 billion a year, according to an analysis by the State Board of Equalization. Betty Yee of San Francisco, who chairs the Board of Equalization, supports the measure.
"This has never just been about money," said Ammiano, who has long supported reforming marijuana laws. "It's also about the failure of the war on drugs and implementing a more enlightened policy. I've always anticipated that there could be a perfect storm of political will and public support, and obviously the federal policies are leaning more toward states' rights."
An ABC News/Washington Post poll last week found that 46 percent of Americans favored legalization of small amounts of pot for personal use, double the number who supported that a decade ago. A Field Poll also released last week found that 56 percent of California voters supported legalizing and taxing marijuana.
In March, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the federal government would take a softer stance on medical marijuana dispensaries, with drug enforcement agents targeting only those who violate state and federal law. California is one of 13 states that allow marijuana use with a doctor's recommendation.
Many law enforcement organizations oppose changes in marijuana laws. The California Police Chiefs Association, in a report last month, concluded that marijuana dispensaries constitute "a clear violation of federal and state law; they invite more crime; and they compromise the health and welfare of law-abiding citizens."
But the head of that association said he, too, is open to a debate on legalizing pot.
"We keep walking around the 5,000-pound elephant in the room, which is should marijuana be legal?" said Bernard Melekian, president of the association and chief of police in Pasadena.
The Board of Equalization analysis predicts that legalization would drop the street value of marijuana by 50 percent and increase consumption by 40 percent.
Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates legalization, said the governor's comments about marijuana are part of a "tectonic shift" in attitudes toward the issue.
"I think, frankly, the public is going to drag the politicians into doing what is right," he said.
Chronicle staff writer Matthew Yi contributed to this report. E-mail Wyatt Buchanan at wbuchanan@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/06/MNO617F929.DTL
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
