July 3, 2009 by Jay Taber.

After two centuries of European colonization, the indigenous Inuit of Greenland prepare for independence from Denmark.

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July 2, 2009 by Jay Taber.

Cashing In on Climate Change

The upcoming issue of Rolling Stone magazine looks at the role Goldman Sachs has played in creating economic havoc over the last two centuries. As the favored financier of President Obama’s career, the heavyweight of capitalism is now positioning itself to capitalize on yet another Ponzi scheme: carbon-market trading. Using taxpayer funds from the banking bailout scandal it in large part caused, Goldman Sachs is prepared to take advantage of this golden opportunity to cash in on the climate change crisis.

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July 1, 2009 by Mirjam Hirch.

The government of Ecuador with the help of funds from Germany, amongst others, wants to quit oil production in the Amazon agreeing to what can be regarded as a pilot project in the interest of climate and environmental protection.

At the same time the Peruvian government permits new oil exploitation by the French- English company, Perenco, in the province of Loreto- one of the most oil rich as well as bioculturally precious and diverse regions in the Amazon. This recent step by the Peruvian government destroys new hopes of a respectful and mutual discussion with indigenous groups of the area and a more sustainable and insightful handling of the world’s unique treasures in the Peruvian Amazon. Putting indigenous peoples and their still intact natural surroundings at severe risk of contamination if not extinction.

More than 300.000 members of indigenous tribes inhabit the Amazon, a region which accounts for two thirds of the Peruvian territory. 4000 of them belong to about 15 uncontacted tribes the existence of who the oil company Perenco as well as the Peruvian government denied until recently.
The uncontacted Pananujuri and Taromenane living close to the Yasuni national park at the Ecuadorian border run the highest risk of exposure to foreign diseases which could kill them.

In order to protect human life, regional biodiversity and the world’s climate it is high time for the international community to step in and exert pressure as well as offer financial compensation for leaving the region untouched by expoitative foreign companies.

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July 1, 2009 by Jay Taber.

The assumption of lineal progress limits our conceptual appreciation of what is the most dynamic aspect of human evolution in the world today. While tribal governing entities have relied on conservation, cooperation, and reciprocity to maintain internal stability for millenia, they have now extended these values into network society. Pan-tribal global solidarity in confronting the anti-indigenous axis of state institutions, markets, and transnational criminal enterprise has emerged with support from civil society. The new alliances and organizing strategy of the indigenous peoples’ movement may turn much social theory on its head.

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June 24, 2009 by Mirjam Hirch.

Frustration is tangible in many parts of Peru these days. Many citizens are totally ready to fight mismanagement and corruption, demanding to exchange the current government. Demands, however, are fragmented, no common and clear aim is put forward. Complaints are massive, the need that something has to be done cannot be more evident.

Hiking through and camping in remote Andean communities the last four days yielded some devastating sights. Poverty is abject, educational opportunities scarce, there are so many people freezing in the cold winter in clear need of most basic necessities and health care provision.

What is lacking is the opportunity for people to reunite and organize, as well as coordinate their movements. The government in Lima represents the majority of the population living in the cities. It is completely removed from the suffering taking place in rural areas. Clear solutions need to be formulated in direct consultation with the communities living in the Andes and other agrarian areas.

The only way to make themselves heard is not through peaceful demonstrations but radical protests most feel. Ongoing road blocks in more and more regions of the country are a clear sign of people venting their strong frustration with their living conditions and the political system. Currently in Cusco no gas arrives any more because of road blocks. Christina a girl from Sweden just escaped from the Arequipa region. Despite a freshly broken arm she was not allowed to leave the area and had to walk for two days with all her luggage to get to a village from where she says she was able “to flee from hell“ to Cusco.

At the Inti Raymi, the most important indigenous festival in the country, taking place today in Cusco police and national guard presence was extremely high due to expected unrest. When my friend got all her documents including passport and credit cards stolen the policeman was standing at the other side of the road. He did not even want to pay attention when we asked him for help, seemingly uninvolved and remote. He did not want to do anything but take his private video camera to get some shots of the festival. Only upon our insisting he would tell us to go to the tourist police. There they gave us completely wrong information about being able to leave the country not caring whether this could cause a lot of inconveniences and trouble absolutely disconnected from what would happen to the traveler when believing the supposed experts’ advice. The 24 hour hotline of the local US consulate was switched off at this most important day of festivity in a region considered to be a current hotbed of resistance and protest with an official strike being declared for the time being.

This makes one wonder if people employed to be role models to protect and be there for the citizens do not feel responsible: Who should be?

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June 22, 2009 by Rudolph Ryser.

When the salutation, “All my relations” is spoken or written these days, many people think this quaint and perhaps a little presumptuous. But, the expression has always expressed a deep and timeless connection between people that celebrates relationships between people, places and other beings. “All my relations” also speaks to a collective memory among people that extends back deep into the beginning.

In the western hemisphere including Greenland and the far eastern part of the Eurasian continent that touches Alaska and Japan we recognize a human family spread out, living in different climates and ecosystems.  The differences are responses to the place, plants, animals and view of the sky. The sameness of members of a vast family bespeaks a distant root branched out over the continents. There is one family of native peoples making up the whole, but many cultures with different languages, social practices, economic activities, and ways of praising grandmother and grandfather.

Long told in stories and remembered in numerous ways, the connection between native peoples in the western hemisphere have remained a constant. Origin stories, legends, songs and dances reach into the distant past and give in metaphor the details of the passage into this world.  Now, according to Science News the biological tracers have been identified by deductive science to affirm what has long been known among the original peoples in the western hemisphere: We are all related.

There are many important differences between native peoples throughout the hemisphere and virtually all have to do with culture; though it is often the case the customs, cultural practices are often similar if not always exactly the same.  The use of song, dance, stories, hunting methods, transportation and even sometimes eating habits are the same or very similar.

It is and always has been true that we have connection between peoples in this hemisphere even as it is true for peoples on other continents. With respect and dignity we salute our friends and family with “All my relations.”

relations, science news, culture, Greenland, Eurasia, North America

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June 21, 2009 by Jay Taber.

The Andean revolution of indigenous peoples against neocolonial violence under the rubrics of Free Trade, the War on Drugs and the Global War on Terror — all US imperial inventions — is anything but spontaneous or reactionary. Rather, it is the result of extensive research, education, and organizing by indigenous peoples to liberate themselves through unified effort.

The 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was not a gift from the First World to the Fourth World, but an acknowledgment of the moral and historic legitimacy of indigenous self-governance and culture. The liberation now taking place in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile is an achievement of the World Indigenous Peoples’ Movement which began thirty years ago in British Columbia, when global indigenous leaders first gathered to build an international network of solidarity.

Today’s actions by indigenous communities have deep roots of consciousness.

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June 20, 2009 by Jay Taber.

Self Defense

The million plus indigenous peoples of Colombia plan to establish a 100,000-member pan-tribal police force to protect indigenous communities from armed violence by the army, vigilantes, guerrillas and drug-dealers.

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June 19, 2009 by Jay Taber.

Welcoming Criminal Enterprise

In 2003, the United States and Israel bullied Belgium into abolishing universal jurisdiction used to prosecute war criminals and perpetrators of crimes against humanity. Today, the United States, Israel and China are pressuring Spain to do the same. The plan of these perpetrators of international crimes is logical: if no country will hold them accountable, they can continue to act with impunity; the world then becomes a welcoming place for transnational criminal enterprise.

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June 18, 2009 by Jay Taber.

Indigenous Peoples Film Festival to be screened in Valparaiso, Chile. Intended to give voice to indigenous filmmakers, the festival hopes to counter racist state propaganda used to marginalize indigenous communities and to justify murder of indigenous activists throughout the world.

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