November 29, 2008 by Rudolph Ryser.

The US Indian Health Services has compacts with scores of Indian nations and its services cost too much while its services miss the target of exploding chronic diseases.

Diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, depression, suicide and cancers are among the growing number of chronic diseases exploding across Indian Country. More than 75% of the cost of US health care now goes to managing these diseases, and a like amount is being spent in Indian Country.  The problem is that these diseases are all preventable. Little or nothing is spent on prevention, and it is in prevention that the diseases can be stopped and even reversed.

Denis Cortese, president and chief executive of the Mayo Clinic is quoted by the Washington Post as say, “We’re not getting what we pay for.”  Of course Cortese is speaking to the country-wide expenditure for all of health care, but she might as well be speaking loudly about health care in Indian Country. Seattle’s Virgina Mason Medical Center chairman Gary Kaplan is quoted as saying, “Our health-care system is fraught with waste,” and he notes further that half the US expenditure of $2.3 trillion spent on improving health does nothing.

Of the $4.1 billion in funds requested for the Indian Health Service most cannot be said to contribute to chronic disease prevention. Indeed, such a tiny fraction of funds is allocated in support of the traditional tribal health systems that actually do prevent chronic disease and actually do reverse diseases like diabetes, heart disease, alcohol and drug abuse and depression that it can be said that the US government’s health system failure is complete.

Soon to be appointed Secretary in waiting Tom Daschel has a special obligation to work with Senator Tom Harkin and other like minded representatives in the Congress to fashion a New Indian Health System that is cost appropriate, directly addresses chronic diseases, integrates into the traditional health systems and demonstrates that health actually improves.  The current system merely proves that one must wait until the disease is in full bloom before there is a health system response.  This is backward thinking. Communities and health delivery systems must be pro-actively engaged to prevent disease from environmental causes, introduced processed foods, unnecessary convenience-making systems like moving escalators, and bad diets based on low incomes.

A Whole Health Indiah Health System is in order. We don’t need new ways to pay for a broken system.  Indian Country needs a whole new health system, and the President Elect Barack Obama administration has a duty to respond to this important need.

Indian Health Service, Indian Health, chronic disease, Tom Daschel, Barack Obama

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November 28, 2008 by Jay Taber.

While the Wall Street Journal encourages Obama to issue a blank check to Indonesia’s brutal military machine to continue prosecuting one of the world’s most violent anti-democratic campaigns, ETAN’s John Miller observes that the only time the world’s largest Muslim majority country saw anything resembling human rights was during brief periods when US military assistance to Indonesia was suspended. Of course, Wall Street takes its cut from financing military aid to dictators, and given the downturn in real estate and banking speculation, a few more Third and Fourth World atrocities might just fill the revenue gap.

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November 27, 2008 by Jay Taber.

The four modes of social organization — tribes, institutions, markets, and networks — all intentionally utilize words to communicate their unique perspectives and preferences. Words are chosen for their effect in creation stories, in mythologies, in advertising, and in propaganda.

Words themselves are invented for a purpose. They serve as tools of social organization, as weapons of war, as means of manipulation, and as medicine for the maligned.

Depending on how they are used, words can cause horrendous harm or great good. Meanings can be distorted or clarified.

Working with words can gain one respect, renown, and reward, but it can also generate resentment. Not all messages are appreciated.

Learning to use words effectively requires an understanding of the principles of communication, especially in what is termed netwar, which assumes that all communication in all its dimensions is contested, no matter the stated intent of the participants. Words are meant to achieve, and as propositions in the arena of human consciousness, they will be confronted; as such, working with words is serious business.

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November 26, 2008 by Jay Taber.

Upsetting the colonial mythology of a generous America, righteous in spirit and conduct, is all the more disturbing because so little is taught about the historical reality in public schools. Even less is taught about the reality of the present.

Non-indigenous Americans need to know there is another choice besides ignorance and resentment. Some learning takes place in mutual conservation efforts, but healing wounded spirits requires cooperation and reciprocity.

Knowing what gifts have been made helps in forming an awareness of what one should give in return.

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November 24, 2008 by Rudolph Ryser.

After the First Session of the new round of talks on Climate Change ended last year in Bali, Indonesia a press reporter lamented the absence of the voice of indigenous people at the table.  Noting that indigenous peoples around the world suffer directly from the adverse affects of industrial carbon emissions and other global warming gases the reporter said the absence of the important voice of indigenous people was a serious error.

Now it is more than fourteen months since the Bali meeting sponsored by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change came to a dramatic end with the United States of America being shamed by the delegate from Papua New Guinea into agreeing to participate in the unfolding agenda. Four agenda-setting meetings and expert meetings have been conducted in places like Bangkok, Accra and Berlin and still delegates from indigenous nations have not been invited to sit at the table.

A Conference of Parties meeting number 14 (COP14) is about to convene in Poznan, Poland beginning December 1. In advance of that meeting the Minority Rights Group in London released a call for the Poznan meeting to include indigenous peoples.  Well, the Inuit Circumpolar Conference will go to that meeting and sit as an observer. It is possible that a few indigenous nations will decided to send observers even though there is not place at the table for them to actively and formally participate in the talks.  The Poznan meeting will literally set the terms of reference for what will be an agreement on Climate Change to be tabled in November 2009 at what will be called the Conference of Parties 15 (COP15) meeting in Copenhagen.  Denmark has noted quietly that no indigenous nation delegates are planned for participation in the COP15 negotiations. Importantly, Denmark and Sweden have begun commenting on the importance of indigenous nations participating in the COP15 meeting.

States’ governments have seriously faltered over the past decades when the question of indigenous nations’ participation in international meetings is concerned.  The most vociferous opponents of indigenous nations, oddly enough, has been the United States of America…and when it comes to Tibet and East Turkestan (Uygurs) and the millions of peoples China has categorized as “nationalities” the Peoples’ Republic of China has also been a major opponent.

If there was ever a time when indigenous nations should sit as equal parties at negotiations affecting the health of all humanity, the earth and all else that time is now.  Indigenous nations like Tibet, East Turkestan, Quinault, Kurdistan, Haudenosaunee, Zapotec, Igbo, Luo, Shan, Dene, Sami, Inuit and thousands of others must be official parties, equal to states’ governments, in negotiations establishing the next round of climate change protocols. No longer observers, indigenous nations must be active, recognized participants with a vote in the outcome.

Indigenous nations possess knowledge about nature, climate and the cosmos that states’ government scientist and philosophers simply lack. The voice of indigenous nations must be heard and in many instances heeded for everyone’s sake.

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November 24, 2008 by Jay Taber.

Inherent Moral Authority

UN climate change conferences could benefit from indigenous participation, but their traditional knowledge comes with a price, and that price is respect. And respect of indigenous values, while given lip service by modern states, is not an area the UN or its member states want to get into while discussing adaptation to climate change caused by their industrial societies.

Indigenous values come with inherent moral authority that nation-states and state-centric international institutions cannot avoid if confronted by indigenous delegates, so the standard solution is to exclude indigenous representatives from international proceedings. Not a wise choice, but better for public relations.

But indigenous peoples have a lot of experience with exclusionary measures devised by modern states, and, armed with access to unmediated global communication, they are prepared to kick the door in, like it or not. Patronized by UN bromides of brotherhood for two decades now, the indigenous movement is ready to exercise its moral authority in ways yet unseen; the gatekeepers of power won’t know what hit them.

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November 24, 2008 by Jay Taber.

Obama’s willful feigned ignorance of crimes against humanity by his predecessor — as a ruse to avoid bringing Bush/Cheney to justice — is inexcusable.

As the single most important thing he must do to return our country to the rule of law, his decision in advance to neglect this supreme duty means he is in fact aiding and abetting the most serious domestic felonies in the history of our country, as well as supporting the most egregious offenses under international law.

As Bush himself said, you’re either with us or against us; the same goes for Obama.

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November 23, 2008 by Dr. Amy Eisenberg.

Greetings All,

Tibet Day 2008 is promising to be a remarkable event. Come enjoy Tibetan food, song, dance, vendors and related nonprofit organizations. Find out the next stage of the Tibet movement in the Bay Area and beyond. Please check out http://friends-of-tibet.org/tibetday/tibetday.html for our press release and flyer for the event. 

Below, are some outstanding Tibet-related organizations that we are pleased to announce will be at Ft. Mason at Tibet Day on Saturday, December 6, 2008 from 10 AM - 4 PM:

TIBET SHOP

TIBET MOON

HARMONY TIBETAN CARPETS

MARTIN NEWMAN

RAPTEN TIBETAN GIFTSHOP

TIBET BAZAAR

TIBETAN NYINGMA INSTITUTE

GYUTO VAJRAYANA CENTER OF SAN JOSE

PRAYER FLAG-MAKING BOOTH

SAIRA SIDDHANTA CHURCH

THE SOGAN FOUNDATION

THE TERMA FOUNDATION

NECHUNG BUDDHIST CENTER

BAY AREA FRIENDS OF TIBET

TIBETAN ASSOCIATION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

SAN FRANCISCO REGIONAL TIBETAN YOUTH CONGRESS

COMMITTEE OF 100 FOR TIBET

STUDENTS FOR A FREE TIBET

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

ANG TSHERIN SHERPA, THANGKA PAINTER

DR. ROBERT CLARK

BURMA COMMUNITY

Some notable Tibetans and Friends of Tibet that we are honored to expect include:

Tenzin N Tethong, former Chairman of the Tibetan Cabinet, Tibetan Government in Exile

Dechen Tsering, President of Tibetan Association of Northern California

Jigme Yugay Raptentsetsang, Founder, Bay Area Friends of Tibet, Secretary, Committee of 100 for Tibet

Jane Bay, Author

Rosemary Rawcliffe, Filmaker, Producer

Patrick Mahoney, Author

Tenzin Kunsel, Performer

Ven. Thupten Donyo, of Gyuto Vajrayana Center of San Jose

Supervisor Chris Daly, San Francisco Board of Supervisors

Office of Congresswoman Jackie Speier

Office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Please join them and us as we come together on this special day for Tibet and the Tibetan people.

I will be attending the Special International Tibet Support Group Meeting in Delhi from 11/25-12/3 and am looking forward to sharing a report on this meeting at Tibet Day . As many of you may know, a recent Tibetan Special General Body Meeting was concluded in Dharamsala , India .  The outcome of the meeting has been a renewed and strong vote of confidence in the Dalai Lama’s Middle Way Approach in resolving the issue of Tibet and in His leadership. It’s been widely reported that the Dalai Lama is advising prudence. However, if things do not change, it appears that a push for  full Independence may be sought was also expressed  at their meeting. The dialogue amongst the Tibetan people and with Tibetans and their supporters is ongoing. We are looking forward to seeing you at Tibet Day at Ft. Mason on December 6.

Thank you. 

Sincerely,

Giovanni Vassallo | President | Bay Area Friends of Tibet 1310 Fillmore Street, Unit 401| San Francisco , CA  94115 phone: 415-264-3264 | fax: 415-502-7892 | giovanni@friends-of-tibet.org | http://friends-of-tibet.org/

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November 23, 2008 by Mirjam Hirch.

Recession of the world economy, financial crisis and more bleak news are on everybody’s mind these days. There is a widespread feeling that important decisions and answers are completely out of our hands.
As a form of direct democracy more and more people in Europe are exploring popular initiatives. These initiatives provide the means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number (oftentimes about 10%) of registered voters can force a public vote on a proposed project, statute, constitutional amendment, or the like.
Popular initiatives yield powerful potential especially in Switzerland where they were included in the Swiss Federal Constitution in 1891. A citizen-proposed change to the constitution in Switzerland in October 2008 effected a national referendum to be held in the year 2009. The popular initiative “Yes to Complementary Medicine” requested a constitutional amendment. The aim is the inclusion of five complementary therapies, anthroposophic medicine, homeopathy, neural therapy, traditional Chinese medicine and phytotherapy in Switzerland’s basic healthcare provision amongst other requests. Proposed Art. 118a should strengthen the position of complementary medicine and protect natural remedies.

Likewise on a smaller scale in the city of Darmstadt, Germany, a popular initiative, ONO!, Darmstadt Ohne NordOst-”Umgehung, formed to have a referendum on a planned road project. Inhabitants of the city realize that state schools are in desolate conditions because of lack of funds despite Germany’s VAT being as high as 19%. In the recent past development and building projects that now appear to only serve a few were devouring lots of public funds. Therefore citizens are wondering whether decisions at the city council are taken in the best interest of all the inhabitants or whether maybe the majority due to different priorities might not be in favor of the expensive road project that has negative impacts on the environment and local people’s health. People want to be involved and have a direct say in this decision.
The referendum will be held next year. Meanwhile citizens will ask themselves simple but important questions such as what does life quality mean to us, do we need and want this, what are the alternatives?

The vast majority of national initiatives introduced do not receive voter support. What the current tendencies clearly speak of though is the heightened interest of people regarding questions that directly concern all of us. There should not be political apathy. Things do matter.

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November 22, 2008 by Jay Taber.

All the treaties between the United States and Indian tribes are binding international agreements, yet international institutions formed to serve modern states and mediate international disputes require that original nations like Indian tribes in the Americas first exhaust remedies established by and for the states within which they exist–an inherent conflict of interest. Nevertheless, that remedy has long been exhausted throughout the Americas, especially in Canada and the US, and the time has come for international bodies to step into the fray.

Indeed, some have already condemned nation-states of the Americas for institutional racism and other violations of international human rights law. With the evidence of genocide and ethnic cleansing practiced by these states over the last century alone, judgments by international courts and commissions are bound to follow, but what will these entail in terms of enforceable remedies?

Judging by the hostile response of Canada, Mexico and the US to exposure of crimes against humanity by agents of their respective federal governments, we can only expect continued official harassment of whistle-blowers and active suppression of this sordid story. So where does that leave us in implementing a 21st century human rights regime? How do we get to truth and reconciliation? How do we remedy past injustice and prevent its recurrence in the future? What can we achieve in the present?

Given the ongoing betrayal of treaties and trust agreements throughout North America, it is not surprising that some tribes in Canada are mirroring those of Oaxaca, Mexico through the use of direct action to bring the unsatisfactory situation to international attention. Over the last year, highways and railroad lines have been blockaded by First Nations in British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario. Meanwhile, the Blackfeet of Montana proved systematic embezzlement of American Indian resource royalties by the US Department of Interior only to have a federal court tell them, “So what”.

Indigenous tribes of Bolivia now have a government that acknowledges and supports their inherent rights as aboriginal peoples, and is finally using that country’s assets to benefit them. In fact, they are directly involved in revising Bolivia’s constitution, as well as in official acts to redistribute the wealth that was originally theirs alone. Indeed, the entire process of governance is being democratized in ways corporate-controlled Americans can hardly imagine.

But Bolivians were not handed this power over their lives by the landed aristocracy or the US corporations that helped them steal the indigenous wealth in the past. Rather, it was the indigenous people themselves who decided they’d had enough, and took to the streets to put an end to the infamy that plagued their lands.

North American Indians are not in a numerically strong position as the indigenous of Bolivia are, but they are in a morally and legally superior position to the states of Canada, Mexico and the US, and in the end that is likely to be the key to victory over corporate autocracy and official corruption. They will, no doubt, need some help from mainstream civil society to implement economic security and environmental sanity, but the leadership on human equality is theirs to take, and they are apparently headed in that direction. It now remains for the rest of us to decide whose side we are on; fence-sitting is going to become increasingly hard to pull off with a clear conscience.

(Jay Taber is a political analyst and strategist at Public Good Project.)

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