~~~SisterSea~~~

By Victoria Marie People of colour, close friends Empathy, proclaimed Yet, Joy unshared Bring arrows of pain To understand let us Go back and see What this old black woman Saw as a child on TV Policemen with dogs and hoses Attack my people huddled In defensive poses Angry white crowds shouting, enraged Because black children with theirs being schooled While soldiers surround the black children Protecting their right to what the Supreme Court ruled Three young men missing, murdered For helping Black people register to vote With no one brought to justice Until 30 years later, a sad footnote Obama’s election, no big deal to you Full citizenship has always been your right However, for people of colour, sometimes Just to stay sane is a fight “You can grow up to be president” They tell us in school, but black students face The constricting clarifying message “President, not people of your race.” So you see, it’s not that he will Make all the nation’s problems go away But millions of Black Am...

CPTnet 22 March 2008 by Julian Gutierrez Castaño Translated by Michele Braley "…¿Adónde van los desaparecidos? Busca en el agua y en los matorrales. ¿Y por qué es que se desaparecen? Porque no todos somos iguales. ("Where have the disappeared gone? Look in the water and in the brush. And why do they disappear? Because we are not all equal ...") The sun warmed Washington, D.C. as did the colorful crowd that gathered in Dupont Plaza on 6 March 2008—an unusually balmy day. The Colombians, and the usual crowd of sympathetic "gringo" human rights activists, carried signs depicting the plight of the victims of the armed conflict that has plagued Colombia since the late 1940s. A unionist displaced by the political right that holds power in Colombia gave testimony. So did the daughter of one of the many victims who were not supposed to proclaim that in Colombia inequality is perpetuated by the State, that the people are devoured by alligators (the state security force...

Kingston , Ontario February 15, 2008 Kingston Regional Police took Bob Lovelace away from the courthouse in handcuffs this morning to serve a six month sentence on a contempt of court charge handed down by Justice Douglas Cunningham. Lovelace, age fifty-nine, is an ex-chief and spokesperson for the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation (AAFN). He is also father to seven children and an instructor at Queen’s University and Sir Sandford Fleming Community College . Justice Cunningham imposed a fine of $25,000 on Lovelace and $10,000 on his community. Lovelace said “I am in a dilemma. I want to obey Canadian law but Algonquin law instructs me that I must preserve Creation. I must follow Algonquin law.” Judge Cunningham in his sentencing said, “There can only be one law – the law of Canada as expressed in this court.” Co-chief Paula Sherman and Honorary Chief Harold Perry agreed to abide by the terms of an injunction which forbids them from blocking Frontenac Ventures ...

Thursday, February 14, 2008 PRESS RELEASE - English FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' VOICE CENSURED AT UNITED NATIONS Rome , Feb. 14, 2008 - This morning Indigenous Peoples' representatives formally withdrew from the Working Group on Protected Areas of the Convention on Biological Diversity to protest their exclusion from this meeting held at FAO headquarters in the Italian capital. Before leaving the plenary, Indigenous leaders put on symbolic gags and held up protest signs. After Jannie Lasimbang of the Kudasan People of Malaysia read a statement, the indigenous delegation and some Non-Governmental Organizations left the meeting which was suspended upon their departure. The Indigenous Peoples' statement read: "Mr. Chairman, we have made great efforts to be part of this process. However, it is with great disappointment that from the very beginning of this Working Group on Protected Areas meeting we have found ourselves marginalized and without opportunity t...

Turtle Women Rising are needed in Washington D.C. on October 10-13 2008 in front of the White House. Bring your drums, prayers, and your songs. For more information, please visit: Turtle Women Rising

In violation of United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People the U.S. government plans to forcibly take land from the Lipan Apache people to construct a fence and levee to keep illegal immigrants from crossing the U.S. border. The following is a letter from Margo Tamez, the daughter of a family being threatened by agents of the U.S. government. Dear Relatives, I wish I was writing under better circumstances, but I must be fast and direct. My mother and elders of El Calaboz, since July have been the targets of numerous threats and harassments by the Border Patrol, Army Corps of Engineers, National Security Agency (NSA), and other U.S. government agents who want to put a fence on their levee on Apache land. Since July, they have been the targets of numerous telephone calls, unexpected and uninvited visits. The agents informed the Apache that they will have to relinquish parts of their land grant holdings to the border fence buildup. The NSA demands tha...

CPTnet 17 October 2007 CPT Canada recalls team from Algonquin blockade ROBERTSVILLE , ON : The Shabot Obaadjiwan and Ardoch Algonquin First Nations have agreed to a mediation process involving their representatives, the governments of Canada and Ontario , and the uranium exploration company Frontenac Ventures (FV). As stipulated by the mediation agreement, the Algonquins left the Robertsville Mine site on 12 October 2007 after occupying it since 28 June 2007. Christian Peacemaker Teams Canada recalled its violence reduction team from the Algonquin Blockade on 12 October as well. The mediation process will encompass the following discussions: --whether Frontenac's staked claims and mining lease are legally valid; --the possibility of withdrawing traditional Algonquin land from staking and a moratorium on mineral exploration and mining; --addressing on-the-ground concerns about the impacts of uranium drilling. Frontenac Ventures obtained a license under the Onta...

By Alan Slater Frank Morrison was cutting his winter wood supply on his northern Frontenac County farm in October of 2006 when he came across stakes and severely damaged trees in his woodlot. This was the first warning that a company called Frontenac Ventures was exploring for uranium in the area. People soon learned that the Ontario government had given Frontenac Ventures permission to stake uranium claims on privately owned land and Crown land that is claimed by Algonquin First Nations people. On June 28, 2007, the Algonquin people set up a blockade at the main gate to the exploration site. Within a few days, the white settlers in the area had formed the Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium, www.ccamu.ca , to support the Algonquin action. These pristine hills and forests of north Frontenac are the head waters of the Mississippi River, which flows into the Ottawa River through Carleton Place , Almonte and Packenham. People from all along the river right down to Ottawa...

September 11, 2007 (Vancouver, BC) – Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and six other international conservation groups are running an advertisement in today’s Financial Times in London, UK, targeting Royal Dutch Shell’s plan for a coalbed methane gas field in northern BC’s Sacred Headwaters. The ad features protesters at a First Nations road blockade and the headline, “This time it’s Canada .” “Shell’s European executives and the British Columbian government need to know the world is watching their actions in the Sacred Headwaters,” said Lisa Matthaus with Sierra Club of Canada, one of the ad signatories. “If Shell pushes ahead with its plan to drill for gas in the Sacred Headwaters, they will face an escalating international campaign.” The Sacred Headwaters is the shared birthplace of three of BC’s most important wild salmon rivers: the Skeena, Nass and Stikine . It is also home to grizzly bears, caribou, wolves and stone sheep. Last month, members of the Tahltan F...

From CPTnet 26 September 2007 TORONTO : Christian Peacemaker Congress joins witness calling on Ontario legislature to respect First Nation moratoria on industrial use of traditional lands In advance of the October 10 Ontario 2007 provincial election, more than 250 CPTers, native rights and environmental activists joined First Nation leaders at the Ontario Legislature on Friday, September 21, 2007 to issue a challenge to all political parties: respect moratoria issued by indigenous communities against industrial activities on their traditional lands. As part of the witness, participants unfurled a seventy-five-metre-long banner in the shape of a yellow arrow that read, "Native Land Rights Now." Co-sponsored by Rainforest Action Network (RAN), the witness was a scheduled event of CPT's first Peacemaker Congress in Canada . Native groups in attendance included representatives from Asubpeeschoseewagong ( Grassy Narrows ), Ardoch and Kitchenuhmaykoosi...

By Bob Holmes Robertsville, ON CPT Canada News September 19, 2007 Harold Perry, honorary chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation (AAFN), was driven to court in Kingston, Ontario by his daughter Mona on September 18, 2007. He expected to be arrested, something he welcomed because it would bring to a head the on-going conflict of the Algonquins with Frontenac Ventures and the provincial government of Ontario. The government is allowing Frontenac to explore for uranium on unceded Algonquin lands without Algonquin permission. On June 28, 2007, the AAFN, together with the Shabot Obaajiwan First Nation, closed the gate at the entrance of the road being used for uranium exploration. The Algonquins occupied the area inside the gate and, in support, non-aboriginal settlers from the area set up a tent city outside the gate. (Non-aboriginal supporters of the blockade call themselves “settlers” to acknowledge their status as newcomers on the land.) On August 31, a court injunction obtained by F...