I have stopped hating Thanksgiving and
learned to be afraid of the holiday.
ACOMA,
NEW MEXICO-On the Navajo Nation, almost everyone you talk to either
worked in uranium mines themselves or had fathers or husbands who did.
Almost everyone also has multiple stories of loved ones dying young
from cancer, kidney disease and other ailments attributed to uranium
poisoning.
The
effects aren't limited to uranium miners and millers; whole families
are usually affected as women washed their husbands' contaminated
clothes, kids played amidst mine waste and families even built homes
out of radioactive uranium tailings.
It's hard for a country to change its founding mythology, but the
U.S. Senate has taken an important step towards accomplishing that. The
Senate approved an apology to Native Americans on October 7, as an
amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill. The Senate also passed an
apology resolution in 2008, but it has yet to be signed into law.
They are the last survivors: all that's left of a
once-vibrant civilisation which created its own religion and language,
and gave special names to everything from the creatures of the
rainforest to the stars of the night sky.
Just five people represent the entire remaining population of the Akuntsu, an
ancient Amazonian tribe which a generation ago boasted several hundred
members, but has been destroyed by a tragic mixture of hostility and
neglect.
GUATEMALA CITY - Tens of thousands of indigenous people took to the streets across Latin America on Monday to protest the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's 1492 discovery of the Americas.
Columbus Day is celebrated as the Day of Hispanic Heritage in Latin America, but protesters marked the holiday as a reminder of the atrocities Spanish conquistadors wrought on indigenous people throughout the region.
"Gold is most excellent; gold constitutes treasure; and he who has it does all he wants in the world, and can even lift souls up to Paradise." -- Christopher Columbus, 1503 letter to the king and queen of Spain.
"Christopher Columbus not only opened the door to a New World, but also set an example for us all by showing what monumental feats can be accomplished through perseverance and faith." -- George H.W. Bush, 1989 speech
"Oh these nights. My blessed bounty of dreams."
-- Luci Tapahonso, Blue Horses Rush In
The bounty of green job dreams is one step toward becoming a reality on the Dinetah-Navajo Nation. Thanks to the indefatigable work of the Navajo Green Economy Coalition and Navajo Nation Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan, among many others, the Navajo Nation Council voted to create the Navajo Green Economy Commission on July 21st.
The
recent clash between indigenous peoples and Peruvian national police
sends a powerful message from the Amazon jungle straight to Washington:
The enormous social, political, and environmental costs of the
free-trade model are no longer acceptable.
Indigenous groups in Peru have called off protests after two land laws which led to deadly fighting were revoked.
Hailing victory, Amazonian Indian groups said it was an "historic day".
At least 34 people died during weeks of strikes against the legislation, which allowed foreign companies to exploit resources in the Amazon forest.
The violence provoked tension with Peru's neighbour, Bolivia, where Preisdent Evo Morales backed the Peruvian Indians' tribal rights.
On June 5,
World Environment Day, Amazon Indians were massacred by the government
of Alan Garcia in the latest chapter of a long war to take over common
lands-a war unleashed by the signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
between Peru and the United States.
