"Gwi'ichin": Arctic

Arctic Refuge Update November 03, 2005

Native and non-Native Support Groups and Friends,

This message below is from the Alaska Coalition. The Coalition works with the Gwichin Steering Coalition and many support groups. Their message describes what happened today in the Senate, as well as reassuring us the fight isn't over. This morning (11/3/05) the Senate defeated the Cantwell Amendment (Senator Maria Cantwell, D-WA) by 2 votes (48-51) that if passed, would have removed drilling in the refuge from the budget bill. The House will be considering a similar budget measure that also includes a provision for opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. There appears to be some mounting opposition within the House on the refuge provisions. There are reports that House leaders are thinking about dumping the contentious refuge drilling section. Lets now start putting pressure on the House Representatives. After the House makes its decision on its version of a budget measure, the final decision on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will be made when the Senate and House go into conference to hash out their two budgets. We will continue to keep you posted.

Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network ien@igc.org

Dear Supporter,

Just wanted to send a quick note to thank all of you for everything you have done for the last few months, weeks, days and hours leading up to the Senate vote. Unfortunately, the Senate Budget Reconciliation Vote passed with the Arctic drilling provisions included. While this news is disappointing, I want to reassure you that the budget fight is not over. While we did not defeat the drilling bill today in the Senate, tomorrow we will turn our attention toward the House where the real battle will be.

A significant number of Republicans have been outspoken in their opposition to Arctic Refuge drilling in the budget bill, casting serious doubt on whether a bill with Arctic drilling in it can pass the House at all. The farther along this reconciliation bill goes, the more baggage it picks up and the worse it looks. So please take your disappointment from today and turn it into positive energy for next week's battle that in the House. We aren't giving up and hope you won't either.

So once again thank you for your hard work and dedication to protecting the Arctic Refuge. I will be in touch in the next day or so to let you know what you can do to help us win in the House. I am confident that in the end we will prevail.

Best Regards,

Katie Little katie@alaskacoalition.org Grassroots Campaigns Associate
Alaska Coalition

Bear Butte

For immediate Release

Does Meade County really want another huge biker campground
to peddle alcohol next to an internationally recognized
historical, cultural and spiritual site?

A plan to develop the largest biker bar, music venue and campground in the Sturgis area in the beginning stages. Jay Allen, an Arizona entrepreneur , intends to have in operation by the Sturgis motorcycle rally next August. The campground would be only a mile from the northern boundary of Bear Butte State Park. Bear Butte is a mountain that many people hold as sacred and where tribes have been praying for thousands of years. The well being of Bear Butte is of concern to those of us who live and work in the area. Bear Butte is also a treasure to many other people, nationally and internationally.

This biker-bar-campground which Allen suggests he would name “Sacred Grounds,” will have long-range implications affecting many generations to come. And the surrounding area is indeed sacred ground and this encroachment of sacred land must be stopped. This venue will feature a drive-through bar and a natural amphitheater where bands can play loud music. This will increase the traffic, noise, pollution and deadly accidents near the State Park.

Meade County does not receive revenue from state alcohol taxes. However, law enforcement coasts skyrocket during the Strugis Rally and local taxpayers must foot the bill. County citations doe DWI as well as drug charges keep rising each year. Total arrests during the rally this year were 448, up from the 405 in 2004. Policy makers may find these figures insignificant, but they hit home when a drunk driver kills a relative or friend.

In addition to the law enforcement costs, who is going to pay for the increased cleanup expenditures? Beer cans liquor bottles, paper, oil and other trash would litter the landscape. Consider the effect this will have on the Wildlife in the area, especially since it will be adjacent to the Bear Butte National Wildlife Refuge.

The decibel levels inflicted on Bear Butte and the surrounding area would be disrespectful, especially for those who are worshiping there. These loud intrusions would not be permitted near a church building and should not be permitted so near to Bear Butte.

The bar like behavior that it extending beyond the boundaries of the city of Sturgis during the rally is becoming a burden for all area residents. Residents who cherish a peaceful, wholesome environment for their families will be subjected to even more lewd behavior. This business venture impacts more than one businessman’s vision. This will enough bars and concerts now for rally goers to attend.

Let us stand together for the protection of this sacred site, as we are all responsible for our future generations. We advise no new alcohol or rally relates business developments be allowed within a seven-mile buffer zone around Bear Butte. This buffer zone should be established to maintain the sanctity of Bear Butte. People throughout the world are appalled at this proposed development. Let us show the world that we are sensitive to civil and human rights all year long.

Please contact your local, tribal, state and federal legislators and express your concern regarding this endangerment to Bear Butte.

For further information, contact the Bear Butte International Alliance, P.O. Box 4232, Strugis, SD 57785 or email BB_B@rushmore.com    Contact Person: Nancy Kile   605-720-0282

write letter on Bear Butte

Hey y'all, I'm sending you some info. I received recently about my holy land in South Dakota, I'm asking that you send a letter supporting theBear Butte Intnl. Alliance in fighting this development. 36
different tribes and many more of us renegades actively worship at this holy sight today. We're asking for an at least 7 mile buffer zone to maintain the sanctity of BB. The land is more than a resource for
development and future generations will someday appreciate our far-sightedness in protecting this land for all to enjoy. Ask that the Governor do what is necessary to protect BB and other sacred sites in South Dakota--these unique cultural, spiritual and historical landscapes are irreplaceable treasures for SD and every American and must not be distroyed. Send your letter to Governor Mike Rounds 500 East Capital Ave. Pierre, SD 57501. And thanks in advance for taking the time!

In Peace, ry

Sacred San Francisco Peaks

Received: Oct. 23, 2005

Call to Action: Save the Peaks Vigil and March

The Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Hualapai, Havasupai, Yavapai-Apache, White Mountain Apache, Sierra Club, Flagstaff Activist Network, Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, Dine' Medicine's Association, and a Hopi Traditionalist have filed a lawsuit against the Coconino Forest Service to protect the environment, our community and the Sacred San Francisco Peaks from Snowbowl's expansion and snowmaking with wastewater.

This trial will determine the future of Native American Religious Freedom & the health of our communities.

Save the Peaks Actions!

Wed. Oct. 26th - Banner Making Party
at the Sierra Club 408 office (408 Rt. 66, Flagstaff, AZ) 4:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Come make banners for the trials and upcoming march and rally!

Tues. Nov. 1st - 5:00 p.m. - Heritage Square in Downtown Flagstaff, AZ
Save the Peaks Candlelight Vigil with updates about Peaks trial, March through downtown Flagstaff and Rally on the front steps of City Hall! Dress warm and bring a candle and/or a sign!

Wed. Nov. 2nd and Thursday Nov. 3rd - Trials continue in Prescott, AZ
- Prayer Vigils held outside of the Federal Courthouse from 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. - Please come and show your support! Carpools/Caravans leaving to Prescott from Macy's Coffee House in Flagstaff every trial day at 6:30 a.m. Help organize a carpool/caravan in your community by contacting
coalition@savethepeaks.org
(For more info and to check out the photos visit www.savethepeaks.org)

More actions to be announced, please visit www.savethepeaks.org (Printable versions of this flyer are available at www.savethepeaks.org)

"Gwi'ichin": Arctic

October 21, 2005

Arctic Map Vanishes, and Oil Area Expands

By FELICITY BARRINGER

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 - Maps matter. They chronicle the struggles of empires and zoning boards. They chart political compromise. So it was natural for Republican Congressional aides, doing due diligence for what may be the last battle in the fight over the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, to ask for the legally binding 1978 map of the refuge and its coastal plain.

It was gone. No map, no copies, no digitized version.

The wall-size 1:250,000-scale map delineated the tundra in the biggest national land-use controversy of the last quarter-century, an area that environmentalists call America's Serengeti and that oil enthusiasts see as America's Oman.

The map had been stored behind a filing cabinet in a locked room in Arlington, Va. Late in 2002, it was there. In early 2003, it disappeared. There are just a few reflection-flecked photographs to remember it by.

All this may have real consequences. The United States Geological Survey drew up a new map. On Wednesday, the Senate Energy and Commerce Committee passed a measure based on the new map that opened to drilling 1.5 million acres of coastal plain in the refuge.

The missing map did not seem to include in the coastal plain tens of thousands of acres of Native Alaskans' lands. On the new map, those lands were included, arguably making it easier to open them to energy development.

The measure is scheduled to be in the budget reconciliation bill to be voted on next month.

"People have asked me several times, 'Do you think someone took this intentionally?' " said Doug Vandegraft, the cartographer for the Fish and Wildlife Service who was the last known person to see the old map. "I hope to God not. So few people knew about it. I'm able to sleep at night because I don't think it was maliciously taken. I do think it was thrown out."

Mr. Vandegraft said he had folded the map in half, cushioned within its foam-board backing, and put it behind the filing cabinet in the locked room for safekeeping.

He said he was distraught when he learned of the loss. In its place in the original nook, he said, he found a new, folded piece of foam board similar to the old one - but with no map attached. "I felt sick to my stomach," he said. "I queried everyone here. I think people could tell that I was angry about it."

No one admitted knowing what had happened.

"It infuriated me," he said. "It was in no one's way. Why would someone take it on themselves to say no one needs this?

"No one knew where the foam-core boards came from."

The implications of the contours on the new map, at least for the native lands, are in dispute. Some people argue that the native owners, the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation, which controls much of the surface rights to the land, and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, which controls the mineral rights, would be able to offer energy leases no matter where the lines are drawn, as soon as Congress opens the plain.

The legislative counsel of the Interior Department, Jane M. Lyder, did not go quite that far, but did say the new map might make the question moot.

"It's a very circular kind of thing," Ms. Lyder said. "Changing the line on the map makes it a lot easier."

In addition, she said, the inclusion of the native lands within the coastal plain ensures that they will be covered by the bill's requirement that no more than 2,000 acres of the plain be used for drilling platforms, airstrips, roads and other surface disturbances. By including the native lands in the plain, any work there would count to the 2,000-acre limit, she said.

Mr. Vandegraft, the cartographer, said the experience had changed his habits.

"Anything I considered historic, we scanned them and took them to the National Archives," he said.

Marley Shebala
Navajo Times senior reporter
(928) 871-6422 work/messages
(928) 309-9449 cell/messages
(928) 871-6409 fax

Botswana : Bushmen

BOTSWANA: ETHNIC CLEANSING REACHES FINAL PHASE

October8, 2005

SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE

A handful of Bushmen have resisted. The police have told them they will be killed, and are following them to prevent them hunting or gathering any food. The local District Commissioner (of the nearby town, Ghanzi) is today inside the reserve overseeing the operation. She told the Bushmen yesterday that the police will stay until every last Bushman is removed.

Information was brought out today by those evicted.

In order to avoid reprisals, Survival will no longer name individual Bushmen. One woman still inside the reserve said yesterday, 'We will not leave our ancestral lands. We will die here. If they steal my land, they just steal my life.'

Tensions in the region have been building for the last two weeks. In that time, three Bushmen have been shot and wounded by police. One was a seven-year old boy shot in the stomach as police tried to arrest his father. In separate incidents, a man was shot in the face and another in both legs as police tried to get him to confess to hunting. The police have removed all the Bushman goats under the pretext they were diseased. They have also sealed the area, forbidding any journalists from going there.

Everyone involved in the Bushmen's own organisation, First People of the Kalahari was arrested and beaten on 24 September. All are now charged with 'illegal assembly'. On the day they were released from prison the Bushmen heard that they, and their elder, Roy Sesana, had won the 2005 alternative Nobel Prize.

The Botswana government has been trying to get the Gana and Gwi Bushmen off their ancestral lands in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve since the 1980s when diamonds were discovered. Exploration concessions leaped within a few days of the Bushmen being evicted in 2002. De Beers, which mines and sells all Botswana's diamonds, has opposed the Bushmen, welcoming the 2002 evictions and falsely accusing the Bushmen of hunting with high-powered rifles. De Beers also wrongly claims there were no Bushmen at its concession at Gope where it intends to mine.

Stephen Corry said today, 'If this is the last chapter in the 200-year old genocide of the Bushmen, then it's also the final curtain for Botswana's and De Beers's reputation. A new policy, abiding by international law and recognising Bushman land, would begin the long haul of rebuilding that reputation, but there is not the slightest sign of that happening. On the contrary, the ethnic cleansing continues, and they're now even shooting small children. Botswana's many friends must forcefully express their disgust, or suffer enduring shame.'

For more information please ring +44 7815 300 664 or email mr@survival-international.org

Dine / Navajo : U.S.A.

Navajo Nation Honored for Prohibition of Mining

Shirley, council honored in Norway

Sept. 25, 2005

By Pamela G. Dempsey
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK - The tribal president will be spending today in Norway picking up kudos for the Diné Natural Resources Protection Act the Navajo Nation Council passed earlier this year.

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., Council Delegate George Arthur, and the Navajo Nation Tribal Council will be honored at the 2005 Nuclear-Free Future Awards ceremony held at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway.

The act prohibits uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.

"It is a great honor to have Navajo Nation sovereignty recognized in this way by this prestigious international body," Shirley said in a press release. "The most important role of government is the protection of the health and safety of its citizens. This important law is a demonstration of the best democracy is able to achieve. It came about when our people cried out to be protected from the deadly legacy of uranium mining. Working together cooperatively, our Navajo Nation government responded appropriately and forcefully."

Since uranium was discovered in the 1950's on the Navajo Nation, the tribe has both worked for and fought against uranium mining. In 1979, Church Rock experienced the force of the "uranium monster" first-hand when a dam burst and sent 1,100 tons of radioactive mill waste and 90 million gallons of contaminated liquid into the Rio Puerco River.

The Diné Natural Resources Protection Act prohibits anyone from engaging in "uranium mining and processing on any sites within Navajo Indian Country."

The 2005 Nuclear-Free Future Awards ceremony is hosted this year by Norwegian Section of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. The honor has been given since 1998 to those working towards a nuclear-free world.

Other honorees include Matilde Halla, Austria, who will receive the 2005 Nuclear-Free Future Lifetime Achievement Award; Preben Maegaard, Denmark, who will receive the 2005 Nuclear Free Solutions Award; and Motarilavoa Hilda Lini, Vanuatu, South Pacific, who will receive the 2005 Nuclear-Free Fusion Resistance Award.

Lini and Maegaard will each receive $10,000 prize while Shirley and Halla will receive works of art.

Shirley will receive the 2005 Nuclear-Free Future Special Recognition Award on behalf of the council and Arthur.

http://gallupindependent.com/2005/sept/092405cnclhnrd.html

Bushman : Botswana

[See plawiuk.blogspot.com/2005/09/debeers-versus-bushmen.html for original article with photos.
Use Firefox if Internet Explorer doesn't display the article properly.]

Sunday, September 11, 2005
DeBeers versus the Bushmen

Diamonds are not a Bushman's best friend.

Away from the prying eyes of the world, the last remaining Kalahari Bushmen, or San people of Botswana, are being starved of food and water in a bid to force them off the land their forefathers have roamed for the past 30,000 years. This is the final chapter in a 17-year saga which has seen the relocation of some 2,200 San out of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) into resettlement camps by the Botswana Government.

According to the Reporters segment BBC World Report DeBeers and diamonds have been responsible for the forcible removal of all but 200 Kalahari Deseert Bushmen from their land by the Botsawana Government.

Bushmen fight for homeland
If you have ever taken an introductory Anthropolgy course, the Kalahari Bushmen are the first case study you read about. The Kung and San are stone age peoples who live in the South African Desert. For that time they have lived as hunters and gathers and give us an insight into our ancestors.

Now the Botswana government has forcibly removed them from their ancestral lands, lands they own, in order to "modernize" them, you know make them consumers and landless workers under capitalism.

Bushmen mourn lost lifestyle
The Government is claiming it wants to protect the Desert Wildlife preserve where the Bushmen live. However that reserve is also the Bushmen's territorial land, what's left of it. They are of course claiming that this area should be free from human habitation, even the humans who have lived there for the past 30,000 years. As for environmental concerns, the Bushmen using traditional methods of hunting and gathering are an important part of the ecology of the desert. With them present animal life has increased, through proper human culling. Without them well that should be obvious even to the Botswana government.

And like other aboriginal peoples those who have been forced into the new concrete concentration camps the Botswana reserves the Bushmen have been introduced to modernization through forced schooling, unemployment, and hanging at the local bar. So AIDs and Alcholism the diseases of modern capitalism are now running rampant through the community, a community that had never known these diseases mere years ago.

And it all has to do with DeBeers and their lust for diamonds. For under the much needed to be protected wildlife preserve of the the Kalahari lays a vast store house of diamonds.

Bushmen 'moved for diamonds'
And rather than deal with the inconvenience of dealing with the real owners of the land, the Bushmen, they deal with the State and allow their pals in the Botswana government do the dirty work.

Yep ain't capitalism grand.

Living as part of nature-The hunter gatherer lifestyle of the Kalahari Bushmen epitomises what many consider to be the closest relationship with nature that humans can have. Laurens van der Post made the Bushmen famous in his book the Lost World of the Kalahari in which he depicted them as living in some idyllic Eden. He even ate with them from a tree he called the tree of knowledge.

The Kalahari Bushmen
The Bushmen are a group of nomadic hunter-gatherers who are believed to be descendents of the first inhabitants of South Africa, with records dating back 30,000 years. Also known as the San or Basarwa, the Bushmen are a unique group of people with a distinct culture, language, and lifestyle.

Life of the Bushmen
The hardiness of the Bushmen has allowed them to adapt to various changes. They have had to deal with the encroachment of modern civilization with its huge cities, large farms, and grazing cattle as well as the persecution of governments attempting to relocate and "educate" the Bushmen. This hardiness has allowed the Bushmen to survive in the harsh conditions of the Kalahari, where some still reside today.

Being hunter-gatherers, the Bushmen were mainly concerned with survival. They are renowned for being master trackers and hunters, using cleverly designed bows and arrows to kill animals. As trackers, the Bushmen are able to follow the tracks of an animal across virtually any terrain, and they are able to distinguish the tracks of a wounded animal. Traditionally, men hunted while the women gathered, but it is not uncommon for women to assist in the hunt and men to help in the gathering of edible plants.

Since the Bushmen lived off the land, they were unable to stay in one place. They needed to move constantly from one place to another, but they were never reckless in their wandering. The Bushmen carefully mapped out their annual route, plotting a course that would take them to areas where the food had recently ripened.

Art and Dance of the Bushmen
The Bushmen love to draw. They have created rock paintings all over southern Africa, in an estimated 50,000 sites. Early historians believed the paintings depicted everyday life but, on the contrary, the paintings held a deep spiritual and religious meaning.

Experts now believe that many of the paintings were closely associated with the Bushmen medicine man, also known as a shaman. A shaman is someone who enters a trance in order to perform a variety of functions, such as healing the sick and wounded and ensuring good hunting. The rock paintings were a result of these trances, as the shamans sought to depict their visions.

Dancing also plays a big part in the Bushmen culture. The trance dance is a ritual dance performed only when someone is ill. A fire is lit and the women sit around it in a circle. The dancers, mostly men, then start dancing in a circle around the women while the women sing, clap and tend to the fire. The first few hours are relaxed and sociable, but once a dancer enters a trance, the clapping and singing intensify and the shaman begins the healing process.

The rain dance is similar to the trance dance, but the whole event is much more relaxed. If you're lucky, you may be able to witness one of these spectacular events, or you may even be asked to join. Visiting the Bushmen
Today, many of the Bushmen have been driven off their native lands to make room for mining and farming operations. A majority of the population are no longer hunter-gatherers. Instead, they work on farms or ranches, but all is not lost. People working for the preservation of the Bushmen culture have realized that tourism may be their path to salvation. Tours are available that allow you to visit the Bushmen and experience the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. You will be able to participate in hunts, gather edible plants, and witness the wonder of a ritual dance. And with that money, the Bushmen hope to be able to keep their land, preserve their culture and continue their historical survival.

Jamie Kneen, Communications & Outreach Coordinator
MiningWatch Canada
250 City Centre Ave., Suite 508
Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6K7
ofc. (613) 569-3439, cell: (613) 761-2273
fax: (613) 569-5138
e-mail:jamie@miningwatch.ca  http://www.miningwatch.ca

Tahltan : Canada
RCMP to Arrest Tahltan Elders on September 15 or 16

Press Advisory
Tahltan Traditional Territory
September 13, 2005

Tahltan Nation Elders and Youth began a blockade of the Klappan Access Road on July 16. The Tahltan Indigenous Sovereign Nation is defending their homeland and aboriginal rights for future generations. The blockade was set up to prevent Fortune Minerals from accessing the Sacred Headwaters. In February Tahltan Elders declared a moratorium on resource development in their traditional territory until members are consulted and approve of development. During, that same month, Shell Canada was asked to leave Tahltan Territory to prevent drilling for coal bed methane in the area. On September 3, a court injunction and enforcement was granted to Fortune Minerals Ltd. to have the blockaders removed.

An RCMP member from the Dease Lake Detachment called Rhoda Quock, a Tahltan woman and contact person at the blockade early today. It is official on Thursday or Friday, September 15 or 16 Tahltan Elders and Youth will arrested for defending their land and rights.

Kukdookaa Terri Brown, Past President of the Native Women's Association of Canada and the National Action Committee on the Status of Women is named on the court order. She continues to support the blockade. Terri says that moral is high and the Elders, defenders of our homeland and supporters from other Nations are very determined to prevent the destruction of this complex eco-system and age-old way of life.

Elected leaders Curtis Rattray, Jerry Asp and Garry Merckel are prepared to sacrifice a piece of creation that if destroyed will never be restored. The Government of BC speaks of a "New Relationship" with First Nations. This new relationship is only the old relationship repackaged. The results will be the same, contamination, destruction and exploitation. BC is advertised as "open for business." If Premier Gordon Campbell is so open for business, go and dig up his backyard.

For more information contact Terri Brown at 250-234-3023 or ktab777@hotmail.com

Tena : Equador

URGENT SOLIDARITY!!!
Tena, Community Shiwa Yacu, August 23, 2005

The community Shiwa Yacu finds itself defending its ancestral lands against ambitious, very wealthy outside interests from the United States of America and from Ecuador - Michael Porter (United States) and Gerardo Moscoso (Ecuador), the latter a dealer of Indigenous lands who buys property titles then sells them at much higher prices.

The land of Shiwa Yacu has been coveted by mining companies since gold deposits were found there. But these lands belong to a community that defends them, that fights to conserve its ancestral lands- this has made it impossible for these companies to enter the territory. This has led them to another way to go about it: the forceful evacuation of community members. Shiwa Yacu considers all “legal figures” to be illegal, since the community has occupied this land since long before the colonists arrive and told them they did now own an official title to the lands granted by the state. We will never give up our lands; they were the lands of our fathers and their fathers before them. Now they are ours, and in the future, they will be our children’s. Therefore, we state: “we will defend our lands like ferocious tigers, and if necessary, we will offer our lives for our children and our grandchildren, and for our ancestral lands”.

This is the decision that we made the 23rd of August in the meeting at the central office in Tena of the Network of Kichwa communities of the Amazon (LA COORDINADORA DE COMUNIDADES KICHWAS DE LA AMAZONIA CORKA), since an illegitimate act was taken at the Institute of Agrarian Development between the supposed “legal owner” of the land (the “owner” only for having the official titles in his power)- Mr. Michael Porter (United States)- and Gerardo Moscoso (wealthy colonist and land dealer)- the former who has passed the ownership on to the latter. Therefore the community of Shiwa Yacu finds itself extremely concerned, and has now declared a state of emergency and maximum alert, since Mr. Moscoso has sent, on various occasions, his workers well-armed to attack the community, to make them want to abandon these lands. We have refused completely- we are not going to abandon our only home, which has been ours for more than 110 years.

Starting tomorrow, the 24th of August, we will close all access to the community, and will be at maximum alert, ready for any act of aggression that may come from Mr. Moscoso or authorities that we may find in favor of the side with more money. Therefore, we are calling out for solidarity from everyone in Ecuador, and countries in Europe, Latin America, and North America, human rights organizations, political movements, National Congress, national and international means of communication, and all organizations in support of our defense of the ancestral lands of Shiwa Yacu. The community would prefer suicide than to lose its only land, its only home, to laws that favor only people of high status and not indigenous peoples, for not having economic resources that can pay for lawyers or ambitious interests of state institutions.

The directors of CORKA, too, are taking part in these measures taken for the community of Shiwa Yacu- mobilizing the community to support the resistence process, the defense, and the dignitiy for the indigenous peoples.

From CORCKA’s central office in Tena, we will be informing you all of everything that occurs in the next few days and however much time this process may take. We wait and hope for your letters of solidarity; To pressure the “Defensoria del Pueblo”

Write to fax # (00593) 62 886 815 in Tena, Ecuador “Defensoria del Pueblos” at national level:
(00593) 23 3033 93
National Congress Commission for Indigenous Issues
(Congreso Nacional Comisión de Asuntos Indígenas)
(00593) 22 953 792 / 22 584182
Commission of Human Rights
(Comisión de de Derechos Humanos)
(00593) 22 903777
CODENPE 0593 22 581 361

Sincerely,

COORDINADORA DE COMUNIDADES KICHWAS DE LA AMAZONIA CORCKA

In The attachment we send to you a model letter to make pression in the different gubernamental organism for take urgent actions to benefit the Shiwa Yacu community.

CODENPE Doctora Lourdes Tiban Guala
SECRETARIA EJECUTIVA NACIONAL DEL CONSEJO DE DESARROLLO DE LAS NACIONALIDADES Y PUEBLOS DEL ECUADOR CONDENPE
Quito-Ecuador
Fax: 00593 22

DINAPIN: Lc. Alberto Andrango
DEFENSOR DEL PUEBLOS.- DIRECCION NACIONAL DE DEFENSA DE LOS DERECHOS DE LOS PUEBLOS INDIGENAS.
Fax: 00593 23 303 393

Doctora Omaida Mera de Caicedo
COMISIONADA DE LA DEFENSORIA DEL PUEBLO DE NAPO
Fax: 00593 62 886 815

Diputado: Salvador Quishpe
PRESIDENTE DE LA COMISION DE ASUNTOS INDIGENAS DEL CONGRESO NACIONAL.
Fax: 00593 22 953 792

José Parra
Oficial del Programa y de derechos Humanos
OFICINA DEL ALTO COMISIONADO DE LAS NACIONES UNIDAS PARA LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS
Fax: 00593 22 461 960

Desde ya les anticipamos por su apoyo y sus buenos oficios.

Atentamente;

COORDINADORA DE COMUNIDADES KICHWAS DE LA AMAZONIA CORCKA

KAWSAYMANTA, YACHAYMANTA, SACHA ALLPAMANTA; AMA KILLA, AMA LLULLA, AMA SHUA.

PS: Les agradeceremos de sobremanera si pudieran traducir este texto al Francés, Alemán e Ingles para que nuestros otros compañeros también puedan comprender y solidarizarse.

POR LA DIGNIDAD DE LA NACIONALIDAD KICHWA Y UNA AMAZONIA VIVA.
POR SIEMPRE RECOKA-CORCKA!

Mariana Montesdeoca 228 y Av. 15 de Noviembre
Teléfono: (++593)(0)6 2887 865
Apartado Postal: Nap-15-01-114
E-mail: recoka@recoka.org
Web: www.recoka.org
AMAZONIA - TENA - NAPO - ECUADOR - SUDAMERICA

Taku region : Canada

Please follow the link below (or paste it into the address line) to send an email to protect the Taku watershed from ongoing Acid Mine Drainage.

Send a letter from www.riverswithoutborders.org/takeaction before June 30, 2005!

For more information and updates, read the alert below or check out www.riverswithoutborders.org

Acid Contamination Continues to Flow into the Pristine Taku Watershed in Northern BC.

Submit your comments and concerns to the federal government now!

June 27, 2005

The abandoned Tulsequah Chief mine site, southwest of Atlin, BC, has been leaking Acid Mine or Acid Rock Drainage (AMD/ARD) into the otherwise pristine Taku River Watershed since the 1950's. Redfern Resources, the mine's current owner, assumed responsibility for the clean up when they became sole owners of the site in 1992. The ongoing pollution has placed Redfern in violation of the Fisheries Act for ten years. Though they have been ordered to clean up the site, they have continually asked for and received extensions allowing the contamination to continue. In 2004 Environment Canada reported that "none of the measures undertaken by Redfern [have] significantly reduced the acutely lethal toxicity of the ARD discharges" at the site. As the latest June 30 clean up deadline approaches, Redfern CEO Terry Chandler has admitted that the company won't meet the clean up order once again.

On June 30 the most recent extension to the clean up order expires. Since Redfern has consistently stated that they will clean up the site once their mine project is developed and then issued a press release on May 17 stating that the project is "unfinanceable", it is likely that once again they will not have taken the necessary steps for pollution abatement at this site.

Urgent action is required! Please take this opportunity to let the relevant government representatives know that this is an issue of great concern.
Send a letter from www.riverswithoutborders.org/takeaction before June 30, 2005!

Redfern purchased the site in order to develop the Tulsequah Chief mine and road project which would entail carving a 160km road into the watershed and reopening and expanding the already polluting mine.

The Taku region is one of the last, vast unroaded watersheds in North America, providing vital habitat for the threatened East Atlin caribou herd as well as grizzly bears, moose, wolves, thinhorn sheep, mountain goats, and many species of migratory birds. It is one of the last great salmon rivers on the Pacific shore. It is also the traditional territory of the Taku River Tlingit First Nation. If the Tulsequah Chief mine project is approved, it will forever change the nature of the incredible Taku region and will open the area up to further industrial development.

A project proposal by a company with such a suspect track record should not even be considered, particularly in an area as important as the Taku and by a project with such potential for devastation. Allowing acutely lethal toxins to spill into the waters of this region is a crime that needs to be put to a rapid end.

Take Action Now!!
Go to http://www.riverswithoutborders.org and send a letter to let the government know that on June 30, you will be watching to see what kind of clean up measures have been put in place and that you expect that, if Redfern has not met or exceeded the clean up requirements, there will be legal ramifications for the company.