Venezuelan Indigenous Youth Broadcasting

From:

Humberto Marquez
Updated May 25, 2007, 03:54 pm

Indigenous youth learn broadcast skills

CARACAS, Venezuela (IPS/GIN) - Youth from 10 different Indigenous groups in Venezuela are learning to be broadcast journalists, preparing for the launch of eight new Indigenous community radio stations this October.

Eiker Garcia and Nelson Maldonado, two young Yekuana Indians from the Watamo and La Esmeralda communities in the Amazon rainforest, traveled to Caracas in late April to learn new skills.

They took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, producing a long mmm sound, following the instructions of the professional radio presenter who was giving them breathing and elocution lessons.

Mr. Garcia and Mr. Maldonado's home, which is about 500 miles south of Caracas, is one of the sites where a radio station is set to be installed and networked with the public Venezuelan National Radio station.

Read more at:
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_3520.shtml

Indigenous Activism at the United Nations

From Indian Country Today
May 25, 2007

Feeding the spirits

Activism at the United Nations

The late Muskogee-Creek elder Phillip Deere declared at the historic 1977 address to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, that ''We, the Indigenous Peoples, are the evidence of the Western Hemisphere. No matter how small a tribal people may be, each of them has the right to be who they are.'' This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Conference on Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, which gave birth to a consciousness on, an international level, the conditions of indigenous peoples. The event served as an awakening to Native people all over the world, demonstrating that paradigm-shifting, through dignity and organization, is possible.

The Geneva conference, John Mohawk noted, ''sought to create Principles of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere that ... might lead to a Declaration of such rights for indigenous peoples around the world.'' That day is upon us, with the conclusion of the Sixth Session of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. For 12 days, the world's indigenous representatives and supporters gathered to, among other things, advocate for the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Although adoption has been delayed, the declaration itself represents the tireless work of scores of indigenous people moving as one body....read more at:
http://www.indiancountry.com:80/content.cfm?id=1096415089

Guyanese Amerindians Call for Halt to Logging in Akawini

Amerindian groups call on Barama to cease Akawini logging
STABROEK NEWS--Georgetown, Guyana--Thursday, May 24th 2007

The Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) and the Guyanese Organisation of Indigenous Peoples (GOIP) are calling on Barama Company Limited and Interior Woods Products Limited (IWPI) to immediately cease all logging operations in the titled lands of Akawini Amerindian Village in Pomeroon Region 2.

A release from the two groups said yesterday that Barama began logging in Akawini in February 2006 "ostensibly" on a subcontract it signed with the IWPI. According to Akawini Toshao, David Wilson, the Akawini Village Council has never seen this subcontract "and we were never consulted before IWP entered into this subcontract with Barama."

Read more in The Stabroek News...

Indigenous Commission for ICTs

NEW YORK, May 23 - An Indigenous Commission for Development of Communications Technologies (ICT's) in the Americas was launched today at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues meeting in New York.

The Commission's goals are to bring Indigenous peoples together with industry and relevant agencies to promote and support the use of ICT's for legal, political, social, educational, cultural, spiritual and economic development.

The Indigenous Commission is based in Ottawa, Canada and is headed by Tony Belcourt, President of the Métis Nation of Ontario and the Métis National Council's Minister for International Issues. Vice-President is Jayariyu Farias Montiel, Director of Periodico Wayuunaiki of Venezula. Secretary-Treasurer is Pedro Victoriano Cruz, Director of Xiranhua Comunicaciones of Mexico.

The current 15-member Board of Directors is made up of one representative of participating countries of the Americas to date. A process is under way to name representatives of the remaining 20 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Voting membership is available to Indigenous people, organizations, businesses and Nations. Non-voting membership is open to non-Indigenous organizations and businesses.

The Indigenous Commission was formed following the 1st Indigenous Workshop on ICT's in the Americas that was co-hosted by the International Telecommunications Union and the Government of Mexico in Mexico City in December 2005. Approximately 250 delegates from North, Central and South America and the Caribbean were in attendance who selected an Interim Commission which finalized its formation recently.

All information on the priorities, goals and structure of the organization can be found on the Commission's website at: www.iccta-citca.org

For further information: Leticia Larsen: (613) 791-5056,
Leticial@iccta-citca.org

Brazilian Indigenous Leaders Condemn Pope

Indian leaders in Brazil have reacted angrily to comments by Pope Benedict that they had been purified by the Roman Catholic church since Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492.

In a speech to bishops at the end of a visit to Brazil on Sunday, Benedict said indigenous people of the Americas had welcomed European priests after conquest. "It's arrogant and disrespectful to consider our cultural heritage secondary to theirs," said Jecinaldo Satere Mawe, chief co-ordinator of Coiab, an Amazon Indian group.

The pope had said the peoples of the Americas had a "silent longing" for Christianity and welcomed European priests' arrival. He said the church had not imposed itself on the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Read more: "Tribal Indians Condemn Pope"

Brazil's National Indian Foundation (Funa i),Brazilian historians and the Indians themselves challenged pope Benedict XVI's declarations on the Christianization of the Brazil's natives. The pope talked about the subject at the opening of the 5th General Conference of the Latin-American and Caribbean Episcopate (CELAM), in Brazil.

Read more: "Pope Called Insensitive and Arrogant for Remarks on Brazilian Indians"

See also: "Pope angers indigenous Brazilians over Christianity and colonisation remark"

And in the Reuters report in The Washington Post: "Brazil's Indians Offended by Pope Comments"

Pope Against Indigenous Religious Traditions

In an unsurprising declaration, following our previous post on the topic of the Roman Catholic Church and the cultural resrugence efforts of various indigenous peoples of the Americas, Pope Benedict XVI has pronounced himself against indigenous spiritual revivals. Speaking at the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, which runs through May 31, 2007, Catholic Online reported the following:

"A reference by the pope to pre-Columbus religions raised questions among some observers. While speaking positively of the synthesis between indigenous traditions and Christianity that led to the popular religious devotions found throughout Latin America, the pontiff warned against 'the utopia of going back to breathe life into the pre-Columbus religions, separating them from Christ and from the universal church'."

For more, see: Latin American, Caribbean bishops tackle pope’s ‘challenge to church’