Native Currents in the Dominican Republic

A new article by CAC Editor Jorge Estevez has just appeared in Indian Country Today. His article appears at http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413536. Jorge's article also comments on an earlier piece published by ICT this month and authored by Jose Barreiro. That article can be found at http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413449 and is titled "Curanderos at 'El Cachote'".

Venezuelan Aid for American Indians

Venezuela Considers Cheap Heating Oil For Indians,
The Bismarck Tribune,

August 14, 2006

"Everett, WA: Venezuela's state-owned oil company wants to offer deep discounts on home heating oil to American Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest, The Herald of Everett reported Saturday. Representatives of oil-giant Citgo Petroleum Corp. have contacted the Tulalip Tribes near Marysville, the Yakama Nation in central Washington, the Nez Perce and Coeur D'Alene tribes in Idaho, and others with information about a possible 40 percent discount on home heating oil.

Citgo is the Houston-based subsidiary of an oil company controlled by Venezuela and its controversial elected president, Hugo Chavez.

The idea is still in the exploratory stage, Citgo spokesman Jorge Toledo said.

'We're going to meet with some tribes in the West Coast within the next few weeks to consider the feasibility of a program there,' he said. A local meeting is scheduled Wednesday at a SeaTac hotel.

While heating oil is widely used on the East Coast, it's been mostly replaced by natural gas in the West. Heating oil is essentially the same product as diesel fuel. Citgo first delivered discounted heating oil to low-income communities last year in Massachusetts, New York and other Northeast states. Using the slogan, 'From the Venezuelan heart to the U.S. hearths,' Citgo sold fuel to eligible homes and nonprofit organizations. By spring, the company had delivered nearly 40 million gallons of heating oil to 181,000 American households, company President Felix Rodriguez said.

The city of Chicago declined a deal with Citgo for fueling public buses that could have saved $15 million. City leaders said they were reluctant to deal with Chavez."

Rejecting Papal Bull

Indigenous in Americas Just Say 'No' To Papal Bull,"

Brenda Norrell,
Indian Country Today,
August 16, 2006

"Phoenix, AZ: Indigenous in the Americas are demanding that the 'doctrines of discovery,' the papal bulls that led to the seizure of American Indian homelands, be rescinded. At the Summit of Indigenous Nations on Bear Butte in South Dakota, delegations of indigenous nations and nongovernmental organizations passed a strongly worded resolution condemning the historical use of the doctrine of discovery as an instrument of genocide.

Tupac Enrique Acosta, coordinator at Tonatierra in Phoenix, said the effort at Bear Butte continues the indigenous battle to halt genocide of indigenous peoples and seizures of their homelands in the Americas. Tonatierra was among the organizations at the Summit of Indigenous Nations taking action to rescind the doctrines of discovery:

Papal Bull Inter Caetera of 1493 and the 1496 Royal Charter of the Church of England. 'The Indigenous Nations have resolved, here at the base of Mato Paha [Bear Butte], that the Pope of the Catholic Church and the Queen of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury rescind these doctrines of discovery for having served to justify and pave the way for the illegal dispossession of aboriginal land title and the subjugation of non-Christian peoples to the present day,' according to the summit's statement.

Forty delegations of indigenous spiritual and political leaders, as well as NGOs, signed the resolution. 'These papal bulls have been the basis for the extinguishment of aboriginal land title and the subjugation of indigenous peoples of Abya Yala [North and South America]. The implementation of the papal bulls evolved in the United States through the Supreme Court decision of Johnson v. McIntosh [1823] which established the precedent for the denial of aboriginal title to American Indian lands in the United States,' according to the summit.

'It has been resolved by 23 Nations and NGO's and 100 individual signatories that the 'Doctrine of Discovery' is a legal and political fiction in violation of the rights of indigenous peoples and intellectual act of oppression which continues to serve to suppress and repress the indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere.'"

www.Indiancountry.com

"Natives" and "Terrorism": Keeping the Hysteria Raw

Given the increased hostility towards "brown-skinned" people (as they have been termed on the front page of one of Canada's national dailies), and the extravagantly sloppy application of the term "terrorist" anytime three Natives carrying placards are to be found, it's not surprising that in this new round of heightened hysteria and paranoia that Native sovereignty should also come into question as a potential "security" risk.

In the article below, from The Buffalo News, the worry is that Aboriginal reservations spanning the US-Canada border might also provide conduits for those pesky "terrorists" of which there have been so many (?) since September 11, 2001. After all, as the article implies, these are already lawless zones of drug smuggling. Please read on:

Terrorists could easily enter U.S. at New York's northern border

By LOU MICHEL and PATRICK LAKAMP

News Staff Reporters

8/13/2006

ST. REGIS MOHAWK RESERVATION - There is a lot of anxiety along the U.S.-Canadian border here, where it's not always clear who is in control, but where officials say there is little doubt a terrorist could slip through.

This 12-mile stretch along the St. Lawrence River - with its islands, peninsulas and three other rivers - is where smugglers since Prohibition have established pipelines for cigarettes, cash, illegal aliens, drugs - you name it.

Beyond the 12-mile shoreline of the reservation, the northern border in Franklin County stretches 48 miles, mostly through forests.

And during a time of heightened concern over terrorism, this tangle of borders and Indian sovereignty presents challenges to homeland security.

A half dozen reservation roads cross into Canada without border checkpoints. Those driving off-road vehicles can wind their way through farmland and wilderness with little fear of being stopped.

Consequently, this Mohawk territory is considered one of the most vulnerable stretches along the 4,000-mile northern border of the United States.

See the complete article at: http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/
20060813/1027153.asp

In Memoriam: Dr. Mary Bruce Becker

On behalf of the Newberry Library's D'arcy McNickle Center for American Indian History, I submit the following:

Dr. Mary Druke Becker, passed away in June 26, 2006 in Munich, Germany of a sudden heart attack. She is mourned by friends and associates at the Newberry and across the country.

Mary Druke Becker's association with the Newberry began in 1978 when she was appointed Associate Director of the Documentary History of the Iroquois Project. This project, underwritten by a three-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (and subsequently supported by the Library), is a comprehensive compilation of all treaties and agreements entered into by the Iroquois Nations, with various colonial and imperial states. Originally projected at some 2,000 documents, its size and scope grew dramatically and ultimately reached a total of 9,255 documents. This dramatic expansion was due in no small measure to the efforts of Mary Druke Becker, who, working closely with Center Director Francis Jennings and Project Editor William Fenton, coordinated activities, conducted research in archives and repositories, and consulted with members of Iroquois communities on matters of interpretation and presentation. These contacts drew Chief Jacob Thomas (Cayuga) of the Six
Nations Reserve in Canada, to the Library as a consultant. In 1980 Thomas presented the Center with his reproduction of an Iroquois Condolence Cane.

In 1984, Syracuse University Press published The History and Culture of Iroquois Diplomacy: An Interpretative Guide to the Treaties of the Six Nations and their League, edited by Jennings, Fenton and Druke. This publication is a companion to Iroquois Indians: A Documentary History, the 50-reel microfilm record of the documents collected and reproduced through this massive project.

Dr. Becker's association with the Center continued after she had left for subsequent academic postings. In 1991, the Center distributed her Recent Books and Articles in American Indian History," as well as a 1992 supplement.

In keeping with Becker's determination to share the fruits of her considerable labors, the Newberry Library transferred paper copies of the Iroquois documents to the Iroquois Museum, Howes Cave, New York. The Newberry holds a microfilm copy, and administrative records from the project.

A seminal figure in the long history of the Newberry Library's McNickle Center, Mary Druke Becker is remembered fondly by staff, scholars, librarians and associates, and on their behalf, I extend my condolences to family and friends.

Brian Hosmer, Director

Panamanian Indians Sail to Meet American Indians

Primitive past, fragile future
Across a vast distance, two tribes share a bond

Friday, August 04, 2006 - Bangor Daily News

HAMPDEN - The two narrow dugout canoes wobbled in the deep water, but didn't tip as the paddlers approached their brothers sitting afloat in traditional, handcrafted birch bark canoes.

In the rear of each dugout, a tattooed man of the Chocoe tribe, wearing a loincloth, stood and paddled, while a Chocoe woman, dressed in a bright cloth skirt and bandeau top, crouched in each bow.

The Chocoe Indians are used to maneuvering the canoes, also known as piraguas, or pirogues, in the shallow waters of their village, Mogue, in the Darien rain forest of Panama, not the deeper water of the Penobscot.

As the Chocoes and Penobscots met in a historic moment on the dark water of the river, the canoes and dugouts turned and headed toward a large vessel.

The members of the Chocoe tribe were paddling alongside the Pajaro Jai, a 92-foot wooden ketch that they handcrafted, to meet members of the Penobscot Indian Nation who were paddling downriver in two of their own traditional birch bark canoes.

The crew of the Pajaro Jai, whose name means "enchanted bird," has traveled from Panama and is meeting with indigenous people all over the world. In addition to the Penobscots, tribal historian Donald Soctomah of the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Pleasant Point also went on board the ketch Thursday and presented the Chocoes with traditional gifts.

The purpose of the Chocoes' voyage is to bring attention to conservation efforts and the dilemma of the region's indigenous people to create a self-sustainable future for themselves.

The Pajaro Jai will be moored at the Waterfront Marina in Hampden today and is expected to be in Maine for the next few days. The tribal members have no set plans for touring the state.

The sound of traditional drums being played by both tribes echoed across the water as the Penobscot Indian Nation Boys and Girls Club girl drummers chanted and sang from a nearby pontoon boat and the Chocoes sang and drummed on the Pajaro Jai's deck.

Listening to the drums and watching the two tribes meet in the river, Jim Brunton of Westport, Conn., founder of the Pajaro Jai Foundation, searched for a way to describe the moment.

"Does this get you in the gut?" he asked. "It gets me in the gut."

There was something primitive and extraordinary about the meeting of the two tribes, who live thousands of miles from each other but have much in common.

"We never thought we'd find other indigenous people like ourselves so far from home," Brunton said, translating for Chocoe member Nilsa Caisamo when members of both tribes met Thursday afternoon at Indian Island.

The two tribes talked about their environmental concerns, and the Penobscots shared ways that they themselves monitor the water quality of the area.

"We try to keep an eye on the companies that are discharging toxins into the water," Penobscot Chief James Sappier said.

"They are hoping to gain that kind of control of their area," Brunton said of the Chocoes. "They did have it, but it's slipping away."

Most important, Sappier stressed the importance of working with other tribes in the area.

"We have to work together," Sappier said. "If we don't work together, the government will suppress us."

One of the Chocoes' main goals is to create a marketplace for themselves, where they can sell baskets and hand-carved furniture that they make in Mogue.

Brunton's plan for the future includes bringing satellite equipment to the area to give the tribe Internet access.

"If they can build this boat," Brunton said, referring to the Pajaro Jai, "does anybody really think they can't use the Internet?"

The Web would provide an outlet where Chocoes could sell their products at fair market value, subtracting the middleman from the equation.

"They have to do something, or accept a miserable future," Brunton said.