Flagstaff, AZ – After 4 hours of meeting, the Flagstaff City Council voted 5-2 to not amend a proposed substitute agreement to sell 180 million gallons of Flagstaff's drinking water to Arizona Snowbowl for snowmaking on the Holy San Francisco Peaks. More than 150 concerned community members attended the Council meeting including Tribal representatives from Hopi, Navajo and Havasupai Nations.

The deal was initially presented as a "less offensive" option for Tribes who hold the San Francisco Peaks holy, but overwhelmingly the Tribes opposed the plan. Read More

Past Coverage: AZ Snowbowl plans to destroy the northern Arizona environment & desecrate sacred sites | March, Rally & Vigil to be held in Phoenix, AZ against AZ Snowlbowl desecration of sacred land | Related: Chris Francisco on The Longest Walk 3, Portland to DC

Next year, Portland will be the starting point for the Longest Walk 3.

"This is a 5,000+ mile Walk Across America to bring awareness of the devastating effects of diabetes and how it can be reversed by changing our diets and lifestyles! This disease is at epidemic levels across America, and throughout Indian Country."

Related Video Interview: The first guest is Chris Francisco, Dine'(Navajo), speaking about the the NorthernRoute of the upcoming LongestWalk 3, which will be leaving Portland Oregon for Washington D.C. on February 11, 2011.

AZ Snowbowl plans to destroy the northern Arizona environment & deserate sacred sites

On August 30th the Flagstaff City Council will decide whether to allow its original contract to be amended so Arizona Snowbowl (a privately owned business) could use city potable water for snow making on the San Francisco Peaks instead of treated sewage effluent (direct reclaimed water). Because using reclaimed sewage water is proving legally difficult, Snowbowl is looking for an 11 million dollar Federal subsidy to use more expensive and precious potable water.

A developer is building a housing complex in Huntington Beach and is removing the remains of some 80 Indigenous people.

Bolsa Chica is a significant Southern California Native American Site which dates back about 9,000 years and was once a thriving ceremonial site of the Tongva and Acjachemen Nations. The site is referred to archaeologically as the Cogged Stone site (CA-ORA-83) which once covered over 120 acres of the Bolsa Chica mesa.

Cogged stones are unique to Bolsa Chica. The only other place in the world they have been found is Chile.

Please write letters expressing your concerns or offense to the coastal commission Call to action: Please Stop Removal of Native American Cemetery in Huntington Beach by not necessary | YouTube video

On July 21, more than 50 tribal nations peacefully took control of the Marine Life Protection Act's Blue Ribbon Task Force meeting in Fort Bragg. The group of more than 300 stood together to protest the implications of the act on their traditional tribal activities on the North Coast. For thousands of years, these tribes have sustainably gathered coastal resources in their ancestral territory.

Among those gathered were members of the Yurok, Tolowa, Cahto, Pomo, Karuk, Hoopa Valley, Maidu, Hopi, Navajo, and other tribes. Their message to the task force: the state will no longer impose its will on indigenous people. Members of the Coastal Justice Coalition pointed out that there is no scientific data that says tribal gathering has any negative impact on the coastal ecosystem and the act does nothing to stop pollution and off-shore drilling — the real threats to the health of the ocean and coast. Report and Photos | MLPA process should address the concerns of North Coast Tribes | Klamath Justice Coalition

Arizona Snowbowl is attempting to expand development on the San Francisco Peaks and make fake snow out of treated sewage effluent on public lands. This wastewater has been proven to contain harmful contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, hormones and cancer causing agents.

The US Forest Service has ignored public health concerns and approved this development without any tests to determine the health effects if our children eat the wastewater snow. Snowbowl would be the only ski area in the world to use 100% wastewater to make snow. They would use 1.5 million gallons per day, storing and spraying this wastewater on a mountain that is holy to more than 13 Indigenous Nations.

On July 15 and 16 a series of actions will be held in Phoenix, in advance of a court hearing on July 20th. For the full schedule of events or for more information please visit Save the Peaks or contact phxrally@savethepeaks.org

On June 26th, the Santa Cruz Indian Council Inter-tribal Gathering took place in Louden Nelson Park. There were many performances by native dancers. Elders spoke about the rich history and plight of Native Americans. There were also many vendors and informational tables.

On the first of June, as President Obama met with Peruvian President Alan Garcia, two women chained themselves to the White House fence, one covered in what appeared to be OIL, calling out Peruvian President Alan Garcia for murdering indigenous people to seize their land for oil exploration. Read More & Pics | Video of the protest across from the lockdown

The American Indian Movement (AIM) is planning a demonstration outside the MTV Music Awards in L.A. on June 6. People of all races are being encouraged to attend, and participants are being asked to wear red shirts. A second action may occur simultaneously on the east coast. (Additional information can be found here: http://www.aimsb.org.)

Recently, MTV ran an episode of its "reality" show The Dudesons. In it, four buffoonish Finnish men visit Buffalo Hills, California in the hopes of becoming “honorary Native Americans.” Their “rites of passage” include riding a canoe down a normally waterless hill, a "rite" called "Balls of Steel," and another that involves “Indians” breaking other “Indians” out of jail.

According to AIM, MTV has not apologized for the content on the show nor have they ceased broadcasting it.

More about the show: MTV's The Dudesons Offends Many American Indians by RP

Saturday is not just the National Day of Action against Arizona law SB1070, which has already seen widespread national protest.  Locally, it's also the opening day of Fort Snelling, a flagship tourist attraction for white Minnesotans and former concentration camp site.  Dakota and indigenous peoples will march to the fort on Saturday, joining a separate march of immigrants and allies which kicks off the Boycott Arizona--Minnesota (BAM!) Campaign.  Both groups will convene around noon.  Details below

Recent Reports on SB1070: May 1: Thousands Rally Against Unjust SB1070 and Demand Equal Rights for Immigrants | May 7: Latinos Call Out Tom Emmer on SB1070 During Cinco de Mayo Parade | April 27: Minnesotans Protest New Arizona Law at Hilton Hotel in MPLS | See all stories tagged immigrant rights | Ongoing coverage: Arizona Indymedia

Recent Reports on Fort Snelling: 2/15: Dakota Activists Drop Banners to Challenge Proposed Funding for Fort Snelling | 2/6: MNHS Seeks Funding to Preserve Buildings at Site of Genocide | Video: Columbus Go Home--Take Down the Fort | May 10, 2008: Dakota People Blockade Sesquicentennial Wagon Train (Video) | See all stories tagged Native & Indigenous

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By Karla Aguilar from Free Press Houston: Between 1964 and 1990, using obsolete technology and substandard environmental controls, iconic Texas brand Texaco (which Chevron acquired in 2001) drilled for oil in a remote northern region of Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest. They deliberately dumped 18.5 billion gallons of highly toxic waste sludge into the streams and rivers on which local people depend on for drinking, bathing, and fishing. Over 900 open air and unlined waste pits remain that continue to seep toxins into the ground, in the rainforest.

On May 26, representatives from communities harmed by—and fighting back against—Chevron will descend on Houston to confront the oil giant at its annual shareholder meeting. People from Ecuador, Nigeria, Colombia, Indonesia, Angola, Burma, Australia, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Canada, Texas, California, Alaska, Wyoming and beyond will be in attendance. Organizations like Amazon Watch, Rainforest Action Network, Global Exchange and T.E.J.A.S. are working to change Chevron. But to really move one of the world’s largest and most dangerous corporations, we need an even bigger, more powerful, and more global movement.

May 26 at 7 am in front of Chevron’s Houston office at the former Enron building, concerned Houstonians will demand real change and justice for those most affected by Chevron’s toxic legacy. [Read full article] From the Newswire: Built to Spill-Chevron Key findings Built to Spill by Region: USA | Nigeria | Iraq | Kazakhstan | Ecuador | Chad/Cameroon | Canada | Burma | Angola

Breaking:  San Juan Copala leader and wife found assassinated on Thursday, May 21. (Please click through--article describes more about San Juan Copala) Timoteo Alejandro Ramirez and his wife Cleriberta Castro were found dead in their home.  Mexican investigative journal Contralinea reports that the murders were done by members of MULT.   San Juan Copala's blog coverage is here. 

"The indigenous, autonomous community of San Juan Copala has been in a desparate situation for a while now," writes a Minneapolis activist working in Oaxaca.  "They have been surviving persistent paramilitary attacks and are close to death as the paramilitaries have cut them off from food and water supplies.  The solidarity caravan had intended to support them and try to bring attention to the attacks, but the government is so hell-bent on destroying this community that there was no hesitation to send paramilitaries to murder the participants. These were assassinations, not random shootings. This will continue to happen in communities like San Juan Copala that are resisting, there is knowledge that there are more attacks planned of higher severity. The need for international solidarity is so desparate as it is so important to bring attention and acknowledgement to what is going on down here."

She is describing the April 27 paramilitary assault on a humanitarian caravan in which Oaxacan CACTUS (Center for Community Assistance Working Together) director Bety Cariño and Finnish international observer Juri Jaakkola were murdered and others seriously injured. The caravan was bringing supplies to the blockaded autonomous Triqui community of San Juan Copala, along with teachers planning to reopen the schools shut down by right-wing paramilitaries. The state government has since claimed that Oaxacan organizers murdered their own people to discredit the state.

What does it mean to be an accountable settler in the Twin Cities and in particular, the University community? This is a question that I have been asking a lot of myself as of late as a student of a bureaucratic institution such as Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Something that seemingly all academics should learn to grapple with here in Minnesota as we hustle about our daily routine is that we are living, breathing and learning on stolen land.

Minisota Makoce, the land that we reside on currently, was stolen away from the Dakota people through a process of genocide, land theft and now, state-issued violence.

"The Doctrine of Discovery was among Vatican mandates dating back to the 15th century, called papal bulls, that declared Christian monarchs had the right to claim superior title over land and territories that they "discovered." The claimed right of "dominion" over Native peoples was based on the thinking that non-Christians were "heathens and uncivilized savages," with no, or limited rights, to land. The Vatican's Doctrine of Discovery was based on the premise that all non-Christian land belonged to no one because no Christians were living there and no Christian monarch or lord had yet claimed dominion. Once Christian monarchies like Spain or France claimed the right of dominion, that claim was transferred to political successors over centuries."

Simón Sedillo, a community rights defense organizer and filmmaker, will be making presentations in the Monterey Bay Area on Indigenous Strategies for Hood Liberation and screening the new documentary film Xip Xop oaXaca. On Thursday, April 22nd, Sedillo will be at Cabrillo College at 1pm and at the Brown Berets Bike Shack in Watsonville at 7pm. On Friday, Sedillo will be presenting at UC Santa Cruz at 11:30am.