articles-september 01

Big Indians party with key Republicans

Posted: September 01, 2004 - 11:43am EST
by: Jim Adams / Associate Editor / Indian Country Today
NEW YORK - Not many Native delegates are on the roster at the Republican National Convention, but a lot of big Indians are showing up at the parties.

According to a spokesman for the convention, some 37 American Indians and Alaska Natives are delegates and alternates. But the Republican bureaucrats won’t give out their names, not even to the National Congress of American Indians, which wanted to put together an invitation list for its ad hoc Indian caucus. A Republican release touting the "diversity" of the convention didn’t even break out numbers for Native attendees, listing them as "other."

But plenty of well-known Indian leaders showed up at parties feasting influential delegates, and helped pay for the festivities. The National Indian Gaming Association and several casino tribes helped sponsor a post-session "Wild Wild West Saloon" at the Crobar club on the city’s decrepit far west side honored California Congressman Richard Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee, and its Republican members. full article

American Indians look to parlay attention into political leverage
By LESLIE HOFFMAN, Associated Press Writer  |  September 1, 2004

NEW YORK -- The American Indian vote may be the subject of plenty of talk this year, but to translate the talk into actual political leverage, Indians need to organize, educate lawmakers and get voters to the polls.

That was among the messages during a two-day caucus organized by the nation's largest American Indian organization looking to promote Indian issues at the Republican National Convention.

The nonpartisan National Congress of American Indians seized upon this week's gathering to provide delegates, lobbyists, policy makers and other convention-goers the chance to discuss how to extend Indian influence within the GOP. full article

State joins tribes' suit to force cleanup of Lake Roosevelt
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF

The state of Washington yesterday joined a federal lawsuit filed by the Colville Confederated Tribes last month that seeks to force a Canadian mining company to comply with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order to clean up pollution in Lake Roosevelt.

In July, individual members of the Eastern Washington-based Colville Tribes, whose reservation abuts Lake Roosevelt -- a Columbia River reservoir held behind the Grand Coulee Dam -- sued Teck Cominco for failing to comply with the EPA order issued in December.

The order, issued under the federal Superfund law, charged Teck Cominco with cleaning up toxic metals released into the river for decades from the company's smelter in Trail, B.C., about 10 miles north of the U.S.-Canada border. Under the EPA order, Teck Cominco is supposed to first study the extent of contamination, then pay for its cleanup. full article

High level of PCBs taints Lake Washington fish

Some of the most popular sport fish in Lake Washington contain surprisingly dangerous levels of toxic chemicals called PCBs, state health officials said yesterday, warning anglers to limit their consumption.

People should not eat large perch or cutthroat, which are among the most commonly caught fish in the lake, more than once a month, officials said. For cutthroat under 12 inches, the recommended maximum is three meals a month, and for perch under 101⁄2 inches, no more than four meals monthly. full article

Wildfires continue to blaze through Indian land
Latest hit are in Utah and Colorado

Sam Lewin 9/1/2004
A wildfire in Utah is burning up an Indian reservation, the latest in a series of fires this summer that have scorched tribal lands. Another blaze, this time on a reservation in Colorado, is likely to be contained soon, officials said.

Emergency crews in Utah say the fire burning on the Shivwits Indian Reservation narrowly missed a strand of houses in the vicinity, coming a scant half-mile away. The blaze has since veered away from the residential area and the homes are no longer threatened. The wildfire, dubbed the “Shivwits Two Fire”, broke out on the reservation about 10 miles northwest of St. George Tuesday. The tribal offices are located in the nearby town of Ivan. Phones there are understandably going unanswered. About 40 firefighters battled the blaze along with a heavy air tanker, a chopper and three single-engine air tankers. Fire officials believe the fire was human-caused, but the exact origin is still under investigation. The reservation is home to the Shivwits Band of Paiutes. full article

The gang life: Gang member initially felt safe in group

Editor's note: This is the first part of a three-part series about a former gang member who has taken control of her life.

By LAURA CLARK/The Daily Journal

She's rolled with the punches and she's thrown some too, but a rough start in life wasn't enough to take "China Doll" down.

Though not her birth name, for the sake of this article, the 29-year-old graduate student and former Sacramento gang member wished to use the name given to her by those who protected her -- those from whom she later fled.

Childhood memories

China Doll was born in Woodland.

When her parents broke up she went to live with her father. And then, her mother "stole" the 4-year-old girl from her father and took her to Nevada to live with her grandparents, China Doll said. full article

An insight into the lives of the Tipras
Afsar Ahmed
Bandarban, where the mountain waves create a magical veil with the tropical growth, is the land of the Tipras the indigenous ethnic group of Bangladesh. They are the third largest such group living in the hilly regions of Bangladesh.

A gripping documentary on the lifestyle of these indigenous people, titled Tipra life at Hatibhanga, has been screened recently at the Spectra Convention Centre. This was yet another successful venture of A Masud Chowdhury, the director and cinematographer of this documentary after the screening of his Bandarban's Bomang. The script and research was done by Shumon Shikdar while Mohiuddin Tipu did the editing.

The word Tipra is derived from the word Toipra. Toi means water and Pra means inhabitants. Previously they lived in the water surrounded Tripura Kingdom and that's why they were called Toipra. But now they live on the high hills in a house called machaang. In their language it is called nokkochuk. Most of them speak their native language Kokporokh, the literal meaning of which is the 'human language' that only has the spoken form with no written script. full article

Colombia: Indigenous hostages must be released immediately

Press release, 09/01/2004

Amnesty International has condemned the kidnapping of several indigenous leaders by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC) and called for their immediate release.

The Governor of the indigenous community of Toribío, Plinio Trochez; Mayor of Toribío Municipality, Arquímedes Vitonás Noscue; former mayor of Toribío Municipality, Gilberto Muñoz Coronado; Acting Governor of the indigenous community of San Francisco Rubén Darío Escue; and their driver, Erminson Velasco, were kidnapped after they set out from the department of Cauca on 22 August. The group was travelling for a meeting of indigenous leaders in Altamira in the municipality of San Vicente del Caguán, department of Caquetá.

The FARC are also reported to have kidnapped Orlando Hernández Guanga, an A'wa indigenous leader and mayor of the municipality of Ricaurte, on 25 August while he was travelling to the town of Ipiales, department of Nariño. full article

Maori judge's loyalty queried
Claire Harvey, New Zealand correspondent
September 02, 2004

THE New Zealand Government is taking a Maori judge to court because her tribal affiliations allegedly make her unfit to hear a land-rights case.

In a move that will dramatically increase tensions between the Labor Government and indigenous New Zealanders, Attorney-General Margaret Wilson is asking the High Court to take Maori Land Court judge Caren Wickliffe off a case involving her tribe, Ngati Porou. full article

At Least 900 Arrested in City as Protesters Clash With Police
By Diane Cardwell and Marc Santora
The New York Times

Wednesday 01 September 2004

A series of demonstrations rippled across Manhattan last night when protesters tried to converge on the Republican National Convention, as a day of planned civil disobedience erupted into clashes with police officers and led to the arrest of more than 900 people.

The wave of confrontations - which included a brawl with the police at the New York Public Library, marauding crowds cursing at delegates in Midtown and the detention of hundreds of protesters near ground zero - created a day of disorder in a convention week already marked by sustained protests against the Bush administration and the war in Iraq.

Yesterday's incidents stood in contrast to the enormous, mostly orderly antiwar march that drew hundreds of thousands of people to Manhattan on Sunday. Many of those protesting yesterday had purposefully avoided seeking permits for their rallies but had publicized their plans well in advance, leading hordes of police officers in cars, bikes, scooters and vans to flood various parts of the city primed to pre-empt disorder before it could occur. The day's arrests brought the convention-related total to more than 1,460. full article

Rove's Brain and Media Manipulation
by Norman Solomon
 
I just saw a horror movie -- "Bush's Brain" -- the new documentary based on a book with the same name by journalists James Moore and Wayne Slater. The book's subtitle is "How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential." I'll spare you the grim details. What matters most now is that Rove's long record of shady and vicious media operations is not just in the past.

Rove is more than a master manipulator of the news media. He's a stealthy smear artist who does whatever he can get away with. And Rove has gotten away with plenty. That's how George W. Bush became governor of Texas ... and president of the United States. What remains to be seen is whether Rove's techniques will again prove successful when this country votes on Nov. 2.

For all his deft skullduggery, Rove is smart enough to always remember that you can't beat something with nothing. It's not enough to tar the opponent with accusations and innuendos. It's also necessary to tout Rove's candidate as a guy just this side of the angels. And so, the Bush campaign is combining out-of-sight stilettos and out-front verbal attacks with elaborate poses of ultimate Goodness. full article