All Notebook Entries

By Brenda Norrell

Russell Means, Lakota, speaks out on latest attempt by the US State Department to cover up its crimes against Native Americans with the US State Department "Listening Conferences" for reports to the United Nations. Means said the US has violated all treaties made between the US and Indian Nations and has no real interest in admitting its dismal human rights record to the world.

Means statement is in sharp contrast to the ongoing news reports on human rights issues and Indigenous Rights violations by the US media.

New State Department report shows border city is now Mexico's bloodshed leader

The U.S. State Department recently updated its “Death of U.S. Citizens Abroad by Non-Natural Causes” report to include homicide figures for all of 2009.

The new figures change the picture for U.S. citizen homicides in Juarez, Mexico, as portrayed in a prior report by this writer.

That earlier report, “Tijuana: Gringo, this bullet is for you,” relied on State Department data current through the end of June 2009 (the most recent available at the time) — which showed the homicide count for U.S. citizens to be higher in Tijuana, Mexico, by most measures.

Here's an excellent piece from a Demcracynow interview with Charles Bowden. Once again, Chuck is a voice crying from the wilderness:

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/16/charles_bowden_on_the_war_next

By Brenda Norrell

TUCSON -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano halted the cash cow of Boeing at the border, freezing the cash for the big virtual border flop, Secure Border Initiative Network. That's the spy tower sytem where Boeing, and its subcontractor Elbit Systems, the Israeli Apartheid spy contractor, built the spy towers that don't work along the Arizona border.

No dar oportunamente los datos es grave. Parar el conteo de votos es muy grave porque no se definen las situaciones políticas. Por eso hemos pedido que de acuerdo a la competencia del Consejo Nacional Electoral, asuma el conteo y escrutinio de los votos de forma inmediata. Al Procurador General que asuma la vigilancia de ese proceso y además yo creo realmente que no hay garantías con esta manera como lo que sucedió ayer para las elecciones presidenciales.
--Fabio Valencia, ministro de Interior y Justicia. Telesur, 16 marzo.

El domingo los colombianos acudieron a las urnas para elegir a los 102 integrantes del Senado y a los 166 de la Cámara de Representantes, cinco diputados al Parlamento Andino y los candidatos a la Presidencia de los partidos Verde Opción Centro y Conservador. Los partidos afines al uribismo, el gobernante Partido de la Unión y el Partido conservador resultaron los ganadores mayoritarios (25.1 y 20.6 por ciento respectivamente) de la votación que contó con la asistencia del 44.2 por ciento del padrón electoral. En tercer lugar se ubicó el Partido Liberal, que retuvo 18 sillas, en cuarto el Partido Integración Nacional con nueve escaños. Los perdedores fueron Cambio Radical con sólo nueve escaños de quince en la anterior legislatura y el Polo Alternativo que ganó ocho de diez posiciones. La sorpresa fue el Partido Verde, con cinco escaños obtenidos. El proceso comicial estuvo marcado por irregularidades y disturbios en los centros de votación. Según notas periodísticas, siete bombas fueron desactivadas en el departamento de Nariño dirigidas contra de personal militar. Se registraron 28 denuncias de compra de votos ante las autoridades electorales. Seis soldados fueron heridos durante un asalto armado en El Cauca y un grupo de paramilitares desplazó a 200 campesinos en esa comunidad.

Juez Jim Gray: Lo mejor que puedo hacer por mi país es ayudar a repeler la prohibición de las drogas; es la cosa más patriótica que puedo hacer

Estados Unidos está más preocupado en extender su dominio sobre nuestro país que en ganarse los “corazones y las mentes” de los ciudadanos mexicanos. En vez de cuestionar décadas de políticas fallidas contra el narcotráfico, prefiere radicalizarlas sin importar el alto costo que ha significado en vidas y sufrimiento humano.

Back Obama dice que está “indignado” porque sus ciudadanos recibieron una dosis de la violencia que vivimos cotidianamente, pero en vez de llamar a cuentas al principal causante de la catástrofe, Felipe Calderón, dice que seguirá apoyando sus esfuerzos “para acabar con el poder de las organizaciones del narcotráfico que operan en México ”.

Como bien lo consignan las editoriales de El Universal y La Jornada de hoy, la ejecución del sábado de tres funcionarios consulares estadounidenses es una muestra de que “Estados Unidos parece no querer que su vecino aprenda en su ejemplo la dolorosa lección que él mismo ha recibido” y sólo “multiplicará las presiones y acciones intervencionistas de Washington en México”.

A member of Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group writes:   

10th March 2010

I have just returned from the Zapatista village of Bolon Ajaw, Chiapas, where on 6th February 230 civilian Zapatistas took part in an action to retake control of their "reclaimed lands" which had been invaded and taken over since 20 January by the paramilitary group OPDDIC.

Thanks to inspiring solidarity from Zapatistas from many different communities the Zapatistas continue to control the land, and are carrying out collective work there.

The situation is very tense and the Zapatista villagers of Bolon Ajaw stressed the vital importance of international solidarity, urging us to spread the news of their struggle around the world.  Human rights observers from Frayba are now present to act as a deterrent against more violence from the OPDDIC paramilitaries, who have a base in nearby Agua Azul.

No entiendo cómo el Estado mexicano quiere ganar la guerra contra el narcotráfico si todas sus acciones sólo alienan y agreden a los sectores a los que debería ganarse.

El miércoles pasado las autoridades de Chihuahua ordenaron un operativo en el CBTIS 128 y el Cobach 9 de Ciudad Juárez para buscar drogas y armas. En esas escuelas estudiaban los 15 jóvenes asesinados el 30 de enero en Villas de Salvácar.

Según la nota de El Universal, dos mil 600 estudiantes salieron a la explanada y todas sus pertenencias fueron revisadas por perros olfateadores. Las autoridades que ordenaron el operativo concluyeron al final que estas los alumnos estaban “libres de drogas”. Es decir, no encontraron nada. Se supone que los funcionarios de Derechos Humanos, representantes estudiantiles y personal docente dieron fe de que no “fueran violentados los derechos de los estudiantes”. La Dirección de Prevención Delictiva anunció que los operativos seguirán en los planteles en beneficio de los jóvenes.

The goal of any viral video is to inject life into the audience. If it plays by the rules, the audience will be limited. If it relies on expected tropes and conceits, then it will appear fake. Honest and amateur will trump fake and professional. Professionalism for the sake of professionalism is always fake. Professionalism is expected; amateurism is novel. One video shot by one protester in Iran will always have more views than an edited collection of different shots.

We live in a vicarious age. We minimize our guilt by spreading it to others.

Oaxaca, Mexico, Wednesday 10 March 2010
Friends,

Whether it is during the natural disaster of a hurricane in New Orleans, or the unnatural disaster of racism fueled by television news on the border, the US carries out a policy of racism

By Brenda Norrell

NEW ORLEANS -- Walking down the irresistible Magazine and Decatur Streets, with the sun shining and yesterday's cold wind behind me, New Orleans reminds me now of a child who is given a lot of love. In the Garden District and the French Quarter, New Orleans is like a child with a freshly scrubbed face, sparkling and beautiful.

Be a Part of the Team that Keeps Narco News and the School of Authentic Journalism Going Strong

By Al Giordano

Publisher, Narco News

For the past five years Benjamin Melançon – graduate of the 2004 School of Authentic Journalism – has done a heroic job managing the The Fund for Authentic Journalism, the 501c3 nonprofit organization registered in Massachusetts that supports the work of journalists at Narco News and its j-school.

Ben and his family and friends have picked up the mail, deposited the checks, kept the books, issued grants and payments, sent out hundreds of DVDs, books and other gifts and thank you notes to its donors, and for five years they’ve done it as volunteers.

Understandably, five years is a long term for such unpaid service and Ben finds himself increasingly busy with his own web development and organizing work, and has indicated a wish to retire from the position in the coming months.

Because The Fund is registered in the state of Massachusetts, that is where it must be administrated. We have many readers, supporters and friends in the Bay State from the Berkshires to Boston, from the Merrimack Valley to Southeastern Mass. And so the Fund has asked us to help seek someone already familiar with this project and its work who can spend a few hours a week as a volunteer taking over the management of the Fund.

The Fund for Authentic Journalism, founded by readers of Narco News, has a mission of getting a maximum amount of the funds that it raises directly to the work of authentic journalists. For that reason it has not rented an office nor paid staff. It can’t offer money to its next administrator, just the satisfaction of being part of an international team that is about to enter its eleventh year breaking the information blockade across the hemisphere and changing the history of journalism… and perhaps some invitations to very interesting events and the chance to meet and collaborate with talents of conscience across América and the world.

Here is the job description:

- Check the PO Box once a week (more during three or four fund appeal seasons each year). The Fund’s address – currently in Natick – can be changed to anywhere in Massachusetts. The administrator should be someone who is around most of the year and who has local help for any times when he or she is traveling.

- Keep good books of donations received (date, amount, name, address and email of donor) and of all expenditures made.

- Deposit the checks in a timely manner to the (Massachusetts) bank account of The Fund. Currently, this account is with a bank in the Natick area. Again, The Fund can change banks for the convenience of its administrator.

- Participate in periodic conference calls with The Fund’s board of directors.

- Send out “thank you” notes to those who send donations by mail.

- Issue wire transfers, PayPal payments and grants and fees by mail to journalists and vendors. (Because of the safety issues involved in the work of many journalists supported by The Fund, at times wire transfers must be made on a single day’s notice.)

- Work with The Fund’s treasurer each year as he prepares and files The Fund’s state and federal tax statements, to make sure he has the accurate information of receipts and expenditures.

- At times The Fund offers gifts to donors (DVDs, books, etcetera). The administrator takes care of shipping them to the recipients.

- Be in regular contact and available daily via email and phone to Narco News’ publisher and some other journalists supported by The Fund.

Although the work really involves just a few hours a week – sometimes not even that, depending on the season – it is work that has to be done regularly and punctually for the entire year to assure that the work of The Fund and the journalists and projects it supports comply with their missions.

It is a very important and much appreciated role in this international network. That’s why the administrator is also invited to participate in The School of Authentic Journalism in Latin America and is invited to periodic fundraising events in the United States.

If, reading this job description, you think you might be the right person at the right time in the right place (Massachusetts), please send an email to search@authenticjournalism.org introducing yourself.

If you know individuals already involved in The Fund or Narco News or The School of Authentic Journalism please let us know who, because The Fund’s strong preference is to find someone already “in the family,” known and trusted to us to play this vitally important role on the team. Please include your telephone number, address, and explain why you would be willing to do this job as a volunteer and whether you think you can meet each of the requirements of the job description above.

Thank you, in advance, for your generous spirit of volunteerism and commitment to the goals of The Fund for Authentic Journalism and the projects it supports (including ours). We believe that an old or new friend is out there who can do this job with all of us, and hopefully, that friend is you.

* El político tabasqueño habló acerca de su plan de rescate para Ciudad Juárez, el conflicto social en Cananea y el informe de la Corte sobre el caso ABC

Descarga audio:
http://www.divshare.com/download/10696900-990

Este domingo, en entrevista con el programa “Y sin embargo, se mueve”, el Presidente Legítimo, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, expuso su plan de desarrollo social para rescatar a la comunidad chihuahuense de la violencia y la inseguridad pública. El excandidato presidencial afirmó que la decadencia es el “fruto podrido de la política económica que han venido imponiendo desde hace 27 años” y que su plan pretende crear una atmósfera de bienestar para ir creando un clima de distensión social. También se refirió a la tensa situación que viven los trabajadores huelguistas de Cananea y propuso la cancelación de la concesión de Grupo México como una posible salida al conflicto laboral. Y con motivo de los nueve meses de la tragedia en la guardería ABC, el exjefe de Gobierno de la Ciudad de México puso como condición indispensable de justicia que se castigue y encarcele al gobernador saliente de Sonora, Eduardo Bours Castelo y al exdirector del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Juan Molinar Horcasitas. De lo contrario, afirma, quedará “un ambiente, una sensación de farsa, de impunidad”.

On Sunday 28 February, a major conflict took place in the Chiapan community of Mitziton, when around one hundred members of the evangelical ‘Army of God’, widely seen as a paramilitary group, attacked Other Campaign supporters in the community. Over 200 police attended, in ten police lorries, and the road between San Cristobal and Comitan was closed for many hours. Each side took three members of the other side hostage, and several people received bullet wounds from the guns of the Army of God or were beaten up. Huge fires were lit, and ambulances were prevented from getting in to treat the wounded.

A statement from the community assembly tells how Other Campaign adherents were tied to poles blindfolded and left like this for twelve hours, “they were brutally beaten and tortured while they poured gasoline over them, saying ‘we are going to burn you alive’ ”. Agents of the State Preventive Police “were already in place, but when they heard the shots did nothing. They only approached when the aggression was over”. Government officials who were present “did nothing, only gave statements to the press to confuse people”.

By Brenda Norrell

While the United States spent $1 trillion on military spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US ignored abysmal housing for Lakotas in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Immigrants in California were found living in similar overcrowded housing, during a visit by Raquel Rolnik, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing.

Laid-Off Workers Vow to Relocate Their Table to Continue Assisting Striking Customers

On Monday, March 1, at about 9am, approximately ten heavily armed Federal Police arrived at the former Luz y Fuerza del Centro's Santa Cruz Meyehualco office in Iztatapalapa, Mexico, and forced union electricians to remove a table they had set up outside their former workplace.  The electricians, all members of the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME), have continuously staffed the table since December 17, 2009.

The table in Iztapalapa is one of about 250 "information modules" that the SME set up all over the area that Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LyFC) served before President Felipe Calderon's October 11 executive order that summarily shut down the power company and threw its 44,000 workers out on the street.

While the SME refers to the tables as "information modules," in reality they act as guerrilla customer service centers--and all of the services they offer are free to the public. Electric customers can go to the tables to file legal complaints with the government regarding service problems they have experienced since Calderon shut down LyFC and put its grid under the control of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).  Customers who file complaints can also join the consumer strike and refuse to pay their bills.  Electric customers who experience service interruptions either due to CFE incompetence or strike-related shut-offs can request that a team of SME electricians come out to restore their power.

For U.S. Citizens, Baha’s Largest City is Murder Capital of Mexico

The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert a little more than a week ago warning U.S. citizens to exercise extreme caution when visiting Mexico because “violence in the country has increased.”

The travel alert states that “Mexican drug cartels are engaged in violent conflict” for control of drug-smuggling routes and plazas.

Singled out in the travel alert for special attention, among others, is Ciudad Juarez, located across the border from El Paso, Texas, and now considered the murder capital of the world.

“Mexican authorities report that more than 2,600 people were killed in Ciudad Juarez in 2009,” the State Department travel alert notes.  “Additionally, this city of 1.3 million people experienced more than 16,000 car thefts and 1,900 carjackings in 2009.”

 The government's plans for tourism in Chiapas, and their implications for indigenous peoples and the environment

On the 22^nd of every month, the group Las Abejas commemorate the Acteal massacre. In their press release for 22^nd February, they commented:

“‘What was the reason for the Acteal massacre?’ they ask. What happened in Acteal was designed to send a clear message: that of terror and death for those people who defend their land from neoliberal projects, and who demand respect for their human rights, especially indigenous rights. The conflicts in Agua Azul and Mitziton are the product of economic interests. Agua Azul is a rich area; but if there are people living there, it’s difficult for the government to build a tourist centre without having noise and obstacles in their way. That’s why it’s convenient for the Sabines government to make problems in these zones, so that people become divided and don’t have the strength to organize themselves against the construction of the tourist centre and the San Cristobal – Palenque highway.”

International Conference in Mexico City Provides Hope, Inspiration to a Budding Domestic Movement

This past February 22 and 23, drug policy experts and organizers from around the world gathered in Mexico City for “Winds of Change: Drug Policy Around the World,” a conference organized by the Collective for a Comprehensive Drug Policy (CUPIHD).

The conference was the first event CUPIHD has organized as a collective. Jorge Hernández Tinajero, CUPIHD’s president, told Narco News, “All of [CUPIHD’s members] have been working on this issue for at least ten years from our respective areas of expertise.” However, it was only recently that they joined forces under the banner of CUPIHD, which they founded last year “in order to transform the drug policy in Mexico to one with a harm reduction and human rights perspective.” According to fellow CUPIHD member and former federal Congresswoman Elsa Conde, the Winds of Change conference “is just the beginning.”

O'odham Ofelia Rivas imprisoned for four days in southern Chiapas while supporting Zapatistas

By Brenda Norrell

TUCSON -- Tohono O'odham human rights activist Ofelia Rivas was imprisoned in a southern Chiapas immigration prison for four days on false charges. Rivas, after crossing the US/Mexico border and returning home safely to O'odham lands Wednesday night, Feb. 24, spoke out against the oppression at the borders and the targeting of Indigenous Peoples.

Han calado hondo en las autoridades de gobierno de México y Estados Unidos las declaraciones de especialistas y personalidades como el expresidente de Colombia, César Gaviria. El político del Partido Liberal declaró durante su conferencia magistral en la conferencia "Vientos de Cambio" que los problemas de la delincuencia organizada sólo se superarán "con un tratamiento del consumo interno de drogas, descriminalizando sobre todo la mariguana, montando un sistema de salud y educación que funcione". Gaviria confesó que "el prohibicionismo, en el cual yo creía, con el paso de los años nos ha demostrado que fracasó".

Canadian-based Denison Mines is mining uranium at the north rim of the Grand Canyon, continuing its disregard for Native Americans

By Brenda Norrell

Denison Mines is now mining uranium at the north rim of the Grand Canyon, threatening the water supply and health of the region.

President Obama's new focus on nuclear energy, with funding for nuclear power plants, is creating a new demand for uranium.

The article below was produced by the UK Zapatista Solidarity Network

 Gustavo Esteva explains what lies at
the heart of indigenous politics in Mexico.

Translated by Mark Fried

The Event, Organized by the Mexico City Government, Was Evo's First Official Visit to Mexico

Evo Morales visited Mexico City on Sunday evening on his way to a Rio Group summit in Cancun.  The Mexico City government, controlled by the center-left Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), organized a public event and press conference to receive the Bolivian president.

Hundreds of Mexicans crowded into the central plaza in Coyoacan, an upscale neighborhood in southern Mexico City, to hear Morales speak.  Many wove wiphala flags, the rainbow-colored flag that represents Andean indigenous peoples in Bolivia.  Bolivia's new constitution, written during President Morales' administration, officially recognizes the wiphala as a government flag.

President Martinelli may be violating Canal Treaties

The time bomb I wrote about for Narco News nine years ago is about to go off.

Attentive observers could already see it coming when Panama announced it would build 11 "counter narcotics bases" and supposedly staff them all by itself: The government of supermarket baron Ricardo Martinelli is on a steady course of dragging the country into the armed conflict between the Colombian government and its allies on one side and the FARC guerrilla group on the other.The pretext is not just the usual counter narcotics spin, but the Panamanians are openly saying they want to fight Colombian insurgents in the border area.

At the 2010 Narco News School of Authentic Journalism, my advisor Joshua Bregman gave me very important advice when holding a camera: the world is your playground. I had been shy about getting into peoples' faces while shooting b-roll for the School's inauguration event. I imagine this is typical of many people first using a camcorder. But I'm particularly shy, so it surprised me how easy it was to overcome this fear...

(Publisher-added photo of Seb shooting video. Photo: DR 2010 Jill Freidberg.)

This continues the discussion initiated in http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/george-salzman/2009/11/ansel-herz-nov-17-2009-article

Our common struggle for a good world for all humanity and other life forms

[EL CAJON, Calif., 2/18/10 8:35am p.s.t., by: Dennes Demennes for the Narcosphere; updated on 2/19/10 11:24am p.s.t.] Criminal activity is directly subservient to Police one, by creating the necessary elements that will then necessitate that they themselves (the police) exist, therefore it’s like both feed off each other (crime and police). One (crime) is created by the second (the police), so that it too will be formed as a byproduct to clean it up, as it were.