Censored: Indigenous Rattle News and Corporate Cages in Bolivia

The news from the Bolivia Climate Summit is too hot for most newspapers, including those in and around Indian country in the US and Canada

By Brenda Norrell

Photo by Michelle Cook, Navajo

The bottom line of real climate change is that it is being censored and distorted in the news.

I've been busy trying to give away articles on the Native American delegations to the Bolivia Climate Conference. As far as I can tell, none of the newspapers in and around Indian country published the articles. This is unusual. Normally newspapers are anxious to publish articles on local people involved in newsworthy events, especially when they have been working diligently with Bolivian President Evo Morales.

There is a reason to take note of this. In the United States, Indian Nations are financially dependent on gouging out Mother Earth's liver for coal and power plants and depleting natural resources for other exploitative industries.

The words, "Climate Debt" and "International Climate Court of Justice," have rattled the cages of the governments and corporate polluters of the world.

An alarm was set off around the world when the Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth was announced, with a new vision of legal rights for Mother Earth. Mining companies, including those assassinating activists in Central and South America, surely took notice, especially in Canada were the majority of the most vicious mining companies are based.

The voices of Navajos in Cochabamba speaking out against the Navajo Nation's longtime abuse of the land and disregard for the health of the Navajo people, is in direct contrast to the elected Navajo leaders who profess to be living in harmony with Mother Earth and defending human rights.

Further, the condemnation of REDD has shaken the exploiters who want to use the hoax of carbon credits to seize Indigenous forests and allow global corporate polluters to continue their crimes.

Many editors will blacklist a writer who dares quote President Morales speaking out against capitalism and economies based on militaries and bloodshed. Most editors refuse to examine the United States reasons for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, the newspapers publish blind promotions of war, leading to more recruitments of people of color and more deaths. Buffy Sainte Marie exposed the relationship between speaking out against US wars and becoming blacklisted. Buffy revealed that she was forced out of the music industry in the United States by President Lyndon Johnson, after she wrote "Universal Soldier" during the Vietnam War.

Of course, quoting Venezuela President Hugo Chavez at the Bolivia Climate Conference was a deal breaker for most newspapers, many refusing to publish anything other than the negative about Chavez.

It couldn't have been easier for journalists to write articles on the Bolivia Climate Conference. There were video interviews with Native delegations broadcast on the spot by Govinda at Earthcycles http://www.earthcycles.net/ Also, IEN, Dooda Desert Rock and others released press statements. Ben Powless, Mohawk at IEN, offered his great photos.

There should have been articles on the powerful delegations from the Indigenous Environmental Network, Alaska InterTribal Council, First Nations and Mohawks.

One delegation of grassroots activists included Timbisha Chairman Joe Kennedy; Western Shoshone activist Carrie Dann; Elouise Brown, Navajo director of Dooda Desert Rock; Jose Matus, Yaqui, director of the Indigenous Alliance without Borders; Navajo youth and Fulbright scholar Michelle Cook arriving from New Zealand and Chibon Everstz, Mohawk youth. They were joined by individuals from many Indian Nations, including Lakota from Pine Ridge and Oneida from New York.

Alaskan Native Faith Gemmill opened the conference with President Morales. Ofelia Rivas, O'odham, and Manny Pino, Acoma Pueblo, served as cochairs of the vital working group on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, among the most powerful of the 17 working groups.

The conference culminated with the Peoples Agreement and new climate goals, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for the protection of lands and peoples, the Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth and other powerful statements.

Canada continued its abuse of Native people by refusing to allow a delegation of Mohawks back into Canada on their Haudenosaunee passports, stranding them in El Salvador and elsewhere. Their trip of 10 days turned into 29 days. Read the Mohawks description of their unwavering decision to travel on their Haudenosaunee passports:

http://kahnawakenews.com/clients/kahnawakenews/canada-prevents-mohawks-from-returning-home-on-haudenosaunee-passports-p798.htm?twindow=Default&smenu=1&mad=No

"The Haudenosaunee Passport is a non-violent expression of our distinct identity as a sovereign people. While both Canada and the United States claim us as their citizens, the Haudenosaunee Passport is a constant reminder that our people have never acquiesced our citizenship as Haudenosaunee people. It also provides our people an alternative to acquiring Canadian or U.S. documentation." --Thomas Deer, Haudenosaunee.

Timbisha Shoshone Chairman Joe Kennedy traveled to Bolivia on his Shoshone passport. Although he was delayed in Lima, Peru, when returning by the US, he was allowed back in the US on his Shoshone passport.

The Bolivia Climate Conference has not ended and the voices of the people will not be silenced. In Bonn, Germany, the climate negotiations considered new data prepared by the United Nations on emission targets put forward by developed countries under the Kyoto Protocol. Bolivia, in the negotiations, prepared a graph showing how far developed countries are from making the emission cuts needed by science. Read this and more at: http://pwccc.wordpress.com/

--Brenda Norrell, blacklisted now by most newspapers