Photo by Carol Berry -- Irma Little, Lakota, was acquitted May 30 of the charges brought against her from Denver's annual Columbus Day parade.

Final trials held for Denver Columbus Day parade protesters
© Indian Country Today June 09, 2008.
by: Carol Berry

DENVER - Eight months after Denver's annual Columbus Day parade, trials arising from a parade controversy ended May 30 with the acquittal of a Lakota woman in a wheelchair who had joined the protest because she felt the parade celebrated oppression.

''I wanted to stand up for Native people,'' said Irma Little, 67, of Denver, originally from Rosebud, S.D. She was found not guilty of municipal code violations in Denver City-County Court.

A city prosecutor had charged that Little ''gunned the engine on her electric wheelchair,'' sweeping past a police cordon into the street. Melissa Drazen-Smith, assistant city attorney, said Little then hindered police efforts by gripping the chair's wheels with her hands, although her hands were later shown by the defense to be twisted by arthritis.

Little said she spent about 12 hours in custody, including time in ''what they were calling the 'cripple cell.'''

Denver's annual Columbus Day parade Oct. 6, 2007, ''seemed like a good time to make a stand against the oppression of Native Americans,'' Little said, because Columbus represented the ''start of all the oppression I put up with.''

Parade opponents last fall gathered in downtown Denver carrying banners and chanting anti-Columbus slogans. In this last trial of parade dissenters, three others - a sightless man and two older Denver residents - were convicted of blocking the street and refusing a lawful police order. They were acquitted of a third charge of disrupting a lawful assembly.

An underlying issue was brought into court by defense attorney Lonn Heymann, who contended there was a city-planned sweep and mass arrest of the Columbus Day dissidents and implied a connection to security concerns at the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver, noting, ''We have the DNC here this year.''

George Vendegnia, of the Sons of Italy-New Generation, the parade's organizer, said the parade had to do with ''American heritage'' while Glenn Morris, Shawnee, and a leader of the American Indian Movement in Colorado, said the parade is ''deliberately celebrating the destruction of Native peoples.''

Vendegnia said parade organizers were warned in 2007 that police intelligence suggested problems might arise at the parade and they were advised ''to make sure we had our security in place.''

Morris, a professor in the political science department at the University of Colorado - Denver and an expert witness for the defense, countered that in nearly 20 years of intermittent parade protest, there had been no violence on the part of the dissidents. Because of his long-standing and cordial relationship with Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman, ''I'm on his speed-dial; he's on mine,'' he said.

The three other Denver residents on trial May 30 were Kate Goodspeed, 63, a non-Native who teaches English as a second language. She acted as a guide at the protest for Nicholas Delmonico, 32, a sightless Italian-American. The third defendant was Dan Whittemore, 60, a retired non-Native lawyer and minister.

''I do not stand for ignorance, discrimination or prejudice on any level,'' said Delmonico, who described indignities he has suffered in connection with blindness. Goodspeed, who said she spent about 20 hours in custody after she was arrested, has protested at past Columbus Day parades and hopes for a change from the present state commemoration of Columbus Day to Italian Pride Day or another holiday.

Whittemore was arrested holding a sign that read on one side, ''Columbus is a Symbol of Domination, Slavery and Genocide'' and, on the other, ''Just Change the Name ... Da Vinci Day.''

Although the three were also initially charged with disrupting a public assembly, defense attorney Qusair Mohamedbhai queried why, if a significant disruption had occurred, no parade participants were called to testify that a disruption had in fact taken place.

The conclusion of the trial ended months of proceedings during which 13 of the 83 people initially charged in connection with the parade demonstration were found guilty of at least one charge at trial, according to Vince DiCroce, director of the city prosecutor's code enforcement section.

Only a handful of parade opponents were found guilty of all the charges against them and paid the maximum $500 fine, Morris said.

The Columbus Day parade protest has been an annual event in Denver since 1989, although there was an eight-year hiatus beginning in 1992. In 2000, parade organizers agreed to eliminate the word ''Columbus'' from the parade's official name and from the parade itself, but did not do so. Protests have continued to the present.

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Uncontacted Indigenous people in the Amazon defend themselves against invaders

Photos Of Uncontacted Indigenous People In Amazon Provoke Demand For State Action

Photographs published last week of an uncontacted group of indigenous people in Brazil near the Peruvian border have provoked public outrage, with over 1,300 people writing letters to Peru’s government to demand an end to illegal logging. The logging is threatening uncontacted Indians in the area.

The unique pictures of the Brazilian indigenous people hit the world’s headlines last week. At least one other indigenous group in the area is thought to have fled over the border from Peru into Brazil, fleeing illegal loggers who are razing their forest home.

Since the pictures were published, the Peruvian government has said it will investigate the issue. Peru’s President Alan Garcia had previously questioned the tribes’ existence.
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The New York Times' perspective

American Zionism

AMERICAN ZIONISM by Steve Newcomb, Indigenous Law Institute

In his May 15 speech before the Israeli Knesset, President George W. Bush invoked the Old Testament story of the chosen people and the Promised Land. Bush said that the establishment of Israel in 1948 ''was the redemption of an ancient promise given to Abraham, Moses and David - a homeland for the chosen people in Eretz Yisrael.''

Bush also spoke explicitly of an alliance and a friendship between Israel and the United States rooted in the Bible. The source of the link between the two countries, he said, ''is grounded in the shared spirit of our people, the bonds of the Book, the ties of the soul.'' Then, weaving a bit of American history into the mix, Bush told his audience: ''When William Bradford stepped off the Mayflower in 1620, he quoted the words of [the Hebrew prophet] Jeremiah 51:10: 'Come let us declare in Zion the word of God.'''

According to Bush, ''The founders of my country saw a new promised land and bestowed upon their towns names like Bethlehem and New Canaan. And in time, many Americans became passionate advocates for a Jewish state.'' American Indian lands, in other words, were viewed by the founders of the United States as a new Land of Canaan, a promised inheritance and everlasting possession.

Although there may be those orthodox Jews who would not concur with Bush's characterization of the Old Testament, his speech illustrates the kind of thinking that has played such a prominent role in the historic mistreatment of American Indians by the United States, and in the callous and often brutal mistreatment of Palestinian people by the state of Israel. The mental model of a chosen people and a promised land provides a convenient rationalization whereby one people feels entitled and justified, by divine right, to take over, possess, and profit from the lands of other peoples.
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Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Denver’s Ultimate Persecution of Columbus Day Resisters Begins Tomorrow
Vindictive Trial of the Elderly and Disabled Shows City’s True Colors
On Wednesday morning, May 28, at 8:30am, in Courtroom 117M in the City and County Building, 1437 Bannock Street, Denver, the City of Denver will begin its final round of prosecutions of the 83 Columbus Day protesters, who were arrested on October 6, 2007.

In the final drama of arrests and trials, that Colorado AIM estimates have cost the city over $1 million, the City will embark on its most mean-spirited and cynical prosecutions to date. Wednesday’s case involves the persecution of:
• a 67-year-old American Indian elder, who is a diabetic amputee, and was arrested in her wheelchair the day of the protest
(Irma Little)
• a 60-year-old European-American man, who was former Controller for the State of Colorado, and is a retired lawyer, professor and minister (Dan Whittemore)
• a 32-year-old, blind, Italian-American man who stood in solidarity with American Indians against the racism of the Columbus Day Parade (Nicholas Delmonico)
• a 63-year-old, European-American teacher who has protested the Columbus Day holiday, in an attempt to educate the Colorado public, for the past fifteen years. (Katherine “Kate” Goodspeed)

The prosecution of this group of social justice advocates is more evidence that the administration of Mayor John Hickenlooper, and the office of City Attorney David Fine, are not interested in the pursuit of justice, and are not interested in a principled resolution of the annual Columbus Day conflict in the streets of Denver. They are interested in the vindictive assertion of their power, through arbitrary arrests and prosecutions of peaceful dissenters. The City has admitted in these trials that it intends to set an example for future protests, including this summer’s Democratic National Convention.

The defense will be led by noted Denver attorneys Lonn Heymann of the law firm of Rosenthal and Heymann, and Qusair Mohamedbhai of the law firm of Killmer, Lane & Newman.
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Police Attack Protest of Minnesota Anti-Indian Racism

Protest Turns Violent At Sesquicentennial Event

video here
and here

Why Some Indigenous People Are Upset With Minnesota
ST. PAUL (WCCO) ― What began as a solemn ceremony celebrating Minnesota's 150th birthday turned into a raucous protest at the State Capitol on Sunday.

For some Native Americans in Minnesota, the beginning of statehood was the end of their way of life. Several dozen protested the Minnesota birthday party carrying hangmen nooses.

A protester hit a Minnesota State Trooper on the head with a plastic bottle as police tried to clear an area during the celebration. Three people were arrested.

For Dakota people, part of Minnesota's history includes the hangings at Mankato of 38 Indians for their part in the Dakota War of 1862. To this day, it remains the largest mass execution in U.S. history.

"That's all they have to do is tell the truth, and apologize, and say I am sorry for what happened to the Native people. That's all they have to do. They won't even do that," said Clyde Bellecourt of the American Indian Movement.

Dean Urdahl, a Republican State Representative from Grove City and a former history teacher, has written a book called "Uprising" about the Dakota struggles.

"They believe that they had been cheated through the treaties. Also they could make the case that by the white government not fulfilling the obligations of treaties, that their people were being starved, that their children were dying," said Urdahl.

Protesters say Minnesota hasn't done enough to acknowledge injustices done to Minnesota tribes, and they're using the state's birthday celebrations to make their point.

"I am invisible in the sense that all the Minnesotans up there on the steps of the State Capitol are willing to ignore oppression and injustice occurring right behind them," said protester Waziyatawin.

Dakota leaders said the Minnesota's Native Americans have some of the highest school dropout and unemployment rates. They also have some of the lowest life expectancy and highest poverty rates.

The Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commission has acknowledged the opinions of the Dakota leaders. Last week the city of Winona was "Capitol for a Day" and the Sesquicentennial Commission sponsored what it called a Truth and Reconciliation Circle to talk about what happened when white settlers came to Minnesota.

Venezuela Stops Open Pit and Gold Mining

This may be a blow to Barrick, Newmont and other gold thieves of the territories of indigenous peoples.
By Ana Isabel Martinez

CARACAS, May 15 (Reuters) - Mineral-laden Venezuela on Thursday shut the door to new gold projects and threatened other mining and logging concessions in a step by President Hugo Chavez to tighten control of natural resources.

Environment Minister Yuviri Ortega said the South American country will not give permits for any open-pit mines and will not allow companies to look for gold in its vast Imataca Forest Reserve.

"Venezuela will deny environmental permits for the open-pit mine exploitation," Ortega told Reuters in an interview. "Neither private or public companies will for now explore Imataca's gold."

Citing ecological damage, Ortega said the government was also revising all its mining and timber concessions.

OPEC member Venezuela is one of the world's top oil exporters. With its coffers bulging from record crude prices, it feels it does not need to risk further harming its environment with more mining and logging.

"For the moment we do not need to exploit these minerals; as the president says, we don't need diamonds or gold, or coal," she said, but did not give further details.

Much of the Caribbean state remains largely unpopulated and it houses diverse eco-systems including a significant chunk of the Amazon rain forest.

The ban on mining in the 9 million acre (3.8 million hectare) Imataca reserve and the end to permits for open pits was a blow to Crystallex (KRY.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) and Gold Reserve (GRZ.A: Quote, Profile, Research). The Canadian companies have long been seeking environmental permits to exploit their concessions in the reserve.

Chavez last year launched a nationalization drive, increasing state control over the country's oil industry. The U.S critic has since taken over key sectors of the economy including electricity, telecoms, cement and steel companies.

He has been especially tough on foreign companies but typically pays a fair price for nationalized assets.

The Imataca reserve, which includes a town called El Dorado in remote southeastern Venezuela, sits on what is believed to be one of Latin America's largest gold deposits.

Several large and mainly state-run companies dig iron ore, coal and bauxite in Venezuela. Workers last week halted operations at Venezuela's Isodora gold mine owned by Hecla (HL.N: Quote, Profile, Research), demanding it be nationalized.

Resisters From Dakota Nation Confront Minnesota Anti-Indian Racism

Allan Henderson, from the Dakota Nation, held a sign at Fort Snelling,MN, site of a protest where several demonstrators were arrested.

St. Paul, MN, May 10, 2008 — The sesquicentennial wagon train winding towards the state capital for tomorrow’s celebration of Minnesota statehood, came to an unexpected standstill this morning entering Fort Snelling when a group of Dakota people gathered in the road to dispel a few of their cherished myths. “This is a place of genocide, our ancestors were force marched here in 1862 and interned in the concentration camp for an entire winter. So many of our people died here, women and children, so much of our history is ignored and suppressed. We are here to tell the truth about this history and challenge the Sesquicentennial celebration,” said Chris Mato Nunpa, Ph.D.. “All we’re asking is to be heard,” said Ben Yahola, amidst protestors holding signs with “We are not invisible,” “1862,” “Site of Dakota Genocide,” and “My grandmother died here.”



The travelers looked on or away as Dakota speakers addressed them and a gathering group of other protestors, onlookers, and, soon, many police officers from the city of Minneapolis. They stood by, some perched atop horses, for about fifteen minutes before the tensions increased.

Two skittish horses were steered by their mounted officers through the protestors, endangering everyone in their path, including several small children. Unsure of what to do, one officer radioed for backup. As reinforcements arrived, one officer said, “I thought we came down to do some thumping.” A sheriff’s SUV tried to force its way through the crowd of protestors to clear a path for the wagon train. Then, two kids and two women laid down in front of the SUV. For twenty minutes while protestors smudged, prayer drums sounded, and speakers addressed their message about the past’s atrocities, officers conferred, debating how best to remove the blockade. Dakota protestors cried the history of the atrocities committed, including land theft, ethnic cleansing, bounties placed on Dakota scalps (up to $200 dollars), the largest mass hanging in US history, the horrors of the concentration camp at Fort Snelling, and the brutalities of the war of 1862.

Then the arrests began.

“You are benefiting from the same colonial practices which justified the genocide of the Dakota people,” Waziyatawin stated as she was pressed against the hood of a patrol car before being led away. “This wagon train is a fantasy of manifest destiny, as some sort of righteous thing.” Next to go were her two minor children, Talon and Autumn Cavender-Wilson. Anita Rae, Chris Mato Nunpa, Jim Anderson and Diane Elliot followed, before the officers ceased making arrests.

By use of truncheon, officers pushed the protest aside, finally clearing the way for the wagon train to enter the camp. Imprisoned protestors were then released under charges of disorderly conduct. At least some of the wagon riders began conversing with protestors, agreeing to the need for truth telling. One young man softened his position and even apologized for his participation in the wagon train.

The protestors will also be present tomorrow at the state capital, where the kick-off celebration for the Minnesota Sesquiscentennial will begin.

For additional information, Contact:

Chris Mato Nupa, Ph.D.
Oceti Sakowin Omniciya
Tel: (320) 981-0206
matonunpa@earthlink.net

Jim Anderson
Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community
(763) 753-2833
ander67@netzero.com

Waziyatawin Angela Wilson, Ph.D.
Oceti Sakowin Omniciya
Tel: (320) 564-4241
waziyatawin@gmail.com

Brazil Sends Troops to Indian Territory - Brazilian Government Rejects Indigenous Self-Determination

By Rodrigo Viga Gaier

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 8 (Reuters) - Brazil will permanently station troops in Indian reservations along its borders in response to growing concerns that its territorial sovereignty is at risk, Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said on Thursday.

Indian lands account for roughly 12 percent of Brazil's vast territory and border on nearly all of its nine neighbors.

"We want to be clear on something fundamental -- Indian lands are Brazilian lands," Jobim said.

"There are no nations or Indian peoples, there are Brazilians who are Indians," he told reporters following a ceremony to commemorate the end of World War Two in Europe.

The government will decide how many troops to deploy and where to station them in the next three months, he said.

A land conflict between Indians and farmers in northern Roraima state has fueled concerns by the military and conservative politicians that foreigners including Colombian rebels could penetrate Brazil through unprotected reserves.

At least one former Venezuelan army official entered the Roraima reservation to train gunmen, and a Venezuelan flag was raised on one farm, Indian leaders and media reported.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva dismissed such concerns on Thursday and praised the Indians for their loyalty.

"Much of the Brazilian army is made up of Indians ... . How often have the Indians defended our borders?" Lula said at a ceremony to outline government development policies in the Amazon.

"An Indian in the middle of the Amazon who as a Brazilian citizen and voter doesn't receive any benefits of the state will be just as rebellious as a man living in a Rio de Janeiro shantytown without water, school or anything to do," he said.

The government sent police reinforcements to the Roraima reservation on Tuesday and arrested a local farm leader after gunmen shot and wounded 10 Indians.

The dispute began last month when police tried to evict rice farmers from the reservation created by the government in 2005. But farmers who claim the same land have resisted by blocking roads, blowing up bridges and hiring gunmen.

Farmers and forestry and mining companies in several parts of Brazil are concerned with growing demands for land by Brazil's estimated 750,000 Indians.

Ninety-two Indians were killed last year in conflicts related to land disputes. (Additional reporting by Raymond Colitt) (Writing by Raymond Colitt; Editing by Xavier Briand)

Evo Morales Defends Indigenous Leadership

Defending Bolivia
Morales and the Red Ponchos
By PATRICK IRELAN

The Bolivian oligarchy has initiated its plan to balkanize the country. Traditionally, the oligarchy controlled the oil, natural gas, and the best farmland in Bolivia; and, for the most part, it has never indicated a desire to share the wealth with the nation’s indigenous majority. That majority, 60 percent of the population, lives primarily in the Andean highlands of western Bolivia, although in recent decades, the Indians of those areas have begun moving down to the cities in search of jobs.

With their diseases, their firepower, and their greed, the Euro-Americans have enjoyed their country’s wealth since the founding of Bolivia, and the Indians think it’s about time for a more-equitable division of the proceeds. They’ve been waiting half a millennium, and their patience has begun to drift off somewhere over the Andes, from whence it is unlikely to return.

Evo Morales is an Aymara Indian. In 2005, he became the first indigenous president in Bolivia’s history, collecting 54 percent of the vote. He inherited a land-locked and underdeveloped country, the poorest in South America. But the provinces of the eastern lowlands are blessed with large reserves of oil and natural gas. They also possess good farmland, although much of it lies unused by its wealthy owners.

The richest province of the lowlands is Santa Cruz. The light-skinned elite of Santa Cruz has benefited from the prosperity generated by the sale of oil and natural gas to foreign petroleum companies, and it fears any real or imagined threat to that prosperity. Bolivia has a population of over 9.2 million people, and about 2 million of them live in Santa Cruz, where the Euro-Americans greatly outnumber the Indians.

Since his election in 2005, President Morales has begun implementing a plan that he thinks will improve the lives of the poor while ensuring the well-being of everyone. In 2006, he nationalized Bolivia’s oil and natural gas reserves.
for remainder of article and this analysis of the U.S. role in attempts to destabilize Bolivia.