Rosie Clayburn is a descendant of the Yurok Tribe, which had its territory — called 'O Rew in the Yurok language — ripped from them nearly two centuries ago.

"As the natural world became completely decimated, so did the Yurok people," she said.

That decimation started when miners rushed in for gold, killing and displacing tens of thousands of Native Americans in California and ravaging the redwood trees for lumber.

"Everything was extracted that was marketable," Clayburn said. "We've always had this really intricate relationship with the landscape. We've hunted, we've fished, we've gathered. And those are all management tools. Everything that we do has been in balance with the natural world."

Now, generations later, 125 acres bordering Redwood National and State Parks will be handed back to the Yuroks.

The nonprofit Save the Redwoods League purchased the land in 2013 from an old timber mill, with the original goal of giving it to the National Park Service.

"As we continued conversations about the transfer of this land to the National Park Service, we began to realize that perhaps a better alternative would be to transfer the land back to the Yurok Tribe," said Save the Redwoods League's Paul Ringgold. "No one knows this land better. They've been stewarding this land since time and memorial"

Full article

Tribal leaders, health officials, and a new federal report say patients are routinely billed anyway as a result of backlogs or mistakes from the Indian Health Service, financial middlemen, hospitals, and clinics.

Tescha Hawley learned that hospital bills from her son’s birth had been sent to debt collectors only when she checked her credit score while attending a home-buying class. The new mom’s plans to buy a house stalled.

Hawley’s local Indian Health Service hospital wasn’t equipped to deliver babies. But she said staff there agreed that the agency would pay for her care at a privately owned hospital more than an hour away.

That arrangement came through the Purchased/Referred Care program, which pays for services Native Americans can’t get through an agency-funded clinic or hospital. Federal law stresses that patients approved for the program aren’t responsible for any of the costs.

But tribal leaders, health officials, and a new federal report say patients are routinely billed anyway as a result of backlogs or mistakes from the Indian Health Service, financial middlemen, hospitals, and clinics.

The financial consequences for patients can last years. Those sent to collections can face damaged credit scores, which can prevent them from securing loans or require them to pay higher interest rates.

Full article

At night, deep in the woods of northern Alberta, white images move across the dark screen, the ghostly figures fitting for a buffalo herd that is facing extirpation and now faces the prospect of oil and gas exploration in its range for the first time.

The Wabasca Herd, nestled in an area southwest of Wood Buffalo National Park, is down to six or seven animals, according to area trappers and advocates. That’s down from an estimate of nine animals just under two years ago.

“There’s only one bull left, and what we counted was six cows, one calf, on these wildlife cameras last winter,” Lorne Tallcree, a trapper, said in an interview. “We don’t know what’s left this winter.”

Tallcree is part of a group called ShagowAskee — a group of trappers, Elders and knowledge keepers — which has been advocating to protect the herd, putting pressure on industry, government and their own nations.

Logging in the herd’s range took place last winter, with more expected this year, and now the Little Red River Cree Nation is hosting meetings with Calgary-based Spur Petroleum about its planned exploratory drilling in the area, which is rich with oil deposits.

Tallcree, a member of the nation, says some in the community want to see the jobs that could come with oil and gas, but many are concerned.

He says 26 Elders are opposed to the development.

“They’re scared of what’s coming out, it’s gonna impact the environment, destroy the water, destroy all the medicinal plants they gather,” he said.

Full article

Mélanie O’Bomsawin didn’t grow up speaking Abenaki, her great-grandfather’s mother tongue. But in the past few years she’s been learning the language, and a year ago she started teaching it to others, including online courses from her home in Montreal. So when she saw a post online warning about Indigenous language books on Amazon that seemed to be generated by artificial intelligence, O’Bomsawin was on high alert. Sure enough, a quick search revealed a three-volume series of Abenaki learning books she had never seen before.

The books were titled The Most Frequently Used Abenaki Nouns, The Most Frequently Used Abenaki Verbs and The Most Frequently Used Abenaki Adjectives. They were part of a collection of language books on Amazon called Save Time by Learning the Most Frequently Used Words First.

O’Bomsawin immediately knew something was wrong about these books: unlike in English or French, there are no standalone adjectives in Abenaki. Her suspicions were confirmed when she opened up a sample of the text. She said the translations were incorrect, and some words were not even Abenaki.

Full article

This is how Israel uses food to colonize Palestine and erase Palestinian culture and identity.

Amid wetlands and stunning mountains, at the crossroads of caribou and bird migration routes, is the point where the Pelly and Ross rivers meet. Its name is Tū Łī́dlini, which means “where the rivers meet” in the Kaska language.

“Across from the mouth is where our people used to gather for thousands of years,” Roberta Dick, councillor for the Ross River Dena Council, explained. “People from the Northwest Territories and all over central Yukon would come there and gather and meet and have hand games and dances.”

Today, Ross River is still home to Kaska people, but the landscape has been disturbed in recent decades by mining. The presence of Kaska people has also been disturbed, as they were displaced from Tū Łī́dlini during colonization. Still, the region remains important to the community and the Ross River Dena Council has been working to keep it safe for future generations.

On Dec. 6, Tū Łī́dlini came one step closer to being formally protected and co-managed by the Ross River Dena Council, the Yukon government and federal government. The council, territorial government and Parks Canada signed a memorandum of understanding to work together and assess the feasibility of establishing an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area which would span 40,902 square kilometres — bigger than Vancouver Island, Belgium or Lake Erie.

In a statement, Chief Dylan Loblaw said, “Ross River Dena Council is pleased to be advancing efforts to finalize our IPCA Declaration within our Ross River Area. This Declaration is issued pursuant to our Indigenous laws, and will help ensure our rights, interests and values are properly respected in this important area.”

The proposed protected area is home to the at-risk Finlayson caribou herd, which are part of the northern mountain woodland caribou listed as a species of special concern under the federal Species At Risk Act. The area also encompasses ancient village sites and a group trapline built in the 1800s, and many sites that are sacred to the nation.

Full article

The Battle of Noryang, the last major battle of the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598), was fought between the Japanese navy and the combined fleets of the Joseon Kingdom and the Ming dynasty. It took place in the early morning of 16 December (19 November in the Lunar calendar) 1598 and ended past dawn.

The allied force of about 150 Joseon and Ming Chinese ships, led by admirals Yi Sun-sin and Chen Lin, attacked and either destroyed or captured more than half of the 500 Japanese ships commanded by Shimazu Yoshihiro, who was attempting to link-up with Konishi Yukinaga. The battered survivors of Shimazu's fleet limped back to Busan and a few days later left for Japan. At the height of the battle, Yi was hit by a bullet from an arquebus and died shortly thereafter. Chen Lin reported the news back to the Wanli Emperor, and Chen and Yi were celebrated as national heroes thereafter.

Background

Due to setbacks in land and sea battles, the Japanese armies had been driven back to their network of fortresses, or wajō (和城), on the southeastern Korean coast. However, the wajō could not hold the entire Japanese army, so, in June 1598, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Taikō who instigated the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598), and also the acting Japanese Lord of War, ordered 70,000 troops mostly from the Japanese Army of the Right to withdraw to the archipelago.

The Sunch'on wajō was the westernmost Japanese fortress and contained 14,000 troops commanded by Konishi Yukinaga, who was the leader of Japan's vanguard contingent during the first invasion, in 1592. Yi Sun-sin and Chen Lin blocked Konishi from retreat.

On 15 December, about 20,000 Japanese troops from the wajō of Sach'on, Goseong, and Namhae boarded 500 ships and began to mass east of the Noryang Strait in an attempt to break the allied blockade of Sunch'on. The overall commander of this relief force was Shimazu Yoshihiro, the leader of the Sach'on wajō.

The objective of the allied fleet was to prevent the link-up of Shimazu's fleet with the fleet of Konishi, then attack and defeat Shimazu's fleet. The objective of Shimazu's fleet was to cross Noryang Strait, link up with Konishi and retreat to Busan. Shimazu knew that Konishi was trying to cause disunity within the Joseon-Ming alliance and hoped that they would be busy elsewhere or still blockading the Sunch'on wajō and thus vulnerable to an attack from their rear.

Battle

On 15 December, a huge Japanese fleet was amassed in Sach'on Bay, on the east end of the Noryang Strait. Shimazu was not sure whether the allied fleet was continuing the blockade of Konishi's wajō, on its way to attack an abandoned wajō further east, or blocking their way on the western end of Noryang Strait.

The Joseon fleet consisted of 82 panokseon multi-decked oared ships. The Ming fleet consisted of six large war junks (true battle vessels most likely used as flagships) that were driven by both oars and sails, 57 lighter war ships driven by oars alone (most likely transports converted for battle use), and two panokseon provided by Yi. In terms of manpower, the allied fleet had 8,000 sailors and marines under Yi, 5,000 Ming men of the Guangdong Squadron, and 2,600 Ming marines who fought aboard Korean ships, a total of almost 16,000 sailors and fighting men.

The Japanese had 500 ships, but a significant part of their fleet consisted of light transports. The Japanese ships were well-armed with arquebuses and also had some captured Joseon cannon. The allied fleet was outnumbered, but made up for it with ships which, on average, had superior firepower and heavier, more sturdy construction.

The allied fleet waited for Shimazu on the west end of Noryang Strait. The battle began around 2:00 am on 16 December.

As in Yi's previous battles, the Japanese were unable to respond effectively as the Korean and Chinese cannon fire prevented them from moving. When the Japanese fleet was significantly damaged, Chen ordered his fleet to engage in melee combat. This allowed the Japanese to use their arquebuses and fight using their traditional fighting style of boarding enemy ships. When Chen's flagship was attacked, Yi had to order his fleet to engage in hand-to-hand combat as well.

By the middle of the battle, as dawn was about to break, the allied fleet had the upper hand and half of Shimazu's fleet was either sunk or captured. It was said that Yoshihiro's flagship was sunk and that he was clinging to a piece of wood in the icy water. Japanese ships came to his rescue, pulling him to safety. During the course of the battle, the ships fought from the west end of the strait all the way across to the east end, almost to the open water. The Japanese sustained heavy damage and began to retreat along the south coast of Namhae Island, towards Pusan

Yi's death

As the Japanese retreated, Yi ordered a vigorous pursuit. During this time a stray arquebus bullet from an enemy ship struck him near the armpit, on his left side. Sensing that the wound was fatal, the admiral uttered, "We are about to win the war – keep beating the war drums. Do not announce my death."

Only three people witnessed Yi Sun-sin's death including Yi Hoe (his eldest son), his adjutant Song Hui-rip, and Yi Wan, his nephew. They struggled to regain their composure and carried Sun-sin's body into his cabin before others could notice. For the remainder of the battle, Wan wore his uncle's armor and continued to beat the war drum to let the rest of the fleet know that the Admiral's flagship was still in the fight.

Chen's ship was again in trouble, and Yi's flagship rowed to his rescue. Yi's flagship fought off and sank several Japanese ships, and Chen called for Yi to thank him for coming to his aid. However, Chen was met by Wan who announced that his uncle was dead. It is said that Chen himself was so shocked that he fell to the ground three times, beating his chest and crying.

Aftermath

Out of 500 Japanese ships under Shimazu's command, an estimated 200 were able to make it back to Busan Harbor (other Joseon archives record that Shimazu's remnants were fiercely pursued by Yi Sun-sin's fleet: only 50 ships of Shimazu's armada ever managed to escape). Konishi Yukinaga left his fortress on 16 December and his men were able to retreat by sailing through the southern end of Namhae Island, bypassing both the Noryang Strait and the battle. Although he knew the battle was raging, he made no effort to help Shimazu. This led to the loss of crucial supply lines that caused the inevitable loss of all Japanese strongholds in Korea. Konishi Yukinaga, Shimazu Yoshihiro, Katō Kiyomasa, and other Japanese generals of the Left Army congregated in Busan and withdrew to Japan on 21 December. The last ships sailed to Japan on 24 December.

Yi Sun-sin's body was brought back to his home town in Asan to be buried next to his father, Yi Chong (in accordance with Korean tradition). The court gave him the posthumous rank of Minister of the Right. Shrines, both official and unofficial, were constructed in his honor. In 1643, Yi was given the title of chungmugong, "duke/lord of loyal valor".

Chen gave a eulogy while attending Yi's funeral. He then withdrew his forces to Ming China and received high military honors. Joseon officials feared another Japanese invasion and requested the Ming army to remain. The Ming agreed and left behind a force of 3–4,000, which aided Joseon efforts in rebuilding and training forces until 1601.

• Noryang Straits 1598 - End of the Imjin War

• First part of naval battle scene from the Korean movie Noryang: Deadly Sea, 2023

Megathreads and spaces to hang out:

• 📀 Come listen to music and Watch movies with your fellow Hexbears nerd, in Cy.tube
• 🔥 Read and talk about a current topics in the News Megathread
• ⚔ Come talk in the New Weekly PoC thread
• ✨ Talk with fellow Trans comrades in the New Weekly Trans thread
• 👊 Share your gains and goals with your comrades in the New Weekly Improvement thread
• 🧡 Disabled comm megathread

reminders:

• 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
• 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
• 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
• 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
• 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog

Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

Aid:

• 🌈 LGBTQ+ Resource Post
• 🍉 Resources for Palestine
• 🐌☕ Zapatista Coffee

Theory:

• ❤️Foundations of Leninism
• ❤️Anarchism and Other Essays

This is about the fact that indigenous people make up a disproportionate amount of the military population

But when talking to people in general, how do you open dialogue with not just indigenous, but also black and Latino/Chicano veterans and younger people trying to join? A lot of people are lured in by poverty, others are looking for discipline or they have strict families who try to force/impose it.

Is there any advice on having these conversations? I believe it's important to be respectful and mature about it, to not go on lecturing and complaining.

The Naabik’íyáti’ Committee has formally reaffirmed the Navajo Nation’s strong opposition to any monument commemorating Christopher “Kit” Carson being installed in New Mexico.

The resolution, sponsored by Council Delegate Brenda Jesus, comes in response to ongoing discussions regarding possible placements at notable sites such as Bosque Redondo, the Santa Fe Cemetery, and the Carson House and Museum in Taos.

The resolution highlights the historical context of Kit Carson’s actions during the 1863 campaign against the Navajo people.

Carson was a colonel of the First New Mexico Volunteers who led a destructive campaign that included the burning of crops, the destruction of homes, and the slaughter of livestock, according to a 2021 Navajo Times article. This military operation stemmed from Brigadier General James H. Carlton’s order for a “scorched earth” campaign aimed at forcing the Navajos into submission and relocating them to Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

“Carson and his troops terrorized the Navajo people,” states the legislation, which details the tragic consequences of Caron’s campaign. From 1864 to 1868, approximately 8,500 Navajo individuals suffered through what the bill describes as brutal conditions at Fort Sumner, where many experienced slavery, starvation, and disease. It is estimated that over 2,000 Navajos died there, with their remains often placed in unmarked graves, preventing traditional burial practices.

Full article

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/6459527

A year after taking office, the Government of President Javier Milei alleged that the prolongation of this emergency for the last 18 years prevented “the free exercise of productive and recreational activities on the lands involved”, besides limiting “the right to dispose of such property”.

The Executive pointed out that the Law of Indigenous Territorial Emergency, which suspended the execution of sentences ordering the eviction of their lands, generated “legal insecurity” and a “serious affectation to the right of property” of their owners, as well as to the provincial dominion over the natural resources.

The current administration emphasized that one of its main pillars is “unrestricted respect for private property”, understanding this right “not only as a principle of justice, but also as a key factor to attract the investments necessary for the true welfare of the country”.

In this change of state policy, the Government requested the Permanent Bicameral Commission of the Congress of the Nation to evaluate the corresponding opinion in order to “guarantee the full exercise of the constitutional right” and put an end to a situation “that endangers national sovereignty”.

“Given the unreasonable extension of the emergency measure and the different affectations that it produces, both to the right of property and to the dominion of the natural resources of the provinces and to the certainty of the right, it is deemed necessary to provide for its immediate termination”, the decree adds.

HOMUN, Mexico (AP) — A huge poplar tree stands proud in Maribel Ek’s courtyard, adorned with a sign that reads: “Florece desde adentro” (“It blooms from within”).

Deep underground, the tree’s long roots search for the water that makes this land special: a sinkhole lake, known as a cenote.

Cenotes provide an important water source to Ek’s community of Homun, in the Mexican state of Yucatan, and a livelihood for locals who lead tourists from around the world into the caverns to bathe in their crystalline waters.

But more than that, cenotes are sacred to Indigenous Mayans like her.

As she descends into the cavern, Ek shines a light on a stone covered in flowers, pots, and candles —the remains of an offering she made to thank the cenote for everything it has given her. She refers to the sacred space as her “neighbor,” one that needs protection.

That belief is the basis of a lawsuit that seeks personhood status for the Ring of Cenotes, made up of hundreds of subterranean lakes that surround the northwest of the Yucatan peninsula in a semicircle, and provide the main source of freshwater in the region.

The lawsuit, from the Indigenous Mayan organization Kana’an Ts’onot, or Guardians of the Cenotes, seeks to protect the area from further contamination by industries that have moved there to take advantage of the plentiful water. The group, as designated guardians, would be able to fight on behalf of the Ring of Cenotes in court.

If they win, this would become the first ecosystem in Mexico to have its own rights, following in the wake of other cases worldwide, such as the Whanganui River in New Zealand or the Komi Memem River in the Brazilian Amazon.

Ek, a member of the Guardians group, speaks of the cenote and its waters as a person, as she explains the reasons behind their fight.

“Because you have to be the voice, that she doesn’t have,” she said. “Because you have to be the hands, that she doesn’t have.”

Full article

As one of the most iconic creatures in their ecosystems, moose have lumbered their way into the fabric of Canadian culture in Ontario. Recreational hunting, Indigenous well-being and the region’s ecosystem health all depend on these antlered giants. But in the last two decades, their population has declined by 20 percent.

Now, a new collaboration between researchers from the University of Guelph, Ontario, and three Anishinabek First Nation communities has revealed numerous reasons why the numbers of moose (Alces alces) are dropping. The impact of climate change on their environment appears to be the main factor, but several other potential causes emerged from the Indigenous perspectives provided to researchers in interviews. The team described work recently in the journal People and Nature.

“It’s being seen by both knowledge systems,” said study coauthor Steven Kell, head biologist for Shawanaga First Nation in Nobel, Ontario. “[Moose decline] is going to have a negative effect not only ecologically, but also culturally and on the health and well-being of First Nation people.”

To draw from both schools of thought, the research team applied a “two-eyed seeing” approach. They interviewed 66 members of the Biigtigong Nishnaabeg, Magnetawan, and Shawanaga First Nations in Ontario, and they reviewed 52 Western scientific papers about moose ecology in the region. Then, they wove together the differences and similarities.

Both traditional ecological knowledge and Western scientific studies agree that climate change, diseases and parasites are the key drivers of the dwindling moose populations. But interviews with Indigenous hunters and elders also revealed hunting pressures, barriers and risks posed by highways, and a new green warty skin disease as potential issues.

The Indigenous observations often emphasized smaller-scale changes, the team noted: displacement of moose by encroaching local populations of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus); declining use of the area’s wetlands; and shorter mating seasons as temperatures warm.

full article

A new report by TIME magazine discussed a trend in civic liberties throughout the world: crackdowns on Palestinian solidarity marches in every kind of society, from the most open to the most closed.

Tara Petrović, author of a study by CIVICUS Monitor, a worldwide coalition of civil society groups headquartered in Johannesburg, highlights the war on Gaza's effect on civic space as a key lesson for the year. "We've seen expressions of solidarity and we've seen repression of these expressions of solidarity at pretty much every corner of the globe."

“Our spinach is really big spinach, sometimes the leaves are bigger than my head,” Makenzie Jones said of the greenhouse he manages in Nipissing First Nation. “The arugula as well, sometimes they’re as big as my forearm. It’s really not typical stuff you can get in a grocery store.”

Jones works at Mnogin Greenhouse, which supplies his northeastern Ontario community with reasonably priced local greens year-round. Like other northern, rural and remote communities in Canada, his nation experiences high rates of diet-related diseases like type 2 diabetes, largely because of the limited access to nutritious, fresh food. To help reduce those ailments, and provide better food security in a changing climate, the nation opened the greenhouse in 2023.

The name Mnogin means “grow well” in Anishinaabemowin, and was chosen from community members’ suggestions.

“It was the perfect name because it meant not only growing food, but growing the nation, growing the economy in a healthy way,” Nipissing First Nation Chief Cathy Bellefeuille said.

Bellefeuille was sworn into office in August, but also sat on the nation’s council back in 2016, when the idea of a greenhouse first arose. The inspiration was the success of similar projects in places with “really dry climates or very cold climates where they had very little sunshine and you could do growing around the clock, around the calendar year,” Bellefeuille said. “So we said, ‘We have to get in on this. Let’s give it a try.’ ”

Full article

Herbie Waters reads a message from political prisoner and elder Leonard Peltier marking 2024 National Day of Mourning

This is a clip from the latest episode of The Red Nation Podcast. Watch the full episode here.

https://www.freeleonardpeltiernow.org/

ACCRA, Ghana - Traditional healer Naa Busuafi used to feel empowered when leaving tribal ceremonies held on the outskirts of Accra, proud to be living out practices that colonists sought to eradicate.

But that pride has been replaced by fear and dread as a government bill intended to stamp out homosexuality has contributed to a violent backlash against LGBTQ+ people.

Busuafi’s peers connect people with spirits or with long-lost relatives. In TikTok videos of ceremonies, bare-chested women channelling male spirits chant and dance. Men wear a long dress with jewelry when the spirit dominating them is female.

These ceremonies would likely be banned under the proposed bill, which would criminalize cross-dressing. MPs tabled the legislation in June 2021 as a “family-values” bill. It was approved by Ghana’s parliament this past February, but has been tied up in court challenges ahead of the Dec. 7 national election.

The Canadian Press travelled to Ghana as part of an investigative series looking into a global backslide in LGBTQ+ rights and the consequences for Canada, including the role of pre-colonial gender identities.

Ghana’s proposed law would jail those promoting same-sex relations for up to a decade, coerce jail time or force what is referred to as conversion therapyfor those caught having gay sex. It also would ban certain medical treatments such as hormone therapy.

LGBTQ+ people say the proposal has led police to target them and has normalized street violence.

“Are you trying to say that our culture is a sin, that our tradition is a sin?” asked Busuafi, who uses the pronoun “they.”

They said Ghana had a relatively permissive attitude about homosexuality in the 1990s. A law that banned anal sex between men existed, but was rarely enforced.

Activists are now tapping into history to try to convince Ghanaians that gender and sexual minorities have a long-standing presence in the region.

“In the spirit realms, queerness exists. And it has existed from prehistoric times, before the slave trade,” said Busuafi’s friend Isaac Bill, who also uses “they” pronouns.

“We are the front-liners to the (LGBTQ+)community.”

full article

No Other Land is hard to watch — it should probably include a trigger warning. The 92-minute documentary is based on years of footage from Masafer Yatta, a collection of Palestinian villages in the hills south of Hebron in the West Bank.1 The villagers are resisting the Israeli army, which enters periodically with bulldozers to demolish homes — they want the land for training grounds and Jewish settlements. An old woman provides the film’s title: She is being forced off her land, but she has “no other land.”

We see lots of scuffles with soldiers and settlers (it is hard to tell the difference). Two different scenes end with Palestinians being shot. These shootings lack the drama of a Hollywood movie — we the viewers, just like the people on the ground, are left in shock wondering if this could have really happened. Compared to the horrific images coming out of Gaza and Lebanon, this violence seems muted. Yet in this documentary, we get to know people from Masafer Yatta, who are trying to live their lives when soldiers burst in. We see not just an eruption of the violence, but also years of suffering as a paralyzed man slowly dies from his injuries.

Scandal

When this film premiered at the Berlinale film festival in February, the German bourgeoisie was outraged — but not at the depictions of ethnic cleansing. After the film won both jury and audience awards, the two-co directors, Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, a Palestinian from Masafer Yatta and an Israeli from Jerusalem, gave speeches lasting just 36 and 21 seconds respectively. Abraham said:

In two days, we will go back to a land where we are not equal. I am living under a civilian law, and Basel is under military law. We live 30 minutes from one another, but I have voting rights, and Basel is not having [sic] voting rights. I am free to move where I want in this land. Basel is, like millions of Palestinians, locked in the occupied West Bank. This situation of apartheid between us, this inequality, it has to end.

These speeches were a moving plea for equality — yet German politicians only saw “Israel hatred” and “antisemitism.” These politicians are deeply complicit in the crimes portrayed in the film: the German government is second behind the U.S. in providing weapons for this colonial project.

full article

The march and rally took place to mark the genocide of Indigenous Peoples, which began with the arrival of European settlers to Turtle Island (a.k.a. North America) – including the Pilgrims to Plymouth in 1620.

The annual tradition, practiced since 1970, is a solemn day of mourning, solidarity, and action. It coincides with the American celebration of Thanksgiving, a holiday rooted in the US' devastating legacy of settler-colonialism.

"Once again, on so-called Thanksgiving, the United American Indians of New England and our supporters are gathered on this hill to observe a National Day of Mourning for the Indigenous people murdered by settler-colonialism and imperialism worldwide," said Kisha James, whose grandfather began the tradition.

In preparation for the day, many participants fasted from sundown Wednesday in honor of their ancestors and their stolen lands. They are challenging the false narratives around Thanksgiving that cast the feast as a show of friendship between white settlers and Indigenous people.

"Some Wampanoag ancestors did greet the Pilgrims and save them from starvation, and what did we, the Indigenous people of this continent, get in return for this kindness? Genocide, the theft of our lands, the destruction of our traditional ways of life, slavery, starvation, and never-ending oppression," James said.

"The Pilgrims are not ancient history, and we cannot allow their crimes to be sanitized and forgotten," she insisted. "That is why year after year, we have gathered on this hill to tear down the Thanksgiving mythology."

full article

The federal government has apologized for its role in the killing of sled dogs in Nunavik between the mid-1950s and the late 1960s.

In Kangiqsujuaq, a Nunavik village in Northern Quebec, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree also announced $45-million in compensation for Inuit in the region.

“The dog slaughter occurred across Nunavik, spreading grief and devastation from the brutality. For this, words are not enough to express the sorrow and regret we feel,” Mr. Anandasangaree said at a ceremony Saturday afternoon.

“The federal government takes responsibility for its role in the dog slaughter. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, federal officials knew that the dog slaughter was occurring and allowed it to continue, aware that Inuit way of life, health, and wellbeing depended on the dogs.

“On behalf of the government of Canada and of all the Canadians, I am sorry. Please forgive us.”

The apology comes more than 14 years after former Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean-Jacques Croteau issued a report finding Quebec provincial police officers killed more than 1,000 dogs in Nunavik “without any consideration for their importance to Inuit families.”

full article

(Trying to xpost from my phone)