Video: Tibet's Hidden Kingdom (National Geographic)

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This documentary tells how Britain first spied on and then invaded Tibet in the 19th century. The first part is about Nain Singh who was a trained English surveyor spy and who disguised as a pilgrim mapped out the route from India to Lhasa by counting his own footsteps in the 1860s. He also mapped the longitude, latitude and altitude of Lhasa for the first time.

Nain Singh

In the 19th century Tibet was threatened by the encrouching British Empire from northern India and by the Russian Empire of the tsars expanding south into Central Asia. By the 1850s Tibet had banned all foreigners from Tibet and shut its borders.

The second half of the film tells about Colonel Francis Younghusband who led a British armed expedition that massacred between 500 and 1300 Tibetans in 1904. A treaty followed in 1906 that required Tibet to open its border to British India.

Francis Younghusband

After a mystical experience in Tibet, Younghusband later in his life got more into the occult and came to believe in free love.

Recent news about Tibet

• Tibetan Monks Tell Tale of Escape From China (nytimes.com)
• Monks defy China, flee to India refuge (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Tibetan Monks and Nuns Turn Their Minds Toward Science (nytimes.com)
• Tibetan Exile Group Seeks Your Used Audio Recording Gear (boingboing.net)

The California Valley Miwok Tribe needs your help - tomorrow July 1, 2009

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Dear Family and Friends

We have been told that tomorrow, July 1, 2009 is a VERY important day.

In a notice we received from Laura Davis, Associate Deputy Secretary of the Interior, Washington DC, it is stated that "The U.S. Supreme Cout issued an opinion interpreting a provision of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 ("IRA") that impacts the authority of the Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for Tribes"

"Please see attachment for more info"

The importance is: "In keeping with Interior's commitment on government-to-government consultation.... key word being "CONSULTATION"....

We were given a TIP that many VERY IMPORTANT officials, state and federal will be attending tomorrow's CONSULTATION....

To all of you who have been following our plight for justice... we are asking you to attend the meeting(in force)scheduled for Wednesday, July 1, 2009 (9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.) - Hilton Sacramento Inn, Folsom room, Harvard Street, Sacramento, California (916) 922-4700

Today, we received info that many important officials from DC are in Sacramento today and will be at the meeting tomorrow, including legislatures.

Again... we were told... this is VERY IMPORTANT and officials are there to LISTEN... this would be a VERY GOOD OPPORTUNITY to get our critical situation brought to the awarness of these officials.

Unfortunately for us (the Tribe) we are afraid that if we leave the tribal property, the San Joaquin County Sheriff's will seize the opportunity to overtake our Tribal office, so we cannot leave these grounds.

We understand that this is quite a bit to ask of you... but many have asked what they can do to help us find a resolve to our issues and to get justice.... the irony is that our problem started in Sacramento and its fitting that the protest for justice for our Tribe, be brought up in Sacramento, again... consultation means that the officials are there to listen and anything of IMPORTANCE can be brought to the floor at that meeting.

PLEASE BE OUR VOICE.... The opportunity is here and now... put a stop to the injustices being inflicted upon us... help right the wrongs... Independence Day for the U.S. is just around the corner... help our tribe gain independece from the outside interferences of the Gaming Developer Albert D. Seeno and his associates (Chadd Everone and Velma Whitebear) who have been tring to destroy us by spreading false rumors of a split tribe, and a leadership dispute. Their lies have caused the Bureau to wrongfully withhold our 638 contract for 2008/2009 and their criminal actions of deliberately given misinformation to the California Gambling Control Commission have caused CGCC to illegally withhold our RSTF (Revenue Sharing Trust Fund) monies of which in near or over 5 million dollars.

There is no reason as to why we are sitting here pennyless, near homeless and IGNORED by not only the BIA but by Government Officials. We are a federally recgonized Tribe that is being abused and ignored... our suffering is great, our pain is great and through you are voice will be great..

Our hearts are filled with hope... anyone who can attend tomorrow meeting on our behalf will be bringing justice to our cause.. for those who cannot attend... please keep us in your prayers and know that we are still here fighting to survive.. not only as our Tribe... but as Indian people.

With much Respect and Many Blessings!!!

Let our cries be heard and our prayers be answered

/s/
Silvia Burley
Chairperson
s.burley@californiavalleymiwoktribe-nsn.gov

and the
Tribal Council & Tribal Members of the California Valley Miwok Tribe
office@cvmt.net

Mailing Address Physical Address
California Valley Miwok Tribe California Valley Miwok Tribe
1163 E. March Lane 10601 Escondido Pl
Suite D-PMB#812 Stockton, California 95212
Stockton, California 95210-4512

Tribal Office 209.931.4567 or 209.487.9519
Fax 209.931.4333 or 209.487.8579
My Tribal Cell Phone 209.470.5963

http://www.californiavalleymiwoktribe-nsn.gov
http://californiavalleymiwoktribe.us

For more information see my former blog on this topic

The genocide on Native Americans

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It is said that 100 million Natives Americans were killed when immigrants, or invaders, from Europe came to the new continent. Many Indians were enslaved as well and sometimes shipped to Europe or other places. The Indian tribes that remained were repatriated or assimilated, apart from a very few. In these days, many Native Americans have become part of Western society more or less. Those of the American Indians who want to keep more of their own identity and want to stay on their own land are forced to live on reservations, where numerous government regulations control the residents' lives.
These misdeeds are usally not justified at all, they have just been committed. Some feel the need though to pronounce justifications. I heard some religious Christian leaders claiming that although the murder on Indians wasn't right, it was inevitable that "Christian religion being the major instrument in God's providence" would become the dominating religion on the continent.
I'm writing these lines from the viewpoint of an outsider, more or less. I wasn't born as a Native American, but my desire that righteousness will be done forces me to look at the facts as they are.
I come at a standstill in my writing here. I just don't know what exactly should be done. The truth should be made clear, the word should go out, that's for sure. But could there be compensation for lost lives, for lost happiness? Something must be done....
The descendants of those who committed the crimes and the descendants of the victims both bear responsibility for finding a solution.
Descendants of the victims have to stand up because they owe it to their dead ancestors.
Descendants of the criminals inherited the legacy of the misdeeds of their ancestors. Though these descendants are not personally responsible, they still have to do something. When your parents left you with huge financial debts, you also are not personally responsible, but you have to do something about it else your life is miserable. Descendants of those who committed the crimes are obliged to stand up and do what can be done to makes things in order.
If they don't do it, they will not be able to find the path of original spirituality in their lives. Trying to forget about the sins of your ancestors is one of the causes of widespread materialism.
May 17, 2006

A glimpse of native European history

We lived in harmony with nature. The days were very cold, rarely the ice melted. We hunted the mammoth for their meat and skin. Their long ivory teeth made fine tent poles. When the buffaloes came, we went out for their meat. It took a very brave man to kill a sabre tooth tiger to use his teeth for daggers.
Our ancestors were always near to us and taught us the way from spirit world. Our women made beautiful pots. Each pot had it's shape and scripts. Some were for storing food, others for keeping medicines.
Then there came wild men from the east. These new people were wild men on horses, attacking us with their warrior axes made of stone. They killed many of us, took our women and changed the peaceful ways of our elders. Later nobody knew anymore better than that these invaders were part of the land. Now they are even called the ancestors or our children. For us, they came as enemies.
Later other tribes came from the east and from the south. From many i don't know their names. The Romans came and controlled everything for long time. The Franks in the spirit of the Romans, white people with wild beards from the north ravaged the land (how afraid we were, they kept coming back), the Spanish in the spirit of the Romans, the French in the spirit of the Romans, not long ago invaders from the east in the spirit of the Romans and in the spirit of the horse riders with stone axes.
So many more have come. Many of our enemies were invited by their friends, who were not always our friends, but who lived with us or became our husbands and wives and later our own children. It's all very confusing. You don't know anymore who is who. On earth, our story is not really known. It's only known to the eldest ancestors, the earliest natives of these lands.
Our pains are very, very old. I don't know of years anymore, were they thousands or were they hundreds. You don't count time from where this story is told. But our tears do count, even they are countless. We still remember the old days and do still honor many of our old traditions. Today's people don't understand anymore. They have become used to live with the enemies. Even we ourselves had to accept them as our daily neighbors, though very often it was still war.

When year-thousands pass by, everything changes. Only our desires are still there and our hopes that the good days of the past will return one day.
May 15, 2006

Arrival of first Native Americans

Today i tell you a story that was told to me. The story is about how the first people came to America. Most, but not all of them, had a red skin. From where they came, life was good. Tribes of different skin colors lived in harmony. They had one chief, he was called the Primeaval Chief. The Creator had given the Primeaval Chief the task to unite the tribes. He gathered many tribes under him. He was of a race in which people got very old. Some of his relatives lived over 200 years. Also the Primeaval Chief became very old. He was very smart, but there was betrayal in his family. Because of that betrayal, evil tribes invaded and took away the good grounds from the good tribes. The Primeaval Chief sent the tribes away, to search for safe places. Some of the tribes went westwards. They eventually ended up in Western Europe. They went on until they reached the shores and could not go farther. Other tribes went to the northeast. The farther they got, the colder it got. They did not find good territory. They had decided to leave and could not go back. In front of them there was ice and water. They hunted on the way. The journey took several years. Sometimes water barred their way. They made boats to paddle to the next island of ice. Almost all of them died on the way. It was especially hard for the children. One man was very large. He loved children and he carried several of them during the entire journey. On arrival he died of exhaustion. His name was Massa.A small group managed to survive. Suddenly they could go southward again. It got warmer and better. They found a rich land.When the tribe had arrived, they had a gathering of chiefs and elders. They knew that their flight had been caused by betrayal that had given the upperhand to their enemies. To prevent betrayal in the future, they gave their tribe a new name: The Twin Brothers Tribe. Each person in the tribe had his twin brother. If needed, a twin brother would give his life for his brother.For long centuries, the new and good grounds were theirs. But the enemies that had chased them away from their original place grew in numbers and expanded their territory over the year-thousands. Eventually they also found America and brought with them the problems that had rested for so long.
May 12, 2006

Native Americans pursue the return of ancestral remains for reburial

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Since about two decades Native Americans are pursuing to have human remains of their ancestors and accompanying artifacts return to them. These human remains are then reburied in ceremonies.

Important pieces of legislation to make this possible were enacted in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Major Native American collections are held at two museums, the National Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of the American Indian, both independent Smithsonian institutes

Called home: Native Americans pursue the return of ancestral remains to places of origin for reburial- Montrose Daily Press

“After decades of excavation by archaeologists and displays of Native American remains in museums, a movement began about 20 years ago to reverse that trend. In the early 1990s, various Indian tribes petitioned Congress for laws to return not only human remains of Native Americans to their places of origin, but accompanying artifacts as well.

"Tribes didn't like it (the practice), but there was nothing they could do about it until now," McCook said."

“To date, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History has identified 18,000 out of 33,000 human remains as belonging to Native Americans. Of 5,400 of the human remains, 3,652 have been repatriated. A large number (90,159) of funerary objects have also been disbursed back to tribes.”

See also

• SULAIR: Native American Repatriation & Reburial - "Issues Relevant to Reburial of Native American Human Remains at Stanford,"

• Reburial Dispute - At some point the remains will be repatriated for reburial. Documents related to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act

• Smithsonian Institution - America's national educational facility with 19 museums, 9 research centers and over 140 affiliate museums around the world.
  

Image via Wikipedia

Hall of Mammals at the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC

Native foods endangered by GMO foods

In an effort to reduce corn stem-borer infestations, corporate and public researchers partner to develop local [transgenic] Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) corn varieties suitable for Kenya.

Image via Wikipedia

To preserve native foods and environments around the world, the organization Slow Food International fights a battle against the current industrialized food industry and globalized economy.

"Pale blue Araucana chicken eggs in Chile, 500-year-old raisin varieties in Afghanistan and Wenchi volcanic honey in Ethiopia, are just a few examples of the indigenous and artisanal products Slow Food International unites around the world.

Slow Food is a grassroots, eco-gastronomic nonprofit organization; founded in 1986 in Italy to protest the opening of a McDonald’s near the Spanish steps of Rome, it’s now a global movement."

"Today, genetically modified crops, biopiracy, environmental degradation and the growing distance of tribal members from traditional food production and consumption threaten many of these indigenous food products.

Manoonim, or wild rice, in the oral history of the Anishinaabeg in Minnesota is a gift from the Creator, and is a centerpiece of the nutrition and sustenance of their community. For generations, each September people set out in canoes to harvest the wild rice, an aquatic grass from the remote lakes of northern Minnesota. Today, the high quality wild rice, which dates back to prehistory, has to compete on the market with cultivated wild rice grown in Californian man-made paddies."
Read the entire article in Indian Country Today


Read more

• 75% of all processed foods in US contain GMO ingredients (rawlivingfoods.typepad.com)
• Genetically Modified Foods May Genetically Modify You (takepart.com)
• Demand Better Oversight From USDA For Genetically Modified Crops (takepart.com)
• Europeans ban Monsanto's Modified Maize - HURRAH! (iflizwerequeen.com)
• Genetically Modified Food Experiments Use Kids for Guinea Pigs (ecochildsplay.com)
• US Association of Physicians calls for Moratorium on GMO Foods (isiria.wordpress.com)

Video about genetically modified food

The Dangers of Genetically Modified Food - Jeffery Smith Lecture - FULL VERSION - 1:00:08 - Nov 21, 2007

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This lecture was created by combining the 6 pieces posted on YouTube by The Kick Them All Out Project. http://www.KickThemAllOut.com This project shows you how we can take back control of Congress from the special interests that control it now and put an end to things like GMO foods. This lecture by Jeffrey Smith, author of Seeds of Deception, summarizes the contents of his book, which explains the health dangers of genetically modified foods, and the industry cover-up.

Remote Aboriginal settlements to be shut down

Australia with Northern Territory highlighted

Image via Wikipedia

Australia Labor government moves to shut down remote Aboriginal settlements

By Susan Allan
27 June 2009

"The federal and Northern Territory (NT) Labor governments last month unveiled a series of free-market measures that will deepen the poverty and suffering in indigenous communities.

Working Future, announced by the NT government on May 20, seeks, under the auspices of the federal government’s NT intervention, to force the estimated 10,000 Aboriginal people living in some 580 remote “homeland” settlements into 20 special settlements or so-called “economic hubs”. The homeland communities have been defined as “non-viable”.

hildren playing at a homeland settlement near Alice Springs

Echoing both the former Howard government, and the current Labor government, which has adopted Howard’s 2007 police-military intervention as its own, NT chief minister Paul Henderson claimed that his government would end “indigenous disadvantage” by creating “reservoirs of opportunity” in the 20 hub towns.

In reality, Working Future is aimed at clearing the way for mining, pastoral and tourism interests at the direct expense of Aboriginal communities. The policy flows directly from the Rudd government’s earlier decision to prioritise 26 indigenous communities across the country for new housing and infrastructure, marking a drive to shut down many settlements."

Read more of this article by World Socialist Website

Read more

• Helping Aborigines 'to take time' (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Sina Brown-Davis : Australia promises to end racial discrimination - editor.novajoservo@gmail.com (angryindian.blogspot.com)
• Australia backs indigenous rights (news.bbc.co.uk)

California Valley Miwok tribal eviction in process - help!

The California Valley Miwok Tribe is threatened with eviction from their homes and land. At this moment they have barricaded themselves in.
The first section of this blog is from a bulletin by my friend  Shahuna, who took upon him the task to help this tribe and who is in contact with them. Please do what you can to help this native tribe. What's happening to them will happen to all natives, if we don't stand up and fight together.
From what Shahuna told me, this matter is complex. The tribe is threatened with a foreclosure.
Yet, as i see it this is not just about recent financial and legal affairs. There is a longer history to it. Native American tribes lost their land long ago and were put away in reservations where they have very limited economic opportunities. This historic perspective should be considered first of all. The wrongs of the past need to be corrected first of all. Cosmic Eagles



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Shahuna's bulletin
I'd like to ask y'all to sign and circulate this petition. The Miwok Nation are about to be evicted from their homes and land. We need as many people on this as possible.

Thank you in advance.









http:/ /www.petitionspot.com/petitions/cvmtUCSD/

We the students of UCSD, our friends, and allies stand in solidarity to the injustice that is occurring to our brothers and sisters of the California Valley Miwok Tribe (CVMT). They are a federally recognized Tribe, (listed in the Federal Register and in the Dept. of the Interior/Bureau of Indian Affairs, Tribal Leaders Directory, Winter 2009), yet they received an eviction notice to leave their tribal lands TODAY JUNE 17!

The entire tribe, elders and children included, is going to be removed by force from their land with no place to go. They are forced to barricade themselves in the tribal office. Using filing cabinets and anything else they can use to secure the building in hopes to protect their culture, their people, and basically everything they have.

We ask that Miwok tribe be allowed to stay in the land they have lived on for 7 years and be given the chance to dialogue with the appropriate legislatures and/or officials about the matter.

If you can help; by all means contact Silvia Burley, Chairperson of the California Valley Miwok Tribal Council, at 209 931 4567

More info: http://intercontinentalcry.org/alert-court-ordered-eviction-of-california-valley-miwok-tribe/

Thank you,
from the Office of Local Affairs at University of California: San Diego
email: aslocalaffairs@ucsd.edu
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More information and videos

From the website of the tribe
"The local Bureau of Indian Affairs office has been influenced by a group that intends to take over the Tribe in order to conduct casino gaming under the Tribe’s name. The Tribe is fighting to protect our tribal sovereignty to determine our membership and elect our own leadership. 

For several years, the California Valley Miwok Tribe has successfully fought off the efforts of Chadd Everone, a.k.a. Chadd Ludwig, and his associates who are trying to take over the Tribe.

In addition to taking over the Tribe, Everone and his associates are seeking to take the Tribe’s share of the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund. Through the influence of two former California Gambling Control Commission employees, Peter Melincoe and Arlo Smith, Everone and his associates have successfully halted the disbursement of the Tribe’s RSTF money. Everone sought investors in his scheme by pledging the Tribe’s Revenue Sharing Trust Fund money. 

HTML clipboard

Everone and his associates have managed to convince the BIA that there is a large group of “putative members” of the Tribe that deserve to be enrolled into the Tribe. This is a fabrication that the Tribe is trying to dispel."

http://californiavalleymiwoktribe.us/

California Valley Miwok Tribe - Tribal Extinction Conducted by the BIA/Developers - Part 2 (part 1 is the video above)

California Valley Miwok Tribe Chairperson Silvia Burley Native Voice TV Interview - Part 1

California Valley Miwok Tribe Chairperson Silvia Burley Native Voice TV Interview - Part 2

California Valley Miwok Tribe Chairperson Silvia Burley Native Voice TV Interview - Part 3

News Article

ALERT: Court Ordered Eviction of California Valley Miwok Tribe

Bay Area Indymedia - ‎Jun 18, 2009‎If you can help, please do not hesitate calling Silvia Burley, Chairperson of the California Valley Miwok Tribal Council, at 209 931 4567

Sign the petition
http:/ /www.petitionspot.com/petitions/cvmtUCSD/

 

Image by pierre pouliquin via Flickr

Aboriginal people of Australia held a recent meeting where they summarized their rights and complaints. Reading this makes clear how Aboriginal people are still being treated as lower-rank citizens. Their history has been one of being oppressed by the dominating population of Australia, who are really only immigrants. Here follow some quotes from their statement.

"We members of the Prescribed Area Peoples’ Alliance have made the following statement from our June 18-19 meeting in Darwin

Everybody else has their rights. Aboriginal people aren’t recognised. They don’t want to listen to us because they want our land. We are our own leaders, passed down through our families. We don’t need leaders in parliament to speak. We can use our own voice. The government says they support the declaration of the rights of indigenous peoples but they haven’t made it legal. The government has to make it legal. All Aboriginal people are being treated as second class citizens."

 

"We shouldn’t have separate Aboriginal policies. Racism cuts us away. It feels like we’re not citizens of Australia. People discriminate against us in every way. We don’t have our rights.

We went through racism and hardship at school in the old days, and today our children are still going through that. There is still a lot of prejudice. The government is running us down altogether under the intervention. It’s demeaning to us."

"Homelands are our traditional country. It’s where we teach our kids about our culture. It’s been handed down from generation to generation. We need to keep the traditional ties to our land.

People are healthier and stronger living on homelands. Eating traditional foods. It’s the right environment to raise kids.

Everybody pays rent but there are no basic services like running water for our homelands. The government says no more funding for services.

If people are forced to leave off homelands they will lose everything, their identity. When the communities are empty the bulldozers will come in. Why would we give it up now, after what our old people went through to get it?"

Quotes taken from http://linksunten.indymedia.org/de/node/8158

Read more

-- Intervention has stolen our rights: elder - ABC Online 

--Protest heads to Darwin -Northern Territory - ‎Jun 16, 2009‎

 

Akaka Bill debate renewed (Hawaii)

Hawaii

Image via Wikipedia

The Akaka Bill is going to be brought for Congress once again. The bill proposes a Native Hawaiian government similar to those established for American Indian tribes and Alaska Natives. The bill was first introduced in Congress in 2,000 and brought up again and again. Backers of the bill believe it stands a good chance of being approved this year.
Most mainstream groups in Hawaii support the bill but some opponents say its approval would perpetuate wrongs rooted in the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.
Cosmic Eagles

News articles

-- Akaka Bill debate renewed News from Indian Country
"Opposition to a proposed Native Hawaiian government comes from those who fear race-based privileges and Hawaiians who believe it would forfeit their 116-year-old claims to independence.
Most mainstream groups, including the state government’s Hawaiian agency and leaders of both political parties, support passage of the legislation, which began moving through Congress again this year with its first committee hearing June 11. But even they would like to make changes to it.
Backers of the Akaka Bill, named after Hawaii Sen. Daniel Akaka, say the measure has never stood a better chance of becoming law since it was first introduced in Congress in 2000 and brought up every session since. Hawaii-born President Barack Obama has said he would sign the bill."

-- Akaka Bill should pass with new amendments Honolulu Star-Bulletin

-- HAKU MO'OLELO Maui News

U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka, of Hawai'i.

Image via Wikipedia

Videos

Akaka Bill To Be Presented On Capitol Hill Again

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The Akaka Bill: Part 1 of 3

The Akaka Bill: Part 2 of 3



The Akaka Bill: Part 3 of 3




More information

-- Akaka Bill Full Text, As Introduced in the United States Senate

-- Akaka Bill = Fraud (angryindian.blogspot.com)