Judi Lynn
Judi Lynn's Journal41 Years Since Jumping Bull (But 500 Years of Trauma)
41 Years Since Jumping Bull (But 500 Years of Trauma)
June 27, 2016
by Leonard Peltier
June 26th marks 41 years since the long summer day when three young men were killed at the home of the Jumping Bull family, near Oglala, during a firefight in which I and dozens of others participated. While I did not shoot (and therefore did not kill) FBI agents Ronald Williams and Jack Coler, I nevertheless have great remorse for the loss of their young lives, the loss of my friend Joe Stuntz, and for the grieving of their loved ones. I would guess that, like me, many of my brothers and sisters who were there that day wish that somehow they could have done something to change what happened and avoid the tragic outcome of the shootout.
This is not something I have thought about casually and then moved on. It’s something I think about every day. As I look back, I remember the expressions of both fear and courage on the faces of my brothers and sisters as we were being attacked. We thought we were going to be killed! We defended our elders and children as they scattered for protection and to escape. Native people have experienced such assaults for centuries, and the historical trauma of the generations was carried by the people that day — and in the communities that suffered further trauma in the days that followed the shootout, as the authorities searched for those of us who had escaped the Jumping Bull property.
As the First Peoples of Turtle Island, we live with daily reminders of the centuries of efforts to terminate our nations, eliminate our cultures, and destroy our relatives and families. To this day, everywhere we go there are reminders — souvenirs and monuments of the near extermination of a glorious population of Indigenous Peoples. Native Peoples as mascots, the disproportionately high incarceration of our relatives, the appropriation of our culture, the never-ending efforts to take even more of Native Peoples’ land, and the poisoning of that land all serve as reminders of our history as survivors of a massive genocide. We live with this trauma every day. We breathe, eat and drink it. We pass it on to our children. And we struggle to overcome it.
Like so many Native children, I was ripped away from my family at the age of 9 or so and taken away to get the “Indian” out of me at a boarding school. At that time, Native Peoples were not able to speak our own languages for fear of being beaten or worse. Our men’s long hair, which is an important part of our spiritual life, was forcibly cut off in an effort to shame us. Our traditional names were replaced by new European-American names.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/06/27/41-years-since-jumping-bull-500-years-of-trauma/
Poverty Doesn’t Stop Cuba From Keeping Its Black Citizens Healthy. So What’s America’s Excuse?
Poverty Doesn’t Stop Cuba From Keeping Its Black Citizens Healthy. So What’s America’s Excuse?
Cuba is poorer and, due to the embargo, has had less access to drugs and medical equipment, yet its citizens live just as long, if not longer than people in the U.S.
By: Tonyaa J. Weathersbee
Posted: June 27, 2016
Whenever I hear Cubans talk about their nation’s advancements in health care, and when I think about where the U.S. is on all this, what I hear is a tale of two scarcities. The tales, however, end differently for the people of color who are the main characters.
Because Cuba has, for the past five decades, struggled to bring health care to all its citizens in spite of a U.S. embargo that cripples its ability to purchase drugs and medical equipment, it has kept most of its people well because it cannot afford for them to get sick.
“If you don’t see the doctor, the doctor will come to see you,” Juan Jacomino, a Radio Havana journalist who acted as our guide during a recent trip to one of the island’s many polyclinics, told me.
So Cuba has taken great steps to build health care around family and community. Physicians and nurses share the same neighborhoods with their patients. If someone isn’t going for their checkups, it doesn’t go unnoticed.
More:
http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2016/06/poverty-doesnt-stop-cuba-from-keeping-its-black-citizens-healthy-so-whats-americas-excuse/
Why Mining Corporations Love Trade Deals
Why Mining Corporations Love Trade Deals
06/21/2016 09:57 am ET
Ben Beachy
Senior Policy Advisor, Responsible Trade Program, Sierra Club
From the salmon-spawning waters of Alaska to the cloud forests of Ecuador, communities are standing up to mining projects that threaten their health, environment, and livelihoods.
But mining corporations are fighting back with a powerful tool buried in trade and investment agreements: the ability to go to private, unaccountable tribunals and sue governments that act to protect communities from mining.
In these private tribunals, which sit outside of any domestic legal system, corporate lawyers - not judges - decide whether governments must pay corporations for halting destructive mining projects. To date, mining corporations have used these private tribunals to sue over 40 governments more than 100 times.
In two-thirds of the concluded cases, governments either have been ordered to pay the mining corporations or have settled with them, which can require handing over payment and/or weakening mining restrictions. In the 44 publicly available mining cases still pending, mining corporations are demanding over $53 billion from governments.
More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-beachy/why-mining-corporations-l_b_10589832.html
Argentines snatched as babies of Dirty War ‘disappeared’ grope for truth, real kin
Argentines snatched as babies of Dirty War ‘disappeared’ grope for truth, real kin
AP
Jun 27, 2016
BUENOS AIRES – Pedro Sandoval stopped celebrating Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and even his own birthday after he found out the truth: The mom and dad he knew growing up had stolen him from his biological parents, who were kidnapped, tortured and never heard from again during Argentina’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship.
“I’m still jealous of friends who can hug or get into arguments with their parents,” said Sandoval, 38, alluding to the biological parents he never met. “But I’m also thankful that I could at least hug my grandfather and grandmother.”
Four decades after the ruling military junta launched a systematic plan to steal babies born to political prisoners, Argentina’s search for truth is increasingly focused on the 500 or so newborns whisked away and raised by surrogate families. Several hundred have yet to be accounted for.
This spring a visiting U.S. President Barack Obama and Argentine President Mauricio Macri announced, on the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought the junta to power, that Washington would open up a trove of U.S. intelligence files from Argentina’s Dirty War era, when an estimated 30,000 people were killed or forcibly “disappeared” by the regime. It may take a few years for the documents to be released, but the news gave families hope for word on the fate of other stolen babies.
More:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/06/27/world/social-issues-world/argentines-snatched-babies-dirty-war-disappeared-grope-truth-real-kin/#.V3BTw-RTEq0
TransCanada slaps the US gov't with US$15 bil. suit
Source: Agence France-Presse
TransCanada slaps the US gov't with US$15 bil. suit
AFP
June 27, 2016, 12:19 am TWN
OTTAWA -- TransCanada has formally filed a US$15 billion suit against the U.S. government for blocking its controversial project for an oil pipeline linking Canada with the Gulf of Mexico, legal documents show.
The company first announced its intention to sue in January, but then sought negotiations toward "an amicable settlement of the dispute" surrounding the Keystone XL pipeline, according to legal documents posted on its website.
Unable to settle, the company formally filed suit late Friday, asserting that denial of a permit to complete the pipeline was "unjustified" under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and that the decision also exceeded U.S. President Barack Obama's constitutional powers.
The suit is based on Chapter 11 of NAFTA — the 1994 trade pact between the United States, Canada and Mexico — which aims to protect foreign investors from potential losses.
Read more: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/americas/2016/06/27/470449/TransCanada-slaps.htm
4 Things to Remember About Chile's 1973 Coup
4 Things to Remember About Chile's 1973 Coup
Chile remebers its socialist president Salvador Allende
Published 26 June 2016
June 26 marks the birthday of former president Salvador Allende, who died in the coup.
Salvador Allende, the iconic left-wing leader and one of Chile’s best known presidents, was born on this day on June 26, 1908. The tragic fate of his government, overthrown in a right-wing coup in 1973, changed the history of the country—and region—forever. On September 11, Allende's socialist was toppled by a U.S.-backed military coup led by Augusto Pinochet, barely three years after being elected.
Allende wasn't the only casualty of the coup, as thousands of Chileans were subsequently tortured, jailed and killed by the military regime. Democracy in Chile was irreparably altered, and even now the country continues to be scarred by one of the darkest eras of fear and repression on the continent.
After winning the 1970s presidential elections in Chile, the left-wing Salvador Allende worked toward social reforms and justice, nationalizing natural resources, building homes for the poor and focusing on better access to health and education.
Allende fought until the last hours of his life to defend the social gains and constitutional order. On his last speech, just minutes before the military bombed the presidential palace, he gave Chileans one last message of hope. “I will not resign. Placed in a historic transition, I will pay the loyalty of the people with my life. And I tell them I have the certainty that the seed that we have planted in the dignified conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans will not be shriveled. You have the power, they can destroy us, but social progress cannot be stopped neither by crime nor by force. History is ours, and people make it happen.”
More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/4-Things-to-Remember-About-Chiles-1973-Coup-20160626-0012.html
Paraguay’s Ousted Leader to Run in 2018 Presidential Election
Paraguay’s Ousted Leader to Run in 2018 Presidential Election
Published 26 June 2016 (4 hours 43 minutes ago)
The leftist candidate was endorsed by Indigenous and other grassroots organizations, during an event in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion.
The Guasu Front, which is the main leftist electoral alliance in Paraguay, confirmed on Saturday that former president Fernando Lugo will run for the presidency in the 2018 general election. Lugo served as president of Paraguay from 2008 until June 22, 2012, when his tenure was prematurely cut short in what most leaders in the region branded a "parliamentary coup."
During an event in the Paraguayan capital in which Lugo addressed crowds, the leftist candidate was endorsed by social movements, Indigenous and grassroots organizations.
"The Front Guasu entered in the political arena to stay, we did not come to do a fashion show or exhibitionism in Paraguayan politics, we came to stay and transform our history," said Lugo.
When he became president of Paraguay, Lugo broke the six-decade rule of the right-wing Colorado Party and was seen as part of the progressive wave of leaders elected through Latin America, sometimes called the "Pink Tide." But the former Catholic priest was removed from office by Congress in a trial that lasted just 24 hours.
More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Paraguays-Ousted-Leader-to-Run-in-2018-Presidential-Election-20160626-0016.html
Peruvians Don't Want Fujimori Inside the Congress
Peruvians Don't Want Fujimori Inside the Congress
Published 25 June 2016 (13 hours 58 minutes ago)
A poll showed that 58 percent of citizens believe the next Congress should be chaired by a parliamentarian who does not belong to Fujimori's party.
Keiko Fujimori, who lost the presidential race in Peru early this month, is facing more rejection by Peruvians who don’t want any member of her political party to chair the Congress, where her conservative Fuerza Popular controls 73 of 130 seats.
The daughter of Alberto Fujimori, the imprisoned former dictator, conceded defeat to conservative economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski on June 10, ending five days of suspense over Peru's closest presidential election in decades.
A poll revealed on Saturday that 58 percent of citizens believe that the next Congress, to be installed on July 28, should be chaired by a parliamentarian who does not belong to Popular Force.
But the decision now depends on the Congress, which is dominated by the Fujimoris, actually the main concern of people is that lawmakers loyal to former dictator are going to block any move from Kuczynski, who won by a very small margin and with the support of the leftists and the “antifujimoristas” who reject the return to power of the infamous family.
More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Peruvians-Dont-Want-Fujimori-Inside-the-Congress---20160625-0020.html
How a Guatemalan murder trial could forever change Canadian overseas mining
How a Guatemalan murder trial could forever change Canadian overseas mining
The murder trial at the centre of a legal battle involving Toronto-based HudBay offers a glimpse of why Ontario courts took the landmark step of hearing a Guatemalan dispute in Canada.
[font size=1]
Angelica Choc reflects at the grave of her husband, anti-mining activist Adolfo Ich. On September 27, 2009, Ich was shot and killed. Mynor Padilla, former head of security at the Guatemalan Nickel Company (CGN), is currently on trial in Guatemala for murder. (James Rodriguez / For the Toronto Star) [/font]
By Marina JimenezForeign Affairs Writer
Mon., June 20, 2016
EL ESTOR, GUATEMALA—The murder trial of Mynor Padilla, a former security guard for a mine owned by a then subsidiary of HudBay Minerals Inc., provides a fascinating glimpse into Guatemala’s problematic justice system.
Padilla, 52, is charged with killing Adolfo Ich, a Mayan Q’eqchi’ community leader, and shooting German Chub, a bystander, during a protest on contested land at Fenix nickel mine in El Estor, in eastern Guatemala, on Sept 27, 2009.
These alleged crimes are also at the centre of a series of landmark lawsuits in Ontario Superior Court, where HudBay, a Toronto-based company, faces three negligence claims, launched by Ich, Chub and 12 other Q’eqchi’.
The cases are being watched closely by Canada’s mining companies, as it is the first time lawyers are attempting to hold a Canadian company liable for actions of a subsidiary operating overseas.
More:
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/06/20/how-a-guatemalan-murder-trial-could-forever-change-canadian-overseas-mining.html
How a Guatemalan murder trial could forever change Canadian overseas mining
How a Guatemalan murder trial could forever change Canadian overseas mining
The murder trial at the centre of a legal battle involving Toronto-based HudBay offers a glimpse of why Ontario courts took the landmark step of hearing a Guatemalan dispute in Canada.
By Marina JimenezForeign Affairs Writer
Mon., June 20, 2016
EL ESTOR, GUATEMALA—The murder trial of Mynor Padilla, a former security guard for a mine owned by a then subsidiary of HudBay Minerals Inc., provides a fascinating glimpse into Guatemala’s problematic justice system.
Padilla, 52, is charged with killing Adolfo Ich, a Mayan Q’eqchi’ community leader, and shooting German Chub, a bystander, during a protest on contested land at Fenix nickel mine in El Estor, in eastern Guatemala, on Sept 27, 2009.
These alleged crimes are also at the centre of a series of landmark lawsuits in Ontario Superior Court, where HudBay, a Toronto-based company, faces three negligence claims, launched by Ich, Chub and 12 other Q’eqchi’.
The cases are being watched closely by Canada’s mining companies, as it is the first time lawyers are attempting to hold a Canadian company liable for actions of a subsidiary operating overseas.
More:
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/06/20/how-a-guatemalan-murder-trial-could-forever-change-canadian-overseas-mining.html
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