UN releases first publication on The State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

Wed, January 20, 2010

Daily issues of violence, continuing assimilation policies, marginalisation, forced removal or relocation, denial of land rights and many other abuses faced by indigenous communities are detailed in the United Nation’s first report onThe State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma, welcomed the launch of the report. Calma said that we are not immune in Australia from the challenges and issues raised in this report.

In April 2009, the Australian Government formally endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Calma said the challenge now is to ensure that the Declaration continually informs and shapes government policy and program development.

“In recent years, as a nation, we have taken some giant steps forward in relation to our Indigenous peoples,” said Calma. 

“Our own Commission has completed significant research and undertaken projects concerning many of the key issues highlighted in the United Nation’s first report on The State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

“However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples remain marginalised in Australia and face entrenched poverty and ongoing discrimination on a daily basis.

“We will not have provided solutions to all the challenges we face until Indigenous people have true participation and are real partners in efforts to Close the Gap in health, education, housing and have access to the same human rights protections as other Australians,” Calma said.

The State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples report is a collaborative effort authored by seven independent experts working with the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. It is available on the UNPFII website.

January 2010

In This Issue: Woodbine co-sponsors Youth Climate Justice Jam Community Watershed Group MLK Marade Woodbine co-sponsors Youth Climate Justice Jam Soulaju Youth Jam: Friday,January 15, 2010 @ Green Spaces Denver 6:30 – 9:30PM Event to bridge worlds of Art & Sustainability On January 15th, Denver artists Molina Soleil & Aju will co-host a youth jam in collaboration with Green Spaces Denver. The event is geared towards high school students, but is open to young people of all ages. College students are encouraged to attend. The purpose of the event is twofold: 1) to create a safe, fun, and dynamic environment that brings together youth from across the city for a night of art, entertainment, andcommunity education; 2) to get young people of diverse backgrounds interested in green activism and sustainability issues.  This event will be held at Green Spaces at 1368 26th, Denver, CO, Five Points(cross streets are Walnut & 26th) See more

Basins of Relations: Community Watershed Groups Saturday January 16, 11am - 3pm Woodbine Ecology Center is launching a network of Community Watershed Action Groups to promote sustainable watersheds for sustainable communities. Join us for an informational and organizational meeting to learn about sustainable watersheds, conservation hydrology, available resources and how to facilitate the creation of a community-based action group in your home watershed that can be part of a network of similarly minded groups in the greater Upper South Platte River Basin. No prior knowledge or experience with watersheds is required, just a willingness to learn and work with others. This program will be facilitated by Pavlos Stavropoulos, Sustainability Coordinator for Woodbine Ecology Center. If you can, please bring something to share for our potluck lunch. All programs and events at Woodbine are zero waste. Woodbine provides recycling and composting receptacles. If you can, please bring a reusable water bottle and reusable plate and silverware with you. We will have extras for those who cannot provide their own. See more

Martin Luther King Marade Monday January 18, 10am - 2pm Join Woodbine Ecology Center as we march with thousands of people from all overColorado to honor the life and work for Dr. Martin Luther King. Meet us at Cit Park in Denver. We will gather around the MLK statue at 9:30am (look for our banner). The Marade is scheduled to step off at 10am and will conclude at Civic Center Park. be dressed for the weather and be prepared to wolk for a while. We recommend comfortable walking shoes and a reusable water bottle. Families welcome. For more information, or to RSVP, write to info@woodbinecenter.org

Global Minga in Defense of Mother Earth and Her Peoples, Oct 12- 16

On May 31 the IV Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala (the Americas) called for a Global Mobilization “In defense of Mother Earth and Her People and against the commercialization of life, pollution and the criminalization of indigenous and social movements.”

Marking the day Christopher Columbus first set foot on Abya Yala, 518 years ago, the mobilization will begin on October 12, 2009.

Numerous organizations and social movements have endorsed the mobilization. Among them: ONIC, National Indigenous Organization of Colombia; CONACAMI, National Confederation of Communities Affected by the mining Industry in Peru; ECUARUNARI, Confederation of the Peoples of Kichwa Nationality of Ecuador; ONPIA, The Organization of Indigenous Peoples and Nations in Argentina; Araucanian Parliament (Chile); CONAIE, Confederation of Indigenous Nationalties of Ecuador; CONIC, National Coordination of Indigenous and Farmers; Council of Peoples of the San Marcos Community; CONAVIGUA, The National Coordination of Guatamalan Widows; ARPI, Association of Indigenous Peoples of the Central Rainforest of Peru; MCP, Summit Movement of the Peoples; CRIC, Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca; FDCC, The Departmental Federation of the Peasants of Cusco; ATTAC France; Rootforce (America); and others.

Some of the actions being organized around the world, will include:

·  Demonstrations in cities and urban communities and rural areas of the world, demanding specific local and national goals, and the common goal of the global Minga (the Defence of Mother Earth and all forms of life);

·  Protests in front of the offices of transnational extractive (oil, mining, timber, water) agrofuel, and other companies;

·  Protests and other (non-violent) actions targeting infrastructure, such as highways, mines, power plants, pipelines and other industrial developments; and

·  Forums and conferences on cultural and political defense of Mother Earth and the People Against Commodification of Life, Pollution and Criminalization.

Several other efforts will also carry forward, as expressed in the document, Minga in Defence of Pachamama, Mother Earth, and her Peoples: the development of Climate Justice Courts (in coordination with the Foundation of Bolivia Solon, Climate Action, Friends of the Earth and other allies); The organization of Assemblies and joint strategies aimed at the Kyoto Protocol conference in December 2009 in Copenhagen; and proposals for alternatives to the Climate Change Convention, Biodiversity Convention, UN, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and similar bodies from other continents.

 Saving Native American languages Saving Native American languages By Jane O'Brien BBC News, Washington More than 2,400 languages around the world are in danger of extinction, according to Unesco, and the US is second only to India in having the highest number of endangered languages. The US has already lost more than a third of the indigenous languages that existed before European colonisation, and the remaining 192 are classed by Unesco as ranging between "unsafe" and "extinct". As recently as 2008, the Alaskan tongue Eyak became officially extinct with the death of Marie Smith Jones, the last native speaker. "We need more funding and more effort to return these languages to everyday use," says Fred Nahwooksy, of the National Museum of the American Indian. "We are making progress but money needs to be spent on revitalising languages, not just documenting them. A lot of tribal communities say that is a defeatist attitude, as if these languages are expected to become extinct." Historical roots Some 40 languages, mainly in California and Oklahoma, where thousands of Indians were forced to relocate as part of the notorious 19th Century Trail of Tears, have fewer than 10 native speakers. "Part of the issue is that tribal groups themselves don't always believe their languages are endangered until they're down to the last handful of speakers. But progress is being made through immersion schools, because if you teach children when they're young it will stay with them as adults and that's the future," says Mr Nahwooksy, a Comanche. Such schools have become a model in Hawaii. But the islanders' indigenous language is still classed by Unesco as critically endangered because only 1,000 people speak it. The decline in American Indian languages has historical roots: in the mid-19th Century, the US government adopted a policy of Americanising Indian children by removing them from their homes and culture. “ Language is the distillation of hundreds, if not thousands of years of experience of a collective... So when the language disappears you're really throwing away that whole library of knowledge ” Rachel Nez Navajo speaker Within a few generations most had forgotten their native tongues. But even so-called "dead" languages can be brought back to life. The Wampanoag Indians of Massachusetts were the first to greet the pilgrims of the Mayflower - but until recently their language had not been spoken for a century. In 1993, tribeswoman Jessie Little Doe Baird began researching and collecting word stems. Now her daughter is the first native speaker in six generations and other children are learning. Modern challenges to language survival remain. "We said back in the 80s that technology was killing our language and now every home has a television," says Inee Yang Slaughter, director of the Indigenous Language Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico. "While on the one hand that's a welcome sign of technology, it's also brought English into homes and pushed out traditional story-telling and family time together. The language has dissipated - and that's just a small example of the sorts of challenges we face." Encouraged There is a growing movement in the US to try to revitalise indigenous languages, but regaining the trust of community elders who were often punished for speaking their own language can be a problem. Many now have to be persuaded to pass it on to a younger generation. "In many situations it's having to be taught as a second language because there isn't an environment where the language is used every day," says Ms Slaughter. "Communities have had to adopt programmes that are classroom-based and there is a lack of teachers and materials." Ms Slaughter says she is encouraged that young people are showing a greater interest in learning their native tongues. But interest alone may not be enough as the search for jobs forces people to leave the only communities where such languages are spoken. “ People seem to understand how important it is to preserve tangible heritage like the Seven Wonders of the World. Well, language may not be visible, but it's just as rich and just as important to humanity ” Inee Yang Slaughter "I don't live near home so I don't have the language incorporated into my everyday life," says Rachel Nez, a native Navajo speaker from Arizona. "To have that I would have to move back to the reservation and be there all the time - but if I did that I wouldn't be able to do what I can do here." With 120,000 speakers, Navajo is considered "unsafe" by Unesco rather than actively endangered. But its survival is still dependent on bringing up a new generation of speakers who, like Rachel, see language as an integral part of their cultural identity. "A lot of history, culture and ceremony is held within the language. Sometimes I'll come across Navajo people who don't speak it, and it's really hard for me to accept that they're Navajo because they don't share that thing and those experiences with me," she says. "Language is the distillation of hundreds, if not thousands of years of experience of a collective. It's considered sacred knowledge. So when the language disappears you're really throwing away that whole library of knowledge." Unique voice While the American media is often blamed for undermining other languages and cultures, the same technology might become the native languages' best chance for survival. Native American filmmaking is a growing industry, providing a unique voice for communities that are often wary of being photographed or recorded in any form. In New Mexico, Tewa children are allowed to make audio recordings of their personal stories and experiences as part of oral history projects, but they must seek permission from the elders before the material can be shown outside the community. "Some cultures have been extremely invaded," says Elizabeth Weatherford, head of the Film and Video Center at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York. "They have had lots taken but little given back." She is also director of the Native American Film and Video Festival which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Dozens of native language films are being shown, including the first to be written entirely in Alaska's Inupiaq language. Sikumi/On the Ice, by Andrew Okpeaha Maclean, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was short listed for an Academy Award. "Anything that can activate young people who have been saturated by the American media is really important," says Ms Weatherford. "Film making can make them empowered by the use of language in their own world. It's the transmission of language through culture and there's an effortlessness to it." Some academics have argued that the demise of a language is simply part of social development and evolution. But Ms Slaughter disagrees. "People seem to understand how important it is to preserve tangible heritage like the Seven Wonders of the World. Well, language may not be visible, but it's just as rich and just as important to humanity." Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7964016.stm Published: 2009/04/01 11:43:02 GMT © BBC MMIX