VOICES OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN: Ofelia Rivas, O'odham Voice Against the
Wall, and Michelle Cook, Navajo, live from the Bolivia Climate
Conference.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded Feel free to quote for news articles: Ofelia Rivas, founder of the O'odham Voice Against the Wall, describes
recent beatings of O'odham living in their traditional homelands on
the US/Mexico border by the US Border Patrol.
With the constant attacks by immigration officials, Ofelia said the
O'odham elders ask: 'Will they stop the wind from coming across the
border?' Ofelia said the Him'dag, sacred way of life, is disrupted by
the border wall and militarization. During the construction of the
border vehicle barriers, O'odham ancestors were removed from their
burial places by Boeing. She said when the people were reburied, a
blessing was said for a cleansing rain which came. O'odham ceremonies
and daily lives are disrupted, along with the survival of the plants
and animals in the Sonoran Desert by the heavy militarization. Ofelia
describes how the US Border Patrol halted and violated the ceremonial
deer hunt of the O'odham. Recently, Ofelia Rivas was imprisoned in an
immigration prison in southern Mexico on false charges for four days
while supporting the Zapatistas. She has been handcuffed and held at
gunpoint by the US Border Patrol and tribal police in her homeland.
Ofelia was the recipient of a Borderlinks' Women on the Border Award
2010. Michelle Cook, Navajo arriving from Maori territory in New Zealand,
urges unity in Indigenous struggles. "We really need to do what we can
to work together." Michelle said real change in the world begins
within each us. She said Indigenous Peoples have the spiritual
knowledge and power to bring about meaningful change that is needed.
Along with Earthcycles Producer Govinda, Michelle describes the
connectedness of humans with the earth. Michelle describes her Navajo
grandmother, who walks the Beauty Way. Describing environmental racism
toward Native Americans, Michelle said the brutal cost of uranium
mining on the Navajo Nation has meant cancer and disease for Navajos.
Profiteering and deception by the carbon market is described. Michelle
is a graduate of the University of Arizona in Indigenous and women's
studies. She was active in border struggles with the Indigenous
Alliance without Borders and supported the Zapatistas in the struggle
for autonomy and dignity. She is now a Fulbright scholar and graduate
student in Maori territory in New Zealand. Live from Earthcycles
http://www.earthcycles.net/
Wall, and Michelle Cook, Navajo, live from the Bolivia Climate
Conference.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded Feel free to quote for news articles: Ofelia Rivas, founder of the O'odham Voice Against the Wall, describes
recent beatings of O'odham living in their traditional homelands on
the US/Mexico border by the US Border Patrol.
With the constant attacks by immigration officials, Ofelia said the
O'odham elders ask: 'Will they stop the wind from coming across the
border?' Ofelia said the Him'dag, sacred way of life, is disrupted by
the border wall and militarization. During the construction of the
border vehicle barriers, O'odham ancestors were removed from their
burial places by Boeing. She said when the people were reburied, a
blessing was said for a cleansing rain which came. O'odham ceremonies
and daily lives are disrupted, along with the survival of the plants
and animals in the Sonoran Desert by the heavy militarization. Ofelia
describes how the US Border Patrol halted and violated the ceremonial
deer hunt of the O'odham. Recently, Ofelia Rivas was imprisoned in an
immigration prison in southern Mexico on false charges for four days
while supporting the Zapatistas. She has been handcuffed and held at
gunpoint by the US Border Patrol and tribal police in her homeland.
Ofelia was the recipient of a Borderlinks' Women on the Border Award
2010. Michelle Cook, Navajo arriving from Maori territory in New Zealand,
urges unity in Indigenous struggles. "We really need to do what we can
to work together." Michelle said real change in the world begins
within each us. She said Indigenous Peoples have the spiritual
knowledge and power to bring about meaningful change that is needed.
Along with Earthcycles Producer Govinda, Michelle describes the
connectedness of humans with the earth. Michelle describes her Navajo
grandmother, who walks the Beauty Way. Describing environmental racism
toward Native Americans, Michelle said the brutal cost of uranium
mining on the Navajo Nation has meant cancer and disease for Navajos.
Profiteering and deception by the carbon market is described. Michelle
is a graduate of the University of Arizona in Indigenous and women's
studies. She was active in border struggles with the Indigenous
Alliance without Borders and supported the Zapatistas in the struggle
for autonomy and dignity. She is now a Fulbright scholar and graduate
student in Maori territory in New Zealand. Live from Earthcycles
http://www.earthcycles.net/
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