Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

January 5, 2012

First Voices Indigenous Radio: Occupation Movement and Language

First Voices Indigenous Radio
ON THE AIR: WBAI 99.5 FM Every Thursday at 9 AM Eastern
www.firstvoicesindigenousradio.org

Listen to Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Lakota from Cheyenne River, S.D., online at WBAI in New York. In recent programs, Native American guests discuss the occupy movement and the language of occupation.

http://www.firstvoicesindigenousradio.org/program_archives

Listen to the Program
December 29, 2011
EDITED VERSION FOR WFTE - SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA
DEMELZA CHAMPAGNE, JOHN FREISEN, JAKE LITTLE, JEREME AMOUAK and FARREL - NEW YORK - All join in a discussion about the current "Occupation" movement and the use of language.
"To most, the irony of a progressive social movement using the term “occupy” to reshape how Americans think about issues of democracy and equality has been clear. After all, it is generally nations, armies and police who occupy, usually by force. And in this, the United States has been a leader. The American government is just now after nine years ending its overt occupation of Iraq, is still entrenched in Afghanistan and is maintaining troops on the ground in dozens of countries worldwide. All this is not to obscure the fact that the United States as we know it came into being by way of an occupation — a gradual and devastatingly violent one that all but extinguished entire Native American populations across thousands of miles of land." "In this sense, Occupy Wall Street has occupied language, has made “occupy” its own. And, importantly, people from diverse ethnicities, cultures and languages have participated in this linguistic occupation — it is distinct from the history of forcible occupation in that it is built to accommodate all, not just the most powerful or violent." "Occupy Language might draw inspiration from both the way that the Occupy movement has reshaped definitions of “occupy,” which teaches us that we give words meaning and that discourses are not immutable, and from the way indigenous movements have contested its use, which teaches us to be ever-mindful about how language both empowers and oppresses, unifies and isolates." "By occupying language, we can expose how educational, political, and social institutions use language to further marginalize oppressed groups; resist colonizing language practices that elevate certain languages over others; resist attempts to define people with terms rooted in negative stereotypes; and begin to reshape the public discourse about our communities, and about the central role of language in racism and discrimination." excerpts from H. Samy Alin's article What If We Occupied The Language?
Listen to the Program
December 22, 2011
EDITED VERSION FOR WFTE SCRANTON, PA (Please go to Audioport.org for your stations downloadable version)
TOM WEISS rideforrenewables.com. December 21, 2011 (Port Arthur, TX) – Renewable energy advocate Tom Weis ended his 2,150-mile Keystone XL “Tour of Resistance” at the fence line community of West Port Arthur in the shadow of giant oil refineries spewing toxic air emissions. Weis launched the tour 10 weeks ago at the U.S./Canada border and has pedaled the entire U.S. length of the proposed tar sands pipeline in his “rocket trike” in support of landowners and communities in six states fighting Keystone XL. Pipeline opponents joined him in demanding that President Obama reject TransCanada’s presidential permit without delay.
FRED HO and CZARINA AGGABAO THELEN www.scientificsoulsessions.com Participate in a general discussion regarding the use of language and the latest article from "What If We Occupied The Language" by H. Samy Alim here is an excerpt from the article "the irony of a progressive social movement using the term “occupy” to reshape how Americans think about issues of democracy and equality has been clear. After all, it is generally nations, armies and police who occupy, usually by force. And in this, the United States has been a leader. The American government is just now after nine years ending its overt occupation of Iraq, is still entrenched in Afghanistan and is maintaining troops on the ground in dozens of countries worldwide. All this is not to obscure the fact that the United States as we know it came into being by way of an occupation — a gradual and devastatingly violent one that all but extinguished entire Native American populations across thousands of miles of land."
Listen to the Program
December 15, 2011
EDITIED VERSION FOR WFTE SCRANTON, PA.
GRANDMOTHER MARGARET BEHAN-Montana- is a member of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers (www.grandmotherscouncil.org). These women have been travelling to each other's homelands for several years and next year it is Grandmother Margaret's turn to host them for their 11th Council gathering.
The dates of the Council have been set for July 20th through August 5th, 2012 and it will be held in Grandmother Margaret's homeland of the Northern Cheyenne reservation in Lame Deer, located in southeastern part of Montana. All are welcome to attend. Registration can be done on the Grandmother's website listed above. If you would like to help in any way with the gathering, or have questions, please call Lisa Caswell at (646)267-7244
JOHN KANE - New York - (www.letstalknativepride.blogspot.com) on Kaneratiio or Roger Jock was arrested in upstate New York State -, was indicted by a grand jury for second-degree grand larceny for allegedly depriving deeded owner, Horst Wuersching, of a 240-acre parcel on Route 11 near the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino. The grand-larceny charge refers to the theft of land with a value above $50,000.
According to the County Treasurer's Office, the parcel is assessed at $16,800. But there has not been a land revaluationfor more than 50 years, leaving the equalization rate there at 3.12 percent. The true market value of the land at 100 percent equalization is $538,462. Jock was released under the supervision of the Probation Department, and an order of protection was issued forbidding him from going back to the disputed land. The "irony" of the story is a Native man Indigenous to a parcel of land in the middle of Mohawk Territory being "stolen" from a white man!
WAZIYATAWIN -Minnesota- (www.waziyatawin.net) of the Wahpetunwan Dakota discusses the terminology of "occupation" occupiers and their choice of language is indicative of lack of consciousness about Indigenous struggles, or a dismissal of the importance or relevance of those struggles.
FRED HO - New York - (www.bigredmediainc.com) author, musician, philosopher and 3 time cancer survivor dialogues regarding "Capitialism is the cancer for the planet" and how a person would understand the toxicity one can avoid cointinuing the toxicities of manifest destiny.

Posted at Censored News: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

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