Chiapas, Mexico: Tourist Development Behind State Repression of Indigenous Movement

by Martha Pskowski, cipamericas, via Earth First! Newswire, Feb 10, 2015

“We organized to take this land. Why? Because we know that the government is dispossessing land all over the country. On December 21^stwe woke up at 6am to recuperate this land. Four hundred of us compañeros and compañeras from the community arrived.”

The masked representative of San Sebastián Bachajón, Chiapas, describes in a Jan. 1 interview how residents of this Tzeltal indigenous community reclaimed the entrance to the Aguas Azules waterfalls on Dec. 21, 2014. Government officials at the tollbooth handed over the building without resistance to the non-violent indigenous movement led by the residents of San Sebastian Bachajon.

Guerrero, Mexico: Villagers Oppose Arrests of Community Police by Military

https://www.youtube.com/embed/E67pIDfJzaY” target=”_blank”>

Militares arremeten contra pobladores de Petaquillas Guerrero

Youtube video Posted by Agencia de Noticias Guerrero on Feb 6, 2015

“Habitantes de la comunidad de Petaquillas bloquean la carretera federal en el tramo carretero Petaquillas-Mazatlán en exigencia de la libertad de tres comunitarios detenidos y trasladados a la PGR en Chilpancingo.”

Amazon Assembly Unifies Resistance to Dams on Brazil’s Tapajós River

Meeting of Native peoples of the Amazon region opposed to massive dam projects proposed for their territories, Sept 2014.

Historic gathering builds opposition to government’s plans for new mega-dam complex

Amazon Watch, December 1, 2014

Santarém, Brazil – Tensions are building over the Brazilian government’s polemic plans to circumvent the law in order to dam the Tapajós River. On November 27th, representatives of a diverse coalition of threatened indigenous peoples and other traditional communities assembled with religious leaders and activists to challenge a new Amazon mega-dam complex. The “Caravan to Resist Dams in the Amazon” unified forces among the indigenous Munduruku, riverbank communities, social movements and NGOs, with three bishops from the Brazilian Amazon including Erwin Krautler of the Xingu River, winner of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award. The protest marked the largest resistance action to date in the region and was held at in the remote São Luiz do Tapajós community, threatened with a mega-dam of the same name.

First Nations chief gives lessons about Tsilhqot’in hangings 150 years later

Tsilhqotin protest Taseko’s proposed Prosperity Mine.

APTN National News/The Canadian Press, Oct 24, 2014
WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. – It wasn’t long ago that an RCMP officer asked Chief Joe Alphonse for some help in understanding the people of his First Nation.

The Mountie, who was from the small community of Alexis Creek west of Williams Lake, B.C., told Alphonse that every encounter he had with Aboriginal people in the Cariboo-Chilcoutin area always involved the same topic: the hangings.

“He wanted to know what our members were talking about,” said Alphonse, a Tsilhqot’in Nation chief. “He said every single last Tsilhqot’in person we pull over will look at us and tell us, ‘you bastards hung our chiefs.”’

Alphonse said he gave the officer a history lesson about events 150 years ago when British Columbia was a colony and the government tried to build a toll road from Bute Inlet on the coast to the Cariboo gold fields in Barkerville.

Tahltan blockade trophy hunters

Sacred Headwaters Blockade To Stop Trophy Hunters

[For Immediate Release]

BRITISH COLUMBIA, Unceded Tahltan Territory – September 18, 2014

The Wildlife Defence League (WDL) has been invited by the Klabona Keepers to blockade the only road providing access to the Sacred Headwaters. This area is home to numerous species of wildlife, including moose, grizzly bear, black bear, and stone sheep. In recent years these animals have been exploited by resident hunters, mainly for trophy. Moose populations have been most effected, due to no bag-limits that have precipitated a massive decline in the species. Consequently, the Klabona Keepers and the WDL are firm in their conviction that protecting wildlife and safeguarding habitat in the Sacred Headwaters from exploitation is a pressing priority. The Klabona Keepers with the support of the Wildlife Defence League, intend to blockade the entrance to the Sacred Headwaters from non-Indigenous and resident trophy hunters. Tahltan hunters will not be blockaded, as the Wildlife Defence League supports their right to live off the land as they have done for thousands of years.

Oka Crisis, 1990

Kanienkehaka Resistance at Oka/Kanehsatake & Kahnawake, 1990

WarriorPublications.wordpress.com

The Kanienkehaka resistance at Kanehsatake & Kahnawake had a profound impact on Indigenous peoples in Canada. Oka set the tone for Indigenous resistance throughout the ‘90s, and inspired many people & communities to take action. Like Wounded Knee 1973, Oka was an awakening for an entire generation.

Mass Trial of Indigenous leaders set to begin this week in Peru

by John Ahni Schertow, Intercontinental Cry, May 12, 2014

A massive trial involving 53 Indigenous leaders and activists is set to begin this week, reviving the tragic events that took place four years ago in the Amazonas Region of Peru.

In April 2009, a national indigenous mobilization was organized to stop a plan by the Peruvian government to roll-back indigenous land rights and make it easier for industry to exploit the Amazon rainforest.

Bear attack at Suncor site kills 1 worker

CBC News, May 07, 2014

A Suncor employee has been killed by a bear at the company’s Oil Sands base, 25 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, Alta.

The RCMP say they were called just after 2 p.m. MT Wednesday after receiving reports of a large, male black bear attacking and killing a worker at the Suncor base camp.

The female worker was declared dead on the scene.

Report: Hundreds killed while defending environment, land rights

Ambriosio Vilhalva, a Guarani warrior and leader recently stabbed to death in Brazil.

Study says activists in more danger as competition for natural resources intensifies, partly due to climate change

by Renee Lewis, Al Jazeera, April 15, 2014

Hundreds of people have been killed while defending the environment and land rights around the world, international monitors said in a report released Tuesday, highlighting what they called a culture of impunity surrounding the deaths.

Defend the Territory PDF

Tactics and Techniques for Countering Police Assaults on Indigenous Communities

A 24 page, 8×11, PDF document.  Download: Defend the Territory PDF Zine 

From the introduction: Communities that are effective in carrying out resistance will inevitably face some form of state repression, most often carried out by police forces. This text is intended as a review of tactics and techniques that have been used in countering police assaults on crowds and communities.

For police, these types of assaults are referred to as “public order” or “crowd control” operations. Communities targeted by such operations may face riot cops as well as armed tactical units, dog teams, armoured vehicles, the use of chemical agents and baton charges.