Tribal Solidarity – Page 13

Amazon Dam Activists Threaten to Wage War on Brazil Over Military Incursion 3rd April

An Amazonian community has threatened to “go to war” with the Brazilian government after a military incursion into their land by dam builders.

The Munduruku indigenous community in Para state say they have been betrayed by the authorities, who are pushing ahead with plans to build a cascade of hydropower plants on the Tapajós river without their permission.

Public prosecutors, human rights groups, environmental organisations and Christian missionaries have condemned the government’s strong-arm tactics.

Helicopters, soldiers and armed police have been involved in Operation Tapajós, which aims to conduct an environmental impact assessment for the first proposed construction, the 6,133MW São Luiz do Tapajós dam.

The facility, to be built by the Norte Energia consortium, is the biggest of three planned dams on the Tapajós, the fifth-largest river in the Amazon basin. The government’s 10-year plan includes the construction of four larger hydroelectric plants on its tributary, the Jamanxim.

‘We don’t want Belo Monte’ reads a sign at an anti-dam rally in front of the Brazilian parliament in Brasilia. Under Brazilian law, major infrastructure projects require prior consultation with indigenous communities. Federal prosecutors say this has not happened and urge the courts to block the scheme which, they fear, could lead to bloodshed.

“The Munduruku have already stated on several occasions that they do not support studies for hydroelectric plants on their land unless there is full prior consultation,” the prosecutors noted in a statement.

A similar survey in November led to deadly conflict. One resident, Adenilson Kirixi, was killed and several others were wounded in clashes between local people and troops accompanying the researchers in Teles Pires village.

The ministry of mines and energy noted on its website that 80 researchers, including biologists and foresters, would undertake a study of flora and fauna. The army escort was made possible by President Dilma Rousseff, who decreed this year that military personnel could be used for survey operations.

Missionaries said the recent show of force in Sawré Maybu village, Itaituba, was intimidating, degrading and an unacceptable violation of the rights of the residents.

“In this operation, the federal government has been threatening the lives of the people,” the Indigenous Missionary Council said. “It is unacceptable and illegitimate for the government to impose dialogue at the tip of a bayonet.”

The group said Munduruku leaders ended a phone call with representatives of the president with a declaration of war. They have also issued open letters calling for an end to the military operation, “We are not bandits. We feel betrayed, humiliated and disrespected by all this,” a letter states.

One of the community’s leaders, Valdenir Munduruku, has warned thatlocals will take action if the government does not withdraw its taskforce by 10 April. He has called for support from other indigenous groups, such as the Xingu, facing similar threats from hydroelectric dams.

Environmental groups have expressed concern. The 1,200-mile waterway is home to more than 300 fish species and provides sustenance to some of the most biodiverse forest habitats on Earth. Ten indigenous groups inhabit the basin, along with several tribes in voluntary isolation.

With similar conflicts over other proposed dams in the Amazon, such as those at Belo Monte, Teles Pires, Santo Antônio and Jirau, some compare the use of force to the last great expansion of hydropower during the military dictatorship.

“The Brazilian government is making political decisions about the dams before the environmental impact assessment is done,” said Brent Millikan of the International Rivers environmental group.

“The recent military operations illustrate that the federal government is willing to disregard existing legal instruments intended to foster dialogue between government and civil society.”

Mexico: 22 Injured in Oaxaca Wind Farm Protest

Some 1,200 agents from the police forces of the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca tried unsuccessfully on March 26 to remove local residents who were blocking a road leading to the Bii Yoxho wind farm, which is under construction in Juchitán de Zaragoza municipality near the Pacific coast. The operation was also intended to recover construction equipment protesters had seized on Feb. 25 in an ongoing effort to stop the completion of the wind project, which is owned by the Mexican subsidiary of the Spanish company Gas Natural Fenosa. Local prosecutor Manuel de Jesús López told the French wire service AFP that 22 people were injured in the March 26 operation, including 11 police agents, and one police agent was taken prisoner. Protesters reported eight local people with serious injuries, including Carlos Sánchez, the coordinator of Radio Totopo, a community radio station.

Several companies have been building wind farms in southeastern Oaxaca on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Residents in the Juchitán area, mostly from the Zapotec and Ikoots (Huave) indigenous groups, say the Bii Yoxho project is being built in an area they use for fishing and farming that also includes ceremonial sites, along with mangrove forests that are critical to the local environment. The barricade blocking access to the Bii Yoxho project on the Juchitán-Playa Vicente road is one of four main points of resistance to the wind turbines. Activists have also occupied the town hall in San Dionisio del Mar since January 2012; have refused to recognize the mayor in San Mateo del Mar, Francisco Valle, because he favors the projects; and have set up a barricade in Juchitán’s Alvaro Obregón neighborhood to block access to another wind park, owned by the Mareña Renovables company.

The resistance has been subjected to police harassment, such as the 24-hour detention by federal police of Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez, a leader in the Assembly of the Indigenous Peoples of the Tehuantepec Isthmus in Defense of Land and Territory, in February 2012. Protesters also report the presence of armed paramilitary groups, some with connections to unions and other groups affiliated with the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) or close to the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). On March 21 a group of men linked to Juchitán’s PRI mayor, Francisco Valle Piamonte, briefly detained reporter Rosa Rojas and photographer Francisco Olvera, both from the left-leaning national daily La Jornada, along with three reporters from alternative media and a San Mateo resident. On the morning of March 29 a paramilitary group dismantled Radio Totopa, seizing a laptop and the transmitter and cutting the power cables, according to the Popular Assembly of the Juchiteco People (APPJ). APPJ spokespeople called this “another attack by the state government and the transnational companies which are trying to use violence to silence the voices of those who oppose the construction of wind parks.”

After negotiations with representatives of the Oaxaca state government on March 28, the APPJ returned 12 vehicles, including a backhoe, to Gas Natural Fenosa; in exchange the state agreed not to press charges against the protesters. However, the APPJ rejected the state’s proposal for them to lift the road blockades on April 1 and attend an April 2 meeting in the city of Oaxaca. The protesters said they would maintain their barricades, and they called on Oaxaca governor Gabino Cué Monteagudo to come meet with them in Juchitán. (Desinformémonos, March 24; Bloomberg News, March 27, from AFP; statement by assemblies of the peoples of the Isthmus, March 29, via Kaos en la Red; La Jornada, March 29)

Panama: Ngöbe-Buglé Murdered After Anti-dam Protest 2nd April

Onésimo Rodríguez, a leader in Panama’s Ngöbe-Buglé indigenous group, was killed by a group of masked men in Cerro Punta, in western Chiriquí department, the evening of March 22 following a protest against construction of the Barro Blanco hydroelectric dam. Carlos Miranda, another protester who was attacked along with Rodríguez, said the assailants beat both men with metal bars. Miranda lost consciousness but survived; Rodríguez’s body was found in a stream the next day. Miranda said he was unable to identify the attackers because it was dark and their faces were covered. Manolo Miranda and other leaders of the April 10 Movement, which organizes protests against the dam, charged that “the ones that mistreated the Ngöbes were disguised police agents.”

The Ngöbe-Buglé stepped up their demonstrations against the Barro Blanco project in January, when construction continued at the site despite a United Nations (UN) report that largely substantiated indigenous claims that the dam would flood three villages, cut the residents off from food sources and destroy important cultural monuments. As of March 26 an independent study mandated by the UN report and agreed to by the government had still not started.

In addition to protesting the Honduran-owned company building the dam, Generadora del Istmo, S.A. (GENISA), indigenous activists blame two European banks for funding the project: Germany’s private Deutsche Investitions- und

Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) and the Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V. (FMO), in which the Dutch government holds a controlling interest. Dam opponents say GENISA also sought funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) but withdrew the application after learning that bank officials planned to visit the affected communities themselves. (Mongabay.com, March 25; La Estrella, Panama, March 26)

In other news, as of March 19 the National Coordinating Committee of the Indigenous Peoples of Panama (COONAPIP) had decided to withdraw from the United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (UN-REDD+) program, which focuses on environmental problems in developing nations. The indigenous group charged in a statement that the UN and the Panamanian government “have appeared to marginalize the collective participation of the seven indigenous peoples and 12 traditional structures that make up COONAPIP” and have put “legal and administrative obstacles in the way” of indigenous participation. The Mesoamerican Alliance of People and Forests (AMPB), a coalition of Central American and Mexican indigenous and environmental groups, is backing COONAPIP’s decision. (Mongabay.com, March 19; Adital, Brazil, March 21)

Indigenous group threatens collective suicide in Brazil 29th March

Una carta firmada por los líderes de la comunidad indígena Guarani-Kaiowá de Mato Grosso do Sul, anuncia el suicidio colectivo de 170 personas, (50 hombres, 50 mujeres y 70 niños), si se hace efectiva la orden de la Corte Federal para despojar a la tribu de la ‘cambará granja’ donde se encuentran temporalmente acampados.

Translation: A letter signed by the leaders of the indigenous Guarani-Kaiowá of Mato Grosso do Sul, announces the collective suicide of 170 people (50 men, 50 women and 70 children), to be effective if the Federal Court orders to strip the tribe of ‘cambará farm’ where are temporarily camped.

El territorio, que ellos llaman ‘tekoha’, que significa ‘cementerio ancestral’, ha sido sembrado con grandes plantaciones de caña de azúcar y soja, y está preparado para la cría de ganado.

Multa por vivir en su tierra

En caso de que los indígenas no desalojen la granja la orden federal estipula que la Fundación Nacional de Indios (Funai) tendrá que pagar una multa de aproximadamente 250 dólares por cada día que permanezcan allí.

“Nosotros los indígenas tenemos el derecho constitucional a ocupar nuestra tierra, y vamos a seguir luchando“, enfatizó el jefe tribal guaraní, Vera Popygua, que exigió respeto para su pueblo, porque “ha sido masacrado“. “Han matado a nuestros líderes, y eso es triste e inaceptable. Somos una sociedad avanzada que vive en el siglo XXI. Esto no puede suceder, no debería ocurrir“, sostiene.

Si la orden judicial no fuera revocada, los indígenas amenazan con darse muerte ante el propio tribunal brasileño, después de lo cual exigen ser enterrados en su territorio sagrado, a orillas del río Hovy.

Los indígenas pidieron desde hace varios años la demarcación de sus tierras tradicionales, ahora ocupada por ganaderos y custodiado por hombres armados. El líder de la energía fotovoltaica en la Cámara de los Diputados, Sarney Filho, envió esta carta al ministro de Justicia, solicitando medidas para evitar la tragedia.

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The territory, which they call ‘tekoha’ meaning ‘ancestral graveyard’, has been planted with large plantations of sugarcane and soybeans, and is ready for growing.

Penalty for living on their land

To avoid eviction from the indigenous farm, a federal order stipulates that the National Indian Foundation (Funai) has to pay a fine of approximately $250 for each day they remain there.

“We Indians have a constitutional right to occupy our land, and we will keep fighting,” emphasized Guarani tribal chief, Popygua Vera, who demanded respect for his people, because “it has been slaughtered.” “They killed our leaders, and that is sad and unacceptable. We are an advanced society living in the XXI century. This can not happen, should not happen,” he says.

If the court order is revoked, the Indigenous group threatened to commit collective suicide before the Brazilian court itself, after which it demands to be buried in sacred ground, the river Hovy.

Indigenous Panamanians Protest Dams Which Could Displace Thousands

25 March 2013

Last week, indigenous groups in western Panamá once again clashed with police while protesting the construction of the Barro Blanco dam. In 2012, similar protests resulted in the deaths of several protesters and alleged human rights abuses perpetrated by the police. As the Panamanian government aggressively expands its hydro capacities over the next few years, they will face more indigenous resistance. How can they pursue their economic interests without trampling the rights of their largest indigenous population?

With around 200,000 people, the Ngäbe (pronounced “naw-bey”) are the largest indigenous group in Panamá. Like most indigenous groups around the world, they have a long history of being bullied, cheated, and displaced by the government.

In 1997, the Panamanian government signed Law 10, which gave the Ngäbe a semi-autonomous region in western Panamá, the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé. Non-Ngäbes are not allowed to own or develop land within the Comarca. However, after discovering a gigantic copper deposit and sizable gold deposits, the government began claiming that the indigenous owned the land, but not what was beneath it. Mining efforts began and protests escalated until last year, when a multi-day protest and ensuing crackdown resulted in two dead protestors and multiple alleged human rights abuses, committed by police. The United Nations scolded the president for the abuses and he signed a promise not to continue mining efforts during his term (which ends next year). None of the police were tried for the alleged human rights abuses.

With the mining threat temporarily subdued, the Ngäbe have turned their attention to the Barro Blanco dam, which they claim will flood several towns and displace up to 36,000 people. They additionally claim that they were never properly consulted or given a choice in the matter. The Panamanian government and GENISA, the company responsible for the construction, claim that no displacement or destruction of native species will occur. The facts surrounding the true environmental impact are highly disputed and difficult to verify, but it seems clear that the true number of affected people probably lays somewhere between 0 and 36,000 – a fairly ridiculous range.

Al Jazeera did a special “People and Power” report on the situation last year, which is clearly biased in favor of the indigenous; GENISA claims that it contains “inconsistencies” and that Al Jazeera never contacted them for comment.

However, the report does highlight a dubious validation process that barely included indigenous participation or consultation, a process which has since been questioned by the International Rivers Network, as well as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, who claims that only 58 non-indigenous near the dam’s affected area were interviewed; these 58 were used as the basis for validation of the project.

As a Peace Corps volunteer who lived with the Ngäbe for two years and experienced the protests first-hand, I can tell you that the Ngäbe are certainly motivated by the potential environmental impacts of these projects, many of which threaten to ruin their way of life. But they are almost just as motivated by a simple desire to be treated with respect. As more projects are proposed, the Ngäbe continue to be treated not as adversely affected citizens, but as obstacles to development.

The Panamanian government plans to add 30 more hydro projects by 2016, several of which will affect indigenous territory. The mining issue may be dormant for now, but I guarantee that it will resurface after the next election.

Before the next development project on or affecting indigenous territory, the Panamanian government should define a protocol for including the indigenous in their validation processes, as well as compensate them for the inevitable environmental damage to their land. While this sounds earthy-crunchy, it would simply be more efficient for the government. They would not have to spend time and money quelling protests and addressing the United Nations, and they could use the ensuing stability to attract more foreign investors.

If not, we will be hearing about many more abuses in the next few years.

The Penan Blockade Against a New Gas Pipeline in Borneo – 22nd March

Penan from the Long Seridan region have mounted a blockade to protest against the building of a gas pipeline which is cutting through their ancestral land and destroying their source of drinking water.

The 500km pipeline is being built by the Malaysian national oil company Petronas and is nearing completion. It will transport natural gas from the Malaysian state of Sabah, south to the coast of Sarawak.

The pipeline cuts through the forest of many Penan communities. It will make hunting and gathering even more difficult for the tribe, which is already facing grave hardship after years of logging have devastated their land.

The construction of the gas pipeline has affected many communities. One Penan man told Survival, ‘If they build this pipeline through our land it is a way of killing us. How are we to survive if they build this pipeline and we’re not able to move freely in our area – from one side to another?’

The 500km pipeline, built by the Malaysian national oil company Petronas, is cutting through the Penan's forest, making hunting difficult.© Survival

The Penan in Long Seridan began their blockade against the pipeline almost three weeks ago and have vowed to continue until their concerns are met.

At the same time, another group of Penan from Long Daloh, more than 60 km away, have also been protesting against logging on their land and the Baram dam which threatens to flood their homes and the forest they rely on for their survival.

If it goes ahead, the Baram dam will displace approximately 20,000 tribal people. Many Penan, and other indigenous communities, have already protested against the Baram dam and called for it to be cancelled.

Penan protest against pipeline, logging and dam

22 March 2013

The Penan in Long Seridan are protesting against the building of a gas pipeline which is cutting through their ancestral land.

The 500km pipeline, built by the Malaysian national oil company Petronas, is cutting through the Penan's forest, making hunting difficult.

The Penan in Long Seridan began their blockade against the pipeline almost three weeks ago and have vowed to continue until their concerns are met.

Tar Sands Protestor Disrupts Transcanada Presentation

February 28th, 2013, 1:45pm — a protestor with Tar Sands Blockade this afternoon locked his neck to a projector screen in the middle of a TransCanada presentation at the North American Crude Marketing Conference in Houston. In taking direct action, Ethan Nuss confronted in-person Paul Miller, TransCanada’s Executive Vice President of Oil Pipelines, and a ballroom of tar sands industry investors, demanding a halt to the toxic Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

Nuss successfully disrupted the second annual conference hosted by Platts. Among other things, the gathering is intended for fossil fuel industry executives and their financial backers to collaborate on schemes to transport dirty and dangerous tar sands from Canada to the Gulf Coast so it can be refined and sold on the international market, thereby expanding the industry.

“TransCanada’s ‘business as usual’ spells death and destruction for our communities,” said Ethan Nuss. “My conscience won’t allow me to watch this multinational corporation and their profiteers poison impacted communities from here in Houston’s polluted East End to indigenous people at the point of tar sands extraction in Alberta, Canada. This must stop.” Ethan further shares his reasons for taking direct action below:

At last year’s marketing conference, Paul Miller explained the necessity of the southern leg of Keystone XL through Oklahoma and Texas to the expansion of the exploitative tar sands industry. TransCanada’s own fourth quarter report, released last week, revealed that the controversial pipeline is less than half completed, despite the Canadian pipeline corporation’s previous projections for completion of the southern segment this April.

This revelation highlights that Tar Sands Blockade’s sustained civil disobedience campaign since last August has been successful in delaying Keystone XL construction. Today’s action is part of growing momentum for an upcoming national week of action called for by Tar Sands Blockade and allies from March 16-23, with over 60 actions currently reported nationwide.

“This is just a morsel of what TransCanada and other tar sands profiteers can expect in the coming weeks and months,” said Kim Huynh, a spokesperson with Tar Sands Blockade. “All over the country, communities are gearing up to take to the streets, offices, extraction sites and public events to show that our movement won’t relent until we’ve made this investment as toxic for TransCanada and its financial backers as the very tar sands being piped through Keystone XL. Our tar sands-free future begins now.”

Earlier this week, 20,000 gallons of crude oil leaked into Otter Creek in Tyler County, TX from a pipeline owned by Sunoco Logistics. Otter Creek flows into Russell Creek, which feeds the Neches River. The leak did not trigger Sunoco’s detection systems but was discovered by local residents reporting oil in their water.

Update 1:53pm — All press have been kicked out of the conference.

Update 2:05pm — More protestors are outside the conference lobby chanting “All night, all day, Tar Sands Blockade!”

Update — In solidarity with Ethan and other oil conference disruptors, Tar Sands Blockaders dropped banners in sight of two major Houston highways.

Update 2:15pm — Protestors continue to yell and chant outside of the hotel where the conference is being disrupted.

Update 2:30pm — All protestors are outside of the hotel now except for Ethan, who is still locked to the projection screen in the conference room.

Update 3pm — Ethan has just been extracted, taken into police custody, and removed from the building.

Believe it or not, today is actually Ethan’s 29th birthday! Show your

Update 5:15pm — We’ve just heard from Ethan that he’s been charged with criminal trespass.

Update 8pm — Ethan still hasn’t been officially charged yet.

He’s in high spirits and sends along his deepest gratitude for all the love and birthday well-wishes:

“I turned 29 today, and there is nowhere that I’d rather spend my birthday than locked to that projector screen, speaking truth to power.”

Update Friday, March 1st, 1:15am — Ethan is expected to be in jail through the night.

Update 8:30am — Ethan’s just been bailed out!

Red Lake Pipeline Blockade. 28th feb

Enbridge Energy LP has been trespassing on Red Lake Nations Ceded lands in Minnesota by operating multiple pipelines without an easement. Nizhawendaamin Indaakiminaan, a group of grassroots Red Lake tribal members and allies, demand that the flow of oil through these pipelines be stopped. Enbridge Energy LP purchased these oil pipelines from Lakehead Pipeline, who originally built these pipelines in 1949 on Red Lake land without obtaining the permission of the Red Lake sovereign nation. According to Marty Cobenais, pipeline organizer for Indigenous Environmental Network and a tribal member of Red Lake, “Enbridge Energy LP still does not have permission to have these pipelines” on an eight acre piece of Red Lake land just southeast of Leonard, Minnesota.

Today Nizhawendaamin Indaakiminaan have occupied the land directly over these pipelines on Red Lake land. They demand that these pipelines be shut down immediately. “The goal is to stand in solidarity not only with our first Nation brothers and sisters in Canada but also to protect our Mother Earth and all of our children and future generations on this earth,” says Tito Ybarra, a member of Nizhawendaamin Indaakiminaan and an enrolled member of the Red Lake band of Ojibwe.

It is expected if the occupation proceeds for three days, the flow of oil – which may include controversial tar sands bitumen extracted from Alberta, Canada – will have to be shut down. The 72-hour countdown has started around roughly 3PM Thursday.

Supporters have been invited onto the site by tribal members to support the blockade, and currently volunteer media from the new UneditedMedia collective, TC Indymedia & [informally] OccupyMN are on site. Internet access appears stable enough for @uneditedcamera to periodically livestream as the camp takes shape for the long haul, also aided by mild weather. Also @samRichards10 and Robert DesJarlait (@r_desjarlait) are providing updates. Desjarlait tweeted "This isn't a blockade, as some have reported. There is nothing to block. It is a non-confrontational protest." However, it does have potential consequences akin to that created by a blockade.

Additionally it appears that Enbridge recently scrubbed some content pertaining to controversial "Line 67" from their website. With the dangerous Transcanada Keystone XL pipeline intend for tar sands bitumen mired in political controversy, the prospects for extending the capacity of Line 67, are relevant to the situation. (There are several public hearings in the region scheduled on Line 67 in coming weeks.)

// UPDATE 3/1/13 11:30AM : Marty Cobenais of the Indigenous Environmental Network issues statement on behalf of blockade protesters http://www.ustream.tv/uneditedcamera

Red Lake Pipeline Blockade Initiated in Northern Minnesota

28 February 2013

28 February 2013
Posted from Twin Cities Indymedia

#RLBlockade begins!

On the Red Lake sovereign nation land located in what is today known as northern Minnesota, an occupation has started at a location above the Enbridge-owned pipeline built without permission of the Red Lake Nation in 1949 (hashtag #RLblockade). Already a helicopter from Enbridge briefly landed next to the site (video), near the town of Leonard.

Supporters have been invited onto the site by tribal members to support the blockade, and currently volunteer media from the new UneditedMedia collective, TC Indymedia & [informally] OccupyMN are on site. Internet access appears stable enough for @uneditedcamera to periodically livestream as the camp takes shape for the long haul, also aided by mild weather. Also @samRichards10 and Robert DesJarlait (@r_desjarlait) are providing updates. Desjarlait tweeted “This isn’t a blockade, as some have reported. There is nothing to block. It is a non-confrontational protest.” However, it does have potential consequences akin to that created by a blockade.

Additionally it appears that Enbridge recently scrubbed some content pertaining to controversial “Line 67″ from their website. With the dangerous Transcanada Keystone XL pipeline intend for tar sands bitumen mired in political controversy, the prospects for extending the capacity of Line 67, are relevant to the situation. (There are several public hearings in the region scheduled on Line 67 in coming weeks.)

Official press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Deanna Lasley (218)-766-4500

Tito Ybarra (218)-209-6918

Marty Cobenais (218)-760-0284

Date: February 28th, 2013

RED LAKE PIPELINE BLOCKADE

Enbridge Energy LP has been trespassing on Red Lake Nations Ceded lands in Minnesota by operating multiple pipelines without an easement. Nizhawendaamin Indaakiminaan, a group of grassroots Red Lake tribal members and allies, demand that the flow of oil through these pipelines be stopped. Enbridge Energy LP purchased these oil pipelines from Lakehead Pipeline, who originally built these pipelines in 1949 on Red Lake land without obtaining the permission of the Red Lake sovereign nation. According to Marty Cobenais, pipeline organizer for Indigenous Environmental Network and a tribal member of Red Lake, “Enbridge Energy LP still does not have permission to have these pipelines” on an eight acre piece of Red Lake land just southeast of Leonard, Minnesota.

Today Nizhawendaamin Indaakiminaan have occupied the land directly over these pipelines on Red Lake land. They demand that these pipelines be shut down immediately. “The goal is to stand in solidarity not only with our first Nation brothers and sisters in Canada but also to protect our Mother Earth and all of our children and future generations on this earth,” says Tito Ybarra, a member of Nizhawendaamin Indaakiminaan and an enrolled member of the Red Lake band of Ojibwe.

#RLBlockade

TC Indymedia and Unedited Media members will continue to provide updates as they can. This post should also be updated as matters develop. Stay tuned!