From: thevolutionaries <thevolution1@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 23, 2010 at 2:41 PM
Subject: [bangla-vision] World: Indigenous; N.A.; Green; Prisoner Rights; etc..
To: bangla-vision@yahoogroups.com
Salaam.
This post on Disabled Greens News and discussion:
Indigenous; N.A.; Green; Prisoner Rights; etc.; Acts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DisabledGreensNews/message/9017
This petition on change.org:
http://environment.change.org/petitions/view/indigenous_na_green_prisoner_rights_etc_acts
http://www.change.org/petitions/view/Indigenous_NA_Green_Prisoner_Rights_etc_Acts
New START: You made it happen!:
Thanks to your efforts, the Senate voted today to give its advice and consent to ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).
Act :)
http://capwiz.com/unausa/home/
As you know this vote has been the culmination of a long and complex undertaking, involving many hours of Senate hearings; formal and informal consultations between the Senate and Obama administration officials; interventions by foreign policy advisors to numerous presidential administrations; and personal efforts by countless Americans who believe in the importance of a verifiable nuclear arms control agreement between the world's two largest nuclear superpowers, the United States and Russia.
Thank you for your contribution to making Senate approval of New START possible.
Today's Senate approval of New START will help to prevent the global spread of nuclear weapons. That's quite an accomplishment as 2010 comes to a close and the new year gets underway on a new, more hopeful note.
Sincerely,
http://www.unausa.org/Page.aspx?pid=220
The UNA-USA Advocacy Team
A Wondrous Spirit-Gift from Grandma Edna:
~**~A Wondrous Spirit-Gift from Grandma Edna~**~
A Wondrous Spirit-Gift!
----------------------------------------------------------
From the desk of Harvey Arden
Founder: ~The Wisdomkeepers Collective ~ "Bringing the Elders to the World & the World to the Elders"
Author: WISDOMKEEPERS: Meetings with Native American Spiritual Elders
DREAMKEEPERS: A Spirit-Journey into Aboriginal Australia
NOBLE RED MAN: Lakota Wisdomkeeper Mathew King
TRAVELS IN A STONE CANOE: The Return to the Wisdomkeepers
Editor: PRISON WRITINGS: MY LIFE IS MY SUN DANCE by Leonard Peltier
WHITE BUFFALO TEACHINGS by Chief Arvol Looking Horse
VOICE OF THE HAWK ELDER by Seneca Wisdomkeeper Edna Gordon
----------------------------------------------------------
WOW! Grandma Edna won FIRST PLACE in the NATIVE AMERICAN BOOK category!! Send her congratulations at rdgordon@hotmail.com with a CC to me (please!) Get remaining first-printing copies on shelf NOW ! Go to www.haveyouthought.com or contact Publisher George Blitch at george@haveyouthought.com.
EDNA, WE'RE PROUD OF YOU!! / Harvey Arden
----------------------------------------------------------
VOICE of the HAWK ELDER
by
Seneca Wisdomkeeper Edna Gordon
BestBooks2007Winner
First-Prize for Native American books
Order at www.haveyouthought.com
Wholesale orders contact george@haveyouthought.com
----------------------------------------------------------
Excerpts from Seneca Wisdomkeeper Edna Gordon's VOICE OF THE HAWK ELDER:
WE NEED CHANGES in this world, really big big changes. I'm prayin' they'll be peaceable changes, not violent and bloody ones. I'd like to see a peaceable revolution, a revolution of broomsticks instead of guns.
Call it a Broomstick Revolution.
That's right. The People pick up their broomsticks and march together and Sweep Injustice Out! Make a clean sweep, a big cleanin' like's never been seen before.
Broomsticks against Injustice. Now that'll be the day!
We'll take our broomsticks and we'll sweep Leonard Peltier right out o' prison, along with all the other innocents.
Yep—a Broomstick Revolution! That's what we need!
NOW: ORDER ONLINE AT www.haveyouthought.com
----------------------------------------------------------
VOICE of the
HAWK ELDER
by Seneca Wisdomkeeper
Edna Gordon
~
With Harvey Arden
All rights reserved
NOW: ORDER ONLINE AT www.haveyouthought.com
~
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my People, the Seneca Nation, to our kindred Peoples of the Haudenoshaunee, or Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy, to all the Indian Nations of Great Turtle Island, and to all other Indigenous Peoples around this Mother Earth. I send it out like an arrow of love from my heart to YOUR hearts! If other folks want to read it too, why, that's fine by me. Might be you even learn something!
This book is FULL of secrets for those who understand'm!
But always remember, the BIGGEST secret is Creation itself!
~
What I see
I want you to see,
so that what you see
your children will be able to see.
--Hawk ElderEdna Gordon
Edna & Harvey
EDITOR'S FOREWORD
"WELCOME TO MY UMBRELLA TREE," says Hawk Elder Edna Gordon, seating herself opposite me at her well-weathered backyard picnic-table, gesturing with a wide sweep of her hand at the rich tapestry of overhanging branches arching all the way to the ground around us, creating a kind of natural gazebo.
She nods at the tree as at a cherished old friend, and nods at me, her visitor.
"This old tree's the whole of Creation, you know, if you got eyes to see…," she says, and her throaty voice trails away thoughtfully.
I look upward into the drooping canopy of heavily leafed branches all but encasing us.
"Like a house of leaves," I say.
"More'n that," she says, "…the whole Creation's right here in this tree, if you can see it… You're sittin' right inside o' Creation itself! Don't you see it? Can't you feel it?"
I put the palm of my hand on the rough bark of the trunk.
"I …I can feel it, I think," I say.
"Your hand on the tree, that's Life on Life," Edna says. "This Umbrella tree here's at the center of the Universe! And so are we!"
CERTAINLY, when you're with a visionary like Edna Gordon, the Universe, the Creation itself, occupies not the background of your consciousness but the foreground. She's continually reminding me—and all of us—of the oft-forgotten fact that We Exist! that the World, the Universe, the very Creation itself is here and now with us at every magical instant—and that it's our privilege, our joy, and our duty as living beings to realize this in every conscious moment, to see it, to appreciate it, to be ever-thankful and ever-marveling at all of this unthinkable vastness and infinite particularity around us and within us. She insists that we see—and, yes, feel--this miracle that we ourselves are an integral, even essential part of this Mystery beyond all mysteries.
"Yep, it's all a Mystery. A Holy Mystery," Edna says, "No matter how far you look, that's all you're ever going to find at the end of your lookin'—a Holy Mystery."
"But how are we individual human beings essential to that Mystery….? " I ask.
Edna smiles that radiant smile of hers. With her bare toetip she lightly taps a tiny bloom in the grass at her foot.
"Is a flower essential to the Universe?" she asks, "Some folks'll tell you, 'Oh, no It's just a flower! It lives and dies in a day or two. What does Creation need that silly little flower for?' "
"Well, I tell you, that little tiny flower…you see it there by my toe…that little white one, no bigger than an earring… That flower is essential—that's right, I'm telling you, essential—to the whole wide Universe, same as you and me and everybody else. We're ALL essential, each and every one of us!
"Why, without that tiny little flower there it'd be a different Universe, a different Creation, not this one we have. D'you understand? So THAT's a mighty power, don't you think? One little flower can change the entire World! Just like one person can!"
She chuckles, amused at her thought.
SOME might see a 'quaint little old lady' here. But of Edna Gordon I can tell you from years of personal observation: quaint she ain't. No, in this diminutive octogenarian—maybe 5'2 on her stretched-taut tiptoes—I see a fearless warrior against injustice, a bold partisan on behalf of Mother Earth, an implacable defender of her People and of ALL indigenous Peoples.
I see her also as a natural-world philosopher, or Wisdomkeeper, a kind of aboriginal existentialist….but not the Sartrean Existentialist of the 1940's, whose tremulous confrontion with the naked Being of a tree's root (as in Jean-Paul Sartre's novel Nausea) elicited terror and spiritual nausea.
No, in Edna's world, a tree's root or a tiny flower or a red-tailed hawk in flight or a sudden windstorm elicits not fear and angst but joy, celebration, total communion with and immersion in the wonder of being in this world—the wonder of Being itself, of the whole vast living Mystery of Creation. Edna radiates that wonder, that devout appreciation, that thankfulness, that celebration in every word of this little book.
I FIRST MET EDNA GORDON some five or six years ago, when I was (alas, unsuccesfully) trying to create a website—dreamkeepers.net—that would be the digital portal to an ever-growing constellation of personal websites for and by indigenous Elders. It's motto was "Bringing the Elders to the World & the World to the Elders."
Itself the successor to another (alas, equally unsucceful website named wisdomkeepers.com, dreamkeepers.net was to be the cumination of more than a quarter-century traveling among and working with indigenous peoples, begun while a staff writer for 23 years at National Geographic magazine, and continuing after my 1991 'retirement' in such trade books as Wisdomkeepers: Meetings with Native American Spiritual Elders and Dreamkeepers: A Spirit-Journey into Aboriginal Australia.
One day I answered the phone. A rough-gravel woman's voice said:
"You Harvey Arden? This is Edna Gordon. I got some books for you to publish…"
"You do? Books you say? How many books?"
"Oh, maybe ten, maybe thirty."
"Hmmm… Really! Paper books? I'm trying to create a website for the Elders, but I've never published a book—though I've had half a dozen of my own books published. You're maybe talking about a digital online book?"
"Nope, a paper book…a REAL book! I got thirty of'm. Maybe forty!"
"Already published?"
"Had'm printed myself. Got a few copies each. Whaddayou charge?"
"We don't charge anything to Elders at dreamkeepers.net, but we don't publish books—certainly not paper books."
"Well, you WILL!"
AND SO, against all odds I might have given at the time, here is Edna's book Voice of the Hawk Elder—to my mind, an incandescent torch to light our way in these dark times.
--Harvey Arden
June 1, 2006
VOICE of the HAWK ELDER
YES, THIS IS MY VOICE. These are my words. My good friend Harvey has helped me sort and arrange them, like he's done for lots of good people over the years, even back when he wrote for National Geographic. He fixes my spelling and spruces up my grammar here and there, though I tell him, not too much, Harvey! I want folks to know who I am and how I really talk and what I'm really like. Don't make me some saintly old lady come down from Heaven on a moonbeam spoutin' high-flown words.
Me, I'm just me, Grandma Edna Gordon, Hawk Clan Elder of the Seneca Nation, Six Nations Iroquois. I just turned 85, and am tryin' my darndest to be a good person. Sometimes I succeed, but don't stay around me when I get mad! I'm a raging hawk!
I'M HONORED Harvey's chosen me to work with. Or am I the one did the choosing? <smile> . Harvey's a helper, and that's a holy thing to be. People'mselves aren't holy. But what they do can be holy. Living a holy life, that's what life's for. Helping others, fighting injustice, standing up for the People, saving our Mother the Earth—those are holy things to do.
But always be sure to remember, it ain't you yourself who's holy. People are just people. If God'd wanted'm to be holy, he'd have given'm wings and set'm up on a cloud somewhere playin' a big gold harp.
Sounds pretty boring to me. Me, I'd rather just be a human being. I'm thankful that's all I am or need to be. Being human, that's a tough enough job for me.
USED TO BE I KEPT QUIET. I let my husband Hannibal do most of the talking. He was a spiritual leader of the Seneca Nation, though he wasn't a chief, just an ordinary man, a Wolf Clan Elder. When Hannibal talked, folks listened. He spoke from the heart and they listened from the heart. He changed their lives, like he changed mine. Hannibal made this world a better place, and that ain't easy to do.
Hannibal also wrote poems like me, and I include some of his poetry in these pages. To tell the truth, his thoughts and words are so mixed with mine I can hardly tell'm apart anymore. No matter. They're all one piece.
Now Hannibal's gone on ahead and left me here awhile to carry on alone—though my son Richard's always here for me, like his Dad was. So I've raised four kids, and helped with more'n a few grandkids as well. I love every one of'm for their own selves.
That's how we all need to be loved. That's how God, the Creator loves each of us. He created us and he loves us, each one of us for our own self.
THESE WORDS, these poems, these thoughts come to me like falling leaves drifting into my lap. I study each leaf, each thought, then the autumn breeze carries them away. A few I write down, if I can remember'm. Others are gone forever. Once again, no matter. More'll be drifting down into my lap any time now. There's always another breeze, and there's always another poem.
Here's a little leaf-poem that drifted into my lap one day not long ago when I was out walking in our meadow and a hawk flew out of the woods high over my head, making that high-pitched squealing sound they make.
It's a just a little poem, a very simple poem, but I like it. Some other leaf-poems follow.
IF I HAD NEVER BEEN BORN
If I had never been born,
what would there be
instead of me?
A young girl? A yellow rose?
A hawk?
Oh, yes, a hawk!
A hawk there'd be
instead of me.
SEEING WITH VISIONARY EYES
Take my hand, this weathered branch,
and walk with me along Life's Pathway
in this, my land, my sacred land.
I'll not lead… nor you.
Creator shows the Way.
Side-by-side we'll walk, just we two.
Yes, you and me. You'll see. You'll see.
With visionary eyes you'll see.
So don't be shy, dear friend.
Take my hand and let us make our visit.
Even now the spirits come, Creator-sent.
As we, too, are Creator-sent,
if we but knew.
Look there! A Hawk!
She flies before our eyes,
a red-tailed miracle.
She flies within us, too, you know.
Use your inner eyes
to see how she flies.
SPELLBOUND
I am spellbound when my eyes
capture the height of a mountain.
I wonder, would my dreams reach so high?
If I could challenge the towering mountain
and look down into the valley below,
would I be satisfied with the green pastures?
When I follow a cool, winding brook,
I often ask, "Just where does it end?"
And I wonder, "How far in life could I go?"
I sit and listen to the lapping of the sea.
now peaceful, now angry,
like my heart within.
On the beach I find a shell and put it to my ear,
and within I hear roar of the whole ocean,
the roar of my own heart.
"The more selfish you are
the smaller your world becomes.
*
You make yourself smaller
by being selfish."
ACCEPT THE SHADOW-SIDE WITHIN
Deep in the well of the Soul
the shadow-side of yourself,
cries out for release.
Deep in the savage-side of the Soul,
your darkest Self
sings your Death Chant.
Deep in the Soul's twilight,
where clouds are passing by,
and souls are marching on,
you pray, one day you, too, will belong.
Accept the shadow-side within;
Accept your whole Self.
Transform those inward demons
into the Warriors they are meant to be
For you are made of dark and light,
of sun and shadow,
of good and, yes, of bad.
You need them all.
You are them all.
~
A Child's Prayer
Nyah-weh,
for the feast we share.
Nyah-weh,
for blessings great or small.
Nyah-weh
for the Great Spirit's tender care.
Nyah-weh,
for the love He gives us all.
~
MUCH MORE TO COME!
ORDER ONLINE AT www.haveyouthought.com
or To pay by check, please make check for $20 (incs s/h) out to ' Have You Thought '
with 'Hawk Elder book' on the 'for' line,
and send it to the following address:
Have You Thought
P.O. Box #841912
Houston, TX 77284
And PLEASE include your email address on your check!
For more info contact george@haveyouthought.com
To contact Edna directly: rdgordon@hotmail.com
FIAN E-bulletin No.9 December 2010:
Dear all,
e-bulletin No. 9 December 2010 has been published and reports on the numerous events and activities carried out by FIAN worldwide, as well as other relevant news on the right to food and related fields.
Have a pleasant reading!
Download the e-bulletin at http://www.iufbph.de/fianorg/attachments/E-bulletin_dec2010_e.pdf
Please note that noreply@fian.orgis a sender-only address. Emails to this address will not be responded.
Wilma Strothenke
Coordinator Communication
********************************
FIAN International Secretariat
Willy-Brandt-Platz 5/ D-69115 Heidelberg Germany
Tel +49(0)6221 65300 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +49(0)6221 65300 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 56/ Fax +49(0)6221 830545
Postal Address: PO Box 102243/ D-69012 Heidelberg Germany
e-mail: strothenke [at] fian.org/ www.fian.org
FIAN is an international human rights organization that has been advocating the realization of the right to food for more than 20 years. FIAN consists of national sections and individual members in over 50 countries around the world. www.fian.org
You are receiving this announcement because you have subscribed to our list or have been in contact with FIAN. To change your selection, please click here. To unsubscribe please click here. If someone forwarded this to you and you want to join our list please click here.
http://www.fian.org/get-involved/subscribe
Friends Digest Vol. 4, No. 7:
* Call to Action: Dec. 16 *
Peltier vigil in conjunction with the Second White House Tribal
Summit, 7am to 5pm, 1849 C Street, NW, DC, across the street from
the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Can't attend? No worries. You can still do your part. Flood the
White House with calls, letters, and e-mails on Leonard's behalf
all week, from December 13 through December 17. Tell Obama to
release Leonard Peltier now.
Call the White House every day and invite all your family members,
friends and colleagues to do the same. Call 202-456-1111 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 202-456-1111 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or
202-456-1112 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 202-456-1112 end_of_the_skype_highlighting. When the White House system is overloaded, recordings
automatically play telling you the numbers are not working numbers.
Don't be discouraged. Keep trying. If you continue to have trouble
getting through to the comment line, call the White House switchboard
at 202-456-1414 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 202-456-1414 end_of_the_skype_highlighting and ask to be connected to the comment line.
In addition, write a letter:
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
You can fax your letter to 202-456-2461 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 202-456-2461 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
You can also send an e-mail. Visit
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact>.
* Holiday Gift Drive *
Information: <http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/411.htm>.
* Donations *
Make an end-of-year donation to the Leonard Peltier
Defense Offense Committee, or make a pledge for 2011. See
<http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/donate.htm>. Help Leonard
and his legal team continue his fight for freedom.
* Peltier Scholarship for Oglala Tribal Members *
The scholarship application is now online at
<http://www.oglalacommemoration.com/PDF_scholarsip.pdf> or ready
at the Financial Office at the Oglala Lakota College (contact
Billi Hornbeck). Also check out the Oglala Commemoration auction
at <http://www.oglalacommemoration.com/auction.html>.
* Holiday Message *
We want to thank each and every one of our members for working
so hard in 2010 and for committing to intensifying your efforts
on Mr. Peltier's behalf in the coming year. He needs our help
as never before. Prepare for the challenges ahead and know that
freedom won't come quickly or easily. But together we can and will
make a difference.
We wish you all a happy holiday season in the company of your
friends and family and blessings for the new year.
----
Time to set him free... Because it is the RIGHT thing to do.
Friends of Peltier
http://www.FreePeltierNow.org
Don't let the great dance end:
For tens of thousands of years Kalahari Bushman tribes have lived in the deserts of southern Africa. But the Botswana government is determined to put an end to their ability to live off the land and has cut off their water supply. As the Bushmen launch a court appeal, they need your help more than ever. Please help fund their fight. No amount is too small. Give now »
NEWS
Botswana president in racist outburst against Kalahari Bushmen
In an astonishing outburst, Botswana's president has described the Kalahari Bushmen as `primeval', `primitive' and `backward'. Speaking at the country's largest diamond mine today, President Khama accused the Bushmen of living a `life of backwardness', `a primitive life of deprivation co-existing alongside wild animals', and `a primeval life of a bygone era of hardship and indignity'.
Read more »
NEWS
Uncontacted tribes expert warns of violent conflict
One of Brazil's leading experts on isolated Indians has warned that loggers could trigger violent conflict amongst uncontacted tribes on the Peru-Brazil border. José Carlos Meirelles added that the number of uncontacted Indians in at least one area is increasing, their population possibly having doubled in the last 20 years.
Read more »
SHOPPING
Special offer on 2011 diaries and calendars
Survival's best-selling annual diary and wall calendar are now on special offer online only. If you're travelling light then the handy pocket-sized diary is the one for you, while our `We the People' 2011 wall calendar, featuring 12 strikingly uplifting colour images, is a celebration of tribal peoples and our work with them.
Diary now only £7.99, Calendar now only £8.99
Buy now »
Leave a comment on Botswana's human rights record
and sign a petition :)
http://www.survivalinternational.org/wilderness?page=1
The UK High Commissioner posted a blog item praising Botswana's `good reputation on human rights', and neglecting to mention the government's abuses against the Bushmen.
Please leave a comment pointing out that the government has cut off the Bushmen's water supply
http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/roller/anderson/entry/2010_international_human_rights_day?utm_source=Survival+International&utm_campaign=b820102b19-e_news_December_2010_12_10_2010&utm_medium=email
Survival International
6 Charterhouse Buildings
LONDON, UK EC1M 7ET
T +44(0)207 687 8700 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +44(0)207 687 8700 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
www.survivalinternational.org
Stop Mining and Protect Sacred Sites in Mexico:
ACTION ALERT
Mexico: Stop Mining and Protect Sacred Sites
A Canadian mine threatens a fragile desert and the Wixárika culture.
For more than 1,000 years, the Wixárika (we-SHA-re-ka) people have made pilgrimages from their ceremonial centers in the Sierra Madre Mountains across the Chihuahua desert to Leunar, the sacred mountain where the sun first rose. The Wixárika (also known as Huichol) pilgrims traverse over 300 miles to reach Leunar, stopping to give offerings and prayers at dozens of sacred places along the way-the natural temples of a deeply spiritual people. They undertake their journey, which they call their "essence," to retrace the steps of creation, repeating the prayers of their ancestors in order to maintain the earth's equilibrium and keep their culture alive.
The Wixárika people's pilgrimage route and its destination are protected by state and federal law as well as international accords, but that hasn't stopped a Canadian mining company, First Majestic Silver Corporation, from purchasing concessions to exploit the rich veins of silver that lie beneath the surface. In September, Wixárika communities issued a proclamation to stop the mine from desecrating their most sacred sites and endangering the fragile semi-desert ecosystem. Please send letters to Mexican authorities today. Pamparius!-thank you.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Background Information
Model Letter
Send an Email
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/take-action/mexico/stop-mining-protect-sacred-sites
Youth Action Alert
Make a Donation
Frenen la mina y protejan sitios sagrados históricos
Antecedentes
Ejemplo de carta
Alerta de Acción para la Juventud
Thank you for participating in this campaign!
To support this and other Cultural Survival/Global Response campaigns, please send a donation today. With each letter you write and each dollar you give, you help us win campaigns that protect Indigenous Peoples' lands and resources and defend their rights. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Paula Palmer, Director
Global Response Program
As always, we welcome your comments. Please send your feedback and suggestions to agnes@cs.org.
Cultural Survival is a global leader in the fight to protect Indigenous lands, languages, and cultures around the world. In partnership with Indigenous Peoples, we advocate for Native communities whose rights, cultures, and dignity are under threat. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, we are a membership organization whose board of directors includes some of the world's preeminent Indigenous leaders, as well as lawyers, anthropologists, business leaders, and philanthropists. For more information go to www.cs.org
Cultural Survival | 215 Prospect St | Cambridge | MA | 02139
Ciao.
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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