30 November 2007

Taíno Curricula: A World of Opportunity

To satisfy NYS core curriculum standards for Social Studies in The Western Hemisphere: Latin America, the 5th grade classes I am working with discuss Taíno culture as a way to chronologically kick off their year-long investigation of Hispaniola. But the cultures, geographies, and histories of the Taino people are so strong and varied that it's easy to imagine a Taíno investigation as part of a Global Communities curriculum, or a point of comparison for studying other indigenous "American" cultures in an early American history unit.

The more I talk with Taíno cultural experts around the city, the more I hear echoes of the same sentiment: it's awfully exciting to find out that Taíno culture is increasingly becoming a part of the curriculum in New York City public schools! The people I've worked with so far - from museum educators to performing artists - have all been warm and genuinely enthusiastic about introducing students to the richness of pre-Columbian Taíno culture. The Taíno Indians, before Columbus, inhabited much of the Caribbean including the Bahamas, present-day Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola. I get the sense that the community in New York is close-knit - people sharing similar interests and a passion for shining light on notoriously underrepresented indigenous peoples. Connecting with that community is an educator's dream. One person refers you to another, and soon enough a bevy of cultural resources seem to appear. The Voice of the Taino People blog is a vibrant living document that compiles news and cultural events relating to Taíno peoples in the Caribbean and the Diaspora.

And the Taíno legacy is so alive in New York City today! To so many students of Caribbean descent (and there are many in New York's schools), a Taíno artifact is not just a dusty museum relic but something with familial, personal significance. Maybe a student recognizes that wooden device from his grandmother's kitchen. Another realizes that the music she grew up listening to in 21st century Brooklyn actually pre-dates Columbus, and the instruments are, miraculously, the same. On a recent trip to the National Museum of the American Indian (also raved about by my co-blogger Margot), I was tickled to see so many students recognizing traditional Taíno artifacts as household goods. This surprising bridge, between contemporary life in Brooklyn and indigenous daily life on Hispaniola, would not have come nearly as alive without our full investigation of Taíno culture.

Posted by Evan O'Connell on November 28, 2007 at 08:24 PM
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26 November 2007

Indigenous Resistance/ Indigenous Reality: from The Fire This Time

We are thankful for receiving announcements from our friends at THE FIRE THIS TIME (TFTT), familiar to visitors of the CAC when we previously featured news and work by TFTT on Black Indians in the Americas. As some might recall, TFTT cherishes the personal anonymity of its members, and this concern seems to extend to geographical location as well.

The announcements presented news of two new sites, one,
http://www.firethistime.com/en/Index.htm
presents TFTT's new music label, IR (Indigenous Reality).

The second site is at
http://www.dubdem.com.br/dubdem/recordz/projetos.html
and features some of the music, which can also be sampled on other sites, such as:
http://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/2036421

In the words found on the first site:
"I.R. is a new music label launched in 2003 by TFTT that explores the twin themes of Indigenous Resistance/Indigenous Reality. Issues and examples of indigenous resistance and Indigenous reality that normally dont receive attention will be highlighted through our releases. I.R also refers to homegrown insurrection and the fight against injustice everywhere. I.R is intimately connected to the TFTT freedub project. Hence there will be opportunities to recive vinyl, books, posters free of charge. An autonomous venture, I.R releases comes together with a minimum of resources but with a maximum of cooperation and care from those involved in the project; a family of loosely affilated folks who believe in the spirit and deed of resistance. We all have the capacity to fight the beast. We all have a part we can play."

According to one site, where the words appear to be from TFTT itself (with minor edits below):

Indigenous Resistance was created in 2003 on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil by black and indigenous activists where they initiated their "freedub" series-vinyl records, given free of charge to the public.

IR releases have focussed on issues of social injustice. IR1 was recorded on location in the Brazilian jungle with the Krikati indians who were fighting for land demarcation rights. IR3 featured members of the indigenous resistance movement for a free West Papua. IR4 was a project of healing among reconcilliation among indigenous peoples of the Solomon islands. IR11 marked ten years since the tragic murder of the Pataxo Indian Galdino who was set on fire by the children of Brazil's elite as a "joke". [This story was also reported in Jonathan Warren's book, Racial Revolutions.] When Galdinos killers were back on the streets after recieving light sentences and preferential treatment, IR created posters and t shirts that said "these bastards killed Galdino" and listed their names. The resulting publicity drew attention back to the case.

IR is a completely autonomous, independent, self-sufficient entity who create their work using the motto of "minimum resources, maximum cooperation." When the topics of recording were too controversial for the Brazilian media and records stores to touch, IR created their own alternative distribution system with used vinyl record seller Zumbi distributing IR recordings through his hand drawn cart in the streets of Rio de Janeiro. IR through sheer necessity has pioneered ways to create music using email and filesharing as their tools to faciltate their work with indigenous people in remote scenarios. IR recordings have involved scenarios where participants have taken boats from remote islands to reach an internet provider where they can upload files. IR focus is on cooperative projects and a further example of this was how in 2007 IR collobrated with the Brazilian soundsystem Dubdem to release 3 freedub seven inch vinyl and to create a Dubdem soundsytem website (www.dubdem.com.br )which was completely interactive with the IR website(http://www.dubreality.com/).

IR has evolved into a self-described "worldwide conspiracy" involving indigenous activists and artists in various parts of the globe linking via internet with subversive minded producers, engineers and producers like Adrian Sherwood, Mad Mike (UR), Dr Das, Bobby Marshall, Sun J (Asian Dub Foundation).

IR10 Indigenous Dublands reflects this confluence. Producers like Steven Stanley(Black Uhuru, B52s, Talking Heads) Soy Sos (Soma Mestizo, 3 generations walking) ramjac (Herbie Hancock, Mark Stewart) Downsound (Jamaica) Tapedave (Mt Dublab)enconter musicians Dr Das (ex-Asian Dub Foundation), Sly n Robie, Saevo (Solomon Islands) with vocalists Tohununo (providing traditional singing from the Solomon islands), Jimmy Dick (Swampy Cree traditional singing from Turtle Island and Christiane D (Soma Mestizo) IR10 was recorded & mixed in the Solomon islands, Jamaica, UK, Brazil and Turtle Island.

The result is a mixture of funk, dub, traditonal indigenous singing spoken word, tablas and never before recorded instruments from the solomon islands. More details on individual tracks can be found on the IR website http://www.dubreality.com/ and if you search for the compound word indigenousresistance on http://www.youtube.com/ you can also find IR videos and documentaries (like the one below).




"NZ anti-terrorism laws branded incoherent after raid fiasco"

::Thanks to Tony Castanha for alerting us to this article::

From the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) at:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/18/2094044.htm

The future of New Zealand's controversial terrorism suppression laws is in doubt, after authorities ruled that none of those arrested in last month's raids on Maori communities will face terrorism charges.

Solicitor-General David Collins QC says the "overly complex and incoherent" legislation means the law cannot be used to prosecute in any of the 12 cases he was reviewing following the raids.

Meanwhile, there are calls for the Police Commissioner to resign over heavy-handed tactics meted out to Maori terrorism suspects.

October 15th 2007 will be remembered as the day the 'war on terror' reached Whakatane.

Heavily armed tactical response police wearing balaclavas set up roadblocks in the Bay of Plenty boondocks and searched vehicles and photographed their occupants.

The Tuhoe tribe have since called in Peter Williams QC, who believes they have a good case against police for breaching their civil rights.

"I may say that there has been terrorism, but the terrorism has emanated from the police, not from anybody else," he said.

Mr Collins agrees that the evidence was insufficient to justify this heavy-handed approach. He also says the anti-terrorism laws themselves are deficient and in urgent need of redrafting.

"I have advised the commissioner that I am unable to authorise the prosecutions that have been sought under the Terrorism Suppression Act," he said.

Mr Williams says that is just the start.

"I think the police position is that they have used the Terrorism Act excessively, particularly in opposing bail, and possibly leading the people of New Zealand to think that there was terrorism by these people," he said.

"That has now been belied by the Solicitor-General in a decision that I think is adroit, and I think is objective, and I think a very wise decision.

"What should happen now, as I understand it, is that these people should be released on bail and their particular cases should be dealt with according to law."

Toi Iti, the son of high-profile Maori sovereignty activist, Tame Iti - who is now applying for release on bail - says he is relieved at the dramatic turn of events.

"Because I think just having the association with the word 'terrorism' and all of the connotations that come with that, with the terrorist acts that happen globally around the world, to have that associated with your family and your name has a huge effect," he said.


Innocent people affected

But for police, it's a humiliating backdown from what they claim was an imminent threat to national security. Police Commissioner Howard Broad now concedes that a lot of innocent people got caught up in the dragnet.

"They're clearly hurt, they're clearly distressed," he said.

"The people of Tuhoe particularly feel like that this operation was directed at them.

"I've got some work to do to build bridges there and I acknowledge that.

"But in terms of this being a serious risk, I stand exactly behind what I did, and I expect the people of New Zealand would support me in that."

Maori political leaders like Hone Harawira say that is just not good enough.

"He announced on the first day, 'terrorism', and he has not been able to prove it," he said.

"He employs Kaitakawaenga, Maori police officers who work in places like Ruatoki.

"He had the opportunity 18 months ago to say, 'Guys, I think there's something going on in here. Get in there and find out.' It could have been all over and done with inside two or three weeks."

Instead, Mr Harawira says, the Police Commissioner did not inform the local Maori police officers.

"The boss of that operation, of that unit, the Maori Liaison Officers, wasn't even told until the operation had started," he said.

"[Commissioner Broad] said himself on day one, 'I stake my reputation on it'. He's blown it, he should go.


Slight on Tuhoe community

The Tuhoe tribe now thinks it is time for police to start listening to their own Maori Liaison Officers and apologise for the slight on their community.

Mr Williams says it was effectively branded a terrorist enclave.

"There's a lot of ill-feeling at the present moment, there's a lot of anger, their mana has been affected," he said.

Mana is a supernatural life force of power or authority.

Mr Williams says there has been a series of illegal acts by the police.

"It is time now, in my humble opinion, for a reconciliation, for the police to apologise and for the police to make recompense, so that this can be amended and the mana of the police as well, restored."

But others, like Mr Harawira, suggest the incident has put relations between police and Maoris back 100 years.

"How dare they arrest Tame Iti! What are the charges that he is leading a terrorist organisation? This is bullshit!" he said.

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Editor's note: The fact that the "war on terror" is being regularly visited upon those least connected with anything to do with Sept. 11, 2001, and being deployed in countries that were not targeted by Al Qaida, it is not surprising that the national security state is shown to be the normal state of affairs. Immigrants, almost all Muslims, Indigenous Peoples, have been the more immediate targets of this new colonial war, and what their experience should be telling everyone else is quite important: that the Italian political philosopher, Giorgio Agamben, was right when he he argued that states of exception, emergency rule, surveillance, national security, all of these combined consistently shape and constitute rule by states everywhere. The real "terror" we have to be worried about has always been, and continues to be, state terror. Here in Canada the face of state terror is shown immediately and automatically whenever a crowd of indigenous protesters assemble--police forces almost instantaneously appear, as if the mere fact of protest, or an indigenous gathering, were somehow a public safety issue.

25 November 2007

On "Native Terrorism": A Reader Responds

::I am thankful for receiving the following message, which was posted in response to another post on this blog ("More Hysteria Over the 'Native Terrorist'")::


Hegemonic Post-Colonial Discourse (Contemporary Colonization)

What is terrorism? What does it mean to act in the name of peace, or to find arms in places where they don't exist? Are they copying hegemonic discourse? All of these questions are valid and apply to violations that many people of the world suffer, above all indigenous people.

In my opinion, when culture is managed irresponsibly, and we see others judged in an irresponsible way, with no evidence, with comments that are racist and which are placed in a context as if they were made by wise elders, claiming things such as "I decide if you are worthy of your culture or not", "you are violent and vengeful", these people are hypocrites, because they say they are working for our people and are offering "recognition to those men and women who iron our clothes, watch over us, wash our cars, and make our handicrafts".

They do not see that this is not the way, not the right path.

We as indigenous are not only those things. We are the ones who, through our ancestors, have kept society together to the present, we are the ones who have diverse ways of expressing ourselves as daily witnesses to the idea that it is possible to live in peace with others and with mother earth, we champion the responsible use of culture, which does away with preconceptions and ideas promoted by ignorance and lack of understanding by others. We are the ones as a people who have given up so much at such a high and unfortunate cost, such as our most valued legacy, the greatness of the past, our faith, our culture, our food. What kind of sin is it to have self-determination? What kind of sin is it to protest? What sin have we committed when we accept the new nationality of peoples living on our soil? What sin have indigenous committed when we recognise each other as human beings? Why do they mistreat us when we state that something does not look right to us?

In other words, people who practice what they criticise, who judge you in the name of democracy, who say they are offering tribute, are just like the colonisers, they keep exchanging gold for trinkets and want us to give away our wealth for shiny mirrors. Amparo Ochoa has a song that expresses this very well:

And we open our homes and call them friends
But if an Indian comes back tired from working in the highlands
We humiliate him and see him as a stranger throughout his land.

You hypocrite acting like a humble person in front of a foreigner
You become arrogant with your own poor brothers
Oh, Malinche's curse, illness of our age,
When will you leave my land….when will you free my people.


I dedicate this to all the indigenous peoples of the world, especially to my Maori brothers and sisters in Aotearoa New Zealand, my Wayuu people and to the Wichi people.

I want to share information about what is happening to our Maori brothers and sisters in Aotearoa. Please read this letter and send it on, for once make the voice heard of THOSE WHO HAVE NO VOICE.

David Hernández Palmar. Indígena Wayuu. Clan IIPUANA
0414 632 1312
0416 370 3539
+ 58 414 632 1312
+ 58 416 370 3539
shiaakua@gmail.com

"Tradition is like a wise elder, as she sits on the road of days, she tells future generations what she has lived." RAMON PAZ IIPUANA 1938

"La tradición es como una anciana que sentada en el camino de los días, cuenta a las generaciones venideras lo que ha vivido". RAMON PAZ IIPUANA 1938

La tradition, c'est comme une vieille dame qui, assise sur le chemin des jours qui passent, raconte aux générations à venir ce qui lui a été donné de
vivre. RAMON PAZ IIPUANA, 1938
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24 November 2007

Defeated Howard Worries that Recolonization is Over

In a video posted by The Age of Melbourne, John Howard is shown conceding defeat, not just of his government, but even of his own seat of Bennelong. He concedes also that he will step down as leader of his Liberal Party.

What is interesting is that in two videos defeated Liberal candidates express deep worry that their recent recolonization ("intervention") in the Northern Territory will be scrapped by the new Labour government. This worry was expressed both by Howard himself, and by his Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Mal Brough, who also lost his seat.

One can only wish Australia the best in its effort to crawl back out of the 19th century.


See:


and


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Goodbye and Good Riddance John Howard!

It is rare that we get to post such happy news on this blog: today, November 24, 2007, saw the defeat of the ruling Liberal Party in Australia and its infamous Prime Minister, John Howard. Howard had won four consecutive elections, and used his mandate for villainous ends as possibly the world's most extreme right wing political leader. From immediate support to the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, to atrocious abuses and hostility shown toward refugees, repeatedly condemned by UN agencies for his government's treatment of refugees and Aboriginals, to his anti-worker laws, Howard was a blight on the international political landscape and his humiliating defeat has not come too soon. One hopes that Australia will at least begin to alter its neo-colonial course.

Under Howard we have seen the effective re-colonization of the Northern Territory, the imposition of extreme surveillance and domination over Aboriginals who, were they to today form an independent nation-state of their own would most likely constitute the poorest country on earth. Under Howard Aboriginal misery swelled to unbelievable proportions, with staggering rates of unemployment, poor housing, and a life span that is on average 20 years less than that of white Australians. In the face of a history of abducting Aboriginal children, in what is clearly defined as genocide by the UN, Howard refused to so much as apologize, something that right wingers elsewhere have had little problem doing (with compensation added) as in the case of Howard's political friend, Stephen Harper, the Conservative Prime Minister of Canada. In response to the special misery suffered by Aboriginal Australians, Howard only worried about doing anything that could be perceived as "special treatment"...special treatment for the traditional owners of the land who remain ostracized and vilified as outsiders in their own homeland.

The new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd of the Labour Party, promised among other things to withdraw Australian combat troops from Iraq, to sign the Kyoto Protocol, and to sign the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We hope that these will be done quickly.

Goodbye John Howard, and goodbye to another angry, old, white racist.


For a special collection of YouTube videos dealing with the politics of the Australian nation-state and Aboriginals, click on the image below:

16 November 2007

Taino Areyto 2007

Many thanks to Waxeri Waribonex for forwarding this news:

Reminder
Taino Areyto 2007
Dia del Pueblo Taino



The Wanakan Cultural Center of the Taino Nation of the Antilles, will be hosting the 15th annual Taino Areyto on Saturday November 17th, 2007 at Hostos Community College on Grandconcourse and 149th Street in the Bronx, NY. The event will start from 12 to 6: PM and will feature Venders, Seminars, a special Children’s presentation from 1 to 2: PM and el Dia Del Pueblo Taino Areyto 2007 will be starting from 3 to 6: PM. Please join us on this family oriented celebration and enjoy our music and dance. For more information you can contact us at (917) 301-5934. Tickets available at Hostos Box office.

Waxeri Waribonex
Tomas Gonzalez
Please join our news group by clicking on the link provided below. You must sign up for a free Yahoo E-Mail acct, if you do not already have one, then you can change back to your own e-mail address if you'd like once you've joined in order to automatically receive our postings:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Official_Taino_Nation_News
http://www.myspace.com/tainonationnews
http://tainonation.info/
http://nacion_taina.tripod.com/

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09 November 2007

The Countdown Begins: 10th Anniversary of the CAC

In just a little over a month, the Caribbean Amerindian Centrelink will celebrate its 10th anniversary!

It's remarkable (troubling even) that these ten years have flown past. My personal thanks to my fantastic and inspiring co-editors/colleagues/friends, who have made the CAC such a unique success and who have stuck it out for this long:

Tracy Assing
Janette Bulkan
Gerard Collomb
Jorge Estevez
Pedro Ferbel-Azcarate
Lynne Guitar
Cheryl Noralez
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The Open Anthropology Project (OAP)

Editor's note:

For those one or two individuals who may have been minimally curious as to how I could let more than a week pass without posting to this blog, I have to announce the following.

I have started a neighbouring blog which has consumed my energies. This is the OPEN ANTHROPOLOGY blog at:
http://openanthropology.wordpress.com/

The blog was partly motivated by two separate yet coincidental events: my teaching a graduate course in anthropology, focusing on the decolonization of anthropological knowledge, theory, and practice, and the now considerable volume of media and blog articles on the participation of anthropologists in counterinsurgency campaigns. My notion of an Open Anthropology is one that is free of the constraints of "discipline," "profession," and institutionalization, one that is open source and open access, collaborative and participatory, and directly engaged in the politics of liberation (by first beginning to understand that anthropology is an insider's knowledge system...the insider in this case being the colonizer).

So what does "Open Anthropology" look like in actual practice? Well, you could say that I am doing it in this very moment of writing, and the reader is doing it in the very same instance of reading this.
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Andy Palacio: UNESCO Artist

Thanks to CAC editor, Cheryl Noralez, for the following news item from the Garifuna Heritage Foundation:

Belizean musician Andy Palacio designated UNESCO Artist for Peace

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, has designated the celebrated Belizean musician and singer Andy Palacio a UNESCO Artist for Peace.

OCTOBER 1, 2007 - UNESCO Artists for Peace are internationally-renowned personalities who use their influence, charisma and prestige to help promote UNESCO's message and programs. UNESCO works with these distinguished personalities in order to heighten public awareness regarding key development issues and to inform the public what our Organization's action is in these fields. Andy Palacio's designation makes him the 40th UNESCO Artist for Peace alongside prestigious international figures such as Manu Dibango, Celine Dion and Gilberto Gil.

Born in 1960 in the coastal village of Barranco, in Belize, Andy Palacio started to gain popularity in Belize and abroad in the late 1980s. He has since become his country's most popular musician and one of the most prominent defenders of the regional Garifuna culture and traditions.

With his band The Garifuna Collective, Andy Palacio has created a unique musical style known as Punta rock, an upbeat, popular dance form based on Garifuna rhythms. Palacio also sings in the Garifuna language, which blends many linguistic influences and which UNESCO declared in 2001 a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Andy Palacio is Cultural Ambassador for his country and holds the position of Deputy Administrator of the National Institute of Culture and History.


http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=39602&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
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Disney Rears Its Cannibal Head Once Again: Cannibal Trinidad, 1900s

Hopefully, but doubtfully, a report such as this will finally dispel those optimists (opportunists?) who posted comments on this blog against some of our suggestions that Disney's renditions of cannibalism among indigenous peoples of the Caribbean would be learned and perpetuated as if it were fact (see our debates on Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean). The argument raised by some of these commentators, schooled in the arts of dull acquiescence, was that children--yes, children--would have the intellectual acuity necessary to discern fact from fiction, myth from reality, propaganda from honesty, and pure "entertainment" from truth.

Thanks to Dr. Roi Kwabena for forwarding the following comment from another Trinidadian resident in the UK:

I am a Trinidadian living in the UK. Last night (Sunday 4th November 2007 ) I was horrified when my children drew to my attention a segment of a popular children's Disney TV-Series "Lizzie McGuire" where a young actor presents information from his script stating "do you know that less than a century ago there were cannibals in the country of Trinidad and Tobago" he goes further to insinuate that "back then there was lots of pirate activity in that region".

There you have it: cannibals and pirates in Trinidad, in the 1900s. With entertainment and education of this quality, who needs the brazen imperial propaganda of cable news?
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TURTLE ISLAND CONFEDERACY: Press Release

Many thanks to Dr. Roi Kwabena for forwarding this press release to The CAC Review several days ago:

PRESS RELEASE
September 14, 2007:

Dozens of Indigenous Sovereign Nations throughout Canada and the United States have agreed to move forward with a Declaration of Sovereignty, by which these Indigenous Sovereign Nations will band together to re-assert their inherent sovereignty, inviting all Indigenous Sovereign Nations from all around the world to join. This newly con-federated Nation is appropriately named "The Turtle Island Confederacy." Those who know will understand that "Turtle Island" is another traditional name for "the World." This is truly a universal Declaration. The Hereditary Chiefs of these Indigenous Sovereign Nations will gather at a signing ceremony to take place at a central location in Michigan on November 24, 2007, at which time The Turtle Island Confederacy will be born.

Again, those who know will understand that the traditional governing systems and the traditional cultures of these Indigenous Sovereign Nations were and continue to be decimated by laws enacted by their "host" countries, including Canada and the United States, which laws, among other things, impose false (proxy)(foreign) governments on our people. This true Declaration of true Sovereignty has the blessing of the Creator and International Law.

The creation of The Turtle Island Confederacy on November 24 will immediately free the Indigenous Sovereign Nations to re-assert their sovereignty, an inherent sovereignty that was never surrendered and never could have been surrendered. It has taken the Indigenous Sovereign Nations over 200 years to regroup and arrive at this crucial point in history to re-commence performing their sacred duties to care for Mother Earth and, hence, all people. It is no accident and no coincidence that the Creator has chosen this time to arrange the rebirth of this ancient Nation. The air, the water, the land and all living things are in danger now as never before. The Turtle Island Confederacy is born from all things positive, not from anger for past oppression and atrocities undeniably committed. These things are forgiven. When the colonizers arrived, we welcomed them and cared for them when they could not care for themselves. They were like children sitting at our feet in need of sustenance, which we gladly provided. The children grew up steadily over the course of several hundred years, only to rebel against their caregivers, reacting with greed and forgetfulness of all we did for them and all we tried to teach them. For this they are also forgiven. The time has come, however, when these now young adults must realize and admit the innocent error of their youthful and frivolous ways and turn once again to the wisdom and care of those who raised them. Unwittingly, they developed along the way the technological and linguistic means for all Indigenous Sovereign Nations to now join together with one good mind and one pure heart for the good of all humans.

In conclusion, The Turtle Island Confederacy extends an open invitation to all Indigenous Sovereign Nations to join us on this historic and epic peaceful path into the future and also to convey this all-important message to all colonizing states: "The Turtle Island Confederacy extends, once again, its open hand in friendship and in good faith as our gesture of our desire to continue to coexist for the benefit and respect of all people and our one true Mother, "Turtle Island."

Contact Information:

tmnottawayratt@hotmail.com (Jacob Wawatie, Chief, Algonquin)

Chief_Capilano@hotmail.com (Jerry Capilano, Chief, Squamish)

Gmetallic@hotmail.com (Gary Metallic, Chief, Mi'kmaq)

Tonyplaw@optonline.net (Tony P., Attorney, Mohawk)

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Online Audio Recordings of the Lokono Language

Many thanks from the CAC to David Campos for forwarding this news several days go:

David Campos was able to find Audio recordings of Lokono (proper) online, with over 22 minutes of spoken Lokono from Guyana. It is part of a Christian site called Global Recordings. They have recordings in hundreds of global Indigenous languages. The recordings are of New testament stories.

Those with a special interest in the Arawak and Carib languages will be particularly excited to hear these recordings.

The following are the sites hosting the audio files of the languages. They also have Carib (kalina).

http://globalrecordings.net/program/C20630
http://globalrecordings.net/program/C06440

The Kalina (Mainland Carib) language files can be downloaded from:
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