Water is Life! - Mni Wiconi

 

This rally was held at the Tepee in Cherry Valley, NY on 2/19/17 in solidarity with Standing Rock

https://www.facebook.com/events/154945955004422/

Inaugurate the Resistance!

Washington, D.C.; January 21, 2017

Panelists:

Chris Hedges, Jill Stein, Tim Canova, Kshama Sawant, Chase Iron Eyes, Bryan Koulouris

Listen to the 58:00 podcast on iTunes.

From the Organizers:

Trump's pro-billionaire agenda and plans to wage war on the environment, deport three million immigrants, undermine public sector unions, and nominate a reactionary Supreme Court justice are not just idle threats. Yet the neoliberal leaders of the Democratic Party cannot stop Trump now, anymore than during the election. How can we build powerful mass movements capable of decisively defeating the right and providing a real alternative for ordinary working people, immigrants, LGBTQ people and youth? Can the Democratic Party be reformed, or does the left need to build independently?

This event is part of Occupy Inauguration's weekend of resistance, sponsored by the Green Party, Socialist Alternative, Occupy Wall Street, Movement for the 99%, and the Stein/Baraka campaign.

Related Links:

Truthdig
Progress for All

Oren Lyons at ArtRage

 

Native-American Faithkeeper, Human Rights Advocate, Environmental Activist

From the Organizers:

As a closing event for the ArtRage exhibition of Robert Shetterly’s Americans Who Tell The Truth portraits, we will proudly host a presentation by Oren Lyons.

The law says if you poison the water, you’ll die.
The law says that if you poison the air, you’ll suffer.
The law says if you degrade where you live, you’ll suffer…
If you don’t learn that, you can only suffer.
There’s no discussion with this law. -Oren Lyons

Oren Lyons is a member of the Onondaga and Seneca nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. As an activist for indigenous and environmental justice, Oren works with communities across the globe. As a Faithkeeper, he upholds the history and traditions of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga and Seneca. Oren often addresses modern-day conflicts by sharing traditional views on the law of nature. When he says “You can’t negotiate with a beetle”*, he implies that nature will respond to climate change whether or not humans do.

Oren’s dedication to the cause of Native and environmental rights has garnered him many accolades, including an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from his alma mater, Syracuse University. Awards include the Rosa Parks Institute for Human Rights Elder and Wiser Award, the Earth Day International Award of the United Nations, the National Audubon Society, and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Lyons serves on the board of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development and is board chairman of Honoring Contributions in the Governance of American Indian Nations. He is also remembered for his time as a lacrosse player and is Honorary Chairman of the Iroquois Nationals. In 1989 he was named Man of the Year in Lacrosse by the NCAA. His legendary performance as goalkeeper for Syracuse University, with Jim Brown on the undefeated 1957 national champion team, led to the induction of Oren R. Lyons, Jr. into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. He was most recently invited to speak at the funeral of Muhammad Ali.

Download the audio at the a-Infos Radio Project.

Forward On Climate

 

Washington, DC; February 17, 2013

At least forty thousand people turned out on a frigid February day to express their concerns about climate change, the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, fracking, and related issues.

The Speakers: Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Bill McKibben, Van Jones, Rosario Dawson, Chief Jacqueline Thomas, Sheldon Whitehouse, Maria Cardona, Tom Snyder, Crystal Lameman, Casey Camp, Michael Brune

Return Our Ancestors: American Indians and NAGPRA - Voices from the Haudenosaunee

 

From the Organizers:

With the recent implementation of new federal rules governing the disposition of so-called 'culturally unidentified human remains,' we find ourselves at an important juncture in the ongoing relationship between anthropology and the American Indians it studies. This has been an area of strong contention between both groups, something that most anthropology students and faculty at Binghamton University have experienced first hand. So too most in the department are well aware of some of the challenges that have arisen in the last few years when American Indian voices have made their way into academia.

Joe Heath

has been General Counsel for the Onondaga Nation since 1982 and an attorney since 1975. For the Nation, his work centers on environmental protection, particularly under the Clean Water Act, focusing on Onondaga Lake and Onondaga Creek; archeological site and unmarked burial site protection; NAGPRA repatriation and litigation; hunting and fishing rights; treaty rights; excise tax issues; and land rights. In addition to these current areas of work, Joe has extensive experience in civil rights litigation, having worked on the Attica civil rights class action case for 29 years before it settled in 2000 for $12 million, criminal defense and trials, family law, protection of abused and neglected children, and fighting domestic violence. Joe is also and active member of Veterans for Peace.

Doug George-Kanentiio

is a Bear Clan member and Akwesasne Mohawk, and a well-traveled lecturer and author. Doug George-Kanentiio is actively involved in issues affecting the Haudenosaunee confederacy in his capacity as columnist for the popular Indian Country Today and has written a number of critically acclaimed books including Iroquois on Fire and Skywoman: Legends of the Iroquois, co-written with his wife Joanne Shenandoah. So too he is a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum of the American Indian, and recently carried the winter Olympics torch through Haudenosaunee territory. Like Peter Jemison, he has and continues to advocate for the repatriation of all Haudenosaunee remains to their respective nations, and hopes to share this with our student body.

G. Peter Jemison

A descendant of the famous Mary Jemison, a frontierswoman captured and adopted by Seneca Indians in the 18th century, Peter Jemison wears many hats. He is a Heron Clan member of the Seneca Nation of Indians, is the representative for them on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), has served on the Haudenosaunee Standing Committee on Burial Rules and Repatriation, is the manager of the Ganondagan State Historic site, is Faithkeeeper to the Cattaraugus Seneca Nation, serves on the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, is an author and has written many articles, and is an accomplished artist and filmmaker. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and he is willing to share his experience and perspectives with us.

Sponsor: The Indigenous Student Association at Binghamton University. ISA is a GSO-chartered organization.

Cosponsors of the event include the Graduate School, the Sociocultural and Multicultural Assembly of the GSO, the Anthropology Graduate Organization, the Binghamton Political Initiative, the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program (LACAS), the Graduate History Society, the Computer Science Graduate Student Organization, and the Middle Eastern Cultural Association.

Sisters in Spirit: The Iroquois Influence on Early American Feminists

 

A talk by Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner

Onondaga Historical Association
Syracuse, NY; March 8, 2009

A Vision of Social Justice

Jeanne Shenandoah, originally scheduled to participate in this talk, was unable to appear.

From the program compiled by the OHA:

The Onondaga Historical Association will host a collaborative talk between nationally recognized author, lecturer, performance interpreter of women’s rights history, and Executive Director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation, Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner and Jeanne Shenandoah, a member of the Eel Clan of the Onondaga Nation, and a member of the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force on Sunday, March 8, 2009 at 2:00PM.

This presentation tells the history of the Iroquois Confederacy, whose practice of gender equality inspired the emerging women's rights movement in upstate New York over 100 years ago.

Imagine that women had the right to choose all political representatives and to remove from office anyone who didn't address the wishes and needs of the people. Haudenosaunee (traditional Iroquois) women have had that responsibility - and more - since long before Christopher Columbus came to these shores. Native American women generally had a pre-contact status, which would be the envy of United States women, even today.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage, the two major theoreticians of the early women's rights movement, had direct knowledge of the Haudenosaunee, writing about the superior social, political, religious and economic status of women in the Iroquois nations. Their work for women's rights, Wagner argues, was inspired by the vision they received from the Haudenosaunee of gender balance and harmony.

Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner is the author of “Sisters in Spirit: The Iroquois Influence on Early American Feminists” for which Jeanne Shenandoah wrote the introduction. There will be a book signing immediately following the discussion.

This event is made possible through the Speakers in the Humanities, a program of the New York Council for the Humanities that creates opportunities for distinguished scholars to present free programs to the general public.

Speaker Biographical Information

Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner

Executive director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation in Fayetteville, New York, is a nationally recognized lecturer, author and performance interpreter of woman’s rights history. One of the first women to receive a doctorate in the United States for work in women’s studies (UC Santa Cruz), and a founder of one of the country’s first college women’s studies programs, (CSU Sacramento). Dr. Wagner has taught in women’s studies for thirty-nine years. She currently serves as adjunct faculty in the Honors Program at Syracuse University.

Wagner appeared as a “talking head” in the Ken Burns PBS documentary, “Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony” for which she wrote the accompanying faculty guide for PBS. She was also an historian in the PBS special, “One Woman, One Vote” and has been interviewed several times on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and “Democracy Now.”

The theme of her work has been telling the untold stories. Her monograph, She Who Holds the Sky: Matilda Joslyn Gage, (Sky Carrier Press, 2003), reveals a suffragist written out of history because of her stand against the religious right 100 years ago, while Sisters in Spirit: Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Influence on Early American Feminists (Native Voices, 2001), documents the influence of native women on early women's rights activists.

Jeanne Shenandoah

A member of Eel Clan of the Onondaga Nation, serves as a representative of the Onondaga Nation in Onondaga Lake Environmental Cleanup, is a member of Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force, founding Vice President of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation, and practiced as a homebirth midwife for 28 years.

Shenandoah has focused her work on educating the community about her traditional life as a member of the Eel Clan and bridging between the native and non-native nations and the impact it has had on our community over the past 30 years. In 2002, as a Haudenosaunce woman representing the spiritual tradition of indigenous women, Shenandoah attended The Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Shenandoah has also shared her personal story in Syracuse Stage’s production, Tales from Salt City. In 2005, she received The Harriet Tubman Humanitarian Achievement Award.

Ward Churchill: Indigenous Rights and Resistance

 

Ward Churchill spoke at Binghamton University on April 14, 2007.

Visit the Ward Churchill Solidarity Network.