Pockets of Hope Through Anishinaabe Resurgence

Decolonization

On April 17th, I attended the Biiskaabiyaang Collective’s teach-in event, Zhaaganashiyaadizi and Mino-Bimaadiziwin: Using Anishinaabeg Ways of Knowing to Address Racism, in Thunder Bay. I witnessed a ‘pocket of hope’ in the dialogue that took place among the Anishinaabeg community and settler Canadians, on settler colonialism and racism. In this piece I consider coming together for a purpose, or Wiisokotaatiwin, as a way to provide a crucial space to foster decolonization.

The Biiskaabiyaang Collective is a grassroots community initiative. It is not an organization. It receives no funding. The Collective is comprised of five Anishinaabeg people who have a vision to address the roots of colonialism in the community of Animkii Wiikwedoong. It is not easy to engage in decolonization. It is hard work, as it should be. The Anishinaabeg and settler people who participated in the Zhaaganashiyaadizi and Mino-Bimaadiziwin teach-in are an example of decolonizing processes: by engaging…

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MOISÉS: News about Escuelitas and Request for Sharing

Chiapas Support Committee

ESCUELITA, PEACE CAMP, SHARING AND RECONSTRUCTION

Compañero Galeano

ZAPATISTA NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY

May 27, 2014.

To the compañeras and compañeros of the Sixth in Mexico and the world:

To the brothers and sisters of the National Indigenous Congress and the indigenous peoples of our country:

Compas:

Greetings from Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés, I want to communicate a few things to you:

First. THE LITTLE SCHOOL. Compañer@s of the Sixth in Mexico and the world. We want to let you know that for now, we think that we will continue with the work of the little school, with the first grade for those who haven’t attended yet, as well as second grade for those who passed. It’s just some who passed the first grade and can go on to the second, not everyone because some did not fully honor their commitment as students. Later we’ll let you know the dates for the…

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Tiger Breath!

Thank you for posting this Cindy! It boggles the mind to think that humans have destroyed so much of our beautiful world and so many species are already gone. I love the way you capture and share so much of the wild beings personality in your photos.

Cindy Knoke

We got close enough to see the tiger’s breath! Click to enlarge and see for yourself. If I had to come home from vacation, I must admit this was a very good way to do it!!

The Sumatran Tigers are in a brand new, outdoor, 5.2 acre, multi-level exhibit at The San Diego Safari (Wild Animal) Park. The exhibit houses breeding tigers and is filled with trees, plants, waterfalls, streams and ponds.
There are currently approximately 400 Sumatran Tigers left in the wild.

There were originally nine sub-species of tigers in our world, but three of these are now extinct due to habitat destruction and poaching. All tiger sub-species are critically endangered.

Poachers kill Sumatran Tigers for their bones which are used in traditional Chinese herbal medicine.

The San Diego Zoo and Park supports tiger conservation by breeding tigers to insure genetic diversity through cooperative exchange. It also actively supports…

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Common Dreams News and Views 29 May 2014

News & Views | 05.29.14

Featured…

Norman Solomon: An Assault from Obama’s Escalating War on Journalism
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/05/29

Headlines…

John ‘Man Up’ Kerry Faces Firestorm for Snowden Remarks
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/29-1

‘Permanent Protest Vigil’ Launched to Confront First Tar Sands Mine in US
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/29-3

New Orleans Nearly Finished Killing Off Its Public Schools
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/29-2

Downed Helicopter Kills 14 as Ukraine ‘Fratricidal War’ Deepens
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/29-0

Snowden: Exposing NSA Overreach an Act of ‘Civil Disobedience’
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/29

and more…

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Video…

Things You Didn’t Know About Maya Angelou
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2014/05/29

Extended Presence of US Military Will Not Bring An End To Violence In Afghanistan
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2014/05/29-0

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Views…

Amy Goodman: Maya Angelou, Still She Rises
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/05/29-10

Sonali Kolhatkar: From Elections to Mass Movements: How Wealthy Elites Are Hijacking Democracy All Over the World
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/05/29-9

Glen Ford: Boko Haram a Blessing for Imperialism in Africa: US Training Death Squads
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/05/29-4

Tom Engelhardt: The Big Brotherness of It All
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/05/29-2

Cinzia Arruzza: The Left’s European Conundrum
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/05/29-7

Robert Parry: Obama’s Neoconservative Foreign Policy Vision
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/05/29-1

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Newswire…

Institute for Public Accuracy: Egyptian Election: ‘Farce’ or ‘Quest for Security’?
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2014/05/29-1

Friends of the Earth: White House Doubles Down on ‘All-of-the-Above’ Energy Strategy
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2014/05/29-0

ROC United: 160,000 Tipped Workers Left Behind in Michigan’s New Minimum Wage Law
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2014/05/29

and more…

Welcome to the June Gathering around the Pond, Sunday June 1

Thank you Aisha! I’m so looking forward to this month’s gathering. For a long time I had to taje my experiences and nonphysical connections on faith because the feelings were so muted and hard to tune in loudly or clearly. But as this process sweeps us all along my awareness is becoming more clear. When I saw the photo in this post my first thought was “No matter where you are in a river, you are flowing to the sea.” Which reminds me that no matter how this process plays out for each of us, no matter how fast or slow, or what changes come early or late in our individual experience-we are all in the same river flowing to the sea. 🙂

aisha north

Dear brothers and sisters of the light!

Time is once again flowing fast, and this Sunday at 21:00 Oslo time we have another Gathering coming up. This is what The constant companions have to say about it:

“So let us begin this missive by saying that you have become united in a way that you perhaps cold not have envisaged at an earlier stage of this reconnection. For you are indeed old acquaintances all of you, old souls that have spent many a lifetime connected in diverse ways, but now, you have all come together with one purpose in mind: to connect what has been severed and to heal what has been tainted. For this world that you inhabit within this physical body is a world that needs healing, and your purpose is to play an important part in this process. And so, in order to achieve this, you have…

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Truthout Daily Digest Friday, 30 May 2014

Irate Lyme Disease Patients Storm “Dinner Party” at IDSA Headquarters

Jessica Bernstein, Truthout: The Infectious Diseases Society of America’s 2006 Lyme disease guideline panel – which sets the diagnostic criteria and treatment protocols for Lyme disease – has undercut its credibility by allowing individuals with financial interests to exclude divergent medical evidence and opinion. Patients with chronic Lyme disease protested.

Read the Article

“Bush’s Fourth Term Continues”: Guantanamo, Torture, Secret Renditions, Indefinite Detention

Adam Hudson, Truthout: New drama rocks the Guantanamo military commissions as the potential release of a Senate report on the CIA torture program could influence the commissions’ future and reveal previously unknown details. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court rejects a constitutional challenge to indefinite detention.

Read the Article

Too Big to Sue

Fran Teplitz, OtherWords: Years after their wrongdoing ignited the financial crisis, the Justice Department apparently is acting like massive US banks are too big to prosecute. The range of abuses and crimes committed by banks seems to grow without end.

Read the Article

Hate as a Contagion: The Role of Media in the Rwandan Genocide

Maria Armoudian, Prometheus Books: In this excerpt from Kill the Messenger: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World, Armoudian explains how Hutu power journalists contributed to the Rwandan genocide.

Read the Excerpt

Thomas Piketty | The Market and Private Property Should Be the Slaves of Democracy

Lynn Fries, The Real News Network: This program looks into the history of income and wealth from the 18th century. Who owns what and who earns what? For centuries this has been a debate without much data, but that’s changed with the publication of a new book, Capital in the Twenty-First Centuryby Thomas Piketty.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

Social Security Threatens to Close All Field Offices

Jim Campana, Labor Notes: Bureaucrats are mulling closure of most of the Social Security Administration’s more than 1,000 community field offices in the United States, where 43 million people sought services last year, even as the number of visitors continues to grow.

Read the Article

Feminist Party Scores First Victory in EU Election

Kevin Mathews, Care2: Feminists have made significant progress in European politics this week. For the first time ever, a candidate attached to an out-and-out “feminist” political party has been elected to serve on the European Parliament.

Read the Article

The State Department’s Ukraine Fiasco

Robert Parry, Consortium News: The State Department’s handling of the Ukraine crisis may go down as a textbook diplomatic fiasco: doing nothing to advance genuine US interests while disrupting cooperation with Moscow and pushing Russia and China back together.

Read the Article

Financialization and the Collapse of European Social Democracy

Paul Jay, The Real News Network: “The political implications of financialization and the naked class interest that we’ve seen have been dramatic. They’ve been dramatic because the social democratic part of the political spectrum accepted the neoliberal message,” says professor of economics, Costas Lapavitsas.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

Sri Lankan Youth Desperate for Change

Amantha Perera, Inter Press Service: It has been five years since Sri Lanka’s brutal three-decades-long civil conflict came to an end in May 2009, but for the country’s youth, true national reconciliation is still a long way off.

Read the Article

Everyone Still Loves “Reading Rainbow” (and This New Kickstarter Proves It)

Christopher Zumski Finke, YES! Magazine: The PBS classic, which taught a love of books to generations of kids, will be coming back in an online version. The show’s former host, LeVar Burton, launched a Kickstarter campaign in an effort to make the show accessible to “every child, everywhere.”

Read the Article

BuzzFlash

Economy Shrunk in the First Quarter of 2014: A Bad Sign for Income Inequality

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: Our “national security” – in terms of being an ostensible democracy – may be more threatened by the current economic structure in the United States than an external enemy.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

NRA Finally Meets Its Match: Why Richard Martinez Should Have Them Shaking

Read the Article at Salon

The Peril of Hipster Economics

Read the Article at Al-Jazeera

Insanity Extends Beyond the Shooters

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Paul Krugman | Cutting Back on Carbon

Read the Article at The New York Times

Hashtag Activism and the Lie of “Solidarity”

Read the Article at RH Reality Check

WNBA’s Slam-Dunk: First Pro League to Market to LGBT Community

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

It Wasn’t Abortion That Formed the Religious Right. It Was Support for Segregation.

Read the Article at Slate

Marcos: Between Light and Shadow

Thank you for posting this! I have never before felt so joyful and grateful to be indigenous and to have spent a lifetime struggling to share the truth, to live from the heart and with respect for all living beings. Despite being spit on, insulted, harassed, ignored, mocked and belittled I could never accept that the world built by the violence and lies of colonization was *real*. It can only be a nightmare from which we will soon awaken.
In school I was told that all the indians were dead, that I should give up and learn to be white; that power over is the way the world IS and cannot be questioned or changed; that community rooted in love, respect and equality was a pipe dream called “Utopia” not a real world that colonization was destroying-that would be reborn from the ashes of Empire as I believed.
But you have proven them wrong on every level. Colonization did not destroy what it could not comprehend; you are all living proof that with dedication and love the real world can be rebuilt and lived.
To my readers-if you want to join in co-creating the new world, the “5D” , post Shift reality-**this** is how it works. Not currency controls imposed from above by secret insiders, or complex legal machinations between rival factions of top down controllers, or shimmering dream worlds brought as gifts from the very same spaceships that never did take the Mayan people away anywhere at all. It is built by living it right NOW as the Zapatistas have beautifully demonstrated.
By acting in solidarity with them and others like us across all borders and boundaries we can birth the world we know is possible instead of waiting and waiting and waiting for some leader-teacher-master-superior to give it to us.

Chiapas Support Committee

BETWEEN LIGHT AND SHADOW

In La Realidad [Reality], Planet Earth

May 2014

Compañera, compañeroa, compañero:

Good evening, afternoon, or morning, whichever it may be in your geography, time, and way of being.

Good very early morning.

I would like to ask the compañeras, compañeros and compañeroas of the Sixth who came from other places, especially the compañeros from the independent media, for your patience, tolerance, and understanding for what I am about to say, because these will be the final words that I speak in public before I cease to exist.

I am speaking to you and to those who listen to and look at us through you.

Perhaps at the start, or as these words unfold, the sensation will grow in your heart that something is out of place, that something doesn’t quite fit, as if you were missing one or several pieces that would help make sense of…

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Truthout Daily Digest Thursday, 29 May 2014

The World Health Organization in Thrall to the Nuclearists

Robert James Parsons, Truthout: The International Atomic Energy Agency, whose mandate is the promotion of everything nuclear, has for the last 55 years prevented the WHO from carrying out its public health mandate in a world ever more exposed to the lethal effects of ionizing radiation.

Read the Article

The Stiglitz Code: How Taxing Capital Can Counter Inequality

Felicia Wong, Next New Deal: Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz makes the case that tax policy can and should counter some of the country’s biggest challenges: runaway inequality, the threat of climate change and a business sector warped by bad incentives.

Read the Article

Cut-Throat Capitalism: Welcome to the Gig Economy

Lynn Stuart Parramore, Campaign for America’s Future: Gerald Friedman, who teaches economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and has written about the gig economy, discusses how the “gig economy” trend happened and what it means to workers and our increasingly unequal society.

Read the Interview

Ruben Salazar and the Filmmaker in the Middle

Roberto Cintli Rodriguez, Truthout: The new documentaryRuben Salazar: Man in the Middle fails to address the questions raised about a possible assassination of the Chicano journalist in 1970 – or to assuage the still-raw grief of his community.

Read the Review

One Size Does Not Fit All: Fighting the Common Core Curriculum

Eleanor J. Bader, Truthout: Corporate interests are pushing the Common Core State Standards in an attempt to privatize public elementary and secondary schools throughout the United States and impose a one-size-fits-all curriculum on classrooms throughout the country. But parents, teachers and students are fighting back.

Read the Article

Piketty in Elysium

John Feffer, Foreign Policy in Focus: Even before Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century became a surprise bestseller, we were awash in statistical evidence. If inequality sells in bookstores and box offices, it will sell at the polls as well.

Read the Article

Dr. Maya Angelou: Her Lifetime of Moments Took Our Breath Away

Crystal Shepeard, Care2: The poet, author, singer, dancer, songwriter, actress, activist, mother and teacher conquered many firsts and has left us with more than 30 titles.

Read the Article and Watch the Video

Star on Indian Subcontinent’s Firmament Changes: Neighborhood Body Language Friendlier

Papri Sri Raman, Truthout: Newly sworn-in Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India has scored some immediate public relations wins by unexpectedly reaching out to the leaders of India’s neighboring states in the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation.

Read the Article

Time to Rethink American Exceptionalism?

The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: There’s a difference between celebrating your own unique way of life and thinking that you can do whatever you want and force your way of life onto everyone else. The United States needs to understand this fact and start basing foreign policy around it.

Read the Article

The Last Commencement Address: Surveilling the Class of 2014

Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch: “My urge is to graduate you from the world of shadows, where you’ve spent so much of your last years, into the increasingly shadowy off-screen world, where what matters most still exists.”

Read the Article

Paul Krugman | The European Economy: Still Weak, Still Faltering

Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: “The European story remains one of deeply destructive economic policies, which have inflicted vast harm, but have not led to unraveling, because the political cohesion of the euro zone is stronger than people like me realized.”

Read the Article

Economic Update: Myths of Capitalist Efficiency

Richard D. Wolff, Economic Update / Truthout: Richard D. Wolff speaks on the death of Maya Angelou; updates on Chilean students’ victory; Detroit’s plan to demolish 40,000 houses; and housing market realities. Major discussions on the international movement of economics students challenging curricula and teachers, and the economics of advertising.

Listen to the Radio Segment

BuzzFlash

New Allende Overthrow Info Reconfirms US Suppresses Economically Rebellious Democracies

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: New revelations about the Chilean military overthrow of the popularly elected Salvador Allende regime in 1973 confirm again that the United States is supportive of democracies that enhance US economic interests, but it is the enemy of those that do not.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

Armies of Millions Beget Armies of One: Elliot Rodger and the American Battlefield

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Elizabeth Warren to Obama: Fed Nominees Should Crack Down on Big Banks

Read the Article at Mother Jones

What Did the Framers Really Mean With the Second Amendment?

Read the Article at The New York Times

New Documents Reveal Extensive Monitoring of Occupy

Read the Article at In These Times

Will Big Oil Execs Ever Stand Trial for Willful Climate Deceit?

Read the Article at Common Dreams

Charles P. Pierce | Mitch McConnell: Twilight of the Turtle

Read the Article at Esquire

Maya Angelou’s Life in Photos

Read the Article at The New Yorker