Kurdish politician leaves German left-wing party over Russia policy

She is not the first Die Linke member to leave the party over its pro-Russian policies.

 Wladimir van Wilgenburg 

 10 Hours

German Kurdish politician Helin Evrim Sommer (Photo: Stella von Saldern/Deutscher Bundestag)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The German Kurdish politician and former MP Helin Evrim Sommer has left Die Linke (The Left) party in protest over its pro-Russian politics.

Sommer was a German parliament member for the Linke (between 2017-2021) and lost her seat in the elections in September.

Germany's influential newsweekly Der Spiegel reported that, in a resignation letter, Sommer accused the party of "Soviet nostalgia" and always blaming the West for Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

"Significant parts of the party publicly reproduce the narrative of the Putin regime and have often enough unilaterally supported the interests of the Kremlin. And even today, parts of the party still give NATO either primary or partial responsibility for Putin's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine, which is beyond reality," she wrote.

On Twitter, she described the left-wing MP Sevim Dagdelen from Die Linke (who is also Kurdish) as the "greatest Putinist of all time."

Furthermore, Sommer was also irritated by her former party's lack of support for Syrian Kurds, as Der Spiegel and Der Tagesspiegel reported in early May.

Instead, the party supported Russia and the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad.

"As a German politician of Kurdish origin, I am also extremely disappointed with how the LINKE has dealt with the Kurdish question in Syria," she wrote in her resignation letter, which she shared with Kurdistan 24.

"Instead of showing solidarity with the Kurds' struggle for freedom in Rojava, parts of the party prefer to support Bashar al-Assad's Syrian terror regime, which has been waging war against its own people for more than 10 years," she added.

"Such positions are intolerable for me."

Sommer is not the first Die Linke member to leave the party over its pro-Russian policies.

She was born in 1971 as the daughter of a teacher in Varto in southeast Turkey (northern Kurdistan). She studied history and is a state-approved translator.

During her time as MP, she supported Kurds in Iraqi and Syrian Kurdistan and repeatedly asked the German government questions about its policies on Kurds.

In 2019, she stated that the "German federal government needs to recognize and support the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) as a stabilizing ally."

Read More: German Left Party congratulates Kurdistan Region on new government

"The Federal Government [in Germany] must finally recognize the Kurds as a stabilizing actor in the region and treat them accordingly," she added.

In 2020, she also criticized Turkish-backed groups for repeatedly cutting off the water to Kurdish-controlled Syria's northeast.

SOUTH  AFRICA

Sibanye-Stillwater strike | Miner says workers' demands unaffordable

'Sibanye-Stillwater CEO pockets R300m pay packet, but staff get next to nothing'

News, Business

2022-05-02 
Source
eNCA

Sibanye-Stillwater strike | Miner says workers' demands unaffordable

The company says it’s been trying to negotiate with unions for about 10 months now and many adjustments have been made.

Workers are demanding a R1,000 increase but the employer is only willing to offer R850.Sibanye-Stillwater's James 

Wellsted said:"It’s been about a 10-month long process, it's been an extended engagement.

"At the end of last year [2021] before the December break we actually paid back-pay on the current offer that we had on the table at that time to employees so that they would go home, at least with something, for the December break to share with their families. At that point, it was R450.

CEO's R300m pay packet a new flashpoint in Sibanye strike

WATCH: Ramaphosa whisked away in Workers' Day rally

Absolute CRAP. Yet the ceo made R300 million Sibanye said it is a waste to give workers that 1000 they must stop playing an give workers what they need not even want because of high prices of living

CEO's R300m pay packet a new flashpoint in Sibanye strikeSibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman's R300m pay package in 2021 is expected to complicate wage negotiations with workers whose strike is now in its second month. 300 million, thats South Africa for you. MayDay CyrilRamaphosa I can't believe this I'm sure you have seen post about JonathanHele helping people, I gave her a try and I can boldly stand and tell everyone she is legit and real... Eusebius I can't believe this I'm sure you have seen post about JonathanHele helping people, I gave her a try and I can boldly stand and tell everyone she is legit and real...

'Sibanye-Stillwater CEO pockets R300m pay packet, but staff get next to nothing'Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman's R300m pay package in 2021 is expected to complicate wage negotiations with workers whose strike is now in its second month. That's typical in this country. Anc government allows this....

WATCH: Ramaphosa whisked away in Workers' Day rallyWATCH: Ramaphosa whisked away in Workers' Day rally President Cyril Ramaphosa had to be whisked away at a Workers' Day rally after striking Sibanye Stillwater mine workers disrupted his address.

Cosatu says heckling of ANC's Ramaphosa at May Day rally was unfortunateRamaphosa was booed and told to leave a Cosatu May Day rally on Sunday by disgruntled Sibanye Stillwater gold operations employees. Lol when commies are at each other's throat Time for Jnions to be dismantled. God is the only true vindicator and can change the hearts of people Wasn't cupcake instrumental in creating cosatu. How things have changed. From workers hero to bring chased like a rabid dog. His days are numbered

Angry mineworkers force Ramaphosa forced to abandon Workers' Day addressThe workers have been on strike for three months in support of their demand for a R1000 increase I can't believe this I'm sure you have seen post about JonathanHele helping people, I gave her a try and I can boldly stand and tell everyone she is legit and real... Are we on the path we designed in 1994 or in a different route. Need to do checks ✔ and balances Bitcoin is something worth talking about, I decided to give it a try when i witnessed how it lifted my friend to his financial hierarchy. I invest $1500 worth of bitcoin and now with the current increase in bitcoin price I got $17,200 just in a week with the help of ScottMark56

Angry mineworkers force Ramaphosa to abandon Workers’ Day addressThe workers have been on strike for three months in support of their demand for a R1000 increase I can't believe this I'm sure you have seen post about JonathanHele helping people, I gave her a try and I can boldly stand and tell everyone she is legit and real... Phansi ngo CR Phansi. Bitcoin is something worth talking about, I decided to give it a try when i witnessed how it lifted my friend to his financial hierarchy. I invest $1500 worth of bitcoin and now with the current increase in bitcoin price I got $17,200 just in a week with the help of ScottMark56

READ: Workers are demanding a R1,000 increase but the employer is only willing to offer R850. Sibanye-Stillwater's James Wellsted said:"It’s been about a 10-month long process, it's been an extended engagement. WATCH | Ramaphosa leaves May Day event "At the end of last year [2021] before the December break we actually paid back-pay on the current offer that we had on the table at that time to employees so that they would go home, at least with something, for the December break to share with their families. At that point, it was R450. "We’ve subsequently moved our offer a number of times. On 4 February we offered R700 on the basic increase and R100 live-out allowance and then we recently on 19 April again adjusted that to an R800 basic increase and R50 live-out allowance. That contrasts with the union's R1,000 demand on basic and R100 live-out allowance. That’s quite a bit higher than where we are." Source

News 02 May 2022, Monday News

FBI aimed to use Pegasus spyware for 

operations with Israel's approval, 

report reveals

May 14, 2022 

The website of Israel-made Pegasus spyware at an office on July 21, 2021 

[MARIO GOLDMAN/AFP via Getty Images]

May 14, 2022 

The United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had intended to use Israel's infamous Pegasus spyware for its ongoing operations, a report by The New York Times has revealed.

According to the report, the FBI reportedly wrote to the Israeli government back in 2018 of its intention to use Pegasus to collect phone data of those it had already been monitoring and investigating. The agency told the Israeli Defence Ministry that its purchase of the spyware was "for the collection of data from mobile devices for the prevention and investigation of crimes and terrorism, in compliance with privacy and national security laws."

The Pegasus spyware – developed and owned by the Israeli NSO Group – was made infamous over the past few years due to its hacking scandals, particularly in July last year when the University of Toronto's internet watchdog Citizen Lab exposed its client governments' misuse of the spyware through the hacking of around 50,000 phones and devices belonging to journalists, human rights activists, and political critics worldwide.

Phones and devices infected with Pegasus spyware become fully compromised, with the users' data, pictures, messages, and location being made accessible to the governments and agencies targeting them. Even the cameras and microphones on their devices can be activated without the users' knowledge. The infection of the devices can be achieved through the user clicking or opening a message or link, or even without any interaction at all through the latest 'zero-click' malware.

READ: From Pegasus to Blue Wolf: how Israel's 'security' experiment in Palestine went global

Since the FBI's acquisition of the Pegasus spyware was revealed and confirmed earlier this this year, the agency has insisted that it only purchased it for "product testing and evaluation", particularly in order to assess how rivals of Washington would use it if they acquired it. This latest revelation of the FBI's intention to put the spyware to use in its operations, however, contradicts that claim.

A spokesperson for the bureau, Cathy L. Milhoan, told The New York Times that "The FBI purchased a license to explore potential future legal use of the NSO product and potential security concerns the product poses…As part of this process, the FBI met the requirements of the Israeli Export Control Agency. After testing and evaluation, the FBI chose not to use the product operationally in any investigation".

Despite the bureau's purchase, testing, and intention to use the spyware, the US government sanctioned its developer the NSO Group and placed it on a trade blacklist. A month later, however, it was reported that the Pegasus spyware would be shut down and sold to the US, with the product apparently only to be used for cyber defence.

Rogues And Spyware: Pegasus Strikes In Spain – OpEd

 May 15, 2022  

By Binoy Kampmark

Weapons, lacking sentience and moral orientation, are there to be used by all.  Once out, these creations can never be rebottled.  Effective spyware, that most malicious of surveillance tools, is one such creation, available to entities and governments of all stripes.  The targets are standard: dissidents, journalists, legislators, activists, even the odd jurist.

Pegasus spyware, the fiendishly effective creation of Israel’s unscrupulous NSO Group, has become something of a regular in the news cycles on cyber security.  Created in 2010, it was the brainchild of three engineers who had cut their teeth working for the cyber outfit Unit 8200 of the Israeli Defence Forces: Niv Carmi, Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie. 

NSO found itself at the vanguard of an Israeli charm offensive, regularly hosting officials from Mossad at its headquarters in Herzliya in the company of delegations from African and Arab countries.  Cyber capabilities would be one way of getting into their good books.

The record of the company was such as to pique the interest of the US Department of Commerce, which announced last November that it would be adding NSO Group and another Israeli cyber company Candiru (now renamed Saito Tech) to its entity list “based on evidence that these entities developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used these tools to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers.”   

In July 2021, the Pegasus Project, an initiative of 17 media organisations and civil society groups, revealed that 50,000 phone numbers of interest to a number of governments had appeared on a list of hackable targets.  All had been targets of Pegasus.  

The government clients of the NSO Group are extensive, spanning the authoritarian and liberal democratic spectrum.  Most notoriously, Pegasus has found its way into the surveillance armoury of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which allegedly monitored calls made by the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and a fellow dissident, Omar Abdulaziz.  In October 2018, Khashoggi, on orders of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was butchered on the grounds of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a hit squad. NSO subsequently became the subject of a legal suit, with lawyers for Abdulaziz arguing that the hacking of his phone “contributed in a significant manner to the decision to murder Mr Khashoggi.”  

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Defence Minister Margarita Robles, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and 18 Catalan separatists are the latest high-profile targets to feature in the Pegasus canon.  Sánchez’s phone was hacked twice in May 2021, with officials claiming that there was at least one data leak.  This was the result of, according to the government, an “illicit and external” operation, conducted by bodies with no state authorisation.

Ironically enough, Robles herself had defended the targeting of the 18 Catalan separatists, claiming that the surveillance was conducted with court approval.  “In this country,” she insisted at a press conference, “no-one is investigated for their political ideals.”

The backdrop of the entire scandal is even more sinister, with Citizen Lab revealing last month that over 60 Catalan legislators, jurists, Members of the European Parliament, journalists and family members were targeted by the Pegasus spyware between 2015 and 2020.  (Citizen Lab found that 63 individuals had been targeted or infected with Pegasus, with four others being the victims of the Candiru spyware.)  Confirmed targets include Elisenda Paluzie and Sònia Urpí Garcia, who both work for the Assemblea Nacional Catalana, an organisation that campaigns for the independence of Catalonia.  

The phone of Catalan journalist Meritxell Bonet was also hacked in June 2019 during the final days of a Supreme Court case against her husband Jordi Cuixart.  Cuixart, former president of the Catalan association Òmnium Cultural, was charged and sentenced on grounds of sedition.

The investigation by Citizen Lab did not conclusively attribute “the operations to a specific entity, but strong circumstantial evidence suggests a nexus with Spanish authorities.”  Amnesty International Technology and Human Rights researcher Likhita Banerji put the case simply. “The Spanish government needs to come clean over whether or not it is a customer of NSO Group.  It must also conduct a thorough, independent investigation into the use of Pegasus spyware against the Catalans identified in this investigation.” 

Heads were bound to roll, and the main casualty in this affair was the first woman to head Spain’s CNI intelligence agency, Paz Esteban.  Esteban’s defence of the Catalan hackings proved identical to that of Robles: they had been done with judicial and legal approval.  But she needed a scalp for an increasingly embarrassing situation and had no desire to have her reasons parroted back to her.  “You speak of dismissal,” she stated tersely, “I speak of substitution.”  

While the implications for the Spanish government are distinctly smelly, one should not forget who the Victor Frankenstein here is.  NSO has had a few scrapes in Israel itself.  It survived a lawsuit by Amnesty International in 2020 to review its security export license.  But there is little danger of that company losing the support of Israel’s Ministry of Defence.  In Israel, cybersecurity continues to be the poster child of technological prowess, lucrative, opaque and distinctly unaccountable to parliamentarians and the courts.

Binoy Kampmark

Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College,

Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne.

Email: bkampmark@gmail.com

UK ‘refuses’ Libya request to return ‘stolen’ Roman Artefacts


Leptis Magna on the Libyan coast was once among the Roman Empire’s most beautiful cities. Several pieces from its ruins were taken to the UK by a British diplomat in the early 19th century. The Libyan government says its heritage was stolen and is asking the Crown Estate to return the items. AFP

May 11, 2022

Lawyers for the Crown Estate of Queen Elizabeth II have reportedly turned down the request to return ‘stolen’ artefacts from the ancient Roman settlement of Leptis Magna in president-day Libya, despite a campaign of a British-Libyan lawyer.

The UK has allegedly refused a request to hand over artefacts ‘stolen’ from Libya more than 200 years ago, according to media reports on Sunday.

A London-based lawyer, Mohamed ben Shaban, submitted an official request last month to the Crown Estate of Queen Elizabeth II, asking for columns from the ancient Roman settlement of Leptis Magna in Libya to be returned, Al-Wasat reported.

The columns were ‘stolen’ in 1816 from the Augustus Temple in Leptis Magna, whose ruins are located with present-day Khoms, 130 kilometres south of the capital Tripoli, on the Mediterranean coast.

British imperial officers Hanmer Warrington and William Henry Smyth transferred the ruins to the UK and the blocks are currently located in Windsor Great Park.

The Crown Estate maintains that the stonework was gifted, but ben Shaban said there is “no proof” that Warrington legally acquired the ruins while on his diplomatic mission.

Lawyers for the Crown Estate replied: “Our client has informed us that the columns will not be returned to Libya.”

Ben Shaaban had reportedly made several attempts to have the columns returned to Libya, beginning in October 2021, and sought mediation through the UN’s heritage body UNESCO.

The lawyer, who is the first-ever British-Libyan dual national to qualify as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, expressed his disappointment with the responses that he called “insulting”.

“Besides polite emails saying ‘we will get back to you’, I received nothing substantive for months. I think they’re hoping we’ll get over it,” he told the UAE daily The National.

“Morally, there is no question in our view that this heritage was stolen from the people and should be returned to them,” he added.

The British weren’t the only ones to obtain artefacts from Leptis Magna – the French King Louis XIV reportedly took away 600 columns, which he used in the palaces of Versailles and Paris in the 7th Century.

Warrington allegedly persuaded the local Ottoman governor to let him help himself to the relics of Leptis Magna on behalf of the British Crown.

The columns were initially placed in the British Museum, and were later erected in 1828 in Virginia Water, Windsor Great Park by then-King George IV’s architect.

The columns, which are made from various types of material, including granite and marble, are officially listed as Grade II property of the Crown Estate, according to The National.

***

BACKGROUND

The lawyer on a mission to return Libya’s ‘stolen’ Roman heritage

By Layla Maghribi

How Queen Elizabeth could face legal action in an effort to repatriate 2,000-year-old ruins from Leptis Magna

“Our client has asked us to inform you that the columns will not be returned to Libya.” That was the terse response from lawyers acting for the Crown Estate of Queen Elizabeth II to a lawyer battling to reclaim artefacts from the Roman settlement of Leptis Magna for his homeland.

Acting for Libya, London-based Mohamed Shaban has submitted a formal request for the return of the ancient ruins from a wooded glade in Windsor Great Park that features, screened away from public view, a collonaded section that was spirited out of North Africa in 1816.

But if finality in the matter was the intended aim, the Crown Estate’s curt reply has only spurred on the British-Libyan lawyer leading efforts to reclaim the 2,000-year-old Roman relics taken from Libya by the UK.

After attempts at an amicable restitution were “repeatedly dismissed”, Mr Shaban told The National he had moved to seek mediation through the UN’s heritage body, Unesco.

Mr Shaban said he sent letters to the Crown Estate in October 2021 requesting the repatriation of historic stoneworks that in the 19th century were taken by a British diplomat from the ancient site of Leptis Magna near Tripoli.

The UK-qualified lawyer, who is representing the state of Libya, said he had been disappointed with the responses he received from the legal team acting for Queen Elizabeth – on whose land the ruins currently reside – in the six months since he first made contact.

“Besides polite emails saying ‘we will get back to you’, I received nothing substantive for months. I think they’re hoping we’ll get over it,” said Mr Shaban, who told The National he took on the case after repeatedly hearing complaints about it from members of the community.

“Having a part of our heritage in the crown’s estate has definitely touched a nerve with Libyans,” he said.

“Morally, there is no question in our view that this heritage was stolen from the people and should be returned to them.”

How Libya’s ancient ruins ended up in England

Named after the Roman city on the shores of the Mediterranean from where they came, the Leptis Magna ruins are a Unesco world heritage site.

Under the rule of Emperor Septimius Severus, who lavished Leptis with wealth during the second century AD, the city became the third most important city in Africa, rivalling Carthage and Alexandria.

Over the centuries, the city became a quarry for local people, and later a site of colonial plunder for the British and French, whose King Louis XIV took about 600 columns from Leptis Magna to use in his palaces at Versailles and Paris.

Barbary Coast turmoil

In 1816, after apparently being captivated by the sight of the Roman ruins, the British Consul General of Tripoli, Hanmer Warrington, decided to take some of the ancient stonework to England.

That was also the year that parts of the Parthenon in Greece were removed and shipped off to the UK by another British diplomat, Thomas Bruce, also known as the Seventh Earl of Elgin.

Athens has long been pushing for the return of the so-called Elgin Marbles, claiming they were taken, not given as a gift, and amount to stolen spoils of colonialism.

Perhaps inspired by the Earl of Elgin’s antiquities grab, Warrington persuaded the local Ottoman governor to let him help himself to the relics of Leptis Magna on behalf of the British crown.

The stonework treasures included 22 granite columns, 15 marble columns, 10 capitals, 25 pedestals, seven loose slabs, 10 pieces of cornice, five inscribed slabs and various fragments of figure sculpture and grey limestone.

Initially, the stones were deposited with the British Museum, but in 1828 they were erected by King George IV’s architect, Sir Jeffry Wyatville, at Virginia Water in Windsor Great Park.

Supplanted into an artificially constructed Temple of Augustus, the columns are now a Grade II listed property of the Crown Estate.

The Temple of Augustus at Virginia Water, Surrey, in 1894. The Crown Estate maintains that the stoneworks were a gift from the Bashaw of Tripoli to the Prince Regent. Getty Images

Libya versus the Queen? ‘Nothing is off the table’

The Crown Estate claims that the stones in its possession were a gift. Libya, however, says there is no proof that Warrington legally acquired the ruins while on his diplomatic mission in North Africa, and that he simply stole them.

“We invited Windsor to provide evidence of the columns’ legal provenance but have been repeatedly ignored,” Mr Shaban told The National.

“Their most recent response has been a curt two-line letter saying they will not be returning the columns to Libya … it is rather insulting and a desperately inadequate response.”

The London-based solicitor has been involved in repatriating looted artefacts from Libya before.

After a 2,000-year-old funerary statue of the Greek goddess Persephone was stolen from the ancient city of Cyrene in Libya in 2011 and taken to the UK, Mr Shaban represented the North African country during the legal case to return the artefact.

An artefact returned by Italy to Libya, known as the ‘Head Domitilla’, left, and right, a statue of the goddess Persephone. AP Photo

The arbitration expert also successfully negotiated the return to Libya of a Roman statue of Princess Donatella Flavia – also stolen from Libya duri

Mr Shaban says Libya is aggrieved by the Crown Estate’s lack of meaningful engagement with him on the Leptis Magna columns and told The National their attitude highlighted a certain “arrogance” and “hypocrisy”.

“This is a very imperial and arrogant way of doing things. We are told that British values are ‘to do the right thing’, but the right thing is to return what rightfully belongs to the Libyan people.

“I don’t think they’ve covered themselves in glory,” Mr Shaban said of the queen’s lawyers.

A spokesperson for the Crown Estate said the Leptis Magna columns “remain on public display and are an important and valued feature of the Virginia Water landscape. They continue to be enjoyed by the millions of visitors to Windsor Great Park each year”.

Mr Shaban replied: “They seem to be using that as an excuse not to return the artefacts. This is of course nonsensical, rather comical and even insulting. Using their logic, we can take some stones from Hadrian’s Wall, plonk them in another country and refuse to return them because ‘millions of tourists are enjoying’ them.”

The National was unable to visit the columns in person because they have been closed to the public for maintenance work for several months.

Hanmer Warrington was the British Consul General at Tripoli on the Barbary Coast for 32 years. His private villa near Tripoli, depicted here, was completed in 1820. In 1816, after apparently being impressed with the site of Leptis Magna, Warrington decided to take some of the ancient city’s stonework to the UK as a gift to the royal family.

The UK is a signatory to several international treaties on the protection of cultural property, although they were all signed “long after these columns were taken”, Mr Shaban said.

Nevertheless, he hopes a growing recognition among institutions of their role in the colonial-era plunder of cultural heritage may encourage Queen Elizabeth to follow suit.

Among the recent restitutions are: Benin bronzes to Nigeria from the University of Aberdeen and the University of Cambridge; locks of hair from Abyssinian Emperor Tewodros II to Ethiopia from the National Army Museum; and royal regalia to Myanmar by the Victoria and Albert Museum.

But the British Museum – one of the largest hoarders of cultural artefacts from around the world – continues to resist calls for the return of looted objects in its possession, most famously, the Parthenon Elgin Marbles.

After years of acrimonious dispute, a Unesco committee recently recommended that the UK government reconsider its position on the Parthenon Marbles and enter into talks with Greece.

While Mr Shaban hoped for an “amicable route” to repatriation of the Leptis Magna columns, his experience so far dealing with the Crown Estate has left him less confident of that becoming reality.

“We have shown great respect so far, and we have perhaps not had the respect that we deserve. For us, now, nothing is off the table.”

Chile's constitutional assembly rejects major mining overhaul

Reuters
May 14, 2022

An aerial view of open pits of CODELCO's Andina (L) and Anglo American's Los Bronces (front) copper mines with Olivares glaciers in the background (top) at Los Andes Mountain range, Chile, November 17, 2014. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

SANTIAGO, May 13 (Reuters) - A constitutional assembly in the world's top-copper producing nation on Saturday rejected a major overhaul to mining rights, including expanding Chilean state ownership.

Controversial Article 27, which would have given the state exclusive mining rights over lithium, rare metals and hydrocarbons and a majority stake in copper mines, faced fierce opposition from the mining sector and was voted down last week. read more

The environmental commission submitted multiple variations of the article to a vote on Saturday, but they all failed to achieve the 103-vote supermajority needed to pass into the draft constitution.

Article 25, which states that miners must set aside "resources to repair damage" to the environment and harmful effects where mining takes place, did get a supermajority and will be in the draft constitution.

The assembly also approved banning mining in glaciers, protected areas and those essential to protecting the water system. Articles guaranteeing farmers and indigenous people the right to traditional seeds, the right to safe and accessible energy and protection of oceans and the atmosphere were also approved.

Voting to approve articles concludes after Saturday's votes, and new commissions in charge of fine-tuning the text take over on Monday. The final draft is due in early July and citizens will vote to approve or reject it on Sept. 4.

The environmental commission, dominated by self-proclaimed eco-constituents, saw just one of 40 of its proposals approved during their first votes in the general assembly.

The commission has since moderated its proposals but its articles including expansion of protected lands, restricting private water rights and making combating climate change a state obligation were included in the new draft text.

ECOCIDE

Peru demands $4.5 billion in compensation over Spain's Repsol oil spill

Peru's intellectual defence body has sought $3 billion dollars for environmental damage to Peru's coast, and another $1.5 billion dollars as compensation to consumers, locals and others affected by the disaster.

Workers continue the clean-up of beaches after contamination by a Repsol oil spill. (AP)

Peru has filed suit against Spanish energy company Repsol over the massive January oil spill that ravaged its coast, seeking $4.5 billion in damages.

The lawsuit was filed before the 27th civil court in Lima against six companies: Repsol (Spain), Mapfre Global Risks (Spain), Mapfre Peru Insurance and Reinsurance Companies (Peru), La Pampilla Refinery (Peru), Transtotal Maritime Agency (Peru) and Fratelli d'amico Armatori (Italy, owner of the tanker involved), Peru's consumer protection agency said.

"These suits could create precedents for oil spills that cause damage and collective non-material damages due to environmental pollution of coastal areas," said Julian Palacin, executive director of the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI), in a statement released late Friday.

INDECOPI has sought $3 billion for environmental damage to Peru's coast, and another $1.5 billion as compensation to consumers, locals and others affected by the disaster, the suit says.

Repsol in a statement on Saturday rejected the suit as baseless.

"(INDECOPI's) estimates are lacking the bare minimum needed to support the indicated figures," the Spanish oil company said, regarding the $4.5 billion sought by Peru.

The spill occurred on January 15 while the Italian-flagged tanker "Mare Doricum" was unloading crude oil at the Repsol-owned La Pampilla refinery in Ventanilla, 30 kilometers north of Lima.

The oil company attributed the incident to waves caused by a massive volcanic eruption on the island of Tonga, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, and the Peruvian government described it as an "ecological disaster."

The oil spill affected more than 700,000 residents, mostly fishermen, and forced the closure of 20 beaches and dozens of businesses in the area.

Duwamish Tribe Prepares to Sue Federal Government to Secure Tribal Sovereignty



(Photo/Duwamish Tribe Website) https://www.duwamishtribe.org/longhouse

BY KELSEY TURNER MAY 10, 2022

The Duwamish Tribe has lived in the Seattle area since time immemorial. Though the tribe signed the Treaty of Point Elliott in 1855 creating a government-to-government relationship with the U.S., it is still not federally recognized. This week, the Duwamish Tribe plans to file a lawsuit against the U.S. federal government to defend its tribal sovereignty.

“From 1859, when the Treaty of Point Elliott was ratified, until at least 2001, Congress and other federal authorities have unambiguously recognized the Duwamish Tribe,” the Tribe wrote in a media advisory Tuesday. “Yet, today, the U.S. Department of Interior refuses to officially recognize the Duwamish Tribe in violation of the U.S. Constitution and other federal laws.”

The lawsuit will be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. After filing the complaint, the legal team representing the tribe will summarize the arguments in support of federal recognition at an event at the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center in Seattle at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. Speakers at the event include Duwamish Tribal Chairwoman Cecile Hansen, Duwamish Tribal Council members and the tribe’s attorneys, among others. Participants can also join the event virtually on Zoom by registering here.

“In the absence of federal recognition, funding, and human services, Duwamish Tribal Services has struggled to provide numerous social, educational, health, and cultural programs,” the tribe says on their website. The tribe, which has over 600 enrolled members, adds that “many more” Duwamish people have chosen not to enroll, instead enrolling in federally recognized tribes that provide health and other human services.

Over 100,000 people have signed the Duwamish Tribe’s petition for federal recognition. “Momentum has been building publicly and politically in support of restoring federal recognition,” the media advisory stated.

BY NATIVE NEWS ONLINE

Native Bidaské (Spotlight) with Carlisle Indian School Project Leader Gwen Carr

Carr talked about Carlisle's most famous student Jim Thorpe. (Photo/Courtesy)

BY NATIVE NEWS ONLINE STAFF 

 

MAY 14, 2022

On Friday, May 13, Native News Online met with Gwen Carr, Cayuga Nation, for the weekly Native Bidaské (Spotlight). With over 30 years of experience working with Indian Country, Gwen Carr is currently the Executive Director for the Carlisle Indian School Project.

The Carlisle Indian School Project seeks to honor every child that attended this school by uncovering and sharing the truth about the school. Carlisle was the first federally-funded Indian boarding school. 

“People looked at it [Carlisle School] for guidance on how to assimilate more Indians,” she explains. “When you want to tell a story and when you want to really go back and start at the beginning of something in order to heal, in order to understand, in order to bring context to the modern world that we live in, you have to start at the beginning. Carlisle is the beginning.”

Carr also referenced the PBS documentary film about Carlisle called “Home From school The Children of Carlisle “ by Geoffrey O Gara and Sophie Barksdale featuring Eufna SoldierWolf.

 

 

Through Ignorance, They Maintained Power

The author’s childhood backyard and long-time canine companion. (Photo/Krysti Shallenberger)

BY KRYSTI SHALLENBERGER 

 

MAY 12, 2022

GUEST OPINION. Raised deep within the evangelical, far-right movement, I knew overturning Roe v. Wade was a top priority.

Being a woman means inheriting a violent, complicated and oppressive history where men have sought to suppress our knowledge and our bodies. Living in America, that legacy is even more complicated by white women such as I, who participated in even more violent suppression of knowledge and bodies that were not white and that have lived here for millennia. 

It’s a tragic result stemming from centuries ago, in Europe, where violent nations, usually through the tool of Christianity, tried to erase Europe’s own Indigenous cultures that once shared similar lifestyles and beliefs as the Indigenous people in America. Some of that knowledge survived, passed down by women to other women through the knowledge of plants, of healing and of birthing.  For millennia, women turned to the healers who gave them herbs or other medicine for birth control, and for abortions to protect their own health and to escape severe social punishment. 

For that knowledge, many paid with their lives. The Church - and Western governments - murdered thousands of women for daring to use this knowledge to take care of their bodiesl. Midwifery especially was a lucrative business and men decided they wanted part of that bounty. Through laws, death, and fear, men succeeded. The 1970s pamphlet, Witches, Midwives & Nurses, lays out how European governments deprived women of practicing midwifery through licensing laws, and dispossessed them of their own knowledge of how their bodies worked. Through ignorance, they maintained power.

My own ancestry bears witness to this atrocity. My maternal family is Scottish, coming from the Highland and Lowland clans. Great Britain outlawed the Scottish Gaelic language, and Scotland can grimly boast of the most people killed under the Witchcraft Act of 1563 in the British Isles. My great-grandmother could still speak Gaelic - but she never passed that language down to her daughter, my grandmother. 

If these tactics seem familiar, they are. These tactics created the United States government, and the fervent Christian tradition that banned sacred healing practices, language, and spiritual beliefs of the Indigenous people. Punishing women who dared to use their knowledge to heal others - branding them as witches which, frankly, is one of the smartest PR efforts in history - kept power firmly within the realm of colonizers.

These practices still endure, however, just underground. In the deep South, where I was raised, Appalachian folk magic and healing practices - from women often known as Granny women - braided together knowledge from the Indigenous communities that they displaced and the enslaved Africans who still carried their knowledge and culture with them to America, with their own secret knowledge from the Old Country.

But, like many white women, I don’t have access to that knowledge because of how successful the suppression became. Men, through medical schools and licensing, have been held up as the ultimate experts of a woman’s body. 

After I left the fervently evangelical home in which I was raised, I began befriending people who were not white and were willing to educate me with their own stories. I lived in the Yup’ik community of rural Alaska as a journalist. There, the Yup’ik women gently taught me about their own healing knowledge of plants, of their own ancestry and stories that they kept alive despite the efforts of the U.S. government to kill them, legally, through education, disease, hunting regulations, and displacement. 

In fact, I remember vividly one such conversation as I dry-coughed through a painful phone call with a tribal administrator. 

“Do you have tundra tea?,” she finally asked me. 

“I think so,” I told her. She told me she was surprised that I knew about tundra tea. I told her that my roommate and I had horrible fall colds a few months earlier, and my roommate’s Yup’ik coworkers sent her home with dry sprigs of labrador plants and a couple gallon bags of salmonberries. We boiled the sprigs in hot water, and made smoothies from the salmonberries, packed with vitamin C. Within days, our colds dried up and our chests cleared from congestion. I don’t think I used Western medicine, which is what I normally reach for when I come down with a cold. 

This conversation, and the experience from the colds, convinced me that I needed to learn about this kind of knowledge, especially from my own ancestry. 

The first step, of course, is to interrogate my own family history. This is the theme of the wonderful Canadian podcast Missing Witches, hosted by two white women, who stress acknowledgement of a person's socio-economic and cultural background, and include cultural context in their conversations.

That’s key to resisting efforts that lead to the draft Roe v. Wade decision. Acknowledging the history of the land; learning about the land itself and how to care for it. And to learn about my own family history, the tragedies that led them to America, the complicity in policies to remove Indigenous peoples from land, the loss of our own plant knowledge and language, and also the strength and resilience to survive and tell these stories to future generations. It also means learning about other spiritual cultures so I do not take from them, so that I tap into my own family customs instead. 

It’s ironic that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito would point to “U.S. traditions” as key to overturning Roe V. Wade. What traditions is he referencing? Not the sacred traditions that Indigenous peoples practice here since time immemorial; not the healing and birthing knowledge women have owned despite efforts to strip them of it; not the fact that abortion has been a “traditional” form of healthcare for millennia. It’s clear the only “tradition” that Alito respects is the tradition of stripping rights of women to take control of their bodies. That is a tradition that dates back centuries. 

So in another tactic of resistance, I push against male participation in women’s healthcare. Even in my most conservative days, I intuitively knew men would not understand the pains, the quirks, and the emotional psychology of being “woman.” I choose women for most of my medical needs because I simply do not trust a man to take care of my health. 

There are small pockets of resistance to the longstanding medical tradition of birthing in my conservative Alabama town. A few women meet once a month to learn and talk about midwifery. Another woman in my mother’s church is purchasing land so she, and her fiance, can farm it and sustain themselves in a healthy manner. 

Even now, when I know the women in my hometown and I disagree sharply over abortion and American history, we can still connect through sharing our stories, our own histories and our pain of being overlooked. Indeed, one day I was helping my mother and the older ladies sort snacks in the food bank of her church and I told them stories of women in history that are hidden. 

“Women’s contributions have always been overlooked,” one woman said, shaking her head. “Even in the Bible.”

Slowly, as we connect with these stories, I share more stories that my friends have told me - the pain of hearing racist slurs thrown at them as youth, of grandparents being abused in boarding schools, of our government stripping others of language and culture. 

Slowly, in their faces, I can see empathy and outrage blossom. It gives me hope that by sharing this knowledge, we undermine efforts to take away our control and our right to healthcare.

After all, I realize, they haven’t won. Men and powerful governments have been doing this for centuries and still this knowledge of how to heal our bodies, how to use plants and the land to take care of ourselves and our families, persists. 

NATIVE NEWS ONLINE 

Indigenous Women on Roe v. Wade

(Photo/WikiCommons)

BY NATIVE NEWS ONLINE STAFF 

 

MAY 13, 2022

The recent leak of the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade has women across Indian Country talking. Here are some of their public statements on the issue.

Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan: Abortion is health care. Period. In Minnesota, your rights will stay protected.

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, Ho-Chunk: If this opinion holds true, it will be a monumental step backwards. And when Kansas votes on a constitutional amendment in August, we will be the first state to decide if we agree that the government has control over women’s health care choices. I’ll tell you this: I don’t.

Mary Peltola, Yup’ik, Congressonal Candidate, Alaska (Democrat): I’m the only pro-choice woman in this race and as your U.S. Representative I will stand up for women and fight to enshrine abortion protections in federal law. Vote Pro-choice. Vote Mary Peltola.

Tara Sweeny, Iñupiaq, Congressional Candidate, Alaska (Republican): Don’t make the mistake of assuming all Republicans think alike on this issue. @MaryPeltola and @lruskin I am pro-choice, very much in this race and a proud Alaska woman.

Stacy Leeds, ᏣᎳᎩ, Arizona State University Law Professor: Native women’s modern reproductive rights battles have included: (1) being sterilized w/o consent + (2) being denied meaningful access to contraception. If these 2 facts are news to you, please stop w/ the “can an abortion clinic be opened on tribal lands” questions (1/4)

Dr. Twyla Baker, Mandan-Hidatsa: The hypocrisy of 'sanctity of life' arguments is more glaring when you know about forced sterilizations of Native women. When you know about the theft of generations of Native babies through boarding school systems & the foster system. It's not about life, it's about control.

Caitlin Newago, Ojibwe/Oneida: Hey fun fact: I’ve had 2 abortions. Without them, I’d likely be seriously injured or not alive today- these procedures were literally life saving. I would have been trapped in an abusive relationship indefinitely without access to abortion.

Sierra Ornelas, Navajo/Mex-American, Showrunner for Rutherford Falls, Writer for Brooklyn99/Superstore/Happy Endings (Thread): I've never had an abortion. But there’s no way I’d have the life I do without one. I was a really curious kid, always asking my parents questions and even though they were always busy working, they took the time to answer them. Once I asked my mom, “What if I got pregnant?” 1/

My mom said “If you wanted to keep it, we would help you. And if we didn’t, we would help you get an abortion.” I was kinda shocked she said it so matter of factly. We lived in AZ and people didn’t talk like that. My mom proceeded to tell me a story. 2/

In the 1970s my mom participated in Relocation, (the US Gov. gave Native folks a one-way bus ticket to big cities.) She went to Phoenix because there was no snow and it was too far for her parents to visit. There she met a man with a motorcycle. And fell in love. 3/

They moved in together and planned to be together forever. One day his father shows up and said it was time to come home. That’s how she found out he was married with children. He walked out on her leaving her with rent/a bunch of bills. Then she found out she was pregnant. 4/

She got an abortion. She explained to me that there was a time when she wasn’t legally allowed to, but luckily it was legal then. After that, she worked hard to stay in AZ, met my dad, went on to become an award winning Master Navajo Tapestry Weaver and raised two children. 5/

I’m so fucking grateful these were my bed time stories. Her honesty taught me that my dreams mattered. That it was okay, for any reason, to be a brown woman and advocate for your future. I wouldn't be here without her abortion. My path is bound to decisions she made. 6/

This shit has ripples. That's what anti-choice folks will never absorb. That we can be the leads in our stories, that we have ownership of our futures. Our bodies are guided by our choices. I’m so mad. I feel like we’ve failed these women. These mothers who remember when. 7/

I have no answers. I asked my mom for permission to share this story and she said “Yes. You have my permission. Go give it a good fight. We can’t lose our rights as women.” Go give it a good fight. 8/

Kelly Lynne D’Angelo, Haudenosaunee: They are going to start “outlawing” our rights, one-by-one. They are going to make things “illegal,” like abortion, to jail us. We need to resist NOW. Loudly.

Kansas State Rep. Christina Haswood, Diné: With #RoeVWade on all our minds, I’m fired up to be in DC right now with my fellow pro-choice Democratic women who are going to lead the charge in their home states. We need all hands on deck.

Rebecca Nagle, ᏣᏗᎮ: I don’t want to hear outrage from Democratic elected leaders. I want to hear what the [expletive] plan is. #RoeVWade

Deoné Newell, Blk.native: When a Navajo (Diné), we believe they are a part of two worlds: the spirit world and the physical world. Yet they still belong to the Holy People (Diyin Dine’é). It’s not until the baby’s first laugh that we believe the baby is chosen to transition from the spirit world into our world. When a Navajo baby laughs, they are telling the Holy People they are happy with their new family. They have made a connection in our world and have chosen to stay with us. During pregnancy, the mother and the spirit of the unborn are in communion. The mother decides if it is time to bring that spirit into the world. This decision is reserved strictly for the mother. If it is not time, for any reason (including but not limited to climate, war, famine, the well-being of the mother and/or other children, intuition, etc.) the mother can choose to abort a pregnancy. This decision is celebrated. The mother along with the elders, midwives, her guides, and the ancestors go into ceremony specifically with the intention of aborting a pregnancy. The woman is provided with tinctures, herbs, and talismans to help this process. Specific songs are sung and prayers are said thanking the Holy People for temporary fellowship with the unborn. The entire community is in support of this process. For centuries, midwives and healers have held sacred knowledge of which contraceptive and abortifacient plants could be made available to women in their communities. Abortion has always been a part of Indigenous communities and is celebrated. The anti-abortion movement is rooted in colonial oppression and assimilation.