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LEONARD PELTIER PAROLE HEARING SET JULY 28, 2009

Leonard Peltier's parole hearing is on July 28! Please take action day at:

http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/...

Below is a new article at Black Commentator. Permission is granted to reprint as long as BC is cited as the original source, so please help spread the word!

* HansBennett's diary :: ::
*

http://www.blackcommentator.com/...

Leonard Peltier and the Indigenous People: Our Lives Have Meaning

Represent Our Resistance
By Dr. Lenore J. Daniels, PhD
BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board

FREE Leonard Peltier

International Native and Indigenous Film Festival - fPcN organised

An International non governmental organisation UWIP (a member of fPcN Global), together with the Masaryk University and Moravian City Museum is preparing a film festival Native and Indigenous Film Fest (NAIFF). The aim of the festival is to introduce today's life of indigenous peoples in different parts of the Earth to the wide public and thus reinforce the public's interest in indigenous issues.

The film screening will be interlaced with lectures of indigenous issues experts, discussions with film directors and the launch of The Free West Papua Campaign in Czech Republic.

Our film „West Papua – The secret war in Asia“ has been pre-selected by the New York and Los Angeles Short Film Festival. After his premiere at the Venice Biennale in 2007 (Radio New Zeeland), 2008 Origins First Nation Film Festival and Riverside Studios the film will be also shown at the Native and Indigenous Film Festival in Brno/Czech Republic.

During the festival the film "Land of Thorns" will also be shown. The film was made from the french NGO ACTED (EU sponsorship) in cooperation with fPcN Germany to rise awareness (Campaign) for pastoralists in Africa.

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The Lani Singers - meet with the BBC's Dj Ritu on 2nd Feb 2008

Benny Wenda, leader of the koteka Tribal Assembly and his wife Maria Wenda, Richard Samuelson and Brother appear for the first time on BBC radio Londons Saturday night show a world in London hosted by Dj Ritu. They perform music from the new Lani Singers album and some traditional West Papuan music. Benny also talks about his story and about the struggle in West Papua for independence from Indonesia as well as talking about West Papuan traditions and music culture.Another great set, from the exciled West Papuans

BBC World Musics, DJ Ritu interview with The Lani Singers

Benny Wenda, leader of the koteka Tribal Assembly and his wife Maria Wenda, Serogo, Brother and Roger Harmar who are the Lani Singers appear on BBC radio Londons Saturday night show a world in London hosted by Dj Ritu. They perform music from the new Lani Singers album and some traditional West Papuan music. Benny also talks about his story and about the struggle in West Papua for independence from Indonesia as well as talking about West Papuan traditions and music culture.

Tensions rise as traditions die in highlands of West Papua

At the 'car wash'...modernity and traditional culture collide in the Baliem Valley.

The "car wash" in the remote Baliem Valley of Indonesia's Papua region is not as innocent as it seems at first glance, and just decades ago anything like it would have been inconceivable.

A fertile basin gouged out of jagged mountains, the valley has been in contact with the outside world only since the end of World War II. Everything, from clothing to metal, money and medicine is new here.

At the "car wash" on a quiet intersection in Wamena town, homeless men and boys from the villages squat by the roadside in the midday sun, drinking and waiting for cars and motorcycles to roll up.

Washing the cars brings in some money, but the real money comes from sex with the drivers. Seeing a camera, the workers point and laugh at friends lying drunk and unconscious on the ground.

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2008: A SAD DAY FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

It is with great sadness that today, the 60th Anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on Human Rights, some States have denied indigenous peoples of their rights at the 14th Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC.

This morning indigenous peoples were shocked to see the final version of the Draft Conclusions on Agenda Item 5: Reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries: approaches to stimulate action, of the 29th Session of Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA). This Document (FCCC/SBSTA/2008/L.23) removed any references to rights of indigenous peoples and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). This move was spearheaded by the same States (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA) which voted against the adoption of the UNDRIP by the UN General Assembly last 13 Sept. 2008.

First Contact (1983, 52.09min)

Original footage of the 'first contact' between Papuan highlanders and Australian gold prospectors in the 1930's, together with reflections from surviving participants on their swift introduction to Western colonialism.


The Saami reindeer Culture at the brink of extinction

The ongoing logging of the state forests in northern Finland for years has reached now the potential to wipe out very soon the Saami reindeer herding economy. The film describes the deforestation in Finland and the extinction of the Saami culture. Interviews with Pekka Aikio, former president of the Saami council and Kalevi Padaar, Saami activist.


INTERNATIONAL PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR WEST PAPUA - Launch in London

ress Release: for immediate release & circulation
INTERNATIONAL PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR WEST PAPUA

At the Houses of Commons, London on 15th October 2008 at 3pm, will be the launch event for a historical international gathering of Parliamentarians, in support of self determination for the native people of West Papua.

Exiled West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda will be joined by Melanesians & Parliamentarians from across the world for the launch of 'International Parliamentarians for West Papua'.

Please assemble in Parliament Square for 2pm.

West Papua cholera deaths spark fears of major epidemic

Two hundred and ninety one Papuan tribal people have died from cholera since April this year in West Papua, Indonesia, according to local church officials, sparking fears of a major epidemic.

In 1961, a global cholera pandemic began in Indonesia. It spread rapidly to other countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and finally, in 1991, to Latin America. There were nearly 400,000 cases and over 4,000 deaths from cholera in the Americas that year.