Source: www.usuncut.com | Original Post Date: October 8, 2015 –

Following a growing trend, the city council of Albuquerque, New Mexico has voted six to three to recognize October 12th – typically known to most as “Columbus Day” within the USA– as Indigenous Peoples’ day in a new proclamation. Albuquerque has the highest concentration of Indigenous people in New Mexico.

In the past two months, eight cities got rid of Columbus Day in favor of adopting Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Three of those cities adopted Indigenous Peoples’ Day this week.

1. Albuquerque, New Mexico – The city’s formal declaration”encourages businesses, organizations and public entities to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day, which shall be used to reflect upon the ongoing struggles of Indigenous people on this land, and to celebrate the thriving culture and value that our Indigenous nations add to our City.”
2. Lawrence, KS – Since September, students from Haskell University in Lawrence, Kansas have been taking initiative and pushing for the city to honor their ancestors by declaring October 12th Indigenous Peoples’ day. Just this Wednesday, they won.
   
3. Portland, OR – Portland’s City Council declared Indigenous Peoples’ day on Tuesday, something tribal leaders have been seeking since 1954.
4. St. Paul, MN – In August, St. Paul followed Minneapolis by declaring Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day. Minneapolis passed its own resolution last year.
5. Bexar County, TX – The resolution was passed Tuesday, and local activists intend to press for the same thing in San Antonio.
6. Anadarko, OK – In September, Anadarko declared Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Anadarko Mayor Kyle Eastwood signed the proclamation while surrounded by tribal leaders from the Apache, Choctaw, Delaware, Wichita and others.
7. Olympia, WA – Mayor Pro Tem Nathaniel Jones presented Olympia’s proclamation at a rally in August. Nearly 150 people showed up to support the initiative.
8. Alpena, MI – In September, Mayor Matt Waligora declared Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The city says they desire “to develop a strong and productive relationship with all indigenous peoples, including the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, based on mutual respect and trust.”

These cities are following in the footsteps of Seattleand Minneapolis. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City came close to passing it in September and will try to pass it again on October 13th, the day after the holiday.

City Council Member Rey Garduño wrote and proposed the proclamation, with guidance from local activists. The campaign was initiated last year during an “Abolish Columbus Day” demonstration at City Hall.

Although these changes have been quite recent, the struggle for the recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day has been going on since 1954, when the idea was first proposed in Portland, OR.

The Albuquerque Police Department have a notorious record of harassing and killing oppressed people. Their law enforcement divisions have shot 50 people resulting in 28 fatalities since 2010. In Albuquerque, Indigenous people compose 4.6 of the city’s population, but 13% of its consistently homeless population.

This name change is a fantastic trend that needs to grow fast, but it needs to be followed up by concrete action and legislation. Nationwide (and worldwide – particularly in Latin American countries that have suffered from US-backed coups), Indigenous people suffer from economic inequality, health problems, and human rights abuses. It’s time we celebrate their culture and tradition rather than their oppressors’, and it’s time we give back to those we’ve taken so much from.

Written by Dylan Sevett of www.usuncut.com

In 2015, you could be forgiven for only thinking of Amazon as that online dildo store. Turns out it’s also a giant rain forest in South America, and its endangerment could pose a really big problem for humans — yes, even bigger than getting kicked off your dad’s Prime account.

This is because the Amazon has (soon to be “had”) a lot of trees, and when those trees are alive, they pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere — which is great for those of us concerned about climate change. But after they die, they release that carbon back into the atmosphere. Considering the little climate change problem we’re dealing with here, it seems like we should keep as many trees alive as possible, right?

If only it were so simple. A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that widespread deforestation in the Amazon has led to increased local temperatures, which has then exacerbated a drought in the area. The study says that by the end of the century, the area affected by the drought will have tripled in size — which is a lot of dead trees.

The Washington Post reports:

There have been three severe droughts in the Amazon in the past decade — one in 2005, one in 2010 and another one currently ongoing — that helped to inspire the study, said lead author Philip Duffy, currently president of the Woods Hole Research Center and a visiting scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science at the time the study was initiated. Research estimated that the amount of carbon released as a result of the 2005 drought was more than the annual emissions of Europe and Japan combined, and the 2010 drought’s effects were even more severe, Duffy said. “So if there’s going to be more and more drought, it has the potential to really make the Amazon a big source of carbon to the atmosphere,” he said.

Uh oh! The good news is that is doesn’t have to happen. All we need is a time machine to warn our ancestors of what’s to come. “HALT!” we’ll say when we emerge from our magic refrigerator into the 1800s. “Unless you want your great-great-great-great-great-great-grandkids to grow up on life rafts, put down the saw and step away.”

The other possible solution is that global leaders will pledge major reductions in carbon emissions at the U.N. climate talks in Paris in December … but, honestly, the time machine seems more likely.

(GRIST)

Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Samir rushes forward and hurls the flaming bottle with all his might at the observation tower and the Israel soldiers inside, his contribution to the "intifada".

"We either kick out the Jews or we die," says the 20-year-old Palestinian, one of hundreds protesting violently near the Gaza Strip's border with Israel.

"Anyway, we have nothing to lose. Our life is the blockade, unemployment, destruction. And no one cares about us."

Gaza, the tiny enclave on the Mediterranean hit by three wars with Israel since 2008, has been drawn into the unrest that erupted recently in annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

Nine Gazans were killed by Israeli fire in border clashes over the weekend, and dozens have sought to breech the fence.

In response to two rockets fired from Gaza, Israeli warplanes carried out an air strike Sunday, demolishing a house in northern Gaza and killing a pregnant woman and her two-year-old daughter.

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Palestinian schoolgirls, some wearing the trademark black-and-white keffiyeh, shout slogans during a …

Israel said it was targeting two arms manufacturing facilities belonging to Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs Gaza.

But some analysts say they believe that Hamas, which does not recognise Israel's right to exist and opposes the Jewish state's occupation of Palestinian lands, does not want yet another conflict.

Last year's 50-day war killed more than 2,200 people and left 100,000 homeless, and reconstruction has been slow.

But Salafist jihadists and other movements are also active in Gaza, and Hamas would likely not remain on the sidelines and watch the situation develop beyond its control.

There are more than enough hopeless young people in Gaza who would be potential volunteers for the cause.

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A masked Palestinian protester hurls a stone towards Israeli troops during clashes near a border fen …

The strip has been under an Israeli blockade for years. Unemployment among its 1.8 million people is around 45 percent, one of the highest rates in the world, and more than half of the population wants to leave.

- 'We want to fight' -

Samir walked the five kilometres (three miles) to Tuesday's protest at the Erez crossing with his friends from his home in Jabaliya. Like many protesters, he wore a traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarf to cover his face.

They aimed to confront the Israeli soldiers posted behind the long wall separating Gaza from Israel.

"We came to support the young people in the intifada in Jerusalem and the West Bank," he says. "We want to fight, even with stones and firebombs."

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A Palestinian youth flashes the "V" for victory sign as he stands inside Israeli territory …

Atop the tower the youths were targeting, the barrel of a submachine gun can be seen, but no soldiers.

But eventually, the tear gas cannisters fly and gunfire rings out, and some of the youths fall to the ground.

During the clashes, 35 people were wounded by live fire or rubber bullets, or were overcome by tear gas inhalation, Gaza medics said.

The work of ambulance medics has been complicated not only by the gunfire and tear gas, but also by protesting youths blocking roads. Some have gone on foot to retrieve the wounded with stretchers.

Suhail, a 31-year-old teacher, decided to volunteer after seeing the rescuers difficulties on television.

"I thought that I should come with my friend to help transport the wounded," he says. "I don't want our young people dying for nothing; they're there because they're desperate and only want a better life."

As for the stone throwers, they seem unconcerned by the danger.

"We know that our stones will not kill any soldier, but I swear to you they tremble before us because we are the generation of freedom," says one of the protesters, his face hidden.

Not far away, Hamas police hold back, allowing the protest to continue.

"How can we stop young people from shouting their rejection of the occupation?" one asks.

Beirut (AFP) - The head of Lebanon's powerful Shiite Hezbollah movement on Wednesday backed a series of Palestinian attacks on Israelis, describing them as resistance and an "intifada".

"I emphasise our absolute support for the rights of the Palestinian people and their intifada," Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address ahead of the Shiite Muslim religious holiday Ashura.

"It is incumbent upon us all to stand by the Palestinians and help them all we can, and to recognise the fact that the Palestinians have in front of them... no choice but the choice of resistance and intifada," he added.

Nasrallah said the Palestinians were responding to "provocations by Israelis" and were seeking to prevent the "Judaisation of Al-Aqsa mosque".

His comments come after a wave of mainly stabbing attacks by Palestinians against Israelis that have raised concerns of a full-blown uprising akin to the first and second intifadas.

On Wednesday, two more stabbing attacks were reported in Jerusalem, including one that wounded a 70-year-old woman.

Hezbollah is a fierce opponent of Israel and battled to push its forces out of southern Lebanon before their withdrawal in 2000.

The group fought a deadly month-long war with the Jewish state in the summer of 2006.

That conflict killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and some 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

In recent years, Hezbollah has skirmished with Israel on the demarcation line between Lebanon and the Jewish state, but avoided a larger-scale conflict.

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Iran approves nuclear deal with world powers

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A senior council of Iranian clerics and lawyers on Wednesday approved implementing the landmark nuclear deal with world powers, sealing the final required step in the process despite hard-liners' efforts to derail it.

The Guardian Council's vote, while apparently not unanimous, marks a major victory for the administration of moderate President Hassan Rouhani, which has campaigned on easing tensions with the West.

But it comes as Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard publicized images of an underground missile base and also has fired off a new long-range surface-to-surface rocket, showing hard-liners will remain a potent force within the Islamic Republic.

Iranian state television announced the decision by the Guardian Council, one of the top leadership bodies in Iran's cleric-ruled system. The 12-member council, half appointed by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and half by the country's judicial chief with parliament's approval, must sign off on all bills before they become law.

Nejatollah Ebrahimian, the council's spokesman, said the body approved the parliamentary bill implementing the deal "by an absolute majority of the votes." He did not offer a voting breakdown. The council meets behind closed doors.

Some council "members raised objections to the bill and found it contrary to the constitution. There were debates," state television quoted Ebrahimian as saying. "At the end, a majority of the council members voted that the parliamentary legislation is not against the constitution and Shariah law."

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In this photo taken on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015, Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani, center, sp …

Hard-liners had hoped to stall the deal in order to weaken Rouhani's administration ahead of February's parliamentary elections. But many in Iran applauded the final nuclear deal, struck July 14 in Vienna, as it lifts crippling economic sanctions in exchange for limits on the nuclear program.

On Tuesday, hard-line lawmakers shouted, scuffled and wept during a final parliamentary hearing on the bill, but 161 lawmakers voted for it while 59 voted against it and 13 abstained. Another 17 did not vote at all, while 40 lawmakers did not attend the session.

The council's decision marks the last approval needed before starting the deal, which came after nearly two years of negotiations between Iran and the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany. The U.N. Security Council previously approved the deal on July 20 and the U.S. Congress blocked efforts by Republicans to derail the accord in September.

The Iranian bill grants responsibility for implementing the deal to Iran's Supreme National Security Council, the top security body of the country, which Rouhani heads. It allows Iran to withdraw from the agreement if world powers do not lift sanctions, impose new sanctions or restore previous ones.

The bill requires the Iranian government to work toward the nuclear disarmament of Israel, which has the region's sole, if undeclared, nuclear arsenal. It also bans Iran from producing or deploying its own nuclear weapons, while urging its officials to take "necessary measures" to prevent the U.S. and the West from penetrating the country, a concern mentioned by Khamenei in recent weeks.

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British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond (2nd R), U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) and Europea …

During the months after the deal was reached, Khamenei did not publicly say whether he endorsed or opposed it. However, he repeatedly backed Iran's nuclear negotiating team during the talks, even as hard-liners criticized the diplomats for giving away too much.

Despite the victory, Rouhani and his allies still face challenging times ahead. Before the announcement of the council's decision, state television aired footage of a Guard underground missile base, saying it was one of hundreds around the country. It didn't disclose the location but said it was 500 meters (1,600 feet) underground.

This base "is an iceberg floating around that only has its tip out of the water," said Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Guard's aerospace branch, during the broadcast. "We have so many bases that (our enemies) cannot confront those bases, no matter how many bases they identify."

The base tour follows an announcement about a new locally made torpedo and the firing Sunday of a new ballistic missile. The U.S. has said it would raise the missile test at the U.N. The White House has said it believed there were "strong indications" that Iran violated Security Council resolutions with the launch.

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Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.