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Q: How do we hold nation states  accountable when they violate the UN indigenous rights convention? 

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Q: How do we hold nation states  accountable when they violate the UN indigenous rights convention? 

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Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the U.S originally voted against this declaration in 2007--to date the U.S has not ratified it

Q: Which article caught your attention?   What was your initial reaction/thoughts?

Article 28

1. Indigenous peoples have the right to redress, by means that can include restitution or, when this is not possible, just, fair and equitable compensation, for the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used, and which have been confiscated, taken, occupied, used or damaged without their free, prior and informed consent.

Article 37

1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the recognition, observance and enforcement of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements concluded with States or their successors and to have States honour and respect such treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements.

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Remembering Berta Cáceres, Assassinated Honduras Indigenous & Environmental Leader

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Remembering Berta Cáceres, Assassinated Honduras Indigenous & Environmental Leader

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Berta Caceres was a Lenca indigenous woman, grassroots human rights defender, and co-founder of consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Indígenas Populares – COPINH. For over two decades she fought against the development of mining and dam projects in Honduras. Since the 2009 coup, there has been a spike in environmentally destructive projects that are affecting indigenous communities. For instance, Dessarrollos Energeticos SA (DESA) planned to construct the Agua Zarca Dam along the Gualcarque River, a river that is sacred to the Lenca people. The construction of this hydroelectric dam would destroy important waterways and the livelihoods of indigenous communities. Caceres led campaigns to put a stop to the construction of the dam, resulting in her being targeted by extractive companies, private security forces, and the state itself. She fought against neoliberal world policies and the privatization of natural resources.

“There’s no way to overstate the importance of Berta’s work. She was working for a wholly new form of governance in Honduras, not just a new government, but a new system whereby people had the say and the riches of the country went to benefit them instead of the tiny elite.”

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BERTA CÁCERES: [translated] In more than 150 indigenous assemblies, our community decided that it did not want that hydroelectric dam.

ROBERT REDFORD: Berta filed complaints with the Honduran government and organized peaceful protests in the nation's capital. As her visibility increased, she became a target for the government.

BERTA CÁCERES: [translated] We denounced this dam and were threatened with smear campaigns, imprisonment and murder. But nobody heard our voices-until we set up a roadblock to take back control of our territory.

ROBERT REDFORD: For well over a year, the Lenca maintained the roadblock, with standing harassment and violent attacks. Tragically, Río Blanco community leader Tomás García was shot by the Honduran military at a peaceful protest.

BERTA CÁCERES: [translated] Seeing these men murdered, the community became indignant, forcing a confrontation. The company was told that they had to get out.

PROTESTER: [translated] We have 500 people here, and we are Río Blanco comrades. We will defend Río Blanco, and we will not let them pass.

BERTA CÁCERES: [translated] And that is how Sinohydro left Río Blanco. But it cost us in blood.

BERTA CÁCERES: [translated] In our worldviews, we are beings who come from the Earth, from the water and from corn. The Lenca people are ancestral guardians of the rivers, in turn protected by the spirits of young girls, who teach us that giving our lives in various ways for the protection of the rivers is giving our lives for the well-being of humanity and of this planet. COPINH, walking alongside people struggling for their emancipation, validates this commitment to continue protecting our waters, the rivers, our shared resources and nature in general, as well as our rights as a people.

Let us wake up! Let us wake up, humankind! We're out of time. We must shake our conscience free of the rapacious capitalism, racism and patriarchy that will only assure our own self-destruction. The Gualcarque River has called upon us, as have other gravely threatened rivers. We must answer their call. Our Mother Earth, militarized, fenced-in, poisoned, a place where basic rights are systematically violated, demands that we take action. Let us build societies that are able to coexist in a dignified way, in a way that protects life. Let us come together and remain hopeful as we defend and care for the blood of this Earth and of its spirits.

I dedicate this award to all the rebels out there, to my mother, to the Lenca people, to Río Blanco and to the martyrs who gave their lives in the struggle to defend our natural resources. Thank you very much.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: That was Berta Cáceres speaking less than a year ago when she received the Goldman Environmental Prize. She was gunned down in her home in La Esperanza in Honduras early on Thursday. La Esperanza means "hope" in Spanish.

Today, protests demanding justice for Cáceres are scheduled from Washington, D.C., to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. On Thursday, the Goldman Environmental Foundation released a statement that read in part, quote, "We mourn the loss of an inspirational leader, and will honor her life's work by continuing to highlight the courageous work of Goldman Prize winners like Berta. She built an incredible community of grassroots activists in Honduras, who will carry on the campaign she fought and died for."

Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont called Cáceres's death a "great loss for the people of Honduras" and warned that the Honduran government's inability to protect her would, quote, "weigh heavily" on future U.S. aid to Central America-to that Central American country.

Last year, a report by the group Global Witness found that Honduras is one of the deadliest countries for environmentalists. According to the report, at least two people working to save the environment were killed each week in 2014. In total, the group Global Witness documented the murders of at least 116 environmental activists last year. Three-quarters of them were killed in Central and South America.

For more, we're going to San Francisco, where we're joined by Berta Cáceres's nephew, Silvio Carrillo. He is a freelance video journalist in the Bay Area. And in Albuquerque, New Mexico, we're joined by Beverly Bell, longtime friend and colleague of Berta. She's currently the coordinator of Other Worlds, a social and economic justice organization.

We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Silvio, our condolences. We are so utterly devastated by the death of your aunt. I know you are flying down to Honduras. Thank you for staying for this conversation. Can you talk about your-can you talk about Berta's significance and what she was trying to do in her life?

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Beverly Bell, the importance of her work and the role of the Honduran government in-the current government that exists in Honduras?

And it was for this, actually, that Mel Zelaya, who was very close to those demanding land reform and these rights and this refounding, as they called it, of democracy-it was in large part for this that he was ousted-and, I must add, with the very, very close help of the U.S. government. And Berta continued to work for that change for true participatory democracy that empowered women, that empowered LGBQ individuals, that empowered those who have always been left on the margins, excluded from political processes and from economic benefits. And it was for that reason, in part, that she was assassinated by the government and by the-

BERTA CÁCERES: [translated] The population today, those who have been in resistance who are from the LIBRE party, are challenging the repressive apparatus, with the absence of the construction of real power from the communities, but now these people are voting enthusiastically for the LIBRE party, that we hope will be distinct from the other political parties. This scenario is playing out in all the regions of Honduras-in Zacate Grande, Garifuna communities, campesino sectors, women, feminists, artists, journalists and indigenous communities. We all know how these people have been hard hit, especially the journalists, LGBTQ community and indigenous communities. This is all part of what they've done to create a climate of fear. Here, there's a policy of the state to instill terror and political persecution. This is to punish the Honduran people so that people don't opt for the other way and look for changes to the political economic situation and the militarization.

And in Honduras, on the ground, it was complete chaos when Zelaya tried to fly back in. I was there when the military shot a boy in the head. They killed him. And I followed the family back to their hometown, where they buried him and where they mourned their loss. And there was no justice for the boy. They never figured out who shot him. But we-I mean, it was quite clear it was a military gun that fired the bullet that went into his head. The autopsy for the boy was conducted by the government officials, and no one was there to oversee that, just like Berta's autopsy last night. There was a request from the family to have an independent forensics expert there, and they denied it. So you know, it's just a culture of obfuscation when these things happen. And that's what's going to-sadly, that's what it's going to continue to be.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Beverly Bell, we only have about a minute or so left. There was a group of gunmen, supposedly, that broke into her home and killed her. And initial reports from the police was that it was probably robbery. Your sense of whether this was a definitely targeted assassination that was occurring here?

And I would like to point out that the single witness to the crime, Gustavo Castro, from Chiapas, Mexico, continues to be held by the government. I just spoke to his wife a few moments ago, and they have not yet released him, they say, for questioning now, more than 24 hours later. So this is a tremendous concern that this man be allowed to leave and to go back home safely to Mexico.

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Remembering Berta Cáceres, Assassinated Honduras Indigenous & Environmental Leader

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Honduran indigenous and environmental organizer Berta Cáceres has been assassinated in her home in Honduras. She was one of the leading organizers for indigenous land rights in Honduras. In 1993, she co-founded the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, or COPINH.

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Plaza Colorada (Colorado)

Sources: SG 149 (27/513-665) PLC 2 (33/335)

Bowden: 1111-1117

Grantee: Rosalia Baldes et al

Date: 6/25/1739

Type Grant: Hispano Private
"Grants made to a group of Hispanos that included common lands in the grant at the outset. Settlers would receive small tracts of private land for their houses and garden plots with the right to use the remaining common lands for pasturing their cattle, gathering firewood and logs for building, hunting wild game, and gathering other resources, such as herbs and stone. Settlers owned their private tracts outright after four years and could sell them. The sale of a private tract by an individual carried with it the right to use the common lands, but the common lands could not be sold because they were owned by the community."
(Center for Land Grant Studies)

Grantor: Gaspar Domingo de Mendoza

County: Rio Arriba

Claimed Acres: 35,924

Confirmed Acres: 35,761

The Center for Land Grant Studies is a non-profit organization that focuses on researching and distributing information that focuses on land and water rights issues of traditional communities in New Mexico. Furthermore, they also focus on the Spanish and Mexican Land Grants made out to Hispanic and Indigenous peoples.

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A Land Grant is land that is gifted by the government, usually for a set amount of time, for many reasons ranging from work incentives to rewards for services. The Center For Land Grant Studies lists 15 types of grants given in New Mexico and their purpose. https://www.southwestbooks.org/grantstypes.htm
Here is a summary:

Hispano Private Grant: Given to an individual Spaniard, who can sell the grant after a required 4-year use.

Hispano Community Grant: The land is a community-owned Spaniard settler space and cannot be sold after four years

Hispano Quasi-community Grant: Similar to a private grant, but implies that the user will bring in other settlers, and it will eventually become a community space.

Hispano Grazing Grant: Given to individual Spaniards for livestock grazing

Pueblo Community Grant: Community grant for the Native American Pueblo. Most Pueblos in New Mexico had no use for private grants.

Pueblo Grazing Grant: Given to Pueblo communities for grazing their cattle.

Pueblo Cruzate Grant: Made between 1683 and 1691, these land grants give four square leagues (about 3 to 4 miles) to each Pueblo Native American based on Bartolomé Ojeda’s testimony. He promised the Pueblo would not revolt against the Spaniards, and as a “reward,” Governor Domingo Jironza Petriz de Cruzate gave out land grants. However, these grants were unnecessary because Pueblos were already given four square leagues under Hispanic law.

Hispano Protective Grant: Grants made to protect or solidify other Spaniards’ grants.

Hispano Mining Grant: Grants for Spaniards and Mexicans to mine the land.

Hispano Empesario Grant: Grants made mostly by the Mexican government to encourage colonization. The settler brought in a certain amount of people over four years and was gifted with a private grant.

Hispano Emigration Grant: Grants given to Mexican citizens who did not want to lose their Mexican citizenship after the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Pueblo Protective Grant: Grants made to protect or solidify other Pueblo Grants.

Pueblo Purchased Grant: Hispano grants that Pueblo people purchased to expand Pueblo community grants.

Fraudulent Grant: Grants made incorrectly.

Congressional Grant: A grant made by congress after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo when it no longer functioned under Spanish or Mexican law.

These land grants imply that colonists have an unalienable right to the land and are well in their rights to decide who gets land and where that land is. There is also a clear incentive to bring in more colonists, like in the Hispano Empesario and Hispano Quasi-Community Grants, and attempts to calm uprisings, like in the Pueblo Cruzate Grant.

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Indigenous Environmental Network

This non-profit organization broadly focuses on environmental injustices. They work with
"among Indigenous communities, tribes, inter-tribal and Indigenous organizations, people-of-color/ethnic organizations, faith-based and women groups, youth, labor, environmental organizations and others." The main focus of the organization is developing "mechanisms to protect our sacred sites, land, water, air, natural resources, health of both our people and all living things, and to build economically sustainable communities." They organize protests, create petitions, provide content by and for Indigenous peoples, host webinars, dispense grant money, and work with United Nations of issues of climate change.The Indigenous Environmental Network also runs various campaigns for change. Currently, they have campaigns for transitioning our relationship with out planet from commoditization to a legal right bearing entity,  the fossil fuel industry entitled Banking on Climate Change, genetically modified chestnut trees, and carbon trading and offsets.  Overall, Indigenous Environmental Network is an "alliance of Indigenous Peoples whose Shared Mission is to Protect the Sacredness of Earth Mother from contamination & exploitation by Respecting and Adhering to Indigenous Knowledge and Natural Law."

https://www.ienearth.org/

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Info about the steps in the Land grants and more:
Center For Land Grant Studies (southwestbooks.org)
^ these links have the same title on Padlet for some reason, but they are different...

Source: Cultural Energy - Media Voices of Northern New Mexico

Notes from 2009 audio:
- Start with a land grant document. Look in the index for the role and the frame (2005) Center For Land Grant Studies - Southwestern Books (southwestbooks.org)

- Sometimes you can find new info that should be added within the database.

- Misleading names of grants can occur in the name of the land grant. It is important to search in depth of the history.

- They would look at the first census and trace the name back with Church records and census records. Also the library helps, archeological papers, and old news clippings can add additional information.

- Family history is linked to land grants.

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L a n d  G r a n t : A T R I S C O
. . . .
Source: SG 145 (26/1035-eor) PLC 45 (37/690)

Bowden: 1698-1715

Grantee: 15 Vecinos of Puesto de Atrisco

Date: 4/8/1768

Type Grant: Hispano community:
"Grants made to a group of Hispanos that included common lands in the grant at the outset. Settlers would receive small tracts of private land for their houses and garden plots with the right to use the remaining common lands for pasturing their cattle, gathering firewood and logs for building, hunting wild game, and gathering other resources, such as herbs and stone. Settlers owned their private tracts outright after four years and could sell them. The sale of a private tract by an individual carried with it the right to use the common lands, but the common lands could not be sold because they were owned by the community."
Center For Land Grant Studies (southwestbooks.org)

Grantor: Gov Pedro Fermín de Mendinueta

County: Bernalillo

Claimed Acres: 82,728 |

Confirmed Acres: 82,728

Center For Land Grant Studies - Southwestern Books (southwestbooks.org)
^ these links have the same title on Padlet for some reason, but they are different...