Indigenous in Americas just say 'no' to papal bull

August 14, 2006
by: Brenda Norrell / Indian Country Today
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413472

Summit: Doctrine of Discovery was 'political fiction'

PHOENIX - Indigenous in the Americas are demanding that the ''doctrines of discovery,'' the papal bulls that led to the seizure of American Indian homelands, be rescinded.

At the Summit of Indigenous Nations on Bear Butte in South Dakota, delegations of indigenous nations and nongovernmental organizations passed a strongly worded resolution condemning the historical use of the doctrine of discovery as an instrument of genocide.

Tupac Enrique Acosta, coordinator at Tonatierra in Phoenix, said the effort at Bear Butte continues the indigenous battle to halt genocide of indigenous peoples and seizures of their homelands in the Americas.

Tonatierra was among the organizations at the Summit of Indigenous Nations taking action to rescind the doctrines of discovery: Papal Bull Inter Caetera of 1493 and the 1496 Royal Charter of the Church of England.

''The Indigenous Nations have resolved, here at the base of Mato Paha [Bear Butte], that the Pope of the Catholic Church and the Queen of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury rescind these doctrines of discovery for having served to justify and pave the way for the illegal dispossession of aboriginal land title and the subjugation of non-Christian peoples to the present day,'' according to the summit's statement.

Forty delegations of indigenous spiritual and political leaders, as well as NGOs, signed the resolution.

''These papal bulls have been the basis for the extinguishment of aboriginal land title and the subjugation of indigenous peoples of Abya Yala [North and South America]. The implementation of the papal bulls evolved in the United States through the Supreme Court decision of Johnson v. M'Intosh [1823] which established the precedent for the denial of aboriginal title to American Indian lands in the United States,'' according to the summit.

''It has been resolved by 23 Nations and NGO's and 100 individual signatories that the 'Doctrine of Discovery' is a legal and political fiction in violation of the rights of indigenous peoples and intellectual act of oppression which continues to serve to suppress and repress the indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere.''

From Ecuador at the Bear Butte gathering was Santiago Delacruz, vice president of CONAIE (Confederacion de Nacionalidades Indigenas del Ecuador/Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador). CONAIE is a formation of 28 indigenous nationalities and Pueblos of Ecuador.

''We have come from the southern part of this continent Abya Yala which we share with you all as indigenous nations of this hemisphere on a mission to strengthen and re-establish our ancestral ties as a continental confederation of nations and pueblos,'' he said.

Delacruz offered support for rescinding the papal bulls and support from the south for the protection of Bear Butte.

''It is with great concern that we have come to be informed of the threatened desecration of the Sacred Mato Paha, also known as Bear Butte, where we now gathered in summit as indigenous nations.

''This sacred area must not be allowed to be destroyed or desecrated by the proposed construction projects of 'biker bars' and the like,'' Delacruz said.

Enrique pointed out that the current demand that the papal bulls be eliminated represents a longtime global effort.

In May, at the United Nations in New York, the Continental Proclamation Abya Yala was presented at the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The proclamation was ratified at the Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples in Quito, Ecuador, in 2004, and in Mar de Plata, Argentina, in 2005.

The proclamation stated, ''That the Papal Bull Inter Caetera of Pope Alexander VI is hereby annulled, as well as whatever Doctrine of Discovery proceeding from which that pretends to deform the relationship of Harmony, Justice, and Peace of we the Indigenous Peoples of Humanity in its entirety.''

And earlier, at the United Nations in Geneva on Aug. 1, 1991, indigenous delegates discussing the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, convened by the Working Group on Indigenous People, also issued a statement to then-Pope John Paul II, chief of the Vatican.

The 1991 declaration stated, ''We demand from the Vatican state a denunciation of the unilateral treaty of Pope Alexander VI (Tordesillas) as being contrary to the Universal Human Rights of Peoples.

''Whereas the year 1993 completes 500 years of a supposed spiritual conquest without clear rectification of this universal injustice, allowing the nation-states that have benefited from the inheritance of Pope Alejandro VI to continue programmes of genocide and ethnocide, denying the indigenous people the recuperation of a harmony based on reciprocal human respect, we demand that the Papal Bull of May 3, 4, 1493 Inter Cetera be annulled.''

In Bear Butte in August, signatories on the declaration to rescind the papal bulls included a cross-section of indigenous and non-indigenous organizations and nations, including the Western Shoshone Defense Project, American Indian Law Alliance, American Indian Movement, Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council by Chief Oliver Red Cloud and Oglala Delegate Floyd Hand, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, Bring Back the Way: Owe Aku and Tonatierra.

The Summit of Indigenous Nations was called in response to the development of several new biker venues located within five miles of the base of Bear Butte, near the Black Hills Mountains.

''Bear Butte is a sacred place of worship for over 30 Native American Nations across the Great Plains. The Native American Nations involved are asking for a minimum five-acre buffer zone of protection from commercial development around the sacred mountain,'' according to the summit.

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www.tonatierra.org
www.defendbearbutte.org

Date: August 3, 2006
Contact: Tupac Enrique Acosta
Tel: (602) 466-8367
Email: chantlaca@aol.com

Summit of Indigenous Nations Sign Resolution to Rescind the Doctrine of Discovery - Papal Bulls Inter Caetera of 1493

Mato Paha, 1868 Treaty Territories, South Dakota - Delegations of indigenous nations and non-governmental organizations gathered today in the third day of the Summit of Indigenous Nations, uniting more than forty delegations of indigenous, spiritual and political leaders, as well as NGO's who have gathered in the Black Hills Mountains of South Dakota. Today these delegations signed the “ Resolution of the Summit of Indigenous Nations Calling for a Rescission of the Conceptual Doctrine of Discovery and Related Documents, Specifically the Inter Caetera Bull (Papal Bulls) of 1493 and the 1496 Royal Charter of the Church of England.?#157; These Papal Bulls have been the basis for the extinguishment of aboriginal title and the subjugation of Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala (North and South America). The implementation of the papal bulls evolved in the United States through the Supreme Court decision of Johnson v. McIntosh (1821) which established the precedent for the denial of aboriginal title to Indian lands in the United States.

The Indigenous Nations have resolved, here at the base of Mato Paha (Bear Butte), that the Pope of the Catholic Church and the Queen of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury rescind these doctrines of discovery for having served to justify and pave the way for the illegal dispossession of aboriginal land title and the subjugation of non-Christian peoples to the present day. It has been resolved by 23 Nations and NGO's and 100 individual signatories that the “ Doctrine of Discovery?#157; is a legal and political fiction in violation of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and intellectual act of oppression which continues to serve to suppress and repress the Indigenous Peoples in the Western Hemisphere.

Signatories included a cross-section of indigenous and non-indigenous organizations and nations including American Indian Law Alliance, American Indian Movement, Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council by Chief Oliver Red Cloud and Oglala Delegate Floyd Hand, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador and Bring Back the Way: Owe Aku and TONATIERRA.

This Summit of Indigenous Nations has been called in response to the development of several new biker venues all located within five miles of the base of Bear Butte, near the Black Hills Mountains. Bear Butte is a sacred place of worship for over thirty Native American Nations across the Great Plains. The Native American nations involved are asking for a simple five-acre buffer zone from the base of the mountain; however this is currently not being honored.

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www.conaie.org
www.tonatierra.org
www.defendbearbutte.org

Indigenous summit at Bear Butte asks pope for help

BEAR BUTTE — Tribal leaders and indigenous rights groups will ask the pope to rescind a 1493 Vatican document which they believe paved the legal road for Europeans to take land from indigenous American people.

Twenty-three organizations and 100 individuals signed a resolution Thursday at the Summit of Indigenous Nations at Bear Butte. The resolution, which will be sent to the Vatican for review, targets the Papal Bull Inter Caetera of 1493, in which Vatican officials urged Christopher Columbus to convert indigenous Americans to Catholicism.

“We command you in virtue of holy obedience that, employing all due diligence in the premises, … you should appoint to the aforesaid mainlands and islands worthy, God-fearing, learned, skilled and experienced men, in order to instruct the aforesaid inhabitants and residents in the Catholic faith and train them in good morals,” reads the 1493 document.

“This is going to be history in the making,” Vic Camp announced before the resolution and a separate treaty amongst summit participants were signed.

The resolution equally targets the Queen of England and asks her to rescind a 1496 Royal Charter.

“It is with much honor that I put my hand on this instrument,” Dennis Banks of the American Indian Movement said as he signed the resolution. “It’s at least part of a solution. It’s step one ... to pass this moment on to the next generation so they bear witness and we begin a new day.”

Oglala traditional chief Oliver Red Cloud was the first to sign Thursday afternoon, followed by Floyd Hand, an Oglala elder and treaty delegate, and then the various indigenous entities.

Debra White Plume of Bring Back the Way, one of the summit organizers, said she experienced trauma attending Catholic boarding schools.

“I’m really proud to see (everyone) stand up against the people that said we weren’t human,” White Plume said. “We want our spiritual identity left alone. ”

The resolution states that the 1493 Vatican document and the 1496 Royal Charter “represent principles of religious intolerance in its moral and legal impl ications” and served as a “doctrine of discovery,” a legal foundation for the “ extinguishment of aboriginal title to Indian lands in the United States.”

“The doctrine of discovery established a legal paradigm that has caused crusades in the name of Christianity and great harm and injury to Indigenous Peoples throughout the centuries, including the members of Indigenous Nations gathered at this Summit,” reads a section of the resolution.

In addition, the Mato Paha Treaty of 2006 was signed Thursday. That document will be forwarded to the United Nations. It recognizes a union among the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council, the Northern Arapaho Nation, the Northern Cheyenne Nation, the Ponca Nation and the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador.

Through this treaty, the five entities established peaceful relations among themselves “to maintain an effective and lasting peace” and other goodwill stances, including trade, support and defense.

According to Debra White Plume, the treaty will be sent to the United Nations in about one month. Bring Back the Way will take the lead and send in the treaty. However, the group “needs to package it appropriately,” White Plume said. Attorneys will draft a cover letter before the treaty is sent. The group expects the U.N. to keep the document on file but expects no further action.

Copyright © 2006 The Rapid City Journal Rapid City, SD

Background on CONAIE see: www.conaie.org
www.defendbearbutte.org
www.tonatierra.org

SUMMIT OF INDIGENOUS NATIONS
August 1-4, 2006 Mato Paha - (Bear Butte)

Resolution of the Council of Indigenous Nations in regards to the Free Trade Agreements which are being implemented by the government of the United States with different countries of the world, in particular with Latin America.

CONSIDERING:
That we as Indigenous Peoples are the true collective owners of this continent which we call Abya Yala;

That historically we have maintained relationships of exchange and trade amongst each other based on shared principles of solidarity, fraternity, and reciprocity;

WE HEREBY RESOLVE AND DEMAND:
That the government of the United States immediately cease imposition of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) initiatives with all of the countries of Latin America, and in the case with those countries which have signed, that these should be rescinded.

That the government of the United Status not interfere with the processes of regional and international economic development implemented by the distinct indigenous Nations and Pueblos of the continent as alternatives to the FTAA, being constructed based on our principles of solidarity, equality, and reciprocity.

THEREFORE:
We convoke and invite the entirety of Indigenous Nations and Pueblos of the continent to create a common front of resistance to the imposition of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and similar initiatives.

We determine to make delivery of this resolution to the different authorities of the government of the United States for application as policy.

Given and signed at Mato Paha (Bear Butte) August 3, 2006.

### www.conaie.org
www.tonatierra.org
www.defendbearbutte.org
*(PRINTABLE) Summit of Indigenous Nations Mato Paha- Resolution on Free Trade Agreements

COMMUNTY RECEPTION and DIALOGUE
with the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE)

Saturday July 29, 2006
10:00 AM

NAHUACALLI
Embassy of the Indigenous Peoples
802 N. 7th Street
For more information call: (602) 466-8367

“In another case, in the carved stone palettes used to grind pigments it is noted the influence of the Hohokam culture….. a great quantity of these have been found within the construction zone of the Infiernillo Dam, where the Hohokam had reached in their journeys to the south following the coast…. Guerrero, State Monograph published by Secretary of Public Education of Mexico, p. 67

The state of Guerrero lies some 1,500 miles to the south of Arizona yet the above reference from a text used within the public school systems of Mexico reminds us of the extent of the cultural and economic relationships of the Huhukam Peoples and their descendants of today. In fact, these networks of culture and trade existed throughout the continent, and over the past generation we have seen the resurgence of these ancestral alliances across the territories of the Nations of the Indigenous Peoples.

On Saturday, July 30 at 10:00 AM at the NAHUACALLI yet another page of this history will unfold when a community reception and dialogue will take place with our relatives from TAWANTINSUYO, representatives of the Confederation of the Condor, Abya Yala. Two representatives of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) who are traveling through the territory on a diplomatic mission to meet and dialogue with the Indigenous Peoples of North America will be guests of honor. They are on their way to the Bear Butte Summit of Indigenous Nations in South Dakota to exchange messages of mutual commitment and solidarity with the Confederation of the Eagle of the North. Issues of local, regional, continental and global import will be discussed, including the campaigns of the Indigenous Peoples of the southern continent in opposition to the globalization strategies such as Free Trade of the Americas being promoted by the current administration in Washington. This event is fulfillment of traditional obligations and protocols of the Treaty of Teotihuacan, proclaimed at the First International Summit of Indigenous Nations and Pueblos held at Teotihuacan, Mexico in the year 2000.

Agencia Internacional de Prensa India (AIPIN), Mexico
7/11/06

SUDAMERICA: Evo Morales impulsará en ONU derechos pueblos indígenas. (Fuente: Prensa Latina, ABI). La Paz, Bolivia. El presidente boliviano, Evo Morales, respaldará en la sesión ordinaria de la Asamblea General de Naciones Unidas, en septiembre próximo, una Declaración sobre Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas, confirmaron hoy autoridades gubernamentales.

Según declaró a la Agencia Boliviana de Información (ABI), el viceministro de justicia comunitaria, Valentín Ticona, el mandatario indígena comparecerá ante ese foro para defender el documento aprobado este junio en Ginebra, en el nuevo Consejo de Derechos Humanos (CDH).

Pese a 22 años de luchas y al reclamo perenne de pueblos originarios, para que ese texto entre en vigor es necesario que se ratifique en el seno del organismo internacional, agregó Ticona Según el funcionario, de adoptarse esa norma en la sesión de ONU, será un avance sustancial en la defensa de las libertades elementales negadas durante siglos a los pueblos originarios. "Los países signatarios de ese texto estarían obligados a profundizar y reconocer las facultades de centenares de comunidades indígenas en aspectos culturales, sociales y productivos, entre otros. De ahí su importancia", señaló. Adelantó que el jefe de estado boliviano solicitará al organismo mundial la aprobación del documento, lo que podría inspirar a que se materialicen los cambios jurídicos y constitucionales necesarios para restituir esos derechos.

En Ginebra, esa Declaración del CDH fue respaldada por 30 de sus miembros, sólo Canadá y Rusia se opusieron, mientras otras 15 naciones, incluida Argentina, se abstuvieron.

El documento reconoce el derecho de esos pueblos a la libre determinación y establece que deben dar su consentimiento a la explotación de los recursos naturales de sus tierras, así como limita las actividades militares en esas zonas. Además, reconoce los derechos colectivos de esas comunidades, incluida la preservación de sus valores culturales y étnicos, así como la protección ante el intento de expulsarlos de sus territorios ancestrales. Funcionarios latinoamericanos en el CDH subrayaron que la declaración constituye un acto de reivindicación de esos pueblos, por lo cual, desde ahora, esas minorías ya no lucharán por el reconocimiento de sus derechos, sino por su ejercicio.

Consejo de la ONU aprueba proyecto de declaración sobre derechos indígenas.
(Ginebra, P.Cayukeo, azkimtuwe, pulchetum, NII).

Después de 22 años de negociaciones, los miembros del nuevo ente de Naciones Unidas, sustituto de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos- decidieron por 30 votos contra 17 la aprobación de la Declaración de Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas, considerada un paso histórico en la lucha por el reconocimiento de los derechos de este colectivo. Entre lágrimas, abrazos y aplausos, los representantes de los pueblos indígenas y las delegaciones impulsoras de la declaración celebraron la adopción de la propuesta, que deberá ser ahora ratificada por la Asamblea General de Naciones Unidas.

Sólo dos países votaron en contra, Canadá y Rusia, mientras que otros 15 se abstuvieron entre ellos Argentina que en el último momento retiró su apoyo al texto ante la indignación del resto de los países latinoamericanos. Según el canciller argentino, Jorge Taiana, presente en la votación, el motivo de la abstención fue la falta de elementos que permitan poner al mismo nivel el derecho de autodeterminación de los pueblos y el principio de unidad nacional.

 A pesar de estas resistencias, que podrían repetirse en Nueva York para tratar de frenar el proyecto, se espera que la declaración pase sin problemas por la Asamblea, ya que se trata de uno de los primeros logros del nuevo consejo de la ONU. La comisionada mexicana para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas, Xóchitl Gálvez, declaró “este es un mensaje al mundo sobre el respeto a los derechos de los pueblos indígenas y una manera muy importante de abrir este nuevo consejo”.

"Aunque no se ha conseguido por consenso, estoy muy satisfecho con el resultado, porque era necesario adoptar ese texto", afirmó a EFE el presidente del CDH, el embajador de México, Luis Alfonso de Alba. El presidente del grupo de trabajo de la ONU que negoció la Declaración, el diplomático peruano Luis Alberto Chávez, dijo a que haber tenido sólo dos votos en contra "ha sido el mejor escenario posible".

Esta semana, Canadá, Rusia, Australia, Estados Unidos y Nueva Zelanda expresaron sus reservas al texto y plantearon prolongar las negociaciones, al menos hasta la próxima sesión del CDH en septiembre. Chávez señaló que "más allá del resultado, a partir de ahora los Estados y los pueblos indígenas inician una nueva etapa basada en una relación de tolerancia, de respeto y de integración de esas comunidades en sus respectivas sociedades".

Reconoció que "las condiciones de marginalidad y opresión que viven muchos de esos pueblos no van a cambiar como por milagro de la noche a la mañana, pero se trata del punto de partida para revertir esa situación". "Aunque no se irá a la misma velocidad en todas partes del mundo, todos iremos en la misma dirección", recalcó Chávez, quien expresó su confianza en que el texto logre ser aprobado por consenso en la Asamblea General de la ONU, en septiembre próximo, cuando celebrará su sesión anual.

El texto adoptado hoy -cuya versión final fue elaborada por Chávez recogiendo las distintas posiciones de los participantes en el proceso- recibió el respaldo de delegados de pueblos indígenas de distintas regiones. En el mismo sentido, el embajador De Alba, consideró "evidente que el máximo acuerdo posible ya estaba reflejado en el documento, por lo que la continuación de las discusiones no nos iba a acercar más".

Recordó que en llegar hasta la votación de hoy "se han tardado demasiados años, once de negociaciones gubernamentales, pero veintiuno en total", desde que comenzó el proceso. Para De Alba, la Declaración refleja "un equilibrio muy delicado entre las aspiraciones de los pueblos indígenas y la voluntad de atenderlas por parte de la gran mayoría de los Estados miembros", lo que queda demostrado por el apoyo explícito de treinta países y la oposición de solo dos.

Por su parte, el embajador de Perú, Manuel Rodríguez Cuadros, quien presentó al CDH la resolución pidiendo la adopción de la Declaración, declaró a que se trata de "un acto de reivindicación histórica de los pueblos indígenas". "Desde ahora, esas minorías "ya no lucharán por el reconocimiento de su derecho, sino por su ejercicio", puntualizó.

Cabe destacar que la Declaración reconoce el derecho de los pueblos indígenas a la libre determinación y establece que deben dar su consentimiento a la explotación de los recursos naturales de sus tierras y limita las actividades militares sobre esos territorios. Además, reconoce los derechos colectivos de esas poblaciones, tales como la preservación de sus valores culturales y de su identidad étnica, o la protección ante cualquier intento de expulsión de sus territorios ancestrales.

Sin embargo, se trata de un instrumento que no es de obligado cumplimiento por parte de los Estados, aunque muchos lo ven como el germen de una futura convención que sí tendría ese carácter. Ahora resta que el texto aprobado se envíe para su adopción final a la Asamblea General de la ONU cuya próxima sesión se realizará en otoño de este año. En este nivel podrá ser adoptada por aclamación (consenso) -lo que es dudoso por la oposición mostrada por algunos países que no van a ceder- o por votación / Continúa

NOTICIA COMPLETA EN http://www.nodo50.org/azkintuwe/jun30_1.htm
Indigenous Permanent Forum indigenouspermanentforum@un.org wrote:
Subject: MESSAGE STICK -newsletter April to June 2006
To: Pfii Indigenousfund
Mon, 10 Jul 2006

Dear Friends,

Our MESSAGE STICK, the newsletter that highlights the activities undertaken by the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and its Secretariat for the period from April to June 2006 is available at http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/newsletter.html

Agencia Internacional de Prensa India (AIPIN), Mexico

stars

There were stars
before the sky was turned black by war guns
of alien armies who wished to put flame to
the land, searing scars of inhumanity and greed.
The echoes still roar
hollow eyed sockets
of false reality still see those rockets,
scorching the earth with titles
of manifest destiny, against
whom
they stood,
they who are we
Indigenous Peoples
understood.  
The stars will
return in the sky.

Tupac Enrique Acosta

Tlazolli

The concept of title in relation to land is a mythological construct, in which the world view of cultural identity is embedded and perpetuated across generations.

The simple reason is of course that the land is eminence itself, preexisting and outlasting any human society. The relationship with the land, with the material world which emerges from the land, is then defined and evidenced by the traditional systems of inheritance and identity which perpetuate these teachings to the generations of the future. This is universal for all societies, but it is the traditional Indigenous Peoples from around the globe that create identity by ecological relationships to the constellations of families, mountains, rivers, deserts, nations, oceans and stars that define our homelands in the universe.

The societies of the European-American settlers do not.

The present systems of the United States and other governments states of the hemisphere which derive their justifications for jurisdiction over the land on the Divine Right of Kings to Dominion over the Earth and its Peoples, is pure myth. Or better said, it is false myth -- a dead story with no teaching to teach but only a power grab to justify.

It cannot even hold coherence before the science of its own culture, now finally clarified that matter-energy are aspects of relationship to life, with automatic inflection given by the world view of each clan, family, tribe, community, nation, and culture.

To claim ownership by land title today in view of the above is the equivalent of proclaiming that the world is flat. It is the position of a lost world, and a false reality. It is an empire with no clothes.

Tupac Enrique Acosta
chantlaca@aol.com
TONATIERRA
www.tonatierra.org
 

Tlazolli is the sacred weaving of elements, the tie to Tonantzin - Our Sacred Mother Earth - an umbilical cord that connects Heaven and Earth: Mexico. It is what the religions of the world call love and the scientists call gravity.