News from Elsewhere

Thousands of Manasir villagers in Sudan are refusing to leave their lands, which are currently being flooded as the reservoir for the nearby Merowe Dam begins to fill. “Local communities have recorded their trauma on video, and say the reservoir is being deliberately filled now to forcibly evict those villages that have been most outspoken in calling for fair compensation and replacement lands. As many as 25 villages could ultimately be affected by the rising waters,” says International Rivers. The Manasir, who number around 50,000, were previously willing to relocate to other parts of their land, within the fertile region of the Nile Valley. However, through the Merowe Dam Implementation Unit (DIU), the Sudan government recently told the Nubian people that they will now have to move to a desert location. “The inundation of the Manasir lands followed on the 24 of July,” explains the recent Emergency Appeal for Urgent Relief of Merowe Dam Communities by the Executive Committee of the Manasir Community (ECM). “Up to July 28th, seven villages and inhabited islands were completely submerged. The victims were 205 families, and their number is expected to increase to more than two thousand families by the end of the flood season in mid-October. It is a pity that the government has taken strict security measures to deny the access of the press and the humanitarian organizations to the affected area. It has neither provided relief nor allowed others to provide such help. It even prevented the UN representatives to visit the affected area in order to assess ...

By Justin Podur, Z Net

ISLAMABAD – The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) is a women’s organization that runs underground schools and other projects, educates Afghan girls, runs a periodic journal, and agitates politically for women’s rights, human rights, secularism, and social justice in Afghanistan. From the 1979 Soviet invasion through to the 2006 closings of the camps, millions of Afghan refugees lived in Pakistan and many still do. While RAWA’s operations were always based primarily in Afghanistan, they have also had a strong presence in the Pakistan refugee community. I spoke to Mariam from RAWA in Islamabad when I was there in July 2008.

JUSTIN PODUR (JP): To begin, perhaps you could introduce readers to RAWA and its work in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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- No Olympics on stolen land!
- Disrupt and abolish the G8 and SPP
- Active support and solidarity for local struggles of self-determination,
justice and dignity*

[August 2008 - OTTAWA]

In the year 2010, three major international events will be taking place in
the Canadian state: the Winter Olympics in Vancouver/Whistler (between
February 12-28); the G8 Leader's Summit in Huntsville, Ontario (most likely
in June or July); and the meeting of the NAFTA leaders as part of the
so-called "Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP)" (date and location not
yet known).

Already, groups and individuals on the West Coast have come together under
the banner of "No Olympics on stolen native land." They have been organizing
and raising awareness, from an anti-colonial and anti-capitalist
perspective, against the 2010 Olympics, for several years. [More info
available at www.no2010.com and http://harrietspirit.blogspot.com/]

Inspired by the mobilizing on the West Coast, organizers across "Canada"
have begun awareness-raising efforts. Building on the call from the West
Coast for anti-capitalist and anti-colonial resistance to the Olympics, some
organizers affiliated with the "People's Global Action" Bloc (PGA-Bloc) in
Ontario and Quebec have begun mobilizing around "Resistance2010", linking
anti-Olympics efforts to organizing against the G8 and SPP, and the

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Recently, SalvaVidas employees decided to organize a union in the hope of improving their working conditions. Immediately after finding out...

It’s well known that Canada perpetuates discrimination against indigenous people at every level of government, but what does it mean when that discrimination causes the death of innocent people? Death that is enshrouded in bureaucracy, covered up by the government, and ignored by the so-called leaders? Shelley Brant, from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in southern Ontario, reaches for an answer in this open letter: An Open Letter to Canada and All First Nation Leaders Wednesday August 6th, 2008 The recent questionable killing of yet another First Nations man, Craig McDougall 26 by police in Winnipeg has led me to write this letter: How many more inquiries and bodies is it going to take???? How many more unimplemented recommendations???? How many more police lies and cover-ups supported by the governments in this so called great country before people wake up to the truth????? How many more planted weapons in the media and on our own people????? This is the list of First Nations people killed by police across Canada and some have led to inquiries and some haven’t and is probably not even a complete list: Frank Paul, a 47-year-old Mik’maq man - Vancouver- Vancouver police officer dragged the man, soaking wet and unconscious, from the downtown holding cells and dumped him in an alley across town. - Paul had died of hypothermia accelerated by acute alcohol poisoning. Dudley George, aged 38, - Ipperwash - Ontario - was killed by a police sniper during a Native land protest at Ipperwash Provincial Park. Craig McDougall 26 - Winnipeg - shot 4 times by police while on ...

After a bit of a break, the First Nations Strategic Policy Counsel has resumed its monthly publication, the First Nations Strategic Bulletin. Issues in this month’s bulletin include: an analysis of “Canada’s War to terminate First Nations” (Harper’s apology in context), the OPP & Mohawks (w/ a transcript of the phone conversation between Shawn Brant & Julian Fantino — something you probably haven’t yet), “the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the 2010 Olympics,” and “Canada’s Tibetans: Barriere Lake & Other First Nations.” You can download the bulletin by heading over to the Library and Archives Canada website. Back issues are available there as well. Here’s a few excerpts from “Canada’s War to terminate First Nations,” by Russel Diabo: My belief–which is based upon my policy experience and observations over the past three decades of First Nations-Canada relations–is that the federal government (with provincial and municipal support) is attempting to empty out (limit & restrict) the meaning (scope & content) of Aboriginal and Treaty Rights in section 35 of Canada’s constitution until it is empty or “spent”. Instead of being recognized and affirmed as a ‘distinct order of government’ in Canada, under the current federal policy approach First Nations will eventually become ‘ethnic municipalities’. So it is not a “conventional war” that Canada is waging against First Nations, and it is not covert, although there is a sophisticated propaganda machine in Ottawa to generate Crown public spin against First Nation interests in any dispute. The Crown war is essentially a legal-political-fiscal conflict ...

Zerohour conducted a Kasama interview with Freddy B. shortly after the recent SDS Convention. Bastone is a student at Hunter College, an activist within SDS, a blogger with Good Morning Revolution and has been a participant of the Kasama project from its beginning. Kasama: What are political questions you see posing themselves around SDS, both during the recent convention and into the future? Freddy: I think some of the fault-lines are going to be questions over revolution itself. A lot of SDS'ers define themselves as radicals or revolutionaries and people know what that means - social transformation, etc. But no one knows how that's going to look like and there are a lot of political fault-lines around that. People are arguing everything from armed revolution to peaceful movement or some sort of a cultural revolution - so those things are out there. There are also going to be political divisions on questions of the class struggle in the United States. A lot of the people in SDS are in the IWW for example. It's an organization that I like, but I don't do work with it because I fundamentally don't think the work it's doing will solve the questions in our country, or worldwide. At the convention, on Friday, there was an interactive workshop on class. There was actually a lot of political stuff that went down there. There was a lot of challenging people upon what "class" meant, the question of "intersectionality" became part of it or in other workshops from what I know. The question of "coordinator class" and Parecon by Michael Albert came up, which is a different sort of view. And there's a lot of challenging based on ideology: like Marxist class analysis vs. identity politics vs. Parecon and just things like that. Those sort of questions are going to come up. Basically a lot of the political basis for discussion are going to be a lot of the fault-lines that are currently on the left. SDS is currently a grouping of young people that are influenced broadly by left-wing politics and are very eclectic but don't have a real center. Kasama: How do you think such political controversies will mature and resolve? Freddy: I came out of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade [RCYB, the RCP's youth organization] and our view of organizing anything amongst youth was like: You put out the politics and they gravitate towards it. Or you go out to a high school and you sell the paper or something like that, organize a showing of something. I don't think that fundamentally that's how SDS is going to work. I don't think it's good for organizing students. SDS is an organization that is going to immanently come through its consciousness, like the leap of consciousness from the second convention to the third convention, or the first convention even. The first convention was dominated was dominated by young crusty-punks. The second convention was much different but yet you still had sort of like, "Well we don't want a student organization on the level of a national office." The structure that we even got was like "We're going to stop everything before it happens," you know. "We're going to stop the PLP before it comes." That way of thinking. The third convention was just this huge turnaround where people were like "All the shit we said last year was just fucked up. It's not how things fundamentally work." People started realizing that, and I think that's the way politics is going to evolve in SDS for a while. These political debates come forth: These debates about how we're going to organize, what view or vision we're going to put forward, etc., and people are going to address them as they come forward. There's a place for putting something forward about Nepal for example. [editor: where there is a Maoist revolution struggling to seize power.] But if you fundamentally take that character away from immanently going through the stages of consciousness amongst youth, then you're not actually going to create revolutionary consciousness amongst them. Kasama: How would you situate SDS in the context of the left? Freddy: Well, what is "the left"? The left is such a diffuse, weak strain of things. No one really relates to "the left" on the level of work besides projects like Iraq Moratorium or various environmental projects or whatever happens on a local level. There are all these other student organizations like CAN [Campus Antiwar Network] for example. All these other student organizations, or youth organizations are pretty much (I don't want to be bad about this) are led politically from centers. Like CAN is from the political center of ISO [International Socialist Organization]. SDS is interesting in the sense that you had a call from a couple of high schoolers in 2006 and you had an explosion of movement without any centrally defined character to it. The people who put out that call were people from World Can't Wait. It showed at a fundamental level young people wanting to define their own organization; young radicals wanting to find their own organization. But I think that's been fundamentally lacking in the left for a long, long time. You always have a center-defined group and you give character to its youth wing which is not a bad thing because you're always going to have young people who agree with a particular party organization. But the fact that there is no level of accessibility and discussions among young radicals themselves is fundamentally going to lead to the same sort of dichotomy and diffusion among the left itself, where you just have stupid splits like between the Troops Out Now Coalition and A.N.S.W.E.R. where they don't meet together ever and they plan things out differently and it fucks up the anti-war movement. So I think SDS's relationship is one that's basically critical of the left altogether about organizing the youth. It's basically saying "Listen, we don't need partisanship on that level. We need partisanship on the level of doing work in unity, on issues of the war, on issues of the environment, on issues of worker organizing." Struggling to build multi-racial organization Kasama: This SDS convention, like the previous ones, debated important issues around racism, white supremacy and what it means to develop multi-racial organization. Can you tell us about that? Freddy: There's been a lot of struggle in the People of Color Caucus because what's a "person of color"? That's a fundamental question in the People of Color Caucus and I'm probably not the best person to talk about that since I'm not in the Caucus. However I think it's popping up because it's really hard to define especially with bi-racial people. "Am I a person of color?" "What is national oppression?" "Does a white Puerto Rican person face national oppression in the United States" - that's a question that's always brought up. There's been points when people who are Armenian joined the People of Color Caucus because Turkey carried out genocide against them. I don't think people have a fundamental answer yet. I think there are broadening questions around it. Kasama: The original SDS was overwhelmingly white, because during the 1960s and later, there was a great deal of organization along separate lines, because of the influence of Black nationalist politics and groups like SNCC and the Panthers. Freddy: Yeah, and you had third world Marxists. I think that kind of focus is going to define a lot of the character of student organizations altogether. If you look at student groups now, you have a lot of Asian American student groups that are quite good in their politics. I'll just name a few like NAASCon [National Asian American Students Convention]. For example. I have some differences with their worldview but a lot of people gravitate towards that because they address a lot of concerns of Asian Americans students and are really doing good work. Here at Hunter College we have a similar grouping called CRAASH (Coalition for the Revitalization of Asian American Studies at Hunter.) I don't think SDS wants to have this relationship of competition with political student organizations of people of color. We also don't want to tail those groupings because sometimes they can put out really fucked up shit. Sometimes. It's a question of SDS wanting to build a multi-racial student organization. It doesn't want to be just a white-bound student organization and there was a lot of discussion about that at the convention itself because people kept referring to SDS as a white organization, fundamentally ignoring all the people of color in this group that are here right now. So I think that's always going to fundamentally shape the character of any student organization just because there are plenty of groups around. But I think if you put forward a certain politics to people that are good, and by that I mean ones that express support for national liberation struggles, etc., I think we could get more support from people of color but I'm not sure about that exactly. Kasama: What is the breakdown of nationalities within SDS now? Freddy: I think there were only a few Black students at the whole convention. There were a lot more Latinos and Asians. There's people of bi-raciality. I would like to say I'm one of them because I'm part Latino, part Italian -- but I'm obviously white. I think a lot of people are like that in SDS. I think that's the character of colleges altogether -- more people of color are coming into colleges. I think this important because college can be in itself a radically transforming experience for oppressed peoples, and can turn them into organic radicals. SDS, though, has still a national character that is bound to white culture and activist culture and I think it limits us to a certain extent. Debate Over the Elections Kasama: What were the campaigns the convention agreed upon? Freddy: There were two different ideas proposed that had to deal with some level of work around the election coming up. Those two were: (1) one hundred days of pressure on Obama and social priorities, and (2) the other one was Protest McCain. Basically these were two directions of trying to relate somehow to young people who are going to be disenfranchised with Obama. However among SDS there is a certain level of people not knowing how to do that. Everyone agrees: Obama's an imperialist. He's not really anti-war. He's just going to re-assert it in Afghanistan. A lot of people know this but they don't know how to define what sort of relationship they're going to have to the presidential race. They don't want to have a character of typical bad ultra-leftism where "Elections are fucked up and we're going to do our own thing and you're just being fooled." But I'm obviously not going to be involved in the campaign itself. Those proposals both failed. It just showed the level of political disunity around the question and not knowing how to address the question altogether. Kasama: So was it political or tactical disunity? You said they agreed that Obama was imperialist. Freddy: There's a certain amount of tactical disunity, and there's politics involved here. The people with the "hundred days, social priorities" thing I felt were too soft on the Obama thing. It was so vague and open it gave the chapter the potential to do anything, which basically meant maybe they'll go and support Obama, like who knew what that campaign proposal actually meant? The Protest McCain one was really about "We'll be on the streets protesting McCain's imperialism and then we'll show the contradictions to the Obama supporters with their candidate." But then people thought that was too soft on Obama too. So there was really no way of resolving it. People didn't understand how to solve it and there were certain politics that were dividing line that said "what kind of relationship can we have with bourgeois electoral politics" so they don't know. Kasama: A proposal about accessible education did pass. What exactly is that? What did that proposal call for? Freddy: Quite honestly it's student syndicalist. I disagree with it. However, there's a certain level of truth to it. At Hunter College, for example, tuition issues are always going to arise and it's something you should always step up and fight against. These issues of student debt in private schools are big issues, people are emerging out of college paying almost twenty years of student debt, which is ridiculous. However I just fundamentally don't see how that's going to work out in the end because the student debt question, student tuition question is so big and frustrating because of the complexities of public school vs. private school, and private schooling just being a sprawling matter of arbitrariness of whatever school you're at, so I fundamentally don't see how it's going to work on a national level. But people want to do something about it. And it's just going to happen on a local level I guess. People want the whole campaign proposal itself to be just giving a mandate allowing SDS'ers to work on it at a local level. Basically, on the electoral thing: Neither side got a mandate to do whatever they want to on the local level in the name of national SDS, whereas the student accessible education one did get that mandate from the national student body. It's like "Yes, this is an issue facing students and we have to do something about it nationally." * * * * * Kasama: Is there anything you want to say that I didn't ask? Freddy: Yes: Why should revolutionary communists join SDS? Kasama: Well, why should they? Freddy: I think you have here a mass organization that has rapidly taken on a radical consciousness nationally. I think you have here an organization and a form to address a larger, younger organization with revolutionary communist politics and change people's views towards that aim. As I said before, a lot of people in SDS, the majority probably, define themselves as revolutionaries they just don't know what that means or how that's going to look, and that sort of vision's lacking in SDS. it's like we all agree: social transformation, anti-oppression, collective liberation, whatever they want to say it is - but they don't know what that is effectively going to look like and how we're going to do it. So we need that political leadership in SDS. * * * * * This interview originally appeared on the website of the Kasama Project (http://kasamaproject.org)

By Brenda Norrell

Dakota women were arrested on Saturday, August 16, 2008 during a counter genocide protest. Dakotas from the Yellow Medicine Dakota Community, with their allies, countered the Upper Sioux Agency State Park's program. The genocide celebration was part of the Sesquicentennial of the state of Minnesota, portraying the 1858 1st Regiment.

Chris Mato Nunpa, retired Dakota professor, said, "My daughter, Waziyata Win, and my grand-daughter, Winuna were arrested. Fortunately, they both were released later in the day.

"It was incredible the amount of armed law enforcement personnel that were there. We had no guns, clubs, knives, etc. We were peaceful and non-violent. To me, it just illustrates the level of racial hatred and fear of the Dakota and of Indigenous Peoples that is present here in southwestern Minnesota and elsewhere throughout the U.S.

"Again, it shows how we as Indigenous Peoples are living in oppression, in this case we are oppressed by their law, their legal ideology which is used to enforce the exploitation and continued oppression of the Indigenous Peoples. They have the guns and the men to enforce their law, even though we were on Dakota land," Mato Nunpa wrote.

"They, the wasicu, have the forums and and freedom of expression. We express our views, the TRUTH, and we get arrested."

Dr. Mato Nunpa, Ph.D., retired, was an associate professor of Indigenous Nations and Dakota Studies at Southwest Minnesota State University Marshall.

Mato Nunpa said the state's celebration reveals nothing about the massive land theft, broken treaties or genocide perpetrated on the Dakota by the Euro-Minnesotans. The state's celebration does not reveal the bounties, mass executions, forced marches and forced removal of the Dakota People from their ancient homelands in Minnesota.

Watch video of arrest of Dakota women:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wcTPQLKGz4

Chris Mato Nunpa: "Dakota exercised their fishing rights on Sunday, July 20, 2008 on Lake Harriet, a lake in the ceded area of our Treaty of 1805."

Watch video of treaty fishing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5kgLcC7afQor

http://www.youtube.com/user/alliesms

More by Chris Mato Nunpa on Minnesota's genocide and concentration camps:

http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2008/08/chris-mato-numpa-minnesotas-genocide.html

US/Mexico border wall increases risk to lives of Tohono O'odham during monsoon flash floods

Flash floods damage businesses and government offices in Arizona and Mexico after Homeland Security flaunts federal laws and builds border wall

By Brenda Norrell

LUKEVILLE, Ariz. - The risk to the lives of Tohono O'odham and other residents living on the Arizona and Sonora border due to monsoon flash floods has increased because of a newly constructed border wall. Homeland Security flaunted federal laws and the laws of nature to build the border wall in 2008.

In a report made public this week, the National Park Service details the ecological and infrastructure damage in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument caused by flood obstruction and debris accumulation along recently constructed portions of the border wall. Tohono O'odham and others reside in the area on both sides of the international border.

The report points out that the border wall resulted in the flooding of private businesses and government offices in both Lukeville, Arizona and the adjacent Sonoyta, Mexico.

The NPS report describes flash flooding from the July 12, 2008 monsoon thunderstom.

"Headquarters Wash flowed over 200 feet to the east along the pedestrian fence and through the international port of entry. It caused flood damage to private property, government offices and commercial businesses in Lukeville, Arizona, and Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico," the report states.

The NPS report describes how the faulty border wall design has increased flash flooding.

Flash floods during the monsoon season, July to September, claim lives as fast falling rain in thunderstoms skirts across the surface of the dry baked earth and causes fast and dangerous flooding each summer.

The NPS report states the damage was foreseen and Homeland Security was warned of the outcome. It states that, as predicted, the damage includes severe erosion and infrastructure damage. The damage included the movement of floodwaters and drainages behind debris obstructions into adjacent deserts and, in one case, through a border-crossing station.

Robin Silver at the Center for Biological Diversity said that an environmental analysis conducted by the Department of Homeland Security in 2007 concluded that the fence would "...not impede the natural flow of water." It would be "...designed and constructed to ensure proper conveyance of floodwaters and to eliminate the potential to cause backwater flooding on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border."

Further, Customs and Border Protection would "...remove debris from the fence within washes/arroyos immediately after rain events to ensure that no backwater flooding occurs."

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has since exempted the border wall from all environmental laws.

"The callousness displayed by Homeland Security in ignoring warnings to damage a national treasure is mind-boggling," Silver said.

"The border wall does not stop humans, but it will stop jaguars and other wildlife. It is already wreaking havoc on the southern part of Oregon Pipe National Monument."

"The contrast between the report findings and the environmental assessment displays the Bush administration's wholly meaningless approach to environmental analysis," Silver said. "The administration essentially did no analysis at all."

The Park Service report shows several instances in which debris collected in flash floods in south-flowing drainages caused natural resource and infrastructure damage and states that National Monument resources and infrastructure will continue to be impacted, as well as resources and infrastructure on neighboring lands in the United States and Mexico. The report anticipates the following short- and long-term impacts:

Accelerated scour below the pedestrian fence will damage the structural integrity of the vehicle barrier along the U.S./Mexico boundary unless continued maintenance occurs.

Floodwaters will flow laterally along the pedestrian fence and on the patrol road. These flows will result in erosion and scour above and below the foundation wall of the fence, including areas hundreds of feet outside existing drainage channels. As a consequence, the need for routine maintenance and repairs of the patrol road and vehicle barrier will increase..

"While the Bush administration may claim it's taking environmental impacts of the border wall into consideration, building wire mesh fences across washes prone to debris-laden floods is fundamentally flawed," Silver said. "It's time for Homeland Security to lift its embargo on environmental laws. The border fence does not stop humans. Now we have more proof if the wall's destruction of our national treasures.

The National Park Service said short- and long-term impacts expected due to the pedestrian fence include the following:

• Accelerated scour below the pedestrian fence will damage the structural integrity of the vehicle barrier along the U.S./Mexico boundary unless continued maintenance occurs.
• Floodwaters will flow laterally along the pedestrian fence and on the patrol road. These flows will result in erosion and scour above and below the foundation wall of the fence, including areas hundreds of feet outside existing drainage channels. As a consequence, the need for routine maintenance and repairs of the patrol road and vehicle barrier will increase.
• The patrol road associated with the pedestrian fence will change vegetation in OPCNM by changing rainfall retention or runoff along the northern road edge.
• Riparian vegetation will change in response to increased sedimentation.
• Channel morphology and floodplain function will change over time.
• Channelized waters will begin a gullying process that has the potential to transform land surfaces in the affected watersheds.

Read report at:

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/borderlands_and_boundary_waters/pdfs/Flood_Report_July_2008.pdf

More at: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Photo: National Park Service/Flooding at Lukeville/Sonoyta border crossing in July, 2008.

Named after a story about a deadly lie, The Leech and the Earthworm is a documentary film that explores western science, biotechnology and the commodification of indigenous peoples genetic property. The film was produced in 2003 by Yeast Directions and the Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism (IPCB). For a little more background, here’s a review of the film by GRAIN, an international NGO that “promotes the sustainable management and use of agricultural biodiversity based on people’s control over genetic resources and local knowledge.” In the mid-1980s, scientists from a Canadian university took blood samples from more than 800 people of the Nuu-chah-nulth nation of Vancouver Island, Canada. The scientists said the blood samples would help find a cure for arthritis and the Nuu-chah-nulth people were willing to help. But the scientists never returned with their results and a few years later the Nuu-chah-nulth people discovered the blood was in England being used for other experiments, without their knowledge or authorisation. This unfortunate but not uncommon case of biopiracy is the opening scene in The Leech and the Earthworm, a documentary film produced by Debra Harry, Executive Director of the Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism (IPCB) and one of the world’s foremost critical voices on biotechnology. From the Nuu-chah-nulth biopiracy case, the film plunges into complex questions of intellectual property rights and biotechnology, bringing indigenous leaders from the Philippines, North America, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Lolvatmagemu (Vanuatu) to unpack these difficult concepts and explain what they mean according to the world views of indigenous peoples. The underlying message is ...

Finally, I can say thank you U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for showing that our U.S. government’s national security critical infrastructure is as weak as a "Samson without his hair."

Nevertheless, these two raids were nothing but a “show” to justify ICE’s immigration enforcement initiatives. I reviewed some of the news video clips from the Asheville, NC raid, and the ICE spokesperson, along with his peers looked rather non-enthusiastic, frustrated and bored. I know that feeling because it is exactly the way I used to feel in 1982 when we were conducting immigration employment raids in San Francisco, CA.

For the anti-immigrant and foreigner phobic, ICE did an excellent job arresting the 99 suspected illegal aliens (but later releasing some of them for humanitarian reasons). For the wise and neutral tax-payer American Citizen, this was another waste of ICE’s monies and manpower resources. I can list a number of valid reasons why I agree that ICE can be servicing our country better by going after the violent criminal illegal aliens who are involved in the drug smuggling and other crimes usually associated with illegal aliens, and employers of illegal aliens.

I hate to bring it up over and over again, but ICE just committed more waste of tax-payer’s monies, and mismanagement. No wonder, the mainstream media is losing interest in covering ICE immigration employment raids. I even want to stop writing about this subject because to tell you the truth, it is a boring subject. However, this report brings a different twist to the same old record - so please don't stop reading.

May I suggest, since it appears that ICE will continue executing more raids under its Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) program, that the best places to target would be our federal, state and local police departments. For example, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for years has been recruiting non-United States citizens for police officer positions. I remember when in the 1970s and 1980s, they were recruiting Lawful Alien Permanent Residents (LAPR). In fact, it is my understanding that LAPR or “green card holders” (I-551 cards) can apply for top security clearances of employees working for private defense contractors.

Further, the U.S. Department of State is probably the largest federal agency who hires more foreign citizens to work at our U.S. Embassies and Consulates than any other federal agency.

Let’s go back to the two raids in question. If I would have been the head of ICE or the head of the ICE’s Office of Investigation, which I thank God I am not, since Dulles International Airport and Mills Manufacturing Corporation were cooperating with ICE, I would have assigned one or two agents (for each site) to conduct all immigration queries to determine who was using stolen or fake social security numbers etc., in order to determine the immigration status of all employees. Any employee who claimed to be born in the USA, ICE investigators would go to the vital statistics office, Department of Motor Vehicles to check on their driver’s license, would have conducted other background employment verification without wasting thousands or millions of tax-payer’s monies in conducting such employment raids, especially when the employer is cooperating. Now, if the assigned ICE agents discover that additional manpower is required, I would meet with my immediate supervisor, brief him/her of my findings and request additional manpower from the ASAC, ASAC or RAC office having jurisdiction over the employer under investigation.

I reviewed several comments posted on the very few mainstream news reports that the two recent ICE’s raids conducted at the Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C., and at the Mills Manufacturing Corporation (MMC) in Asheville, NC. I noticed some pretty bad racist comments, some containing mixed emotions, and some right on target such as the cost involved when ICE conducts such employment raids, the lack of taking enforcement action against the employers, and finally the weakness of our national security critical infrastructure.

Since these two raids were conducted under the ICE’s Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) program, I believe the mainstream media did not consider such immigration raids worth reporting them either because the media moguls are already tired of covering such employment immigration raids, and or they did not wanted to expose our federal government’s weak national security infrastructure system under the current Bush administration. In other words, the mainstream media wanted to remain neutral at this time. It is why, I believe, only a handful of mainstream media covered both raids.

However it is this author’s opinion that based on his government and private security management experience as a former Legacy U.S. Defense Investigative Service as a special agent and as a Certified Protection Professional (certification issued by the American Society for Industrial Security), it is rather almost impossible to find illegal aliens, i.e. spies, terrorists etc., at sensitive area facilities such as airports, nuclear power plants, chemical plants, military bases, defense facilities and seaports. If ICE does find illegal aliens working at such facilities, it is due to the poor internal personnel hiring security controls by the employer. In the case of the two raids mentioned in this report, the illegal aliens were employees working in non-classified security areas.

The fact the ICE has been able to find illegal aliens working at major international airports only shows that the U.S. Transportation Security Agency (TSA), the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and in the case at Dulles, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority are at fault for not conducting their own security personnel background investigation on all employees working for any employee working at the airport or employees of any private contractor or sub-contractors.

Having illegal aliens working at our airports such as the Dulles International Airport should be a major concern of not only ICE, but to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and our other national security intelligence agencies. We don’t want another 9-11. ICE already has special agents from its Office of Investigations stationed at certain large international airports, such as at Los Angeles, CA. However, in the past, I reported that a suspected “person of interest” from the middle-east detained by a U.S. Federal Air Marshal agent at a major international airport with a student visa, when asked for an ICE agent to respond to verify the non-immigrant student visa holder was released because no ICE agents were available.

In closing, may I remind that if ICE is contemplating conducting Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) program raids at certain private Defense Contracting sites, U.S. Department of Defense military installations or federal law enforcement agencies, that ICE make sure that their agents have the proper security clearance to enter certain classified areas. Not doing so, the ICE agents, managers and supervisors conducting the raid may be subjecting themselves of getting arrested for not having the proper security clearance level and for being in a classified security area that requires higher security clearances than what the average ICE special agent has, which I believe is at a "Secret" security clearance level.

The following is a quotation of the meaning of the ICE’s Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) program taken from the ICE’s website:

“ICE agents prioritize enforcement efforts by focusing on the sites related to critical infrastructure and national security. The goal of CIP operations is to reduce the vulnerabilities at these facilities and other key assets to prevent potential attacks. Critical infrastructure has been defined as systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so crucial to the United States that the damage or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economy, public health or safety, and/or any combination of those matters.

Unauthorized workers employed at sensitive facilities such as airports, nuclear power plants, chemical plants, military bases, defense facilities and seaports, may compromise the integrity of these key assets. In FY 2008, ICE agents have made more than 700 administrative arrests and 100 criminal arrests at critical infrastructure facilities.") - ICE’s Press Release

ICE arrests 42 illegal aliens working at Dulles International AirportICE Press Release – August 13, 2008

“WASHINGTON - This morning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 42 men illegally present in the country at Dulles International Airport as part of a critical infrastructure protection (CIP) operation. ICE agents, with support of airport security agencies, arrested the illegal aliens just inside the airport grounds at a checkpoint established to verify the identity and immigration status of workers entering a service gate.

"It is crucial to ICE's homeland security mission to know who enters sensitive areas like airports, military bases and power plants to ensure the integrity of these key assets," said Mark X. McGraw, Special Agent in Charge of ICE's Office of Investigations, Washington field office. "This operation illustrates ICE's ongoing efforts in partnership with federal and local agencies to secure the critical infrastructure within the National Capital Region."

ICE agents interviewed more than 200 individuals to verify their identities, immigration status, and eligibility for lawful employment in the U.S. Most of the individuals encountered worked on construction projects at the airport. Those detained are being interviewed, fingerprinted, photographed and entered into Department of Homeland Security databases at a local ICE office. Relatives and friends wishing to check on the custody status and detention location of those detained may call 1-866-341-3858, ICE's toll-free, 24-hour hotline.

Interviews can often generate critical law enforcement information that may lead to future investigations. There is no indication that any of the aliens were involved in any terrorist activity.

ICE agents prioritize enforcement efforts by focusing on the sites related to critical infrastructure and national security. The goal of CIP operations is to reduce the vulnerabilities at these facilities and other key assets to prevent potential attacks. Critical infrastructure has been defined as systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so crucial to the United States that the damage or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economy, public health or safety, and/or any combination of those matters.

Unauthorized workers employed at sensitive facilities such as airports, nuclear power plants, chemical plants, military bases, defense facilities and seaports, may compromise the integrity of these key assets. In FY 2008, ICE agents have made more than 700 administrative arrests and 100 criminal arrests at critical infrastructure facilities.

Transportation Security Administration and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority supported this operation.”

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0808/080813washington.htm

ICE arrests 57 illegal aliens employed by Asheville Department of Defense Contractor

ICE Press Release – August 12, 2008

“ASHEVILLE, NC - Fifty-seven illegal aliens working at Mills Manufacturing Corporation (MMC) were arrested here this morning by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents.

The arrests were based on an ICE critical infrastructure investigation that revealed that the illegal aliens had used fraudulent social security numbers to obtain employment. The company, located at 22 Mills Place, has been fully cooperative and is not a target of the ICE investigation.

MMC is a Department of Defense contractor responsible for the manufacturing of parachutes for the U.S. military. Illegal aliens employed at sensitive facilities -- such as military bases, nuclear plants, chemical plants, airports and Department of Defense contractors -- pose a homeland security threat.

ICE doesn't believe that those arrested today at MMC had any ill intent against the United States; however, their illegal status could have made them susceptible to blackmail by those with ill intent. Today, ICE has neutralized a potential vulnerability.

"Protecting the integrity of our nation's critical infrastructure is among ICE's highest priorities," said Delburt Richburg, assistant special agent-in-charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Charlotte. "When individuals use fraudulent social security numbers to get jobs, they hide their true identity and history. We need to know who is working on our critical infrastructure sites."

All of those arrested today were transferred to the Henderson County Sheriff's Office for immigration processing. All have been placed into removal proceedings for being in violation of U.S. immigration law.

At this point, no criminal charges have been presented against the illegal aliens; however, the investigation continues.

Those arrested today were interviewed by ICE agents to determine if they had medical, caregiver, or other humanitarian issues. ICE identified approximately 29 individuals who qualified for a humanitarian release. These individuals are still required to appear before a federal immigration judge who will ultimately determine whether or not they will be deported.

Among those arrested, were nationals of Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador and Honduras. ICE contacted local Consular officials, community groups and other to provide accurate information regarding today's operation.

Family members wanting information regarding those arrested today may contact ICE by dialing 704-679-6140.

ICE's worksite enforcement investigations are aimed at promoting national security and public safety, protecting critical infrastructure, and ensuring fair labor standards. As of July 2008, ICE has made more than 3,800 administrative arrests for immigration violations during worksite enforcement operations.”

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0808/080812asheville.htm

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority

“The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is governed by a 13-member Board of Directors with five members appointed by the Governor of Virginia, three by the Mayor of the District of Columbia, two by the Governor of Maryland and three by the President of the United States.

The Airports Authority operates a two-airport system that provides domestic and international air service for the mid-Atlantic region. The organization consists of more than 1,300 employees in a structure that includes central administration, airports management and operations, and police and fire departments.

The Airports Authority is not taxpayer-funded but is self-supporting, using aircraft landing fees, rents and revenues from concessions to fund operating expenses. The Dulles Development Program is funded by bonds issued by the Authority, Federal and State Airport Improvement Program funds, and Passenger Facility Charges.” - http://www.mwaa.com/about_the_authority/facts

Mills Manufacturing Corporation

“Mills Manufacturing Corporation is a prime defense contractor for the United States Government. All our parachutes are produced in strict accordance with current US Government design and drawings and comply with all quality and manufacturing specifications. We are an approved US Government manufacturer in accordance with General Specification for Parachutes, Personnel, MIL-DTL-6645J, August 3, 2001, and listed in the US Government Qualified Products List, QPL-6645-26, Amendment #1, August 8, 2006. We are also an ISO9001:2000 registered company.” - http://www.millsmanufacturing.com/

References

HOMELAND DEFENSE AND HOMELAND SECURITY - http://www.apsu.edu/oconnort/3430/3430lect02c.htm

The Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructures and Key Assets – The White House – U.S. President George Walker Bush – February 2003 - http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/Physical_Strategy.pdf

42 Workers Detained In ICE Raid At Dulles

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/13/AR2008081303649.html

Vigil Held for 42 Suspected Illegals Arrested in ICE Raid at Dulles Airport - http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0808/543909.html

ICE arrests 42 men at Dulles immigration raid - http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=8837236&nav=menu45_2

Immigration raid spurs fear, devastation - http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880812109

Raids a poor substitute for real immigration policy - http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880813087

Plant raid leaves immigrant workers with few legal options

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880813120

Immigration raid at parachute plant nets 57 http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/immigration_raid_at_parachute_plant_nets_57

Court raids put focus on companies suspected of hiring illegal immigrants

http://www.projo.com/news/content/immigration_raid_18_07-18-08_K3ATGON_v31.40389fd.html

In immigration cases, employers feel the pressure

http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080721/NEWS02/107766995/-1/NEWS04

Immigration, Outsourced - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/09/opinion/09wed1.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

 

LOS ANGELES, August 12, 2008 - The Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) based in the United States calls on the US-Arroyo Regime to stop its military offensives against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) armed forces in the Central Mindanao areas and resume peace talks now. According to media sources in the Philippines, more than 160,000 people have been affected by the fighting between the AFP and the MILF in six towns of central Mindanao. At least 60 AFP troops have been killed since the week-old fighting erupted. From the Newswire: STOP THE MILITARY OFFENSIVES, RESUME PEACE TALKS NOW! by AJLPP

Here’s an article I just got published on the Dominion News, with a few links added for people wanting more information. Mad as a Hatter Canada’s mercury pollution on Indigenous lands The Mad Hatter, in the children’s story Alice In Wonderland is suffering from mercury poisoning. Between 1971 and 1996, 17,671 Indigenous People were found to have dangerous levels of mercury in their blood. The first steps are being made towards a class action law suit against the federal government. If a thermometer breaks in a classroom, spilling mercury, most children are taught to stay away. “That’s all it takes to poison an entire body of water,” teachers will tell them. Many children also read Alice In Wonderland at school, and are familiar with the Mad Hatter. Few, however, know that the crazy character in the children’s story is suffering from “mad hatter’s syndrome,” or mercury poisoning. Even less likely to appear in schoolbooks is the fact that there are hundreds of sites in Canada contaminated with this highly toxic metal, many of them on Indigenous land. The Anishinabek of Grassy Narrows, Whitedog and Quibell In 1970 the government of Canada informed commercial fishermen and tourist-lodge owners along the English-Wabigoon River system in north western Ontario that the fish were testing for extremely high levels of mercury and that the rivers were poisoned. Soon after the announcement, the source of contamination was discovered: Dryden Chemicals Limited had been dumping its untreated mercury wastewater into the river. All told, the company released more than 20,000 pounds of mercury-contaminated wastewater between 1962 and 1970. Just ...

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