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Today's
Stories
December
2, 2004
Saul
Landau
The Assassination of Danilo Anderson
December
1, 2004
Phillip
Cryan
Associated with Whom? Rightist Bias
in Wire Coverage of Colombia
Dave
Zirin
What's the Matter with "Leon"?:
Budweiser's Racist Commercial
Ghali
Hassan
Iraq's Health Care Under the Occupation:
200 Children Die Every Day
Donna
J. Volatile
Beware Western Nations Threatening "Democracy"
Patrick
Cockburn
How Saddam Tried to Arm the Insurgency
Nick
Meo
Chemical War Over Afghanistan
Mike
Ferner
The Battle of Toledo
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Shame and Determination on Global AIDS Day: 40 Million and Rising
Kathy
Kelly
Looking the Other Way: the Real Crimes
of the UN in Iraq
November
30, 2004
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Veil of Secrecy
Toni
Nelson Herrera
Meeting Kurtz: When Art is a Crime
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bush Delusions: Successful at Incompetence
Patrick
Cockburn
The Insurgency Strikes Back: There Are No Safe Havens in Iraq
Chuck
Munson
WTO Protests Five Years Later: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization
Movement
Adam
Williams
Citizenship Sold: Back to Business in Indiana
Gregory
Elich
A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for
North Korea
Website
of the Day
Read Lynne Cheney's Lesbian Novel Online!
November
29, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of
the CIA?
Omar
Barghouti
"The Pianist" of Palestine:
Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint
Mike
Whitney
The US Media and Fallujah: How to
Market a Siege
Uri
Avnery
The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me
Some Credit!"
Matt
Vidal
Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers
Patrick
Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign
Minister
Alan
Farago
Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters
Justin
Huggler
Bhopal 20 Years Later
Antony
Loewenstein
How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy
Gary
Leupp
Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real
Issue
Website
of the Day
Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone
November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
November
26, 2004
Peter
Feng
Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine?
Greg
Moses
It's the White Vote, Stupid
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry
of Immigration
Dave
Lindorff
Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the
Way
Gary
Corseri
When Black Friday Comes...
Paul
Craig Roberts
Whatever Happened to Conservatives?
Website
of the Day
Iraq Pipeline Watch
November
25, 2004
Willliam
Loren Katz
Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks
to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today"
Mitchel
Cohen
Why I Hate Thanksgiving
Mike
Ferner
An Uncommon Mom
November
24, 2004
Gila
Svirsky
License to Kill: the Example of Violence
is Set by the State
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The
Other Mess in Congress
Christopher
Brauchli
The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
Dave
Lindorff
Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
Ron
Jacobs
The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
Ken
Sengupta
Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
Diana
Barahona
The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader
John
L. Hess
Safire the Shameless
Jason
Leopold
Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear
War
Map
of the Day
Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860
November
23, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
Bush and Uribe at the Beach
November
22, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage
in Detroit
Paul
Craig Roberts
On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again?
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
Kathie
Helmkamp
Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
Ken
Sengupta
The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place
in Iraq"
Mike
Whitney
Greenspan's Hammer
Roger
Burbach
Why They Hate Bush in Chile
Website
of the Day
Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?
November
20 / 21, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Poisoned Chalice
Todd
May
Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear
Abbas
Ahmed Ibrahim
The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account
Kevin
Zeese
Mishandling Nader
Landau
/ Hassen
After Arafat
Tom
Barry
The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley
Fred
Gardner
Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd
Justin
E.H. Smith
Triumph of the Will: the Sequel
Carl
Estabrook
Where We Are Now
Gary
Leupp
Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue
Dave
Lindorff
Apocalypse Soon
Jenna
Michelle Liut
Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower
and Lives
Mickey
Z.
The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William
Blum
Greg
Moses
The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America
Sharon
Smith
Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now?
Ron
Jacobs
Sandwiches and Car Bombs
Ben
Tripp
Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days
Richard
Oxman
Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules!
Gilad
Atzmon
Politics and Jazz
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon.
Website
of the Day
Voice of the Forest
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
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December 2, 2004
Sunrise on
Alcatraz
The
Bay Area Mall on the Ohlone Burial Grounds
By
NATE COLLINS
I recently read Blues
City: A Walk in Oakland by local resident Ishmael Reed. Reed
essentially runs down the local history here in the Eastbay from
the genocidal insanity of early settlers to the outright land
thievery of the first Mayor of Oakland to the concerted resistance
of the Panthers as he takes the reader through various parts
of this unique city. Reed gives good recognition throughout his
book to the people who seem to have be ignored by everyone else,
namely the brown and the black. At one point he mentions Shellmound
in Emeryville along the SF Bay where ancient Ohlone burial grounds
were bulldozed quite recently to build the hyperhip superchic
consumer paradise Bay Street Mall. Overall Ishmael Reed reminded
me of the reality of the indigenous history on the land that
I presently reside on. I am like a young warrior sprung into
action as the land I walk on has suddenly come to life.
I attended the Alcatraz Sunrise
Ceremony last Thursday and there was massive solidarity for indigenous
sovereignty and most notably this year a voice for white reconciliation
with indigenous peoples. An Irish fellow with IRA ties was invited
to speak in solidarity with American Indians and he spoke of
Ireland being the first colony of the British before even America.
He then gave an apology to indigenous peoples for the conduct
of the Irish throughout history, as many of us have traveled
to the "New World" and become all too complicit in
armies and armed groups and have acted in murderous, racist and
genocidal ways (now we simply join and serve the racist institutions
like many of the rest of Americas most fortunate immigrants and
we think it is all good).
We give ourselves credit for
hard work and we hardly ever recognize the criminal actions that
are a foundation for our success. We as Irish people and as "white"
people have decimated the indigenous population of this land
and enslaved and murdered millions of Africans, really all the
way up to this day with all of our wars and institutions. The
Irish in particular helped to introduce and reinforce racist
caste thinking on the West coast, because they were stepped on
in the East and they knew that they could set themselves up above
the black and brown in the West. I take responsibility as an
Irish-American to work against these past actions and strive
toward racial reconciliation, justice and the destruction of
the caste system and thinking. We should be prepared to convince
our our fellow citizens, Irish, white, whatever to express regret
for our actions toward indigenous peoples(and others) and then
take progressive action toward justice and reconciliation. We
must repent for war and genocide that has accursed our nation
since the very first days of violence, and to lead the way for
reconciliation of nations and cooperation in the effort to rectify
the deeds of this nation. That is probably the only way to alter
the current course of events which is an eerie repeat of 30 year
old history, an eerie repeat of 60 year old history, an eerie
repeat of 90 year old history, an eerie repeat of our entire
history which is plainly a curse that we never shall escape until
we deal with this history in a profound way.
The particulars of the present
struggle are this. Indigenous peoples have demanded a return
of the remains of over 14,000 Ohlone indigenous peoples held
in lockers at the University of California at Berkeley to be
returned to indigenous authorities to receive proper ceremonial
burial and rest. People whose remains were dug up from Shellmound
must be returned and everyone in the Bay Area should boycott
the Bay Street Mall in Emeryville.
I was out there from noon to
3pm on Friday informing shoppers who passed the small Ohlone
memorial that the mall was in fact built on a Native American
sacred burial ground and that they should reconsider shopping
at the mall at all. The demo was all of a dozen people at its
height. There were a few people at each of the three entrances
to the Mall with signs like THIS MALL IS BUILT OVER A SACRED
INDIAN BURIAL GROUND and I myself was posted at the middle entrance
next to the faux memorial with a bunch of kids. To add insult
to injury the streets at that intersection are disgustingly named
Shellmound and Ohlone Way. The only thing worse than genocide
is probably following it up with fake concerns and more oppression.
The greatest hypocrisy is that
in this "progressive" Bay Area we are actually continuing
to practice outright disrespect for indigenous peoples as we
are currently digging up their remains with disrespect and impunity
on Treasure Island to complete the new span of the Bay Bridge.
The corporate interest, who
have also apparently erected this Ohlone memorial as a false
disneylike representation of the original burial mound which
is half stolen (by UC Berkeley) half buried under the concrete
of the Mall, felt so threatened by less than a dozen women, kids
and a few men at one point called the police and they all showed
up and surrounded me and asked me if I was in charge. I said
that I just showed up today to participate and I donít
know of any leaders, and they told me to make sure that no one
left any flyers on windshields, and no one stepped into the street
to pass out flyers and no one left the stretch of sidewalk where
we stood to educate shoppers, and that no one entered the mall
or came too close to the stores.
The rent-a-cop for the Corporate
Mall property then attempted to deem the area of the Ohlone exhibit
as off limits to our demonstration and leafletting. This one
set off my righteousness meter and I proceeded to give this rentacop
a verbal lashing in full public display, with three real cops
watching on from 15 feet(and later giving me the smirk), with
the calm intellectual tone and wit of rational intellectual authority
about the implicit right to educate shoppers who passed by or
through the Ohlone memorial and the ridiculous attempt of anyone
to subvert this clearly logical right to advocate for the Ohlone
people at their very memorial that had been erected by the Mall
itself. The rentacop gave me a business card identifying himself
as Tyrone K. Wah director of public safety IPC International
Corporation which is based outside of Chicago,IL and I asked
if I could quote him that we were not allowed to leaflet, educate
the public or demonstrate on the grounds of the Ohlone memorial.
He quickly retracted his arbitrary attempt to restrict us to
one strip of sidewalk (we won that battle of wits), but the real
police duly informed me of a recent law that states that we must
gain permission from the corporation to demonstrate and then
we will be given a "designated area" (apparently we
will be legislated right out of our rights in this country).
There were a few older Indian
women sitting in chairs in the background and some brothers seated
and drumming and I was pretty much solo standing tall on the
corner with a sign reading SACRED LAND surrounded by five or
six kids handing out 4x6 flyers to cars and pedestrians about
the sacred site asking people to recognize the indigenous history
and boycott the mall. They handed the flyers and I used my utmost
skills in public relations to tell one person after another,
"We are reminding people that this Bay St. Mall was in fact
built on an ancient Native American burial ground, and that out
of respect we ask you not to shop here."
Many people were visibly troubled
in their conscience. Other people atleast showed some respect.
This made the entire day worthwhile. I think that many citizens
are generally responsive to indigenous issues and they just need
to be reached in an intelligent way. There is something beautiful
about seeing people consider these deep issues, and speaking
something simple and beautiful that tries their souls, out on
the sidewalk as they enter the mall for the biggest shopping
day of the year and have pause. I have though about leaving this
country, long before Bush the 2nd ever stepped into office for
a first or second term, because I have felt like such an alien.
After connecting with my brothers Running Wolf, Tashi and Zakariyya
at Alcatraz I remember that sacred connection to the land that
inspires our struggle. We should all feel the power of indigenous
people in the struggle for justice. Our history and our society
is so ripe with contradictions and fissures that we should all
be relentlessly pounding on these weak points, and building solidarity
between black, brown and white.
Four directions. All nations.
Full circle.
Nate Collins lives in Berkeley. He can be reached
at: redshank@sbcglobal.net
Weekend Edition
Features for November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
|