Texas spies ponder the Mohawks: The Stratfor files

Mohawks with Marcos on Yaqui land,  northern Mexico
Censored News photo

The Stratfor files: Texas spies ponder the Mohawks, expose Tohono O’odham fusion center and call Cochabamba conference ‘trippy'

By Brenda Norrell

Indigenous Resistance

President Evo Morales Cochabamba 2010
Photo Brenda Norrell

Wikileaks exposed the Stratfor intelligence files in Texas two years ago. Many of the facts about spying on Native Americans, however, have remained hidden away in the five million e-mails, until now.
The Mohawks were of particular interest to the Texas based spies, just as they were to the US State Department, as revealed in the diplomatic cables. 

Stratfor spies pondered what the Mohawks might do to oil companies. There’s a discussion of Mohawks at Oka, blockades in Manitoba and the Cree.

Stratfor analyst asks, “Any links on their behalf to other Native American radicals like Free Leonard Peltier crowd of Wounded Knee fame?”

Cochabamba

When Bolivia President Evo Morales hosted the Conference for Climate Change and the Protection of Mother Earth in Cochabamba in 2010, Stratfor spies were watching. Stratfor referred to the statement for the protection of Mother Earth as "anti-capitalist" and called it, “trippy.”
Stratfor also sent big oil executives at ExxonMobil an e-mail discussion about the Cochabamba climate summit, centered on speakers and impacts.
Although the Stratfor spy wished for abject failure of the conference, it proved otherwise, bringing together Indigenous Peoples from around the world who composed a guide, chartering the course for future generations in the Protection of Mother Earth.

Danny Glover with Govinda/Earthcycles and friends
at end of Long Walk 2. Photo Brenda Norrell

Actor Danny Glover's attendance in Cochabamba is pointed out in the Stratfor file to big oil. In fact, Glover is someone the US spends a lot of time watching, according to Wikileaks exposures. The US is concerned over Glover's support for Indigenous Peoples.

Tohono O'odham fusion center

Meanwhile in the Stratfor files, there is also an alarming description of how the Tohono O’odham Nation became a fusion center of Homeland Security. It was the first Indian Nation to be a “fusion center," and share data with all US law enforcement agencies.

In the Stratfor files, there are also details on an El Paso, Texas restaurant near the Interstate that was running guns to Mexico and other details of the United States ATF running guns to the cartels in operations Gunrunner and Fast and Furious.
In the Stratfor files, there’s also an article detailing how US Border Patrol agents steal, take bribes and run drugs.

As for those fusion centers, the extent those have been used for illegal spying and wiretapping, while violating O’odham rights, is still unknown.

Even Tohono O’odham Chairman Ned Norris saw the potential for abuse. Chairman Norris told a Congressional committee in 2009, “I support fusion centers but I emphasize that we must ensure that all of  our citizens' privacy, legal rights, civil liberties, and information privacy are protected. This is particularly critical in Indian Country.”

Norris pointed out that tribal members have a separate set of civil rights, the Indian Civil Rights Act (1968 25 USC 1301-03.) “Fusion center architects must be made aware of the ICRA and it application,” he said.

Whether those words made any difference is not known.
Homeland Security said in 2009, that it met with other Indian Nations regarding fusion centers, and sharing data on tribal members. "Department officials also have met individually with senior representatives of the Navajo Nation, Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Communication, and the Chickasaw Nation, among others." https://www.dhs.gov/news/2009/04/01/riegle-testimony-future-fusion-centers-potential-promise-and-dangers

US Border Patrol's spy cameras pointed at traditional O'odham home 
on Tohono O'odham Nation. Censored News photo.

Marcos 'sexy novel'

Meanwhile, there’s a reference to the Zapatistas Marcos’ “sexy novel" in the Stratfor files.

“Man in the mask returns to change world with new coalition and his own sexy novel.”

As for the Stratfor files, Wikileaks said, “The emails show Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods."

In the Stratfor files, as in the US State Department cables, the condescending tone and arrogance is obvious.

Operation Chaos targeted American Indian Movement

The Stratfor files and US diplomatic cables are just two of Wikileaks vast exposures.

In 1967 President Johnson created Operation Chaos to spy on the American Indian Movement, Black Panthers, student movements and anti-war movements. 

The CIA operation gathered documents on 7,200 US citizens, tracking their contacts with so-called 'dissidents' in other countries.
There is only one mention of Operation Chaos spying on the American Indian Movement in Wikileaks, and the document is not available online. However, other documents on the Internet reveal the purpose of Operation Chaos, a highly classified, secret intelligence project of the CIA. 
The agents were segregated from other CIA agents and the first targets were the Peace Movements and African American movements. Then, the American Indian Movement and occupiers of Wounded Knee were targeted. The report below reveals how the CIA exceeded its authority with domestic spying of Operation Chaos in the 60s and 70s.

 

http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/rockcomm/pdf/RockComm_Chap11_CHAOS.pdf 

.

 

 

American Indians involved in the anti-war movement were targeted.
During an interview at Dine' College, Buffy Sainte Marie said President Johnson put her out of the music business because of her stance against the Vietnam war and song, 'Universal Soldier. 'http://bsnorrell.tripod.com/id99.html
The US cables reveal that the State Department was focused on spying on Russell Means.
The US State Department took notice and sent out a cable when Russell Means, Lakota, said a delegation to Eastern Europe planned to "ram the human rights issue down President Carter's throat." https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1977STATE226024_c.html
Means promised to expose the genocide of American Indians in Europe and seek support for the ongoing "foreign occupation" in the US. The US was also concerned that the delegation to Europe in 1977 would use "Iroquois passports," according to the US spy cable.
One document in Wikileaks shows that after Wounded Knee, the American Indian Movement was planning an Indian Treaty Convention near Mobridge, South Dakota, in 1974. The US was concerned that Bolivia and Mexico would attend. "The USG (United States government) would regard official participation in this event by any foreign government as inappropriate." The US continued to try and find out who was coming. https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974STATE101850_b.html 

The US State Department was monitoring Russell Means, as shown below.
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1977STATE237305_c.html 

 

The American Indian Movement's relationship with Libya also created alarm and accusations in the US State Department, as revealed in the cables.
Earlier, in 1973, the Six Nations Iroquois Confederation engaged the UN and responded to the request from Wounded Knee to serve as peace mediators during the Wounded Knee occupation. 
These words ring true today as the mainstream media presents a biased version of the real story in Palestine.

 

In January of 1974, the US State Department became alarmed when Soviet journalists were planning to travel to Minneapolis. The US tracked them to see if they were there to cover the trial of those who occupied Wounded Knee. Once again, the US feared the American Indian Movement's ability to gain global support and contacts. The US also tracked unfavorable news coverage on Indian and human rights issues published in other countries. https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974STATE012511_b.html 

                                                                               

One Wikileaks document is from Geneva in 1977, the statement on Discrimination and Indigenous Rights, which also refers to the sterilization of women without consent. The cables also show that the US tracked comments of Russell Means regarding the sterilization of Indian women in the US without their consent.

                                                                               ***

For permission to repost this article contact brendanorrell@gmail.com

Copyright Brenda Norrell

Read more in the e-mails:

Stratfor ponders the Mohawks

https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/51/5110382_re-discussion-pipeline-bombing-in-canada-.html

Big oil notified of Cochabamba conference on climate and protection of Mother Earth

https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/38/386912_fwd-hansen-mckibben-to-speak-at-bolivia-climate-conference-.html

There’s talk of Marcos “sexy novel” https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1977GENEVA08202_c.html
Gunrunner and Fast and Furious

https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/16/1697261_mx1-on-guns-long-.html

Corrupt Border Patrol agents

https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/39/3985574_-ct-border-corruption-cases-grow-.html
Document: From Geneva, the 1977 statement on Discrimination and Indigenous Rights, which also refers to the sterilization of women without consent:

https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1977GENEVA08202_c.html

Tohono O'odham: The following was published in Fusion Centers success stories 2010: Fusion Center Support to Tribal Partners:

The partnership between the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center (ACTIC) and the Tohono O'odham Nation marks the first formalized relationship between a Tribal government and a fusion center.  DHS sponsored a personnel exchange that allowed a representative of the Tohono O’odham Nation to visit the ACTIC for a week in November 2009 to work side by side with fusion center colleagues, understand ACTIC lessons learned, and share best practices. DHS plans to deploy a Technical Assistance team of subject matter experts to support the Tohono O’odham Nation to develop a Concept of Operations related to tribal participation with fusion centers in coming months.  Given the Tohono O’odham Nation’s location along 65 miles of the Southwest border, this is a key information-sharing relationship for both the ACTIC and the Department.

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Below, as it appears in the Stratfor file:

https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/39/398271_re-climate-cochabamba-indigenous-people-s-declaration-.html

WORLD PEOPLESa** CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE

RIGHTS OF MOTHER EARTH

INDEGENOUS PEOPLESa** DECLARATION

Mother Earth can live without us, but we cana**t live without her.

We, the Indigenous Peoples, nations and organizations from all over the

world, gathered at the World Peoplesa** Conference on Climate Change and

the Rights of Mother Earth, from April 19th to 22nd, 2010 in Tiquipaya,

Cochabamba, Bolivia, after extensive discussions, express the following:

We Indigenous Peoples are sons and daughters of Mother Earth, or

a**Pachamamaa** in Quechua. Mother Earth is a living being in the universe

that concentrates energy and life, while giving shelter and life to all

without asking anything in return, she is the past, present and future;

this is our relationship with Mother Earth. We have lived in coexistence

with her for thousands of years, with our wisdom and cosmic spirituality

linked to nature. However, the economic models promoted and forced by

industrialized countries that promote exploitation and wealth accumulation

have radically transformed our relationship with Mother Earth. We must

assert that climate change is one of the consequences of this irrational

logic of life that we must change.

The aggression towards Mother Earth and the repeated assaults and

violations against our soils, air, forests, rivers, lakes, biodiversity,

and the cosmos are assaults against us. Before, we used to ask for

permission for everything. Now, coming from developed countries, it is

presumed that Mother Earth must ask us for permission. Our territories are

not respected, particularly those of peoples in voluntary isolation or

initial contact, and we suffer the most terrible aggression since

colonization only to facilitate the entry of markets and extractive

industries.

We recognize that Indigenous Peoples and the rest of the world live in a

general age of crises: environmental, energy, food, financial, ethical,

among others, as a consequence of policies and attitudes from racist and

exclusionary states.

We want to convey that at the Copenhagen Climate Conference, the peoples

of the world demanded fair treatment, but were repressed. Meanwhile the

states responsible for the climate crisis were able to weaken even more

any possible outcome of negotiations and evade signing onto any binding

agreement. They limited themselves to simply supporting the Copenhagen

Accord, an accord that proposes unacceptable and insufficient goals as far

as climate change action and financing to the most affected countries and

peoples.

We affirm that international negotiation spaces have systematically

excluded the participation of Indigenous Peoples. As a result, we as

Indigenous Peoples are making ourselves visible in these spaces, because

as Mother Earth has been hurt and plundered, with negative activities

taking place on our lands, territories and natural resources, we have also

been hurt. This is why as Indigenous Peoples we will not keep silent, but

instead we propose to mobilize all our peoples to arrive at COP16 in

Mexico and other spaces well prepared and united to defend our proposals,

particularly the a**living wella** and plurinational state proposals. We,

Indigenous Peoples, do not want to live a**bettera**, but instead we

believe that everyone must live well. This is a proposal to achieve

balance and start to construct a new society.

The search for common objectives, as history shows us, will only be

completed with the union of Indigenous Peoples of the World. The

ancestral and indigenous roots shared by the whole world must be one of

the bonds that unite us to achieve one unique objective.

Therefore we propose, require and demand:

1. The recovery, revalidation and strengthening of our civilizations,

identities, cultures and cosmovisions based on ancient and ancestral

Indigenous knowledge and wisdom for the construction of alternative ways

of life to the current "development model", as a way to confront climate

change.

2. To rescue and strengthen the Indigenous proposal of a**living wella**,

while also recognizing Mother Earth as a living being with whom we have an

indivisible and interdependent relationship, based on principles and

mechanisms that assure the respect, harmony, and balance between people

and nature, and supporting a society based on social and environmental

justice, which sees life as its purpose. All this must be done to confront

the plundering capitalist model and guarantee the protection of life as a

whole, through the search for inclusive global agreements.

3. We demand States to recognize, respect and guarantee the application of

international standards of human rights and Indigenous Peoplesa** rights

(i.e., The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, ILO

Convention 169) in the framework of negotiations, policies, and measures

to confront climate change.

4. We demand States to legally recognize the preexistence of our right to

the lands, territories, and natural resources that we have traditionally

held as Indigenous Peoples and Nations, as well as restitution and

restoration of natural goods, water, forests and jungles, lakes, oceans,

sacred places, lands, and territories that have been dispossessed and

seized. This is needed to strengthen and make possible

our traditional way of living while contributing effectively to climate

change solutions. Inasmuch, we call for the consolidation of indigenous

territories in exercise of our self-determination and autonomy, in

conformity with systems of rules and regulations. At the same time we

demand that states respect the territorial rights of Indigenous Peoples in

voluntary isolation or in initial contact, as an effective way to preserve

their integrity and combat the adverse effects of climate change towards

those peoples.

5. We call on States not to promote commercial monoculture practices, nor

to introduce or promote genetically-modified and exotic crops, because

according to our peoplea**s wisdom, these species aggravate the

degradation of jungles, forests and soils, contributing to the increase in

global warming. Likewise, megaprojects under the search for alternative

energy sources that affect Indigenous Peoplesa**

lands, territories, and natural habitats should not be implemented,

including nuclear, bio-engineering, hydroelectric, wind-power and others.

6. We demand changes to forestry and environmental laws, as well as the

application of pertinent international instruments to effectively protect

forests and jungles, as well as their biological and cultural diversity,

guaranteeing Indigenous Peoplesa** rights, including their participation

and their Free, Prior, and Informed Consent.

7. We propose that, in the framework of climate change mitigation and

adaptation measures, states establish a policy that Protected Natural

Areas must be managed, administered and controlled directly by Indigenous

Peoples, taking into account the demonstrated traditional experience and

knowledge towards the sustainable management of the biodiversity in our

forests and jungles.

8. We demand a review, or if the case warrants, a moratorium, to every

polluting activity that affects Mother Earth, and the withdrawal of

multinational corporations and megaprojects from Indigenous territories.

9. We urge that states recognize water as a fundamental human right,

avoiding its privatization and commodification.

10. We demand the application of consultations, participation, and the

Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Indigenous Peoples and affected

populations in the design and implementation of climate change adaptation

and mitigation measures and any other intervening actions on Indigenous

territories.

11. States must promote mechanisms to guarantee that funding for climate

change action arrives directly and effectively to Indigenous Peoples, as

part of the compensation for the historical and ecological debt owed. This

funding must support and strengthen our own visions and cosmovisions

towards a**living wella**.

12. We call for the recovery, revalidation and strengthening of Indigenous

Peoplesa** technologies and knowledge, and for their incorporation into

the research, design and implementation of climate change policies. This

should compliment Western knowledge and technology, ensuring that

technology transfer processes do not weaken indigenous knowledge and

technologies.

13. We propose the recovery, development and diffusion of indigenous

knowledge and technology through the implementation of educational

policies and programs, including the modification and incorporation of

such knowledge and ancestral wisdom in curricula and teaching methods.

14. We urge States and international bodies that are making decisions

about climate change, especially the UNFCCC, to establish formal

structures and mechanisms that include the full and effective

participation of Indigenous Peoples. They must also include local

communities and vulnerable groups, including women, without

discrimination, as a key element to obtain a fair and equitable result

from climate

change negotiations.

15. We join in the demand to create a Climate Justice Tribunal that would

be able to pass judgement and establish penalties for non-compliance of

agreements, and other environmental crimes by developed countries, which

are primarily responsible for climate change. This institution must

consider the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples, and

their principles of justice.

16. We propose the organization and coordination of Indigenous Peoples

worldwide, through our local, national, regional, and international

governments, organizations, and other mechanisms of legitimate

representation, in order to participate in all climate change related

processes. With that in mind, we call for an organizational space to be

created that will contribute to the global search for effective solutions

to climate change, with the special participation of Elders.

17. We propose to fight in all spaces available to defend life and Mother

Earth, particularly in COP16, and so we propose a 2nd Peoplesa**

Conference to strengthen the process of reflection and action.

18. The ratification of the global campaign to organize the World March in

defense of Mother Earth and her peoples, against the commodification of

life, pollution, and the criminalization of Indigenous and social

movements.

Created in unity in Tiquipaya, Cochabamba, Bolivia, the 21st day of April,

2010.