Monday, Feb 23, 2009

Unkechaug Indian Nation and the Legal Battle with New York City

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Join your host Dr. J. Kehaulani Kauanui for an episode that focuses on a legal battle being fought by the Unkechaug Indian Nation as the tribe fends off attacks by the City of New York. City officials claim that the tribe has become a "tax evasion haven" and a drain on the city's coffers because it sells tax-free cigarettes at its Poospatuck Smoke Shop & Trading Post located on the Poospatuck Indian Reservation on Long Island, NY, which is part of the Sovereign Territory of the Unkechaug Indian Nation. The Bloomberg administration says the city and the state lose more than $1 billion a year in tax revenue because of what it calls bootleg cigarettes distributed on Indian reservations in New York. As part of their legal challenge, city lawyers have asked a federal judge to block the smoke shops from selling untaxed cigarettes to
non-Indians without collecting state and city taxes from them. The show will feature an interview with Harry B. Wallace, Chief of the Unkechaug Indian Nation, who is an attorney and member of the New York State bar. He give background on the legal battle, historical context for this form of economic development, and a status report on the case. Chief Wallace suggests that this is simply an attack on legitimate Indian livelihood that is an exercise of tribal sovereignty, and the result of elected officials feeling the economic downturn and blaming the budget crisis on the smallest reservation in the state. Original air-date: 2-24-09.

Posted by Indigenous Politics at 7:52 PM |   

Tuesday, Feb 17, 2009

Hawaiian Land Case at the US Supreme Court

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Join your host, Dr. J. Kehaulani Kauanui for a special edition of Indigenous Politics that will examine the Hawaiian land case that will go before the US Supreme Court on February 25, 2009. The Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Hawaii v. Office of Hawaiian Affairs, et al, since the state of Hawaii has asked the Court to rule on whether or not the state has the authority to sell, exchange, or transfer 1.2 million acres of land formerly held by the Hawaiian monarchy as Crown and Government Lands. This land base constitutes 29 percent of the total land area of what is now known as the State of Hawaii and almost all the land claimed by the State as "public lands." Prior to the state government's appeal to the Supreme Court, the Hawaii State Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the state should keep the land trust intact until Native Hawaiian claims to these lands are settled, and prohibited the state from selling or otherwise disposing of the properties to private parties; and did so based on the 1993 Apology Resolution, in which Congress acknowledged and apologized for the United States' role and affirmed, "the indigenous Hawaiian people never directly relinquished their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people or over their national lands to the United States, either through their monarchy or through a plebiscite or referendum." The guest on the show is Dr. Jonathan Kamakawiwo`ole Osorio, an original plaintiff in the case who sued the state to prevent the sale of these lands. He is now a defendant in the appeal to the Supreme Court and will speak to the complex issues raised by the case including the origins of the lawsuit, land title from a pro-Hawaiian independence position, the politics of the Apology Resolution, and the Hawaiian Nation's claim to these lands under international law. Osorio is an associate professor at the Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawai`i at Manoa, and author of Dismembering Lahui A History of the Hawaiian Nation to 1887. Original air date: 2-17-09.

Posted by Indigenous Politics at 11:43 AM |   

Friday, Feb 13, 2009

Crisis on the Schaghticoke Reservation

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Join your host, Dr. J. Kehaulani Kauanui for an episode focuses on a crisis on the Schaghticoke reservation in Kent, CT. A non-Indian male intruder who claims to be the spokesman of an un-enrolled Schaghticoke woman who says she is the chief of the Schaghticoke Indian Tribe is bull-dozing land to create road, cutting down trees, and even desecrating sacred sites. The reservation land is held in trust by the state Department of Environmental Protection. However, state officials and even state police have refused to stop the non-Native trespasser. Guests will discuss the course of events, and the barriers they face in trying to get the attention of state officials who claim their hands are tied because of a “leadership conflict.” Hear from: Katherine Saunders, Chair of the Preservation Committee for the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation; esteemed Schaghticoke elder, Trudie Lamb Richmond, Connecticut Native American Heritage Advisory Council, and the Preservation Committee for the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation; Nicholas F. Bellantoni, the state archaeologist with the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History and Archaeology Center at the University of Connecticut; and the Chief of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation, Richard Velky. Original air-date: 1-27-09.

Posted by Indigenous Politics at 1:36 PM |   

Friday, Feb 13, 2009

The International Indian Treaty Council

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Join your host, J. Kehaulani Kauanui for an interview with Andrea Carmen (Yacqui Indian Nation), Executive Director of the International Indian Treaty Council. The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) is an organization of Indigenous Peoples from North, Central, South America, the Caribbean and the Pacific working for the Sovereignty and Self Determination of Indigenous Peoples and the recognition and protection of Indigenous Rights, Treaties, Traditional Cultures and Sacred Lands. In 1977, the IITC became the first organization of Indigenous Peoples to be reorganized as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with Consultative Status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Andrea Carmen, will be speaking about the IITC's New Year's mission, objectives, and priorities for 2009 with a focus on implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Carmen has been a staff member of the IITC since 1983 and IITC's Executive Director since 1992. Beginning in June 2006 has served as the North America regional caucus co-coordinator, and as a member of the Global Indigenous Peoples Steering Committee for the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples representing the North American Region. Original air-date: 1-13-09

Posted by Indigenous Politics at 12:21 PM |   

Thursday, Feb 12, 2009

Constitutional Referendum in Bolivia and Its Implications for Indigenous Peoples

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Join your host, J. Kehaulani Kauanui for an episode That will focus on recent developments in Bolivia, where a national referendum held on January 25, 2009 passed after a long and contentious road in order advance a new constitution under the leadership of Bolivian President Evo Morales, the first Indian president of a South American country. On the show, we will hear from Dr. Victoria Bomberry (Muscogee) and Dr. José Antonio Lucero about the politics of the new constitution and its implications for the indigenous peoples of Bolivia, and the ongoing democratization project. Dr. Victoria Bomberry is an assistant professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Riverside where she teaches Native American Studies. She is the International Coordinator of Movimiento de Mujeres Originarios y Indigenas de Qollosuyu, Bolivia, and the Project Director of Abya Yala Women's Circle. Dr. José Antonio Lucero is an assistant professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle. He is the author of a new book, Struggles of Voice: The Politics of Indigenous Representation in the Andes (University of Pittsburgh Press). Original-air-date 2-10-09.

Posted by Indigenous Politics at 11:58 AM |