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Anzac Wallace is Te Wheke in Geoff Murphy's Utu, a story of the search for justice in colonial New Zealand. |
Wellington, Aotearoa (New Zealand), July 28, 2005. The 2005 Indigenous Film & Arts Festival will open on October 6, 2005 with the screening of Geoff Murphy's 1983 film, Utu, the story of the search for justice during the New Zealand land wars..
The New Zealand land wars of 1845-72 were a series of conflicts pitting Maori against the British, colonials and their Maori allies. At the time of the wars, the Maori had lived in New Zealand for a thousand years. They were a tribal people organized around a well-developed belief system, a rich oral and artistic culture, and the principle of kinship, traced through whakapapa or descent. These wars were bitter and bloody struggles and relatively speaking, large in scale. Upwards of 18,000 British troops were mobilized for the larger campaigns. This force was opposed by no more than 60,000 Maori men, women, and children. The Maori resistance against such odds was remarkable and in one respect, Utu tells that story - one that superficially resembles the American cavalry and Indians movie. But the wars were also crucial in the development of race relations and identity in New Zealand and it is in this regard that Utu is best viewed.
Utu opens with an attack by colonial troops on an allied Maori village. No one - no woman nor or child - is spared, and the village is put to the torch. A small militia patrol guided by Te Wheke, a Maori warrior, comes across the massacre while flames still lick at the Maori's homes. The village is Te Wheke's and the victims are his family. The destruction of his village and his family is an epiphany for Te Wheke and he comes to realize that alliances between Maori and the British when the land is at stake are of lesser consequence than is the color of one's skin.. Seeking utu (retributive justice), he turns violently and effectively against his former allies. Banded together to hunt down Te Wheke are the bilingual and bicultural pakeha settler Williamson who also seeks utu after Te Wheke's attack on his homestead leads to his wife's death; Lt. Scott, a “colonial” fresh from the Boer Wars whose loyalties to the Crown and to New Zealand are not necessarily the same; Col. Eliot, the British army commander; and Wiremu, the Maori militia sergeant who while grounded in the past does what is necessary to bring about a future, not ideal for Maori, but under the circumstances, perhaps the best available to both Maori and pakeha.
The Lancet is publishing a series of commissioned Review articles on the health of indigenous people in sub-Saharan Africa, Australia and the Pacific (including New Zealand), Indian and south-east Asia, North American (Canada and the USA) and the Artic Region and South America. Personal accounts will accompany the reviews in the journal, and, an exciting innovation for the journal, additional testimonies - both written and audiovisual recordings - will be placed on the journal's website. The Lancet invites submissions or original research articles into the health of indigenous people around the world, which would be published concurrently with this series. The journal especially encourages work from the regions of the world to which it is unable to devote space in the series - in particular, China, North Africa, Russia, and the Middle East. Publication is slated for early 2006, and submissions should reach The Lancet by September 30, 2005. For more information contact Carolyn Stephens at carolyn.stephens@Ishtm.ac.uk
San Francisco. The South Pacific journeys to the North Pacific, in the spirit of cultural understanding. A dawn ceremony in San Francisco launches a series of ground breaking exhibitions that showcase the textiles, tattoos and modern expressions of Maori art.
A millennium ago, intrepid Polynesian explorers in ocean-going canoes braved the vast Pacific to see what lay beyond the horizon. Their remarkable navigational skills allowed them to record the course that brought them to Aotearoa, the country we now call New Zealand. Some stayed; the rest returned to their homeland to report the discovery of a new land.
Over several centuries, migratory canoes returned to Aotearoa with settlers from Polynesia. When Captain James Cook made his discovery of New Zealand in 1769, he deduced that the local inhabitants were called Maori. The word Maori originally meant natural, normal or local, but it has come to define a person who is a descendant of the indigenous tribes of Aotearoa.
Now another historic voyage will take a delegation of Maori across the Pacific, complete with a ceremonial waka (canoe). This time the destination is San Francisco. Accompanying these cultural ambassadors is Toi Maori: Art from the Maori People of New Zealand, an irreplaceable cultural legacy of textiles, tattoos and contemporary works.
Toi Maori will appear at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts from August 5 to 14. The event includes an exhibition, live demonstrations and special presentations. Attendees will see traditional and contemporary kakahu (Maori cloaks), kete (woven bags), flesh and blood displays of ta moko (body tattoos) and contemporary art works by Maori sculptors and artisans. Later in the year, Toi Maori will venture up the west coast for additional airings in Salem, Seattle and Warm Springs.
On August 4, to launch the event, representatives from California's native Ohlone tribe will greet the Maori artists in a special dawn ceremony at San Francisco's Maritime Park. The ceremonial waka (canoe) Te Ika a Maui will glide the Maori artists across San Francisco Bay to meet the Ohlone delegation.
A special feature of Toi Maori is the presence of the artists themselves. Some of New Zealand's most celebrated weavers, tattooists and contemporary artists are travelling with the exhibition. Their interaction with exhibition attendees is an essential element in the Toi Maori experience.
Toi Maori reflects the history and belief system of its makers. It shows how Maori follow an ancestral thread that leads into a world of creativity that has no end.
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| Jeanne Rubin and Tammy Mitnik at the Institute's workshop on NEPA and environmental justice. |
Denver, July 10, 2005. A long-time colleague, Ms. Tammy Mitnik, is the International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management's latest Associate. Tammy and Institute staff have worked on a wide range of U.S. Department of Defense projects in Indian country. Recently she has taught at the Institute's NEPA and other environmental protection workshops. At present, she is a Project Manager for SRS Technologies, an industry leader in supporting the Department of Defense including, Navy, Marine Corps, and OSD in the areas of military range and airspace planning, National Environmental Policy Act, environmental planning, range and environmental applications of Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies, analysis of encroachment and noise impacts on training, and public outreach support services.
Ms. Mitnik is a Certified Environmental Professional and a Registered Environmental Manager with 25 years of National Guard experience, ten of which have been exclusively devoted to the programming, management, and execution of National Environmental Policy Act and Environmental Baseline Survey Programs. She has been directly involved in supporting land acquisitions, land excise, lease renewal, airspace modification and acquisition, major construction efforts and aircraft conversions, implementation of Master Plans, land use management plans, facilities and infrastructure development for more than 100 National Guard units across the nation.
Ms. Mitnik is a retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with a Master of Business Administration Management and Bachelor of Science in Public Safety. Ms. Mitnik is a Certified Environmental Professional in Environmental Assessment (Certificate No. 04030340) and a Registered Environmental Manager (Certificate No. 11060). Her Air Force assignments included Environmental Planner, Disaster Preparedness Officer and Non-Commissioned Officer, and Mission Support First Sergeant. Ms. Mitnik currently resides in Colorado.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's public involvement web pages have been expanded to include new materials and links to useful information about tools and techniques in use all over the world. The site also includes a new feedback section with ready-to-use surveys for activities such as: hearings, meetings, listening sessions, Federal Advisory Committee Act groups, community advisory groups, small group discussions and stakeholder negotiations [http://www.epa.gov/publicinvolvement/feedback]. In addition, the Public Involvement Resources and Training (PIRT) database, previously on EPA's intranet, is now publicly available. Users can not only access the database, but can suggest additional resources, conferences and training, as well.
Wetlands, Invasive Species, Puerto Rico. The myrtaceous tree Melaleuca quinquenervia occurs naturally along Australia’s eastern coast from Sydney in New South Wales to the northern tip of Queensland, in New Guinea, and in New Caledonia. Australian habitats that support M. quinquenervia populations typically include low-lying coastal wetlands behind heath-dominated headlands, riparian zones and brackish estuaries behind mangrove swamps. Melaleuca quinquenervia has been internationally disseminated over the course of the last century for ornamental, revegetation, and agroforestry purposes. It was introduced in the continental United States to California, Texas, and Louisiana, but it was most widely planted in Florida where today, it is now present on 450,000 acres of south Florida.
Paul D. Pratt, Vicente Quevedo, Lourdes Bernier, Jose Sustache, and Ted D. Center sought to determine if M. quinquenervia has also invaded similar habitats on Puerto Rico. They found four naturalized populations of the exotic tree in environmentally sensitive Puerto Rican wetlands, including the Tortuguero Lagoon basin and San Juan Bay Estuary. However, unlike Florida, the rate of naturalization and the magnitude of invasion by M. quinquenervia is currently limited in Puerto Rico. The authors predict that timely implementation of appropriate control tactics at this early stage of invasion with adequate follow-up efforts and continued vigilance will greatly enhance the probability of averting a large scale M. quinquenervia invasion in Puerto Rico. To read their report, Invasions of Puerto Rican Wetlands by the Australian Tree Melaleuca quinquenervia, in the Caribbean Journal of Science, Vol. 41, No. 1, 42-54, 2005, published by the University of Puerto Rico, see http://www.caribjsci.org/april05/41_42-54.pdf.
BRAC. GAO recently released its report, GAO-05-785, Military Bases: Analysis of DOD’s 2005 Selection Process and Recommendations for Base Closures and Realignments. On May 13, 2005, the Secretary of Defense submitted proposed base realignment and closure (BRAC) actions to an independent commission for its review. The Commission must submit its recommendations to the President by September 8, 2005, for his acceptance or rejection in their entirety. Congress has final action to accept or reject these recommendations in their entirety later this year. The law requires that GAO issue a report on the Department of Defense’s recommendations and selection process by July 1, 2005. GAO’s objectives were to determine the extent to which DOD’s proposals achieved its stated BRAC goals, to analyze whether the process for developing recommendations was logical and reasoned, and to identify issues with the recommendations that may warrant further attention. Generally, GAO found DOD’s process for conducting its analysis was logical, reasoned, and well documented. To read the report, see http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05785.pdf.
BLM Desk Guide to Cooperating Agency Relationships. The Bureau of Land Management recently published its Desk Guide to Cooperating Agency Relationships 2005. The desk guide can be found at http://www.blm.gov/planning/cadg/desk_guide.htm. The desk guide is concerned only with implementing formal cooperating agency relationships in preparing resource management plans, BLM managers are encouraged to make partnering with tribal, state, and local governments standard practice at the BLM before, during, and after plans are prepared. The desk guide tracks BLM's regulations and the Council on Environmental Quality's policies (but not CEQ's regulations) regarding tribal eligibility for CA status. Although the CEQ regulations specify that a tribe is eligible “when the effects [of an undertaking] are on a reservation” (40 CFR 1508.5) its policies are more expansive. In contrast, the BLM regulations apply the same criteria for federal, state, local, and tribal government entities: jurisdiction by law or special expertise (43 CFR 1601.0-5(d)(2)). The broader BLM criteria will apply in the preparation of all Resource Management Plans and environmental impact statements related thereto. Further, the CEQ regulations permit the lead agency to invite other eligible agencies and governments to assume a cooperating agency role (40 CFR 1501.6 and 1508.5). The BLM planning regulations, in contrast, require managers to invite eligible agencies and governments to become cooperating agencies.
The desk guide emphasizes that "BLM managers and staff should acknowledge that the CA relationship requires new ways of doing business. Engaging with government partners as cooperating agencies is not another form of consultation or public involvement. Cooperating agencies expect and deserve to be given a significant role in shaping plans and environmental analyses—not merely commenting on them—commensurate with their available time and knowledge." The International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management believes that cooperating agency status is just one part of what should be a comprehensive tribal federal relations strategy based not only on the National Environmental Policy Act but also on trust and treaty obligations and a raft of Executive Orders.
ECOSOC International Land Coalition Final Report: Land and Conflict. Again in 2005, as in 2003 and 2004, the International Land Coalition has organized a Ministerial Roundtable on Land Issues during the High Level Segment of ECOSOC. In each year, the Land Coalition has organized these sessions with co-chairs from leading partners organisations.
The International Land Coalition is pleased to publish the Final Report of the Roundtable held at the United Nations in New York on June 30, 2005. The Land Coalition in consultation with a number of its civil society and intergovernmental members prepared an issues paper in order to stimulate the discussion. And, as in each prior session, the Land Coalition included a representative from its civil society membership to provide an example of the way in which the issues under debate are manifest in the lives of communities affected. The Amerindian Peoples Association from Guyana provided this input to the debate.
More information about prior year sessions can be found at www.landcoalition.org/program/advecosoc.htm.
Emerging Northwest Tribal Economies
July 15, 2005
Vashon, Washington
For information call: 800-574-4852
StormCon, The North American Surface Water Quality Conference & Exposition
This is the place to be to learn about technical, managerial, and technological solutions to stormwater management.
July 18-21, 2005
JW Marriott Grande Lakes
Orlando, Florida
See the conference program at www.StormCon.com.
10th Annual Conference on Genetics & Ethics in the 21st Century: Direct to Consumer Marketing of Genetic Services and Genetic Tests
The Given Institute of the University of Colorado
The focus of this year's conference is direct to consumer marketing of genetic services and genetic tests. This broadly-based conference targets health care professionals and physicians, researchers, businesses, ethicists, attorneys, ethics committee members, institutional review board members, and individuals interested in the impact of genetic medicine on personal and institutional action.
July 22-24, 2005
Aspen, Colorado
Information and registration at http://www.uchsc.edu/cbh/genetics/
UIDA Native American Small Business Conference & Trade Show
July 25-28, 2005
Walt Disney World Disney's Coronado Springs Resort
Lake Buena Vista, Florida
For more information call: 770-494-0431
4th Annual Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) Conference
July 31 – August 2, 2005
Cleveland State University
The Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs
Cleveland, Ohio
The PPGIS Conference will bring together participants with a rich diversity of experiences that include citizens and citizens groups, public officials, planners, technicians, librarians, policy scientists, and researchers. Presentation topics will range from urban neighborhoods to indigenous people, developing nations, environmental organizations, and virtual communities.
For program and registration information see http://www.urisa.org/PPGIS/2005/PPGISprogram.htm
3rd Annual Four Corners Procurement Fair
August 8-9, 2005
Best Western Inn & Suites
3009 W. Highway 66-I40 Exit 16
Gallup, New Mexico
For program and registration information see http://www.ncaied.org/pdf/NA4Corners%20Reg%20Form.pdf
White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation
August 29-31, 2005
St. Louis, Missouri
Conference Purpose: Strengthen Shared Governance and Citizen Stewardship
For program and registration information see http://www.conservation.ceq.gov/about.html
Mapping for Change: International Conference on Participatory Spatial Information Management and Communication
September 7-10, 2005
Nairobi, Kenya
The conference will bring together people with extensive practical experience in Participatory GIS (PGIS) and community mapping in Developing Countries and First Nations. The focus of the event will be on sharing experiences and defining good practices for making geographic information technologies and systems available to less-favored groups in society in order to enhance their capacity in generating, managing and communicating spatial information.
For more information on the conference and other relevant links please see http://pgis2005.cta.int
Community Health Assessment Conference
September 20-22, 2005
Renaissance Seattle Hotel, Seattle, WA
Sponsored by the CDC Assessment Initiative and the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems Leadership Institute to share information on innovative systems and methods that improve the way data is used to inform public health programs, services, and policy at the state and local level.
Register at http://www.psava.com/cha2005/register1.asp
SWANA's WasteCon 2005
September 27-29, 2005
Austin, Texas
For more information see: http://www.wastecon.org or call: 800-467-9262
Brownfields 2005 Conference
November 2-4, 2005
Colorado Convention Center
Denver, Colorado
Information and registration at http://www.brownfields2005.org/en/index.aspx
WM '06 (Call for Abstracts)
February 26-March 2, 2006
Tucson, Arizona
Abstract submission deadline: August 31, 2005
Information at http://www.wmsym.org under "Latest News."