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Drumbeat |
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IEN Produces New Video on Toxics and Indigenous Peoples |
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AWARDS
• Best Public Service Film Award ! - American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco.
TRT 54:17,
Available in VHS, PAN and Beta SP or Digital Betacam Summary Many scientists and tribal people consider persistent toxic chemicals to be the greatest threat to the long-term survival of Indigenous Peoples. “Drumbeat for Mother Earth” explores how these chemicals contaminate the traditional food web, violate treaty rights, travel long distances, and are passed from one generation to the next during pregnancy causing cancer, learning disabilities, and other serious health problems. Indigenous Peoples’ connection to the Mother Earth places them on a collision course with these chemicals. Continued survival within a contaminated environment means making life and death decisions that could alter whole cultures, diets, ceremonies and future generations. Currently, the United Nations is negotiating a worldwide treaty on a group of 12 of these chemicals that includes PCBs, DDT, and dioxin. The UN involvement reflects the ability of these chemicals to travel long distances across international borders. Unfortunately, the official U.S. position does not support reduction or elimination of these compounds. Many tribal people consider this to be a continuation of the government’s genocidal history. The video features testimony from a variety of Indigenous Nations in the U.S., Central America, and the Arctic as well as interviews with scientists, activists, and the chemical industry.
Feb. 2, 2000 Drumbeat was awarded the Best Public Service Film Award at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco! The SF Fest is the world's oldest and most prestigious festival devoted to Indian Cinema. The award was presented in front of an audience of ~ 500 by the director of the Bay Area PBS station, KQED, and Sue Masten, Yurok Tribal Councilwoman and newly elected president of the National Congress of American Indians. I was accompanied by Cassie Meyers and Javier Kinney of the 7th Generation Fund. The ceremony was kind of like the ones you see on TV---complete with music performances, comedians, and egotistical actors and actresses presenting awards....My personal favorite was Joanne Shenandoah--a singer with an unearthly clear voice.. The film showed on Sunday to a full house at the Kabuki Theatre with a short film and another 1 hour documentary. The crowd was absolutely silent--until they saw Faith wrangling with the baby! The film got a few good rounds of applause and I think it was etched into a few minds..... Next up---the Chicago 1st Nations Fest this weekend.
On Eve of International Negotiations to Eliminate Toxic Pollutants, (Bemidji, MN) "Drumbeat for Mother Earth," a documentary produced by the Indigenous Environmental Network and Greenpeace has been awarded a top prize from the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. The film was recognized as Best Environmental Documentary. "This is a great honor for all of those who worked on the film," said co-producer Joe Di Gangi, a toxics campaigner with Greenpeace. "More important than the film's accolades is the recognition by audiences of the tremendous threat persistent organic pollutants or POPs are having on Native Americans across the country." Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are chemicals such as dioxin and PCBs that are highly toxic in very small quantities and remain in the environment for long periods of time. POPs are released into the environment through the production and incineration of chlorine-based chemicals. Food is the most common route of exposure. As illustrated in the film, POPs have become a silent plague on Native American communities whose lands and waters have become contaminated by these chemicals. Their traditions, diets and livelihoods are compromised by industry and the US government who have both failed to eliminate the poisons. Drumbeat's recognition comes just two weeks before US negotiators are set to travel to Bonn, Germany for another round of United Nations-sponsored talks to eliminate the production and use of POPs. The ability of POPs to travel long distances across national boundaries has resulted in the need for international cooperation. In response to the growing concern of Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples throughout the world, the German government, is planning a reception welcoming Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples. "Native members of our delegation from Tanana Village, Alaska, and a Yaqui ceremonial leader from Sonora, Mexico will join other Indigenous Peoples from Canada, the Arctic and other regions of the world in this reception," says Tom Goldtooth, national director of the Indigenous Environmental Network and co-producer of the film. "These toxic poisons are in the fetus of our pregnant women. Our communities have a right to know about these dangers and have a voice in these issues that effect our health," Goldtooth said. Still, the battle to ban these substances appears to be a war waged on our own soil. While the European Union (EU) and other nations around the world have demonstrated their commitment to eliminating POPs, the US is not yet on board. In a leaked memo to the EU, the US threatened to block negotiations if the Europeans would not join forces with the US to weaken the treaty. The US wants to delete the goal of elimination of POPs from the treaty text, in favor of management of POPs. Over 130 country delegates and non-governmental organizations from every continent will travel to Bonn, Germany during the week of March 20 to participate in the treaty negotiations. Non-governmental organizations will be participating as observers.
How POPs Threaten the Natural Environment & the Future of Indigenous Peoples |