INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK11TH ANNUAL
PROTECTING MOTHER EARTH CONFERENCE Report on the Water Segments of the Conference "Reclaiming
Our Sacred Water: Purification, Healing and Re-Affirming BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS As we celebrate the arrival of summer Casa de Colores, a project of the Center for The Study of the Gift Economy, is proud to be hosting the 11th Annual Indigenous Environmental Network gathering. As we unite on the banks of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo we are reminded that the Creator has provided us through nature and our Mother Earth all that could be necessary to lead productive and healthy lives. The traditions and customs of our ancestors are based on a love and respect for all creation. In modern western society, the Earth is viewed as the planet on which we live, a natural resource and not as our Mother, who feels and nourishes us on a daily basis. It is with these teachings that are rooted deep within us as Native Peoples that we invite you to Casa De Colores and the Sabal Palm Wildlife Sanctuary. We would like to thank IEN for choosing Casa De Colores as this years host site. We would also like to thank all of our families and friends, our youth group - Esperanza Unida, Grupo Coatlicue and the Tradicion Mexica - Mexico Tenochtitlan. TLAZOCAMATI!
Background Following the 1999 10th Annual Protecting Mother Earth conference held at Mt. Taylor, New Mexico, a small group of Indigenous Peoples from the southernmost tip of Texas and at the outlet of the Rio Grande river approached the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) with a request that they be host for the following year 2000 gathering. The national council (board of directors) of IEN approved this request. Casa De Colores Casa De Colores is a non-profit Indigenous-managed educational, ceremonial and resource center on Indigenous traditional knowledge. The group manages a community development project on the property. On the property is a very large house that was once a sugar cane plantation. There are several garden areas located on the property as well as houses and other dwellings. The center is on 35 acres of land next door to Sabal Palm Wildlife Sanctuary. Casa De Colores is located on the banks of the Rio Grande in an area rich in biodiversity and Indigenous history. Case De Colores is also located next to the political borders of the United States and Mexico. Casa De Colores is located at the boundary of the city of Brownsville, Texas and right across the river from Matamoros, a city on the Mexico side of the border. In addition to the land meeting the site criteria established by IEN (see attached Criteria List and the Site Report), IEN recognized this site for the conference because of the following issue related reasons:
Casa De Colores and the region around the Rio Grande water basin and the U.S. - Mexico border exemplify environmental and economic injustices endured by the Indigenous Peoples of Texas and Mexico. Latino/Latina people are also affected. The Rio Grande Valley is especially impacted due to the limited economic opportunities afforded to people of tradition, despite the growing tourism industry that has flourished in the area. Conference Theme and Issue Priorities As host, Casa De Colores chose the theme of this years conference. The people at Casa De Colores recognized that water was the main source of life for their people. They felt the water in their homeland was being contaminated from agricultural chemicals, development and globalization (trade). Casa De Colores choose the theme, "Reclaiming Our Sacred Water: Purification, Healing and Activism." In recognition of this theme, IEN started to look at the broad issues related to water quality and water quantity, as well as Indigenous water rights issues. However, Indigenous water rights are a complex issue on the U.S. side of the border, often in litigation with states and federal governments. On the Mexico side of the border, Indigenous land (and water) rights are not as clearly defined resulting in Indigenous Peoples of Mexico with no forum to seek redress on these issues. Conference Participation The conference registration staff recorded 732 persons in attendance during the whole four days of the conference. This included children. Approximately 60 of these were people from Mexico. Most participants were from the west, central and southwestern parts of the United States. There were less conference participants this year. Suspected reasons for this may be contributed to factors of long driving distance to the conference site, reports of humidity and heat and many tribes of the U.S. and Canada not familiar with Indigenous peoples of the Brownsville, Texas and Mexico area. Approximately 80% of the conference participants were Indigenous. An example of Indigenous participants, communities, organizations or tribal nations in attendance were: Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, Canada; Gwichin Steering Committee, Alaska; Federation of of Rondas Campesinas Femeninas de Northern Peru; American Indian Health Service Center of Southeast Michigan; Rarumari tribal nation, Sierra Tarahumara, South Chihuahua, Mexico; Movimento de la Juventad Kuna, Panama; Indigenous Alliance Without Borders, Tucson, Arizona and Colorado River Native Nations Alliance, Arizona/California. Many of the non-Indigenous participants are affiliated with support groups and environmental organizations and speakers. An example of non-Indigenous environmental groups in attendance is the Pesticide Action Network (PAN), Communities for Better Environment (CBE), Ruckus Society and Project Underground, and Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Environmental justice groups and networks also played an active part in the conference. Affiliated members of the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (SNEEJ) attended the conference. IEN works with SNEEJ on many of their campaigns, such as the Native Sovereignty Campaign and the Border Justice Campaign. SNEEJ helped organize SNEEJ members to attend the conference. Issues Learned Surrounding Border Justice Speakers and conference participants from the border region provided an overview of the environmental and economic justice issues that impact the Indigenous and Mexican communities along the United States and Mexico border. The speakers and conference participants spoke on how the Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley is the outlet of a long journey of the waters of the Rio Grande, carrying waste from industry, agriculture and communities alike to its mouth and to the Gulf of Mexico. The city of Brownsville on the U.S. side and the city of Matamoros on the Mexico side are especially impacted due to limited economic opportunities afforded to Indigenous Peoples, including Latino/Latina people. A surge in tourism and its affiliated industries offer mostly service-oriented employment, with no substantial or sustainable income for families. The speakers spoke about the negative effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) along the U.S. and Mexico border on how free trade negotiations provides an opportunity for U.S.-based industries to relocate to the Mexico border where the industries enjoy cheap labor with little or no restrictions by occupational, health and safety or environmental standards. One speaker spoke on how their Mexico Indigenous communities in the interior area of Mexico are being uprooted from their traditional homelands and forced to migrate to these border towns looking for employment as a result of privatization of their communal lands. Border Crossings The US and Mexico border is 2,000 miles long and touches four southwestern US and six northern Mexico border states. The border is controlled at the international crossings by Customs agents from the Treasury Department and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Border Patrol. The U.S. and Mexico have become a major political issue in the U.S., especially with immigration "reform." The border is a repressive climate in many forms. One of these is the role of the Border Patrol. Brutal beatings by patrols and heavy-handed "storm-trooper" tactics by Border Patrol against Mexico immigrants (Latino/Latina and Indigenous) are frequent. Indigenous Alliance Without Borders, Tucson, reported numerous problems Indigenous peoples from Mexico have going through the U.S. border to visit tribal relatives in the north and to take part in ceremonies. The Alliance discussed successes they have had addressing these issues by facilitating top level meetings between the US and Mexico, the Customs officials and tribal leadership from both U.S. and Mexico. NAFTA and Maquiladoras According to speakers from Mexico, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which took effect in 1994, has resulted in worsening economic and social conditions and increasing violations of human rights for Indigenous peoples, working people, peasants, rural farmers, etc. In the past five years, more than more one million Mexicans (comprised of Indigenous peoples and Latino/Latina) have moved to the border. Each day Mexican citizens are drawn to the borders looking for work. Many of these people come to the border not to cross the border, but to work in thousands of mostly foreign-owned manufacturing plants, known as maquiladoras. The first maquiladoras were set up in the mid 1960s when Mexico and the US started an industrialization program along the border to address chronic unemployment in Mexico. Then when NAFTA came about, a lot of these foreign-owned industries came with more jobs, more shantytowns and more demand for workers. Hundreds of the world's wealthiest companies such as General Electric, General Motors, Alcoa, and others set up manufacturing plants on the south side of the border, drawn there by lucrative tax breaks and cheap labor. Maquiladoras along the border: Tijuana (south of San Diego, California); Mexicalli (southwest of Yuma, California); Nogales and Aqua Prieta (south of Arizona border); Ciudad Juarez (south of El Paso, Texas); Nuevo Laredo (south of Laredo, Texas); Reynosa (south of McAllen, Texas); and Matamoros (south of Brownsville, Texas). Domingo Gonzales, with the Border Campaign in Matamoros, Mexico arranged tours for the conference participants to visit families that live in a shantytown in Matamoros. These tours were very educational for conference participants to witness the effects of NAFTA and the symptoms of the maquiladoras of Matamoros. Mr. Gonzales arranged for respectful visitations between conference participants and families that lived in the shantytown. Many of these families were Indigenous peoples from various tribes from interior Mexico. Natural resource development has increased in Mexico since NAFTA resulting in privatization of land. Much of the land-base of Mexico's Indigenous population is communal with them living on land owned by the Mexican government. With Indigenous tribes such as the Raumari from the Sierra Tarahumara in southern Chihuahua (who were at the conference) being affected by corporations clearcutting their lands and mining development being planned, many are being uprooted moving to the border shantytowns for jobs. Conference participants were shocked at what they saw. Most all the participants that took part in the tours were from tribes of the north who developed a sensitivity to these people that they identified as similar to their own people in the north. The shantytown we visited was, in fact, built on top of an old town waste dump. When we walked throughout the shantytown, we could see debris and garbage sticking out of the ground. There were two water facets in the shantytown where residents hauled their drinking water in plastic pails. Toxic Waste A terrible consequence of all the development along the border has resulted in the accumulation over decades of an enormous environmental contamination produced by the hazardous wastes of the industrial and urban processes of these maquiladora centers. Speakers reported that there has been a policy where all manner of economic and infrastructure incentives are being granted to attract foreign investment with practically no compliance with labor laws or environmental laws of Mexico. The environmental debt of the border region is enormous. Millions of tons of hazardous wastes have been generated within the border region during the past couple decades. US EPA reported nearly 20 million tons were generated in the US border states. Some of these documented problems of hazardous wastes on both sides of the border have included:
These hazardous waste issues do not include municipal waste (such as "regular" garbage, etc.) However, open burn dumps are also a major problem. These open dumps are unmanaged with local people rummaging through them for discards. This has created serious public health issues. Wastewater treatment plants have also been overwhelmed by the increased population surge along the border. It was reported spilled raw sewage is frequent in these maquiladoras and especially in the shantytown areas. Most all these issues are caused by a failed infrastructure in the towns and cities to properly handle this waste. It was reported that it would take nearly $20 billion to meet the infrastructure needs of the border population. Speakers requested that organizations of the US need to continue to put pressure on the US to increase funding through the North American Development Bank to address these issues. This NADB was created out of the NAFTA process. For the issues of NAFAT, maquiladoras and toxic trade issues, IEN will work with the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice's Border Justice Campaign, and other border justice initiatives as a follow-up to these issues. IEN will continue to be involved in national and international meetings that address the issues economic globalization as a means to provide an Indigenous "face" to these international discussions. The International Indian Treaty Council and other Indigenous-based non-governmental organizations will be identified to seek their assistance in addressing these issues. Pesticides One the most dramatic problems that plague the people that live within the Rio Grande delta and its water basin area is exposure to pesticides. Speakers from further west towards Chihuahua, Mexico and El Paso, Texas; to Sonora, Mexico and southern Arizona; to Tijuana, Mexico - Baja California all reported concerns of pesticide exposures. Most all the pesticide exposure is directly related to the agricultural industry. Conference participants from Mexico reported that many Indigenous peoples and other Mexicans work in agricultural fields growing and harvesting crops for low wages. They live in shacks sometimes provided by their employers. Even children as young as six start working in the fields to help their parents. There is no safe drinking water. Speakers from Pesticide Action Network talked about the health effects of pesticides. Many of the conference participants reported this was the first time they heard how dangerous working with pesticides was. People working in the fields do not have information on the dangers of the agricultural chemicals that are used in these fields. There is no data on pesticide-related deaths, even though one Yaqui man from Sonora, Mexico reported his knowledge of individuals that have died from spraying chemicals on crops. It was reported that DDT was still being used in some of the Mexico rural farms, with local Indigenous and Mexican farm workers spraying the DDT on the crops. No shower or washing facility is available for these workers. DDT is banned from use in Mexico, however, it is still being used illegally in the rural areas, with the Mexico government environmental program not enforcing its own laws. In the US (with special concern in southwest and southern states like Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California), hundreds of agricultural industrial chemicals pour from discharge pipes into streams, irrigation ditches, rivers and lakes. In the US, industrial agricultural accounts for polluting 70 percent of the US impaired rivers and streams and 49 percent of affected lakes (throughout the country). Pesticides refer to the wide range of chemicals, including herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, all designed to kill or control some kind of "pest." People living along the border requested community-based training opportunities on the dangers of pesticides and alternatives to pesticides. IEN will be developing some partnerships with Pesticide Action Network and its counterpart (RAPAN) in Mexico to develop a strategy to address these pesticide issues along the US and Mexico regions. Indigenous peoples populate these areas with no adequate information on the dangers of pesticides. Depending on human and financial resources, an Indigenous-focused education and organizing campaign on pesticides is more likely a goal that could be accomplished by IEN, PAN, RAPAN and other support groups. Reclaiming Our Sacred Water According to all the presenters, "water", according to most Indigenous cultures across the Americas and the world is a sacred gift of the Creator and a life-giver. They spoke about water resources becoming contaminated with pollutants that have affected the health of Indigenous communities, the ecosystem and all life. Three speakers were especially concerned about their tribal water rights being diminished or destroyed through the legal and political system of the federal governments (United States mainly). Indigenous rights to water resources, both ground and surface water has been a continuing issue wherever Indigenous Peoples live. Speakers and conference participants spoke of their concern about privatization of water and the trend to trade water from the north to the south. Indigenous from the Great Lakes, Canada and Alaska were concerned about governments and private corporations planning to sell great quantities of water from their regions without any consideration of Indigenous treaty rights to those water sources. US consumption of water is increasing each year, especially in regions of the western states. Groundwater aquifers are being pumped down faster than they are naturally replenished. The Hopi of Arizona contracted a study that verified the aquifer in their homelands is being depleted mainly as a result of coal mining operations at Big Mountain. Sacred springs where Hopi religious leaders go to gather water are drying out. In the headwaters of the Rio Grande River, in northern New Mexico, the Pueblo tribes are facing a water crisis. Development and increased population in the Sante Fe and Taos, New Mexico area has intensified a demand for water. The flows of Rio Grande are in danger of being reduced by as much as 75 percent over the next century. This demand for water in the New Mexico area has the potential of putting more wood to the fire between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. Tribal water rights will continue to be a problem in the next decade. Indigenous water rights and water settlements play a crucial role in shaping the future of Indigenous and non-Indigenous relationship in western US. This issue even extends to other areas of Canada, Mexico and US. The rapid growth of urban sprawl, full appropriation of dependable surface water supplies, declining groundwater levels, and increased environmental opposition to water projects all lead to increased competition for limited water supplies. Tribes control large amounts of land throughout the US and Canada with vast entitlements to water resources. Speakers from the lower Colorado River regions spoke about water rights issues in the upper Colorado River water basin area. The Colorado River is so oversubscribed on its journey through seven US states that there is virtually nothing left to go out to the sea. The flows of the upper Colorado rivers are in danger of being reduced by as much as 40 percent over the next century. Water issues even extend into the Sonora, Mexico region. As mentioned earlier, the US and Canadian governments, under pressure from transnational corporations are pushing forward the commodification and mass transport of water. There is a trend towards privatization of water and selling water on the open market. It is feared that under this commodification and subsequently, privatization, selling water on the open market will not address the needs of the poor and Indigenous peoples. Privatized water may be delivered only to those who can pay for it. Private corporate-type interests are planning mass export of bulk water. A native woman from the Great Lakes reported a massive plan by private interests in the Great Lakes to ship Great Lakes water in supertanker ships to Asia and other countries. Luckily a public outcry in the US and Canadian temporary halted this plan. However, this is the trend of things coming and will continue to be an issue that Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples must be aware of. IEN will need to develop a strategy on how to address this issue. An education and organizing campaign to tribal governmental leadership, inter-tribal organizations, tribal colleges and the grassroots needs to be developed. IEN will start to build networks with non-Indigenous groups and universities working on these issues. Whether this work is incorporated into an IEN water-focus project or incorporated into a broader globalization effort is not sure. Again financial resources will need to be secured to address these water issues. Globalization, Environment and Trade Various workshops and breakout sessions related to this were held during the conference. From workshop topics ranging from: persistent organic pollutants (POPs); mining; water quality and water quantity; nuclear power, waste and weapons industry; to specific discussions on NAFTA, GATT and the World Trade Organization (WTO), all were part of globalization. IEN and SNEEJ will continue to stay involved in economic globalization issues. IEN and SNEEJH participated in the "Battle in Seattle-WTO Summit" two years ago. IEN brought Indigenous peoples to the WTO Summit and successfully held workshops on how Indigenous Peoples are affected by WTO and economic globalization. IEN will work with the Environmental and Economic Justice Project (EEJP) and its organizations to survey and analysis this issue. An education campaign will need to be developed to educate and organize our tribal leadership and grassroots on globalization. Youth Organizing and Youth Participation Approximately 1/3 of the conference participants was youth (under the age of 25). The youth successfully held workshops on topics ranging from strategy organizing, border issues, non-violence and direct action, power mapping, and others. Conclusion This year's conference was a complete success. All goals and expectations were accomplished. Among many highpoints of the conference, one special event that took place was the Indigenous woman-based Water Ceremony. Conference participants were requested to bring water from homelands. A native woman from the Great Lakes conducted a ceremony where all conference participants poured their water into a large vase. This symbolized we are all connected by water - that the water is the giver of life. Some of this water was contaminated water as well as drinkable water. The ceremony allowed the people to pray for this water. Then the water was taken to the Rio Grande and poured into the Rio Grande. To many Indigenous peoples, the women are the keepers of water, while the men are keepers of the fire. The bringing together of the Spanish speaking Indigenous peoples of the south with the English speaking Indigenous peoples of the north was very successful. The sharing of the sacred fire of the Indigenous peoples of Casa de Colores and their ceremonial leaders from Mexico was very strong. Their dancers demonstrated the cultural strength the Indigenous peoples of Mexico still maintain despite their struggles to survive. There is much work that will need to be done by IEN and all groups that came to the conference. |