gmane.politics.marxism.analysis

Fw by David McR: (Native) Chiefs Declare Keystone XL Invalid, Walk Out on State Department Officials

Hunter Gray — 2013-05-22T10:24:38



Subject: Re: Chiefs Declare Keystone XL Invalid, Walk Out on State Department Officials





On Tue, May 21, 2013 at 8:05 PM, Portside moderator <moderator< at >portside.org> wrote:

       
          
                Chiefs Declare Keystone XL Invalid, Walk Out on State Department Officials 


              ICTMN Staff 
              May 17, 2013
              Indian Country 

              Elders and chiefs of at least 10 sovereign nations walked out of a meeting with U.S. State Department officials in Rapid City, South Dakota, on Thursday May 16 in which the government was attempting to engage in tribal consultation over the Keystone XL pipeline.
               
                
              , ,    
                Elders and chiefs of at least 10 sovereign nations walked out of a meeting with U.S. State Department officials in Rapid City, South Dakota, on Thursday May 16 in which the government was attempting to engage in tribal consultation over the Keystone XL pipeline.

              Deeming the meetin

Government Continues its Attack on Maruti Suzuki Workers

marxist front — 2013-05-20T15:17:12

Government Continues its Attack on Maruti Suzuki Workers

The state brutality on the belligerent workers of Maruti Suzuki shows sign of no abatement. Since March these workers were on peaceful protest in Kaithal in Haryana in front of DC office. On 19th the workers Union had given a call for peaceful demonstration in front of industry minister Surjewala’s house, this call had elicited […]

http://otheraspect.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/government-continues-its-attack-on-maruti-suzuki-workers/


------------------------------------

"[C]apital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt."
--Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Chapter 31

Earl Lewis' Civil Rights and the Changing World

Hunter Gray — 2013-05-18T15:38:27

This is an interesting essay from Humanities {NEH).  A friend and fellow writer, Ms Susan Klopfer, did a blog post on it.  She asked me to comment critically on the piece and so my thoughts are there as well.
Link to the blog: http://emmett-till.blogspot.com/

H

HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq /St. Francis 
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk 
Member, National Writers Union AFL-CIO
www.hunterbear.org  (social justice)

See the new expanded/updated edition of my "ORGANIZER'S
BOOK." It's the inside story of the rise of the massive Jackson
Movement -- careful grassroots organizing, bloody repression, sell-out 
and more.  It also covers other organizing campaigns of mine through
 the decades since Mississippi. It's replete with grass-roots organizing
examples and "lessons."  And it has my new 10,000 word 
introduction.  Among a myriad of positive comments and reviews:
 ". . .a local activist's important account of the deleterious effects
the involvement  of national organizations can have on indigenous

FINAL NOTE ON TRAINING CENTER/ IN A FACTIONAL STORM (was Friendly clarification)

Hunter Gray — 2013-05-17T12:10:28

Thanks, Sam.  There are always rough and tricky waters in "program development."  And, even back in the period of the Training Center, IRS could have problematic fish-hooks.  However, we were left alone by the agency.

We did face a problem -- actually a complex of problems -- that was unusual.  While there is always a very basic unity among Native people, which comes to the fore quickly when hostile outside forces enter the picture, there can be fierce factionalism.  I've often thought of that as akin to surface storms on the Sun.  At the time we were developing the Training Center, factionalism in the Indian community at Chicago, centered in and around the well established American Indian Center, was considered the worst in the country.  A lot of this mess went back to intermeddling by anthropologists at the University of Chicago.   So, when we were pulling our program together, securing funding, etc., we were very open about our doings and touched base frequently with the principal persons in the various

IRS Reacquainted with Constitution

PROUT News — 2013-05-17T05:48:46

*The IRS demands Marion Bower provide the Government with details of what
materials her group is reading.*

*Mrs Bower mails back a copy of the United States Constitution.*

I wonder if the IRS found it subversive.

*As for taxation in a PROUTistic economy, learn more HERE<http://bit.ly/10OhTRC>
*.


http://twitter.com/PROUTNews
 * *
*Can* *Spirituality**, Social Justice, and Economic and Political **
Democracy* *  *
 * find synergy** and **synthesis** in a fair and equitable manner? *
 <http://economicdemocracy.shows.it/>http://EconomicDemocracy.Shows.it/<http://economicdemocracy.shows.it/>

*Find out how!*


Human society is at a vital new juncture,
the decrepit skeleton of things tried and
proven false is rapidly being rent asunder.
Today we are on the precipice of a glorious
new dawn in human evolution. Embrace this
crimson dawn of the glorious new day.

IRS Asks for Reading List, Tea Party Group Sends
Constitution<http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/05/irs-asks-for-reading-list-tea-party-group-sen

again Re: Friendly clarification re my "Not for profits"/Native values

2013-05-17T03:47:49

 
 I did not see my post as in any way other than friendly.  But in my work with drug user activists, for example, the have been two or 3 occasions when I have seen people go 503  3 c so they could get the donations without fully realizing what they were giving up.

And it hurt them later on

 

 By the way, I am on a big 5 week work related trip and my fist hotel has strange email so my messages  may sometimes get chopped
 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Hunter Gray <hunterbadbear< at >hunterbear.org>
To: Bear Without Borders <bearwithoutborders< at >lists.mayfirst.org>
Cc: Redbadbear <Redbadbear< at >yahoogroups.com>; SycamoreCanyon <SycamoreCanyon< at >yahoogroups.com>; marxist <marxist< at >yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thu, May 16, 2013 4:23 pm
Subject: [marxist] Friendly clarification re my "Not for profits"/Native values



  
    
                  

Actually, Sam, I preceded the main body of my post this morning with this:
 
"First, as we all know, there are a vast number of organizations -- many of them social justice advo

Re: Friendly clarification re my "Not for profits"/Native values

2013-05-17T03:38:44

Very useful clarification,
In my working with drug user activists, I have usually seen the same. But every now and then, they go for the NGO form without thinking it through nd it bites them in the tail.

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Hunter Gray <hunterbadbear< at >hunterbear.org>
To: Bear Without Borders <bearwithoutborders< at >lists.mayfirst.org>
Cc: Redbadbear <Redbadbear< at >yahoogroups.com>; SycamoreCanyon <SycamoreCanyon< at >yahoogroups.com>; marxist <marxist< at >yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thu, May 16, 2013 4:23 pm
Subject: [marxist] Friendly clarification re my "Not for profits"/Native values



  
    
                  

Actually, Sam, I preceded the main body of my post this morning with this:
 
"First, as we all know, there are a vast number of organizations -- many of them social justice advocacy -- that do not formally incorporate and seek 501(c)(3) status and depend on voluntary financial contributions and other versions of their own fundraising.  Foregoing IRS "certification" does, at least in some cases,

Friendly clarification re my "Not for profits"/Native values

Hunter Gray — 2013-05-16T20:23:16

Actually, Sam, I preceded the main body of my post this morning with this:

"First, as we all know, there are a vast number of organizations -- many of them social justice advocacy -- that do not formally incorporate and seek 501(c)(3) status and depend on voluntary financial contributions and other versions of their own fundraising.  Foregoing IRS "certification" does, at least in some cases, enable maximum freedom of operation."

Virtually all of the social justice organizations I've helped people organize, and there have been many, have never sought 501(c)3 status.  All of them, however, have had a basic and elected body of officers  and usually a committee structure. A few, more institutionalized in nature -- e.g., "Native American Publication" -- have had board members.  We are not anarchists. (And I certainly don't get the impression you are!)  Occupy, for example, would have done well to have had at least a rudimentary structure with elected officers and some stable committees.

Our Training Center wa

Re: [Redbadbear] "Not for profits" / Native values

2013-05-16T17:34:10

 There has been considerable criticism of many international profits in their international work as being essentially neocolonial even though most people working for them may have good hearts and values.  It is hard to avoid.

One trouble with the 501 3 c route is that it requires that the organization be run by a board of directors rather than direct democracy of some kind.  I have seen this hurt efforts that went the non-profit route instead of the membership organization route--but it is a clear case of property law and related issues shaping the politics of many groups.



 
 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Hunter Gray <hunterbadbear< at >hunterbear.org>
To: Bear Without Borders <bearwithoutborders< at >lists.mayfirst.org>
Cc: newgreencanada <newgreencanada< at >yahoogroups.com>; marxist <marxist< at >yahoogroups.com>; SycamoreCanyon <SycamoreCanyon< at >yahoogroups.com>; Redbadbear <Redbadbear< at >yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thu, May 16, 2013 6:37 am
Subject: [Redbadbear] "Not for profits" / Native values

"Not for profits" / Native values

Hunter Gray — 2013-05-16T10:37:11

Cornet writes on RBB and I respond:

"The tax-exempt sector has not been cramped by the IRS. In the first decade of the century, the number of nonprofit corporations has grown by 25 percent. In 2010, nonprofits accounted for 5.4 percent of GDP, and 9 percent of wages."

From Hunter:

First, as we all know, there are a vast number of organizations -- many of them social justice advocacy -- that do not formally incorporate and seek 501(c)(3) status and depend on voluntary financial contributions and other versions of their own fundraising.  Foregoing IRS "certification" does, at least in some cases, enable maximum freedom of operation.

I used to keep up with the basics of this pretty well and still do to a limited extent.  I'm willing to see most non-profits as reputable and altruistic in nature.  But there's very often a major problem area: "central operating expenses."  In a good number of cases, a significant amount of "altruistic" money goes into that --  disproportionately.  This is especially true if bu

Experiences with IRS re 501(c)3 applications for American Indian programs

Hunter Gray — 2013-05-15T18:32:44

I had several IRS experiences involving our getting 501(c)3 tax exempt/charitable status for three all-Indian Native programs -- two in the Nixon era and one when Gerry Ford was president.  Despite dire predictions about hassles and delays, we didn't have any heavy problems. Part of the current IRS situation involves 501(c)4 applications as well.  I know little about those.

The first was our Chicago-based Native American Community Organizational Training Center with a regional focus.  We developed that over the first several months of 1973 -- and I, who became its chair and Bill Redcloud who emerged as its director, were able to get "political" backing from almost all of the Native organizations in the faction-ridden Chicago Indian community. (That took some diplomatic doing.)  Three mainline religious denominations -- Lutheran, Methodist, and Presbyterian -- were ready to provide significant funding (and subsequently did).  Church monies are automatically tax exempt -- but the denominations are always reas

Owl and Sycamore note from Jyri

Hunter Gray — 2013-05-15T11:25:40

We haven't gotten up to the Owls just yet.  But Stephen Harvey, of B.C., whose avocation is making fine walking sticks, has sent me one -- Maple -- as a gift.  When it arrives, up we go!  Sycamore is vast -- very long, very deep, very wide, extraordinarily rough for the most part. Epitome of Wilderness.  Virtually no humans venture into even the edges of its "inner gorge" innards. Hell, even the rim roads are rough -- more like glorified game trails. Consult me, Jyri, before you go there -- and, who knows, perhaps I can join you.  Best, Hunter


Hunter,
How are the owls?
We sometimes have the occasional eagle owl (or is that horned owl) at our country place. Perched on a branch faintly resembling - at a distance - a big grey cat, infinite patience, then suddenly swooping down to catch something. I could watch them for hours.
I found pictures of Sycamore Canyon on the net. I have to go there some day.
Jyri

HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq /St. Francis 
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk 
Member, Nati

6/1: FREEDOM RIDE for the CUBAN FIVE

FreetheCuban5 LibertadparalosCinco — 2013-05-14T13:20:55


 
The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5
Email:  freethecuban5< at >gmail.com
Website:  www.freethecuban5.org
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/NYC-Free-the-Cuban-5
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/freethecuban5
Telephone: 718-601-4751



JOIN US ON OUR BUSES TOWASHINGTON D.C. FOR THE FREEDOM RIDE FOR THE CUBAN 5!


 

JOIN US FOR A RIDE TO WASHINGTON, D.C.




Be a Freedom Rider for The Cuban Five and Get on the Bus to Washington, DC! 
$5.00 Round tripFor more information call
347-201-3728 (9am-5pm) 
Freedom Ride Hotline
718-676-0106 (24/7) 

Organizers of the Freedom Ride for the Cuban 5 include: Local 372-DC 37 ASFCME, 
1199 SEIU, the July 26 Coalition, Casa de las Americas, Venceremos 
Brigade and Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5 and 
IFCO-Pastors for Peace. 

The Rally on June 1st at 1:oopm in front of the White 
House is part of the “5 Days for the Cuban 5 in Washington DC” initiated by the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5. Freedom Ride For THECUBA

Lyme disease

Hunter Gray — 2013-05-10T09:17:25

I was glad to see Sam's post indicating some high level interest and focus on Lyme Disease.  It's a wicked, tick-born malady that can be extremely serious.  Outwardly, many of its symptoms are similar to Lupus.  The writer, Ami Tan, was treated for Lupus for three years before it was realized she actually had Lyme Disease.

I've told this before but it's worth a re-tell.  When, in the summer of 2003, and very ill with something, I finally succumbed to family  pressure and went to a doctor, I stumbled and fell into our rose bush on the way to our Jeep.  My face was scratched.  Thomas and I together went to the reception desk where the Anglo lady, looking at us, exclaimed loudly, "You've been fighting!"  This was obviously racial stereotyping and, while I have my father's patience, there are limits.

"Madam," I said in an icy tone, "the last time I was in a physical fight was when I was 26 and that was a long time ago, (For the benefit of readers, it was with a scab-herding s.o.b. in Arizona.)  Thomas, grinnin

Excerpt from a note from Willa Cofield (Northeastern NC wars)

Hunter Gray — 2013-05-09T17:12:56

 Alston vs. Butts was/is our major voting rights case, brought by us in U.S, District Court at Raleigh.  We won that -- breaking the Deep South complex of segregationist resistance to voter registration and voting by African Americans and Natives, not only in Halifax County, but, by extension, across the entire Northeastern North Carolina Blackbelt.  Willa, of course, was a major figure in that whole struggle -- along with a vast number of other courageous grassroots people. Our attorneys were Morty Stavis of New Jersey, Bill Kunstler of NYC, and Sam Mitchell of Raleigh. Phil Hirschkop, Arlington Va., was of much assistance, a finishing up law student at Georgetown and very soon to become a practicing civil rights lawyer. Professor Chester Antieau, Georgetown law school and students from Georgetown and Duke, were of considerable assistance in the case, and its aftermath. The NC Civil Rights Exhibit looks promising.  (H)
________________________

You are the only person I know who beat the Klan and lupus.  Wh

Personal med notes -- and very brief reflections

Hunter Gray — 2013-05-09T10:45:20

NOTE BY HUNTER BEAR  MAY 9 2013

My annual medical ritual has now come and gone -- and all remains just fine.  No active Lupus and everything else quite OK.  Five vials of blood were taken from me several days ago -- and the doc's wrap-up words to Eldri and myself yesterday were "Enjoy life."  To me, he was then a little more specific:  "Exercise (and that, as per the owls' visit, is in the works) and drink more water (I had told him I drank more coffee these days) and come back in a year."

The background of this now ten year experience with relatively rare and frequently lethal "full blown" Systemic Lupus, which hit almost every part of me, but did spare my brain, is too well known to most readers to reiterate in any detail.  But it is worth mentioning that, at the outset in 2003, almost all medics saw little or no survival hope for me.   The physician who assumed my situation in the middle of that early most dismal period -- a devout young Mormon -- joined me in my commitment not to pass into the spirit w

6/1: FREEDOM RIDE for the CUBAN FIVE

FreetheCuban5 LibertadparalosCinco — 2013-05-08T15:38:29


 


 
The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5
Email:  freethecuban5< at >gmail.com
Website:  www.freethecuban5.org
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/NYC-Free-the-Cuban-5
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/freethecuban5
Telephone: 718-601-4751



JOIN US ON OUR BUSES TOWASHINGTON D.C. FOR THE FREEDOM RIDE FOR THE CUBAN 5!


 

JOIN US FOR A RIDE TO WASHINGTON, D.C.




Be a Freedom Rider for The Cuban Five and Get on the Bus to Washington, DC! 
$5.00 Round tripFor more information call
347-201-3728 (9am-5pm) 
Freedom Ride Hotline
718-676-0106 (24/7) 

Organizers of the Freedom Ride for the Cuban 5 include: Local 372-DC 37 ASFCME, 
1199 SEIU, the July 26 Coalition, Casa de las Americas, Venceremos 
Brigade and Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5 and 
IFCO-Pastors for Peace. 

The Rally on June 1st at 1:oopm in front of the White 
House is part of the “5 Days for the Cuban 5 in Washington DC” initiated by the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5. Freedom Ride For THE

Fwd: Update about 'Petition to Free Lynne Stewart: Save Her Life - Release Her Now!' on Change.org

2013-05-07T10:53:00

-----Original Message-----
From: Ralph Poynter <mail< at >change.org>
To: sam4wp <sam4wp< at >netscape.net>
Sent: Mon, May 6, 2013 9:42 pm
Subject: Update about 'Petition to Free Lynne Stewart: Save Her Life - Release Her Now!' on Change.org

A major milestone has been reached in the struggle for Lynne Stewart's freedom. Lynne Stewart wrote on April 26 to confirm that the Warden at FMC Carswell recommended Compassionate Release to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
“So Happy that the Compassionate Release was granted at Carswell and we are on the road!!!
"Who DID It? --- The People Yes – and we certainly deserve a VICTORY and this is one for sure!!”
With this dramatic development, the International Campaign to Save the Life of Lynne Stewart crossed a critical threshold. We directed our attention immediately to Charles E. Samuels, Jr., the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Following two expedited communications from former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, a probation officer charged with inspecting

Re: The Owls talk to us early this morning -- and my "Dark Wilds/Many Friends" post

Hunter Gray — 2013-05-07T00:12:05

Thanks for that fine and apt little piece, Sam.  I remain always the optimist -- but, as we both and a vast number of others know, hard and consistent fighting, shrewdly aimed, is super critical.  I think the good ranks are swelling.

You've been a trooper, for sure.

Solidarity,

Hunter

HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq /St. Francis 
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk 
Member, National Writers Union AFL-CIO
www.hunterbear.org  (social justice)

See the new expanded/updated edition of my "ORGANIZER'S
BOOK." It's the inside story of the rise of the massive Jackson
Movement -- careful grassroots organizing, bloody repression, sell-out 
and more.  It also covers other organizing campaigns of mine through
 the decades since Mississippi. It's replete with grass-roots organizing
examples and "lessons."  And it has my new 10,000 word 
introduction.  Among a myriad of positive comments and reviews:
 ". . .a local activist's important account of the deleterious effects
the involvement  of national organizatio

Re: The Owls talk to us early this morning -- and my "Dark Wilds/Many Friends" post

2013-05-06T23:40:58

I hope you find this a wonderful return to a long-treasured joy.


Owls
 

Philosophy, as the thought of the world, does not appearuntil reality has completed its formative process, and made itself ready. . . .The owl of Minerva, takes its flight only when the shades of night aregathering. (Hegel)
 
Howl (Ginsberg)
 
Like Hegel’s owl flying only
as the eon sets,
even polar bears, popes and pontificators
can see the dusk

ofan ending time
when civilizations crack
like Arctic floes,
and the sands of Ozymandias
await invasion
by encroaching waves.
 
Anyone can see this, 
even Presidents profess to care,
but do we lack the owl’s eyes
to pick out a pathway 

toa time beyond profits
when plain people build our say-so so
sun, wind and waves 
can power our needs
and you and I can realistically dream
that our children’s children
might actually live
and possibly even play
in occasional snow?


 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Hunter Gray <hunterbadbear< at >hunterbear.org>
To: Bear Without Borders <bearwitho

The Owls talk to us early this morning -- and my "Dark Wilds/Many Friends" post

Hunter Gray — 2013-05-06T21:35:39

May 6 2013

I slept late this morning -- arising at about 4 a.m.  Cold water, coffee, pipe and smoking tobacco.  Nothing unusual.

And then I began to hear Them talking right close to our home -- obviously more than one.  Owls -- and they kept it up for almost half an hour. This is very unusual.  Owls only rarely come down from the higher rough country that rises immediately above us.  Maria, who arose a little later and took our now one dog out for a few minutes into the pitch-dark, heard them also -- very, very up-close.

They were talking to us.

But why and what?

In some tribes, and I've discussed this before, there is the belief that, when an owl calls your name, it is a signal of your impending passage into the Spirit World.

But that is not the case with our Native cultures.  We always see the owls as simply very good and learned friends, no more and no less.  There are other living entities to which we do attribute very positive supernatural characteristics -- bears and wild felines, for example.

S