Abya Yala
San Francisco Peaks
and
The Rights of Mother Earth
and
The Rights of Mother Earth
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| Thomas Banyacya, Hopi Nation |
In as much as the US Federal Government and its subsidiaries extending from federal agencies to State and county jurisdictions have continued to perpetrate policies of overt assault and institutional violence against the Nations and Pueblos of the Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala, policies which can be justifiably denounced as pogroms of genocide in violation of the Right of Self Determination of the Indigenous Peoples, particularly those Indigenous Peoples impacted by the territorial franchises exchanged by the government states of the US and the Republic of Mexico under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848, terms of exclusion and racial discrimination previously formalized by the Treaty of Alcáçovas and extended throughout the hemisphere of Abya Yala by the Doctrine of Discovery and the application of this doctrine in North American by US Supreme Court case law, i.e. the Marshall Trilogy of Supreme Court rulings handed down under the leadership of Chief Justice John Marshall: Johnson’s Lessee v. McIntosh 8 Wheat. 543 (1823); Cherokee Nation v. Georgia 30 U.S. 1 (1831); and Worcester v. Georgia 31 U.S. 515 (1832);
And furthermore, whereas at the present time the desecration of the holiness of the Sacred Sites of the Indigenous Peoples is accelerating in scale and impact, exemplified by the violation of the Sacred San Francisco Peaks in Northern Arizona by the expansion of the Arizona Snowbowl’s operations which reveals the complicity of the US Forest Service in the construction of a waste water pipeline for the production of artificial snow along with the clear cutting of over 40 acres of rare alpine forest on the slopes of the Sacred San Francisco Peaks;
Taking into account the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic concluded at Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, by which the US Government claims to have acquired jurisdiction over the territory by way of cession from the Republic of Mexico:
ARTICLE I
There shall be firm and universal peace between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic, and between their respective countries, territories, cities, towns, and people, without exception of places or persons.
Now, let it be known and denounced by the appropriate bodies and members of the international community that the ongoing practice of the systematic desecration of the Sacred Sites of the Indigenous Peoples such as Black Mesa, Mount Taylor, San Francisco Peaks, the Grand Canyon and Colorado River Watershed, the Gila River, Rio Bravo, Mount Tenabo, the Zuni Salt Lake, the Petroglyphs of the Ancients, among many others shall be considered from this moment on a Deliberate Act of Premeditated War against the Indigenous Peoples of these Territories, in Violation of the Terms of the Treaty of Peace codified by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848, and the Right of Self Determination of the Indigenous Peoples;
And, that in light of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the General Assembly on September 13, 2007 and the discussion to be formalized at the 11th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples in May of 2012 on the Impact of the Doctrine of Discovery,
That special attention to these particular issues of desecration of the Sacred Sites of the Indigenous Peoples affected by the cumulative, progressive and accelerating effect of the Doctrine of Discovery, the Doctrine of Manifest Destiny, the Doctrine of the Divine Right of States vis-a-vi the systemic perpetuation of policies of racial discrimination by the jurisdictions of the state as mentioned above, perpetuating the vile terms of colonialism and European American colonization of the territory and continent of Abya Yala under the malicious and illegal precepts of the Treaty of Alcáçovas;
And finally, that as members of the ancient constituencies of the Nations and Pueblos of Indigenous Peoples of the territory and the continent of Abya Yala [the Americas], whose presence and jurisdiction precedes that of the states by millennia, we DENOUNCE the violation of the Peace being inflicted by the acts of desecration of the Sacred Sites of the Indigenous Peoples as yet another violation of the Rights of Mother Earth, and with responsibility to the Future Generations we call upon All Peoples of Conscience to raise their voice and take direct action of Peaceful Nature to bring our all our relationships as relatives to All Life into accord with the principles of TOCUALNEMILIS: Respect – Inclusiveness – Complementarity – Self Determination : Living with Wellness.
Tupac Enrique Acosta, Yaotachcauh Tlahtokan Nahuacalli
Eve Reyes-Aguirre, Calpixqui Tlahtokan Nahuacalli
Rafael Reyes, Tenamaztli Quetzalcoatl Tlahtokan Nahuacalli
Lupe Parra, Tenamaztli Huitzilopochtli Tlahtokan Nahuacalli Mario Chihuahua, Tenamaztli Tezcatlipoca Tlahtokan Nahuacalli
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of Indigenous Peoples
The Treaty of Alcáçovas can be considered as a landmark in the history of colonialism. It is one of the first international documents formally outlining the principle that European powers are empowered to divide the rest of the world into "spheres of influence" and colonise the territories located within such spheres, and that any indigenous peoples living there need not be asked for their consent (or even be informed that their fate was being decided upon). This would remain a generally-accepted principle in the ideology and practice of European powers up to the 20th century decolonization. The Treaty of Alcáçovas could be regarded as the ancestor of many later international treaties and instruments based on the same basic principle - for example the resolutions of the 1884 Conference of Berlin, four centuries later, which in much the same way divided Africa into colonial spheres of influence.
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International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
Adopted and opened for signature and ratification by General Assembly resolution 2106 (XX)
of 21 December 1965, entry into force 4 January 1969, in accordance with Article 19
- Convinced that any doctrine of superiority based on racial differentiation is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous, and that there is no justification for racial discrimination, in theory or in practice, anywhere,
- Reaffirming that discrimination between human beings on the grounds of race, colour or ethnic origin is an obstacle to friendly and peaceful relations among nations and is capable of disturbing peace and security among peoples and the harmony of persons living side by side even within one and the same State,
- Convinced that the existence of racial barriers is repugnant to the ideals of any human society,
- Alarmed by manifestations of racial discrimination still in evidence in some areas of the world and by governmental policies based on racial superiority or hatred, such as policies of apartheid, segregation or separation...
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There is some debate over whether or not the Americas can be considered decolonized, as it was the colonist and their descendants who revolted and declared their independence instead of the indigenous peoples, as is usually the case. Furthermore, included in this list of states where "decolonization" has not occurred as per the ideas reflected above are Australia, New Zealand.
