Auteur/autrice : Heidi Barathieu-Brun

Linked with human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples – one, with Indigenous Webs for Information, with Mouvements indigènes, entre néolibéralisme et gouvernements de gauche, with human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples – two, with Promoting the Rights, Voices and Visions of Indigenous Peoples, and with Texts about Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights.

Mr. Leitanthem Umakanta Meitei is an indigenous representative who regularly participates at UN sessions. In 2004, he sent a 140 pages report about the human rights organisations situation in his region to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights (OHCHR-UNOG). A few days later, he was arrested and heavily tortured. On August 25 at 3:25 a.m., I received a phone call from Mrs. Meitei, informing me about Mr. Meitei´s arrest. The situation is very critical, because he is being tortured a lot. Please do everything you can to attain his immediate release. Dr. Arnold Groh, Structural Analysis of Cultural Systems, Technical University of Berlin, Sekr. FR 6-3. (I received this information by mail from this address).

Leitanthem Umakanta Meitei – India.

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Linked with Prison for Chen Guangcheng – China.

Added Sept. 11, 2006: another reporter, Ching Cheong, Hong Kong, is jailed for 5 years, and Gao Zhisheng recently retained for questioning. (See Newsweek of Sept. 11, 2006, page 4).

He says: « Someone has to fight for people with no voice, I guess that person is me. »

Blind Social Activist, Lawyers Beaten in China: HONG KONG—A social activist who blew the whistle on official abuses under China’s one-child policy in the eastern province of Shandong was beaten by local officials Tuesday, while lawyers attempting to mediate with local government were set upon by unidentified thugs, residents and lawyers said. Chen Guangcheng, who is blind, was left bleeding from his injuries on the main street of his native Dongshigu Village following clashes between villagers and local officials, a local resident told RFA’s Mandarin service. The clashes were sparked after the arrival of three out-of-town lawyers—Xu Zhiyong, Li Subin, and Li Fangping, who were hoping to meet with Chen and mediate between the activist, who is under effective house arrest—and local authorities, an eyewitness said. Chen was escorted from his home to where the lawyers had been prevented from entering the village, by around 20 fellow villagers from Yinan County, near Shandong’s Linyi City, where around 60 people were waiting, including government officials. (Read the whole article on RFA Radio Free Asia).

Chen Guangcheng – China

He works – in a one man’s movement – for the right for women not to abort their child.

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Linked with World Social Forum, Delhi – 9-13 November 2006, and with Draft Minutes of the IWC Meeting New Delhi.

He says: For me struggle is philosophical and practical. When two opposites interact there is always struggle. For me, struggle is an instrument through which a new thing, at a high level of development, is evolved. For example, in a society, we are struggling to exploit nature. There is a struggle between human beings and nature. In a society there is struggle between different classes also. Out of this struggle new concepts, and new formations come. I think struggle is an essential part of nature. It is an essential part of society also. »

Darshan Pal – India

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Linked with You and Aids.

Dr. Nafis Sadik is currently Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General with additional responsibilities as Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia. She was former the head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). She is an alumna of Dow Medical College. Dr. Nafis Sadik is daughter of Muhammad Shoaib, former Finance Minister of Pakistan. (Read on wikipedia).

Nafis Sadik – Pakistan

She says: “Pregnancy is a part of a woman’s life but a woman’s life should not be defined by it. In many societies, however, the fact is that bearing and raising children does define a woman. She does many things in her life, but she is only given recognition for one of them … When women are properly valued for all the things they do, then and only then, will their role as mothers be respected and the resources found to protect their lives and health.”

She says also: « At independence, Pakistan was the 13th most populous country in the world, with 32.5 million people; in 1996 it was seventh, with a population of 140 million. Pakistan’s population growth rate is now one of the highest in Asia at 2.7 percent: at independence we added a million people every year or so; today we are adding a million every three months. No conceivable development plan can sustain such a rate of population growth. If we are to meet the challenges of the 21st century, Pakistan must put slowing population growth at the head of its list of priorities. »

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Linked with Nonviolence Book – Notes to CHAPTER 12, BARBARA DEMING, and with A Random Chapter in the History of Nonviolence.

She said: « Non-violent actions are by their nature androgynous. In them, the two impulses that have long been treated as distinct ‘masculine and feminine’, the impulse of self-assertiveness and the impulse of sympathy, are clearly joined; the very genius of non-violence, in fact, is that it demonstrates them to be indivisible and so restores human community … . » (See on Matt & Andrej Koymasky.com).

(1917 – 1984) Barbara Deming – USA

She was an American feminist and advocate of nonviolent social change. She directed plays, taught dramatic literature and wrote and published fiction and non-fiction works.

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Breaking News: Maori Queen Dies At Turangawaiwai, Tuesday, 15 August 2006, 7:40 pm. (See the whole article on Scoop).

WELLINGTON (Reuters) — Tens of thousands of New Zealanders gathered today to bury the Maori queen, one of the country’s most respected indigenous leaders, and celebrate the inauguration of her son as her successor. The tribal home of Dame Te Atairangikaahu, who died of kidney failure last Tuesday, aged 75, was overflowing as Maori of many tribes, New Zealand and Pacific political leaders, and many others of different races attended her funeral ceremony. (Read all on Canada.com).

1931 – 2006, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, MAORI Queen – New Zealand

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