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<h2 class="node-title">Joint Statement on the Occasion of
Indigenous Peoples' Day 2018</h2>
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<div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">09
October 2018 -<font size="-2">
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.addameer.org/news/joint-statement-occasion-indigenous-peoples-day-2018">http://www.addameer.org/news/joint-statement-occasion-indigenous-peoples-day-2018</a></font><br>
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<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt;
margin-bottom: 0pt;"><strong><span
id="docs-internal-guid-79bac795-7fff-3464-63bf-f9fe709263f2"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Palestinian Support for Indigenous Peoples’ Day Commemorations and Historical Justice from Palestine to Turtle Island</span></span></strong></p>
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<strong>In August 2018, several Palestinian human rights
organizations attended The Red Nation’s annual conference in
Albuquerque, New Mexico.</strong></div>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit;
vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding:
0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;
background-color: transparent;">We, the undersigned
Palestinian human rights and community organizations, state as
follows:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit;
vertical-align: baseline;"> </p>
<ol style="margin: 0px 1.5em 1.5em 0px; padding-right: 0px;
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baseline;">
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin:
0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit;
vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">In
August 2018, several Palestinian human rights
organizations attended The Red Nation’s annual conference
in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Red Nation, a community
organization dedicated to Indigenous liberation, extended
an invitation to Palestinian civil society to participate
in the conference, exchange strategies for securing human
rights and historical justice, and develop shared language
around systems of oppression as well as future visions of
decolonization and self-determination.</span></p>
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<ol start="2" style="margin: 0px 1.5em 1.5em 0px; padding-right:
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin:
0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit;
vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">October
8, 2018 marks Indigenous Peoples’ Day, officially
celebrated in the United States as Columbus Day. This day
marks the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 to
indigenous lands in what is now known as the ‘Americas’,
and the arrival of foreign domination over its Native
peoples. Though recognized as a historical event, the
dehumanizing structures introduced by the European
settler-colonization of Turtle Island have allowed for the
elimination of the Native people, the confiscation of
Native land and the extraction of natural resources. Such
institutionalized hierarchy of human life continues to the
present day.</span></p>
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<ol start="3" style="margin: 0px 1.5em 1.5em 0px; padding-right:
0px; padding-left: 1.5em; border: 0px; font: inherit;
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<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin:
0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit;
vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Similarly,
the Nakba, Arabic for ‘Catastrophe’, is our rupture. In
1948, 85% of the Palestinian people were forcibly
displaced from their homeland and over 500 villages were
destroyed in order to establish the State of Israel. This
process of displacement and dehumanization of Palestinians
is ongoing. In addition to continued colonisation and
control of the land, Israel attempts to preclude
Palestinian collective memory through legal means. In
2011, for example, the Israeli Knesset (parliament) passed
the ‘Nakba Law’ in order to deny public funding to any
institution that </span><span style="margin: 0px; padding:
0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align:
baseline;">commemorates Israel’s Independence Day as a
“day of mourning,” violating the rights of the 1.6 million
Palestinians who are citizens of Israel to preserve their
history.</span></p>
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<ol start="4" style="margin: 0px 1.5em 1.5em 0px; padding-right:
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vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin:
0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit;
vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">While
recognizing the limitations of international law,
significant developments have been made in legal discourse
and practice to protect and promote the human rights of
indigenous peoples to full self-determination, including
the right to history, culture and heritage. Article 1 of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) recognizes the right of all people to
self-determination. The United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ (UNDRIP) was adopted by the
UN general assembly in 2007 to elaborate on existing human
rights standards as they apply specifically to indigenous
peoples. We call on all governments to fully implement
human rights instruments that ensure the survival, dignity
and well-being of indigenous peoples.</span></p>
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<ol start="5" style="margin: 0px 1.5em 1.5em 0px; padding-right:
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vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin:
0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit;
vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">We
acknowledge that any advancement for human rights is the
result of the “sumoud” (steadfastness) of the people and
their sustained efforts to transform the dehumanizing
institutions and structures of colonialism and oppression.
We support and celebrate the victories of indigenous
people on Turtle Island to change Columbus Day from a
holiday that glorifies colonialism, to a day that respects
and honours Native people. To date, 55 cities in the
United States now celebrate Indigenous People’s Day. We
welcome your victories and are reminded that community
mobilization is often the strongest path for achieving
human rights and collective liberation.</span></p>
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<ol start="6" style="margin: 0px 1.5em 1.5em 0px; padding-right:
0px; padding-left: 1.5em; border: 0px; font: inherit;
vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin:
0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit;
vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">Truth,
like accountability, is a virtue of justice. Centering the
lived experiences of those impacted by oppression lays a
foundation of collective knowledge upon which society can
construct just legal, social and political solutions. By
first publicly reclaiming critical facts about the
injustices of the past, restorative practices such as the
right of return, reparations for stolen land and labor,
and deep institutional changes can usher in a future of
justice and decolonization.</span></p>
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</ol>
<ol start="7" style="margin: 0px 1.5em 1.5em 0px; padding-right:
0px; padding-left: 1.5em; border: 0px; font: inherit;
vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin:
0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit;
vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">We
call on the international community to center Native
history as the necessary beginning of historical
reconciliation and a collectively emancipatory process of
decolonization.</span></p>
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<ol start="8" style="margin: 0px 1.5em 1.5em 0px; padding-right:
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<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin:
0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit;
vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;">In
solidarity, we celebrate Indigenous People’s Day and the
continued strength of the world’s indigenous peoples.</span></p>
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<p class="rtecenter" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border:
0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt=""
src="https://www.adalah.org/uploads/uploads/logos_Red_Nation.JPG"
style="margin: 5.76563px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font:
inherit; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 96%; width:
788px;"></p>
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