"Protect Bones: Chief: Indian Remains Unearthed at Toronto Site,"
 The Gazette (Montreal), May 26, 2001, A18.
 ["TORONTO: An Ontario chief is outraged that hundreds of bones uncovered at a subdivision site in Canada's most populous city
 are not being protected by the government. "I'm outraged," Chief Charles Fox of the Assembly of First Nations said yesterday."]

 "Redskins Out, Red Hawks In at Parsippany School,"
 The Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 26, 2001.
 ["PARSIPPANY, N.J.: Red Hawks is in for Parsippany High School. The student body voted Friday on a new nickname to replace
 Redskins . . . . the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights urged schools to drop American Indian mascot names, which are considered offensive."]

 "Tribal Chairman Says Dialysis Patients Will Get a Hearing,"
 The Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 26, 2001.
 ["NEW TOWN, N.D.: People affected by the shutdown of the kidney dialysis unit here are demanding the tribal government pay
 them $10,000 for their pain and suffering. If they die, they want the tribe to pay their families another $100,000."]

 "Indians to Spend $100,000 to Support James Hahn,"
 The Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 26, 2001.
 ["LOS ANGELES: The Soboba Band of Mission Indians will spend $100,000 on a postcard campaign supporting mayoral
 candidate James Hahn. The Soboba Indians of San Jacinto presented their "independent expenditure campaign" to
 the city Ethics Commission late Thursday. The plan is to send two mailings of 120,000 postcards each, titled "Sex Crimes" and
 "Child Pornography" . . .Many say the campaign will attack Antonio Villaraigosa and his record in Sacramento on those two
 issues."]

 "Hawaiians Rally behind a Self-Government Bill,"
 Jennifer A. Dlouhy, The Seattle Post-intelligencer, May 26, 2001, A2.
 ["WASHINGTON: More than 100 years after America overthrew the Hawaiian Kingdom, Native Hawaiians are continuing to struggle
 for self-determination and to define themselves. The conflict has been raging for more than a century, but it became more intense
 last year after a Supreme Court ruling opened the door to challenges of the almost 200 federal programs thatprimarily benefit
 Native Hawaiians."]
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 FYI: News Items of Interest is a daily resource compiled by the H-AMINDIAN staff. It features a sampling of news stories
 concerning Native issues in Canada, the United States and Mexico. In order to comply with Academic Fair Use and copyright laws,
 only a summary of the news articles is offered here. We will not reproduce articles in whole. Only stories from the Candadian
 Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) offer a direct link to the article in question (the link follows immediately after the summary).
 However, online links to all of our sources are available at our website:
  http://www.asu.edu/clas/history/h-amindian/list.html. Your college, university, or public library may provide access to online data
 bases and services (such as Lexis-Nexis, ProQuest, or Dialog) with full-text versions of these and other stories. H-AMINDIAN is
 part of the H-NET family <http://www.h-net.msu.edu/> and is housed in the Department of History, Arizona State University
 <http://www.asu.edu>.
 

 Thousands of people opposed to the Navy using Vieques island as a target range gathered Monday outside the prison where
 38 people are being held for trespassing during recent military exercises. Police estimated at least 5,000 people gathered at the
 federal prison in suburban Guaynabo to hear speakers such as U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York. Last week, Rangel
 criticized a federal judge in Puerto Rico for sentencing the Rev. Al Sharpton to 90 days in jail for his Vieques arrest
 on May 1. Sharpton and three other New York politicians, who each received 40 days in jail in their hearing last week, were moved
 Friday to a prison in New York City.

 The 38 in Puerto Rico are serving sentences that range from 40 days to four months. Critics have said the sentences are too
 harsh for the misdemeanor charge. ``This is an American issue and we're going to solve it,'' Rangel said before the crowd.
 The Navy has used Vieques for exercises for six decades. Opposition grew after a civilian guard was killed on the range by two
 off-target bombs in 1999. The Navy has denied claims that the exercises pose a health threat, and says the training is vital for
 national security.

 Vieques residents will decide in a November referendum whether the Navy must leave by May 2003 or whether it can stay. If it is
 allowed to stay, it can resume using live ammunition, which it had stopped doing after the fatal accident. High-profile protesters
 such as environmental lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr., actor Edward James Olmos and U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois also
 were among the 180 people arrested for trespassing on Vieques to stall exercises. Their court dates have not yet been set.

 For more information email:  "Vieques Libre" <viequeslibre@viequeslibre.org> or visit their website,
 Vieques Libre - http://www.viequeslibre.org

 Rev. Sharpton Begins Hunger Strike
 By LEE UEHARA, Associated Press Writer
 NEW YORK (AP) -
 5/29/01
 
The Rev. Al Sharpton began a hunger strike in jail Tuesday to publicize the Navy bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of
 Vieques and his arrest protesting them, his lawyer said. ``Both his legal team and his family are concerned about Rev. Sharpton's
 health, but the hunger strike will continue until the release of the Vieques Four - as long as that takes,'' Sharpton's attorney,
 Sanford Rubenstein, said Tuesday.

 Sharpton was arrested in Puerto Rico with three other men - City Councilman Adolfo Carrion, state Assemblyman Jose Rivera and
 Bronx County Democratic Party chairman Roberto Ramirez - for taking part in protests May 1 against the Navy's use of Vieques for
 military exercises. The men have been dubbed the ``Vieques Four.''  Sharpton was sentenced to serve 90 days by a federal judge
 in Puerto Rico because of a prior conviction for civil disobedience. The other three men were each sentenced to 40 days. They are
 being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York.

 ``Rev. Sharpton is committed to keeping the focus of his imprisonment and the imprisonment of the Vieques Four on the issue of
 Vieques,'' said Rubenstein.  The Rev. T.L. Walker, who accompanied civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. to jail in the
 1960s, met with Sharpton on Monday afternoon, Rubenstein said.  Walker compared Sharpton's sentence with King's 40 years
 ago ``when he protested Rich's Department Store with a sit-in,'' Rubenstein said. ``The same thing has happened to Sharpton.
 He's been given twice the jail time just because he had a prior conviction for protesting over the Brooklyn Bridge.''

 Opposition to the bombing exercises grew after a civilian guard was killed on Vieques in 1999 by two off-target bombs. The Navy
 says the training is essential for national security.  Sharpton told The New York Times in Tuesday's editions that he would not
 eat until he was released.  Rubenstein also said that Sharpton and the other three men were denied their constitutional rights
 because they were not given the right or time to prepare a defense. The four men could be released as early as Tuesday, once an
 appeals court in Boston rules on whether the men can be released on bail while they appeal their convictions.

 For more information email:  "Vieques Libre" <viequeslibre@viequeslibre.org> or visit their website,
 Vieques Libre - http://www.viequeslibre.org

 ECUADOR UNDER SIEGE AGAIN
 By Bill Weinberg
 © 2001 Native Americas Journal
 
 A year after an alliance of Ecuador's Indians, labor unions and elements of the military brought down President Jamil Mahuad in a
 nationwide uprising, the Andean nation is back to the brink. President Gustavo Noboa, who took office in January 2000, has
 continued his predecessor's policies, and-as vowed-Indians have returned to militant protest across much of the country.
 
 Indian protesters are demanding repeal of new economic austerity measures announced by the Ecuadoran government in late
 December as part of an ongoing "structural adjustment program" by the International Monetary Fund. The measures include the
 removal of subsidies on cooking fuel and gasoline, causing steep price hikes in food and transportation.
 
 In January 2001, the Confederation of Indigenous Nations of Ecuador (CONAIE) started blockading roads in half of the country's 22
 provinces. Farm workers, students and others have joined in the protests, and the government has sent military forces to break up
 the blockades with tear gas and firearms, resulting in several Indian casualties and several hundred arrests.
 
 In response to the repression, indigenous organizations called for a national march on the nation's capital, Quito. The army
 patrolled the streets as some 10,000 Indians arrived in Quito to march over the span of several days. After gathering on the
 grounds of the Polytechnic University, the marchers were surrounded by troops-who cut off water and electricity,
 intermittently stopped food and medicine from being brought in and prevented protesters from leaving.
 
 Attempts at dialogue between protesters and the government have failed to deescalate the crisis. Indian leaders have presented a
 series of demands, including an end to the repression and an open dialogue on economic policy,
 and insist on meeting directly with President Noboa. When the government declared a state of national emergency on February 2,
 suspending civil rights, several dozen Indians responded by beginning a hunger strike.
 
 With Quito under siege, blockades and marches have nearly paralyzed 12 provinces. At least two Indians were killed when 300
 troops opened fire to break up the blockade of a bridge in the Amazon region on February 5. One of the dead was a 14-year-old.
 Some 20 others were wounded. Despite the attack, 5,000 indigenous people returned the next day to retake the bridge.
 
 According to a report by Project Underground, an indigenous-rights group based in California: "Media censorship has made it
 difficult to ascertain the extent of the mobilization and protest, particularly outside the capital, and to be certain of the number of
 people killed or wounded by military gunfire or the number arrested." Human rights activists in Ecuador say they have not seen this
 level of repression in their country in more than 20 years.
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