Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism
Final Narrative Annual Report - January 1 to December 31, 2005

Program Activities
January - Both staff members participated in `A Ke A`a: Strengthen the Root, an Indigenous speaking tour on genetic engineering in Hawai`i tour with Maori GE activists, Drs. Cherryl Smith and Paul Reynolds, and several Native Hawaiian activists. The week-long tour was organized by the KAHEA-Environmental Alliance, Hawaii Genetic Engineering Action Group (GEAN) and the GMO Free Hawaii and traveled to venues on the islands of Kaua`i, Maui, O`ahu, Moloka`i, and Hawai`i (Big Island). The speakers also held a legislative briefing for the Hawai`i State Legislature.

February – The Director screened The Leech and the Earthworm and Q&A for two audiences organized by Midwest Soaring in Chicago.
Both staff members participated with the International Indigenous Biodiversity Forum (the Indigenous caucus) at the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Tenth Meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) in Bangkok, Thailand, particularly focusing on discussions relating to Genetic Use Restrictive Technologies (GURTs/Terminator Technology) and development of the Island Biodiversity Programme of Work as it related to access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing.
Both staff members participated with the International Indigenous Biodiversity Forum (the Indigenous caucus) at the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Third Meeting of the Working Group on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) in Bangkok, Thailand, advocating for the recognition and protection of Indigenous peoples’ rights within the development of an international regime on ABS. In the preparatory work, Le`a conducted a workshop on the ABS issue for the Indigenous Women’s Biodiversity Network and both staff did a workshop for the full Indigenous caucus on ABS issues.
During a side-event hosted by the Edmonds Institute, both staff members participated on a panel with other authors of chapters in The Catch: Perspectives in Benefit Sharing to coincide with the release of the book. Debra and Le`a co-authored “The BS in Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS): Critical Questions for Indigenous Peoples,” which provides a critical analysis of the pitfalls and failures of benefit sharing arrangements.

March - Le`a presented on a panel at the Indigenous Thematic Planning Conference for the World Summit on Information Society held in Ottawa about Indigenous peoples concerns regarding conflicts between intellectual property rights and traditional knowledge in the context of information and communication technology.
Le`a guest lectured to students at Occidental College about biocolonialism in a class on imperialism and globalization.
Le`a met with the Educational Committee chair, Department of Education director, and Legal Counsel of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians to discuss the threats to protection of their language and cultural property and discussed the Indigenous Research Protection Act (IRPA) as a means of safeguarding their interests.
The director conducted a workshop on biocolonialism, and served as a plenary speaker at the INCITE: Women of Color Against Violence conference in New Orleans on March 11-13.
The director conducted a workshop on biodiversity and genetic resources for a national meeting of the Native Women’s Association of Canada in their role with the National Aboriginal Committee on Species at Risk on March 31 in Ottawa.

April – IPCB launched its campaign against the Genographic Project of the National Geographic Society and IBM Corporation seeking to collect 100,000 Indigenous DNA samples. IPCB spearheaded information dissemination to Indigenous and support networks globally.
As part of Native American week at the Idaho State University, the Director spoke about biocolonialism and the Genographic Project.
Debra and Le`a’s article, “The Right of Indigenous Peoples to Permanent Sovereignty Over Genetic Resources and Associated Indigenous Knowledge,” was re-published in Te Raweke Ira: Genes, Genetics and Nanotechnology, which is a part of a series of readers examining critical issues in contemporary Maori society published by the International Research Institute for Maori & Indigenous Education.
The director conducted an interview on the Genographic Project for Aboriginal Voices radio in Toronto, and the Food Fight radio program based in Melbourne, Australia (available at: http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2005/07/94009.php). We also did interviews for journalists writing for: Wired News, the New Zealand Herald, Tierramerica, The Nation (Bangkok), Ciencia (Sao Paulo, Brazil), WBAI First Voices Radio (NYC), and All Nations News (Toronto).
The director conducted a workshop for a large gathering of Kahnawake Mohawk community members concerned about the potential impacts of intellectual property rights over aspects of the Mohawk language in a proposed deal with the Microsoft Corporation in development of a Mohawklanguage-based operating system.

May – An on-line petition to oppose the Genographic Project was launched on the IPCB website in both Spanish and English.
The Leech and the Earthworm was screened at MIT in Cambridge as part of Cultural Survival’s film series followed by Q&A by both staff members.
Both staff members attended the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues fourth meeting in New York and submitted an intervention joined by nine other Indigenous peoples organizations calling attention to the threats of both the proposed international regime on access and benefit sharing under the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Genographic Project. Information on the Genographic Project was also disseminated to Indigenous participants at the Forum.

June – Le`a attended the Call of the Earth/Llamado de la Tierra Dialogue on Pacific Experiences & Perspectives on the Use and Ownership of Genes held in Suva, Fiji and made presentations on the Convention on Biological Diversity, World Intellectual Property Organization and the Genographic Project. Conference papers on these topics were also submitted for future publication.
The Director delivered a keynote speech at the annual tribal EPA conference to an audience of tribal environmental managers in Grand Traverse, Michigan about how tribes can assert their rights and protect themselves from biopiracy.
The Director published an article entitled “High-Tech Invasion: Biocolonialism” in Paradigm Wars: Indigenous Peoples’ Resistance to Economic Globalization, a special report of the International Forum on Globalization.
Both staff members made an informational presentation to the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council to discuss current issues in genetic research, and to encourage formal adoption of the Indigenous Research Protection Act (IRPA). Staff will be following up with the Tribe’s environmental program in the drafting of protection codes.

July – The IPCB was granted observer status to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore.
The staff, and board members including Jon Marks, George Annas, Marla Big Boy, Judy Gobert, and Stuart Newman attending a meeting with the National Geographic Society’s Genographic Project team members on July 15, 2005 in Washington DC.
The Director and board member, Jon Marks, conducted interviews with Jamie Shreve who is writing a story on the Genographic Project for the international edition of National Geographic Magazine.
The Director conducted an interview with Mariana Budjeryn for an article about the Genographic Project for the upcoming issue of Cultural Survival Quarterly, a magazine published by Cultural Survival based in Cambridge, MA.
Both staff members also co-authored an article entitled: Collecting Blood, Preserving Culture? Genographic Project Sparks Indigenous Opposition, for publication in the upcoming issue of Cultural Survival Quarterly.
The staff provided a draft resolution opposing the Genographic Project to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council which was approved by the Council on July 26, 2005.

October - Both staff members were invited to attend two meetings in Brasilia, Brazil. The first meeting was with the Brazilian Indigenous caucus to help them prepare for the upcoming CBD's COP8 scheduled to take place in March 2006 in Curitiba, Brazil. The director was also an invited to be a speaker at a seminar titled 'Crossroads of Modernity: the struggle of the Indigenous populations of Brazil in the future of CDB' organized by the Brazilian environmental NGO, Instituto-Socio Ambiental, and Instituto Indígena Brasileiro para Propriedade Intelectual (INBRAPI). It was a great opportunity to meet and develop relationships with our Indigenous hosts of the upcoming COP8.
Both staff members participated in a film screening of “The Leech and the Earthworm” with a Q&A afterward at Seattle University sponsored by the Academic Salon “The Body”, and also did a class lecture for Professor Margaret Chon class at Seattle University's Law School on Oct. 12-13.
The director was invited to speak on the topic “Acts of Self-Determination and Self-Defense: Indigenous Peoples Responses to Biocolonialism” at the University of Winnipeg as part of the Harry Daniels Distinguished Lecture Series sponsored by the Aboriginal Self-Governance Program on Oct. 21
The director served as a plenary speaker at the National Conference on the Ethics of Biomedical Research and Practice conference held in Grand Forks, ND on Oct 24-27.

December - Both staff presented a paper titled ”Protecting Indigenous Knowledge in a Globalized World” at the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education in Hamilton, Aotearoa in Dec. 2005.
The director was invited to speak at the Te Papa Lecture Series held in conjunction with “The Genetic Revolution” exhibition on the topic “Indigenous Peoples and Biocolonialism: Genetics and Justice in the Twenty-first Century” at the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand in Wellington, Aotearoa.

Media Coverage:
The Director did an interview with Elaine Brum, a journalist writing for Epoca Magazine, one of the biggest weekly news magazine in Brazil, on the Genographic Project. The same magazine later did an article about IPCB and other non-profit organizations that fight for human rights around
the world.
The director did in interview for Indy Media in Melbourne on the Genographic Project in July 2005. These interviews can be heard at the following link:
http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2005/07/94009.php
The director did an interview with Daniel Browning, producer of the 53-minute weekly program called "Awaye!" for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, based in Sydney in August 2005. Information about this program can be seen at the following link: www.abc.net.au/message/radio/awaye
The director did an interview with Cheryl McKenzie, the Producer/Host of APTN National News at the Aboriginal Peoples' Television Network in Winnepeg, Manitoba in Nov. 2005.
The director did an interview with Chris Williams, a journalist with New Internationalist magazine for a story featuring the IPCB on the “Making Waves” feature section of the Dec 2005 issue of the magazine.
Publications:
Debra Harry authored a chapter entitled, “Acts of Self-Determination and Self-Defense: Indigenous Peoples Responses to Biocolonialism,” as a contribution to a new book entitled “Rights and Liberties in the Biotech Age,” (edited by Sheldon Krimsky and Peter Shorett, Roman and Littlefield, 2005), which is an original volume of essays by leading scientists, policy experts and public interest advocates on the impact of genetic technologies on individual and collective rights.
Debra Harry and Le`a Kanehe, authored a chapter entitled “The BS in Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS): Critical Questions for Indigenous Peoples,” that provides a critical analysis of the pitfalls and failures of benefit sharing arrangements for publication in “The Catch: Perspectives in Benefit Sharing” published by the Edmonds Institute 2005.
Debra Harry and Le`a Kanehe, “The Right of Indigenous Peoples to Permanent Sovereignty Over Genetic Resources and Associated Indigenous Knowledge,” was re-published in Te Raweke Ira: Genes, Genetics and Nanotechnology, which is a part of a series of readers examining critical issues in contemporary Maori society published by the International Research Institute for Maori & Indigenous Education.
Debra Harry, “High-Tech Invasion: Biocolonialism” in “Paradigm Wars: Indigenous Peoples’ Resistance to Economic Globalization,” a special report of the International Forum on Globalization 2005.
Le`a Kanehe authored a paper titled “From Kumulipo: I Know Where I Come From-An Indigenous Pacific Response to the Genographic Project” for presentation at the “Pacific Experiences & Perspectives on the Use and Ownership of Genes” conference held in Suva, Fiji. The paper will be published in the conference proceedings by the Call of the Earth/Llamado de la Tierra.
Debra Harry and Le`a Kanehe co-authored a paper titled ”Protecting Indigenous Knowledge in a Globalized World” which has been submitted for publication in the UCLA Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture and Resistance.
Debra Harry and Le`a Kanehe co-authored an article entitled “Collecting Blood, Preserving Culture? Genographic Project Sparks Indigenous Opposition, for published in the December 2005 issue of Cultural Survival Quarterly.