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|| * -- SPECIAL -- * April 24, 1998 * -- EDITION -- * ||
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* SPECIAL EDITION *
* * *
* NORTHWEST LEONARD PELTIER SUPPORT NETWORK *
P.O. BOX 5464
Tacoma, WA 98415-0464
E-mail: arthurmiller50@juno.com
Web: http://members.aol.com/turquoiswm/index.html
- Thursday, 23 April 1998 -
-----
_________________________________________________________________
RESISTING THE RACIST ANTI-TRIBAL CAMPAIGN
_________________________________________________________________
A Public Statement by the Northwest Leonard Peltier Support
Network. Please Distribute Widely.
*
The Northwest Leonard Peltier Support Network (NWLPSN) was
established five years ago at the request of Leonard Peltier and
the national Leonard Peltier Defense Committee. The NWLPSN is
made up of support groups and members at large throughout the
Northwest, and though the main focus of the NWLPSN is justice for
Leonard Peltier, it is also our desire to be helpful to the local
communities within our region.
It has become evident that there is an ongoing anti-tribal
campaign being conducted by extreme right wing elements, in many
cases using individuals and groups who remain unaware of the
hidden agenda. Because of the broad purpose and goals of the
NWLPSN, we feel that it is our duty to help build a network of
resistance to the elimination of tribal sovereignty.
Leonard Peltier himself sets the direction of his vast
support network, and has often urged his supporters to assist
both Native and non-Native peoples. He has given the following
statement about Sen. Slade Gorton's bill to do away with tribal
sovereign immunity (which Gorton has misleadingly titled the
"American Indian Equal Justice Act"):
This is the beginning of a step toward genocide of my
people. It is important that everyone be aware of the
seriousness of it, and contact local senators and congress
people to show their disagreement.
Since Sen. Gorton's bill is a major part of the anti-tribal
campaign, it is the duty and responsibility of the NWLPSN to take
Leonard's direction and help build resistance to the anti-tribal
campaign and its' racist backers.
Out of our support and respect for tribal sovereignty, the
NWLPSN will not be directly involved in internal tribal issues,
unless our aid on a particular problem is requested. Rather, it
is our intent to help build resistance to the interference and
attacks upon tribal sovereignty and treaty rights by research,
education, public rallies, direct confrontation, and networking
with all communities, human rights, labor and social justice
organizations.
The following important issues have led us to our decision
to help build a resistance network:
1. The long conflict over fishing and shell-fishing treaty
rights between property owners, sport and commercial
fishers, and the state of Washington, vs. the tribes.
2. The conflict over treaty hunting rights.
3. The interference of non-Native groups and individuals in the
right of the tribes to their self-determination in
developing economic enterprises that benefit their people on
sovereign tribal land.
4. The claims of some non-Native people that they are not
obligated to follow the health, safety and environmental
regulations of the tribes while they are on sovereign tribal
land, and that the tribes have no jurisdiction over the
conduct of any non-tribal people on sovereign tribal land.
5. The continuing efforts of politicians at the state and
national level (Slade Gorton and Jack Metcalf being the most
prominent in this state) to pass legislation to eliminate
tribal sovereignty and Native treaty rights.
6. The efforts by the State of Washington to impose state taxes
on sovereign tribal land.
7. The lack of objective and informative media coverage: the
daily print media and the TV news have consistently
portrayed the conflict(s) as being Native vs. non-Native,
without showing that many -- possibly even a majority -- of
non-Native people in this state are not anti-tribal. The
media portrays non-Native property owners, hunters, and
fishermen as victims of Native tribal treaty rights, while
never pointing out all that non-Natives have gained because
of the treaties.
The anti-tribal movement has become very vocal the last few
years in Washington. Some of their public actions have been:
1. The picketing by whites of a tribal smokeshop in Tacoma,
when nearby were several white-owned stores selling the same
products.
2. The white opposition to the Muckelshoot amphitheater by more
people than will ever be affected by it.
3. The elk hunters' rally in Olympia where the leader of the
500 white hunters stated that "if the state did not deal
with the Indians, they would".
4. The congressional hearing held in Tukwila on Gorton's bill,
where the "White Rights" crowd came out in force, yelling
racist slurs at Native people, and threatening some with
violence.
The anti-tribal movement is well organized and funded. The
following elements are known to be a part of this campaign. We
will begin with those who have the most to gain.
THE `WISE USE' MOVEMENT
Major timber, energy, mining, development and fishing
corporations that put their profits ahead of environmental
concerns, and want to open up all public and tribal lands for
exploitation helped created, direct, and fund what is called the
"Wise Use" movement. Ron Arnold, vice-president at Alan
Gottlieb's Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise (CDFE) in
Bellevue, is one of the movement's originators. The term "Wise
Use", as applied to land and resource use, came out of the
Multiple Use Strategy Conference in Reno, Nevada in August 1988.
The conference was sponsored by the CDFE. Among those in
attendance were Exxon, Louisiana-Pacific, Boise Cascade and
several right-wing extremist groups such as the American Freedom
Coalition and the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance (CERA), a
national alliance of anti-Indian groups. The Wise Use Agenda, a
movement handbook that was published after the Reno conference,
lists 25 goals including the immediate development of oil
resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the opening of
all national parks and wilderness areas to mining, and the
systematic harvest of "decaying" (read "old growth") trees on
national forest lands. The CDFE, as sponsor and backer of "Wise
Use", advocates overturning or severely restricting the
Endangered Species Act, wetlands preservation, the establishment
or continuance of National Parks and forests, game and bird
preserves, planned growth management, and in general any
restriction on corporate activity, regardless of the cost to the
environment and the public at large.
"Wise Use" can be considered as the anti-environmental arm
of the larger extreme right-wing agenda (with overlap into the
"property rights" arm of the movement -- see below), which
encompasses the entire anti-democratic spectrum of issues: the
fight to destroy affirmative action, limiting (non-white)
immigration, union-busting, civil rights, and in general the
campaign to destroy any protection that the government provides
individuals and communities against corporate power and greed.
NATIONAL ANTI-TREATY RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS
While anti-treaty rights organizations operate in many
states, they are linked both independently and through two
national organizations -- the Interstate Congress for Equal
Rights and Responsibilities (ICERR) and Protect Americans' Rights
and Resources (PARR). ICERR, founded in 1976, linked on-
reservation non-Native landowner opposition to tribal governments
with off-reservation non-Native sport and commercial fishermen
opposed to tribal treaty protected fishing rights. The
organization has received funding from the Joseph Coors
Foundation, an extreme right wing organization whose head is also
a board member of the Heritage Foundation. PARR, a Wisconsin-
based organization formed in 1987, has called for boycotts of
Native-owned businesses, opposition to any legal or political
decision that would recognize treaty rights, and was active
during the Wisconsin and Minnesota spearfishing rights struggles,
during which many Natives were subject to racial slurs, physical
attacks, and injuries. An independent Wisconsin environmental
organization characterized PARR's stance during the spearfishing
fight as "blatantly racist". PARR has friends in the extreme
right-wing coalition Alliance for America, which also supports
abolishing tribal sovereignty and "Wise Use". PARR staff member
Larry Peterson is also on the board of the Citizens Equal Rights
Alliance (mentioned above under "Wise Use").
NATIONAL `PROPERTY RIGHTS' ORGANIZATIONS
The cutting edge of the extremist right wing anti-government
agenda at federal, state, and local levels. From the top levels
of the Heritage Foundation, Alliance for America, etc., to state
and local groups, the "Property Rights" agenda is to restrict or
abolish all regulations and restrictions on private property
ownership and use. The movement bills itself as the friend of the
individual property owner, and has undertaken and funded numerous
legal cases and political campaigns against government
"interference"; however, not one of the hundreds of "Property
Rights" advocacy and funding groups in the United States has
ever, to my knowledge, represented individual property owners
against corporate interests.
UNITED PROPERTY OWNERS OF WASHINGTON (UPOW)
Where the "Wise Use", "Property Rights" and organized
anti-Native movements converge most strongly in Washington State.
UPOW, formed in 1989, was formerly known as the Steelhead and
Salmon Protective Association and Wildlife Network (S/SPAWN),
which the Environmental Working Group called "an anti-Indian
organization disguised as a fishermen's group". UPOW is a
coalition of groups and individuals, some of whom have been
actively involved in organized anti-Native and anti-tribal
activities for years. The group headed the legal and political
fight against tribal shell-fishing rights, along with their
co-counsel, the Defenders of Property Rights (DoPR). DoPR is a
extremist right wing "property rights" advocacy and funding group
whose board members include James Watt, Ed Meese, Robert Bork,
Sen. Orrin Hatch, and Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, and is
associated with the Heritage Foundation, the Alliance for
America, and other right-wing organizations.
THE `ELK HUNTERS'
This group first made a public appearance when approximately
500 of them held a rally at the steps of the state Capital in
Olympia. On that occasion they held signs calling for the
elimination of all treaties with the tribes, "White Men Have
Rights Too" and other prefabricated slogans. The leader of the
group, Mark Smith (who calls himself "a modern day Indian
fighter") issued the threat "if the state does not deal with the
Indians, we will!" Two weeks later, this group showed up -- along
with UPOW protesters -- at the congressional hearing in Tukwila,
where they placed their people on the roads leading to the
hearing site and at the entrance to the hearing. Many Native
people who had to pass them were met with racist slurs and other
insults. Inside the hearings an angry crowd responded to the
sound of a Native drum outside by jumping to their feet to sing
the Star Spangled Banner, and moments later stood again to shout
the Pledge of Allegiance despite the lack of a flag being present
to pledge allegiance to. When the Senate Committee entered the
room, Sen. Campbell admonished the crowd and told them that any
further disturbances would lead to their removal. Outside,
members of the NWLPSN maintained a vigil in support of tribal
sovereignty, where we were greatly outnumbered, and at times
surrounded by the racists. The situation became tense several
times: once when they argued with a Lakota activist, another time
when some of them verbally abused a Native Elder and NWLPSN
member, and later when they tried to block all view of our vigil
by walking a picket line in front of us. At one point Mark Smith
yelled into his bullhorn "do you know who is the chairman of this
hearing? He is an Indian, and we must stop that Indian". As the
hearing broke up many Native people joined our vigil, including a
number of school kids. A drum was set up and the racists tried to
drown out the drumming by singing the national anthem. Once the
Native people out numbered the racists they left. At another
Rally outside Fish & Wildlife Commission hearings in Olympia, the
crowd (again, 500 strong) chanted anti-Native slogans and carried
signs reading "State: Stop The Tribes Or We Will" and "New Treaty
Or Nothing."
RIGHT WING SO-CALLED CHRISTIAN MOVEMENTS
It is nothing new that far right wing racists use
Christianity as a cover for their agenda. In the anti-tribal
campaign using Christianity is rather easy given the historical
role that many Christian churches had in the eurocentric
conquest. Even today that role continues. The Christian-Patriot
Movement seems to be the most active in the anti-tribal campaign.
They basically believe in the rights of conquest of the White
Christian Nation. They are active in the "Wise Use" movement, and
actively helped organize far right wing rural militias. When one
of these militias in this state was organized (with the help of
the Montana Militia) they stated their anti-tribal beliefs. Next,
the Christian Identity Movement, this is the most extreme of the
right wing groups. Among their white supremacist ideas, is the
idea of the creation of an Aryan Nation, of white people only,
here in the northwest. Needless to say such an Aryan Nation would
mean the forced removal of the people of the Native Nations. The
Christian Identity Movement has been actively recruiting in the
South Puget Sound area. Then there is the Christian Coalition.
This organization, which is very strong in Washington, openly
sides with the "white property owners" and is very active in the
overall right wing agenda. Randy Tate, who is now the head of
these groups, was part of the right wing campaign to control
congress a few years back. He was an ally of Jack Metcalf and
Slade Gorton. In his congressional campaigns he openly sided with
the "white property owners".
The anti-democratic, extremist, racist right wing is like a
spider web with many connections between groups. The various
front groups are joined by shared memberships and ideology. All
the organizations and movements listed above, along with many
others, share the common goal of the elimination of tribal
sovereignty and treaty rights.
WHAT CAN BE DONE
The NWLPSN is committed to help build a resistance to the
racist anti-tribal campaign. We are seeking support, mutual
cooperation, and ideas from organizations and individuals with an
interest in tribal sovereignty, human rights, the environment,
labor, anti-racist issues, or any other area. Some of our
immediate concerns are:
1. Slade Gorton's bill that seeks to do away with tribal
immunity. It is a direct attempt to wipe out the tribes, and if
it passes it will open the tribes up to an orchestrated campaign
of lawsuits that will drain the tribes' financial resources. Sen.
Gordon stated to the press after the Tukwila hearing that his
goal is the elimination of tribal sovereignty and treaty rights.
This bill is a major step in that direction. Please write letters
opposing the "American Indian Equal Justice Act" to:
Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Chairman, Select Committee on
Indian Affairs, 380 Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC. Fax: 202-224-1933; E-Mail:
administrator@campbell.senate.gov
And to Sen. Slade Gorton, 730 Hart Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC 20510. Fax: 202-224-9393; E-Mail:
Senator_Gorton@gorton.senate.gov
And Sen. Patty Murray, 111 Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20510. Fax: 202-224-0238; E-Mail:
senator_murray@murray.senate.gov
Those who live in other states please write letters to the
senators of your state. Those who live outside of the U.S. please
write letters to the U.S. Embassy in your country.
2. The NWLPSN has begun a mobilization network called "THE
ANTI-RACIST EMERGENCY ACTION NETWORK" (AREAN). The purpose of
AREAN is to respond quickly to the public actions of the racist
anti-tribal campaign, for example the situations in Tukwila and
Olympia. (We would also like it clearly understood that the
NWLPSN is only responsible for the mechanics of the network: we
have always, and will continue to, invite all individuals and
organizations to participate in AREAN on a purely democratic
decision-making basis.) Write NWLPSN to sign-up for AREAN.
3. Come out and help spread the word about the May 9th, SUPPORT
TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY / "WASHINGTON GATHERING TO FIGHT RACISM" in
Olympia, WA. This is just the first public demonstration in our
mobilization of resistance to the anti-tribal campaign.
4. To be placed on our mailing list and/or to give a much
needed donation please contact: NWLPSN, 5201 Capital Blvd, Ste
119, Olympia, WA 98501. For more information: NWLPSN, P.O. Box
5464, Tacoma, WA 98415-0464, e-mail, arthurmiller50@juno.com. Or
visit our web page at:
http://members.aol.com/TurquoisWm/index.html
The NWLPSN is committed to doing all that it can to resist
the racist anti-tribal campaign. We know that there are people of
all communities who do not agree with the goals of the right wing
extremists and their agenda. We also understand that the racists
seek to isolate our communities in their individual attacks, and
that when they are successful in any one of their agenda issues
all communities lose. Thus we call for a united stand against
racism and the right wing agenda by all communities and social
justice organizations. "An Injury to one is an injury to all!"
In Solidarity,
Arthur J. Miller and Al Regan
NWLPSN
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