Viola Wilkins: INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER FEBRUARY 4, 2012

28.11.11

From the Tacoma Chapter, LPDOC

INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER
FEBRUARY 4, 2012

The Case Of Leonard Peltier

After a conflict between the Lakota people and the U.S. government and
corporate interests a peace treaty was signed and the great Lakota
reservation was created in the late 19th century. That peace treaty
meant nothing to U.S. interests, for its terms were violated from
almost the moment it was signed. Those interests continued to steal
more Lakota land wherever they found gold and other minerals that they
wanted. At the same time, they sought to destroy the Lakota way of
life. U.S. interests outlawed Lakota religion and massacred the Lakota
at Wounded Knee in an act of religious suppression. U.S. interests
kidnapped Lakota children and placed them in internment, in schools
where they were held for years away from their families, while their
language and traditions were being beaten out of them. U.S. interests
carried out a secret forced program of sterilization of Lakota women.
Then, in the 1920s, acting upon the interests of oil and mineral
companies, the U.S. forced a 'government' entity upon the Lakota
people, to be controlled by those corporate and U.S. interests.

In the late 1960s uranium was found in the northwest section of the Pine
Ridge Lakota Reservation. The U.S. interests wanted that uranium for
their weapons of mass destruction and nuclear power plants.

The U.S. interests knew that the Lakota people would not give up any
more of their land willingly: they had already refused to take payment
for the Black Hills, stolen from them for its gold. U.S. interests then
set out to suppress all possible resistance to further theft. That led
the resisters??? to request the help of the American Indian Movement
(AIM). Upon a request by Lakota Elders, a stand was taken at Wounded
Knee, on the Pine Ridge reservation of the Lakota people.

In the two and a half years after what became known as Wounded Knee II
there was a 'Reign of Terror' the resisters on Pine Ridge was forced to
suffer. Whole villages were shot up, people were run off the road, many
Native people were wounded and over 67 of them were murdered. The
Lakota people again asked AIM for help and an AIM encampment was set
up. Most of the people in that encampment were from Northwest AIM. And
Leonard Peltier was one of them.

The AIM people were under considerable oppression and lived there daily
in danger from the death squad (they called themselves the Goon Squad).
One day two cars came speeding onto the land of their encampment, in the
same manner that earlier drive-by shootings by the death squad had taken
place on Pine Ridge. The AIM members there that day defended themselves
from what they saw as another murderous attack. In the firefight that
took place two FBI agents and one AIM member died.

Norman Zigrossi, head of the local FBI office at the time, defended the
illegal actions, saying, ???Indians are a conquered nation and the FBI
is merely acting as a colonial police force.???  He went on, ???When
you???re conquered, the people you???re conquered by dictate your
future.???

It is clear that the attack upon the AIM encampment was planned to start
a conflict to draw away resistance to the illegal signing away of Lakota
land that had taken place in Washington, D.C. at that time. Before the
firefight, hundreds of U.S. Government agents were brought on to Pine
Ridge reservation, the roads leading to the AIM encampment were blocked
before the firefight and local hospitals were given notice to expect
casualties.

In the first trial of two AIM members, who had been in the firefight at
their encampment, the jury came back with a verdict of not guilty by
reason of self-defense.

The U.S. interests then put all their efforts into convicting Leonard
Peltier. They fabricated evidence, intimidated witnesses and illegally
changed judges, settling on one who would not allow Leonard???s lawyers
to present his case of self-defense.

Through appeals, Leonard???s lawyers have been able to disprove the case
against him to the point that the U.S. Government prosecutors have
stated that they don???t know what role Leonard played in the
firefight-- he was just there that day and thus by default aided and
abetted in the deaths of the agents. It can be reasoned that since the
first two AIM members were found not guilty by reason of self-defense,
then Leonard has been in prison all these years for aiding and abetting
an act of self-defense!

Much of our focus should be on FBI political repression, COINTELPRO, and
how they are connected to Leonard???s case, for the FBI has been
continually be used as the U.S. Government???s and corporate
interests??? Political Police Force.

As you read this, Leonard???s lawyers struggle to get all the documents
that the FBI has withheld in his case. The FBI claims it needs to
withhold those documents to protect national security. We need to ask,
???Whose national security needs to be protected from the truth????
Given that documents already received by the defense team have exposed
the U.S. Government???s frame-up of Leonard to the point that the
government???s lawyers have had to admit that there is no evidence
connecting him directly to the deaths of the FBI agents, and have shown
that the FBI took illegal, aggressive actions to suppress the right of
Native people to organize to air their grievances, there is no doubt
that documents still withheld will show further evidence of FBI illegal
actions.

Even the courts have recognized the repressive nature of the government
actions against AIM and Leonard. Judge Heaney stated, ???The United
States Government overreacted at Wounded Knee. Instead of carefully
considering the legitimate grievances of the Native Americans, the
response was essentially a military one, which culminated in the deadly
firefight on June 26, 1975.???

And in 2003 the Tenth Circuit Court found that, ???Much of the
government???s behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation and in its
prosecution of Mr. Peltier is to be condemned. The government withheld
evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not disputed.???

Even with this acknowledgment Leonard has been in prison for over 28
years. Leonard is not in prison based upon the laws of this land, for
the courts have stated over and over again that the U.S. government has
violated those laws in Leonard???s case. Leonard Peltier is in prison
for one reason and one reason alone, and that is because it is in the
interests of the few to keep him locked up: because he represents the
essence of this land, the wrong upon which the United States was
established, a simple truth which has to be recognized before the
country can ever be sound. Leonard suffers under the same interests
that hung Chief Leschi, the same interests that massacred the Lakota at
Wounded Knee, the same interests that are behind many of the wars around
the world, the same interest behind the WTO, the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund, the same interests that strips our schools
of basic funds, that strip you of your unemployment benefits and
overtime pay, and the same interests that we all find ourselves
struggling against in our common pursuit of peace and well-being.
Justice for Leonard and the end to political repression by the FBI will
only come from the organized spirit of solidarity of all people
struggling in their true interests.

Illegal actions by the FBI should be the concern of all American people
who believe in social justice, because Leonard was not and will not be
the only victim of political repression.  Among those that were
targeted by the FBI???s COINTELPRO were: Martin Luther King, Jr. and
other civil rights activists and organizations including the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Jesse
Jackson (note that the FBI also carried out intimidation of Jackson
supporters in the south when he ran for U.S. president), Cesar Chavez
and the United Farm Workers (UFW), the National Lawyer???s Guild,
antinuclear weapons campaigns (SANE-Freeze), the National Council of
Churches, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), antiwar
organizations, the alternative press, student organizations including
the National Students Association (TNSA) and Students for a Democratic
Society (SDS), environmental, anti-racism and feminist organizations,
the alternative media,GI organizations, the Industrial Workers of the
World, organizations of self-determination for people of color, and
Native organizations such as the American Indian Movement (AIM).

The political repression carried out by the FBI has never ended. It was
seen this year with the FBI???s intimidation of antiwar protesters who
planned to protest at the national conventions of the two major
political parties. Though the FBI claimed it needed more power, money
and agents to deal with the threat of terrorism after 9-11, the agency
still had the time, money, and forces to harass people who questioned
the war in Iraq.

The same drive to acquire enormous profits that keep this country in
Iraq over the opposition of its own people is also what led to the U.S.
Government???s suppression of traditional indigenous people, AIM and in
its frame-up of Leonard Peltier.

And as to making connections, the war on Iraq was justified by using
false documents, lies about weapons of mass destruction and sham
connections to terrorists. That is the same tactic the U.S. Government
used in its suppression of AIM and in its frame-up of Leonard Peltier.
The government used the war in Iraq in the interest of bringing global
U.S. company???s huge profits, and on the Pine Ridge reservation that
same government carried out its repression in the interest of U.S.
energy corporations.

We call on you as sisters and brothers to join us for THE INTERNATIONAL
DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER, LEONARD PELTIER MARCHES AND
RALLIES FOR CLEMENCY, FEBRUARY 4. 2012, either at the Tacoma Regional
March, or by organizing a march and rally where ever you maybe in the
world, as we send the message: We will not give up! We will not
surrender! We will continue to stand for justice for Leonard Peltier
and for justice for all that he represents for as long as it takes to
set him free! Our strength is building and time is on our side, the
sweep of justice is moving throughout the world and we are a part of
that great wave of truth and justice. Please join with us on February
4,  2012 for a tremendous show of solidarity, a march and rally in
Unified Solidarity for Justice for Leonard Peltier. All of us working
together will free Leonard Peltier.

In The Spirit Of Crazy Horse
Tacoma Chapter,  Leonard Peltier Offense/Defense Committee
Susan Morales
Steve Hapy
Arthur J. Miller

  For donations for the NW Region March: Please make checks payable to
the Leonard Peltier Defense/Offense Committee (mark them for NW March)
and send them to: Tacoma Chapter LPODC, P.O. Box 5464, Tacoma, WA
98415.

TACOMA CHAPTER, LPDOC
P.O. BOX 5464, TACOMA, WA 98415-0464
bayou@blarg.net

LINKS
Join Tacoma Chapter LPDOC on facebook at:
http://facebook.com/tacoma.lpdoc

Subscribe to: Northwest Peltier Support at:
nwpeltiersupport-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

For more information: www.whoisleonardpeltier.info
March web site; http://leonardpeltiermarch.wordpress.com/

On the web
http://zinelibrary.info/international-day-solidarity-leonard-peltier-feb-4-2011-fliers-and-info

Two page flier for NW Regional March:
http://zinelibrary.info/files/Peltier_March_2011.pdf
One page flier for NW Regional March:
http://zinelibrary.info/files/Peltier_March_2001_info.pdf
Portland flier for NW Regional March:
http://zinelibrary.info/files/Portland_Peltier_Flier.pdf
March statements and flier:
http://zinelibrary.info/files/Peltier_March_2001_info.pdf

The Case of Leonard Peltier - short summary www.youtube.com
LPDOC NW Regional Organizer & Tacoma LPDOC Chapter member Arthur Miller
speaking about the case history of political prisoner Leonard Peltier.

LPDOC: Constitutional Violations in the Peltier Case:
http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/violations.htm

Labels: Aboriginal, Activism, americas, Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, indigenous activism, Leonard Peltier