Remembering the founding of the militant and inspiring American Indian Movement July 28, 1968, and expressing our anger that brother Leonard Peltier is still in prison.
If you don’t know about this, go learn. If you do know about this, go share it.
Archive for the ‘AIM (Indian)’ Category
The Founding of American Indian Movement: Not Gone, Not Silent
Posted by Mike E on July 28, 2010
Posted in AIM (Indian), Indian, Leonard Peltier, Native people | 1 Comment »
35 Years Ago: The Shootout at Oglala
Posted by Mike E on June 28, 2010
The Pine Ridge reservation
Leonard Peltier, activist and leader of the American Indian Movement, has been in prison for decades — accused in the killing of two FBI agents at Oglala on June 26, 1975.
Join Kasama in demanding freedom for Leonard Peltier– in demanding that, at long last, simple justice be done from him and the Native peoples. He has now spent his life in federal prison for dreaming of liberation — unjustly railroaded and subjected to horrific conditions behind bards.
And join with us in telling the true story of the shootout of Oglala — and the workings of this system that condemned Leonard Peltier.
I originally wrote this article twelve years ago as a contribution to the Jericho ’98 Movement. And I have updated it and reedited it repeatedly since then.
It is infuriating that, today, this freedom fighter is still locked in prison, instead of walking the streets among us.
The Railroad of Leonard Peltier
by Mike Ely
For over 36 years the Indian freedom fighter Leonard Peltier has been a target of government attack. He’s been set up by FBI Cointelpro “dirty tricks,” attacked by federal SWAT teams on Indian land, subjected to a national manhunt, illegally smuggled across international borders, railroaded with manufactured evidence, denied religious rights, targeted for assassination in prison, denied basic medical attention and tortured with extreme isolation.
Leonard Peltier has now spent 33 hard years in prison–for the “crime” of defending Indian people from violent government attack. Though it was proven that the FBI manufactured the “evidence” that convicted Leonard of the death of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge reservation, each court appeal ended in new denials and new insults.
The U.S. government insists that there are, officially, no political prisoners in its dungeons. (Just as they insist “The U.S. does not torture.”)
The U.S. insists there are no political laws that target and punish speech, political activity, dissidents and rebels. But the truth is that the U.S. government has always targeted those who rise up against injustice — they massacred the Native people relentlessly, they assassinated key Native leaders, they have framed and persecuted those who dare to rise up and speak. And this story of Leonard Peltier is a living example of the techniques used to protect this system from exposure, resistance and revolution.
Posted in AIM (Indian), Indian, Leonard Peltier, Mike Ely, Native people, political prisoners, poverty, prison, racism | 1 Comment »
Video: “A Good Day To Die” Trailer
Posted by onehundredflowers on June 15, 2010
For more information about this film, go here.
Posted in AIM (Indian), Native people, video | Leave a Comment »
Howard Zinn: Good-bye Old Friend
Posted by onehundredflowers on January 27, 2010
Who told the unknown stories of the people? Who dared enter Mississippi in the days of the lynching tree?
Who spoke out against war after war after war? Who skewered the lies of the rich and imperial?
Who taught rooms filled with eager young faces, year after year? Who signed every petition, spoke out against every injustice?
Who helped invent the teach-in and the people’s history?
Who studied, and wrote, and spoke tirelessly for those who could not read, or write, or be heard?
Howard Zinn did. And now he is gone.
Who among his countless students, comrades and friends will now step to the podium? Who will now fill his place? How many of us will it take?
Good-bye old friend. We miss you already.
* * * * * * *
This was originally posted on boston.com.
Howard Zinn, historian who challenged status quo, dies at 87
By Mark Feeney, Globe Staff
Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist who was an early opponent of US involvement in Vietnam and a leading faculty critic of BU president John Silber, died of a heart attack today in Santa Monica, Calif, where he was traveling, his family said. He was 87.
“His writings have changed the consciousness of a generation, and helped open new paths to understanding and its crucial meaning for our lives,” Noam Chomsky, the left-wing activist and MIT professor, once wrote of Dr. Zinn. “When action has been called for, one could always be confident that he would be on the front lines, an example and trustworthy guide.”
Posted in >> analysis of news, African liberation, AIM (Indian), Black History, civil rights, genocide, Howard Zinn, labor history, slavery, USA | 12 Comments »
Black Seminoles: The Christmas Eve Freedom Fighters
Posted by Mike E on December 26, 2009
Fighters of northern Florida's "Negro Fort"
Thanks to Observer for posting this on Christmas eve. William Loren Katz is the author of many works on the African American struggle for liberation. The following is adapted from his book Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage, from which this article is adapted. His website:www.williamlorenkatz.com.
By William Loren Katz
This Christmas Eve marks the 172nd anniversary of a battle for liberty in 1837 on the banks of Lake Okeechobee, Florida, that helped shape the United States of America. An estimated 380 to 480 freedom-fighting African and Indian members of the Seminole nation threw back an advance of more than a thousand US Army and other troops led by Colonel Zachary Taylor, a future President of the United States. The Seminoles so badly mauled the invaders that Taylor ordered his soldiers to fall back, bury their dead, tend to their wounded . . . and ponder the largest single US defeat in decades of Indian warfare. The battle of Lake Okeechobee is not a story you will find in school or college textbooks so it has slipped from the public consciousness. But in a country that cherishes its freedom-fighting heritage, Black and Red Seminoles of Florida sent everyone a message that deserves to be remembered and honored.
Around 1776 the Seminole nation had reconstituted itself as a multicultural nation by aligning itself with escaped Africans who had long lived in the penninsula. Beginning in the early 18th century hundreds of African Americans had fled bondage in Georgia and the Carolinas to find refuge and a productive life in Florida. Though Spain claimed Florida, it was an ungoverned land in which Native Americans roamed freely as did slave runaways, pirates and whites who rejected the limitation established by European invaders.
Posted in AIM (Indian), Black History, imperialism, Native people, racism | 7 Comments »
Video: U2 “Native Son”
Posted by onehundredflowers on December 6, 2009
H/T to Rowland Keshena.
The lyrics to this song were inspired by political prisoner, Leonard Peltier. According to producer Steve Lillywhite, Bono felt uncomfortable singing these lyrics in front of an audience, so the politics were stripped out, new lyrics were written, the song was re-arranged and it eventually morphed into the more familiar [and less aesthetically interesting] hit “Vertigo.”
U2 has long been regarded as a politically engaged band [Bono is really the political driving force of the band] that has previously taken stands on war in Ireland, African famine, US intervention in Central America, and more, from a combined viewpoint of pacifism and humanitarianism. In the last two decades, they have been less politically vocal in their music. They haven’t abandoned politics altogether, but their outlook hasn’t really changed.
This song may be the first recorded instance of them addressing a politically controversial issue that may have put them at odds with the US government, and perhaps some of Bono’s corporate allies in his individual political efforts. Even though they backed away from releasing this, it was a notable step.
And it rocks.
Lyrics:
Posted in >> analysis of news, AIM (Indian), Leonard Peltier, music, Native people, video | 5 Comments »
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
Posted by Mike E on November 13, 2009
Film on William Kunstler — the beloved and notorious legal defender of revolutionaries and radicals — in a look back on his life created by his daughters, Sarah and Emily Kunstler.
Screening dates >> Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in >> analysis of news, AIM (Indian), anti-racist action, antiwar, Attica, Black Panthers, capitalism, civil rights, conspiracy, death penalty, fascism, New Com. Movement, police, political prisoners, prison, Puerto Rico Libre, racism, SDS, torture, video, Vietnam War, war on drugs, war on terror | 3 Comments »
Parole Hearing: Free Leonard Peltier!
Posted by John Steele on July 25, 2009
Leonard Peltier, the political prisoner imprisoned for more than 30 years, will have his first parole hearing in 15 years this Tuesday, on July 28.
For more information the several sites devoted to this miliant of the Native peoples struggle, his political life, his outrageous persecution and frameup (here and here, and on Kasama.
The parole hearing will be held in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and this will also be the site of a protest and vigil. More informartion here.
A sunrise prayer vigil and rally will also be held in San Francisco, at the Federal Building 450 Golden Gate Avenue, beginning at 6am and continuing until 3pm.
* * * * * *
Following is a letter recently written by Leonard Peltier to friends and supporters.
Greetings my friends and relatives,
I want to start off this statement or speech or whatever you want to call it by saying again as I’ve said before thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting me and for standing up for right wherever you are. I can’t express to you in words how extremely grateful I am not just to the people of America but to the people all over the world who have supported the cause of Indian people and myself.
Posted in >> analysis of news, AIM (Indian), Human rights, Indian, Leonard Peltier, political prisoners | 10 Comments »
Video: Blackfire “It Ain’t Over”
Posted by onehundredflowers on July 4, 2009
Posted in AIM (Indian), Native people | Leave a Comment »
Mike Ely: The Railroad of Leonard Peltier
Posted by Mike E on June 15, 2009
Cheyenne Assimilation, painted by Linda D., 1993
Join Kasama in demanding freedom for Leonard Peltier– in demanding that, at long last, simple justice be done from him and the Native peoples. Write the Parole Board and sign this petition urging his release.Remember: the forces opposed to his freedom are also mobilizing.
Petitions are also being circulated urging clemency and urging Congress to investigate FBI misconduct on Pine Ridge and the “reign of terror” that existed between 1973 and 1976.
This article was written ten years ago as part of the Jericho ’98 Movement. It is infuriating that, today, more than ten years later, this freedom fighter is still locked in prison, instead of walking the streets among us. (Originally published in the Revolutionary Worker, issue #949. It has been updated and reedited by the author.)
The Railroad of Leonard Peltier
by Mike Ely
For over 36 years the Indian freedom fighter Leonard Peltier has been a target of government attack. He’s been set up by FBI Cointelpro “dirty tricks,” attacked by federal SWAT teams on Indian land, subjected to a national manhunt, illegally smuggled across international borders, railroaded with manufactured evidence, denied religious rights, targeted for assassination in prison, denied basic medical attention and tortured with extreme isolation.
Leonard Peltier has now spent 33 hard years in prison–for the “crime” of defending Indian people from violent government attack. Though it was proven that the FBI manufactured the “evidence” that convicted Leonard of the death of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge reservation, each court appeal ended in new denials and new insults.
The U.S. government insists that there are, officially, no political prisoners in its dungeons. (Just as they insist “The U.S. does not torture.”)
The U.S. insists there are no political laws that target and punish speech, political activity, dissidents and rebels. But the truth is that the U.S. government has always targeted those who rise up against injustice — they massacred the Native people relentlessly, they assassinated key Native leaders, they have framed and persecuted those who dare to rise up and speak. And this story of Leonard Peltier is a living example of the techniques used to protect this system from exposure, resistance and revolution.
Posted in >> analysis of news, AIM (Indian), civil liberties, cointelpro, Indian, Leonard Peltier, Mike Ely, military, Native people, police, political prisoners, prison | 13 Comments »
Free Leonard Peltier!
Posted by John Steele on June 11, 2009
For anyone politically alive in the early 1970s, the burgeoning American
Indian Movement and its actions was one of the inspiring “light the sky” movements of the time. The occupation of Alcatraz, 1969-1971. Trail of Broken Treaties, 1972. Takeover of the Statue of Liberty, 1973. And the occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973. It was this last action which brought forth an absolutely brutal government response, described in this article.
Leonard Peltier, a leader in this movement and this action, railroaded and imprisoned in its aftermath, remains in prison to this day.
Thanks to Hans Bennett for forwarding this article to Kasama. A Spanish translation follows the article in English.
Leonard Peltier: Silence Screams
by Carolina Saldaña
The Message
Silence, they say, is the voice of complicity.
But silence is impossible.
Silence screams.
Silence is a message,
just as doing nothing is an act.
Let who you are ring out and resonate
in every word and deed.
Yes, become who you are.
There’s no sidestepping your own being
or your own responsibility.
What you do is who you are.
You are your own comeuppance.
You become your own message.
You are the message.
In the spirit of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier
33 years behind bars!
Native American artist, writer, and activist Leonard Peltier––one of the most widely recognized political prisoners in the world––has spent more than 33 years in some of the cruelest prisons in the United States, unjustly condemned to a double life sentence for the shooting death of two FBI agents in 1975. His situation is now aggravated by health problems.
At the age of 64, he keeps right on struggling for the rights of indigenous people from his cell in the federal prison at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He’s contributed to the establishment of libraries, schools, scholarships, and battered women’s shelters among many other projects. In February of 2009 he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the sixth consecutive year.
“My crime’s being an Indian. What’s yours?”
Posted in >> analysis of news, AIM (Indian), Native people, political prisoners | 9 Comments »
