aim

send lawyers guns and money.....

Unfortunately for them all they have are empty words.

They are on the reservation subsequent to them agreeing to the terms of the treaties. Failure to hold to those terms means the government can re-take the land and force them to take one of three options: Leave the country immigrating to some other nation; immigrate to another reservation that hasn't violated it's treaties, or join mainstream society and become full US citizens.

The notion that they can remain on the reservation and thumb their noses at the US government is entirely laughable.

They can talk all the big talk they want they can announce that they are sovereign all day and night but, they better not break the terms of the treaties. I imagine that the Government will be immensely tolerant of all manner of hanky panky. After all shutting down the Res would be a very loud event.

As far as the UN resolutions and that crap from Vienna - - it's is without meaning. It is utterly worthless shit. The UN is not an authority. Never has been never will be. The UN resolutions are empty words, nothing more.

Thank you very much for this post, Shambhala.

This is the most positive news I've heard in this country for years ...
Provides some real hope ...

I've noticed with some mixed feelings that the Native Americans and their immense wisdom are pemanently ignored in this country - even by otherwise liberals. Almost nobody seems to notice that many elements of the American constitution (not many seem to really care about anyway) have their roots in the philosophies of the Native Americans, Thomas Jefferson was very enthusiastic about.

Flawed Attempts to Debunk Secession Abound
eeng.net/CS/blogs/smil...2/23/1036.aspx

This is NOT Means' gig.

The four member Lakota delegation traveled to Washington D.C. culminating years of internal discussion among treaty representatives of the various Lakota communities. Delegation members included well known activist and actor Russell Means, Women of All Red Nations (WARN) founder Phyllis Young, Oglala Lakota Strong Heart Society leader Duane Martin Sr., and Garry Rowland, Leader Chief Big Foot Riders. Means, Rowland, Martin Sr. were all members of the 1973 Wounded Knee takeover.

No tribal government has stepped up to debunk this.

If there were a reputable voice anywhere that could be summoned to discredit this, then you can bet your bottom dollar that it would be coming out; the national security state would see to it. The idea that someone can secede with that much territory from the United States is not one that those in power can afford to have spread. Much smaller efforts than this but of similar nature have been crushed immediately with tanks and helicopters, among other things, indicating that the U.S. government believes that ANY such effort is a threat.

Organizations and non-organized progressive outfits all over the world, and especially in America, are merely sitting back to see how this pans out and this lack of taking a stand may be what kills it. The media-military complex, I assure you, intends to ignore this and wait for the novelty of this particular news item to wear off but rest assured that potential plans to disrupt, intimidate, and even take out key people regarding all of this are in progress.

I can’t believe, to tell you the truth, that in this day and age I have to explain to people (as I have done for days at a variety of forums online) that sitting back and being a spectator in all of this will end up functioning as complicity with the undoing of this movement. They are taking the lead and the only media people or groups expressing solidarity, except for the considerable din of collective individuals online, are from other nations.

Of course this is typical. After all we sit fat in our own retirement-nation. If we just sit back and watch, forfeiting involvement, we ensure the continuation of the status quo.

I think too many of us think this is too good to be true and are looking for that, “Oh yeah…that’s the flaw!” It unburdens us from acting. Let us all sit and do nothing, including as many of the Lakota as can be convinced to do just that, and then marvel at how right we were that it didn’t materialize into anything. It’s called a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Key facts regarding all of this:

1. This is not a rumor; Putin has even chimed in on the side of the Lakota! The president of Bolivia has said that nation is intensely interested in this and Hugo Chavez has expressed solidarity. The Bush junta says it "opposes the measure."

2. The four member Lakota delegation traveled to Washington D.C. culminating years of internal discussion among treaty representatives of the various Lakota communities. Delegation members included well known activist and actor Russell Means, Women of All Red Nations (WARN) founder Phyllis Young, Oglala Lakota Strong Heart Society leader Duane Martin Sr., and Garry Rowland, Leader Chief Big Foot Riders. Means, Rowland, Martin Sr. were all members of the 1973 Wounded Knee takeover.

3. “We have 33 treaties with the United States that they have not lived by. They continue to take our land, our water, our children,” Phyllis Young, who helped organize the first international conference on indigenous rights in Geneva in 1977, told the news conference.

4. Russian legal experts further state that of all of the United States Indian Tribes, the Lakota Sioux are the best positioned to have their declaration of independence from the American government recognized by the United Nations as they remain the only indigenous peoples in the US to have refused to accept payment for their lands, estimated to be nearly $1 billion, which they consider their ‘sacred grounds’ and have stated they would never relinquish.

afp.google.com/article/AL...2LwZc9HyAgA

www.upi.com/NewsTrack/To...from_us/3796/

www.foxnews.com/story/0,29...548,00.html

www.indymedia.org/en/2007/1...8423.shtml

Many insist Russel Means does not represent the Lakota but in each case, these people refuse to address the fact that this is not Russel Means' gig but that there are four spokespeople that say they've met with many people for years about all of this and foreign heads of state are taking this very seriously.

My understanding is that it is Lakota tradition dictates that no one speaks for the people yet if we are to say that it is legitimate for representatives of the Lakota to sign such treaties, then it is legitimate for representatives to nullify and if it is the representation itself that is being deemed illegitimate then that, in itself, nullifies all the treaties.

Incidentally, Means will always speak more accurately for the TARGETED among the indigenous, i.e. those attempting to retain their culture and not become fully colonized, than will any tribal council or any other outfit that answers to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This is a call to action.

I EXPECT some or many tribal councils to challenge this, as do all that have struggled against the oppressor. Its importance is directly proportional to the corruption that is the prerequisite for being in league with the United States government. You accept its dictates and that is where the power of most of these councils come from. I know there are Indians all over that might want to hit me on the head with a bat for that one but it is precisely such people whose opinions I am not interested in.

Oh, by the way, in the heart of Lakota country, this is in the big papers. In other words, any attempt to verify just how "official" is this statement representing vast sentiment, this declaration of independence, may become irrelevant as the whole countryside, including those in Rapid City, starts talking about this - and they are!