It is important
that you have taken this time out of your day and your busy
lives to share with the world your commitment to peace and a
vision for change.
This may be the
most important thing that you will ever do.
This day is no
different than that day in 1975, when I stood up to FBI-
assisted violence on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. What is
at stake now is not very different from then.
The American
government strong-armed the people of Pine Ridge, too. Their
interest wasn't to protect the Indigenous People living in
strife and poverty, who even to this day can't make ends meet,
but to support multinational corporations that even now are
only after the natural resources from a land rich in
uranium.
This mentality
that "might makes right" --- it's nothing new.
This
administration is turning back the clock and is doing nothing
but playing "cowboys and Indians".
Let's be
honest. There is much to be gained by taking Iraq by force ---
for the US, for the multinational corporations --- and very
little, if anything, of the administration's actions is about
liberating Iraq's people from a tyrannical regime.
Iraqi oil is
the key. It means everything in this so-called "War on
Terror".
But the greed
doesn't end there. Reports in the last few weeks show private
American corporations --- profiteers like Vice-president Dick
Cheney's former employer --- are already in place, ready to
take government contracts to rebuild a war-ravaged country
blown apart by American bombs and to service military personnel
that this administration plans to house there. An occupation
force, then.
War is good for
business.
And all of this
will be paid for by you, the American taxpayer.
The world is
crying out for unity and greater understanding of our Arab
brothers and sisters.
Without
dialogue, how else will we come to understand the conflicts in
the Middle East?
The French, who
have plenty of experience in the Middle East, avow the Iraqis
will not to succumb to American democracy in our lifetime.
In this, the
Iraqi people are no different than Indigenous Peoples
everywhere.
And like with
the Indigenous People of this country, an understanding of
tribal factions within the Arab world is needed.
Respect for
their culture and spiritual beliefs is required.
Acknowledgement of their sovereignty is fundamental.
America may
choose to ignore our efforts today, but we --- the People ---
will carry the wounds of killing innocent people in the name of
American might.
My own case
ended in violent action by the US government and the FBI. In
whose interest was this done?
For the people
of the Pine Ridge Reservation?
For Native
People throughout this land?
For Indigenous
Peoples throughout the world?
In the interest
of the American public?
This sort of
aggression nearly destroyed my People.
Let my life
serve as a reference point to all of you today. I urge you to
consider the knowledge Indian people gained in the face of
terrorism. If we had unified early on, worked together rather
than as separate nations, we may have prevailed. We must
encourage our allies, the world's nations that are opposed to
military action, to come together in unity.
These are our
brothers and sisters, aunties and uncles, we go to bomb. They
are us and we are them, together in this great circle of life.
I encourage you all to continue together, united.
Speak with one
voice. Say NO to war!
I leave you
with the words of an Iroquois leader, Leon Shenandoah,
"I'm working for the Creation. I refuse to take part in
destruction."
Aho.
Megwetch.
(Leonard
Peltier is serving a life sentence in Leavenworth, ostensibly
for the murders of two FBI agents at the Pine Ridge
Reservation. Amnesty International, which does not support
those who practice political violence, considers him an
innocent man held as a prisoner of conscience for his beliefs
and his association with the American Indian Movement. This
column was originally written to be read at protests against
the Iraq War.)
Also in this
section:
Jackson, Martín's election to lose
Girvan, Missed deadlines
in trade talks
Handal, How I quit
smoking
Snow, Address to Brazil's
AMCHAM
Peltier, How to win the real war
on terror
