Support indigenous peoples
A chairde,
I am writing to urge all Irish people at home and abroad to
demand that Mary Robinson, the new UN Human Rights Commissioner
from Ireland, and Bill Clinton, immediately adopt the Draft
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the minimum
international standard of protection for those on whose graves
the wealth of Europe and the United States was built. The Clinton
administration has been the international leader against the
draft declaration, attempting to change or delay passage of a
doucment developed over more than a decade by the
non-governmental Working Group on Indigenous People(s),
representatives to the Human Rights Commission's Sub-commission
on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.
To those of you in Ireland, I would like to dispel any notion
that the North American holocaust was merely a tragic episode in
American history and assure you that the anti-colonial resistance
of Native people is very much alive, though obviously not as
advanced as that of Ireland.
d to those of my compatriots on these shores, I urge you to
reconsider identifying yourselves as ``white Americans,'' as I have
attempted to differentiate our historical status to the Native
people with whom I live and work. If we are refugees, then we owe
a debt of gratitude to our true hosts; if we perceive ourselves
as settlers, then we diminish our moral claims to genuine
independence. After all, what is the difference between an Irish
American discounting the treaties through which the United States
gained its sole legal right to these lands and an Ulster unionist
dismissing the claims of the republican movement as a historical
anachronism?
I would propose that the success of history's greatest genocide
in reducing Native people to a tiny minority does not justify the
continued denial of the treaty claims of its survivors; instead,
it makes it all the more imperative that we, as exiles from and
residents of an occupied land, actively support those who are
paying with their lives and freedom to resist the domination of
the world's most powerful nation. To this day the US does not
recognise its original inhabitants as full-fledged human beings,
but rather as colonial ``wards'' or national minorities. The US
position is evidenced by the state department's refusal to
acknowledge Natives as ``peoples'' under international law, which
would uphold their right to self-determination independent of
indirect rule through US laws governing the administration of
``tribal governments'' by the infamous Bureau of Indian Affairs.
I live near the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota,
where the racist and colonial oppression by state law enforcement
has worsened since tribal members have learned enough about the
law to assert their sovereignty when they are dragged into state
courts on the slightest pretext. With no support from their
tribal governments and scandalous (mis)representation, the
Anishinabe (Chippewa) people have established in state courts
often unwilling to consider treaties or federal laws that the
state of Minnesota has no jurisdiction to enforce its civil
regulations within reservations.
Yet the police continue to impose such laws, and the same judges
who ruled that they have no jurisdiction to hear such cases will
sentence tribal members who fail to assert their immunity.
Those who prevail in state court almost universally suffer
retaliatory harassment from police, who want to maintain absolute
control, in part to uphold county governments' lucrative business
of collecting fines they have no authority to issue from the
impoverished reservation residents.
There have also been several deaths in police custody of
activists who have struggled for land and sovereignty and of
jailed young people, all of which have been ruled ``suicides,''
with little or no investigation.
Based on my limited knowledge of my own national history, this
seems very much like the British policy of criminalisation and
counterinsurgency.
In short, I believe there is a commonality between the republican
struggle and that of American Natives, which the Irish diaspora
in the United States in particular has an obligation to support.
Sinn Féin has in the past expressed its solidarity with framed
Lakota political prisoner/POW Leonard Peltier, and I hope this
support has not been downplayed for fear of alienating the US
president as the party searches for a just peace.
Jeff Armstrong
Minnesota
United States
Radio silence
A Chairde,
On 18 June I was listening to both the Pat Kenny and Marian
Finucane [radio] shows. With much difficulty I managed to get
through to both programmes and I understood from the people I
spoke to that they would get back to me the following day. I
wished to bring the following item to the attention of the two
hosts and would have liked to have posed some questions to Pat
Kenny. Your readers can judge for themselves whether or not the
points I wished to raise were valid ones.
I am a Catholic priest and in 1984 I attended to John Downes
after he had been murdered by the RUC. I was present at the time
with other Americans at an anti-internment rally in front of
Connolly House in Belfast. The following day the American group
held a meeting at the British Embassy in Dublin. Two speakers had
been assigned, a Richard Lawlor and myself. When I started to
speak the RTE cameramen present ostentatiously put their cameras
on the ground and folded their arms. That night the RTE news
reported only that the American group had protested outside the
British Embassy with a background shot of myself talking to Joe
Cahill.
This I felt would explain why Marian Finucane expressed surprise
at the account given by her second last caller on 18 June. RTE
would seem to have its own political agenda when reporting news
from Northern Ireland.
Literally hundreds of people have been murdered by armed British
personnel - RUC and army. Evidence of their involvement in these
murders may be found in such books as Injustice in Ireland: The
Truth About British Repression, published by Clergy for Justice.
I would be willing to send copies to the hosts of both programmes
if they contact me.
Some 13 Sinn Féin councillors have been murdered by armed British
personnel. They and the others murdered by RUC and army left
families behind, widows, widowers and children. Has Pat Kenny
ever condemned their murders? Has he ever tried to evoke a
response of revulsion against them as he did against those who
killed the RUC members recently?
In conclusion, may I state that I have prayed for all victims and
families of those killed in the war in Ireland. I have also
attended the funerals of two members of the IRA. Both funerals
were subjected to a vicious attack by armed members of the RUC
and army.
Maurice Burke SMA.
Praise for gay coverage
A chairde,
I am writing simply to praise your publication of Eoin O'Broin's
coverage of Belfast's 7th Lesbian and Gay Pride Festival. Coming
from Boston and now living in New York City, I can especially
appreciate the acknowledgment of alternate lifestyles within the
Irish Republican community. The Irish-American communities in
both Boston and New York have suffered greatly from divisions
over these matters in the past several years.
Even for me as a heterosexual, it is painful to see
Irish-American gay rights groups protesting behind police
barricades because they have been excluded from participating in
St. Patrick's Day parades. This type of exclusion annually places
an unnecessary dark cloud over an otherwise festive occasion.
Your coverage and acknowledgment of the contributions of the
homosexual community are a testament to the Republican movement's
dedication toward the spirit of inclusion.
Liam Toohey
New York
Environmental truth
A Chairde,
We owe you a real debt for being so much on the ball with your
article by Robert Allen. In his 12 June piece he refers to the
scary mistakes that can be made when multi-nationals (Monsanto in
this case) start playing round with genetically engineering one
crop, rape-seed, in order to boost sales of another of their
products, Roundup.
Rape-seed is used to make Canola Oil, highly recommended to
benefit health in many ways. The latest information of the
mis-deeds of profit - greedy Monsanto leaves me feeling very
confused and vulnerable.
Please continue to alert us to the causes of so much ill-health
in our everyday lives.
Robert Allen's account of the devastating damage by
multi-national chemical companies in this country in his book
``Guests of the Nation'' was never widely available. This is
probably for the same reason that a 78 year old farmer was
roughly ejected from a meeting in Aughinish Alumina when
protesting about damage to his trees. The truth of damage from
multi-nationals will always be crushed by vested interests. Now
there are scandals waiting to have the full glare of the
spotlight.
Could our health services charge these damaging companies for the
cost of trying to repair our health in the same way as 40 States
have done to the tobacco companies in the US? At least they know
what the illnesses involved are!
Noelle Ryan,
Belfast.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)