McGuinness meets Thunderhawk
While visiting Derry recently, Joe Thunderhawk met with
Minister of Education Martin McGuinness. Thunderhawk is an elder
with the Lakota Sioux in North-western Alberta in Canada.
Accompanied by Seamus Callan (originally from Monaghan),
Thunderhawk had just arrived after delivering a protest at the UN
in Geneva and after a meeting with the Dutch royal family in
Holland. He is protesting at the destruction of his land and the
discrimination against his people by the oil company Royal Dutch
Shell.
The population of Native Americans has plummeted in Canada, in
particular due to what Thunderhawk terms a ``slow genocide'' by
the Canadian government and multinationals.
All the land and resources that these multinationals are
creating billions from, as well as destroying, legally belongs to
the Sioux, he says. However, the International treaty that the
Canadian government has with the Sioux is broken continuously
with discrimination, poverty and suicide rife among their nation.
Thunderhawk fears that the future of his people is very bleak
unless the international community puts pressure on the Canadian
government and on Shell to halt the destruction of their lands
and restore their human rights.
Thunderhawks' visit to Ireland was hosted by Sinn Féin
and his meeting with Martin McGuinness, who has a long-standing
interest in the plight of Native Americans, was very
constructive. After the meeting, McGuinness said: ``We are
delighted that Thunderhawk is in Derry today and we have pledged
to do all in our power to highlight this disgraceful situation
and use our influence to assist his campaign.''
After a tour of the city, Thunderhawk and Seamus Callan
travelled to Belfast to meet with Gerry Adams.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)