Justice For Leonard Peltier

[fable]

** Please Forward Widely **

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JUSTICE FOR LEONARD PELTIER
West Coast Tour
5 events between
Wed March 28 - Sat March 31

Featuring:

Bob Robideau -> Co-director of the Leonard Peltier
Defense Committee and the Co-defendant in the incident
at Oglala.

EVENT INFO listed below...

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Leonard Peltier -- a warrior, great-grandfather,
artist, writer, & Indigenous rights activist -- is a
citizen of the Anishinabe and Dakota/Lakota Nations
who has been unjustly imprisoned since 1976. A
participant in the American Indian Movement, he went
to assist the Oglala Lakota people on the Pine Ridge
Reservation in the mid-70s where a shoot-out occurred
on June 26, 1975.

Falsely accused and framed up for the murder of two
agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),
Peltier fled to Canada believing he would never
receive a fair trial in the United States. On February
6, 1976,Peltier was apprehended by the government of
Canada, a historical accomplice to the US government
in the genocide of Indigenous people.

Bob Robideau and Dino Butler, who were also involved
in the shoot-out, were found not guilty on the grounds
of self-defense. With fabricated evidence, the FBI
collaborated with Canadian authorities to have Leonard
extradited to the US for the deaths of the two agents.
Although to this day, state prosecutors have admitted
that they don't know who killed the agents, Leonard
has been serving out a sentence twice his natural life
in prison.

31 years later, Leonard Peltier's case is still a
burning question. 31 years later and the fight for his
freedom continues.

This speaking tour will focus on the history of
Leonard's case and the recent developments that are
re-energizing the campaign for his freedom.

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EVENT DETAILS:

Wednesday, March 28th
Capilano College
12:30pm
Cedar Theatre Room 148

Thursday, March 29th
University of Victoria
7pm
Room 168 (Elliott Building)

Friday, March 30th
University of British Columbia
Noon
SUB Room 205

Saturday, March 31st
6pm
Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre
Chief Simon Baker Room
1607 East Hastings Street


FREE LEONARD PELTIER FUNDRAISER
Friday, March 30th

Featuring:
Sandy Scofield
Rapture Risin'
Skeena Reece
Kytami
Lady Sincere

8pm-11pm
Grandview Legion
2205 Commercial Drive

Please join us for these events! There is much support
to build in Canada for Leonard Peltier's freedom!

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Organized by:
Indigenous Rights and Action Project - IRAP
irap_vancouver@ yahoo.ca
604-339-7103

Tour endorsed by:

Indigenous Women's Network, Indigenous Action
Movement, United Native Nations, Hospital Employee's
Union, Coop Radio 102.7 FM, Tacoma Leonard Peltier
Support Group, Capilano Students' Union, Capilano
College Department of Anthropology, Capilano College
Independent Indigenous Digital Filmmaking Program,
Capilano College Global Stewardship Program, Free the
Cuban 5 Committee - Vancouver, Iranian Committee
Against War (ICAW), Kla How Ya FM, Langara Students'
Union, Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO),
ThinkNDN, UBC-AMS Coalition Against War on the People
of Iraq & Internationally, University of Victoria
Native Students' Union, University of Victoria
Student's Society, UVIC Students' Against War, UVIC
Students of Colour Collective, Vancouver Communities
in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC), and the Vancouver
Island Public Interest Resource Group (VIPIRG).

[esoter1c]

STATEMENT OF LEONARD PELTIER ON THE FTAA

Dear Brothers, Sisters, Friends and Supporters,

I know many of you are already familiar with the FTAA, NAFTA, the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank. I know many of you are working hard to expose what these organizations and agreements are all about and how they are taking over the world and violating human rights, labor rights, Indigenous rights, environmental protections, and sovereignty rights, in each and every place they set foot. Therefore, what I would like to address is the bigger picture - the real roots of the FTAA and ways which we can obstruct it.

Where did the FTAA get its start? Not in a conference room and not in an office. The FTAA is a continuation of the imperialism that began thousands of years ago in Europe with the domination of Indigenous Peoples whose self-subsisting land and way of life were taken away so that greedy feudalists could reign. Ever since, Indigenous Peoples have been forced into submission, if not obliteration, in the name of civilization and progress all over the globe. Here we are in the 21st century, and the world has far from benefited. I do not need to explain the Earth's devastation, the overwhelming poverty, and the wars that have resulted from practices that put profit before the very survival of Mother Earth and the human race.

Advocates of the FTAA would not dare refer to their policies as forms of colonization or feudalism because these practices are now widely scorned. Instead they will justify their actions in the name of "development" for the "poor" countries of Central and South America. Development? What the first peoples of the Americas need is "recovery" not development. Recovery from the very same colonization, domination, and genocide that multi-national corporations want to perpetuate for their own gains today.

Now we must continue, not only to condemn the practices of these trade organizations and policies, but also to implement and support means of self-sufficiency both in our communities and abroad. We must support Indigenous movements like that of the Zapatistas and the Uwa who are fighting to maintain their land base and self-sufficient way of life. We must support the small farmers and farm workers who provide their communities with healthy foods to eat. We must create and support innovative projects on Indian reservations, in inner cities and in third world countries that promote self-sufficiency and better living conditions.

But in doing this, we must unite beyond the boundaries of race, class, belief systems, and age that all too often divide us. If we do not unite, we will be defeated one by one, just as they destroyed the American Indian Movement who fought so hard for Native sovereignty, the Black Panthers, who developed much needed community based programs and struggled for self-determination, the movements in Central America that sought to implement schools, social programs, and land reform, and the unions who fought for humane working conditions. Most important, we must break down the barriers that divide us in our own backyards.

We need to develop a global culture that teaches us, as my ancestors did, to think carefully about the impact our actions and policies will have on Mother Earth, on each other, and on future generations before we act upon them. If we can do this, then surely we can win.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier

RATM taught me about Peltier.