Of course Bolivia jumped right on board. This will be interesting to follow.
A group of "freedom-loving" Lakota activists announced a plan Wednesday for their people to withdraw from treaties their forefathers signed with the U.S. government.
Headed by leaders of the American Indian Movement, including activist, actor and Porcupine resident Russell Means, the group dropped in on the State Department and the embassies of Bolivia, Venezuela, Chile and South Africa this week seeking recognition for their effort to form a free and independent Lakota nation. The group plans to visit more embassies in the coming months.
The commentary after the article is interesting too. (Found via John Robb's Weblog.)
11 years ago
4 comments:
(Cross-posted on John's and Soob's blogs)
This is the work of Russel Means, formerly of the AIM (American Indian Movement) terrorist organization, now a Democratic Party activist whose main occupation appears to be causing problems for the Democratic Party. (He also had a speaking role in Disney's Pocahontas).
The Great Sioux Nation was created by the Fort Laramie treaty, brining together several tribes in one continguous geographic area. As a treaty, the boundaries of the Great Sioux Nation were the law of the land.... until Congress declared the land open to settlement.
The tribal governments (which still exist, hold regular elections, etc) are not involved in this, as from their perspective the excersize is bizarre. The tribes never recognized the absorption of Great Sioux Nation lands (and indeed refuse to take the accept the monetary compensation Washington has provided), so there is nothing for them to declare. Further, withdrawing of the Fort Laramie Treaty would /dissolve/ the Great Sioux Nation, as it had no legal existence apart from the tribes before then.
Incidentally, while AIM was most visibly targeting US and state governments, their actual goal was the overthrow of the tribal reservation governments... each of the Sioux tribes tend to be governed by one or two extended families, and ideology rarely plays a role in election, except with regards to abortion (while typically voting for Democratic candidates, Lakota tend to be pro-life and culturally conservative).
Thanks for the in depth background. When I first read this story and saw the map I thought, "Well looks like Dan's either moving or joining the Lakota Nation.:)
How much money are they going to invest in a military to protect this "independent nation"?
Soob,
Thansfully, I'm East River ;-)
ymarsakar,
Traditionally, the Lakota relied on ethnic cleaning to clear out all other groups from their area (in my state alone, they pushed out the Mandan, the Ojibwe, and the earliest white settlements). That's why we took away their ability to do taht again.
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