[IPSM] Leonard Peltier's message regarding the hunger strike by Indigenous Peoples' Delegation to the United Nations

[Devin Butler Burke]

Leonard Peltier's message regarding the hunger strike by
Indigenous Peoples' Delegation to the United Nations-Geneva Switzerland

Leonard Peltier #89637-132
USP - Leavenworth
PO Box 1000
Leavenworth, KS 66048-1000
November 30, 2004

Sisters, Brothers, Friends and Supporters,

Indigenous Peoples of the United States are no strangers to hardship and
abuse at the hands of the oppressor.  We also are no strangers to treaty
negotiation and betrayal. Between 1778, when the first treaty was signed
with the Delawares, and 1868, when the final one was completed with the
Nez Perces, there were hundreds of treaties between the U.S. government
and the Indian Nations.  Not one of these treaties was honored by the
government.

The United Nations itself says that human rights must be applied to all
Peoples without discrimination. Accordingly, the United Nations Draft
Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the U.N.
Subcommission for the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of
Minorities in 1994. The text of the Declaration has been endorsed and
supported by hundreds of Indigenous Peoples and organizations around the
world as the *minimum* standard required for the recognition and
protection of Indigenous Peoples' rights internationally.

However, there have been continued attempts by some states to undermine
efforts to protect the human rights of the Indigenous Peoples. We cannot
allow our rights to be negotiated, compromised or diminished by the
oppressor or by the U.N. process, which was initiated more than 20 years
ago.

Yesterday, the Indigenous Peoples' delegates declared a hunger strike and
spiritual fast inside the United Nations Palais des Nations in Geneva,
Switzerland, to call the world's attention to these attempts to weaken the
Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

This week, I urge you to send expressions of solidarity to our brave
sisters and brothers and letters of support for the adoption of the
current text of the U.N. Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples.

Send faxes to: ++ 41 22 917 00 79.

Send e-mails to: indigenousolidarity at yahoo.com.

Thank you for caring.

Mitakuye Oyasin.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,


Leonard Peltier
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