New York, NY – On Sept. 24, around 50 activist gathered in a Chinatown loft to organize, stand in solidarity and celebrate Chippewa activist and political prisoner, Leonard Peltier.

Peltier was wrongly tried and convicted for his alleged role in a fire fight that took place on the Pine Ridge Reservation, in the South Dakota, in 1975. Peltier’s case was used by the U.S. government to repress the group that Peltier was in – the American Indian Movement (AIM).

The shootout took place in the midst of a period called the Reign of Terror. It was a period in the early 1970s where over 200 AIM activists were protesting the reservation’s administration through occupation and escalation. This resulted in several events where the government used aggressive tactics to quell the movement. The shootout left one indigenous person and two FBI agents dead. After the initial trial, where two other people who were involved in the shootout were acquitted on the basis of self-defense, the U.S. government and the FBI went above and beyond to convict Peltier. His case became one of legal revenge.

From the beginning, his case was set up for a conviction. He was illegally extradited from Canada; thousands of documents were withheld during trial; there were coerced testimonies and fabricated affidavits. Don Edwards, a former FBI agent and U.S. congressman, stated, “The FBI used Mr. Peltier as a scapegoat and they continue to do so today.”

Now in prison for over 40 years, Leonard Peltier is suffering from worsening health conditions. Several organizations and indigenous nations organize daily for Peltier’s release. Their demand is that President Obama grant Peltier clemency so he can live out the rest of his days with his family.

The event was hosted by three groups: ProLibertad, NYC Free Peltier and NYC Jericho. The opening remarks were made by Frank Velgara of ProLibertad. Velgara gave a detailed background to the Peltier case and thanked the first nations for being able to host this event on their land. Velgara also masterfully drew the connections between the struggle for Puerto Rican (Boricua) liberation and the struggle of the indigenous peoples. He also drew parallels between the struggle to free Oscar Rivera Lopez and Peltier. He finished by stating how the U.S. has colonized Puerto Rico, “When the U.S. first invaded Boricua, they didn’t only stop our teachers from teaching Spanish in our schools, but took two-thirds of the nation’s arable land for the military. It was from Puerto Rican soil that the coups on Nicaragua and other Latin American countries were launched.”

Velgara was followed by a speech from Pam Africa of the International Concerned Friends & Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal. She stressed that the conditions Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners face are atrocious, stating “these political prisoners receive a cup of dirty brown water for every meager meal. 6000 other inmates receive the same thing. These are death camps. Let's not be mistaken. These prisons are death camps and all sent there have been sentenced to die.”

A performance by Spiritchild followed Pam Africa’s powerful speech. Spiritchild sang several songs of liberation, fighting back and remembering all political prisoners. In the middle of the chorus, they asked the audience to yell out names of important liberation fighters and the audience to respond “Presente!” Among those called out were Fred Hampton, Malcolm X, Nina Simone and Amiri Baraka.

Maggie from the NYC Free Peltier read parts of Peltier’s powerful statement of solidarity with Standing Rock. The Peltier quote she highlighted was, “I am grateful to have survived to see the rebirth of the united and undefeated Sioux Nation at Standing Rock in the resistance to the poisonous pipeline that threatens the life source of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. It is an honor to have been alive to see this happen with you young people. You are nothing but awesome in my eyes.”

Finally, Peter Clark, the co-director of the International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (ILPDC), gave an update of the Peltier case and how we should be organizing towards his clemency. He mentioned that Obama had met with indigenous peoples during his first and second campaigns to ask what they would like and each time one of the primary demands was the release of Peltier.

Obama has 120 days of his presidency, and the ILPDC will be ramping up pressure on the administration. This will be culminating with a week of action in December in Washington DC. Clark remarked how they faced FBI repression in the past, but how won’t stop them, “If we remember in the early 2000s we held a rally here in New York that was attended by 2500 marchers. A week later the FBI held a counter protest in Washington DC with 500 people. They had the media on their side and we didn’t. We’re going to be prepared this time. We’re going to be ready for them.”

The rest of the event was a compilation of more performances and updates on Palestinian political Prisoners. Orie Lumumba spoke on the on the MOVE 9, and the event concluded with the AIM song.

The campaign to liberate Leonard Peltier is ongoing struggle and if you want to get involved visit whoisleonardpeltier.info and lookup the national day of action occurring in December 2016 in Washington DC.

#NewYorkNY #NewYorkCityNY #PoliticalPrisoners #PeoplesStruggles #LeonardPeltier #AmericanIndianMovement

Minneapolis, MN – On Oct. 2 through Oct. 4, the U.S. government will be put on trial for “malfeasance in Indian Country,” according to a statement released at a press conference Sept. 4. Witnesses are being subpoenaed to appear in Oneida, Wisconsin for the three-day tribunal entitled “The Leonard Peltier International Tribunal on the Abuse of Indigenous Human Rights.”

After three days of testimony, a panel of judges will rule on the conduct of the U.S. around the case of Leonard Peltier in particular and about the oppression meted out by the government to Native peoples in general. Organizers are exploring, bringing the findings of the tribunal to the World Court in the Netherlands after the tribunal.

“The Leonard Peltier International Tribunal on the Abuse of Indigenous Human Rights will tell our stories with a focus on the last 40 years,” said Dorothy Ninham – a former Oneida Nation judge and founder and director of Wind Chases the Sun.

Leaders from many Native struggles will be there to witness about “fishing rights, the sterilization of Indigenous women, extreme poverty, theft of tribes' natural resources, environmental issues and their impact on Indian reservations, the horrific rate of suicides among Native children, and the wrongful conviction of Leonard Peltier (specifically the events that led up to the June 26, 1975, incident at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and the effects on survivors of this period),” the organizers state.

It has been nearly 40 years since the uprising at Pine Ridge in South Dakota. Leonard Peltier, a leading member of the American Indian Movement, was unjustly convicted of killing two FBI agents in a battle that took place there. Amnesty International and many international figures have denounced Peltier’s two life sentences as a gross miscarriage of justice.

“This isn’t just about one day in Pine Ridge. It’s a culmination of everything that has been done to that led up the Indian people saying we won’t take it anymore,” said Ninham.

“We will show overall government policies that affected our people and the American Indian Movement,” said Clyde Bellecourt, of the American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council. Other speakers at the Sept. 4 press conference included Bill Means of AIM and Gina Buentostro of Wind Chases the Sun.

The Leonard Peltier International Tribunal on the Abuse of Indigenous Human Rights will take place Oct. 2 – 4, at the Radisson Hotel and Conference center near Green Bay, Wisconsin. The public is encouraged to attend to learn about the last 40 years of the fight backs in Indian Country against U.S. government repression.

#MinneapolisMN #IndigenousPeoples #humanRights #PoliticalPrisoner #AmericanIndianMovement #FBIRepression #LeonardPeltier #WindChasesTheSun

Minneapolis, MN – About 150 people joined the American Indian Movement, the Indigenous Environmental Network and OccupyMN for a rally and march to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline, Oct. 27. Speaking in front of the Canadian Consulate, Clyde Bellecourt, of the American Indian Movement expressed solidarity with OccupyMN, denounced the oppression of native peoples and urged support for the movement to bock the pipeline.

The planned pipeline would transport synthetic crude oil from the Tar Sands of Alberta, Canada, to refineries in the Midwest, and southward to the Gulf of Mexico. Chief Terrence Nelson, of the Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation Tribe in Manitoba, Canada, traveled to Minneapolis to speak and participate in the rally and march.

The rally opened with the chant, “O Canada! You must know! The GK pipeline has to go!” Later, AIM drummers led the march through the streets of downtown Minneapolis.

A statement from protest organizers states, “The pipeline will destroy wetlands, continue to feed our addiction to global climate change – inducing fossil fuels, create enormous amounts of global warming and toxic pollution and hurt indigenous people’s lands.”

#MinneapolisMN #IndigenousPeoples #AmericanIndianMovement #EnvironmentalJustice #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyMN #ClydeBellecourt #AIM #TarSandsKeystoneXLPipeline #IndigenousEnvironmentalNetwork

Minneapolis, MN – Clyde Bellecourt of the American Indian Movement (AIM) organized a rich and moving Indigenous People’s day ceremony of speakers, dancing and drumming for OccupyMN at the People’s Plaza, Oct 10.

“This is a day of mourning for the 120 million indigenous people of the western hemisphere erased from the face of the earth after the pirate Columbus landed,” said Bellecourt.

The Meshika and the Ketzal Coatlicue dance groups energized and electrified the crowd and opened their circle for all to dance.

The General Assembly, a mass meeting where the occupation is organized, cut short their daily meeting to see Jackie Bird, who came from South Dakota perform the beautiful and difficult hoop dance. As hundreds gathered around, she and the spirited AIM drummers sang. The evening ended with everyone greeting each other by walking in 2 facing lines.

#MinneapolisMN #MinneaoplisMN #IndigenousPeoples #AmericanIndianMovement #OccupyMN #ClydeBellecourt #OccupyWallStreet #JackieBird

Peltier is a Native American political prisoner currently imprisoned at Lewisburg Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. He is one of the longest held political prisoners in the world. Peltier was wrongly convicted as part of a political frame up in 1977 and has now spent more than 30 years in prison.

Peltier is serving two life sentences for the deaths of two FBI agents during a 1975 confrontation on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He was targeted for his activism and leadership with the American Indian Movement (AIM). In the early 1970s the American Indian Movement’s leadership of sharp struggles demanding justice for Native Americans led the FBI and U.S. government to target them as part of the secret COINTELPRO program that aimed to neutralize AIM as well as other radical movements fighting for justice and liberation. The FBI continues to vindictively oppose Leonard Peltier’s release, even though the government has admitted they are not sure who actually killed the FBI agents during the 1975 conflict at Pine Ridge.

#LewisburgPA #News #IndigenousPeoples #LeonardPeltier #AmericanIndianMovement #COINTELPRO #PoliticalPrisoners