December 25, 2007 (the date of publication in Russian)
Alexander Rudakov
A GUEST FROM RECENT PAST
The reborn freedom movement of American Indians reminds of early 1970s
Two weeks ago, we parodied the newly-published futurological forecast of a CSIS team of analysts, headed by Andrew Kuchins, ex-chair of Carnegie Foundation's Moscow office. Ridiculing Mr. Kuchins' "negative scenario of Russia's development", with a massive turmoil occurring after a supposed assassination of the outgoing President, we invented an alternative version of a political catastrophe in the United States, eventually leading to the country's disintegration into a number of communities ruled by ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities. We suggested – just out of thin air – that one of the leading figures of this drama could be Leonard Peltier, a most known US political prisoner, whose commitment to establish an indigenist state would trigger the process of fragmentation.
We honestly did not expect that our fantasy – not based, like the Kuchins study, on any systematic research – would prove out just a week after being published. Still, this happened.
On December 17, a delegation of leaders of the Lakota community of American Indians delivered a message to the State Department, denouncing treaties signed with the US Government for the last 150 years as "worthless words on worthless paper" and proclaiming independence of Lakota, a territory encompassing parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. The delegation also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, saying they will continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months.
"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us", long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means, a once comrade-in-arms of Leonard Peltier in the American Indian Movement, told the reporters. The new country would issue its own passports and driving licenses, and living there would be tax-free – provided residents renounce their US citizenship, Means said.
Major world media interpreted this event as a curiosity, not expecting the redskins to establish their own state. US authorities neglected Means' statement, while other Lakotan leaders hurried to distance themselves from the reborn freedom movement.
It is true that Russell Means is not so influential today as he was in the 1970s, when the "Indian revolt", initiated by Peltier and him, attracted the whole world's attention.
This happened on February 27, 1973, when two hundred Indian men, armed with hunting guns, took control over the Pine Ridge Reservation near Wounded Knee, the symbol of the historical tragedy of the indigenous population of North America (in 1890, US military exterminated over three hundred Sioux Indians, including women and children, at Wounded Knee Creek). The rebels occupied Pine Ridge until May 8, 1973, and freely left the place, receiving guarantees of security and promises of improvement of life in Indian reservations.
Months later, US special services cracked upon Peltier's movement, and media described it as a communist conspiracy. Moreover, the FBI interpreted the Indian unrest as a result of an ideological operation of Stasi, the intelligence service of then-Communist Eastern Germany. Allegedly, the Indians were fascinated with a movie named "Ursa Major's Sons" with Goiko Mitic in the leading part. Afterwards, other movies of the same series, based on the novels of Liselotte Welskopf-Heinrich, were prohibited for broadcasting in the United States.
After the FBI pogrom, Leonard Peltier was given two life sentences on fabricated charges, while Means lost all of his supporters. In 1980s, the American Indian Movement was agonizing. Had Russell Means tried to continue his political career, his name would be forgotten. However, the eccentric Indian activist found a new niche for himself, starring in movies, issuing CDs with his own songs, and launching theme events.
Today, Means is gaining political weight anew. This ascent takes place on the background of upsurge of freedom movements in Latin America. First, the cause of America's indigenous population became an avocation of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, who glorified Caribbean resistance to the Spanish conquistadors. Subsequently, Evo Morales, an indigenist leader and Chavez's soul mate, was elected President of Bolivia. In Peru, the parliamentary elections were won by the Peruvian Nationalist Party chaired by Ollanta Humala, a passionate indigenist dreaming of revival of the Incan empire; Humala nearly gained the post of President.
Humala's political ascent shocked the White House. Similarly to the 1973 case of Peltier, Humala's popularity was interpreted as a Communist challenge – this time from China that is really expanding its influence across the Pacific basin. Humala's father, Isaac, was a prominent Communist.
The nightmare of Peru's breakaway is still haunting the White House: as recently as a month ago, VP Dick Cheney confused Venezuela and Peru and a public speech – an error more typical for George W. Bush. Thus, Means' declaration of Lakota independence echoes a new indigenist revival.
The return of Russell Means from political non-existence is a signal of alarm for the United States. It takes us back to the political instability of the early 1970s that developed on the background of the crisis of the Bretton Woods system and the aftermath of the Vietnam war, marked with events like the Watergate scandal and the overtake of the US Embassy in Tehran.
The Wounded Knee insurgency that made Russell Means known across the globe was a second-rate but still remarkable phenomenon of the early 1970s. In this regard, Means is a quite undesirable "guest from the past", entering the political scene on the background of a new Vietnam in Iraq and a new perturbation in the US financial system.
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